PREFACE TO NINETEENTH EDITION.

THE original work, now freshly offered to the public, was published in 1865, and has remained since that date the authority in the department which it occupies, and the model upon which many books of like character have been constructed. It has been in constant demand, and, so far as it covers literature up to the date when it was first compiled, remains practically complete. A quarter of a century, however, adds materially to the stock of fiction, and gives opportunity for fictitious characters to become noted and familiar. The publishers therefore have deemed it proper to add an appendix to the original work, and have entrusted the preparation to the competent hand of Mr. Charles G. Wheeler, a nephew of the editor of the work, who was associated with his uncle in compiling the companion volume FAMILIAR ALLUSIONS.

In constructing the Appendix, Mr. Wheeler has kept carefully to the spirit and plan of the original work. His main task has been to glean from the copious literature of the last twentyfive years such additions as seem demanded by the judgment of readers; but he has also taken the opportunity to supply a few omissions in the original work, and for this he has had the aid of notes left for the purpose by the late Mr. William A. Wheeler. The new edition, therefore, of the DICTIONARY represents the latest and most thoroughly ordered survey of the field which it occupies.

BOSTON, April, 1889.

PREFACE.

THE author of this volume contributed to the edition of Webster's Quarto Dictionary published in 1864 a "Vocabulary of the Names of Noted Fictitious Persons and Places;" but the present work, though based on that Vocabulary, embraces a wider range of subjects, contains nearly seventeen hundred new articles, besides important modifications of many of the others, and is furnished with an orthoëpical Introduction, and an Index of the real names of persons, places, &c., whose nicknames, pseudonyms, or popular appellations, are given in the body of the book. Notwithstanding the great pains that has been taken to secure fullness and minute accuracy, there are undoubtedly some errors and numerous omissions; but no more of either, it is hoped, than are inseparable from a work of such multiplicity. And although a casual examination or closer scrutiny may bring to light defects of both kinds, it may still be affirmed, that, with respect to a very large class of names, there can nowhere else be found in a collective form an equal amount and variety of information.

The main design of the work is to explain, as far as practicable, the allusions which occur in modern standard literature to noted fictitious persons and places, whether mythological or not. For this reason, the plan is almost entirely restricted to proper names, or such as designate individual persons, places, or things. The introduction of appellative or generic names, such as abbot of unreason, lord of misrule, kobold, &c., as well as the explanation of celebrated customs and phrases, such as flap-dragon, nine-men's-morrice, philosophy of the Porch,

too vast a field of inquiry; and, besides, there are copious special treatises on these subjects already before the public, as those of Brand, Hone, Pulleyn, Timbs, and others. The author has been urged to extend his plan so as to include the titles of famous poems, essays, novels, and other literary works, and the names of celebrated statues, paintings, palaces, country-seats, churches, ships, streets, clubs, and the like; inasmuch as such names are of very common occurrence in books and newspapers, and, for the most part, are not alphabetically entered and explained in Encyclopædias, Dictionaries, or Gazetteers. That a dictionary which should furnish succinct information upon such matters would supply a want which is daily felt by readers of every class is not to be doubted; but it should constitute an independent work. A manual of this description the author has for some time had in preparation; and he hopes to publish it, at no distant day, as a companion to the present volume.

The names from the Greek, Roman, Norse, and Hindu Mythologies that are here given, are concisely treated, mainly with a view to explain frequent allusions in the poets and other popular writers, and for the benefit of mere English readers, rather than for that of professed scholars. From the Rabbinical and Mohammedan Mythologies have been taken some names, which are occasionally made the subject of reference, and concerning which information is not readily obtainable. Prominence has been given to the departments of Angelology, Demonology, Fairy Mythology, and Popular Superstitions, which afford many of the most important names in Fiction. Parables, Allegories, Proverbs, and Mediæval Legends have also furnished a considerable number. Ecclesiastical History contributes the names of several pseudo-saints, and other imaginary personages. In the Drama, and in Poetry - including the various kinds, Epic, Romantic, Narrative, Comic, &c., the intention has been to give the names of all such characters as are familiarly referred to by writers and speakers at the present day; and, though there may be accidental omissions, it is hoped that under