At his wive's seate, _My life is hid with Christ in God_, Coloss.
iii. 3 (he hath verses on this text in his poëms). Above, in a little
windowe blinded, within a veile (ill painted), _Thou art my hideing
place_, Psalm xxxii. 7.
He maried Jane, the third daughter of Charles Danvers, of Bayntun, in
com. Wilts, esq. but had no issue by her. He was a very fine complexion
and consumptive. His mariage, I suppose, hastened his death. My
kinswoman was a handsome _bona roba_ and ingeniose.
When he was first maried he lived a yeare or better at Dantesey house.
H. Allen, of Dantesey, was well acquainted with him, who has told me
that he had a very good hand on the lute, and that he sett his own
lyricks or sacred poems. 'Tis an honour to the place, to have had the
heavenly and ingeniose contemplation of this good man, who was pious
even to prophesie;--e.g.
'Religion now on tip-toe stands,
Ready to goe to the American strands.'
[1163]George Herbert:--<ask> cozen Nan Garnet pro <his> picture; if
not, her aunt ... Cooke.
=Mary Herbert=, countess of Pembroke (1555-1621).
[1164]Mary[EZ], countesse of Pembroke, was sister to Sir Philip
Sydney; maried to Henry, the eldest son of William, earle of Pembroke
aforesayd; but this subtile old earle did foresee that his faire and
witty daughter-in-lawe would horne his sonne and told him so and
advised him to keepe her in the countrey and not to let her frequent
the court.
She was a beautifull ladie and had an excellent witt, and had the best
breeding that that age could afford. Shee had a pritty sharpe-ovall
face. Her haire was of a reddish yellowe.
She was very salacious, and she had a contrivance that in the spring of
the yeare[1165] ... the stallions ... were to be brought before such a
part of the house, where she had a _vidette_ to look on them.... One of
her great gallants was crooke-back't Cecill, earl of Salisbury.
In her time Wilton house was like a College, there were so many learned
and ingeniose persons. She was the greatest patronesse of witt and
learning of any lady in her time. She was a great chymist and spent
yearly a great deale in that study. She kept for her laborator[1166] in
the house Adrian Gilbert (vulgarly called Dr. Gilbert), halfe brother
to Sir Walter Ralegh, who was a great chymist in those dayes. 'Twas
he that made the curious wall about Rowlington-parke, which is the
parke that adjoyns to the house at Wilton. Mr. Henry Sanford was the
earle's secretary, a good scholar and poet, and who did penne part of
the _Arcadia_ dedicated to her (as appeares by the preface). He haz a
preface before it with the two letters of his name. 'Tis he that haz
verses before Bond's Horace. She also gave an honourable yearly pension
to Dr. <Thomas> Mouffett,[1167]who hath writt a booke _De insectis_.
Also one ... Boston, a good chymist, a Salisbury man borne, who[1168]
did undoe himselfe by studying the philosopher's stone, and she would
have kept him but he would have all the gold to him selfe and so dyed I
thinke in a goale.
At Wilton is a good library which Mr. Christopher Wase can give you
the best account of of any one; which was collected in this learned
ladie's time. There is a manuscript very elegantly written, viz. all
the Psalmes of David translated by Sir Philip Sydney, curiously bound
in crimson velvet. There is a MS. writt by Dame Marian[1169] of hunting
and hawking, in English verse, written in King Henry the 8ᵗʰ'ˢ time
(quaere Mr. Christopher Wase farther). There is the legier book of
Wilton, one page Saxon and the other Latin, which Mr. Dugdale perused.
This curious seate of Wilton and the adjacent countrey is an Arcadian
place and a paradise. Sir Philip Sydney was much here, and there
was[1170] ... great love between him and his faire sister ... I have
heard old gentlemen (old Sir Walter Long of Dracot and old Mr. Tyndale)
say ... The first Philip, earle of Pembroke, ... inherited not the witt
of either the brother or sister.
This countesse, after her lord's death, maried[LXXXIV.] to Sir Matthew
Lister[LXXXV.], knight, one of the Colledge of Physitians, London.
He was (they say) a learned and a handsome gentleman. She built then
a curious house in Bedfordshire called Houghton Lodge neer Ampthill.
