Francis Bacon and his secret society - Grand Lodge of Colorado

48 FRANCIS BACON
When the French ambassador, the Marquis Fiat, visited him
during an illness, he said that his lordship had ever been to
him like the angels, of whom he had often heard and read, but
never seen. " After which visit they contracted an intimate acquaintance,
and the Marquis did so much revere him, that
besides his frequent visits [of which history tells us nothing]
they wrote letters under the appellations of father and son." l
With regard to Bacon's life, it is impossible to study it with
any degree of care, without observing how often in his biographies
we come upon questions or doubts such as these: " Was
he the author of Notes on the present state of Christendom ? " > 2.
" Reasons for suspecting him to be author of a 1 Letter of Advice to
the Queen. "> 3 " This alleged authorship of 'A Discourse touching
the Low Countries, "
etc. ' 4 " Resemblance between Bacon's style
and that of writings imputed to Essex," 5 etc.
We read of his reluctance to devote himself to the practice of
a lawyer, and of the difficulty of understanding what else he
proposed to himself, or to what course he actually betook himself
in the year 1595-6. 6 " I do not find," says his biographer,
any letter of his that can be assigned to the winter of 1596,
nor have I met, among his brother's papers, with anything
which indicates what he was about. I presume, however, that
he betook himself to his studies." He then gives a list of a
few fragments written at this time. " But there are," he continues,
" some other compositions with which (though they do
not pass under his name) there is reason to believe he had
something to do. and which, considering the possibility that
that are entirely his work, and the probability that they have some
of his ivork in them, and their intrinsic value, I have determined
to lay before the reader in this chapter." 7 The biographer
then enumerates the contents of a box of letters and
other papers which dated from this time, and which were in
charge of Dr. Tenison in 1682. Amongst these, one of the most
important was " The Earl of Essex's advice to the Earl of Rut-
1 Kawley's Life of Bacon. 2 Let. Life, i. 16, 17. 3 lb. 43, 56, etc.
4 lb. 67. 5 lb. 391. 6 lb. ii. 1. 1 lb. ii. 2.