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DA 447 |
.A3 A8 |
1898 v.l |
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Aubrey, |
John , |
1626-1697 . |
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"Brief |
lives" |
AUBREY'S 'BRIEF LIVES'
ANDREW CLARK
VOL. I.
HENRY FROWDE, M.A.
PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
LONDON, EDINBURGH, AND NEW YORK
Digitized by tine Internet Arcliive in 2014
Iittps://arcliive.org/details/brieflivescliiefl01aubr
^ Brief Lives chiefly of Con- temporaries^ set down by John Aubrey^ between
the Years i66g & i6g6
EDITED FROM THE AUTHOR'S MSS.
BY*
ANDREW CLARK
M.A., LINCOLN COLLEGE, OXFORD; MA. AND LL.D., ST. ANDREWS
WITH FACSIMILES
VOLUME I. (A - H) ©;efori
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 1898
O;cforb
PRINTED AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
BY HORACE HART, M.A. PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY
PREFACE
The rules laid down for this edition have been fully stated in the Introduction. It need only be said here that these have been scrupulously followed.
I may take this opportunity of saying that the text gives Aubrey's quotations, English and Latin alike, in the form in which they are found in his MSS. They are plainly cited from memory, not from book : they frequently do not scan, and at times do not even construe. A few are incorrect cementings of odd half lines.
The necessary excisions have not been numerous. They suggest two reflections. The turbulence attributed to Sir Walter Raleigh seems to have made his name in the next age the centre of aggregation of quite a number of coarse stories. In the same way, Aubrey is generally nasty when he mentions the noble house of Herbert, earl of Pembroke, and the allied family of Sydney. There may be personal pique in this, for Aubrey thinks he had a narrow
vi
Preface
escape from assassination by a Herbert (i. 48) ; perhaps also there may be the after-glow of a Wiltshire 'feud' (i. 316).
The Index gives all references to persons men- tioned in the text, except to a few found only in pedigrees, or otherwise quite insignificant ; also to all places of which anything distinctive is said.
Andrew Clark.
Janiiary 4, 1898.
CONTENTS
VOLUME I
Frontispif.ce : John Aubrey, aetat. 40.
PAGE
Synopsis of the Lives ...... ix-xv
Intkouuction . . . . . . . . 1-2.^
Lives: — Abbot to Hyde ..... 24-427
VOLUIME II
Frontispiece : Aubrey's book-plate.
Lives: — Ingelbert to York 1-3 16
Appendix I: — Aubrey's Notes of Antiquities . .317-332
Appendix II: — Aubrey's Comedy The Coimtrey Rcvell . 333-339
Index ......... 341-370
Facsimiles . . . . . . . .At eiuf.
I. Castle Wound, Oxford. Riding at the Quintin.
II. Verulam House.
III. Horoscope and cottage of Thomas Hobbes.
IV. Plans of Malmsbury and district.
V. Horoscope and arms of Sir William Petty.
W. Wolsey's Chapel at Christ Church.
SYNOPSIS OF THE 'LIVES'
In the text the Lives have been given in alphabetical order of the names. This was necessary, not only on account of their number — more than 400 — but because Aubrey, in compiling them, followed more than one principle of selection, writing, first, lives of authors, then, lives of mathematicians, but bringing in also lives of statesmen, soldiers, people of fashion, and personal friends.
The following synopsis of the lives may serve to show (i) the heads under which they naturally fall, (ii) their chronological sequence.
The mark f indicates the year or approximate year of death ; X denotes a life which Aubrey said he would write, but which has not been found ; § is attached to the few names of foreigners.
BEFORE HENRY VIII.
Writers. I'oeis.
Geoffrey Chaucer (+1400). John Gower (+1408).
Prose. Sir John Mandeville
(+1372)-
Writers.
Sir Thomas More (fi 535). §Desiderius Erasmus
(ti536).
Mathematics. John Holywood (f 1256). Roger Bacon (■1-1294). John Ashindon (ti3 • • )•
Alchemy. George Ripley (ti490 i.
Mathematics.
Richard Benese (•j-i546). Robert Record (ti558).
Church and State.
S. Dunstan (t988). S. Edmund Rich (+1240). Owen Glendower (ti4i5). William Canynges(ti474). John Morton (tisooj.
1558)-
Church and State.
John Colet (fiSig)- Thomas Wolsey (fisso). John Innocent (ti545). Sir Thomas Pope (ti559)- Edmund Bonner (ti669).
Sir Erasmus Dryden
(11632).
HENRY VIII— MARY (f
X
Synopsis of the 'Lives'
ELIZABETH (11603).
Writers. Foets.
Thomas Tusser (f 1580). Edmund Spenser (ti599)- Sir Edward Dyer (+1607). A\'illiam Shakespear
(ti6i6).
Prose.
§t Petrus Ramus (ti572). John Twyne (+1581). Sir Philip Sydney (ti586). John Foxe (fisS?). Robert Glover (fisSS). Thomas Cooper (+1594). Thomas Stapleton (fispS). Thomas North (ti6oi). William Watson (ti6o3). John Stowe (ti6o5). Thomas Brightman
(ti6o7). John David Rhese
(ti6o9). Nicholas Hill (ti6io).
Mathematics.
