BACON, JOHN(1740-1799), British sculptor, was born in Southwark on the 24th of November 1740, the son of Thomas Bacon, a cloth-worker, whose forefathers possessed a considerable estate in Somersetshire. At the age of fourteen he was bound apprentice in Mr Crispe's manufactory of porcelain at Lambeth, where he was at first employed in painting the small ornamental pieces of china, but by his great skill in moulding he soon attained the distinction of being modeller to the work. While engaged in the porcelain works his observation of the models executed by different sculptors of eminence, which were sent to be burned at an adjoining pottery, determined the direction of his genius; he devoted himself to the imitation of them with so much success that in 1758 a small figure of Peace sent by him to the Society for the Encouragement of Arts received a prize, and the highest premiums given by that society were adjudged to him nine times between the years 1763 and 1776. During his apprenticeship he also improved the method of working statues in artificial stone, an art which he afterwards carried to perfection. Bacon first attempted working in marble about the year 1763, and during the course of his early efforts in this art was led to improve the method of transferring the form of the model to the marble (technically "getting out the points") by the invention of a more perfect instrument for the purpose. This instrument possessed many advantages above those formerly employed; it was more exact, took a correct measurement in every direction, was contained in a small compass, and could be used upon either the model or the marble. In the year 1769 he was adjudged the first gold medal for sculpture given by the Royal Academy, his work being a bas-relief representing the escape of Aeneas from Troy. In 1770 he exhibited a figure of Mars, which gained him the gold medal of the Society of Arts and his election as A.R.A. As a consequence of this success he was engaged to execute a bust of George III., intended for Christ Church, Oxford. He secured the king's favour and retained it throughout life. Considerable jealousy was entertained against him by other sculptors, and he was commonly charged with ignorance of classic style. This charge he repelled by the execution of a noble head of Jupiter Tonans, and many of his emblematical figures are in perfect classical taste. He died on the 4th of August 1799 and was buried in Whitfield's Tabernacle. His various productions which may be studied in St Paul's cathedral, London, Christ Church and Pembroke College, Oxford, the Abbey church, Bath, and Bristol cathedral, give ample testimony to his powers. Perhaps his best works are to be found among the monuments in Westminster Abbey.
See Richard Cecil,Memoirs of John Bacon, R.A.(London. 1801); and also vol. i. of R. Cecil's works, ed. J. Pratt (1811).
BACON, LEONARD(1802-1881), American Congregational preacher and writer, was born in Detroit, Michigan, on the 19th of February 1802, the son of David Bacon (1771-1817), missionary among the Indians in Michigan and founder of the town of Tallmadge, Ohio. The son prepared for college at the Hartford (Conn.) grammar school, graduated at Yale in 1820 and at the Andover Theological Seminary in 1823, and from 1825 until his death on the 24th of December 1881 was pastor of the First Church (Congregational) in New Haven, Connecticut, occupying a pulpit which was one of the most conspicuous in New England, and which had been rendered famous by his predecessors, Moses Stuart and Nathaniel W. Taylor. In 1866, however, though he was never dismissed by a council from his connexion with that church, he gave up the active pastorate. He was, from 1826 to 1838, an editor of theChristian Spectator(New Haven); was one of the founders (1843) of theNew Englander(later theYale Review); founded in 1848 with Dr R. S. Storrs, Joshua Leavitt, Dr Joseph P. Thompson and Henry C. Bowen, primarily to combat slavery extension, theIndependent, of which he was an editor until 1863; and was acting professor of didactic theology in the theological department of Yale University from 1866 to 1871, and lecturer on church polity and American church history from 1871 until his death. Gradually, after taking up his pastorate, he gained greater and greater influence in his denomination, until he came to be regarded as perhaps the most prominent Congregationalist of his time, and was sometimes popularly referred to as "The Congregational Pope of New England." In all the heated theological controversies of the day, particularly the long and bitter one concerning the views put forward by Dr Horace Bushnell, he was conspicuous, using his influence to bring about harmony, and in the councils of the Congregational churches, over two of which, the Brooklyn councils of 1874 and 1876, he presided as moderator, he manifested great ability both as a debater and as a parliamentarian. In his own theological views he was broad-minded and an advocate of liberal orthodoxy. In all matters concerning the welfare of his community or the nation, moreover, he took a deep and constant interest, and was particularly identified with the temperance and anti-slavery movements, his services to the latter constituting probably the most important work of his life. In this, as in most other controversies, he took a moderate course, condemning the apologists and defenders of slavery on the one hand and the Garrisonian extremists on the other. HisSlavery Discussed in Occasional Essays from 1833 to 1846(1846) exercised considerable influence upon Abraham Lincoln, and in this book appears the sentence, which, as rephrased by Lincoln, was widely quoted: "If that form of government, that system of social order is not wrong—if those laws of the Southern States, by virtue of which slavery exists there, and is what it is, are not wrong—nothing is wrong." He was early attracted to the study of the ecclesiastical history of New England and was frequently called upon to deliver commemorative addresses, some of which were published in book and pamphlet form. Of these, hisThirteen Historical Discourses(1839), dealing with the history of New Haven, and hisFour Commemorative Discourses(1866) may be especially mentioned. The most important of his historical works, however, is hisGenesis of the New England Churches(1874). He publishedA Manual for Young Church Members(1833); edited, with a biography, theSelect Practical Writings of Richard Baxter(1831); and was the author of a number of hymns, the best-known of which is the one beginning,
"O God, beneath Thy guiding handOur exiled fathers crossed the sea."
