The year that I lay at M. Neve's (for a short time) I was in great danger of being killed by a drunkard in the Street of Grays Inn Gate by a Gentleman whom I never saw before but (Deo gratias) one of his companions hindred his thrust. [1754 June 11. transcribed from a MS. in M. Aubrey's own handwriting in the possession of Dr. R. Rawlinson.] These incidents are so curiously narrated, and afford such interesting glimpses of the times to which they refer, that it is to be regretted they exist in so brief a form. Several of Aubrey's biographers have given a very loose and unsatisfactory account of him, and it was left for Mr. Britton to prepare a more authentic Life of one who had laboured long and zealously to preserve the records of the past. To that gentleman we owe many particulars regarding the close of Aubrey's career; among others, the entry of his burial at Oxford, in the church of St. Mary Magdalene- "1697. John Aubery a stranger was Buryed Jun. 7th." To Mr. Britton we are also indebted for the fact that Aubrey was never married; the statement that he had been united to Joan Sumner, resting on no surer foundation than the allusion to that lady in the "Accidents" above quoted. He died intestate, and Letters of Administration were granted on the 18th December, 1697, to his surviving brother William. In that license he is described as "late of Broad Chalk in the County of Wilts, Batchelor." [DEDICATION TO THE FIRST EDITION.] TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE, JAMES EARL OF ABINGDON, LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE IN EYRE OF ALL HIS MAJESTY'S FORESTS AND CHACES ON THIS SIDE TRENT. MY LORD, WHEN I enjoyed the contentment of Solitude in your pleasant walks and gardens at Lavington the last summer, I reviewed several scattered papers which had lain by me for several years; and then presumed to think, that if they were put together, they might be somewhat entertaining: I therefore digested them there in this order, in which I now present them to your Lordship. The matter of this collection is beyond human reach: we being miserably in the dark, as to the economy of the invisible world, which knows what we do, or incline to, and works upon our passions and sometimes is so kind as to afford us a glimpse of its prescience. MY LORD, It was my intention to have finished my Description of Wiltshire* (half finished already) and to have dedicated it to your Lordship: but my age is now too far spent for such undertakings: I have therefore devolved that task on my country man, Mr. Thomas Tanner, - who hath youth to go through with it, and a genius proper for such an undertaking. * In the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, - Afterwards Bishop of St. Asaph. Wherefore, I humbly beseech your Lordship to accept of this small offering, as a grateful memorial of the profound respect which I have for you, who have for many years taken me into your favour and protection. MY LORD,