li. PREFACE. 



that is, their afTedions and difpofitions. But as to Muff, though he 

 has mentioned feveral particulars concerning him, in which he agrees 

 or differs from the brutes, he has given us nothing that can be cal- 

 led a hiftory of the fpecies. Nor does he any where, in this great 

 work, give us any particular account of the feveral different ftates 

 through which man has paffed, though, from the dehaition he has 

 given of man*, it is evident he believed that he was not always the 

 fame animal that he now is. In modern times, I know only one 

 work that can be called the hiftory of any one fpecies of animals, 

 but which, the author has very modeftly not entitled tbe Kijlory of 

 that animal, but only Memoirs that may ferve for compofing fnch a 

 hijlory. The work I mean is that of a French author, Raumeur, 

 who has given us an account of flies with four wings, under the title 

 of Memoires pour Serv'ir a V Hifloire des Mouches a quatre Ailes. 

 But the hiftory of fuch animals as flies, with two or four -wings, or 

 of even the moft eminent animals of the brute kind, fuch as ele- 

 phants, horfes, lions, or tygers, is not to be compared with the hif- 

 tory of our own Jpec/es, being neither of fuch curiofuy, nor of fuch 

 importance for us to know. 



It may be thought, that in a work of philofophy, fuch as this, I have 

 beftowed too much time upon hiftory and fa£ls. But it is impoffi- 

 ble that the philofophy of man can be underftood without firft know- 

 ing his hiftory: Nor, without that knowledge, can any fatisfadtory 

 account be given of the origin of evil; to account for which, is the 

 chief defign of this part of my work. 



I will only further add, that, though I may not have had genius, 

 learning, or leifure, fufficient to execute properly fo great a work, the 

 greateft and nobleft of the hiftorical kind, and which lays the foun- 

 dation of the philofophy of man, and alfo is of great importance in- 



theology, 



• Sec what I ha-ve fiid of that definition in the beginning of this vokimc. 



