The Essays

A collection of Bacon's vibrant, intelligent essays covering subjects ranging from ambition to the vicissitude of things

Francis Bacon, philosopher, essayist, lawyer and statesman, was born in London in 1561.  He studied at Cambridge and was enrolled at Gray's Inn in 1576.  In 1584 he entered Parliament, and made the acquaintance of the Earl of Essex, who endeavoured to advance him in his career.  Nevertheless, having been appointed to investigate the causes of Essex's revolt in 1601, Bacon was largely responsible for the earl's conviction.  Bacon was appointed Solicitor-General in 1607 and eventually became Lord Chancellor in 1618.  In 1621 he was charged with bribery, fined and imprisoned in the Tower.  Following his release, he retired to his family home and spent his remaining years in philosophical and literary work.  His ambition was to create a new system of philosophy to relace that of Aristotle, and he has been justly acclaimed as an inspiration to later scientists, rationalits and materialists.  He died in 1626.<br/>
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John Pitcher is a Fellow of St John's College, Oxford.  He has edited Cymbeline for the Penguin Shakespeare and The Winter's Tale for the third series of the Arden Shakespeare.

One of the major political figures of his time, Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626) served in the court of Elizabeth I and ultimately became Lord Chancellor under James I in 1617. A scholar, wit, lawyer and statesman, he wrote widely on politics, philosophy and science - declaring early in his career that 'I have taken all knowledge as my province'. In this, his most famous work, he considers a diverse range of subjects, such as death and marriage, ambition and atheism, in prose that is vibrant and rich in Renaissance learning. Bacon believed that rhetoric - the force of eloquence and persuasion - could lead the mind to the pure light of reason, and his own rhetorical genius is nowhere better expressed than in these vivid essays.

Francis Bacon

Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves - and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives - and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization and helped make us who we are. <br/>
Francis Bacon's landmark writings on subjects ranging from anger and ambition, marriage and money to envy and empire established him as the founding father of modern scientific thinking, with his rejection of superstition and his emphasis on proof and experiment, rational enquiry and reasoned argument.

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