From the single charge, made in the middle of March, it had swelled in force and volume like a rising mountain torrent.

That all these charges should have sprung out of the ground from their long concealment is strange enough.

How is it that nothing was heard of them when the things happened?
And what is equally strange is that these charges were substantially true and undeniable; that this great Lord Chancellor, so admirable in his despatch of business, hitherto so little complained of for wrong or unfair decisions, had been in the habit of receiving large sums of money from suitors, in some cases certainly while the suit was pending.

And further, while receiving them, while perfectly aware of the evil of receiving gifts on the seat of judgment, while emphatically warning inferior judges against yielding to the temptation, he seems really to have continued unconscious of any wrong-doing while gift after gift was offered and accepted.

But nothing is so strange as the way in which Bacon met the charges.