PREFACE. Ar the close of another period devoted to the publication and completion of a volume of the ATHENEUM, we are happy in having it in our power to offer its patrons the concluding number of a larger volume of the work than they have heretofore received. The same principles have governed us in the selection and arrangement of its contents, that have been our guide in conducting former volumes; and we will venture to hope that the new literary journals which have lately been received, and the improvement in some of the old ones, together with greater experience, have increased its value in regard to the entertainment and instruction of its pages, as well as their number. The enlargement of the Atheneum has been attended with expense and difficulty to the Proprietor. One circumstance only, however, has given us cause of regret in regard to this measure: the typography of the work, in consequence of it, has not been so neatly executed as we could have wished. It was necessary that new paper and a new press should be made, and in the qualities of both we have been disappointed. But these defects will be remedied in future; and we shall endeavor to have the Atheneum deserve the credit of being elegantly, as we believe it does now that of being correctly, printed. It has been suggested to us in various ways, that it would be agreeable to our readers to know from which of the English Magazines each article in the Atheneum is taken. Several editors of newspapers have indeed gone so far as to accuse us of a want of candor and justice in neglecting to give this information. We are always willing to listen to any sugges tions or complaints from these sources,-we duly appreciate any encomiums upon our labors from them, and we also like to see the principle of fair and upright dealing in all things maintained and defended: but when some of these same editors, who are so watchful over this principle in us, entertain no scruples in copying liberally from our pages, without giving credit either to the Atheneum or the source which its very title acknowledges, we must say they show at least a slight degree PREFACE. Ar the close of another period devoted to the publication and completion of a volume of the ATHENEUM, we are happy in having it in our power to offer its patrons the concluding number of a larger volume of the work than they have heretofore received. The same principles have governed us in the selection and arrangement of its contents, that have been our guide in conducting former volumes; and we will venture to hope that the new literary journals which have lately been received, and the improvement in some of the old ones, together with greater experience, have increased its value in regard to the entertainment and instruction of its pages, as well as their number. The enlargement of the Atheneum has been attended with expense and difficulty to the Proprietor. One circumstance only, however, has given us cause of regret in regard to this measure: the typography of the work, in consequence of it, has not been so neatly executed as we could have wished. It was necessary that new paper and a new press should be made, and in the qualities of both we have been disappointed. But these defects will be remedied in future; and we shall endeavor to have the Atheneum deserve the credit of being elegantly, as we believe it does now that of being correctly, printed. It has been suggested to us in various ways, that it would be agreeable to our readers to know from which of the English Magazines each article in the Atheneum is taken. Several editors of newspapers have indeed gone so far as to accuse us of a want of candor and justice in neglecting to give this information. We are always willing to listen to any sugges tions or complaints from these sources,-we duly appreciate any encomiums upon our labors from them, and we also like to see the principle of fair and upright dealing in all things maintained and defended: but when some of these same editors, who are so watchful over this principle in us, entertain no scruples in copying liberally from our pages, without giving credit either to the Atheneum or the source which its very title acknowledges, we must say they show at least a slight degree |