Brief Lives, Volume 1, by the seventeenth-century antiquary John Aubrey, gathers his celebrated short biographical sketches of notable contemporaries and predecessors. Aubrey recorded gossip, anecdotes, and intimate physical and personal details about figures such as Francis Bacon, Thomas Hobbes, and William Shakespeare, often preserving vivid stories that would otherwise have been lost to history.
Candid, curious, and frequently entertaining, the Brief Lives offer an unrivalled glimpse into the personalities of early modern England. Their informal vividness has delighted readers for centuries. This free EPUB edition presents the first volume for readers interested in biography, antiquarianism, and seventeenth-century English life.