aliers_, and a novel,
partly autobiographical, _Norman Sinclair_. Other works were _The Bon
Gaultier Ballads_, jointly with Theodore Martin, and _Firmilian, a
Spasmodic Tragedy_, under the _nom-de-plume_ of T. Percy Jones, intended
to satirise a group of poets and critics, including Gilfillan, Dobell,
Bailey, and Alexander Smith. In 1845 A. obtained the Chair of Rhetoric
and Belles Lettres in Edinburgh University, which he filled with great
success, raising the attendance from 30 to 150, and in 1852 he was
appointed sheriff of Orkney and Shetland. He was married to a _dau._ of
Professor Wilson (Christopher North).

BACON, FRANCIS, LORD VERULAM, AND VISCOUNT ST. ALBAN'S
(1561-1626).--Philosopher and statesman, was the youngest _s._ of Sir
Nicholas B., Lord Keeper, by his second wife, a _dau._ of Sir Anthony
Cooke, whose sister married William Cecil, Lord Burghley, the great
minister of Queen Elizabeth. He was _b._ at York House in the Strand on
Jan. 22, 1561, and in his 13th year was sent with his elder brother
Anthony to Trinity Coll., Cambridge. Here he first met the Queen, who was
impressed by his precocious intellect, and was accustomed to call him
"the young Lord Keeper." Here also he became dissatisfied with the
Aristotelian philosophy as being unfruitful and leading only to
resultless disputation. In 1576 he entered Gray's Inn, and in the same
year joined the embassy of Sir Amyas Paulet to France, where he remained
until 1579. The death of his _f._ in that year, before he had completed
an intended provision for him, gave an adverse turn to his fortunes, and
rendered it necessary that he should decide upon a profession. He
accordingly returned to Gray's Inn, and, after an unsuccessful attempt to
induce Burghley to give him a post at court, and thus enable him to
devote himself to a life of learning, he gave himself seriously to the
study of law, and was called to the Bar in 1582. He did not, however,
desert philosophy, and _pub._ a Latin tract, _Temporis Partus Maximus_
(the Greatest Birth of Time), the first rough draft of his own system.
Two years later, in 1584, he entered the House of Commons as member for
Melcombe, sitting subsequently for Taunton (1586), Liverpool (1589),
Middlesex (1593), and Southampton (1597). In the Parliament of 1586 he
took a prominent part in urging the execution of Mary Queen of Scots.
About this time he seems again to have approached his powerful uncle, the
result of which may poss