Project Gutenberg's The Ruins, by C. F. [Constantin Francois de] Volney

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Title: The Ruins

Author: C. F. [Constantin Francois de] Volney

Release Date: May 3, 2006 [EBook #1397]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RUINS ***

Produced by Donald Lainson

THE RUINS,

OR, MEDITATION ON THE REVOLUTIONS OF EMPIRES:

AND

THE LAW OF NATURE,

by C. F. VOLNEY,

COMTE ET PAIR DE FRANCE. COMMANDEUR DE LA LEGION D'HONNEUR, MEMBRE DE
L'ACADEMIE FRANCAISE, ET DE PLUSIEURS AUTRES SOCIETES SAVANTES.

DEPUTY TO THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF 1789, AND AUTHOR OF "TRAVELS IN EGYPT
AND SYRIA," "NEW RESEARCHES ON ANCIENT HISTORY," ETC.

TO WHICH IS ADDED

VOLNEY'S ANSWER TO DR. PRIESTLY, A BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE BY COUNT DARU,
AND THE ZODIACAL SIGNS AND CONSTELLATIONS BY THE EDITOR.

I will cherish in remembrance the love of man, I will employ myself on
the means of effecting good for him, and build my own happiness on the
promotion of his.--Volney.

NEW YORK, TWENTIETH CENTURY PUB. CO., 4 WARREN ST. 1890.

PUBLISHER'S PREFACE.

Having recently purchased a set of stereotyped plates of Volney's Ruins,
with a view of reprinting the same, I found, on examination, that they
were considerably worn by the many editions that had been printed
from them and that they greatly needed both repairs and corrections. A
careful estimate showed that the amount necessary for this purpose would
go far towards reproducing this standard work in modern type and in an
improved form. After due reflection this course was at length decided
upon, and all the more readily, as by discarding the old plates and
resetting the entire work, the publisher was enabled to greatly enhance
its value, by inserting the translator's preface as it appeared in the
original edition, and also to restore many notes and other valuable
material which had been carelessly omitted in the American reprint.

An example of an important omission of this kind may be found on the
fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth pages of this volume, which may
be appropriately referred to, in this connection. It is there stated, in
describing the anci