The first edition of "The French Academie" in English appeared in 1586, the second in 1589, the third (two parts) in 1594, the fourth (three parts) in 1602, the fifth in 1614 (all quartos), then, in 1618, the large folio edition containing the fourth part "never before published in English." It appears to have been more popular in England than it was in France. Brunet in his 1838 edition mentions neither the book nor the author, Primaudaye. The question as to whether there was at this time a reading public in England sufficiently wide to absorb an edition in numbers large enough to make the publication of this and similar works possible at a profit will be dealt with hereafter. In anticipation it may be said that the balance of probabilities justifies the conjecture that the issue of each of these editions involved someone in loss, and the folio edition involved considerable loss. A comparison between the French and English publications points to both having been written by an author who was a master of each language rather than that the latter was a mere translation of the former. The version is so natural in idiom and style that it appears to be an original rather than a translation. In 1586 how many men were there who could write such English? The marginal notes are in the exact style of Bacon. "A similitude"--"A notable comparison"--occur frequently just as the writer finds them again and again in Bacon's handwriting in volumes which he possesses. The book abounds in statements, phrases, and quotations which are to be found in Bacon's letters and works. One significant fact must be mentioned. The first letter of the text in the dedication in the first English translation is the letter S. It is printed from a wood block (Fig. I.). Thirty-nine years after (in 1625) when the last edition of Bacon's Essays--and, with the exception of the small pamphlet containing his versification of certain Psalms, the last publication during his life--was printed, that identical wood block (Fig. II.) was again used to print the first letter in the dedication of that book. Every defect and peculiarity in the one will be found in the other. A search through many hundreds of books printed during these thirty-nine years--1586 to 1625--has failed to find it used elsewhere, except on one occasion, either then, before, or since. Did Bacon mark his first work on philosophy and his last book by printing the first letter in each from the same block?[14] [Illustration: _Fig. I._ The first letter in the text of the dedication of the 1st edition of the English translation of the "French Academie," =1586=. Printed at London by G. Bollifant. The block is also used in a similar manner in the 2nd edition, =1589=. Londini Impensis, John Bishop.] [Illustration: _Fig. II._ The first letter in the text of the dedication of the =1625= edition of Bacon's Essays, printed in London, by John Haviland.] _Both letters were printed from the same block._