Verse Legitimately or Doubtfully Attributed to Bacon
‘The world's a bubble, and the life of man’
First published in Thomas Farnaby, Florilegium epigrammatum Graecorum (London, 1629). Poems by Sir Henry Wotton, Sir Walter Raleigh and others, ed. John Hannah (London, 1845), pp. 76-80. Spedding, VII, 271-2. H.J.C. Grierson, ‘Bacon's Poem, “The World”: Its Date and Relation to certain other Poems’, Modern Language Review, 6 (1911), 145-56.
BcF 1
Copy, headed ‘An Ode agst Mans life’, inscribed at the top ‘Stubbs Poems’, and followed (ff. 14r-17r) by ‘A Parode in praise of humane life’ (beginning ‘The worlds a Globe of State, our Life a Reigne’), a Latin version (beginning ‘Mundus Bulla lovis, nec vita humana porequat’), and a Greek version.
In: A duodecimo verse miscellany, in English and Latin, in several hands, ii + 53 leaves (plus numerous blanks), in contemporary calf. c.1690.
J. Salkeld, sale catalogue No. 222 (17 June 1885), item 273.
BcF 2
Copy headed ‘On mans Mortalite by [Doctor Donn deleted] Sr Fran: Bacon’.
In: A large folio composite verse miscellany, chiefly folio, partly quarto, 243 pages, in contemporary calf. Including 18 poems by Carew and two of doubtful authorship, compiled by Nicholas Burghe (d.1670), Royalist Captain during the Civil War and one of the poor Knights of Windsor in 1661 (references to ‘I Nicholas Burgh’ occurring on ff. 165r, with the date ‘3d of June 1638’, and 166r, and his name partly in cipher on other pages); predominantly in his hand, with some later additions in other hands. c.1638.
Afterwards owned by Elias Ashmole (1617-92), astrologer and antiquary.
Cited in IELM, II.i (1987), as the ‘Burghe MS’: CwT Δ 1.
BcF 3
Copy, in the hand of John Aubrey.
In: A folio composite autograph manuscript of the first part of Brief Lives by John Aubrey (1626-97), 121 largely folio leaves, in vellum within modern boards. c.1679/80-1681.
Edited from this MS in Aubrey's Brief Lives, ed. Andrew Clark (Oxford, 1898), I, 72-3.
BcF 4
Copy in Fulman's hand, untitled, subscribed ‘F. B.’, followed (f. 41r) by an untitled Latin version (beginning ‘Mundus bulla levis, nec vita humana peræquat’), subscribed ‘G.S. Equit et Baronetti f. A. M.’, and (f. 42r) by an untitled adaptation beginning ‘The Worlds a Globe of State’, all in Fulman's hand.
In: A large folio composite volume of tracts and miscellaneous papers, in various hands and paper sizes, 229 leaves, in reversed calf. Second volume of the miscellaneous collections of Richard Davis of Sandford.
Owned by William Fulman (1632-88), Oxford antiquary.
This MS collated in Grierson, p. 148.
BcF 5
Copy, accompanied by a version in Greek. c.1640.
In: A quarto miscellany of sermons and verse, in Greek, Latin and English, written from both ends, 84 leaves. Inscribed inside the front cover, apparently by the principal scribe, ‘George Taylar his booke witnesse by him that writ it October ye :21: Ano domini 1646’. 1646.
Among collections of Francis Cherry (1665-1713), of Shollesbrooke, Berkshire, nonjuror.
BcF 6
Copy, headed ‘Doctor Kinge before his death’.
In: A folio verse miscellany, ii + 65 leaves, in contemporary vellum. Entitled Miscentur seria iocis. 1647. Elegies, Exequies, Epitaphs, Epigrams, Songs Satires and other Poems, a formal compilation entirely in the hand of the Yorkshire antiquary John Hopkinson (1610-80). 1647.
From the library of Cecil Brent, FSA. Sold by P.J. & A.E. Dobell, January 1938.
BcF 7
Copy, untitled.
In: A folio verse miscellany, comprising nearly 250 poems, in five hands, vii + 135 leaves (with a modern index), in contemporary calf gilt (rebacked), with remains of clasps. Including 16 poems (plus second copies of two) by Carew, 19 poems by or attributed to Herrick (and second copies of six of them), 23 poems (plus second copies of two and four of doubtful authorship) by Randolph, 18 poems (plus two of doubtful authorship) by Strode, and eleven poems by Waller. c.1630s-40s.
Inscribed on a flyleaf ‘Peeter Daniell’ and his initials stamped on both covers. Later scribbling including the names ‘Thomas Gardinor’, ‘James Leigh’ and ‘Pettrus Romell’. Owned in 1780 by one ‘A. B.’ when it was given to Thomas Percy (1768-1808), later Bishop of Dromore. Sotheby's, 29 April 1884 (Percy sale), lot 1. Acquired from Quaritch, 1957.
Cited in IELM, II.i-ii (1987-93), as the ‘Daniell MS’: CwT Δ 5, HeR Δ 2, RnT Δ 1, StW Δ 5, WaE Δ 9. Briefly discussed in Margaret Crum, ‘An Unpublished Fragment of Verse by Herrick’, RES, NS 11 (1960), 186-9. A facsimile of f. 22v in Marcy L. North, ‘Amateur Compilers, Scribal Labour, and the Contents of Early Modern Poetic Miscellanies’, EMS, 16 (2011), 82-111 (p. 106). Betagraphs of the watermark in f. 65 in Ted-Larry Pebworth, ‘Towards a Taxonomy of Watermarks’, in Puzzles in Paper: Concepts in Historical Watermarks, ed. Daniel W. Mosser, Michael Saffle and Ernest W. Sullivan, II (London, 2000), pp. 229-42 (p. 241).
BcF 8
Copy in: A duodecimo notebook of verse and prose, comprising 131 interleaves in a printed exemplum of John Sansbury's Ilium in Italiam (Oxford, 1608), in contemporary calf (rebacked), blind-stamped ‘S. S.’ on the upper cover. Owned in 1619, and probably compiled, by Simon Sloper (b.1596/7), of Magdalen Hall, Oxford. c.1620s-30s.
Bought from Parker, of Oxford, 2 April 1889, by Percy Manning and bequeathed by him in 1917.
BcF 9
Copy, headed ‘On the world. Sr Francis Bacon’.
In: An octavo verse miscellany, compiled by the writer Robert Codrington (1602-65) of Magdalen College, Oxford, 360 pages (including stubs of extracted leaves on pp. 297-328 and blanks, plus index), in contemporary calf. Including 16 poems by Carew and 13 poems (plus one of doubtful authorship) by Strode. Written in three hands: i.e. A (Codrington's hand, including his own poems) on pp. 1-283, 349-55; B on pp. 284-9; and C on pp. 289-348, 356-60; dated (pp. 1-22) ‘Anno Dom: 1638’ and ‘The 30th of May. 1638’. c.1638.
Acquired from Blackwell's, 1962.
Cited in IELM, II.i-ii (1987-93), as the ‘Codrington MS’: CwT Δ 7 and StW Δ 7.
BcF 10
Copy, headed ‘The Bubble by RW’.
In: A quarto verse miscellany, in English and Latin, including 37 poems by Donne, in several hands, written from both ends, 279 leaves (including numerous blanks, mostly in ff. 42r-140r), with stubs of extracted leaves, in contemporary calf. Compiled in part by the Oxford printer Christopher Wase (1627-90), fellow of King's College, Cambridge. Mid-17th century.
Later owned by John Somers (1651-1716), Baron Somers, Lord Chancellor, and his brother-in-law Sir Joseph Jekyll (1662-1738), lawyer and politician.
Cited in IELM, I.i (1980), as the ‘Wase MS’: DnJ Δ 39.
This MS collated in Hannah.
BcF 11
Copy, untitled, subscribed ‘Bac: Vtrulamius’.
In: A quarto miscellany of verse and prose, in English and Latin, in several hands, written from both ends, 84 leaves, in contemporary calf. Probably compiled principally by an Oxford University man. c.1630s-40s.
Names inscribed on rear flyleaf and paste-down ‘Elizabeth hosman’ and ‘William Blois’.
BcF 12
Copy, headed ‘The Lo Keepers verses on the life of man’.
In: A folio verse miscellany, including eleven poems by Carew, in a single professional secretary hand (adopting a different style on ff. 176r-8r), ii + 231 leaves (including numerous blanks), the date 1633 occurring on f. 55r. c.1630s.
The name Edward Michell inscribed later inside the rear cover. Afterwards owned by Richard Rawlinson (1690-1755).
Cited in IELM, II.i (1987), as the ‘Michell MS’: CwT Δ 8. Briefly discussed (in connection with the poem ‘Shall I die?’ attributed to Shakespeare) by Gary Taylor in The Sunday Times (24 November 1985, pp. 1, 3, with a facsimile example) and by Peter Beal in TLS (3 January 1986, p. 13); and see also letters on 24 January 1986, pp. 87-8.
BcF 13
Copy, untitled.
In: An octavo verse miscellany, 49 leaves; in contemporary calf gilt. Including 14 poems by Carew; the main text (ff. 1r-27r) in a non-professional mixed hand of the 1630s (but for later scribbling); the remaining leaves filled by later hands; notes on family history from 1647 to 1664 on ff. 28r-9r. c.1630s[-75].
Inscribed on f. 29v ‘John Peverell Booke 1674’ and his name also on ff. 1r and 49r. Fol. 48v containing a receipt dated 30 June 1653 ‘by me Francis Blackitt of bro. William of Hoodcroft, Co. Durham’. Other names inside the front cover including ‘John Peves’ and ‘Railphe Hogwood’ and, inside the back cover, ‘James Portington’, ‘William Steadman 1675’, ‘Thomas Meeres’, ‘William Diton’ and ‘Ramond Swift’.
Cited in IELM, II.i (1987), as the ‘Peverell MS’: CwT Δ 9.
BcF 13.5
Copy in: A folio verse miscellany, entitled ‘The Muse's Magazine, or Poeticall Miscelanies, in two parts’, in a single hand, 189 leaves. Including 27 poems by Cowley; eleven poems by Katherine Philips, evidently derived from printed sources; 10 poems by Rochester, as well as apocryphal items; twelve poems by Sedley, plus one of doubtful authorship; and 15 poems by Waller, evidently derived from printed sources. Early 18th century.
A note on a flyleaf relating to the bookseller John Dunton (1659-1733): ‘John Dunton His Book, for which Mr. Corbet at ye Addisons Head, accepted One Half Guinea in full Payment for it, as Witness my Hand, Hannah Rakley’. A note on f. 1: ‘Since I had transcrib'd this whole Book, I met with some state Poems of these later times, mostly since K. George's Accession to the Crown [1714] which I have here inserted, as a supplement to these state Poems which make a part of this Collection by themselves’. Date at the end of the volume: ‘1718’, and some notes on a flyleaf dated ‘1724’.
The ‘Mr. Corbet’ from whom Dunton purchased this MS was evidently the bookseller Thomas Corbett (fl. 1705-43), who ran his business at the Addison's Head, next to the Rose Tavern, without Temple Bar, from 1719 until his death in 1743. Neither Dunton nor Corbett are known to have used this MS for publication purposes.
Cited in IELM, II.ii (1993), as the ‘Dunton MS’: PsK Δ 8; RoJ Δ 4; SeC Δ 1; WaE Δ 10.
For John Dunton's career, see Stephen Parks, John Dunton and the English Book Trade: A Study of His Career with a Checklist of His Publications (New York & London, 1970).
BcF 13.8
Copy of an eight-line version, in an italic hand, headed ‘The Brevitye of Mans lyfe’, beginning ‘As a Tale tould wch sometymes men attend’, and subscribed ‘Fran: Viscount St Albons’.
In: A folio volume chiefly of heraldic arms, 97 leaves, in modern half brown morocco gilt. Partly in the hand of John Woodnoth (d.1634), antiquary, of Shavington Hall, Cheshire, with additions in a late-17th-century hand. Chiefly c.1603-34.
Later owned by Sir Simeon Stuart, third Baronet, MP (c.1724-c.1779/82), of Hartley Mauduit, Hampshire, Chamberlain of the Exchequer (constituting Volume VIII of the Stuart Collection). Purchased in 1778.
BcF 14
Copy headed ‘Humani casus’.
In: An octavo verse miscellany, entitled Juvenilia Ludicra, in a single small mixed hand, 103 leaves, all now window mounted in a quarto volume, in 19th-century half morocco. Probably compiled by a Cambridge University man. c.1630s.
Inscribed in engrossed lettering (f. 1r) ‘E Libris Richard Sutclif’. Later owned by Benjamin Heywood Bright (1830-84), merchant and author. Sotheby's, 18 June 1844 (Bright sale), lot 194.
BcF 14.5
Copy, headed ‘Of the world By sr H: wotton’, transcribed from a printed source.
In: An oblong octavo miscellany of largely devotional verse and some prose, including (ff. 7v-22r) twelve poems by Crashaw, probably transcribed from Carmen Deo Nostro (Paris, 1652), in a single italic hand, written across the width of the pages with the spine upwards, with (ff. 181r-8r) a table of contents, 188 leaves, in calf gilt. Entitled Collections out of seuerall Authors by Marmaduke Raudon Eboracensis 1662: i.e. compiled by Marmaduke Rawdon (1610-69), traveller and antiquary, of Guiseley, Yorkshire, who later lived with his cousin, also named Marmaduke Rawdon, at Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, the MS including elegies on yet another (Sir) Marmaduke Rawdon (1582-1646), Governor of Basing House. c.1662.
Later owned by Thomas Rodd (1796-1849). Rodd's sale catalogue, February 1850, item 764.
Cited in IELM, II.i, as the Rawdon MS: CrR Δ 2. Crashaw's work collated in Martin (cited as A1) and discussed pp. lxxx-lxxxi.
For other Rawdon miscellanies, see Yale, Osborn MS fb 150; York Minster, MS Add. 122; and a MS sold at Puttick and Simpson's, 3 March 1870, lot 552, to Nicholls. For the Rawdon family, see H.F. Hayllar, The Chronicles of Hoddesdon (1948), pp. 52-4.
BcF 15
Copy headed ‘Vppon ye miserie of Man Ld verulam viscoun St Albans’, but subscribed ‘Henry Harrington’; transcribed from BcF 16.
In: A quarto verse miscellany, largely in a single predominantly secretary hand, with some later additions and annotations, 188 leaves, in quarter-morocco. Transcribed from British Library Add. MS 25303 and perhaps associated likewise with the Inns of Court. Including 23 poems by Carew and three of doubtful authorship. c.1620s-30s.
Later owned by William Pickering (1796-1854), publisher. Sotheby's, 13 May 1856 (Pickering sale), lot 258.
Cited in IELM, II.i (1987), as the ‘Pickering MS’: CwT Δ 11.
This MS the Pickering MS collated in Hannah.
BcF 16
Copy headed ‘Vppon the miserie of Man’, subscribed ‘Ld Bacon’, this ascription deleted and ‘by Henry Harrington’ substituted in another hand.
In: A quarto verse miscellany, almost entirely in a single neat secretary hand, the first page formally inscribed ‘To the righte honoble: the Lorde Thomas Darcy Viscount Colchester’ (c.1565-1640, Viscount Colchester from 1621 to 1626), 191 leaves, in modern half-morocco. Including 27 poems (and second copies of two poems) by Thomas Carew and three of doubtful authorship. c.1620s.
This MS largely transcribed in British Library, Add. MS 21433. The hand occurs also in British Library, Harley MS 3910, between ff. 112v and 120v, and is possibly associated with the Inns of Court.
Scribbled inscriptions including (f. 1r) ‘Mr John Bowyer’; (f. 2r) ‘Jeronomus ffox’; and (f. 3r) ‘William Ralph Baesh’.
Cited in IELM, II.i (1987), as the ‘Colchester MS’: CwT Δ 13.
BcF 16.5
Copy, headed ‘of the world’.
In: A quarto volume of ‘Divine and Morall Observations’, in verse and prose, in a neat roman hand varying in style, with later additions at the end, 61 leaves (plus blanks), in modern half black leather. Inscribed by the compiler, on an elaborate title-page (f. 1r), ‘Abygall Guilford her Booke 1672’. c.1672 [-1714].
Inscribed (top of f. 1r) ‘This Book was I conclude my Grandmother Hoopers before her Marriage’. Acquired from the Rev. H. Hooper, 9 December 1874.
BcF 16.8
Copy, untitled and unascribed.
In: A duodecimo miscellany of verse and prose, chiefly in one mixed hand, 77 leaves, in modern half-morocco. Compiled by Sir Thomas Dawes (knighted 1639). c.1623-30.
Purchased on 4 July 1873 from William Carew Hazlitt (1834-1913), bibliographer and writer.
BcF 17
Copy, headed ‘De ambiguitate [brevitate deleted] vitæ’.
In: A quarto miscellany of verse and some prose, predominantly in a single secretary hand, written from both ends, 179 leaves, in 19th-century half blue morocco gilt. c.1640s.
Inscribed (f. 179r) ‘This is Sr. Thomas Meres [or ? Maiors] Book’: i.e. probably Sir Thomas Meres (1634-1715), of Kirton, Lincolnshire. Later bookplate of the Rev. John Curtis. Purchased from Mrs Ann Austin Curtis 12 October 1889.
BcF 18
This is a poem is by Francis Quarles, not Bacon's poem.
BcF 19
Copy, untitled, subscribed ‘F: B.’
In: A quarto verse miscellany, in two styles of italic, the last poem (f. 93v) added in a later hand, 93 leaves (plus ten blanks), in modern quarter-morocco gilt. Including 14 poems by Donne, six poems (plus one of doubtful authorship) by Carew, ten poems by Habington and 13 poems (plus one of doubtful authorship) by Randolph. Owned and possibly compiled by Arthur Capell (1631-83), second Earl of Essex, whose name is inscribed in red ink (1*), in a similar roman hand to that on ff. 1r-19r. He married (1653) Elizabeth Percy (1636-1718), daughter of Algernon, tenth Earl of Northumberland; she was therefore the great niece of Habington's mother-in-law, Eleanor Percy, sister of the ninth Earl of Northumberland. Mid-17th century.
Later among the collections of Robert Harley (1661-1724), first Earl of Oxford, and his son, Edward (1689-1741), second Earl of Oxford.
Cited in IELM, I.i (1980) and II, i-ii (1987-93), as the ‘Capell MS’: DnJ Δ 43, CwT Δ 17, and RnT Δ 3. Discussed in Geoffrey Tillotson, ‘The Commonplace Book of Arthur Capell’, MLR, 27 (1932), 381-91.
BcF 20
Copy headed ‘On the misery of man’.
In: A quarto verse miscellany, largely in a single professional hand, with later additions on ff. 58v-62v in three or four other hands, 65 leaves, in modern half crushed morocco gilt. Compiled by one Thomas Crosse, whose name appears (f. 1*) in ‘An Acrosticke upon my name’, as well as subscribed (‘Tho: Cro:)’ to a poem on ff. 23v-4r. c.1630s [-1670s].
BcF 21
Copy, headed in the margin ‘Of Mortalitie’.
In: A quarto verse miscellany, in one or more secretary hands, with (ff. 244r-54r) a first-line index, 254 leaves, in modern half-morocco, poems on ff. 34v and 242v dated 1637. Including 91 poems and some prose works by John Donne and fourteen poems by Thomas Carew. c.1637.
Among the collections of Richard Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville (1776-1839), first Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, of Stowe House, near Buckingham, largely derived from the collection of the antiquary Thomas Astle (1735-1803), which in turn chiefly derived from Astle's father-in-law, the Essex historian Philip Morant (1700-70) (see DnJ Δ 15). Later owned by Bertram, fourth Earl of Ashburnham (1797-1878).
Cited in IELM, I.i (1980) and II.i (1987), as ‘Stowe MS II’: DnJ Δ 44 and ‘Stowe MS’: CwT Δ 22.
BcF 21.5
Copy of an untitled version, in a neat rounded hand, beginning ‘The longest life of man / Is but a spann’, on both sides of a single folio leaf. c.1700.
In: An unbound folder of verse MSS, in various hands and paper sizes, 138 leaves. Volume CCXXXVI of the Trumbull Papers, of the Trumbull family, including chiefly William Trumbull (1576/80?-1635), diplomat and government official. Later belonging to the Marquess of Downshire, of Easthampstead Park. Formerly Berkshire Record Office Trumbull Add 17 and 18.
Sotheby's sale catalogue, The Trumbull Papers (14 December 1989), part of lot 39.
BcF 22
Copy in: A folio volume; ff. 5r-80v constituting a collection of 97 poems by Donne, in a neat mixed hand; the text possibly derived from the same source as Leconfield MS (DnJ Δ 5); ff. 81r-7r containing poems by various writers (including three by Donne) in two other 17th-century hands, 133 leaves in all, in contemporary calf gilt. c.1620-33.
The volume later used extensively as a notebook by Dr William Balam (1651-1726), of Ely, Cambridgeshire, filling up ff. 87v-134 (and compare Balam's annotated MSS DnJ Δ 16, DnJ Δ 57, and a miscellany of Robert Stonehouse, dated 10 March 1681/2: Cambridge University Library, MS Add. 5779).
Inscribed on the cover in a 17th-century hand ‘[Thes?] for [Mr Coote?] Att his legeinge in bow street next to bull Couent garden’. Donated to the library in 1916 by Geoffrey Keynes.
Cited in IELM as ‘Cambridge Balam MS’: DnJ Δ 4. Discussed in H.J.L. Robbie, ‘An Undescribed MS of Donne's Poems’, RES, 3 (1927), 415-19.
BcF 23
Copy of the last couplet (beginning ‘What then remaines but that wee still should try’), subscribed ‘Lo: verulam’, deleted.
In: A single ruled and trimmed octavo leaf of verse, the second (properly first) page containing a copy of William Basse's poem ‘On Mr William Shakespeare’. This leaf is folio 7 extracted from the verse miscellany now Folger MS V.a.96. c.1630s.
BcF 23.5
Copy, headed ‘Quarles vpon the life of man’.
In: A miscellany compiled by Benjamin Brown (1664-1748), of Troutbeck, High Constable of Kendal Ward. Late 17th century.
Cumbria Record Office, Kendal, WD/TE/Box 16/8, [unspecified page numbers].
BcF 24
Copy in: A quarto verse miscellany, in a neat secretary hand, fourteen pages. c.1620s.
Among the papers of the Gell family, of Hopton Hall, Derbyshire, including those of the Parliamentary commander and MP Sir John Gell, first Baronet (1593-1671). Formerly D258/31/16.
BcF 24.5
Copy, on one side of a single quarto leaf. Mid-17th century.
In: A bundle of unbound papers, chiefly verse, of Sir William Dugdale (1605-86), antiquary and herald.
Sir William Dugdale, Merevale Hall, Bundle XVI, Part ii, in Horse-hair trunk, [unnumbered item].
BcF 24.8
Copy, headed ‘On the frailty of this Life’.
In: A series of quarto leaves of devotional poems, apparently copied by William Dugdale Jr, bound with a printed Book of Common Prayer (1679). c.1700.
Sir William Dugdale, Merevale Hall, [no shelfmark], pp. 229-30.
BcF 25
Copy, headed in the margin ‘Sr fr. Baco’, with a heading at the top of the page ‘Sr fr. Bacons verses vpo mans brittle & fickle estate’.
In: A quarto verse miscellany, almost entirely in a single cursive secretary hand, with a later title-page supplied in 1832, x + 116 leaves (plus blanks), in 19th-century black leather elaborately gilt. Inscribed (f. 1r), possibly by the compiler, ‘Richardus Jackson 1623’ and ‘Richard Jackson his booke’, who is described in a later pencil note as perhaps the brachygrapher. On ff. 113v-16r, in a later hand, is a ‘Catalogue of ye Books lately belonging to ye. Rev. Mr Jackson Rectr of Tatham’. c.1628-30s.
Also inscribed (f. 1r) ‘John Pecke’. Sold by Thomas Thorpe, bookseller, in 1831-2. Among collections of James Orchard Halliwell (from 1872 Halliwell-Phillipps) (1820-89), literary scholar and book collector. Bought by him in 1871 from Sotheran's, London.
A 247-page transcript of this volume made c.1830 is in the Folger Shakespeare Library, MS M.b.26.
BcF 26
Copy, in a neat predominantly secretary hand, untitled.
In: A folio composite miscellany of verse, prose, and dramatic works, in several hands, an independant unit on ff. 88r-111r, in a single hand, containing, inter alia, twenty poems by Donne, 117 leaves (plus seventeen blanks), in contemporary vellum, with remains of ties. c.1630.
Inscribed (f. 134v) ‘Anthony Methuen’. Later owned by members of the Wyndham family, including probably the Henry Penruddocke Wyndham (1736-1819), topographer. Sotheby's, 11 April 1872, lot 1331, to David Laing.
Cited in IELM, I.i (1980), as the ‘Laing MS’: DnJ Δ 47.
BcF 27
Copy, headed ‘Sr ffrancis Bacon’.
In: A quarto composite volume of verse, prose and dramatic MSS, in several hands, the second item (II) constituting an independent quire of six leaves containing copies of, or extracts from, 14 poems by Donne, in a single minute hand, c.160 leaves, in half-calf marbled boards. c.1630.
Cited in IELM, I.i (1980) as the ‘Emmanuel College MS’: DnJ Δ 65.
Emmanuel College, Cambridge, MS 68 (I. 3. 16), VI, f. [23r].
BcF 28
Copy, headed ‘The World’, subscribed ‘Ignoto’.
In: MS poems, in several hands, on 28 octavo pages, at the end of a composite volume of three printed works, two dated 1659, the third Sir William Davenant's Two Excellent Plays (London, 1665), in contemporary calf. Late 17th century.
Inscribed (on the front free endpaper) ‘E libris Johanis Harding ex Aede Xti Oxon 1672’.
BcF 29
Copy, headed ‘Humane life Charactered’, imperfect, lacking the ending.
In: An octavo verse miscellany, largely in a predominantly secretary hand, another hand on ff. 85r-7v, 95v-6r, xiii pages + 104 leaves (including blanks, but lacking ff. 7-9, 54-5, 95), with a table of contents (pp. 1-6), in modern calf, gilt-edged. Compiled by University or Inns of Court men. c.1630s.
The extracted fols 7, 8 and 54 are now Chetham's Library Halliwell-Phillipps No. 2757, Chetham's Library Halliwell-Phillipps No. 2216, and Chetham's Library Halliwell-Phillipps No. 2217 respectively. The extracted fol. 9 is now Folger MS V.a.505, p. 27.
Inscribed (f. [104v] ‘Thomas White His Book May ye 20 Anno Domine 1691’. Later owned by James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps and in his library at Warwick Castle. Formerly Folger MS 1.21.
BcF 30
Copy, headed ‘Humaine life characted’.
In: A quarto verse miscellany (originally in two separate volumes), including eleven poems by Donne, chiefly in two hands, probably associated with the University of Oxford, 98 leaves, one of the original vellum covers now incorporated in modern red morocco. Mid-17th century.
Inscribed (f. 1r) ‘Stephen Wellden’ and ‘Abraham Bassano’ and (f. 98r) ‘Elizabeth Weldon’. Later owned by William John Thoms (1803-85), writer, antiquary and librarian. Sotheby's, 11 February 1887 (Thoms sale), lot 1092. Also owned by James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps (1820-89). Formerly Folger MS 452.4.
Cited in IELM, I.i (1980), as the ‘Welden MS’: DnJ Δ 49.
BcF 31
Copy, headed ‘Upon the Miserie of Man’.
In: A quarto verse miscellany, in English and Latin, 210 pages, comprising 38 unnumbered pages and 172 numbered pages (plus four blank leaves), perhaps largely in a single predominantly secretary hand, with additions in four other hands on the unnumbered pages and pp. 167-71, including the scribbled title ‘Divers Sonnets & Poems compiled by certaine gentil Clarks and Ryme-Wrightes’, probably associated with Oxford University and the Inns of Court, in contemporary vellum. Including 14 poems by Strode (and a second copy of one poem). c.1637-51.
Inscribed (front pastedown) ‘Wakelin EeK Hering / Blows of Whitsor’, and (rear pastedown) ‘R. J. Cotton’. Formerly Folger MS 2073.4.
Cited in IELM, II.ii (1993) as the Cotton MS: StW Δ 20.
BcF 32
Copy, headed ‘Humane life Charactered by Francis Viscount St Albanes’, subscribed ‘Lord: virulam’.
In: A quarto verse miscellany, with later accounts on the last page dated June 1658, 1* + 238 pages (including stubs of extracted pages 191-6, plus numerous blanks), in old calf (rebacked). Including 11 poems by Carew and 14 poems by Randolph. c.1630s-40s.
Inscribed ‘Jane Wheeler’ and ‘Tho: Oliver Busfield’. Francis Quarles's poem (pp. 209-11) ‘To ye two partners of my heart Mr John Wheeler, and Mr Symon Tue’. Item 96 in an unidentified sale catalogue. Formerly Folger MS 2071.6.
A ‘Jo. Wheeler’ signed the Christ Church, Oxford, disbursement books for 1641-3 (xii, b.85 and 86).
Cited in IELM, II.i-ii (1987-93), as the ‘Wheeler MS’: CwT Δ 25 and RnT Δ 7.
BcF 33
Copy, headed ‘Of mans misery Sr fr: Bacon:’.
In: A quarto verse miscellany, largely in a single mixed hand, with additions in other hands, associated with Oxford University, possibly Christ Church, 315 pages (plus blanks), in modern black morocco gilt. Including 11 poems by Donne, and 15 poems (plus one of uncertain authorship) by Corbett. c.1630s.
Later owned by Edward Jeremiah Curteis, M.P., of Windmill Hill, Sussex. Puttick & Simpson's, 30 June 1884 (Curteis sale), lot 175, to Pearson of Pall Mall for James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps (1820-89). Formerly Folger MS 452.5.
Cited in IELM, I.i (1980), and II.i (1987), as the ‘Curteis MS’: DnJ Δ 50 and CoR Δ 9. Discussed, with a facsimile example, in Arthur F. Marotti, ‘Folger MSS V.a.89 and V.a.345: Reading Lyric Poetry in Manuscript’, in The Reader Revealed, ed. Sabrina Alcorn Baron, et al. (Washington, DC, 2001), pp. 44-57. A facsimile of p. 36 is in Chris R. Kyle and Jason Peacey, Breaking News: Renaissance Journalism and the Birth of the Newspaper (Washington, DC, 2008), p. 32.
BcF 34
Copy, untitled, subscribed ‘ignoto’.
In: A quarto miscellany, in several hands, written over a period, 80 leaves (plus 67 blanks and stubs of numerous extracted leaves), in contemporary vellum gilt. Compiled by or for Sir Henry Cholmley, brother of Sir Hugh Cholmley (1600-57), the ascription ‘by my brother Sr Hugh Cholmley’ (1600-57) inserted on f. 19r in a cursive hand responsible for entries on ff. 3r-12v, 15v-29r, 41r-v, 75v-7r, the contents including twelve poems by Thomas Carew and poems by members of the circle of Lucius Cary (1610?-43), second Viscount Falkland, of Great Tew, Oxfordshire, by the St Leger family of Ulcombe, Kent, and by Sir William Twysden of Kent. c.1624-41.
Later bookplate of Henry B. Humphrey.
Recorded in IELM, II.i (1987), as the ‘Cholmley MS’: CwT Δ 27.
BcF 34.5
Copy, headed ‘Humane Life charactered by Fra. Bacon, Viscount St. Albans’.
In: A quarto verse miscellany, in two neat hands, 14 leaves (plus blanks), in modern quarter-calf cloth. A (misapplied) title-page (f. 1r) possibly in another hand: ‘Copy of Verses upon ye Government under the Protectour Cromwel -- By Edmund Waller 1650’. Late 17th century.
Inscribed (f. [ir]) ‘C F’[?].
BcF 35
Copy of the first stanza, untitled.
In: An octavo miscellany, in varying largely italic scripts possibly in one hand, 55 unfoliated leaves, in a vellum wrapper (a recycled legal document). c.1631.
Among papers of the Wittewronge family, originally from Ghent, of Rothamstead House, Hertfordshire, and elsewhere, and related families.
BcF 36
Copy, untitled, introduced by reflections on the miseries of life ending ‘...in the most retired quiet plentyfull Condition, Something falls out still veryfiing that of of [sic] our Sauiour, Sufficient to ye day is ye Sorrow therof. briefly thus, as on expresses it’.
In: A small quarto book of ‘Dayly Obseruations both Diuine & Morall / The First part by Thomas Grocer Florilegius. 1657’, on 215 pages (paginated irregularly, plus five preliminary leaves). A commonplace book of quotations from largely devotional or philosophical texts under subject headings, neatly written in a single hand, with a title-page and table of contents. 1657.
Inscriptions in the MS including ‘Crescentius Matherus 1680’, ‘Crescentii Matheri Liber 1682’, ‘Nathanaelis Matheri Liber 1683’, ‘By Mr Oakes’, ‘Elijah Warings Book 1734’, ‘Jne Daniell 1832’, and ‘Thos Alexander -- 1847’.
BcF 37
Copy, headed ‘Humane life Charactered by Francis Viscount S't Albans’.
In: A quarto verse miscellany, written in alternating secretary and italic scripts, probably in a single hand; foliated in ink 1-32 and paginated in pencil 33-96, 32 leaves (lacking final leaf). Including nine poems by Randolph, plus two of doubtful authorship. c.1630s.
Later in the library of Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bt (1792-1872), manuscript and book collector: Phillipps MS 10110. Bookplate of Robert Hoe (1839-1909), New York businessman and book collector.
Cited in IELM, II.ii (1993), as the ‘Huntington MS’: RnT Δ 9. Complete microfilm at the Shakespeare Institute, Birmingham (Mic S 15).
BcF 38
Copy, in a predominantly italic hand, untitled.
In: An octavo miscellany of verse and some prose, in several italic and mixed hands, written probably over a period from both ends, 72 leaves, in contemporary vellum. c.1630s-40s.
John Rylands University Library of Manchester, English MS 410, ff. 32v-3r.
BcF 38.5
Copy, headed ‘A description of mans life’.
In: A folio verse miscellany, comprising 162 poems in English, in a single hand, 273 pages, in brown morocco gilt. c.late 1640s.
Formerly (before 1686) in the Palatine Library at Heidelberg. Possibly acquired by Charles Louis (1617-80), Elector Palatine, while at the English court of his uncle, Charles I, from 1635 to 1649.
This volume discovered, and announced in the TLS, 23 July 2010, pp. 14-15, by June Schleuter and Paul Schleuter.
Landesbibliothek Kassel, 2o Ms. poet. et roman. 4, pp. 60-2.
BcF 38.8
Copy, headed ‘The World. a fit recitation for Evening’.
In: An octavo verse miscellany, chiefly translations of classical texts, predominantly in one clear hand up to p. 151, with additions in other hands over a period, written from both ends, 273 pages (plus a number of blanks), in half-calf marbled boards. Early 18th century.
Leeds University Library, Brotherton Collection, MS Lt. 123, pp. 63-5.
BcF 39
Copy, headed ‘Vita Misera. Ill. D. Fr. Baconus’.
In: A quarto verse miscellany, in Latin and English, written from both ends, 181 pages. Compiled by, and principally in the hand of, William Burton (1609-57), antiquary. c.1637-46.
BcF 39.5
Copy, the text followed (f. 9r) by Farnaby's Greek version.
In: A miscellany, compiled by Charles Allis. c.1660s-70s.
McGill University, Montreal, Osler Library, MS M156 Bd. 150 (IV/47), f. 8v.
BcF 39.8
Copy, in a musical setting by Morelli.
In: A folio volume of music by Cesare Morelli. Late 17th century.
Magdalene College, Cambridge, Pepys Library, MS 2802, ff. 48r-51r.
BcF 40
Copy in a musical setting.
In: A folio songbook compiled by Cesare Morelli for the use of Samuel Pepys, 113 leaves, in contemporary calf. c.1680-93.
Magdalene College, Cambridge, Pepys Library, MS 2803, ff. 95r-7v.
BcF 41
Copy, headed ‘Sr ffrancis Bacon on the misery of man’. c.1630s-40s.
In: A folio composite volume of verse, prose and dramatic works, in various hands, written over a period from both ends, 543 pages (including blanks), in contemporary panelled calf with remains of metal clasps. Compiled by members of the Salusbury family of Llewenni, Denbighshire, including works by Sir Thomas Salusbury, second Baronet (1612-43), poet and politician. Early-mid 17th century.
Later owned by J. Baskerville-Glegg, of Withington Hall, Chelford. Sotheby's, 14-16 March 1921, lot 421.
BcF 41.2
Copy, in an italic hand, headed ‘Lord Verulam of the World’.
In: A folio verse miscellany, in possibly several hands, one italic hand predominating, largely in double columns and written from both ends, on sixteen leaves of vellum, in modern stiff paper wrappers. Compiled by members of the family of Peter Chamberlen, M.D. (1601-83), Royal Physician, possibly by his son Paul (1635-1717). c.1690s.
Sold c.1851-2 by Thomas Thorpe Jr to Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bt (1792-1872), book and manuscript collector: Phillipps MS 12399. Sotheby's, 1895 (Phillipps sale), lot 906, to Ridler. Bookplate of Professor Frederic Ives Carpenter.
BcF 41.3
Calligraphic copy, headed ‘The Worlde’, on one side of a folio leaf.
In: A folio miscellany of chiefly religious verse, in a calligraphic hand adopting various secretary and italic scripts and decorative motifs, in black and red ink, on fifteen leaves (plus three blanks), in modern quarter-morocco. In a hand associated with one Henry Feilde. c.1630s.
BcF 42
Copy, headed ‘Sr Fr: Bacon. / On ye Vanity of ye Life of Man’.
In: A small quarto verse anthology, in a single minute hand (but for p. 206), arranged under genre headings (‘Epitaphs’, ‘Satyricall’, ‘Love Sonnets’, etc.), probably associated with Oxford University, possibly Christ Church, 382 pages (including numerous blanks), in contemporary calf gilt. Including 13 poems by Donne and 14 (plus one of uncertain authorship) by Corbett; the scribe is that mainly responsible also for the ‘Thomas Smyth MS’ (DnJ Δ 48). c.1630s.
Later owned and used extensively as a notebook by Dr William Balam (1651-1726), of Ely, Cambridgeshire, who also annotated Cambridge University Library MS Add. 5778 and Harvard fMS Eng 966.4. Bookplate of N. Micklethwait. Owned in 1931 by the Rev. F.W. Glass, of Taverham Hall, near Norwich (seat in the 17th century of the Sotherton family and later of the Branthwayt and Micklethwait families).
Cited in IELM, I.i (1980) and II.i (1987), as the ‘Welbeck MS’: DnJ Δ 57 and CoR Δ 11. Discussed in H. Harvey Wood, ‘A Seventeenth-Century Manuscript of Poems by Donne and Others’, Essays & Studies, 16 (1931), 179-90. For Taverham Hall, see Thomas B. Norgate, A History of Taverham from Early Times to 1969 (Aylsham, 1969).
BcF 42.5
Copy, headed in a different ink ‘Of the World’, on a single quarto leaf.
In: A composite verse miscellany. Early 18th century.
BcF 43
Copy, headed ‘The World’, subscribed ‘Fran: Ld Bacon’.
In: A quarto verse miscellany, in probably a single mixed hand varying over a period, entitled in another hand Recueil Choisi De Pieces fugitives En Vers Anglois, 214 pages, in modern calf. c.1713.
Afterwards owned by Charles de Beaumont, the Chevalière d'Éon (1728-1810). Later owned by Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792-1872): Phillipps MS 9500. In the Shakespearian Library of Marsden J. Perry (1850-1935), industrialist, banker, and art and book collector, of Providence, Rhode Island. American Art Association, New York, 11-12 March 1936.
BcF 44
Copy, headed ‘The Lord Verulams' verses’ and here beginning at line 8 (‘The rural parts are turned into a den’).
In: An octavo verse miscellany, in a single small mixed hand throughout; 425 pages (plus an eight-page index), in contemporary calf. Including 45 poems (and a second copy of one) by Carew, 11 poems (plus one of doubtful authorship) by Corbett, and 25 poems (plus two of doubtful authorship) by Strode. c.1634.
The initials ‘T. C.’ stamped on the front cover. Sold by Thomas Thorpe (1836). Afterwards in the library of Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bt (1792-1872), manuscript and book collector: Phillipps MS 9536, and by Marsden J. Perry (1850-1935), of Providence, Rhode Island, industrialist, banker, and art and books collector. A.S.W. Rosenbach's sale catalogue English Poetry to 1700 (1941), item 189.
Cited in IELM, II.i-ii (1987-93), as the ‘Rosenbach MS II’: CwT Δ 32, CoR Δ 12, and StW Δ 24. Discussed in Scott Nixon, ‘The Manuscript Sources of Thomas Carew's Poetry’, EMS, 8 (2000), 186-224 (pp. 193-5).
BcF 45
Copy of a fourteen-line parodied version beginning ‘What is ye Life of man a uerry bubble’.
In: An octavo verse miscellany, in several hands, 89 leaves, in old calf gilt. Partly compiled (pp. 75-99) by one Robert Berkeley, who has inscribed the first page ‘Rob Berkeley his booke Ano. 1640’. c.1640s.
Formerly owned by Henry Huth (1815-78). Formerly Rosenbach 195.
BcF 46
Copy, headed ‘Mans life’.
In: A quarto verse miscellany, including fifteen poems by Donne, with a title-page ‘Miscellanies Or A Collection of Diuers Witty and pleasant Epigrams, Adages, poems Epitaphes &c for the recreation of ye ouertravelled sences: 1630 Robert Bishop’, in a single mixed hand, probably associated with the University of Oxford, 306 pages, in old calf. c.1630.
Owned and probably compiled by Robert Bishop. Later owned by Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792-1872), manuscript and book collector: Phillipps MS 9549. A.S.W. Rosenbach's sale catalogue, English Poetry to 1700 (1941), item 187.
Cited in IELM, I.i (1980) as the ‘Bishop MS’: DnJ Δ 59. Edited in David Coleman Redding, Robert Bishop's Commonplace-Book: An Edition of a Seventeenth Century Miscellany (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Pennsylvania, 1960) [Mic 60-3608].
BcF 47
Copy in: A quarto verse miscellany, including ten poems by Henry King, perhaps almost entirely written over a period in a single secretary hand with slightly varying styles, 54 leaves, in limp vellum. c.1636-40s.
The name of the possible compiler ‘John Pike’ inscribed on f. 1r: i.e. possibly a member of the Pike family of Cambridge (one John Pike (d.1677) matriculating at Peterhouse in 1662).
Cited in IELM, II.i (1987) as the ‘Pike MS’: KiH Δ 12. Described in Mary Hobbs's thesis (see KiH Δ 6), pp. 143-7.
BcF 48
Copy, with corrections.
In: A folio verse miscellany comprising 56 poems, including 29 by Donne, in several hands (two predominating), 34 leaves, mounted on guards, in modern cloth. Much of the volume (including 24 poems by Donne on ff. 15r-31v) evidently transcribed from the Dalhousie MS I (Texas Tech University, PR 1171 D14) and the text of some poems (including ff. 9r-11r) corrected from that MS. c.1622-9.
Inscribed (f. 1r) with the date 28 September 1622 and, in possibly a child's hand (f. 1v), ‘Andrew Ramsey’. Formerly among the muniments of the Earl of Dalhousie (descendant of the Maule and Ramsay families), of Brechin Castle, on deposit in the Scottish Record Office (GD45/26/95/2). Sotheby's, 20 July 1981, lot 491, and 12 December1982, lot 49.
Cited in IELM, I.i (1980), as the ‘Dalhousie MS II’: DnJ Δ 12. Complete reduced facsimile and transcription in The First and Second Dalhousie Manuscripts: Poems and Prose by John Donne and Others: A Facsimile Edition, ed. Ernest W. Sullivan, II (Columbia, 1988). Also discussed in The Donne Dalhousie Discovery, ed. Ernest W. Sullivan, II and David J. Murrah (Lubbock, TX, 1987), and in ‘The Renaissance Manuscript Verse Miscellany: Private Party, Private Text’, in New Ways of Looking at Old Texts, ed. W. Speed Hill (Binghamton, 1993), pp. 289-97.
Facsimiles of f. 10v in Sotheby's sale catalogue, and of ff. 20v and 26r in DLB, vol. 121, Seventeenth-Century British Nondramatic Poets, First Series, ed. M. Thomas Hester (Detroit, 1992), pp. 320-1. Complete microfilms of the MS are in the National Archives of Scotland and in the Brirish Library, RP 2441.
BcF 49
Copy, headed ‘Of Mans mortality’, subscribed ‘ffranc: St Albans’.
In: A quarto miscellany of epitaphs and poems, in several hands, the main collection of verse (ff. 46-147) in a single hand and including 54 poems by Donne (all subscribed ‘J. D.’) and fourteen poems by or attributed to Herrick, 158 pages (plus index). c.1630s.
Once owned by the Sir Henry Spelman (1563/4-1641), historian and antiquary, and later by Dawson Turner (1775-1858), banker, botanist, and antiquary. Puttick & Simpson's, 6 June 1859 (Turner sale), lot 164. Afterwards owned by Sir George Grey (1812-98), Governor of Australia, New Zealand and Cape Colony. Formerly MS Grey 2 a 11.
Cited in IELM, I.i (1980) and II.i (1987), as the ‘Grey MS’: DnJ Δ 60 and HeR Δ 6. Facsimile of p. 119r (HeR 355) in L.F. Casson, ‘The Manuscripts of the Grey Collection in Cape Town’, The Book Collector, 10 (Spring 1961), 147-55 (facing p. 153).
National Library of South Africa, Cape Town, MS Grey 7 a 29, p. 111.
BcF 49.5
Copy of a four-stanza version, untitled. Subscribed ‘Made by Sr Francis Bacon kt. baron Verulam Viscount St Albons & late Lord Chancelor of England’, among other verses subscribed ‘Finis Q p me Tho: Everardu’, on both sides of a single mutilated folio leaf. c.1620s-30s.
Also bearing at an upper corner the name ‘Sarah Amler’. Sotheby's, 21 July 1992, lot 9, to Quaritch.
BcF 50
Copy, headed ‘How vaine a thing is Man’, subscribed ‘Visc: st Alb:’.
In: A folio verse miscellany, including 15 poems by Donne, f. 162r-v in a rounded italic hand, ff. 164r-74v in a slightly erratic italic hand, ff. 175r-279v in a neat formal italic hand (also responsible for the index on ff. 2r-11v), this miscellany constituting ff. 162r-279v of a single folio volume containing also Part I (DnJ Δ 15), ii + 279 leaves in all (lacking one or more leaves at the end), in old blind-stamped calf (rebacked). c.1630s.
