Star.
London, England, 1819-01-21 00:00:00

to.;.ovEl

Love ! inform thy faithful creature
l low to keep hats for one's beast ;
Must it be by truth of nature,
Or by poor dissembling art?
Zell the secret, spew the wonder,
Jim-, we both may phi cut:ends;
I as lost U wain asunder,
Ueifeturtur'il U we're islands!

ENCYCLOPZMA METROPOLITANA.
roes PAM% 14114..11119 sr mita', corns, ISIS.

Encyclopaedias, we believe, form the largest and
UNA important class of Engli..h books, and none are
s.ud to have met wit:. equal support is this country,
comn ercial speculations.
The work before tts is proposed to be extended to
no less ..ban 2.5 vxdunies of closely pinned quarto ;
and if Ole style of its execution comport with the
pledges of the Proprietors and the specimens offered
in the first four Parts, -it will have many claims to
the. public patronage.
As an Encyclopedia, this work comes f rward with
a c'. inn to be the only one of the kin i that arm in-
s!;%.rtion in a circle (en-kuldo) methodically arranged.
Certainly the magt-ii.ude and what tve understand to
be the prodigious sale., of these Works, alike demand
from their projectors the best possible method of ar-
ranging their contemn. No well-ordered mind can
be 17norant of the advantages of a connected system
of study and no lover of his country can be indif-
ferent to the manner in which instruction is commu-
nicated at a period like the present, when the thirst
of knowledge fur which we are distinguished, and
*hich such PieJlications arc so singularly adapted
both to stimulate and to satisfy, will prove ei.her the
decided bane or blessing of the country, according
to the direction which it receives. _ _

The Committee of the Encyclopedia Metropoli-
tana Lave entered, is the First Part, into an elaborate
exposition and defence of the leading principles of
their plan, which proposes to combine a philosophi-
c:L with an alphabetical arrangement of knowledge.
This Treatise is written with great -care, and disco-
ver: much of the originality and comprehension of
mi.id which the public have a right to expect front
the advocates of ,o bold an innovation. They pro-
pose a division ostheir 25 Volumes into four princi-
pal Parts. The first, containing two v Aumes, is de-
voted to what they call .. The Pure Sciences," which
they explain in their Introduction as representing
" the pure acts of the mind, and those only :" these
are again divided into the formal and real sciences.
The sccond division of the work contains " The
Mixed and Applied Sciences," which are to occupy
six volumes. The third division is Biographical
and Historical," and is to consist of eight volumes.
The fourth division, which they denominate Mis-
cAlaneous and Lexicographical,' also contains eight
olti.-ries, and is that part of the work viUeh is alpha-
betically arranged. The 2.5 th is to be a volume of
copious verball.ldex.
In the mode of pursuing the excellent objects •
which the conductors of the Encyclopedia Metropo-
litana propose to themselves, Iteligi:m is every where
treated with respect ; and we think a fair pledge is
given in those parts of the Work to which we have
been able to pay attention, that " every *thing that
is common to or:hodox Protestants" constitutes!
the basis of all the theology that it is designed
to advocate. _

We suspect, however, that, with all its recommen-
dations, the plan of these Gentlemen will require
time to make its way. Encyclopedias have been
hitherto considered simply as books of reference ;
and not a doubt has been suggested, before the ap-
pearance of the present Work, of the propriety of an
alphabetical arraagemeot. That some portion of
human knowledge will admit of no other arrange-
ment, the plan of the Work before us would imply ;
though it may be desirable to render this the least
ossilk part of a Work of Science ; especially when
we consider that the middle and imperfectly edu-
cated classes of society, and persons so locally si-
tuated as to be incapable sometimes of furnishing
themselves with any other library—not those who
possess elaborate distinct Treatises on the S,:iences—
are the principal purchasers of Encyclopedias.
The Biographical part is also well adapted to pur-
chasers
of the above description ; and the Editors
here claim originality in the Chronological arrange-
ment of their Livcs, and in the attempt to include
the far larger portion of History in this engaging
form. The Lives already given are certainly cre-
ditable to the Work. Prefixed to this division is an
Introductory Chapter on the Uses of History, and
on the separation of its early facts from fable."
The English Dictionary, interwoven with the
Fonrth Division, is upon a larger scale, were it even
printed separately, than the celebrated Work of
Johnson, and, notwithstanding his labours, will im-
pose upon the Conductors of it an Tierculean task.—
Th.ty class the Writers Loin whose Werks citations
are made as authorities, (and the labour of reading
through, consecutively, all our best Authors, to make
the selections, seems to have been undertaken .de
rano), into certain periods of our history ; and each.,
word, when it is possible, is supported by authori-1
ties within each period. We should 6e happy, did
our limits allow; to give a specimen of this ingenious'
method of exhibiting the history of every Fatglish
Vora at one view. The article " America," in this
division, contains an able abridgment of ail the in..
formation respecting that interesting t.oloinent. The
Work we undentand to have been alicady rel;rinted
in the United States.
The mechanical execution of the whole is exceed-
iegly crechtahle to the Proprietors ; .particularly the
Plates. The capital catbal kcd in this undertaking
mist be enormous; and we can only add, that we
heartily wish the ,I•:tited Publisher the decided sue-
cTss that he appears to us to deserve.

• . " The first precoliception or master-t►ought," they say, on
whiLh our plan rust,, 6 the moral origin and tendency of all
t-etc Science. In Gther words, our great objects ass to exhibit
t:t!! Arts and Selences in their philosophical harnso!ty, to teach
te„.,,,,phr in yesintt with ➢Murals, and to sustain alwality by
21-.....t1:4 Religion."

The west end of the town now bins to resume a
1:1:e of its usual gay appearance: Pall-Mall and
Bond-qreet, had. yesterday, a number of loungers on
the paves, and fashionable carriages on the
vitl. a 171 a-inkling of coronets amongst them.