James Peele (ti5 . . )• Leonard Digges (fisyi). Thomas Digges (ti595)- John Secnris (t • • • )• Evans Lloyd (■!"...). Cyprian Lucar (f . . . ). Thomas Hoode (t . . . )• X Thomas Blundeville
(+16..).
Henry Billingsley (f 1606). § Ludolph van Kenlen
(+1610). John Blagrave (ti6ii). Edward Wright (f 1615). Thomas Hariot (ti62i). Sir Henry Savile (ti622).
Chemistry. Adrian Gilbert (+...).
Zoology.
Thomas Mouffet (f 1604).
Alchemy and Astro- logy. Thomas Chamocke
(tisSi). John Dee (ti6o8). Arthur Dee (11651).
State. William Herbert, ist earl
of Pembroke (ti57o)- William Cecil, lord Burgh- ley (ti598). Robert Devereux, earl of
Essex (•t-1601). Sir Charles Danvers
(ti6oi).
George Clifford, earl of Cumberland (fiCos).
Thomas Sackville, earl of Dorset (ti6o8).
?Sir Thomas Penruddock
ct . . . ).
Law.
Sir William Fleetwood
(ti594)- William Aubrey (ti59S)- Sir John Popham (ti6o7).
Commerce, etc. Sir Thomas Gresham
(ti579)-
John Davys, capt. (ti6o5). Richard Staper (ti6o8).
Society. ? . . . Robartes (t . . • )■ Elizabeth Danvers (f . . . ). Sir John Danvers (ti594). Richard Herbert (ti596). Edward de Vere, 1 7th earl
of Oxford (ti6o4). Sir Henry Lee (ti6ir). Silvanus Scory (ti6i7). Mary Herbert, countess of
Pembroke (ti62i).
Writers. Foets.
Francis Beaumont (ti6i6). John Fletcher (ti625). Arthur Gorges (ti625).
JAMES I (ti6a5).
Mathematics. Edward Brerewood
(ti6i3). John Norden (+1625). Edmund Gunter (ti626). Thomas Allen (f 1632).
Church.
Richard Bancroft (ti6io). John Overall (ti6i9). Lancelot Andrewes (t 1 62 6). George Abbot (ti633). John Davenant (ti64i).
Synopsis of the ^Lives'
xi
JAMES I (ti625) continued.
Writers. Poets.
Fulk Greville, lord Brooke (ti628).
Michael Drayton (ti63i). George Chapman ('t-i634). Ben Jonson (11637). George Feriby (ti6 . . ). tBenjamin Rudyerd (fi 6. .).
Prose.
Henry Lyte (+1607). Richard Knolles (+1610). JRichard White (ti6i2). Thomas Twyne (ti6i3). Thomas Coryat (ti6i7). Sir Walte r Raleigh ( 1 1 6 1 8) . John Barclay (+1621). William Camden (ti623). Nicholas Fuller (■)-i624). John Florio (ti625). Francis Bacon (•)-i626). John Speed (+1629). Thomas Archer (•|-i63o). John Rider (+1632). Isaac Wake (•f-i632). William Sutton (■t'i633). Philemon Holland (-)-i637). John Willis (ti6..).
Mathematics.
Robert Hues (+1632). John Speidell (+16..). JThomas Fale (ti6..). JThomas Lydiat (ti646).
Astrology. Dr. Richard Napier
(ti634^
State.
Everard Digby (ti6o6). Thomas Overbury (+1613). t James I (ti625). William Herbert, 3rd earl of Pembroke (ti63o).
Law.
Sir Thomas Egerton, lord
Ellesmere (ti6i7). Richard Martin (ti6i8).
Medicine. . . . Jaquinto (ti6 . .). William Butler (ti6i8). Francis Anthony (f 1633).
Commerce, etc. Thomas Sutton (ti6ii). John Guy (ti628). John Whitson (fifiap). Sir Hugh Middleton
(+1631). William de Visscher
(ti6..).
Edward Davenant (t 16 . . ).
Inventors. William Lee (ti6io). . . . Gregory (ti6 . . ). . . . Ingelbert (ti6 . .). . . . Robson (ti6 . . ).
Seamen.
Walter Raleigh (ti6i7). ^Thomas Sturape (ti6 . . ). Roger North (ti652).
Schoolmasters.
Alexander Gill (ti63';). Martin Billingsley (+16. . ).
Miscellaneous. Charles Hoskyns (f 1609). Richard Sackville, 3rd earl
of Dorset (■t-i624). Sir Henry Lee (ti63i). Simon Furbisher (_ti6 . . )
xii
Synopsis of the 'Lives'
Writers. Poets.
Hugh Holland (tiG^s). George Herbert 1. + 1633). Richard Corbet (ti635). Thomas Randolph(ti63.5). John Sherburne (ti635). Sir Robert Alton (ti638). John Hoskyns (ti638). Philip Massinger (+1640). Charles Aleyn (f 1640). Sir John Suckling (ti64i). \^'illiam Cartwright (+1643). Henry Clifford, earl of
Cumberland (ti643). George Sandys (+1644). Francis Quarles (ti644). William Browne (ti645). ThomasGoodw)'n(ti6 . . ). William Habington (-1-1654). John Taylor (ti654). Sir Robert Harley (•t-i656). Richard Lovelace (ti658). John Cleveland (ti658). Gideon de Laune (ti659\ James Shirley (ti666). Prose.
