Synopsis Haydn's Dictionary of Dates by : Benjamin Vincent
Excerpt from Haydn's Dictionary of Dates: Relating to All Ages and Nations, for Universal Reference The design of the Author has been to attempt the compression of the greatest body of general information that has ever appeared in a single volume, and to produce a Book of Reference whose extensive usefulness may render its possession material to every individual - in the same manner that a London Directory is indispensable, on business affairs, to a London merchant. He grounds his hope of the Public taking an interest in this work altogether upon its own intrinsic utility. Its articles are drawn principally from historians of the first rank, and the most authentic annalists; and the Dictionary of Dates will, in almost every instance, save its possessor the trouble of turning over voluminous authors to refresh his memory, or to ascertain the date, order, and features of any particular occurrence. The volume contains upward of Fifteen Thousand Articles, alphabetically arranged; and, from the selection of its materials, it must be important to every man in the British Empire, whether learned or unlearned, or whether connected with the professions or engaged in trade. It would be difficult to name all the authors from whose works the Compiler of this volume has copiously extracted; but he may mention among the classics, Herodotus, Livy, Pliny, and Plutarch. He has chosen, in general chronology, Petavius, Usher, Blair, Prideaux, and the Abbe Lenglet Dufresnoy. For the events embraced in foreign history, he has relied upon Henault, Voltaire, La Combe, Rollin, Melchior Adam, the Nouveau Dictionnaire, and chief authors of their respective countries. On subjects of general literature, his authorities are Cave's Historia Literaria, Moreri, Bayle, Priestley, and others of equal repute. And English occurrences are drawn from Camden, Stow, Hall, Baker, Holinshed, Chamberlayne, Rapin, Hume, Gibbon, Goldsmith, etc. Besides these, the Compiler has freely used the various abridgments that have brought facts and dates more prominently forward; and he is largely indebted to Chambers, Aspin, Beatson, Anderson, Beckmann, the Cyelop dias, Annual Register, Statutes at Large, and numerous other compilations. In almost every instance the authority is quoted for the extract made and date assigned, though inadvertence may have prevented, in some few cases, a due acknowledgment. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."
