MODERN ENGLISH BIOGRAPHY CONTAINING MANY THOUSAND CONCISE MEMOIRS OF PERSONS WHO HAVE DIED SINCE THE YEAR 1850, WITH AN INDEX OF THE MOST INTERESTING MATTER. BY FREDERIC BOASE. FACTA NON VERBA. VOLUME I. A-H. TRURO: NETHERTON AND WORTH, FOR THE AUTHOR. 250 COPIES ONLY PRINTED. PRICE 42/- NET. 1892. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ _Preface._ Biography like other subjects seems to have its fashion; at one time it is much attended to, at another time neglected. The Historical Register from 1717 to 1739, The European Magazine from 1782 to 1826, and The Gentleman’s Magazine from 1731 to 1868 furnished most useful and excellent notices of deceased worthies; then there appeared for one year only, The Register and Magazine of Biography, the first volume by Mr. Thompson Cooper, F.S.A., the second by Mr. Edward Walford, M.A. After this period there was a lull and biography was for some time at a discount; gradually however _The Times_, which hitherto had paid little attention to the subject, commenced inserting numerous obituary notices, and this fashion gradually increased, until at the present day there are few numbers of that paper which do not contain interesting memoirs. Other periodicals followed suit, and now the majority of the daily and weekly journals not only give lives but many of them well engraved portraits. In the meantime there also came out various books on biography, such as Men of the Time, Men of Mark, Eminent Women Series, English Men of Action, English Men of Letters, English Worthies, Great Artists, Great Writers, Memorable Men of the Nineteenth Century, Men worth Remembering, The Biograph and others, while various improved biographical dictionaries, more especially the Dictionary of National Biography, still in progress, were produced. General Biography has now become so large a subject, that no one work can comprehend it, and it will, it is imagined, in future, be necessary to attack it in small sections, if anything like justice is to be done to the matter.