CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
Cornell University Library 
 DA 93.A89B86 
 
 Memoir of John Aubrey. F.R.S. embracing 
 
 3 1924 027 937 626 ..,,, 
 
xa 
 
 Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924027937626 
 
WILTSHIRE TOPOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 Patron. 
 
 THE MOST NOBLE THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNE. 
 
 Wvwiaent, 
 
 THE MOST NOBLE THE MARQUESS OF NORTHAMPTON. 
 
 Uu#=$ttf0itottt0, 
 
 The Right Honourable Earl de Grey. 
 
 The Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Salisbury. 
 
 The Right Honourable Sir John Cam Hobhouse, Bart. M.P. 
 
 Robert Gordon, Esq. M.P. 
 
 Joseph Neeld, Esq. M.P. 
 
 Geo. Poulett Scrope, Esq. M.P. 
 
 J. Y. Akerman, Esq. F.S.A. 
 George Alexander, Esq. F.S.A. 
 Sir Edmund Antrobus, Bakt. 
 John Britton, Esq. F.S.A., &c. 
 W. R. Browne, Esq. 
 Wm. H. Ludlow Bruges, Esq. M.P. 
 Alfred Caswall, Esq. 
 Edward Merrick Elderton, Esq. 
 George Godwin, Esq. F.R.S. F.S.A. 
 Henry Merrik Hoare, Esq. 
 
 Council, 
 
 The Very Rev. the Dean of Hereford, 
 
 D.D. F.S.A. F.R.S. 
 The Rev. James Ingram, D.D. 
 Dr. Merriman. 
 Richard Mullings, jun. Esq. 
 Edward Mullins, Esq. 
 J. B. Nichols, Esq. F.S.A. 
 The Rev. Thos. Rees, LL.D. F.S.A. F.G.S. 
 T. Bush Saunders, Esq. M.A. 
 
 €rca0ur*r. 
 
 Sir Edmund Antrobus, Bart. 
 
 5K?onoratp g>etvetavit$. 
 
 John Britton, Esq. F.S.A. Burton-street, London. 
 George Alexander, Esq. F.S.A. Architect, 9, Clement's Inn. 
 
 <3utrttot*0. 
 
 E. W. Brayley, Esq. F.S.A. ) Thomas Howse, Esq. j J. Hulbert, Esq. 
 
 Hato0 anti iirgulatums, 
 
 ADOPTED AT A GENERAL MEETING OF THE MEMBERS, JUNE 13. 1840. 
 
 George Poulett Scrope, Esq. M.P. in the Chair. 
 
 I. That an association of Gentlemen be established, and called " The Wiltshire Topographical 
 Society."^ 
 
 II. That the object of the Society be to collect materials for, and publish occasionally, Historical and 
 Descriptive Accounts, either illustrated, or otherwise, of places and things in the County of Wilts, and the 
 adjacent Districts, which have not hitherto been satisfactorily elucidated. 
 
 III. That the subjects of inquiry, description, and historical disquisition comprehend — the Boundaries, 
 Civil Divisions, and Natural Scenery of the county ; Geology, Mineralogy, Botany, Zoology, Agriculture, 
 Manufactures, and Commerce ; accounts of the Chief Towns, Boroughs, and Villages ; Seats of the Nobility 
 
and Gentry ; Civil History and Antiquities ; remains and memorials of the ancient British, Roman, Saxon, 
 and Norman inhabitants; Manors, manorial privileges and customs, descent, and present • state of manorial, 
 property ; Genealogies of distinguished families, and Biographical Memoirs of Eminent Natives ; Ecclesiastical 
 History, Edifices, and Antiquities ; Ecclesiastical Endowments and Charitable Foundations :— together with other 
 matters usually comprised under the heads of Archaeology, Topography, Statistics, Parochial and County History. 
 
 IV. That the Society be limited to 500 Members. 
 
 V. That the qualification of Members be a periodical Subscription of One Guinea, to be paid in advance. 
 The payment of Ten Guineas at one time to constitute a Member for Life. 
 
 VI. That every Member be entitled to receive one copy of the publications of the Society. 
 
 VII. That no Subscriber shall be entitled to vote at General Meetings, or receive a copy of the publi- 
 cations of the Society, whose Subscription remains in arrear two months after it has become due, and has been 
 applied for by some person authorised to receive the same. 
 
 VIII. That the management of the Society be vested in a Council, consisting of a President, six Vice- 
 Presidents, and eighteen other Members ; of whom one shall be nominated Treasurer, and two Honorary 
 Secretaries. 
 
 IX. That the President, Treasurer, and Secretaries be Trustees for the Society. 
 
 X. That three members of the Society be annually appointed Auditors. 
 
 XI. That a certain portion of the Council be changed periodically, viz. : the President every second year. ; 
 and one of the Vice-Presidents, and four ordinary Members of the Council, annually ; the retiring individuals 
 to be named by the Council, but to be re-eligible to the same offices. 
 
 XII. That the funds of the Society be at the disposal of the Council, to pay the necessary expenses of 
 managing its affairs, and of producing such literary and graphic works as may be selected and ordered by them. 
 
 XIII. That the Council shall manage and direct all the usual and necessary business of the Society ; as to 
 publications, meetings, correspondence, appointment of Provincial Secretaries, employment of assistants, and all 
 other matters connected with the government and operations of the Society. 
 
 XIV. That the Council have power to make such By-Laws and Regulations as they may deem expedient 
 for the good government of the Society, and conducive to its general interests ; provided such By-Laws are in 
 accordance with the Laws made at any General Meeting of the Members. 
 
 XV. That an Annual General Meeting be held in each year, on the first Saturday in June, when the 
 Officers of the Society, in the place of those who retire from office, shall be elected ; Auditors appointed for the 
 ensuing year ; Reports read from the Council and Auditors of the accounts and proceedings of the preceding 
 year ; and such other business transacted as may be necessary. 
 
 XVI. That the Council be authorised to commence, as soon as convenient, the formation of a Topographical 
 Library of Books, Manuscripts, Drawings, Prints, &c. relating to Wiltshire and to the immediate vicinity ; 
 and also of such publications as relate to the General Topography and Archaeology of Great Britain. That 
 this collection be open for reference to all the Members, and to strangers by their orders, under certain regu- 
 lations to be prescribed by the Council ; and that Donations to the Library be acknowledged at each annual 
 meeting, also in the printed works of the Society, and by appropriate notices affixed to each article. 
 
REPORT OF THE COUNCIL 
 
 ANNUAL MEETING, 7th JUNE, 1845. 
 
 In submitting the Fifth Annual Report to the Members of the Society, the Council "have the satisfaction 
 of stating that the second volume of their publications will be distributed at the end of the present month, 
 and from the interesting nature of the subject it embraces, and the labour and experience devoted to it by its 
 author, they reasonably anticipate a work which will prove both creditable to that gentleman and to the Society. 
 To all lovers of historical and archaeological literature, the name, and something of the merits, of John 
 Aubrey have long been familiar ; but it has remained for the Wiltshire Topographical Society to bring 
 him fully and critically before the public. Hence the Council entertain the hope and belief, that this portion 
 of their works will be duly appreciated by the members, and by all critical readers. But for the establishment 
 of this Society the Memoir of Aubrey might not have been published ; and it will be found in the pages of 
 the volume, that his life was laudably and zealously devoted to the collection and preservation of useful and 
 valuable information, especially on matters relating to the topography of Wiltshire. Had his relatives and 
 descendants been actuated by the same feelings, — the same love of " things rare, and interesting," — we should 
 not have had to deplore the loss of many of his writings ; together with numerous objects of vertu and value. 
 Even within the last few years, the original manuscript of one of his most valuable literary works has 
 disappeared, and whether it be only mislaid, or entirely destroyed, remains in doubt. This, which extended to 
 four folio volumes, was entitled Monumenta Britannica, and consisted of remarks on Celtic and other British 
 antiquities. It is hoped, however, that the publicity produced by Mr. Britton's Memoir, and the extensive 
 inquiries which he has instituted both in town and country, will be the means of rescuing this important 
 manuscript from irretrievable destruction. 
 
 In the last Report the Council announced the speedy publication of the History of Kington St. Michael, 
 with a Life of John Aubrey. In producing the latter independently of, and detached from, the former, they 
 avail themselves of the following explanation by Mr. Britton. " In classing and arranging my manuscript' 
 materials on Kington and Aubrey, I found those relating to the Provincial Topographer and Antiquary so 
 copious and interesting, and so well calculated to make a separate and complete volume, that I determined to 
 digest and arrange them for the press, in the first instance ; leaving the History, &c. of my native parish, for sub- 
 sequent consideration and more leisure moments. Towards the latter volume a very correct map, with engravings 
 of the exterior and interior of the church, have been executed and printed ; and ample materials are collected 
 for the Topographical History. I do not anticipate any difficulty in having the whole printed in the ensuing 
 winter, if required ; but it would give me, as I know it would many other Members of the Society, much 
 pleasure to see the History of Castle Combe first produced." With reference to the work here referred to by 
 Mr. Britton, the Council are authorised by Mr. Scrope to state that he calculates it will be ready for 
 publication before the next Anniversary ; and they look forward to it as likely to contain much interesting 
 matter, and thereby to advance the objects of the Society. The Council have it in contemplation to follow up 
 that work by the publication of the very interesting Manuscript by Aubrey on the Natural History of Wiltshire. 
 
 It cannot be irrelevant for the Council to remark that a taste or fashion for Antiquarian Literature has 
 lately been popularised, by the establishment and influence of the Camden, Shakspere, Percy, Parker, Surtees, 
 and other Societies, in London, Oxford, Cambridge, Exeter, and elsewhere ; all calculated to promote laudable 
 research, and a desire to preserve and disseminate that information which tends to elucidate the manners, 
 customs, and characters of former generations. Still there is ample scope for provincial Associations, to 
 
encourage Topographical and Architectural inquiry and publication. The Council of this Society are not 
 a little anxious to show, to the natives of Wiltshire in particular, and to the reading public generally, what 
 may be effected by union and co-operation. If the nobility and gentry of this opulent and extensive county 
 could be prevailed on to view the subject in its proper light, and support the Society, by a small annual sub- 
 scription, and also by occasional advocacy amongst their immediate connection, a considerable sum would thereby 
 be raised, and a succession of useful and valuable works be speedily produced. The Memoir of Aubrey about 
 to be distributed, furnishes curious and interesting facts and opinions on this subject, by showing what was 
 done, or attempted to be done, more than a century and a half ago. Bishop Tanner speaks feelingly and 
 sorrowfully of the apathy of the public towards such literary works as those by Aubrey, Dugdale, Plot, 
 Spelman, Gale, Raleigh, and himself; and says, that " the Decern Scriptores, and the Monasticon, volumes 
 now worth old gold, had never been printed, had not the former been carried on by a public fund ; the other 
 by the sole charges of the Editor. I hope to seethe Monumenta Britannica in as good vogue as the best of 
 them." (See Memoir of Aubrey, p. 66.) This sentence is full of matter for meditation, and suggestive of 
 good council. Had Aubrey's Monumenta Britannica, here noticed by the learned prelate, been then 
 printed, its utility and influence on the public would have produced important results ; and the varied informa- 
 tion it contained would have been perpetuated. There is, however, much reason to fear that it is now lost. 
 
 The Council have to regret the loss of some members by death, and others from secession ; but they indulge 
 a hope that their places will soon be supplied by new members, and that many more may voluntarily come 
 forward to join and strengthen the Society. " Union is Strength ;" and it requires but a very trifling amount 
 of money and zeal, to make the Wiltshire Topographical Society effective, and eminently beneficial. 
 
 The Balance Sheet for the year shows that the Society has 11R 17*. 6d. in the Treasurer's possession, and 
 in the Bank. 
 
 (■Signed J J. BRITTON, 
 
 G. ALEXANDER, 
 
 Honorary Secretaries. 
 7th June, 1845. 
 
 SUBSCRIPTIONS received by the Bankers to the Society, Coutts and Co. 59, Strand ; by the Honorary Secretaries, 
 the Treasurer, and the other Members of the Council. 
 
Jinaraf/ed ~bv GXTWaastaff, from, a, Drawina iyTnilJufrne irv thc-dsTrmelfarvI&Lseian 
 
 JJOlSrM A TUB MY. 
 
 (Born A D. lSZ|_Died 1697) 
 
 Kv Britten's lfrnuri'- cf AutreyJWUts7ur2 Ijpcqrapttical Scaetv 
 
MEMOIR 
 
 OF 
 
 JOHN AUBREY, F. R. S. 
 
 EMBRACING HIS 
 
 AUTO-BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES, 
 
 A BRIEF REVIEW OF HIS PERSONAL AND LITERARY MERITS, 
 AND AN ACCOUNT OF HIS WORKS; 
 
 WITH 
 
 HSxtvattt from !)t0 (BovvtworiOmce, 
 
 ANECDOTES OF SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES, 
 AND OF THE TIMES IN WHICH HE LIVED. 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN B R I T T O N, F. S. A., &c. 
 
 Lower Easton-Pierse, Wiltshire, the birth-place of John Aubrey. 
 
 ©ublisljcti 6? tije sanitate ^Copogtapijical £>ocieq?< 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED BY J. B. NICHOLS AND SON, 25, PARLIAMENT STREET. 
 
 1845. 
 
TO THE MOST NOBLE, 
 
 HENRY, MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNE, 
 
 &c. &c. &c. 
 
 AS PATRON OF THE WILTSHIRE TOPOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY; 
 
 AS RESIDING IN THE VICINITY OF THE NATAL HOME OF JOHN AUBREY, AND OF THE 
 AUTHOR OF THE PRESENT MEMOIR; 
 
 AS A LOVER OF GENERAL LITERATURE AND THE FINE ARTS ; 
 
 AND AS A STATESMAN WHO HAS EVER ACTED WITH CONSISTENCY AND DEVOTED ATTENTION 
 TO THE WELFARE AND HONOUR OF HIS COUNTRY, 
 
 THIS VOLUME IS INSCRIBED, 
 WITH SENTIMENTS OF SINCERE RESPECT AND ADMIRATION, 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR. 
 
 March, 1845. 
 
% 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Anxiously desiring to see the Wiltshire Topographical Society in active and 
 useful operation, I regret that my intended, and long promised, History and 
 Description of the Parish of Kington St. Michael has been from time to time 
 delayed, by illness, and such pressing avocations, as have hitherto prevented my 
 proceeding with it. 
 
 I have always contemplated, as a portion of that work, a biographical notice of 
 John Aubrey, who was a native of the parish ; considering such notice to be an 
 essential feature of the publication. No topographical work can be deemed com- 
 plete without authentic accounts of those persons who, by their acts and deeds, 
 their genius and talents, or any other qualities, whether of good or evil, have con- 
 ferred importance or notoriety upon the locality referred to, either as the place of 
 their birth or temporary abode : and this principle is sanctioned by the authority 
 and practice of all modern topographers and county historians. A place may con- 
 fer an honorary title and some distinction on a person who has no other claims to 
 popularity ; but the talents and fame of the man generally stamp importance and 
 interest on his birth-place. Stratford is noted for its Shakspeare, Lichfield for 
 Garrick and Johnson, Woolsthorpe for Newton, and Knoyle for Wren. 
 
 In examining the published accounts of John Aubrey's literary and personal 
 career, I soon found that several of the circumstances and dates mentioned in 
 them were inconsistent, contradictory, and improbable, and appeared to rest on 
 slight foundations ; — that the information to be gathered from them was very 
 unsatisfactory and imperfect ; and that an attentive perusal even of his printed 
 works, would supply better details of his life and actions. I had long possessed some 
 
vi PREFACE. 
 
 extracts of a personal nature from his manuscripts in the Ashmolean Museum, Ox- 
 ford, and was persuaded that a careful examination, not only of those papers of 
 which, in fact, no complete list has hitherto been printed— but of his writings in 
 other places, was essential to the preparation of a correct and judicious bio- 
 graphy. 
 
 Although at the risk of extending this Memoir to a length which might be 
 deemed disproportionate to its importance, I resolved to undertake such examination 
 and scrutiny: and have consequently reconciled many apparent contradictions, 
 and corrected many errors, in former memoirs ; besides meeting with some addi- 
 tional circumstances of great value, as illustrating not merely Aubrey's life and 
 writings, but the state of society in general, and especially the literary opinions and 
 tone, of the seventeenth century. 
 
 It is true I have not been able to present a minute chronological narrative, such 
 as Evelyn, Pepys, Ashmole, Wood, Dugdale, Thoresby, and some others, have 
 afforded by their journals or memorandum-books. Each of those distinguished 
 persons bequeathed to posterity valuable and interesting Diaries and Auto- 
 biographies, referring to their various public works and private habits, as well as 
 to their " sayings and doings ; " whence we are enabled to understand and 
 appreciate their peculiar characteristics, almost as if we had been personally 
 familiar with them. The celebrated Dr. Stukeley, — who was a zealous and inde- 
 fatigable collector and recorder of opinions and events, — left a similarly minute 
 account of all that he saw and learned, during his long intercourse with antiquaries, 
 historians, and other men of letters and science. These memoranda, occupying 
 several quarto and octavo volumes, together with a series of letters addressed to the 
 Doctor by eminent persons, and a collection of his miscellaneous writings, have 
 been many years in my possession : and they would have been given to the world, 
 had I been insured against the risk of loss from their publication. Aubrey himself 
 appears to have kept a Diary ; but neither this nor many others of his private 
 papers, have been preserved ; and, except as to the events mentioned in his auto- 
 
PREFACE. Til 
 
 biographical memoranda, I have been compelled to glean the facts here laid before 
 the public, from his correspondence, and from incidental passages and occasional 
 reminiscences in various parts of his works. 
 
 By the course thus adopted, I have produced at least a consistent and authentic 
 memoir ; and if it tends to increase the reputation of John Aubrey as a zealous 
 and industrious antiquary, and an honourable and upright man, I shall be rewarded 
 for the labour it has involved. 
 
 Himself a judicious and discriminating biographer, it is remarkable that Aubrey 
 should have been so slightly noticed by those who have professed to write accounts 
 of his life and literary works. A short notice of these will shew what has been the 
 result of their labours. Some Account of this Work and its Author, was prefixed 
 by Dr. Richard Rawlinson, of St. John's College, Oxford, to Aubrey's History of 
 Surrey, which the learned Doctor published, with additions by himself, in the year 
 1719. This was the earliest memoir of Aubrey ; and it was founded in part on in- 
 formation given to Dr. Rawlinson " by a very worthy gentleman, a native of Wilt- 
 shire," who derived his materials " from Mr. Aubrey's own writing, as well as from 
 some printed authorities." Dr. Rawlinson also alludes to " a reverend divine 
 from Kington St. Michael's," as giving him other information. The memoir, 
 however, is extremely incorrect in many parts. The next account was called, Some 
 Memoirs of the Life of Mr. John Aubrey, and was published in his Miscellanies, 
 2nd edition, 1721. The author of the article Aubrey, in the Biographia Britan- 
 nica (1747), conjectures that it was by the same writer as the previous memoir. 
 It is shorter, but in many parts a mere transcript of Dr. Rawlinson's paper; 
 and although in one passage an error in the first notice is corrected, in another 
 place a date, before correctly given, is perverted. The article in the Biographia 
 Britannica was probably written by Dr. Kippis, and is certainly compiled with 
 care and discrimination. It corrects some of the most palpable errors of Dr. 
 Rawlinson, and points out their origin : but, whilst it affords a favourable view 
 of the literary merits of our antiquary, it adds little or nothing to the previous 
 accounts of his personal character. Thomas Warton, in his Life of Bathurst (8vo. 
 
Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 1761), speaks highly of Aubrey's industry and learning, and had evidently examined 
 some of his manuscripts at Oxford, but he merely mentions him incidentally. Jointly 
 with William Huddesford, of Trinity College, Oxford, Warton edited the Lives of 
 Leland, Hearne, and Wood (2 vols. 8vo. 1772) ; and in a note to the auto-biography 
 of the last writer they directed public attention to Aubrey's papers, by giving an 
 imperfect list of them. The works of Granger, Chalmers, and indeed all the principal 
 Biographical Dictionaries and Encyclopaedias, since Aubrey's time, foreign as well as 
 English, contain notices of him : but, passing over most of these, and merely remark- 
 ing that the memoir in Malcolm's Lives of Topographers (4to. 1815), is the most in- 
 accurate and careless of any that have been written, I may advert with very different 
 feelings to the articles in the Penny Cyclopedia, in Rose's Biographical Dictionary, 
 and in the Biographical Dictionary published by the Society for the Diffusion of 
 Useful Knowledge : the first, written by G. L. Craik ; the second, by the Rev. Joseph 
 Hunter, ; and the third, by J. T. Stanesby. These manifest an earnest desire for 
 precise and literal accuracy ; and, though in each some of the errors of the former 
 Lives are retained, they are undoubtedly the best accounts of Aubrey hitherto pub- 
 lished. Mr. Stanesby's article calls for especial commendation ; and it is only to be 
 regretted that the nature of the work of which it forms a part, forbade that minute 
 research and exposition which, with greater latitude of time and space, would have 
 enabled the writer to have formed an interesting and complete memoir. 
 
 I may here observe, as a singular feature in the previous biographies of Aubrey, 
 that the date of his birth has been erroneously stated in some of them ; and that, 
 until now, neither the day nor even the year of his death, nor the place of his 
 interment, has been correctly ascertained. After a series of inquiries in many 
 quarters, as to his death and burial, resulting only in disappointment, it was at 
 last almost by accident, that I was directed, by a manuscript note of Dr. Rawlin- 
 son's, to the church of St. Mary Magdalene, at Oxford ; on searching the registers 
 of which, Dr. Ingram found the record of his burial. It is surprising that a man 
 so well known to the literati of Oxford should quit the scene of life thus unre- 
 garded by his contemporaries and immediate successors, and that nearly a century 
 and a half should have elapsed before the publication of this obituary record. 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 That the present memoir has been the result of extensive and diligent research 
 and inquiry must be apparent to every reader : that it is not more copious and 
 complete, no one can regret more than myself; for the subject and the times to 
 which it refers are replete with interest, as well as with important matter for the 
 consideration of the biographer and historian : and materials for their further 
 elucidation once existed, and perhaps are still concealed in some obscure, unexplored 
 repository. I have devoted many years to inquiry and collection, and sought for 
 information from every available source. In some instances, indeed, I have to 
 apprehend that such inquiries have been deemed impertinent, or too troublesome to 
 be noticed ; as I have written letters to two principal descendants of the Aubrey 
 family without obtaining replies. I have been likewise unsuccessful in procuring 
 any account either of the present owner of the Monumenta Britannica (mentioned 
 in page 87), or of its condition. On the death of Mr. Churchill, of Henbury, the 
 Dorsetshire parts of his library and property were sold by auction, and it is not 
 unlikely that the manuscript referred to was amongst the objects then disposed of. 
 Some of the unsold books descended to his cousin the late Sir Charles Greville, and 
 from that Baronet were transferred to his brother, the present Earl of Warwick, 
 who, in answer to my application, very promptly and politely writes, that he 
 cannot find any trace of the Aubrey manuscript in his collection.* It is lamentable 
 and surprising that four volumes of such writings should thus be so heedlessly 
 neglected, and perhaps lost. 
 
 However indifferent and apathetic the great bulk of the nobility, gentry, and 
 clergy of the county of Wilts may be to the literature which is devoted to its 
 history and antiquities, or to the Society which is now formed to promote inquiry 
 on those topics, and to publish the results ; the time will soon arrive, when a better 
 and more enlightened policy and practice must arise ; for the effects of literature 
 and mental improvement on the human race seem to be almost commensurate 
 with those of steam on commerce, trade, and the social condition of man. Ignorance 
 
 * I have also been aided in my fruitless search after this manuscript by the Rev. W. Churchill, of Colliton, 
 Dorsetshire, by S. H. Gummer, -Esq. of Bridport, J. S. Wickens, Esq. and Samuel Forster, Esq. of London. 
 
 b 
 
X PREFACE. 
 
 will not only be regarded as disreputable, but as a moral vice : and a knowledge of 
 local history as an essential qualification to every person who aspires to a respectable 
 station in society. 
 
 The labour and research bestowed upon the present volume fully exemplify the 
 remarks of the learned and experienced Bacon : — " Out of monuments, names, 
 words, proverbs, traditions, private records and evidences, fragments of stories, 
 passages of books, and the like, we do save and recover somewhat from the deluge 
 of time," — On the Advancement of Learning, Book ii. 
 
 In closing this explanatory notice, it is a pleasing duty to express my thanks to 
 P. B. Duncan, Esq. the Keeper, and to Mr. Kirtland, the Deputy Keeper, of the 
 Ashmolean Museum, for the courtesy with which they permitted ready access to, and 
 extracts to be made from, Aubrey's papers in that collection. Although the account 
 which I have given of those papers is more copious than originally intended, I can- 
 not suppose it will in any way supersede or interfere with the catalogue of them 
 which I understand is preparing by W. H. Black, Esq. 
 
 Although the fees for searching and examining the archives of that valuable 
 Museum are comparatively moderate, I think they should not be required from 
 professional authors ; for, added to travelling expenses, residence from home, &c. 
 such charges tend to make authorship expensive. 
 
 I owe some valuable suggestions and improvements in this work to my friend 
 the Rev. Dr. Ingram, the President of Aubrey's College (Trinity), at Oxford, to 
 John Gough Nichols, Esq. F.S.A., and to Peter Cunningham, Esq. 
 
 To Mr. T. E. Jones I am obliged for much useful aid, in searching for and col- 
 lecting materials, from various public libraries, and from a vast mass of miscella- 
 neous books and papers. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 l'AGE 
 
 Title-page, Dedication, and Preface ...... i. — x. 
 
 Chap. I. Auto-biography — Introductory notice of Aubrey's Literary Works, Correspondents, and 
 Friends — His Love of Antiquities — A Biographer and Topographer — His History of 
 Surrey, and Collections for Wiltshire — His Credulity and- Superstition — His Auto- 
 biographical Notes — List of his Works ...... 1 — 20 
 
 Chap. II. Descent and Pedigree of Aubrey — John Aubrey's Birth-place — His Infancy and School 
 days — Is entered at Trinity College, Oxford, and the Middle Temple — Commencement 
 of the Civil Wars — Discovery of Avebury— His Father's death — His first literary 
 works — A member of a Republican Club — Journey to Ireland — Interview with 
 Charles II. at Avebury and Silbury Hill — Journey to France — Matrimonial projects' . 21 — 41 
 
 Chap. III. Aubrey's first meeting with Anthony a Wood — Wood's opinion of him — Reverse of 
 fortune — Law-suits and pecuniary difficulties — Sells his estates — Progress of his works 
 — Assists Anthony a Wood in his publications— Aubrey's predilection for Astrological 
 studies — His Perambulation of Surrey — Contributes an Engraving to Dugdale's Monas- 
 ticon — Receives a Protection from his Creditors — Sells his books — His Life of Hobbes 
 — Begins his " Lives of Eminent Men " and " Idea of Education of Young Gentlemen'' 
 — Land given to him by William Penn — His Mother's death . . . 42 — 59 
 
 Chap. IV. Aubrey's bequest of his Wiltshire papers preparatory to visiting the West of England 
 — Gives his manuscripts to the Ashmolean Museum — Correspondence with Dr. Gar- 
 den — Lends his works to his friends — Their opinions — Quarrel with Anthony a Wood 
 — Death of the latter — Aubrey publishes his " Miscellanies " — His age and infirmities 
 — Death and burial — Summary of his personal character — List of his Portraits . 60 — 82 
 
 Chap. V. Brief description and analysis of the manuscript and printed works of John Aubrey . 83 — 124 
 Index. 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 1. Portrait of John Aubrey, from a drawing by Faithorne, in the Ashmolean Museum, en- 
 
 graved by C E. Wagstaff ...... To face Title-page. 
 
 2. View of Lower Easton-Pierse, the Birth-place of John Aubrey, from a Drawing by himself, 
 
 (see pp. 25, 116) ...... Wood-cut in Title-page. 
 
 3. Horoscope of Aubrey's Nativity, drawn by himself. From the original in the Ashmolean 
 
 Museum ........ Wood-cut, p. 13. 
 
MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY, F.R.S. 
 
 ©ijap. I. 
 
 AUTO-BIOGRAPHY — INTRODUCTORY NOTICE OF AUBREY'S LITERARY WORKS, CORRESPONDENTS, AND 
 FRIENDS — HIS LOVE OF ANTIQUITIES — A BIOGRAPHER AND TOPOGRAPHER — HIS HISTORY OF 
 SURREY, AND COLLECTIONS FOR WILTSHIRE — HIS CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION — HIS AUTO- 
 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES LIST OF HIS WORKS. 
 
 The Auto-biography of a person who has attained deserved distinction, if written 
 with honesty and judgment, is among the most useful and interesting of literary pro- 
 ductions. If " the proper study of mankind be man," that study can never be better 
 or more profitably pursued than in the unprejudiced and unvarnished confessions of 
 one, who, having investigated his own moral and mental attributes, and those of his 
 associates, has learned to " know himself." Courage to acknowledge his own weak- 
 nesses and errors, constitutes an essential item in the wisdom of man. As the 
 portrait of a great artist, by himself, is estimable and valuable, so is the auto-bio- 
 graphy of any person who has rendered service to his species. Such portraits as 
 those of Titian, Rembrandt, Rubens, and Reynolds, by each of those accomplished 
 artists, make pleasurable and indelible impressions on the eye and memory ; and 
 such auto-biographies as those of Benvenuto Cellini, of Gibbon, of Hume, of Gifford, 
 and of Franklin, not only furnish valuable materials for the philosopher, but are 
 replete with interest and excitement, — with precept and example, — with entertain- 
 ment and instruction, to the general reader. 
 
 If the following memoir be less attractive than either of those above referred to, it 
 will still afford some pleasing glimpses of an interesting period in the literary history 
 of England ; and it will be found to place in a favourable light the character of one 
 whose merits as an antiquary and as a man have not been hitherto sufficiently 
 acknowledged. The name of John Aubrey, though familiar to most antiquaries 
 and biographers, and duly appreciated by them, is perhaps unknown to many readers 
 
2 MEMOIR OP JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 of the present volume. Portions of his literary works have, it is true, been published ; * 
 but one of them was on a subject long since trodden down by the " march of intel- 
 lect;" another has been superseded by more recent and superior publications on 
 the same theme ; and the rest, having only had a limited circulation, hold but a sub- 
 ordinate place in the annals of fame. 
 
 To excite the curiosity of the general reader, and to point out the interest which 
 must attach to a narrative of Aubrey's career, it may be necessary to premise that 
 he was contemporary, and on intimate terms, with a great number of men illustrious 
 in science, philosophy, literature, and art. 
 
 To enumerate indeed the whole of his correspondents and familiar friends would 
 be to give a list of all the distinguished persons whose learning graced the latter half 
 of the seventeenth century : some of them, however, may be mentioned in proof of 
 this assertion. Connected himself with the Royal Society even before its incorpora- 
 tion, and appointed a Fellow under the charter which was granted by King Charles 
 the Second, he was acquainted with its first President, Lord Brouncker, and still more 
 intimate with those ornaments and professors of practical science which that Society 
 fostered and encouraged; Newton, Halley, Flamsteed, Hooke, Wallis, Holder, Sir 
 
 * The following are their title-pages. I. " Miscellanies : viz. I. Day Fatality, n. Local Fatality, 
 in. Ostenta. iv. Omens, v. Dreams, vi. Apparitions, vn. Voices, viii. Impulses, ix. Knockings. 
 x. Blows Invisible, xt. Prophecies, xn. Marvels, xm. Magic, xiv. Transportation in the Air. 
 xv. Visions in a Beril or Speculum, xvi. Converse with Angels and Spirits, xvn. Corpse Candles in 
 Wales, xviii. Oracles, xix. Ecstasies, xx. Glances of Love and Envy. xxi. Second-sighted Persons. 
 Collected by J. Aubrey, Esq. London. Printed for Edward Castle, next Scotland- Yard-Gate, by Whitehall, 
 1696." 12mo. Reprinted, with additions and alterations, in 1721 and 1784. 
 
 II. " The Natural History and Antiquities of the County of Surrey. Begun in the year 
 1673 by John Aubrey, Esq. F.R.S., and continued to the present time. Illustrated with proper sculptures. 
 London. Printed for E. Curll, in Fleet-street, 1719." 5 vols. 8vo. 
 
 III. "Letters written by Eminent Persons in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth centu- 
 ries : to which are added, Hearne's Journeys to Reading, and to Whaddon Hall, the Seat of Browne 
 Willis, Esq. and Lives of Eminent Men, by John Aubrey, Esq. The whole now first published from 
 the originals in the Bodleian Library and Ashmolean Museum, with biographical and literary illustrations ; 
 in two volumes. London. Printed for Longman and Co. 1813." 8vo. 
 
 IV. " An Essay Towards the Description of the North Division of Wiltshire. By me 
 John Aubrey, of Easton Pierse. Typis Medio-Montanis, Impressit C. Gilmour, 1838." 4to. Printed for 
 Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bart. 
 
 V. " Anecdotes and Traditions. Edited by W. J. Thorns. Printed for the Camden Society, 1839," 4to. 
 The second part of this volume contains sixty-nine short extracts from Aubrey's Manuscript " Remains of 
 Gentilisme," in the British Museum, with explanatory and illustrative notes by the Editor. 
 
HIS LOVE OF ANTIQUARIAN PURSUITS. 3 
 
 William Petty, Evelyn, Sir Christopher Wren, Gale, Harvey, Ray, and many others. 
 Thomas Hobbes, and Sir James Harrington, William Penn, and Isaac Walton, honoured 
 him with their friendship, which was duly appreciated by him in return. The poets 
 Butler, Cowley, Denham, Waller, D'Avenant, and Dryden ; the antiquaries Dugdale, 
 Wood, Gibson, Tanner, Plot, and Llhwyd ; the artists Hollar, Cooper, Faithorne, 
 and Loggan, all held frequent intercourse with Aubrey, who was besides esteemed 
 and patronized by several of the prelates, judges, and enlightened nobles of the age. 
 His unpublished memoranda and correspondence contain varied and interesting 
 materials for further illustration of the characters and writings of many of those 
 celebrated men. 
 
 The principal feature in John Aubrey's literary character was his love of antiqua- 
 rian pursuits. He may be regarded as essentially an Archaeologist, and the first person 
 in this country who fairly deserved the name. Historians, chroniclers, and topogra- 
 phers there had been before his time ; but he was the first who devoted his studies 
 and abilities to archaeology, in its various ramifications of architecture, genealogy, 
 palaeography, numismatics, heraldry, &c. No one before him investigated or under- 
 stood anything of the vast Celtic temple at Avebury, and other monuments of the 
 same class ; and certainly no person had preceded him in attempting to distinguish 
 the successive changes, in style and decoration, of ancient ecclesiastical edifices, or 
 to ascertain, by observing architectural features and details, to what era any par- 
 ticular building belonged. Aubrey's remarks on this subject are certainly interest- 
 ing, and their publication at the present day, when the study of architectural anti- 
 quities is so deservedly general and popular, would add much to his credit as a 
 careful and discriminating observer and delineator of the peculiarities of Christian 
 architecture.* The present memoir will necessarily be too brief even for a short 
 analysis of them. 
 
 It is hardly too much to say that modern antiquaries owe their knowledge of the 
 great Celtic temple, at Avebury, in Wiltshire, entirely to Aubrey. Had he not first 
 
 * These papers descended from Mr. Awnsham Churchill, a celebrated bookseller of Aubrey's time, to the 
 late Wm. Churchill, Esq. of Henbury, in Dorsetshire, at whose death they appear to have been sold by auction. 
 They are a part of Aubrey's manuscript Monumenta Britannica, abridgements of which are in the Bodleian 
 Library ; at Stourhead, Wilts ; and in my own collection. 
 
4 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 called attention to that wonderful work, it may be doubted whether Dr. Stukeley 
 would afterwards have examined and described it; and so many years might thus 
 have elapsed that successive mutilations would have rendered it impossible for more 
 recent writers to trace its original arrangement and extent. Aubrey too was the 
 first whose published opinion pronounced this monument, with Stonehenge and 
 similar stone circles, to be religious temples raised by the British Druids ; an opinion 
 which has since been more generally entertained by antiquaries than any of the 
 speculations before promulgated upon the subject. On this point, as in most of his 
 theories, regarding either the works of nature or of art, Aubrey's views were generally 
 useful, practical, and rational, and in these respects afford a striking contrast to 
 the visionary ideas of his learned and vigilant successor, Dr. Stukeley. 
 
 To those who are already familiar with the name of Aubrey he is known as a 
 biographer and a topographer. In the former department his collections are 
 unquestionably valuable. It is impossible to read his biographical notices without 
 appreciating the industrious and pains-taking accuracy of his information, and at the 
 same time admiring the vivacious and animated manner in which the most minute 
 circumstances are narrated. With few and trifling exceptions, the sources from 
 which Aubrey gained his information stamp these notices with a character of 
 authenticity. It is not, perhaps, generally known how much, in these matters, 
 Anthony a Wood's valuable Athence and Fasti Owonienses are indebted to his labours. 
 
 Aubrey's History of Surrey, published by Dr. R. Rawlinson, with additions 
 by himself, was by no means equal to the elaborate topographical works of 
 Dugdale. Still it was an acceptable contribution to that class of literature; and 
 its accuracy in matters of detail is highly commended by Manning and Bray, 
 whose labours in the same field qualified them to form an opinion on the subject. 
 Aubrey's collections in illustration of the natural history, topography, and antiquities 
 of Wiltshire, his native county, are not only copious and valuable in themselves, but 
 highly interesting as the earliest extant. They were evidently executed con amore, and 
 with a competent knowledge of the subjects treated of ; which, as will be hereafter 
 shown, were not confined to architectural and genealogical details. One portion of 
 these collections has been published by Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bart. (Vide p. 2.) 
 
RAY AND HEARNE's OPINIONS OF HIM. 5 
 
 Though Auhrey appears to have resided chiefly in London, he was frequently in 
 Wiltshire and at Oxford, and travelled into South Wales, Surrey, Herefordshire, and 
 other parts of England, and once visited the continent. With a naturally curious 
 and inquiring mind, he lost no opportunity in these excursions of obtaining tradi- 
 tionary and personal information. So early as the days of Hearne this peculiarity 
 had procured for him the character of a "foolish gossip;" indeed Ray, the dis- 
 tinguished naturalist, in one of his letters to Aubrey, cautions him against a too easy 
 credulity. Influenced by a querulous passage in Anthony a Wood's Diary, some 
 recent writers have regarded him as a mere idle tale-bearer ; but it is hoped that 
 the present memoir will correct this erroneous impression. The following are 
 passages in Ray's letter to Aubrey, and in Hearne's works, respecting him : 
 
 " I think," says Ray, " (if you can give me leave to be free with you,) that you 
 are a little inclinabl e to credit strange relations. I have found men that are not 
 skilfull in the history of nature very credulous, and apt to impose upon themselves 
 and others, and therefore dare not give a firm assent to anything they report upon 
 their own authority, but are ever suspicious that they may either be deceived them, 
 selves, or delight to teratologize, (pardon y e word,) and to make shew of knowing 
 strange things."* 
 
 Hearne, in his MS. Collections for the year 1710,-J- says, " Mr. Aubrey gave An- 
 thony k Wood abundance of informations ; and Anthony used to say of him, when 
 he was at the same time in company, ' Look, yonder goes such a one, who can tell 
 such and such stories ; and I'le warrant Mr. Aubrey will break his neck down stairs 
 rather than miss him.'" The same writer thus mentions him more fully in his 
 Account of some Antiquities in and about Oxford :% "Before the destruction 
 made in the late horrid rebellion (against King Charles the First,) the tower of the 
 church [of Oseney Abbey, near Oxford] and divers other parts were standing, as 
 may be seen in the second volume of the Monasticon Anglicanum (page 136), where 
 they are delineated by the care and at the charge of the late Mr. John Aubrey, who 
 
 * Original, Ray to Aubrey ; dated Black Notley, 8 br . 27, (16)91, in vol. ii. of a collection of Letters to 
 Aubrey, in the Ashmolean Museum. 
 
 t Vol. xxvi. p. 39 (as quoted by Dr. Bliss in his edition of Wood's Athena Oxonienses, i. clxix). 
 J Printed at the end of vol. ii. of Leland's Itinerary. 
 
6 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 began the study of antiquities very early, when he was gentleman-commoner of 
 Trinity College in Oxford, and had no inconsiderable skill in them, as may appear 
 from his history of the Antiquities of Wiltshire, his native county, now remaining m 
 the Museum Ashmoleanum ; which work, though imperfect and unfinished, yet 
 evidently shows that he could write well enough upon a subject to the study of 
 which he was led by a natural inclination ; and the world might have justly ex- 
 pected other curious and useful notices of things from him, both with respect to the 
 antiquities of Oxford, as well as those in his own and other countries, had not he, by 
 his intimate acquaintance with Mr. Ashmole, in his latter years too much indulged 
 his fancy, and wholly addicted himself to the whimseys and conceits of astrologers, 
 soothsayers, and such like ignorant and superstitious writers, which have no founda- 
 tion in nature, philosophy, or reason. But notwithstanding this unhappy avocation, 
 which brought innumerable inconveniences along with it, he was otherwise a very 
 ingenious man, and the world is indebted to him for so carefully preserving the 
 remains of this old Abbey of Osney, and for assisting Mr. Wood and others in their 
 searches after antiquities, and furnishing them with several excellent memoirs con- 
 cerning this as well as other monasteries of this kingdom." 
 
 When Malone was preparing his Life of Shakespeare, he had recourse to Aubrey's 
 
 manuscripts at Oxford, and in a paper which he intended as an appendix to that 
 
 memoir* he has given a good summary of Aubrey's literary character. In one 
 
 passage he observes, " However fantastical Aubrey may have been on the subjects 
 
 J of chemistry and ghosts, his character for veracity has never been impeached, and 
 
 as a very diligent antiquarian his testimony is worthy of attention. Mr. Toland , 
 
 who was well acquainted with him, and certainly a better judge of men than Wood, 
 
 j gives this character of him : ' Though he was extremely superstitious, or seemed to 
 
 j be so, yet he was a very honest man, and most accurate in his accounts of matters 
 
 of fac t. But the facts he knew, not ther eflections he made, were what I want ed.' 
 
 [Toland's Specimen of a Critical History of the Celtick Religion, p. 122."]-f- 
 
 * It is printed at p. 694 of the second volume of Boswell's edition of Shakespeare (8vo, 21 vols., 1821). 
 f The entire passage from Toland's work deserves to be quoted. " John Aubrey, Esq. a member of the 
 Royal Society, (with whom I became acquainted at Oxford, when I was a sojourner there,) was the only 
 
MALONE S HIGH OPINION OF HIM. 7 
 
 Malone adds, " I do not wish to maintain that all his accounts of our English 
 writers are on these grounds to be implicitly adopted ; but it seems to me much 
 more reasonable to question such parts of them as appear objectionable, than to 
 reject them altogether because he may sometimes have been mistaken." Malone 
 refers to Aubrey's account of Shakspere as that of " an ingenious man, and a most 
 careful, laborious, and zealous collector of anecdotes relative to our English poets, 
 and other celebrated writers." Even in refuting the statements both of Rowe and 
 Aubrey, as to the supposed occupation of the poet's father, he says, " I do not think 
 it necessary or becoming to throw any ridicule on either of these gentlemen, nor shall 
 I represent them as foolish gossips, because they have transmitted to us such 
 accounts on this subject as they could procure. And I shall particularly abstain I 
 from ridiculing Mr. Aubrey (whose name ought never to be m entio ned by an yj 
 friend to English literature without respect) , on account of the tradition he has [ 
 transmitted," because, as he proceeds to show, it arose from a mistake into which 
 Aubrey might easily have been led.* 
 
 This is valuable and discriminating testimony ; and contrasts strongly with the 
 hasty notices by D'Israeli, who, with less than his usual sagacity and penetration, 
 characterizes Aubrey as " too curious and talkative an inquirer," and likewise as 
 " the little Boswell of his day."-}- 
 
 In addition to these opinions, the following remarks, hitherto unpublished, are 
 added from the pen of the Rev. Dr. Ingram, whose studies and attainments confer 
 authority and value on his testimony : " Aubrey's Life of the great mathematician, 
 
 person I ever then met who had a right notion of the temples of the Druids, or indeed any notion that the 
 circles so often mention'd were such temples at all, wherein he was intirely confirm' d, by the authorities which 
 I show'd him, as he supply'd me in return with numerous instances of such monuments, which he was at great 
 pains to observe and set down. And tho' he was extremely superstitious, or seem'd to be so : yet he was a very 
 honest man, and most accurate in his accounts of matters of fact. But the facts he knew, not the reflections he 
 
 made, were what I wanted Sir Robert Sibbald, in his History of Fife, affirms, that there are several 
 
 Druids' temples to be seen everywhere in Scotland, particularly in the county he describes. ' These (says he) 
 are great stones plac'd in a circle, at some distance from each other,' &c. Mr. Aubrey show'd me several of 
 Dr. Garden's letters from that kingdom to the same purpose, but in whose hands now I know not." Tolands 
 History of the Druids, edited by R. Huddleston. 8vo. 1814, p. 159. 
 
