XXli PREFACE. 



That a copy was sent to Sir Edward Coke, ap 

 pears from the following melancholy exhibition of 

 this great lawyer s mind. 



In the library of the late Thomas Earl of Leices 

 ter, the descendent of Sir Edward Coke, at Holkham 

 in Norfolk, is a copy of the Novum Organum inti- 

 tled Instauratio Magna, printed by John Bill in 

 1620, presented to Sir Edward, who at the top of 

 the title page has written Edzv. C. ex dono auctoris. 



Auctori Consilium. 



Instuara paras veterum documenta sophorum : 

 Insturare Leges Justitiamq ; prius. 



And over the device of the ship passing between 

 Hercules s pillars, Sir Edward has written the two 

 following verses. 



&quot; It deserveth not to be read in schooles, 

 But to be freighted in the Ship of Fools.&quot; (s) 



(s) Alluding to a famous book of Sebastian Brand, born at 

 Strasburgh about 1 460, written in Latin and High Dutch verse 

 and translated into English in 1508, by Alexander Barklay, and 

 printed at London the year following by Richard Pynson, printer 

 to Henry VII. and Henry VIII. in folio, with the following title, 

 &quot; The Shyp of Follys of the World : translated in the Coll. of 

 Saynt Mary Otery in the count of Devonshyre, oute of Latin, 

 Frenche, and Doche, into Englesse tongue, by Alex. Barklay, 

 preste and chaplen in the said College M,CCCCC,VIII.&quot; It was 

 dedicated by the translator to Thomas Cornish, bishop of Tine 

 and suffragan bishop of Wells, and adorned with a great variety 

 of wooden cuts. 



