Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 1 Part 38 (1/2)
There is a biography by her nephew, Theodore Bacon, _Delia Bacon: A Sketch_ (Boston, 1888), and an appreciative chapter, ”Recollections of a Gifted Woman,” in Nathaniel Hawthorne's _Our Old Home_ (Boston, 1863).
Leonard Bacon's son LEONARD WOOLSEY BACON (1830-1907), graduated at Yale in 1850, was pastor of various Congregational and Presbyterian churches, and published _Church Papers_ (1876); _A Life Worth Living: Life of Emily Bliss Gould_ (1878); _Irenics and Polemics and Sundry Essays in Church History_ (1895); _History of American Christianity_ (1898); and _The Congregationalists_ (1904).
(W. WR.)
BACON, SIR NICHOLAS (1509-1579), lord keeper of the great seal of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, was the second son of Robert Bacon of Drinkstone, Suffolk, and was born at Chislehurst. He was educated at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, graduating B.A. in 1527, and afterwards spent some time in Paris. Having returned to England and entered Gray's Inn, he was called to the bar in 1533, and four years later began his public life as solicitor of the court of augmentations. Quickly becoming a person of importance he obtained a number of estates, princ.i.p.ally in the eastern counties, after the dissolution of the monasteries, and in 1545 became member of parliament for Dartmouth. In 1546 he was made attorney of the court of wards and liveries, an office of both honour and profit; in 1550 became a bencher and in 1552 treasurer of Gray's Inn. Although his sympathies were with the Protestants, he retained his office in the court of wards during Mary's reign, but an order was issued to prevent him from leaving England. The important period in Bacon's life began with the accession of Elizabeth in 1558. Owing largely to his long and close friends.h.i.+p with Sir William Cecil, afterwards Lord Burghley, his brother-in-law, he was appointed lord keeper of the great seal in December of this year, and was soon afterwards made a privy councillor and a knight.
He was instrumental in securing the archbishopric of Canterbury for his friend Matthew Parker, and in his official capacity presided over the House of Lords when Elizabeth opened her first parliament. In opposition to Cecil, he objected to the policy of making war on France in the interests of the enemies of Mary queen of Scots, on the ground of the poverty of England; but afterwards favoured a closer union with foreign Protestants, and seemed quite alive to the danger to his country from the allied and aggressive religious policy of France and Scotland. In 1559 he was authorized to exercise the full jurisdiction of lord chancellor. In 1564 he fell temporarily into the royal disfavour and was dismissed from court, because Elizabeth suspected he was concerned in the publication of a pamphlet, ”A Declaration of the Succession of the Crowne Imperiall of Ingland,” written by John Hales (_q.v._), and favouring the claim of Lady Catherine Grey to the English throne. Bacon's innocence having been admitted he was restored to favour, and replied to a writing by Sir Anthony Browne, who had again a.s.serted the rights of the house of Suffolk to which Lady Catherine belonged. He thoroughly distrusted Mary queen of Scots; objected to the proposal to marry her to the duke of Norfolk; and warned Elizabeth that serious consequences for England would follow her restoration. He seems to have disliked the proposed marriage between the English queen and Francis, duke of Anjou, and his distrust of the Roman Catholics and the French was increased by the ma.s.sacre of St Bartholomew.
As a loyal English churchman he was ceaselessly interested in ecclesiastical matters, and made suggestions for the better observation of doctrine and discipline in the church. He died in London on the 20th of February 1579 and was buried in St Paul's cathedral, his death calling forth many tributes to his memory. He was an eloquent speaker, a learned lawyer, a generous friend; and his interest in education led him to make several gifts and bequests for educational purposes, including the foundation of a free grammar school at Redgrave. His figure was very corpulent and ungainly. Elizabeth visited him several times at Gorhambury, and had previously visited him at Redgrave. He was twice married and by his first wife, Jane, had three sons and three daughters. His second wife was Anne (d. 1610), daughter of Sir Anthony Cooke, by whom he had two sons.
Bacon's eldest son, Nicholas (_c._ 1540-1624), was member of parliament for the county of Suffolk and in 1611 was created premier baronet of England.
