FRANCIS BACON, 1560 TO 1572.
In the registry of St. Martin's will be found this entry: Mr. Franciscus
Bacon 1560 Jan 25 (_filius D'm Nicho Bacon Magni Angliae sigilli
custodis_)." Rawley in his "Life of the Honourable Author" says:
"Francis Bacon, the glory of his age and nation, was born in York House
or York Place, in the Strand, on the two and twentieth day of January in
the year of our Lord 1560." He relates that "His first and childish
years were not without some mark of eminency; at which time he was
endued with that pregnancy and towardness of wit, as they were pressages
of that deep and universal apprehension which was manifest in him
afterward." "The Queen then delighted much to confer with him, and to
prove him with questions unto whom he delivered himself with that
gravity and maturity above his years that Her Majesty would often term
him '_Her young Lord Keeper_.' Being asked by the Queen how old he was
he answered with much discretion, being then but a boy[5] that he was
two years younger than Her Majesty's happy reign, with which answer the
queen was much taken." In the "Lives of the Statesmen and Favourites of
Queen Elizabeth" there is reference to the early development of his
mental and intellectual faculties. The author writes:--"He had a large
mind from his Father and great abilities from his Mother; His parts
improved more than his years, his great fixed and methodical memory, his
solide judgement, his quick fancy, his ready expression, gave assurance
of that profound and universal comprehension of things which then
rendered him the observation of great and wise men; and afterwards the
wonder of all." The historian continues:--"He never saw anything that
was not noble and becoming," "at twelve his industry was above the
capacity and his minde beyond the reache of his contemporaries."
This boy so marvellously endowed was brought up in surroundings which
were ideal for his development. His father, a man of erudition, a wit
and orator, occupying one of the highest positions in the country, his
mother a lady of great classical accomplishments, who had enjoyed the
benefits of an education and training by her father, that eminent
scholar, Sir Anthony Cooke, and, lastly, there was this man--his
grandfather--living within riding distance from his home. It seems
inevitable that the natural powers of young Francis must have excited a
keen interest in the old tutor of Edward VI., who had devoted his
evenings to imparting to his daughters what he had taught the Prince
during the day, so that if he left behind him no heirs of his body, he
might leave heirs of his mind. The boy Francis was, indeed, a worthy
heir of his mind, and it is impossible to believe otherwise than that
Sir Anthony Cooke would throw himself heart and soul into the education
of his grandchild, but no statement or tradition has come down to this
effect. It may be, however, that a sentence which has already been
quoted from "The Lives of Statesmen and Favourites" is intended to imply
that Francis was the pupil of Sir Anthony: "He said first and his
Grandchilde my Lord Bacon after him, That the Joys of Parents are
Secrets, and so their Griefs and Fears.... Very providently did he
secure his Eternity, by leaving the image of his nature in his Children
and of his mind in his Pupil." The pupil referred to was not Edward VI.,
for he died twenty-three years before Sir Anthony, and he could not,
therefore, have left the image of his mind in the young King. Following
directly after the sentence "He said first and his Grandchilde Lord
Bacon after him" it is possible that the reference may be to the boy
Francis. Certainly Sir Anthony "would secure his eternity" if he left
the image of his mind in his "Grandchilde." In any case the prodigious
natural powers of the boy were placed in an environment well suited for
their full development.
The historian says that "at twelve his industry was above the capacity
and his mind beyond the reache of his Contemporaries." Who were the
contemporaries alluded to? Those of his own age, or those who were
living at the time? A boy of twelve, he excelled others in his great
industry and the wide range of his mind. This industry appears to have
accompanied him through life, for Rawley states that "he would ever
interlace a moderate relaxation of his mind with his studies, as walking
or taking the air abroad in his coach or some other befitting
recreation; and yet he would lose no time, inasmuch as upon the first
and immediate return he would fall to reading again, and so suffer no
movement of time to slip from him without some present improvement." It
is a remarkable fact on which too much stress cannot be laid that in the
two Lives of Bacon, scanty as they are, by contemporary writers, his
exceptional industry is pointed out. There are certainly no visible
fruits of this industry.
