B A C O N. 



181 



Fralrh flogeri Baconis de seeretis operibus artis et 

 '>cc, et de nullitate magke, has passed through 

 ral editions. A treatise addressed to Nicolas^ 

 IV., On the Means of Avoiding the Infirmities of 

 Age, has been repeatedly printed ; and several che- 

 mical tssavs written by him are inserted in the The- 

 gaiiriis Chemicus, printed at Frankfort, in 1603 and 

 1620. Some of his manuscripts perished in the ruin 

 of the Franciscan library at the Reformation ; and a 

 number of others have been discovered in the diffe- 

 rent libraries of Oxford ; but little appears to be as- 

 certained with regard to their value. 



The present age is disposed to do amp'e justice to 

 Friar Bacon, as the greatest ornament whose name 

 was cur enlisted among the followers of St Francis; 

 and the foul aspersions cast on him in his lifetime, 

 may be numbered among the most unequivocal testi- 

 ,ies to his worth. Admiring posterity sickens at 

 being told, that the precious gem, which was capable 

 of dazzling the whole intellectual world, was shut 

 up from the view of a worthless generation, by the 

 ignoble artifices of priestly zealots ; but, with this 

 bitter sensation, the most oppressed and friendless 

 son of genius may delight to mingle the consolatory 

 recollection, that from the joyless cell of Bacon is- 

 sued the first vivid gleams of that unquenchable 

 flame, which, after the lapse of ages, was destined to 

 burst fortli with augmented splendour, guiding the 

 steps of the inquisitive in the paths of discovery, and 

 lighting prostrate nations to the means of securing 

 the inestimable liberties of conscience, and all the sa- 

 cred immunities of free born men. 



In exposing the futility and emptiness of monkish 

 (earning, Roger Bacon displayed the characteristic 

 keenness of a great and original mind, confident of its 

 own unquestionable right to speak with decision. 

 We have already hinted at his vast acquirements in 

 ancient learning. He contributed, more than any 

 person of his age, to revive the neglected study of 

 mathematics. H;s progress in mechanics and che- 

 mistry was so great, that he anticipated some of the 

 proudest discoveries of subsequent times. The in- 

 vention of gunpowder is now universally assigned to 

 him, though it was claimed by a monk of the follow- 

 ing century. He is the first writer who hints at any- 

 thing like the science of Aeronautics ; and he speaks 

 obscurely of many mechanical contrivances of vast 

 power, the principles of which it is not easy to 

 ascertain. His astronomical knowledge suggested 

 to him that correction of the calendar which was 

 adopted in the 16th century by Gregory XIII. 

 His proficiency in optics, considering the disadvan- 

 tages under which he laboured, was truly wonder- 

 ful. He was no stranger to the use of convex 

 and concave lenses, the laws of refraction, the theory 

 of mirrors, the power of burning glasses, and the 

 grand invention of the telescope. Fie wrote also 

 many treatises on grammar, geography, chronology, 

 logic, metaphysics, ethics, theology, and medicine. 

 That he was enticed into the wild Speculations of al- 

 chemy, is the greatest cloud wh'ch hangs over his 

 memory; and it is much to be regretted, that this 

 epidemical infatuation of the times should have im- 

 P tl ' i in the loftier and more profitable 



re3 -i. Fiction, however, has taken 



many unwarrantable liberties with his name ; and 

 some of the accounts which have been propaga- 

 ted, with regard to his attachment to occu\ and 

 fanciful sciences, are sufficiently disproved by the au- 

 thentic record of his writings. It would have been 

 easy to amplify the list of his discoveries and sage 

 conjectures ; but it is enough to say, that whatever 

 were the subjects which attracted his notice and 

 these included all the branches of human knowledge 

 he far outshone all the boasted luminaries of the 

 age, all the subtle, profound, and scrapliic doctors, 

 whose once-idolized names are now sinking in the 

 oblivious gulph of time. See Cave Hist. Lit 

 Wood, Antiq. Oxon. Waddingi Annales Minor.. 

 Borrich De ,Orig. Chem. Pits De illustr. Angl: 

 Script. Bale, Script. Brit, (m, a.) 



BACON, Sir Nicolas, an English lawyer of 

 great reputation, was born at Chislehurst, in Kent, 

 in the year 1510. After studying at Cambridge, 

 and travelling for some time in France, he entered 

 into the society of Gray's Inn, and arrived at suck 

 eminence in the knowledge of law, that he was ap- 

 pointed king's attorney in the court of records. This 

 office he held under Henry VIII. and Edward VI. ; 

 and when Elizabeth ascended the throne, he was 

 made lord keeper of the great-seal, with a rank equal 

 to that ot chancellor. His royal mistress reposed 

 unlimited confidence in his prudence and integrity, 

 and the Protestants of that day revered him as one of 

 the steadiest supporters of their interests. He con- 

 ducted himself with equal firmness and moderation in 

 his dignified office, and after having enjoyed it more 

 than twenty years, died at the age of sixty-nine; 

 leaving behind him the character of a faithful and 

 discreet member of the council, an ingenious scholar, 

 an eloquent, argumentative, and witty speaker, and a 

 chief pillar of the state. He was the author of some 

 political tracts, of an exposition of the twelve minor 

 prophets, and of some commentaries on questions 

 of law. See Mallet's Bacon, and Sir R. Nauntoii's- 

 Fragment a Regalia, (m. 0.) 



BACON, Fuancis, Lord Verulam, and Viscount 

 St Albans, a philosopher, whose writings form a 

 r.i w epoch in the history of science, was born at 

 York-house, London, on the 22d day of January 

 1560-1. He was the youngest son of Sir Nicolas 

 Bacon, by Ins second wife Anne, daughter of Sir 

 Awtouy Cook, tutor to Edward VI. 



In his childish years, Francis Bacon displayed aa 

 uncommon precocity of talent ; and the early presa- 

 ges ot his superiority were amply verified by the 

 fruits of his maturer studies. The gravity and pro- 

 priety of Ins demeanour, when -a boy, recommended 

 him to the good graces of Cjueen Elizabeth, who 

 often admired the neatness and felicity with which. . 

 he replied to her questions. In his thirteenth year, 

 he was Committed to the care of Dr Wlntgiit, then 

 master of Trinity College, Cambridge, aiterwards 

 Archbishop of Canterbury ; and at the age of six- 

 teen, according to his own account, he began to be dis- 

 satisfied philosophy of Aristotle, uhich had 

 long formed the bas.s, or rather the whole substance, 

 of academical instruction. His fattier having destined 

 h in to the service of the state, found means to ini- 

 tiate him into the mysteries of the diplomatic life, by 



E:i*or.. 

 Nicolas. 



