as are calculated to operate as a curb and restraint. It is with this
view he has endeavored to give to these truths, hitherto treated as
abstract, a form likely to gain them a reception.

It was found impossible not to shock the violent prejudices of some
readers; but the work, so far from being the fruit of a disorderly
and perturbed spirit, has been dictated by a sincere love of order and
humanity.

After reading this performance it will be asked, how it was possible in
1784 to have had an idea of what did not take place till the year
1790? The solution is simple. In the original plan the legislator was
a fictitious and hypothetical being: in the present, the author has
substituted an existing legislator; and the reality has only made the
subject additionally interesting.




PREFACE OF THE AMERICAN EDITION.*

* The copy from which this preface is reprinted was
published in Boston by Charles Gaylord, in 1833. It was
given to the writer, when a mere lad, by a lady--almost a
stranger--who was traveling through the little hamlet on the
banks of the Hudson where he then resided. This lady
assured me that the book was of great value, containing
noble and sublime truths; and the only condition she
attached to the gift was, that I should read it carefully
and endeavor to understand its meaning. This I willingly