94 James Ley, Earl of Marlborough. 
as substantives, but as adjectives; but the Lord Chief Justice ruled 
that it was as wrong to injure the reputation of a neighbour with 
an adjective as with a substantive ; in which decision, with all due 
deference to Lord Campbell, we, who are unlearned in the law, will 
most probably agree. 
The judge had written a book on wards and liveries, which was 
an authority as long as it was needed, and he still continued to 
compile reports of cases which were tried at Westminster during 
the reigns of James and Charles. 
And now, in the first year of his office, the Lord Chief Justice 
was called to execute a most important and delicate task, for which 
his high character singled him out. Bacon, the great philosopher, 
now created Viscount St. Albans, was Lord Chancellor, and whispers 
were heard that he had not been above receiving bribes from the 
suitors in the Court of Chancery. Bacon has been called—I think 
by Pope—“ the greatest and the meanest of mankind.” He was 
certainly the greatest thinker of his day, and the reputation of the 
“ Novum Organum ” is as great now as it was then ; and some in 
our time have asserted that he was the real author of Shakespeare’s 
plays, and that Shakespeare was only the actor who placed them on 
the stage. It is difficult now to ascertain with clearness the measure 
of Lord Bacon’s guilt. It is certain that he accepted bribes, but 
it has never been proved that these bribes perverted justice. The 
accusation was rather that he received bribes and then decided 
against the givers. The fact was really this. There was then, as 
there has been in later days, a block of business in the Court of 
Chancery, and years might elapse before a suit came on for hearing, 
unless some interest was used with the Lord Chancellor to place it 
early on the list. A request that it might be heard soon was often 
accompanied by a present, which Bacon accepted, because his expenses 
were so great that often he did not know where to turn for money. 
This was not right, but it appears to have been the extent of the 
alleged bribery and corruption; and if Bacon’s decisions had been 
in favour of the suitors who were supposed to have bribed him, 
nothing more would have been heard about it. 
There were, however, some who were disappointed and aggrieved 