 * Life of Shakespeare, by Malone, in BoswelVs edition, vol. ii. p. 73. 
 
 ■f Quarrels of Authors, vol. hi. pp. 55, 76. 
 
8 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 Oughtred, proves how much the world is indebted to him ; but envy, malice, and 
 sciolism, must have their day. He was too laborious a man to be properly appre- 
 ciated in an age of superficial acquirements and controversial excitement, two evils 
 which generally combine to retard and obstruct intellectual vigour. I could say 
 much on this head, but I forbear, lest, as Selden says, ' some conscious man may 
 take it as a libel.'" 
 
 Aubrey's biographers have all in succession expatiated on his deluded attachment 
 to the study of judicial astrology, on his belief in ghosts, and other supernaturals, as 
 calculated to detract from his just merits as an antiquary and topographer. That 
 he was deeply imbued with superstition, and a credulous believer in all the absurdi- 
 ties of the so-called science of astrology, is sufficiently proved by his Miscellanies, 
 unfortunately the only work he published during his fife. But it should be borne 
 in mind that this was a failing incidental to the age in which he lived, and especially 
 to the circle in which he moved ; and that the same aberration of good sense pre- 
 vailed in the poet Dryden, the statesman Clarendon, the monarch Charles I., and 
 many other eminent and illustrious men. In fact, although persons of Aubrey's 
 station in society, in the present age of intellectual advancement, no longer enter- 
 tain the same prejudices and fallacies, this improvement is of more recent date than 
 is perhaps generally supposed, and certainly far less extensively diffused than could 
 be desired. Within my own recollection, most of the inhabitants of Aubrey's native 
 parish were sincere and ardent believers in the appearance of ghosts, in haunted 
 houses, in witchcraft, in necromancy, in fairies, and their manufactory of grass 
 rings, in the supernatural influence of jack-a-lanterns, or will-o'-the-wisps, and 
 many other visionary vagaries, which belonged not merely to the lower and middle, 
 but to the educated and higher classes of society. 
 
 Even in our own age an implicit belief in the mysteries of astrology is hardly 
 exploded. The annual predictions of " Francis Moore, physician," in his Vox 
 Stellarum, still mystify and seduce their hundreds, nay thousands, of readers ; and 
 the experiment, once tried, of excluding them from his almanac proved so unsuc- 
 cessful, that its proprietors (though unwilling to impose on the credulity of the 
 public) have found it inexpedient to risk the popularity of so profitable a work 
 
ASTROLOGY, "THE QUEEN OF MYSTIC SCIENCES." 9 
 
 by again attempting it. Meantime " Oracles of Fate," " Prophetic Messengers," 
 and similar works, emanating from authors with the sounding names of " Raphael," 
 " Zadkiel," &c. frequently issue from the press ; and even in the present year (1 845) 
 a weekly paper, price one penny, to be called " The Astrologer," is announced to 
 appear in London. This is described as " the most wonderful publication of the 
 day," and " the most startling and entertaining work ever issued." It is asserted 
 that " the student in astral science will here find ample directions for acquiring a 
 knowledge of this truly wondrous and prophetic art." " Astrology," it further says, 
 " is now avowedly studied in both the Universities, and a society (the Rosicrucian 
 Association) openly exists, and holds its meetings for the advancement of the science 
 in the Metropolis." In this truly " startling work," " predictions of the weather and 
 to events from week to week will be given as a proof of the sublime truths on which 
 the study is based ! " 
 
 From circumstances like these it is clear that a belief in supernatural appearances 
 and influences is not, and perhaps never will be, wholly eradicated from the human 
 mind, and that there still remains much to be done in the way of general education 
 check its progress, to expose its absurdities^ and to inculcate maxims of sound and 
 genuine philosophy. 
 
 Sir Walter Scott, in his Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft, characterizes 
 the astrology of Aubrey's time as " the queen of mystic sciences, who flattered those 
 who confided in her, that the planets and stars, in their spheres, figure forth and 
 influence the fate of the creatures of mortality, and that a sage acquainted with her 
 lore could predict, with some approach to certainty, the events of any man's career, 
 his chance of success in life or in marriage, his advance in favour of the great, or 
 answer any other horary questions, as they were termed, which he might be anxious 
 to propound, provided always he could supply the exact moment of his birth. This, 
 in the sixteenth and greater part of the seventeenth centuries, was all that was 
 necessary to enable the astrologer to erect a scheme of the position of the heavenly 
 bodies, which should disclose the life of the interrogator, or Native, as he was called, 
 with all its changes, past, present, and to come. Imagination was dazzled by a 
 prospect so splendid ; and we find that in the sixteenth century the cultivation of 
 
 c 
 
10 MEMOIR OP JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 this fantastic science was the serious object of men whose understandings and acquire- 
 ments admit of no question The earlier astrologers, though denying the 
 
 use of all necromancy, that is, unlawful or black magic, pretended always to a corre- 
 spondence with the various spirits of the elements, on the principles of the Rosicru- 
 cian philosophy. They affirmed they could bind to their service, and imprison in a 
 ring, a mirror, or a stone, some fairy, sylph, or salamander, and compel it to appear 
 when called, and render answers to such questions as the viewer should propose." 
 Of this class of visionaries, who, though of later date than the alchemists, sometimes 
 combined the pursuit of alchemy with astrology, the famous Dr. Dee may be re- 
 garded as the type. " A grave and sober use of this science," Sir Walter Scott conti- 
 nues, " would not have suited the temper of those who, inflamed by hopes of temporal 
 aggrandizement, pretended to understand and explain to others the language of the 
 
 stars Such being the case, the science was little pursued by those who, 
 
 faithful in their remarks and reports, must soon have discovered its delusive vanity 
 through the splendour of its professions ; and the place of such calm and disinter- 
 ested pursuers of truth was occupied by a set of men, sometimes ingenious, always 
 forward and assuming, whose knowledge was imposition, whose responses were, like 
 the oracles of yore, grounded on the desire of deceit, and who, if sometimes they 
 were elevated into rank and fortune, were more frequently found classed with rogues 
 and vagabonds." These remarks he proceeds to illustrate by reference to William 
 Lilly's History of his Life and Times* from which it is evident that Lilly was 
 extremely cunning, ignorant, coarse, and vulgar, but well fitted to dupe the silly and 
 more ignorant persons who applied to him for advice. He was born in 1602, began 
 to study astrology in his thirtieth yfear, and died in 1681. It has been often cha- 
 ritably supposed that Lilly was himtelf a believer in the prophetic powers of which 
 he boasts himself possessed, and this has arisen from the simplicity and apparent 
 candour of his narrative ; but there is quite enough in his remarkable work to stamp 
 
 * Scott has further exposed the meanness and chicanery of the alchemists and astrologers in his admirable 
 novels, Kenilworth and Quentin Durward. The reader who may be desirous of pursuing this subject 
 further will find it ably illustrated in a series of papers in the Penny Magazine (1843), and in the article 
 Astrology, in the Penny Cyclopedia : works which have been greatly beneficial in ministering to that 
 desire of knowledge which now characterizes all classes of readers. 
 
ASTROLOGY : — LILLY ; ASHMOLE. 1 1 
 
 him as a crafty person, if not a knave and an impostor. The accounts this book 
 contains of Dr. Dee, Kelly, Forman, Evans, and other artful pretenders to astrolo- 
 gical knowledge, and its illustrations cl the public events, and the general customs of 
 his time, certainly render it one of much curiosty and interest. Lilly, says Sir Walter 
 Scott, " maintained some credit even among the better classes, for Aubrey and Ash- 
 mole both called themselves his friends, being persons extremely credulous, doubtless, 
 respecting the mystic arts." Hearne, as we have seen, attributes Aubrey's partiality 
 for these pursuits to his intercourse with Ashmole ; but his works in general show 
 that he was even less superstitious than the latter, who in his turn was far superior 
 to Lilly. Ashmole's Diary exhibits the same, or even greater, coarseness and vulga- 
 rity of language than Lilly's History, whilst it is also full of triviality of detail : but he 
 had greater advantages of education and wealth than Lilly, and his works on Berk- 
 shire, and the Order of the Garter, together with the noble Museum founded by him 
 at Oxford, entitle him to the lasting gratitude of posterity. He was born in 1617, 
 and died in 1692. Wharton, Coley, Gadbury, and others, were celebrated at the 
 period alluded to amongst the professors of astrology. Of the class at large Scott 
 says, " There was no province of fraud in which they did not practise : they were 
 scandalous as panders; and, as quacks, sold potions for the most unworthy purposes." 
 The downfall of astrology was effected by a combination of causes. The great 
 discoveries in astronomy, soon after the formation of the Royal Society, proved the 
 fallacy of the views on which the " celestial scheme," or " horoscope," * was drawn. 
 The degraded character of its professors naturally led to the degradation of the art 
 itself; and perhaps the quaint, satirical, Hudibras of Butler had some share in 
 producing this result. The three parts of that celebrated poem were published from 
 1663 to 1678, and the character of Sidrophel affords a strongly marked and ludi- 
 crous picture of the judicial astrologer of the time. It is probable that this cha- 
 racter was intended as a satire upon Lilly, who is at all events expressly ridiculed in 
 the same work, under the names of "English Merlin" -f- and "Erra Pater." The 
 
 * This was a diagram showing the supposed positions of certain of the heavenly bodies at the time to which 
 it referred. See p. 13. 
 
 f Lilly published an almanac for many years successively with the title of " Merlinus Anglicus, junior, 
 English Merlin revived." He is satirised by Congreve in " Love for Love." 
 
12 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 operation of these causes became manifest very soon after Aubrey's death ; and it is 
 not too much to infer that, had he lived a few years more, his treatise on " Herme- 
 tick Philosophy," as he terms the Miscellanies, would never have been published. 
 His sagacity and shrewdness on other subjects justify the belief that, in a more 
 enlightened age, he would have been amongst the first to discountenance and expose 
 the fallacies of that " occult science." 
 
 The leading features in Aubrey's literary and mental character, thus generally 
 noticed, are further exemplified in the following Auto-biographical notices of his 
 early life and studies, copied from the manuscript of his Lives of Eminent Men,. 
 in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. These reminiscences were probably overlooked 
 when the selection from those lives was published, in the work entitled Letters from 
 the Bodleian Library;— for, holding his literary labours, as the editors* of that 
 publication did, in such high esteem, it is not otherwise easy to account for their 
 omission. These notes, which are now printed for the first time, were evidently 
 written (as were the majority of the memoirs in the same work) at different times ; 
 the facts being narrated in a loose and vague manner, and blanks left for names, 
 dates, and sums, which, not occurring to Aubrey's recollection when he wrote, were 
 never afterwards supplied. They are covered with interlineations and marginal 
 additions, and in many parts so illegibly written that it is difficult to decipher many 
 of the words. The singular and unaccountable transitions from the first to the third 
 person in the manuscript, from which the following is printed, are remarkable. 
 The article is here given verbatim : the heading prefixed to it shows how little 
 value Aubrey set upon it himself. 
 
 I. A. 
 
 To be interponed f as a sheet of wast paper only at the binding of a booke. 
 
 This person's life is more remarqueable in an Astrologicall respect, then for any advancement of learning, 
 having, from his birth (till of late yeares) been labouring under a crowd of ill directions : X for his escapes of 
 
 * The Rev. Dr. Bliss, and the late Rev. J. Walker, of New College, Oxford. 
 
 f Interponed ; from the Lat. inter and pono, to set or insert between. [ Webster.~\ 
 
 X An astrological expression, meaning, under the influence of evil planets. 
 
AUTO-BIOGRAPHY OF AUBREY. 
 
 13 
 
 many clangers in journeys both by land and water. He wa u s borne at Easton Pierse, (a hamlet in the parish of 
 .Kington Saint Michael,) in the hundred of Malmesbury,* in the countie of Wilts, (his Mother's inheritance, 
 D. and H. of Mr. Isaac Lyte), March the 12, (St. Gregories day,) A.D. 1625, about sun-riseing ; being very 
 weak, and like to dye, that he was christned before morning prayer. 
 
 I gott not strength till I was 11 or 12 yeares old, but had belly ake, paine in the side, sicknesse of vomiting 
 for 12 houres, every fortnight for . . . yeares, then about monethly, then quarterly, and at last once in half a 
 yeare : about 12 it ceased. 
 
 Horoscope of John Aubrey's NaLivity, 
 When a boy bred at Eston, (in Eremi- from Ws own sketck 
 
 ticall solitude,) was very curious, his 
 
 greatest delight to-, be with the Artificers 
 
 that came there, e. g. joyners, carpenters; 
 
 cowpers, masons, and understood their 
 
 trades ; horis vacuis, I drew and painted. 
 
 In 1634 was entred in his Latin grarner 
 
 hy Mr. R. Latimer, a delicate and little 
 
 person, rector of Leigh-de-la-mere, — a 
 
 mile, fine walk, — who had an easie way of 
 
 teaching ; and every time we asked leave 
 
 to go forth, we had a Latin word from 
 
 him, w ch at our returne we were to tell 
 
 him again : which in a little while 
 
 amounted to a good number of words. 
 
 'Twas my unhappinesse in half a year to lose this good enformer by his death, and afterwards was under 
 
 severall dull ignorant teachers till 12, 1638, about which time I was sent to Blandford schoole, in Dorset. 
 
 W. Sutton, B.D. who was ill natured. Here I recovered my health, and got my Latin and Greeke. Our 
 
 usher had (by chance) a Cowper's Dictionary, which I had never seen before. I was then in Terence. Per- 
 
 way 
 
 ceiving his method, I read all in the booke where Ter. was, and then Cicero, which was the meanes by which 
 I got my Latin. 'Twas a wonderfull helpe to my phansie in reading of Ovid's Metamorph. in English by 
 Sandys, which made me understand the Latin the better. Also I mett accidentally a book of my Mother's,— 
 Bacon's Essayes, — which first opened my understanding on the moralls, (for Tullies Offices were too crabbed 
 for my" young yeares,) and the excellent clearnesse of the style, and hints, and transitions. 
 
 I was alway enquiring of my grandfather of the old time, the rood loft, &c, ceremonies of the Priory, &c. 
 At 8 I was a kind of Engineer, and I fell then to Drawing, beginning first with plaine outlines, e. g. in 
 
 * Aubrey errs in placing Easton in the hundred of Malmesbury, as it belongs to that of North 
 Damerham. 
 
14 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 draughts of ; then on to colours, being only my owne instructor. Copied pictures in the parlor in a 
 
 table book. I was wont (I remember) much to lament with myselfe that I lived not in a city, e. g. Bristole 
 where I might have access to watchmakers, locksmiths, &c. Not very much care for gram. Apprehensive 
 enough, but my memorie not tenacious, so that then a boy, I was a promising morne enough, of an inventive 
 and philosophicall head. My witt was alwaies working, but not to verse. Exceeding mild of spirit, mightily 
 susceptible of fascination. Strong and early impulse to antiquities. Tacitus and Juvenal. Look't through 
 logique and some ethiques. 
 
 He began to enter into pocket mdm books, philosophicall and antiquarian remarques A . D. 1654, at 
 Llantrithid. 
 
 1642, May 2. I went to Oxford. Peace. But now did Bellona thunder, and as a cleare skie is sometimes 
 suddenly overstretched with a dismall black cloud and thunder, so was the serene peace by the civill war, 
 through the factions of those times. In August following my father sent for me home for feare. In Febr. 
 following (with much importunity) I gott my father to lett me go to beloved Oxford againe (then a garrison 
 pro Rege). I got Mr. Hesketh, a priest, Mr. Dobson's man, to drawe the ruines of Osney 2 or 3 wayes 
 before 'twas pulled downe ; now the very foundation is digged up. In April I fell sick of the small pox at 
 Trin. Coll ; and when I recovered, after Trin. weeke, my father sent for me into the country again, where I 
 conversed with none but servants and rustiques, (to my great greefe, for in those days fathers were not 
 acquainted with their children,) and soldiers quartered. Odi prophanum vulgus et arceo. It was a most sad 
 life to me then, in the prime of my youth, not to have the benefitt of an ingeniouse conversation, and scarce 
 any good bookes. Almost a consumption. This sad life I did lead in the country till 1646, at which time I 
 got (with much adoe) leave of my father to let me goe to the M. Temple. April 16, 1646, admitted. 24 
 June following Oxon was surrendered, and there came to London many of the King's party, with whom I grew 
 acquainted (many of them I knew before). I loved not debauches, but their martiall conversation : was not so 
 fit for the messe. Novemb. 6 I returned to Trin. Coll. in Oxon. again to my great j oy : was much made of by the 
 fellows, had their learned conversation, lookt on books, musique. Here and at M. T. (oif and on) I (for the 
 most part) enjoyed the greatest felicity of my life. [Ingeniouse youths, like rose budds, imbibe the morning 
 dew.] Till Dec. 1648 (Xmas eve,) I was sent for home from Oxon again to my sick father, who never 
 recovered, where I was engaged to look after his country business, and solicite a lawe suite. A° 165-, Octob- 
 — , my father dyed, leaving me debts 1800 lib., and law proceed. 1000 lib. A 16 — . I began my lawe suite 
 
 on the entaile in Brecon, which lasted till and it cost me 1200 lib. A ... I was to have married 
 
 Mrs. K. Ryvs, who dyed when to be married 2000 lib., besides counting one of her brothers 
 
 1000 lib. p. ann. 
 
 A<> . . . I made my will, and settled my estate on trustees, intending to have seen the antiq. of Rome 
 
 and Italy, and then to have returned and married ; but (Diis aliter visum est superis) viz to 
 
 my inexpressible griefe and ruine, hindered the designe, which was my ... . cause. But notwithstanding 
 all these embarrassments, I did .... (as they occurred) tooke notes of antiq., and having a quick draught, 
 have drawn landskips on horseback symbolically, e. g. journey to Ireland in July, A Dom. 166-. 
 
AUTO-BIOGRAPHY OF AUBREY. 15 
 
 The debts and lawe suites .... borrowing of money, and perpetuall riding to my . , . . A" . . . . sold 
 manor of Burleton, in Heref. to Dr. F. Willis. A . . . sold the manor of Strafford * to Herbert, L d Bp. 
 
 of Hereford. A 1664, June 11, went into France. Octob returned. Then Joan Sumner . . . 
 
 then lawe suite w tn her, then sold Easton Pierse and the farme at Broad Chalke. Lost 500" - . +200 u . 
 goods and timber. Absconded as a banished man. Ubi in monte Dei videbitur. I was in as much affliction 
 as a mortall could bee, and never quiet till all was gone. Submitted my selfe to God's will ; wholly cast my 
 selfe on God's providence. I wished Monasterys had not been put downe, that the Reformers would have 
 
 been more moderate as to that point fitt there should be receptacles and .... for contemplative men 
 
 .... this compensated ; w* a pleasure 'twould have been to have travelled from monastery to monastery. 
 The Reformers in the Lutheran countries were more prudent then to destroy them, e. g. in Halsatia, &c. 
 Nay, the Turks have monasteries ; why should our Reformers be so severe ? 
 
 divested of all, 
 Never quiett, nor anything of happiness till all was sold, 1670, 1671. at what time Providence raysed me, 
 
 (unexpectedly, good friends), the Right Hon. Nicholas E. of Th., f with whom I was delitescent J . . . . 
 
 at Hethfield, in Kent, neer a year, and then was invited .... Then Edm. Wyld, Esq. R.S.S. of Glazely 
 
 Hall, Salop, tooke me into his armes, with whom I most commonly take my diet and sweet otiums. 
 
 A 1671 having sold all and disappointed as aforesaid of moneys I rec d , I had so strong an impulse to (in 
 good part) finish the Description of Wilts, in 2 volumes in fol., that I could not be quiett till I had donne it, 
 and that with danger enough, tanquam canis e Nilo, for feare of crocodiles (».) catchpoles. And indeed all 
 that I have donne, and that little I have studied, has been just after that fashion ; so that, had I not lived 
 
 long, my want of leisure would have afforded but a slender harvest of A strange fate that I have 
 
 laboured under, never in my life to enjoy one entire moneth, (t. once at Chalke, in my absconding, A° 
 ... ) or 6 weeks otium for contemplation. My studies in geometry were on horseback and the house of 
 office : so I gott my algebra : Oughtred in my pocket, with a little information from Edw. Davenant, D.D. 
 of Gillington, Dorset. My father discouraged me. My head was alwaies working, never idle, and even 
 travelling (which from 1649 till 1670 was never off my horse back,) did gleane some observations, of 
 which I have a collection in folio of two quire of paper, some whereof are to be valued. 
 
 My fancy lay most to geometrie. If ever I had been good for anything 'twould have been a painter. I f 
 could fancy a thing so strongly, and have so cleare an idea of it. < 
 
 Stomach so tender that I could not drinke claret without sugar, nor white wine but 'twould disgorge ; not 
 well recovered till 1670. 
 
 * This word is illegibly written. It probably means Stretford, near Leominster, Herefordshire. 
 f Nicholas Tufton, 3rd Earl of Thanet. He was twice imprisoned in the Tower by Cromwell on suspicion 
 of conspiracy against the Protector and his council, and died 24th Nov. 1679. 
 + Delitescence, (delitescentia, Lat.) retirement, obscurity. [Johnson.'} 
 
16 
 
 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 When a boy he did ever love to converse with old men as Living Histories : he cared not for play, but on 
 
 play dayes he gave himselfe to drawing and painting. Never riotous or prodigall, but (as Sir E. Leech s ) 
 
 lachese 
 sloath and negligence, carlessnesse, =valent [equivalent] to all other vices. 
 
 Whereas very sickly in youth, Deo gratias, healthy from 16 . . 
 
 AMICI. 
 A. Ettrick, Tr. Coll. 
 Fr. Potter, of C.C.C. 
 M. T. Jo. Lydall. 
 Sir J. Hoskyns, Baronet. 
 Ed. Wyld, Esq. of Glazely Hall. 
 Mr. Rob. Hooke, Gresh. Coll. 
 Mr. Hobbes, 165-. 
 
 I now indulge my genius w* my friends, and pray for ye young angells rest, at Mrs. Mores, neer 
 Gresh. Coll. 
 
 A. Wood, 1665. 
 
 Bp. Sarum. 
 
 Dr. W. Holder. 
 
 Sir William Petty, my singular friend. 
 
 Sir James Long, Baronet, of Draycot. 
 
 Mr. Ch. Seymour, . . of the D. of S.* 
 
 I. A. lived most at Broad Chalk, in Com. Wilts. Sometimes at Easton Piers. At London every terme. 
 Much of his time spent in journying to S. Wales, — Entaile, — and Heref.sh. 
 
 SCRIPSIT, Naturall History of Wiltshire. 
 
 Idea of Education of the Noblesse from the age of 10 or 11 till 18. In Mr. Ashmole's hands. 
 
 Item, Remaynders of Gentilisme, being Observations of Ovid's Fastorum. 
 
 Mem. Villare Anglicanum interpreted. 
 
 Item, Faber Fortunae. For his owne private use. 
 
 These lives g. A. W.f 16fg, 
 
 It was I. A. that did putt Mr. Hobbes upon writing his Treatise de Legibus, which is bound up with his 
 Rhetorique ; that one cannot find it but by chance. No mention of it in the first title. 
 
 Mem. I. Aubrey, in the year 1666, wayting then upon Joan Sumner, to her brother at Seen, in Wilts, 
 there made a discovery of a chalybiate waters, and these more impregnated than any waters yet heard of in 
 England. I sent some bottles to the R. S. in June, 1667, which were tryed with galles before a great 
 assembly there. It turns so black that you may write legibly with it, and did there, after so long a carriage, 
 turn as deepe as a deep claret. The physitians were wonderfully surprised at it, and spake to me to recom- 
 
 * [Brother of Francis, 5th Duke of Somerset, on whose death, in 1678, he succeeded to the title.] 
 f [These Lives for Anthony a Wood.] 
 
AUTO-BIOGRAPHY OF AUBREY. V] 
 
 mend it to the D re of the Bath, (from whence it is hut about lOmiles,) for that, in some cases, 'tis best to begin 
 with such waters and end with the Bath, and in some vice versa. I wrote several times, but to no purpose, for 
 at last I found that, though they were satisfied of the excellency of the waters, and what the London D rs sayd 
 was true, they did not care to have company goe from the Bath. So I inserted it the last yeare in M. Lilly's 
 aim. and towards the latter end of summer there came so much company that the village could not containe 
 them, and they are now preparing for building of houses against the next summer. Jo. Sumner sayth (whose 
 well is the best,) that it will be worth to him 200 lib. p r ann. Dr. Grew, in his History of the Repository of 
 the R. Society, mentions this discovery, as also of the iron oare there, not taken notice of before. "lis in part 
 III. c. ii. pag. 331.* 
 
 Another auto-biographical paper by Aubrey was in the possession of Dr. Rawlin- 
 son, who quoted it in the memoir prefixed to the History of Surrey. That paper is 
 not amongst the doctor's manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, but a copy of it, by 
 Mr. Ballard, is appended to a volume of his valuable and interesting series of 
 Original Letters, preserved in that collection ; and, as apposite to the subject of the 
 present memoir, it is added in the ensuing page. It may be observed that the title 
 of this paper, " Accidents of John Aubrey," does not necessarily denote misfortunes, 
 though few of the circumstances mentioned were of any other kind; the word 
 accidents is an astrological term, and means simply events or occurrences, such as were 
 supposed to have been influenced by the position of the heavenly bodies at the time 
 of a person's birth. 
 
 * Aubrey appears to have thought very highly of these discoveries, and used every exertion to make them 
 available for useful purposes. Amongst others he succeeded in interesting Sir James Long, of Draycot, in the 
 subject. The " Seen water" is frequently mentioned in his papers ; and in his Natural History of Wilt- 
 shire, Chap. ii. on Springs Medicinall, is a more minute account of it than the above. He there states that 
 he made the discovery " at the Revell there, 1665. Whereupon I sent my servant to the Davises for some 
 galles to try the waters, and made my first experiment at Mr. Jo. Sumner's (where I lay)." " This adver- 
 tisement," he says, "I desired Dr. Rich. Blackbume to word. He is one of the College of Physitians, and 
 practiseth yearly at Tunbridge Wells. It was printed in an almanack of Hen. Coley about 1681, but it tooke 
 no effect. It was about 1688 before they became to be frequented." — "Advertisement. At Seen (near 
 the Devises, in Wiltshire), are springs, discovered to be of the nature and virtue of those at Tanbridge, and 
 altogether as good. They are approved of by severall of the physitians of the colledge in London, and have 
 donne great cures, viz. particularly in the spleen, the reines, and bladder, affected with heat, stone, or gravell, 
 or restoring hectic persons to health and strength, and wonderfully conducing in all cases of obstructions. 
 There are good howses and accom'odation at reasonable rates.'' This property now belongs to W. H. Ludlow 
 Bruges, Esq. M.P., of Seend, who preserves the well, but its waters are not resorted to for sanatory purposes. 
 Other waters of similar quality at Melksham, in the vicinity of Seend, were formerly much used, and a pump- 
 room and lodging houses were built around them ; but fashion, that fickle goddess, has not given them the 
 fiat of her approval. 
 
 D 
 
18 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 ACCIDENTS OF JOHN AUBREY.* 
 
 Born at Easton-Piers March 1625-6, about sun-rising; very weak, and like to dye, and therefore christned 
 that morning before prayer. I think I have heard my mother say I had an ague shortly after I was born. 
 
 1629. About three or four years old I had a grievous ague ; I can remember it. I got not health till eleven 
 or twelve, but had sickness of vomiting for 12 hours every fortnight for - . = years, then it came monthly for 
 . . . , then quarterly, and then half-yearly ; the last was in June 1642. This sickness nipt my strength in 
 the bud. 
 
 1633. At eight years old I had an issue (natvu-all) in the coronall sutor of my head, which continued 
 running till 21. 
 
 1634. October, I had a violent fevor, it was like to have carried me off ; 'twas the most dangerous sickness 
 that ever I had. 
 
 1639. About 1639 or 1643 I had the measills, but that was nothing, I was hardly sick. Monday after 
 Easter week my uncle's nag ranne away with me, and gave me a very dangerous fall. 
 
 1642. May 3, entered at Trinity College. 
 
 1643. April and May, the small pox at Oxon ; after left that ingeniouse place, and for three yeares led a 
 sad life in the country. 
 
 1646. April . . admitted of the M. Temple ; but my father's sickness and business never permitted me to 
 make any settlement to my study. 
 
 1651. About the 16 or 18 of April I sawe that incomparable good conditioned gentlewoman, Mrs. M. 
 Wiseman, with whom at first sight I was in love. 
 
 1652. October the 21, my father died. 
 
 1655 (I think) June 14, I had a fall at Epsam, and brake one of my ribbes, and was afraid it might cause 
 an apostumation.-|- 
 
 1656. Sept. 1655, or rather I think 1656, I began my chargeable and tedious lawe suite on the entaile in 
 Brecknockshire and Monmouthshire. This yeare and the last was a strange yeare to me. Several love and 
 lawe suites. 
 
 1656 Decemb. ^ morb. 
 
 1657. Novemb. 27, obiit Dna Kasker Ryves, with whom I was to marry, to my great losse. 
 
 1659. March or April, like to break my neck in Ely Minster : and the next day, riding a gallop there, my 
 horse tumbled over and over, and yet, I thank God, no hurt. 
 
 1660. July, Aug. I accompanied A. Ettrick into Ireland for a month, and returning, were like to be ship- 
 wreckt at Holyhead, but no hurt done. 
 
 * This document has been printed, though somewhat imperfectly, in a work entitled Oxoniana ; (4 vols, 
 12mo.) edited by the late Rev. J. Walker, of New College, Oxford. 
 
 f " Apostumation, An abscess." [Johnson.'} A prescription written for Aubrey by Dr. W. Harvey " to 
 prevent an impostumation," and dated November 1655, is inserted in the collection of Letters from 
 Aubrey's correspondents, in the Ashmolean Museum (vol. i.). 
 
et 
 
 ACCIDENTS OF JOHN AUBREY." 19 
 
 16bl."j About these years I sold my estate in Herefordshire. 
 
 1662. > 
 
 1663. J Janu. I had the honour to be elected Fellow of the R. S, 
 
 1664. June 11, landed at Calais ; in August following had a terrible fit of the spleen and piles at Orleans. 
 I returned in October. 
 
 1664 or 1665. Munday after Christmas was in danger to be spoiled by my horse ; and the same day 
 received lsesio in testiculo, which was like to have been fatal. O. R. Wiesman quod — I believe 1664. 
 
 1665. November 1, I made my first address (in an ill hour) to Joane Sumner.* 
 
 1666. This year all my business and affairs ran kim kam, nothing tooke effect, as if I had been under an 
 ill tongue. Treacheries and enmities in abundance against me. 
 
 1667. December - . . arrested in Chancery-lane, at Mrs. Sumner's suite. 
 
 Feb. 24, A.M., about 8 or 9. Triall with her at Sarum ; victory and 6001. damaged ; though devilish oppo- 
 sition against me. 
 
 1668. July 6, was arrested by Peter Gale's malicious contrivance the day before I was to go to Winton for 
 my second triall ; but it did not retard me above two hours, but did not then go to triall. 
 
 1669. March 5, was my triall at Winton from eight to nine. The judge being exceedingly made against me 
 
 by my Lady Hungerford, but four of the appearing, and much adoe, got the moiety of Sarum ; 
 
 verdict in 3001. 
 
 1669 and 1670. I sold all my estate in Wilts. From 1670 to this very day (I thank God,) I have enjoyed 
 a happy delitescency. 
 
 1671. . . . Danger of arrests. 
 
 1677. Latter end of June an impostume brake in my head. 
 
 Mdm. St. John's night, 1673, in danger of being run through with a sword by a young templer at Mr. 
 Burges' chamber, in the M. Temple. 
 
 I was in danger of being killed by William Earl of Pembroke, then Lord Herbert, at the election of Sir 
 William Salkeld for New Sarum. I have been in danger of being drowned twice. 
 
 The year that I lay at Mr. Neve's (for a short time) I was in great danger of being killed by a drunkard 
 in the street of Gray's Inn Gate by a gentleman whom I never saw before, but (Deo Gratias) one of his 
 
 companions hindred his thrust. 
 
 [1754. June 11, transcribed from a MS. in Mr. Aubrey's own hand- 
 writing, in the possession of Dr. R. Rawlinson.] 
 
 Such are the auto-biographical memoranda of John Aubrey ; and, although they 
 are slight in texture, they afford a clear and vivid insight into the elements of a cha- 
 racter which was unique, and contradistinguished from that of all his compeers. 
 
 * The manuscript in the Bodleian Library, in the hand-writing of Ballard, has the name here distinctly 
 written " Joane Brewer." Dr. Rawlinson, however, quoting from the original, in Aubrey's writing, (then in 
 his own possession), prints it " Joane Sumner ;" and, as this reading is corroborated by subsequent passages, 
 as well as by Aubrey's other memoranda, it is here corrected as a mere error of the transcriber, though it is 
 certainly one of a most extraordinary kind. 
 
20 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 As frequent reference will be made in the following memoir to Aubrey's various 
 works, it is thought desirable to insert a list of them in this place. It is copied 
 from the original in his own hand- writing at the end of the eleventh manuscript 
 mentioned in the list ; which, with most of the others, is preserved in the Ashmolean 
 Museum. The list is headed "A Catalogue of Books written by Mr. Aubrey; 
 inserted here by himself, at my request, Nov. 18, 1692. Edw. Lhwyd." Some of 
 the manuscripts here mentioned are not now extant, viz. those numbered 5. 12. 13. 
 16. 18. 20. 21. and 22., but of these Nos. 5. 12. and 22. were probably cancelled 
 on the publication of his Miscellanies, which elucidated the matters they seem to 
 have referred to. 
 
 1 . Antiquities of Wiltshire, after the method of Sir W. Dugdale's Description of Warwickshire. 2 parts in fol. 
 
 2. Monumenta Britannica. 3 parts fol. W th Mr. Secretary Trumbull. 
 
 3. Memoires of Naturall Remarques in Wilts. 2 parts fol. 
 
 4. Perambulation of halfe the County of Surrey. Fol. With Mr. J. Evelyn. 
 
 5. Miscellanea. Fol. 
 
 6. Lives. 3 parts I 
 
 7. Mr. Th. Hobbes' Life in English. J 
 
 8. An Apparatus of the Lives of English Mathematicians. A q r . At Gresham Colledge. 
 
 9. Idea of Education of Young Gentlemen from 9 to 18. Fol. The correct copie is w tL Anthony 
 Henley, Esq. at y e Grange, in Hampshire. 
 
 10. Remaines of Gentilisme. 3 parts, sc. about 3 q rs . With Dr. Kennet. 
 
 11. Villare Anglicanum, [to be] interpreted. Fol. 
 
 12. A Collection of Divine Dreames from persons of my acquaintance, worthy of beliefe. 8vo. 
 
 13. Hypothesis Ethic & Scala Religionis. sW th Dr. Waple, Minister of Sepulchres by Newgate. 
 
 14. A Collection of Genitures well attested. 4to. 
 
 15. Easton Piers delineated. 
 
 16. Villa, or a Description of the Prospects from Easton Piers. 
 
 17. Faber Fortuna?, a private essay. 
 
 18. A Collection of Approved Receipts. 
 
 19. A Collection of Letters, writt to me from about 100 ingeniose persons inch § thick. This I designe 
 for the Musseum. 
 
 20. Adversaria Physica. 
 
 21. An Introduction to Architecture. , 
 
 22. Some Strictures of Hermetick Philosophy, collected by J. Aubrey. W th Dr. Waple. 
 
21 
 
 ittttap. EI. 
 
 DESCENT AND PEDIGREE OF AUBREY JOHN AUBREY'S BIRTH-PLACE HIS INFANCY AND SCHOOL DAYS- 
 IS ENTERED AT TRINITY COLLEGE, OXFORD, AND THE MIDDLE TEMPLE COMMENCEMENT OF 
 
 THE CIVIL WARS DISCOVERY OF AVEBURY HiS FATHER'S DEATH HIS FIRST LITERARY WORKS 
 
 A MEMBER OF A REPUBLICAN CLUB JOURNEY TO IRELAND INTERVIEW WITH CHARLES II. AT 
 
 AVEBURY AND SILBURY HILL JOURNEY TO FRANCE MATRIMONIAL PROJECTS. 
 
 Aubrey, or Aubery, as a surname, is considered by Aubrey himself to class 
 with Godfrey, or Rowland, and many others, originally employed to designate 
 individuals, but afterwards used as family names.* Some writers -f- who have 
 noticed the ancestors of John Aubrey state that he " descended from Saunders de 
 St. Aubrey, or Alberic," a member, of the royal family of France, who accompanied 
 William of Normandy in his successful invasion of England: and they further 
 narrate, with great show of accuracy, the establishment of the family in Brecknock- 
 shire, its alliance by marriage with a descendant of a monarch of South Wales, and 
 the consequent extension of its influence and importance in that ancient principality. 
 Without dwelling upon these or other points % in the early history of the family, 
 which are undeniably involved in much obscurity, it will be sufficient for the purpose 
 of this memoir to observe that it was certainly of some consequence in the reign 
 
 * Aubrey's Monumenta Britannica ; Rev. T. Delafield, in Kennett's Parochial Antiquities, ed. 1818, 
 vol. ii. p. 523 ; Camden's Remains, p. 58. 
 
 f See Betham's Baronetage ; Bowles's History of Chalk Hundred, in Hoare's Modern Wilts ; &c. 
 
 \ The name "John Aubrey" occurs seven times in the Hundred Rolls of Edward I.; and in the 
 reign of Edward III. one " Andrew Aubrey" had a grant {Pat. A" 27 E. III.) of certain tenements in 
 London, which he held of the king, in capite. He was Lord Mayor of London in 1339, 1340, and 1351, and 
 on one occasion lent the king 800Z. {French Chronicle of London, Hen. III. to Edward III., printed by 
 the Camden Society.) One of the charges upon which the Lord Chancellor Bacon was disgraced and fined 
 was that he had accepted a bribe of 1001. from " Christopher Awbrey," a poor gentleman, who borrowed the 
 money of an Usurer, in order to secure a favourable judgment in a suit then pending before the Chancellor, 
 between himself and Sir William Bronker. (See State Trials.) It is probable that these individuals were 
 of the" same family as the subject of this memoir, though their relationship cannot now be traced. 
 
22 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 of Queen Elizabeth, when, in the person of Dr. William Aubrey, the name first 
 became distinguished in science and law. 
 
 This eminent individual was born at Cantre in Brecknockshire, and studied the 
 civil law at All Souls' College, Oxford. In this he attained great proficiency, taking 
 his degree as Doctor at the age of twenty-five, and obtaining immediately afterwards 
 the appointment of Regius Professor. He appears to have been warmly patronized 
 by William, Earl of Pembroke, to whose family he was distantly related ; for when 
 the Earl commanded the English forces in France, Dr. Aubrey was his judge advo- 
 cate, and a judge marshal of the royal army at St. Quintin's. On his return to 
 England he practised with such fame and credit as an advocate of the court of 
 Arches, that he was "accounted peerlesse in that facultie.*" He was successively 
 appointed one of the Council of the Marches in Wales, a Master in Chancery, 
 Official Principal and Vicar-General to his friend and patron, Whitgift, Archbishop 
 of Canterbury, and, by the special favour of the Queen, who " loved him, and was 
 wont to call him her little doctor," a Master of the Requests in ordinary. Dr. 
 Aubrey was one of the delegates for the trial of Mary Queen of Scots, and was 
 desirous to save her fife ; in acknowledgement of which James I. afterwards knighted 
 his two eldest sons. He is highly spoken of in Tkuanuss Annates, and in Br. 
 Zouch's, De Jure Feciali : his judicial decrees were quoted and acted on by Coke 
 and Atkins, as of high authority. He had a country house at Kew, and lived on 
 intimate terms with his relative and neighbour, Dr. Dee, the celebrated astrologer, 
 of Mortlake. A curious certificate of Dr. Aubrey's funeral in St. Paul's Cathedral, 
 signed by his three sons, and narrating fully his titles, alliances, and issue, is 
 printed in Collins's Baronetage, vol. iii. p. 1 1 1 (1 741). His monument was destroyed 
 with the cathedral in the great fire of 1666. 
 
 It will be seen by the accompanying pedigree that John Aubrey, the antiquary, 
 was descended from John, the youngest son of this distinguished man. His other 
 sons, Sir Edward and Sir Thomas, inherited respectively the family estates in the 
 counties of Brecknock and Glamorgan. The eldest branch soon became extinct, for 
 
 * See the notice from which this is abridged, in Aubrey's Lives of Eminent Men, in Letters from the 
 Bodleian, vol. ii. pp. 207—221. 
 
LLANTRITHYD AND BORSTALL. 23 
 
 at the time of the Restoration, John Aubrey, of Llantrithyd, Glamorganshire, the 
 son of Sir Thomas Aubrey, was the head of the family : and on the 23rd July, 1660, 
 he was created a baronet by Charles II., — the Aubreys having maintained a firm 
 adherence to the royal cause. Sir John, the second baronet, added to his other 
 estates that of Borstall, in Buckinghamshire,* which he acquired by marriage with 
 the daughter and heiress of William Lewis, and from that time until recently, 
 Borstal] and Llantrithyd have been amongst the principal seats of the Aubrey 
 family.-f The old baronial mansion at Llantrithyd has however been suffered to 
 fall into a truly lamentable and degrading state. The Rev. Dr. Ingram, of Oxford, 
 wrote respecting it as follows, in 1837: "Magnificent staircases, embossed and 
 panelled ceilings, carved chimney-pieces, and armorial embellishments of the most 
 splendid kind, are fast sinking into one common ruin. The roofs are falling, and it 
 is scarcely safe to walk over the floors."^ Of the once interesting mansion at 
 Borstall, which was several times besieged during the Civil Wars, nothing now re- 
 mains but a substantially built gateway, flanked by turrets at the angles. Some 
 account of it, with a view of the Tower-Gateway, are given in Brayley's " Graphic 
 and Historical Illustrator." 
 
 * This property was granted by Edward the Confessor to Nigel, a huntsman (who had slain a wild boar 
 which infested the adjacent royal forest of Bernwood), "per unum cornu, quod est charta prcedictee 
 forestee." The estate descended from Nigel by several heirs female to the family of Aubrey. The 
 Borstall horn, well known to antiquaries, and an ancient chartulary, in which the incident here referred to is 
 depicted, were exhibited to the Society of Antiquaries in 1 773, through the kindness of Sir John (then Mr.) 
 Aubrey, the 6th baronet, and they were by his permission engraved, and described, in the third volume of 
 the Archceologia. 
 
 f Collins, Betham, &c. ut supra. 
 
 %. Memorials of Oxford, — Jesus College. 
 
24 
 
 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 PEDIGREE OF AUBREY AND LYTE. 
 
 From Aubrey's MSS. at Oxford; Aubrey's Lives of Eminent Men, vol. ii. p. 219 ; i f*£f***£^W^f g£ 
 ,». JlficAari; MSS. ty Jas. Gilpin, fiecorder 0/ Oa/W, 1756 (in Ashm. Mm..) t Bowles s Hutory of Chalk Hun- 
 
 dred ; Betham's Baronetage, &c. 
 
 William Aubrey, D.C.L.,^WUgtford, dau. — 
 Regius Professor, Oxford; 
 born about 1529, died 25 
 June 1595. 
 
 Browne, 
 of John Wil- esq. of Wil- 
 liams, esq. of ley, Surrey; 
 Teynton, Oxon. 2nd husb. 
 
 Thomas Lyte, of Easton=j=Eleanor, dau. of Isaac Taylor 
 
 Sir Edward=F Joan, Sir THOMAST=Mary, d. John -p- Rachel, — John 
 
 Pierse, Wilt3, born 1531, 
 died May, 1627, bus, at 
 Kington St. Michael. 
 
 I I 1 
 
 of Kington Priory, Wilts; 
 marr. Dec. 7, 1568, died Jan. 
 1 29, 1582. 
 
 Aubrey, of 
 Brecknock- 
 shire. 
 
 dau. of 
 Wm. 
 Ha- 
 vard, 
 esq. of 
 Breck- 
 nock- 
 shire. 
 
 Aubrey, of 
 Glamorgan- 
 shire. 
 
 &h. of 
 
 Anthony 
 
 Mansell, 
 
 esq. of 
 
 Llantri- 
 
 thyd.Gla- 
 
 morgan- 
 
 shire. 
 
 Aubrey, 
 of Bur- 
 leton, 
 Here- 
 fordshire. 
 
 7 sons, and 
 5 daughters. 
 
 dau. of 
 Richard 
 Danvers, 
 esq. of 
 Token- 
 ham, 
 Wilts ; 
 d. 1656. 
 
 : John 
 
 Elizabeth. 
 
