In the summer of 1618 Francis Bacon wrote the following letter to the Spanish Ambassador to England, the Count of Gondomar, who had just left the kingdom:-

Seneca's stoic philosophy of the universal moral community of man has little in common with Machiavelli's very practical theory of the ways and means of political power. Ignoring the question of moral obligation, the Florentine often gives to virtù a special prudential meaning apparently quite different in spirit from the Roman's ethical ideal of virtus. That their intellectual perspectives are in opposition is the judgment of modern scholars, who find Seneca's influence on Machiavelli of no great significance. Nevertheless a rereading of Seneca's moral essays and epistles with Machiavelli in mind reveals neglected parallels in their thought almost as striking as the more obvious differences and which suggest the need of a reappraisal of the relation between the two thinkers. What follows, therefore, is an effort to ascertain the nature of the elements common to their respective outlooks.

Scadbury Park in Chislehurst, Kent, is the site of the once glorious manor of the Walsingham family, a seat presided over from 1589 to 1630 by Thomas IV, favorite of Queen Elizabeth, cousin of Sir Francis Walsingham, and patron of poets Thomas Watson, Christopher Marlowe, and George Chapman. The original moated manor house is now in ruins, but there is extant among the family papers of Major John Marsham-Townshend, present owner of the Scadbury estate (and through the Betensons a collateral descendant of the Walsinghams), an informative document of 1727 entitled ‘An inventory of the household goods and furniture of the dwelling of the Hon Sr Ed Betenson at Scadbery in Kent, May 26th 1727.’ This manuscript excites speculative interest because of its listing of thirty Indian pictures.