Bacon, Francis
"Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand -- and melting like a snowflake."
Francis Bacon: Quotes
- Ability
Natural abilities are like natural plants, that need pruning by study.: Essays
- Adversity
Prosperity doth best discover vice, but Adversity doth best discover virtue.: Essays
- Beauty
There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion.: Essays
- Birth
It is as natural to die as to be born; and to a little infant, perhaps, the one is as painful as the other.: Essays
- Books and Reading
Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.: Essays
- Certainty
If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts, but if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties.: The Advancement of Learning
- Charity
The desire of power in excess caused the angels to fall; the desire of knowledge in excess caused man to fall: but in charity there is no excess; neither can angel or man come in danger by it.
: Essays - Children and Childhood
Children sweeten labors, but they make misfortunes more bitter. They increase the cares of life, but they mitigate the remembrance of death.: Essays
- Craftiness
Nothing doth more hurt in a state than that cunning men pass for wise.: Essays
- Death
Men fear Death, as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in children is increased with tales, so is the other.: Essays
- Fame
Fame is like a river, that beareth up things light and swollen, and drowns things weighty and solid.: Essays
- Friends and Friendship
This communicating of a man's self to his friend works two contrary effects, for it redoubleth joys, and cutteth griefs in half.: Essays
- Gardens
God Almighty first planted a garden. And indeed it is the purest of human pleasures.: Essays
- Greatness
All rising to great place is by a winding stair.: Essays
- Hope
Hope is a good breakfast, but it is a bad supper.: Apophthegms
- Knowledge and Learning
For knowledge, too, is itself power.: Meditationes Sacrae
- Leaders and Rulers
It is a miserable state of mind to have few things to desire and many things to fear; and yet that commonly is the case of kings.: Essays
- Love
It is impossible to love and to be wise.: Essays
- Money
Money is like muck, not good except it be spread.: Essays
- Nature
Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed.: Novum Organum
- Novelty
He that will not apply new remedies must expect new evils, for time is the greatest innovator.: Essays
- Opportunity
A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.: Essays
- Order and Efficiency
The human understanding, from its peculiar nature, easily supposes a greater degree of order and equality in things than it really finds.: Novum Organum
- Parents and Parenthood
The joys of parents are secret: and so are their griefs and fears.: Essays
- Power
It is a strange desire to seek power and to lose liberty, or to seek power over others and to lose power over a man's self.: Essays
- Revenge
A man that studieth revenge keeps his own wounds green, which otherwise would heal and do well.: Essays
- The Self
The arch-flatterer, with whom all the petty flatterers have intelligence, is a man's self.: Essays
- Understanding
The human understanding is like a false mirror, which, receiving rays irregularly, distorts and discolors the nature of things by mingling its own nature with it.: Novum Organum
- Virtue
Virtue is like a rich stone, best plain set.: Essays
- Wealth
Riches are a good handmaid, but the worst mistress.: De Dignitate et Augmentis Scientiarum
- Youth
Young men are fitter to invent than to judge, fitter for execution than for counsel, and fitter for new projects than for settled business.
: Essays
Francis Bacon (born January 22, 1561, York House, London, England—died April 9, 1626, London) was the lord chancellor of England (1618–21). A lawyer, statesman, philosopher, and master of the English tongue, he is remembered in literary terms for the sharp worldly wisdom of a few dozen essays; by students of constitutional history for his power as a speaker in Parliament and in famous trials and as James I’s lord chancellor; and intellectually as a man who claimed all knowledge as his province and, after a magisterial survey, urgently advocated new ways by which man might establish a legitimate command over nature for the relief of his estate.
Life
Youth and early maturity
Bacon was born January 22, 1561, at York House off the Strand, London, the younger of the two sons of the lord keeper, Sir Nicholas Bacon, by his second marriage. Nicholas Bacon, born in comparatively humble circumstances, had risen to become lord keeper of the great seal. Francis’s cousin through his mother was Robert Cecil, later earl of Salisbury and chief minister of the crown at the end of Elizabeth I’s reign and the beginning of James I’s. From 1573 to 1575 Bacon was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, but his weak constitution caused him to suffer ill health there. His distaste for what he termed “unfruitful” Aristotelian philosophy began at Cambridge. From 1576 to 1579 Bacon was in France as a member of the English ambassador’s suite. He was recalled abruptly after the sudden death of his father, who left him relatively little money. Bacon remained financially embarrassed virtually until his death.
Early legal career and political ambitions
In 1576 Bacon had been admitted as an “ancient” (senior governor) of Gray’s Inn, one of the four Inns of Court that served as institutions for legal education, in London. In 1579 he took up residence there and after becoming a barrister in 1582 progressed in time through the posts of reader (lecturer at the Inn), bencher (senior member of the Inn), and queen’s (from 1603 king’s) counsel extraordinary to those of solicitor general and attorney general. Even as successful a legal career as this, however, did not satisfy his political and philosophical ambitions.
Bacon occupied himself with the tract “Temporis Partus Maximus” (“The Greatest Part of Time”) in 1582; it has not survived. In 1584 he sat as member of Parliament for Melcombe Regis in Dorset and subsequently represented Taunton, Liverpool, the County of Middlesex, Southampton, Ipswich, and the University of Cambridge. In 1589 a “Letter of Advice” to the queen and An Advertisement Touching the Controversies of the Church of England indicated his political interests and showed a fair promise of political potential by reason of their levelheadedness and disposition to reconcile. In 1593 came a setback to his political hopes: he took a stand objecting to the government’s intensified demand for subsidies to help meet the expenses of the war against Spain. Elizabeth took offense, and Bacon was in disgrace during several critical years when there were chances for legal advancement.
Meanwhile, sometime before July 1591, Bacon had become acquainted with Robert Devereux, the young earl of Essex, who was a favourite of the queen, although still in some disgrace with her for his unauthorized marriage to the widow of Sir Philip Sidney. Bacon saw in the earl the “fittest instrument to do good to the State” and offered Essex the friendly advice of an older, wiser, and more subtle man. Essex did his best to mollify the queen, and when the office of attorney general fell vacant, he enthusiastically but unsuccessfully supported the claim of Bacon. Other recommendations by Essex for high offices to be conferred on Bacon also failed
By 1598 Essex’s failure in an expedition against Spanish treasure ships made him harder to control; and although Bacon’s efforts to divert his energies to Ireland, where the people were in revolt, proved only too successful, Essex lost his head when things went wrong and he returned against orders. Bacon certainly did what he could to accommodate matters but merely offended both sides; in June 1600 he found himself as the queen’s learned counsel taking part in the informal trial of his patron. Essex bore him no ill will and shortly after his release was again on friendly terms with him. But after Essex’s abortive attempt of 1601 to seize the queen and force her dismissal of his rivals, Bacon, who had known nothing of the project, viewed Essex as a traitor and drew up the official report on the affair. This, however, was heavily altered by others before publication.
After Essex’s execution Bacon, in 1604, published the Apologie in Certaine Imputations Concerning the Late Earle of Essex in defense of his own actions. It is a coherent piece of self-justification, but to posterity it does not carry complete conviction, particularly since it evinces no personal distress.
Career in the service of James I
When Elizabeth died in 1603, Bacon’s letter-writing ability was directed to finding a place for himself and a use for his talents in James I’s services. He pointed to his concern for Irish affairs, the union of the kingdoms, and the pacification of the church as proof that he had much to offer the new king.
Through the influence of his cousin Robert Cecil, Bacon was one of the 300 new knights dubbed in 1603. The following year he was confirmed as learned counsel and sat in the first Parliament of the new reign in the debates of its first session. He was also active as one of the commissioners for discussing a union with Scotland. In the autumn of 1605 he published his Advancement of Learning, dedicated to the king, and in the following summer he married Alice Barnham, the daughter of a London alderman. Preferment in the royal service, however, still eluded him, and it was not until June 1607 that his petitions and his vigorous though vain efforts to persuade the Commons to accept the king’s proposals for union with Scotland were at length rewarded with the post of solicitor general. Even then, his political influence remained negligible, a fact that he came to attribute to the power and jealousy of Cecil, by then earl of Salisbury and the king’s chief minister. In 1609 his De Sapientia Veterum (“The Wisdom of the Ancients”), in which he expounded what he took to be the hidden practical meaning embodied in ancient myths, came out and proved to be, next to the Essayes, his most popular book in his own lifetime. In 1614 he seems to have written The New Atlantis, his far-seeing scientific utopian work, which did not get into print until 1626.
After Salisbury’s death in 1612, Bacon renewed his efforts to gain influence with the king, writing a number of remarkable papers of advice upon affairs of state and, in particular, upon the relations between Crown and Parliament. The king adopted his proposal for removing Coke from his post as chief justice of the common pleas and appointing him to the King’s Bench, while appointing Bacon attorney general in 1613. During the next few years Bacon’s views about the royal prerogative brought him, as attorney general, increasingly into conflict with Coke, the champion of the common law and of the independence of the judges. It was Bacon who examined Coke when the king ordered the judges to be consulted individually and separately in the case of Edmond Peacham, a clergyman charged with treason as the author of an unpublished treatise justifying rebellion against oppression. Bacon has been reprobated for having taken part in the examination under torture of Peacham, which turned out to be fruitless. It was Bacon who instructed Coke and the other judges not to proceed in the case of commendams (i.e., holding of benefices in the absence of the regular incumbent) until they had spoken to the king. Coke’s dismissal in November 1616 for defying this order was quickly followed by Bacon’s appointment as lord keeper of the great seal in March 1617. The following year he was made lord chancellor and Baron Verulam, and in 1620/21 he was created Viscount St. Albans.
The main reason for this progress was his unsparing service in Parliament and the court, together with persistent letters of self-recommendation; according to the traditional account, however, he was also aided by his association with George Villiers, later duke of Buckingham, the king’s new favourite. It would appear that he became honestly fond of Villiers; many of his letters betray a feeling that seems warmer than timeserving flattery.
Among Bacon’s papers a notebook has survived, the Commentarius Solutus (“Loose Commentary”), which is revealing. It is a jotting pad “like a Marchant’s wast booke where to enter all maner of remembrance of matter, fourme, business, study, towching my self, service, others, eyther sparsim or in schedules, without any maner of restraint.” This book reveals Bacon reminding himself to flatter a possible patron, to study the weaknesses of a rival, to set intelligent noblemen in the Tower of London to work on serviceable experiments. It displays the multiplicity of his concerns: his income and debts, the king’s business, his own garden and plans for building, philosophical speculations, his health, including his symptoms and medications, and an admonition to learn to control his breathing and not to interrupt in conversation. Between 1608 and 1620 he prepared at least 12 drafts of his most-celebrated work, the Novum Organum, and wrote several minor philosophical works.
The major occupation of these years must have been the management of James, always with reference, remote or direct, to the royal finances. The king relied on his lord chancellor but did not always follow his advice. Bacon was longer sighted than his contemporaries and seems to have been aware of the constitutional problems that were to culminate in civil war; he dreaded innovation and did all he could, and perhaps more than he should, to safeguard the royal prerogative. Whether his policies were sound or not, it is evident that he was, as he later said, “no mountebank in the King’s services.”
Fall from power
By 1621 Bacon must have seemed impregnable, a favourite not by charm (though he was witty and had a dry sense of humour) but by sheer usefulness and loyalty to his sovereign; lavish in public expenditure (he was once the sole provider of a court masque); dignified in his affluence and liberal in his household; winning the attention of scholars abroad as the author of the Novum Organum, published in 1620, and the developer of the Instauratio Magna (“Great Instauration”), a comprehensive plan to reorganize the sciences and to restore man to that mastery over nature that he was conceived to have lost by the fall of Adam. But Bacon had his enemies. In 1618 he fell foul of George Villiers when he tried to interfere in the marriage of the daughter of his old enemy, Coke, and the younger brother of Villiers. Then, in 1621, two charges of bribery were raised against him before a committee of grievances over which he himself presided. The shock appears to have been twofold because Bacon, who was casual about the incoming and outgoing of his wealth, was unaware of any vulnerability and was not mindful of the resentment of two men whose cases had gone against them in spite of gifts they had made with the intent of bribing the judge. The blow caught him when he was ill, and he pleaded for extra time to meet the charges, explaining that genuine illness, not cowardice, was the reason for his request. Meanwhile, the House of Lords collected another score of complaints. Bacon admitted the receipt of gifts but denied that they had ever affected his judgment; he made notes on cases and sought an audience with the king that was refused. Unable to defend himself by discriminating between the various charges or cross-examining witnesses, he settled for a penitent submission and resigned the seal of his office, hoping that this would suffice. The sentence was harsh, however, and included a fine of £40,000, imprisonment in the Tower of London during the king’s pleasure, disablement from holding any state office, and exclusion from Parliament and the verge of court (an area of 12 miles radius centred on where the sovereign is resident). Bacon commented to Buckingham: “I acknowledge the sentence just, and for reformation’s sake fit, the justest Chancellor that hath been in the five changes since Sir Nicolas Bacon’s time.” The magnanimity and wit of the epigram sets his case against the prevailing standards.
Bacon did not have to stay long in the Tower, but he found the ban that cut him off from access to the library of Charles Cotton, an English man of letters, and from consultation with his physician more galling. He came up against an inimical lord treasurer, and his pension payments were delayed. He lost Buckingham’s goodwill for a time and was put to the humiliating practice of roundabout approaches to other nobles and to Count Gondomar, the Spanish ambassador; remissions came only after vexations and disappointments. Despite all this his courage held, and the last years of his life were spent in work far more valuable to the world than anything he had accomplished in his high office. Cut off from other services, he offered his literary powers to provide the king with a digest of the laws, a history of Great Britain, and biographies of Tudor monarchs. He prepared memorandums on usury and on the prospects of a war with Spain; he expressed views on educational reforms; he even returned, as if by habit, to draft papers of advice to the king or to Buckingham and composed speeches he was never to deliver. Some of these projects were completed, and they did not exhaust his fertility. He wrote: “If I be left to myself I will graze and bear natural philosophy.” Two out of a plan of six separate natural histories were composed—Historia Ventorum (“History of the Winds”) appeared in 1622 and Historia Vitae et Mortis (“History of Life and Death”) in the following year. Also in 1623 he published the De Dignitate et Augmentis Scientiarum, a Latin translation, with many additions, of the Advancement of Learning. He also corresponded with Italian thinkers and urged his works upon them. In 1625 a third and enlarged edition of his Essayes was published.
Bacon in adversity showed patience, unimpaired intellectual vigour, and fortitude. Physical deprivation distressed him but what hurt most was the loss of favour; it was not until January 20, 1622/23, that he was admitted to kiss the king’s hand; a full pardon never came. Finally, in March 1626, driving one day near Highgate (a district to the north of London) and deciding on impulse to discover whether snow would delay the process of putrefaction, he stopped his carriage, purchased a hen, and stuffed it with snow. He was seized with a sudden chill, which brought on bronchitis, and he died at the earl of Arundel’s house nearby on April 9, 1626.
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Thought and writings of Francis Bacon
The intellectual background
Bacon appears as an unusually original thinker for several reasons. In the first place he was writing, in the early 17th century, in something of a philosophical vacuum so far as England was concerned. The last great English philosopher, William of Ockham, had died in 1347, two and a half centuries before the Advancement of Learning; the last really important philosopher, John Wycliffe, had died not much later, in 1384.
The 15th century had been intellectually cautious and torpid, leavened only by the first small importations of Italian humanism by such cultivated dilettantes as Humphrey Plantagenet, duke of Gloucester, and John Tiptoft, earl of Worcester. The Christian Platonism of the Renaissance became more established at the start of the 16th century in the circle of Erasmus’s English friends: the so-called Oxford Reformers—John Colet, William Grocyn, and Thomas More. But that initiative succumbed to the ecclesiastical frenzies of the age. Philosophy did not revive until Richard Hooker in the 1590s put forward his moderate Anglican version of Thomist rationalism in the form of a theory of the Elizabethan church settlement. This happened a few years before Bacon began to write.
In England three systems of thought prevailed in the late 16th century: Aristotelian Scholasticism, scholarly and aesthetic humanism, and occultism. Aristotelian orthodoxy had been reanimated in Roman Catholic Europe after the Council of Trent and the Counter-Reformation had lent authority to the massive output of the 16th-century Spanish theologian and philosopher Francisco Suárez. In England learning remained in general formally Aristotelian, even though some criticism of Aristotle’s logic had reached Cambridge at the time Bacon was a student there in the mid-1570s. But such criticism sought simplicity for the sake of rhetorical effectiveness and not, as Bacon’s critique was to do, in the interests of substantial, practically useful knowledge of nature.
The Christian humanist tradition of Petrarch, Lorenzo Valla, and, more recently, of Erasmus was an active force. In contrast to orthodox asceticism, this tradition, in some aspects, inclined to glorify the world and its pleasures and to favour the beauty of art, language, and nature, while remaining comparatively indifferent to religious speculation. Attraction to the beauty of nature, however, if it did not cause was at any rate combined with neglect and disdain for the knowledge of nature. Educationally it fostered the sharp separation between the natural sciences and the humanities that has persisted ever since. Philosophically it was skeptical, nourishing itself, notably in the case of Montaigne, on the rediscovery in 1562 of Sextus Empiricus’ comprehensive survey of the skepticism of Greek thought after Aristotle.
The third important current of thought in the world into which Bacon was born was that of occultism, or esotericism, that is, the pursuit of mystical analogies between man and the cosmos, or the search for magical powers over natural processes, as in alchemy and the concoction of elixirs and panaceas. Although its most famous exponent, Paracelsus, was German, occultism was well rooted in England, appealing as it did to the individualistic style of English credulity. Robert Fludd, the leading English occultist, was an approximate contemporary of Bacon. Bacon himself has often been held to have been some kind of occultist, and, even more questionably, to have been a member of the Rosicrucian order, but the sort of “natural magic” he espoused and advertised was altogether different from that of the esoteric philosophers.
