Francis Bacon and his secret society - Grand Lodge of Colorado

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AND HIS SECRET SOCIETY. 37
native country, and of the human race through all their generations—was
thus early implanted in that vigorous and virgin
soil, we must leave it to struggle up as it may, according to the
accidents of time and weather. ... Of Bacon's life I am persuaded
that no man will ever form a correct idea, unless he hear
in mind that from very early youth his heart was divided hy
these three objects, distinct but not discordant." *
In the preface to the Be Interpretations Natures Prcemium
(circa 1603) Spedding describes that paper as of " peculiar
interest for us, on account of the passage in which Bacon
explains the plans and purposes of his life, and the estimate he
had formed of his own character and abilities; a passage which
was replaced in the days of his greatness by a simple Be nobis
ipsis silemus. It is the only piece of autobiography in which he
ever indulged, 2 and deserves on several accounts to be carefully
considered. The biographer goes on to say that Bacon's Own
account, written when he was between forty and fifty, of the
plan. upon which his life had been laid out, the objects which he
mainly aimed at, and the motives which guided him, will be
found, when compared with the courses which he actually
followed in his varied life, to present a very remarkable example
of constancy to an original design. He began by conceiving
that a wiser method of studying nature would give man the key
to all her secrets, but the work would be long and arduous, and
the event remote ; in the meanwhile, he would not neglect the
immediate and peculiar services which, as an Englishman, he
owed to his country and his religion. With regard to the last
two he found, as life wore away, that the means and opportunities
which he had hoped for did not present themselves; and he
resolved to fall back upon the first, as an enterprise which
depended upon himself alone.
Perhaps it may be found that Bacon's reason for throwing his
chief weight into the work which none could execute except
himself, was that he did find means and opportunities, through
1 Spedding, Letters and Life of Bacon, i. 4, 5.
2 This observation will, we think, require modification.
piece of autobiography which he acknowledges."
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' It is the only