Au·brey  (ô'brē)  English antiquarian and writer whose Brief Lives, published posthumously, contains character sketches of his notable friends, including Thomas Hobbes, John Milton, and Francis Bacon. |
Aubrey, John
antiquarian and biographer, best known for his vivid, intimate, and sometimes acid sketches of his contemporaries. Educated at Oxford at Trinity College, he studied law in London at the Middle Temple. He early displayed his interest in antiquities by calling attention to the prehistoric stones at Avebury, Wiltshire. His literary and scientific interests won him a fellowship of the Royal Society in 1663. Meanwhile, in his travels in England and Europe, he became entangled in love suits and lawsuits (from which he was never free until he sold the remainder of his estates in 1670) and avoided creditors. His easy, equable temper won him many friends, among them the architect Sir Christopher Wren and the philosopher Thomas Hobbes.
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