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: CONDORCET CHAPTER XII THE THEORY OF PROGRESS IN ENGLAND CHAPTER XIII GERMAN SPECULATIONS ON PROGRESS CHAPTER XIV CURRENTS OF THOUGHT IN FRANCE AFTER THE REVOLUTION CHAPTER XV THE SEARCH FOR A LAW OF PROGRESS: I.SAINT-SIMON CHAPTER XVI SEARCH FOR A LAW OF PROGRESS: II.

COMTE CHAPTER XVII "PROGRESS" IN THE FRENCH REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT (1830-1851) CHAPTER XVIII MATERIAL PROGRESS: THE EXHIBITION OF 1851 CHAPTER XIX PROGRESS IN THE LIGHT OF EVOLUTION EPILOGUE APPENDIX: NOTES TO THE TEXT [Proofreaders note: these notes have been interspersed in the main text as Footnotes].