The history of Bacon's writings is among the curi- osities of literature. A number of his smaller works were printed before the 18th century, but his greatest writings waited until that date. Among the former are his Perspectiva (Frank. 1614) ; Be Speculis and Specula Mathematica (Frank. 1G14, reprinted in 1671); De. Mirabili Potestate Artis et Naturcc (Paris, 1542); Gi- rard, De V admirable Pouvoir, etc., ou est traicle de la Pierre Philosophale (translation of the preceding) (Par- is, 1557, reprinted in 1629); Scripta quadam de Arte Chemio? (Frank. 1603 and 1620); Speculum Alcliemw: and De Secretis Operibus Artis et Natures, et de Nullitctte Hughe (in vols, ii and v of Zetzner's Theatrum Chem- icum, Strasb. 1659, transl. by Girard, under the title Miroir d'Alauimie, Lyon, 1557 ; Paris, 1612 and 1627) ; De retardandis Senectutis Accidentilvs (Oxf. 1590, trans- lated by Dr. R. Browne, Lond. 1683). The greatest of his works were not published until 1733. A num- ber of Bacon's MSS. were known to exist in the libra- ries of the Continent and of England, especially in the Cottonian Library and in that of Dublin, and Dr. Samuel Jebb, at the request of Eichard Mead (court physician), edited and printed the. Opus Majus (Lond. 1733, fol.). It is carefully done, but yet omits ch. vii (the Ethicd), and inserts other things not belonging to this book. Professor Ingram, of the University of Dublin, has discovered some of the missing part of the work, and a complete edition of his works is prom- ised, as the British government intrusted the task to Professor Brewer, of King's College, who published vol. i in 1859, including the Opvs Minus, Opus Tertium, Compendium ph'losnphice, and de Nuliitate Magia (large 8vo). The Opus Minus is an epitome and complement of the Opus Majus; the Opus Tertium is an enlarge- ment of it. Cousin discovered a MS. of this last work in the library of Douai, and published an enthusiastic account of it and of Bacon in the Journal des Savants, 1848. Pursuing his researches, he found in the Amiens library a manuscript, commenting on Aristotle. Cousin now appealed to England to vindicate the
name of one of her greatest sons, and the result is seen in the edition announced above. A French scholar, M. Emile Charles, also devoted years of study and travel to Roger Bacon, and published Roger Bacon, sa vie, ses ceuvres, ses doctrines, d'apr'es des textes inedits (1862, 8vo).
Roger Bacon was the forerunner, in philosophy, of Lord Bacon, who borrowed largely from him, not only in method, but also even in details. The monk pos- sessed, what the chancellor had not, the power of pen- etrating the secrets of nature. Lord Bacon promoted science by his method, but in actual application of the method he was a child. Roger Bacon anticipated him in the method, and was, at the same time, himself a great experimenter and successful inventor. On the relations between these two great men, see Professor Holmes's excellent articles in the Methodist Quarterly, January and April, 1858, where the subject is more ably and thoroughly treated than by any other writer. Professor Holmes sums up as follows: "That Lord Bacon was anticipated by Roger Bacon in nearly everything that was most distinctive in the double forms of the same identical philosophy cannot be doubted after the copious illustrations given in this essay. That he borrowed directly and consciously from him is our own private conclusion ; and that the forced loan amounted to plagiarism, and was levied, like one of James I's voluntary gifts from his people, forcibfy and without acknowledgment, is also our con- viction, though we will not demand from the public an absolute verdict to this effect. But we do claim that the highest honors which -have been assigned to Francis Bacon are due to Roger Bacon and his con- temporaries, and we do assert that the friar has been as harshly and unjustly dealt with by the lord chan- cellor of nature as Aubrey, and Egerton, and the other suitors in the court of equity were handled by the lord high chancellor of England."
"Throughout the whole of his writings Bacon is a strict Roman Catholic ; that is, he expressly submits matters of opinion to the authority of the church, say- ing (Cott. MSS. cited by Jebb) that if the respect due to the vicar of the Savior (yicarius Salvatoris) alone, and the benefit of the world, could be consulted in any other way than by the progress of philosophy, he would not, under such experiments as lay in his way, proceed with his undertaking for the whole Church of God, however much it might entreat or insist. His zeal for Christianity, in its Latin or Western form, breaks out in every page ; and all science is considered with direct reference to theology, and not otherwise. But, at the same time, to the credit of his principles, consid- ering the book-burning, heretic-hunting age in which he lived, there is not a word of any other force except that of persuasion. He takes care to have both au- thority and reason for every proposition that he ad- vances; perhaps, indeed, he might have experienced forbearance at the hand of those who were his perse- cutors, had he not so clearly made out prophets, apos- tles, and fathers to have been partakers of his opinions. 'But let not your serenity imagine,' he says, 'that I intend to excite the clemency of your holiness, in or- der that the papal majesty should employ force against weak authors and the multitude, or that my unwor- thy self should raise any stumbling-Uoek to study' {Penny Cyclopadia, s. v.)„ Indeed, the whole scope of the first part of the work is to prove, from authority and from reason, that philosophy and Christianity cannot disagree — a sentiment altogether of his own revival, in an age in which all philosophers, and mathe- maticians in particular, were considered as at best of dubious orthodoxy. The effect of his writings on the- ology was to introduce a freer spirit, and to prepare the way for Wickliffe, -Huss, and the later reformers. He combated the one-sided supremacy of Aristotle, and even the authority of the fathers ; he pointed out errors in their writings, and appealed to the original