PREFACE. IX 



I shall feel and cheerfully acknowledge the merit, 

 and reserve no other claim to the approbation of 

 the public, than that of having been the first to 

 attempt to trace through several obscure and wide 

 branching paths a subject in which mankind in 

 all ages have felt a very intense degree of curiosity 

 and interest. 



The reader who shall cast his eye over the 

 table of contents at the beginning of each vo- 

 lume will be put in sufficient possession of the 

 plan of the work and the nature and object of its 

 various divisions. 



London, ]6th July, 1831. 



