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New Atlantis ‘Beyond, both the Old World, and the New’: Authority and Knowledge in the works of Francis Bacon, with special reference to the New Atlantis . Andrew Peter Langman Queen Mary, University of London Thesis for the degree of Ph.D, 2007 1 I hereby declare that this thesis is my own work and effort, and that all sources of information have been properly acknowledged. A. P. Langman 2 Abstract This study investigates the role of authority in the works of Francis Bacon, arguing that the issue of authority provides not only an interpretation of New Atlantis , but an important structural component of his body of works. From the first manifestation of his philosophical project to his last works of natural history, authority is an all-pervasive issue – the authority of nature, of scripture, of the named author, and how authority functions in the dissemination of natural knowledge. Chapter one argues that the publication of New Atlantis alongside Sylva sylvarum in 1626/7 was more the result of William Rawley’s need to assert his own authority as the protector and disseminator of Bacon’s textual legacy than an appreciation of the work’s own qualities. Chapter two considers Bacon’s views of history and time, suggesting that Bacon not only conceived of a new, progressive mode of historical time which would allow for the assertion of a textual authority based on the records of a civilisation unbroken by the vicissitudes of time, but that he figured these theories in New Atlantis . Chapter three argues that Bacon used theology both as defence and imperative to his intellectual programme, while his attempt to move beyond the deterministic, Calvinist world-view to allow for multiple possible futures, or ‘chance’: Bacon could then present experiment as the way of eliminating chance, in order to accelerate the rate of new discovery. Chapter four investigates Bacon’s manipulations of textual authority, from the early rehearsals of the Instauratio magna to the performance of reliability in print in Sylva sylvarum . Finally, the afterword seeks to suggest that the New Atlantis hinges on the issues of authority with which Bacon engaged throughout his career and writings: in the issue of authority, Francis Bacon found the beginning and the end of his philosophy. 3 Table of Contents Acknowledgements 7 Abbreviations 8 Transcription policy 10 Introduction 12 a. An overview of the argument by chapter 22 b. The aim of this study 25 Chapter One: Dedicatory letters and re-contextualisation 27 a. New Atlantis : publication, dissemination and appropriation 27 b. William Rawley, the paratexts to Sylva sylvarum 34 and its place within the Instauratio c. William Rawley, authority, and dedicatory letters 49 d. The letters accompanying Sylva sylvarum 56 e. The letter ‘To The Reader’ for New Atlantis 67 f. Operum moralium … tomus , fragments, and Rawley’s 72 re-contextualisation of New Atlantis g. Conclusion 80 Chapter Two: Renaissance historiography and Baconian 82 time a. The changing nature of historiography in the Renaissance 82 b. Bacon’s place within Renaissance historiography 95 c. New Atlantis and Bacon’s movement towards 98 a progressive historiography d. Bensalem’s escape from the vicissitudes of time 107 e. New Atlantis and the Baconian historical genres 119 f. New Atlantis , Salomon’s House, and temporal manipulation 124 g. Conclusion 128 4 Chapter Three: Bacon, religion, and the triumph over 130 chance a. Bacon’s confessional stance 130 b. The progression of the philosophical programme 138 c. Theology and philosophy 140 d. The Bensalemite revelation 150 e. The role of providence 157 f. The problem of free will and chance 161 g. Salomon’s House, Natural Divination, and 170 the mutability of the future h. Conclusion 185 Chapter Four: Textual reliability and the manipulation of 187 the authorial persona a. Bacon and the ancients 187 b. Authority and the doctrine of idols 193 c. The first manipulations of the authorial persona 200 d. The assertion of authority in the Instauratio magna 207 e. Public and private negotiations: the letters of the Instauratio 218 magna f. The preface to the Instauratio magna 229 g. The Parasceve , the Natural Histories, and 238 the performance of reliability h. Conclusion 252 Afterword: Authority on an island 254 a. New Atlantis and the absence of authority 256 b. The demonstration of superior traditions 263 and knowledge on Bensalem c. The assertion of authority through temporal 270 and spatial manipulation d. The nature of Bensalemite authority 276 e. Conclusion 279 5 Appendices 281 1. The dedicatory letter to Sylva sylvarum (1626/7) 282 2. The letter ‘To The Reader’ for Sylva sylvarum (1626/7) 283 3. The letter ‘To The Reader’ for New Atlantis (1626/7) 286 4. Letterpress title of Operum moralium … tomus (1638) 287 5. The general preface to Operum moralium … tomus (1638) 288 6. The letter ‘To The Reader’ for New Atlantis , from Operum 290 moralium … tomus (1638) 7. Francis Bacon to James I, Oct. 12, 1620 – NLS Adv. MS 291 33.1.7 vol 22, item 11. 