INTRODUCTION THE LIFE OF BACON "IT cannot be denied," wrote Bacon in 1612, "but outward accidents conduce much to fortune; favour, opportunity, death of others, occasion fitting virtue. But chiefly, the mould of a man's fortune is in his own hands." These are wise words, and lead us, before tracing the movement of "his own hands," to consider for a moment the age, the parentage, and the kinships of the future Lord Chancellor of England as affecting his "favour" and his "opportunity." The gentle, dreamy Spenser sings in his epic of faery: "After long stormes and tempests overblowne So came the days of Queen Elizabeth, with their astonishing progress in the intellectual, artistic, and economic life; their strong quickening of the seeds of freedom; their constant stimulus to the alert and ambitious; their beckon to higher thought and action; days, at their best, of childlike curiosity and ripe earnestness; of theory and affairs balancing each other; of quick, frank plays upon the stage of life. Those were sunlit days, before the student had become a jaded bookman, the Puritan a reforming oppressor, the romanticist a too loyal suitor of melancholy. And positive Elizabeth, at her best, was their symbol and exemplar, the idol and concern of every English man. Her first Lord Keeper of the Seals, Sir Nicholas Bacon, was a man of legal learning, fine personal character, and corresponding reputation, and was looked upon by his royal mistress with respect and regard. His second wife, Anne, was a daughter of Sir Anthony Cooke, tutor to King Edward VI., and was possessed of unusual culture, being carefully trained each night by her father until she had acquired a sound scholarship in theology, literature, and the languages. This strict programme, however, had detracted little from her personal or social charms. She became, though increasingly masterful, a faithful wife and devoted mother. There were born to her two sons, Anthony and Francis, the latter January 22, 1560 (our 1561), at York House, London. Both were capable boys, but the younger, despite his always delicate health, soon proved himself peculiarly gifted. The philosopher in little broke his drums "to look for the sound," and eagerly explored a brick conduit during playtime that he might discover the cause of a remarkably full echo; and the embryo courtier pleased Elizabeth with happy turns of phrase and graceful flattery. It is important to recognize that in both these respects Bacon was of his time as of his family. Of that family his mother's sister had married William Cecil, afterward Lord Burleigh (or Burghley), the powerful Lord Treasurer of England. His son, Sir Robert Cecil, First Secretary of State, was Bacon's first cousin. By virtue of his relationship to these high personages, and the connections and opportunities afforded by that relationship, it is reasonable to infer, in Montagu's striking phrase, that Bacon was "cradled in politics." At the age of thirteen Francis entered Trinity College, Cambridge, with his brother Anthony. He had gone up thither with confident aspirations and yet comes to confess somewhat protestingly — and, perhaps, with a certain juvenility that after the novelty wore away he had more real occasion for disliking the atmosphere and methods of the university than he had supposed possible. Even at this early age he found himself quickly able to distinguish between the nobility of learning and its captiousness. He met in Cambridge, he tells us, with much wit, but little power. "In the universities, all things are found opposite to the advancement of the sciences; for the readings and exercises are here so managed that it cannot easily come into any one's mind to think of things out of the common road. For the studies of men in such places are confined, and pinned down to the writings of certain authors; from which, if any man happens to differ, he is presently represented as a disturber and innovator." Three years of residence were all, apparently, that he could endure. In any case, he withdrew without seeking a degree, and was attached by his father to the service of Sir Amyas Paulett, the English ambassador to France. So well did he conduct himself while in Paris that Sir Amyas entrusted him with a private mission to Elizabeth, which he executed with wisdom and fidelity. Upon the appointment of a new minister Bacon travelled in the French provinces, but was called home suddenly, in 1579, by the announcement of his father's death, February 20. Bacon was now face to face with the problem of his personal support and the welfare of his father's survivors. Sir Nicholas had not been rich, and his son felt himself unwillingly constrained to enter the profession of law. Unwillingly, for Bacon had been hoping that the mighty Cecils would further his fortunes and induce the Queen to bestow upon him a political post with a competence. The Cecils, wisely enough from their point of view, declined to make life so easy for him, and he reluctantly forewent his cherished idea of contemplative leisure and devoted himself to the law. In 1580 he became a student of Gray's Inn, of the "Ancients "of which he was already a member; a few years later he was called to the bench; in 1586 he became an inner barrister; and at thirty was made Elizabeth's Queen's Counsel Learned Extraordinary, without salary. During |