* [The work alluded to still remains “half finished,” being a Description of the “North Division” only of the county. It has been printed by Sir Thomas Phillipps from the MS. in the Ashmolean Museum. 4to. 1821–1838.] † [He was then in his 71st year.] A chapter of the “Natural History” (being “Fatalities of Families and Places”), was at this time detached from the original manuscript to furnish materials for the remarks on “Local Fatality,” in the “Miscellanies.” John Aubrey died suddenly in the first week in June 1697, and was buried in the church of St. Mary Magdalen at Oxford, and from the time of his decease the original draught of his Wiltshire History has been carefully preserved in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, as the fair copy of 1690 has also in the Library of the Royal Society in London. Until the “Natural History of Wiltshire” was briefly described in my own “Memoir” of its author, very little was known of it beyond the mere fact of the existence of the two manuscripts. Copying from the original at Oxford, Dr. Rawlinson printed the Preface and Dedication, together with Ray’s letter of the 27th October, 1691, as addenda to his edition of Aubrey’s “History of Surrey,” (1719.) The same manuscript was also noticed by Thomas Warton and William Huddesford in a list of the author’s works in the Ashmolean Museum.‡ Horace Walpole referred to the Royal Society’s copy in his Anecdotes of Painting (1762); but though his reference seems to have excited the curiosity of Gough, the latter contented himself with stating that he could not find the work mentioned in Mr. Robertson’s catalogue of the Society’s library. ‡ [This list forms a note to the “Lives of Leland, Hearne, and Wood” (8° 1772). Though it includes the “Natural History,” it omits the “Description of North Wiltshire.” The latter was known previously, being mentioned by Aubrey himself in his Miscellanies, and also by Dr. Rawlinson; and hence, Warton and Huddesford’s list being supposed to be complete, much confusion has arisen respecting these two of Aubrey’s works, which have been sometimes considered as identical.] Some years ago Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bart., contemplated publishing this “Natural History,” but he appears to have abandoned his design.