"O God, beneath Thy guiding handOur exiled fathers crossed the sea."
"O God, beneath Thy guiding hand
Our exiled fathers crossed the sea."
There is no good biography, but there is much biographical material in the commemorative volume issued by his congregation,Leonard Bacon, Pastor of the First Church in New Haven(New Haven, 1882), and there is a good sketch in Williston Walker'sTen New England Leaders(New York, 1901).
Leonard Bacon's sisterDelia Bacon(1811-1859), born in Tallmadge, Ohio, on the 2nd of February 1811, was a teacher in schools in Connecticut, New Jersey and New York, and then, until about 1852, conducted in various eastern cities, by methods devised by herself, classes for women in history and literature. She wroteTales of the Puritans(1831),The Bride of Fort Edward(1839), based on the story of Jane McCrea, partly in blank verse, andThe Philosophy of the Plays of Shakespeare Unfolded(1857), for which alone she is remembered. This book, in the preparation of which she spent several years in study in England, where she was befriended by Thomas Carlyle and especially by Nathaniel Hawthorne, was intended to prove that the plays attributed to Shakespeare were written by a coterie of men, including Francis Bacon, Sir Walter Raleigh and Edmund Spenser, for the purpose of inculcating a philosophic system, for which they felt that they themselves could not afford to assume the responsibility. This system she professed to discover beneath the superficial text of the plays. Her devotion to this one idea, as Hawthorne says, "had thrown her off her balance," and while she was in England she lost her mind entirely. She died in Hartford, Connecticut, on the 2nd of September 1859.
There is a biography by her nephew, Theodore Bacon,Delia Bacon: A Sketch(Boston, 1888), and an appreciative chapter, "Recollections of a Gifted Woman," in Nathaniel Hawthorne'sOur Old Home(Boston, 1863).
Leonard Bacon's sonLeonard Woolsey Bacon(1830-1907), graduated at Yale in 1850, was pastor of various Congregational and Presbyterian churches, and publishedChurch Papers(1876);A Life Worth Living: Life of Emily Bliss Gould(1878);Irenics and Polemics and Sundry Essays in Church History(1895);History of American Christianity(1898); andThe Congregationalists(1904).
(W. Wr.)
BACON, SIR NICHOLAS(1509-1579), lord keeper of the great seal of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, was the second son of Robert Bacon of Drinkstone, Suffolk, and was born at Chislehurst. He was educated at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, graduating B.A. in 1527, and afterwards spent some time in Paris. Having returned to England and entered Gray's Inn, he was called to the bar in 1533, and four years later began his public life as solicitor of the court of augmentations. Quickly becoming a person of importance he obtained a number of estates, principally in the eastern counties, after the dissolution of the monasteries, and in 1545 became member of parliament for Dartmouth. In 1546 he was made attorney of the court of wards and liveries, an office of both honour and profit; in 1550 became a bencher and in 1552 treasurer of Gray's Inn. Although his sympathies were with the Protestants, he retained his office in the court of wards during Mary's reign, but an order was issued to prevent him from leaving England. The important period in Bacon's life began with the accession of Elizabeth in 1558. Owing largely to his long and close friendship with Sir William Cecil, afterwards Lord Burghley, his brother-in-law, he was appointed lord keeper of the great seal in December of this year, and was soon afterwards made a privy councillor and a knight. He was instrumental in securing the archbishopric of Canterbury for his friend Matthew Parker, and in his official capacity presided over the House of Lords when Elizabeth opened her first parliament. In opposition to Cecil, he objected to the policy of making war on France in the interests of the enemies of Mary queen of Scots, on the ground of the poverty of England; but afterwards favoured a closer union with foreign Protestants, and seemed quite alive to the danger to his country from the allied and aggressive religious policy of France and Scotland. In 1559 he was authorized to exercise the full jurisdiction of lord chancellor. In 1564 he fell temporarily into the royal disfavour and was dismissed from court, because Elizabeth suspected he was concerned in the publication of a pamphlet, "A Declaration of the Succession of the Crowne Imperiall of Ingland," written by John Hales (q.v.), and favouring the claim of Lady Catherine Grey to the English throne. Bacon's innocence having been admitted he was restored to favour, and replied to a writing by Sir Anthony Browne, who had again asserted the rights of the house of