,^I; ' LITER-'^RY INTELLENGB^CER. j^jp. 



It V70uld be ver)' proper, iiowever, to exclude from this 

 colle^ion all foreign, publications whatever, and to make }t 

 really and truly a national repofitory, and nothing elfe. 

 Were fuch an inftitution once fairly eftablillied in Britain, 

 it is not to be doubted but all European nations would 

 quickly follow the example. Thus would the philofopher 

 of an enlarged mind be enabled to compare at pJealure, no^ .. 

 only one nation with itfelf, at different periods, as to men- 

 tal endowments and other acquirements, but one nation al-' 

 fo with another, at the fame or any other period of time. 

 He would thus have provided for him every thing that was 

 necefiary, to enable him to take a general furvey of the 

 world, phyfical, moral or intellcftual, at any period he chofe, 

 fo as to illullrate the objefl he had in view at the time, 

 witli the moll accurate precifion. 



i^. B. It may be proper to inform the reader, that the 

 firfl hint for this propofal was fuggefled by a circum- 

 ilance wliich {hewed at once its prafticabiJity and uti- 

 lity. A gentleman, who lives in a town where only' 

 two or tlirce printing-houfes are eftabli/hed, has, by 

 his private influence with the printers, obtained a copy 

 ot every paper that has iflued from their prefs for more 

 than thirty years pafl, which he has now in his pof- 

 felTion, and v/hich forms a curious colleflion of pro- 

 vincial hiflory, from which he, as a lawyer, derives 

 jmuch advantage. 



Ha 



