THE NATURAL HISTORY OF WILTSHIRE

JOHN AUBREY

 TO

 GEORGE POULETT SCROPE, ESQ. M. P. , &c, &c. &c. ___________________________________

MY DEAR SIR, BY inscribing this Volume to you I am merely discharging a debt ofgratitude and justice. But for you I believe it would not have beenprinted; for you not only advocated its publication, but havegenerously contributed to diminish the cost of its production to the"WILTSHIRE TOPOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY", under whose auspices it is nowsubmitted to the public. 

Though comparatively obsolete as regards its scientific, archaeological, and philosophical information, AUBREY'S "NATURALHISTORY OF WILTSHIRE" is replete with curious and entertaining factsand suggestions, at once characterising the writer, and the age inwhich he lived, and illustrating the history and topography of hisnative county. Had this work been revised and printed by its author, as he wished and intended it to have been, it would have proved asuseful and important as Plot's "Staffordshire" and "Oxfordshire";Burton's "Leicestershire"; Morton's "Northamptonshire"; Philipott's"Kent"; or any others of its literary predecessors or contemporaries. It could not have failed to produce useful results to the county itdescribes; as it was calculated to promote inquiry, awaken curiosity, and plant seeds which might have produced a rich and valuable harvestof Topography. 

Aubrey justly complained of the apathy which prevailed in his timeamongst Wiltshire men towards such topics ; and, notwithstanding themany improvements that have since been made in general science, literature, and art, I fear that the gentry and clergy of the countydo not sufficiently appreciate the value and utility of local history;otherwise the Wiltshire Topographical Society would not linger forwant of adequate and liberal support. Aubrey, Bishop Tanner, HenryPenruddocke Wyndham, Sir Richard Colt Hoare, and the writer of thisaddress, have successively appealed to the inhabitants of the countyto produce a history commensurate to its wealth and extent, and alsoto the many and varied objects of importance and interest which belongto it: but, alas ! all have failed, and I despair of living to seemy native county amply and satisfactorily elucidated by either oneor more topographers. 

By the formation of the Society already mentioned, by writing andsuperintending this volume and other preceding publications, and byvarious literary exertions during the last half century, I haveendeavoured to promote the cause of Topography in Wiltshire ; and indoing so have often been encouraged by your sympathy and support. Forthis I am bound to offer you the expression of my very sincere thanks;and with an earnest wish that you may speedily complete yourprojected "History of Castle Combe, "

I am, My dear Sir, Yours very truly, JOHN BRITTON. 

Burton Street, London. 1st September, 1847. 

EDITOR'S PREFACE. 

IN the "Memoir of John Aubrey", published by the WiltshireTopographical Society in 1845, I expressed a wish that the "NATURALHISTORY of WILTSHIRE", the most important of that author's unpublishedmanuscripts, might be printed by the Society, as a companion volume to thatMemoir, which it is especially calculated to illustrate. 

The work referred to had been then suggested to the Council of theSociety by George Poulett Scrope, Esq. M. P. , as desirable forpublication. They concurred with him in that opinion; and shortlyafterwards, through the kind intervention of the Marquess ofNorthampton, an application was made to the Council of the RoyalSociety for permission to have a transcript made for publication fromthe copy of the " Natural History of Wiltshire" in their possession. The required permission was readily accorded; and had not the printing been delayed by my own serious illness during the last winter, and urgent occupations since, it would have been completed some months ago. 

When the present volume was first announced, it was intended to printthe whole of Aubrey's manuscript; but after mature deliberation it hasbeen thought more desirable to select only such passages as directlyor indirectly apply to the county of Wilts, or which compriseinformation really useful or interesting in itself, or curious asillustrating the state of literature and science at the time when theywere written. 

Before the general reader can duly understand and appreciate thecontents of the present volume it is necessary that he should havesome knowledge of the manners, customs, and literature of the age whenit was written, and with the lucubrations of honest, but "magotie-headed" John Aubrey, as he is termed by Anthony a Wood. Although Ihave already endeavoured to portray his mental and personalcharacteristics, and have carefully marked many of his merits, eccentricities, and foibles, I find, from a more careful examinationof his "Natural History of Wiltshire" than I had previously devotedto it, many anecdotes, peculiarities, opinions, and traits, which, whilst they serve to mark the character of the man, afford alsointeresting memorials of his times. If that age be compared andcontrasted with the present, the difference cannot fail to make usexult in living, breathing, and acting in a region of intellect andfreedom, which is all sunshine and happiness, opposed to the gloom andilliteracy which darkened the days of Aubrey. Even Harvey, Wren, Flamsteed, and Newton, his contemporaries and friends, were slaves andvictims to the superstition and fanaticism of their age. 

It has long been customary to regard John Aubrey as a credulous andgossiping narrator of anecdotes of doubtful authority, and as anignorant believer of the most absurd stories. This notion was groundedchiefly upon the prejudiced testimony of Anthony a Wood, and on thecontents of the only work which Aubrey published during his lifetime, -an amusing collection of "Miscellanies" relating to dreams, apparitions, witchcraft, and similar subjects. Though his " History ofSurrey" was of a more creditable character, and elicited the approvalof Manning and Bray, the subsequent historians of that county, anunfavourable opinion of Aubrey long continued to prevail. Thepublication of his " Lives of Eminent Men" tended, however, to raisehim considerably in the estimation of discriminating critics; and inmy own " Memoir" of his personal and literary career, with itsaccompanying analysis of his unpublished works, I endeavoured (and Ibelieve successfully) to vindicate his claims to a distinguished placeamongst the literati of his times. 

That he has been unjustly stigmatised amongst his contemporaries as anespecial votary of superstition is obvious, even on a perusal of hismost objectionable work, the "Miscellanies" already mentioned, whichplainly shews that his more scientific contemporaries, including evensome of the most eminent names in our country's literary annals, participated in the same delusions. It would be amusing to compare the"Natural History of Wiltshire" with two similar works on"Oxfordshire" and " Staffordshire, " by Dr. Robert Plot, which procuredfor their author a considerable reputation at the time of theirpublication, and which still bear a favourable character amongst thetopographical works of the seventeenth century. It may be sufficienthere to state that the chapters in those publications on the Heavensand Air, Waters, Earths, Stones, Formed stones, Plants, Beastes, Menand Women, Echoes, Devils and Witches, and other subjects, are verysimilar to those of Aubrey. Indeed the plan of the latter's work wasmodelled upon those of Dr. Plot, and Aubrey states in his Preface thathe endeavoured to induce that gentleman to undertake the arrangementand publication of his "Natural History of Wiltshire". On comparingthe writings of the two authors, we cannot hesitate to award superiormerits to the Wiltshire antiquary. 

A few passages may be quoted from the latter to shew that he wasgreatly in advance of his contemporaries in general knowledge andliberality of sentiment:-

" I have oftentimes wished for a mappe of England coloured accordingto the colours of the earth; with markes of the fossiles andminerals. " (p. 10. )

"As the motion caused by a stone lett fall into the water is bycircles, so sounds move by spheres in the same manner; which, thoughobvious enough, I doe not remember to have seen in any booke. " (p. 18. )

"Phantomes. Though I myselfe never saw any such things, yet I willnot conclude that there is no truth at all in these reports. I believethat extraordinarily there have been such apparitions; but where oneis true a hundred are figments. There is a lecherie in lyeing andimposing on the credulous, and the imagination of fearfull people isto admiration. " [In other words, timid people are disposed to believemarvellous stories. ] (p. 122. )

"Draughts of the Seates and Prospects. If these views were well donn, they would make a glorious volume by itselfe, and like enough it mighttake well in the world. It were an inconsiderable expence to thesepersons of qualitie, and it would remaine to posterity when theirfamilies are gonn and their buildings ruined by time or fire, as wehave seen that stupendous fabric of Paul's Church, not a stone left ona stone, and lives now only in Mr. Hollar's Etchings in Sir WilliamDugdale's History of Paul's. I am not displeased with this thought asa desideratum, but I doe never expect to see it donn; so few men havethe hearts to doe public good to give 4 or 5 pounds for a copper-plate. "p. 126. )

With regard to the history of the work now first published, it may bestated that it was the author's first literary essay; being commencedin 1656, and evidently taken up from time to time, and pursued "conamore". In 1675 it was submitted to the Royal Society, when, as Aubreyobserved in a letter to Anthony á Wood, it "gave them two or threedayes entertainment which they were pleased to like. " Dr. Plotdeclined to prepare it for the press, and in December 1684 stronglyurged the author to "finish and publish it" himself; he accordinglyproceeded to arrange its contents, and in the month of June following(in the sixtieth year of his age) wrote the Preface, describing itsorigin and progress. He states elsewhere that on the 21st of April1686, he "finished the last chapter, " and in the same year he had hisportrait painted by "Mr. David Loggan, the graver, " expressly to beengraved for the intended publication. 

On the 18th of August 1686 he wrote the following Will: " Whereas I, John Aubrey, R. S. S. , doe intend shortly to take a journey into thewest; and reflecting on the fate that manuscripts use to have afterthe 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 Londonagain, to finish, if it pleaseth God, this discourse, I say anddeclare that my will then is, that I bequeath these papers of theNatural History of Wilts to my worthy friend Mr. Robert Hooke, ofGresham Colledge and R. S. S. , and I doe also humbly desire him, and mywill is, that the noble buildings and prospects should be engraven bymy worthy friend Mr. David Loggan, who hath drawn my picture alreadyin order to it"

This document* shews at once the dangers and difficulties whichattended travelling in Aubrey's time, and also that he seriouslycontemplated the publication of his favourite work. 

* [It has been already printed in my Memoir of Aubrey. A noteattached to it shews that the author intended to incorporate with thepresent work some portions of his MS. "Monumenta Britannica"; whichwas also dedicated to the Earl of Pembroke. ]

Neither his fears of death nor his hopes of publication were howeverthen realized: probably the political disturbances attending theRevolution of 1688 interfered with the latter. In the November of theyear following that event Aubrey's friend and patron Thomas, Earl ofPembroke, was elected President of the Royal Society, whichdistinguished office he held only for one year. During that period theauthor dedicated the " Natural History of Wiltshire " to his Lordship;and there is little reason to doubt that the fair copy, now in theSociety's Library, was made by the author, and given to it in the year1690. About the same time he had resolved to present his othermanuscripts, together with some printed books, coins, antiquities, &c. , to the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford; and most of them wereaccordingly deposited there. He however appears to have retained hisoriginal manuscript of the " Natural History, " in which he madeseveral observations in the year 1691; that being the latest dateattached by him to any of the additions. †

† [Some of these additions of 1691 Aubrey afterwards transcribed intocertain blank spaces in the Royal Society's copy. ]

On the 15th of September in the same year Aubrey sent this work to hislearned and scientific friend, John Ray, for his perusal. The lattermade a number of notes upon various parts of the manuscript, which heretained till the 27th of the ensuing month; when he returned it withthe very judicious letter which will be found printed in this presentpublication (p. 7. ) He had acknowledged the receipt of the work in aprevious letter, in which he says: "I have read it over with greatpleasure and satisfaction. You doe so mingle "utile dulci" {the usefulwith the sweet} that the book cannot but take with all sorts ofreaders: and it is pity it should be suppressed; which, though youmake a countenance of, I cannot persuade myself you really intend todo:" and then proceeds to criticise a few pedantic or "new-coyned "words, and also the contents of Chapter VIII. (Part I. ) It wasprobably soon afterwards that Evelyn perused and added some notes tothe manuscript;‡ and in February 1694 Aubrey also lent the work toThomas Tanner (afterwards Bishop of St Asaph), at his earnest request. He seems to have become acquainted with his fellow county-man, Tanner, only a short time before this. The latter, although then only in histwenty-first year, and pursuing his studies at Oxford, had acquired areputation for knowledge of English antiquities, and with the ardourand enthusiasm of youth evinced much anxiety to promote thepublication of this and some of the other works of his venerablefriend. He added several notes to the manuscript, and whilst in hispossession it was no doubt examined also by Gibson. It is referred toin the notes to the latter's edition of Camden's " Britannia. "

‡ [Perhaps in May 1692 ; when he is known to have examined another ofAubrey's works, "An Idea of Education of Young Gentlemen". - Evelyn'snotes to the "Wiltshire" are thus referred to in a memorandum byAubrey on a fly-leaf of the manuscript: "Mdm. That ye annotations towhich are prefixed this marke [J. E. ] were writt by my worthy friendJohn Evelyn, Esq. R. S. S. 'Twas pitty he wrote them in black lead; sothat I was faine to runne them all over againe with inke. I thinke notmore than two words are obliterated. "]

Had Aubrey's life been spared a few years longer it is very possiblethat most of his manuscripts would have been printed, under thestimulus and with the assistance of his youthful friend. His"Miscellanies, " which appeared in 1696, seem to have owed theirpublication to these influences; and in the Dedication of that work tohis patron the Earl of Abingdon, Aubrey thus expressly mentionsTanner:- "It was my intention to have finished my Description ofWiltshire (half finished* already), and to have dedicated it to yourLordship, but my age is now too far spent for such undertakings. † Ihave therefore devolved that task on my countryman Mr. Thomas Tanner, who hath youth to go through with it, and a genius proper for such anundertaking. "

* [The work alluded to still remains "half finished, " being aDescription of the " North Division" only of the county. It hasbeen printed by Sir Thomas Phillipps from the MS. In the AshmoleanMuseum. 4to. 1821-1838. ]

† [He was then in his 71st year. ]

A chapter of the "Natural History" (being "Fatalities of Familiesand Places"), was at this time detached from the original manuscriptto furnish materials for the remarks on "Local Fatality, " in the"Miscellanies. "

John Aubrey died suddenly in the first week in June 1697, and wasburied in the church of St. Mary Magdalen at Oxford, and from the timeof his decease the original draught of his Wiltshire History has beencarefully preserved in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, as the faircopy of 1690 has also in the Library of the Royal Society in London. 

Until the "Natural History of Wiltshire" was briefly described in myown "Memoir" of its author, very little was known of it beyond themere fact of the existence of the two manuscripts. Copying from theoriginal at Oxford, Dr. Rawlinson printed the Preface and Dedication, together with Ray's letter of the 27th October, 1691, as addenda tohis edition of Aubrey's "History of Surrey, " (1719. ) The samemanuscript was also noticed by Thomas Warton and William Huddesford ina list of the author's works in the Ashmolean Museum. ‡ Horace Walpolereferred to the Royal Society's copy in his Anecdotes of Painting(1762); but though his reference seems to have excited the curiosityof Gough, the latter contented himself with stating that he could notfind the work mentioned in Mr. Robertson's catalogue of the Society'slibrary. 

‡ [This list forms a note to the "Lives of Leland, Hearne, and Wood"(8° 1772). Though it includes the "Natural History, " it omits the"Description of North Wiltshire. " The latter was known previously, being mentioned by Aubrey himself in his Miscellanies, and also by Dr. Rawlinson; and hence, Warton and Huddesford's list being supposed tobe complete, much confusion has arisen respecting these two ofAubrey's works, which have been sometimes considered as identical. ]

Some years ago Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bart. , contemplated publishingthis "Natural History, " but he appears to have abandoned his design. 

A brief description of the present state of the two manuscripts, withreference to the text of the volume now published, may be desirable. The Oxford copy, which may be termed the author's rough draught, is intwo parts or volumes, demy folio, in the original vellum binding. §Being compiled at various times, during a long series of years, it hasa confused appearance, from the numerous corrections and additionsmade in it by Aubrey. A list of the chapters is prefixed to eachvolume, whence it appears that Aubrey had intended to include someobservations on "Prices of Corne", "Weights and Measures", "Antiquities and Coines", and "Forests, Parks, and Chaces". Most ofthese topics are adverted to under other heads, but the author nevercarried out his intention by forming them into separate chapters. 

§ [The first volume has two title-pages. On one of them, as well as onthe cover, the work is called the "Natural History" of Wiltshire;but the remaining title designates its contents as "Memoires ofNatural Remarques" in the county. ]

Besides wanting the "Fatalities of Families and Places", taken out bythe author in 1696, as already stated, the Oxford manuscript isdeficient also in the chapters on "Architecture", "Accidents", and"Seates". So far therefore as Aubrey's own labours are concerned, theRoyal Society's copy is the most perfect; but the notes of Ray, Evelyn, and Tanner were written upon the Oxford manuscript after thefair copy was made, and have never been transcribed into the latter. The Royal Society's manuscript is entirely in Aubrey's own hand, andis very neatly and carefully written, being in that respect, as wellas in its completeness, much superior to the original. Of the latterit appears to have been an exact transcript; but it wants some of therude sketches and diagrams with which the original is illustrated. Thetwo parts form only one volume, demy folio, which is pagedconsecutively from 1 to 373, and is bound in modern Russia leather. 

As already stated, a copy of the entire work was made for the purposesof this publication from the Royal Society's volume. The ownership ofthis copy has since been transferred to George Poulett Scrope, Esq. M. P. , of Castle Combe, who has had it collated with the Oxfordmanuscript, thus making it unique. 

Every care has been taken to preserve the strictest accuracy in theextracts now published, and with that view, as well as to correspondwith such of Aubrey's works as have been already printed, the originalorthography has been retained. The order and arrangement of thechapters, and their division into two parts, are also adhered to. Atthe commencement of each chapter I have indicated the nature of thepassages which are omitted in the present volume, and although suchomissions are numerous, it may be stated that all the essential anduseful portions of the work are either here printed, or so referred toas to render them easily accessible in future to the scientificstudent, the antiquary, and the topographer. 

With respect to the Notes which I have added, as Editor of the presentvolume, in correction or illustration of Aubrey's observations, I amalone responsible. * It would have been easy to have increased theirnumber; for every page of the original text is full of mattersuggestive of reflection and comment. I am aware that a more familiaracquaintance with the present condition of Wiltshire would havefacilitated my task, and added greatly to the importance of thesenotes. On this point indeed I might quote the remarks of Aubrey in hispreface, for they apply with equal force to myself; and, like him, Icannot but regret that no "ingeniouse and publique-spirited youngWiltshire man" has undertaken the task which I have thus imperfectlyperformed. 

* [These are enclosed within brackets [thus], and bear the initialsJ. B. Some of the less important are marked by brackets only. ]

In closing this address, and also in taking leave of the county ofWilts, as regards my literary connection with it, I feel it to be atonce a duty and a pleasure to record my acknowledgments and thanks tothose persons who have kindly aided me on the present occasion. When Icommenced this undertaking I did not anticipate the labour it wouldinvolve me in, and the consequent time it would demand, or I must havedeclined the task; for I have been compelled to neglect a superiorobligation which I owe to a host of kind and generous friends who havethought proper to pay me and literature a compliment in my old age, bysubscribing a large sum of money as a PUBLIC TESTIMONIAL. In returnfor this, and to reciprocate the compliment, I have undertaken thelaborious and delicate task of writing an AUTO-BIOGRAPHY which willnarrate the chief incidents of my public life, and describe theliterary works which I have produced. It is my intention to present acopy of this volume to each subscriber, so as to perpetuate the eventin his own library and family, by a receipt or acknowledgmentcommemorative of the mutual sympathy and obligation of the donor andthe receiver. Being now relieved from all other engagements andoccupations, it is my intention to prosecute this memoir with zeal anddevotion; and if health and life be awarded to me I hope to accomplishit in the ensuing winter. *

* [The volume will contain at least fifteen illustrations from steelcopper, wood, and stone, and more than 300 pages of letterpress. Acopy of the work will be presented to each subscriber, proportionatein value to the amount of the contribution. Hence three differentsizes of the volume will be printed, namely: imperial 4to, with Indiaproofs, fur subscribers of 10 [pounds}; medium 4to, with proofs, forthose of 3 {pounds} and 5 {pounds}; and royal 8vo, with a limited number of prints, for subscribers of 1{pound} and 2 {pounds}. ]

To the MARQUESS OF NORTHAMPTON, a native of Wiltshire, the zealous anddevoted President of the Royal Society, my especial thanks aretendered for his influence with the Council of that Society, inobtaining their permission to copy Aubrey's manuscript; and also to

GEORGE POULETT SCROPE, Esq. M. P. , for contributing materially towardsthe expense of the copy, and thereby promoting its publication. 

To my old and esteemed friend the REV. DR. INGRAM, President ofTrinity College, Oxford, I am obliged for many civilities, and forsome judicious corrections and suggestions. His intimateacquaintance with Wiltshire, his native county, and his generalknowledge of archaeology, as well as of classical and mediaevalhistory, eminently qualify him to give valuable aid in allpublications like the present. 

To JOHN GOUGH NICHOLS, Esq. F. S. A. , both myself and the reader areunder obligations, for carefully revising the proof sheets for thepress, and for several valuable corrections. 

To C. R. WELD, Esq. Assistant Secretary to the Royal Society, I amindebted for affording facilities for copying the manuscript. 

Lastly, my obligations and thanks are due to MR. T. E. JONES, for theaccurate transcript which he made from Aubrey's fair manuscript, forcollating the same with the original at Oxford, for selecting andarranging the extracts which are now for the first time printed, andfor his scrupulous and persevering assistance throughout thepreparation of the entire volume. But for such essential aid, it wouldhave been out of my power to produce the work as it is now presentedto the members of the "Wiltshire Topographical Society, " and to thecritical reader. 

JOHN BRITTON. 

Burton Street, London. 1st September, 1847. 

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TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

Title-page, with View of the Upper Part of the Tower of Sutton BengerChurch. 

DEDICATION to G. P. SCROPE, Esq. M. P. 

The EDITOR'S PREFACE; with Historical and Descriptive Particulars ofAubrey's Manuscripts

Title-page to the Original Manuscript

DEDICATION, by Aubrey, to THOMAS, EARL of PEMBROKE

The AUTHOR'S Original PREFACE. 

Letter from John Ray to Aubrey, with Comments on the Writings of thelatter. 

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. CHOROGRAPHIA :- Geological Remarks, Local Influences

List of "THE CHAPTERS"

PART I. 

CHAP. I. AIR:-Winds, Mists, Storms, Meteors, Echos, Sounds

CHAP. II. SPRINGS MEDICINAL :- At Chippenham, Kington St. Michael, Draycot, Seend, Epsom, Melksham, Dundery-hill, Lavington, Devizes, Minety, Wotton Bassett, &c. ; Sir W. Petty's "Queries for the Tryall ofMinerall Waters"

CHAP. III. RIVERS :- Wily, North Avon, Upper Avon, Nadder, Stour, Deverill, Kennet, Marden, Thames, &c. ; Proposal for a Canal to connectthe Thames and North Avon. 

CHAP. IV. SOILS :- Clay, Marl, Fuller's Earth, Chalk, Gravel, Sand;Downs, Fairy-rings, Becket's Path at Winterbourn, Peat, SpontaneousVegetation, Hills

CHAP. V. MINERALS AND FOSSILS :- Iron, Silver, Copperas, Umber, Spar, Lead, Coal. 

CHAP. VI. STONES :- Of Haselbury, Chilmark, and Swindon; Lime, Chalk, Pebbles, Flints; the Grey Wethers

CHAP. VII. FORMED STONES :- Belemnites, Madrepores, Oysters, Astroites, Cornua Ammonia, Echini, &c. 

CHAP. VIII. AN HYPOTHESIS OF THE TERRAQUEOUS GLOBE :-LearnedSpeculations on the structure of the Earth. 

CHAP. IX. PLANTS :- Herbs, Orcheston Knot-grass, Alhanna, Tobacco, Oak, Elm, Beech, Hazel, Yew, Box, Holly, Osiers, Elders, Ash, Glastonbury Thorn, &c. 

CHAP. X. BEASTS :- Deer, Hares, Rabbits, Dogs, Cattle

CHAP. XI. FISHES :- Trout, Eels, Umbers or Grayling, Carp, Tench, Salmon; Fish-ponds, &c. 

CHAP. XII. BIRDS :- Larks, Woodpeckers, Bustards, Crows, Pheasants, Hawks, Sea-gulls, &c. 

CHAP. XIII. REPTILES AND INSECTS :- Snakes, Adders, Toads, Snails, Bees; Recipe to make Metheglyn

CHAP. XIV. MEN AND WOMEN:- Longevity, Remarkable Births, &c. . 

CHAP. XV. DISEASES AND CURES :- Leprosy, the Plague, Gout, Ricketts, Pin-and-Web, &c. 

CHAP. XVI. OBSERVATIONS ON PARISH REGISTERS :- Population, PoorRates, Periodical Diseases

PART II. 

CHAP. I. WORTHIES :- Princes, Saints, Prelates, Statesmen, Writers, Musicians; John Aubrey, Captain Thomas Stump

CHAP. II. THE GRANDEUR OF THE HERBERTS, EARLS OF PEMBROKE:-Description of Wilton. House; Pictures, Library, Armoury, Gardens, Stables ; the Earl's Hounds and Hawks, Tilting at Wilton, &c. 

CHAP. III. LEARNED MEN WHO HAD PENSIONS GRANTED TO THEM BY THE EARLSOF PEMBROKE:- With Notices of Mary, Countess of Pembroke, Dr. Mouffet, William Browne, Philip Massinger, J. Donne, &c. 

CHAP. IV. GARDENS:- At Lavington, Chelsea, Wilton, Longleat

CHAP. V. ARTS, LIBERAL AND MECHANICAL:- Learning, Colleges; Trades, Inventions, Machinery

CHAP. VI. ARCHITECTURE:- Stonehenge, Avebury, Old Sarum, SalisburyCathedral, Wardour Castle, Calne Church, Painted Glass, BradenstokePriory, Market Crosses, Paving Tiles, Old Mansions, Church Bells

CHAP. VII. AGRICULTURE:- Manures, Water Meadows, Butter and Cheese, Malting and Brewing

CHAP. VIII. THE DOWNES:- Pastoral Life, Sydney's Arcadia; Sheep, Shepherds, Pastoral Poetry

CHAP. IX. WOOL:- Qualities of Wool; its Growth, and Manufacture

CHAP. X. FALLING OF RENTS in Wiltshire attributed to the reducedprice of Wool

CHAP. XI. HISTORY OF THE CLOTHING TRADE:- Merchants of the Staple;Introduction of the Cloth Manufacture

CHAP. XII. EMINENT CLOTHIERS or WILTSHIRE:- John Hall, of Salisbury;William Stump, of Malmsbury; Paul Methuen, of Bradford, &c. 

CHAP. XIII. FAIRS AND MARKETS:-At Castle-Combe, Wilton, Chilmark, Salisbury, Devizes, Warminster, Marlborough, Lavington, Highworth, Swindon

CHAP. XIV. HAWKS AND HAWKING:- Extraordinary Flight, HistoricalDetails

CHAP. XV. THE RACE:- Salisbury Races, Famous Race Horses, Stobball-play

CHAP. XVI. NUMBER OF ATTORNEYS IN WILTSHIRE:- Increase of Attorneysthe Cause of Litigation

CHAP. XVII. FATALITIES OF FAMILIES AND PLACES:- Norrington, Castle-Combe, Stanton St. Quintin, Easton Piers

CHAP. XVIII. ACCIDENTS, OR REMARKABLE OCCURRENCES:- Destruction ofMarlborough by Fire; Cure of the King's Evil, Pretended Witchcraft, Mysterious Knockings at North Tidworth, Witches Executed at Salisbury, Phantoms

CHAP. XIX. SEATS:- Merton, Ivy-church, Littlecot, Longleat, Tottenham Park, Wardour Castle

CHAP. XX. DRAUGHTS OF THE SEATS AND PROSPECTS:- Aubrey'sInstructions to the Artists for a Map of the County, with Engravingsof the Principal Buildings and Views

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 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. 

 1685. 

 PSALM 92, v. 5, 6. "0 LORD, HOW GLORIOUS ARE THY WORKES: THY THOUGHTS ARE VERY DEEP. ANUNWISE MAN DOTH NOT WELL CONSIDER THIS: AND A FOOL DOTH NOTUNDERSTAND IT. "

 PSALM 77, v. 11. "I WILL REMEMBER THE WORKES OF THE LORD: AND CALLTO MIND THY WONDERS OF OLD TIME. "

 GRATII PALISCI CYNEGETICON. 

"O RERUM PRUDENS QUANTUM EXPERIENTIA VULGOMATERIEM LARGILIA BONI, SI VINCERE CURENTDESIDIAM, ET GRATOS AGITANDO PREBENDERE FINES !------- DEUS AUCTOR, ET IPSAAREM ALUIT NATURA SUAM. "

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 TO

 THE RIGHT HONOURABLE

 THOMAS, EARLE OF PEMBROKE AND MONTGOMERIE, LORD HERBERT OF CAERDIFFE, &c. ;

 ONE OF THE PRIVY COUNCELL TO THEIR MAJESTIES, AND PRESIDENT OF THE ROYALL SOCIETIE. 

[A page is appropriated in the manuscript to the Author's intendedDEDICATION ; the name and titles of his patron only being filled in, as above. 

The nobleman named is particularly mentioned by Aubrey in his Chapteron "The Worthies of Wiltshire", printed in a subsequent part of thisvolume. He was Earl of Pembroke from 1683 till his death in 1733; andwas distinguished for his love of literature and the fine arts. Heformed the Wilton Collection of marbles, medals, and coins; andsucceeded John, Earl of Carbery, as President of the Royal Society, inNovember, 1689. - J. B. ]

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PREFACE. 

TILL about the yeare 1649, * 'twas held a strange presumption for a manto attempt an innovation in learning; and not to be good manners to bemore knowing than his neighbours and forefathers. Even to attempt animprovement in husbandry, though it succeeded with profit, was look'tupon with an ill eie. "Quo non Livor abit?"† Their neighbours didscorne to follow it, though not to do it was to their own detriment. 'Twas held a sinne to make a scrutinie into the waies of nature;whereas Solomon saieth, "Tradidit mundum disputationibus hominum": andit is certainly a profound part of religion to glorify GOD in hisworkes. ‡

* Experimentall Philosophy was then first cultivated by a club atOxon. 

† Ovid. Fast. 

‡ "Deus est maximus in minimis. Prsæsentemque refert quælibet HerbaDeum". 

In those times to have had an inventive and enquiring witt wasaccounted resverie [affectation§], which censure the famous Dr. William Harvey could not escape for his admirable discovery of thecirculation of the blood. He told me himself that upon his publishingthat booke he fell in his practice extremely. 

§ [The words inclosed within brackets are inserted in Aubrey'smanuscript above the preceding words, of which they were intended ascorrections or modifications. If the work had been printed by theauthor he would doubtless have adopted those words which he deemedmost expressive of his meaning. - J. B. ]

Foreigners say of us that we are "Lyncei foris, Talpœ domi". There isno nation abounds with greater varietie of soiles, plants, andmineralls than ours; and therefore it very well deserves to besurveyed. Certainly there is no hunting to be compared with "VenatioPanos"; and to take no notice at all of what is dayly offered beforeour eyes is grosse stupidity. 

I was from my childhood affected with the view of things rare; whichis the beginning of philosophy : and though I have not had leisureto make any considerable proficiency in it, yet I was carried on witha strong [secret] inpulse to undertake this taske: I knew not why, unles for my owne private [particular] pleasure. Credit there wasnone; for it getts the disrespect [contempt] of a man's neighbours. But I could not rest [be] quiet till I had obeyed this secret call. Mr. Camden, Dr. Plott, and Mr. Wood confess the same [like]. 

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 in An°. 1656. Inthe yeare 1675 I became acquainted with Dr. Robert Plott, who had thenhis "Naturall Historie of Oxfordshire " upon the loome, which Iseeing he did performe so excellently well, desired him to undertakeWiltshire, and I would give him all my papers: as I did [he had] alsomy papers of Surrey as to the naturall things, and offered him myfurther assistance. But he was then invited into Staffordshire toillustrate that countie; which having finished in December 1684, Iimportuned him again to undertake this county: but he replied he wasso taken up in [arranging ?] of the Museum Ashmoleanum that he shouldmeddle no more in that kind, unles it were for his native countie ofKent; and therefore wished me to finish and publish what I had begun. Considering therefore that if I should not doe this myselfe, my papersmight either perish, or be sold in an auction, and somebody else, asis not uncommon, put his name to my paines; and not knowing any onethat would undertake this designe while I live, I have tumultuarilystitch't up what I have many yeares since collected; being chiefly butthe observations of my frequent road between South and North Wilts;that is, between Broad Chalke and Eston Piers. If I had had thenleisure, I would willingly have searched the naturalls of the wholecounty. It is now fifteen yeares since I left this country, and haveat this distance inserted such additions as I can call to mind, sothat methinks this description is like a picture that Mr. Edm. Bathurst, B. D. Of Trinity Colledge, Oxon, drew of Dr. Kettle three[some] yeares after his death, by strength of memory only; he had sostrong an idea of him: and it did well resemble him. I hope hereafterit will be an incitement to some ingeniouse and publique spiritedyoung Wiltshire man to polish and compleat what I have here deliveredrough-hewen; for I have not leisure to heighten my style. And it mayseem nauseous to some that I have rak't up so many western vulgarproverbs, which I confess I do not disdeigne to quote, * for proverbsare drawn from the experience and observations of many ages; and arethe ancient natural philosophy of the vulgar, preserved in old Englishin bad rhythmes, handed downe to us; and which I set here as"Instantiæ Crucis" for our curious moderne philosophers to examine andgive {Gk: dioti} to their {Gk: hostis}. 

* Plinie is not afraide to call them Oracles: (Lib. Xviii. Nat. Hist. Cap. Iv. ) "Ac primum omnium oraculis majore ex parte agemus, qua nonin alio vite genere plura certiorara sunt. "

But before I fly at the marke to make a description of this county, Iwill take the boldness to cancelleer, and give a generall descriptionof what parts of England I have seen, as to the soiles : which I callChorographia Super and Sub-terranea (or thinke upon a more fittingname). 

London, Gresham Coll. , June 6M, 1685. 

[The original of the following LETTER from JOHN RAY to AUBREY isinserted immediately after the Preface, in the MS. At Oxford. It isnot transcribed into the Royal Society's copy of the work. -J. B. ]

FOR MR. JOHN AUBREY. 

Sr, Black Notley, 8br 27, -91. 

Your letter of Octob. 22d giving advice of your safe return to Londoncame to hand, wch as I congratulate with you, so have I observed yourorder in remitting your Wiltshire History, wch with this enclosed Ihope you will receive this week. I gave you my opinion concerning thiswork in my last, wch I am more confirmed in by a second perusal, anddoe wish that you would speed it to ye presse. It would be convenientto fill up ye blanks so far as you can; but I am afraid that will be awork of time, and retard the edition. Whatever you conceive may giveoffence may by ye wording of it be so softned and sweetned as to takeoff ye edge of it, as pills are gilded to make them lesse ungratefull. As for the soil or air altering the nature, and influencing the witsof men, if it be modestly delivered, no man will be offended at it, because it accrues not to them by their own fault: and yet in suchplaces as dull men's wits there are some exceptions to be made. Youknow the poet observes that Democritus was an example -

 Summos posse viros, et magna exempla daturos Vervecû in patria, crassoque sub aere nasci. 

Neither is yr observation universally true that the sons of labourersand rusticks are more dull and indocile than those of gentlemen andtradesmen; for though I doe not pretend to have become of the firstmagnitude for wit or docility, yet I think I may without arrogance saythat in our paltry country school here at Braintry - "Ego meis meminoribus condiscipulis ingenio prælu[si]": but perchance theadvantage I had of my contemporaries may rather be owing to myindustry than natural parts; so that I should rather say "studio" or"industria excellui". 

I think (if you can give me leave to be free with you) that you are alittle too inclinable to credit strange relations. I have found menthat are not skilfull in ye history of nature, very credulous, and aptto impose upon themselves and others, and therefore dare not give afirm assent to anything they report upon their own autority; but areever suspicious that they may either be deceived themselves, ordelight to teratologize (pardon ye word) and to make a shew of knowingstrange things. 

You write that the Museum at Oxford was rob'd, but doe not say whetheryour noble present was any part of the losse. Your picture done inminiature by Mr. Cowper is a thing of great value, I remember so longagoe as I was in Italy, and while he was yet living, any piece of hiswas highly esteemed there; and for that kind of painting he wasesteemed the best artist in Europe. 

What my present opinion is concerning formed stones, and concerningthe formation of the world, you will see in a discourse that is nowgone to the presse concerning the Dissolution of the World: my presentopinion, I say, for in such things I am not fix't, but ready to alterupon better information, saving always ye truth of ye letter of yescripture. I thank you for your prayers and good wishes, and rest, Sr, your very humble servant, JOHN RAY. 

I have seen many pheasants in a little grove by the city of Florence, but I suppose they might have been brought in thither from someforeign country by the Great Duke. 

Surely you mistook what I wrote about elms. I never to my knowledgeaffirmed that the most common elm grows naturally in the north: butonly thought that though it did not grow there, yet it might be nativeof England: for that all trees doe not grow in all countreys or partsof England. The wych-hazel, notwithstanding its name, is nothing akinto the "corylus" but a true elm. 

The story concerning the drawing out the nail driven crosse the wood-pecker's hole is without doubt a fable. 

Asseveres and vesicates are unusuall words, and I know not whether thewits will allow them. ___________________________________

[The name of John Ray holds a pre-eminent place amongst thenaturalists of Great Britain. He was the first in this country whoattempted a classification of the vegetable kingdom, and his systempossessed many important and valuable characteristics. Ray was the sonof a blacksmith at Black Notley, near Braintree, in Essex, where hewas born, in 1627. The letter here printed sufficiently indicates hisnatural shrewdness and intelligence. One of his works here referred tois entitled "Three Physico-Theological Discourses concerning Chaos, the Deluge, and the Dissolution of the World, " 1692. There is a well-written memoir of Ray in the "Penny CyclopEedia, " Aubrey's portrait, by the celebrated miniature-painter Samuel Cooper, alluded to above, is not now extant; but another portrait of him by Faithorne ispreserved in the Ashmolean Museum, and has been several timesengraved. A print from the latter drawing accompanied the "Memoirs ofAubrey, " published by the Wiltshire Topographical Society. Cooper diedin 1672, and was buried in the old church of St. Pancras, London. Rayvisited Italy between the years 1663 and 1666. J. B. ]

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. CHOROGRAPHIA. 

[IT has been thought sufficient to print only a few brief extractsfrom this Introductory Chapter, which in the original is ofconsiderable length. Its title (derived from the Greek words {Gk:choros}and {Gk: grapho}) is analogous to Geography. By far the greaterportion of it has no application to Wiltshire, but, on the contrary, consists of Aubrey's notes, chiefly geological and botanical, on everypart of England which he had visited; embracing many of the counties. His observations shew him to have been a minute observer of naturalappearances and phenomena, and in scientific knowledge not inferior tomany of his contemporaries; but, in the present state of science, someof his remarks would be justly deemed erroneous and trivial. 

It will be seen that he contends strongly for the influence of thesoil and air upon the mental and intellectual faculties or "wits", ofindividuals; on which point some of his remarks are curious. Ray'scomments on this part of his subject will be found in the letteralready printed (page 7). "The temper of the earth and air", in theopinion of Aubrey, caused the variance in "provincial pronunciation". 

The author's theory of the formation and structure of the earth, whichis here incidentally noticed, will be adverted to in the descriptionof Chapter VIII. - J. B. ]

PETRIFIED SHELLS. -As you ride from Cricklad to Highworth, Wiltsh. , youfind frequently roundish stones, as big, , or bigger than one's head, which (I thinke) they call braine stones, for on the outside theyresemble the ventricles of the braine; they are petrified seamushromes. [Fossil Madrepores ?-J. B. ]

The free-stone of Haselbury [near Box] hath, amongst severall othershells, perfect petrified scalop-shells. The rough stone aboutChippenham (especially at Cockleborough) is full of petrified cockles. But all about the countrey between that and Tedbury, and aboutMalmesbury hundred, the rough stones are full of small shells likelittle cockles, about the bigness of a halfpenny. 

At Dinton, on the hills on both sides, are perfect petrified shells ingreat abundance, something like cockles, but neither striated, norinvecked, nor any counter-shell to meet, but plaine and with a longneck of a reddish gray colour, the inside part petrified sand; ofwhich sort I gave a quantity to the R. Society about twenty yearessince; the species whereof Mr. Hooke says is now lost. 

On Bannes-downe, above Ben-Eston near Bathe, [Banner-downe, near Bath-Easton. - J. B. ] where a battle of king Arthur was fought, are greatstones scattered in the same manner as they are on Durnham-downe, about Bristow, which was assuredly the work of an earthquake, when thesegreat cracks and vallies were made. 

The like dispersion of great stones is upon the hills by Chedar rocks, as all about Charter House, [Somersetshire, ] and the like at theforest at Fountain-Bleau, in France; and so in severall parts ofEngland, and yet visible the remarques of earthquakes and volcanoes;but in time the husbandmen will cleare their ground of them, as atDurnham-downe they are exceedingly diminished since my remembrance, bymaking lime of them. 

The great inequality of the surface of the earth was rendred so byearthquakes: which when taking fire, they ran in traines severallmiles according to their cavernes; so for instance at Yatton Keynell, Wilts, a crack beginnes which runnes to Longdeanes, in the parish, andso to Slaughtonford, where are high steep cliffs of freestone, andopposite to it at Colern the like cliffs; thence to Bathe, where onthe south side appeare Claverdon, on the north, Lansdon cliffs, bothdownes of the same piece; and it may be at the same tune the crack wasthus made at St. Vincent's rocks near Bristow, as likewise Chedarrocks, like a street. From Castle Combe runnes a valley or crack toFord, where it shootes into that that runnes from Yatton to Bathe. ___________________________________

Edmund Waller, Esq. , the poet, made a quaere, I remember, at the RoyalSociety, about 1666, whether Salisbury plaines were always plaines ?

In Jamaica, and in other plantations of America, e. G. In Virginia, the natives did burn down great woods, to cultivate the soil with maizand potato-rootes, which plaines were there made by firing the woodsto sowe corne. They doe call these plaines Savannas. Who knowes butSalisbury plaines, &c. Might be made long time ago, after this manner, and for the same reason ?

I have oftentimes wished for a mappe of England coloured according tothe colours of the earth; with markes of the fossiles and minerals. [Geological maps, indicating, by different colours, the formationsof various localities, are now familiar to the scientific student. Theidea of such a map seems to have been first suggested by Dr. MartinLister, in a paper on "New Maps of Countries, with Tables of Sands, Clays, &c. " printed in the Philosophical Transactions, in 1683. TheBoard of Agriculture published a few maps in 1794, containingdelineations of soils, &c. ; and in 1815 Mr. William Smith produced thefirst map of the strata of England and Wales. Since then G. B. Greenough, Esq. Has published a similar map, but greatly improved;and numerous others, representing different countries and districts, have subsequently appeared. - J. B. ] ___________________________________

The great snailes* on the downes at Albery in Surrey (twice as big asours) were brought from Italy by . . -. . , Earle Marshal about 1638. ___________________________________

OF THE INDOLES OF THE IRISH. - Mr. J. Stevens went from, TrinityCollege in Oxford, 1647-8, to instruct the Lord Buckhurst in grammar;afterwards he was schoolmaster of the Free Schoole at Camberwell;thence he went to be master of Merchant Taylors' Schoole; next he wasmaster of the schoole at Charter House; thence he went to the FreeSchoole at Lever Poole, from whence he was invited to be a schoolemaster of the great schoole at Dublin, in Ireland; when he left thathe was schoolmaster of Blandford, in Dorset; next of Shaftesbury; fromwhence he was invited by the city of Bristoll to be master of the FreeSchoole there; from thence he went to be master of the Free Schoole ofDorchester in Dorset, and thence he removed to be Rector of Wyley inWilts, 1666. 

* Bavoli, (i. E. ) drivelers. -J. EVELYN. 

CHOROGRAPHIA: LOCAL INFLUENCES. 11

He is my old acquaintance, and I desired him to tell me freely if theIrish Boyes had as good witte as the English; because some of oursevere witts have ridiculed the Irish understanding. He protested tome that he could not find but they had as good witts as the English;but generally speaking he found they had better memories. Dr. JamesUsher, Lord Primate of Ireland, had a great memorie: Dr Hayle (Dr. Ofthe Chaire at Oxford) had a prodigious memorie: Sir Lleonell Jenkinstold me, from him, that he had read over all the Greeke fathers threetimes, and never noted them but with his naile. Mr. . .. . Congreve, anexcellent dramatique poet. Mr. Jo. Dodwell hath also a great memorie, and Mr. . .. . Tolet hathe a girle at Dublin, mathematique, who ateleven yeares old would solve questions in Algebra to admiration. Mr. Tolet told me he began to instruct her at seven yeares of age. See theJournall of the R. Society de hoc. ___________________________________

As to singing voyces wee have great diversity in severall counties ofthis nation; and any one may observe that generally in the rich valesthey sing clearer than on the hills, where they labour hard andbreathe a sharp ayre. This difference is manifest between the vale ofNorth Wilts and the South. So in Somersettshire they generally singwell in the churches, their pipes are smoother. In North Wilts themilkmayds sing as shrill and cleare as any swallow sitting on aberne:-

 "So lowdly she did yerne, Like any swallow sitting on a berne. "- CHAUCER. ___________________________________

According to the severall sorts of earth in England (and so all theworld over) the Indigense are respectively witty or dull, good or bad. 

To write a true account of the severall humours of our own countreywould be two sarcasticall and offensive: this should be a secretwhisper in the eare of a friend only and I should superscribe here, "Pinge duos angues -locus est sacer: extra Mei ite. " - PERSIUS SATYR. 

Well then! let these Memoires lye conceal'd as a sacred arcanum. ___________________________________

In North Wiltshire, and like the vale of Gloucestershire (a dirtyclayey country) the Indigense, or Aborigines, speake drawling; theyare phlegmatique, skins pale and livid, slow and dull, heavy ofspirit: hereabout is but little, tillage or hard labour, they onlymilk the cowes and make cheese; they feed chiefly on milke meates, which cooles their braines too much, and hurts their inventions. Thesecircumstances make them melancholy, contemplative, and malicious;by consequence whereof come more law suites out of North Wilts, atleast double to the Southern Parts. And by the same reason they aregenerally more apt to be fanatiques: their persons are generally plumpand feggy: gallipot eies, and some black: but they are generallyhandsome enough. It is a woodsere country, abounding much with sowreand austere plants, as sorrel, &c. Which makes their humours sowre, and fixes their spirits. In Malmesbury Hundred, &c. (ye wett clayyparts) there have ever been reputed witches. 

On the downes, sc. The south part, where 'tis all upon tillage, andwhere the shepherds labour hard, their flesh is hard, their bodiesstrong: being weary after hard labour, they have not leisure to readand contemplate of religion, but goe to bed to their rest, to risebetime the next morning to their labour. 

