Escritos Sobre La Obra de Francis Bacon

7/27/2019 Escritos Sobre La Obra de Francis Bacon

1/104

NGIS BACON. tL, SKEM P,M.A.,Ph.DII - I Mi ll

THEPEOPLE'S -BOOKS


2/104

THE LIBRARYOFTHE UNIVERSITYOF CALIFORNIALOS ANGELES

GIFT OFFREDERIC THOMAS BLANCHARD


3/104


4/104


5/104


6/104


7/104

FRANCIS BACONBy a. R. SKEMP, M.A., Ph.

WINTER9T0KR PROPESSOn CP ENGLISH ID THEBNIVKRSITY OP BRISTOL

9^ ^ -A

LONDON: T. C. & E. C. JACK67 LONG ACRE, W.C, AND EDINBURGHNEW YORK: DODGE PUBLISHING CO.


8/104


9/104

\^'~\

CONTENTSCHAP. PAtlB

I. THE DAYS OF PREPARATION .... 7n. BACON AND ESSEX : THE DAYS OF STRUGGLE . 20

III. BACON AND JAMES I. : THE DAYS OF PROSPERITY 34IV. BACON AND JAMES I. : THE DAYS OF ADVERSITY 47V. bacon's philosophy 59

VI. NEW ATLANTISHISTORICAL WORKESSAYSSTYLE 76


10/104


11/104

FRANCIS BACONCHAPTER ITHE DAYS OF PEEPAKATION

The life of Francis Bacon (1561-1626) covers the periodof richest fulfihnent in England of the Renascence spirit.Witliin the decade before his birth had been bornSpenser, the poet who best expresses the positive moraland aesthetic ideals of the English Renascence ; Hooker,whose fine spirit apprehended the best elements in thesettlement of the English Church, and whose massiveintellect took service under his intense rehgious instinctto give a defined position, a coherent justification, anda philosophical apology to that wise compromise betweeninherited faith, reforming zeal, and political exigency;and Sidney, poet and soldier, lover and philosopher,idealist and courtier, the very perfect gentle knight ofthe new chivalry. Two years after him were bomMarlowe, in whose wild genius blazed into expressionthe Renascence craving for utter emotional and intel-lectual freedom and fulfilment ; and Shakespeare, inwhom the fire of the new youth of the world brightenedinto the clearest flame of supreme genius.In this galaxy Bacon shines with the " dry light

which he praised for the illumination of truth ; a coldstar, lighting the way of intellectual progress. Amongthe Elizabethans, Bacon stands second in intellectualpower only to Shakespeare. His devotion to know-ledge, his sense that he was " bom to serve mankind,"his optimism concerning man's ultimate government of


12/104

8 FRANCIS BACONNature, the independence and vastness and massivepower of his intellect, his foresight and insight as astatesman, the strength and beauty of his style, nowterse and epigiammatic, now dignified and flowing,always lucid and vividall these compel admiration.But no man of comparable greatness offers less attrac-tion to hero-worship. This is not merely because someof Bacon's actions stand open to grave criticism, notbecause an extreme judgment might condemn him asnon-moral or immoral. The gulf between Bacon'sintellectual position and the usual moral-sentimentalVictorian position was indeed too great to be bridged ;but a generation trained in criticism of traditional moralstandards by Nietzsche, or at least by Mr. BernardShaw, should understand Bacon's character betterand judge his actions more tolerantly than did mostnineteenth century critics. Comprehension, however,brings no feeling warmer than admiration and pity,for Bacon himself stood aloof from warmer emotions.He used love and friendship, and hate and fear, andall personal emotions, as tools of the cold, governingmind. Personal ambition he knew, and the noblerambitions of the scientist and statesman ; patriotismhe felt, and the ^\^de^ emotion that seeks the progressof all mankind ; he was jealous of his rivals, hedespised the httle minds that baffled him, he wasmoderately grateful to those who helped him ; but hewas never the servant of either the best or the worstof these feehngs. He cherished great ideals and servedthem devotedly, but he never sacrificed himself forthem.But though Bacon's life thus fails to make the intimatepersonal appeal of the life of Sidney or Raleigh, it isfascinating in its perfectly coherent revelation of a moststriking personality, and its chmax moves the dramaticimagination. It is impossible to follow this story of agreat character betrayed by its own weakness to theattack of circumstance, without feehng its tragedy, andpaying due tribute of pity and awe.Bacon was marked out for great opportunities by his


13/104

THE DAYS OF PREPARATION 9birth. His father, Sir Nicholas Bacon, was Lord Keeperof the Great Seal, His mother was a daughter of SirAnthony Cook, tutor of Edward VI. Her sister marriedSir William Cecil, who became Lord Burghley in 1571and Lord Treasurer in 1572. Francis was born onJanuary 22nd, 1561, at York House, in the Strand,the Lord Keeper's official residence ; a house later to bethe object of poignant associations, for Bacon becameits master as Lord Chancellor in the hour of his triumph,and yielded it as the price of Buckingham's protectionin the hour of his fall. His childhood was spent partlyat York House, partly at his father's country house atGorhambury, in Hertfordshire. He was the youngestof eight childrensix by his father's first marriage,and one full brother, Anthony, with whom he was parti-cularly closely associated during the later years of hisboyhood.

Sir Nicholas Bacon was a sound lawyer, an honest,independent and intelligent statesman, a warm friendto education. Puttenham, North and Ben Jonsonattest his eloquence, and a wealth of contemporaryevidence proves the wide popularity which he gainedby his genial temper and his pleasant wit. Bacon'scharacter owed more, however, to his mother than tohis father. It is reported that Lady Ann Bacon assistedher father in instructing Edward VI. ; certainly shewas one of the learned women of the day, mistress ofLatin, Greek, Itahan and French. More noteworthyeven than her scholarship was her fervent and un-wavering zeal for Puritanism. She used her learningand her influence alike in its service, and her extantletters to her sons, at Cambridge and at Gray's Inn,show how strenuously she endeavoured to impart tothem her o^\^l Puritan zeal. Sir Nicholas also showedPuritan leanings, though his chief desire was to estab-lish the Church of England firmly. Bacon thus grewup in an atmosphere which prepared him to feel tole-rantly towards the Puritans ; and the width of viewand wisdom of judgment wliich mark his writings onChurch controversies may be traced in some part to his


14/104

10 FRANCIS BACONearly training. The massive practical sense of Baconsafeguarded him from following his mother in herwilder flights ; indeed fanaticism of all kinds repelledhim, and without the influence of his early traininghe might well have failed in justice to the Puritans.His temperament made him moderate, his traininghelped to make him tolerant, and he extended to theCathohcs the fairness of judgment which he had firstlearned for the sake of their bitterest enemies.The earliest influences in Bacon's life were thus highand serious. The child would perhaps appreciate ratherthe dignity and power of his father's office than thegreatness of the affairs concerned ; but at least hewould learn to think familiarly of great persons andmovements. He would feel above all the supremepower of the Queen, and as he grew older he may wellhave heard something of the care and diplomacy neededin working for her. He commenced courtier while stilla boy ; the Queen asked his age, and he answered :" Only two years younger than your Majesty's happyreign." The answer, with its apt emphasis on thememorable fact under which the httle personal factmust fall, suited the grave, seK-possessed yet deferentialboy, and pleased the Queen ; and she named him " heryoung Lord Keeper."Of his early education we know little. Early in his

thirteenth year, in April 1573, he and his brotherAnthony were sent up to Trinity CoUege, Cambridge,where Whitgift, later Archbishop of Canterbury, wastheir tutor. Whitgift's influence, thrown wholly on theside of the Established Church, doubtless strengthenedBacon's natural inclination to the most practical solutionof the rehgious controversies. Scant record remains ofthese undergraduate days. We learn, from charges paidto the " potigarie," that both boys were rather sickly ;and both gained a reputation for assiduous study.According to a late reminiscence of Bacon's, recorded byIds first biographer (his chaplain. Dr. Rawley), he began,even in these days to distrust Aristotle, not for hismatter, but for " the unfruitfulness of liis way." The


15/104

THE DAYS OF PREPARATION 11academic tradition of the Middle Ages still lingered inEngland, and Aristotle was the idol of its worship.Bacon was constitutionally incapable of idol-worshipa characteristic that explains some of liis hmitations aswell as much of his greatness. His vigorous and sinewymind was ever ready to wTestle for the blessing of truth ;and it may well be that even in these early days hetried a fall with the greatest of the estabhshed championsof philosophy.In Jime 1576 the two brothers were admitted together

to Gray's Inn as " ancients " {de societate magistrorum)Finally, completing his education in the recognizedway, Francis was sent abroad to widen his experienceand gain an insight into diplomatic methods. Hewas attached to the household of Sir Amyas Paulet,who went to France in September 1576, and took upduty as ambassador in the following February. Baconspent the next two years with the embassy, followingthe Court from Paris to Blois, to Tours, to Poitiers.These years held many stirring eventsthe intriguesof Don John of Austria ^nth Mary Queen of Scots,planning their marriage and the invasion of England ;a Portuguese plan for the invasion of Ireland, supportedby Spain and the Pope ; civil war in Franceeventsoffering education of a different kind from that of theUniversity and Gray's Inn. We can imagine Bacon'spatriotism and loyalty growing more devoted in face ofattacks on his country and his Queen ; his Protestantismgrowing more definitely poUtical, and more careless oftheological issues, in face of political CathoHcism ; hissense of the evil of civil war quickening by observa-tion ; and his mind developing among new experiences,testing its ideals and theories by practical Hfe andlearning the supple and cynical wisdom of politicalintrigue.