 Whitson, 
 
 Mary. 
 
 Alder- 
 
 Joan. 
 
 man of 
 
 Wilgiford. 
 
 Bristol, 
 
 Lucy. 
 
 b. 1557, 
 
 Anne. 
 
 d. Mar. 
 
 All mar- 
 
 1629; 
 
 ried. 
 
 2d husb. 
 
 
 Isaac Lyte, of ^Israel, dau. of 
 
 Easton-Pierse 
 born 19 Mar. 
 1576, died 21 
 Feb. 1659 ; 
 bur. at King- 
 ton. 
 
 Thos. Browne, 
 of Winter- 
 bourne Basset, 
 Wilts, b. 1578, 
 d. 24 Feb. 
 1662, bur. at 
 Kington. 
 
 Sir JoHN=pMary, dau. Thomas 3 Daughters. Richard Aubrey, of Burle-=pDeborah, dau. and heiress, 
 
 Aubrey, 
 1st Bart. 
 
 and heiress Aubrey, 
 
 of marr. A. 
 
 South. Rudd. 
 
 ton, Herefordsh. and Broad 
 Chalk, Wilts ; born 1603, died 
 at Broad Chalk, 21st, and bur. 
 at Kington 26th Oct. 1652. 
 
 Lewis, 
 died 
 ». p. 
 
 Marga-=f Sir JoHN= : Mary, 
 
 ret 
 Low- 
 ther, 
 dau. of 
 John 
 1st 
 Lord 
 Lons- 
 dale. 
 
 Aubrey, 
 2d Bart. ; 
 died Sept. 
 1700. 
 
 dau. 
 and 
 heiress 
 of Wil- 
 liam 
 Lewis, 
 esq. of 
 Bor- 
 stal!. 
 
 n 
 
 Mary, marr. 
 W.Monta- 
 gue, Lord 
 Chief Ba- 
 ron of the 
 Exche- 
 quer. 
 Elizabeth, 
 marr. Ralph 
 Freeman, 
 esq. 
 
 JOHN AUBREY, F.R.S., born at Eas- 
 ton-Pierse, Wilts, 12th March 1626; 
 died at Oxford, unmarr. June 1697, 
 bur. (June 7) at St. Mary Magdalene's 
 church, Oxford. 
 
 William Aubrey, LL.B. Fellow of 
 New College, Oxford, born 2nd Mar. 
 1643, died Oct. 1707, s. p. 
 
 Thomas Aubrey, born at Broad Chalk, 
 Wilts, 1645 ; died unmarr. 15th Aug. 
 1681, buried at Broad Chalk. 
 
 born Jan. 1610, marr. 15 
 June 1625, died atjBroad 
 Chalkl9th, andbu. at King- 
 ton, 25th April, 168&. 
 
 — 1 1— 1 
 
 Isaac, bapt. 29th 
 Jan., bur. 31st 
 Jan. 1630, at 
 Kington. 
 
 Anne, 
 bapt. at 
 Kington, 
 23 June, 
 1628. 
 
 Isaac, bapt. 23d 
 Mar. 1631, bar. 
 22d Oct. 1632, 
 at Kington. 
 
 Mary Staley,=r=SiR John Aubrey, 3rd Baronet,TpFrances Jephson, — Jane Thomas, 
 
 1st wife. 
 
 died April 1743. 
 
 2nd wife. 
 
 3d wife. 
 
 1 
 
 Sir John Aubrey, 
 4th Bart. ; died un- 
 married, 14th Oct. 
 1767. 
 
 Sir THOMAS^Martha, dau. of Richard 
 
 Aubrey, 5th 
 Bart. ; died 4 
 Sept. 1786, 
 
 Carter, esq, of Chilton, 
 Bucks, died 1788. 
 
 Mary, 
 died 
 unmarr. 
 1768. 
 
 Henry =pElizabeth, 
 
 Lintot, 
 esq. 
 
 died Jan. 
 1734. 
 
 Frances, died Margaret, 
 
 1775 ; marr. died un- 
 
 Denham married, 
 
 Jephson, esq. 1793. 
 
 Mary, dau.^SiR John AuBREY,=Martha-Catharine, dau. Thomas Aubrey, 
 
 of Sir James 6th Bart. ; died 1st. of George Richard Car- a Major in the 
 
 Colebrooke, March 1826, bur. at ter, esq. of Chilton ; Army; died 
 
 Bart. : 1st Borstall, Bucks. 2nd wife. 1814. 
 
 r 
 
 Richard Aubrey, Col.=^Frances, dau 
 of the Glamorganshire 
 Militia; marr. 26 Feb. 
 1780, died 1808. 
 
 Patty- 
 of the Hon. Mary, 
 Wriothesley d. un- 
 Digby. marr. 
 
 1774. 
 
 John Aubrey, 
 died young. 
 
 W. R. Cartwright, = Julia-Frances. 
 esq. M.P. 
 
 Sir Thomas Digby AuBREY,=Mary, dau. of Thomas Wright, esq. 
 7th Bart. ; marr. 9th Dec. niece of the Rev. Robert Verney, 
 1813. of Middle Clayton, Bucks ; died 
 
 without issue, 1817. 
 
JOHN AUBREY S BIRTH-PLACE. 25 
 
 John Aubrey, the youngest son of Dr. William Aubrey, and grandfather of the 
 subject of this memoir, is mentioned in the private Diary of Br. Bee (p. 52), pub- 
 lished by the Camden Society. On his father's death he was left to the guardianship 
 of Archbishop Whitgift, and, when about 18 years of age,* he married Rachel 
 Danvers, a member of a Wiltshire noble family, and settled at Burleton, near 
 Stretton, in Herefordshire. There, in 1603, his son Richard was born, who was 
 married in his twenty-second year, in the parish church of Kington St. Michael, 
 to Deborah, the only child of Isaac Lyte, of Easton-Pierse, in the same parish, 
 she being then 15 years and six months old -,-f and on the 12th of the succeeding 
 month of March (1625-6) -f~ their son, John Aubrey, the future antiquary and 
 topographer, was born, at Easton-Pierse. 
 
 His baptism, on the day of his birth, is duly recorded in the register of his native 
 parish ; and he informs us that Alderman Whitson of Bristol, who had married his 
 grandfather's widow, was his godfather.^ In his Bescription of the North Bivision of 
 Wiltshire Aubrey thus mentions the place of his birth : — " When my [great-] grand- 
 father Thomas Lyte sold the mannor howse, with the lands near it, he built the 
 howse on the browe of the hill above the brooke facing the south-east, from whence 
 there is a lovely prospect. Here, in my grandfather's chamber (where in an ill hour 
 I first drew my breath, J? [Saturn] directly opposing my ascendant), in the chimney^ 
 are these two escutcheons, [l. Gules, a chev. between three swans argent, a mullet 
 sable for difference; 2. An eagle displayed sable, legged gules, on its breast a 
 crescent or.] Over the first shield is 'Isaac Lyte, natus 1576;' over the second 
 c Israel Lyte.' It was built the same year my g d father was born." In his Besignatio 
 de Easton Pierse, Aubrey gives some views of the house thus mentioned, from one 
 of which the engraving in the title-page of the present work has been copied § 
 
 It is evident from the passage here quoted that the farm-house known by the 
 appellation of Lower Easton-Pierse was the place of Aubrey's nativity. Within 
 
 * Life of Dr. W. Aubrey above referred to. 
 
 t Ibid, and Aubrey's Collection of Genitures, and other MSS. at Oxford. 
 t Lives of Eminent Men, vol. ii. p. 477. 
 
 § In one of the chamber windows represented in the wood-cut is the mark X , indicating, as Aubrey says, 
 " My grandfather Lyte's chamber, wherein I drew my first breath.'' 
 
26 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 my recollection, which extends as far back as about 1780, there were many rooms 
 in that house, in one of which were several pieces of old armour, and other charac- 
 teristics of an ancient mansion. These have all been swept away, and a modern 
 building erected on the site. 
 
 The "strong and early impulse to antiquities" which Aubrey felt, is doubtless 
 mainly attributable to the influence exerted on his youthful mind by the historical and 
 traditionary lore which he derived from the progenitors of his parents, and from other 
 old persons with whom he associated in infancy ; for with such persons he " loved to 
 converse, as living histories. " He occasionally resided with his paternal grand- 
 mother, and her second husband, Alderman Whitson,* not only in Bristol, but at 
 Burnet, in Somersetshire, which was the lady's jointure ; and it was during his visits 
 to the latter place that Aubrey became acquainted with the neighbouring druidical 
 monument at Stanton Drew. As early as his eighth year, he tells us, he was 
 familiar with Stonehenge.-f- 
 
 He distinctly says that he was "bred atEston (in Eremeticall solitude)," and there 
 he derived from old Isaac and Israel Lyte, and from several of the neighbouring 
 farmers, many local anecdotes, which his memory treasured up, and which he has 
 recorded, acknowledging their source, in his Wiltshire Manuscripts, and in his 
 Lives. Of Mrs. Lyte, his grandmother, who lived until his thirty-fifth year, Aubrey 
 always speaks with affectionate reverence, and it was his intention, " in duty to the 
 memory of her tenderness and dilligence in his education," to raise in Kington 
 
 * The natives of Bristol have good reason to hold in lasting reverence the name of this charitable and 
 noble-minded man, whose deeds in truth deserve a more than local fame. From a state of poverty John 
 Whitson rose, by his own industry and perseverance, till he became the wealthiest merchant of the city. He 
 was twice Mayor of Bristol, and represented it in four Parliaments. He was remarkable not only for his 
 piety and integrity, but for local patriotism, as well as for enlarged and liberal views of national policy. When 
 Rachel Aubrey became his third wife he had reached the summit of his prosperity, and by his Will, which 
 with the exception of a provision for herself, bequeathed his property entirely to charitable uses, he appointed 
 her his sole executrix. Property to the amount of more than £300 per annum (then a large sum) was by 
 this will appropriated to the foundation and support of various schools, almshouses, &c. in Bristol. Amongst the 
 widow's charges about his funeral is the item to « M. Aubrey et uxor £20." John Whitson wrote a Pious 
 Meditation, or Farewell to the World, which, with some biographical notices of him, was reprinted in 1829 
 (8vo. Bristol). Whitson died in 1629, in his 72d year. 
 
 \ Monumenta Britanniea. 
 
AUBREY'S REMINISCENCES. 27 
 
 Church a tablet, with a longer inscription than that which had been placed there at 
 the time of her interment.* 
 
 The following are some of Aubrey's reminiscences of boyhood. In 1633 he "en- 
 tred into his Grammar at the Latin schoole at Yatton Keynel,-f- in the church, where 
 the Curate, Mr. Hart, taught the eldest boyes Virgil, Ovid, Cicero, &c." He adds, 
 " The fashion then was to save the forules of their bookes with a false cover of parch- 
 ment, si. old manuscript, which I was too young to understand ; but I was pleased 
 with the elegancy of the writing and the coloured initiall letters. I remember the 
 Rector (Mr. William Stump, great gr. son % of St: the cloathier of Malmesbury) had 
 severall manuscripts of the abbey. He was a proper man, and a good fellow, and 
 when he brewed a barrell of special ale his use was to stop the bunghole (under the 
 clay) with a sheet of manuscript. He sayd nothing did it so well, which me thought 
 did grieve me then to see."§ In the next year, 1634, Aubrey was placed under Mr. 
 Robert Latimer, Rector of Leigh-de-la-Mere, an adjoining parish, of whom he says 
 incidentally, " I remember my old schoolmaster, Mr. Latimer, at 70, wore a dud- 
 geon, with a knife, and bodkin, as also my old grandfather, Lyte, and Alderman 
 "Whitson of Bristowe, w ch I suppose was the common fashion in their young dayes."| 
 Thos. Hobbes, the philosopher of Malmesbury, had previously been under the tuition 
 of Mr. Latimer, and, in a visit to his old preceptor, he first took notice of young 
 Aubrey. The latter thus mentions the circumstance: "This summer, 1634 (Ire- 
 member it was in venison season, July or Aug.), Mr. T. H. came into his native 
 country to visitt his friends, and amongst others he came to see his old schoolmaster, 
 Mr. Rob. Latimer, ^[ at Leigh-de-la-Mere, when I was then a little youth at school, in 
 
 * North Division of Wiltshire. 
 
 \ Here his grandfather Lyte had been a boy at school, when Camden visited and took notes in the church. 
 Original letter from Aubrey to Wood, in the Ballard Collection of Original Letters, in the Bodleian 
 Library, vol. xiv. 
 
 J He was descended probably from a brother of the rich clothier; of whose own descendants a pedigree 
 may be seen in Collectanea Topogr. et Geneal. vol. vii. p. 83, 1841. 
 
 § Natural History of Wilts, Chap, on Worthies. In 1798 I visited a fanner at Charlton, near Malmes- 
 bury, named Stump, who had some curious manuscripts, and several large folio volumes, in an old chest. 
 These were probably the remains of the spoil which passed, with the manor and abbatial edifices of Malmes- 
 bury, to his ancestor Stump, the clothier. 
 
 || Lives of Eminent Men, vol. ii. p. 382. % " Rob. Latimer, obiit Nov. 2, 1634." 
 
28 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 the church, newly entered.into my grammar by him. Here was the first place and 
 time that I ever had the honour to see this worthy, learned man, who was then 
 pleased to take notice of me, and the next day came and visited my relations. He 
 was a proper man, briske, and in; very good equipage; his haire was then quite 
 black. He stayed at Malmesbury, and in the neighbourhood, a weeke or better ; 
 'twas the last time that ever he was in Wiltshire."* From this casual circumstance 
 an intercourse commenced between Hobbes and Aubrey, which continued without 
 interruption till the death of the former in 1679, and which was characterized by 
 frank and liberal kindness on the one hand, and respectful deference on the other. 
 
 Aubrey informs us " there was the like use of covering of bookes " at Mr. 
 Latimer's school. " In my grandfather's dayes," he says, " the manuscripts flew 
 about like butterflies. All musick bookes, account bookes, copie bookes, &c. were 
 covered with old manuscripts, as wee cover them now with blew paper or marbled 
 paper ; , and the glovers at Malmesbury made great havock of them, and gloves were 
 wrapt up no doubt in many good pieces of antiquity." -f- 
 
 For the next two or three years ill health, and study under "dull, ignorant 
 teachers," doubtless retarded his school education, but on gaining strength, in 1638, 
 he was " transplanted to Blandford schoole in Dorset, to Mr. Wm. Sutton." This 
 he states was " in Mr, Wm. Gardner's time the most eminent schoole for the educa- 
 tion of gentlemen in the West of England." J Here he formed a lasting friendship 
 with Mr. William Browne, B.D., an usher in the school. That gentleman was a son 
 of the Rector of Churchill, Dorsetshire, and had himself been educated at Blandford, 
 under Mr. Gardner. He frequently afterwards corresponded with Aubrey, who in 
 mentioning his burial at Farnham, in Surrey, observes that " he was an ingenious 
 man, a good scholar, and as admirable a disputant as any was in his time in the Uni- 
 versity It was my happiness to be his pupil." § 
 
 Of Aubrey's school days there are other notices scattered throughout his writings, 
 
 * Life of Holies, in Letters from the Bodleian, vol. ii. p. 604. 
 
 f Natural Hist, of Wilts, Chap, on Worthies. When at school I remember to have seen bibles, testa- 
 ments, and some school books, covered with ancient writings on parchment. I also remember having learnt 
 the alphabet from a hornbook : now extinct. 
 
 t Ibid. § History of Surrey, vol. iii. p. 335. 
 
AUBREY AT COLLEGE : — CIVIL WAR. 29 
 
 but they are not of much importance, though they serve to shew the interest 
 he felt, even at that early age, in matters of history and antiquity. He was at 
 Gloucester with his father when he was nine years old,* and probably at Burleton, 
 in Herefordshire, at an equally early date. 
 
 On the 2d of May, 1 642, being then in his seventeenth year, he was entered as 
 a gentleman-commoner of Trinity College, Oxford,-f- which college was probably 
 selected as that to which his friend and tutor, Browne, belonged. In an old collec- 
 tion of caution-books preserved at Trinity College by the care of Dr. Bathurst, after 
 the havoc made by the Parliamentary visitors, and now bound in one thick volume, 
 quarto, there is an entry of £3 received in the year 1642, as a cautionary deposit 
 from John Aubrey : " a Johanne Aubrey, 3£." The name is repeated, with the same- 
 sum annexed, in the annual accounts officially transferred to the Bursars in succes- 
 sion, till the year 1645. The confusion of the times occasioned a chasm in the 
 accounts for nearly twenty years from this date, but there seems to be no reason to 
 suppose that his name was removed from the college books.:}: 
 
 Aubrey's memoir of Dr. Kettle § affords some curious illustrations of his college 
 life ; and in his Miscellanies he says, "When I was a freshman at Oxford, in 1642, 
 I was wont to go to Christchurch, to see King Charles I. at supper, where I once 
 heard him say ' that as he was hawking in Scotland, he rode into the quarry, and 
 found the covey of partridges falling upon the hawk;' and I do remember this ex- 
 pression further, viz. ' and I will swear upon the book 'tis true.' When I came to 
 my chamber, I told this story to my tutor ; said he, that covey was London." || 
 
 Aubrey s first stay at Oxford was short. The anticipated hostilities between the 
 King and Parliament induced his parents to remove him for a time from the Univer- 
 sity. He himself says, " The first brush was between the Earl of Northampton and 
 the Lord Brooke, neer Banbury, which was the latter end of July, or the beginning 
 of August, 1642. I was sent for [from Oxford] into the country, to my great griefe, 
 
 • See Lives of Eminent Men, vol. ii. p. 554, where he mentions a curious picture of the funeral of Sir Philip 
 Sidney which he saw at Gloucester, and which, he says, " made such a strong impression on my young tender 
 phantasy, that I remember it as if it were but yesterday." 
 
 \ Aubrey's MSS. at Oxford. ^ Communicated by the Rev. Dr. Ingram. 
 
 § Lives of Eminent Men, vol. ii. p. 417. || Miscellanies, Chap, on Omens. 
 
30 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 and departed the 9th of Aug. ; 'twas before I went away." * It is probable that on 
 leaving Oxford, at this time, Aubrey went to Broad Chalk, in Wiltshire, where his 
 father had become lessee of the Manor Farm, under the Earl of Pembroke. He thus 
 mentions Chalk as early as 1643 : " Major John Morgan fell sick of a malignant 
 fever as he was marching with the King's army into the West, and was brought to 
 my father's at Broad Chalk, where he was lodged secretly in a garret." ■+■ Browne's 
 letters to him about this time, with those of other correspondents, are addressed to 
 "his father's house at Broad Chalk." % 
 
 On the 1 6th of April 1646, Aubrey was admitted a student of the Middle 
 Temple ; but he distinctly states that " his father's sickness and business never per- 
 mitted him to make any settlement to his study." 
 
 In January 1649 he discovered the remains of the great Druidical Temple at 
 Avebury, in Wiltshire ; an event which he thus describes : " I never saw the country 
 about Marleborough till Christmas 1648, being then invited to Lord Francis Sey- 
 mour's, by the Honourable Mr. Charles Seymour, with whom I had the honour to 
 be intimately acquainted, and whose friendship I ought to mention with a profound 
 respect to his memorie. The morrow after twelf-day Mr. Charles Seymour and Sir 
 William Button met with their packs of hounds at the Grey Wethers. These 
 downes looke as if they were sowen with great stones, very thick, and in a dusky 
 evening they looke like a flock of sheep, from whence they take their name : one 
 might fancy it to have been the scene where the giants fought with huge stones 
 against the gods.§ .... 'Twas here that our game began, and the chase led \is at 
 length thorough the village of Aubury into the closes there, where I was wonderfully 
 surprised at the sight of those vast stones, of which I had never heard before, as also 
 
 * Lives of Eminent Men, vol. ii. p. 295. 
 
 f Miscellanies, Chap, on Omens. The attachment of John Aubrey and others of his family to the royal 
 cause is shown by many scattered passages in his papers, wherein " the Puritan faction " are severely stig- 
 matized. His private diaries, if preserved, would doubtless have added much interesting matter to the records 
 of that eventful period. The estate of his cousin, Sir John Aubrey, the first Baronet, at Llantrithyd, was se- 
 questrated by the Parliament, and Leoline (afterwards Judge) Jenkins became tutor to several Welsh gentlemen 
 of quality in the house, whilst it remained unoccupied by the Aubrey family. — Wood's Fasti, part ii. p. 231. 
 
 J Originals in a Coll. of Letters to Aubrey in the Ashmolean Museum. 
 
 § The Grey Wethers are described in the Beauties of Wiltshire, vol. iii. and in Hoare's Ancient Wilt- 
 shire, vol. ii. 
 
MYSTERIOUS NOISES: — -SUPERSTITIONS. 31 
 
 at the mighty bank and graffe about it. I observed in the enclosures some segments 
 of rude circles made with these stones, whence I concluded they had been in the old 
 time complete. I left my company awhile, entertaining myself with a more delightful 
 indagation,* and then, (cheered by the cry of the hounds,) overtook the company, 
 and went with them to Kynnet, where was a good hunting dinner provided." -f 
 
 In the same year Aubrey was collecting information respecting the mysterious 
 noises which disturbed the Parliamentary Commissioners at Woodstock ;| and we 
 find that in 1651 he witnessed the execution of Christopher Love, on Tower Hill, on 
 a charge of high-treason. " I did see Mr. Christopher Love beheaded on Tower 
 Hill in a delicate clear day ; about half an hour after his head was struck off the 
 clouds gathered blacker and blacker, and such terrible claps of thunder came, that 
 I never heard greater." — Miscellanies, Chap, on Omens. This was on the 22nd of 
 August. § The superstition here countenanced by Aubrey was implicitly believed 
 by the inhabitants of Kington St. Michael seventy years ago; when a thunder 
 storm, occurring immediately after the execution of a murderer near the parish, was 
 regarded as a special indication of Divine anger. No doubt the same credulity still 
 prevails in many parts of England. 
 
 With reference to this period of his life, he says, in his Memoir of Dr. William 
 Harvey, "I had not the honour to be acquainted with him till 1651, being my cos. 
 Montagu's || physitian and friend. I was at that time bound for Italy (but to my great 
 
 * " Indagation, Search, inquiry, examination." Boyle, cited in Johnson's Dictionary. 
 
 f Monumenta Britannica : (and see Hoare's Ancient Wiltshire, vol. ii. p. 58, where the entire passage 
 is quoted.) 
 
 X See a Letter in the Ashmolean Museum addressed to him on this subject by J. Lyddall, dated 1 J th March, 
 1649, and printed by Aubrey in his Miscellanies. The same topic has afforded Sir Walter Scott the groundwork 
 for his interesting romance of Woodstock. Sir Henry Lee of Ditchley, who figures so prominently in that 
 work, married the daughter of Sir John Danvers, and was therefore distantly allied to the family of Aubrey. 
 Moreover, his son-in-law, the Earl of Abingdon, was a friend and patron of John Aubrey. These circum- 
 stances may account for Aubrey's feeling much interest in the events relating to Woodstock. The " invisible 
 drummer " who haunted the manor-house of North Tidwortb, Wilts, about twelve years afterwards, equally 
 excited the alarm of the whole neighbourhood, and gave rise to numerous conjectures. Addison wrote a 
 comedy on the subject, called " The Drummer, or the Haunted House." 
 
 § Love's principal offence was holding communication with the exiled Charles the Second : he made a very 
 long address to the populace before he was beheaded, and met his fate with fortitude. John Gibbons suffered 
 on the same scaffold, immediately after him. — Cobbett's State Trials, vol. v. 
 
 |! Montague Bertie, afterwards second Earl of Abingdon. 
 
32 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 grief dissuaded by my mother's importunity). He was very communicative, and in 
 order to my journey, dictated to me what to see, what company to keep, what 
 bookes to read, how to manage my studies." * 
 
 His mother's importunities were caused, there is little doubt, by the illness of his 
 father, who for nearly two years appears to have been gradually sinking. He died 
 on the 21st of October 1652, at Broad Chalk, and was buried on the 26th at Kington 
 St. Michael .f In his account of that Church, Aubrey says, "In the south-east 
 corner lieth the body of my Father, under a stone thus inscribed, and now almost out : 
 
 'HlC JACET QUOD RELIQUUM EST RlCHARDI AWBREY ARMIGERI, QUI OBIIT 21 
 DIE MENSIS OCTOBRIS, MDCLII.' "J 
 
 It does not appear that, Richard Aubrey sympathised with his son's pursuits, as 
 indeed may be inferred from the preceding auto-biography. Upon his death John 
 inherited the farm at Broad Chalk, where he now chiefly resided, and also the 
 manor of Burleton, in Herefordshire. The house at Easton-Pierse, in which he was 
 born, was probably still occupied by his mother's parents, Isaac and Israel Lyte. 
 
 In 1655 Inigo Jones's volume on Stonehenge, in which the author attributed that 
 Temple to the Romans, was published by his son-in-law, John Webb; uponVhich 
 work Aubrey properly observes, " There is a great deal of learning in it, but, having 
 compared his scheme [i. e. plan] with the monument itself, I found he had not 
 dealt fairly, but had made a Lesbian's rule, which is conformed to the stone ; 
 that is, he framed the monument to his own hypothesis, which is much differing 
 from the thing itself; and this gave me an edge to make more researches, and a 
 further opportunity was, that my honoured and faithfull friend, Colonel James Long, 
 of Draycot, was wont to spend a week or two every autumne at Aubury in hawking, 
 where several times I have had the happiness to accompany him. Our sport was 
 
 * Lives of Eminent Men, vol. ii. p. 382. 
 
 \ Parish Begister, Kington St. Michael. " Three or four days before my father died I did hear three 
 distinct knocks on the bed's head." — Aubrey's Miscellanies, Chap, on Knockings. 
 
 % North Division of Wiltshire. He also says, " My father and mother are buried in the south-east angle 
 of the chancell. I do hope to live so long to erect a little inscription of white marble to the memory of my father 
 about an ell high or better. ' P. M. Richardi Awbrey Armig. filii unici Johannis Awbrey de Burlton in 
 agro Heref. filii tertii Gulielmi Awbrey LL.D. et e supplicum libellis Eliz. Reg. Mag ri . Viri pacifici & 
 fidelis amici. Uxorem duxit Deborah filiam et heredem Isaaci Lyte de Easton Pierse, per quam suscepit tres 
 superstites, Johannem, Gulielmum, et Thomam, filios. Obiit xxi die Oct. An Dni. 1652, jEtat. 49.'" 
 
DRAFT OF AUBREY S WILL. 33 
 
 very good, and in a romantick countrey, for the prospects are noble and vast, the 
 downs stockt with numerous flocks of sheep, the turfe rich and fragrant with thyme 
 and burnet, — 
 
 ' Fessus ubi incubuit baculo, saxoque resedit 
 Pastor arundineo carmine mulcet oves ;' 
 
 nor are the nut-brown shepherdesses without their graces. But the flight of the fal- 
 cons was but a parenthesis to the Colonell's facetious discourse, who was ' tarn Marti 
 quam Mer curio] and the Muses did accompany him with his hawkes and spaniells."* 
 
 In 1656 Aubrey began the Natural History of Wiltshire,-^ his first literary work, 
 some account of which, and of his other manuscripts, will be given at the end of 
 this memoir. 
 
 Excepting the following testamentary document in John Aubrey's handwriting, 
 which belongs to this period of his life, we have only two or three trivial notices of 
 him between 1656 and 16594 The directions in this paper for a monument to his 
 father fixes it as later than 1652; and, as his grandfather, Isaac Lyte, is named in it 
 as living, it must have been written prior to 1659, in which year the latter died. 
 
 Draught of my Will. 
 
 To my loving grandfather, Mr. Isaac Lyte, 50 li. and to my grandmother, 50 li. A 
 decent inscription of white marble for my father, and y e like for my selfe ; y e Epi- 
 taph to be made by Mr. A. Ettrick. 
 
 It m , to Anthony Ettrick, of Berford, in y e county of Dorset, esq., I bequeath ten 
 pounds to buy a piece of plate, my saphire ring, S r Walter Raleigh's history, and 
 Philip Comineus. 
 
 It m , my will is that my Executors buy for Trinity College in Oxon. a colledge pott 
 
 * Monwmenta Britannica, ut supra. It is highly creditable to Aubrey's knowledge of drawing, par- 
 ticularly of ground-plans, to have detected the misrepresentations of Jones, who, to prop a silly hypothesis, 
 not only altered in his plan the positions of many of the stones which formed -the temple of Stonehenge, but 
 added others to their number. 
 
 f Now in the Ashmolecm Museum, Oxford. A fair copy of it by Aubrey is also in the Library of the 
 Royal Society, London. 
 
 % "I heard Oliver Cromwell, Protector (at dinner at Hampton Court, 1657 or 8) tell the Lord Arundell 
 of Wardour and the Lord FitzWilliams that he had been in all the counties of England, and that the Devon- 
 shire husbandry was the best." — Aubrey's Natural Hist, of Wilts, Chap, on Agriculture. 
 
 F 
 
34 MEMOIR OP JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 of the value of ten pounds, w th my arms thereon inscribed, and ten pounds w ch I 
 shall desire my honored friend Mr. Ralph Bathurst of Trinity College, and Mr. Jo. 
 Lydall, to lay out upon Mathematicall and Philosophicall books. 
 
 It m , I give to the library of Jesus Colledge in Oxon, my greeke Crysostoms, Bedes, 
 2 tomes, and all the rest of my bookes that are fitt for y e library, as Mr. Anthony 
 Ettrick or Mr. John Lydall shall think fitt, excepting those bookes that were my 
 father's, which I bequeath to my heire. 
 
 It m , I bequeath to John Davenant of y e Middle Temple esq. a ring of y e value of 
 50s. w th a stone in it." [The like bequest follows to Mr. William Hawes of Trinity 
 College, and to his friends John Lydall, and Ralph Bathurst.] 
 
 It m , to M ris Mary Wiseman of Westminster my best diamond ring and . . ."* 
 
 In 1659 Aubrey commenced a second work relating to Wiltshire, under peculiar 
 and interesting circumstances. It was intended to form part of a County History, as 
 that term is now understood ; and other portions were to have been undertaken by 
 gentlemen of equal learning and ability : constituting in fact the first " Topogra- 
 phical Society" on record. Aubrey terms this work "An Essay towards the 
 Description of the North Division of Wiltshire," and in an Introduction to it he 
 thus writes : " At a meeting of gentlemen at the Devizes for choosing of Knights of 
 the Shire in March 1659, it was wish'd by some that this county (wherein are many 
 observable antiquities) was survey'd, in imitation of Mr. Dugdale's Illustration of 
 Warwickshire ;-f- but it being too great a task for one man, Mr. William Yorke 
 (Councellor at Law, and a lover of this kind of learning,) advis'd to have the labour 
 divided ; he himself would undertake the Middle Division, I would undertake the 
 North ; T. Gore, Esq. Jeffrey Daniel, Esq. and Sir John Erneley, would be 
 assistants.^" The valuable collections, illustrating the topography of North Wilt- 
 shire, which Aubrey made in pursuance of this arrangement, remain a lasting proof 
 
 * Original in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. Of the parties mentioned in this document Hawes and 
 Bathurst both became afterwards Presidents of Trinity College, and Lydall Warden of Merton. 
 
 f Dugdale's Warwickshire was first published in one volume, folio, 1656. 
 
 X Original in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. This Introduction is dated " Eston-Pierse, April 28th 
 1670," long after the project had been first discussed. 
 
JAMES HARRINGTON r — HENRY NEVILL. 35 
 
 of his ability, industry, and zeal in a good cause. Parts of these have been printed 
 and published by Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bart, (ante, p. 2.) ; but it is to be regretted 
 that the task has not been more successfully performed, for the printed work gives 
 but an imperfect idea of the original manuscript. The latter has a great number of 
 plans, views, and other drawings, by Aubrey ; all the armorial shields referred to are 
 elaborately emblazoned ; the ancient deeds quoted are copied as facsimiles of the 
 originals, with drawings of the seals, and the whole may be regarded as the most 
 curious work of its kind then extant. 
 
 In 1659 Aubrey was Churchwarden of Broad Chalk, as still indicated by the 
 following inscription : " This church was repaired, the four bells changed to six, 
 anno 1659. George Penruddock and John Aubrey, Esqrs. Churchwardens." These 
 bells remain in the tower. The Penruddocks were lessees of the Broad Chalk farm 
 before it was held by the Aubreys.* 
 
 In the same year he became a member of a celebrated club which met to discuss 
 the principles of government, and which he thus mentions in his Memoir of James 
 Harrington, author of the then popular Oceana. He states that Harrington 
 " made several! essayes in poetry, but his muse was rough ; and Mr. Henry Nevill, 
 an ingeniose and well-bred gent., a member of the H. of Commons, and an excellent 
 (but conceated) poet, was his great familiar and confident friend, and dissuaded 
 him from tampering with poetrie, which he did, invitd Minervd, and to improve his 
 proper talent, viz. political reflections. Whereupon he writ his Oceana, printed, 
 
 London Mr. Hobbes was wont to say that H. Nevil had a finger in y e pye, 
 
 and 'tis like enough. That ingeniose tractat, together with his and H. NeviU's 
 smart discourses and inculcations dayly at coffee-houses, made many proselytes. In 
 so much that A 1659, the beginning of Michaelmas-term, he had every night a 
 meeting at the (then) Turkes head, in the New Pallace-Yard, where they take water, 
 the next house to the staires, at one Miles's, where was made purposely a large 
 ovall-table, with a passage in the middle for Miles to deliver his coffee. About it sate 
 his disciples, and the virtuosi. The discourses in this kind were the most ingeniose 
 and smart that ever I heard, or expect to hear, and larded with great eagernesse ; 
 
 * Bowles's History of Chalk Hundred, in Hoare's Modern Wiltshire, pp. 133, 151. 
 
36 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 the arguments in the Pari, house were but flatt to it. He now printed a little 
 pamphlet called the Rota, 4to. Here we had (very formally) a ballotting-box, and 
 ballotted how things should be carried, by way of Tentamens. The room was every 
 evening full as it could be crammed. I cannot now recount the whole number ; 
 Mr. Cyriack Skinner, an ingeniose young gent.., scholar to Jo. Milton, was chaire- 
 
 man. There was Mr. Hen. Nevill, Major Wildman, Mr Wooseley, of ... , 
 
 Staffordsh., Mr. Coke, gr. son of Sir Edw., Sir William Poulteney (Chaireman), Mr. 
 Maximilian Petty (a very able man in these matters, and who had more than once 
 turned the councill-board of O. Cromwell, his kinsman) ; Mr. Michael Malett, Mr. 
 .... Carteret, of Gamely, .... Cradoc, a merchant, Mr. Hen. Ford, Major 
 Verner, Mr. Edward Bagshaw, .... Croon, M.D., cum multis aliis, now slipt out of 
 my memorie, which were as auditors as myselfe, Severall, e. g. y e Earle Tirconnel, 
 S r John Penruddock, &c. Mr. Jo. Birkenhead, .... Stafford, Esq. &c. opponents. 
 Several soldiers (officers). We many times adjourned to the Rhenish wine house. 
 One time, Mr. Stafford, and his gang, came in drunk from the taverne, and affronted 
 the junto ; the soldiers offered to kick them downe stayres, but Mr. Harrington's 
 moderation and persuasion hindered it. Mr. Stafford tore their orders and minutes. 
 The doctrine was very taking ; and the more because, as to human foresight, there 
 was no possibility of the King's returne. But the greatest part of the Parliament- 
 men perfectly hated this designe of rotation by ballotting, for they were cursed 
 tyrants, and in love with their power, and 'twas death to them, except 8 or 10, 
 to admitt of this way, for H, Nevill proposed it in the House, and made it out to 
 them that except they embraced that modell of government they would be ruined ; 
 sed quos perdere vult Jupiter, hos, &c. Pride of senators for life is insufferable ; and 
 they were able to grind any one they owed ill will to powder ; they were hated by 
 the armie, and their country they represented, and their name and memorie stinkes. 
 'Twas worse than tyranny. Now this modell upon rotation was that the third part 
 of the House should rote out by ballot every yeare, so that every ninth yeare the 
 House would be wholly altered. No magistrate to continue above 3 yeares, and all 
 to be chosen by ballot, than which manner of choice nothing can be invented more 
 fair and impartiall. Well ; this meeting continued Novemb., Dec, Jan., till Feb. 20 
 
IRELAND. — HOBBES ; COOPER ; LOGGAN. 37 
 
 or 21, and then, upon the unexpected turne upon Generall Monke's comeing in, all 
 these airie modells vanished. Then 'twas not fitt, nay treason, to have donne such ; 
 but I well remember he [Harrington] severall times (at the breaking up) sayd, 
 ' Well, the King will come in. Let him come in, and call a Parliament of y e great 
 cavaliers in England, so they be men of estates, and let them sett but 7 yeares, and 
 they will all turn Commonwealthes men.'"* 
 
 The arrival of General Monk in London, and the public events which ensued, are 
 described by Aubrey in his interesting memoir of that individual. On the 23rd 
 July, 1660, Sir John Aubrey, of Llantrithyd, was created a Baronet by King Charles 
 II. In the same month Aubrey accompanied his friend, Anthony Ettrick, to 
 Ireland, and on returning in August they narrowly escaped shipwreck. About 
 twelve months afterwards he thus wrote to Thomas Hobbes : " From N. Wales I 
 went into Ireland, where I saw the manner of living of the natives, scorning 
 industry and luxury, contenting themselves only with things necessary. That king- 
 dom is in a very great distemper, and hath need of your advice to settle it ; the 
 animosities between the English and Irish are very great, and will ere long, I am 
 confident, break into a war. Sir, you have done me so much honour in your 
 acquaintance and civilities, that I want language to expresse my thankfulnesse ; 
 among other favours I particularly return you my hearty thankes for the trouble I 
 gave you to sitt for your picture,-}- which is an honour I am not worthy of, and I 
 beg your pardon for my great boldness, but I assure you no man living more prizes 
 it, nor hath greater devotion for you then myselfe. Your brother I heare is well, 
 
 * Lives of Eminent Men, vol. ii. p. 371. See also the same passage, with alterations and additions by 
 Wood, in Athen. Oxon. (Life of Harrington.) 
 
 + In Aubrey's Life of Hobbes (Lives of Eminent Men, vol. ii. p. 632,) he says: " He did me the honour to sitt 
 for his picture to Jo. Baptist Caspars, an excellent painter, and 'tis a good piece. I presented it to the [Royal] 
 Societie twelve yeares since." It appears by a letter from Hollar to Aubrey, in the Ashmolean Museum 
 (dated in 1665), that the former engraved a portrait of Hobbes from a picture lent to him by Aubrey : no 
 doubt the picture by Caspars here alluded to. Aubrey also mentions another portrait of Hobbes (Lives, vol. 
 ii. p. 610). " Mr. Samuel Cowper, the prince of limners of this last age, drew his picture as like as art could 
 ■afford, and one of the best pieces that ever he did, which his Majesty (Chas. II.) at his returne bought of him, 
 and conserves as one of his greatest rarities, in his closet at Whitehall. This picture I intend to be borrowed 
 of his Majesty, for Mr. Loggan to engrave an accurate piece by, which will sell well both at home and abroad." 
 
38 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 whom I intend to see on Monday next, and shall with him sacrifice to your health 
 in a glasse of sack. Thus intreating your excuse for this scribled paper, I wish you 
 all happines, and am, with all my heart, Sir, your most affectionate friend, and most 
 humble servant, John Aubrey. Easton Pierse, Aug. 30, 1661. These for his 
 most honoured friend Mr.. Thomas Hobbes, at the Earle of Devonshire's, at Salis- 
 bury House in the Strand. Post paid."* 
 
 On the 22nd of April, 1663, the Royal Society was incorporated by a charter 
 granted by King Charles the Second. Viscount Brouncker was the first President 
 of the society, and on the Council were, Sir Kenelm Digby, Sir William Petty, and 
 John Evelyn. By virtue of a power reposed in them by the charter, the President 
 and Council, on the 20th of May following, nominated such persons as they thought 
 desirable as Fellows, and Aubrey was one of those so named : his friends Dryden, 
 Wren, Hooke, — in fact all the literati of the age, — were also nominated Fellows at 
 the same time.-f- After the first two months new members were elected by vote. 
 The history of the formation of this society is well known. There is no doubt that 
 Aubrey had belonged to it before its incorporation, and perhaps even as early as the 
 year 1651, when the scientific meetings from which it originated were held in the 
 chambers of Dr. Petty, and at other places in Oxford, King Charles II. manifested 
 considerable interest in the proceedings of the Royal Society, and soon after it was 
 incorporated he attended the meetings, and held frequent interviews with the 
 President and many of the most eminent members. An interesting event in 
 Aubrey's life had its rise in a conversation of this kind : 
 
 " A. D. 1663. King Charles II. discoursing one morning with my Lord Brounker 
 and Dr. Charlton, concerning Stoneheng, they told his Majestie what they had heard 
 me say concerning Aubury, for that it did as much excell Stoneheng as a cathedral 
 does a parish church. His Majestie admired that none of our chorographers had 
 taken notice of it, and commanded Dr. Charlton to bring me to him the next 
 morning. I brought with me a draught of it, done by memorie only, but well 
 
 * This letter was printed many years ago in the European Magazine, but I am not aware in whose pos- 
 session the original then was, nor whether it is still extant. 
 + Thomson's History of the Royal Society, 4to. 1812. 
 
AVEBURY VISITED BY CHARLES II. 39 
 
 enough resembling it, with which His Majestie was pleased, gave me his hand to 
 kisse, and commanded me to wait on him at Marleborough, when he went to Bath 
 with his Queen (which was about a fortnight after),* which I did ; and the next day, 
 when the court were on their journey, His Majestie left the Queen and diverted to 
 Aubury, with the view whereof he and His Royal Highnesse the Duke of Yorke 
 were very well pleased ; His Majesty then commanded me to write a description of 
 it, and present it to him ; and the Duke of Yorke commanded me to give an account 
 of the old camps and barrows in the plaines. As His Majestie departed from 
 Aubury to overtake the Queen, he cast his eie on Silbury Hill, about a mile off, 
 which he had the curiosity to see, and walkt up to the top of it,-f- with the Duke of 
 York, Dr. Charlton and I attending them. They went to Lacock to dinner, and 
 that evening to Bathe, all the gentry and commonaltie of those parts waiting on 
 them, with great acclamations of joy, &c. In September following I surveyed that 
 old monument of Aubury with a plane table, and afterwards tooke a review of 
 Stoneheng, and then I composed this following discourse, in obedience to His 
 Majestie's command, and presented it to him, which he commanded me to put 
 in print." X 
 
 In the year 1664 Aubrey went into France. He landed on the 11th of June at 
 Calais, visited Paris, Tours, and Orleans, and returned in October ; beyond which 
 little more is known of his continental tour. There is, however, in the Ashmolean 
 Museum a letter addressed to him by Hobbes whilst he was at Paris, wherein 
 the latter approves of his design of seeing "the Loyer, and the country of Brittany, 
 and that about Geneva;" and adds, "I see you mean to husband all your time to 
 the best advantage. I have nothing to add but my wishes for your safety and the 
 continuance of yo r health, which is not to be despaired of in one that can temper 
 himself from excesses, and especially in fruit, as you can." 
 
 * The King commenced this progress on the 26th of August, and returned to London on the 2nd of October. 
 He was sumptuously entertained at Marlborough by Lord Seymour, and at Longleat by Sir James Thynne. 
 
 f The following passage in Dr. Stukeley's volume on Abury (folio, 1743,) may possibly refer to another 
 visit of the monarch to that interesting temple : — " Some old people remember Charles II., the Duke of York, 
 and Duke of Monmouth riding up Silbury Hill." (p. 43) 
 
 J Monumenta Britannica, ut supra. 
 
40 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 Aubrey's discovery of the mineral spring at Seend, in Wiltshire, in 1665, has been 
 already noticed. In the same year he says, under the date "Novemb. 1," "I made 
 my first address (in an ill hour) to Joane Sumner."* More than once prior to this, 
 Aubrey had entertained matrimonial projects. In his Collection of Genitures (p. 110) 
 he remarks, " My mother fell from her horse, and brake her arme, the last day of 
 April 1649-50, when I was a suitor to Mrs. Jane Codrington." In another paper he 
 says, "About the 16 or 18 April, 1651, I sawe that incomparable good- conditioned 
 gentlewoman, Mrs. M. Wiseman, with whom at first sight I was in love." And he 
 tells us that in 1655 and 1656 he had "several love and lawe suites." And again, 
 " 1657. Novemb. 27, obiit Diia Kasker Ryves, with whom I was to marry, to my 
 great losse." But neither Aubrey's connexion with Mrs. Codrington, nor Mrs.-f- 
 Wiseman, nor even with " Dna Kasker Ryves," through whose untimely death he 
 had so great a loss, were equally unfortunate in their results with that which he 
 now formed with Mrs. Joan Sumner: for in December 1667 he was arrested in 
 Chancery-lane at her suit. In February following he, with some difficulty, obtained 
 a verdict against her, with £600 damages, in a trial at Salisbury ; but the amount of 
 those damages was reduced to £300 on a new trial at Winchester in 1669, and in 
 those days, as at present, even that amount was probably insufficient to defray his 
 costs, still less to compensate him for the annoyance and anxiety attendant on such 
 proceedings. Well might he say "in an ill hour I made m"y first address to Joan 
 Sumner." However, it must be borne in mind that we have only the ex-parte 
 statements of Aubrey in this matter, and that the lady doubtless considered herself 
 an equal sufferer by it. 
 
