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OF THE

HISTORY OF MAN.

CONSIDERABLY ENLARGED

BY THE LAST ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS

OF THE AUTHOR.

YOL. I.

BASIL:

Printed and fold by J. J. TOURNEISEN.

MDCCXCVI.

PREFACE.

THE following Work is the fubftance of various

fpeculations, which occafionally occupied the author, and enlivened his leifure hours. It is not intended for the learned; they are above it: nor for the vulgar; they are below it. It is intended for thofe who, free from the corruption of opulence and depreffion of bodily labor, are fond of ufeful knowledge; who, even in the delirium of youth, feel the dawn of patriotifm, and who, in riper years, enjoy its meridian warmth. To fuch men this Work is dedicated; and that they may profit by it, is the author's ardent wish; and probably will be while he retains life fufficient to form a wish.

May not he hope, that this Work, child of his gray hairs, will furvive, and bear teftimony for him to good men, that even a laborious calling, which left him not many leisure hours, never banished from his mind, that he would little deferve to be of the human fpecies, were he indifferent about his fellow-creatures :

Homo fum: humani nihil a me alienum puto.

Most of the subjects handled in the following fheets, admit but of probable reafoning; and,

with refpect to fuch reafonings, it is often difficult to fay, what degree of conviction they ought to produce. It is eafy to form plausible arguments; but to form fuch as can ftand the test of time, is not always eafy. I could amufe the reader with numerous examples of conjectural arguments, which, fair at a diftant view, vanish like a cloud on a near approach. Several examples, not to go farther, are mentioned in the preliminary difcourfe. The hazard of being mifled by fuch arguments, gave the author much anxiety; and, after his utmost attention, he can but faintly hope, that he has not often wandered far from truth.

TO THE READER.

As one great object of the Editor is to make this a popular Work, he has, chiefly with a view to the female fex, fubjoined an English tranflation of the quotations from other languages.

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