Of Nobility
by
Francis Bacon
(Summary)
Bacon throws light on the types and the
qualities of nobility. They are ‘monarchy’ and ‘democracy’. He uses the word
‘nobility’ to mean both ‘nobleness of character’ and ‘the aristocracy’. For
him, a monarchy without nobility is an absolute tyranny. The nobility works as
a check on the sovereign, but it also shields the sovereign from insolence. In
Switzerland, and the Low Countries, both utility and equality are more
important than honour. Switzerland is not united by respect, and not by
religion, but by their mutual utility. The Low Countries have great government.
They have equality which makes paying taxes more enjoyable. The nobility brings
majesty to a monarch, at the cost of some power. The nobility brings spirit to
the people, at the cost of some wealth. The best nobility is one under the sovereign
and under justice, but above the common people. In this position, they are a
buffer between monarch and subjects and their insolence. There should not be
too many nobles, for to maintain nobility is expensive. Also, once some nobles
become poor, wealth and honour are no longer proportionate.
Additionally,
the nobility seldom works, but envies those who do. In order to rise up into
the nobility, one needs to be both good and evil. But over time, their virtues
will be remembered, their faults forgotten. New nobles are the result of power,
but old nobles can only be the result of time. There is something beautiful about
an old noble family which survived the centuries. A monarch with able noble persons
should make use of them. People usually follow the nobility; it is as if they were
born to command. But the matter is different in a democracy. Here, the nobility
is unnecessary, while it brings some spirit, it is quite costly. In a democracy,
people consider less the other person and their status than they do business,
and if they consider the other person, it is primarily with regard to business.
Bacon says, ‘A monarchy, where there is no nobility at all, is ever a pure and
absolute tyranny; as that of Turks’. He means that if you are going to have a
monarch, you must have an aristocracy to balance that powerful individual or
they have no restraints. ‘But for democracies, they need it (noble class) not;
and they are commonly quieter, and less subject to sedition, than where there
are strips of nobles’.
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