CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE LITERARY AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY
OF QUEBEC, AND OF THE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETIES OF MONTREAL,
NEW YORK, NEW BRUNSWICK, DELAWARE, ETC.

TOR LIBRAR

NEW-YORK

LONDON:

LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, and LONGMANS,

PATERNOSTER-ROW.

1844.

Printed by Manning and Mason, Ivy Lane, St. Paul's.

PREFACE.

In entering upon a new and untried department of British literature, some allowance should be made for the difficulty of the attempt. There are in the English language many works relating to the history of particular countries, of individual sovereigns, and of distinct periods of time; such are those of Rapin, Hume, Smollett, Robertson, Mackintosh, Henry, Aikin, Alison, and others; but that which we may venture to call philosophical history has not yet attracted any attention. The French works of De Tocqueville, Cousin, and Guizot, have no parallel, or similar works, in the English language; and yet it would appear that that kind of history which applies itself to all nations, and to all circumstances, should possess more interest than the mere detail of historical events, however vital those may be to the people