A Handbook of English Literature. Originally Compiled by Austin Dobson.
New Edition. Revised, with New Chapters, and Extended to the Present Time. By W. Hall Griffin, B.A. (Crosby Lock- wood and Son.)—Twenty-three years have gone by since Mr. Dobson published this handbook. It was primarily designed to assist candidates in preparing for the Civil Service examinations, but later on, as the original editor states, "an attempt was made to extend the utility of the book as a work of reference." The design of the compiler was effectively carried out. The manual contained all the facts and dates likely to be of service to can- didates, and as much uncontroversial comment on a literature that ranges over many centuries as could be compressed within a small volume. It was not Mr. Dobson's purpose to give an original estimate of his country's authors, and he was generally content to quote from critics who could claim special knowledge
and an established reputation. The handbook, which treats only of deceased authors, is now brought down to 1896; and as the first chapter opens with the year 600, and the volume consists of about three hundred pages, it is obvious that whatever service it may render to the student must depend on the accuracy of its statements. There is no scope for the criticism which in good hands like Mr. Dobson's is so stimulating and attractive. What can be said of smaller men, who are often the best beloved, when the greatest names in our literature are dismissed in a page or two, while some of them, like Donne and Jeremy Taylor, are criti- cised in three or four lines ? Enough that the book fulfils its purpose in giving "a concise and, as a rule, chronological record of the principal English authors, noting the leading character- istics of their productions, and, where necessary, the prominent events of their lives."
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