 ----- "redit labor actus in orbem Agricolae. "-VIRGIL, ECLOG. ___________________________________

The astrologers and historians write that the ascendant as of Oxfordis Capricornus, whose lord is Saturn, a religious planet, and patronof religious men. If it be so, surely this influence runnes all alongthrough North Wilts, the vale of Glocestershire, and Somersetshire. Inall changes of religions they are more zealous than other; where inthe time of the Rome-Catholique religion there were more and betterchurches and religious houses founded than any other part of Englandcould shew, they are now the greatest fanaticks, even to spirituallmadness: e. G. The multitude of enthusiastes. Capt. Stokes, in his"Wiltshire Rant, "printed about 1650, recites ye strangestextravagancies of religion that were ever heard of since the time ofthe Gnosticks. The rich wett soile makes them hypochondricall. 

 "Thus wind i'th Hypochondries pent, Proves but a blast, if downwards sent; But if it upward chance to flie Becomes new light and prophecy. "-HUDIBRAS. 

[The work above referred to bears the following title: "The WiltshireRant, or a Narrative of the Prophane Actings and Evil Speakings ofThomas Webbe, Minister of Langley Burrell, &c. By Edward Stokes. "4to. Lond. 1652. -J. B. ] ___________________________________

The Norfolk aire is cleare and fine. Indigente, good clear witts, subtile, and the most litigious of England: they carry Littleton'sTenures at the plough taile. Sir Thorn. Browne, M. D. , of Norwich, told me that their eies in that countrey doe quickly decay; which heimputes to the clearness and driness (subtileness) of the aire. Wormwood growes the most plentifully there of any part of England;which the London apothecaries doe send for. 

Memorandum. -That North Wiltshire is very worme-woodish and morelitigious than South Wilts, [A Table of Contents, or List of the Chapters, is prefixed to eachPart, or Volume, of the Manuscript, as follows:-]

THE CHAPTERS. PART I. 

1. Air. 

2. Springs Medicinall. 

3. Rivers. 

4. Soiles. 

5. Mineralls and Fossills. 

6. Stones. 

7. Formed Stones. 

8. An Hypothesis of the Terraqueous Globe: a digression "ad mentemM{emo}ri", R. Hook, R. S. S. 

9. Plants. 

10. Beastes. 

11. Fishes. 

12. Birds. 

13. Insects and Reptils. 

14. Men and Woemen. 

15. Diseases and Cures. 

16. Observations on some Register Books, as also the Poore Rates and Taxes of the County, "ad mentem D{omi}ni" W. Petty. 

PART II. 

1. Worthies. 

2. The Grandure of the Herberts, Earles of Pembroke. Wilton House and Garden. 

3. Learned Men who received Pensions from the Earles of Pembroke. 

4. Gardens - Lavington-garden, Chelsey-garden, &c. 

5. Arts - Inventions. 

6. Architecture. 

7. Agriculture and Improvements. 

8. The Downes - Sheep - Shepherds - Pastoralls. 

9. Wool. 

10. Falling of Rents. 

11. History of Cloathing

12. Eminent Cloathiers of this County. 

13. Faires and Marketts

14. Hawks and Hawking. 

15. The Race. 

16. Number of Attorneys in this Countie now and heretofore. 

17. Locall Fatality. 

18. Accidents. 

19. Seates

20. Draughts of the Seates and Prospects [an Appendix]. 

Memorandum. Anno 1686, ætatis 60. - Mr. David Loggan, the Graver, drewmy picture in black and white, in order to be engraved, which is stillin his hands. 

CHAPTER I. AIR. 

[THIS Chapter contains a variety of matter not apposite to Wiltshire. Besides the passages here quoted, there are accounts of severalremarkable hurricanes, hail storms, &c. , in different parts ofEngland, as well as in Italy. The damage done by "Oliver's wind "(thestorm said to have occurred on the death of the Protector Cromwell) isparticularly noticed: though it may be desirable to state on theauthority of Mr. Carlyle, the eloquent editor of "Cromwell's Lettersand Speeches" (8vo. 1846), that the great tempest which Clarendonasserts to have raged "for some hours before and after theProtector's death", really occurred four days previous to that event. Aubrey no doubt readily adopted the general belief upon the subject. He quotes, without expressly dissenting from it, the opinion of ChiefJustice Hale, that "whirlewinds and all winds of an extraordinarynature are agitated by the spirits of air". Lunar rainbows, andmeteors of various kinds, are described in this chapter; together withprognostics of the seasons from the habits of animals, and someobservations made with the barometer; and under the head of Echoes, "for want of good ones in this county", there is a long descriptionby Sir Robert Moray of a remarkable natural echo at Roseneath, aboutseventeen miles from Glasgow. On sounds and echoes there are somecurious notes by Evelyn, but these are irrelevant to the subject ofthe work. - J. B. ]

BEFORE I enter upon the discourse of the AIR of this countie, it wouldnot be amiss that I gave an account of the winds that most commonlyblow in the western parts of England. 

I shall first allege the testimony of Julius Cæsar, who delivers tous thus: "Corns ventus, qui magnam partem omnis temporis in his locisflare consuevit". - (Commentaries, lib. V. ) To which I will subjoinethis of Mr. Th. Ax, of Somersetshire, who hath made dayly observationsof the weather for these twenty-five years past, since 1661, and findsthat, one yeare with another, the westerly winds, which doe come fromthe Atlantick sea, doe blowe ten moneths of the twelve. Besides, hehath made observations for thirty years, that the mannours in theeasterne parts of the netherlands of Somersetshire doe yield six oreight per centum of their value; whereas those in the westerne partsdoe yield but three, seldome four per centum, and in some mannours buttwo per centum. Hence he argues that the winds carrying theseunwholesome vapours of the low country from one to the other, doe makethe one more, the other less, healthy. ___________________________________

This shire may be divided as it were into three stories or stages. Chippenham vale is the lowest. The first elevation, or next storie, isfrom the Derry Hill, or Bowdon Lodge, to the hill beyond the Devises, called Red-hone, which is the limbe or beginning of Salisbury plaines. From the top of this hill one may discerne Our Lady Church Steeple atSarum, like a fine Spanish needle. I would have the height of thesehills, as also Hackpen, and those toward Lambourn, which are thehighest, to he taken with the quicksilver barometer, according to themethod of Mr. Edmund Halley in Philosophical Transactions, No. 181. ___________________________________

Now, although Mindip-hills and Whitesheet, &c. , are as a barr andskreen to keep off from Wiltshire the westerly winds and raines, asthey doe in some measure repel those noxious vapours, yet wee have aflavour of them; and when autumnal agues raigne, they are more commonon the hills than in the vales of this country. ___________________________________

The downes of Wiltshire are covered with mists, when the vales areclear from them, and the sky serene; and they are much more often herethan in the lowest story or stage. 

The leather covers of bookes, &c. Doe mold more and sooner in the hillcountrey than in the vale. The covers of my bookes in my closet atChalke would be all over covered with a hoare mouldinesse, that Icould not know of what colour the leather was; when my bookes in mycloset at Easton- Piers (in the vale) were not toucht at all with anymouldiness. 

So the roomes at Winterslow, which is seated exceeding high, are verymouldie and dampish. Mr. Lancelot Moorehouse, Rector of Pertwood, whowas a very learned man, say'd that mists were very frequent there: itstands very high, neer Hindon, which one would thinke to stand veryhealthy: there is no river nor marsh neer it, yet they doe not livelong there. 

The wheat hereabout, sc. Towards the edge of the downes, is muchsubject to be smutty, which they endeavour to prevent by drawing acart-rope over the corne after the meldews fall. 

Besides that the hill countrey is elevated so high in the air, thesoile doth consist of chalke and mawme, which abounds with nitre, which craddles the air, and turns it into mists and water. ___________________________________

On the east side of the south downe of the farme of Broad Chalke arepitts called the Mearn-Pitts*, which, though on a high hill, whereonis a sea marke towards the Isle of Wight, yet they have alwaies waterin them. How they came to be made no man knowes; perhaps the mortarwas digged there for the building of the church. 

* Marne is an old French word for marle. ___________________________________

Having spoken of mists it brings to my remembrance that in December, 1653, being at night in the court at Sr. Charles Snell's at KingtonSt. Michael in this country, there being a very thick mist, we saweour shadowes on the fogg as on a wall by the light of the lanternes, sc. About 30 or 40 foot distance or more. There were several gentlemenwhich sawe this; particularly Mr. Stafford Tyndale. I have beenenformed since by some that goe a bird-batting in winter nights thatthe like hath been seen: but rarely. 

[A similar appearance to that here mentioned by Aubrey is oftenwitnessed in mountainous countries, and in Germany has given rise tomany supernatural and romantic legends. The "spectre of the Brocken", occasionally seen among the Harz mountains in Hanover, is describedby Mr. Brayley in his account of Cumberland, in the Beauties ofEngland and Wales, to illustrate some analogous appearances, whichgreatly astonished the residents near Souterfell, in that county, about a century ago. - J. B. ] ___________________________________

The north part of this county is much influenc't by the river Severne, which flowes impetuously from the Atlantick Sea. It is a ventiduct, and brings rawe gales along with it: the tydes bringing a chilnessewith them. ___________________________________

On the top of Chalke-downe, 16 or 18 miles from the sea, the oakesare, as it were, shorne by the south and south-west winds; and dorecline from the sea, as those that grow by the sea-side. ___________________________________

A Wiltshire proverb:-

 "When the wind is north-west, The weather is at the best: If the raine comes out of east 'Twill raine twice twenty-four howres at the least. "

I remember Sr. Chr. Wren told me, 1667, that winds might alter, as theapogæum: e. G. No raine in Egypt heretofore; now common: Spainebarren; Palseston sun-dried, &c. Quaere, Mr. Hook de hoc. 

A proverbial rithme observed as infallible by the inhabitants on theSeverne-side:-

 "If it raineth when it doth flow, Then yoke your oxe, and goe to plough; But if it raineth when it doth ebb, Then unyoke your oxe, and goe to bed. " ___________________________________

It oftentimes snowes on the hill at Bowden-parke, when no snow fallesat Lacock below it. This hill is higher than Lacock steeple three orfour times, and it is a good place to try experiments. On this parkeis a seate of my worthy friend George Johnson, Esqr. , councillor atlawe, from whence is a large and most delightfull prospect over thevale of North Wiltshire. 

Old Wiltshire country prognosticks of the weather:-

 "When the hen doth moult before the cock, The winter will be as hard as a rock; But if the cock moults before the hen, The winter will not wett your shoes seame. "

In South Wiltshire the constant observation is that if droppes doehang upon the hedges on Candlemas-day that it will be a good peaseyeare. It is generally agreed on to be matter of fact; the reasonperhaps may be that there may rise certain unctuous vapours which maycause that fertility. [This is a general observation: we have it inEssex. I reject as superstitious all prognosticks from the weatheron particular days. -JOHN RAY. ] ___________________________________

At Hullavington, about 1649, there happened a strange wind, which didnot onely lay down flatt the corne and grasse as if a huge roller hadbeen drawn over it, but it flatted also the quickset hedges of two orthree grounds of George Joe, Esq. -It was a hurricane. 

Anno 1660, I being then at dinner with Mr. Stokes at Titherton, newswas brought in to us that a whirlewind had carried some of the hay-cocks over high elmes by the house: which bringes to my mind a storythat is credibly related of one Mr. J. Parsons, a kinsman of ours, who, being a little child, was sett on a hay-cock, and a whirlewindtook him up with half the hay-cock and carried him over high elmes, and layd him down safe, without any hurt, in the next ground. ___________________________________

Anno 1581, there fell hail-stones at Dogdeane, near Salisbury, as bigas a child's fist of three or four yeares old; which is mentioned inthe Preface of an Almanack by John Securis, Maister of Arts andPhysick, dedicated to . .. .. Lord High Chancellor. He lived atSalisbury. "Tis pitty such accidents are not recorded in otherAlmanacks in order for a history of the weather. ___________________________________

Edward Saintlow, of Knighton, Esq. Was buried in the church of BroadChalk, May the 6th, 1578, as appeares by the Register booke. The snowdid then lie so thick on the ground that the bearers carried his bodyover the gate in Knighton field, and the company went over the hedges, and they digged a way to the church porch. I knew some ancient peopleof the parish that did remember it. On a May day, 1655 or 1656, beingthen in Glamorganshire, at Mr. Jo. Aubrey's at Llanchrechid, I saw themountaines of Devonshire all white with snow. There fell but little inGlamorganshire. ___________________________________

From the private Chronologicall Notes of the learned Edward Davenant, of Gillingham, D. D. :- "On the 25th of July 1670, there was a rupturein the steeple of Steeple Ashton by lightning. The steeple was ninety-three feet high above the tower; which was much about that height. This being mending, and the last stone goeing to be putt in by the twomaster workemen, on the 15th day of October following, a sudden stormewith a clap of thunder tooke up the steeple from the tower, and killedboth the workmen in nictu oculi. The stones fell in and broke part ofthe church, but never hurt the font. This account I had from Mr. Walter Sloper, attorney, of Clement's Inne, and it is registred on thechurch wall. " [The inscription will be found in the Beauties ofWiltshire, vol. Iii. Page 205. It fully details the abovecircumstances. -J. B. ]

Whilst the breaches were mending and the thunder showr arose, onestanding in the church-yard observed a black cloud to come saylingalong towards the steeple, and called to the workman as he was on thescaffold; and wisht him to beware of it and to make hast. But beforehe went off the clowd came to him, and with a terrible crack threwdown the steeple, sc. About the middle, where he was at worke. Immediately they lookt up and their steeple was lost. 

I doe well remember, when I was seaven yeares old, an oake in a groundcalled Rydens, in Kington St. Michael Parish, was struck withlightning, not in a strait but helical line, scil. Once about the treeor once and a half, as a hop twists about the pole; and the striaremains now as if it had been made with a gouge. ___________________________________

On June 3rd, 1647, (the day that Cornet Joyce did carry King Charlesprisoner to the Isle of Wight from Holdenby, ) did appeare thisphenomenon, [referring to a sketch in the margin which represents twoluminous circles, intersecting each other; the sun being seen in thespace formed by their intersection. -J. B. ] which continued from aboutten a clock in the morning till xii. It was a very cleare day, and fewtook notice of it because it was so near the sunbeams. It was seen atBroad Chalke by my mother, who espied it going to see what a clock itwas at an horizontal dial, and then all the servants about the housesawe it Also Mr. Jo. Sloper the vicar here sawe it with his family, upon the like occasion looking on the diall. Some of Sr. GeorgeVaughan of Falston's family who were hunting sawe it. The circles wereof a rainbowe colour: the two filats, that crosse the circle (Ipresume they were segments of a third circle) were of a pale colour. ___________________________________

Ignis fatuus, called by the vulgar Kit of the Candlestick, is not veryrare on our downes about Michaelmass. [These ignes fatui, or Jack-o'-lanthorns, as they are popularly called, are frequently seen in lowboggy grounds. In my boyish days I was often terrified by stories oftheir leading travellers astray, and fascinating them. - J. B. ]

Biding in the north lane of Broad Chalke in the harvest time in thetwy-light, or scarce that, a point of light, by the hedge, expandeditselfe into a globe of about three inches diameter, or neer four, asboies blow bubbles with soape. It continued but while one could sayone, two, three, or four at the most It was about a foot from myhorse's eie; and it made him turn his head quick aside fromit. It was a pale light as that of a glowe-worme: it may be this isthat which they call a blast or blight in the country. ___________________________________

Colonel John Birch shewed me a letter from his bayliff, 166f, atMilsham, that advertised that as he was goeing to Warminster marketearly in the morning they did see fire fall from the sky, which didseem as big as a bushell I have forgot the day of the moneth. ___________________________________

From Meteors I will passe to the elevation of the poles. See "AnAlmanack, 1580, made for the Meridian of Salisbury, whose longitude isnoted to bee ten degrees, and the latitude of the elevation of thePole Arctick 51 degrees 47 minutes. By John Securis, Maister of Artand Physick". To which I will annexe the title of another oldalmanack, both which were collected by Mr. Will. Lilly. "Almanack, 1580, compiled and written in the City of Winchester, by HumphreyNorton, Student in Astronomic, gathered and made for the Pole Arctikof the said city, where the pole is elevated 51 degrees 42 minutes". ___________________________________

I come now to speak of ECHOS:-

 "Vocalis Nymphe; quæ nec reticere loquenti Nec prior ipsa loqui didicit, resonabilis Echo. Ille fugit; fugiensque manus complexibus aufert. " - OVID, METAMORPH. Lib. Iii. 

But this coy nymph does not onely escape our hands, but our sight, andwee doe understand her onely by induction and analogic. As the motion caused by a stone lett fall into the water is by circles, so soundsmove by spheres in the same manner, which, though obvious enough, Idoe not remember to have seen in any booke. 

None of our ecchos in this country that I hear of are polysyllabicall. When the Gospels or Chapters are read over the choire dore of Our LadyChurch in Salisbury, there is a quick and strong monosyllabicall echo, which comes presently on the reader's voice: but when the prayers areread in the choire, there is no echo at all. This reading place is 15or 16 foot above the levell of the pavement: and the echo does moreespecially make its returnes from Our Ladies ChappelL

So in my kitchin-garden at the plain at Chalke is a monosyllabicallEcho; but it is sullen and mute till you advance . .. . Paces on theeasie ascent, at which place one's mouth is opposite to the middle ofthe heighth of the house at right angles; and then, - to use theexpression of the Emperor Nero, -

 "-- reparabilis adsonat Echo. "-PERSIUS. ___________________________________

Why may I not take the libertie to subject to this discourse of echossome remarks of SOUNDS? The top of one of the niches in the grot inWilton gardens, as one sings there, doth return the note A "re", lowder, and clearer, but it doth not the like to the eighth of it. Thediameter is 22 inches. But the first time I happened on this kind ofexperiment was when I was a scholar in Oxford, walking and singingunder Merton-Colledge gate, which is a Gothique irregular vaulting, Iperceived that one certain note could be returned with a lowd humme, which was C. "fa", "ut", or D. "sol", "re"; I doe not now wellremember which. I have often observed in quires that at certain notesof the organ the deske would have a tremulation under my hand. So willtimber; so will one's hat, though a spongie thing, as one holds itunder one's arm at a musique meeting. These accidents doe make mereflect on the brazen or copper Tympana, mentioned byVitruvius, for the clearer and farther conveying the sound of therecitatores and musicians to the auditors. I am from hence induc't tobe of opinion that these tympana were made according to such and suchproportions, suitable to such and such notes. 

Mersennus, or Kircher, sayes, that one may know what quantity ofliquor is in the vessel by the sound of it, knowing before the emptynote. I have severall times heard great brasse pannes ring by thebarking of a hound; and also by the loud voice of a strong man. -(Thevoice, if very strong and sharp, will crack a drinking glass. - J. EVELYN. )

[I have been favoured with a confirmation of this note of Evelyn fromthe personal experience of my old friend. Mr. Brayley, who was presentat a party on Ludgate Hill, London, many years ago, when Mr. Broadhurst, the famed public vocalist, by singing a high note, causeda wine glass on the table to break, the bowl being separated from thestem. -J. B. ] ___________________________________

After the echos I would have the draught of the house of John Hall, atBradford, Esq. , which is the best built house for the quality of agentleman in Wilts. It was of the best architecture that was commonlyused in King James the First's raigne. It is built all of freestone, full of windowes, hath two wings: the top of the house adorned withrailes and baristers. There are two if not three elevations or ascentsto it: the uppermost is adorned with terrasses, on which are railesand baristers of freestone. It faceth the river Avon, which liessouth of it, about two furlongs distant: on the north side is a highhill. Now, a priori, I doe conclude that if one were on the south sideof the river opposite to this elegant house, that there must ofnecessity be a good echo returned from the house; and probably if onestand east or west from the house at a due distance, the wings willafford a double echo. 

[Part of this once fine and interesting mansion still remains, butwofully degraded and mutilated. It is called Kingston House, havingbeen formerly the residence of a Duke of Kingston. It appears to havebeen built by the same architect as the mansion of Longleat, which waserected between the years 1567 and 1579, and for which, it isbelieved, John of Padua was employed to make designs. -J. B. ]

CHAPTER IISPRINGS MEDICINALL. 

[IN Aubrey's time the mineral waters of Bath, Tonbridge, and otherplaces, were very extensively resorted to for medical purposes, andgreat importance was attached to them in a sanatory point of view. Theextracts which have been selected from this chapter sufficiently shewthe limited extent of the author's chemical knowledge, in the analysisof waters; which he appears to have seldom carried beyondprecipitation or evaporation. He mentions several other springs inWiltshire and elsewhere, attributing various healing properties tosome of them; but of others merely observing, with great simplicity, whether or not their water was adapted to wash linen, boil pease, oraffect the fermentation of beer. The chapter comprises a few remarkson droughts; and particularly mentions a remarkable cure of cancer byan "emplaster" or "cataplasme" of a kind of unctuous earth found inBradon forest. - J. B. ]

HOLY-WELL, in the parish of Chippenham, near Sheldon, by precipitationof one-third of a pint with a strong lixivium, by the space of twenty-four houres I found a sediment of the quantity of neer a small hazellnut-shell of a kind of nitre; sc. A kind of flower of that colour (orlime stone inclining to yellow); the particles as big as grosse sand. Upon evaporation of the sayd water, which was a pottle or better, Ifound two sorts of sediment, perhaps by reason of the oblique hangingof the kettle: viz. One sort of a deep soot colour; the other of thecolour of cullom earth. It changed not colour by infusion of powder ofgalles. Try it with syrup of violettes. 

Hancock's well at Luckington is so extremely cold that in summer onecannot long endure one's hand in it. It does much good to the eies. Itcures the itch, &c. By precipitation it yields a white sediment, inclining to yellow; sc. A kind of fine flower. I believe it is muchimpregnated with nitre. In the lane that leads from hence to Sappertonthe earth is very nitrous, which proceeds from the rich deep blewmarle, which I discovered in the lane which leads to Sapworth. 

Biddle-well lies between Kington St. Michael and Swinley; it turnesmilke. In the well of the mannour house (Mr. Thorn. Stokes) of KingtonSt. Michael is found talc, as also at the well at Priory St. Maries, in this parish; and I thinke common enough in these parts. 

In Kington St. Michael parish is a well called Mayden-well, which Ifind mentioned in the Legeir-booke of the Lord Abbot of Glaston, called Secretum Domini [or Secretum Abbatis. ] Let it be tryed. AliceGrig knows where about it is. 

In the park at Kington St. Michael is a well called Marian's-well, mentioned in the same Legeir-book. 

In the parish of North Wraxhall, at the upper end of ye orchard ofDuncomb-mill at ye foot of ye hill ye water petrifies in some degree;which is the onely petrifying water that I know in this countie. [Insubsequent pages Aubrey refers to other petrifying waters near Calne, Devizes, and elsewhere. -J. B. ]

At Draycott Cerne (the seate of my ever honoured friend Sir JamesLong, Baronet, whom I name for honour's sake) the waters of the wellsare vitriolate, and with powder of galles doe turne of a purplecolour. -[I have a delicate, cleare, and plentifull spring at UpperDeptford, never dry, and very neer the river Ravens-born; the waterfamous for ye eyes, and many other medicinal purposes. Sr Rich. Browne, my father-in-lawe, immur'd it, wth a chaine and iron dish fortravellers to drink, and has sett up an inscription in white marble. -JOHN EVELYN. ] ___________________________________

Stock-well, at Rowd, is in the highway, which is between two gravellycliffs, which in warm weather are candied. It changed not colour withpowder of galles; perhaps it may have the effect of Epsham water. Thesediment by precipitation is a perfect white flower, Mice nitre. Theinhabitants told me that it is good for the eies, and that it washesvery well. It is used for the making of medicines. ___________________________________

At Polshutt rises a spring in a ditch neer Sommerham-bridge, at Seenestownes-end, in a ground of Sir Walter Long, Baronet, which with gallesdoes presently become a deepe claret colour. ___________________________________

At Polshutt are brackish wells; but especiall that of Rich. Bolwell, two quarts whereof did yield by evaporation two good spoonfulls heaptof a very tart salt. Dr. Meret believes it to be vitriolish. 

Neer to which is Send (vulgo Seene), a very well built village on asandy hill, from whence it has its name; sand being in the old Englishcalled send (for so I find writ in the records of the Tower); as alsoSend, in Surrey, is called for the same reason. Underneath this sand(not very deep), in some place of the highway not above a yard or yardand a half, I discovered the richest iron oare that ever I sawe orheard of. Come there on a certain occasion, * it rained at twelve orone of the clock very impetuously, so that it had washed away the sandfrom the oare; and walking out to see the country, about 3 p. M. , thesun shining bright reflected itself from the oare to my eies. Beingsurprised at so many spangles, I took up the stones with a great dealeof admiration. I went to the smyth, Geo. Newton, an ingeniose man, whofrom a blacksmith turned clock maker and fiddle maker, and he assuredme that he has melted of this oare in his forge, which the oare of theforest of Deane, &c. Will not doe. 

* At the Revell there, An°. D. 1666. 

The reader is to be advertised that the forest of Milsham did extendeitselfe to the foot of this hill. It was full of goodly oakes, and soneer together that they say a squirrill might have leaped from tree totree. It was disafforested about 1635, and the oakes were sold for 1s. Or 2s. Per boord at the most; and then nobody ever tooke notice ofthis iron-oare, which, as I sayd before, every sun-shine day, after arousing shower, glistered in their eies. Now there is scarce an oakeleft in the whole parish, and oakes are very rare all hereabout, sothat this rich mine cannot be melted and turned to profit. Findingthis plenty of rich iron-oare, I was confident that I should find inthe village some spring or springs impregnated with its vertue; so Isent my servant to the Devizes for some galles to try it; and firstbegan at Mr. J. Sumner's, where I lay, with the water of the draught-well in the court within his house, which by infusion of a little ofthe powder of the galles became immediately as black as inke; that onemay write letters visible with it; sc. As with inke diluted withwater, which the water of Tunbridge will not doe, nor any other ironwater that ever I met with or heard of. I tryed it by evaporation andit did yield an umberlike sediment: I have forgot the proportion. Igave it to the Royall Society. 

In June 1667, 1 sent for three bottles of this well water to London, and experimented it before the Royall Society at Gresham Colledge, atwhich, time there was a frequent assembly, and many of the Physitiansof the Colledge of London. Now, whereas the water of Tunbridge, andothers of that kind, being carried but few miles loose their spirits, and doe not alter their colour at all with powder of galles, thesebottles, being brought by the carrier eighty odd miles, and in so hotweather, did turn, upon the infusion of the powder, as deep as thedeepest claret; to the admiration of the physitians then present, who unanimously declared that this water might doe much good: and Dr. Piers sayd that in some cases such waters were good to begin with, andto end with the Bath; and in some "è contra". This place is but 9 or 10 miles from Bath. 

The Drs. Then spake to me, to write to some physitians at Bath, and torecommend it to them, whom I knew; which I did. But my endeavours werewithout effect till August 1684. But they doe so much good that theynow speake aloud their own prayses. They were satisfied (I understoodat last) of ye goodnesse and usefulnesse of these waters, but they didnot desire to have patients to be drawn from ye Bath. Now, whereas oneperson is grieved with aches, or bruises, or dead palseys, for whichdiseases the Bath is chiefly proper, ten or more are ill of chronicalldiseases and obstructions, for the curing whereof these chalybiatewaters are the most soveraigne remedie. 

This advertisement I desired Dr. Rich. Blackburne to word. He is oneof the College of Physitians, and practiseth yearly at Tunbridge-wells. It was printed in an Almanack of Hen. Coley about 1681, but ittooke no effect. 

"Advertisement. - At Seen (neer ye Devizes in Wiltshire) are springsdiscovered to be of the nature and vertue of those at Tunbridge, andaltogether as good. They are approved of by severall of ye physitiansof the Colledge in London, and have donne great cures, viz. Particularly in the spleen, the reines, and bladder, affected withheat, stone, or gravell; or restoring hectick persons to health andstrength, and wonderfully conducing in all cases of obstructions. "

I proceeded and tryed other wells, but my ingeniose faithfull servantRobert Wiseman (Prudhome) tryed all the wells in the village, andfound that all the wells of the south side doe turne with galles moreor lesse, but the wells of the north side turne not with them at all. This hill lies eastward and westward; quod N. B. 

The water of Jo. Sumner's well was so bad for household use that theycould not brew nor boyle with it, and used it only to wash the house, &c. ; so that they were necessitated to sinke a well in the common, which is walled, about a bow shott or more from his dwelling house, where is fresh and wholsome water. Memorandum. Dr. Grew in his[Catalogue] of the Royall Society has mistaken this well in the commonfor the medicinall well of J. Sumner. But, mem. , there is another wellthat turnes, I thinke, as deep as J. Sumner's. [On the subject of thisdiscovery by Aubrey, to which he attached great importance, the readeris referred to Britton's "Memoir of Aubrey", published by theWiltshire Topographical Society, p. 17. As there stated, most of theproperty about Seend now belongs to W. H. Ludlow Bruges, Esq. M. P. , who preserves the well; but its waters are not resorted to forsanatory purposes. - J. B. ] ___________________________________

Memorandum. That Dudley, Lord North, grandfather to Sir Francis North, Lord Keeper, and Baron of Guildford, returning from his travells fromthe Spaw, &c. Making a visit to the Earle of Leicester at Penshurst, his relation, as he was riding thereabout made observation of theearth where the water run, the colour whereof gave him an indicationof its vertue. He sent for galles, and tryed it by evaporation, &c. And found out the vertue, which hath ever since continued and donnemuch good to the drinkers, and the inhabitants thereabout* Thisdiscovery was this year (1685), about seventy-five years since, and'tis pitty it should be buried in oblivion. My Lord Keeper North toldme of this himselfe. 

*At Tunbridge and Epsom Wells, where were only wild commons, now areabundance of well-built houses. [The changes and improvements atTunbridge Wells have been very great since Aubrey wrote. In 1832 Iwrote and published an octavo volume- " Descriptive Sketches ofTunbridge Wells and the Calverley Estate", with maps and prints. Sincethat time the railroad has been opened to that place, which willincrease its popularity. Epsom Wells are now deserted. At Melksham, inthe vicinity of Seend, a pump-room, baths, and lodging-houses wereerected about twenty-five years ago; but fashion has not favoured theplace with her sanction. See Beauties of Wiltshire, vol. Iii. - J. B. ]

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When the springs doe breake in Morecombe-bottom, in the north side ofthe parish of Broad Chalke, which is seldome, 'tis observed that itforetells a deer yeare for corne. It hath discontinued these fortyyeares. ___________________________________

At Crudwell, neer to the mannour house, is a fine spring in the streetcalled Bery-well. Labourers say it quenches thirst better than theother waters; as to my tast, it seemed to have aliquantulumaciditatis; and perhaps is vitriolate. The towne, a mannour of theLord Lucas, hath its denomination from this well; perhaps it is calledCrudwell from its turning of milke into cruds. 

At Wotton Basset, in the parke, is a petrifying water, which petrifiesvery quickly. 

At Huntsmill, in this parish, is a well where the water turnes leaves, &c. Of a red colour. ___________________________________

Below the Devises, the water in all the ditches, at the fall of theleafe, lookes blewish, which I could not but take notice of when I wasa schoole boy. ___________________________________

In the parish of Lydyard-Tregoz is a well called by the country peopleAntedocks-well (perhaps here was the cell of some anchorete orhermite); the water whereof they say was famous heretofore in the oldtime for working miracles and curing many diseases. ___________________________________

As I rode from Bristoll to Welles downe Dundery-hill, in the moneth ofJune, 1663, walking down the hill on foot, presently after a fineshower I sawe a little thinne mist arise out of the ditch on the righthand by the highwayes side. But when I came neer to the place I couldnot discern it: so I went back a convenient distance and saw it again;and then tooke notice of some flower or weed that grew in the ditchwhence the vapour came. I came againe to the marke, and could seenothing of a mist, as before; but my nose was affected with a smellwhich I knew; but immediately it came not to my mind; which was thesmell of the canales that come from the bathes at Bath. By this timemy groom was come to me, who, though of a dull understanding, hissenses were very quick; I asked him if he smelt nothing, and after asniff or two, he answered me, he smelt the smell of the Bath. Thisplace is about two parts of three of the descent of Dundery-hill, ___________________________________

I doe believe the water of the fountaine that serves Lacock abbey isimpregnated with {symbol for mars}[iron]. That at Crokerton, nearWarminster, I thinke not at all inferior to those of Colbec in France. The best felt hatts are made at both places. ___________________________________

At or near Lavington is a good salt spring. (From ye Earl ofAbingdon. )

The North Wilts horses, and other stranger horses, when they come todrinke of the water of Chalke-river, they will sniff and snort, it isso cold and tort I suppose being so much impregnated with {alchemicalsign for nitre} [nitre]. ___________________________________

Advise my countrymen to try the rest of the waters as the Sieur DuClos, Physitian to his most Christian Majestie, has donne, and hathdirected in his booke called " Observations of the Minerall Waters ofFrance made in ye Academy of Sciences. "- I did it transient, and fullof businesse, and "aliud agens tanquam canis e Nilo". ___________________________________

The freestone fountaine above Lacock, neer Bowdon, in the rode-way, ishigher than the toppe of Lacock steeple. Sir J. Talbot might have fora small matter the highest and noblest Jeddeau [jet-d'eau] in England. ___________________________________

It is at the foot of St. Anne's-hill, or else Martinsoll-hill, {that}three springs have their source and origen; viz. The south Avon, whichrunnes to Sarum, and disembogues at Christes Church in Hants; theriver Kynet, which runnes to Morlebrugh, Hungerford, and disemboguesinto the Thames about Reading; and on the foote of the north sidearises another that runnes to Calne, which disembogues into the northAvon about Titherton, and runnes to Bristowe into the Severne. [Seealso Chap. III. Rivers. -J. B. ] ___________________________________

In the parish of. .. .. .. Is a spring dedicated to St. Winifred, formerly of great account for its soveraigne vertues. What they were Icannot learne; neither can I thinke the spring to be of less vertuenow than in the time of Harry the Eight; in which age I am informed itwas of great esteeme: and I am apt to conjecture that the reason whythe spring grew out of fame was because S*. Winifred grew out offavour. ___________________________________

At the Devizes, on the north side of the castle, there is a rivulet ofwater which doth petrifie leafes, sticks, plants, and other thingsthat grow by it; which doth seem to prove that stones grow not byapposition only, as the Aristotelians assert, but by susception also;for if the stick did not suscept some vertue by which it is transmutedwe may admire what doth become of the matter of the stick ___________________________________

At Knahill [Knoyle] is a minerall water, which Dr. Toop and Dr. Chamberlayn have tryed. It is neer Mr. Willoughby's house: it workesvery kindly, and without any gripeing; it hath been used ever sinceabout 1672. ___________________________________

Dr. Guydot sayes the white sediment in the water of North Wiltshire ispowder of freestone; and he also tells me that there is a medicinallwell in the street at Box, near Bathe, which hath been used ever sinceabout 1670. ___________________________________

Mr. Nich. Mercator told me that water may be found by a divining rodmade of willowe; whiche he hath read somewhere; he thinks inVitruvius. Quaere Sir John Hoskins de hoc. ___________________________________

In Poulshott parish the spring was first taken notice of about thirtyyeares since by S. Pierse, M. D. Of Bathe, and some few made use of itSome of the Devises, who dranke thereof, told me that it does good forthe spleen, &c. , and that a hectick and emaciated person, by drinkingthis water, did in the space of three weekes encrease in flesh, andgott a quick appetite. 

Memorandum. In this village are severall springs, which tast brackish;which I had not the leisure to try, but onely by præcipitation, andthey yield a great quantity of the white flower-like sediment. ___________________________________

Bitteston. - At the George Inne, the beere that is brewed of the wellthere is diuretique. I knew some that were troubled with the stone andgravell goe often thither for that reason. The woman of the house wasvery much troubled with fitts of the mother; and having lived here buta quarter of a yeare, found herself much mended; as also her mother, troubled with the same disease. I observed in the bottome of the welldeep blew marle. 

[The hysterical paroxysms to which females are peculiarly subject werein Aubrey's time commonly termed "the mother", or "fits of themother". Dr. Edward Jorden published a "Discourse on the Suffocationof the Mother", (4to. ) in 1603. - J. B. ] ___________________________________

Alderton. - Mr. Gore's well is a hard water, which, when one washesone's hands will make them dry, as if it were allume water. I tryed itby præcipitation, and the sediment was the colour of barme, white andyellow, and fell in a kind of flakes, as snow sometimes will fall, whereas all the other sediments were like fine flower or powder. ___________________________________

In Minety Common in Bradon forest, neer the rode which leadeth toAshton Caynes, is a boggy place called the Gogges, where is a spring, or springs, rising up out of fuller's earth. This puddle in hot anddry weather is candid like a hoar frost; which to the tast seemesnitrous. I have seen this salt incrustation, even 14th September, fourfoot round the edges. With half a pound of this earth I made alixivium. Near half a pint did yield upon evaporation a quarter of anounce wanting two graines. Of the remainder of the lixivium, which wasmore than a pint, I evaporated almost all to crystallize in a cellar. The liquor turned very red, and the crystalls being putt on a red hottiron flew away immediately, like saltpetre, leaving behind a verylittle quantity of something that look'd like burnt allum. Now it iscertain that salts doe many times mixe; and Mr. Robert Boyle tells mehee believes it is sea-salt mix't with {nitre}, and there is a way toseparate them. After a shower this spring will smoake. The mudd orearth cleanses and scowres incomparably. A pike of eighteen foot longwill not reach to the bottome. 

My Lady Cocks of Dumbleton told me that ladies did send ten miles andmore for water from a spring on Malverne hill in Worcestershire towash their faces and make 'em faire. I believe it was such a nitrousspring as this. ___________________________________

The fuller's earth which they use at Wilton is brought from Woburnein Bedfordshire; and sold for ten groates a bushell. ___________________________________

The Baths may have its tinging vertue from the antimonie in Mendip. Quaere Mr. Kenrick, that when he changed a sixpence holding it in hishand it turned yellow, and a woman refused it for bad silver. I thinkehe had been making crocus of antimonie. The chymists doe callantimony Proteus, from its various colouring. ___________________________________

Mr. T. Hanson, of Magd. Coll. Oxon, acquaints me in a letter of May18, 1691, that he observes that almost all the well-waters about thenorth part of Wiltshire were very brackish. At High-worth, Mr. Alhnon, apothecary, told him he had often seen a quantity of milkecoagulated with it: and yet the common people brew with it, whichgives their beer an ungratefull tast. At Cricklad their water is sovery salt that the whole town are obliged to have recourse to a riverhard by for their necessary uses. At Wootton Basset, at some smalldistance from the town, they have a medicinall spring, which aneighbouring divine told him Dr. Willis had given his judgment of, viz. That it was the same with that of Astrop. They have also apetrifying spring. At the Devizes, about a quarter of a mile from thetowne, a petrifying spring shewn me by Dr. Merriweather, a physitianthere. At Bagshot, near Hungerford, is a chalybiate, dranke by somegentlemen with good successe. ___________________________________

Mdm. In my journey to Oxford, comeing through Bagley-wood, on St. Mark's day, 1695, 1 discovered two chalybiate springs there, in thehighway; which On May the 10th I tryed with powder of galles, and theygive as black a tincture as ever I saw such waters: one may write withit as legibly as with black lead. 

At the gate at Wotton Common, near Cumnor in Berkshire, is a springwhich I have great reason to believe is such another: and also at thefoot of Shotover-hill, near the upping-stock, I am confident by theclay, is such another spring. Deo gratias. ___________________________________

Quæres for the Tryall of Minerall Waters; by the Honourable SirWilliam Petty, Kt. :-

1. How much heavier 'tis than brandy ?2. How much common water will extinguish its tast ?3. What quantity of salt upon its evaporation ?4. How much sugar, allum, vitriol, nitre, will dissolve in a pint ofit ?5. Whether any animalcule will breed in it, and in how long time ?6. Whether fish, viz. Trout, eeles, &c. Will live in it, and how long?7. Whether 'twill hinder or promote the curdling of milk, andfermentation ?8. Whether soape will mingle with it ?9. Whether 'twill extract the dissolvable parts of herbes, rootes, seedes, &c. More or less than other waters; (i. E. ) whether it be amore powerful menstruum ?10. How galles will change its colour ?11. How 'twill change the colour of syrup of violets ?12. How it differs from other waters in receiving colours, cochineel, saffron, violets &c. ?13. How it boyles dry pease?14. How it colours fresh beefe, or other flesh in boyling ?15. How it washes hands, beards, linnen, SEC. ?16. How it extracts mault in brewing ?17. How it quenches thirst, with meat or otherwise ?

8. Whether it purges; in what quantity, time, and with what symptomes?19. Whether it promotes urine, sweat, or sleep ?20. In what time it passeth, and how afterwards ?21. Whether it sharpens or flattens the appetite to meate ?22. Whether it vomits, causes coughs, &c. ?23. Whether it swell the belly, legges; and how, in what time, andquantity &c. ?24. How it affects sucking children, and (if tryed) foetus in thewombe ?25. Whether it damps or excites venerie ?26. How blood lett whilest the waters are dranke lookes, and how itchanges ?27. In what degrees it purges, in different degrees of evaporation, and brewed ?28. Whether it breakes away by eructation and downwards ?29. Whether it kills the asparagus in the urine?30. What quantity may be taken of it in prime ?31. Whether a sprig of mint or willow growes equally as out of otherwaters?32. In what time they putrify and stink ?

 CHAPTER III. RIVERS. 

[THE following extracts include the whole of this chapter, with theexception of a few extraneous passages. -J. B. ]

I SHALL begin with the river of Wyley-bourn, which gives name toWilton, the shire town. The mappe-makers write it Wyley fulvous, andjoiner a British and a Saxon word together: but that is a receivederror. I doe believe that the ancient and true name was Twy, as theriver Twy in Herefordshire, which signifies vagary: and so this riverWye, which is fed with the Deverill springs, in its mandrels winding, watering the meadows, gives the name to the village called Wyley, asalso Wilton (Wyley-ton); where, meeting with the upper Avon and theriver Adder, it runnes to Downtown and Fording bridge, visiting the NewForest, and disembogues into the sea at Christ Church in Hampshire. OnMonday morning, the 20th of September, [1669] was begun a wellintended designe for cutting the river [Avon] below Salisbury to makeit navigable to carry boats of burthen to and from Christ Church. This work was principally encouraged by the Right Reverend Father inGod, Seth, Lord Bishop of Salisbury, his Lordship digging the firstspit of earth, and driving the first wheeled barrow. Col. John Wyndhamwas also a generous benefactor and encourager of this undertaking. Hegave to this designe an hundred pounds. He tells me that the Bishop ofSalisbury gave, he thinks, an hundred and fifty pounds: he is sure ahundred was the least. The engineer was one Mr. Far trey, but it seemsnot his craft's-master; for through want of skill all this charge andpaines came to nothing: but An° Done 16. . . It was more auspiciouslyundertaken and perfected; and now boats passe between Salisbury andChrist Church, and carry wood and corne from the New Forest, thecartage whereof was very dearer; but as yet they want a haven at ChristChurch, which will require time and charge. 

[Of the numerous rivers in Wiltshire only a few are navigable, andthose only for a short distance in the county. This is the consequenceof its inland position and comparative elevation; whence it resultsthat the principal streams have little more than their sources withinits limits. The project of rendering the Avon navigable from Salisburyto Christ Church appears to have been first promulgated by JohnTaylor, the Water Poet, who, in 1625, made an excursion in his ownsherry, with five companions, from London to Christ Church, and thenceup the Avon to Salisbury. He published an account of his voyage, underthe title of " A Discovery by sea, from London to Salisbury. " FrancisMathew also suggested the improvement of the navigation of the riverin 1655; and an Act of Parliament for that purpose was obtained in1664. Bishop Ward was translated to the see of Salisbury in 1667, but the commencement of the works, as described by Aubrey, wasprobably delayed till 1669, in August of which year the Mayor ofSalisbury and others were constituted a Committee "to consult andtreat with such persons as will undertake to render the Avonnavigable. " Two other pamphlets urging the importance of the projectwere published in 1672 and 1675 (see Gough's Topography, vol. Ii. P. 366); and in 1687 a series of regulations was compiled "for the goodand orderly government and usage of the New Haven and Pier now madenear Christchurch, and of the passages made navigable from thence tothe city of New Sarum. " (See Hatcher's History of Salisbury, pp. 460, 497. ) The works thus made were afterwards destroyed by a flood, andremained in ruins till 1771. Some repairs were then executed, but theywere inefficient; and the navigation is now given up, except at themouth of the river; and even there the bar of Christchurch is aninsurmountable obstacle except at spring tides. -(Penny Cyclopædia, art. Wiltshire. ) As the Bishop dug the first spitt, or spadeful ofearth, and drove the first wheelbarrow, that necessary process was nodoubt made a matter of much ceremony. The laying the "first stone" ofan important building has always been an event duly celebrated; andthe practice of some distinguished individual "digging the firstspitt" of earth has lately been revived with much pomp and parade, inconnection with the great railway undertakings of the present age. -J. B. ] ___________________________________

The river Adder riseth about Motcomb, neer Shaftesbury. In the Legeirbooke of Wilton Abbey it is wrott Noþþre, "a Nodderi fluvii ripa", (hodie Adder-bourn, Naþþre}, "serpens, anguis", Saxonicè, Addar, inWelsh, signifies a bird. *) This river runnes through the magnificentgarden of the Earle of Pembroke at Wilton, and so beyond to ChristChurch. It hath in it a rare fish, called an umber, which are sentfrom Salisbury to London. They are about the bignesse of a trowt, butpreferred before a trowt This kind of fish is in no other river inEngland, except the river Humber in Yorkeshire. [The umber is perhapsmore generally known as the grayling. See Chap. XL Fishes. -J. B. ]

* [Adar is the plural of Aderyn, a bird, and therefore signifiesbirds. -J. B. ] ___________________________________

The rivulet that gives the name to Chalke-bourn, † and running throughChalke, rises at a place called Naule, belonging to the farme of BroadChalke, where are a great many springs that issue out of the chalkieground. It makes a kind of lake of the quantity of about three acres. There are not better trouts (two foot long) in the kingdom of Englandthan here; I was thinking to have made a trout pond of it. The waterof this streame washes well, and is good for brewing. I did putt incraw-fish, but they would not live here: the water is too cold forthem. This river water is so acrimonious, that strange horses whenthey are watered here will snuff and snort, and cannot well drinke ofit till they have been for some time used to it. Methinks this watershould bee admirably good for whitening clothes for cloathiers, because it is impregnated so much with nitre, which is abstersive. 

