Excerpt from Hazell's Annual Cyclopaedia, 1886: Containing Nearly 2000 Concise and Explanatory Articles, on Every Topic of Current Political, Social and General Interest Referred to by the Press and in Daily Conversation In presenting this New Annual to the public, a few words briefly indicating the purpose and scope of the undertaking are, we think, desirable. The work owes its origin to a conviction on the part of its promoters, that most Englishmen who wish to keep an courant with the questions of the day, and regular readers of the daily, weekly and monthly press, often misunderstand or altogether fail to appreciate the precise value of certain points raised, or to follow the exact train of reasoning, on account of their non-acquaintance with the full bearings of the question under discussion, or with a reference or phrase employed therein. Our object is to meet this difficulty, which is already imposing, but Willbe more so as the public interests widen, and newspaper extension further increases. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.