Ger\'ase Markham (+1637). Robert Burton (ti64o). Sir Henry Spelman(t 1 64 1 ). W. Chillingworth (ti644J. Rob. Stafford (1644 . William Twisse (ti646). Degory Wheare (ti647). Edward, lord Herbert of
Chirbury (ti648). §Joh. Ger. Vossius (ti649). Abraham Wheloc (ti6 . . ). Theoph. Wodenote, sen.
(ti6..). §Rene des Cartes (1651). . . . Gerard (ti6 . . ). JSamuel Collins (-1-1651). §Jean L.de Balzac (ti655). John Hales (+1656). James Usher (ti656). Joseph Hall (ti656). William Harvey (ti657). Robert Sanderson (ti663). Sir Kenelm Digby (ti665).
CHARLES I (ti649),
Mathematics. j
Henry Briggs (ti63i). William Bedwell (ti632). Nathaniel Torporley
(ti632).
Henry Gellibrand (ti637). Walter Warner (+1640). William Gascoigne
(ti644).
Charles Cavendish (f 1 65 2 ). Henry Isaacson (-1*1654). Edmund Wingate (•l-i656). William Oughtred (ti66o). Franciscus Linus (ti6 .). John Tap (-t-l6 . . ). John Wells (ti6..)-
Church.
Richard Neile (ti64o). George Webb (11641).
State.
George Villiers, duke of Buckingham (+1628).
Sir Edward Coke (ti633).
William Noy (■1-I634).
Richard Boyle, 1st earl of Cork (ti643)-
Lucius Cary, earl of Falk- land (ti643).
Henry Danvers, earl of Danby (+1644).
Robert Dalzell, earl of Carnwarth (ti654).
Law.
Sir Henry Martin (ti64i). David Jenkins Cti663).
Medicine. Sir Matthew Lister (+1656).
Art.
Inigo Jones (ti652).
Soldiers. CharlesCavendish (ti643). Sir James Long (f 1659). Sir Robert Harley (fi^/S)- Sir William Neale (fi^gi)-
School and College.
Alexander Gill (f 1642). Ralph Kettell (ti643). Hannibal Potter (+1664). Thomas Batchcroft(t 1670).
Society. Elizabeth Broughton
(ti6..). Venetia Digby (ti633).
Miscellaneous.
Elize Hele (ti633\ John Clavell (ti642). ? . . . Cradock (ti6.. ).
Synopsis of the ^ Lives '
xiii
Writers. Poets. Thomas May (+1650). Katherine Philips (ti664\ George Withers (ti667). John Milton (ti674). Andrew Marvell (ti678).
Prose.
Clement Walker (ti65i). John Said en (+1654). Walter Rnmsey (ti66o). Thomas Fuller (ti66i). William Prynne (-j-iCGp).
Poets.
Alexander Brome (ti666). Abraham Cowley (ti667). Sir William Davenant
(ti668).
Sir John Denham (i-i669). Samuel Butler (ti68o). John Wilmot, earl of
Rochester (+1680). John Lacy (ti68i). Martin Lluelyn (ti682). Edmund Waller (fiSS?). Thomas Flatman (ti688). tSir George Etherege
(ti6..). Henry Vaughan (fifigs). John Dryden (•t-i7oo).
COMMONWEALTH.
Mathematics. |
Richard Billingsley
(ti6..). Samuel Foster (11652). Lawrence Rooke (ti662).
Science. John Wilkin s (+1672 .
Astrology. Nicholas Fiske (ti6 • • )•
Christopher Brookes
(+1665).
William Neile (+1670).
Lancelot Morehouse
(ti672).
Richard Norwood (+1675). Isaac Barrow (ti677). John Newton (ti678). Francis Potter (+1678). Sir Jonas Moore (ti679). JRichard Alcorne (ti6 . .). JHenry Bond (ti6. .). Michael Dary (+1679). William, lord Brereton
(ti68o)
Edward Davenant (ti68o). Richard Stokes (ti68i).
State.
Sir John Dan vers (+1655% Thomas Chaloner (tl66l). Sir William Platers
(+16.. )•
James Harrington (ti677). Henry Martin (ti68o). Sir Henry Blount (ti682).
Soldiers and Sailors. Robert Grevill, lord Brooke
(ti643)- Robert Blake (ti657). George Monk (ti67i). Thomas, lord Fairfax
(ti67i).
Law. Henry Rolle (+1656).
Medicine. Jonathan Goddard (t 1 675) .
School. Thomas Triplett (ti67o).
Herbert Thorndyke
(ti672).
William Outram (ti679). Peter Gunning (ti684). Thomas Pittis (ti<587).
State. Sir Robert Moray (+1673). Sir Edmund Bury Godfrey
(ti678). Sir Thomas Morgan
(ti679).
John Birkenhead (+1679). William Ilarcourt (ti679). Robert Pugh (ti679). §Jean Baptiste Colbert
(ti683).
CHARLES H (ti685) and JAMES H.
LRS.
Mathematics.
Church.
xiv
Synopsis of the 'Lives'
CHARLES II (ti685) and JAMES II {coniinued).
