登陆注册
4705400000487

第487章

Mr. Montagu tells us, most justly, that we ought not to transfer the opinions of our age to a former age. But he has himself committed a greater error than that against which he has cautioned his readers. Without any evidence, nay, in the face of the strongest evidence, he ascribes to the people of a former age a set of opinions which no people ever held. But any hypothesis is in his view more probable than that Bacon should have been a dishonest man. We firmly believe that, if papers were to be discovered which should irresistibly prove that Bacon was concerned in the poisoning of Sir Thomas Overbury, Mr. Montagu would tell us that, at the beginning of the seventeenth century, it was not thought improper in a man to put arsenic into the broth of his friends, and that we ought to blame, not Bacon, but the age in which he lived.

But why should we have recourse to any other evidence, when the proceeding against Lord Bacon is itself the best evidence on the subject? When Mr. Montagu tells us that we ought not to transfer the opinions of our age to Bacon's age, he appears altogether to forget that it was by men of Bacon's own age, that Bacon was prosecuted, tried, convicted, and sentenced. Did not they know what their own opinions were? Did not they know whether they thought the taking of gifts by a judge a crime or not? Mr. Montagu complains bitterly that Bacon was induced to abstain from making a defence. But, if Bacon's defence resembled that which is made for him in the volume before us, it would have been unnecessary to trouble the Houses with it. The Lords and Commons did not want Bacon to tell them the thoughts of their own hearts, to inform them that they did not consider such practices as those in which they had detected him as at all culpable. Mr. Montagu's proposition may indeed be fairly stated thus:--It was very hard that Bacon's contemporaries should think it wrong in him to do what they did not think it wrong in him to do. Hard indeed; and withal somewhat improbable. Will any person say that the Commons who impeached Bacon for taking presents, and the Lords who sentenced him to fine, imprisonment, and degradation for taking presents, did not know that the taking of presents was a crime?

Or, will any person say that Bacon did not know what the whole House of Commons and the whole House of Lords knew? Nobody who is not prepared to maintain one of these absurd propositions can deny that Bacon committed what he knew to be a crime.

It cannot be pretended that the Houses were seeking occasion to ruin Bacon, and that they therefore brought him to punishment on charges which they themselves knew to be frivolous. In no quarter was there the faintest indication of a disposition to treat him harshly. Through the whole proceeding there was no symptom of personal animosity or of factious violence in either House.

Indeed, we will venture to say that no State-Trial in our History is more creditable to all who took part in it, either as prosecutors or judges. The decency, the gravity, the public spirit, the justice moderated but not unnerved by compassion, which appeared in every part of the transaction, would do honour to the most respectable public men of our own times. The accusers, while they discharged their duty to their constituents by bringing the misdeeds of the Chancellor to light, spoke with admiration of his many eminent qualities. The Lords, while condemning him, complimented him on the ingenuousness of his confession, and spared him the humiliation of a public appearance at their bar. So strong was the contagion of good feeling that even Sir Edward Coke, for the first time in his life, behaved like a gentleman. No criminal ever had more temperate prosecutors than Bacon. No criminal ever had more favourable judges. If he was convicted, it was because it was impossible to acquit him without offering the grossest outrage to justice and common sense.

Mr. Montagu's other argument, namely, that Bacon, though he took gifts, did not take bribes, seems to us as futile as that which we have considered. Indeed, we might be content to leave it to be answered by the plainest man among our readers. Demosthenes noticed it with contempt more than two thousand years ago.

Latimer, we have seen, treated this sophistry with similar disdain. "Leave colouring," said he, "and call these things by their Christian name, bribes." Mr. Montagu attempts, somewhat unfairly, we must say, to represent the presents which Bacon received as similar to the perquisites which suitors paid to the members of the Parliaments of France. The French magistrate had a legal right to his fee; and the amount of the fee was regulated by law. Whether this be a good mode of remunerating judges is not the question. But what analogy is there between payments of this sort, and the presents which Bacon received, presents which were not sanctioned by the law, which were not made under the public eye, and of which the amount was regulated only by private bargain between the magistrate and the suitor?

Again, it is mere trifling to say that Bacon could not have meant to act corruptly, because he employed the agency of men of rank, of bishops, privy councillors, and members of Parliament; as if the whole history of that generation was not full of the low actions of high people; as if it was not notorious that men, as exalted in rank as any of the decoys that Bacon employed, had pimped for Somerset, and poisoned Overbury.

同类推荐
  • 量知篇

    量知篇

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 开元天宝遗事

    开元天宝遗事

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 居家必用事类全集

    居家必用事类全集

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • The Master of Mrs. Chilvers

    The Master of Mrs. Chilvers

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 自在王菩萨经

    自在王菩萨经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 领主之王

    领主之王

    什么叫做笨蛋,别人学一遍,他要学而二十遍以上什么叫天才,别人教都教不会,我看一遍就会什么叫实力,别人一剑杀十人,我一剑灭沧桑魔法源自何方,武者和魔法的剧烈碰撞,谁输谁赢,苍天部星阵何意?尽在其领主之王
  • 异世界的美食家

    异世界的美食家

    在武者举手可裂山川,甩腿可断长河的玄幻世界中,存在着这样一家小餐馆。小餐馆不大,但却是无数顶尖强者趋之若鹜之地。在那儿你可以品尝到用凤凰蛋和龙血米炒成的蛋炒饭。在那儿你可以喝到生命之泉配朱果酿制的烈酒。在那儿你可以吃到九阶至尊兽肉配上黑胡椒的烤肉。什么你想把厨师掳回家?不可能,因为餐馆门口趴着一只看门的十阶神兽,地狱犬。哦,那个厨师还有一个可以单手捏死九品至尊的铁疙瘩助手和一群被征服了胃的疯狂女人。本书讨论群一群:550248234(已满)欢迎大家加入二群:208206733
  • 剩男宝根闯北京

