No more be grieved at that which thou hast done
Roses have thorns, and silver
fountains mud,
Clouds and eclipses stain
both moon and sun,
And loathsome canker lives in
sweetest bud.
All men make faults and even
I in this,
Authorising thy
trepass with compere
Myself corrupting salving thy
amiss
Excusing their sins more than
their sins are;
For to thy sensual
fault I bring in sense
Thy adverse party is thy
advocate
And `gainst myself a lawful
plea commence
Such civil war is in my love
and hate
That I an
accessory needs must be
To that sweet
thief which sourly robs from me.
Note the repetition
of the following, we find-thy trespass
thy amiss, thy sensual fault, thy adverse partly, thy
advocate
(see 36).
Here Bacon tells the King not to be grieved at that
which he
had done (forced Bacon to plead guilty), that all men
make
faults and that he himself had done so by authorising the
King's
trespass (injury to himself), that he corrupted (debased)
himself
by salving the King's amiss (fault) and the King's
sensualfault
(cowardice) he understands (bring in sense) that the
King's
adverse party (opponent) is his advocate (Bacon as the
Lord
Chancellor was the King's supreme advocate) that he
brings
against himself a lawful plea (excuse) that his love (for his
King
as his master) and his hate (for his King as a man) is at
war
that he should be an accessory (aiding in a crime) to the
man
who had sourly robbed him of his reputation.
