228 



DYCE, ALEXANDER. 



side, preparing also, in each case, excellent 

 biographical sketches of these writers. Being 

 a member of the Camden Society, he pre- 

 pared, at their instance, a reprint of Kemp's 

 " Nine Daies Wonder, performed in a Morrice 

 Daunce from London to Norwich," the produc- 

 tion of one of the actors contemporary with 

 Shakespeare, which was extremely rare, if not 

 unique. For the Shakespeare Society he edited, 

 in 1842, the old tragedies of " Timon" and 

 " Sir Thomas More," which had undoubtedly 

 furnished to Shakespeare hints for two of his 

 plays. His zeal in regard to the old poets 

 seemed to acquire fresh impetus from these 

 studies; for, in 1840, he was led, in conjunc- 

 tion with Payne, Collier, Halliwell, Wright, and 

 others like himself, zealous Shakespearians and 

 untiring explorers in the mine of old English 

 poetry, to found the Percy Society, the object 

 of which was the publication of the ancient 

 ballads and plays then almost unknown, ex- 

 cept to antiquaries. To this society his most 

 remarkable contribution was a monograph of 

 British sonnets, including a large number of 

 exquisite specimens of this peculiar form of 

 poetic art. He also edited for them "The 

 Pleasant History of the Two Angry Women 

 of Abington," written by Henry Porter in 

 1599 ; Michael Drayton's " Harmonie of the 

 Church," and poems by Sir Henry Wotton. 

 As a relaxation from other labors he amused 

 himself with the translation of the lyrical frag- 

 ments of Athenseus, to which he added an 

 elaborate and learned commentary. All these 

 labors, however, were but as the vestibule of 

 his Shakespearian studies and meditations. Of 

 Shakespeare he could say, as Schlegel had said, 

 " He is a poet to the study of whom I have 

 devoted many years of my life. I should never 

 be able to end were I to say all that I felt and 

 thought on the perusal of his works." Every 

 line nay, almost every word in the works 

 of the great bard were to him a treasure of 

 study and reflection. His researches in regard 

 to Shakespeare's life, his minute and careful 

 commentaries on the Shakespearian text, ex- 

 hibited surprising diligence and acuteness, and 

 placed him in the front rank of critics. As the 

 result of his long and careful examination of 

 the plays and poems, he proposed to issue a 



EASTERN CHURCHES. 



revised edition of Shakespeare's works, and in 

 1850 the publication was begun. For this 

 great work he carefully collated all the earliest 

 editions, made great improvements in the punc- 

 tuation, and proposed some remarkably ingen- 

 ious emendations of the text. Mr. Dyce in- 

 clined to conservatism in this matter ; although 

 he did much to restore and purify doubtful 

 passages, he was not disposed to tamper unne- 

 cessarily with the text of the first editions, 

 preferring rather to elucidate and explain the 

 work as it has come down to us. This edition 

 was completed in six volumes, the last of them 

 published in 1858. There has been, however, 

 within the past fifteen or eighteen years, much 

 light thrown on many points in the works of 

 Shakespeare, and no one of his many commen- 

 tators was better prepared than Mr. Dyce to 

 avail himself of it judiciously. This first edi- 

 tion, therefore,was but just completed when Mr. 

 Dyce prepared to go over the same ground with 

 still greater thoroughness and care, and, though 

 we believe no portion of his new revision has 

 yet been published, it is understood to be 

 nearly ready for the press, and will be com- 

 prised in nine volumes. Mr. Dyce was not 

 without his literary controversies upon many 

 points in the Shakespeare text, as his sharp 

 criticisms of the editions of Shakespeare by 

 Payne Collier and Charles Knight abundantly 

 testify. One of his latest works is a volume 

 of notes upon the emendations adopted by 

 Collier from the manuscript corrections dis- 

 covered by that gentleman in the second folio 

 edition of the immortal dramatist, in which he 

 proved that many of the emendations were no 

 better than corruptions of the text. Nor, on 

 the other hand, was he without his charming 

 literary friendships, as his record of the " Table- 

 talk of Samuel Rogers," the banker-poet, proves. 

 He was a man of genial disposition, a good 

 scholar, an ardent lover of poetry in all its 

 forms, but chiefly as it is found crystallized in 

 the magic pages of Shakespeare. His life was 

 passed in ease, in the peaceful incidents of 

 study, and in the happy environment of friends 

 loving and thinking like himself. His death 

 will awaken sympathy among the studious, the 

 reflective, and, above all, among the admirers 

 of the Swan of Avon in both hemispheres. 



E 



EASTERN CHURCHES, or OEIENTAL 

 CHURCHES. The collective name given to a 

 number of churches in Eastern Europe, in 

 Asia, and Northern Africa (Greek, Armenian, 

 Nestorian, Jacobite, Coptic, and Abyssinian), 

 which hold to the doctrine of the apostolic 

 succession of the bishops. The statistics of 

 the Eastern Churches, in 1869, were as fol- 

 lows: Europe (Russia, Turkey, Greece, Aus- 

 tria, North-German Confederation), 69,782,- 

 000; Asia (Russia, Turkey, India, Persia, 



China), 8,486,000 ; Africa (Egypt), 3,200,000 ; 

 America (United States, chiefly in Alaska), 

 10,000 total, 81,478,000. 



The reply of the Eastern bishops to the 

 Papal invitation to attend the (Ecumenical 

 Council was, generally, unfavorable. When 

 the Council opened on the 8th of December, 

 not a single bishop of any of the Eastern 

 Churches had yet arrived. The arrival of a few 

 was, however, expected. The Roman Catholic 

 Church continues to make some inroads into 



