Introduction to Bacon Essays

About Bacon and his Essays

1. Bacon (afterwards Viscount St. Albans), the son of Nicholas Bacon was born in
1561 and died in 1626.
2. The first edition of the Essays (ten included); the second edition (forty included)
appeared in 1625. Tennyson said, There is more wisdom compressed into
small volume than into any other book of the same size that I know Many of
the essays are made up of extracts, complied from commonplace books and his
other published works, and woven together into a new whole.

3. There are three divisions of Bacons works: Philosophical as

The Advancement of Learning,
Literary as The Essays and
Professionals as Maxims of Law.
4. Bacon made no scientific discovery as Newton and Harvey made, but he laid
the solid foundation of Science because he was the first man to point out the
importance of experiment in the study of knowledge.
5.

The great influence on Bacon is Bacon himself, his own keen observation of life
and manners. He set forth to propound a doctrine of human conduct - a
theoretical scheme in which the man of active virtue should not be baffled by the
vices of others, but use their vices for his own advantage and the advantage of the
state. In opposition of Aristotle who proffered the life of contemplation, Bacon
cries up the life of action. Dr. Johnson defined an Essay as a loose sally of the
mind, an irregular undigested piece, not a regular and orderly composition. The
essay as a distinct literary form was born in 16th century with the publication of
Frenchman, Montaignes Essays. Bacon borrowed the form from him, but suited it
to his own purpose.

A brief introduction to Bacons Essays

1. Of Great Place:
--- The rising onto place is laborious and by pains men come to greater pains;
and it is sometimes base and by indignities men come to dignities.
--- Death falls heavy upon him who dies too well known to others, but unknown
to himself.
--- It is a strange desire to seek power and lose liberty; or to seek power over
others and to lose power over a mans self.
--- Men in great place are thrive servants: servants of the sovereign or state;
servants of fame and servants of business.

Summary: Men are servants of the state, their desires for fame and time
restriction. Man should follow the good examples set in the past. There are faults
of men in great place such as delays, corruption etc. We should refuse bribes. One
may while rising to a position use crooked methods and join sides but after
reaching a position, one should become neutral.
2.

Of Friendship:
--- Whoever is delighted in solitude is either a wild beast or a god.
--- For a crowd is not company; and faces are but a gallery of pictures.
--- A great city is a great solitude.
Summary: Aristotles remarks that who so likes solitude is either is a best or an
angle is according to Bacon half true. Friendship helps disburden heart. If
frustration is kept in heart, it causes depression and tension for man. Friendship
brings better understanding. A man with a friend has two lives. He can do many
things for him and when he dies, he can fulfill his desires etc. A friend can advise
and even praise and flatter us. Friendship increases joys and lessens the intensity
of grief. Man may feel lonely in a crowd in the absence of love.

3.

Of Studies:
--- Studies serve delight, for ornament and for ability.
--- To spend too much time in studies is sloth, to use it too much for ornament is
affectation.
--- Crafty men contemn studies, simple men admire them and wise men use
them.
--- Read not to contradict and confute, nor to --- believe and take for granted,
nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be
tasted, others to be
swallowed
and some few to be chewed and
digested.
--- Reading makes a full man, conference a ready man and writing an exact
man.
--- Distilled books are like common distilled water flashy things.
Summary: Studies are a source of delight in ones leisure and solitude. Studies help
people develop abilities. It is a sign of laziness to spend too much time on studies.
We should study important books and find mere summary of unimportant ones.
Books are good companions. Deferent genres and subjects enlighten our mind
differently.

4.

Of Parents and Children:

--- The joys of parents are secret; and so are their griefs and fears.
--- Children increase the cares of life; but they mitigate the remembrance of
death.
--- Children sweeten labor, but they make misfortune more bitter.
Summary: Children get benefit because of their parents. Parents usually have
unequal favoritism towards their children. They should give enough pocket money.
They should choose a suitable profession for their child.

5.

Of Ambition:
--- Ambition is like Choler which is a humor that makes men active and earnest.
Summary: Ambition makes man active but if it is checked it can also be dangerous.
Ambitious people are highly required fro the war. If ambition is allowed without
control, it can be harmful for the king and the government. Ambitious people can
also be used by the king as instruments.

6.

