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'THOUGHTS THAT BREATHE

AND WORDS THAT BURN.'

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bo con, Francis, viscount St. Ai

"Thoughts that Breathe
91740
and Words that Burn,' from the

Writings of Francis Bacon,
Baron of Verulam, Viscount
St. Albans, and Lord

High Chancellor of

England: Selected
by Alexander

B. Grofart

LONDON

ELLIOT STOCK, 62, PATERNOSTER ROW

1893

INTRODUCTION.

It has been no flight aggravation of our difficulty and refponfibility in making these SELECTIONS from Bacon-but a difficulty common to nearly all of the feries-that the

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Thoughts that breathe and words that burn'

multiplied upon us as we went on reviving many years of ftudy of this fupreme Thinker and Writer. The fimple truth-of-fact is that ours has been Sydney Smith's Dame Partington's talk of trying to put the Atlantic Ocean into her pail. The Atlantic Ocean beat her, and I willingly confefs to like defeat in my endeavour to reprefent fo fplendid an intellect and so incomparable a ftylift by the prefent volume. Nevertheless, fo far as they go, our fselections are reprefentative, and certes verify our title-page. But it were an eafy as delightful fervice of love to gather half-a-fcore of fimilar volumes of identical quality.

One cautionary obfervation I may be permitted to make, viz., that a reader of

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