 It is strange that Dr. Rawlinson, with Aubrey's manuscript before him, in which 
 these circumstances are mentioned, should have inferred from it that he was 
 married. He observes, "He returned from France in October 1664, when our 
 author was married, but to whom he has not thought fit to tell ; perhaps because 
 he repented of his match, as seems to be implied in a note, where he says that on 
 
 * Accidents of John Aubrey, ante, p. 19. 
 
 f Unmarried females were in Aubrey's time called "mistresses," miss being in fact a modern abbreviation, 
 introduced probably to contradistinguish them from married women. 
 
AUBREY S ALLEGED MARRIAGE REFUTED. 41 
 
 Nov r 1, 1665, he made his first addresses (in an ill hour) to Joan Sumner:"* and 
 in accordance with this remark of Dr. Rawlinson all authors who have since written 
 memoirs of Aubrey, have repeated the statement that he was unhappily married. 
 A careful examination of all our antiquary's correspondence and memoranda has 
 however enabled me to give an unqualified contradiction to this statement. It will 
 be shown hereafter that not only was he unmarried eight years after the time to 
 which this note refers, but that he died a bachelor. 
 
 * Memoir prefixed to Aubrey's History of Surrey. 
 
42 
 
 Aubrey's first meeting with anthony a wood — wood's opinion of him — reverse of fortune-«- 
 
 law-suits and pecuniary difficulties sells his estates progress of his works 
 
 assists anthony a wood in his publications aubrey's predilection for astrological 
 
 studies his perambulation of surrey — contributes an engraving to dugdale's monas- 
 
 ticon receives a protection from his creditors sells his books his life of hobbes 
 
 begins his "lives of eminent men"and "idea of education of young gentlemen" land 
 
 given to him by william penn his mother's death. 
 
 About the year 1667, during one of his visits to Oxford, Aubrey became 
 acquainted with Anthony a Wood, and till within a short time of the latter's death 
 a friendly and familiar intercourse continued to subsist between them. Wood, in 
 his Diary, gives a minute account of the commencement of their acquaintance. In 
 quoting this however it is essential to premise, that the contemptuous language it 
 applies to Aubrey, does not convey Wood's opinion of him at the time now referred 
 to, for the article containing it was unquestionably written long afterwards ; — pro- 
 bably indeed so late as 1693 or 1694. On any other supposition Wood can only be 
 regarded as acting in a most deceitful manner ; for throughout this interval of more 
 than five-and-twenty years, it is known that they maintained a continuous corres- 
 pondence, conducted on both sides in the warmest and most friendly terms. The 
 passage referred to is as foUows : "An. 1667-* John Aubrey of Easton Piers, in 
 the parish of Kington St. Michael, in Wiltsh., was in Oxon. with Edw. Forest a 
 bookseller, living against Alls. coll. to buy books. He then saw lying on the stall 
 Notitia Accidentia Ooconiensis ;-f- and asking, who the author of that book was? he 
 [Edw. Forest] answer'd, the report was, that one M r . Anth. Wood, of Merton coll. 
 was the author, but was not. Whereupon M r . Aubrey, a pretender to antiquities, 
 
 * In page 16, ante, it will be seen that Aubrey affixes the date 1665 to the name of Wood/hi his list of 
 Amid, but this is doubtlessly incorrect, 
 "f Fulman'-s Acudemice Osconiemis Notitia was published in 1665, 4to. 
 
AUBREY AND ANTHONY A WOOD. 43 
 
 having been contemporary to A. Wood's elder brother* in Trin. coll. and well ac- 
 quainted with him, he thought, that he might be as well acquainted with A. W. himself. 
 Whereupon repairing to his lodgings, and telling him who he was,-f- he got into his 
 acquaintance, talk'd to him about his studies, and offer'd him what assistance he 
 could make, in order to the completion of the work that he was in hand with.:}: M r . 
 Aubrey was then in a sparkish garb, came to towne with his man and two horses, 
 spent high, and flung out A. W. at all recknings. But his estate of 700//. per an. 
 being afterwards sold, and he reserving nothing of it to himself, liv'd afterwards in 
 a very sorry condition, and at length made shift to rub out by hanging on Edm. 
 Wyld, esq., living in Blomesbury neare London, on James earle of Abendon, whose 
 first wife was related to him, and on S r Joh. Aubrey, his kinsman, living somtimes in 
 Glamorganshire and somtimes at Borstall neare Brill in Bucks. He was a shiftless 
 person, roving and magotieheaded, and somtimes little better than erased . And 
 being exceedingl y credulous , would stuff his many letters sent to A. W. with folliries, 
 and jpisinformations, which somtimes would guid him into th e paths of errour."§ 
 
 Now it is evident from the above extract that it could not have been written at 
 the beginning of the intimacy of Wood and Aubrey ; and in a future page some 
 reasons, it is hoped of a conclusive nature, will be offered, tending to show that it 
 was penned about the year 1693. In the meantime it may be sufficient to show 
 that the spirit of it is totally opposed to the feelings with which they regarded each 
 other soon after their acquaintance commenced, by adverting to some letters which 
 passed between them at the beginning of the year 1668. On the 8th of January in 
 that year Aubrey wrote to Wood, probably for the first time, as follows : " Deare 
 Sir, I must never forgett your kindnesse to me when at Oxon. I must assure you 
 I esteeme myselfe very happy in yo r acquaintance. As often as I may serve you 
 pray let me heare from you, for I am to my power as zealous for you as any one in 
 
 * Edward Wood, who was of Trinity College from 1643 till his death in 1655. 
 •f- Aubrey's age at this time was 42 ; Wood was about 7 years younger. 
 
 J Most probably the History and Antiquities of the University of Oxford, which however was not 
 published till 1674. 
 
 § Wood's Auto-biography, in Bliss's edit, of Athen. Oxon., vol. i. p. lx. 
 
 / 
 
44 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 this nation."* In reply to this Wood says, " I wish I had acquaintance with more 
 of y r publick spirit, who might satisfie me of such matters."f Other letters from 
 Aubrey, written on the 19th of July, and on the 11th of November, in the same 
 year, are couched in similar terms. In the latter he says: "I write in hast (not 
 yet having finished my lawe suite). I will lengthen my life a little, by reviving my 
 spirits at Oxon." X 
 
 Up to this time it is clear, from the account by Anthony a Wood above quoted, that 
 Aubrey enjoyed a handsome income ; but we find that he was soon afterwards under 
 the necessity of selling nearly all his property, a result which Wood seems to infer 
 was the consequence of his own extravagance or mismanagement. A " shiftless" im- 
 providence is by no means an inconsistent feature in the character of the generous 
 John Aubrey, but it may be presumed that the failure of law-suits in which, perhaps 
 without any imprudence on his own part, he had become involved, had at least an 
 equal influence in producing this reverse of fortune. Before his father's death he 
 had been summoned home from Oxford "to look after his country business, and solicite 
 a Lawe suite ;" § and his father died, " leaving him," as he somewhat obscurely says, 
 "debts 1800 lib. and law proceed. 1,000 lib."§ Only four or five years afterwards 
 he " began his chargeable and tedious lawe suite on the Entaile in Brecknockshire 
 and Monmouthshire," || which suit he elsewhere says "cost him 1,200 &"&."§ In 
 1655 and 1656 he tells us that he had " several love and lawe suites ;" \] and besides 
 these, as already mentioned, he was harassed, at a later period, not only with 
 " treacheries and enmities in abundance," but with legal proceedings respecting Mrs. 
 Sumner. References to the law suit on the entail in Brecknockshire are of frequent 
 occurrence in Aubrey's manuscripts. He mentions Thomas Corbet, Esq. of Gray's 
 Inn, and Judge Rumsey, as his counsel, the latter specially "about the entaile." % 
 
 * Original in the Ballard Coll. of Letters, Bodleian Library, Vol. *iv. 
 
 f Copy, in Wood's handwriting, indorsed on the above. 
 
 J Original in the same volume. 
 
 § Autobiography, ante. 
 
 || Accidents of John Aubrey, ante. 
 
 ^f Lives of Eminent Men, vol. ii. ,p. 859, 522. 
 
SALE OF AUBREY S ESTATES. 45 
 
 One of his notes runs thus : — " I have the Deed of Entaile of the Lands in Brecon, 
 and Monmouth. South Wales, by my great-grandfather William Aubrey, LL.D. w ch 
 lands now of right belong to me."* And in his Life of Br. Aubrey he more fully 
 states his claim to the estates in question, as follows : — "He [Dr. A.] purchased 
 Abercunvrig (the ancient seate of the family) of his cosen Aubrey. He built the 
 great house at Brecknock ; his studie lookes on the river Uske. He could ride nine 
 miles together in his owne land in Breconshire. In Wales and England he left 
 
 2500 lib. per ann. whereof there is now none left in the family He made 
 
 a deed of entaile (36 Eliz.) w ch is also mentioned in his will, whereby he entailes the 
 Brecon estate on the issue male of his eldest son, and in defailer, to skip the 2d 
 son (for whom he had well provided, and had married a great fortune) and to come 
 to the third. Edward the eldest had seaven sonnes, his eldest son, Sir Will, had 
 also seaven sonnes, and so I am heere the 18 th man in remainder, w ch putts me in 
 mind of Dr. Donne, 
 
 " For what doth it availe 
 " To be the twentieth man in an entaile ? " (■ 
 
 Entangled in such a net of litigation, it is not surprising that Aubrey was 
 ultimately in fear of his creditors, and apprehensive not only of legal proceedings 
 during his life but of the seizure and destruction of his literary labours after his death. 
 
 As early as 1661 and 1662 he sold his two estates in Herefordshire. The manor 
 of Burleton near Hereford, which had belonged to his father, he disposed of to Dr. 
 F. Willis, and an estate, the name of which he writes as Stratford, or Strafford, 
 [meaning perhaps Stretford, a small parish near Leominster,] to Herbert Croft, 
 Bishop of Hereford.^ Some letters from the reverend prelate respecting this pur- 
 chase are in Aubrey's collection at Oxford. In one he states that " he has made 
 inquiries respecting it, and is assured that, together with the copyhold, the utmost 
 value is a hundred a year, that scarce any improvement can be made in it by the 
 
 * MS. slip at the end of Aubrey's Faber Fortunes. 
 T Lives of Eminent Men, vol. ii. p. 215. 
 
 | Consecrated 21 Jan. 1662, and continued bishop of that see till his death in 1691. He is very highly 
 spoken of hy Browne Willis, and by Wood in Aihence Oxonienses. 
 
46 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 greatest industry ; and that there is scarce enough wood upon it for necessary uses 
 and fences." He complains that there is " so much arable, and so little meadow 
 and pasture." Upon the whole he thinks that "18 years purchase will be in this 
 country the full value ; and this," the bishop adds, " I shall give."* 
 
 On the 2nd of October, 1669, Aubrey says in a letter to Anthony a Wood, "I 
 shall be the next weeke at Easton-Pierse, where I should be glad to heare from you 
 by the Bristowe Carrier, in Jesus College Lane, to be left at MichaelTs-Kington."-|- 
 It was perhaps during this sojourn at Easton that Aubrey made a series of rude 
 drawings of the house and grounds, bearing the date 1669.^: He was there again 
 on the 28th of April following, § which is the latest trace of his residence at his 
 native place, for Easton-Pierse was sold, and the farm transferred by its tenant to 
 the new landlord at Lady-day 1671. Aubrey considered the transfer of this pro 
 perty an important, or rather a fatal event. He carefully noted not only the day but 
 the hour when it was effected, and drew a scheme or horoscope for the precise time. 
 This is marked " Eston-Pierse possession," with the following note : " 25 March 
 1671. I. P.M. possession given by Jonathan Rogers to M r . Sherwin."|| 
 
 To illustrate more clearly this crisis in Aubrey's affairs, the passages bearing upon 
 it in his auto -biographical papers may be here repeated. In the first of them he 
 says, " Sold Easton Pierse and the farme at Broad Chalke. Lost 500U., + 200U. goods 
 and timber. Absconded as a banished man. Ubi in monte Dei videbitur. I was 
 in as much affliction as a mortall could bee, and never quiet till all was gone. Sub- 
 mitted my selfe to God's will; wholly cast my selfe on God's providence. 
 Never quiett, nor anything of happiness till *jJ M ^J fjj 1670-1671, at what time 
 Providence raysed me unexpectedly good friends." In the other he has the fol- 
 lowing words : " 1669 and 1670. I sold all my estate in Wilts. From 1670 to 
 this very day (I thank God) I have enjoyed a happy delitescency." 
 
 * Coll. of Letters to Aubrey in the Ashmolean Museum, vol. i. 
 
 f Original (dated Broad Chalk) in the Ballard Coll. of Letters, Bodleian Library, vol. xiv. 
 X « Designatio de Easton-Piers in Com. Wilts. Per me (heu !) infortunatum Johannem Aubrey, R.S. 
 Socium. Anno Dni 1669." Original in the Ashmolean Museum. 
 § Date of Introduction to North Division of Wiltshire, ante, p. 34. 
 || Collection of Genitures, in the Ashmolean Museum. 
 
SALE OF BROAD CHALK FARM, AND TROUBLES. 47 
 
 Now, though Aubrey so emphatically says he was at this period of his life 
 " divested of all/' there is still reason to believe that he retained some interest in 
 the Broad Chalk farm till a later date ; for, in a letter to Wood, he mentions the 
 death of his mother, in 1686, and says, "My head has been a fountain of teares, 
 and this is the first letter (except of businesse) that I have writt since my Griefe. I 
 am now involved in a great deale of trouble : and Chalke must be sold : but I hope 
 to make some reservation for myselfe. ... I shall shortly goe to Chalke to see how 
 matters goe there."* Perhaps Aubrey continued to hold the lease of that farm from 
 the Earl of Pembroke, but assigned the remainder of the term to Farmer Good, 
 instead of occupying it himself. 
 
 Although his circumstances were thus altered, it is gratifying to find that he 
 retained the friendship and esteem of his intellectual associates, and even secured 
 the patronage of other influential and accomplished men whom he mentions in his 
 notes. His resignation and content of mind evince a philosophic disposition ; and 
 it is especially pleasing to observe with what zeal, after his reverses, he applied 
 himself to the prosecution and completion of the literary works which he had 
 commenced. 
 
 He writes thus: "A 1671 having sold all, and disappointed as aforesaid of 
 moneys I rec d . I had so strong an impulse to (in good part) finish the Description 
 of Wilts in 2 volumes in fol. that I could not be quiett till I had donne it, and 
 that with danger enough, tanquam canis e Nilo, for feare of Crocodiles (i.) Catch- 
 poles."-f- Besides this he seems to have arranged, and brought into a somewhat 
 finished shape, the work which had its origin in his account of Avebury, and which, 
 embracing, besides notices of Druidical monuments, various antiquities of a gene- 
 ral nature, he designated " Monumenta Britannica." This work bears the date 
 1671, about which time it appears that he contemplated printing it. Moreover 
 he was still actively engaged in collecting materials to assist his friend Wood, 
 for his History and Antiquities of Oxford. The latter wrote to him as follows 
 
 * Original in the Ballard Collection of Letters, Bodleian Library, vol. xiv. 
 
 f Auto-biography, ante. By the "Description of Wilts," Aubrey means his collections for North 
 Wiltshire ; the ttther work on the coanty he properly calls the " Natural History of Wilts." 
 
48 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 on the 10th of November, 1671 : "I am verie glad y* y° have satisfied me in so 
 many things, and cease not to send into divers parts for further information of 
 other men : I speake in my conscience (for I have told other men of it already) y e 
 I have had and shall have more from y° as to these things then all people besides 
 whoever. W* I have had hitherto besides, hath been for the most part by mine 
 owne industry & purse."* 
 
 There is no proof that Aubrey devoted his attention to Astrology before the time 
 of his misfortunes; but at the close of 1671 he applied to the celebrated Henry 
 Coley ; who, after making the necessary calculations, furnished him with a series 
 of predictions of the events likely to happen to him on every day in the* 
 month of January following. At the end of the next year Coley again drew his 
 horoscope in a most elaborate manner, appending similar predictions for the whole 
 of the year 1673. The very minute and circumstantial nature of these prophecies 
 show clearly that Coley must have enjoyed a high degree of popularity to enable him 
 to promulgate, without fear or hesitation, such absurd documents. To the paper last 
 mentioned he prefixes some remarks on a calculation of Aubrey's nativity by his 
 rival, John Gadbury, some of which are perhaps worth quoting. "By M r . G's 
 good favour," he begins, " if I may presume, I rather take y s to be y e true Nativity, 
 for y e Gentleman is a nimble, active person, and one y* to my knowledge ys curious 
 to inspect all things that are learned or ingenious. Then what can be more signifi- 
 cant than 5 in d of ? in y e ascendant in y e dignities of ? ? The Native was never 
 yet marryed (though he is is no enemie to y e female Sex), and what better denotes 
 such an accident then y e position of J? in ye 7th in 8 to q and g in the ascendant : 
 it also gives an Impediment in y e Native's speech, and aptly shews great vexations 
 in Love affairs, w ch the Native has experienced to purpose." After more to the same 
 effect, Coley concludes thus : " Therefore let Mr. G. try 'tother touch at it, for this 
 looks no more like Esq. Au than an apple is like an oyster." The Collection of 
 Genitures in which these papers are placed bears the dates " Londini, May 29, 1674," 
 and " 1677," and it shows that about this period Aubrey must have been busily 
 
 * Original in a Coll. of Letters to Aubrey in the Ashmolean Museum, vol. ii. 
 
LICENCE TO SURVEY SURREY. 49 
 
 engaged in ascertaining the precise hours of the births of most of his literary friends, 
 and other public characters, having drawn their horoscopes himself, and inserted 
 them, with astrological remarks, in the volume here referred to. 
 
 In 1673 Aubrey was still actively engaged in literary pursuits, and on the 2nd of 
 May in that year " Mr. Ogilby, the Royal Cosmographer," granted him a licence to 
 survey the county of Surrey. This very curious document not only tends to show 
 the public estimation of our antiquary, but is a memorable circumstance of the 
 times. It states that " by virtue of His Majesty's warrant, dated 24th August, 1671, 
 authorizing me to proceed in the actual survey of His Majesty's kingdom of England 
 and dominion of Wales, I have constituted, ordained, and made, and by these 
 presents do constitute, ordain, and make John Aubrey, Esq. my lawful Deputy for 
 the county of Surrey and parts adjacent, willing and requiring in His Majesty's 
 name all justices of the peace, mayors, bailiffs, sheriffs, parsons, vicars, &c. to be 
 aiding and assisting my said deputy or his agents in the said actual survey, and upon 
 his reasonable request to admit him free access to all public registers or other books, 
 whereby the geographical and historical description of His Majesty's said kingdom 
 may be any ways promoted or ascertained."* Under the authority of this appoint- 
 ment Aubrey visited all the principal places in Surrey, and collected information from 
 the parish registers, copies of monumental inscriptions, and other historical, topo- 
 graphical, and traditionary details, which were published after his death, with 
 numerous additions, notes, &c. by Dr. Richard Rawlinson, with the double title of 
 " A Perambulation of the County of Surrey," and " The Natural History and Antiqui- 
 ties of the County of Surrey." Aubrey says at the beginning of the work, " I enter'd 
 upon the Perambulation of the County of Surrey July 1, 1673, and left off about the 
 middle of September following :" an exceedingly short time, as remarked by Manning 
 and Bray, in their history of the county, for the compilation of a county history. But 
 the printed work was probably the result also, in a great measure, of information 
 
 * The original document, under the hand and seal of Ogilby, is in Aubrey's MS. Perambulation of 
 Surrey (in the Ashmolean Museum) : likewise a printed copy of the King's warrant, authorizing the former to 
 survey and describe the kingdom. Speaking of this transaction Gough says, " One may venture to pronounce 
 Ogilby 's plan little better than that of the modern booksellers, — to raise him a little money.'' (British 
 Topography, vol. ii. p. 262.) Aubrey gives some account of Ogilby in his Lives of Eminent Men. 
 
 H 
 
50 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 procured in other visits, and from private and published sources. Nearly three years 
 afterwards Aubrey submitted his papers on Surrey to the perusal of his friend Evelyn, 
 who thus wrote to him on the 8th of February, 1675-6 : " Sir, With incredible satis- 
 faction have I perus'd your Natural History of Surrey, &c. ; and greatly admire 
 both your Industry in undertaking so profitable a Work, and your Judgment in the 
 several Observations which you have made. It is so useful a Piece, and so obliging, 
 that I cannot sufficiently applaud it. Something I would contribute to it, if it were 
 possible ; but your Spicilegium is so accurate, that you have left nothing almost for 
 those who come after you." This letter is printed at the beginning of Aubrey's 
 Surrey. The more recent works of Manning and Bray, and Brayley, show that 
 Evelyn greatly overrated the merits of Aubrey's writings. 
 
 In the summer of 1673 he was at Hothfield, in Kent, "the seat of my singular good 
 lord, Nicholas E. of Thanet," where he surveyed the parish church in order to 
 establish a theory as to the variation in the positions of old churches, with reference 
 to the cardinal points of the compass. The church was dedicated to St. Margaret, 
 and he found, or fancied, its position "answer to the sun-rising on St. Margaret's 
 day, 20th July," whence he infers that churches were formerly so placed that their 
 eastern ends should be directly opposite to that part of the horizon where the sun 
 rose on the day of their patron saints. He says, " I did make this observation pre- 
 cisely on the day of the vernal equinox, 1673, at sun-setting."* 
 
 In the same year a set of queries was printed, to be addressed to persons likely to 
 afford information on the subjects to which they referred, with a view to publishing 
 a new edition of Camden's Britannia, a task afterwards executed by Bishop Gibson. 
 On a copy of these queries, preserved amongst Aubrey's manuscripts, he has 
 written the following note : " These queries were considered at several meetings by 
 Christ. Wren, John Hoskyns, R. Hook, J. Ogilby, John Aubrey, Gregory King."-f- 
 
 In this year likewise the third and concluding volume of Dugdale's Monasticon 
 was published. It contained (at p. 136.) an account of Osney Abbey, near Oxford, 
 
 * Remaines of Gentilisme {Lansdowne MS. 231, British Museum), p. 3. 
 
 t This paper is annexed to the Perambulation of Surrey, in the Ashmolecm Museum. It will be 
 observed that neither Gibson nor Tanner appear in this list. 
 
DUGDALE S MONASTICON : "WOOD S HISTORY OF OXFORD. 51 
 
 accompanied by an engraving with the following inscriptions : " Prospectus Ruinarum 
 Abbatise de Osney, juxta Oxon. W. Hollar fecit ;"* and on a tablet, surmounted by a 
 shield bearing the arms of Aubrey with several quarterings, " Insignes hujusce 
 Fabricse Ruinas, quas Antiquitatis erg6 plurimum suspexit Adolescentulus jamtum 
 Oxoniensib ascriptus, & (quod commodum accidit) paulo antequam Bello Civili 
 funditus e medio tollerentur, delineandas curavit, Posteris quasi redivivas, L. D. 
 C. Q. Johannes Albericus de Eston-Pierse in agro Wilts, Arm."* 
 
 The plate is engraved in Hollar's usual style, and there can be no doubt was 
 executed from one of the drawings by Mr. Hesketh, as already mentioned by Aubrey 
 in his Auto-biography (ante, p. 14). Impressions of the same plate were given 
 in the second volume of the next edition of the Monasticon -\- (1682, p. 136), but 
 it was not re-engraved for the new work edited by Caley, &c. In the article 
 Aubrey, in the Biographia Britannica. this plate is particularly mentioned with 
 approval, and the writer adds " he will certainly be no loser by it who will be at the 
 expense of having it engraved again." Acting perhaps on this hint, Mr. Skelton 
 published a copy of it in his Ooconia Antigua Restaurata (pi. 115). This is not, how- 
 ever, an exact fac-simile of Hollar's plate, either in style or effect, and it wants 
 the original arms and inscriptions. 
 
 Besides referring to this print Dr. Rawlinson says that " when that great work the 
 Monasticon was in embrio," Mr. Aubrey gave to it " his best assistance." X He was 
 on intimate terms with Sir William Dugdale, but we have no other evidence that he 
 contributed any literary materials to the Monasticon. 
 
 A work, however, which was deeply indebted for its usefulness to Aubrey's in- 
 dustry, was published in 1674 ; namely, Wood's Historia et Antiquitates Universitatis 
 
 * " View of the ruins of the abbey of Osney, near Oxford." " The noble ruins of this fabrick, drawn from a 
 love to antiquity, while yet a youth at Oxford, and (which was not a little lucky) but a short time before they 
 were entirely destroyed in the Civil War, secured now, and as it were revived, are dedicated to posterity, by 
 John Aubrey, of Easton Piers, in the county of Wilts, Esq." — Translation of the original Latin, in Biographia 
 Britannica, but not rendered with precision. 
 
 f Dr. Rawlinson states that " most of the copies of the Monasticon, by some misfortune or other, want 
 this plate." The British Museum copies of both editions, however, have it. 
 
 % Life, prefixed to Aubrey's Hist, of Surrey. 
 
52 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 Oxoniensis. We have seen how gratefully Wood acknowledged these obligations in 
 a private communication to his friend, and he now publicly thanked him as follows : 
 " Transmissum autem nobis est illud epitaphium a viro per-humano, Johanne Alberico, 
 vulgo Aubrey, armigero, hujus collegii olim generoso commensali, jam vero e Regia 
 Societate Londini ; viro inquam, tarn bono, tarn benigno, ut publico solum commodo, 
 nee sibi omnino, natus esse videatur." (lib. ii. p. 297-) This work was originally 
 published in Latin, at the express desire of Bishop Fell (the Dean of Christ Church), 
 who defrayed the expenses of printing it. Wood wished it to be published in 
 English, and felt much annoyed that his wishes on that point were overruled by the 
 Dean ; and more especially at some alterations and interpolations which the latter 
 made in the text. Indeed it seems to have been generally thought that the work 
 was injured by appearing first in Latin ; and with that feeling the Rev. J. Gutch, 
 M.A., published an edition of it in English, in 3 vols. 4to. 1786-94. Respecting 
 the original Aubrey wrote to Wood before its publication, as follows : " If you wish 
 to have records at Rome searched it shall be done for you ; for when I was at Paris 
 I was acquainted with some of the . . . who will undertake it : but one of them this 
 day told me that he does not approve of the Universityes designe in printing it first 
 in Latin, for if it is first in English it will bring it into far more fame and sell the 
 better."* 
 
 It is painful to turn again from the relation of these congenial and pleasing occu- 
 pations, to Aubrey's pecuniary embarassments. Some remarkable letters addressed 
 to him by the Earl of Thanet shew that these still pressed heavily upon him, and at 
 the same time they afford a curious illustration of the customs of the age. 
 
 On the 19th of April, 1675, the Earl acknowledges a letter from Aubrey, stating 
 that his friend and patron, Mr. Wyld, was disposed to purchase land in New York. 
 The Earl strongly dissuades him from doing so, and points out how much preferable 
 as an investment a similar purchase would be in the Bermudas ; where his lordship 
 himself had an estate.f He then goes on to say, " I am glad you have so good an 
 
 * Original, Feb. 17, 1669, in the Ballard Collection of Letters, Bodl. Library, vol. xiv. 
 f The Earl had previously (30 Nov. 1674) intimated to Aubrey that he was in want of some person to go 
 to Bermuda for him, to attend his land. 
 
THE EARL OF THANET S LETTERS TO AUBREY. 53 
 
 opportunity to make your addresses to that excellent lady the younger Countess 
 Dowager of Pembroke ; who, if your stars be favourable, may, thro' the interest of 
 the Duchess of Portsmouth, procure y° som e_good e mployment, if not neglec ted by 
 a wonted tr apish ness incident in you . This freedom I take in mentioning that you 
 will I ho pe_easily_Jpr give, since I do it not by way of check, but by a frie ndly 
 advertisem ent__tQ— be ware of i t :" and he concludes with this singular sentence: — 
 " If you have the same occasions of a protection against your merciless creditors as 
 you had some while since, I may now serve y° in it, both with salvo honore et 
 conscientia, providin g y° will be a little ruled ."* 
 
 The Earl of Thanet's next letter to Aubrey is of remarkable import — " Hothfield, 
 May 3, 1675. J. Aubrey : — With this y° will receive a protection according to your 
 desire, w ch when useless returne. I send it y° under this provisoe, that yow are my 
 Sollicitor to looke after my business in London ; and for your Sallary that is agreed 
 on. My mother hath lent me Thanet house garden, where I intend to fit up two or 
 three chambers for my use when I come to London privately, and intend to stay not 
 long there, one of w ch as my meniall servant you may make use of when fitted up, 
 
 and when it is you shall have notice I would have you in the future to 
 
 take more time in writing your letters, for your last was soe ill writ that I had a 
 great deal of trouble to read some part of it. THANET."-f- In a short letter written 
 the day afterwards the Earl addresses Aubrey thus : — " Sir, I am well aware the stile 
 of my letter of the 3rd. instant is unfitting to a person of your birth. The reason I 
 made myself such a proud ill-bred fellow in it is the better to disguise the business 
 you lately enjoined me to do for you." He then says that his future letters will be 
 equally cool and distant in their language, so that, if they should ever be subjected 
 to examination, any person would believe " that the business, although very 
 unbefitting, of your belonging to me, is no otherwise than real ;" and he adds : " it is 
 the first protection I ever gave." This letter he signs " Your most affectionate and 
 humble servant, THANET."-f- 
 
 Poor Aubrey's troubles appear to have reached their climax about two years 
 
 * Original in a Collection of Letters to Aubrey, in the Ashmolean Museum, vol. ii. 
 f Ibid. 
 
54 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 after this: "July 31, 1677, 1 sold my bookes to Mr. Littlebery; scilicet, when my 
 Impostume in my head did break."* Perhaps to this unfortunate period of his life 
 may be ascribed a loan he obtained from Dr. Edward Davenant. " He was my singular 
 good friend," says Aubrey, " and to whom I have been more beholding then to any 
 one beside ; for I borrowed five hundred pounds of him for a yeare and a halfe, and 
 I could not fasten any interest on him."-f~ 
 
 In December, 1679, Thomas Hobbes died. The continuance of his friendship 
 with Aubrey until his death is proved by a letter which he wrote to him only four 
 months previous.^ Aubrey had been desired by Hobbes to write his life, for the 
 information of posterity, and he accordingly at once set about the task. James 
 Wheldon, the amanuensis and executor of the deceased, wrote to Aubrey narrating 
 the circumstances of his death and funeral, enclosing a copy of his Will, his epitaph 
 on himself, and a " catalogue of his bookes."§ 
 
 Aided by the information thus derived from Wheldon, Aubrey wrote his Life of 
 Mr. Thomas Hobbes, of Malmesburie, but instead of publishing it himself he appears 
 to have lent the manuscript to Dr. Richard Blackbourne, of Trinity College, 
 Cambridge, who in 1681 produced a Latin Life of Hobbes, || with which was 
 reprinted the Memoirs (in Latin, Prose and Verse,) previously published, and both 
 supposed to have been written by Hobbes himself. In a list of the friends and 
 associates of the deceased, Dr. Blackbourne thus mentions Aubrey : " Jo. 
 Albericus, vulgo Aubrey, e" Soc. Reg. Armig. Amicus ejus in primis, ex Vicinia 
 Malmsburiensi Oriundus, & sub communi Prseceptore Institutus, Vir Publico Bono 
 
 * Collection of Genitures, p. 175. 
 
 f Lives of Eminent Mien, vol. ii. p. 300. 
 
 X Original in the Ashmolean Museum, [annexed to Aubrey's MS. Life of Hobbes] dated « Chatsworth, 
 Aug. 18, 1679." This letter expresses the writer's regret that "his book of the Civil War has come abroad." It 
 ends as follows : " I pray you present my humble thankes to Mr. Sam. Butler. The privilege of stationers is, 
 in my opinion, a very great hinderance to the advancement of all humane learning. I am, Sir, your very 
 humble servant, Th. Hobbes." 
 
 § The originals of these letters are also annexed to Aubrey's MS. Life of Hobbes. The first (which 
 is dated "Hardwick, January the 16th, 1679-80") together with Hobbes's Will, has been printed in Letters 
 from the Bodleian, vol. ii. p. 632. The second is dated " Chatsworth, Sept. 7, 1680." 
 
 || Thorns Hobbes Angli Malmesburiensis Philosophi Vita, 8vo. 1681, pp. 243. A second edition was 
 published in 1682, 4to.j pp. 67. 
 
HIS "LIVES of eminent men." 55 
 
 magis quam suo Natus ; qui Princeps mihi scribendi Ansam prsebuit, & Materiam 
 humaniter suppeditavit."* According to the custom of the times several verses, 
 in commendation of Hobbes, are prefixed to this memoir. They comprise some 
 lines (in English) by Cowley, and others (in Latin) by Dr. Ralph Bathurst, of Trinity 
 College, Oxford, and the following by Aubrey : 
 
 " In Tho. Hobbes. 
 Futilis exornet Barbatos pompa Magistros, 
 Et Schola Discipulos cogat inepta leves : 
 Affulsit nova Lux tenebroso Hobbesius Orbi, 
 Quanta est Laus Hominem restituisse sibi ? 
 
 Jo. Awbrey, Arm. e Soc. Reg."f 
 
 In 1680 Aubrey addressed his Lives of Eminent Men to Anthony a Wood, in a 
 letter which is printed with the Lives (vol. ii. p. 197). This, he expressly states, 
 was a work he never thought of undertaking had not the latter imposed it upon 
 him, evidently with a view to his Athena Oxonienses, which was then in pro- 
 gress ; and the following unpublished note gives additional proof of the author's 
 object in collecting these curious biographical details: "My will and humble 
 desire is that these minutes, which I have hastily and scriblingly here set down, 
 be delivered carefully to my deare honored friend, Mr. Anthony a Wood, anti- V 
 quary of Oxford. Jo. Aubrey. Ascension day, 1680." X This manuscript was soon 
 afterwards mentioned in the following strange terms by Wood: "Mr. Aubrey, I 
 beseech y° as y° have been civill in giving this book to me at Oxon in Sep. 
 
 * " John Aubrey of the Royal Society, Esq r ; one of his oldest Friends, born in the neighbourhood of 
 Malmesbury ; educated under the same master. A man born rather for the public good than his own, who 
 chiefly encouraged me to the undertaking this work, and kindly supplied me with materials." Translation in 
 Biographia Britannica. 
 
 f " On Thomas Hobbes. 
 Exterior gravity may Schools erect, 
 
 Where Idle Folks may empty Notions scan ; 
 But Hobbes new light did on the World reflect, 
 
 How great his Praise who Man made known to Man ? 
 Jo. Awbrey, Esq. of the Royal Society." Translation in Biographia Britannica. 
 X Original on the first leaf of the manuscript of the Lives, part i. 
 
56 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 1681, so I hope w 11 y° have done with it you'l returne every part of it againe to yo r 
 serv* Ant. Wood. 1 1 Nov 1 68 1 ." * 
 
 Thus it appears that the work was absolutely transferred by Aubrey to Wood ; 
 but it seems to have been at different times in the possession of each of them, the 
 author continuing to make additions to it. He survived Wood, and it was 
 ultimately deposited with his other papers in the Ashmolean Museum. 
 
 In 1 683 we find Aubrey using great exertions to induce either the University of 
 Oxford, or Trinity College, to purchase the mathematical library of his late friend Sir 
 Jonas Moore. There are letters to him on this subject from Dr. Wallis and Sir 
 Isaac Newton. The latter informs him that the college was unable to buy them on 
 account of the heavy charge it had incurred for the new buildings, but that he had 
 acquainted the Vice-Chancellor with the opportunity that offered, though he knew not 
 whether the university would purchase, " their chest being at present very low."-f- 
 
 One of Aubrey's most curious and least-known manuscripts, bearing the date 
 " 1 68f," is called An Idea of Education of Young Gentlemen, being an elaborate 
 plan for a more popular and useful system of education than that which was 
 adopted in his time, or is, even in the present day, carried out at the Universities. 
 It "had its conception," he says, as early as 1669; and, in forwarding the manu- 
 script to Mr. Anthony Henley, of the Grange, in Hampshire, he expresses a great 
 desire to have it put in practice.^: To Anthony a Wood likewise, speaking of his 
 manuscripts, he says, " That I most value is my Idea of Education of Young Gentle- 
 men," and he evinces much anxiety as to its fate after his decease. § 
 
 Soon after its completion this " Idea" was perused by the Rev. Andrew Paschal, of 
 Chedzoy, in Somersetshire, who, in a letter to the author, expressed a very high 
 opinion of it. || 
 
 * Original in the manuscript of the Lives, part iii. 
 
 f Original, dated " Oxford, Dec r 23, 1683," in a Collection of Letters to Aubrey, in the Ashmolean 
 Museum, vol. ii. 
 
 I Letter annexed to the Original manuscript in the Ashmolean Museum. 
 
 § Original in the Ballard Collection of Letters, Bodleian Library, vol. xiv. 
 
 || Aubrey's Surrey, vol. i. p. xiv. The Original is in a Collection of Letters to Aubrey in the 
 Ashmolean Museum, vol. ii. 
 
ralph Sheldon's library. 57 
 
 Aubrey's name is mentioned in a letter of about this time with reference to the 
 library of Ralph Sheldon, Esq. of Bewley, Worcestershire, and of Weston, Warwick- 
 shire, a great collector and liberal patron of antiquarian literature. Anthony a Wood 
 frequently visited that gentleman, and made a catalogue of his books and papers. 
 Sheldon was likewise a friend to Aubrey, who had access to his library for literary 
 purposes. He died in July, 1684, and by his Will bequeathed £40 to Wood, 
 requesting him to see " his Pedegrees, and all his MSS., and other papers, (except 
 such as were written with his owne hand-writing,) delivered into the Heralds' 
 Office." * At this time Sir William Dugdale was Garter King-at-Arms, and John 
 Dugdale, his son, was Windsor Herald. They entertained a natural desire to pro- 
 cure for the Heralds' Office, under the above bequest, as many of Sheldon's books 
 as possible ; and Aubrey, who was then living in London, participated in the desire. 
 On the 22nd of July he wrote to Elias Ashmole thus : " I presume Ant. Wood will 
 do his best with Mr. Sheldon's heir to get his bookes for the Heralds' Office." -f 
 
 John Dugdale however had occasion, on the 1 6th of December following, to address 
 his father (who was absent in Warwickshire) as follows : " Mr. Aubray this day told me 
 (w th trouble of mind) that M r Parker, coming to the Executor of M r Sheldon, when 
 the Books were all in hampers, and being told w* they were, desired to see the Cata- 
 logue ; whereupon he caused all the Books to be taken out, and advised the 
 Executor to detaine all such Manuscripts as did not relate to Herauldrie : w ch he 
 did accordingly; and how to get them will be hard to contrive, I doubt." X After 
 this some angry letters passed between Wood and Sir William Dugdale, on the 
 subject of this supposed detention of a part of the books and papers, the latter sus- 
 pecting that Wood was in some degree a party to it ; and Wood in one of his letters 
 assumed that Sir William had been " misinformed by some envious Coxcombe." § 
 
 * Originalinthe Prerogative Office, Doctors' Commons. (See Hamper's Life of Sir W.Dugdale,j>.\38,434.) 
 
 f Copy indorsed by Aubrey on a letter from the Rev. Andrew Paschal. Collection of Letters to Aubrey, 
 ul supra, vol. ii. 
 
 % Hamper's Life of Sir W. Dugdale, p. 442. 
 
 § Ibid. p. 455. One of the most curious and valuable of the books said to have been detained is now in 
 the Bodleian Library. It is described in the catalogue of MSS. relating to England as, " An ancient and 
 very fair Leiger Book of Glasstenbury Abbey, usually called Secretum Abbatis, being alwaies in his own 
 custody." Aubrey, who frequently quotes it in his North Division of Wiltshire, calls it Secretum Domini. 
 
 1 
 
58 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 Sir James Long, of Draycot, Baronet, in a letter to Aubrey* about this time, 
 promised to send him " some cloth for a winter suit," and " four cheeses" made on 
 his own land, which he hoped would prove of good quality. It has been asserted that 
 Aubrey was dependent on the family of Sir James Long, but it must be observed 
 that no such inference should be drawn from this letter, for both the cloth 
 and the cheese were products for which North Wiltshire was even then famous, 
 and therefore such articles were peculiarly appropriate as friendly presents, 
 without necessarily implying poverty on the part of the recipient. 
 
 Aubrey witnessed the coronation procession of James II. in 1685, an event which 
 must have called up reminiscences of his interview with the new sovereign, twenty 
 years before, at Avebury. His only record of the ceremony, however, refers to an 
 occurrence, afterwards looked upon as ominous, and as such mentioned in his 
 Miscellanies : — " The canopy (of cloth of gold), carried over the king's head by the 
 Wardens of the Cinque Ports was torn by a puff of wind, as he came to West- 
 minster Hall : it hung down very lamentably ; I saw it." 
 
 At this time Aubrey made numerous additions to his work upon the Natural 
 History of Wiltshire. He wrote a title-page and preface to it, both of which bear 
 the date " London, Gresham Coll. : June 6, 1685 ;" and he now made the fair copy, 
 which is preserved in the library of the Royal Society: the original manuscript 
 being at Oxford. It is not improbable that he expected and hoped the Royal Society 
 would print the work ; and it was perhaps with this view that he inscribed it to 
 the Earl of Pembroke, President of the society. Long previously (as he wrote to 
 Wood) their Secretary, hearing of the manuscript, thought fit that the society should 
 be made acquainted with it, and, as Aubrey further states, the inspection of it " gave 
 them two or three dayes entertainment, w ch they were pleased to like." -J- 
 
 In 1686 (Feb. 2) he says that "William Penn, Lord Proprietor of Pennsylvania, 
 did give him a grant under his seale of 600 acres in Pennsylvania without his 
 seeking or dreaming of it ;"+ and he also had a gift of a thousand acres of land in 
 
 * Original in Collection of Letters to Aubrey, ut supra, vol. i. 
 
 f Original, dated " Twelfe day, 1675," in the Ballard Collection, ut supra. 
 
 % Faber Fortunes, in the Ashmolean Museum. 
 
GRIEF AT HIS MOTHER S DEATH. 59 
 
 the island of Tobago, from Captain Poyntz ;* but these lands were doubtless una- 
 vailable for useful purposes. At an earlier period of his life, when in greater 
 pecuniary difficulties, he seems to have contemplated emigration, -f 
 
 The following letter to Wood is interesting. "London. May 11, 1686. Deare 
 Friend ; In January last after a very great conflict of affliction I rowsed up my spts. 
 and writt a Ire to you, and immediately fell to worke with my Naturall History of 
 Wilts, w dl I had just donne April 21, (i.) rough hewn, and finished the last chapter, 
 when at y e evening I heard of y e sad news of y e Decease of my deare & ever hon d 
 mother : who died at Chalke, but my bro: has buried her with my father in North 
 Wilts (Kington St. Mich:). My head has been a fountain of teares, & this is the 
 first Ire (except of businesse) that I have writt since my Griefe. I am now involved 
 in a great deale of trouble : & Chalke must be sold : but I hope to make some reser- 
 vation for myselfe : and I hope before I dye to be able to make an honorable present 
 to you : for I am for y e Spaniards way ; sc. not to make my soule my Executor. I 
 shall shortly goe to Chalke to see how matters goe there : and as soon as I can pick 
 up a little money intend to see you at Oxon, and thinke the time very long till I am 
 w th you. Sir W. Dugdale's Paules is to be reprinted at Oxon : there is a mistake in 
 D r A's. Insc. sc. Atavus for Proavus. Mr. Ashmole & wife is angry w th him for 
 making such a scandalous Will. I shall bring severall mctms w th me to insert. 
 God blesse you & comfort me, y* I may but live to finish & publish my papers. 
 
 " Tuissimus, J. A. 
 
 " my true love to Kit Wase, of who y e E. of Pembroke & I had much discourse at 
 dinner, with much respect. <S3° Let me desire you to write to me by the next 
 post, to let me know how you doe : yo r letter will be a Cordial to me : therefore 
 pray fail not. Fab. Philips is yo rs . I am sorry for the losse of our facetious friend 
 Parson Hodges. I must make hast w th my papers, for I am now 60." £ 
 
 * Faber Fortunes, in the Ashmolean Museum. 
 
 f " 1676. From Sir W. Petty. 500 lib. gives in Jamaica 100 lib. p ann. Take a Chymist with me, for 
 Brandy, Sugar, &c. and goe half with him." Ibid. And, in a letter to Wood, dated 1674, " I have been very 
 busy lately (and chiefly with my Lord Vaughan) newly made governor of Jamaica, who is like to spirit me 
 along with him thither, and has promised me to looke out some place suitable to the qualitie of a gentleman. 
 The Earl of Thanet would have me goe to his Estate in the Bermudas." Original in the Ballard Collection, 
 id supra. \ 
 
 % Original in the Ballard Collection, ut supra. 
 