This baronetcy is still held by his descendants. His second and third sons, Nathaniel (_c._ 1550-1622) and Edward (_c._ 1550-1618), also took some part in public life, and through his daughter, Anne, Nathaniel was an ancestor of the marquesses Townshend. His sons by his second wife were Anthony (1558-1601), a diplomatist of some repute, and the ill.u.s.trious Francis Bacon (_q.v._).
See G. Whetstone, ”Remembraunce of the life of Sir N. Bacon,” in the _Frondes Caducae_ (London, 1816); J. A. Froude, _History of England_, pa.s.sim (London, 1881 f.).
BACON, ROGER (_c._ 1214-_c._ 1294), English philosopher and man of science, was born near Ilchester in Somerset. His family appears to have been in good circ.u.mstances, but in the stormy reign of Henry III. their property was despoiled and several members of the family were driven into exile.
Roger completed his studies at Oxford, though not, as current traditions a.s.sert, at Merton or at Brasenose, neither of which had then been founded.
His abilities were speedily recognized by his contemporaries, and he enjoyed the friends.h.i.+p of such eminent men as Adam de Marisco and Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln.
Very little is known of Bacon's life at Oxford; it is said he took orders in 1233, and this is not improbable. In the following year, or perhaps later, he crossed over to France and studied at the university of Paris, then the centre of intellectual life in Europe. The two great orders, Franciscans and Dominicans, were in the vigour of youth, and had already begun to take the lead in theological discussion. Alexander of Hales was the oracle of the Franciscans, while the rival order rejoiced in Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas.
The scientific training which Bacon had received, mainly from the study of the Arab writers, showed him the manifold defects in the systems reared by these doctors. Aristotle was known but in part, and that part was rendered well-nigh unintelligible through the vileness of the translations; yet not one of those professors would learn Greek. The Scriptures read, if at all, in the erroneous versions were being deserted for the _Sentences_ of Peter Lombard. Physical science, if there was anything deserving that name, was cultivated, not by experiment in the Aristotelian way, but by arguments deduced from premises resting on authority or custom. Everywhere there was a show of knowledge concealing fundamental ignorance. Bacon, accordingly, withdrew from the scholastic routine and devoted himself to languages and experimental research. The only teacher whom he respected was a certain Petrus de Maharncuria Picardus, or of Picardy, probably identical with a certain mathematician, Petrus Peregrinus of Picardy, who is perhaps the author of a MS. treatise, _De Magnete_, contained in the Bibliotheque Imperiale at Paris. The contrast between the obscurity of such a man and [v.03 p.0154] the fame enjoyed by the fluent young doctors roused Bacon's indignation. In the _Opus Minus_ and _Opus Tertium_ he pours forth a violent tirade against Alexander of Hales, and another professor, not mentioned by name, but spoken of as alive, and blamed even more severely than Alexander. This anonymous writer,[1] he says, acquired his learning by teaching others, and adopted a dogmatic tone, which has caused him to be received at Paris with applause as the equal of Aristotle, Avicenna, or Averroes.
Bacon, during his stay in Paris, acquired considerable renown. He took the degree of doctor of theology, and seems to have received the complimentary t.i.tle of _doctor mirabilis_. In 1250 he was again at Oxford, and probably about this time entered the Franciscan order. His fame spread at Oxford, though it was mingled with suspicions of his dealings in the black arts and with some doubts of his orthodoxy. About 1257, Bonaventura, general of the order, interdicted his lectures at Oxford, and commanded him to place himself under the superintendence of the body at Paris. Here for ten years he remained under supervision, suffering great privations and strictly prohibited from writing anything for publication. But his fame had reached the ears of the papal legate in England, Guy de Foulques, who in 1265 became pope as Clement IV. In the following year he wrote to Bacon, ordering him notwithstanding any injunctions from his superiors, to write out and send to him a treatise on the sciences which he had already asked of him when papal legate. Bacon, whose previous writings had been mostly scattered tracts, _capitula quaedam_, took fresh courage from this command of the pope. He set at naught the jealousy of his superiors and brother friars, and despite the want of funds, instruments, materials for copying and skilled copyists, completed in about eighteen months three large treatises, the _Opus Majus_, _Opus Minus_ and _Opus Tertium_, which, with some other tracts, were despatched to the pope. We do not know what opinion Clement formed of them, but before his death he seems to have bestirred himself on Bacon's behalf, for in 1268 the latter was permitted to return to Oxford. Here he continued his labours in experimental science and also in the composition of complete treatises. The works sent to Clement he regarded as preliminaries, laying down principles which were afterwards to be applied to the sciences. The first part of an encyclopaedic work probably remains to us in the _Compendium Studii Philosophiae_ (1271). In this work Bacon makes a vehement attack upon the ignorance and vices of the clergy and monks, and generally upon the insufficiency of the existing studies. In 1278 his books were condemned by Jerome de Ascoli, general of the Franciscans, afterwards Pope Nicholas IV., and he himself was thrown into prison for fourteen years. During this time, it is said, he wrote the small tract _De r.e.t.a.r.dandis Senectutis Accidentibus_, but this is merely a tradition. In 1292, as appears from what is probably his latest composition, the _Compendium Studii Theologiae_, he was again at liberty.
