by John Aubrey
(2) An account of the Harths, and Houses in England: as also of the People, by their Age, Sex, Trade, Titles, and Office.
(3) An account of the Trade is to be deduced from the Customs-house Bills, and Prices currant (upon the Exchange).
(4) A particular account of the Excise, according to the last collections of subfarmes.
(5) An account of the severall Payments that have been made by Landtaxes, Polls, Subsidies, Benevolence, and particular Imposts.
(6) An account of all the Church Revenues.
(7) A Villare Anglicanum, sc. an account of all the Cities, Townes, Villages, great Houses, Rodes, carriages, principal Innes and Families of England, with the Post-stages of the same.
(8) An account of all the Scholars in the Universities: and public schooles.
(9) An account of all the Prisoners from time to time, and of all Executions.
(10) A particular account of the Shipping of England, and all Foreign parts: and the Sea-men resident in each Port.
(11) The Prices currant of the principall Commodities in each Market of England.
(12) The true number of Irish Cattle imported.
(13) The number of Attorneys in each Countie: now: and what heretofore.
The design, he summed up, is to have Abstracts of all the above particulars in order to compare them one with another, so as to give the King a true State of the Nation at all times. And for his own advice Aubrey noted: Be at Sir Leoline Jenkins to gett a Patent to authorize me to use all lawfull waies and means to procure accounts of the premisses, and that all the King’s Officers be assistant to me therein gratis. Sir Wm. Petty hath promised me, to assist me in it.
The consideration of these ingenious projects was never allowed to interfere with his writing, however, and when Thomas Hobbes died in 1679, Aubrey, as his oldest friend, immediately set about preparing an informal biography to supplement the more impersonal Latin life which Hobbes had written at his request. ’Tis Religion to performe the Will of the Dead, Aubrey says in the preface to his book, which I here dischardge, with my Promise (1667) to my old friend, in setting forth his Life and performing the last Office to my honoured Friend Mr. Thomas Hobbes, whom I have had the honour to know from my child-hood, being his Countryman and borne in Malmesbury Hundred and having both the same Schoolmaster.
Since no body knew so many particulars of his Life as my selfe, Aubrey explained, he desired that if I survived him, it should be handed to Posterity by my hands, which I declare and avow to do ingenuously and impartially, to prevent misreports and undeceive those who are scandalized.
One sayes that when a learned man dyes, a great deal of Learning dyes with him. He was a flumen ingenii [a river of talent] never dry. The recrementa (Remaines) of so learned a Person are valueable. Amongst innumerable Observables of Him which had deserved to be sett downe, thus few (that have not scap’t my Memory) I humbly offer to the Present Age and Posterity, tanquam tabulam naufragii [like fragments of a shipwreck] and as plankes and lighter thinges swimme, and are preserved, where the more weighty sinke and are lost. And as with the light after Sun-sett—at which time clear; by and by, comes the crepusculum [dusk]; then, totall darknes—in like manner is it with matters of Antiquitie. Men thinke, because every body remembers a memorable accident shortly after ’tis donne, ’twill never be forgotten, which for want of registring, at last is drowned in Oblivion; which reflection haz been a hint that by my meanes many Antiquities have been reskued and preserved (I myselfe now inclining to be Ancient)—or else utterly lost and forgotten.
For that I am so minute, I declare I never intended it, but setting downe in my first draught every particular with purpose, upon review, to cutt off what was superfluous and trivall) I shewed it to some Friends of mine (who also were of Mr. Hobbes’s acquaintance) whose judgements I much value, who gave their opinion: and ’twas clearly their judgement, to let all stand; for though to soome at present it might appeare too triviall; yet hereafter ’twould not be scorned but passe for Antiquity.
And besides I have Precedents of Reverend writers to plead, who have in some Lives recited things as triviall, nay, the sayings and actions of good woemen. (Dean Fell hath recorded his Mother’s jejune sayings and actions, and triviall remarques of Dr. Hammond in his life, written by him.)
I am also to beg pardon of the Reader, he concludes, for two long Digressions, viz. Malmesbury and Gorambery; but this also was advised as the only way to preserve them, and which I have donne for the sake of the Lovers of Antiquity. I hope its novelty and pleasantness will make compensation for its length.
