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 peevish temper. At the end of his college course Wood found himself modestly provided for under his father's will, and he refused to adopt any profession, giving himself up to the idle enjoyment of music and of books on heraldry and English history.

Fraternal piety induced him to make a first essay in literature by editing, in March 1656 (second edition 1674), five of Edward Wood's sermons. But he was in great danger of becoming a mere idler and boon companion. From this he was saved by the fascination of Dugdale's ‘Warwickshire,’ which came to Oxford, a noble folio, in the summer of 1656, and fired his ambition to attempt a similar book for his own Oxfordshire. He began to collect inscriptions in Oxford towards that end. Fortunately at this very moment he was helped in his purpose by his mother's movements. She was connected with a great many families of yeomen and lower gentry in Oxfordshire, and, being for the time less embarrassed in money matters than for many years, she made (1657–9) several long visits in different parts of the county. Anthony, her companion, industriously collected inscriptions and noted antiquities wherever they went. These collections are still among his manuscripts in the Bodleian Library.

In the division of the family property Anthony had had assigned to him as his own rooms two garrets in the family house opposite Merton College gate. To enable him to pursue his studies unmolested he had a chimney built (February 1660) in one of them, so providing himself with the hermit's cell in which the rest of his life was passed.

In July 1660 he obtained access to the university archives, and so came to know the great Oxford collections of Brian Twyne [q. v.] (see Life and Times, ed. Clark, iv. 202–26). Wood's book, in consequence, took a wider scope than the mere collection of inscriptions he had at first designed. He planned out an historical survey of the city of Oxford, including histories of the university, the colleges, the monasteries, the parish churches. The scheme was a cumbrous one, and Wood had afterwards to divide it into sections: (1) the city treatise, including the ecclesiastical antiquities; (2) the annals of the university, with accounts of the buildings, professorships, &c.; (3) the antiquities of the colleges. On the different sections of this work Wood laboured very hard for some six years (1661–6). There was no originality in his work, for he merely put into shape Twyne's materials; but he was very conscientious in looking up Twyne's citations in the originals, in the muniment chests of the parishes, the colleges, and the university, as well as in the Bodleian and college libraries.

During these years Wood's life was exceedingly simple. The whole morning was spent in work, either in his study, where he had manuscripts very freely lent him, or in college rooms, where he was allowed to consult documents, or in the Bodleian, where he had leave to wander about at will. In the afternoon he prowled round booksellers' shops, picking up old books, ballads, broadsides, pamphlets, of which he left a rich collection to the university; afterwards he walked with some congenial spirit a few miles out of Oxford, and drank his pot of ale at Botley, Headington, or Cumnor. In the evening there was occasionally a music meeting or cards in some common room, and always the gossip of the coffee-house or tavern. At the end of this time there came long visits (1667–70) to London to verify Twyne's citations from the Cottonian and Royal libraries and the Public Record offices.

The city portion of Wood's treatise remained in manuscript till his death, receiving constantly additional notes as Wood came upon new facts and references. At his death it was placed in the Ashmolean Library. In 1773 appeared ‘The Antient and Present State of the City of Oxford … collected by Mr. Anthony à Wood; with additions by the Rev. Sir J. Peshall, bart.;’ a handsome 4to, with a good map of Oxford in 1773 and plates. But the editorial work was most shamefully done; Wood's text is garbled beyond recognition, and every page is full of gross errors. Wood's city treatise was at last printed in full, from a careful collation of the original manuscript, in the Oxford Historical Society's series, 1889–99 (see below).

The university treatise was more fortunate. Oxford was at the time dominated by the commanding spirit of Dr. John Fell [q. v.], dean of Christ Church since 1660, whose mind shadowed forth great schemes for the glory of Oxford in buildings and in literature. Probably through Ralph Bathurst [q. v.], president of Trinity, who had some kindness of kindred to Wood, Fell was made aware of the young student's collections. He obtained acceptance of the university treatise by the university press (October 1669), and ultimately took on himself the entire charge of printing it. The terms were very favourable to Wood. He was to provide a fair copy of his manuscript, taking greater pains with his citations from manuscripts, and adding, apparently on Fell's suggestion, short biographies of writers and bishops.