up-hill and downe-hill in the parke, till he was in a great sweat, and
then give the servant some money to rubbe him.
[1457]_Prudence._ He gave to his amanuensis, James Wheldon (the
earle of Devon's baker; who writes a delicate hand), his pention at
Leicester, yearly, to wayte on him, and take a care of him, which he
did performe to him living and dying, with great respect and diligence:
for which consideration he made him his executor.
_Habit._ In cold weather he commonly wore a black velvet coate, lined
with furre; if not, some other coate so lined. But all the yeare he
wore a kind of bootes[1458] of Spanish leather, laced or tyed along
the sides with black ribons.
_Singing._ He had alwayes bookes of prick-song lyeing on his
table:--e.g. of H. Lawes' etc. _Songs_--which at night, when he was
abed, and the dores made fast, and was sure nobody heard him, he sang
aloud (not that he had a very good voice) but[1459] for his health's
sake: he did beleeve it did his lunges good, and conduced much to
prolong his life.
[1460]_Shaking palsey._ He had the shaking palsey in his handes; which
began in France before the yeare 1650, and haz growne upon him by
degrees, ever since, so that he haz not been able to write very legibly
since 1665 or 1666, as I find by some of his letters[1461] to me.
<_His readiness to help with advice and money._>
[1462]His goodnes of nature and willingnes to instruct any one that was
willing to be informed and modestly desired it, which I am a witnesse
of as to my owne part and also to others.
[1463]_Charity._ His brotherly love to his kinred hath already been
spoken of. He was very charitable (pro suo modulo) to those that were
true objects of his bounty[1464]. One time, I remember, goeing in
the Strand, a poor and infirme old man craved[1465] his almes. He,
beholding him with eies of pitty and compassion, putt his hand in his
pocket, and gave him 6_d._ Sayd[1466] a divine (scil. Dr. Jaspar Mayne)
that stood by--'Would you have donne this, if it had not been Christ's
command?'--'Yea,' sayd he.--'Why?' quoth the other.--'Because,' sayd
he, 'I was in paine to consider[1467] the miserable condition of the
old man; and now my almes, giving him some reliefe, doth also ease me.'
<_Slanders concerning him._>
_Aspersions and envy._ His work was attended with envy, which threw
severall aspersions and false reports on him. For instance, one
(common) was that he was afrayd to lye alone at night in his chamber,
[I have often heard him say that he was not afrayd of of _sprights_,
but afrayd of being knockt on the head[1468] for five or ten pounds,
which rogues might thinke he had[1469] in his chamber]; and severall
other tales, as untrue.
I have heard some positively affirme that he had a yearly pension from
the king of France,--possibly for having asserted such a monarchie as
the king of France exercises, but for what other grounds I know not,
unles it be for that the present[1470] king of France is reputed an
encourager of choice and able men in all faculties who can contribute
to his greatnes. I never heard him speake of any such thing; and, since
his death, I have inquired of his most intimate friends in Derbyshire,
who write to me they never heard of any such thing. Had it been so, he,
nor they, ought to have been ashamed of it, and it had been becoming
the munificence of so great a prince to have donne it.
_Atheisme[1471]._ Testimonie[1472]. For his being branded with
atheisme, his writings and vertuous life testifie[1473] against it.
No man hath written better of ..., perhaps not so well. To prevent
such false and malicious reports, I thought fit to insert and affirme
as abovesayd.[1474]And that he was a Christian 'tis cleare, for he
recieved the sacrament of Dr. <John> Pierson, and in his confession to
Dr. John Cosins, at ..., on his (as he thought) death-bed, declared
that he liked the religion of the church of England best of all other.
He would have the worship of God performed with musique (_ad
me_[1475]).
<_Addenda._>
[1476]Though he left his native countrey[1477] at 14, and lived
so long, yet sometimes one might find a little touch of our
pronunciation.--Old Sir Thomas Malette[1478], one of the judges of the
King's Bench, knew Sir Walter Ralegh, and sayd that, notwithstanding
his great travells, conversation, learning, etc., yet he spake broade
Devonshire to his dyeing day.
[1479]Memorandum--'twas he (as he him selfe haz told me) that
<invented> the method of the oeconomie of the earle of Devon's family
and way of stating or keeping of the accounts.
