Francis Bacon and his secret society - Grand Lodge of Colorado

"
74 FRANCIS BACON
heart in a depraved habit of taking rewards to pervert justice,
. . . howsoever I be frail and partake of the abuses of the times.
Resolving to defend nothing in himself, and praying God that
" no hardness of heart steal upon me under show of more neatness
of conscience than is cause. "
(Montagu, Spedding, and others.)
Overwhelmed with horror and surprise at the charges brought
against him— Acknoivledges carelessness — Utterly repudiates
the charge of bribery — Never shows any remorse for guilt, but
even in his u prayer " regrets that he had toasted and misspent
his life in trying to follow the profession of the law and the
pursuits of a politician, for which by nature he ivas least fit
—
Not treated as degraded, but as one tvho would return to power.
" The law of nature teaches me to speak in my own defence.
With respect to this charge of bribery I am as innocent as any
born upon St. Innocents' day. I never had bribe 01 reward in
my eye or thought when pronouncing sentence or order." (B.
Montagu, Works, v. 549.)
Montagu, xii. 457^459; xvi. part ii. 426. See also Spedding's
Evenings with a Reviewer, vol. ii. Abbott, Francis Bacon, pp.
306, 320. Hepworth Dixon, " Story, " pp. 410-411, 412-447, 466,
482; and "Personal Life." Council Registers, Dec. 30, 1617;
Mar. 17-27, 1618; June 19, 1619; Jan. 20, 1620. Bacon Memoranda,
Lambeth MSS., 936, fol. 146.
Without a sense of humour — Never made apun or a quibble.
What is said by Dr. Rawley [see below] of Bacon's avoidance
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of all mere verbal conceits is true, and the fact merits
especial attention as notably discriminating the wit of Bacon
from that of every other English writer eminent for that quality
in his age. Probably nothing resembling a pun, or any quibble
of that class, is to be found in all that he has written."
(Craik, i.30.)
" The idea of robbing the world of Shakespeare for such a stiff,
legal-headed old jack-ass as Bacon, is a modern invention of
fools. " (Essay on " The Humbug of Bacon, " signed B. J. A., in
the New York Herald, Oct. 5, 1874.)
This extract is given as a