rburton and others punctiliously and handsomely. After referring to
Dr. Thirlby of Jesus College, Cambridge, and Hawley Bishop, he thus writes
of his chief helper:

"To these, I must add the indefatigable Zeal and Industry of my
most ingenious and ever-respected Friend, the Reverend Mr.
_William Warburton_ of _Newark_ upon _Trent_. This Gentleman, from
the Motives of his frank and communicative Disposition,
voluntarily took a considerable Part of my Trouble off my Hands;
not only read over the whole Author for me, with the exactest
Care; but enter'd into a long and laborious Epistolary
Correspondence; to which I owe no small Part of my best Criticisms
upon my Author.

"The Number of Passages amended, and admirably Explained, which I
have taken care to distinguish with his Name, will shew a Fineness
of Spirit and Extent of Reading, beyond all the Commendations I
can give them: Nor, indeed, would I any farther be thought to
commend a Friend, than, in so doing, to give a Testimony of my own
Gratitude."

So the preface read in 1733. But by the end of 1734 Warburton had
quarrelled with Theobald, and by 1740, after a passing friendship with Sir
Thomas Hanmer, had become definitely attached to the party of Pope. This
is probably the reason why, in the Preface to the second edition, Theobald
does not repeat the detailed statement of the assistance he had received.
He wisely omits also the long and irrelevant passage of Greek conjectures,
given with no other apparent reason than to parade his learning. And
several passages either claimed by Warburton (_e.g._ that referring to
Milton's poems) or known to be his (_e.g._ the comparison of Addison and
Shakespeare) are also cancelled.

The merits of the text of Theobald's edition are undeniable; but the text
is not to be taken as the sole measure of his ability. By his diligence in
collation he restored many of the original readings. His knowledge of
Elizabethan literature was turned to good account in the explanation and
illustration of the text. He claims to have read above eight hundred old
English plays "to ascertain the obsolete and uncommon phrases." But when
we have spoken of his diligence, we have spoken of all for which, as an
editor, he was remarkable. Pope had good reason to say of him, though he
gave the criticism a wider application, that

Pains, reading, study are their just pretence,
And al