Anthony Wood, hearing that Aubrey was engaged on this task, was quick to warn him “to have a care what he does, if he have a hand in it—that he write faire things or else sombody will be upon his back.” For it was on this very subject that Wood himself had come to grief just six years back. Anno Domini 1674, Aubrey noted, Mr. Anthony a Wood sett forth an elaborate Worke of eleven yeares study, intituled The History and Antiquities of the University of Oxford, wherin, in every respective Colledge and Hall, he mentions the Writers there educated and what Bookes they wrote. The Dean of Christ-church (Dr. John Fell) having Plenipotentiary power of the Presse there, perused every sheet before ’twas to be sent to the presse; and maugre the Author and to his sore displeasure did expunge and inserted what he pleased in Mr. Hobbes’s life.
Hereupon, the Author acquaints John Aubrey, Mr. Hobbes’s correspondent, with all that had passed; J.A. acquaints Mr. Hobbes. Mr. Hobbes takeing it ill, was resolved to vindicate himselfe in an Epistle to the Author. Accordingly an epistle dated Apr. 20, 1674, was sent to the Author in Manuscript, with an Intention to publish it when the History of Oxford was to be published. Upon the reciept of Mr. Hobbes’s Epistle by Anthony a Wood, he forthwith repaired, very honestly and without any guile, to the Deane of Christ Church to communicate it to him. The Deane read it over carelessly, and not without scorne, and when he had donne, bid Mr. Wood tell Mr. Hobbes, that he was an old man, had one foote in the grave, that he should mind his latter end, and not trouble the world any more with his papers, etc., or to that effect.
In the meane time Mr. Hobbes meetes with the King in the Pall-mall, in St. James’s parke; tells him how he had been served by the Deane of Christ Church, and withall desires his Majestie to be pleased to give him leave to vindicate himself. The King seeming to be troubled at the dealing of the Deane, gave Mr. Hobbes leave, conditionally that he touch no-body but him who had abused him, neither that he should reflect upon the Universitie.
Mr. Hobbes understanding that this Historie would be published at the common Act at Oxon, about 11 July, the said yeare 1674, prints his Epistle at London, and sends downe divers Copies to Oxon, which being dispersed at Coffee-houses and Stationers shops, a Copie forthwith came to the Deane’s hands, who upon the reading of it fretted and fumed at it as a most famous Libell, sent for the Author of the History and chid him, telling withall that he had corresponded with his Enemie (Hobbes). The Author replied that surely he had not forgot what he had donne, for he had communicated to him before what Mr. Hobbes had sayd and written; whereupon the deane, recollecting himselfe, told him that Hobbes should suddenly heare more of him; so that the last sheete of paper being then in the presse and one leafe thereof being left vacant, the Deane supplied it with his answer.
To this scurrilous Answer the old Gentleman never made any Reply, but slighted the Dr.’s passion and forgave it, Aubrey adds. But ’tis supposed it might be the cause why Mr. Hobbes was not afterwards so indulgent, or spared the lesse to speake his Opinion, concerning the Universities and how much their Doctrine and Method had contributed to the late Troubles.
As Aubrey had been in the very centre of this controversy, he hardly needed reminding of the prejudice that a life of Hobbes was likely to arouse; even the King had to move warily when dealing with him, as Aubrey has recorded. For Hobbes had presented Charles II with his History of England from 1640 to 1660, which the King has read and likes extreamely, bu
t tells him there is so much Truth in it he dares not license for feare of displeasing the Bishops. And Aubrey was naturally careful in these matters, as he had in his own family an excellent example of the perils of authorship. In Queen Elizabeth’s time, he states, one Penry of Wales wrote a booke called Martin-Mar-prelate. He was hanged for it. He was kin to my great-grandfather. In Aubrey’s own lifetime there had been the case of George Withers, an easie rymer, and no good Poet whose witt was Satyricall. I thinke the first thing he wrote, says Aubrey, was ‘Abuses Whipt and stript’, for which he was committed to Newgate. With examples like these before them, authors were very wary about printing their works. This Earle of Clarendon told me, says Aubrey, he has his father’s Life written by himselfe, but ’tis not fitt so soon to publish it, and John Rushworth, the historian, wrote to him, “I being neere of kin to Sir Thomas Fairfax, the Parliament’s Generall, he made choice of me to be his secretary in the Wars, by which means I am beter inabled to give account of military affairs, both in the first Wars and in the second which hapened in the year 1648—all of which I am now Perfeting the same, but the times favors not the Comeing of it forth.” Aubrey himself had been driven to a similar concealment, for in the year before his death he wrote to Thomas Tanner: I gave my Holyoake’s Dictionary to the Museum. Pray looke on the blanke leaves at the end of it, and you will find a thundering Copie of Verses that Henry Birkhead gave me in the praise of this King of France. Now he is dead, it may be look’t-upon.
