LEE

lee, sidney (1859- ), english man of letters, was born in london on the 5th of december 1859. he was educated at the city of london school, and at balliol college, oxford, where he graduated in modern history in 1882. in the next year he became assistant-editor of the _dictionary of national biography_. in 1890 he was made joint-editor, and on the retirement of sir leslie stephen in 1891 succeeded him as editor. he was himself a voluminous contributor to the work, writing some 800 articles, mainly on elizabethan authors or statesmen. while he was still at balliol he wrote two articles on shakespearian questions, which were printed in the _gentleman's magazine_, and in 1884 he published a book on stratford-on-avon. his article on shakespeare in the fifty-first volume (1897) of the _dictionary of national biography_ formed the basis of his _life of william shakespeare_ (1898), which reached its fifth edition in 1905. mr lee edited in 1902 the oxford facsimile edition of the first folio of _shakespeare's comedies, histories and tragedies_, followed in 1902 and 1904 by supplementary volumes giving details of extant copies, and in 1906 by a complete edition of shakespeare's _works_. besides editions of english classics his works include a _life of queen victoria_ (1902), _great englishmen of the sixteenth century_ (1904), based on his lowell institute lectures at boston, mass., in 1903, and _shakespeare and the modern stage_ (1906).