226 Notice of British Naturalists. 
nied by Willoughby, whose various works on the subject are 
well known, and whose fondness for nature was equal to his own, 
Of these short journies he kept journals, which were afterwards 
published under the title of Iééneraries. They contain little that 
is of general interest; and are curious chiefly from the account 
which they give of the state of the roads and towns at that 
period. vig 
The restoration of king Charles IT, bringing with it-a reburn to 
old manners and customs, and more peaceful times, Mr. Ray de- 
termined to enter into holy orders. For this, as we have seen, 
his previous education had been such as fully to prepare him; 
and in December, 1660, he was ordained both deacon and priest, 
by Dr. Sanderson, bishop of Lincoln. He however still remained 
at the university, engaged in his previous duties, without any 
fixed cure of souls. In 1662, came the celebrated Bartholomew 
act; and as, from conscientious motives, he refused to sign the 
declaration, he lost his fellowship and other offices. From what 
sources he now derived his income does not appear. Whether 
his father had been enabled to leave him any property, or whether 
his previous college appointments had been so lucrative as to el 
rich him sufficiently, none of his biographers mention. He how- 
ever immediately set off, with a party of three, for a scientific 
tour upon the continent, whence he did not return till March, 
1665 ; and till, in conjunction with Mr. Willoughby, he had col- 
lected a large number of miscellaneous specimens of natural his- 
tory. Then began his great labors; and those in which the of 
der and strength of his mind are peculiarly perceptible. ~ 
Bishop Wilkins had for some time previously occupied his 
leisure in the study of botany ; and for the next two years, * 
was engaged with him in classifying the plants of England; and 
in throwing them into a natural arrangement. With his first plan, 
as he informs us in his preface to the Synopsis methodica Str- 
pium Britannicarum, he was not altogether satisfied ; and, as 
was very natural on a subject so truly new, he perceived maby 
errors. In this trait, however, it is not difficult to trace the germ 
of his future eminence. 
Far as he had proceeded beyond all previous writers, he could 
not be contented till he had attained the utmost excellency whieh 
his imagination held out before him; and instead of sitting down 
quietly to rest, one labor was but the precursor of ano 
Seen ee ee 