Formerly MS G. 2.21.
Cited in IELM, I.i (1980), as the Dublin MS (II): DnJ Δ 61.
This MS collated in Grierson, p. 148.
BcF 51
Copy, headed ‘On the Worlds Vanity’ and subscribed ‘Sir Fran: Bacon’.
In: A duodecimo verse miscellany, compiled principally in the secretary hand of a University of Oxford man, with additions in one or more other hands, 150 pages, imperfect, disbound. c.1640.
BcF 51.5
Copy, untitled.
In: A small quarto verse miscellany, predominantly in one secretary hand, erratically paginated up to 333, 250 leaves, in 18th-century boards. c.late 1630s.
Inscribed (on p. [330]) ‘Robert Lord his book Anno Domini’; (on [p. 335]) ‘william Jacob his booke Amen’; and, among scribbling on the last leaf, ‘Hugh Gibgans of the same’ and ‘John Winter of Buckland Dursbane [or husbande?]’. Owned in 1788 by Alexander R. Popham. Bloomsbury Book Auction, 23 November 2000, lot 8.
A microfilm is in the British Library, RP 7698.
BcF 52
The first thirteen lines, quoted in Reresby's essay ‘Of vertue’, with introductory preamble ‘I cannot giue thee a more worthie Moderne Instance; to make thee detest this base worlds vanities then my Lord Verrulams meditation of mortality, who truely saith:’.
In: A quarto volume of poems and essays, in a single hand, written from both ends, xi + 26 pages and iii + 37 pages (plus numerous blanks), in contemporary calf. Written and composed by Sir John Reresby, first Baronet (1611-46), royalist, of Thribergh Hall, West Yorkshire. c.1638-45.
Bookplate of Sir Thomas Brooke, Bt, FSA (1830-1908), Yorkshire antiquary and book collector, of Armitage Bridge.
BcF 53
Copy of a 20-line version, here beginning ‘Some sicke Care overwhelms the husband's joyes’, imperfect, lacking the beginning.
In: An octavo commonplace book, 116 pages, containing names of members of the Choate family. Early-mid-17th century.
Owned in 1667 by Elizabeth Stalham. Owned before 1936 by Miss Alice Law. Sotheby's, 21 December 1936, lot 200, to Myers. Myers' sale catalogue No. 348 (1947), item 109.
Edited from this MS in Alice Law, ‘A New Caroline Commonplace Book’, Fortnightly Review, NS 66 (September 1899), 395-416 (p. 397). Discussed in Grierson.
A Translation of certain Psalms. Psalm 104 (‘Father and King of pow'rs, both high and low’)
First published in London, 1625. Spedding, VII, 273-86 (pp. 281-4). Edited by Michael Kiernan, The Oxford Francis Bacon, Vol. VIII (Oxford, 2012), pp. 281-9 (p. 289).
Upon the Death of the Duke of Richmond and Lennox (‘Are all diseases dead? or will death say’)
First published in William Camden, Remaines (London, 1637), p. 400. For a contemporary attribution to Bacon see BcF 54.117.
BcF 54.1
Copy in: An octavo miscellany of verse and some prose, in five hands, one predominating on ff. 8v-130r, ii + 166 leaves (plus blanks), in contemporary calf. Compiled in part (ff. 131v-66r) by Elias Ashmole (1617-92), astrologer and antiquary. c.1630s-40s.
BcF 54.102
Copy, in an italic hand, headed ‘Another’, following other verses on Richmond, on the second page of a pair of conjugate folio leaves. c.1620s.
In: A bundle of unbound verse MSS, in various hands.
Among papers of the Sackville and Cranfield families, Earls of Dorset and of De la Warr, of Knole Park, Kent.
Centre for Kentish Studies, Maidstone, U269 F24, [unnumbered].
BcF 54.105
Copy in: A folio volume comprising a collection of epitaphs, in a single neat italic hand, entitled ‘Delectus Epitaphiorum Anglo-Latinorum Tam Veterum quam Recentiu’, 74 pages (plus numerous blanks), in contemporary calf. c.1664-1705.
Pencil inscription on front pastedown: ‘Charles A. Cole[?] June 26 '64’. The rear cover stamped ‘R. S. 1705’.
BcF 54.106
Copy, headed ‘On the Duke of Richmond’.
In: A large folio verse miscellany, in a single neat secretary hand, probably associated with Oxford University, 34 leaves, in modern half-morocco marbled boards. Including 15 poems by Carew and 17 poems by King. c.1630s.
Later owned by James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps (1820-89), literary scholar and book collector. Bookplate of the Warwick Castle Library. Formerly Folger MS 1.8.
Cited in IELM, II.i (1987), as the ‘Halliwell MS’: CwT Δ 26 and KiH Δ 11. James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps, Some Account of the Antiquities…illustrating…Shakespeare (1852), No. 8. Facsimile example in Giles Dawson and Laetitia Kennedy-Skipton, Elizabethan Handwriting 1500-1650 (London, 1968), Plate 42. Complete microfilm at the University of Birmingham, Shakespeare Institute (Mic S 195).
BcF 54.107
Copy in: A folio verse miscellany, 206 pages (plus blanks), rebound in 1832 (by Charles Lewis) with an independent miscellany (Huntington, HM 198, Part II). Including 52 poems by Donne (many on pp. 64-109, 167-74 initialled ‘L.C.’ [? Lord Chancellor], as are some poems by others), 11 poems by Carew, ten poems by Corbett, and 11 poems by or attributed to Herrick, in a single neat hand throughout; the poems dating up to 1637. c.1637.
Later scribbling and inscriptions including the names ‘Edw Denny’ [presumably Edward Denny (1569-1637), Baron Denny of Waltham and first Earl of Norwich], ‘Charles Cocks’, ‘Edward Randolphe’ and (on p. 162) ‘Thomas Cassy’. Later owned by Joseph Haslewood (1769-1833), bibliographer and antiquary (sold in the Haslewood sale, London, 1833, lot 1329, to Thorpe); by Edward King (1795-1837), Viscount Kingsborough, antiquary (his sale in Dublin, 1 November 1841, item 624); and by Henry Huth (1815-78), book collector (his library catalogue, 1880, IV, pp. 1159-64), and sold at Sotheby's, 17 July 1917 (Huth sale), lot 5873.
Cited in IELM, I.i (1980) and II.i (1987), as the ‘Haslewood Kingsborough MS (I)’: DnJ Δ 25, CwT Δ 28, CoR Δ 10, and HeR Δ 5. A complete microfilm is at the University of Birmingham, Shakespeare Institute (Mic S 15). Discussed in C.M. Armitage, ‘Donne's Poems in Huntington Manuscript 198: New Light on “The Funerall”’, SP, 63 (1966), 697-707. A facsimile of part of p. 63 in Marcy L. North, ‘Amateur Compilers, Scribal Labour, and the Contents of Early Modern Poetic Miscellanies’, EMS, 16 (2011), 82-111 (p. 101).
BcF 54.108
Copy, headed ‘On the Duke of Richmond, dead sodainely’.
In: A folio verse miscellany, including 26 poems (plus two of doubtful authorship) by Thomas Carew and poems by Henry King, in several hands, 92 leaves, plus an inserted gathering of eleven leaves after f. 82v (ff. [82a-82k]), but including stubs of some extracted leaves (ff. 74-8, 94-5), in contemporary vellum. Inscribed ‘To my euer honored good Cosen Sr John Reresby Barronett these prsent’: i.e. presented to Sir John Reresby, first Baronet (1611-46), royalist, of Thribergh Hall. c.1630s.
Among the muniments of Lord Mexborough, descended from the Savile family formerly of Methley Hall, near Pontefract, West Yorkshire. Formerly MX 237.
Cited in IELM, II.i (1987), as the ‘Mexborough MS’: CwT Δ 29.
BcF 54.109
Copy in: A folio volume of verse, some of it relating to the Cecil family, in a professional secretary hand up to f. 47r, with additions in two other hands thereafter, 60 leaves, in contemporary limp vellum. c.1626-40s.
Inscribed ‘At Leith the 4 June 1649 Ro: Carre’. Later owned by Professor Douglas Grant (1921-69). Sotheby's, 20-21 July 1981, lot 493, to Quaritch.
Discussed in Tom Lockwood, ‘“All Hayle to Hatfield”: A New Series of Country House Poems from Leeds University Library, Brotherton Collection, MS Lt q 44’, ELR, 38, No 2 (Spring 2008), 270-303.
Leeds University Library, Brotherton Collection, MS Lt. q. 44, f. 57r-v.
BcF 54.11
Copy in: A quarto verse miscellany, including seventeen poems by Donne and fifteen by Strode, the main part in a single hand, 334 pages (but pp. 3-4 extracted, and including a later index). Possibly compiled by one ‘W: H:’: i.e. probably William Holgate (1618-46), of Queens' College, Cambridge, with late 17th-century additions apparently made by other members of the Holgate family, of Saffron Walden and Great Bardfield, Essex. c.1630s [-late 17th-century].
Owned in the early 18th century by John Wale, who supplied the index on pp. 330-3. Owned before 1927 by Col. W.G. Carwardine-Probert, of Bures, Suffolk (descendant of the Holgate family).
Cited in IELM, I.i (1980), as the ‘Holgate MS’: DnJ Δ 58. Briefly discussed in W.G.P., ‘Verses by Francis Beaumont’, TLS (15 September 1921), p. 596, and in E.K. Chambers, William Shakespeare, 2 vols (Oxford, 1930), II, 222-4. Also discussed, with facsimiles on pp. 68 and 70 of pp. 181 and 13, in Michael Roy Denbo, ‘Editing a Renaissance Commonplace Book: The Holgate Miscellany’, in New Ways of Looking at Old Texts, III, ed. W. Speed Hill (Tempe, AZ, 2004). pp. 65-73. For facsimile pages see DnJ 2931 and ShW 25. Complete microfilm in the Essex Record Office (T/A 98).
BcF 54.112
Copy in: the MS described under BcF 46. c.1630.
BcF 54.113
Copy, headed ‘An Elegey on the Duke of Richmond who died on the Parliament day’.
In: A quarto composite volume of miscellaneous MSS, in various hands, 368 leaves, in old blind-stamped calf (rebacked). Folios 357r-68v comprising a portion of a quarto verse miscellany, in a neat italic hand, probably associated with the Inns of Court, c.1620s-30s.
Old pressmark F. 4. 20.
BcF 54.115
Copy in: A small quarto commonplace book, of verse and prose, c.120 pages. Late 17th-early 18th century.
BcF 54.117
Copy of a five-quatrain version, in the hand of Peter Middelton (fl.1620s), Royal Chaplain, headed ‘In obitum Ducis Lenox & Richmondiæ p Clarissimum virum vic. Comite StAlbons’, inscribed in Middelton's printed exemplum of Bacon's The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh (London, 1622), in contemporary calf lettered ‘P M’.
Given to Middelton on 20 April 1622 by Francis Burgoyne (d.1633), Prebendary of Durham. 19th-century bookplates or labels ‘M. F. Middelton’ and ‘Ex libris Charles Hervey Hoare’. Sold in the 1980s by Joseph & Sawyer, booksellers
BcF 54.15
Copy, headed ‘Vpon the Duke of Richmond’.
In: the MS described under BcF 20. c.1630s [-1670s].
BcF 54.2
Copy, ascribed to Donne.
In: An octavo miscellany of verse and prose, in several neat hands, ii + 142 leaves (ff. 111v-42v blank), in contemporary calf gilt. Compiled in part by ‘I. N’.: i.e. John Newdegate (1600-42), of Arbury Hall, Nuneaton, Warwickshire. c.1627-35.
Formerly Long Island Historical Society MS 22, to whom it was bequeathed by Samuel Bowne Duryea. Sotheby's, 21 December 1965, lot 595.
BcF 54.3
Copy in: the MS described under BcF 8. c.1620s-30s.
BcF 54.5
Copy in: A quarto verse miscellany, in English and Latin, in two or more cursive hands, written from both ends, iv + 278 pages, in contemporary calf. Compiled principally by one ‘H. S.’, a Cambridge University man. c.1640s-60s.
This MS volume edited in D.J. Rose, MS Rawlinson Poetical 147: An Annotated Volume of Seventeenth-Century Cambridge Verses (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Leicester, 1992), of which a copy is in Cambridge University Library, Manuscript Department, A8f.
BcF 54.6
Copy, headed ‘On the Duke of Lennox yt died the day hee should goe to Parliament. 1624’.
In: the MS described under BcF 14. c.1630s.
BcF 54.7
Copy, headed ‘An Elegye vpon ye Duke of Lenox who dyed ye same day hee should haue gone to Parliament’.
In: An octavo verse miscellany, in a single predominantly italic hand, 49 leaves, outer leaves imperfect, in modern calf gilt. Including twenty poems by Carew, eleven poems by Crashaw on ff. 10-30 passim, and fifteen poems by Strode. c.1630s.
Thomas Thorpe, sale catalogue (1834), item 728. Acquired from C. Booth, October 1857.
Cited in IELM, II.i-ii (1987-93), as the ‘Thorpe MS’: CwT Δ 12, CrR Δ 3, StW Δ 9.
BcF 54.8
Copy of a twenty-line version, in a secretary hand, untitled. c.1620s.
In: A folio composite volume of state tracts and miscellaneous verse and prose, in various hands, 69 leaves, in modern half-morocco gilt.
BcF 54.9
Copy of the twelve-line version, headed ‘on the Death of the D of R: by J. Elyot’.
In: A quarto notebook of verse and prose, in English, Latin and French, in several hands over a period, much in a small cursive hand, 50 leaves, in quarter-morocco gilt. Probably compiled in part by Edmund Killingworth (of Winchester College and New College, Oxford). Late 17th-early 18th century.
Discussed in Hilton Kelliher, ‘Dryden Attributions and Texts from Harley MS. 6054’, BLJ, 25.1 (Spring 1999), pp. 1-22, with facsimiles of ff. 20r and 27r on pp. 4 and 10.
Verses Made by Mr. Francis Bacon (‘The man of life upright, whose guiltless heart is free’)
[Spedding, VII, 269].
See CmT 89-95.
Prose
(1) English works
Additions and Corrections inserted by Bacon in a Manuscript Copy of Camden's Annales
[Spedding, VII, 349-64].
See CmW 1.
The Advancement of Learning
First published, as The Twoo Bookes of Francis Bacon. Of the proficience and aduancement of Learning, diuine and humane, in London, 1605. Spedding, III, 253-491. Edited by Michael Kiernan, The Oxford Francis Bacon, Vol. IV (Oxford, 2000).
BcF 54.918
MS of a Spanish translation, made by D. Santiago Saez. 1786-7.
BcF 54.919
Extracts, translated into French.
In: A MS volume. ?17th century.
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, fonds français n° 2532, ff. 1r-81r, 85r-106v, 108r-v.
BcF 54.921
Extracts.
In: Miscellany compiled by Edward Hyde, first Earl of Clarendon (1609-74). c.1634-41.
BcF 54.923
Extracts.
In: A quarto miscellany, in several hands, written from both ends, 77 leaves, in contemporary calf gilt. Compiled by members of the Cartwright family, of Aynho, Northamptonshire, including (ff. 4r-7v) verse by William Cartwright (1634-76). Mid-17th century.
Inscribed names including ‘Will: Cartwright’, ‘Jo: Cartwright’, and ‘Katherin Cartwright’. Myers, sale catalogue No. 291 (1933), item 120.
BcF 54.924
Extracts.
In: A quarto miscellany of verse and prose, in several hands, written from both ends (ff. 1-19, then ff. 82-20 rev.), the forty-three sonnets on ff. 1r-11r in a single neat secretary hand and headed ‘Sonetts by Alablaster vppo ye ensignes of Christes Crucifyinge’, iii + 82 leaves (plus three blanks), in contemporary vellum. Early-mid-17th century.
Discovered c.1903 by Bertram Dobell (1842-1914), book dealer and literary scholar. Dobell's sale catalogue No. 106 (1949), item 1.
BcF 54.925
Abridgement of The Advancement of Learning. c.1700.
In: An octavo composite notebook of extracts, chiefly in one cursive hand, 95 leaves, in half dark red morocco.
Volume XLIII of the Middleton Papers, acquired by the descendants of Dr Owen Wynne (fl.1680s), clerk in the Secretary of State's office.
BcF 54.926
Charles I's exemplum of the printed Oxford edition of 1640 with his motto and various comments and annotations by him in his neat rounded hand, a folio in modern crimson velvet gilt. 1640.
Bookplate of Sir Richard Brooke, Bt.
BcF 54.927
Extracts.
In: A quarto commonplace book, with entries largely under headings, in Latin and English, 163 leaves (including many blanks), in half-morocco. Inscribed (f. 1r) ‘Johnes Mauritius Ano...1604’: i.e. John Morris (d.1658), antiquary and book collector, probable compiler. 1604-5.
BcF 54.928
Extracts from Book V.
In: A quarto miscellany of extracts, in a cursive mixed hand, compiled by Sir Maurice Williams, MD (fl.1621-58), Physician to Lord Strafford, Viceroy of Ireland, 85 leaves, in 19th century quarter calf. Mid-17th century.
BcF 54.929
Extracts, headed ‘Sr ffrancis Bacon his advancement of learning’.
In: An octavo notebook of extracts, in a single small mixed hand, written from both ends, 165 leaves, in contemporary calf. Compiled by one William Bright, entitled ‘ffragmenta hic omnigena è varijs excerpta authoribus ad priuatum existunt vsum WB ex anno 1644’. c.1644-76.
Inscribed also inside the lower cover ‘Will: Bright Novemb 12th pretiu 8d 1645’.
BcF 54.931
Extracts.
In: A folio miscellany of verse and prose, in several hands, 283 leaves, in contemporary calf gilt. Compiled principally by one ‘Jo. Tempest’. Mid-17th century.
Inscribed inside the front cover ‘G. J. Farsyde Fylingdales in Whitby 1826 / These M S. were found amongst the papers of my Uncle Watson Farsyde’. Peter Murray Hill, sale catalogue No. 72 (1960), item 22.
Leeds University Library, Brotherton Collection, MS Lt. q. 9, ff. 53r-4v.
BcF 54.933
Extensive extracts, headed ‘Notes out of Bacons advancemt as 'tis translated by G. Wals. August 11. 1661’.
In: A folio miscellany of verse and prose, in English and Latin, including academic orations, in one or more largely italic hands, written partly in oblong format and from both ends, unfoliated, 154 leaves, in dark brown morocco. c.1651-61.
Inscribed (f. [1r rev.]) ‘Gulielmus Cartwright ejus liber praetium -- 0 -- 9 / 1651’ and . ‘J. Baddam’.
A microfilm of this volume is in the British Library, RP 7250.
BcF 54.934
Extract from ‘Bac: Aduanc: of Learn’, in a predominantly secretary hand, under a heading ‘Tepiditas’.
In: A folio composite commonplace book, arranged under subject headings, much in double columns, in possibly several secretary and italic hands, two predominating, 156 leaves, in contemporary vellum boards. Early-mid-17th century.
Old pressmark G. 2. 8.
BcF 54.935
Copious annotations by William Drake in a bound-in set of misnumbered pages 70-103 of the Second Book of a printed exemplum of the 1605 edition of The Advancement of Learning.
In: A quarto commonplace book of extracts, with a tipped-in insert, written from both ends, 171 leaves, in contemporary calf with green ties. Compiled by William Drake, MP (1606-69), of Shardeloes, near Amersham, Buckinghamshire. c.Mid-late 1630s.
Later in the library of Charles Kay Ogden (1889-1957), psychologist, linguist, and book collector.
Drake's commonplace books discussed in Stuart Clark, ‘Wisdom Literature of the Seventeenth Century: A Guide to the Contents of the “Bacon-Tottel” Commonplace Books’, Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, 6, Part 5 (1976), 291-305; 7, Part 1 (1977), 46-73, and in Kevin Sharpe, Reading Revolutions (New Haven & London, 2000).
Facsimile of ff. 17v-18r in Sharpe, p. 77.
BcF 54.9365
Copious annotations by William Drake in a bound-in set of misnumbered pages 79-103 of the Second Book of a printed exemplum of the 1605 edition of The Advancement of Learning.
In: A quarto commonplace book of extracts, in English and Latin, written from both ends, 209 leaves, in contemporary vellum with traces of ties. Compiled by William Drake, MP (1606-69), of Shardeloes, near Amersham, Buckinghamshire. c.1638.
Later in the library of Charles Kay Ogden (1889-1957), psychologist, linguist, and book collector.
Drake's commonplace books discussed in Stuart Clark, ‘Wisdom Literature of the Seventeenth Century: A Guide to the Contents of the “Bacon-Tottel” Commonplace Books’, Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, 6, Part 5 (1976), 291-305; 7, Part 1 (1977), 46-73, and in Kevin Sharpe, Reading Revolutions (New Haven & London, 2000).
BcF 54.937
Extracts, headed ‘Sentences out of Bacons Aduancemt’.
In: An octavo commonplace book, in at least two cursive italic hands, 187 leaves, in contemporary calf. c.1650.
Owned by William Drake, MP (1606-69), of Shardeloes, near Amersham, Buckinghamshire. Later in the library of Charles Kay Ogden (1889-1957), psychologist, linguist, and book collector.
Drake's commonplace books discussed in Stuart Clark, ‘Wisdom Literature of the Seventeenth Century: A Guide to the Contents of the “Bacon-Tottel” Commonplace Books’, Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, 6, Part 5 (1976), 291-305; 7, Part 1 (1977), 46-73, and in Kevin Sharpe, Reading Revolutions (New Haven & London, 2000).
BcF 54.938
Extracts, headed ‘Concerning Dispersed occasions from some parables of Salomon by Ld Bacon Aduanc. pag 372’.
In: An octavo commonplace book of extracts, in a single cursive hand, 198 leaves, in contemporary calf. c.1640s.
Owned by William Drake, MP (1606-69), of Shardeloes, near Amersham, Buckinghamshire. Later in the library of Charles Kay Ogden (1889-1957), psychologist, linguist, and book collector.
Drake's commonplace books discussed in Stuart Clark, ‘Wisdom Literature of the Seventeenth Century: A Guide to the Contents of the “Bacon-Tottel” Commonplace Books’, Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, 6, Part 5 (1976), 291-305; 7, Part 1 (1977), 46-73, and in Kevin Sharpe, Reading Revolutions (New Haven & London, 2000).
BcF 54.939
Extracts, headed ‘Sentences out of Bacons Advancement’.
In: An octavo commonplace book, in a single cursive mixed hand, 197 leaves (including numerous blanks), in old reversed calf. c.1650.
Owned by William Drake, MP (1606-69), of Shardeloes, near Amersham, Buckinghamshire. Later in the library of Charles Kay Ogden (1889-1957), psychologist, linguist, and book collector.
Drake's commonplace books discussed in Stuart Clark, ‘Wisdom Literature of the Seventeenth Century: A Guide to the Contents of the “Bacon-Tottel” Commonplace Books’, Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, 6, Part 5 (1976), 291-305; 7, Part 1 (1977), 46-73, and in Kevin Sharpe, Reading Revolutions (New Haven & London, 2000).
BcF 54.941
Extracts, headed ‘Bacons aduancement pag: 73’.
In: An octavo commonplace book, in a single cursive hand, written from both ends, 193 leaves (including numerous blanks), in contemporary vellum boards. Compiled entirely by William Drake, MP (1606-69), of Shardeloes, near Amersham, Buckinghamshire. c.1635-40s.
Later in the library of Charles Kay Ogden (1889-1957), psychologist, linguist, and book collector.
Drake's commonplace books discussed in Stuart Clark, ‘Wisdom Literature of the Seventeenth Century: A Guide to the Contents of the “Bacon-Tottel” Commonplace Books’, Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, 6, Part 5 (1976), 291-305; 7, Part 1 (1977), 46-73, and in Kevin Sharpe, Reading Revolutions (New Haven & London, 2000).
BcF 54.942
Observations and extracts.
In: A duodecimo commonplace book, compiled by James, Earl of Derby [presumably James Stanley (1607-51), seventh Earl of Derby], x or xii + 295 pages. 17th century.
Formerly among papers of the Rev. T.W. Webb, of Hardwick Vicarage, Herefordshire.
Recorded in HMC, 7th Report, Part I (1879), Appendix, p. 682.
BcF 54.943
Two original proof-sheets (sigs. Gg3v, Gg2, Ggv, Gg4) for the edition of 1605 with several MS corrections, bound at the end of an exemplum of St Augustine, The Citie of God (London, 1610). 1605.
Formerly recorded in IELM, I.i, as BcF 54.5.
BcF 54.944
Extracts from Books 10 and 2, in a predominantly secretary hand, in double columns.
In: A folio miscellany of Latin and English ecclesiastical writings, in several neat secretary and italic hands, one small neat italic hand predominating, ii + 151 leaves (including blanks), in quarter-calf boards. Mid-17th century.
Ex dono bookplate of Thomas Sherlock (1678-1761), Bishop of London, 1761.
St Catharine's College, Cambridge, MS F. III. 16 (James 18), ff. 10v-12r.
BcF 54.945
An original proofsheet (sigs 2b3r and 2c3r) for the English edition of ‘1640’(i.e. 1639: STC 1167). Used as binder's endpapers in a printed exemplum of John Sharp, Cursus theologicus (Geneva, 1628). c.1639.
Recorded in Jan Moore, p. 80.
Advertisement touching a Holy War
First published in Certaine Miscellany Works of the Right Honourable Francis Lo. Verulam, ed. William Rawley (London, 1629). Spedding, VII, 1-36. Edited by Michael Kiernan, The Oxford Francis Bacon, Vol. VIII (Oxford, 2012), pp. 183-206.
BcF 55
Copy, in a single professional secretary hand. c.1620s.
In: A folio composite volume of state letters, speeches and other papers, in various largely professional hands, folio- and quarto-size leaves, 577 leaves.
BcF 55.2
Extracts, in a mixed hand, headed ‘An advertisement touchinge a holy warre written Anno 1622: by: ffr: St Albans’.
In: A tall folio commonplace book, chiefly of naval tracts and sermons, in two hands, begun 23 May 1629, 322 pages of text (plus numerous blanks), in contemporary calf gilt. Partly in the rugged italic hand of Francis Russell, MP (1593-1641), fourth Earl of Bedford, politician, partly in the neat mixed hand of an amanuensis. c.1629-30s.
Recorded in HMC, 2nd Report (1871), Appendix, p. 1.
BcF 55.5
Copy in: A folio volume of transcripts chiefly of letters by and to Francis Bacon, in a single professional secretary hand, 132 leaves, in 19th-century half-morocco. c.1630s.
BcF 55.8
Copy of the address to Bishop Andrewes and beginning of the dialogue, in probably two professional secretary hands, incomplete, on i + three folio leaves (foliated 18-20), disbound, endorsed ‘Considerations of a warre with Spaine’ and numbered ‘25’. c.1630.
BcF 56
Copy, possibly made for William Rawley (c.1588-1667), Bacon's chaplain, amanuensis and posthumous editor. Early-mid-17th century.
In: A folio composite volume of works chiefly by Bacon, in various hands, 225 leaves, in modern half-morocco.
Among the collections of Thomas Birch (1705-66), biographer and historian, for his edition of works by Bacon (1761).
This MS (erroneously cited as ‘Harl. MSS. 4263’) collated in Spedding.
BcF 57
A formal copy, ending ‘The rest was not perfected’.
In: A quarto volume comprising two works by Francis Bacon, in one or more professional italic and mixed hands, 54 leaves (plus blanks), in contemporary red velvet gilt. Early 17th century.
Bookplate of Arthur Hewes Esq.
BcF 58
Copy in an accomplished roman hand (ff. 1r-6v) and neat mixed hand (ff. 7r-28r), on 28 quarto leaves, unfinished, ending ‘The rest was not perfected’.
In: Two works by Bacon, 36 quarto leaves, in later half calf on marbled boards. c.1630.
Inscribed (f. 1r) ‘W Hone / xvii.30.15’. Among the Bacon collections of Basil Montagu (1770-1851), legal scholar and editor of Bacon's works (1825-37).
BcF 59
Copy in two hands, on 21 leaves.
In: A composite volume of twenty tracts, in 19th-century half-calf.
Not available for examination for conservation reasons.
This MS collated in Spedding.
BcF 60
Copy, with Dedication to Lancelot Andrewes, in a professional hand (the same as MS Hardwick 55: BcF 143.5), on 19 folio leaves (plus blanks). c.1620s-30s.
Recorded in HMC, 3rd Report (1872), Appendix, p. 44.
BcF 60.5
Copy, in an accomplished italic hand, with a general title-page, as ‘By Fr L. Verulam Vicount St Albans. Newly finished.’
In: A quarto volume of three tracts, in three separate hands, 33 leaves (plus blanks), unfoliated, in modern cloth. c.1620s.
Inscribed (f. [2r]) ‘W Stonehouse prt 5s.’. Donated by James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps (1820-89), literary scholar and book collector.
Plymouth Proprietary Library, Halliwell-Phillipps No. 13, ff. [1r-9r].
An Advertisement touching Private Censure
First published, and attributed to Bacon, in Burgoyne, Alnwick MS (1904), pp. 32-4.
BcF 61
Copy, imperfect.
In: A folio volume of state tracts and works associated with the Royal Court, in a single formal secretary hand except for an addition by a cursive secretary hand on p. 61 and subsequent scribbling on the first three pages, i + 90 pages, imperfect, all leaves damaged and lacking some text, all now in window mounts. c.1597.
Edited from this MS in Spedding (1870). A complete facsimile of the volume, with transcriptions, in Burgoyne, Alnwick MS.
An Advertisement touching the Controversies of the Church of England
A tract beginning ‘It is but ignorance if any man find it strange that the state of religion (especially in the days of peace) should be exercised...’. First published as A Wise and Moderate Discourse concerning Church-Affaires ([London], 1641). Spedding, VIII, 74-95.
BcF 62.2
Extracts.
In: John Milton's Commonplace Book. c.1632-60s.
This MS probably given to Viscount Preston by Daniel Skinner, his former schoolfellow at Westminster School; Milton's Commonplace Book (MnJ 66), together with the letter addressed to him by Henry Lawes (MnJ 10), were discovered by Alfred J. Horwood in 1874 among the papers of the Graham family at Netherby Hall, Longtown, Cumberland, and recorded in HMC, 6th Report (1877), Appendix, p. 320. The state papers of Viscount Preston, among whose muniments Milton's commonplace book (with related material) was found, were sold at Sotheby's on 10 July 1986, lot 303, and are now in the British Library (Add. MSS 63752-63781).
BcF 62.4
Copy, in a professional secretary hand, on 21 folio leaves; bound with other tracts (in MS Ee. 4. 6-12). Early 17th century.
Bookplate of John Moore (1646-1714), Bishop of Norwich and Ely.
BcF 62.6
Copy, in a professional secretary hand, untitled and unascribed, on ten folio leaves, unbound. Early 17th century.
BcF 62.8
Copy, in a single neat hand, on sxteeni quarto leaves, in modern half-calf. c.1620s-30s.
BcF 63
Copy, in a professional secretary and italic hand. End of 16th-early 17th century.
In: A folio composite volume of state tracts, in English and Latin, in various hands, 155 leaves, in limp vellum.
Inscribed (several times), by the principal compiler, ‘ex dono D. Clay’: i.e. Dr Robert Clay (1576?-1628), vicar of Halifax.
Edited from this MS in Spedding.
BcF 64
Copy in: A quarto volume chiefly of sermons, compiled by one Jeremy Allen, xii + 630 pages. c.1630.
Owned in 1784 by E. Dolben, as a gift of his cousin the Rev. James Afflick. Acquired from Bull & Auvache, August 1893.
BcF 65
Copy, in a professional hand, 224 quarto leaves (plus two blanks), in contemporary limp vellum. c.1600.
BcF 66
Copy, in a professional predominantly italic hand, possibly made for William Rawley (c.1588-1667), Bacon's chaplain, amanuensis and posthumous editor. Early-mid-17th century.
In: the MS described under BcF 56.
The text corrected from this MS in Spedding.
BcF 67
Copy, in a professional secretary hand, unascribed. c.1600s.
In: A folio composite volume of state tracts, in several professional hands, 93 leaves, in modern half crushed morocco gilt.
Inscribed (f. 1*r) by Humfrey Wanley ‘Brought in by my Lord Harley, 23 March. 1714/5’.
In the same hand as BcF 154, which Spedding describes as that of one of Bacon's scribes.
BcF 68
Copy, in a professional roman hand, on ten quarto leaves (plus three blanks). Early 17th century.
In: A large folio composite volume of ecclesiastical tracts and papers, in various hands, 100 leaves, in half red morocco on cloth boards gilt.
This MS collated in Spedding.
BcF 69
Copy, on twelve folio leaves.
In: A large folio volume of works by Francis Bacon, the greater part in a single professional hand, in contemporary vellum. c.1620s-30s.
Recorded in HMC, 3rd Report (1872), Appendix, p. 43.
The Duke of Devonshire, Chatsworth House, MS Hardwick 51, item 2.
BcF 70
Copy, in a predominantly italic hand, headed ‘An advertisement touching ye Controversies of the Ch: of England’, 22 quarto pages. c.1630.
In: A quarto composite volume of ten largely printed works, chiefly Bacon's Certaine Miscellany Works, ed. William Rawley (London, 1629), in quarter-vellum marbled boards.
Inscribed on the main title-page ‘Jno Dowding’. Among the collections of Sir Edwin Durning-Lawrence, MP (1837-1914), Baconian scholar and book collector.
This MS collated in Burgoyne, Alnwick MS.
BcF 71
Copy, as ‘Written by Sr: Francis Bacon’.
In: A quarto volume of state tracts and papers, in a single professional secretary hand, with (f. 2r) a formal title-page ‘A Missellany Or Collection of Seuerall things 1625’, and (ff. 3r-4r) a table of contents, 194 leaves, in contemporary vellum. 1625.
BcF 72
Copy, in probably one professional secretary hand, as ‘written by Sr: ffran: Bacon’, fourteen folio leaves, unbound. Early 17th century.
BcF 73
Copy, in a formal secretary hand. Early 17th century.
In: A tall folio composite volume of ecclesiastical writings chiefly by Hooker, in several hands, 91 leaves, in old vellum boards.
Owned by James Ussher (1581-1656), Archbishop of Armagh, scholar. Old pressmark B. 1. 13.
BcF 74
Copy, closely written in a professional secretary hand, on five folio leaves, in modern vellum boards. Later in the library of Charles Kay Ogden (1889-1957), psychologist, linguist, and book collector. c.1592.
BcF 75
Copy of part of the tract, here beginning ‘The wrongs of ye who are possed of the Government of ye Church towards ye others…’, inscribed ‘pag. 138 of his Works’.
In: Volume of three theological tracts. Early-mid-17th century.
Advice to the King touching Sutton's Estate
Written c.January 1611/12. First published in Resuscitatio (London, 1657), pp. 265-70. Spedding, XI, 249-54.
BcF 75.1
Copy in: A square-shaped folio volume of antiquarian and state tracts, with a table of contents (ff. 374r-7v) and occasional engraved borders by John Sudbury and George Humble, 377 leaves, in modern half-morocco. In a single calligraphic hand, employing various scripts, a scribe identified or associated with one Henry Feilde. c.1640s.
Later owned by the Rev. Philip Bliss (1787-1857), antiquary and book collector. Sotheby's, 21 August 1858 (Bliss sale), lot 140.
This MS discussed in Van Strien.
BcF 75.11
Copy in: A folio volume of transcripts of Bacon's correspondence, in a single professional hand, vi + 62 leaves, disbound. c.1630.
A microfilm of this MS is in the British Library, (M/488(2)).
BcF 75.2
Copy, in a professional secretary hand. c.1630.
In: A folio composite volume of state and legal tracts and speeches, in various professional hands, 229 leaves, in modern calf gilt.
BcF 75.4
Copy in: A quarto miscellany of extracts chiefly from historical works, in Latin and English, in a single small mixed hand, compiled by one Thomas Gybbons, armiger, 237 leaves, in modern quarter-morocco gilt. Mid-late 17th century.
*BcF 75.5
Copy, in the hand of an amanuensis, the heading in Bacon's hand.
In: A folio composite volume of works by Francis Bacon, principally his own papers probably collected by his executors, in various secretary hands, a heading on ff. 12r ‘A Book of Speeches in Parliamt or otherwise deliuered by Sr fr. Bacon the K Sollicitor’, 199 leaves.
BcF 75.6
Copy, the first three and a half lines in the hand of the ‘Feathery Scribe’, the rest in another professional secretary hand.
In: A folio volume of state letters and tracts, dating up to 1628, in three professional hands, one that of the ‘Feathery Scribe’, 214 leaves. c.1630.
Briefly described in Peter Beal, In Praise of Scribes: Manuscripts and their Makers in Seventeenth-Century England (Oxford, 1998), pp. 247-8 (No. 72).
Beal, In Praise of Scribes, p. 248 (No. 72.15), with a facsimile of f. 46r on p. 81.
BcF 75.7
Copy, in a professional cursive secretary hand.
In: A folio volume of state letters and tracts, in various professional hands, 390 leaves (plus numerous blanks), in old calf. c.1635-40.
Bequeathed by Sir Jerome Alexander (c.1600-70), Justice of the Irish Common Pleas. Old pressmark G. 4.12.
Briefly described in Peter Beal, In Praise of Scribes: Manuscripts and their Makers in Seventeenth-Century England (Oxford, 1998), pp. 223-4 (No. 19).
BcF 75.8
Copy, headed ‘Touching Suttons Hospitall / Sir ffrancis Bacon to the King’.
In: An octavo commonplace book of tracts and extracts, in a single cursive hand, written from both ends, 186 leaves (plus numerous blanks), in contemporary limp vellum. Compiled entirely by William Drake, MP (1606-69), of Shardeloes, near Amersham, Buckinghamshire. c.1640s.
Later in the library of Charles Kay Ogden (1889-1957), psychologist, linguist, and book collector.
Drake's commonplace books discussed in Stuart Clark, ‘Wisdom Literature of the Seventeenth Century: A Guide to the Contents of the “Bacon-Tottel” Commonplace Books’, Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, 6, Part 5 (1976), 291-305; 7, Part 1 (1977), 46-73, and in Kevin Sharpe, Reading Revolutions (New Haven & London, 2000).
BcF 75.9
Copy in: A quarto composite volume of state tracts, in several professional hands, 118 leaves (including blanks), in contemporary calf with clasps. c.1630s.
Grosvenor MS 36. Eaton Hall bookplate Case XXI no. 25.
Sotheby's, 20 February 1967, lot 266. Hofmann and Freeman's sale catalogue, 21 January 1968, item 1, vol. II.
Answers to Questions touching the Office of Constables
First published in Cases of Treason (London 1641). Spedding, VII, 745-54.
BcF 76
Copy, in a professional secretary hand. c.1620s-30s.
In: the MS described under BcF 75.5.
This MS recorded in Spedding, VII, 775.
BcF 76.5
Copy, in a professional secretary hand, as ‘written by Sr. ffra: Bacon knight...at the request of my lord of Northampton’. c.1630s.
In: A folio composite volume of legal tracts, in several probably professional hands, 75 leaves (plus loose inserts), in stiff paper wrappers. c.1640.
BcF 77
Copy. c.1630.
In: A folio composite volume of state tracts and estate papers, in English and Latin, in various largely professional hands, i + 527 leaves, in modern calf.
Among the collections of Browne Willis, MP, FSA (1682-1760), antiquary, of Whaddon Hall, near Winslow, Buckinghamshire.
BcF 78
Copy in: the MS described under BcF 75.1. c.1640s.
BcF 79
Copy, in a professional secretary hand, incomplete. c.1600s.
In: the MS described under BcF 67.
BcF 80
Copy, as ‘written by Sr Francis Bacon...1608’.
In: A folio volume of works by Francis Bacon, in four professional hands, 80 leaves, in modern half crushed morocco on cloth boards gilt. Inscribed (f. 1r) ‘Sum Edri Umfrevile Junris. Interioris Templi Studentis 1724’: i.e. Edward Umfreville (1702?-86), collector of legal manuscripts. c.1630s.
This MS recorded in Spedding, VII, 775.
BcF 81
Copy, chiefly in a professional secretary hand, the ending on ff. 13r-15v in a second hand, as ‘writen by Sir ffrancis Bacon knight, his Maiesties Solicitor Generall, anno Domini 1608’.
In: A quarto volume of antiquarian tracts and papers, 40 leaves, in contemporary vellum gilt. Early 17th century.
Owned by John Anstis (1669-1744), Garter King of Arms, antiquary, and by Thomas Astle (1735-1803), archivist and collector of books and manuscripts.
BcF 82
Copy, as ‘Written by Sr ffrancis Bacon’.
In: A folio volume of state tracts and papers, in several professional secretary hands, 103 leaves, in half-calf marbled boards. c.mid-1630s.
Bookplate of Frederick Edward Morrice (d.1778). Inscribed (inside front cover) ‘Samuel Swire Plues with the brotherly love of J.W. Watson. M.A. January 11. 1871’. Stamp (on f. 1r) of ‘Samuel Swire Plues Belize 1872’. Inscribed (f. 1v) ‘Nord: [Norwood] Rand from his ffather Wm Rand’. Among the collections of Sir Edwin Durning-Lawrence, MP (1837-1914), Baconian scholar and book collector.
University of London, Senate House Library, MS 290, ff. 1r-11r.
Apology in Certain Imputations concerning the late Earl of Essex
First published in London, 1604. Spedding, X, 139-60.
BcF 83
Copy, headed ‘The coppie of a letter written by Sir ffrauncis Bacon to the Earle of Deuonshire by waye of Apologie concerning his proceeding against the Late Earle of Essex’.
In: A folio volume of political tracts and letters, in a single secretary hand, 57 leaves, in contemporary vellum. The lower vellum cover inscribed ‘Book of noates collected out of Mr Traffords Sermons & others’. Early 17th century.
BcF 83.5
Extracts.
In: The greater part of a quarto commonplace book of extracts, compiled by Edward Pudsey (1573-1613), iii + 104 leaves, in 19th-century green morocco gilt. Four leaves of this commonplace book are in the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, ER 82/1/21. c.1604-9.
Owned in 1615-16 by one ‘Bassett’ and in the 1880s by Richard Savage. At the Neligan sale, 2 August 1888, lot 1098. Bought by James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps (1820-89), and his sale 4 July 1889, lot 1257.
All the Shakespearian texts except Othello were edited from this MS in Richard Savage's Shakespearean Extracts (1887). The MS also edited in Juliet Mary Gowan, An Edition of Edward Pudsey's Commonplace Book (c.1600-1615) (unpublished M. Phil., University of London, 1967). It was then found that the miscellany lacked several of its original leaves, including extracts from six plays by Shakespeare. These leaves were rediscovered in 1977 among Savage's papers at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, ER 82/1/21, and the Othello extracts identified by Gowan. The MS also discussed in J. Rees, ‘Shakespeare and “Edward Pudsey's Booke”, 1600’, N&Q, 237 (September 1992), 330-1, and in Fred Schurink, ‘Manuscript Commonplace Books, Literature, and Reading in Early Modern England’, HLQ, 73/3 (2010), 453-69 (pp. 465-9), with a facsimile of f. 31r on p. 467.
BcF 83.8
Extracts, translated into French.
In: MS.
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, fonds français n° 19001, ff. 156r-95r.
BcF 84
Copy, in a secretary hand, subscribed ‘An: Dom: 1623. Octob: 20: per Eduardum Sadleir’. 1623.
In: A folio composite volume of state papers, in various hands, 270 leaves (including some blanks), in quarter-calf marbled boards.
Trinity College, Cambridge, MS R. 5. 12 (James 707), ff. 200r-8v.
Apothegms New and Old
A collection of Bacon's Apothegmes first published in London, 1625. An enlarged collection published in Resuscitatio, 2nd edition (London, 1661). Further enlarged in Spedding, VII, 111-86. Edited by Michael Kiernan, The Oxford Francis Bacon, Vol. VIII (Oxford, 2012), pp. 209-78, 647-52.
*BcF 85
Autograph MS of a dozen aphorisms and anecdotes, headed ‘Elegancies Miscellany. Apr. 22. 1601’, on both sides of a single quarto leaf. 1601.
Sotheby's, 31 March 1875, lot 22, to Sabin. Later in the collection of Robert H. Taylor (1908-85), American book and manuscript collector. Formerly General MSS Misc AM 21463.
This MS unpublished. Conceivably belonging to the Promus of Formularies and Elegancies (BcF 269).
BcF 85.5
Extracts.
In: A quarto commonplace book of notes and extracts, closely written in a small mixed hand, from both ends, 146 leaves (including blanks), in contemporary limp vellum. Compiled possibly by one Thomas Parsons, whose name is subscribed to a letter on f. 92v. c.1630s.
BcF 85.8
Extracts, headed ‘Ld Bacons judgement of Apothegmes’.
In: the MS described under BcF 54.938. c.1640s.
BcF 86
Rawley's copies of some apothegmes possibly transcribed from Bacon's papers, as well as various anecdotes about him.
In: A folio volume comprising a collection of apothegms and anecdotes, in a single hand, 90 pages, in modern quarter-calf marbled boards. Entirely in the hand of William Rawley (c.1588-1667), Bacon's chaplain, amanuensis, and editor. c.1626-41.
Formerly MS 1034.
Selected apothegms edited from this MS in Spedding and in Kiernan, pp. 647-51.
Arguments of Law. Four Arguments
Four Arguments (on the Case of the Impeachment of Waste, on Lowe's Case of Tenures, on the Case of Revocation of Uses, and on the Jurisdiction of the Council of the Marches). First published in Opera omnia, ed. J. Blackbourne (London, 1730). Spedding, VII, 517-611.
*BcF 87
Copy of the four Arguments, largely in the professional secretary hand of one amanuensis, with Bacon's copious autograph insertions and revisions, with a title-page: ‘The Arguments of Lawe of Sir ffrancis Bacon Knight the Kinges Sollicitor generall in certaine great and difficult Cases’, initialled by him at the end ‘F. B.’ c.1615-16.
In: the MS described under BcF 56.
Edited from this MS in Blackbourne and in Spedding.
BcF 88
Copy of four Arguments (as in BcF 87); imperfect at the beginning.
In: A folio volume of legal and state papers, in various professional hands, 110 leaves. c.1620s-30s.
BcF 88.5
Copy of three arguments.
In: A folio composite volume of legal and political tracts, in various professionall hands (including the ‘Feathery Scribe’), 170 leaves (including thirteen blanks), in vellum.
Beal, In Praise of Scribes, Appendix II, p. 260, No. 101.
—— The Arguments on the Jurisdiction of the Council of the Marches
Spedding, VII, 567-611.
