P R E F A CE. HE following work is the substance of various speculations, that occasionally amused the author, and enlivened his leisure-hours. It is not intended for the learned; they are above it : nor for the vulgar ; they are below it. It is intended for men, who, equally removed from the corruption of opulence, and from the depression of bodily labour, are bent on useful knowledge ; who, even in the delirium of youth, feel the dawn of patriotism, and who in riper years enjoy its meridian warmth. To such men this work is dedicated ; and that they may profit by it, is the author's ardent wish, and probably will be while any spirit remains in him to form a wish. May not he hope, that this work, child of his gray hairs, will survive, and bear testimony 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 deserve to be of the human species, were he indifferent about his fellow creatures : Homo fum : humani nihil a me alienum puto. Vol. I. b Most |