BACON IN FRANCE, 1576-1579.
This brilliant young scholar landed with Sir Amias Paulet at Calais on
the 25th of September, 1576, and with him went straight to the Court of
Henry III. of France. It is remarkable that neither Montagu, Spedding,
Hepworth Dixon, nor any other biographer seems to have thought it worth
while to consider under what influences he was brought when he arrived
there at the most impressionable period of his life. Hepworth Dixon,
without stating his authority, says that he "quits the galleries of the
Louvre and St. Cloud with his morals pure," but nothing more. And yet
Francis Bacon arrived in France at the most momentous epoch in the
history of French literature. This boy, with his marvellous
intellect--the same intellect which nearly half a century later produced
the "Novum Organum"--with a memory saturated with the records of
antiquity and with the writings of the classical authors, with an
industry beyond the capacity and a mind beyond the reach of his
contemporaries, skilled in the teachings of the philosophers, with
independence of thought and a courage which enabled him to condemn the
methods of study followed at the University where he had spent three
years; this boy who had a "beam of knowledge derived from God" upon him,
who "had not his knowledge from books, but from some grounds and notions
from himself," and above and beyond all who was conscious of his powers
and had unbounded confidence in his capacity for using them; this boy
walked beside the English Ambassador elect into the highest circles of
French Society at the time when the most important factors of influence
were Ronsard and his confreres of the Pleiade. He had left behind him in
his native country a language crude and almost barbaric, incapable of
giving expression to the knowledge which he possessed and the thoughts
which resulted therefrom.
At this time there were few books written in the English tongue which
could make any pretence to be considered literature: Sir Thomas Eliot's
"The Governor," Robert Ascham's "The Schoolmaster," and Thomas Wright's
"Arts of Rhetoric," almost exhaust the list. Thynne's edition, 1532, and
Lidgate's edition, 1561, of Chaucer's works are not intelligible. Only
in the 1598 edition can the great poet be read with any understanding.
The work of re-casting the poems for this edition was Bacon's, and he is
the man referred to in the following lines, which are prefixed to it:--
_The Reader to Geffrey Chaucer._
_Rea._--Where hast thou dwelt, good Geffrey al this while,
Unknown to us save only by thy bookes?
_Chau._--In haulks, and hernes, God wot, and in exile,
Where none vouchsaft to yeeld me words or lookes:
Till one which saw me there, and knew my friends,
Did bring me forth: such grace sometimes God sends.
_Rea._--But who is he that hath thy books repar'd,
And added moe, whereby thou are more graced?
_Chau._--The selfe same man who hath no labor spar'd,
To helpe what time and writers had defaced:
And made old words, which were unknoun of many,
So plaine, that now they may be knoun of any.
_Rea._--Well fare his heart: I love him for thy sake,
Who for thy sake hath taken all this pains.
_Chau._--Would God I knew some means amends to make,
That for his toile he might receive some gains.
But wot ye what? I know his kindnesse such,
That for my good he thinks no pains too much:
And more than that; if he had knoune in time,
He would have left no fault in prose nor rime.
There is a catalogue of the library of Sir Thomas Smith[17] on August 1,
1566, in his gallery at Hillhall. It was said to contain nearly a
thousand books. Of these only five were written in the English language.
Under Theologici, K. Henry VIII. book; under Juris Civilis, Littleton's
Tenures, an old abridgement of Statutes; under Historiographi, Hall's
Chronicles, and Fabian's Chronicles and The Decades of P. Martyr; under
Mathematica, The Art of Navigation. The remainder are in Greek, Latin,
French, and Italian. Burghley's biographer states that Burghley "never
read any books or praiers but in Latin, French, or Italian, very seldom
in Englishe."
At this time Francis Bacon thought in Latin, for his mother tongue was
wholly insufficient. There is abundant proof of this in his own
handwriting. Under existing conditions there could be no English
literature worthy of the name. If a Gentleman of the Court wrote he
either suppressed his writings or suffered them to be published without
his name to them, as it was a discredit for a gentleman to seem learned
and to show himself amorous of any good art. Here is where Spedding
missed his way and never recovered himself. Deep as is the debt of
gratitude due to him for his devoted labours in the preparation of
"Bacon's Life and Letters" and in the edition of his works, it must be
asserted that he accomplished this work without seeing Francis Bacon.
There was a vista before young Bacon's eyes from which the practice of
the law and civil dignities were absent. He arrived at the French Court
at the psychological moment when an object-lesson met his eyes which had
a more far-reaching effect on the language and literature of the
Anglo-Saxon race than any or all other influences that have conspired to
raise them to the proud position which to-day they occupy. It is
necessary briefly to explain the position of the French language and
literature at this juncture.
