Author

George Withers (1588-1667) contemporary poet. A traditionary document may be mentioned, which was published in 1643-45, and was believed by Sir Egerton Bridges to have been the work of Withers. It is entitled The Great Assizes holden in Parnassus by Apollo and his Assessours, at which are arraigned Mercurius Brittanicus, Mercurius Aulicus, &c., (periodical publications of that time). This document shows that Francis Bacon, in the opinion of Withers, was entitled to high rank among his contemporaries in the Kingdom of Apollo.

Francis Bacon portrait

At the head is Apollo and next to him is Verulam, or Bacon, his Chancellor. From this single circumstance it is evident that the God of Music and Poetry regarded Bacon as worthiest among mortals of the chief seat in Parnassus.

Then follows a poetical account of the empanelling of the jury, the arraignment of the malefactors, and the proceedings generally, “Soure Ben,” all the while, having the culprits in custody in “the Trophonian Denne.”

The two parts of the Pilgrimage to, and the Return from, Parnassus were produced respectively in 1597, 1598, and 1601. The Great Assizes was printed in 1645. Raphael had depicted in the Vatican the triumph of antique art under the poetic influence of the Renaissance, and the author or authors of the Pilgrimage and Return framed the trilogy to be enacted at St. John’s College, to depict the antithesis of the modern art of learning under the demoralizing influence of the age.

The culmination is found in the Great Assizes convened at Parnassus for the trial of the trashy and misleading Literature of the period.

To the lofty mount of Learning, crowned with its temple, the University, prefigured in their dreams as Parnassus, the glorious abode of Apollo and the Muses, the lovers of Learning journey; but find, after experience, how vain have been their dreams, and return to the world disillusioned. 1

In time the fact beams luridly upon their vision that the golden age of literature has past, and is being supplanted by an age of trashy pamphleteers and news-scribblers. The lovers of true literature thereupon appeal to Apollo, who convenes a high court to meet at Parnassus. The great authors, principally of the past, are summoned as assessors by Apollo; a jury is empanelled, and the principal male factors, the newspapers of the day, are first placed on trial.

1 Baxter: The Greatest Literary Problems, 1915


Howes

The following are amongst the observations of Howes on the writers that flourished in the reign of Elizabeth and mentioning Francis Bacon and George Withers :

 

Our modern and present excellent poets, which worthily flourish in their own works, and all of them in my own knowledge lived together in this Queen’s reign, according to their priorities, as near as I could, I have orderly set down, viz., George Gascoigne, esquire, Thomas Church-yard esquire, Sir Edward Dyer knight, Edmond Spencer esquire, Sir Philip Sidney knight, Sir John Harrington knight, Sir Thomas Challoner knight, Sir Francis Bacon knight, and Sir John Davie knight, Master John Lillie gentleman, Master George Chapman gentleman, M. W. Warner gentleman, M. Willi. Shakespeare gentleman, Samuell Daniell esquire, Michaell Draiton esquire of the bath, M. Christopher Mario gen., M. Benjamine Johnson gentleman, John Marston esquier, M. Abraham Francis gen., master Francis Meers gentle., master Josua Silvester gentle., master Thomas Deckers gentleman, M. John Flecher gentle., M. John Webster gentleman, M.Thomas Heywood gentleman, M. Thomas Middleton gentleman, M. George Withers.

Pierre Amboise

The following is a translation from the discourse on the life of Mr. Francis Bacon which is prefixed to the Histoire Naturelle, by Pierre Amboise, published in Paris in 1631:Francis Bacon portrait

Among so many virtues that made this great man commendable, prudence, as the first of all the moral virtues, and that most necessary to those of his profession, was that which shone in him the most brightly.

His profound wisdom can be most readily seen in his books, and his matchless fidelity in the signal services that he continuously rendered to his Prince. Never was there man who so loved equity, or so enthusiastically worked for the public good as he; so that I may ever that he would have been much better suited to a Republic than to a Monarchy, where frequently the convenience of the Prince is more thought of than that of his people. And I do not doubt that had he lived in a Republic he would have acquired as much glory from the citizens as formerly did Aristides and Cato, the one in Athens, the other in Rome.

Innocence oppressed found always in his protection a sure refuge, and the position of the great gave them no vantage ground before the Chancellor when suing for justice. Vanity, avarice, and ambition, vices that too often attach themselves to great honours, were to him quite unknown, and if he did a good action it was not from the desire of fame, but simply because he could not do otherwise. His good qualities were entirely pure, without being clouded by the admixture of any imperfections, and the passions that form usually the defects in great men in him only served to bring out his virtues; if he felt hatred and rage it was only against evil-doers, to show his detestation of their crimes, and success or failure in the affairs of his country brought to him the greater part of his joys or his sorrows.

He was as truly a good man as he was an upright judge, and by the example of his life corrected vice and bad living as much as by pains and penalties. And, in a word, it seemed that Nature had exempted from the ordinary frailties of men him whom she had marked out to deal with their crimes. All these good qualities made him the darling of the people and prized by the great ones of the State. But when it seemed that nothing could destroy his position, Fortune made clear that she did not yet wish to abandon her character for instability, and that Bacon had too much worth to remain so long prosperous.

It thus came about that amongst the great number of officials such as a man of his position must have in his house, there was one who was accused before Parliament of exaction, and of having sold the influence that he might have with his master. And though the probity of Mr. Bacon was entirely exempt from censure, nevertheless he was declared guilty of the crime of his servant and was deprived of the power that he had so long exercised with so much honour and glory.

In this I see the working of monstrous ingratitude and unparalleled cruelty to say that a man who could mark the years of his life rather by the signal services that he had rendered to the State than by times or seasons, should have received such hard usage for the punishment of a crime which he never committed; England, indeed, teaches us by this that the sea that surrounds her shores imparts to her inhabitants somewhat of its restless inconstancy. This storm did not at all surprise him, and he received the news of his disgrace with a countenance so undisturbed that it was easy to see that he thought but little of the sweets of life since the loss of them caused him discomfort so slight.

Thus ended this great man whom England could place alone as the equal of the best of all the previous centuries.