Writers. Prose. Peter Heylyn (ti662). James Heath (ti664). Sir Robert Poyntz
(ti665).
Thomas Vaughan (ti667). George Bate (ti668). John Davenport (ti67o). Vavasor Powell (ti67o). Samuel Hartlib (ti67o). Edward Bagshawe (ti67i). Edward Hyde, earl of
Clarendon (ti674). Sir William Saunderson
(ti676) John Ogilby (ti676). John Tombes (ti676). Thomas Whyte (ti676). Silas Taylor (ti678). Thomas Stanley (+1678). John Cecil, 4th earl of
Exeter (ti678). Thomas Hobbes (fiSjg). . . . Barrow (+l6S.)- . . . Monday (ti6 . . ). Joseph Glanville (ti68o). Thomas Jones (ti682). William Stafford(ti684). Edward Lane (fiSSp). Thomas Pigot (ti686). Richard Head (ti686?). Sir William Dugdale
(ti686). Isaac Vossius (ti688). Robert Barclay (+1690). John Rushworth (ti69o). Fabian Philips (ti69o). Samuel Pordage (ti69i). Elias Ashmole [■\l(>g2). Anthony Wood (f 16951. Henry Birkhead (ti696). John Aubrey (ti697). William Holder (ti698). Richard Blackburne
(ti7-.?)- Thomas Gale (ti702).
Mathematics.
Sir George Wharton
(ti68i).
Thomas Merry (ti682).
John Collins (+1683).
William, lord Brouncker
(+1684).
John Pell (ti685). Nicholas Mercator (ti687). Thomas Street (ti689). Seth Ward (ti689). John Kersey (fx 690). John Wallis (+1703). tjohn Flamsted (ti7i9). Jlsaac Newton (ti737). Edmund Halley +1742^.
Science. John Willis (ti6..). John Graunt (ti674). Robert Boyle (ti69i). Sir Edward H arley (+ 1 7oo\ Robert Hooke (,ti7o3). Sir John Hoskyns (ti705 J.
State.
Anthony Cooper, earl of
Shaftesbury (ti683). Sir Leoline Jenkins
(+16S5).
J James, duke of Monmouth (ti685).
Sir William Petty (ti687)- Thomas Osborne, earl of Danby (ti7i2).
Law.
Sir Matthew Hale (ti676). George Johnson (f 1683).
Medicine. Thomas Willis (ti675). Baldwin Hamey (ti676). Sir Richard Napier (ti676). Henry Stubbe (ti676). Thomas Shirley (ti678). Sir Edward Greaves
(ti68o).
Sir Robert Talbot (ti68l). William Croone (tl684). Daniel Whistler (+1684). Christopher Merret
(ti695).
Walter Charleton (ti707). Art.
Samuel Cooper (+1672). Wenceslaus Hollar
(ti677). Sir Christopher Wren
(ti723)-
School. . . . W>bb (+16 . . ). Thomas Stephens (ti6 . . ). Arthur Brett (ti677)- Ezerel Tonge (f 1680).
Commerce, etc. Sir Edward Ford (ti67o). Thomas Bushell (ti674). William Marshall (ti6. .). Robert Murray (ti72.S). James Bovey (f . . . . ).
Synopsis of the 'Lives'
XV
(ti685) AND JAMES II (contimied)
CHARLES II
Writers.
Prose. JSir Edward Sherburne
(tl702).
John Evelyn (ti7o6). John Philips (+1706). John Hawles (ti7i6). William Penn (ti7i8).
Astrology. John Heydon (ti66.). John Booker (ti667). William Lilly (+1681I. Henry Coley (ti695). Charles Snell (fiG . . ). John Gadbury (tl704). John Partridge (ti7i5).
Society, etc. Lucy Walters (ti6 . . ). Sir Walter Raleigh (+ 1 663). Eleanor Ratcliffe, countess
of Sussex (ti666). . . . Berkeley (ti6 . .). . . . Curtin (ti6 . . ). Dorothy Selby (ti6..). Anne, duchess of York
(ti67i).
Cecil Calvert, lord Balti- more (ti675). Sir Thomas Billingsley
(ti67. ).
Richard Sackville, 5th earl
of Dorset (ti677)- Charles Pamphlin (ti678). Sir Francis Stuart (ti6 . . ). X. . . Aldsworth (ti6 ..). Sir Robert Henley (ti68o). Sir Thomas Badd (ti683). . . . Ralphson (ti684). Charles Howard (fi 7 . . ). Willonghby Bertie (ti 760).
AUBREY'S PERSONAL FRIENDS.
I. Of the Old School.
Isaac Lyte (i677-ti66o). Thomas Tyndale (l588-ti67l). James Whitney (1593-1166.). William Beeston (. . . .-ti682). Deborah Aubrey (i6io-ti68f). Edmund Wyld (i6i6--t-i6 . . ).
n. Contemporaries.
Anthony Ettrick (i622-fi7o3). William Morgan (1622-f. . . . ). Ralph Sheldon (i623-ti684). William Radford (i623-ti673). Theophilus Wodenoth (1625-. . . . ), George Ent (. . . .-ti679). John Sloper (. . . .-f. . . . ). Richard Kitson (. . . .-f. . . . ). Sir John Dunstable (. . . .-f. . . . ). Thomas Gore (i632-ti684). Jane Smyth (i639-ti6 . . ). Thomas Deere (1639-f 16. •)•
. . . Gwyn ( -t ).
