Francis Bacon Biography || Life, Philosophy, and Major Works in Brief
Francis Bacon - A Short Biographical Sketch
Francis Bacon was born in London on 22 January 1561, to an aristocratic family, the son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal. His mother was the daughter of Sir Anthony Coke and sister-in-law of Sir William Cecil (Lord Burghley).
Not much is known about Francis Bacon's early life. He is believed to have been a delicate child who suffered from long periods of ill health. The charm of his style in his youth was probably due to this circumstance; his boyhood was also marked by an intense absorption in the study of studies which usually attracted young men much older than himself.
In his thirteenth year, he went to Trinity College, Cambridge, with his elder brother (two years his senior). He spent three years at Cambridge and when he left he took with him a strong dislike of the educational system prevailing there.
He was already familiar with court life. This was certainly possible because of the high position held by his father and other influential family connections. Queen Elizabeth visited her Lord Keeper at his country residence on more than one occasion. Once, observing the young man's serious behavior, she called Francis "her young Lord Keeper." Some of his essays provide evidence that he was early acquainted with the manners and customs of his court. The advice he gives in his essays on how people in high positions should behave towards superiors, inferiors, and equals is based on expediency, just as he sees respect for our superiors not as an act of servility, but as a practical duty. Moreover, if we do not respect our superiors, what respect can we expect from our inferiors?
In June 1576 Francis and his elder brother (Antoine) were admitted to Gray's Inn. But only a few months later Francis went abroad with the English ambassador to France, and began his practical training in diplomacy. His studies of continental politics and diplomacy provide material for his "Notes on the State of Europe", France being at that time in a state of turmoil. Catholics and Huguenots were engaged in civil war, and the cruel scenes which resulted provided material for his later essay: The Factions. Bacon's stay in Paris also afforded him the opportunity of acquiring a high degree of proficiency in the French language.
In 1579, after the death of his father, he returned to England and took up residence at Gray's Inn because he found no other way out, his representations to the government for a suitable position having been ignored. He was called to the bar in 1582. In 1584, having failed to improve his situation through other channels, he entered Parliament as a representative of Malcolm Regis. During the winter of 1584–85 he wrote a "Letter of Advice to Queen Elizabeth" which revealed a political judgment more mature than his years and a cooling of temper much earlier than his time. In it he advocated lenient treatment not only of Puritans but also of Catholics, taking an oath in place of the oath of honour which acknowledged that any Englishman would be a traitor if he refused to take up arms against any foreign enemy, including the Pope.
In the Parliament of 1586 he represented Taunton and in 1589 for Liverpool, serving on several committees. His political beliefs consisted in a constant advocacy of the media in all things, a middle course between popular privilege and royal prerogative, moderation in secular reform with tolerance in religion. This policy he supported in two pamphlets published in 1585 and 1589. In both he pleaded for greater flexibility in matters of doctrine and discipline.
In 1591 Bacon attached himself to the Earl of Exeter, then the Queen's favourite. He became one of Easex's privy councillors, and early in 1593 he took his brother, Anthony, into the service of Essex. However, in the Parliament of 1599, when he sat for Middlesex, he seriously damaged his prospects by his determined but untimely opposition to the governments' demand for a treble subsidy to meet the costs of the Spanish War, a course of action which turned the Crown against him and the Attorney-General was vacated in 1594, a position he would not declare. Instead he appointed Sir Edward Coke, who was supported by Lord Burghley. Even when, the following year, Burghley joined Bacon in Essex to recommend him for the position of Solicitor General, the Queen refused to appoint him, although she had made him one of her expert advisers.
Essex attempted to assuage these disappointments by making Bacon a present of a piece of land at Twickenham, valued at two thousand pounds. Essex and Bacon seem to have lived on terms of close intimacy, Bacon sharing the social pleasures of Essex House, before which he wrote the masque "The Conference of Pleasures," for which Bacon showed a distinct aptitude. His treatise Of Masques and Triumphs shows how Bacon had also studied the art of entertaining.
