Recapitulation. 9,^5 



lure, and formed one of the mo^t imi^ortant a3i;as 

 ill the history of human afra,ii^s. It not only in- 

 creased the number and reduced the price of 

 Looks, but it also furnished authors M'ith the 

 means of laying the fruits of their labours before 

 the public, in the most prompt and extensive 

 manner. Considering this art, moreover, as a 

 ^reat moral and political engine, by which an 

 impression may be made on a large portion of a 

 community at the same time, it assumes a degree 

 of importaiice highly interesting to the philaii- 

 thropist, as well as to the scholar *. 



The extension of this art in the eighteenth cen- 

 jtury forms one of the leading features of the age. 

 Jn the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, e^pe- 

 pially in tlie former, printing presses were iew, 

 and of course publication was by no means easy. 

 The century nnder review exhibited an immense 

 extension of the art. This extension was not 

 only general, but so great, that the most mode- 

 rate estimate presents a result truly stupendous. 

 There was probably a thousand fold more print- 

 ing executed in the course of this^ century, than 

 ^n the whole period that had before elapsed since 

 .the invention of the art ■\. The influence of this 



■^■.See Additional Notes (^t). 



t Tliis will appear a moderate calculation, when it is consi- 

 dered that there is a prodigious increase, not only in the number 

 of new works annually issued from the press, but also in the ex- 

 tent aad number of ed^Vzo^w constautlyilemanded by tl\e piiblir. 

 And M hen to this is added the amount of printing which h:is 

 ,heen continually going foruard, particularly within the lastiiily 

 years, in furnishing the whole literary woild with such a nunj- 

 ber ajid variety of periodical publicaiion.s, as Reviews, Maja- 



