tion which belongs more strictly to the province of Bibliography. In this part of the present undertaking, it has likewise been recommended, with great propriety, that the titles of Books should generally be given in their ORIGINAL LANGUAGES. Much difficulty has arisen to collectors of Books, as well as to the readers in public libraries, from having a translated title only, which is not to be found in catalogues, nor perhaps, upon that account, easily recollected by librarians. It is intended, therefore, to restore this necessary information, where it can be procured; but the Editor finds it due to himself, to add, that he has not always been so successful in recovering the proper titles of works, as could have been wished. The biographers of most nations have hitherto been partial to translated, and frequently abridged, titles; and whoever has consulted the French biographers, in particular, must be sensible of the great inconveniencies attending this plan, as well as that of naturalizing the NAMES' of Authors, which is frequently done in such a manner as to create considerable confusion. In adverting to this last source of perplexity, the Editor of every new collection of lives, must hope to find an excuse for those almost unavoidable errors to which he is exposed; and particularly to the danger of repeating the same life under two apparently different names. Even in the present volume, and notwithstanding the care that has been taken to avoid errors of this kind, ALESSI, GALEAS, is afterwards VOL. I. b repeated under ALGHIZI-GALEAzzo. The Editor is aware that he is pleading bad example, rather than an excuse, when he adds, that he was led into this error by the editors both of the DICTIONNAIRE HISTORIQUE, and of that more accurate work the BIOGRAPHIE UNIVERSELLE. There are few respects in which works of this kind have been more encumbered, than in the admission of Emperors, Kings, Sultans, &c. whose lives are merely passages of history, unintelligible, if short, and if prolix, by no means biographical. Of these a few have been formerly admitted, and may be supposed sanctioned by repetition; but as curiosity seldom looks to biographical collections for such subjects, very little addition will be made to this series, except in the case of some royal personages of our own country, whose private or public history continues to be interesting. It only remains to be noticed that, according to the original plan, a preference will be given to the Worthies of our own country; a preference, however, not of selfish partiality, but of absolute necessity, as all foreign collections are notoriously deficient in the English series. For this it would be unfair to account either from want of learning or research. A more obvious reason is, that most of the foreign biographical collections have been made by Catholics, and in Catholic countries, where it would have been unsafe to enter into the merits of Englishmen of renown, either in Church or State. We owe it, however, to the illustrious founders of our Learning and Religion, we owe it to ourselves and to posterity, that no name should perish that was once enrolled on the lists of just and honourable fame. The Editor is aware that, with every degree of circumspection, and the most sedulous care that can be preserved in the conduct of this undertaking, it may not be possible in all cases to avoid the errors which have been pointed out, and to satisfy every expectation as to the plan proposed. He can only hope that may be able, by an adherence to the above rules, to improve upon the labours of his predecessors: and for the defects unavoidable in a work of this magnitude, he relies with confidence on the candour of the Publick. he May 1, 1812. Communications respecting persons lately deceased, or pointing out any other sources of information necessary to this work, may be addressed to the Editor, under cover to the Printers, Messrs. NICHOLS, SON, and BENTLEY, Red Lion Passage, Fleet-street. The New Edition of the Biographical Dictionary will continue to be published in Monthly Volumes, of about 500 pages each, printed with a new type, in a full-sized Demy Octavo, Price 12s. in boards. Printed for J. Nichols and Son; F. C. and J. Rivington; Volume II. with an Index, pointing out the new and re-written Lives contained in that Volume, will be published on the First of June, by Messrs. WILKIE and ROBINSON, 57, Paternoster-Row. Although it is impossible, in the present state of the work, to announce the exact number of Volumes to which it will extend, it is calculated that they will not exceed TWENTY-ONE. A NEW AND GENERAL BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. AA (PETER VANDER), an eminent bookseller, who began business at Leyden about the year 1682, and devoted his attention principally to geographical works and the construction of maps. A catalogue appeared at Amsterdam in 1729 of his publications, which are very numerous. Those in highest esteem are: 1. "A collection of Travels in France, Italy, England, Holland, and Russia," Leyden, 1706, 30 vols. 12mo. 2. "A collection of Voyages in the two Indies," Leyden, 1706, 8 vols. fol.; another edition, 29 vols. 8vo, 1707-1710. This consists chiefly of an abridgment of De Bry's collection, with some additions. 3. "A collection of Voyages in the Indies by the Portuguese, the English, the French, and the Italians," 4 vols. fol. Leyden. These three works are in Dutch. 4. An "Atlas of two hundred Maps," not in much estimation. 5. "A Gallery of the World," containing an immense quantity of maps, topographical and historical plates, but without letter-press, in 66 vols. fol. which are usually bound in 35. He also continued Grævius' "Thesaurus, or, an account of the modern Italian writers, with the "Thesaurus Antiquitatum Siciliæ." He died about 17301. AA (CHRISTIAN CHARLES HENRY VANDER), a learned divine of the Lutheran persuasion, was born at Zwolle, a town of Overyssel, in 1718, and was a preacher in the Lutheran church at Haerlem for fifty-one years, where his public and private character entitled him to the highest esteem. His favourite motto, "God is love," was the constant rule of his pastoral conduct. In 1752, he had the |