NOTES 11 I. 



iys Aubrey, &quot; durst appear before him without Spanish leather boots, for he 

 ould smell the neat s leather, which offended him.&quot; &quot; His lordship,&quot; says 

 lubrey, &quot; would often drink a good draught of strong beer (March beer) to 

 ed-wards, to lay his working fancy to sleep, which otherwise would keep him 

 iom sleeping great part of the night. I remember Sir John Danvers told me 

 it his lordship much delighted in his curious garden at Chelsea, and as he 

 LS walking there one time he fell down in a swoon. My Lady Danvers 

 ibbed his face, temples, &c. and gave him cordial water ; as soon as he came 

 ) himself, said he, &quot; Madam, 1 am no good footman.&quot; Is not this cheerful- 

 a proof that the sensation was habitual ? 



H. Life, p. iii. 



Dr. Rawley says, &quot; His first and childish years were not without some mark 

 eminency ; at which time he was endued with that pregnancy and toward- 

 &amp;gt;s of wit ; as they were presages of that deep and universal apprehension, 

 ich was manifest in him afterward : and caused him to be taken notice 

 by several persons of worth and place ; and, especially, by the Queen ; who 

 I have been informed) delighted much then to confer with him, and to 

 e him with questions : unto whom he delivered himself with that gravity 

 and maturity above his years, that her majesty would often term him, the young 

 lord keeper.&quot; Archbishop Tennison says, &quot; It is observed that in his tender 

 years, his pregnancy was such, as gave great indication of his future high 

 accomplishments ; insomuch as Queen Elizabeth took notice of him, and called 

 him the young lord keeper ; also, that asking him how old he was, though but 

 a boy, he answered, that he was two years younger than her majesty s most 

 happy reign.&quot; 



I. Life, p. ix. 



It appears probable that on this subject, which constantly occupied him, he 

 was interested very early in life. There are various tracts extant which are 

 rudiments of his Novum Organum, and appear to have been the subject of 

 his meditations when a boy. In vol. xi. of this edition, page 478, there is a 

 tract entitled Temporis^ Partus Masculus sive de Interpretation Nature : this was 

 first published by Stephens. It is translated, and is published in vol. xv. This 

 tract was written when he was a boy, for in a letter to Father Fulgentio, (see 

 vol. xii. 203), written after 1622, as he mentions the History of Henry VII. 

 which was published in that year, he says, &quot; I remember that about forty years 

 ago, I composed a juvenile work about these things, which with great confi 

 dence and a pompous title I called Temporis Partum Maximum.&quot; Archbishop 

 Tennyson, speaking of this, says, &quot; This was a kind of embryo of the instaura- 

 tion, and, if it had been preserved, it might have delighted and profited philo 

 sophical readers, who could then have seen the generation of that great work, as 

 it were from the first egg of it, and by reference to the tract it will be seen that 

 it was sound judgment.&quot; There is another tract entitled Temporis Partus Mas 

 culus, sive Instauratio Magna imperii Humani in Universum. This is also 

 translated, and is in vol. xv. It was first published by Gruter. By reference 

 to this it will appear, that it is a prayer to the Creator : and, by referring 

 to the conclusion of the Distributio Operis prefixed to the Novum Organum, 

 page 178, vol. ix. it will be seen that it also concludes with a prayer. There 

 are various other tracts, which are rudiments of the Novum Organum. See 

 vol. i. of this edition in the preface, sect. 5, p. 27. sect. 6, p. 28. sect. 7, and 

 sect. 8, p. 31. 



These different tracts will, possibly, elucidate what is said by Dr. Raw- 

 ley, who, speaking of the Novum Organum, says, &quot; His book of Instau 

 ratio Magna (which in his own account was the chiefest of his works,) was 

 no slight imagination, or fancy of his brain, but a settled and concocted 

 notion, the production of many years labour and travel. I myself have seen at 

 the least twelve copies of the Instauration, revised year by year one after 



