BACON. 



main prisoner in the Tower during the 

 king's pleasure. The king, however, 

 soon after remitted the fine and imprison- 

 ment; but his misfortunes hadgiven him 

 a distaste for public affairs, and he after- 

 wards mostly lived a retired life, closely 

 pursuing- his philosophical studies and 

 amusements, in which time he composed 

 the greatest part of his English and La- 

 tin works. Though even in the midst of 

 his honours and employments he forgot 

 not his philosophy, but in 1620 published 

 his great work " Novum Organum." Af- 

 ter some years spent in philosophical re- 

 tirement, he was suddenly seized with 

 pains in his head and stomach, as he was 

 travelling into the country. These oblig- 

 ed him to stop at Highgate, at the Earl 

 of Arundle's, where he expired on the 

 9th of April, in the 66th year of his age. 

 No memorial remains of his last hours, 

 excepting a letter addressed to the-noble- 

 man in whose house he died, in which he 

 compares himself to Pliny, who lost his 

 life by approaching too near Vesuvius du- 

 ring an eruption. He was buried at St. 

 Albans. 



To Bacon unquestionably belonged a 

 most commanding genius, capable of in- 

 venting, methodizing, and carrying for- 

 ward to considerable maturity, a general 

 plan for the improvement of natural sci- 

 ence, by the only sure method of experi- 

 ment. With a mind prompt in invention, 

 patient in enquiry, and subtle in discrimi- 

 nation, neither affecting nor idolizing an- 

 tiquity, he formed, and in a great measure 

 executed his great plan, " The Instaura- 

 tion of Sciences," in six parts. Of these 

 the first is entitled " The advancement of 

 Learning :" the second is the " Novum 

 Organum," or new method of employing 

 the reasoning faculties in the pursuit of 

 truth : the " Sylva Sylvarum," or History 

 of Nature, is the third part : the fourth 

 isfentitled " Scala Intellectus ;" a series 

 of steps is pointed out, by which the un- 

 derstanding may regularly ascend in its 

 philosophical enquiries : the fifth part is 

 " Anticipations Philosophies," intended 

 as philosophical hints and suggestions : 

 the sixth part, in which the universal 

 principles of natural knowledge, drawn 

 from experiments, should be exhibited in 

 a regular and complete system, the au- 

 thor did not attempt to accomplish. The 

 grand edifice, of which he laid the foun- 

 dation only, he left to be finished by the 

 united labours of philosophers of future 

 ages. With confidence in the merit of 

 his own works, and depending on posthu- 

 mous celebrity, Bacon begins his last tes- 



tament with, " My name and memory I 

 leave to foreign nations ; and to mine own 

 countrymen, after some time is passed 

 over." Upon the superstructure that has 

 been raised, on thefoundation of experi- 

 mental philosophy he established, will be 

 read by distant ages, " Bacon, the father 

 of experimental philosophy." 



BACON, (JOHN) in biography, a cele- 

 brated sculptor, descended from an an- 

 cient family in Somersetshire, was born 

 in Southwark, Nov. 24, 1740, where his 

 father Thomas Bacon, a cloth-worker, re- 

 sided. When very young, Mr. Bacon dis- 

 covered a great inclination for drawing, 

 common to children ; but, not being par- 

 ticularly encouraged in it, he never made 

 much proficiency in the art. At the age 

 of 14, he was bound apprentice to Mr. 

 Crispe, of Bow Church Yard, where he 

 was employed in painting on porcelain. 

 He occasionally assisted in the manufac- 

 tory of china at Lambeth, particularly in 

 forming small ornamental pieces, which 

 he executed with so much taste, as to in- 

 dicate no ordinary powers. To his ho- 

 nour be it mentioned, that, by the encour- 

 ragementhe met with, he was able prin- 

 cipally to support his aged parents, re- 

 duced in their circumstances, though by 



himself of the necessaries of life. At the 

 manufactory at Lambeth he had an op- 

 portunity of observing models of different 

 sculptors, which were sent to a pottery 

 on the same premises to be burnt. From 

 the sight of these he immediately conceiv- 

 ed a strong inclination for his future pro- 

 fession. Having once made his choice, he 

 was unremitting in his diligence ; and it 

 is said that his progress was as rapid as 

 his turn was sudden and unpremeditated. 

 During this young man's apprenticeship, 

 he formed a design of making statues in 

 artificial stone ; and to his exertions is to 

 be attributed the flourishing state of 

 Coades's manufactory. In 1763, Mr. Ba- 

 con attempted to work in marble, and 

 having never seen the operation perform- 

 ed, he was led to invent an instrument for 

 transferring the form of the model to the 

 marble, this is called " getting out the 

 points," which has been brought into use 

 both in England and on the continent. 

 The advantage of this instrument con- 

 sists in its certainty and exactness, in its 

 taking a correct measurement in every 

 direction, in its occupying a small com- 

 pass, and that it may be transferred, ei- 

 ther to the model or the marble, without, 

 a separate instrument for each. In 1768, 

 Mr. Bacon removed to the West end of 



