Dyce, Alexander

Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature by John W. Cousin

(1798-1869)


Scholar and critic, s. of Lieut.-General Alexander D., was b. in Edin., and ed. there and at Oxf. He took orders, and for a short time served in two country curacies. Then, leaving the Church and settling in London, he betook himself to his life-work of ed. the English dramatists. His first work, Specimens of British Poetesses, appeared in 1825; and thereafter at various intervals ed. of Collins's Poems, and the dramatic works of Peele, Middleton, Beaumont and Fletcher, Marlowe, Greene, Webster, and others. His great ed. of Shakespeare in 9 vols. appeared in 1857. He also ed. various works for the Camden Society, and pub. Table Talk of Samuel Rogers. All D.'s work is marked by varied and accurate learning, minute research, and solid judgment.

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