(a) Lambeth MS. v. 118 (copied by Birch in Sloane MS. 4457, f. 32) has, in Bacon's hand, a speech by the Squire in the tiltyard, and four speeches by the Hermit, Soldier, Secretary, and Squire 'in the Presence'. These are printed by Birch (1763), Nichols, Eliz. iii. 372, and Spedding, viii. 378.
(b) Lambeth MS. viii. 274 (copied by Birch in Addl. MS. 4164, f. 167) has, in Bacon's hand, the beginning of a speech by the Secretary to the Squire, which mentions Philautia and Erophilus, and a letter from Philautia to the Queen. These are printed in Spedding, viii. 376.
(c) The Northumberland MS. ff. 47-53 (Burgoyne, 55) has 'Speeches for my Lord of Essex at the tylt'. These deal with the attempts of Philautia to beguile Erophilus. Four of them are identical with the four speeches 'in the Presence' of (a); the fifth is a speech by the Hermit in the tiltyard. They were printed by Spedding, separately, in 1870, as A Conference of Pleasure composed for some festive occasion about the year 1592 by Francis Bacon; but 1592 is merely a guess which Whyte's letter corrects.
(d) S. P. D. Eliz. ccliv. 67, 68, docketed 'A Device made by the Earl of Essex for the Entertainment of her Majesty', has a speech by the Squire, distinct from any in the other MSS., a speech by the Attendant on an Indian Prince, which mentions Philautia, and a draft by Edward Reynolds, servant to Essex, of a French speech by Philautia. The two first of these are printed by Spedding, viii. 388, and Devereux, Lives of the Earls of Essex, ii. 501. The references to Philautia are rather against Spedding's view that these belong to some occasion other than that of 1595.
Sir Henry Wotton says of Essex (Reliquiae Wottonianae, 21), 'For his Writings, they are beyond example, especially in his . . . things of delight at Court . . . as may be yet seen in his Impresses and Inventions of entertainment; and above all in his darling piece of love, and self love'. This, for what it is worth—and Wotton was secretary to Essex in 1595, suggests that the Earl himself, rather than Bacon, was the author of the speeches, which in fact none of the MSS. directly ascribe to Bacon. But it is hard to distinguish the literary productions of a public man from those of his staff.
(iv) The Northumberland MS. (Burgoyne, 65) has a speech of apology for absence, headed 'ffor the Earle of Sussex at y^e tilt an: 96', which might be Bacon's, especially as he wrote from Gray's Inn to the Earl of Shrewsbury on 15 Oct. 1596, 'to borrow a horse and armour for some public show' (Lodge, App. 79).
(v) Beaumont (q.v.) acknowledges his encouragement of the Inner Temple and Gray's Inn mask on 20 Feb. 1613, for the Princess Elizabeth's wedding.
(vi) He bore the expenses of the Gray's Inn Mask of Flowers (q.v.) on 6 Jan. 1614 for the Earl of Somerset's wedding. To this occasion probably belongs an undated letter signed 'Fr. Bacon', and addressed to an unknown lord (M. S. C. i. 214 from Lansdowne MS. 107, f. 13; Spedding, ii. 370; iv. 394), in which he expresses regret that 'the joynt maske from the fowr Innes of Cowrt faileth', and offers a mask
