by John Aubrey
KING, GREGORY (1648–1712), herald, genealogist, engraver, statesman and author of Natural and Political Observations and Conclusions upon the State and Condition of England.
LACY, JOHN (d. 1681), dramatist, actor and friend of Aubrey. Attached to Charles II’s company of actors, his acting was praised by Pepys and Evelyn, and Aubrey says he was of an elegant shape, and fine complexion. His Majestie (Charles IId) haz severall pictures of this famous Comoedian at Windsore and Hampton Court in the postures of severall parts that be acted, e.g. Teag, Lord Vaux, the Puritan. He made his exit on Saturday September 17th 1681, and was buryed in the farther churchyard of St. Martyn’s in the fields on the monday following.
LAMBE, JOHN (d. 1628), astrologer, was indicted for the practise of execrable arts in 1608 and imprisoned for fifteen years. He then received the protection of the Duke of Buckingham, but was fatally injured by a mob of apprentices who denounced him as “the Duke’s Devil.”
LAMBERT, JOHN (1619–83), Parliamentary General, held positions of great power during the Commonwealth. Attempting rebellion after the Restoration, he was tried for high treason and condemned to death, but was imprisoned instead on Guernsey until his death.
LANQUET, THOMAS (1521–45), chronicler, who after study at Oxford devoted himself to historical research.
LATIMER, ROBERT (1564–1634), Rector of Leigh-de-la-mere and schoolmaster of Thomas Hobbes and John Aubrey, who says he was a good Graecian.
LAUD, WILLIAM (1573–1645), Archbishop of Canterbury, supported Charles I in his struggle with the Commons. Completely failing to allow for the diversity of the elements which made up the national church, he was impeached of high treason by the Long Parliament and beheaded.
LAUDERDALE, JOHN MAITLAND, 1ST DUKE OF (1616–82), Secretary for Scottish Affairs from 1660 to 1680, had complete influence over Charles II, who supported him against attack from the English Parliament.
LEECH, SIR E. (fl. 1620), was a Cheshire man and was knighted at Windsor in 1621.
LEICESTER, ROBERT DUDLEY, 1ST EARL OF (1532–88), Queen Elizabeth’s favourite, married Amy Robsart, whom he was later suspected of murdering. Queen Elizabeth at one time considered marrying him, but was opposed by Cecil and the nobility.
LEICESTER, PHILIP SIDNEY, 3RD EARL OF (1619–98), Parliamentarian, declined to act as Commissioner for the trial of Charles I, but was a member of several of the Republican Councils of State, and of the two Protectorate Councils.
LELY, SIR PETER (1618–80), born near Utrecht, was portrait-painter under Charles I, Cromwell and Charles II, the beauties of whose Court he immortalised. He is also supposed to have painted a portrait of John Aubrey in 1656.
LENTHALL, SIR JOHN (1625–81), Speaker of the House of Commons, was knighted both by Cromwell and Charles II.
LIÉBAULT, JEAN (1535–96), French physician and agriculturalist.
LILLY, WILLIAM (1602–81), a noted astrologer and friend of Aubrey, published yearly almanacks and pamphlets of prophecy.
LINUS, FRANCISCUS (1597–1675), Jesuit and scientific writer.
LISTER, SIR MATTHEW (1571–1656), physician to Anne, Queen of James I, and to Charles I.
LIVY (59 B.C.–A.D. 17), Roman historian, whose greatest work was a hundred and forty-two volume history of Rome, from its foundation to his own times.
LLOYD, MEREDITH (fl. 1660). My worthy friend, Mr. M. L. is described by Aubrey as an able Chymist, and who informed His Majestie and Sir Robert Moray herin.
LLWYD, EDWARD (1660–1709), Celtic scholar, naturalist and Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum from 1690 to 1709, was a close friend of Aubrey.
LOCKE, JOHN (1632–1704), philosopher, F.R.S. and friend of Aubrey. His Essay concerning Human Understanding founded the analytic philosophy of mind, and his two Treatises of Government were designed to combat the theory of the divine right of kings and to justify the Revolution. He was expelled from Christ Church, Oxford, in 1684, for supposed complicity in Lord Shaftesbury’s plot.
LODOWICK, FRANCIS (fl. 1660–80), a London merchant and F.R.S., was a close friend of Aubrey and Robert Hooke.
LOGGAN, DAVID (1635–1700), artist, was Engraver to Oxford University and later to Cambridge. Published Oxonia Illustrata in 1675 and Cantabrigia Illustrata from 1676 to 1690. The portrait that he drew of John Aubrey has disappeared.
LONG, SIR JAMES (1617–92), a Royalist, was defeated at Devizes in 1645 and was later captured at Chippenham.
