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 vol 

 ume in which they first apppeared, it will be well to 

 give a particular account of it at once. 



Bacon, in his last will, after bequeathing his col 

 lection of speeches and letters to Bishop Williams and 

 Sir Humphrey May, as being privy councillors, com 

 mended the rest of his papers to the care of Sir John 

 Constable and Mr. Bosvile. &quot; Also I desire my exec 

 utors, 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.&quot; 



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, 