† Bourna, fluvius. (Vener. Bed. Hist. Eceles. ) As in some countiesthey say, In such or such a vale or dale; so in South Wilts they say, such or such a bourn: meaning a valley by such a river. ___________________________________

The river Stour hath its source in Sturton Parke, and gives the name[Stourhead. -J. B. ] to that ancient seat of the Lord Sturtons. Three ofthe springs are within the park pale and in Wiltshire; the other threeare without the pale in Somersetshire. The fountaines within the parkepale are curbed with pierced cylinders of free stone, like tunnes ofchimneys; the diameter of them is eighteen inches. The coate armour ofthe Lord Sturton is, Sable, a bend or, between six fountaines; whichdoe allude to these springs. Stour is a British word, and signifies agreat water: sc. "dwr" is water; "ysdwr" is a considerable, or greatwater: "ys", is "particula augens". [The Stour rises near the junction ofthe three counties, Wiltshire, Somersetshire, and Dorsetshire. Itscourse is chiefly through the last mentioned county, after leavingwhich it enters Hampshire, and flows into the South Avon nearChristchurch. - J. B. ] ___________________________________

Deverill hath its denomination from the diving of the rill, and itsrising again. Mr. Cambden saieth, In this shire is a small rill calledDeverill, which runneth a mile under ground, * like as also doth thelittle river Mole in Surry, and the river Anas [Guadiana ?-J. B. ] inSpain, and the Niger in Africk. Polybius speakes the like of the riverOxus, "which, falling with its force into great ditches, which shemakes hollow, and opens the bottome by the violence of her course, andby this meanes takes its course under ground for a small space, andthen riseth again. " (lib. X. )

* I am informed by the minister of Deverill Longbridge, and anothergentleman that lived at Maiden Bradley thirty years, that they neverknew or heard of this river Deverall that runs underground. -(BISHOPTANNER. ) [Yet Selden, in his "Notes to Drayton's Poly-Olbion", makes thesame statement as Aubrey does respecting the Deverill. - J. B. ]

 "Sic ubi terreno Lycus est epotus hiatu, Existit procul hinc, alioq{ue} renascitur ore. Sic modò combibitur, tecto modò gurgite lapsus Redditur Argolicis ingens Erasinus in arvis: Et Mysum capitisq{ue} sui ripaq{ue} prioris Pœnituisse ferunt, aliò nunc ire, Calcum. " - OVID, METAMORPH. Lib. Xv. 

In Grittleton field is a swallow-hole, where sometimes foxes, &c. Doetake sanctuary; there are severall such in North Wiltshire, made byflouds, &c. ; but neer Deene is a rivulet that runnes into Emmes-poole, and nobody knowes what becomes of it after it is swallowed by theearth. 

[The reader will find a full account of the remarkable "swallows", or"swallow holes", in the course of the river Mole, in Brayley's Historyof Surrey, vol. I. P. 171-185, with a map, and some geologicalcomments by Dr. Mantell. The river, or stream designated by Aubrey asthe Deverill, is probably the principal of several streams which risenear the villages of Longbridge Deverill, Hill Deverill, BrixtonDeverill, Monkton Deverill, and Kingston Deverill (in the south westpart of Wiltshire), and, after running through Maiden Bradley, flowinto the Wyley near Warminster. -J. B. ] ___________________________________

At the foot of Martinsoll-hill doe issue forth three springs, whichare the sources of three rivers; they divide like the parting of thehaire on the crowne of the head, and take their courses three severallwayes: viz. One on the south side of the hill, which is the beginningof the upper Avon, † which runnes to Salisbury; on the other sidespringes the river Kynet, which runnes eastward to Marleborough;‡ fromthence passing by Hungerford, Newbury, &c. It looses itselfe and namein the river of Thames, near Reading. The third spring is thebeginning of the stream that runnes to Caln, called Marden, § anddriving several mills, both for corne and fulling, is swallowed up bythe North Avon at Peckingill-meadow near Tytherington. [See alsoAubrey's description of these three springs, ante, page 24. - J. B. ]

† Avon, a river, in the British language. ‡ Cynetium, Marleborough, hath its name from the river. The Welshpronounce y as wee doe u. § Quaere, if it is called Marden, or Marlen? [Marden is the presentname. - J. B. ]

The North Avon riseth toward Tedbury in Gloucestershire, and runnes toMalmesbury, where it takes in a good streame, that comes fromHankerton, and also a rivulet that comes from Sherston, * whichinriching the meadows as it runnes to Chippenham, Lacock, Bradford, Bath, Kainsham, and the city of Bristowe, disembogues into the Severneat Kingrode. 

* [The Sheraton rivulet, and not that which rises near Tetbury, isgenerally regarded as the source of the North, or Bristol Avon. -J. B. ] ___________________________________

The silver Thames takes some part of this county in its journey toOxford. The source of it is in Gloucestershire, neer Cubberley (in therode from Oxford to Gloucester), where there are severall springs. Inour county it visits Cricklad, a market towne, and gives name to Isey, a village neer; and with its fertile overflowing makes a most gloriousverdure in the spring season. In the old deeds of lands at and aboutCricklad they find this river by the name of Thamissis fluvius and theThames. The towne in Oxfordshire is writt Tame and not Thame; and Ibelieve that Mr. Cambden's marriage of Thame and Isis, in his elegantLatin poem, is but a poeticall fiction: I meane as to the name ofThamisis, which he would not have till it comes to meet the riverThame at Dorchester. 

[The true source of the river Thames has been much disputed. A springwhich rises near the village of Kemble, at the north-western extremityof Wiltshire, has been commonly regarded, during the last century, asthe real "Thames head". It flows thence to Ashton Keynes, and onwardto Cricklade. At the latter place it is joined by the river Churn, which comes from Coberly, about 20 miles to the northward, inGloucestershire. Aubrey refers to the latter stream as the source ofthe Thames; and, on the principle of tracing the origin of a river toits most remote source, the same view has been taken by some otherwriters, who consequently dispute the claims of the Kemble spring. - J. B. ] ___________________________________

The river Thames, as it runnes to Cricklad, passes by Ashton Kaynes;†from whence to Charleton, where the North Avon runnes, is about threemiles. Mr. Henry Brigges (Savilian professor of Geometrie at Oxford)observing in the mappe the nearnesse of these two streames, andreflecting on the great use that might accrue if a cutt were made fromthe one to the other (of which there are many examples in the LowCountreys), tooke a journey from Oxford to view it, and found theground levell and sappable and was very well pleased with his notion;for that if these two rivers were maried by a canal between them, thenmight goods be brought from London to Bristow by water, which would bean extraordinary convenience both for safety and to avoid overturning. This was about the yeare 1626. But there had been a long calme ofpeace, and men minded nothing but pleasure and luxury. 

 "Jam patimur longæ pacis mala, sævior armis Luxuria incumbit. "- LUCAN. 

+ [If Aubrey was right in the preceding paragraph in regarding thestream which rises at "Cubberley" in Gloucestershire as the sourceof the Thames, he is wrong in stating that "the Thames" passes byAshton Keynes. It is the other brook, from Kemble, which runs throughthat village; and the two streams only become united at Cricklade, which is some distance lower down, to the eastward of Ashton Keynes. -J. B. ]

Knowledge of this kind was not at all in fashion, so that he had noencouragement to prosecute this noble designe: and no more done butthe meer discovery: and not long after he died, scilicet Anno Domini1631, January 31st. ; and this ingeniose notion had died too and beeneforgotten, but that Mr. Francis Mathew, (formerly of the countyof Dorset, a captain in his majestie King Charles I. Service), who wasacquainted with him, and had the hint from him, and after the warsceased revived this designe. Hee tooke much paines about it; went intothe countrey and made a mappe of it, and wrote a treatise of it, andaddressed himselfe to Oliver the Protector, and the Parliament. Oliverwas exceedingly pleased with the designe; and, had he lived but alittle longer, he would have had it perfected: but upon his death itsank. 

After his Majesties restauration, I recommended Captain Mathew to theLord Wm. Brouncker, then President of the Royall Societie, whointroduced him to his Majestie; who did much approve of the designe;but money was wanting, and publick-spirited contributions; and theCaptain had no purse (undonn by the warres), and the heads of theParliament and Counsell were filled with other things. - Thus the poorold gentleman's project came to nothing. 

He died about 1676, and left many good papers behind him concerningthis matter, in the hands of his daughters; of which I acquainted Mr. John Collins, R. S. S. In An°. 1682, who tooke a journey to Oxford(which journey cost him his life, by a cold), and first discoursedwith the barge-men there concerning their trade and way: then he wentto Lechlade, and discoursed with the bargemen there; who all approvedof the designe. Then he took a particular view of the ground to becutt between Ashton-kaynes and Charleton. From Malmesbury he went toBristoll. Then he returned to Malmesbury again and went to WottonBassett, and took a view of that way. Sir Jonas Moore told me he likedthat way, but J. Collins was clearly for the cutt between Ashton-Kaynsand Charleton. 

At his return to London I went with him to the daughters of Mr. Mathew, who shewed him their father's papers; sc. Draughts, modells, copper-plate of the mappe of the Thames, Acts of Parliament, andBills prepared to be enacted, &c. ; as many as did fill a bigportmantue. He proposed the buying of them to the R. Societie, andtooke the heads of them, and gave them an abstract of them. Thepapers, &c. Were afterwards brought to. The R. Societie; the pricedemanded for all was but five pounds (the plate of the mappe did cost8li. ) The R. Societie liked the designe; but they would neitherundertake the businesse nor buy the papers. So that noble knight, SirJames Shaen, R. S. S. , who was then present, slipt five guineas into J. Collins's hand to give to the poor gentlewomen, and so immediatelybecame master of these rarities. There were at the Societie at thesame time three aldermen of the city of London (Sir Jo. Laurence, SirPatient Ward, and . .. . . .. . ), fellows of the Society, who when theyheard that Sir James Shaen had gott the possession of them wereextremely vex't; and repented (when 'twas too late) that they hadoverslipped such an opportunity: then they would have given 30li. Thisundertaking had been indeed most proper for the hon{oura}ble city of London. 

Jo. Collins writt a good discourse of this journey, and of thefeazability, and a computation of the chardge. Quaere, whether heleft a copie with the R. Society. Mr. Win, mathematicall instrumentmaker in Chancery-lane, had all his papers, and amongst many others isto be found this. 

I have been the more full in this account, because if ever it shallhappen that any publick-spirited men shall arise to carry on such ausefull work, they may know in whose hands the papers that were sowell considered heretofore are now lodged. 

Sir Jonas Moore, Surveyor of the Ordinance, told me that when the Dukeof York sent him to survey the manor of Dauntesey, formerly belongingto Sir Jo. Danvers, he did then take a survey of this designe, andsaid that it is feazable; but his opinion was that the best way wouldbe to make a cutt by Wotton Bassett, and that the King himselfe shouldundertake it, for they must cutt through a hill by Wotton-Basset; andthat in time it might quit cost. As I remember, he told me that fortythousand pounds would doe it. 

But I thinke, Jo. Collins sayes in his papers, that the cutt fromAshton-Kains to Charleton may bee made for three thousand pounds. 

[Some of the above facts are more briefly stated by Aubrey in his"Description of North Wiltshire" (printed by Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bart. ) They are however sufficiently interesting to be inserted here;and they clearly shew that, notwithstanding Aubrey's credulity andlove of theory, he was fully sensible of the beneficial results to beexpected from increased facilities of conveyance and locomotion. Onthis point indeed he and his friends, Mr. Mathew and Mr. Collins, weremore than a century in advance of their contemporaries, for it was nottill after the year 1783 that Wiltshire began to profit by theformation of canals. 

Sanctioned by the approval of King Charles the Second, for which, asabove stated, he was indebted to Aubrey, Francis Mathew published anexplanation of his project for the junction of the Thames with theBristol Avon. This work, which advocated similar canals in other partsof the country, bears the following title: "A Mediterranean Passage bywater from London to Bristol, and from Lynn to Yarmouth, and soconsequently to the city of York, for the great advancement of trade. "(Lond. 1670, 4to. ) An extract from this scarce volume is transcribedby Aubrey into the Royal Society's MS. Of his own work; and a copy ofMr. Mathew's map, which illustrated it, is also there inserted. 

The liberality of Sir James Shaen in the purchase of Mathew's papers, and the apathy of the London aldermen, until too late to secure them, are amusingly described. Similar instances of civic meanness are notwanting in the present day; indeed the indifference of corporateauthorities to scientific topics is strikingly illustrated by the factthat the Royal Society has not at present enrolled upon its list ofFellows a single member of the corporation of London; whereas inAubrey's time there were no less than three. 

The short canal projected in the seventeenth century to connect theThames and Avon has never been executed: subsequent speculators havingfound that the wants and necessities of the country could be bettersupplied by other and longer lines of water communication. Hence wehave the Thames and Severn Canal, from Lechlade to Stroud, commencedin 1783; the Kennet and Avon Canal, from Newbury to Bath, begun in1796; and the Wilts and Berks Canal (1801), from Abingdon to a pointon the last mentioned canal between Devizes and Bradford. - J. B. ] ___________________________________

Mdm. -The best and cheapest way of making a canal is by ploughing;which method ought to be applied for the cheaper making the cuttbetween the two rivers of Thames and Avon. The same way serves formaking descents in a garden on the side of a hill. - See . .. .. . Castello della Currenti del Acquo, 4to; which may be of use for thisundertaking. 

Consider the scheme in Captain Yarrington's book, entitled "England'sImprovement", as to the establishing of granaries at severall towneson the Thames and Avon; e. G. At Lechlade, Cricklade, &c. See alsoPlin. Nat. Hist. Lib. Vi. C. 11. 

At Funthill Episcopi, higher towards Hindon, water riseth and makes astreame before a dearth of corne, that is to say, without raine; andis commonly look't upon by the neighbourhood as a certain presage of adearth; as, for example, the dearness of corne in 1678. 

So at Morecomb-bottome, in the parish of Broad Chalke, on the northside of the river, it has been observed time out of mind, that, whenthe water breaketh out there, that it foreshewes a deare yeare ofcorne; and I remember it did so in the yeare 1648. Plinie saieth (lib. Ii. Nat. Hist. ) that the breaking forth of some rivers "annonæmutationem significant". 

[At Weston-Birt, in Gloucestershire, near the borders of Wiltshire, water gushes from the ground in spring and autumn, and at other times, in many hundred places at once, and continues to flow with greatrapidity for several days, when the whole valley, in which the housesare placed, is completely filled. The street of the village isprovided with numerous rude bridges, which on these occasions becomeavailable for purposes of communication. -J. B. ] ___________________________________

'Tis a saying in the West, that a dry yeare does never cause a dearth. 

Anno 1669, at Yatton Keynel, and at Broomfield in that parish, theywent a great way to water their cattle; and about 1640 the springs inthese parts did not breake till neer Christmas. 

 CHAPTER IV. SOILES. 

[THIS and the three succeeding chapters, on "Mineralls and Fossills, ""Stones, " and "Formed Stones", comprise the Geological portions ofAubrey's work. In a scientific view, these chapters may be regarded asof little value; though creditable to their author as a minuteobserver, and enthusiastic lover of science. It has been necessary toomit much which the progress of scientific knowledge has renderedobsolete; and in the passages quoted, the object has been to selectsuch as possessed the most general interest, as well as having directapplication to Wiltshire. A good summary of the Geologicalcharacteristics of the county will be found in the article"Wiltshire, " in the Penny Cyclopædia. Mr. John Provis, of Chippenham, contributed a similar sketch to the third volume of the Beauties ofWiltshire; and the geology of Salisbury and its vicinity is describedin Hatcher's History of Salisbury, by the son of the historian, Mr. W. H. Hatcher. -J. B. ]

THIS county hath great variety of earth. It is divided, neer about themiddle, from east to west into the dowries; commonly called Salisbury-plaine, which are the greatest plaines in Europe: and into the vale;which is the west end of the vale of Whitehorse. 

The vale is the northern part; the soile whereof is what wee call astone-brash; sc. Red earth, full of a kind of tile-stone, in someplaces good tiles. It beareth good barley. In the west places of thesoile, wormewood growes very plentifully; whereas in the south partthey plant it in their garden. 

The soile of Malmesbury hundred, which is stone-brash and clay, andthe earth vitriolish, produces excellent okes, which seem to delightin a vitriolate soile, and where iron oare is. The clay and stones doehinder the water from sinking down, whereby the surface of the earthbecomes dropsicall, and beares mosse and herbs naturall to such moistground. In the ploughed fields is plenty of yarrow; in the pasturegrounds plenty of wood wax; and in many grounds plenty of centaury, wood sorrell, ladies' bed-straw, &c. , sowre herbes. 

I never saw in England so much blew clay as in the northern part ofthis county, and it continues from the west part to Oxfordshire. Under the planke-stones is often found blew marle, which is the best. ___________________________________

In Vernknoll, a ground belonging to Fowles-wick, adjoyning to thelands of Easton-Pierse, neer the brooke and in it, I bored clay asblew as ultra-marine, and incomparably fine, without anything of sand, &c. , which perhaps might be proper for Mr. Dwight for his making ofporcilaine. It is also at other places hereabout, but 'tis rare. 

[It is not very clear that "blew clay, " however fine, could be "properfor the making of porcilane, " the chief characteristic of which is itstransparent whiteness. Apart from this however, Aubrey's remark iscurious; as it intimates that the manufacture of it was attempted inthis country at an earlier period than is generally believed. Thefamous porcelain works at Chelsea were not established till longafterwards; and according to Dr. Plott, whose "Natural History ofStaffordshire" was published in 1686, the only kinds of pottery thenmade in this country were the coarse yellow, red, black, and mottledwares; and of those the chief sale was to "poor crate-men, who carriedthem on their backs all over the country", I have not found any accountof the Mr. Dwight mentioned by Aubrey, or of his attempts to improvethe art of pottery. - J. B. ] ___________________________________

Clay abounds, particularly about Malmesbury, Kington St. Michael, Allington, Easton Piers (as also a hungry marle), Dracott-Cerne, Yatton-Keynell, Minty, and Bradon-forest. 

At Minty, and at a place called Woburn, in the parish of Hankerton, isvery good fullers'-earth. The fullers'-earth at Minty-common, at theplace called the Gogges, when I tooke it up, was as black as blackpolished marble; but, having carryed it in my pocket five or sixdayes, it became gray. 

At Hedington, at the foot of the hill, is a kind of white fullers'-earth which the cloth-workers doe use; and on the north side of theriver at Broad Chalke, by a poole where are fine springs (where thehermitage is), is a kind of fullers'-earth which the weavers doe usefor their chaines: 'tis good Tripoly, or "lac lunæ". Lac lunæ is themother of silver, and is a cosmetick. 

In Boudon-parke, fifteen foot deep under the barren sand, is a greatplenty of blew marle, with which George Johnson, Esq. , councellor-at-law, hath much improved his estate there. The soile of the parke wasso exceedingly barren, that it did beare a gray mosse, like that of anold park pale, which skreeks as one walkes on it, and putts ones teethon edge. Furzes did peep a little above the ground, but were dwarfesand did not thrive. 

At Bitteston, in the highway, blew marle appears. Mr. Montjoy hathdrawn the water that runnes through it, and is impregnated with itsnitre, into his pasture grounds, by which meanes they are improvedfrom ---- to ---- per annum. ___________________________________

In Bradon-forest, and at Ashton Kaynes, is a pottery. There ispotters' clay also at . . . . Deverell, on the common towards Frome, and potts are made there. ___________________________________

At Clarendon-parke is lately discovered (1684) an earth that cleansethbetter than Woburne earthe in Bedfordshire; and Mr. Cutler, thecloathier of Wilton, tells me he now makes only use of it. There is atBurton-hill, juxta Malmesbury, fullers' earth, as also about Westport, and elsewhere thereabout, which the cloathiers use. 

Tobacco-pipe-clay excellent, or the best in England, at Chittern, ofwhich the Gauntlet pipes at Amesbury are made, by one of that name. They are the best tobacco pipes in England. [See a curious paragraphon the subject of Gauntlet-pipes in Fuller's Worthies, - Wiltshire. -J. B. ] ___________________________________

The earth about Malmesbury hundred and Chippenham hundred, especiallyabout Pewsham-forest, is vitriolate, or aluminous and vitriolate;which in hot weather the sun does make manifest on the banks of theditches. 

At Bradfield and Dracot Cerne is such vitriolate earth; which withgalles will make inke. This makes the land so soure, it beares sowreand austere plants: it is a proper soile for dayries. At summer ithunger-banes the sheep; and in winter it rotts them. 

These clayy and marly lands are wett and dirty; so that to poorepeople, who have not change of shoes, the cold is very incommodious, which hurts their nerves exceedingly. Salts, as the Lord ChancellorBacon sayes, doe exert (irradiate) raies of cold. Elias Ashmole, Esq. Got a dangerous cold by sitting by the salt sacks in a salter's shop, which was like to have cost him his life. And some salts will corrodepapers, that were three or four inches from it. The same may be saydof marble pavements, which have cost some great persons their lives. ___________________________________

The soil of South Wilts is chalke and white marle, which abounds withnitre; and is inimique to the nerves by the nitre that irradiates fromit. 'Tis that gives the dampishnesse to the flowres and walles ofSalisbury and Chalke, &c. E contra, Herefordshire, Salop, Montgomeryshire, &c. The soile is clear of any salt; which, besidesthe goodnesse of the air, conduces much to their longævitas: e. G. , 100 yeares of age in those parts as common as 80 in Wilts, &c. 

The walles of the church of Broad Chalke, and of the buttery at thefarme there, doe shoot out, besides nitre, a beautifull red, lighterthan scarlet; an oriental horse-flesh colour. 

The soile of Savernake forest is great gravelle: and (as I remember)pebbley, as on the sea side. At Alderbury, by Ivy Church, is greatplenty of fine gravelle; which is sent for all over the south partsof the countrey. 

At Sutton Benger eastward is a gravelly field called Barrets, which issown every year onely with barley: it hath not lain fallow in thememory of the oldest man's grandfather there. About 1665 Mr. LeonardAtkins did sow his part of it with wheat for a triall. It came upwonderfully thick and high; but it proved but faire strawe, and hadlittle or nothing in the eare. This land was heretofore the vineyardbelonging to the abbey of Malmesbury; of which there is a recitallin the grant of this manner by K. Henry VIII. To Sir ---- Long. Thisfruitfull ground is within a foot or lesse of the gravell. ___________________________________

The soil of Christian Malford, a parish adjoyning to Sutton, is veryrich, and underneath is gravell in many parts. ___________________________________

The first ascent from Chippenham, sc. Above the Deny hill, is sandy:e. G. Bowdon-parke, Spy-parke, Sandy-lane, great clear sand, of whichI believe good glasse might be made; but it is a little too far from anavigable river. They are ye biggest graines of sand that ever I saw, and very transparent: some where thereabout is sand quite white. 

At Burbidge the soile is an ash-coloured gray sand, and very naturallfor the production of good turnips. They are the best that ever I dideate, and are sent for far and neere: they are not tough and stringylike other turnips, but cutt like marmalad. 

Quaere, how long the trade of turnips has been here? For it iscertain that all the turnips that were brought to Bristoll eightyyears since [now 1680] were from Wales; and now none come from thence, for they have found out that the red sand about Bristoll doth breed abetter and a bigger turnip. 

Burbidge is also remarqueable for excellent pease. ___________________________________

The turf of our downes, and so east and west, is the best in the worldfor gardens and bowling- greens; for more southward it is burnt, andmore north it is course. 

Temple downe in Preshut parish, belonging to the right honble CharlesLord Seymour, worth xxs. Per acre, and better, a great quantity of it. 

As to the green circles on the downes, vulgarly called faiery circles(dances), I presume they are generated from the breathing out of afertile subterraneous vapour. (The ring-worme on a man's flesh iscircular. Excogitate a paralolisme between the cordial heat and yesubterranean heat, to elucidate this phenomenon. ) Every tobacco-takerknowes that 'tis no strange thing for a circle of smoke to be whiff'dout of the bowle of the pipe; but 'tis donne by chance. If you diggeunder the turfe of this circle, you will find at the rootes of thegrasse a hoare or mouldinesse. But as there are fertile steames, socontrary wise there are noxious ones, which proceed from somemineralls, iron, &c. ; which also as the others, cæteris paribus, appear in a circular forme. ___________________________________

In the common field of Winterbourn . .. .. . Is the celebrated pathcalled St. Thomas Becket's path. It leads from the village up toClarendon Parke. Whether this field be sown or lies fallow, the pathis visible to one that lookes on it from the hill, and it iswonderfull. But I can add yet farther the testimonies of two that Ivery well know (one of them my servant, and of an excellent sight)that will attest that, riding in the rode from London one morning in agreat snow, they did see this path visible on the snow. St. ThomasBecket, they say, was sometime a cure priest at Winter-bourn, and diduse to goe along this path up to a chapell in Clarendon Parke, to saymasse, and very likely 'tis true: but I have a conceit that this pathis caused by a warme subterraneous steame from a long crack in theearth, which may cause snow to dissolve sooner there than elsewhere:and consequently gives the dissolving snow a darker colour, just as weesee the difference of whites in damask linnen. 

The right reverend father in God, Seth, Lord Bishop of Salisbury, averres to me that at Silchester in Hampshire, which was a Romancitie, one may discerne in the corne ground the signe of the streetes;nay, passages and hearthes: which also Dr. Jo. Wilkins (since LordBishop of Chester) did see with him, and has affirm'd the same thingto me. They were there, and saw it in the spring. 

 ------ "ita res accendunt lumina rebus". - LUCRETIUS. ___________________________________

The pastures of the vale of White Horse, sc. The first ascent belowthe plaines, are as rich a turfe as any in the kingdom of England:e. G. The Idovers at Dauntesey, of good note in Smithfield, whichsends as fatt cattle to Smythfield as any place in this nation; asalso Tytherton, Queenfield, Wroughton, Tokenham, Mudgelt, LydyardTregoz, and about Cricklad, are fatting grounds, the garden ofWiltshire. ___________________________________

In a little meadow called Mill-mead, belonging to the farme of BroadChalke, is good peate, which in my father's time was digged and madeuse of; and no doubt it is to be found in many other places of thiscountry, if it were search't after. But I name it onely to bring in adiscovery that Sr Christopher Wren made of it, sc. That 'tis avegetable, which was not known before. One of the pipes at HamptonCourt being stop't, Sr Christopher commanded to have it opened (Ithink he say'd 'twas an earthen pipe), and they found it choak't withpeate, * which consists of a coagmentation of small fibrous vegetables. These pipes were layd in Cardinal Wolsey's time, who built the house. 

* I believe that in ye pipes was nothing else but Alga fontalistrichodes, (C. B. ) which is often found in conduit pipes. Seemy Synopsis. -[JOHN RAY. ]

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Earth growing. - In the court of Mrs. Sadler's, the great house in theclose in Salisbury, the pitched causeway lay neglected in the latetroubles, and not weeded: so at lengthe it became overgrown and lost:and I remember about 1656, goeing to pave it, they found, . .. . Inchesdeep, a good pavement to their hands. 

In the court of my honoured friend Edm. Wyld Esq. , at Houghton inBedfordshire, in twenty-four yeares, viz. From 1656 to 1680, theground increased nine inches, only by rotting grasse upon grasse. 'Tisa rich soile, and reddish; worth xxs. Per acre. ___________________________________

The spring after the conflagration at London all the ruines wereovergrown with an herbe or two; but especially one with a yellowflower: and on the south side of St. Paul's Church it grew as thick ascould be; nay, on the very top of the tower. The herbalists call itEricolevis Neapolitana, small bank cresses of Naples; which plant Tho. Willis told me he knew before but in one place* about the towne; andthat was at Battle Bridge by the Pindar of Wakefield, and that in nogreat quantity. [The Pindar of Wakefield is still a public-house, under the same sign, in Gray's Inn Road, in the parish of St. Pancras, London. - J. B. ]

*It growes abundantly by ye waysides between London and Kensington. -[J. RAY. ]

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Sir John Danvers, of Chelsey, did assure me to his knowledge that myLord Chancellor Bacon was wont to compound severall sorts of earths, digged up very deep, to produce severall sorts of plants. This he didin the garden at Yorke House, where he lived when he was LordChancellor. (See Sir Ken. Digby, concerning his composition of earthof severall places. )

Edmund Wyld, Esq. R. S. S. Hath had a pott of composition in his gardenthese seven yeares that beares nothing at all, not so much as grasseor mosse. He makes his challenge, if any man will give him xx li. Hewill give him an hundred if it doth not beare wheate spontaneously;and the party shall keep the key, and he shall sift the earthcomposition through a fine sieve, so that he may be sure there are nograines of wheat in it He hath also a composition for pease; but thathe will not warrant, not having yet tryed it, ___________________________________

Pico's [Peaks. ] - In this county are Clay-hill, near Warminster; theCastle-hill at Mere, and Knoll-hill, near Kilmanton, which is half inWilts, and half in Somersetshire; all which seem to have been raised(like great blisters) by earthquakes. [Bishop TANNER adds in a note, "Suthbury hill, neer Collingburn, which I take to be the highest hillhi Wiltshire". ] That great vertuoso, Mr. Francis Potter, author of the"Interpretation of 666, "† Rector of Kilmanton, took great delight inthis Knoll-hill. It gives an admirable prospect every way; from henceone may see the foss-way between Cyrencester and Glocester, which isfourty miles from this place. You may see the Isle of Wight, Salisburysteeple, the Severne sea, &c. It would be an admirable station for himthat shall make a geographical description of Wilts, Somersett, &c. 

†[The full title of the work referred to is a curiosity inliterature. It exemplifies forcibly the abstruse and mysticalresearches in which the literati of the seventeenth century indulged. 

"An Interpretation of the Number 666; wherein not only the manner howthis Number ought to be interpreted is clearly proved anddemonstrated; but it is also shewed that this Number is an exquisiteand perfect character, truly, exactly, and essentially describing thatstate of government to which all other notes of Antichrist do agree;with all knowne objections solidly and fully answered that can bematerially made against it". (Oxford, 1642, 4to. ) So general werestudies of this nature at the time, that Potter's volume wastranslated into French, Dutch, and Latin. The author, though somewhatvisionary, was a profound mathematician, and invented severalingenious mechanical instruments. In Aubrey's "Lives", appended to theLetters from the Bodleian, 8vo. 1813, will be found an interestingbiographical notice of him. -J. B. ]

 CHAPTER V. MINERALLS AND FOSSILLS. 

[IN its etymological sense the term fossil signifies that which may bedug out of the earth. It is strictly applicable therefore, not only tomineral bodies, and the petrified forms of plants and animals found inthe substance of the earth, but even to antiquities and works of art, discovered in a similar situation. The chapter of Aubrey's work nowunder consideration mentions only mineralogical subjects; whence itwould appear that he employed the term "mineralls" instead of"metals", including such mineral substances as were not metals underthe general term "fossills". 

At present the term fossil is restricted to antediluvian organicremains; which are considered by Aubrey, in Chapter VII. Under thename of "Formed Stones". -J. B. ]

THIS county cannot boast much of mineralls: it is more celebrated forsuperficiall treasure. 

At Dracot Cerne and at Easton Piers doe appeare at the surface of theearth frequently a kind of bastard iron oare, which seems to be avancourier of iron oare, but it is in small quantity and course. 

At Send, vulgarly called Seen, the hill whereon it stands is iron-oare, and the richest that ever I saw. (See Chap. II. )

About Hedington fields, Whetham, Bromham, Bowdon Parke, &c. Are stillploughed-up cindres; sc. The scoria of melted iron, which must havebeen smelted by the Romans (for the Saxons were no artists), who usedonly foot-blasts, and so left the best part of the metall behind. These cinders would be of great use for the fluxing of the iron-oareat Send. ___________________________________

At Redhill, in the parish of. .. .. (I thinke Calne) they digge plentyof ruddle; which is a bolus, and with which they drench their sheepand cattle for . .. .. .. .. And poor people use it with good successe for. .. .. . This is a red sandy hill, tinged by {iron}, and is a soile thatbears very good carrets. ___________________________________

Mr. John Power of Kington St. Michael (an emperick) told me heretoforethat in Pewsham Forest is vitriol; which information he had from hisuncle Mr. . .. . Perm, who was an ingeniose and learned man in thosedaies, and a chymist, which was then rare. ___________________________________

At Dracot Cerne is good quantity of vitriol-oare, which with gallesturnes as black as inke. 

About the beginning of the raigne of King James the First, Sir WalterLong [of Dracot] digged for silver, a deep pitt, through blew clay, and gott five pounds worth, for sixty pounds charges or more. It wason the west end of the stable: but I doubt there was a cheat put uponhim. Here are great indications of iron, and it may be of coale; but what hopes he should have to discover silver does passe myunderstanding. There was a great friendship between Sir Walter Raleighand Sir Walter Long, and they were allied: and the pitt was sunk inSir W. Raleigh's time, so that he must certainly have been consultedwith. I have here annexed Sir James Long's letter. 

"Mr. Aubrey, I cannot obey your commands concerning my grandfather'ssinking of pitts for metalls here at Draycott, there being no personalive hereabouts who was born at that time. What I have heard was solong since, and I then so young, that there is little heed to be takenof what I can say; but in generall I can say that I doe believe hereare many metalls and mineralls in these parts; particularly silver-oare of the blew sort, of which there are many stones in the bottomeof the river Avon, which are extremely heavy, and have the hardnesseof a file, by reason of the many minerall and metalline veines. I haveconsulted many bookes treating of minerall matters, and find themsuite exactly with the Hungarian blew silver oare. Some sixteen oreighteen yeares ago in digging a well neer my house, many stones veryweighty where digged out of the rocks, which also slaked with longlyeing in the weather. I shewed some to Monsieur Cock, since Baron ofCrownstronie in Sweden, who had travelled ten yeares to all themines in North Europe, and was recommended to me by a Londonmerchant, in his journey to Mindip, and staied with me here aboutthree weekes. He told me the grains in that oare seemed to be goldrather than copper; they resembled small pinnes heads. Wee poundedsome of it, and tried to melt the dust unwashed in a crucible; but thesulphur carried the metall away, if there was any, as he said. He hasbeen in England since, by the name of Baron Crownstrome, to treat fromhis master the King of Sweden, over whose mines he is superintendant, as his father was before him. The vitriol-oare we find here is likesuckwood, which being layd in a dry place slakes itself into graine ofblew vitriol, calcines red, and with a small quantitie of galles makesour water very black inke. It is acid tasted as other vitriol, and aptto raise a flux in the mouth. Sir, yours, &c. 

August 12, 1689. J. L". ___________________________________

"In the parish of Great Badminton, in a field called Twelve Acres, thehusbandmen doe often times plough up and find iron bulletts, as big aspistoll bulletts; sometimes almost as big as muskett bulletts". Dr. Childrey's Britannia Baconica, p. 80. ["Britannia Baconica, or theNatural Rarities of England, Scotland, and Wales, historicallyrelated, according to the precepts of Lord Bacon". By Joshua Childrey, D. D. 1661. 8°. ]

These bulletts are Dr. Th. Willises aperitive pills; sc. He putts abarre of iron into the smith's forge, and gives it a sparkling heat;then thrusts it against a roll of brimstone, and the barre will meltdown into these bulletts; of which he made his aperitive pills. Inthis region is a great deale of iron, and the Bath waters givesufficient evidence that there is store of sulphur; so that heretoforewhen the earthquakes were hereabouts, store of such bulletts mustnecessarily be made and vomited up. [Dr. Willis was one of the mosteminent physicians of his age, and author of numerous Latin works onmedical subjects. The above extract is a curious illustration of thestate of professional knowledge at the time. - J. B. ] ___________________________________

Copperas. - Thunder-stones, as the vulgar call them, are a pyrites;their fibres doe all tend to the centre. They are found at BroadChalke frequently, and particularly in the earth pitts belonging tothe parsonage shares, below Bury Hill, next Knighton hedge; but weeare too fare from a navigable river to make profit by them; but atthe Isle of Wight they are gathered . From the chalkie rocks, andcarried by boates to Deptford, to make copperas; where they doe firstexpose them to the aire

and raine, which makes them slake, and fall to pieces from the centre, and shoot out a pale blewish salt; and then they boile the salt withpieces of old rusty iron. ___________________________________

In the chalkie rocks at Lavington is umber, which painters have used, and Dr. Chr. Meret hath inserted it in his Pinax. ["Pinax RerumNaturalium Britannicarum, continens Vegetabilia, Animalia, et Fossiliain hac Insula reperta". By Christopher Merret, M. D. , 1666, 12mo. ] ___________________________________

In the parish of Steeple Ashton, at West Ashton, in the grounds of Mr. Tho. Beech, is found plenty of a very ponderous marchasite, of whichPrince Rupert made tryall, but without effect. It flieth away insulphur, and the fumes are extreme unwholsom: it is full of (as itwere) brasse, and strikes fire very well. It is mundick, or mock-oare. The Earle of Pembroke hath a way to analyse it: not by fire, but bycorroding waters. 

Anno Domini, 1685, in Chilmark, was found by digging of a well ablewish oare, with brasse-like veines in it; it runnes two foot thick. I had this oare tryed, and it flew away in sulphur, like that ofSteeple Ashton. ___________________________________

On Flamstone downe (in the parish of Bishopston) neer the Race-way aquarrie of sparre exerts itselfe to the surface of the turfe. It isthe finest sparre that ever I beheld. I have made as good glasse ofthis sparre as the Venice glasse. It is of a bright colour with a verylittle tincture of yellow; transparent; and runnes in stirias, likenitre; it is extraordinary hard till it is broken, and then it breakesinto very minute pieces. ___________________________________

We have no mines of lead; nor can I well suspect where we should findany: but not far off in Glocestershire, at Sodbury, there is. Capt. Ralph Greatorex, the mathematical instrument maker, sayes that it isgood lead, and that it was a Roman lead-worke. ___________________________________

Tis some satisfaction to know where a minerall is not. Iron or coaleis not to be look't for in a chalky country. As yet we have notdiscovered any coale in this county; but are supplied with it fromGlocestershire adjoyning, where the forest of Kingswood (nearBristowe) aboundeth most with coale of any place in the west ofEngland: all that tract under ground full of this fossill. It is veryobservable that here are the most holly trees of any place in thewest. It seemes to me that the holly tree delights in the effluvium ofthis fossil, which may serve as a guide to find it. I was curious tobe satisfied whether holly trees were also common about the collieriesat Newcastle, and Dr. . . . . , Deane of Durham, affirmes they are. These indications induce me to thinke it probable that coale may befound in Dracot Parke. The Earledomes, near Downton, (woods so calledbelonging to the Earledome of Pembroke, ) for the same reason, notunlike ground for coale. 

They have tryed for coale at Alderbery Common, but was baffled in it. (I have heard it credibly reported that coale has been found inUrchfont parish, about fifty or sixty yeares since; but upon accountof the scarcity of workmen, depth of the coale, and the then plenty offiring out of ye great wood called Crookwood, it did not quit thecost, and so the mines were stop'd up. There hath been great talkseveral times of searching after coale here again. Crookwood, oncefull of sturdy oakes, is now destroyed, and all sort of fuel very dearin all the circumjacent country. It lies very commodious, beingsituate about the middle of the whole county; three miles from thepopulous town of the Devises, two miles from Lavington, &c. -BISHOPTANNER. )

[Several abortive attempts have been made at different periods to findcoal on Malmesbury Common. -J. B. ]

 CHAPTER VI. STONES. 

I WILL begin with freestone (lapis arenarius), as the best kind ofstone that this country doth afford. 

The quarre at Haselbury [near Box] was most eminent for freestone inthe western parts, before the discovery of the Portland quarrie, whichwas but about anno 1600. The church of Portland, which stands by thesea side upon the quarrie, (which lies not very deep, sc. Ten foot), is of Cane stone, from Normandie. Malmesbury Abbey and the otherWiltshire religious houses are of Haselbury stone. The old traditionis that St. Adelm, Abbot of Malmesbury, riding over the ground atHaselbury, did throw down his glove, and bad them dig there, and theyshould find great treasure, meaning the quarre. ___________________________________

AT Chilmarke is a very great quarrie of freestone, whereof thereligious houses of the south part of Wiltshire and Dorset were built. [The walls, buttresses, and other substantial parts of SalisburyCathedral are constructed of the Chilmarke stone. - J. B. ]

At Teffont Ewyas is a quarrie of very good white freestone, not longsince discovered. 

At Compton Basset is a quarrie of soft white stone betwixt chalke andfreestone: it endures fire admirably well, and would be good forreverbatory furnaces: it is much used for ovens and hearth-stones: itis as white as chalke. At my Lord Stowell's house at Aubury is achimney piece carved of it in figures; but it doth not endure theweather, and therefore it ought not to be exposed to sun and raine. 

At Yatton Keynel, in Longdean, is a freestone quarrie, but it doth notendure the weather well. 

In Alderton-field is a freestone quarrie, discovered a little beforethe civill-warres broke forth. 

In Bower Chalke field, in the land that belongs to the farme of BroadChalke, is a quarrie of freestone of a dirty greenish colour, verysoft, but endures the weather well. The church and houses there arebuilt with it, and the barne of the farme, w{hi}ch is of great antiquity. ___________________________________

The common stone in Malmesbury hundred and thereabout is oftentimesblewish in the inside, and full of very small cockles, as at EastonPiers. These stones are dampish and sweate, and doe emitt a cold andunwholsome dampe, sc. The vitriolate petrified salt in it exertsitselfe. 

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I know no where in this county that lime is made, unlesse it be madeof Chalke stones: whereas between Bath and Bristoll all the stone islime-stone. If lime were at xs. Or xxs. Per lib. It would be valuedabove all other drugges. ___________________________________

At Swindon is a quarrie of stones, excellent for paveing halls, staire-cases, &c; it being pretty white and smooth, and of such atexture as not to be moist or wett in damp weather. It is used atLondon in Montagu-house, and in Barkeley-house &c. (and at Cornberry, Oxon. JOHN EVELYN). This stone is not inferior to Purbac grubbes, butwhiter. It takes a little polish, and is a dry stone. It wasdiscovered but about 1640, yet it lies not above four or five footdeep. It is near the towne, and not above [ten] miles from the riverof Thames at Lechlade. [The Wilts and Berks Canal and the GreatWestern Railway now pass close to the town of Swindon, and affordgreat faculties for the conveyance of this stone, which is now inconsequence very extensively used. - J. B. ] ___________________________________

If Chalk may be numbred among stones, we have great plenty of it. Idoe believe that all chalke was once marle; that is, that chalke hasundergone subterraneous bakeings, and is become hard: e. G, as weemake tobacco-pipes. ___________________________________

Pebbles. - The millers in our country use to putt a black pebble underthe pinne of ye axis of the mill-wheele, to keep the brasse underneathfrom wearing; and they doe find by experience, that nothing doth weareso long as that. The bakers take a certain pebble, which they putt inthe vaulture of their oven, which they call the warning-stone: forwhen that is white the oven is hot. 

In the river Avon at Lacock are large round pebbles. I have not seenthe like elsewhere. Quaere, if any transparent ones? From Merton, southward to the sea, is pebbly. 

There was a time when all pebbles were liquid. Wee find them allovalish. How should this come to passe? As for salts, some shootcubicall, some hexagonall. Why might there not be a time, when thesepebbles were making in embryone (in fieri), for such a shooting asfalls into an ovalish figure?

Pebbles doe breake according to the length of the greatest diameter:but those wee doe find broken in the earth are broken according totheir shortest diameter. I have broken above an hundred of them, totry to have one broken at the shortest diameter, to save the chargeand paines of grinding them for molers to grind colours for limming;and they all brake the long way as aforsayd. ___________________________________

Black flints are found in great plenty in the chalkie country. Theyare a kind of pyrites, and are as regular; 'tis certain they have been"in fluore". 

Excellent fire-flints are digged up at Dun's Pit in Groveley, andfitted for gunnes by Mr. Th. Sadler of Steeple Langford. ___________________________________

Anno 1655, I desired Dr. W. Harvey to tell me how flints weregenerated. He sayd to me that the black of the flint is but a naturalvitrification of the chalke: and added that the medicine of the flintis excellent for the stone, and I thinke he said for the greenesicknesse; and that in some flints are found stones in next degree toa diamond. The doctor had his armes and his wife's cutt in such a one, which was bigger than the naile of my middle finger; found at Folkstonin Kent, where he told me he was borne. 

In the stone-brash country in North Wilts flints are very rare, andthose that are found are but little. I once found one, when I was alittle boy learning to read, in the west field by Easton Piers, as bigas one's fist, and of a kind of liver colour. Such coloured flints arevery common in and about Long Lane near Stuston, [Sherston ?-J. B. ]and no where else that I ever heard of. 

It is reported that at Tydworth a diamond was found in a flint, whichthe Countess of Marleborough had set in a ring. I have seen smallfluores in flints (sparkles in the hollow of flints) like diamonds;but when they are applied to the diamond mill they are so soft thatthey come to nothing. But, had he that first found out the way ofcutting transparent pebbles (which was not long before the late civillwarres) kept it a secret, he might have got thousands of pounds by it;for there is no way to distinguish it from a diamond but by the mill. ___________________________________

I shall conclude with the stones called the Grey Wethers; which lyescattered all over the downes about Marleborough, and incumber theground for at least seven miles diameter; and in many places they are, as it were, sown so thick, that travellers in the twylight at adistance take them to be flocks of sheep (wethers) from whence theyhave their name. So that this tract of ground looks as if it had beenthe scene where the giants had fought with huge stones against theGods, as is described by Hesiod in his {Gk: theogonia}. 

They are also (far from the rode) commonly called Sarsdens, or Sarsdonstones. About two or three miles from Andover is a village calledSersden, i. E. Csars dene, perhaps don: Cæsar's dene, Cæsar'splains; now Salisbury plaine. (So Salisbury, Cæsaris Burgus. ) But Ihave mett with this kind of stones sometimes as far as from ChristianMalford in Wilts to Abington; and on the downes about Royston, &c. Asfar as Huntington, are here and there those Sarsden-stones. They peepabove the ground a yard and more high, bigger and lesser. Those thatlie in the weather are so hard that no toole can touch them. They takea good polish. As for their colour, some are a kind of dirty red, towards porphyry; some perfect white; some dusky white; some blew, like deep blew marle; some of a kind of olive greenish colour; butgenerally they are whitish. Many of them are mighty great ones, andparticularly those in Overton Wood. Of these kind of stones are framedthe two stupendous antiquities of Aubury and Stone-heng. I have heardthe minister of Aubury say those huge stones may be broken in whatpart of them you please without any great trouble. The manner is thus:they make a fire on that line of the stone where they would have it tocrack; and, after the stone is well heated, draw over a line with coldwater, and immediately give a smart knock with a smyth's sledge, andit will breake like the collets at the glasse-house. [This system ofdestruction is still adopted on the downs in the neighbourhood ofAvebury. Many of the upright stones of the great Celtic Temple in thatparish have been thus destroyed in my time. - J. B. ]

Sir Christopher Wren sayes they doe pitch (incline) all one way, likearrowes shot. Quaere de hoc, and if so to what part of the heavensthey point? Sir Christopher thinks they were cast up by a vulcano. 