LONG, SIR WALTER (c. 1590–1672), a Puritan and zealous Parliamentarian, he nevertheless joined Charles II in exile.
LONG, SIR WALTER (1627–1710), Sheriff of Wiltshire and M.P. for Bath, was a close friend of Aubrey. He died unmarried.
LONGOMONTANUS, CHRISTIAN (1562–1647), astronomer, worked with Tycho Brahé at his observatory in Denmark from 1589 to 1597. He was engaged in many controversies over his claim to have squared the circle.
LOUIS XIII (1601–43), son of Henri IV and Marie de Medicis, ascended the throne of France in 1610.
LOUIS XIV (1638–1715), son of Louis XIII, succeeded to the throne when he was five and made his country the most powerful in Europe. In 1670 he bribed Charles II and his ministers, and for many years intrigued in England.
LOVE, CHRISTOPHER (1618–51), Puritan minister, published controversial pamphlets and sermons, and was executed for plotting against the Commonwealth.
LUCAN (39–65), Roman poet, whose chief work Pharsalia describes the struggle between Cæsar and Pompey.
LUCRETIUS (c. 99–5 5 B.C.), Roman poet, whose chief work De Rerum Naturâ adopts the atomic theory of the universe, and seeks to show that the course of the world can be explained without resorting to divine intervention, his object being to free mankind from terror of the gods.
LUTHER, MARTIN (1483–1546), German reformer. As a monk he had been disgusted by the corruption of the Church at Rome, and became the leader of the Reformation in Germany, basing his stand on the doctrine of justification by the faith of the individual. He translated the Bible into German.
LYDALL, JOHN (1625–57), scholar of Trinity College, Oxford, was a particular friend of Aubrey, who often refers to him in his letters, generally with some expression of deep sorrow.
LYTE, ISAAC (1577–1660), Aubrey’s maternal grandfather, was the source of much of his information about the Elizabethan period.
LYTE, ISRAEL (1578–1662) of Winterbourne Basset, was Aubrey’s maternal grandmother.
MACHIAVELLI, NICCOLO (1469–1527), Florentine statesman and political philosopher, whose best-known work The Prince was directed to the attainment of a united Italy, by means that included cruelty and bad faith.
MAHOMET (570–632), the founder of the Moslem religion, whose prophecies make up the Koran.
MALET, LADY ELIZABETH (d. 1681), daughter of John Malet of Enmere, Somerset, was described by Pepys as “the great beauty and fortune of the north,” and by Gramont as “the melancholy heiress.” She married John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, who had previously kidnapped her, in 1667.
MALETTE, SIR THOMAS (1582–1665), judge, was imprisoned in the Tower from 1642 to 1644 for supporting the royal policy and prerogative. He was restored to the bench in 1660.
MANCHESTER, SIR HENRY MONTAGU, 1ST EARL OF (1563–1642), judge and statesman, who, as Chief Justice of the King’s Bench, condemned Sir Walter Raleigh in 1618, became Lord High Treasurer of England two years later.
MANILIUS (fl. A.D. 30), Roman author of Astronomica, a Latin poem in five books on astronomy and astrology.
MANSELL, FRANCIS (1579–1665), Royalist, was ejected from the Principalship of Jesus College, Oxford, in 1647, and was reinstated in 1660.
MANWARING, ROGER (1590–1653), Bishop of St. David’s, was imprisoned and persecuted by the Long Parliament for his Royalist leanings. As Chaplain to Charles I, he had preached a sermon asserting “peril of damnation” of those who resisted taxation levied by royal authority, but had retracted this doctrine before a threat of imprisonment.
MARCUS AURELIUS (121–180), Roman Emperor from 161,
was devoted to philosophy and literature, and left a twelve-volume work, written in Greek, entitled Meditations.
MARIETT, THOMAS (d. 1691), shared chambers with Aubrey at the Middle Temple and remained one of his closest friends throughout his life. He ultimately became High Sheriff of Warwickshire, and Aubrey says his 3rd wife broke his heart.
MARLOWE, CHRISTOPHER (1564–93), dramatist, whose plays gave a new development to blank verse and prepared the way for Shakespeare. He was killed by one Ingram Frisar at a tavern in Deptford.
MARPRELATE, MARTIN (fl. 1588–9), was the name assumed by the author of a number of anonymous pamphlets issued from a secret press, which contained attacks in a railing, rollicking style on the bishops, and defended the Presbyterian system of discipline.
MARSHALL, WILLIAM (fl. 1630–50), engraver and friend of Aubrey, illustrated books and executed portraits of historical interest.
MARTIAL (43–c. 100), Roman poet, whose collection of witty and frequently coarse epigrams throws a valuable light on Roman life and manners.