60 
 
 ©Sap. IF. 
 
 Aubrey's bequest of his wiltshiee papers preparatory to visiting the west of England — 
 
 gives his manuscripts to the ashmolean museum correspondence with dr. garden 
 
 lends his works to his friends their opinions quarrel with anthony a wood 
 
 death of the latter aubrey publishes his "miscellanies" his age and infirmities 
 
 death and burial summary of his personal character list of portraits of john 
 
 AUBREY. 
 
 I have now to notice a curious paper, which not only shows the high value 
 Aubrey set upon his Wiltshire Collections, but also, in conjunction with other 
 passages in his writings, that he entertained a constant fear of sudden death while 
 travelling. This is a document in the shape of a Will, but it has reference only 
 to his Wiltshire papers : 
 
 WILL. 
 
 "Whe'as I John Aubrey R.S.S. doe intend shortly to take a journey into the 
 West : and reflecting on y e Fate that Manuscripts use to have after the death of the 
 author, I have thought good to signify my Last Will (as to this Naturall History of 
 Wilts) that my Will and desire is, that in case I shall depart this life before my 
 returne to London again, to finish, if it pleaseth God, this Discourse ; I say, and de- 
 clare, that my Will then is, that I bequeath these papers of y e Naturall History of 
 Wilts to my worthy friend M r Robert Hooke of Gresham Colledge & R.S.S., and I 
 doe also humbly desire him, & my Will is, that the noble Buildings and Prospects 
 should be engraven by my worthy friend Mr. David Loggan, who hath drawn my 
 Picture already in order to it. Witnesse hereunto my hand & seale the eighteenth 
 day of August Alio Domini One thousand six hundred eighty and six. 
 
 "Jo: Aubrey. 
 
 "Signed 
 
GIVES HIS PAPERS TO THE ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM. 61 
 
 " Signed and Sealed in the presence 
 of us " Mchn. there are deposited in the hands of my 
 
 honoured friend Elias Ashmole, Esq. two Manu- 
 
 " Fransis Lodwik scripts of my Writing, viz : Templa Druidum & 
 
 Jo. Godfrey, sen. Chronologia Antiquaria : being both about 3 quires 
 
 Sam 11 . Meverell of paper : which doe belong to this Historie & to be 
 
 Henry Spencer. printed with it. My Chronologia Architectonica* is 
 
 at the beginning of the first part of my Antiquities 
 of Wilts ; w ch are deposited in the hands of my 
 * Bui two or three sheetes. worthy friend M r Anthony a Wood of Merton Col- 
 
 lege in Oxford: & they will deliver the afor-sayd 
 Manuscripts to y e sayd M r Robert Hooke."-f 
 
 In 1687 and 1688 Aubrey wrote his Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaism, now in 
 the British Museum,^ dedicating it to Edmund Wyld, Esq. in the former year. It 
 consists of extracts from the Greek and Roman writers, with illustrations tending to 
 prove that most of the old provincial customs and observances in England were 
 derived from those of the ancients. 
 
 About this time Aubrey came to the determination of depositing his manu- 
 scripts in the museum at Oxford. That building had been erected by the University, 
 from Sir Christopher Wren's designs, in 1682 ; and in the next year the collection 
 of curiosities, previously belonging to the Tradescants of Lambeth, was placed in it 
 by Elias Ashmole, to whom John Tradescant, the son, had given them. The 
 museum was in fact built upon the understanding that the Ashmole collection 
 woulabe deposited there on its completion, and it has ever since borne the name of 
 The Ashmolean Museum. Considering Aubrey's anxiety for the preservation of his 
 literary papers, it is evident that he would need very little persuasion by Ashmole to 
 avail himself of this eligible mode of effecting his object. That his friend felt equally 
 anxious they should accompany his collection is shown by the following letter, ad- 
 
 f From the Original MS. in my possession. It appears to have been a leaf of the Natural Hist, of Wilts. 
 X Lansdowne MS. No. 231, (British Museum). 
 
62 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBRET. 
 
 dressed to Anthony a Wood: — " London, 22Dec. 1688. Mr. Wood. Last Tuesdaylwent 
 to see Mr. Ashmole, whom I found ill. He lately received a letter from D r Plot,* 
 about the things that I sent to Oxford ; and says that he desired you to send to the 
 Museum, but you denied it, and would not let him see the Catalogue that I sent. M r 
 Ashmole desired to speake with me about it, & is most outrageously angry ; & charg'd 
 me to write to y° as soon as I could, to put the box in the Museum : for he looks upon 
 
 you as a P.,-j- and saith so does the whole Universitie Mr. Ashmole says 
 
 that now there is such care & good method taken, that the Books in the Museum 
 are more safe than those in the Library or Archives ; and he says he expects to 
 heare of your being plunder'd, & papers burnt, as at the Spanish Ambassador's, at 
 Wild house, where were burnt MSS. & antiquities invaluable, such as are not left in 
 
 y e world Since therefore it is so order'd, I do desire & appoint 
 
 y° to send my box forthwith (y° may keep y e key), for feare that all my MSS. &c. 
 should be rifled by y e mobile, (which God forbid, but M r E. Ashmole & I doe much 
 feare it,) besides my gift will make a better shew in y e Museum than when dispersed 
 
 in two places I have several other MSS. of my own and M r Mercator's. 
 
 That of mine that I most value is my Idea of Education of Young Gentlemen, which 
 is in a box as big as that sent to you ; with choice Grainaticall bookes both ancient 
 & modern for y e Informations to peruse and study. If I should die here they will 
 be lost or seized upon by M r Kent's son :+ if I send them to the Museum the tutors 
 would burn it, for it crosses their interest exceedingly : if in your hands when y° 
 die your nephew will stop guns with them. I intended y e E. of Abingdon, but he 
 has now other fish to fry. I think y e E. of Pembroke would do best, but had I 
 money to pay an amanuensis, I would leave a copy in the hands of each of those 
 two peers. " Tuissimus, J. Aubrey." § 
 
 * The doctor was the first keeper of the Museum. 
 
 f Meaning a Papist. This letter was written at the time of the Revolution, a circumstance which 
 explains this and other allusions in it. 
 
 £ A subsequent letter, " 16 January, 1689-90," gives us another proof that Aubrey's pecuniary affairs 
 were still unsettled : " I have been extremely busy, & I much feare the next term I shall be engaged in 
 more trouble. I waived a Chancery suite two terms when I was at Oxford, which was the reason I stayed 
 there so long." Collection of Letters to Aubrey, ut supra, vol. i. 
 
 § Original in a Collection of Letters to Aubrey, ut supra, vol. i. 
 
CORRESPONDENCE WITH DR. GARDEN. 63 
 
 Very soon after this was written the majority of Aubrey's gifts to the Museum 
 were probably placed there, and a rough catalogue made of them ; for the following 
 contemporary entry appears in a manuscript Register of the Benefactors to the 
 Museum,'. "M.D. 1689. Johannes Aubrey, de Easton Piers apud Wiltonienses, Arm. 
 e Soc. Reg. Socius, olim Alumnus, praeter Iibellos, turn MSS. turn impressos, plus 
 minus Octaginta, diversas illustrium virorum Effigies, Numismata Romana, Eorumq^ 
 matrices lateritias, Operis item Musivi sive Tesselati specimen." 
 
 In 1690 Aubrey again wrote to Wood: "Upon the receipt of yours I will by 
 the next waggon send down a box full of manuscripts & printed books. The noble 
 E. of Pembroke gave me not long since as many good books as cost him I believe 
 5li. Thus hoping to hear from y° I rest in hast, Yours, J. Aubrey. In my next I 
 shall send you three or four obits. I wish heartily my papers were in your hands, 
 for death seems to threaten. — God blesse you & me in this in-&-out-world."* 
 
 In the same year (the Athence ondi Fasti Oxonienses being then on the eve of pub- 
 lication,) Aubrey made some further collections in biography, as intimated by a few 
 sheets of manuscript with that date, entitled, An Apparatus for the Lives of our 
 English Mathematical Writers.^ 
 
 At the beginning of 1692 he commenced a correspondence with Dr. James 
 Garden, Professor of Divinity in King's College, Aberdeen, upon the subject of 
 Celtic monuments, and Scottish customs and traditions. The learned doctor furnished 
 Aubrey with much valuable information respecting the stone circles of North 
 Britain, the Orkney islands, &c, which they both concurred in regarding as sacred 
 temples of the Druids. This correspondence continued about three years, and, besides 
 the subjects mentioned, Dr. Garden's letters comprise disquisitions on the less 
 important themes of " Second-sight," " Transportation by an invisible power," and 
 other superstitions of the age. Aubrey applied this information to his Remaines of 
 Gentilisme, and Monumenta Britannica ; and his correspondent's letters (most of 
 which are still preserved in the Ashmolean Museum), are referred to with commen- 
 dation by Bishop Gibson, in his edition of Camden's Britannia, as well as, in 
 
 * Original, dated " 10 May, 1690," in the Ballard Collection, ut supra. 
 f Original in the Ashmolean Museum. 
 
64 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 later times, by Gough and other writers. Two of them are printed in Aubrey' 
 Miscellanies, (though without the name of their author), and one is also published 
 in the first volume of Archceologia, p. 312. 
 
 At the persuasion of Anthony a Wood Aubrey revised and transcribed his 
 Perambulation, or History of Surrey, making some additions to it with reference to 
 Southwark; and the dates "St. Thomas-day, 1691," and "May 1, 1692,"* fix the 
 time when he did so. Still, though always contemplating it, a reluctance to print 
 anything which could be regarded as incomplete or imperfect seems to have 
 restrained him from publishing either the Surrey or the Wiltshire collections, or any 
 of his other works, some of which were by this time very minute and copious. He 
 however lent them to his friends for perusal and correction. Thus, on the 1 5th of 
 September, 1691, he forwarded his Natural History of Wilts to John Ray, the 
 botanist and zoologist, who returned it on the 27th October following, and who, in 
 acknowledging its receipt, as well as in sending it back to Aubrey, spoke in the 
 most favourable terms of the work, suggesting some trifling improvements, and 
 strongly urging him to " speed it to the Presse."-f- Aubrey visited Ray, at Black 
 Notley, in the summer of 1692, and perhaps then left with him another manuscript, 
 respecting which the latter wrote to him soon afterwards as follows : " Your 
 Adversaria Physica I have read over once, but the variety and curiosity of the matter 
 and observations is such that I cannot satisfy myself with a single reading."^ 
 To "his ever honoured Friend, John Evelyn," Aubrey, at this time, sent his favorite 
 Idea of Education, saying, " In case I should happen to die before I call for this Idea, 
 I desire you then to leave it with D r Hooke at Gresham College, to be putt into my 
 Chest marked Idea : w ch is full of Books for this Designe." § Thus we see that he 
 was still unwilling to send this work to Oxford, where it has nevertheless been safely 
 
 * See Address to the Reader, and commencement of the printed work. 
 
 | Original Letters in the Ashmolean Museum. They are printed entire in Aubrey's Lives of Eminent 
 Men, vol. ii. p. 158, and Aubrey's Surrey, vol. v. p. 408. 
 
 J Letter, printed in Lives of Eminent Men, vol. ii. p. 162. Original (24 August, 1692,) in the 
 Ashmolean Museum. Other letters from Ray to Aubrey in the same collection show that the former had 
 also read the Perambulation of Surrey, and the Idea of Education. 
 
 § Letter appended to the original MS. in the Ashmolean Museum (dated " May 10th, 1692"). 
 
TANNER'S OPINION OF AUBREY, AND OP BOOKS. 65 
 
 kept ever since his death. The new keeper of the Ashmolean Museum, Edward 
 Llhwyd, informed Aubrey (March 1692-3) that he had made a catalogue of his 
 books in that museum, and was engaged in making another of his manuscripts. 
 He further says, " I have got all your pamphlets in y e museum bound, and in case 
 you are disposed to dedicate your Collection of Letters to y e museum, I will take care 
 to have them bound out of hand : unlesse y° have been at that charge already 
 yourselfe."* Perhaps we are indebted to Llhwyd's influence with Aubrey for the 
 preservation of the interesting Collection of Letters to him, so often quoted. The 
 series, now in the Ashmolean Museum, comprises nearly four hundred letters, 
 alphabetically arranged, and bound in two volumes. 
 
 The important light in which Aubrey viewed his papers at this period of his life 
 is further illustrated by his correspondence with the celebrated Dr. Thomas Tanner, 
 (afterwards bishop of St. Asaph). In July 1692, and December 1693, Dr. Tanner 
 had in his possession, besides others of Aubrey's papers, his manuscript work on the 
 Antiquities of North Wiltshire, of which, as well as of the Monumenta Britannicaj 
 and Remaines of Gentilisme, he appears to have thought very favourably, and to 
 have been anxious for their publication or preservation. Aubrey also sent him, at 
 his urgent request, the Natural History of Wiltshire, in February 1694. These cir- 
 cumstances are detailed in three interesting epistles, which are printed in Letters 
 from the Bodleian, (vol. ii. p. 164,) and in another, of earlier date, prefixed by 
 Aubrey to his Monumenta Britannica. In the latter Tanner thus writes : " I shall 
 go toward Lavington on Saturday next. My principal business is to drive on our 
 common design, viz. the Antiquities of Wilts, which I hope will find encouragement. 
 If it does not I will never undertake anything more for the public. My S* Cuth- 
 berfs Life hath suffered the fate of a great many better books. I am heartily sorry 
 your Monumenta meets with no better encouragement in this age, but I like it never 
 the worse for that.-f- It hath been the ill fortune of the best books that they have 
 
 * Original, in a Collection of Letters to Aubrey in the Ashmolean Museum, vol. i. 
 
 t Aubrey had made some efforts for the publication of this work without success. Writing to Wood in 
 1687 he said : " As soon as the Terme ends I will perform my Promise to S r W. Dugdale, viz. to make fitt 
 for the Presse my Templa Druidum." This was the first chapter of the Monumenta Britannica. Wood 
 
 K 
 
66 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 not borne the charges of their own impression. It is well known that no bookseller 
 would give Sir Henry Spelman five pounds in books for his incomparable Glossary, 
 and you know that S r Walter Raleigh burnt the latter part of his admirable History 
 of the World, because the former had undone the printer. The X Scriptores and 
 the Monasticon, volumes now worth old gold, had never been printed had not the 
 former been carried on by a public fund, the other by the sole charges of the Editor. 
 I hope to live to see the Monumenta Britannica in as good vogue as the best of them."* 
 
 In another of these letters is the following passage : " I was heartily sorry to hear 
 of your affliction by that tormenting disease the gout ; but was more troubled at 
 that you told me at the bottom of your letter, viz. that you were so far stricken in 
 years. I have seen, heard and read of the notorious misfortunes that usually attend 
 posthumous papers, so that I hope you will make haste, and yourself communicate 
 the greatest and best part of your labourious collections to the world. Your 
 entire originalls shall be deposited hereafter in the Musseum according to your 
 desire, that posterity may see how just we have been to the memory of your pains." 
 
 In the month of August, 1692, Aubrey thus wrote to Anthony a Wood : "Acci- 
 dentally I spoke with M r Gadbury, who is extremely incenst against you. He tells 
 me what you have wrote, and I am sorry for it, for he was civil to you, and was an 
 ingeniose loyall person. He sayes that you have printed lyes concerning him, and 
 he wonders you should meddle with him, having never been of the University." -f- 
 The complaint by Gadbury, here mentioned, probably applied to a brief sketch of 
 his life, incidentally given by Wood in the Athence Oxonienses, in which he states 
 
 urged him to print the Templa Druidum, " by itselfe rather than in another book, for if in another 
 ye author of yt book will carry away ye credit ;" and Tanner, with reference to his design of printing 
 the first part of the Monumenta only, advised him that it would be "more to his interest, and quite as 
 honorable" for him, "to abridge it all, and print it in about 40 sheets ; which would make a very fair 8™ or 
 4*° :" but unfortunately these recommendations were never acted upon. Besides by Wood and Tanner, the 
 Monumenta is highly spoken of, in letters to the author, from Gibson, Bathurst, Llhwyd, Charlet and others. 
 
 * This lamentable account of the state of authorship and publication is too much paralleled in our own 
 times, and in the history of the " Wiltshire Topographical Society." Bishop Tanner and Aubrey earnestly 
 sought for patronage and support to produce topographical elucidations of their native county. Mr. P. 
 Wyndham, Sir Bichard C. Hoare, and the author of the present volume, have laboured hard and zealously 
 in the same cause, and with scarcely better success. 
 
 f Original, 20th August, 1692, in the Ballard Collection, ut supra. 
 
HIS MANUSCRIPTS MUTILATED BY WOOD. 67 
 
 that the former, after having been apprenticed to a tailor at Oxford, improved 
 " his natural genius for the making of almanacs," under William Lilly, and " set up 
 the trade of almanac-making and fortune-telling for himself ; in which he became 
 eminent."* This appears to have been true; and it was certainly much less 
 offensive than the terms in which Lilly speaks of " that monster of ingratitude, my 
 quondam taylor, John Gadbury." -J" In replying to the above letter Wood expresses 
 much surprise that Gadbury should have felt annoyed at his remarks ; and says, 
 "Pray recommend me to him, and desire him, y* if I speake any things y* are 
 untrue, he may rectifie them ; put them into y r hands, and to be sent to me."j 
 
 Thus far ample proof has been adduced of the continuance of a cordial friendship 
 between Wood and Aubrey ; but, almost simultaneously with the letter last quoted, 
 Aubrey wrote upon the manuscript of the second part of his Lives of Eminent 
 Men as follows : 
 
 "INGRATITUDE. 
 
 In this part the Second Mr. Wood has gelded from p. 1. to 44, and other pages 
 too are wanting wherein are contain'd Trueths, but such as I entrusted nobody with 
 the sight of but himself, whom I thought I might have entrusted w th my life. There 
 are several papers that may cut my throate. I find too late, memento diffidere was 
 a saying worthy of the sages. He hath also embezill'd the Index of it, q d N.B. 
 
 It was stitch'd up when I sent it to him." " Novemb. 29, 1692." 
 
 In letters from Tanner to Aubrey, already mentioned, the former alludes to the 
 detention of the latter's papers by Anthony a Wood. Requesting the loan of one 
 of Aubrey's works, he says, " I shall scorn to be like Ant. Wood, viz. make use of 
 your papers and acquaintance, and at last not afford you a good word : and again, 
 
 * Wood's AthencB Oxonienses, by Bliss, vol. iv. col. 9. 
 t Lilly's History of his Life and Times, ed. 1774, p. 52. 
 
 X Copy, indorsed by Wood on the letter from Aubrey above quoted, and headed " Sent in a letter to Mr. 
 Aubrey, to be com'unicated to Mr. Gadbury, in the latter end of Nov. 1692." 
 
68 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 "You need not fear my playing the plagiary with your MSS., tho' I must excuse 
 your jealousy of such a thing, Antony Wood having dealt so ungenteely by you."* 
 The letters containing these passages were respectively written in May and De- 
 cember, 1693. Aubrey himself accused Wood of this offence in the following 
 remarkable letter, dated nearly two years after the circumstance referred to had 
 occurred. As they do not appear to have corresponded during the whole of that 
 interval, it may have been a sort of reconciliatory letter. At all events the manner 
 in which Aubrey mentions the subject is highly creditable to his feelings : 
 
 " Mr. Wood, " BorstaU, Sept. 2, 1694." 
 
 " I thought I should have heard from you ere this time. I have been ill ever since 
 I came from Oxford, till within these five days, of a surfeit of peaches, &c. ; so that 
 
 I was faine to send to Kit White for a good Lusty Vomit. I c °£ d not eat a bitt of 
 flesh for six days, but abstinence hath pretty well settled me again. Your unkindness 
 and choleric humour was a great addition to my ilnes. You know I always loved 
 you, and never thought I took paines enough to serve you; and I was told by 
 severall at Oxford, and so the last yeare, that you can never afford me a good word. 
 I desired you to give to the Museum my draught of Osney, which cost me xx*. 
 when I was of Trin. Coll : 'twas donne by one Hesketh, a Hedge-Priest, who painted 
 under M r Dobson ;-f- also I desired you to give the entertainment to the Queen at 
 Bushells' Rocks ; your Nephews and Neices will not value them. You have cutt 
 out a matter of 40 pages out of one of my volumes, as also the index [was ever any 
 body so unkind ?] and I remember you told me coming from Heddington, that there 
 were some things in it that would cutt my throat. I thought you so deare a friend 
 that I might have entrusted my life in your hands ; and now your unkindness doth 
 almost break my heart. If you wall returne these papers to me & the other things 
 
 * Originals, in the Collection of Letters to Aubrey, ut supra. (These are printed in Letters from the 
 Bodleian, vol. ii. p. 164 — 169.^ 
 
 f See ante, pp. 14, 51, as to this drawing of Osney Abbey. « Mr. Dobson" was the well known portrait 
 painter, patronized by Vandyck and Charles I. He was appointed serjeant-painter to the king, and died in 
 1646. Neither the drawings of Osney, nor the other subject mentioned in this letter, are now to be found in 
 the Ashmolean Museum. 
 
Aubrey's remonstrance with wood : — death of the latter. 69 
 
 y° may then have the Lives : I tooke D r Gale's Life from his owne [mouth] 
 
 erling's under his own hand. I should be glad , you shall be 
 
 heartily welcome, and I will shew booke of this house, in parchment 
 
 done in H. 6. and this Estate granted to him by Edw. Confessor.* I 
 
 want M r Lilly's Epitaph. I would have you come the next week, for in a fort- 
 night hence S r J. A. goes into Glamorganshire, & will have me with him. I have 
 
 not been very fitt for riding, but I intend to spend 2 or 3 dayes before 
 
 Sir Jo. goes away. You cannot imagine how much your unkindness vext and dis- 
 composed me. So God bless you. Tuissimus, J. A." 
 
 " I would have you come hither as early as you can, because of perusing the MS. 
 and seeing the gardens, for the afternoon will be taken up with good-fellowship." -f~ 
 
 There is no evidence amongst the writings of Wood or Aubrey to show that the 
 former ever made the latter any apology or explanation. He died on the 28th 
 November, 1695, in his 63rd, when Aubrey was in his 70th, year. How strongly 
 do the letter and the sentiments above quoted contrast with the splenetic and 
 invidious language used by the author of Athence Ooconienses, who calls his traduced 
 friend " a mere pretender to antiquities," and " little better than crazed." 
 
 About two years before Wood's death proceedings were taken against him for a 
 libel on the Earl of Clarendon, for which he was fined and degraded, and the 
 second volume of his Athence Oxonienses, containing the alleged libel, was publicly 
 burnt.:}: It is stated by Hearne that the offensive passages in that work were 
 inserted by Wood from Aubrey's notes, § whence, according to Dr. Bliss, the former 
 was punished for writings of which he was not the author ; and it is possible that 
 Wood entertained some such feeling when he stated, in the article so often men- 
 tioned, that Aubrey, " being exceedingly credulous, would stuff his many letters 
 
 * See a notice of the ancient chartulary here referred to in the note to page 23, ante. Wood had visited 
 Borstall and examined that curious manuscript in 1668. (See his Auto-biography.') 
 f Original, in the Ballard Collection, ut supra. 
 
 + For a full account of these proceedings see Bliss's edition of Wood's Athence Oxonienses, vol. i. 
 § MS. Collections for 1710 (quoted by Bliss, v,t supra). 
 
70 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 sent to A. W. with folliries, and misinformations, which sometimes would guid him 
 into the paths of errour." Still, it must be observed that the passages for which 
 Wood suffered were, like many other so-called libels, offensive only from their per- 
 tinence and truth ; for Aubrey's statements, on which they are said to have been 
 founded, were evidently based upon good authority.* We are therefore compelled 
 to regard the testimony of Wood, with reference to Aubrey, as being quite at 
 variance with facts, as were also his perverted notices of the characters of Locke, 
 Ashmole, Bathurst, Wallis, and others .-f- The circumstances here adverted to, taken 
 in connexion with the former long and friendly correspondence of the two 
 biographers, prove that the account which Wood gave of Aubrey could only have 
 been written during the last three years of the former's life. 
 
 Few personal notices of Aubrey are to be found after those last referred to. On 
 the 20th of March, 1 692-3, " about 1 1 at night, [he was] robbed and had 5 wounds 
 in his head,":}: on which Dr. Garden condoled with him in his next letter. On the 
 5th of January following he had " an apoplectick fitt, circiter 4 h. P.M."§ 
 
 In his Miscellanies^ he says, "On the day of S* John the Baptist, 1694, 1 acciden- 
 tally was walking in the pasture behind Montague house, ^| it was 12 o'clock. I saw 
 there about two or three and twenty young women, most of them well habited, on 
 their knees very busy, as if they had been weeding. I could not presently learn 
 what the matter was ; at last a young man told me, that they were looking for a 
 coal under the root of a plantain, to put under their head that night, and they 
 
 * Memoir of Judge Jenkins, in Aubrey's MS. Lives of Eminent Men, in the Ashmolean Museum. (This 
 memoir, so important in its bearing on the proceedings against Wood, was nevertheless omitted by the editors 
 of Letters from the Bodleian. It is, however, quoted by Bliss in his edition of Wood's Athence Oxonienses, 
 vol. i. p. clxix.) 
 
 t See Disraeli's Quarrels of Authors, vol. ii. p. 275, Biographia Britannica, article Ashmole, and, 
 more especially, Malone's Account of Aubrey, in Boswell's Shakespeare, vol. ii. p. 695. 
 
 % Collection of Genitures, ut supra. 
 
 § Ibid- II Chapter on Magick. 
 
 % Montague House, now the British Museum, was at that time on the northern verge of London, bounded 
 by fields. So was it in 1790, when I was a boy. I often walked from Sadler's Wells, through/?^, between 
 the Foundling Hospital on the north, and Bedford House and Montague House on the south, to Tottenham 
 Court Road. Dr. Stukeley, in his MS. diary, in my possession, describes the rural character of Queen-square, 
 and its vicinity, when he resided there in 1749. 
 
HIS WORKS QUOTED IN THE " BRITANNIA." 71 
 
 should dream who would be their husbands. It was to be sought for that day 
 and hour." 
 
 In 1695 Gibson's first edition of Camden's Britannia was published, in the 
 preface to which he records his obligations to many literary men of the time, but 
 omits the name of Aubrey. In his additions to Camden's remarks on Wiltshire he, 
 however, quotes the account of Avebury from the Monumenta Britannica, respect- 
 ing which place nothing had till then been published ; and, moreover, in speaking 
 of the different opinions concerning the origin and purposes of Stonehenge, the 
 learned editor notices a theory " that it was a temple of the Druids long before 
 the coming in of the Romans ; which," he adds, " Mr. John Aubrey, Fellow of the 
 Royal Society, endeavours to prove in his Manuscript Treatise, entitled Monumenta 
 Britannica." 
 
 In many other parts of the same edition of the Britannia, there are marginal 
 references to " M r John Aubrey's Manuscript Treatise, entitled Monumenta 
 Britannica," to " Aubr. MS. Wilt.," and to " Letters from the learned and judicious 
 D r James Garden, Professor of Divinity at Aberdeen, to an ingenious gentleman 
 of the Royal Society, Joh. Aubery of Easton-Pierce in Wiltshire, Esq r ." Some 
 of these passages may have been written by Tanner, who, as he states in the 
 letters already referred to, assisted Gibson in his task, and who, in fact, bor- 
 rowed the Natural History of Wilts to aid him therein. But, from his know- 
 ledge of the works referred to, Gibson was equally competent to write them, and 
 there is reason to believe that, when his new edition of the " Britannia" appeared, 
 Aubrey's Monumenta Britannica was either in his possession or in that of Churchill 
 his publisher. In 1719 Mr. Churchill retained that manuscript,* and it continued 
 in his family at least a century afterwards. 
 
 In 1696 Aubrey's Miscellanies-^ was published fey Edward Castle, and dedi- 
 cated by the Author "to the Right Honorable James Earl of Abingdon, Lord 
 Chief Justice in Eyre of all His Majesty's Forests and Chaces on this side Trent," 
 
 * Rawlinson's Account of Aubrey, prefixed to the History of Surrey. 
 f See page 2, ante. 
 
72 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 as follows : " My Lord, When I enjoyed the contentment of solitude in your pleasant 
 walks and gardens at Lavington* the last summer, I reviewed several scattered 
 papers which had lain by me for several years ; and then presumed to think, that if 
 they were put together they might he somewhat entertaining : I therefore digested 
 them there in this order, in which I now present them to your Lordship . . . 
 ... It was my intention to have finished my Description of Wiltshire -j- (half 
 finished already) and to have dedicated it to your Lordship : but my age is now 
 too far spent for such undertakings ; I have therefore devolved that task on my 
 countryman, Mr. Thomas Tanner, who hath youth to go through with it, and a 
 genius proper for such an undertaking.^ Wherefore, I humbly beseech your 
 Lordship to accept of this small offering, as a grateful memorial of the profound 
 respect which I have for you, who have for many years taken me into your favour 
 and protection. My Lord, May the blessed angels be your careful guardians : 
 such are the prayers of your Lordship's most obliged and humble servant, 
 
 "John Aubrey." 
 Our Antiquary made " many very considerable alterations, corrections, and addi- 
 tions" to this volume, apparently for the publication of a second edition. The copy 
 containing these notes belonged to Mr. Churchill, the bookseller already mentioned, 
 and with other copies was sold by auction, at the Queen's Head Tavern, Paternoster 
 Row, on Tuesday the 26th of July, 1720. The following letter from Aubrey to 
 Churchill was written on the first blank leaf of the volume : " Mr. Churchill. There is 
 a very pretty remark in the Athenian Mercury, concerning Apparitions, which I would 
 have inserted under this head. It is in vol. 17, numb. 25, Tuesday, June 1695. 
 
 * The old family mansion at this place, once the residence of nobles and men of learning, has, like many 
 other ancient houses of note, fallen to ruins, and, after various mutations into the dwelling and premises of the 
 farmer and even his labourer, has been effaced from the soil. Wood's account of Aubrey renders it pro- 
 bable that he often visited the Earl of Abingdon, at Lavington. The adjacent town of Market Lavington was 
 the birth-place and residence of his friend, Tanner. 
 
 f " Reposited in the Museum at Oxford." This refers to the work printed by Sir Thomas Phillipps ; the 
 
 Description of the North Division of Wiltshire : to which Aubrey, perhaps, intended to add a similar De- 
 scription of the South division of the county. 
 
 J Aubrey's recent correspondence with Dr. Tanner had evidently led him to regard his new friend as his 
 literary executor, instead of Hooke, previously referred to. 
 
HIS DEATH AND INTERMENT. 73 
 
 Mr. Dunton,* at the Raven in Jewin Street, will help you to this Mercury, but 
 yesterday he would not, his wife being newly departed. J. A." 
 
 In 1721 a second edition of the Miscellanies was published by "A. Bettesworth and 
 J. Battley in Paternoster Row, J. Pemberton in Fleet Street, and E. Curll in the 
 Strand," in which the above letter is printed ; and which, besides some additions 
 and corrections in various parts, contains the story of an apparition referred to by 
 Aubrey as above mentioned. 
 
 The increasing age and bodily afflictions adverted to in Aubrey's correspondence, 
 and especially the fit of apoplexy from which he suffered in the year 1694, were certain 
 preludes to his decline and death. Probably another apoplectic fit was the immediate 
 cause of his dissolution ; at all events the suddenness of his decease isshewn by the 
 fact that, within six days after the date of the above quoted letter, hewas buried in the 
 ancient parish church of St. Mary Magdalene at Oxford. The entry in the register 
 of burials stands thus :— " 1697 John Aubery A stranger was Buryed Jun. 7 th ." 
 
 The term " Stranger" merely implies that Aubrey was an out-parishioner, or 
 extra-parochial person, for whose burial additional fees were charged. As a member 
 of Trinity College he was probably interred in the south aile of the nave : where 
 indeed so many distinguished members of that college were buried that until 
 recently it was known as the " Trinity aile." There is no inscription, or other 
 record than the register, to mark the place of his interment ; nor is it probable that 
 any sepulchral memorial of him was erected. 
 
 In 1719, Dr. Rawlinson stated in his Memoir that "several misfortunes" reduced 
 Aubrey, in the latter part of his life, " to very low and mean circumstances, so that 
 (as a Reverend Divine from Kington St. Michael's informed the Editor,) he was 
 generously supported by the late Lady Long, of Draycot, in her own house, to which 
 
 * John Dunton was an eccentric and successful bookseller, from 1769 until within a few years of his 
 death, which occurred in 1733. He carried on business at different places successively, but his shop generally 
 bore the sign of the Black Raven. He wrote and published his "Life and Errors" (1705), wherein he 
 records a variety of curious and interesting particulars of contemporary authors, printers, booksellers, &c. 
 Many extracts from this volume may be found in Nichols's Literary Anecdotes of the 18th Century ; 
 especially an account of the origin, contents, and progress of the Athenian Mercury, which attained a great 
 degree of popularity (vol. v. p. 67) ; and the Life and Errors, with selections from Dunton's other works, were 
 reprinted in 1818, in two vols. 8vo. 
 
74 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 he was going, on his return from London, when his journey and life were concluded 
 at Oxford, where it is presumed he was buried ; though neither the time of his Obit 
 or his place of burial can be yet recovered."* 
 
 How far the statement that Aubrey was " supported " by Lady Long is correct, 
 cannot now be ascertained. This Lady's husband, Colonel, afterwards Sir James 
 Long, Bart., has been already mentioned. He frequently corresponded with Aubrey, 
 and after his death, which occurred in 1692, his widow probably continued to the 
 venerable antiquary that friendly patronage which he had previously enjoyed. 
 The tradition of Aubrey being on his road to Draycot when he died rests entirely 
 upon the authority of the passage above quoted, but it is most likely true. 
 
 Aubrey in his life-time fully anticipated some monument would be raised to mark 
 his last resting-place. Amongst his papers are two suggestions, made at different 
 times, for an Inscription to be placed on his tomb. In the first of these he de- 
 scribes himself briefly as the son and heir of Richard Aubrey of Easton-Pierse, 
 
 adding, " Obiit A D ni 168 . . . die mensis A° iEtatis suse 6— ;"-j- 
 
 shewing that he contemplated his demise much earlier than it occurred, for when 
 that event took place he was in his 72 nd year. 
 
 * After the publication of this Memoir, Dr. Rawlinson ascertained the place of Aubrey's burial ; and 
 wrote upon the margin of his own copy, now in the Bodleian Library, the following words : " Mr. John Aubrey 
 died at Oxford, and was buried in St. Mary Magdalene Parish Church there, Octob. 1697." Though not 
 precise as to the month, this note referred me to the right source of information respecting Aubrey's burial . 
 and it is evident that no very extensive research was made by the various writers on the subject, from the 
 time of Rawlinson to the present day, or it must otherwise have been long ago discovered. The portrait of 
 Aubrey engraved by Vandergucht, which accompanied the learned Doctor's Memoir, was afterwards inscribed 
 below the name of Aubrey, " Obiit Oxon. Junii 7, 1 697 ;" and with this addition impressions of the plate accom- 
 panied Manning and Bray's History of Surrey. This inscription, it will be observed, is not strictly correct ; 
 as the 7th of June was not the day of Aubrey's death, but of his burial. The majority of his biogra- 
 phers have been content to copy Dr. Rawlinson's printed statement on this point ; though some of them state 
 that he "died at Draycot," and others " on the road from Oxford to Draycot." Browne Willis appended a 
 manuscript note to his copy of the memoir (now in the British Museum), as follows : " Buried in St. Michael's 
 Church Oxon. in Jesus College Isle" ; a statement not borne out by the registers of that church, and certainly 
 erroneous. In the curious manuscript Obituary bequeathed by Sir William Musgrave, Bart, to the British 
 Museum, the year of his death is correctly stated; the authority for it being merely indicated by the 
 abbreviation "MS." which perhaps refers to the above mentioned note by Rawlinson. With these exceptions the 
 question of time and place has till now remained in doubt, as it was left by the learned Doctor's Essay in 1719. 
 
 f North Division of Wiltshire, in the Ashmolean Museum. 
 
ADMINISTRATION GRANTED TO HIS BROTHER. 
 
 75 
 
 The second proposed inscription, beneath a shield of the family arms, Azure, a 
 chevron between three eagle's heads erased or, is as follows : — 
 
 £ 
 
 de Easton-Piers in Agro Wilton, 
 
 Arm: Regalis Societatis Socius 
 
 infra situs est. 
 
 Obiit 
 
 (Dni. 
 
 Anno 
 
 iEtat. 
 
 " I wo d desire that this Inscription sho a be a stone of white Mble. about the 
 bigness of a royal sheet of paper, scilicet, about 2 foot square. Mr. Reynolds of 
 
 Lambeth, Stonecutter, (Foxhall,) who married Mr. Elias Ashmole's Widow, will ^J 
 
 me to a Marble as square as an imperial sheet of paper for 8 shillings." * 
 
 John Aubrey died intestate : and Letters of Administration to his effects were 
 granted, on the 18th of December 1697, to his surviving brother, William.-}- In the 
 record of the circumstance in the Prerogative Office, Doctors' Commons, John is 
 described as " late of Broad Chalk in the county of Wilts, Bachelor." 
 
 William Aubrey lived until 1707- He seems to have been on very affectionate 
 
 * Written on a fly leaf at the end of Aubrey's Interpretation of Villare Anglicanum, in the Ashmolean 
 Museum. 
 f Thomas, his younger brother, died many years before. (See Pedigree, p. 24.) 
 
76 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 terms with his brother, and occasionally assisted him in his antiquarian researches.* 
 He resided at Kington St. Michael, where he died, unmarried ; and was buried in 
 the parish church on the 29th of October. His circumstances appear to have been 
 straitened, for his " principal creditor, Thomas Stokes," took out administration of 
 his goods and chattels, on the 24th of November following bis death. If William 
 Aubrey had preserved any of his brother's personal or literary documents, they 
 were most probably destroyed by those into whose hands they afterwards passed. 
 
 The preceding narrative, and the varied memoranda of Aubrey himself, together 
 with those of his contemporaries, which have been quoted from numerous manu- 
 script and printed works, cannot fail to afford ample evidence and elucidation of the 
 prominent characteristics of the man. They also furnish many striking features of 
 the tone and temper of an age which was peculiar, and deserving of remark, for the 
 illiteracy, superstition, and besotted infatuation of even the higher classes of society. 
 In spite of the writings and example of such men as Camden, Bacon, and Shak- 
 spere, who preceded the Aubrey era, the greater part of the seventeenth century may 
 be classed as part of the " dark ages." The foundation of the Royal, and some other 
 literary and scientific societies, was the advent of improvement in the public mind, 
 and, though their effects were not immediate or remarkable, they unquestionably 
 opened new roads to social intercourse and mental emulation. Had Aubrey lived and 
 associated with Dr. Stukeley, and the other founders of the Society of Antiquaries, and 
 the Egyptian Society, we may be assured that both his writings and his life would 
 have presented many features, dissimilar to those shown by the evidence here 
 adduced. It is but reasonable to infer that, had all his private manuscripts been 
 preserved, they would have afforded much additional information relating to himself 
 and his contemporaries, as well as to many places and things, which would in the 
 present day be highly interesting. 
 
 In reviewing the personal or domestic characteristics of John Aubrey, by the 
 
 * See North Division of Wiltshire, (printed by Sir Thomas Phillipps,) part ii. pp. 2, 82, and a letter 
 'from Tanner in the Collection of Letters to Aubrey, ut supra, vol. ii. 
 
HIS FRIENDSHIP FOR WOOD AND HOBBES. 77 
 
 aid of such materials as are accessible, the qualities most conspicuous are his frank 
 and candid simplicity, combined with a natural warmth and kindness of heart : a 
 disposition however, which was accompanied (as is too often the case) with a certain 
 degree of incapacity for the active bus in^s^fhfe^and ajpro portionate love of literary 
 ease or in dolence ^ Less fortunate in pecuniary affairs than his birth and station in 
 life had led him to anticipate, he was always involved in debt after the demise of his 
 father, and consequently became harassed and oppressed by litigation. 
 
 Aubrey was an affectionate relative, a kind and indulgent master,* and a sincere, 
 enthusiastic, and forbearing friend : qualities which must have endeared him to all his 
 acquaintance. His sympathies for Hobbes as well as Wood led Aubrey to feel acutely 
 the injury inflicted on the latter by Bishop Fell, who, contrary to the author's wish, 
 not only caused his History of the University of Oxford to be translated into Latin, 
 but altered and mutilated it in many parts, and more especially in the notice of the 
 " philosopher of Malmesbury." Here is one of Aubrey's many epistles to Wood 
 upon the subject : " I received your kind letter w th D r Fell's insertions concerning 
 my countryman M r Th. Hobbes, & sent you an answer to it, and .... of my 
 delivering it to him (who remembers him very kindly to y°), and that he wo d desire 
 y° to write a letter of complaint to him of it, and he will vindicate himself in print 
 against y e D r , at y e end of a book he is now printing, viz. the translation of Homer's 
 Odysseys. I have not since heard from y°, so that whether y° received my letter I 
 am doubtful. I showed it to S r Chr. Wren & D r Twisse (who remembers him to y°) 
 cum multis aliis, Virtuosis ; who all (wno ore) cry out of the injustice used against 
 y°, and say again (amongst others M r Dugdale & M r Ashmole) that y° have no way 
 so good to cleare yourselfe, as to print a sheet here in London of y e D rs foystings, to 
 be bound up w th yo r book. D r Twisse is sufficiently nettled (as he haz reason) and 
 is glad to heare of such a revenger." Tbis was dated April, 1674 ; and he renews 
 the subject, urging most strongly an explanation on the part of Wood, in several 
 
 * In a letter to Wood, 1668, Aubrey urges him to recommend his " beloved servant, Kobinet, to wait on 
 M r President" (Bathurst, of Trinity College), " such being the height of his desires." He further adds, " I 
 could prefer him to the E. of Worcester, or Pembroke, but Oxford is the place he loves, and where he could 
 make out a better livelyhood." In subsequent letters he sends his " love to Robinet." — Ballard Collection, ut 
 
78 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 other letters, written in the same year. " Your book," he says, " is generally very 
 well received, but would bave been better, had not y e Dean embittered it, so much 
 and so often, w th his gall and spleen."* 
 
 Except in this instance, Aubrey was not a partizan in any of the literary quarrels 
 of his time. Unlike Hobbes and Wallis, Wren and Flamsteed, Hooke and Newton, 
 his name does not appear to have been immediately involved in any personal or 
 literary dispute. 
 
 In the age in which he lived credulity and superstition might be especially 
 expected to accompany such a warm, enthusiastic temperament as Aubrey's ; and, 
 but for his innate good sense, acuteness, and discrimination, the absurd delusions of 
 astrology would have exercised more potent influence over his works and actions 
 than they appear to have done. 
 
 Aubrey, it may be presumed, received as good an education as was usually 
 imparted by the tutors and colleges of his age. The course appears to have 
 embraced the classics, a general knowledge of algebra, geometry, mathematics, 
 natural history, &c. ; but he never became eminent as a scholar or man of science. 
 His Idea of Education shows that, although he did not undervalue the advantages 
 of mere erudition, he felt the necessity of a more practical system of instruction 
 than he had himself received, in order to prepare a youth for the business and 
 general pursuits of the world. 
 
 His loyalty to the House of Stuart was no doubt sincere ; but it is displayed 
 rather by invectives against the tyranny of the Puritans than by any expressions of 
 regard for their ill-fated but misguided victim, — Charles the First,— or his profligate 
 successor. Religious topics he seldom appears to have adverted to. He was a Pro- 
 testant ; and he records his devout acknowledgments to the Almighty for preserva- 
 tion from many dangers. (Vide ante, pp. 18, 19.) 
 
 Aubrey's love of literature, of science, and of antiquarian research and illus- 
 tration, the interest he felt in all projects for local or national improvements, and in 
 matters relating to the mechanical and useful arts, together with his zeal for the 
 
 * Originals in the Ballard Collection, ut supra. 
 
HIS ORTHOGRAPHY — HAND-WRITING — PERSONAL APPEARANCE. 79 
 
 welfare and advancement of societies, and public bodies, instituted with similar 
 views, are proved by numerous passages in his writings. His Lives of Eminent 
 Men* especially, have many memoranda showing his desire to advocate and promote 
 such objects. 
 
