D’Ewes Simonds. Sir (b.18 December, 1602–d.18 April, 1650) was High Sheriff for Suffolk in 1639, and was elected member for Sudbury in 1640.

In July 1641, he was created a Baronet by Charles the First; yet, upon the breaking out of the civil war, he adhered to the Parliament, and took the solemn league and covenant in 1643. He continued to sit in the House of Commons till 1648, when he was turned out by the army as one of those who were thought to retain some regard for the person of the King, or who were unwilling to proceed the whole length of the other democrats. From that time he seems to have given himself up to the prosecution of his literary studies, following his favourite maxim, Melius mori quam sibi vivere.

He died on April the 18th, 1650 and was succeeded in his estate and titles by his son, Willoughby D’Ewes.

Cecil’s death The following account was written by Sir Simonds D’Ewes 1 regarding Robert Cecil’s death: “And therefore, when I consider in what a general hate, almost of all sorts, he [Robert Cecil] died, and what infamous libels were made of him after his death, instead of funeral elegies, I cannot but conceive that the first ground of the people’s hatred to him arose from their love formerly borne to Robert de Ebroicis or D’Evereux, Earl of Essex, who was beheaded within the Tower of London, upon the 25th day of February, in the year 1601; of whose death and destruction no man doubted but that his subtle head, actuated by his father’s principles, had been the contriver and finisher, howsoever his cousin Francis Bacon, the then solicitor-general, much hated also for his ungrateful treachery to that Earl, did afterwards labour by a printed apology, 2 colourably inscribed to Charles Lord Mountjoy, Earl of Devonshire, to purge both himself and the said Earl of Salisbury from that imputation.”

Several of these “infamous libels” that D’Ewes refers to have been preserved. The following epitaph may be given as a specimen of the spirit in which most of them were penned:

Here lies, thrown for the worms to eat,
Little bossive Robin, that was so great:
Not Robin Goodfellow, nor Robin Hood,
But Robin, the encloser of Hatfield Wood;
Who seem’d as sent from ugly fate,
To spoil the prince and rob the state:
Owning a mind for dismal ends,
As traps for foes, and tricks for friends.

Bribery "Francis Bacon, Viscount St. Alban, had been often questioned during this parliament in the Upper House, for his gross and notorious bribery, and though he had for divers weeks abstained from coming to the Parliament House, yet had the broad seal still remained with him till this first day of May, [1621] in the afternoon; and he, by that means, as yet remained Lord Chancellor of England. The four Lords that came for it were Henry Viscount Mandeville, Lord Treasurer, Lodowick Stewart, Duke of Lennox, Lord Steward of the King’s household, William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, Lord Chamberlain of the same household, and Thomas Earl of Arundel, Earl Marshal of England; they, coming to York House to him, where he lay, told him they were “sorry to visit him upon such an occasion, and wished it had been better.” “No, my lords,” replied he, “the occasion is good;” and then delivering them the great seal, he added, “It was the King’s favour that gave me this, and it is my fault that hath taken it away: Rex dedit, culpa abstulit,” or words to that effect. So leaving him, the said four Lords carried the gage they had received to Whitehall, to the King, who was overheard by some near him to say upon their delivery of it to him, “Now, by my soul, I am pained at the heart where to bestow this; for as to my lawyers, I think they be all knaves.” Which it seemeth his Majesty spake at that time to prepare a way to bestow it on a clergyman, as the Marquis of Buckingham had intended; for otherwise there were at this present divers able wise lawyers, very honest and religious men, fit for the place, in whom there might easily have been found as much integrity, and less fawning and flattery than in the clergy; and, accordingly, Doctor Williams, now Dean of Westminster, and before that time made Bishop of Lincoln, was sworn Lord Keeper, and had the great seal delivered to him.

"Never had any man in those great places of gain he had gone through, having been Attorney General before he was Lord Chancellor, so illhusbanded the time, or provided for himself. His vast prodigality had eaten up all his gains; for it was agreed by all men, that he owed at this present at least 20,000l. more than he was worth. Had he followed the just and virtuous steps of Sir Nicholas Bacon, Knt., his father, that continued Lord Keeper of the Great Seal some eighteen years under Queen Elizabeth, of ever blessed memory, his life might have been as glorious as by his many vices it proved infamous. For though he were an eminent scholar and a reasonable good lawyer, both which he much adorned with his eloquent expression of himself and his graceful delivery, yet his vices were so stupendous and great, as they utterly obscured and out-poised his virtues. He was immoderately ambitious and excessively proud, to maintain which he was necessitated to injustice and bribery, taking sometimes most basely of both sides. To this latter wickedness the favour he had with the beloved Marquis of Buckingham emboldened him, as I learned in discourse from a gentleman of his bedchamber, who told me he was sure his Lord should never fall as long as the said Marquis continued in favour. His most abominable and darling sin, I should rather bury in silence than mention it, were it not a most admirable instance how men are inflamed by wickedness, and held captive by the devil. He lived, many years after his fall, in his lodgings in Gray’s Inn, in Holborn, in great want and penury."

D’Ewes here specifically charges Bacon with an abominable offence, in language too gross for publication. He states that it was supposed by some, that he would have been tried at the bar of justice for it; and says, that his guilt was so notorious while he was at York House, in the Strand, and at his lodgings in Gray’s Inn, Holborn, that the following verses were cast into his rooms:

Within this sty a hog doth lie,
That must be hang’d for villany.