Gray’s Inn is paying tribute to an illustrious former member, 400 years after his death. Sir Francis Bacon was one of the most influential figures in British intellectual history and a lawyer whose life and career were deeply intertwined with the inn of court where he felt most at home.
At a dinner in hall tonight, Professor Alan Stewart (pictured) — one of the leading experts on the former lord chancellor’s multifaceted achievements — will be speaking about Bacon’s lifelong association with the inn that he joined in 1576 and where he was living shortly before his death 50 years later.
Stewart, a professor of literature in New York, kindly agreed to share some of his thoughts with me for the latest episode of A Lawyer Talks. He argued that Bacon could properly be regarded as a true Renaissance man. I suggested that his willingness to accept favours and his attempts to live above his means made him sound surprisingly modern.
Readers may remember that I previewed tonight’s celebration of the inn’s former treasurer (elected head) in a short film earlier this year. That’s still free to view:
My podcast interview, as always, is a bonus for paying subscribers to A Lawyer Writes. But others can hear a short taster by clicking the ► symbol on the graphic at the top of this page.