There was a fourth mode of Renaissance thought outside England to which Bacon’s thinking bore some affinity. Like that of the humanists it was inspired by Plato, at least to some extent, but by another part of his thought, namely its cosmology. This was the boldly systematic nature-philosophy of Nicholas of Cusa and of a number of Italians, in particular Bernardino Telesio, Francesco Patrizzi, Tommaso Campanella, and Giordano Bruno. Nicholas of Cusa and Bruno were highly speculative, but Telesio and, up to a point, Campanella affirmed the primacy of sense perception. In a way that Bacon was later to elaborate formally and systematically, they held knowledge of nature to be a matter of extrapolating from the findings of the senses. There is no allusion to these thinkers in Bacon’s writings. But although he was less metaphysically adventurous than they were, he shared with them the conviction that the human mind is fitted for knowledge of nature and must derive it from observation, not from abstract reasoning.
Bacon’s scheme
Bacon drew up an ambitious plan for a comprehensive work that was to appear under the title of Instauratio Magna (“The Great Instauration”), but like many of his literary schemes, it was never completed. Its first part, De Augmentis Scientiarum, appeared in 1623 and is an expanded, Latinized version of his earlier work the Advancement of Learning, published in 1605 (the first really important philosophical book to be written in English). The De Augmentis Scientiarum contains a division of the sciences, a project that had not been embarked on to any great purpose since Aristotle and, in a smaller way, since the Stoics. The second part of Bacon’s scheme, the Novum Organum, which had already appeared in 1620, gives “true directions concerning the interpretation of nature,” in other words, an account of the correct method of acquiring natural knowledge. This is what Bacon believed to be his most important contribution and is the body of ideas with which his name is most closely associated. The fields of possible knowledge having been charted in De Augmentis Scientiarum, the proper method for their cultivation was set out in Novum Organum.
Third, there is natural history, the register of matters of observed natural fact, which is the indispensable raw material for the inductive method. Bacon wrote “histories,” in this sense, of the wind, of life and death, and of the dense and the rare, and, near the end of his life, he was working on his Sylva Sylvarum: Or A Natural Historie (“Forest of Forests”), in effect, a collection of collections, a somewhat uncritical miscellany.
Fourth, there is the “ladder of the intellect,” consisting of thoroughly worked out examples of the Baconian method in application, the most successful one being the exemplary account in Novum Organum of how his inductive “tables” show heat to be a kind of motion of particles. Fifth, there are the “forerunners,” or pieces of scientific knowledge arrived at by pre-Baconian, common sense methods. Sixth and finally, there is the new philosophy, or science itself, seen by Bacon as a task for later generations armed with his method, advancing into all the regions of possible discovery set out in the Advancement of Learning. The wonder is not so much that Bacon did not complete this immense design but that he got as far with it as he did.
The idols of the mind
In the first book of Novum Organum Bacon discusses the causes of human error in the pursuit of knowledge. Aristotle had discussed logical fallacies, commonly found in human reasoning, but Bacon was original in looking behind the forms of reasoning to underlying psychological causes. He invented the metaphor of “idol” to refer to such causes of human error.
Bacon distinguishes four idols, or main varieties of proneness to error. The idols of the tribe are certain intellectual faults that are universal to mankind, or, at any rate, very common. One, for example, is a tendency toward oversimplification, that is, toward supposing, for the sake of tidiness, that there exists more order in a field of inquiry than there actually is. Another is a propensity to be overly influenced by particularly sudden or exciting occurrences that are in fact unrepresentative.
The idols of the cave are the intellectual peculiarities of individuals. One person may concentrate on the likenesses, another on the differences, between things. One may fasten on detail, another on the totality.
The idols of the marketplace are the kinds of error for which language is responsible. It has always been a distinguishing feature of English philosophy to emphasize the unreliable nature of language, which is seen, nominalistically, as a human improvisation. Nominalists argue that even if the power of speech is given by God, it was Adam who named the beasts and thereby gave that power its concrete realization. But language, like other human achievements, partakes of human imperfections. Bacon was particularly concerned with the superficiality of distinctions drawn in everyday language, by which things fundamentally different are classed together (whales and fishes as fish, for example) and things fundamentally similar are distinguished (ice, water, and steam). But he was also concerned, like later critics of language, with the capacity of words to embroil men in the discussion of the meaningless (as, for example, in discussions of the deity Fortune). This aspect of Bacon’s thought has been almost as influential as his account of natural knowledge, inspiring a long tradition of skeptical rationalism, from the Enlightenment to Comtian positivism of the 19th and logical positivism of the 20th centuries.
The fourth and final group of idols is that of the idols of the theatre, that is to say mistaken systems of philosophy in the broadest, Baconian sense of the term, in which it embraces all beliefs of any degree of generality. Bacon’s critical polemic in discussing the idols of the theatre is lively but not very penetrating philosophically. He speaks, for example, of the vain affectations of the humanists, but they were not a very apt subject for his criticism. Humanists were really anti-philosophers who not unreasonably turned their attention to nonphilosophical matters because of the apparent inability of philosophers to arrive at conclusions that were either generally agreed upon or useful. Bacon does have something to say about the skeptical philosophy to which humanists appealed when they felt the need for it. Insofar as skepticism involves doubts about deductive reasoning, he has no quarrel with it. Insofar as it is applied not to reason but to the ability of the senses to supply the reason with reliable premises to work from, he brushes it aside too easily.
Bacon’s attack on Scholastic orthodoxy is surprisingly rhetorical. It may be that he supposed it to be already sufficiently discredited by its incurably contentious or disputatious character. In his view it was a largely verbal technique for the indefinite prolongation of inconclusive argument by the drawing of artificial distinctions. He has some awareness of the central weakness of Aristotelian science, namely its attempt to derive substantial conclusions from premises that are intuitively evident, and argues that the apparently obvious axioms are neither clear nor indisputable. Perhaps Bacon’s most fruitful disagreement with Scholasticism is his belief that natural knowledge is cumulative, a process of discovery, not of conservation. Living in a time when new worlds were being found on Earth, he was able to free himself from the view that everything men needed to know had already been revealed in the Bible or by Aristotle.
Against the fantastic learning of the occultists Bacon argued that individual reports are insufficient, especially since men are emotionally predisposed to credit the interestingly strange. Observations worthy to substantiate theories must be repeatable. Bacon defended the study of nature against those who considered it as either base or dangerous. He argued for a cooperative and methodical procedure and against individualism and intuition.
The classification of the sciences
Book II of the Advancement of Learning and Books II to IX of the De Augmentis Scientiarum contain an unprecedentedly thorough and detailed systematization of the whole range of human knowledge. Bacon begins with a distinction of three faculties—memory, imagination, and reason—to which are respectively assigned history, “poesy,” and philosophy. History has an inclusive sense and means all knowledge of singular, individual matters of fact. “Poesy” is “feigned history” and not taken to be cognitive at all and so really irrelevant. After subdividing poesy perfunctorily into narrative, representative (or dramatic), and allusive (or parabolical) forms, Bacon gives it no further consideration.
History is divided into natural and civil, the civil category also including ecclesiastical and literary history (which for Bacon is really the history of ideas). History supplies the raw material for philosophy, in other words for the general knowledge that is inductively derived from it. Although Bacon proclaims the universal applicability of induction, he himself treats it almost exclusively as a means to natural knowledge and ignores its civil (or social) application.Two further general distinctions should be mentioned. The first is between the divine and the secular. Most divine knowledge must come from revelation, and reason has nothing to do with it. There is such a thing as divine philosophy (what was later called rational, or natural, theology), but its sole task and competence is to prove that there is a God. The second, more pervasive distinction is between theoretical and practical disciplines, that is, between sciences proper and technologies, or “arts.”
Bacon acknowledges something he calls first philosophy, which is secular but not confined to nature or to society. It is concerned with the principles, such as they are, that are common to all the sciences. Natural philosophy divides into natural science as theory on the one hand and the practical discipline of applying natural science’s findings to “the relief of man’s estate” on the other, which he misleadingly describes as natural magic. The former is “the inquisition of causes,” the latter, “the production of effects.”
To subdivide still further, natural science is made up of physics and metaphysics, as Bacon understands it. Physics, in his interpretation, is the science of observable correlations; metaphysics is the more theoretical science of the underlying structural factors that explains observable regularities. Each has its practical, or technological, partner; that of physics is mechanics, that of metaphysics, natural magic. It is to the latter that one must look for the real transformation of the human condition through scientific progress. Mechanics is just levers and pulleys.
Mathematics is seen by Bacon as an auxiliary to natural science. Many subsequent philosophers of science would agree, understanding it to be a logical means of expressing the content of scientific propositions or of extracting part of that content. But Bacon is not clear about how mathematics was to be of service to science and does not realize that the Galilean physics developing in his own lifetime was entirely mathematical in form. Although one of his three inductive tables is concerned with correlated variations in degree (while the others concern likenesses and differences in kind), he really has no conception of the role, already established in science, of exact numerical measurement.
Bacon is fairly cursory about “human philosophy.” Four somewhat quaint sciences of body are sketched—medicine, cosmetic, athletic, and “the voluptuary arts.” The sciences of mind—logic and ethics—are practical, consisting of sets of rules for the correct management of reasoning or conduct, with no suggested theoretical counterpart. Bacon is unreflectively conventional about moral truth, content to rely on the deliverances of the long historical sequence of moralists, undisturbed by their disagreements with one another.
Bacon represents civil philosophy in the same uninquiringly practical way. It comprises not only the art of government but also “conversation,” or the art of persuasion, and “negotiation,” or prudence, the topic of proverbs and, to a considerable extent, of his own Essayes.
In principle, Bacon is committed to the view that human beings and society are as well fitted for inductive, and, in 20th-century terms, scientific study as the natural world. Yet he depicts human and social studies as the field of nothing more refined than common sense. It was, of course, an achievement to extricate them from religion, and to do so without unnecessary provocation. But in his conception they remain practical arts with no sustaining body of scientific theory to ratify them. It was left to Thomas Hobbes, for a time Bacon’s amanuensis, to develop complete systems of human and social science. Bacon’s practice, however, was better than his program. In his writings on history and law he went beyond the commonplaces of chronicle and precedent and engaged in explanation and theory.
The new method
The core of Bacon’s philosophy of science is the account of inductive reasoning given in Book II of Novum Organum. The defect of all previous systems of beliefs about nature, he argued, lay in the inadequate treatment of the general propositions from which the deductions were made. Either they were the result of precipitate generalization from one or two cases, or they were uncritically assumed to be self-evident on the basis of their familiarity and general acceptance.
In order to avoid hasty generalization Bacon urges a technique of “gradual ascent,” that is, the patient accumulation of well-founded generalizations of steadily increasing degrees of generality. This method would have the beneficial effect of loosening the hold on men’s minds of ill-constructed everyday concepts that obliterate important differences and fail to register important similarities.
The crucial point, Bacon realized, is that induction must work by elimination not, as it does in common life and the defective scientific tradition, by simple enumeration. Thus he stressed “the greater force of the negative instance”—the fact that while “all A are B” is only very weakly confirmed by “this A is B,” it is shown conclusively to be false by “this A is not B.” He devised tables, or formal devices for the presentation of singular pieces of evidence, in order to facilitate the rapid discovery of false generalizations. What survives this eliminative screening, Bacon assumes, may be taken to be true.
Bacon presents tables of presence, of absence, and of degree. Tables of presence contain a collection of cases in which one specified property is found. They are then compared to each other to see what other properties are always present. Any property not present in just one case in such a collection cannot be a necessary condition of the property being investigated. Second, there are tables of absence, which list cases that are as alike as possible to the cases in the tables of presence except for the property under investigation. Any property that is found in the second case cannot be a sufficient condition of the original property. Finally, in tables of degree proportionate variations of two properties are compared to see if the proportion is maintained.
Bacon rightly showed some hesitation in arriving at the goal he had prescribed for himself, namely constructing a method that would yield general propositions about substantial matters of natural fact that were certain and beyond reasonable doubt. But he hesitated for an insufficient, secondary reason. The application of his tables to a mass of singular evidence, he said, would give only a “first vintage,” a provisional approximation to the truth, because of the defects of natural history, that is to say, the defects inherent in the formulation of the evidence.
There are, however, more serious difficulties. An obvious one is that Bacon assumed both that every property natural science can investigate actually has some other property which is both its necessary and sufficient condition (a very strong version of determinism) and also that the conditioning property in each case is readily discoverable. What he had himself laid down as the task of metaphysics in his sense (theoretical natural science in 20th-century terms), namely the discovery of the hidden “forms” that explain what is observed, ensured that the tables could not serve for that task since they are confined to the perceptible accompaniments of what is to be explained. This point is implied by critics who have accused Bacon of failing to recognize the indispensable role of hypotheses in science. In general he adopted a naive and unreflective view about the nature of causes, ignoring their possible complexity and plurality (pointed out by John Stuart Mill) as well as the possibility that they could be at some distance in space and time from their effects.
Another weakness, not sufficiently emphasized, is Bacon’s preoccupation with the static. The science that came to glorious maturity in his own century was concerned with change, and, in particular, with motion, as is the natural science of the 20th century. It was with this aspect of the natural world that mathematics, whose role Bacon did not see, came so fruitfully to grips.
The conception of a scientific research establishment, which Bacon developed in his utopia, The New Atlantis, may be a more important contribution to science than his theory of induction. Here the idea of science as a collaborative undertaking, conducted in an impersonally methodical fashion and animated by the intention to give material benefits to mankind, is set out with literary force.
Human philosophy
Although, as was pointed out above, Bacon’s programmatic account of “human and civic philosophy” (i.e., human and social science) treats it as a matter of practical art, or technique, his own ventures into history and jurisprudence, at any rate, were of a strongly theoretical cast. His Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh is explanatory, interpretative history, making sense of the king’s policies by tracing them to his cautious, economical, and secretive character. Similarly his reflections on law, in De Augmentis Scientiarum and in Maxims of the Law (Part I of The Elements of the Common Lawes of England), are genuine jurisprudence, not the type of commentary informed by precedent with which most jurists of his time were content. In politics Bacon was as anxious to detach the state from religion as he was to disentangle science from it—both concerns being indicative of very little positive enthusiasm for religion, despite the formal professions of profound respect convention extracted from him. He endorsed the Tudor monarchy and defended it against Coke’s legal obstruction because it was rational and efficient. He had no patience with the inanities of divine right with which James I was infatuated. Bacon wrote little about education, but his memorable assault on the Scholastic obsession with words—an obsession largely carried over, if to different words, by the humanists—bore fruit in the educational theory of Comenius, who acknowledged Bacon’s influence in his argument that children should study actual things as well as books.
Legacy and influence
Bacon’s personality has usually been regarded as unattractive: he was cold-hearted, cringed to the powerful, and took bribes, and then had the impudence to say he had not been influenced by them. There is no reason to question this assessment in its fundamentals. It was a hard world for someone in his situation to cut a good figure in, and he did not try to do so. The grimly practical style of his personality is reflected in the particular service he was able to provide of showing a purely secular mind of the highest intellectual power at work. No one who wrote so well could have been insensitive to art. But no one before him had ever quite so uncompromisingly excluded art from the cognitive domain.
Bacon was a hero to Robert Hooke and Robert Boyle, founders of the Royal Society. Jean d’Alembert, classifying the sciences in the Encyclopédie, saluted him. Kant, rather surprisingly for one so concerned to limit science in order to make room for faith, dedicated the Critique of Pure Reason to him. He was attacked by Joseph de Maistre for setting man’s miserable reason up against God but glorified by Auguste Comte.
It has been suggested that Bacon’s thought received proper recognition only with 19th-century biology, which, unlike mathematical physics, really is Baconian in procedure. Darwin undoubtedly thought so. Bacon’s belief that a new science could contribute to the relief of man’s estate also had to await its time. In the 17th century the chief inventions that flowed from science were of instruments that enabled science to progress further. Today Bacon is best known among philosophers as the symbol of the idea, widely held to be mistaken, that science is inductive. Although there is more to his thought than that, it is, indeed, central; but even if it is wrong, it is as well to have it so boldly and magnificently presented.
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Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban,[a] 1st Lord Verulam, PC (/ˈbeɪkən/;[5] 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626) was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England under King James I. Bacon argued the importance of natural philosophy, guided by scientific method, and his works remained influential throughout the Scientific Revolution.[6]
Bacon has been called the father of empiricism.[7] He argued for the possibility of scientific knowledge based only upon inductive reasoning and careful observation of events in nature. He believed that science could be achieved by the use of a sceptical and methodical approach whereby scientists aim to avoid misleading themselves. Although his most specific proposals about such a method, the Baconian method, did not have long-lasting influence, the general idea of the importance and possibility of a sceptical methodology makes Bacon one of the later founders of the scientific method. His portion of the method based in scepticism was a new rhetorical and theoretical framework for science, whose practical details are still central to debates on science and methodology. He is famous for his role in the scientific revolution, promoting scientific experimentation as a way of glorifying God and fulfilling scripture.
