26th May. Poverty makes strange bedfellows, but it is open to doubt if the exigencies of modera commerce do not bring about far more curious associations even than indigence. Few among the millions who quaff their Apollinaris suspect that -in so doing they are advancing the fortunes of the greatest venture in the history of English letters, but such is the case. Mr. George Smith, the senior partner of the well-known pub: lishing firm of Smith, Elder & Ca., was ona Rhine steamer some twenty odd years ago, when his attention was drawn by the casual remark of a fellow-passenger to the virtues of an almost unknown spring in a neighbouring village; Mr. Smith visited the place, formed a prescient view of the capabilities of the water, bought the spring, developed it, and so laid the foundations ofa noble fortune. Apollinaris, or as it is affectionately called "Polly" water, thanks to Mr. Smith's business aptitude is now of world-wide fame and like good wine needs no bush; to us in the East especially it came as a boon and a Blessing, promoting sobriety and conferring stimulus and comfort. But all this is by the way. Mr. Smith although the proprietor of a colossal fortune remained staunchly faithful to his proper profession of book publishing. This is only what might have been expected from the friend and publisher of Ruskin, Charlotte Bronté, Thackeray, and Browning, to say nothing of many great living writers. He had long been attracted by the idea "of producing a work which would be useful for all time, which might compete with or even surpass similar works then being prodaduced on the continent of Europe"—by the aid of the national treasuries and under the direct auspices of the State, we may add,—viz., an encyclopedic work on National Biography. Allying himself with Mr. Leslie Stephen and so assuring the literary success of the undertaking, he began the huge venture. 'I'bere were no flourishes on the trumpet, no puffery, and very little advertising; it was quietly intimated that one volume would appear quarterly, at fifteen shillings net, until the work was finished. Never did a really great thing come to the birth with so little fuss. For a period of neatly twelve years has the work gone steadily on: Vol. XLVI, dealing with names included between 'Poo' and Puo, eighteen thousand lives have "been treated in twenty-one thousand double-columned royal quarto pages.
The work is going straight on: to. a triumphant conclusion, Mr. Smith having made arrangements for all contingeucies. _It..is whispered" among those. who: should best know that he has spent £100,000 on the undertaking, over and above. the large receipts on current sales. There. is no doubt that his firm will ultimately be recouped for this enormous outlay, but in the meantime it is discouraging to learn that the sales, though steadily increasing, are not as large as the literary excellence. of the work and the splendour of the enterprise deserve. The Dictionary has already become the criterion of accuracy and the -model of a chaste condensed style new to biography aid welcome in the literature of reference. "The amiable Dr. Jessop has told us how he was severely censured by the editor for remarking of Queen Mary that " the end had come," when he meant that she had died. We are not to infer from this that-style has been. ignored of even relegated. to an inferior position. This would.be almost an impossibility considering that the greatest living imasters'of style.are "on" the Dictionary. Many of the miono= graphs are indeed models of clear concise narration, notably those of the accomplished editor, Mr. Stephen: If a reader will' turn up the -lives of Addison, Byron, Coleridge, Defoo, Johnson, or Milton by that gentleman he will soon be convinced that consummate grace and beauty can ba harmonise with Spartan simplicity.
The work is almost, useless to racon-tours; levity except.in the. case of charlatans and professed wits has no part in the Dictionary; being primarily meant for a standard work of reference its tone is entirely judicial and never consciously forensic. No: briefs. are held in its pages; men and women round whose' memories faction and passion have surged: for centuries' are brought into a Court where the dry light of reason and calm judgment: prevail; Comparative greatness is also taken into account; we do not find. a, modern usurping the space due to a greater man. of the last century; the time factor of fame is discounted. Great attention has also bee given to general consist, rency; we-do not find two enthusiasts indulging in the hero-worship of two incompatiblecharacters. 'I'he fair-minded reader of Charles I is not met; by lat contradiction when he turns,, to. Cromwell. The editors. have - been both catholic and discriminating. If we were asked to. sum up the work.we should call.it the very best brand., of literary. Liebig ever put. on, the: market, the: perfection of epitome, hack work en excelsis.
Quite recently. Mr.: Sidney; Lee,, Mr. Stephen's successor in the editorship, has been lecturing on "National Biogtaphy," and has supplied some interesting
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.