Bacon's position in the history of science and of philosophy has been very differently esti mated. He constructed no philosophical system, and one would search his writings in vain for much discussion of the great problems which have divided the schools of metaphysics since Descartes. As a man of science his shortcom ings are still more notable. He was commonly unsuccessful in his own investigations and informed about the best work of his contem poraries. He was hardly possessed at all of what is now understood by the scientific mind. Yet there is much justification for the tradi tional view of him as the father of modern philosophy and the primary instigator of modem scientific progress. If not the originator, he made himself at least the leading exponent of the revolt against the Aristotelian, or more properly the scholastic, tradition, and he pro foundly influenced the English realists of the next generations. In ethics his distinction be tween (individual or self-good° and (good of communion* points forward to the doctrine of the later utilitarians. And science c-ertainly owed him a large debt for the formulation and urgent presentation of the (new induction.* No one, of course, will maintain that Bacon in vented induction. Macaulay, in his familiar account of the plain man and the minced pies, has made some sport of his claims to originality in this matter. But a more judicious estimate would recognize the high and lasting educa tional value of the
which expresses the idealistic spirit of the Renaissance, shows Bacon at his best. The description of Solomon's house is said to have led to the establishment of the Royal Society. The (Essays,' which were designed to *come home to men's business and bosoms,* are better known than anything else that Bacon wrote. They deal with many subjects and are char acterized by ripe reflection and consummate mastery of style. Bacon had them in hand dur ing the greater part of his mature life. He published the first edition in 1597, and twice re vised and enlarged the collection (in 1612 and 1625). The title is supposed to have been sug gested by the 'Essais> of Montaigne, and there are occasional resemblances between the two works in subject matter; but Bacon was not largely indebted to any source, and his concep tion of the essay was totally different from the personal and leisurely discourses of Montaigne. *Brief thoughts, set down rather significantly than curiously,* was his own characterization of them in the dedication of the second edition; and although some of the later essays contain passages of adorned and sustained eloquence such as were lacking in the earlier ones, the general type was maintained to the end.
A small number of religious works, in ele vated thought and style, remain to be men tioned: the 'Meditationes Sacra:) (published in 1597), the 'Confession of Faith) (written be fore 1603), several prayers, and Bacon's only accredited verse, 'A Translation of Certain Psalms into English Verse' (1624). A poem on 'The World,)—*The world's a bubble, and the life of man less than a span,D-- is some times ascribed to him, but is of doubtful author ship. See ESSAYS OF BACON.
Bibliography.— The dates of Bacon's chief works have been mentioned in the body of the article. The standard collected edition is that of Spedding, Ellis and Heath (London 1857 59). Single works have in several cases been published separately with more elaborate anno tation; among the best of such editions being the 'Novum Organum> by T. Fowler (Oxford 1878), the 'Advancement of Learning) by W. A. Wright (Oxford 1896), the (Essays) by Archbishop Whately (London 1856), E. A. Ab bott (London 1896) and S. H. Reynolds(Ox ford 1890), and the 'New Atlantis' by G. C. Moore Smith (Cambridge 1900). A useful reprint of the three editions of the (Essays) has been published by Edward Arber, English Reprints, No. 27 (1871). For the life of Bacon the great source of original materials is Sped ding's 'Letters and Life of Bacon' (7 vols., 1861). A brief digest of the material was is sued in two volumes, 'The Life and Times of Francis Bacon' (Triibner 1878). Short biog raphies of value have been written by R. W. Church, 'Francis Bacon> (London 1884). Thomas Fowler, 'Francis Bacon) (New York 1881), E. A. Abbott, (.Francis Bacon, an Ac count of His Life and Works) (London 1885), S. R. Gardiner (in the 'Dictionary of National Biography)), and John Nichol, 'Francis Bacon, His Life and Philosophy' (London 1898-99). Macaulay's essay on Bacon furnishes a brilliant though by no means just or satisfactory esti mate of the man and his work. On Bacon's philosophical doctrines and influence one should consult, besides the standard histories of phi losophy, Ellis's general introduction to the phil osophical works, Kuno Fischer's 'Francis Bacon of Verulam: Realistic Philosophy and Its Age' (Engl. translation by John Oxenford 1857), Fowler's elaborate commentary on the 'Novum Organum' and his 'Francis Bacon.' The history of Bacon's reputation and influence is treated with some fullness in Dr. Fowler's in troduction to the (Nowlin Organum.> An idea of the arguments of Bacon's adverse critics can be derived from Joseph de Maistre„ 'Examen de la Philosophic de Bacon) (Paris 1836), Sir David Brewster, 'Memoirs of the Life, Writ ings, and Discourses of Sir Isaac ewton' (F.d N inburgh 1855), and Justus von Lich*, 'Ueber Francis Bacon von Verulam and die Methode der Natiirforschung' (Munich 1863) More recent studies are: Booth, W. S., 'Some Acrostic Signatures of Francis Bacon) (Bos ton 1909) and Cunningham, G. C., 'Did Bacon Die in (Baconiana, series 3, London 1916).