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 33 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 