Suffolk to which Lady Catherine belonged. He thoroughly distrusted Mary queen of Scots; objected to the proposal to marry her to the duke of Norfolk; and warned Elizabeth that serious consequences for England would follow her restoration. He seems to have disliked the proposed marriage between the English queen and Francis, duke of Anjou, and his distrust of the Roman Catholics and the French was increased by the massacre of St Bartholomew. As a loyal English churchman he was ceaselessly interested in ecclesiastical matters, and made suggestions for the better observation of doctrine and discipline in the church. He died in London on the 20th of February 1579 and was buried in St Paul's cathedral, his death calling forth many tributes to his memory. He was an eloquent speaker, a learned lawyer, a generous friend; and his interest in education led him to make several gifts and bequests for educational purposes, including the foundation of a free grammar school at Redgrave. His figure was very corpulent and ungainly. Elizabeth visited him several times at Gorhambury, and had previously visited him at Redgrave. He was twice married and by his first wife, Jane, had three sons and three daughters. His second wife was Anne (d. 1610), daughter of Sir Anthony Cooke, by whom he had two sons. Bacon's eldest son, Nicholas (c.1540-1624), was member of parliament for the county of Suffolk and in 1611 was created premier baronet of England. This baronetcy is still held by his descendants. His second and third sons, Nathaniel (c.1550-1622) and Edward (c.1550-1618), also took some part in public life, and through his daughter, Anne, Nathaniel was an ancestor of the marquesses Townshend. His sons by his second wife were Anthony (1558-1601), a diplomatist of some repute, and the illustrious Francis Bacon (q.v.).
See G. Whetstone, "Remembraunce of the life of Sir N. Bacon," in theFrondes Caducae(London, 1816); J. A. Froude,History of England, passim (London, 1881 f.).
BACON, ROGER(c.1214-c.1294), English philosopher and man of science, was born near Ilchester in Somerset. His family appears to have been in good circumstances, but in the stormy reign of Henry III. their property was despoiled and several members of the family were driven into exile. Roger completed his studies at Oxford, though not, as current traditions assert, at Merton or at Brasenose, neither of which had then been founded. His abilities were speedily recognized by his contemporaries, and he enjoyed the friendship of such eminent men as Adam de Marisco and Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln.
Very little is known of Bacon's life at Oxford; it is said he took orders in 1233, and this is not improbable. In the following year, or perhaps later, he crossed over to France and studied at the university of Paris, then the centre of intellectual life in Europe. The two great orders, Franciscans and Dominicans, were in the vigour of youth, and had already begun to take the lead in theological discussion. Alexander of Hales was the oracle of the Franciscans, while the rival order rejoiced in Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas.
The scientific training which Bacon had received, mainly from the study of the Arab writers, showed him the manifold defects in the systems reared by these doctors. Aristotle was known but in part, and that part was rendered well-nigh unintelligible through the vileness of the translations; yet not one of those professors would learn Greek. The Scriptures read, if at all, in the erroneous versions were being deserted for theSentencesof Peter Lombard. Physical science, if there was anything deserving that name, was cultivated, not by experiment in the Aristotelian way, but by arguments deduced from premises resting on authority or custom. Everywhere there was a show of knowledge concealing fundamental ignorance. Bacon, accordingly, withdrew from the scholastic routine and devoted himself to languages and experimental research. The only teacher whom he respected was a certain Petrus de Maharncuria Picardus, or of Picardy, probably identical with a certain mathematician, Petrus Peregrinus of Picardy, who is perhaps the author of a MS. treatise,De Magnete, contained in the Bibliothèque Impériale at Paris. The contrast between the obscurity of such a man andthe fame enjoyed by the fluent young doctors roused Bacon's indignation. In theOpus MinusandOpus Tertiumhe pours forth a violent tirade against Alexander of Hales, and another professor, not mentioned by name, but spoken of as alive, and blamed even more severely than Alexander. This anonymous writer,[1]he says, acquired his learning by teaching others, and adopted a dogmatic tone, which has caused him to be received at Paris with applause as the equal of Aristotle, Avicenna, or Averroes.