MARTIN, RICHARD (1570–1618), lawyer and wit, was expelled from the Middle Temple in 1591 for a riot, but rose to be Recorder of London.
MARY OF MODENA (1658–1718), daughter of Alfonso IV, Duke of Modena, and Queen of James II, became identified with the aggressive Roman Catholic faction at the English court, and was vulgarly called “the Pope’s eldest daughter.”
MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS (1542–87), becoming Queen in infancy on the death of her father, also styled herself Queen of England after the death of Mary Tudor, and received much support from the Catholics. She was driven off the throne of Scotland in 1567 and fled to England, where she was executed twenty years later for plotting against Queen Elizabeth.
MARY TUDOR (1516–58), the eldest surviving child of Henry VIII by his first wife Catherine of Aragon, succeeded her brother Edward VI in 1553 to become the first Queen Regnant of England. A staunch Catholic, she married Philip II of Spain in 1554 and restored the papal power in England. Her reign has remained notorious for the persecution of the Protestants, three hundred of whom were burnt during her five years on the throne.
MASSEY, SIR EDWARD (1619–74), Royalist, joined the Parliamentarians and became Commander-in-Chief of the London forces, but was excluded from the House in Pride’s Purge and imprisoned. Escaping to Holland, he joined Charles II and was captured at the battle of Worcester. After the Restoration, he again sat in the Commons.
MASSINGER, PHILIP (1583–1640), playwright, whose principal field was romantic drama, but whose best known work was A New Way to Pay Old Debts.
MAYERNE, SIR THEODORE (1573–1655), physician to James I’s Queen and to the nobility, made chemical and physical experiments.
MAYNARD, SIR JOHN (1602–90), judge, was a member of the Short and Long Parliaments and of the Westminster Assembly, but opposed the King’s deposition. Appointed Protector’s Serjeant in 1658 and King’s Serjeant in 1660, he appeared for the Crown at most of the State Trials at the Restoration and at most of the Popish Plot prosecutions. His will was so obscure that a private Act of Parliament had to be passed to settle the disputes to which it gave rise.
MAZARIN, JULES (1602–61), Cardinal and statesman. An Italian by birth, he succeeded Richelieu as first Minister of France and governed during the minority of Louis XIV.
MEAD, JOSEPH (1586–1638), Biblical scholar, philologist, historian, mathematician, physicist, botanist and practical anatomist, was a student of astrology, Egyptology and the origin of Semitic religions.
MENNES, SIR JOHN (1599–1671), admiral, became Governor of the King’s Navy in 1645 and Comptroller of the Navy in 1661, “though not fit for business” according to Pepys. He published Wits Recreations and Musarum Deliciae.
MERCATOR, NICHOLAS (c. 1640–87), German astronomer, resided in England and became a Fellow of the Royal Society. He published Cosmographia and Astronomia Sphaerica.
MERITON, RICHARD (1637–86), whose real name was Head, was the author of the first part of The English Rogue and The Life and Death of Mother Shipton. He was ruined by gambling and was drowned at sea.
MEYRICK, SIR WILLIAM (d. 1668), Judge of the Prerogative Court at Canterbury, was ejected for joining the King, but was reinstated and knighted in 1660.
MIDDLESEX, ANNE, COUNTESS OF (d. 1670), daughter of James Brett of Hoby and a first cousin of the Duke of Buckingham, married Lionel Cranfield, 1st Earl of Middlesex, in 1620.
MIDDLETON, JOHN MIDDLETON, 1ST EARL OF (1619–74), soldier. After serving in the Covenant Army, he joined the Royalists and was created earl by Charles II in exile.
MIDDLETON, THOMAS (1570–1627), dramatist, wrote satirical comedies of contemporary manners and later romantic comedies, as well as pageants and masques.
MOFFAT, THOMAS (1553–1604), physician and author, was patronised by Henry, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, who induced him to settle at Wilton.
MOLIÈRE (1622–73), French comic dramatist, who ridiculed contemporary society.
MONMOUTH AND BUCCLEUCH, JAMES SCOTT, 1ST DUKE OF (1649–85), natural son of Charles II by Lucy Walter. Though he was Charles’ favourite child, he plotted against his father’s life, and in 1685 led an armed rebellion against his uncle, James II, for which he was executed. Aubrey’s life of Monmouth was destroyed by Anthony Wood.
MONTAGU, MARY, LADY (fl. 1680), daughter of Sir John Aubrey, 1st Bart., and wife of William Montagu, Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer, was said by Aubrey to be his most intimate shee-Freind.
MONTAIGNE, MICHEL EYQUEM DE (1533–92). His famous Essays, which reveal him as a man of insatiable intellectual curiosity, were translated into English by John Florio in 1603 and had a great influence on Shakespeare.
