CHAPTER VIII.
BACON IN FRANCE, 1576-1579.
This brilliant young scholar landed with Sir Amias Paulet at Calais on the 25th of September, 1576, and with him went straight to the Court of Henry III. of France. It is remarkable that neither Montagu, Spedding, Hepworth Dixon, nor any other biographer seems to have thought it worth while to consider under what influences he was brought when he arrived there at the most impressionable period of his life. Hepworth Dixon, without stating his authority, says that he "quits the galleries of the Louvre and St. Cloud with his morals pure," but nothing more. And yet Francis Bacon arrived in France at the most momentous epoch in the history of French literature. This boy, with his marvellous intellect--the same intellect which nearly half a century later produced the "Novum Organum"--with a memory saturated with the records of antiquity and with the writings of the cla.s.sical authors, with an industry beyond the capacity and a mind beyond the reach of his contemporaries, skilled in the teachings of the philosophers, with independence of thought and a courage which enabled him to condemn the methods of study followed at the University where he had spent three years; this boy who had a "beam of knowledge derived from G.o.d" upon him, who "had not his knowledge from books, but from some grounds and notions from himself," and above and beyond all who was conscious of his powers and had unbounded confidence in his capacity for using them; this boy walked beside the English Amba.s.sador elect into the highest circles of French Society at the time when the most important factors of influence were Ronsard and his confreres of the Pleiade. He had left behind him in his native country a language crude and almost barbaric, incapable of giving expression to the knowledge which he possessed and the thoughts which resulted therefrom.
At this time there were few books written in the English tongue which could make any pretence to be considered literature: Sir Thomas Eliot"s "The Governor," Robert Ascham"s "The Schoolmaster," and Thomas Wright"s "Arts of Rhetoric," almost exhaust the list. Thynne"s edition, 1532, and Lidgate"s edition, 1561, of Chaucer"s works are not intelligible. Only in the 1598 edition can the great poet be read with any understanding.
The work of re-casting the poems for this edition was Bacon"s, and he is the man referred to in the following lines, which are prefixed to it:--
_The Reader to Geffrey Chaucer._
_Rea._--Where hast thou dwelt, good Geffrey al this while, Unknown to us save only by thy bookes?
_Chau._--In haulks, and hernes, G.o.d wot, and in exile, Where none vouchsaft to yeeld me words or lookes: Till one which saw me there, and knew my friends, Did bring me forth: such grace sometimes G.o.d sends.
_Rea._--But who is he that hath thy books repar"d, And added moe, whereby thou are more graced?
_Chau._--The selfe same man who hath no labor spar"d, To helpe what time and writers had defaced: And made old words, which were unknoun of many, So plaine, that now they may be knoun of any.
_Rea._--Well fare his heart: I love him for thy sake, Who for thy sake hath taken all this pains.
_Chau._--Would G.o.d I knew some means amends to make, That for his toile he might receive some gains.
But wot ye what? I know his kindnesse such, That for my good he thinks no pains too much: And more than that; if he had knoune in time, He would have left no fault in prose nor rime.
There is a catalogue of the library of Sir Thomas Smith[17] on August 1, 1566, in his gallery at Hillhall. It was said to contain nearly a thousand books. Of these only five were written in the English language.
Under Theologici, K. Henry VIII. book; under Juris Civilis, Littleton"s Tenures, an old abridgement of Statutes; under Historiographi, Hall"s Chronicles, and Fabian"s Chronicles and The Decades of P. Martyr; under Mathematica, The Art of Navigation. The remainder are in Greek, Latin, French, and Italian. Burghley"s biographer states that Burghley "never read any books or praiers but in Latin, French, or Italian, very seldom in Englishe."
At this time Francis Bacon thought in Latin, for his mother tongue was wholly insufficient. There is abundant proof of this in his own handwriting. Under existing conditions there could be no English literature worthy of the name. If a Gentleman of the Court wrote he either suppressed his writings or suffered them to be published without his name to them, as it was a discredit for a gentleman to seem learned and to show himself amorous of any good art. Here is where Spedding missed his way and never recovered himself. Deep as is the debt of grat.i.tude due to him for his devoted labours in the preparation of "Bacon"s Life and Letters" and in the edition of his works, it must be a.s.serted that he accomplished this work without seeing Francis Bacon.
There was a vista before young Bacon"s eyes from which the practice of the law and civil dignities were absent. He arrived at the French Court at the psychological moment when an object-lesson met his eyes which had a more far-reaching effect on the language and literature of the Anglo-Saxon race than any or all other influences that have conspired to raise them to the proud position which to-day they occupy. It is necessary briefly to explain the position of the French language and literature at this juncture.