Bacon, during his stay in Paris, acquired considerable renown. He took the degree of doctor of theology, and seems to have received the complimentary title ofdoctor mirabilis. In 1250 he was again at Oxford, and probably about this time entered the Franciscan order. His fame spread at Oxford, though it was mingled with suspicions of his dealings in the black arts and with some doubts of his orthodoxy. About 1257, Bonaventura, general of the order, interdicted his lectures at Oxford, and commanded him to place himself under the superintendence of the body at Paris. Here for ten years he remained under supervision, suffering great privations and strictly prohibited from writing anything for publication. But his fame had reached the ears of the papal legate in England, Guy de Foulques, who in 1265 became pope as Clement IV. In the following year he wrote to Bacon, ordering him notwithstanding any injunctions from his superiors, to write out and send to him a treatise on the sciences which he had already asked of him when papal legate. Bacon, whose previous writings had been mostly scattered tracts,capitula quaedam, took fresh courage from this command of the pope. He set at naught the jealousy of his superiors and brother friars, and despite the want of funds, instruments, materials for copying and skilled copyists, completed in about eighteen months three large treatises, theOpus Majus,Opus MinusandOpus Tertium, which, with some other tracts, were despatched to the pope. We do not know what opinion Clement formed of them, but before his death he seems to have bestirred himself on Bacon's behalf, for in 1268 the latter was permitted to return to Oxford. Here he continued his labours in experimental science and also in the composition of complete treatises. The works sent to Clement he regarded as preliminaries, laying down principles which were afterwards to be applied to the sciences. The first part of an encyclopaedic work probably remains to us in theCompendium Studii Philosophiae(1271). In this work Bacon makes a vehement attack upon the ignorance and vices of the clergy and monks, and generally upon the insufficiency of the existing studies. In 1278 his books were condemned by Jerome de Ascoli, general of the Franciscans, afterwards Pope Nicholas IV., and he himself was thrown into prison for fourteen years. During this time, it is said, he wrote the small tractDe Retardandis Senectutis Accidentibus, but this is merely a tradition. In 1292, as appears from what is probably his latest composition, theCompendium Studii Theologiae, he was again at liberty. The exact time of his death cannot be determined; 1294 is probably as accurate a date as can be fixed upon.
Works and Editions.—Leland said that it is easier to collect the leaves of the Sibyl than the titles of the works written by Roger Bacon; and though the labour has been somewhat lightened by the publications of Brewer and Charles, referred to below, it is no easy matter even now to form an accurate idea of his actual productions. An enormous number of MSS. are known to exist in British and French libraries, and probably not all have yet been discovered. Many are transcripts of works or portions of works already published and, therefore, require no notice.[2]
The works hitherto printed (neglecting reprints) are the following:—(1)Speculum Alchimiae(1541)—translated into English (1597); French, A Poisson (1890); (2)De Mirabili Potestate Artis et Naturae(1542)—English translation (1659); (3)Libellus de Retardandis Senectutis Accidentibus(1590)—translated as the "Cure of Old Age," by Richard Brown (London, 1683); (4)Sanioris Medicinae Magistri D. Rogeri Baconis Anglici de Arte Chymiae Scripta(Frankfort, 1603)—a collection of small tracts containingExcerpta de Libra Avicennae de Anima,Breve Breviarium,Verbum Abbreviatum,[3]Secretum Secretorum,Tractatus Trium Verborum, andSpeculum Secretorum; (5)Perspectiva(1614), which is the fifth part of theOpus Majus; (6)Specula Mathematica, which is the fourth part of the same; (7)Opus Majus ad Clementem IV., edited by S. Jebb (1733) and J. H. Bridges (London, 1897); (8)Opera hactenus Inedita, by J. S. Brewer (1859), containing theOpus Tertium,Opus Minus,Compendium Studii Philosophiaeand theDe Secretis Operibus Naturae; (9)De Morali Philosophia(Dublin, 1860, see below); (10)The Greek Grammar of R. Bacon and a Fragment of his Hebrew Grammar, edited with introduction and notes by E. S. Nolan and S. A. Hirsch (1902); (11)Metaphysica Fratris Rogeri, edited by R. Steele, with a preface (1905); (12)Opera hactenus inedita, by Robert Steele (1905).
How these works stand related to one another can only be determined by internal evidence. The smaller works, chiefly on alchemy, are unimportant, and the dates of their composition cannot be ascertained. It is known that before theOpus MajusBacon had already written some tracts, among which an unpublished work,Computus Naturalium, on chronology, belongs probably to the year 1263; while, if the dedication of theDe Secretis Operibusbe authentic, that short treatise must have been composed before 1249.
It is, however, with theOpus Majusthat Bacon's real activity begins. It has been called by Whewell at once the Encyclopaedia and the Organum of the 13th century.
Part I. (pp. 1-22), which is sometimes designatedDe Utililate Scientiarum, treats of the fouroffendicula, or causes of error. These are, authority, custom, the opinion of the unskilled many, and the concealment of real ignorance with pretence of knowledge. The last error is the most dangerous, and is, in a sense, the cause of all the others. Theoffendiculahave sometimes been looked upon as an anticipation of Francis Bacon'sIdola, but the two classifications have little in common. In the summary of this part, contained in theOpus Tertium, Bacon shows very clearly his perception of the unity of science and the necessity of encyclopaedic treatment.
Part II. (pp. 23-43) treats of the relation between philosophy and theology. All true wisdom is contained in the Scriptures, at least implicitly; and the true end of philosophy is to rise from the imperfect knowledge of created things to a knowledge of the Creator. Ancient philosophers, who had not the Scriptures, received direct illumination from God, and only thus can the brilliant results attained by them be accounted for.
