The Ruins | Page 5

only made the subject
additionally interesting.

PREFACE OF THE AMERICAN EDITION.*
* The copy from which this preface is reprinted was published in
Boston by Charles Gaylord, in 1833. It was given to the writer, when a
mere lad, by a lady--almost a stranger--who was traveling through the
little hamlet on the banks of the Hudson where he then resided. This
lady assured me that the book was of great value, containing noble and
sublime truths; and the only condition she attached to the gift was, that
I should read it carefully and endeavor to understand its meaning. This
I willingly promised and faithfully performed; and all who have
"climbed the heights," and escaped from the thraldom of superstitious
faith, will concede the inestimable value of such a gift--rich with the
peace and consolation that the truth imparts.--Pub.
If books were to be judged of by their volume, the following would
have but little value; if appraised by their contents, it will perhaps be
reckoned among the most instructive.
In general, nothing is more important than a good elementary book; but,

also, nothing is more difficult to compose and even to read: and why?
Because, as every thing in it should be analysis and definition, all
should be expressed with truth and precision. If truth and precision are
wanting, the object has not been attained; if they exist, its very force
renders it abstract.
The first of these defects has been hitherto evident in all books of
morality. We find in them only a chaos of incoherent maxims, precepts
without causes, and actions without a motive. The pedants of the
human race have treated it like a little child: they have prescribed to it
good behavior by frightening it with spirits and hobgoblins. Now that
the growth of the human race is rapid, it is time to speak reason to it; it
is time to prove to men that the springs of their improvement are to be
found in their very organization, in the interest of their passions, and in
all that composes their existence. It is time to demonstrate that morality
is a physical and geometrical science, subject to the rules and
calculations of the other mathematical sciences: and such is the
advantage of the system expounded in this book, that the basis of
morality being laid in it on the very nature of things, it is both constant
and immutable; whereas, in all other theological systems, morality
being built upon arbritary opinions, not demonstrable and often absurd,
it changes, decays, expires with them, and leaves men in an absolute
depravation. It is true that because our system is founded on facts and
not on reveries, it will with much greater difficulty be extended and
adopted: but it will derive strength from this very struggle, and sooner
or later the eternal religion of Nature must overturn the transient
religions of the human mind.
This book was published for the first time in 1793, under the title of
The French Citizen's Catechism. It was at first intended for a national
work, but as it may be equally well entitled the Catechism of men of
sense and honor, it is to be hoped that it will become a book common to
all Europe. It is possible that its brevity may prevent it from attaining
the object of a popular classical work, but the author will be satisfied if
he has at least the merit of pointing out the way to make a better.

Advertisement of the American Edition.
VOLNEY'S RUINS;
OR MEDITATION ON THE REVOLUTIONS OF EMPIRES.

The superior merits of this work are too well known to require
commendation; but as it is not generally known that there are in
circulation three English translations of it, varying materially in regard
to faithfulness and elegance of diction, the publisher of the present
edition inserts the following extracts for the information of purchasers
and readers:
PARIS TRANSLATION,
First published in this Country by Dixon and Sickels.
INVOCATION.
Hail, solitary ruins! holy sepulchres, and silent walls! you I invoke; to
you I address my prayer. While your aspect averts, with secret terror,
the vulgar regard, it excites in my heart the charm of delicious
sentiments--sublime contemplations. What useful lessons! what
affecting and profound reflections you suggest to him who knows how
to consult you. When the whole earth, in chains and silence, bowed the
neck before its tyrants, you had already proclaimed the truths which
they abhor, and confounding the dust of the king with that of the
meanest slave, had announced to man the sacred dogma of Equality!
Within your pale, in solitary adoration of Liberty, I saw her Genius
arise from the mansions of the dead; not such as she is painted by the
impassioned multitude, armed with fire and sword,