194 PREFACE. 



sibly have done if he had read them with his mind 

 as well as with his eyes. 



The fact probably is that the five pieces which stand 

 first under separate titles the priora per titulos suos 

 separata were found copied out in a book ; and that 

 the rest, &quot; quicquid prioribus, &c. connecteretur,&quot; 

 were in separate papers, tied up with it. We happen 

 to know from the Commentarius Solutus that in the 

 year 1608 this was the way in which Bacon s manu 

 scripts were actually arranged, that among his Libri 

 Gompositionum was one entitled Scripta in Naturali et 

 Universali Philosophid, and that all his books &quot; had 

 pertaining to them fragments and loose papers of like 

 nature with the books ; and those likewise were bun 

 dled or laid up with the books.&quot; These last I pre 

 sume it was, or such as these, that were called Impe 

 tus Pliilosophici by the &quot; Vir Magnus &quot; (that is, by 

 Boswell, for Bacon cannot be meant) with whom 

 Gruter conferred about the papers : a description 

 convenient enough for the purpose of distinguishing 

 in a box of manuscripts the loose from the bound-up 

 pieces, but worse than useless when introduced, espe 

 cially with such imperfect explanation, into a printed 

 book. In the present edition, the plan of which makes 

 it necessary to separate and disperse the several pieces 

 collected by Gruter under this title, the title itself is 

 of course dispensed with. But if the reader wishes to 

 know which of Bacon s posthumous writings he had 

 taken pains to preserve by having them transcribed 

 into a book, and which he had merely kept by him 

 in loose bundles, a point which it may sometimes 

 be of use to ascertain, he will find in the table of 

 contents which I have just given all the information 



