the Encyclopedia."

Now, as the subject was _not_ treated in the work, how could this
"cramming" help him? Here comes in the system, so unaccountably
overlooked by the _Times_, _i.e._, the Combination Method. "He read,
sir," rejoined Pott, laying his hand on Mr. Pickwick's knee and looking
round with a smile of intellectual superiority, "he read for metaphysics
under the letter _M_, and for China under the letter _C_, and _combined
his information_, _sir_." There we have it! We find separate articles
_De omni scribili_, and many topics unavoidably passed over; but we see
how this can be cured by the ingenious Pott system. Combine your
information! There you are! Here for instance--under "Metaphysics" we
do find something about' Confucius and the other Pundits; we then turn to
China and get local colour, Chinese writers. &c., and then proceed "to
combine our information." And so with hundreds of other instances and
other topics. Pott, therefore, has been overlooked by the managers of
the _Times_, but it is not yet too late for them to call attention to his
system. It is of interest to all at Eatanswill.

Pott was in advance of his time. His paper was not wholly the sort of
scurrilous organ it has been shown to be. To weight its columns with
"Chinese Metaphysics," was a bold, reforming step--then the going on for
three months, _i.e._, _twelve_ articles--and all read with avidity. And
what are we to think of the Eatanswill readers--surely in advance, too.
And here we have him, nearly seventy years ago, giving a well-deserved
puff to the Encyclopedia, which is really worth the innumerable columns
the leading journal has devoted to the book. Its last effort was to show
an ingenious connection between the British Association and the
Encyclopedia, on the ground of its various Presidents. "It stimulates,
in fact creates, the necessity for a good working Library of Science. It
is here that the Encyclopedia comes in as of especial service."

CHAPTER II. BATH

I.--The Old City

Bath, which already owed so much to famous writers, was destined to owe
even more to Boz, the genial author of "Pickwick"--a book which has so
much increased the gaiety of the nation. The scenes at the old city are
more minute and vivid than any yet offered. But, if it owe much to Boz,
it repaid him by furnishing him with a name for his book which has gone
over the world. Everything about this name will be interesting; and