Part III. (pp. 44-57) treats of the utility of grammar, and the necessity of a true linguistic science for the adequate comprehension either of the Scriptures or of books on philosophy.The necessity of accurate acquaintance with any foreign language and of obtaining good texts, is a subject Bacon is never weary of descanting upon. A translator should know thoroughly the language he is translating from, the language into which he is translating, and the subject of which the book treats.
Part IV. (pp. 57-255) contains an elaborate treatise on mathematics, "the alphabet of philosophy," maintaining that all the sciences rest ultimately on mathematics, and progress only when their facts can be subsumed under mathematical principles. This fruitful thought he illustrates by showing how geometry is applied to the action of natural bodies, and demonstrating by geometrical figures certain laws of physical forces. He also shows how his method may be used to determine some curious and long-discussed problems, such as the light of the stars, the ebb and flow of the tide, the motion of the balance. He then proceeds to adduce elaborate and sometimes slightly grotesque reasons tending to prove that mathematical knowledge is essential in theology, and closes this section of his work with two comprehensive sketches of geography and astronomy. That on geography is particularly good, and is interesting as having been read by Columbus, who lighted on it in Petrus de Alliaco'sImago Mundi, and was strongly influenced by its reasoning.
Part V. (pp. 256-357) treats of perspective. This was the part of his work on which Bacon most prided himself, and in it, we may add, he seems to owe most to the Arab writers Kindi and Alhazen. The treatise opens with an able sketch of psychology, founded upon, but in some important respects varying from, Aristotle'sDe Anima. The anatomy of the eye is next described; this is done well and evidently at first hand, though the functions of the parts are not given with complete accuracy. Many other points of physiological optics are touched on, in general erroneously. Bacon then discusses vision in a right line, the laws of reflection and refraction, and the construction of mirrors and lenses. In this part of the work, as in the preceding, his reasoning depends essentially upon his peculiar view of natural agents and their activities. His fundamental physical maxims are matter and force; the latter he callsvirtus,species,imago agentis, and by numberless other names. Change, or any natural phenomenon, is produced by the impression of a virtus or species on matter—the result being the thing known. Physical action is, therefore,impression, or transmission of force in lines, and must accordingly be explained geometrically. This view of nature Bacon considered fundamental, and it lies, indeed, at the root of his whole philosophy. To the short notices of it given in the 4th and 5th parts of theOpus Majus, he subjoined two, or perhaps three, extended accounts of it. We possess at least one of these in the tractDe Multiplicatione Specierum, printed as part of theOpus Majusby Jebb (pp. 358-444). We cannot do more than refer to Charles for discussions as to how this theory of nature is connected with the metaphysical problems of force and matter, with the logical doctrine of universals, and in general with Bacon's theory of knowledge.
Part VI. (pp. 445-477) treats of experimental science,domina omnium scientiarum. There are two methods of knowledge: the one by argument, the other by experience. Mere argument is never sufficient; it may decide a question, but gives no satisfaction or certainty to the mind, which can only be convinced by immediate inspection or intuition. Now this is what experience gives. But experience is of two sorts, external and internal; the first is that usually called experiment, but it can give no complete knowledge even of corporeal things, much less of spiritual. On the other hand, in inner experience the mind is illuminated by the divine truth, and of this supernatural enlightenment there are seven grades.
Experimental science, which in theOpus Tertium(p. 46) is distinguished from the speculative sciences and the operative arts in a way that forcibly reminds us of Francis Bacon, is said to have three great prerogatives over all other sciences:—(1) It verifies their conclusions by direct experiment; (2) It discovers truths which they could never reach; (3) It investigates the secrets of nature, and opens to us a knowledge of past and future. As an instance of his method, Bacon gives an investigation into the nature and cause of the rainbow, which is really a very fine specimen of inductive research.
The seventh part of theOpus Majus(De Morali Philosophia), not given in Jebb's edition, is noticed at considerable length in theOpus Tertium(cap. xiv.). Extracts from it are given by Charles (pp. 339-348).
As has been seen, Bacon had no sooner finished this elaborate work than he began to prepare a summary to be sent along with it. Of this summary, orOpus Minus, part has come down and is published in Brewer'sOp. Ined.(313-389), from what appears to be the only MS. The work was intended to contain an abstract of theOpus Majus, an account of the principal vices of theology, and treatises on speculative and practical alchemy. At the same time, or immediately after, Bacon began a third work as a preamble to the other two, giving their general scope and aim, but supplementing them in many points. The part of this work, generally calledOpus Tertium, is printed by Brewer (pp. 1-310), who considers it to be a complete treatise. Charles, however, has given good grounds for supposing that it is merely a preface, and that the work went on to discuss grammar, logic (which Bacon thought of little service, as reasoning was innate), mathematics, general physics, metaphysics and moral philosophy. He founds his argument mainly on passages in theCommunia Naturalium, which indeed prove distinctly that it was sent to Clement, and cannot, therefore, form part of theCompendium, as Brewer seems to think. It must be confessed, however, that nothing can well be more confusing than the references in Bacon's works, and it seems well-nigh hopeless to attempt a complete arrangement of them until the texts have been collated and carefully printed.
