"An advertisement touching a holy war" by Francis Bacon (Hardwick MS 43)

This scribal manuscript of Francis Bacon's treatise "An advertisement touching a holy war", is in the same professional hand as HMS/4/7. It is dedicated to Launcelot Andrewes, Bishop of Winchester (1619-1626), and counsellor of state to his Majesty.

This publication is included in the Catalogue of English Literary Manuscripts: BcF60.

It was first published in William Rawley (ed.), 'Certaine Miscellany Works of the Right Honourable Francis Lo. Verulam', London, 1629. Spedding, VII, 1-36, edited by Michael Kiernan in 'The Oxford Francis Bacon', Vol. VIII (Oxford, 2012), pp. 183-206.

This volume is listed in Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, Third Report (1872) pp.44.

Francis Bacon, Viscount St. Albans, (born Jan. 22, 1561, London, Eng. died April 9, 1626, London), British statesman and philosopher, father of modern scientific method. He studied at Cambridge and at Gray s Inn. A supporter of the Earl of Essex, Bacon turned against him when Essex was tried for treason. Under James I he rose steadily, becoming successively solicitor general (1607), attorney general (1613), and lord chancellor (1618). Convicted of accepting bribes from those being tried in his court, he was briefly imprisoned and permanently lost his public offices; he died deeply in debt. He attempted to put natural science on a firm empirical foundation in the Novum Organum (1620), which sets forth his scientific method. His elaborate classification of the sciences inspired the 18th-century French Encyclopedists (see Encyclopédie), and his empiricism inspired 19th-century British philosophers of science. His other works include The Advancement of Learning (1605), History of Henry VII (1622), and several important legal and constitutional works.

[Source: Francis Bacon, https://www.britannica.com/summary/Francis-Bacon-Viscount-Saint-Alban [Accessed 2 June 2021]]