 CHAPTER VII. OF FORMED STONES. 

[AUBREY, and other writers of his time, designated by this term thefossil remains of antediluvian animals and vegetables. This Chapter isvery brief in the manuscript; and the following are the only passagesadapted for this publication. 

The numerous excavations which have been made in the county sinceAubrey's time have led to the discovery of a great abundance oforganic remains; especially in the northern part of the county, fromSwindon to Chippenham and Box. Large collections have been made by Mr. John Provis and Mr. Lowe, of Chippenham, which it is hoped will bepreserved in some public museum, for the advantage of futuregeologists. -J. B. ]

THE stones at Easton-Piers are full of small cockles no bigger thansilver half-pennies. The stones at Kington St. Michael and DracotCerne are also cockley, but the cockles at Dracot bigger. Cockleborough, near Chippenham, hath its denomination from thepetrified cockles found there in great plenty, and as big as cockles. Sheldon, in the parish of Chippenham, hath its denomination from thepetrified shells in the stones there. 

At Dracot Cerne there is belemnites, as also at Tytherington Lucas. They are like hafts of knives, dimly transparent, having a seame onone side. ___________________________________

West from Highworth, towards Cricklad, are stones as big, or biggerthan one's head, that lie common even in the highway, which arepetrified sea-mushromes. They looke like honeycombs, but the holes arenot hexagons, but round. They are found from Lydiard Tregoze to Cumnorin Barkshire, in which field I have also seen them. [See page 9. -J. B. ] ___________________________________

At Steeple Ashton are frequently found stones resembling the pictureof the unicorne's horn, but not tapering. They are about the bignesseof a cart-rope, and are of a reddish gray colour. 

In the vicaridge garden at Bower Chalke are found petrified oystershells; which the learned Mr. Lancelot Morehouse, who lived there someyeares, assured me: and I am informed since that there are also cockleshells and scalop shells. Also in the parish of Wotton Basset arefound petrified oyster shells; and there are also found cornua ammonisof a reddish gray, but not very large. About two or three miles fromthe Devises are found in a pitt snake-stones (cornua ammonis) nobigger than a sixpence, of a black colour. Mr. John Beaumont, Junr. , of Somersetshire, a great naturalist, tells me that some-where byChilmarke lies in the chalke a bed of stones called "echini marini". He also enformes me that, east of Bitteston, in the estate of Mr. Montjoy, is a spring, -they call it a holy well, -where five-pointedstones doe bubble up (Astreites) which doe move in vinegar. 

At Broad Chalke are sometimes found cornua ammonis of chalke. I doebelieve that they might be heretofore in as great abundance hereaboutas they are about Caynsham and Burnet in Somersetshire; but beingsoft, the plough teares them in pieces; and the sun and the frost doesslake them like lime. They are very common about West Lavington, withwhich the right honourable James, Earle of Abington, has adorned hisgrotto's there. There are also some of these stones about Calne. 

 CHAPTER VIII. AN HYPOTHESIS OF THE TERRAQUEOUS GLOBE. A DIGRESSION. 

[THE seventeenth century was peculiarly an age of scientific researchand investigation. The substantial and brilliant discoveries of Newtoninduced many of his less gifted contemporaries to pursue inquiriesinto the arcana and profound mysteries of science; but where rationalinferences and deductions failed, they too frequently had recourse tomere unsupported theory and conjectural speculation. 

The stratification of the crust of our globe, and the division of itssurface into land and water, was a fertile theme for conjecture; andmany learned and otherwise sagacious writers, assigned imaginarycauses for the results which they attempted to explain. 

The chapter of Aubrey's work which bears the above title is, to someextent, of this nature. It consists chiefly of speculative opinionsextracted from other works, with a few conjectures of his own, which, though based upon the clear and judicious views of his friend RobertHooke, do not, upon the whole, deserve much consideration; although tothe curious in the history of Geological science they may appearinteresting. Its author had sufficient diffidence as to the merits ofthis chapter to describe it as "a digression; ad mentem Mr. R. Hook, R. S. S. "; and his friend Ray, in a letter already quoted, observes, after commending other portions of the present work, "I find but onething that may give any just offence; and that is, the Hypothesis ofthe Terraqueous Globe; wherewith I must confess myself not to besatisfied: but that is but a digression, and aliene from your subject;and so may very well be left out". Ray's work on "Chaos and Creation"published in 1692, a year after the date of this letter, was avaluable contribution to the geological knowledge of the time. Somenotes by Evelyn, on Aubrey's original MS. , shew that he was at leastequally credulous with the author. 

Aubrey concludes that the universal occurrence of "petrified fishes'shells gives clear evidence that the earth hath been all covered overwith water". He assumes that the irregularities and changes in theearth's surface were occasioned by earthquakes; and has inserted inhis manuscript, from the London Gazette, accounts of threeearthquakes, in different parts of Italy, in the years 1688 and 1690. A small 4to pamphlet, being "A true relation of the terribleEarthquake which happened at Ragusa, and several other cities inDalmatia and Albania, the 6th of April 1667", is also inserted in theMS. Aubrey observes: "As the world was torne by earthquakes, as alsothe vaulture by time foundred and fell in, so the water subsided andthe dry land appeared. Then, why might not that change alter thecenter of gravity of the earth? Before this the pole of the ecliptiqueperhaps was the pole of the world". And in confirmation of these viewshe quotes several passages from Ovid's Metamorphoses, book i. Fab. 7. 8. He also cites the scheme of Father Kircher, of the Society ofJesus, which, in a section of the globe, represents it as "full ofcavities, and resembling the inside of a pomegranade", the centrebeing marked with a blazing fire, or "ignis centralis". "But now", writes Aubrey in 1691, "Mr. Edmund Halley, R. S. S. , hath an hypothesisthat the earth is hollow, about five hundred miles thick; and that aterella moves within it, which causes the variation of the needle; andin the center a sun". Further on he says, "that the centre of thisglobe is like the heart that warmes the body, is now the most commonlyreceived opinion". On the subject of subterranean heats and fires theauthor quotes several pages from Dr. Edward Jorden's "Discourse ofNatural Baths and Mineral Waters; wherein the original of fountains, the nature and differences of water, and particularly those of theBathe, are declared". (4to. 1632. ) He also extracts a passage fromLemery's "Course of Chymistry", (8vo. 1686, ) as the foundation of atheory to explain the heat of the Bath waters. 

The difficulty of reconciling the various opinions that were advancedwith the Mosaic account of the Creation, was a great stumbling-blockto the progress of geological science at the time when Aubrey wrote. He was not however inclined to read the sacred writings too literallyon this subject, for after giving a part of the first chapter ofGenesis, he quotes (from Timothy, ch. Iii. V. 15) the words, "from achild thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make theewise unto salvation:" upon which he observes, "the Apostle doth notsay, to teach natural philosophy: and see Pere Symond, where he saysthat the scriptures in some places may be erroneous as to philosophy, but the doctrine of the church is right". It is presumed that theabove passages, which indicate the general nature of Aubrey's theory, will be sufficient, without further quotations from this chapter. - J. B. ]

 CHAPTER IX. OF PLANTS. 

 Præsentemq{ue} refert quaelibet herba Deum. - OVID. 

[THIS is one of the most copious chapters in Aubrey's work. Ray hasappended a number of valuable notes to it, several of which are hereprinted. Dr. Maton has quoted from this chapter, which he mentions interms of commendation, in his "Notices of animals and plants of thatpart of the county of Wilts within 10 miles round Salisbury", appendedto Hatcher's History of Salisbury, folio, 1843. -J. B. ]

IT were to be wish't that we had a survey or inventory of the plantsof every county in England and Wales, as there is of Cambridgeshire byMr. John Ray; that we might know our own store, and whither to repairefor them for medicinall uses. God Almighty hath furnished us withplants to cure us, that grow perhaps within five or ten miles of ourabodes, and we know it not. 

Experience hath taught us that some plants have wonderful vertues; andno doubt all have so, if we knew it or could discover it. Homer writessublimely, and calls them {Gk: Cheires Theion}, the hands of the gods:and we ought to reach them religiously, with praise and thanksgiving. 

I am no botanist myselfe, and I thinke we have very few in ourcountrey that are; the more is the pity. But had Tho. Willisel*lived, and been in England, I would have employed him in this search. 

* THOMAS WILLISEL was a Northamptonshire man (Lancashire - J. RAY), avery poor fellow, and was a foot soldier in ye army of OliverCromwell. Lying at St. James's (a garrison then I thinke), he happenedto go along with some simplers. He liked it so well that he desired togoe with them as often as they went, and tooke such a fancy to it thatin a short time he became a good botanist. He was a lusty fellow, andhad an admirable sight, which is of great use for a simpler; was ashardy as a Highlander; all the clothes on his back not worth tengroates, an excellent marksman, and would maintain himselfe with hisdog and his gun, and his fishing-line. The botanists of London didmuch encourage him, and employed (sent) him all over England, Scotland, and good part of Ireland, if not all; where he made bravediscoveries, for which his name will ever be remembred in herballs. Ifhe saw a strange fowle or bird, or a fish, he would have it and caseit. When ye Lord John Vaughan, now Earle of Carbery, was madeGovernour of Jamaica, 167-, I did recommend him to his Excellency, whomade him his gardiner there. He dyed within a yeare after his beingthere, but had made a fine collection of plants and shells, which theEarle of Carbery hath by him; and had he lived he would have given theworld an account of the plants, animals, and fishes of that island. Hecould write a hand indifferent legible, and had made himself master ofall the Latine names: he pourtrayed but untowardly. All the professionhe had was to make pegges for shoes. 

Sir William Petty surveyed the kingdome of Ireland geographically, bythose that knew not what they did. Why were it impossible to procure abotanique survey of Wiltshire by apothecaries of severall quarters ofthe county? Their profession leadeth them to an acquaintance ofherbes, and the taske being divided, would not be very troublesome;and, besides the pleasure, would be of great use. The apothecaries ofHighworth, Malmesbury, Calne, and Bath (which is within three miles ofWilts) might give an account of the northern part of Wiltshire, whichabounds with rare simples: the apothecaries of Warminster, theDevises, and Marleborough, the midland part; and the apothecaries ofSalisbury the south part, towards the New Forest. 

Mr. Hayward, the apothecary of Calne, is an ingenious person and agood botanist; and there-about is great variety of earths and plants. He is my friend, and eagerly espouses this designe. He was bred inSalisbury, and hath an interest with the apothecaries there, and verylikely at Bath also. I had a good interest with two very ableapothecaries in Salisbury: Hen. Denny (Mr. Hayward's master), and Mr. Eires; but they are not long since dead. But Mr. Andrewes, on theditch there, hath assured a friend of mine, Robt. Good, M. A. That hewill preserve the herbes the herbe-women shall bring him, for my use. 

If such an inventory were made it would sett our countrey-men a worke, to make 'em love this knowledge, and to make additions. 

In the meantime, that this necessary topick be not altogether void, Iwill sett down such plants as I remember to have seen in my frequentjourneys. 'Twas pleasant to behold how every ten or twenty miles yielda new entertainment in this kind. 

I will begin in the north part, towardes Coteswold in Gloucestershire. 

In Bradon Forest growes very plentifully rank wood-wax; and a blewgrasse they call July-flower grasse, which cutts the sheepes mouthes;except in the spring. (I suppose it is that sort of Cyperus grassewhich some herbarists call "gramen caryophylleu{s}". - J. RAY. ) Wood-wax growes also plentifully between Easton-Piers and Yatton Keynel;but not so rank as at Bradon Forest. ___________________________________

At Mintie is an abundance of wild mint, from whence the village isdenominated. ___________________________________

Argentina (wild tansey) growes the most in the fallowes in Coteswold, and North Wilts adjoyning, that I ever saw. It growes also in thefallowes in South Wiltshire, but not so much. (Argentina grows for yemost part in places that are moist underneath, or where waterstagnates in winter time. - J. RAY. ) ___________________________________

About Priory St. Maries, and in the Minchin-meadowes* there, butespecially at Brown's-hill, which is opposite to the house where, inan unfortunate hour, † I drew my first breath, there is infinitevariety of plants; and it would have tempted me to have been abotanist had I had leisure, which is a jewell I could be never masterof. In the banks of the rivulet growes abundantly maiden-haire(adiantum capillas veneris), harts-tongue, phyllitis, brooke-lime(anagallis aquatica), &c. Cowslip (arthritica) and primroses (primulaveris) not inferior to Primrose Hills. In this ground calver-keys, hare-parsely, wild vetch, maiden's-honesty, polypodium, fox-gloves, wild-vine, bayle. Here is wonderfull plenty of wild saffron, carthamus, and many vulnerary plants, now by me forgott. There growesalso adder's-tongue, plenty - q. If it is not the same withviper's-tongue? (We have no true black mayden-hair growing inEngland. That which passeth under that name in our apothecaries'shops, and is used as its succeedaneum, is trichomores. Calver-keys, hare's-parseley, mayden's-honesty, are countrey names unknown to me. Carthamus growes no where wild with us. It may possibly be sown in yefields, as I have seen it in Germany. -J. RAY. )

* Minchin is an old word for a nunne. 

† Vide my Villa. "Quoque loco primum tibi sum male cognitus infans". In Natalem, Ovid. Trist. Lib. Iii. 

This north part of the shire is very naturall for barley. Till thebeginning of the civill warrs wheat was rarely sown hereabout; and thebrown bread was barley: now all the servants and poor people eatwheaten bread. ___________________________________

Strawberries (fragaria), in Colern woods, exceeding plentifull; theearth is not above two inches above the free-stone. The poor childrengather them, and sell them to Bathe; but they kill the young ashes, bybarking them to make boxes to put them in. 

Strawberries have a most delicious taste, and are so innocent that awoman in childbed, or one in a feaver, may safely eate them: but Ihave heard Sir Christopher Wren affirm, that if one that has a woundin his head eates them, they are mortall. Methinks 'tis very strange. Quaere, the learned of this? ___________________________________

About Totnam-well is a world of yellow weed (q. Nomen) which the diersuse for the first tinge for scarlet; and afterwards they usecutchonele. ___________________________________

Bitter-sweet (dulcamara), with a small blew flower, plenty at Box. (And Market Lavington, in the withy-bed belonging to the vicarage. -BISHOP TANNER. )

Ferne (filix); the largest and rankest growes in Malmesbury hundred:but the biggest and tallest that ever I saw is in the parke at DraycotCerne, as high almost as a man on horseback, on an ordinary horse. 

"The forest of Savernake is of great note for plenty of game, and fora kind of ferne there that yieldeth a most pleasant savour". -(Fuller'sWorthies: Wilts, Hen. Sturmy. )

This ferne is mentioned by Dr. Peter Heylin in his Church History, inthe Pedegre of Seymour. The vicar of Great Bedwin told me that he hathseen and smelt the ferne, and that it is like other ferne, but not sobig. He knowes not where it growes, but promised to make enquirie. NowMr. Perkins sayes that this is sweet cis, and that it is also found inthe New Forest; but me thinkes the word Savernake seems to be a sweet-oke-ferne: - oke, is oake; verne is ferne; perhaps sa, or sav, is sweetor savorous. - (Vide Phytologia Britannic. , where this fern is takennotice of. Sweet fern is the vulgar name, for sweet chervill orcicely; but I never found that plant wild in England. -J. RAY. )

Danes-blood (ebulis) about Slaughtonford is plenty. There washeretofore (vide J. Milton) a great fight with the Danes, which madethe inhabitants give it that name. 

Wormewood exceedingly plentifull in all the wast grounds in and aboutKington St. Michael, Hullavington, and so to Colerne, and great partof the hundred of Malmesbury. 

Horse-taile (equisetum). Watchmakers and fine workers in brasse use itafter smooth filing. They have it from Holland; but about Dracot Cerneand Kington St. Michael, in the minchin-meadow of Priory St. Maries, is great quantity of the same. It growes four and five foot high. 

Coleworts, or kale, the common western dish, was the Saxon physic. Inthe east it is so little esteemed that the poor people will not eateit. 

About Malmesbury "ros solis", which the strong-water men there doedistill, and make good quantitys of it. In the woods about the Devisesgrowes Solomon's-seale; also goates-rue (gallega); as also thatadmirable plant, lilly-convally. Mr. Meverell says the flowers of thelilly-convally about Mosco are little white flowers. -(Goat's-rue:- Isuspect this to be a mistake; for I never yet heard that goat's-ruewas found by any man growing wild in England. -J. RAY. )

The middle part of Wilts. - Naked-boys (q. If not wild saffron) aboutStocton. (Naked-boys is, I suppose, meadow saffron, or colchicum, forI doe not remember ever to have seen any other sort of saffrongrowing wild in England. - J. RAY. ) ___________________________________

The watered meadows all along from Marleborough to Hungerford, Ramesbury, and Littlecot, at the later end of Aprill, are yellow withbutter flowers. When you come to Twyford the floted meadowes there areall white with little flowers, which I believe are ladysmocks(cardamine): quaere of some herbalist the right name of that plant. (Ranunculus aquaticus folio integro et multum diviso, C. Bankini. -J. RAY. ) The graziers told me that the yellow meadowes are by much thebetter, and those white flowers are produc't by a cold hungry water. ___________________________________

South part. - At the east end of Ebbesbourne Wake is a meadowe calledEbbesbourne, that beareth grasse eighteen foot long. I myself haveseen it of thirteen foot long; it is watered with the washing of thevillage. Upon a wager in King James the First's time, with washing itmore than usuall, the grasse was eighteen foot long. It is so sweetthat the pigges will eate it; it growes no higher than other grasse, but with knotts and harles, like a skeen of silke (or setts together). They cannot mowe it with a sythe, but they cutt it with such a hookeas they bagge pease with. 

At Orston [Orcheston] St. Maries is a meadowe of the nature of that atEbbesbourne aforesayd, which beares a sort of very long grasse. Ofthis grasse there was presented to King James the First some that wereseventeen foot long: here is only one acre and a half of it. In commonyeares it is 12 or 13 foot long. It is a sort of knott grasse, and thepigges will eate it. 

[The "Orcheston Grass" has long been famous as one of the mostsingular vegetable products of this country. From the time of Fuller, who particularly mentions it in his "Worthies of England", manyvarying and exaggerated accounts of it have been published: but in theyear 1798 Dr. Maton carefully examined the grass, and fullyinvestigated the peculiar circumstances of soil and locality whichtend to its production. He contributed the result of his inquiries tothe Linnæan Society, in a paper which is printed in the fifth volumeof their Transactions. Some comments on that paper, and on the subjectgenerally, by Mr. Davis, of Longleat, will be found in the secondvolume of the Beauties of Wiltshire, p. 79. That gentleman states that"its extraordinary length is produced by the overflowing of the riveron a warm gravelly bed, which disposes the grass to take root andshoot out from the joints, and then root again, and thus again andagain; so that it is frequently of the length of ten or twelve feetand the quantity on the land immense, although it does not stand abovetwo feet high from the ground". Although the meadow at Orcheston St. Mary in which this grass grows is only two acres and a half in extent, its produce in a favourable season, is said to have exceeded twelvetons of hay. Shakspere, to whom all natural and rural objects werefamiliar, alludes to the "hindering knot-grass", in A MidsummerNight's Dream, Act iii. Sc. 2. ___________________________________

Ramsons (allium ursinum, fl. Albo): tast like garlick: they grow muchin Cranbourn Chace. A proverb: -

 "Eate leekes in Lide, * and ramsins in May, And all the yeare after physitians may play". 

* March. 

[I have seen this old proverb printed, "Eat leekes in Lent, andraisins in May, &c. " - J. B. ]

No wild oates in Wiltshire, or rarely. In Somersetshire, common. (There is abundance of wild oats in the middle part of Wiltsh. , especially in the west clay of Market Lavington field, when the cropis barley. - BISHOP TANNER. ) ___________________________________

Thorowax beares a pretty little yellow flower, not much unlike theblowing of a furze that growes so common on the downes, close to theground: the bees love it extremely. (There is a mistake in thorowax, or perfoliata; for that rises to a good stature, and hath no suchflower. I suppose the plant you mean is trifolium corniculatum, orbird's-foot trefoil. -J. RAY. ) ___________________________________

The right honorable James, Earle of Abingdon, tells me that there areplenty of morillons about Lavingtons, which he eates, and sends toLondon. Methinkes 'tis a kind of ugly mushroom. Morillons we have fromGermany and other places beyond sea, which are sold here at a dearerate; the outer side is like a honeycombe. I have seen them of nineinches about They grow near the rootes of elmes. 

Poppy (papaver) is common in the corn fields; but the hill aboveHarnham, by Salisbury, appeares a most glorious scarlet, it is sothick there. 

 "Ilia soporiferum, parvas initura penates, Colligit agresti lene papaver humo. Dum legit oblito fertur gustàsse palato, Longamq{ue} imprudens exsoluisse famem". - OVID. FAST. Lib. Iv. ___________________________________

In a ground of mine called Swices (which is a neck of land at theupper end of the field called Shatcomb) growes abundantly a plantcalled by the people hereabout crow-bells, which I never saw any wherebut there. "Swice", in the old English, signifies a neck. ___________________________________

Dwarfe-elder (ebulus) at Box, &c. Common enough: at Falston and StokeVerdon, in the high waies. The juice of ebulus turnes haire black; andbeing mingled with bull's fatt is Dr. Buller's remedie for the gowte. 

The best way to dye haire browne is to take alhanna in powder, mix'twith fair water as thick as mustard: lay it on the haire, and so tyeit up in a napkin for twelve houres time. Doe thus for six dayestogether, putting on fresh every day for that time. This will keep thehaire browne for one whole yeares time after it. The alhanna doesprepare the hair and makes it of a darke red or tawny colour. Thenthey take "takout", which is like a small gall, and boyle it in oyletill it hath drunk up all the oyle; then pulverize it, and mix it withwater and putt it on the haire. Grind a very little of alkohol, whichthey use in glazeing of their earthen vessels, in a mortar with thetakout, and this turnes the haire to a perfect black. This receipt Ihad from my worthy and obligeing friend Mr. Wyld Clarke, merchant, ofLondon, who was factour many yeares at S{an}cta-Cruce, in Barberie, and brought over a quantity of these leaves for his own use and hisfriends. 'Tis pity it is not more known. 'Tis leaves of a tree like aberbery leafe. Mr. Clarke hath yet by him (1690) above half a peck ofthe alhanna. 

Dr. Edw. Brown, M. D. In his Travells, sc. Description of Larissa andThessalie, speakes of alhanna. Mr. Wyld Clarke assures me that juiceof lemons mixt with alhanna strikes a deeper and more durable coloureither in the hands or nailes. ___________________________________

Tobacco. - We have it onely in gardens for medicine; but in theneighbouring county of Gloucester it is a great commodity. Mdm. "Tobacco was first brought into England by Ralph Lane in the eight andtwentieth yeare of Queen Elizabeth's raigne". - Sir Richard Baker'sChronicle. Rider's Almanack (1682) sayes since tobacco was firstbrought into England by Sir Walter Raleigh, 99 yeares. Mr. MichaelWeekes, of the custome house, assures me that the custom of tobacco isthe greatest of all other, and amounts now (1688) to four hundredthousand pounds per annum. [Now (1847) about three millions and ahalf. - J. B. ] ___________________________________

Broome keeps sheep from the rott, and is a medicine not long sincefound out by physitians for the dropsy. In some places I knew carefullhusbandmen that quite destroyed their broome (as at Lanford), andafterwards their sheep died of the rott, from which they were freebefore the broom was cutt down; so ever since they doe leave a borderof broome about their grounds for their sheep to browze on, to keepthem sound. ___________________________________

Furzes (genista spinosa). -I never saw taller or more flourishingEnglish furzes than at Chalke. The Great Duke of Thuscany carriedfurzes out of England for a rarity in his magnificent garden. I neversaw such dwarft furzes as at Bowdon parke; they did but just peepabove the ground. ___________________________________

Oakes (the best of trees). -We had great plenty before thedisafforestations. We had in North Wiltshire, and yet have, though notin the former plenty, as good oakes as any in England. The best thatwe have now (1670) are at Okesey Parke, Sir Edward Poole's, inMalmesbury hundred; and the oakes at Easton Piers (once mine) were, for the number, not inferior to them. In my great-grandfather Lite'stime (15--) one might have driv'n a plough over every oake in the oak-close, which are now grown stately trees. The great oake by the day-house [dairy house - J. B. ] is the biggest oake now, I believe, in allthe countie. There is a common wealth of rookes there. When I was aboy the two greatest oakes were, one on the hill at the parke atDracot Cerne; the other at Mr. Sadler's, at Longley Burrell. 'Twas ofone of these trees, I remember, that the trough of the paper mill atLong-deane, in the parish of Yatton Keynell, anno 1636, was made. InGarsden Parke (now the Lord Ferrars) is perhaps the finest hollow oakein England; it is not high, but very capacious, and well wainscotted;with a little table, which I thinke eight may sitt round. When an oakeis felling, before it falles, it gives a kind of shreikes or groanes, that may be heard a mile off, as if it were the genius of the oakelamenting. E. Wyld, Esq. Hath heard it severall times. This gave theoccasion of that expression in Ovid's Metamorph. Lib. Viii. Fab. Ii. About Erisichthon's felling of the oake sacred to Ceres:-"gemitumq{ue} dedit decidua quercus". 

In a progresse of K. Charles I. In time of peace, three score and tencarts stood under the great oake by Woodhouse. It stands in Sir JamesThinne's land. On this oake Sir Fr. D---- hung up thirteen, afterquarter. Woodhouse was a garrison for the Parliament. He made a sonnhang his father, or è contra. From the body of this tree to theextreme branches is nineteen paces of Captain Hamden, who cannot paceless than a yard. (Of prodigious trees of this kind you will see manyinstances in my Sylva, which Mr. Ray has translated and inserted inhis Herbal. - J. EVELYN. ) ___________________________________

In the New Forest, within the trenches of the castle of Molwood (aRoman camp) is an old oake, which is a pollard and short It puttethforth young leaves on Christmas day, for about a week at that time ofthe yeare. Old Mr. Hastings, of Woodlands, was wont to send a basketfull of them every yeare to King Charles I. I have seen of themseverall Christmasses brought to my father. 

But Mr. Perkins, who lives in the New Forest, sayes that there are twoother oakes besides that which breed green buddes about Christmas day(pollards also), but not constantly. One is within two leagges of theKing's-oake, the other a mile and a halfe off. [Leagges, probablylugs: a lug being "a measure of land, called otherwise a pole orperch". (Bailey's Dictionary. ) The context renders leaguesimprobable. -J. B. ] ___________________________________

Elmes. -I never did see an elme that grew spontaneously in a wood, asoakes, ashes, beeches, &c. ; which consideration made me reflect thatthey are exotique; but by whom were they brought into this island?Not by the Saxons; for upon enquiry I am enformed that there are nonein Saxony, nor in Denmarke, nor yet in France, spontaneous; but inItaly they are naturall; e. G. In Lombardie, &c. Wherefore I aminduced to believe that they were brought hither out of Italy by theRomans, who were cultivators of their colonies. The Saxons understoodnot nor cared for such improvements, nor had hardly leisure if theywould. 

Anno 1687 I travelled from London as far as the Bishoprick of Durham. From Stamford to the bishoprick I sawe not one elme on the roade, whereas from London to Stamford they are in every hedge almost. InYorkshire is plenty of trees, which they call elmes; but they arewich-hazells, as wee call them in Wilts (in some counties wich-elmes). I acquainted Mr. Jo. Ray of this, and he told me when hetravelled into the north he minded it not, being chiefly intent onherbes; but he writes the contrary to what I doe here: but it ismatter of fact, and therefore easily to bee prov'd. [See Ray's Letterto Aubrey, ante, p. 8. ] "Omnesq{ue}, radicum plantis proveniunt". - Plin. Lib. Xvi. Cap. 17. 

In the Villare Anglicanum are a great many towns, called Ash-ton, Willough-by, &c. But not above three or four Elme-tons. 

In the common at Urshfont was a mighty elme, which was blown down bythe great wind when Ol. Cromwell died. I sawe it as it lay along, andI could but just looke over it. [See note in page 14. -J. B. ] ___________________________________

Since the writing this of elmes, Edmund Wyld, Esq. Of HoughtonConquest in Bedfordshire, R. S. S. Assures me that in Bedfordshire, inseverall woods, e. G. About Wotton, &c. That elmes doe grow naturally, as ashes, beeches, &c. ; but quaere, what kind of elm it is? ___________________________________

Beeches. -None in Wilts except at Groveley. (In the wood belonging toMr. Samwell's farm at Market Lavington are three very large beeches. -BISHOP TANNER. ) I have a conceit that long time ago Salisbury plainesmight have woods of them, but that they cut them down as anincumbrance to the ground, which would turn to better profit bypasture and arable. The Chiltern of Buckinghamshire is much of thelike soile; and there the neernesse of Bucks to London, with thebenefit of the Thames, makes their woods a very profitable commodity. ___________________________________

About the middle of Groveley Forest was a fair wood of oakes, whichwas called Sturton's Hatt. It appeared a good deale higher than therest of the forest (which was most coppice wood), and was seen overall Salisbury plaines. In the middle of this hatt of trees (itresembled a hatt) there was a tall beech, which overtopt all the rest. The hatt was cutt down by Philip II. Earle of Pembroke, 1654; andThomas, Earle of Pembroke, disafforested it, an°. 1684. ___________________________________

Birch. - Wee have none in North Wilts, but some (no great plenty) inSouth Wilts: most by the New Forest (In the parish of Market Lavingtonis a pretty large coppice, which consists for the most part of birch;and from thence it is well known by the name of the Birchen coppice. -BISHOP TANNER. ) ___________________________________

In the parish of Hilmerton, in the way from Calne, eastward, leavingHilmerton on the left hand, grows a red withy on the ditch side by thegate, 10 feet 6 inches about; and the spreading of the boughs isseaven yards round from the body of the tree. ___________________________________

Wich-hazel in the hundred of Malmesbury and thereabout, spontaneous. There are two vast wich-hazel trees in Okesey Parke, not much lessethan one of the best oakes there. 

At Dunhed St. Maries, at the crosse, is a wich-hazell not lesse worthyof remarque than Magdalene-College oake (mentioned by Dr. Rob. Plott), for the large circumference of the shadowe that it causeth. When I was a boy the bowyers did use them to make bowes, and they arenext best to yew. ___________________________________

Hornbeam we have none; neither did I ever see but one in the west ofEngland, and that at Bathwick, juxta Bath, in the court yard of Hen. Nevill, Esq. ___________________________________

Yew trees naturally grow in chalkie countrys. The greatest plenty ofthem, as I believe, in the west of England is at Nunton Ewetrees. Between Knighton Ashes and Downton the ground produces them all along;but at Nunton they are a wood. At Ewridge, in the parish of Colern, inNorth Wilts (a stone brash and a free stone), they also growindifferently plentifull; and in the parish of Kington St Michael Iremember three or four in the stone brash and red earth. 

When I learnt my accidents, 1633, at Yatton Keynel, there was a fairand spreading ewe-tree in the churchyard, as was common heretofore. The boyes tooke much delight in its shade, and it furnish't them withtheir scoopes and nutt-crackers. The clarke lop't it to make money ofit to some bowyer or fletcher, and that lopping kill'd it: the deadtrunke remaines there still. (Eugh-trees grow wild about Winterslow. A great eugh-tree in North Bradley churchyard, planted, as thetradition goes, in the time of ye Conquest. Another in . .. . Canningschurchyard. Leland (Itinerary) observes that in his time there wasthirty-nine vast eugh-trees in the churchyard belonging toStratfleur Abbey, in Wales. -BISHOP TANNER. Abundance of ewgh-trees inSurrey, upon the downes, heretofore, thô now much diminished. -J. EVELYN. ) ___________________________________

Box, a parish so called in North Wilts, neer Bathe, in which parish isour famous freestone quarre of Haselbery: in all probability tooke itsname from the box-trees which grew there naturally, but now worne out. 

Not far off on Coteswold in Gloucestershire is a village calledBoxwell, where is a great wood of it, which once in . .. . Yeares Mr. Huntley fells, and sells to the combe-makers in London. At Boxley inKent, and at Boxhill in Surrey, bothe chalkie soiles, are great boxwoods, to which the combe-makers resort. ___________________________________

Holy is indifferently common in Malmesbury hundred, and also on theborders of the New Forest: it seemes to indicate pitt-coale. InWardour Parke are holy-trees that beare yellow berries. I think I haveseen the like in Cranborne Chase. ___________________________________

Hazel. - Wee have two sorts of them. In the south part, and particularlyCranbourn Chase, the hazells are white and tough; with which there aremade the best hurdles of England. The nutts of the chase are of greatnote, and are sold yearly beyond sea. They sell them at Woodbery HillFaire, &c. ; and the price of them is the price of a buschell ofwheate. The hazell-trees in North Wilts are red, and not so tough, more brittle. ___________________________________

Coven-tree common about Chalke and Cranbourn Chase: the carters doemake their whippes of it. It growes no higher than a cherry-tree. ___________________________________

Buckthorne very common in South Wiltshire. The apothecaries make greatuse of the berries, and the glovers use it to colour their leatheryellow. ___________________________________

Prick-timber (euonymus). - This tree is common, especially in NorthWilts. The butchers doe make skewers of it, because it doth not taintthe meate as other wood will doe: from whence it hath the name ofprick-timber. ___________________________________

Osiers. - Wee have great plenty of them about Bemarton, &c. NearSalisbury, where the osier beds doe yield four pounds per acre. ___________________________________

Service-trees grow naturally in Grettwood, in the parish of Gretenham, belonging to George Ayliffe, Esq. In the parke of Kington St. Michelis onely one. At the foot of Hedington Hill, and also at the bottomeof the hill at Whitesheet, which is the same range of hill, doe groweat least twenty cervise-trees. They operate as medlars, but lesseffectually. 

Pliny, lib. Xv. C. 21. "De Sorbis. Quartum genus torminale appellatur, remedio tantum probabile, assiduum proventu minimumq{ue} pomo, arboredissimili foliis plane platani". Lib. Xvi. Cap. 18. - "Gaudet frigidisSorbus sed magis betulla". Dr. Gale, R. S. S. Tells me that "Sorbiodunum", now Old Sarum, has its denomination from "sorbes"; but the ground nowbelow the castle is all turned to arable. ___________________________________

Elders grow every where. At Bradford the side of the high hill whichfaces the south, about Mr. Paul Methwin's house, is covered with them. I fancy that that pent might be turned to better profit, for it issituated as well for a vinyard as any place can be, and is on a rockygravelly ground. The apothecaries well know the use of the berries, and so doe the vintners, who buy vast quantities of them in London, and some doe make no inconsiderable profit by the sale of them. ___________________________________

At the parsonage house at Wyley growes an ash out of the mortar of thewall of the house, and it flourishes very well and is verdant. It wasnine yeares old in 1686. I doe not insert this as a rarity; but 'tisstrange to consider that it hath its growth and nourishment from theaire, for from the lime it can receive none. [In August 1847, Iobserved a large and venerable ash tree growing out of and united withthe ancient Roman walls of Caistor, near Norwich. The whole of thebase of the trunk was incorporated with bricks, rubble, and mortar;but the roots no doubt extended many yards into the adjacent soil. -J. B. ] ___________________________________

Whitty-tree, or wayfaring-tree, is rare in this country; some few inCranbourn Chace, and three or four on the south downe of the farme ofBroad Chalke. In Herefordshire they are not uncommon; and they used, when I was a boy, to make pinnes for the yoakes of their oxen of them, believing it had vertue to preserve them from being forespoken, asthey call it; and they use to plant one by their dwelling-house, believing it to preserve from witches and evill eyes. ___________________________________

Mr. Anthony Hinton, one of the officers of the Earle of Pembroke, didinoculate, not long before the late civill warres (ten yeares ormore), a bud of Glastonbury Thorne, on a thorne at his farm-house atWilton, which blossomes at Christmas as the other did. My mother hashad branches of them for a flower-pott severall Christmasses, which Ihave seen. Elias Ashmole, Esq. , in his notes upon "TheatrumChymicum", saies that in the churchyard at Glastonbury grew a wallnutttree that did putt out young leaves at Christmas, as doth the king'soake in the New Forest. In Parham Parke, in Suffolk (Mr. Boutele's), is a pretty ancient thorne that blossomes like that at Glastonbury;the people flock thither to see it on Christmas-day. But in the rodethat leades from Worcester to Droitwiche is a blackthorne hedge atClayn, halfe a mile long or more, that blossomes about Christmas-dayfor a week or more together. The ground is called Longland. Dr. EzerelTong sayd that about Runnly-marsh, in Kent, [Romney-marsh?] arethornes naturally like that at Glastonbury. The souldiers did cuttdowne that neer Glastonbury: the stump remaines. ___________________________________

In the parish of Calne, at a pleasant seat of the Blakes, calledPinhill, was a grove of pines, which gives the name to the seate. About 1656 there were remaining about four or five: they made fineshew on the hill. ___________________________________

In the old hedges which are the boundes between the lands of PriorySt. Marie, juxta Kington St. Michael, and the west field, whichbelonged to the Lord Abbot of Glastonbury, are yet remaining a greatnumber of berberry-trees, which I suppose the nunnes made use of forconfections, and they taught the young ladies that were educated theresuch arts. In those days there were not schooles for young ladies asnow, but they were educated at religious houses. 

 CHAPTER X. BEASTES. 

[THIS Chapter, with the three which follow it, on "Fishes", "Birds", and "Reptils and Insects", constitute a principal branch of the work. On these topics Aubrey was assisted by his friend Sir James Long, ofDraycot, Bart. , whose letters to him are inserted in the originalmanuscript. Besides the passages here given, the chapter on "Beastes"comprises some extracts from Dame Juliana Berners' famous "Treatyseon Hawkynge, Hunting, and Fisshynge" (1481); together with a minuteaccount of a sculptured representation of hunting the wild boar, overa Norman doorway at Little Langford Church. This bas-relief isengraved in Hoare's Modern Wiltshire. - J. B. ]

I WILL first begin with beastes of venerie, whereof there hath beengreat plenty in this countie, and as good as any in England. Mr. J. Speed, who wrote the description of Wiltshire, anno Domini [1611], reckons nine forests, one chace, and twenty-nine parkes. 

This whole island was anciently one great forest. A stagge might haveraunged from Bradon Forest to the New Forest; sc. From forest toforest, and not above four or five miles intervall (sc. From BradonForest to Grettenham and Clockwoods; thence to the forest byBoughwood-parke, by Calne and Pewsham Forest, Blackmore Forest, Gillingham Forest, Cranbourn Chase, Holt Forest, to the New Forest. )Most of those forests were given away by King James the First. PewshamForest was given to the Duke of Buckingham, who gave it, I thinke, tohis brother, the Earle of Anglesey. Upon the disafforesting of it, thepoor people made this rhythme:-

 "When Chipnam stood in Pewsham's wood, Before it was destroy'd, A cow might have gone for a groat a yeare- but now it is denyed". 

The metre is lamentable; but the cry of the poor was more lamentable. I knew severall that did remember the going of a cowe for 4d. Perannum. The order was, how many they could winter they might summer:and pigges did cost nothing the going. Now the highwayes are encombredwith cottages, and the travellers with the beggars that dwell in them. ___________________________________

The deer of the forest of Groveley were the largest of fallow deer inEngland, but some doe affirm the deer of Cranborne Chase to be largerthan Groveley. Quaere Mr. Francis Wroughton of Wilton concerning theweight of the deer; as also Jack Harris, now keeper of Bere Forest, can tell the weight of the best deere of Verneditch and Groveley: heuses to come to the inne at Sutton. Verneditch is in the parish ofBroad Chalke. 'Tis agreed that Groveley deer were generally theheaviest; but there was one, a buck, killed at Verneditch about an°. 165-, that out-weighed Groveley by two pounds. Dr. Randal Caldicottold me that it was weighed at his house, and it weighed eight scorepounds. About the yeare 1650 there were in Verneditch-walke, which isa part of Cranborne Chase, a thousand or twelve hundred fallow deere;and now, 1689, there are not above five hundred. A glover at Tysburywill give sixpence more for a buckskin of Cranborne Chase than ofGroveley; and he saies that he can afford it. ___________________________________

Clarendon Parke was the best parke in the King's dominions. Hunt andPalmer, keepers there, did averre that they knew seven thousand headof deere in that parke; all fallow deere. This parke was seven milesabout. Here were twenty coppices, and every one a mile round. ___________________________________

Upon these disafforestations the marterns were utterly destroyed inNorth Wilts. It is a pretty little beast and of a deep chesnuttcolour, a kind of polecat, lesse than a fox; and the furre is muchesteemed: not much inferior to sables. It is the richest furre of ournation. Martial saies of it -

 "Venator capta marte superbus adest". - Epigr. 

In Cranborn Chase and at Vernditch are some marterns still remaining. ___________________________________

In Wiley river are otters, and perhaps in others. The otter is ourEnglish bever; and Mr. Meredith Lloyd saies that in the river Tivy inCarmarthenshire there were real bevers heretofore - now extinct. Dr. Powell, in his History of Wales, speakes of it. They are both alike;fine furred, and their tayles like a fish. (The otter hath a hairyround tail, not like the beavers. - J. RAY. ) ___________________________________

I come now to warrens. That at Auburn is our famous coney-warren; andthe conies there are the best, sweetest, and fattest of any inEngland; a short, thick coney, and exceeding fatt The grasse there isvery short, and burnt up in the hot weather. 'Tis a saying, thatconies doe love rost-meat. ___________________________________

Mr. Wace's notes, p. 62. - "We have no wild boares in England: yet itmay be thought that heretofore we had, and did not think it convenientto preserve this game". But King Charles I. Sent for some out ofFrance, and putt them in the New Forest, where they much encreased, and became terrible to the travellers. In the civill warres they weredestroyed, but they have tainted all the breed of the pigges of theneighbouring partes, which are of their colour; a kind of soot colour. 

(There were wild boars in a forest in Essex formerly. I sent aPortugal boar and sow to Wotton in Surrey, which greatly increased;but they digged the earth so up, and did such spoyle, that the countrywould not endure it: but they made incomparable bacon. - J. EVELYN. ) ___________________________________

In warrens are found, but rarely, some old stotes, quite white: thatis, they are ermins. My keeper of Vernditch warren hath shewn two orthree of them to me. 

At Everley is a great warren for hares; and also in Bishopston parishneer Wilton is another, where the standing is to see the race; andan°. 1682 the Right Honble James, Earle of Abingdon, made another atWest Lavington. ___________________________________

Having done now with beastes of venerum, I will come to dogges. TheBritish dogges were in great esteeme in the time of the Romans; asappeares by Gratius, who lived in Augustus Caesar's time, and Oppian, who wrote about two ages after Gratius, in imitation of him. "GratiiCynegeticon", translated by Mr. Chr. Wace, 1654:-

 "What if the Belgique current you should view, And steer your course to Britain's utmost shore'! Though not for shape, and much deceiving show, The British hounds no other blemish know: When fierce work comes, and courage must he shown, And Mars to extreme combat leads them on, Then stout Molossians you will lesse commend; With Athemaneans these in craft contend. " ___________________________________

It is certain that no county of England had greater variety of game, &c. Than Wiltshire, and our county hounds were as good, or rather thebest of England; but within this last century the breed is much mix'twith northern hounds. Sir Charles Snell, of Kington St. Michael, whowas my honoured friend and neighbour, had till the civill warrs asgood hounds for the hare as any were in England, for handsomenesse andmouth (deep-mouthed) and goodnesse, and suited one another admirablywell. But it was the Right Hon. Philip I. Earle of Pembroke, that wasthe great hunter. It was in his lordship's time, sc. Tempore Jacobi I. And Caroli I. A serene calme of peace, that hunting was at itsgreatest heighth that ever was in this nation. The Roman governourshad not, I thinke, that leisure. The Saxons were never at quiet; andthe barons' warres, and those of York and Lancaster, took up thegreatest part of the time since the Conquest: so that the glory of theEnglish hunting breath'd its last with this Earle, who deceased about1644, and shortly after the forests and parkes were sold and convertedinto arable, &c. 'Twas after his lordship's decease [1650] that I wasa hunter; that is to say, with the Right Honourable William, LordHerbert, of Cardiff, the aforesaid Philip's grandson. Mr. Chr. Wacethen taught him Latin, and hunted with him; and 'twas then that hetranslated Gratii Cynegeticon, and dedicated it to his lordship, whichwill be a lasting monument for him. Sir Jo. Denham was at Wilton atthat time about a twelve moneth. ___________________________________

The Wiltshire greyhounds were also the best of England, and are still;and my father and I have had as good as any were in our times inWiltshire. They are generally of a fallow colour, or black; but Mr. Button's, of Shirburn in Glocestershire, are some white and someblack. But Gratius, in his Cynegeticon, adviseth:-

 "And chuse the grayhound py'd with black and white, He runs more swift than thought, or winged flight; But courseth yet in view, not hunts in traile, In which the quick Petronians never faile. "

We also had in this county as good tumblers as anywhere in the nation. Martial speakes of the tumblers:-

 "Non sibi sed domino venatur vertagus acer, Illæsum leporem qui tibi dente feret" -

Turnebus, Young, Gerard, Vossius, and Janus Ulitius, all consentingthat the name and dog came together from Gallia Belgica. Dr. Caldicottold me that in Wilton library there was a Latine poeme (amanuscript), wrote about Julius Caesar's time, where was mention oftumblers, and that they were found no where but in Britaine. I ask'dhim if 'twas not Gratius; he told me no. Quaere, Mr. Chr. Wace, if heremembers any such thing? The books are now most lost and gonne:perhaps 'twas Martial. 

Very good horses for the coach are bought out of the teemes in ourhill-countrey. Warminster market is much used upon this account. ___________________________________

I have not seen so many pied cattle any where as in North Wiltshire. The country hereabout is much inclined to pied cattle, but commonlythe colour is black or brown, or deep red. Some cow-stealers willmake a hole in a hott lofe newly drawn out of the oven, and putt it onan oxes horn for a convenient tune, and then they can turn theirsoftned homes the contrary way, so that the owner cannot swear to hisown beast. Not long before the King's restauration a fellow was hangedat Tyburn for this, and say'd that he had never come thither if he hadnot heard it spoken of in a sermon. Thought he, I will try this trick. 

