XXIV PREFACE. of this nature. With the Templars’ Dialogues on Political Economy, probably fewer are ac- quainted, from the form in which they came be- fore the public; and on this account, as well as from their state of incompleteness, they would not have occupied so many of the ensuing pages, had not the writer of the present work regarded them as an exposition of several of Mr. Ri- cardo’s principles, peculiarly adapted to try their validity. Adopting Mr. Ricardo’s doctrines, the author of the Dialogues traces them fearlessly to their legitimate consequences, with a directness of logical deduction which nothing diverts; with great copiousness and felicity of illustration, great dexterity in putting forward the different parts of his theme, and an occasional humour, which even on a subject of this kind is irresis- tible. It must be obvious that a work of this character, pressing intrepidly forward from the