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ENCYCLOPEDIA ENDEAVOUR STRAITS. 



Encyclopaedia, 18101830, 18 vols. 4to. This work, 

 devoted particularly to natural science and techno- 

 logy, was conducted by Dr Hrrwsirr. 5. Encyclo- 

 pedia Londinensis, published by John Wilkes, begun 

 in 1796. 6. Encyclopedia Edinensis, edited by Dr J. 

 Millar, 181627,6 vols. 4to. 1. Encyclopaedia Me- 

 tropolitana, London, 4to, begiui in I si.., to consist of 

 25 vols. 4to. 8. Nicholson's British Encyclopaedia, 

 in 12 vols. 1809 et seq. 9. Gregory's Dictionary of 

 Arts and Sciences, 3 vols. 4to. Besides these larger 

 works, a multitude of smaller cyclopedias have been 

 published by Watson, Willich, Enfold, Kendal, and 

 others. 



The Italians nave G. P. Pivati's Dizionario scien- 

 tifico e curioso, sacro-profano, Venice, 1746 51, 10 

 vols. fol. Of the French cyclopaedias, the most fa- 

 mous is the great Dictionaire Encyclopedigue, by 

 Diderot and D'Alembert, (see next article.) This 

 was followed by the more extensive one of Felice. 

 Still more comprehensive is the Encyclopedic met/to- 

 dique, ou par Ordre de Matieres, which has been pub- 

 lishing at Paris since 1782, and is now extended to 

 148 4to vols. text, and 52 vols. copper-plates. The 

 French have also the Encyclopedic Moderne, begun 

 in 1824, finished in 1832, 24 vols. 8vo; and the 

 Encyclopedic des Gens du Monde, begun in 1833. 

 Several works of this kind have also been published 

 in Germany, independently of the Conversations- 

 Lexicon. Krunitz's Encyclopaedia is the most cele- 

 brated. The Deutsche Encyclopadie oder allgem. 

 /forterbuch alter Kunste und Wissenschaften, begun 

 by Roster, in 1778, and continued by J. F. Roos, to 

 the 23d volume, 1804, remains unfinished. Among 

 the latest encyclopaedian journals are Jullien^ 

 Revue Encyclopedigue, and Ferussac's Bulletin uni- 

 versel des Sciences et de F Industrie, the latter of which 

 is published monthly, arranged in eight sections. 



The rapid advancement of the sciences and arts, 

 and the proportionally rapid communication between 

 all civilized nations, have made a general acquain- 

 tance with many different branches of knowledge 

 more desirable, and often more necessary, than ever 

 before. This is one of the chief causes which have 

 produced in our time so many encyclopaedias of 

 various kinds, some very learned, and others more 

 adapted for the general reader ; some embracing all 

 the sciences and arts, others only single branches ; 

 of the latter sort are Loudon's Encyclopaedias of 

 Gardening, of Agriculture, &c. To the same class 

 belong the numerous dictionaries intended to impart 

 information in certain branches of knowledge, such 

 as Macculloch's Dictionary of Commerce. Among 

 the encyclopaedian works particularly intended for 

 general readers, are the Library of Useful Know- 

 ledge, published by the Society for the Diffusion of 

 Useful Knowledge, doctor Lardner's Cabinet Cyclo- 

 paedia, the Family Library, &c. As every thing can 

 be abused, so encyclopaedias, which may contribute 

 to propagate widely useful knowledge, may also tend 

 to produce a disposition to be satisfied with superficial 

 information, as in the case of the lady who spoke very 

 learnedly, a whole evening, on a variety of subjects, 

 the names of which all began with ca. It afterwards 

 appeared, that she had just received the second vol- 

 ume of a new encyclopaedia. 



ENCYCLOPEDIE, THE FRENCH. The term 

 encyclopaedists is used, particularly in French litera- 

 ture, to signify those who were engaged in the great 

 alphabetical encyclopedia, embracing all arts and 

 sciences, which was projected by Diderot; and is 

 applied, also, to those who joined themselves to their 

 party in philosophy and criticism, as Helvetius, for 

 instance. Bouterwek says of this undertaking: 

 " As Diderot took a lively interest in every thing , 

 worth knowing, he could not confine his literary la- 1 



bours to a single department. Mathematics, physics, 

 philosophy, and belles-lettres in turn attracted him. 

