PREFACE. THE history of Henry the Eighth was undertaken by desire of Prince Charles, to whom the history of Henry the Seventh was dedicated. The undertaking did not suit very well with Bacon's plans at that time; for it must have been a long business, owing to the quantity of original letters and other documents that had been preserved and must have been consulted, and he was now anxious to make the most of his time in pushing on his philosophical inquiries. He seems to have entered upon it without appetite and proceeded somewhat reluctantly. He had some difficulty also in obtaining free use of the requisite materials. Answering a letter from Tobie Matthew (then with the Prince and Buckingham in Spain) dated 26th of June, 1623, he writes, "Since you say the Prince hath not forgotten his commandment touching my history of Henry the Eighth, I may not forget my duty. But I find Sir Robert Cotton, who poured forth what he had in my former work, somewhat dainty of his materials in this." And in sending the Prince a copy of the De Augmentis Scientiarum, then newly published (22nd of October, 1623), he says, "For Henry the Eighth, to deal truly with your Highness, I did so despair of my health this summer, as I was glad to choose some such work as I might compass within days: so far was I from entering into any work of length." How far he proceeded in gathering materials, or at what time this opening paragraph was written, we are not informed. But we know from Dr. Rawley that this was all he ever did of it. It was published by Dr. Rawley in 1629, in a small volume entitled "Certain Miscellany works of the Right Hon. Francis Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban." But I have preferred to take the text from a manuscript copy in the British Museum (additional MSS. 5503, f. 120 b.): which I suspect to be a more original authority. |