ced an early friendship, which lasted as long as Mr. Hobbes lived. In 1642, Mr. Aubrey was entered a gentleman-commoner of Trinity college at Oxford, where he pursued his
, an eminent English antiquary, descended from an ancient family in Wiltshire, was born at
Easton-Piers in that county, Nov. 3, 1625 or 1626. He
received the first rudiments of his education in the grammar-school at Malmesbury, under Mr. Robert Latimer;
who had also been preceptor to the famous Thomas
Hobbes, with whom Mr. Aubrey commenced an early friendship, which lasted as long as Mr. Hobbes lived. In 1642,
Mr. Aubrey was entered a gentleman-commoner of Trinity
college at Oxford, where he pursued his studies with great
diligence, making the history and antiquities of England
his peculiar object. About this time the famous “Monasticon Anglicanum
” was talked of in the university, to
which Mr. Aubrey contributed considerable assistance, and
procured, at his own expence, a curious draught of the
remains of Osney abbey near Oxford, which were entirely
destroyed in the civil wars. This was afterwards engraved
by Hollar, and inserted in the Mouasticon with an inscription by Aubrey. In 1646 he was admitted of the Middle
Temple, but the death of his father hindered him from
pursuing the law. He succeeded to several estates in the
counties of Wilts, Surrey, Hereford, Brecknock, and Monmouth, but they were involved in many law-suits. These
suits, together with other misfortunes, by degrees consumed all his estates, and forced him to lead a more active
life than he was otherwise inclined to. He did not, however, break off his acquaintance with the learned at Oxford or at London, but kept up a close correspondence
with the lovers of antiquity and natural philosophy in the
university, and furnished Anthony Wood with a considerable part of the materials for his two large works. W r ood,
however, in his own life, does not speak very respectfully
of his assistant. He calls him a pretender to antiquities,
and after giving an account of the origin of their acquaintance, of the gay appearance which Aubrey made at Oxford, and of his subsequent poverty, Wood adds, “He
was a shiftless person, roving and magotie-headed, and
sometimes little better than erased. And being exceedingly credulous, would stuff his many letters sent to A. W.
with folliries and mis-informations, which sometimes would
guide him into the paths of error.
”
fected in the learned languages, was removed to the university of Cambridge, where he was admitted a gentleman commoner of Trinity college. In 1706 he was sent with his two
, eldest son of the preceding, was
educated privately at first, and when perfected in the
learned languages, was removed to the university of Cambridge, where he was admitted a gentleman commoner of
Trinity college. In 1706 he was sent with his two younger
brothers abroad, to finish his studies at Leyden; from
whence he appears to have made a tour through Germany,
Switzerland, and Italy. By his own choice he was bred
to the law; but it is uncertain whether he practised at the
bar. In 1720 he was one of the unhappy persons who
suffered greatly in the infatuation of the South-Sea scheme.
He had, however, a place in the revenue, of twelve hundred pounds a year; but, being desirous of retrieving his
fortune, he quitted that post, and was appointed governor
of New York and the Jerseys. In this station his conduct
in general was very acceptable to those colonies, and approved of in England. After the accession of king George
the Second, in order to provide for a gentleman who was
understood to be in particular esteem with his majesty,
Mr. Burnet was removed from the governments of New
York and the Jerseys to those of the Massachusets and
New Hampshire. This change was highly disagreeable,
and he considered it as a great hardship to be obliged to
part with posts that were very profitable, for such. as would
afford him, at best, only a decent support; and to leave
an easy administration for one which he foresaw would be
extremely troublesome. Of this he complained to his
friends, and it had a visible effect upon his spirits. On the
13th of July, 1728, he arrived at Boston, and was received
with unusual pomp. Having been instructed from England to insist on a fixed salary’s being settled upon him as
governor, he adhered to his instructions with such unabated
vigour and perseverance, as involved him in the warmest
disputes with the general assembly of the province. A
large detail of these contests may be seen in Mr. Hutchinson’s History of Massachusets’ Bay, from which Mr. Burnet’s abilities, firmness, and spirit will appear in a striking
light. Being deprived of his salary, by refusing to receive
it in the mode proposed by the assembly, and having by
that means been driven to such straits as obliged him to
apply to the assistance of his friends for the support of his
family, he thought he might be justified in establishing a
fee and perquisite which had never been known in the
province before. At New York, all vessels took from the
governor a pass, or permission for sailing out of the harbour, which, though it had no foundation in law, was submitted to without complaint. The same disposition did
not prevail in the inhabitants of Boston. The fee which
Mr. Burnet imposed on the ships, for their passes, being
complained of to the king and council as illegal and oppressive, it was immediately disapproved. In all other
respects his administration was unexceptionable, but this
controversy with the general assembly made a great impression upon his mind. In the latter end of August, 1729,
he was seized, at Boston, with a fever, which carried him
off on the 7th of September, and the assembly ordered
him a very honourable funeral at the public expence.
