818 



Peplis Portula, Nardus stricta, Agiostis puraila, Festuca bromoides 

 &c., and further on the road GEnanthe Phellandrium. In the centre 

 of the pretty village of Saling stands a remarkably fine tree of Ulmus 

 montana, var. )S. pendula, whose elegant form and gracefully pendu- 

 lous branches lead one to express a regret that more of this fine tree 

 are not planted instead of the commoner and inferior ones. Doroni- 

 cum plantagineum and Vinca minor grow near the village, and as we 

 approached the town of Braintree, we gathered Dipsacus pilosus. 



The village of Black Notley is situated about two miles from Brain- 

 tree; it is a small, scattered, purely Essex village; as we approached 

 it, the occasional gleams of the sun foretold a fine day, and added 

 beauty and freshness to the quiet scene. Although the village affords 

 but one very poor inn, we sat down to a hearty breakfast, not prepared 

 to quarrel with our provision or accommodation. This over, we 

 started forth to see and hear all we could regarding the illustrious 

 Ray. Washington Irving remarks that " Genius seems to delight in 

 hatching her offspring in bye corners." Ray was an exemplification 

 of this ; he was born here in 1628, and is said to have been the son 

 of a blacksmith, but of this we found no traditional evidence, neither 

 could we learn where the original blacksmith's shop had stood ; the 

 inhabitants speak of him as a very wonderful man who knew every- 

 thing, and had travelled all over the world. 



The church is an old plain tiled building, with rather a picturesque 

 wooden spire, and stands in a delightfully rural situation. The 

 church-yard is a good-sized enclosure, planted with horse-chesnut 

 and elm : in this retired spot, on the south side of the church, rest 

 the mortal remains of the greatest of British naturalists. The tomb 

 is neat and handsome, of a pyramidical form, from ten to twelve feet 

 high, and bearing an elaborate and appropriate Latin inscription. 

 This monument was erected by Compton, Bishop of London, one of 

 Ray's cotemporaries, and about fifty years since was restored by Sir 

 Thomas Gery Cullum, and is now in excellent preservation. 



The house in which Ray is said to have lived, stands on a hill about 

 half a mile from the church, and is now used as a farm-house, but the 

 present inhabitants could give us no information, and seemed not at 

 all aware that they were treading the same boards as were trodden by 

 the great Ray, or looking on the same fields and trees as he once ad- 

 mired. Adjoining the meadow below the house is a garden, which 

 still bears the name of " Ray's Orchard." It is now held by an octo- 

 genarian market-gardener, who appeared to possess much of the an- 

 cient simple but genuine hospitality, and who was much pleased to 



