the First Part. And now, that the work is completed, they can conscientiously appeal to the public at large, whether they have not in every respect fulfilled the promise then made, and produced a Miscellany at once elegant and systematic, scientific and entertaining; replete with nearly the whole wealth of NATURE and ART, and therefore fully entitled to be denominated their general Museum or GALLERY. They trust, that they may equally point to the termination, and to the opening of the present work, in proof that its direct scope is to furnish a Literary Conservatory of Rare, Curious, and Interesting Productions, derived from all quarters, and from all ages of the world; from every branch of science so far as it can be rendered popular, and from every department of research and discovery; from the most approved works of Travels and Antiquities; of Topography and general Geography; of Fossils and Mineralogy; of Natural History and Physiology; of Chemistry and Mechanics. The sanction of mankind, indeed, has already been given to a variety of valuable productions formed upon a basis somewhat similar; several of which, however, have been so long composed, as to become equally antiquated and erroneous in the progressive path of Science; while others, deficient in knowledge or judgment, have been too generally drawn, with little or no discrimination, from wonders and curiosities that have never existed, and exhibit rather a world of fiction than of fact; or have lost all claim to authority, from a vain adoption of the editor's language and opinions instead of the language and opinions of the established sources, from which he should have quoted. Next, therefore, to the extensive research which the present volumes will be found to offer; a research far exceeding what has ever been attempted before; and the systematic, yet easy and familiar method in which they are arranged; it is their first and peculiar claim, that they may be depended upon as primary authorities; every section, as far as it has been possible, being directly copied, in order to avoid endangering the accuracy or integrity of an approved writer, from his best printed edition, without intermediate transcription or mutilation of any kind. For the sake however of connexion and condensation, it has occasionally been found necessary for the Editor, as he has proceeded, to fill up various chapters with observations of his own,-observations which it is hoped will in many instances be found among the most valuable parts of the work; but such sections or passages have been carefully distinguished from the rest; nor have the words of the original authors been ever deviated from, excepting on a few occasions, where brevity, a style peculiarly uncouth, or some other necessity, has rendered an alteration necessary, of which sufficient notice is given to the reader at the time. It may be permitted to the Proprietors to observe, that the extent to which this plan has been carried, has led them into an expence and personal labour, far beyond what they had any idea of; but they have readily and cheerfully persevered, as well out of deference to the judgment and zeal of the enlightened Editor, whose recommendations they have in every instance approved and adopted, as from a full persuasion of an ample reward in the approbation and patronage of their countrymen. The next prominent feature in the present work, to which they are desirous of calling the attention of the Public, is the number and intrinsic excellence of the PLATES, with which it is so richly adorned; and which, they trust, will be found to exalt the GALLERY OF NATURE AND ART above every prior or similar attempt, in no less a degree than the extent, variety, sound judgment, and authority of its matter: With a few exceptions, for in several instances it has been absolutely necessary to give strict copies, the Plates now offered are from original drawings, expressly designed, and of course expressly engraved for the present work: and it is perhaps only necessary for the reader to examine intrinsically and attentively this highly ornamental and beautiful part of the volumes, to see at once, that the general execution as well in designing as in engraving, is from the hands of some of the most approved Artists of the present day, to whom no less than to the Editor, the Proprietors feel bound in justice to acknowledge their sincere obligations. LIST OF PLATES. With Directions for the Bookbinder. The LIST of PLATES to be placed after the Preface, and the CONTENTS at the beginning of the different Volumes. VOLUME I. DR. HERSCHELL'S View of the Organization of the Heavenly Bodies To face page 61 The Comet of 1811, viewed at Day-break, Oct. 15, from Otterbourne-hill, near Winchester 114 Slate Quarry in Long-sle-dale, Westmoreland 323 View of the Interior of the Crater, and the Eruption of Truncated Mountain, with e Focus of an extinguished Volcano, in the Island of Owyee VOLUME II, 466 Grotto del Cane, on the Lake of Agnano, in Italy 103 Excavation leading to the Remains of Herculaneum 229 Roman Tesselated Pavement, found in Leadenhall-street, in 1803 266 View of an Iron Mine 277 Manner of Washing for Gold in the Brazilian Mountains 312 367 VOL. I. View of Mount Parnassus View of the Glaciers, in the Grindelwald, Swisserland To face page 408 415 View of the Devil's Bridge, and its Rocks, on Mount St. Gothard, in the Swiss Canton of Uri The Rock Bridge in Virginia The Needle Rocks, Isle of Wight The Giant's Causeway in Ireland VOLUME III. Fall of the Rhine, near the Bridge at Schaffhausen 24 26 36 80 The great Geyser, or Boiling Spring at Haukadal, in Iceland 119 Mode of Travelling over the Snow in Iceland 131 Inside View of St. Winifred's Well, Flintshire, North Wales 175 The Falls of Niagara 215 Fall of the Staub-bach, in the Valley of Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland 219 High Force, or the Fall of the Tees, on the West of Durham 224 View on the Lake Ladoga Ulleswater, Westmoreland, from the Duke of Norfolk's Park 258 The Bowdar Stone, in the Gorge of Borrowdale, Cumberland 261 Loch Lomond and Ben Lomond 269 The Pees Bridge, between Berwick and Edinburgh 270 View of the Petrifying Spring, or Dropping Well, at Knares borough, in Yorkshire 283 Dreadful Disruption or Breaking of the Dykes in Holland, 1430 286 |