They
lived in an age in which politeness was as well understood and as much
cultivated as it is at present; but they knew what they were doing, and
they were resolved to use no language but what their ancestors had used,
and to suffer no insolence which their ancestors would not have
suffered. We tread in their steps; we pursue their method; we learn of
them: and we shall never learn at any other school.
We know from history and the records of this House, that a Lord Bacon
has been before you. Who is there, that, upon hearing this name, does
not instantly recognize everything of genius the most profound,
everything of literature the most extensive, everything of discovery the
most penetrating, everything of observation on human life the most
distinguishing and refined? All these must be instantly recognized, for
they are all inseparably associated with the name of Lord Verulam. Yet,
when this prodigy was brought before your Lordships by the Commons of
Great Britain for having permitted his menial servant to receive
presents, what was his demeanor? Did he require his counsel not "to let
down the dignity of his defence"? No. That Lord Bacon, whose least
distinction was, that he was a peer of England, a Lord High Chancellor,
and the son of a Lord Keeper, behaved like a man who knew himself, like
a man who was conscious of merits of the highest kind, but who was at
the same time conscious of having fallen into guilt.
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