176 Edward Livingston Youmans. 



the continuities as little as possible. I give the volume the 

 subtitle of A Series of Discussions, in order to avoid the 

 word " essays " on the title-page and thus preserve the in- 

 dividualities of the separate works. I have prefixed to the 

 volume a notice of your philosophical system more credit- 

 able, I trust, than the hastily written pages I sent you. 



First Principles is nearly ready, and is to be published 

 as soon as the present volume is fairly out of the way. 



Your remaining essays are now in press, and will be pub- 

 lished as soon as First Principles is off the track. As the 

 original title is now unsuitable, I have made it Essays: 

 Moral, Political, and ^Esthetic, the latter term being justi- 

 fied by the three papers on Style, Personal Beauty, and 

 Gracefulness. We have concluded, furthermore, to follow 

 the publication of the Essays by that of Social Statics, and 

 thus complete the American series of your works, a large 

 copyright being allowed on the whole. 



I think you once remarked to me that certain of your 

 views had been considerably modified since the publication 

 of Social Statics; but as you intimated that the change 

 consisted in a divergence from the democratic views there 

 expressed, the volume may be more acceptable to us in its 

 present form than it would be after your revision. You 

 will hence see the propriety of a republication here, when 

 you might not choose to have it reissued in England. I 

 think it is especially the book we need at the present time, 

 and may do important service. 



I have sent you a notice of the Progress I prepared for 

 the Tribune. It is not what it ought to be. I am thorough- 

 ly sensible of my incompetency to do you justice, but it is 

 better than I could get done by anybody else. The best 

 thing about it is that it enables you to speak for yourself. 

 I, however, take some little credit to myself for managing 

 its publication. The Tribune is the most influential journal 

 in this country. I long ago saw its importance in regard to 



