in _both_ editions
of the _Athenae Oxoniensis_.[129]

[Footnote 128: Sir Thomas Pope Blount's "_Censura
Celebriorum Authorum_," Londini, 1690, folio, is
unquestionably a learned work--the production of a rural and
retired life--"Umbraticam enim vitam et ab omni strepitu
remotam semper in delitiis habui,"--says its author, in the
preface. It treats chiefly of the most learned men, and
sparingly of the English. His "_Remarks upon Poetry_,"
Lond., 1694, 4to. (in English) is more frequently read and
referred to. It is a pity that he had not left out the whole
of what relates to the Greek and Latin, and confined himself
entirely to the English, poets. A life of Sir Thomas Pope
Blount will be found in the new edition of the _Biographia
Britannica_.]

[Footnote 129: The first, and, what Hearne over and over
again calls the genuine edition of the _Athenae Oxoniensis_,
was published in two folio volumes, 1691, 1692. That a
_third_ volume was intended by the author himself may be
seen from Hearne's remarks in his _Thom. Caii. Vind. Antiq.
Oxon._, vol. i., p. xliii. For the character of the work
consult his _Rob. de Avesb._, pp. xxvi, xxxiii. After the
lapse of nearly half a century, it was judged expedient to
give a new edition of these valuable biographical memoirs;
and Dr. Tanner, afterwards bishop of St. Asaph, was selected
to be the editor of it. It was well known that Wood had not
only made large corrections to his own printed text, but had
written nearly _500_ new lives--his MS. of both being
preserved in the Ashmolean Museum. This new edition,
therefore, had every claim to public notice. When it
appeared, it was soon discovered to be a corrupt and garbled
performance; and that the genuine text of Wood, as well in
his correctness of the old, as in his compositions of the
new, lives, had been most capriciously copied. Dr. Tanner,
to defend himself, declared that Tonson "would never let him
see one sheet as they printed it." This was sufficiently
infamous for the bookseller; but the editor ought surely to
have abandoned a publication thus faithlessly conducted, or
to have entered his caveat in the preface, when it did
appear, that he would not be answerable for the authenticity
of the materials: neither of which were done. He wro