ABSTRACT
Francis Bacon’s life can be characterized as a mercurial search for power. As the youngest son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal for Queen Elizabeth I, Francis’ early life was one of prestige and privilege. His uncle, Lord Burghley, was one of the most powerful men in the kingdom. His mother, Lady Bacon, was a woman of uncommon learning (and a committed Puritan). As a young man, Francis displayed remarkable intellect. He entered Trinity College, Cambridge, when he was only 12 years old. There he came to the conviction that the prevailing Aristotelian philosophy was hopelessly sterile. As a result, much of Bacon’s later work has a strong antischolastic cast. Upon graduating three years later, his intellectual gifts attracted the interest of the queen herself, and he was sent to France (at age 16) as part of the English ambassador’s staff.
