philosophy revolutionised the future thought of the human race.
The most popular of his works is the _Essays_, which convey profound and
condensed thought in a style that is at once clear and rich. His moral
character was singularly mixed and complex, and bears no comparison with
his intellect. It exhibits a singular coldness and lack of enthusiasm,
and indeed a bluntness of moral perception and an absence of
attractiveness rarely combined with such extraordinary mental endowments.
All that was possible to be done in defence of his character and public
conduct has been done by his accomplished biographer and editor, Mr.
Spedding (_q.v._). Singular, though of course futile, attempts, supported
sometimes with much ingenuity, have been made to claim for B. the
authorship of Shakespeare's plays, and have indeed been extended so as to
include those of Marlowe, and even the _Essays_ of Montaigne.

SUMMARY.--_B._ London 1561, _ed._ Trinity Coll., Cambridge, dissatisfied
with Aristotelean philosophy, entered Gray's Inn 1576, in France 1576-79,
called to Bar 1582, enters Parliament 1584, became friend of Essex 1591,
who presents him with estate 1593, _pub._ 1st ed. of _Essays_ 1597,
prosecutes Essex 1601, _pub._ _Advancement of Learning_ 1605,
Solicitor-Gen. 1607, _pub._ _Wisdom of the Ancients_ 1609, Attorney-Gen.
1613, prosecuted Somerset 1616, Lord Keeper 1618, Lord Chancellor with
title of Verulam 1619, Visc. St. Albans 1621, _pub._ _Novum Organum_
1620, charged with corruption, and retires from public life 1621, _pub._
_Henry VII._ and 3rd part of _Instauratio_ 1622, _d._ 1626.

The standard edition of B.'s works is that of Spedding, Ellis, and Heath
(14 vols. 1857-74), including _Life and Letters_ by Spedding. See also
Macaulay's _Essays_; Dean Church in _Men of Letters Series_; Dr. Abbott's
_Life_ (1885), etc. For philosophy Fowler's _Novum Organum_ (1878).

BACON, ROGER (1214?-1294).--Philosopher, studied at Oxford and Paris. His
scientific acquirements, regarded in that age as savouring of
witchcraft, and doubtless also his protests against the ignorance and
immorality of the clergy, excited the jealousy and hatred of the
Franciscans, and he was in consequence imprisoned at Paris for ten years.
Clement IV., who had been a sympathiser, desired on his accession to see
his works, and in response B. sent him _Opus Majus_, a treatise on the
sciences (grammar, logic, mathematics, physics, and philosophy), followed
by _Opus