ost common," "base, illiberal
and filthy matters," are not to be overlooked. We find in the plays the
same novel philosophy:

"Some kinds of baseness
Are nobly undergone; and most poor matters
Point to rich ends." (Tempest, iii. 1.)

"Bacon's leading thought was the good of humanity. He held that study,
instead of employing itself in wearisome and sterile speculations,
should be engaged in mastering the secrets of nature and life, and in
applying them to human use. His method, in the attainment of this end,
was rigid and pure observation, aided by experiment and fructified by
induction.... He clearly invented a thermometer; he instituted ingenious
experiments on the compressibility of bodies, and on the density and
weight of air; he suggested chemical processes; he suggested the law of
universal gravitation, afterward demonstrated by Newton; he foresaw the
true explication of the tides, and the cause of colors." ["American
Cyclopedia." Vol. II., p. 204.]

This great work, the "Novum Organum," as often happens, was received by
the majority of readers of his time with laughter and ridicule. Coke
wrote on the title-page of a presentation copy:

"It deserveth not to be read in schools,
But to be freighted in the ship of fools."

The ill-fortune which had so shrouded Bacon's struggling youth, and
which had given way to such a magnificent sun-burst of splendid
prosperity, was again massing its clouds and determined to cover his
old age with shame, gloom and sorrow. He had been Lord Chancellor but
three years, when, on March 15, 1621, a committee of the House of
Commons reported two cases of bribery or corruption against him.
Twenty-two other cases were also soon after presented. The House of
Lords proceeded to investigate these charges, and Bacon defended
himself. It was shown that fourteen of the twenty-four cases were
presents given long after the suits were terminated; three more were
sums of money loaned in the ordinary course of business; another case
was an arbitration where compensation was due him; in another case the
gift was sent back; another present, a piece of furniture, had never
been accepted; another case was a New Year's gift, and in other cases
the money was openly paid to the officers of his court. "Thus," says
Hepworth Dixon, "after the most rigid scrutiny into his official acts,
and into the official acts of his servants, not a single fee or
remembrance, traced to the chance