Francis Bacon, the great English philosopher, lawyer, scientist, and statesman, is also remembered as a formidable writer of prose. These 58 essays are his greatest literary legacy. Bacon's education was grounded in the classical texts of ancient Greece and Rome, but his writings bring clarity and color to the dry scholasticism of medieval learning. Among his lofty subjects are truth, death, nobility, travel, marriage, health, riches, beauty, negotiating, ambition, and gardens. Rather than merely summarizing popular philosophy, Bacon attempted to change the shape of other men's minds, and there is little doubt that many minds have been persuaded by these eloquent essays.