In John Henry Bridges’ (deceased, 1907) edition of “The Opus Majus of Roger Bacon,” Oxford, vols. I and II 1897, vol. III 1900, will be found a table of the few known facts of Bacon’s life (Introd. p. xx.), and a short description of that life (ibid. xxi. to xxxiii.); but he gives little that is new concerning the works of our Author. He gives, however, a very serviceable orientation in Bacon’s general philosophical scheme (ibid, xxxvi. to xcii.). In “Essays and Addresses,” by the same Author, posthumously published, London, 1897, will be found (pp. 159 to 168) an interesting sketch of our Philosopher’s life and work. As for sources, much material of great value is to be found in the footnotes of his edition of the Opus Majus.
In Robert Steele’s edition of the “Metaphysica Fratris Rogeri,” London, Alex. Moring Limited, is given (Preface) some further material, especially concerning the Metaphysics (sic) of Bacon. The same Editor has published Parts One and Two of the “Liber Primus Communium Naturalium Fratris Rogeri,” Oxford, Clarendon Press.
In “The Greek Grammar of Roger Bacon,” edited by Nolan and Hirsch, Cambridge, 1902, some material is presented that bears on the life, with especial reference to his contemporaries (Introd. xxxviii. to lxv.).
For bibliographies, the reader is referred to Delorme’s art. in “Dictionnaire de Theologie catholique,” t. II, ff. 8 to 31; and to Robertson’s art. in the “Dictionary of National Biography,” vol. II, pp. 374 to 378, ed. 1885, as well as Vogl: D. Physik Roger Bacons, Inaug. Diss., Erlangen, 1906.
The materials on which this study is chiefly based are the published works of Bacon as contained in the Brewer and Bridges editions above described; the latter contains the Opus Majus and the De Multiplication Specierum, while the former contains the Opus Tertium, Opus Minus, Compendium and the appended De Secretibus Artis et Naturae. Further, I have referred, here and there, to the editions of Steele above described, and to the printed (English Historical Review, July 1897) MS. (4086) found by Gasquet in the Vatican Library. In no case have I used any but published material. My references to the various works are as follows: Brewer, “Br. . . .”; Bridges, “I, or II, or III. . . .”; Steele, “M. . . .” for the Metaphysics, and “C. N. . . .” for the Communia Naturalium; Gasquet, “Ep . . . . “ for the self-denominated “epistola praeambulans.” I have taken these sources at their face value, as representing words actually penned by my Author; in no instance have I found serious difficulties of text so far as concerned my theme. The corrections of text, as in Bridges III, are not vital; the addi-
