An essay on circulation and credit: in four parts; and a letter on the jealousy of commerce. From the French of Monsieur de Pinto. Translated, with...

ÏF the mere diligence of a Translator has no claim to reputation, it must be confessed, that in general we are modest enough to be contented with another kind of reward. Translation undoubtedly holds the lowest office in the republic of letters, unless the compilation of an index should be reckoned among the labors of the mind. There is nothing enterprising in the genius of a translator. He trades upon the property of others, without hazarding his own capital, consequently has no extraordinary loss of credit to fear, or profit to expect. He is no more than the factor of a foreign merchant; and, after having taken abundance of pains to dispose of commodities that do not belong to him, must be satisfied with the honor of having acted faithfully to his employer, and a trifling commission. But since the humility of the office excludes all pretensions to fame, it is to be hoped that it will, in the same proportion, exempt us from censure. If we have no good works of our own to plead, on the other hand we have no original sin to answer for. After this humiliating acknowledgement, it seems necessary for the Translator of the work now offered to the public, to assign some reasons for undertaking an employment which he professes to undervalue.
This is an edition of a classical book first published in the eighteenth century.