Vlll PREFACE. 



treatises on Architecture and Building ; and the pro- 

 cesses of particular Arts and Manufactures were either 

 communicated by professional men, or in various in- 

 stances drawn up under their inspection. 



When the reader shall have directed his attention to 

 the ample quantity of original and excellent matter con- 

 tained in the articles here pointed out, besides others 

 more concise, and interspersed through the work, he 

 will be enabled to form some judgment of its utility and 

 comparative cheapness. 



It is now a year since the Proprietors and Conduc- 

 tors of this work solicited the public encouragement, 

 with a full determination to spare no exertions in per- 

 forming the duties required in their arduous undertak- 

 ing. The event, they trust, has gratified their expecta- 

 tion. The British Encyclopedia was commenced, has 

 been regularly continued, and is now completed in six 

 handsome volumes, agreeably to the Prospectus. In the 

 typographical execution of this Dictionary, and in the 

 engravings with which it is illustrated, they feel confi- 

 dent they may claim a superiority over every other work 

 of the same kind. An extensive sale has already given 

 proof of the approbation they have laboured to deserve ; 

 and they trust, that as the British Encyclopedia conti- 

 nues to increase in circulation, it will maintain the repu- 

 tation it has already acquired. 



