THE BRITISH PLUTARCH; CONTAINING THE LIVES OF THE MOST EMINENT STATESMEN, PATRIOTS, DIVINES, WARRIORS, OF `GREAT BRITAIN AND ́Ireland, FROM THE ACCESSION OF HENRY VIII. TO THE PRESENT TIME; INCLUDING A COMPENDIOUS VIEW OF THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND DURING THAT PERIOD. VOLUME II. THE FIFTH EDITION, Revised, Corrected, and considerably Improved by the Addition of New Lives, BELFAST: PRINTED AND SOLD BY SAMUEL ARCHER. CONTENTS THE Life of Francis Bacon, Viscount St. Alban's, Baron of Verulam, and Lord-High-Chancellor of England The Life of Lancelot Andrews, Bishop of Winchester The Life of George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham The Life of George Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury The Life of Sir Edward Coke, Lord-Chief-Justice of England The Life of William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury The Life of John Williams, Archbishop of York, and Lord-Keeper The Life of Dr. James Usher, Archbishop of Armagh The Life of Oliver Cromwell; including Memoirs of Fairfax, and The Life of Edward Montague, Earl of Sandwich The Life of Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, and Lord-High-Chan- The Life of Henry Booth, Lord Delamer, and Earl of Warrington 405 THE BRITISH PLUTARCH. THE LIFE OF FRANCIS BACON, VISCOUNT ST. ALBAN's, BARON OF VERULAM, AND LORD HIGH CHANCELLOR OF ENGLAND. [A. D. 1561, to 1626.] FRANCIS BACON, one of the greatest men this or any other country ever produced, whose extensive abilities and amiable character, rendered him most worthy of the admiration of his contemporaries, and whose immortal works are a most valuable legacy to his country, was the youngest son of sir Nicholas Bacon, lord-keeper of the great seal, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, and of whom the reader will find some memoirs included in the Life of Cecil, lord Burleigh, He was born at York-house, in the Strand, on the 22d of January 1561; and his extraordinary genius manifested itself so early, that queen Elizabeth, herself, while he was but a boy, took a particular delight in trying him with questions, and received so much satisfaction from the good sense and manliness of his answers, that she was wont to call him, in mirth, " her young lordkeeper." Among other smart replies, her majesty having one day asked him, how old he was, he answered readily, "Just two years younger than your majesty's happy reign." |