(1) That Francis Bacon at 17 years of age was an accomplished scholar; that his knowledge was abnormally great, and that his wit, memory, and mental qualities were of the highest order—probably without parallel.
(2) That in the year 1580, when 19 years old, he sought the assistance of Burghley to induce the Queen to supply him with means and the opportunity to carry out some great work upon the achievement of which he had set his heart. The work was without precedent, and in carrying it out he was prepared to dedicate to her Majesty the use and spending of his life.
(3) That for ten years he waited and hoped for the granting of his suit, which was rare and unaccustomed, until eventually he was compelled to relinquish it and rely upon his own resources to effect his object.
(4) But he desired to command other wits than his own, and that could be more easily achieved by one holding place of any reasonable countenance. He therefore sought through Burleigh place accompanied by income, so that he might be enabled to achieve the vast contemplative ends he had in view.
(5) That during the years 1580 to 1597, in which he claims that he was not slothful, there is no evidence of his being occupied in his profession or in State affairs to any appreciable extent, and yet there do not exist any acknowledged works as the result of his labours. Rawley states that Bacon would "suffer no moment of time to slip from him without some present improvement."
(6) He received pecuniary assistance from his uncle, Lord Burghley. He strained the monetary resources of his mother and brother, which were not inconsiderable, to the utmost, exhausted his own, and heavily encumbered himself with debts, and yet he was not prodigal or extravagant.
(7) Money and time he must have to carry out his scheme, which, if one takes it favourably, might be termed philanthropia, and he therefore decided that, failing obtaining some sinecure office, he would sell the inheritance he had, purchase some lease of quick revenue or office of gain that could be executed by a deputy, give over all care of serving the State, and become some sorry bookmaker or a true pioneer in the mine of truth.
(8) Spedding says, "He could at once imagine like a poet and execute like a clerk of the works"; but whatever his contemplative ends were there is nothing known to his biographers which reveals the result of his labours as clerk of the works.
(9) If he carried out the course of action which he contemplated it is clear that he decided to do so without himself appearing as its author and director. From 1580 to 1590 something more was on his mind than the works he published after he had arrived at sixty years of age. "I am no vain promiser," he said. Where can the fulfilment of his promise be found? Can his course be followed by tracing through the period the trail which was left by some great and powerful mind directing the progress of the English Renaissance?
What was this rare and unaccustomed suit of which the Queen could have had no experience and which, according to Spedding, would make it unnecessary for Bacon to follow "ordinary practice at the bar"? Historians and biographers have founded on this suit the allegation that from his earliest years Bacon was a place hunter, entirely ignoring the fact, which is made clear from the letter to Walsingham written four years after the application was first made, that he had resolved on a course of action which, if her Majesty liked not his suit, by the leave of God he must and would follow, not for any necessity of estate, but for his credit sake. Here was a young man of twenty years of age, earnestly urging the adoption of a scheme which he had conceived, and which he feared Burghley might consider indiscreet and unadvised. Failing in obtaining his object, as will be proved by definite evidence, undertaking at the cost of Thomas Bodley and other friends a course of travel to better fit him for the task he had mapped out as his life's work—returning to England and, four years after his first request had been made, renewing his suit—grimly in earnest and determined to carry the scheme through at all costs, with or without the Queen's aid. This is not the conduct of a mere place hunter. If these letters be read aright and the reasonable theory which will be advanced of the nature of the suit be accepted—all efforts to suggest any explanation having hitherto, as Spedding admits, proved futile—a fresh light will be thrown upon the character of Francis Bacon, and the heavy obligation under which he has placed his countrymen for all ages will for the first time be recognised.
In the seven volumes of "Bacon's Life and Letters" there is nothing to justify the eulogy on his character to which Spedding gave utterance in the following words:—"But in him the gift of seeing in prophetic vision what might be and ought to be was united with the practical talent of devising means and handling minute details. He could at once imagine like a poet and execute like a clerk of the works. Upon the conviction This must be done followed at once How may it be done? Upon that question answered followed the resolution to try and do it." But although Spedding fails to produce any evidence to justify his statement, it is nevertheless correct. More than that, the actual achievement followed with unerring certainty, but Spedding restricts Bacon's life's work to the establishment of a system of inductive philosophy, and records the failure of the system.