The exact time of his death cannot be determined; 1294 is probably as accurate a date as can be fixed upon.
_Works and Editions_.--Leland said that it is easier to collect the leaves of the Sibyl than the t.i.tles of the works written by Roger Bacon; and though the labour has been somewhat lightened by the publications of Brewer and Charles, referred to below, it is no easy matter even now to form an accurate idea of his actual productions. An enormous number of MSS. are known to exist in British and French libraries, and probably not all have yet been discovered. Many are transcripts of works or portions of works already published and, therefore, require no notice.[2]
The works. .h.i.therto printed (neglecting reprints) are the following:--(1) _Speculum Alchimiae_ (1541)--translated into English (1597); French, A Poisson (1890); (2) _De Mirabili Potestate Artis et Naturae_ (1542)--English translation (1659); (3) _Libellus de r.e.t.a.r.dandis Senectutis Accidentibus_ (1590)--translated as the ”Cure of Old Age,” by Richard Brown (London, 1683); (4) _Sanioris Medicinae Magistri D. Rogeri Baconis Anglici de Arte Chymiae Scripta_ (Frankfort, 1603)--a collection of small tracts containing _Excerpta de Libra Avicennae de Anima_, _Breve Breviarium_, _Verb.u.m Abbreviatum,_[3] _Secretum Secretorum_, _Tractatus Trium Verborum_, and _Speculum Secretorum_; (5) _Perspectiva_ (1614), which is the fifth part of the _Opus Majus_; (6) _Specula Mathematica_, which is the fourth part of the same; (7) _Opus Majus ad Clementem IV._, edited by S. Jebb (1733) and J. H. Bridges (London, 1897); (8) _Opera hactenus Inedita_, by J. S. Brewer (1859), containing the _Opus Tertium_, _Opus Minus_, _Compendium Studii Philosophiae_ and the _De Secretis Operibus Naturae_; (9) _De Morali Philosophia_ (Dublin, 1860, see below); (10) _The Greek Grammar of R. Bacon and a Fragment of his Hebrew Grammar_, edited with introduction and notes by E. S. Nolan and S. A. Hirsch (1902); (11) _Metaphysica Fratris Rogeri_, edited by R. Steele, with a preface (1905); (12) _Opera hactenus inedita_, by Robert Steele (1905).
How these works stand related to one another can only be determined by internal evidence. The smaller works, chiefly on alchemy, are unimportant, and the dates of their composition cannot be ascertained. It is known that before the _Opus Majus_ Bacon had already written some tracts, among which an unpublished work, _Computus Naturalium_, on chronology, belongs probably to the year 1263; while, if the dedication of the _De Secretis Operibus_ be authentic, that short treatise must have been composed before 1249.
It is, however, with the _Opus Majus_ that Bacon's real activity begins. It has been called by Whewell at once the Encyclopaedia and the Organum of the 13th century.
Part I. (pp. 1-22), which is sometimes designated _De Utililate Scientiarum_, treats of the four _offendicula_, or causes of error. These are, authority, custom, the opinion of the unskilled many, and the concealment of real ignorance with pretence of knowledge. The last error is the most dangerous, and is, in a sense, the cause of all the others. The _offendicula_ have sometimes been looked upon as an antic.i.p.ation of Francis Bacon's _Idola_, but the two cla.s.sifications have little in common. In the summary of this part, contained in the _Opus Tertium_, Bacon shows very clearly his perception of the unity of science and the necessity of encyclopaedic treatment.