IV PREFACE TO THE 



of this principle on the existing state of so- 

 ciety. It appeared to account for much of 

 that poverty and misery observable among 

 the lower classes of people in every nation, 

 and for those reiterated failures in the efforts 

 of the higher classes to relieve them. The 

 more I considered the subject in this point 

 of view, the more importance it seemed to 

 acquire; and this consideration, joined to the 

 degree of public attention which the Essay 

 excited, determined me to turn my leisure 

 reading towards an historical examination of 

 the effects of the principle of population on 

 the past and present state of society ; that, 

 by illustrating the subject more generally, and 

 drawing those inferences from it, in applica- 

 tion to the actual state of things, which 

 experience seemed to warrant, I might give 

 it a more practical and permanent interest. 



In the course of this inquiry I found that 

 much more had been done than I had been 

 aware of, when I first published the Essay. 

 The poverty and misery arising from a too 

 rapid increase of population had been dis- 

 tinctly seen, and the most violent remedies 

 proposed, so long ago as the times of Plato 

 and Aristotle. And of late years the subject 



