THE WORKS OF FRANCIS BACON, Lord Chancellor of England. A NEW EDITION: WITH A LIFE OF THE AUTHOR, BY BASIL MONTAGU, ESQ. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. I. PHILADELPHIA: CAREY AND HART. 1848. Stereotyped by L. Johnson. ADVERTISEMENT OF THE AMERICAN PUBLISHERS. THE publishers of this, the first complete American edition of Lord Bacon's Works, would never have entered upon so considerable an undertaking without feeling that it was justified by the public sentiment, and, in fact, the demand of literary and scientific readers throughout the country. This illustrious author is now distinctly pronounced by that undisputed standard of taste, the common sense of mankind, a classical writer of the first rank. In many respects Bacon resembles his immortal contemporary, Shakspeare. Like Shakspeare, he enjoyed the most splendid reputation for genius and ability, in his lifetime; like him, he was comparatively undervalued and neglected for ages after his death, and like him, in the present refined and severely scrutinizing era, he has been tried in the hottest furnaces of criticism, and has come forth pure gold, whose weight, solidity, and brilliancy can never hereafter be for a momen* doubted. It is said of Shakspeare, that his fertile genius exhausted the whole world of nature. As a poet, he undoubtedly has done this; and Lord Bacon, as a philosopher, has done the same. Redeeming the human mind from the chains. imposed upon it by Aristotle, and riveted by the schools, he placed in the hands of scientific inquiry that simple instrument, the inductive process of investigation, and the result is the existing system of natural science. All that this improvement claims as its own in astronomy, in chymistry, in mechanical philosophy, and in the improved arts of life, may be traced to the genius of Bacon, the acknowledged founder of modern philosophy. age of As works of genius, as examples of calm, clearsighted, conclusive reasoning and authoritative eloquence, his writings can never be superseded, can never cease to be read and admired. They are models of matter and style, mines of thought, fountains of intellect to which "other suns repair, and in their urns draw golden light." This edition has been reprinted from that of Basil Montagu, Esquire, of the Inner Temple, London, the most complete ever published in England. Those of his works which were originally written in Latin, have been translated in Mr. Montagu's edition; as the insertion of the original text would have unnecessarily increased the expense of this edition, it has been deemed expedient to give the translation only. Every attention has been bestowed to preserve the purity of the text. It is believed that the works of Lord Bacon will be extensively popular in the United States. The increased demand for sound and imperishable literature, and the great attention paid by our literary and scientific men to the works of his celebrated contemporaries, warrant the conclusion that his writings will speedily find their way into every well-selected library in our country. |