thor, ſo extenſive that little can be added, and ſo exact, that little can be diſputed, every editor has an intereſt to ſuppreſs, but that every reader would demand its inſertion.
Pope was ſucceeded by Theobald, a man of narrow comprehenſion, and ſmall acquiſitions, with no native and intrinſic ſplendor of genius, with little of the artificial light of learning, but zealous for minute accuracy, and not negligent in purſuing it. He collated the ancient copies, and rectified many errors. A man ſo anxiouſly ſcrupulous might have been expected to do more, but what little he did was commonly right.
In his reports of copies and editions he is not to be truſted without examination. He ſpeaks ſometimes indefinitely of copies, when he has only one. In his enumeration of editions, he mentions the two firſt folios as of high, and the third folio as of middle authority; but the truth is, that the firſt is equivalent to all others, and that the reſt only deviate from it by the printer’s negligence. Whoever has any of the folios has all, excepting thoſe diverſities which mere reiteration of editions will produce. I collated them all at the beginning, but afterwards uſed only the firſt.
Of his notes I have generally retained thoſe which he retained himſelf in his ſecond edition, except when they were conſuted by ſubſequent annotators, or were too minute to merit preſervation. I have ſometimes adopted his reſtoration of a comma without inſerting
the