CHAPTER XLFISHES. 

HUNGERFORD trowtes are very much celebrated, and there are also goodones at Marleborough and at Ramesbury. In the gravelly stream atSlaughtenford are excellent troutes; but, though I say it, there arenone better in England than at Nawle, which is the source of thestreame of Broad Chalke, a mile above it; but half a mile belowChalke, they are not so good. King Charles I. Loved a trout above allfresh fish; and when he came to Wilton, as he commonly did everysummer, the Earle of Pembroke was wont to send for these trowtes forhis majesties eating. ___________________________________

The eeles at Marleborough are incomparable; silver eeles, truly almostas good as a trout. In ye last great frost, 168-, when the Thames wasfrozen over, there were as many eeles killed by frost at the poole atthe hermitage at Broad Chalke as would fill a coule; and when theywere found dead, they were all curled up like cables. ["Coul, a tubor vessel with two ears. " Bailey's Dictionary. -J. B. ] ___________________________________

Umbers are in the river Nadder, and so to Christ Church; but the lateimprovement of drowning the meadowes hath made them scarce. They areonly in the river Humber besides. [Aubrey's friend, Sir James Long, mentions these fish as "graylings, or umbers". They are best known bythe former name. Dr. Maton states that they are still to be found inthe Avon, at Downton, where Walton speaks of them as being caught inhis time. Mr. Hatcher says that "the umber abounds in the watersbetween Wilton and Salisbury". (History of Salisbury, p. 689. )-J. B. ] ___________________________________

Crafish are very plenty at Salisbury; but the chiefest places for themHungerford and Newbury: they are also at Ramesbury, and in the Avon atChippenham. 

 "Greeke, carps, turkey-cocks, and beere, Came into England all in a yeare. "

In the North Avon are sometimes taken carpes which are extraordinarygood. [Besides giving "the best way of dressing a carpe", Aubrey hasannexed to his original manuscript a piece of paper, within the foldsof which is inclosed a small bone. The paper bears the followinginscription: "1660. The bone found in the head of a carpe. VideSchroderi. It is a good medicine for the apoplexie or fallingsickness; I forget whether. " Aubrey's reference is to "Zoology; or theHistory of Animals, as they are useful in Physic and Chirurgery"; byJohn Schroderus, M. D. Of Francfort Done into English by T. Bateson. London, 1659, 8vo. 

When a boy I caught many of these fish in the pond at Kington St. Michael, both by angling and by baiting three or four hooks at the endof a piece of string and leaving them in the water all night. In themorning I have found two, and sometimes three, large fish captured. Onone occasion "Squire White", the proprietor of the estate, dischargedhis gun, apparently at me, to deter me from this act of poaching andtrespassing. - J. B. ] ___________________________________

As for ponds, we cannot boast much of them; the biggest is that inBradon Forest. There is a fair pond at West Lavington which was madeby Sir John Danvers. At Draycot Cerne the ponds are not great, but thecarpes very good, and free from muddinesse. In Wardour Parke is astately pond; at Wilton and Longleat two noble canals and severallsmall ponds; and in the parke at Kington St. Michael are several pondsin traine. [The latter ponds are supplied by two springs in theimmediate vicinity, forming one of the tributaries of the Avon. Thestream abounds with trout, many of which I have caught at the end ofthe summer season, by laving out the water from the deeper holes. - J. B. ] ___________________________________

Tenches are common. Loches are in the Upper Avon at Amesbury. Verygood perches in the North Avon, but none in the Upper Avon. Salmonsare sometimes taken in the Upper Avon, rarely, at Harnham Bridge juxtaSarum. [On the authority of this passage, Dr. Maton includes thesalmon among the Wiltshire fish; but he adds, "I know no person nowliving who has ascertained its having ascended the Avon so far asSalisbury. " Hatcher's Hist, of Salisbury, p. 689. -J. B. ] ___________________________________

Good pikes, roches, and daces in both the Avons. In the river Avon atMalmesbury are lamprills (resembling lampreis) in knotts: they arebut. .. .. Inches long. They use them for baytes; and they squeeze theseknotts together and make little kind of cheeses of them for eating. 

CHAPTER XII. BIRDS. 

WE have great plenty of larkes, and very good ones, especially inGolem-fields and those parts adjoyning to Coteswold. They take them byalluring them with a dareing-glasse, * which is whirled about in a sun-shining day, and the larkes are pleased at it, and strike at it, as ata sheepe's eye, and at that time the nett is drawn over them. While heplayes with his glasse he whistles with his larke-call of silver, atympanum of about the diameter of a threepence. In the south part ofWiltshire they doe not use dareing-glasses but catch these prettyætheriall birds with trammolls. 

* ["Let his grace go forward, and dare us with his cap like larks. "- Shakspere, Henry VIII. Act iii. Sc. 2. ]

The buntings doe accompany the larkes. Linnets on the downes. Woodpeckers severall sorts: many in North Wilts. 

Sir Bennet Hoskins, Baronet, told me that his keeper at his parke atMorehampton in Hereford-shire, did, for experiment sake, drive aniron naile thwert the hole of the woodpecker's nest, there being atradition that the damme will bring some leafe to open it. He layed atthe bottome of the tree a cleane sheet, and before many houres passedthe naile came out, and he found a leafe lying by it on the sheete. Quaere the shape or figure of the leafe. They say the moone-wort willdoe such things. This experiment may easily be tryed again. As SirWalter Raleigh saies, there are stranger things to be seen in theworld than are between London and Stanes. [This is the "story" whichRay, in the letter printed in page 8, justly describes as, "withoutdoubt, a fable. " - J. B. ]

In Sir James Long's parke at Draycot Cerne are some wheat-eares; andon come warrens and downes, but not in great plenty. Sussex doth mostabound with these. It is a great delicacie, and they are little lumpsof fatt. 

On Salisbury plaines, especially about Stonehenge, are bustards. Theyare also in the fields above Lavington: they doe not often come toChalke. (Many about Newmarket, and sometimes cranes. J. EVELYN. ) [Inthe "Penny Cyclopaedia" are many interesting particulars of thebustard, and in Hoare's "Ancient Wiltshire, vol. I. P. 94, there is anaccount of two of these birds which were seen near Warminster in thesummer of 1801; since when the bustard has not been seen in thecounty. -J. B. ]

On Salisbury plaines are gray crowes, as at Royston. [These are nowmet with on the Marlborough downs. - J. B. ]

 " Like Royston crowes, where, as a man may say, Are friars of both the orders, black and gray. " - J. CLEVELAND'S POEMS. 

'Tis certain that the rookes of the Inner Temple did not build theirnests in the garden to breed in the spring before the plague, 1665;but in the spring following they did. 

Feasants were brought Into Europe from about the Caspian sea. Thereare no pheasants in Spaine, nor doe I heare of any in Italy. Capt. Hen. Bertie, the Earle of Abingdon's brother, when he was in Italy, was at the great Duke of Tuscany's court entertained with all therarities that the country afforded, but he sawe no pheasants. Mr. WyldClarke, factor fifteen yeares in Barberie, affirmes there are nonethere. Sir John Mordaunt, who had a command at Tangier twenty-fiveyeares, and had been some time governour there, a great lover of fieldsports, affirmes that there are no pheasants in Africa or Spaine. [See Ray's Letter to Aubrey, ante, page 8. ] ___________________________________

Bitterns in the breaches at Allington, &c. Herons bred heretofore, sc. About 1580, at Easton- Piers, before the great oakes were felled downneer the mannour-house; and they doe still breed in Farleigh Parke. Aneirie of sparrow-hawkes at the parke at Kington St. Michael. Thehobbies doe goe away at. .. .. And return at the spring. Quære SirJames Long, if any other hawkes doe the like? ___________________________________

Ganders are vivacious animals. Farmer Ady of Segary had a gander thatwas fifty yeares old, which the soldiers killed. He and his ganderwere both of the same age. (A goose is now living, anno 1757, atHagley hall in Worcestershire, full fifty yeares old. MS. NOTE. )

Sea-mewes. Plentie of them at Colern-downe; elsewhere in Wiltshire Idoe not remember any. There are presages of weather made by them. [Instead of "presages of weather, " the writer would have been moreaccurate if he had said that when "sea-mewes, " or other birds of theocean, are seen so far inland as Colern, at least twenty miles fromthe sea, they indicate stormy weather in their natural element. - J. B. ]-Virgil's Georgics, lib. I. Englished by Mr. T. May:-

 "The seas are ill to sailors evermore When cormorants fly crying to the shore; From the mid-sea when sea-fowl pastime make Upon dry land; when herns the ponds forsake, And, mounted on their wings, doe fly aloft. "

CHAPTER XIIIREPTILS AND INSECTS. 

[THIS Chapter contains several extraordinary recipes for medicines tobe compounded in various ways from insects and reptiles. As a specimenone of them may he referred to which begins as follows:-"CalcinatioBufonum. R. Twenty great fatt toades; in May they are the best; puttthem alive in a pipkin; cover it, make a fire round it to the top; letthem stay on the fire till they make no noise, " &c. &c. Aubrey saysthat Dr. Thomas Willis mentions this medicine in his tractat DeFebribus, and describes it as a special remedy for the plague andother diseases. -J. B. ]

No snakes or adders at Chalke, and toades very few: the nitre in thechalke is inimique to them. No snakes or adders at Harcot-woodsbelonging to -- Gawen, Esq. ; but in the woods of Compton Chamberleynadjoyning they are plenty. At South Wraxhall and at Colern Parke, andso to Mouncton-Farley, are adders. 

In Sir James Long's parke at Draycot-Cerne are grey lizards; and noquestion in other places if they were look't after; but people takethem for newts. They are of that family. About anno 1686 a boy lyeingasleep in a garden felt something dart down his throat, which killedhim: 'tis probable 'twas a little newt. They are exceeding nimble:they call them swifts at Newmarket Heath. When I was a boy a youngfellow slept on the grasse: after he awak't, happening to putt hishand in his pocket, something bitt him by the top of his finger: heshak't it suddenly off so that he could not perfectly discerne it. Thebiteing was so venomous that it overcame all help, and he died in afew hours:-

 "Virus edax superabat opera: penituaq{ue} receptum Ossibus, et toto corpore pestis erat. "- OVID. FASTOR. 

Sir George Ent, M. D. Had a tenant neer Cambridge that was stung withan adder. He happened not to dye, but was spotted all over. One atKnahill in Wilts, a neighbour of Dr. Wren's, was stung, and it turnedto a leprosy. (From Sr. Chr. Wren. )

At Neston Parke (Col. W. Eire's) in Cosham parish are huge snakes, anell long; and about the Devises snakes doe abound. 

Toades are plentifull in North Wiltshire: but few in the chalkiecountreys. In sawing of an ash 2 foot + square, of Mr. Saintlowe's, atKnighton in Chalke parish, was found a live toade about 1656; the sawecutt him asunder, and the bloud came on the under-sawyer's hand: hethought at first the upper-sawyer had cutt his hand. Toades areoftentimes found in the milstones of Darbyshire. ___________________________________

Snailes are everywhere; but upon our downes, and so in Dorset, and Ibelieve in Hampshire, at such degree east and west, in the summer timeare abundance of very small snailes on the grasse and come, not muchbigger, or no bigger than small pinnes heads. Though this is nostrange thing among us, yet they are not to be found in the north partof Wilts, nor on any northern wolds. When I had the honour to waite onKing Charles I. * and the Duke of York to the top of Silbury hill, hisRoyal Highnesse happened to cast his eye on some of these smallsnailes on the turfe of the hill. He was surprised with the novelty, and commanded me to pick some up, which I did, about a dozen or more, immediately; for they are in great abundance. The next morning as hewas abed with his Dutches at Bath he told her of it, and sent Dr. Charleton to me for them, to shew her as a rarity. 

* [This should be "Charles II. " who visited Avebury and Silbury Hill, in company with his brother, afterwards James II. , in the autumn ofthe year 1663, when Aubrey attended them by the King's command. Seehis account of the royal visit, in the Memoir of Aubrey, 4to. 1845. - J. B. ] ___________________________________

In the peacefull raigne of King James I. The Parliament made an actfor provision of rooke-netts and catching crows to be given in chargeof court-barons, which is by the stewards observed, but I never knewthe execution of it. I have heard knowing countreymen affirme thatrooke-wormes, which the crows and rookes doe devour at sowing time, doe turne to chafers, which I think are our English locusts: and someyeares wee have such fearfull armies of them that they devour allmanner of green things; and if the crowes did not destroy thesewormes, it would oftentimes happen. Parliaments are not infallible, and some thinke they were out in this bill. ___________________________________

Bees. Hampshire has the name for the best honey of England, and alsothe worst; sc. The forest honey: but the south part of Wiltshirehaving much the like turfe must afford as good, or little inferiour toit. 'Tis pitty these profitable insects should loose their lives fortheir industry. 

 "Flebat Aristæus, quod Apes cum stirpe necatas Viderat incoeptos destituisse favos. "-OVID. FAST. Lib. I. 

A plaster of honey effectually helpeth a bruise. (From Mr. FrancisPotter, B. D. , of Kilmanton. ) It seemes to be a rational medicine: forhoney is the extraction of the choicest medicinal flowers. 

Mr. Butler of Basingstoke, in Hampshire, who wrote a booke of Bees, had a daughter he called his honey-girle; to whom, when she was born, he gave certain stocks of bees; the product of which when she came to be married, was 400li. Portion. (From -- Boreman, of Kingston-upon- Thames, D. D. )

Mr. Harvey, at Newcastle, gott 80li. Per annum by bees. (I thinkeVarro somewhere writes that in Spaine two brothers got almost as muchyearly by them. - J. EVELYN. ) Desire of Mr. Hook, R. S. S. A copie of themodelle of his excellent bee-hive, March 1684-5; better than any yetknown. See Mr. J. Houghton's Collections, No. 1683, June, where hehath a good modelle of a bee-hive, pag. 166. Mr. Paschal hath aningeniouse contrivance for bees at Chedsey; sc. They are brought intohis house. Bee-hive at Wadham College, Oxon; see Dr. Plott'sOxfordshire, p. 263. 

Heretofore, before our plantations in America, and consequently beforethe use of sugar, they sweetened their [drink, &c. ] with honey; as weedoe now with sugar. The name of honey-soppes yet remaines, but the useis almost worne out. (At Queen's College, Oxon, the cook treats thewhole hall with honey-sops on Good Friday at dinner. - BISHOP TANNER. )Now, 1686, since the great increase of planting of sugar-canes in theBarbados, &c. Sugar is but one third of the price it was at thirtyyeares since. In the time of the Roman Catholique religion, when aworld of wax candles were used in the churches, bees-wax was aconsiderable commodity. 

To make Metheglyn:-(from Mistress Hatchman. This receipt makes goodMetheglyn; I thinke as good as the Devises). Allow to every quart ofhoney a gallon of water; and when the honey is dissolved, trie if itwill beare an egg to the breadth of three pence above the liquor; orif you will have it stronger putt in more honey. Then set it on thefire, and when the froth comes on the toppe of it, skimme it cleane;then crack eight or ten hen-egges and putt in the liquor to cleare it:two or three handfulls of sweet bryar, and so much of muscovie, andsweet marjoram the like quantity; some doe put sweet cis, or if youplease put in a little of orris root. Boyle all these untill the eggesbegin to look black, (these egges may be enough for a hoggeshead, )then straine it forth through a fine sieve into a vessell to coole;the next day tunne it up in a barrell, and when it hath workt itselfcleare, which will be in about a weeke's time, stop it up very close, and if you make it strong enough, sc. To carry the breadth of asixpence, it will keep a yeare. This receipt is something neer that ofMr. Thorn. Piers of the Devises, the great Metheglyn-maker. Metheglynis a pretty considerable manufacture in this towne time out of mind. I doe believe that a quantity of mountain thyme would be a very properingredient; for it is most wholesome and fragrant [Aubrey also givesanother "receipt to make white metheglyn, " which he obtained "from oldSir Edward Baynton, 1640. " I have seen this old English beverage madeby my grandmother, as here described. -J. B. ]

Mr. Francis Potter, Rector of Kilmanton, did sett a hive of bees inone of the lances of a paire of scales in a little closet, and foundthat in summer dayes they gathered about halfe a pound a day; and oneday, which he conceived was a honey-dew, they gathered three poundswanting a quarter. The hive would be something lighter in the morningthan at night. Also he tooke five live bees and putt them in a paper, which he did cutt like a grate, and weighed them, and in an hower ortwo they would wast the weight of three or four wheatcornes. He bidsme observe their thighes in a microscope. (Upon the Brenta river, byPadua in Italy, they have hives of bees in open boates; the bees goeout to feed and gather till the honey-dews are spent neer the boate;and then the bee master rows the boate to a fresh place, and by thesinking of the boate knows when to take the honey, &c. - J. EVELYN. )

 CHAPTER XIV. OF MEN AND WOEMEN. 

[THE following instances of remarkable longevity, monstrous births, &c. Will suffice to shew the nature of this Chapter. It must beadmitted that its contents are unimportant except as matters ofcurious speculation, and as connected with the several localitiesreferred to. -J. B. ]

A PROVERB: -•

 'Salisbury PlainNever without a thief or twain. '

As to the temper and complexion of the men and woemen, I have spokenbefore in the Prolegomena. 

As to longæevity, good aire and water doe conduce to it: but theinhabitants are also to tread on dry earth; not nitrous or vitriolate, that hurts the nerves. South and North Wiltshire are wett and dampishsoiles. The stone walles in the vale here doe also cast a great andunwholsome dampe. Eighty-four or eighty-five is the age theinhabitants doe rarely exceed. But I have heard my worthy friendGeorge Johnson of Bowdon, Esq. , one of the judges in North Wales, saythat he did observe in his circuit, sc. Montgomery, Flint, andDenbigh, that men lived there as commonly to an hundred yeares as withus to eighty. Mr. Meredith Lloyd hath seen at Dolkelly, a great parishin Merionithshire, an hundred or more of poore people at eighty yearesof age at church in a morning, who came thither bare-foot andbare-legged a good way. In the chancell of Winterborn Basset lies interred Mr. Ambrose Brown, who died 166-, aged 103 yeares. Old goodwife Dew of Broad Chalke diedabout 1649, aged 103. She told me she was, I thinke, sixteen yearesold when King Edward the sixth was in this countrie, and that he losthis courtiers, or his courtiers him, a hunting, and found him again inFalston-lane. In the parish of Stanton St. Quintin are but twenty-three houses, and when Mr. Byron was inducted, 167-, here were eightpersons of 80 yeares of age. Mr. Thorn. Lyte of Easton-Piers, mymother's grand- father, died 1626, aged 96; and about 1674 died thereold William Kington, a tenant of mine, about 90 yeares of age. A poorewoman of Chippenham died about 1684, aged 108 yeares. 

Part of an Epitaph at Colinbourne-Kinston in Wiltshire, communicatedto the Philosophicall Conventus at the Musæum at Oxford, by Mr. Arthur Charlett, Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford:- "Pray for thesoule of Constantine Darrel, Esq. Who died Anno Dni. 1400, and. .. .. .. His wife, who died A°. Dni. 1495. " See it. I doe believe the dates inthe inscription are in numerical letters. [In this case the formerdate was probably left unfinished, when the husband placed theinscription to his wife, and after his death it was neglected to befilled up, as in many other instances. The numerals would be in blackletter. - J. B. ]

In the chancel at Milsham is an inscription of Isaac Self, a wealthycloathiers of that place, who died in the 92nd yeare of his age, leaving behind him a numerous offspring; viz. Eighty and three innumber. 

Ella, Countesse of Salisbury, daughter to [William] Longespe, wasfoundress of Lacock Abbey; where she ended her days, being above ahundred yeares old; she outlived her understanding. This I found in anold MS. Called Chronicon de Lacock in Bibliotheca Cottoniana. [Thechronicle referred to was destroyed by the fire which so seriouslyinjured the Cotton MSS. In 1731. The extracts preserved from it do notconfirm Aubrey's statements, but place the Countess Ela's death on theix kal. Sept. 1261, in the 74th year of her age. See Bowles's Historyof Lacock, Appendix, p. V. - J. B. ]

Dame Olave, a daughter and coheire of Sir [Henry] Sharington ofLacock, being in love with [John] Talbot, a younger brother of theEarle of Shrewsbury, and her father not consenting that she shouldmarry him; discoursing with him one night from the battlements of theAbbey Church, said shee, "I will leap downe to you:" her sweet heartreplied he would catch her then; but he did not believe she would havedone it. She leap't downe, and the wind, which was then high, cameunder her coates and did something breake the fall. Mr. Talbot caughther in his armes, but she struck him dead: she cried out for help, andhe was with great difficulty brought to life again. Her father toldher that since she had made such a leap she should e'en marrie him. She was my honoured friend Col. Sharington Talbot's grandmother, anddied at her house at Lacock about 1651, being about an hundred yearesold. Quaere, Sir Jo. Talbot?

[This romantic story seems to have escaped the attention of thevenerable historian of Lacock, the Rev. Canon Bowles. The late JohnCarter mentions a tradition of which he was informed on visitingLacock in 1801, to the effect that "one of the nuns jumped from agallery on the top of a turret there into the arms of her lover. " Heobserves, as impugning the truth of the story, that the gallery"appears to have been the work of James or Charles the First's time. "Aubrey's anecdote has an appearance of authenticity. Its heroine, Olave, or Olivia Sherington, married John Talbot, Esq. Of Salwarpe, inthe county of Worcester, fourth in descent from John, second Earl ofShrews- bury. She inherited the Lacock estate from her father, and ithas ever since^ remained the property of that branch of the Talbotfamily, now represented by the scientific Henry Fox Talbot, Esq. -J. B. ] ___________________________________

The last Lady Prioresse of Priorie St Marie, juxta Kington St. Michael, was the Lady Mary Dennys, a daughter of the Dennys's ofPocklechurch in Gloucestershire; she lived a great while after thedissolution of the abbeys, and died in Somersetshire about the middleor latter end of the raigne of King James the first

The last Lady Abbese of Amesbury was a Kirton, who after thedissolution married to. .. .. Appleton of Hampshire. She had during herlife a pension from King Henry VIII. : she was 140 yeares old when shedyed. She was great-great-aunt to Mr. Child, Rector of Yatton Keynell;from whom I had this information. Mr. Child, the eminent banker inFleet Street, is Parson Child's cosen-german. [The name of the lastAbbess of Amesbury was Joan Darell, who surrendered to the King, 4Dec. 1540. Hoare's Modern Wiltshire, Amesbury Hundred, p. 73. J. B. ]

When King Charles II. Was at Salisbury, 1665, a piper of Stratford subCastro playd on his tabor and pipe before him, who was a piper inQueen Elizabeth's time, and aged then more than 100. ___________________________________

One goodwife Mills of Yatton Keynel, a tenant of my father's, diddentire in the 88 yeare of her age, which was about the yeare 1645. The Lord Chancellour Bacon speakes of the like of the old Countesse ofDesmond, in Ireland. ___________________________________

Mr. William Gauntlett, of Netherhampton, born at Amesbury, told methat since his remembrance there were digged up in the churchyard atAmesbury, which is very spacious, a great number of huge bones, exceeding, as he sayes, the size of those of our dayes. At Highworth, at the signe of the Bull, at one Hartwells, I have been crediblyenformed is to be seen a scull of-a vast bignesse, scilicet half asbig again as an ordinary one. From Mr. Kich. Brown, Rector ofSomerford Magna, (At Wotton in Surrey, where my brother enlarged thevault in which our family are buried, digging away the earth for thefoundations, they found a complete skeleton neer nine foot in length, the skull of an extraordinary size. - J. EVELYN. )

George Johnson Esq. Bencher of the Middle Temple, digging for marle atBowdon Parke, Ano. 1666, the diggers found the bones of a man under aquarrie of planke stones: he told me he saw it. He was a seriousperson, and "fide dignus". ___________________________________

At Wishford Magna is the inscription, "Hic jacet Thomas Bonham, armiger, quondam Patronus istius Ecclesiæ, qui quidem Thomas obiitvicesimo nono die Maii, Anno Domini MCCCCLXXIII (1473); el Editha uxorejus, quæ quidem Editha obiit vicesimo sexto die Aprilis, Anno D'niMCCCCLXIX. (1469). Quorum animabus propitietur Deus. - Amen. " They lyeboth buried under the great marble stone in the nave of this church, where is the above said inscription, above which are theirpourtraictures in brasse, and an escucheon now illegible. Beneath thisinscription are the small figures of nine young children in brasse. This Mr. Bonham's wife had two children at one birth, the first time:and he being troubled at it travelled, and was absent seven yeares. After his returne she was delivered of seven children at one birth. Inthis parish is a confident tradition that these seven children wereall baptized at the font in this church, and that they were broughtthither in a kind of chardger, which was dedicated to this church, andhung on two nailes, which are to be seen there yet, neer the bellfreeon the south side. Some old men are yet living that doe remember thechardger. This tradition is entred into the register booke there, fromwhence I have taken this narrative (1659). [See the extract from theregister, which is signed by "Roger Powell, Curate there, " in Hoare'sModern Wilts. (Hundred of Branch and Dole) p. 49. -J. B. ] ___________________________________

On Tuesday the 25th day of October, Anno Dni 1664, Mary, the wife ofJohn Waterman, of Fisherton Anger, neer Salisbury, hostler, fell intotravell, and on Wednesday, between one and two in the morning, wasdelivered of a female child, with all its parts duly formed. Aboutehalfe an hour after she was delivered of a monstrous birth, having twoheades, the one opposite to the other; the two shoulders had also[each] two armes, with the hands bearing respectively each against theother; two feet, &c. About four o'clock in the afternoon it waschristened by the name of Martha and Mary, having two pretty faces, and lived till Fryday next. The female child first borne, whose namewas Elselet, lived fourteen days, and died the 9th of Novemberfollowing: the mother then alive and in good health. 

[This narrative is accompanied by a description of the internalstructure of the lusus naturæ, as developed in a post mortemexamination; which "accurate account, " says Aubrey, "was made by myworthy and learned friend Thorn. Guidot, Dr. Of Physick, who didkindly communicate it to me out of his collection of medicinall observations in Latin. "]

Dr. Wm. Harvey, author of the Circulation of the Blood, told me thatone Mr. Palmer's wife in Kent did beare a child every day for fivedaies together. ___________________________________

A wench being great with child drowned herself in the river Avon, where, haveing layn twenty-four houres, she was taken up and broughtinto the church at Sutton Benger, and layd upon the board, where thecoroner did his office. Mris. Joane Sumner hath often assured me thatthe sayd wench did sweat a cold sweat when she lay dead; and that sheseverall times did wipe off the sweat from her body, and it wouldquickly returne again: and she would have had her opened, because shedid believe that the child was alive within her and might bee saved. ___________________________________

In September 1661 a grave was digged in the church of Hedington for awidow, where her husband was buried in 1610. In this grave was aspring; the coffin was found firme; the bodie not rotten, but black;and in some places white spotts; the lumen was rotten. Mr. Wm. Scott'swife of this parish, from whom I have this, saw it, with severall ofher neighbours. 

Mrs. Mary Norborne, of Calne, a gentlewoman worthy of belief, told methat Mr. .. . White, Lord of Langley's grave was opened forty yearsafter he was buried. He lay in water, and his body not perished, andsome old people there remembred him and knew him. He was related toMrs. Norborne, and her husband's brother was minister here, in whosetime this happened. ___________________________________

Mrs. May of Calne, upon the generall fright in their church of thefalling of the steeple, when the people ran out of the church, occasioned by the throwing of a stone by a boy, dyed of this fright inhalfe an hour's time. Mrs. Dorothy Gardiner was frightened at Our LadyChurch at Salisbury, by the false report of the falling of thesteeple, and died in. .. Houres space. The Lady Jordan being atCirencester when it was beseiged (anno atatis 75) was so terrifiedwith the shooting that her understanding was so spoyled that shebecame a child, that they made babies for her to play withall. ___________________________________

At Broad Chalke is a cottage family that the generation have twothumbes. A poor woman's daughter in Westminster being born so, themother gott a carpenter to amputate one of them with his chizel andmallet. The girl was then about seven yeares old, and was a livelychild, but immediately after the thumb was struck off, the fright andconvulsion was so extreme, that she lost her understanding, even herspeech. She lived till seventeen in that sad condition. 

The Duke of Southampton, who was a most lovely youth, had twoforeteeth that grew out, very unhandsome. His cruel mother caused himto be bound fast in a chaire, and had them drawn out; which has causedthe want of his understanding. 

[This refers to Charles Fitzroy, one of the natural sons of KingCharles II. By his mistress, Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland. He was created Duke of Southampton in 1674; became Duke of Clevelandon the death of his "cruel mother "in 1709; and died in 1730. -J. B. ] ___________________________________

Mdm. Dr. W. Harvey told me that the biteing of a man enraged ispoysonous. He instanced one that was bitt in the hand in a quarrell, and it swoll up to his shoulder, and killed him in a short time. [Thatdeath, from nervous irritation, might follow such a wound is notimprobable: but that it was caused by any "poison" infused into thesystem is an idea too absurd for refutation. - J. B. ]

 CHAPTER XV. DISEASES AND CURES. 

[SEVERAL passages may have been noticed in the preceding pages, calculated to shew the ignorance which prevailed in Aubrey's time onmedical subjects, and the absurd remedies which were adopted for thecure of diseases. In the present chapter this topic is furtherillustrated. It contains a series of recipes of the rudest and mostunscientific character, amongst which the following are the only partssuited to this publication. Aubrey describes in the manuscript aninstrument made of whalebone, to be thrust down the throat into thestomach, so as to act as an emetic. He states that this contrivancewas invented by "his counsel learned in the law, " Judge Rumsey; andproceeds to quote several pages, with references to its advantages, from a work by W. Rumsey, of Gray's Inn, Esq. , entitled, "OrganonSalutis, an instrument to cleanse the stomach: with new experiments onTobacco and Coffee. " The work quoted seems to have been popular in itsday, for there were three editions of it published. (London, 1657, 1659, 1664, 12mo. )-J. B. ]

THE inscription over the chapell dore of St. Giles, juxta Wilton, sc. "1624. This hospitall of St. Giles was re-edified by John Towgood, Maior of Wilton, and his brethren, adopted patrons thereof, by thegift of Queen Adelicia, wife unto King Henry the first. " This Adeliciawas a leper. She had a windowe and a dore from her lodgeing into thechancell of the chapell, whence she heard prayers. She lieth buriedunder a plain marble gravestone; the brasse whereof (the figure andinscription) was remaining about 1684. Poore people told me that thefaire was anciently kept here. 

At Maiden Bradley, a maiden infected with the leprosie founded a housefor maidens that were lepers. [See a similar statement in Camden's"Britannia, " and Gough's comments thereon. -J. B. ] ___________________________________

Ex Registro. Anno Domini 1582, May 4, the plague began in Kington St. Michaell, and lasted the 6th of August following; 13 died of it, mostof them being of the family of the Kington's; which name was thencommon, as appeared by the register, but in 1672 quite extinct. 

[The words "here the plague began, " and "here the plague rested, "appear in the parish register of Kington St. Michael, under the datesmentioned by Aubrey. Eight of the thirteen persons who died during itscontinuance were of the family of the Kingtons. -J. B. ] ___________________________________

May-dewe is a very great dissolvent of many things with the sunne, that will not be dissolved any other way; which putts me in mind ofthe rationality of the method used by Wm. Gore of Clapton, Esq}. Forhis gout; which was, to walke in the dewe with his shoes pounced; hefound benefit by it. I told Mr. Wm. Mullens, of Shoe Lane, Chirurgion, this story; and he sayd this was the very method and way of curingthat was used in Oliver Cromwell, Protectour. [See "Observations andExperiments upon May-Dew, " by Thomas Henshaw, in PhilosophicalTransactions, 1665. Abbr. I. 13. -J. B. ] ___________________________________

For the gowte. Take the leaves of the wild vine (bryony, vitis alba);bruise them and boyle them, and apply it to the place grieved, lapd ina colewort-leafe. This cured an old man of 84 yeares of age, atKilmanton, in 1669, and he was well since, to June 1670: which accountI had from Mr. Francis Potter, the rector there. 

Mr. Wm. Montjoy of Bitteston hath an admirable secret for the cure ofthe Ricketts, for which he was sent to far and neer; his sonne haththe same. Rickettie children (they say) are long before they breedteeth. I will, whilst 'tis in my mind, insert this remarque; viz. About 1620, one Ricketts of Newbery, perhaps corruptly from Ricards, apractitioner in physick, was excellent at the curing children withswoln heads and small legges; and the disease being new and without aname, he being so famous for the cure of it they called the diseasethe ricketts; as the King's evill from the King's curing of it withhis touch; and now 'tis good sport to see how they vex their lexicons, and fetch it from the Greek {Gk: Rachis} the back bone. ___________________________________

For a pinne-and-webbe* in the eye, a pearle, or any humour that comesout of the head. My father laboured under this infirmity, and ourlearned men of Salisbury could doe him no good. At last one goodwifeHolly, a poore woman of Chalke, cured him in a little time. My fathergave her a broad piece of gold for the receipt, which is this:-Takeabout halfe a pint of the best white wine vinegar; put it in a pewterdish, which sett on a chafing dish of coales covered with anotherpewter dish; ever and anon wipe off the droppes on the upper dish tillyou have gott a little glassefull, which reserve in a cleane vessell;then take about half an ounce of white sugar candie, beaten andsearcht very fine, and putt it in the glasse; so stoppe it, and let itstand. Drop one drop in the morning and evening into the eye, and letthe patient lye still a quarter of an hour after it. 

I told Mr. Robert Boyle this receipt, and he did much admire it, andtooke a copie of it, and sayd that he that was the inventor of it wasa good chymist. If this medicine were donne in a golden dish orporcelane dish, &c. It would not doe this cure; but the vertueproceeds, sayd hee, from the pewter, which the vinegar does take off. 

* [The following definitions are from Bailey's Dictionary (1728):-"Pin and Web, a horny induration of the membranes of the eye, not muchunlike a Cataract. " "Pearl (among oculists), a web on the eye. "- J. B. ] ___________________________________

In the city of Salisbury doe reigne the dropsy, consumption, scurvy, gowte; it is an exceeding dampish place. 

At Poulshot, a village neer the Devises, in the spring time theinhabitants appeare of a primrose complexion; 'tis a wett, dirtyplace. ___________________________________

Mrs. Fr. Tyndale, of Priorie St. Maries, when a child, voyded alumbricus biceps. Mr. Winceslaus Hollar, when he was at Mechlin, sawan amphisbæna, which he did very curiously delineate, and coloured itin water colours, of the very colour: it was exactly the colour of theinner peele of an onyon: it was about six inches long, but in itsrepture it made the figure of a semicircle; both the heads advancingequally. It was found under a piece of old timber, about 1661; underthe jawes it had barbes like a barbel, which did strengthen his motionin running. This draught, amongst a world of others, Mr. Thorn. Chiffinch, of Whitehall, hath; for which Mr. Hollar protested to me hehad no compensation. The diameter was about that of a slo-worme; and I guesse it was an amphisbænal slo-worme. 

[The serpents called amphisbæna are so designated (from the Greek{Gk: amphisbaina}) in consequence of their ability to move backwards as well as forwards. The head and tail of the amphisbæna are verysimilar in form: whence the common belief that it possesses a head ateach extremity. It was formerly supposed that cutting off one of its"heads" would fail to destroy this animal; and that its flesh, driedand pulverized, was an infallible remedy for dislocations and brokenbones. -J. B. ]

 CHAPTER XVI. OBSERVATIONS ON PARISH REGISTERS, ACCORDING TO THE WAY PRESCRIBED BY THE HONBLE. SIR WM. PETTY, KNIGHT. 

[THIS chapter consists merely of memoranda for the further examinationof those valuable materials for local and general statistics - theparochial registers. Aubrey has inserted the number of baptisms, marriages, and burials, recorded in the registers of Broad Chalke, foreach year, from 1630 to 1642, and from 1676 to 1684 inclusive;distinguishing the baptisms and burials of males and females in eachyear. The like particulars are given for a period of five years fromthe registers of Dunhead St. Mary. He adds, "In anno 1686 I madeextracts out of the register bookes of half a dozen parishes in SouthWiltshire, which I gave to Sir Wm. Petty. " The following passages willsuffice to indicate the nature of his remarks. - J. B. ]

MR. ROBERT GOOD, M. A. , of Bower Chalke, hath a method to calculate theprovision that is spent in a yeare in their parish; and does find thatone house with another spends six pounds per annum; which comes withinan hundred pounds of the parish rate. 

Sir "W. Petty observes, from the account of the people, that not abovehalfe teeming women are marryed; and that if the Government pleasedthere might be such a multiplication of mankind as in 1500 yeareswould sufficiently plant every habitable acre in the world. ___________________________________

Mdm. The poore's rate of St. Giles-in-the-fields, London, comes to sixthousand pounds per annum. [The sixth chapter of Mr. Rowland Dobie's"History of the United Parishes of St. Giles- in-the-Fields and St. George, Bloomsbury, " (8vo. 1829) contains some curious and interesting"historical sketches of pauperism. " Speaking of the parishworkhouse, the author says, "It contains on an average from 800 to 900inmates, which is however but a small proportion to the numberconstantly relieved, at an expense [annually] of nearly forty thousandpounds. "-J. B. ] ___________________________________

Dunhead St. Mary. -The reason why so few marriages are found in theregister bookes of these parts is that the ordinary sort of people goeto Ansted to be married, which is a priviledged church; and they come40 and 50 miles off to be married there. ___________________________________

Of periodicall small-poxes. - Small-pox in Sherborne dureing the year1626, and dureing the yeare 1634; from Michaelmas 1642 to Michaelmas1643; from Michaelmas 1649 to Michaelmas 1650; &c. Small-pox inTaunton all the year 1658; likewise in the yeare 1670, &c. I would Ihad the like observations made in great townes in Wiltshire; but fewcare for these things. 

It hath been observed that the plague never fix't (encreased) inBridgenorth in Salop. Also at Richmond it never did spread; but atPetersham, a small village a mile or more distant, the plague made sogreat a destruction that there survived only five of the inhabitants. 1638 was a sickly and feaverish autumne; there were three graves openat one time in the churchyard of Broad Chalke. 

 PART II. 

 CHAPTER I. WORTHIES. 

[IN this chapter Aubrey has transcribed that portion of Fuller'sWorthies of England which relates to celebrated natives of the countyof Wilts; but as Fuller's work is so well known, it is un- necessaryto print Aubrey's extracts from it here. He has interspersed them withadditional matter from which the following passages are selected. - J. B. ]

PRINCES. - There is a tradition at Wootton Basset that King Richard theThird was born at Vasthorne [Fasterne], now the seate of the earle ofRochester. This I was told when I was there in 1648. Old Mr. Jacob, then tenant there to the Lady Inglefield, was then eighty yeares old, and the like other old people there did affirme. 

[According to the best authorities, this tradition is incorrect:Richard was born in Fotheringhay Castle, Northamptonshire, on the 2dof October, 1452. -J. B. ]

Anne, eldest daughter of Sir Edward Hyde, Knight, was born at Purton, in this county, and married to His Royal Highnesse James Duke ofYorke, [James II. ] by whom she left issue Mary Queen of England, andAnne Princesse of Denmark [afterwards Queen]. ___________________________________

SAINTS. - St. Adelm. There was a great bell at Malmesbury Abbey, whichthey called St. Adelm's bell, which was accounted a telesman, and tohave the power, when it was rang, to drive away the thunder andlightning. I remember there is such a great bell at St. Germain'sAbbey at Paris, which they ring to the aforesayd purpose when it thunders and lightens. Old Bartlemew and other old people ofMalmesbury had by tradition severall stories of miracles donn by St. Adelm some whereof I wrott down heretofore; now with Mr. Anth. Wood atOxford. [St. Adelm, or more correctly Aldhelm, is mentioned in page42, ante. His life was written by William of Malmesbury, and publishedby the Rev. Henry Wharton, in his "Anglia Sacra. " (fol. 1691. )- J. B. ]

Methinkes it is pitie that Ela, daughter of [William] Longespe Earl ofSalisbury, should be here omitted. [See ante, p. 70 ]

PRELATES. - Since the Reformation. - Alexander Hyde, LL. Dr. , sonn of SirLaurence Hyde, and brother to Sir Robert Hyde, Lord Cheif Justice ofthe King's Bench, was born, I believe, at Hele, in this county. He wasmade Bishop of Salisbury 1665. 

STATESMEN. - William Earle of Pembroke [the second of that name]. Inthe east windowe of the south aisle of the church at Wilton is thisfollowing inscription in gothick black letter:-". .. Church was. .. By the vertuose. .. .. Wife to the right. .. . Sir HenrySidney, Knight of the Garter and Lord President of the Marches ofWales, &c. In April 1580, the eight day of that moneth, was bornWilliam Lord Herbert of Cardif, the first-born child to the nobleHenry Earle of Pembroke, by his most dear wife Mary the Countesse, daughter to the forenamed Sir Henry and Lady Mary, whose livesAlmighty God long prosper in much happiness. "* Memorandum, to inserthis titles inscribed under his printed picture. As I remember he wasLord High Steward of his Majesties Household, Justice in Eire of allhis Majesties Forrests, &c. On this side Trent, Chancellor of theUniversity of Oxford, one of his Majesties Privy Councell, and Knightof the Garter. He was a most noble person, and the glory of the courtin the reignes of King James and King Charles. He was handsome, and ofan admirable presence-

* [This inscription is not mentioned in the account of Wilton Churchin Hoare's Modern, Wiltshire, but the author notices a tabletrecording the birth and baptism of the Earl "over the south entrance. "He states that the side aisles were added to the church "within thelast two centuries " - J. B. ]

 "Gratior et pulchro veniens a corpore virtus. "

He was the greatest Mecænas to learned men of any peer of his time orsince. He was very generous and open handed. He gave a noblecollection of choice bookes and manuscripts to the Bodleian Library atOxford, which remain there as an honourable monument of hismunificence. 'Twas thought, had he not been suddenly snatch't away bydeath, to the grief of all learned and good men, that he would havebeen a great benefactor to Pembroke Colledge in Oxford, whereas thereremains only from him a great piece of plate that he gave there. Hislordship was learned, and a poet; there are yet remaining some of hislordship's poetry in a little book of poems writt by his Lordship andSir Benjamin Ruddyer in 12o. ["Poems, written by William Earl ofPembroke, &c. Many of which are answered by way of repartee, by SirBenjamin Rudyard. With other poems by them occasionally and apart. "Lond. 1660, 8vo. -J. B. ] He had his nativity calculated by a learnedastrologer, and died exactly according to the time predicted therein, at his house at Baynard's Castle in London. He was very well inhealth, but because of the fatal direction which he lay under, he madea great entertainment (a supper) for his friends, went well to bed, and died in his sleep, the [10th] day of [April] anno Domini 1630. Hisbody lies in the vault belonging to his family in the quire of OurLadies Church in Salisbury. At Wilton is his figure cast in brasse, designed, I suppose, for his monument. [See the notices of the Earlsof Pembroke in the ensuing chapter. - J. B. ]

Sir Edward Hyde, Earle of Clarendon, Lord Chancellour of England, wasborn at Dynton in Wiltshire. His father was the fourth and youngestsonn of. .. .. Hyde, of Hatch, Esq. Sir Edward married [Frances]daughter of Sir Thomas Aylesbury, one of the clarks of the councell Inhis exile in France he wrote the History of the late Times, sc. From1641 to 1660; near finished, but broken off by death, by whom he wasattacked as he was writing; the penn fell out of his hand; he took itup again and tryed to write; and it fell out the second time. He thensaw that it was time to leave off, and betooke himself to thinke aboutthe other world. (From the Countess of Thanet. ) He shortly after endedhis dayes at [Rouen] Anno Domini 1674, and his body was brought overinto England, and interred privately at Westminster Abbey. From theEarle of Clarendon. [Anthony Wood states (probably on the authority ofAubrey) that Clarendon was buried on the north side of Henry theSeventh's chapel in Westminster Abbey; but the place of his intermentis not marked by any monument or inscription. -J. B. ] ___________________________________

SOLDIERS. - Sir Henry Danvers, Knight, Earle of Danby and Baron ofDauntesey, was born at Dauntesey, 28th day of June Ano. Dni. 1573. Hewas of a magnificent and munificall spirit, and made that noblephysic-garden at Oxford, and endowed it with I thinke 30li. Per annum. In the epistles of Degory Wheare, History Professor of Oxford, inLatin, are severall addressed to his lordship that doe recite hisworth. He allowed three thousand pounds per annum only for hiskitchin. He bred up severall brave young gentleman and preferred them;e. G. Colonell Leg, and severall others, of which enquire further ofmy Lady Viscountesse Purbec. The estate of Henry Earle of Danby wasabove eleven thousand pounds per annum; near twelve. He died Januarythe 20th, 1643, and lies buried in a little chapell made for hismonument on the north side of Dantesey-church, near to the vault wherehis father and ancesters lye. [Aubrey here transcribes his epitaph, which, with other particulars of his life, will be found in theBeauties of Wiltshire, vol. Iii. P. 76. --J. B. ]

Sir Michael Ernele, Knight, was second son of Sir John Ernele, ofWhetham in the County of Wilts. After he had spent some time at theUniversity of Oxford, he betooke himself to a militarie life in theLow Countries, where he became so good a proficient that at his returninto England at the beginning of the Civill warres, King Charles theFirst gave him the commission of a Colonell in his service, andshortly after he was made Governour of Shrewsbury, and he was, orintended to bee, Major Generall. He did his Majesty good service inthe warres, as doth appeare by the Mercurii Aulici. His garrison atShrewsbury being weakened by drawing out great part of them before thebattel at Marston Moore, the townesmen plotted and betrayed hisgarrison to the Parliament soldiers. He was slain then in the market-place, about the time of the battle of Marston Moore. *

* [It was the common belief that Sir Michael Erneley was killed, ashere stated, by the Parlimentary soldiers at the time Shrewsbury wastaken (Feb. 3, 1644-5); but in Owen and Blakeway's Hist, of Shrewsbury, 4to. 1825, the time and manner of his death is left uncertain. Hisname is included in the list of those who were made prisoners when thetown surrendered. -J. B. ]

William Ludlow, Esq. Sonn and heir of Sir [Henry] Ludlow, andDame. .. .. . Daughter of the Lord Viscount Bindon, in this county, wasGovernour of Wardour Castle in this county, for the Parliament, whichhe valiantly defended till part of the castle was blown up, 1644 or1645. He was Major General, &c. See his life in Mr. Anth. Wood'sAntiquities of Oxford. [This passage refers to Edward (not William)Ludlow; the famous Republican general. His "Memoirs" were printed in1698-9, at Vevay in Switzerland, where he died about five yearsprevious to their publication. They have gone through severaleditions, and constitute a valuable historical record of the times. - J. B. ]

Sir John Ernele, great-grandson of Sir John Ernele above sayd, andeldest sonn of Sir John Ernele, late Chancellour of the Exchequer, hadthe command of a flag-ship, and was eminent in some sea services. Hemarried the daughter and heir of Sir John Kerle of. .. . InHerefordshire. ___________________________________

A DIGRESSION. - Anno 1633, I entred into my grammar at the latin schooleat Yatton-Keynel, in the church, where the curate, Mr. Hart, taughtthe eldest boyes Virgil, Ovid, Cicero, &c. The fashion then was tosave the forules of their bookes with a false cover of parchment, sc. Old manuscript, which I [could not] was too young to understand; butI was pleased with the elegancy of the writing and the colouredinitiall letters. I remember the rector here, Mr. Wm. Stump, greatgr. -son of St. The cloathier of Malmesbury, had severall manuscriptsof the abbey. He was a proper man and a good fellow; and, when hebrewed a barrell of speciall ale, his use was to stop the bung- hole, under the clay, with a sheet of manuscript; he sayd nothing did it sowell: which me thought did grieve me then to see. Afterwards I went toschoole to Mr. Latimer at Leigh-delamer, the next parish, where wasthe like use of covering of bookes. In my grandfather's dayes themanuscripts flew about like butterflies. All music bookes, accountbookes, copie bookes, &c. Were covered with old manuscripts, as weecover them now with blew paper or marbled paper; and the glovers atMalmesbury made great havoc of them; and gloves were wrapt up nodoubt in many good pieces of antiquity. Before the late warres a worldof rare manuscripts perished hereabout; for within half a dozen milesof this place were the abbey of Malmesbury, where it may be presumedthe library was as well furnished with choice copies as most librariesof England; and perhaps in this library we might have found a correctPliny's Naturall History, which Cantus, a monk here, did abridge forKing Henry the Second. Within the aforesaid compass was Broad stockPriory, Stan Leigh Abbey, Farleigh Abbey, Bath Abbey, eight miles, andCirencester Abbey, twelve miles. Anno 1638 I was transplanted toBlandford-schoole, in Dorset, to Mr. Wm. Sutton. (In Mr. Wm. Gardner'stime it was the most eminent schoole for the education of gentlemen inthe West of England. ) Here also was the use of covering of bookes withold parchments, sc. Leases, &c. , but I never saw any thing of amanuscript there. Hereabout were no abbeys or convents for men. Onemay also perceive by the binding of old bookes how the old manuscriptswent to wrack in those dayes. Anno 1647 I went to Parson Stump out ofcuriosity, to see his manuscripts, whereof I had seen some in mychildhood; but by that time they were lost and disperse. His sons weregunners and souldiers, and scoured their gunnies with them; but heshewed me severall old deeds granted by the Lords Abbots, with theirscales annexed, which I suppose his sonn Capt. Tho. Stump ofMalmesbury hath still. [I have quoted part of this curious paragraphin my Memoir of Aubrey, 4to. 1845. -J. B. ] ___________________________________

WRITERS. - William of Malmesbury. He was the next historiographer ofthis nation to Venerable Bede, as he himself written; and was fain, hesayes, to pick out his history out of ballads and old rhythmes. .. .. Hundred yeares after Bede. He dedicates his history to [Robert, Earlof Gloucester] "filio naturali Henrici primi". He wrote also the historyof the abbey of Glastonbury, which is in manuscript in the library ofTrinity College in Cambridge, wherein are many good remarques to befound, as Dr. Thomas Gale of Paules schoole enformes me. [This wasedited by Gale, and published at Oxford in 1691, 8vo. - J. B. ]

Robertus Sarisburiensis wrote a good discourse, De Piscinis, mentionedand commended by Sir Henry Wotton in his Elements of Architecture. Q. Anth. Wood, de hoc. 

