PREFACE 



TO THE SECOND EDITION. 



The Essay on the Principle of Population, 

 which I published in 1798, was suggested, as 

 is expressed in the preface, by a paper in 

 Mr. Godwin's Inquirer. It was written on 

 the impulse of the occasion, and from the 

 i'ew materials which were then within my 

 reach in a country situation. The only au- 

 thors from whose writings I had deduced the 

 principle, which formed the main argument 

 of the Essay, were Hume, Wallace, Adam 

 Smith, and Dr. Price; and my object was to 

 apply it, to try the truth of those speculations 

 on the perfectibility of man and society, 

 which at that time excited a considerable 

 portion of the public attention. 



In the course of the discussion I was natu- 

 rally led into some examination of the effects 



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