Though he had been steady and inflexible in his adherence
to his instructions, he discovered nothing of a grasping
avaricious temper. His superior talents, and free and
easy manner of communicating his sentiments, rendered
him the delight of men of sense and learning; and his
right of precedence in all companies, facilitated his natural
disposition to take a great lead in conversation. His own
account of his genius was, that it was late before it budded;
and that, until he was nearly twenty years of age, his father despaired of his ever making any figure in life. This,
perhaps, might proceed from the exact discipline of the
bishop’s family, not calculated alike for every temper. To
long and frequent religious services at home in his youth,
Mr. Burnet would sometimes pleasantly attribute his indisposition to a scrupulous attendance on public worship.
Mr. Burnet' s first lady was a daughter of Dr. George Stanhope, dean of Canterbury, and was a woman equally distinguished for her beauty, wit, good-humour, singing, and
various accomplishments. Her sense will appear from the
following anecdote: When she was dying, being worn
out with a long and painful sickness, as they rubbed her
temples with Hungary water, in her last faintings, she
begged them not to do it, for “that it would make her
hair gray.
” Mr. William Burnet was the author of a tract
entitled “A View of Scripture Prophecy.
”
sir John Ford, knt. and was born at Up-park in the parish of Harting in Sussex, in 1605. He became a gentleman commoner of Trinity college, Oxford, in 1621, but left it without
, an ingenious gentleman of the seventeenth century, was the son of sir John Ford, knt. and
was born at Up-park in the parish of Harting in Sussex, in
1605. He became a gentleman commoner of Trinity
college, Oxford, in 1621, but left it without taking a degree, after which Wood has not been able to trace his
history, until he served the office of high sheriff for Sussex, and demonstrated his loyalty to Charles I. who conferred on him the honour of knighthood at Oxford, Oct.
4, 1643. About that time he bore a colonel’s commission
in the army, or, according to Clarendon, had a regiment
of horse in lord Hopton’s troops, and was afterwards a
considerable sufferer for his adherence to the royal cause.
In 1647, he and Dr. Stephen Goffe were imprisoned on.
suspicion of being accessary to his majesty’s escape from
Hampton court. How or when he was released we are not
told, but as he had married general Ireton’s sister, he
might owe his release to the influence of his brother-inlaw with the parliamentary party. In 1656 we find him
employed in certain mechanical inventions of considerable
importance. With Cromwell’s encouragement, and at the
request of the citizens of London, he contrived machinery
for raising the Thames water into all the higher streets of
the city, a height of ninety-three feet. This he is said to
have accomplished in a year’s time, and at his own expence; and the same machinery was afterwards employed
in other parts of the kingdom for draining mines and lands,
which it performed better and cheaper than any former
contrivance. He also constructed the great water engine at
Somerset-house, for supplying the Strand, &c. but this
obstructing the prospect from the windows, queen Catherine, the consort of Charles II. caused it to be pulled
clown. After the restoration he invented a mode of coining copper money (Wood says, farthings) which could not
possibly be counterfeited, as each piece was made to differ
from another in some minute circumstance. He failed in
procuring a patent for these for England, but obtained one
for Ireland. He went over accordingly to carry his design
into execution there, but died before he could accomplish
it, on Sept. 3, 1670, and his body being brought over, was
interred in the family buriai place at Harting. Wood
speaks of him as a man who might have done great things
if he had met with proper encouragement. He published,
1. “A Design for bringing a River from Rickmansworth in
Hertfordshire to St. Giles’s in the Fields, near London;
the benefits of it declared, and the objections against it
answered,
” Lond. Experimental Proposals how the king may have money to pay and maintain his
fleets, with ease to the people London may be re-built,
and all proprietors satisfied money may be lent at six
per cent, on pawns and the fishing trade set up, and all
without straining or thwarting any of our laws or customs,
”
ibid. Defence of
Bill Credit.
” About
place of his nativity. When he had made a progress in classical learning, he was admitted in 1629 a gentleman-commoner of Trinity college, in Oxford, and placed under Mr.
, an eminent political writer,
was born in January 1611, being the eldest son of sir Sapcote Harrington, and Jane the daughter of sir William
Samuel of Upton, in Northamptonshire, the place of his
nativity. When he had made a progress in classical learning, he was admitted in 1629 a gentleman-commoner of
Trinity college, in Oxford, and placed under Mr. Chillingworth, who had lately been elected fellow of that college;
from whom he might possibly acquire some portion of that
spirit of reasoning and thinking for himself, which afterwards shone forth so conspicuously in his writings.
