PREFACE

If the Author of these united Tracts had been any friend to prefaces, he would probably have made his entrance after that manner, in one or other of the five treatises formerly published apart. But as to all prefatory or dedicatory discourse, he has told us his mind sufficiently in that treatise which he calls "Soliloquy." Being satisfied, however, that there are many persons who esteem these introductory pieces as very essential in the constitution of a work, he has thought fit, in behalf of his honest printer, to substitute these lines under the title of a Preface; and to declare "That (according to his best judgment and authority) these presents ought to pass, and be received, construed, and taken, as satisfactory in full, for all preliminary composition, dedication, direct or indirect application for favour to the public, or to any private patron or party whatsoever nothing to the contrary appearing to him from the side of truth or reason." Witness his hand, this fifth day of December, 1710.

A. A. C. A. N. A. Æ. C.

M. D. C. L. X. X. I.1

1 [These initials presumably signify as follows:-"Anthony Ashley Cooper, Armiger, Natus Anno Aetatis Christi (or Aerae Christianae) 1671" —that being the year of his birth.]