All these large works Bacon appears to have looked on as preliminaries, introductions, leading to a great work which should embrace the principles of all the sciences. This great work, which is perhaps the frequently-referred-toLiber Sex Scientiarum, he began, and a few fragments still indicate its outline. First appears to have come the treatise now calledCompendium Studii Philosophiae(Brewer pp. 393-519), containing an account of the causes of error, and then entering at length upon grammar. After that, apparently, logic was to be treated; then, possibly, mathematics and physics; then speculative alchemy and experimental science. It is, however, very difficult, in the present state of our knowledge of the MSS., to hazard even conjectures as to the contents and nature of this last and most comprehensive work.
Bacon's fame in popular estimation has always rested on his mechanical discoveries. Careful research has shown that very little can with accuracy be ascribed to him. He certainly describes a method of constructing a telescope, but not so as to lead one to conclude that he was in possession of that instrument. Burning-glasses were in common use, and spectacles it does not appear he made, although he was probably acquainted with the principle of their construction. His wonderful predictions (in theDe Secretis) must be takencum grano salis; he believed in astrology, in the doctrine of signatures, and in the philosopher's stone, andknewthat the circle had been squared. For his work in connexion with gunpowder, the invention of which has been claimed for him on the ground of a passage in hisDe mirabili potestate artis et naturae, seeGunpowder.
Summary.—The 13th century, an age peculiarly rich in great men, produced few, if any, who can take higher rank than Roger Bacon. He is in every way worthy to be placed beside Albertus Magnus, Bonaventura, and Thomas Aquinas. These had an infinitely wider renown in their day, but modern criticism has restored the balance in his favour, and is even in danger of erring in the opposite direction. Bacon, it is now said, was not appreciated by his age because he was in advance of it; he is no schoolman, but a modern thinker, whose conceptions of science are more just and clear than are even those of his more celebrated namesake.[4]In this view there is certainly some truth, but it is much exaggerated. As a general rule, no man can be completely dissevered from his national antecedents andsurroundings, and Bacon is not an exception. Those who take up such an extreme position regarding his merits have known too little of the state of contemporary science, and have limited their comparison to the works of the scholastic theologians. We never find in Bacon himself any consciousness of originality; he is rather a keen and systematic thinker, working in a well-beaten track, from which his contemporaries were being drawn by theology and metaphysics.
Bibliography.—The best work on Roger Bacon is perhaps that of E. Charles,Roger Bacon, sa vie, ses ouvrages, ses doctrines d'après des textes inédits(1861). Against the somewhat enthusiastic estimate and modern interpretation given in this work, are Schneider in hisRoger Bacon, Eine Monographie(Augsburg, 1873); K. Werner,Die Psychol. ... des Roger BaconandDie Kosmologie ... des Roger Bacon(Vienna, 1879); S. A. Hirsch,Early English Hebraists(1899);Book of Essays(London, 1905), deals with Bacon as a Hebraist. The new matter contained in the publications of Charles and Brewer was summarized by H. Siebert,Roger Bacon: Inaugural Dissertation(Marburg, 1861). Cf. also J. K. Ingram,On the Opus Majus of Bacon(Dublin, 1858); Cousin, "Fragments phil. du moyen âge" (reprinted fromJournal des savans, 1848); E. Saisset, "Précurseurs et disciples de Descartes," pp. 1-58 (reprinted fromRevue de deux mondes, 1861); K. Prantl,Gesch. der Logik, iii. 120-129 (a severe criticism of Bacon's logical doctrines); Held,Roger Bacon's praktische Philosophie(Jena, 1881); Karl Pohl,Das Verhältniss d. Philos. zur Theol. bei Roger Bacon(Neustrelitz, 1893); articles inWestminster Review, lxxxi. 1 and 512; A. Parrot,Roger Bacon et ses contemporains(1894); E. Fluegel,Roger Bacons Stellung in d. Gesch. d. Philos.(1902); S. Vogl,Die Physik Roger Bacos(1906). For the popular legend seeFamous Historie of Fryer Bacon(London, 1615; reproduced in Thoms,Early Prose Romances, iii.); R. Greene'sFriar Bacon and Friar Bungay(1587 or 1588), and in publication of the Percy Society, vol. xv. 1844,A Piece of Friar Bacon's Brazen Heade's Prophesie(1604). For Bacon as a classical scholar see J. E. Sandys,Hist. of Class. Schol.(2nd ed., 1906), cxxxi.
(R. Ad.; X.)