Bacon was a patron of libraries and developed a system for cataloguing books under three categories – history, poetry, and philosophy – [8] which could further be divided into specific subjects and subheadings. About books he wrote: "Some books are to be tasted; others swallowed; and some few to be chewed and digested."[9] The Shakespearean authorship thesis, a fringe theory which was first proposed in the mid-19th century, contends that Bacon wrote at least some and possibly all of the plays conventionally attributed to William Shakespeare.[10]
Bacon was educated at Trinity College at the University of Cambridge, where he rigorously followed the medieval curriculum, which was presented largely in Latin. He was the first recipient of the Queen's counsel designation, conferred in 1597 when Elizabeth I reserved him as her legal advisor. After the accession of James I in 1603, Bacon was knighted, then created Baron Verulam in 1618[2] and Viscount St Alban in 1621.[1][b] He had no heirs, and so both titles became extinct on his death of pneumonia in 1626 at the age of 65. He is buried at St Michael's Church, St Albans, Hertfordshire.[12]
Francis Bacon was born on 22 January 1561[13] at York House near Strand in London, the son of Sir Nicholas Bacon (Lord Keeper of the Great Seal) by his second wife, Anne (Cooke) Bacon, the daughter of the noted Renaissance humanist Anthony Cooke. His mother's sister was married to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, making Burghley Bacon's uncle.[14]
Biographers believe that Bacon was educated at home in his early years owing to poor health, which would plague him throughout his life. He received tuition from John Walsall, a graduate of Oxford with a strong leaning toward Puritanism. He attended Trinity College at the University of Cambridge on 5 April 1573 at the age of 12,[15] living there for three years along with his older brother Anthony Bacon under the personal tutelage of John Whitgift, future Archbishop of Canterbury. Bacon's education was conducted largely in Latin and followed the medieval curriculum. It was at Cambridge that Bacon first met Queen Elizabeth, who was impressed by his precocious intellect, and was accustomed to calling him "The young lord keeper".[16]
His studies brought him to the belief that the methods and results of science as then practised were erroneous. His reverence for Aristotle conflicted with his rejection of Aristotelian philosophy, which seemed to him barren, argumentative and wrong in its objectives.[17]
On 27 June 1576, he and Anthony entered de societate magistrorum at Gray's Inn.[18] A few months later, Francis went abroad with Sir Amias Paulet, the English ambassador at Paris, while Anthony continued his studies at home. The state of government and society in France under Henry III afforded him valuable political instruction.[19] For the next three years he visited Blois, Poitiers, Tours, Italy, and Spain.[20] There is no evidence that he studied at the University of Poitiers.[21] During his travels, Bacon studied language, statecraft, and civil law while performing routine diplomatic tasks. On at least one occasion he delivered diplomatic letters to England for Walsingham, Burghley, Leicester, and for the queen.[20]
The sudden death of his father in February 1579 prompted Bacon to return to England. Sir Nicholas had laid up a considerable sum of money to purchase an estate for his youngest son, but he died before doing so, and Francis was left with only a fifth of that money.[19] Having borrowed money, Bacon got into debt. To support himself, he took up his residence in law at Gray's Inn in 1579,[19] his income being supplemented by a grant from his mother Lady Anne of the manor of Marks near Romford in Essex, which generated a rent of £46.[22]
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Bacon stated that he had three goals: to uncover truth, to serve his country, and to serve his church. He sought to achieve these goals by seeking a prestigious post. In 1580, through his uncle, Lord Burghley, he applied for a post at court that might enable him to pursue a life of learning, but his application failed. For two years he worked quietly at Gray's Inn, until he was admitted as an outer barrister in 1582.[23]
His parliamentary career began when he was elected MP for Bossiney, Cornwall, in a by-election in 1581. In 1584 he took his seat in Parliament for Melcombe in Dorset, and in 1586 for Taunton. At this time, he began to write on the condition of parties in the church, as well as on the topic of philosophical reform in the lost tract Temporis Partus Maximus. Yet he failed to gain a position that he thought would lead him to success.[19] He showed signs of sympathy to Puritanism, attending the sermons of the Puritan chaplain of Gray's Inn and accompanying his mother to the Temple Church to hear Walter Travers. This led to the publication of his earliest surviving tract, which criticized the English church's suppression of the Puritan clergy. In the Parliament of 1586, he openly urged execution for the Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots.[24]
About this time, he again approached his powerful uncle for help; this move was followed by his rapid progress at the bar. He became a bencher in 1586 and was elected a Reader in 1587, delivering his first set of lectures in Lent the following year. In 1589, he received the valuable appointment of reversion to the Clerkship of the Star Chamber, although he did not formally take office until 1608; the post was worth £1,600 a year.[19][1]
In 1588 he became MP for Liverpool and then for Middlesex in 1593. He later sat three times for Ipswich (1597, 1601, 1604) and once for Cambridge University (1614).[25]
He became known as a liberal-minded reformer, eager to amend and simplify the law. Though a friend of the crown, he opposed feudal privileges and dictatorial powers. He spoke against religious persecution. He struck at the House of Lords in its usurpation of the Money Bills. He advocated for the union of England and Scotland, which made him a significant influence toward the consolidation of the United Kingdom; and he later would advocate for the integration of Ireland into the Union. Closer constitutional ties, he believed, would bring greater peace and strength to these countries.[26][27]
Bacon soon became acquainted with Robert Devereux, the 2nd Earl of Essex, Queen Elizabeth's favourite.[28] By 1591 he acted as the earl's confidential adviser.[19][28] In 1592, he was commissioned to write a tract in response to the Jesuit Robert Parson's anti-government polemic, which he titled Certain Observations Made upon a Libel, identifying England with the ideals of democratic Athens against the belligerence of Spain.[29] Bacon took his third parliamentary seat for Middlesex when in February 1593 Elizabeth summoned Parliament to investigate a Roman Catholic plot against her. Bacon's opposition to a bill that would levy triple subsidies in half the usual time offended the Queen: opponents accused him of seeking popularity, and for a time the Court excluded him from favour.[30]
When the office of Attorney General fell vacant in 1594, Lord Essex's influence was not enough to secure the position for Bacon and it was given to Sir Edward Coke. Likewise, Bacon failed to secure the lesser office of Solicitor General in 1595, the Queen pointedly snubbing him by appointing Sir Thomas Fleming instead.[1] To console him for these disappointments, Essex presented him with a property at Twickenham, which Bacon subsequently sold for £1,800.[31]
In 1597 Bacon became the first Queen's Counsel designate, when Queen Elizabeth reserved him as her legal counsel.[32] In 1597, he was also given a patent, giving him precedence at the Bar.[33] Despite his designations, he was unable to gain the status and notoriety of others. In a plan to revive his position he unsuccessfully courted the wealthy young widow Lady Elizabeth Hatton.[34] His courtship failed after she broke off their relationship upon accepting marriage to Sir Edward Coke, a further spark of enmity between the men.[35] In 1598 Bacon was arrested for debt. Afterward, however, his standing in the Queen's eyes improved. Gradually, Bacon earned the standing of one of the learned counsels.[36] His relationship with the Queen further improved when he severed ties with Essex—a shrewd move, as Essex would be executed for treason in 1601.[37]
With others, Bacon was appointed to investigate the charges against Essex. A number of Essex's followers confessed that Essex had planned a rebellion against the Queen.[38] Bacon was subsequently a part of the legal team headed by the Attorney General Sir Edward Coke at Essex's treason trial.[38] After the execution, the Queen ordered Bacon to write the official government account of the trial, which was later published as A DECLARATION of the Practices and Treasons attempted and committed by Robert late Earle of Essex and his Complices, against her Majestie and her Kingdoms ... after Bacon's first draft was heavily edited by the Queen and her ministers.[39][40]
According to his personal secretary and chaplain, William Rawley, as a judge Bacon was always tender-hearted, "looking upon the examples with the eye of severity, but upon the person with the eye of pity and compassion". And also that "he was free from malice", "no revenger of injuries", and "no defamer of any man".[41]
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The succession of James I brought Bacon into greater favour. He was knighted in 1603. In another shrewd move, Bacon wrote his Apologies in defence of his proceedings in the case of Essex, as Essex had favoured James to succeed to the throne. The following year, during the course of the uneventful first parliamentary session, Bacon married Alice Barnham.[42] In June 1607, he was at last rewarded with the office of Solicitor General[1] and in 1608 he began working as the Clerkship of the Star Chamber. Despite a generous income, old debts still could not be paid. He sought further promotion and wealth by supporting King James and his arbitrary policies. In 1610 the fourth session of James's first Parliament met. Despite Bacon's advice to him, James and the Commons found themselves at odds over royal prerogatives and the King's embarrassing extravagance. The House was finally dissolved in February 1611. Throughout this period Bacon managed to stay in favour with the King while retaining the confidence of the Commons.
In 1613 Bacon was finally appointed Attorney General, after advising the King to shuffle judicial appointments. As Attorney General, Bacon, by his zealous efforts—which included torture—to obtain the conviction of Edmund Peacham for treason, raised legal controversies of high constitutional importance.[43] Bacon and Gray's Inn produced The Masque of Flowers to celebrate the wedding of Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset and his wife, Frances Howard, Countess of Somerset,[44] and he successfully prosecuted them for murder in 1616.
The so-called Prince's Parliament of April 1614 objected to Bacon's presence in the seat for Cambridge and to the various royal plans that Bacon had supported. Although he was allowed to stay, Parliament passed a law that forbade the Attorney General to sit in Parliament. His influence over the King had evidently inspired resentment or apprehension in many of his peers. Bacon, however, continued to receive the King's favour, which led to his appointment in March 1617 as temporary Regent of England (for a period of a month), and in 1618 as Lord Chancellor.[45] On 12 July 1618 the King created Bacon Baron Verulam of Verulam in the Peerage of England; he then became known as Francis, Lord Verulam.[1]
Bacon continued to use his influence with the King to mediate between the throne and Parliament, and in this capacity he was further elevated in the same peerage as Viscount St Alban on 27 January 1621.[46]
Bacon's public career ended in disgrace in 1621. After he fell into debt, a parliamentary committee on the administration of the law charged him with 23 separate counts of corruption. His lifelong enemy, Sir Edward Coke, who had instigated these accusations,[47] was one of those appointed to prepare the charges against the chancellor.[48] To the lords, who sent a committee to enquire whether a confession was really his, he replied, "My lords, it is my act, my hand, and my heart; I beseech your lordships to be merciful to a broken reed." He was sentenced to a fine of £40,000 and committed to the Tower of London at the king's pleasure; the imprisonment lasted only a few days and the fine was remitted by the king.[49] More seriously, parliament declared Bacon incapable of holding future office or sitting in parliament. He narrowly escaped undergoing degradation, which would have stripped him of his titles of nobility. Subsequently, the disgraced viscount devoted himself to study and writing.
There seems little doubt that Bacon had accepted gifts from litigants, but this was an accepted custom of the time and not necessarily evidence of deeply corrupt behaviour.[50] While acknowledging that his conduct had been lax, he countered that he had never allowed gifts to influence his judgement and, indeed, he had on occasion given a verdict against those who had paid him. He even had an interview with King James in which he assured:
He also wrote the following to George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham:
As the conduct of accepting gifts was ubiquitous and common practice, and the Commons was zealously inquiring into judicial corruption and malfeasance, it has been suggested that Bacon served as a scapegoat to divert attention from Buckingham's own ill practice and alleged corruption.[53]
The true reason for his acknowledgement of guilt is the subject of debate, but some authors speculate that it may have been prompted by his sickness, or by a view that through his fame and the greatness of his office he would be spared harsh punishment. He may even have been blackmailed, with a threat to charge him with sodomy, into confession.[50][54]
The British jurist Basil Montagu wrote in Bacon's defense, concerning the episode of his public disgrace:
Bacon was a devout Anglican. He believed that philosophy and the natural world must be studied inductively, but argued that we can only study arguments for the existence of God. Information about God's attributes (such as nature, action, and purposes) can only come from special revelation. Bacon also held that knowledge was cumulative, that study encompassed more than a simple preservation of the past. "Knowledge is the rich storehouse for the glory of the Creator and the relief of man's estate," he wrote. In his Essays, he affirms that "a little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion."[56]
Bacon's idea of idols of the mind may have self-consciously represented an attempt to Christianize science at the same time as developing a new, reliable scientific method; Bacon gave worship of Neptune as an example of the idola tribus fallacy, hinting at the religious dimensions of his critique of the idols.[57]
Bacon was against the splintering within Christianity, believing that it would ultimately lead to the creation of atheism as a dominant worldview, as indicated with his quote that "The causes of atheism are: divisions in religion, if they be many; for any one main division, addeth zeal to both sides; but many divisions introduce atheism. Another is, scandal of priests; when it is come to that which St. Bernard saith "One cannot now say the priest is as the people, for the truth is that the people are not so bad as the priest". A third is, custom of profane scoffing in holy matters; which doth by little and little deface the reverence of religion. And lastly, learned times, specially with peace and prosperity; for troubles and adversities do more bow men's minds to religion."[58][59]
Bacon built Verulam House in St Albans to his own designs.[60] It has been suggested that this building was derivative of Sir Rowland Hill's building at Soulton Hall.[61]
When he was 36, Bacon courted Elizabeth Hatton, a young widow of 20. Reportedly, she broke off their relationship upon accepting marriage to a wealthier man, Bacon's rival, Sir Edward Coke. Years later, Bacon still wrote of his regret that the marriage to Hatton had not taken place.[62]
At the age of 45, Bacon married Alice Barnham, the 13-year-old daughter of a well-connected London alderman and MP. Bacon wrote two sonnets proclaiming his love for Alice. The first was written during his courtship and the second on his wedding day, 10 May 1606. When Bacon was appointed lord chancellor, "by special Warrant of the King", Lady Bacon was given precedence over all other Court ladies. Bacon's personal secretary and chaplain, William Rawley, wrote in his biography of Bacon that his marriage was one of "much conjugal love and respect", mentioning a robe of honour that he gave to Alice and which "she wore unto her dying day, being twenty years and more after his death".[41]
However, an increasing number of reports circulated about friction in the marriage, with speculation that this may have been due to Alice's making do with less money than she had once been accustomed to. It was said that she was strongly interested in fame and fortune, and when household finances dwindled, she complained bitterly. Bunten wrote in her Life of Alice Barnham [63] that, upon their descent into debt, she went on trips to ask for financial favours and assistance from their circle of friends. Bacon disinherited her upon discovering her secret romantic relationship with Sir John Underhill, rewriting his will (which had generously planned to leave her lands, goods, and income) and revoking her entirely as a beneficiary.
Several authors believe that, despite his marriage, Bacon was primarily attracted to men.[64][65] Forker,[66] for example, has explored the "historically documentable sexual preferences" of both Francis Bacon and King James I and concluded they were both oriented to "masculine love", a contemporary term that "seems to have been used exclusively to refer to the sexual preference of men for members of their own gender."[67]
The well-connected antiquary John Aubrey noted in his Brief Lives concerning Bacon, "He was a Pederast. His Ganimeds and Favourites tooke Bribes".[68] ("Pederast" in Renaissance diction meant generally "homosexual" rather than specifically a lover of minors[citation needed]; "ganimed" derives from the mythical prince abducted by Zeus to be his cup-bearer and bed warmer.)
The Jacobean antiquarian Sir Simonds D'Ewes (Bacon's fellow Member of Parliament) implied there had been a question of bringing him to trial for buggery,[69] which his brother Anthony Bacon had also been charged with.[70]
In his Autobiography and Correspondence, in the diary entry for 3 May 1621, the date of Bacon's censure by Parliament, D'Ewes describes Bacon's love for his Welsh serving-men, in particular Godrick, a "very effeminate-faced youth" whom he calls "his catamite and bedfellow".[71]
This conclusion has been disputed by others, who point to lack of consistent evidence, and consider the sources to be more open to interpretation.[38][72][73][74][75] Publicly, at least, Bacon distanced himself from the idea of homosexuality. In his New Atlantis, he described his utopian island as being "the chastest nation under heaven", and "as for masculine love, they have no touch of it".[76]
On 9 April 1626, Bacon died of pneumonia at Highgate outside London, specifically at Arundel House, a country residence of his friend the Earl of Arundel,[c] though Arundel was then imprisoned in the Tower of London.[77] An influential account of the circumstances of his death was given by John Aubrey's Brief Lives.[77] Aubrey's vivid account, which portrays Bacon as a martyr to experimental scientific method, has him journeying to High-gate through the snow with the King's physician when he is suddenly inspired by the possibility of using the snow to preserve meat:
After stuffing the fowl with snow, Bacon contracted a fatal case of pneumonia. Some people, including Aubrey, consider these two contiguous, possibly coincidental events as related and causative of his death:
Aubrey has been criticized for his evident credulousness in this and other works; on the other hand, he knew Thomas Hobbes, Bacon's fellow-philosopher and friend. Being unwittingly on his deathbed, the philosopher dictated his last letter to the Earl:
Another account appears in a biography by William Rawley, Bacon's personal secretary and chaplain:
He was buried in St Michael's Church in St Albans. At the news of his death, over 30 great minds collected together their eulogies of him, which were then later published in Latin.[81] He left personal assets of about £7,000 and lands that realised £6,000 when sold.[82] His debts amounted to more than £23,000, equivalent to more than £4m at current value.[82][83]
Francis Bacon's philosophy is displayed in the vast and varied writings he left, which might be divided into three great branches:
- Scientific works in which his ideas for a universal reform of knowledge into scientific methodology and the improvement of mankind's state using the Scientific method are presented.[84][page needed][85][86]
- Religious and literary works in which he presents his moral philosophy and theological meditations.[d][89]
- Juridical works in which his reforms in English law are proposed.[90]
Bacon's seminal work Novum Organum was influential in the 1630s and 1650s among scholars, in particular Sir Thomas Browne, who in his encyclopedia Pseudodoxia Epidemica (1646–72) frequently adheres to a Baconian approach to his scientific enquiries. This book entails the basis of the scientific method as a means of observation and induction.
According to Bacon, learning and knowledge all derive from the basis of inductive reasoning. Through his belief in experimental encounters, he theorised that all the knowledge that was necessary to fully understand a concept could be attained using induction. In order to get to the point of an inductive conclusion, one must consider the importance of observing the particulars (specific parts of nature). "Once these particulars have been gathered together, the interpretation of Nature proceeds by sorting them into a formal arrangement so that they may be presented to the understanding."[91] Experimentation is essential to discovering the truths of Nature. When an experiment happens, parts of the tested hypothesis are started to be pieced together, forming a result and conclusion. Through this conclusion of particulars, an understanding of Nature can be formed. Now that an understanding of Nature has been arrived at, an inductive conclusion can be drawn. "For no one successfully investigates the nature of a thing in the thing itself; the inquiry must be enlarged to things that have more in common with it."[92]
Bacon explains how we come to this understanding and knowledge because of this process in comprehending the complexities of nature. "Bacon sees nature as an extremely subtle complexity, which affords all the energy of the natural philosopher to disclose her secrets."[93] Bacon described the evidence and proof revealed through taking a specific example from nature and expanding that example into a general, substantial claim of nature. Once we understand the particulars in nature, we can learn more about it and become surer of things occurring in nature, gaining knowledge and obtaining new information all the while. "It is nothing less than a revival of Bacon's supremely confident belief that inductive methods can provide us with ultimate and infallible answers concerning the laws and nature of the universe."[94] Bacon states that when we come to understand parts of nature, we can eventually understand nature better as a whole because of induction. Because of this, Bacon concludes that all learning and knowledge must be drawn from inductive reasoning.
