UNIVERSAL ERUDITION; 



tditos &? anecdotos. The critical art is here 

 indifpenfably neccfiary ; its refeurches, moreover, 

 have no bounds, and the more, as the ufe 

 of it augments every day, by the difcover- 

 ies that are made in languages, and by the in- 

 creafe of erudition. 



XII. We might here fpeak of the invention 

 of printing, and of the different characters of 

 books that hare appeared fince that epoch : 

 but all that concerns printed books, feems to 

 appertain lefs to the diplomatic, which relates to 

 manufcripts, than to the knowledge of authors ; 

 we mall therefore take due care, when we treat 

 on that part of literature, to mention every- 

 thing material that relates to the art of printing. 



CHAP- XIII. 



STATISTICS. 



I. AFTER having learned the ancient ftate 

 ^A* of the world by hiftory, by antiquities, 

 medals, and the diplomatic art, it is both na- 

 tural 



