TO 



GEORGE POULETT SCROPE, ESQ. M.P., 



&c. &c. &c. 



MY DEAR SIR, 



BY inscribing this Volume to you I am merely discharging a debt of gratitude 

 and justice. But for you I believe it would not have been printed ; for you not 

 only advocated its publication, but have generously contributed to diminish the cost 

 of its production to the "WILTSHIRE TOPOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY," under whose 

 auspices it is now submitted to the public. 



Though comparatively obsolete as regards its scientific, archa3ological, and philo- 

 sophical information, AUBREY'S " NATURAL HISTORY OF WILTSHIRE " is replete 

 with curious and entertaining facts and suggestions, at once characterising the 

 writer, and the age in which he lived, and illustrating the history and topography of 

 his native county. Had this work been revised and printed by its author, as he 

 wished and intended it to have been, it would have proved as useful and important 

 as Plot's "Staffordshire" and " Oxfordshire;" Burton's " Leicestershire;" Morton's 

 " Northamptonshire ;" Philipott's " Kent ;" or any others of its literary predecessors 

 or contemporaries. It could not have failed to produce useful results to the county 

 it describes ; as it was calculated to promote inquiry, awaken curiosity, and plant 

 seeds which might have produced a rich and valuable harvest of Topography. 



Aubrey justly complained of the apathy which prevailed in his time amongst 

 Wiltshire men towards such topics ; and, notwithstanding the many improvements 

 that have since been made in general science, literature, and art, I fear that the 

 gentry and clergy of the county do not sufficiently appreciate the value and utility 

 of local history ; otherwise the Wiltshire Topographical Society would not linger for 

 want of adequate and liberal support. Aubrey, Bishop Tanner, Henry Penruddocke 



