length of articles has slightly risen in the progress of the work. The following articles are among the longest in the Dictionary:—
Pages Shakespeare (by Mr. Sidney Lee) . . . . . . . 49 The Duke of Wellington (by Col. E. M. Lloyd, R.E.) . . . 34 Francis Bacon (by Dr. S. Rawson Gardiner and the Rev. Dr. Thomas Fowler) . . . . . . . . . . 32 Oliver Cromwell (by Mr. C. H. Firth) . . . . . . 31 Queen Elizabeth (by the Rev. Dr. Augustus Jessopp) . . . 28 Sir Robert Walpole (by Mr. I. S. Leadam) . . . . . 28 John Churchill, first Duke of Marlborough (by Mr. Leslie Stephen) . 26 Sir Walter Scott (by Mr. Leslie Stephen) . . . . . . 25 Edward I (by the Rev. William Hunt) . . . . . . 24 Byron (by Mr. Leslie Stephen) . . . . . . . . 24 Charles II (by Dr. A. W. Ward) . . . . . . . 24 Sir Isaac Newton (by Mr. R. T. Glazebrook, F.R.S.) . . . . 23 Swift (by Mr. Leslie Stephen) . . . . . . . . 23 Edward III (by the Rev. William Hunt) . . . . . . 22 Sterne (by Mr. Sidney Lee) . . . . . . . . 22 Wycliffe (by the Rev. Hastings Rashdall) . . . . . . 21
The total number of contributors to the Dictionary is 653, of whom fifty-six have died during the publication of the work. Of these, 224 have contributed one article apiece, and 329 from two to twenty articles apiece. The remaining one hundred can be described as more or less regular and voluminous contributors, either through the whole progress of the work or during prolonged periods in the course of its preparation. It is by these one hundred regular and voluminous contributors that the bulk of the work has been done. In fact, they have written nearly three-fourths of the whole. These one hundred regular contributors include experts in nearly all departments of knowledge, and they have treated many of the more prominent names, as well as the names of smaller importance, in their special fields of study. In a single instance the whole of one department of biographical knowledge has been entrusted to a single regular contributor. All the naval biographies have come from the pen of Professor J. K. Laughton. Similarly the memoirs of all but a very few actors and actresses have been written by Mr. Joseph Knight. The treatment of other special fields has engaged the attention of two or more regular contributors, or in the course of the work one specialist has been succeeded by another, or one regular writer has undertaken a share of more than one branch of special study. The lives of soldiers have been chiefly handled by Mr. H. Morse Stephens (until the letter F), the late H. Manners Chichester, Colonel R. H. Vetch, R.E., C.B., and Colonel E. M. Lloyd, R.E. In mediaeval history the chief part of the work has been executed by Sir Edward Maunde Thompson, K.C.B., the Rev. William Hunt, Professor T. F. Tout, Mr.
