PREFACE 



TO THE 



APHORISMI ET CONSILIA. 



THE fragment which follows stands in Gruter's vol- 

 ume (in which it first appeared) immediately before the 

 Sententice XII. ; but there is evidently no connexion 

 between the two, and I conclude that this was the later 

 written from its nearer resemblance to the Novum Or- 

 ganum in those passages which occur in all three, and 

 can be compared. 



When it was written is another question, and one on 

 which I can offer no opinion. A memorandum in the 

 Commentarius Solutus, 26. July, 1608, " The finish- 

 ing of the Aphorisms, Clavis Interpretations, and then 

 setting forth of the book," refers no doubt to some 

 paper of the kind ; some early rudiment of the Novum 

 Oryanum ; but it is impossible to say whether the Aph- 

 orisms alluded to are these or not. The note at the 

 ond, reliqua non erant perfecta, implying that the pa- 

 per had been laid by in its unfinished state, makes the 

 memorandum particularly applicable to them. The 

 notes to this are Mr. Ellis's. 



J. S. 



