The choice lay before him. He seems
hardly to have gone through any struggle. He persuaded himself that he
could not help himself, under the constraint of his duty to the Queen,
and he did his best to get Essex condemned.
And this was not all. The death of Essex was a shock to the popularity
of Elizabeth greater than anything that had happened in her long reign.
Bacon's name also had come into men's mouths as that of a time-server
who played fast and loose with Essex and his enemies, and who, when he
had got what he could from Essex, turned to see what he could get from
those who put him to death. A justification of the whole affair was felt
to be necessary; and Bacon was fixed upon for the distinction and the
dishonour of doing it. No one could tell the story so well, and it was
felt that he would not shrink from it. Nor did he. In cold blood he sat
down to blacken Essex, using his intimate personal knowledge of the past
to strengthen his statements against a friend who was in his grave, and
for whom none could answer but Bacon himself.
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