 His easy and familiar style of composition has been already illustrated by the 
 extracts from his writings in the preceding pages. It is certainly peculiar, and 
 almost unique. Notwithstanding their liveliness and freedom, his productions 
 have much less vulgarity and coarseness than those of many of his contemporaries ; 
 but they are occasionally disfigured by uncouth words of Latin derivation, now long 
 since obsolete. His orthography is comparatively pure and modern. It is true, pre- 
 cision in the orthography of names was not then practised or studied; hence, 
 though he generally spelt his own name " Awbrey," on some occasions he wrote it 
 " Awbrey." He frequently used the monogram J. A. (formed by a J. within, and 
 crossing the horizontal line of, the letter A.) instead of a signature at full ; some- 
 times he Latinized the name, " Albericus ;" and in one letter to Anthony a Wood 
 he quaintly signs " Jo. Gregorius," perhaps with reference to his birth upon St. 
 Gregory's Day. His handwriting varies considerably. In later life, and in all v/ 
 of his most hurried memoranda, it is very small and illegible ; but his more elabo- 
 rate and important manuscripts are in a bold and plain character. 
 
 Although we have not any satisfactory data to mark or define his general personal 
 figure and appearance,-^ we may infer from the portrait accompanying this volume 
 that his features were manly, bold, expressive, and intelligent. The nose, mouth, 
 forehead, and eyes show that the face was symmetrical and fine, and, therefore, 
 calculated to make a good bust or picture. The monstrous and barbarous wig, 
 however, not only disfigured the human countenance, but, like a bad and disgusting 
 frame to a beautiful picture, was calculated to deteriorate and degrade the gem 
 it enshrined. 
 
 * See volume ii. pp. 203, 432, 475, 502. Also his Faber Fortunes, noticed in chap. v. of this Memoir. 
 • f In noticing the " squeaking voice" of Dr. Kettle, Aubrey says, " they were wont to mock me with this." 
 (Lives of Eminent Men, vol. ii. p. 422.) This corroborates the allusion of Henry Coley (ante, p. 48) to 
 " an Impediment in ye Native's speech." From a note to his Life of Milton we learn that Aubrey was " of 
 middle stature." He was particularly minute in describing the personal appearance of those of whom he wrote, 
 and perhaps attached some importance to the advantages of a handsome face and figure. 
 
80 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 Aubrey distinctly mentions at least three original Portraits of himself. The first 
 was taken in 1656, when he was thirty years of age. He does not name the artist, 
 but merely states that a picture of him, painted at that age, was, in 1671, in the 
 possession of the widow of his friend, Lord Charles Seymour.* It may have been 
 the work of the celebrated Samuel Cooper, who is known to have painted his 
 portrait. Indeed, if this early picture were not by him, it must be held to con- 
 stitute a fourth in the present list, as the artists of two others are known. In a 
 letter to John Ray he writes: "London, Oct. 22, 1691. Sir, When I was lately at 
 Oxford I gave several things to the Musseum, which was lately robbed, since I 
 wrote to you. Among other things my picture in miniature, by M r S. Cowper, 
 (which at an auction yields 20 Guineas,) and Archbishop Bancroft's, by Hillyard, 
 the famous Illuminer in Q.. Elizabeth's time."-f- To which Ray replied, " You write 
 that the Museum at Oxford was rob'd, but do not say whether your noble present 
 was any part of the losse. Your picture done in miniature by M r Cowper is a thing 
 of great value. I remember so long ago as I was in Italy,, & while he was yet 
 living, any piece of his was highly esteemed there ; & for that kind of painting he 
 was esteemed the best artist in Europe." X No portrait of Aubrey by Cooper, nor 
 any portrait of Archbishop Bancroft, is now in the Ashmolean Museum, nor is the 
 fact of such pictures having been there formerly on record. They were probably 
 stolen, as mentioned in the above letters. § 
 
 Respecting the identity of two other portraits, there is no doubt. One of these 
 
 * " My Ld. Ch. Seymour had my picture, aetat. 30, which his lady now hath." — Note, dated 1671, on title 
 page of Monumenta Britannica. The nobleman here alluded to (who died in 1665) is the same individual 
 mentioned as the Honourable Mr. Seymour in p. 30, ante. Since writing the note * in p. 16, I have been 
 led to conclude that the " Mr. Ch. Seymour" there noticed amongst the friends of Aubrey, is also the same 
 person as the " Ld. Ch. Seymour" here named. The reader is therefore desired to cancel the note referred 
 to. In enumerating his distinguished friends, Aubrey inserted his lordship's name, although at that time he 
 had been dead more than fifteen years. He described him as Mr. Seymour, as he had only been Lord 
 Seymour of Troubridge a year before his death. 
 
 f Printed in Ray's Philosophical Letters, 8vo. 1718, p. 251 ; and in Aubrey's History of Surrey, vol. v. p. 
 408. 
 
 % Original annexed to Aubrey's Natural History of Wilts, in the Ashmolean Museum. 
 
 § If the picture painted in Aubrey's thirtieth year was identical with that by Cooper, it follows that, 
 between 1671 and 1691, it had been returned by Lady Seymour. 
 
PORTRAITS OP AUBREY. 81 
 
 was drawn by William Faithorne the elder* (an artist well known by his finely en- 
 graved portraits), in the year 1666, when Aubrey was forty years of age. This has 
 been engraved several times, but I can confidently assert that the print accom- 
 panying the present memoir is a more faithful copy of the original than any 
 previously published. The drawing, which is in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, is 
 executed in Indian ink, in a careful and beautiful manner, with the flesh slightly 
 coloured. It is in an old black frame, and has an inscription beneath, which (though 
 partly pasted over in the process of mounting) may still be read, as follows : " Mr. 
 John Aubrey, R.S.S. 1666. iEtatis 40." 
 
 The author intended to have this drawing engraved for publication in his 
 Monumenta Britannica, as appears by another part of the note upon the title- 
 page of the work already quoted : — " My brother hath the picture that Mr. 
 Faithorn drew in black and white, A 1666, in order to engrave it for this book." 
 But the contemplated publication being deferred, he, about twenty years afterwards, 
 had another portrait drawn by David Loggan,-f- who was also an engraver : 
 and it is evident that the latter drawing was intended to be engraved to accom- 
 pany his Natural History of Wiltshire. It is so expressly mentioned, not only 
 in the curious Will printed in page 60, but also on the manuscript of the work 
 itself, as follows : — " Anno 1686. iEtatis 60. Mr. David Loggan the graver, drew my 
 picture, in black and white, in order to be engraved, which is still in his hands." 
 
 No plate from either of these drawings had been engraved until 1719 ; when 
 
 * William Faithorne was born in London, but it is not known in what year. He died in 1691. It 
 is said that he studied the art of painting portraits in crayons at Paris. His engravings, which are chiefly 
 portraits, are executed almost entirely with the graver, in a clear, free style. Many of them are of admirable 
 execution ; and good impressions from some are scarce and valuable. At the time he drew Aubrey's 
 portrait, he was carrying on a considerable trade in Italian, Dutch, and English prints, near Temple Bar, 
 where he had established himself as an engraver and printseller. — Bryan's Dictionary of Painters and 
 Engravers. 
 
 \ David Loggan was born at Dantzic about the year 1630. He came to England before the Resto- 
 ration, and was first employed in engraving views of the public buildings of the University of Oxford. He 
 also drew and engraved a series of views of the colleges, &c. in Cambridge (folio, 1688), which, with those of 
 the sister University, are highly interesting. His works are generally executed with the graver, in a neat, 
 but formal style. — Bryan's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers. 
 
 M 
 
82 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 Michael Vander Gucht copied that of Faithorne, in line, for Aubrey's History 
 of Surrey, 8vo. which was published in that year by Dr. Rawlinson. This bears 
 the inscription "John Aubrey, Esq. F.R.S. M. V der Gucht Sculp." Impressions of 
 the same plate, printed on folio paper, and with the words "Obiit Oxon. Junii 
 7, 1697," added to the Inscription, were prefixed to the second volume of 
 Manning and Bray's History of Surrey, 1809. 
 
 The next engraved portrait of Aubrey was a frontispiece to J. Caulfield's Oxford 
 Cabinet, a 4to. volume published in 1797, containing a few of Aubrey's Lives 
 of Eminent Men. This, which is in stipple, and larger than Vander Gucht's head, 
 has beneath it the family shield and crest of Aubrey ; also the name " John 
 Aubrey, Esq. F.R.S." ; but no artist's name. In the arms, the eagle's heads (both 
 in the shield and crest) are incorrectly turned to the sinister side ; but I have an 
 impression of the plate with the arms corrected by the engraver, and with the 
 additional words, " Published by J. Caulfield, Jan?. 1. 1798." 
 
 Another portrait deserving especial notice was engraved by Francis Bartolozzi, 
 for Malone, from a copy of Faithorne's Drawing, purposely made by Silvester Har- 
 ding. It was never published, and impressions are exceedingly scarce; indeed 
 only two or three proofs were probably taken. As it is a fine specimen by a justly 
 celebrated engraver, it would have gratified me to have substituted impressions 
 of that plate for those prefixed to this memoir.* 
 
 A fourth portrait was engraved by T. Cook, for Malcolm's Lives of Topographers 
 and Antiquaries (4to. 1815), and there is also an unpublished etching by Mrs. 
 Dawson Turner, of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. All of these are from the Ashmolean 
 picture. 
 
 * Mr. G. P. Harding, an artist of talent, who has devoted many years to copying fine old historical 
 portraits, has the only proof of the plate I have ever seen. Knowing that it had been executed for the late 
 Edmund Malone, and intended by him for his last edition of Shakspere's works, I instituted inquiries, through 
 the medium of the Gentleman's Magazine, and of persons who were connected with the annotator on Shak- 
 spere, for the unpublished plate, but without success. Some of Mr. Malone's books, &c. were deposited in the 
 Bodleian library, Oxford, and others in the public library at Dublin, to each of which establishments I 
 applied in vain. The engraving is noticed in Granger's Biographical History of England, vol. v. p. 272 
 (8vo. edition of 1824). 
 
83 
 
 ©flap. V. 
 
 BRIEF DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS OF THE MANUSCRIPT AND PRINTED WORKS OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 In the following brief account of Aubrey's literary papers I propose to describe 
 the contents and present state of them, in the order marked by himself, as already 
 given (page 20). 
 
 The greater part of these are in the Ashmolean Museum, at Oxford. Aubrey's 
 gift to that establishment has been already mentioned ; and the circumstance 
 is recorded, in a prominent and appropriate manner, by the following inscription, 
 in letters of gold, upon a blue ground, over the doorway to the library of 
 the Museum. 
 
 D. ELLffi ASHMOLE ET MARTIN LISTER : QUIBUS NON PAUCOS 
 ADDIDIT VIR INDUSTRIUS NEC INFIME DE RE ANTIQUARIA ET 
 PHYSICA PROMERITUS, D. JOHANNES AUBREY DE EASTON 
 PIERCE APUD WILTONENSES ARM. ET SOC : REG : SOCTUS."* 
 
 His manuscripts do not appear to have sustained any material injury since they 
 were first deposited there : along with them are some writings in small quarto, 
 on musical subjects, by Mercator ; and a beautiful breviary, which belonged to 
 Sir Thomas Pope. These formed part of Aubrey's collection ; and, in addition, 
 there are two folio manuscript volumes relating to Dr. Dee, preserved in the same 
 closet, which have been considered -f as part of his gift to the Museum ; whereas 
 they were in fact presented by Edward Llhwyd. One of those volumes is 
 
 * " The printed and manuscript books bestowed by those most famous men, Etias Ashmole and Martin 
 Lister ; to which not a few were added by that industrious man, and no mean deserver in things relating to 
 antiquity, John Aubrey, of Easton Peirce, in Wiltshire, Esq. and F.R.S." — Translation in Biographia 
 Britannica. 
 
 \ By Warton and Huddesford, in their edition of Anthony a Wood's Life. 8vo. 1772. 
 
84 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 chiefly in the hand-writing of Dr. Dee, and the other contains some materials, 
 collected by Elias Ashmole, for a life of that once noted astrologer. Nearly the 
 whole of the ancient coins, which were given to the Museum by Aubrey, still 
 form part of its collection. They consisted of thirty-seven Roman brass specimens, 
 principally of the Lower Empire ; and fourteen matrices for Roman coins ; most 
 of which were found at Edington, in the parish of Moorlinch, Somersetshire. Only 
 five of the latter remain, and these, with a few of the former, are exhibited 
 in one of the glass cases. Aubrey also gave to the Museum a fragment of a 
 Roman pavement from Farley Castle, Wiltshire ; * but this, according to a memo- 
 randum on an old manuscript catologue of the collection, was subsequently 
 removed, though for what reason it is difficult to say, into the Medical Profes- 
 sor's Cabinet ; which was in a separate building. 
 
 Aubrey's manuscripts, given to the Museum, could hardly have amounted to 
 more than thirty volumes; therefore, according to the Register of Benefactions 
 (quoted in page 63), he must have presented also about fifty volumes of printed 
 books. Unlike the manuscripts, these have always been mixed and confounded 
 with the general collection ; no separate list of them appears to have been made ; 
 and they are only to be identified by the autograph of the donor, which appears 
 inside the covers of some of them, or the inscription, " Musei Ashmoleani Ex dono 
 clarissimi authoris," -f- written upon others. Amongst the volumes thus traced are 
 several containing Popish Plot pamphlets, and similar ephemeral publications. 
 
 The following account of the Aubrey Manuscripts may be useful to future 
 antiquaries and biographers: whilst it will tend to confirm and exemplify the 
 opinions herein given of his personal industry and literary merits. 
 
 I. "Antiquities op Wiltshire, after the method of Sir W. Dugd ale's 
 Description of Warwickshire. 2 parts, in fol." [In the Ashmolean 
 Museum^] 
 
 Incidental notices of this work, especially of the manner in which it was first 
 undertaken by the writer in 1659, and of its elaborate execution, will be found in 
 
 * Camden's Britannia, by Gibson, (1695), note in col. 105, quoting Aubrey as the authority, 
 f These words are inscribed on the copy of Aubrey's Miscellanies, given by him to the Museum. 
 
a 
 
 NORTH DIVISION OF WILTSHIRE." 85 
 
 previous pages of the present memoir. It consists of two volumes, folio, bound in 
 vellum ; with the title, " An Essay Towards the Description of the North Division of 
 Wiltshire. By me John Aubrey, of Easton Pierse." During the author's life it was 
 lent successively to Wood and to Tanner, and quoted in Gibson's edition of Camden's 
 Britannia. Aubrey alludes to it under the titles, the Description of Wiltshire, and 
 the Antiquities of Wiltshire ; but never by its full title, as here given. He speaks of it 
 in the Dedication of his Miscellanies, as being " half finished already," and " reposited 
 in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxon." 
 
 The "Introduction" to this manuscript was printed entire in a very scarce 
 and curious pamphlet, published in 1714, and which is deserving of particular 
 notice. This little work, often erroneously quoted as "Aubrey's" Miscel- 
 lanies, bears the following title : — " Miscellanies on several curious subjects : now 
 first publish'd from their respective originals. London, Printed for E. Curll, at the 
 Dial and Bible, over against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleet Street, 1714." (8vo. pp. 
 88).* The title page has a small medallion portrait, which in the catalogue of 
 the Stourhead Library is said to represent Aubrey. This is evidently erroneous ; 
 as is also a manuscript note I have seen, stating that the volume was edited by 
 Hearne, and that the portrait is intended for Anthony a Wood. The present remarks 
 are intended to correct an erroneous statement made in the Essay on Topography, 
 (p. xl.) published by the Wiltshire Topographical Society, in which the volume 
 above referred to is confounded with Aubrey's Miscellanies. 
 
 From the Introduction to the volume by Aubrey, now under consideration, it may be 
 expedient to quote a few passages which are intimately connected with his biography, 
 and also with the Topography of Wiltshire. " I am heartily sorry I did not set down 
 the Antiquities of these parts sooner, for since the Time aforesaid [] 659] many 
 Things are irrecoverably lost. In former Days the Churches and great Houses here- 
 abouts did so abound with Monuments and Things remarkable, that it would have 
 
 * Besides the Introduction to Aubrey's North Division of Wiltshire, the volume contains the charge, 
 answer, and sentence, in the prosecution of Anthony a Wood for his alleged libel on Lord Clarendon ; also 
 five letters on various matters of antiquity by Ashmole, Plot, Langbaine, and Selden ; and five others, on 
 similar subjects, addressed to Aubrey by Andrew Paschal, John Lydall, and E. G. [Edmund Gibson ?] 
 
86 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 deterr'd an Antiquary from undertaking it." After a review of the state of the 
 northern part of Wiltshire before the Roman Invasion, and under the dynasties 
 of the Romans, Saxons, Normans, &c. successively, he states that " in the time of 
 Henry VIII. this country was a lovely Champain, as that about Sherston and 
 Cotswold ; very few Enclosures, unless near Houses. My Grandfather Lyte did 
 remember when all between Cromhall (at Eston) and Castle Comb was so, when 
 Easton, Yatton, and Comb, did intercommon together. In my remembrance much 
 hath been enclos'd, and every year more and more is taken in. Anciently the Leghs 
 (now corruptly called Sleights), i. e. Pastures, were noble large grounds, as yet the 
 demesne lands at Castle Combe are. So likewise in his remembrance was all 
 between Kington St. Michael and Draycot Cerne common fields. There was a 
 world of labouring people maintained by the plough, as yet in Northamptonshire, 
 &c. There were no rates for the poor in my Grandfather's dayes ; but for Kington 
 S* Michael (no small parish) the Church-ale at "Whitsuntide did the business". He 
 then traces the derivation of the term Church-ale, and, after noticing the religious 
 festivals of the times referred to, says, " Such joy and merriment was every Holyday ; 
 which days were kept with great solemnity and reverence. These were the days 
 
 when England was famous for the Grey Goose Quills." " This country was 
 
 full of Religious houses. Old Jacques (who lived where Charles Hadnam did) could 
 see from his house the Nuns of the Priory of St. Mary's (juxta Kington) come forth 
 into the Nymph-Hay, with their Rocks and Wheels, to spin, and with their sewing 
 work. He would say that he hath told three score and ten ; tho' of Nuns there 
 were not so many ; but in all, with Lay-sisters, as Widows, Old maids, and young 
 Girls, there might be such a number. This was a fine way of breeding up young 
 women, who are led more by example than precept, and a good retirement for 
 widows and grave single women, to a civil, virtuous, and holy Life." It concludes 
 thus : " This searching after Antiquities is a wearisome task. I wish I had gone 
 through all the Church monuments. The records at London I can search gratis. 
 Though of all studies I take the least delight in this, yet methinks I am carried on 
 with a kind of GCstrum ; for nobody else hereabout hardly cares for it, but rather 
 makes a scorn of it. But methinks it shews a kind of gratitude and good nature, to 
 
"monumenta britannica." 87 
 
 revise the memories and memorials of the pious and charitable Benefactors long 
 since dead and gone. Eston-Pierse, April 28, 1670."* 
 
 This work, as already mentioned (ante, p. 2), has been published at the expense of 
 Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bart./f- who however acknowledges that his edition was printed 
 from a transcript, and that the proof sheets were not compared with the original. 
 The omission of Aubrey's original drawings seriously depreciates the printed copy. 
 Amongst these are some interesting sketches of Kington St. Michael, shewing the 
 church, with the spire, which was then standing ; and the adjoining buildings. The 
 passages in Domesday Book relating to Kington and Langley have been copied with 
 great care and literal accuracy, and are preserved in the manuscript referred to. 
 
 All previous writers have omitted to distinguish this work from that by Aubrey, 
 on the Natural History of Wiltshire (see Article III.) Warton and Huddesford 
 mention only the latter ; and their statement has been copied in every succeeding 
 notice, excepting that in the Biographical Dictionary of the Society for the Dif- 
 fusion of Useful Knowledge, by Mr. Stanesby, who was led to conjecture that 
 there were two works on Wiltshire written by Aubrey. 
 
 II. — " Monumenta Britannica. 3 parts, fol." 
 
 All my attempts to trace the manuscript of this important work have failed. I 
 
 possess, however, an abstract of it, which was made for me, from one more copious, 
 
 in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. The latter was copied by Richard Gough, the 
 
 Topographer, from a manuscript in the possession of the Rev. Mr. Hutchins, of 
 
 * As early as 1716 this introduction was quoted by the author of a curious essay well known to Topo- 
 graphers, viz. A Little Monument to the once famous Abbey and Borough of Glastonbury ; published in 
 Hearne's History of Glastonbury (1722). 
 
 f In two parts, small 4to. The first was printed by J. Davy, Queen Street, Seven Dials, in 1821, with 
 the title, " Aubrey's Collections for Wilts, Part I." and the second in 1838, with the full title, " An Essay 
 Towards the Description of the North Division of Wiltshire. By me John Aubrey, of Easton Pierse. Typis 
 Medio-Montanis, Impressit C. Gilmour, 1838." The first part was printed when Sir Thomas was abroad, 
 and he admits, " not so accurately as I could have desired. To this second part therefore I have added 
 the list of Errata, by which the possessors of the work will be able to correct their 1st part." Unfor- 
 tunately, these Errata do not appear in the copies of the second part which I have seen, nor have the promised 
 " Appendix of Plates and Descriptions of Arms " yet made their appearance. 
 
88 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 Wareham, in Dorsetshire (the learned historian of that county), which copy was, 
 in its turn, abridged from the original by Aubrey. 
 
 At the time of Aubrey's death the original work belonged to Awnsham 
 Churchill, an opulent London bookseller and publisher, at the end of the seven- 
 teenth and early part of the eighteenth centuries, and it remained in the pos- 
 session of his descendants until the year 1819. 
 
 Churchill was the last person with whom we find Aubrey in communication 
 (vide ante p. 72). He published Gibson's edition of Camden's Britannia (1695), 
 and it is not improbable that Aubrey deposited the Monumenta Britannica with 
 him for the purpose of publication ; or it may have been left in his custody, after the 
 completion of the Britannia, by one of the literary friends of Aubrey, who must 
 have had recourse to it for the improvement of that work : the latter supposition 
 is strengthened by a note in Warton's Life of Bathurst (8vo. 1761, p. 151). Dr. 
 ♦Rawlinson, in his Memoir of the author (1719), states that the manuscript was at 
 that time said to be in Mr. Churchill's hands. The wealthy bookseller purchased 
 the manor of Henbury, near Wimborne, in Dorsetshire, in 1704; was member of 
 Parliament for Dorchester in 1709 ; and ultimately died unmarried.* 
 
 The manuscript afterwards became the property of his nephew and representative, 
 Awnsham Churchill, of Henbury ; and in 1755 the Rev. John Hutchins, who resided 
 in the vicinity, " made a faithful abstract of it, with copies of the rude sketches, 
 while it was lent to him for the use of his excellent history of Dorsetshire."-f- 
 
 The original was, perhaps, inaccessible to Gough, for in October 1769 he made 
 his transcript or abridgment from Hutchins's. He evidently thought very highly 
 of the work, and in his British Topography, % published in 1780, and afterwards in his 
 edition of Camden's Britannia,^ he refers to it with much commendation. He 
 states that the original was then in the possession of Awnsham Churchill, Esq. of 
 Henbury, who he calls a son of Awnsham Churchill, the bookseller. 
 
 At a very early period of my architectural and antiquarian studies, my attention 
 
 * See an article by an old correspondent of the Gentleman's Magazine (1783), quoted in Nichols's 
 Literary Anecdotes of the \%ih Century, (ed. 1812), vol. i. p. 150, note. 
 
 t Ibid. % Preface, p. xiii. and vol. ii. pp. 369, 370. § Wiltshire, p. 145, note. 
 
" MONUMENTA BRITANNICA." 89 
 
 was forcibly drawn to this work, in consequence of the notice which it had received 
 from Gough and other writers ; and accordingly, in 1814, I was induced to procure 
 the copy I have already mentioned from that of Gough ; which, on his death, had 
 been deposited in the Bodleian Library, at Oxford. In 1817 I lent the volume to 
 the late Sir Richard Colt Hoare, who was so much pleased with its contents that 
 he applied to Mr. William Churchill, of Henbury (a son of Awnsham Churchill the 
 younger), who then possessed the original, and by his kindness procured the loan 
 of it, for the purposes of his work on Ancient Wiltshire* Sir Richard made copious 
 extracts from the manuscript, chiefly of the parts relating to Wiltshire ; and these, 
 which, excepting Mr. Hutchins's, appear to be the only direct transcripts ever made 
 from Aubrey's work, still remain in the library at Stourhead, Wiltshire. Sir Richard 
 Hoare added some manuscript notes, in illustration of the text, to my abstract, 
 and these have been since augmented by myself, by Dr. Sherwen, of Bath, and also 
 by others. 
 
 Since 1819, when Sir Richard Hoare referred to the Monumenta as being in the 
 possession of William Churchill, Esq., I have not been able to learn its history. 
 On the death of the latter gentleman,, many years ago, his son William sold 
 Henbury, with portions of his father's library, and resided himself in London ; 
 but I have failed to ascertain from the representatives, either of those who con- 
 ducted the sale, or of the principal purchaser, whether Aubrey's manuscript was 
 then disposed of. If retained by Mr. Churchill, it perhaps formed part of his 
 library in London, which on his death passed to his cousin Sir Charles Greville. 
 That gentleman is also dead, and his brother, the Earl of Warwick, who inherited 
 his library, is not aware that the manuscript is in his collection, either in London, 
 or at the Castle of Warwick. 
 
 The work bore the title, " Monumenta Britannica, or a Miscellanie of British 
 Antiquities ; " and, according to Gough and Sir Richard C. Hoare, it consisted of four 
 thin folio volumes, of about 100 pages each; the contents being arranged as 
 follows : — 
 
 * See vol. ii. p. 57 of that work. 
 
 N 
 
90 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 Part (or Vol.) I. Chap. 1. Templa Druidum, including a review of Stonehenge, 
 a particular account of Avebury ; and notices of Druidical monuments in various 
 parts of Great Britain.* — 2. Mantissa de Religione et Moribus Druidum; from 
 several ancient authors. — 3. An Apparatus of Bards. — 4. Four of Dr. Garden's 
 Letters to Aubrey respecting Celtic Monuments, one of them being the letter 
 printed in Archceologia, vol. i. p. 312. 
 
 Part II. Chap. 1. Of Camps. — 2. Old Castles, or Castella. — 3. Military Archi- 
 tecture. — 4. Roman Towns. — 5. Pittes. — 6. Homes. 
 
 Part III. Chap. 1. Barrows. — 2. Urnes. — 3. Sepulchres. — 4. Ditches. — 5. High 
 Wayes. — 6. Roman Pavements. — 7- Coins. — 8. Embanking and Draining. 
 
 Part IV. (which was entitled STPGM ATA sive Miscellanea). Chap. 1. Chro- 
 nologia Architectonica. — 2. Chronologia Graphica. — 3. Chronologia Aspidologica. — 
 4. Chronologia Vestiaria. — 5. Weights and Measures.-f- — 6. Prices of Corne.-f- — 
 7. Diversities of Standards or Values of Money.-f- — 8. Nouvelles ; natural and arti- 
 ficial things, by whom, and when, brought into England. — 9. The proportion of 
 the several languages, ingredients of our present English.-f" 
 
 There seems to have been a fifth part, containing remarks on Day-fatality, 
 Omens, Dreams, &c. ; but these were, no doubt, embodied in the volume Aubrey 
 published with the title of Miscellanies, and therefore cannot be regarded as a 
 portion of the Monumenta Britannica. The work, as we have seen (ante p. 66), was 
 lent to many of the author's friends, who all thought highly of it : some manu- 
 script notes were added by John Evelyn, and Dr. Thomas Gale, and are favourably 
 
 * This chapter constituted by far the most important and valuable part of the work. It bore the motto, 
 from Cicero, De Divinatione, " Quis est, quern non moveat clarissimis monumentis testata consignataque 
 antiquitas ? " which, from its peculiar application to the great temple at Avebury, was adopted by Sir 
 Richard Hoare, and prefixed to his account of that monument. It is evident from Aubrey's correspondence 
 that, partly in compliance with a desire expressed by Dugdale, he at one time contemplated printing this 
 chapter separately. Tanner, however, who refers to some " proposals " for printing it, strongly urges him to 
 " abridge it all, and print it in about forty sheets, which," he says, " will make a very fair octavo or quarto." 
 (Letters from the Bodleian, vol. ii. p. 170. See also several passages in the Original Letters to and from 
 Aubrey in the Ashmolean Museum, and Bodleian Library, ut supra.) 
 
 f Gough states that the manuscript was deficient in these chapters. 
 
"monumenta britannica." 91 
 
 spoken of by Warton and Gough. It was dedicated to the Earl of Pembroke, to 
 whom also a work to be noticed next, — the Natural History of Wiltshire, — was 
 inscribed ; and the Will, printed in p. 60, shows that Aubrey proposed to incor- 
 porate the two works in one publication. 
 
 The Monumenta Britannica had its origin in the command given by King Charles 
 the Second to the author, to print an account of Avebury (vide ante p. 39). The 
 nature of its contents were not, however, made public till 1695, when Gibson's 
 edition of the Britannia appeared ; wherein Aubrey's theory respecting Stonehenge 
 is expressly quoted, together with an abridgment of his description of Avebury.* 
 After that date the work was alluded to in the Memoirs of Aubrey, prefixed to his 
 History of Surrey (1719) and Miscellanies (2nd ed. 1721). Dr. Stukeley published 
 his volume on Ahury in 1743, but does not allude to Aubrey's remarks upon that 
 temple, though "he can hardly be supposed to have been ignorant of them. In 
 p. 32, he refers to " Mr. Aubrey's manuscript notes, printed with Camden's Bri- 
 tannia" In his Itinerarium Curiosum, vol. ii. p. 169, speaking of the stone circle 
 at Stanton Drew, in Somersetshire, he says, " Mr. Aubrey, that indefatigable 
 searcher-out of antiquities, is the first that has observed it." The Monumenta was 
 particularly noticed, as already mentioned, by Warton (in his Life of Bathurst, 
 1761), by Gough, and by Sir Richard C. Hoare ; and it appears that Francis Perry 
 published some rude etchings from the sketches by Aubrey, in the first chapter of 
 Part IV., illustrating " the several styles of windows, &c. in England." These, it is 
 stated, he executed " while Mr. Hutchins's abstract was in the hands of one of his 
 London friends." -j~ 
 
 * It is singular that the learned Editor of the Britannia does not mention Aubrey, amongst the many- 
 correspondents to whom, in his Preface, he acknowledges obligations. 
 
 \ Nichols's Literary Anecdotes of the \$th Century (ed. 1812), vol. i. p. 150, note ; and Gough's 
 British Topography, vol. ii. p. 370, note. Perry's etchings are to be found in his volume, entitled, " A 
 Series of English Medals," 4to. 1762. 
 
92 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 III. — « Memoires of Naturall Remarques in Wilts. 2 parts, fol." 
 
 This was Aubrey's first literary work, and was commenced as early as 1656. It 
 was lent, during his life, to many of his learned associates ; and the original, which 
 is now in the Ashmolean Museum, has numerous manuscript notes by Evelyn, Ray, 
 Tanner, and Thomas Gale. It was also submitted to the Royal Society in 1675,* 
 and subsequently, when methodized and arranged in its present form, it was 
 dedicated to the Earl of Pembroke, then President of that scientific body. Perhaps 
 in the hope that it would be published by the society, the author made a fair 
 copy of the work, which he presented to them, and which is still preserved in their 
 valuable library. 
 
 In 1719 Dr. Rawlinson printed the Dedication and Preface, as addenda to Aubrey's 
 History of Surrey (vol. v. p. 403). These he probably copied from the original. 
 The transcript in the Royal Society's library was quoted by Walpole in the first 
 chapter of his Anecdotes of Painting (1762). Gough states that he could not find 
 the work mentioned in Mr. Robertson's catalogue of that library {British Topo- 
 graphy, vol. ii. p. 515) ; and he does not appear to have taken the pains to make 
 further search. Warton and Huddesford refer to the original, in the list of 
 Aubrey's manuscripts at Oxford, in a note to the Life of Anthony a Wood. 
 
 The original manuscript in the Ashmolean Museum consists of two folio 
 volumes, bound in vellum. Its full titles are, " The Natural Historie of Wiltshire," 
 and " Memoires of Naturall Remarques in the county of Wilts ; to which are 
 annexed Observables of the same kind in the county of Surrey and Flyntshire. By 
 Mr. John Aubrey, R.S.S." The notes respecting Surrey and Flintshire, if ever written, 
 do not form part of the present manuscript. The title-pages bear the dates 1685 
 and 1686, when the contents appear to have been arranged and transcribed by the 
 author. It is dedicated to " The Right Honourable Thomas Earle of Pembroke and 
 
 * The following is part of a letter from Aubrey to Wood, dated, " Twelfe day, 1675. I have written ye 
 Natural Historie (for D r Plotts) of Wilts and Surrey, besides pieces of other counties ; ten sheetes closely 
 written, and shall send him more. As I was sending it to Oxon our Secretary hearing of it, thought fit the 
 K. Soc. should first be made acquainted with it, which gave them two or three dayes entertainment, w ch they 
 were pleased to like.'' Original, in the Ballard Collection, ut supra. 
 
" NATURAL HISTORY OF WILTSHIRE." 93 
 
 Montgomerie, Lord Herbert of Caerdiffe, one of the Privy Councill to their 
 Majesties, President of the Royall Societie, &c, my singular good Lord." 
 
 The history of this manuscript is narrated in the preface, which commences with 
 a kind of apology for the work, as a novelty in literature. In this Aubrey says 
 that, " 'Till about the year 1649, when Experimental Philosophy was first cultivated 
 by a Club at Oxford, it was held a strange Presumption for a man to attempt an 
 Innovation in Learning, and not to be good manners to be more knowing than his 
 Neighbours and Forefathers. I was from my childhood affected with the view of 
 things rare, which is the beginning of Philosophy ; and though I have not had 
 leisure to make any considerable proficiency in it, yet I was carried on with a 
 ^^ impulse to undertake this Taske ; I knew not why, unless for my owne 
 private pleasure; Credit there was none, for it getts the ^^™^ of a man's 
 neighbours. But I could not rest quiet till I had obeyed this secret call. Mr. 
 Camden, Dr. Plott, and Mr. Wood confess the o \f I am the first that ever made 
 an Essay of this kind for Wiltshire, and (for ought I know) in the nation ; having 
 begun it A° 1656. In the year 1675 I became acquainted with Dr. Robert Plott, 
 who had then his Natural Historie of Oxfordshire upon the Loome, which I seeing 
 he did perform so excellently well, desired him to undertake Wiltshire; and I 
 would give him all my papers, as I did also my papers of Surrey as to the naturall 
 things, and offer'd my farther assistance. But he was then invited into Stafford- 
 shire, to illustrate that Countie : which having finished in December 1684, I 
 importuned him againe to undertake this county : but he replied, He was so taken 
 up in the Musseum Ashmoleanum, that he should meddle no more in that kind 
 (unlesse it were for his native countie of Kent), and therefore wish'd me to finish 
 and publish what I had begun. Considering therefore that if I should not doe this 
 myselfe, my papers might either perish, or be sold in an auction, and somebody 
 else (as is not uncommon) put his name to my paines ; and not knowing any one 
 that would undertake this Designe while I live ; I have tumultuarily stitch'd up what 
 I have many years since collected, being chiefly but the observation of my frequent 
 road between South and North Wilts (that is, between Broad Chalke and Easton- 
 Piers). If I had had then leisure I would willingly have searched the naturals of 
 the whole County. It is now fifteen yeares since I left this country, and have at 
 
94 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 this distance inserted such additions as I can call to mind ; so that methinks this 
 description is like a picture that Mr. Edw d Bathurst, B.D., of Trin. Coll. Oxon., 
 drew of Dr. Kettle, some yeares after his death, by strength of memory only ; he 
 had so strong an Idea of him, and it did well resemble him. I hope hereafter it 
 may be an incitement to some ingeniouse and public-spirited young Wiltshire man, 
 to polish and compleat what I have here delivered rough-hewen, for I have not 
 leasure to heighten my stile."* This is dated " London, Gresham College, June 
 6, 1685." 
 
 The work is divided into chapters, with the following titles : 1. Air. — 2. Springs 
 Medicinall. — 3. Rivers. — 4. Earthes. — 5. Mineralls. — 6. Stones. — 7- Formed Stones. 
 — 8. A Digression, ad mentem Mr. R. Hook, R.S.S. — 9. Plantes (Herbes, Trees). 
 — 10. Beastes. — 11. Fishes. — 12. Birds. — 13. Insects and Reptiles. — 14. Men and 
 Women. — 15. Arts, Inventions. — 16. Architecture. — YJ . Of the Grandure of the 
 Herberts, Earles of Pembroke — Learned men who received pensions from those 
 Earles — Wilton House and Garden. — 18. Worthies (Writers and Illustrious Men). 
 — 19. Agriculture and Implements. — 20. The Downes. — 21. Shepherds and Pasto- 
 ralls.— 22. Sheep and Wooll.— 23. The History of Cloathing and Cloathiers of Wilts. 
 — 24. Faires and Markets, their rise and decay. — 25. Prices of Corne. — 26. Weights 
 and Measures. — 27- Accidents. — 28. Observations on some Register Books, as also 
 the Poores Rates and Taxes of the County, ad mentem D 1 " W. Petty. — 29. Diseases 
 and Cures. — 30. Antiquities and Coines. — 31. Sports and Races. — 32. Things Prse- 
 turnatural, e. g. Witchcraft, Phantomes, &c. — 33. Draughts of the Seats and 
 Prospects. — 34. Forests, Parkes, Chaces. — 35. Falling of Rents. — 36. Number of 
 Attornies every 30 yeares since H. VIII. 
 
 Of these subjects, the first 14, — with the 28th and 29th,— are contained in the first 
 volume ; the remainder being carried forward to the second, though with a some- 
 what different arrangement. Thus chapters 25, 26, 30, 32, and 34, are omitted 
 
 altogether ; and the following new chapters are added : — Local Fatality. Hawkes 
 
 and Hawking. — Of Gardens (Lavington Garden, Chelsea Garden, &c.) 
 
 One of Ray's original letters to Aubrey, approving of the work, is inserted in the 
 first volume. It is the same which contains the gentle reproof of the latter's credu- 
 
 * Original, in the Ashmolean Museum. 
 
" NATURAL HISTORY OF WILTSHIRE." 95 
 
 lity quoted in page 5, and has been printed in the fifth volume of Aubrey's History 
 of Surrey, p. 408.* The remarks of the author are not confined to Wiltshire; but 
 are apparently derived from personal observations made in different counties. A 
 few dried botanical specimens are preserved in the chapter on Plants, with Aubrey's 
 notes of their locality and date, and other MS. notes, by Ray. Annexed to the 
 chapter on Fishes, and carefully folded up in a small piece of paper, is the " bone found 
 in the head of a carp : a good medicine for the apoplectick, or falling sickness." 
 A pamphlet and three Gazettes, containing accounts of different Earthquakes ; A 
 manuscript " Explication of the heat of the Waters of Bath," (By Edw. Jorden, of 
 Bath, and Mons. Nich. L'Emery, Chymist,) and a small printed "Treatise on Wool," 
 (a presentation copy to Aubrey from the author, George Clark,) are inserted in 
 appropriate places. There are several memoranda by Aubrey alluding to his gifts 
 of " petrified shells," " naturall iron bullets," &c. to the Royal Society, and to the 
 Ashmolean Museum. In the seventh chapter he mentions " a Turkey stone ring " 
 which he gave to Robert Boyle, Esq., describing the variations of its nebulae ; under 
 the head of Men and Women there are some marvellous stories of longevity, and 
 of monstrous births ; under Diseases and Cures, some very absurd prescriptions ; and 
 under Parish Registers, several curious extracts from those of Broad Chalk, Wiltshire, 
 " according to the way prescribed by the Honfele Sir W m Petty, Knight." The 
 eighth chapter, which is termed A Digression, is " an Hypothesis of the Terrestrial 
 Globe." Ray expressed an unfavourable opinion of this " Digression," which he 
 thought might be very well left out. The following sentences exemplify the writer's 
 notions : " The earth we now do inhabit is rough and uneven, and appears to have been 
 y e ruines of an old one. As the world was torn by earthquakes, as also the vaulture 
 by time foundered and fell in, so the water subsided, and the dry land appear'd. 
 Then why might not that change alter y e center of gravity of y e earth ? Before this 
 the pole of the Ecliptick perhaps was the pole of the world. Now (1691) Mr. 
 Edmund Halley, R.S.S. hath an hypothesis that the World is only about 500 miles 
 thick, and that a Terella moves within it, w ch causes the variation of the needle : 
 and in the center a Sun." In the same chapter the author says, " On St. Andrew's 
 
 * Other epistles from Ray respecting this MS. are printed in Letters from the Bodleian, vol. ii. p. 158 — 164. 
 
96 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBRET. 
 
 Day, 1666, my Lord Brouncker, Mr. Wyld, Dr. Charlton, and I, riding in a coach 
 towards Gresham Colledge, (the Anniversary Day,) at y c corner of Holborn Bridge, 
 a cellar of coals was opened by the labourers (who digged y e rubbish and founda- 
 tions), and there were burning coals (which we saw) which burnt ever since the 
 Great Fire ; but being pent so close from air, there was very little waste."* In chap. 
 17, which illustrates "the grandeur of the Pembroke family," and describes their 
 splendid seat at Wilton, is the following passage ; which is here quoted as a matter 
 of curiosity, throwing a doubt (as it does) upon the authorship of one of the most 
 celebrated verses of the seventeenth century. 
 
 " Underneath this sable hearse 
 Lies the subject of all verse, 
 Sidney's sister — Pembroke's mother. 
 Death, ere thou kill'st such another, 
 Fair, and wise, and learn'd as she, 
 Time will throw a dart at thee.'' 
 
 " These verses were made by Mr. Willia Browne who wrote the Pastoralls, and 
 they are inserted there." 
 
 The above lines are almost universally attributed to Ben Jonson : it is therefore 
 essential to observe that Aubrey is not alone in stating them to be by Browne, the 
 author of the Pastorals ; for, in his note upon the subject, he left a blank for the 
 latter's Christian name, " William ; " which was filled up by Evelyn when he perused 
 the manuscript. Indeed, Evelyn not only filled up such blank, but added, as a 
 further note, " William, Governor to y e now E. of Oxford." 
 
 As " Advice to the Painter or Graver," there is, at the end of the work, a list of 
 the illustrations Aubrey appears to have thought most desirable. Besides his own 
 portrait after Loggan, he proposed to have a "Mappe" of Salisbury, with exterior 
 and interior views of the Cathedral ; Views of Malmesbury Abbey Church ; " Priory 
 St. Maries, juxta Kington St. Michael ; " and, among " Houses of lesser note," " The 
 Mannour-house of Kington St. Michael." Amongst the prospects, he desired to have 
 one "from the Garret at Easton-Piers, South-east, a delicate prospect." "If these 
 views," he says, "were well donn, they would make a glorious Volume by itselfe, 
 
 * This memorable conflagration continued from the 2nd to the 6th of September. St. Andrew's Day is 
 the 30th of November. 
 
97 
 
 and like enough it might take well in the World. It were an inconsiderable charge 
 to these Persons of Qualitie : and it would remaine to Posterity, when their Families 
 are gonn, and their Buildings ruin'd by time, or Fire, as we have seen that stupen- 
 dous Fabrick of Paul's Church, not a stone left on a stone, and lives now onely in 
 M r Hollar's Etchings in S r William Dugdale's History of Paul's. I am not displeased 
 with this Thought as a Desideratum, but I doe never expect to see it donn : so few 
 men have the hearts to doe publique good: to give 3, 4, or bli. for a Copper Plate." 
 There are about three hundred pages in the first volume, and three hundred and 
 twenty in the second. 
 
 The Royal Society's copy of the "Natural History of Wiltshire" appears to be a 
 close transcript of the original. The two parts are bound as one volume ; and there 
 is inserted, at p. 260, a MS. copy of a " Survey of our Lady Church at Salisbury taken 
 by D r Christopher Wren (since Sir Christopher), Anno Domini, 1669, being invited 
 down to do it by Seth Ward, Lord Bishop of Sarum." Mr. Halliwell, in his " Cata- 
 logue of the Miscellaneous MSS. in the Library of the Royal Society," (8vo. 1840,) 
 states that " this work is in course of publication, under the able editorship of 
 Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bart.," thus committing the error of previous writers, by con- 
 founding the manuscript now referred to with the Description of North Wiltshire, 
 already noticed. 
 
 It is hoped and expected that the Wiltshire Topographical Society will 
 publish the " Natural History," as a companion to the present memoir. 
 
 IV. "Perambulation of halfe the County of Surrey, fol." [In the 
 Ashmolean Museum^] 
 
 The circumstances attending the production of Aubrey's Perambulation, or His- 
 tory of Surrey, have been already mentioned, (vide pp. 49, 64,) and the work itself, 
 as printed under the care of Dr. Rawlinson, in five vols. 8vo., 1719, though now 
 scarce, is in many public and private libraries. 
 
