[AN] _"Microcosmography; or, a Piece of the World characterized; in Essays and Characters. London, printed A.D. 1650. Salisbury, Reprinted and sold by E. Easton, 1786. Sold also by G. and T. Wilkie, St. Paul's Church-yard, London."_ [AO] I regret extremely that I am unable to put the reader in possession of this very acute discoverer's name. [AP] This mistake originated with Langbaine, who, in his account of Lilly, calls Blount "a gentleman who has made himself known to the world by the several pieces of his own writing, (as _Horae Subsecivae_, his _Microcosmography_, &c.") _Dramatic Poets_, 8vo, 1691, p. 327. EDITIONS OF "MICROCOSMOGRAPHY." The first edition (of which the Bodleian possesses a copy, 8vo. P. 154. Theol.) was printed with the following title: "_Microcosmographie: or, a Peece of the World discovered; In Essayes and Characters. Newly composed for the Northerne parts of this Kingdome. At London. Printed by W. S. for Ed. Blount, 1628_." This contains only fifty-four characters[AQ], which in the present edition are placed first. I am unable to speak of any subsequent copy, till one in the following year, (1629), printed for Robert Allot[AR], and called in the title "_The first edition much enlarged_." This, as Mr. Henry Ellis kindly informs me, from a copy in the British Museum, possesses seventy-six characters. The _sixth_ was printed for Allot, in 1633, (_Bodl. Mar._ 441,) and has seventy-eight, the additional ones being "a herald," and "a suspicious, or jealous man." The _seventh_ appeared in 1638, for Andrew Crooke, agreeing precisely with the sixth; and in 1650 the _eighth_. A copy of the latter is in the curious library of Mr. Hill, and, as Mr. Park acquaints me, is without any specific edition numbered in the title. I omit that noticed by the editor of 1732, as printed in 1664, for if such a volume did exist, which I much doubt, it was nothing more than a copy of the eighth with a new title-page. In 1732 appeared the _ninth_, which was a reprint of the _sixth_, executed with care and judgment. I have endeavoured in vain to discover to whom we are indebted for this republication of bishop Earle's curious volume, but it is probable that the person who undertook it, found so little encouragement in his attempt to revive a taste for the productions of our early writers, that he suffered his name to remain unknown. Certain it is that the impression, probably not a large one, did not sell speedily, as I have seen a copy, bearing date 1740, under the name of "_The World display'd: or several Essays; consisting of the various Characters and Passions of its principal Inhabitants_," &c. London, printed for C. Ward, and R. Chandler. The edition printed at Salisbury, in 1786, (which has only seventy-four characters,) with that now offered to the public, close the list. FOOTNOTES: