http://www.arcamax.com/philosophy/b-1303-1
Thoughts on Man, His Nature, Productions and Discoveries
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.