As the biographer and editor of that amiable and zealous antiquary JOHN
AUBREY, I noticed with peculiar interest the statement of your
correspondent, that the date of your first publication coincided with
the anniversary of his birthday; but, unhappily, the coincidence is
imaginary. Your correspondent has, on that point, adopted a careless
reading of the first chapter of Aubrey's _Miscellanies_, whereby the 3rd
of November, the birthday of the Duke of York, afterwards James the
Second, has been frequently stated as that of the antiquary himself. See
my _Memoir of Aubrey_, 4to. 1845, p. 123. In the same volume, p. 13,
will be found an engraving of the horoscope of his nativity, from a
sketch in his own hand. So far as his authority is of any value, that
curious sketch proves incontestably that "the Native" was born at 14
minutes and 49 seconds past 17 o'clock (astronomical time) on the 11_th
of March_, 1625-6; that is, at 14 minutes and 49 seconds past 5 o'clock
A.M. on the 12_th of March_, instead of the 3rd of November.
Few things can be more mortifying to a biographer, or an antiquary, than
the perpetuation of an error which he has successfully laboured to
correct. It is an evil, however, to which he is often subjected, and
which your valuable publication will go far to remedy. In the present
case it is, doubtless, to be ascribed to the peculiar nature of my
_Memoir of Aubrey_, of which but a limited number of copies were printed
for the _Wiltshire Topographical Society_. The time and labour which I
bestowed upon the work, the interesting character of its contents, and
the approbation of able and impartial public critics, justify me in
saying that it deserves a far more extensive circulation.
After this allusion to John Aubrey, I think I cannot better evince my
sympathy with your exertions than by requesting the insertion of a Query
respecting one of his manuscripts. I allude to his _Monumenta
Brittanica_, in four folio volumes--a dissertation on Avebury,
Stonehenge, and other stone circles, barrows, and similar Druidical
monuments--which has disappeared within the last thirty years.
Fortunately a large portion of its contents has been preserved, in
extracts made by Mr. Hutchins, the historian of Dorsetshire, and by the
late Sir Richard Colt Hoare, Bart.; but the manuscript certainly
contained much more of great local interest, and some matters which were
worthy of publication. In the Memoir already mentioned, p. 87, the
history of the manuscript down to the time of its disappearance is
fully traced. Referring such of your readers as may feel interested in
the subject to that volume, and reserving for the future numbers a long
list of other interesting Queries which are now before me, it will
gratify me to obtain, through your medium, any information respecting
the MS. referred to. I remain, Sir, yours truly,