Ista enim nos tanquam in limine Historiæ Naturalis stantes prospicimus, quæ quanto magis quis se immerserit in Historiam Naturalem tanto foriasse probabit magis. Attamen testamur iterum nos hic teneri nolle. In his enim, ut in aliis, certi viæ nostræ sumus, certi sedis nostræ non sumus. - Thema Cæli, 1612. PREFACE. All the works except one which belong to this part, and several of the most interesting among those which follow in the next, were published by Isaac Gruter in 1653; and since in explaining the arrangement which I have adopted I shall often have to refer to the volume in which they first appeared, it will be well to give a particular account of it at once. Bacon, in his last will, - after bequeathing his collection of speeches and letters to Bishop Williams and Sir Humphrey May, as being privy councillors, - commended the rest of his papers to the care of Sir John Constable and Mr. Bosvile. “ Also I desire my executors, especially my brother Constable, and also Mr. Bosvile, presently after my decease, to take into their hands all my papers whatsoever, which are either in cabinets, boxes, or presses, and them to seal up till they may at their leisure peruse them." What care, or whether any, was presently taken of these papers, I cannot learn. But it is probable that for fourteen months after Bacon's death, they remained locked up ;-for so long it was before any one had authority to act; the executors named in the will refusing or delaying to assume their office, and letters of administration being granted on the 13th of July, 1627, to Sir Robert Rich and Mr. Thomas Meautys, two of the creditors;—and that then, or not long after, they were placed in the hands of Mr. Bosvile. This Mr. Bosvile, better known as Sir William Boswell, was sent, soon after Bacon's death, to the Hague; where he resided for several years as agent with the States of the United Provinces. He was knighted on the 18th of May, 1633, and died I believe in 1647. Whether all Bacon's remaining manuscripts were sent to him, or only a portion of them, is not known. What we know is that, among those which were sent, there were many philosophical pieces written in Latin; that he consulted Isaac Gruter about them; and that the result was a 12mo volume printed by Elzevir at Amsterdam in the year 1653, entitled Francisci Baconi de Verulamio Scripta in Naturali et Universali Philosophiâ, and containing these pieces following: 1. A Prayer, headed Temporis Partus Masculus, sive Instauratio magna imperü humani in universum. The same in substance, and almost the same in expression, as the prayer which is introduced towards the end of the Preface to the Instauratio (Vol. I. p. 131.): placed here by itself on the blank side of the title-leaf, as if it were a motto to the volume an office for which the heading makes it alto gether inappropriate. 2. Cogitata et Visa; to which is added a Latin translation of Sir Thomas Bodley's letter to Bacon concerning that work. (p. 62.) 3. Descriptio Globi Intellectualis. (p. 75.) 4. Thema Cæli. (p. 154.) 5. De Fluxu et Refluxu Maris. (p. 178.) 6. De Principiis atque Originibus secundum Fabulas Cupidinis et Cæli, góc. (p. 208.) These are all printed as separate pieces; each carrying its own title along the top of its own pages. Then follow, under a general running title of Impetus Philo sophici :7. Indicia Vera de Interpretatione Natura. (p. 285.) Merely the Præfatio to the Novum Organum, already printed in the first volume of this edition, p. 151. 8. Partis Instaurationis Secunde Delineatio et Argumentum. (p. 293.) Printed as if it were a sequel to the last, the two forming one piece; which originally perhaps they did. 9. Phænomena Universi, sive Historia Naturalis ad condendam Philosophiam. (p. 323.) A fragment, consisting of a preface intended for the third part of the Instauratio, and a rudiment of the Historia Densi et Rari, with which it seems that Bacon then intended to begin his collection of histories. : 10. Scala Intellectus, sive Filum Labyrinthi. (p. 379.) A preface intended for the fourth part of the Instauratio. Already printed : Vol. II. p. 687. . 11. Prodromi sive Anticipationes Philosophiæ Secundæ. (p. 385.) The preface intended for the fifth part of the Instauratio. . 12. Cogitationes de Naturâ Rerum. (p. 389.) The piece with which in the present edition Part II. begins : infra p. 15. . 13. A Preface, entitled Franciscus Bacon Lectori. (p. 431.) A first draught probably of the preface to the fourth part of the Instauratio. 14. Filum Labyrinthi, sive Inquisitio legitima de Motu. (p. 435.) A skeleton of an enquiry conducted upon the true method; that is to say, a complete list of the titles of the several processes of an investigation into the Form of Motion ; followed by some general remarks, which may have been designed for the conclusion of the work which Bacon had in contemplation when he wrote the Cogitata et Visa, and intended to set forth the new method in an example. 15. Franc. Baconi Aphorismi et Consilia, de auxiliis mentis et accensione luminis naturalis. (p. 448.) 16. De Interpretatione Nature Sententiæ XII. (p. 451.) This and the preceding are rudiments of the Novum Organum. 17. Tradendi Modus legitimus. (p. 458.) This consists of two chapters; of which the first is the same as the first chapter of the Temporis Partus Masculus ; the second another form of the Redargutio Philosophiarum. They are printed here (probably by mistake) as if they were a sequel to the Sententiæ XII., with which they do not appear to be con nected. 18. De Interpretatione Naturæ Procemium. (p. 479.) This has been intended for a preface to the Instauratio, in some of its forms; probably to the Temporis Partus Masculus. 19. Francisci Baconi Topica Inquisitionis de Luce et Lumine. (p. 485.) Another copy, with a few slight variations, of the paper which has been already printed (Vol. II. p. 317.) from Dr. Rawley's copy. |