no small comfort.' He told the Lords, his 'judges, under God and his lieutenant' (the King), that he understood some justification had been expected from him, but that the only justification he would make should be out of Job, and that he should justify with Job in these words-'I have not hid my sin, as did Adam, nor concealed my faults in my bosom.' He then proceeded :—' It resteth, therefore, that without fig leaves I do ingenuously confess and acknowledge that, having understood the particulars of the charge, not formally from the House, but enough to inform my conscience and memory, I find matter sufficient and full, both to move me to desert my defence and to move your Lordships to condemn and censure me. Neither will I represent to your Lordships how far a defence might, in divers things, extenuate the offence in respect of the time and manner of the guilt or the like circumstances; but only leave those things to spring out of your more noble thoughts and observations of the evidence and examinations themselves, and charitably to wind about the particulars of the charge, here and there, as God shall put into your minds, and to submit myself wholly to your piety and grace.'

"Having, as he said, spoken to their Lordships as Judges, he would say a few words to them as Peers and Prelates, humbly commending his cause to their noble minds and magnanimous affections. He told them a story out of Livy, to show that the questioning of men in eminent places had the same effect as their punishment, adding :-' My humble desire is that his majesty would take the seals into his hands, which was a great downfall, and may serve, I hope, in itself, for an expiation of my faults.' He hoped that the Peers 'would behold their chief pattern, the King-a king of incomparable clemency, and whose heart is inscrutable for wisdom and goodness,- -a prince whose like had not been seen these hundred years,-a prince who deserved to be made memorable by records of acts mixed of mercy and justice.' 'And yourselves,' continued Bacon, are nobles (and compassion ever beateth in the veins of noble blood), or reverend prelates, who are the servants of Him that would

not break the bruised reed or quench the smoking flax. You all sit upon a high stage, and therefore cannot but be sensible of the change of human conditions, and of the fall of any from high place.' He told them that corruption and bribery were the vices of the time, and that any reform would, in the beginning, be attended with danger. He reminded their Lordships of their noble feeling and loving affections towards him as a member of their own body, and concluded his remarkable letter with these words: "And therefore my humble suit to your Lordships is, that my penitent submission may be my sentence, the loss of my seal my punishment, and that your Lordships would recommend me to his majesty's grace and pardon for all that is past. God's holy spirit be among you all.' But the Lords were not satisfied with this submission, humble as it was, nor with his general and vague confession; and though they excused him from appearing as a criminal at their bar, they exacted from him a distinct confession of all the charges specifically brought against him. He then wrote and signed a confession of particulars; and to a deputation of the Lords who waited upon him, to know whether this paper was his own voluntary act, he said, with tears, 'It is my act, my hand, my heart. Oh, my Lords, spare a broken reed.' Our own hearts ache at this sad spectacle." Craik's Hist. Eng.,

Vol. III, pp. 82, 83.

Before closing this Sketch of Bacon's Life and Character, it is but fair to offer something on the favorable side. Montagu, in his Life of Bacon, remarks :-" Bacon has been accused of servility, of dissimulation, of base motives, and their filthy brood of base actions, all unworthy of his high birth, and incompatible with his great wisdom, and the estimation in which he was held by the noblest spirits of the age. It is true that there were men in his own time, and will be men in all times, who are better pleased to count spots in the sun than to rejoice in its glorious brightness. Such men have openly libelled him, like Dewes and Weldon, whose falsehoods were detected as soon as uttered, or have

fastened upon certain ceremonious compliments and dedications, the fashion of his day, as a sample of his servility, passing over his noble letters to the Queen, his lofty contempt for the Lord Keeper Puckering, his open dealing with Sir Robert Cecil, and with others, who, powerful when he was nothing, might have blighted his opening fortunes forever, forgetting his advocacy of the rights of the people in the face of the court, and the true and honest counsels, always given by him, in times of great difficulty, both to Elizabeth and her successor. When was a base sycophant' loved and honored by piety such as that of Herbert, Tenison, and Rawley, by noble spirits like Hobbes, Ben Jonson, and Selden, or followed to the grave, and beyond it, with devoted affection, such as that of Sir Thomas Meantys?"