. . . Yarrington (. . . .-ti684).
AUBREY'S 'BRIEF LIVES'
INTRODUCTION
I. Origin of the 'Lives.'
Aubrey sought and obtained an introduction to Anthony- Wood in August 1667. He was keenly interested in antiquarian studies, and had the warmest love for Oxford ; he had been a contemporary in Trinity College with Wood's brother, Edward ; and so was drawn to Wood on hearing that he was busy with researches into the History of the University of Oxford.
Aubrey was one of those eminently good-natured men, who are very slothful in their own affairs, but spare no pains to work for a friend. He offered his help to Wood ; and, when it was decided to include in Wood's book short notices of writers connected with Oxford, that help proved most valuable. Aubrey, through his family and family- connexions, and by reason of his restless goings-to-and- fro, had a wide circle of acquaintance among squires and parsons, lawyers and doctors, merchants and politicians, men of letters and persons of quality, both in town and country. He had been, until his estate was squandered, an extensive and curious buyer of books and MSS. And above all, being a good gossip, he had used to the utmost those opportunities of inquiry about men and things which had been afforded him by societies grave,
I. B
2 Aubrey^s 'Brief Lives'
like the Royal Society, and frivolous, as coffee-house gatherings and tavern clubs. The scanty excerpts, given in these volumes, from letters written by him between 1668 and 1673, supply a hint of how deeply Wood's Historia et Antiqtiitates Universitatis Oxoniensis, published in 1674, was indebted to the multifarious memory and unwearying inquiries of the enthusiastic Aubrey.
Dean Fell's request that Wood should notice Oxford writers and bishops in his Historia had suggested to Wood the plan of, and set him to work upon, the larger and happier scheme of the Athenae Oxonienses, an 'exact history of all the writers and bishops that have had their education in . . . Oxford' since 1500. He engaged his friend Aubrey to help him in his undertaking, by com- mitting to writing in a more systematic way, for Wood's benefit, his multitudinous recollections of men and books. He was dexterous enough to supply the additional motive, that, after serving his friend's turn, Aubrey's collections might be gathered together, preserved for a while in some safe and secret place, and, when personal feelings were saved by lapse of time, be published and secure their writer a niche in the Temple of Fame.
It was now by no means easy for Aubrey to undertake any extensive, and especially any connected work. Being by this time bankrupt, and a hanger-on at the tables of kindred and acquaintances, he had to fall in with his patrons' habits, at the houses where he visited ; to sit with them till they wearied of their carousings in the small hours of the morning ; and to do his writing next forenoon, before they had slept off their wine.
Still, his interest in the subject, and his desire to help his friend prevailed ; and we soon find him thanking Wood for setting him to work. March 27, 1680*: — "Twill be a pretty thing, and I am glad you putt me on it. I doe it playingly. This morning being up by 10, I writt two (lives): one was Sir John Suckling'', of whom I wrote
" Letter of Aubrey to Wood : MS. Ballard 14, fol. 131. ^ MS. Aubr. 6, fol. no, iio\
Condition of the Text
3
a leafe and \ in folio.' May 22, 1680 — 'My memoires of lives ' (is now) ' a booke of 2 quires, close written : and after I had began it, I had such an impulse on my spirit that I could not be at quiet till I had donne it.' Sept. 8, 1680'': — 'My booke of lives . . . they will be in all about six-score, and I beleeve never any in England were delivered so faithfully and with so good authority.'
Aubrey, therefore, began these lives'' on the suggestion of, and with a desire to help Anthony Wood.
Among the lives so written were several of mathema- ticians and men of science. And another friend of Aubrey's, Dr. Richard Blackburne, advised him to collect these by themselves, and add others to them, with a view to a biographical history of mathematical studies in England. To this suggestion Aubrey was predisposed through his pride at being ' Fellow of the Royal Society,' and for some time he busied himself in that direction
In the same way, although the bulky life of Thomas Hobbes® was partly undertaken in fulfilment of a promise to Hobbes himself, an old personal friend, the motive which induced Aubrey to go on with it was a desire to supply Dr. Blackburne with material for a Latin biography, Vitae Hobbianae Aitctariuni, published in 1681.
These matters will be found more fully explained in the notices which Aubrey has prefixed to the several MSS. of his biographical collections, as described below.
II. Condition of the Text of the ■ Lives.'
Few of the ' Lives ' are found in a fair copy ^ Again and again, in his letters to Anthony Wood, Aubrey makes confession of the deficiencies of his copy, but puts off the heavy task of reducing it to shape.
• Aubrey to Wood, in MS. Wood ^ Writing MS. Aubr. 8 (part ii.).
F. 39, fol. 340. • MS. Aubr. 9.
Ibid. fol. 347. ' The lives of Isaac Barrow, and of
<^ Composing MSS. Aubr. 6, 7, and (Serjeant-at-Law) John Hoskyns, may
8 (part i.). serve as specimens of a fair copy.