Whatever the reason was, Aubrey, without reading it over, sent the manuscript of his Life of Hobbes to Anthony Wood who, after he had extracted what he wanted, lent it to Richard Blackburne, a generall scholar, prodigious memorie, sound judgement; but 30 yeares old now, who promptly produced a Latin biography of the philosopher, founded largely on Aubrey’s material; help which he acknowledged merely by including among a list of Hobbes’ friends, “John Aubrey of the Royal Society, Esq., a man born rather for the public good than his own, who chiefly encouraged me to the undertaking this work, and kindly supplied me with materials.”
Unlike Silas Taylor, who, in similar circumstances, ejaculated, Soe I should have the fflitted milke for my entertainment and he goe away with the creame and all under his own name too, Aubrey seemed to bear little resentment against the people who so ruthlessly stole the fruit of his labours. In the meane time I suffer the grasse to be cutt under my feet, for Dr. Blackbourne will have all the Glory, Aubrey grumbled, but he busied himself, nonetheless, with collecting laudatory verses with which to preface Blackburne’s edition. I never yet knew a witt (unless he were a piece of an Antiquary) write a proper Epitaph, but have the reader ignorant, what countreyman, &c: only tickles his ears with Elogies, Aubrey wrote to Anthony Wood in 1680. I have engaged the Earle of Dorset, my Lord John Vaughan, to write verses, and they will engage my Lord Mowgrave, and the Earl of Rochester. I first engaged Mr. Dreyden; and Mr. Waller, who is willing he tells me (for they were old acquaintances) but he is something afrayd of the Ecclesiastiques.
Towards Anthony Wood, Aubrey felt nothing but gratitude. ’Twill be a pretty thing and I am glad you putt me on it, he wrote benevolently about the Brief Lives, I doe it playingly: and later he said, my Memoires of Lives is now a booke of 2 quires, close written: and after I had begun it I had such an impulse in my spirit that I could not be at quiet till I had donne it. I beleeve never any in England were delivered so faithfully and with so good authority. For Aubrey had become even more enthralled with this work since Anthony Wood had cunningly suggested to him that he might win fame by publishing his own version of the Lives at a later date: and it must have been encouraging, with this idea in mind, to see into what a lamentably pompous style Wood was translating his notes. Aubrey had written of Thomas Chaloner, He was as far from a Puritan as the East from the West. He was of the Naturall Religion, and of Henry Martyn’s Gang, and one who loved to enjoy the pleasures of this life: whereas Wood’s heavy-handed and self-righteous version ran, “This Thomas Chaloner, who was as far from being a puritan or a presbyterian as the east is from the west, for he was a boon companion, was of Henry Martin’s gang, was of the natural religion, and loved to enjoy the comfortable importances of this life, without any regard of laying up for a wet day, which at last he wanted.” Where Wood pointed a moral, Aubrey adorned a tale.
On Ascension Day, 1680, therefore, Aubrey sent the Minutes of his Lives to Anthony Wood at Oxford and for the next twelve years the volumes shuttled to and fro between them, growing ever more involved and more untidy. And now Aubrey felt free to work out a notion which he had first conceived in 1669: An Idea of Education of Young Gentlemen, viz. From the Age of 9 or ten yeares; till 17, or 18; and his views on this subject were so far in advance of his age, that it was not until this century that they were even given a trial.
The basic idea of his school he outlined as follows: Plato saies, that the Education of Children is the Foundation of Government: it will follow, that the Education of the Nobless must be the Pillars and Ornaments of it: they are the Atlasses that beare-up the weight of it. ’Tis true, there is an ample provision made in both our Universities for the Education of Clerkes: but not care hath yet been taken for the right breeding-up of Gentlemen of Qualitie.
