The enclosure on verso was a sample printed page of Milligan’s proposed edition of David Ricardo, On the Principles of Political Economy, and Taxation (London, 1817). The text of the sample page begins “If the necessaries of the workman could be constantly increased with the same facility” and ends “By producing, then, he necessarily becomes either the consumer of his own goods, or the purchaser and consumer of the goods of some other person.” It is drawn from chapter 19 of the work and labeled at the top as p. 399. Milligan proceeded to publish the first American edition of this work in Georgetown in 1819, with the same title (Poor, Jefferson’s Library description begins Nathaniel P. Poor, Catalogue. President Jefferson’s Library, 1829 description ends , 11 [no. 701]). The text of the sample page enclosed here appears on pp. 299–300.

A review in the 59th no of the Edinburgh Review praised Ricardo for doing more for the science of political economy than any other writer, with the possible exception of Adam Smith (Edinburgh Review 30 [June 1818]: 59–87, esp. 60).