FRANCIS BACON

Taranaki Daily News, 13 October 1934, Page 13 (Supplement)

FRANCIS BACON

MASTER OF KNOWLEDGE

(By

I.N.M.)

The name of Francis Bacon, scientist, philosopher, statesman, lawyer, wit and man of letters, is almost certainly not much more than a blurred and unsubstantial survival of school days to the average citizen of to-day. Even the sensational aspersions cast on the authorship of many of Shakespeare’s plays, declared by a section of the public to be the unmistakable work of Bacon, have faded into obscurity, leaving the “king of drama” still secure on his throne, and Bacon back in his dim comer, alone with his pedantry and his learning. Quoted left and right by the much maligned “man on the street,” the benign familiar of scribblers in autograph books, admired, even idolised, by the savant, Bacon still holds his place in the affairs of men, even' though that place may not be recognised. Yet he was in his way a great and noble figure and a giant in the field of literature. Bacon was the last scholar who could say, with but slight exaggeration, that all knowledge was his. He lived in the early dawn of the age of specialisation while it was still just possible for an able and industrious man to make himself master of the whole body of knowledge in existence. He had the good fortune to live in one of the great ages in the world’s history, in the “spacious days” of Queen Elizabeth. He was born in 1560 and died in 1626. As a boy, therefore, he entered into the rich and glorious intellectual heritage of the Renaissance, in middle life he saw the publication of the masterpieces of Spenser, Montaigne, Cervantes and Shakespeare; before he died the supreme age of French literature was dawning. There was a new stir in the scientific world as the mediaeval belief in mystery and magic yielded to experienced and national induction. “Copernicus had died in 1543,” states John Drinkwater in a biography, “but his work was being carried on by Kepler and Galileo. Not since the days of Socrates had men been so keenly interested in. the things of the mind: and this interest Bacon shared to the full.” As a child the health of Francis was delicate, and to this circumstance may be partly attributed that gravity of carriage and that love of sedentary pursuits which distinguished him from other boys. He was early introduced to court, and there his premature readiness of wit and sobriety of deportment amused the Queen, who called him her “young Lord Keeper.” He entered the university at the age of 13, and left at an earlier age than most people enter, and while yet a boy was plunged into the midst of diplomatic business. Thence he passed to the study of law, and worked his way up through a succession of laborious offices to the highest post in his profession. In the meantime he took an active part in every Parliament, was adviser of the Crown (e.g. his treatise of “Advice to Queen Elizabeth”), and paid court assiduously to all whose favour was likely to be of use to him. He lived much in society, and with the mind of a scientist noted the slightest peculiarities of character and the slightest changes of fashion. Scarcely any man has led a more stirring life than that which Bacon led from 16 to 60. Scarcely any man has been better entitled to be called a thorough man of the world. His career displays all the grave defects as well as the excellencies one associates with the sixteenth century. In the pursuit of knowledge he was indefatigable, but he was equally indefatigable in the pursuit of ambition. He cheerfully laid down his life in the interest of science, but just as willingly he sacrificed the life of his friend and benefactor when it stood in the way of his own worldly achievement. He is indeed a curious and most unpleasing mixture of greatness and littleness, of magnanimity and baseness. “His published writings were those of a sage; his private letters were only too frequently those of a mean time-server.”

That most held against him was his part in the condemnation of the Earl of Essex. The head-strong folly of Essex nad brought him within the limits of the law of treason, and his numerous enemies determined on his destruction. There was good evidence of his guilt, but the mismanagement of the case by the lawyer'Coke almost lost .the cause of the prosecution. Bacon owed everything to the disinterested friendship of Essex, but in order to win the favour of the Queen he put his services at her disposal for the purpose of destroying him. The publication of his “Declaration of the Practices and Treasons Attempted and Committed by Robert Earl of Essex” turned the scale, and Essex was condemned and duly put to death. Many attempts have been made to extenuate this act, but it is generally held as a blot on Bacon’s name which no apology can wipe out. Macaulay, who bitterly criticised Bacon’s “Judas-act” and attempted to soften the blow in an ingenuously biassed explanation, did but emphasise more glaringly the worst aspect of the matter. “Let us be just to Bacon,” he wrote. “We believe that to the last he had no wish to injure Esse. Nay, we believe that he sincerely exerted himself to serve Essex, as long as he thought that he could serve Essex without injuring himself.” “To his own interest he sacrificed his friend and his own honour,” declared Dean Church.

Nevertheless there is another and totally different side to the man. He was unquestionably a great writer and a great orator; in the history of English literature Bacon ranks among the creators of modem prose. His position as a classic is secure. Though his style, varying with the requirements of his subject, is sometimes rich and ornate, sometimes solemn and majestic, sometimes penetrating and concise, it is ever superbly self-confi-dent. No man ever packed so much matter into smaller compass.

For English readers the important works are the Essays, The Advancement of Learning, The History of Henry VII and The New Atlantis. Bacon’s strength appears to the best advantage in his speculations on character and conduct. Here is the teaching of an expert whose career had made him familiar with the wiles and artifices of courtiers and officials, the teaching of one who had himself been “an actor on the stage,” and who was also a shrewd observer of life, and in the Essays is seen that teaching in its purest form. Some of the best known sayings in the language are contained in these secular sermons: “Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark”; “Revenge is a kind of wild justice”; “He that hath wife and children hath given hostage to fortune”; “Virtue is like a rich stone, best plain set”; “God Almightly first planted a garden.” They are representative throughout of his shrewd and sententious humour, his incomparable power of generalising and crystallising the utterances of sage men of all periods.