- 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.
pro-mbooks3 : libris
