VI PREFACE. 



named authors deserve to be carefully read by the 

 student of Universal History, and in them he will find 

 references to the original authorities, and to all writers 

 of importance on the various subjects treated of in this 

 work. As for my religious sentiments, they are ex- 

 pressed in opposition to the advice and wishes of several 

 literary friends, and of the publisher, who have urged 

 me to alter certain passages which they do not 

 like, and which they believe will provoke against me 

 the anger of the public. Now, as a literary workman, 

 I am thankful to be guided by the knowledge of ex- 

 perts, and I bow to the decisions of the great public, 

 for whom alone I write, whom alone I care to please, 

 and in whose broad unbiassed judgment I place im- 

 plicit trust. But in the matter of religion, I listen to 

 no remonstrance, I acknowledge no decision save that 

 of the divine monitor within me. My conscience is 

 my adviser, my audience, and my judge. It bade me 

 write as I have written, without evasion, without dis- 

 guise ; it bids me to go on as I have begun, whatever 

 the result may be. If, therefore, my religious opinions 

 should be condemned, without a single exception, by 

 every reader of the book, it will not make me regret 

 having expressed them, and it will not prevent me from 

 expressing them again. It is my earnest and sincere 

 conviction that those opinions are not only true, but 

 also that they tend to elevate and purify the mind. 

 One thing at all events I know, that it has done me 

 good to write this book : and, therefore, I do not 

 think that it can injure those by whom it will be read. 