Montagu closes his sketch with observing that "there is no record that he abused the influence which he possessed over the minds of all men. He ever gave honest counsel to his capricious mistress, and her pedantic successor; to the rash, turbulent Essex, and to the wily, avaricious Buckingham. There is nothing more lamentable in the annals of mankind than that false position which placed one of the greatest minds England ever possessed at the mercy of a mean King, and a base court favorite."

On going into retirement, Bacon desired the King to direct him to some literary undertaking that might add to the lustre of his reign. Whereupon the History of Henry VII was proposed; and this Bacon executed in a masterly style, considering the poverty of historic materials in that reign. This was immediately followed by an enlarged edition of his Essays, and some small pieces. The next year, he published in a greatly expanded form his great work on "The Advancement of Learning." Having but small faith in the attainment of fame among his own countrymen, and in the English language, he set about the transference of his thoughts into the Latin language, to give them currency on the Continent, and to hand them down to posterity. He called for this purpose, to his assistance Herbert, Playfair and Ben Jonson,

in presenting his new treatise and his Essays, and some minor pieces, in the Latin language; but on comparing these with the "Novum Organum," originally written in Latin by himself, it would appear (it is said) that the assistance of the persons named above was of small account, or of positive detriment.

Bacon survived King James but about one year; yet that, as the previous ones, was assiduously devoted to the work of promoting the cause of natural science. 'Whatever' (says Macauley) 'might be his pecuniary difficulties or his conjugal discomforts, the powers of his intellect still remained undiminished. Those noble studies for which he had found leisure in the midst of his professional drudgery and of courtly intrigues, gave to this last sad stage of his life a dignity beyond what power or titles could bestow. Impeached, convicted, sentenced, driven with ignominy from the presence of his sovereign, shut out from the deliberations of his fellow nobles, loaded with debt, branded with dishonor, sinking under the weight of years, sorrow and disease, Bacon was Bacon still. In his will, he expressed, with singular brevity, energy, dignity and pathos, a mournful consciousness that his actions had not been such as to entitle him to the esteem of those under whose observation his life had been passed; and, at the same time, a proud confidence that his writings had secured for him a high and permanent place among the benefactors of mankind. So at least we understand those striking words which have been often quoted:-' For my name and memory, I leave it to men's charitable speeches, and to foreign nations, and to the next age.' His confidence was just. From the day of his death (which occurred at Highgate, 9th April, 1626), his fame has been constantly and steadily progressive; and we have no doubt that his name will be named with reverence to the latest ages, and to the remotest ends of the civilized world."

Bacon's habits of study were severe. His long vacations (when in public life), and such hours as could be spared from his official duties, were passed in his library in hard

study, and it is said that he made notes of every thing important that he read, and arranged his papers under their appropriate heads of human knowledge. For general views he does not seem much indebted to books; he used them chiefly as models of style, and sources of illustration—not of instruction. Among the Latin authors, Tacitus was his favorite, and may have contributed to the singular terseness of his style, and to his perspicuity of remark upon the peculiarities of human nature. His use of Greek authors seems to have been, chiefly, through the medium of Latin translalations. He was regarded as the best writer and speaker of his day, both by his enemies and his friends; but it is thought that a large measure of his contemporaneous fame was to be ascribed to his public position, princely mansion, and splendid entertainments. "It was the possession of the great seal that made it fashionable to read what few could understand, pushed his works into circulation during an unlettered age, and gave him Europe for an auditory.'

"Whether then" (says Mr. Devey), we consider moral admonitions, the highest philosophical achievements, prac tical civil wisdom, or the most splendid legal and forensic talents, the life and works of Lord Bacon stand, if not alone in the world, at least without their rival in modern annals. To the universality of this panegyric, Burke, who borrowed from him his sagest political observations, bears testimony: 'Who is there that, upon hearing the name of Lord Bacon, does not instantly recognize every thing of genius the most profound, every thing of literature the most extensive, every thing of discovery the most penetrating, every thing of observation on human life the most distinguishing and refined? All these must be instantly recognized, for they are inseparably associated with the name of Lord Verulam.' Speech on Warren Hastings.”