INTRODUCTION. 



THE noblest aspiration of man is his thirst after 

 knowledge, and his chief characteristic, the power 

 which he possesses of communicating this knowledge 

 to others hy records, which not only enlighten his 

 contemporaries, hut surviving the time in which 

 they were written, render the attainments of each 

 age subservient to those of succeeding generations, so 

 that not only individuals, but the race, is suscep- 

 tible of progressive improvement. And at no 

 previous period has this aspiration after knowledge 

 been so general and intense, or the records calcu- 

 lated to diffuse it so numerous so almost over- 

 whelming as at the present. Divested of the 

 long prevalent prejudices of the schools, the highest 

 talents of the age have been devoted to direct the 

 studies of the present and future generations from 

 the exciting subjects of classical lore, into a field 

 richly abounding with what is more properly the 

 business of life. They are labouring and it is 

 our anxious endeavour to assist in the great task 

 to make people in general acquainted with the laws 



