The works of Francis Bacon, lord chancellor of England.

lxii LIFE OF BACON.
Thomas Brown, one of the first physicians and but, some of the judges doubting whether it was
philosophers of his, or, indeed, of any time, who treason, he was not executed.
was devoting his life to the confutation of what The same course of private consultation with
he deemed vulgar errors! nor will the judges of the judges would have been adopted in the case
England hereafter be considered culpable for hav- of Owen, had not the attorney-general been so
ing at one session condemned and left for execu- clear in his opinion of the treason, as to induce
tion six young men and women under the age of him to think it inexpedient to imply that any
twenty, for uttering forged one pound notes; or doubt could be entertained.
for having, so late as the year 1820, publicly sold His speeches against Owen and Talbot, which
for large sums the places of the officers of their are preserved, are in the usual style of speeches
courts. of this nature, with some of the scurrility by
To persecute the lover of truth for opposing which the eloquence of the bar was at that time
established customs, and to censure him in after polluted.
ages for not having been more strenuous in oppo- When speaking of the king's clemency, he says,
sition, are errors which will never cease until the "The king has had too many causes of irritation:
pleasure of self-elevation from the depression of he has been irritated by the Powder Treason,
superiority is no more. "6 These things must con- when, in the chair of majesty, his vine and olive
tinue as they have been; so too will that also branches about him, attended by his nobles and
continue, whereupon learning hath ever relied, third estate in parliament, he was, in the twinkand which faileth not: justificata est sapientia a ling of an eye, as if it had been a particular
filiis suis." doomsday, to have been brought to ashes, and
Bacon, unmoved by the prejudice, by which dispersed to the four winds. He hath been irriduring his life he was resisted, or the scurrilous tated by wicked and monstrous libels, and by the
libels by which he was assailed, went right on- violence of demagogues who have at all times
ward in the advancement of knowledge, the only infested, and in times of disturbance, when the
effectual mode of decomposing error. Where he scum is uppermost, ever will infest society; confisaw that truth was likely to be received, he pre- dent and daring persons, Nihil tam verens, quans
sented her in all her divine loveliness. WVhen he ne dubitare aliqua de re, videretur, priding themcould not directly attack error, when the light selves in pulling down magistrates, and chanting
was too strong for weak eyes, he never omitted an the psalm, 6 Let us bind the kings in chains, and
opportunity to expose it. Truth is often silent as'the nobles in fetters of iron.' "
fearing her judge, never as suspecting her cause. During this year an event occurred, which ma
In his letter to the king, stating that. Peacham terially affected the immediate pursuits and future
had been put to the torture, he says, 6" Though we fate of Sir- Francis Bacon,-the king's selection
are driven to make our way through questions, of a new favourite.
which I wish were otherwise, yet I hope the end George Villiers, a younger son of Sir George
will be good:" and, unable at that period to Villiers and Mary Beaumont, on each side well
counteract the then common custom of importuning descended, was born in 1592. Having early lost
thejudges, he warned Villiers of the evil. " By no his father, his education was conducted by Lady
means," he says, "' be you persuaded to interpose Villiers, and, though he was naturally intelligent
yourself, either by word or letter, in any cause and of quick parts, more attention was paid to the
depending, or like to be depending in any court graces of manner and the lighter accomplishments
of justice, nor suffer any other great man to do it which ornament a gentleman, than the solid
where you can hinder it, and by all means dis- learning and virtuous precepts which form a great
suade the king himself from it, upon the impor- and good man. At the age of eighteen he travel.
tunity of any for themselves or their friends; if led to France, and, having passed three years in
it should prevail, it perverts justice; but if the the completion of his studies, he returned to the
judge be so just, and of such courage, as he ought seat of his forefathers, in Leicestershire, where
to be, as not to be inclined thereby, yet it always he conceived an intention of settling himself in
leaves a taint of suspicion behind it: judges must marriage; but, having journeyed to London, and
be as chaste as Caesar's wife, neither to be, nor to consulted Sir Thomas Gresham, that gentleman,
be suspected to be unjust; and, sir, the honour charmed by his personal beauty and graceful deof the judges in their judicature is the king's portment, advised him to relinquish his intention,
honour, whose person they represent." and try his fortune at court. Shrewd advice,
The trial of Peacham took place at Taunton on which he, without a sigh, obeyed. He sacrificed
the 7th of August, 1615, before the chief baron his affections at the first temptation of ambition.
and Sir Henry Montagu. Bacon did not attend, The king had gradually withdrawn his favou.
but the prosecution was conducted by the king's from Somerset, equally displeased by the haughsergeant and solicitor, when the old clergyman, tiness of his manners, and by an increasing gloom,
who defended himself "6 very simply, although that obscured all those lighter qualities which had
vbstinately and doggedly enough," was convicted, formerly contributed to his amusement, a gloonl