BcF 89
Copy, in a professional secretary hand, with no general title. Early 17th century.
In: the MS described under BcF 75.5.
BcF 90
Copy, in two professional hands.
In: A folio volume of legal and parliamentary materials, in five professional hands (one predominating), 592 pages (including blanks), in reversed calf (rebacked). c.1630s.
BcF 91
Copy in: A folio volume of legal tracts, in professional hands, 157 leaves, in contemporary calf. c.1620s-30s.
BcF 92
Copy in: A folio composite volume of state papers, relating to the Marches of Wales, in various hands, c.303 leaves. Early 17th century.
This MS recorded in Spedding.
BcF 93
Copy, in a professional secretary hand, headed ‘Sir Thomas Egertons Arguments &c.’ c.1620s.
In: A folio composite volume of state and legal tracts, papers and speeches, in several hands, with (f. 4r) an ‘Index’ of contents, 338 leaves, in 19th-century half-morocco gilt.
BcF 94
Copy, in a professional secretary hand, with no general heading. c.1630.
In: A folio composite volume of legal and state tracts, chiefly by Bacon, in several professional hands, 168 leaves, bound with an independent MS (Harley MS 1858) in mottled leather with gilt lettering and initials ‘M.B.’ on the front cover.
BcF 94.5
Copy, in a professional secretary hand, with a title-page ‘The Cause of the Marches of Wales’.
In: A folio composite collection of legal and state tracts, in various hands, now bound in two volumes, foliated 1-307 and 308-617 respectively, in modern quarter-calf vellum boards.
Among collections of Sir John Maynard, MP (1604-90), lawyer and politician.
Lincoln's Inn Library, Maynard MS 59, Part I, ff. 197r-224v .
BcF 94.8
Copy, in a professional secretary hand, headed ‘The proofes and presidentes which we demaunde’, on the first page of an unbound pair of conjugate folio leaves, endorsed ‘Sr Francis Bacons notes dd to ye judges’.
BcF 95
Copy, headed ‘The Cause of the Marches of Walles’.
In: A folio composite volume of state tracts, in several professional predominantly secretary hands, with (f. 1r-v) a table of contents, 428 leaves, in half-calf marbled boards. Inscribed in a rounded hand (f. [ivr]) ‘This booke was Copyed At Sr Roger Mostyn of Mostyn house [in Flintshire] at my being there from Christomas to May.wch was drawen out of the bookes of that truely Noble gent. Richard Grosvenor Esque sole son, and heire vnto Sr Richard Grosvenor knight and Barronett of Eathen=boate in chestore. wch said Richard Grosvenor was marryed to mris Sidney Mostyn daughter to that honorable knight Sr Roger Mostyn...finished and bound vpp the 25th of Aprill 1637’. 1637.
Bookplate of Sir William Betham (1779-1853), Ulster King of Arms. In the library of Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bt (1792-1872), book and manuscript collector: Phillipps MS 13219. Among the collections of Sir Edwin Durning-Lawrence, MP (1837-1914), Baconian scholar and book collector.
University of London, Senate House Library, MS 285, ff. 166r-96r.
BcF 95.5
Copy of the arguments by Bacon and others, with second copies of two of the arguments, in three professional secretary hands, 41 folio pages. c.1608-9.
In: A folio composite volume of state and legal tracts, in various hands.
Trinity College, Cambridge, MS R. 5. 13 (James 708), Item 3.
BcF 96
Copy in: A folio composite volume of 23 state tracts and papers, 476 leaves, in contemporary calf gilt. In several professional hands, including that of the ‘Feathery Scribe’.
Once owned by Sir Richard Grosvenor (1585-1645), and Liber 4 (=MS 20) in his list of MS volumes, 18 February 1634/5. Later owned by the Duke of Westminster, Eaton Hall, Cheshire. Eaton Hall booklabel ‘Case XXI no 12’. Hofmann and Freeman sale catalogue No. 21 (January 1968), item 1 (vols i and ii)i.
Recorded in HMC, 3rd Report (1872), Appendix, pp. 212-14. Briefly described in Peter Beal, In Praise of Scribes: Manuscripts and their Makers in Seventeenth-Century England (Oxford, 1998), pp. 252-3 (No. 82). A microfilm of the MS is in the British Library, RP 217.
BcF 97
Copy, in a folio volume of legal tracts. 17th century.
Formerly among the MSS of Reginald Cholmondeley of Condover Hall, Shropshire.
Recorded in HMC, 5th Report (1876), Appendix, p. 338.
—— Argument in Chudleigh's Case
First published (in an English translation) in Spedding, VII, 613-36.
BcF 98
Copy, written in Law French.
In: A folio volume of judicial readings and other matter. c.1594.
An English translation of this MS in Spedding.
—— Argument in the Case of the Post-Nati of Scotland
First published in Three Speeches of The Right Honorable, Sir Francis Bacon (London, 1641). Spedding, VII, 637-79.
*BcF 99
Copy, with one or two corrections possibly (but not clearly) in Bacon's hand.
In: A quarto volume of works by Francis Bacon, in a professional secretary hand, with occasional use of italic, 103 leaves, in modern half brown morocco. Possibly a manuscript presented by Bacon to James I. c.1608.
Edited from this MS in Spedding, VII, 637-79.
BcF 100
Extracts, in Drake's hand, headed ‘Notes taken from the Argument of Sir ffrancis Bacon in the Case of the Post Nati of of [sic] Scotland in the Exchequer Chamber he being then Solliciter / Mr Hall hath the Originall’.
In: An octavo commonplace book, in several hands, 198 leaves, in contemporary calf with traces of ties. Compiled in part by William Drake, MP (1606-69), of Shardeloes, near Amersham, Buckinghamshire. c.1630s-48.
Later in the library of Charles Kay Ogden (1889-1957), psychologist, linguist, and book collector.
Drake's commonplace books discussed in Stuart Clark, ‘Wisdom Literature of the Seventeenth Century: A Guide to the Contents of the “Bacon-Tottel” Commonplace Books’, Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, 6, Part 5 (1976), 291-305; 7, Part 1 (1977), 46-73, and in Kevin Sharpe, Reading Revolutions (New Haven & London, 2000).
—— The Argument on the Writ De Non precedendo Rege Inconsulto
First published in Collectanea juridica, ed. F. Hargrave, I (London, 1791), pp. 168-213. Spedding, VII, 681-725.
BcF 101
Copy, in a professional secretary hand, slightly imperfect at the top edges and the heading largely torn away. c.1620.
In: A folio composite volume comprising two MSS of a work by Francis Bacon, in different hands, 52 leaves, in modern half brown morocco. Volume XXIV of the papers of the Brockman family, of Beachborough, Newington-next-Hythe, Kent, and related families. c.1616.
BcF 102
Copy, in a professional secretary hand, as by ‘Sr ffrancis Bacon knight’, incomplete. c.1620.
In: the MS described under BcF 101. c.1616.
BcF 103
Copy, incomplete.
In: A small quarto volume of legal tracts, 150 leaves.
This MS recorded (but not seen) in Spedding, VII, 305-6.
—— Arguments in the Case De Commenda
Unpublished.
BcF 104
Arguments and opinions (including Bacon's) in the case ‘de commenda’ of Colt and Glover against Richard Neile, Bishop of Lincoln, et al. (1616), in a professional secretary hand, v + 37 folio leaves (including blanks), in contemporary vellum boards. c.1616.
Formerly a Phillipps MS (? MS 29480). Bookplate of the Fairfax family. Christie's, 22 March 1972, lot 306.
BcF 104.2
Copy of Bacon's letter to the judges for deferring his argument in the Case De Commenda, 25 April 1616, in the professional secretary hand of the ‘Feathery Scribe’.
In: A folio composite volume of state letters and miscellaneous papers, in various professional hands, including that of the ‘Feathery Scribe’, 292 leaves (plus blanks), in panelled calf.
A blank leaf (f. 88r) inscribed ‘William Howard 1635’: i.e. Lord William Howard (1563-1640), of Naworth Castle, antiquary. Owned in 1749 by John Murray.
Briefly described in Peter Beal, In Praise of Scribes: Manuscripts and their Makers in Seventeenth-Century England (Oxford, 1998), pp. 256-7 (No. 92).
BcF 104.5
Copy, in a professional cursive secretary hand.
In: A folio composite volume of state tracts, in several professional hands, 273 leaves, in contemporary calf. c.1635-40.
Old pressmark E. 2. 7.
BcF 104.8
Copy, in the professional secretary hand of the ‘Feathery Scribe’, headed ‘Touchinge the Comendams att Whitehall the vjth of June Anno 1616: the xiiij Jacobi’.
In: A folio volume of state and antiquarian tracts, entirely in the professional secretary hand of the ‘Feathery Scribe’, 27 leaves, in paper wrapper. c.1625-40.
Owned by William Drake, MP (1606-69), of Shardeloes, near Amersham, Buckinghamshire. Later in the library of Charles Kay Ogden (1889-1957), psychologist, linguist, and book collector.
Drake's commonplace books discussed in Stuart Clark, ‘Wisdom Literature of the Seventeenth Century: A Guide to the Contents of the “Bacon-Tottel” Commonplace Books’, Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, 6, Part 5 (1976), 291-305; 7, Part 1 (1977), 46-73, and in Kevin Sharpe, Reading Revolutions (New Haven & London, 2000).
The Beginning of the History of Great Britain
An unfinished history, beginning ‘By the decease of Elizabeth, Queen of England, the issues of King Henry the Eighth failed...’. First published in Resuscitatio, ed. William Rawley (London, 1657). Spedding, VI, 275-9.
BcF 105
Copy, on seven pages of four folio leaves.
In: the MS described under BcF 69. c.1620s-30s.
The Duke of Devonshire, Chatsworth House, MS Hardwick 51, item 10.
The Beginning of the History of the Reign of King Henry VIII
An unfinished history beginning ‘After the decease of that wise and fortunate King, King Henry the Seventh...’. First published in Certaine Miscellany Works of the Right Honourable Francis Lo. Verulam, ed. William Rawley (London, 1629). Spedding, VI, 269-70. Edited by Michael Kiernan, The Oxford Francis Bacon, Vol. VIII (Oxford, 2012), pp. 179-80.
BcF 106
Copy, headed ‘The History of the raigne of King Henry the eight’.
In: the MS described under BcF 55.5. c.1630s.
Edited from this MS in Spedding and in Kiernan.
A Brief Discourse touching the Happy Union of the Kingdoms of England and Scotland
A tract beginning ‘I do not find it strange (excellent King)...’. First published in London, 1603. Spedding, X, 90-9.
BcF 107
Copy, in the hand of one of Bacon's amanuenses. [1603].
In: A quarto composite volume of state tracts and verse, in Latin and English, in various hands, 128 leaves, in 19th-century half-calf gilt.
Edited from this MS in Spedding.
BcF 108
Copy, in a small mixed hand, varying in style, subscribed ‘Fr: B’, possibly made for William Rawley (c.1588-1667), Bacon's chaplain, amanuensis and posthumous editor. Early-mid-17th century.
In: the MS described under BcF 56.
BcF 108.5
Copy in a professional roman hand, on 12 small quarto leaves, in contemporary vellum. Early 17th century.
BcF 109
Copy, on nine pages of five folio leaves.
In: the MS described under BcF 69. c.1620s-30s.
The Duke of Devonshire, Chatsworth House, MS Hardwick 51, item 5.
BcF 110
Copy, the title in a large secretary hand, the rest in a roman hand, subscribed ‘An: Dom: 1623: Octob: 24. per me Edwardu Sadleir’. 1623.
In: the MS described under BcF 84.
Trinity College, Cambridge, MS R. 5. 12 (James 707), ff. 208v-12v.
BcF 110.2
Extracts, in two cursive italic hands, headed ‘Secunda pars Baconi / of friendship’.
In: the MS described under BcF 54.937. c.1650.
Calor et Frigus
First published in Letters and Remains of the Lord Chancellor Bacon, ed. Robert Stephens (London, 1734). Spedding, III, 641-52.
*BcF 111
Autograph draft, headed ‘Sequela cartarum sive Inquisitio Legitima de calore et frigore’.
In: A folio composite volume of tracts, in various professional hands, 145 leaves, in modern half crushed morocco on cloth boards gilt.
Edited from this MS in Stephens and in Spedding.
Cases of the King's Prerogative
First published in Cases of Treason (London, 1641). Spedding, VII, 776-8.
See also BcF 233.
BcF 112
Copy, in a professional secretary hand. c.1608-1620s.
In: the MS described under BcF 75.5.
This MS recorded in Spedding, p. 775.
BcF 113
Copy, in a professional secretary hand.
In: A folio composite volume of state tracts and speeches, in various professional hands, 427 leaves, in modern half morocco gilt.
Inscribed in pencil (f. [ir]) ‘bought of Mrs. Whitlock’.
BcF 115
Copy, in a professional secretary hand.
In: A folio composite volume of legal tracts and speeches, in various professional hands, 136 leaves, in modern half crushed morocco.
Once owned by John Anstis (1669-1745), Garter King of Arms, antiquary.
Cases of Treason
See BcF 76-82, BcF 112-5, BcF 261-8.
Certain Articles or Considerations touching the Union of England and Scotland
First published in Resuscitatio, ed. William Rawley (London, 1657). Spedding, X, 218-34.
BcF 116
Copy, in a professional secretary hand, unascribed.
In: A folio volume of state papers, tracts and verse, in professional secretary hands, predominantly that of Ralph Starkey (c.1569-1628), antiquary, and including the ‘Feathery Scribe’, 349 leaves, in 19th-century half-morocco. c.1624-8.
Afterwards owned by Sir Simonds D'Ewes, Bt, MP (1602-50), diarist and antiquary. Inscribed (f. 2r) ‘G Hewett’.
Briefly described in Peter Beal, In Praise of Scribes: Manuscripts and their Makers in Seventeenth-Century England (Oxford, 1998), pp. 227-8 (No. 27).
BcF 117
Copy, in a neat roman hand, as ‘by Sr ffrancis Bacon Knight’.
In: A tall folio volume of state tracts and papers, in several formal roman and secretary hands, i + 229 leaves, in contemporary leather gilt. c.1620s.
Book-stamp on cover of Henry Percy (1564-1632), ninth Earl of Northumberland (the ‘Wizard Earl’). Formerly Leconfield MS 115, at Petworth House, Sussex. Sotheby's, 23-24 April 1928 (Leconsfield sale), lot 149.
Recorded in HMC, 6th Report (1877), Appendix, p. 311.
BcF 118
Copy, on twelve folio leaves.
In: the MS described under BcF 69. c.1620s-30s.
The Duke of Devonshire, Chatsworth House, MS Hardwick 51, item 8.
BcF 118.5
Copy, in the hand of the ‘Feathery Scribe’.
In: A folio volume of state letters and tracts, in two professional secretary hands, predominantly that of the ‘Feathery Scribe’, 334 leaves, plus an index in an italic hand (f. 375r), in modern half vellum on marbled boards.
Sotheby's, 4 July 1955 (André de Coppet sale), lot 950, to Maggs. Formerly Folger MS Add. 35.
Briefly described in Peter Beal, In Praise of Scribes: Manuscripts and their Makers in Seventeenth-Century England (Oxford, 1998), pp. 262-5 (No. 108).
BcF 119
Copy, unascribed.
In: A folio volume of state tracts and papers relating chiefly to Privy Council matters, in several largely professional secretary hands, 266 leaves, in half-vellum marbled boards. c.1620s-30s.
Sotheby's, 15 March 1895, lot 207. In the library of Herbert Somerton Foxwell (1849-1936), economist and bibliographer.
University of London, Senate House Library, MS 20, ff. 231v-48r.
BcF 119.5
Copy in: A large folio composite volume of state letters and papers, iv + 207 leaves, in contemporary calf.
Certain Considerations touching the Better Pacification and Edification of the Church of England
First published in London, 1604. Spedding, X, 103-27. The circumstances of the original publication and the book's suppression by the Bishop of London discussed, with a census of relevant exempla, in Richard Serjeantson and Thomas Woolford, ‘The Scribal Publication of a Printed Book: Francis Bacon's Certaine Considerations Touching...the Church of England (1604)’, The Library, 7th Ser. 10/2 (June 2009), 119-56.
*BcF 121
Copy, in a professional cursive secretary hand, with a few corrections possibly in Bacon's hand (inserted words ‘Actors’ on f. 92v, ‘whereof’ and ‘hear of’ on f. 100v, and just possibly ‘But’ on f. 103r and ‘doe’ on f. 105r), other corrections probably in the hand of the scribe, on 61 quarto pages plus two blank leaves. c.1602.
In: A folio guard-book of independent Jacobean state papers, stamped foliation 1-196.
Edited from this MS in Spedding, X, 103-27.
BcF 121.5
Exemplum of the printed edition of 1604 with the unprinted pages supplied in MS.
BcF 121.8
Extracts, in the hand of the fourth Earl of Bedford, headed ‘Lo. St Albans reformation of the church of Ingland’.
In: A folio commonplace book, in several hands, written from both ends, with a table of subject headings, begun 7 March 1624/5, 358 pages of text (plus blanks), Chiefly in the rugged italic hand of Francis Russell, MP (1593-1641), fourth Earl of Bedford, politician, partly in the rounded secretary hand of an amanuensis and two others. c.1625-30s.
Recorded in HMC, 2nd Report (1871), Appendix, p. 1.
BcF 122
Copy, transcribed from the edition of 1604.
In: A duodecimo volume of three ecclesiastical tracts, 40 leaves. Late 17th century.
BcF 123
Copy, in a predominantly secretary hand. Early 17th century.
In: A quarto composite volume of ecclesiastical tracts, in various hands, 203 leaves, in half-calf.
BcF 123.5
Exemplum of the quarto printed edition of 1604 with the six unprinted pages, sigs E1r-E3v, supplied in MS in a single secretary hand, inscribed on a flyleaf ‘Sr francis Bacon his booke dedicated to ye king’, bound with other quarto printed tracts, in modern quarter-morocco. c.1604.
BcF 124
Copy, in a professional predominantly italic hand, subscribed ‘Fr: Bacon’, possibly made for William Rawley (c.1588-1667), Bacon's chaplain, amanuensis and posthumous editor. Early-mid-17th century.
In: the MS described under BcF 56.
BcF 126
Copy, in two hands, one predominantly secretary, the other cursive italic, on quarto leaves, incomplete or imperfect, comprising only the beginning.
In: the MS described under BcF 56.
BcF 127
Copy, in a professional secretary hand, unascribed. c.1600s.
In: the MS described under BcF 67.
In the same hand as BcF 154, which Spedding describes as that of one of Bacon's scribes.
BcF 128
Copy, closely written in a cursive secretary hand, subscribed ‘Francis Bacon’. Early 17th century.
In: A folio composite volume of miscellaneous tracts and papers, in various hands, 203 leaves, in modern calf gilt. At least partly compiled by John Bagford, London bookseller and antiquary.
BcF 128.5
Exemplum of the printed quarto edition of 1604 with the unprinted pages (sigs E1v-E2r, E3v-E4r, F1r-F3r) supplied in MS. 1604.
Facsimile of sigs D4v-[E1r] in Serjeantson and Woolford, p. 146.
BcF 129
Copy, in a probably professional hand, docketed (f. 1r) ‘Bye F: B: but ye name not added to the Tract’, with other markings and comments by one or two readers relating to pages here missing in the printed edition. Early 17th century.
In: A quarto composite volume of ecclesiastical tracts and sermons, in various hands, in modern quarter-calf.
Facsimile example of f. 11v in Serjeantson and Woolford, p. 142.
BcF 129.5
Extracts, in the secretary hand of Thomas Gell, MP (1595-1657), of the Inner Temple, headed ‘Certaine considerations touching the Church of England dedicated to his most excellent maiestie’, transcribed from sigs A3v-D4r of the printed edition of 1604.
In: A quarto booklet of prose works chiefly by Donne, on seventeen leaves (plus two blanks). c.1620s.
Among the papers of the Gell family, of Hopton Hall, Derbyshire, including those of the Parliamentary commander and MP Sir John Gell, first Baronet (1593-1671).
BcF 129.8
Exemplum of the printed edition of 1604 with the unprinted pages (E1v-E2r, E3v-E4r, E5r-E6v) supplied in MS in two professional secretary hands. c.1604.
BcF 130
Copy, on fourteen folio leaves.
In: the MS described under BcF 69. c.1620s-30s.
The Duke of Devonshire, Chatsworth House, MS Hardwick 51, item 3.
BcF 130.2
An exemplum of the printed edition of 1604 with the unprinted pages supplied in MS. c.1604.
BcF 130.4
Exemplum of the 1604 edition with the unprinted pages (sigs E1v-E2r, E3v-E4r, E5r-v, F1r-v) supplied in MS in two professional secretary hands, the quarto volume in modern quarter-calf boards. c.1604.
Gift of Roland L. Redmond, 1950. Formerly W 01 A.
BcF 130.5
Exemplum of the printed edition of 1604 with the unprinted pages supplied in MS. c.1604.
Facsimile of sigs D4v-[E1r] in Serjeantson and Woolford, p. 146.
BcF 130.6
An exemplum of the printed edition of 1604 with the unprinteded pages (sigs E1v-2r, E3v-4r, F1r-2v) supplied in MS in a secretary hand, the printed text also containing a reader's marginal markings and underlinings. c.1604.
BcF 130.8
An exemplum of the printed edition of 1604 with the unprinted pages (sigs E1v, E2r, E3v, E4r, [F1r-3r]) supplied in MS, bound with nine other printed works.
Once owned by Tobie Matthew (1544?-1628), Archbishop of York. Donated in 1629 by Mrs Frances Matthew.
BcF 131
Copy, headed ‘A discourse of Policye in Church gouernment written to his Matye by Sr. Francis Bacon Knight’
In: A folio volume comprising two state tracts, the first relating to France, in a single professional secretary hand, 50 unfoliated leaves (plus numerous blanks), in contemporary reversed calf, with metal clasps. Early 17th century.
Bookplate of John Ludford Esq.
Edinburgh University Library, MS La. III. 787, ff. [41r-50r].
BcF 131.2
An exemplum of the 1604 edition with the unprinted pages supplied in MS: i.e. sigs E1v-E2r, E3v-E4r in one secretary hand, and F1r-F3r in another, a quarto in modern vellum boards. c.1604.
Sotheby's, 1941 (W.M. Safford sale).
BcF 131.4
An exemplum of the 1604 edition with the unprinted pages supplied in MS: i.e. sigs E1v-E2r, E3v-E4r in one secretary hand, and F1r-F4r in another, a quarto in modern brown morocco gilt. Inscribed on the title-page: ‘this booke is not [in] print, only foure s[heets] was printed and the bishop of Lond[on] called it in a[nd] would not suf[fer more] to be printed, [that] wch was not [printed] I got in writt[en] hand as you see’. c.1604.
Sotheby's, 1941 (W. M. Safford sale).
BcF 131.5
Exemplum of the 1604 edition with the six unprinted pages supplied in MS in two probably professional hands. Sigs E1v, E2r, E3v, E4r in a cursive secretary hand, sig F1r-v in a rounded secretary hand. c.1604.
BcF 131.8
Exemplum of the edition of 1604 with the unprinted pages, sigs E1v-E2r, E3v-E4r, F1r-F3r, supplied in MS in three secretary hands, in contemporary limp vellum with remains of ties. c.1604.
The upper cover inscribed ‘for Mr. Robert Fil[mer?]’.
BcF 131.9
Copy, in a professional secretary hand, as ‘by Sr: Francis Bacon knight’, 35 leaves. Early 17th century.
In: A folio composite volume of state tracts and papers, in various hands, thirteen unpaginated items, modern quarter red morocco on marbled boards with ties. Volume XXIII of the Denmilne Papers, collected by Sir James Balfour, first Baronet (1600-57), of Denmilne and Kinncaird, Lyon King of Arms and antiquary.
Certain Considerations touching the Plantation in Ireland
First published in Resuscitatio, ed. W. Rawley (London, 1657). Spedding, XI, 116-26.
*BcF 132
Copy, in the secretary hand of an amanuensis, with Bacon's autograph inscription ‘praesented to his M. [by Sr fr 1605 deleted] 1606’. c.1606.
In: the MS described under BcF 75.5.
Edited from this MS in Spedding.
BcF 133
A formal copy, in an accomplished professional italic hand, with a title-page, 46 octavo leaves, in contemporary vellum, stamped in gilt with a royal device. Probably a presentation MS, either to Lord Ellesmere or to James I. c.1608/9.
A 19th-century transcript of this MS is Huntington, EL 1744.
BcF 134
Copy, in a rounded italic hand, unascribed, 34 sextodecimo leaves, in old calf. c.1608/9.
Certain Observations made upon a Libel published this present year, 1592
A tract beginning ‘It were just and honourable for princes being in war together, that howsever they prosecute their quarrels...’. First published in Resuscitatio, ed. W. Rawley (London, 1657). Spedding, VIII, 146-208.
A letter to M. Critoy, Secretary of France, c.1589, ‘A Letter on the Queen's religious policies’, was later incorporated in Certain Observations made upon a Libel, and first published in Cabala, sive scrinia sacra (London, 1654), pp. 38-41.
For the Declaration of the True Causes of the Great Troubles (also known as Cecil's Commonwealth), the ‘Libel’ that Bacon answered, see RaW 383.8.
BcF 135
Copy, with some corrections in another hand.
In: A folio volume of of state letters and tracts, in several professional secretary hands, the letters on pp. 877-1039 arranged under genre headings (‘Aduise’, ‘Aunsweares’, ‘Comendatory’, etc.), 1039 pages, in old blind-stamped calf (rebacked). c.1595-1620s.
Later in the library of Charles Kay Ogden (1889-1957), psychologist, linguist and book collector. Sotheby's, 14 December 1976, lot 47, to Hofmann & Freeman. Then owned by Peter Beal, London. Quaritch's sale catalogue No. 1013 (1981), item 88, with a facsimile example.
A microfilm of this volume is in the British Library, RP 2102.
BcF 135.2
Copy of the letter on the Queen's religious policies.
In: A folio volume of letters and state papers, in various professional hands, one secretary hand predominating, with a table of contents, 354 leaves, in black leather gilt. c.1630s.
BcF 135.4
Copy of the letter on the Queen's religious policies.
In: A folio volume of state tracts and papers, in a single hand, 80 leaves, in vellum. Constituting Volume LV of the Leeds Papers, chiefly collected by Sir Thomas Osborne (1632-1712), Earl of Danby and first Duke of Leeds, politician. c.1640.
BcF 135.5
Copy of the letter on the Queen's religious policies.
In: A quarto composite volume of miscellaneous tracts and state papers, in English and Latin, in various hands, 254 leaves, in modern half crushed morocco on cloth boards gilt.
BcF 135.6
Copy of the letter on the Queen's religious policies.
In: A quarto volume of state letters, in a single professional hand, xxvi + c.955 pages (misnumbered around pp. 895-6), including a table of contents (and plus numerous blanks), in contemporary calf gilt, remains of ties. c.1630s.
BcF 135.8
Copy of the letter on the Queen's religious policies.
In: A folio volume of state letters and papers, in several professional secretary hands, 1050 pages (plus a 24-page ‘Tabula’ of contents at the end), in calf. c.1630s.
Formerly MS F. 2. 20.
BcF 136
Copy in: A folio volume of state tracts, in a single professional hand, 118 leaves, in contemporary calf. c.1620s-30s.
BcF 137
Copy, as ‘Made by Francis Bacon’, in two hands, one predominantly italic, the other secretary, at least one of which was employed by William Rawley (c.1588-1667), Bacon's chaplain, amanuensis and posthumous editor, imperfect. Early-mid-17th century.
In: the MS described under BcF 56.
This MS collated in Spedding.
BcF 137.5
Copy, headed ‘Certaine notes & observations vpon a most infamous & diffamatory Libell, written by a most notorious & knowne Traitor...’.
In: An octavo volume of transcripts of state tracts and letters, iii + 227 leaves (including blanks) in all, in calf. Mainly in three hands, with later additions in c.1683-99.
Inscribed names including Anthony, Thomas and John Marshall, Jonas Ramsden, Jenkinson, Thomas Maleverer, and Lawson. Owned c.1670s-90s by the family of Sir Thomas Seyliard, third Baronet (d.1701), of Delawarre, Kent. Later note: ‘Bought this Manuscript at Montague's Book warehouse near Queen Street Lincoln's Inn Fields Tuesday Feb: 12 1739’. Later armorial bookplate apparently of the Appleyard family of either Yorkshire or Norfolk. Phillips, 20 March 1998, lot 467, to Quaritch.
BcF 138
Copy, in a cursive secretary hand, imperfect and one leaf misbound. Early 17th century.
In: A quarto composite volume of state tracts and papers, in several professional hands, 123 leaves (but ff. 50-5 removed), in modern panelled calf gilt.
This MS collated in Spedding.
BcF 138.5
Copy of the first part, headed ‘An answere to a libillous boke intitled the causes of the troubles of the Commonwealth of England or the Cecillian gouernment’, imperfect, lacking the rest. c.1599.
In: A folio composite volume of state tracts, in several professional hands, 192 leaves, in modern calf gilt.
Inscribed (f. [ir]) by Humfrey Wanley with date of accession into the Harley Library ‘25 Novembris, A.D. 1723’.
BcF 139
Copy, in two professional secretary hands, unascribed, 64 quarto leaves, in modern half morocco gilt. c.1592-early 17th century.
This MS collated in Spedding.
BcF 140
Copy, in a professional secretary hand. Early 17th century.
In: A folio composite volume of state papers, in various professional hands, 380 leaves, in modern half crushed morocco on cloth boards gilt.
This MS collated in Spedding.
BcF 140.5
Copy, in a secretary and italic hand, headed ‘Obseruations Apon a Libell intituled; the declaracons of the causes of troubles prsupposed to be against England 1592’, on eight folio leaves. c.1600.
BcF 141
Copy, headed ‘Certaine notes and observations vpon a most infamous and knowen Trayter and Intituled A declaration of the causes of the troubles presupposed to bee against England Ao. Dni. 1592’, incomplete.
In: A folio miscellany of tracts, letters, plays and verse, for the most part in a single secretary hand, partly on inserted sheaves of long narrow ledger-size leaves, written from both ends, 248 leaves, in contempoary vellum with metal clasps. Compiled by a University of Cambridge man. Early 17th century.
Inscribed at the end ‘Josephus Diggins me possedit’: i.e. by Joseph Diggins, of Clare Hall, Cambridge (matric. 1607, d.1658). Christie's, 5 December 1973, lot 84, to Hofmann & Freeman.
BcF 142
Copy of an abridged version.
In: A folio volume of state tracts, in a single professional secretary hand, 98 leaves, in half-calf on marbled boards. Early 17th century.
This MS collated in Spedding.
BcF 143
Copy, in several hands, on 32 folio leaves.
In: the MS described under BcF 69. c.1620s-30s.
The Duke of Devonshire, Chatsworth House, MS Hardwick 51, item 7.
BcF 143.5
Copy, in the same hand as BcF 160.
In: A folio volume of tracts by Bacon and others, in a professional hand (the same as MS Hardwick 43: BcF 60). c.1620s-30s.
The Duke of Devonshire, Chatsworth House, MS Hardwick 55, ff. 86r-127r.
BcF 144
Copy, numbered by the second Earl of Bridgewater ‘2’.
In: A folio volume, comprising two political tracts, each in a different professional secretary hand, the titles added in the hand of John Egerton, second Earl of Bridgewater, 86 leaves of text (plus numerous blanks) in all, in contemporary vellum. c.1590s-early 1600s.
BcF 144.5
Copy on 112 octavo leaves, in contemporary vellum. Early 17th century.
BcF 145
Copy, in a secretary hand, headed ‘Certaine obsuacons vpon a libell...[&c.]’.
In: A folio volume of state tracts, in three secretary hands except for an addition on the last leaf in italic, c.125 leaves, in contemporary vellum. Early 17th century.
BcF 146
Copy, in a professional secretary hand. c.1600.
In: A folio composite volume of state and antiquarian tracts, in various hands, 378 leaves (the first 29 paginated), in red morocco gilt.
BcF 147
Copy, in two or more professional secretary hands, iii + 34 folio leaves, in contemporary vellum wrapper within modern cloth boards. [1592-1607].
Inscribed (f. iir) ‘Thomas Brudenell de Deen: 1607’: i.e. Thomas Brudenell (c.1583-1663), first Earl of Cardigan, who has also annotated the first page in brown ink, including inserting the word ‘erroneous’ between ‘Certayne’ and ‘Observacons’ in the heading.
Sotheby's, 20 February 1967, lot 241.
BcF 148
Copy, in two hands.
In: A folio volume of legal and state tracts, 246 leaves (including blanks), in contemporary vellum boards, with initial ‘H’ in a gilt lozenge on the front cover and ‘F’ on a similar lozenge on the rear cover. Folios 5r-217r, 225r-31r in a semi-calligraphic secretary hand, formal title-pages and headings with heavily inked borders and decoration, associated with one Henry Feilde; folios 217v-24v in a different secretary hand; folios 232r-5v in a third hand. c.1630s.
Later in the library of Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bt (1792-1872), book and manuscript collector: Phillipps MS 8989. Among the collections of Sir Edwin Durning-Lawrence, MP (1837-1914), Baconian scholar and book collector.
University of London, Senate House Library, MS 312, ff. 198r-231r.
BcF 149
Copy of the third section, ‘Of the Proceedings against the pretended Catholicks, whether they haue been violent or moderate and necessarie’. Early 17th century.
In: A folio composite volume of state papers, in various hands, 248 leaves, in modern crushed morocco gilt.
This MS collated in Spedding.
BcF 150
Copy of the third section only, in a professional secretary hand, entitled ‘Of the proceedings against the pretended Catholiques &c.’
In: A folio composite volume of state tracts, in several professional hands, 164 leaves, in modern speckled calf gilt.
This MS collated in Spedding.
BcF 151
Copy of part of the fourth and sixth sections, in a small secretary hand, headed ‘Touching the proceedings betweene Spaine and England’ and ‘certaine true generall notes Vppon the actions of the Lo. Burghley’, on three quarto leaves. c.1592-early 1600s.
In: A folio composite volume of state papers, in various hands, 468 leaves, in modern half crushed morocco on roan boards. End 16th-early 17th century.
This volume discussed and printed in part, with facsimile examples, in F. Haverfield, ‘Cotton Iulius F. VI Notes on Reginald Bainbrigg of Appleby, on William Camden and on some Roman Inscriptions’, Transactions of the Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society, NS 11 (1911), 343-78.
This MS collated in Spedding.
BcF 152
Copy of ‘A letter to a ffrench gent: touching ye proceedings in Engl: in Ecclesiasticall causes’ by ‘W.W.’ (c.1589-90) later incorporated in Certain Observations made upon a Libel, imperfect.
In: the MS described under BcF 61. c.1597.
BcF 152.5
Copy of the introductory Epistle to the Reader, in a stylish secretary hand with some italic for highlighting, on three folio leaves, foliated in pencil 53-55, endorsed on an additional blank leaf ‘A beginning of a / A Discourse’. c.1592.
In: A folio guard-book of independent Elizabethan state papers, stamped foliation 1-241.
Colours of Good and Evil
See BcF 230-1.
Commentarius solutus sive pandecta, sive ancilla memoriae
Extracts edited in Spedding, XI, 39-95 (discussed pp. 18-37).
See also BcF 303.
*BcF 153
Autograph notebook, entitled ‘Comentarius solutus siue Pandecta siue Ancilla Memoriæ’, containing memoranda in English and Latin transferred from earlier notebooks; originally the first of two such books, with various dates 25-31 July, 6 August 1608, and 28 October 1609.
In: A quarto autograph memorandum book of Francis Bacon, 40 leaves (plus numerous blanks), in modern green morocco. c.1608-9.
Later owned by Thomas Tenison (1636-1715), Archbishop of Canterbury. Sotheby's, 1 July 1861 (Tenison sale), lot 11, to John Forster (1812-76), writer. Donated January 1866.
Facsimile pages in Greg, English Literary Autographs, Plate LXXVII(b); in BC, 15 (Summer 1966), p. 185; and in EMS, 16 (2011), p. 202.
A Confession of Faith
First published in London, 1641. Spedding, VII, 217-26.
BcF 154
Copy, in a professional secretary hand, as ‘by Mr Baco’. c.1600s.
In: the MS described under BcF 67.
Edited from this MS in Spedding, VII, 217-26, who describes the hand as that of one of Bacon's scribes.
BcF 155
Copy, imperfect at the end.
In: A folio composite volume of theological works, in various hands, 354 leaves. c.1620s.
BcF 156
Copy, as ‘by ffr: Bacon’, in two italic hands, one that of William Rawley (c.1588-1667), Bacon's chaplain, amanuensis and posthumous editor. Early-mid-17th century.
In: the MS described under BcF 56.
This MS collated in Spedding.
BcF 157
Copy, headed ‘The Confession of ffaith written by the Late Lord Keeper Sr ffrancis Bacon’.
In: A folio composite volume of state tracts, speeches and letters dating up to 1631, in various professional hands, including the ‘Feathery Scribe’, 313 leaves.
In the collection of Francis Hargrave (1740/1-1821), legal writer. Inscribed by him on f. [iv] ‘F Hargrave A gift to me this day from my friend George Hardinge Esquire [(1743-1816), judge and writer]. F. H. 16. July 1789.’
Briefly described in Peter Beal, In Praise of Scribes (1998), pp. 232-3 (No. 41).
BcF 158
Copy in: Composite volume of theological tracts. Mid-late-17th century.
This MS collated in Spedding.
BcF 159
Copy, in a professional secretary hand, as Written by ffrancis Lord Viscount St: Albans at or before hee was Solicitor Generall. c.1620s-30s.
In: A quarto composite volume of miscellaneous tracts and papers, in verse and prose, in various hands, 99 leaves, in modern half crushed morocco on cloth boards gilt.
BcF 159.5
Copy, on fifteen leaves. c.1620s-30s.
In: A folio composite volume of seventeen state tracts, in the hands of professional scribes, nearly 600 pages, in half-calf marbled boards. c.1620s-30s.
Once owned by Sir Richard Betenson, Bt (? the first Baronet, d.1679, of Hatton Garden, Holborn); by Thomas Brooke, F.S.A., of Armitage Bridge; by Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bt (1792-1872), manuscript and book collector: Phillipps MS 2402; and later by Lord Fairfax of Cameron. Sotheby's, 14 December 1993 (Fairfax sale), lot 30 (unsold), and 13 December 1994, lot 538 (with facsimile examples in both sale catalogues).
Recorded in Peter Beal, In Praise of Scribes: Manuscripts and their Makers in Seventeenth-Century England (Oxford, 1998), pp. 214-15 (No. 3), with facsimile examples on pp. 64, 65, 84-6.
BcF 160
Copy, on three leaves.
In: the MS described under BcF 69. c.1620s-30s.
The Duke of Devonshire, Chatsworth House, MS Hardwick 51, item 1.
BcF 161
Copy in: A folio volume principally of works by Francis Bacon, in a single professional secretary hand, 253 pages, in contemporary calf. c.1620s-30s.
BcF 161.5
Copy in: A folio volume of state tracts, in probably two professional secretary hands (A: ff. 1r-210v,; B: f. 211r onwards), with an index in an italic hand at the end, 370 leaves, in half-vellum marbled boards. c.1630s.
BcF 162
Copy, headed ‘The Confession of or Faith. by Sr: Fran: Bacon’.
In: A quarto volume of sermons and devotional works, with (pp. [ii-iii]) a table of contents, viii + 279 pages, in contemporary vellum with green ties. c.1632-4.
BcF 163
Copy, in a cursive secretary hand, headed ‘The Confession of our Faith written by Sr. Fran. Bacon’.
In: A folio booklet of texts by Francis Bacon, in three secretary hands, 15 + iv leaves, unbound. c.1620s.
BcF 164
Copy, eleven leaves.
In: A quarto volume containing two works by Francis Bacon. Early 17th century.
Once owned by Sir Henry Spelman (1563/4-1641), historian and antiquary, and later by Dawson Turner (1775-1858), banker, botanist, and antiquary. Puttick & Simpson's, 6 June 1859 (Turner sale), lot 19, to Forster.
Victoria and Albert Museum, Forster MS 21 (Pressmark 48.D.3), item 1.
BcF 164.5
A brief summary, headed ‘Confession of ffayth by Sr Fr Bacon’.
In: A quarto miscellany of verse and prose, in English, French, Latin and Greek, written from both ends in various hands, with a list of contents, 117 leaves, in half-calf. Late 17th century.
Bookplate of Charles W.G. Howard, ‘The Gift of the Rt. Hon. Sir David Dundas Knt. of Ochtertyre 1877’. Formerly Chest II, No. 13.
BcF 165
Copy in: A folio volume of state papers. 17th century.
Later owned by Lieutenant-Colonel G. H. W. Carew of Crowcombe Court, Somerset. Sotheby's, 6 May, 1903 (Carew sale), lot 312, to Cotton.
Recorded in HMC, 4th Report (1874), Appendix, p. 372.
BcF 165.5
Copy in: A folio volume of state tracts. c.1620s-40s.
Inscribed ‘A.A. June. 15. 1649. 8sh’. Philips, 10 November 1994, lot 388.
A consideration of the laws of this realm concerning the transportation of gold and silver and of the remedies by law now in force against the same
To be published for the first time in the Oxford Francis Bacon.
BcF 165.8
Copy, in a probably professional secretary hand, headed ‘A consideracon of the lawes of this Realme concerninge the transportacon of goulde & silver, and of the remedyes by lawe nowe in force againste the same’, on two pairs of conjugate folio leaves, once folded as a packet, endorsed ‘per Fra. Bacon’ and used by Lord Ellesmere. Late 16th-early 17th century.
Edited from this MS in the forthcoming Oxford Bacon.
Considerations touching a War with Spain
A tract dedicated to Prince Charles, beginning ‘Your Highness hath an imperial name. It was a Charles that brought the empire first into France...’. First published in Certaine Miscellany Works, ed. William Rawley (London, 1629). Spedding, XIV, 469-505.
BcF 166
Copy, in a professional predominantly secretary hand, unascribed, the heading added in the hand of the Rev. Ralph Bridges (d.1724), chaplain to the Bishop of London, 22 folio leaves (plus four blanks). Volume CLV of the Trumbull Papers, of the Trumbull family, including chiefly William Trumbull (1576/80?-1635), diplomat and government official, and Sir William Trumbull (1639-1716), diplomat. Later belonging to the Marquess of Downshire, of Easthampstead Park. c.1620s.
Formerly Berkshire Record Office Trumbull Add. 19(3). Sotheby's, The Trumbull Papers, lot 7.
BcF 166.5
Extracts, in the hand of the fourth Earl of Bedford, headed ‘Considerations touching a warr with Spayn’, indexed in the Earl's hand in the table of headings as by ‘Lo St Albons’.
In: the MS described under BcF 121.8. c.1625-30s.
BcF 166.8
Extracts, in a mixed hand, with annotations by the fourth Earl of Bedford, headed ‘Considerations touchinge a warre with Spaine by the hoble: Lo: Verulam Vicount St Alban’.
In: the MS described under BcF 55.2. c.1629-30s.
BcF 167
Copy, iii + 39 leaves (including six blanks). c.1624-8.
Among the collections of James P.R. Lyell (1871-1948), book collector.
BcF 168
Copy, in a professional secretary hand, 39 folio leaves, in modern half brown calf on marbled boards. Early 17th century.
Acquired from Thomas Rodd (1796-1849), bookseller, on 13 April 1844.
BcF 169
Copy, in a professional secretary and italic hand, with a title-page, as ‘written by Sr Fran: Bacon Knt Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England’.
In: A folio composite volume of state tracts and speeches, 321 leaves (plus numerous blanks), in modern half crushed morocco on cloth boards gilt. In professional hands, including items by the ‘Feathery Scribe’ and by Ralph Starkey (c.1569-1628), antiquary.
Later owned by Sir Simonds D'Ewes, Bt, MP (1602-50), diarist and antiquary.
Briefly described in Peter Beal, In Praise of Scribes: Manuscripts and their Makers in Seventeenth-Century England (Oxford, 1998), pp. 234-5 (No. 43), with facsimiles of ff. 254v and 275r on pp. 95 and 93.
This MS collated in Spedding.
BcF 170
Copy, unascribed.
In: A folio volume of state papers, tracts and parliamentary speeches, in a single professional secretary hand, 73 leaves, in modern speckled calf. c.1624-8.
Edited from this MS in Spedding.
BcF 171
c.1620s.
In: A folio composite volume of state tracts, in various professional hands, 124 leaves (including blanks), in half-calf on marbled boards.
BcF 171.5
Copy, incomplete.
In: A folio volume of state tracts and parliamentary proceedings, in varying styles of script, both secretary and roman, possibly in the same hand, 283 leaves (of which ff. 98-283 are blank), in contemporary limp vellum, with ties. c.1630.
BcF 172
Copy, 33 pages. c.1624-8.
In: A disbound collection of MS tracts.
BcF 172.5
Copy, in a professional secretary hand, iii + seventeen large folio leaves, unbound. Early 17th century.
BcF 173
Copy, in a professional secretary hand, on 40 leaves, the title-page inscribed in another hand ‘By Francis Bacon’.
In: A folio composite volume of state tracts and letters, in professional hands, including that of the ‘Feathery Scribe’, 517 leaves, in reversed calf. No. 11 inscribed ‘Severall Tracts Selected out of a Booke in ye hands of Sir Robert Cotton Knight and Baronnet’.
Collected in 1674 by one John Witham.
BcF 174
Copy, in a predominantly secretary hand, on 34 quarto leaves, in 19th-century half black morocco gilt. c.1624-8.
Among the papers of the Phelips family, of Montacute House, Somerset.
Recorded in HMC, 3rd Report (1872), Appendix, p. 286.
BcF 175
Copy, in a professional secretary hand, imperfect, lacking the last section. c.1620s-30s.
In: A folio composite volume of state papers, tracts and speeches, in various hands, 298 leaves (plus blanks), in old reversed calf.
Old pressmark N. 2. 12.
BcF 175.5
Copy in: A folio volume of speeches and letters by Francis Bacon, in a single professional secretary hand. c.1630.
Microfilm in the British Library, M/325.
Duke of Northumberland, Alnwick Castle, MS 526, ff. 20r-7r (2nd series).
Considerations touching the Queen's Service in Ireland
First published in Remaines (London, 1648). Spedding, X, 46-51.
BcF 176.2
Copy in: A folio volume of letters by Francis Bacon, in a single professional predominantly secretary hand, 79 leaves (plus 64 blanks), in contemporary vellum gilt. Owned by, and occasionally annotated in the rugged italic hand of, Francis Russell, MP (1593-1641), fourth Earl of Bedford, politician. c.1620s-30s.