B 2
4
Aubi'ey's 'Brief Lives'
His method of composition was as follows. He had a folio MS. book, and wrote at the top of a page here and there the name of a poet, or statesman, or the like, whose life he thought of committing to paper. Then, selecting a page and a name, he wrote down hastily, without notes or books, his recollections of the man, his personal ap- pearance, his friendships, his actions or his books. If a date, a name, a title of a book, did not occur to him on the spur of the moment, he just left a blank, or put a mark
of omission (generally, ... or ), and went on. If the
matter which came to him was too much for the page, he made an effort to get it in somehow, in the margins (top, bottom, or sides), between the paragraphs, or on the opposite page.
When he read over what he had written in the first glow of composition, he erased, wrote alternatives to words and phrases, marked words, sentences, and paragraphs for transposition, inserted queries : unsettled everything.
If later on, from books or persons, he got further in- formation, he was reckless as to how he put in the new matter: sometimes he put it in the margin, sometimes at a wrong place in the text, or on a wrong leaf, or in the middle even of another life, and often, of course, in a different volume.
And there, as has been said, the copy was left. Very seldom was a revised copy made.
To the confusions unavoidable in composing after this fashion, must be added the unsteadiness consequent on writing in the midst of morning sickness after a night's debauch. One passage, in which he describes his difficulties in composing, explains, in a way nothing else could, the frequent erasures, repetitions, half-made or inconsistent corrections, and dropping of letters, syllables, and words, which abound in his MSS. March 19, i68f ^ ; ' if I had but either one to come to me in a morning with a good scourge, or did not sitt-up till one or two with Mr. (Edmund) Wyld, I could doe a great deal of businesse.'
" Aubrey to Wood, MS. Ballard 14, fol. 129'.
Aim of this Edition
5
III. Aim of this Edition.
In presenting a text of Aubrey's ' Lives,' an editor, on more than one important point, has to decide between alternatives.
1. Shall all, or some only, of the lives be given?
It is plain, from a glance over the MSS., that many of the lives are of little interest ; in some cases, because they contain more marks of omission than statements of fact; in other cases, because they give mainly excerpts from prefaces of books ; and so on. A much more interesting, as well as handier, book would be produced, if the editor were to reject all lives in which Aubrey has nothing of intrinsic value to show.
2. In the lives selected, shall the whole, or parts only, of what Aubrey has written be given ?
Many sentences occur, which declare only Aubrey's ignorance of a date, or a place, or the title of a book. In other cases, dull and imperfect catalogues of writings are given. The omission of these would be a service to the whole, like the cutting of dead branches out of a shrub.
3. In constituting the text, how much, or how little, notice is to be taken of the imperfections of Aubrey's copy ?
The simplest, and, from some points of view, the most effective, course would be to treat Aubrey's rough draft as if it were one's own, rejecting (without comment) one or other of two alternatives, supplying (without mark) a missing word or date, omitting a second version (though having some minor peculiarities) of a statement, and so on. In this way, with a minimum of trouble to the editor, a smooth text would be produced, which would spare the reader much irritation.
4. How far is the text to be annotated, the editor supplying Aubrey's abundant omissions, and correcting his many mistakes ?
6
Aitbrey^s 'Brief Lives'
In respect of all these questions, the aim of the present edition, and the reasons for the decision taken in each case, can be stated v-ery briefly and decidedly.
I, and 2. This edition seeks to give in full all that Aubrey has written in his four chief MSS. of biographies, MSS. Aubrey 6, 7, 8, and 9.
The entire contents of these MSS. will thus be placed beyond that risk of perishing, to which they must have remained liable so long as they were found only in MS., and they will, for what they are worth, henceforth be accessible to all.
Some things in Aubrey's writing offend not merely against our present canons of good taste, but against good morals. The conversation of the people among whom Aubrey moved, although they were gentry both in position and in education, was often vulgar, and occasionally foul, as judged by us. I have dealt with these lives as historical documents, leaving them, with a very few excisions, to bear, unchecked, their testimony as to the manners and morals of Restoration England.
3. This edition seeks to present faithfully Aubrey's text as he wrote it, neglecting only absolute minutiae.
{a) A plain text is given of what Aubrey wrote, taking, as seemed most convenient, sometimes his first version of a sentence or a word, sometimes his alternative version. The rejected alternatives are given in the textual notes, as • duplicate with' ; and occasionally the erasures, as ' substi- tuted for.' Many of these notes are very trivial ; but their presence, which after all gives little trouble, provides a complete view of the MS. text. I believe also that in this way I have preserved for the collector of words some quaint forms and expressions for which he will thank me^ and provided the student of English style with some apt instances of the way in which terse native words have been replaced in our written language by feebler latinisms.
(//) I have been careful to give, in every case, Aubrey's own spelling, with or without final or medial "e,' with single
Ai'tn of this Edition
1
or double letters, 'ie' or other diphthong where we write 'ei,' and the like. The English of Aubrey's age is so like our own that it is not unimportant to mark even its minor differences.
All merely artificial tricks of writing {w''^ for which, and the like) have been neglected.
{c) Where a date, a word, or a name has been inserted, the insertion is enclosed in angular brackets ( ). Where it seemed requisite to mark that a word or phrase was added at a later date, or by another hand, square brackets have been used [ ]. The use of these symbols, borrowed from Vahlen's edition of Aristotle's Poetics, has been censured as pedantic, but I know of no clearer or shorter way of making plain in a printed text just what is, and what is not, in the MS. text.
