THE GENERAL

BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.

A NEW EDITION.

VOL. 1.

J. Nichols, Son, and Bentley, Printers, Red Lion Passage, Fleet Street, Loudon.

BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY:

CONTAINING

AN HISTORICAL AND CRITICAL ACCOUNT

OF THE

LIVES AND WRITINGS

OF THE

MOST EMINENT PERSONS

IN EVERY NATION;

PARTICULARLY THE BRITISH AND IRISH;

FROM THE EARLIEST ACCOUNTS TO THE PRESENT TIME.

A NEW EDITION,

REVISED AND ENLARGED BY

ALEXANDER CHALMERS, F. S. A.

VOL. I.

LONDON :

PRINTED FOR J. NICHOLS AND SON; F. C. AND J. RIVINGTON; T. PAYNE ;
W. OTRIDGE AND SON; G. AND W. NICOL; WILKIE AND ROBINSON;
J. WALKER; R. LEA; W. LOWNDES; WHITE, COCHRANE, AND CO. ;
J. DEIGHTON; T. EGERTON; LACKINGTON, ALLEN, AND CO.; LONGMAN,
HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN; CÁDELL AND DAVIES; C. LAW;
J. BOOKER; CLARKE AND SONS; J. AND A. ARCH ; J. HARRIS; BLACK, PARRY,
AND CO.; J. BOOTH; J. MAWMAN; GALE AND CURTIS; R. H. EVANS; J.
HATCHARD; J. HARDING ; J. JOHNSON AND CO.; E. BENTLEY; AND J. FAULDER,
1812.

R

ADVERTISEMENT.

IN presenting a new Edition of the BIOGRAPHICAL

DICTIONARY, more voluminous than any of the former, it may be necessary to premise a general sketch of the additions and improvements to be introduced. It appears to have been the original plan of this Dictionary to comprise an account of persons of all nations, eminent for genius, learning, public spirit, and virtue, with a preference, as to extent of narrative, to those of our own country. And this plan it is intended to follow in all its parts, with the exception of some articles confessedly improper for a work of this kind, but with the addition of many more, collected from various sources, foreign and domestic.

Many of the years which have elapsed since the publication of the last edition, have been employed in collecting materials for the improved state in which, it is hoped, the Work will now appear; and much pains have been taken to remove the objections, whether of redundancy or defect, which have been made to all the preceding editions. During the same space, a