vi BACON 



this last honor had been bestowed upon him, the Lord Chan- 

 cellor was accused of taking bribes in the exercise of the duties 

 of his office. When he perceived that the charges would be 

 sustained, he made full confession ; maintaining, however, that 

 although he had in a few cases received presents while litigation 

 was pending, he had never had any bribe or reward in his eye 

 when he gave judgment. The sentence pronounced upon him 

 by the House of Lords directed that he should pay a fine of 

 4.0,000; that he should be imprisoned in the Tower during 

 the King's pleasure ; that he should henceforth be incapable of 

 holding any office, or of sitting in Parliament; and that he 

 should not come within twelve miles of the Court. The fine, 

 however, was never collected ; his imprisonment lasted but a 

 day or two, and he was soon allowed to take up his residence 

 at Bedford House in London. 



With regard to this sad ending to a brilliant political career, 

 it is difficult to pass judgment. It cannot, of course, be main- 

 tained that Bacon did not deserve his punishment. It is only 

 right to remember, however, that it is not fair to judge Bacon 

 by the standards of our time. The habit of receiving presents 

 from litigants was by no means uncommon, even while suits 

 were pending, and Bacon himself, while making full confession, 

 maintained that he had never perverted justice through the in- 

 fluence of bribes. His own statement gives perhaps the fairest 

 possible verdict of the case : " I was the justest judge that was 

 in England these fifty years ; but it was the justest censure that 

 was in Parliament these two hundred years." His few re- 

 maining years were devoted to the literary pursuits which had 

 previously been carried on in leisure moments during his busy 

 life. But his health had long been feeble, and, in 1626, a cold 

 caught while engaged in an experiment to test the preservative 

 properties of snow, led to a fever, of which he died on April 9th. 



" The Advancement of Learning " and the " Novum Orga- 

 num," to which this sketch is intended to serve as an introduc- 

 tion, were designed as the first and second parts of a great 

 work, planned on an ambitious scale, by the author, in six 

 parts, to be called the " Magna Instauratio." 



Without stopping to enumerate the various parts of this 

 plan, we may note that with the exception of the " Sylva Syl- 

 varum " which, together with some minor works, represents 



