Not to be confused with Roger Bacon. Lord Verulam, bacon wrapped dates recipe goat cheese an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England.

Bacon has been called the father of empiricism. He argued for the possibility of scientific knowledge based only upon inductive reasoning and careful observation of events in nature. Bacon was educated at Trinity College at the University of Cambridge, where he rigorously followed the medieval curriculum, which was presented largely in Latin. Bacon’s head reads: Si tabula daretur digna animum mallem, Latin for “If one could but paint his mind”. Biographers believe that Bacon was educated at home in his early years owing to poor health, which would plague him throughout his life. He received tuition from John Walsall, a graduate of Oxford with a strong leaning toward Puristanism.

His studies brought him to the belief that the methods and results of science as then practised were erroneous. His reverence for Aristotle conflicted with his rejection of Aristotelian philosophy, which seemed to him barren, argumentative and wrong in its objectives. On 27 June 1576, he and Anthony entered de societate magistrorum at Gray’s Inn. A few months later, Francis went abroad with Sir Amias Paulet, the English ambassador at Paris, while Anthony continued his studies at home. The sudden death of his father in February 1579 prompted Bacon to return to England. Sir Nicholas had laid up a considerable sum of money to purchase an estate for his youngest son, but he died before doing so, and Francis was left with only a fifth of that money.

Having borrowed money, Bacon got into debt. Bacon stated that he had three goals: to uncover truth, to serve his country, and to serve his church. He sought to achieve these goals by seeking a prestigious post. In 1580, through his uncle, Lord Burghley, he applied for a post at court that might enable him to pursue a life of learning, but his application failed. His parliamentary career began when he was elected MP for Bossiney, Cornwall, in a by-election in 1581. He became a bencher in 1586 and was elected a Reader in 1587, delivering his first set of lectures in Lent the following year.

In 1588 he became MP for Liverpool and then for Middlesex in 1593. He became known as a liberal-minded reformer, eager to amend and simplify the law. Though a friend of the crown, he opposed feudal privileges and dictatorial powers. He struck at the House of Lords in its usurpation of the Money Bills. Bacon soon became acquainted with Robert Devereux, the 2nd Earl of Essex, Queen Elizabeth’s favourite. By 1591 he acted as the earl’s confidential adviser.