The French Renaissance of literature had its beginning in the early
years of the sixteenth century. It had been preceded by that of Italy,
which opened in the fourteenth century, and reached its limit with
Ariosto and Tasso, Macchiavelli and Guicciardini during the sixteenth
century. Towards the end of the fifteenth century modern French poetry
may be said to have had its origin in Villon and French prose in
Comines. The style of the former was artificial and his poems abounded
in recurrent rhymes and refrains. The latter had peculiarities of
diction which were only compensated for by weight of thought and
simplicity of expression. Clement Marot, who followed, stands out as one
of the first landmarks in the French Renaissance. His graceful style,
free from stiffness and monotony, earned for him a popularity which even
the brilliancy of the Pleiade did not extinguish, for he continued to be
read with genuine admiration for nearly two centuries. He was the
founder of a school of which Mellia de St. Gelais, the introducer of the
sonnet into France, was the most important member. Rabelais and his
followers concurrently effected a complete revolution in fiction.
Marguerite of Navarre, who is principally known as the author of "The
Heptameron," maintained a literary Court in which the most celebrated
men of the time held high place. It was not until the middle of the
sixteenth century that the great movement took place in French
literature which, if that which occurred in the same country three
hundred years subsequently be excepted, is without parallel in literary
history.
The Pleiade consisted of a group of seven men and boys who, animated by
a sincere and intelligent love of their native language, banded
themselves together to remodel it and its literary forms on the methods
of the two great classical tongues, and to reinforce it with new words
from them. They were not actuated by any desire for gain. In 1549 Jean
Daurat, then 49 years of age, was professor of Greek at le College de
Coqueret in Paris. Amongst those who attended his classes were five
enthusiastic, ambitious youths whose ages varied from seventeen to
twenty-four. They were Pierre de Ronsard, Joachim du Bellay, Remy
Belleau, Antoine de Baif, and Etienne Jodelle. They and their Professor
associated themselves together and received as a colleague Pontus de
Tyard, who was twenty-eight. They formed a band of seven renovators, to
whom their countrymen applied the cognomen of the Pleiade, by which they
will ever be known. Realising the defects and possibilities of their
language, they recognised that by appropriations from the Greek and
Latin languages, and from the melodious forms of the Italian poetry,
they might reform its defects and develop its possibilities so
completely that they could place at the service of great writers a
vehicle for expression which would be the peer if not the superior of
any language, classical or modern. It was a bold project for young men,
some of whom were not out of their teens, to venture on. That they met
with great success is beyond question; the extent of that success it is
not necessary to discuss here. The main point to be emphasised is that
it was a deliberate scheme, originated, directed, and matured by a group
of little more than boys. The French Renaissance was not the result of a
spontaneous bursting out on all sides of genius. It was wrought out with
sheer hard work, entailing the mastering of foreign languages, and
accompanied by devotion and without hope of pecuniary gain. The
manifesto of the young band was written by Joachim de Bellay in 1549,
and was entitled, "La Defense et Illustration de la langue Francaise."
In the following year appeared Ronsard's Ode--the first example of the
new method. Pierre de Ronsard entered Court life when ten years old. In
attendance on French Ambassadors he visited Scotland and England, where
he remained for some time. A severe illness resulted in permanent
deafness and compelled him to abandon his profession, when he turned to
literature. Although Du Bellay was the originator of the scheme, Ronsard
became the director and the acknowledged leader of the band. His
accomplishments place him in the first rank of the poets of the world.
Reference would be out of place here to the movement which was after his
death directed by Malherbe against Ronsard's reputation and fame as a
poet and his eventual restoration by the disciples of Sainte Beuve and
the followers of Hugo. It is desirable, however, to allude to other
great Frenchmen whose labours contributed in other directions to promote
the growth of French literature. Jean Calvin, a native of Noyon, in
Picardy, had published in Latin, in 1536, when only twenty-seven years
of age, his greatest work, both from a literary and theological point of
view, "The Institution of the Christian Religion," which would be
accepted as the product of full maturity of intellect rather than the
firstfruits of the career of a youth. What the Pleiade had done to
create a French language adequate for the highest expression of poetry
Calvin did to enable facility in argument and discussion. A Latin
scholar of the highest order, avoiding in his compositions a tendency to
declamation, he developed a stateliness of phrase which was marked by
clearness and simplicity. Theodore Beza, historian, translator, and
dramatist, was another contributor to the literature of this period.
Jacques Amyot had commenced his translations from "Ethiopica," treating
of the royal and chaste loves of Theagenes and Chariclea three years
before Du Bellay's manifesto appeared. Montaigne, referring to his
translation of Plutarch, accorded to him the palm over all French
writers, not only for the simplicity and purity of his vocabulary, in
which he surpassed all others, but for his industry and depth of
learning. In another field Michel Eyquem Sieur de Montaigne had arisen.
His moral essays found a counterpart in the biographical essays of the
Abbe de Brantome. Agrippa D'Aubigne, prose writer, historian, and poet;
Guillaume de Saluste du Bartas, the Protestant Ronsard whose works were
more largely translated into English than those of any other French
writer; Philippes Desportes and others might be mentioned as forming
part of that brilliant circle of writers who had during a comparatively
short period helped to achieve such a high position for the language and
literature of France.
