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CHAPTER XVI.
BACON, AND THE RISE OF THE NEW PHILOSOPHY.
Birth and Early Life. Treatment of Essex. His Appointments. His Fall.
Writes Philosophy. Magna Instauratio. His Defects. His Fame. His
Essays.
BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE OF BACON.
Contemporary with Shakspeare, and almost equal to him in English fame at
least, is Francis Bacon, the founder of the system of experimental
philosophy in the Elizabethan age. The investigations of the one in the
philosophy of human life, were emulated by those of the other in the realm
of general nature, in order to find laws to govern further progress, and
to evolve order and harmony out of chaos.
Bacon was born in London, on the 22d of January, 1560-61, to an enviable
social lot. His father, Sir Nicholas Bacon, was for twenty years lord
keeper of the great seal, and was eulogized by George Buchanan as "Diu
Britannici regni secundum columen." His mother was Anne Cook, a person of
remarkable acquirements in language and theology. Francis Bacon was a
delicate, attractive, and precocious child, noticed by the great, and
kindly called by the queen "her little lord keeper.
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