Mr. A. F. Pollard began work in the office. Mr. E. I. Carlyle became an additional sub-editor in 1896, and Mr. H. E. Murray was clerk in charge of the Dictionary throughout its publication. When Lee became editor he introduced stricter rules about attendance. ‘The rule for assistant editors was three hours each morning at the Museum and four each afternoon in Waterloo Place,’ with proof-reading at home in the evenings when it was required. They wrote a considerable number of articles themselves. Their work upon the articles of other people was not confined to the elimination of verbiage and the correction of erroneous statements; they inserted fresh biographical facts, information about portraits, and bibliographical details. Some articles were partially rewritten; a paragraph or a column was often added; once the assistant editors increased a three-page life to nine pages. To another life Lee added about ten pages, and his initials appeared at the end beside those of the original author. An article which was completely rewritten in the office became anonymous, and anonymity was also the custom when an author found the alterations more than he was willing to accept.[1] These improvements, while they brought the Dictionary nearer to Lee’s ideal standard, swelled its bulk considerably.
The zeal of the contributors worked towards the same result. The Dictionary had given a great stimulus to research, which was reflected in their articles. Nearly three-quarters of the work was written by about a hundred regular contributors. They were most of them specialists studying some particular branch of knowledge or some particular period of history. They learnt more and more about their subjects as the Dictionary went on, and put more and more learning into their articles. They felt personally interested in the success of the undertaking. ‘It was a curious fact’, said Mr. Smith in 1894, ‘that everybody who had taken part in the production of the Dictionary had manifested a strong liking for it. Editors, assistant editors, contributors, all seemed to have formed a kind of comradeship with the common object of making the work as perfect as possible; and this affection for the work was not a transitory one, it was the same under Mr. Sidney Lee as it was under Mr. Leslie Stephen. In truth they all liked the Dictionary and were proud of it.’
The contributors fostered their esprit de corps by dining together. Some of these entertainments were festivities like college gaudies. There was a dinner at Richmond at the Star and Garter in July 1888. Mr. Smith entertained the contributors by fifties at his home in Park Lane in 1892, and to the number of 200 at the Whitehall Rooms in 1897. The contributors entertained Mr. Smith at the Westminster Palace Hotel in 1894. Finally, the Lord Mayor gave a dinner at the Mansion House on 30 June 1900, to celebrate the conclusion of the Dictionary. At these gatherings the usual toasts were the proprietor, the editor, and the contributors. The speakers jested about their trade like the grave-diggers in Hamlet. Canon Ainger told them that the editor’s motto was ‘ No flowers, by request.’ Sir E. Maunde Thompson compared his brother contributors to the Murderers’ Club in De Quincey: each man looked at his neighbour
- ↑ See ‘A Statistical Account’ of the Dictionary in vol. lxiii, pp. ix-x, and Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research, June 1926, p. 6.
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