PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE ACADEMY OF GENEVA,
FELLOW OF THE ROYAL SOCIETIES OF LONDON
MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF BERLIN;
CORRESPONDENT OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF FRANCE, &c. &c.
IN the interrupted state of our correspondence at present, you will pardon the liberty I take, in prefixing your name to this Volume. The honour you have lately done me, by your French translation of my book on the Human Mind, and the warm interest you have always taken in the success of that work, since the period of its first appearance, I feel as the most flattering marks of approbation which it has ever received; and they might perhaps have tempted me to indulge, more than becomes me, the vanity of an author, had it not been repressed by the still more pleasing idea, that I am indebted for them chiefly to the partiality of your friendship.
Permit me, Sir, to inscribe to you the following Essays, in testimony of my respect and attachment; and as a slight but sincere acknowledgment of the obligations you have laid me under by your long-continued kindness, as well as of the instruction and pleasure I have derived from your philosophical writings.