[1]Brewer thinks this unknown professor is Richard of Cornwall, but the little we know of Richard is not in harmony with the terms in which he is elsewhere spoken of by Bacon. Erdmann conjectures Thomas Aquinas, which is extremely improbable, as Thomas was unquestionably not the first of his order to study philosophy. Cousin and Charles think that Albertus Magnus is aimed at, and certainly much of what is said applies with peculiar force to him. But some things do not at all cohere with what is otherwise known of Albert. It is worth pointing out that Brewer, in transcribing the passage bearing on this (Op. Ined.p. 327), has the wordsfratrum puerulus, which in his marginal note he interprets as applying to the Franciscan order. In this case, of course, Albert could not be the person referred to, as he was a Dominican. But Charles, in his transcription, entirely omits the important wordfratrum.[2]The more important MSS. are:—(1) The extensive work on the fundamental notions of physics, calledCommunia Naturalium, which is found in the Mazarin library at Paris, in the British Museum, and in the Bodleian and University College libraries at Oxford; (2) on the fundamental notions of mathematics,De Communibus Mathematicae, part of which is in the Sloane collection, part in the Bodleian; (3)Baconis Physica, contained among the additional MSS. in the British Museum; (4) the fragment calledQuinta Pars Compendii Theologiae, in the British Museum; (5) theCompendium Studii Theologiae, in the British Museum; (6) the logical fragments, such as theSummulae Dialectices, in the Bodleian, and the glosses upon Aristotle's physics and metaphysics in the library at Amiens. See Little,The Grey Friars in Oxford(1892).[3]At the close of theVerb. Abbrev.is a curious note, concluding with the words, "ipse Rogerus fuit discipulus fratris Alberti!"[4]See Dühring,Kritische Ges. d. Phil.192, 249-251.
[1]Brewer thinks this unknown professor is Richard of Cornwall, but the little we know of Richard is not in harmony with the terms in which he is elsewhere spoken of by Bacon. Erdmann conjectures Thomas Aquinas, which is extremely improbable, as Thomas was unquestionably not the first of his order to study philosophy. Cousin and Charles think that Albertus Magnus is aimed at, and certainly much of what is said applies with peculiar force to him. But some things do not at all cohere with what is otherwise known of Albert. It is worth pointing out that Brewer, in transcribing the passage bearing on this (Op. Ined.p. 327), has the wordsfratrum puerulus, which in his marginal note he interprets as applying to the Franciscan order. In this case, of course, Albert could not be the person referred to, as he was a Dominican. But Charles, in his transcription, entirely omits the important wordfratrum.
[2]The more important MSS. are:—(1) The extensive work on the fundamental notions of physics, calledCommunia Naturalium, which is found in the Mazarin library at Paris, in the British Museum, and in the Bodleian and University College libraries at Oxford; (2) on the fundamental notions of mathematics,De Communibus Mathematicae, part of which is in the Sloane collection, part in the Bodleian; (3)Baconis Physica, contained among the additional MSS. in the British Museum; (4) the fragment calledQuinta Pars Compendii Theologiae, in the British Museum; (5) theCompendium Studii Theologiae, in the British Museum; (6) the logical fragments, such as theSummulae Dialectices, in the Bodleian, and the glosses upon Aristotle's physics and metaphysics in the library at Amiens. See Little,The Grey Friars in Oxford(1892).
[3]At the close of theVerb. Abbrev.is a curious note, concluding with the words, "ipse Rogerus fuit discipulus fratris Alberti!"
[4]See Dühring,Kritische Ges. d. Phil.192, 249-251.
BACON(through the O. Fr.bacon, Low Lat.baco, from a Teutonic word cognate with "back,"e.g.O. H. Ger.pacho, M. H. Ger.backe, buttock, flitch of bacon), the flesh of the sides and back of the pig, cured by salting, drying, pickling and smoking.
Photos, Mansell & Co.
Stele of Victory of Naram-sin, King of Agade.STELE OF VICTORY OF NARAM-SIN, KING OF AGADE. Louvre.Copper votive figure of Aradsin, King of Larsa.COPPER VOTIVE FIGURE OF ARADSIN, KING OF LARSA.Statue of Assur-nazir-pal, King of Assyria.STATUE OF ASSUR-NAZIR-PAL, KING OF ASSYRIA.
Stele of Victory of Naram-sin, King of Agade.STELE OF VICTORY OF NARAM-SIN, KING OF AGADE. Louvre.
Copper votive figure of Aradsin, King of Larsa.COPPER VOTIVE FIGURE OF ARADSIN, KING OF LARSA.
Statue of Assur-nazir-pal, King of Assyria.STATUE OF ASSUR-NAZIR-PAL, KING OF ASSYRIA.
Figure of Gudea, Patesi of Lagash.FIGURE OF GUDEA, PATESI OF LAGASH. Louvre.Boundary-stone sculptured with Emblems of the Gods.BOUNDARY-STONE SCULPTURED WITH EMBLEMS OF THE GODS; REIGN OF NEBUCHADREZZAR I.Relief representing Assur-bani-pal spearing a Lion.RELIEF REPRESENTING ASSUR-BANI-PAL SPEARING A LION.Figure of a dying Lion.FIGURE OF A DYING LION, FROM THE LION-HUNT RELIEFS OF ASSUR-BANI-PAL.
