This little work was finished in the year 1803, and intended for immediatepublication. It was disposed of to a bookseller, it was even advertised, andwhy the business proceeded no farther, the author has never been able to learn.That any bookseller should think it worth-while to purchase what he did notthink it worth-while to publish seems extraordinary. But with this, neither theauthor nor the public have any other concern than as some observation isnecessary upon those parts of the work which thirteen years have madecomparatively obsolete. The public are entreated to bear in mind that thirteenyears have passed since it was finished, many more since it was begun, and thatduring that period, places, manners, books, and opinions have undergoneconsiderable changes.