John, descended from an ancient family in Wiltshire, was born in 1626. He made the history and antiquities of England his peculiar study and delight, and contributed considerable assistance to the Monasticon Anglicanum. He succeeded to several good estates; but law-suits and other misfortunes consumed them all, and reduced him to absolute want. In this extremity he found a valuable benefactress in the Lady Long of Draycot in Wilts, who gave him an apartment in her house, and supported him till his death, which happened about the year 1700. He was a man of considerable ability, learning, and application, but credulous, and tinctured with superstition. He wrote Miscellanies, and A Perambulation of the County of Surrey, in 5 vols. 8vo. Besides these, he left many pieces in manuscript, among which are Monumenta Britannica, or a Discourse concerning Stonehenge and Roll Rich Stones in Oxfordshire; and Architectonica Sacra, or a Dissertation concerning the Manner of Church Building in England. In 1813, his Lives of Eminent Men, and a Collection of Letters, were published from the originals preserved in the Bodleian library, in 3 vols. 8vo. The Lives are replete with curious matter; and that of Hobbes, in particular, is very full and elaborate.