NOTE 3 I. 



tliat he who measured it in his hand had given to it such life and motion ; and 

 I have lingered till its gentle waters grew into mighty billows, and had well 

 nigh swept me from my firmest footing. So have I seen an heedless youth 

 gazing with a too curious spirit upon the sweet motions and gentle approaches 

 of an inviting pleasure, till it has detained his eye, and imprisoned his feet, and 

 swelled upon his soul, and swept him to a swift destruction.&quot; 



10. In the British Museum (Lands. 236.) there is a volume of MSS. con 

 taining this essay, thus entitled in the catalogue : &quot; Speeches and other compo 

 sitions of Sir Francis Bacon, many whereof are stated by Mr. Umfreville, 

 whose property they were, not to be collected into any edition of his works.&quot; 

 The inscription to which the catalogue refers is, &quot; Collectanea Bacon, many 

 whereof are not yet collected into any edition of his works.&quot; Who Mr. Umfre 

 ville was, or when this MS. was written, 1 know not. 



11. The admission of this essay amongst the essays in the different editions 

 of Lord Bacon s works and essays, seems to have been occasioned by the inser 

 tion of this essay by Blackburn, in his edition of 1740. 



Essay on Death. This appeared, I believe, for the first time in the volume 

 published in 1648, entitled Remains. It is inserted in Blackburn s edition, 

 published in 1740, but, instead of being incorporated, like the &quot; Essay of a 

 King,&quot; amongst the other essays, it is annexed, at the end of the fourth volume, 

 after the following notice : The following fragments were never acknowledged 

 by Dr. Rawley among the genuine writings of the Lord Bacon ; nor dare I say 

 that they come up to the spirit or penetration of our noble author : however, as 

 they are vouched to be authentic in an edition of the Remains of the Lord 

 Verulam, printed 1648 ; and as Archbishop Sancroft has reflected some credit 

 on them by a careful review, having in very many instances corrected and pre 

 pared them for the press, among the other unquestioned writings of his lordship ; 

 for these reasons 1 have assigned them this place, and left every reader to form 

 his own judgment about their importance. 



As Lord Bacon published an Essay on Deatli in the edition of 1612, and 

 enlarged it in the edition of 1625, and as there is not any evidence, direct or 

 indirect, external or internal, that this is the production of Lord Bacon, I shall 

 content myself with saying that, before it is adopted, there ought to be some 

 evidence of its authenticity.* 



Observations upon the Essays. 



^ His political writings of a more general nature, are his Apothegms and 

 Essays, besides the Excerpta, out of the Advancement above remembered. 

 Both these contain much of that matter which we usually call moral, distin 

 guishing it from that which is civil : in the handling of which sort of argument 

 his lordship has been esteemed so far to excel, that he hath had a comment 

 written on him, as on an author in ethics, and an advancer of that most useful 

 part of learning, (a) Notwithstanding which, I am bold to put. these books 

 under this head of matter political ; both because they contain a greater por 

 tion of that matter, and because in true philosophy the doctrine of politics and 

 ethics maketh up but one body, arid springeth from one root, the end of God 

 Almighty in the government of the world. 



Tennison. 



In a late Latin edition of these essays, there are subjoined two discourses, 

 the one called De Negotiis, the other Faber Fortune. But neither of these 

 are works newly published, but treatises taken out of the book De Augmentis. 

 To this book of Essays may be annexed that fragment of an Essay of Fame, 

 which is extant already in the Resuscitatio. 



* By mistake it is stated in vol. i. of my edition of Bacon, that there is a 

 MS. of this essay in the Museum. 



(a) See Placcii Comment, in 1. 7, Aug. Scient. de 1 liilosophia Morali 

 augend;i, in octavo. Franc, an. 1677. 



