l order. This will be a guide
to the reader, and with the alphabetical Index of Names, etc., will, I
trust, obviate all difficulty of reference.

SOPHIA DE MORGAN.

6 MERTON ROAD, PRIMROSE HILL.

* * * * *

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

If Mrs. De Morgan felt called upon to confess her hesitation at taking upon
herself the labor of editing these Paradoxes, much more should one who was
born two generations later, who lives in another land and who was reared
amid different influences, confess to the same feeling when undertaking to
revise this curious medley. But when we consider the nature of the work,
the fact that its present rarity deprives so many readers of the enjoyment
of its delicious satire, and the further fact that allusions that were
commonplace a half century ago are now forgotten, it is evident that some
one should take up the work and perform it _con amore_.

Having long been an admirer of De Morgan, having continued his work in the
bibliography of early arithmetics, and having worked in his library among
the books of which he was so fond, it is possible that the present editor,
whatever may be his other shortcomings, may undertake the labor with as
much of sympathy as any one who is in a position to perform it. With this
thought in mind, two definite rules were laid down at the beginning of the
task: (1) That no alteration in the text should be made, save in slightly
modernizing spelling and punctuation and in the case of manifest
typographical errors; (2) That whenever a note appeared it should show at
once its authorship, to the end that the material of the original edition
might appear intact.

In considering, however, the unbroken sequence of items that form the
Budget, it seems clear that readers would be greatly aided if the various
leading topics were separated in some convenient manner. After considerable
thought it was decided to insert brief captions from time to time that
might aid the eye in selecting the larger subjects of the text. In some
parts of the work these could easily be taken from the original folio
heads, but usually they had to be written anew. While, therefore, the
present editor accepts the responsibility for the captions of the various
subdivisions, he has endeavored to insert them in harmony with the original
text.

As to the footnotes, the first edition had only a few, some due to De
Morgan himself and others to Mrs. De Morgan.