To encourage us to shake off the superincumbent load of indifference, ridicule, and opposition, and to make efforts to extend virtue and happiness, it is a sublime reflection, that a thought may outlive an empire. Babylon and Thebes are, now, nowhere to be found; but the moral lessons of the cotemporary wise and good, despised and disregarded, perhaps, in their day, have descended to us and are to be found everywhere. As the seminal principles of plants, borne through the wide spaces of the air by their downy wings, find at length a congenial spot, in which to settle down, and vegetate, these seeds of virtue and happiness, floating down the current of time, are still arrested, from age to age, by some kindred mind, in which they germinate, and produce their golden fruit. No intellect can conjecture, in how many instances, and to what degree, every fit moral precept may have come between the reason and passions of some one, balancing between the course of happiness and ruin, and may have inclined the scale in his favor. The consciousness of even an effort to achieve one such triumph is a sufficient satisfaction to a virtuous mind. FOOTNOTES: [A] E.g. Robert Owen and others of the atheistical school. [B] These _Notes_ will be found at the end of the volume. The small numerals, in the text, refer to them. [C] Leonidas. [D] Themistocles. [E] Pelopidas and Epaminondas. [F] Marcus Junius Brutus. [G] Regulus. [H] Tacit. Vit. Agricolæ, _ad fin._ * * * * * * Transcriber’s note: The ERRATA (page vi) directs that the anchors for Notes [5] [29] [32] and [51] be deleted, since actual Notes for these references do not exist. However Note [51] does exist, it is Note [49] that is missing. Therefore, anchors for [5] [29] [32] and [49] have been deleted in this etext. The ERRATA change for page 200, (replace “Note 5, page 44.” with “Note 6, page 45.”) has also been made. In addition to these four missing references, several anchors had the same number, but referenced two separate Notes. For clarity the duplicate anchor number has been amended with an ‘a’ suffix. The etext now has [15] and [15a]; [21] and [21a]; [24] and [24a]; [27] and [27a]; [28] and [28a]; and [39] and [39a]. There was a single anchor [53], but two separate Notes for this one anchor. A second anchor [53a] has been added on page 152, and the second Note heading “Note 53, page 150.” has been changed to “Note 53a, page 152.” Obvious punctuation errors have been corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within the text and consultation of external sources. There are numerous typographical errors in the original text which have been corrected in the etext. These are noted below. Except for those specific changes also noted below, all misspellings in the text, and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained.