Kviil

PREFACE.

stand the selection of words, and the mode of
combining them into sentences, the former solu-
tion is incorrect, for his language is uncom-
monly precise and perspicuous, and the con-
struction of his periods is simple and compact.
The latter explication is, if possible, still more
unfounded, there being an evident simplicity of
aim and steady pursuit after truth in his writ-
ings, such as are natural to a mind of any ori-
ginality, and which exclude the idea that he
indulged the contemptible ambition of per-
plexing his readers. The defect had a deeper
source, and 1s to be traced, as the following
pages will show, to an original perplexity and
confusion in some fundamental ideas, from
which he was never able to extricate himself.
Although Mr. Ricardo possessed remarkable lo-
gical powers, he seems to have been less gifted
with analytical subtilty; and hence his writings
furnish an instance of what the observer of the