PREFACE
This book is a sequel to my History of English Thought in the
Eighteenth Century. The title which I then ventured to use was more
comprehensive than the work itself deserved. I felt my inability to write a
continuation which should at all correspond to a similar title for the
nineteenth century. I thought, however, that by writing an account of the
compact and energetic school of English Utilitarians I could thrown some light
both upon them and their contemporaries. I had the advantage for this purpose of
having been myself a disciple of the school during its last period. Many
accidents have delayed my completion of the task; and delayed also its
publication after it was written. Two books have been published since that time,
which partly cover the same ground; and I must be content with referring my
readers to them for further information. They are The English
Radicals, by Mr C.B. Roylance Kent; and English
Political Philosophy from Hobbes to Maine, by Professor Graham.