Bacon's apprenticeship to diplomacy was brought toan abrupt and sad close. In February 1579 his fatherdied, very suddenly, from the effects of a chill. Baconrecorded later, in Sylva Sylvarum, that a dream warnedhim before the news arrived ; he dreamt that his father's


16/104

12 FRANCIS BACONhouse in the country was plastered all over with blackmortar. The circumstance is noteworthy, for such anexperience, whatever its explanation, must have dis-posed Bacon to view the so-called supernatural withmore credulity. The suddenness of Sir Nicholas Bacon'sdeath was calamitous to Bacon's material prospects.After providing for his other sons, his father had set asidea large sum to purchase an estate for Francis. Deathprevented the provision, and Francis inherited only one-fifth of the fortune devised for him. His prospects werecompletely changed. Tlie son of the great minister, -withindependent means, might have chosen his career freely ;fatherless, confronted by the need of making a Uvingsuitable to his position, with no more powerful supportthan the uncertain friendship of an uncle by marriage, hehad no choice. His training, the example of his father'scareer, the hope that the influence he might expect tocommand would here be especially serviceable, thesubstantial prizes to be gained, the suitability of theprofession as preparation for more attractive offices ofstate, all pointed to the law ; and Bacon at once turnedto the law as the immediate practical business ofhis hfe.

For a man of stronger character, this change ofprospect might have been actually beneficial. Thesense of self-dependence might have spurred him onto effort without any sacrifice of lofty purpose or offreedom of personality. But Bacon's moral consti-tution was not strong enough to bear the harshdiscipline of adversity. The longing for power and forvariety of experience, so characteristic of the Renascence,was strong in Bacon. In one mood he believed that hewas " more fitted to hold a book than to govern affairs " ;but the scholar's life could not in any circumstances havesatisfied him. The ultimate aim of his philosophy wasto govern Nature ; and the governing temper, fosteredby a boyhood passed among statesmen, could not turnaway from practical affairs. " Only the dull aremodest," and Bacon knew his own powers. He wishedto use them in the service of his country and of man-


17/104

THE DAYS OF PREPARATION 13kind, but he wanted more than the mere joy of service.His desire not only for power, but also for the pompand circumstance of power, was instinctive and un-appeasable ; and it sometimes drove him along deviouspaths. Intellectually he towers above his age ; inmoral sense he is an average Elizabethan, keener indeedin apprehending the intellectual element in morality,correspondingly more contemptuous of the useful,unreflecting traditions of honourable action. He wasadventurer and patriot, scholar and man of affairs,egoist and altruist. Endowed with true politicalwisdom,and eager to serve liis country well, his desire to keephis sovereign's favour could make him beheve thatthe best waj^ to his great end was the crooked wayof flattery and timeserving compromise. Hungry forthe truth, and nobly confident in the power of know-ledge, he could yet subordinate his pursuit of knowledgeto his pursuit of place. Zealous to serve mankind, hewas not prepared in that service to imperil the im-mediate interests of Francis Bacon. The elementsin his complex nature were so combined that hewas seldom conscious of any clash between them.He could believe that he acted meanly from noblemotives.

Bacon's life can only be understood if this complexityof character is kept constantly in view. We mustremember, too, that his paradoxical combination ofphilanthropy and cynicism was stimulated by the in-tellectual and moral atmosphere of his age. Thatdistrust of tradition which was natural to the newlearning, a distrust which in the purely intellectual spherewas infinitely valuable, proving all things and holdingfast that which was true, was a source of immediatedanger in the moral sphere. After the break up ofthe mediaeval Christian code of action came a time ofchaos ; the intellect experimented and blunderedtowards the development of a new code, in which reasongave new authority to the best elements in the old.The justification of the means by the end was notdoctrine of the Jesuits only. Statesmen caught up


18/104

14 FRANCIS BACONthe same idea. Maehiavelli's Prince, one of the mostinfluential books of the Renascence, argued with verygreat power and subtlety for a statecraft based on ex-ploitation of the weaknesses of men, turning them toaccount for government.Two main characteristics emerge very early inBacon's methods, both perfectly comprehensible inview of his character. He recognized that power wasconcentrated in the hands of a few, supremely in thehands of the sovereign ; and that the simplest practi-cal means of reaching an end was often not the methodethically ideal. From the first premise it followedthat the first step towards practical power was tosecure the favour of one who held it. From the secondit followed that the means of doing this were chosenfor convenience. Truth and openness he recognizedas the ideals of a statesman ; but ideals could notalways be fulfilled. Bacon's first efforts towards pro-motion were directed partly to prove his capacity,partly to secure influential support, without which thehighest merit might remain a beggar. He settled atGray's Inn, and pursued his studies in law ; but hiswish was to obtain some Cro^Tn office, not to practiseat the Bar. He turned naturally for patronage to LordTreasurer Burghley. his uncle by marriage. Exactlywhat employment he sought remains uncertain. Inhis fii'st letter to Burghley he acknowledges " that therequest is rare and unaccustomed," and declares " myhope of it resteth only upon your lordship's goodaffection towards me and grace with her Majesty." Heconcludes ^dth a protestation of boundless gratitudeand service in a style which grows familiar in his laterletters : " I cannot account yom- lordship's servicedistinct from that which I owe to God and my Princethe performance whereof to best proof and purposeis the meeting - point and rendezvous of all mythoughts."

Bacon's next letter is full of gratitude to Burghleyand to the Queen, who had promised " to vouchsafeto appropriate me into her service." But he was to


19/104

THE DAYS OF PREPARATION 15find to his cost that both the Queen and her Ministerwere past-masters of that art of inexpensive promisingwhich later he himself applauded : " Certainly, the pohticand artificial nourishing and entertaining of hopes,and carrying men from hopes to hopes, is one of thebest antidotes against the poison of discontentments."Bacon had to find such nourishment as he could inhope, for no office was given to him. He continuedhis studies, and was admitted " Utter Barrister " in1582. Two years later came a first instalment of" satisfaction " ; he was returned to Parhament forMelcombe Regis.At this time, the chief care of Parhament was tosecure the throne, and with it Protestantism, againstthe attacks of Papists. Fourteen years before. PopePius V. had issued a Bull of Excommunication, de-posing the Queen ; and the intervening time had seenrepeated plots against her rule and against her life.Elizabeth's death and the accession of Mary Stuartwould have meant a retm-n of Cathohcism, or ci\dl war ;and the quarrelling sects in Parhament made commoncause against the Cathohc, while patriotism stood toarms for the independence of England against theintrigues of Spain and of Rome. Parliament met ina fervour of Protestantism and patriotic enthusiasm.It sanctioned the " Bond of Association " by whichsubjects voluntarily bound themselves to defend theQueen, and put to death any person by whom or onwhose behalf any attempt against her life should bemade ; and new repressive measures against theCatholics were passed. At such critical times, it wasthe custom that any person of not too shght importance,who felt that he had valuable advice to offer, shouldaddress it to the sovereign or to a Minister of State.We have a letter to the Queen on the treatment ofthe Cathohcs, wTitten probably about the end of 1584,which, though the evidence does not amount to proof,we may probably ascribe to Bacon. In this, hisfirst recorded utterance on the attitude of the statetowards sectarians. Bacon takes up the position from


20/104

16 FRANCIS BACONwhich he never wavered. He considers the situa-ltion purely from the pohtical point of view, withjstatesmanlike impartiahty. He could not appreciatethe passionate strength of feeling with which the ex-tremists on either side viewed the theological issue.His own rehgious feehng laid httle stress on dogma ;indeed, it provided rather a supplement to his intel-lectual life than an essential element in it. Theproblem must thus have appeared to him simpler thanit was. Ho advises a modification m the oath ofallegiance, " to this sense : that whosoever would notbear arms against all foreign princes, and namely thePope, that should in any way invade your Majesty'sdominions, he should be a traitor." The issue is thusmade pohtical, not theological ; and recusants would bepunished for treachery, not for Romanism, He furthersuggests unobtrusive measures to weaken the Cathohcposition : liberty to the Puritan preachers, whose de-partures from orthodox Anghcanism are outweighedby their powerful influence against Papistry ; super-vision of education ; pro\nsion that no Cathohc shallhold state office ; protection of Protestant tenantsagainst Catholic landlords, and so on. More vigorousmethods he deprecates as likely to drive Catholics todespair and desperate action. Above all, they must notbe given the glory of martyrdom. " Compel them youwould not, kill them you would not, so in reason trustthem you would not."

