"we should therefore make a slight judgment, 66 upon them but contrariwise because it is clear, "that the writings which recite those fables, of all "the writings of men, next to sacred writ, are the "most ancient; and that the fables themselves are far more ancient than they (being they are alleged by those writers, not as excogitated by them, but "as credited and recepted before) seem to be, "like a thin rarified air, which from the traditions "of more ancient nations, fell into the flutes of the "Grecians." This tract seems, in former times, to have been much valued, for the same reason, perhaps, which Bacon assigns for the currency of the Essays; "because they are like the late new half-pence, which, though the silver is good, yet the pieces are small.” Of this tract, Archbishop Tenison in his Baconiana, says, "In the seventh place, I may reckon his book "De Sapientia Veterum, written by him in Latin, "and set forth a second time with enlargement;† and "translated into English by Sir Arthur Georges: a “book in which the sages of former times are ren❝dered more wise than it may be they were, by so "dextrous an interpreter of their fables. It is this "book which Mr. Sandys means, in those words which " he hath put before his notes, on the Metamor'Of modern writers, I have phosis of Ovid. *See page vii of preface to Vol. I. + In the year 1617, in Latin. It was published in Italian in 1618-in French in 1619. "received the greatest light from Geraldus, Pontanus, Ficinus, Vives, Comes, Scaliger, Sabinus, Pierius, "and the crown of the latter, the Viscount of St. "Albans.' 66 "It is true, the design of this book was instruc❝tion in natural and civil matters, either couched by the ancients under those fictions, or rather "made to seem to be so by his lordship's wit, in the "opening and applying of them. But because the "first ground of it is poetical story, therefore let it "have this place, till a fitter be found for it." The author of Bacon's Life, in the Biographia Britannica, says," that he might relieve himself a little " from the severity of these studies, and as it were "amuse himself with erecting a magnificent pavi"lion, while his great palace of philosophy was "building, he composed and sent abroad in 1610, "his celebrated treatise Of the Wisdom of the An66 cients, in which he shewed that none had studied "them more closely, was better acquainted with "their beauties, or had pierced deeper into their meaning. There have been very few books published, either in this or in any other nation, which " either deserved or met with more general applause "than this, and scarce any that are like to retain it longer, for in this performance, Sir Francis Bacon 66 66 66 gave a singular proof of his capacity to please all parties in literature, as in his political conduct he "stood fair with all the parties in the nation. The "admirers of antiquity were charmed with this discourse, which seems expressly calculated to justify 66 "their admiration; and, on the other hand, their opposites were no less pleased with a piece, from "which they thought they could demonstrate, that "the sagacity of a modern genius, had found out "much better meanings for the ancients, than ever were meant by them." 66 And Mallet, in his Life of Bacon, says, "In "1610 he published another treatise, entitled "Of the Wisdom of the Ancients. This work "bears the same stamp of an original and in"ventive genius with his other performances. 66 Resolving not to tread in the steps of those who "had gone before him, men, according to his own "expression, not learned beyond certain common places, he strikes out a new tract for himself, and "enters into the most secret recesses of this wild "and shadowy region, so as to appear new on a "known and beaten subject. Upon the whole, if "we cannot bring ourselves readily to believe that "there is all the physical, moral, and political mean 66 ing veiled under those fables of antiquity, which "he has discovered in them, we must own that it 66 required no common penetration to be mistaken "with so great an appearance of probability on his "side. Though it still remains doubtful whether "the ancients were so knowing as he attempts to "shew they were, the variety and depth of his own knowledge are, in that very attempt, unquestion"able." 66 In the year 1619, this tract was translated by Sir Arthur Georges. Prefixed to the work are two letters; the one to the Earl of Salisbury, the other to the University of Cambridge, which Georges omits, and dedicates his translation to the High and Illustrious Princess the Lady Elizabeth of Great Britain, Duchess of Baviare, Countess Palatine of Rheine, and Chief Electress of the Empire. As this translation was published during the life of Lord Bacon, by a great admirer of his works, and as it is noticed by Archbishop Tenison, I have inserted it in this volume. I am not certain that I have done right, as it is my intention, with the translation of all the works, to publish a new translation of these fables; for which I am indebted to a member of the University of Oxford, who has lately so eminently distinguished himself for his classical attainments, and who will I trust forgive this expression of my affectionate respect for his virtuous exertions. It would be grateful to me to say more. § 2. CIVIL HISTORY. At an early period of his life, Bacon was impressed with the importance of a History of England from the union of the Roses to the union of the Kingdoms. In the Advancement of Learning, published in 1605, he says, " But for modern histories,* "whereof there are some few very worthy, but the 66 greatest part beneath mediocrity, leaving the care "of foreign stories to foreign states, because I will "not be curiosus in aliena republica,' I cannot fail * See vol 11. page 110. 66 ، 66 66 "to represent to your majesty, the unworthiness of "the history of England in the main continuance "thereof, and the partiality and obliquity of that of Scotland, in the latest and largest author that I "have seen; supposing that it would be honour for your majesty, and a work very memorable, if this "island of Great Brittany, as it is now joined in monarchy for the ages to come: so were joined in one history for the times passed, after the manner "of the sacred history, which draweth down the story of the ten tribes, and of the two tribes, as "twins together. And if it shall seem that the greatness of this work may make it less exactly performed, there is an excellent period of a much "smaller compass of time, as to the story of England, that is to say, from the uniting of the roses, "to the uniting of the kingdoms; a portion of time "wherein, to my understanding, there hath been "the rarest varieties that in like number of succes❝sions of any hereditary monarchy hath been known: "for it beginneth with the mixed adoption of a crown by arms and title; an entry by battle, an esta"blishment by marriage: and therefore times an"swerable, like waters after a tempest, full of work 66 66 66 66 ing and swelling, though without extremity of "storm; but well passed through by the wisdom of "the pilot, being one of the most sufficient kings of "of all the number. Then followeth the reign of a king, whose actions, howsoever conducted, had "much intermixture with the affairs of Europe, balancing and inclining them variably; in whose "time also began that great alteration in the state |