Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 02.djvu/376

 Hudibras, by way of Supplement to the two Editions published in the years 1744 and 1745, by Zachary Grey, LL.D. To which is prefixed a Dissertation upon Burlesque Poetry by the late learned and ingenious Montagu Bacon, Esq. And an Appendix, in which is a Translation of Part of the first Canto into Latin Doggrel,' 8vo, London, 1752.



BACON, NATHANIEL (fl. 1640), painter, was the seventh son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, the first baronet created by James I; who, again, was eldest son of Sir Nicholas, the lord keeper. Walpole confounds the painter with his uncle. Sir Nathaniel of Stiffkey [see, ad fin.], half-brother of Sir Francis, afterwards lord chancellor, who was sheriff of Norfolk in 1599, and knighted in 1604. The nephew entered Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, in 1621, and graduated M.A. in 1628. He lived at Culford, in Suffolk, on an estate given to him by his father. There is a monument to him in the church there, and one to his wife, Jane Meautys, the widow of Sir William Cornwallis. He is there described as 'well skilled in the history of plants, and in delineating them with his pencil.' Walpole speaks of him as having 'really attained the perfection of a master.' He studied painting in Italy, but his style was rather Flemish than Italian. In Walpole's time there were works of his to be seen at Culford, where he lived, and at Gorhambury. At the latter place is a 'Cookmaid with dead fowls,' painted 'with great nature,' and a much-admired portrait of himself. The latter is engraved in the 'Anecdotes' of Walpole. He painted a 'Ceres' and a 'Hercules,' and left some paintings at Redgrave Hall, Suffolk, his father's seat. In a note to Walpole is a recipe for the preparation of a particular 'browne-pinke' colour used by the said Nathaniel, which was 'so very good' that a certain painter, 'P. Oliver, did highly commend it, and used none other to his dyinge day, wherewith, and with Indian lake, he made sure expressions of those deep and glowing shadows in those histories he copied after Titian, that no painting should appear more warm and fleshy than those of his hand'! He was created a knight of the Bath at the coronation of Charles I, and was living in 1648 (Wills at Bury St. Edmunds, ed. S. Tymms, Camden Soc. p. 216). He had three children, of whom Nicholas and Jane died unmarried, and Anne, his heiress, married, firstly, her cousin. Sir Thomas Meautys, and secondly. Sir Harbottle Grimston. From this second marriage are descended the earls of Verulam, the owners of the famous Gorhambury estate.



BACON, NATHANIEL (1593–1660), puritan, was the third son of Edward Bacon of Shrubland Hall, Suffolk, son of lord keeper Bacon by his first wife, and half-brother of the great Francis Bacon [see, ad fin.]. Nathaniel Bacon was bred to the bar and admitted of Gray's Inn 16 Aug.1611, of which he became ultimately a bencher. He was called to the bar 2 Aug. 1617, and for some time after resided in Essex, and was one of the commission of the peace for that county. Removing to Ipswich he was elected in 1643 recorder of that town, and is said to have been at one time recorder of Bury St. Edmunds also. From the commencement of the struggle between Charles I and the Long parliament he was a zealous adherent of the parliament. He is said to have acted as chairman of the central committee, sitting at Cambridge, of the seven associated counties known as the Eastern Association, formed for common defence against the royalist forces. Certainly he was one of the most active members of the committee for Suffolk. Cromwell began his military career by co-operating with this Eastern Association, and Bacon may have thus early attracted his notice and gained his regard. In November 1645 Bacon was sent to the Long parliament as one of the members for Cambridge University on the occurrence of a vacancy in its representation. In 1647 appeared the work to which he owes his reputation, 'An Historical Discovery of the Uniformity of the Government of England; the first part from the first times till the reign of Edward III.' A 'Continuation &hellip; until the end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, with a preface, being a vindication of the ancient way of parliaments in England,' was not published until 1651. With his brother Francis he represented Ipswich in the two protectorate parliaments of Oliver Cromwell, in Richard