CXCV111 LIFE OF BACON. 



improvement of the law, in obedience to his favourite 

 maxim, &quot;that every man is a debtor to his profession, 

 from the which, as men do of course seek countenance and 

 profit, so ought they of duty to endeavour themselves by 

 way of amends to be a help and ornament.&quot; (a) 



As a Judge, he, from his infancy, had seen the different 

 modes in which judicial duties were discharged, had medi 

 tated deeply and published his opinions upon the perfection 

 of these duties &quot; to the suitors, to the advocates, to the 

 officers of justice underneath them, and to the sovereign 

 or state above them:&quot;(&) and, in his addresses to the 

 judges upon their appointment or promotion, he availed 

 himself of every opportunity to explain them. 



As a Statesman, we have seen that he was cradled in 

 politics (c) that his works abound with notices of his poli 

 tical exertions ; that his advice to Sir George Villiers is 

 an essay upon all the various duties of a statesman, with 

 respect to religion, j ustice, the council table, foreign nego- 

 ciations, peace and war, trade, the colonies and the 

 court ;(d) and of his parliamentary eloquence his friend 

 Ben Jonson says, (e) &quot; There happened in my time one 



(a) See ante, pp. cxxxviii and clxvi, and notes C C and 3 G. 



(6) See his Essays on Delay, on Dispatch, and on Judicature. See his 

 addresses to the Judges, vol. vii. p. 241 to 270. See postea, and see his 

 advice to Villiers, vol. vi. p. 41, &quot; But because the life of the laws lies 

 in the due execution and administration of them, let your eye be, in the 

 first place, upon the choice of good judges : these properties they had need 

 to be furnished with ; to be learned in their profession, patient in hearing, 

 prudent in governing, powerful in their elocution to persuade aud satisfy 

 both the parties and hearers; just in their judgment; and, to sum up all, 

 they must have these three attributes ; they must be men of courage, fearing 

 God, and hating covetousness ; an ignorant man cannot, a coward dares 

 not be a good judge.&quot; 



(c) Ante, p. 111. 



(d} See vol. vi. p. 400, ante, p. clxxxi. 



(c) Ante, p. xxviii. I venture here to repeat the passage. 



