Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume II.djvu/221

BACKHUYSEN BACON 201 the latter even has all the men out of his first table, to " backgammon " him. BACKHl'YSEN, or Bakhnysen, Lndolf, a Dutch marine painter, born at Emden in 1681. died in Amsterdam in 1709. While a merchant's clerk in Amsterdam his fondness for shipping led him frequently to the port, where he made admirable drawings. He went out to sea dur- ing storms, and on landing immediately trans- ferred his impressions to canvas. The czar Peter frequently visited Backhuysen's studio, and endeavored to make drawings of vessels which the artist had designed. His most cele- brated sea picture, with a multitude of vessels, and a view of Amsterdam in the distance, is in the Louvre, together with seven other pictures ; by him. His grandson, of the same name, a I merchant and soldier, and finally a painter of horses and battles, born Aug. 29, 1717, died in Rotterdam, April 16, 1782. BACKUS, Isaae, an American Baptist clergy- man, born at Norwich, Conn., in 1724, died Nov. 20, 1806. He left the Congregational church for the Separatists, derisively styled "New Lights," a secession from the "standing order " on grounds connected with controver- sies that grew out of the great revival under Edwards and Whitefield. The Separatists largely sympathized with the Baptists, among whom Mr. Backus became a leader. To his exertions the Baptist denomination in Amer- ica is largely indebted for its prosperity. He was sent in 1774 as an agent to claim from congress, then in session in Philadel- phia, the same liberties for the Baptist that were accorded to other churches. In his wri- tings upon the constitution of the church he advocated the entire separation of the church from the state. He was one of the most volu- minous of American Baptist writers, and left a valuable history of that denomination, of which a new edition, edited by the Rev. David Wes- ton, was published in 1871, under the auspices of the "Backus Historical Society." BACLGR D'ALBE, Lonis Albert Ghislain, baron de, a French painter, born at St. Pol, Oct. 21, 1762, died at Sevres, Sept. 12, 1824. He is celebrated for his views of Swiss scenery, re- markable for a knowledge of natural history and topography. He fought at Arcola, and his ! picture of that battle is regarded as his mas- ! ter-work. He accompanied Napoleon in many ! campaigns, sketching the movements of the , troops. His illustrated works comprise Souve- j airs pittoresques of Switzerland, of the Italian and Spanish campaigns, and of Paris and its en- virons. He also painted classical subjects. He was appointed brigadier general in 1813, and (subsequently director of the war depots in Paris, but lost this office in 1815. BACOLOR, a town of the Philippines, capital of the province of Pampanga in the island of Luzon, about 38 m. N. W. of Manila, near the Pampanga river; pop. about 8,500. During the British occupation of Manila (l762-'4) it was the capital of the Philippine Islands. BACOJV, Anne, the mother of Lord Bacon, born about 1528, died in 1600. She was the second daughter of Sir Anthony Cooke, tutor of Ed- ward VI., who imparted to her and her three sisters (respectively married to Lord Burleigh, Sir John Russell, and Sir Henry Killigrew) a remarkable degree of classical and theological learning. She prepared excellent translations of Bishop Jewell's Apologia and of Ochinus's 14 Italian sermons. Beza dedicated his " Medi- tations " to her, and she was regarded as one of the most accomplished and pious women of her day. She became the second wife of Sir Nicholas Bacon, to whom she bore two chil- dren, Anthony and the celebrated Francis. BACON, Francis, Viscount St. Albans and Baron Verulam, an English philosopher and lord chancellor, born at York house, in the Strand, London, Jan. 22, 1561, died at High- gate, April 9, 1626. He was the youngest son of Sir Nicholas Bacon. Early in life he gave signs of great fertility of talent. His health was exceedingly delicate, so that he was often af- fected to fainting by slight atmospheric changes. This constitutional infirmity accompanied him even to his latest days. Nothing is known of the process of his education, except that, as both his parents were learned persons, in the highest walks of life, he must have been early accustomed to study, and he did not miss the lessons of the courtly society by which he was surrounded. When Queen Elizabeth asked him, yet a child, how old he was, he replied, "Two years younger than your majesty's happy reign." In his llth year he speculated on the laws of the imagination. A year later he was sent to Trinity college, Cambridge, where he was matriculated at the same time with his brother Anthony, June 10, 1573. As a student he was diligent and laborious, but thought for himself, and before he was 16 had already con- ceived a dislike for the philosophy of Aristotle, still greatly in vogue at the university. " They learn nothing at the universities," he afterward said, in the "Praise of Knowledge," "but to believe. They are like a becalmed ship ; they never move but by the wind of other men's breath, and have no oars of their own to steer withal." Some years after he quitted Cam- bridge he published a tract on the defects of universities, in which, after having premised that colleges were established for the communi- cation of the knowledge of our predecessors, he proposed that a college be appropriated to the discovery of new truth, " to mix, like a living spring, with the stagnant waters." These sen- timents he adhered to all his life, for in his will he endowed two lectures, in either of the uni- versities, " by a lecturer, whether stranger or English, provided he is not professed in divin- ity, law, or physic." And in one of his latest works, the unfinished philosophical romance called "New Atlantis," he developed at consid- erable length the idea of a college for the "in- terpreting of nature," under the name of the " college of the six days' works." At the close