VI Pi; EfAGE TO THE 



new work, and I should probably have pub- 

 lished it as such, omitting the few parts of the 

 former which I have retained, but that I wished 

 it to form a whole of itself, and not to need a 

 continual reference to the other. On this 

 account I trust that no apology is necessary 

 to the purchasers of the first edition. 



To those who either understood the subject 

 before, or saw it distinctly on the perusal of 

 the first edition, I am fearful that I shall ap- 

 pear to have treated some parts of it too much 

 in detail, and to have been guilty of unneces- 

 sary repetitions. These faults have arisen 

 partly from want of skill, and partly from 

 intention. In drawing similar inferences from 

 the state of society in a number of different 

 countries, I found it very difficult to avoid 

 some repetitions; and in those parts of the 

 inquiry which led to conclusions different from 

 our usual habits of thinking, it appeared to 

 me that, with the slightest hope of producing 

 conviction, it was necessary to present them 

 to the reader's mind at different times, and 

 on different occasions. I was willing to sa- 

 crifice all pretensions to merit of composition, 

 to the chance of making an impression on a 

 larger class of readers. 



