University of Virginia Library

LARDNER'S CABINET CYCLOPÆDIA.

Considerable progress having been made in this work, the publishers
wish to direct the attention of the public to the advantages by which it
is distinguished from other similar monthly publications.

It is not intended that the Cabinet Cyclopædia shall form an interminable
series, in which any work of interest which may present itself from
time to time can claim a place. Its subjects are classified according to
the usual divisions of literature, science, and art. Each division is distinctly
traced out, and will consist of a determinate number of volumes. Although
the precise extent of the work cannot be fixed with certainty, yet
there is a limit which will not be exceeded; and the subscribers may look
forward to the possession, within a reasonable time, of a complete library
of instruction, amusement, and general reference, in the regular form of
a popular Cyclopædia.

The several classes of the work are—1, NATURAL PHILOSOPHY; 2,
The USEFUL and FINE ARTS; 3, NATURAL HISTORY; 4, GEOGRAPHY;
5, POLITICS and MORALS; 6, GENERAL LITERATURE
and CRITICISM; 7, HISTORY; 8, BIOGRAPHY.

In the above abstruse and technical departments of knowledge, an attempt
has been made to convey to the reader a general acquaintance with
these subjects, by the use of plain and familiar language, appropriate
and well-executed engravings, and copious examples and illustrations,
taken from objects and events with which every one is acquainted.

The proprietors formerly pledged themselves that no exertion should
be spared to obtain the support of the most distinguished talent of the age.
They trust that they have redeemed that pledge. Among the volumes
already published in the literary department, no less than four have been
the production of men who stand in the first rank of literary talent,—Sir
James Mackintosh and Sir Walter Scott. In the scientific department, a
work has been produced from the pen of Mr. Herschel, which has been
pronounced by the highest living authority on subjects of general philosophy,
to contain “the noblest observations on the value of knowledge
which have been made since Bacon,” and to be “the finest work of philosophical
genius which this age has seen.”

The following is a selection from the list of Contributors.

The Right Honorable Sir JAMES MACKINTOSH, M.P.

The Right Rev The Lord Bishop of Cloyne.

Sir WALTER SCOTT, Bart.

JOHN FREDERICK WILLIAM HERSCHEL, Esq.

THOMAS MOORE, Esq.

J. B. BIOT, Member of the French Institute.

ROBERT SOUTHEY, Esq. Poet Laureate.

The Baron CHARLES DUPIN, Member of the Royal Institute and
Chamber of Deputies.

THOMAS CAMPBELL, Esq. T. B. MACAULEY, Esq. M.P.

DAVID BREWSTER, LL.D. J. C. L. SISMONDI, of Geneva.

Capt. HENRY KATER, Vice President of the Royal Society.

The ASTRONOMER ROYAL. DAVIES GILBERT, Esq. M.P.

S. T. COLERIDGE, Esq. JAMES MONTGOMERY, Esq.

The Right Hon. T. P. COURTENAY, M.P.

J. J. BERZELIUS, of Stockholm, F.R.S., &c.

The Rev. G. R. GLEIG.

T. PHILLIPS, Esq. Prof. of Painting, R.A.

Rev. C. THIRLWALL, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.

ANDREW URE, M.D. F.R.S. &c. &c. &c.