ABRIDGMENT, in literature, the re duction of a work into less than its original compass ; which is an art of infinitely greater utility than we arc generally disposed to admit. It w as in the fif,h century that the practice of abridging came into general use. When the taste for literature began to di cline, the number of original compositions was greatly diminished, and a swarm of abridgers supplied their place, and gratified the indolence of the public by abridgments of the pon derous and almost forgotten volumes of antiquity. Some of these abridgers employee, with a few changes, the expressions of the authors themselves; others selected their facts from various sources, and clothed them in their own language ; while a third class collected the most valuable passages from authors who wrote upon the same subject ; and by their union formed an inte resting work, and thus rescued from oblivion sonic of the most valuable fragments of antiquity. In this way several huge works were greatly improved by abridg ment ; among which we may mention the voluminous history of Trogus Pompeius, of which Justin has fur nished such an excellent epitome. At IIG period, per haps, has the necessity of abridging been more compi enons, or ought to be more earnestly inforcccl, than at the present. In this age, it would appear, as if each author thought his subject inexhaustible ; and, not con tent *ith disquisitions on points truly important to science, he forces into notice those which never merit ed consideration, as if it were possible to convert dross into gold. We regret that several such attempts have been too successful ; and we have to lament the depra vity of public taste, which must always result from such pernicious examples.
We lay it down as indisputable, that the better an author understands his subject, he will reduce it into the smaller compass; because each head having re ceived the discussion peculiar to itself, becomes a co rollary. There cannot, therefore, be a more estimable property, than that of expressing much matter in few words; and when an author fails in this, we can ascribe it only to ignorance of his subject, or the want of skill in composition. At the same time it is true, that many,
unacquainted with logical deductions, wander into pro lixity, from inattention to the strong positions in which an argument may be placed.
The ponderous volumes daily ushered into the world, attended by every mark of pedantry, do little credit to literature. It is no uncommon occurrence to find scarcely one-fourth of them occupied by the subject announced, while the rest is filled by the author with a commentary on himself, in his preface, introduction, and appendixes; or in that most convenient, and least suspected of all receptacles,—innumerable notes.
Those who employ themselves in the abridgment of books, are often engaged in a useful occupation : for they have not only the choice of the work, but the se lection of the matter. It is not easy to point out the specific line which they should follow ; for this must, in general, be regulated by the work itself. But the principal points to be considered are, first, the precise object of the work ; and, secondly, what parts of it most forcibly tend to support the views of its author. When an abridger has made himself fully master of these, he may retrench superfluities which have escaped the au thor's notice ; and may be able to present the work in a more satisfactory form than was originally done the author himself.
The following him:, to abridgers arc given by elegant author ol the Book of Maccabees, in a pia_ lac( to that history: "All these things, 1 sax, being (lc( hared by Jason of Cyrene, iu ,fire we ess•tv to abridge in one volume. We shall be careful that the% who read may have (le light; that the y v. ho arc desirous to commit to memory may have ; and that : li into whose hands it conics may have profit." " To st ad upon point, to go over things a/ lar,t,".', and to be in particulars, belongs to the lip st author of the story ; but to use brevity, and avoid much labouring in the work, is to be granted to him NS 110 will make an abridgment." See The ("making 4bridgments, by the .Abbe Gualtier, in 2 vols. 4to; Ilaihet des Scavans, tom. i. p. 240; and D'Israeli's cf Literature, 5th edit. vol. ii. p. 166. (c)