"Then," said the Lord Keeper, "by your civility I lose my life." And so indeed it proved. He was removed immediately to his bed-chamber, and was tended with loving care, but he expired a very few days after being taken ill.
Sir Nicholas was twice married. By his first wife, Jane, daughter of William Fernley, he had three sons, who died young, and three daughters.
By his second wife, Anne, daughter of Sir Anthony Cooke, a woman distinguished alike for her beauty, her piety, and her learning, he had two sons, of whom the youngest, Francis, became so celebrated as Chancellor, philosopher, and writer; a man whose exceptionally brilliant gifts have thrown comparatively into the shade the far more elevated character of his father.
Happy would it have been for the son, if, with his father's talents, he had inherited his father's unswerving integrity and noble sense of honour.
Far happier would have been the closing years of Lord Bacon's life had he, like his father, Sir Nicholas, dealt righteously with all men.