Elizabeth by Philippa Jones Page A

Devereux, who at the time was a firmly established favourite with Elizabeth, believed his wish would be the Queen’s command.
    However, there was another candidate in the running, Edward Coke, who was already Solicitor General and nine years older than Francis. He was an experienced practitioner in the Law Courts, whereas Francis was more interested in the theoretical side of law. Francis, realizing that he needed to placate the Queen, wrote to her that he was aware that his ‘Majesty had taken some displeasure towards me’ and ‘I most humbly crave pardon of my boldness and plainness.’ 8 As an apology, it left something to be desired. There was no sense of supplication, rather a justification of his having spoken his own mind.
    It ended up being too little, too late. Even though Francis was allowed to attend the Court once more and Devereux reported that although Her Majesty had brought up Francis’s subsidy speech again she seemed to have forgiven him, New Year came and went and the post of Attorney General remained vacant.
    In March, the Queen made her decision – the new Attorney General was to be Edward Coke. This left his former post of Solicitor General vacant when he moved up, and both Devereux and Cecil recommended Francis for it. Devereux wrote to Francis, ‘I find the Queen very reserved, staying herself from giving any kind of hope, yet not passionate against you till I grew passionate for you. Then she said that none thought you fit for the place butmy Lord Treasurer [Cecil] and myself.’ 9 Francis was disappointed and bitter. He felt he had been led to an ‘exquisite disgrace’. He would, he said, give up the Court, retire to Cambridge and return to his academic studies.
    Matters were exacerbated by Francis’s financial situation, which was dire. Anthony, his brother, had written to their mother asking if she would help pay Francis’s debts. She had replied that although she loved him, she felt that he could not be trusted to manage his money and that he chose his friends unwisely as they exploited his largesse. 10 She would consider helping Francis if he were to give a full account of his debts and hand over control of his estates and finances to her to sort out on his behalf. Francis refused and, in the end, it was left to Anthony to raise the money to settle his debts. Between September 1593 and April 1594, Francis borrowed £358 from Anthony, who had to mortgage his estate to raise the money.
    The post of Solicitor General remained unfilled. In 1594, a plot was discovered, supposedly to poison the Queen, but perhaps, in fact, to poison Don Antonio, a pretender to the throne of Portugal. The plotters, including the Queen’s physician, Dr Lopez, were found guilty and executed. One of those most closely involved in the investigation of the charges was Devereux, with Francis as one of his chief assistants.
    In the summer, a second plot was discovered and again Devereux and Francis were involved in the investigation and questioning of suspects. The Queen knew of their involvement and one of her favoured administrators, Sir Fulke Greville, told Francis that the Queen had spoken ‘with very exceeding gracious inclination towards you … So I will lay £100 to £50 that you shall be her Solicitor …’ 11
    Desperate now to catch the Queen’s attention, Francis wrote amemorandum on methods for ensuring her safety in light of the recent plots. In August the investigation was halted when the suspects started to confess, but as the role of Solicitor General was still vacant, no trial could be held. Francis’s mother actually met with Robert Cecil to ask if the post could be given to her son. Robert’s reply was to remind her that the Queen often prevaricated; they would just have to wait.
    Francis began to believe that he was the victim of a conspiracy to deny him advancement. He wrote a letter to Cecil in which he stated that he had received information from a friend who personally had nothing