THE LIFE 



THE HONOUKABLE AUTHOK. 1 



FRANCIS BACON, the glory of lus age and nation, the adorn er 

 and ornament of learning, was born in York House, or York 

 Place, in the Strand, on the two and twentieth day of January, 

 in the year of our Lord 1560. His father was that famous 

 counsellor to Queen Elizabeth, the second prop of the kingdom 

 in his time, Sir Nicholas Bacon, knight, lord-keeper of the 

 great seal of England ; a lord of known prudence, sufficiency, 

 moderation, and integrity. His mother was Anne, one of the 

 daughters of Sir Anthony Cook ; unto whom the erudition of 

 King Edward the Sixth had been committed; a choice lady, 

 and eminent for piety, virtue, and learning ; being exquisitely 

 skilled, for a woman, in the Greek and Latin tongues. These 

 being the parents, you may easily imagine what the issue was 

 like to be ; having had whatsoever nature or breeding could put 

 into him. 



His first and childish years were not without some mark of 

 eminency ; at which time he was endued with that pregnancy 

 and towardness of wit, as they were presages of that deep and 

 universal apprehension which was manifest in him afterward ; 

 and caused him to be taken notice of by several persons of 

 worth and place, and especially by the queen ; who (as I have 

 been informed) delighted much then to confer with him, and to 



1 This Life was first published in 1657, as an introduction to the volume enti- 

 tled " Resuscitatio ; or bringing into public light several pieces of the works, civil, 

 historical, philosophical, and theological, hitherto sleeping, of the Right Honour- 

 able Francis Bacon, Baron of Verulam, Viscount St. Alban ; according to the best 

 corrected copies." Of this volume a second edition, or rather a re-issue with 

 fresh titlepage and dedication, and several sheets of new matter inserted, appeared 

 in 1661 ; the "Life of the Honourable Author" being prefixed as before, and not 

 altered otherwise than by the introduction of three new sentences ; to make room for 

 which two leaves were cancelled. A third edition was brought out in 1671 by the 

 original publisher, containing a good deal of new matter ; for which however Dr. 

 Rawley, who died in 1667, is not answerable. 



B 2 



