PREFACE TO THE FIFTH EDITION. Ir has seemed right to the Author to meet the increased demand for this little work, by the publication of another edition. But, at the same time, it appeared to be a duty which he owed, both to himself and to the public, not to re-publish a work, written at a very early period of his life, without attempting some correction of its more obvious faults. Accord ingly, the fifth edition is presented to the public with great alterations. One new chapter had already been added in the fourth edition; and another is added in this. The Author has moreover bestowed no little pains in qualifying both sentiments and expressions which greatly iv needed such qualification. It was also his wish, as well to have cleared the work of an air of flippancy and severity too prevalent in many parts of it-as to have simplified and otherwise improved its style. But the faults, both of manner and of composition, are in many instances so wrought into the texture of the work, that it is impossible materially to change the one without destroying the other. He has therefore only to request, that the public, who have so charitably received it in its original state, will extend their patronage to it now, that it appears, as he hopes, with less glaring deficiencies than before. HARROW, Jan. 11, 1815. Dedication TO A WORLD WITH SOULS. Ir is peculiar to Columbus and to me, to make the old world acquainted with the new one. But it is not only thus generally that we resemble each other. Some Spanish historians, who perhaps thought that the hemisphere in which they them selves lived, must of necessity be the best of all possible hemispheres; or who imagined it of little use to have discovered a world if it was not a strange world; or who suspected that the achievements of some of their countrymen in America might, by the world in general, be mistaken for murder-endeavoured to prove that the Americans. had no souls. Now, what was charged upon his world, is true of that to which I introduce you.They are without souls. vi It may be thought that the history of Columbus might have rendered me more cautious in making known my discoveries. The irons, in which he was permitted to moralize on the benefits of enriching and improving mankind, are doubtless kept ready, by the Inquisition, for those who shall be weak enough to repeat his offence. If, however, my perils were greater than they are, I should still not hesitate to encounter them. "Being a man, all that is human is dear to me ;" and I must not hesitate to plunge into the gulf, if I may hope to bury any of the vices or follies of the world with myself. Let me entreat, however, that nothing I have said may lead you, for a moment, to confound the discoveries of Columbus with mine. It might have been well, if in addition to, or perhaps in the place of, the gold of the western continent, Europe had imported some of her rough virtues. These, passed, if I may so speak, through a Christian mint, might by their sterling weight, have served to displace some baser metal from the circulation. But my world, I fear, has few qualities which it would be desirable to transplant to any new soil. I leave you, therefore, with this request-that, as a world with souls, you will make a world without |