In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, in and for the Eastern Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1858, by GEORGE W. CHILDS, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, in and for the Eastern Copyright, 1886, by S. AUSTIN ALLIBONE. PRINTED BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY, PHILADELPHIA, PREFACE. THE importance and value of a dictionary of a language are understood and appreciated by all. If I find a word in a book, or hear a word used by another, which I do not fully comprehend, I have nothing to do but refer to my dictionary, where all the needful information is before me. I have now increased my stock of knowledge, and can use the word myself in speaking or writing, and comprehend it when used by others. Another link is added to those ties which bind me to society; my capacity for giving and receiving valuable information and innocent pleasure is enlarged. It is now natural for me to reason with myself, that if the knowledge of only one new term of thought be so desirable, because so useful, how would my usefulness and happiness be increased by larger additions to my stock of mental wealth! A life spent in the acquisition of knowledge, surely would be a happy life! But few men can so devote their whole time, and if this were practicable, life is too short for any one man to possess himself of all the secrets of nature, the discoveries of science, and the triumphs of art. I cannot at the same time, gaze with the astronomer, explore with the voyager, calculate with the mathematician, and experiment with the philosopher. But it occurs to me that there is a mode in which I may, to a large extent, avail myself of the results of the labours of others. These have been given to mankind through the medium of the press. I can, therefore, devote my leisure time to such profitable reading as shall make me acquainted with much of which I must otherwise be ignorant. Reading is that art by which I am enabled to avail myself of the recorded wisdom of mankind. here a practical difficulty suggests itself. The multiplicity of books, even in my own language, renders a careful selection absolutely indispensable It has been computed that of the 650,000 (?) volumes in the English language, about 50,000 would repay a perusal! Suppose a person to read 100 pages a day, or But 100 volumes a year, it would require 500 years exhaust such a library! How important is it, then, to know what to read! And how shall this knowledge be obtained? Now let us revert to our opening remarks upon the value of a dictionary of words. If there be such an advantage in full definition, in alphabetical arrangement, and consequent facility of reference, why should we not have a dictionary of books and authors as well as of words? Suppose that I wish to know whether Hume or Lingard's History of England, or Spenser's Poems, or Burke's Speeches, or Thomson's Seasons, are desirable works for my school, my library, my parlour table;—or suppose I wish to know the personal history of these authorsof Hume, Lingard, Burke, Thomson-what trouble I shall have in obtaining the desired information! But if I had a Dictionary of Literary History and Biography, I have nothing to do but turn to H, or L, or B, or T, and I am at once in possession of what I seek. But is there any such work to be had? It is a remarkable fact that, notwithstanding the obvious advantages of such a work, there was none such in print before the present publication. There were, indeed, meagre "Compendiums of English Litera ture," and "Comprehensive Cyclopædias," the largest of which (with the exception of a book of titles of works) contains about 850 out of more than 30,000 authors! Much of such knowledge, too, is found scattered here and there in expensive biographical compilations, which can never become popular, because very costly, and are, indeed, insufficient authorities in literary history. Deeply lamenting this serious deficiency in the English Republic of Letters, the compiler determined to undertake the preparation of the long-desired work, and he now has the pleasure of presenting to the public the results of labours extending over a long period, and pursued with unwearied zeal, in “A CRITICAL DICTIONARY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE AND BRITISH AND AMERICAN AUTHORS, LIVING AND DE- the King of England; in modern times, by Lord Brougham, Lord John Russell, Sir Robert Peel, Mr Macaulay, and many others. Now, such criticisms The principal features of the work are the follow- and commendations, invaluable as they are, are floating: ing about in books and pamphlets, often difficult to 1. It is arranged in alphabetical order, to insure procure, and troublesome to examine. In the prefacility of reference. 