SECOND EDITION. Vll 



The main principle advanced is so incon- 

 trovertible, that, it' I had confined myself 

 merely to general views, I could have in- 

 trenched myself in an impregnable fortress; 

 and the work, in this form, would probably 

 have had a much more masterly air. But 

 such general views, though they may advance 

 the cause of abstract truth, rarely tend to 

 promote any practical good; and I thought 

 that I should not do justice to the subject, 

 and bring it fairly under discussion, if I re- 

 fused to consider any of the consequences 

 which appeared necessarily to flow from it, 

 whatever these consequences might be. By 

 pursuing this plan, however, I am aware that 

 I have opened a door to many objections, 

 and, probably, to much severity of criticism: 

 but I console myself with the reflection, that 

 even the errors into which I may have fallen, 

 by affording a handle to argument, and an 

 additional excitement to examination, may 

 be subservient to the important end of bring- 

 ing a subject so nearly connected with the 

 happiness of society into more general no- 

 tice. 



Throughout the whole of the present work 

 I have so far differed in principle from the 



