Excerpt from The Ruins: Or a Survey of the Revolutions of Empires The plan Of this publication was formed nearly twelve years ago; and allusions to it may be seen in the Preface to Travels m Syria and Egypt, as well as at the end of the work, published m 1787. The performance was in some forward ness when the events of 1788 in France interrupted it. Per suaded that a developement of the theory of political truth could not sufficiently acquit a citizen of his debt to society, the author wished to add practice; and that particularly at atime when a Single arm was of consequence in the defence Of the general cause. The same desire of public benefit which in duced him to suspend his work, has since engaged him to re sume it; and though it may not possess the same merit as if it had appeared under the circumstances that gave rise to it, yet he imagines that at a time when new passions are burst ing forth, passions that must communicate their activity to the religious Opinion Of men, it is Of importance to dissemi nate such moral truths as are calculated to operate as a sort of curb and restraint. It is with this view he has endeavour ed to give to these truths, hitherto treated as abstract, a form likely to gain them a reception. It was found impossible not to Shock the violent prejudices Of some readers, but the work, so far from being the fruit of a disorderly and perturbed spir it, has been dictated by a sincere lover Of order and humanity. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.