Miscellanies upon Various Subjects

MISCELLANIES UPON VARIOUS SUBJECTS.
BY JOHN AUBREY, F.RS.

CONTENTS
LIFE of Aubrey
Dedication to the First Edition
Day-Fatality; or, Some Observations of Days Lucky and Unlucky
Day-Fatality of Rome
Of Fatalities of Families and Places
Ostenta; or, Portents
Omens
Dreams
Apparitions
Voices
Impulses
Knockings
Blows invisible
Prophesies
Miranda

Magick
Transportation by an invisible Power
Visions in a Beryl or Crystal
Visions without a Glass or Crystal
Converse with Angels and Spirits
Corps-candles in Wales
Oracles
Ecstacy
Glances of Love and Malice
An accurate account of Second-Sighted men in Scotland
Additaments of Second-Sight
Farther Additaments
Appendix
THE LIFE OF JOHN AUBREY.
JOHN AUBREY, the subject of this brief notice, was born at Easton
Pierse, (Parish of Kington,) in Wiltshire, on the 12th of March, 1626;
and not on the 3rd of November in that year, as stated by some of his
biographers. He was the eldest son of Richard Aubrey, Esq. of Burleton,
Herefordshire, and Broad Chalk, Wiltshire. Being, according to his
own statement, "very weak, and like to dye," he was baptized on the
day of his birth, as appears by the Register of Kington. At an early age
(1633) he was sent to the Grammar School at Yatton Keynel, and in the
following year he was placed under the tuition of Mr. Robert Latimer,
the preceptor of Hobbes, a man then far advanced in years.

On the 2nd of May, 1642, being then sixteen years of age, Aubrey was
entered a gentleman commoner of Trinity College, Oxford, where he
appears to have applied himself closely to study. He however cherished
a strong predilection for English History and Antiquities, which was
fostered and encouraged at this time by the appearance of the
"Monasticon Anglicanum", to which he contributed a plate of Osney
Abbey, an ancient ruin near Oxford, entirely destroyed in the Civil
Wars.
On the 16th of April, 1646, Aubrey was admitted a student of the
Middle Temple, but the death of his father shortly after, leaving him
heir to estates in Wiltshire, Surrey, Herefordshire, Brecknockshire and
Monmouthshire, obliged him to relinquish his studies and look to his
inheritance, which was involved in several law suits.
Though separated from his associates in the University, he appears to
have kept up a correspondence with several of them, and among others,
Anthony Wood, whom he furnished with much valuable information.
Wood made an ungrateful return for this assistance, and in his
Autobiography thus speaks of him:-"An. 1667, John Aubrey of Easton
Piers in the parish of Kingston, Saint Michael in Wiltshire, was in
Oxon. with Edward Forest, a Bookseller, living against Alls. Coll. to
buy books. He then saw lying on the stall Notitiae Academiae
Oxoniensis, and asking who the author of that book was ? he [Edw.
Forest] answered, the report was that one Mr. Anth. Wood, of Merton
College was the author, but was not. Whereupon Mr. Aubrey, a
pretender to Antiquities, having been contemporary to A. Wood's elder
brother in Trin. Coll. and well acquainted with him, he thought, that he
might be as well acquainted with A. W. himself, Whereupon repairing
to his lodgings, and telling him who he was, he got into his
acquaintance, talked to him about his studies, and offered him what
assistance he could make, in order to the completion of the work that he
was in hand with. Mr. Aubrey was then in sparkish garb, came to town
with his man and two horses, spent high, and flung out A. W. in all his
recknings. But his estate of 70011 per an. being afterwards sold and he
reserving nothing of it to himself, liv'd afterwards in very sorry
condition, and at length made shift to rub out by hanging on Edm.

Wyld, Esq., living in Blomesbury near London, on James Carle of
Abendon, whose first wife was related to him, and on Sr Joh. Aubrey
his kinsman, living sometimes in Glamorganshire and sometimes at
Borstall near Brill in Bucks. He was a shiftless person, roving and
magotie-headed, and sometimes little better than crased. And being
exceedingly credulous, would stuff his many letters sent to A. W. with
folliries and misinformations, which would sometimes guid him into
the paths of errour." This example of bad English, and worse taste, was
written after twenty-five years acquaintance! In singular contrast to it,
is a letter of Aubrey to Wood, charging him, it is true, with an abuse of
confidence and detraction, but urging his complaint in terms which
sufficiently evince the kindly and affectionate nature of the writer.
Malone, in his " Historical Account of the English Stage," has done
Aubrey justice; and his remarks may properly find a place here. " That
the greater part of his (Aubrey's) life was devoted to literary pursuits, is
ascertained by the works which he has published, the correspondence
which