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BACON, ROGER. 



BACON, ROGER. 



403 



sea presented to young Backhuysen before the windows of his 

 office, and his first delineations were of shipping, done with a pen 

 in a style of extraordinary beauty and correctness. These drawings 

 excited such surprise and admiration, that it became a fashion to 

 possess them, and they were sold at the prices of 10, 20, and even 

 100 florins each. Backhuysen now determined on relinquishing his 

 commercial pursuits, and devoting himself to art His first instructor 

 was Albert Van Eveudingen; but he made acquaintance with all the 

 artists in the city, and spent a large portion of his time in their 

 studies, by this means acquiring a full mastery in the executive part 

 of his art. But his study was the gale and the storrn ; nor did he 

 shrink from the perils which accompanied the study of Nature in her 

 sternest and most appalling aspects. By large rewards he was accus- 

 tomed to induce boatmen to put to sea at times when no other person 

 would venture from shore. Amidst the dash of waves, the roaring of 

 breakers, and the danger of vessels, he it is said sat making his 

 sketches with perfect composure. He stamped, by this mode of study, 

 a character of truth on his works which could have been obtained by 

 no other means ; and he acquired the rare distinction of forming a 

 style peculiarly his own. So earnest was he in this course of practical 

 study, that the moment he landed from his marine excursions, he 

 hastened to his painting-room, nor would he admit the visits of his 

 most intimate friends until he had transmitted his impressions to 

 canvass. He was singularly industrious, and the number of his works 

 is astonishing. But one mischievous result of this unceasing labour 

 was th*t he fell into a sort of mechanical mannerism, which is very 

 unpleasantly evident in many of his later works. Still his pictures 

 possess, in a very high degree, the peculiar excellencies of the Dutch 

 school, richness, transparency, delicate handling, and appropriate, 

 though in his case a somewhat heavy colour. Few artists have excelled 

 him in the art of giving depth without darkness : frequently, in his 

 pictures of an approaching storm, the very atmosphere seems to labour 

 with gloom, yet the clearness of effect is not in the least impaired. 



Backhuysen's merits were fully appreciated in his own lifetime. 

 His works were eagerly sought after : among other important commis- 

 sions, he was employed by the burgomasters of Amsterdam to paint 

 a large picture, with a multitude of vessels, and a view of the city at 

 a distance ; for which he received 1300 guilders, and a present also 

 of considerable value. This picture was sent, in 1665, as a present 

 to Louis XIV., who placed it in the Louvre. Many royal personages 

 honoured the artist by visiting his study, among them the king of 

 Prussia, and the Czar Peter ; the latter especially found his taste for 

 nautical affairs gratified by the frequent inspection of his works. He 

 engaged Backhuysen to make designs of various vessels, and delighted 

 to converse with him on the mode of constructing and manceuvring 

 them, in which Backhuysen was thoroughly skilled. At the age of 

 71, he amused himself with etching a set of views on the Y, near 

 Amsterdam. He died in 1709, aged 78 years. His pictures are nume- 

 rous in Holland, and not unfrequent in English collections. Many of 

 them have been engraved, and some were etched by himself. 



BACON, ROGER, the greatest of English philosophers before the 

 time of Ms celebrated namesake, was born near Ilchester, in Somerset- 

 shire, about the year 1214. He was educated at Oxford, and, according 

 to the usual custom of bis day, proceeded to Paris, which was then 

 the first university in the world. The course of study in vogue, 

 however unfavourable to independence of thought, did not give so 

 great a preponderance to the works of Aristotle as was afterwards the 

 case. The theology of the day had set strongly against philosophy of 

 every species. In 1209, a council at Paris condemned and burnt, if 

 not the works of Aristotle, at least the mutilated and interpolated 

 translations from the Arabic which then existed. But towards the 

 middle of the century, Latin versions of Aristotle's works began to 

 appear, and the philosophy contained in them to be warmly advo- 

 cated by the new orders of Franciscans and Dominicans, and particu- 

 larly by Albertus Magnus. The reputation of Aristotle from this time 

 advanced so rapidly, that he had gained the exclusive title of ' the 

 Philosopher ' by the time Roger Bacon wrote his * Opus Majus.' But 

 Bacon, who was better versed in the original than most of his contem- 

 poraries, freely criticises all he meets with (especially the merit of the 

 translations, all which he says he would burn, if he could), and is 

 himself an early and sufficient proof that the absurdities of his con- 

 temporaries ought not to be called 'Aristotelian,' any more than 

 Aristotle himself ' the Philosopher.' 



After his return to Oxford, with a doctor's degree granted at Paris, 

 which was immediately also confirmed by the Oxford university, he 

 took the vows of a Franciscan in a convent possessed by that order at 

 Oxford, on the persuasion, it is said, of Robert Greathead or Grostete, 

 bishop of Lincoln. From the time of his return, which is stated to 

 have been in 1240, he applied himself closely to the study of languages, 

 as well as to experimental philosophy. The vow of the Franciscans 

 was poverty, manual labour, and study ; but the first two were soon 

 abandoned. Bacon does not appear to have wanted means, for he says 

 him?elf that in twenty years he spent 2000 livres (French) in books 

 and instruments ; a very large sum in those days. His brethren soon 

 began to manifest a spirit of enmity, a prohibition being issued against 

 Bacon's lectures in the University, as well as against the transmission 

 of any of 1m writings beyond the walls of his convent. The charge 

 made against him was that of magic, which was then frequently 



sioo. DIV. VOL. i. 



brought against those who studied the sciences, and particularly che- 

 mistry. Brought up to consider philosophy as nearly allied to, if not 

 identical with, heresy itself, many of the clergy of that day were no 

 doubt honest believers in its magical power ; but we can hardly doubt 

 that there were a few more acute minds, who saw that Roger Bacon 

 was in reality endeavouring to evoke a spirit whose influence would 

 upset the power they had acquired over the thoughts of men, and 

 allow them to read and reflect, without fear of excommunication, or 

 the necessity of inquiring what council had authorised the book. 