The methods by which Aubrey wished to train the gentlemen of England for their task of government were astonishingly liberal. The common way of teaching is so long, tedious, and praeposterous, he said, that it breakes the spirit of the fine tender ingeniose youths and causes ’em perfectly to hate learning, and he attacked particularly the ordinary schoolmasters’ tyrannicall beating and dispiriting of children which many tender ingeniose children doe never recover again. Dr. Busby, he admits, hath made a number of good Scholars, but I have heard several of his Scholars affirme, that he hath marred by his severity more than he hath made: an awful accusation when one considers that, during his reign at Westminster, Busby not only produced the greatest architect of the age Sir Christopher Wren, the greatest poet John Dryden and the greatest philosopher John Locke, but that his pupils so monopolised the highest positions in the Church that the Bishop of Rochester thanked God “that he was a Bishop although not a Westminster.” Aubrey nevertheless held to his doctrine that Youth should be indulged as to all lawfull Pleasures, and two hundred years before its time he produced the theory that ’Tis a very ill thing to cross children; it makes them ill-natured; wherefore let them not be cross’d in things indifferent.
Aubrey had adopted the revolutionary idea that a Schoole should be indeed the house of play and pleasure; and not of feare and bondage, and his aim was to get his pupils to take so great a delight in their Studies, that they would learn as fast as one could teach them. He therefore decided never to overcloude their tender memories: but let them, when they begin to be weary, turn the Globes and play with them. Nor were more strenuous forms of exercise ignored. Young men doe much want Ayring, he thought, especially those of a sulphurous complexion, they are apt to kindle a Feaver without it; and so riding tours round the countryside were encouraged, and these expeditions had the added advantage of serving discipline as well as health. For the withdrawal of permission to share in these jaunts would serve as an adequate punishment for any breach of the lax discipline. For more serious misdemeanours, Not to eat Tarts, and Fruit, or drinke Wine would be a penance, Aubrey thought, but he had some doubts about the safety of this latter method: It is observed, that those children who are too severely prohibited to drink wine, doe generally prove Drunkards, besides which it was acknowledged to be a good medicine against the Wormes. Scrupulous in observing his rule the scholars not to be beaten about the head, he decided at last that thumb-screws would have to be employed to discourage the most serious naughtiness. From the health point of view, Aubrey also set special store in letting the children sleep-out their full Sleep. No scholar to rise too early (especially in Winter), runs one rule, because it checks their Perspiration and so, dulls them; and it stints their growth. Some friends of mine, he added, impute their
unluckiness to their too early rising at Westminster. And in the garden, Aubrey intended to provide his pupils with a noble Bassin to learn the Art of Swimming, and wash themselves in warme weather.
His friend, Dr. Ezreel Tonge (ever famous as the inventor of the Way of teaching Children to write a good hand in twenty dayes’ time, by writing over with black Inke, Copies printed from Copper-plates in red Inke, by which meanes Boyes learn to admiration) had, according to Aubrey an excellent schoole, and followed precisely the Jesuites method of teaching; and boyes did profit wonderfully, as needes they must, by that method. In imitation of his friend, therefore, Aubrey decided to limit his instruction to modern subjects, such as Cookery, Chemistry, Cards (They may have a Banke for wine, of the money that is wonne at play every night), Merchants Accompts, the Mathematicks, and Dancing, trusting that his pupils would be unconsciously forced into learning Latin by the Ten or 12 Swisse, or Dutch, or Scotish Boyes of about fifteene years old (french boies will be naught, he added curtly, like the shearing of Hogges they make a great crie and little wool: thir mindes do chiefly run on the propagation of their race) whom he intended to educate free, in return for a promise to restrict their conversation to Latin. And the cook, the scullions, and the porter, a lusty young Swiss with a long sword, were likewise pledged to speak Latin only.
By these means, he hoped, the boys would pick up the classical tongues despite themselves, and another of his devices to this end was borrowed direct from Dr. Tonge’s school, where was a long gallery, and he had severall printed heads of Caesar’s, &c; verbes under such a head, governed by a Dative case; under another an Ablative. The boyes had it as readie as could be. Aubrey was convinced of the value of this pictorial method of education, even in later life: Sir Ralph Hopton (since Ld) was wont to say that he learn’t more Philosophy once from a painted cloath in an Alehouse then in all the bookes he had read: sc.