The architects were sent for from Italie. It is built according to the
description of Basilius's house in the first booke of the _Arcadia_
(which is dedicated to her). It is most pleasantly situated and hath
fower visto's, each prospect 25 or 30 miles. This was sold to the earle
of Elgin for ... _li._ The house did cost 10,000 _li._ the building.
[LXXXIV.] Jack Markham saies they were not <married>.
[LXXXV.] He dyed 1644 or 1645.
I thinke she was buryed in the vault in the choire at Salisbury, by
Henry, earl of Pembroke, her first husband: but there is no memoriall
of her, nor of any of the rest, except some penons and scutcheons.
[1171]An epitaph on the lady Mary, countesse of Pembroke (in print
somewhere), by William Browne, who wrote the _Pastoralls_, whom
William, earle of Pembroke, preferr'd to be tutor to the first earle of
Carnarvon (<Robert> Dormer), which was worth to him 5 or 6000 _li._,
i.e. he bought 300 _li._ per annum land--from old Jack Markham--
Underneath this sable hearse
Lies the subject of all verse:
Sydney's sister, Pembroke's mother.
Death! er'st thou shalt kill[1172] such another
Fair and good and learn'd as shee,
Time will throw a[1173] dart at thee.
_Note._
[EZ] Aubrey gives in trick the coat:--'parted per pale azure and gules,
3 lions rampant argent [Herbert]; impaling, <or>, a pheon <azure>
[Sydney].'
=Richard Herbert= (15..-1596).
[1174](Ex libro B, p. 126):--In a buriall-place in the church at
Montgomery (belonging to the castle) is a great out-started monument of
Richard Herbert, esq. (father to the learned lord Herbert of Cherbery,
and Mr. George Herbert, who wrote the sacred poëms), where are the
effigies of him and Magdalene his wife, who afterwards was maried
to Sir John Danvers of Wilts, and lies interred at Chelsey church
but without any monument. Dr. Donne, dean of St. Paul's, preached
her funerall sermon, to which are annexed severall verses, Latin and
Greeke, by Mr. George Herbert, in memorie of her. She was buryed, as
appeares by the sermon, July 1, 1627.
In Sepulchrum Richardi Herberti, armigeri, et Magdalenae uxoris
ejus, hendecasyllaba.
Quid virtus, pietas, amorve recti,
Tunc cum vita fugit, juvare possunt?
In coelo relevent perenne nomen,
Hoc saxum doceat, duos recludens
Quos uno thalamo fideque junctos
Heic unus tumulus lapisve signat.
Jam longum sape, Lector, et valeto,
Aeternum venerans ubique nomen.
[1175]In Brecknockshire, about 3 miles from Brecknock, is a village
called Penkelly (Anglicè _Hasel-wood_), where is a little castle. It
is an ancient seate of the Herberts. Mr. Herbert, of this place, came,
by the mother's side, of Ŵgan. The lord Cherbery's ancestor came by
the second venter, who was a miller's daughter. The greatest part of
the estate was settled on the issue by the 2d venter, viz. Montgomery
castle, and Aberystwith. Upon this match with the miller's daughter are
to this day recited, or sung, by the Welsh, these verses: viz.:--
Ô gway vinney (dhyw) râg wilidh
Vôd vinhad yn velinidh
A' vôd vy mam yn velinidhes
A' môd inney yn arglwydhes.
To this sence[FA]:--
O God! Woe is me miserable, my father was a miller, and my
mother a milleresse, and I am now a ladie.
_Note._
[FA] A more exact rendering is:--
'O woe is me (God) for shame,
That my father is a miller
And that my mother is a miller's wife,
And that _I_ am a peeress.'
=William Herbert=, 1st earl of Pembroke (1507-1570).
[1176]William[FB], earle of Pembroke, the first earle of that family,
was borne (I thinke I have heard my cosen Whitney say) in ... in
Monmouthshire. Herbert, of Colbrooke in Monmouthshire, is of that
family.
He was (as I take it) a younger brother, a mad fighting young fellow.
'Tis certaine he was a servant to the house of Worcester, and wore
their blew-coate and badge. My cosen Whitney's great aunt gave him a
golden angell[1177] when he went to London. One time being at Bristowe,
he was arrested, and killed one of the sheriffes of the city. He made
his escape through Back-street, through the (then great) gate, into the
Marsh, and gott into France.