The French Renaissance of literature had its beginning in the early years of the sixteenth century. It had been preceded by that of Italy, which opened in the fourteenth century, and reached its limit with Ariosto and Ta.s.so, Macchiavelli and Guicciardini during the sixteenth century. Towards the end of the fifteenth century modern French poetry may be said to have had its origin in Villon and French prose in Comines. The style of the former was artificial and his poems abounded in recurrent rhymes and refrains. The latter had peculiarities of diction which were only compensated for by weight of thought and simplicity of expression. Clement Marot, who followed, stands out as one of the first landmarks in the French Renaissance. His graceful style, free from stiffness and monotony, earned for him a popularity which even the brilliancy of the Pleiade did not extinguish, for he continued to be read with genuine admiration for nearly two centuries. He was the founder of a school of which Mellia de St. Gelais, the introducer of the sonnet into France, was the most important member. Rabelais and his followers concurrently effected a complete revolution in fiction.
Marguerite of Navarre, who is princ.i.p.ally known as the author of "The Heptameron," maintained a literary Court in which the most celebrated men of the time held high place. It was not until the middle of the sixteenth century that the great movement took place in French literature which, if that which occurred in the same country three hundred years subsequently be excepted, is without parallel in literary history.
The Pleiade consisted of a group of seven men and boys who, animated by a sincere and intelligent love of their native language, banded themselves together to remodel it and its literary forms on the methods of the two great cla.s.sical tongues, and to reinforce it with new words from them. They were not actuated by any desire for gain. In 1549 Jean Daurat, then 49 years of age, was professor of Greek at le College de Coqueret in Paris. Amongst those who attended his cla.s.ses were five enthusiastic, ambitious youths whose ages varied from seventeen to twenty-four. They were Pierre de Ronsard, Joachim du Bellay, Remy Belleau, Antoine de Baf, and Etienne Jodelle. They and their Professor a.s.sociated themselves together and received as a colleague Pontus de Tyard, who was twenty-eight. They formed a band of seven renovators, to whom their countrymen applied the cognomen of the Pleiade, by which they will ever be known. Realising the defects and possibilities of their language, they recognised that by appropriations from the Greek and Latin languages, and from the melodious forms of the Italian poetry, they might reform its defects and develop its possibilities so completely that they could place at the service of great writers a vehicle for expression which would be the peer if not the superior of any language, cla.s.sical or modern. It was a bold project for young men, some of whom were not out of their teens, to venture on. That they met with great success is beyond question; the extent of that success it is not necessary to discuss here. The main point to be emphasised is that it was a deliberate scheme, originated, directed, and matured by a group of little more than boys. The French Renaissance was not the result of a spontaneous bursting out on all sides of genius. It was wrought out with sheer hard work, entailing the mastering of foreign languages, and accompanied by devotion and without hope of pecuniary gain. The manifesto of the young band was written by Joachim de Bellay in 1549, and was ent.i.tled, "La Defense et Ill.u.s.tration de la langue Francaise."
In the following year appeared Ronsard"s Ode--the first example of the new method. Pierre de Ronsard entered Court life when ten years old. In attendance on French Amba.s.sadors he visited Scotland and England, where he remained for some time. A severe illness resulted in permanent deafness and compelled him to abandon his profession, when he turned to literature. Although Du Bellay was the originator of the scheme, Ronsard became the director and the acknowledged leader of the band. His accomplishments place him in the first rank of the poets of the world.
Reference would be out of place here to the movement which was after his death directed by Malherbe against Ronsard"s reputation and fame as a poet and his eventual restoration by the disciples of Sainte Beuve and the followers of Hugo. It is desirable, however, to allude to other great Frenchmen whose labours contributed in other directions to promote the growth of French literature. Jean Calvin, a native of Noyon, in Picardy, had published in Latin, in 1536, when only twenty-seven years of age, his greatest work, both from a literary and theological point of view, "The Inst.i.tution of the Christian Religion," which would be accepted as the product of full maturity of intellect rather than the firstfruits of the career of a youth. What the Pleiade had done to create a French language adequate for the highest expression of poetry Calvin did to enable facility in argument and discussion. A Latin scholar of the highest order, avoiding in his compositions a tendency to declamation, he developed a stateliness of phrase which was marked by clearness and simplicity. Theodore Beza, historian, translator, and dramatist, was another contributor to the literature of this period.
