Write the introduction to Francis Bacon.

Ans.

Francis Bacon, the younger son of Sir Nicholas Bacon (1510-1572). Lord Keeper (chief legal minister) to Queen Elizabeth, was born at York House in the Strand, on the 22nd of January, 1561. His father, the Lord Keeper, had eight children by two marriages-six from the former and two from the latter. Francis was the youngest. His mother was a theologian, a calvinist to the gloomiest hue and she exercised every strict control over her two sons, Anthony (1528-1601), later a diplomate, and Francis. The two brothers where educated at Trinity College (entering it simultaneously in 1573). Francis entered Gray’s Inn in 1576 as a law student and was called to the bar in 1582.

Lord Burghley was his uncle (he married his mother’s sister) but he was of little assistance to his nephew’s ambition to rise. In order to realize his ambition he attached himself to the Earl of Essex (the Queen’s favourite since 1589).

Sir Francis Bacon was a man of statical wisdom. He became a member of the Privy Council in 1616 and Lord Keeper in 1617. and Lord Chancellor in 1618. He was raised to the peerage and became Lord Verulam St. Albans (the place near which Bacon’s estate of Gorhambury lay). With his elevation as Lord Chancellor his obsequiousness to the king became more pronounced. He now curried favour with the Duke of Buckingham, the king’s new favourite and the balance of justice tilted according to the wishes of the Duke in the new Lord Chancellor’s court. Bacon even went to the extent of re-signing a judgement when the Duke expressed surprise at it. The treatment meted out to that great but unfortunate patriot. Sir Walter Raleigh is also full of Bacon’s sense of morality.

While performing an experiment he caught cold in March, 1626 and was removed to a friend’s house, in high fever. He died here on 9th April, 1626 and was buried in St. Michael’s Church at St. Albans where his secretary, Sir Thomas Meautys, erected a monument in his memory.

Bacon’s Works

Bacon’s literary career began some time in the nineties of the sixteenth century and extended to 1626, the year of his death.

The Essays appeared in 1597 and their publication is a landmark in the English literary history. These ‘Essays’ (numbering ten) have immortalized Bacon who called them “first tottings’ and they earned for him the title of ‘the Father of the English Essays’.

The work which immortalized Bacon more than anything else was his ‘Essays’ which were published thrice-three editions in 1597, 1612 and 1625. The subsequent editions appeared with more new essays.

The 1612 edition contained thirty eight (38) essays. The essay “Of Honour and Reputation of the first edition (1597) was omitted and twenty nine titles were added to the remaining nine of the first edition that were retained in the second edition. The essay ‘Of Followers and Friends was revised and simplified under the new title ‘Of Friendship’.

The third edition was published under Bacon’s supervision in 1625. There were fifty eight (58) essays in this edition. As was the case with the essays of the first edition, the essays of the second edition were considerably altered and enlarged.