Recorded in HMC, 2nd Report (1871), Appendix, p. 2.
The Duke of Bedford, Woburn Abbey, HMC MS No. 190, ff. 46r-55r.
BcF 176.3
Copy, in a secretary hand.
In: A folio volume of miscellaneous tracts and papers, in several professional secretary hands, written from both ends, 287 leaves, in modern calf gilt. c.1630s.
Thomas Thorpe, ‘Catalogue of a most important collection of ancient manuscripts’ (1839), item 184. Purchased 8 June 1839.
BcF 176.4
Copy in: A tall folio volume comprising principally letters by Francis Bacon 1595-1622, largely in a single probably professional secretary hand, a letter by Sir Thomas Bodley to Bacon (ff. 41r-4v) in another secretary hand, 44 leaves, now mounted on guards, in contemporary vellum, now within modern half red morocco. c.1620s-30s.
Volume CCCCXCIV of the papers of the first four Earls of Hardwicke and other members of the Yorke family.
BcF 176.5
Copy, in a professional secretary hand. c.1630s.
In: A folio composite volume of papers relating to Francis Bacon, in various hands, 306 leaves, in modern half-morocco. A number of papers in the hand of Thomas Birch (1705-66), biographer and historian.
Among Birch's collections for his edition of works by Bacon (1761), incorporating papers formerly owned by Robert Stephens (1665-1732), literary editor, and John Locker (1693-1760), barrister and literary editor, in connection with their intended editions of Bacon's works.
BcF 176.6
Copy, in a professional predominantly italic hand. c.1620s-30s.
In: the MS described under BcF 176.5.
BcF 176.7
Copy in: A folio composite volume of letters and state papers, in various professional largely secretary hands, ff. 80r-160v an imperfect single unit, 346 leaves, in modern half red morocco gilt. c.1630s.
Inscribed (f. 3r) ‘Sum Ed: Umfrevile Janrio 1727’: i.e. Edward Umfreville (1702?-(1702?-86), collector of legal manuscripts.
BcF 176.8
Copy, in the hand of the ‘Feathery Scribe’.
In: A worn folio volume of transcripts of state letters and tracts, the majority by or relating to Francis Bacon, in a single professional secretary hand (the ‘Feathery Scribe’), 101 leaves, in contemporary vellum. c.1625-30s.
From the papers of the Cartwright family of Aynho. Formerly an unnumbered MS in C(A) Box 56, in the Northamptonshire Record Office.
BcF 176.9
Copy, in a secretary hand, on six pages of two conjugate folio leaves, with an endorsement, once folded as a packet. c.1602.
Recorded in HMC, Salisbury, XIV (1923), pp. 239-42, where it is calendared as ‘Suggestions [by Lord Mountejoy] for the Government of Ireland’ and dated ‘[1602]’.
The Marquess of Salisbury, Hatfield House, Cecil Papers 139/136-138.
BcF 177
Copy, subscribed ‘ffrancis Bacon’.
In: A quarto volume of state letters, in several hands, 543 pages, in calf gilt. Mid-17th century.
Once owned by John Hopkinson (1610-80), Yorkshire antiquary, of Lofthouse, near Leeds, and comprising Volume 44 of the Hopkinson MSS. Signed bookplate of Frances Mary Richardson Currer (1785-1861), book collector, of Eshton Hall, West Yorkshire. Subsequently owned by her step-father Matthew Wilson.
This volume (when unnumbered) recorded in HMC, 3rd Report (1872), Appendix, p. 300.
BcF 178
Copy, subscribed ‘ffran: Bacon’.
In: A small folio volume of state letters, in a probably professional secretary hand, ii + 114 leaves, in half-morocco. c.1625-30s.
Later owned by John Locker (1693-1760), barrister and literary editor. Bought at his sale in 1764 by Thomas Birch (1705-66), biographer and historian (whose signature on f. iir is actually dated 26 September 1763).
BcF 180
Copy, in a professional secretary hand. c.1620s-30s.
In: A folio composite volume of state letters and papers, in several professional secretary hands, with (ff. 1r-12v) a ‘Tabula’ of contents, 315 leaves (including blanks), in old calf gilt.
Stamped crest on the cover of the Finch family, Earls of Winchilsea.
BcF 181
Copy in: A folio composite volume of state letters, in vavious professional hands, 194 leaves, in modern half crushed morocco on cloth boards gilt. Early-mid-17th century.
BcF 182
Copy in: the MS described under BcF 176.7. c.1630s.
BcF 183
Copy, in a professional secretary hand, subscribed ‘ffrancis Bacon’.
In: the MS described under BcF 135.5.
BcF 184
Copy, incomplete.
In: A folio volume of transcripts of letters by Bacon, 53 leaves. c.1620s-30s.
BcF 185
Copy in: the MS described under BcF 161. c.1620s-30s.
BcF 187
Copy in: A folio volume of state letters principally by Bacon, entirely in the predominantly secretary hand of Ralph Crane (fl.1589-1632), poet and scribe, v + 109 leaves, with an ‘Index’ (pp. iii-v), in old quarter vellum boards. With a title-page: ‘Sundrie Letters Conteyning Matter of Elegancie, Worth & Moment, At seuerall times, & upon seuerall occasions Written to the excellt. Matie. of King James, & diuers other persons of Honor. & Eminencie By Sr Fra Bacon deceased aswell before he was his Maties. Solliciter: as in the after Passages of his life, dignities & fortune wherein are inserted .3. Letters of K. James his owne: & some of others’. c.1630.
Bookplate of William North (d.1734), second Baron Grey of Rolleston.
BcF 189
Copy in: the MS described under BcF 95. 1637.
University of London, Senate House Library, MS 285, ff. 309r-16r.
BcF 190
Copy. c.1620s.
In: A folio composite volume of state tracts, in several professional hands, 118 leaves, in vellum boards.
Inscribed (f. [ir]) ‘Given me by T.H.L. from The Library of his gt Grand.father. the Revd. J[ohn]. Parkhurst, M.A. [1728-97] The Hebrew Lexicographer’.In the library of Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bt (1792-1872), book and manuscript collector: Phillipps MS 16896. Bookplate of Frederick Leigh Colvile (1818-86). Among the collections of Sir Edwin Durning-Lawrence, MP (1837-1914), Baconian scholar and book collector.
University of London, Senate House Library, MS 300, ff. 97v-102r.
BcF 191
Copy. c.1620s-30s.
In: A folio composite volume of state tracts, in several professional secretary hands, with (ff. 4r-6r) a table of contents, 222 leaves, in old half-calf.
Stamped (f. 1r) with name of Sir Richard Betenson, Bt (? the first Baronet, d.1679, of Hatton Garden, Holborn). Thomas Thorpe, ‘Catalogue of books, ancient and modern...[and] manuscripts’, Part 2 (1823), item 5903. In the library of Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bt (1792-1872), book and manuscript collector: Phillipps MS 2519. Sotheby's, 21 March 1895 (Phillipps sale), lot 301. Among the collections of Sir Edwin Durning-Lawrence, MP (1837-1914), Baconian scholar and book collector.
University of London, Senate House Library, MS 309, ff. 333r-9r.
BcF 192
Copy, subscribed ‘Fra: Bacon’.
In: A folio volume of state letters, in several professional secretary hands, with a lengthy ‘Tabula’ of contents, xxx + 558 pages, in old vellum boards. c.1637.
Recorded in HMC, 6th Report, Part I (1877), p. 306.
BcF 193
Copy in: A small quarto volume of state letters and papers, in a single secretary hand, 704 pages, in quarter-calf boards. With a letter by James Gairdner (1828-1912), historian, returning this volume to Edward William Cox (1809-79), lawyer and publisher, 20 January 1886. Mid-17th century.
Gift of Mr Roland L. Redmond, 1942.
BcF 193.5
Copy in: A folio miscellany of verse and prose on state matters, entitled Ephemeris Chirographoru quorudam Memorabiliam Succincta, 703 pages, in modern calf gilt. A formal compilation written throughout in a calligraphic hand, in black and red inks with elaborate black and coloured decorations and patterned layouts, associated with one Henry Feilde, with his inscription (p. 1) ‘No 4. Henry Feilde 1642’. c.1642.
Bookplates of Joseph Haslewood (1769-1833), bibliographer and antiquary, and of the Rev. Charles Winn (1795-1874), of Nostell Priory, Yorkshire. Christie's, 2 July 1975, lot 229, to H.P. Kraus. Sotheby's, New York, 17 December 1992, lot 95.
Facsimile example in Sotheby's sale catalogue.
BcF 196
MS abstract of the treatise.
In: An octavo volume of transcripts of state tracts and documents in the minute hand of Robert Horn of Shropshire, two items (ff. 19-30, dated 20 January 1620/1) added by Herbert Jenks of Newhall, 104 leaves, in contemporary vellum. c.1618-30s.
A Direccon for the readeinge of histories with profitt made by Sr. ffrances Bacon
‘Directions’ beginning ‘First you shall observe any law or custome wch shalbe worth the noteing...’. First published in David M. Bergeron, ‘Francis Bacon: An Unpublished Manuscript’, PBSA, 84 (1990).
BcF 197
Copy, in a formal secretary hand, headed ‘A direccon for the readinge of historie with profitt made by Sr. ffrances Bacon’.
In: A folio volume of state letters and poems, 65 pages. c.1625-30s.
Once belonging to the Sotheby family of London and Ecton Hall, Northamptonshire.
Edited from this MS, with facsimiles, in Bergeron.
A Discourse touching Helps for the Intellectual Powers
First published in Resuscitatio, ed. W. Rawley (London, 1657). Spedding, VII, 97-103.
BcF 198
Copy, together with a copy of the covering letter to Sir Henry Savill (‘My Ld Verulams to Mr Savil’), in a predominantly secretary hand, with corrections in another hand (? perhaps Archbishop Tenison's). c.1620s-30s.
In: A quarto composite volume of state and ecclesiastical tracts and papers, in various hands, 371 leaves, in modern half crushed morocco gilt.
Printed from this MS in Spedding, VII, 97-103. A copy of the letter to Savill (but without the discourse) in the hand of one of Bacon's amanuenses is in the British Library, Add. MS 5503.
A Discourse touching Intelligence and the Safety of the Queen's Person
Written in 1594. The complete discourse unknown. Spedding, VIII, 305-7.
*BcF 199
Two fragments of autograph rough drafts, the first endorsed ‘The first copye of my discourse touchinge the safatye of the Qs person’ and once folded as a letter or packet; the second on two pages of a pair of conjugate folio leaves, endorsed ‘The first copy or fragmts of a discors touching intelligence and ye safty of the Qs person’. [1594].
In: A tall folio composite volume of letters and papers of Francis Bacon, in various hands and paper sizes, with a fourteen-leaf table of contents, 282 items, unfoliated, in old black morocco gilt. Volume VIII of the collections of Edmund Gibson (1669-1748), Bishop of London.
These fragments, the first beginning ‘The first remedy in my poor opinion...’, the second beginning ‘These be the principal remedies...’, edited in Spedding.
Discourse upon the Commission of Bridewell
A tract beginning ‘Inter magnalia regni, amongst the greatest and most haughty things of this kingdom...’. First published in Briefe Collections out of Magna Charta (London, 1643) [Wing B4557]. Spedding, VII, 505-16.
BcF 200
Copy, in a professional secretary hand, with (f. 127r) a title-page, as ‘written by Sr ffrauncis Knight’ [sic], ‘Bacon’ incorporated in the heading (f. 128r).
In: A folio composite volume of state tracts, 285 leaves, in modern half crushed morocco gilt. In various professional hands, including that of the ‘Feathery Scribe’.
Briefly described in Peter Beal, In Praise of Scribes: Manuscripts and their Makers in Seventeenth-Century England (Oxford, 1998), pp. 242-4 (No. 57).
Edited from this MS in 32nd Report of the Charity Commission, Part VI (1840), pp. 576-8; and in Spedding, VII, 505-16.
BcF 200.5
Copy, in a professional secretary hand, unascribed. Early 17th century.
In: A large folio composite volume of state papers and tracts, in various hands, 412 leaves, in 19th-century half red morocco. Papers of Sir Julius Caesar (1558-1636), Master of the Rolls.
BcF 201
Copy, in a clear secretary hand. Early-mid 17th century.
In: A folio volume comprising two legal tracts bound together, 25 leaves (plus 55 blanks), in quarter-calf. Early 17th century.
This MS collated in Spedding.
BcF 201.2
Extracts, headed ‘Out of a Discourse vppon the Commission of Bridewell’ and beginning ‘The law is that of any Charter that if any Charter be granted by the king...’.
In: A folio commonplace book of extracts and private journal, in a single cursive hand, written from both ends, 46 leaves (plus many blanks), in contemporary calf. Compiled by Sir William Drake, MP (1606-69), of Shardeloes House, near Amersham, Buckinghamshire. c.1631-44.
BcF 201.3
Copy in: A small folio volume of legal texts, 380 pages. 17th century.
Later owned by Sir Thomas Phillipps (Phillipps MS 2892).
BcF 201.6
Copy, on five pages.
In: A folio volume of legal and state tracts, letters and reports, principally in one secretary hand, c.127 leaves (including a number of blanks) in all, in contemporary limp vellum. End of 16th century.
Possibly once owned by the judge Sir Gilbert Gerard (d.1593), whose name appears together with those of Thomas Martin, John Clarke, W. Davies, Thomas Goodfellowe and John Elmes on covers and endpapers.
Later in the library of the Duke of Westminster, Eaton Hall, Cheshire. Sotheby's, 19 July 1966, lot 480, and 21 July 1981, lot 436, sold to the Bacon Library, Claremont, California.
Recorded in HMC, 3rd Report (1872), Appendix, p. 212. Complete set of photocopies in British Library, RP 2214.
BcF 201.8
Copy, in a professional secretary hand, headed ‘A Breife Treatise or discourse of ye vallidity, Strength, and Extent of the Charter of Bridewell, and how farr, Repugnant both in Matter, sence, and meaninge to the great Charter of England / Worthily Composed by Mr Serieant ffleetwood Somtymes Seriant at Lawe’. c.1630s.
In: A folio composite volume of legal, civic and parliamentary tracts relating to London, in several professional hands, i + 192 leaves, in modern half red morocco.
Later owned by Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bt (1792-1872), book and manuscript collector: Phillipps MS 2898. Formerly Guildhall Library, MS 9384.
An Essay of Fame
First published in Resuscitatio, ed. William Rawley (London, 1657). Spedding, VI, 519-20.
BcF 202
Copy, in a bold mixed hand, of an unfinished essay, headed ‘An Essay of ffame Begun by the Lord Bacon & left imperfect’, inscribed f. 86r ‘Thus farr the Lord Bacon’, then the rest headed f. 87r ‘To follow though not with Equall excellency the Lord Bacons Essay of ffame left imperfect’, on eight quarto leaves. c.1630.
In: the MS described under BcF 75.5.
Essays or Counsels Civil and Moral
Ten Essayes first published in London, 1597. 38 Essaies published in London, 1612. 58 Essayes or Counsels, Civill and Morall published in London, 1625. Spedding, VI, 365-591. Edited by Michael Kiernan, The Oxford Francis Bacon, Vol. XV (Oxford, 2000).
*BcF 203
Copy of 34 Essays, in a professional secretary hand, with a title-page in engrossed lettering ‘The Writings of Sr ffrancis Bacon Knt: the Kinges Sollicitor Generall in Moralitie Policie and Historie’, 29 leaves (plus numerous blanks), slightly imperfect (f. 16), in modern black morocco gilt. With alterations in a cursive secretary hand (notably on ff. 13r, 29r), those on f. 27r (inserted word ‘properties’) and f. 20r (nine-line insertion in the margin) probably in Bacon's hand. [c.1607-12].
This MS partly collated and one essay (Of Seditions and Troubles) edited from it in Spedding, VI, 535-91. Discussed in Kiernan, pp. lxii, lxxi-lxxvii, with a facsimile of f. 20r as frontispiece.
A complete transcript made by John Payne Collier (1789-1883) is in the University of London Library, MS 291.
BcF 204
Copy of Bacon's intended dedication of the Essays to Prince Henry, in the same secretary hand as BcF 203. Early 17th century.
In: A folio volume of papers relating to Francis Bacon, in various hands, 168 leaves, bound with British Library, Add. MS 4260 in modern half-morocco. Some papers in the hand of Thomas Birch (1705-66), biographer and historian.
Among Birch's collections for his edition of works by Bacon (1761), incorporating papers formerly owned by Robert Stephens (1665-1732), literary editor, and John Locker (1693-1760), barrister and literary editor, in connection with their intended editions of Bacon's works.
Edited from this MS in Spedding.
BcF 204.2
Extracts.
In: A quarto volume of state papers, in several hands, one small secretary hand predominating, 73 leaves, all now mounted on guards, in modern red half-morocco. c.1630.
BcF 204.3
Extracts.
In: A small quarto commonplace book, compiled by Francis Cherry (1667-1713), nonjuror and antiquary, iii + 71 leaves, in old vellum. Late 17th century.
Volume XI of the papers of George Berkeley (1685-1753), Bishop of Cloyne, philosopher.
BcF 204.4
Extracts, headed ‘Collections from Sr ffrancis Bacons essayes or Counsells civill and Moralle’.
In: A folio commonplace book of miscellaneous extracts from printed sources, in English and French, in a single cursive hand, written from both ends, i + 95 leaves, in contemporary vellum gilt. Compiled by Sir Samuel Tuke, first Baronet (c.1615-74), royalist army officer and playwright, cousin and friend of John Evelyn. c.1656.
Volume CCLVI of the Evelyn Papers, of John Evelyn (1620-1706), diarist and writer, of Wootton House, Surrey, and his family, also incorporating papers of his father-in-law, Sir Richard Browne, Bt (1605-83), diplomat, and his family. Formerly preserved at Christ Church, Oxford, as Evelyn MS 254. Purchased March 1995.
Recorded (as the ‘Tuke MS’) in Peter Beal, ‘More Donne Manuscripts’, John Donne Journal, 6/2 (1987), 213-18 (p. 214).
BcF 204.5
Copy of ten essays, in a professional secretary hand, with no general heading, beginning with ‘Studies, Essayes’.
In: A folio volume of state papers and speeches, in several secretary hands, 124 leaves, in modern mottled calf gilt. Early 17th century.
Kiernan, p. lv.
BcF 204.8
Extracts from some 45 Essays, headed ‘Essayes Ciuill and Morall of Francis lord Verulam, Viscount Snit Alban. Printed. 1625’.
In: A quarto volume of pious tracts, in a single secretary hand, 157 leaves, in modern half crushed morocco on cloth boards gilt. c.1633.
BcF 205
Copy of two essays, ‘of Faction’ and ‘Negotiatinge’, deleted. c.1590s.
In: the MS described under BcF 75.5.
BcF 205.3
Extracts, headed ‘Out of the Ld. Bacon's Essays’.
In: A quarto commonplace book of extracts, ff. 1r-39v in a professional hand, the rest almost entirely in a single hand, with some revisions, i + 100 leaves, in modern half crushed morocco gilt. Compiled by Sir Edward Sherburne (1616-1702), translator and poet. c.1690s.
BcF 205.4
Copy of Italian translations of the essays ‘Of Religion’ and ‘Of Superstition’.
In: A composite volume of miscellaneous tracts and state papers, in various hands, mounted on guards. Collected by Pierre Dupuy (1582-1651) and his brother Jacques (1591-1656), successively Gardes de la Bibliothèque du Roi. c.1633.
BcF 205.5
Copy of French translations of the essays ‘Of Religion’ and ‘Of Superstition’.
In: the MS described under BcF 205.4. c.1633.
BcF 205.6
Copy of French translations of the essays ‘Of Religion’ and ‘Of Superstition’.
In: A folio volume of French miscellaneous and state papers from 1315 to 1645, in a neat French hand, 218 leaves.
Originally owned by Pierre Séguier (1588-1672).
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, fonds français n° 4745, [unspecified page numbers].
BcF 205.7
Copy of French translations of the essays ‘Of Religion’ and ‘Of Superstition’.
In: A MS volume. ?17th century.
Once owned by Pierre Séguier, chancelier de France.
See Michèle Le Doeuff, ‘Bacon chez les grands au siècle de Louis XIII’, in Francis Bacon: terminologia e fortuna nel XVII secolo, ed Marta Fattori (Rome, 1984), pp. 155-78 (p. 163).
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, fonds français n° 17874, ff. 144r-5r.
BcF 206
Copy of twenty Essays.
In: Copy of twenty-one Essays by Bacon, in a professional secretary hand, on ten folio leaves, in modern morocco. Early 17th century.
Inscription in pencil (f. 1r) ‘J. Payne Collier / Maidenhead’: i.e. owned by John Payne Collier (1789-1883), literary scholar, editor and forger. Bookplate of William Aldis Wright, MP, 1901.
Described in Kiernan, pp. lvi-lvii.
Trinity College, Cambridge, MS O. 4. 52 (James 1502), ff. 1r-6r, 7v-10r.
BcF 206.2
Extracts.
In: A duodecimo commonplace book of extracts from philosophical works, under headings, in a single minute hand, xx + 327 pages (including a number of blanks), with an index, in modern calf gilt. 1687-8.
Formerly owned by Sir Geoffrey Keynes, Bibliotheca Bibliographici (London, 1964), No. 19.
Cambridge University Library, MS Add. 8451, [Unspecified page numbers].
BcF 206.3
Copy of ten essays, numbered ‘Cap: 1’ to ‘Cap: 10’, namely ‘Of Studies’, ‘Of Discourse’, ‘Of Cerimonies, and Respectes’, ‘Of followers and friendes’, ‘Of Suitors’, ‘Of Expence’, ‘Of Regiment of health’,‘Of Honour, and Reputation’, ‘Of Faction’, and ‘Of Negoatiating’. Early 17th century.
In: A small quarto volume comprising two separate MSS, 24 leaves, in later half-calf boards.
BcF 206.5
Extracts from five essays, headed ‘Essaies of sr Francis Bacon’.
In: A quarto formal commonplace book, in Latin, Greek and English, in a single predominantly secretary hand, written from both ends, including numerous blanks, unfoliated, in contemporary limp vellum, with traces of ties. Compiled by Robert Marsham, fourth Baronet. Late 17th century.
Among papers of Sir John Marsham, first Baronet (1605-85), of Whornes Place, Cuxton, Kent, Clerk in Chancery and antiquary, and his successors, later Earls of Romney.
Centre for Kentish Studies, Maidstone, U1121 Z56/7, p. [1r rev.].
BcF 206.6
Extracts from ‘Lo. Bacon's Essays p. 39’ and from ‘J. J.'s Preface to a Book Entit. Baconiana &c. p. 57’.
In: A folio volume of verse and prose extracts, those on pp. 321-7 headed ‘Observables of a Miscellaneous Nature’, those on pp. 367-77 ‘Witty Sentences’, in a single cursive secretary hand, 377 pages (including numerous blanks), in reversed brown calf. Among the family collection established by Christopher Mickleton (1612-69), Durham attorney, and by his eldest son James (1638-93), lawyer and antiquary, which was later incorporated in the collections of Gilbert Spearman (1675-1738), lawyer and antiquary. 1699-1711.
Durham University Library, Mickleton & Spearman MS 5, pp. 371.
BcF 206.7
Extracts, on numerous pages throughout the volume.
In: An octavo commonplace book, with entries under headings, in a single cursive hand, 512 pages (plus numerous blanks), in vellum boards. c.1705.
BcF 206.8
Various extracts.
In: A folio composite compilation of extracts from various works, in a single cursive hand, originally on folded and docketed pairs of conjugate leaves of differing sizes before being opened out and mounted, the pages unnumbered, in contemporary calf. Mid-late 17th century.
Harvard Law School Library, HLS MS 1169 (Hollis No. 005905616), passim.
BcF 207
Copy of ten Essays (Of Studies, Of Discourse, Of Ceremonies and Respects, Of Followers and Friends, Of Suitors, Of Expense, Of Regiment of Health, Of Honour and Reputation, Of Faction and Of Negotiating), in a secretary hand, headed ‘Essayes. By Ld Bacon’.
In: A folio miscellany of tracts and papers on heraldic, genealogical and other subjects, in several secretary hands, 193 leaves, in 19th-century half-morocco gilt. c.1598-9.
Inscribed (f. 1r), possibly by compilers, ‘Johannem Lvyt de purleigh [Essex] 1598’, ‘Edmunde Thurston’, ‘Edmund Skorie 1597’, and ‘John Clearke 1598’, and (f. 194v) ‘Jo: Levitt’ again and ‘Johis Leviticus me possidet’.
BcF 207.2
Extracts from various essays.
In: A quarto miscellany, in two or more predominantly secretary hands, 86 leaves (including blanks), in contemporary calf. c.1660.
A facsimile of f. 85r is in Chris R. Kyle and Jason Peacey, Breaking News: Renaissance Journalism and the Birth of the Newspaper (Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, DC, 2008), p. 33.
BcF 207.5
Series of extracts from Bacon's Essays, interspersed with passages from Fuller (FuT 6.5) and the Bible.
In: A large folio volume containing autograph ‘Observations Out of ye Old & New Testament also out of Lord Bacons Essays & Fuller's Holy State Jan: 16: 1696/7’ by Samuel Brydges, afterwards first Duke of Chandos, with some pages relating to naval matters in a scribal hand, 176 pages (plus a few blanks), in contemporary panelled calf.
Among the Stowe Papers of the Brydges and related families, brought together at Stowe House, Buckinghamshire. Bookplate of James Brydges of Wilton Castle, Herefordshire.
Huntington, ST 13, pp. 6-7, 9, 11-12, 14-16, 34-6, 38, 40-3, 50-2, 54-5, 57, 59, 61-5, 67-8, 70-2.
BcF 207.8
Numerous extracts from Bacon, principally from the Essays, including entries and citations on pp. 31-2, 39, 42-3, 56, 59, 62, 65-7, 85, 88-9, 233-4.
In: A quarto commonplace book, in a single mixed hand, 319 pages (including blanks, plus a few more), in brown calf. c.1620s-40s.
BcF 208
Copy of four Essays, namely Of Adversity, Of Revenge, Of Delays, and Of Innovations, in a cursive predominantly secretary hand, on all four pages of a pair of conjugate folio leaves. Early 17th century.
Among papers of the Clifton family, of Clifton Hall, Nottinghamshire.
BcF 209
Copy of four Essays, namely (Of Adversity, Of Revenge, Of Delays, and Of Innovations, in a secretary hand, on three pages of a pair of conjugate folio leaves, once folded as a letter or packet. Early 17th century.
BcF 210
Copy of ‘Three Essayes of Revendge. Aduersitie [and] Innouations by the Lord St Alban’, in the cursive italic hand of Sir Robert Phelips (1586?-1638), politician, on three pages of two conjugate folio leaves. c.1620s.
In: A folio guardbook of state letters and papers, in various hands and paper sizes, 70 items, 139 leaves.
Among the papers of the Phelips family, of Montacute House, Somerset.
Recorded in HMC, 1st Report (1870), Appendix, p. 58.
BcF 210.1
Extracts, headed ‘Lord Bacons Essays’.
In: the MS described under BcF 54.935. c.Mid-late 1630s.
BcF 210.3
Extracts, in Drake's hand, headed ‘Of Negotiating’, inscribed in the margin ‘Bacon’.
In: An octavo commonplace book, in several hands, written from both ends, 181 leaves, in contemporary calf. Partly compiled by William Drake, MP (1606-69), of Shardeloes, near Amersham, Buckinghamshire. c.1640s.
Later in the library of Charles Kay Ogden (1889-1957), psychologist, linguist, and book collector.
Drake's commonplace books discussed in Stuart Clark, ‘Wisdom Literature of the Seventeenth Century: A Guide to the Contents of the “Bacon-Tottel” Commonplace Books’, Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, 6, Part 5 (1976), 291-305; 7, Part 1 (1977), 46-73, and in Kevin Sharpe, Reading Revolutions (New Haven & London, 2000).
University College London, MS Ogden 7/26, ff. 179v-175v rev.
BcF 210.4
Extracts, headed ‘Bacons Essays’.
In: An octavo commonplace book, in a single cursive italic hand, 101 leaves, in contemporary calf gilt. c.1630s.
Owned by William Drake, MP (1606-69), of Shardeloes, near Amersham, Buckinghamshire. Later in the library of Charles Kay Ogden (1889-1957), psychologist, linguist, and book collector.
Drake's commonplace books discussed in Stuart Clark, ‘Wisdom Literature of the Seventeenth Century: A Guide to the Contents of the “Bacon-Tottel” Commonplace Books’, Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, 6, Part 5 (1976), 291-305; 7, Part 1 (1977), 46-73, and in Kevin Sharpe, Reading Revolutions (New Haven & London, 2000).
BcF 210.6
Extracts, headed ‘Notes taken out of Bacons Essayes Relateing to Gouernmt’ and, on f. 134v, ‘Obseruat. out of seueral Essaies’.
In: An octavo commonplace book of extracts, in two or more cursive hands, 184 leaves, in contemporary vellum boards. c.1640s-50s.
Owned by William Drake, MP (1606-69), of Shardeloes, near Amersham, Buckinghamshire. Later in the library of Charles Kay Ogden (1889-1957), psychologist, linguist, and book collector.
Drake's commonplace books discussed in Stuart Clark, ‘Wisdom Literature of the Seventeenth Century: A Guide to the Contents of the “Bacon-Tottel” Commonplace Books’, Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, 6, Part 5 (1976), 291-305; 7, Part 1 (1977), 46-73, and in Kevin Sharpe, Reading Revolutions (New Haven & London, 2000).
BcF 210.8
Extract from Bacon's essay ‘Of Innovations’, untitled.
In: A duodecimo commonplace book of extracts, in one cursive hand, written from both ends, 117 leaves (plus numerous blanks), in contemporary vellum boards gilt. c.1630.
Owned by William Drake, MP (1606-69), of Shardeloes, near Amersham, Buckinghamshire. Later in the library of Charles Kay Ogden (1889-1957), psychologist, linguist, and book collector.
Drake's commonplace books discussed in Stuart Clark, ‘Wisdom Literature of the Seventeenth Century: A Guide to the Contents of the “Bacon-Tottel” Commonplace Books’, Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, 6, Part 5 (1976), 291-305; 7, Part 1 (1977), 46-73, and in Kevin Sharpe, Reading Revolutions (New Haven & London, 2000).
—— Of Seditions and Troubles
Spedding, VI, 535-91. The Oxford Francis Bacon, XV, 43-50.
BcF 211
Copy, in a predominantly secretary hand, on three pages of two folio leaves.
In: the MS described under BcF 69. c.1620s-30s.
The Duke of Devonshire, Chatsworth House, MS Hardwick 51, item 12.
—— Of Travaile
The Oxford Francis Bacon, XV, 56-8.
BcF 211.5
Copy, headed ‘Sr Fran: Bacons essay of Travell’.
In: An octavo volume of essays on travel, largely in one professional secretary hand, a ‘Table’ and some notes in other hands, with a formal title-page ‘Itineraria Collectanea or Instructions for A Traveler Directing him how to make the best use of his Travels Together with the Politique survay of A Kingdome’, 107 pages (plus blanks), in old vellum boards. c.1630.
This MS recorded in BC, 15 (Summer 1966), p. 156.
—— Of the True Greatness of Kingdoms and Estates
Spedding, VI, 444-52. The Oxford Francis Bacon, XV, 89-99.
BcF 212
Copy, in a secretary hand, with corrections, on eight folio pages. Early 17th century.
In: A large folio guard-book of independent Jacobean state papers, stamped foliation 1-242.
BcF 213
Copy, on three folio leaves. c.1620s-30s.
In: A folio composite volume of state tracts, letters and speeches, in various hands, 614 pages (including blanks), in contemporary vellum.
Filum labyrinthi, sive formula inquisitionis
First published in Letters and Remains of the Lord Chancellor Bacon, ed. Robert Stephens (London, 1734). Spedding, III, 493-504.
*BcF 214
Copy of an English version, in the secretary hand of an amanuensis, with Bacon's autograph corrections and revisions. Early 17th century.
In: the MS described under BcF 75.5.
Edited from this MS in Stephens and in Spedding.
The History of Great Britain
See BcF 105.
The History of the Reign of King Henry VII
First published in London, 1622. Spedding, VI, 23-245. Edited by Michael Kiernan, The Oxford Francis Bacon, Vol. VIII (Oxford, 2012), pp. 3-169.
*BcF 215
Copy, in the roman hand of an amanuensis, with Bacon's occasional autograph deletions and insertions, untitled, 136 folio leaves, imperfect at the beginning and end, in 19th-century leather. c.1621.
Edited from this MS in Spedding. Edited partly from this MS in Kiernan, with facsimiles of ff. 122r and 2r on pp. xcv-xcvi.
BcF 215.1
Extracts, in a mixed hand, with annotations by the fourth Earl of Bedford.
In: the MS described under BcF 55.2. c.1629-30s.
BcF 215.11
Extracts, in a secretary hand, headed ‘Notes of Hen: ye .7. raigne sett downe in manuscript by the Lord Chancellor Bacon’. c.1620s.
In: A folio composite volume of state papers, tracts and speeches, in several secretary hands and paper sizes, 89 leaves, in modern half-morocco.
BcF 215.12
Extracts, headed ‘Hen: the 7. written by Francis Viscount St Albons’.
In: A duodecimo notebook of extracts from historical works, in a single cursive italic hand, 149 pages (plus 70 blanks), in contemporary calf. Mid-17th century.
Recorded in HMC, 6th Report (1877), Appendix, p. 312.
BcF 215.13
Extracts, in Drake's hand, headed ‘Bacons Hen: 7. pag: 204’.
In: the MS described under BcF 210.3. c.1640s.
University College London, MS Ogden 7/26, ff. 175r-174v rev.
BcF 215.135
Extracts, headed ‘Collecons out of my l. of St Albans H. 7’.
In: A folio volume of extracts from English historical works, in three hands, one secretary hand predominating, c.240 pages, in contemporary calf gilt. c.1630.
BcF 215.14
Extracts.
In: A folio miscellany of verse and prose, compiled by Anthony Hammond, MP, of Somersham, Huntingdonshire, 173 leaves. c.1723-32.
BcF 215.2
Extracts, in a secretary hand, in double columns, headed ‘Notes out of the lord verulams Historie of Henrie. 7.’ c.1620s-30s.
In: A tall folio composite volume of state and antiquarian tracts and papers, in several hands, with a table of contents, 153 pages, in contemporary vellum. Assembled by, and partly in the rugged italic hand of, Francis Russell, MP (1593-1641), fourth Earl of Bedford, politician.
Recorded in HMC, 2nd Report (1871), Appendix, p. 1.
The Duke of Bedford, Woburn Abbey, HMC MS No. 27, pp. 135-8.
BcF 215.3
Extracts, translated into French.
In: A MS volume. ?17th century.
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, fonds français n° 19879, ff. 4r-19r.
BcF 215.4
Extracts.
In: A duodecimo volume of notes on history, 61 leaves.
BcF 215.5
Extracts, headed ‘The Raigne of King Henry the 7th. by ye Ld Verulam’.
In: A folio volume of ‘Collections out of the Histories of England. 1670’, extracted from printed sources, in a single hand, 87 leaves, in mottled leather gilt. c.1670.
BcF 215.6
Extracts, headed ‘Notes taken out of the Historye of the Raigne of King H. 7 Written by ...Francis Lord Verulam Viscount St Alban’.
In: A duodecimo volume of extracts from printed books, in a single mixed hand, 80 leaves (plus blanks), in modern half morocco. Mid-17th century.
BcF 215.7
Extracts. Mid-17th century.
In: A folio volume of state and miscellaneous papers, from the reigns of Henry VIII to Charles II, in various hands, 321 leaves.
BcF 215.8
Extracts.
In: A quarto miscellany of extracts from plays and historical works, with comments on them, entitled ‘Excerpta quædam per A. W. Adolescentem’, in a single cursive predominantly italic hand, 119 leaves, in modern quarter-morocco. Entirely in the hand of the Rev. Abraham Wright (1611-90), of St John's College, Oxford, author. c.1640.
Inscribed (f. 1r) ‘Ja: Wright’ (Abraham's son) and later ‘of Taylor, Brighton’. Bookplate of William Bromley, of Baginton, Warwickshire, 1703. Later owned by the Rev. Philip Bliss (1787-1857), antiquary and book collector. Sotheby's, 21 August 1858 (Bliss sale), lot 220.
For facsimile examples, see ShW 71 and ShW 44.
The History of the Reign of King Henry VIII
See BcF 106.
The History of the reign of K. Henry the Eighth, K. Edward, Q. Mary, and part of the reign of Q. Elizabeth
A brief history beginning ‘The books which are written do in their hands represent the faculties of the mind of man...’. Quoted in John Speed, History of Great Britain (London, 1611). First published complete in Cabala (London 1663). Spedding, VI, 17-22.
BcF 216
Copy, incomplete. Early 17th century.
In: the MS described under BcF 107.
Edited from this MS in Spedding.
BcF 216.5
Copy, untitled.
In: A quarto composite volume of twelve folio and quarto leaves, in three hands, in 19th-century half red morocco gilt. Early-mid-17th centry.
Acquired from M.C. Hamilton 11 November 1873.
BcF 217
Copy, on three folio leaves.
In: the MS described under BcF 69. c.1620s-30s.
The Duke of Devonshire, Chatsworth House, MS Hardwick 51, item 6.
Instauratio magna
See Novum Organum: BcF 305.4-305.8.
Letter and Discourse to Sir Henry Savill, touching Helps for the Intellectual Powers
See BcF 198.
Letters of Advice to the Earl of Rutland on his Travels
See EsR 153-184.
Maxims of the Law
First published in The Elements of the Common Lawes of England (London, 1630). Spedding, VII, 307-87.
Bacon claimed to have collected ‘300 of them’, of which only ‘some few’ (25 maxims) were subsequently published. For an attempt to track down the ‘missing’ maxims, see John C. Hogan and Mortimer D. Schwartz, ‘On Bacon's “Rules and Maximes” of the Common Law’, Law Library Journal, 76/1 (Chicago, Winter 1983), 48-77.
BcF 218
Copy of 25 Rules, including (ff. 1r-7r) a dedication to Queen Elizabeth dated 8 January ‘1596’ and (ff. 8r-15r) a Preface, in secretary and italic hands, on 82 quarto leaves, in modern half-calf. Early 17th century.
BcF 218.5
Copy, in a MS volume of notes on various aspects of the law. Mid-late 17th century.
BcF 219
Copy of 21 Rules, headed ‘A Colleccon of the Rules of the Common Lawes of England. F: B:’.
In: the MS described under BcF 88. c.1620s-30s.
BcF 220
Folio copy of 25 rules, untitled, with (ff. 1r-3v) the Dedication to Queen Elizabeth and Preface in one professional secretary hand, the main text (on ff. 4r-52r) in another, in modern speckled calf gilt. Early 17th century.
This MS recorded in Spedding, VII, 309.
BcF 221
Copy of 22 Rules, in probably two secretary hands, as ‘Written by Sir Francis Bacon’, with the date ‘January 8th Anno Dni 1596’ added in another hand, on 118 quarto leaves, with (ff. 118v-23v) three additional rules in yet another secretary hand, in modern half crushed morocco on cloth boards gilt. Early 17th century.
BcF 222
Copy of 22 rules, untitled, with dedication to the Queen dated 1596, incomplete.
In: A large folio volume of legal tracts, in one closely written secretary hand, 20 leaves, in modern half morocco gilt. Early 17th century.
This MS recorded in Spedding, VII, 309.
BcF 223
Copy of the 20 rules, in a neat hand, untitled, 28 small folio leaves (plus blanks), bound with a 16th-century MS (MS Ee. 15), in old calf. c.1630.
Inscribed (f. 1r) ‘Tho: Corie Hosp: Graij 1630’.
This MS collated in Spedding.
BcF 224
Copy of 25 Rules, in a secretary hand. Early 17th century.
In: A small quarto volume comprising two works by Bacon bound together, in different hands, 72 leaves, (ff. 65r-72v in other hands), bound with MS Hh. 6. 7 (a 27-leaf tract owned in 1578 by Dr Robert Phipps), in quarter-calf.
The second Bacon item owned on 24 January ‘1659’ by a lawyer, apparently Anthony Smithson, of Gray's Inn.
This MS collated in Spedding.
BcF 225
Copy of 22 Rules, lacking a title, with a dedication to Queen Elizabeth, as by ‘ffrancis Bacon’, dated 8 January ‘1596’, in a professional predominantly secretary hand, 115 quarto leaves (plus stubs of excised leaves at the beginning), in contemporary vellum. Early 17th century.
BcF 226
Copy of 25 Rules, closely written in a mixed hand, with a title-page ‘A Collection of the Rules of the Comon Lawes of England by Francis Drake’, on 31 quarto leaves. In a quarto volume of 68 leaves, the last 37 leaves occupied by extracts from legal Year Books written from the reverse end in another hand, in modern quarter-leather vellum boards. Early 17th century.
Among collections of Sir John Maynard, MP (1604-90), lawyer and politician.
An unspecified MS in Lincoln's Inn Library is recorded in Spedding, VII, 309.
BcF 227
Copy of 25 rules, in a neat secretary hand, untitled, a list of the rules (pp. 16-18) in italic script.
In: A quarto volume of legal works, in three hands, written from both ends, 138 pages (plus blanks), in contemporary limp vellum with ties. c.1630s.
The ‘Moote Cases’ at the reverse end are inscribed ‘collect p mey John Barton...de Middle Temple. M. 13o Carolij 1637’. Presented to Lincoln's Inn by E.J. Brevir, QC, June 1883.
See BcF 226.
BcF 228
Copy of the Dedication to the Queen and the Preface only, dated 8 February 1596. Early 17th century.
In: A folio volume of three works, each in a different secretary hand, 50 leaves (including blanks, plus more blanks), in brown morocco.
New Atlantis
First published, edited by William Rawley (as ‘A Worke unfinished)’, with Sylva Sylvarum (London, 1627). Spedding, III, 125-66.
BcF 228.1
Extract, headed ‘Out of Sr fra. Bacons New Atlantis’.
In: An octavo commonplace book of extracts from religious and philosophical works, in English and Latin, in a cursive mixed hand, 207 leaves (plus numerous blanks), in contemporary calf. c.1640s.
Owned by William Drake, MP (1606-69), of Shardeloes, near Amersham, Buckinghamshire. Later in the library of Charles Kay Ogden (1889-1957), psychologist, linguist, and book collector.
Objections against the Change of the Name of England into the Name of Britain
Written 25 April 1604. To be published in the forthcoming The Oxford Francis Bacon.
BcF 228.3
Copy of an early report.
In: A folio composite volume of verse MSS, in various hands, 171 leaves, in half brown morocco. Collected by Peter Le Neve (1661-1729), Norroy King of Arms and antiquary, his brother Oliver, and Thomas Martin (1697-1771), of Palgrave, Suffolk, antiquary and collector.
BcF 228.4
Copy in: the MS described under BcF 116. c.1624-8.
BcF 228.5
Copy of a version of Bacon's first report.
In: the MS described under BcF 151. End 16th-early 17th century.
BcF 228.6
Copy, in the professional secretary hand of the ‘Feathery Scribe’.
In: the MS described under BcF 118.5.
BcF 228.7
Copy, in a professional secretary hand, with alteratins in another hand. Early 17th century.
BcF 228.8
Copy, in a neat italic hand, probably transcribed from BcF 228.7. Mid-17th century.
Of Magnanimity or Heroical Virtue
First published in Burgoyne, Alnwick MS (1904), pp. 28-9.
Of the Colours of Good and Evil
First published with Essayes (London, 1597). Spedding, VII, 65-92. Spedding, VII, 67-8.
*BcF 230
Autograph notes, headed ‘Semblances or popularities of good & evill, wth their redargution, for Deliberacions’, on a pair of conjugate quarto leaves, endorsed (f. 129v) ‘Philologia Colors of good and euill’, in the Promus of Formularies and Elegancies (BcF 269), the notes subsequently developed into Bacon's essay on the subject. c.1595-6.
In: A large folio composite volume of miscellaneous letters and tracts, in various hands, 360 leaves, in modern morocco gilt.
These notes edited from this MS in Spedding.
BcF 231
Copy of a letter, headed ‘Mr Fran: Bacon of the Collors of good and evyll to the Lo: Mountioye’ possibly intended as a prefix to his essay on that subject, in a professional secretary hand, the verso page deleted. c.1590s.
In: the MS described under BcF 75.5.
Edited from this MS in Spedding, VII, 69-71.
BcF 231.8
Extracts, headed ‘Out of ye same Authors Table of Collours’.
In: the MS described under BcF 204.4. c.1656.
Of the True Greatness of the Kingdom of Britain
First published in Letters and Remains of the Lord Chancellor Bacon, ed. Robert Stephens (London, 1734). Spedding, VII, 45-64.
*BcF 232
Copy, in the secretary hands of two amanuenses, with Bacon's autograph corrections and revisions, unfinished. c.1608.
In: A folio composite volume of tracts and papers, in various hands, 432 leaves, in modern half crushed morocco gilt.
Edited from this MS in Spedding.
Offer to the King of a Digest to be made of the Laws of England
Spedding, XIV, 358-64.
BcF 232.1
Extracts, in the hand of the fourth Earl of Bedford, headed ‘My Lo: St Albans of a digest to be made of the laws of england’.
In: the MS described under BcF 121.8. c.1625-30s.
The Duke of Bedford, Woburn Abbey, HMC MS No. 21, pp. 4-5 rev.
BcF 232.15
Copy, headed ‘To the King of a Digest to be made of the Lawes of England’.
In: the MS described under BcF 55.5. c.1630s.
BcF 232.2
Extracts, in a mixed hand, headed ‘Of a digest to be made of the lawes of England’.
In: the MS described under BcF 55.2. c.1629-30s.
The Duke of Bedford, Woburn Abbey, HMC MS No. 23, pp. 17-18.
BcF 232.5
Copy in: An octavo volume of state tracts, in several mixed hands, one predominating, 68 leaves (plus blanks), in contemporary limp vellum, now within modern half dark red morocco. c.1620s.
Inscribed (f. 2r) ‘Henry Wotten His Book Anno Dom 1742 Novem’ and ‘Saml Kenrick [of Bewdley, Worcestershire] 1765’. Presented by W.A. Sharp.
*BcF 232.7
Copy in an accomplished predominantly italic hand.
In: the MS described under BcF 58. c.1630.
A transcript is printed in The Works of Francis Bacon, ed. James Spedding, Robert Leslie Ellis, and Douglas Denon Heath, 14 vols (London, 1857-74), XIV, pp. 358-64.
BcF 232.8
Copy in: the MS described under BcF 60.5. c.1620s.
Plymouth Proprietary Library, Halliwell-Phillipps No. 13, ff. [30r-3v].
