Note (return) — REPLIES. (continued 2)

"Antiquitas Sæculi Juventus Mundi" (Vol. ii., p. 218.).—A learned friend, who although involved in the avocations of an active professional career, delights "inter sylvas Academi quærere verum," has favoured me with the following observation on these words:—"That the phrase Antiquitas sæculi juventus mundi is in Italics in Bacon's work does not, in my opinion, prove it to be a quotation, any more than the words ordine retrogrado in the subsequent passage. Italics were used in Bacon's time, and long afterwards, to to mark not only quotations, but emphatic words, γνωμαι, and epigrammatic sentences, of which you will every where see instances. I have not the original edition of the work, but we have here[5] the rare translation into English by Gilbert Wats, Oxford, 1640, folio, through which the references to authors are given in the margin; but there is no reference appended to this passage. I cannot of course decide positively that the phrase is not a quotation, but I incline to the opinion that it is not. It may be an adaptation of some proverbial expression; but I prefer believing that it is Bacon's own mode of expressing that the present times are more ancient (i.e. full of years) than the earliest, and thus to show that the respect we entertain for authority is unfounded."