{d) Punctuation is generally absent in Aubrey's text, as might be expected, and where it is found, it is often mis- leading. The points and marks in this edition are therefore such as seemed to make the meaning clear to myself, and therefore, I hope, to others.
[e) As regards the order of the paragraphs, Aubrey's text has been given, where convenient, sentence by sen- tence, and page by page. But I have taken full liberty to bring into their proper place marginalia, interlinear notes, addenda on opposite pages, &c. In some cases, indeed, to give in print the MS. text sentence by sentence is to do it injustice. In the MS., the difference of inks between earlier and later notes, the difference of pen-strokes (on one day with a firm pen, on another with a scratchy quill), and similar nuances, impress the eye with a sequence of para- graphs which in print can be shown only by redistribution. For example, I claim that the life of Milton, in this edition, is, from its bolder treatment, truer to the MS., than the servile version in the old edition.
4. As regards notes and explanations. Aubrey's lives supply an inviting field for comment, correction, and addition. But, even so treated, they will never be a
8
Atibrey^s 'Brief Lives'
biographical dictionary. Their value lies not in statement of bibliographical or other facts, but in their remarkably vivid personal touches, in what Aubrey had seen himself and what his friends had told him. The notes therefore seek to supply no more than indications of outstanding features of the text, identifications of Aubrey's informants, or necessary parallels from his letters.
IV. Description of the MSS.
MS. Aubr. 6 : a volume chiefly of folio leaves ; written mostly in February i6|^ ; now marked as containing 12a leaves (some pages blank), but having also a few unfoliated slips. Aubrey's own short title to it was : —
' 'S.^ehiaaixara. Brief Lives, part i.,'
and, in his pagination, it contained eighty-six leaves. A rough index of its contents, by him, is found as foil. 8-10 : and there he gives the names of several persons whose lives he intended to write, but has not included in this volume. Some of these are found elsewhere, especially in MS. Aubrey 8 ; but a few * are not discoverable in any MS. of his biographical collections — e.g., Richard Alcorne ; (Samuel) Collins, D.D. ; Richard Blackbourne, M.D.; (John) Flamsted''; Sir John Hoskins; James Rex; James, duke of Monmouth''; Peter Ramus ; Benjamin Ruddier; captain (Edward) Sherburne; captaine Thomas Stump ; Richard White. Possibly Aubrey never wrote the missing lives ; but it must be remembered (i) that he cut some leaves out of his MS. himself (see in a note to the life of Richard Boyle, earl of Cork) ; (2) that Anthony Wood cut out of MS. Aubr. 7 forty pages at least, containing matters 'to cut Aubrey's throat,' i.e. reflections on politics, where the lives of James R. and Monmouth may well have been.
* In this edition, some notes about Flamsted.
some of them have been brought in Aubrey adds the reference ' vide
from Aubrey's letters, and his 'Col- libr. B.': see Macray's p. 366.
lectio Genituramm.' ^ The adventures of Captain Thomas
*" Aubrey notes ' Mr. (Edmund) Stump in Guiana are recorded in
Halley ' as the person to ask about Aubrey's Natural History of Wilts.
Description of the MSS.
9
One point about this MS. which deserves mention is that, in these lives, Aubrey, in his hope to supply data for crucial instances in astrology, is careful to give the exact nativity wherever he can. His rule is thus laid down by himself in MS. Aubr. 6, fol. 12^, in a note attached to the nativity of his friend Sir William Petty : —
' Italian proverb —
" E astrologia, ma non e Astrologo," i.e. we have not that science yet perfect; 'tis one of the desidei-ata. The way to make it perfect is to gett a supellex of true genitures ; in order wherunto I have with much care collected these ensuing^ which the astrologers may rely on, for I have sett doune none on randome, or doubt- full, information, but from their ozvne moiithes : quod N. B.'
Another point is, that Aubrey very frequently gives the coat of arms, in trick or colour. In some cases, no doubt, he did this from having seen the arms actually borne in some way by the person he is writing about ; but in other cases he merely looked up the name in a ' Dictionary of Arms,' and took the coat from thence, thus nullifying his testimony as to the actual pretensions to arms of those he writes about. All coats he mentions have, however, been given in the text or notes.
Prefixed to the volume are two notes in which Aubrey explains its origin and destination.
(A)— MS. Aubr. 6, fol. " 2 :—
' Tanqiiam tabulata naufragii.
Sum Johannis Aubrii, R.S.S. Febr. 24, i6|^.
My will and humble desire is that these minutes,
" i. e. the schemes of nativity given at the beginning of many of the lives in MS. Aubr. 6. MS. Aubr. 23, ' Col- lectio genitnrarum,' drawn up by Aubrey in 1674 to be deposited in the Ashmolean Museum, is an earlier
contribution to the 'supellex.'
In fol. 11^ Aubrey's book-plate is pasted on.
<= In the top left corner, ' \s. 4^. ' is written. Possibly the price of the original paper-book.
lO
Aubrey^ s 'Brief Lives'
which I have hastily and scribhngly here sett downe, be delivered carefully to my deare and honoured friend Mr. Anthony a Wood, antiquary, of Oxford. —
Ita obnixe obtestor,
Jo. Aubrey.
