ABSTRACT
Francis Bacon was a politician, jurist, royal councillor, natural scientist and essay writer, who spent his entire life within the highest political, courtly and intellectual circles around Queen Elizabeth and King James I. The first edition of Bacon's Essays and Counsels dates from his early career, and was eventually expanded into a third edition containing fifty-eight essays in 1625. Upon the succession of King James I in 1603, Bacon moved upward in the court hierarchy even more rapidly, eventually becoming, in 1618, Lord Chancellor and Baron Verulam. Bacon's writings during these politically active years reflect his many interests – in English Law, the Church of England and the 'Advancement of Learning', which offered a sweeping survey of the current state of knowledge in every field. Bacon described three defective methods in the pursuit of knowledge: the 'disputatious' erudition of scholastics; the 'delicate' learning which preserved the errors of revered authorities; and the 'fantastic' learning of the occultists and Hermeticists.
