* *

BACON'S "ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING."

(Vol. vii., p.493.)

I have to thank L. for his notice of my edition of the _Advancement of
Learning_, as well as for the information which he has given me, of which I
hope to have an early opportunity of availing myself. As he expresses a
hope that it may be followed by similar editions of other of Bacon's works,
I may state that the _Essays_, with the _Colours of Good and Evil_, are
already printed, and will be issued very shortly. I am quite conscious that
the references in the margin are by no means complete: indeed, as I had
only _horae subsecivae_ to give to the work, I did not attempt to make them
so. {555} But I thought it might be useful to give a general indication of
the sources from which the writer drew, and therefore put in all that I
could find, without the expenditure of a great deal of time. Consequently I
fear that those I have omitted will not be found to be the most obvious.

I shall be glad to make a few remarks on some of the passages noticed by L.

P. 25.--Of this piece of carelessness--for which I do not the less feel
that I deserved a rebuke because L. has not administered it--I had already
been made aware by the kindness of a friend. I confess I had never heard of
Osorius, which is perhaps no great matter for wonder; but I looked for his
name both in Bayle and the catalogue of the library of the British Museum,
and by some oversight missed it. I have since found it in both. I cannot
help, however, remarking that this is a good example of the advantage of
noting _every_ deviation from the received text. Had I tacitly transposed
three letters of the word in question (a small liberty compared with some
that my predecessors have taken), my corruption of the text might have
passed unnoticed. I have not had much experience in these things; but if
the works of English writers in general have been tampered with by editors
as much as I have found the _Advancement_ and _Essays_ of Lord Bacon to be,
I fear they must have suffered great mutilation. I rather incline to think
it is the case, for I have had occasion lately to compare two editions of
Paley's _Horae Paulinae_, and I find great differences in the text. All this
looks suspicious.

P. 34.--I spent some time in searching for this passage in Aristotle, but I
could not discover it. I did not look elsewhere.

P. 60.--In the forthcoming edition of the _Essays_ I have referred to
Plutarch, _Gryll.