in another half year, when unhappily about the end of 1849 he was seized with a rheumatic fever, which left him in a condition of body quite incompatible with a labour of that kind. At which time, though the greater portion was in fact done, he did not consider any of it fit to be published as it was; many blanks having been left to be filled up, and some doubtful notes to be corrected, in that general revision which the whole was to have undergone before any part were printed. It was long before he could finally resolve to abandon his task. As soon as he had done so, he handed all his papers over to me, with permission to do with them whatever I thought best. And hence it is that my name appears in connexion with the Philosophical works; with hich otherwise I should not have presumed to meddle.

As soon however as I had arranged and examined his papers, I felt that, however imperfect they might be compared with his own ideal and with what he would himself have made them, they must on no account be touched by anybody else; for that if any other man were allowed to make alterations in them, without notice, according to his own judgment, the reader could have no means of knowing when he was reading the words of Mr. Ellis and when those of his editor, and so their peculiar value would be lost. Perfect or imperfect, it was clear to me that they must be kept as he left them, clear of all alien infusion; and

this I

not knowing of any one who was likely to take so much interest or able to spend so much time in the matter as myself, I proposed to take his part into my own hands and edit it; provided only that I might print his notes and prefaces exactly as I found them; explaining the circumstances which had prevented him from completing or revising them, but making no alteration whatever (unless of errors obviously accidental which I might perhaps meet with in verifying any of the numerous references and quotations) without his express sanction. That the text should be carefully printed from the proper authorities, and all the bibliographical information supplied which was necessary to make the edition in that respect complete, thought I might venture to promise. And although I could not undertake to meddle with purely scientific questions, for which I have neither the acquirements nor the faculties requisite, or to bring any stores of learning, ancient or modern, to bear upon the various subjects of inquiry, although I had no means, I say, of supplying what he had left to be done in those departments, and must therefore be content to leave the work so far imperfect, yet in all matters which lay within my compass I promised to do my best to complete the illustration and explanation of the text; adding where I had anything to add, objecting where I had anything to object, but always distinguishing as my own whatever was not his.

To this proposal he agreed, as the best course that

could be taken in the circumstances. Early in 1853 I took the work in hand; and in the three volumes which follow, the reader will find the result.

The things then for which in this division I am to be held responsible are

1st. All notes and prefaces marked with my initials, and all words inserted between brackets, or otherwise distinguished as mine.

2dly. The general distribution of the Philosophical works into three parts, whereby all those writings which were either published or intended for publication by Bacon himself as parts of the Great Instauration are (for the first time, I believe) exhibited separately, and distinguished as well from the independent and collateral pieces which did not form part of the main scheme, as from those which, though originally designed for it, were afterwards superseded or abandoned.

3dly. The particular arrangement of the several pieces within each part; which is intended to be according to the order in which they were composed;

a point however which is in most cases very difficult to ascertain.

For the grounds on which I have proceeded in each case, and for whatever else in my part of the work requires explanation, I refer to the places. But there are two or three particulars in which this edition differs from former ones, and which may be more conveniently explained here.

In the third and last division of the entire works, according to the scheme already explained, every authentic writing and every intelligibly reported speech of Bacon's (not belonging to either of the other divisions) which can be found in print or in manuscript will be set forth at full length, each in its due chronological place; with an explanatory narrative running` between, in which the reader will be supplied to the best of my skill and knowledge with all the information necessary to the right understanding of them. In doing this, since the pieces in question are very numerous, and scattered with few and short intervals over the whole of Bacon's life, I shall have to enter very closely into all the particulars of it; so that this part when finished will in fact contain a complete biography of the man, a biography the most copious, the most minute, and by the very necessity of the case the fairest, that I can produce; for any material misinterpretation in the commentary will be at once confronted and corrected by the text. The new matter which I shall be able to produce is neither little nor unimportant; but more important than the new matter is the new aspect which (if I may judge of other minds by my own) will be imparted to the old matter by this manner of setting it forth. I have generally found that the history of an obscure transaction becomes clear as soon as the simple facts are set down in the order of their true dates; and most of the difficulties presented by Bacon's life will be found to disappear

when these simple records of it are read in their natural sequence and in their true relation to the business of the time. By this means a great deal of controversy which would disturb and encumber the narrative, and help to keep alive the memory of much ignorant and superficial criticism which had better be forgotten, will I hope be avoided. And until this is done I do not think it desirable to attempt a summary biography in the ordinary form. Such a biography may be easily added, if necessary, in a supplemental volume; but I am persuaded that the best which could be written now would be condemned afterwards as altogether unsatisfactory.

It is true however, that a reader, before entering on the study of an author's works, wants to know something about himself and his life. Now there exists a short memoir of Bacon, which was drawn up by Dr. Rawley in 1657 to satisfy this natural desire, and prefixed to the Resuscitatio, and is still (next to Bacon's own writings) the most important and authentic evidence concerning him that we possess. The origin of Dr. Rawley's connexion with Bacon is not known, but it must have begun early. It was in special compliment to Bacon that he was presented on the 18th of January, 1616-17, (being then 28 years old,) to the rectory of Landbeach; a living in the gift of Benet's College, Cambridge.1 Shortly after, Bacon becoming

1" Ad quam præsentatus fuit per honorand. virum Franciscum Bacon mil. Regiæ maj. advocatum generalem, ejusdem vicaria [rectoriæ] pro hac