When the sheets of the present edition had passed through the prefs, the annotated edition of Archbishop Whately made its appearance; here the Effays of Bacon form a very disproportionate part of a large octavo volume, the Archbishop having taken them as texts or hints for long differtations and extracts from his own writings: the Antitheta, which I have only referred to, are appended to each Effay on the same subject; but the most extraordinary feature in the volume is a running verbal commentary, furnished by a friend, in which the commoneft words, fuch as every reader of English must be presumed to be acquainted with, are explained, with citations of other authors who have used the word. The writer of these notes has manifested on the very first page his deficiency in at least one of the requifites for the office he has undertaken, by the following note: "Impofe upon. To lay a reftraint upon. Bacon's Latin original is cogitationibus imponitur captivitas." Now nothing is more certain than that the Latin tranflation was not the original, or written by Bacon, a fact which a commentator on him ought to have known. But, indeed, the English of Bacon rarely requires a note; it is remarkably lucid and free from archaisms and obfolete forms of expreffion. Archbishop Whately remarks, that Bacon is especially in his Essays, one of the most suggestive authors that ever wrote;" and it has been urged that this is a good argument against the neceffity of a commentary; for, "the cultivated readers of Bacon do not want expanfions of an author whose compactness and fulness are his greateft charms; and that it is doing mischief to those who would find in this fuggeftiveness, if left to themselves, a valuable mental discipline." In preparing the following edition, the chief point has been to give, by a careful collation of the author's own edition a more correct text than is to be found in most of those hitherto publifhed. The notes are principally confined to point out the references to the principal quotations; much had been done by Mr. Markby, and by two correspondents of that useful periodical, "Notes and Queries.' These have, of course, been made available with fome additions and corrections. THE WISDOM OF THE ANCIENTS. THIS interefting little work was most probably written as a relaxation from his more abstruse speculations it was compofed in Latin, and firft published four years after he had put forth his Two Books of the Advancement of Learning, under this title: "Francifci Baconi Equitis Aurati Procuratoris Secundi, Jacobi Regis Magnæ Britanniæ, De Sapientia Veterum Liber, ad Inclytam Academiam Cantabrigienfem." Befide the addrefs to the Univerfity of Cambridge it was dedicated to Robert Cecil in the following terms :-"Illuftriffimo Viro Comiti Sarisburienfi Summo Thefaurario Angliæ, et Cancellario Academiæ Cantabrigienfis.-Quæ Academiæ Cantabrigienfis dicantur, tibi jure Cancellarii accrefcunt; quæ autem me proficifci poffunt omnia, tibi nomine proprio debentur. Illud magis videndum, num ista, ut tibi debita, ita etiam te digna fint.-Atque quod in illis minimum eft (Ingenium Authoris) id propter tuum propenfum in me animum, nihil officiet; cætera dedecori non erunt. Nam fi Tempus fpectetur ; Antiquitas primæva fummum venerationem habet: fi docendi Forma; Parabola veluti Arca quædam eft, in quâ pretiofiffima quæque fcientiarum reponi confueverunt. Si operis Materia; ea Philosophia est, vitæ scilicet, atque animæ humanæ, Decus fecundum. Fas fit enim dixiffe, quamvis, Philofophia, feculo noftro veluti per Senium repuerafcens, adolescentibus, et ferè pueris relinquatur: eam tamen omnium rerum, poft religionem, graviffimam, atque naturâ humanâ maxime dignam effe planè cenfeo. Etiam Politicâ, in quâ te mirabile præbes, et facultate, et meritis, et fapientiffimi Regis judicio, ab eodem fonte emanat, ejusque pars magna eft. Quod fi cui ifta, quæ affero, vulgata esse videantur: certe quid effecerim, judicium meum non est; id tamen fecutus fum, ut manifefta, et obsoleta, et Locos communes prætervectus, aliquid etiam, ad Vitæ ardua, Scientiarum Arcana conferam. Erunt itaque captui vulgari, vulgaria: altiorem autem intellectum fortaffe non deferent, fed potiùs (ut spero) deducent: Verum dum huic operi, dignitatem nonnullam aftruere conor, quod ad te dicatum fit; periculum eft, ne modeftiæ fines tranfeam, cum à me fit fufceptum. Tu verò illud tanquam pignus affectus erga te mei, et obfervantiæ, et animi maximè devoti accipies, eique præfidium nominis tui im perties. Quare cum tot et tanta fuftineas, tempora tua diutius non morabor, fed finem faciam, tibi fœlicia omnia comprecatus, et perpetuò futurus. Tibi et ftudio fuo, et beneficiis tuis devinctiffimus, FRA. BACONUS." In February, 1610, Lord Bacon, upon sending this book to Sir Toby Mathew thus writes: "Mr. Mathew,-I do very heartily thank you for your letter of the 24th of Auguft, from Salamanca; and, in recompence, therefore, I fend you a little work of mine that hath begun to pass the world. They tell me my Latin is turned into Silver, and become current: had you been here, you should have been my Inquifitor before it came forth; but I think the greatest Inquifitor in Spain will allow it. But one thing you must pardon me, if I make no hafte to beleeve that the world should be grown to such an exftacy as to reject Truth in Philofophy, because the author diffenteth in Religion, no more than they do by Ariftotle or Averroes. My great work goeth forward, and after my manner, I alter even when I add; fo that nothing is finished till all be finished. This I have written in the midft of a Term and Parliament, thinking no time fo poffeffed, but that I fhould talk of these matters with so good and dear a Friend. And fo, with my wonted wishes, I leave you to God's goodness. From Gray's Inn, Feb. 27, 1610." He had glanced at the fubject when he wrote his Advancement of Learning-thus : "There remaineth yet another Use of Poesy parabolical, oppofite to that which we laft mentioned: for that tendeth to demonstrate and illuftrate that which is taught or delivered, and this other to retire and obfcure it: that is, when the Secrets and Mysteries of Religion, Policy, or Philosophy, are involved in Fables or Parables. Of this in Divine Poefy we see the Ufe is authorized. In Heathen Poefy we see the expofition of Fables doth fall out sometimes with great felicity; as in the Fable that the Giants being overthrown in their War against the Gods, the Earth, their Mother, in revenge thereof brought forth Fame: "Illam Terra parens, irâ irritata Deorum, Extremam, ut perhibent, Cao Enceladoque fororem Expounded, that when Princes and Monarchies have fuppreffed actual and open Rebels, then the Malignity of the People, which is the Mother of Rebellion, doth bring forth Libels and Slanders, and Taxations, of the State, which is of the fame kind with Rebellion, but more feminine. So in the Fable, that the rest of the Gods having conspired to bind Jupiter, Pallas called Briareus with his hundred hands to his aid; expounded, that Monarchies need not fear any curbing of their Absoluteness by mighty Subjects, as long as by Wisdom they keep the Hearts of the People, who will be fure to come in on their fide. So in the Fable, that Achilles was brought up under Chiron the |