as of the highest value are the publications of a number of societies. Belonging in this
class, though not under the care of any society, are Rerum Britannicarum medti evi scrip-
lores, published under the Direction of the Master of the Rolls, London, 1858-91 (known as
the Rolls Series. One of the most important of this series is No. 26, T. D. Hardy's De-
scriptive Catalogue of Materials Relating io the Histery of Great Britain and Ireland . . . to
the End of the Reign of Henry VII., 3 vols. in 4, 1862-71). The Henry Bradshaw Society
of London began in 1891 to publish monastic and other documents; the Camden Society
exists for the purpose of publishing documents illustrative of English history (London,
1838 to date), many of which are of ecclesiastical interest; the Surtees Society of Durham,
founded 1834, has issued over 100 volumes, many of which make available sources of the
first rank.
In the field of Biography a number of works should be known to students. A monu- mental work begun by J. S. Ersch and J. G. Gruber, continued by A. Leekien, ia Allgemeine Encyklopidie der Wissenschaften und Kinste in alphabetischer Folge, Leipsic, 1818-89 and still receiving additions. Already 100 volumes and more have been issued, and it is to be contin- ued from time to time. The biographical interest is so pronounced in this production that it takes a front rank in thia class of works. The biographical interest is also predominant in another work to which very frequent reference is made, L. 8, Le Nain de Tillemont, Mémoires pour servir & l'histoire ecclésiastique des stz premters siecle, 2d ed., 16 vols., Paris, 1701~12, parts of it in an English translation by T. Deacon, 2 vols., London, 1721, 1733-35. J. P. Nice- ron, Mémoires pour servir 4 ’histotre des hommes tilustrés dana la republique des letires, 43 vals., Paris, 1729-45, is a work of reference often used; mention is due also to the Biographte univer- selle, ancienne ef moderne, 45 vols., Paris, 1843 sqq., and Nouvelle biographie universelle of J. C. F. Hoefer, 46 vols., Paris, 1852-56, both serviceable and sometimes the only avail- able works. Of national biographical works, for Germany there is the Algemeine deutsche Biographic, 50 vols., Leipsic, 1875-1905 (still in progress; it is under the auspicea of the Historical Commission of the Royal Bavarian Academy of Sciences); for France, the Hts- toire littératre de la France begun by the Benedictines of St. Maur, 12 vols., Paris, 1733-63, and continued by members of the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-lettres to vol. xxxii., 1898 (2 new edition is in progress, completed aa far as vol. xvi.); for Protestant France may be consulted E. and BE. Haag, La France protestante, 7 vols., Paris, 1846-59, 2d ed., enlarged by H. L. Bordier, vols. i-vi., 1887-89; also belonging here is A. C. A. Agnew, Protestant Extles from France, 2 vols., Edinburgh, 1886 (printed for private circulation only). The one work of note for Holland is A. J. Van der Aa, Biographisch Woordenboek van der Nederlanden, Haarlem, 1852 sqq. For England there is the noble Dictionary of National Biography, edited by Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee, 63 vols., and 3 supplement vola., with one of errata, London and New York, 1885-1904 (contains much of interest to Americans, especially on the founders and notables of colonial times; a cheaper ed. is promised); F Bosse, Modern English Biography of Persons who have died since . . . 1850, 3 vols., Truro, 1892-1901; and J. Gillow, Bibliographical Dictionary of English Catholics, 1684-1885, 5 vols., London and New York, n.d. (the lists of works by the subjects of the entries are an exceedingly valuable feature, being very complete). The Danes have also a biographical dictionary like those mentioned, Dansk biografisk lexikon, tillige omfallende Norge for idarwm- met, 1587-1814. Udgivet af C. F. Briska, Copenhagen, 1887 sqq.
There is atill needed an adequate work on American Biography which shall correspond to the English Dictionary of National Biography cited above. There are available the Na- tional Cyclopedia of American Biography, 13 vois., New York, 1892-1906 (the alphabetical order is abandoned and no consistent substitute adopted; an elaborate index volume appeared in 1906); and Appleton’s Cyclopadia of American Biography by James Grant Wil-