Events soon justified, and in their issue removed,the urgency of the national mistrust of Catholics andfear of Spain. Mary Queen of Scots was executedin 1587, and the Armada was defeated in 1588. Andwith the removal, for the time at least, of the generaldanger to Protestantism, Protestants threw their re-leased vigour again into their internal struggles. Forthirty years the Puritans and the supporters of themiddle way had been at strife. Archbishop Parker'sdemand for conformity had driven the first dissentersout of the Church. His successor, Grindal, on the otherhand, had championed the cause of the moderate


21/104

THE DAYS OF PREPARATION 17Puritans against Elizabeth, and indeed was suspendedfor refusing to put doA^Ti their meetings or " prophesy-ings." In 1583 Bacon's old tutor, Whitgift, becameArchbishop, and renewed with great severity the attemptto enforce conformity. The defeat of the Armada,which removed the cause of temporary truce, waspromptly followed by the pubhcation of the MartinMarprelate tracts against the Archbishop ; and thetheological issue lay, for the rest of Ehzabeth's reign,between the rival sects of Protestants, not betweenProtestant and CathoHc. Bacon had shown his attitudeby some remarks in the Letter of Advice just discussed." I am not given over, no, nor so much as addicted, totheir preciseness ; therefore, till I think that you tliinkothen^ise ^ I am bold to think that the bishops in thisdangerous time take a very evil and unadvised coursein driving them from their cures " ; for, he proceeds,England's influence abroad must suffer through internaldissensions, and though " oversqueamish and nice," thePuritans are useful in " lessening and diminishing thePapistical number." The same attitude characterizesAn Advertisement touching the Controversies ofthe ChurchofEngland, wTitten in 1589.Bacon was the son of a zealous Puritan, but the pupilof Whitgift. His intervention was as impartial as thesecircumstances would lead us to expect. His religiousviews had long troubled his mother. She warns Anthonyagainst his advice and example in these matters ; andagain, advising Anthony to pray with his servants twicedaily, remarks " Your brother is too negligent therein."Bacon's intellectual temper was above all critical. Itled him in theological affairs to a position somewhataloof ; he surveyed the strife without real sympathy foreither party, for he could see no essential importance inthe questions at issue. The real problem for him was tofind a settlement satisfactory, not to the theologianson either side, but to the statesman. He saw in thePuritan movement an important force, producing results

^ Note the chai-acteristic readiness to withdraw his opinion if itis distasteful


22/104

18 FRANCIS BACONgood and bad : making for righteousness and purity,and potent against the pohtical danger of Romanism ;but making also for intellectual narrowness, for intoler-ance, for impatience of authority, for a religion with thefault he combated in philosophythe fault of slaveryto words. He saw in the extreme Episcopahan move-ment another important force, making for law andorder, for a Church system harmonizing with the generalsystem of national government ; but at the same timemaking for arbitrary action, for an arrogant self-satis-faction wiiich ignored just criticism, for worldliness andlaxity. His censures on both extremes were just; buthe failed to see that each side was fighting for principleswhich it believed to be of the very first importance.His solution was that of the finest common sense; tocombine on essentials, to agree to differ on non-essen-tials, to remedy the serious evils in the estabhshedsystem, and to leave liberty for intellectual differencesnot dangerous to that system. But fortunately for thesoul, though unfortunately for the convenience of dailylife, there are matters in religion, even in dogma, beyondthe judgment of common sense. Bacon's cool and clearintellect could not imagine a mind so dominated byreligious emotion that every detail of its behef, evenevery circumstance of its worship, was important to itbeyond any worldly tiling. Therefore his solution wasvalueless to the intensely rehgious Puritan. Zealous fororder and authority as necessary conditions of soundsocial organization, but intellectually an inveterate rebelagainst merely traditional authority, he was incapableof understanding a temper which held the law of theChurch sacred and unquestionable, and which vieweddissent not merely as inconvenient to the State butas attacking the foundations of rehgion. Therefore hissolution w^as valueless to the convinced Churchman.

It is natural to compare Bacon's Advertisement t^mch-ing the Controversies of tJie Church of England withHooker's Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, the first fourbooks of wliich appeared only five years later, in 1594.Hooker is an apologist for the AngHcan position, and


23/104

THE DAYS OF PREPARATION 19he does not recognize so clearly as does Bacon the moralworth of Puritanism, or the justice of its criticisms ofthe Church ; but he comes nearer than Bacon to under-standing its reHgious basis. He sees that its essentialclaim is to individual responsibihty to God, so that onlythe word of God can give its law. He sees in this claimthe danger of the naiTower tyranny of the Scriptures,and argues with all his magnificent resources of intellectand eloquence for the broader revelation of God throughthe laws of nature, the law of reason, the law of theChurch, as well as the Bible. He arrives at a solutionnot dissimilar from Bacon's, though naturally morefavoxu-able to the Estabhshed Church ; but he basesMs conclusions philosophically, recognizing the truemeaning of the claim which he combats. Hookerwrites of rehgion hke a philosopher, though prejudicedby dogmatic prepossessions. Bacon writes of rehgionlike a pohtician, though with the loftiest purposes andfine ethical feehng.The wisdom and lucidity of the Advertisement musthave suggested the emplojrment of its author as apologistfor the Government against criticism at home andabroad. For the relations of England wdth France,in particular, it was important that neither the Pro-testant nor the moderate Catholic party in Franceshould be alienated by the attitude of the EnglishGovernment towards English co-religionists. With thisneed in view, a letter was addressed to M. Critoy," Secretary of France," over the signature of Walsing-ham ; in all probability its author was Bacon. Hedefends the moderation and consistency of the Govern-ment's treatment of Puritan and Cathohc ahke.An apologist was again urgently needed in 1592,when a pamphlet caUed Responsio ad Edictum BeginceAnglioe was published on the continent, attacking inunmeasured terms the Government's treatment ofRoman Cathofics. Bacon at once took the opportunityof a " device," or entertainment, given in honour ofthe Queen by Essex, probably on the anniversary ofher coronation, to compose a " Discourse in Praise of


24/104

20 FRANCIS BACONthe Queen," in which her poHcy as well as her personalquaUties received eloquent eulogy. Before the yearended, he gave a specific answer to the charges of theResponsio in the weighty and closely reasoned Observa-tion on a Libel Publislwd this present year 1592.^ HereBacon was driven to argue ex parte ; his business wasto offer a defence of Government action, and to delivera counter-attack on pohtical Cathohcism. He did hiswork excellently, but the paper necessarily lacks thefine balance and impartiahty which make his generaldiscussions of the theological situation so attractiveand so valuable.

CHAPTER IIBACON AND ESSEX : THE DAYS OF STRUGGLE

DuEiNG the years covered by these difficulties of theGovernment in the religious settlement. Bacon had con-tinued legal work, and in 1586 had become a " bencher "of Gray's Inn, \vith the right to plead in the Courts atWestminster. Still promotion passed him by. Burglileycontinued to flatter his hopes, but for some unknownreasonit may have been merely personal antipathynever exerted himself on his behalf. Bacon grew wearyof waiting. One of his motives in seeking Govermnentemployment was to gain influence for the promotion ofa great project wliich he had long been meditatingnothing less than the fundamental reform of Knowledge.Delay in preferment meant not only disappointment ofnatural ambition, but waste of time in pursuing hisgreater ulterior purpose. " I wax now somewhatancient," he writes to Burghley, presumably in 1592," one and thirty years is a great deal of sand in thehour-glass. ... I confess that I have as vast con-templative ends, as I have moderate civil ends : for Ihave taken all knowledge to be my province ; and ifI could purge it of two sorts of rovers, whereof the one

^ Written in January or February, therefore 1593 in modernreckoning.


25/104

THE DAYS OF STRUGGLE 21with frivolous disputations, computations, and ver-bosities, the other Anth bhnd experiments and auriculartraditions and impostures, hath committed so manyspoils, I hope I should bring in industrious observa-tions, grounded conclusions, and profitable inventionsand discoveries ; the best state of that province, . . .And I do easily see that place of any reasonable coun-tenance doth bring commandment of more -uits than aman's o^vn ; which is the thing I greatly affect, . . .And if your Lordship will not carry me on ... I wallsell the inheritance that I have, and purchase somelease of quick revenue . . . and so give over all careof service, and become some sorry book-maker, or atrue pioneer in that mine of truth,"

Just before this letter was wTitten, in the mood whichit depicts. Bacon had made the acquaintance of theEarl of Essex. Essex was the rising star at the Court.He had gained Elizabeth's favour with astonishingrapidity, and though he was only twenty-five, hisbrilliant and attractive personahty made him a seriousrival to the stohdly worthy Burghley. Burghley maywell have distrusted Bacon for his very wealth of ideas,and for his bookish interests. Essex, himself a studentof adventurous mind, was singularly well quahfied toappreciate these quahties. To Bacon, weary of beggingfavours from a man for whose intellect he must havefelt some contempt, Essex must have appeared theideal patron, and further acquaintance for a timeconfirmed his hopes. Essex was as generous practicallyas intellectually ; as zealous to serve his friends ashe was quick to understand their ideas. In him unitedall the graces and many of the powers of the idealElizabethan ; he lacked only the strength and balanceof character to bear success unspoiled. His tragedyis the converse of Bacon's ; Bacon's character wasconfirmed in its worst parts and crippled in some noblepossibihties by adverse circumstances ; success betrayedEssex into a sensitive self-assertiveness and an im-patience of authority which at last ruined him.

This new and powerful patronage might well have


26/104

22 FRANCIS BACONgained prompt promotion for Bacon, had not a situationarisen in which pohtical honesty compelled him tostand against the Queen and the Government. WhenParhament met in February 1593, the Governmenturgently needed money to combat a Spanish plot inScotland. The Committee of the Commons recognizedthe need, and voted two subsidies instead of the usualone ; but Burghley regarded this as insufficient, andnot only demanded three subsidies, but also declaredthat the amount should be determined in conferencewith the Lords. This proposal struck at the very rootof the power of the Lower Houseits absolute controlof supply ; and the same regard for order in the Statewhich had inspired Bacon's writings on the Churchsettlement now drove him to lead the opposition to thisdemand. The Government found it advisable to dropthe plan of a Conference, but still urged that the threesubsidies should be paid in four years instead of sixyears. Bacon again objected, on the ground thattaxation thus concentrated into the briefer time wouldimpose too heavy a burden on the country, and furtherwould create a dangerous precedent unless distinctlynoted as extraordinary. Tlie Commons, however, weresatisfied with their victory on the point of principle,and Bacon stood alone in opposition. Burghley de-manded an explanation. Instead of apologizing, Baconjustified his attitude in terms at once modest anddignified : " Tlie manner of my speech did most evi-dently show that I spake simply and only to satisfymy conscience, and not with any advantage or pohcyto sway the cause ; and my terms carried all signi-fication of duty and zeal towards her INIajesty and herservice."

Tliis incident, entirely creditable to Bacon's char-acter, raised a new obstacle to his promotion. Nohonesty of motive could justify opposition to Ehza-beth or her ministers. In a great minister it had some-times to be tolerated, but in a candidate for office itwas presumption deserving sharp punishment. Forsome time Bacon found it advisable to avoid the Court,


27/104

THE DAYS OF STRUGGLE 23trusting that the Queen might forgive him when shehad in part forgotten the offence. Just at this inoppor-tune moment the Mastership of the Rolls fell vacant,and brought into prospect a change in the office ofAttorney-General. Bacon gained the intercession of hiscousin, Sir Thomas Cecil, with Burghley, and Essex suedurgently and persistently on his behalf. In anotherletter to Burghley, though still he will not apologize,Bacon expresses regret for the impression his action hasmade on the Queen. One bitter phrase shows that hehas learned the lesson of the incident : in future, if hecannot give unquestioning support to the royal pohcy,he vrill at least abstain from unwelcome comment. " Ifthe not seconding of some particular person's opinionshall be presumption, and to differ upon the maimershall be to impeach the end, it shall teach my devotionnot to exceed Avashes, and those in silence."

These efforts gradually dispersed the Queen's activedisfavour, but they could not gain Bacon the Attorney-Generalship. His rival for the office was Edward Coke,a great and unscrupulous lawyer, who as Speaker of theHouse of Commons had used all his influence for Govern-ment in the very debate where Bacon showed suchobnoxious independence. It was the first incident ina hfelong hostility between the two men, and Cokescored the first jwint. The Solicitor-Generalship nowfell vacant. For this too Bacon apphed, and again,after more than a year's delay, it was given elsewhere.The disappointment left Bacon in a position almostdesperate. He was heavily in debt, for his income wasquite inadequate to the position which he had to keepup at Court. His brother Anthony had disposed of anestate to help him, but Anthony's own financial positionwas now embarrassed. Essex came to the rescue withcharacteristic magnificence of generosity, and gaveBacon land worth 1800.^ " You fare ill because youhave chosen me for your mean and dependence ; youhave spent your time and thoughts in my matter. Idie if I do not somewhat towards your fortune ; you

^ Multiply by seven to give modern equivalent value.


28/104

24. FRANCIS BACONshall not deny to accept a piece of land which I uillbestow upon you." Bacon, after some demur, acceptedthe gift, and gratefully namejl himself Essex's " hom-ager." " But do you know the manner of doing homagein law ? " he added, qualifying the term" Always itis with a saving of his faith to his king and his otherlords ; and therefore, my lord, I can be no moreyours than I was, and it must be with the ancientsavings."But while obligations bound Bacon more and moreclosely to Essex, his confidence that he had found anideal patron must have already become troubled. Thephrases just quoted^ suggest the recognition that Essex'sdesires might not always harmonize with the good ofthe State. Already Essex had, on several occasions,shown himself too headstrong for a statesman. This,coupled with his practical disappointments, madeBacon feel hopeless of the career he had planned, andhe wrote to Essex : "I am purposed not to follow thepractice of the law . . . because it drinketh too muchtime, which I have dedicated to better purposes. . . .For your Lordship, I do think myself more beholdingto you than to any man. And I say I reckon myselfas a common (not popular, but common) ; and as muchas is lawful to be enclosed of a common, so muchyour Lordship shall be sure to have." ^

^ Their value is diminished by the fact that they are drawn fromBacon's own account, published nine years later to justify hisabandonment of Essex.

2 The last sentence is interesting. It has generally been inter-preted in the sense which Bacon later put upon it for his ownjustification, as implying "a significant reserve of his devotion"to Essex. But may it not well refer to the "better purposes" towhich Bacon proposed to dedicate his time ? "I reckon myselfa common "the property of the community ; does not this meanthat he holds his talents in trust for the general good, and feelsthat he dare not devote to any individual more than "is lawful"of the powers which it is his duty to employ for the benefit ofmankind ? The phrase may apply to political and personal service,without any special foreboding of a clash between the service ofEssex and that of the State. The clash is rather between theservice of temporary ends and that of the permanent general


29/104

THE DAYS OF STRUGGLE 25Still, even when further disappointments followed,when he was passed over for the Mastership of the Rolls,and again outstripped by Coke, this time as suitor to

the rich young wddow of Sir Christopher Hatton, Bacondid not follow tliis impulse to give up his original plansand devote himself solely to philosophical work. Heclung to the hope of office, growing steadily morecynical in his view of the means by which success mustbe gained. Essex's brilliant success in the capture ofCadiz, in 1596, seemed to him ominous rather thanauspicious ; for he feared that it would make Essexnew enemies at Court, and still more that the Queenwould distrust his growing power and pojaularity wdththe army and -wdth the people. Bacon accordinglywrote an elaborate letter of advice to Essex. " Winthe Queen ; if tliis be not the beginning, of any othercourse I see no end " ; and he sets forth a number ofways in which Essex should shape his behaviour andhis actions. The advice holds much common sense,but savours unpleasantly of conscious trickiness andcourtier's cunning. And, though it recognizes theda-ngerous elements in Essex's character and position,it fails to suggest a course of action possible tohim. His virtues and his faults ahke unfitted liim forcareful court intrigue ; it was largely by his daringindependence that he had gained the Queen's favour.Tlie character of his relations with the Queen madehis position particularly difficult. He had to displaythe privileged familiarity of the personal favourite,or the instant submission of the courtier, according toElizabeth's mood. Wlien plans were being made for" The Island Voyage," to strike a further blow againstSpain, in 1597, his jealousy of Lord Howard and ofSir Walter Raleigh caused new friction \\'ith the Queen,who " had resolved to break him of his Tvill and pulldo-wn his great heart." The expedition was a failure,progress of mankind. Cf. the opening sentence of De InterpretationeNaturcE Proixmium. On the closing phrase I may echo a MS.comment of the late Professor Charles Eowley : " How much ofa common is it lawful to enclose 1 "


30/104

26 FRANCIS BACONand he returned, discontented and in disfavour, to playinto his enemies' hands.At this time affairs in Ireland were in a very disquietingstate. Hugh O'Neil, Earl of Tyrone, an old rebel againstthe harsh English yoke, a general who knew how to useall the great advantages of his country in guerilla war-fare, and a shrewd and unscrupulous politician, keptup a series of rebellions which threatened at last tospread through the whole country. The negotiationswith him offered an opportunity for making a reputationin the Council, and in March 1598, Bacon advised Essexto " devote special attention to the question." Thenegotiations fell through ; and after a violent quarrelwith the Queen over the appointment of a commander-in-chief for the new campaign, Essex himself wasordered to the post. A far greater soldier than he.Sir John Norreys, had already failed to suppress therebellion ; and only an optimist with an exaggeratednotion of his own powers could have hoped for gloryfrom the undertaking. Bacon had repeatedly urgedEssex to avoid military employment and to seek civiloffice. He claimed later that he advised Essex to avoidthe command in Ireland. The only extant letter onthe subject, however, encourages Essex to go ; settingforth the very great difficulties and dangers of the under-taking, but noting the glory, and still more the patrioticservice, of success. It is important to determineBgicon's attitude, for, while his later conduct was at bestungenerous, it was dastardly if he had urged Essex totake the risk. Professor Gardiner thinks it possible thatBacon \vrote an earher letter, urging Essex to refuse,and that this has been lost. On the other hand. SirSidney Lee suggests that Bacon advised Essex to go,with heartless indifference to the results of failure :" His patron's case, as it presented itself to Bacon'stortuous mind, was one of kill or cure . . . Bacon,from liis point of view, thought it desirable that Essexshould have the opportunity of achieving some definitetriumph in life which would render his future influencesupreme. Or, if he were incapable of conspicuous


31/104

?PE DAYS OF STRUGGLE 27success in, life, then the more patent his inefficiencybecame, f l!'d the quicker he was set on one side the betterfor his pr(;,tege's future."^ Tlie second, harsher viewmay be '^^v.ismissed ; for miUtary success would nofehave secured Essex's position with the Queen, asBacon had clearly recognized in liis letter to the earlafter the capture of Cadiz ; and on the other hand,mere military failure might have left Essex's positionlittle worse if 'he had behaved discreetly to the Queen.Without supposing the loss of an earher letter, we maybeheve that ^dacon's attitude remained unchangedhe feared the'Tesults of Essex's military employment,but recognizeu^ the hopelessness of dissuading him, andcontented himstlf with mingling as much warning aspossible ^^dth lii^ forecast. He \\Tote the letter only oninvitation : " Yciv late note of my silence on youroccasion hath made me set down these few wanderinglines." His fait/, in Essex was growing feebler, hisconfidence in the " veight of his own advice had sufferedsince Essex had n'>t followed earlier advice ; and he letthings go, with miiigled hope and grave foreboding.

