The Major WorksOxford University Press, 2002 - 813 pages This authoritative edition was originally published in the acclaimed Oxford Authors series under the general editorship of Frank Kermode. It brings together an extensive collection of Bacon's writing - the major prose in full, together with sixteen other pieces not otherwise available - togive the essence of his work and thinking.Although he had a distinguished career as a lawyer and statesman, Francis Bacon's lifelong goal was to improve and extend human knowledge. In The Advancement of Learning (1605) he made a brilliant critique of the deficiencies of previous systems of thought and proposed improvements to knowledge inevery area of human life. He conceived the Essays (1597, much enlarged in 1625) as a study of the formative influences on human behaviour, psychological and social. In The New Atlantis (1626) he outlined his plan for a scientific research institute in the form of a Utopian fable. In addition tothese major English works this edition includes 'Of Tribute', an important early work here printed complete for the first time, and a revealing selection of his legal and political writings, together with his poetry. A special feature of the edition is its extensive annotation which identifies Bacon's sources and allusions, and glosses his vocabulary. |
Contents
Introduction | xv |
Chronology | xlv |
An Advertisement touching the Controversies of the Church | 1 |
Letter to Lord Burghley | 20 |
A Device for the Grays Inn Revels | 52 |
Of Love and SelfLove | 61 |
Advice to the Earl of Rutland on his travels | 69 |
Essays 1597 Religious Meditations Of the Colours of Good | 81 |
Of the True Greatness of Kingdoms and Estates | 397 |
Of Regiment of Health | 403 |
Of Suspicion | 405 |
Of Discourse | 406 |
Of Plantations | 407 |
Of Riches | 409 |
Of Prophecies | 412 |
Of Ambition | 414 |
Advice to Fulke Greville on his studies | 102 |
Two Prayers | 113 |
The Advancement of Learning | 120 |
Essays 1612 | 300 |
The Charge against Somerset for poisoning Overbury | 314 |
Letter to King James I March 1621 | 326 |
Poems and Psalms | 332 |
Essays or Counsels Civil and Moral 1625 | 341 |
Of Simulation and Dissimulation | 349 |
Of Parents and Children | 351 |
Of Marriage and Single Life | 353 |
Of Envy | 354 |
Of Love | 357 |
Of Great Place | 359 |
Of Boldness | 361 |
Of Goodness and Goodness of Nature | 363 |
Of Nobility | 364 |
Of Seditions and Troubles | 366 |
Of Atheism | 371 |
Of Superstition | 373 |
Of Travel | 374 |
Of Empire | 376 |
Of Counsel | 379 |
Of Delays | 383 |
Of Wisdom for a Mans Self | 386 |
Of Innovations | 387 |
Of Dispatch | 388 |
Of Seeming Wise | 389 |
Of Friendship | 390 |
Of Expense | 396 |
Of Masques and Triumphs | 416 |
Of Nature in Men | 417 |
Of Custom and Education | 418 |
Of Fortune | 420 |
Of Usury | 421 |
Of Youth and Age | 424 |
Of Beauty | 425 |
Of Deformity | 426 |
Of Building | 427 |
Of Gardens | 430 |
Of Negotiating | 435 |
Of Followers and Friends | 436 |
Of Suitors | 437 |
Of Studies | 439 |
Of Faction | 440 |
Of Ceremonies and Respects | 441 |
Of Praise | 442 |
Of VainGlory | 443 |
Of Honour and Reputation | 445 |
Of Judicature | 446 |
Of Anger | 449 |
Of Vicissitude of Things | 451 |
A Fragment of an Essay on Fame | 454 |
New Atlantis | 457 |
Abbreviations | 491 |
Notes | 493 |
Further Reading | 803 |
| 809 | |
Common terms and phrases
according action Adv.L Aeneid affections amongst ancient argument Aristotle atheism Augmentis adds Augustus Caesar better body Brian Vickers Caesar cause Church Cicero civil colour conceit corrupt counsel court Demosthenes Dio Cassius Diogenes Laertius discourse divers divine doth earth envy Essays evil excellent favour fortune Francis Bacon Geneva Bible give Gray's Inn hath heaven honour human humours invention judgment Julius Caesar kind King knowledge labour Latin light likewise Livy Lord maketh man's manner matter means men's mind moral motion natural philosophy Novum Organum observation opinion particular persons Plato pleasure Plutarch political praise princes Promus reason religion Renaissance rhetoric Roman saith sciences Scriptures seemeth sense shew speak Spedding speech spirit Suetonius Tacitus things thou thought tion touching true truth unto Virgil virtue wherein whereof wisdom wise words writing