Memorandum:--upon this action of killing the sheriffe, the city ordered
the gate to be walled-up, and only a little posterne gate or dore, with
a turnestile for a foot-passenger, which continued so till Bristowe was
a garrison for the king, and the great gate was then opened, in 1644,
or 1645. When I was a boy there, living with my father's mother, who
was maried to alderman John Whitson[LXXXVI.] (who was my god-father),
the story was as fresh as but of yesterday. He was called _black Will
Herbert_.
[LXXXVI.] He was the greatest benefactor to the city that haz been
since the Reformacion. He gave 500 _li._ per annum at least to the city
to maintain ... blew-coates, boies and maydes. He dyed about 1629; vide
register.
In France he betooke himself into the army, where he shewd so much
courage, and readinesse of witt in conduct, that in short time
he became eminent, and was favoured by <Francis I> the king, who
afterwards recommended him to Henry the VIII of England, who much
valued him, and heaped favours and honours upon him.
Upon the dissolution of the abbeys, he gave him the abbey of Wilton,
and a _country_ of lands and mannours thereabout belonging to it.
He gave him also the abbey of Remesbury in Wilts, with much lands
belonging to it. He gave him Cardiff-Castle in Glamorganshire, with the
ancient crowne-lands belonging to it.
Almost all the country held of this castle. It was built by Sir Robert
Fitzhamond the Norman, who lies buried at Tewkesbury abbey with a
memorial: and he built the abbey of Glocester. It afterwards came to
Jasper, duke of Bedford, etc.; so to the crowne. I have seen severall
writings of Sir John Aubrey's at Llantrithid in Glamorganshire,
which beginne[1178] thus:--'Ego Jaspar, frater regum et patruus, dux
Bedfordiae, comes Pembrochiae, et dominus de Glamorgan et Morgannog,
omnibus ad quos hoc presens scriptum pervenerit, salutem, etc.'
He maried <Anne> Par, sister of queen Katharine Par, daughter and
co-heire of <Thomas> Par (I thinke[FC], marquisse of Northampton),
by whom he had 2 sonnes, Henry, earle of Pembroke, and <Edward> the
ancestor of the lord Powys.
He was made Privy Councellor and conservator of King Henry the
Eight's[1179]will. He could neither write nor read, but had a stamp
for his name. He was of good naturall parts; but very cholerique. He
was strong sett but bony, reddish-favoured, of a sharp eie[1180],
sterne looke.
In queen Mary's time, upon the returne of the Catholique religion, the
nunnes came again to Wilton abbey, and this William, earl of Pembroke,
came to the gate (which lookes towards the court by the street, but
now is walled-up) with his cappe in hand, and fell upon his knee to
the lady abbesse[LXXXVII.] and the nunnes, crying peccavi. Upon queen
Mary's death, the earle came to Wilton (like a tygre) and turnd them
out, crying, 'Out ye whores, to worke, to worke, ye whores, goe spinne.'
[LXXXVII.] The last lady abbesse here was ... Gawen, of Norrington,
belonging to Chalke, where that family haz been 400 yeares (sold about
1665 to Judge Wadham Windham).
He being a stranger in our country, and an upstart, was much envyed.
And in those dayes (of sword and buckler), noblemen (and also great
knights, as the _Longs_), when they went to the assizes or sessions at
Salisbury, etc., had a great number of retainers following them; and
there were (you have heard), in those dayes, feudes (i.e. quarrells
and animosities) between great neighbours. Particularly this new earle
was much envyed by the then lord Sturton of Sturton[FD], who would,
when he went or returned from Sarum (by Wilton was his rode), sound his
trumpetts, and give reproachfull challenging words; 'twas a relique of
knighthood errantry.
From my great-uncles, the Brownes of Broad Chalke:--in queen
Elizabeth's time, some bishop (I have forgot who) that had been
his chaplain, was sent to him from the queen and council, to take
interrogatories of him. So he takes out his pen and inke, examines and
writes. When he had writt a good deale, sayd the earle, 'Now lett me
see it.' 'Why,' qᵈ the bishop, 'your lordship cannot read it?' 'That's
all one: I'le see it,' qᵈ he, and takes it and teares it to pieces:
'Zounds, you rascall,' qᵈ he, 'd'ee thinke I will have my throate cutt
with a penknife?' It seemes they had a mind to have pick't a hole in
his coate, and to have gott his estate.
