"Counsels" are advices/prescriptions, and Bacon's Essays--published in three volumes--are indeed prescriptive and of advisory nature. These brief but compact pieces were born out of the varied entries in Bacon's Commonplace Books that he used during his programme called "Instauratio Magna." Written in a terse, epigrammatic language, Bacon's Essays were meant for the young diplomats and courtiers who used to hold Bacon in a very high esteem.
Bacon's Essays deal with a wide variety of subjects--"civil" and "moral," that is to say, subjects relating to civil/social/secular domains of life, and subjects relating to moral/ethical/spiritual domains of life. Just a passing look at the table of contents affirms this: Studies, Travel, Love, Death, Empire, Truth and so on.
Bacon is always precise, organised, his Essays being prescriptions, nevertheless full of wisdom and expertise. These pieces, modelled on Montaigne's essays, have proved the effectiveness of Bacon's prose beyond doubt.
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