This book is an abridged version of the Cyclopaedia published by Ephraim Chambers (1680 - 1740), in two volumes in 1728. A few additional entries have been added from the four volume set published by Abraham Rees (1743 - 1825), in 1774, to round out some of the sparser articles. The abridgement consists of those entries referring to heraldry and the military arts, thus providing an insight into the state of warfare in the seventeenth century.