A DICTIONARY OF BIOGRAPHY.* Tins large octavo volume, of 1,300
pages, turns out to be a new edition of our old friend Maunder. The editor would perhaps have acted more wisely, and certainly protected himself from pos- sible unpleasant comments, had he avowed this on the title-page, instead of letting the book go forth as a new work. In the pre-
face, however, he does tell us that, though "based on the thir-
teenth edition of the well known neasury of Biography, which, as reconstructed, revised, and very greatly enlarged by myself, was substantially a new work, it is nevertheless far from being a mere reprint." (Is it accident or design that even here he avoids all mention of Maunder's name?) Bat if that thirteenth edition of the Treasury (published on lylast year) was right in retaining Matfhder's name, it is difficult to see how the present book can be right in taking a new title, and dropping the original compiler's name altogether ;
since, whatever may have been the advance made by the thirteenth
on previous editions, this can only be called a handsomer edition of that, with the corrections and enlargements rendered necessary by the lapse of time, or suggested to the editor's good sense by his
desire to make his book more complete. We think it only fair to the public to say thus much, which we do in no unfriendly spirit to Mr.
Cates. The authorship or compilership of a dictionary which has gone through numerous editions is, indeed, a question like that of the identity of the darned and redarned stockings with the original pair, and Mr. Cates is probably as fully justified in now treating the work as his own, as Messrs. Liddell and Scott were in regarding their Greek Lexicon as their own work, based on that of Passow.
In style of "get-up," at least, the book is an immense advance on the previous edition. It was certainly always a wonder how those mean-looking little books of Maunder's contrived to hold so much ; but they were not even well printed for their My, and utterly useless to persons of weak eyes, and to moat readers by artificial light. The economy of buying a book like that thirteenth edition was therefore very questionable. This book, on the other hand, is sharply and clearly printed on good paper, and may stand in any library beside the haalsoinest books of reference.
Of course, 1,300 pages cannot contain an exhaustive dictionary of biography ; but by terse writing, and a fixed purpose always to give the essential points—date of birth and death, nationality, chief deeds, and, in the case of authors and artists, chief works— and to incline to reticence rather than prolixity in mere descrip- tion and in general remarks on character, a very useful work may be compressed within those limits. Mr. Cates has done this, and done it accurately and well, so far as we can speak from a few days' experience, for here assuredly the test of the pudding is in the eating. No man can pretend to universal knowledge, and but few can be a walking dictionary ; and some branches of science or art will almost of necessity be treated with more " cram " and less knowledge than others in a work of this kind. An instance of this we fancy we discover in the article Beethoven, where the following very odd enumeration is made as comprising that compossr's most celebrated works :—" Fidelio," " Mount of Olives," " Adelaida," " Sinfonia Eroica," " Sinfonia Pastorale," "Concerto in C Minor," "Sonata Pathetique," and "Sonata with Funeral March." Neither on the score of popular favour nor on that of artistic power and ingenuity, it seems to us, can those two symphonies, one concerto, and two sonatas be justly picked out from the rest ; and why are none of the quartets mentioned, on which Beethoven's fame per- haps most of all mate, inasmuch as he was there pre-eminently the creator of a new form of composition? The foreign names, includ- ing the Oriental, are generally given with creditable accuracy ; but the proper Greek forms of names like Aristotle, Euclid, ought to be added in parenthesis, and there should be a few more cross- references : e.g., the poet called Hafiz is given solely under this form, which is no name at all, but a mere epithet, without any reference from his name, Mohammed Shernseddin. A very com- mendable feature of the book is a reference to the beat biographies of the person treated of : here a diligent search might no doubt discover some inaccuracies and omissions which could hardly be avoided; but we find this part of the work generally satisfactory. We cannot help noticing with regret, however, the omission of Washington Irving's Life of Mohammed ; for, however incorrect it may be found by the deeper studies of modern Orientalists, it must always have a literary value and a certain fascination for readers of all classes. On the whole, therefore, this biographical dictionary may be recommended as well planned, full of matter, and reliable ; and as brought down to the very year in which it is published. Living persons are excluded.
* A Dictionary of Genera! Biography. With a Classified and Chronological Index of the Principal Names. Edited by W. L. IL Caine. London : Longman. 18437.
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