During the Restoration, Bacon was commonly invoked as a guiding spirit of the Royal Society founded under Charles II in 1660.[95][96] During the 18th-century French Enlightenment, Bacon's non-metaphysical approach to science became more influential than the dualism of his French contemporary Descartes, and was associated with criticism of the Ancien Régime. In 1733 Voltaire introduced him to a French audience as the "father" of the scientific method, an understanding which had become widespread by the 1750s.[97] In the 19th century his emphasis on induction was revived and developed by William Whewell, among others. He has been reputed as the "Father of Experimental Philosophy".[98]
He also wrote a long treatise on Medicine, History of Life and Death,[99] with natural and experimental observations for the prolongation of life.
One of his biographers, the historian William Hepworth Dixon, states: "Bacon's influence in the modern world is so great that every man who rides in a train, sends a telegram, follows a steam plough, sits in an easy chair, crosses the channel or the Atlantic, eats a good dinner, enjoys a beautiful garden, or undergoes a painless surgical operation, owes him something."[100]
In 1902 Hugo von Hofmannsthal published a fictional letter, known as The Lord Chandos Letter, addressed to Bacon and dated 1603, about a writer who is experiencing a crisis of language.
Bacon played a leading role in establishing the British colonies in North America, especially in Virginia, the Carolinas and Newfoundland in northeastern Canada. His government report on "The Virginia Colony" was submitted in 1609. In 1610 Bacon and his associates received a charter from the king to form the Tresurer and the Companye of Adventurers and planter of the Cittye of London and Bristoll for the Collonye or plantacon in Newfoundland, and sent John Guy to found a colony there.[101] Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States, wrote: "Bacon, Locke and Newton. I consider them as the three greatest men that have ever lived, without any exception, and as having laid the foundation of those superstructures which have been raised in the Physical and Moral sciences".[102]
In 1910, Newfoundland issued a postage stamp to commemorate Bacon's role in establishing the colony. The stamp describes Bacon as "the guiding spirit in Colonization Schemes in 1610".[62] Moreover, some scholars believe he was largely responsible for the drafting, in 1609 and 1612, of two charters of government for the Virginia Colony.[103] William Hepworth Dixon considered that Bacon's name could be included in the list of Founders of the United States.[104]
Although few of his proposals for law reform were adopted during his lifetime, Bacon's legal legacy was considered by the magazine New Scientist in 1961 as having influenced the drafting of the Napoleonic Code as well as the law reforms introduced by 19th-century British Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel.[105] The historian William Hepworth Dixon referred to the Napoleonic Code as "the sole embodiment of Bacon's thought", saying that Bacon's legal work "has had more success abroad than it has found at home", and that in France "it has blossomed and come into fruit".[106]
Harvey Wheeler attributed to Bacon, in Francis Bacon's Verulamium—the Common Law Template of The Modern in English Science and Culture, the creation of these distinguishing features of the modern common law system:
- using cases as repositories of evidence about the "unwritten law";
- determining the relevance of precedents by exclusionary principles of evidence and logic;
- treating opposing legal briefs as adversarial hypotheses about the application of the "unwritten law" to a new set of facts.
As late as the 18th century, some juries still declared the law rather than the facts, but already before the end of the 17th century Sir Matthew Hale explained modern common law adjudication procedure and acknowledged Bacon as the inventor of the process of discovering unwritten laws from the evidences of their applications. The method combined empiricism and inductivism in a new way that was to imprint its signature on many of the distinctive features of modern English society.[107] Paul H. Kocher writes that Bacon is considered by some jurists to be the father of modern Jurisprudence.[90]
Bacon is commemorated with a statue in Gray's Inn, South Square in London where he received his legal training, and where he was elected Treasurer of the Inn in 1608.[108]
More recent scholarship on Bacon's jurisprudence has focused on his advocating torture as a legal recourse for the crown.[109] Bacon himself was not a stranger to the torture chamber; in his various legal capacities in both Elizabeth I's and James I's reigns, Bacon was listed as a commissioner on five torture warrants. In 1613(?), in a letter addressed to King James I on the question of torture's place within English law, Bacon identifies the scope of torture as a means to further the investigation of threats to the state: "In the cases of treasons, torture is used for discovery, and not for evidence."[110] For Bacon, torture was not a punitive measure, an intended form of state repression, but instead offered a modus operandi for the government agent tasked with uncovering acts of treason.
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Francis Bacon developed the idea that a classification of knowledge must be universal while handling all possible resources. In his progressive view, humanity would be better if access to educational resources were provided to the public, hence the need to organise it. His approach to learning reshaped the Western view of knowledge theory from an individual to a social interest.
The original classification proposed by Bacon organised all types of knowledge into three general groups: history, poetry, and philosophy. He did that based on his understanding of how information is processed: memory, imagination, and reason, respectively.[111] His methodical approach to the categorization of knowledge goes hand-in-hand with his principles of scientific methods. Bacon's writings were the starting point for William Torrey Harris's classification system for libraries in the United States by the second half of the 1800s.
The phrase "scientia potentia est" (or "scientia est potentia"), meaning "knowledge is power", is commonly attributed to Bacon: the expression "ipsa scientia potestas est" ("knowledge itself is power") occurs in his Meditationes Sacrae (1597).[112]
The Baconian hypothesis of Shakespearean authorship, first proposed in the mid-19th century, contends that Francis Bacon wrote some or even all of the plays conventionally attributed to William Shakespeare.[10]
Francis Bacon often gathered with the men at Gray's Inn to discuss politics and philosophy, and to try out various theatrical scenes that he admitted writing.[113] Bacon's alleged connection to the Rosicrucians and the Freemasons has been widely discussed by authors and scholars in many books.[73] However, others, including Daphne du Maurier in her biography of Bacon, have argued that there is no substantive evidence to support claims of involvement with the Rosicrucians.[114] Frances Yates[115] does not make the claim that Bacon was a Rosicrucian, but presents evidence that he was nevertheless involved in some of the more closed intellectual movements of his day. She argues that Bacon's movement for the advancement of learning was closely connected with the German Rosicrucian movement, while Bacon's New Atlantis portrays a land ruled by Rosicrucians. He apparently saw his own movement for the advancement of learning to be in conformity with Rosicrucian ideals.[116]
The link between Bacon's work and the Rosicrucians' ideals which Yates allegedly found was the conformity of the purposes expressed by the Rosicrucian Manifestos and Bacon's plan of a "Great Instauration",[116] for the two were calling for a reformation of both "divine and human understanding",[e][117] as well as both, had in view the purpose of mankind's return to the "state before the Fall".[f][g]
Another major link is said to be the resemblance between Bacon's New Atlantis and the German Rosicrucian Johann Valentin Andreae's Description of the Republic of Christianopolis (1619).[118] Andreae describes a utopic island in which Christian theosophy and applied science ruled, and in which the spiritual fulfilment and intellectual activity constituted the primary goals of each individual, the scientific pursuits being the highest intellectual calling—linked to the achievement of spiritual perfection. Andreae's island also depicts a great advancement in technology, with many industries separated in different zones which supplied the population's needs—which shows great resemblance to Bacon's scientific methods and purposes.[119][120]
While rejecting occult conspiracy theories surrounding Bacon and the claim Bacon personally identified as a Rosicrucian, intellectual historian Paolo Rossi has argued for an occult influence on Bacon's scientific and religious writing. He argues that Bacon was familiar with early modern alchemical texts and that Bacon's ideas about the application of science had roots in Renaissance magical ideas about science and magic facilitating humanity's domination of nature.[121] Rossi further interprets Bacon's search for hidden meanings in myth and fables in such texts as The Wisdom of the Ancients as succeeding earlier occultist and Neoplatonic attempts to locate hidden wisdom in pre-Christian myths.[122] As indicated by the title of his study, however, Rossi claims Bacon ultimately rejected the philosophical foundations of occultism as he came to develop a form of modern science.[121]
Rossi's analysis and claims have been extended by Jason Josephson-Storm in his study, The Myth of Disenchantment. Josephson-Storm also rejects conspiracy theories surrounding Bacon and does not make the claim that Bacon was an active Rosicrucian. However, he argues that Bacon's "rejection" of magic actually constituted an attempt to purify magic of Catholic, demonic, and esoteric influences and to establish magic as a field of study and application paralleling Bacon's vision of science. Furthermore, Josephson-Storm argues that Bacon drew on magical ideas when developing his experimental method.[123] Josephson-Storm finds evidence that Bacon considered nature a living entity, populated by spirits, and argues Bacon's views on the human domination and application of nature actually depend on his spiritualism and personification of nature.[124]
The Rosicrucian organization AMORC claims that Bacon was the "Imperator" (leader) of the Rosicrucian Order in both England and the European continent, and would have directed it during his lifetime.[125]
Bacon's influence can also be seen on a variety of religious and spiritual authors, and on groups that have utilized his writings in their own belief systems.[126][127][128][129][130]
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Some of the more notable works by Bacon are:
- Essays
- 1st edition with 10 essays (1597)
- 2nd edition with 38 essays (1612)
- 3rd/final edition with 58 essays (1625)
- The Advancement and Proficience of Learning Divine and Human (1605)
- Instauratio magna (The Great Instauration) (1620) – a multi-part work including Distributio operis (Plan of the Work); Novum Organum (The New Organon); Parasceve ad historiam naturalem (Preparatory for Natural History) and Catalogus historiarum particularium (Catalogue of Particular Histories)[132]
- De augmentis scientiarum (1623) – an enlargement of The Advancement of Learning translated into Latin
- New Atlantis (1626)
- Cestui que (defence and comment on Chudleigh's Case)
- Romanticism and Bacon
- Scientia potentia est
- Works by Francis Bacon
- ^ There is confusion over the spelling of Bacon's title. Some sources, such as the 2007 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and the 9th edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, spell it "St Alban";[1][2] others, such as the Dictionary of National Biography (1885) and the 11th edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica, spell the title "St Albans".[3][4]
- ^ Contemporary spelling, used by Bacon himself in his letter of thanks to the king for his elevation.[11]
- ^ Not to be confused with his central London residence of the same name.
- ^ Ben: "son"; Salem: "peace", "peaceful" or "at peace".[87][88]
- ^ "Howbeit we know after a time there wil now be a general reformation, both of divine and humane things, according to our desire, and the expectation of others: for it's fitting, that before the rising of the Sun, there should appear and break forth Aurora, or some clearness, or divine light in the sky" – Fama Fraternitatis (sacred-texts.com Archived 14 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine)
- ^ "Like good and faithful guardians, we may yield up their fortune to mankind upon the emancipation and majority of their understanding, from which must necessarily follow an improvement of their estate [...]. For man, by the fall, fell at the same time from his state of innocency and from his dominion over creation. Both of these losses however can even in this life be in some part repaired; the former by religion and faith, the latter by arts and sciences. – Francis Bacon, Novum Organum
- ^ "We ought therefore here to observe well, and make it known unto everyone, that God hath certainly and most assuredly concluded to send and grant to the whole world before her end ... such a truth, light, life, and glory, as the first man Adam had, which he lost in Paradise, after which his successors were put and driven, with him, to misery. Wherefore there shall cease all servitude, falsehood, lies, and darkness, which by little and little, with the great world's revolution, was crept into all arts, works, and governments of men, and have darkened most part of them". – Confessio Fraternitatis
- ^ a b c d e f Peltonen 2007.
- ^ a b Adamson 1878, p. 200.
- ^ Fowler 1885, p. 346.
- ^ Adamson & Mitchell 1911, p. 135.
- ^ "Bacon" Archived 15 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine entry in Collins English Dictionary.
- ^ Klein, Jürgen (2012), "Francis Bacon", in Zalta, Edward N. (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2016 ed.), Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, retrieved 17 January 2020
- ^ Partner, Nancy; Foot, Sarah, eds. (31 January 2013). "Empiricism and its configurations in the history of epistemology". SAGE Handbook of Historical Theory. SAGE. ISBN 9781412931144.
The first philosopher who developed an empiricist programme of scholarly knowledge was Francis Bacon (1561–1626), whose arguments were systematised by his followers.
- ^ "The classification of Harris: Influences of Bacon and Hegel in the universe of library classification". University of Washington. 2017.
- ^ Murray, Stuart (2009). The library : an illustrated history. Nicholas A. Basbanes, American Library Association. New York: Skyhorse Pub. ISBN 978-1-60239-706-4. OCLC 277203534.
- ^ a b Dobson, Michael (2001). The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare. Oxford University Press. p. 33.
- ^ Birch, Thomas (1763). Letters, Speeches, Charges, Advices, &c of Lord Chancellor Bacon. Vol. 6. London: Andrew Millar. pp. 271–272. OCLC 228676038.
- ^ Scott Wilson, Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3rd ed.: 2 (Kindle Locations 2105–2106). McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Kindle Edition.
- ^ Peltonen, Markku (23 September 2004). "Bacon, Francis, Viscount St Alban (1561–1626)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/990. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ Pollard 1911, p. 816.
- ^ "Bacon, Francis (BCN573F)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ Collins, Arthur (1741). The English Baronetage: Containing a Genealogical and Historical Account of All the English Baronets, Now Existing: Their Descents, Marriages, and Issues; Memorable Actions, Both in War, and Peace; Religious and Charitable Donations; Deaths, Places of Burial and Monumental Inscriptions. Printed for Tho. Wotton at the Three Daggers and Queen's Head. p. 5.
- ^ Crosbie, Christopher. “Francis Bacon and Aristotelian Afterlives,” in A Companion to British Literature, ed. Robert DeMaria Jr., Heesok Chang, and Samantha Zacher, vol 2. (Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2014), 231-248. https://hcommons.org/deposits/objects/hc:58062/datastreams/CONTENT/content
- ^ de Montmorency, J.E.G (1905). "Francis Bacon". Journal of the Society of Comparative Legislation. 6 (2): 264. JSTOR 752041 – via JSTOR.
- ^ a b c d e f Adamson & Mitchell 1911, p. 136.
- ^ a b Stephen Gaukroger (2001). Francis Bacon and the Transformation of Early-Modern Philosophy. Cambridge University Press, p. 46.
- ^ Francis Bacon, The Advancement of Learning, Clarendon Press, 1876, p. ix.
- ^ Spall, JEH (1971). "Francis Bacon's connections with Marks Manor House". Romford Record. 4. Romford: Romford and District Historical Society: 32–37.
- ^ Ellis, Robert. P. (2015). Francis Bacon: The Double-Edged Life of the Philosopher and Statesman. McFarland. p. 28.
- ^ Jardine, L. (1986), Francis Bacon: Discovery and the Art of Discourse, Cambridge University Press.
- ^ "History of Parliament". Retrieved 2 October 2011.
- ^ Spedding, James (1861). "The letters and life of Francis Bacon".
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ "Sir Francis Bacon's Letters, Tracts and Speech relating to Ireland". Archived from the original on 7 August 2011. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
- ^ a b Paul E. J. Hammer (1999). "The Polarisation of Elizabethan Politics: The Political Career of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, 1585–1597". p. 141. Cambridge University Press
- ^ Gustav Ungerer (1974). "A Spaniard in Elizabethan England: The Correspondence of Antonio Pérez's Exile, Volume 1". p. 207. Tamesis Books
- ^ Weir, Alison Elizabeth the Queen Pimlico 1999 p. 414
- ^ Bunten, Alice Chambers. Twickenham Park and Old Richmond Palace and Francis Bacon: Lord Verulam's Connection with The, 1580–1608. R. Banks. p. 19.
- ^ Holdsworth, W. S. (1938). History of English Law. pp. vi 473–474.
- ^ Patent Rolls, 2 Jac I p. 12 m 10.
- ^ Longueville, Thomas (1909). The Curious Case of Lady Purbeck; A Scandal of the XVIIth Century. London: Longmans, Green and Co. p. 4.
- ^ Aughterson, Kate. "Hatton, Elizabeth, Lady Hatton [nee Lady Elizabeth Cecil] (1578–1646)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography – via Oxford University Press.
- ^ Adamson & Mitchell 1911, p. 137.
- ^ Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. 2008. p. 636.
- ^ a b c Nieves Matthews, Francis Bacon: The History of a Character Assassination (Yale University Press, 1996)
- ^ Adamson & Mitchell 1911, p. 138.
- ^ Matthews (1996: 56–57)
- ^ a b Rawley, William (1670). The Life of the Right Honorable Francis Bacon Baron of Verulam, Viscount St. Alban. London: Thomas Johns. Archived from the original on 5 August 2019. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
- ^ Adamson & Mitchell 1911, p. 139.
- ^ Lee, Sidney (1895). "Peachem, Edmond". The Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 44. Smith, Elder & Co.
- ^ Christine Adams, 'Francis Bacon's Wedding Gift of A Garden of a Glorious and Strange Beauty for the Earl and Countess of Somerset', Garden History, 36:1 (Spring 2008), p. 45.
- ^ Principe, Lawrence M. (2011). The Scientific Revolution: A Very Short Introduction (1st ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 128. ISBN 978-0199567416.
- ^ CSPD James I, 1619-1623. p. 116.
- ^ Ousby, Ian (1996), The Cambridge Paperback Guide to Literature in English, Cambridge University Press, p. 22, ISBN 978-0-521-43627-4.
