ADVERTISEMENT. 



London, March i, 1798. 



A TEAR has nearly ehpfed fmce this Journal firft appeared. A complete Volume 

 is now before the Public ; on which occaf.on it feems neceffary to mention the nature of 

 its contents. Enough has already been fald of the utility of iuch a Work and the dut.cs of 

 the Editor; among which fidelity and accuracy are undoubtedly the chief. Whatever 

 defeas of ability may appear in the fliare I have had in this colkaion, I can with con- 

 fidence affert my claim to thofe moral requifites. I have defcended to none of the arts 

 of Book-makers. No commendatory letters have flowed from my pen: no imaginary 

 congratulations are echoed : no pretended fuccefs forms the fubjeQ of my acknowledge- 

 ments. I have confided in the fincere performance of my engagement with the Public ; 

 and have folicited the approbation of good men by fuch means only as my heart could 

 thoroughly approve. I truft it will give pleafure to many of my Readers to hear that I 

 have not been difappointed. The friendfliip and correfpondence of men whofe talents 

 and virtues I revere, men whofe approval conftitutes the only elV.mable part of fame, 

 have amply overpaid my exertions: and in a commercial view, though I have found the 

 fale of my book unequal to what might have been expeded in times of lefs general diftrefs, 

 ye: it has been progteffively increafing, and fufficient to encourage my perfeverance. 



The copious Table of Contents will render it unnecefTary to recapitulate any of the ex- 

 cellent works I have received or collefted. I have adhered to the principles of feleaion 

 «.hich are exprefled in the Preface publiOied laR year, and have been more felicitous to 

 offer' produftions of real merit and utility than fuch as were chiefly remarkable for their 

 novehy It will be feen. however, that' nearly half the papers in this volume are on- 

 Elnal and interefting ; that above a third conf.fts of new and important works which hav« 

 never yet appeared in our language -, and that the remaining part confifts either of digefted 

 reports and abridj-ments of excellent, but voluminous papers dlfperfed m academical col- 

 leaions, or fuch as from other circumftances deferved to be copied intire. 



Men of information will hence perceive that this work is not an indifcriminate compi- 

 lation of things neareft at hand, nor a loofe temporary record of tranfaaions which a few 

 years mud render worthy of the oblivion they will experience. It is reafonable to hope 

 that it will every year become of more value, as the Repofitory of Difcover.cs ..1 Science 

 and the Arts ; and that it will tend to accelerate the progrefs of both. 



¥oL.I.— March 1798.— Suppl. 



