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AMERICAN LITERARY INTELLIGENCE.

THE design of republishing Col-
lections of the Massachusetts Histo-
rical Society, which had been relin-
quished for want of encouragement,
is resumed. The expence will be
defrayed by the funds of the society,
who will trust to the sale of the
work for a reimbursement. It is
intended to reprint, at present, the
three first volumes only, which are
out of print. The first numbers of
this valuable work, which were ori-
ginally published in the American
Apollo, can now be found only in the
library of the society, or in the few
sets owned by the members.

Proposals have been issued, at
Portsmouth, New Hampshire, for a
periodical work to be called the Pis-
cataqua Evangelical Magazine, to
be under the direction of the Pisca-
taqua Missionary Society. It is to
be published every two months, and
each number is to contain 40 pages.

The first, second, and third num-
bers of the Assembly's Missionary
Magazine have appeared in this
city. It is published under the pa-
tronage of the general assembly of
the presbyterian church in the Unit-
ed States.

Samuel F. Bradford, of Philadel-
phia, is now preparing for the press
the New Cyclopædia, or Universal
Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, in
twenty volumes, quarto; formed up-
on a more enlarged plan of arrange-
ment than the dictionary of Mr.
Chambers. Comprehending the va-
rious articles of that work, with ad-
ditions and improvements, together
with new subjects of biography, geo-
graphy, and history, and adapted to
the present improved state of lite-
rature and science. By Abraham
Rees, D. D., F. R. S., editor of the
last edition of Chambers's Diction-
ary, with the assistance of eminent

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professional gentlemen. Illustrated
with new plates, including maps,
engraved for the work by many of
the most distinguished artists. The
whole improved and adapted to this
country by gentlemen of known abi-
lities, by whose aid it will be ren-
dered the most complete work of the
kind that has yet appeared.

An edition of Johnson's Diction-
ary, abridged, including the author's
preface to the folio edition, has been
published by Jacob Johnson, of Phi-
ladelphia; improved by the stand-
ard of pronunciation established by
Walker's Dictionary; “but where
words occurred, not to be found in
that, of which the instances were
numerous, other sources have been-
investigated, particularly March-
bank's quarto edition of 1798, and
the pronunciation of these words
carefully regulated by Walker's di-
rections.”

W. W. Woodward, of Philadel-
phia, has issued proposals for pub-
lishing Adams's Lectures on Natu-
ral and Experimental Philosophy,
revised, corrected, and considerably
enlarged by Robert Patterson, pro-
fessor of mathematics, and, pro tem-
pore, teacher of natural philosophy,
in the university of Pennsylvania.
The publisher is now waiting for a
new edition of the work, coming out
in London, by Jones.

Proposals have been issued for
publishing by subscription, in month-
ly numbers, a work entitled Amœ-
nitates Graphicæ, or an instructive
and amusing collection of views, ani-
mals, plants, flowers, fruits, mine-
rals, antiquities, costumes, and other
interesting objects; carefully select-
ed and engraved, either from draw-
ings after nature, or from the best
representations of those objects;
with descriptive and explanatory
sketches, in English and French:
the whole calculated to excite, in
youth of both sexes, a taste for use-
ful and ornamental knowledge, and
to assist the cultivation of the same,
as well as the cultivation of the lan-
guages in which the sketches are
written. The descriptive and ex-

planatory part by L. H. Girardin,
professor of modern languages, his-
tory, and geography, in William
and Mary college; the engravings
by Frederick Bossler. A prelimi-
nary and separate number is already
issued, as a specimen of the work.

A new edition of Johnson's Dic-
tionary at large, in royal octavo,
with the author's life, by Dr. Aiken,
and with two engravings, one of the
author's portrait by sir Joshua Rey-
nolds, and the other of his statue in
St. Paul's, is proposed for publica-
tion, by subscription, at Philadel-
phia, by Mr. Humphreys, in whose
success every one who approves in-
tegrity, industry, and enterprize,
must be deeply interested.

Messrs. Maxwell and Manning
have completed the first volume of
their accurate and valuable edition
of Shakespeare. The plan on which
this edition is conducted is generally
known. The latest and best editions
of this poet are carefully revised,
the less interesting matter in the
commentary is omitted, and some
useful additions have been made
from the stock of American sagacity
and ingenuity.

Proposals have been issued for
publishing, by subscription, Lectures
on Theology, by the late Dr. Charles
Nisbet, president of Dickinson col-
lege. This work is to be prefaced
with a life of the author, by Dr. S.
Miller, of New York.

To those who are acquainted with
the character of the late Dr. Nisbet,
no recommendation will be neces-
sary to engage their attention to
this publication. His profound eru-
dition, his eminent talents, and his
fervent piety, rendered him, for
many years, a distinguished light in
the church of Scotland, and a prin-
cipal leader of what is there deno-
minated the orthodox party. His
high reputation induced the trustees
of Dickinson college to call him from
the conspicuous and honourable
sphere of usefulness which he occu-
pied in his native country, to take
the presidency of that institution.
This important station he held for

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near twenty years, with a degree of
honour to himself, and of advantage
to the seminary, which those who
have attended to the progress of
American literature well know.—
The lectures now proposed to be
published were delivered, at Dickin-
son college, to a select class of theo-
logical students, who heard them
with so much gratification and in-
struction, that manuscript copies
were eagerly sought after, and by a
few obtained; and application was
made to the venerable president, on
his death-bed, for his consent to
have the whole laid before the pub-
lic, in a more correct and perfect
form.

Though the body of theological
instruction, now offered to the world,
was not originally formed with a
view to publication, and though it
did not receive the advantage of the
author's last corrections; yet, unless
his friends have formed a very par-
tial and erroneous estimate of the
work, it will be found to contain a
rich fund of theological learning,
which will abundantly repay the
reader, and form a lasting monu-
ment to the honour of the author.