The success which happily attended the measures employed in the Neptune, was sufficiently encouraging to induce me to give a full trial how far a similar system might avail with the females, under such modifications as a regard to their sex, and attention to occasional circumstances, might render necessary. For several years my thoughts had been directed to every investigation that could contribute to the stock of information previously acquired, and consequently assist in the development of vicious principle in some of its most powerful and mischievous ramifications, to be enabled thus possibly to trace it step by step to its primary source. The results of some of these inquiries appeared to me important; and I thought their connexion with the present subject so close, that its interest would be lessened had they all been suppressed. These considerations have led to discussions which at first sight may seem extraneous or irrelevant, such as _Seduction_, &c.; but I hope, on reflection, the present arrangement will not be found objectionable. I had been very early in life impressed with the conviction that the bountiful hand of the Creator implants in the mind of man the seeds of virtue, which seldom totally perish during his lifetime, although they may remain long unproductive: an experience of the world more than commonly extensive, perhaps, has every day tended to confirm the justness of that conviction. This position I have always considered as involving a question of the first interest to society, whether it be taken in a moral, political, or philosophical point of view; and I hope it is not arrogating too much to say, that the opportunities I have had, opportunities not unimproved, of making observations, give me a claim to form an opinion not wholly without authority.