Memoir of John Aubrey, F.R.S.; embracing his autobiographical sketches, a brief review of his personal and literary merits, and an account of his works, with extracts from his correspondence, anecdotes of some of his contemporaries, and of the times in which he lived / By John Britton ... Published by the Wiltshire Topographical Society [with its 5th Annual Report, 1845].
- John Britton
- Date:
- 1845
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Memoir of John Aubrey, F.R.S.; embracing his autobiographical sketches, a brief review of his personal and literary merits, and an account of his works, with extracts from his correspondence, anecdotes of some of his contemporaries, and of the times in which he lived / By John Britton ... Published by the Wiltshire Topographical Society [with its 5th Annual Report, 1845]. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![The debts and lawe suites . . . . borrowing of money, and perpetuall riding tomy .,.. A°®.... sold manor of Burleton, in Heref. to Dr. F. Willis. A° . . . sold the manor of Strafford * to Herbert, L4 Bp. of Hereford. Ao 1664, June 11, went into France. Octob..... returned. Then Joan Sumner. . then lawe suite wth her, then sold Easton Pierse and the farme at Broad Chalke. Lost 5004. . +2001. 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 ? é £ , .,, divested of all, p 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.,+ with whom I was delitescent + .... 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’, 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, (. 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. f My fancy lay most to geometrie. If ever I had been good for anything ’twould have been a painter. I 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. + 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. t Dexirescence, (delitescentia, Lat.) retirement, obscurity. [Johnson. ]](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b33522169_0037.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