William Cecil was a man of considerable classical attainments, although these were probably not superior to those of Mildred Cooke, the lady who became his second wife. He was initiated into the methods of statesmanship at an early age by his father, Richard Cecil, Master of the Robes to Henry VIII. Having found favour with Somerset, the Protector of Edward VI., he was, when 27 years of age, made Master of Requests. When Somerset fell from power in 1549 young Cecil, with other adherents of the Protector, was committed to the Tower. But he was soon released and was rapidly advanced by Northumberland. He became Secretary of State, was knighted and made a member of the Privy Council. Mary would have continued his employment in office had he not refused her offers on account of his adhesion to the Protestant faith. He mingled during her reign with men of all parties and his moderation and cautious conduct carried him through that period without mishap. On Elizabeth's accession he was the first member sworn upon the Privy Council, and he continued during the remainder of his life her principal Minister of State. Sagacious, deliberate in thought and character, tolerant, a man of peace and compromise, he became the mainstay of the Queen's government and the most influential man in State affairs. Whilst he maintained a princely magnificence in his affairs, his private life was pure, gentle and generous. This was the man to whom the brilliant young nephew of his wife and the son of his old friend, Sir Nicholas Bacon, disclosed, some time during the summer of 1580, his scheme, of which there had been no experience, and entrusted his suit, which was rare and unaccustomed. The arguments in its favour at this interview may have followed the following outline:—
I need not remind you of my devotion to learning. You know that from my earliest boyhood I have followed a course of study which has embraced all subjects. I have made myself acquainted with all knowledge which the world possesses. To enable me to do this I mastered all languages in which books are written. During my recent visit to foreign lands, I have recognized how far my country falls behind others in language, and consequently in literature. I would draw your special attention to the remarkable advance which has been made in these matters in France during your lordship's lifetime. When I arrived there in 1576 I made myself acquainted with the principles of the movement which had been carried through by Du Bellay, Ronsard, and their confrères. They recognized that their native language was crude and lacking in gravity and art. First by obtaining a complete mastery of the Greek and Latin languages, as also of those of Italy and Spain, they prepared themselves for a study of the literatures of which those languages, with their idioms and peculiarities, form the basis. Having obtained this mastery they reconstructed their native language and gave their country a medium by which her writers might express their thoughts and emotions. They have made it possible for their countrymen to rival the poets of ancient Greece and Rome. They and others of their countrymen have translated the literary treasures of those ancient nations into their own tongue, and thereby enabled those speaking their language, who are not skilled in classical languages, to enjoy and profit by the works of antiquity. Your lordship knows well the deficiencies of the language of our England, the absence of any literature worthy of the name. In these respects the condition of affairs is far behind that which prevailed in France even before the great movement which Ronsard and Du Bellay initiated. I do not speak of Italy, which possesses a language melodious, facile, and rich, and a literature which can never die.
I know my own powers. I possess every qualification which will enable me to do for my native tongue what the Pléiade have done for theirs. I ask to be permitted to give to my country this great heritage. Others may serve her in the law, others may serve her in affairs of state, but your Lordship knows full well that there are none who could serve her in this respect as could I. You are not unmindful of the poorness of my estate. This work will not only entail a large outlay of money but it necessitates command of the ablest wits of the nation. This is my suit: that her Majesty will graciously confer on me some office which will enable me to control such literary resources and the services of such men as may be necessary for the accomplishment of this work; further, that she may be pleased from time to time to make grants from the civil list to cover the cost of the work. I need not remind your Lordship what fame will ever attach to her Majesty and how glorious will be the memory of her reign if this great project be effected in it. Your Lordship must realise this because you and her Ladyship, my aunt, are by your attainments qualified to appreciate its full value. My youth may be urged as an objection to my fitness for such a task, but your Lordship knows full well—none better—that my powers are not to be measured by my years. This I will say, I am no vain promiser, but I am assured that I can accomplish all that I contemplate. The Queen hath such confidence in the soundness of your judgment that she will listen to your advice. My prayer to you therefore is that it may please your Lordship both herein and elsewhere to be my patron and urge my suit, which, although rare and unaccustomed, may be granted if it receives your powerful support.