Although there is no definite information as to what was the state of
Francis Bacon's education at twelve, there is testimony as to that of
some of his contemporaries. Three instances will suffice.
Philip Melancthon (whose family name was Schwartzerd) was born in 1497.
His education was at an early age directed by his maternal grandfather,
John Reuter. After a short stay at a public school at Bretten he was
removed to the academy at Pforzheim. Here, under the tutorship of John
Reuchlin, an elegant scholar and teacher of languages, he acquired the
taste for Greek literature in which he subsequently became so
distinguished. Here his genius for composition asserted itself. Amongst
other poetical essays in which he indulged when eleven years of age, he
wrote a humorous piece in the form of a comedy, which he dedicated to
his kind friend and instructor, Reuchlin, in whose presence it was
performed by the schoolfellows of the youthful author. After a residence
of two years at Pforzheim, Philip matriculated at the University of
Heidelberg on the 13th October, 1509, being eleven years and nine months
old. Young as he was, he appears to have been employed to compose most
of the harangues that were delivered in the University, besides writing
some pieces for the professors themselves. Here, at this early age, he
composed his "Rudiments of the Greek Language," which were afterwards
published.
Agrippa d'Aubigne was born in 1550 and died in 1630. At six years of age
he read Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. When ten years he translated the
Crito. Italian and Spanish were at his command.
Thomas Bodley was born in 1544 and died in 1612. In the short
autobiography which he left he makes the following statement as to how
far his education had advanced when his father decided to fix his abode
in the city of Geneva in 1556:--
"I was at that time of twelve yeares age but through my fathers
cost and care sufficiently instructed to become an auditour of
_Chevalerius_ in Hebrew, of _Berealdus_ in Greeke, of _Calvin_ and
_Beza_ in Divinity and of some other Professours in that
University, (which was newly there erected) besides my domesticall
teachers, in the house of Philibertus Saracenus, a famous Physitian
in that City with whom I was boarded; when Robertus Constantinus
that made the Greek Lexicon read Homer with me."
Bodley was undoubtedly proficient in French, for Calvin and Beza
lectured in French. The "Institution of the Christian Religion,"
Calvin's greatest work, although published in Latin in 1536, was
translated by him into French, and issued in 1540 or 1541. This
translation is one of the finest examples of French prose. Bodley's
English was probably very poor, and for a very good reason--there was no
English language worthy of comparison with the languages of France,
Italy, or Spain. It had yet to be created.
It is fair to assume that at twelve years of age Francis Bacon was as
proficient in languages as were Philip Melancthon, Agrippa d'Aubigne, or
Thomas Bodley at that age. He, therefore, had at least a good knowledge
of Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, and such English as there was.
Another class of evidence is now available. It has already been stated
that a large number of Bacon's books have been recovered, copiously
annotated by him. Some of these books bear the date when the annotations
were made. For the most part the marginal notes appear to be aids to
memory, but in many cases they are critical observations of the text.
These are, however, dealt with in a subsequent chapter.
Gilbert Wats, in dedicating to Charles I. his interpretation of "The
Advancement of Proficiency of Learning" (1640), makes a statement which
throws light on the course of Bacon's studies, and this strongly
supports the present contention. He says:--
"He (Bacon) after he had survaied all the Records of Antiquity,
after the volume of men, betook himselfe to the study of the volume
of the world; and having conquerd whatever books possest, set upon
the Kingdome of Nature and carried that victory very farre."
Speaking of him as a boy his biographer[6] describes his memory as
"fixed and methodical," and in another place he says "His judgment was
solid yet his memory was a wonder."
The extent of his reading at this time had been very wide. He had
already taken all knowledge to be his province, and was with that
industry which was beyond the capacity of his contemporaries rapidly
laying the foundations which subsequently justified this claim.
FOOTNOTES:
[5] Lloyd states that this occurred when he was seven years of age.
[6] "The Lives of Statesmen and Favourites of Elizabeth."