PREFACE.

THE whole of Literature, as regards its form (forma), may be comprised in books, pamphlets, and magazines,-which division may be said to correspond with works finished and complete; with partial observations and temporary comments; and, thirdly, with the first scattered elements of thought, and the original ideas suggested by the subject. The Magazine is comparatively of late introduction into the literature of our country; and its place was previously supplied by pamphlets and tracts, of all sizes and descriptions, including small treatises, down to single sheets, and even solitary leaves. But, valuable as these often were separately, and of increased importance when collected, one undeniable defect attended this form of publication,-that they were easily lost, and when lost seldom recovered or replaced; and thus they became "fugitive pieces" in a double sense of the word. "Pamphlets and small tracts," says Dr. Johnson, "make a very important part of an English library; nor are there any pieces upon which those who aspire to the reputation of judicious collectors of books bestow more attention or greater expense; because many advantages may be expected from the perusal of these small productions, which are scarcely to be found in that of larger works." But of a class of works so judiciously and highly esteemed it would be useless to conjecture the proportion that must have perished from neglect and accident, dating from their first appearance, which is supposed to have been about the time of the Reformation. Dr. Johnson in his days thought that no time was to be lost in securing them from further danger of destruction, and advised their being placed in safety by being collected into volumes, and distributed according to their subjects. In the present day the Magazine has in a great measure offered a better and safer channel for such communications as the pamphlet was formerly the only vehicle for affording: it has also the advantage of more easily adapting its dimensions to the exact importance of the subject, and of interposing spaces and pauses, if required, between different parts and divisions of the subject. Here, amidst the various communications of the Magazine, the

faint spark of a thought may be struck out, which may subsequently kindle into a brighter flame, till it increases into the steady light of a mature and confirmed knowledge. Here the first blossom of truth may find a friendly shelter to expand, and that theory be timidly advanced, which is hereafter to consolidate itself into a system, and be ranked among the discoveries of truth. Such is the use and such the purpose of our Magazine among others; and it is with the best judgment that its founders and proprietors have in a great measure confined it to a certain class or circle of subjects. For without some definite path of research, without some circumscription of inquiry, attention would be wasted, and the advancement of knowledge retarded. Accuracy can only be attained by confining ourselves to a limited sphere, and by repeated investigation of the same subject. It is true that we cannot hope equally to please the taste or satisfy the wants of all readers; but this may be said of all works equally as of ours. No writer can hope to satisfy all; let him confine his ambition in the narrower desire of pleasing and instructing some. Those, too, whose delight is to look curiously after slight inaccuracies either of style or fact may occasionally find them in our pages, as in those of others. Some arise from the very nature of our publication, which cannot be delayed to meet prolonged researches, or wait for a more scrupulous elaboration of style; but we are quite willing to place ourselves, in this respect, in competition not only with similar works to our own, but with those that assume a far higher title, and aspire to a more extensive fame. No doubt, too, there is a difference in the comparative value of many of the articles included in our general mass of information; and this arises partly from the nature of the subjects, partly from the degrees of talent or learning in our correspondents; but this, too, is the common lot of all that is subjected to the labour of man: even the gifts of nature are bestowed on us with a promiscuous mixture of the valuable and the worthless; the ore of the richest mine is accompanied with dross, and the gold and gems of the Peruvian mines are intermixed with the sand and ooze of the rivers where they are found.

S. URBAN.

Dec. 31, 1846.