The suit was submitted to the Queen, but without result. Probably it was not urged with a determination to obtain its acceptance in spite of any objections which might be raised by the Queen. Five years after, Bacon, still a suppliant, wrote to Walsingham: "I think the objection to my years will wear away with the length of my suit." Cautious Lord Burghley would give full weight to the force of this objection if it were advanced by the Queen. He loved this boy, with his extraordinary abilities, but he had such novel and far-reaching ideas. He appeared to have no adequate reverence for his inferior superiors. On leaving Cambridge he had arrogantly condemned its cherished methods of imparting knowledge. Before power was placed in his hands the use he might make of it must be well weighed and considered. What effect might the advancement of Francis Bacon have on Robert Cecil's career? Granted that the contentions of the former were sound, and the object desirable, should not this work be carried out by the Universities? Never leap until you know where you are going to alight was a proverb the soundness of which had been proved in Lord Burghley's experience. What might be the outcome if this rare and unaccustomed suit were granted? Better for the Queen, who, though slow to bestow favours, was always ready to encourage hopes, to follow her usual course. She might entertain the motion graciously and return a favourable answer and let it rest there. And so it did.
Then there was a happening which has remained unknown until now.
In the "Reliquiæ Bodleianæ," published in 1703, is a letter written without date by Thomas Bodley to Francis Bacon. This letter does not appear to have been known to Mallett, Montague, Dixon, Spedding, or any of Bacon's biographers. It had been lost sight of until the writer noticed it and reproduced it in Baconiana. This is the letter:—
My Dear Cousin,—According to your request in your letter (dated the 19th October at Orleans, I received here the 18th of December), I have sent you by your merchant £30 (the thirty is written thus 30 l) sterling for your present supply, and had sent you a greater sum, but that my extraordinary charge this year hath utterly unfurnished me. And now, cousin, though I will be no severe exactor of the account, either of your money or time, yet for the love I bear you, I am very desirous, both to satisfy myself, and your friends how you prosper in your travels, and how you find yourself bettered thereby, either in knowledge of God, or of the world; the rather, because the Days you have already spent abroad, are now both sufficient to give you Light, how to fix yourself and end with counsel, and accordingly to shape your course constantly unto it. Besides, it is a vulgar scandal unto the travellers, that few return more religious (narrow, editor) than they went forth; wherein both my hope and Request is to you, that your principal care be to hold your Foundation, and to make no other use of informing your self in the corruptions and superstitions of other nations, than only thereby to engage your own heart more firmly to the Truth. You live indeed in a country of two several professions, and you shall return a Novice, if you be not able to give an account of the Ordinances, strength, and progress of each, in Reputation, and Party, and how both are supported, ballanced and managed by the state, as being the contrary humours, in the Temper of Predominancy whereof, the Health or Disease of that Body doth consist. These things you will observe, not only as an English-man, whom it may concern, to what interest his country may expect in the consciences of their Neighbours; but also, as a Christian, to consider both the beauties and blemishes, the hopes and dangers of the church in all places. Now for the world, I know it too well, to persuade you to dive into the practices thereof; rather stand upon your own guard, against all that attempt you there unto, or may practise upon you in your Conscience, Reputation, or your Purse. Resolve, no Man is wise or safe, but he that is honest: And let this Persuasion turn your studies and observations from the Complement and Impostures of the debased age, to more real grounds of wisdom, gathered out of the story of Times past, and out of the government of the present state. Your guide to this, is the knowledge of the country and the people among whom ye live; For the country though you cannot see all places, yet if, as you pass along, you enquire carefully, and further help yourself with Books that are written of the cosmography of those parts, you shall sufficiently gather the strength, Riches, Traffick, Havens, Shipping, commodities, vent, and the wants and disadvantages of places. Wherein also, for your good hereafter, and for your friends, it will befit to note their buildings, Furnitures, Entertainments; all their Husbandry, and ingenious inventions, in whatsoever concerneth either Pleasure or Profit.