Essex again recommended Bacon to the Queen, this time for Master of the Rolls, but again without success. It seems, indeed, that this persistent advocacy was more of a hindrance than a help. Moreover, Bacon was now beginning to have doubts about his patron's courses. Essex had always been inclined to an active career and was fond of military fame. Moreover, when his advice was resisted or rejected, he was impetuous and easily provoked to rash action. In 1596, after the Cadiz campaign, he had become the idol of the soldiers and the people, and Bacon saw clearly that such a reputation at court for such a man would certainly end the queen's affections and arouse her fear. Accordingly he wrote (in October, 1596) to Essex, urging him to seek the queen's support alone and to avoid any appearance of popularity. His advice had little effect, for by this time Essex was busy with preparations against the invasion and with a subsequent voyage to the Isles in 1597. Bacon had by now increased his reputation by the publication of a volume containing his first essays, with "Colors of Good and Evil" and "Meditations Sacred". He remained on friendly terms with Essex and was writing to her in 1598 advising her on Irish matters.
In 1599 Essex incurred the wrath of the Queen after failing to suppress Tyrone's rebellion in Ireland. Bacon, it seems, made some attempt to assuage her anger, but he, as one of her expert advisers, took a minor part in accusing his patron of his own treason before a body of Privy Councillors in June 1600. But soon afterwards Essex made a ridiculous attempt to incite the people to rebellion against the Queen and even conceived a desperate plan to seize the Queen's person. Essex was arrested and tried for treason. And, strangely enough, Bacon played a prominent part in securing Essex's conviction. Thus by cutting off the hand that had fed him, Bacon incurred much ill-will. As a result of his conviction, Essex was hanged.
Whether pricked by his conscience or stung by the taunts of Essex's friends, Bacon published an apology for his actions in 1604.
He was also responsible for drafting the official declaration of the practices and treasons committed by Robert, late Earl of Essex, in 1601. Nevertheless, his part in these works and his efforts in the Great Monopoly Debate of 1601 to guide the House of Commons in courses not displeasing to the Queen did not bring him further promotion from Elizabeth.
The first edition of Bacon's "Essays" was published in 1597. The volume, dedicated to his brother Anthony, contained ten papers. The pregnancy of thought and the brevity of style made the book almost a landmark. Its popularity was immense almost from the day it was issued.
In 1603, James I ascended the English throne. Showing the adaptability of a flexible courtier, Bacon sought to gain the favor of the new sovereign by every trick he could. With the help of his cousin Robert Cecil he succeeded in obtaining a knighthood (July 1603). In 1604 he was confirmed as a learned counsellor and sat as member for Ipswich in the first parliament of the new reign, taking an active but not very successful part in the debates of its first session. He was also active as one of the commissioners for the negotiations for the union with Scotland.
In the autumn of 1605 Bacon published his Advancement of Learning, dedicated to the king. This great philosophical treatise was later translated and enlarged by him in the Latin treatise De Augmentis Scientiarum. It is a fine survey of the state of learning in his age, its defects, the vacuity of many of the studies chosen, and the means adopted for their improvement. His essays are apparently wise, practical, and all the subjects of education and study are related to the subjects dealt with in that treatise.
In the summer of 1606, at the ripe old age of 45, Bacon married his wife, Alice Burnham, the daughter of a London nobleman. She brought him a suitable dowry, very acceptable to a man as in debt as Bacon. The ceremony was celebrated with great pomp. For fifteen years his married life was smooth and happy, until, after his downfall, a rift arose between him and his wife, which was never healed.
In June 1607, Bacon finally obtained a legal position and became Solicitor General. For the next two or three years he was busy adjusting the differences between the two great parties of the land, the High Anglicans and the Puritans. He urged tolerance on both sides, as well as on the king. However, his political influence remained negligible, a fact which he later attributed to the power and jealousy of Cecil, now Earl of Salisbury and the king's chief minister. But he did not forget his plan to reorganise the study of natural science. He had surveyed the land in the Advancement of Learning: aud some short pieces which were not then published were probably written during the following two or three years.
At the end of 1607 he sent his friends a short tract entitled Cogitata et Visa. In 1608 he wrote the panegyric In felicem memoriam Elizabethae and the learned and ingenious De sapientia veterum. He also completed what was apparently a treatise on theatrical idols, the Redargutio philosophiarum. In 1609 the Wisdom of the Ancients was published, in which he explained classical myths and legends on allegorical principles. While new editions of his "Essays" were published in 1607 and 1612 with several additions.
