On the 18th of August 1686 he wrote the following Will: " Whereas I,
John Aubrey, R.S.S., doe intend shortly to take a journey into the
west; and reflecting on the fate that manuscripts use to have after
the death of the author, I have thought good to signify my last Will
(as to this Naturall History of Wilts): that my will and desire is,
that in case I shall depart this life before my returne to London
again, to finish, if it pleaseth God, this discourse, I say and
declare that my will then is, that I bequeath these papers of the
Natural History of Wilts to my worthy friend Mr. Robert Hooke, of
Gresham Colledge and R.S.S., and I doe also humbly desire him, and my
will is, that the noble buildings and prospects should be engraven by
my worthy friend Mr. David Loggan, who hath drawn my picture already
in order to it"
This document* shews at once the dangers and difficulties which
attended travelling in Aubrey's time, and also that he seriously
contemplated the publication of his favourite work.
* [It has been already printed in my Memoir of Aubrey. A note
attached to it shews that the author intended to incorporate with the
present work some portions of his MS. "Monumenta Britannica"; which
was also dedicated to the Earl of Pembroke.]
Neither his fears of death nor his hopes of publication were however
then realized: probably the political disturbances attending the
Revolution of 1688 interfered with the latter. In the November of the
year following that event Aubrey's friend and patron Thomas, Earl of
Pembroke, was elected President of the Royal Society, which
distinguished office he held only for one year.
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