For the people, your traffick among them, while you learn their language, will sufficiently instruct you in their Habilities, Dispositions, and Humours, if you a little enlarge the Privacy of your own Nature, to seek acquaintance with the best sort of strangers, and restrain your Affections and Participation, for your own countrymen of whatsoever condition.
In the story of France, you have a large and pleasant Field in three lines of their Kings, to observe their alliances and successions, their Conquests, their wars, especially with us; their Councils, their treaties; and all Rules and examples of experiences and Wisdom, which may be Lights and Remembrances to you hereafter, to Judge of all occurants both at home and abroad.
Lastly, for the Government, your end must not be like an Intelligencer, to spend all your time in fishing after the present News, Humours, Graces, or Disgraces of Court, which happily may change before you come home; but your better and more constant ground will be, to know the Consanguinities, Alliances, and Estates of their Princes; Proportion between the Nobility and Magistracy; the Constitutions of their Courts of Justice; the state of the Laws, as well for the making as the execution thereof; How the Sovereignty of the King infuseth itself into all Acts and Ordinances; how many ways they lay Impositions and Taxations, and gather Revenues to the Crown.
What be the Liberties and Servitudes of all degrees; what Discipline and Preparations for wars; what Invention for increase of Traffick at home, for multiplying their commodities, encouraging Arts and Manufactures, or of worth in any kind. Also what establishment, to prevent the Necessities and Discontentment of People, To cut off suits at Law, and Duels, to suppress thieves and all Disorders.
To be short, because my purpose is not to bring all your Observations to Heads, but only by these few to let you know what manner of Return your Friends expect from you; let me, for all these and all the rest, give you this one Note, which I desire you to observe as the Counsels of a Friend, Not to spend your Spirits, and the precious time of your Travel, in a Captious Prejudice and censuring of all things, nor in an Infectious Collection of base Vices and Fashions of Men and Women, or general corruption of these times, which will be of use only Among Humorists, for Jests and Table-Talk: but rather strain your Wits and Industry soundly to instruct your-self in all things between Heaven and Earth which may tend to Virtue, Wisdom, and Honour, and which may make your life more profitable to your country, and yourself more comfortable to your friends, and acceptable to God. And to conclude, let all these Riches be treasured up, not only in your memory, where time may lessen your stock; but rather in good writings, and Books of Account, which will keept them safe for your use hereafter.
And if in this time of your liberal Traffick, you will give me any advertizement of your commodities in these kinds, I will make you as liberal a Return from my self and your Friends here, as I shall be able.
And so commending all your good Endeavours, to him that must either wither or prosper them, I very kindly bid you farewel.
Your's to be commanded,
Thomas Bodley.
Spedding prints this letter (Vol. II. p. 16) commencing with the words, "Yet for the love I bear," to the end, with the exception of the last sentence, as a letter written probably by Bacon for Essex to send to the Earl of Rutland. He identifies it as "the letter which the compiler of Stephens' Catalogue took for a letter addressed by Bacon to Buckingham," which he says it could not be. The original is at Lambeth (MSS. 936, fo. 218). The seal remains, but the part of the last sheet which contained the signature on one side, and the superscription on the other, has been torn off. The letter commences, "My good Lord," and ends, "Your Lordship's in all duty to serve you." It would appear, therefore, that someone had access to Bodley's letter to Bacon, and, approving its contents, used its contents a second time.
There are two palpable deductions to be drawn from this letter: (1) That Bacon was on a journey through several countries to obtain knowledge of their customs, laws, religion, military strength, shipping, and whatsoever concerneth pleasure or profit. There is a striking correspondence between Bodley's advice and the description of Bacon's travels found in the "Life" prefixed to "L'Histoire Naturelle." (2) That Bacon was being supported by Bodley and other of his friends, who desired him to keep a record of all that he observed and learnt, and to report from time to time as he progressed, and in return, said Bodley, "I will make you as liberal a return from myself and your friends here as I shall be able." This letter was written from England, and there is a paragraph in Bodley's "Life," written by himself, which makes it possible to fix the year:—
"My resolution fully taken I departed out of England anno 1576 and continued very neare foure yeares abroad, and that in sundry parts of Italy, France, and Germany. A good while after my return to wit, in the yeare 1585 I was employed by the Queen," etc.
