Excerpt from Sketches of the History of Man, Vol. 2: Considerably Improved in a Third Edition
The following work is the substance of various speculations, which occasionally occupied 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 those who free from the corruption of opulence and depression of bodily labour, are fond of 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 he retains life sufficient to form a wish.
May not he hope, that this work, child of his grey 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 sum: humani nihil a me alienum puto.
Most of the subjects handled in the following meets, admit but of probable reasoning; and with respect to such reasonings, it is often difficult to say, what degree of conviction they ought to produce. It is easy to form plausible arguments; but to form such as can stand the test of time, is not always easy. I could amuse the reader with numerous examples of conjectural arguments, which, fair at a distant view, vanish like a cloud on a near approach.
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