Of Truth:
--- What is Truth? said jesting Pilate and would not stay for an answer.
--- But I cannot tell: this same truth is a naked and open day-light, that doth not
shew the masks and mummeries and triumphs of the world, half so stately and
daintily as candle- lights.
--- A mixture of a lie doth ever add pleasure.
--- It is a pleasure to stand upon the shore and to see ships tost upon the sea, a
pleasure to
stand in the window of a castle and to see a battle and the
adventures thereof below. But no pleasure is comparable to the standing upon
the vantage ground of the Truth.
--- A lie faces God; but shrinks from man.
--- But it is not the lie that passes through the mind, but the lie that sinketh in
and settleth in it that doth the hurt.

Summary: Pilate the

Roman emperor was very casual about the truth at

Christs trial and did not bother to find it out. Certain people have great delight in
changing their opinions. Human mind is basically attracted to lies, so it dislikes
truth. The value of truth is realized only by those who have experienced and
understood it. Truth is important in not only in philosophical and theological fields,
but also in day to day life. Montaign has rightly said that a man who tells lies is
afraid of his fellow men but is unafraid of defying God who is all perceiving.
7.

Of Revenge:
--- Revenge is a kind of wild justice.
--- It is the glory of man to pass by an offense. That which is past is gone and
irrevocable: wise men have enough to do with things present and to come:
therefore they do but trifle with themselves, that labor in past matters.
--- A man that studies revenge keeps his own wounds green, which otherwise
would heal.

Summary: Revenge is uncivilized and can only be found among the brutes.
Forgiving an enemy is supreme moral superiority. Man should be forwarding
looking and forget the past to brood over the present and the future. Man does
wrong to others out of his selfish love for himself. In taking revenge, it is generous
to reveal his identity to the victim, because the pleasure of revenge lies not so
much in causing pain than in making the enemy realize and repent of his mistake.

8.

Of Simulation and Dissimulation:

--- Tell a lie and find a troth.
Summary: The practice of dissimulation is followed by the weak man, for the
strong minds and hearts have the power to tell the truth. The man of secret nature
never gives a hint of what is in his heart. The advantage of simulation and
dissimulation is that they keep the opposition guessing and unprepared and so to
be easily surprised at the proper moment. They also help us discover the
intentions of the other. The disadvantage is that they indicate a weakness of the
disposition and one who uses these methods is considered unreliable.

9.

Of Death:
--- Revenge triumphs over death.
--- It is as natural to die as to be born; and to a little infant perhaps, the one is
as painful as the other. He that dies in an earnest pursuit is like one that is
wounded in hot blood.
Summary: Death is a natural phenomenon. Violent passions enable a man to
overcome death. Revenge, love, honor, grief and fear make him bold enough to
meet death. A noble cause makes a man insensible to pain and torture.

10.

Of Adversity:
--- It is true greatness to have in one the frailty of man and the security of a
God.
Summary: One may wish prosperity and all the good things it brings with it; but
one should admire adversity and all the good things that belong to it. It is true
greatness to be weak and yet to be careless and indifferent like a God. The
pleasure of the heart is better than the pleasure of the eye. Prosperity can
discover vice; adversity discovers virtue.

11.

Of Nobility:
--- Nobility attempts sovereignty.
Summary: In a democracy, there is no need of nobility and people are commonly
quieter and do not like rebellion, when there is no nobility. Numerous nobility
causes poverty and inconvenience in a state.

12. Of Superstition:
--- It were better to have no opinion of God at all than such an opinion as is
unworthy of him.
--- The master of superstition is the people and in all superstition wise men
follow the fools.
Summary: Superstition or a false notion of God is highly insulting and irreligious.
Atheism is better than superstition because an atheist uses his sense and reason,
has respect for natural piety and laws and cares for reputation. Atheism doesnt
cause disturbances in the states, but superstition disregards our moral values and
desires men to follow its dictates blindly. The causes of superstition are certain
festivals and rituals which appear charming and to the senses.
Examples from Other Essays:
a.

Money is like muck, not good if not spread (of Seditions and troubles)

b.

The ways to enrich are many, and most of them foul (of Riches)

c.

Wives are young mens mistresses, companions for middle-age and old
mens nurses. (Of marriage and single life)

d.

He that hath wife and children, hath given hostages to fortune (Of
Marriage and Single Life)

e.

Travel in the younger sort, is a part of education; in the elder, a part of

experience. (Of Travel)

f. Nuptial love maketh mankind; friendly love perfecteth it; but wanton love
corrupteth and embaseth it.
g.

Unmarried men are the best friends, best masters, best servants, but not
always the best subjects. (advantages and disadvantages of unmarried men)

h.

Secrecy in suits is a great mean of obtaining. (Of Suitors)