If this letter was written between 1576 and 1579 it would appear strange that Bodley and others should be providing Bacon with money for his travels, and requiring reports from him, whilst his father, Sir Nicholas Bacon, was alive and prosperous. No such difficulty, however, arises, for the letter, being sent from England, could not have been written between the date of Bacon's first departure for France in 1576 and his return on his father's death in 1579, for during the whole of that time Bodley was abroad. It is stated in it that Bacon wrote from Orleans a letter dated 19th October, the year not being given. This could not be in 1580, for Bacon wrote to Lord Burghley from Gray's Inn on the 18th October, 1580. Spedding commences the paragraph immediately following this letter by saying, "From this time we have no further news of Francis Bacon till the 5th of April, 1582," and although he does not reproduce the letter, he relies on a letter from Faunt to Anthony Bacon, to which that date is attributed in Birch's " Memorials," Vol. I. page 22. In it Faunt refers to having seen Anthony's mother and his brother Francis. Faunt left Paris for England on the 22nd March, 1582. This letter was written on the 15th of the following month, so no trace has been found of Francis being in England between 18th October, 1580, and 5th of April, 1582. Bodley's letter, must, therefore, have been written in December, 1581, when Bacon was abroad making a journey through several countries. From the foregoing facts it is impossible to form any other conclusion. Now for the first time this journey has been made known. There is a letter amongst the State papers in the Record Office, dated February, 1581, written by Anthony Bacon to Lord Burghley, enclosing a note of advice and instructions for his brother Francis. Anthony was an experienced traveller, and was then abroad. It reads as though he was sending advice and instructions to his younger brother, who was about to start on travels through countries with which Anthony was familiar. If so, Francis would leave England early in March, 1581—that is, if he had not left before this letter was received by Burghley.
Having established beyond reasonable doubt the fact of this journey, a new and remarkable suggestion presents itself. Spedding, when dealing with the year 1582, prints "Notes on the State of Christendom,"[29] with the following remarks:—
"If that paper of notes concerning 'The State of Europe' which was printed as Bacon's in the supplement to Stephens' second collection in 1734, reprinted by Mallet in 1760, and has been placed at the beginning of his political writings in all editions since 1563, be really of his composition, this is the period of his life to which it belongs. I must confess, however, that I am not satisfied with the evidence or authority upon which it appears to have been ascribed to him."
Robert Stephens, who was Historiographer Royal in the reign of William and Mary, states that the Earl of Oxford placed in his hands some neglected manuscripts and loose papers to see whether any of the Lord Bacon's compositions lay concealed there and were fit for publication. He found some of them written, and others amended, with his lordship's own hand. He found certain of the treatises had been published by him, and that others, certainly genuine, which had not, were fit to be transcribed if not divulged. Spedding states that he has little doubt that this paper on the state of Europe was among these manuscripts and loose papers, for the editor states that the supplementary pieces (of which this was one) were added from originals found among Stephens' papers. The original is now among the Harleian MSS. in the British Museum. Spedding thus describes it:—
"The Harleian MS. is a copy in an old hand, probably contemporary, but not Francis Bacon's. A few sentences have been inserted afterwards by the same hand, and two by another which is very like Anthony Bacon's; none in Francis's. The blanks have all been filled up, but no words have been corrected, though it is obvious that in some places they stand in need of correction.
"Certain allusions to events then passing (which will be pointed out in their place) prove that the original paper was written, or at least completed, in the summer of 1582, at which time Francis Bacon was studying law in Gray's Inn, while Anthony was travelling in France in search of political intelligence and was in close correspondence with Nicholas Faunt, a secretary of Sir Francis Walsingham's, who had spent the previous year in France, Germany, Switzerland, and the north of Italy, on the same errand; and was now living about the English Court, studying affairs at home, and collecting and arranging the observations which he had made abroad, 'having already recovered all his writings and books which he had left behind him in Italy and in Frankfort' (see Birch's 'Memoirs,' I. 24), and it is remembered that if this paper belonged to Anthony Bacon, it would naturally descend at his death to Francis and so remain among his manuscripts, where it is supposed to have been found.