* * * * *
In 1576, when Francis Bacon arrived in France, the fame of the Pleiade
was at its zenith. Du Bellay and Jodelle were dead, but the fruit of
their labours and of those of their colleagues was evoking the
admiration of their countrymen. The popularity of Ronsard, the prince of
poets and the poet of princes, was without precedent. It is said that
the King had placed beside his throne a state chair for Ronsard to
occupy. Poets and men of letters were held in high esteem by their
countrymen. In England, for a gentleman to be amorous of any learned art
was held to be discreditable, and any proclivities in this direction had
to be hidden under assumed names or the names of others. In France it
was held to be discreditable for a gentleman not to be amorous of the
learned arts. The young men of the Pleiade were all of good family, and
all came from cultured homes. Marguerite of Navarre had set the example
of attracting poets and writers to her Court and according honours to
them on account of their achievements. The kings of France had adopted
a similar attitude. During the same period in England Henry VIII., Mary,
and Elizabeth had been following other courses. They had given no
encouragement to the pursuit of literature. Notwithstanding the
repetition by historians of the assertion that the good Queen Bess was a
munificent patron of men of letters, literature flourished in her reign
in spite of her action and not by its aid.
Bacon implies this in the opening sentences of the second book of the
"Advancement of Learning." He speaks of Queen Elizabeth as being "a
sojourner in the world in respect of her unmarried life, rather than an
inhabitant. She hath indeed adorned her own time and many waies enricht
it; but in truth to Your Majesty, whom God hath blest with so much
Royall issue worthy to perpetuate you for ever; whose youthfull and
fruitfull Bed, doth yet promise more children; it is very proper, not
only to iradiate as you doe your own times, but also to extend your
Cares to those Acts which succeeding Ages may cherish, and Eternity
itself behold: Amongst which, if my affection to learning doe not
transport me, there is none more worthy, or more noble, than the
endowment of the world with sound and fruitfull Advancement of Learning:
For why should we erect unto ourselves some few authors, to stand like
Hercules Columnes beyond which there should be no discovery of
knowledge, seeing we have your Majesty as a bright and benigne starre to
conduct and prosper us in this Navigation." As Elizabeth had been
unfruitful in her body, and James fruitful, so had she been unfruitful
in encouraging the Advancement of Learning, but the appeal is made to
James that he, being blessed with a considerable issue, should also have
an issue by the endowment of Learning.
What must have been the effect on the mind of this brilliant young
Englishman, Francis Bacon, when he entered into this literary atmosphere
so different from that of the Court which he had left behind him? There
was hardly a classical writer whose works he had not read and re-read.
He was familiar with the teachings of the schoolmen; imbued with a deep
religious spirit, he had mastered the principles of their faiths and the
subtleties of their disputations. The intricacies of the known systems
of philosophies had been laid bare before his penetrating intellect.
With the mysteries of mathematics and numbers he was familiar. What had
been discovered in astronomy, alchemy and astrology he had absorbed;
however technical might be a subject, he had mastered its details. In
architecture the works of Vitruvius had been not merely read but
criticised with the skill of an expert. Medicine, surgery--every
subject--he had made himself master of. In fact, when he asserted that
he had taken all knowledge to be his province he spoke advisedly and
with a basis of truth which has never until now been recognised. The
youth of 17 who possessed the intellect, the brain and the memory which
jointly produced the "Novum Organum," whose mind was so abnormal that
the artist painting his portrait was impelled to place round it "the
significant words," "_si tabula daretur digna, animum mallem_," who had
taken all knowledge to be his province, was capable of any achievement
of the Admirable Crichton. And this youth it was who in 1576 passed from
a country of literary and intellectual torpor into the brilliancy of the
companionship of Pierre de Ronsard and his associates. It is one of the
most stupendous factors in his life. Something happened to him before
his return to England which affected the whole of his future life. It
may be considered a wild assertion to make, but the time will come when
its truth will be proved, that "The Anatomie of the Minde," "Beautiful
Blossoms," and "The French Academy," are the product of one mind, and
that same mind produced the "Arte of English Poesie," "An Apology for
Poetrie," by Sir John Harrington, and "The Defense of Poetry," by Sir
Philip Sydney. The former three were written before 1578 and place the
philosopher before the poet; the latter three were written after 1580
and place the poet--the creator--before the philosopher. Francis Bacon
had recognised that the highest achievement was the act of creation.
Henceforth he lived to create.
Sir Nicholas Bacon died on or about the 17th of February, 1578-9. How or
where this news reached Francis is not recorded, but on the 20th of the
following March he left Paris for England, after a stay of two and
a-half years on the Continent. He brought with him to the Queen a
despatch from Sir Amias Paulet, in which he was spoken of as being "of
great hope, endued with many and singular parts," and one who, "if God
gave him life, would prove a very able and sufficient subject to do her
Highness good and acceptable service."[18]
FOOTNOTES:
[17] Sir Thomas Smith (1512-1577) was Secretary of State under Edward
VI. and Elizabeth--a good scholar and philosopher. He, when Greek
lecturer and orator at Cambridge, with John Cheke, introduced, in spite
of strong opposition, the correct way of speaking Greek, restoring the
pronunciation of the ancients.
[18] State Paper Office; French Correspondence.