Ascenscione Domini,
correptus lipothymia, circiter 3 P.M. i68o.'
(B)— MS. Aubr. 6, fol. 12:—
'To my worthy friend Mr. ANTHONIE a WOOD, Antiquarie of Oxford.
Sir!
I have, according to your desire, putt in writing these minutes of lives tumultuarily, as they occurred to my thoughts or as occasionally I had information of them. They may easily be reduced into order at your leisure by numbring them with red figures, according to time and place, &c. 'Tis a taske that I never thought to have undertaken till you imposed it upon me, sayeing that I was fitt for it by reason of my generall acquaintance, having now not only lived above halfe a centurie of yeares in the world, but have also been much tumbled up and downe in it which hath made me much * knowne ; besides the moderne advantage of coffee-howses in this great citie, before which men knew not how to be acquainted, but with their owne relations, or societies. I might add that I come of a longaevous race, by which meanes I have imped some feathers of the wings of time, for severall generations ; which does reach high. When I first began, I did not thinke I could have drawne it out to so long a thread.
I here lay-downe to you (out of the conjunct friend-
" ' Much ' substituted for ' so well.'
Description of the MSS.
II
ship" between us) the trueth, and, as neer as I can and that religiously as a poenitent to his confessor, nothing but the trueth: the naked and plaine trueth, which is here exposed so bare that the very pudenda are not covered and affords many passages that would raise a blush in a young virgin's cheeke. So that after your perusall, I must desire you to make a castration (as Raderus*^ to Martial) and to sowe-on some figge-leaves — i. e., to be my Index cxpiirgatoruis.
What uncertainty doe we find in printed histories? they either treading too neer on the heeles of trueth that they dare not speake plaine, or els for want of in- telligence (things being antiquated) become too obscure and darke ! I doe not here repeat any thing already published (to the best of my remembrance) and I fancy my selfc all along discourseing with you ; alledgeing those of my relations and acquaintance (as either you knew or have heerd of) ad faciendani fidem : so that you make me to renew my acquaintance with my old and deceased friends, and to rejnvenescere (as it were) which is the pleasure of old men. 'Tis pitty that such minutes had not been taken loo yeares since or more : for want wherof many worthy men's names and notions'^ are swallowd-up in oblivion; as much of these also would [have*^ been], had it not been through your instigation : and perhaps this is one of the usefullest pieces ^ that I have scribbeld.
I remember one sayeing of generall Lambert's, that " the
* Aubrey cites in the margin : —
' Utrumque nostrum admirabili modo Consentit astrum.
HORAT. lib. 2, ode 1 7 : Nescio quod certe est, quod me tibi temperct, astrum.
Pers. Sat. V. V. 50 ' ;
and adds the date in the margin Matth. Raderi 'novi commentt.'
'1665'; but according to Wood, were published in 1602, and later
1667 was the date of their first editions.
acquaintance (Clark's Wood's Life « Dupl. with ' inventions.'
and Times, n. n6). '' Have been ' is scored out.
Dupl. with ' hid.' g Subst. for ' things."
Subst. for 'girle's.'
12 Aubrey^ s 'Brief Lives*
best of men are but men at the best " : of this, you will meet with divers examples in this rude and hastie collec- tion. Now these arcana are not fitt to lett flie abroad, till about 30 yeares hence ; for the author and the persons (like medlars) ought to be first rotten. But in whose hands must they be deposited in the mean time? advise me, who am,
Sir,
Your very affectionate friend to serve you,
John Aubrey.
London, June 15, 1680.'
MS. Aubr. 7 : a folio volume of twenty-one leaves (several pages blank), of which two'^ only belong to the original MS.
The original title may be conjectured to have been : ' 2x€8tao-/xara. Brief Lives, part ii.,' and it possibly contained some letters, like those in the preceding volume, which made Wood think it was given to him.
On fol. I, is a note describing the make-up of the volume : —
' Aubrey's Lives : fragments of part ii. — These scattered fragments collected and arranged by E. M. Sep. 1792.' A note (in Dr. Philip Bliss's hand?) says that E. M. is Edmund Malone.
In this, as in the other Aubrey MSS., Dr. Bliss has made several slight notes, both in pencil and ink, with a view to his edition.
The mutilation of the MS. was the crime of Anthony Wood, to whom it had been sent. Two conjectures may be hazarded — either that Wood did this in order to paste the cuttings into his rough copy of his projected Aikenae, and so save transcription ; or, more probably, that he was
" Foil. 47, 48, in the original (foil. scraps: fol. 8 is a paper, bearing date 10, II, as now foliated). The rest are 'London, March 12, 1 68|.'
Description of the MSS.
13
so thoroughly alarmed by the threat of Lord Clarendon's prosecution of himself (Clark's Wood's Life and Times, iv. 1-46), that he destroyed the papers containing Aubrey's sharp reflections on various prominent personages*. But whatever the pretext, Aubrey was, naturally, very grieved at his unjustifiable conduct. In a letter to Wood, dated Sept. 2, 1694 (MS. Ballard 14, fol. 155), he writes: —
' You have cutt out a matter of 40 pages out of one