Francis Bacon’s Essays are considered some of the finest of their form and his great work Novum Organum was the first depiction of the scientific method modern scientists take for granted. Today, his reputation as a writer is high, but during his life his sordid political career often overshadowed his writing.
Bacon was born in 1561, son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal to Queen Elizabeth. An incredibly bright boy he was sent to Trinity College, Cambridge, at the age of twelve to study law. In 1576, he was invited to go to France as an aide to the English Ambassador, where he remained for three years. Upon the death of his father in 1579, Bacon returned home and resumed his law studies. With little personal fortune he was forced to work as a barrister in 1582.
But two years later Bacon was persuaded to enter politics and he took a seat in the House of Commons, and began his infamous career. He took a prominent role in the push for the execution of Mary Queen of Scots and also struck up an alliance with the Earl of Essex in order to advance his career and get some much needed financial aid. When a plot to overthrow the crown was exposed and implicated Essex, Bacon turned on his former benefactor and led the treason investigation. Essex and a number of coconspirators were found guilty and beheaded. While the Crown was appreciative of his service, many of Bacon’s friends and colleagues were disgusted by the zeal he showed in prosecuting his former friend.
Upon the accession of King James I, Bacon was rewarded for his service to the crown and was knighted.  In 1607 he was appointed Solicitor General. After holding a number of important posts Bacon finally assumed the most important position in government, Lord Chancellor in 1618. He was granted the title Viscount St. Albans in 1621 and was one of the most important and respected politicians in the country. But, four months later, Bacon, who again had fallen into debt, was investigated himself and was found guilty of bribery and corruption. The House of Lords sentenced Bacon to prison and a considerable fine. Bacon served only a few days in the Tower of London but was banned from holding public office and he retired to write. He died in 1626.
From an early age Bacon had been interested in science. While he did little in the field of scientific experimentation, he quest to discover scientific truth led to his creation of the principles on which our modern scientific method is based. Bacon’s most important work in science and philosophy were parts of an unfinished opus “Magna Instauratio.” The first part of work, the “De Augmentis,” was a review the progress in human knowledge to his own day. The second part was “Novum Organum,” or “New Instrument” described the method of observation and experiment, on which the principles of the scientific method are based.
Bacon’s also wrote a “History of Henry VII,” political pamphlets, Essays and his own version of Utopia, “The New Atlantis.”

Essays

Bacon’s most popular work is “Essays.” Bacon borrowed the title from Montaigne and is the first book in English the bear the title. The collection published in three editions from 1597 to 1625, detail Bacon’s observations and opinions of the affairs of man. The Essays are not a Utopian ideal of how men should act, but more a discourse on how they actually act in the real world. The Essays also contain comments on statecraft as well as Bacon’s own hobbies. The great joy in the Essays is their rich diversity of subject matter and their clear and eloquent style.