original Numbers XXXI. to XXXIV., inclusive, became new Numbers XXXII. to XXXVI., inclusive; and the original Numbers XXXVI. to LXXVI. became new Numbers XXXVII. to LXXVII. From the same cause when the Numbers LXXVIII. to LXXXV. of this edition, in which, as has been stated,[1] they originally appeared, were reproduced in The Independent Journal; or, The General Advertiser, they were designated, in continuation of the series which had been commenced in that paper, Numbers LXXVII. to LXXXIV., inclusive; and there was no Number LXXXV. whatever in the latter.
At the same time that these changes in the numbers of the essays were produced by the simple "alterations" which have been referred to, the change which was made by Messrs. McLean in the mode of publishing the work, by their original publication of the latter part of it, in book-form instead of in The Independent Journal, when combined with the other cause of confusion, produced another singular result.
The original Number LXXVI. as it appeared in The Independent Journal on the second of April, 1788, was reproduced as Number LXXVII. in this first collective edition; while the original Number LXXVIII. as it appeared in this collective edition on the twenty-eighth of May was reproduced in The Independent Journal on the fourteenth of June, 1788, as Number LXXVII.; there was, therefore, no original Number LXXVII.; and the several original Numbers from LXXVIII. to LXXXV., inclusive, as they were first published in this edition, became respectively Numbers LXXVII. to LXXXIV., inclusive, in the reprint of them in the newspaper.
Such were the "alterations" which were promised in the Proposals for this edition. It requires a larger
- ↑ Ante, page xxiii.
