42 MEMOIR OF RAT. 



in representing such objects, and his distance from 

 London prevented him from giving efficient direc- 

 tions. 



The death of Mr Willughby's mother, which 

 happened about the year 1676, produced a consi- 

 derable change in Ray's domestic relations. His 

 pupils were taken from under his charge, and he no 

 longer continued to reside at Middleton-Hall. He 

 took up his abode for a time at Sutton Cofield, a few 

 miles distant ; but soon removed to Falborne-Hall, 

 in Essex, which was in the vicinity of his native place. 

 During his residence there, his mother died at Black 

 Notley, an event of which the following notice is found 

 in his diary: "March 15, 1678, departed this life, 

 my most dear and honoured mother Elizabeth Ray, 

 of Black Notley, in her house on Dewlands, in the 

 hall chamber, about three of the clock in the after- 

 noon, aged, as I suppose, seventy-eight : whose death, 

 for some considerations, was a great wound to me. 

 Yet have I good hope that her soul is received to 

 the mercy of God, and her sins pardoned through 

 the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, in whom 

 she trusted, and whose servant she hath been from 

 her youth up, sticking constantly to her profession, 

 and never leaving the church in these times of gid- 

 diness and distraction." Shortly afterwards he re- 

 moved to Black Notley with his family, in which 

 place he intended, as he himself expressed it, to 

 settle, if such was the will of God, for the short pit- 

 tance of time he had yet to live in this world. 



