"Bacon's Essays have attracted an eager readership since their publication in 1625. They sum up a lifetime's observations on the whole range of human activity, by one of the keenest minds of the Renaissance. In their third and final revision Bacon designed the Essays to fill some of the gaps he had diagnosed in the study of mankind, such as the formative influences on individual behaviour of birth and temperament, of environment, social exchange, leisure, business, and politics.

Bacon's approach varies greatly from essay to essay, juxtaposing systematic analysis with brilliant apercus, in styles ranging from the detached and laconic to the passionately engaged, especially when expressing his moral beliefs."--BOOK JACKET. "This closely annotated edition is based on Brian Vickers's Oxford Authors text and includes appendices containing extracts from the Essays (1597), the Essays (1612) and 'Antitheses of Things' (1623)."--BOOK JACKET.