The works of Francis Bacon, lord chancellor of England.

LETTERS FROM THE BACONIANA. 69
friendship, which, from this beginning of it, shall friend, and to whose care, in my matters, I owe
still further be promoted upon all occasions. all regard and affection, yet without diminution
Lewis Elzevir wrote me word lately, from of that part (and that no small one neither) in
Amsterdam, that he was designed to begin shortly which Dr. Rawley hath place: so that the souls
an edition in quarto of all the works of the Lord of us three so throughly agreeing, may be aptly
Bacon, in Latin or English; but not of the Eng- said to have united in a triga.
lish without the translation of them into Latin: Though I thought that I had already sufficiently
and he desired my advice, and any assistance I showed what veneration I had for the illustrious
could give him by manuscripts or translations, to Lord Verulam, yet I shall take such care for the
the end that, as far as possible, those works future, that it may not possibly be denied, that I
might come abroad with advantage, which have endeavoured most zealously to make this thing
been long received with the kindest eulogies, known to the learned world.
and with the most attested applause of the learned But neither shall this design, of setting forth
world. If you have any thing in your mind, or in- one volume all the Lord Bacon's works, proyour hands, whence we may hope for assistance ceed without consulting you, and without invitin so famous a design, and conducing so much to ing you to cast in your symbol, worthy such an
the honour of those who are instrumental in it, excellent edition: that so the appetite of the
pray let me know it, and reckon me henceforth reader, provoked already by his published works,
amongst the devout honourers of the name of the may be further gratified by the pure novelty of so
Lord Bacon, and of your own virtues. considerable an appendage.
Farewell. For the French interpreter, who patched together his things I know not whence,* and tacked
I expect from you what you eknowi about the that motley piece to him; they shall not have
ancestors of the Lord Bacon, especially concern- place in this great collection. But yet I hope to
ing his father, Nicholas Bacon, concerning his obtain your leave to publish apart, as an appendix
youth, his studies in Cambridge, his travels, his to the Natural History, that exotic work, gathered
honours, his office of chancellor, and his deposal together from this and the other place [of his
from it by sentence of parliament. The former I lordship's writings] and by me translated into
will undertake in a more florid and free style, Latin. For seeing the genuine pieces of the Lord
expatiating in his just praises; the latter, with Bacon are already extant, and in many hands, it
wary pen, lest out of my commentary of the life is necessary that te forein reader be given to
is necessary that the foreign reader be given to
of this most learned man, matter be offered of understand of what threads the texture of that
pernicious prating, to slanderers and men of dis- book consists, and how much of truth there is in
honest tempers. that which that shameless person does, in his
From the Hague, May 29, 1652. preface to the reader, so stupidly write of you.
My brother, of blessed memory, turned his
words into Latin, in the first edition of the Natural History, having some suspicion of the fideTRANSLATION OF TIE SECOND LETTER OF MR. ity of an unknown author. I will, in the second
THAAC GRUTERG, TO DTH. RALORLE, CONCERNING edition, repeat them, and with just severity animadvert upon them: that they, into whose hands
To the Reverend William Rawley, D. D., Isaac that work comes, may know it to be supposititious,
Gruter wisheth much health. or rather patched up of many distinct pieces;
REVEREND SIR,-It is not just to complain of how much soever the author bears himself upon
the slowness of your answer, seeing that the the specious title of Verulam.
difficulty of the passage, in the season in which Unless, perhaps, I should particularly suggest
you wrote, which was towards winter, might in your name, that these words were there inserted,
easily cause it to come no faster: seeing like- by way of caution; and lest malignity and rashwise there is so much to be found in it which may ness should any way blemish the fame of so emigratify desire, and perhaps so much the more the nent a person.
longer it was ere it came to my hands. And al- Si me, fata, meis, paterentur ducere vitam auu.
though I had little to send back, besides my piciis-(to use the words of Virgil.) If my fate
thanks for the little index,* yet that seemed to would permit me to live according to my wishes,
me of such moment that I would no longer sup- I would fly over into England, that I might behold
press them: especially because I accounted it a whatsoever remaineth in your cabinet of the Vecrime to have suffered Mr. Smitht to have been rulamian workmanship, and at least make my
without an answer: Mr. Smith, my most kind eyes witnesses of it, if the possession of the merchandise be yet denied to the public.
* A note of some papers of the Lord Bacon's in D. R.'s
hands.
t Of Christ's College, in Cambridge, and keeper of the * Certain spurious papers added to his translation of the
public library there. Advancement of learning.