SELECTED FROM
THE WORKS OF FEYJOO,
AND
TRANSLATED FROM THE SPANISH,
BY
JOHN BRETT, ESQ.
VOLUME THE FIRST.
LONDON,
Printed for the Translator:
Sold by H. PAYNE, Pall-Mall;C. DILLY, in the Poultry;and T. EVANS, in the Strand.
MDCCLXXX.
[Pg iii]
| The Voice of the People. | Page 1 |
| Virtue and Vice. | p. 27 |
| Exalted and Humble Fortune. | p. 61 |
| The most Refined Policy. | p. 107 |
| The Machiavelianism of the Ancients. | p. 161 |
| Ambition in Sovereigns. | p. 221 |
| The Value or Superior Excellence of Nobility. With some Remarks on the Power or Influence of High Blood. | p. 257 |
| The Semblance of Virtue; or, Virtue in Appearance. | p. 291 |
The Author of the following Discourses was a Spaniard, and a dignifiedclergyman of the Church of Rome, high in rank, and much respectedas an ecclesiastic; but was not less esteemed for his candour andliberality of sentiment, than admired for his almost universal learningand extensive knowledge. The Translator has it not in his power togive so particular and satisfactory an account of this eminent man ashe could wish; but the Reader will find in the Fourth Essay of theSecond Volume, a summary one given of himself, in which he[Pg vi] tellsus where he was born, how he was educated, and where he passed thegreatest part of his life; how he passed it, is pretty clear from hisWritings, which manifest, that he must have employed a very largeportion of it in study. When I first entered upon this undertaking,I had no thoughts of translating so many of the Author’s Essays as Iwas afterwards tempted to do; the subject matter of them, in which Ifound great pleasure, exciting me to proceed; and indeed, I was alsoflattered and encouraged to go on, by the expectation, that my laboursin this respect, would afford agreeable amusement, and furnish usefulinstruction to many of my countrymen. After I had trans