VI PREFACE 



Leibniz himself expressly intended it to be a com- 

 pact and ordered statement of the views he had 

 expounded in many scattered papers and in his 

 somewhat desultory The'odicee, the only book he 

 published. There is evidence of this in his corre- 

 spondence and in the fact that he annotated the 

 Monadology with references to passages in the 

 Tkeodicee. My original intention was to publish 

 a translation of these passages along with the 

 Monadology, but on re-consideration it seemed better 

 to translate several short papers illustrating different 

 parts of Leibniz's system and explaining its growth. 

 Thus the Monadology, as being the centre of the 

 book, is printed first of the translations (although 

 in date it is last), while the other writings follow in 

 chronological order. The only disadvantage of this 

 arrangement is that it places the Principles of Nature 

 and of Grace, which is most akin to the Monadology, 

 farthest away from it. 



If I might venture to suggest to the student the 

 way in which the book should be read, I would 

 recommend him first to read Part I of the Intro- 

 duction, then the Monadology (without the notes), 

 afterwards Parts II and III of the Introduction, 

 the Monadology again (with the notes), the other 

 translations, and finally Part IV of the Introduction, 

 in which I have endeavoured to ' place ' the philosophy 

 of Leibniz in relation to the systems which came 

 before and after his. 



My indebtedness to authors is so great and varied 

 that I cannot acknowledge it in detail; but I may 

 mention as specially helpful to me the works of 

 Boutroux, Dillmann, Nourisson, Nolen, and Stein. 

 My thanks are due to Professor Jones, of Glasgow, 



