Memoir of John Aubrey: Embracing his Auto-Biographical Sketches, a Brief Review of his Personal and Literary Merits, and an Account of his Works

The antiquarian and topographer John Britton (1771-1857) is best remembered for his multi-volume series of The Beauties of England and Wales. A self-taught author and scholar, he was attracted by the work of John Aubrey (1626-97), who was born in the same Wiltshire village as him, and had very similar interests as an antiquarian and biographer, famous for his Brief Lives and for his surveys of and writings on Avebury and Stonehenge. Britton’s research on Aubrey’s life induced him to write a fresh account, using surviving manuscripts as well as printed sources, which would clear up the contradictions and errors of earlier versions. This 1845 book is a fascinating portrait of a sickly child who ended up a pauper because of family debts and lawsuits, but was a diligent and intelligent scholar, scientist and occultist, and a close friend of Thomas Hobbes and Robert Hooke.