 The manuscript in the Ashmolean Museum does not appear to contain the 
 
 o 
 
98 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 whole of the work, but comprises about one hundred and eighty leaves of paper, 
 (foolscap folio, stitched,) written on one side only, with occasional corrections on 
 the opposite pages. It contains many notes by Evelyn, and the original of his 
 letter to Aubrey, which is given in the printed work. There is also a dedi- 
 cation to "the Honourable and Vertuous Charles Howard of Norfolk, and the 
 Honoured and Vertuous John Evelyn, of Deptford, Esquire," also many slight draw- 
 ings, by the author, of the principal seats in the county, armorial bearings, &c. In 
 Manning and Bray's History of Surrey, vol. iii. p. 685, Aubrey's perambulation is 
 spoken of with respect. The authors state that, " by his labours, many monumental 
 inscriptions have been preserved, which have since been destroyed. Although his 
 copies are by no means exact as to spelling, his dates are seldom found to be incorrect." 
 In Gough's British Topography, (vol. ii. p. 262,) Granger is quoted, to the effect 
 that another edition of the History of Surrey was published in 1723 ; and Worrall, 
 in Bibliotheca Topographica Anglicana, mentions an edition in 1723, with only a new 
 title. In Lowndes's Bibliographer's Manual copies of the work are said to have 
 realized the following prices : " Sotheby, Morocco, £7. 12s. 6d., Sir P. Thomp- 
 son £9. 16s. 6d., Dent, Russia, £19. 5*. Od., Towneley, Russia, £26. 5*. Od., Nassau 
 £26. 15*. 6d., Beckford, 1817, Morocco, £29. 8*. Od" According to Worrall it was 
 published at £1 5*. Od. 
 
 V. " Miscellanea, fol." 
 This manuscript is not in the Ashmolean Museum, nor am I able to give any 
 account of it. It may be supposed to have contained materials for Aubrey's Mis- 
 cellanies, which will be noticed in a future page. 
 
 VI. "Lives, 3 parts 
 
 VII. M r Th. Hobbes' Life in English. 
 These are the works by which Aubrey is best known to the public: a full 
 
 account of the circumstances under which they were written has been already 
 given. It is evident on comparing these manuscripts with Wood's Athmce Oxonienses 
 that several of the lives printed in the latter were compiled from materials collected 
 
"lives of eminent men." 99 
 
 by Aubrey ; but Wood made many additions and corrections to them, as may be 
 seen by collating his notice of James Harrington with that written by Aubrey, and 
 printed ante, p. 35—37- 
 
 Neither Rawlinson nor Gough, in their remarks respecting Aubrey, took any 
 notice of the Lives. It is said that Granger, in his Biographical History of England, ^ 
 (1769), acknowledged his obligations to them for several anecdotes ; and that Lysons 
 used them in his Environs of London, (1791).* 
 
 The Aubrey manuscripts, and especially the Lives of Eminent Men, attracted a 
 great degree of attention from some of the most eminent literati towards the latter 
 part of the last century, and led indeed to controversy and differences of opinion, the 
 history of which would form a curious chapter in the literary annals of the country. 
 
 Thomas Warton, the historian of English poetry, as a Fellow of Trinity College, 
 Oxford, and a true lover of antiquities, devoted much of his time and attention to 
 the preparation of the Life and Literary Remains of Ralph Bathurst, D.D., which *" 
 he published in one volume 8vo., in 1761. Bathurst had been a contemporary and 
 intimate friend of Aubrey, and was President of the college to which they both 
 belonged, from 1664 to 1704. 
 
 From the Memoir of Aubrey by Dr. Rawlinson, from Hearne's edition of Anthony ^ 
 a Wood's Life, and from the Biographia Britannica, Warton necessarily derived a ^ 
 general knowledge of the talents and the labours of Aubrey ; and in the pursuit 
 of inquiries for his Memoir of Bathurst, the Ashmoleam Museum afforded him 
 an obvious source for material information and assistance. There he consulted with 
 great advantage the manuscript collections so often referred to. In the preface to 
 his memoir, after adverting to other libraries whence he had obtained aid, Warton 
 remarks, " But I found much greater assistance from Aubrey's Collection of Letters, 
 in the Ashmolean Museum, containing a correspondence between the most learned 
 of Dr. Bathurst's contemporaries." Those letters (respecting which see Article XIX. 
 p. 118) are repeatedly quoted by Warton, who also refers, in this volume, to other 
 portions of the manuscripts. Amongst these, Aubrey's notices of Bathurst, and 
 
 * See Caulfield's Inquiry into the conduct ofMalone, — a pamphlet fully noticed hereafter, p. 103. 
 
100 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 his memoir of Dr. Kettle, also a president of Trinity College, necessarily called 
 for special notice from the biographer of the former. The Life of Hobbes, too, 
 as containing anecdotes of Bathurst, is alluded to ; and .the Lives, generally, are 
 described by Warton (p. 153, note) as "An account of English Writers, especially 
 our Poets, with many of whom Aubrey was intimately acquainted, containing 
 several new and curious anecdotes of their lives." He proceeds to state, from 
 personal examination of the work, that it was lent by the author to Anthony a 
 Wood, whose obligations to it he describes, adding the Lives of Spenser and of 
 Shakspere, " as a specimen" of the manuscript. A letter from Bathurst to Aubrey, 
 commending his Monumenta Britannica, induces Warton to advert to that work ; 
 of which, however, it appears his only knowledge was derived from the printed 
 account by Dr. Rawlinson. It may be observed that Warton refers to the papers 
 with scrupulous minuteness ; for instance, " Aubrey's MSS. Lives, Mus. Ashmol. 
 Part I, No. 10, folio, p. 36, Cod. Ashmol." " Collection of Original Letters, MSS. 
 Mus. Ashmol. No. 1 5, folio. In Ashmole's Study, vol. i." &c. 
 / In 1780, Warton published a Life of Sir Thomas Pope, the founder of Trinity 
 College (8vo.), wherein he again refers, incidentally, to the Lives, and especially to 
 that of Dr. Kettle. At page 185, he gives quotations from " Sir Thomas Pope's bre- 
 viary — written and illuminated — given by John Aubrey, the antiquarian, to the Ash- 
 molean Museum." (vide the present Memoir, ante, p. 83). He adds, on the authority 
 of a " Letter to Wood," in the Ballard volume already frequently quoted in this 
 memoir, that " Aubrey had intended to place this breviary in its proper repository, 
 Trinity College Library ; but, having conceived some prejudice against Dr. Bathurst, 
 the president, he changed his design, and gave it to the Ashmolean Museum." 
 In conjunction with William Huddesford, also a Fellow of Trinity College, and 
 j then keeper of the Ashmolean Museum, Warton published, in 1772, a new edition of 
 Anthony a Wood's Life, together with Memoirs of Leland and Hearne ; and, in a 
 note to the first of these, they appended a list of Aubrey's manuscripts in the 
 •j museum ; but it is remarkable that they entirely omitted to notice in that list the 
 Lives of Eminent Men. 
 
"lives of eminent men." 101 
 
 Dr. Farmer, in his Essay on the Learning of Shakespeare (8vo. 1767), thus 
 mentions Aubrey's Lives : " The celebrated M r Warton in his Life of D r Bathurst 
 hath favoured us with some hearsay particulars concerning Shakespeare, from a MS. 
 of Aubrey's which had been in the hands of Wood, and I ought not to suppress 
 them, as the last seems to make against my doctrine.* They came originally, I 
 find, on consulting the MS., from one M r Beeston,-f- and I am sure M r Warton, whom 
 I have the honour to call my friend, will be in no pain about their credit." (p. 36) 
 Farmer then quotes Aubrey's notice of Shakspere, and partially refutes it ; adding, v 
 " It is therefore sufficiently clear that poor Antony a Wood had too much reason for 
 his character of Aubrey." 
 
 The biographical writings of Aubrey in the next place attracted the attention of 
 Malone ; who, in the course of his task as an editor and commentator on Shakspere, • 
 derived much curious information from the papers of the old topographer and 
 antiquary. Some passages in the first part of vol. i. of Malone's edition of Shaks- 
 peare (8vo. 1790),^ shew that when that was printed his knowledge of the Aubrey 
 manuscripts was limited to the facts previously made public; but it is evident 
 that, before issuing the second part of the same volume, he had made some imme- -J 
 diate use of the originals ; though still (there is reason to believe) not from per- 
 sonal examination, but merely by extracts, furnished by Warton, with whom he was 
 on friendly terms. " Since my remarks," says Malone, " on the epitaph said to have 
 been made by Shakspeare on John O'Combe, were printed, it occurred to me that the 
 manuscript papers of Mr. Aubrey, preserved in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, 
 might throw some light on that subject."^ He then gives a short but circumstantial 
 account of Aubrey's life and writings ; together with the favourable opinions of 
 his literary merits, which have been quoted in p. 6 of the preceding Memoir. 
 He proceeds as follows : — " The anecdotes concerning D' Avenant, in Wood's Athena 
 
 * Farmer's theory was that Shakspere did not receive the advantages of a classical education, 
 f This is an error on the part of Farmer. Aubrey derived certain information respecting Spenser (not 
 Shakspere), from Mr. Beeston. 
 
 J Notes to Rome's Life in Malone's Shakspeare, vol. i. part i. pp. 160, 164. 
 
 § Historical Account of the English Stage, in Malone's Shakspeare, vol. i. part ii. p. 166. 
 
102 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 \l Oxonienses, were, like the copious and accurate account of Milton, transcribed lite- 
 rally from Aubrey's papers. What has been there suggested [that D'Avenant was 
 Shakspere's son] is confirmed by a subsequent passage in the MS., which has been 
 imperfectly obliterated, and which Wood did not print ; though, in one of his own 
 unpublished manuscripts, now in the Bodleian Library, he has himself told the same 
 story. The line which is imperfectly obliterated, in a different ink, and therefore 
 probably by another hand than that of Aubrey, tells us (as Mr. Warton, who has 
 been able to trace the words through the obliteration, informs me) that D'Avenant 
 was Shakspeare's son." Malone, a few pages onward, prints what he calls "an 
 exact transcript of the whole article [by Aubrey] relating to Shakspeare, from the 
 original;" and this, which is given more accurately than it had previously been by 
 Warton and Farmer, is accompanied by nine pages of critical commentary upon 
 Aubrey's anecdotes. Indeed, it is evident that this editor of Shakspere fairly and 
 fully appreciated Aubrey's industry and his accuracy of record. 
 
 In page 269, Malone makes the following additional remarks respecting 
 DAvenant : — " I have mentioned in a preceding page," he says, " that the account 
 given of him by Wood was taken from Mr. Aubrey's MS. Since that sheet was 
 printed Mr. Warton has obligingly furnished me with an exact transcript of the 
 article relating to D'Avenant,* which, as it contains some particulars not noticed by 
 Wood, I shall here subjoin." Yet it is remarkable that in the transcript which 
 follows, the "imperfectly obliterated" passages, so ingeniously observed by Warton, 
 are not given. 
 
 Soon after the appearance of Malone's edition of Shakspere the literary world was 
 agitated by the famous discussion respecting the Ireland forgeries ;-\- and this led to 
 
 * There is no doubt that the " exact transcript" of the memoir of Shakspere, previously given by Malone, 
 was also supplied by his friend Warton. Mr. Charles Knight, in his recent Biography of Shakspere, notices 
 the traditionary account of him by Aubrey, and endeavours to reconcile some of its statements with the few 
 facts which have been satisfactorily ascertained. 
 
 f The original documents prepared by William Henry Ireland, junior, and promulgated with so much 
 temporary success, together with his own manuscript "Confession" of the whole course of his deceptions, 
 are in the possession of Lewis Pocock, Esquire, F.S.A. London. 
 
"lives op eminent men." 103 
 
 Malone's able " Inquiry into the authenticity of certain papers and instruments 
 attributed to Shakspeare," which was printed in 8vo. in 1796. By this we find that 
 subsequently to the publication of his " Shakspeare," Malone had examined Aubrey's 
 manuscripts, which appear to have been previously known to him only through other 
 sources. In page 200, he says, " Of the whole of Aubrey's biographical collec- 
 tions, deposited in the Ashmolean Museum, I made a transcript last summer, which 
 will hereafter be laid before the publick ;" and in an appendix, he quotes, " from a 
 paper entitled Nouvelles* MS. Aubrey in Mus. Ashmol.," a short notice of the Penny 
 Post, and an account of the " Bank of Credit at Devonshire House, Bishopsgate Street." 
 The last was projected in the seventeenth century, and, though unsuccessful, led, 
 about eleven years afterwards, to the establishment of the Bank of England. 
 
 Further proof that Malone made extracts personally from the Aubrey papers about 
 this period is afforded by a pamphlet written by James Caulfield, a London print- 
 seller, who had been attracted to the same curious materials with a view to pecuniary 
 profit. Caulfield's pamphlet likewise appeared in 1796, and was called "An Inquiry v 
 into the conduct of Edmond Malone, Esq., concerning the Manuscript papers of John 
 Aubrey, F.R.S., in the Ashmolean Museum, Oaf or d. London : Printed for J. Caul- 
 field, No. 11, Old Compton-street, Soho." 8vo. pp. 19. The author, who produced 
 some volumes of curious biographies, with portraits, states that about the year 1788 J 
 his attention was directed to the manuscript of the Lives of Eminent Men, which he 
 intended to have printed ; but he did not examine it personally till 1 796, when, by the 
 permission of Charles Lloyd, Esq. then Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum, he copied 
 some of the memoirs. After his return to London, Caulfield " wrote to Oxford to 
 obtain a copy of the fine Drawing by Faithorne of John Aubrey, which he proposed 
 to prefix to the work. But in the course of Engraving this portrait, he understood 
 M r Malone was occupied on the same plan with himself." He accordingly had an 
 interview with him, wherein, as is evident from Caulfield's narrative, much jealously 
 was mutually shown ; and, having failed to effect any compromise with Malone, by 
 
 * This is not in the Ashmolean Museum. It will be seen that a chapter of Aubrey's Monumenta Bri- 
 tannica bore the title of Nouvelles. 
 
104 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 which either party should abandon his project, the speculating bookseller " indus- 
 triously applied himself to the work, and made a contract with an able artist, to 
 furnish him with a considerable quantity of drawings ; which he gave into the hands 
 of celebrated Engravers. These plates on an average could not be finished under 
 twelve guineas each." When five of them were completed, Caulfield learnt that 
 Malone was endeavouring to do him " an irreparable injury, by using his interest at 
 Oxford to stop his pursuit in gaining the manuscript complete : consequently to 
 leave him at a considerable expence, in the midst of a heavy undertaking."* His 
 intended publication was, notwithstanding, announced to appear in quarto numbers, 
 with the title of "The Oxford Cabinet, or Aubrean Miscellany;" but on going once 
 more to Oxford, before any portion of it was published, he was informed, " to his 
 inexpressible surprise, that, in consequence of a letter from M r Malone to the Keeper, 
 the MSS. were no longer to be consulted ; particularly however excluding him : and 
 the only answer he could obtain from M r Lake, the deputy keeper, was they were 
 carefully locked up, and no longer in his power to shew to any person whatever." 
 Upon this Caulfield immediately wrote to Malone, complaining of the injury 
 inflicted on him, inquiring his motive for doing him " so wilful a prejudice," and 
 threatening to publish a statement of the facts. " To this letter M r Malone sent a 
 verbal message down by his servant, stating that it required no answer ;" whereupon 
 the Inquiry was printed. Caulfield indignantly disputes the right of Malone to the 
 exclusive use of Aubrey's papers ; shows that he was not the Jirst who had referred 
 to them for literary purposes ; and incidentally states that " M r Seward had con- 
 templated using them, but, out of courtesy to Malone, with whom he was personally 
 intimate, had relinquished such intention." He complains that his rival had great 
 facilities afforded him, the papers being " removed to his house from the museum ;" 
 
 * Shortly before this Caulfield had again seen the manuscript, and observed, on the -wrapper of the second 
 part, the following inscription, in Malone's hand-writing : " These fragments collected and arranged by E. M. 
 1792." The fragments in question are the remnants of the volume which (so greatly to the vexation of 
 Aubrey) was mutilated by Anthony a Wood : they remain as they were arranged by Malone. Now the above 
 inscription shows that the latter had seen the manuscript four years prior to Caulfield, who took pains to 
 show that he had contemplated printing it as early as 1788. 
 
105 
 
 and finally makes a severe allusion to Malone's " big, bloated pride/' and challenges 
 a contradiction to his statements. 
 
 Malone, however, seems to have treated with silent contempt the complaints and 
 threatenings of Caulfield, who, acting upon his engagement to proceed with such 
 materials as he possessed, published the first part of his work, with the following full 
 title : " The Oxford Cabinet ; consisting of Engravings from Original Pictures in 
 the Ashmolean Museum, and other public and private collections ; with Biographical 
 Anecdotes, by John Aubrey, F.R.S. and other celebrated writers. London. Printed 
 for James Caulfield, William Street, Adelphi, 1797." Of the six numbers pro- 
 mised, only two were published. These contain ten of Aubrey's biographical 
 notices, including that of his ancestor, Dr. William Aubrey, which is accompanied 
 by a portrait of him; also others of John Aubrey, and of the Tradescant 
 family, &c. ; making in all nine prints, and a few woodcuts. The book has 
 neither preface nor introduction : it is very scarce, as is also the Inquiry, above 
 quoted ; but copies of each may be consulted in the Royal Library of the British 
 Museum. They were both very unfavorably criticised in the Gentleman s Magazine, 
 for 1797-8. 
 
 Aubrey is again referred to by Malone in his edition of Dryden's Miscellaneous 
 Prose Works (4 vols. 8vo., 1800). He states that Dryden's " Eleanora, a Panegyrical 
 Poem," (published in 1692,) was written, as may be inferred from its dedication, at 
 the request of the first Earl of Abingdon, in praise of his deceased Countess, grand- 
 daughter of Sir John Danvers, the regicide. " It is a singular circumstance," says 
 Malone, " that our author should have written this poem at the desire of a 
 nobleman with whom he was not personally acquainted, in praise of a lady whom 
 he never saw. This however was evidently a task undertaken for a pecuniary 
 reward; and the commission perhaps was procured by Mr. Aubrey, a common 
 friend of our author and the Earl of Abingdon." * He does not appear to have 
 been aware that Aubrey was related to the family of Danvers. 
 
 Until his death, in 1812, Malone continued actively employed in collecting 
 materials for the illustration of Shakspere; and with that view he employed 
 
 * Dryden's Miscellaneous Prose Works by Malone, vol. iv. p. 57. 
 
 P 
 
106 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 Bartolozzi, as already mentioned, to engrave the portrait of John Aubrey, whose writ- 
 ings the commentator evidently held in high esteem. His collections were arranged 
 by his executor and friend James Boswell, for the edition of Shakspere, published 
 in 1822, in 21 volumes, 8vo. Most of the remarks given by Malone in his own 
 edition, on topics connected with the names of Shakspere, D'Avenant, and Aubrey, 
 were repeated in that of Boswell, though his improved arrangement of the matter 
 led to their transposition in various ways. Malone's assumption that John Shak- 
 spere, the poet's father, was a glover, had led him, after publishing his previous 
 remarks, to a further examination of the Lives of Eminent Men, and to the following 
 judicious remarks on the value of Aubrey's testimony : " If the representation 
 attempted to be given of this ingenious and unfortunate gentleman were just 
 and well founded ; if it were true that every one who is weak in one place must 
 necessarily be weak in all ; that all those persons who in the last century were 
 idle enough to put their faith in judicial astrology, and to give credit to stories 
 of preternatural appearances of the dead, were fools ; and their judgment or tes- 
 timony of no value on any subject whatever, however unconnected with these 
 weaknesses ; then, in this large list of ninnies, must we class, with Mr. Aubrey, 
 the accomplished and literate Charles the First ; the grave and judicious Clarendon ; 
 the witty Duke of Buckingham ; the fertile and ingenious Dryden ; and many 
 other names of equal celebrity : — they must all ' bench by his side,' and must 
 be set down as persons not capable of forming a true judgment on any matter 
 whatsoever presented to them, and wholly unworthy of credit." * In the third 
 volume of Boswell's edition (p. 278) Aubrey's account of D'Avenant is repeated ; and 
 there the " imperfectly obliterated" line, which had been traced by Warton more 
 than twenty years before, was for the first time made public. It runs thus, — " Now 
 by the way his mother had a very light report. In those days she was called a 
 trader." There is also the following passage which Malone has not printed in his 
 own edition : — " I have heard Parson Robert [D'Avenant's brother] say that Mr. 
 William Shakespeare has given him a hundred kisses." It is remarkable that these 
 particular erasures (for both passages are struck through with a pen in the original) 
 
 * Boswell's edition of Shakspeare, vol. ii. p. 70. 
 
" LIVES OF EMINENT MEN." 107 
 
 have very recently attracted the attention of Mr. J. O. Halliwell ; who, not being 
 aware of the notice they had received from "Warton and Malone, has recorded the 
 omitted words as new and interesting contributions to the history of Shakspere, 
 "which had hitherto escaped the researches of all the biographers of our great 
 dramatist." " During a recent visit to Oxford," he says, " I had the curiosity to 
 inspect the original manuscript, and found that two paragraphs, scratched through, 
 but not with a contemporary pen, had escaped notice. By the aid of a strong light, 
 and a powerful magnifying glass, I was enabled to read them entirely, with the 
 exception of a few letters." Mr. Halliwell's version is not literally the same as 
 Malone's ; but he states that " Mr. Kirtland, Assistant Keeper of the Ashmolean 
 Museum, who is deeply skilled in palaeography, agreed with me in my reading of 
 the blotted passages." * 
 
 In 1813 nearly the whole of Aubrey's Lives of Eminent Men were published in v 
 a very amusing and interesting work edited by the Rev. Dr. Bliss and the late Rev. J. 
 Walker, of Oxford. This was originally intended to consist chiefly of letters by 
 distinguished literary men of the seventeenth century, preserved in the Bodleian 
 Library ; whence it is familiarly known as Letters from the Bodleian (paged as 2, 
 but bound in 3 vols. 8vo., see ante, p. 2). It contains one hundred and sixty-two 
 letters from that extensive library, with the following appendices: No. 1. Eight 
 Letters from the Ashmolean Museum (six of which were addressed to Aubrey) ; 
 Nos. 2 and 3. Accounts of Hearne's Journies to Whaddon Hall and to Reading, 
 from his MS. Diaries; No. 4. The Lives of Eminent Men, by John Aubrey; and 
 No. 5. His Life of Thomas Hobbes. One hundred and thirty of Aubrey's Lives are 
 thus printed ; and the appendix No. 4. consequently embraces one-half of the work. / 
 In their preface the editors say, " The object has been to give these Lives verbatim, 
 without correction or addition. That they possess a claim to the title of literary 
 curiosities, will readily be allowed, since there is scarcely a Life without some 
 anecdote hitherto unpublished; and the author's description of the personal 
 
 * Halliwell's Essay on the Character of Sir John Falstaff, as originally exhibited by Shakespeare, in 
 the two parts of King Henry IV. 12mo. 1841, pp. 47 — 50. 
 
108 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 appearance, and domestic habits, of most of the individuals of whom he writes, is 
 singularly interesting." 
 
 William. Godwin published in 1815 a quarto volume of the Lives of Edward and 
 •/ John Phillips, Nephews and Pupils of Milton, wherein he gives entire Aubrey's 
 account of Milton, from these Lives, admitting it to be '•' undoubtedly of consider- 
 able value and authenticity," but at the same time remarking that it is, " to a certain 
 degree, stamped with the coldness of a by-stander or clerk of the court," whilst the 
 memoir of the poet by Edward Phillips is " a monument of sober affection and 
 veneration." This is perhaps hardly just to the merits of the article referred to ; 
 the accuracy of which received a singular confirmation in 1823. In that year the 
 late Robert Lemon, the Deputy-Keeper of the State-Paper Office, discovered 
 in that establishment the manuscript of a work by Milton, before unknown, except 
 from a notice of it by Aubrey, who described it as " Idea Theologise, in manuscript, 
 in the hands of Mr. Skinner, a merchant's sonne, in Mark Lane." There are papers 
 in the same office tending to show that it passed there directly from Daniel Skinner, 
 the person alluded to by Aubrey ; in consequence of prohibition, on the part of the 
 Government of 1676, against its being published. A full analysis of the manu- 
 script, with its history, and Aubrey's statements on the subject, will be found in 
 Todd's edition of Milton's Poetical Works, 8vo., vol. i. p. 184, 1842* 
 
 Aubrey's account of Ben Jonson has been much underrated by Gifford, in his 
 biographical notice of that poet. The latter says, that " whoever expects a rational 
 account of any fact, however trite, from Aubrey, will meet with disappointment. 
 . . . In short, Aubrey thought little, believed much, and confused everything."-f- 
 Aubrey's statement that Jonson was tutor to Sir Walter Raleigh's son, was disputed 
 by Gifford, but has been confirmed, by the complete copy of Jonson's Conver- 
 sations 4 and, although the antiquary's assertion (on the authority of Sir Ed- 
 
 * Bishop Burgess read an elaborate and learned paper on the subject before the Royal Society of Literature, 
 f The Works of Ben Jonson ; with Notes, and a Biographical Memoir, by W. Gifford. (9 vols. 8vo. 
 1816.) Vol. i. p. xix. 
 
 % Published in 1842 by the Shakspere Society, under the Editorship of David Laing, Esq. 
 
109 
 
 ward Sherburne) that the poet "killed Mr. Marlow, on Bun-hill, comeing from 
 the Green Curtain play-house," is incorrect ; yet it has been ascertained by Mr. 
 Collier, that Ben Jonson really killed Gabriel Spencer, the player, in a duel in a 
 field, near Hoxton ; — a fact which probably led to the erroneous information given 
 to Aubrey. Indeed there is generally a great deal of truth in everything the latter 
 says ; and there can be no doubt that as our knowledge of the matters he alludes 
 to is extended, many of his statements, which now appear to rest on slight or 
 insufficient grounds, will be corroborated. 
 
 Gifford further says, " Aubrey's authority is seldom to be relied on ; a greater 
 blunderer never existed ; as Wood himself discovered when too late : he calls him 
 a ' roving, maggotty-pated man,' and such he truly was." 
 
 Those who have perused Gifford's Auto-biography, in his translation of Juvenal's 
 Satires, would expect more liberality of sentiment and courtesy of language than are 
 to be found in these harsh and overbearing comments on Aubrey ; but, from the long 
 continued exercise of the critical pen in the prejudiced career of political and reli- 
 gious partizanship, the writer's mind became callous and intolerant. Besides, it is 
 quite evident that Gifford had not examined the valuable manuscript collections of 
 Aubrey. Every discriminating reader of the foregoing pages will be enabled to 
 appreciate the injustice of the language used by the editor of Jonson's works. 
 
 With respect to Aubrey's memoirs generally, it is unnecessary to use the language 
 of commendation, as the important addition which they form to our knowledge of 
 the persons and events referred to is already fully acknowledged. The care taken | 
 by the author to ensure accuracy in his statements, and to record the names of his ; 
 informants, in all cases where he does not speak from his own knowledge, stamp 
 them with a high degree of authenticity. 
 
 Among the most curious and interesting memoirs may be particularized the 
 notices of the author's ancestor, Dr. William Aubrey ; of Dr. Kettle, Oughtred, 
 Sir William D'Avenant, Lord Bacon, Sir John Denham (with whom he was very 
 intimate), Sir Kenelm Digby and Lady Venetia Stanley, Sir John Suckling, Dr. 
 Wallis, Francis Potter, Selden, General Monk, Ben Jonson, Milton, and, notwith- 
 standing its supposed inaccuracies, Shakspere. 
 
110 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 The original manuscript of the Lives of Eminent Men consists of three parts, 
 foolscap folio. The second (mutilated by Wood, and arranged by Malone,) has 
 about twenty leaves only, whereas the others are of considerable bulk. There are 
 indexes by Aubrey to the first and third parts, and there appears to be several 
 lives not yet published, though they are certainly of minor character. The 
 desultory manner in which Aubrey put his materials together is shown by inter- 
 lineations, corrections, and additions, in almost every page of the manuscript. 
 
 The Life of Hobbes, which is a separate manuscript, has been fully mentioned 
 in a previous page, 54. It formed the Appendix No. 5 to the Letters from the 
 Bodleian, and is there very accurately given from the original. It is a valuable 
 memoir, and is repeatedly quoted with commendation by D'Israeli in his Quarrels of 
 Authors, vol. iii. 
 
 VIII. "An Apparatus of the Lives of English Mathematicians. A Q r at 
 Gresham Colledge." [In the Ashmolean Museum^] 
 
 These lives occupy sixteen leaves, foolscap folio, written on one side only, 
 and paged by the author. They are stitched together, and fastened inside the 
 cover of part iii. of the Lives of Eminent Men, with the following title : " An 
 Apparatus for the Lives of our English Mathematical Writers. By M r Jo. Aubrey, 
 R.S.S. March 25th, 1690." Two printed books on arithmetic (of about the reign 
 of Henry VIII.,) are noticed in this manuscript ; which contains memoranda for 
 the Lives of Dr. Record, James Peele, Leonard Digges, Thomas Digges, Cyprian 
 Lucar, Edmund Gunter, Richard Norwood, John Wells, Thomas Merry, Edward 
 Wright, Henry Coley, and Thomas Streete. 
 
 IX. "Idea of Education of Young Gentlemen from 9 to 18, fol. The 
 correct copie is w th Anthony Henley, Esq' at Y e Grange in Hamp- 
 shire." [In the Ashmolean Museum^] 
 
 This manuscript was correctly mentioned by Warton and Huddesford as an Idea 
 of Education of Young Gentlemen; but it is most inaccurately named by Chalmers 
 
"idea of education." Ill 
 
 in his Biographical Dictionary, as The Idea of Universal Education. Theories were 
 frequently termed Ideas in Aubrey's time:— witness Milton's manuscript Idea Theo- 
 logiee, mentioned in a former page; Pell's Idea of Mathematicks ; Templer's Idea 
 Theologies Leviathanis ; and Mackenzie's Idea Eloquentiee ; all written about the 
 same era. Hitherto the only published notice of Aubrey's Idea of Education was 
 a letter from the Rev. Andrew Paschal to Aubrey, penned after perusing the 
 manuscript, and offering some suggestions for its improvement.* 
 
 The preceding pages show the value which the writer himself attached to this 
 production. It comprises about one hundred leaves, foolscap folio, written, on one 
 side only, in a loose and confused manner, and is called on the title-page, "A 
 Private Essay only." It is dated 1683-4, and is an elaborate plan for the formation 
 of schools, or establishments, in which the "Education of Young Gentlemen" should 
 be better conducted, and more independently of the priesthood, than in any academy 
 or college then extant. 
 
 In a copy of a letter from Aubrey to Anthony Henley, Esq. written in 1693-4, 
 and annexed to the manuscript, he says, " The Earle of Pembroke hath read it over, 
 and excerpted some things. He approves of it, but is not active. I wish I may live 
 to transcribe a fair copie, from which others may be transcribed. I have some 
 hopes that the Marquis of Worcester may propagate this designe in Wales. It 
 would be but, as it were, saying fiat, to y e E. of Pembroke, Lord Worcester, and 
 Lord Ashley, to have it established at Cranburn. But God's will be done. If the 
 nobless have a mind to have their children be put into the Clergie's pockets, much 
 good may it do 'em." He begs that the manuscript (which accompanied the letter) 
 might be returned to him, or to Mr. Hooke at Gresham College, in the event of his 
 decease ; and adds, " But I foresee that it will lie there coffined up, and nobody have 
 that generosity to set afloat this noble designe." 
 
 The essay is divided into thirty-two chapters, of which the principal are entitled, 
 the Proem; the Institution ; Grammar; Mathematical! Prudence; Geometrie; Ethics; 
 Logic ; Rhetorique ; Civil Law ; Method ; the Schooles ; the Classes ; Exercise, in 
 
 * Aubrey's History of Surrey, vol. i. p. xiv. 
 
1 12 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 schoole and for holydayes ; the Diet-hall, and Portico ; Penances, or Punishments ; 
 Orders, or Statutes ; Religion, &c. 
 
 Under these various heads Aubrey describes the course of study which he con- 
 sidered most desirable in each successive year, for pupils between the ages of nine 
 and eighteen. Speaking of his proposed library, he devotes ten pages to a list of 
 books, which he regarded as best calulated for the instruction of youth ; and this 
 is interesting as showing his opinions of the classics, and of certain contemporary 
 writers.* He strongly urges instruction in arithmetic of the most useful kind, by 
 means of counters ; and recommends that the walls of the class-rooms should be 
 ornamented with portraits of illustrious men, and with emblems and mottoes incul- 
 cating practical wisdom and morality. He further advises that the Provost and 
 Informations (as he calls the tutors) should be unmarried, and that " Swiss, Dutch, 
 and Scotch men, of good presence, be engaged to teach ;" not forgetting " a lusty 
 young Swiss with a long sword, — one that can speak Latin, — to be the porter." His 
 plan makes ample provision for the exercise and amusement of the scholars, who, 
 besides having " 10 or 12 Swiss boys to play with them," were to be taught riding, 
 and out-of-door exercise by a Swiss, and dancing by a Frenchman. The rules for 
 diet are judicious, as well as his reproval of corporal punishment. " I would have 
 no such thing as the turning up of bare buttocks," but on the contrary he advises 
 finger-stocks, and deprivation of amusement, for boys who misconduct them- 
 selves. He recommends the study of astrology as " the best guide to direct us to 
 what professions or callings children are by nature most fit or most inclined to." 
 The Essay tbus characteristically concludes : " But now (methinkes) I see a black 
 squadron, led up by a crosier staflfe (D r Jo. Fell, Bp. of Oxford), marching from 
 Oxford, to discomfite this pretty Little Flock, and so this my pleasing Dream is at 
 an End. Soli Deo Gloria." 
 
 Amongst the places where the author proposed to establish his schools were 
 Canonbury, Islington ; Merton, in Wiltshire ; and Cranburne, in Dorsetshire. 
 
 * In the Ashmolean Museum is a volume containing nine printed pamphlets (small 4to.) thus marked by 
 Aubrey : — " This collection of Gramaticall Learning, and another in 8vo., is in relation to my Idea of the 
 Education of the Noblesse." 
 
" REMAINES OF GENTILISME. 
 
 113 
 
 X. " REMAINES OF GENTILISME, 3 PARTS, SC, ABOUT 3 Q rs . WlTH D r KENNET." 
 
 [In the British Museum, being part of the Lansdowne MS. No. 23 1 .] 
 
 The Lansdowne MS. No. 231, is entitled in the catalogue of that series, "A 
 Volume of Miscellaneous Collections formerly in the possession of Bishop Kennett, 
 hut not made by himself." Aubrey's is the third manuscript in the volume, and 
 extends from p. 101 to p. 241. The above note shows that this work was in the 
 possession of Bishop Kennett in 1692 : and after his death it passed, together with 
 his other papers, into the custody of the first Marquess of Lansdowne, whose 
 valuable collection was purchased for the British Museum in 1807- * 
 
 This manuscript, which is dated 1688,-f- has the following title and dedication :— 
 "Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme. By J. Aubrey, R.S.S. To His ever 
 honoured Friend Edmund Wyld,:}: of Geasly Hall, in the County of Salop, Esq r , 
 these Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme are dedicated, as a small token of 
 ancient Friendship, by his affectionate and humble Servant, J. Aubrey." 
 
 A volume of "Anecdotes and Traditions" was edited, in 1839, by W. J. Thorns, 
 
 * William, Marquess of Lansdowne, whose country seat was Bowood, Wiltshire, about six miles from the 
 birth-place of Aubrey, was not more famed in the political than in the literary and scientific world. His seat 
 was a sort of English Tusculum, where the most distinguished statesmen, artists, literati, and men of science 
 often associated to enjoy " the feast of reason and the flow of soul ;" where the state of nations, of parties, of 
 novelties in literature and art, were discussed and reviewed ; where the obstinacy of a monarch, and the reck- 
 less tyranny of a minister, were brought under the severe and condemnatory scrutiny of some of the most 
 potent critics of the age. It would not be a difficult task to trace some of the famed letters of Junius to this 
 fountain head (vide Life of Charles Butler, by Dr. Bowring). The value and importance of that portion of 
 the contents of the British Museum, properly called the Lansdowne Manuscripts, cannot fail to dignify 
 the character of the illustrious nobleman who amassed and preserved it. 
 
 ■J- " London, S* Bartholomew's Close, Octob. Novemb. Decemb. 1688." 
 
 t This Mr. Wyld is mentioned by Roger North in his account of the learned associates of the Lord Keeper 
 Guildford : " One M r Wyld, a rich philosopher, lived in Bloomsbury. He was single, and his house a sort of 
 knick-knack-atory. Most of the ingenious persons about town visited him, and among the rest his lordship 
 did suit and service there. This gentleman was of a superior order, and valued himself upon new inventions 
 of his own. He sowed salads in the morning, to be cut for dinner ; and claimed the invention of painted 
 curtains, in varnish, upon silk ; which would bend and not crack ; and his house was furnished with them : 
 and he delighted in nothing more than in shewing his multifarious contrivances.'' North's Life of Guildford 
 (edition 1826), vol. ii. p. 180. 
 
1 14 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 Esq. and published by the Camden Society, the second part of which, as the editor 
 states in the preface, "is derived from the Lansdowne MS. No. 231, written by the 
 well-known John Aubrey, and containing his materials (with some subsequent addi- 
 tions by D r White Kennett, Bishop of Peterborough,) for a work, the publication of 
 which he had contemplated under the title of ' Remains of Gentilism and Judaism,' 
 and in which, it appears, he had proposed to draw a parallel between the super- 
 stitions of Greece and Rome and those of his own country ; finding the records, or 
 rather traces, of the former, in the works of their Poets, and collecting his English 
 stores from the communications of his friends. Many interesting passages of this 
 manuscript have been already transferred by Sir Henry Ellis to his edition of 
 Brand's Popular Antiquities ; these with one exception, that of the Funeral Dirge, 
 have been omitted in the present work ; but, combined with those here printed, may 
 be said to comprise everything deserving of publication contained in the volume." 
 The specimens selected by Mr. Thorns consist of about seventy short passages, 
 each of which is illustrated and explained by means of appropriate notes. The 
 original essay comprises an interesting series of memorials of customs and observances 
 prevalent in Wiltshire, and other parts of England, in Aubrey's time ; but, as the 
 original is readily accessible in the National Library, it is unnecessary to enlarge 
 upon its contents. 
 
 XI. " Villare Anglicanum, [to be] interpreted. Fol." [In the Ashmolean 
 Museum.'] 
 
 This manuscript was known to and mentioned by Warton and Huddesford, as well 
 as by Gough, the latter of whom describes it as consisting of corrections and additions 
 to Adams's Index Villaris (British Topography, vol. i. p. 53J. It has the following 
 title-page, but no date : " An Interpretation of Villare Anglicanum. Musseo Ashmo- 
 leano don" 4 Clariss. Author, Jo. Aubrey." The manuscript is evidently the mere 
 commencement of a work which Aubrey had projected, but was unable to pro- 
 secute. In a letter to Llhwyd, (dated 1691,) he urges that gentleman to complete 
 it for publication. In the same letter he says, " Pray register my strawe Tobacco- 
 
COLLECTIONS OF DREAMS AND GENITURES. 115 
 
 box, and M r Fr. Potter's little Quadrant, and agate-haft." These gifts to the Ash- 
 molean Museum were probably lost or stolen before the year 1824, previous to 
 which date the collection was much neglected. 
 
 The above work, of about one hundred and thirty foolscap pages, comprises 
 a list, alphabetically arranged, entitled, " A Collection of British Names of Towns 
 and Rivers out of Villare Anglicanum." Appended is "A Collection of British 
 words that are endenized and now current English, and has escaped the fury of 
 the Saxon conquest" (2 pages) ; and " Words (now antiquated and obsolete) 
 extracted out of the English Translation of Titus Livius, by Philemon Holland, in 
 1600. Then in fashion and current English." (4 pages.) 
 
 XII. "A Collection of Divine Dreames from persons of my acquaintance 
 
 WORTHY OF BELIEFE. 8VO." 
 
 XIII. "Hypothesis Ethic. & Scala Religionis. W th D r Waple, Minister 
 of Sepulchres by Newgate." 
 
 These are not known as separate works ; but the first of them probably supplied 
 the materials for the chapter on Dreams in Aubrey's printed Miscellanies. (See 
 article XXII. in a subsequent page.) 
 
 XIV. "A Collection of Genitures well attested, 4*°." \In the Ashmolean 
 
 Museum^] 
 
 The above collection has never been publicly noticed until the present time. It is 
 a small 4to. manuscript, stitched in parchment, and extends to nearly two hundred 
 pages. It has the title " Collectio Genituarum, Various astrol. mems. Londini, 
 May 29, 1674," and on the outside " 1677- For the Museum." As its name implies, 
 it consists of a series of genitures, horoscopes, or nativities, embracing those of 
 Aubrey himself, drawn by Coley, which have been already mentioned; others 
 referring to his brother William, to his parents, and to their immediate ancestors. 
 From these have been derived some of the dates embodied in the pedigree of the 
 
116 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 Aubrey family (ante, p. 24). There are also calculations of the nativities of Dr. Dee, 
 Partridge, Hobbes, Dryden, Dr. Charlton, William Penn, Sir William Petty, Sir 
 Christopher Wren, King Charles the Second, and many other celebrated men ; also 
 the dates of many principal events in their lives. The care which Aubrey evidently 
 bestowed upon the collection of these details gives them considerable value as 
 materials for the biographer and literary historian; and the volume is further 
 interesting as it exemplifies the gross absurdities inherent in judicial astrology, in 
 belief of which our antiquary was an infatuated and unfortunate dupe. 
 
 XV. " Easton Piers delineated." [In the Ashmolean Museum^] 
 Warton and Huddesford mention this under its full title, "Designatio de 
 Easton-Piers in Com. Wilts. Per me (heu!) infortunatum Johannem Aubrey, 
 R.S. Socium. Anno Dni 1669." It comprises nineteen oblong quarto leaves, with 
 " views of the house, gardens, and environs of Easton Piers, drawn in a coarse 
 manner and colouring, but pleasing and expressive." The view in the title-page of 
 the present volume has been copied from one of these. A section through the 
 house and garden, north and south, shows that the latter was laid out in the Italian or 
 French mode, upon three different levels, each raised above the other, and ascended 
 by flights of steps, with a "jedeau" [jet-d'eau] in the lowest. A "grotto, above 
 which, on a pilar, stands a volant Mercury," are delineated in the drawings of the 
 garden. Six of the sketches represent groups of trees, in different parts of the 
 grounds : others show some of the grottoes in the gardens, and indications of 
 prospects from the house. 
 
 XVI. " Villa, or a Description of the Prospects from Easton Piers." 
 
 This may have been a companion volume to the above ; but it is not to be 
 found. 
 
 XVII. "Faber Fortune, A Private Essay." [In the Ashmolean Museum^] 
 The above Manuscript has not hitherto attracted public attention. It consists of 
 
 twenty-six small quarto pages, being hints or memoranda of matters desirable for 
 
" FABER FORTUNE." 117 
 
 the public good, or for the writer's personal advantage. The following are extracts : 
 " 1. To get a Patent to open the passage for to make it wider for shippes to come 
 to Bristowe : whereas now they come no nearer than Hungerode. Also to blow 
 up the little Island in the key at Bristowe, which occupies the room of two or 
 three Barks ; also to make obtuse the sharp angular rock at S* Vincent's, w ch 
 is a great nusance. 2. To put some body upon marying the Thames and 
 Avon; and to get a share in it." " 12. M rs Hucker advised me to purchase a 
 barren ground four miles from her estate, wherein is wonderfully rich oare of Anti- 
 mony and Lead, unknown to the Owner." " 18. The institution of my Idea for the 
 Education of Young Gentlemen in Derbyshire, in Cheshire, London, &c." "28. 
 Search in the Pety-bag-office, if any Reversions. Gett half a dozen reversions, and 
 in halfe a year one of them may probably fall. This advice I had from my worthy 
 
 friend M r James Bovey. Get a cole-meter's place. 'Tis worth p ann." 
 
 Many of the memoranda relate to mineralogical matters ; such as alum ; calu- 
 mine ; making latten ; extracting silver from lead ; working in copper and brass ; 
 &c. The last entry is a proposition for establishing an office for registering 
 statistics of various kinds ; viz. Births, Marriages, Burials, the Number of Houses, 
 and Population, Trades, Excise,: Church Revenues, Prisoners and Executions, 
 Shipping, Prices Current, and several other matters which, though little regarded 
 in Aubrey's time, are now most carefully recorded, and made public. 
 
 XVIII. " A Collection of Approved Receipts." Not to be found. 
 
 XIX. " A Collection of Letters, writt to me from about 100 ingeniose 
 
 PERSONS : INCH § THICK. THIS I DESIGNE FOR THE MuS^UM." [In the 
 
 Ashmolean Museum.^ 
 
 With respect to Aubrey's correspondence, it is remarkable that so few of the 
 original letters of one who maintained a constant intercourse with his literary 
 friends should be preserved. I am not aware that more than sixty or seventy of 
 them are to be found, and fifty-six of those are addressed to Anthony a Wood. 
 
