Francis+Bacon

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Francis Bacon, on the topic of literature: "Some books are to be tasted; others swallowed; and some few to be chewed and digested."

on the topic of death: "It is as natural to man to die, as to be born; and to a little infant, perhaps the one is as painful as the other."

on the topic of economy: "A man's ordinary expenses ought to be but to the half of his receipts, and if he think to wax rich, but to the third part."

on the topic of history: "Out of monuments, names, words, proverbs, traditions, private records and evidences, fragments of stories, passages of books, and the like, we do save and recover somewhat from the deluge of time."

(2008). Francis Bacon Quotes. Retrieved September 30, 2008, from Quotation Park Web site: http://www.quotationpark.com/authors/BACON,%20Francis.htm

Francis Bacon was born in London on Jan. 22, 1561, the younger son of Sir Nicholas Bacon and his second wife, Lady Anne Bacon. Through the families of both parents he had important connections with the political and cultural life of Tudor England. His father was lord keeper of the great seal under Elizabeth I, and his maternal grandfather had been tutor to Edward VI. Terrell, B. (Ed.). (1973). Sir Francis Bacon. In //The McGraw-Hill Encylopedia of World Biography// New York: Vol. 1). McGraw-Hill.

Biographers believe that Bacon was educated at home in his early years owing to poor health (which plagued him throughout his life), receiving tuition from John Walsall, a graduate of Oxford with a strong leaning towards Puritanism. He entered Trinity College, Cambridge, on 5 April 1573 at the age of twelve, living for three years there together with his older brother Anthony under the personal tutelage of Dr John Whitgift, future Archbishop of Canterbury. Bacon's education was conducted largely in Latin and followed the medieval curriculum. He was also educated at the University of Poitiers. It was at Cambridge that he first met the Queen, who was impressed by his precocious intellect, and was accustomed to calling him "the young Lord Keeper"

In 1584, he took his seat in parliament for Melcombe in Dorset, and subsequently for Taunton (1586). At this time, he began to write on the condition of parties in the church, as well as philosophical reform in the lost tract, Temporis Partus Maximus.

Bacon's public career ended in disgrace in 1621. After having fallen into debt, a Parliamentary Committee on the administration of the law charged him with twenty-three separate counts of corruption. To the lords, who sent a committee to inquire whether a confession was really his, he replied, "My lords, it is my act, my hand, and my heart; I beseech your lordships to be merciful to a broken reed." He was sentenced to a fine of £40,000, remitted by King James, to be committed to the Tower of London during the king's pleasure (his imprisonment lasted only a few days). More seriously, parliament declared Bacon incapable of holding future office or sitting in parliament. Narrowly, he escaped being deprived of his titles. Thenceforth the disgraced viscount devoted himself to study and writing.

The Baconian theory of Shakespearean authorship holds that Sir Francis Bacon wrote the plays conventionally attributed to William Shakespeare. The mainstream view is that William Shakespeare of Stratford, an actor in the Lord Chamberlain's Men (later the King's Men), wrote the poems and plays that bear his name. The Baconians, however, hold that scholars are so focused on the details of Shakespeare's life that they neglect to investigate the many facts that they see as connecting Bacon to the Shakespearean work.

He wrote that, although philosophy at the time used the deductive syllogism to interpret nature, the philosopher should instead proceed through inductive reasoning from fact to axiom to law.

"He died on the ninth day of April in the year 1626, in the early morning of the day then celebrated for our Saviour's resurrection, in the sixty-sixth year of his age, at the Earl of Arundel's house in Highgate, near London, to which place he casually repaired about a week before; God so ordaining that he should die there of a gentle fever, accidentally accompanied with a great cold, whereby the defluxion of rheum fell so plentifully upon his breast, that he died by suffocation."