Dr. .. .. Forman, - Mr. Ashmole thinkes his name was John, [Simon. -J. B. ]- physitian and astrologer, was born at Wilton, in Wilts. He wasof the University of Oxford, but took his degree of Doctor inCambridge, practised in Salisbury, where he was persecuted for hisastrologie, which in those ignorant times was accounted conjuring. Hethen came to London, where he had very good practise, and did greatcures; but the college hated him, and at last drove him out of London:so he lived and died at Lambeth, where he lies buried. Elias Ashmole, Esq. Has severall bookes of his writing (never printed), as also hisown life. There it may be seen whether he was not a favorite of Mary, Countesse of Pembroke. He was a chymist, as far as chymistry went inthose dayes, and 'tis very likely he was a favorite of her honour's. Quaere Mr. Dennet, the Earl of Pembrock's steward, if he had not apension from the Earl of Pembrock? Forman is a common name in Calneparish, Wilts, where there are still severall wealthy men, cloathiers, &c. Of that name; but tempore Reginæ Elizabethæ there was a Formanof Calne, Lord Maior of London. My grandfather Lyte told me that athis Lord Maior's shew there was the representation of the creationof the world, and writt underneath, "and all for man. " [Someinteresting passages from Forman's MS. Diary have recently beenbrought forward by Mr. Collier in illustration of the history ofShakspere's works. They describe some very early performances ofseveral of his plays, at which Forman was present. - J. B. ]

Sr Johan Davys, Knight, was born at Tysbury; his father was a tanner. He wrote a poeme in English, called "Nosce Teipsum"*; also Reports. Hewas Lord Chief Justice in Ireland. His wife was sister to the Earle ofCastle-Haven that was beheaded; she had also aliquid dementiæ, and wasa prophetesse, for which she was confined in the Tower, before thelate troubles, for her predictions. His onely daughter and heire wasmarried to [Ferdinando] Earle of Huntingdon. 

[*"Nosce Teipsum: this oracle expounded in two elegies. 1st. OfHuman knowledge. 2nd. Of the soule of man, and the immortalitythereof;" with acrostics on Queen Elizabeth. (London, 1609, small8vo. ) The works of the above named Lady Eleanor Davies, theprophetess, widow of Sir John, were of a most extraordinary kind. Seea list of them in Watt's Bibliotheca Britannica. - J. B. ]

Mr. Thomas Hobbes was born at Westport juxta Malmesbury, April thefifth, anno 1588, he told me, between four and six in the morning, inthe house that faces or points to the horse-faire. He died at Hardwickin Darbyshire, Anno Domini 1679, ætatis 91. [See Aubrey's Life ofHobbes, appended to Letters from the Bodleian, vol. Iii. P. 593. - J. B. ]

Thomas Willis, M. D. , was born at Great Bedwin in this county, anno[1621. ] His father, he told me, was steward to my Lady Smyth there. Hedyed in London, and lies interred with his wife in Westminster Abbey. 

Thomas Piers, D. D. , and Dean of Salisbury, formerly President ofMagdalen College in Oxford, was born at the Devizes. His father was awoollen draper and an alderman there. 

Sir Christopher Wren, Knt. , Surveyor of his Majesties buildings, theeldest sonne of Dr. Christopher Wren, Deane of Windsor, was born atKnoyle, in this county, where his father was rector, in theparsonage-house, anno 1631; christened November the 10th; but he tellsme that he was born October the 20th. His mother fell in labour withhim when the bell rung eight. 

[Richard] Blackmore, M. D. , born in Cosham parish, the sonne of anattorney, went to schoole to Parson. .. . Of Dracot. Scripsit an Epiquepoeme, called Prince Arthur, 1694. 

Sir William Penn, Vice-Admirall, born at Minety, in the hundred ofMalmesbury. His father was a keeper in Braden forest: the lodge iscalled Penn's lodge to this day. He was father to William Penn, Esq. Lord Proprietor of Pensylvania; it is a very ancient family inBuckinghamshire. This family in North Wilts had heretofore adependence on the Abbey of Malmesbury as stewards or officers. [SirWilliam Penn was buried in Redcliffe Church, Bristol. See Britten'sAccount of Redcliffe Church. - J. B. ]

T. Byfield, a physician, sonn of Adoniram Byfield, the Assembly man, born at Collingbourn Ducis, where his father was rector. He publisheda book of Waters about 1684. 

Mr. Edward Whatman, of Mayden Bradley, practitioner in physick, andvery successfull in his practise. By reason of the civill warrs he wasof no university, but he was a young man of great parts and greathopes. He died shortly after his Majesties restauration, aged about35. He onely printed "Funerall Obsequies on the Honourable the LadieElizabeth Hopton, wife to Sir Ralph Hopton, " London, 1647. 

Mr. William Gardiner, the eminent schoolemaster at Blandford, abouttwenty yeares; born in this county; died about 1636, aetatis 47. ___________________________________

MUSICIANS. -The quire of Salisbury Cathedral hath produced as many ablemusicians, if not more, than any quire in this nation. 

Andrew Markes, of Salisbury, where his father was a fiddle maker, wasthe best lutinist in England in his time - sc. The latter end of QueenElizabeth and King James, and the best composer of lute lessons; andas to his compositions, Mr. Sam. Cowper, the famous limner, who was anexcellent lutinist, did affirme that they are of great value to thistime. 

Jo. Coperario, whose reall name I have been told was Cowper, andAlfonso Ferrabosco, lived most in Wiltshire, sc. At Amesbury, andWulfall, with Edward Earle of Hertford, who was the great patrone ofmusicians. 

Davys Mell, born at Wilton, was the best violinist of any Englishmanin England: he also took a fancy to make clocks and watches, and had agreat name for the goodness of his work. He was of the King's musick, and died in London about 1663. 

. .. . Bell, of Wilton, was sagbuttere to King Charles the First, andwas the most excellent artist in playing on that instrument, which isvery difficult, of any one in England. He dyed about the restaurationof the King. 

Humphrey Madge, of Salisbury, was servant bound to Sir John Danvers, and afterwards one of the violinists to King Charles the Second. 

Will. Yokeney, a lutinist and a composer of songs, e. G. Of ColonelLovelace's songs, &c. Was born at Lacock, 1646. Among other finecompositions of songs by Will. Yokeney, this following ought to beremembred, made 1646 or 1647, viz. :-

 "What if the King should come to the city, Would he be then received I trow? Would the Parliament treat him with rigor or pity? Some doe think yea, but most doe think no, &c. "'

It is a lively, briske aire, and was playd by the lowd musick whenKing Charles the Second made his entry in London at his restauration. 

Captain Thomas Stump, of Malmesbury. Tis pity the strange adventuresof him should be forgotten. He was the eldest sonn of Mr. Will. Stump, rector of Yatton Keynell; was a boy of a most daring spirit; hewould climbe towers and trees most dangerously; nay, he would walke onthe battlements of the tower there. He had too much spirit to be ascholar, and about sixteen went in a voyage with his uncle, since SirThomas Ivy, to Guyana, in anno 1633, or 1632. When the ship put insome where there, four or five of them straggled into the countrey toofar, and in the interim the wind served, and the sails were hoist, and the stragglers left behind. It was not long before the wild peopleseized on them and strip's them, and those that had beards theyknocked their braines out, and (as I remember) did eat them; but thequeen saved T. Stump, and the other boy. Stump threw himself into theriver Pronoun to have drowned himself, but could not sinke; he isvery full chested. The other youth shortly died. He lived with themtill 1636 or 1637. His narrations are very strange and pleasant; butso many yeares since have made me almost forget all. He sayes thereis incomparable fruite there, and that it may be termed the paradiseof the world. He says that the spondyles of the backbones of the hugeserpents there are used to sit on, as our women sitt upon butts. Hetaught them to build hovels, and to thatch and wattle. I wish I had agood account of his abode there; he is "fide dignus". I never heard ofany man that lived so long among those salvages. A ship then saylingby, a Portughese, he swam to it; and they took him up and made use ofhim for a seaboy. As he was sayling near Cornwall he stole out of aport-hole and swam to shore; and so begged to his father's inWiltshire. When he came home, nobody knew him, and they would not ownhim: only Jo. Harris the carpenter knew him. At last he recounted somany circumstances that he was owned, and in 1642 had a commission fora Captain of Foot in King Charles the First's army. 

 PART II. - CHAPTER II. 

 OF THE GRANDEUR OF THE HERBERTS, EARLES OF PEMBROKE. 

 WILTON HOUSE AND GARDENS. 

[AUBREY'S account of the famous seat of the Pembroke family at Wilton, and of its choice and valuable contents, will be found exceedinglyinteresting. His statements are based upon his own knowledge of themansion before the Civil Wars, and upon information derived fromThomas Earl of Pembroke, Dr. Caldicot, who had been chaplain to theEarl's family, and Mr. Unlades, who also held some appointment in theestablishment. 

As the ensuing narrative is occasionally somewhat obscure, owing toits want of method and arrangement, it may be useful to prefix a briefsummary of the history of the mansion, with reference to dates, names, and other necessary particulars. 

William Herbert, the founder of this branch of the family, marriedAnne, sister to Queen Katharine Parr, the last wife of Henry VIII. Hewas knighted by that monarch in 1544, and in the same year thebuildings and lands of the dissolved Abbey of Wilton, with many otherestates in different counties, were conferred upon him by the King. Being left executor, or "conservator" of Henry's will, he possessedconsiderable influence at the court of the young sovereign, EdwardVI. ; by whom he was created Earl of Pembroke (1551). He immediatelybegan to alter and adapt the conventual's buildings at Wilton to amansion suited to his rank and station. Amongst other new works of histime was the famous porch in the court-yard, generally ascribed toHans Holborn (who died in 1554). To what extent this nobleman carriedhis building operations is not known. He was succeeded in 1570 by hisson Henry, who probably made further additions to the house. Thisnobleman married Mary, the sister of Sir Philip Sidney, a lady whosename is illustrious in the annals of literature. He died in 1601. 

William, his son (the second Earl of that name), who has been fullynoticed in the last Chapter, succeeded him in the title, and wasfollowed in 1630 by his brother Philip, who, in 1633, at theinstigation of King Charles I. , added a range of buildings at Wilton, forming the south front of the house, and facing an extensive gardenwhich was laid out at the same time. In designing both the buildingand the gardens, he employed Solomon de Caus, a Gascon, on therecommendation of Inigo Jones. About fifteen years afterwards thesouth front so erected was destroyed by fire, and rebuilt by the sameEarl in 1648, from the designs of John Webb, who had married the nieceof Inigo Jones. This peer was a great lover of the fine arts, and apatron of Vandyck. He died in 1650. 

Philip, his son (the second Earl of that name), experienced somepecuniary difficulties, and the valuable collection of pictures andbooks formed by his predecessor, was sold by auction, and dispersedfor the benefit of his creditors. Aubrey's description, from his ownfamiliar knowledge of them before the sale, is therefore the morecurious and valuable. 

In 1669 the second Earl Philip was succeeded by his son William (thethird of that name), and on the death of the latter in 1674, the titleand estates were inherited by his brother, a third Earl Philip. Thetwo last-mentioned noblemen, according to Aubrey, "espoused notlearning, but were addicted to field sports and hospitality". Theiryounger brother, Thomas, became Earl of Pembroke in 1683. He was awarm admirer and liberal patron of literature and the fine arts, andis famous as the founder of the magnificent collection of ancientmarbles, coins, &c. Which have given great celebrity to Wilton House. Aubrey dedicated the present work to that nobleman, soon after hesucceeded to the title, and was honoured with his personal friendship. The Earl survived him many years, and was succeeded by Henry, thesecond of that name, in 1733. Of the latter nobleman and his worksat Wilton, Horace Walpole wrote as follows:- "The towers, thechambers, the scenes which Holbein, Jones, and Vandyke had decorated, and which Earl Thomas had enriched with the spoils of the best ages, received the best touches of beauty from Earl Henry's hand. He removedall that obstructed the views to or from his palace, and threwPalladium's theatric bridge over his river. The present Earl hascrowned the summit of the hill with the equestrian statue of MarcusAurelius, and a handsome arch designed by Sir William Chambers. * Noman had a purer taste in building than Earl Henry, of which he gave afew specimens besides his works at Wilton. " (Anecdotes of Painting, &c. ) The nobleman thus commended for his architectural taste, wassucceeded as Earl of Pembroke, in 1751, by his son Henry, who employedSir William Chambers as mentioned by Walpole; and George, whosucceeded to the Earldom in 1794, caused other extensive additions andalterations to be made at Wilton, by the late James Wyatt. - J. B. ]

*[I have in my possession a drawing of this arch by the architect. - J. B. ]

THE old building of the Earl of Pembroke's house at WILTON wasdesigned by an architect (Hans Holbein) in King Edward the Sixth'stime. † The new building which faced the garden was designed byMonsieur Solomon de Caus, tempore Caroli {primi}, but this was burntby accident and rebuilt 1648, Mr. Webb then being surveyor. [See nextpage. ]

†[There is no authority for the assertion that Holbein designed morethan the porch mentioned elsewhere. -J. B. ]

The situation of Wilton House is incomparably noble. It hath not onlythe most pleasant prospect of the gardens and Rowlindon Parke, butfrom thence over a lovely flatt to the city of Salisbury, where thatlofty steeple cuts the horizon, and so to Ivychurch; and to addfurther to the glory of this prospect the right honourable Thomas, Earle of Pembroke, did, anno 1686, make a stately canal fromQuidhampton to the outer base-court of his illustrious palace. 

The house is great and august, built all of freestone, lined withbrick, which was erected by Henry Earle of Pembroke. [Holbein's porch, and probably other parts of the house, were anterior to the time ofthe first Earl Henry. See the introductory note to this chapter. - J. B. ] Mr. Inigo Jones told Philip, first Earle of Pembroke, that theporch in the square court was as good architecture as any was inEngland. 'Tis true it does not stand exactly in the middle of theside, for which reason there were some would have perswaded hisLordship to take it down; but Mr. Jones disswaded him, for thereasons aforesayd, and that we had not workmen then to be found thatcould make the like work. - (From Dr. Caldicot. )

King Charles the first did love Wilton above all places, and camethither every summer. It was he that did put Philip first Earle ofPembroke upon making this magnificent garden and grotto, and to newbuild that side of the house that fronts the garden, with two statelypavilions at each end, all "al Italiano". His Majesty intended to havehad it all designed by his own architect, Mr. Inigo Jones, who beingat that time, about 1633, engaged in his Majesties buildings atGreenwich, could not attend to it; but he recommended it to an ingeniousearchitect, Monsieur Solomon de Caus, a Gascoigne, who performed it very well; but not without the advice and approbation of Mr. Jones: for which hisLordship settled a pension on him of, I think, a hundred pounds perannum for his life, and lodgings in the house. He died about 1656; hispicture is at Mr. Gauntlet's house at Netherhampton. I shall gladlysurcease to make any further attempt of the description of the house, garden, stables, and approaches, as falling too short of the greatnessand excellency of it. Mr. Loggan's graver will render it much more tothe life, and leave a more fixt impression in the reader. [This refersto one of Aubrey's contemplated illustrations. See Chap. XX. (in asubsequent page), Draughts of the Seates and Prospects. -J. B. ]

The south side of this stately house, that was built by Monsieur deCaus, was burnt ann. 1647 or 1648, by airing of the roomes. In anno1648 Philip (the first) re-edifyed it, by the advice of Inigo Jones;but he, being then very old, could not be there in person, but left itto Mr. Webb, who married his niece. 

THE PICTURES. In the hall (of old pieces) were the pictures of theMinisters of State in Queen Elizabeth's time, and some of King Henrythe Eighth. There was Robert, Earle of Essex, that was beheaded, &c. 

At the stairecase, the picture of Sir Robert Naunton, author of"Fragmenta Regalia;" his name was writt on the frame. At the upper endwas the picture of King Charles I. On horseback, with his Frenchriding master by him on foot, under an arch; all as big as the life:which was a copie of Sir Anthony Vandyke, from that at Whitehall. Byit was the picture of Peacock, a white race - horse, with the groomholding him, as big as the life: and to both which Sir Anthony gavemany master touches. Over the skreen is a very long picture, by anItalian hand, of Aurora guiding her horses, neigheing, and above themthe nymphes powring down out of phialls the morning showres. Here wasthe "Table" of Cebes, a very large picture, and done by a greatmaster, which the genius describes to William, the first earl of thisfamily, and lookes on him, pointing to Avarice, as to be avoyded by anoble person; and many other ancient pieces which I have now forgott. 

The long gallery was furnished with the ministers of estate and heroesof Queen Elizabeth's time, and also some of the French. In one of thepictures of Sir Philip Sydney are these verses, viz. -

 "Who gives himselfe may well his picture give, Els were it vain, since both short time doe live. "

At the 'upper end is the picture of King James the First sitting inhis throne, in his royall robes; a great piece, as big as the life; byhim on the right hand wall is the picture of William Herbert, firstearle, at length, as big as the life, and under it the picture of hislittle dog, of a kind of chesnut colour, that starved himselfe for hismaster's death. Here is the picture of Henry Earle of Pembroke and hisCountesse; and of William Earle of Pembroke, Lord Chamberlain;severall Earles of Oxford; and also of Aubrey Earle of Oxford, nowliving; the pictures of Cardinal Wolsey; Archy (King James'sjester);. .. .. . , governour to Sir Philip Sydney; Mr. SecretaryWalsingham, in his gown and wrought cap; Mary Countess of Pembrok, sister of Sir Philip Sydney; the last Lady Abbess of Wilton (Lady AnnaGawen), a pretty, beautiful, modest Penelope; with many others nowforgotten by me and everybody else. 

[The last mentioned name must be erroneous. The Abbess of Wilton atthe time of the dissolution of monasteries was Cecily Bodenham, whohad previously been Prioress of St. Mary's, Kington St. Michael. - J. B. ]

I was heretofore a good nomenclator of these pictures, which wasdelivered to me from a child eight yeares old, by old persons relatingto this noble family. It is a great and a generall fault that in allgalleries of pictures the names are not writt underneath, or at leasttheir coates of armes. Here was also the picture of Thomas Lyte, ofLytes Cary; and a stately picture of King Henry the eighth. 

The genius of Philip (first) Earle of Pembroke lay much to paintingand building, and he had the best collection of paintings of the bestmasters of any peer of his time in England; and, besides thosepictures before mentioned, collected by his ancestors, he adorned theroomes above staires with a great many pieces of Georgeon [Giorgione], and some of Titian, his scholar. His lordship was the great patron ofSir Anthony Van Dyck, and had the most of his paintings of any one inthe world; some whereof, of his family, are fixt now in the greatpannells of the wainscot in the great dining roome, or roome of state;which is a magnificent, stately roome; and his Majesty King Charlesthe Second was wont to say, 'twas the best proportioned roome thatever he saw. * In the cieling piece of this great roome is a greatpeece, the Marriage of Perseus, drawn by the hand of Mr. Emanuel DeCretz; and all about this roome, the pannells below the windows, ispainted by him, the whole story of Sir Philip Sydney's Arcadia, †Quaere, Dr. Caldicot and Mr. Uniades, what was the story or picture inthe cieling when the house was burnt. At the upper end of this nobleroome is a great piece of Philip (first) Earle of Pembroke and bothhis Countesses, and all his children, and the Earle of Carnarvon, asbig as the life, with landskip beyond them; by the hand of that famousmaster in painting Sir Anthony Van Dyk, which is held one of his bestpictures that ever he drew, and which was apprized at 1, 000 li. By thecreditors of Philip the third earle of Pembrok. Mr. Uniades told methat he heard Philip (first) Earle say, that he gave to Sir AnthonyVan Dyk for it five hundred Jacobuses. 'Tis an heirloome, and thecreditors had nothing to doe with it, but Mr. Davys the painter, thatwas brought from London to apprize the goods, did apprize it at athousand pounds. Captain Wind tells me that there is a tagliedome ofthis great picture: enquire for it. [A critical account of thispicture, which is 17 feet in length by l1 feet in height, and containsten full-length portraits, will be found in the Beauties ofWiltshire, vol. I. P. 180-187. It was engraved by Bernard Baron in1740. - J. B. ]

*[This refers to the "double-cube" room, as it is often called, from its proportions. The Great Hall at Kenilworth was also a doublecube; and the same form was adopted in many other old buildings. - J. B. ]

†[In "A Description of the Antiquities and Curiosities in WiltonHouse, " 4to. These paintings are ascribed to Signer Tomaso and hisbrother. -J. B. ]

The anti-roome to the great roome of state is the first roome as youcome up staires from the garden, and the great pannells of wainscotare painted with the huntings of Tempesta, by that excellent masterin landskip Mr. Edmund Piers. ‡ He did also paint all the grotesco -painting about the new buildings. 

‡[Ascribed to Tempesta junior in the "Description" alreadymentioned. -J. B. ]

In the roome within this great roome is the picture of King Charlesthe First on his dun horse by Van Dyk; it hangs over the chimney. Also the Dutchess of Richmond by Van Dyk. Now this rare collection ofpictures is sold and dispersed, and many of those eminent persons'pictures are but images without names; all sold by auction anddisparkled by administratorship: they are, as the civilians term them, "bona caduca". But, as here were a number of pictures sold, with othergoods, by the creditors of Philip (the second), so this earle [Thomas]hath supplied it with an admirable collection of paintings by greatmasters in Italy, when his lordship was there, and since; as he alsodid for prints, and bookes of fortification, &c. 

THE LIBRARIE. - Here was a noble librarie of bookes, choicely collectedin the time of Mary Countesse of Pembroke. I remember there were agreat many Italian bookes; all their poets; and bookes of politic andhistoric. Here was Dame Julian Barnes of Hunting, Hawking, andHeraldry, in English verses, printed temp. Edward the Fourth. (Philip, third earle, gave Dame Julian Barnes to Capt. Edw. Saintlo ofDorsetshire. ) A translation of the whole book of Psalmes, in Englishverse, by Sir Philip Sydney, writt curiously, and bound in crimsonvelvet and gilt; it is now lost. Here was a Latin poëme, amanuscript, writt in Julius Cæsar's time. [See ante, p. 60. ] HenryEarle of Pembroke was a great lover of heraldrie, and collectedcurious manuscripts of it, that I have seen and perused; e. G. Thecoates of armes and short histories of the English nobility, andbookes of genealogies; all well painted and writt. 'Twas Henry thatdid sett up all the glasse scutchions about the house: quære if hedid not build it? Now all these bookes are sold and dispersed as thepictures. 

THE ARMORIE. The armory is a very long roome, which I guesse to havebeen a dorture heretofore. Before the civill warres, I remember, itwas very full. The collection was not onely great, but the manner ofobtaining it was much greater; which was by a victory at the battle ofSt. Quintin's, where William the first Earle of Pembroke was generall, Sir George Penruddock, of Compton Chamberlain, was Major Generall, andWilliam Aubrey, LL. D. My great-grandfather, was Judge Advocat. Therewere armes, sc. The spoile, for sixteen thousand men, horse and foot. (From the Right Honourable Thomas Earle of Pembroke. )

Desire my brother William Aubrey to gett a copy of the inventory ofit. Before the late civill warres here were musketts and pikes for. . . Hundred men; lances for tilting; complete armour for horsemen; forpikemen, &c. The rich gilt and engraved armour of Henry VIII. The likerich armour of King Edward VI. In the late warres much of the armeswas imbecill'd. 

WILTON GARDEN: by Solomon de Caus. [See also in a subsequent page, Chap. IV. OF GARDENS. ] "This garden, within the inclosure of the newwall, is a thousand foot long, and about four hundred in breadth;divided in its length into three long squares or parallellograms, thefirst of which divisions, next the building, hath four plattsembroydered; in the midst of which are four fountaines, with statuesof marble in their middle; and on the sides of those platts are theplatts of flowers; and beyond them is a little terrass raised, for themore advantage of beholding those platts. In the second division aretwo groves or woods, cutt with divers walkes, and through those grovespasseth the river Nader, having of breadth in this place 44 foote, upon which is built the bridge, of the breadth of the great walke: andin the middest of the aforesayd groves are two great statues of whitemarble of eight foot high, the one of Bacchus, and the other of Flora;and on the sides ranging with the platts of flowers are two coveredarbours of three hundred foot long, and divers allies. At thebeginning of the third and last division are, on either side of thegreat walke, two ponds with fountains, and two columnes in the middle, casting water all their height; which causeth the moving and turningof two crowns at the top of the same; and beyond is a compartment ofgreen, with divers walkes planted with cherrie trees; and in themiddle is the great ovall, with the Gladiator of brasse, the mostfamous statue of all that antiquity hath left. On the sides of thiscompartment, and answering the platts of flowers and long arbours, arethree arbours of either side, with turning galleries, communicatingthemselves one into another. At the end of the great walke is aportico of stone, cutt and adorned with pyllasters and nyckes, withinwhich are figures of white marble, of five foot high. On either sideof the said portico is an ascent leading up to the terrasse, upon thesteps whereof, instead of ballasters, are sea-monsters, casting waterfrom one to the other, from the top to the bottome; and above the saydportico is a great reserve of water for the grotto. "

[The gardens of Wilton were illustrated by a series of twenty-sixfolio copper plates, with the following title; "Le Jardin De Wilton, construct par le trés noble et trés p. Seigneur Philip ComtePembroke et Montgomeri. Isaac de Caux invt. " The above description iscopied from one of these plates. Solomon de Caus was architect andengineer to the Elector Palatine, and constructed the gardens atHeidelberg in 1619. Walpole infers that Isaac and Solomon de Caus werebrothers, and that they erected, in conjunction with each other, "theporticos and loggias of Gorhambury, and part of Campden house, nearKensington. " (Anecdotes of Painting. ) As the engravings of Wiltongardens bear the name of Isaac, he had probably some share in thearrangement of the grounds, and perhaps also in building the house. InCampbell's Vitruvius Britannicus, vols. Ii. And iii. Are severalviews, plans, and sections of Wilton House and grounds. - J. B. ]

The grotto is paved with black and white marble; the roofe is vaulted. The figures of the tritons, &c. Are in bas-relieve, of white marble, excellently well wrought. Here is a fine jeddeau and nightingalepipes. Monsieur de Caus had here a contrivance, by the turning of acock, to shew three rainbowes, the secret whereof he did keep tohimself; he would not let the gardener, who shewes it to strangers, know how to doe it; and so, upon his death, it is lost. The grott andpipes did cost ten thousand pounds. The garden is twelve acres withinthe terrace of the grott. 

The kitchin garden is a very good one, and here are good ponds and adecoy. By the kitchin garden is a streame which turnes a wheele thatmoves the engine to raise the water to the top of a cisterne at thecorner of the great garden, to serve the water-workes of the grottoand fountaines in the garden. 

Thomas, Earle of Pembroke, told me that his sister-in-law's priest, aFrenchman, made a pretty poem or poemation on Wilton House and Garden, in Latin verse, which Mr. Berford, his Lordship's Chaplain, canprocure. 

THE STABLES, of Roman architecture, built by Mons. De Caus, have anoble avenu to them, a square court in the middle; and on the foursides of this court were the pictures of the best horses as big as thelife, painted in severall postures, by a Frenchman. Among others wasthe great black crop-eared stone horse on which Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, was killed at the battle of Lutzen, two miles fromLeipzig. Upon the comeing of the Scotts, in 1639, Sir. . . Fenwyckand. . . Fearing their breeds of horses would be taken away bythe Scotts, did sell their breeds of horses and mares to Philip(first) Earle of Pembroke. His Lordship had also Morocco horses, andfor race horses, besides Peacock and Delavill, he had a great manymore kept at the parke at Ramesbury and at Rowlinton. Then for hisstagge-hunting, fox-hunting, brooke-hawking, and land-hawking, what number of horses were kept to bee fitt at all seasons for it, Ileave the reader to guesse, besides his horses for at least halfe adozen coaches. Mr. Chr. Wroughton guesses not lesse than an hundredhorses. [In the notice of William, first Earl of Pembroke, in Aubrey's"Lives of Eminent Men, " he says, "This present Earl (1680) has atWilton 52 mastives and 30 greyhounds, some beares, and a lyon, and amatter of 60 fellowes more bestiall than they. " - J. B. ]

OF HIS LORDSHIP'S HOUNDS, GREYHOUNDS, AND HAWKES. His Lordship had allsorts of hounds, for severall disports: sc. Harbourers (great hounds)to harbour the stagges, and also small bull-dogges to break the bayesof the stagge; fox-hounds, finders, harriers, and others. HisLordship had the choicest tumblers that were in England, and the sametumblers that rode behind him he made use of to retrieve thepartridges. The setting-doggs for supper-flights for his hawkes. Grayhounds for his hare warren, as good as any were in England. Whenthey returned from hawking the ladies would come out to see the hawkesat the highest flying, and then they made use of their setting doggesto be sure of a flight. His Lordship had two hawkes, one a falconcalled Shrewsbury, which he had of the Earle of Shrewsbury, andanother called the little tercel, which would fly quite out of sight, that they knew not how to shew the fowler till they found the headstood right. They had not little telescopes in those dayes; thosewould have been of great use for the discovery which way the hawke'shead stood. 

TILTING. Tilting was much used at Wilton in the times of Henry Earleof Pembroke and Sir Philip Sydney. At the solemnization of the greatwedding of William, the second Earle of Pembroke, to one of theco-heires of the Earle of Shrewsbury, here was an extraordinary shew;at which time a great many of the nobility and gentry exercised, andthey had shields of pastboard painted with their devices and emblemes, which were very pretty and ingenious. There are some of them hangingin some houses at Wilton to this day but I did remember many more. Most, or all of them, had relation to marriage. One, I remember, is aman standing by a river's side angling, and takes up a rammes-horne:the motto "Casus ubiq{ue} valet". - (Ovid de Arte Amandi. ') Anotherhath the picture of a ship at sea sinking in a storm, and a house onfire; the motto "Tertia pestis abest"; meaning a wife. Another, ashield covered with black velvet; the motto "Par nulla figura dolori". This last is in the Arcadia, and I believe they were most of themcontrived by Sir Philip Sydney. Another was a hawke lett off the hand, with her leashes hanging at her legges, which might hang her where'ereshe pitcht, and is an embleme of youth that is apt to be ensnared bytheir own too plentifull estates. ___________________________________

'Tis certain that the Earles of Pembroke were the most popular peersin the West of England; but one might boldly say, in the wholekingdome. The revenue of his family was, till about 1652, 16, 000li. Per annum; but, with his offices and all, he had thirty thousandpounds per annum, and, as the revenue was great, so the greatnesse ofhis retinue and hospitality was answerable. One hundred and twentyfamily uprising and down lyeing, whereof you may take out six orseven, and all the rest servants and retayners. ___________________________________

FOR HIS LORDSHIP'S MUSICK. Alphonso Ferrabosco, the son, was LordPhilip (the first's) lutenist. He sang rarely well to the theorbolute. He had a pension and lodgings in Baynard's Castle. 

 PART II. - CHAPTER III. 

 OF LEARNED MEN THAT HAD PENSIONS GRANTED TO THEM BY THE EARLES OF PEMBROKE. 

IN the former Chapter I endeavoured to adumbrate Wilton House as toits architecture. We are now to consider it within, where it willappeare to have been an academie as well as palace; and was, as itwere, the apiarie to which men that were excellent in armes and artsdid resort and were caress't, and many of them received honourablepensions. 

The hospitality here was very great. I shall wave the grandeur ofWilliam the first Earle, who married [Anne] sister to Queen KatharineParre, and was the great favourite of King Henry 8th, and conservatorof his will, and come to our grandfather's memorie, in the times ofhis sonne Henry Earle of Pembroke, and his Countess Mary, daughter ofSir Henry Sydney, and sister to that renowned knight Sir PhilipSydney, whose fame will never die whilest poetrie lives. His Lordshipwas the patron to the men of armes, and to the antiquaries andheralds; he took a great delight in the study of herauldry, asappeares by that curious collection of heraldique manuscripts in thelibrary here. It was this earle that did set up all the painted glassescutchions about the house. Many a brave souldier, no doubt, was hereobliged by his Lordship; but time has obliterated their names. 

Mr. Robert Barret dedicated the "Theorick and Practick of ModerneWarres", in folio, London, 1598, to this noble Earle, and William LordHerbert of Cardiff, his son, then a youth. It seemes to have been avery good discourse as any writt in that time, wherein he shews muchlearning, besides experience. He had spent most of his time inforeigne warres, as the French, Dutch, Italian, and Spanish; and heredelivers his military observations. 

John Jones, an eminent physician in his tyme, wrote a treatise of thebathes at Bath, printed in a black letter, Anno Domini 1572, which hededicated to Henry, Earle of Pembroke. [These dedications weredoubtless acknowledged by pecuniary gifts from the patron to theauthors. - J. B. ] ___________________________________

I shall now passe to the illustrious Lady Mary, Countesse of Pembroke, whom her brother hath eternized by his Arcadia; but many or most ofthe verses in the Arcadia were made by her Honour, and they seem tohave been writt by a woman. 'Twas a great pity that Sir Philip hadnot lived to have put his last hand to it. He spent much, if not mostpart of his time here, and at Ivychurch, near Salisbury, which didthen belong to this family, when he was in England; and I cannotimagine that Mr. Edmund Spenser could be a stranger here. [See, in asubsequent page, Chap. VIII. "The Downes". - J. B. ]

Her Honour's genius lay as much towards chymistrie as poetrie. Thelearned Dr. Mouffet, that wrote of Insects and of Meates, had apension hence. In a catalogue of English playes set forth by GerardLangbain, is thus, viz. : "Lady Pembrock, Antonius, 4to. " [This was anEnglish translation of "The Tragedie of Antonie. Doone intoEnglish by the Countesse of Pembroke. Imprinted at London, for WilliamPonsonby, 1595. " 12mo. The Countess of Pembroke also translated "ADiscourse of Life and Death, written in French, by Phil. Mornay", 1600, 12mo. - J. B. ]

 "Underneath this sable herse Lies the subject of all verse, Sydney's sister, Pembroke's mother, Death! ere thou kill'st such another, Fair, and wise, and learned as SHE, Time will throw a dart at thee. "

These verses were made by Mr. (William*) Browne, who wrote the"Pastoralls", and they are inserted there. 

*(William, Governor afterwards to ye now E. Of Oxford. - J. EVELYN. )

[In the Memoir of Aubrey, published by the Wiltshire TopographicalSociety in 1845, I drew attention to this passage, which shews thatalthough the above famous epitaph on the Countess of Pembroke isalmost always attributed to Ben Jonson, it was, in fact, written byWilliam Browne. That such is really the case does not rest only on theauthority of Aubrey and Evelyn; for we find this very epitaph in avolume of Poems written by Browne, and preserved amongst the LansdowneMSS in the British Museum (No. 777), together with the followingadditional lines:

 "Marble pyles let no man raise To her name for after-dayes; Some kind woman, borne as she, Reading this, like Niobe, Shall turne marble, and become Both her mourner and her tombe. "

To the epitaph is subjoined an "Elegie" on the Countess, ofconsiderable length. When or by whom the epitaph was first ascribedto Jonson it is not easy to ascertain; but certainly no literary errorhas been more frequently repeated. Aubrey is wrong in stating that thelines were printed in Browne's Pastorals. - J. B. ] ___________________________________

Mr. Adrian Gilbert, uterine brother to Sir Walter Raleigh, was a greatchymist, and a man of excellent parts, but very sarcastick, and thegreatest buffoon in the nation. He was housekeeper at Wilton, and madethat delicate orchard where the stately garden now is. . .. .. .. .. .. Hehad a pension, and died about the beginning of the reign of KingCharles the First. Elias Ashmole, Esq. Finds, by Dr. John Dee'spapers, that there was a great friendship and correspondency betweenhim and Adrian Gilbert, and he often mentions him in his manuscripts. Now there can be no doubt made but that his half-brother Sir WalterRaleigh, which was "tam Marti quam Mercurio", had a great acquaintancewith the Earle Henry and his ingenious Countesse. 

There lived in Wilton, in those dayes, one Mr. Boston, a Salisbury man(his father was a brewer there), who was a great chymist, and didgreat cures by his art. The Lady Mary, Countesse of Pembroke, did muchesteeme him for his skill, and would have had him to have been heroperator, and live with her, but he would not accept of her Ladyship'skind offer. But after long search after the philosopher's stone, hedied at Wilton, having spent his estate. After his death they found inhis laboratory two or three baskets of egge shelles, which I rememberGeber saieth is a principall ingredient of that stone. 

J. Donne, Deane of St. Paule's, was well known both to Sir PhilipSydney and his sister Mary, as appeares by those excellent verses inhis poems, "Upon the Translation of the Psalmes by Sir Philip Sydneyand the Countesse of Pembroke his sister. " ___________________________________

Earl William [the second of that name] was a good scholar, anddelighted in poetrie; and did sometimes, for his diversion, write somesonnets and epigrammes, which deserve commendation. Some of them arein print in a little book in 8vo. Intituled "Poems writt by WilliamEarle of Pembroke, and Sir Benjamin Ruddyer, Knight, 1660. " [See ante, page 77. A new edition of these poems was published by Sir EgertonBrydges in 1817. ] He was of an heroique and publick spirit, bountifullto his friends and servants, and a great encourager of learned men. 

Philip Earle of Pembroke [the first of that name], his brother, didnot delight in books or poetry; but exceedingly loved painting andbuilding, in which he had singular judgment, and had the bestcollection of any peer in England. He had a wonderful sagacity in theunderstanding of men, and could discover whether an ambassadour'smessage was reall or feigned; and his Majesty King James made greatuse of this talent of his. Mr. Touars, an ingenious gentleman, whounderstood painting well, and did travell beyond sea to buy rarepieces for his lordship, had a pension of lOOli. Per annum. Mr. Richard Gibson, the dwarfe, whose marriage Mr. Edm. Waller hathcelebrated in his poëms, sc. The Marriage of the Dwarfs, a greatmaster in miniture, hath a pension of an hundred pounds per annum. Mr. Philip Massinger, author of severall good playes, was a servant tohis lordship, and had a pension of twenty or thirty pounds per annum, which was payed to his wife after his decease. She lived at Cardiffe, in Glamorganshire. There were others also had pensions, that I haveforgot. 

[Arthur Massinger, the father of the poet, was attached to theestablishment of the Earl of Pembroke; and Gifford, in his Life ofMassinger, seems inclined to think that Philip was born at Wilton. Hewas baptized in St. Thomas's Church, Salisbury, 24 Nov. 1583. Hisbiographers have all been ignorant of the fact above recorded byAubrey. A brief memoir of the life of Massinger will be found inHatcher's History of Salisbury, p. 619. - J. B. ]

William (third) and Philip (third) earles were gallant, noble persons, and handsome; they espoused not learning, but were addicted to fieldsports and hospitality. But Thomas Earle of Pembroke has thevertues and good parts of his ancestors concentred in him; which hislordship hath not been wanting to cultivate and improve by study andtravell; which make his titles shine more bright. He is an honour tothe peerage, and a glory and a blessing to his country: but his reallworth best speakes him, and it praises him in the gates. 

 PART II. - CHAPTER IV. 

 OF GARDENS: - LAVINGTON GARDEN, CHELSEY GARDEN. 

[THE stately gardens of the seventeenth century were less remarkablefor the cultivation of useful or ornamental plants than for the formalarrangement of their walks, arbours, parterres, and hedges. Amongstthe various decorations introduced were jets d'eau, or fountains, artificial cascades, columns, statues, grottoes, rock-work, mazes orlabyrinths, terraces communicating with each other by flights ofsteps, and similar puerilities. This style of gardening was introducedfrom France; where the celebrated Le Notre had displayed his skill inlaying out the gardens of the palace of Versailles; the most importantspecimens of their class. The same person was afterwards employed byseveral of the English nobility. 

The gardens at Wilton, described in the last chapter, were completelyin the style referred to. Solomon de Caus, to whom they are attributedby Aubrey, is supposed by Mr. Loudon, in his valuable "Encyclopaedia ofGardening", to have been the inventor of greenhouses. The lastmentioned work contains the best account yet published of the gardensof the olden time. Britton's "History of Cassiobury" (folio, 1837), p. 17, also contains some curious particulars of the originalplantations and pleasure grounds of that interesting mansion. 

The gardens at Lavington, which are described in the present chapter, were evidently of the same character with those of Wilton. Chelsey-garden is very minutely described by Aubrey, but our limits forbid itsinsertion, especially as it is irrelevant to a History of Wiltshire. -J. B. ]

 O janitores, villiciq{ue} felices: Dominis parantur isti, serviunt vobis. MARTIAL, Epigramm. 29, lib. X. 

To write in the praise of gardens is besides my designe. The pleasureand use of them were unknown to our great-grandfathers. They werecontented with pot-herbs, and did mind chiefly their stables. Thechronicle tells us, that in the reign of King Henry the 8th pear-mains were so great a rarity that a baskett full of them was a presentto the great Cardinall Wolsey. 

Henry Lyte, of Lyte's Cary, in Somerset, Esq. Translated Dodoens'Herball into English, which he dedicated to Q. Elizabeth, about thebeginning of her reigne [1578]. He had a pretty good collection ofplants for that age; some few whereof are yet alive, 1660: and noquestion but Dr. Gilbert, &c. Did furnish their gardens as well asthey could so long ago, which could be but meanly. But the first peerthat stored his garden with exotick plants was William Earle ofSalisbury, [1612-1668] at his garden at [Hatfield? - J. B. ] a cataloguewhereof, fairly writt in a skin of vellum, consisting of 830 plants, is in the hands of Elias Ashmole, Esq. At South Lambeth. 

But 'twas Sir John Danvers, of Chelsey, who first taught us the way ofItalian gardens. He had well travelled France and Italy, and made goodobservations. He had in a fair body an harmonicall mind. In his youthhis complexion was so exceeding beautiful and fine that Thomas Bond, Esq. Of Ogbourne St. . .. . In Wiltshire, who was his companion in histravells, did say that the people would come after him in the streetto admire him. He had a very fine fancy, which lay chiefly for gardensand architecture. 

The garden at Lavington in this county, and that at Chelsey inMiddlesex, as likewise the house there, doe remaine monuments of hisingenuity. The garden at Lavington is full of irregularities, bothnaturall and artificiall, sc. Elevations and depressions. Through thelength of it there runneth a fine cleare trowt stream; walled withbrick on each side, to hinder the earth from mouldring down. In thisstream are placed severall statues. At the west end is an admirableplace for a grotto, where the great arch is, over which now is themarket roade. Among severall others, there is a very pleasantelevation on the south side of the garden, which steales, arisingalmost insensibly, that is, before one is aware, and gives you a viewover the spatious corn-fields there, and so to East Lavington: where, being landed on a fine levell, letteth you descend again with the likeeasinesse; each side is flanqued with laurells. It is almostimpossible to describe this garden, it is so full of variety andunevenesse; nay, it would be a difficult matter for a good artist tomake a draught of it. About An°. 1686, the right honourable JamesEarle of Abingdon [who had become possessed of the estate in right ofhis wife], built a noble portico, full of water workes, which is onthe north side of the garden, and faceth the south. It is both porticoand grott, and was designed by Mr. Rose, of . .. .. . In Oxfordshire. ___________________________________

Wilton Garden was the third garden after these two of the Italianmode; but in the time of King Charles the Second gardening was muchimproved and became common. I doe believe I may modestly affirme thatthere is now, 1691, ten times as much gardening about London as therewas Anno 1660 ; and wee have been, since that time, much improved inforreign plants, especially since about 1683, there have been exotickplants brought into England no lesse than seven thousand. (From Mr. Watts, gardener of the Apothecary's garden at Chelsey, and otherbotanists. )

As for Longleate Garden it was lately made. I have not seen it, butthey say 'tis noble. 

 ___________________________________

Till the breaking out of the civill warres, Tom ô Bedlam's did travellabout the countrey. They had been poore distracted men that had beenputt into Bedlam, where recovering to some sobernesse they werelicentiated to goe a begging: e. G. They had on their left arm anarmilla of tinn, printed in some workes, about four inches long; theycould not gett it off. They wore about their necks a great horn of anoxe in a string or bawdrie, which, when they came to an house foralmes, they did wind: and they did putt the drink given them into thishorn, whereto they did putt a stopple. Since the warres I doe notremember to have seen any one of them. (I have seen them inWorcestershire within these thirty years, 1756. MS. NOTE, ANONYMOUS. )

[This account of the " bedlam beggars" so well known to ourforefathers, is repeated by Aubrey in his "Remains of Gentilism, "(Lansdowne MSS. No. 231, ) portions of which have been printed in Mr. Thoms's Anecdotes and Traditions (1839). The passage correspondingwith the above is quoted by Mr. Charles Knight from the manuscriptreferred to, in illustration of the character of "Mad Tom, " assumedby Edgar, in Shakspere's play of King Lear. - J. B. ]

 PART II. - CHAPTER V. 

 ARTS: LIBERALL AND MECHANICK. 

CRICKLAD, a market and borough town in this county, was an Universitybefore the Conquest, where were taught the liberall arts and sciences, as may appeare by the learned notes of Mr. Jo. Selden on Drayton'sPoly-Olbion, and by a more convincing and undenyable argument out ofWheelock's translation of Bede's History. 

This University was translated from hence to Oxford. But whereaswriters swallow down the old storie that this place takes its namefrom certain Greek philosophers, who, they say, began here anuniversity, it is a fond opinion. 

[Aubrey here quotes Fuller as to the etymology of the names ofCricklade and Lechlade. That author, on the authority of Leland, hadasserted in his Church History that the one was originally calledGreek - lade, and the other Latin - lade, from "two schooles, famousboth for eloquence and learning", which existed there anterior to theConquest. But, on the report of his "worthy friend Dr. Peter Heylin, "he afterwards stated in his Worthies that "Cricklade was the placefor the professors of Greek; Lechlade for physick (Leech being anold English word for a physitian), and Latton, a small village hardby, the place where Latin was professed. " It will be seen by the nextsentence that Aubrey disputes even the amended theory of Fuller, and, with more probability, derives the names of the towns in question fromwords indicating the natural features of the localities. -J. B. ]

But, as the saying is, "Bernardus non vidit omnia". Had the learned Dr. Heylin (that is Hoelin, little Howell) had a little knowledge of his ancestors' Welsh, he would not have made such a stumble, and so forced these etymologies; but would easily have found that Cricklad comes from kerig, stones; and glad, a country; which two words give a true description of the nature of the country on that side of Cricklad, which is, as wee term it, a stone-brash. Likewise Lechlade, from llech, plank-stones, or tile-stones. As for Latton, it may very well come from laith, which signifies a marsh, and is as much as to say Marshton, as there is a parish thereby called Marston. Hereabout are some few other places which retain their British names with a little disguise. ___________________________________

Without the close of Salisbury, as one comes to the town from Harnham-bridge, opposite to the hospitall, is a hop-yard, with a fair highstone wall about it, and the ruines of an old pidgeon house. I doeremember, 1642, and since, more ruines there. This was Collegium deValle Scholarum (College de Vaux). It took its name from Vaux, afamily. Here was likewise a magister scholarum, and it was in thenature of an university. It was never an endowed college. (From SethWard, Bishop of Sarum. )

[Some historical particulars connected with this scholasticestablishment or college will be found in Hatcher's History ofSalisbury, pp. 50, 92, 232, &c. The author gives a different etymologyof its name to the above. Quoting Mosheim, cent. 13, p. Ii. He statesthat the Professors of Divinity in the University of Paris, in theyear 1234, assembled their pupils and fixed their residence in avalley of Champagne, whence they acquired the name of Valli-scholares, or Scholars of the Valley. Mr. Hatcher adds, that the College atSalisbury, which was founded about 1260, derived its name, andprobably its system of instruction, from this community in France. - J. B. ] ___________________________________

The consistorie of this church (Salisbury) was as eminent forlearning as any in England, and the choire had the best method; hencecame the saying "secundum usum Sarum". Over every stall there was writt "hoc age". These old stalles were taken down about 1671, and now they sitt in the quire undistinguisht, without stalles. 

But it was at the Abbey of Malmesbury where learning did most flourishin our parts, and where most writers were bred, as appeares byPitseus, Baleus, &c. ___________________________________

MECHANICALL ARTS. - Cloathing. [See also subsequent chapters on thissubject] At Salisbury the best whites of England are made. The citywas ever also famous for the manufactures of parchment, razors, cizers, knives, and gloves. Salisbury mault is accounted the bestmault, and they drive there a very considerable trade in maulting. Also it is not to be forgotten that the bottle ale of Salisbury (aslikewise Wilton, upon the same reason, sc. The nitrous water) is thebest bottle ale of this nation. 

Malmesbury hath been an ancient cloathing town; where also is aconsiderable manufacture of gloves and strong waters. Also Troubridge, Calne, and Chippenham are great cloathing townes. ___________________________________

The Devises is famous for making excellent Metheglyn. Mr. Tho. Piersof the Swan did drive a great trade in it. [See ante, p. 68. ]

Amesbury is famous for the best tobacco pipes in England; made by . .. . Gauntlet, who markes the heele of them with a gauntlet, whence theyare called gauntlet pipes. The clay of which they are made is broughtfrom Chiltern in this county. [See ante, p. 35. ]

In King James the First's time coarse paper, commonly calledwhitebrowne paper, was first made in England, especially in Surrey andabout Windsor. 

At Bemarton near Salisbury is a paper mill, which is now, 1684, about130 yeares standing, and the first that was erected in this county;and the workmen there told me, 1669, that it was the second paper millin England. I remember the paper mill at Longdeane, in the parish ofYatton Keynell, was built by Mr. Wyld, a Bristow merchant, 1635. Itserves Bristow with brown paper. There is no white paper made inWiltshire. 

At Crokerton, near Warminster, hath been since the restauration (about1665) a manufacture of felt making, as good, I thinke, as those ofColbec in France. Crokerton hath its denomination from the crokerytrade there; sc. Making of earthen - ware, &c. Crock is the oldEnglish word for a pott. ___________________________________

It ought never to be forgott what our ingenious countreyman SirChristopher Wren proposed to the silke stocking weavers of London, Anno Domini 16-, viz. A way to weave seven paire or nine paire ofstockings at once (it must be an odd number). He demanded four hundredpounds for his invention; but the weavers refused it because they werepoor; and besides, they sayd it would spoile their trade. Perhaps theydid not consider the proverb, that "light gaines, with quickreturnes, make heavy purses. " Sir Christopher was so noble, seeingthey would not adventure so much money, he breakes the modell of theengine all to pieces before their faces. 

[This chapter contains many other remarks on trades, inventions, machinery, &c. Similar in character to the above. - J. B. ]

 PART II - CHAPTER VI. 

 ARCHITECTURE. 

[IN this chapter, the account of Aubrey's visit to Old Sarum, and thetraditions connected with the erection of Salisbury Cathedral, although they furnish no new facts of importance, will be read withinterest; especially on account of the reference they bear to theenlightened and munificent Bishop Ward. A memoir of that prelate waspublished by Dr. Walter Pope, in 1697 (8vo); and some furtherparticulars of him, as connected with Salisbury, will be found inHatcher's valuable History of that City. - J. B. ]

THE celebrated antiquity of Stonehenge, as also that stupendious butunheeded antiquity at Aubury, &c. I affirme to have been temples, andbuilt by the Britons. See my Templa Druidum. [The essay referred towas a part of Aubrey's Monumenta Britannica, the manuscript of whichhas strangely disappeared within the last twenty yeares. I have givenan account of its contents in the Memoir of Aubrey, already frequentlyreferred to, (page 87). Aubrey was the first who asserted that Aveburyand Stonehenge were temples of the Britons. He was also the firstperson who wrote any thing about the forms, styles, and varieties ofwindows, arches, &c. In Church Architecture, and his remarks andopinions on both subjects were judicious, curious, and original. - J. B. ] ___________________________________

Here being so much good stone in this countrey, no doubt but that theRomans had here, as well as in other parts, good buildings. But timehath left us no vestigia of their architecture unlesse that littlethat remains of the castle of Old Sarum, where the mortar is as hardas a stone. This must have been a most august structure, for it issituated upon a hill. When the high walles were standing, flanked atdue distances with towers, about seven in all, and the vast keep(arx) in the middle crowned with another high fortification, it mustneeds afford a most noble view over the plaines. 

(The following account I had from the right reverend, learned, andindustrious Seth Ward, Lord Bishop of Sarum, who had taken the painesto peruse all the old records of the church, that had been clungtogether and untoucht for perhaps two hundred yeares. ) Within thiscastle of Old Sarum, on the east side, stood the Cathedrall church;the tuft and scite is yet discernable: which being seated so high wasso obnoxious to the weather, that when the wind did blow they couldnot heare the priest say masse. But this was not the onlyinconvenience. The soldiers of the castle and the priests could neveragree; and one day, when they were gone without the castle inprocession, the soldiers kept them out all night, or longer. Whereuponthe Bishop, being much troubled, cheered them up as well as he could, and told them he would study to accommodate them better. In orderthereunto he rode severall times to the Lady Abbesse at Wilton to havebought or exchanged a piece of ground of her ladyship to build achurch and houses for the priests. A poor woman at Quidhampton, thatwas spinning in the street, sayd to one of her neighbours, "I marvellwhat the matter is that the bishop makes so many visits to my lady; Itrow he intends to marry her. " Well, the bishop and her ladyship didnot conclude about the land, and the bishop dreamt that the VirginMary came to him, and brought him to or told him of Merrifield; shewould have him build his church there and dedicate it to her. Merrifield was a great field or meadow where the city of New Sarumstands, and did belong to the Bishop, as now the whole city belongs tohim. 

This was about the latter end of King John's reigne, and the firstgrant or diploma that ever King Henry the Third signed was that forthe building of our Ladies church at Salisbury. The Bishop sent forarchitects from Italy, and they did not onely build that famousstructure, and the close, but layd out the streetes of the whole city:which run parallell one to another, and the market-place-square inthe middle: whereas in other cities they were built by chance, and atseverall times. 

I know but one citie besides in England that was designed and layd outat once as this was; and that is Chichester: where, standing at themarket-crosse, you may see the four gates of the city. They saythere that it was built about the same time that New Salisbury was, and had some of those architects. * The town of Richelieu was builtthen by the great Cardinall, when he built his august chasteau there. 

*[Salisbury has little parallelism to its neighbour Chichester, which is of Roman origin: the former being truly English, andperfectly unique in its history and arrangement. Aubrey has omitted tonotice the rapid streams of water flowing through each of theprincipal streets, which form a remarkable feature of the city. - J. B. ]

Upon the building of this cathedrall and close the castle of Old Sarumwent to wrack, and one may see in the walles of the close abundance ofstones, finely carved, that were perhaps part of the church there. After the church and close were built, the citizens had theirfreestone, &c. From thence. And in Edward the Sixth's time, the greathouse of the Earle of Pembroke, at Wilton, was built with the mines ofit. About 1660 I was upon it. There was then remaining on the southside some of the walles of the great gate; and on the north side therewas some remaines of a bottome of a tower; but the incrustation offreestone was almost all gone: a fellow was then picking at thatlittle that was left. 'Tis like enough by this time they have diggedall away. 

Salisbury. - Edw. Leigh, Esq. "There is a stately and beautifullminster, with an exceeding high spered steeple, and double crosseaisle on both sides. The windowes of the church, as they reckon them, answer just in number to the dayes; the pillars, great and small, tothe houres, of a full yeare; and the gates to the moneths. " -["England Described; or, Observations on the several Counties andShires thereof, by Edw. Leigh. " 1659. 8vo. ]

 "Mira canam, soles quot continet annus, in unâ Tam numerosa ferunt sede fenestra micat. Marmoreaq{ue} capit fusas tot ab arte columnas Comprensus horas quot vagus annus habet. Totq{ue}patent portæ, quot mensibus annus abundat, Res mira, et vera, res celebrata fide. " - DANIEL ROGERS. 

'Tis strange to see how errour hath crept in upon the people, whobelieve that the pillars of this church were cast, forsooth, aschandlers make candles; and the like is reported of the pillars of theTemple Church, London, &c. : and not onely the vulgar swallow down thetradition gleb, but severall learned and otherwise understandingpersons will not be perswaded to the contrary, and that the art islost. [Among the rest Fuller, in his Worthies of England, gavecurrency to this absurd opinion. - J. B. ] Nay, all the bishops andchurchmen of that church in my remembrance did believe it, till BishopWard came, who would not be so imposed on; and the like errour runnesfrom generation to generation concerning Stoneheng, that the stonesthere are artificiall. But, to returne to the pillars of this church, they are all reall marble, and shew the graine of the Sussex marble(sc. The little cockles), from whence they were brought. [Thesepillars are not made of Sussex marble; but of that kind which isbrought from a part of Dorsetshire called the Isle of Purbeck. - J. B. ]At every nine foot they are jointed with an ornament or band of ironor copper. This quarrie hath been closed up and forgott time out ofmind, and the last yeare, 1680, it was accidentally discovered byfelling of an old oake; and it now serves London. (From Mr. Bushnell, the stone-cutter. )

The old tradition is, that this church was "built upon wooll-packs", and doubtlesse there is something in it which is now forgott. I shallendeavour to retrieve and unriddle it by comparison. There is a towerat Rouen in Normandie called the Butter Tower; for when it was built atoll was layd upon all the butter that was brought to Rouen, for andtowards the building of this tower; as now there is a [duty] layd uponevery chaldron of coales towards the building of St Paul's Church, London: so hereafter they may say that that church was built upon New-Castle coales. In like manner it might be that heretofore, whenSalisbury Cathedral was building, which was long before wooll wasmanufactured in England (the merchants of the staple sent it then inwoolpacks beyond sea, to Flanders, &c. ), that an imposition might beputt on the Wiltshire wool-packs towards the carrying on of thismagnificent structure. There is a saying also that London Bridge wasbuilt upon wooll-packs, upon the same account. 

The height of Our Lady steeple at Salisbury was never found so littleas 400 foot, and never more than 406 foot, by the observations ofThom. Nash, surveyor of the workes of this church: but Colonell JohnWyndham did take the height more accurately, An° 1684, by abarometer: sc. The height of the weather-dore of Our Lady Churchsteeple at Salisbury from the ground is 4280 inches. The mercurysubsided in that height 42/100 of an inch. He affirms that the heightof the said steeple is 404 foot, which he hath tryed severall times;and by the help of his barometer, which is accurately made accordingto his direction, he will with great facility take the height of anymountain: quod N. B. [Col. Wyndham's measurement has been adopted ascorrect by most authors who have written on the subject since. - J. B. ]

Memorandum. About 1669 or 1670 Bishop Ward invited Sir ChristopherWren to Salisbury, out of curiosity, to survey the church there, as tothe steeple, architecture, &c. He was above a weeke about it, andwritt a sheet or a sheet and a halfe, an account of it, which hepresented to the bishop. I asked the bishop since for it, and he toldme he had lent it, to whom he could not tell, and had no copy of it. 'Tis great pity the paines of so great an artist should be lost. SirChristopher tells me he hath no copie of it neither. 

This year, 1691, Mr. Anth. Wood tells me, he hath gott a transcript ofSir Chr. Wren's paper; which obtain, and insert here. I much doubted Ishould never have heard of it again. 

[Soon after writing this passage Aubrey probably obtained a copy ofSir Christopher Wren's report, which he has inserted in his originalmanuscript. It is dated in 1669, and occupies eleven folio pages. InThe History and Antiquities of the Cathedral of Salisbury, &c. (1723, 8vo. ), it is printed, and described as "An Architectonical Account ofthis Cathedral", by "an eminent gentleman". Part of the same reportwas printed in Wren's Parentalia (1750); and a short abstract of itwill also be found in Dodsworth's Salisbury Cathedral (written by thelate Mr. Hatcher), p. 172. In a communication from the last named gentleman in 1841, when he was engaged upon his History of Salisbury, he wrote to me as follows: "I have lately fallen upon what appears to have been Sir C. Wren's original report relative to the cathedral; a very elaborate report on the state of the building in 1691, by a person named Naish; some good observations on the bending of the piers (anonymous); and several estimates and observations made by Price. What I shall do with them I have not yet determined. " - J. B. ] ___________________________________

Wardour Castle was very strongly built of freestone. I never saw itbut when I was a youth; the day after part of it was blown up: and themortar was so good that one of the little towers reclining on oneside did hang together and not fall in peeces. It was called WarderCastle from the conserving there the ammunition of the West. ___________________________________

Sir William Dugdale told me, many years since, that about Henry theThird's time the Pope gave a bull or patents to a company of ItalianFreemasons to travell up and down over all Europe to build churches. From those are derived the fraternity of adopted Masons. They areknown to one another by certain signes and watch-words: it continuesto this day. They have severall lodges in severall counties for theirreception, and when any of them fall into decay the brotherhood is torelieve him, &c. The manner of their adoption is very formall, andwith an oath of secresy. 

Memorandum. This day, May the 18th, being Munday, 1691, after RogationSunday, is a great convention at St. Paul's Church of the fraternityof the adopted Masons, where Sir Christopher Wren is to be adopted abrother, and Sir Henry Goodric, of the Tower, and divers others. Therehave been kings of this sodality. ___________________________________

At Pottern, a great mannour belonging to the Bishop of Sarum, is avery faire strong built church, with a great tower in the middest ofthe crosse aisle. It is exactly of the same architecture of thecathedrall church at Sarum, and the windowes are painted by the samehand, in that kind of Gothick grotesco. Likewise the church at KingtonSt. Michael's, and that at Sopworth, are of the same fashion, andbuilt about the same time, sc. With slender marble pillars to thewindowes; and just so the church of Glastonbury Abbey, and WestminsterAbbey. Likewise the architecture of the church at Bishop's Cannings isthe same, and such pillars to the windowes. ___________________________________

At Calne was a fine high steeple which stood upon four pillars in themiddle of the church. One of the pillars was faulty, and thechurchwardens were dilatory, as is usual in such cases. - Chivers, Esq. Of that parish, foreseeing the fall of it, if not prevented, andthe great charge they must be at by it, brought down Mr. Inigo Jonesto survey it. This was about 1639 or 1640: he gave him 30 li. Out ofhis own purse for his paines. Mr. Jones would have underbuilt it foran hundred pounds. About 1645 it fell down, on a Saturday, and alsobroke down the chancell; the parish have since been at 1, 000 li. Charge to make a new heavy tower. Such will be the fate of our steepleat Kington St. Michael; one cannot perswade the parishioners to goeout of their own way. [In another of Aubrey's MSS. (his "Descriptionof North Wiltshire"), is a sketch of the tower and spire of the churchof Kington St. Michael, shewing several large and serious cracks inthe walls. The spire was blown down in 1703, its neglected state nodoubt contributing to its fall. The following manuscript note by JamesGilpin, Esq. Recorder of Oxford (who was born at Kington in 1709), maybe added, from my own collections for the history of this, my nativeparish. "In ye great storm in ye year 1703, ye spire of this churchwas blown down, and two of ye old bells I remember standing in yebelfry till ye tower was pulled down in 1724, in order to be rebuiltIt was rebuilt accordingly, and the bells were then new cast, with yeassistance of Mr. Harington ye Vicar, who gave a new bell, on whichhis name is inscribed, so as to make a peal of six bells. On thesebells are the following inscriptions:- 1. Prosperity to this parish, 1726. 2. Peace and good neighbourhood, 1726. 3. Prosperity to yeChurch of England, 1726. 4. William Harington, Vicar. A. R. 1726(A. R. Means Abraham Rudhall, ye bell founder). 5. Has no inscription, but 1726 in gilt figures. 6. Jonathan Power and Robert Hewett, Churchwardens, 1726. " - J. B. ] ___________________________________

Sir William Dugdale told me he finds that painting in glasse camefirst into England in King John's time. Before the Reformation Ibelieve there was no county or great town in England but had glassepainters. Old . .. .. . Harding, of Blandford in Dorsetshire, where Iwent to schoole, was the only countrey glasse-painter that ever I knew. Upon play dayes I was wont to visit his shop and furnaces. He dyed about 1643, aged about 83, or more. 

In St. Edmund's church at Salisbury were curious painted glassewindowes, especially in the chancell, where there was one window, Ithink the east window, of such exquisite worke that Gundamour, theSpanish Ambassadour, did offer some hundreds of pounds for it, if itmight have been bought. In one of the windowes was the picture of Godthe Father, like an old man, which gave offence to H. Shervill, Esq. Then Recorder of this city (this was about 1631), who, out of zeale, came and brake some of these windowes, and clambering upon one of thepews to be able to reach high enough, fell down and brake his leg. Forthis action he was brought into the Starr-Chamber, and had a greatfine layd upon him [£500. J. B. ] which, I think, did undoe him. [See aminute and interesting account of Sherfield's offence, and theproceedings at the trial, in Hatcher's History of Salisbury, p. 371-374. - J. B. ] ___________________________________

There was, at the Abbey of Malmesbury, a very high spire-steeple, ashigh almost, they at Malmesbury say, as that of St. Paul's, London;and they further report, that when the steeple fell down the ball ofit fell as far as the Griffin Inne. ___________________________________

The top of the tower of Sutton Benger is very elegant, there is notsuch another in the county. It much resembles St Walborough's [St. Werburg's] at Bristoll. [The tower of Sutton Benger church, herealluded to, has a large open-work'd pinnacle, rising from the centreof the roof; a beautiful and very singular ornament. See the wood-cutin the title-page of the present volume. - J. B. ]

The priory of Broadstock was very well built, and with good strongribbs, as one may conclude by the remaines that are left of it yetstanding, which are the cellar, which is strongly vaulted withfreestone, and the hall above it. It is the stateliest cellar inWiltshire. The Hall is spatious, and within that the priour's parlour, wherein is good carving. In the middle of the south side of the hallis a large chimney, over which is a great window, so that the draughtof the smoake runnes on each side of the chimney. Above the cellarsthe hall and parlours are one moietie; the church or, chapell stood onthe south side of the hall, under which was a vault, as at St. Faithesunder Paules. The very fundations of this fair church are now, 1666, digged up, where I saw severall freestone coffins, having two holesbored in the bottome, and severall capitalls and bases of handsomeGothique pillars. On the west end of the hall was the King'slodgeings, which they say were very noble, and standing about 1588. [Aubrey records some further particulars of Bradenstoke Priory; ashort account of which edifice will be found in the third volume ofthe Beauties of Wiltshire. The Gentleman's Magazine, Nov. 1833, contains a wood-cut and account of this old religious house. See alsoBowles's History of Lacock Abbey. -J. B. ]

The church of Broad Chalke was dedicated to All-Hallowes, as appearesby the ancient parish booke. The tradition is that it was built by alawyer, whose picture is in severall of the glasse-windowes yetremaining, kneeling, in a purple gowne or robe, and at the bottome ofthe windowes this subscription: "Orate pro felici statu MagistriSieardi Lenot". This church hath no pillar, and the breadth is thirtyand two feete and two inches. Hereabout are no trees now growing thatwould be long enough to make the crosse beames that doe reach fromside to side. By the fashion of the windowes I doe guesse that it wasbuilt in the reigne of King Henry the Sixth. [The church of BroadChalk is described in Hoare's Modern Wiltshire, Hundred of Chalk, p. 148. ] ___________________________________

The market-crosses of Salisbury, Malmesbury, and Trowbridge, are verynoble: standing on six pillars, and well vaulted over with freestonewell carved. On every one of these crosses above sayd the crest ofHungerford, the sickles, doth flourish like parietaria or wall-flower, as likewise on most publique buildings in these parts, which witnessenot onely their opulency but munificency. I doe think there is suchanother crosse at Cricklade, with the coate and crests of Hungerford. Quaere de hoc. [There is not any cross remaining in Trowbridge; andthat at Cricklade, in the high street, is merely a single shaft, placed on a base of steps. The one at Salisbury is a plain unadornedbuilding; but that of Malmesbury is a fine ornamented edifice. It isdescribed and illustrated in my "Dictionary of the Architecture andArchaeology of the Middle Ages". - J. B. ] ___________________________________

The Lord Stourton's house at Stourton is very large and very old, butis little considerable as to the architecture. The pavement of thechapell there is of bricks, annealed or painted yellow, with theircoat and rebus; sc. A tower and a tunne. These enamelled bricks havenot been in use these last hundred yeares. The old paving of Our LadyChurch at Salisbury was of such; and the choire of Gloucester churchis paved with admirable bricks of this fashion. A little chapell atMerton, in the Earle of Shaftesbury's house, is paved with such tiles, whereon are annealed or enamelled the coate and quarterings of Horsey. It is pity that this fashion is not revived; they are handsome and farmore wholesome than marble paving in our could climate, and muchcheaper. They have been disused ever since King Edward the Sixth'stime. [Aubrey would have rejoiced to witness the success which hasattended the revived use of ornamental paving tiles within the lastfew years. Messrs. Copeland and Garrett, and Mr. Minton, of Stoke-upon-Trent, as well as the Messrs. Chamberlain of Worcester, areengaged in making large numbers of these tiles, which are nowextensively employed by church architects. Those individuals haveproduced tiles equal in excellence and beauty to the ancientspecimens. -J. B. ] ___________________________________

Heretofore all gentlemen's houses had fish ponds, and their houses hadmotes drawn about them, both for strength and for convenience of fishon fasting days. 

The architecture of an old English gentleman's house, especially inWiltshire and thereabout, was a good high strong wall, a gate house, agreat hall and parlour, and within the little green court where youcome in, stood on one side the barne: they then thought not the noiseof the threshold ill musique. This is yet to be seen at severall oldhouses and seates, e. G. Bradfield, Alderton, Stanton St. Quintin, Yatton-Keynell, &c. 

Fallersdowne, vulgo Falston, was built by a Baynton, about perhapsHenry the Fifth. Here was a noble old-fashioned house, with a moteabout it and drawbridge, and strong high walles embatteled. They did consist of a layer of freestone and a layer of flints, squared or headed; two towers faced the south, one the east, the otherthe west end. After the garrison was gonn the mote was filled up, about 1650, and the high wall pulled down and one of the towers. Baynton was attainted about Henry the Sixth. Afterwards the Lord ChiefJustice Cheyney had it About the beginning of Queen Elizabeth, . .. .. Vaughan of Glamorganshire bought it; and about 1649, Sir GeorgeVaughan sold it to Philip Earle of Pembroke. 

Longleate House is the most august building in the kingdome. It wasbuilt by [Edward] Seymor, Duke of Somerset, Lord Protector, * temporeEdward VI. , who sent for the architects out of Italy. The length is272 foot, the breadth 172 foot; measured by Mr. Moore, Clericus. It isas high as the Banqueting house at Whitehall, outwardly adorned withDorick, lonick, and Corinthian pillars. Mr. Dankertz drew a landskipof it, which was engraved. Desire Mr. Rose to gett me a print of it. 

*[This statement is erroneous. Maiden Bradley, which is not far fromLongleat, has been a seat of the noble family of Seymour for manycenturies, and they have an old mansion there; but the family neverpossessed Longleat. The latter estate, on the contrary, was granted byKing Henry VIII. To Sir John Horsey, and Edward Earl of Hertford, fromwhom it was purchased by Sir John Thynne, ancestor of its presentproprietor, the Marquess of Bath. In 1576, Sir John commenced thesplendid mansion at Longleat, which some writers assert was designedby John of Padua. The works were regularly prosecuted during the nexttwelve years, and completed by the two succeeding owners of theproperty. See Architectural Antiquities of Great Britain, vol. Ii. - J. B. ]

Longford House was built by the Lord Georges, after the fashion of oneof the King of Swedland's palaces. The figure of it is triangular, and the roomes of state are in the round towers in the angles. Theseround roomes are adorned with black marble Corinthian pillars, withgilded capitalls and bases. 'Twas sold to the Lord Colraine about1646. [It now belongs to the Earl of Radnor. Plans, views, andaccounts of this mansion, as well as of Longleat and Charlton Houses, are published in the "Architectural Antiquities", vol. Ii. -J. B. ]

Charlton House was built by the Earl of Suffolk, Lord High Treasurer, about the beginning of King James the First, when architecture was ata low ebbe. ___________________________________

At Broad Chalke is one of the tunablest ring of bells in Wiltshire, which hang advantageously; the river running near the churchyard, which meliorates the sound. Here were but four bells till anno 1616was added a fifth; and in anno 1659 Sir George Penruddock and I madeourselves church-wardens, or else the fair church had fallen, fromthe niggardlinesse of the churchwardens of mean condition, and then weadded the sixth bell. 

The great bell at Westminster, in the Clockiar at the New Palace Yard, 36, OOOlib. Weight. See Stow's Survey of London, de hoc. It was givenby Jo. Montacute, Earle of (Salisbury, I think). Part of theinscription is thus, sc. ". .. .. . Annis ab acuto monte Johannis. "

 PART II. -CHAPTER VII. 

 AGRICULTURE. 

[THE late Mr. Thos. Davis, of Longleat, Steward to the Marquess ofBath, drew up an admirable "View of the Agriculture of the County ofWilts", which was printed by the Board of Agriculture in 1794. 8vo. -J. B. ]

CONSIDERING the distance of place where I now write, London, and thedistance of time that I lived in this county, I am not able to give asatisfactorie account of the husbandry thereof. I will only say of ourhusbandmen, as Sir Thom. Overbury does of the Oxford scholars, thatthey goe after the fashion; that is, when the fashion is almost outthey take it up: so our countrey-men are very late and very unwillingto learne or be brought to new improvements. 

[It was scarcely a reproach to the Wiltshire husbandmen to be farbehind those of more enlightened counties, when, in the seat oflearning, where the mental faculties of the students ought to havebeen continually exercised and cultivated, and not merely occupied inlearning useless Greek and Latin, the "Oxford scholars" followed, rather than led, the fashion. Agricultural societies were thenunknown, farmers had little communication with distant districts, andconsequently knew nothing of the practice of other places; rents werelow, and the same families continued in the farms from generation togeneration, pursuing the same routine of Agriculture which theirfathers and grandfathers had pursued "time out of mind". In the daysof my own boyhood, nearly seventy years ago, I spent some time at asolitary farmhouse in North Wiltshire, with a grandfather and hisfamily, and can remember the various occupations and practices of thepersons employed in the dairy, and on the grazing and corn lands. Inever saw either a book or newspaper in the house; nor were anyaccounts of the farming kept. - J. B. ]

The Devonshire men were the earliest improvers. I heard OliverCromwell, Protector, at dinner at Hampton Court, 1657 or 8, tell theLord Arundell of Wardour and the Lord Fitzwilliams that he had been inall the counties of England, and that the Devonshire husbandry was thebest: and at length we have obtained a good deal of it, which is nowwell known and need not to be rehearsed. But William Scott, ofHedington, a very understanding man in these things, told me thatsince 1630 the fashion of husbandry in this country had been alteredthree times over, still refining. 

Mr. Bishop, of Merton, first brought into the south of Wiltshire theimprovement by burn-beking or Denshiring, about 1639. He learnt it inFlanders; it is very much used in this parish, and their neighboursdoe imitate them: they say 'tis good for the father, but naught forthe son, by reason it does so weare out the heart of the land. 

[The reader will find many observations of this nature, and onanalogous subjects, in the manuscript, which it has not been thoughtdesirable to print. Among the rest are several pages from JohnNorden's "Surveyor's Dialogue", containing advice and directionsrespecting agriculture, of which Aubrey says, "though they are not ofWiltshire, they will do no hurt here; and, if my countrymen know itnot, I wish they might learn". - J. B. ] ___________________________________

The wheate and bread of this county, especially South Wilts, is butindifferent; that of the Vale of White Horse is excellent. KingCharles II. When he lay at Salisbury, in his progresse, complainedthat he found there neither good bread nor good beer. But for thelatter, 'twas the fault of the brewer not to boil it well; for thewater and the mault there are as good as any in England. ___________________________________

The improvement by cinque-foile, which now spreads much in the stone-brash lands, was first used at North Wraxhall by Nicholas Hall, whocame from Dundery in Somersetshire, about the yeare 1650. 

George Johnson, Esq. Counsellour-at-law, did improve some of hisestate at Bowdon-parke, by marling, from 6d. An acre to 25sh. He didlay three hundred loades of blew marle upon an acre. ___________________________________

Sir William Basset, of Claverdoun, hath made the best vinyard that Ihave heard of in England. He sayes that the Navarre grape is the bestfor our climate, and that the eastern sunn does most comfort the vine, by putting off the cold. Mr. Jo. Ash, of Teffont Ewyas, has a prettyvineyard of about six acres, made anno 1665. Sir Walter Erneley, Baronet, told me, a little before he died, that he was making one atStert, I thinke, neer the Devizes. ___________________________________

The improvement of watering meadows began at Wyley, about 1635, aboutwhich time, I remember, we began to use them at Chalke. Watering ofmeadows about Marleburgh and so to Hungerford was, I remember, about1646, and Mr. John Bayly, of Bishop's Down, near Salisbury, about thesame time made his great improvements by watering there by St. Thomas's Bridge. This is as old as the Romans; e. G. Virgil, "Clauditejam rivos, pueri, sat prata biberunt". Mr. Jo. Evelyn told me that outof Varro, Cato, and Columella are to be extracted all good rules ofhusbandry; and he wishes that a good collection or extraction weremade out of them. ___________________________________

INCLOSING. - Anciently, in the hundreds of Malmesbury and Chippenhamwere but few enclosures, and that near houses. The north part ofWiltshire was in those dayes admirable for field-sports. All vastchampian fields, as now about Sherston and Marsfield. King Henry the 7brought in depopulations, and that inclosures; and after thedissolution of the abbeys in Hen. 8 time more inclosing. About 1695all between Easton Piers and Castle Comb was a campania, likeCoteswold, upon which it borders; and then Yatton and Castle Combe didintercommon together. Between these two parishes much hath beenenclosed in my remembrance, and every day more and more. I doeremember about 1633 but one enclosure to Chipnam-field, which was atthe north end, and by this time I thinke it is all inclosed. So allbetween Kington St. Michael and Dracot Cerne was common field, and thewest field of Kington St. Michael between Easton Piers and Haywood wasinclosed in 1664. Then were a world of labouring people maintained bythe plough, as they were likewise in Northamptonshire. 'Tis observedthat the inclosures of Northamptonshire have been unfortunate since, and not one of them have prospered. ___________________________________

Mr. Toogood, of Harcot, has fenced his grounds with crab-tree hedges, which are so thick that no boare can gett through them. Captain Jones, of Newton Tony, did the like on his downes. Their method is thus: theyfirst runne a furrow with the plough, and then they sow the cakes ofthe crabbes, which they gett at the verjuice mill. It growes verywell, and on many of them they doe graffe. ___________________________________

Limeing of ground was not used but about 1595, some time after thecomeing in of tobacco. (From Sir Edw. Ford of Devon. ) ___________________________________

Old Mr. Broughton, of Herefordshire, was the man that brought in thehusbandry of soap ashes. He living at Bristoll, where much soap ismade, and the haven there was like to have been choak't up with it, considering that ground was much meliorated by compost, &c. Didundertake this experiment, and having land near the city, didaccordingly improve it with soap ashes. I remember the gentleman verywell. He dyed about 1650, I believe near 90 yeares old, and was thehandsomest, well limbed, strait old man that ever I saw, had a goodwitt and a graceful elocution. He was the father of Bess Broughton, one of the greatest beauties of her age. ___________________________________

Proverb for apples, peares, hawthorns, quicksetts, oakes:

 "Sett them at All-hallow-tyde, and command them to grow; Sett them at Candlemass, and entreat them to grow. " ___________________________________

Butter and Cheese. At Pertwood and about Lidyard as good butter ismade as any in England, but the cheese is not so good. About Lidyard, in those fatt grounds, in hott weather, the best huswives cannot keeptheir cheese from heaving. The art to keep it from heaving is to puttin cold water. Sowre wood-sere grounds doe yield the best cheese, andsuch are Cheshire. Bromefield, in the parish of Yatton, is so - sowerand wett - and where I had better cheese made than anywhere in all theneighbourhood. 

Somerset proverb:

 "If you will have a good cheese, and hav'n old, You must turn'n seven times before he is cold. "

Jo. Shakespeare's wife, of Worplesdowne in Surrey, a North Wiltshirewoman, and an excellent huswife, does assure me that she makes as goodcheese there as ever she did at Wraxhall or Bitteston, and that it ismeerly for want of art that her neighbours doe not make as good; theysend their butter to London. So it appeares that, some time or other, when there in the vale of Sussex and Surrey they have the NorthWiltshire skill, that halfe the cheese trade of the markets of Tedburyand Marleborough will be spoiled. 

Now of late, sc. About 1680, in North Wiltshire, they have alteredtheir fashion from thinne cheeses about an inch thick, made so for thesake of drying and quick sale, called at London Marleborough cheese, to thick ones, as the Cheshire cheese. At Marleborough and Tedbury theLondon cheese-mongers doe keep their factors for their trade. [At theclose of the last century Reading was the principal seat of the Londoncheese factors, who visited the different farms in Wiltshire once ineach year to purchase the cheese, which was sent in waggons toReading: often by circuitous routes in order to save the tolls payableon turnpike roads. - J. B. ] ___________________________________

Maulting and Brewing. It is certain that Salisbury mault is betterthan any other in the West; but they have no more skill there thanelsewhere. It is the water there is the chiefest cause of itsgoodnesse: perhaps the nitrousnesse of the maulting floores maysomething help. 

[Aubrey devotes several pages to these subjects. He particularlycommends "The History of Malting, or the method of making Malt, practised at Derby, described for R. T. Esq. By J. F. (JohnFlamsteed), January 1682-3", which was printed in "A Collection ofLetters for ye Improvement of Husbandry and Trade", No. 7, Thursday, June 15, 1682. This paper by Flamsteed, which is of considerablelength, is inserted by Aubrey in both his manuscripts: a printed copyin the original at Oxford, and a transcript in the Royal Society'sfair copy. - J. B. ]

It may be objected how came that great astronomer, Mr. John Flamsteed, to know so much the mystery of malsters. Why, his father is a maulsterat Derby; and he himself was a maulster, and did drive a trade in ittill he was about twenty yeares of age, at what time Sir Jonas Mooreinvited him to London. [The best memoir of Flamsteed will be found in"An Account of the Rev. John Flamsteed, the first Astronomer Royal, compiled from his own manuscripts and other authentic documents neverbefore published. To which is added his British Catalogue of Stars, corrected and enlarged. By Francis Baily, Esq. &c. &c. Printed byorder of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. London, 1835". Suchis the title of a large quarto volume which my late esteemed friendand neighbour Mr. Baily edited and wrote, con amore; and whichcontains not only a curious autobiography of the first AstronomerRoyal of Great Britain, but numerous letters, documents, andmiscellaneous information on the science of astronomy as it was knownin Flamsteed's time, and up to the time of the publication of thevolume. This work was printed at the expense of the government, andpresented to public colleges and societies, to royal and publiclibraries, and to many persons distinguished in science andliterature. Hence it may be regarded as a choice and remarkableliterary production. Some curious particulars of Flamsteed's quarrelwith Sir Isaac Newton, respecting the printing of his "HistoriaCoelestis", are given in Mr. Baily's volume, which tend to shew thatthe latter, in conjunction with Halley and other persons, perseveringly annoyed and injured Flamsteed in various ways, and for aconsiderable time. Some of the admirers of Newton's moral characterhaving attempted to extenuate his conduct, Mr. Baily published aSupplement to his work, in which he shews that such attempts hadcompletely failed. - J. B. ]

 PART II. - CHAPTER VIII. THE DOWNES. 

WE now make our ascent to the second elevation or the hill countrey, known by the name of the Downes, or Salisbury Plaines; and they arethe most spacious plaines in Europe, and the greatest remaines that Ican heare of of the smooth primitive world when it lay all underwater. 

These downes runne into Hampshire, Berkshire, and Dorsetshire; but asto its extent in this county, it is from Red-hone, the hill aboveUrshfont, to Salisbury, north and south, and from Mere toLurgershall, east and west. The turfe is of a short sweet grasse, goodfor the sheep, and delightfull to the eye, for its smoothnesse likea bowling green, and pleasant to the traveller; who wants here onlyvariety of objects to make his journey lesse tedious: for here is "nilnisi campus et aer", not a tree, or rarely a bush to shelter one froma shower. 

The soile of the downes I take generally to be a white earth or mawme. More south, sc. About Wilton and Chalke, the downes are intermixt withboscages that nothing can be more pleasant, and in the summer time doeexcell Arcadia in verdant and rich turfe and moderate aire, but inwinter indeed our air is cold and rawe. The innocent lives here of theshepherds doe give us a resemblance of the golden age. Jacob and Esauwere shepherds; and Amos, one of the royall family, asserts the sameof himself, for he was among the shepherds of Tecua [Tekoa] followingthat employment. The like, by God's own appointment, prepared Mosesfor a scepter, as Philo intimates in his life, when he tells us that ashepherd's art is a suitable preparation to a kingdome. The same hementions in his Life of Joseph, affirming that the care a shepherd hasover his cattle very much resembles that which a King hath over hissubjects. The same St. Basil, in his Homily de St. Mamme Martyre has, concerning David, who was taken from following the ewes great withyoung ones to feed Israel. The Romans, the worthiest and greatestnation in the world, sprang from shepherds. The augury of the twelvevultures plac't a scepter in Romulus's hand, which held a crookbefore; and as Ovid sayes:-

 "His own small flock each senator did keep. "

Lucretius mentions an extraordinary happinesse, and as it weredivinity in a shepherd's life: -

 "Thro' shepherds' care, and their divine retreats. "

And, to speake from the very bottome of my heart, not to mention theintegrity and innocence of shepherds, upon which so many have insistedand copiously declaimed, methinkes he is much more happy in a woodthat at ease contemplates the universe as his own, and in it the sunnand starrs, the pleasing meadows, shades, groves, green banks, statelytrees, flowing springs, and the wanton windings of a river, fitobjects for quiet innocence, than he that with fire and sword disturbsthe world, and measures his possessions by the wast that lies abouthim. 

These plaines doe abound with hares, fallow deer, partridges, andbustards. [The fallow deer and bustards have long since disappearedfrom these plains; but hares and partridges abound in the vicinity ofgentlemen's seats, particularly around Everleigh, Tidworth, Amesbury, Wilbury, Wilton, Earl-Stoke, Clarendon, &c. - Vide ante, p. 64. - J. B. ] In this tract is ye Earle of Pembroke's noble seat at Wilton;but the Arcadia and the Daphne is about Vernditch and Wilton; andthese romancy plaines and boscages did no doubt conduce to thehightening of Sir Philip Sydney's phansie. He lived much in theseparts, and his most masterly touches of his pastoralls he wrote hereupon the spott, where they were conceived. 'Twas about these purlieusthat the muses were wont to appeare to Sir Philip Sydney, and where hewrote down their dictates in his table book, though on horseback. * Forthose nimble fugitives, except they be presently registred, fly away, and perhaps can never be caught again. But they were never so kind toappeare to me, though I am the usufructuary:† it seemes they reservethat grace only for the proprietors, to whom they have continued aconstant kindnesse for a succession of generations of the no lesseingenious than honorable family of the Herberts. These were theplaces where our Kings and Queens used to divert themselves in thehunting season. Cranbourn Chase, which reaches from Harnham Bridge, atSalisbury, near to Blandford, was belonging to Roger Mortimer, Earleof March: his seate was at his castle at Cranbourne. If these oakeshere were vocall as Dodona's, some of the old dotards (old stagge-headed oakes, so called) could give us an account of the amours andsecret whispers between this great Earle and the faire Queen Isabell. 

*I remember some old relations of mine and [other] old men hereaboutthat have seen Sir Philip doe thus. 

†[Aubrey held the manor farm of Broad Chalk under a lease from theEarl of Pembroke. - J. B. ]

To find the proportion of the downes of this countrey to the vales, Idid divide Speed's Mappe of Wiltshire with a paire of cizars, according to the respective hundreds of downes and vale, and I weighedthem in a curious ballance of a goldsmith, and the proportion of thehill countrey to the vale is as . .. . To . .. . Sc. About 3/4 fere. ___________________________________

SHEEP. As to the nature of our Wiltshire sheep, negatively, they arenot subject to the shaking; which the Dorsetshire sheep are. Our sheepabout Chalke doe never die of the rott. My Cos. Scott does assure methat I may modestly allow a thousand sheep to a tything, one withanother. Mr. Rogers was for allowing of two thousand sheep, one withanother, to a tything, but my Cosin Scott saies that is too high. ___________________________________

SHEPHERDS. The Britons received their knowledge of agriculture fromthe Romans, and they retain yet many of their customes. The festivallsat sheep-shearing seeme to bee derived from the Parilia. In ourwestern parts, I know not what is done in the north, the sheep-mastersgive no wages to their shepherds, but they have the keeping of so manysheep, pro rata; soe that the shepherds' lambs doe never miscarry. Ifind that Plautus gives us a hint of this custome amongst the Romansin his time; Asinaria, Act III. Scene i. Philenian (Meretrix):

 " Etiam opilio, qui pascit (mater) alienas ovis, Aliquani habet peculiarem qua spem soletur suam. ''

Their habit, I believe, (let there be a draught of their habit) isthat of the Roman or Arcadian shepherds; as they are delineated in Mr. Mich. Drayton's Poly-olbion; sc. A long white cloake with a very deepcape, which comes halfway down their backs, made of the locks of thesheep. There was a sheep-crooke (vide Virgil's Eclogues, andTheocritus, ) a sling, a scrip, their tar-box, a pipe or flute, andtheir dog. But since 1671, they are grown so luxurious as to neglecttheir ancient warme and useful fashion, and goe a la mode. T. Randolphin a Pastoral sayes;-

 " What clod-pates, Thenot, are our British swaines, How lubber-like they loll upon the plaines. " *

* [See "Plays and Poems, by Thomas Randolph, M. A. " 12mo. 1664, p. 90. The lines quoted are at the commencement of a dialogue between Collenand Thenot; which is described as "an Eglogue on the noble assembliesrevived on Cotswold Hills by Mr. Robert Dover". An able criticism ofRandolph's works, with extracts, will be found in the sixth volume ofthe "Retrospective Review". - J. B. ]

Before the civill warres I remember many of them made straw hatts, which I thinke is now left off, and our shepherdesses of late yeares(1680) doe begin to worke point, whereas before they did only knittcoarse stockings. (Instead of the sling they have now a hollow iron orpiece of horne, not unlike a shoeing horne, fastened to the other endof the crosier, by wch they take up stones and sling, and keep theirflocks in order. The French sheperdesses spin with a rocque. - J. EVELYN. ) ___________________________________

Mr. Ferraby, the minister of Bishop's Cannings, was an ingenious man, and an excellent musician, and made severall of his parishioners goodmusicians, both for vocall and instrumentall musick; they sung thePsalmes in consort to the organ, which Mr. Ferraby procured to beerected. 

