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*Sepulchral Crosses at Canterbury and Wensley, co. York.......... 376, 377

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Architectural parts of the Chapter House of Mendham Priory, Suffolk.... 602 Plan of Mendham Priory, and Paintings there

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THE term "Magazine" implies a repository or collection of the materials of knowledge, without restricting or specifying their nature: but without doubt, it was originally understood that the information which it bestowed should be of a mixed and miscellaneous kind; that it should collect from Science and Literature what was most striking for novelty, or valuable for intrinsic information, arranging in a commodious compass that which was scattered through various channels, and preserving what otherwise would have perished from neglect.

When the Literature of a Country is yet in its infancy, and the pursuit of knowledge is confined to a few, such a plan is the most advantageous that could be adopted. But when the general mass begins to separate, and divide itself into various branches; when each division or province requires a separate consideration, some alteration will be also necessary in the manner of detailing it; the Magazine will depart more and more from its miscellaneous character; its scattered notices will assume a nearer relation to each other, and it will at length confine itself to some peculiar and separate branches of inquiry; for, as Lord Bacon says, "Were it not better for a man in a fair room to set up one great light, or branching candlestick of light, than to go about with a small watchcandle in every corner."

The Gentleman's Magazine has endeavoured to preserve the distinction here described. The staple article of the Work consists in the account given of the Antiquities and Literature of the country; occasionally admitting notices of other Works, either foreign or domestic, which seemed to call for admission either by intrinsic worth, or temporary interest.

It is not in the power of those who conduct a Magazine like the present, to command the relative quantity of their materials, as that much depends on their Correspondents, or to distribute with exact proportion the space that each division of their work

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