HAYDN'S DICTIONARY OF DATES COMPREHENDING REMARKABLE OCCURRENCES, ANCIENT AND MODERN, THE FOUNDATION, LAWS, AND GOVERNMENTS OF COUNTRIES-THEIR PROGRESS IN ARTS, SCIENCE, AND LITERATURE-THEIR ACHIEVEMENTS IN ARMS-AND THEIR CIVIL, MILITARY, RELIGIOUS, AND PHILANTHROPIC INSTITUTIONS, PARTICULARLY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. ADVERTISEMENT. IT having reached the publishers that a statement made by Mr. Haydn in the preface to the first edition of his "Dictionary of Dates," to the effect that "the volume contained 15,000 articles" had been challenged by certain interested parties, the publishers placed a copy of the TWELFTH edition of the work in the hands of one of the most eminent firms of Accountants in London, in order that all controversy upon this point might be ended by so eminent an authority. To the certificate of Messrs. QUILTER, BALL, & Co. (a copy of which is subjoined), it is only necessary to add that the present more convenient method of massing a large number of cognate facts under one grand heading was not adopted so extensively by the compiler of this work, as by the present editor, and that the THIRTEENTH edition very greatly exceeds its predecessor in the number of articles and facts it contains. COPY. "3, MOORGATE STREET, E. C. LONDON, 11th June, 1868. GENTLEMEN,-The following is the result of the examination we have made at your request of the 12th Edition of Haydn's 'Dictionary of Dates,' published in 1866, with the view of ascertaining by actual enumeration the extent of its contents. 1. Number of alphabetical articles distinguished by Capital Titles or headings 2. Number of paragraphs or sentences included under such alphabetical articles, each of which contains one or more facts or dates 3. Number of foot notes, each containing one or more facts or dates 5,734 34,038 525 34,563 Total number of facts or dates We remain, Gentlemen, Yours faithfully, Messrs. E. Moxon & Co., 44, Dover Street, Piccadilly. QUILTER, BALL & CO." BY BENJAMIN VINCENT, ASSISTANT SECRETARY AND KEEPER OF THE LIBRARY OF THE ROYAL INSTITUTION OF PREFACE ΤΟ THE THIRTEENTH EDITION. THIS Volume is once more presented to the Public, with gratitude for its long-continued favourable reception; the frequency of New Editions having increased, although larger numbers of each have been printed. Since 1855, when my connection with the book began by the superintendence of the printing of the Seventh Edition, my constant aim has been its thorough renovation; and this has been effected at the cost of very much time and thought, by careful revision and selection from the abundance of invaluable materials at my disposal. The great difficulty, indeed, has been to keep the book within convenient dimensions: its enlargement by the insertion of matters of merely local and temporary interest, and of commonplace remarks upon the events recorded, would have been a far easier task. Among the new features are the Chronological Tables at the beginning of the work, the dated Index, and many biographical, geographical, and scientific facts inserted wherever they seemed requisite. To afford room for the new matter, the size of the page and the bulk of the book have been enlarged, and very many articles have been condensed. Encouraged by success, I hope still to maintain the reputation which this work has attained, by daily watching and recording in its pages the progress of events, and sedulously endeavouring to make it, not a mere Dictionary of Dates, but a dated Cyclopædia, a digested summary of every department of human history, brought down to the eve of publication. I have endeavoured to act under the influence of the old maxims: "Homo sum; humani nihil a me alienum puto," and "Nulla dies sine lined." JUNE, 1868. BENJAMIN VINCENT. |