*BcF 232.9
Copy, on nine folio pages. Early 17th century.
A transcript is printed in The Works of Francis Bacon, ed. James Spedding, Robert Leslie Ellis, and Douglas Denon Heath, 14 vols (London, 1857-74) XIV, pp. 358-64.
On the King's Prerogative
Unpublished.
*BcF 233
Autograph legal commonplace book, chiefly in Law French. Late 16th-Early 17th century.
In: the MS described under BcF 230.
This MS recorded in Spedding, VII, 305. See also BcF 112-15.
Ordinances in Chancery
First published as Ordinances made by...Sir Francis Bacon Knight...being then Lord Chancellor For the better and more regular Administration of Iustice in the Chancery (London, 1642), beginning ‘No decree shall be reversed, altered, or explained, being once under the Great Seale...’. Spedding, VII, 755-74 (mentioning, on p. 757, having seen some ‘MSS and editions’ of this work but without specifying them or his copy-text).
BcF 234
Copy of 100 rules. c.1620s.
In: A folio composite volume of legal and state tracts and papers, in professional hands, ii + 266 leaves, in contemporary calf gilt.
Inscribed (f. 1v) ‘Nar. Luttrell: His Book 1682’ [i.e. by Narcissus Luttrell (1657-1732), annalist and book collector], with similar inscriptions throughout the volume with dates ranging from 1678 to 1685.
BcF 235
Copy of 102 Ordinances, in a professional small secretary hand. c.1640.
In: the MS described under BcF 56.
BcF 236
Copy of 101 Ordinances, in a professional secretary hand, as ‘made by the Lo: Chancelor...1618’.
In: A folio volume of legal tracts, in several probably professional hands, 85 leaves, in half-calf. c.1630s.
Purchased from Lord R. Montagu, MP, 27 June 1863.
BcF 237
Copy of 100 Ordinances, in a professional predominantly secretary hand, as by ‘Francis Lord Verulam...23o Januarij 1618’.
In: A folio volume of legal tracts, in several secretary and court hands, 172 leaves, in 19th-century morocco. c.1630.
Inscribed (f. 1r) ‘Sum Edm Umfrevile Junr's Interioris Templi Studtie 1724’: i.e. Edward Umfreville (1702?-86), collector of legal manuscripts. Bookplate of Horace Walpole (1717-97), fourth Earl of Orford, author, politician and patron. Presented by the Earl of Derby, 11 February 1871.
BcF 238
Copy of 100 ordinances, in a professional secretary hand, as ‘made by the Lord Chancellor...24 January, 1618’.
In: A large folio composite volume of legal tracts and papers, in various hands and paper sizes, 274 leaves, mounted on guards, in modern half red morocco. Collected by Sir Nicholas Lechmere (1613-1701), judge and politician.
Volume DCCXXXIII of the papers of the first four Earls of Hardwicke and other members of the Yorke family.
BcF 239
Copy of 101 ordinances, in a cursive predominantly italic hand, as ‘made by the Right Honrable ffrancis Lord Verulam’. Mid-17th century.
In: A quarto composite volume comprising three legal tracts, in different hands, with (ff. 108r-13r) an index, 113 leaves, mounted on guards, in modern half red morocco.
Volume DCCLV of the papers of the first four Earls of Hardwicke and other members of the Yorke family.
BcF 239.5
Copy of 101 ordinances, as ‘made by Frauncis lord Verulam lord high Chancellor of England...1616’. c.1620s-30s.
In: A large folio composite volume of papers chiefly relating to the Court of Chancery, in various professional secretary hands and paper sizes, ix + 355 leaves, once in a recycled ?15th-century vellum document, now in modern half red morocco.
Formerly MS Claudius B. 8 in the library of Sir Robert Bruce Cotton, first Baronet (1571-1631), antiquary and politician, and his signature (‘Robertus Cotton Bruceus’) on f. 3r. Inscribed (f. iiv), by ‘Mr Deaues’ (?Charles Deaves of Lincoln's Inn) ‘This Book must be delivered to Mr. Mitford’. Bookplate and note of John Freeman-Mitford (1748-1830), first Baron Redesdale, Lord Chancellor or Ireland and Speaker of the House of Commons. Also annotated by Francis Hargrave (1740/1-1821), legal writer. Sotheby's, 28 July 1947, lot 177.
BcF 239.8
Copy of ordinances 1-58, 73-6 only, in a professional secretary hand, unascribed. c.1620s-30s.
In: A folio composite volume of state papers and tracts, in English and Latin, in various hands, ii + 380 leaves, in contemporary vellum, with traces of ties.
Yelverton MS 49, among papers of Sir Henry Yelverton (1566-1629), Justice of the Common Pleas, and his family.
Edited from this MS in G.W. Sanders, Orders of the High Court of Chancery (London, 1845), Part i, pp. 109-22, 129-31.
BcF 240
Copy of 101 Ordinances, unnumbered, headed ‘Ordinances for the Chancery made by the Lord Bacon’.
In: A folio volume of papers relating to the Court of Chancery, in one or more professional secretary hands, 156 leaves, in vellum boards. c.1640.
Presentation inscription (f. 1r) by Wilmot Buxton, counsellor, to his friend William Henry Black, FSA (1808-72), antiquary, Assistant Keeper of the Public Records, with Black's inscription of similar date, 8 May 1860, supposedly identifying the writer as Elias Ashmole and saying he found it in Ashmole's chambers at 77 Chancery Lane.
BcF 240.5
Copy of 101 Ordinances, in a professional secretary hand, as ‘made by the Lord Chancellor...1618’. c.1620s.
In: A folio composite volume of state tracts, letters and speeches, in several professional hands, 432 leaves (plus blanks), in modern crushed morocco gilt. In professional hands, including those of Ralph Starkey (c.1569-1628), merchant and antiquary, and the ‘Feathery Scribe’.
Later owned, and annotated, by Sir Simonds D'Ewes, BT, MP (1602-50), diarist and antiquary. A note (f. 432v) by Humfrey Wanley (1672-1726), scholar and librarian, records on 30 July 1714 that eight or nine years earlier Robert Harley lent this book to Queen Anne ‘upon the account of divers Original Letters &c. written by the Royal Family’, which, on its return, Wanley extracted and inserted into a separate collection.
Briefly described in Peter Beal, In Praise of Scribes: Manuscripts and their Makers in Seventeenth-Century England (Oxford, 1998), pp. 235-6 (No. 45).
BcF 241
Copy of 97 Ordinances, followed (ff. 9v-10v) by 15 ‘Addicyonall Rules’, in a cursive secretary hand.
In: A folio composite volume of state, legal and antiquarian tracts and papers, in various hands, 225 leaves, in modern green half crushed morocco on cloth boards gilt. Among antiquarian collections compiled by Sir Simonds D'Ewes (1602-50)
BcF 242
Copy of 101 Ordinances, as ‘made by the Lo. Chauncellor’, otherwise unascribed, in at least two secretary hands, followed (ff. 104r-5r) by fifteen ‘Addiconal rules’. c.1620s.
In: the MS described under BcF 93.
This MS recorded in Spedding, VII, 757. The text
BcF 242.5
Copy of the first Ordinance only, headed ‘Ordinances by the Lord Chancellor...1618’, incomplete, the rest of the page left blank.
In: A folio volume of tracts relating to the Chancery, in a single cursive secretary hand, 35 leaves (plus blanks), in modern half crushed morocco on cloth boards gilt. c.1620s-30s.
BcF 243
Copy of 100 Ordinances, in a professional hand, with a formal title-page, ‘Ordinances made by the right honorable ffrancis Lord verulam Lord chancelor of England...1618’, an address to the Recorder of London subscribed ‘T: H:’, and (ff. 18r-21r) an alphabetical ‘Table’ of contents, on 21 quarto leaves, in quarter calf on marbled boards. c.1618-20s.
Inscribed (f. 1r) ‘J: Rock 1689’.
BcF 243.5
Copy of 101 ordinances, as by ‘the Lord Chauncellor’, in a secretary hand. c.1620s.
In: A folio composite volume of legal and state tracts and papers, in various hands, 158 leaves, in modern half-morocco.
BcF 243.8
Copy of 100 ordinances, in a secretary hand, untitled, subscribed ‘ffranc: verulam Canc.’ c.1620s.
In: the MS described under BcF 243.5.
BcF 244
Copy of 100 Ordinances, as ‘made by the Lord Chaunceller’, subscribed ‘Fran: verulam Canc.’, and inscribed in the margin ‘Bacon's Hecatomb’.
In: A folio volume of tracts and papers relating to the Court of Chancery, in several professional hands, 613 leaves, in reversed calf. c.1620s.
Inscribed (f. 1r) ‘Sum Edri Umfrevile Junris. Interioris Templi Studentis 1724’: i.e. by Edward Umfreville (1702?-86), collector of legal manuscripts. Bookplate of Shelburne
BcF 244.5
Copy of 61 ordinances, headed ‘The rules and ordinances obserued in the high Court of Chancery sauing the Prerogatiue of the Court’, unascribed.
In: A quarto volume of state papers, nearly all in a single secretary hand, 74 leaves, in modern half crushed morocco gilt. Early-mid-17th century.
BcF 245
Copy of 100 Ordinances, the text followed (ff. 82v-3v) by fourteen ‘Additional Rules’.
In: A tall folio volume of tracts relating to the Court of Chancery, apparently based on collections of William Lambarde, in a professional mixed hand, with (ff. 258v-63v) a table of contents, 263 leaves, in old calf now within 19th-century half-morocco. Mid-17th century.
Arms of the Wright family of Essex on the original cover.
BcF 245.2
Copy in: A folio volume of material relating to the Court of Chancery, 1060 pages.
BcF 245.5
Copy of 100 ordinances, headed ‘Ter: Hillar: 16to Jacob: Regis. 1618 / Ordinances made by Sr francis Bacon...’, followed (ff. 48r-9r) by fifteen ‘Addicionall rules’.
In: A folio volume of state and Chancery tracts and letters, in several professional secretary hands, 89 leaves (plus blanks), in contemporary vellum with ties. c.1620s.
Inscriptions include (f. 1v) ‘John Charles Jones’ and ‘Thomas Stockton’ and (f. 2r) ‘W. G.’
BcF 246
Copy of 101 Ordinances, in a secretary hand, ‘as made by the Lord Chancellor...25 January 1618’.
In: A quarto volume of legal tracts and papers, in one or more cursive secretary hands, 309 leaves (plus 42 blanks), in contemporary vellum. c.1620s.
Bookplates of F.W. Cosens, FSA (1819-89), of Clapham Park, book collector; of Charles H. Hayley; and of Sir Thomas Brooke, Bt, FSA (1830-1908), of Armitage Bridge, Yorkshire antiquary and book collector.
BcF 246.5
Copy of 95 ordinances, headed ‘Ordinances made by ye Lord Chancellor for ye better & more reguler administration of Justice in the Chancery to be duly obserued sauinge the Prerogatiue of the Courte by ffrancis Lord Verulam published in open cort. 23o Jan: 1618’, followed (ff. 45v-6v) by ‘Addiconall Rules’.
In: A folio composite volume of tracts relating to the Court of Chancery, in professional hands, including that of the ‘Feathery Scribe’, vi + 97 leaves (including 51 blanks).
Peter Beal, In Praise of Scribes: Manuscripts and their Makers in Seventeenth-Century England (Oxford, 1998), p. 260 (No. 101).
BcF 246.8
Copy of 100 ordinances, followed (ff. 129r-32v) by ‘Addiconall Rules for the better governing of the Courte of Chanc and the greate Seale published in open courte. 31o: Octob Anno. 1620:’.
In: A folio composite volume of legal tracts.
BcF 247
Copy of the Ordinances, unnumbered, on 22 quarto leaves, dated ‘1618’, with ‘Additionall Rules’ on ff. 22v-3v, in a secretary hand, with various corrections and emendations in another hand, disbound. Copy, with corrections in another hand; the text followed by additional Ordinances. c.1619.
Acquired from Frank Hollings, London bookdealer.
BcF 247.2
Copy of 100 Ordinances, dated ‘the xxiij daye of January 1618’, followed (ff. 172v-4v) by fifteen Addiconall Rules, in the professional secretary hand of the ‘Feathery Scribe’.
In: A large folio volume of tracts on Chancery, entirely in the hand of the ‘Feathery Scribe’, 570 leaves (some misnumbered, plus loose inserts), in half-calf marbled boards. c.1630.
Inscribed (f. 1r) ‘J Trevor’, probably Sir John Trevor (1637-1717), Speaker of the House of Commons and Master of the Rolls. Later in the library of Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bt (1792-1872), manuscript and book collector: Phillipps MS 15141. The MS cited as ‘in the possession of Mr. Rooke’ in a four-page index added c.1839. Acquired from Sweet & Maxwell on 14 February 1950 together with MSS belonging to Thomas Powys (d.1671), Sergeant at Law. Formerly MS 1034.
Recorded in J. H. Baker, English Legal Manuscripts in the United States of America, Part II: 1558-1902 (London, 1990), pp. 117-19 (No. 559). Briefly described in Peter Beal, In Praise of Scribes: Manuscripts and their Makers (Oxford, 1998), pp. 219-21 (No. 13), with a facsimile of f. 32v on p. 100.
Beal, In Praise of Scribes, p. 220 (No. 13.5).
Harvard Law School Library, HLS MS 1026, Vol. I (Hollis No. 003758283), ff. 156r-72r.
BcF 247.4
Copy of 101 Ordinances.
In: A folio volume of legal tracts relating to Chancery, in professional secretary hands, 89 leaves (including numerous blanks), in contemporary vellum. c.1620.
Formerly MS 1156.
Baker, p. 138.
Harvard Law School Library, HLS MS 1121 (Hollis No. 003529219), ff. [67r-74r].
BcF 247.6
Copy of 101 Ordinances, as ‘published in open Cort .23o Jann: i6i8’, followed (pp. 33-7) by fifteen ‘Additionall Rules’ as ‘published in open Court 31o October 1620.’
In: A quarto volume of legal tracts relating to Chancery, in a single professional secretary hand, 202 pages, including an index, in 19th-century half-calf. c.1627-35.
Formerly MS 4025.
Baker, p. 109.
Harvard Law School Library, HLS MS 4107 (Hollis No. 004574888), pp. 1-33.
BcF 247.8
Copy of 101 Ordinances, as ‘Orders made by the Lord Chancellor’, followed (on ff. 184v-7r) by fifteen ‘Addicionall rules’, in a professional secretary hand.
In: A folio volume of legal tracts relating chiefly to the Court of Chancery, in several professional secretary hands (including that of the ‘Feathery Scribe’), 216 leaves (plus a few blanks), in contemporary calf. c.1620s-30s.
Inscribed on a flyleaf ‘M: Bayley’. Later in the library of Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bt I1792-1872), book and manuscript collector: Phillipps MS 15142. Bookplate of F. William Cock, MD (1858-1943), surgeon, of Appledore, Kent. Acquired 25 October 1944. Formerly shelved as LAW MS. 14.
Peter Beal, In Praise of Scribes: Manuscripts and their Makers in Seventeenth-Century England (Oxford, 1998), pp. 267-8 (No. 111).
Library of Congress, LCCN: 93170789 / Call Number: KD6937 .L53 1640, ff. 169r-84v.
BcF 248
Copy of 101 Ordinances, in a secretary hand, as ‘made by ye lord Chanc:...Tempore Bacon Cancell: 1619’, the text followed (ff. 14v-16v) by fifteen additional Ordinances dated 31 October 1620.
In: A quarto volume of papers relating to the Court of Chancery, in a single neat secretary hand, v + 60 leaves (including sixteen blanks, plus a further 137 blanks), in contemporary vellum. c.1635.
Later in the library of Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bt (1792-1872), book and manuscript collector: Phillipps MS 2785. Among the collections of Sir Edwin Durning-Lawrence, MP (1837-1914), Baconian scholar and book collector.
University of London, Senate House Library, MS 303, ff. 1r-14r.
BcF 248.5
Copy of 101 ‘Ordinances made by the Lord Chancellor...the first first day of Candlemas Terme. 1618’.
In: An octavo volume of tracts and papers relating to the Court of Chancery, in a single predominantly secretary hand, 203 pages (plus blanks), in modern calf. c.1635-40s.
Name inscribed on flyleaf of ‘Joseph [?]Manson’.
BcF 249
Copy of 101 ordinances, in a professional secretary hand, with corrections in another hand, as by ‘Francis Lord verulam’, on 15 folio leaves, followed (ff. [16r-18r]) by fifteen Additional Rules and (f. [18v]) by an index, unbound. c.1620s.
This MS recorded in HMC, 1st Report (1870), Appendix, p. 31.
BcF 249.5
Copy of 101 Ordinances (or ‘Decrees’) ‘made by the Lord Chancellor’, in a professional secretary hand, on nine folio leaves, bound with two other MSS (MSS B. 10. 41 and B. 11. 34), in quarter-vellum boards. Together with (ff. 9v-11r) ‘Additionall Rules’ in the same hand. c.1620s.
BcF 250
Copy of 101 Ordinances, together with fifteen additional Ordinances, in a professional secretary hand, on eleven folio leaves, bound with two unrelated manuscripts, in modern boards. c.1620s.
BcF 250.5
Copy, with Additional rules in 6, 13r-6, 15r.
In: A quarto volume of chiefly tracts and speeches, in various hands, 175 leaves, in contemporary vellum.
BcF 251
Copy, on pages 18-30 of a quarto volume (labelled ‘Y’) also containing a tract on the Court of Chancery by George Norburye. 17th century.
Formerly among the MSS of John Harvey of Ickwell Bury, Hertfordshire, and Finningley Park, Yorkshire. Possibly destroyed in a fire in 1937.
Recorded in HMC, 1st Report (1870), Appendix, p. 63.
BcF 252
Copy, the last item in a folio volume of tracts on the Court of Chancery. 17th century.
Later owned by Lieutenant-Colonel G.H.W. Carew of Crowcombe Court, Somerset.
Recorded in HMC, 4th Report (1874), Appendix, p. 372.
BcF 253
Copy, with ‘addic'onall’ rules, in a folio volume of state and legal papers. 17th century.
Formerly Mostyn MS 151, from the library of Mostyn Hall, near Holywell, Flintshire, Wales, seat of Sir Thomas Mostyn, second Baronet (c.1651-1700?) and of Sir Roger Mostyn, third Baronet (1675-1739). Sotheby's, 13 July 1920, lot 121, to Dobell.
Recorded in HMC, 4th Report (1874), Appendix, p. 353.
The Praise of Knowledge and The Praise of his Sovereign
See BcF 321.
A Prayer, or Psalm
First published in Remaines (London, 1648). Spedding, XIV, 229-31.
BcF 254
Copy, headed ‘A prayer wth confession and faith by vicom[t] S. Albans; and something added in the end by another’ and inscribed ‘In March. 1621, a litle before Easter’.
In: the MS described under BcF 196. c.1618-30s.
BcF 254.5
Copy, in a neat predominantly italic hand, on two pages of a pair of conjugate folio leaves once folded as a letter or packet. c.1620s-30s.
In: the MS described under BcF 215.2.
BcF 254.8
Copy in: Three texts relating to Bacon, comprising four folio leaves, in a probably professional secretary hand, once folded as a letter and addressed on the outer leaf (p. [7]) ‘ffor James Jackson these’, bound out of order, in a folio composite volume of sixteen parliamentary papers in various hands, in modern half-morocco. c.1620s.
Among papers of the Knatchbull family, Barons Brabourne, of Mersham-le-Hatch, Kent.
Centre for Kentish Studies, Maidstone, U951 O9/3-4, pp. [8, 5-6].
BcF 255
Copy, in a small mixed hand, on one side of a folio leaf, possibly made for William Rawley (c.1588-1667), Bacon's chaplain, amanuensis and posthumous editor. Early-mid-17th century.
In: the MS described under BcF 56.
Edited from this MS in Spedding.
BcF 255.5
Copy, headed ‘A Prayer or Psalm made by Ld. Bacon Ld. Chancelor of England’.
In: A small quarto miscellany chiefly of verse, in several neat hands, 61 leaves (including a number of blanks), in contemporary calf. Early 18th century.
BcF 256
Copy, in a neat italic hand, on the first two pages of two conjugate folio leaves. Early 17th century.
The Marquess of Salisbury, Hatfield House, Cecil Papers 144/158.
BcF 257
Copy in: the MS described under BcF 162. c.1632-4.
BcF 257.5
Copy, headed ‘A Prayer or Psalme by the Lo: Chancellor’.
In: the MS described under BcF 193.5. c.1642.
BcF 258
Copy, headed ‘The Lo: Chancelors prayer’.
In: A folio volume of parliamentary tracts and speeches, in two or more secretary hands, 37 leaves (plus numerous blanks), in contemporary limp vellum. c.1624-8.
Owned by William Drake, MP (1606-69), of Shardeloes, near Amersham, Buckinghamshire. Later in the library of Charles Kay Ogden (1889-1957), psychologist, linguist, and book collector.
Drake's commonplace books discussed in Stuart Clark, ‘Wisdom Literature of the Seventeenth Century: A Guide to the Contents of the “Bacon-Tottel” Commonplace Books’, Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, 6, Part 5 (1976), 291-305; 7, Part 1 (1977), 46-73, and in Kevin Sharpe, Reading Revolutions (New Haven & London, 2000).
BcF 258.5
Copy, in a secretary hand, headed ‘The Lord Chancellor his Psalme or Praier’, dated in the margin ‘March 162i’.
In: A quarto volume of chiefly state tracts, speeches and letters, in several hands, with (ff. 94r-5r) a ‘Table’ of contents, ff. [96r-107v] occupied by tracts in later hands, 107 leaves, frayed towards the end, in contemporary calf gilt. c.1625[-1730].
The last item subscribed (f. 107v) in the same hand ‘Finis Jne phillipson 1730 / Transcribed...in December Anno Dominij i689 p me Georgium Dixon p pastorle phillipsono’, this hand also responsible for various marginal inscriptions elsewhere including (f. 55v) ‘Jno: Phillipson Elizabeth Green Coppy’. Item 422 in an unidentified sale catalogue. Acquired in 1930.
BcF 259
Copy in: the MS described under BcF 165. 17th century.
BcF 259.5
Copy, headed ‘A Prayer or Psalme written by the Lord Chancellor Bacon since his trobles’.
In: the MS described under BcF 165.5. c.1620s-40s.
Prayers
First published in Baconiana. Or Certain Genuine Remains of Sr Francis Bacon (London, 1679). Spedding, VII, 259-60.
BcF 260
Copy of ‘Two Prayers compos'd by Sr Francis Bacon, Baron of Verulam, and Viscount St Albans’, in Aubrey's hand, ‘The first Prayer called by his Lordship, The Student's Prayer’ and beginning ‘To God the Father, God the Word, God ye Spirit, we pour forth most humble and heartie Supplications...’, ‘The Second Prayer called by his Lordship, The Writer's Prayer’ and beginning ‘Thou, O Father! who gavest the Visible Light as the First-born of thy Creatures, and didst put into Man the Intellectual light...’.
In: A folio composite volume of papers of John Aubrey (1626-97), i + 195 leaves. c.1684-90.
A Preparation for the Union of Laws
A discourse beginning ‘Your Majesty's desire of proceeding towards the union of this whole island...’. First published in Cases of Treason (London, 1641). Spedding, VII, 731-43 (and see p. 775 et seq.).
*BcF 261
Copy, f. 20r-v in one secretary hand, the rest in the secretary hand of an amanuensis, on versos only, with Bacon's autograph corrections and revisions. c.1603.
In: the MS described under BcF 75.5.
Edited from this MS in Spedding.
BcF 262
Copy, a title-page in italic script ‘Sr Francis Bacons. Collectionis touching Cases of Paræmunire Treason. etc.’, the main text in a professional secretary hand. c.1608-1620s.
In: the MS described under BcF 75.5.
This MS recorded in Spedding, VII, 775.
BcF 263
Copy of ‘Pleas of the Crowne Offices of Sh[e]riffs Escheators...written by ye right honoble ffrauncis lo: Verulam viscount st Albon at ye request of the Earle of northa:) when he was Sollicitor Ano Dom: 1608’, inscribed in the margin ‘cases of Highe Treason’.
In: the MS described under BcF 75.1. c.1640s.
BcF 264
Copy, in a professional secretary hand, as ‘written by Sir ffrancis Bacon’. c.1620s-30s.
In: the MS described under BcF 113.
BcF 266
Copy, in a professional secretary hand, headed ‘Cases of high Treason...[&c.]...written by Chanc. Bacon’. c.1630s.
In: the MS described under BcF 115.
BcF 268
Copy, headed ‘The equalling of Lawes done by Sr Fran: Bacon knt his maties Sollicitor generall, 1607’.
In: A folio volume of state tracts and letters, in several probably professional secretary hands, 225 pages, in marbled boards. c.1630.
Formerly among the F. Bacon Frank MSS at Campsall Hall, Yorkshire. Sotheby's, 11 August 1942, lot 70. Afterwards owned by Annie Winifred Bryher (née Ellerman, d.1983) and by the Ralegh scholar Agnes Latham (1905-96), of Pickering, North Yorkshire.
Recorded, as B. 3, in HMC, 6th Report (1877), Appendix, p. 459.
Promus of Formularies and Elegancies
Extracts in Spedding, VII, 187-211. Complete in Sir Edwin Durning-Lawrence, Bacon is Shake-speare (London, 1910), pp. 190-275.
See also BcF 85, BcF 305.
*BcF 269
Miscellaneous autograph notes and drafts, in English and Latin (incorporating BcF 85 and BcF 305); f. 85r dated 5 December 1594, and f. 114r dated 21 January 1595. c.1594-7.
In: the MS described under BcF 230.
Extracts edited from this MS in Spedding. Edited complete (with facsimile examples of f. 85r) in Durning-Lawrence.
Reading on the Statute of Advocations
Unpublished?
BcF 270
Copy in: A folio volume of legal and state tracts, in vellum. Mid-late 17th century.
Later owned by Joseph Edmondson (1732-86), Mowbray Herald of Arms Extraordinary, and by Thomas Astle (1735-1803), archivist and collector of books and manuscripts.
This MS recorded (but not seen) in Spedding, VII, 305.
Reading on the Statute of Uses
First published as The Learned Reading of Sir Francis Bacon...upon the Statute of Uses (London, 1642). Spedding, VII, 389-450.
BcF 271
Copy, in a professional secretary hand, with several annotations by a reader, headed ‘Lectura ffrancisci Bacon vnius...’, endorsed (f. 167v) ‘Sr ffrancis Bacons Readinge vpon the Statute of vses’, slightly imperfect. c.1630.
In: the MS described under BcF 94.
Edited partly from this MS (erroneously cited as ‘No. 1858’) in Spedding, VII, 389-450.
BcF 272
Copy in: the MS described under BcF 270. Mid-late 17th century.
BcF 273
Copy of about half the treatise, headed ‘Lectura secunda francisci Bacon militis, vnius de consilio quondam Regine Elisabethe & nunc dni regis Jacobi in legibus eruditi duplicis...’.
In: the MS described under BcF 222. Early 17th century.
Edited partly from this MS in Spedding.
BcF 274
Copy of the last division, in a secretary hand, headed ‘Lectio 25 Raysinge of vses’, unascribed, very damp-stained. Early 17th century.
In: A folio composite volume of legal and state tracts, in various hands, 177 leaves, in modern morocco gilt.
Edited partly from this MS in Spedding.
Short Notes for Civil Conversation
First published in Remaines (London, 1648). Spedding, VII, 105-10. Spedding notes (VII, 107) Basil Montagu's reference to an unspecified MS in the British Museum, but he could not find it.
BcF 275
Copy in: A folio composite volume of works by Francis Bacon, including charges and reports by him, in professional secretary hands, 221 leaves, bound with an independent sixteen-leaf tract of 1608 (Lansdowne MS 235), in modern red morocco gilt. c.1620s-30s.
Inscribed (f. 1r) ‘Sum EUmfreville 1740’: i.e. by Edward Umfreville (1702?-86), collector of legal manuscripts.
BcF 276
Copy, on two folio pages. Early 17th century.
In: A folio volume of state papers, in probably professional cursive secretary hands, 74 leaves. c.1620s-30s.
Edited from this MS in HMC, 9 Salisbury (Cecil) MSS, XXII (1971), p. 437.
The Marquess of Salisbury, Hatfield House, Cecil Papers 242, ff. 22v-3v.
BcF 277
Copy in: A volume of state letters and tracts. 1st half 17th century.
Among the papers of the Finch family, of Burley-on-the-Hill, Rutland.
Leicestershire Record Office, DG. 7/Lit. 1, [unnumbered pages].
BcF 277.5
Copy, headed ‘short notes of ciuill conversation made by Sr. Fr. B.’
In: A folio volume of moralistic essays, in a single neat secretary hand, 24 leaves, in stiff paper wrappers. Early 17th century.
BcF 279
Copy, headed ‘Digested notes of Ciuill Conuersation’.
In: the MS described under BcF 206. Early 17th century.
Trinity College, Cambridge, MS O. 4. 52 (James 1502), ff. 6v-7r.
BcF 280
Copy, in a professional cursive secretary hand, as ‘By Syr ffrances Bacon’.
In: the MS described under BcF 75.7. c.1635-40.
A Short View to be taken of Great Britain and Spain
First published in Spedding, XIV (1874), 22-8.
BcF 281
Copy, in a small mixed hand, as ‘by Sr ffrancis Bacon’, possibly made for William Rawley (c.1588-1667), Bacon's chaplain, amanuensis and posthumous editor. Early-mid-17th century.
In: the MS described under BcF 56.
Edited partly from this MS in Spedding.
BcF 281.1
Copy in: the MS described under BcF 232.5. c.1620s.
BcF 281.2
Copy, in the secretary hand of the ‘Feathery Scribe’, unascribed. c.1620s-30s.
In: A folio composite volume of state tracts, in various hands, 430 leaves, in contemporary calf, with ties. In various hands, including early items docketed by Robert Beale (1541-1601), Clerk of the Privy Council.
Yelverton MS 68, including papers of Beale descending to Sir Henry Yelverton (1566-1629), Justice of the Common Pleas, and his family.
Recorded in HMC, 2nd Report (1871), Appendix, p. 43. Described in Peter Beal, In Praise of Scribes: Manuscripts and their Makers in Seventeenth-Century England (Oxford, 1998), pp. 228-9 (No.33).
Beal, In Praise of Scribes, p. 229 (No. 33.1).
BcF 281.5
Copy, in a professional secretary hand, unascribed. c.1620s-30s.
In: A folio composite volume of state papers, in various hands, c.380 leaves, in a recycled ?15th-century vellum document. Yelverton MS 131, among papers of Sir Henry Yelverton (1566-1629), Justice of the Common Pleas, and his family.
BcF 281.8
Copy in: A folio volume of state and miscellaneous tracts, dating from 1572 to 1635, in various professional secretary hands, 386 leaves.
Bookplate of Algernon Capell (1654-1710), second Earl of Essex, Privy Councillor, 1701.
BcF 282
Copy, in a small secretary hand, untitled and unascribed. Early 17th century.
In: A quarto composite volume of state tracts, in various hands, 194 leaves, in modern half morocco gilt.
Edited partly from this MS in Spedding.
BcF 282.5
Copy, in the hand of the ‘Feathery Scribe’.
In: A folio volume of state tracts, in several professional hands, including the ‘Feathery Scribe’ and Ralph Starkey (c.1569-1628), 374 leaves (plus blanks), in modern quarter-calf. c.1620s-30s.
Bookplate of John Moore (1646-1714), Bishop of Ely.
Briefly described in Peter Beal, In Praise of Scribes: Manuscripts and their Makers in Seventeenth-Century England (Oxford, 1998), pp. 216-17 (No. 6).
Beal, In Praise of Scribes, p. 217 (No. 6.8).
BcF 282.8
Copy, unascribed.
In: A folio volume of state tracts relating to Spain, in a single, probably professional, predominantly secretary hand, II + 59 leaves, in contemporary brown sheepskin with the royal arms in gilt. c.1620s.
Inscribed (f.ir) with the name Charles Arnot. Among the collections of Sir James Balfour, first Baronet (1600-57), of Denmilne and Kinncaird, Lyon King of Arms and antiquary (his cipher on f. 59r). Purchased in 1698.
Sylva Sylvarum: or A Natural History
First published in London, 1626. Spedding, II, 323-680.
BcF 283
An early version of portions of Sylva Sylvarum or of experiments later used in that work, mainly in the rounded hand of William Rawley (c.1588-1667), Bacon's chaplain, amanuensis, and editor, partly (ff. 37r-8v) in the secretary hand of a scribe, with Rawley's alterations, on folio leaves. Early 17th century.
In: A folio composite volume of miscellaneous papers, in various hands and paper sizes, iii + 150 leaves, in half-calf. Collected by Thomas Tenison (1636-1715), Archbishop of Canterbury. 1st half 17th century.
Sotheby's, 1 July 1861 (Tenison sale), lot 61, to Boone. Afterwards in the library of Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bt (1792-1872), manuscript and book collector: Phillipps MS 15733. Sotheby's, 1913 (Phillipps sale), lot 532.
Edited from this MS, and discussed, with a facsimile of f. 33r, in Graham Rees, ‘An Unpublished Manuscript by Francis Bacon: Sylva Sylvarum Drafts and Other Working Notes’, Annals of Science, 38 (1981), 377-412 (pp. 395-412).
BcF 283.4
Extract, headed ‘Bacon's Natural History’, dated March 26 1673.
In: A quarto commonplace book of extracts from theological and historical works, largely in a single minute hand, 116 leaves, in modern half crushed morocco on cloth boards gilt. c.1673.
Inscribed (f. 10v) ‘Gaue these Book to Mr Norman to Couer’.
BcF 283.6
Extracts from Bacon's ‘Natural History’.
In: A quarto miscellany, entitled ‘Usefull collections made in the years, 1674, 1675, 1676, &c. by Henry Coley. Vol. I.’, 75 leaves. Late 17th century.
BcF 283.8
Extracts.
In: the MS described under BcF 206.2. 1687-8.
Cambridge University Library, MS Add. 8451, [Unspecified page numbers].
Usury and the Use thereof
A version of this essay first published in Essayes or Counsels Civill and Morall (London, 1625). Spedding, VI, 473-7.
BcF 284
Copy, in the cursive predominantly secretary hand of one of Bacon's amanuenses, on two folio leaves, endorsed ‘Vsurie and the vse thereof / Proiects / 1623’, together with (ff. 97r-8v: item 59) Bacon's autograph letter signed, 29 March 1623, sending this (as one of the ‘short papers of mine towching vsury’) to Sir Edward Conway (c.1564-1631), secretary of state. 1623.
In: A folio guard-book of independent Jacobean state papers, stamped foliation 1-136.
Edited from this MS in Spedding, XIV, 415-19.
Valerius Terminus
First published in Letters and Remains of the Lord Chancellor Bacon, ed. Robert Stephens (London, 1734). Spedding, III, 199-252.
*BcF 285
Copy, in a small cursive secretary hand, with the title and list of contents (ff. 1*r-[2*r]) in Bacon's hand and his occasional autograph corrections or revisions, especially to headings (on pp. 18, 33, 35), with his substatial marginal additions on pp. 49 and 51.
In: A quarto volume comprising two works by Francis Bacon, in professional hands of amanuenses and bearing his autograph revisions, a list of contents at the beginning covering both works also in his hand, 73 pages, in modern speckled calf gilt. c.1603-8.
Facsimiles of the list of contents in Spedding, III, frontispiece; in J.G. Crowther, Francis Bacon: The First Statesman of Science (London, 1960), after p. 48; and in DLB, vol. 252, British Philosophers 1500-1799, ed. Philip B. Damatteis and Peter S. Fosl (Detroit, 2002), pp. 22-3
Edited from this MS in Stephens and in Spedding.
BcF 285.5
Copy of the opening passage of the first chapter of the work.
In: A notebook of Edmund Leigh (c.1585-1658), MA, of Brasenose College, Oxford. [After 1607].
Discussed in Richard Serjeantson, ‘The Philosophy of Francis Bacon in Early Jacobean Oxford, with an Edition of an Unknown Manuscript of the Valerius Terminus’, The Historical Journal, 56, (December 2013), pp. 1087-1106.
The Wisdom of the Ancients
See BcF 291-293.
(2) Latin Works (including English translations)
Abecedarium novum naturae
A four-page fragment published in Baconiana (London, 1679), p. 77; reprinted in Spedding, II, 85-8 (translation in V, 208-11). The full text edited by Graham Rees, with an English translation, in The Instauratio magna: Last Writings, The Oxford Francis Bacon, Vol. XIII (Oxford, 2000), pp. 171-225.
BcF 286
Copy of the complete work, beginning ‘Ocurrit mihi Interdum dictum non Insultum’; in a single hand, transcribed from BcF 287. Early-mid-17th century.
In: the MS described under BcF 205.6.
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, fonds français n° 4745, ff. 39r-62r.
BcF 287
Copy of the complete work, in the hand of Nicolas Rigault (1577-1654), Garde de la Bibliothèque.
In: the MS described under BcF 205.4. c.1633.
Edited from this MS by Graham Rees in Oxford Bacon, XIII, with a facsimile of f. 24r on p. lxiii. Discussed earlier by him in ‘Bacon's Philosophy: Some New Sources with Special Reference to the Abecedarium Novum Naturae’, in Francis Bacon: Terminologia e Fortuna nel XVII Secolo, ed. Marta Fattori (1984), pp. 233-44.
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, fonds Dupuy no 5, ff. 24r-37v.
Aphorismi de dissolutione reru, quae fit per aetatem, in inanimatis, et consistentibus
See BcF 294.
Aphorismi de jure gentium maiore siue de fontibus justiciae & juris
Unpublished in this form. Adapted and incorporated in Book VIII of De augmentis scientiarum first published in Opera, tomus primus (London, 1623). Spedding, I, 413-840 (p. 803 et seq.).
BcF 288
Copy, comprising twenty aphorisms on justice beginning ‘Qui de legibus verba fecerunt, omnes fere vel ad Philosophorum delicias…’, on ten folio leaves.
In: the MS described under BcF 69. c.1620s-30s.
The Duke of Devonshire, Chatsworth House, MS Hardwick 51, item 11.
Cogitata et visa de interpretatione naturae
First published in Scripta in naturali et universali philosophia, ed. I. Gruter (Amsterdam, 1653). Spedding, III, 587-620.
*BcF 289
Copy, in the professional roman hand of an amanuensis, with Bacon's autograph corrections and revisions. c.1607.
In: A folio composite volume of state letters and papers, 308 leaves, in boards. In various largely professional hands, including that of the ‘Feathery Scribe’.
Once owned by Thomas Barlow (1607-91), Bishop of Lincoln, book collector.
Briefly described in Peter Beal, In Praise of Scribes: Manuscripts and their Makers in Seventeenth-Century England (Oxford, 1998), pp. 259-60 (No. 99).
Edited from this MS in Spedding, III, 587-620.
Cogitationes de scientia humana
First published in Spedding, III (1857), 177-98.
BcF 290
Copy of a series of short philosophical essays by Bacon, in an italic hand, transcribed from three original MS fragments (now unlocated), with corrections in the hand of John Locker. Late 17th century.
In: A folio composite volume of papers relating to Francis Bacon, in various hands, 231 leaves, in modern half-morocco. A number of papers in the hand of Thomas Birch (1705-66), biographer and historian.
Among Birch's collections for his edition of works by Bacon (1761), incorporating papers formerly owned by Robert Stephens (1665-1732), literary editor, and John Locker (1693-1760), barrister and literary editor, in connection with their intended editions of Bacon's works.
Edited from this MS in Spedding.
Comentarius solutus sive pandecta, sive ancilla memoriae
See BcF 153.
De augmentis scientiarum
First published in Opera, tomus primus (London, 1623). Spedding, I, 413-840.
See also BcF 288.
BcF 290.4
Extensive extracts.
In: Autograph octavo notebook by Thomas Traherne, in prose and verse, in English and Latin, written during and after his university days, 388 pages (mostly blank after p. 240), in contemporary calf, with remains of metal clasps. Largely autograph, with a few pages at the beginning in the hand of Philip Traherne, who inscribed it (p. iii) ‘Philip Traherne is the true owner of this booke Amen Ano Domi 1655’, used some pages for neat examples of his penmanship as a child and, in later years (after 1689), copied on pp. 237-40 an extract from Thomas Burnet's Telluris Theoria Sacra. c.1655-early 1660s.
Scribbling at the ends of the volume including names of Thomas and Philip Traherne, Holway and Warmeston. Later owned on 30 April 1841 by Rashleigh Duke of Salisbury: i.e.[son of Edward Duke (1779-1852), Wiltshire antiquary. Hodgson's, 13 December 1935, lot 137, to P.J. Dobell.
Cited in IELM, II.ii (1993) as Early Notebook: TrT Δ 4. Twelve poems edited from this MS, and attributed to Thomas Traherne, in Margoliouth, II, 204-11. The remainder of the MS unpublished. Six of the poems edited in Ridler, pp. 159-63; the incomplete ‘Epitaphium’ of uncertain authorship (TrT 138) omitted by her, and the other five poems rejected outright (i.e.‘What e're I have from God alone I have’, ‘Oh how injurious is this wall of sin’, ‘As fragrant Mirrhe within the bosom hid’, and ‘To bee a Monarch is a glorious thing’, all by Francis Quarles, and ‘a Serious and a Curious night-Meditation’, by William Austin). Discussed in Anne Ridler, ‘Traherne: Some Wrong Attributions’, RES, NS 18 (1967), 48-9, and in Carol L. Marks, ‘Traherne's Early Studies’, PBSA, 62 (1968), 511-36. Facsimile of p. 209 in Margoliouth, II, frontispiece.
BcF 290.6
Extracts, headed ‘Ex Bacono de Augmentis Scientiarum’.
In: the MS described under BcF 54.9365. c.1638.
De Fluxu et Refluxu Maris
First published in Francisci Baconi...Scripta in naturali et universali philosophia, [ed. Isaac Gruter] (Amsterdam, 1653). Edited by Graham Rees in The Oxford Francis Bacon, Vol. VI (Oxford, 1996), pp. 63-93, with an English translation.
BcF 290.8
Copy of the last 170 words or so, in the hand of one of Bacon's amanuenses (now overlaid by HrG 313), lacking the rest of the treatise.
In: A folio volume of partly autograph drafts by Bacon, 30 leaves (including blanks), a number lacking the bottom half of the page, all now disjunct and mounted on guards.
This MS recorded in Oxford Bacon.
The Duke of Devonshire, Chatsworth House, MS Hardwick 72A, f. 1r [overlaid].
De sapientia veterum
First published in London, 1609. Spedding, VI, 605-764.
BcF 291
Copy, apparently transcribed from the edition of 1609, 51 quarto pages, in an elaborate binding. Early-mid-17th century.
Sotheby's, 17 June 1969, lot 489, to Dobell. Privately owned in 1990.
check cat desc
BcF 292
Copy of the English translation by Sir Arthur Gorges, transcribed from the edition of 1619, 85 octavo leaves. c.1619.
Gorges's translation first published as The Wisedome of the Ancients (London, 1619).
BcF 292.5
Copy, with an English translation.
Inscribed ‘Valued by Cooper, the bookseller, at the Pellican, Little Britain, 1678, at 15l’.
Recorded in HMC, 3rd Report (1872), Appendix, p. 122. Microfilm in the British Library, M/336 (2nd item).
BcF 293
An octavo copy of an English translation by Michael Newman, in a predominantly italic hand (possibly Newman's), headed ‘A treatise of the Lord ffranc: Bacon of Verulam, High Chancelour of England concerning the Wisedome of the Ancients translated p MN’, iv + 101 leaves (including a table of contents), in half-morocco, dated 7 August to 2 October 1668. 1668.
BcF 293.5
Copy, in a secretary hand, on 51 quarto pages (and one blank), in later brown morocco elaborately gilt. A transcript of the edition of 1609, headed ‘Francisci Baconi equitis auratij procuratoris secundi Jacobi regis Magna Britania, de sapientia veterum liber, ad inititam Academiam Cantabrigiensem. Londini excudebat Robertus Bakerus serenissimæ regiæ maiestatis typographus. Anno 1609’, complete with the dedications to Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, and Bacon's alma mater at Cambridge. Early 17th century.
De vijs mortis, et de senectute retardandâ atq́. instaurandis uiribus
First published by Graham Rees assisted by Christopher Upton, Francis Bacon's Natural Philosophy: A New Source. A Transcription of manuscript Hardwick 72A with translation and commentary (The British Society for the History of Science, Monograph 5, 1984). Edited by Rees, with a translation into English (‘An Inquiry concerning the Ways of Death the postponing of Old Age, and the Restoring of the Vital powers’), in The Oxford Francis Bacon, Vol. VI (Oxford, 1996), pp. 270-359.
*BcF 294
A working draft, beginning ‘Quod ali perpetuo potest, et alendo restitui in integru…’, ff. 1-15a in the neat hand of one of Bacon's amanuenses, with extensive autograph revisions and additions by Bacon; ff. 16r-30v entirely in Bacon's hand.
In: the MS described under BcF 290.8.
Edited from this MS in Rees (1984) and in Oxford Bacon, VI, with facsimiles of ff. 8v and 16r [formerly 17r] in both publications. Formerly recorded in IELM, I.i, as two works (BcF 284 and BcF 287), but in fact it is one work.
The Duke of Devonshire, Chatsworth House, MS Hardwick 72A, ff. 1v-31v.
Filum labyrinthi. sive inquisitio legitima de motu
See BcF 303.
Fragmentum libri Verulamiani, cui titulus Abecedarium naturae
See BcF 286.
Historia densi et rari
First published in Operum moralium et civilium, ed William Rawley (London, 1638). Spedding, II, 227-305 (pp. 245-304). His translation in V, 337-400. Edited by Graham Rees in The Instauratio magna: Last Writings, The Oxford Francis Bacon, Vol. XIII (Oxford, 2000), pp. 1-34 (early manuscript version, with an English translation), and pp. 35-169 (Rawley's printed version, with an English translation).
BcF 295
Copy, untitled, here beginning at the ‘Tabula expansionis et coitionis materiae’ and ending ‘…impostura & Imitatione fluxus et refluxus maris et omnium’, in a single hand, transcribed from BcF 295.5. Early-mid-17th century.
In: the MS described under BcF 205.6.
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, fonds français n° 4745, ff. 9r-38v.
BcF 295.5
Copy of an early version, in the hand of Nicolas Rigault (1577-1654), Garde de la Bibliothèque.
In: the MS described under BcF 205.4. c.1633.
Edited from this MS by Graham Rees, with an English translation, in Oxford Bacon, XIII, 1-34, with a facsimile of f. 38r on p. lxvi.
