ENCYCLOPEDIA 199 Marmontel, Montesquieu, D Anville, D Holbach and Turgot, the leader of the new school of economists which made its first appearance in the pages of the Encyclopedic. Louis wrote the surgery, Daubentou natural history, Eidous heraldry and art, Toussaint jurisprudence, and Condamine articles on South America. No encyclopaedia perhaps has been of such political importance, or has occupied so con spicuous a place in the civil and literary history of its century. It sought not only to give information, but to guide opinion. It was, as Eosenkranz says (Diderot, i. 157), theistic and heretical. It was opposed to the church, then all powerful in France, and it treated dogma histori cally. It was, as Desnoiresterres says (Voltaire, v. 1G4), a war machine ; as it progressed, its attacks both on the church and the still more despotic government, as well as on Christianity itself, became bolder and more undisguised, and it was met by opposition and persecution unparalleled in the history of encyclopaedias. Its execution is very un equal, and its articles of very different value. It was not constructed on a regular plan, or subjected to sufficient suparvision ; articles were sent in by the contributors, and not seen by the editors until they were in type. In each subject there are some excellent articles, but others are very inferior or altogether omitted, and references are often given to articles which do not exist. Tims marine is said to be more than three-fourths deficient ; and in geo graphy errors and omissions abound, even capitals and sovereign states are overlooked, while villages are given as towns, and towns are described which never existed. The style is too generally loose, digressive, and inexact ; dates are seldom given ; and discursiveness, verbosity, and dogmatism are frequent fault3. Voltaire was constantly de manding truth, brevity, and method, and said it was built half of marble and half of wood. D Alembert compared it to a harlequin s coat, in which there is some good stuff but too many rags. Diderot was dissatisfied with it as a whole ; much of it was compiled in haste; and carelessly written articles and incompetent contributors were admitted for want of money to pay good writers. Zedler s Universal Lexicon is now on the whole much more useful for reference than its far more brilliant successor. The permanent value of encyclopaedias depends on the proportion of exact and precise facts they contain, and on their systematic regularity. The first edition of the Encyclopedic, in 17 vols. folio, 10,288 pages, was imitated by a counterfeit edition printed at Geneva as the volumes appeared in Paris. Eleven folio volumes of plates were published at Paris, 1762 to 1772, containing 2888 plates and 923 pages of explanation, itc. A supplement was printed at Amsterdam and Paris, 1776- 77, fol. 5 vols., 3874 pages, with 224 plates. History was introduced at the wish of the public, but only "the general features which mark epochs in the annals of the world." The astronomy was by Delalande, mathematics by Condorcet, tables by Bernouilli, natural history by Adanson, anatomy and physiology by Haller. Daubenton, Condamine, Marmontel, and other old contributors wrote many articles, and several were taken from foreign editions. A very full and elaborate index of the articles and subjects of the 33 volumes was printed at Amsterdam in 1780, fol. 2 vols., 1852 pages. It was made by Pierre Mouchon, who was born at Geneva 30th July 1735, consecrated minister 18th August 1758, pastor of the French church at Basel 1766, elected a pastor in Geneva 6th March 1788, principal of the college there 22d April 1791, died 20 August 1797. This Table Analytique, which took him five years to make, was undertaken for the publishers Cramer and De Ton rues, who gave him 800 louis for it. Though very exact and full, he designedly omits the attacks on Christianity. This index was rendered more useful and indispensable by the very diffuse and digressive style of the work, and by the vast number of its articles. A complete copy of the first edition of the Encyclopedia consists of 35 vols. fol., printed 1751-80, containing 23,135 pages and 3132 plates. It was written by about 160 contributors. About 1761, Panckoucke and other publishers in Paris proposed a new and revised edition, and bought the plates for 250,000 livres. But, as Diderot indignantly refused to edit what he considered a fraud on the subscribers to the as yet un finished work, they began simply to reprint the work, pro mising supplementary volumes. When three volumes were printed the whole was seized in 1770 by the Govern ment at the complaint of the clergy, and was lodged in the Bastille. The plan of a second French edition was laid aside then, to be revived twenty years later in a very different form. Foreign editions of the Encyclopedic are numerous, and it is difficult to enumerate them correctly. One, with notes by Ottavio Diodati, Dr Sebastiauo Paoli, and Carlo Giuliani appeared at Lucca, 1758-71, fol. 17 vols. of text and 10 of plates. Though it was very much expurgated, all engaged in it were excommunicated by the pope in 1759. An attempt made at Siena to publish an Italian translation failed. An edition by the Abb6 Serafini and Dr Gonnella, Livourue, 1770, <tc.,fol. 33 vols., returned a profit of 60,000 piastres, and was protected by Leopold II., who secured the pope s silence. Other editions are Geneve, Cramer, 1772-76, a facsimile reprint; Geneve, Pellet, 1777-79, 4to, 36 vols. of text and 3 of plates, with 6 vols. of Mouchon s index, Lyon 1780, 4to; Geneve et Neufchatel, Pellet, 1778-79, 4to, 36 vols. of text and 3 of plates; Lausanne, 1778-81, 36 vols. 4to, or 72 octavo, of text and 3 of plates 1779-80 ; Lausanne et Berne, chez les Societe s Typogra plaques, 1780-82, 36 vols. 8vo of text and 3 vols. 4to of plates, 1 782. These four editions have the supple ment incorporated. Fortune 1 Barthelemy de Felice, an Italian monk, born at Rome 24th August 1723, who had been professor at Rome and Naples, and had become a Protestant, printed a very incorrect though successful edition, Yverdun, 1770-80 4to, 42 vols. of text, 5 of sup plement, and 10 of plates. It professed to be a new work, standing in the same relationship to the Encyclopedic as that did to Chambers s, which is far from being the case. Sir Joseph Ayloffe issued proposals, 14th December 1751, for an English translation of the Encyclopedic, to be finished by Christinas 1756, in 10 vols. 4 to, with at least 600 plates. No. 1 appeared in January 1752, but met with little success. Several selections of articles and extracts have been published under the title of L Esprit de V Ency clopedic. The last was by Hennequin, Paris, 1822-23, Svo, 15 vols. An English selection is Select Essays from the Encyclopedy, London, 1773, 8vo. The articles of most of the principal contributors have been reprinted in the editions of their respective works. Voltaire wrote 8 vols. 8vo of a kind of fragmentary supplement, Questions sur r Encyclopedic, frequently printed, and usually included in editions of his works, together with his contributions to the Encyclopedia and his Dictionnaire P1nloso)>higne. Several special dictionaries have been formed from the Encyclopedic, as the Dictionnaire Portatif des Artset Metiers, Paris, 1766, Svo, 2 vols., about 1300 pages, by Philippe Macquer, brother of the author of the Diet, de Cliiwic. An enlarged edition by the Abbe 1 Jaubert, Paris, 1773, 5 vols. 8yo, 3017 pages, was much valued and often reprinted. The books attacking and defending the Encyclopedic are very many. No original work of the 18th century, says Lan- frey, has been more depreciated, ridiculed, and calumniated. It has been called chaos, nothingness, the Tower of Babel, a work of disorder and destruction, the gospel of Satan, and even the ruins of Palmyra. The Encyclopedia P>ritaimica, "by a society of gentle
men in Scotland, printed in Edinburgh for A. Bell and C.