Excerpt from Haydn's Universal Index of Biography From the Creation to the Present Time: For the Use of the Statesman, the Historian, and the Journalist Tiie Publishers of haydn's dictionary OF dates, (a work which, under their careful supervision, has been completely remodelled, ) had long formed a plan for a dictionary OF biography, which, in my opinion, is an indis pensable companion to the older work. Long prior to the communication of this design to me, I had formed a strong desire to compile such a book, because, during some years' experience as a journalist, I had keenly felt its need. A well-read man of average memory recollects, in the main, the salient features in the history of a nation and of a man; but his retention must indeed be prodigious if he can carry about with him those dates which are absolutely necessary for the purposes of writing or of compari son. It is to give to the public a copious, if not an exhaustive, Date-book of Biography, which, while portable, shall be somewhat wider in conception than most manuals of a like order, that the labour necessary for its care ful construction has been undertaken and to render it worthy of the repu tation gained by the dictionary or dates no care and reading have been spared. The day of the month, where possible to be obtained, has been added to the year of each event recorded; and to save trouble in refer ence, the tabular form has been made use of wherever a number of occur rences come under one common head. In the labour of compilation, I have been assisted by Mr Benjamin Vincent, the Editor of the dictionary OF dates; and to the organization of record which he has established in connection with that work I attribute much of what is meritoriously exact in the following pages. It is my great ambition that the index OF biography shall be found no unworthy confrere of the dictionary OF dates, and that these two works shall be deemed standard authorities in the thousand-and-one instances in daily life which render a reference to such adjutores memorz'ce necessary or convenient. 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.