* [These are enclosed within brackets [thus], and bear the initials
J. B. Some of the less important are marked by brackets only.]
In closing this address, and also in taking leave of the county of Wilts, as regards my literary connection with it, I feel it to be at once a duty and a pleasure to record my acknowledgments and thanks to those persons who have kindly aided me on the present occasion. When I commenced this undertaking I did not anticipate the labour it would involve me in, and the consequent time it would demand, or I must have declined the task; for I have been compelled to neglect a superior obligation which I owe to a host of kind and generous friends who have thought proper to pay me and literature a compliment in my old age, by subscribing a large sum of money as a PUBLIC TESTIMONIAL. In return for this, and to reciprocate the compliment, I have undertaken the laborious and delicate task of writing an AUTO-BIOGRAPHY which will narrate the chief incidents of my public life, and describe the literary works which I have produced. It is my intention to present a copy of this volume to each subscriber, so as to perpetuate the event in his own library and family, by a receipt or acknowledgment commemorative of the mutual sympathy and obligation of the donor and the receiver. Being now relieved from all other engagements and occupations, it is my intention to prosecute this memoir with zeal and devotion; and if health and life be awarded to me I hope to accomplish it in the ensuing winter.*
* [The volume will contain at least fifteen illustrations from steel copper, wood, and stone, and more than 300 pages of letterpress. A copy of the work will be presented to each subscriber, proportionate in value to the amount of the contribution. Hence three different sizes of the volume will be printed, namely: imperial 4to, with India proofs, fur subscribers of 10 [pounds}; medium 4to, with proofs, for those of 3 {pounds} and 5 {pounds}; and royal 8vo, with a limited number of prints, for subscribers of 1{pound} and 2 {pounds}.]
To the MARQUESS OF NORTHAMPTON, a native of Wiltshire, the zealous and devoted President of the Royal Society, my especial thanks are tendered for his influence with the Council of that Society, in obtaining their permission to copy Aubrey's manuscript; and also to
GEORGE POULETT SCROPE, Esq. M.P., for contributing materially towards the expense of the copy, and thereby promoting its publication.
To my old and esteemed friend the REV. DR. INGRAM, President of Trinity College, Oxford, I am obliged for many civilities, and for some judicious corrections and suggestions. His intimate acquaintance with Wiltshire, his native county, and his general knowledge of archaeology, as well as of classical and mediaeval history, eminently qualify him to give valuable aid in all publications like the present.
To JOHN GOUGH NICHOLS, Esq. F.S.A., both myself and the reader are under obligations, for carefully revising the proof sheets for the press, and for several valuable corrections.
To C. R. WELD, Esq. Assistant Secretary to the Royal Society, I am indebted for affording facilities for copying the manuscript.
Lastly, my obligations and thanks are due to MR. T. E. JONES, for the accurate transcript which he made from Aubrey's fair manuscript, for collating the same with the original at Oxford, for selecting and arranging the extracts which are now for the first time printed, and for his scrupulous and persevering assistance throughout the preparation of the entire volume. But for such essential aid, it would have been out of my power to produce the work as it is now presented to the members of the "Wiltshire Topographical Society," and to the critical reader.