From its Commencement in the Year 1731,
to the End of 1786.

Compiled by SAMUEL AYSCOUGH, Clerk,

Affiftant Librarian of the BRITISH MUSEUM.

PRINTED BY JOHN NICHOLS, RED LION PASSAGE, FLEET STREET;
FOR D. HENRY, LATE OF ST. JOHN'S GATE,

AND SOLD BY E. NEWBERY, AT THE CORNER OF
ST. PAUL'S CHURCH, YARD.
MDCCLXXXIX.

TH

HE Utility of a GENERAL INDEX, to fo Mifcellaneous a Work as the GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE, when by the Indulgence of the Publick it has increased to above FIFTY-SIX Volumes, is too evident to be questioned; and we therefore hope that we are now making fome return to our Friends, however unequal, for the Favours which we have received; for not to be able to find what we know to be in our poffeffion, is a more vexatious circumftance than the mere want of what we have neglected to procure.

THIS Index will not only affift the Forgetful, and direct the Inquifitive. It will enable those who read for higher purpofes than mere Amusement, to clafs the many Subjects which our extenfive Plan has included, and to bring together much ufeful Knowledge in Theology, Morality, Politicks, Commerce, Mathematicks, Philofophy, and Biography,

By this Index our Hiftorical Chronicle may be reduced to the most regular, as it has recorded the most impartial Account of all the important Events that have happened during the Reigns of King George the Second and his prefent Majefty. Of thefe Events the Chain will be unbroken, and the Chronology perfect; nor is there any Period in which Public Events have been more numerous or more interefting. For fince the Commencement of our Volumes Three Wars, by which almost all the known World was in fome degree affected, have been begun and concluded. The Views, the Powers, and the Intereft of every State in Europe have been neceffarily dif covered, by the part which they appear to have taken in the Quarrel, the changes which they have fuffered in the Contest, and the Obligations they have incurred by Treaty, This Period will be rendered ftill more remarkable in English History by a Rebellion, which was not lefs contemptible in its beginning than threatening in its progrefs and confequences; but which, through the Favour of Providence, was crushed at once, when our Enemies abroad had the highest expectation of its success, and which in the end contributed to our ftill greater fecurity. That innate ftrength and intense energy of action is described, which has enabled this kingdom, in our own day, not only to oppose the united efforts of the Three most potent States in Europe (each of which was formerly thought our equal in ftrength), but has also enabled us to baffle their utmoft exertions, even when our own most favoured Colonies had joined the confederacy against us. And above all, the dismemberment of America from this Empire, of which the progrefs is in these Volumes moft accurately detailed, forms an Epoch of the greatest notoriety in the Annals of our Country.

4 2

ANOTHE

ANOTHER object, in which by the kind affiftance of our Correfpondents we have been particularly fuccefsful, is in preferving the fcattered remains of Antiquity difcovered by acci dent, or which have been long concealed in the Cabinets and Libraries of the Curious. It is with pleasure we observe that there is fcarcely any Publication of Local or County History in which the Magazine is not frequently referred to; and to future Writers on these fubjects, the contents of the Magazine will be rendered more known, and confequently more useful. By the Lift of Names, which in this Work are Alphabetically digested, moft of the changes which have been produced in Families, that are not too obscure to raise Curiosity, may with ease and perfpicuity be traced, either by Births, Marriages, Promotions, and more efpecially by our OBITUARY.

THE General Index to the Books is a Catalogue of almost all the Books and Pamphlets that have been published during the laft Fifty-fix Years; a period the more important, as it is nearly twenty years antecedent to the first appearance of the "Monthly Review." And this will be thought of yet greater Utility by the Literati, when they are intormed that by turning to the Volume in which any Book is registered, they will in most cases be able to find the original price, and the name of the perfon for whom it was printed; for, when this is not known, the Bookfellers themselves frequently find it difficult to execute the Orders of their Correfpondents.

BUT this Index, though principally intended for those who have complete Setts of the MAGAZINE, may yet be of great advantage to others. The numeral letters fhew the Volume, and correfpond with the laft Figures in the date of the Year. As this will be easily remembered, the time of any remarkable Event, of whatever kind, may be nearly ascertained: for the Event being found in the Index, the Year will be known by the Number of the Volume referred to; and as every Month, during the first Fifty years, contains about 50 Pages, and the Six latter Volumes about 100, by noting the Number of the Page, the Month may alfo be gueffed with fome degree of accuracy; it will therefore be a more ufeful Common-place Book for thefe purposes than any yet extant. As to the Work itself, it is an Index; and to the Perfection of an Index little more is neceffary than can be produced by Diligence and Labour.

Books written by perfons of the fame name are not always diftinguished under the particular Author, but are in general placed in the order of our Volumes. + Thus, i. refers to the Magazine of 1731; ii. to 1732; and fo on to 1740, which correfponds to the tenth Volume; and the fifty-fixth Volume to 1786.

IN DE X X I.

To the Effays, Differtations, Transactions, and
Historical Paffages, in the FIRST FIFTY-SIX
Volumes of the Gentleman's Magazine.