Essex complete/y failed to subdue the rebels ; henever even engagv^d them seriously, and after wastinghis forces in five mc.uths' blundering, desultory warfare,he proposed peace, en terms very favourable to Tyrone,in September. Despatches from the Queen had for-bidden him. to return mthout orders, but in the faceof them he left Ireland and sought the Queen atNorwich, It must be remembered that he feared theintrigues of his enemies in his absence ; he at firstintended " to carry with him so much of the army ashe could conveniently transport," and actually wasaccompanied as far as London by "the main part ofhis household and a great part of captains and gentle-men." That he cherished any project hostile to theQueen herself is altogether improbable ; but he losthis head, and trusted by violent means to defeat his

^ Great Englishmen of the IGth Century, p. 272. Here, and againon p. 43, I have expressly noted my disagreement with Sir SidneyLee, because his opinion is too weighty to be ignored.


32/104

28 FRANCIS BACONenemies, who, headed by Cecil, outplayed h^in at everypoint in the game of wits. The Queen waw thoroughlydispleased, and with justice ; but she waL not disin-clined to receive him again into favour when she hadthoroughly humiliated him. Essex coukl not endurethe uncertainty of his position and the constant pricksto his pride. By January 1601, he and his friendshad formed a plot to surprise the Court, seize the Queen'sperson, and compel her to dismiss from the Council Cecil,Raleigh, and other enemies, and to grant^other demands.Discovery precipitated their action ; oi- February 8th,accompanied by some two hundred gentlemen, on foot,armed only with swords, he marched to Paul's Cross,and tried to raise the people to his support. He failed.Instead of attempting to escape he returned to EssexHouse, perhaps to burn incriminatir g papers. Aboutten o'clock the same night he was a j^pisoner.Up to tliis time Bacon's conduct /iiad been consist-ently friendly to Essex, though his hne of action wascomphcated by the difficulty of serving him -vs-ithoufcoffending the Queen. Bacon's position was extra-ordinarily dehcate. In September /598, he had beenarrested for debt ; so that clearly he had reached thelimits of his resources, and needed


33/104

THE DAYS OF STRUGGLE 29to threaten serious danger ; and popular S3niipathy withhim had been aroused on his return by his confinement,-without trial, in York House. When the judicialinquiry was held, therefore, Bacon took an activepart for the Government, but attempted to mitigatethe charge against Essex. Tlie very day after, he foundopportunity to intercede for him with the Queen. Hestated his position frankly in a letter to Essex : " Ihumbly pray you to believe that I aspire to the con-science and commendation first of bonvs civis, wliichwith us is a good and true servant to the Queen, andnext of bonus vir, that is an honest man. I desireyour Lordship to think that although I confess I lovesome things much better than I love your Lordship,as the Queen's service, her quiet and contentment,her honour, her favour, the good of my country, andthe like, yet I love few persons better than yourself,both for gratitude's sake, and for your owti virtues,which cannot hurt but by accident or abuse. Of whichmy good affection I was ever and am ready to yieldtestimony by any good offices, but with such reserva-tions as yomrself cannot but allow."

Essex answered in dignified and not unfriendly terms,and during the next three months freely used Bacon'sservices towards re-establishing liis position with theQueen. Labouring thus to please both parties, Baconpleased neither. Essex's friends w-ere ignorant of hishonest efforts to assuage the Queen's anger, and popularrumour accused him of aggravating the charge. Hewas even tlrreatened with violence ; he writes, withsomething of Roman temper, " I thank God I have theprivy coat of a good conscience, and have a good whilesince put off any fearful care of life and the accidentsof life." At the same time, the Queen thought himhalf-hearted in her service, and over-persistent in liissuggestions in favour of Essex. In liis conduct up tothe rebellion, then, Bacon appears, not indeed as a heroready to sacrifice everything for his friend, but certainlyas loyal to him, under very trying circumstances,witliin the bounds of his duty to the State.


34/104

30 FRANCIS BACONThe mad attempt at armed rebellion entirely changed

Bacon's attitude. Until then Bacon had probablyregarded Essex as headstrong, lacking in politicalsagacity, needing careful restraint and guidance, butstill a worse enemy to himself than to any other man ;and though his early hopes must have vanished com-pletely, he respected the ties of gratitude which boundhim to his benefactor.By his rebellion Essex became a criminal againstthe State. Inquiry into his motives and intentionsrelieves him from the worst construction that mightbe put upon his action. In all probabihty he intendedmerely to purge the Government of the men whomhe regarded as evil advisers to the Queen as well aspersonal enemies of his own. But no explanationcan alter the fact that he attempted, by armed violence,to seize the person of his Queen, and to force her,against her own will and judgment, to dismiss herchosen ministers ; and this not in obedience to the willof a great section of the people, not to avoid any immi-nent peril to the State, but merely on his privatejudgment, influenced by his personal ambitions andenmities. Admiration of Essex's cliivalrous nature,sympathy for the great noble flattered and flouted bythe most difficult of royal mistresses, indignant pityfor the simpler character befooled by cleverer playersat the game of court intrigue, awe at the sudden, tragicend of such brilliant promise, all these we may feeland yet we must recognize that Essex was a traitor tothe State, and struck at the very foundations ofgovernment.

In most poHtical matters Bacon judged with coolreason and acted with a view to convenience ; but hehad one political passion^for order, for the law andsystem which are necessary conditions of existencefor an organized State. This passion had been fosteredby his upbringing among statesmen, and had directedhis own ambition to seek the greatest and worthiestsphere of practical power in service of the State. Ithad been fostered by his early experience in France,


35/104

THE DAYS OF STRUGGLE 31where he had seen the chaos produced by the method ofarbitrary violence which Essex had attempted to employ.It had appeared in liis letters of advice on the treatmentof Pm^itan and Catholic, and in his resistance to theQueen's encroachments on the prerogative of theCommons. And while in the last case he recognizedthe authority of Parliament, and urged the most carefulpreservation of its rights, he preserved his final allegi-ance solely to the sovereign, whose authority he tracedto divine sanction. The sovereign was for him theembodiment of the principle of government ; and nopersonal disappointment could touch his devoted loyalty,not to her person, but to her office. Essex had at-tempted the worst crime that Bacon could conceive,and he was bound to condemn the crime absolutely,and to wish that the criminal's power of repeating itshould be broken.But meaner motives mingled with patriotism, anddrove Bacon to show in the prosecution of Essex anactivity which disowned gratitude and loyal friendship,and even common decency. He was appointed to assistCoke, the Attorney-General, in conducting the prosecu-tion. Twice Coke blundered in his attack, and eachtime Bacon intervened, blocking the side issues whichwere leading discussion to matters less dangerous toEssex, and levelhng deadly comment against the weak-nesses of the defence. Patriotism did not demand thathe should persecute his friend to the death. Even^vithout Bacon's intervention there was Httle chancethat the sentence of the Court would leave Essexdangerous. Indeed, Bacon might well have used hismagnificent oratory on his behalf, not to excuse hiscrime, but to plead for mitigation of the penalty, \\ith-out failing in any duty to Queen or State. Instead,he flung himself into the prosecution with a powerwhich compels admiration in the midst of disgust.Fear, passionate disappointment, the feehng that hehad been deceived, ambition, all snatched the excuseof his shocked patriotism, hke plundering cut-throatsdisgracing a noble cause. He must have feared that


36/104

32 FRANCIS BACONhe might be suspected of complicity in the plot, for hehad been pleading for Essex %\ith the Queen through-out the long uncertain months before the plot, and hisbrother Anthony, who was known to be on confidentialterms ^vith Essex, had carried treasonable letters tothe King of Scotland. His early devotion was basedon the hope that Essex would further his projects, andinstead the ideal patron had appeared as the enemyof his fundamental poHtical principle. He had justcause to feel deceived. At the very time when he wasdrafting letters to the Queen for Essex, and helpinghim, at the risk of the Queen's anger, by directing liisefforts to regain favour, Essex had been engaged intreasonable intrigue with the Scots king. Against allthese feelings there weighed in favour of Essex only acool and reasonable recognition of favours received,which Bacon believed he had already more than recom-pensed. " I have been much bound unto him," hewrote to Lord Henry Howard, before the plot, " Andon the other side, I have spent more time and morethoughts about his well-doing than ever I did aboutmine own . ' ' Warm personal feelinggratitude or friend-ship beyond the just balance of debit and creditwasalien to his natuje. All the force of circumstanceworked -with his feelings against Essex. It would havebeen difficult for him to refuse at least nominal concernin the prosecution ; for though he was merely one ofthe Queen's Counsel, he had been employed by theGovernment particularly in connection with poHticalplots, and had already acted formally against Essex inthe proceedings connected wdth the Irish campaign.EinaUy, it is hard not to suspect one particularly un-generous motive. His rival Coke, whom he hated asthoroughly as so poor a lover could hate, was officiallyin charge of the prosecution ; and rivalry and ambitionahke must have prompted Bacon to eclipse his leader.His second intervention seems especially designed tocriticize Coke's blundering conduct of the case. " Ihave never yet seen in any case such favour shownto any prisoner ; so many digi'essions, such deUvering


37/104

THE DAYS OF STRUGGLE 33of evidence by fractions, and so silly a defence of suchgreat and notorious treasons." Then comes the displayof his own powers, in contrast with those of Coke ; abrief summary of Essex's defence, answered point bypoint with deadly effect" Put the case that the Earl of Essex's intents were,as he would have it believed, to go only as a suppliantto her Majesty. Should their petitions be presented byarmed petitioners ? This must needs bring loss of libertyto the prince. Neither is it any point of law, as myLord Southampton would have it believed, that con-demns them of treason. To take secret counsel, toexecute it, to run together in numbers armed withweaponswhat can be the excuse ? Warned by the LordKeeper, by a herald, and yet persist ! Will any simpleman take this to be less than treason ? "

Essex was condemned, and under the influence ofAshton, a Puritan preacher, made a strange and patheticconfession of his guilt. He was executed on February25, 1601. Out of the fines and forfeitures to the Crownby Essex's fellow-rebels. Bacon received 1200 ; notas much as he hoped, he writes to a creditor. Some sixyears earlier Essex had given him an estate worth 1800.

