The index is well made and the references are full of life and charm, but the whole is spoilt by the bad arrangement. The entries are set out in single lines under the headings in the successive order of the pages. This looks unsystematic, as they ought to be arranged in alphabet. When the references are given in the order of the pages they should be printed in block.
There are several entries commencing with "'s"; thus, under
"St. George."
p. 386:
"'s war
"of Hanover Square."
p. 387:
"'s Square
's, Hanover Square"
p. 389:
"'s law
's school
's message
's Chapel at Venice."
In long headings that occupy separate pages these are repeated at the top of the page, but the headings are not sufficiently full: thus the saints are arranged in alphabet under S; George commences on page 386. On
p. 387:
"Saint—Saints continued
story of,"
p. 388:
"what of gold etc. he thinks good for people, they shall have"
p. 389:
"tenth part of fortunes for"
p. 390:
"his creed"
p. 391:
"loss of a good girl for his work"
In the case of all the references on these pages you have to go back to page 386 to find out to whom they refer.
There is a particularly bad block of references filling half a page under Lord.
"Lord, High Chancellor, 7.6; 's Prayer vital to a nation, 7.22; Mayor and Corporation, &c of Hosts."
It is a pity that an interesting index should be thus marred by bad arrangement.
Dr. Birkbeck Hill's complete index to his admirable edition of Boswell's Life of Johnson is a delightful companion to the work, and may be considered as a model of what an index should be; for compilation, arrangement, and printing all are good. Under the different headings are capital abstracts in blocks. There are sub-headings in alphabet under the main heading Johnson.