ay undoubtedly be discovered in
it; but the same is true, in a greater or less degree, of every other
production of human labor; and the eyes neither of malice nor of
hypercriticism have been able to find any sufficient reason why this
Cyclopaedia should not be accepted as the beat popular dictionary of
general knowledge in the English language. As the work advances, the
comprehensiveness of its plan, the honesty of its purpose, and the truly
catholic and liberal spirit which animates it, become more and more
apparent; and the names of the authors of the articles (a list of which
is to be published, we believe, with the last volume) sufficiently show
the determination of the editors to secure the cooperation of the first
talent in the country. Among the contributors to the present volume are
the Rev. Dr. Bellows, Edmund Blunt, Dion Bourcicault, Professor Dana
of Yale College, Edward Everett, Professor Felton of Cambridge, Parke
Godwin, Richard Hildreth, George S. Hillard, William Henry Hurlbut, and
Professors Lowell and Parsons of Cambridge.

Of the articles, we especially notice _Cranmer_, remarkable for the
candor and the coolness of perception with which the character of its
benevolent and gifted, but inconsistent and vacillating subject, is
discussed:--_Cromwell_, which gives a completer, more authentic, and
less prejudiced account of the eventful life of the great Puritan leader
than is to be found in any other publication known to us:--_Crusades_,
a complete picture in little of those great fitful blazes of religious
enthusiasm by which it flickered into its final extinction; (for,
afterward, only a semblance of it was made a stalking-horse by
politicians;) and this article is quite a model of epitome:--_Cuneiform
Inscriptions_, in which the writer has presented concisely and clearly
the fruits of a careful examination of all the many theories that have
been broached with regard to these important and puzzling records of the
ancient world, without revealing a preference, if he have one, for
any; a wise course, where, in a case of such consequence, the views
of learned men are so conflicting, but one not always easily
followed:--_Damascus Blades_, a very interesting, and, for general
purposes, a very full description of the peculiarities of those famous,
and, it appears, not too much lauded weapons:--_Deaf and Dumb_, a very
copious article of eleven pages, rich in historical and biographical
detail, and giving full