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Prose

Notes brother Anthony Bacon 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.
His studies brought him to the belief that the methods and results of science as then practised
were erroneous. His reverence for Aristotle conflicted with his loathing of Aristotelian philosophy,
which seemed to him barren, disputatious, and wrong in its objectives.
On 27 June 1576, he and Anthony entered de societate magistrorum at Gray’s Inn. A few months
later, Francis went abroad with Sir Amias Paulet, the English ambassador at Paris, while Anthony
continued his studies at home. The state of government and society in France under Henry III
afforded him valuable political instruction. For the next three years he visited Blois, Poitiers,
Tours, Italy, and Spain. During his travels, Bacon studied language, statecraft, and civil law while
performing routine diplomatic tasks. On at least one occasion he delivered diplomatic letters to
England for Walsingham, Burghley, and Leicester, as well as for the queen.
The sudden death of his father in February 1579 prompted Bacon to return to England. Sir Nicholas
had laid up a considerable sum of money to purchase an estate for his youngest son, but he died
before doing so, and Francis was left with only a fifth of that money. Having borrowed money,
Bacon got into debt. To support himself, he took up his residence in law at Gray’s Inn in 1579.

It was at Cambridge that he first met Queen Elizabeth, who was impressed by his
precocious intellect, and was accustomed to calling him “the young Lord Keeper”.

Parliamentarian
Bacon had three goals: to uncover truth, to serve his country, and to serve his church. He sought to
further these ends by seeking a prestigious post. In 1580, through his uncle, Lord Burghley, he
applied for a post at court which might enable him to pursue a life of learning. His application failed.
For two years he worked quietly at Gray’s Inn, until he was admitted as an outer barrister in 1582.
His parliamentary career began when he was elected MP for Bossiney, Devon in a 1581 by-
election. 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
on the topic of philosophical reform in the lost tract, Temporis Partus Maximus. Yet he failed to gain
a position he thought would lead him to success. He showed signs of sympathy to Puritanism,
attending the sermons of the Puritan chaplain of Gray’s Inn and accompanying his mother to the
Temple Church to hear Walter Travers. This led to the publication of his earliest surviving tract,
which criticised the English church’s suppression of the Puritan clergy. In the Parliament of 1586,
he openly urged execution for Mary, Queen of Scots.
About this time, he again approached his powerful uncle for help; this move was followed by his
rapid progress at the bar. He became Bencher in 1586, and he was elected a reader in 1587,
delivering his first set of lectures in Lent the following year. In 1589, he received the valuable
appointment of reversion to the Clerkship of the Star Chamber, although he did not formally take
office until 1608 – a post which was worth £16,000 a year.
In 1588 he became MP for Liverpool and then for Middlesex in 1593. He later sat three times for
Ipswich (1597, 1601, 1604) and once for Cambridge University (1614).
He became known as a liberal-minded reformer, eager to amend and simplify the law. He opposed
feudal privileges and dictatorial powers, though a friend of the crown. He was against religious
persecution. He struck at the House of Lords in their usurpation of the Money Bills. He advocated

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