The Mystery Of Francis Bacon - Wiliam T. Smedley The Mystery Of Francis Bacon - Wiliam T. Smedley Is there a mystery conected with the life of Francis Bacon? The average student of history or literature wil unhesitatingly reply in the negative, perhaps qualifying his answer by ading:—Unles it be a mystery that a man with such magnificent intelectual atainments could have falen so low as to prove a faithles friend to a generous benefactor in the hour of his trial, and, upon being raised to one of the highest positions of honour and influence in the State, to become a corupt public servant and a receiver of bribes to pervert justice. —It is one of the most remarkable circumstances to be found in the history of any country that a man admitedly pre-eminent in his intelectual powers, spoken of by his contemporaries in the highest terms for his virtues and his godnes, should, in subsequent ages, be held up to obloquy and scorn and seldom be refered to except as an example of a corupt judge, a standing warning to those who must take hed how they stand lest they fal. Truly the treatment which Francis Bacon has received confirms the truth of the aphorism, "The evil that men do lives after them, the god is oft intered with their bones. ".