118 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 After the death of the latter they came into the possession of James Ballard, and 
 form part of his valuable collection of original letters, now in the Bodleian Library, 
 at Oxford. The remainder of Aubrey's autograph letters are scattered through his 
 various manuscripts at Oxford, and there are two short notes in the British Museum. 
 (See AyscougKs Catalogue, p. 217.) The letters to Anthony a Wood extend from 
 1667 to 1694; and, as shown by the frequent extracts in previous pages of this 
 volume, are full of information on the literary topics of the times. They will be 
 found in the fourteenth volume of Ballard's series. 
 
 Of equal importance with these is the above-named collection, made by Aubrey, 
 of about four hundred letters written to him, and now preserved, apparently at the 
 instance of Llhwyd, in the Ashmolean Museum. It comprises communications from 
 Sir John Aubrey, from Bathurst, Byrom, Charlton, Sir W. Dugdale, Gibson, Halley, 
 Harrington, Hobbes, Hollar, Sir John Hoskyns, Sir James Long, Llhwyd, Lydall, 
 Sir Isaac Newton, Paschal, Penn, Sir William Petty, Plott, Potter, Ray, Tanner, the 
 Earl of Thanet, Wallis, and many other celebrated men. From some of these we 
 learn that Aubrey took much interest in a popular project of the day, viz. the 
 "Universal Character," or a method of writing to be based upon a due consideration 
 of the philosophy of language. On this subject he corresponded with the Rev. 
 Andrew Paschal, with Seth Ward, Bishop of Salisbury, and Francis Lodwick, one of 
 the attesting witnesses to his Will, ante, p. 60. Many interesting passages might, 
 indeed, be extracted from these volumes, but I forbear quotation, from a fear 
 of making the present memoir too prolix. One of them is a long and very friendly 
 letter from William Penn to Aubrey, dated Philadelphia, 13th June, 1683, in 
 which the writer gives a description of that transatlantic city, and of his govern- 
 ment of the little band of colonists under his control. At the end of the second 
 volume are " Letters from D r Ja: Garden, Professor of Theologie at Aberdene, to M r 
 J. Aubrey, concerning the Druids' Temples." These comprise only eight of the 
 learned Doctor's epistles ; four others were affixed by Aubrey to his Monumenta 
 Britannica ; and I possess two more : the whole of them are dated between June, 
 1692, and July, 1695. 
 
HIS CORRESPONDENCE. 119 
 
 Anthony a Wood must have corresponded frequently with Aubrey ; but there 
 are only three of his letters in the Ashmolean collection. 
 
 Hearne and Warton were acquainted with the volumes here referred to ; which 
 have not since attracted the attention they are so well entitled to. 
 
 Some letters from Aubrey to Ray were found amongst the papers of the latter, 
 after his death, and published by Derham in his selection of the deceased naturalist's 
 Philosophical Letters (8vo. 1718) ; and a few others, addressed to Aubrey by his 
 friends, have appeared in the anonymous volume mentioned in p. 85, likewise in 
 Warton's Life of Bathurst ; in the European Magazine ; in Aubrey's Surrey ; in his 
 Miscellanies ; in the Letters from the Bodleian ,- and in Hoare's Ancient Wiltshire. 
 Most of these, however, have already been adverted to in the present memoir. 
 
 XX. " Adversaria Physica." 
 
 Besides being mentioned by the author himself, a manuscript with this title 
 is alluded to by Ray (see a letter by him, p. 64, ante). I do not find any such 
 work in the Ashmolean Museum. 
 
 XXL "An Introduction to Architecture." 
 
 Dr. Rawlinson, in his Memoir of Aubrey, speaking of his writings, says, "there 
 yet remains an unfinished piece, Architectura Sacra, and as I am told prefixed to 
 one of his MSS. at Oxford." The same statement is repeated in the memoir of 
 1721 ^Miscellanies), with the additional information that the collection "treats 
 of the manner of our Church Building in England for several ages ;" and Warton 
 and Huddesford, in their list of the Aubrey manuscripts, mention " Architectonica 
 Sacra : a curious MS., but unfinished." 
 
 Aubrey's remarks on architecture seem to have been confined to that of the old 
 churches of England, and, scanty as they are, evince a familiarity with the pro- 
 gressive changes in the forms and decorations of many ecclesiastical edifices in 
 different parts of the Island. Accompanying a notice of the church of Kington St. 
 Michael there are, in the manuscript of his North Division of Wiltshire, some 
 
120 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 sketches of the windows and of the north doorway,* with notes referring to analogous 
 examples in other buildings. The same sketches and observations were repeated by 
 the author in the first chapter of Part IV. of his Monumenta Britannica (to which 
 division of the work he gave the title " Chronologia Architectonica"), and he there 
 extended his remarks to upwards of thirty pages, illustrating them with more than 
 fifty sketches, chiefly of windows and doorways. Some of his remarks are judicious ; 
 and there is an approximation to the views now entertained, in his chronological 
 arrangement of the objects he delineates. He says, " The Gothic architecture was a 
 deviation from y e Roman, and y e Gothic Characters a Deviation from y e Roman Cha- 
 racters. Mem. That the fashions of building do last about ] 00 years, or less ; the 
 windows y e most remarqueable : hence one may give a guess about what Time y e 
 Building was." 
 
 Passages from this essay may be consulted in Gough's abstract of the Monumenta 
 Britannica, in the Bodleian Library; and there is also an imperfect copy of the 
 Chronologia Architectonica, in a different hand- writing, amongst Aubrey's papers in 
 the Ashmolean Museum. As already mentioned, some etchings from Aubrey's 
 sketches of windows, &c. were published by Francis Perry in 1762. 
 
 XXII. " Some Strictures of Hermetick Philosophy, collected by J. 
 Aubrey. W th D r Waple." 
 
 Hermetic philosophy has been described as " that which undertakes to deduce 
 all the Phenomena of Nature from three Chemical Principles, Salt, Sulphur, and 
 Hermes, or Mercury." (Watt's Bibliotheca Britannica.') Aubrey, however, uses the 
 term to denote astrology, or matters of mystery and superstition, generally ; and 
 describes his Miscellanies as " A Collection of Hermetic Philosophy." It is 
 therefore probable that he employed the word with reference to certain writings 
 on astrological subjects, known as early as the third or fourth centuries, and 
 ascribed to an Egyptian sage or deity, called Hermes by the Greeks, and surnamed 
 
 * The north wall of Kington Church appears to be modern. In the south wall there are old jambs, with 
 three-quarter columns to the door-way, indicative of the end of the twelfth century. 
 
INTRODUCTION TO ARCHITECTURE. 121 
 
 by astrologers Trisinegistus, or thrice great. These appear to have been really 
 written " at Alexandria, by Gnostic Christians, or philosophers, of the Aristotelian, 
 or of the new Platonic schools." (Penny Cyclopaedia, article Hermes.) Greek 
 and English versions of some of these writings were published in London, in the 
 seventeenth century, and no doubt contributed to encourage the occult and mystic 
 study of Astrology. 
 
 The manuscript which, in 1692, as above-mentioned, was in the possession of 
 Dr. Waple, was doubtless the same which Aubrey afterwards published, with the 
 title of " Miscellanies." 
 
 The "first edition of the work (1696), and the second (1721), have been already 
 mentioned. A third was " Printed for W. Ottridge, Strand ; and E. Easton, at 
 Salisbury," 8vo. 1784*. In the second edition four diagrams, which were engraved on 
 wood for the first edition, occupy a copper-plate at the beginning of the volume, 
 and translations of the Latin passages quoted in the work, are added to the 
 originals. " Some Memoirs of the Life of John Aubrey" condensed from the account 
 by Dr. Rawlinson in the History of Surrey, precede it ; and there is an additional 
 chapter (xxii), entitled, " The discovery of two murders by an apparition." A 
 story from the Athenian Mercury is inserted at the end, in compliance with the 
 wish expressed by the author in his letter to Mr. Churchill only a few days before 
 his death (see p. 72, ante). This edition appears to have been printed from a copy 
 corrected by Aubrey. The price of it was four shillings. The third edition has 
 a different title-page, and chapter xii. is there entitled Miranda (having previously 
 been headed Marvels) ; but it is in other respects little else than a reprint of the 
 edition of 1721. 
 
 The contents of this work, and the opinions of the author, may be inferred from 
 the list of the chapters (ante, p. 2) ; and that it is frivolous, and replete with 
 absurdities, cannot be denied. In the words of the late estimable Mr. Hamper 
 (Life of Sir W. Dugdale, p. 414), it is indeed " a farrago of superstition and 
 credulity." Still it has been the means of preserving some interesting traditionary 
 
 * It is stated in Lowndes' Bibliographer's Manual, that there were other editions in 1714, 1723, and 
 1731, but I have not found any authority for the assertion. 
 
 R 
 
122 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 anecdotes of the times, and affords curious illustrations of the credulity not only 
 of the writer, but of many of his literary contemporaries. The superstitious de- 
 lusions which were credited when the volume was first printed do not appear to 
 have been wholly eradicated when it was republished, nearly a century later. 
 
 Sir Walter Scott derived some aid from Aubrey's lucubrations, in his admirable 
 novel The Antiquary, the first volume of which contains several passages clearly 
 suggested by the Miscellanies. Indeed the latter work is directly referred to by the 
 novelist ; for, in reproving his " sister Grizel" for prolixity, Oldbuck, the antiquary, 
 charges her to " imitate the concise style of old Aubrey, an experienced ghost-seer, 
 who entered his memoranda on these subjects in a terse, business-like manner, 
 exempli gratia : c At Cirencester, 5 th March, 1 670, was an apparition. Being 
 demanded whether good spirit or bad, made no answer, but instantly disappeared 
 with a curious perfume, and a melodious twang.' Vide his Miscellanies, p. eighteen 
 as well as I can remember, and near the middle of the page." 
 
 It will be seen on reference to the original that Sir Walter did not hesitate to add 
 to the effect of Aubrey's terse and concise narration by the insertion of a date, " 5 th 
 March," which is not in the Miscellanies ; but this is a licence which, in a work of 
 fiction, cannot be of much importance. Sir Walter, indeed, like many other writers 
 of novels and historical romances, often used quotation and authority, more to suit 
 the spirit of his own writings than to honour the author whom he cited. Oldbuck 
 again, terming his sister an " old woman," says, " I include in the same class many 
 a sounding name, from Iamblichus down to Aubrey, who have wasted their time in 
 devising imaginary remedies for non-existent diseases." 
 
 A few of the early pages of the Miscellanies are expressly stated by the author to 
 be a reprint of some remarks on " Day-Fatality ; or observations of days lucky and 
 unlucky," collected by " Mr. John Gibbon (Blew-mantle), and printed in two sheets 
 in folio, 1 678." These observations comprise some which bear personal reference to 
 their author, Gibbon; but, overlooking Aubrey's explanation, many of his bio- 
 graphers have regarded them as if written by the latter. Thus it has been said that 
 Aubrey, instead of Gibbon, was born on the 3rd of November, and that he was a 
 considerable loser by the irruption of the sea upon some valuable marsh land in 
 
"miscellanies." 123 
 
 Kent, part of an estate which had been left to him ; but a more careful examination 
 of this Essay proves that the passages in question do not relate to Aubrey. In like 
 manner some pompous Latin verses by Gibbon, celebrating the birthday of the 
 Duke of York (afterwards James II.) have been attributed to Aubrey.* 
 
 The anonymous letters printed in the Miscellanies on the subjects of " Trans- 
 portation in the Air by an Invisible Power," and " Second-Sighted Men in 
 Scotland," were written by his friend and correspondent Dr. Garden, of Aberdeen. 
 
 Besides the manuscript literary works by Aubrey, preserved in the Ashmolean 
 Museum, there is a small packet, marked (apparently by Malone) " Loose Papers 
 (I believe) in M r Aubrey's hand." Amongst these is the Draught of his Will, pre- 
 pared between 1652 and 1659, which has been given in page 33, and a sketch 
 of a dramatic piece which Aubrey contemplated writing. It seems to have been 
 intended for a comedy in five acts, but the first three scenes alone are written, 
 and those in a very rough and confused manner. The heads of the succeeding 
 scenes are indicated ; and a careful examination of the manuscript might develope 
 the author's intention. The play was to be called " The Country Revell,-f- or The 
 
 Revell of Aldford," and the following are some of the "Dramatis Personam :" 
 
 Courtoise, a Knight of the Bath, and Protector and Servant of distressed Ladies ; 
 Lady Euphrasia, wife to Sir Libidinous Gourmand ; Lady Florimel, wife to Sir 
 Surly Chagrin; Justice Wagstaff (Sir J. Dunstable); Sir Fastidious Overween ; 
 Captain Exceptious Quarrelsome ; Country Wenches and Fellows ; Ballard-singer, 
 &c. On the title-page is written, " Scene, Aldford in Cheshire, by y e River Dee. 
 
 * It will be seen that the statement as to Aubrey's marriage, already refuted, is not the only error in pre- 
 vious notices of Aubrey. He is often said to have been at school with Hobbes at Leigh-de-la-Mere, which 
 has been shown to be incorrect; and his memorable interview with Charles the Second is stated to have 
 occurred at Stonehenge instead of at Avebury. 
 
 t A revel or wake is an annual rustic festival, generally limited to country villages, or hamlets, 
 not sufficiently populous to support a fair. Shakspere uses the word revel to denote a feast of riotous and 
 noisy jollity. 
 
124 MEMOIR OF JOHN AUBREY. 
 
 St. Peter's Day 1669." "Act I. Scene 1.," however, is " Christian-Malford Green. 
 Enter Country Wenches." Christian-Malford is a parish in the immediate vicinity 
 of Aubrey's birth-place. 
 
 In October, 1697, four months after Aubrey's death, some remarks by him on 
 " a medicated spring at Lancarim, Glamorganshire," were published in the Philo- 
 sophical Transactions (No. 233, p. 727). 
 
 The preceding narrative, with the extracts and comments on the life and writings 
 of Aubrey, may be considered by some readers as too minute ; perhaps even as 
 frivolous and unworthy of publication ; but I am well satisfied that there are many 
 others who will wish they had been extended, especially when it is known that the 
 materials for doing so were not deficient. Aware of the impossibility of pleasing 
 all, I have been influenced by the expressed wishes and opinions of those antiquaries 
 whose judgments I respect ; and in what is here put on record, I have endeavoured 
 to develope the personal and mental characteristics of the man, as well as the spirit 
 of the age in which he lived and acted ; and these will be found to reflect each other 
 vividly and tangibly. Had Aubrey associated with men of high intellect ; had he 
 lived in the present times of political, literary, and scientific high-pressure power, he 
 must have greatly distinguished himself, for he evidently possessed that element of 
 sympathy for art and nature which is the germ of greatness. The appalling and 
 degrading fanaticism, with the frivolous superstition which pervaded society, in town 
 and country, in college and at court, could not fail to influence and corrupt the 
 general character of all persons who came within their respective influences. Even 
 Milton and Dryden, his contemporaries, and Johnson in a later and more enlightened 
 age, were not exempt from certain notions of bigotry and superstition. Few are the 
 persons, and rare their occurrence, who can stand so far aloof from their associates, 
 as to think and act with perfect freedom, independent of contemporary prejudices 
 and conventionalities. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Abingdon, the Earl of, a patron of Aubrey, 31, 
 43 ; his Miscellanies dedicated to him, 71 ; poem 
 written for him by Dryden, 105 
 
 " Accidents " of John Aubrey, an autobiographical 
 paper, 17, 44 
 
 Addison, his comedy of " The Drummer," 31 
 
 Agriculture, Cromwell's opinion on, 33 
 
 " Amici," Aubrey's List of, 16 
 
 Architecture (Church), Aubrey's remarks and draw- 
 ings, 3, 20 
 
 Ashmole, Elias, his superstition, 1 1 ; induces Aubrey 
 to study Astrology, 6 ; his Diary characterized, 
 1 1 ; letter written to him by Aubrey, 57 ; Aubrey's 
 papers in his possession, 61 ; in Ashmolean Mu- 
 seum, 62 
 
 Ashmolean Museum, fees for examining its archives, 
 Pref. x; its erection, 61 ; Aubrey gives his papers 
 to it, ib. ; register of his benefactions, 63, 84 ; 
 gifts to it by Aubrey, not to be found, 80, 84, 115; 
 inscription over the Library, 83 ; present state of 
 Aubrey's gifts, 84 
 
 Astrology, Aubrey's belief in, 8 ; its popularity in 
 the 16th and 17th centuries, 8 — 12 ; works on the 
 subject still published, 9 ; characterized by Sir 
 Walter Scott, 9 ; notices of Lilly, Ashmole, and 
 other professors, 10, 11 ; causes of its downfall, 11 ; 
 predictions of Coley and Gadbury as to Aubrey, 
 48 
 
 Athenian Mercury, the, 73 
 
 " Aubrey," origin of the name, 21 
 
 Aubrey, Dr. William, (an ancestor of the topogra- 
 pher) 22; entail of his estates, and consequent 
 law suits, 45 
 
 Aubrey, John (grandfather of the topographer), 25 
 
 Richard (his father), 25; his illness and 
 
 death, 14, 30, 32, 33 ; monumental inscription, 32 ; 
 
 discouraged Aubrey's studies, 15 
 Aubrey, Deborah (mother of J. A.), letter to Wood 
 
 upon her death, 59 
 Sir John, Bart, (his cousin) 30 ; created a 
 
 Baronet by Charles II., 37 ; mentioned by Wood, 
 
 43 
 — — — William (his brother), was Aubrey's adminis- 
 
 trator, 75 ; died intestate, 76 
 Aubrey, John, lists of his works, 2, 16, 20 ; opi- 
 nions on his literary merits, 3 — 12 ; his autobio- 
 graphical sketches, with copy of his horoscope, 12 
 — 20 ; narrative of his career, with pedigree and 
 extracts from his works and correspondence, 21 — 
 75 ; summary of his personal characteristics, 76 — 
 79 ; account of portraits, painted and engraved, 
 80 — 82 ; analysis of his works, 83 — 124 ; mis- 
 statements of previous writers, Pref. v, vii, viii, 40 ; 
 summary of his character, 123. 
 
 Aubrey's Works : — 
 
 Adversaria Physica, commended by Ray, 20, 64, 
 
 119 
 Architecture (Church), his remarks on, 119 
 Collection of Dreams, 115 
 Collection of Genitures quoted or referred to, 20, 
 
 25, 46, 48, 54, 61, 70 ; described, 115 
 Collection of Receipts, 20, 117 
 The Country Revell, an unfinished play, 123 
 Designatio de Easton-Pierse, drawings by Aubrey, 
 
 20, 25, 46 
 Faber Fortunes by Aubrey, quoted or referred to, 
 
 16, 20, 45, 58, 59, 79 ; described, 117 
 Hypothesis Ethic, and Scala Religionis, 20, 1 15 
 Idea of Education of Young Gentlemen referred to 
 
126 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 by Aubrey, 16, 20 ; lent to Evelyn and Ray, 64 ; 
 written by Aubrey, and valued by him, 56, 62 ; 
 commended by Paschal, 56; described, 110; re- 
 ferred to, 117 
 
 Lives of Eminent Men, title of the printed work, 2 ; 
 Aubrey's Autobiography, from the MS., 12 — 17 ; 
 referred to by Aubrey, 16, 20; quoted, 22, 25, 
 27, 29, 30, 32, 37, 44, 45, 49, 54, 55, 56, 64, 
 70, 79 ; compiled for, and given to Anthony a. 
 Wood, 55 ; the MS. mutilated by Wood, 67, 68, 
 104; described, with their literary history, 98 
 —110 
 
 Life of Holies, quoted 20, 28, 37, 54 ; MS. de- 
 scribed, 100, 110 
 
 Lives of Mathematicians, quoted or referred to, 20, 
 63; MS. described, 110 
 
 Miscellanea, a MS. so called, 98 
 
 Miscellanies, Memoir of J. Aubrey in second edition, 
 Pref . vii ; superstitious nature of its contents, 8 ; 
 quoted or referred to, 20, 29, 30, 31, 32, 64, 70, 84, 
 85, 90, 98, 120 ; first edition noticed, 2, 71 ; a copy 
 corrected by Aubrey, 72 ; his proposed addition to 
 it, 72 ; his presentation copy to the Ashm. Mus. 84 ; 
 described, 121; second edition noticed, 73, 121; 
 third edition, 121, 122 ; distinguished from another 
 work so called, 85 
 
 Monumenta Sritannica, its possessor unknown, Pref. 
 ix, 3, 71, 87 ; inquiries for it by the author of this 
 Memoir, il. ; quoted or referred to, 3, 20, 21, 26, 
 31, 33, 39, 65, 80, 81, 103, 120 ; its origin, 39, 47, 
 91 ; lent to Tanner, 65 ; quoted in Gibson's Camden, 
 71 i noticed by Warton, 100; described, 87 — 91; 
 abstracts of it made by Gough, Hutchins, and 
 Hoare, 88, 89 ; arrangement of its contents, 90 
 
 Templa Druidum, part of the above, 61, 65, 90 
 
 Remaines of Gentilisme, part printed in Thoms's 
 " Anecdotes and Traditions," 2, 113; quoted or 
 referred to, 16, 20, 50, 61, 65 ; described, 113 
 
 Surrey, History or Peramlulation of, MS. and 
 printed work, quoted or referred to, 2, 3, 20, 28, 
 41, 49, 51, 56, 64, 71, 74, 82, 74, 92, 80, 95 ; the 
 county visited by Aubrey, 49 ; licensed by Ogilby 
 to survey the county, il, ; published by Dr. Raw- 
 
 linson, ib ; commended by Evelyn, 50 ; revised and 
 extended by its author, 64 ; lent to Ray, ib. ; MS. 
 described, 97 ; high prices realized for some copies, 
 98 
 
 Villare Anglicanum, Interpretation of, quoted or 
 referred to, 16, 20, 75; MS. described, 114 
 
 Wiltshire, Aubrey's " Natural History " of its 
 merits, 4 ; quoted or referred to, 16, 20, 27, 28, 
 33, 61, 80, 81 ; quoted in Gibson's Camden, 71 ; 
 lend to Tanner, 65, 71 ; commenced by Aubrey, 
 33 ; extended and transcribed for the Royal Society, 
 5, 8, 59, 92 ; Aubrey's Will respecting it, 60 ; lent 
 to Ray, 64 ; described, 92 — 97 ; its contents, 94 ; 
 often confounded with North Wilts, 97 
 
 Wiltshire, Description of the North Division of 
 the County, Aubrey's account of completing it, 
 15 ; quoted or referred to, 20, 27, 32, 34, 46, 47, 
 
 57, 72, 74, 76, 85 ; quoted in Gibson's Camden, 
 71 ; begun by Aubrey, 34 ; completed, 47 ; elabo- 
 rate nature of the MS., 35 ; Sir T. Phillipps's 
 edition, 2, 4, 35, 87 ; lent to Tanner, who proposed 
 to extend it, 65, 72 ; described, 84 — 87 ; often 
 confounded with Nat. Hist. Wilts, 87 
 
 Autobiography characterised, 1; of Aubrey, 12 — 19, 
 
 44,47 
 Avebury, first discovered by Aubrey, 30; again 
 
 visited, 32; Aubrey's interview with Charles II. 
 
 there, 39 ; description of it for the king, ib. ; the 
 
 first printed notice of it, 71 
 
 Bacon, Lord, received a bribe from Christopher 
 
 Awbrey, 21 
 Ballard's Letters quoted, 17, 27, 44, 46, 47, 52, 56, 
 
 58, 59, 63, 66, 69, 77, 78 
 
 Balloting, adopted at Harrington's Club, 36 
 Bartolozzi, his engraved portrait of Aubrey, 82, 106 
 Bathurst, Dr. Ralph, intended bequest to him by 
 
 Aubrey, 34 ; Warton's Memoir of him, 99 
 Bermuda, Aubrey urged to go there, 59 
 Biographers of Aubrey, their erroneous and defective 
 
 accounts, Pref. v; short notice of them, Pref. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 127 
 
 Biography, Aubrey's merits in, 3 
 
 Biographia Britannica, article Aubrey described, 
 
 Pref. vii. 
 Blackburne, Dr. an advertisement prepared by him 
 
 for Aubrey, 17 ; his Life of Hobbes, 54 
 Blandford school noticed, 13, 28 
 Bodleian Library, the Ballard Collection of Letters 
 
 noticed, 118 
 Borstall, a seat of the Aubrey family, 23 ; ancient 
 
 chartulary there, 23, 69 
 Boswell, James, his edition of Shakspere, 106 
 Brecon, county of, Aubrey's claim to estates in, 14 ; 
 
 law suits thereon, 14, 16, 44 
 Brecknockshire, the family of Aubrey settled there, 
 
 21 
 Britton, J. abstract of Aubrey's Mon. Brit, in his 
 
 possession, 89 
 Browne, Wm, (B.D.) a friend of Aubrey, 28 
 Brouncker, Lord, first President of the Royal Society, 
 
 38 
 Broad Chalk, Wilts, farm held by Aubrey, 30, 32 ; 
 
 sold by him, 15, 46, 47, 59 ; J. Aubrey church- 
 warden there, 35 
 Burleton, Herefordshire, Aubrey's estate, 15, 19, 25, 
 
 32,45 
 Burnet, Somersetshire, visited by Aubrey, 26 
 Butler, Samuel, noticed, 54 
 
 Camden's Britannia, queries for new edition ar- 
 ranged by Aubrey and others, 50 
 
 Caulfield, his engraved portrait of Aubrey, 82 ; his 
 pamphlet respecting Malone, 103; his Oxford 
 Cabinet, 104 
 
 Celestial Scheme (see Horoscope). 
 
 Charles II., creates Sir John Aubrey a Baronet, 23, 
 37 ; patronizes the Royal Society, 38 ; his meeting 
 with Aubrey at Avebury, 39 
 
 Charles I., notice of him by Aubrey, 29 
 
 Charlton, Dr. names Aubrey to Charles II., 38 
 
 Churchill, Awnsham, had the Monumenta Britannica 
 in 1719, 71 ; letter from Aubrey to him, 72 ; the 
 Monumenta Britannica in his family's possession 
 till 1819, Pref. ix., 3, 88 
 
 Civil Wars noticed by Aubrey, 14, 29, 30 
 Club (Republican) described by Aubrey, 35 
 Codrington, Mistress, Aubrey's addresses to her, 40 
 Coley, Henry, his predictions upon Aubrey's horo- 
 scope, 48 
 Cooper, Samuel, his portrait of Hobbes, 37 ; his 
 
 portrait of Aubrey lost, 80 
 Cromwell, Oliver, his opinion of agriculture in 
 
 Devonshire, 33 
 Croft, Bishop, purchases Stretford of Aubrey, 15, 
 45 ; his letters thereon, ib. 
 
 Danvers, Aubrey's relation to the family, 25, 31, 
 105 
 
 D'Avenant, Sir William, Aubrey's account of him 
 quoted by Malone, 101, 102; erasures in that 
 article discovered by Warton, 102, 106 
 
 Davenant, John, Aubrey's intended bequests to, 34 
 
 Davenant, Edward, his friendship for Aubrey, 15 ; 
 lends Aubrey 500L, 54 
 
 Death and burial of Aubrey, 73 ; former mis-state- 
 ments on those points, 74 
 
 Dee, Dr. related to the family of Aubrey, 22 ; Ash- 
 mole's collection for his Life, 84 
 
 Disraeli notices Aubrey in his Quarrels of Au- 
 thors, 7 
 
 Dobson the artist noticed by Aubrey, 14, 68 
 
 Drawings by Aubrey in his North Division of Wilt- 
 shire, 35 
 
 Dreams, Aubrey's Collection of, 20 
 
 Dryden, his intimacy with Aubrey, 105 ; his Poem 
 on the Countess of Abingdon, ib. 
 
 Dugdale, Sir William, Monasticon published, 50 ; 
 engraving contributed by Aubrey, 51 ; his letters 
 to Wood about Sheldon's MSS. 57 ; his History of 
 St. Paul's, 59, 97 ; his approval of Aubrey's 
 Monumenta Britannica, 90 
 
 Dugdale, John, letter to his father about Sheldon's 
 MSS., 57 
 
 Dunton, John, the eccentric bookseller, his "Life 
 and Errors," 73 
 
 Easton-Pierse, the birth-place of Aubrey, 13, 32 
 
128 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 sold by him, 15, 46 ; described by Aubrey, 20, 25, 
 
 46 ; state of the house in 1780, 26 ; Aubrey's 
 
 drawings of it, 46, 116 
 Erneley, Sir John, engaged on the topography of 
 
 Wiltshire, 34 
 Ettrick, Anthony, accompanies Aubrey to Ireland, 
 
 18, 37 ; intended bequest to him by Aubrey, 33 
 Evelyn, his notes to Aubrey's MSS. 90, 92, 96 
 
 Faithorne, William, his portrait of Aubrey, 81 
 Farmer, Dr. quotes Aubrey's account of Shakspere, 
 
 101 
 Fees on research for literary purposes objected to, 
 
 Pref. x 
 Fell, Bishop, his > interpolations in Wood's History of 
 
 Oxford, 52, 77, 78 ; satirical allusion to him by 
 
 Aubrey, 112 
 France, Aubrey's journey to, 19, 37 
 
 Gadbury, John, his predictions questioned by Coley, 
 
 48 ; complains to Aubrey against Wood, 66 ; 
 
 Wood's reply, 67 
 Gale, Dr. Thomas, his notes to Aubrey's works, 90, 
 
 92 
 Garden, Dr. his correspondence with Aubrey on 
 
 Druidical Monuments, &c, 7, 63, 70, 90, 119, 123 ; 
 
 some of them printed, 64, 90 ; quoted in Gibson's 
 
 Camden, 71 
 Gardner, Wm., master of Blandford school, 28 
 Gibson quotes Aubrey in his edition of Camden's 
 
 Britannia, 71, 91 
 Gifford, W. his harsh comments on Aubrey, 108 
 Glastonbury Abbey, ancient ledger book in the 
 
 Bodleian Library, 57 
 Gore, Thomas, engaged on the togography of Wilt- 
 shire, 34 
 Gough, Richard, his abstract of Aubrey's Monumenta 
 
 Britannica, 88 
 Grey Wethers, the, mentioned by Aubrey, 30 
 Granger, his notices of Aubrey, Pref. viii 
 Great Fire of London alluded to by Aubrey, 96 
 
 Harvey, Dr. William, Aubrey's memoir of him, 31 ; 
 
 prescribes for Aubrey, 18 ; gives him friendly 
 
 advice, 31 
 Harrington, James, his commonwealth club described, 
 
 35 ; his Oceana and Rota, 35, 36 
 Hearne, his notices of Aubrey, 5 
 Hermetic Philosophy, Aubrey's remarks on (and 
 
 see Aubrey's Miscellanies), 20 ; defined, 121 
 Hoare, Sir R. C. his abstract of Aubrey's Monumenta 
 
 Britannica, 89 
 Hobbes, Aubrey's correspondence with, 37, 39, 54 ; 
 
 their first interview, 27 ; portraits of him, 37 ; his 
 
 death, 54 ; Aubrey writes a memoir of him, ib. ; 
 
 Dr. Blackbourne's life of him, 54 : Aubrey's Latin 
 
 verse on him, 55 
 Hobbes (see Aubrey's works). 
 Hollar, Winceslaus, letter to Aubrey as to a portrait 
 
 of Hobbes, 37 ; his engraving of Osney Abbey 
 
 at Aubrey's cost, 51 
 Hooke, Robert, his friendship for Aubrey, 16 ; who 
 
 bequeaths his papers to his care, 60 
 Horoscope described, 11 ; that of Aubrey's nativity, 
 
 13 
 Hothfield, Kent, Aubrey visits the Earl of Thanet 
 
 there, 15 ; surveys the church, 50 
 " Hudibras" instrumental in producing the downfall 
 
 of Astrology, 11 
 Huddesford, William (see Warton and Huddesford). 
 Hunter, Rev. Joseph, his account of Aubrey com- 
 mended, Pref. viii 
 Hutchins, Rev. John, his abstract of Aubrey's Mon. 
 
 Brit. 88, 91 
 
 James II., when Duke of York, accompanies Charles 
 
 II. to Avebury, 39 ; his coronation procession, 58 
 Jenkins, Judge, 30 ; Aubrey's account of him, 70 
 Ingram, the Rev. Dr., his opinion of Aubrey, 7 ; his 
 
 notice of Llantrithyd, 23 
 Inscriptions proposed by Aubrey for his tomb, 75 
 Jonson, Ben, general accuracy of Aubrey's memoir 
 
 of him, 108 
 Jones, Inigo, his plans of Stonehenge condemned by 
 
 Aubrey, 32 
 Ireland, W. H., his Shaksperian forgeries, 102 
 
INDEX. 
 
 129 
 
 Ireland, Aubrey's journey to, 18, 37 
 
 Kennett, Bishop, his notes on Aubrey's Remains of 
 Gentilism, 113; register and inscriptions quoted, 
 32 
 Kettle, Dr., Aubrey's memoir of him, 29 
 Kington St. Michael, Aubrey's notice and drawings 
 of it, 86 
 
 Lansdowne, William marquis of, 1 13 
 
 Lansdowne MSS., the, noticed, 1 13 
 
 Lavington, Gibson's birth-place, and the Earl of 
 
 Abingdon's seat, 72 
 Latimer, Robert, Aubrey's schoolmaster, 13, 27 
 Law-Suits in which Aubrey was concerned, 14, 15, 
 
 40,44 
 Leigh-de -la-Mere, Aubrey at school at, 27 
 Letters from the Bodleian, edited by Bliss and Walker, 
 
 12 ; described, 107 
 Letters (Collection of) to Aubrey in the Ashmolean 
 
 Museum, quoted or referred to, 5, 20, 30, 31, 46, 
 
 48, 53, 56, 57, 58, 62, 64, 65, 68 
 Letters to Aubrey, Ray's anxiety to get them for 
 
 the Ashm. Mus. 65 
 Letters described, 118 ; to and from Aubrey in printed 
 
 books, 119 
 Lilly, William, his ignorance and cunning, 10 ; his 
 
 "Life and Times" characterized, 11 ; ridiculed in 
 
 Hudibras and by Congreve, ib. 
 Llantrithyd, one of the seats of the Aubrey family, 
 
 30 
 Llhwyd, Edward, 20; Aubrey's letter to him, 114 ; his 
 
 care to arrange and preserve Aubrey's papers, 65 
 Lodwick, Francis, a literary friend of Aubrey, 61, 118 
 Loggan, D., his portrait of Aubrey, 37, 60, 81 
 Long, Sir James, Bart., his friendship for Aubrey, 
 
 16, 17, 32, 74 ; his present to Aubrey, 58 
 Love, Christopher, Aubrey witnesses his execution, 31 
 Lydall, John, intended bequest to him by Aubrey, 34 
 Lyte, Isaac, grandfather of Aubrey, 13, 25, 26, 27, 
 
 33,86 
 Lyte, Israel, Aubrey's grandmother, 26 — 33 
 Lyte and Aubrey, pedigree of the families, 24 
 
 Malone, Edmond, his summary of Aubrey's literary 
 merits, 6 ; procured a copy of Faithorne's portrait 
 of Aubrey, 82 ; his opinions of Aubrey, and quota- 
 tions from his lives, &c, 101 — 106 
 Malmesbury, papers of the abbey destroyed, 28 
 Malcolm's Lives of Topographers, careless account of 
 
 Aubrey, Pref. viii 
 Manuscripts (Old), frequently destroyed in Aubrey's 
 
 boyhood, 27 
 Marriage of Aubrey disproved, 40 
 Matrices of Roman coins belonging to Aubrey, 84 
 Melksham, mineral springs there, 17 
 Mercator, some MSS. by him in Aubrey's possession, 
 
 62 ; now in the Ashm. Mus. 83 
 Middle Temple, Aubrey a student there, 14, 19 — 30 
 Miles's Coffee House mentioned by Aubrey, 35 
 Milton, Memoirs of him by Aubrey and Phillips, 
 
 1 08 ; his manuscript work on Theology, ib. 
 " Miscellanies," a work sometimes quoted as Aubrey's, 
 
 85 ; (see Aubrey's Works, ante). 
 " Miss," a modern term for an unmarried woman, 40 
 Monk, General, mentioned by Aubrey, 37 
 Montague House, London, and its fields, 70 
 Moore, Sir Jonas, Aubrey's efforts to sell his library, 
 
 56 
 Mu3grave, Sir William, Bart., his obituary in the 
 British Museum, 74 
 
 Newton, Sir Isaac, letter to Aubrey, 56 
 North Tid worth, haunted house there, 31 
 
 Ogilby, , authorised by Charles II. to survey the 
 
 kingdom, 49 ; appoints Aubrey his deputy for 
 
 Surrey, ib. 
 Osney Abbey, Oxford, destroyed, 5 ; drawings made 
 
 for Aubrey for the Monasticon, 5, 14, 51, 68 
 Oxford noticed by Aubrey, 14 
 Oxford, St. Mary Magdalen Church, Aubrey's burial 
 
 there, 73 
 
 Paschal, Rev. Andrew, his opinion of Aubrey's Idea 
 
 of Education, 56 
 Pedigree of Aubrey and Lyte, 24 
 
130 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Pembroke, Countess of, the epitaph attributed to Wil- 
 liam Browne, 96 
 
 Pembroke, Earl of, works by Aubrey dedicated to 
 him, 58, 91, 92 ; his patronage of Aubrey, 63, 111 
 
 Perry, Francis, his etchings from Aubrey's Mon. 
 Brit., 91 
 
 Petty, Sir William, his friendship for Aubrey, 16 
 
 Penn, William, gives land in Pennsylvania to Aubrey, 
 58 ; his letter to Aubrey, 119 
 
 Philosophical Transactions contain part of a letter 
 written by Aubrey, 124 
 
 Plot, Dr. Robert, his topographical works, 93 ; ma- 
 terials furnished to him by Aubrey, ib. 
 
 Pope, Sir Thomas, Warton's Life of, 100 ; his bre- 
 viary, in the Ashmolean Museum, 83 
 
 Portraits of Aubrey, original and engraved, 79 — 82 
 
 Poyntz, Captain, land given by him to Aubrey, 59 
 
 Rawlinson, Dr. Richard, his Memoir of Aubrey de- 
 scribed, Pref. vii ; quoted, 88, 74, 119 ; his addi- 
 tions to Aubrey's Surrey, 49 ; " Accidents " of 
 Aubrey, a paper in his possession, 19 ; his MS. 
 note of Aubrey's burial, 74 
 Ray, John, his reproof of Aubrey's credulity, 5 ; 
 letters to and from Aubrey, 80, 94 ; his notes to 
 Aubrey's Nat. Hist. Wilts, 95 
 Republican Club joined by Aubrey, 35 
 Revolution 1688 alluded to by Aubrey, 62 
 Rose's Biographical Dictionary, article Aubrey 
 
 noticed, Pref. viii 
 Roman coins given by Aubrey to Ash. Mus. 63, 84 
 Royal Society, Aubrey elected a Fellow, 19, 38 ; in- 
 corporated by Charles II , 38 ; their copy of Au- 
 brey's Nat. Hist. Wilts, 58, 59, 92, 97; their 
 approval of that work, 58, 92 
 Ryves, Mistress, Aubrey's engagement to her, 14, 40 
 
 Scott, Sir Walter, his remarks on Astrology, Lilly, 
 
 Ashmole, and Aubrey, 9 — 11 
 Seend, Wilts, a mineral spring there discovered by 
 
 Aubrey, 16 
 Seymour (Charles Lord), his friendship for Aubrey, 
 
 16, 30, 80 
 
 Shakspere, remarks on Aubrey's account of him by 
 
 Warton, Farmer, and Malone, 100—102 
 Sheldon, Ralph, disputes as to his library, 57 
 Sidney, Sir Philip, picture of his funeral noticed by 
 
 Aubrey, 29 
 Silbury Hill, Aubrey's interview with King Charles II. 
 
 there, 39 
 Spenser, Aubrey's account of him in Lives, 100, 101 
 Stanesby, J. T., his account of Aubrey commended, 
 
 Pref. viii, 87 
 Stanton Drew, visited by Aubrey, 26 
 Stonehenge, attributed by Aubrey to the Druids, 4, 
 71 ; known to Aubrey when a boy, 26 ; condemns 
 Inigo Jones's plans, 32 
 Stukeley, Dr., his manuscript diaries and correspond- 
 ence, Pref. vi ; his volume on Abury quoted, 39 ; 
 his account of Queen Square noticed, 70 ; his allu- 
 sions to Aubrey, 91 
 Stretford, Herefordshire, sold by Aubrey, 15, 19,45 
 Stump, William, Rector of Malmesbury (1633), 27 
 Sumner, Joan, Aubrey's addresses to, and law suits 
 
 with her, 15, 16, 19, 40 
 Sutton, William, master of Blandford school, 28 
 Superstition in the last century and still prevalent, 8, 
 9,31 
 
 Tanner, Aubrey's correspondence with, 65, 67 ; lends 
 his MSS. to, 65 ; Tanner's high opinion of them, 
 66 ; complains of the want of literary patronage, 
 ib. ; assisted Gibson in Camden's Britannia, 71; 
 intended to complete Aubrey's North Wilts, 65, 
 72 ; his notes to Aubrey's Nat. Hist. Wilts, 92 
 
 Tesselated pavement given by Aubrey to the Ashm. 
 Mus. 63, 84 
 
 Thanet, Earl of, patronizes Aubrey, 15 ; wishes him 
 to go to Bermuda, 52 ; gives him a protection 
 against his creditors, 53 
 
 Thorns, W. J., his notes to Remaines of Gentilisme, 
 2, 114 
 
 Tobago, land there given to Aubrey, 59 
 
 Toland, his notice of Aubrey, and of Dr. Garden's 
 letters, 7 
 
 Topography, Aubrey's merits in, 4 
 
INDEX. 
 
 131 
 
 Trinity College, Oxford, Aubrey's intended bequest 
 to it, 34 ; expense of the new buildings adverted to 
 by Newton, 56 ; noticed by Aubrey, 14 ; Aubrey 
 entered there as a gentleman commoner, 29 
 
 Vander Gucht, his engraved portrait of Aubrey, 82 
 
 Warton, Thomas, and William Huddesford, their 
 
 List of Aubrey's manuscripts referred to, Pref. 
 
 viii 
 Warton notices Aubrey's Mon. Brit. ; his Life of 
 
 Bathurst, Pref. vii, 88, 94 
 Warton, Thomas, his notices of Aubrey's Lives and 
 
 Correspondence, 99, 100 ; furnished Malone with 
 
 extracts from Aubrey's papers, 102 
 Wheldon, Thomas, his letters to Aubrey respecting 
 
 Hobbes, 54 
 Whitson, Alderman, Aubrey's godfather, 25 ; his 
 
 local patriotism, 26 
 Whitgift, Archbishop, 22 
 Wills. Draught of Aubrey's will (1652—9), 33 ; 
 
 another as to papers (1686), 60 
 Willis, Browne, his erroneous note of Aubrey's 
 
 burial, 74 
 Wiltshire Topographical Society; a similar project 
 
 entered upon by Aubrey, 34 
 Wiltshire, historical account of it begun by Aubrey, 
 
 Gore, and others, 34 ; its cheese and cloth famous 
 in the 17th century, 58 
 Wiseman, Mistress Mary, Aubrey's intended legacy 
 
 to her, 34 ; his addresses to her, 40 
 Wood, Edward a, brother of Anthony a Wood, 43 
 Wood, Anthony a, his prejudiced account of Aubrey 
 42; his friendship for him until 1693, 16, 42, 
 43 ; their first correspondence, 43 ; subsequent 
 letters quoted, 48, 52, 118, 119; his literary ob- 
 ligations to Aubrey, 4, 44, 47, 51, 52, 55; Lives 
 of Eminent Men, compiled for him by Aubrey, 55 ; 
 he mutilates that MS, 67,68; other MSS. by 
 Aubrey in his custody, 61, 62 ; his History of 
 Oxford, 43, 47, 51, 52, 77 ; translation and inter- 
 polations in it by Fell, 52 — 77 ; his defence against 
 Gadbury's complaint, 67 ; bis death, 69 ; his alleged 
 libel on Lord Clarendon, ib.; his perverted notices 
 of Aubrey and others, 70 
 Woodstock, mysterious noises heard there, 31 
 Wren, Sir Christopher, his survey of Salisbury Ca- 
 thedral, 97 
 Wyld, Edmund, patronizes Aubrey, 15, 16, 43, 113; 
 Remains of Gentilisme dedicated to him, 61 
 
 Yatton-Keynel, Aubrey at school there, 27 
 Yorke, William, engaged on the Topography of Wilt- 
 shire, 34 
 
 London : 
 J. B. Nichols and Son, Printers, 25, Parliament Street. 
 

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