8. Bacon to James, Oct 12, 1620, draft with annotations – LPL 293 Gibson MS 936, art 129 9. Table of reliability formulae in BL Add. MS 38693 295 10. A selection of reliability formulae from Sylva sylvarum 296 (1626/7) 11. The text of New Atlantis , as published with Sylva sylvarum 307 (1626/7) 12. The Magnalia naturæ , as published with Sylva sylvarum 345 (1626/7) Bibliography 347 6 Acknowledgements There are a number of people to whom I owe a debt of gratitude for the completion of this thesis. Firstly my supervisor, Professor Graham Rees, whose tireless enthusiasm, detailed critique, and matchless knowledge of all things Baconian have not only been vital to my work but have also provided inspiration when all direction seemed lost. Secondly, I must extend my thanks to Professor Lisa Jardine without whom I would never have embarked upon this course of study, and whose abilities as both touchstone and pacemaker have proved invaluable. Special mention must also go to Dr. Maria Wakely. Others who have helped me on this long journey, providing insights, cautions, citations, explanations, footnotes and perhaps most impressively of all, hours of proofreading, include Dr. Robyn Adams, Dr. Rosanna Cox, Dr. Michael Edwards, Dr. Warren Boutcher, Dr. David Colclough, Professor Jim Binns, Professor Randall McCloud, Chloe Houston, Julie Carroll, Charlie Langman, Eleanor Merchant, Ellie Naughtie, Professor Martin Dzelzainis, Dr. James Ward, and Professor Michael Hunter. I must also extend my gratitude to the AHRC, whose generous funding made this project possible. Finally, I owe an incalculable debt to my wife Charlie, who has managed to put up with me for these three years. Need I say more? The initial transcription of New Atlantis was provided, in electronic form, by Dr. Maria Wakely. 7 Abbreviations OFB The Oxford Francis Bacon , gen. eds. Graham Rees and Lisa Jardine, 15 vols., (Clarendon Press: Oxford, 1996- ) SEH The Works of Francis Bacon, Baron of Verulam, Viscount St. Alban and Lord Chancellor of England , ed. by James Spedding, Robert Leslie Ellis, and Douglas Denon Heath, 7 vols, (London: Longmans, 1857-59) LL The Letters and Life of Francis Bacon, Baron of Verulam, Viscount St. Alban and Lord Chancellor of England , ed. by James Spedding, Robert Leslie Ellis, and Douglas Denon Heath, 7 vols, (London: Longmans, 1861-74) SS Francis Bacon, Sylva sylvarum : or, A Naturall historie in ten Centuries (London: J. H. for William Lee, 1626/7) NA New Atlantis as found in Francis Bacon, Sylva sylvarum (London: J. H. for William Lee, 1626/7) OMT Francis Bacon, Operum Moralium et Civilium Tomus , ed. Guilielmi Rawley (London: Richardum Whitakerum, 1638) DAS De augmentis scientiarum AL Advancement of Learning IM The Instauratio magna , as published in 1620 NO Novum organum Resuscitatio Resuscitatio, Or, Bringing Into Publick Light Severall Pieces, of the Works, Civil, Historical, Philosophical, & Theological, Hitherto Sleeping, of the Right Honourable Francis Bacon Baron of Verulam, Viscount St. Alban , ed. by William Rawley (London: Sarah Griffin for William Lee, 1657) Baconiana Francis Bacon, Viscount of Verulam, Two or More Works, Baconiana, or certaine genuine remains of Sr Francis Bacon (London: J. D. For Richard Chiswell, 1679) Farrington Benjamin Farrington, The Philosophy of Francis Bacon, an essay on its development from 1603 to 1609, with new translations of fundamental texts (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1964) Institutes Jean Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion , trans. by 8 Henry Beveridge, 2 vols (London: James Clarke, 1953) NLS MS Bacon NLS Adv. MS 33.1.7 vol 22, item 11. Francis Bacon to to James, 1620 James I, Oct. 12, 1620 The Bible Biblical citations, unless indicated otherwise, are all from The Bible: Authorized King James Version with Apocrypha , ed. by Robert Carroll and Stephen Pickett, (Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 1997) OED Oxford English Dictionary , 20 vols, 2nd edn (Clarendon Press: Oxford, 1989) DNB Dictionary of National Biography , 63 vols, (London: Smith, Elder, 1885-1900) EEBO Early English Books Online at http://eebo.chadwyck.com/home JSTOR Journal Storage at http://www.jstor.org BL The British Library LPL Lambeth Palace Library PRO National Archives, Kew NLS National Library of Scotland Instauration, Instauratio and Instauratio magna Bacon utilized the term ‘Instauration’ to mean a number of different things, and in order to avoid confusion, I shall refer to these as follows: Instauratio magna : this will refer solely to the volume published in 1620 which contains the Distributio operis , Novum organum , the Parasceve ad historiam naturalem , and the Catalogus historiarum particularium as found in OFB , XI. This is the volume which is routinely and incorrectly termed Novum organum . Instauratio : this will refer to the print event itself – the intended publication of works which fall into the Six-part plan outlined in the Distributio operis , and of which Novum organum was a partial fulfilment of Part II, the Historia experimentalis was the beginning of the fulfilment of Part II, and so forth (see 9 OFB , XI, pp.
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