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stant personal communication with him during his later years; and that Bacon had been in the habit of setting down such things from time to time in note books, and may very likely have made a supplementary collection with a view to publication; I regard all the additional apophthegms which appear in the collection of 1661 as probably genuine, and as resting on authority second only to that which belongs to the original edition. These therefore I reprint from the second edition of the Resuscitatio, in the order in which they occur; and for more convenient reference, with the original numbers affixed. And at the same time, because in a common-place book of Dr. Rawley's which is preserved in the Lambeth Library and appears to have been begun soon after Bacon's death I find several of these additional apophthegms set down in a form somewhat different; and because I think it probable that Dr. Rawley, in preparing them for publication, occasionally introduced variations of his own in order to correct the language or clear the meaning; I have thought the original form worth preserving, and have therefore compared the versions and set down the variations in foot-notes.

Fourthly. Considering that many of Bacon's origi

entries evidently refers to some apophthegms which had been struck out of the MS. before it was published; the last probably to some which had not been included

seven which

collection of printed rene catalogue, w

The "apophthegms of K. James" may have been the among the additions introduced by Rawley in his the MS. from which the collection of 1625 was Rawley's hands, it would not be mentioned in this only to what had not been printed. We may easisome of the loose sheets were still preserved; and volume was not procurable, he made up his colthese with the unpublished ones mentioned in the

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what is interesting or memorable in them depends in general so little upon the persons who spoke them; and the traditional sayings of famous wits must always be in great part so apocryphal; that I have not thought it worth while to investigate the authorities, or expedient to encumber the text with notes of that kind. The authenticity of the anecdotes relating to persons of more recent times would be better worth investigation; but in these cases Bacon is himself (either as a personal witness or as a preserver of traditions then current) one of the original authorities, whom it would not be easy to correct by a better. In these cases also his memory is less likely to have deceived him. But the whole collection is to be read with this qualification. Dr. Tenison adds that it was one morning's work. But he does not tell us upon what authority; and certainly Dr. Rawley has left no such statement on record. Perhaps he was confounding what Dr. Rawley said of "The beginning of the History of Henry VIII." with what he said about the Apophthegms, and so put the two together. The statement is not to be believed without very good and very express authority.

The use and worth of the collection will be best understood by those who have studied Bacon's own manner of quoting apophthegms, to suggest, illustrate, or enliven serious observations. And it was greater in his time than it is now, not only because they were fresher then and carried more authority in popular estimation, but also because the ingenuities of the un

re however noted two or three cases in which he appears to have on an imperfect recollection of the Floresta española; a circumich was pointed out to me by Mr. Ellis.

derstanding were then more affected and in greater request. A similar collection adapted to modern times would be well worth making.

NOTE.

In this edition, where a note is signed R., it means that such is the reading of the Resuscitatio, ed. 1661. The numbers within brackets are the numbers by which the several apophthegms are distinguished in that collection. The apophthegms marked + are not contained in it at all.

[graphic]

APOPHTHEGMES

NEW AND OLD.

COLLECTED BY

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE

FRANCIS LO. VERULAM VISCOUNT ST. ALBAN.

LONDON.

Printed for Hanna Barret and Richard Whittaker, and are to be sold at the King's Head in Paul's Church-yard.

1625.

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