JOHN AUBREY AND HIS FRIENDS (335 pp.)Anthony PowellScribner ($5).
Britain's John Aubrey has been called "the little Boswell" of his day (1626-1697). But not even Boswell could claim quite the same historical importance as Chronicler Aubrey, the sensitive, observant man who saw himself as the connecting link between the great days of Queen Elizabeth and the riotous Restoration.
Aubrey had a foot in both worlds. He had an Elizabethan faith in "Marvels, Magick . . . Apparitions . . . Second Sighted Men," along with an undeveloped penchant for scientific research. As a child he...