Francis Bacon was at various times a lawyer, judge, political theorist, statesman, natural philosopher, essayist, historian, rhetorician and utopian. Considered a consummate prose stylist and a prescient legal reformer, he was to become eminent for his ability to forecast the role that empirical science and technology would play in modern European society. Furthermore, he was astute (if not successful) in comprehending the political importance of a nascent scientific methodology, and the need for its development as a working institution within the framework of an English monarchy increasingly intertwined with the contributions, needs, and oscillations of mercantile capitalism.

The youngest son of Queen Elizabeth’s Lord Keeper,

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First published 24 June 2004

Citation: Solomon, Julie Robin. "Francis Bacon". The Literary Encyclopedia. 24 June 2004.
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=209, accessed 20 November 2009.]