Jacques Amyot had commenced his translations from "Ethiopica," treating of the royal and chaste loves of Theagenes and Chariclea three years before Du Bellay"s manifesto appeared. Montaigne, referring to his translation of Plutarch, accorded to him the palm over all French writers, not only for the simplicity and purity of his vocabulary, in which he surpa.s.sed all others, but for his industry and depth of learning. In another field Michel Eyquem Sieur de Montaigne had arisen.
His moral essays found a counterpart in the biographical essays of the Abbe de Brantome. Agrippa D"Aubigne, prose writer, historian, and poet; Guillaume de Sal.u.s.te du Bartas, the Protestant Ronsard whose works were more largely translated into English than those of any other French writer; Philippes Desportes and others might be mentioned as forming part of that brilliant circle of writers who had during a comparatively short period helped to achieve such a high position for the language and literature of France.
In 1576, when Francis Bacon arrived in France, the fame of the Pleiade was at its zenith. Du Bellay and Jodelle were dead, but the fruit of their labours and of those of their colleagues was evoking the admiration of their countrymen. The popularity of Ronsard, the prince of poets and the poet of princes, was without precedent. It is said that the King had placed beside his throne a state chair for Ronsard to occupy. Poets and men of letters were held in high esteem by their countrymen. In England, for a gentleman to be amorous of any learned art was held to be discreditable, and any proclivities in this direction had to be hidden under a.s.sumed names or the names of others. In France it was held to be discreditable for a gentleman not to be amorous of the learned arts. The young men of the Pleiade were all of good family, and all came from cultured homes. Marguerite of Navarre had set the example of attracting poets and writers to her Court and according honours to them on account of their achievements. The kings of France had adopted a similar att.i.tude. During the same period in England Henry VIII., Mary, and Elizabeth had been following other courses. They had given no encouragement to the pursuit of literature. Notwithstanding the repet.i.tion by historians of the a.s.sertion that the good Queen Bess was a munificent patron of men of letters, literature flourished in her reign in spite of her action and not by its aid.
Bacon implies this in the opening sentences of the second book of the "Advancement of Learning." He speaks of Queen Elizabeth as being "a sojourner in the world in respect of her unmarried life, rather than an inhabitant. She hath indeed adorned her own time and many waies enricht it; but in truth to Your Majesty, whom G.o.d hath blest with so much Royall issue worthy to perpetuate you for ever; whose youthfull and fruitfull Bed, doth yet promise more children; it is very proper, not only to iradiate as you doe your own times, but also to extend your Cares to those Acts which succeeding Ages may cherish, and Eternity itself behold: Amongst which, if my affection to learning doe not transport me, there is none more worthy, or more n.o.ble, than the endowment of the world with sound and fruitfull Advancement of Learning: For why should we erect unto ourselves some few authors, to stand like Hercules Columnes beyond which there should be no discovery of knowledge, seeing we have your Majesty as a bright and benigne starre to conduct and prosper us in this Navigation." As Elizabeth had been unfruitful in her body, and James fruitful, so had she been unfruitful in encouraging the Advancement of Learning, but the appeal is made to James that he, being blessed with a considerable issue, should also have an issue by the endowment of Learning.
What must have been the effect on the mind of this brilliant young Englishman, Francis Bacon, when he entered into this literary atmosphere so different from that of the Court which he had left behind him? There was hardly a cla.s.sical writer whose works he had not read and re-read.
He was familiar with the teachings of the schoolmen; imbued with a deep religious spirit, he had mastered the principles of their faiths and the subtleties of their disputations. The intricacies of the known systems of philosophies had been laid bare before his penetrating intellect.
With the mysteries of mathematics and numbers he was familiar. What had been discovered in astronomy, alchemy and astrology he had absorbed; however technical might be a subject, he had mastered its details. In architecture the works of Vitruvius had been not merely read but criticised with the skill of an expert. Medicine, surgery--every subject--he had made himself master of. In fact, when he a.s.serted that he had taken all knowledge to be his province he spoke advisedly and with a basis of truth which has never until now been recognised. The youth of 17 who possessed the intellect, the brain and the memory which jointly produced the "Novum Organum," whose mind was so abnormal that the artist painting his portrait was impelled to place round it "the significant words," "_si tabula daretur digna, animum mallem_," who had taken all knowledge to be his province, was capable of any achievement of the Admirable Crichton. And this youth it was who in 1576 pa.s.sed from a country of literary and intellectual torpor into the brilliancy of the companionship of Pierre de Ronsard and his a.s.sociates. It is one of the most stupendous factors in his life. Something happened to him before his return to England which affected the whole of his future life. It may be considered a wild a.s.sertion to make, but the time will come when its truth will be proved, that "The Anatomie of the Minde," "Beautiful Blossoms," and "The French Academy," are the product of one mind, and that same mind produced the "Arte of English Poesie," "An Apology for Poetrie," by Sir John Harrington, and "The Defense of Poetry," by Sir Philip Sydney. The former three were written before 1578 and place the philosopher before the poet; the latter three were written after 1580 and place the poet--the creator--before the philosopher. Francis Bacon had recognised that the highest achievement was the act of creation.
