"The Philosophical, Literary, and Professional Works of Francis Bacon," in seven volumes, octavo, was issued in England in 1857-59, under the editorship of Messrs. Spedding, Ellis, and Heath, and reprinted in this country with the sanction and aid of Mr. Spedding, in fifteen volumes, crown octavo. The plan of the English edition intended a second series, to contain the occasional writings of Bacon, and this series, under the editorship of Mr. Spedding alone, followed in 1861-1874, and occupied seven volumes, uniform with the previous series. It was so far a distinct work as to take on an independent title, as follows: -<br><br>"The Letters and the Life of Francis Bacon, including all his Occasional Works, namely, Letters, Speeches, Tracts, State Papers, Memorials, Devices, and all authentic writings not already printed among his Philosophical, Literary, or Professional Works: newly collected and set forth in chronological order, with a Commentary, biographical and historical; by James Spedding."<br><br>This descriptive title indicates the editor's purpose to make the later division of Bacon's writings as exhaustive as the earlier; the character of the writings led him to present them in a different manner.