their turn to speak_." What Bacon has said so wisely and so well, "OF
DISCOURSE," we would apply to our little Journal; and beg our kind
friends to remember, that our space is necessarily limited, and that,
therefore, in our eyes, Brevity will be as much the Soul of a
communication as it is said to be that of Wit.

* * * * *


NOTES.

ROGER BACON: HINTS AND QUERIES FOR A NEW EDITION OF HIS WORKS.

Victor Cousin, who has been for many years engaged in researches on the
scholastic philosophy, with the view of collecting and publishing such
of its monuments as have escaped the diligence of scholars, or the
ravages of time, has lately made the discovery in the library at Douay
of a copy of an inedited MS. of Roger Bacon, entitled _Opus Tertium_, of
which but two or three other copies are known to exist; and has taken
occasion, in some elaborate critiques, to enter, at considerable length,
into the history and character of Roger {394} Bacon and his writings.[1]
The following is a summary of part of M. Cousin's observations.

The _Opus Tertium_ contains the author's last revision, in the form of
an abridgment and improvement, of the _Opus Majus_; and was drawn up at
the command of Pope Clement IV., and so called from being the _third_ of
three copies forwarded to his holiness; the third copy being not a
_fac-simile_ of the others, but containing many most important
additions, particularly with regard to the reformation of the calendar.
It also throws much light on Bacon's own literary history and studies,