 The following detached passages of the ' Opus Majus' no doubt contain, 

 opinions which its author was in the habit of expressing, and they 

 deserve attention as illustrative of the teaching of the father of English 

 philosophy : " Most students have no worthy exercise for their heads, 

 and therefore languish and stupefy upon bad translations, which lose 

 them both time and money. Appearances alone rule them, and they 

 care not what they know, but what they are thought to know by a 

 senseless multitude. There are four principal stumbling-blocks in 

 the way of arriving at knowledge authority, habit, appearances as 

 they present themselves to the vulgar eye, and concealment of igno- 

 rance combined with ostentation of knowledge. Even if the first three 

 could be got over by some great effort of reason, the fourth remains 

 ready. Men presume to teach, before they have learnt, and fall into so 

 many errors, that the idle think themselves happy in comparison 

 and hence both in science and in common life we see a thousand 

 falsehoods for one truth. And this being the case, we must not 

 stick to what we hear and read, but must examine most strictly the 

 opinions of our ancestors, that we may add what is lacking, and 

 correct what is erroneous, but with all modesty and allowance. We 

 must, with all our strength, prefer reason to custom, and the opiuions 

 of the wise and good to the perceptions of the vulgar : and we must 

 not use the triple argument ; that is to say, this has been laid down, 

 this has been usual, this has been common, therefore it is to be held 

 by. For the very opposite conclusion does much better follow from 

 the premises. And though the whole world be possessed by these 

 causes of error, let us freely hear opinions contrary to established 

 usage." , 



As might be supposed, Roger Bacon cultivated the acquaintance of 

 men who held similar sentiments. Among them was Grostete, bishop 

 of Lincoln, who usually resided at Oxford. Grostete, who was a good 

 mathematician, and a resolute opponent of undue interference on the 

 part of the see of Rome, had opposed Innocent IV., who attempted to 

 appoint his nephew, a boy, to a prebend at Lincoln. On being excom- 

 municated, Grostote appealed from the tribunal of Rome to that of 

 Christ. It is not unlikely that the subsequent imprisonment of 

 Bacon was prolonged in consequence of the feelings still cherished in 

 reference to the independent conduct of his friend Bishop Grostete. 

 In the year 1265, Clement IV. was placed in the papal chair. He 

 had previously, when cardinal-bishop of Sabina, been legate in England, 

 and had heard of Bacon's discoveries, and earnestly desired to see his 

 writings; but, as before stated, the prohibition of the Franciscaus 

 prevented his wish being complied with. After his election as head 

 Of the Church, Bacon, conceiving that there would be neither danger 

 nor impropriety in disobeying his immediate superiors at the command 

 of the pope, wrote to him, stating that he was now ready to send him 

 whatever he wished for. The answer was a repetition of the former 

 request ; and Bacon accordingly drew up the ' Opus Majus,' of which 

 it may be presumed he had the materials ready. It appears that he 

 had mentioned the circumstances in which he stood ; for Clement's 

 answer requires him to send the work with haste, any command of 

 his superiors or constitution of his order notwithstanding, and also to 

 point out, with all secrecy, how the danger mentioned by him might 

 be avoided. The book was sent in the year 1267, by the hands of 

 John of London, a pupil whom he in one place commends as one of 

 the oniy two good mathematicians he knows. Before the ' Opus 

 Majus,' Bacon, according to his own account, had written nothing 

 except a few slight treatises, ' capitula quuxlitm.' 



With the ' Opus Majus ' he sent, it is said, also two other works, the 

 ' Opus Minus ' and the ' Opus Tertium," the second a sort of abstract 

 of the first, and the third a supplement to it. These works exist in 

 manuscript in the Cottonian Library, but have not been printed. Of 

 the 'Opus Tertium' a second manuscript was discovered a few years 

 back in the library at Douay by M. Victor Cousin, who has given an 

 account of it and an elaborate criticism on Roger Bacon's writings and 

 character as a philosopher in the ' Journal des Savants ' for 1848. The 

 Douay manuscript is incomplete, but it supplies the deficiencies in the 

 British Museum copy. It appears that, after the death of Clement, 

 which took place in November 1268, Bacon revised and augmented 

 the ' Opus Minus.' What reception Clement gave them is not cer- 

 tainly known, but. he could scarcely have received the work before he 

 was seized with bis last illness. 



Till the year 1 278 Bacon was allowed to remain free from open per- 

 secution, but in that year Jerome of Ascoli, general of the Franciscan 

 order, afterwards pope under the title of Nicholas IV., being appointed 

 legate to the court of France, this was thought a proper opportunity 

 to commence proceedings. Bacon, then sixty-four years old, was 

 accordingly summoned to Paris, where a council of Franciscans, with 

 Jerome at their head, condemned his writings, and committed him to 

 close confinement. We cannot learn that any offer of pardon was 



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