I have not been willing to believe this: and I publish my speculations accordingly. I have aimed at a popular, and (if I could reach it) an interesting style; and, if I am thrust aside and disregarded, I shall console myself with believing that I have not neglected what it was in my power to achieve.
One characteristic of the present publication will not fail to offer itself to the most superficial reader. I know many men who are misanthropes, and profess to look down with disdain on their species. My creed is of an opposite character. All that we observe that is best and most excellent in the intellectual world, is man: and it is easy to perceive in many cases, that the believer in mysteries does little more, than dress up his deity in the choicest of human attributes and qualifications. I have lived among, and I feel an ardent interest in and love for, my brethren of mankind. This sentiment, which I regard with complacency in my own breast, I would gladly cherish in others. In such a cause I am well pleased to enrol myself a missionary.
February 15, 1831.
The particulars respecting the author, referred to in the title-page, will be found principally in Essays VII, IX, XIV, and XVIII.
CONTENTS
[ PREFACE ]
[ ESSAY I. ] OF BODY AND MIND
[ ESSAY II. ] OF THE DISTRIBUTION OF TALENTS
[ ESSAY III. ] OF INTELLECTUAL ABORTION
[ ESSAY IV. ] OF THE DURABILITY OF HUMAN ACHIEVEMENTS AND PRODUCTIONS
[ ESSAY V. ] OF THE REBELLIOUSNESS OF MAN
[ ESSAY VI. ] OF HUMAN INNOCENCE
[ ESSAY VII. ] OF THE DURATION OF HUMAN LIFE
[ ESSAY VIII. ] OF HUMAN VEGETATION
[ ESSAY IX. ] OF LEISURE
[ ESSAY X. ] OF IMITATION AND INVENTION
[ ESSAY XI. ] OF SELF-LOVE AND BENEVOLENCE
[ ESSAY XII. ] OF THE LIBERTY OF HUMAN ACTIONS
[ ESSAY XIII. ] OF BELIEF
[ ESSAY XIV. ] OF YOUTH AND AGE
[ ESSAY XV. ] OF LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP
[ ESSAY XVI. ] OF FRANKNESS AND RESERVE
[ ESSAY XVII. ] OF BALLOT
[ ESSAY XVIII. ] OF DIFFIDENCE
[ ESSAY XIX. ] OF SELF-COMPLACENCY
[ ESSAY XX. ] OF PHRENOLOGY
[ ESSAY XXI. ] OF ASTRONOMY
[ ESSAY XXII. ] OF THE MATERIAL UNIVERSE
[ ESSAY XXIII. ] OF HUMAN VIRTUE. THE EPILOGUE