"Thus it appears that the external evidence justifies no inference as to the authorship, and the only question is whether the style can be considered conclusive. To me it certainly is not. But as this is a point upon which the reader should be allowed to judge for himself, and as the paper is interesting in itself and historically valuable and has always passed for Bacon's, it is here printed from the original though (to distinguish it from his undoubted compositions) in a smaller type."
Spedding's difficulty in accepting this paper as from Bacon's pen really lay in the fact that from the internal evidence it is obvious that it was written by one who had himself travelled through, at any rate, some of the countries described. The results of personal observation are again and again apparent. According to Spedding, Bacon was in 1581-1582 studying law at Gray's Inn; according to Bodley he was on the Continent making observations for his future guidance. The reader can judge of the value of the external evidence. It is not conclusive, but the draft being found amongst papers which were unquestionably Bacon's writings and being adopted as Bacon's and published as such by those who found it, the balance of probabilities is distinctly in favour of its being his. As to the internal evidence much may be said. It corresponds as closely as it is possible with Bodley's requirements as set forth in his letter of December. It is exactly "the manner of return" Bodley wrote to Francis "your friends expect from you." "And," he added, "if in this time of your liberal Traffick, you will give me any advertisement of your commodities in these kinds, I will make you as liberal a return from myself and your friends here as I shall be able."
The date agrees with that of Bacon's second visit to the Continent. In Spedding's Life and Letters it occupies twelve and a-half pages, of which five are occupied by descriptions of Italy, one of Austria, two of Germany (chiefly a recital of names and places), two of France, three-quarters of Spain, one and three-quarters of Portugal, Poland, Denmark, and Sweden. This may have been Bacon's itinerary in 1581-2.
Italy is treated with considerable detail and was undoubtedly described from personal observation, as were France and Spain. In a less degree the description of Austria, Poland and Denmark produces this impression; in a still smaller degree Portugal and Sweden, and it is quite absent from the description of Germany. Florence, Venice, Mantua, Genoa, Savoy, are dealt with in most detail. Rawley states that it was Bacon's intention to have stayed abroad some years longer when he was called home by the death of his father, to find himself left in straightened circumstances. Then followed his ineffectual suit, which he still persisted in. Bodley evidently was, if not the instigator, at any rate the paymaster for this second journey. Anthony's letter of February, 1581, points to Burghley as a participator in the project. He would assist not only out of kindly feeling, but the journey would at any rate get this ambitious, determined young man out of the way for a time, and possibly the journey might get this unaccustomed suit out of his mind. Thus it came about.
From Faunt's letters, Spedding says we derive what little information we have with regard to Francis's proceedings from 1583 to 1584. "From them we gather little more than that he remained studying at Gray's Inn, occasionally visiting his mother at Gorhambury, or going with her to hear Travers at the Temple and occasionally appearing at the Court."
But the suit was not abandoned, for there is the letter of 25th August, 1585, to Walsingham, when Bacon writes: "I think the objection of my years will wear away with the length of my suit. The very stay doth in this respect concern me, because I am thereby hindered to take a course of practice which by the leave of God, if her Majesty like not of my suit, I must and will follow: not for any necessity of estate, but for my credit sake, which I know by living out of action will wear."
Again, the old, "rare and unaccustomed suit" of which the Queen could have had no experience! Either the persuasive powers of Burghley had failed or he had not exerted them. Probably the latter, because the troublesome, determined young man is now worrying Walsingham and Hatton to urge its acceptance with the Queen. The purport of the foregoing extract effectually precludes the possibility of this suit referring to his advancement at the bar. For five years it has been proceeding—he has been indulging in hopes which have been unfulfilled. Now he will wait no longer, but he will adopt a course which, if her Majesty like not his suit, by the leave of God he must and will follow, not for any necessity of making money but because he feels impelled to it by a sense of responsibility which he must fulfil. Walsingham and Hatton do not appear to have helped the matter forward. There was little probability of them succeeding in influencing the Queen where Burghley had failed. There was still less probability of them attempting to influence her if Burghley objected. Had this suit referred to advancement in the law it would have been granted with the aid of Burghley's influence years before. Had it referred to some ordinary office of State, friends so powerful as Burghley, Walsingham and Hatton could and would have obtained anything within reason for this brilliant young son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, for there was no complication with Essex until after 1591. But this rare and unaccustomed suit of which there had been no experience was another matter.