- ^ Zagorin, Perez (1999), Francis Bacon, Princeton University Press, p. 22, ISBN 978-0-691-00966-7.
- ^ Parris, Matthew; Maguire, Kevin (2004). "Francis Bacon – 1621". Great Parliamentary Scandals. London: Chrysalis. pp. 8–9. ISBN 978-1-86105-736-5.
- ^ a b Zagorin, Perez (1999). Francis Bacon. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. pp. 22–23. ISBN 978-0-691-00966-7.
- ^ Campbell, John; Baron Campbell (1818), J. Murray. "The Lives of the Lord Chancellors and Keepers of the Great Seal of England"
- ^ Fowler 1885, p. 347.
- ^ Express, Britain. "The Duke of Buckingham and Sir Francis Bacon". Britain Express. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
- ^ A. L. Rowse, quoted in Parris; Maguire (2004: 8): "a charge of sodomy was... to be brought against the sixty-year-old Lord Chancellor".
- ^ Montagu, Basil (1837). Essays and Selections. Kessinger. pp. 325–326. ISBN 978-1-4368-3777-4.
- ^ Bacon, Francis (1625). The Essayes Or Covnsels, Civill and Morall, of Francis Lo. Vervlam, Viscovnt St. Alban. London. p. 90. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
- ^ Josephson-Storm 2017, pp. 48–49.
- ^ Bacon, Francis (1909–1914). Essays, Civil and Moral. The Harvard Classics (Vol III. Part 1 ed.). New York: PF Collier and Son.
- ^ "XVI Of Atheism". Francis Bacon. (1561–1626). Essays, Civil and Moral. The Harvard Classics. 1909–14. 2022. Retrieved 8 April 2023.
- ^ "Old Gorhambury Water Gardens". www.gardenvisit.com. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
- ^ Garnet as Emblem of Goodness | Philosophical architecture from Henry III to George III, 19 August 2023, retrieved 20 August 2023
- ^ a b Alfred Dodd, Francis Bacon's Personal Life Story', Volume 2 – The Age of James, England: Rider & Co., 1949, 1986. pp. 157–158, 425, 502–503, 518–532
- ^ Alice Chambers Bunten, Life of Alice Barnham, Wife of Sir Francis Bacon, London: Oliphants Ltd. 1928.
- ^ A. L. Rowse, Homosexuals in History, New York: Carroll & Garf, 1977. p. 44
- ^ Jardine, Lisa; Stewart, Alan Hostage To Fortune: The Troubled Life of Francis Bacon Hill & Wang, 1999. p. 148
- ^ Charles R. Forker, "'Masculine Love', Renaissance Writing, and the 'New Invention' of Homosexuality: An Addendum" in the Journal of Homosexuality (1996), Indiana University
- ^ Journal of Homosexuality, Volume: 31 Issue: 3, 1996, pp. 85–93, ISSN 0091-8369
- ^ Oliver Lawson Dick, ed. Aubrey's Brief Lives. Edited from the Original Manuscripts, 1949, s.v. "Francis Bacon, Viscount of St. Albans" p. 11.
- ^ Fulton Anderson, Francis Bacon: His career and his thought, Los Angeles, 1962
- ^ du Maurier, Daphne (1975). Golden Lads: A Study of Anthony Bacon, Francis and Their Friends. London: Gollancz. ISBN 978-1-84408-073-1.
- ^ Aldrich, Robert; Wotherspoon, Gary (2005). Who's Who in Gay and Lesbian History Vol.1: From Antiquity to the Mid-Twentieth Century. London and New York: Routledge. p. 33. ISBN 978-0-415-15982-1.
- ^ Ross Jackson, The Companion to Shaker of the Speare: The Francis Bacon Story, England: Book Guild Publishing, 2005. pp. 45–46
- ^ a b Bryan Bevan, The Real Francis Bacon, England: Centaur Press, 1960
- ^ Helen Veale, Son of England, India: Indo Polish Library, 1950
- ^ Peter Dawkins, Dedication to the Light, England: Francis Bacon Research Trust, 1984
- ^ Bacon, Francis. The New Atlantis. 1627
- ^ a b The Broadview Anthology of Seventeenth-Century Prose. Broadview Press. 2001. p. 18.
- ^ Bowen, Catherine (1993). Francis Bacon: The Temper of a Man. Fordham University Press. p. 225.
- ^ Bacon, Francis (1825–1834). Montagu, Basil (ed.). The works of Francis Bacon, lord chancellor of England. Vol. 12. London: W. Pickering. p. 274.
- ^ Rawley, William (Bacon's personal secretary and chaplain) (1657), Resuscitatio, or, Bringing into Publick Light Several Pieces of the Works, Civil, Historical, Philosophical, & Theological, Hitherto Sleeping; of the Right Honourable Francis Bacon. ...Together with his Lordship's Life,
Francis Bacon, the glory of his age and nation, the adorner and ornament of learning, was born in York House, or York Place, in the Strand, on the two and twentieth day of January, in the year of our Lord 1560.
- ^ Gundry, W.G.C. (ed.), Manes Verulamani This important volume consists of 32 eulogies originally published in Latin shortly after Bacon's funeral in 1626. Bacon's peers refer to him as "a supreme poet" and "a concealed poet", and also link him with the theatre.
- ^ a b Lovejoy, Benjamin (1888). Francis Bacon: A Critical Review. London: Unwin. p. 171. OCLC 79886184.
- ^ Officer, Lawrence; Williamson, Samuel. "Purchasing Power of British Pounds from 1264 to Present". Measuring Worth. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
- ^ Farrington 1964.
- ^ Bacon, Francis (1620). – via Wikisource.
- ^ Bacon, Francis, , .
- ^ "Ben", Meaning, Abarim.
- ^ "Salem", Meaning, Abarim.
- ^ Bacon, Francis (1996). Meditationes Sacrae. Kessinger. ISBN 978-1564596413.
- ^ a b Kocher, Paul (1957). "Francis Bacon and the Science of Jurisprudence". Journal of the History of Ideas. 8 (1). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press: 3–26. doi:10.2307/2707577. ISSN 0022-5037. JSTOR 2707577.
- ^ Turner, Henry S. (2013). "Francis Bacon's Common Notion". Journal for Early Modern Cultural Studies. 13 (3): 7–32. doi:10.1353/jem.2013.0023. ISSN 1553-3786. S2CID 153693271.
- ^ Bacon, Francis (1902). Devey, Joseph (ed.). Novum Organum. New York: Collier. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.17510.
- ^ Brooks, Christopher (1993). "Daniel R. Coquillette. Francis Bacon. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press. 1992. pp. x, 358". Albion. 25 (3): 484–485. doi:10.2307/4050890. ISSN 0095-1390. JSTOR 4050890.
- ^ Nisbet, H. B. (1967). "Herder and Francis Bacon". The Modern Language Review. 62 (2): 267–283. doi:10.2307/3723840. ISSN 0026-7937. JSTOR 3723840.
- ^ Martin, Julian (1992). Francis Bacon: The State and the Reform of Natural Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-38249-6.[page needed]
- ^ Steel, Byron (1930). "Sir Francis Bacon: The First Modern Mind". Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Doran & Co.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ Hundert, EJ. (1987), "Enlightenment and the decay of common sense." In: Frits van Holthoon & David R. Olson (Eds.), Common Sense: The Foundations for Social Science (pp. 133–154). Lanham, MD: University Press of America. p. 136.
- ^ Urbach, Peter (1987). Francis Bacon's Philosophy of Science: An Account and a Reappraisal. La Salle, Ill.: Open Court Publishing Co. ISBN 978-0-912050-44-7. p. 192. "Bacon's celebrity as a philosopher of science has sunk since the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, when he earned the title of 'Father of Experimental Philosophy'".
- ^ Bacon, Francis (2003). History of Life and Death. Kessinger. ISBN 978-0-7661-6272-3.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Hepworth Dixon, William (1862). "The story of Lord Bacon's Life" (1862).
- ^ "Lab" (law). 4. NF, CA: Heritage. 1701. Archived from the original on 21 October 2013.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ Bacon, Locke, and Newton. "The Letters of Thomas Jefferson: 1743–1826". Netherlands: RUG. Retrieved 13 June 2009.
Bacon, Locke and Newton, whose pictures I will trouble you to have copied for me: and as I consider them as the three greatest men that have ever lived, without any exception, and as having laid the foundation of those superstructures which have been raised in the Physical & Moral sciences
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ "FB life" (essay). UK: FBRT. Archived from the original on 31 January 2012.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ Hepworth Dixon, William (2003). Personal History of Lord Bacon from Unpublished Papers. Kessinger. p. 200. ISBN 978-0-7661-2798-2.
- ^ Crowther, J. G. (19 January 1961). "Article about Francis Bacon". New Scientist.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Hepworth Dixon, William (1861). Personal history of Lord Bacon: From unpublished papers. J. Murray. p. 35.
- ^ Wheeler, Harvey. Francis Bacon's 'Verulamium': the Common Law Template of The Modern in English Science and Culture
- ^ "Sir Francis Bacon" Archived 2 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine. GraysInn.org. Retrieved 21 August 2015
- ^ Hanson, Elizabeth (Spring 1991). "Torture and Truth in Renaissance England". Representations. 34: 53–84. doi:10.1525/rep.1991.34.1.99p0046u (inactive 31 January 2024).
- ^ Langbein, John H. (1976). Torture and the Law of Proof. The University of Chicago Press. p. 90.
- ^ Simpson, David. "Francis Bacon (1561—1626)". Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
Bacon outlines his scheme for a new division of human knowledge into three primary categories: History, Poesy, and Philosophy (which he associates respectively with the three fundamental "faculties" of mind – memory, imagination, and reason).
- ^ Josephson-Storm 2017, pp. 46–47.
- ^ Frances Yates, Theatre of the World, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1969
- ^ Daphne du Maurier, The Winding Stair, Biography of Bacon 1976.
- ^ Frances Yates, The Occult Philosophy in the Elizabethan Age, pp. 61–68, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1979
- ^ a b Frances Yates, The Rosicrucian Enlightenment, London and Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1972
- ^ Bacon, Francis. Of the Proficience and Advancement of Learning, Divine and Human
- ^ Andreae 1619.
- ^ Farrington, Benjamin (1951). Francis Bacon, philosopher of industrial science. New York. ISBN 978-0-374-92706-6.
- ^ "Literary criticism of Johann Valentin Andreae". Enotes.com. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
- ^ a b Rossi 1968, Chapter 1.
- ^ Rossi 1968, Chapter 3.
- ^ Josephson-Storm 2017, p. 46.
- ^ Josephson-Storm 2017, pp. 50–51.
- ^ "The Mastery of Life" (PDF). Rosicrucian.org. p. 31. Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 February 2004. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
- ^ Saint Germain Foundation. The History of the "I AM" Activity and Saint Germain Foundation. Schaumburg, Illinois: Saint Germain Press 2003
- ^ Luk, A.D.K.. Law of Life – Book II. Pueblo, Colorado: A.D. K. Luk Publications 1989, pp. 254–267
- ^ White Paper – Wesak World Congress 2002. Acropolis Sophia Books & Works 2003.
- ^ Partridge, Christopher ed. New Religions: A Guide: New Religious Movements, Sects and Alternative Spiritualities Oxford University Press, United States 2004.
- ^ Schroeder, Werner Ascended Masters and Their Retreats Ascended Master Teaching Foundation 2004, pp. 250–255
- ^ Dawkins, A. Peter (May 2020). "Bacon Heraldry" (PDF). Francis Bacon Research Trust. Retrieved 25 July 2024.
- ^ Alban, Francis Bacon, Viscount St (1620), "Instauratio magna preliminaries", in Rees (ed.), The Oxford Francis Bacon, Vol. 11: The Instauratio magna Part II: Novum organum and Associated Texts, Oxford University Press, pp. 2–495, doi:10.1093/oseo/instance.00007240, ISBN 978-0-19-924792-9
- Bacon, Francis. The Essays and Counsels, Civil and Moral of Francis Bacon: all 3 volumes in a single file. B&R Samizdat Express, 2014.
- Andreae, Johann Valentin (1619). "Christianopolis". Description of the Republic of Christianopolis. New York, Oxford university press, American branch; [etc., etc.]
- Spedding, James; Ellis, Robert Leslie; Heath, Douglas Denon (1857–1874). The Works of Francis Bacon, Baron of Verulam, Viscount St Albans and Lord High Chancellor of England (15 volumes). London.
- Adamson, Robert (1878), , Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 3 (9th ed.), pp. 200–218
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Adamson, Robert; Mitchell, John Malcolm (1911), "Bacon, Francis", Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 3 (11th ed.), pp. 135–152
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Pollard, Albert Frederick (1911). "Burghley, William Cecil, Baron". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 4 (11th ed.). pp. 816–817.
This article incorporates text from a publication in the public domain: Jackson, Samuel Macauley, ed. (1908). "Bacon, Francis". New Schaff–Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge. Vol. 2 (third ed.). London and New York: Funk and Wagnalls.- Crease, Robert P. (2019). "One: Francis Bacon's New Atlantis". The Workshop and the World: What Ten Thinkers Can Teach Us About Science and Authority. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0-393-29244-2.
- Fowler, Thomas (1885). . In Stephen, Leslie (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 2. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 328–360.
- Peltonen, Markku (2007) [2004]. "Bacon, Francis, Viscount St Alban (1561–1626)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/990. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- Agassi, Joseph (2013). The Very Idea of Modern Science: Francis Bacon and Robert Boyle. Springer. ISBN 978-94-007-5350-1.
- Farrell, John (2006). "6: The Science of Suspicion". Paranoia and Modernity: Cervantes to Rousseau. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8014-7406-4.
- Farrington, Benjamin (1964). The Philosophy of Francis Bacon. University of Chicago Press. Contains English translations of
- Temporis Partus Masculus
- Cogitata et Visa
- Redargutio Philosophiarum
- Josephson-Storm, Jason (2017). The Myth of Disenchantment: Magic, Modernity, and the Birth of the Human Sciences. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-40336-6.
- Heese, Mary (1968). "Francis Bacon's Philosophy of Science". In Vickers, Brian (ed.). Essential Articles for the Study of Francis Bacon. Hamden, CT: Archon Books. pp. 114–139. ISBN 978-0208006240.
- Lewis, Rhodri (2014). "Francis Bacon and Ingenuity". Renaissance Quarterly. 67 (1): 113–163. doi:10.1086/676154. JSTOR 10.1086/676154. S2CID 170420555.
- Roselle, Daniel; Young, Anne P. "5: The 'Scientific Revolution' and the 'Intellectual Revolution'". Our Western Heritage.[full citation needed]
- Rossi, Paolo (1968). Francis Bacon: from Magic to Science. University of Chicago Press.
- Serjeantson, Richard. "Francis Bacon and the 'Interpretation of Nature' in the Late Renaissance," Isis (December 2014) 105#4 pp. 681–705.
Media from Commons
Quotations from Wikiquote
Texts from Wikisource
Data from Wikidata
- Klein, Juergen. "Francis Bacon". In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
- "Francis Bacon". Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
- Works by Francis Bacon at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Francis Bacon at Internet Archive
- Works by Francis Bacon at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
- "Archival material relating to Francis Bacon". UK National Archives.
- Contains the New Organon, slightly modified for easier reading
- Lord Macaulay's essay Lord Bacon (Edinburgh Review, 1837) Lord Bacon
- Francis Bacon of Verulam. Realistic Philosophy and its Age by Kuno Fischer, translated from the German by John Oxenford London 1857
- Bacon by Thomas Fowler (1881) public domain at Internet Archive
- The Francis Bacon Society
- Six Degrees of Francis Bacon
- Journals of the Francis Bacon Society from 1886 to 1999
- English translation of Hugo von Hofmannsthal's fictional The Lord Chandos Letter, addressed to Bacon
- The George Fabyan Collection at the Library of Congress is rich in the works of Francis Bacon.
- Francis Bacon Research Trust
- Sir Francis Bacon's New Advancement of Learning
- Montmorency, James E. G. (1913). "Francis Bacon". In Macdonell, John; Manson, Edward William Donoghue (eds.). Great Jurists of the World. London: John Murray. pp. 144–168. Retrieved 11 March 2019 – via Internet Archive.
- Letterbook and correspondence by Sir Francis Bacon at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library.Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban,[a] 1st Lord Verulam, PC (/ˈbeɪkən/;[5] 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626) was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England under King James I. Bacon argued the importance of natural philosophy, guided by scientific method, and his works remained influential throughout the Scientific Revolution.[6]
Bacon has been called the father of empiricism.[7] He argued for the possibility of scientific knowledge based only upon inductive reasoning and careful observation of events in nature. He believed that science could be achieved by the use of a sceptical and methodical approach whereby scientists aim to avoid misleading themselves. Although his most specific proposals about such a method, the Baconian method, did not have long-lasting influence, the general idea of the importance and possibility of a sceptical methodology makes Bacon one of the later founders of the scientific method. His portion of the method based in scepticism was a new rhetorical and theoretical framework for science, whose practical details are still central to debates on science and methodology. He is famous for his role in the scientific revolution, promoting scientific experimentation as a way of glorifying God and fulfilling scripture.
Bacon was a patron of libraries and developed a system for cataloguing books under three categories – history, poetry, and philosophy – [8] which could further be divided into specific subjects and subheadings. About books he wrote: "Some books are to be tasted; others swallowed; and some few to be chewed and digested."[9] The Shakespearean authorship thesis, a fringe theory which was first proposed in the mid-19th century, contends that Bacon wrote at least some and possibly all of the plays conventionally attributed to William Shakespeare.[10]
Bacon was educated at Trinity College at the University of Cambridge, where he rigorously followed the medieval curriculum, which was presented largely in Latin. He was the first recipient of the Queen's counsel designation, conferred in 1597 when Elizabeth I reserved him as her legal advisor. After the accession of James I in 1603, Bacon was knighted, then created Baron Verulam in 1618[2] and Viscount St Alban in 1621.[1][b] He had no heirs, and so both titles became extinct on his death of pneumonia in 1626 at the age of 65. He is buried at St Michael's Church, St Albans, Hertfordshire.[12]
A young Francis Bacon depicted in a National Portrait Gallery painting; the inscription around Bacon's head reads: Si tabula daretur digna animum mallem, Latin for "If one could but paint his mind". 
