OF ROBERT LESLIE ELLIS. xxi 



It was during his residence as a Fellow in Trinity College 

 that he undertook, in conjunction with Mr James Spedding and 

 Mr Douglas Denon Heath, to edit the works of Bacon. The 

 philosophical section of the works was the share allotted to Ellis. 

 No literary occupation could have been more congenial to his 

 taste, and the prefaces to the several treatises which he was able 

 more or less to complete, especially the " General Preface to the 

 Philosophical Works," are perhaps the most valuable thing 

 which he has left behind him. He was engaged upon the preface 

 to the Novum Organum, when he was stopped by illness ; and so 

 complete and sudden was the break in his health that he never 

 completed it. The last sentence that he wrote will be found on 

 page 100 of the first volume of his edition of Bacon's Works. 

 It is an affecting monument, and as such I here produce it. 

 "Again he affirms that he does not inculcate, as some might 

 suppose, a ;" to which Mr Spedding has appended a note, 

 " Mr Ellis had written thus far when the fever seized him." 



The mention of Bacon has led me to anticipate the course 

 of events. In the years 1847 and 1848 he visited Malvern for 

 the benefit of his health, still making Trinity College his head- 

 quarters, and he certainly appeared to be strengthened by the 

 course of treatment to which he was submitted. He had, I 

 believe, always intended, at the expiration of the tenure of his 

 fellowship, to go abroad ; partly perhaps for the general advan- 

 tages of travel, and partly with the belief that his health 

 would be improved by residence in a warmer climate. He 

 desired to settle himself in some place possessing a good 

 library, where he might complete his work for the edition of 

 Bacon. Accordingly in the autumn of 1849 he went to Nice. 

 After remaining there some little time he started, not well in 

 health, for the journey by post along the Eiviera. The first 

 night he slept at Mentone, and, as he believed, in a damp bed. 

 The next day he arrived early at S. Remo, but feeling indis- 

 posed determined to proceed no further that day. In the 