MONTANUS, JULIUS (fl. c. A.D. 10), Roman writer of elegiac and lyric poetry.
MOREHOUSE, LANCELOT (d. 1672), mathematician and Minister of Pertwood, was said by Aubrey to be a man of very searching witt, and indefatigable at solving a Question.
MORGAN, JOHN (b. 1622), the father of Mariana and Thomas Morgan, lodged in John Aubrey’s house during the Civil War, in which he served as a major in the King’s Army.
MORTON, JOHN (1420–1500), Cardinal, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Lord Chancellor to Henry VII, is most famous for “Morton’s Fork,” the dilemma that he proposed to the merchants whom he invited to contribute to benevolences: either their handsome way of life manifested their great wealth, or if their way of living was less opulent, they must have grown rich by their economy.
MORTON, WILLIAM DOUGLAS, 8TH EARL OF (1582–1650), was Lord High Treasurer of Scotland from 1630 to 1635, when he was made a Knight of the Garter and Privy Councillor. Nominated by Charles I for the Lord Chancellorship, he advanced money to the Royalists during the Civil War.
MOUFFET, THOMAS (1553–1604), was, according to Aubrey, one of the learnedest Physitians of that age and was a pensioner of the Herberts at Wilton.
MOUNTJOY, SIR CHARLES BLOUNT, 5TH BARON (1516–44), corresponded with Erasmus as a boy. A King’s Ward, he was later a leading courtier of Henry VIII.
MOXON, JOSEPH (1627–1700), hydrographer and mathematician, sold mathematical and geographical instruments and maps. He published works on astronomy, geography, architecture, mechanics, mathematics and typography, and was nominated Hydrographer to the King in 1660.
MULCASTER, RICHARD (1530–1611), schoolmaster and author of books on the training of children, was the first Headmaster of Merchant Taylors School and later High Master of St. Paul’s.
NAPIER, JOHN (1550–1617), Laird of Merchiston, was inventor of logarithms, the present notation of decimal fractions, and a system of numerating rods, commonly called “Napier’s bones,” which was the earliest form of calculating machine.
NAPIER, SIR RICHARD (1607–76), physician and Fellow of All Souls, was the nephew and heir of Richard Napier, the astrologer.
NASHE, THOMAS (1567–1601), religious and literary controversialist, whose writings have something of the fascination of Rabelais, attacked so many current abuses o
f the state in his comedy The Isle of Dogs, that he was sent to the Fleet Prison for some months.
NEALE, SIR WILLIAM (1609–91), Royalist, was Scoutmaster-General in Prince Rupert’s army. In his old age he was supported by Edmund Wyld, and Aubrey says: When he died, he was the oldest Field-officer of King Charles the first. He was not lesse than 6 foot high: very beautifull in youth (I remember him) and of great courage, but a great plunderer and cruell. He died poenitent.
NEILE, SIR PAUL (1613–86), astronomer, was an original member of the Royal Society, and was on its Council in 1662 and 1663.
NEILE, RICHARD (1562–1640), Archbishop of Canterbury, sat regularly on the High Commission and in the Star Chamber, and was a patron of Laud, whom he made his chaplain.
NERO (37–68), the last Roman Emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, is proverbial for his tyranny and brutality.
NEVILL, HENRY (1620–94), political and miscellaneous writer, was the author of some coarse lampoons, a successful story The Isle of Pines, and a translation of Machiavelli’s works.
NEWCASTLE, WILLIAM CAVENDISH, 1ST DUKE OF (1592–1676), Governor of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Royalist Commander in the Civil Wars, spent nearly a million pounds in the royal service, but had only part of his lands returned to him at the Restoration. A patron of Ben Jonson and Dryden, he himself wrote plays, poems, and a famous work on horsemanship.
NEWTON, SIR ISAAC (1642–1727), Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, natural philosopher and a friend of Aubrey, discovered the binomial theorem, the differential and the integral calculus, and conceived the idea of universal gravitation. His Principia (1687) which contained the laws of motion, revolutionised thought in Europe. President of the Royal Society in 1703, he was re-elected annually for twenty-five years.
NEWTON, JOHN (1622–78), mathematician and astronomer, became King’s Chaplain at the Restoration and Canon of Hereford in 1673.
NICHOLAS, SIR EDWARD (1593–1669), was Secretary of State to Charles I and Charles II from 1641 until 1662, when he was set aside and pensioned on account of age and sickness.
NORFOLK, HENRY HOWARD, 6TH DUKE OF (1628–84), the second son of the 3rd Earl of Arundel, succeeded his brother as Duke in 1677. A friend of Evelyn and a patron of Aubrey, he presented a library to the Royal Society and the Arundel marbles to Oxford University.