XXV 



CHAPTER III. 



FROM HIS ENTRANCE INTO ACTIVE LIFE TILL HIS 

 DISAPPOINTMENT AS SOLICITOR, 1590 TO 1596. 



HE thus entered on public life, submitting, as a lawyer and 1590 to 



a statesman, to worldly occupations and the pursuit of 



, -,-. , .. xLt. 30. 



worldly honours, that, sooner or later, he might escape 

 into the calm regions of philosophy. 



At this period the court was divided into two parties : 

 at the head of the one were the two Cecils ; of the other, 

 the Earl of Leicester, and afterwards, his son-in-law, the 

 Earl of Essex. 



To the Cecils Bacon was allied. He was the nephew of 

 Lord Burleigh, and first cousin to Sir Robert Cecil, the 

 principal secretary of state ; but, connected as he was to 

 the Cecils by blood, his affections were with Essex. Gene 

 rous, ardent, and highly cultivated, with all the romantic 

 enthusiasm of chivalry, and all the graces and accom 

 plishments of a court, Essex was formed to gain partizans, 

 and attach friends. Attracted by his mind and character, 

 Bacon could have but little sympathy with Burleigh, who 

 thought 100. an extravagant gratuity to the author of 

 the Fairy Queen, which he was pleased to term an &quot; old 

 song/ (b) and, probably deemed the listeners to such songs 

 little better than idle dreamers. There was much grave 

 learning and much pedantry at court, but literature of the 

 lighter sort was regarded with coldness, and philosophy 



(6) See note X at the end. 



