bo con, Francis, viscount St. Ai "Thoughts that Breathe Writings of Francis Bacon, High Chancellor of England: Selected 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 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 |