New Atlantis
by Francis Bacon (1561–1626)
- Free to read
- 1 hour to read
- 2 chapters
- Reading level: 8th & 9th grade
"New Atlantis" by Francis Bacon is a utopian novel published posthumously in 1626. A European crew loses their way in the Pacific and discovers Bensalem, a mythical island where Christian piety meets scientific ambition. At its heart stands Salomon's House, a state-sponsored research institution dedicated to understanding nature's secrets and expanding human knowledge. Through encounters with the island's chaste, enlightened inhabitants, the visitors glimpse Bacon's vision for humanity's future—a society where systematic inquiry and moral virtue combine to achieve "the effecting of all things possible."
- Utopias · Early works to 1800
Read the opening
The New Atlantis
We sailed from Peru, (where we had continued for the space of one whole year) for China and Japan, by the South Sea; taking with us victuals for twelve months; and had good winds from the east, though soft and weak, for five months space, and more. But the wind came about, and settled in the west for many days, so as we could make little or no way, and were sometime in purpose to turn back. But then again there arose strong and great winds from the south, with a point east, which carried us up (for all that we could do) towards the north; by which time our victuals failed us, though we had made good spare of them. So that finding ourselves, in the midst of the greatest wilderness of waters in the world, without victuals, we gave ourselves for lost men and prepared for death. Yet we did lift up our hearts and voices to God above, who showeth his wonders in the deep, beseeching him of his mercy, that as in the beginning he discovered the face of the deep, and brought forth dry land, so he would now discover land to us, that we might not perish.
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About this edition
This free edition of New Atlantis by Francis Bacon comes from Project Gutenberg eBook #2434, released 2000-12-01. It is in the public domain in the United States, so you can read it here in full at no cost, on any phone, tablet or computer. Genre: Science-Fiction & Fantasy, Novels, Classics of Literature.
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