2. While professing to chronicle only British and American authors, in our College of Letters, we have sometimes overlooked the question of nativity, and enrolled a writer whose insignia of literary nobility could properly be quartered on an English field. That, indeed, would be a prodigal parsimony which should exclude from the national coffers of intellectual wealth, the superscriptions of Anselm, Lanfranc, Benoit De Sainte-Maur, and Peter of Blois. sent work they will be found, in the whole or in part, arranged in a few pages under the name of BURKE. Such an article alone is well worth the price of the whole book. When Mr. BRYANT was a youthful poet his effusions were most favourably noticed by that first class authority, the LONDON RETROSPECTIVE REVIEW, as well as by other periodicals and critics. Some years later, CHRISTOPHER NORTH and WASHINGTON IRVING (then in London) displayed their good taste by warmly applauding the "thoughts that breathe and words that burn" of the great American 3. As a general rule, a succinct biography is given bard. In the present work the reader has only to of each author of note. The length of such notice, turn to the name of BRYANT, to find an account of of course, depends upon his prominence as an indi- these and other interesting facts connected with Mr. vidual, and his rank as an author. Those of the B.'s poetical career. So a reference to the name of first class, such as, Addison Anselm, Ascham, Bacon, WASHINGTON IRVING will place him in possession of Burke, Byron, Bryant, Chaucer, Chillingworth, Cla- the prominent events connected with the life of this rendon, Cowper, Davy, Dryden, Dwight, Edwards, distinguished ornament of English literature. In Everett, Franklin, Gildas, Gibbon, Hallam, Hall, like manner are noticed the works and lives of the Henry, Irving, Johnson, Laud, Leighton. Locke, principal living (as well as deceased) British authors: Milton, More, Newton, Otway, Paley, Pope, Prescott, -HALLAM, BROUGHAM, MACAULAY, DICKENS, BULwen Robertson, Roscoe, Savage, Spenser, Shakspeare, LYTTON, &c. Sherlock, Southey, Sparks, Taylor, Thomson, Tyndale, Usher, Vanbrugh, Wace, Warburton, Walpole, Watts, Waterland, Wood, Young, and SEVERAL THOUSAND OTHERS, are treated at considerable length. Less space is devoted to those less distinguished. The number of authors whose works are noticed is about 30,000, a far greater number of English writers than has ever before been brought together in any work, or indeed in all previous publications. 4. The most valuable feature of the work is now to be mentioned. Compilers of manuals of literature have almost universally fallen into the great error of giving their own opinions, almost exclusively, upon the merits or demerits of the authors under consideration. Now, these opinions may be valuable or not; the public generally neither ask nor care what their views may be. This capital error is avoided in the present work. The compiler occasionally ventures an opinion of his own, but this will be merely supplemental to opinions better known and more highly appreciated by the reading public. As a carefully prepared RECORD OF THE OPINIONS OF GREAT MEN UPON GREAT MEN, this work will prove an invaluable guide to the student of literary history. For instance, able criticisms upon the speeches and literary productions of EDMUND BURKE have been written or spoken by such men as M. Cazalés, Charles James Fox, Sir James Mackintosh, Dr. Johnson, Curran, Wilberforce, the Duke de Levis, Gerard Hamilton, Dr. French Laurence, Lord Eldon, Dr. Parr, Robert Hall, the Emperor of Germany, the Princes of France, 5. The laudable curiosity of the bibliomaniac, or lover of rare works, is not forgotten in this volume Occasional notices are given of "The small, rare volume, black with tarnished gold." (Ferriar's "Bibliomania," p. 11: Epistle to Richard Heber, Esq.) whilst the early ROXBURGHE FESTIVALS, the tournaments at Leigh and Sotheby's, and the triumphs of DIBDIN, HEBER, and THORPE, claim respectful remembrance. 6. The second division of this work consists of a copious index of subjects, so that the inquirer can FIND AT A GLANCE ALL THE AUTHORS OF ANY NOTE IN THE LANGUAGE, ARRANGED UNDER THE SUBJECT OR SUBJECTS UPON WHICH THEY HAVE WRITTEN. Under AGRICULTURE, the farmer will find authors' names alphabetically arranged; and by turning to each one, can see the title or titles of his work or works, and probably an estimate of the value of his labours. So in ANTIQUITIES, CHEMISTRY, DIVINITY, DRAMA, Law, POLITICAL ECONOMY, BIOGRAPHY, &c. This arrangement, the compiler considers, will confer an inestimable value upon the work. He thus presents to the public, in one volume, a COMPREHENSIVE MANUAL OF ENGLISH LITERATURE-authors and subjects--a MANUAL WHICH IS TO THE LITERATURE OF THE LANGUAGE WHAT AN ORDINARY DICTIONARY IS TO THE WORDS OF THE LANGUAGE. 7 The value of the work can be best seen by a comparison with other works of a somewhat similar character. |