<_Portraits of Hobbes._>
<i.>[1480]Desire Sir Christopher Wren or Mr. Thomas Henshawe to speake
to the king for his picture[1481] of Mr. Hobbes for Mr. <David> Loggan
to engrave it.
<ii.>[1482]He did, anno 16.. (vide the date[1483], which is on the
backside) doe me the honour to sitt for his picture to Jo. Baptist
Caspars, an excellent painter, and 'tis a good piece, which I presented
to the <Royall> Societie 12 yeares since (but will it not be improper
for me to mention my owne guift?).
[1484]Hanc
Thomae Hobbes
Malmesburiensis effigiem
ad vivum depictam (1663)
Regiae Societati
Londinensi
D.D.D.
Johannes Aubrey
de Easton-Piers
ejusdem Soc.
S.
1670.
Gett a brasse wyer to hang it[1485] by.
<iii.>[1486]Mr. Hobbes's motto upon his owne picture at Sir Charles
Scarborough's:--
Si quaeris de me Mores inquire: sed Ille
Qui quaerit de me, forsitan alter erit.
(Sir Charles Scarborough confessed to me that he made this distich.)
<iv.>[1487]Memorandum--there was a good painter at the earl of
Devonshire's in Derbyshire not long before Mr. Hobbes dyed, who drew
him with the great decayes of old age. Mr. William Ball hath a good
copie of it.
<v.>[1488]His motto about his picture:--
En quam modicè habitat philosophia.
<_His seal._>
[1489]This--
..., a bend engrailed between 6 martletts ...,
was the seale[FV] he commonly sealed his letters with, but 'twas not
his coate.
Quare whose coate it may be--if _Hobbes_?
Quaere James Wheldon the executor if this be _his_ coate of armes--for
'tis some seale--and what the colours are.--Respondet that the heralds
did offer him a coat of armes but he refused it.
<_He was 'plebeius homo.'_>
[1490]Sir William Dugdale (Clarenceux), and Sir Edward Bisshe, the
heralds, had an esteeme and respect for him, in so much that they
would have graunted him a coate of armes; but he refused it--which
methinkes he neede[1491] not have donne.
Vide Alexander Broome's poemes:--
He that weares a brave soule and dares honestly doe
Is a herault to himselfe and a godfather too.
[1492]Vide Ben Jonson's _Underwoods_--that 'the most worthy men have
been rock't in meane cradles.'
<_His sayings._>
[1493]'Tis of custome in the lives of wise men to putt downe their
sayings. Now if trueth (uncommon) delivered clearly and wittily may
goe[1494] for a saying, his common discourse was full of them, and
which for the most part were sharpe and significant.
Here insert the two printed papers of his sayings.
[1495]Quaere Mr. Ben. Tuke at the Ship in Paule's Church-yard for
the paper of his sayings, which Dr. Francis Bernard and his brother
Charles, etc.--a club--made.
[1496]The sheet[1497] of old Mr. Hobbes sayings was not published by
his executor, as is there printed. 'Twas (indeed) donne by Mr. ...
Blunt, Sir Henry Blunt's sonne, and 'tis well donne.
[1498]I sayd, somewhere before, that (though he was ready and happy
in repartying _in drollery_) he did not care[1499] to give a present
answer _to a question_, unless he had thoroughly considered it before:
for he was against 'too hasty concluding,' which he did endeavour as
much as he could to avoid.--This is in p. 12[1500].
[1501]Thomas Hobbs <said> that if it were not for the gallowes, some
men are of so cruell a nature as to take a delight[1502] in killing
men[FW] more than I should to kill a bird.--Entred[1503] in idea.
[1504]When Spinoza's _Tractatus Theologico-Politicus_ first came out
<1670>, Mr. Edmund Waller sent it to my lord of Devonshire and desired
him to send him word what Mr. Hobbes said of it. Mr. H. told his
lordship:--
Ne judicate ne judicemini[1505].
He told me he had cut thorough him a barre's length, for he durst not
write so boldly.
[1506]I have heard him inveigh much against the crueltie of Moyses for
putting so many thousands to the sword for bowing to[1507] ... vide
text.
I have heard him say that Aristotle was the worst teacher that ever
was, the worst polititian and ethick--a countrey-fellow that could live
in the world <would be> as good: but his rhetorique and discourse of
animals was rare.