'Tis reported that he caused himself to be lett bloud, and bled so much
that it was his death, and that he should say as he was expiring, 'They
would have Wilton--they would have Wilton,' and so gave up the ghost.
Memorandum:--this William (the founder of this family) had a little
cur-dog which loved him, and the earl loved the dog. When the earle
dyed the dog would not goe from his master's dead body, but pined
away, and dyed under the hearse; the picture of which dog is under his
picture, in the Gallery at Wilton. Which putts me in[1181]mind of a
parallell storie in Appian (Syrian Warr):--Lysimachus being slaine, a
dog that loved him stayed a long time by the body and defended it from
birds and beasts till such time as Thorax, king of Pharsalia, finding
it out gave it buriall. And I thinke there is such another story in
Pliny: vide.
He was buried in ... of St. Paule's, London, where he had a magnificent
monument, which is described, with the epitaph, by Sir William Dugdale,
which vide.
[1182]This present earl of Pembroke (1680) has at Wilton 52 mastives
and 30 grey-hounds, some beares, and a lyon, and a matter of 60
fellowes more bestiall than they.
_Notes._
[FB] Aubrey gives in trick the coat:--'party per pale azure and gules,
3 lions rampant argent [Herbert]; impaling, argent, 2 bars azure within
a bordure engrailed sable [Parre],' surmounted by an earl's coronet.
[FC] In error. It was Sir Thomas Parre's son William (brother of this
Anne, countess of Pembroke) who was created marquess of Northampton in
1546/7.
[FD] Charles Stourton, succeeded as 7th baron in 1548; executed for
murder in 1557.
=William Herbert=, 3rd earl of Pembroke (1580-1630).
[1183]William, earl of Pembroke, Chancellor of the University of
Oxford, natus anno MDLXXX, viii Apr.; obiit anno MDCXXX, x Calend.
Apr.[1184]--His death fell out according to prediction. He dyed a bed
of an apoplexie.
[1185]Wilhelmus, comes Pembrochiae, Cancellarius Univ.
Oxon., natus anno MDLXXX, viii Apr.; obiit anno MDCXXX, x Calend.
Apr.--His nativity was calculated by old Mr. Thomas Allen: his death
was foretold, which happened true at the time foretold. Being well in
health, he made a feast; ate and dranke plentifully; went to bed; and
found dead in the morning.
[1186]William, earle of Pembroke, Lord Chamberlain, and Chancellor of
the University of Oxford:--
'Natus Anno MDLXXX, viii Apr.
Obiit Anno MDCXXX, x Calend. Apr.'--
I find this under his engraved picture.
* * * * *
He dyed of an apoplexy, and it fell-out right according to prediction,
because of which he made a great supper, and went to his bed well, but
dyed in his sleep.
He was a most magnificent and brave peer, and loved learned men. He was
a poet. There is a little booke in 12mo or 16mo which containes his
wife's and Sir Benjamin Rudyer's who was his friend and contemporary.
=John Heydon= (1629-166..).
[1187]From Elias Ashmole, esqʳᵉ, scilicet that he[1188] had the booke
called _The way to blisse_ from his adoptive father Backhowse[1189] at
Swallowfield in com. Berks., a MSS. writt in queen Elizabeth's time,
hand and stile ἀνονυμῶς.
Mr. ... Heyden maried Nicholas Culpepper's widdowe, and lights
there[1190] on the aforesayd MSS., and prints a booke with a great
deale of _The way to blisse_ word for word and verses that are printed
in the commendation of other bookes; and instead of such and such old
philosophers[1191] putts downe John Bowker and William Lilly which they
never heard of: and is so impudent in one of his bookes since as to say
Mr. Ashmole borrowed of him.
=Peter Heylyn= (1599-1662).
[1192]Dr. Heylin was buried in the choire neer his own
[subdean's[1193]] stall, May the 10th 1662[1194], but his inscription
is on the wall of the north aisle.
