NOTES 3 R 3 S. 



than this before us. I have been fortunate in procuring a corrected copy of the 

 whole ; and further still, a second and much better copy in MS. which I take, 

 upon comparison of hands, to be the character of our author s clerk or amanu 

 ensis j for as the proprietor of this MS. was a lawyer by profession, so being 

 cotemporary with our author, the probability of its being an original is the 

 stronger. However, I presume to say, meo periculo, that the internal proofs of 

 the excellency of this MS. so far as it goes (viz. to p. 169) are such that they 

 make our author speak masterly sense, and render the work in a manner new. 



In the Harleian collection in the British Museum are the following MSS. 

 with these titles : 



Lectura Francisci Bacn unius ex consilio Dominee HegiiKE in Legibus Eru- 

 ditis, Duplicis Lectoris, Super Statutum edictum 27 Hen. VIII. cap. 10. de 

 Usibus in Possessionem transfer en dis. In English. Harleian MSS. British 

 Museum, No. 1853, fol. 90167. 



Lectura secunda Francisci Bacon militis super Statutum provisum, 27 Hen. 

 VIII. cap. 10. de usubus in possessionem tranferendis, fyc. Harleian MSS. 

 British Museum, No. 6688, f. 16. 



Mr. Hargrave has written the following note on the first leaf of his copy of 

 the edition by Rowe, now in the British Museum . The first edition of Lord 

 Bacon s Reading on the Statute of Uses was in 1642, which was about seven 

 teen years after his death. In the title page of that edition it is expressed to be 

 &quot; The Learned Reading of Sir Francis Bacon, one of her Majesty s Counsel at 

 Law, upon the Statute of Uses, being his Double Reading to the Honourable 

 Society of Grayes Inne.&quot; It appears therefore to have been delivered in the 

 reign of Queen Elizabeth. I collect also from the early part of the Reading, 

 where Lord Bacon mentions Master Attorney s having read upon the statute, 

 that the Reading of Lord Bacon was composed whilst Lord Coke was attorney 

 general to Queen Elizabeth, which was from 10th April, 36th Eliz. to the end 

 of her reign. My inference that by Master Attorney Lord Bacon meant Lord 

 Coke, is from my having a manuscript volume of Readings, with an imperfect 

 note of part of a reading by Lord Coke upon the Statute of Uses, entitled 

 Lecture of Master Coke, Attorney General ; and from Lord Coke s being 

 Attorney General when the Reading by Lord Bacon was delivered, which must 

 have been after the judgment in Chudleigh s case, in 37th Eliz. he citing that 

 judgment as made in that year. Upon the whole, I think that Lord Bacon s 

 Reading was delivered about three or four years before the death of Elizabeth. 

 F. H. 



In Coke upon Littleton, 17 Edw. 1. i. c. 1. gg 4. p. 13, there is the following 

 accidental observation by Mr. Hargrave : &quot;As to an uses ensuing the nature 

 of the land, see 1 Co. 127, 2 Co. 58, and Bac. Reading on Stat. Uses, 8vo. 

 edit. 308, in which latter book the author controverts the generality of the doc 

 trines, which certainly ought to be understood between uses and the land itself ; 

 or rather, as he expresses himself between uses and cases of possession. It 

 may be proper to observe, that all the editions of Lord Bacon s Reading on 

 Uses are printed with such extreme incorrectness, that many passages are ren 

 dered almost unintelligible, even to the most attentive reader. A work so 

 excellent deserves a better edition.&quot; 



3 S. Life, p. xliv. 



The following selections from D Ewer s Journal will enable the reader to 

 form some estimate of his unremitted exertions ; and will be the means of pub 

 lishing some speeches not hitherto contained in any of the works. 



Extract from the Journal of the House of Commons, 39 and 40 Reg. Eliz. 

 1597, p. 551. Mr. Francis Bacon spake first, after that one bill, mentioned in 

 the original Journal Book of the House of Commons, had been read the first 

 time, viz. the bill against Forestalled, Regraters, and Ingrossers, and made a 

 motion against inclosures and depopulation of towns and houses, of husbandry 

 and tillage ; and to this purpose he brought in, as he termed it, two bills not 

 drawn with a polished pen, but with a polished heart free from affection and 



