The editor of the Encyclopædia Americana, in perfect accordance with the spirit of the times, takes care to show, that his work is a little superior to any thing of the kind that has ever been presented to the public, and that it will be "found satisfactory" where others have been "very deficient." We have no disposition to question these pretensions, nor to practise the "cut-and-dry system " of reviewing; nor yet to intrude our own opinions and statements of facts, except where we can correct error, or add our mite to the general stock of useful knowledge.
"The last half century, particularly the latter part of it," Mr. Lieber very justly remarks, in his preface, "has probably been more fertile in memorable events, and important discoveries and inventions, than any equal period in history. How many extraordinary changes have we witnessed in both hemispheres, as well in politics, in the sciences and in opinions, as in the individuals who have borne a conspicuous part in the affairs of the civilized world during that time! How important have been the results of the numberless voyages of discovery, the revolutions of states, and the wars, which have excited so intense an interest during that period—an interest which has been the more constantly kept up, as the facility of communication between all the branches of the great human family seems, at the same time, to have gone on increasing in proportion to the multitude of events and circumstances which have thus influenced their destiny. Formerly, years would elapse before the most important facts could pass the barriers which an imperfect navigation of the ocean, or a diversity of languages, had thrown between nations. NowtJie, even the petty quarrels and frolics of students in a German or French university find their way, in the course of a few weeks, into the columns of an American newspaper. Then, a century would pass by, before even a Shakspeare was justly estimated beyond the confines of his native land; while