Bacon's cousin Sir Robert Cecil, recently created Earl of Salisbury, died somewhat suddenly in 1612 and Bacon attempted to obtain the dead man's office from the king. King James did not think it wise to grant the favour, feeling somewhat alarmed at the extent to which Bacon's ideas on tolerance might lead him. In his desire to secure the office of Master of the Wards, Bacon also suffered disappointment. In 1613, however, the king consoled him with the long-cherished office of Attorney-General. The essay in Great Place is undoubtedly written from the fullness of his own weary experience, especially the following sentence: "It is laborious to rise to rank, and pains do men suffer more; and it is sometimes a foundation; and by dishonor men rise to honor." But, apart from granting him this favour, the king paid little attention to Bacon's political advice, for the king was under the spell of Robert Carr (later Earl of Somerset) and the Howards. The Parliament of 1614, in which Bacon sat for Cambridge University, showed equal contempt for Bacon's lawyers.
Bacon was appointed Lord Keeper in March 1617. It was largely to James's new favourite, George Villiers (later Duke of Buckingham), that Bacon owed this rise, and also to his promotion to Lord Chancellor in January 1618 and Baron Vero Lam in July of the same year. Yet Buckingham's favour brought Bacon no real political influence, and most of Bacon's time was still spent in the judicial duties of his office.
Bacon displayed great energy as Chancellor and also took a prominent part in the trials of Sir Walter Raleigh (1618) and the Earl of Suffolk (1619). He now had a large income and was living a luxurious lifestyle. He celebrated the occasion with great pomp on entering his sixtieth year in January 1620. Ben Jonson attended the party and recalled the scene in lines that were both flattering and delightful. In October 1620 he published the Novum Organum (or, New Instrument for the Interpretation of Nature and the Discovery of Truth). This work attracted warm expressions of praise from the ablest men of Europe, and in January 1621 he was further honoured when he was created Viscount St. Albans.
Bacon was now at the height of his career. He had won but his sense of honour, prestige, wealth, and public esteem. The glory must have been tempered by the consciousness of several shameful acts of arbitrariness and cruelty which he had committed at the instigation of King James and the Duke of Buckingham. He consented to the execution of Sir Walter Raleigh, one of the greatest men of his time. He deserted his friend, Attorney-General Yelverton, when the latter was tried on certain charges, he supported the Spanish alliance, against the sentiments of the nation, a passage in his essay and against his own policy, etc. The conversation reveals the restlessness he had been displaying all his life, first towards the Cecils and then towards King James and the king's favourites.
Three days after Bacon was created Viscount St Albans, Parliament met (after being suspended since 1614) and soon the House of Commons began to air its accumulated complaints. His enemies seized the opportunity to make accusations of bribery and corruption against Bacon. Bacon tried to persuade the king to withdraw these charges, saying to the king: "They who would attack your chancellorship, are more likely to attack your crown". But the king could do precious little. The evidence against Bacon was overwhelming. Desperate to find a case, Bacon pleaded guilty and threw himself at the mercy of the House of Lords.
On 3 May 1621, the House of Lords, after much debate, passed the following sentence: (i) that he should pay a fine of forty thousand pounds; (ii) that he should be imprisoned in the Tower during the King's pleasure; (iii) that he should never again hold any public office; and (iv) that he should never again sit in the Pembrokeshire Bench, or come to the court.
However, the sentence was not fully carried out. He was released from the Tower after four days. His fine was remitted and the ban on his attendance at court was lifted, although the ban on his sitting in Parliament was not lifted.
The remaining five years of his life were spent in work far more valuable to the world than he had achieved in his high office. From a literary and philosophical point of view this last period was indeed the most valuable. Suffering from his humiliation, he turned with great eagerness to the intellectual pursuits which had been interrupted by his official duties.
His new delight in his intellectual labors is well reflected in his essay on the nature of men. His retirement from politics enabled him, in fact, to make his literary reputation stronger and more enduring. He devoted himself to literature and science with a surprising energy, and during this period produced his Histories (History of Henry VII, History of Great Britain, etc.), De Augmentis (Latin translation containing an extension of the Advancement of Learning), New Atlantis (incomplete), not the least important work, with the final revision of his New Papers, revised in the new number. Fifty-eight This was his last literary work and was published a few months before his death.
An experiment which anticipated the modern process of refrigeration caused his death. In March 1626, while driving one day near Highgate and deciding whether the snow would delay the process of falling, he stopped his carriage, bought a chicken, and used his hands to keep it from the snow. As a result, he caught a cold and was taken to the Earl of Arundel's house, where he died of bronchitis on 9 April 1626.