gen gone astray as she
is--off her penance.

CHAPTER VI

LATER ELIZABETHAN AND JACOBEAN PROSE

One name so far dominates the prose literature of the last years of
Elizabeth, and that of the whole reign of James, that it has probably alone
secured attention in the general memory, except such as may be given to the
purple patches (of the true Tyrian dye, but not extremely numerous) which
decorate here and there the somewhat featureless expanse of Sir Walter
Raleigh's _History of the World_. That name, it is scarcely necessary to
say, is the name of Francis Bacon. Bacon's eventful life, his much debated
character, his philosophical and scientific position, are all matters
beyond our subject. But as it is of the first importance in studying that
subject to keep dates and circumstances generally, if not minutely, in
view, it may be well to give a brief summary of his career. He was born in
1561, the son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord Keeper; he went very young to
Cambridge, and though early put to the study of the law, discovered an
equally early bent in another direction. He was unfortunate in not
obtaining the patronage then necessary to all men not of independent
fortune. Though Elizabeth was personally familiar with him, she gave him
nothing of importance--whether owing to the jealousy of his uncle and
cousin, Burleigh and Robert Cecil, is a point not quite certain. The
patronage of Essex did him very little good, and drew him into the worst
action of his life. But after Elizabeth's death, and when a man of middle
age, he at last began to mount the ladder, and came with some rapidity to
the summit of his profession, being made Lord Chancellor, and created Baron
Verulam and Viscount St. Alban. The title Lord Bacon he never bore in
strictness, but it has been consecrated by the use of many generations, and
it is perhaps pedantry to object to it. Entangled as a courtier in the
rising hatred of the Court felt by the popular party, exposed by his own
carelessness, if not by actual venality in office, to the attacks of his
enemies, and weakly supported, if supported at all, by the favourite
Buckingham (who seems to have thought that Bacon took too much upon himself
in state affairs), he lost, in 1621, all his places and emoluments, and was
heavily fined. The retirement of his last few years produced much literary
fruit, and he died (his death being caused or hastened by an injudicious
experiment) in 1626.

Great as is