At a later date Samuel Pepys studied it, and Sir William Petty told him that the three most popular books of his time were Osborne's "Advice", Thomas Browne's "Religio Medici", and Samuel Butler's "Hudibras". Jonathan Swift wrote of Osborne in "The Tatler" as one who affected the phrases in fashion at court in his day, and soon became either unintelligible or ridiculous. James Boswell found the "Advice" shrewd, quaint, and lively; but Samuel Johnson told Boswell that Osborne was conceited: "Were a man to write so now, the boys would throw stones at him."