Later, when the death of Elizabeth had changedpolitical conditions, he published an "Apology," an ex-planation and defence of his actions, setting forth veryforcibly all that can be said in his favour. But even herewe find no evidence that Bacon's action cost him struggleand pain, or that it caused him remorse. It is notdifficult to understand Bacon's action, and justice com-pels us to recognize one great and worthy motive amongthe forces which drove him to it. But in this case tounderstand is not to forgive. Essex was a traitor tothe laws which make possible a civilized and organizedstate, and by those laws he deserved death. Baconwas a traitor to higher laws than thesethe laws ofhonour, of pity, of love ; and by those sacred laws hestands condemned.


38/104

84 FRANCIS BACON

CHAPTER IIIBACON AND JAMES I. : THE DAYS OF PKOSPERITY

The remaining years of Elizabeth's reign were compara-tively unimportant in Bacon's life. In May 1601, diedhis brother Anthonythe only person for whom he evershowed sincere affection ; and Bacon inherited fromhim enough to meet his most urgent financial needs.In statesmanship he displayed his usual wisdom andforesight. He introduced into Parliament a bill toamend the system of weights and measures. He urgedthe repeal of superfluous laws. On the vexed questionof monopohes, he distinguished acutely between thepatents granted for useful discoveries, and those merelyconferring an unearned right of monopoly. In Irishaffairs, he advised, among more famihar and some^^hatMachiavellian means of pacification, a pohcy of supportto education and of complete toleration in rehgion. Heintroduced a bill amending the method of setthng dis-putes in assurances among merchants. Nothing elseneed be recorded until Ehzabeth's death and the acces-sion of James I. in 1603.Under Ehzabeth two habits of Bacon's pohticalthought had grown into second nature. By tempera-ment he was attracted by a devious " managing

pohcy, and in Elizabeth he watched a past mistressof the art treating most difficult problems of internaland external policy with wonderful success. He vene-rated the office of sovereign as s\Tnbol and source offirm government and order. The strength which under-lay Ehzabeth's sliiftiness had justified and reinforced hisveneration ; while the difficulty of gaining her favour,and the relentless punishment which foDowed opposi-tion to her will, had whipped the place-seeker in Baconinto a sense of the convenience of serving the monarchat any cost. He was now forty-three, and still stoodonly on a lower rung of the ladder to success. His


39/104

THE DAYS OF PROSPERITY 35appetite for power had been only whetted by the scrapsof office which fell to liim. His honesty was corrodedby disappointment, and flawed by years of time-servingand his just consciousness of his own great gifts, con-firmed by proof, was irritated by continued failure togain adequate employment. With his personal ambi-tion burned, with a brighter flame, his passionate desireto serve his country and his kind, to carry into effecthis dreams of statesmansliip and of the conquest ofnature by knowledge. A prophet may be as un-scrupulous as an adventurer.The accession of James thus found Bacon with thenoblest elements in his nature aUied with the ignoblein desperate desire for power, seeking it at the fountain-head, the Crown. It is not easy to decide how far hisflattery of the King was merely diplomaticit certainlyexceeded the hmits of decent diplomacyand how far itwas due to his eagerness to beheve what he wished to betrue. His hopes may have transfigured James's pedantryinto sympathy towards learning, his arrogant assump-tion into strength,' his love of argument into accessi-bility to advice. More probably he had decided to winthe King's favour by any means available. He gavegood advice, but if it proved unwelcome he modifiedit. The strongest intellect of the day grovelled inflattery before a bladder in which a few peas of pre-judice rattled noisily. The man who had dared tooppose Ehzabeth became obsequious to her feeble andfoolish successor.

In his renewed struggle for place, Bacon even triedto obtain support from some of Essex's friends ; per-haps not so much from audacity as because he feltsatisfied with his own excuses for his actions, andbelieved that others would recognize their justice. Atfirst his hopes were once more disappointed. Burghley'sson and successor in oflS.ce, Robert Cecil, seems to havebeen as unAvilling as his father to employ Bacon ; andhis old rival Coke, by this time recognized as the greatestlawyer of his day, also stood between him and oflfice.The King scattered honours freely, but none fell to


40/104

86 FRANCIS BACONBacon. After being arrested a second time for debt, hewrote to Cecil, who had lent him money to obtain release,in terms recalUng those of earlier, despondent letters

" For my purpose or course, I desire to meddle aslittle as I can in the King's causes, his Majesty nowabounding in counsel ; and to follow my private thriftand practice, and to marry with some convenientadvancement. For as for any ambition, I do assureyour Honour, mine is quenched. . . . My ambition nowI shall only put upon my pen, whereby I shall be ableto maintain memory and merit of the times succeeding."Bacon never lost sight of his vision of man's conquestof nature, and his desire to prepare the way for itnever wavered. But the search for office, at firstonly as a necessary stage to the higher end, grew soeager that it often obscured that end ; and since Baconfailed to achieve success early enough to set free hismature years for his true life Avork, we welcome thetimes when he turned wearily from chasing the butterflyof promotion to tend the swarming hive of his philo-sophical ideas.An introductory address to his work On tJie Inter-pretation ofNature was probably Avritten now. Throughalterations in his general scheme, Bacon never publishedit ; but we shall refer to it later at some length for itsfine statement of his ideals and motives, ahke as philo-sopher and statesman. At this time, too, he probablybegan his great work on Tlie Advancement of Learning.In the letter to Cecil from which we have just quoted,Bacon begs for " this divulged and almost prostitutedhonour of knighthood." His request was granted, butnot the prayer " that the manner might be such asmight grace me, since the matter will not ; I mean,that I might not be merely gregarious in a troop." Hewas knighted with three hundred others, without dis-tinction, two days before the Coronation. But with theassembling of James's first Parliament came opportunitiesfor Bacon to serve and gratify King and Commons ahke.Repeatedly his tact saved friction between them ; andhis work on the problems raised by the proposed pohtical


41/104

THE DAYS OF PROSPERITY 37union of England and Scotland was both statesmanlikein its principles, and diplomatic in its attitude towardsover-hasty King and over-cautious English subjects.In the earlier disputes between King and Commons,arising from fundamental differences between their re-spective conceptions of royal rights, disputes which wereto grow still angrier, Bacon acted as mediator ; andno man could have been better fitted for the delicatetask. He venerated the law as the instrument of socialorder ; he venerated the sovereign as the divinelyappointed agent of authority. He believed that theKing's rights were independent of law, but thatrighteousness, wisdom, and convenience aU directed himto govern according to law.While thus strengthening his position in State affairs,

he found time, in the intervals of civil employment, tocomplete the two books of The Advancement of Learning,dedicated to the King, published in 1605. James,with his narrow, superficial vision, and his schoolman'swordy and pedantic philosophy, could not appreciatethe wide sweep of Bacon's thought nor its demand fora firm basis in facts. Nor did any success attend aletter written earlier in the same year to Lord ChancellorEUesmere, urging the encouragement of work on EngUshhistory.Though the value of his Parliamentary services wasknown, recognition by office still delayed. In 1604 hehad been raised from the ranks of unsalaried LearnedCounsel to be a King's Counsel by patent, with a salaryof 60 a year ; but he was not employed by Govern-ment in the first trial of Raleigh, nor in connectionwith the Gunpowder Plot. In 1606 he married AliceBarnham, the " alderman's daughter, an handsomemaiden, to my liking," of whom he had written to Cecilthree years earlier. Her fortune was, however, inade-quate to keep up the magnificent style of living whichhis Renascence temper demandeda style illustrated byhis wedding preparations. " Sir Francis Bacon," wrotea contemporary, " was married yesterday to his youngwench, in Maribone Chapel. He was clad from top to toe


42/104

38 FRANCIS BACONin purple, and hath made himself and his ^^^fe such storeof raiments of cloth of silver and gold that it draws deepnto her portion." His need of promotion was greaterthan ever, " to satisfy his wife's friends " as well as to fulfilhis own ambitions. In 1606 the Attorney-Generalshipfell vacant, and in the consequent shufiling of officesBacon hoped to be made Solicitor-General. He ap-pealed to the King, recounting his services and recallinghis obedience. Once again disappointment awaited him.The Solicitor-Generalship did not immediately becomevacant, and it was not until June 1607, that he re-ceived the appointment. It was worth about 1000 ayear. With tliis the tide of fortune at last turned.In the following year there fell to him the Registrar-ship of the Star Chamber, the reversion of which hehad been given by Burghley nineteen years before.This was worth some 1600, and his total income nowamounted, according to his o\sm estimate, to 4975 ayear.^ Unluckily, his style of hving always moved alittle in advance of his fortune ; he still needed moremoney. And the success so long delayed had httlesavour ; perhaps he vaguely felt its vanity, perhaps itwas only that he had time to feel tired. " I have foundnow twice, upon amendment of my fortune, dispositionto melancholy and distaste. . . . Upon my SoUcitor'splace I grew indisposed and inchned to superstition.Now ... I find a relapse into my old symptoms, as I waswont to have it many years ago."Immediately after his appointment as Registrar tothe Star Chamber he used the leisure of a week in theLong Vacation to jot do\^'n reflections and notes on thematters occupying his mind, personal, political, andphilosophical. These memoranda [Commentarius Sol-utus) were intended solely for his private convenience,and offer a record as naked and unselfconscious as thediary of Pepys. The personal notes are naturally themost interesting ; much of the matter of those dealing^nth philosophical problems or Avith affairs of State foundfuller and more careful expression in published work.

