contemplated; and Mr. Long[471] and Mr. Knight were to take the joint
management. The plan embraced a popular account of Art and Science, with
very brief biographical and geographical information. The early numbers of
the work had some of the _Penny Magazine_ character: no one can look at the
pictures of the Abbot and Abbess in their robes without seeing this. By the
time the second volume was completed, it was clearly seen that the plan was
working out its own extension: a great development of design was submitted
to, and Mr. Long became sole editor. Contributors could not be found to
make articles of the requisite power in the assigned space. One of them
told us that when he heard of the eight volumes, happening to want a shelf
to be near at hand for containing the work as it went on, he ordered it to
be made to hold twenty-five volumes easily. But the inexorable logic of
facts beat him after all: for the complete work contained twenty-six
volumes and two thick volumes of Supplement.

The penny issue was brought to an end by the state of the law, which
required, in 1833, that the first and last page of everything sold
separately should contain the name and address of the printer. The penny
numbers contained this imprint on the fold of the outer leaf: and _qui
tam_[472] informations were laid against the agents in various towns. {291}
It became necessary to call in the stock; and the penny issue was
abandoned. Monthly parts were substituted, which varied in bulk, as the
demands of the plan became more urgent, and in price from one sixpence to
three. The second volume of Supplement appeared in 1846, and during the
fourteen years of issue no one monthly part was ever behind its time. This
result is mainly due to the peculiar qualities of Mr. Long, who unites the
talents of the scholar and the editor in a degree which is altogether
unusual. If any one should imagine that a mixed mass of contributors is a
punctual piece of machinery, let him take to editing upon that hypothesis,
and he shall see what he shall see and learn what he shall learn.

The _English_ contains about ten per cent more matter than the _Penny
Cyclopaedia_ and its supplements; including the third supplementary volume
of 1848, which we now mention for the first time. The literary work of the
two editions cost within 500l. and 50,000l.: that of the two editions of
the _Britannica_ cost 41,000l. But then it is to be remembered that the
_Britannica_ had mat