Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume II.djvu/224

 20-i BACON chapter, and the whole of modern discovery the completion. Bacon's leading thought was the good of humanity. He held that study, instead of employing itself in wearisome and sterile speculations, should be engaged in mas- tering the secrets of nature and life, and in applying them to human use. His method in the attainment of this end was rigid and pure observation, aided by experiment, and fructified by induction. Instead of hypotheses he asked for facts, gathered laboriously from the watch of nature's silent revolutions, or extorted skil- fully by instruments and trials, and carried forward by careful generalizations from the world of the known to the unknown. From effects to causes, and not from causes to effects, was the spirit of his recommendations. And that he might not mislead any one by mere general views, Bacon constructed the new logic of observation and induction, and sought to exemplify it in numerous instances. It is in this latter process that he has the least suc- ceeded; but it would be unjust to judge of Bacon's system by its failures. He did not pro- pose to himself in the Novum Organum to make discoveries, but simply to cause them to be made, or to teach the art by which they could be made. He compared himself to those statues of Mercury which indicate the way although they do not pass over it themselves, or to a trumpet which sounds the charge while it takes no part in the battle. Yet even in this, the least happy part of his work, Bacon exhibits a fine scientific sense, and anticipates discoveries reserved as the reward of later re- search. He clearly, for instance, invented a thermometer (1. ii. aph. 13) ; he instituted in- genious experiments on the compressibility of bodies, and on the density and weight of air ; he suggests chemical processes (aph. 48) ; he suspected the law of universal attraction (aph. 35, 36, and 45), afterward demonstrated by Newton ; he foresaw the true explication of the tides (aph. 45, 48), and the cause of colors, which he ascribes to the manner in which bodies, owing to their different texture, reflect the rays of light. Nor did Bacon, as some have wrongly supposed, confine his method to the natural sciences alone ; he clearly intended its use in psychological investigations as well; and the metaphysics of the Scotch school are an attempt to render mental science according to his rules. This immense and unprecedent- ed book was received with admiration by a dis- cerning few, but with ridicule and scorn by the would-be wits and geniuses. Bacon's old enemy Coke wrote upon the title page of a presentation copy, havins the device of a ship passing the pillars of Hercules, " It deserveth not to be read in schools, But to be freighted in the ship of fools." Others said that he wrote of philosophy like a lord chancellor. King James, in his pedantic conceit, compared it to the peace of God, which passeth all understanding. Yet there were some who perceived its truth, among the rest Ben Jonson and Sir Henry Wotton; the latter of whom, addressing him, said, "Your lord- ship hath done a great and everlasting benefit to all the children of nature, and to nature her- self in her uppermost extent of latitude: who never before had so noble and so true an in- terpreter, never so inward a secretary of her cabinet." But the glory of Bacon ascended on the eve of a most disgraceful fall. His moral dignity was not on a level with his intel- lectual penetration. He had a broad, and deep, and vigorous, but not a lofty nature. Giving himself up to improvidence, his need of money betrayed him into practices of corruption. Jn the house of commons on March 15, 1621, Sir Robert Phillips reported from a committee ap- pointed to inquire into the abuses of courts of justice, two cases of corruption against the lord chancellor. One of these was on a petition of a man named Aubrey, who alleged that he had paid Bacon 100 to advance a suit; and another on that of one Egerton, who had given him a gratuity of 400. Before the close of the proceedings, similar cases to the number of 24 were presented. The commons referred the case to the house of peers, as the only tribunal capable of trying the lord chancellor. Bacon resolved to stand up manfully against his accusers; but, his health giving way, he could only write to the lords. He requested that his case should be conducted according to the strictest rules of justice, to which the lords replied that it should be. His friends he as- sured in the strongest terms of his innocence. In 14 cases it was shown that the presents were given long after the suits were terminated ; in other cases the decrees which he rendered had been against the donors; and in other cnsis the presents were considered not as gifts but as loans, and he had decided against his credi- tors. Yet, when brought to the test, Bacon submitted to the accusations. His submission, it is alleged, was brought about by the king, who even persuaded Bacon to sacrifice himself to the popular excitement. On April 22, 1021, he wrote to the lords that he abandoned his defence, and moved them to condemn and cen- sure him. The house required that he should furnish categorical answers to the several ar- ticles of charge, which he did, saying to each, "I do plainly and ingenuously confess that I am guilty of corruption, and do renounce all defence," &c. A deputation of the lords being appointed to wait on him, to ask if the confes- sion was his, he said: "It is my act, my hand, my heart. I beseech your lordships, be merci- ful to a broken reed." His humiliation was complete, and his spirit was crushed within him. He hoped that the king, or his son, or their favorite Buckingham, would interfere to stay the sentence ; but they refused. On the 3d of May he was sentenced to a fine of 40,000, and to imprisonment in the Tower during the king's pleasure. He was released from im- prisonment after two days, and the fine was subsequently remitted; but his disgrace was