The Italianate entry to York House, built around 1626 in Strand, the year of Bacon's death Francis Bacon was born on 22 January 1561[13] at York House near Strand in London, the son of Sir Nicholas Bacon (Lord Keeper of the Great Seal) by his second wife, Anne (Cooke) Bacon, the daughter of the noted Renaissance humanist Anthony Cooke. His mother's sister was married to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, making Burghley Bacon's uncle.[14]
Biographers believe that Bacon was educated at home in his early years owing to poor health, which would plague him throughout his life. He received tuition from John Walsall, a graduate of Oxford with a strong leaning toward Puritanism. He attended Trinity College at the University of Cambridge on 5 April 1573 at the age of 12,[15] living there for three years along with his older brother Anthony Bacon under the personal tutelage of John Whitgift, future Archbishop of Canterbury. Bacon's education was conducted largely in Latin and followed the medieval curriculum. It was at Cambridge that Bacon first met Queen Elizabeth, who was impressed by his precocious intellect, and was accustomed to calling him "The young lord keeper".[16]
His studies brought him to the belief that the methods and results of science as then practised were erroneous. His reverence for Aristotle conflicted with his rejection of Aristotelian philosophy, which seemed to him barren, argumentative and wrong in its objectives.[17]
On 27 June 1576, he and Anthony entered de societate magistrorum at Gray's Inn.[18] A few months later, Francis went abroad with Sir Amias Paulet, the English ambassador at Paris, while Anthony continued his studies at home. The state of government and society in France under Henry III afforded him valuable political instruction.[19] For the next three years he visited Blois, Poitiers, Tours, Italy, and Spain.[20] There is no evidence that he studied at the University of Poitiers.[21] During his travels, Bacon studied language, statecraft, and civil law while performing routine diplomatic tasks. On at least one occasion he delivered diplomatic letters to England for Walsingham, Burghley, Leicester, and for the queen.[20]
The sudden death of his father in February 1579 prompted Bacon to return to England. Sir Nicholas had laid up a considerable sum of money to purchase an estate for his youngest son, but he died before doing so, and Francis was left with only a fifth of that money.[19] Having borrowed money, Bacon got into debt. To support himself, he took up his residence in law at Gray's Inn in 1579,[19] his income being supplemented by a grant from his mother Lady Anne of the manor of Marks near Romford in Essex, which generated a rent of £46.[22]
Bacon's statue at Gray's Inn in London's South Square Bacon stated that he had three goals: to uncover truth, to serve his country, and to serve his church. He sought to achieve these goals by seeking a prestigious post. In 1580, through his uncle, Lord Burghley, he applied for a post at court that might enable him to pursue a life of learning, but his application failed. For two years he worked quietly at Gray's Inn, until he was admitted as an outer barrister in 1582.[23]
His parliamentary career began when he was elected MP for Bossiney, Cornwall, in a by-election in 1581. In 1584 he took his seat in Parliament for Melcombe in Dorset, and in 1586 for Taunton. At this time, he began to write on the condition of parties in the church, as well as on the topic of philosophical reform in the lost tract Temporis Partus Maximus. Yet he failed to gain a position that he thought would lead him to success.[19] He showed signs of sympathy to Puritanism, attending the sermons of the Puritan chaplain of Gray's Inn and accompanying his mother to the Temple Church to hear Walter Travers. This led to the publication of his earliest surviving tract, which criticized the English church's suppression of the Puritan clergy. In the Parliament of 1586, he openly urged execution for the Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots.[24]
About this time, he again approached his powerful uncle for help; this move was followed by his rapid progress at the bar. He became a bencher in 1586 and was elected a Reader in 1587, delivering his first set of lectures in Lent the following year. In 1589, he received the valuable appointment of reversion to the Clerkship of the Star Chamber, although he did not formally take office until 1608; the post was worth £1,600 a year.[19][1]
In 1588 he became MP for Liverpool and then for Middlesex in 1593. He later sat three times for Ipswich (1597, 1601, 1604) and once for Cambridge University (1614).[25]
He became known as a liberal-minded reformer, eager to amend and simplify the law. Though a friend of the crown, he opposed feudal privileges and dictatorial powers. He spoke against religious persecution. He struck at the House of Lords in its usurpation of the Money Bills. He advocated for the union of England and Scotland, which made him a significant influence toward the consolidation of the United Kingdom; and he later would advocate for the integration of Ireland into the Union. Closer constitutional ties, he believed, would bring greater peace and strength to these countries.[26][27]
Memorial to Bacon in the chapel of Trinity College, Cambridge Bacon soon became acquainted with Robert Devereux, the 2nd Earl of Essex, Queen Elizabeth's favourite.[28] By 1591 he acted as the earl's confidential adviser.[19][28] In 1592, he was commissioned to write a tract in response to the Jesuit Robert Parson's anti-government polemic, which he titled Certain Observations Made upon a Libel, identifying England with the ideals of democratic Athens against the belligerence of Spain.[29] Bacon took his third parliamentary seat for Middlesex when in February 1593 Elizabeth summoned Parliament to investigate a Roman Catholic plot against her. Bacon's opposition to a bill that would levy triple subsidies in half the usual time offended the Queen: opponents accused him of seeking popularity, and for a time the Court excluded him from favour.[30]
When the office of Attorney General fell vacant in 1594, Lord Essex's influence was not enough to secure the position for Bacon and it was given to Sir Edward Coke. Likewise, Bacon failed to secure the lesser office of Solicitor General in 1595, the Queen pointedly snubbing him by appointing Sir Thomas Fleming instead.[1] To console him for these disappointments, Essex presented him with a property at Twickenham, which Bacon subsequently sold for £1,800.[31]
In 1597 Bacon became the first Queen's Counsel designate, when Queen Elizabeth reserved him as her legal counsel.[32] In 1597, he was also given a patent, giving him precedence at the Bar.[33] Despite his designations, he was unable to gain the status and notoriety of others. In a plan to revive his position he unsuccessfully courted the wealthy young widow Lady Elizabeth Hatton.[34] His courtship failed after she broke off their relationship upon accepting marriage to Sir Edward Coke, a further spark of enmity between the men.[35] In 1598 Bacon was arrested for debt. Afterward, however, his standing in the Queen's eyes improved. Gradually, Bacon earned the standing of one of the learned counsels.[36] His relationship with the Queen further improved when he severed ties with Essex—a shrewd move, as Essex would be executed for treason in 1601.[37]
With others, Bacon was appointed to investigate the charges against Essex. A number of Essex's followers confessed that Essex had planned a rebellion against the Queen.[38] Bacon was subsequently a part of the legal team headed by the Attorney General Sir Edward Coke at Essex's treason trial.[38] After the execution, the Queen ordered Bacon to write the official government account of the trial, which was later published as A DECLARATION of the Practices and Treasons attempted and committed by Robert late Earle of Essex and his Complices, against her Majestie and her Kingdoms ... after Bacon's first draft was heavily edited by the Queen and her ministers.[39][40]
According to his personal secretary and chaplain, William Rawley, as a judge Bacon was always tender-hearted, "looking upon the examples with the eye of severity, but upon the person with the eye of pity and compassion". And also that "he was free from malice", "no revenger of injuries", and "no defamer of any man".[41]
Bacon, c. 1618 The succession of James I brought Bacon into greater favour. He was knighted in 1603. In another shrewd move, Bacon wrote his Apologies in defence of his proceedings in the case of Essex, as Essex had favoured James to succeed to the throne. The following year, during the course of the uneventful first parliamentary session, Bacon married Alice Barnham.[42] In June 1607, he was at last rewarded with the office of Solicitor General[1] and in 1608 he began working as the Clerkship of the Star Chamber. Despite a generous income, old debts still could not be paid. He sought further promotion and wealth by supporting King James and his arbitrary policies. In 1610 the fourth session of James's first Parliament met. Despite Bacon's advice to him, James and the Commons found themselves at odds over royal prerogatives and the King's embarrassing extravagance. The House was finally dissolved in February 1611. Throughout this period Bacon managed to stay in favour with the King while retaining the confidence of the Commons.
In 1613 Bacon was finally appointed Attorney General, after advising the King to shuffle judicial appointments. As Attorney General, Bacon, by his zealous efforts—which included torture—to obtain the conviction of Edmund Peacham for treason, raised legal controversies of high constitutional importance.[43] Bacon and Gray's Inn produced The Masque of Flowers to celebrate the wedding of Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset and his wife, Frances Howard, Countess of Somerset,[44] and he successfully prosecuted them for murder in 1616.
The so-called Prince's Parliament of April 1614 objected to Bacon's presence in the seat for Cambridge and to the various royal plans that Bacon had supported. Although he was allowed to stay, Parliament passed a law that forbade the Attorney General to sit in Parliament. His influence over the King had evidently inspired resentment or apprehension in many of his peers. Bacon, however, continued to receive the King's favour, which led to his appointment in March 1617 as temporary Regent of England (for a period of a month), and in 1618 as Lord Chancellor.[45] On 12 July 1618 the King created Bacon Baron Verulam of Verulam in the Peerage of England; he then became known as Francis, Lord Verulam.[1]
Bacon continued to use his influence with the King to mediate between the throne and Parliament, and in this capacity he was further elevated in the same peerage as Viscount St Alban on 27 January 1621.[46]
Bacon and members of Parliament on the day of his 1621 political fall Bacon's public career ended in disgrace in 1621. After he fell into debt, a parliamentary committee on the administration of the law charged him with 23 separate counts of corruption. His lifelong enemy, Sir Edward Coke, who had instigated these accusations,[47] was one of those appointed to prepare the charges against the chancellor.[48] To the lords, who sent a committee to enquire whether a confession was really his, he replied, "My lords, it is my act, my hand, and my heart; I beseech your lordships to be merciful to a broken reed." He was sentenced to a fine of £40,000 and committed to the Tower of London at the king's pleasure; the imprisonment lasted only a few days and the fine was remitted by the king.[49] More seriously, parliament declared Bacon incapable of holding future office or sitting in parliament. He narrowly escaped undergoing degradation, which would have stripped him of his titles of nobility. Subsequently, the disgraced viscount devoted himself to study and writing.
There seems little doubt that Bacon had accepted gifts from litigants, but this was an accepted custom of the time and not necessarily evidence of deeply corrupt behaviour.[50] While acknowledging that his conduct had been lax, he countered that he had never allowed gifts to influence his judgement and, indeed, he had on occasion given a verdict against those who had paid him. He even had an interview with King James in which he assured:
He also wrote the following to George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham:
As the conduct of accepting gifts was ubiquitous and common practice, and the Commons was zealously inquiring into judicial corruption and malfeasance, it has been suggested that Bacon served as a scapegoat to divert attention from Buckingham's own ill practice and alleged corruption.[53]
The true reason for his acknowledgement of guilt is the subject of debate, but some authors speculate that it may have been prompted by his sickness, or by a view that through his fame and the greatness of his office he would be spared harsh punishment. He may even have been blackmailed, with a threat to charge him with sodomy, into confession.[50][54]
The British jurist Basil Montagu wrote in Bacon's defense, concerning the episode of his public disgrace:
Bacon was a devout Anglican. He believed that philosophy and the natural world must be studied inductively, but argued that we can only study arguments for the existence of God. Information about God's attributes (such as nature, action, and purposes) can only come from special revelation. Bacon also held that knowledge was cumulative, that study encompassed more than a simple preservation of the past. "Knowledge is the rich storehouse for the glory of the Creator and the relief of man's estate," he wrote. In his Essays, he affirms that "a little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion."[56]
Bacon's idea of idols of the mind may have self-consciously represented an attempt to Christianize science at the same time as developing a new, reliable scientific method; Bacon gave worship of Neptune as an example of the idola tribus fallacy, hinting at the religious dimensions of his critique of the idols.[57]
Bacon was against the splintering within Christianity, believing that it would ultimately lead to the creation of atheism as a dominant worldview, as indicated with his quote that "The causes of atheism are: divisions in religion, if they be many; for any one main division, addeth zeal to both sides; but many divisions introduce atheism. Another is, scandal of priests; when it is come to that which St. Bernard saith "One cannot now say the priest is as the people, for the truth is that the people are not so bad as the priest". A third is, custom of profane scoffing in holy matters; which doth by little and little deface the reverence of religion. And lastly, learned times, specially with peace and prosperity; for troubles and adversities do more bow men's minds to religion."[58][59]
Bacon built Verulam House in St Albans to his own designs.[60] It has been suggested that this building was derivative of Sir Rowland Hill's building at Soulton Hall.[61]
Engraving of Alice Barnham When he was 36, Bacon courted Elizabeth Hatton, a young widow of 20. Reportedly, she broke off their relationship upon accepting marriage to a wealthier man, Bacon's rival, Sir Edward Coke. Years later, Bacon still wrote of his regret that the marriage to Hatton had not taken place.[62]
At the age of 45, Bacon married Alice Barnham, the 13-year-old daughter of a well-connected London alderman and MP. Bacon wrote two sonnets proclaiming his love for Alice. The first was written during his courtship and the second on his wedding day, 10 May 1606. When Bacon was appointed lord chancellor, "by special Warrant of the King", Lady Bacon was given precedence over all other Court ladies. Bacon's personal secretary and chaplain, William Rawley, wrote in his biography of Bacon that his marriage was one of "much conjugal love and respect", mentioning a robe of honour that he gave to Alice and which "she wore unto her dying day, being twenty years and more after his death".[41]
However, an increasing number of reports circulated about friction in the marriage, with speculation that this may have been due to Alice's making do with less money than she had once been accustomed to. It was said that she was strongly interested in fame and fortune, and when household finances dwindled, she complained bitterly. Bunten wrote in her Life of Alice Barnham [63] that, upon their descent into debt, she went on trips to ask for financial favours and assistance from their circle of friends. Bacon disinherited her upon discovering her secret romantic relationship with Sir John Underhill, rewriting his will (which had generously planned to leave her lands, goods, and income) and revoking her entirely as a beneficiary.
Several authors believe that, despite his marriage, Bacon was primarily attracted to men.[64][65] Forker,[66] for example, has explored the "historically documentable sexual preferences" of both Francis Bacon and King James I and concluded they were both oriented to "masculine love", a contemporary term that "seems to have been used exclusively to refer to the sexual preference of men for members of their own gender."[67]
The well-connected antiquary John Aubrey noted in his Brief Lives concerning Bacon, "He was a Pederast. His Ganimeds and Favourites tooke Bribes".[68] ("Pederast" in Renaissance diction meant generally "homosexual" rather than specifically a lover of minors[citation needed]; "ganimed" derives from the mythical prince abducted by Zeus to be his cup-bearer and bed warmer.)
The Jacobean antiquarian Sir Simonds D'Ewes (Bacon's fellow Member of Parliament) implied there had been a question of bringing him to trial for buggery,[69] which his brother Anthony Bacon had also been charged with.[70]
In his Autobiography and Correspondence, in the diary entry for 3 May 1621, the date of Bacon's censure by Parliament, D'Ewes describes Bacon's love for his Welsh serving-men, in particular Godrick, a "very effeminate-faced youth" whom he calls "his catamite and bedfellow".[71]
This conclusion has been disputed by others, who point to lack of consistent evidence, and consider the sources to be more open to interpretation.[38][72][73][74][75] Publicly, at least, Bacon distanced himself from the idea of homosexuality. In his New Atlantis, he described his utopian island as being "the chastest nation under heaven", and "as for masculine love, they have no touch of it".[76]
Monument to Bacon at his burial place in St Michael's Church in St Albans On 9 April 1626, Bacon died of pneumonia at Highgate outside London, specifically at Arundel House, a country residence of his friend the Earl of Arundel,[c] though Arundel was then imprisoned in the Tower of London.[77] An influential account of the circumstances of his death was given by John Aubrey's Brief Lives.[77] Aubrey's vivid account, which portrays Bacon as a martyr to experimental scientific method, has him journeying to High-gate through the snow with the King's physician when he is suddenly inspired by the possibility of using the snow to preserve meat:
After stuffing the fowl with snow, Bacon contracted a fatal case of pneumonia. Some people, including Aubrey, consider these two contiguous, possibly coincidental events as related and causative of his death:
Aubrey has been criticized for his evident credulousness in this and other works; on the other hand, he knew Thomas Hobbes, Bacon's fellow-philosopher and friend. Being unwittingly on his deathbed, the philosopher dictated his last letter to the Earl:
Another account appears in a biography by William Rawley, Bacon's personal secretary and chaplain:
He was buried in St Michael's Church in St Albans. At the news of his death, over 30 great minds collected together their eulogies of him, which were then later published in Latin.[81] He left personal assets of about £7,000 and lands that realised £6,000 when sold.[82] His debts amounted to more than £23,000, equivalent to more than £4m at current value.[82][83]
Sylva sylvarum, Bacon's history of ten centuries 
Front page of a 1651 copy of Sylva sylvarum Francis Bacon's philosophy is displayed in the vast and varied writings he left, which might be divided into three great branches:
- Scientific works in which his ideas for a universal reform of knowledge into scientific methodology and the improvement of mankind's state using the Scientific method are presented.[84][page needed][85][86]
- Religious and literary works in which he presents his moral philosophy and theological meditations.[d][89]
- Juridical works in which his reforms in English law are proposed.[90]
Statue of Bacon in the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. 
National Portrait Gallery painting of the front cover of The History of Royal-Society of London, picturing Bacon (right) among the founding influences of Royal Society Bacon's seminal work Novum Organum was influential in the 1630s and 1650s among scholars, in particular Sir Thomas Browne, who in his encyclopedia Pseudodoxia Epidemica (1646–72) frequently adheres to a Baconian approach to his scientific enquiries. This book entails the basis of the scientific method as a means of observation and induction.
