Bacon, Francis

IMG:content-0490.png:[graphic][subsumed][merged small][subsumed] (From a bronze medal, British Museum.) accordingly, he was called on the 27th June, 1582. His practice soon became considerable; in 1586, he was a bencher; and at 28, counsel-extraordinary to Queen Elizabeth. Although connected with the all-powerful family of the Cecils, they did little or nothing for his advancement, which was brought about partly by his own intrinsic energy and merits, and partly through the friendship of the Earl of E ex, the ill-fated favorite of Elizabeth. In 1592, B. entered Parliament, where he took the popular side. In 1596 appeared his E ays or Counsels, Civil and Moral , and shortly afterwards, his Max ims of Law. He was at this period in great pecuniary distre , and was twice arrested for debt. Ilis In felicem Memoriam Elizabethæ Angliæ Regine was also written about this time, although it was not published until after his death. On the acce ion of James I., the prospects of B. brightened. He had paid a iduous court to some of the Scottish favorites of the monarch, and obtained his reward. On the 23d July, 1603, he was knighted. His public conduct in the House of Commons, at this time, commanded the admiration of both the court and the people. In 1605, he brought out The Advancement of Learning, and in 1607 was appointed Solicitor-General. He now had his share of the profe ional "emoluments," and further augmented his increasing wealth by marrying a rich city heire . His next work, The Wisdom of the Ancients , was published in 1619. In 1613, he became Attorney-General, and on the 7th of March, 1617, he was made Lord Keeper of the Great Seal. Notwithstanding frequent differences with the king and the court party, B. continued to advance, and on the 4th Jan., 1618, he achieved the summit of his ambition in being appointed Lord High Chancellor of England. On the lith July, in the same year, he took his seat among the peers as Lord Bacon of Verulam, and was further created, in 1621, Viscount St. Alban's. In the year 1620 he produced the masterpiece of his matured genius, the Novum Organum , a remarkable work on which he had labored for many years. B.'s glory had now culminated; his career henceforward became tarnished with infamy. He was accused, before the House of Lords, of having received money for grants of offices and privileges under the seal of State. He was unable to justify himself, and desiring to avoid the mortification of a trial, confe ed his misdemeanors, and threw himself on the mercy of the peers, beseeching them to limit his punishment to the lo of the high office which he had dishonored. After he had, by an explicit confe ion, acknowledged the truth of almost all the charges brought against him, notwithstanding the interce ion of the king, and the interest which they themselves took in one of their most distinguished members, the Lords sentenced him to pay a fine of £40,000 (an enormous sum in those days), and to be imprisoned in the Tower of London during the royal pleasure. He was also declared forever incapable of place or employment, and forbidden to sit in Parliament or to appear within the verge of the court. This severe sentence was doubtle just; yet it must be allowed, that he was actuated neither by avarice nor corruption of heart, but that his errors are rather to be attributed to a weakne of character, which was abused by others. Traits of generosity and independence, which his life also displays, show clearly that he knew and valued virtue. He was unfaithful to it because he had not sufficient firmne to refuse the unjust demands of others. He was confined for a short time in the Tower, and then discharged. He afterwards received a partial commutation of his sentence, in so far as it related to his admittance to the court. He was summoned to attend Parliament before he died; but the remainder of his days were spent chiefly in scientific pursuits, and the society of the friends which adversity had left him. Such pursuits were his consolation, and at last caused his death. The father of experimental philosophy was the martyr of an experiment. Out driving, he purchased a fowl, stuffed it with snow to see if it would act as an antiseptic. This exposure produced bronchitis, and he died Apr. 9, 1626, in his 66th year. In his will were the words, " For my name and memory, I leave it to men's charitable speeches, to foreign nations, and the next ages." The accomplishments of B. were unrivalled in his day, and his character displayed the phenomenon of great originality combined with a most extensive range of acquirements. He was a poet and an orator, a lawyer and a statesman. In the philosophy of experiment and of observation he was pre-eminent. The metaphysical and the physical were both congenial to his genius. His great merit undoubtedly consists in the systematic method which he laid down for prosecuting philosophical investigation; and his services in this department cannot easily be overrated. At the present day, those especially who busy themselves with physical pursuits would often do well to recur to the severe and rigorous principles of the Organon. The mind of B. was poetical; his works abound in imagery. It is true that small wits have ridiculed all his poetical pretensions, because in his version of the Psalms he says that "man's life hangs on brittle pins," and speaks of IMG:content-0491.png:[blocks in formation] PHY.