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, fonds Dupuy no 5, ff. 7r-23v.
Historia et inquisitio de animato et inanimato
Edited by Graham Rees, with an English translation, in The Instauratio magna: Last Writings, The Oxford Francis Bacon, Vol. XIII (Oxford, 2000), pp. 227-41.
BcF 296
Copy, beginning ‘Inquisitio de animis et vitis profunda est…’; in a single hand, transcribed from BcF 296.5. Early-mid-17th century.
In: the MS described under BcF 205.6.
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, fonds français n° 4745, ff. 5r-8r.
BcF 296.5
Copy, in the hand of an amanuensis who contributed to BcF 294.
In: the MS described under BcF 205.4. c.1633.
Facsimile of f. 3r in Oxford Bacon, XIII, lxi.
Historia vitae et mortis
First published in London, 1623. Spedding, II, 89-226 (pp. 111-12).
*BcF 297
Autograph draft of parts 4 and 23 of the section headed ‘Natura durabilis’, on one side of a folio leaf. Early 17th century.
In: the MS described under BcF 283. 1st half 17th century.
Facsimile of this page in Graham Rees, ‘An Unpublished Manuscript by Francis Bacon: Sylva Sylvarum Drafts and Other Working Notes’, Annals of Science, 38 (1981), 377-412 (p. 409).
BcF 297.5
Extracts, headed ‘The Historie of Life & death Written in Latin by the Lord Verulam Viscount St Alban, englisht by Doctor Rawley’.
In: the MS described under BcF 204.4. c.1656.
William Rawley's English translation of the Historia vitae et mortis was published in 1638.
In felicem memoriam Elizabethae, Angliae Reginae
First published in Opuscula varia, ed. William Rawley (London, 1658). Spedding, VI, 281-303. His translation pp. 305-18.
For the English translation by Edward, Lord Herbert of Cherbury, see HrE 142.
BcF 298
Copy, in a professional small secretary hand, with a later sidenote ‘printed by Dr Rawley in the Opuscula p. 177’. c.1608-9.
In: the MS described under BcF 75.5.
Edited from this MS in Spedding, VI, 281-303 (translation pp. 305-18).
BcF 298.5
Copy, in a professional secretary hand. Early 17th century.
In: the MS described under BcF 282.
BcF 299
Copy in the hand of an amanuensis, endorsed in another hand (p. 592) ‘for ye l. Ambassador in france’; the copy sent by Bacon to Sir George Carew; 28 pages (pp. 565-6, 589-92 blank). [1608-9].
In: A folio composite volume of French state papers, in various hands.
Bacon's letter to Carew originally accompanying this memorial is cited in Spedding, VI, 283 (a copy is in the British Library, Add. MS 5503, ff. 41v-2r).
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, fonds français n° 4142, pp. 565-92.
BcF 299.5
Copy, in a professional italic hand, on eight folio leaves, with eight words deleted on p. 12, numbered ‘3.’ by the second Earl of Bridgewater.
In: the MS described under BcF 172.
BcF 300
Copy of an English translation, headed ‘The carracter of Queen Elizabeth. Written by way of Essay, by ye Ld Verulam’, on 21 pages
In: A quarto volume, in two hands. 274 leaves, unnumbered. 1626-96.
Comprising:
[Part I, ff. 12r-168r], five sermons, the first four by Donne, in the hand of Knightley Chetwode, son of Richard Chetwode, of Chetwode, Buckinghamshire, and Oakley, Staffordshire. 1625/6.
[Part II, ff. 1r-78r rev.], a verse miscellany, produced when the original blank pages were later filled from the reverse end, probably by one Katherine Butler. 1696.
The volume inscribed as having been given to Katherine Butler by her father in May 1693.
Described in Potter & Simpson, I, 41-2.
An English translation of this work first published in The Felicity of Queen Elizabeth: And Her Times (London, 1651).
St Paul's Cathedral, MS 52. D. 14, Part II, [unnumbered pages] .
In Henricum Principem Walliae elogium
First published in Letters, Speeches, &c. of Francis Bacon, ed. Thomas Birch (London, 1763). Spedding, VI, 319-25. His translation pp. 327-9.
BcF 301
Copy, in a professional italic hand, as by ‘ffran: Bacon’. c.1600s.
In: the MS described under BcF 67.
Edited from this MS in Birch and in Spedding.
Inquisitio de magnete
First published in Opuscula varia, ed. William Rawley (London, 1658). Spedding, II, 307-12. His translation in V, 401-5.
BcF 302
Versions of ‘Present Experiments touching the Loadstone’, later used for a section of Inquisitio de Magnete, in the rounded hand of William Rawley (c.1588-1667), Bacon's chaplain, amanuensis, and editor, on two pages of a pair of conjugate folio leaves. Early 17th century.
In: the MS described under BcF 283. 1st half 17th century.
Edited from this MS, and discussed, in Graham Rees, ‘An Unpublished Manuscript by Francis Bacon: Sylva Sylvarum Drafts and Other Working Notes’, Annals of Science, 38 (1981), 377-412 (pp. 394-5).
Inquisitio legitima de motu
A sketch of this enquiry first published in Francisci Baconi...Scripta in naturali et universali philosophia, [ed. Isaac Gruter] (Amsterdam, 1653). Spedding, III, 621-40.
*BcF 303
Autograph.
In: the MS described under BcF 153. c.1608-9.
Edited from this MS in Spedding, III, 625-31.
Instauratio magna
See Novum organum, BcF 305.4-305.8, and BcF 658-667.
Meditationes sacrae
First published with Essayes (London, 1597). Spedding, VII, 227-42. His translation, pp. 243-54.
BcF 304
Copy, on five folio leaves.
In: the MS described under BcF 69. c.1620s-30s.
The Duke of Devonshire, Chatsworth House, MS Hardwick 51, item 4.
BcF 304.5
Copy of a French translation of the second of the Meditationes sacrae.
In: the MS described under BcF 205.4. c.1633.
—— De spe terrestri
Spedding, VII, 230.
*BcF 305
Autograph notes, later developed into the meditation on hope (‘De spe terrestri’), on one page of a pair of conjugate folio leaves, in the Promus of Formularies and Elegancies (BcF 269). c.1594-7.
In: the MS described under BcF 230.
Edited from this MS in Spedding.
Novum organum
First published in the unfinished Instauratio magna (London 1620). Spedding, I, 119-363.
BcF 305.4
The exemplum of the printed Novum Organum (London, 1620) presented by Bacon to Trinity College, Cambridge, in velvet bearing Bacon's boar device in gilt. The autograph letter signed by Bacon presenting this volume to the college is Cambridge University Library, MS Add. 7565. c.1620.
BcF 305.6
Extracts in a French translation, headed ‘Methodes et conceptions de sieur Verulam chaner d'Angleterre’.
In: MS.
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, fonds français n° 19092, passim.
Partis instaurationis secundae delineatio et argumentum, et redargutio philosophiarum
See BcF 306.
Redargutio philosophiarum
First published in Letters and Remains of the Lord Chacellor Bacon, ed. Robert Stephens (London, 1734). Spedding, III, 557-85.
*BcF 306
Copy, in the professional italic hand of an amanuensis, with Bacon's autograph corrections, deletions and revisions, copious on ff. 7v-8r, 14v, incomplete. c.1608.
In: the MS described under BcF 111.
Edited from this MS in Stephens and in Spedding.
Temporis partus masculus
First published in Francisci Baconi...Scripta in naturali et universali philosophia, [ed. Isaac Gruter](Amsterdam, 1653). Spedding, III, 521-39.
BcF 307
Copy of the first chapter, in a neat italic hand.
In: the MS described under BcF 285. c.1603-8.
This MS recorded in Spedding, III, 523.
Dramatic works
A Conference of Pleasure
See BcF 319-21.
A Device to Entertain the Queen at Essex House, 17 November 1595
First published in Letters, Speeches &c. of Francis Bacon, ed. Thomas Birch (London, 1763). Spedding, VIII, 378-86. Probably written partly by the Earl of Essex, partly by his secretariat, including Bacon. See The Poems of Edward De Vere, Seventeenth Earl of Oxford, and of Robert Devereux, Second Earl of Essex, ed. Steven W. May, Studies in Philology, 77, No. 5 (Early Winter 1980), pp. 88-90, and Paul E.J. Hammer, ‘Upstaging the Queen: the Earl of Essex, Francis Bacon and the Accession Day celebrations of 1595’, in The Politics of the Stuart Court Masque, ed. David Bevington and Peter Holbrook (New York & Cambridge, 1998), pp. 41-66.
BcF 308
Copy of five speeches, of the Squire (twice), Hermit, Soldier, and Statesman, in a professional secretary hand, on all pages of of two pairs of conjugate folio leaves. c.1595.
In: A tall folio composite volume of state tracts and papers, in various hands and paper sizes, 127 items, unfoliated, in old black morocco gilt.
Volume V of the collections of Edmund Gibson (1669-1748), Bishop of London.
Edited from this MS in Birch and in Spedding (where it is erroneously described as autograph).
*BcF 309
Fragments of Bacon's autograph draft, with revisions, including ‘The speech of ye Heremite or Philosopher’, on four pages of three folio leaves. [1595].
In: the MS described under BcF 199.
Edited from this MS in Spedding, VIII, 376-8. Facsimiles of the first page in IELM, I.i (1980), Facsimile II (p. 25), and in Brian Vickers, ‘The Authenticity of Bacon's Earliest Writings’, SP, 94/2 (Spring 1997), 248-96 (p. 267). Also discussed, with a facsimile page, in Gabriel Heaton, Writing and Reading Royal Entertainments (Oxford 2010).
Thomas Birch's transcript is in the British Library, Add. MS 4164, f. 167.
BcF 310.5
Copy of speeches by the Squire, the Hermit and the Soldier, in the hand of Thomas Birch, transcribed from BcF 308, imperfect, lacking the rest.
In: A folio composite volume of verse MSS, in various hands and paper sizes, 231 leaves, in 19th-century half black morocco. Including items once owned by Ralph Thoresby (1658-1725), Yorkshire antiquary and topographer. Collected by Thomas Birch (1705-66), biographer and historian.
Presumably from item 47 among the folio MSS recorded in Thoresby's Ducatus Leodiensis, 2nd edition (Leeds, 1816), Appendix, p. 77.
BcF 311
Copy of five speeches.
In: A folio volume of state papers and speeches, in a single professional mixed hand, 56 leaves, in half dark red morocco. Volume LXVIII of the Vernon Papers, collected principally by James Vernon (1646-1727), government official and politician, and his son Edward (1684-1757), Admiral. Presented by T.S. Vernon Cocks. c.1630s.
BcF 311.5
Copy of speeches by the Squire, the Hermit (2), the Soldier, and the Secretary, headed ‘The Earle of Essex his deuice one the Queens day before he was to run at Tilte: the 17th Nobr. 34 Eliz.’
In: A tall folio volume of state and historical tracts, letters and speeches, largely in a single rounded hand, ff. 35v-6r in an italic hand, with (f. 92v) a later index, ii + 92 leaves, frayed and damp-stained, in contemporary limp vellum. Volume CCCLVII (Series II) of the Dropmore Papers: papers of William Wyndham Grenville, Baron Grenville (1759-1834), Prime Minister, of Dropmore House, Taplow, Buckinghamshire, and associated families. c.1620s-40s.
Inscribed on the rear cover the name of Sir Henry Anderson, Bt (d.1653).
BcF 312
Copy of six speeches, in a professional cursive secretary hand, headed ‘Reminbrances for the king of Spaine Speaches Deliuered to her Matie: on the 17th: Day of Nouember 1595 A Dialogue Betweene A 1. Melancholy dreaming Hermite. 2. A Mutinous brainesicke Soldier and 3. A busie, tedious-Secretarie’, including two speeches by the Squire. Early 17th century.
In: Two Elizabethan works bound together (the second being parliamentary speeches in 1558-63), in two different secretary hands, 25 folio pages, remains of later half-calf marbled boards.
Edited from this MS in Birch.
BcF 313
Copy of six speeches by the Squire (2), the Hermit (2), the Soldier, and the Secretary, headed ‘The Earle of Essex his deuice one the Queenes day præsented before he rann at Tilt’.
In: A folio volume of state papers and tracts, in a professional cursive secretary hand, 346 leaves, in red morocco gilt. c.1620s-30s.
BcF 314
Copy of six speeches, headed ‘A Dialogue betweene A Melancholly dreaming Hermet A Mutinous Brainesick Soldiour & A Busie teadious Secretarie’, recorded in the table of contents (f. 1r) as ‘Written by Mr [Henry] Cuffe seruant to the Earle of Essex’.
In: A duodecimo volume of state tracts and speeches, in a single probably professional hand, 49 leaves, in contemporary vellum. c.1630.
Bookplate of John Harvey, of Ickwell Bury, Hertfordshire, and Finningley Park, Yorkshire. Pencil inscription inside the lower cover ‘Robinson Aug. /94’.
Recorded in HMC, 1st Report (1870), Appendix, p. 62.
BcF 315
Copy of six speeches, of the Squire (2), Hermit (2), Souldier, and Secretary, in a neat predominantly secretary hand, headed ‘The Earle of Essex device on the Queene day before he was to runne at Tilt. 17 of Novem: 39 of Eliza.’, with a side-note near the end saying ‘This is imperfect’. c.1620s.
In: the MS described under BcF 213.
BcF 315.5
Copy of six speeches, headed ‘The Earle of Essex device on the Queene day before he was to runne at Tilt. 17 of Novem: 39 of Eliza.’, with a side-note near the end saying ‘this is not perfect’.
In: A folio volume of state tracts and speeches, in professional secretary hands, iv + 311 pages, in contemporary vellum gilt. Largely (but not entirely) a duplicate of MS 121. c.1620s-30s.
BcF 316
Copy of the Secretary's speech, headed (as an addition in a cursive secretary hand) ‘A speach at ye tilt by ye of Essex’.
In: A thick folio volume of state letters and tracts, a number relating to Robert Devereux, second Earl of Essex, in several largely secretary hands, 271 leaves, in contemporary calf (rebacked). Early 1600s.
Inscribed (front pastedown) ‘Die veneris. Julij: 1o 1601. per me Richardu Greenen’ and ‘Thomas Scott’; (f. 3r) ‘G. Scott’; (f. 271v) ‘Thomas Scott’, ‘Thomas Payne’, ‘Willm Scott’. Bookplate ‘Ex Libris Chambrun-Longworth’. Formerly Folger MS 6185.1
This volume discussed in James G. McManaway, ‘Elizabeth, Essex, and James’, in Elizabethan and Jacobean Studies Presented to Frank Percy Wilson (Oxford, 1959), pp. 219-30 (p. 221 et seq.).
BcF 317
Copy of ‘The Squiers speeche’ and that of ‘The attendant, or conductor to the Indian Prince’, in a professional cursive secretary hand, untitled, on two once conjugate folio leaves, endorsed ‘A deuice made by the Earle of Essex for the entertainmt of the Queene’. c.1595.
In: A folio composite volume of state papers, in various hands, 159 leaves, in red morocco.
Edited from this MS in Spedding, VIII, 388-90. Spedding thought these speeches belonged to some other entertainment, but see Chambers, Elizabethan Stage, III, 213. In fact the speeches are from an entirely different masque.
The verses beginning ‘Seated betweene the olde world and the newe’ are printed from this MS and attributed to Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, in The Poems of Edward De Vere, Seventeenth Earl of Oxford, and of Robert Devereux, Second Earl of Essex, ed. Steven W. May, Studies in Philology, 77, No. 5 (Early Winter 1980), pp. 44-5.
BcF 317.5
Copy in: A folio volume of state tracts. 17th century.
Once among the family papers of Sir Thomas Winnington, M.P. (1811-72), of Stanford Court, Worcestershire, which was partly destroyed by fire in 1882.
Recorded in HMC, 1st Report (1870), Appendix, p. 54.
Gesta Grayorum
Performed at Christmas 1594-5. First published in London, 1688. Edited by W.W. Greg, Malone Society (Oxford, 1914), (pp. 32-7). Bacon possibly the author of the Prince's speech to the Counsellors and of the speeches of the six Counsellors: see Spedding, VIII, 325-42.
BcF 318
Copy of Bacon's possible contribution, the Prince's speech to the Counsellors and the speeches of the first two Counsellors, with what claims to be the speech of the third Counsellor but which is a somewhat mangled version of the speeches of the third and fourth Counsellors.
In: A folio composite volume of state tracts and miscellaneous papers, in various largely professional hands, 480 leaves, in red morocco gilt.
Of Tribute, or Giving What is Due
The third and fourth speeches first published in Letters and Remains of the Lord Chancellor Bacon, ed. Robert Stephens (London, 1734). Spedding, VIII, 123-43. A defective text of the whole entertainment, with missing text conjecturally supplied, published as A Conference of Pleasure, composed for some festive occasion about the year 1592 by Francis Bacon, ed. James Spedding (London, 1870). Full text edited in Francis Bacon: A Critical Edition of the Major Works, ed. Brian Vickers (Oxford, 1996), pp. 22-51.
BcF 319
Copy of the complete entertainment, headed ‘Mr ffra: Bacon of tribute or giuing that wch is due’, imperfect, lacking portions of every leaf.
In: the MS described under BcF 61. c.1597.
BcF 320
Copy of the complete entertainment, in a professional secretary hand, with corrections in another hand, headed ‘Tribuit or Givinge that wch is due’; inscribed in the second hand ‘printed by F B. in edibus Georgij fistuli’.
In: the MS described under BcF 135. c.1595-1620s.
Edited from this MS in Vickers.
BcF 321
Copy of the third and fourth speeches, namely ‘Mr Bacon in prayse of knowledge’ and ‘Mr Bacons Discourse in the praise of his Soueraigne’), in a professional secretary hand. c.1590s.
In: the MS described under BcF 75.5.
Edited from this MS in Stephens (1734) and in Spedding, VIII, 123-43.
Speech for a Tournament in 1596
A speech of apology for the absence of the Earl of Essex spoken by Henry Radcliffe at a royal tournament in 1596. First published in Burgoyne, Alnwick MS (1904), pp. 64-5. Conjecturally attributed to Bacon in Chambers, Elizabethan Stage, III, 213.
BcF 322
Copy, headed ‘ffor the Earle of Sussex at ye tilt an: 96’, imperfect.
In: the MS described under BcF 61. c.1597.
Speeches by Bacon
Speech(es)
BcF 323
Copy of a series of charges by Bacon, including those ‘touching Duells...against Preist and Wright’, in the Star Chamber, against William Talbot, in the case of Lady Shrewsbury, against Whitlock, against the Countess and Earl of Somerset, against Owen, and in the Irish Parliament.
In: A folio volume of speeches principally by Francis Bacon, in two or more neat secretary hands, 204 pages (plus numerous blanks), in contemporary limp vellum. Owned by, and occasionally annotated in the rugged italic hand of, Francis Russell, MP (1593-1641), fourth Earl of Bedford, politician. c.1628-30s.
Recorded in HMC, 2nd Report (1871), Appendix, p. 2.
The Duke of Bedford, Woburn Abbey, HMC MS No. 192, pp. 1-111, 143-65.
BcF 324
Copy of a series of speeches by Bacon, including those when he received the seal of Lord Chancellor (1617), in the Star Chamber (1617), to Sir William Jones, Sir John Denham and Sergeant Hatton, and on the first day of Parliament 17 March 1618/19.
In: the MS described under BcF 323. c.1628-30s.
The Duke of Bedford, Woburn Abbey, HMC MS No. 192, pp. 111bis-42, 179-82.
BcF 325
Copy of a speech by Bacon.
In: A folio composite volume of political letters and speeches (up to 1640), in various hands, 259 leaves (ff. 8-20 and 212-59 blank), in contemporary calf.
Assembled by the astrologer and antiquary Elias Ashmole (1617-92).
BcF 327
Copy of a speech by Bacon on ‘considerations touching the peace’, 1598, imperfect at the end.
In: A quarto volume of state tracts, in a single neat italic hand up to f. 15 (ff. 16-19 inserted and in a different hand), 19 leaves, in old vellum wrappers within modern cloth. c.1620s.
BcF 328
Copy of Bacon's inaugural speech as Lord Chancellor, 7 May 1617 (here dated 7 March), in a professional secretary hand. c.1620s.
In: the MS described under BcF 55.
BcF 329
Notes of a speech by Bacon to James I on presenting a petition against recusants, 1620/1.
In: A folio composite volume of state papers and parliamentary proceedings, in various hands, 181 leaves.
Once owned by one John Holland.
BcF 330
Copy of Bacon's speech on becoming Lord Keeper, 1617. Early-mid-17th century.
In: An octavo miscellany, chiefly relating to state matters, written from both ends, 102 leaves (plus blanks), in half-calf. Late 17th century.
Once owned by John and William Ayshcombe. A receipt relating to ‘Edmun Savage’, 5 October 1630, on f. 103r.
BcF 331
Copy of Bacon's speech on the naturalization of the Scots.
In: A large folio composite volume of state tracts, in English and Latin, in various professional hands, i + 488 leaves, in modern calf.
Among the collections of Browne Willis (1682-1760), antiquary, of Whaddon Hall, near Winslow, Buckinghamshire.
This volume discussed, with a facsimile of f. 92r (Plate IV after p. 272) in H.R. Woudhuysen, Sir Philip Sidney and the Circulation of Manuscripts 1558-1640 (Oxford, 1996), pp. 176-8.
BcF 332
Copies of speeches by Bacon.
In: A folio composite volume of papers relating to Francis Bacon, 389 chiefly quarto leaves, in modern half brown morocco. All in the hand of Thomas Birch (1705-66), biographer and historian. Mid-18th century.
BcF 333
Copy of a speech by Bacon in the Star Chamber, 14 February 1618/19, endorsed (f. 8v) by Caesar.
In: A large folio composite volume of state and legal papers, in various hands, 486 leaves, in half brown morocco. Papers of Sir Julius Caesar (1558-1636), Master of the Rolls.
Sale of Julius Caesar's MSS, December 1757, lot 73. Bookplate of Horace Walpole (1717-97), fourth Earl of Orford, author, politician and patron. Strawberry Hill sale, 30 April 1842, lot 155.
BcF 334
Copy of speeches by Bacon, to the Judges in Star Chamber, Trinity 1617, and at the arraignment of Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset, in two professional secretary hands. c.1620s-30s.
In: A folio composite volume of state letters and tracts and parliamentary speeches, in several professional secretary hands, 188 leaves, in modern red calf.
Bought at the sale in February 1850 of the stock of Thiomas Rodd (1796-1849), bookseller.
BcF 335
Copies of nine speeches by Bacon, chiefly 1612-17, including his inaugural speech as Lord Chancellor, 7 May 1617.
In: the MS described under BcF 75.1. c.1640s.
British Library, Add. MS 22591, ff. 258r-65r, 268r-71r, 274r-9v.
BcF 336
Copy of Bacon's speech on becoming Lord Chancellor, 7 May 1617, in a professional secretary hand, headed ‘The Lord Chancellor's Speech’, i + 17 folio leaves, in modern quarter-vellum. Volume VI of the papers of John Scudamore (1601-71), first Viscount Scudamore, politician and diplomat. c.1620s-30s.
Evans (i.e. Sotheby's), 3 December 1821 (Scudamore sale), various lots, to Thomas Thorpe. Phillipps MS 22283. Sotheby's, 16 June 1896 (Phillipps sale). Dobell's sale catalogue No. 238 (1914), item 603. Presented by Wilfred Merton, FSA (1888-1957), book and manuscript collector
sale details correct?
BcF 337
Copy of Bacon's speech at the arraignment of Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset, 25 May 1616, in the professional secretary hand of the ‘Feathery Scribe’.
In: the MS described under BcF 157.
BcF 337.5
Copy of Bacon's speech on taking his place in Chancery.
In: A folio volume of treatises and papers relating to the Court of Chancery, in a professional predominantly italic hand, with a list of contents and some marginal annotations probably by Hargrave, 341 leaves, in late 19th-century morocco. Mid-late 17th century.
In the collection of Francis Hargrave (1740/1-1821), legal writer. Inscribed by him on f. [1v] ‘F. Hargrave Bot. by me of Mr Lynch of Dublin with [?]t manuscripts for which together I gave £60 F. H.’ and with his list of contents (f. 2r-v).
BcF 338
Copy of Bacon's inaugural speech as Lord Chancellor, 7 May 1617.
In: A folio volume of tracts and records relating to the Court of Chancery. c.1630.
BcF 339
Copy of speeches by Bacon, including his inaugural speech as Lord Chancellor on 7 May 1617, all in the secretary hand of Ralph Starkey (c.1569-1628).
In: the MS described under BcF 240.5.
British Library, Harley MS 39, ff. 248r-8r, 279r-85v, 287r-8v.
BcF 340
Copy of Bacon's inaugural speech as Lord Chancellor, 7 May 1617, imperfect.
In: A folio composite volume of state tracts and papers, in various professional hands, 254 leaves, in modern crushed morocco gilt.
BcF 341
Copy of Bacon's inaugural speech as Lord Chancellor, 7 May 1617, in a professional secretary hand, with a separate title-page.
In: the MS described under BcF 75.2.
BcF 342
Copy of three speeches by Bacon, to Sir William Jones (1617), and in the Star Chamber (10 July 1617 and 13 February 1617/18), in two secretary hands. c.1620s.
In: the MS described under BcF 93.
BcF 343
Copy of a speech by Bacon ‘in Chauncery to Mr Whitlock 29 Junij 1620’, in a secretary hand.
In: the MS described under BcF 93.
BcF 343.5
Copy of Bacon's speech in the Star Chamber, Trinity 1617.
In: the MS described under BcF 93.
BcF 344
Copy of Bacon's inaugural speech as Lord Chancellor, 7 May 1617.
In: the MS described under BcF 242.5. c.1620s-30s.
BcF 345
Copy of parliamentary speeches and interjections by Bacon, including one concerning subsidies.
In: A folio volume of parliamentary speeches and state papers, in several professional secretary hands, 118 leaves, in modern half-morocco gilt. Early 17th century.
BcF 346
Copy of Bacon's speech relating to the Earl of Somerset.
In: A folio volume of state tracts and speeches, in two or more professional mixed hands, 91 leaves, in old calf gilt. c.1620s.
BcF 347
Copy in: A folio volume of state tracts and speeches, in Latin and English, in several probably professional predominantly italic hands, 78 leaves, in modern quarter crushed morocco on cloth boards gilt. c.1640.
*BcF 348
Copies of various speeches by Bacon, in the hands of amanuenses, mostly with Bacon's autograph revisions and additions Early 17th century.
In: the MS described under BcF 75.5.
British Library, Harley MS 6797, ff. 128r-38r, 147r-52v, 159r-76r, 178r-99v.
BcF 349
Copy of two speeches by Bacon, the first on the Union, the second dated 25 November 1606, in a professional italic hand.
In: A large folio composite volume of state papers, tracts and speeches, in various professional hands, 312 leaves. In various professional hands, including those of Ralph Starkey (c.1568-1628), antiquary, and the ‘Feathery Scribe’.
Briefly described in Peter Beal, In Praise of Scribes: Manuscripts and their Makers in Seventeenth-Century England (Oxford, 1998), p. 245 (No. 61).
*BcF 350
Copy of a speech by Bacon in the House of Commons, on a motion of subsidy, 1597, in the hand. of an amanuensis with Bacon's autograph revisions. 1597.
In: the MS described under BcF 349.
BcF 351
Copy of a speech by Bacon to the judges in Star Chamber, 26 June 1618, in the cursive hand of Sir Julius Caesar, written on folio leaves in oblong format. c.1618.
In: A folio composite volume of state papers, in various hands, compiled by Sir Julius Caesar (1558-1636), Master of the Rolls, 432 leaves, in 19th-century half-morocco gilt.
BcF 352
Copy of Bacon's inaugural speech as Lord Chancellor, 7 May 1617, in a secretary hand. c.1617.
In: A folio composite volume of Chancery and state papers, in various hands, compiled by Sir Julius Caesar (1558-1636), Master of the Rolls, 405 leaves, in 19th-century half-morocco gilt.
BcF 353
Copies of some fifteen speeches by Bacon, including (ff. 17r-35) on the naturalization of the Scots, (ff. 36r-42r) on the union of laws, (ff. 162r-71v) on his becoming Lord Chancellor (7 May 1617), and (ff. 176r-83v) to Sir William Jones, to John Denham, and to Sergeant Hutton (1617).
In: the MS described under BcF 275. c.1620s-30s.
BcF 354
Copy of three speeches by Bacon, including his inaugural speech as Lord Chancellor, 7 May 1617.
In: the MS described under BcF 80. c.1630s.
*BcF 355
Copy of Bacon's speech (on naturalization) in the House of Commons, 17 February 1606/7, with one or two corrections possibly in Bacon's hand.
In: the MS described under BcF 99. c.1608.
BcF 356
Copy of Bacon's speech concerning the union of laws, 28 March 1607.
In: the MS described under BcF 99. c.1608.
BcF 357
Copy of Bacon's inaugural speech as Lord Chancellor, 7 May 1617.
In: the MS described under BcF 244.5. Early-mid-17th century.
BcF 358
Copy of five speeches by Bacon, concerning the naturalization of the Scots, to Denham, to Sergeant Hutton, to Sir William Jones, and in the Star Chamber (1617).
In: A folio volume of letters and speeches chiefly by Francis Bacon, 41 leaves. Mid-17th century.
BcF 359
Copy of Bacon's inaugural speech as Lord Chancellor, 7 May 1617.
In: the MS described under BcF 245. Mid-17th century.
BcF 360
Copy of an abridged version of Bacon's inaugural speech as Lord Chancellor, 7 May 1617.
In: the MS described under BcF 115.
BcF 361
Copy of a series of speeches by Bacon.
In: A folio composite volume of tracts, letters, etc.
BcF 362
Copy of a speech by Bacon to the judges in Star Chamber, Trinity 1617.
In: A folio composite volume of state tract and speeches, in various hands, 332 leaves (including blanks).
BcF 363
Copy of a speech by Bacon in 1617.
In: A folio volume of papers, relating to proceedings in the Court of Star Chamber, collected by William Fulman (1632-88), Oxford antiquary, 204 leaves. Mid-late 17th century.
BcF 364
Copy of Bacon's speech on the naturalization of the Scots, untitled. Early 17th century.
Among the papers of the Gell family, of Hopton Hall, Derbyshire, including those of the Parliamentary commander and MP Sir John Gell, first Baronet (1593-1671).
BcF 365
Copy of a speech by Bacon in the House of Commons on the union of the laws of England and Scotland, in the secretary hand of Thomas Gell, MP (1595-1657), of the Inner Temple. c.1620s.
Among the papers of the Gell family, of Hopton Hall, Derbyshire, including those of the Parliamentary commander and MP Sir John Gell, first Baronet (1593-1671).
BcF 369
Copy of Bacon's speech at the arraignment of the Earl of Somerset.
In: the MS described under BcF 161. c.1620s-30s.
BcF 370
Copy of Bacon's speech on the naturalization of the Scots, 24 leaves.
In: the MS described under BcF 159.5. c.1620s-30s.
BcF 370.5
Copies of five speeches by Bacon, including his inaugural speech as Lord Chancellor, 7 May 1617, and his speeches to Sir John Denham, to Serjeant Hutton, and to Sir William Jones, 19 May 1617.
In: the MS described under BcF 245.5. c.1620s.
BcF 371
Copy of five speeches by Bacon, including his inaugural speech as Lord Chancellor, 7 May 1617, and his speeches to Sir John Denham, to Serjeant Hutton and to Sir William Jones, 19 May 1617.
In: A folio volume of political speeches, in one or more professional secretary hands, 53 leaves (plus numerous blanks), in contemporary vellum with ties. c.1620s.
BcF 372
Copy of Bacon's speech on the naturalization of the Scots.
In: A MS volume. 17th century.
BcF 373
Copy of Bacon's speech at the arraignment of Lord Sanquer, 27 June 1612, in the professional secretary hand of the ‘Feathery Scribe’.
In: the MS described under BcF 118.5.
BcF 374
An octavo volume of speeches by Bacon, in at least three professionalsecretary hands, 66 leaves (plus blanks), in contemporary vellum, with ties. c.1640.
Bookplate of John Harvey, of Ickwell Bury, Bedfordshire, and Finningley Park, Yorkshire. Myers sale catalogue, undated, item 65 (illustrating a page of the speech of 7 May 1617). Formerly Folger MS 471027.
BcF 375
Copy of Bacon's speech in the Lords, 19 March ‘1620’.
In: An octavo volume of state tracts, papers speeches, relating particularly to Spain, closely written in possibly a single cursive mixed hand, v + 175 leaves, in modern half calf on marbled boards. c.1630.
Inscribed (f. iv) ‘Ex Dono Egid: Clotterbooke’ [i.e. Giles Clutterbuck] and ‘Robt: Hyde 1678’. Phillipps MS 6902. Inscription on f. ir: ‘This MS. was given by the Rev Mr Chapman (son to Dr Chapman of Holy=well) to J Price Sept. 7th., 1790. late of Trinity College State Keeper of the Bodleian Library at Oxford lately deceased’.
BcF 376
Copy of Bacon's speech in Parliament, 16 January 1620/1.
In: A quarto volume of state letters and speeches, in a single professional italic hand, 69 leaves, in old half calf on marbled boards. c.1626.
Inscribed on a flyleaf ‘1626: scriptu est Bri: Caue: forke’, references to Brian Cave elsewhere also suggesting he was the compiler.
BcF 377
Copy of a speech by Bacon, in a professional secretary hand.
In: A large folio of state tracts and parliamentary speeches and proceedings, in several professional hands, 263 leaves, in modern calf gilt.
Bookplate of Algernon Capell (1654-1710), second Earl of Essex, Privy Councillor, dated 1701.
BcF 378
Copy of Bacon's speech, 8 March ‘1592’, in a professional secretary hand.
In: the MS described under BcF 377.
BcF 379
Copy of a speech by Bacon in the Star Chamber, 1617.
In: A folio composite volume of legal tracts. c.1630s-40s.
BcF 380
Copy of Bacon's speech when he became Lord Keeper.
In: the MS described under BcF 379. c.1630s-40s.
BcF 381
Copy of Bacon's speech on the naturalisation of the Scots.
In: the MS described under BcF 246.8.
BcF 382
Copy of Bacon's inaugural speech as Lord Chancellor, 7 May 1617, in the professional secretary hand of the ‘Feathery Scribe’.
In: the MS described under BcF 247.2. c.1630.
Beal, In Praise of Scribes, p. 220 (No. 13.4).
Harvard Law School Library, HLS MS 1026, Vol. I (Hollis No. 003758283), ff. 147r-55v.
BcF 383
Copy of Bacon's inaugural spech as Lord Chancellor, 7 May 1617.
In: the MS described under BcF 247.6. c.1627-35.
Harvard Law School Library, HLS MS 4107 (Hollis No. 004574888), pp. 83-6.
BcF 384
Copy of one or more speeches by Bacon, in a secretary hand, on eleven unbound quarto leaves, imperfect. Early 17th century.
BcF 386
Copy of Bacon's report in the House of Commons on speeches delivered by the Earls of Salisbury and Northampton, 17 June 1607.
In: A folio volume of parliamentary proceedings, in three secretary hands, 163 leaves, in red morocco gilt. c.1620s-30s.
BcF 387
Copy of a speech by Bacon at the arraignment of Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset, 1616, in a secretary hand. c.1620s.
In: A folio composite volume of state tracts and papers, in various hands, 273 leaves (plus blanks), in red morocco gilt.
BcF 388
Copy of ‘The Lo: Chancillor Sr ffrancis Bacons reporte to the lls concerning the staple of wooll in Irelande Julij 22 1616’, in a professional secretary hand, on a folio leaf. c.1616.
In: A folio composite volume of state letters and papers, in various hands, 208 leaves, in morocco stamped in gilt on each cover ‘MMM’.
Among papers of George Carew (1555-1629), Earl of Totnes, soldier and administrator.
BcF 389
Copy of Bacon's speech on 17 May 161, on three pages.
In: A duodecimo volume of four tracts. Early 17th century.
Formerly in the library of the Harvey family, of Ickwell Bury, Bedfordshire, and of Finningley Park, Yorkshire. Maggs's sale catalogue No. 536 (1930), item 2129. Then owned by André de Coppet (1892-1953), New York financial broker. Sotheby's, 4 July 1955 (de Coppet sale), lot 888, to Quaritch.
Recorded in HMC, 1st Report (1870), Appendix, p. 62, and in The Book Collector, 15 (Summer 1966), p. 156.
BcF 390
Copy of summaries of three parliamentary speeches delivered by Bacon on 2 and 13 March 1592/3.
In: A folio volume of proceedings in Parliament from 19 February 1592/3 to 9 April 1593, in a professional cursive secretary hand, 259 pages, in modern cloth. c.1620s-30s.
Formerly Misc. MS 25. (Not owned by Hale).
BcF 391
Copy of a speech by Bacon in Chancery, on a large sheet of paper, 1607. Early 17th century.
Among papers of principally the Monson family, Barons Monson, of Burton by Lincoln.
BcF 392
Copy of Bacon's speech on the naturalization of the Scots, in a professional secretary hand, on ff. [2r-17v] in a folio sewn booklet in wrappers.
In: A box of papers and commonplace books of the Cary family, including the Rev. Francis Henry Cary (1642-1712), rector of Brinkworth, Wiltshire.
BcF 393
Copy of Bacon's inaugural speech as Lord Chancellor, 7 May 1617.
In: the MS described under BcF 248.5. c.1635-40s.
BcF 394
Copy of Bacon's speeches to Sir John Denham and to Serjeant Jones, 19 May 1617. c.1617.
BcF 395
Copy of Bacon's inaugural speech as Lord Chancellor, 7 May 1617.
BcF 396
Copy of a speech, by ‘Sr ffrancis Bacon’, on the naturalisation of the Scots, in a professional secretary hand, nineteen leaves. Early 17th century.
In: the MS described under BcF 131.9.
BcF 397
Copy of Bacon's speech on the naturalization of the Scots, in a professional secretary hand, 25 folio leaves, unbound. c.1620s-30s.
National Library of Wales, Herbert of Cherbury Manuscripts and Papers E5/3/1.
BcF 398
Copy of one or more speeches by Bacon. ?17th century.
BcF 399
Copy of Bacon's speech in Chancery on receiving the Great Seal, 1617. c.1620.
Among papers of the Le Strange family, of Hunstanton.
BcF 400
Copy of a speech by Bacon, to Sir William Jones, Chief Justice of the King's Bench in Ireland, on three leaves.
In: A quarto volume of state tracts and papers.
In the Walter Rye Collection.
BcF 401
Copy of a speech by ‘Sr Francis Bacon Lord Keeper of the great Seale of England’ delivered in the Star Chamber, 1617, in a professional secretary hand, i + 5 folio leaves, unbound. c.1620.
BcF 402
Various speeches and interjections by Bacon, between 26 February and 31 March 1592/3, including speeches on ff. 20v-1r, 42r-3v (on subsidies), 65r-6r (on subsidies), 84v-7r, 107r-v
In: A folio volume of parliamentary speeches and proceedings in 1592-93, in a professional secretary hand, 121 leaves, in vellum boards. Early 17th century.
BcF 403
Copies of summaries of two speeches by Bacon, on enclosures and on subsidies, 5 November 1597.
In: A folio volume of parliamentary speeches and proceedings in 1597-98, in a single professional secretary hand, 57 leaves foliated 1r-35r, 1r-32v, in vellum boards. Early 17th century.
Northamptonshire Record Office, FH 47, ff. 8r-11r (second series).
BcF 404
Copy of five speeches by Bacon, at the arraignment of Lord Sanqueir (27 June 1612), to Sir John Denham (19 May 1617), to Sergeant Hutton when becoming a Justice of the Common Pleas, to Sir William Jones, and in the Star Chamber 1617 respectively, in a professional mixed hand, i + thirteen folio leaves, unbound. c.1620.
BcF 405
Copy of five speeches by Bacon, to Denham, Serjeant Hutton, Sir William James, in the Star Chamber, and at the arraignmentof Lord Sanquer in 1612.
In: the MS described under BcF 175.5. c.1630.
Duke of Northumberland, Alnwick Castle, MS 526, ff. 1r-16r (1st series).
BcF 406
Copy of a speech by Bacon at the arraignment of the Earl of Somerset, in a professional secretary hand, on seventeen leaves (foliated 92r-106v).
In: A folio volume comprising three treatises, in a single professional secretary hand. c.1630.
Recorded in HMC, 3rd Report (1872), Appendix, p. 120. Microfilm in the British Library, M/346 (1st item).
BcF 408
Copy of speeches by Bacon, including his inaugural speech as Lord Chancellor, 7 May 1617, and speeches to Sir John Denham and to Serjeant Jones (19 May 1617).
BcF 409
Copy in: the MS described under BcF 193.5. c.1642.
BcF 410
Copy of Bacon's inaugural speech as Lord Chancellor, 7 May 1617.
In: A folio volume of tracts (one ‘A vew of the State of Religion’ by Sir Edwin Sandys, 1599, on ff. 2v-89r) and a speech, in different hands, 130 leaves (plus 126 blanks), in contemporary calf gilt with stamped crest, traces of green silk ties. c.1617.
Inscribed (f. 1r) ‘En dieu est tout: Et tout en tout / ThWentworth’: i.e. by Thomas Wentworth (1593-1641), first Earl of Strafford. Among the Wentworth Woodhouse Muniments.
BcF 411
Copy of Bacon's speech on the naturalisation of the Scots, in a professional secretary hand. c.1620s-30s.
In: A folio composite volume of state tracts and speeches, in various professional hands including the ‘Feathery Scribe’, 155 leaves, in modern half-vellum marbled boards.
Among the papers of the Acland Hood family, of Fairfield, Stogursey.
BcF 412
Copy of Bacon's speech on the naturalization of the Scots, in a professional secretary hand. c.1620s-30s.
In: A folio composite volume of state tracts and papers, in various professional hands, including the ‘Feathery Scribe’, 708 pages (plus blanks).
Old pressmark G. 3. 15.
BcF 413
Copy of Bacon's inaugural speech as Lord Chancellor, 7 May 1617, in the professional secretary hand of the ‘Feathery Scribe’.
In: the MS described under BcF 104.8. c.1625-40.
BcF 414
Extracts, in Drake's hand, headed ‘Ex eodem libro Mr Hall, A speech of Naturalization. by Bacon’.
In: the MS described under BcF 100. c.1630s-48.
BcF 415
Copies of, or extracts from, several speeches by Bacon, headed ‘Notes taken out of Sir ffrancis Bacons speeches vppon seuerall occasions out of a Mascript’, including speeches addressed to Sergeant Hutton, to Sir William Jones, to the judges in Star Chamber, at the arraignments of Lord Sanquier and the Earl of Somerset, and when he became Lord Chancellor (1617).
In: An octavo commonplace book of extracts, in one cursive hand, written from both ends, 156 leaves (including numerous blanks), in contemporary calf. Compiled entirely by William Drake, MP (1606-69), of Shardeloes, near Amersham, Buckinghamshire. c.1641.
Later in the library of Charles Kay Ogden (1889-1957), psychologist, linguist, and book collector.
Drake's commonplace books discussed in Stuart Clark, ‘Wisdom Literature of the Seventeenth Century: A Guide to the Contents of the “Bacon-Tottel” Commonplace Books’, Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, 6, Part 5 (1976), 291-305; 7, Part 1 (1977), 46-73, and in Kevin Sharpe, Reading Revolutions (New Haven & London, 2000).
BcF 416
Copy of five speeches by Bacon, on becoming Lord Chancellor (7 May 1617), to Sir John Denham, to Sergeant Hutton, to Sir William Jones (19 May 1617), and in the Star Chamber (Trinity 1617).
In: the MS described under BcF 250.5.
BcF 417
Copy of four speeches by Bacon, delivered repectively to Sir John Denham (1617), to Sergeant Hutton, to Sir William Jones, and to the Star Chamber (1617).
In: the MS described under BcF 119. c.1620s-30s.
University of London, Senate House Library, MS 20, ff. 189v-99r.
BcF 419
Copy of Bacon's speech, 7 May 1617.
In: the MS described under BcF 95. 1637.
University of London, Senate House Library, MS 285, ff. 403r-14r.
BcF 420
Copy of a speech by Bacon in the star Chamber, 8 July 1617.
In: the MS described under BcF 82. c.mid-1630s.
University of London, Senate House Library, MS 290, ff. 47r-52r.
BcF 421
Copy of five speeches by Bacon, addressed respecively to Denham, to Serjeant Hutton, to Sir William Jones, to the Star Chamber (1617), and at the arraignment of Lord Sanquer (27 June 1612). c.1620s.
In: the MS described under BcF 190.
University of London, Senate House Library, MS 300, ff. 64r-77v.
BcF 422
Copy of a speech by Bacon on the naturalization of the Scots, 17 February 1606/7, in the professional secretary hand of the ‘Feathery Scribe’. c.1630s.
In: A folio composite volume of state tracts, in several professional secretary hands including that of the ‘Feathery Scribe’, ii + 281 leaves (including blanks), in calf.
In the library of Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bt (1792-1872), book and manuscript collector: Phillipps MS 10464. Among the collections of Sir Edwin Durning-Lawrence, MP (1837-1914), Baconian scholar and book collector.
Briefly described in Peter Beal, In Praise of Scribes: Manuscripts and their Makers in Seventeenth-Century England (Oxford, 1998), pp. 250-1 (No. 78).
Beal, In Praise of Scribes, No. 78.4 (p. 251).
University of London, Senate House Library, MS 308, ff. 183r-202r.
BcF 423
Extract from a speech by Bacon, 7 May 1617, in a predominantly italic hand.
In: the MS described under BcF 70.
BcF 424
Copy of a speech by Bacon, in a professional secretary hand, headed ‘The Lord Chancelor his speeche’, on two pages of an unbound pair of conjugate folio leaves (the last one imperfect). c.1620.
BcF 425
Copy of a speech by ‘The lo: Chanc. Bacon’, in a professional secretary hand, on three pages of an unbound pair of conjugate folio leaves, once folded as a letter or packet.
BcF 426
Copy of ‘The Lo: Keepers speech at the meetinge of the Lordes & other Comissioners for the Subsidies of London at Guyldhall. July 30th. 1621’, in a professional secretary hand, on all four pages of an unbound pair of conjugate folio leaves, once folded as a letter or packet. c.1621-30.
BcF 427
Copy of a speech by Bacon in Parliament concerning the union.
In: A quarto volume of transcripts of correspondence of John Holles (1587-1637), first Earl of Clare, and his son John (1595-1666), second Earl of Clare, with other tracts and verse, almost entirely in a single predominantly italic hand, 228 leaves (paginated 1-3, 14-238), in modern boards. Mid-17th century.