According to Bacon, learning and knowledge all derive from the basis of inductive reasoning. Through his belief in experimental encounters, he theorised that all the knowledge that was necessary to fully understand a concept could be attained using induction. In order to get to the point of an inductive conclusion, one must consider the importance of observing the particulars (specific parts of nature). "Once these particulars have been gathered together, the interpretation of Nature proceeds by sorting them into a formal arrangement so that they may be presented to the understanding."[91] Experimentation is essential to discovering the truths of Nature. When an experiment happens, parts of the tested hypothesis are started to be pieced together, forming a result and conclusion. Through this conclusion of particulars, an understanding of Nature can be formed. Now that an understanding of Nature has been arrived at, an inductive conclusion can be drawn. "For no one successfully investigates the nature of a thing in the thing itself; the inquiry must be enlarged to things that have more in common with it."[92]
Bacon explains how we come to this understanding and knowledge because of this process in comprehending the complexities of nature. "Bacon sees nature as an extremely subtle complexity, which affords all the energy of the natural philosopher to disclose her secrets."[93] Bacon described the evidence and proof revealed through taking a specific example from nature and expanding that example into a general, substantial claim of nature. Once we understand the particulars in nature, we can learn more about it and become surer of things occurring in nature, gaining knowledge and obtaining new information all the while. "It is nothing less than a revival of Bacon's supremely confident belief that inductive methods can provide us with ultimate and infallible answers concerning the laws and nature of the universe."[94] Bacon states that when we come to understand parts of nature, we can eventually understand nature better as a whole because of induction. Because of this, Bacon concludes that all learning and knowledge must be drawn from inductive reasoning.
During the Restoration, Bacon was commonly invoked as a guiding spirit of the Royal Society founded under Charles II in 1660.[95][96] During the 18th-century French Enlightenment, Bacon's non-metaphysical approach to science became more influential than the dualism of his French contemporary Descartes, and was associated with criticism of the Ancien Régime. In 1733 Voltaire introduced him to a French audience as the "father" of the scientific method, an understanding which had become widespread by the 1750s.[97] In the 19th century his emphasis on induction was revived and developed by William Whewell, among others. He has been reputed as the "Father of Experimental Philosophy".[98]
He also wrote a long treatise on Medicine, History of Life and Death,[99] with natural and experimental observations for the prolongation of life.
One of his biographers, the historian William Hepworth Dixon, states: "Bacon's influence in the modern world is so great that every man who rides in a train, sends a telegram, follows a steam plough, sits in an easy chair, crosses the channel or the Atlantic, eats a good dinner, enjoys a beautiful garden, or undergoes a painless surgical operation, owes him something."[100]
In 1902 Hugo von Hofmannsthal published a fictional letter, known as The Lord Chandos Letter, addressed to Bacon and dated 1603, about a writer who is experiencing a crisis of language.
A Newfoundland stamp, which reads: "Lord Bacon – the guiding spirit in colonization scheme" Bacon played a leading role in establishing the British colonies in North America, especially in Virginia, the Carolinas and Newfoundland in northeastern Canada. His government report on "The Virginia Colony" was submitted in 1609. In 1610 Bacon and his associates received a charter from the king to form the Tresurer and the Companye of Adventurers and planter of the Cittye of London and Bristoll for the Collonye or plantacon in Newfoundland, and sent John Guy to found a colony there.[101] Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States, wrote: "Bacon, Locke and Newton. I consider them as the three greatest men that have ever lived, without any exception, and as having laid the foundation of those superstructures which have been raised in the Physical and Moral sciences".[102]
In 1910, Newfoundland issued a postage stamp to commemorate Bacon's role in establishing the colony. The stamp describes Bacon as "the guiding spirit in Colonization Schemes in 1610".[62] Moreover, some scholars believe he was largely responsible for the drafting, in 1609 and 1612, of two charters of government for the Virginia Colony.[103] William Hepworth Dixon considered that Bacon's name could be included in the list of Founders of the United States.[104]
Although few of his proposals for law reform were adopted during his lifetime, Bacon's legal legacy was considered by the magazine New Scientist in 1961 as having influenced the drafting of the Napoleonic Code as well as the law reforms introduced by 19th-century British Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel.[105] The historian William Hepworth Dixon referred to the Napoleonic Code as "the sole embodiment of Bacon's thought", saying that Bacon's legal work "has had more success abroad than it has found at home", and that in France "it has blossomed and come into fruit".[106]
Harvey Wheeler attributed to Bacon, in Francis Bacon's Verulamium—the Common Law Template of The Modern in English Science and Culture, the creation of these distinguishing features of the modern common law system:
- using cases as repositories of evidence about the "unwritten law";
- determining the relevance of precedents by exclusionary principles of evidence and logic;
- treating opposing legal briefs as adversarial hypotheses about the application of the "unwritten law" to a new set of facts.
As late as the 18th century, some juries still declared the law rather than the facts, but already before the end of the 17th century Sir Matthew Hale explained modern common law adjudication procedure and acknowledged Bacon as the inventor of the process of discovering unwritten laws from the evidences of their applications. The method combined empiricism and inductivism in a new way that was to imprint its signature on many of the distinctive features of modern English society.[107] Paul H. Kocher writes that Bacon is considered by some jurists to be the father of modern Jurisprudence.[90]
Bacon is commemorated with a statue in Gray's Inn, South Square in London where he received his legal training, and where he was elected Treasurer of the Inn in 1608.[108]
More recent scholarship on Bacon's jurisprudence has focused on his advocating torture as a legal recourse for the crown.[109] Bacon himself was not a stranger to the torture chamber; in his various legal capacities in both Elizabeth I's and James I's reigns, Bacon was listed as a commissioner on five torture warrants. In 1613(?), in a letter addressed to King James I on the question of torture's place within English law, Bacon identifies the scope of torture as a means to further the investigation of threats to the state: "In the cases of treasons, torture is used for discovery, and not for evidence."[110] For Bacon, torture was not a punitive measure, an intended form of state repression, but instead offered a modus operandi for the government agent tasked with uncovering acts of treason.
This section needs additional citations for verification. (November 2023)Francis Bacon developed the idea that a classification of knowledge must be universal while handling all possible resources. In his progressive view, humanity would be better if access to educational resources were provided to the public, hence the need to organise it. His approach to learning reshaped the Western view of knowledge theory from an individual to a social interest.
The original classification proposed by Bacon organised all types of knowledge into three general groups: history, poetry, and philosophy. He did that based on his understanding of how information is processed: memory, imagination, and reason, respectively.[111] His methodical approach to the categorization of knowledge goes hand-in-hand with his principles of scientific methods. Bacon's writings were the starting point for William Torrey Harris's classification system for libraries in the United States by the second half of the 1800s.
The phrase "scientia potentia est" (or "scientia est potentia"), meaning "knowledge is power", is commonly attributed to Bacon: the expression "ipsa scientia potestas est" ("knowledge itself is power") occurs in his Meditationes Sacrae (1597).[112]
The Baconian hypothesis of Shakespearean authorship, first proposed in the mid-19th century, contends that Francis Bacon wrote some or even all of the plays conventionally attributed to William Shakespeare.[10]
An old volume of Bacon and a rose Francis Bacon often gathered with the men at Gray's Inn to discuss politics and philosophy, and to try out various theatrical scenes that he admitted writing.[113] Bacon's alleged connection to the Rosicrucians and the Freemasons has been widely discussed by authors and scholars in many books.[73] However, others, including Daphne du Maurier in her biography of Bacon, have argued that there is no substantive evidence to support claims of involvement with the Rosicrucians.[114] Frances Yates[115] does not make the claim that Bacon was a Rosicrucian, but presents evidence that he was nevertheless involved in some of the more closed intellectual movements of his day. She argues that Bacon's movement for the advancement of learning was closely connected with the German Rosicrucian movement, while Bacon's New Atlantis portrays a land ruled by Rosicrucians. He apparently saw his own movement for the advancement of learning to be in conformity with Rosicrucian ideals.[116]
The link between Bacon's work and the Rosicrucians' ideals which Yates allegedly found was the conformity of the purposes expressed by the Rosicrucian Manifestos and Bacon's plan of a "Great Instauration",[116] for the two were calling for a reformation of both "divine and human understanding",[e][117] as well as both, had in view the purpose of mankind's return to the "state before the Fall".[f][g]
Another major link is said to be the resemblance between Bacon's New Atlantis and the German Rosicrucian Johann Valentin Andreae's Description of the Republic of Christianopolis (1619).[118] Andreae describes a utopic island in which Christian theosophy and applied science ruled, and in which the spiritual fulfilment and intellectual activity constituted the primary goals of each individual, the scientific pursuits being the highest intellectual calling—linked to the achievement of spiritual perfection. Andreae's island also depicts a great advancement in technology, with many industries separated in different zones which supplied the population's needs—which shows great resemblance to Bacon's scientific methods and purposes.[119][120]
While rejecting occult conspiracy theories surrounding Bacon and the claim Bacon personally identified as a Rosicrucian, intellectual historian Paolo Rossi has argued for an occult influence on Bacon's scientific and religious writing. He argues that Bacon was familiar with early modern alchemical texts and that Bacon's ideas about the application of science had roots in Renaissance magical ideas about science and magic facilitating humanity's domination of nature.[121] Rossi further interprets Bacon's search for hidden meanings in myth and fables in such texts as The Wisdom of the Ancients as succeeding earlier occultist and Neoplatonic attempts to locate hidden wisdom in pre-Christian myths.[122] As indicated by the title of his study, however, Rossi claims Bacon ultimately rejected the philosophical foundations of occultism as he came to develop a form of modern science.[121]
Rossi's analysis and claims have been extended by Jason Josephson-Storm in his study, The Myth of Disenchantment. Josephson-Storm also rejects conspiracy theories surrounding Bacon and does not make the claim that Bacon was an active Rosicrucian. However, he argues that Bacon's "rejection" of magic actually constituted an attempt to purify magic of Catholic, demonic, and esoteric influences and to establish magic as a field of study and application paralleling Bacon's vision of science. Furthermore, Josephson-Storm argues that Bacon drew on magical ideas when developing his experimental method.[123] Josephson-Storm finds evidence that Bacon considered nature a living entity, populated by spirits, and argues Bacon's views on the human domination and application of nature actually depend on his spiritualism and personification of nature.[124]
The Rosicrucian organization AMORC claims that Bacon was the "Imperator" (leader) of the Rosicrucian Order in both England and the European continent, and would have directed it during his lifetime.[125]
Bacon's influence can also be seen on a variety of religious and spiritual authors, and on groups that have utilized his writings in their own belief systems.[126][127][128][129][130]
Coat of arms of Sir Francis Bacon, Viscount St Alban[131] 
- Coronet
- A Coronet of a Viscount
- Crest
- A Boar passant Ermine, a Crescent for difference.
- Escutcheon
- Quarterly: 1st and 4th, Gules a Chief Argent with 2 mullets Sable (Bacon); 2nd and 3rd, Barry of 6 Or and Azure, a Bend Gules (Quaplode).
- Supporters
- On either sides, a Roman Centurion.
- Motto
- Mediocria Firma
Front page of a 1779 copy of Bacon's Novum Organum, authored in 1620 Some of the more notable works by Bacon are:
- Essays
- 1st edition with 10 essays (1597)
- 2nd edition with 38 essays (1612)
- 3rd/final edition with 58 essays (1625)
- The Advancement and Proficience of Learning Divine and Human (1605)
- Instauratio magna (The Great Instauration) (1620) – a multi-part work including Distributio operis (Plan of the Work); Novum Organum (The New Organon); Parasceve ad historiam naturalem (Preparatory for Natural History) and Catalogus historiarum particularium (Catalogue of Particular Histories)[132]
- De augmentis scientiarum (1623) – an enlargement of The Advancement of Learning translated into Latin
- New Atlantis (1626)
- Cestui que (defence and comment on Chudleigh's Case)
- Romanticism and Bacon
- Scientia potentia est
- Works by Francis Bacon
- ^ There is confusion over the spelling of Bacon's title. Some sources, such as the 2007 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and the 9th edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, spell it "St Alban";[1][2] others, such as the Dictionary of National Biography (1885) and the 11th edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica, spell the title "St Albans".[3][4]
- ^ Contemporary spelling, used by Bacon himself in his letter of thanks to the king for his elevation.[11]
- ^ Not to be confused with his central London residence of the same name.
- ^ Ben: "son"; Salem: "peace", "peaceful" or "at peace".[87][88]
- ^ "Howbeit we know after a time there wil now be a general reformation, both of divine and humane things, according to our desire, and the expectation of others: for it's fitting, that before the rising of the Sun, there should appear and break forth Aurora, or some clearness, or divine light in the sky" – Fama Fraternitatis (sacred-texts.com Archived 14 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine)
- ^ "Like good and faithful guardians, we may yield up their fortune to mankind upon the emancipation and majority of their understanding, from which must necessarily follow an improvement of their estate [...]. For man, by the fall, fell at the same time from his state of innocency and from his dominion over creation. Both of these losses however can even in this life be in some part repaired; the former by religion and faith, the latter by arts and sciences. – Francis Bacon, Novum Organum
- ^ "We ought therefore here to observe well, and make it known unto everyone, that God hath certainly and most assuredly concluded to send and grant to the whole world before her end ... such a truth, light, life, and glory, as the first man Adam had, which he lost in Paradise, after which his successors were put and driven, with him, to misery. Wherefore there shall cease all servitude, falsehood, lies, and darkness, which by little and little, with the great world's revolution, was crept into all arts, works, and governments of men, and have darkened most part of them". – Confessio Fraternitatis
- ^ a b c d e f Peltonen 2007.
- ^ a b Adamson 1878, p. 200.
- ^ Fowler 1885, p. 346.
- ^ Adamson & Mitchell 1911, p. 135.
- ^ "Bacon" Archived 15 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine entry in Collins English Dictionary.
- ^ Klein, Jürgen (2012), "Francis Bacon", in Zalta, Edward N. (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2016 ed.), Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, retrieved 17 January 2020
- ^ Partner, Nancy; Foot, Sarah, eds. (31 January 2013). "Empiricism and its configurations in the history of epistemology". SAGE Handbook of Historical Theory. SAGE. ISBN 9781412931144.
The first philosopher who developed an empiricist programme of scholarly knowledge was Francis Bacon (1561–1626), whose arguments were systematised by his followers.
- ^ "The classification of Harris: Influences of Bacon and Hegel in the universe of library classification". University of Washington. 2017.
- ^ Murray, Stuart (2009). The library : an illustrated history. Nicholas A. Basbanes, American Library Association. New York: Skyhorse Pub. ISBN 978-1-60239-706-4. OCLC 277203534.
- ^ a b Dobson, Michael (2001). The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare. Oxford University Press. p. 33.
- ^ Birch, Thomas (1763). Letters, Speeches, Charges, Advices, &c of Lord Chancellor Bacon. Vol. 6. London: Andrew Millar. pp. 271–272. OCLC 228676038.
- ^ Scott Wilson, Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3rd ed.: 2 (Kindle Locations 2105–2106). McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Kindle Edition.
- ^ Peltonen, Markku (23 September 2004). "Bacon, Francis, Viscount St Alban (1561–1626)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/990. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ Pollard 1911, p. 816.
- ^ "Bacon, Francis (BCN573F)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ Collins, Arthur (1741). The English Baronetage: Containing a Genealogical and Historical Account of All the English Baronets, Now Existing: Their Descents, Marriages, and Issues; Memorable Actions, Both in War, and Peace; Religious and Charitable Donations; Deaths, Places of Burial and Monumental Inscriptions. Printed for Tho. Wotton at the Three Daggers and Queen's Head. p. 5.
- ^ Crosbie, Christopher. “Francis Bacon and Aristotelian Afterlives,” in A Companion to British Literature, ed. Robert DeMaria Jr., Heesok Chang, and Samantha Zacher, vol 2. (Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2014), 231-248. https://hcommons.org/deposits/objects/hc:58062/datastreams/CONTENT/content
- ^ de Montmorency, J.E.G (1905). "Francis Bacon". Journal of the Society of Comparative Legislation. 6 (2): 264. JSTOR 752041 – via JSTOR.
- ^ a b c d e f Adamson & Mitchell 1911, p. 136.
- ^ a b Stephen Gaukroger (2001). Francis Bacon and the Transformation of Early-Modern Philosophy. Cambridge University Press, p. 46.
- ^ Francis Bacon, The Advancement of Learning, Clarendon Press, 1876, p. ix.
- ^ Spall, JEH (1971). "Francis Bacon's connections with Marks Manor House". Romford Record. 4. Romford: Romford and District Historical Society: 32–37.
- ^ Ellis, Robert. P. (2015). Francis Bacon: The Double-Edged Life of the Philosopher and Statesman. McFarland. p. 28.
- ^ Jardine, L. (1986), Francis Bacon: Discovery and the Art of Discourse, Cambridge University Press.
- ^ "History of Parliament". Retrieved 2 October 2011.
- ^ Spedding, James (1861). "The letters and life of Francis Bacon".
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ "Sir Francis Bacon's Letters, Tracts and Speech relating to Ireland". Archived from the original on 7 August 2011. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
- ^ a b Paul E. J. Hammer (1999). "The Polarisation of Elizabethan Politics: The Political Career of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, 1585–1597". p. 141. Cambridge University Press
- ^ Gustav Ungerer (1974). "A Spaniard in Elizabethan England: The Correspondence of Antonio Pérez's Exile, Volume 1". p. 207. Tamesis Books
- ^ Weir, Alison Elizabeth the Queen Pimlico 1999 p. 414
- ^ Bunten, Alice Chambers. Twickenham Park and Old Richmond Palace and Francis Bacon: Lord Verulam's Connection with The, 1580–1608. R. Banks. p. 19.
- ^ Holdsworth, W. S. (1938). History of English Law. pp. vi 473–474.
