iv BACON 



inated more or less unconsciously the daring navigators and 

 adventurers of the time, and was also the inspiration of men 

 of science like Galileo, Harvey, and Gilbert. But it was Bacon 

 who saw most clearly, and set forth most eloquently, the 

 glories of the promised land into which men were called upon 

 to enter. He felt that under the false leadership of Aristotle 

 and his mediaeval disciples humanity had wandered long cen- 

 turies in the wilderness of empty words and vain imaginings. 

 Throughout the course of his busy and often troubled public 

 life Bacon never ceased to believe that his true mission was to 

 recall men from the study of words to that of things, to point 

 out to them the power and advantage to be gained from a true 

 knowledge of nature, as well as to set forth the method by 

 means of which he believed such knowledge could be gained. 



Francis Bacon was born in London on January 22, 1561, 

 according to our present method of reckoning time. He was 

 the youngest son by a second marriage of Sir Nicholas Bacon, 

 Lord-keeper of the Great Seal under Elizabeth, and Anne 

 Cooke (daughter of Sir Anthony Cooke), whose sister, Mil- 

 dred, was the wife of Lord Burleigh, perhaps the most promi- 

 nent statesman of the time. In his twelfth year (1573) Bacon 

 was sent with his brother, Anthony, to Trinity College, Cam- 

 bridge, where his tutor was Whitgift, afterwards Archbishop 

 of Canterbury. He left the University at the end of 1575, going 

 abroad the following year with Sir Amyas Paulet, the English 

 ambassador in Paris. As an attache of the embassy, he spent 

 about three years in France, living at Paris, Blois, Poictiers, 

 and Tours, and gaining much useful experience. The sudden 

 death of his father, however, caused him to return to England ; 

 and, as his fortune was but small, he devoted himself to the 

 study of law, and was admitted as a barrister in 1582. In 1584, 

 he was elected to Parliament, and soon began to attract atten- 

 tion by his ability and power in debate. The political prefer- 

 ment which he sought was, however, long delayed, and he suf- 

 fered the disappointment of seeing various offices for which he 

 was a candidate given to his rivals, though he had the personal 

 friendship and powerful support of the brilliant Essex, at that 

 time the greatest favorite of Elizabeth. In the mean time, he 

 was constantly harassed by financial embarrassments, until he 

 was at length relieved by the generosity of Essex. But, dur- 