[1195]<Aubrey gives a copy of the inscription, noting, on the line
'posuit hoc illi moestissima conjux':--> who, about a year after, fell
in love with a lifeguardman that I know, whom she had maried (aetat.
23), had not cruel death quench't that amorous flame.
Il port 'sable, 3 horse-heads erased argent.'
=Nicholas Hill= (1570?-1610).
[1196]Mr. Nicholas Hill:--This Nicholas Hill was one of the most
learned men of his time: a great mathematician and philosopher and
traveller, and a poet[1197]. His writings had the usuall fate of those
not printed in the author's life-time. He was so eminent for knowledge,
that he was the favourite of ...[LXXXVIII.] the great earle of Oxford,
who had him to accompanie him in his travells (he was his steward),
which were so splendid and sumptuous, that he kept at Florence a
greater court then the Great Duke. This earle spent in that ... of
travelling, the inheritance of ten or twelve thousand pounds per annum.
[LXXXVIII.] 'Twas that earle of Oxford that lett the f-- before queen
Elizabeth: wherupon he travelled. Vide Stowe de hoc, in Elizabeth about
the end.
Old Serjeant Hoskins (the poet, grandfather to this Sir John Hoskins,
baronet, my honᵈ friend) knew him (was[1198] well acquainted with him),
by which meanes I have this tradicion which otherwise had been lost; as
also his very name, but only for these verses[FE] in Ben Johnson's 2d
volumine, viz.:--
* * * * *
* * * * *
I fancy that his picture, i.e. head, is at the end of the Long Gallery
of Pictures at Wilton[LXXXIX.], which is the most philosophicall aspect
that I have seen, very much of Mr. T. Hobbes of Malmesbury, but rather
_more antique_. 'Tis pitty that in noblemen's galleries, the names are
not writt on, or behind, the pictures.
[LXXXIX.] Philip, earl of Montgomery, Lord Chamberleyn, maried <Susan>
the daughter of <Edward Vere, 17th> earle of Oxford, by whom he had his
issue.
He writt 'Philosophia Epicureo-Democritiana, simpliciter proposita, non
edocta': printed at Colen, in 8vo or 12mo: Sir John Hoskins hath it.
Thomas Henshawe, of Kensington, esq., R. Soc. Soc., hath a treatise of
his in manuscript, which he will not print, viz. 'Of the Essence of
God, &c. Light.' It is mighty paradoxicall:--_That there is a God_;
What he is, in 10 or 12 articles: _Of the Immortality of the Soule_,
which he does demonstrate παντουσία and ὀντουσία.
[Fabian Philips, the cursiter, remembers him[1199].]
He was, as appeares by A. Wood's _Historie_, of St. John's Colledge in
Oxford, where he mentions him to be a great Lullianist.
In his travells with his lord, (I forget whither Italy or Germany, but
I thinke the former) a poor man begged him to give him _a penny_. 'A
penny!' said Mr. Hill, 'what dost say to ten pound?' 'Ah! ten pound!'
(said the beggar) 'that would make a man happy.' N. Hill gave him
immediately 10 _li._ and putt it downe upon account,--'Item, to a
beggar ten pounds, to make him happy.'
[1200]He printed 'Philosophia Epicurea Democritiana,' dedicated
'filiolo Laurentio.'--There was one Laurence Hill that did belong to
the queen's court, that was hangd with[1201] Green and Berry about Sir
Edmund-Berry Godfrey. According to age, it might be this man, but we
cannot be certain.
[1202]Mr. Thomas Henshaw bought of Nicholas Hill's widow, in Bow lane,
some of his bookes; among which is a manuscript _de infinitate et
aeternitate mundi_. He finds by his writings that he was (or leaning)
a Roman Catholique. Mr. Henshaw believes he dyed about 1610: he dyed
an old man. He flourished in queen Elizabeth's time. I will search the
register of Bowe.
[1203]I have searched the register of Bow, ubi non inventus Nicolas
Hill.
[1204]Vide tom. 1 of Ben: Johnson's workes, pag. 48, epigram CXXXIV,
title 'The famous voyage'....
Here sev'rall ghosts did flitt,
About the shore, of ..., but late departed;
White, black, blew, greene; and in more formes out-started
Than all those _Atomi_ ridiculous
Wherof old Democrite and Hill Nicholas,
One sayd, the other swore, the world consists.
