The text of this volume is that of Bacon's second revised and enlarged edition of 1625. Of all his works, Bacon's Essays are the best introduction both to his wide interests and his moral outlook. The
WHAT is truth? said jesting Pilate,and would not stay for an answer. Certainly there be, that delight in giddiness, and count it a bondage to fix a belief; affecting free-will in thinking, as well as
Though Bacon considered the Essays "but as recreation of my other studies", he was given high praise by his contemporaries, even to the point of crediting him with having invented the essay form. Late
The third instalment in the Bacon Estate’s groundbreaking series discloses the most exciting new research and information to emerge in many years on this elusive artist. Three of the essays, by France
The full study of Bacon as a writer, Dr Vickers takes into account the whole corpus of Bacon's work, in Latin as well as in English. His chief sources are the The Advancement of Learning and the Essays. His purpose is to reinstate Bacon as one of the supreme masters of English prose in a period which made rich use of all the expressive resources of the medium. The study is both analytical and historical: it isolates the major features of Bacon's style, and sets them in the context of Renaissance theory and practice. The features include the overall structure of Bacon's works, his important concept of the aphorism, and his use of the traditional patterns of syntax. Dr Vickers makes a challenging reassessment of the accepted view of Bacon as a 'Senecan' or 'anti-Ciceronian' prose writer. Particular attention is paid to imagery, in which Bacon's powers as an imaginative writer are greatest. There are two general chapters, the first being the problem of analysing style, the last on reactio
