228 Notice of British Naturalists. 
Hall, where he staid, in all, about four years ; and he appears to 
have acted, not only the part of a valuable tutor, but of an indul- 
gent guardian and kind parent to his charge. 
“Tn 1673,” says his biographer, “having lost some of his best 
friends, and being in a manner left destitute, he began to have 
thoughts of marriage; having met with a young gentlewoman, 
(then in the family he was in,) of about twenty years of age, 
whose piety, discretion, and virtues, as well as her person; recom- 
mended her to him.” Her name was Margaret Oakeley, of an 
Oxfordshire family. They were married in the May following, 
and he never appears to have had occasion to repent of his choice. 
In 1679, having parted with his pupils, with an affection for 
the place of his birth, he removed back again, as his years were 
increasing, to Black Notley. Here for ten years he resided, being 
actively engaged in writing, till in 1687, his health failed; he 
ecame infirm, and he died, worn out, in 1704, in the seventy- 
sixth year of his age. He was buried in the Parish church, and 
a monument was erected to his memory by his friends. 
A good fame is the peculiar possession of the dead ; and with 
all his faults, few appear, in those busy times, to have left behind 
them a more unsullied name. If we may judge from the high 
station which he held in Cambridge, and from the internal evr 
dence of his works, he was a fine scholar, and possessed of both 
descrimination and taste. Contemplation rather than action was 
the peculiar form of his mind; but he wanted not activity, and 
certainly was of a restless and most inquiring turn. While any- 
thing was to be learned, which he thought it worth while to 
employ himself upon, he allowed no difficulties to dishearten him 
and no self-denial to prevent his pursuit. And we may here 
make a general observation, that however much it may please 
some to disparage the study of natural history, or to declare to 
be only fit for trifling and inferior minds, we not only see in this 
case, but in all others, that eminence in this science is of peculiar 
difficulty of attainment. The highest powers of judgment, of 
research, and of perseverance are necessary ; and it has seldom 
been reached, where general learning and a well regulated edu 
cation have not previously prepared the mind. Considering the 
numbers who have attempted it, there are fewer who have 
any real progress in this, than in any other of the pursuits 
mankind, 
— esi 
