ages, it will be recorded, to the everlasting disgrace of our name, and of our country, that, in the nineteenth century, the works of Bacon and of Milton were sought for and expected from the press, and were expected and sought for in vain. Have we forgotten, or have we never learnt, that to Bacon we owe the foundations of a philosophy which has taught the human mind to investigate the recondite depths of science, to grasp all nature's works, and to scan and to comprehend the totality of the universe: that to Milton, the immortal Milton, we are indebted for the intrepid and unbending defence and vindication of liberty and of independence; for the teaching and enforcing, by example, the doctrines of religion, and the precepts of morality; for the sacred song, the muse of fire, that never shall die, but burn and blaze with augmented glory, <with still increasing splendour, dazzling with undiminished lustre, till the coming of that tremendous day, when, at the consumination of all things, the whole globe itself shall be wrapped in eternal night. For shame, my countrymen! rouse yourselves

1

from this lethargic dream of death! Slum. ber no more in security; no longer repose in confidence on the down of ignorance and of sloth! Arise, and, as ye have always hitherto done, vindicate your merited claim to preeminence in literature and in science, as ye are, confessedly, paramount in arts, and in arms, to all the kingdoms of the earth! Be prompt and ready in honouring, and in cultivating, your great sages and heroes of erudition and of philosophy; and delay not a single moment to erect, with joy and acclamation, another monument to the memory of the father" of the Advancement of Learning and the recorder" of the Loss of Paradise." Delay not a moment; suffer not this generation to pass away in drowsy forgetfulness of the meed of those by whose labours such incalculable benefits have accrued to the human race,

Αισχρον γαρ το δε γ' εστι και εσσομενοισι πυθεσθαι,

I shall not, as is common with authors, affect to declare, what is not true, that I am sorry my work is so imperfect, and that

it would have been better if I had possessed more leisure, or bestowed more time in revising and correcting it. I have laboured to the utmost of my ability to render this volume fit for the public eye; and must let it stand upon the basis of its own merit. If it be deserving, it will meet with due encouragement; if not, the sooner it hastes "to the vault of all the Capulets," the better it will be. I shall not whine and cant out a falsehood, and assever, that it never was meant to see the light, but that the importunity of friends prevailed on me to publish it, against my better judgment. I shewed it to no friends, and wrote it for the express purpose of having it printed; besides, when a book is once on the stage of existence, it is a farce to talk such nonsense; for, as Johnson well observes, "if the book was not written to be printed, it was printed to be read." My sole intention in offering this book to the public was, that I might endeavour to lead the young mind and the infantine heart towards the vantage ground of intellectuality, and the temple of virtue. How I have succeeded, others must judge;

but, be my reception what it may, it will "always be my highest boast, and my greatest comfort, that I have never forsaken the cause of morality and of religion; and when I desert it, may my God forsake me! "Finalmente esperamos al publico alguna con'sideracion en recompensa deloque hemos trabajado en su servicio, y que los defectos del estilo tengan la disculpa de que no puede un indocto y ignorante passer por orador, ni aspirar à numerarse en la classe de los historiadores, y buenos y grandes escritores."

THE END OF VOL. I.