- ^ Patent Rolls, 2 Jac I p. 12 m 10.
- ^ Longueville, Thomas (1909). The Curious Case of Lady Purbeck; A Scandal of the XVIIth Century. London: Longmans, Green and Co. p. 4.
- ^ Aughterson, Kate. "Hatton, Elizabeth, Lady Hatton [nee Lady Elizabeth Cecil] (1578–1646)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography – via Oxford University Press.
- ^ Adamson & Mitchell 1911, p. 137.
- ^ Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. 2008. p. 636.
- ^ a b c Nieves Matthews, Francis Bacon: The History of a Character Assassination (Yale University Press, 1996)
- ^ Adamson & Mitchell 1911, p. 138.
- ^ Matthews (1996: 56–57)
- ^ a b Rawley, William (1670). The Life of the Right Honorable Francis Bacon Baron of Verulam, Viscount St. Alban. London: Thomas Johns. Archived from the original on 5 August 2019. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
- ^ Adamson & Mitchell 1911, p. 139.
- ^ Lee, Sidney (1895). "Peachem, Edmond". The Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 44. Smith, Elder & Co.
- ^ Christine Adams, 'Francis Bacon's Wedding Gift of A Garden of a Glorious and Strange Beauty for the Earl and Countess of Somerset', Garden History, 36:1 (Spring 2008), p. 45.
- ^ Principe, Lawrence M. (2011). The Scientific Revolution: A Very Short Introduction (1st ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 128. ISBN 978-0199567416.
- ^ CSPD James I, 1619-1623. p. 116.
- ^ Ousby, Ian (1996), The Cambridge Paperback Guide to Literature in English, Cambridge University Press, p. 22, ISBN 978-0-521-43627-4.
- ^ Zagorin, Perez (1999), Francis Bacon, Princeton University Press, p. 22, ISBN 978-0-691-00966-7.
- ^ Parris, Matthew; Maguire, Kevin (2004). "Francis Bacon – 1621". Great Parliamentary Scandals. London: Chrysalis. pp. 8–9. ISBN 978-1-86105-736-5.
- ^ a b Zagorin, Perez (1999). Francis Bacon. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. pp. 22–23. ISBN 978-0-691-00966-7.
- ^ Campbell, John; Baron Campbell (1818), J. Murray. "The Lives of the Lord Chancellors and Keepers of the Great Seal of England"
- ^ Fowler 1885, p. 347.
- ^ Express, Britain. "The Duke of Buckingham and Sir Francis Bacon". Britain Express. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
- ^ A. L. Rowse, quoted in Parris; Maguire (2004: 8): "a charge of sodomy was... to be brought against the sixty-year-old Lord Chancellor".
- ^ Montagu, Basil (1837). Essays and Selections. Kessinger. pp. 325–326. ISBN 978-1-4368-3777-4.
- ^ Bacon, Francis (1625). The Essayes Or Covnsels, Civill and Morall, of Francis Lo. Vervlam, Viscovnt St. Alban. London. p. 90. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
- ^ Josephson-Storm 2017, pp. 48–49.
- ^ Bacon, Francis (1909–1914). Essays, Civil and Moral. The Harvard Classics (Vol III. Part 1 ed.). New York: PF Collier and Son.
- ^ "XVI Of Atheism". Francis Bacon. (1561–1626). Essays, Civil and Moral. The Harvard Classics. 1909–14. 2022. Retrieved 8 April 2023.
- ^ "Old Gorhambury Water Gardens". www.gardenvisit.com. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
- ^ Garnet as Emblem of Goodness | Philosophical architecture from Henry III to George III, 19 August 2023, retrieved 20 August 2023
- ^ a b Alfred Dodd, Francis Bacon's Personal Life Story', Volume 2 – The Age of James, England: Rider & Co., 1949, 1986. pp. 157–158, 425, 502–503, 518–532
- ^ Alice Chambers Bunten, Life of Alice Barnham, Wife of Sir Francis Bacon, London: Oliphants Ltd. 1928.
- ^ A. L. Rowse, Homosexuals in History, New York: Carroll & Garf, 1977. p. 44
- ^ Jardine, Lisa; Stewart, Alan Hostage To Fortune: The Troubled Life of Francis Bacon Hill & Wang, 1999. p. 148
- ^ Charles R. Forker, "'Masculine Love', Renaissance Writing, and the 'New Invention' of Homosexuality: An Addendum" in the Journal of Homosexuality (1996), Indiana University
- ^ Journal of Homosexuality, Volume: 31 Issue: 3, 1996, pp. 85–93, ISSN 0091-8369
- ^ Oliver Lawson Dick, ed. Aubrey's Brief Lives. Edited from the Original Manuscripts, 1949, s.v. "Francis Bacon, Viscount of St. Albans" p. 11.
- ^ Fulton Anderson, Francis Bacon: His career and his thought, Los Angeles, 1962
- ^ du Maurier, Daphne (1975). Golden Lads: A Study of Anthony Bacon, Francis and Their Friends. London: Gollancz. ISBN 978-1-84408-073-1.
- ^ Aldrich, Robert; Wotherspoon, Gary (2005). Who's Who in Gay and Lesbian History Vol.1: From Antiquity to the Mid-Twentieth Century. London and New York: Routledge. p. 33. ISBN 978-0-415-15982-1.
- ^ Ross Jackson, The Companion to Shaker of the Speare: The Francis Bacon Story, England: Book Guild Publishing, 2005. pp. 45–46
- ^ a b Bryan Bevan, The Real Francis Bacon, England: Centaur Press, 1960
- ^ Helen Veale, Son of England, India: Indo Polish Library, 1950
- ^ Peter Dawkins, Dedication to the Light, England: Francis Bacon Research Trust, 1984
- ^ Bacon, Francis. The New Atlantis. 1627
- ^ a b The Broadview Anthology of Seventeenth-Century Prose. Broadview Press. 2001. p. 18.
- ^ Bowen, Catherine (1993). Francis Bacon: The Temper of a Man. Fordham University Press. p. 225.
- ^ Bacon, Francis (1825–1834). Montagu, Basil (ed.). The works of Francis Bacon, lord chancellor of England. Vol. 12. London: W. Pickering. p. 274.
- ^ Rawley, William (Bacon's personal secretary and chaplain) (1657), Resuscitatio, or, Bringing into Publick Light Several Pieces of the Works, Civil, Historical, Philosophical, & Theological, Hitherto Sleeping; of the Right Honourable Francis Bacon. ...Together with his Lordship's Life,
Francis Bacon, the glory of his age and nation, the adorner and ornament of learning, was born in York House, or York Place, in the Strand, on the two and twentieth day of January, in the year of our Lord 1560.
- ^ Gundry, W.G.C. (ed.), Manes Verulamani This important volume consists of 32 eulogies originally published in Latin shortly after Bacon's funeral in 1626. Bacon's peers refer to him as "a supreme poet" and "a concealed poet", and also link him with the theatre.
- ^ a b Lovejoy, Benjamin (1888). Francis Bacon: A Critical Review. London: Unwin. p. 171. OCLC 79886184.
- ^ Officer, Lawrence; Williamson, Samuel. "Purchasing Power of British Pounds from 1264 to Present". Measuring Worth. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
- ^ Farrington 1964.
- ^ Bacon, Francis (1620). – via Wikisource.
- ^ Bacon, Francis, , .
- ^ "Ben", Meaning, Abarim.
- ^ "Salem", Meaning, Abarim.
- ^ Bacon, Francis (1996). Meditationes Sacrae. Kessinger. ISBN 978-1564596413.
- ^ a b Kocher, Paul (1957). "Francis Bacon and the Science of Jurisprudence". Journal of the History of Ideas. 8 (1). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press: 3–26. doi:10.2307/2707577. ISSN 0022-5037. JSTOR 2707577.
- ^ Turner, Henry S. (2013). "Francis Bacon's Common Notion". Journal for Early Modern Cultural Studies. 13 (3): 7–32. doi:10.1353/jem.2013.0023. ISSN 1553-3786. S2CID 153693271.
- ^ Bacon, Francis (1902). Devey, Joseph (ed.). Novum Organum. New York: Collier. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.17510.
- ^ Brooks, Christopher (1993). "Daniel R. Coquillette. Francis Bacon. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press. 1992. pp. x, 358". Albion. 25 (3): 484–485. doi:10.2307/4050890. ISSN 0095-1390. JSTOR 4050890.
- ^ Nisbet, H. B. (1967). "Herder and Francis Bacon". The Modern Language Review. 62 (2): 267–283. doi:10.2307/3723840. ISSN 0026-7937. JSTOR 3723840.
- ^ Martin, Julian (1992). Francis Bacon: The State and the Reform of Natural Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-38249-6.[page needed]
- ^ Steel, Byron (1930). "Sir Francis Bacon: The First Modern Mind". Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Doran & Co.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ Hundert, EJ. (1987), "Enlightenment and the decay of common sense." In: Frits van Holthoon & David R. Olson (Eds.), Common Sense: The Foundations for Social Science (pp. 133–154). Lanham, MD: University Press of America. p. 136.
- ^ Urbach, Peter (1987). Francis Bacon's Philosophy of Science: An Account and a Reappraisal. La Salle, Ill.: Open Court Publishing Co. ISBN 978-0-912050-44-7. p. 192. "Bacon's celebrity as a philosopher of science has sunk since the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, when he earned the title of 'Father of Experimental Philosophy'".
- ^ Bacon, Francis (2003). History of Life and Death. Kessinger. ISBN 978-0-7661-6272-3.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Hepworth Dixon, William (1862). "The story of Lord Bacon's Life" (1862).
- ^ "Lab" (law). 4. NF, CA: Heritage. 1701. Archived from the original on 21 October 2013.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ Bacon, Locke, and Newton. "The Letters of Thomas Jefferson: 1743–1826". Netherlands: RUG. Retrieved 13 June 2009.
Bacon, Locke and Newton, whose pictures I will trouble you to have copied for me: and as I consider them as the three greatest men that have ever lived, without any exception, and as having laid the foundation of those superstructures which have been raised in the Physical & Moral sciences
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ "FB life" (essay). UK: FBRT. Archived from the original on 31 January 2012.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ Hepworth Dixon, William (2003). Personal History of Lord Bacon from Unpublished Papers. Kessinger. p. 200. ISBN 978-0-7661-2798-2.
- ^ Crowther, J. G. (19 January 1961). "Article about Francis Bacon". New Scientist.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Hepworth Dixon, William (1861). Personal history of Lord Bacon: From unpublished papers. J. Murray. p. 35.
- ^ Wheeler, Harvey. Francis Bacon's 'Verulamium': the Common Law Template of The Modern in English Science and Culture
- ^ "Sir Francis Bacon" Archived 2 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine. GraysInn.org. Retrieved 21 August 2015
- ^ Hanson, Elizabeth (Spring 1991). "Torture and Truth in Renaissance England". Representations. 34: 53–84. doi:10.1525/rep.1991.34.1.99p0046u (inactive 31 January 2024).
- ^ Langbein, John H. (1976). Torture and the Law of Proof. The University of Chicago Press. p. 90.
- ^ Simpson, David. "Francis Bacon (1561—1626)". Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
Bacon outlines his scheme for a new division of human knowledge into three primary categories: History, Poesy, and Philosophy (which he associates respectively with the three fundamental "faculties" of mind – memory, imagination, and reason).
- ^ Josephson-Storm 2017, pp. 46–47.
- ^ Frances Yates, Theatre of the World, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1969
- ^ Daphne du Maurier, The Winding Stair, Biography of Bacon 1976.
- ^ Frances Yates, The Occult Philosophy in the Elizabethan Age, pp. 61–68, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1979
- ^ a b Frances Yates, The Rosicrucian Enlightenment, London and Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1972
- ^ Bacon, Francis. Of the Proficience and Advancement of Learning, Divine and Human
- ^ Andreae 1619.
- ^ Farrington, Benjamin (1951). Francis Bacon, philosopher of industrial science. New York. ISBN 978-0-374-92706-6.
- ^ "Literary criticism of Johann Valentin Andreae". Enotes.com. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
- ^ a b Rossi 1968, Chapter 1.
- ^ Rossi 1968, Chapter 3.
- ^ Josephson-Storm 2017, p. 46.
- ^ Josephson-Storm 2017, pp. 50–51.
- ^ "The Mastery of Life" (PDF). Rosicrucian.org. p. 31. Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 February 2004. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
- ^ Saint Germain Foundation. The History of the "I AM" Activity and Saint Germain Foundation. Schaumburg, Illinois: Saint Germain Press 2003
- ^ Luk, A.D.K.. Law of Life – Book II. Pueblo, Colorado: A.D. K. Luk Publications 1989, pp. 254–267
- ^ White Paper – Wesak World Congress 2002. Acropolis Sophia Books & Works 2003.
- ^ Partridge, Christopher ed. New Religions: A Guide: New Religious Movements, Sects and Alternative Spiritualities Oxford University Press, United States 2004.
- ^ Schroeder, Werner Ascended Masters and Their Retreats Ascended Master Teaching Foundation 2004, pp. 250–255
- ^ Dawkins, A. Peter (May 2020). "Bacon Heraldry" (PDF). Francis Bacon Research Trust. Retrieved 25 July 2024.
- ^ Alban, Francis Bacon, Viscount St (1620), "Instauratio magna preliminaries", in Rees (ed.), The Oxford Francis Bacon, Vol. 11: The Instauratio magna Part II: Novum organum and Associated Texts, Oxford University Press, pp. 2–495, doi:10.1093/oseo/instance.00007240, ISBN 978-0-19-924792-9
- Bacon, Francis. The Essays and Counsels, Civil and Moral of Francis Bacon: all 3 volumes in a single file. B&R Samizdat Express, 2014.
- Andreae, Johann Valentin (1619). "Christianopolis". Description of the Republic of Christianopolis. New York, Oxford university press, American branch; [etc., etc.]
- Spedding, James; Ellis, Robert Leslie; Heath, Douglas Denon (1857–1874). The Works of Francis Bacon, Baron of Verulam, Viscount St Albans and Lord High Chancellor of England (15 volumes). London.
- Adamson, Robert (1878), , Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 3 (9th ed.), pp. 200–218
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Adamson, Robert; Mitchell, John Malcolm (1911), "Bacon, Francis", Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 3 (11th ed.), pp. 135–152
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Pollard, Albert Frederick (1911). "Burghley, William Cecil, Baron". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 4 (11th ed.). pp. 816–817.
- This article incorporates text from a publication in the public domain: Jackson, Samuel Macauley, ed. (1908). "Bacon, Francis". New Schaff–Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge. Vol. 2 (third ed.). London and New York: Funk and Wagnalls.
- Crease, Robert P. (2019). "One: Francis Bacon's New Atlantis". The Workshop and the World: What Ten Thinkers Can Teach Us About Science and Authority. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0-393-29244-2.
- Fowler, Thomas (1885). . In Stephen, Leslie (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 2. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 328–360.
- Peltonen, Markku (2007) [2004]. "Bacon, Francis, Viscount St Alban (1561–1626)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/990. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- Agassi, Joseph (2013). The Very Idea of Modern Science: Francis Bacon and Robert Boyle. Springer. ISBN 978-94-007-5350-1.
- Farrell, John (2006). "6: The Science of Suspicion". Paranoia and Modernity: Cervantes to Rousseau. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8014-7406-4.
- Farrington, Benjamin (1964). The Philosophy of Francis Bacon. University of Chicago Press. Contains English translations of
- Temporis Partus Masculus
- Cogitata et Visa
- Redargutio Philosophiarum
- Josephson-Storm, Jason (2017). The Myth of Disenchantment: Magic, Modernity, and the Birth of the Human Sciences. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-40336-6.
- Heese, Mary (1968). "Francis Bacon's Philosophy of Science". In Vickers, Brian (ed.). Essential Articles for the Study of Francis Bacon. Hamden, CT: Archon Books. pp. 114–139. ISBN 978-0208006240.
- Lewis, Rhodri (2014). "Francis Bacon and Ingenuity". Renaissance Quarterly. 67 (1): 113–163. doi:10.1086/676154. JSTOR 10.1086/676154. S2CID 170420555.
- Roselle, Daniel; Young, Anne P. "5: The 'Scientific Revolution' and the 'Intellectual Revolution'". Our Western Heritage.[full citation needed]
- Rossi, Paolo (1968). Francis Bacon: from Magic to Science. University of Chicago Press.
- Serjeantson, Richard. "Francis Bacon and the 'Interpretation of Nature' in the Late Renaissance," Isis (December 2014) 105#4 pp. 681–705.
Francis Baconat Wikipedia's sister projects- Media from Commons
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- Klein, Juergen. "Francis Bacon". In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
- "Francis Bacon". Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
- Works by Francis Bacon at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Francis Bacon at Internet Archive
- Works by Francis Bacon at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
- "Archival material relating to Francis Bacon". UK National Archives.
- Contains the New Organon, slightly modified for easier reading
- Lord Macaulay's essay Lord Bacon (Edinburgh Review, 1837) Lord Bacon
- Francis Bacon of Verulam. Realistic Philosophy and its Age by Kuno Fischer, translated from the German by John Oxenford London 1857
- Bacon by Thomas Fowler (1881) public domain at Internet Archive
- The Francis Bacon Society
- Six Degrees of Francis Bacon
- Journals of the Francis Bacon Society from 1886 to 1999
- English translation of Hugo von Hofmannsthal's fictional The Lord Chandos Letter, addressed to Bacon
- The George Fabyan Collection at the Library of Congress is rich in the works of Francis Bacon.
- Francis Bacon Research Trust
- Sir Francis Bacon's New Advancement of Learning
- Montmorency, James E. G. (1913). "Francis Bacon". In Macdonell, John; Manson, Edward William Donoghue (eds.). Great Jurists of the World. London: John Murray. pp. 144–168. Retrieved 11 March 2019 – via Internet Archive.
- Letterbook and correspondence by Sir Francis Bacon at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
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