Essays

Essays

by Francis Bacon
Essays

Essays

by Francis Bacon

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Overview

The genius of Francis Bacon is nowhere better revealed than in his essays.

Bacon’s education was grounded in the classical texts of ancient Greece and Rome, but he brought vividness and color to the arid scholasticism of medieval book-learning. Whatever their subject, whether it is something as personal as “Friendship” or as abstract as “Truth,” the essays combine a mixture of rhetoric and philosophy; and are perhaps the most complete and rounded examples of Bacon’s literary style.

Rather than merely summarizing popular philosophy or producing glib expositions of correct conduct, Bacon attempted to change the shape of the other men’s minds. He believed rhetoric, as the force eloquence and persuasion, could incline the mind towards the pure light of reason.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781438505749
Publisher: Book Jungle
Publication date: 11/24/2008
Pages: 224
Product dimensions: 7.50(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.47(d)

About the Author

Francis Bacon, philosopher, essayist, lawyer and statesman, was born in London in 1561. He studied at Cambridge and was enrolled at Gray’s Inn in 1576. In 1584 he entered Parliament as the member for Melcombe Regis, subsequently representing other constituencies. Bacon made the acquaintance of the Earl of Essex, who endeavored to advance him in his career. Nevertheless, having been appointed to investigate the causes of Essex’s revolt in 1601, Bacon was largely responsible for the earl’s conviction. Bacon was appointed Solicitor-General in 1607 and was successively Attorney-General (1613), Lord Keeper (1617) and Lord Chancellor (1618). He was created Baron Verulam in 1618 and Viscount St. Albans in 1621. Later in that year he was charged with bribery and confessed that he had been guilty of ‘corruption and neglect’ but denied that he had ever perverted justice. He was deprived of the Great Seal, fined, imprisoned in the Tower and disabled from sitting in Parliament. Following his release, he retired to the family home at Gorhambury, Hertfordshire, and his remaining years were spent in literary and philosophical work. It was Bacon’s ambition to create a new system of philosophy to replace that of Aristotle, and he has been justly acclaimed as an inspiration to later scientists, rationalists and materialists. Of his philosophical works, the principal and best known are The Advancement of Learning, Novum Organum and De Augmentis. He also wrote several professional works including Maxims of the Law and Reading on the Statue of Uses. Of his literary writings the most important are the Essays (1597; issued in final form in 1625), De Sapientia Veterum, Apophthegms New and Old and a History of Henry VII. Francis Bacon died in 1626

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Excerpt from book:
and expectations. Death hath this also, that it openeth the gate to good fame, and extinguisheth envy : " Extinctus amabitur idem." l III.—OF UNITY IN RELIGION. Religion being the chief band of human society, it is a happy thing when itself is well contained within the true band of unity. The quarrels and divisions about religion were evils unknown to the heathen. The reason was, because the religion of the heathen consisted rather in rites and ceremonies, than in any constant belief; for you may imagine what kind of faith theirs was, when the chief doctors and fathers of their church were the poets. But the true God hath this attribute, that he is a jealous God; and therefore his worship and religion will endure no mixture nor partner. We shall therefore speak a few words concerning the unity of the church; what are the fruits thereof; what the bounds ; and what the means. The fruits of unity, (next unto the well-pleasing of God, which is all in all.) are two; the one to- wards those that are without the church, the other itowards those that are within. For the former, it is certain that heresies and schisms are, of all others, :the greatest scandals, yea, more than corruption of had revealed, " that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ." When he beheld the infant Jesns in the temple, he took the child in his arms and burst forth into a song of thanksgiving, commencing, " Lord, now lettest tliou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation." — S/.. Luke ii. 29. 1 " When dead, the same person shall be beloved." — Ear. Ep. ii. 1, 14. manners ; for as in the natural bodya wound or solution of continuity is worse than a corrupt humor, so in the spiritual; so that nothing doth so much keep men out...

Table of Contents

Principal Dates in Bacon's Life
Introduction
A Note on the Text and Annotation
Further Reading
THE ESSAYSAPPENDICESThe Essays: Fragments, Versions and Parallels
1. Writing the Essays
2. Counsels for the Prince
3. The Wisdom of the Ancients
4. Idols of the Mind
5. A Poetical Essay
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