OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LITERATURE FOR THE YEAR 1841. PRESIDENT. THE RIGHT HON. THE EARL OF RIPON. VICE-PRESIDENTS. HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF RUTLAND, K.G. THE RIGHT HON. THE EARL OF CLARE. THE RIGHT HON. LORD BEXLEY. THE RIGHT HON. SIR GORE OUSELEY, BART. G.C.B. WILLIAM MARTIN LEAKE, Esq. LOUIS HAYES PETIT, Esq. THE REV. JOHN HUME SPRY, D.D. COUNCIL. THE RIGHT HON. THE EARL OF BURLINGTON. THE RIGHT HON. LORD COLBORNE. SIR MATTHEW TIERNEY, BART. BENJAMIN BOND CABBELL, Esq. THE REV. RICHARD CATTERMOLE, SECRETARY. THE REV. HENRY CLISSOLD. NEWELL CONNOP, JUN. Esq. JOHN CURTEIS, Esq. SIR JOHN DORATT, M.D. WILLIAM R. HAMILTON, Esq. LIBRARIAN AND FOREIGN SECRETARY. HENRY HOLLAND, Esq. WILLIAM JERDAN, Esq. WILLIAM OSBURN, Esq. DAVID POLLOCK, Esq. THE REV. GEORGE TOMLINSON. WILLIAM TOOKE, Esq. TREASURER. ADVERTISEMENT THE distinguishing characteristic of this volume, which has been composed by Mr. Thomas Wright, M.A. under the superintendence of the Council of the Royal Society of Literature, is that it contains, in a chronological series, a biography of all those natives of the British Islands who are known to have enjoyed any literary reputation during the period of the Anglo-Saxon rule. And it is proposed by the Society, in continuing the work, to trace down the stream of British literature, in successive periods of time, to the close of the seventeenth century. Several reasons may be alleged for giving to this arrangement the preference over that which is in the order of the alphabet; and the reader will, perhaps, find it convenient to be able to have recourse to biographical collections founded on both plans. |
