For my name and memory I leave it to men’s charitable speeches, and to foreign nations, and the next ages.
ATTRIBUTION:
Francis Bacon (1561–1626), British philosopher, essayist, statesman. last will, Dec. 19, 1625. Works of Francis Bacon, vol. 3 (ed. 1765).
Appointed Lord Chancellor in 1618, Bacon was removed from office three years later for accepting a bribe from a litigant. Alexander Pope summed up his character thus: “If parts allure thee, think how Bacon shined, The wisest, brightest, meanest of mankind.” (Essay on Man, epistle 4, l. 281-2).
