WOOD, ANTIIONY, of some note as an antiquary, was born at Oxford in the year 1632. His school education he received chiefly in the place of his birth, and in 1647, he was entered at Merton college as a gentleman commoner. In 1652, he took his degree as bachelor, and in 1655, became master of arts. Deriving from his father an independence, he seems at first to have aimed at being a sort of Jack-of-all-trades, as not bound in penal ties of hunger to follow out any particular one. He practiced the fiddle assiduously, and is said to have attained considerable skill. Painting was also one of his innocent hob bies, but none of his pictures have been preserved to enable us to test his proficiency. In addition to these accomplishments, it was his whim to concern himself with heraldry and other antiquarian pursuits. He labored much in the libraries, and presently came to be noted for his curious turn that way. In 1656, he came upon Dugdale's Antiquities of Warwickshire, shortly before published, the perusal of which greatly delighted him, and awoke in him the fire of emulation. He now worked still more assiduously; and went about among the tombs, copying old inscriptions. As the fruit of these learned
labors, be gave to the world, in 1609, his History and Antiquities of Oxford. For the copyright of this work Wood received £100 from the university; and Dr. Fell, dean of Christ church, thought so highly of it that he employed one Peers, a student, to a Latin translation of it. The Historia et Antiquitates Universttatis 0.roniensis was pub• lished at Oxford in 1674.
Snbsequently, in 1691, as result of his further investigations, Wood published his Athena Oxonkases, containing a full and particular account of all the authors, bishops, etc., who had adorned that scat of learning from 1500 to 1690. In this work, he attacked the character of the great lord Clarendon, deceased; a misdemeanor for which he was prosecuted at the court of the university, and expelled. He did not long survive this disgrace, dying Nov. 29,1695. his books, and a selection of his manuscripts, lie left to the university of which he had ceased to be a member, and they arc preserved in the A_shmolean museum. His life may be found at large in the edition of his Athena Oxon lenses issued by Dr. Bliss in 1848.