    剩男宝根闯北京

    乡村剩男宝根陷入婚恋绝境,突发奇想要改变自己的命运,扛着行李闯北京。在北京他认识两个人,齐百荷和阿花。齐百荷是个独立上进的大龄白领剩女,姐弟恋失败,宝根的出现,促成了她与小男友秦帅的复合。阿花是宝根的初恋,离异后开餐馆营生。京城重逢,宝根和两位剩女演绎出特别的故事。
  • 重生之花好悦缘

    重生之花好悦缘

    若苍天再给她活一世,必定做个明白人,守护在亲人的身旁,不求大富大贵,只求平淡从容……再次重生,她快乐无比,暗自发誓,一定会把这一世活的圆满。只是她明明都已经在避开了,为何渣男渣女还要来招惹她?真当她好欺负不成?陈悦之:既然你们前来找虐,那我就成全你们!
  • 如果不能再爱你

    如果不能再爱你

    一生中总有这样一个人,你只需看一眼便就是一生,除他之外便失去了爱人的能力。年少时的懵懂暗恋牵扯出一生的情缘,这份没有说出口的爱隔了四年,再见时却已是沧海桑田。四年前,他把无法说出的爱恋悄悄地藏进她的字典里;她远远地望着他,把他的样子偷偷地画在画里;四年里她对身旁深爱她的人置若罔闻,关闭心门只为等一个不确定的未来。来不及说再见,这些年在没有彼此的日子里过得不好不坏,只是少了那个人的存在。四年后,他是海外归来的天之骄子,她是名不见经传的记者兼主播,当她满怀欣喜的见他时,他却摇身一变成了她堂妹的男朋友,而自己的亲姐姐竟成了他的继母!原本以为一切已经尘埃落定,再也没有任何交集,却不知在那些错过的时间空白里,彼此间那份无法搁浅的爱早已缠绕成一团解不开的线把彼此的命运紧紧的纠缠在一起。她说:“如果不能再爱你,我的生命将失去所有的意义。”他笑着说:“你便是我全部的意义。”谨以此文献给那些还没有说出口的和那些已经错过的爱恋。
  • 帝少请出戏

    帝少请出戏

    〈半本免费+重生+娱乐圈+宠文〉“南沅就是我顾北辙的命,谁若动了我的命,我就跟他拼命!”男人的话铿锵有力,炸响在南沅的脑海里。重活一世,她携恨而归,只想护她所爱,刃她所恨,圆她所梦,就连与他结婚也只是权宜之计。谁料婚后百般照料不说,一次意外,她才明白,她的一帆风顺不过是他的一路保驾护航。“为……为什么对我这么好?”“因为是你。”男人的眸光深如寒潭,几乎要将她溺毙。<南辕北辙,兜兜转转,幸好最后还是你。>[欢迎小可爱加入读者群号码.956-760-441]
  • 老季生病

    老季生病

    初夏的一天下午,老季走在周家角镇的祥凝浜路上,脚步有点软。祥凝浜路以前是条河浜,后来填了河,筑了路。被填了的那条河老季小时候见过,秋生菱角夏长荷,春凫鸭子冬溜孩子,淌水时清澈如镜,结冰时溜光闪亮。这条有时淌水有时结冰的河流在老季的脑幕上蜿蜒向前时,老季的脚步越发软了,脚下还有打滑的感觉,可理智告诉他,他不是走在河上,而是走在路上。他走在路上时看到了几张熟悉的面孔,同时感到自己的身体像是哪里出了问题。其实几天前他就感到了问题的苗头,他抽烟无味,喝酒呛喉,就是身子向他提出的警告,可他无视这警告,他认为只要挺几天就过去了。多年来,他就是这么挺的。
  • 凌霜辞

    凌霜辞

    世人皆知,庾殇放着好好的正道不走,私通邪魔外道,不知害了多少修士甚至婴孩的性命。于是天谰宗大义灭亲,将庾殇与他那一众亲传弟子尽数问斩。可这一切,都是真的么?少女从断天水牢中逃出,手中有师父给的储物戒指,里面有一封要交给别人的信。可如何寻得那人?少女在冰天雪地中单独修炼,为的是有朝一日查明真相,她不信她的师父会害那婴孩的性命!
  • 情河水

    情河水

    “情”这个字,包含了太多,无法想象的苦难,有人历经几世的折磨只为当初的那一句“来世我们还在一起。”也有人在情中渐渐迷失自我,渐渐忘记那些美好的记忆,只为追求更好的自己。我在这里生活了太久,对那些恩恩怨怨、凄凄凉凉、纷纷杂杂的痴男怨女、弃妇荡妇早已麻木,可殊不知我的七情六欲却没有断干净。注:此由清河书引出各个故事,各个故事之间并不相连。
  • 寸心爱

    寸心爱

    一段校园的恋情,两颗真心的呵护,能否于沧海桑田变化中存下?倾玖玖:“他喜欢我,他不喜欢我,他喜欢我,他不喜欢我……”晨烨:“我不喜欢你。”倾玖玖:“晨烨!!!你给我滚!!!”晨烨:“我从来都不喜欢你,我只是爱你!”倾玖玖:“晨烨,如果可以的话,我希望你能忘了我。”晨烨:“玖玖,我会在家等着你。我不会忘了你!”半夏微凉,时光荏苒,愿此情不变,天慈地悯。