He was a pioneer of field archaeology, most of his researches being centred on the earthworks and monuments in Wiltshire (particularly Avebury and Stonehenge) and became one of the first Fellows of the Royal Society in 1663. As an author, he is chiefly remembered for the lively and anecdotal collection of biographies of eminent persons, such as John Milton and Francis Bacon, known as Brief Lives, a bowdlerized edition of which was first published in 1813.