76 



§^0$t WAumt of ^ttk^g'0 P^<§(^* 



" Hypomnemata Antiquaria ^ ; or, An Essay towards the 



Description of Wiltshire. By John Aubrey of Easton 



Piers. Volume II." 



5NDEII this title, John Aubrey the Wiltshire antiquary, who 

 died at Oxford in June 1697, made topographical collections 

 for a History of North Wilts.* In collecting materials, he was 

 assisted by his brother, William Aubrey, and after the antiquary's 

 death, the manuscript was deposited in the Ashmolean Museum. 

 In his correspondence Aubrey speaks of it as his " Description of 

 Wiltshire," or " Antiquities of Wiltshire," in itco volumes. Thus : — 



" Anno 1671, having sold all, and disappointed of moneys, I had 

 so strong an impulse to finish the Description of Wiltshire in 2 

 volumes in fol., that I could not be quiett till I had donne it." 



In the Ashmolean Library^ is still preserved one folio Volume 

 of this work, marked in his own writing on the out-side, " Hypo- 

 mnemata Antiquaria A." It consists of two Parts bound together 

 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 (" hypomnemata") 

 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, occasionally mixed with rude sketches of monuments, old 

 houses, &c. Of this Volume both parts were printed some years 

 ago under the direction of Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bart., in small 

 4to. : the first in 1821, under the name of " Aubrey's Collections 



' His Natural History of Wilts was quite a separate work, and is not the 

 one now enquired for. 



'"'Since this Paper was written, the Manuscripts of the Ashmolean Library 

 have been transferred to the Bodleian. 



