Thoughts on Man, His Nature, Productions and Discoveries
William Godwin
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THOUGHTS ON MAN
HIS NATURE, PRODUCTIONS AND DISCOVERIES
INTERSPERSED WITH SOME PARTICULARS
RESPECTING THE AUTHOR
by
WILLIAM GODWIN
Oh, the blood more stirs
To rouse a lion, than to start a hare!
SHAKESPEARE
LONDON:
EFFINGHAM WILSON, ROYAL EXCHANGE.
1831.
PREFACE
In the ensuing volume I have attempted to give a defined and
permanent form to a variety of thoughts, which have occurred to
my mind in the course of thirty-four years, it being so long
since I published a volume, entitled, the Enquirer,--thoughts,
which, if they have presented themselves to other men, have, at
least so far as I am aware, never been given to the public
through the medium of the press. During a part of this period I
had remained to a considerable degree unoccupied in my character
of an author, and had delivered little to the press that bore my
name.--And I beg the reader to believe, that, since I entered in
1791 upon that which may be considered as my vocation in life, I
have scarcely in any instance contributed a page to any
periodical miscellany.
My mind has been constitutionally meditative, and I should not
have felt satisfied, if I had not set in order for publication
these special fruits of my meditations. I had entered upon a
certain career; and I held it for my duty not to abandon it.
One thing further I feel prompted to say. I have always regarded
it as my office to address myself to plain men, and in clear and
unambiguous terms. It has been my lot to have occasional
intercourse with some of those who consider themselves as
profound, who deliver their oracles in obscure phraseology, and
who make it their boast that few men can understand them, and
those few only through a process of abstract reflection, and by
means of unwearied application.
To this class of the oracular I certainly did not belong. I felt
that I had nothing to say, that it should be very difficult to
understand. I resolved, if I could help it, not to "darken
counsel by words without knowledge." This was my principle in
the Enquiry concerning Political Justice. And I had my reward.
I had a numerous audience of all classes, of every age, and of
either sex. The young and the fair did not feel deterred from
consulting my pages.
It may be that that book was published in a propitious season. I
am told that nothing coming from the press will now be welcomed,
unless it presents itself in the express form of amusement. He
who shall propose to himself for his principal end, to draw aside
in one particular or another the veil from the majesty of
intellectual or moral truth, must lay his account in being
received with little attention.
I have not been willing to believe this: and I publish my
speculations accordingly. I have aimed at a popular, and (if I
could reach it) an interesting style; and, if I am thrust aside
and disregarded, I shall console myself with believing that I
have not neglected what it was in my power to achieve.
One characteristic of the present publication will not fail to
offer itself to the most superficial reader. I know many men who
are misanthropes, and profess to look down with disdain on their
species. My creed is of an opposite character. All that we
observe that is best and most excellent in the intellectual
world, is man: and it is easy to perceive in many cases, that
the believer in mysteries does little more, than dress up his
deity in the choicest of human attributes and qualifications. I
have lived among, and I feel an ardent interest in and love for,
my brethren of mankind. This sentiment, which I regard with
complacency in my own breast, I would gladly cherish in others.
In such a cause I am well pleased to enrol myself a missionary.
February 15, 1831.
The particulars respecting the author, referred to in the
title-page, will be found principally in Essays VII, IX, XIV, and
XVIII.
CONTENTS
Essay.
I. Of Body and Mind. The Prologue
II. Of the Distribution of Talents
III. Of Intellectual Abortion
IV. Of the Durability of Human Achievements and Productions
V. Of the Rebelliousness of Man
VI. Of Human Innocence
VII. Of the Duration of Human Life
VIII. Of Human Vegetation
IX. Of Leisure
X. Of Imitation and Invention
XI. Of Self-Love and Benevolence
XII. Of the Liberty of Human Actions
XIII. Of Belief
XIV. Of Youth and Age
XV. Of Love and Friendship
XVI. Of Frankness and Reserve
XVII. Of Ballot
XVIII. Of Diffidence
XIX. Of Self Complacence
XX. Of Phrenology
XXI. Of Astronomy
XXII. Of the Material Universe
XXIII. Of Human Virtue. The Epilogue
THOUGHTS, &c.
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