Six more years pass, and although there is now no suit to the Queen there is the same idea prevailing in the letter to Burghley—a seeking for help to achieve some great scheme upon which Bacon's mind was so fixed "as it cannot be removed," "whether it be curiosity, vainglory or nature, or (if one take it favourably) philanthropia." Still he required the command of more wits than of a man's own, which is the thing he did greatly affect. Still his course was not to get. Still the determination to achieve the object without help, if help could not be obtained—to achieve it by becoming some sorry bookmaker or a pioneer in that mine of truth which Anaxagoras said lay so deep. This is emphasised. These are "thoughts rather than words, being set down without all art, disguising or reservation."
There are two significant sentences in this letter written to Burghley when Bacon was 31 years of age. He describes Burghley as "the second founder of my poor estate," and, further, he uses the expression "And if your Lordship will not carry me on." What can these allusions mean but that Burghley had been rendering financial assistance to his nephew? If the theory here put forward as to the nature of the suit be correct, the object was one which would have Burghley's cordial support. That he had expressed approval of it must be deduced from the letter of the 16th of September, 1580. The object was one which, without doubt, would find still warmer support from Lady Mildred. But the suit was so unprecedented that it is not to be wondered at that Burghley did not try to force it through. The work was going forward all the time—slowly for lack of means and official recognition. Burghley, generous in his nature, lavish in private life, might, however, be expected to help a work which he would be glad to see carried to a successful conclusion.
Had he been less cautious and let young Francis have his head, what might not have happened! But there was always the fear of letting this huge intellectual power forge ahead without restraint. It was, however, working out unseen its scheme and that, too, with Burghley's help and that of others. The period from 1576 to 1623—only 47 years—sees the English language developed from a state of almost barbaric crudeness to the highest pitch which any language, classical or modern, has reached. There was but one workman living at that period who could have constructed that wonderful instrument and used it to produce such magnificent examples of its possibilities. It is as reasonable to take up a watch keeping perfect time and aver that the parts came together by accident, as to contend that the English language of the Authorised Version of the Bible and the works of Shakespeare were the result of a general up-springing of literary taste which was diffused amongst a few writers of very mediocre ability. The English Renaissance was conceived in France and born in England in 1579. It ran its course and in 1623 attained its maturity; but when Francis Bacon was no more—he who had performed that in our tongue which may be preferred either to insolent Greece or haughty Rome—"things daily fall, wits grow downward, and eloquence grows backward: so that he may be named and stand as the mark and ἀχμή of our language."
It is difficult to leave this subject without some reference to the articles which have appeared in the press and magazines referring to the suggestion that there were left concealed literary remains of Bacon hitherto undiscovered.
In an article which recently appeared in a Shakespearean journal, a writer who evidently knows little about the Elizabethan period said: "But why should Bacon want to bury manuscripts, anyhow? Who does bury manuscripts? Besides, they had been printed and were, therefore, rubbish and waste paper merely." The manuscript of John Harrington's translation of Ariosto's "Orlando Furioso" may be seen in the British Museum. It is beautifully written on quarto paper. It was, apparently, the fair copy sent to the printer from which the type was to be set up. Be this as it may, it was undoubtedly a copy upon which Bacon marked off the verses which are to go on each page and set out the folio of each page and the printer's signature which was to appear at the bottom. It also contains instructions to the printer as to the type to be used. This manuscript was not considered "rubbish and waste paper merely."
