2<^A S. VIII. Dec. 10. '59.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



467 



Hoyle, who observes, " I take willingly all the re- 

 sponsibility of their having never been published." 

 Tills is strange, for these four letters were pub- 

 lished in Oct. 1831 in the Gentleman s Magazine^ 

 preceded by a letter from the Rev. Charles Hoyle 

 <lated from " Weston, near Marlborough." It may 

 be well to note the ftict of prior publication to 

 save farther trouble. U. L. 



caucn'e^. 



OLD ENGLISH PLAYS, 



in Print or Manuscript., loritten before a.d. 1700. 



In a ^QVT weeks I shall commence printing, to 

 be published by Mr. Russell Smith, a dictionai'y 

 of all old English plays now existing, in print or 

 in manuscript, which were written before a.d. 

 1700. It will be based on the very useful, though 

 often inaccurate, list of plays in the Biographia 

 Dramatica, 1812, in my copy of which work I 

 have made additions, as they have occurred to 

 me, for the last fifteen years. Being anxious to 

 render the work as complete as possible, I should 

 feel particularly obliged if any of your readers 

 possessing rare play?, masques, or pageants, in 

 print or manuscript, would favour me with a 

 communication addressed to me at No. 6. St. 

 Mary's Place, West Brompton, near London. 

 The information required is exact copies of titles^ 

 the date or probable date, and any brief note 

 likely to be interesting. J. O. Halliwell. 



ACBREYS "WILTSHIRE ANTIQUITIES. 



" HypoaiXEjrATA ANTKjrAitiA J3;" or, "An Essay to- 

 wards the Description of Wiltshire. By John 

 Aubrey of Easton Piers. Volume II." {An 

 Original Mamiscript, in folio, lost.^ 



Under this title, John Aubrey, the Wiltshire 

 antiquary, who died at Oxford in June, 1697, 

 made topographical collections for a History of 

 North Wilts. [His Natural History of Wilts was 

 quite a separate work, and is not the one now 

 inquired for.] In collecting materials, he was 

 assisted by his brother, William Aubrey. After 

 the antiquary's death, the manuscript was de- 

 posited in the Ashmolean Museum. In his corre- 

 spondence, Aubrey speaks of it as his " Description 

 of Wiltshire," or " Antiquities of Wiltshire," in 

 two volumes. Thus : 



" Anno 1G71, having sold all, and disappointed of 

 mouej'S, I had .so strong an impulse to finish the Descrip- 

 tion of Wiltshire in 2 volumes in fol., that I could not be 

 quiett till I had donno it." 



In the Ashmolean Library is still preserved 

 one folio volume of this work, marked in his own 

 writing on the oxxi-side, " Hypomnemata Anti- 

 quaria A." It consis-ts of two parts bound toge- 

 ther in, now, discoloured vellum. The way in 



which the contents are arranged is this : — At the 

 head of each page is the name of some parish, and 

 under it are entered such memoranda (" hypom- 

 nemata ") relating to that parish as fell in his way 

 from time to time. On the margin, or elsewhere 

 about the page, are coloured shields of arms, oc- 

 casionally mixed with rude sketches of monu- 

 ments, old houses, &c. Of this volume both parts 

 were printed some years ago at the expense of 

 Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bart., in small 4to. : the 

 first in 1821, under the name of Aubrey's ColleC' 

 tions for Wilts; the second in 1838, with the title 

 of An Essay torcards the Description, &c. (as 

 above.) 



It has always been supposed in our time, both 

 at the Ashmolean Library, and by every one else, 

 myself included, that these two parts were in fact 

 the two volumes spoken of by Aubrey ; only that 

 they happened to have been bound up together. 

 The late Mr. John Britton, who wrote a full and 

 particular Memoir of Aubrey and his works (pub- 

 lished in 4to. by the Wilts Topographical Society, 

 1845), describing the manuscript in the Ashmolean 

 Library, says (p. 85.) : " It consists of two volumes 

 folio, bound in vellum." Having in the mean 

 time made a discovery upon this subject, I one 

 day asked Mr. Britton why he said there were 

 two volumes, when there is only one in the library 

 at Oxford ? His answer was : " They are both 

 in one." I then stated to him my reasons for be- 

 lieving that we were all under a mistake, and 

 that besides the one (in two parts) now in the 

 library, and marked A., Aubrey had most un- 

 doubtedly compiled another entire and distinct 

 volume marked B., which is lost. 



This I now prove by producing, 1st, from 

 Aubrey's own letters preserved in the same li- 

 'orary; 2ndly, from marginal notes in the second 

 pa7't of vol. A. ; and lastly, from some other 

 sources, several references to another volume 

 marked B. 



1. From his own letters : 



«|[ " Ramsburv is in Liher B." (To Anthony Wood, 

 17 Nov. 1G70.) ' 



f « Bradenstoke. Vide Lib. B., 51." (To do. Sept. 

 2, 1G71.) 



^ In a few lines to his brother (no date) : " Brother 

 William, Insert in Lilcr B. the probability of the Lytes 

 of Easton Piers being descended from those of Lyte's 

 Car}-." 



<1[ In a reply to John, Brother William reports " having 

 got the shield of Arms at Penliill House " (near Calne), 

 "Fonthill House and Church, Mr. Bodenham's at Hil- 

 drop" (near Ramsbury), "Rockburne, Bolstred's Tomb 

 at Earl Stoke, Ileytes'bury Church, Compton Chamber- 

 layne House, and Burgate House, which is now down, or 

 near it." (Wm. Aubrej', it is true, does not here name 

 Liber B., but not one of these places is mentioned in 

 Liber A.) 



2. The following references are on the margin 

 of vol. A., Part 2.: — 



^ In the page (original MS.) headed "Broadstock 

 cum Clack," is, " Vide Lib. B., 51." 