Among papers of the Cavendish-Bentinck family, Dukes of Portland, of Welbeck Abbey, Nottinghamshire, incorporating papers of the related Holles, Harley and Cavendish families, and purchases made by J.A.C.J. Cavendish-Bentinck (1857-1943), sixth Duke of Portland.
BcF 428
Copy of Bacon's inaugural speech as Lord Chancellor, 7 May 1617, in the professional secretary hand of the ‘Feathery Scribe’.
In: the MS described under BcF 96.
Beal, In Praise of Scribes, No. 82.7 (p. 253).
BcF 428.5
Copy of a reply by Bacon to James I's speech in Parliament ‘30 January 1620’.
In: A duodecimo volume of speeches and tracts, closely written in a single hand, with a later table of contents, 228 pages (foliated 1-144), in contemporary mottled calf gilt within modern green morocco gilt.
Inscribed by Thomas Rundall and, in 1937, by Sir Walter Oakeshott, SBA (1903-87), Oxford college head. Bookplate of W.A. Foyle (1885-1963), bookseller, of Beeleigh Abbey, Essex. Christie's, 12-13 July 2000 (W.A. Foyle sale, Part III), lot 320 (item 1). Quaritch's catalogue No. 1415 (2012), item 51, with a facsimile opening in the sale catalogue.
Letters by Bacon
Bacon's Humble Submissions and Supplications
The Humble Submissions and Supplications Bacon sent to the House of Lords, on 19 March 1620/1 (beginning ‘I humbly pray your Lordships all to make a favourable and true construction of my absence...’); 22 April 1621 (beginning ‘It may please your Lordships, I shall humbly crave at your Lordships' hands a benign interpretation...’); and 30 April 1621 (beginning ‘Upon advised consideration of the charge, descending into mine own conscience...’), written at the time of his indictment for corruption. Spedding, XIV, 215-16, 242-5, 252-62.
BcF 429
Copy of Bacon's submissions on 19 March 1620/1 and 22 April 1622, in a professional secretary hand, on two pairs of conjugate folio leaves, once folded as letters or packets, the first bifolium endorsed by the fourth Earl of Bedford ‘for my lo: Russell. Lo. Chancers Letter to the London parlement’. c.1620s.
In: the MS described under BcF 215.2.
The Duke of Bedford, Woburn Abbey, HMC MS No. 27, pp. 122-7.
BcF 430
Copy of two of Bacon's submissions.
In: A folio composite volume of state letters, speeches and other papers, in various hands and paper sizes, x + 315 leaves (plus blanks), in contemporary calf.
Collected and partly written by Elias Ashmole (1617-92).
BcF 432
Copy of all Bacon's submissions.
In: A folio composite volume of papers, chiefly correspondence of the fifth and seventh Earls of Huntingdon, on state affairs, 723 leaves, in half-calf.
BcF 433
Copy in: A folio volume of parliamentary speeches and papers, 64 leaves. c.1620s-30s.
BcF 434
Copy in: the MS described under BcF 196. c.1618-30s.
BcF 436
Copy of Bacon's submissions, in secretary hands
In: A folio composite volume of original state papers, in numerous hands, 529 leaves, now in two volumes foliated 1-264 and 265-529 respectively, in half-calf.
BcF 439
Copy, in an account of the proceedings against Bacon.
In: A folio guardbook of separate state papers, in various hands, 271 leaves (but some removed to MS Tanner 89*).
BcF 440
Copy of Bacon's submissions on 19 March 1620/1 and 22 April 1622.
In: the MS described under BcF 329.
BcF 441
Copy of Bacon's submissions on 22 and 30 April 1621.
In: A quarto volume of letters, tracts and speeches, 208 leaves (plus blanks), in contemporary calf. All in the hand of William Sancroft (1617-93), Archbishop of Canterbury. Mid-late 17th century.
BcF 442
Copy of two of Bacon's submissions in April 1621.
In: A quarto volume of letters and state papers, in a secretary hand, xii + 209 pages (plus blank pp. 211-472, 475-6), in contemporary calf. c.1620s-30s.
Owned in the 17th century by William Goswell, his friend James Bedford, and Gerard Langbaine [? Gerard Langbaine (1608/9-58), head of Queen's College, Oxford]. Also inscribed (f. 376) ‘Amy Wigmore’.
BcF 443
Copy in: the MS described under BcF 177. Mid-17th century.
BcF 444
Copy in: A folio composite volume of miscellaneous papers chiefly relating to Northamptonshire.
BcF 445
Copy of Bacon's submissions on 22 and 30 April 1621, in a secretary hand.
In: A folio composite volume of state tracts and papers, in various hands and paper sizes, 124 leaves, mounted on guards, in 19th-century half red morocco. Collected by members of the Oxinden family, Baronets, of Deane and Barham, Kent, including Henry Oxinden (1609-70) and his brother Richard (b.1613).
BcF 446
Copy of Bacon's submission.
In: A tall folio volume of legal and state papers, largely in a single cursive secretary hand, 259 leaves, mounted on guards, in modern half red morocco. Probably compiled by Timothy Tourneur, reader in Gray's Inn (in 1632), who records (f. 124r) the births of his daughter Susan Tourneur at Salop in 1622, of his son Timothy in 1624, and of his daughter May in 1625. c.1622-5.
Volume DCIX of the papers of the first four Earls of Hardwicke and other members of the Yorke family.
BcF 448
Copy of Bacon's submission, 12 March 1620/1 (here dated ‘9 Martij. 1620’), in a secretary hand, on one side of a folio leaf. c.1621-30s.
In: A folio composite volume of state papers, in various hands, mostly in the hand of Thomas Birch (1705-66), biographer and historian, 276 leaves, in 19th-century half-morocco.
BcF 449
Copy of Bacon's humble submission, 22 April 1622.
In: the MS described under BcF 178. c.1625-30s.
BcF 451
Copy of Bacon's submission on 22 April 1620/1, in a predominantly secretary hand, untitled.
In: the MS described under BcF 56.
BcF 452
Copy of Bacon's submissions on 19 March 1620/1 and 22 April 1621.
In: the MS described under BcF 55.5. c.1630s.
BcF 453
Copy of Bacon's submission on 22 April 1621, in a professional secretary hand. c.1620s-30s.
In: the MS described under BcF 239.8.
BcF 454
Copy of Bacon's submission, 22 April 1621, in a secretary hand, on folio leaves originally folded as a letter. c.1620s.
In: A folio composite volume of state, literary and family papers and speeches, in various hands and paper sizes, 93 leaves, mounted on guards, in modern half red morocco. Papers principally of the Boteler family, of Biddenham, Bedfordshire, and of the family of John Hampden, MP (1595-1643), politician, of Great Hampden, Buckinghamshire.
Volume DLXXXIII of the Blenheim Papers, papers principally of John Churchill (1650-1722), first Duke of Marlborough, army commander and politician, his wife Sarah (née Jenyns) (1660-1744), and the related Spencer and Trevor families.
BcF 455
Copy of Bacon's submission on 22 April 1621, in a professional secretary hand.
In: A folio volume of state letters and tracts, almost entirely in two professional secretary hands, predominantly that of the ‘Feathery Scribe’, iv + 232 leaves, in reversed calf. c.1628-30s.
Once owned by ‘Ric: Tichbone’, probably Sir Richard Tichborne, second Baronet, MP (c.1578-1652). James Tregaskis, sale catalogue No. 1022 (1948), item 29. Bought from Maggs, 4 November 1948, by Annie Winifred Bryher (née Ellerman, d.1983). Afterwards owned by the Ralegh scholar Agnes Latham (1905-96), of Pickering, North Yorkshire.
Briefly described in Beal, In Praise of Scribes: Manuscripts and their Makers in Seventeenth-Century England (Oxford, 1998), pp. 229-31 (No. 35).
BcF 455.5
Copy of Bacon's letter to the House of Lords, 19 March 1620/1, in the predominantly italic hand of Christopher Brown, on a folio leaf, folded as a letter. c.1620s.
In: An unbound collection of miscellaneous letters and papers, in various hands, 81 generally folio leaves. Chiefly papers of Christopher Browne (1577-1646), of Saye's Court, Deptford, father of Sir Richard Browne.
Volume XIX of the Evelyn Papers, of John Evelyn (1620-1706), diarist and writer, of Wootton House, Surrey, and his family, also incorporating papers of his father-in-law, Sir Richard Browne, Bt (1605-83), diplomat, and his family. Formerly preserved at Christ Church, Oxford. Purchased March 1995.
BcF 456
Copy of Bacon's submission on 22 April 1621, in a professional secretary hand, on two folio leaves once folded as a letter or packet.
In: A folio composite volume of state papers and correspondence, in various hands, 240 leaves, in 19th-century half-morocco.
BcF 457
Copy of Bacon's supplication on 12 March 1620/1, in a secretary hand.
In: A folio composite volume of state and miscellaneous tracts and papers, in various hands, in modern red morocco gilt.
BcF 458
Copy of Bacon's submission on 22 April 1621, in a cursive secretary hand.
In: the MS described under BcF 93.
BcF 459
Copy of a submission.
In: A large quarto volume of verse and prose, in several hands, a cursive mixed hand predominating on ff. 1r -51, 53r-8v, with a later addition dated 1694 on f. 78r, 82 leaves, in modern half green morocco. Mid-17th century.
BcF 461
Copy of Bacon's submission on 19 May 1620/1, in a professional secretary hand.
In: the MS described under BcF 75.5.
BcF 462
Copy of Bacon's submissions on 19 March 1620/1, 22 April and 30 April 1621, in an account (ff. 55r-81r) of the proceedings against him.
In: A folio volume of parliamentary and state papers, in professional hands, 224 leaves, in modern morocco gilt. A fourth volume of the parliamentary collections of William Petyt (1640/1-1707), lawyer and political propagandist. Late 17th century.
British Library, Lansdowne MS 514, ff. 59v-60r, 61v-6v, 71r-7v.
BcF 463
Copy of Bacon's supplication on 22 April 1621.
In: A quarto composite volume of state papers and speeches, in several hands, ff. 153r-97r in a single professional hand, 197 leaves, in modern half crushed morocco on cloth boards. c.1630s.
Once owned by John Hart and John Ashton.
BcF 464
Copies of a submission by Bacon and his supplication on 22 April 1621.
In: A small folio volume of state tracts and papers, in one or more probably professional hands. c.1620s-30s.
Recorded in HMC, 3rd Report (1872), Appendix, pp. 203-4.
BcF 465
Copy, among ‘Passages in parliament against Bacon’, on twenty pages.
In: A quarto volume of state papers and tracts, 5 items, the first four in one hand.
BcF 466
Copy of a submission by Bacon in 1621.
In: A quarto volume of theological and state tracts, written from both ends, the first part (ff. 1r-131r) chiefly in the hand of John Overall (1561-1619), Bishop of Norwich, ii + 131 leaves at one end, x + 132 leaves (plus a number of blanks) at the other. Mid-17th century.
Once owned by John Moore (1646-1714), Bishop of Norwich and Ely.
BcF 467
Copy in: A folio volume of two tracts and parliamentary speeches, 121 leaves. Early-mid-17th century.
BcF 468
Copy of Bacon's submission 22 April 1621.
In: the MS described under BcF 254.8. c.1620s.
Centre for Kentish Studies, Maidstone, U951 O9/3-4, pp. [1-2, 7].
BcF 469
Copy of Bacon's submission on 19 March 1621/2.
In: the MS described under BcF 254.8. c.1620s.
Centre for Kentish Studies, Maidstone, U951 O9/3-4, pp. [3-4].
BcF 470
Copy of Bacon's submission on 22 April 1621, in a professional secretary hand, on three folio pages, in a folio composite volume of 31 parliamentary papers, in modern quarter-morocco. c.1620s.
Among papers of the Knatchbull family, Barons Brabourne, of Mersham-le-Hatch, Kent.
BcF 471
Copy of Bacon's submissions, untitled.
In: A quarto miscellany of verse and some prose, in at least seven secretary and italic hands, 118 leaves (plus some blanks), currently disbound. Possibly compiled by one or more persons connected with the Inns of Court. c.1600-1620s.
Later in the library of the Rev. Richard Farmer, FSA (1735-97), Master of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, literary scholar. Lot 8055 in the sale of his library by Thomas King, 7 May to 16 June 1798. Probably owned afterwards by James Crossley (1800-83), author and book collector. Formerly Chetham's MS 8012.
The volume edited by Alexander B. Grosart as The Dr. Farmer Chetham MS. being a Commonplace Book in the Chetham Library, Manchester, temp. Elizabeth, James I, and Charles I, Chetham Society, vols 89 and 90 (Manchester, 1873).
BcF 472
Copy of Bacon's submission on 22 April 1621.
In: A folio composite volume of state letters, in at least three professional secretary hands, 97 pages, in modern red morocco gilt. c.1630.
Later in the library of Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bt (1792-1872), manuscript and book collector (unnumbered Phillipps MS). Maggs's sale catalogue No. 1086 (1988), item 7.
Briefly discussed, with a facsimile example, in Kenneth A. Lohf, ‘A Manuscript of Sir Francis Bacon's State Papers and Letters’, Columbia Library Columns, 38 (1989), 30-2. Facsimiles of the MS are in the British Library, RP 3883.
Columbia University, New York, J. H. Samuels MS Coll. Sir Francis Bacon Letterbook, pp. 26-32.
BcF 475
Copies of Bacon's submissions on 19 March 1620/1 and 22 April 1621.
In: the MS described under BcF 245.5. c.1620s.
BcF 476
Copy of the supplication on 22 April 1621, in a secretary hand, on three pages of two conjugate folio leaves. c.1620s.
BcF 477
Copy of the submission of 22 April 1621 (here dated ‘May’), in Smyth's accomplished secretary hand, on both sides of a single folio leaf. c.1621.
In: A double-folio-size guardbook, containing state letters and papers, in various hands, largely written or collected by John Smyth (1567-1641), antiquary and parliamentary diarist, of Nibley, Gloucestershire, in modern red morocco gilt.
From the papers of the Cholmondeley family, of Condover Hall, Shropshire. Owned in 1889 by Hungerford Crewe (1812-94), third Baron Crewe, of Crewe Hall, Cheshire.
Recorded in HMC, 5th Report (1876), Appendix, pp. 354-5.
BcF 478
Copy of Bacon's submission on 22 April 1621.
In: A quarto miscellany of verse, state papers and parliamentary speeches, in several secretary and mixed hands, 134 leaves (plus numerous blanks), written from both ends chiefly on rectos only (Part I: ff. 1r-113r, Part II: ff. 1r-21r), disbound. c.1640s.
BcF 479
Copy, in a secretary hand, on thirty large sheets of paper tied head to head (Exchequer-style), subscribed ‘ffr.St. Alban Canc.’ Headed ‘To the Right Honorable the Lordes of Parliamt: in the vpper house assembled. The humble submission and Supplicacon of the L: Chancellor’. 1621.
From the archives of the Hastings family. Eevidently an official copy owned by Henry Hastings (1586-1643), fifth Earl of Huntingdon, who was chairman of the Lords committee relating to the case.
BcF 481
Copy in: the MS described under BcF 246.8.
BcF 482
Copy of Bacon's submission on 22 April 1621, in a secretary hand, the first page foliated ‘52’.
In: A folio composite volume of state letters, tracts, parliamentary speeches, etc., in various professional hands, c.160 leaves, in contemporary calf.
A flyleaf inscribed ‘This belongs to Mrs Carewe of Crowcombe, Co. Somerset / T Philli’: i.e.formerly among the Carew MSS at Crowcombe Court, Somerset, and borrowed at some time by Sir Thomas Phillips, Bt (1792-1872), manuscript and book collector.
Recorded in HMC, 4th Report (1874), Appendix, p. 373.
BcF 484
Copy of Bacon's submission on 22 April 1621, in a professional secretary hand, on three pages of a pair of conjugate folio leaves. c.1620s.
BcF 485
Copy of Bacon's supplication 22 April 1621.
In: A quarto volume of parliamentary letters and speeches, mostly (up to p. 94) in probably two professional secretary hands, a later second secretary hand from p. 109 onwards, 295 pages (including numerous blanks), in contemporary limp vellum. c.1620s-40s.
Formerly among the MSS of John Harvey of Ickwell Bury, Hertfordshire, and Finningley Park, Yorkshire. Sotheby's, 19 June 1922. lot 522.
Recorded in HMC, 1st Report (1870), Appendix, p. 62.
BcF 486
Copy of Bacon's submission, 22 April 1621, and subsequent confession and answers to the articles against him.
In: A folio volume of parliamentary journals, in several hands, one secretary hand predominating, 338 leaves, in leather gilt. c.1620s.
Inner Temple Library, Petyt MS 537, Vol. 21, ff. 143v-7r, 154v-6v.
BcF 487
Copy of Bacon's submissions on 20 March 1620/1 and 22 April 1621 and his subsequent confession and answers to the articles against him.
In: A folio volume of parliamentary proceedings, largely in a single rounded hand, 182 leaves (plus blanks), in red morocco. Compiled by William Petyt (1640/1-1707), lawyer and political propagandist. Late 17th century-1700s.
Inner Temple Library, Petyt MS 538, Vol. 3, ff. 132r, 145v-6v, 159v-62r, 169r-79v.
BcF 488
Copy of an account of ‘The Passages in Parliament Against Frauncis Viscount St: Albanes Lord Chauncellor of England; with his Confession, Submission, And Censure. Anno Dni: 1620:’, incorporating his various submissions, in a professional secretary hand. c.1620s-30s.
In: A folio composite volume of parliamentary proceedings, in various hands, 735 leaves (plus blanks), in red morocco gilt.
BcF 489
Copy of Bacon's supplication on 22 April 1621, in a professional secretary hand, on all four pages of a pair of conjugate folio leaves, docketed probably in the italic hand of Archbishop Laud ‘The Defence of Francis Ld Viscount Verula made by himself to the Lords’. c.1621.
In: A folio guardbook of ecclesiastical and state papers, in various hands and paper sizes, 939 pages, in half black morocco gilt. Comprising mainly papers of William Laud (1573-1645), Archbishop of Canterbury.
BcF 490
Copy of two submissions by Bacon, here dated 24 and 26 April 1621.
In: A folio volume of proceedings in Parliament, 406 pages. c.1625-30s.
Among the manuscripts of the Coke family, Earls of Leicester, including collections of Sir Edward Coke (1552-1634), lawyer and politician.
Recorded in HMC, 9th Report (1883), Appendix, p. 361.
The Earl of Leicester, Holkham Hall, MS 256, pp. 91-9, 122-38.
BcF 491
Copy of Bacon's submission on 22 April 1621, in William Parkhurst's hand.
In: A folio composite volume of state letters, tracts, and verse, collected by, and mostly in the hand of, William Parkhurst (fl.1604-67), Sir Henry Wotton's secretary in Venice and later Master of the Mint, including various works in verse and prose attributed to Donne, chiefly in a scribal hand, partly in Parkhurst's hand, 373 leaves (including blanks), in old calf.
Among the papers of the Finch family of Burley-on-the-Hill, Rutland. Mistakenly reported by Grierson and Logan Pearsall Smith to have been destroyed in a fire at Burley c.1908.
Cited in IELM, I.i (1980), as the ‘Burley MS’: DnJ Δ 53. Recorded in HMC, 7th Report (1879), Appendix, p. 516. A complete microfilm of the MS is at the University of Sheffield, Microfilm 737.
A neat transcript of parts of the Burley MS (including principally poems on ff. 255r-v, 278v, [279r]-288v, 342v-3r, 294r-300r, 301r-8v), made before 1908, on 35 leaves, is in the Bodleian, MS Eng. poet. c. 80.
BcF 492
MS of Bacon's submission on 19 March 1620/1, in a secretary hand, on one side of a single folio leaf, once folded as a letter or packet. 1621.
BcF 494
Copy in: A folio composite miscellany compiled entirely by William Drummond of Hawthornden, including (ff. 165r-6v, 246r-7v) copies of, or brief extracts from, nineteen poems by Donne, 300 leaves, in 19th-century calf gilt. c.1618-20s.
Among the collections of William Drummond of Hawthornden: Hawthornden Vol. VIII.
Cited in IELM, I.i (1980), as the Drummond Miscellany: DnJ Δ 66. Some extracts from this MS edited in Laing (1831), pp. 78-82. ‘Drummond's Catalogue of Comedies’ (ff. 122-3). Recorded in MacDonald, Library of Drummond, pp. 231-2.
BcF 495
Copy of the proceedings against Bacon and all his submissions.
In: A folio volume of state tracts, in professional hands, 120 leaves, in modern quarter-calf. c.1620s-30s.
BcF 496
Copy in: A folio autograph composite volume of verse by William Drummond, 251 leaves of varying paper sizes, in reversed calf. c.1612-45.
Among the collections of William Drummond of Hawthornden: Hawthornden Vol. X
BcF 497
Copy of Bacon's submission on 30 April 1621, in a cursive secretary hand, written across the width of fourteen large sheets, unbound. c.1621.
National Library of Wales, Herbert of Cherbury Manuscripts and Papers MS E5/3/5.
BcF 499
Copy of Bacon's submission of 22 April 1621, in a cursive secretary hand, as by ‘the Lord Chancellor of England Sr. Fran: Bacon’.
In: the MS described under BcF 163. c.1620s.
BcF 500
Copy of Bacon's submission of 19 March 1620/1, in a florid secretary hand.
In: the MS described under BcF 163. c.1620s.
BcF 501
Copy of Bacon's submission on 22 April 1621.
In: A quarto volume of parliamentary speeches 1621-25, in one or more professional secretary hands, written from both ends, with (at the front) a table of contents, 146 leaves (plus numerous blanks), in contemporary vellum with ties. c.1625-30s.
BcF 502
Copy of Bacon's ‘Submission and Confession’ on April 1621.
In: A folio volume of parliamentary proceedings and state tracts, in several professional secretary hands, with (f. iiir) a table of contents, iv + 200 leaves, in contemporary calf with remains of metal clasps. c.1635.
Once owned by Sir Richard Grosvenor (1585-1645); later by the Duke of Westminster, Eaton Hall, Cheshire, with his bookplate (inscribed ‘XXI no. 21’) and a label with No. ‘24’ on the spine. Assembled largely from ‘Liber 8’ (= MS 24). Sotheby's, 20 February 1967, lot 263. Formerly House of Lords Record Office, Historical Collection No. 53.
Recorded in HMC. 3rd Report (187-), Appendix, p. 214b.
BcF 503
Copy of Bacon's submission on 22 April 1621, in a professional secretary hand, on two conjugate folio leaves, once folded as a letter or packet. c.1621.
In: A large guardbook of parliamentary papers, in various hands and paper sizes, 161 leaves.
BcF 504
Copy, with marginal corrections, on four folio pages. c.1620s.
Donated in 1942 by Roland L. Redmond.
BcF 505
Copy in: the MS described under BcF 193. Mid-17th century.
BcF 506
Copy of Bacon's submissions on 22 and 30 Apri 1621.
In: the MS described under BcF 193.5. c.1642.
BcF 507
Copy of Bacon's supplication on 22 April 1621.
In: A folio volume of letters by and to Francis Bacon, in a single professional secretary hand, 60 pages, in modern stiff paper wrapper. c.1620s-30s.
Donated by James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps (1820-89), literary scholar and book collector.
Plymouth Proprietary Library, Halliwell-Phillipps No. 130, pp. 53-60.
BcF 508
Copy of Bacon's submission on 19 March 1620/1, on one page. c.1621.
The Marquess of Salisbury, Hatfield House, Cecil Papers 129/177.
BcF 509
Copy of Bacon's submission on 22 April 1621. c.1621.
The Marquess of Salisbury, Hatfield House, Cecil Papers 130/37.
BcF 510
Copy of Bacon's submission on 30 April 1621, on 31 pages. c.1621.
The Marquess of Salisbury, Hatfield House, Cecil Papers 141/307.
BcF 511
Copy of Bacon's submission 22 April 1621.
In: A quarto volume of state papers, in two secretary hands, 53 leaves (plus numerous blanks), in contemporary vellum with traces of ties.
Inscribed inside the front cover ‘Ex Libris J J Cumberstone MCCCCCCC’.
BcF 512
Copy of Bacon's supplication on 22 April 1621, in a professional secretary hand. c.1620s.
In: A folio composite volume of state tracts and speeches, in various professional hands, 121 leaves (plus blanks), in modern half-vellum marbled boards.
Among the papers of the Acland Hood family, of Fairfield, Stogursey.
BcF 513
Copy of Bacon's submission on 19 March 1620/1, in a secretary hand, on the first page of two conjugate folio leaves. c.1620s.
In: A tall folio guardbook of state letters and papers, in various hands and paper sizes, 89 items, 249 leaves, in 19th-century black leather.
Among the papers of the Phelips family, of Montacute House, Somerset.
BcF 514
Copy of Bacon's submission on 22 April 1620/1, in a professional secretary hand.
In: the MS described under BcF 75.7. c.1635-40.
BcF 515
Copy of all Bacon's submissions on 19 March 1620/1, 22 and 30 April 1621, in a professional
In: A folio composite volume of parliamentary speeches from 1609 to 1628, in several professional secretary hands, c.414 leaves (plus blanks), in old calf. Three interim title-pages for separate groups in the hand of the ‘Feathery Scribe’, namely ‘Divers Speeches and passages in Parliament viz:’, ‘Divers Passages and Speeches Off Parliamte viz:’, and ‘A: Collection Off such Thinges, As Robte Earle of Salisburye thought fitt to offer vnto his Matie: vppon the occasion of callinge a Parliamte: viz’.
One later section (‘A Booke of the last Parliament’, 44 leaves) inscribed ‘Tho: Becke’. Old pressmark G. 3. 4.
Trinity College, Dublin, MS 858, Unnumbered section, ff. 70v-2v, 73v-81r, 83r-99v.
BcF 517
Copy of Bacon's supplication 21 April 1621, in a professional italic hand, on the first three rectos of two unbound pairs of conjugate folio leaves, once folded as a letter or packet, endorsed on the eighth page in another hand ‘1621 / Submission de Mil: Chanceler faite au Parlemt’.
University of Chicago, Miscellaneous Manuscript Collection / Bacon, Francis [ca. 1621 April 22].
BcF 518
Copy of Bacon's submissions on 19 March 1620/1 and 22 April 1621.
In: the MS described under BcF 250.5.
BcF 519
Copy of the submission, 22 April 1621.
In: the MS described under BcF 422.
University of London, Senate House Library, MS 308, ff. 245r-9v.
BcF 520
Copy of Bacon's submission on 22 April 1620/1.
In: the MS described under BcF 191.
University of London, Senate House Library, MS 309, ff. 348v-52r.
BcF 521
Copy of Bacon's submission on 30 April 1621, in a professional cursive secretary hand, 123 folio pages, written across 31 broadsheets with the spine uppermost, imperfect, lacking the last sheet, in later boards. c.1621.
In the library of Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bt (1792-1872), book and manuscript collector: Phillipps MS 25945. Among the collections of Sir Edwin Durning-Lawrence, MP (1837-1914), Baconian scholar and book collector.
Once erroneously described as a draft in Bacon's own hand.
BcF 522
Copy of Bacon's submission of 22 April 1621, in an italic hand, on three pages of two unbound pairs of conjugate folio leaves, once folded as a letter or packet. c.1621-30.
BcF 523
Copy of Bacon's submission on 30 April 1621, in a small secretary hand, on five pages of two unbound pairs of conjugate folio leaves. c.1621-30.
BcF 524
Copy in: the MS described under BcF 164. Early 17th century.
Victoria and Albert Museum, Forster MS 21 (Pressmark 48.D.3), item 2.
BcF 525
Copy of Bacon's submission on 19 March 1620/1, in a secretary hand.
In: the MS described under BcF 258.5. c.1625[-1730].
BcF 526
Copy of Bacon's submission on 22 April 1621, in a secretary hand.
In: the MS described under BcF 258.5. c.1625[-1730].
BcF 527
Copy of ‘The Confession and submission of Sr Francis Bacon’ on 30 April 1621, in a secretary hand, dated in the margin ‘Ao Domini 162i’.
In: the MS described under BcF 258.5. c.1625[-1730].
BcF 528
Copy of Bacon's submission on 22 April 1621.
In: A miscellany, including state papers, in several hands, in vellum. Compiled by members of the Benett family, of Pythouse, Tisbury. c.1660.
Inscribed inside the cover ‘Chaloner freville’.
BcF 529
Copy of Bacon's submission on 22 April 1621.
In: A folio miscellany of poems and state papers, in secretary hands, written from both ends, 50 leaves, in contemporary vellum. c.1620s.
Among papers of the Troyte-Bullock family, formerly of Zeals House, Mere, and probably deriving from the papers of the Chafyn family of Bulford and Chisenbury or the Reymes family of Waddon, near Dorchester.
BcF 530
Copy in: A folio volume of state tracts and speeches, 380 leaves, in contemporary calf gilt, now disbound. Early-mid-17th century.
Includes arms and genealogy of ‘Helsby Cherleton & Acton Co. Lestr’ and of ‘The Lords of Hatton Co. Lestr’. Inscribed ‘Thomas Helsby Lincoln's Inn London 1855’.
BcF 531
Copy of Bacon's submission on 22 April 1621, on six pages.
In: A folio composite volume of parliamentary papers, in various professional hands and paper sizes, c.440 pages. 17th century.
Formerly among the Braye Manuscripts, descending from John Browne (1608-91), Clerk of the Parliaments, whose daughter Martha married Sir Roger Cave, Bt, of Stanford Hall, Rugby, seat of successive Lords Braye. Christie's, 23 June 1954, lot 111.
Recorded in HMC, 10th Report, Appendix VI. A complete photocopy is in the Parliamentary Archives, Braye MS/51.
BcF 532
Copy of Bacon's submission on 22 April 1621, in a professional secretary hand, untitled, on all four pages of a pair of conjugate folio leaves, endorsed ‘Bacon, Earle of St Albans The Late Lord Chancelor - his confession ingenerell & submissiue, to ye vpper house of Parliamente’. c.1621.
Among papers of the Middletons, a Yorkshire recusant family. MD59/22/B/4
BcF 534
Copy, in the professional secretary hand of the ‘Feathery Scribe’.
In: the MS described under BcF 176.8. c.1625-30s.
A Letter of Advice to the Queen (1584)
Advice beginning ‘Most Gracious Soveraign and most worthy to be a Soveraign / Care, one of the natural and true-bred children of unfeigned affection...’. First published in The Felicity of Queen Elizabeth (London, 1651), pp. 121-56. Spedding, VIII, 43-56.
BcF 535
Copy in: the MS described under BcF 135.4. c.1640.
BcF 536
Copy, in the hand of Ralph Starkey (c.1569-1628), antiquary. Early 17th century.
In: A folio volume of state tracts, in various professional hands, 522 leaves, in modern half-morocco gilt.
BcF 538
Copy, untitled and unascribed, in a predominantly secretary hand. Early 17th century.
In: A composite volume.
Edited from this MS in Spedding.
BcF 539
Copy, headed ‘An Excellent Treatise against Papists. Written by the Ld Treasurer Burleigh Afterwards Earle of Salisbury. Address'd by him vnto Queene Elizabeth’.
In: A folio volume of state tracts and papers, dating up to 1663, in a single semi-calligraphic hand, except for ff. 224r-95r in two other professional hands, 445 leaves, in 19th-century half-morocco gilt. The principal scribe associated with Henry Feilde. c.1660s.
BcF 541
Copy, headed ‘An excellent Treatise against Jesuits and Recusants, written by the Earle of Salisbury or rather the Lord Treasurer Burleigh, to Queene Elizabeth’.
In: the MS described under BcF 362.
BcF 542
Copy, in a secretary hand. Mid-17th century.
In: A folio composite volume of state tracts, in several hands, 216 leaves (plus blanks), in red morocco gilt.
BcF 543
Copy in: the MS described under BcF 318.
BcF 544
Copy in: the MS described under BcF 314. c.1630.
BcF 545
Copy in: A folio volume of tracts, in various hands, iv + 107 leaves. c.1590s.
From the library of the Tollemache family, of Helmingham Hall, Suffolk. Acquired in 1980 from Laurence Witten Rare Books, Southport, Connecticut.
Letter(s)
BcF 546
Copy of letters by Bacon to James I.
In: A quarto composite volume of miscellaneous state tracts, speeches, and verse, in various largely professional hands, iv + 413 leaves (including a thirty-page index and some blanks), in half-calf (rebacked). Transcribed from the Yelverton papers chiefly belonging to Sir Christopher Yelverton (1535?-1612), Sir Henry Yelverton (1566-1629), and their family.
Owned in 1679 by Narcissus Luttrell (1657-1732), annalist and book collector.
BcF 547
Copy of a series of letters by Bacon, to Queen Elizabeth, James I, Burghley, Essex, Robert Cecil, Northampton, Buckhurst, Edward Coke, Sir John Davies, Toby Mathews and others, with a title-page ‘A true Copie of the Lord Chancellor Bacons Letters of State from the time of his being Sollicitor till his Death’.
In: the MS described under BcF 176.2. c.1620s-30s.
The Duke of Bedford, Woburn Abbey, HMC MS No. 190, ff. 4r-45v, 55v-79r.
BcF 550
Copies of two letters by Bacon, 1604-10.
In: A folio volume of copies of letters and papers of Sir Robert Cotton, transcribed from British Library, Cotton MS Julius C. III, including (p. 1 et seq,) Dr Thomas Smith's ‘Short Life’ of Cotton, viii + 174 pages. c.1680-1700.
BcF 551
Copy of a letter by Bacon, to James I, 25 March 1621.
In: A folio volume of state letters, papers and speeches, 332 leaves.
BcF 553
Copy of a letter by Bacon, to James I, 2 January 1618/19.
In: A folio collection of state papers, in various hands, 257 leaves, once in stamped calf, now disbound in folders.
BcF 554
Copy of letters by Bacon, to various recipients, including Queen Elizabeth, Essex, Northampton, Davies, Northumberland, Colr, Tobie Matthews, Burghley, Robert Cecil, Ellesmere, and James I.
In: the MS described under BcF 135.2. c.1630s.
BcF 555
A folio volume of copies of letters by Bacon, to various correspondents, 54 leaves.
BcF 556
A folio volume of copies of some 24 letters by Bacon dating between 1616 and 1624, 144 leaves. c.1630.
Once owned by by the Hon. George Matthew Fortescue.
BcF 557
Copy in: A folio volume of ‘Speeches in Parliamt and other speeches with seuerall letters of Concernmt being of great Antiquitie...And some other speeches and Letters relateing to these late distracted tymes’, iv + 165 leaves, in calf gilt. Entirely in the hand of John Hopkinson (1610-80), Yorkshire antiquary, of Lofthouse, near Leeds, and comprising Volume 18 of the Hopkinson MSS. 1660.
Signed bookplate of Frances Mary Richardson Currer (1785-1861), book collector, of Eshton Hall, West Yorkshire. Subsequently owned by her step-father Matthew Wilson.
Recorded in HMC, 3rd Report (1872), Appendix, pp. 296-7.
BcF 558
Copy in: A folio volume of state letters, 155 leaves, in modern calf gilt. Entirely in the hand of John Hopkinson (1610-80), Yorkshire antiquary, of Lofthouse, near Leeds, and comprising Volume 19 of the Hopkinson MSS c.1665-70s.
Signed bookplate of Frances Mary Richardson Currer (1785-1861), book collector, of Eshton Hall, West Yorkshire. Subsequently owned by her step-father Matthew Wilson.
Recorded in HMC, 3rd Report (1872), Appendix, p. 297.
BcF 559
Copy of various letters by Bacon.
In: the MS described under BcF 177. Mid-17th century.
Bradford Archives, 32D86/44, pp. 55-71, 144-51, 153-78, 184-99, 539-41.
BcF 560
Copy of a letter by Bacon, to Lord Henry Howard, in a secretary hand. c.1620s.
In: the MS described under BcF 448.
BcF 561
Another copy of a letter by Bacon, to Lord Henry Howard, 3 December 1599, in a secretary hand. Mid-17th century.
In: the MS described under BcF 448.
BcF 562
Copies of various letters by Bacon, to James I, Buckingham, and others, in the hand of Thomas Birch, on pages including ff. 92r-8v, 100r-11r. Mid-18th century.
In: the MS described under BcF 448.
BcF 562.5
Two copies of Bacon's letter to Lord Henry Howard, 3 December 1599.
In: A composite volume of transcripts by Thomas Birch (1705-66), biographer and historian, of state papers for 1598-1745, 289 leaves. Mid-18th century.
BcF 563
Copy of three letters of advice by Bacon to the Earl of Essex.
In: the MS described under BcF 178. c.1625-30s.
BcF 564
Copy of various letters by Bacon, to Essex, Cecil, Egerton, James I, Sir John Davies, Coke, Northumberland, Buckhurst and others, on pages including ff. 15v-17v, 38r, 40v-6v, 52r-5r, and 58v-9r.
In: the MS described under BcF 178. c.1625-30s.
BcF 565
Copy of letters by Bacon, including (f. 161r) one to James I, 5 June 1616.
In: the MS described under BcF 204.
BcF 566
Abstracts of various letters by Bacon, in Birch's hand. Mid-18th century.
In: A folio composite volume of papers relating to Francis Bacon, in several hands, 69 leaves, bound with British Library, Add. MS 4259 in modern half-morocco. Some papers in the hand of Thomas Birch (1705-66), biographer and historian.
Among Birch's collections for his edition of works by Bacon (1761), incorporating papers formerly owned by Robert Stephens (1665-1732), literary editor, and John Locker (1693-1760), barrister and literary editor, in connection with their intended editions of Bacon's works.
BcF 567
Copy of three letters of advice by Bacon to the Earl of Essex.
In: the MS described under BcF 176.5.
BcF 568
Copy of three letters of advice by Bacon to the Earl of Essex.
In: the MS described under BcF 176.5.
BcF 569
Copies of numerous letters by Bacon, to Queen Elizabeth, Essex, James I, Buckingham, Cecil, Sir John Davies, Northampton, and various others, in several 17th- and 18th-century hands, on pages including ff. 174r-5v, 228r-9r.
In: the MS described under BcF 176.5.
BcF 571
Copy of Bacon's letter of advice to Buckingham, unascribed. Early 18th century.
In: the MS described under BcF 56.
BcF 572
Copies by Birch of various letters by and to Bacon.
In: A folio composite volume of state letters and papers, compiled, and the majority copied, by Thomas Birch (1705-66), biographer and historian, 279 leaves, in modern half-morocco.
BcF 573
Copies of numerous letters by Bacon, to Queen Elizabeth, Burghley, Essex, James I, Robert Cecil, Sir Thomas Bodley, Sir John Davies, Sir Edward Coke, Buckingham, Northumberland, Tobie Matthew, and others.
In: the MS described under BcF 55.5. c.1630s.
BcF 574
Copy of two formal letters by Bacon in Latin, to the University of Cambridge, dated 31 October 1620 and 1623, transcribed by Cole from ‘Sancroft MSS.’
In: A folio volume of antiquarian collections, in a single neat hand, 128 leaves, in half-morocco. In the hand of the Rev. William Cole, FSA (1714-82), antiquary. c.1777.
BcF 574.5
Copies of numerous letters by Francis Bacon, to Elizabeth I, Burghley, Essex, Robert Cecil, James I, Sir John Davies, Northampton, Ellesmere, Tobie Matthews, Buckhurst, Lancelot Andrewes, Bodley and others.
In: the MS described under BcF 176.3. c.1630s.
BcF 575
Copy of a letter by Bacon to Queen Elizabeth.
In: A large square-shaped folio letterbook, in several secretary hands, 248 leaves, in embossed calf. Comprising copies of letters principally received by Sir Christopher Hatton (c.1540-91), Vice-Chamberlain of the Household and Lord Chancellor. c.1640.
Later in the possession of William Upcott (1779-1845), antiquary and autograph collector. Upcott sale (22 June 1846), lot 83.
BcF 576
Copy of two letters by Bacon, to the University of Cambridge, the first dated 12 April 1617. c.1620s.
In: A quarto volume of state letters and tracts, in three or more secretary hands, 78 leaves, in 19th-century calf.
BcF 578
Copy of a letter by Bacon, to Lord Henry Howard, [3 December 1599].
In: A square-shaped folio volume of state letters, in a single hand, 52 leaves. A transcript, according to Malone, ‘taken from one made by Robert Sterne Tighe Esq from the originals [at Longleat] by the permission of Thomas, the 2nd Marquis of Bath’. Mid-18th century.
With (f. 2r) a lengthy note by ‘Mr Malone’ [presumably Edmund Malone (1741-1812), literary scholar, biographer and book collector], and (f. 1r) a copy of it by Samuel Weller Singer, FSA (1783-1858), literary scholar, dated 1833. Purchased at the Singer sale, 3 August 1858, lot 219.
BcF 579
A quarto volume of copies of eight letters by Francis Bacon, to Lord Ellesmere and James I, 1605-15, in a professional secretary hand, eight leaves, in modern black morocco. c.1620s.
Later owned by Frederic Ouvry, FSA (1815-81), lawyer and antiquary. Sotheby's, 30 March-5 April 1882 (Ouvry sale), lot 183.
BcF 580
Copy of a letter by Francis Bacon ‘To the L: Amb:’, [? March 1579]; another letter by him on a final leaf (f. 47) now missing.
In: A large double-folio formal volume of state papers of c.1545-80, arranged according to subject, in a single professional secretary hand, on 46 leaves of vellum, in half green morocco. c.1590s.
Bookplate of Richard Towneley, of Townely Hall, near Burnley, Lancashire, dated 1702. Sotheby's, 27-28 June 1883 (Towneley sale), lot 170, to Quaritch. Quaritch's sale catalogue ‘of English Literature’ (August-November 1884), item 22349. Presented by William Amhurst Tyssen-Amherst (1835-1908), first Baron Amherst of Hackney, 13 April 1887.
BcF 581
Copy of a letter by Francis Bacon, to Lord Henry Howard, followed (f. 186r-v) by Howard's reply.
In: A folio volume of miscellaneous papers, many relating to Kent, the greater part in a single secretary hand, 228 leaves, in contemporary stamped calf. Compiled for, and chiefly relating to, Francis Fane (1582-1628), first Earl of Westmorland. Early 17th century.
Christie's, 18 July 1897.
This volume recorded in HMC, 10th Report, Appendix IV (1885), pp. 4-19.
BcF 582
Copy of numerous letters by Francis Bacon, to Burghley, Queen Elizabeth, Essex, Robert Cecil, Northampton, James I, Sir Edward Coke, Buckingham, Tobie Mathews, Sir John Davies, Northumberland, and others.
In: the MS described under BcF 176.4. c.1620s-30s.
BcF 583
Copies of numerous letters by Francis Bacon, to Essex, Sir Robert Cecil, Northumberland, Sir John Davies, James I, Southampton, Sir Edward Coke, Ellesmere, Buckingham, Tobie Mathews, Queen Elizabeth, and others. c.1620s-30s.
In: the MS described under BcF 180.
British Library, Add. MS 44848, ff. 38v-46v, 80v-2v, 83v-91r, 97r-100v, 105r-v, 170v-1r.
BcF 584
Copy of a letter by Bacon to George Villiers, ‘late Earl of Buckingham’, in a small predominantly italic hand, on eleven quarto leaves. c.1630.
In: A tall folio composite volume of state and miscellaneous papers, in various hands, 292 leaves, in 19th-century half-morocco gilt.
Among the papers of Sir Robert Heath (1575-1649), Chief Justice, and his sons, and of the Greville and Verney families, Barons Willoughby de Broke.
BcF 585
Copy of two letters by Bacon, the second to James I.
In: A large folio composite volume of state tracts and papers, 176 leaves, in modern half-morocco gilt. In professional hands, including those of Ralph Starkey (c.1569-1628), antiquary, the ‘Feathery Scribe’, Sir Simonds D'Ewes, Bt, MP (1602-50), diarist and antiquary, and Sir William Dugdale (1605-86), antiquary and herald.
Briefly described in Peter Beal, In Praise of Scribes: Manuscripts and their Makers in Seventeenth-Century England (Oxford, 1998), p. 239 (No. 51).
BcF 586
Copies of several letters by Bacon, to Essex, Cecil, Northampton, Davies and others, in two secretary hands.
In: the MS described under BcF 181. Early-mid-17th century.
BcF 587
Copies of letters by Bacon, transcribed from originals among the Advocates Library MSS in the National Library of Scotland.
In: A folio composite volume of royal letters and papers, in various hands, 219 leaves.
Fol. 58 docketed ‘Given by Mr Geo. Holmes’.
BcF 588
Copy of a letter by Bacon.
In: A large folio composite volume of original state letters, in various hands, iv + 488 leaves (plus blanks), in half morocco gilt.
BcF 589
Copies of various letters by Bacon, to Lord Keeper Puckering, from 5 April 1594 to 3 July 1595.
In: A tall folio volume of state letters and papers, in the hand of Thomas Baker (1656-1750), Cambridge antiquary, with some tipped-in inserts, 247 leaves, in 19th-century half-morocco gilt. Early 18th century.
BcF 590
Copy of a letter by Bacon to George Villiers, Marquess of Buckingham, 1616.
In: the MS described under BcF 539. c.1660s.
BcF 591
Copy of a collection of letters by Bacon, to Essex, Queen Elizabeth, Burghley, Sir John Davies, Ellesmere, Northumberland, James I, Buckhurst, Northampton, Robert Cecil, Buckingham, and others.
In: the MS described under BcF 176.7. c.1630s.
BcF 592
Copy of a collection of letters by Bacon, to Essex, Queen Elizabeth, Sir John Davies, Ellesmere, Northumberland, James I, Northampton, Robert Cecil, Sir Edward Coke, and others.
In: the MS described under BcF 176.7. c.1630s.
BcF 593
Copy of a letter by Bacon, to Queen Elizabeth.
In: A quarto volume of papers relating to Robert, Earl of Essex, in two secretary hands, 30 leaves. Early 17th century.
BcF 594
Copies of letters by Bacon to the Lord Chancellor (Egerton), about his History of Britain, and to George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham (1623).
In: A folio composite volume of state papers, in English and Latin, in various hands and paper sizes, 49 leaves, in modern half-morocco gilt.
BcF 596
Copy of three letters of advice by Bacon to the Earl of Essex.
In: the MS described under BcF 135.5.
BcF 598
Copies of some 38 letters by Bacon, to various correspondents including Lord Burghley, Queen Elizabeth, Essex, Northampton, Sir John Davies, Northumberland, Robert Cecil, Buckhurst, and others.
In: the MS described under BcF 184. c.1620s-30s.
BcF 599
Copy of a letter by Bacon, to the Earl of Essex, 1599.
In: the MS described under BcF 358. Mid-17th century.