[1508]T. H.'s saying:--rather use an old woman[1509] that had many
yeares been at sick people's bedsides, then the learnedst young
unpractised physitian.
[1510]☞ I remember he was wont to say that 'old men were drowned
inwardly, by their owne moysture; e.g. first, the feet swell; then, the
legges; then, the belly; etc.'--This saying may be brought in, perhaps,
as to the paragraph of his sicknesse and death.
<From> Elizabeth, viscountesse Purbec. When Mr. T. Hobbes was sick
in France, the divines came to him, and tormented him (both Roman
Catholic, Church of England, and Geneva). Sayd he to them 'Let
me alone, or els I will detect all your cheates from Aaron to
yourselves.' I thinke I have heard him speake something to this purpose.
Mr. Edmund Waller sayd to me, when I desired him to write some verses
in praise of him, that he was afrayd of the churchmen: he quoted
Horace--
Incedo per ignes
Suppositos cineri doloso:
that, what was chiefly to be taken notice of in his elogie was that he,
being but _one_, and a private person, pulled-downe all the churches,
dispelled the mists of ignorance, and layd-open their priest-craft.
<_His writings._>
<Aubrey several times notes his intention of drawing up a list
of Hobbes' writings. In MS. Aubr. 9, fol. 53ᵛ, is a memorandum
'An exact Catalogue of all the bookes he wrote,' with a mark
showing that it was to be brought in before the notice of
Hobbes's death, _supra_, p. 346. MS. Aubr. 9, fol. 22, is
headed 'Catalogus librorum ab autore scriptorum,' and is left
blank for their insertion.
In MS. Aubr. 9, fol. 18ᵛ, is James Wheldon's answer to the
inquiry suggested (_ut supra_) on fol. 53ᵛ:--viz.>
[1511]_A Catalogue of his bookes._
His Latine poem _of the wonders of the Peake_.
His translation of _Thucidides_ out of Greek into English.
His _Humane nature_, and _De corpore politico_ in English.
His _Leviathan_ in English.
{_De corpore_}
His philosophy in three parts {_De homine_ } in Latine.
{_De cive_ }
His dialogue _of the Civill Warr_, in English, printed lately against
his will.
Of his disputations with Dr. Wallis and what he has written in
philosophy and mathematicks Mr. <William> Crook can best give you the
titles with the order and times of their edition, some Latine, some
English; as also of
His translation of _the Odysses and Iliads of Homer_.
There is also a small peece in English called _A Breefe of Aristotle's
Rhetorick_ printed by Andrew Crooke, which was his, though his name be
not to it.
There is a little booke called _Mr. Hobbes considered_, wherein there
is some passages relating to his life.
<In MS. Aubr. 9, fol. 54ᵛ, Aubrey notes the omission of a list
of Hobbes's writings, and on fol. 55 he adds a transcript (with
some notes of his own) of a list by William Crooke, Hobbes'
publisher, supplementary to that given in Anthony Wood's _Hist.
et Antiq. Univ. Oxon._ ii. 377.>
[1512]I have no time now (in this transcript) to write the catalogue of
his bookes, and I thought to have sent your paper[1513] (which I keepe
safe) but Dr. Blackburne desires the perusall of it.--This catalogue
here I received last night from William Crooke.
[1514]A supplement to Mr. A.[1515] Wood's catalogue (in his 'History')
of Mr. Hobbes his workes: viz.--
The travells of Ulysses, being the translation of the 9, 10, and 11
bookes of Homer's Odysses into English; London, printed 1674.
Epistola ad D. Ant. à Wood, Latin, 1675[1516].
A translation of the 24 bookes of Homer's Iliads and the 24 bookes of
his Odysses.
Also, his preface about the vertues of heroique poesie, in English,
printed 1675, and 1677.
A letter to the duke of Newcastle about liberty and necessity, printed
1676, and 1677. [I have this somewhere among my bookes, printed about
30 yeares since. It was edited first by John Davys of Kidwelly; and
there is a preface to it with S. W., i.e. Seth Ward, who then had a
high esteeme of him.]
De Mirabilibus Pecci[1517]--English and Latin, 1678--a New-year's
guift to his lord, who gave him 5 _li._, about 1627.
