I first drew the Chart in order to clear up my own ideas on the subject, finding it very troublesome to retain a distinct notion of the changes that had taken place. I found it answer the purpose beyond my expectation, by bringing into one view the result of details that are dispersed over a very wide and intricate field of universal history; facts sometimes connected with each other, sometimes not, and always requiring reflection each time they were referred to. I found the first rough draft give =sic= me a better
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{4} The Charts, Nos. 3 and 4, were copied in Paris, before the revolution, and highly approved of by the Academy of Sciences. No. 2, though of late invention, has been copied in France and Germany. Of No. 1, the public has yet to judge, and, perhaps, it will treat me with indulgence and good nature, as on former occasions.
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comprehension of the subject, than all that I had learnt from occasional reading, for half of my lifetime; and, on the supposition that what was of so much use to me, might be of some to others, I have given it with a tolerable degree of accuracy.