SOME OPINIONS OF THE PRESS ON THE FIRST EDITION.

“Conscientious and painstaking,”—The Times.

“Obviously a most painstaking work, and in many ways it is very welldone.”—Pall Mall Gazette.

“In many ways a serviceable book, and deserves to be widely bought.”—TheSpeaker.

“A book of far-reaching research and careful industry ... will make thispoet clearer, nearer, and dearer to every reader who systematically useshis book.”—Scotsman.

“Dr. Berdoe is a safe and thoughtful guide; his work has evidently been alabour of love, and bears many marks of patient research.”—Echo.

“Students of Browning will find it an invaluable aid.”—Graphic.

“A work suggestive of immense industry.”—Morning Post.

“Erudite and comprehensive.”—Glasgow Herald.

“As a companion to Browning’s works the Cyclopædia will be most valuable;it is a laborious, if necessary, piece of work, conscientiously performed,for which present and future readers and students of Browning ought to bereally grateful.”—Nottingham Daily Guardian.

“A monumental labour, and fitting company for the great compositions heelucidates.”—Rock.

“It is very well that so patient and ubiquitous a reader as Dr. Berdoeshould have written this useful cyclopædia, and cleared the meaning ofmany a dark and doubtful passage of the poet.”—Black and White.

“It is not too much to say that Dr. Berdoe has earned the gratitude ofevery reader of Browning, and has materially aided the study of Englishliterature in one of its ripest developments.”—British Weekly.

“Dr. Berdoe’s Cyclopædia should make all other handbooksunnecessary.”—Star.

“We are happy to commend the volume to Browning students as the mostambitious and useful in its class yet executed.”—Notes and Queries.

“A most learned and creditable piece of work. Not a difficulty isshirked.”—Vanity Fair.

“A monument of industry and devotion. It has really faced difficulties, itis conveniently arranged, and is well printed and bound.”—Bookman.

“A wonderful help.”—Gentlewoman.

“Can be strongly recommended as one for a favourite corner in one’slibrary.”—Whitehall Review.

“Exceedingly well done; its interest and usefulness, we think, may passwithout question.”—Publishers’ Circular.

“In a singularly industrious and exhaustive manner he has set himself tomake clear the obscure and to accentuate the beautiful in RobertBrowning’s poem ... must have involved infinite labour and research. Itcannot be doubted that the book will be widely sought for and warmlyappreciated.”—Daily Telegraph.

“Dr. Berdoe tackles every allusion, every proper name, every phase ofthought, besides giving a most elaborate analysis of each poem. He hasproduced what we might almost call a monumental work.”—LiteraryOpinion.

“This cyclopædia may certainly claim to be by a long way the mostefficient aid to the study of Browning that has been published, or islikely to be published.... Lovers of Browning will prize it highly, andall who wish to understand him will consult it with advantage.”—BaptistMagazine.

“The work has evidently been one of love, and we doubt whether any onecould have been found better qualified to undertake it.”—CambridgeReview.

“All readers of Browning will feel indebted to Dr. Berdoe for hisinteresting accounts of the historical facts on which many of the dramasare based, and also for his learned dissertations on ‘The Ring and theBook’ and ‘Sordello.’”—British Medi