He rose to the
highest place and honour; and yet that place and honour were but the
fringe and adornment of all that made him great. It is difficult to
imagine a grander and more magnificent career; and his name ranks among
the few chosen examples of human achievement. And yet it was not only an
unhappy life; it was a poor life. We expect that such an overwhelming
weight of glory should be borne up by a character corresponding to it in
strength and nobleness. But that is not what we find. No one ever had a
greater idea of what he was made for, or was fired with a greater desire
to devote himself to it. He was all this. And yet being all this, seeing
deep into man's worth, his capacities, his greatness, his weakness, his
sins, he was not true to what he knew. He cringed to such a man as
Buckingham. He sold himself to the corrupt and ignominious Government of
James I. He was willing to be employed to hunt to death a friend like
Essex, guilty, deeply guilty, to the State, but to Bacon the most loving
and generous of benefactors.
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