THEOBALD, LEWIS (1688-1744)

—Editor of Shakespeare, and translator, originally an attorney, betook himself to literature, translated from Plato, the Greek dramatists, and Homer, and wrote also e ays, biographies, and poems. In 1715 he pub. Shakespeare Restored, etc. , in which he severely criticised Pope's ed., and was in consequence rewarded with the first place in The Dunciad , and the adoption of most of his corrections in Pope's next ed. Though a poor poet, he was an acute and discriminating critic, made brilliant emendations on some of the cla ics, and produced in 1734 an ed. of Shakespeare which gave him a high place among his ed.