The King did not
want him, perhaps did not trust him, perhaps did not really like him.
When the _Novum Organum_ came out, all that he had to say about it was
in the shape of a profane jest that "it was like the peace of God--it
passed all understanding." Other men had the ear of Buckingham; shrewd,
practical men of business like Cranfield, who hated Bacon's loose and
careless ways, or the clever ecclesiastic Williams, whose counsel had
steered Buckingham safely through the tempest that wrecked Bacon, and
who, with no legal training, had been placed in Bacon's seat. "I
thought," said Bacon, "that I should have known my successor." Williams,
for his part, charged Bacon with trying to cheat his creditors, when his
fine was remitted. With no open quarrel, Bacon's relations to Buckingham
became more ceremonious and guarded; the "My singular good Lord" of the
former letters becomes, now that Buckingham had risen so high and Bacon
had sunk so low, "Excellent Lord." The one friend to whom Bacon had
once wished to owe everything had become the great man, now only to be
approached with "sweet meats" and elaborate courtesy.
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