登陆注册
5406800000229

第229章 FRANCIS BACON(29)

Montagu prove that, in Bacon's age, the practices for which Bacon was punished were generally considered as innocent, and we admit that he has made out his point.But this we defy him to do.That these practices were common we admit; but they were common just as all wickedness to which there is strong temptation always was and always will be common.They were common just as theft, cheating, perjury, adultery have always been common.They were common, not because people did not know what was right, but because people liked to do what was wrong.They were common, though prohibited by law.They were common, though condemned by public opinion.They were common, because in that age law and public opinion united had not sufficient force to restrain the greediness of powerful and unprincipled magistrates.They were common, as every crime will be common when the gain to which it leads is great, and the chance of punishment small.But, though common, they were universally allowed to be altogether unjustifiable; they were in the highest degree odious; and, though many were guilty of them, none had the audacity publicly to avow and defend them.

We could give a thousand proofs that the opinion then entertained concerning these practices was such as we have described.But we will content ourselves with calling a single witness, honest Hugh Latimer.His sermons, preached more than seventy years before the inquiry into Bacon's conduct, abound with the sharpest invectives against those very practices of which Bacon was guilty, and which, as Mr.Montagu seems to think, nobody ever considered as blamable till Bacon was punished for them.We could easily fill twenty pages with the homely, but just and forcible rhetoric of the brave old bishop.We shall select a few passages as fair specimens, and no more than fair specimens, of the rest."Omnes diligunt munera.They all love bribes.Bribery is a princely kind of thieving.They will be waged by the rich, either to give sentence against the poor, or to put off the poor man's cause.

This is the noble theft of princes and magistrates.They are bribe-takers.Nowadays they call them gentle rewards.Let them leave their colouring, and call them by their Christian name--bribes." And again."Cambyses was a great emperor, such another as our master is.He had many lord-deputies, lord-presidents, and lieutenants under him.It is a great while ago since I read the history.It chanced he had under him, in one of his dominions, a briber, a gift-taker, a gratifier of rich men; he followed gifts as fast as he that followed the pudding, a hand-maker in his office to make his son a great man, as the old saying is: Happy is the child whose father goeth to the devil.The cry of the poor widow came to the emperor's ear, and caused him to flay the judge quick, and laid his skin in the chair of judgment, that all judges that should give judgment afterwards should sit in the same skin.Surely it was a goodly sign, a goodly monument, the sign of the judge's skin.I pray God we may once see the skin in England." "I am sure," says he, in another sermon, "this is scala inferni, the right way to hell, to be covetous, to take bribes, and pervert justice.If a judge should ask me the way to hell, Iwould show him this way.First, let him be a covetous man; let his heart be poisoned with covetousness.Then let him go a little further, and take bribes; and, lastly, pervert judgment.Lo, here is the mother, and the daughter, and the daughter's daughter.

Avarice is the mother: she brings forth bribe-taking, and bribe-taking perverting of judgment.There lacks a fourth thing to make up the mess, which, so help me God, if I were judge, should be hangum tuum, a Tyburn tippet to take with him; an it were the judge of the King's Bench, my Lord Chief Judge of England, yea, an it were my Lord Chancellor himself, to Tyburn with him." We will quote but one more passage."He that took the silver basin and ewer for a bribe, thinketh that it will never come out.

But he may now know that I know it, and I know it not alone;there be more beside me that know it.Oh, briber and bribery!

He was never a good man that will so take bribes.Nor can Ibelieve that he that is a briber will be a good justice.It will never be merry in England till we have the skins of such.

For what needeth bribing where men do their things uprightly?"This was not the language of a great philosopher who had made new discoveries in moral and political science.It was the plain talk of a plain man, who sprang from the body of the people, who sympathised strongly with their wants and their feelings, and who boldly uttered their opinions.It was on account of the fearless way in which stout-hearted old Hugh exposed the misdeeds of men in ermine tippets and gold collars, that the Londoners cheered him, as he walked down the Strand to preach at Whitehall, struggled for a touch of his gown, and bawled, "Have at them, Father Latimer!" It is plain, from the passages which we have quoted, and from fifty others which we might quote, that, long before Bacon was born, the accepting of presents by a judge was known to be a wicked and shameful act, that the fine words under which it was the fashion to veil such corrupt practices were even then seen through by the common people, that the distinction on which Mr.Montagu insists between compliments and bribes was even then laughed at as a mere colouring.There may be some oratorical exaggeration in what Latimer says about the Tyburn tippet and the sign of the judge's skin; but the fact that he ventured to use such expressions is amply sufficient to prove that the gift-taking judges, the receivers of silver basins and ewers, were regarded as such pests of the commonwealth that a venerable divine might, without any breach of Christian charity, publicly pray to God for their detection and their condign punishment.

