By the Rev. J. E. Jackson. 



79 



related to them. The village of Lyte's Gary in that county, named 

 after the family, is close to Yeovilton and Speckington. The account 

 given by Aubrey of his mother's family, is, that they held Easton 

 Piers either in lease or by inheritance 249 years ; " from Henry VI. 

 The father of Thos. Lyte who purchased, had £800 per ann. in 

 Leases : viz., all Easton, except Cromwell's farm, (£20) : and also 

 the farm of Didmarton and Sopworth." 



Of his home Aubrey has preserved a sketch in one of his MSS. 

 in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. ^ " From the garret a delicate 



Lower Easton Piers. The birth-place of John Aubrey, (destroyed.) 



prospect. The garden was laid out in the Italian style, upon three 

 different levels, each raised upon the other, and ascended by flights 

 of steps with a. jet d'eau in the lowest. About it were groups of 

 trees, a pillar and volant Mercurj', &c., &c." The ground still 

 retains some marks of this arrangement. In a bedroom on a chim- 

 ney were two escutcheons. 1. Arms of Lyte, (see Pedigree ;) over 

 this -'Isaac Lyte" (Aubrey's grandfather) "Natus 1576" (the 



I The name of this MS. is " Easton Piers delineated : or Designatio dc E.P. 

 in com. Wilts, per me [heu] infortunatum J. A., Reg. Soc. Socium. a.d. 1669." 

 It consists of 19 oblong quarto leaves, with outline views of the house, gardens, 

 and environs of Easton Piers ; from one of which the wood cut is copied. The 

 old House seems to have been altered (perhaps by Aubrey himself) into an 

 Italian Villa, of which he has also preserved a sketch. Mr. IJrittou remembered 

 a ruinous dwelling here, the windows and doors taken away, walls covered with 

 ivy, floors fallen in and much decayed, the whole shut in, as it is now, by 

 orchards and gardens. 



