Mr. George Smith, the head of the great publishing firm
of Smith, Elder, and Co., was entertained on Wednesday by the -editors and contributors who have made his "Dictionary of National Biography" the great work it undoubtedly is, for Mr. George Smith originated the idea and converted it by his .enterprise and his admirable choice of editors and writers from an idea into a great practical undertaking, the execution of which has proceeded with more businesslike speed and punctuality than almost any book of the kind that we can remember. In replying to the toast of his health, Mr. Smith said that it was a less uncommon thing than it is usually supposed to be for publishers to go into an enterprise of this kind from personal liking and with- out any great hope of profit, and certainly in the present case,—though we hope that it will not prove a loss,—this great enterprise was undertaken from Mr. George Smith's noble literary ambition, and not as a commercial specula- tion. Indeed, his editors testified on Wednesday to the un- stinted generosity with which he had supported them in -conducting the work. The dinner seems to have taken a somewhat comic tarn towards the close of the speaking, Mr. Maude Thompson describing with great vivacity the hungry look with which some of the contributors eye their colleagues, hoping to outlive them and to write their lives, instead of being written about by those colleagues. He felt uncertain, lie said, whether in such a company it was a right thing at all to propose healths, since health must evidently interfere with the prospect of getting new names into the dictionary. No one went so far as to express a wish to go in time for their lives to be included in the coming volume,—indeed, Mr. Leslie Stephen hoped he might outlive the completion of the letter S, that he might not embarrass his friend and successor, Mr. Lee, with the problem of reconciling the .cordiality of friendship with the judicial impartiality of the biographical writer. Was that the only motive ?
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