, a learned English monk of the Franciscan order, who flourished
, a learned English monk of the Franciscan order, who flourished in the
thirteenth century, was born near Ilchester in Somersetshire, in 1214, and was descended of a very ancient and
honourable family. He received the first tincture of letters at Oxford, where having gone through grammar and
logic, the dawnings of his genius gained him the favour
and patronage of the greatest lovers of learning, and such
as were equally distinguished by their high rank, and the
excellence of their knowledge. It is not very clear, says
the Biographia Britannica, whether he was of Merton college, or of Brazen-nose hall, and perhaps he studied at
neither, but spent his time at the public schools. The latter is indeed more probable than that he studied at Merton
college, which did not then exist. It appears, however,
that he went early over to Paris, where he made still greater
progress in all parts of learning, and was looked upon as
the glory of that university, and an honour to his country.
In those days such as desired to distinguish themselves by
an early and effectual application to their studies, resorted
to Paris, where not only many of the greatest men in Europe resided and taught, but many of the English nation,
by whom Bacon was encouraged and caressed. At Paris
he did not confine his studies to any particular branch of
literature, but endeavoured to comprehend the sciences in
general, fully and perfectly, by a right method and constant application. When he had attained the degree of
doctor, he returned again, to his own country, and, as some
say, took the habit of the Franciscan order in 1240, when
he was about twenty-six years of age but others assert
that he became a monk before he left France. After his
return to Oxford, he was considered, by the greatest men
of that university, as one of the ablest and most indefati^
gable inquirers after knowledge that the world had ever
produced and therefore they not only shewed him all due
respect, but likewise conceiving the greatest hopes from
his improvements in the method of study, they generously
contributed to his expences, so that he was enabled to lay
out, within the compass of twenty years, no less than two
thousand pounds in collecting curious authors, making trials of various kinds, and in the construction of different instruments, for the improvement of useful knowledge. But if
this assiduous application to his studies, and the stupendous progress he made in them, raised his credit with the
better part of mankind, it excited the envy of some, and
afforded plausible pretences for the malicious designs of
others. It is very easy to conceive, that the experiments
he made in all parts of natural philosophy and the mathematics, must have made a great noise in an ignorant age,
when scarcely two or three men in a whole nation were tolerably acquainted with those studies, and when all the
pretenders to knowledge affected to cover their own ignorance, by throwing the most scandalous aspersions on those
branches of science, which they either wanted genius to
understand, or which demanded greater application to acquire, than they were willing to bestow. They gave out,
therefore, that mathematical studies were in some measure
allied to those magical arts which the church had condemned,and thereby brought suspicions upon men of
superior learning. It was owing to this suspicion that Bacon
was restrained from reading lectures to the young students
in the university, and at length closely confined and almost
starved, the monks being afraid lest his writings should extend beyond the limits of his convent, and be seen by any
besides themselves and the pope. But there is great reason to believe, that though his application to the occult;
sciences was their pretence, the true cause of his ill-usage
was, the freedom with which he had treated the clergy in,
his writings, in which he spared neither their ignorance
nor their want of morals. But notwithstanding this harsh
feature in the character of the times, his reputation continued
to spread over the whole Christian world, and even pope
Clement IV. wrote him a letter, desiring that he would send
him all his works. This was in 1266, when our author was
in the flower of his 4 age, and to gratify his holiness, collected together, greatly enlarged and ranged in some order,
the several pieces he had written before that time, and sent
them the next year by his favourite disciple John of London, or rather of Paris, to the pope. This collection, which
is the same that himself entitled Opus Majus, or his great
work, is yet extant, and was published by Dr. Jebb, in
1773. Dr. Jebb had proposed to have published all his
works about three years before his edition of the Opus Majus, but while he was engaged in that design, he was informed by letters from his brother at Dublin, that there
was a“manuscript in the college library there, which contained a great many treatises generally ascribed to Bacon,
and disposed in such order, that they seemed to form one
complete work, but the title was wanting, which l,iad been
carelessly torn off from the rest of the manuscript. The
doctor soon found that it was a collection of those tracts
which Bacon had written for the use of pope Clement IV.
and to which he had given the title of Opus Majus, since it
appeared, that what he said of that work in his Opus Tertium, addressed to the same pope, exactly suited with this;
which contained an account of almost all the new discoveries and improvements that he had made in the sciences,.
Upon this account Dr. Jebb laid aside his former design,
and resolved to publish only an edition of this Opus Majus.
The manuscripts which he made use of to complete this
edition, are, 1. ms. in the Cotton library, inscribed^
” Jul.
D. V.“which contains the first part of the Opus Majus,
under the title of a treatise
” Jl)e utijitate Scientiarnii). “2. Another ms. in the same library, marked
” Tib. C. V."
containing the fourth part of the Opus Majus, in which is
shewn the use of the mathematics in the sciences and affairs of the world in the ms. it is erroneously called the
fifth part. 3. A ms. in the library belonging to Corpus
Christi in Cambridge, containing that portion of the fourth
part which treats of geography. 4. A ms. of the fifth part,
containing a treatise upon perspective, in the earl of Oxford’s library. 5. A ms. in the library of Magdalen college, Cambridge, comprehending the same treatise of
perspective. 6. Two Mss. in the king’s library, communicated to the editor by Dr. Richard Bentley, one of which
contains the fourth part of Opus Majus, and the other the
fifth part. It is said that this learned book of his procured
him the favour of Clement IV. and also some encouragement in the prosecution of his studies but this could not
have lasted long, as that pope died soon after, and then
we find our author under fresh embarrassments from the
same causes as before; but he became in more danger, as
the general of his order, Jerom de Ascoli, having heard
his cause, ordered him to be imprisoned. This is said
to have happened in 1278, and to prevent his appealing to pope Nicholas III. the general procured a confirmation of his sentence from Rome immediately, but it is not
very easy to say upon what pretences. Yet we are told by
others, that he was imprisoned by Reymundus Galfredus,
who was general of his order, on account of some alchemistical treatise which he had written, and that Galfredus
afterwards set him at liberty, and became his scholar.
However obscure these circumstances may be, it is certain
that his sufferings for many years must have brought him
low, since he was sixty-four years of age when he was first
put in prison, and deprived of the opportunity of prosecuting his studies, at least in the way of experiment. That
he was still indulged in the use of his books, appears very
clearly from the great use he made of them in the learned
works he composed.