Francis Bacon. (2008). In //Wikipedia// [Web]. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Retrieved September 28. 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Bacon#Bacon.27s_Utopia

In 1623 Sir Francis Bacon expressed his aspirations and ideals in //**The New Atlantis**//. Released in 1627, this utopian novel was his creation of an ideal land where "generosity and enlightenment, dignity and splendor, piety and public spirit" were the commonly held qualities of the inhabitants of Bensalem. In this work, he portrayed a vision of the future of human discovery and knowledge. The plan and organization of his ideal college, "Solomon's House", envisioned the modern research university in both applied and pure science.

The New Atlantis. (2008). In //Wikipedia// [Web]. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.. Retrieved September 30, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Atlantis

SCRIPT

I'm here interviewing Sir Francis Bacon, a British Philosopher in the late 16th and early 17th Centuries. Hello Sir Bacon, how are you? SFB: I'm good. Dead, but, you know, good nonetheless. Me: Why don't you have an accent? SFB: Oh that, I decided to drop it, once I was dead. Those accents sound awfully stupid. Me: Wow. Okay, onto my first question.

Me: So, tell me a little bit about your early life. SFB: Well, I was born in London on Jan. 22, 1561, the younger of the sons of Sir Nicholas Bacon and Lady Anne Bacon. Both of my parents had connections to "higher-ups", so I got an excellent education for my whole life.

Me: Fascinating. Where exactly was it that you learned? SFB: When I was a child, my parents had a man named John Walsall teach me, and he embedded in me a strong Puritan sense of being, but later, I went to Trinity College in Cambridge, where I met the queen and was educated in a medieval curriculum. Also, I attended the University of Poitiers, where I gained an interest in politics.

Me: What did you do after you were done your schooling? SFB: After I was done with my education, I decided to take seat in the Melcombe parliament. This was about the time that I started writing about the condition of church parties, and the philosophical reforms that were needed.

Me: How did your political carreer end up going for you? SFB: It actually ended in flames, with my reputation tarnished, and all of my money gone. You see, in 1621, I had fallen into much debt, and the Parliamentary Committee charged me with 23 separate accounts of corruption. Even though I only ended up having to pay £40 000, I was no longer allowed to hold parliamentary office. As a result of this, I devoted myself to study and writing.

Me: What are some of your accomplishments as a writer? SFB: I wrote many plays and sonnets, which are now popularly attributed to Sir William Shakespeare, who was in fact, a dunce. Also, I wrote many books on the topic of Philosophy, including //The New Atlantis//, which is a utopian novel about an ideal land where generosity and enlightenment, dignity and splendor, and piety and public spirit flourished. It was also a portrayal of human discovery and knowlege. You really should read it, it's a great book.

Me: I'll be sure and do that. What about your death? There's got to be some kind of story behind that. SFB: Not really. I just died in the Earl of Arundel's house, in Highgate, when I was 66 of a fever combined with a cold. I suffocated from rheum that was in my lungs, for it suppressed them so much that I couldn't breathe. And that's it. No beheadings or guillitines or swords or fighting. Just a little old fever and a cold. Nothing special. But, It is as natural to man to die, as to be born; and to a little infant, perhaps the one is as painful as the other. Think about that one for a bit. But yeah, boring death, pretty boring life, that's the way the cookie crumbles, I guess.

Me: Well that bites it. I hope I have an interesting death. SFB: I hope you do too, it's horrendous how much they make fun of you up in heaven. Me: Are there any specific ideals or quotes that you'd like to impart with the listeners before we sign off? SFB: Actually there are. A belief that I hold strong to this day is that a philosopher should follow inductive reasoning from fact to axiom to law. Also, there are a few quotes of mine, that I particularly like, and I'd like to share with you. First, on the topic of literature: "Some books are to be tasted; others swallowed; and some few to be chewed and digested." I just think that that is something that kids these days don't think about. If they do read, they just engulf a book, not letting it all sink in. Then again, modern literature is very superficial, so I can't really blame them. And, on a final note, concerning history: "Out of monuments, names, words, proverbs, traditions, private records and evidences, fragments of stories, passages of books, and the like, we do save and recover somewhat from the deluge of time."

Me: Well, that's all the time we have for today, folks. Hope you enjoyed my History Podcast. Thanks for listening!