_Honoratissime Domine_, _Salomon_ inquit, _Nomen bonum est instar Vnguenti fragrantis et pretiosi_; Neque dubito, quin tale futurum sit _Nomen_ tuum apud Posteros. Etenim et Fortuna, et Merita tua, præcelluerunt. Et videris ea plantasse, quæ sint duratura. In lucem jam edere mihi visum est _Delibationes meas_, quæ ex omnibus meis Operibus fuerunt acceptissimæ: Quia forsitan videntur, præ cæteris, _Hominum_ Negotia stringere, et in sinus fluere. Eas autem auxi, et Numero, et Pondere; In tantum, ut planè Opus Novum sint. Consentaneum igitur duxi, Affectui, et Obligationi meæ, erga _Illustrissimam Dominationem_ tuam, ut _Nomen_ tuum illis præfigam, tam in _Editione Anglicâ_, quam _Latinâ_. Etenim, in bonâ spe sum, Volumen earum in _Latinam_ (_Linguam_ scilicet universalem), versum, posse durare, quamdiù _Libri_ et _Literæ_ durent. _Instaurationem_ meam _Regi_ dicavi: _Historiam Regni Henrici Septimi_ (quam etiam in _Latinum_ verti et Portiones meas _Naturalis Historiæ_, _Principi_): Has autem _Delibationes Illustrissimæ Dominationi_ tuæ dico, Cùm sint, ex Fructibus optimis, quos Gratia divinâ Calami mei laboribus indulgente, exhibere potui. _Deus illustrissimam Dominationem_ tuam manu ducat. _Illustrissimæ Dominationis_ tuæ Servus Devinctissimus et Fidelis. FR. S. ALBAN. In the year 1618, the Essays, together with the Wisdom of the Ancients, was translated into Italian, and dedicated to _Cosmo de Medici_, by Tobie Mathew; and in the following year the Essays were translated into French by Sir Arthur Gorges, and printed in London. WISDOM OF THE ANCIENTS. In the year 1609, as a relaxation from abstruse speculations, he published in Latin his interesting little work, _De Sapientia Veterum_. This tract seems, in former times, to have been much valued. The fables, abounding with a union of deep thought and poetic beauty, are thirty-one in number, of which a part of The Sirens, or Pleasures, may be selected as a specimen.