BcF 600
Copy of a letter by Bacon, to James I, concerning ‘his Mats Estate xijo Januarij Anno 1610’.
In: the MS described under BcF 157.
BcF 602
Copy of letter(s) by Bacon.
In: A MS volume. ?17th century.
Cambridge University Library, MS Add. 7565, [unspecified page numbers].
BcF 603
Copy of letter(s) by Bacon.
In: A MS volume. ?17th century.
BcF 604
Copy by Baker of two letters to Cambridge University by Francis Bacon, 12 April 1617 and undated.
In: A folio volume of transcripts of historical and antiquarian papers, in Latin and English, relating to Ely, made by Thomas Baker (1656-1740), Cambridge antiquary, 454 pages, in old reversed calf. MS Baker 30. c.1723.
BcF 605
Copy in: A volume of transcripts made by by Thomas Baker (1656-1740), Cambridge antiquary.
BcF 606
Copy of a letter by Bacon to Lord Henry Howard.
In: A folio volume of state tracts and letters, c.480 pages. c.1625-30s.
Inscribed on the rear cover ‘Robert Wingfield his Booke witnes Barbary Wingfield’. Among the Tabley House MSS and once owned by Sir Peter Leycester (1614-78), antiquary.
Recorded in HMC, 1st Report (1870), Appendix, pp. 47-8.
BcF 607
Copy of a letter by Bacon to Lord Henry Howard.
In: the MS described under BcF 471. c.1600-1620s.
BcF 608
Copy of a series of 26 letters by Bacon, to James I, Sir John Davies, Northumberland, Southampton, Robert Cecil, Buckhurst, Sir Thomas Egerton, Sir Edward Coke, Tobie Mathews, and others, in two professional secretary hands. c.1630.
In: the MS described under BcF 472. c.1630.
BcF 609
Copy of a letter by Bacon.
In: A folio volume of tracts and letters, many relating to Cambridge affairs, partly compiled by I. Wickstede, mayor of Cambridge. Early 17th century.
Downing College, Cambridge, Bowtell Collection, MS ‘Wickstede Thesaurus’, Part II, f. 115v.
BcF 610
Copies of numerous letters by Bacon, to Burghley, Robert Cecil, Ellesmere, James I, Essex, Davies, Northumberland, Edward Coke, Toby Mathew, and others.
In: the MS described under BcF 161. c.1620s-30s.
Edinburgh University Library, MS La. III. 348, pp. 101-72, 192-220.
BcF 611
Copy of numerous letters by Bacon, to James I, Essex, Cecil, Sir John Davies, Northampton, Ellesmere, Sir Edward Coke, Tobie Mathews, and others, in three professional secretary hands.
In: the MS described under BcF 192. c.1637.
Lord Egremont, Petworth House, HMC MS 61, pp. 64-82, 154-63, 66-98,403-6.
BcF 613
Copy of a letter by Bacon to James I.
In: A folio volume of state papers, in one or more professional predominantly secretary hands, 116 leaves (including blanks ff. 36-50, 90-101, plus some more blanks), in contemporary limp vellum. c.1620s.
Inscribed (f. 1r) ‘Sum D Burtone’.
BcF 614
Copy of a letter by Bacon, in Latin, to ‘Domine Baranzone’, 1622, in a roman hand, on three pages of a pair of narrow conjugate folio leaves. c.1630.
BcF 615
Copy of a letter by Bacon, to Sir Edward Coke, 1619, in a professional secretary hand, on eight folio leaves, unbound. c.1630.
BcF 616
Copy of various letters by Bacon, to Essex, Cecil, Northampton, Tobie Matthew, Davies, Northumberland, Queen Elizabeth, and others.
In: the MS described under BcF 135.6. c.1630s.
BcF 617
Copy of Bacon's letter to Lord Henry Howard, 3 December 1599.
In: A quarto volume of transcripts of letters by various people, in several secretary and italic hands, 95 leaves (plus a few blanks), in modern calf gilt. c.1620s.
Evidently the MS from which selected items are transcribed in Cardiff Central Library MS 1.172, pp. 1-162, which is inscribed (p. 162) ‘Hitherto from the beginning of the Book, from a Manuscript in 4to: belonging to John Arden of Stockport Esqr:’i.e. probably John Arden (1742-1823), of Harden, Utkinton and Pepper Halls, High Sheriff of Cheshire. Acquired in 1942.
This volume discussed and various letters printed in Bertram Dobell, ‘Newly Discovered Documents of the Elizabethan and Jacobean Periods’, The Athenaeum (1901: 23 March, pp. 369-70; 30 March, pp. 403-4; 6 April, pp. 433-4; 13 April, pp. 465-7). A complete transcription and facsimile of the volume in A Seventeenth-Century Letter-Book: A Facsimile Edition of Folger MS. V.a.321, ed. A.R. Braunmuller (Newark, London & Toronto, 1983).
BcF 618
Copy of numerous letters by Bacon to Queen Elizabeth, Burghley, Essex, James I, Cecil, Northumberland, Tobie Mathew, Sir John Davies, Edward Coke, Bodley, and others.
In: the MS described under BcF 187. c.1630.
BcF 619
A folio volume of state letters, the great majority by Francis Bacon to James I, comprising warrants for the King to pass grants in 1607-9, in a single professional secretary hand, 75 leaves (plus 41 blanks), in contemporary limp vellum with remains of ties. c.1620s-30s.
BcF 620
Copy of a letter by Bacon to Essex, inscribed in the margin ‘An answer to ye precedent Lre: Both written by Fra. Bacon.’, following (on ff. 195r-6v a letter ny Anthony Bacon (?) dated 17 February 1600/1.
In: the MS described under BcF 316. Early 1600s.
BcF 621
Copy of numerous letters by Bacon, to Queen Elizabeth, Essex, Cecil, Northumberland, John Davies, James I, Edward Coke, Tobie Mathew, and others.
In: the MS described under BcF 135.8. c.1630s.
BcF 622
Copies of two letters by Bacon to George Villiers, Marquess of Buckingham.
In: A folio guardbook of state letters and papers, in various hands and paper sizes, 176 leaves, in old black morocco gilt.
Volume XIII of the collections of Edmund Gibson (1669-1748), Bishop of London.
BcF 623
Copy of a letter by Bacon to Sir Edward Coke.
In: A folio volume of state tracts, in several secretary hands, with a title-page ‘A manuscript containing seuerall Discourses the heades thereof are in the next Page following...1641’, 350 pages, in half calf marbled boards. c.1642.
Bookplate of the Honourable Frederic North. Phillipps MS 7511. Sotheby's, 26 June 1967, lot 596 (incorrectly described as a commonplace book of Sir Thomas Crewe, Speaker of the House of Commons (d.1634)). Formerly Folger MS Add. 538.
A microfilm is in the British Library (RP 154).
BcF 624
Copy of two letters by Bacon, one to Lord Burghley, 6 June 1595, the other to Lord Chancellor Ellesmere, undated, in a professional predominantly secretary hand, on all four pages of a pair on conjugate folio leaves. c.1620s.
In: A folio guardbook of miscellaneous family letters and papers, in various hands.
BcF 625
Copy of a letter by Bacon, to the Secretary, 1 December [no year].
In: An oblong quarto volume of transcripts of state letters up to 1627, closely written in two professional secretary hands, 39 leaves, in a late 16th-century vellum deed wrapper (now within modern green morocco gilt). c.1627-30s.
Phillipps MS 10665.
BcF 626
A collection of copies of correspondence of Bacon in 1616.
In: A folio volume of proceedings in Parliament and related papers, 296 leaves, in red morocco gilt. 17th century.
BcF 627
Copy of a letter beginning ‘Sir at our last conference I remembered unto you...’, in a professional secretary hand, subscribed ‘Frances Bacon’.
In: A folio composite volume of state papers, in various hands, with (ff. 1r-2v) a table of contents, ii + 266 leaves, in red morocco gilt.
BcF 628
Copies of letters by Francis Bacon, probably in the hands of amanuenses. 1593-1600s.
In: Two folio guardbooks of 166 state letters, in various hands, 515 leaves, in modern half-calf marbled boards.
Volume III of the papers of Anthony Bacon (1558-1601), political intelligencer, subsequently among the collections of Thomas Tenison (1636-1715), Archbishop of Canterbury.
BcF 629
Letters by Francis Bacon, partly autograph, chiefly in hands probably of amanuenses. c.1600s.
In: the MS described under BcF 628.
Lambeth Palace Library, MS 649, Vol. II, ff 346, 347, 409, 410, 411, 432, 449.
BcF 630
Copies of three letters by Bacon, two of them to Essex.
In: A tall folio composite volume of state tracts, in various professional secretary hands, 339 leaves, in old brown calf (rebacked). c.1623-41.
BcF 631
Copy of a letter by Bacon to Queen Elizabeth.
In: A quarto letterbook, in several neat hands, 191 leaves (plus numerous blanks), in red morocco gilt. c.1745.
BcF 632
Copies of c.39 letters by Bacon to various correspondents, including Burghley, Queen Elizabeth, King James, and Robert Cecil, headed A collection of severall lres written by Sr ffrancis Bacon, with a five-page ‘table’.
In: the MS described under BcF 175.5. c.1630.
Duke of Northumberland, Alnwick Castle, MS 526, ff. 1r-51v (2nd series).
BcF 633
Copies of various letters by Bacon.
In: the MS described under BcF 193. Mid-17th century.
Pierpont Morgan Library, MA 1162, pp. 52-65, 138-9, 149-71, 192-202, 214-16, 436-68, 477-80.
BcF 634
Copy of a letter by Bacon, to Lord Henry Howard.
In: the MS described under BcF 193.5. c.1642.
BcF 635
Copy of a series of letters by Bacon, to the Earl of Essex and others.
In: the MS described under BcF 193.5. c.1642.
BcF 636
Copy of a series of twenty letters by Bacon, to Northumberland, Davies, Coke, Tobie Mathew, Robert Cecil, Buckhurst, Ellesmere, James I, Queen Elizabeth, and others.
In: the MS described under BcF 507. c.1620s-30s.
Plymouth Proprietary Library, Halliwell-Phillipps No. 130, pp. 1-30, 47-52.
BcF 637
Copies of various letters by Bacon.
In: the MS described under BcF 119.5.
The Queen's College, Oxford, MS 32, ff. 1r-4v, 121r, 191r, 194r-202r, .
BcF 639
Copy of a letter of advice by Bacon to Sir Edward Coke, in two professional secretary hands.
In: the MS described under BcF 75.7. c.1635-40.
BcF 640
Copy of various letters by Bacon, to Burghley, Essex, James I, Northampton, Sir John Davies, Tobie Mathews, Sir Edward Coke, and others, in a prefessional secretary hand, with a general title-page (f. 335r) ‘Remarkable letters of the Lord Chancellors Bacons and others’ followed by a list of them partly in another hand.
In: the MS described under BcF 75.7. c.1635-40.
Trinity College, Dublin, MS 734, ff. 335r, 343r-57v, 359r-60r, 378v-87v.
BcF 641
Copy of several letters by Bacon, to Queen Elizabeth, Essex, Northumberland, and Tobie Mathews, headed ‘Sr franc. Bacons Letts’.
In: the MS described under BcF 54.939. c.1650.
BcF 642
Copy of over thirty letters by Bacon, to Queen Elizabeth, Essex, Robert Cecil, Sir John Davies, Edward Coke, Northumberland, Toby Mathew, and others.
In: An octavo volume of state letters, largely in a single mixed hand, 76 leaves (plus numerous blanks), in contemporary calf. Owned, and annotated at the end, by William Drake, MP (1606-69), of Shardeloes, near Amersham, Buckinghamshire. c.1635.
Later in the library of Charles Kay Ogden (1889-1957), psychologist, linguist, and book collector.
Drake's commonplace books discussed in Stuart Clark, ‘Wisdom Literature of the Seventeenth Century: A Guide to the Contents of the “Bacon-Tottel” Commonplace Books’, Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, 6, Part 5 (1976), 291-305; 7, Part 1 (1977), 46-73, and in Kevin Sharpe, Reading Revolutions (New Haven & London, 2000).
BcF 643
Copy of three letters by Bacon, to Robert Cecil, to the Earl of Essex, and to Queen Elizabeth.
In: the MS described under BcF 197. c.1625-30s.
BcF 644
Copy of a large number of letters by Bacon, to Queen Elizabeth, Essex, Burghley, Buckhurst, Southampton, Sir Robert Cecil, Sir John Davies, James I, Northampton, Northumberland, Tobie Mathews, and others.
In: the MS described under BcF 95. 1637.
University of London, Senate House Library, MS 285, ff. 291r-309r, 316r-39r.
BcF 645
Copy of about forty letters, headed ‘A Collection of certen Letters written by Sr ffrauncis Bacon knight and others’, including (81r-2v) ‘The Table’, addressed to Queen Elizabeth, Burghley, Essex, Robert Cecil, Buckhurst, James I, Sir John Davies, Northumberland, Northampton, Coke, Tobie Mathews, and others. c.1620s.
In: the MS described under BcF 190.
University of London, Senate House Library, MS 300, ff. 80r-97r, 102r-18r.
BcF 646
Copy of ‘a letter Conceived to bee writt to the Late Duke of Buckingham when hee first became a fauourite to K: James / By Sr. ffrancis Bacon’, in a cursive secretary hand, 70 quarto leaves (plus blanks), in old calf. c.1630.
Bookplate of Sir William Gregory (1625-96), of Woothope, Herefordshire, judge and Speaker of the House of Commons. In the library of Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bt (1792-1872), book and manuscript collector: Phillipps MS 6987. Among the collections of Sir Edwin Durning-Lawrence, MP (1837-1914), Baconian scholar and book collector.
BcF 647
Copy of numerous letters by Bacon, as a collection of ‘divers letters...by that famous Councellor at lawe Sr ffrancis Bacon Knt late Lord Chancellor of England’, including (ff. 307r-8v) a ‘Table’ of contents, addressed to Queen Elizabeth, Burghley, Essex, Ellesmere, Robert Cecil, Buckhurst, James I, Sir John Davies, Northumberland, Northampton, Coke, Tobie Mathews, and others. c.1620s-30s.
In: the MS described under BcF 191.
University of London, Senate House Library, MS 309, ff. 305r-32v, 340r-8v.
BcF 648
Copy of a letter by Bacon, to Henry Howard, Earl of Northampton, in a professional secretary hand, on the first page (the second a letter by Howard) of an unbound pair of conjugate folio leaves, once folded as a letter or packet. c.1620s-30s.
BcF 649
Copy of a letter, in a cursive secretary hand, on an unbound pair of conjugate folio leaves, headed ‘A lr forged by Sr F. B. to ye erle of E. in the name of his brothr Mr A. B and ye Earle his answer wch was likwise forged by him’.
BcF 651
Copy of letter(s) by Bacon.
In: A quarto volume of transcripts of state letters, in a single predominantly secretary hand, 93 pages, imperfect, in 17th-century calf. c.1630.
Bookplate of George Folliott.
BcF 652
Copies of numerous letters by Bacon, to various recipients.
In: the MS described under BcF 75.11. c.1630.
BcF 653
Copies of numerous letters by Francis Bacon, in the professional secretary hand of the ‘Feathery Scribe’.
In: the MS described under BcF 176.8. c.1625-30s.
Documents
Will
Spedding, XIV, 228-9.
*BcF 654
Bacon's last will and testament, signed by him 19 December 1625, proved 13 July 1627. 1626.
The text printed in Spedding, XIV, 539-45.
BcF 655
A registered copy of Bacon's last will and testament, 19 December 1625, proved 13 July 1627. 1626.
BcF 656
Copy of Bacon's last will and testament made by him 10 April 1621, in the hand of John Locker (1693-1760), barrister and literary editor. 1621.
In: the MS described under BcF 204.
Edited from this MS in Spedding, XIV, 228-9.
Books and Codices from Bacon's Library
Bacon, Francis. The History of the Reign of King Henry VII (London, 1622)
*BcF 657
Exemplum of the second issue of the first edition, with Bacon's six-line autograph signed presentation inscription, in Latin, to Tobie Matthew, Archbishop of York. 1622.
Bacon, Francis. Instauratio magna (London, 1620)
BcF 658
An exemplum of a reissue of the first edition (1620), a folio in contemporary limp vellum bearing Bacon's boar crest in gilt. 1620.
BcF 659
An exemplum of the first edition (1620), a folio bearing Bacon's boar crest in gilt. Presented to Bacon's great rival, Sir Edward Coke (1552-1634), and bearing Coke's caustic remark inscribed on the title page, ‘It deserveth not to be read in schooles | but to be fraughted in the ship of fooles’). 1620.
BcF 660
An exemplum of the first edition (1620), a folio bearing Bacon's boar crest in gilt. 1620.
BcF 661
An exemplum of the first edition (1620), a folio bearing Bacon's boar crest in gilt. 1620.
BcF 662
An exemplum of the first edition (1620), a folio bearing Bacon's boar crest in gilt. 1620.
Maggs's sale catalogue No. 493 (1927), item 282A.
Facsimile of the boar's crest cover in Maggs's sale catalogue, Plate LIX.
BcF 663
An exemplum of the first edition (1620), a folio bearing Bacon's boar crest in gilt. 1620.
Sotheby's, 21 December 1937, lot 552.
Facsimile of the boar crest and cover in Sotheby's sale catalogue.
BcF 664
An exemplum of the first issue of the first edition, with Bacon's boar crest on the contemporary limp vellum cover. 1620.
Sotheby's. 18 February 1947, lot 292.
Facsimile of the boar crest and cover in Sotheby's sale catalogue, Plate II.
BcF 665
An exemplum of the first edition, with Bacon's boar crest on the cover. 1620.
Sotheby's, 11 May 1953, lot 52.
BcF 666
An exemplum of the first edition (1620), a folio in contemporary vellum bearing Bacon's boar crest in gilt. 1620.
bookplate of Sir Willoughby Jones and inscribed by him in 1859. Also bookplate of Frank Brewer Bemis (1861-1935), Boston banker and book collector. Later owned by Arthur A. Houghton, Jr (1906-90), American businessman and collector. Christie's, 13 June 1979 (Houghton sale), lot 22, to Kraus.
Facsimile of the boar's crest and cover in the sale catalogue, Plate 5 opposite p. 32
BcF 667
An exemplum of the printed edition bearing Bacon's boar crest on the cover. 1620.
The crest on this volume illustrated in Peter Dawkins, Dedication to the Light (The Francis Bacon Research Trust Journal, Ser. I, vol. 3, 1984), p. 145.
Bacon, Francis. Sylva Sylvarum (London, 1626)
*BcF 668
Exemplum of the first edition, with Bacon's autograph signed presentation inscription, in Latin, to Tobie Matthew, Archbishop of York. 1626.
Camden, William. Annales
See CmW 1.
Catullus. Tibullus. Propertius. His accesserunt Corn. Galli fragmenta (Lyons, 1546)
BcF 669
Exemplum allegedly containing Bacon's signature. The authenticy of the signature cannot be confirmed, but the volume's association with Spedding suggests its likelihood. Late 16th century?
Formerly owned by James Spedding (1808-81), literary editor and biographer, and later by Charles Kay Ogden (1889-1957), psychologist, linguist and book collector. Afterwards at University College London (Ogden A 303), but now untraced.
Discovrs par lequel est amplement monstré l'utilité, & proffit que peult apporter une affinité, et alliance par mariage entre les … Rois de France, et de la grand Bretagne
BcF 670
A formal anonymous MS, in a professional hand, dedicated and addressed ‘A Illvstrissime, et tres honnorable Seigneur. Monseigneur François Bacon Cheualier, Procureur general du Roy, et Conseiller en ses Conseils d'Estat et priué’. Probably a MS presented to the dedicatee, Bacon. Early 17th century.
Douai-Reims Bible
BcF 671
Bacon's exemplum of The Holie Bible (2 vols, Douai, [1609-10]). Inscribed on the first title-page ‘Liber Francisci Bacon ex dono Richardi Chamberlayne Armigeri’: i.e. presented to Bacon by Richard Chamberlayne, Clerk of the Court of Wards and Liveries. c.1610.
Later owned by Frances Mary Richardson Currer (1785-1861), of Eshton Hall, West Yorkshire, book collector, and by Sir M.R.H. Wilson, Bt.
This volume is discussed in Edwin Eliott Willoughby, ‘Bacon's Copy of a Douai-Reims Bible’, The Library, 5th Ser. 3 (1948-9), 54-6.
Genealogical History of the Kings of England
BcF 672
An untitled illuminated genealogy of English monarchs, written to celebrate the triumph of Queen Elizabeth and possibly prepared as a New Year's gift for her, written, as well as illuminated, in the accomplished secretary hand of Morgan Colman (secretary to Sir John Puckering, Lord Keeper) and bearing on p. 67 the arms of Francis Bacon dated 1592, 71 folio pages, partly on vellum, in 19th-century half-morocco marbled boards. 1592.
Inscribed name of H[arriet] Crofts. Bookplate of Sir John Saunders Sebright, seventh Baronet, MP (1767-1846), of Beechwood, Hertfordshire. Phillips, 11 November 1993, lot 603.
Illustrated in the Phillips sale catalogue and in Peter Dawkins, Dedication to the Light (The Francis Bacon Research Trust Journal, Ser. I, vol. 3, 1984), p. 146.
Howard, Henry, Earl of Northampton. A Defensative against the poyson of supposed prophecies (London, 1620)
BcF 673
Bacon's exemplum of the second printed edition, folio, in contemporary calf with Bacon's boar crest in gilt on both covers. c.1620.
Inscriptions including ‘Thomas machon his Booke 1667’, ‘Henrique Gudrique’, and ‘John Sparke His Book Anno Dom 1699’. Sotheby's, 11 December 1997, lot 65, to Rick Adams.
Facsimiles of the boar crest and cover in Sotheby's sale catalogue.
Lives of the Abbots of St Albans
BcF 674
A late 14th-century codex, in Latin, 157 folio leaves, bearing Sir Robert Cotton's inscription ‘Liber ex dono viscomitis sti Albani 1623’. c.1623.
The Statutes at large...until the sixteenth yeere of the Raigne of...Iames (London, 1618)
BcF 675
An exemplum of the first edition, a folio in contemporary calf bearing (the remains of) Bacon's boar crest in gilt. c.1618.
Strozii poetæ, pater et filius (Paris, 1530)
BcF 676
Exemplum of the 1530 edition, the cover bearing Bacon's boar crest in gilt. Late 16th century.
Maggs's sale catalogue No. 600 (1934), item 20.
A facsimile of the boar's crest and cover in Maggs's sale catalogue.
Miscellaneous Extracts from Bacon's Works
Extracts
BcF 677
Extracts, in the hand of the fourth Earl of Bedford, headed ‘Lo St Albanse’.
In: the MS described under BcF 121.8. c.1625-30s.
BcF 678
Extracts from work by Bacon.
In: A tall folio commonplace book of miscellaneous extracts, in a single hand, 139 leaves, in contemporary vellum. Entirely in the rugged italic hand of Francis Russell, MP (1593-1641), fourth Earl of Bedford, politician. c.1620s-30s.
Recorded in HMC, 2nd Report (1871), Appendix, p. 1. Recorded (as the ‘Bedford MS’) in Peter Beal, ‘More Donne Manuscripts’, John Donne Journal, 6/2 (1987), 213-18 (p. 213).
BcF 679
Extracts, headed ‘My Lo: St Albans / Historia...’.
In: the MS described under BcF 678. c.1620s-30s.
The Duke of Bedford, Woburn Abbey, HMC MS No. 26, ff. 136r-8r.
BcF 680
Extracts from works by Bacon translated into French.
In: A MS volume.
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, fonds français n° 2530, ff. 129r-51r.
BcF 681
Extracts from works by Bacon translated into French.
In: A MS volume.
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, fonds français n° 2537, ff. 82r, 90r.
BcF 682
Extracts from works by Bacon translated into French.
In: A MS volume.
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, fonds français n° 2548, f. 187r.
BcF 683
Extracts from Bacon's philosophical works as edited by Isaac Gruter, annotated in two interleaved printed exempla (Amsterdam, 1653), 262 octavo leaves. 18th century.
BcF 684
Extracts, headed ‘Propositiones ponderum rerum ejusdem Magnitudinis, ex opusculis philosophicis Verulamis’.
In: A quarto volume of chiefly Latin medical and philosophical tracts and extracts, 475 leaves. 17th century.
BcF 685
Extracts from various works by Bacon, the first headed ‘Mr Bacons historicall discourse of ye gouernment of England’, another headed ‘ffrancis Bacons Nat. hist. 1649’.
In: the MS described under BcF 54.929. c.1644-76.
Cambridge University Library, MS Add. 6160, ff. 27v-30r, 36r-40r, 50r-v, 63v, 74v-6v.
BcF 686
Extracts from works by Bacon including The History of the Reign of King Henry VII and his 1621 Humble Submission, including entries on pp. 327, 449abis, and 519.
In: A folio commonplace book of entries arranged under subject headings, in a single hand, written from both ends, 652 pages (plus some unnumbered), in modern cloth. Mid-17th century.
A modern pencil note on a flyleaf claims to identify the compiler as one ‘Raworth’.
BcF 687
Extracts from works by Bacon.
In: An octavo notebook of proverbs, extracts, &c., in Latin and English, in a cursive hand, written from both ends, 167 leaves, in old calf. Compiled by Sir William Drake, MP (1606-69), of Shardeloes House, near Amersham, Buckinghamshire. Mid-17th century.
Identified and cited in Kevin Sharpe, Reading Revolutions: The Politics of Reading in Early Modern England (New Haven & London, 2000), pp. 73-4 et passim.
BcF 688
Extracts from several works by Bacon.
In: A large untitled folio anthology of quotations chiefly from Elizabethan and Stuart plays, alphabetically arranged under subject headings, in a single mixed hand, in double columns, 900 pages (lacking pp. 1-4, 379-80, 667-8, 715-20 and 785-8), including (pp. 893-7) an alphabetical index of some 351 titles of plays, in modern boards. This is the longest known extant version of the unpublished anthology Hesperides or The Muses Garden, by John Evans, entered in the Stationers' Register on 16 August 1655 and subsequently advertised c.1660, among works he purposed to print, by Humphrey Moseley. Another version of this work, in the same hand, dissected by James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps (1820-89), is now distributed between Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Halliwell-Phillipps, Notes upon the Works of Shakespeare, Folger, MS V.a.75, Folger, MS V.a.79, and Folger, MS V.a.80. c.1656-66.
Formerly MS 469.2.
This MS identified in IELM, II.i (1980), p. 450. Discussed, as the ‘master draft’, with a facsimile of p. 7 on p. 381, in Hao Tianhu, ‘Hesperides, or the Muses' Garden and its Manuscript History’, The Library, 7th Ser. 10/4 (December 2009), 372-404 (the full index printed as ‘Catalogue A’ on pp. 385-94).
BcF 688.5
Copy in: A folio miscellany of verse and prose, compiled by Sarah Cowper (née Holled, 1644-1720), Lady Cowper, wife of Sir William Cowper, MP (1639-1706), begun in 1690 and resumed in 1698, dedicated to her son William's wife Judith, 369 leaves erratically foliated and paginated, in contemporary calf. c.1690-1700s.
BcF 689
Extracts from various works by Bacon.
In: An octavo commonplace book of miscellaneous extracts, 54 leaves (plus blanks), in contemporary vellum. c.1660.
BcF 691
Extracts, headed ‘Certaine choice places out of Seneca, Aristot & Bacon’.
In: the MS described under BcF 54.937. c.1650.
BcF 692
Extracts, in a non-professional secretary hand, headed ‘Sir ffrancis Bacon’ and beginning ‘There be two things which the King cannot doe without Parlament...’.
In: A folio volume of state treatises, chiefly in two professional secretary hands, 210 leaves (plus blanks), in contemporary calf with remains of metal clasps. c.1620s-30s.
Owned by William Drake, MP (1606-69), of Shardeloes, near Amersham. Later in the library of Charles Kay Ogden (1889-1957), psychologist, linguist, and book collector.
Drake's commonplace books discussed in Stuart Clark, ‘Wisdom Literature of the Seventeenth Century: A Guide to the Contents of the “Bacon-Tottel” Commonplace Books’, Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, 6, Part 5 (1976), 291-305; 7, Part 1 (1977), 46-73, and in Kevin Sharpe, Reading Revolutions (New Haven & London, 2000).
BcF 693
Extracts.
In: A small quarto commonplace book of extracts, compiled by probably two members of the Fane family, Earls of Westmorland, of Apethorpe, Northamptonshire, 120 leaves. Mid-17th century.
Later owned by Professor A. Stanton Whitfield. Christie's, 8 October 1975, lot 271.
Prose Works Doubtfully or Spuriously Attributed to Bacon
An Advertisement Towching Seditious Writings
First published in Brother Kenneth Cardwell, ‘An Overlooked Tract by Francis Bacon’, HLQ, 65 (2002), 421-33. The attached separate memorandum, ‘Certen Notes of remembrance owt of the examinacions of H. Walpoole, Jhon Boast & others’ first published in Unpublished Documents relating to the English Martyrs, CRS, Records Series, Vol. 5 (1908), p. 268.
BcF 694
Copy in a professional hand. [1594].
Edited from this MS in Cardwell, with facsimile examples. Attributed by him to Bacon, but the MS is not in his hand.
A Brief Discourse touching the Low Countries, the King of Spain, the King of Scots, the French King, and Queen Elizabeth
Unpublished tract, beginning ‘Lodwick Sforza holding by tyrannous usurpation the Dukedom of Milan...’.
BcF 695
Copy, in the professional secretary hand of the ‘Feathery Scribe’, 31 folio leaves, in modern half-morocco. Headed ‘A Breiffe Discours Touchinge the Lowe Countryes; The Kinge of Spayn; The Kinge of Scotts, the ffrench Kinge; And Queene Elizabeth, wth some other Remarkeable passages of State, Wrytten by Sr. ffrauncis Bacon, knight, &c’. c.1620s-30s.
Beal, In Praise of Scribes, pp. 245-6 (No. 65).
The Character of a believing Christian in paradoxes and seeming contradictions
The work written by Herbert Palmer and first published in London, 1645. Edited by Alexander B. Grosart (1872).
BcF 696
MS, apparently by Herbert Palmer (1601-47), clergyman, President of Queens' College, Cambridge. c.1645.
Owned in 1872 by Alexander B. Grosart (1827-99), literary scholar and theologian.
Edited from this MS by Grosart. Discussed in Spedding, VII, 289-97.
An Essay of a King
Essay, beginning ‘A king is a mortal god on earth...’. Spedding, VI, 595-7 (discussed pp. 592-4).
BcF 697
Copy in: A folio composite volume of historical and miscellaneous MSS, in various hands, iii + 250 leaves. Collected and some items written by Elias Ashmole (1617-92). Mid-17th century.
BcF 698
Copy in: A folio composite volume of political tracts, speeches and other papers, many relating to Spain and the Netherlands, v + 138 pages, in 19th-century reversed calf.
Once owned by Sir Henry Spelman (1564?-1641), historian and antiquary. Later owned by Cox Macro (1683-1767), antiquary. Christie's, February 1820 (Macro sale, Part VI), lot 112. Subsequently owned by Hudson Gurney (1775-1864), banker and antiquary, of Keswick Hall, Norfolk (Gurney MS XXX), Vol. 4, pp. 308-75). Sotheby's, 30 March 1936 (Gurney sale), lot 163.
HMC, 1891, Appendix, Pt IX, pp. 144-7.
Spedding, VI, 595-7, discussed pp. 592-4.
BcF 699
Copy, in a secretary hand, headed ‘A character of a king’. Early 17th century.
In: the MS described under BcF 439.
BcF 700
Copy in: A folio volume of state papers and parliamentary proceedings, 32 leaves. Mid-17th century.
Spedding, VI, 595-7; discussed 592-4.
BcF 701
Copy in: A quarto volume of miscellaneous papers, v + 21 leaves. c.1620s.
Spedding, VI, 595-7; discussed 592-4
BcF 702
Copy in: the MS described under BcF 135.4. c.1640.
BcF 706
Copy in: the MS described under BcF 459. Mid-17th century.
BcF 707
Copy, as ‘By Sr ffrancis Bacon’.
In: the MS described under BcF 275. c.1620s-30s.
Spedding, VI, 595-7; discussed 592-4.
BcF 708
Copy in: A folio composite volume of antiquarian and parliamentary tracts, in various professional secretary hands, 245 leaves, in modern half crushed morocco in cloth boards gilt.
Inscribed (f. 2r) ‘Sum Edw Umfrevile Juneis. Interioris Templi Studentis 1725. 10o Aprilis’: i.e. by Edward Umfreville (1702?-86), collector of legal manuscripts. Bookplate (as ‘Shelburne’) of William Petty (1737-1805), second Earl of Shelburne and first Marquess of Lansdowne, Prime Minister.
BcF 709
Copy in: A large folio guard-book of independent state tracts and miscellaneous papers, in various hands, 229 leaves.
BcF 710
Copy in: the MS described under BcF 466. Mid-17th century.
BcF 711
Copy in: A folio booklet of state letters, in a single predominantly secretary hand, 24 leaves, the last three leaves imperfect, unbound. c.1630.
BcF 712
Copy in: A double-folio-size volume of state papers, royal revenues, verses and other writings, partly relating to Flintshire, in various secretary hands, ix + 125 leaves (including blanks and a tipped-in bifolium), in modern vellum boards. Compiled, at least in part, by Robert Davies (1616-66), of Gwysaney, and his father. c.1630s.
Cardiff Central Library, MS 5.50, [unspecified page numbers].
BcF 713
Copy, headed ‘The King’.
In: A quarto commonplace book and miscellany of verse and prose, in various hands, with additions up to 1751, ii + 662 pages (some erratically numbered), in contemporary calf. c.1672-1715 [plus later additions].
Ownership inscriptions (pp. [i] and [662]), dated 1672, by John Digby, of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. Other inscribed names including (p. 662) ‘Thomas Digby’, ‘Edward Digby’, ‘Robert Debnam’, and (p. [640]) ‘Josh: Churchill 1694’.
BcF 713.5
Copy in: the MS described under BcF 389. Early 17th century.
BcF 714
Copy in: the MS described under BcF 277. 1st half 17th century.
(Finch Papers) Spedding, VI, 595-7; discussed 592-4.
Leicestershire Record Office, DG. 7/Lit. 1, [unnumbered pages].
BcF 716
Copy in: the MS described under BcF 314. c.1630.
BcF 717
Copy, in a mixed hand, on folio pages.
In: A bundle of unbound verse and prose MSS, in various hands and paper sizes.
Among the papers of the Wentworth family, Earls of Strafford.
BcF 718
Copy, headed ‘An Essaij of a kinge, by Sr ffrances Bacon’.
In: A quarto volume of state tracts and speeches, in possibly a single professional secretary hand, with a table of contents, 129 leaves, in contemporary limp vellum. c.1630s.
Inscribed on the last page ‘Elizabeth Tyrrell’. Old pressmark K. 4. 15.
BcF 719
Copy, in a professional cursive secretary hand, as ‘writen by Sir francis Bacon’.
In: the MS described under BcF 75.7. c.1635-40.
Spedding, VI, 595-7; discussed 592-4.
BcF 720
An abridgement, headed ‘Frs Bacons Essay of a King’.
In: the MS described under BcF 54.939. c.1650.
An Essay on Death
Spedding, VI, 600-4 (discussed p. 594).
BcF 721
Copy in: A folio volume of poems, in a single accomplished hand, 61 leaves (plus stubs of fifteen extracted leaves), imperfect, in quarter-vellum. Including 49 pems by Thomas Carew and one of doubtful authorship. c.1640s.
Later owned by F. Wyburd who, according to W.C. Hazlitt (1870, p. xv), ‘obtained it about three years ago of a dealer at Knightsbridge’. Owned c.1927 by P.J. Dobell, who sold it in 1936.
Cited in IELM, II.i (1987), as the ‘Wyburd MS’: CwT Δ 3. Reduced facsimile in Poems 1640 (1969). Briefly discussed in Evelyn M. Simpson, ‘Two Manuscripts of Donne's Paradoxes and Problems’, RES, 3 (1927), 129-45 (pp. 131-3).
Spedding, VI, 600-4; discussed p. 594.
BcF 722
Copy in: the MS described under BcF 277. 1st half 17th century.
Leicestershire Record Office, DG. 7/Lit. 1, [unnumbered pages].
BcF 723
Copy, in a professional cursive secretary hand, as ‘by the Lo: Chancellor. Bacon’.
In: the MS described under BcF 75.7. c.1635-40.
An explanation what manner of persons those should be, that are to execute the power or Ordinance of the King's Prerogative
An essay beginning ‘That absolute prerogative according to the king's pleasure revealed by his laws...’. Spedding, VI, 597-600 (discussed pp. 592-4). Probably by Thomas Egerton, Lord Ellesmere.
BcF 724
Copy in: the MS described under BcF 442. c.1620s-30s.
BcF 727
Copy in: the MS described under BcF 277. 1st half 17th century.
Spedding, VI, 597-600. Discussed pp. 592-4. (Finch Papers).
Leicestershire Record Office, DG. 7/Lit. 1, [unnumbered pages].
BcF 728
Copy, in a professional cursive secretary hand, as ‘written by the saide Sr frances Bacon late Lo: Chanc: of St Albans’.
In: the MS described under BcF 75.7. c.1635-40.
Spedding, VI, 597-600; discussed 592-4.
Notes on the Present State of Christendom [1582]
Beginning ‘In the consideration of the present estate of Christendom...’. Spedding, VIII, 18-30 (discussed pp. 16-17).
Observations Political and Civil
See Sir Walter Ralegh, The Cabinet-Council: containing the Chief Arts of Empire and Mysteries of State (RaW 1042-1057.6).
Of the jurisdiction of Justices itinerant in the principality of Wales
Spedding, VII, 778-81 (discussed pp. 773-4). An adaptation of part of Sir John Doddridge, History of the Principality of Wales, possibly used by Bacon and printed with works by him in Cases of Treason (London, 1641).
BcF 729.5
Copy in: the MS described under BcF 75.1. c.1640s.
BcF 731
An adaptation of part of Sir John Doddridge, History of the Principality of Wales, possibly used by Bacon.
In: the MS described under BcF 80. c.1630s.
Printed in Cases of Treason (London, 1641). Spedding, VII, 778-81; discussed pp. 773-4.
BcF 732
An adaptation of part of Sir John Doddridge, History of the Principality of Wales, possibly used by Bacon.
In: the MS described under BcF 81. Early 17th century.
Printed in Cases of Treason (London, 1641). Spedding, VII, 778-81; discussed pp. 773-4.
Of ye title of great Britt: drawne by Sr ffrancis Bacon
A tract beginning ‘As it is a manifest token or rather a substantiall effect of ye wrath & indignation of God when Kingdomes are devided...’. Unpublished?
BcF 732.5
Early 17th century.
In: A folio volume of state tracts and letters, in a single probably professional cursive hand up to f. 81r, in another hand afterwards, 100 leaves, in old half-calf (rebacked). Late 17th century.
Labelled on the spine ‘Owen Wynne Vol 8’.
The Office of Compositions for Alienations
A tract, beginning ‘All the finances of revenues of the imperial crown of this realm of England...’. Discussed in Spedding, IX, 120-1. By William Lambarde (1536-1601), whose partly autograph MS (1590) is in the Folger (MS V.a.208), but the work is frequently ascribed to Bacon, who may have used and adapted it at the time of the debate on alienations in October 1601.
BcF 733
Copy, in a secretary hand, headed ‘Of the latelie erected Service called the Office of Compositions for Alienation’, dated ‘10. September: 1604’, 32 quarto leaves, in old half-calf. Early 17th century.
BcF 734
Copy, in a professional secretary hand, headed ‘Of the lately erected Service called the Office of Compositions for Alyenations’, unascribed. c.1620s-30s.
In: A folio composite volume of state tracts, in various hands, 263 leaves (plus blanks), in contemporary limp vellum, with ties. In various hands, including the ‘Feathery Scribe’.
Yelverton MS 69, among papers of Sir Henry Yelverton (1566-1629), Justice of the Common Pleas, and his family.
Recorded in HMC, 2nd Report (1871), Appendix, p. 43.
BcF 735
Copy in: A folio composite volume of state tracts, in professional hands, 199 leaves, in panelled leather.
The wrapper f. 11r is inscribed by Wanley with the date of accession to the Harley Library ‘16 October 1725’.
BcF 737
Copy, in a cursive secretary hand, headed ‘Of the latelie Erected Service called the office of Composicons for Alienacons Written by the right honble ffrancis Lord Verulam, visc St. Alban late Lord Chancellor of England’, on ten folio leaves, in modern cloth. c.1620s-30s.
Recorded in HMC, 2nd Report (1871), Appendix, p. 2.
BcF 738
Copy in: A duodecimo volume of papers on the office of Compositions for Alienations, 110 leaves (including blanks). c.1590s.
BcF 739
MS, partly in a scribal hand, partly in the hand of William Lambarde, with his deletions and revisions, on 24 quarto leaves plus four tipped-in leaves at the end, in contemporary vellum. 1590.
BcF 740
Copy, in a professional secretary hand, with a title-page ‘Of the Lately erected service called the office of Composicons for Alienacons’.
In: A folio volume comprising two independent tracts bound together, in two separate hands, 81 leaves (plus a number of blanks), in contemporary limp vellum. c.1620s-30s.
Inscribed (f. iir)by the second Earl of Bridgewater, misidentifying the first item as ‘A Treatise about Impositions’.
BcF 741
Copy, in a professional secretary hand, headed ‘Of the lately erected seruice called the Office of Composicons for Alyenacons. Written by the Right hoble ffrancis Lord Verulam late Chancellor of England’. c.1620s-30s.
In: A folio composite volume of tracts and papers, in various hands, 486 leaves, in red morocco gilt.
BcF 742
Early 17th century.
In: A folio composite volume of seventeen legal tracts and papers, 240 leaves.
BcF 743
Copy, in a professional secretary hand, headed ‘Of the Lately erected Seruice Called the office of Composicons for Alienacons’. c.1630s.
In: the MS described under BcF 94.5.
BcF 744
Copy, in a secretary hand, headed ‘Of the lately erected service called the Office of Composicons for Alyenacons’, ascribed to Bacon, 26 folio leaves. Early 17th century.
Inscribed ‘Tho Parker For my son George Parker’. Acquired from the bookseller Gilbertson, May 1965.
BcF 745
Copy, in an accomplished professional secretary hand, headed ‘Of the lately Erected seruice called the Office of Compositions for Alyenations / Written by The Right Honoble: ffrancis Lord Verulam late Chauncellour of England’.
In: A folio volume of state and antiquarian tracts and parliamentary speeches, in several professional hands, written and paginated from both ends, 238 pages, in contemporary vellum with traces of ties. c.1630s-40s.
Purchased in December 1806 from Mr Mercier. Old pressmark I. 3. 18.
BcF 746
Copy, in a professional cursive secretary hand, headed Of the lately erected Service called the Office of Composicons for Alyenacons / Written by the Right honble: ffrancis Lord Verulam late Chauncellor of England.
In: A folio volume of legal and state tracts, in several professional hands, 500 leaves. c.1620s-30s.
Old pressmark F. 1. 21.
BcF 747
Extracts, headed ‘Notes taken out of a Manscript called the Office of Compositions for Alienations. supposed to be written by Lo Bacon’.
In: A quarto commonplace book of extracts from state and legal writings, in a single cursive hand, written from both ends, 118 leaves, in contemporary calf gilt. Compiled entirely by William Drake, MP (1606-69), of Shardeloes, near Amersham, Buckinghamshire. c.Mid-1630s.
Later in the library of Charles Kay Ogden (1889-1957), psychologist, linguist, and book collector.
Drake's commonplace books discussed in Stuart Clark, ‘Wisdom Literature of the Seventeenth Century: A Guide to the Contents of the “Bacon-Tottel” Commonplace Books’, Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, 6, Part 5 (1976), 291-305; 7, Part 1 (1977), 46-73, and in Kevin Sharpe, Reading Revolutions (New Haven & London, 2000).
BcF 749
Copy, as ‘Written by the right honoble ffrancis Lord Verulam late Lord Chancellor of England’.
In: the MS described under BcF 95. 1637.
University of London, Senate House Library, MS 285, ff. 197r-225v.
The Use of the Law
A discourse beginning ‘The use of the Law consisteth principally in these two things...’. Spedding, VII, 459-504 (and discussed pp. 302, 453-7). Probably by Sir Robert Forster (1589-1663), judge.
BcF 750
Copy, headed ‘In what things the vse of the Law consisteth’.
In: the MS described under BcF 268. c.1630.
BcF 751
Copy, in a professional secretary hand, untitled, on 55 quarto leaves. Late 16th-early 17th century.
In: the MS described under BcF 56.
BcF 752
Copy, in a neat roman hand, headed in the margin ‘A discourse of the Laws of England’.
In: the MS described under BcF 117. c.1620s.
The use of law... anon
BcF 753
Copy, headed ‘A briefe and Compendious abstract of the Summe of the Common Lawe of England’.
In: A folio volume of legal and state tracts and papers, in a single professional secretary hand, 92 leaves, in contemporary limp vellum, with remains of green silk ties. Yelverton MS 166, among papers of Sir Henry Yelverton (1566-1629), Justice of the Common Pleas, and his family. c.1620s.
BcF 754
Copy, in a secretary hand (varying in style), with an index in another hand, unascribed, 39 quarto leaves, in old calf gilt (rebacked). Early 17th century.
BcF 755
Copy, in a secretary hand, headed ‘A brief Declaracon of the vse of the Lawe by Justice ffoster’, 27 quarto leaves, in paper wrapper. Late 16th-early 17th century.
From the papers of the Gell family, of Hopton Hall, Derbyshire.
BcF 757
Copy, in a professional secretary hand, headed I‘In what thinges the vse of the Lawe consisteth’, on nineteen folio leaves, in wrappers.
Facsimile example in Giles E. Dawson and Laetitia Kennedy-Skipton, Elizabethan Handwriting 1500-1650 (London, 1968), plate 26.B.
BcF 758
Copy, in a secretary hand, headed ‘A breife declaracon concerning the vse of the Lawe’, with a later title-page in roman lettering ‘The Use of the Law...By the Lord Verulam Vicount of S. Albons &c And was printed att London 1639 / This Manuscript does not exactly agree with The printed coppy throuout’, 68 quarto leaves, pagination cropped by binder, in later vellum. Early 17th century.
Hatton MS, recorded in HMC, 1st Report (1870), Appendix, p. 31.
BcF 759
Copy, in a professional secretary hand, entitled ‘A Breife Declaracon Concerning the vse of the Lawe’, unascribed, 43 folio leaves, in modern cloth. c.1620s-30s.