Not long after comes the great Lord Chancellor Bacon to a Censure, for the most simple, and ridiculous follies, that ever entred into the heart of a Wise man.  He was the true Emblem of humane frailty, being more than a man in some things, and less than a woman in others.  His crime was Briberie, and Extortion (which the King hinted at in his Speech, when he facetiously sayd, He thought the Lords had bribed the Prince to speak well of them) and these he had often condemned others for as a Judge, which now he comes to suffer for as a Delinquent:  And they were proved, & aggravated against him with so many circumstances, that they fell very fouly on him, both in relation to his Reception of them, and his expending of them:  For that which he raked in, and scrued for one way, he scattered and threw abroad another; for his Servants, being young, prodigall and expensive Youths, which he kept about him, his Treasure was their common Store, which they took without stint, having free accesse to his most retired Privacies; and his indulgence to them, and familiarity with them, opened a gap to infamous Reports, which left an unsavoury Tincture on him; for where such Leeches are, there must be putrid bloud to fill their craving Appetites.  His gettings were like a Prince, with a strong hand; his expences like a Prodigall, with a weak head; and ’tis a wonder a man of his Noble, and Gallant Parts, that could fly so high above Reason, should fall so far below it; unlesse that Spirit that acted the first, were too proud to stoop, to see the deformities of the last.  And as he affected his men, so his Wife affected hers:  Seldome doth the Husband deviate one way, but the Wife goeth another.  These things came into the publique mouth, and the Genius of the Times (where malice is not corrivall) is the great Dictator of all Actions:  For innocency it self is a crime, when calumny sets her mark upon it.  How prudent therefore ought men to be, that not so much as their garments be defiled with the sour breath of the Times!

This poor Gentleman, mounted above pity, fell down below it:  His Tongue, that was the glory of his time for Eloquence, (that tuned so many sweet Harrangues) was like a forsaken Harp, hung upon the Willows, whilst the waters of affliction overflowed the banks.  And now his high-flying Orations are humbled to Supplications,...

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