Decameron Physiologicum, or ten dialogues of naturall philosophy, to
which is added the proportion of straight line to halfe the arc of
quadrant, English, 1678[1518].
Considerations upon the reputation, loyalty, manners, and religion of
Thomas Hobbes, written by himselfe, printed 1680, with part of severall
of his letters to W. Crooke.--[This[1519] was first printed by Andrew
Crooke 1662, ἀνονυμῶς.]
Vita Thomae Hobbes, 4to, printed 1680; in Latin verse; quarto.
Idem, in English, translated by ...; 1680, folio.
An historicall narration concerning heresie and the punishment thereof,
English, 1680.
[Where[1520] is the book against Dr. Wallis in 4to that came out in
Jan. 1679/80?].
[1521]He haz omitted here Aristotel's Rhetorique, printed long since by
Andrew Crooke, but without his name; but Dr. Blackburne, W. Crooke, and
I will lay our heads together and sett these things right.
☞ It ought not to be forgotten that there is before Sir William
Davenant's heroique poem called Gondibert, a learned epistle of Mr.
Hobbes's concerning poetrie, in answer to Sir William's.
And there is also a shorter letter of Mr. Hobbes's, which the
Honourable ... Howard has printed before his heroique poem, 8vo, called
I thinke Bonduca, about 1668 or 9.
Mr. Hobbes wrote a letter to ... (a colonell, as I remember) concerning
Dr. Scargill's recantation sermon, preached at Cambridge, about 1670,
which he putt into Sir John Birkenhead's hands to be licensed, which he
refused (to collogue and flatter the bishops), and would not returne
it nor give a copie. Mr. Hobbes kept no copie, for which he was sorry.
He told me he liked it well himselfe.--[1522]Dr.[1523] Birket, my old
acquaintance, hath the ordering of Sir John Birkenhead's bookes and
papers. He hath not found it yet but hath found a letter of Mr. Hobbes
to him about it, and hath promised me if he finds it to let me have
it. ☞ Memorandum--Sir Charles Scarborough told me that he haz a copie
of it, but I could not obtaine it of him; but I will try again, if Dr.
Birket cannot find it.
<_Notes about his writings._>
<There are several scattered notes about Hobbes' writings
dispersed throughout MS. Aubr. 9, which may be most
conveniently brought together here.>
His Latin _Leviathan_ is altered in many particulars, e.g. the
doctrine of the Trinity, etc., and enlarged with many considerable
particulars.--MS. Aubr. 9, fol. 42ᵛ.
The _Leviathan_ is translated into Dutch.--MS. Aubr. 9, fol. 7ᵛ.
Quaere Ph. Laurence what volume the Dutch _Leviathan_ printed and what
volumine.--MS. Aubr. 9, fol. 7.
_Humane Nature_, London, by Thomas Newcombe, 1650, 12mo.--Anno 1684/5
is printed by Mr. Crooke _Humane Nature_, and _Libertie and Necessity_,
in 8vo, which they call his 'Tripos.'--MS. Aubr. 9, fol. 7ᵛ.
Before Thucydides, he spent two yeares in reading romances and playes,
which he haz often repented and sayd that these two yeares were lost of
him--wherin perhaps he was mistaken too. For it might furnish him with
copie of words.--MS. Aubr. 9, fol. 42ᵛ.
Thucydides, London, imprinted for Richard Mynne in Little Brittain at
the signe of St. Paul, MDCXXXIV.--MS. Aubr. 9, fol. 7ᵛ.
Mr. Henry Birchit of the Middle Temple promised to gett for me Mr.
Hobbes' letter to ... of Mr. Scargill's recantation, which he left with
Sir John Birkenhead.--MS. Aubr. 9, fol. 54ᵛ.
T. Hobbes--quaere Mr. H. Birchet de letter of Scargill's recantation
which Sir John Birkenhead would not licence.--MS. Aubr. 8, fol. 8.
<In MS. Aubr. 9 at the end are some of the printed tracts issued by
Hobbes in his controversy with Dr. John Wallis, viz.:--
(1) A folio sheet[1524], headed
'To the right honorable and others the learned members of the Royal
Society for the Advancement of the Sciences, presenteth to your
consideration your most humble servant Thomas Hobbes (who hath spent
much time upon the same subject) two propositions, whereof the one is
lately published by Dr. Wallis, a member of your society....