Francis Bacon has again and again insisted upon the value of history. In the "Advancement of Learning" he points out to the King "the indignity and unworthiness of the history of England as it now is, in the main continuation thereof." No man appreciated as did Bacon the importance in the history of England of the epoch in which he lived. That a truthful relation of the events of those times would be invaluable to posterity he knew full well. He of all men living at that time was best qualified to write such a history. He recognised that there were objections to a history being written, or, at any rate, published, wherein the actions of persons living were described, for he said "it must be confessed that such kind of relations, specially if they be published about the times of things done, seeing very often that they are written with passion or partiality, of all other narrations, are most suspected." It is hardly conceivable that Bacon should have failed to provide a faithful history of his own times for the benefit of posterity, or, at any rate, that he should have failed to preserve the materials for such a history. Neither the history nor such materials are known to be in existence. Supposing Bacon had prepared either the one or the other, what could he do with it? Hand it to Rawley with instructions for it to be printed? With a strong probability, if it were a faithful history, that it would never be published, but that it would be destroyed, he would never take such a risk. There would only be one course open to him. To conceal it in some place where it would not be likely to be disturbed, in which it might remain in safety, possibly for hundreds of years. And then leave a clue either in cypher or otherwise by which it might be recovered.
It is by no means outside the range of possibility that Bacon as early as 1588 had opened a receptacle for books and manuscripts which he desired should go down to posterity, and fearing their loss from any cause, he carefully concealed them, adding to the store from time to time. If he did so he left a problem to be solved, and arranged the place of concealment so that it could only be found by a solution of the problem.
The emblems on two title-pages of two books of the period are very significant. "Truth brought to Light and discovered by Time" is a narrative history of the first fourteen years of King James' reign. One portion of the engraved title-page represents a spreading tree growing up out of a coffin, full fraught with various fruits (manuscripts and books) most fresh and fair to make succeeding times most rich and rare. In the Emblem (Fig. III.) now reproduced, which is found on the title-page of the first edition of "New Atlantis," 1627,[30] Truth personified by a naked woman is being revealed by Father Time, and the inscription round the device is "Tempore patet occulta veritas—in time the hidden truth shall be revealed."
Then, in further confirmation of this view, there is the statement of Rawley in his introduction to the "Manes Verulamiani." Speaking of the fame of his illustrious master he says, "Be this moreover enough, to have laid, as it were, the foundations, in the name of the present age. Every age will, methinks, adorn and amplify this structure, but to what age it may be vouchsafed to set the finishing hand—this is known only to God and the Fates."
The half century from 1576 to 1625 stands by itself in the history of the literature of this country. During that period not only was the English language made, not only were there produced the finest examples of its capacities, which to-day exist, but the knowledge and wisdom possessed by the classical writers, the histories of the principal nations of the world, practically everything that was worth knowing in the literature which existed in other countries were, for the first time, made available in the English tongue. And what is still more remarkable, these translations were printed and published. These works embraced every art and subject which can be imagined. Further, during this period there were issued a large number of books crowded with information upon general subjects. The names on the title-pages of many of these works are unknown. It is astonishing how many men as to whom nothing can be learnt, appear about this time to have written one book and one book only.
These translations were published at a considerable cost. For such works, being printed in the English language, purchasers were practically confined to this country, and their number was very limited. The quantity of copies constituting an edition must have been small. It is impossible to believe that the sale of these books could realise the amount of their cost.
Definite information on this point is difficult to obtain, for little is known as to the prices at which these books were sold.
It appears from the "Transcripts of the Stationers' Registers" that the maximum number of copies that went to make up an edition was in the interest of the workman fixed at 1,250 copies, so that if a larger number were required the type had to be re-set for each additional 1,250 copies. Double impressions of 2,500 were allowed of primers, catechisms, proclamations, statutes and almanacs. But the solid literature which came into the language at this period would not be required in such quantities. The printer was not usually the vendor of the books. The publisher and bookseller or stationer carried on in most cases a distinct business.
Pamphlets, sermons, plays, books of poems, formed the staple ware of the stationer. The style of the book out of which the stationer made his money may be gathered from the following extract from The Return from Parnassus, Act I, scene 3:—
The publication of such works as Hollingshed's "Chronicles," North's "Plutarch's Lives," Grimston's "History of France," and "The French Academy," could not have been produced with profit as the object. A large body of evidence may be brought forward to support this view, but space will only permit two examples to be here set forth.
In the dedication to Sir William Cecil, of Hollingshed's "Chronicles," 1587, the writer says: