Bacon Essays

The wisest, brightest and meanest of mankind.”

 The wisest, brightest and meanest of mankind.”
• Bacon was the wisest because of his worldly wisdom, he
was brightest owing to his powerful intellect and the art of writing
terse essays, and he was meanest due to his treacherous character.
The above mentioned remark on Bacon was made by a renowned
and marvelous poet, “Alexander Pope”.
• For Bacon appeared to be a true child of Renaissance. Undoubtedly
he was a man of wisdom and powerful intellect.
• But all at once he was a calculating character, keeping an eye on the
main chance.
 The wisest, brightest and meanest of mankind.”
• He was a true follower of Machiavelli.
• He wanted to strive after the selfless scientific truth but
he was conscious that nothing could be done without
money and power.
• So, he strived after material success. Bacon belonged to
the age of glory and greatness, surprising meanness and
dishonest conduct and he could not avoid these evils.
 The wisest, brightest and meanest of mankind.”
• Bacon was a man of multi-talents.
• His wisdom was undeniable.
• The thirst for infinite knowledge and his versatility
was truly astonishing.
• He was learned in Greek, French, Latin, English,
Science, Philosophy, Classics and many other fields of
knowledge.
 The wisest, brightest and meanest of mankind.”
• He is regarded as the creator of the modern school of
experimental research.
• He supplied the impulse which broke with the medieval
preconceptions and set scientific inquiry on modern lines.
• He emphasized on experimentation and not to accept
things for granted. Bacon was indeed an eloquent
prophet of new era and the pioneer of modern sciences.
 The wisest, brightest and meanest of mankind.”
• The essays of Bacon also portray his intellect and practical wisdom.
• Bacon could utter weighty and pregnant remarks on almost any subject, from
“Greatness of Kingdoms” to “Gardens”.
• The essays are loaded with the ripest wisdom of experience and observation
conveyed through short, compact and terse sentences.
• He is an able analyst of human nature, and his conduct in public
and private affairs. His comments regarding man’s behaviour may
at times sound cynical but they are undeniable truths. He says:
“A mixture of a lie doth even add pleasure.”
 The wisest, brightest and meanest of mankind.”
• His views about friendship, though lacks in feelings and
emotions, yet these are undeniably true to human nature.
Following are a few examples of his wisdom.
“One who studieth revenge, keeps his own wounds
green”.
And
“Men in great places are thrice servants”.
 The wisest, brightest and meanest of mankind.”
• Bacons brightness is best illustrated in the way in which he clothes his wisdom into
brevity and lends the readers a great pleasure.
• The compactness of thought and conciseness of expression was a virtue in an age
when looseness in thought and language was the rule. The essays are enriched with
maxims and proverbs.
• He supports his ideas and arguments with innumerable quotations, allusions and
analogies which prove his wide knowledge and learning.
• The aptness of the similes, the witty turn of phrases and the compact expression of
weighty thoughts are evidence enough of the brightness of his intellect.

“Suspicions among thoughts are like bats among birds.”

 The wisest, brightest and meanest of mankind.”
• Moreover, the precise and authentic turn of sentences and the condensation of
thoughts in them have been enhanced by the antithetical presentation. Such as:

“A lie faces God and shrinks from man.”

“The ways to enrich are many and most of them are foul.”

“It is a strange desire to seek power and to lose liberty.”

“Through indignation, men rise to dignity.”

 The wisest, brightest and meanest of mankind.”
• it appears to be an irony of nature that a man with such a
tremendous intellect and wisdom had such a mean character.
• Bacon was not mean in the sense of being a miser. He was indeed
reputed to be a very generous.
• The manner in which Bacon betrayed his friends, especially Essex,
proved him most ungrateful and ignoble man. He made friendship
and uprightness subordinate to his success.
• He always kept his eye on the main chance, worshipping the rising
 The wisest, brightest and meanest of mankind.”
• His marriage was also a marriage of convenience. He
did not hesitate to take part in political intrigues in
order to promote his ambition.
• His letter to the king and queen were also full of
flattery that it was hard to believe that they came
from the pen of such an intellectual man.
 The wisest, brightest and meanest of mankind.”
• He took the purely personal and domestic matters of
a man – like marriage, friendship, love etc in terms of
pure utility. Such as:

“He that hath wife and children hath given hostages

to fortune.”
 The wisest, brightest and meanest of mankind.”
• Bacon was a man of the world – worldly wisdom and
worldly convenience. He had a “great brain” but not
a “great soul”.
• His complex and contradictory characters will
continue to be a psychological enigma for the readers
to understand. So, he was definitely the wisest,
brightest and meanest of mankind.