We look at the other face and there we see the greed of
gain, the desire for power and place. Yet it may be that Bacon
only strove to be great so that he might have more power and
freedom to be pitiful. In spite of Bacon's hard work, in spite
of his flattery and begging, he did not rise fast. After five
years we find him indeed a barrister and a Member of Parliament,
but among the many great men of his age he was still of little
account. He had not made his mark, in spite of the fact that the
great Lord Burleigh was his uncle, in spite of the fact that
Elizabeth had liked him as a boy. Post after post for which he
begged was given to other men. He was, he said himself, "like a
child following a bird, which when he is nearest flieth away and
lighteth a little before, and then the child after it again, and
so in infinitum. I am weary of it."
But one friend at court he found in the Earl of Essex, the
favorite of Elizabeth, the rival of Raleigh. Essex, however, who
could win so much favor for himself, could win none for Francis
Bacon.
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