A Critical Dictionary of English Literature and British and American Authors, Living and Deceased, From the Earliest Accounts to the Latter Half of the Nineteenth Century. Containing Over Forty-Three Thousand Articles (Authors), With Forty Indexes Of..
By . Volume II. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co.
RECURRING to the notice which we (editors pass, but the editorial pronoun endures) made of Mr. Allibone’s first volume when it appeared some eleven years ago, we find that we can say little of his second which would not appear stale to our readers ; for we take it that none of them can have forgotten any past criticism in these pages. The general character of the Dictionary remains the same; and Mr. Allibone’s manner has varied as little as his method. We observe in this volume, as in the former, that he has a mind to lighten his grave labors with an occasional jest or an airy touch of fancy ; and remembering how vast, how thorough, how entirely prodigious his labors have been, we should be the last to forbid him these little gayeties, though we would fain look away during their indulgence.
In one respect, at least, this second volume must always be found the most remarkable of the three volumes which will complete the work; for in this is the article on Shakespeare, which would alone form a sufficient monument to any man’s industry. It occupies fifty pages of the Dictionary, and includes critical and biographical notices of the poet’s works and of all the editions of them, with lists of the translations, and titles of commentaries, etc. First after the introductory matter is a list of the editions of the separate plays of Shakespeare, up to the year 1869, six pages ; then a list of the editions of the collective works, including translations, eight pages; then critical opinions of Shakespeare ; then Shakespeariana, with abundant reference to the Ireland forgeries, the Collier controversy, etc., titles of graphic illustrations of Shakespeare, and of music to the poet’s lyrics; then an index to the editor’s commentators and translators mentioned; and finally a chronological index to the Shakespeariana. But the mere rehearsal of these features of Mr. Allibone’s article gives only a shadowy idea of the amount of labor which it must have cost him. He says : “ Our ‘ Shakespeariana' alone numbers about one thousand and forty printed volumes and tracts ; how many editions of Shakespeare’s works, separate and collective in various languages, we have recorded we have not taken the trouble to compute. In typographical bulk this article on the great poet, philosopher, and sage would make a duodecimo volume of two hundred and thirty-eight pages. . . . . The Alphabetical Index exhibits a brilliant succession of great names, the names of men who have distinguished themselves in every department of knowledge, and who, however diverse their pursuits and tastes, unite in paying a willing tribute to the illustrious intellect which has transcended them all.”
The article on Milton is twenty-nine pages long, and is made up merely of critical matter, though there is an ample list of Miltoniana at the end. Spenser occupies six pages, and Pope twice as many; but this is more just than it appears, for Pope was a far more talked-of man, if less a poet. For the same reason the article on Swift is very full; on Scott there are fifteen abundant and satisfactory pages, but Keats has hardly three. Sir James Mackintosh has ten ; Macaulay only six, Mr. Longfellow only seven, and Mrs. Stowe not quite two. But after all, this is an unfair way to judge Mr. Allibone’s work, who must have given space according to the amount of comment quite as much as according to merit; and even if this were not so, Fame does not finally make up her mind from tombstones or biographical dictionaries. It is natural that as he draws near our own time, Mr. Allibone should be less satisfactory ; we think this is an error from which he ought to have guarded himself, and in some cases we think the tendency has resulted in unmeant injustice.
Yet one who had far more fault than we have to find with his performance might well be silenced by the great obligation which he has bestowed upon the literary world, and by the lustre which he has added to the national repute by a work destined to as much immortality as conscientious, intelligent, and tireless industry can ever achieve. It is something for us all to be proud of; and with the appearance of the third volume (on which the author has completed his labors), it will be something from which Mr. Allibone can rest as contentedly as it is in human nature to do.