An exhaustive, painstaking life of John Aubroy which should receive full credit for intent for it documents and substantiates all phases of its subject's life and catalogs every detail of his personal as well as financial affairs, literary as well as emotional activities. It adds up to all the attributes of the man -- but somehow not the man himself. John Collier's The Scandals and Credulities of John Aubrey (1931) had in its introduction a lively profile which gave a more vivid picture of Aubrey than does this whole volume, but here, for those interested, is the story of Aubrey's diverse interests, his wide world of friends and notables, his knowledge and curiosity, his intense preoccupation with the past, the importance of his family problems, and the fascinating ups and downs of his relations with all he know. An important 17th century literary figure -- almost the Walter Winchell of his day -- is here done full justice if never fully re-created.