^ About 35,000 in modern money


43/104

THE DAYS OF PROSPERITY 39Bacon's work as Solicitor-General does not call for

detailed comment. He discharged his legal duties^vith very great ability, displaying "v^-ide and exactknowledge of the law, and interpreting it liberally.Indeed, his readiness to sacrifice the letter to the spiritbrought him into frequent conflict with Coke, "s^liowas still more learned in law, and %^'ho carried precisioninto pedantry. Bacon prepared reports on the PenalLaws, striking in the lucidity of their presentment offacts and \\ise in their recommendations for reform.He set his face resolutely against duelling ; later, asAttorney-General, he continued this attack on an evilcustom, and obtained a decree from the Star Chambermaking a challenge to a duel, even if not accepted, apunishable offence. He again urged his views onIrish afl'airs, developing his earher advice. In thestormy discussions of the " Great Contract," he playeda useful though thankless part. By this scheme ofSahsbury's, the King was to surrender certain traditionalprivileges, from which he derived income, includingthose of " wardship " and " purveyance," and toabandon " impositions "arbitrary taxes, unsanctionedby the Commons, on imports. In return the Commonswere to grant the King a sum of at least 500,000towards the royal debt, which his extravagance hadgreatly increased, and to promise a further annualpayment. James acted from the first like a huckster,in the end like a sharper, attempting to captui-e thegrant, but to delay his concessions until further pay-ment had been extorted. Bacon had to appear as thefriend of both sides, championing the Commons astheir spokesman, and aiding the King's cause as hisservant. He worked zealously and skilfully to give thebest possible form to a scheme which he did not like,and to find ground for a settlement by mutual accom-modation. Tliough he affirmed the privileges of tiieKing, he urged the wisdom of compromise. But the mostskilful handling could not save the scheme ; it was fore-doomed to failure by James's arrogance and dishonesty.In all the pressure of legal and political work Bacon


44/104

40 FRANCIS BACONnever lost sight of his plans for the new foundation ofknowledge. About 1607 he Avrote the dissertation onthings thought and seen, Cogitata et Visa, setting forthhis reflections on the evidence of his experience ; andin 1609 his antipathy to tradition found outlet in abrilliant though unbalanced attack on the classic philo-sophies, Redargutio Philosophiarum. A letter to hisfriend Andrewes, with the MS. of the first-named work,explains Bacon's motive in writing these fragmentstocrystallize his thoughts in essays later to be supersededby a complete and ordered treatise, the Great Instaura-tion : " I send you some of this vacation's fruits ; andthus much more of my mind and purpose. I hastennot to publish ; perishing I would prevent. And Iam forced to respect as well my times as the matter.For with me it is thus, and I think with all men in mycase : if I bind myself to an argument, it loadeth mymind ; but if I rid my mind of the present cogitation,it is rather a recreation. This hath put me into thesemiscellanies ; which I propose to suppress, if God giveme leave to write a just and perfect volume of phil-osophy, which I go on with, though slowly."

While Bacon was thus labouring with faithful love inhis self-appointed service of knowledge and truth, eventswere preparing which plunged him more deeply andmore discreditably into affairs. In May 1612, Salisburydied. " From this date," -wTites Dean Church, " Jamespassed from government by a minister, who, whatevermay have been his faults, was laborious, public-spirited,and a statesman, into his own keeping and into the handsof favourites, who cared only for themselves. With Cecil[Lord Salisbury] ceased the traditions of the days ofElizabeth and Burghley, in many ways evil and crueltraditions, but not ignoble and sordid ones ; and Jameswas left without the stay, and also without the check,which Cecil's power had been to him." Bacon at onceoffered the King his services as political adviser, urgingvery justly his special qualifications to mediate betweenCrown and Commons : " Though no man can say but Iwas a perfect and peremptory royalist, yet every man


45/104

THE DAYS OF PROSPERITY 41makes me believe that I was never one hour out ofcredit with the lower house." Mindful, doubtless, ofBacon's usefulness in the debates on the Great Contract,James accepted the offer. The series of papers whichBacon accordingly prepared is admirably characterizedby Professor S. R. Gardiner. " There is in them toomuch respect for mere management, and too strong aninclination to regard the opposition to the I^ng as inthe main personal. Yet, on the whole, the ground theytake is unassailable. There is to be no more bargainingbetween king and subjects. The King is to show hisdetermination to lead in the right direction, and to becontent to wait until his subjects are prepared to follow.He is not to press for supply, but to wait until theCommons are sufficiently impressed with his devotionto the nation to offer him all that he needs. . . . Tocarry out this programme would have been to avertthe evils of the next half-century. No one to whosemind the history of that half-century is present canagree with those numerous writers who speak of Bacon'spolitical work as inferior to his scientific. He was theone man capable of preventing a catastrophe by antici-pating the demands of the age. . . . Unhappily, hecould not procure acceptance for his political ideas."As the gulf gradually widened between James andParliament, it became increasingly difficult to reconcileobedience to the King with true service of the State.By his declaration of belief in Divine Right, Bacon hadalready pledged himself to the King's service. Hestrengthened his bonds by pressing for new office.With the death of Salisbury, who had always stood inhis way. Bacon's hopes rose higher. His enmity to Salis-bury found expression in letters to the King criticizingand blaming Salisbury's policy, accusing him of thwartingthe King's purposes, and offering his own obsequiousservice in whatever post the King might confer on him :" I will be ready as a chessman to be wherever yourMajesty's royal hand shall set me." Bacon had reasonenough to dislike Salisbury ; but sympathy is alienatedby the contrast between his repeated professions of


46/104

42 FRANCIS BACONunbounded devotion to Salisbury during his life, andthis bitter censure as soon as he could no longer rewardor punish. Dean Church throws out the suggestionthat James may have " disclosed something of hisdead servant which showed his unsuspected hostihtyto Bacon." More probably Bacon's enmity was longcherished ; but with Salisbury in power Bacon hadnothing to gain by an open quarrel, and might hopefor reward if his flattering protestations could gain belief.It is the method of jNIachiavelli again ; and again wemust infer a weakness in Bacon's moral constitution.Once more Bacon had to endure disappointmentbefore he gained promotion ; but, though Jamesvalued Bacon's wise advice on high principles of govern-ment little more than his plans for the advancementof learning, he could appreciate his skilful and notover-scrupulous service in Parliament. The Attorney-Generalship fell vacant, and Bacon received the appoint-ment on October 27, 1613. He had hoped for thisvery appointment, under Essex's patronage, twentyyears before. For twenty years he had been drivenand tossed between hope and disappointment. Fortwenty years he had spent himself in true and worthyservice, and had intrigued deviously for the rewardwhich merit alone did not gain. Intending to make hislower ambitions serve his highest ideals, in twenty yearshe had learnt to subordinate the higher to the lower,to make a necessity of what should have been merely aconvenience. Sharping his conduct consistently towardscertain ends, he had gi'own increasingly careless ofthe means ; guiding his life by the standard of reason,he had gro\Mi callous to the better half of human nature.Measured by his early hopes the success he hadgained at fifty-two was failure. He had dreamed ofserving his country greatly as adviser of a great ruler ;instead, he had captured the uncertain favour of theleast royal of kings by flattering his weaknesses andserving his prejudices. He had dreamed of subduingnature to the service of man ; as yet he had succeededonly in shadowing forth the plan of his campaign.


47/104

THE DAYS OF PROSPERITY 43But the supreme tragic possibility of his career wasaverted ; he was not content. He knew that his trueW'Ork was still to be done.

