"Are not the pleasures of the affections greater than the pleasures of the SEELEY, JACKSON, & HALLIDAY, 54, FLEET STREET, LONDON, MDCCCLXXVII. 828 21280 A 13 LONDON: R. CLAY, SONS AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS, BREAD STREET HILL, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET. PREFACE. HAVING lately had occasion to examine some of the original authorities which supply the materials for the biographies of Francis Bacon, I was impressed with the conviction that, although not many new facts could be brought forward, many old facts might be placed in a very new light. The notes made in the course of these investigations I have accordingly thrown into the form of the following sketch of Bacon's earlier life. To attempt anything more than a sketch would have been a task far exceeding the little leisure at my disposal; but sketch though it is (full of imperfections, and probably not without some minor inaccuracies), it will, I think, prevent any impartial person who may read it, from ever again disputing the truth of the three following propositions. The first proposition is, that Essex, though guilty of treasonable conduct, was not so deliberate and hypocritical a traitor as he was represented by Francis Bacon, and as of late years he has been supposed to be by Bacon's most eminent biographer. |