Henceforth he lived to create.
Sir Nicholas Bacon died on or about the 17th of February, 1578-9. How or where this news reached Francis is not recorded, but on the 20th of the following March he left Paris for England, after a stay of two and a-half years on the Continent. He brought with him to the Queen a despatch from Sir Amias Paulet, in which he was spoken of as being "of great hope, endued with many and singular parts," and one who, "if G.o.d gave him life, would prove a very able and sufficient subject to do her Highness good and acceptable service."[18]
FOOTNOTES:
[17] Sir Thomas Smith (1512-1577) was Secretary of State under Edward VI. and Elizabeth--a good scholar and philosopher. He, when Greek lecturer and orator at Cambridge, with John Cheke, introduced, in spite of strong opposition, the correct way of speaking Greek, restoring the p.r.o.nunciation of the ancients.
[18] State Paper Office; French Correspondence.
CHAPTER IX.
BACON"S SUIT ON HIS RETURN TO ENGLAND, 1580.
Spedding states that the earliest composition of Bacon which he had been able to discover is a letter written in his 20th year from Grays Inn.
From that time forward, he continues, compositions succeed each other without any considerable interval, and in following them we shall accompany him step by step through his life. What are the compositions which Spedding places as being written but not published up to the year 1597, when the first small volume of 10 essays containing less than 6,000 words was issued from the press? These are they:--
Notes on the State of Christendom[19] (date 1580 to 1584).
Letter of Advice to the Queen (1584-1586).
An Advertis.e.m.e.nt touching the Controversies of the Church of England (1586-1589).
Speeches written for some Court device, namely, Mr. Bacon in praise of Knowledge, and Mr. Bacon"s discourse in praise of his Sovereign (1590-1592).
Certain observations made upon a libel published this present year, 1592.
A true report of the Detestable Treason intended by Dr. Roderigo Lopez, 1594.
Gesta Grayorum, 1594, parts of which are printed by Spedding in type denoting doubtful authorship.
Bacon"s device, 1594-1598.
Three letters to the Earl of Rutland on his travels, 1595-1596.
That is all! These are the compositions which follow each other without considerable interval, and by which we are to accompany him step by step through those seventeen years which should be the most important years in a man"s life! He could have turned them out in ten days or a fortnight with ease. We expect from Mr. Spedding bread, and he gives us a stone!
This brilliant young man, who, when 15 years of age, left Cambridge, having possessed himself of all the knowledge it could afford to a student, who had travelled in France, Spain and Italy to "polish his mind and mould his opinion by intercourse with all kinds of foreigners,"
how was he occupying himself during what should be the most fruitful years of his life? Following his profession at the Bar? His affections did not that way tend. Spedding expresses the opinion that he had a distaste for his profession, and, writing of the circ.u.mstances with which he was surrounded in 1592, says: "I do not find that he was getting into practice. His main object still was to find ways and means for prosecuting his great philosophical enterprise." What was this enterprise? "I confess that I have as vast contemplative ends as I have moderate means," he says, writing to Burghley, "for I have taken all knowledge to be my province." This means more than mere academic philosophy.
In 1593, when Bacon was put forward and upheld for a year as a candidate for the post of Attorney-General, Spedding writes of him; "He had had little or no practice in the Courts; what proof he had given of professional proficiency was confined to his readings and exercises in Grays Inn.... Law, far from being his only, was not even his favourite study; ... his head was full of ideas so new and large that to most about him they must have seemed visionary."
Writing of him in 1594 Spedding says: "The strongest point against Bacon"s pretensions for the Attorneyship was his want of practice. His opponents said that "he had never entered the place of battle."[20]
Whether this was because he could not find clients or did not seek them I cannot say." In order to meet the objection, Bacon on the 25th January, 1593-4, made his first pleading, and Burghley sent his secretary "to congratulate unto him the first fruits of his public practice."