Sir Sidney Lee A^Tites : " Bacon dehberately chosethe worser way. He abandoned in practice the lastshreds of his pohtical principles ; he gave up all hopeof bringing about an accommodation on hnes of rightand justice between the King and the people. Hemade up his mind to remain a servant of the Crown,^\'lth the single and unpraiseworthy end of benefitinghis own pocket." This is not even just to Bacon,whose career deserves some pity as well as justice.The mean, selfish motives of his obsequiousness toJames cannot be denied ; but with them were mingledhigh motives. Bacon believed that the abuse of royalpower was a less evil than the subjection of the royalpower to the mil of the people. He despised and dis-trusted the people ; he believed in the divine rightof the King. His ideal was government by the Kingin conference with the best councillorsespeciallywith Francis Bacon ; but if the King refused the bestadvice, Bacon probably felt that duty both to Kingand State obliged him to make the best of whateveraction the King actually proposed. If things werebad in spite of his efforts to restrain and modify anddirect the King's schemes, they would have been worseif he had removed his influence altogether. Possiblya greater statesman might have been strong enough todominate James ; but Bacon's failure to do that doesnot constitute " deliberate choice of the worser way."And in the strange, many-coloured web of Bacon'smotives, inseparably interwoven with the tarnishedshreds of selfish desire for place and wealth and power,shines undimmed and unbroken the golden thread ofhis noble philosophical ambition : to lead men " toapproach with humihty and veneration to unroU thevolume of Creation, to linger and meditate therein,and with minds washed clean from opinions to studyit in purity and integrity."The story of the prosperous years which followed


48/104

44 FRANCIS BACONBacon's appointment to the Attorney-Generalship maybe told very briefly. It sheds no new light on hischaracter, but adds fresh evidence of good and badqualities alike. In matters where his judgment andaction were untrammelled by consideration of Jamesand his favourites, Bacon filled his new office mostworthily. With the King's support, he continued hisattack on duelling. He prepared a " proposition," un-luckily not accepted, for the reform of the laws, tendingconsistently to simplicity and practical utility. Inpohtical matters, he steadily supported James in hisassertion of his prerogative, but advised tactful treat-ment of Parliament, and compromise on non-essentials.The claim which his usefulness gained on the King'sconfidence he safeguarded and strengthened by carefulconciliation of the favourites. He bribed and flatteredthe infamous Somerset. When the brighter star ofVilliers arose, he offered homage in terms which recallthose inspired by his early hopes from Essex.As with Essex, as for a brief time with James, so nowwith Villiers, Bacon's longing for a worthy patron seemsto have blinded his judgment. The rapid and uncheckedrise of Villiers from title to title, until as Duke ofBuckingham he was the greatest power in the State, maywell have captured Bacon's imagination ; and he lost notime in attaching himself to the man who swayed theKing. Buckingham, on his side, felt enough admirationfor Bacon to value his flattery, though not enough, asBacon soon found, to listen patiently to his advice.Fortune seemed now to play into Bacon's hands. Hewas named to the Privy Council. He saw his old enemyCoke disgraced and dismissed for resistance, at oncearrogant and courageous, to a royal mandate trenchingon the privileges of the Court of the King's Bench. InMarch 1617, by Buckingham's influence, he was pro-moted to the highest legal office, the Lord Keepershipof the Great Seal ; thus at last he gained his father'soffice and official residence, succeeding to his birthplace,and to the birthright of his powers.Bacon once again amply justified bis promotion. His


49/104

THE DAYS OF PROSPERITY 45speech on first taking his seat in Chancery proclaimeda new order of the administration of justice, strict,impartial, responsible, and prompt. Later we shalldiscuss his breaches of the rules he laid down for him-self ; here it must simply be recorded that he followedcustoms which he himself condemned : he acceptedmoney from suitors, he did not venture to protestwhen Buckingham wTote to him to influence his judg-ments. Even in these respects he was better than mostof his predecessors, though far below his own ideal.In sense of responsibility and willingness to give judg-ment on cases which a weaker man would have shirked,and above all in indefatigable energy, he excelledall his predecessors. He recognized alike the costand vexation of delay, and the dangers of hurried judg-ment, and met both evils by lengthening his day'ssession and his term. By this means he wiped off in asingle month the very considerable arrears of cases whichhad accumulated during his predecessor's illness ; andonly once was his judgment reversed.But good work was no guarantee of continued pros-perity ; Bacon held his office subject to the power bywhich he had gained itthe favour of Buckingham.Once he so far forgot his dependence as to urge un-welcome advice on his patron, and to act in its spirit.The circumstances are particularly interesting. Bacon'sold enemy. Coke, scheming to regain place, recognizedthe supreme importance of gaining Buckingham's sup-port. To buy it he consented to his daughter's marriageto the favourite's worthless brother, Sir John Villiers,and agreed, far more unwillingly, to pay over a hand-some dowTy. His vAie, the Lady Hatton whom Baconhad once wooed, objected to the match ; and being alady of extremely independent will, secluded the girl.Coke found his daughter's hiding place, and M'itli hissons and servants attacked it, broke in and carried heroff. Lady Hatton appealed to Bacon for help. Hedid not know that Buckingham was particularly in-terested, and that the King approved of the match.His instinct was naturally to take the side against


50/104

46 FRANCIS BACONCoke, and political considerations and respect for orderjustified him. Accordingly he wrote to Buckingham,very strongly urging the abandonment of the match.Buckingham, who expected unquestioning support inreturn for his favours, was furious ; and the King him-self uTote sharply rebuking Bacon. In fear of losinghis office and stultifying his hopes in the moment oftheir fulfilment, Bacon made abject submission ; andwhen Buckingham accepted his apologies and mollifiedJames's anger, he grovelled in professions of gratefuldevotion which offend against the merest decency ofmanhood :" My ever best Lord, now better than Yourself,Your lordship's pen, or rather pencil, hath pourtrayedtowards me such magnanimity and nobleness and truekindness, as methinketh I see the image of some ancientvirtue, and not anything of these times. It is the lineof my life and not the hnes of my letter, that mustexpress my thankfulness ; wherein if I fail them, Godfail me, and make me as miserable as I think myselfat this time happy by this reviver, through his Majesty'ssingular clemency and your incomparable love andfavour. . . ."To \^Tite thus was to sign away all independencefor the time of Buckingham's supremacy. HenceforthBacon appears to have done unprotestingly the dirtywork required of him. After the miserable tragedy ofRaleigh's execution, he drew up a " Declaration of theTreasons of Sir Walter Raleigh," in which, as in thedeclaration of the treasons of Essex, his sense of thesanctity of law and order doubtless helped less worthymotives to put the worst interpretation on rash actionsof a great man dead. Popular opinion did not forgetthe former case in reviling Bacon for the second. Heserved Buckingham, without perverting justice, in thetrial and condemnation of the Earl and Countess ofSuffolk. In the prosecution of the Attorney-General,Yelverton, he served Buckingham at the cost of loyaltyto a true friend. Wlien the question of patents ofmonopoly (by many of which Buckingham benefited)


51/104

THE DAYS OF ADVERSITY 47again became urgent, lie did not entirely abandon hisearlier attitude ; and either from principle or policysupported the abolition of the most flagrant mono-polies. But he hastened to cringe to Buckingham,writing that he had spoken " somewhat like Ovid'smistress that strove, but yet as one that would beovercomen." Services such as these gained the regardnot to be won by statesmanship or learning. Tln-eemonths after his submission to Buckingham he receivedthe full dignity of Lord Chancellor ; in July 1618, hewas raised to the peerage as Baron Verulam, and inJanuary 1621, received the title of Viscount St. Albans.

It is painful to cluronicle the degradation of a greatman; with relief we turn to the other direction ofBacon's activity. While the politician was serving theKing and his favourites, and securing at last the outwardand temporary symbols of honour, the philosopher wasstill labouring for his dearer sovereign Knowledge, andestablishing his title to enduring honour. In 1612appeared a new, enlarged edition of the Essays. In1620, after some twelve years' labour, he published theNovum Organumthe "new instrument" for the ad-vancement of learning and the conquest of naturehismost important philosophical work.

CHAPTER IVBACON AND JAMES I. : THE DAYS OP ADVERSITY

Beneath all the particular causes of dispute betweenJames and his Parliaments lay a fundamental differencein principle. James believed in his divine right, andclaimed to govern entirely according to his o^vn will.He regarded every concession as a matter of favour orconvenience. Parliament, on the contrary, asserted withincreasing vigour its right to legislate for the needs ofthe State, and refused to recognize the royal prerogativeas above the law. Under Elizabeth the struggle hadbeen restrained by external dangers, by Elizabeth's


52/104

48 FRANCIS BACONpersonal popularity, and by her acute political sense,which led her to grant as graces those concessions whichParliament regarded as essential and seemed disposedif necessary to force from her. Now no urgent externaldanger threatened ; James was personally unpopular,and singularly devoid of political sense. He stirredup opposition by his prating arrogance, then taughtit its own power by his shiftiness and weakness.For as long as possible. Bacon tried to harmonize theassumptions of the King and the demands of Parlia-ment. When it became impossible, he tlirew in hislot Math the King, not merely from interest, but fromhis royalist principles. The long struggle had begun,which was to end in the armed rebellion of Parliamentagainst the King, a rebellion which would have shockedBacon's deepest political feelings. His wisdom mighthave moderated or even averted the final conflict, buthis advice was ignored. Thus, half from conviction,half from necessity, he acted as agent of a poHcy whichprovoked its own ruin ; and he fell first victim to theforces which later attacked Buckingham and at lastbrought a king to the block.The Parliament which met in January 1621 was nothostile to Bacon personally. Its chief immediategrievances were the extravagance of the King andthe evils consequent on favouritism ; and amongstthese evils the most prominent was again the abuseof monopolies, unjustly granted and oppressively en-forced. The rascally extortions of Buckingham'screatures, Michell and Mompesson, drew attention tothe whole system,

Documents

Escritos Sobre La Obra de Francis Bacon