CCCt lxxiv LIFE OF BACON. 



precious diamond, valuable for its worth and weight, de 

 noting the riches of the mine, (a) 



He had not any children; but, says Dr. Rawley, &quot;the 

 want of children did not detract from his good usage of 

 his consort during the intermarriage, whom he prosecuted 

 with much conjugal love and respect, with many rich gifts 

 and endowments, besides a robe of honour which he in 

 vested her withal, which she wore until her dying day, 

 being twenty years and more after his death.&quot; 



He was religious, and died in the faith established in 

 the church of England, (b) 



Bacon has been accused of servility, of dissimulation, of 

 various 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 de 

 tected 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, 



BIRON. To move wild laughter in the throat of death? 

 It cannot be ; it is impossible : 

 Mirth cannot move a soul in agony. 



Ros. Why, that s the way to choke a gibing spirit, 

 Whose influence is begot of that loose grace, 

 W T hich shallow laughing hearers give to fools : 

 A jest s prosperity lies in the ear 

 Of him that hears it, never in the tongue 

 Of him that makes it. 

 0) See ante, p. 28. (6) Rawley. 



