But he could not always proceed unchecked. Nemesis was not forgetful of the right. Bacon had reached the summit of his ambition; he was Lord High Chancellor of England, and in that character soon became notorious for the bribes which he accepted for his judgments. This more than European philosopher, this author of a new logic, and of works which brought the learned from all parts of Christendom to converse with him, was known to take bribes as a judge! A committee of the House of Commons was appointed to investigate such corruption. The Chancellor shuffled, equivocated, denied, but at last confessed, because the evidence was such as no partiality could escape. A great number of charges of bribery were established. The whole have been supposed to amount to £100,000. Bacon was about to be impeached. He broke down under the load of infamy, and appealed to the King to interpose; but all was unavailing, and the Lord High Chancellor of England, one of the profoundest thinkers of modern times, gave in to his peers, "His confession and humble submission." It says, "I do plainly and ingenuously confess that I am guilty of corruption; and do renounce all defence and put myself upon the grace and mercy of your Lordships." When visited at his house, where he lay in shattered health, to ascertain the genuineness of his signature to the confession, he exclaimed, "My lords, it is my act, my hand, my heart. I beseech your Lordships to be merciful to a broken reed;" and he subsequently surrendered the great seal, the bauble for which, Macaulay says, he had sullied his integrity, had resigned his independence, had violated the most sacred obligations of friendship and gratitude, had flattered the worthless, had persecuted the innocent, had tampered with judges, had tortured prisoners, and had wasted on paltry intrigues all the powers of the most exquisitely constructed intellect that has ever been bestowed on any of the children of men. HIS DISGRACE. Bacon's sentence from his peers was, a fine of £40,000; he was to be imprisoned in the Tower during the King's pleasure; to be for ever incapable of holding any public office, place, or employment, and never to sit in Parliament, or come within the verge of the court. The king was eventually moved to rescind the judgment, but Bacon was then too old to profit by the clemency--he was on the eve of passing away to meet the just and merciful Judge of the skies.