Chapter IX.
BACON'S SUIT ON HIS RETURN TO ENGLAND, 1580.
Spedding states that the earliest composition of Bacon which he had been able to discover is a letter written in his 20th year from Grays Inn. From that time forward, he continues, compositions succeed each other without any considerable interval, and in following them we shall accompany him step by step through his life. What are the compositions which Spedding places as being written but not published up to the year 1597, when the first small volume of 10 essays containing less than 6,000 words was issued from the press? These are they:—
Notes on the State of Christendom[19] (date 1580 to 1584).
Letter of Advice to the Queen (1584-1586).
An Advertisement touching the Controversies of the Church of England (1586-1589).
Speeches written for some Court device, namely, Mr. Bacon in praise of Knowledge, and Mr. Bacon's discourse in praise of his Sovereign (1590-1592).
Certain observations made upon a libel published this present year, 1592.
A true report of the Detestable Treason intended by Dr. Roderigo Lopez, 1594.