These Lectures, since they are in a great measure historical, will inevitably suggest to the reader the elaborate work on The History of Eumpean Morals, which has obtained so much and such deserved celebrity during the last year. Much as I might have learned from Mr Lecky's volumes I determined not to look at them till I had completed my own task. I might have been tempted to borrow unlawfully from them; I might have confused my method by fre quent attempts to shew wherein it differed from his. I can now read what he has written with out either of these dangers, and therefore with all the interest which an author so wise and serious must inspire. I can, however I may dread the comparison, encourage my readers to consider care fully his statements and arguments even when they are most at variance with mine.