FEANCIS BACON. 29 



his Court, the Court of Chancery, -when those ahuses brought 

 him in hu-ge sums of money, and we cannot wonder that he 

 shouhl bo utterly oblivious to the fact that he was wrong in not 

 at once putting a stop to such abuses. Spedding says: "Up to 

 the day when the charge of corruption was brought against him, 

 I fancy that he had thought himself, in his dealings with other 

 men, not only unimpeachable but exemplary : a faithful and 

 diligent servant ; a considerate and indulgent master ; a service- 

 able friend ; a sound patriot, always meditating projects for the 

 improvement and advancement of his country ; an enthusiast of 

 humanity, passionately ambitious to enlarge the powers, heal the 

 diseases, and purify the condition of the human race ; in debate, 

 fair and courteous ; in council, free, careful, candid ; anxious that 

 all things should be carried with due consideration for the just 

 interests of all parties and without just offence to any ; seeking for 

 himself scarcely anything except work and the wages of work 

 which he was well able to do and which he did well ; receiving for 

 himself nothing but what was freely offered, and giving more freely 

 than he received ; an honourable opponent, an indulgent censor, 

 a faithful reporter, a laborious worker, an honest and unselfish 

 adviser, an impartial and scrupulous judge, and filled (as himself 

 could best witness) with tender consideration for all sentient 

 creatures." All this he was, but it is probably a fairer summary 

 of the opinions formed of him by his friends and associates than of 

 his own opinion of himself, for he was not presumptuous, nor was he 

 self-reliant ; in fact it was a failing with him to place too much 

 reliance on the opinions of those around him and too little on his 

 own, — to yield too readily when he was in the right to the views 

 of those who were in the wrong. Mr. Spedding elsewhere says : 

 " The qualities for which he gave himself credit were only patience 

 and faith, and love of truth, carrying with it confidence in the 

 power of truth," which is very different from confidence in himself, 

 or in his own power of divining truth. In fact he confessed that 

 he had " misspent his talent in things for which he was least fit." 

 In this he shows the true modesty of a great mind. If he had 

 spent his life in seclusion, as he once contemplated, he would 

 probably have been no better satisfied with himself. He might 

 have completed his 'Great Instauration,' and then have come to 

 the conclusion that after all his endeavours to pro^-ide mankind 

 with a key with which to unlock the secrets of nature, he had 

 " misspent his talent " and failed. 



Surely, though, his life was not a failure, for since the com- 

 mencement of the Christian era no one has done more than he did 



