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Monthly Magazines have opened a way for every kind of inquiry and information. The intelligence and discussion contained in them are very extensive and various; and they have been the means of diffusing a general habit of reading through the nation, which, in a certain degree hath enlarged the public understanding. HERE, too, are preserved a multitude of useful hints, observations, and facts, which otherwise might never have appeared.-Dr. Kippis.

BOSTON :

PUBLISHED BY MUNROE AND FRANCIS, No. 4, CORNHILL.
Corner of Water-Street.

SUBSCRIPTIONS

RECEIVED ALSO BY THE FOLLOWING AGENTS ---A. T. GOODRICH & CO. NEW-YORK; HENRY WHIPPLE, SALEM; CHARLES WHIPPLE, NEWBURY-PORT; WILLIAM HILLIARD, CAMBRIDGE; J. W. FOSTER, PORTSMOUTH; SAMUEL JOHNSON, PORTLAND; G. A. TRUMBULL, WORCESTER; GOODAle, glazier & Co. HALLOWELL; T. DICKMAN, SPRINGFIELD; GEORGE DANA, PROVIDENCE; JOSIAH C. SHAW, NEWPORT; GOODWIN & SONS, HARTFORD; HOWE & SPALDING, NEW-HAVEN; E. F. BACKUS, ALBANY ; LITTEL, PHILADELPHIÁ; EDWARD J. COALE, BALTIMORE; J. THOMAS, GEORGETOWN; WARE & GIBB, MON

S. N. TENNEY, NEWBURY-PORT; JOSEPH TARDIF, QUEBEC;
TREAL; AND W. T. WILLIAMS, SAVANNAH, (GEO.)

Price $2,50 stitched or $3 bound.

P120.1

HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY

1863. Jeb. Z

Gift of

Francis Brown, Esq.

& Bestin

7
Trols.

ADVERTISEMENT.

SEVEN years have elapsed since the first Number of the ATHENEUM Was presented for public patronage. During this time a large mass of odd numbers has accumulated, and left us in possession of about forty complete sets only, notwithstanding the republication of several volumes. It is now I thought adviseable to commence a New Series, as there are many persons who wish a complete set of any work, but perhaps are deterred from subscribing, on account of the number and expense of previous volumes. To those, who have already perused the work, we can only say, that the same spirit which has animated the former volumes will be diffused through the future series; and that a number of new articles from a new magazine will be begun and carried on in short lectures, adapted to the capacities of young readers, and amusing to those already conversant with the subjects, which are, Chemistry and Scientific Miscellany. Other useful and entertaining matter will be inserted, especially Extracts from Modern Travels illustrative of the Manners and Customs of Scripture History.

The great increase of periodical works in Europe has necessarily increased the amount and diversity of talent engaged in this pleasing and useful mode of publication. To gleaners, like us, in this extensive field, the harvest is truly great; and the difficulty of compiling a work like the Atheneum, does not arise from a want of matter in every kind of reading, solid and light, but in making the proper choice of what is best from these abundant fountains. Never has genius and critical acumen been enlisted into more active service, than at the present moment. They stand centinel over the publishing world, encouraging, marshalling and protecting whatever is worthy in morals or in mind, and strangling in embryo the noxious ephemera of literature.

It may be truly said, that the wizard regions of fancy are every day extending; the spacious fields of science and invention are constantly widening; and the reading public, as in Athens of old, seems destined to embrace the whole community. Under such circumstances, it appears surprising that there are so few Magazine readers in America, compared with those of England. Any thing in the shape of a newspaper, is patronized, torn up, and its contents, if not upon the eternal topic of politics, even forgotten, till the old dish is perhaps hashed up for a new course. The American reader, in contra

distinction to the European, seems to entertain a mortal antipathy to any kind of periodical reading that can be laid on the shelf; his money is freely given for the mental food that perisheth,' but for that which endureth in sheepskin for the edification of his children, he thinks it a' twice-told tale.'

The dearth of interest in the old song of politics, since the suspension of party-spirit in this country, has been so great, that the newspapers have begun to occupy the ground which in England is almost exclusively possessed by magazines; how inconveniently need scarcely be mentioned, as the vehicles of communication are hardly held together during perusal, and at farthest are destined, like Jonah's gourd, to perish on the morrow" to wrap a package or to singe a goose."

THE ATHENEUM, or SPIRIT of the ENGLISH MAGAZINES, is published in Boston, on the 1st and 15th of every month. Each number contains forty pages large octavo, forming two volumes of nearly five hundred pages each in a year, at the low price of Five Dollars per annum. The work is regularly forwarded by mail to subscribers at a distance. Its appearance twice a month renders it more convenient to transport, and with less delay, than monthly publications, whilst by this mode of publication it is enabled to anticipate whatever is novel or entertaining in the literary, scientific, and fashionable world.

The publishers receive by every arrival from England the magazines, printed in London and Edinburgh, and the selections are made with a scrupulous regard to the tastes of those who read for relaxation, amusement, or instruction.

The first series of the work commenced in April, 1817; and the volumes continue to be dated from April and October in each year.

Price bound $3, or in yellow paper $2,50 per volume.

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