e sake of future ages, was constantly appealed to;
just as in the Crusades, the most characteristic wars of our medieval
ancestors, the idea of human destinies then in the ascendant lured
thousands to hardship and death.

The present attempt to trace the genesis and growth of the idea in broad
outline is a purely historical inquiry, and any discussion of the
great issue which is involved lies outside its modest scope. Occasional
criticisms on particular forms which the creed of Progress assumed,
or on arguments which were used to support it, are not intended as a
judgment on its general validity. I may, however, make two observations
here. The doubts which Mr. Balfour expressed nearly thirty years ago,
in an Address delivered at Glasgow, have not, so far as I know, been
answered. And it is probable that many people, to whom six years ago the
notion of a sudden decline or break-up of our western civilisation, as
a result not of cosmic forces but of its own development, would have
appeared almost fantastic, will feel much less confident to-day,
notwithstanding the fact that the leading nations of the world have
instituted a league of peoples for the prevention of war, the measure to
which so many high priests of Progress have looked forward as meaning a
long stride forward on the road to Utopia.

The preponderance of France's part in developing the idea is an
outstanding feature of its history. France, who, like ancient Greece,
has always been a nursing-mother of ideas, bears the principal
responsibility for its growth; and if it is French thought that will
persistently claim our attention, this is not due to an arbitrary
preference on my part or to neglect of speculation in other countries.

J. B. BURY. January, 1920.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER I SOME INTERPRETATIONS OF UNIVERSAL HISTORY: BODIN AND
LE ROY

CHAPTER II UTILITY THE END OF KNOWLEDGE: BACON

CHAPTER III CARTESIANISM

CHAPTER IV THE DOCTRINE OF DEGENERATION: THE ANCIENTS AND
MODERNS

CHAPTER V THE PROGRESS OF KNOWLEDGE: FONTENELLE

CHAPTER VI THE GENERAL PROGRESS OF MAN: ABBE DE SAINT-PIERRE

CHAPTER VII NEW CONCEPTIONS OF HISTORY: MONTESQUIEU, VOLTAIRE,
TURGOT

CHAPTER VIII THE ENCYCLOPAEDISTS AND ECONOMISTS

CHAPTER IX WAS CIVILISATION A MISTAKE? ROUSSEAU, CHASTELLUX

CHAPTER X THE YEAR 2440

CHAPTER XI THE FRENCH REVOLUTION