HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY 45*310 PREFACE. IN this volume are combined with the world-famous Essays of Lord Bacon his summary of learning as it was in his day-its then possessions and its needs-a treatise which awoke the learned of Europe to an earnest desire of improvement, and widely extended the reign of knowledge; his Wisdom of the Ancients, in which he finds a new and remarkably ingenious sense (chiefly political) in the myths of the old world; his Atlantis, a dream of a new world; his Life of Henry VII. and historical fragments. The Editor is indebted to Mr. Wright's edition for the reference to St. Augustine (p. 2, note 2), aid for a reference to Juvenal in Essay 2, p. 4, note 5. The Scripture references are always given, as they vary from our own translation, being taken from the Vulgate. Our present Bible was published only in 1611, while the Essays appeared (1st edition) in 1597, and the Advancement of Learning in 1605. Slight differences in the translation therefore appear, which make reference to both versions desirable; the Douay Bible is referred to as the translation of the Latin Vulgate. A large glossary has been added to the volume for those who may wish to know the exact meaning of all Bacon's words, though, like Shakespeare, he is always intelligible by the context. ORNAMENTA RATIONALIA: OR ELEGANT SENTENCES SHORT NOTES FOR CIVIL CONVERSATION A COLLECTION OF APOPHTHEGMS, NEW AND OLD THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN OF KING HENRY THE SEVENTH A BRIEF MEMOIR OF LORD BACON. FRANCIS BACON was born January 22, 1560 (old style), at York House, which stood at the end of Buckingham Street, Strand, on the banks of the Thames. One last vestige of it is still to be seen : the fine water gate by Inigo Jones, which still stands by the gardens of the Embankment. He was the youngest son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, the first Lord Keeper of the Seals invested with the dignity and power of a Lord Chancellor. Sir Nicholas was a learned and excellent man, of remarkable prudence and integrity. Bacon's mother (Ann Cooke) was also a woman of remarkable intelligence. She was the daughter of Sir Anthony Cooke, who had been preceptor to Edward VI., and who was celebrated for his ability as a classical scholar. His daughter shared the erudition which the ladies of her period possessed; could read Greek, and ably translated from the Latin Bishop Jewel's Apology for the Church of England. She also spoke and wrote well both Italian and French. Her sons were worthy of her. Anthony, though not possessed of his brother's genius, appears to have been a clever and very excellent person; morally, perhaps Bacon's superior. Francis gave early signs of his future turn for philosophical research. He broke his drums and trumpets "to look for the sound"; he left some ordinary out-of-door sport to discover the cause of an echo ; and at twelve years old, Macaulay tells us, "he busied himself with ingenious speculations on the art of legerdemain." Sir Nicholas Bacon was a favourite with Queen Elizabeth. His son relates that when Queen Elizabeth came to his house at Gormanbury, she exclaimed-very rudely, we should say "My lord, what a little house you have gotten!" Madam," replied the Lord Keeper, "my house is well; but it is you that have made me too great for my house." 66 The Queen distinguished the Lord Keeper's gifted boy by her especial notice, and asked him various questions, all of which he answered so intelligently that she called him, laughing, her young Lord Keeper. She asked him his age. The boy promptly replied |