_Note._
[FE] Aubrey was most anxious to have these verses inserted, three
times directing Anthony Wood to do so. MS. Aubr. 8, a slip at fol.
4:--'Past on Nicholas Hill, in his proper place in part 1st' <i.e. MS.
Aubr. 6>, but no copy of the verses is there given. MS. Aubr. 8, fol.
7:--'Insert B. Johnson's verses of Nicholas Hill.' MS. Wood F. 39, fol.
351ᵛ: 13 Jan. 1680/1:--'B. Johnson speakes of N. Hill in his "Voyage to
Holbourne from Puddle-dock in a ferry boate.
A dock there is ... called _Avernus_
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . concern us."'
=Thomas Hobbes= (1588-1679).
<This, the most elaborate of these 'Brief Lives,' occupies by itself
MS. Aubr. 9. For the letters introductory to it, see _supra_, pp. 17-20.
The various papers of which the MS. is composed are bound up
confusedly, and the separate notes are in some cases entered on a page,
or a page and its opposite, in no order. Considerable re-arrangement
has therefore been necessary; but the exact MS. references have been
given throughout. Some few notes relating to Hobbes, found in other
Aubrey MSS., have here been brought into their natural place.>
[1205]The Life of Mr. Thomas Hobbes, of Malmesburie[1206].
<_Introduction._>
The writers[1207] of the lives of the ancient philosophers used to, in
the first place, to speake of their lineage[1208]; and they tell us
that in processe of time severall great[1209] families accounted it
their glory to be branched[1210] from such or such a _Sapiens_.
Why now should that method be omitted in this _Historiola_ of our
Malmesbury philosopher? Who though but[1211] of plebeian descent[1212],
his renowne haz and will give brightnesse to his name and familie,
which hereafter may arise glorious and flourish in riches and may
justly take it an honour to be of kin to this worthy person, so famous,
for his learning[1213], both at home and abroad.
<_Pedigree._>
[1214]... Hobbes, _m._ ...
|
+------------+-------+
| |
1. Francis Hobbes, 2. Thomas Hobbes, _m._ ... Middleton, of Brokenborough
obiit sine prole. vicar of Westport. | (vide Camden[1215]).
|
+----------------------------+-----+--------------------+
| | |
1. Edmund Hobbes, _m._ ... 2. Thomas Hobbes, ..., a daughter, _m._ ...
| philosophus, obiit
| coelebs Dec. 4, 1679.
|
+--------------+--------------+----------------------------+
| | |
1. Mary, _m._ ... Tirell. 2. Eleanor, _m._ ... Harding. Francis _m._ ...
| | Hobbes, |
|
+------------------------+-----------------------+------++-----+
| | | | |
1. Thomas, a clothier, 2. <Edmund>. When a child
about 23, 1679. his genius lyes to drawing.
He can engrave and something
resembles the philosopher.
I have a lyon of his
engraving.
This heraldique way of expressing a genealogie is most intelligible
and makes the best impresse in the memory or fancy; but[1216] will it
not be thought here to<o> pompous and affected by his enemies and the
nation of critiques? _Prescribe Trebate._
My brother[1217] W. A. will set all this right[FF].
<_His father._>
[1218]Thomas Hobbes[FG], then, whose life I write, was second son of
Mr. Thomas Hobbes, vicar of Westport juxta Malmesbury, who maried ...
Middleton of Brokinborough (a yeomanly family).[1219]He was also vicar
of Charlton (a mile hence): they are annexed, and are both worth 60 or
80_li._ per annum.--[1220]Memorandum, Brokenborough also is appendant
to Charlton vicaridge--160_li._ per annum--from Philip Laurence, whose
father-in-law was vicar. [[1221]The vicaridge of Malmesbury is but
XX nobles per annum = 6_li._ 13_s._ 4_d._; but Coston and Radbourne
belongs to it, which addition is equal to 50 or 60_li._ per annum.]
[1222]Thomas, the father[1223], was one of the ignorant 'Sir
Johns[1224]' of queen Elizabeth's time; could[1225] only read the
prayers of the church and the homilies; and disesteemed[1226] learning
(his son Edmund told me so), as not knowing the sweetnes of it.