And as to the money presents--every office was underpaid; this was the common way of acknowledging pains and trouble: it was analogous to a doctor's or a lawyer's fee now.

And there is no proof that either influence ever led Bacon to do wrong.

This has been said, and said with some degree of force.

But if it shows that Bacon was not in this matter below his age, it shows that he was not above it.

No one knew better than Bacon that there were no more certain dangers to honesty and justice than the interference and solicitation of the great, and the old famous pest of bribes, of which all histories and laws were full.