Figure of Gudea, Patesi of Lagash.FIGURE OF GUDEA, PATESI OF LAGASH. Louvre.
Boundary-stone sculptured with Emblems of the Gods.BOUNDARY-STONE SCULPTURED WITH EMBLEMS OF THE GODS; REIGN OF NEBUCHADREZZAR I.
Relief representing Assur-bani-pal spearing a Lion.RELIEF REPRESENTING ASSUR-BANI-PAL SPEARING A LION.
Figure of a dying Lion.FIGURE OF A DYING LION, FROM THE LION-HUNT RELIEFS OF ASSUR-BANI-PAL.
From stele engraved with Khammurabi Code of Laws.FROM STELE ENGRAVED WITH KHAMMURABI CODE OF LAWS.Colossal winged and human-headed Lion.COLOSSAL WINGED AND HUMAN-HEADED LION FROM THE PALACE OF ASSUR-NAZIR-PAL.Statue of the god Nebo.STATUE OF THE GOD NEBO: REIGN OF ADAD-NIRARI III.
From stele engraved with Khammurabi Code of Laws.FROM STELE ENGRAVED WITH KHAMMURABI CODE OF LAWS.
Colossal winged and human-headed Lion.COLOSSAL WINGED AND HUMAN-HEADED LION FROM THE PALACE OF ASSUR-NAZIR-PAL.
Statue of the god Nebo.STATUE OF THE GOD NEBO: REIGN OF ADAD-NIRARI III.
BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. Plate II.Photos, Mansell & Co.
Photos, Mansell & Co.
Sculptured relief of the reign of Assur-nazir-pal.SCULPTURED RELIEF OF THE REIGN OF ASSUR-NAZIR-PAL.Ivory panels with line engraving; from Nimrud.IVORY PANELS WITH LINE ENGRAVING; FROM NIMRUD.
Sculptured relief of the reign of Assur-nazir-pal.SCULPTURED RELIEF OF THE REIGN OF ASSUR-NAZIR-PAL.
Ivory panels with line engraving; from Nimrud.IVORY PANELS WITH LINE ENGRAVING; FROM NIMRUD.
Architectural ornaments of patinted terra-cotta;.ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENTS OF PATINTED TERRA-COTTA; FROM NIMRUD.Section of bronze sheathing from gates of Shalmaneser II.SECTION OF BRONZE SHEATHING FROM GATES OF SHALMANESER II.Bronze lion weight.BRONZE LION WEIGHT.
Architectural ornaments of patinted terra-cotta;.ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENTS OF PATINTED TERRA-COTTA; FROM NIMRUD.
Section of bronze sheathing from gates of Shalmaneser II.SECTION OF BRONZE SHEATHING FROM GATES OF SHALMANESER II.
Bronze lion weight.BRONZE LION WEIGHT.
Sculptured relief of the reign of Assur-bani-pal.SCULPTURED RELIEF OF THE REIGN OF ASSUR-BANI-PAL.Portion of sculptured paving slab.PORTION OF SCULPTURED PAVING SLAB FROM A DOORWAY IN ASSUR-BANI-PAL'S PALACE AT KUYUNJIK (NINEVEH).
Sculptured relief of the reign of Assur-bani-pal.SCULPTURED RELIEF OF THE REIGN OF ASSUR-BANI-PAL.
Portion of sculptured paving slab.PORTION OF SCULPTURED PAVING SLAB FROM A DOORWAY IN ASSUR-BANI-PAL'S PALACE AT KUYUNJIK (NINEVEH).
SPECIMENS OF BABYLONIAN AND ASSYRIAN WRITING.
SPECIMENS OF BABYLONIAN AND ASSYRIAN WRITING.
Stamped brick inscription of Pur-sin, King of Ur.STAMPED BRICK INSCRIPTION OF PŪR-SIN, KING OF UR.
Stamped brick inscription of Pur-sin, King of Ur.STAMPED BRICK INSCRIPTION OF PŪR-SIN, KING OF UR.
Letter from Tushratta, King of Mitani, to Amenophis III.LETTER FROM TUSHRATTA, KING OF MITANI, TO AMENOPHIS III.
Letter from Tushratta, King of Mitani, to Amenophis III.LETTER FROM TUSHRATTA, KING OF MITANI, TO AMENOPHIS III.
Prism of Sennacherib.PRISM OF SENNACHERIB.
Prism of Sennacherib.PRISM OF SENNACHERIB.
Tablet from Assur-bani-pal's Library.TABLET FROM ASSUR-BANI-PAL'S LIBRARY.
Tablet from Assur-bani-pal's Library.TABLET FROM ASSUR-BANI-PAL'S LIBRARY.