A copy of the translation was sent to Bishop Jewell by Lady Bacon , with a letter in Greek , to which he replied in the same tongue ; but it does not appear whether she knew the identity of the author or if it was conveyed to him through the medium of the Archbishop .sx Translations of the Apologia by other hands quickly followed , in French , Italian , Spanish , German , Dutch , Greek and Welsh ; but the unique distinction belongs to that made by Lady Bacon that when the book was attacked by John Harding , Professor of Hebrew at Oxford , it was chosen by mutual consent as the text for Harding's assault and Jewell's defence .sx The compliment was a great one , but it had the effect of involving her in the vituperation that was showered upon Jewell .sx An entry in the Biographica Britannica ( published 1747 ) , runs as follows :sx " There have been many ladies remarkable for their learning and their writings , but very few whose works , like the Lady Bacon's , were published by authority and commended to public reading ; it was this that stirred the gall of Father Parsons , commonly called Parsons the Jesuit , who has reflected bitterly upon this lady for her performance , without considering that his ill language redounded more to her reputation than all the praises of her friends .sx " A book entitled A Relation of the Triall made before the King of France , upon the year 1600 , betweene the Bishop of Evreaux and L. Plessis Mornay , by M.D. , was written by Parsons , who used the initials as a pseudonym , and in describing the attack made upon Mornay for his alleged heresy , he brought accusations against many others , including Jewell and his translators .sx His weapon was a bludgeon rather than a rapier , as witness his account of Jewell's answer to Harding .sx Harding , he says , had shown the " vayne and shameless bragg , " of the Apologia ; and to his confutation :sx " Master Jewell answered with a longe volume of rhetorical words and stuffed the margents thereof with the shew of infinite authors , as though the whole world had byn for him and none for the other syde ; and with this he deceaued the people then , and doth to this day , such I meane as haue not commoditye or learninge , or other meanes to examine those places and to find out the manifold lyes and falsifications therein contayned .sx " The Apologia does not seem to have suffered from the attacks made upon it :sx Archbishop Parker ordered it to be placed in all parish churches , secured with a chain so that it could not be stolen , while the various translations made of it carried it far and wide beyond the seas .sx As for his friendship with Lady Bacon , it continued to flourish , and a curious letter preserved among his memorials shows that he had a great regard for her husband .sx The Lord Keeper was a man universally respected , but his temper was hot and his nature somewhat difficult , and when the Archbishop sent his servant to him with a written explanation of a matter in dispute between them , he was deeply wounded by the fact that Sir Nicholas sent him a verbal reply by the man .sx The action was certainly most discourteous , but that was not all , the matter was a private one , and the Archbishop had not even revealed it to Mrs. Parker , though she was no " day-body '' a quaint expression which shows that daily " helps " were as ready then as now to go from house to house retailing gossip .sx Too keenly hurt to expostulate with the Lord Keeper himself , he wrote to Lady Bacon to ask her to use her good offices with her husband :sx Lady Bacon's answer has not been preserved , but she evidently intervened to good purpose , for there is no further record of " falling at squares , " although they did not fall into their " earthly pits " for some years after the quarrel took place , the Archbishop dying in 1575 and the Lord Keeper in 1579 .sx It was after the death of her husband that most of the letters of Lady Bacon that have come down to us were written , for his estate of Gorhambury passed to her elder son , his other property going to the children of his first marriage , and since she took charge of it while he was carrying out his diplomatic duties in London or abroad , constant communications passed between them .sx That in spite of her preoccupation with crops and cattle , buildings that needed repair and tenants behindhand with their rent , she still took a keen interest in public affairs , we know from her action with regard to the campaign against the Poor Preachers .sx This term had a different signification then from that which it bears now ; it was not the quality of the sermons that was attacked , but the fact that they were delivered by a band of men who went about the country teaching and exhorting in the parishes as the Friars had done in an earlier age .sx In the first year of the reign of Edward VI .sx a Proclamation was issued against those who preached without license :sx - Elizabeth's antagonism to the Preachers was as great as her brother's :sx it was useless to urge that the meetings were devotional ; they were irregular , and anything irregular was dangerous ; politics might soon mingle with religion if they were free from the regulations of Church order , and when Archbishop Grindal , who had succeeded Parker in 1575 , refused to denounce the Poor Preachers , he was made to rue it by his exasperated Sovereign .sx A curious old Broadside may be seen in the Bodleian , which calls upon the guardians of the Church to defend her against these innovators :sx - Churchmen are warned that war must be waged against their allurements :sx - The Preachers are warned of the danger they incur .sx In their obstinacy they speak against the ancient offices of the Church which are so decorous and solemn when sung , .sx In 1583 , Whitgift succeeded Grindal as Archbishop , and in him Elizabeth found a willing helper in her attack upon irregularities .sx A conference was held at Lambeth in 1585 between the Bishops and the Nonconformists , and Lady Bacon seems to have followed the proceedings with the liveliest interest .sx It was her firm conviction that the Preachers had been unfairly treated , and since her brother-in-law , Lord Burghley , was one of the most prominent statesmen of the day , she wrote a letter to him in which she says :sx Her appeal came too late , for the Bishops had already made successful representations to the House of Commons , and the Poor Preachers , with the rest of the Nonconformists , were forced to make choice between submission and exile .sx To show any favour towards them was dangerous to the last degree ; but as late as 1594 we find Edward Spencer , a confidential servant of Anthony's , whom he had sent down to Gorhambury , writing to his master to complain of " my ladye's graete unquietness in the houes " ; no one can please her he says , he has been in trouble with her about his dog and his hawk - " she would not let me haue noe supper .sx Soe truely I went to bedde without my supper " ; the only people she is in charity with are " the Preachers , " to whom she gives constant presents :sx " Mr. Willcocks had a paper with a good deal of gold in it .sx Willblod had two quarterns of wheat .sx Dicke had something the othre daye - what , I know not .sx " Her hatred of " Papists " was not less marked than her devotion to the Preachers :sx that her sons had Roman Catholic friends grieved her intensely , and she was ever warning them that they would live to rue it .sx Thus , on April 1 , 1595 , she writes to Anthony about Lord Henry Howard , afterwards Earl of Northampton :sx " He is a dangerous , intelligencing man ; no doubt a subtill Papist inwardly , and lieth in wait .sx Bee not too open , hee wil betray you to divers , avoid his familiarity as you love the truth and yourself .sx A very instrument of the Spanish Papists , for he pretendeth courtesy and worketh mischief parilously .sx I have longe known him and observed him ; his workings have been stark nought .sx " Lord Henry and the Earl of Essex were constant companions , and since Anthony , much to his mother's regret,had taken up his abode in Essex House , she feared that some unguarded speech might lay him open to the " intelligencing " propensities of the " subtill Papist .sx " So dangerous were the times , so easily was Elizabeth's vengeance roused , that the mother's fears had only too much justification ; but her letters are full of chidings as well as of warnings , and her sons can hardly have failed to find them wearisome at times .sx Nor did she abstain from offering counsel to their friends :sx since Essex was Anthony's host she felt that his conduct was her concern , and when rumours reached her ears she attacked him in a letter dated December 1 , 1596 .sx The scandal related to his alleged intrigue with a lady of the Court , and she entreats him " for the love of your God and the love of your wife " to remember the warnings against sinners in the Scriptures and to keep himself from evil :sx That Essex was chafed by this interference in his affairs can hardly be doubted , but whatever he may have felt he wrote courteously in reply :sx He concludes by saying that his many enemies are only too ready to spread reports to his discredit , and assures her that his wish is not to cover his faults , but to mend them .sx On receiving this letter she wrote again , thanking him that amid his " incessant affairs , " he had found time to answer and that " with your owne hand .sx " She is careful not to say whether she believes his denial or not , but prays that God may incline his heart to holiness and that " He may send His holy Angels to pitch about you and watch over you for your safeguard .sx " It was only a few years after this , in May , 1601 , that Anthony died , worn out by repeated attacks of gout and stone .sx Her heart went with him into the grave , and for the last ten years of her life we have no record of her , except a brief statement made by Bishop Goodman in his Court of James I. , published in 1651 ; writing of Lady Burghley , her sister , he extols her wisdom and learning , and adds , " But as for Bacon's mother , she was little better than frantic in her age .sx With the nervous , excitable temperament that is revealed in her letters , such an ending to her life was only too probable , but her sons loved her in spite of all , as there is ample evidence to show .sx Up to the close of Anthony's life he sent her constant letters , full of interest in her affairs and full of details of his own .sx The fact that no letters from her to Francis or from Francis to her are extant after 1601 confirms the account given by Goodman of her mental state ; but that he still felt tenderly towards her is shown by the letter in which he begs Sir Michael Hicks to come to Gorhambury and support him at the time of her funeral .sx The letter is dated August 27 , 1610 , and after saying that he is not to think of coming if it would be in any way a trouble to him , he adds , " but if I mought have your company here three or four days at my house , I should pass over this mournful occasion with more comfort .sx " It was by her side that he desired to be buried , and though some of her actions may have been mistaken and someof her opinions prejudiced , there can be no doubt that he uttered no more than the truth when in an affectionate letter written in June , 1594 , he says that she is " a good Christian and a Saint of God , " and urges her to take more care of her health , " since the Church of God hath need of you .sx " MARY BRADFORD WHITING .sx RAMSGATE .sx