C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
Francis Bacon (1561–1626)
Bacon, Francis. The English philosopher; born in London, Jan. 22, 1561; died on April 9, 1626. His immortal ‘Essays’ were published in 1597, considerably expanded in later editions. In the same year appeared ‘On the Colors of Good and Evil.’ The two books of ‘The Advancement of Learning’ appeared in 1605; and in 1620 the ‘Novum Organum,’ written, like very many of Bacon’s works, in Latin. The ‘Novum Organum’ is “an essay toward the science of a better use of reason in the investigation of things.” His histories of ‘Henry VII.,’ of ‘Henry VIII.,’ and of ‘Elizabeth,’ are of unequal value and authority; the first is eminently faithful and trustworthy; the other two are probably biased by the author’s desire to stand well at court. His ‘New Atlantis’ is one of the world’s great Utopian speculations. (See Critical and Biographical Introduction).