had remained to a considerable degree unoccupied in my character
of an author, and had delivered little to the press that bore my
name.--And I beg the reader to believe, that, since I entered in
1791 upon that which may be considered as my vocation in life, I
have scarcely in any instance contributed a page to any
periodical miscellany.

My mind has been constitutionally meditative, and I should not
have felt satisfied, if I had not set in order for publication
these special fruits of my meditations. I had entered upon a
certain career; and I held it for my duty not to abandon it.

One thing further I feel prompted to say. I have always regarded
it as my office to address myself to plain men, and in clear and
unambiguous terms. It has been my lot to have occasional
intercourse with some of those who consider themselves as
profound, who deliver their oracles in obscure phraseology, and
who make it their boast that few men can understand them, and
those few only through a process of abstract reflection, and by
means of unwearied application.

To this class of the oracular I certainly did not belong. I felt
that I had nothing to say, that it should be very difficult to
understand. I resolved, if I could help it, not to "darken
counsel by words without knowledge." This was my principle in
the Enquiry concerning Political Justice. And I had my reward.
I had a numerous audience of all classes, of every age, and of
either sex. The young and the fair did not feel deterred from
consulting my pages.