THE NEW ENCYCLOR/EDIA BRITANNICA.
MR. BLACK, the Edinburgh publisher, who succeeded to much of the varied and extensive business of the great house of CONSTABLE, and to whom a portion of the spirit of literary enterprise which animated that most intelligent and amiable man seems to have descended, has announced a seventh and greatly improved edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica. Mr. MACVEY NAPIER, so favourably known as the editor of the Supplement to that work, is to superintend this great undertaking. The last edition, most of our readers are aware, was no more than a reprint of the fifth, as the latter was of the fourth ; and it was in the Supplement only that the numerous articles were carried forward to the period of the republication. It is intended in the projected edition to blend the Simplement, or at least so much of it as is available for that purpose, with the original work ; the whole of the articles in the one and the other being carefully revised, and where required, completed to the pre- sent time. The revisions and additions will be made by the same writers who orhsinally contributed the articles. The splendid Prelimi- nary Dissertation of the late Professor DUGALD STEWART will be continued by a not unworthy follower of so distinguished a meta- physician—Sir JAMES MACKINTOsii ; and that of the late Professor PLAYFAIR will be completed by his friend and successor Professor LESLIE. Sir JAmEs's portion is, we believe, already finished. We have heard that in this extensive work the publishers are prepared to expend not less than twenty thousand pounds for literary assistance alone ! Such a magnificent offering to learn:ins and the arts, goes further to establish the claim of the Northern metropolis to the title of the ". Modern Athens," than all the beauties of its site and of its buildings. It is intended to publish in monthly parts, six of which will form a volume, and by extending the contents of the pages, the whole work will be completed in twenty volumes ; making the entire cost only thirty-six pounds. Long, however, before, in the ordinary course, the publication by parts can be completed, the whole work will be printed ; so that such subscribers as are impatient can complete their copies in a few years, instead of waiting twelve. For the first time a copious index is to be added ; and the series of plates will be entirely new. The publishers say truly, that, " considerine, its execution and extent, this work will indeed present the cheapest digest of human knowledge that has yet appeared in Britain, in the convenient form of a dictionary."
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