You know that this great Man was accus'd of a Crime very unbecoming a Philoſopher, I mean Bribery and Extortion. You know that he was ſentenc'd by the Houſe of Lords, to pay a Fine of about four hundred thouſand French Livres; to loſe his Peerage and his Dignity of Chancellor. But in the preſent Age, the English revere his Memory to ſuch a Degree, that they will ſcarce allow him to have been guilty. In caſe you ſhould, aſk what are my Thoughts on this Head, I ſhall anſwer you in the Words which I heard the Henry St Lord Bolingbroke uſe On another Occaſion. Several Gentlemen were ſpeaking, in his Company, of the Avarice with which the late Duke of Marlborough had been charg'd, ſome Examples whereof being given, the Lord Bolingbroke was appeal'd to, (who having been in the oppoſite Party, might perhaps, without the Imputation of Indecency, have been allow'd to clear up that Matter:) "He was ſo great a Man, replied his Lordſhip that I have forgot his Vices."