同类推荐
  • 南山祖师礼赞文

    南山祖师礼赞文

    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。
  • 台海使槎录

    台海使槎录

    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。
  • 净土晨钟

    净土晨钟

    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 Coming Race

    The Coming Race

    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。
  • 太上救苦天尊说消愆灭罪经

    太上救苦天尊说消愆灭罪经

    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
  • 丹武主宰

    丹武主宰

    【火爆爽文!】丹,可救人,武,可杀人!丹武同修,踏上主宰之路!书友群升龙殿:549113243(喜欢本书的小伙伴可以加入进来!多谢了!)
  • 书穿之末世女配

    书穿之末世女配

    白星:我穿到了书里。一个要奔向星际的世界。女主贺兰心:我怎么变成配角了?小绿:你猜呢,猜到算你赢。男主冥月:我也变了配角,同命相连,所以最后咱俩是一样的结局。洛奇举手:咳,我是新晋男主,打酱油的,可以忽视我。??轻松文????萌新文???求支持??求推荐??求收藏??再求票票? ————————————————— 推新书《这末世不一般》简介:女强无男主文,无cp,快穿,轻松文倘若给你一场免费旅游,你,会不会接受?不一样的旅游,美食、冒险、危机、恐惧……这里都有,只要你还活着,就能体验常人所不知的乐趣。只要你敢来,你就会发现不一样的末世世界。欢迎来自世界各地的你们。
  • 他们这样说:中外著名教育家格言选

    他们这样说:中外著名教育家格言选

    本书所汇集的教育格言是从古今中外教育家中选取的100位教育家教育智慧的结晶,摘选了反映他们对教育问题的智慧感悟的格言700余则。这也是他们教育人生的心声——构筑成了反映其智慧结晶和人生心声的教育格言。
  • 逆天成凤

    逆天成凤

    末世佣兵穿越,被人嘲笑为废物,看她如何打脸。丹药,秘籍,萌宠,法宝,她样样具备,什么阴谋阳谋,全部打碎!且看废材如何逆天成凤。--情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 和乐天感鹤

    和乐天感鹤

    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。
  • 小事成就大事

    小事成就大事

    世界一流企业的杰出员工的共同特点,就是能做好小事,能够抓住工作中的一些细节。本书以通俗易懂的文字、饶有哲理的故事,向读者表明了一个关键的人生和工作准则:成大业若烹小鲜,做大事之前必须做好小事!
  • 离星记

    离星记

    恒浩被同伴在背后暗算,但天赐良机,恒浩重生转世为陈家长子,就此还多了个傻白甜妹妹!实力强劲天赋惊人的他也成功的获得一群妹妹的芳心,但这完全不能阻挡他成为武界的“大哥大”!!
  • 七喜

    七喜

    顾敏再次见到七喜是在三年后的一家西餐厅里和一个男人用餐。此时,她刚从美国回来,一个熟悉的身影映入她的眼帘,尽管那个身影穿着朴素的工作装,正埋头打扫卫生。可是,顾敏还是一眼认出了她。顾敏觉得有种恍若隔世的感觉,三年前,自从因为腹中孩子的去留问题,两个人产生了激烈的分歧。七喜从此杳无音信。上帝却让她三年后,重新遇到了七喜,遇到了已经不是她印象中的七喜了。顾敏努力寻找她心目中那个少女的七喜,那个清纯如水的七喜,那个把爱情当泡饭吃的七喜,那个爱幻想也爱浪漫的七喜。
  • 土地需要我们的保护(星球保卫战)

    土地需要我们的保护(星球保卫战)

    关爱自然,热爱地球,爱她的青山绿水,爱她的碧草蓝天,爱她的鸟语花香……我们要真正学会保护地球,让我们手挽手,肩并肩,心连心,筑起一道绿色的环保大堤。捍卫资源,捍卫环境,捍卫地球,捍卫我们美好的家园吧!我们要更加自觉地珍爱自然,更加积极地保护生态,努力走向生态文明新时代,作为新时代青少年的我们,关注生态文明责无旁贷。
  • 琉璃归梦玉落流芳

    琉璃归梦玉落流芳

    女扮男装的大梁女史官,娶了号称大梁第一美人的男戏子!双方新技能不断显现,身份也一再升级!为解开身世之谜,两人携玉琉璃一齐踏上漫漫旅途,而玉琉璃中一个个凄美的故事,究竟又与他们有怎样的关系?待层层谜雾解开,又会给二人带来怎样的困扰……“那你来勾引我啊,我自小便是当作男儿教养大的,你一个绝色的美人勾引我,我倒要让你看看我是否把持的住!”“相公,你来癸水了……”高能妖孽相公上线,琳琳要把持不住了!