KEN'NICOTT, TIENJA IN ( 71S-S3 ) . An eminent. biblical scholar. Ile was born at Totnes, Devonshire, April 4, 1715, and educated at Ox ford, where he highly distinguished himself. He took his degree of M.A. in 1750. having been pre viously elected a fellow of Exeter College; in 1767 he was appointed Radcliffe librarian ; and in 1770 Canon of Christ, Church. Oxford. where he died. September 18. 1783. The whole interest and im portance of liennieott.'s life are comprised in his great undertaking for the improvement of the Hebrew text of the Old Test:intent. In 1753 he pub lished a work entitled The State of the Printed Hel».em Text of the rid i(1 nirni Considered (2(1 ed. 1759). This contained observations on 70 He bre• MSS.. with an extract, of mistakes and various readings, and showed the necessity for a much more extensive collation, in order to ascer tain or approximate toward a correct Hebrew text. He undertook to execute the work in the course of ten years, and labored, until his health broke down. from ten to fourteen hours a day.
In spite of considerable opposition from bishops Warburton, Horne, and other divines, Kennieott suecei•ded in enlisting the sympathies and obtain ing the support of the clergy generally, Upward of 600 Hebrew MSS. and 16 MSS. of the Samari tan Pentateuch were collated, with the assist ance of other English and Continental scholars, The first volume of his edition of the Hebrew Bible appeared in 1766, and the second in 1780, accompanied by a very useful and instructive dis sertation. The text chosen was that of Van der Hooght, and the various readings were printed at the bottom of the page. The Varhe Ltetiones Vetcris Testamenti (Parma, 1734-87), published by De Rossi, is a very valuable addition to Ken nicott's Hebrew Bible. Jahn published at Vienna (1806) a very correct abridgment, embracing the most important of Kennicott's readings.