Essays of Bacon (Illustrated Edition)

Author: Bacon
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-01-01
Features: From essays like "On Truth," "On Death," and "On Human Nature," one can see a philosopher in love with philosophy. From essays like "On High Officials," "On Royal Power," and "On Ambition," one can see a man passionate about politics, deeply versed in the workings of officialdom. From essays like "On Love," "On Friendship," and "On Marriage and Celibacy," one can see a Bacon rich in life's pleasures. From essays like "On Adversity," "On Fortune," and "On Disability," one can see an indomitable Bacon. From essays like "On Deceit and Concealment" and "On Conversation," one can see a Bacon cunning and worldly-wise.
Author Bio: Francis Bacon was an outstanding British philosopher and writer. Born in London in a bureaucratic family on January 22, 1561, he entered Trinity College, Cambridge at the age of 12. At 15, he went to Paris to serve as a secretary to the British ambassador to France. In 1579, he returned to England after his father's death and enrolled at Gray's Inn to study law, obtaining a law degree in 1582 and thus embarking on a vast academic journey and a turbulent career. During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, Bacon's career was repeatedly thwarted, but he finally began to prosper after James I ascended the throne in 1603. In 1603, he was knighted, appointed as the Royal Legal Advisor in 1604, served as an assistant to the Attorney General in 1607, became the Attorney General in 1613, the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal in 1617, the Lord Chancellor in 1618, and was ennobled as a Baron in 1618. In 1620, he was further ennobled as a Viscount. In 1621, as Lord Chancellor, Bacon was accused of corruption, pleaded guilty, and resigned from office, withdrawing from politics to focus on writing at home. In 1626, he fell ill during a scientific experiment involving cryopreservation and died in April of the same year.