Dr. Wallis: _de motu_, cap. 5. prop. 1. | Thomas Hobbes, _Roset._ prop.
5.'
(2) A quarto sheet[1525], headed:
'To the right honourable and others the learned members of the Royal
Society for the Advancement of the Sciences, presenteth to your
consideration your most humble servant Thomas Hobbes a confutation of a
theoreme which hath a long time passed for truth.'
(3) A quarto tract[1526] (the 'Propositions' occupy 3 pages, the
'Considerations,' 4 pages), entitled:--
'Three papers presented to the Royal Society against Dr. Wallis,
together with considerations on Dr. Wallis his answers to them, by
Thomas Hobbes of Malmsbury; London, printed for the author and are to
be had at the Green Dragon without Temple Bar: 1671.'>
With Mr. Hobbes's small tracts inscribed to the Royal Society came a
letter offering that some of the small pieces of his might be published
in the Transactions; which was not donne, through Mr. Oldenburgh's
default.--MS. Aubr. 9, fol. 47ᵛ.
<At the end of MS. Aubr. 9 is a quarto tract of 14 pages, entitled:--
'Thomae Hobbesii Malmesburiensis vita, authore seipso[1527], Londini,
typis, anno MDCLXXIX.'
The last two lines of it are:--
Octoginta annos complevi jam quatuorque
Et prope stans dictat Mors mihi, Ne metue.
On these Aubrey notes (MS. Aubr. 9, fol. 68ᵛ)--
'These two last verses Dr. Blackburne altered (because of qu[=a] in
quatuor, long) in the copie printed with Mr. Hobbes's life in Latine,
and some other alterations he made, but me thinkes the sense is not so
brisque.'>
What did he write since he left London? Quaere <his> executor.--MS.
Aubr. 9, fol. 22ᵛ.
His executor acquaints William Crooke (the author's printer[1528]) and
me, in a lettre[1529] under his hand January 16, 1679, that neither
Mr. Halleley (Mr. Hobbes's intimate friend and confident) nor him
selfe have any thing in either of their hands of Mr. Hobbes's, the
very little of that kind that he left behind him being disposed of
'according to his own order' before he removed from Chatsworth. Quaere
what was that order?--MS. Aubr. 9, fol. 22ᵛ.
Mr. Thomas Hobbes <has left> in MSS.
----A dialogue concerning the common lawes.
----An epitome of the Civil Warres of England from 1640 to 1660.
----Answer to _The Catching of the Leviathan_ by Dr. Bramhall.
----A historical narration concerning heresy and the punishment
thereof.--MS. Aubr. 9, a slip at fol. 27ᵛ.
Translation of 1, 9, 10, 11 and 1<2> bookes of Homer's Odysses in
English verse.
Ecclesiastica Historia in Latin verse, Amsterdam.--MS. Aubr. 9, a slip
pasted on to fol. 27ᵛ.
Quaere Dr. Blackbourn and Mr. Crooke to know where lies or what is
become of Mr. Hobbes' _Historia Ecclesiastica Romana_? Resp.--Dr.
Blackbourne haz it; gett copie of it.--MS. Aubr. 7, a slip at fol. 8ᵛ.
In May 1688, his _Ecclesiastica Historia carmine elegiaco conscripta_,
in Latin verse, was printed at Augusta Trinobantum, scil. London.
The preface was writt by Mr. Thomas Rymer, of Graie's Inne, but
ἀνονυμῶς.--MS. Aubr. 9, fol. 54ᵛ.
Memorandum.--Mr. Hobbes told me he would write, in three columnes, his
doctrine, the objections, and his answers, and deposit[1530] it in the
earle of Devon's library at ... in Derbyshire. Dr. <Thomas> Bayly,
principall of New-Innhall in Oxon, tells me he hath seen it there.--MS.
Aubr. 9, fol. 2.
<MS. Aubr. 28 is a copy of the tract (63 pages).
'Mr. Hobbes considered in his loyalty, religion, reputation, and
manners, by way of letter to Dr. Wallis'; London, printed for Andrew
Crooke, 1662.
