xpense, that could be requisite neither for his honor nor
entertainment. His want of economy, and his indulgence to servants, had
involved him in necessities; and, in order to supply his prodigality, he
had been tempted to take bribes, by the title of presents, and that in a
very open manner, from suitors in chancery. It appears that it had been
usual for former chancellors to take presents; and it is pretended that
Bacon, who followed the same dangerous practice, had still, in the
seat of justice, preserved the integrity of a judge, and had given just
decrees against those very persons from whom he had received the wages
of iniquity. Complaints rose the louder on that account, and at last
reached the house of commons, who sent up an impeachment against him to
the peers. The chancellor, conscious of guilt, deprecated the vengeance
of his judges, and endeavored, by a general avowal, to escape the
confusion of a stricter inquiry. The lords insisted on a particular
confession of all his corruptions. He acknowledged twenty-eight
articles; and was sentenced to pay a fine of forty thousand pounds, to
be imprisoned in the Tower during the king's pleasure, to be forever
incapable of any office, place, or employment, and never again to sit in
parliament, or come within the verge of the court.

This dreadful sentence, dreadful to a man of nice sensibility to honor,
he survived five years; and being released in a little time from the
Tower, his genius, yet unbroken, supported itself amidst involved
circumstances and a depressed spirit, and shone out in literary
productions which have made his guilt or weaknesses be forgotten or
overlooked by posterity. In consideration of his great merit, the king
remitted his fine, as well as all the other parts of his sentence,
conferred on him a large pension of one thousand eight hundred pounds
a year, and employed every expedient to alleviate the weight of his age
and misfortunes. And that great philosopher at last acknowledged with
regret, that he had too long neglected the true ambition of a fine
genius; and by plunging into business and affairs, which require much
less capacity, but greater firmness of mind, than the pursuits of
learning, had exposed himself to such grievous calamities.[*]

The commons had entertained the idea, that they were the great patrons
of the people, and that the redress of all grievances must proceed from
them; and to this principle they were chiefly beholden for