work. Part of his Wiltshire collections was used by Tanner for Bishop Gibson's edition of Camden. Aubrey's own manuscript was presented by the writer to the Ashmolean Library. It was in two volumes, one of which was borrowed by his brother and lost. Portions of the other were privately printed by Sir Thomas Phillips in 1821 and 1838, but the edition, which is far from correct, was never completed. The work was finally edited for the Wiltshire Topographical Society by the Rev. J. S. Jackson (Devizes, 1862). 'The Natural History of Wilts,' abstracted by the author from his larger work, was left by him in two manuscripts, one at Oxford, the other in the library of the Royal Society. The portions immediately concerning Wiltshire were edited for the Wiltshire Topographical Society by Mr. John Britton. The 'Minutes of Lives,' given to Wood, were first published in a collection entitled 'Letters written by Eminent Persons in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries' (London, 1813). The most recent edition of the 'Miscellanies' is that in Russell Smith's Library of Old Authors, in 1857. Aubrey also wrote a life of Hobbes, which formed the groundwork of Blackburn's Latin biography. The manuscript of his 'Monumenta Britannica' is in the Bodleian. His 'Architectonica Sacra,' 'Idea of Education of Young Gentlemen,' and other works of less importance, are extant in the Ashmolean Library or in private hands. His 'Remains of Gentilism and Judaism' is preserved among the Lansdowne MSS. in the British Museum. Extracts from it have been given in Brand's 'Popular Antiquities' and Thoms's 'Anecdotes and Traditions,' and the entire text, with White Kennet's additions, was issued by the Folk-lore Society in 1880.
Aubrey was the very type of the man who is no man's enemy but his own. He possessed every virtue usually associated with an easy careless temper, and an industry in his own pursuits which would have done credit to one of robuster mould. 'My head,' he says, 'was always working, never idle, and even travelling did glean some observations, some whereof are to be valued.' They assuredly are, and many, especially those on the alteration of manners in his time, exhibit real shrewdness. He was well aware of his failings, and it is impossible not to sympathise with his regret for the abolition of the monasteries which would have afforded him a congenial refuge; and his verdict that 'if ever I had been good for anything, 'twould have been a painter.' His buoyant cheerfulness defied calamity, and presented his self-respect under the hard trial of dependence. His character as an antiquary has been unworthily traduced by Anthony à Wood, but fully vindicated by his recent editors and biographers. He certainly is devoid of literary talent, except as a retailer of anecdotes; his head teems with particulars which he lacks the faculty to reduce to order or combine into a whole. As a gossip, however, he is a kind of immature Boswell; and we are infinitely beholden to him for the minute but vivid traits of Bacon, Milton, Raleigh, Hobbes, and other great men preserved in his 'Minutes of Lives.' His 'Natural History of Wilts' is full of quaint lore, and one need not believe in spirits to enjoy his 'Miscellanies.' Half the charm is in the simple credulity of the narrator, who seems, nevertheless, to have inclined to the philosophy of his friend Hobbes.
[Aubrey left two papers of autobiographical memoranda. Every circumstance respecting him has been collected and carefully investigated in the excellent biography by J. Britton (London, 1845), the only work of authority. The best criticism upon his life and writings is an admirable essay by Professor Masson in vol. xxiv. of the British Quarterly Review.]
AUBREY, WILLIAM, LL.D., (1529–1595), an eminent civilian and grandfather of the antiquary, John Aubrey, was born at Cantre [Cantreff], Brecknockshire, in or about 1529, and was educated at Oxford, where he graduated B.C.L. in 1549. He became fellow of All Souls', was appointed principal of New Inn Hall in 1550, and professor of civil law in 1553. It appears that he discharged the duties of his professorship by deputies; for William Mowse filled the chair in 1554. In 1559 he resigned in favour of John Griffith (Rymer's Fœdera, xv. 503). Having taken the degree of D.C.L. (1554), Aubrey was admitted an advocate in the court of Arches, and was judge-advocate in the St. Quentin expedition. Archbishop Grindal made him auditor and vicar-general in spirituals for the province of Canterbury, and in 1577, during Grindal's sequestration, he was one of the civilians chosen to carry on the visitation. He was afterwards chancellor to Archbishop Whitgift, member of the Council of Marches for Wales, master in chancery, and master of requests in ordinary. He was M.P. for Carmarthen boroughs in 1554, Brecon 1558, Hindon 1559, Arundel 1562, and Taunton 1592. He died on 23 July 1595, leaving 3 sons and 6 daughters. In Dugdale's 'Hist. of St. Paul's Cathedral' is a drawing of Aubrey's monument and effigy in St. Paul's. His grandson the antiquary writes: 'I have his originall picture. He had a delicate, quick, lively, and piercing black eie, a severe eie browe, and a fresh complexion. The figure in his monument