On the title-page Aubrey has the note:--
'This letter was writt (indeed) by Mr. Thomas Hobbes himselfe--Jo.
Aubrey de Easton-Pierse':
and at the end
'The second impression[1531] of this booke was from this very booke of
mine.--'Twas not to be bought.'>
<_Verses by him._>
[1532]Insert the love verses he made not long before his death:--
[1533]1.
Tho' I am now past ninety, and too old
T' expect preferment in the court of Cupid,
And many winters made mee ev'n so cold
I am become almost all over stupid,
2.
Yet I can love and have a mistresse too,
As fair as can be and as wise as fair;
And yet not, proud, nor anything will doe
To make me of her favour to despair.
3.
To tell you who she is were very bold;
But if i' th' character your selfe you find
Thinke not the man a fool thô he be old
Who loves in body fair a fairer mind.
[1534]_Catalogue[1535] of his learned familiar friends and
acquaintances_, besides those already mentioned, that I remember him to
have spoken of.
_Mr. Benjamin Johnson_, Poet-Laureat, was his loving and familiar
friend and acquaintance.
_<Sir Robert> Aiton_, Scoto-Britannus, a good poet and critique and
good scholar. He was neerly related to his lord's lady (Bruce).
And he desired Ben: Johnson, and this gentleman, to give their
judgement on his style of his translation of Thucydides.[1536]He
lyes buryd in Westminster Abbey, and hath there an elegant monument
and inscription[1537], which I will insert here or so much as may be
pertinent.
Memorandum next after ... Ayton should in order be named _Sydney
Godolphin_, esq., who left him, in his will, a legacy of an hundred
poundes: and Mr. Hobbes hath left him an eternall[1538] monument in
lib.... pag.... of his Leviathan.
_Lucius Carey, lord Falkland_ was his great friend and admirer, and
so was _Sir William Petty_; both which I have here enrolled amongst
those friends I have heard him speake of, but Dr. Blackburne left 'em
both out[1539] (to my admiration). I askt him why he had donne so? He
answered because they were both ignote to foreigners.
_Mr. Henry Gellibrand_, Astronomy professor at Gresham Colledge.
[1540]_James Harrington_, esq., who wrote against him in his _Oceana_.
_Henry Stubbes_[1541].
_Mr. Charles Cavendish_[1542], brother to the duke of Newcastle, a
learned gentleman and great mathematician.
_Mr. Laurence Rooke_, Geometry and Astronomy professor.
_Mr. ... Hallely_, his intimate friend, an old gent.
[1543]When he was at Florence (16..; vide vitam) he contracted a
friendship with the famous _Galileo Galileo_, ...[1544], whom he
extremely venerated and magnified; and not only as he was a prodigious
witt, but for his sweetnes of nature and manners. They[1545]
pretty well resembled one another as to their countenances, as
by their pictures doeth[1546] appeare; were both cheerfull and
melancholique-sanguine; and had both a consimilitie of fate, to be
hated and persecuted by the ecclesiastiques.
16..[1547], _Petrus Gassendus_[1548], S. Th. Doctor et Regius Professor
Parisiis,--vide his titles--whom he never mentions but with great
honour and respect[CXXIV.], 'doctissimus, humanissimus'; and they loved
each other entirely.
[CXXIV.] I have heard Mr. Edmund Waller say that (William) the lord
marquisse of Newcastle was a great patron to Dr. Gassendi, and M. Des
Cartes, as well as Mr. Hobbes, and that he hath dined with them all
three at the marquiss's table at Paris.--MS. Aubr. 9. fol. 50.
As also the like love and friendship was betwixt him and
_Marinus ... Mersennus_;
Monsr. _Renatus Des Cartes_[1549];
as also--
_<Johan. Franc.> Niceron_;
_Samuel Sorbier_, M. D.--vide his epistle and Gassendus's before his
_De Cive_.
_... Verdusius_, to whom he dedicates his _... Dialogi_ ([1550]vide my
_Dialogi_ for his Christian name--'tis dedicated to him).
[1551]T. H. would say that _Gassendus_ was the sweetest-natured man in
the world.
_Des Cartes_ and he were acquainted and mutually respected one another.
He would say that had he kept himself to Geometry he had been the best
geometer in the world but that his head did not lye for philosophy.