When King James the First was in these parts he lay at Sir Edw. Baynton's at Bromham. Mr. Ferraby then entertained his Majesty at theBush, in Cotefield, with bucoliques of his own making and composing, of four parts; which were sung by his parishioners, who wore frocksand whippes like carters. Whilst his majesty was thus diverted, theeight bells (of which he was the cause) did ring, and the organ wasplayed on for state; and after this musicall entertainment heentertained his Majesty with a foot-ball match of his ownparishioners. This parish in those dayes would have challenged allEngland for musique, foot-ball, and ringing. For this entertainmenthis Majesty made him one of his chaplains in ordinary. 

When Queen Anne† returned from Bathe, he made an entertainment for herMajesty on Canning's-down, sc. At Shepherds-shard, ‡ at Wensditch, with a pastorall performed by himself and his parishioners inshepherds' weeds. A copie of his song was printed within a compartmentexcellently well engraved and designed, with goates, pipes, sheephooks, cornucopias, &c. [Aubrey has transcribed it into hismanuscript. It appears that it was sung as above mentioned on thellth of June 1613; being "voyc't in four parts compleatly musicall";and we are told that "it was by her Highnesse not only most gratiouslyaccepted and approved, but also bounteously rewarded; and by the righthonourable, worshipfull, and the rest of the generall hearers andbeholders, worthily applauded". See this also noticed in Wood's "FastiOxonienses", under "Ferebe", and in Nichols's Progresses, &c. Of KingJames the First, ii. 668. In this curious chapter, Aubrey has furthertranscribed "A Dialogue between two Shepherds uttered in a Pastorallshew at Wilton", and written by Sir Philip Sidney. See the Life ofSidney, prefixed to an edition of his Works in three volumes, 8vo, 1725. -J. B. ]

†[Anne of Denmark, Queen of James I. Was married to that monarch in1589, and died in 1619. -J. B. ]

‡[Shard is a word used in Wiltshire to indicate a gap in a hedge. Ponshard signifies a broken piece of earthenware. -J. B. ]

 PART II-CHAPTER IX. 

 WOOLL. 

[THE author appears to have merely commenced this chapter; which, asit now stands in the manuscript, contains little more than is hereprinted. The three succeeding chapters are connected in their subjectswith the present. - J. B. ]

THIS nation is the most famous for the great quantity of wooll of anyin the world; and this county hath the most sheep and wooll of anyother. The down-wooll is not of the finest of England, but of aboutthe second rate. That of the common-field is the finest. 

Quaere, if Castle Comb was not a staple for wooll, or else a verygreat wooll-market? ___________________________________

Mr. Ludlowe, of the Devises, and his predecessours have been wooll-breakers [brokers] 80 or 90 yeares, and hath promised to assist me. ___________________________________

Quaere, if it would not bee the better way to send our wooll beyondthe sea again, as in the time of the staple? For the Dutch and Frenchdoe spinn finer, work cheaper, and die better. Our cloathiers combineagainst the wooll-masters, and keep their spinners but just alive:they steale hedges, spoile coppices, and are trained up as nurseriesof sedition and rebellion. 

[For a long series of years the clothiers, or manufacturers, and thewool-growers, or landowners, entertained opposite opinions respectingthe propriety of exporting wool; and numerous acts of parliamentwere passed at different times encouraging or restricting itsexportation, as either of these conflicting interests happened toprevail for the time with the legislature. The landowners weregenerally desirous to export their produce, without restriction, toforeign markets, and to limit the importation of competing wool fromabroad. The manufacturers, on the contrary, wished for the freeimportation of those foreign wools, without an admixture of whichthe native produce cannot be successfully manufactured; whilst theywere anxious to restrain the exportation of British wool, from anabsurd fear of injury to their own trade. Some curious particulars ofthe contest between these parties, and of the history of legislationon the subject, will be found in Porter's Progress of the Nation andMcCulloch's Commercial Dictionary and Statistical Account of theBritish Empire; and more particularly in Bischoff's History of Wool(1842). The wool trade is now free from either import or export duties. - J. B. ]

 PART II. - CHAPTER X. 

 FALLING OF RENTS. 

[AUBREY addressed to his friend Mr. Francis Lodwyck, merchant ofLondon, a project on the wool trade; proposing, amongst other things, a duty on the importation of Spanish wool, with a view to raise theprice of English wool, and consequently the rent of land. (See theNote on this subject in the preceding page. ) Mr. Lodwyck's letter inreply, fully discussing the question, may be consulted in Aubrey'smanuscript by any one interested in the subject It is inserted in thechapter now under consideration; which contains also a printedpamphlet with the following title:- "A Treatise on Wool, and theManufacture of it; in a letter to a friend: occasioned upon adiscourse concerning the great abatements and low value of lands. Wherein it is shewed how their worth and value may be advanced by theimprovement of the manufacture and price of our English wooll. Together with the Presentment of the Grand Jury of the County ofSomerset at the General Quarter Sessions begun at Brewton the 13th dayof January 1684. London. Printed for William Crooke, at the GreenDragon without Temple Bar. 1685. " (Sm. 4to. Pp. 32. ) - J. B. ]

THE falling of rents is a consequence of the decay of the Turky-trade;which is the principall cause of the falling of the price of wooll. Another reason that conduces to the falling of the prices of wooll isour women's wearing so much silk and Indian ware as they doe. By thesemeanes my farme at Chalke is worse by sixty pounds per annum than itwas before the civill warres. 

The gentry living in London, and the dayly concourse of servants outof the country to London, makes servants' wages deare in the countrey, and makes scarcity of labourers. 

Sir William Petty told me, that when he was a boy a seeds-man had fivepounds per annum wages, and a countrey servant-maid between 30 and40s. Wages. [40s. Per ann. To a servant-maid is now, 1743, good wagesin Worcestershire. - MS. NOTE, ANONYMOUS. ] ___________________________________

Memorandum. Great increase of sanfoine now, in most places fitt foritt; improvements of meadowes by watering; ploughing up of theKing's forrests and parkes, &c. But as to all these, as ten thousandpounds is gained in the hill barren countrey, so the vale does lose asmuch, which brings it to an equation. ___________________________________

The Indians doe worke for a penny a day; so their silkes are exceedingcheap; and rice is sold in India for four pence per bushell. 

 PART II - CHAPTER XL

 HISTORIE OF CLOATHING. 

[THE following are the only essential parts of this chapter, which isvery short. -J. B. ]

KING Edward the Third first settled the staples of wooll in Flanders. See Hollinshead, Stowe, Speed, and the Statute Book, de hoc. 

Staple, "estape", i e. A market place; so the wooll staple atWestminster, which is now a great market for flesh and fish. ___________________________________

When King Henry the Seventh lived in Flanders with his aunt theDutchess of Burgundie, he considered that all or most of the woollthat was manufactured there into cloath was brought out of England;and observing what great profit did arise by it, when he came to thecrown he sent into Flanders for cloathing manufacturers, whom heplaced in the west, and particularly at Send in Wiltshire, where theybuilt severall good houses yet remaining: I know not any village soremote from London that can shew the like. The cloathing trade didflourish here till about 1580, when they removed to Troubridge, byreason of (I thinke) a plague; but I conjecture the main reason wasthat the water here was not proper for the fulling and washing oftheir cloath; for this water, being impregnated with iron, did givethe white cloath a yellowish tincture. Mem. In the country hereaboutare severall families that still retaine Walloun names, as Goupy, &c. ___________________________________

The best white cloaths in England are made at Salisbury, where thewater, running through chalke, becomes very nitrous, and thereforeabstersive. These fine cloathes are died black or scarlet, at Londonor in Holland. 

Malmesbury, a very neat town, hath a great name for cloathing. 

The Art of Cloathing and Dyeing is already donn by Sir William Petty, and is printed in the History of the Royall Society, writt by Dr. Spratt, since Bishop of Rochester. 

 PART II. -CHAPTER XII. 

 EMINENT CLOATHIERS OF THIS COUNTY. 

[IN this chapter there is a long "Digression of Cloathiers of otherCounties, " full of curious matter, which is here necessarily omitted. - J. B. ]

. . . SUTTON of Salisbury, was an eminent cloathier: what is become ofhis family I know not. 

[John] Hall, I doe believe, was a merchant of the staple, atSalisbury, where he had many houses. His dwelling house, now a taverne(1669), was on the Ditch, where in the glasse windowes are manyscutchions of his armes yet remaining, and severall merchant markes. Quaere, if there are not also wooll-sacks in the pannells of glass?[Of this house and family the reader will find many interestingparticulars in a volume by my friend the Rev. Edward Duke, of LakeHouse, near Amesbury. Its title will explain the work, viz. "Prolusiones Historicæ; or, Essays Illustrative of the Halle of JohnHalle, citizen and merchant of Salisbury in the reigns of Henry VI. And Edward IV. ; with Notes illustrative and explanatory. By the Rev. Edward Duke, M. A. , F. S. A. , and L. S. In two vols. 8vo. 1837. " (Only onevolume has been published. ) - J. B. ] ___________________________________

The ancestor of Sir William Webb of Odstock, near Salisbury, was amerchant of the staple in Salisbury. As Grevill and Wenman bought allthe Coteswold wooll, so did Hall and Webb the wooll of Salisburyplaines; but these families are Roman Catholiques. 

The ancestor of Mr. Long, of Rood Ashton, was a very great cloathier. He built great part of that handsome church, as appeares by theinscription there, between 1480 and 1500. 

[William] Stump was a wealthy cloathier at Malmesbury, tempore HenriciVIII. His father was the parish clarke of North Nibley, inGloucestershire, and was a weaver, and at last grew up to be acloathier. This cloathier at Malmesbury, at the dissolution of theabbeys, bought a great deale of the abbey lands thereabout. When KingHenry 8th hunted in Bradon Forest, he gave his majesty and the court agreat entertainment at his house (the abbey). The King told him he wasafraid he had undone himself; he replied that his own servants shouldonly want their supper for it. [See this anecdote also in Fuller'sWorthies, Wiltshire. - J. B. ] Leland sayes that when he was there thedortures and other great roomes were filled with weavers' loomes. [Thefollowing is the passage referred to (Leland's Itinerary, vol. Ii. P. 27. ) "The hole logginges of th' abbay be now longging to one Stumpe, an exceeding rich clothiar, that boute them of the king. This Stumpewas the chef causer and contributor to have th' abbay chirch made aparoch chirch. At this present tyme every corner of the vaste housesof office that belongid to th' abbay be full of lumbes to weeve clothyn, and this Stumpe entendith to make a strete or 2 for cloathiers inthe back vacant ground of the abbay that is withyn the town waulles. There be made now every yere in the town a 3, 000 clothes. " See"Memorials of the Family of Stumpe", by Mr. J. G. Nichols, in"Collectanea Topographica et Genealogica", vol. Vii. - J. B. ] ___________________________________

Mr. Paul Methwin of Bradford succeeded his father-in-law in the trade, and was the greatest cloathier of his time (tempore Caroli 2nd). Hewas a worthy gentleman, and died about 1667. Now (temp. Jacobi II. )Mr. Brewer of Troubridge driveth the greatest trade for medleys of anycloathier in England. 

 PART II. -CHAPTER XIII. 

 FAIRES AND MARKETTS. 

FAIRES. The most celebrated faire in North Wiltshire for sheep is atCastle Combe, on St. George's Day (23 April), whither sheep-mastersdoe come as far as from Northamptonshire. Here is a good crosse andmarket-house; and heretofore was a staple of wooll, as John Scrope, Esq. Lord of this mannour, affirmes to me. The market here now is veryinconsiderable. [Part of the cross and market-house remain, but thereis not any wool fair, market, or trade at Castle Combe, which is aretired, secluded village, of a romantic character, seated in a narrow valley, with steep acclivities, covered with woods. The house, gardens, &c. Of George Poulett Scrope, Esq. M. P. , the Lord of theManor, are peculiar features in this scene. - J. B. ]

At Wilton is a very noted faire for sheepe, on St. George's Day also;and another on St. Giles's Day, September the first. Graziers, &c. From Buckinghamshire come hither to buy sheep. 

Wilton was the head town of the county till Bishop Bingham built theBridge at Harnham which turned away the old Roman way (in the Legier-booke of Wilton called the heþepath, i. E. The army path), and broughtthe trade to New Sarum, where it hath ever since continued. 

At Chilmarke is a good faire for sheep on St. Margaret's day, 20thJuly. 

Burford, near Salisbury, a faire on Lammas day; 'tis an eminent fairefor wooll and sheep, the eve is for wooll and cheese. 

At the city of New Sarum is a very great faire for cloath at Twelf-tyde, called Twelfe Market. In the parish of All-Cannings is St Anne'sHill, vulgarly called Tann Hill, where every yeare on St. Anne's Day(26th July), is kept a great fair within an old camp, called Oldbury. *The chiefe commodities are sheep, oxen, and fineries. This faire wouldbee more considerable, but that Bristow Faire happens at the sametime. 

* [Aubrey errs in stating "Oldbury Camp" to be on St. Anne's Hill;those places being nearly two miles apart. - J. B. ]

At the Devises severall faires; but the greatest is at the Greenthere, at Michaelmas: it continues about a week. ___________________________________

MARKETTS. - Warminster is exceeding much frequented for a round corn-market on Saturday. Hither come the best teemes of horses, and it ismuch resorted to by buyers. Good horses for the coach: some of 20li. +It is held to be the greatest corn-market by much in the West ofEngland. My bayliif has assured me that twelve or fourteen scoreloades of corne on market-dayes are brought thither: the glovers thatwork in their shops at the towne's end doe tell the carts as they comein; but this market of late yeares has decayed; the reason whereof Ihad from my honored friend Henry Millburne, Esq. Recorder of Monmouth. [The reason assigned is, that Mr. Millburne "encouraged badgars" totake corn from Monmouthshire to Bristol; whereupon the bakers there, finding the Welsh corn was better, and could be more cheaply conveyedto them than that grown in Wiltshire, forsook Warminster Market. - J. B. ] ___________________________________

My bayliff, an ancient servant to our family, assures me that, about1644, six quarters of wheat would stand, as they terme it, HindonMarket, which is now perhaps the second best market after Warminsterin this county. ___________________________________

I have heard old men say long since that the market at Castle Combewas considerable in the time of the staple: the market day is Munday. Now only some eggs and butter, &c. ___________________________________

Marleborough Market is Saturday: one of the greatest markets forcheese in the west of England. Here doe reside factors for thecheesemongers of London. ___________________________________

King Edgar granted a charter to Steeple Ashton. [Aubrey hastranscribed the charter at length, from the original Latin. - J. B. ]The towne was burnt about the yeare . .. .. .. Before which time it wasa market-town; but out of the ashes of this sprang up the market atLavington, which flourisheth still. [Lavington market has long beendiscontinued in consequence of its vicinity to the Devizes, which hassuperior business attractions. -J. B. ] ___________________________________

At Highworth was the greatest market, on Wednesday, for fatt cattle inour county, which was furnished by the rich vale; and the Oxfordbutchers furnished themselves here. In the late civill warres it beingmade a garrison for the King, the graziers, to avoid the rudeness ofthe souldiers, quitted that market, and went to Swindon, four milesdistant, where the market on Munday continues still, which before wasa petty, inconsiderable one. Also, the plague was at Highworth beforethe late warres, which was very prejudiciall to the market there; byreason whereof all the countrey sent their cattle to Swindown market, as they did before to Highworth. ___________________________________

Devises. - On Thursday a very plentifull market of every thing: butthe best for fish in the county. They bring fish from Poole hither, which is sent from hence to Oxford. ___________________________________

[At this place in Aubrey's manuscript is another "digression"; being"Remarks taken from Henry Milburne, Esq. Concerning Husbandry, Trade, &c. In Herefordshire". - J. B. ]

 PART 1I. -CHAPTER XIV. 

 OF HAWKS AND HAWKING. 

[A PAPER "Of Hawkes and Falconry, ancient and modern", is heretranscribed from Sir Thomas Browne's Miscellanies, (8vo. 1684. ) Itdescribes at considerable length (from the works of Symmachus, Albertus Magnus, Demetrius Constantinopolitanus, and others), thevarious rules which were acted upon in their times, with regard to thefood and medicine of hawks; and it also narrates some historicalparticulars of the once popular sport of hawking. -J. B. ]

QUÆRE, Sir James Long of this subject, for he understands it as wellas any gentleman in this nation, and desire him to write his marginallnotes. ___________________________________

[From Sir James Long, Dracot. ] Memorandum. Between the years 1630 and1634 Henry Poole, of Cyrencester, Esquire (since Sir Henry Poole, Baronet), lost a falcon flying at Brook, in the spring of the year, about three a'clock in the afternoon; and he had a falconer in Norwayat that time to take hawks for him, who discovered this falcon, uponthe stand from whence he was took at first, the next day in theevening. This flight must be 600 miles at least. 

Dame Julian Barnes, in her book of Hunting and Hawking, says that thehawk's bells must be in proportion to the hawk, and they are to beequiponderant, otherwise they will give the hawk an unequall ballast:and as to their sound they are to differ by a semitone, which willmake them heard better than if they were unisons. ___________________________________

William of Malmesbury sayes that, anno Domini 900, tempore RegisAlfredi, hawking was first used. Coteswold is a very fine countrey forthis sport, especially before they began to enclose about Malmesbury, Newton, &c. It is a princely sport, and no doubt the novelty, togetherwith the delight, and the conveniency of this countrey, did make KingAthelstan much use it. I was wont to admire to behold King Athelstan'sfigure in his monument at Malmesbury Abbey Church, with a falconer'sglove on his right hand, with a knobbe or tassel to put under hisgirdle, as the falconers use still; but this chronologicalladvertisement cleares it. [The effigy on the monument here referredto, as well as the monument itself, have no reference to Athelstan, asthey are of a style and character some hundreds of years subsequent tothat monarch's decease. If there were any tomb to Athelstan it wouldhave been placed near the high altar in the Presbytery, and verydifferent in form and decoration to the altar tomb and statue herementioned, which are at the east end of the south aisle of the nave. -J. B. ] Sir George Marshal of Cole Park, a-quarry to King James First, had no more manners or humanity than to have his body buried underthis tombe. The Welsh did King Athelstan homage at the city ofHereford, and covenanted yearly payment of 20li. Gold, of silver 300, oxen 2, 500, besides hunting dogges and hawkes. He dyed anno Domini941, and was buried with many trophies at Malmesbury. His lawes areextant to this day among the lawes of other Saxon kings. 

 PART II. -CHAPTER XV. 

 THE RACE. 

HENRY Earle of Pembroke [1570-1601] instituted Salisbury Race;* whichhath since continued very famous, and beneficiall to the city. Hegave . .. .. Pounds to the corporation of Sarum to provide every yeare, in the first Thursday after Mid-Lent Sunday, a silver bell [see notebelow], of . .. .. . Value; which, about 1630, was turned into a silvercup of the same value. This race is of two sorts: the greater, fourteen miles, beginnes at Whitesheet and ends on Harnham-hill, whichis very seldom runn, not once perhaps in twenty yeares. The shorterbegins at a place called the Start, at the end of the edge of thenorth downe of the farme of Broad Chalke, and ends at the standing atthe hare-warren, built by William Earle of Pembroke, and is four milesfrom the Start. ___________________________________

*[In the civic archives of Salisbury, under the date of 1585, is thefollowing memorandum:- "These two years, in March, there was a racerun with horses at the farthest three miles from Sarum, at the whichwere divers noble personages, and the Earl of Cumberland won thegolden bell, which was valued at 501. And better, the which earl is tobring the same again next year, which he promised to do, upon hishonour, to the mayor of this city". See Hatcher's History ofSalisbury, p. 294. In the Appendix to that volume is a copy of anIndenture, made in 1654, between the Mayor and Commonalty of the cityand Sir Edward Baynton of Bromham, relative to the race-cup. Itrecites that Henry Earl of Pembroke in his lifetime gave a goldenbell, to be run for yearly, "at the place then used and accustomedfor horse races, upon the downe or plaine leading from New Sarumtowards the towne of Shaston [Shaftesbury], in the county of Dorset". This would imply that the nobleman referred to was not the founder ofSalisbury Races. - J. B. ]

It is certain that Peacock used to runn the four-miles course in fiveminutes and a little more; and Dalavill since came but little short ofhim. Peacock was first Sir Thomas Thynne's of Long-leate; who valuedhim at 1, 000 pounds. Philip Earle of Pembrock gave 51i. But to have asight of him: at last his lordship had him; I thinke by gift. Peacockwas a bastard barb. He was the most beautifull horse ever seen in thislast age, and was as fleet as handsome. He dyed about 1650. 

 "Here lies the man whose horse did gaine The bell in race on Salisbury plaine; Reader, I know not whether needs it, You or your horse rather to reade it. "

At Everly is another race. Quære, if the Earle of Abington hath notset up another? ___________________________________

Stobball-play is peculiar to North Wilts, North Gloucestershire, and alittle part of Somerset near Bath. They smite a ball, stuffed veryhard with quills and covered with soale leather, with a staffe, commonly made of withy, about 3 [feet] and a halfe long. Colerne-downeis the place so famous and so frequented for stobball-playing. Theturfe is very fine, and the rock (freestone) is within an inch and ahalfe of the surface, which gives the ball so quick a rebound. Astobball-ball is of about four inches diameter, and as hard as astone. I doe not heare that this game is used anywhere in England butin this part of Wiltshire and Gloucestershire adjoining. 

 PART II. -CHAPTER XVI. 

 OF THE NUMBER OF ATTORNIES IN THIS COUNTIE NOW AND HERETOFORE. 

[A STATUTE was passed in the reign of Edward I. Which gave the firstauthority to suitors in the courts of law to prosecute or defend byattorney; and the number of attorneys afterwards increased so rapidlythat several statutes were passed in the reigns of Henry IV. Henry VI. And Elizabeth, for limiting their number. One of these (33 Hen. VI. C. 7) states that not long before there were only six or eight attorneysin Norfolk and Suffolk, and that their increase to twenty-four was tothe vexation and prejudice of those counties; and it therefore enactsthat for the future there shall be only six in Norfolk, six inSuffolk, and two in Norwich. (Penny Cycle, art. Attorney. ) Aubreyadopts the inference that strife and dissension were promoted by theincrease of attorneys; which he accordingly laments as a serious evil. He quotes at some length from a treatise "About Actions for Slanderand Arbitrements, what words are actionable in the law, and what not", &c. By John March, of Gray's Inn, Barrister (London, 1674, 8vo. );wherein the great increase of actions for slander is shewn, byreference to old law books. The author urges the propriety of checkingsuch actions as much as possible, and quaintly observes, "as I cannotbalk that observation of that learned Chief Justice (Wray), whosayes that in our old bookes actions for scandal are very rare; so Iwill here close with this one word: though the tongues of men be seton fire, I know no reason wherefore the law should be used asbellows". Aubrey remarks upon this:- "The true and intrinsic reasonwhy actions of the case were so rare in those times above mentioned, was by reason that men's consciences were kept cleane and in awe byconfession"; and he concludes the chapter with an extract from"Europæ Speculum", by Sir Edwin Sandys, Knight, (1637, ) in which theadvantages and disadvantages of auricular confession are discussed. - J. B. ]

ME. BAYNHAM, of Cold Ashton, in Gloucestershire, bred an attorney, sayes, that an hundred yeares since there were in the county ofGloucester but four attorneys, and now (1689) no fewer than threehundred attorneys and sollicitors; and Dr. Guydot, Physician, of Bath, sayes that they report that anciently there was but one attorney inSomerset, and he was so poor that he went a'foot to London; and nowthey swarme there like locusts. 

Fabian Philips tells me (1683) that about sixty-nine yeares sincethere were but two attorneys in Worcestershire, sc. Langston andDowdeswell; and they be now in every market towne, and goe tomarketts; and he believes there are a hundred. 

In Henry 6th time (q. If not in Hen. 7?) there was a complaint to theParliament by the Norfolk people that whereas formerly there were inthat county but five or six attorneys, that now they are exceedinglyencreased, and that they went to markets and bred contention. Thejudges were ordered to rectify this grievance, but they fell asleepand never awak't since. - Vide the Parliament Roll. [See the above note. In page 12 (ante) Aubrey states that the Norfolk people are the "mostlitigious" of any in England. - J. B. ] 'Tis thought that in Englandthere are at this time near three thousand;* but there is a rule inhawking, the more spaniells the more game. They doe now rule andgoverne the lawyers [barristers] and judges. They will take a hundredpounds with a clarke. 

*[There are now upwards of three thousand attorneys in practice inthe metropolis alone, to whom the celebrated remark of AldermanBeckford to King George the Third may be justly applied, with thesubstitution of another word for "the Crown", - "the influence oflawyers has increased, is increasing, and ought to be diminished. "- J. B. ]

 PART II. -CHAPTER XVII. 

 OF FATALITIES OF FAMILIES AND PLACES. 

[NEARLY the whole of this chapter, with some additions, is includedunder the head of "Local Fatality" in Aubrey's Miscellanies. 12mo. 1696. -J. B. ]

"Omnium rerum est vicissitudo". Families, and also places, have theirfatalities, "Fors sua cuiq' loco est. " OVID, PAST. Lib. Iv. 

This verse putts me in mind of severall places in this countie thatare or have been fortunate to their owners, or e contra. 

The Gawens of Norrington, in the parish of Alvideston, continued inthis place four hundred fifty and odd yeares. They had also an estatein Broad Chalke, which was, perhaps, of as great antiquity. On thesouth downe of the farme of Broad Chalke is a little barrow calledGawen's-barrow, which must bee before ecclesiastical lawes wereestablished. [Aubrey quotes a few lines from the "Squire's Tale" inChaucer, where Gawain, nephew to King Arthur, is alluded to. -J. B. ] ___________________________________

The Scropes of Castle-Comb have been there ever since the time of KingRichard the Second. The Lord Chancellor Scrope gave this mannour tohis third son; they have continued there ever since, and enjoy the oldland (about 800li per annum), and the estate is neither augmented nordiminished all this time, neither doth the family spred. 

The Powers of Stanton St. Quintin had that farme in lease about threehundred yeares. It did belong to the abbey of Cyrencester. ___________________________________

The Lytes had Easton Piers in lease and in inheritance 249 yeares; sc. From Henry 6th. About 1572 Mr. Th. Lyte, my mother's grandfather, purchased the inheritance of the greatest part of this place, a partwhereof descended to me by my mother Debora, the daughter and heire ofMr. Isaac Lyte. I sold it in 1669 to Francis Hill, who sold it to Mr. Sherwin, who hath left it to a daughter and heir. Thos. Lyte's fatherhad 800li. Per annum in leases: viz. All Easton, except Cromwell'sfarm (20li), and the farmes of Dedmerton and Sopworth. ___________________________________

The Longs are now the most flourishing and numerous family in thiscounty, and next to them the Ashes; but the latter are strangers, andcame in but about 1642, or since. ___________________________________

Contrarywise there are severall places unlucky to the possessors. Easton Piers hath had six owners since the reigne of Henry 7th, whereI myself had a share to act my part; and one part of it called Lyte'sKitchin hath been sold four times over since 1630. 

'Tis certain that there are some houses lucky and some that areunlucky; e. G. A handsome brick house on the south side of Clarkenwellchurchyard hath been so unlucky for at least these forty yeares thatit is seldom tenanted; nobody at last would adventure to take it. Alsoa handsome house in Holbourne that looked into the fields, thetenants of it did not prosper; about six, one after another. 

 PART II. -CHAPTER XVIII. 

 ACCIDENTS. 

["ACCIDENTS" was a term used in astrology, in the general sense ofremarkable events or occurrences. From a curious collection ofAubrey's memoranda I have selected a few of the most interesting andmost apposite to Wiltshire. Several of the anecdotes in this chapterwill be found in Aubrey's Miscellanies, 12mo. 1696. J. B. ]

IN the reigne of King James 1st, as boyes were at play in Amesbury-street, it thundred and lightened. One of the boyes wore a littledagger by his side, which was melted in the scabbard, and the scabbardnot hurt. This dagger Edward Earle of Hertford kept amongst hisrarities. I have forgott if the boy was killed. (From old Mr. Bowmanand Mr. Gauntlett) ___________________________________

The long street, Marleborough, was burned down to the ground in fivehoures, and the greatnesse of the fire encreased the wind. This was in165-. This account I had from Thomas Henshaw, Esq. Who was an eye-witness as he was on his journey to London. 

["Marlborough has often suffered by fire; particularly in the year1690. Soon afterwards the town obtained an act of Parliament toprohibit the covering of houses with thatch. " Beauties of Wiltshire, vol. Ii. P. 177. A pamphlet was published in 1653 (12mo. ) with thefollowing title:- "Take heed in time; or, a briefe relation of manyharmes that have of late been done by fire in Marlborough and otherplaces. Written by L. P. " - J. B. ]

In the gallery at Wilton hangs, under the picture of the first WilliamEarl of Pembroke, the picture of a little reddish picked-nose dog(none of the prettiest) that his lordship loved. The dog starvedhimself after his master's death. ___________________________________

Dr. Ralph Bathurst, Dean of Wells, and one of the chaplains to KingCharles 1st, who is no superstitious man, protested to me that thecuring of the King's evill by the touch of the King doth puzzle hisphilosophie: for whether they were of the house of Yorke or Lancasterit did. 'Tis true indeed there are prayers read at the touching, butneither the King minds them nor the chaplains. Some confidently reportthat James Duke of Monmouth did it. ___________________________________

Imposture. - Richard Heydock, M. D. , quondam fellow of New College inOxford, was an ingenious and a learned person, but much against thehierarchie of the Church of England. He had a device to gaineproselytes, by preaching in his dreame; which was much noised abroad, and talked of as a miracle. But King James 1st being at Salisbury wentto heare him. He observed that his harrangue was very methodicall, andthat he did but counterfeit a sleep. He surprised the doctor bydrawing his sword, and swearing, "God's waunes, I will cut off hishead"; at which the doctor startled and pretended to awake; and so thecheat was detected. ___________________________________

One M{istress} Katharine Waldron, a gentlewoman of good family, waitedon Sir Francis Seymor's lady, of Marleborough. Shee pretended to bebewitched by a certain woman, and had acquired such a strange habitthat she would endure exquisite torments, as to have pinnes thrustinto her flesh, nay under her nailes. These tricks of hers were aboutthe time when King James wrote his Demonologie. His Majesty being inthese parts, went to see her in one of her fitts. Shee lay on a bed, and the King saw her endure the torments aforesayd. The room, as it iseasily to be believed, was full of company. His Majesty gave a sodainpluck to her coates, and tos't them over her head; which surprise madeher immediately start, and detected the cheate. ___________________________________

[Speaking of the trial of Aim Bodenham, who was executed at Salisburyas a witch in 1653, Aubrey says:-] Mr. Anthony Ettrick, of the MiddleTemple, a very judicious gentleman, was a curious observer of thewhole triall, and was not satisfied. The crowd of spectators made sucha noise that the judge [Chief Baron Wild] could not heare theprisoner, nor the prisoner the judge; but the words were handed fromone to the other by Mr. R. Chandler, and sometimes not truly reported. This memorable triall was printed about 165-. 4to. [See fullparticulars in Hatcher's History of Salisbury, p. 418. - J. B. ] ___________________________________

In the time of King Charles II. The drumming at the house of Mr. Monpesson, of Tydworth, made a great talke over England, of which Mr. Joseph Glanvill, Rector of Bath, hath largely writt; to which I referthe reader. But as he was an ingenious person, so I suspect he was alittle too credulous; for Sir Ralph Bankes and Mr. Anthony Ettrick laythere together one night out of curiosity, to be satisfied. They didheare sometimes knockings; and if they said "Devill, knock so manyknocks"; so many knocks would be answered. But Mr. Ettrick sometimeswhispered the words, and there was then no returne: but he should havespoke in Latin or French for the detection of this. 

Another time Sir Christopher Wren lay there. He could see no strangethings, but sometimes he should heare a drumming, as one may drum withone's hand upon wainscot; but he observed that this drumming was onlywhen a certain maid-servant was in the next room: the partitions ofthe rooms are by borden-brasse, as wee call it. But all these remarkedthat the Devill kept no very unseasonable houres: it seldome knock'tafter 12 at night, or before 6 in the morning. 

[In Hoare's Modern Wiltshire, (Hundred of Amesbury, ) p. 92, is anarrative, quoted from Glanvil, of the nocturnal disturbances in thehouse of Mr. Mompesson at North Tidworth, Wilts, in the year 1661, which excited considerable interest at the time, and led to thepublication of several pamphlets on the subject. The book by Mr. Glanvil, referred to by Aubrey, is called "A blow at modernSadducism; or Philosophical considerations touching the being ofWitches and Witchcraft; with an account of the Demon of Tedworth. "Lond. 1666, 4to. There are other editions in folio and 8vo. In 1667and 1668. Addison founded his comedy of "The Drummer, or the HauntedHouse, " on this occurrence. - J. B. ] ___________________________________

About 167- there was a cabal of witches detected at Malmsbury. Theyere examined by Sir James Long of Draycot-Cerne, and by him committedto Salisbury Gaol. I think there were seven or eight old women hanged. There were odd things sworne against them, as the strange manner ofthe dyeing of H. Denny's horse, and of flying in the aire on a staffe. These examinations Sir James hath fairly written in a book which hepromised to give to the Royall Societie. ___________________________________

At Salisbury a phantome appeared to Dr. Turbervill's sister severalltimes, and it discovered to her a writing or deed of settlement thatwas hid behind the wainscot ___________________________________

Phantomes. - Though I myselfe never saw any such things, yet I will not conclude that there is no truth at all in these reports. I believethat extraordinarily there have been such apparitions; but where oneis true a hundred are figments. There is a lecherie in lyeing andimposeing on the credulous; and the imagination of fearfull people isto admiration: e. G. Not long after the cave at Bathford wasdiscovered (where the opus tessellatum was found), one of Mr. Skreen'sploughboyes lyeing asleep near to the mouth of the cave, a gentlemanin a boate on the river Avon, which runnes hard by, played on hisflajolet. The boy apprehended the musique to be in the cave, and ranaway in a lamentable fright, and his fearfull phancy made him believehe saw spirits in the cave. This Mr. Skreen told me, and that theneighbourhood are so confident of the truth of this, that there is noundeceiving of them. 

 PART II. -CHAPTER XIX. 

 SEATES. 

[This chapter comprises only a few scattered notes; of which thefollowing are specimens. -J. B. ]

I TAKE Merton to be the best seated for healthy aire, &c. , and sports, of any place in this county. The soile is gravelly and pebbly. 

Ivy Church, adjoining to Clarendon Parke, a grove of elms, andprospect over the city of Salisbury and the adjacent parts. The righthonorable Mary, Countess of Pembroke, much delighted in this place. 

At Longford is a noble house that was built by Lord Georges, whomarried a Swedish lady. [See before, p. 102. Sir Thomas Gorges was thesecond husband of Helena dowager Marchioness of Northampton, daughterof Wolfgang Snachenburg, of Sweden: see Hoare's Modern Wiltshire, Hundred of Cawden, p. 31. -J. B. ]

Little-coat, in the parish of Rammysbury, is a very great house. Itwas Sir Thomas Dayrell's, who was tryed for his life for burning achild, being accessory. It is now Sir Jo. Popham's, Lord ChiefJustice. [The murder here alluded to is said to have been committed inLittlecot-house. The strange and mysterious story connected with it isrecorded in a note to Scott's poem of "Rokeby, " and also in theaccount of Wiltshire, in the Beauties of England. - J. B. ]

Longleat, the dwelling place of the Thynnes, a very fair, neat, elegant house, in a foul soile. It is true Roman architecture, adornedon the outside with three orders of pillars, Dorique, Ionique, andCorinthian. 

Tocknam [Tottenham] Parke, a seate of the Duke of Somerset, is a mostparkely ground, and a romancey place. Severall walkes of trees plantedof great length. Here is a new complete pile of good architecture. Itis in the parish of Great Bedwin. [The domain comprises the wholeextent of Savernake Forest. - J. B. ]

Wardour Castle, the seate of the Lord Arundell, was kept by Col. Ludlow: a part of it was blown up by Sir F. Dodington in 1644 or 1645. Here was a red-deer parke and a fallow-deer parke. [Some of the ruinsof the old castle still remain. The present mansion, belonging to theArundell family of Wardour, was erected about seventy years ago. - J. B. ]

Knighton Wood, the Earle of Pembroke's, is an exceeding pleasantplace, both for the variety of high wood and lawnes, as well as deer, as also the prospect over the New Forest to the sea, and the wholelength of the Isle of Wight It is a desk-like elevation, and faces thesouth, and in my conceit it would be the noblest situation for a grand building that this countrey doth afford. 

 PART II. -CHAPTER XX. 

 DRAUGHTS OF THE SEATES AND PROSPECTS. 

[I HAVE thought it desirable to print the concluding Chapter ofAubrey's work verbatim. It is merely a list of remarkable buildingsand views, which he wished to be drawn and engraved, for theillustration of his work. The names attached to each subject are thoseof persons whom he thought likely to incur the expence of the plates, for publication; and his own name being affixed to two of them shewsthat he was willing to contribute. It is impossible not to concur inhis closing observations on this subject, or to avoid an expressionof regret that he was not enabled to publish such a "glorious volume"of engravings as would have been formed by those here enumerated. - J. B. ]

 MY WISH. - AN APPENDIX. "Multorum manibus grande levatur onus. "-Ovid. 

 ADVICE TO THE PAINTER OR GRAVER. 

1. Our Ladies Church at Salisbury; the view without, and inperspective within: and a mappe of the city. - Bishop Ward. And of OldSarum from Harnham hill. - (Sir Hugh Speke gave to the MonasticonAngliæ the prospect of Salisbury Church, excellently well done by Mr. Hollar. Quaere, who hath the plate? I doe believe, my Lady Speke. )

2. Prospect of Malmesbury Abbey; and also (3) of the Town, and (4) aMappe of the Town. - Mr. Wharton, &c. - Sir James Long. (Take the truelatitude and longitude of Malmesbury. )

5. And also King Athelston's tombe. [See ante, p. 116. ]

6. Prospect of the borough of Chippenham. - Duke of Somerset. 

7. The Castle at Marleborough, and the prospect of the

8. Town. - D. Of Somerset. 

9. The Ruines of Lurgershall Castle. - Sir George Brown. 

10. Bradstock Priorie. - James, Earle of Abingdon. 

11. Wardour Castle. - The Lord Arundel of Wardour. 

12. Lacock Abbey. - Sir Jo. Talbot. 

13. Priory St. Maries, juxta Kington St. Michael. 

14. Ivy Church. 

15. Sturton House. - The Lord Sturton. 

16. Wilton House, and (17) Garden: sc. From the House and fromRowlingdon Parke. The garden was heretofore drawn by Mr. Solomon deCaus, the architect, that was the surveyor of it, and engraved [ante, p. 86]; but the plates were burnt in the Fire of London. - E. Of Pembrok

18. Longleate House and Garden. - I have seen a print of the house: itwas engraved after Mr. Dankertz' painting. Quære, Mr. Thompson, theprintseller, for it? Perhaps he hath the plates. - Lord Weymouth. (Desire Mr. Beech, the Lord Weymouth's steward, to enquire what isbecome of the copper plate that was engraved after Mr. Dankertz'painting of this house; also enquire of Mr. Rose, my Lord's surveyor, for it). 

19. Longford House. - Lord Colraine. (Engraved by Thacker. Quære, my Lord Colraine, if he hath the plate or a copie. )

20. The Duke of Beauford's house at Amesbury. - His Grace. 

21. Tocknam Parke House. - E. Of Alesbury. 

22. Funthill House. - Mr. Cottington. 

23. Charlton House. - Earle of Barkshire. 

24. Lavington House and Garden. - Earle of Abingdon. 

25. Mr. Hall's house at Bradford. - J. Hall, Esq. 

26. Lidyard-Tregoze House and Scite. - Sir Walter St. John. 

27. Sir John Wyld's House at Compton Basset. - Sir Jo. Wyld. 

28. Ramesbury House. - Sir Wm. Jones, Attorney-General. 

 HOUSES OF LESSER NOTE. 

29. Edington House. - . .. . Lewis, Esq. 

30. Sir Jo. Evelyn's House at Deane. - Earle of Kingston. 

31. Dracot-Cerne House. - Sir James Long, Baronet. 

32. Cosham House. - . .. . Kent, Esq. 

33. Lakham House. - . .. . Montague, Esq. 

34. Cadnam House. - Sir George Hungerford. 

The Mannour House of Kington St. Michael. - . .. . Laford. 

The Mannour House at . .. .. - Sir Henry Coker. 

Gretenham House. - George Ayliff, Esq. 

 PROSPECTS. 

1. From Newnton (Mr. Poole's garden-house) is an admirable prospect. It takes in Malmesbury, &c. And terminates with the blew hills ofSalisbury plaines. 'Tis the best in Wiltshire. - Madam Estcourt, orEarle of Kent. 

2. From Colern Tower, or Marsfield downe, eastwards; which takes inBradstock Priory, several steeples and parkes, and extends toSalisbury plaine. - D. Of Beauford, or Marq. Of Worcester. 

3. From the garret at Easton Piers, a delicate prospect. - J. Aubrey. 

4. From Bradstock Priory, over the rich green tuff-taffety vale toCyrencester, Malmesbury, Marsfield, Colern, Mendip-hills; andCoteswold bounds the north horizon. - Earle of Abingdon. 

5. From Bowdon Lodge, a noble prospect of the north part of Wilts. -Hen. Baynton, Esq. 

6. From Spy Park, westward. - Hen. Baynton, Esq. 

7. From Westbury Hill to the vale below, northward. - Lord Norris. 

8. From the south downe of the farme of Broad Chalke one sees overVernditch, Merton, and the New Forest, to the sea; and all the Isle ofWight, and to Portland. - J. Aubrey. (Memorandum. A quarter of a mileor lesse from hence is Knighton Ashes, which is a sea marke, whichcame into this prospect. The Needles, at the west end of the Isle of Wight, beare from it south and by east; but try its bearings exactly. )

9. From Knoll Hill, a vast prospect every way. - The Lord Weymouth. 

10. From Cricklade Tower, a lovely vernall prospect. - Sir GeorgeHungerford, or Sir Stephen Fox. (This prospect is over the rich greencountry to Marston-Mazy, Down-Ampney, Cyrencester, Minchinghampton, and Coteswold. )

11. From the leads of Wilton House to Salisbury, Ivy-church, &c. - SirR. Sawyer, Attorney-Genl. 

12. The prospect that I drew from Warren, above Farleigh-castle Parke;and take another view in the parke. - Sir Edward Hungerford. (Thisprospect of Farleigh is in my book A, at the end; with Mr. AnthonyWood. )

13. The prospect of Malmesbury from the hill above Cowbridge. This Ihave drawn. 

14. I have drawn the prospect of Salisbury, and so beyond to OldSarum, from the lime-kills at Harnham. (Memorandum. Mr. Dankertz didmake a very fine draught of Salisbury. Enquire of Mr. Thompson, theprintseller, who bought his draughts, if he hath it) - Seth Ward, Bishopof Sarum. (Set down the latitude and longitude of Salisbury. )

15. A draft of the toft of the castle and keep of Castle Comb. - Jo. Scroop, Esq. 

16. A Mappe of Wiltshire, to be donne by Mr. [Brown?] that didStaffordshire. (Advertisement to the surveyor of Wiltshire, as to themappe. - Let him make his two first stations at the south downe at BroadChalke, which he may enlarge two miles or more; from whence he may kenwith his bare eye to Portsmouth, all the Isle of Wight, to Portland, to the towers and chimny's of Shaftesbury, to Knoll-hill, to thepromontory of Roundway-down above the Devises: to St. Anne's hill, vulgo Tanne hill, to Martinsoll hill, to Amesbury becon-hill, toSalisbury steeple, &c. When he comes into North Wiltshire his prospectwill not be much shorter. There he will take in Glastenbury-torreand Gloucestershire, and Cumnor Lodge in Barkshire). 

IF these views were well donn, they would make a glorious volume byitselfe, and like enough it might take well in the world. It were aninconsiderable expence (charge) to these persons of qualitie, and itwould remaine to posterity, when their families are gonn and theirbuildings ruin'd by time or fire, as we have seen that stupendousfabrick of Paul's Church, not a stone left on a stone, and lives nowonely in Mr. Hollar's Etchings in Sir William Dugdale's History ofPaul's. I am not displeased with this thought as a desideratum, but Idoe never expect to see it donn; so few men have the hearts to doepublique good, to give 3, 4, or 5li. For a copper plate. 

 " Thus Poets like to Kings (by trust deceiv'd) Give oftner what is heard of than receiv'd. "

 SIR WILLIAM DAVENANT to the Lady Olivia Porter; "A New Yeares Gift. " ___________________________________

(There are noble prospects in Gloucestershire, but that concernes notme. The city of Gloucester is one of the best views of any city inEngland; so many stately towers and steeples cutting the horizon. FromBroadway-downe one beholds the vale of Evesham, and so to Malvernhills, to Staffordshire, Monmouthshire, Warwickshire, the cities ofGloucester and Worcester, and also Tukesbury, the city of Coventry, and, I thinke, of Lichfield. From Kimsbury, a camp, is a very pleasantprospect to Gloucester over the vale. From Dundery is a noble prospectof the city of Bristow and St. Vincent's Rocks, &c. , quod NB. )

 FINIS.