About three years after, his father died; upon which he
left the university, and commenced travelling, having previously furnished himself with the knowledge of several
foreign languages. His first step was into Holland, then
the principal school of martial discipline; and, what may
be supposed to have affected him more sensibly, a country
wonderfully flourishing, under the auspices of liberty,
commerce, strength, and grandeur. Here it is probable
that he began to make government the subject of his meditations; for, he was often heard to say, that, “before he
left England, he knew no more of anarchy, monarchy, aristocracy, democracy, oligarchy, or the like, than as hard
words, whose signification he found in his dictionary.
” On
coming into the Netherlands, he entered a volunteer, and
remained in that capacity some months, in lord Craven’s
regiment; during which time, being much at the Hague,
he had the farther opportunity of accomplishing himself in
two courts, those of the prince of Orange, and of the queen
of Bohemia, daughter of our James I. who was then a fugitive in Holland. He was taken into great favour by this
princess, and also by the prince elector, whom he attended
to Copenhagen, when his highness paid a visit to the king
of Denmark; and, after his return from travelling, was
entrusted by him with the affairs of the Palatinate, so far
as they were transacted at the British court.
, gentleman-commoner of Trinity college, Oxford, was the second son of John
, gentleman-commoner
of Trinity college, Oxford, was the second son of John
Lethieullier, esq. of Aldersbrook, in Essex, where he had
a noble collection of Mss. choice books, medals, and na-,
tural curiosities, which he had collected in his travels
through France, Italy, and Germany. His father dying
Jan. 1, 1736-7, and his elder brother being dead before,
he became heir to the paternal estates, which were very
considerable. He was elected F. S. A. in July 1724. He
married, Feb. 6, 1725-6, Margaret, daughter of William
Sloper, esq. of Woodhay, in Berkshire; but died Aug.
27, 1760, aged fifty-nine, without issue. He was succeeded in his estates, to which he had added the manor
of Birch- hall in They don Bois, by Mary, only daughter
of his next brother Charles Lethieullier, LL.D. fellow of
All Souls college, F. A. S. and counsellor at law, who died
the year before him. He was an excellent scholar, a
polite gentleman, and universally esteemed by all the
learned men of his time. Some papers of his are printed
in Phil. Trans. No. 497, and Archseologia, I. p. 26, 57, 73,
75; II. 291. His library was sold by auction, 1760.
The following eloge was written by the late Mr. Collinson immediately after the death of Mr. Lethieullier: “He
was descended from an ancient family from France in time
of persecution, and a gentleman every way eminent for his
excellent endowments. His desire to improve in the civil
and natural history of his country led him to visit all parts
of it; the itineraries in his library, and the discoveries he
made relating to its antiquities, with drawings of every
thing remarkable, are evidences of his great application to
rescue so many ancient remains from mouldering into oblivion. His happy turn of mind was not confined solely to
antiquities, but in these journeys he was indefatigable in
collecting all the variety of English fossils, with a view to
investigate their origin: this great collection, which excels
most others, is deposited in two large cabinets, disposed
under their proper classes. The most rare are elegantly
drawn, and described in a folio book, with his observations
on them. As the variety of ancient marbles had engaged
his attention, and he found so little said of them with respect to their natural history, it was one of his motives, iti
visiting Italy, to furnish himself with such materials as he
was able to procure from books, and learned men, relating
to them. He collected specimens of the most curious, and
had drawings, finely painted, of the most remarkable monuments of the ancient marbles; they are bound up in a
folio volume, with all the observations he could gather relating to their natural history and antiquity. His cabinet
of medals, his collection of antiquities of various kinds,
and most elegant books of the finest engravings, are ‘instances of the fine taste with which he has enriched his
library and cabinet with the spoils of Italy. This short but
imperfect memoir is candidly offered as a tribute due to a
Jong friendship. It is wished it may excite an abler pen
’to do more justice to the memory of this great and good
man. But it is humbly hoped that these hints will be accepted not only as a testimony of respect, but may also
inform an inquisitive genius in these branches of science
where he may be assisted with such valuable materials for
the prosecution of his future studies.
”
He had an elder brother William, who was some time gentleman commoner of Trinity college in Oxford, and, entering into the
He had an elder brother William, who was some time gentleman commoner of Trinity college in Oxford, and, entering into the parliament’s army, acquitted himself so well, that he rose, by several gradations, to the highest post and dignities. In 1649, he was appointed governor of the Isle of Wight, and made vice-admiral of that isle and Hampshire. In 1653, he was summoned to parliament for Dorsetshire; in 1654, made commissioner of the treasury, and member of the privy-council; and in 1658, summoned to parliament by the protector Richard Cromwell. This connection, together with his own principles and former engagements, would probably hinder Dr. Sydenham from being a very popular physician, during the period of his flourishing, that is, in the reigns of Charles II. and James II.; yet he seems to hare owed more of his neglect to the envy of his contemporary brethren.