 None but a mind of his excursive, encyclopaedian 

 turn, would have conceived the plan of preparing a 

 summary of all human knowledge, up to the middle 

 of the eighteenth century, in the form of a universal 

 dictionary." And none but a man of Diderot's 

 enthusiasm could have persevered in the execution of 

 this work, in spite of all difficulties, and overlooking, 

 in the zealous prosecution of his plan, the injury 

 tliat such a work might do, by encouragiug superfi- 

 cial and partial views. The work was undertaken 

 at a time when every existing opinion and institution 

 was eagerly brought before the tribunal of inquiry 

 and criticism. This inquiring and criticising spirit 

 naturally followed an age in which authority was 

 supreme ; and thus the Encyclopedic was the conse- 

 quence, as well as the cause, ot a new epoch. That 

 many false and superficial views should be mingled 

 with it, is not strange ; the golden mean of truth is 

 seldom discovered at once. 



In the philosophical and critical articles, the pe- 

 culiar sentiments of the writers of the Encyclopedic 

 were received by the French public as the oracles of 

 truth ; and it became easy for the encyclopaedists to 

 give currency to what they called philosophy. They 

 had, also, a great influence on the literary taste, not 

 only of the French, but of other nations. Polished 

 correctness, elegance of style, with an imitation of 

 nature, and a moral design, were the highest excel- 

 lences which they saw in art, and the great objects of 

 attainment. As they made the understanding the 

 sole judge of poetry, which was, therefore, to be the 

 cool product of reflection, their views, by means of 

 the authority which they had acquired, tended ex- 

 tremely to cramp the genius of the French in respect 

 to works of imagination, and to destroy all boldness 

 and freedom. They gained a still greater authority 

 by their philosophy, just suited as it was to the pre- 

 vailing spirit of the French people. Indeed, there 

 is hardly an instance to be found in which the literati 

 of a nation have obtained so extensive and powerful 

 an influence on political sentiment as the French 

 literati, and particularly the French encyclopaedists. 

 Their philosophy, too, was a fashionable philosophy, 

 a philosophy for common life, favourable to wit and 

 gayety. Instead of proceeding with steady steps 

 to the goal of truth, they hurried to and fro, 

 with daring leaps, and imagined that they had 

 reached the mark, if they could maintain an opin- 

 ion which contained something new and paradoxical. 

 This mixture of philosophy with elegant literature 

 became still more interesting on account of the opin- 

 ions which men like Mably, Condiilac, Mercier, 

 Raynal, Buffon, Helvetius, Diderot, and D'Alembert 

 advanced on the subjects of religion and civil go- 

 vernment, for which a prohibition was laid on the 

 further progress of the work. But the printers 

 only, and not the authors, were punished, and the 

 o-overnment was soon after obliged to permit the 

 work to proceed, as it was too weak to prevent it. 

 To the encyclopaedists, who were connected with the 

 highest circles of that time, is justly attributed a 

 very important influence on the French revolution. 

 Encyclop., ou Diction, ralsonne des Sciences, des 

 Arts et des Metiers, par une Societe de Gens de Let- 

 tres, mis en Ordre par Diderot, et quant a la Partie 

 mathemat. par d'Alembert (Paris, 1741 72, 28 vols. 

 fol.) Supplem. (Amsterdam, Paris, 1776 77, 5 vols. 

 fol.), Table des Matieres (Paris, 1780,2 vols. fol.), 

 n all 35 volumes ; also, at Geneva, 3i) vols. 4to ; 

 Tables to it ; Lyons, 1780, 6 vols. 4to ; Lausanne 

 and Berne, 177881, 36 vols. 3 4to vols. en- 

 gravings. 



ENDEAVOUR STRAITS ; a channel which se 



