FRANCIS WILLUGHBY. 57 



other attainments by his knowledge in Natural 

 Philosophy ; and that his motive in " migrating" 

 from that College to Trinity, after a residence of 

 about a year and three quarters, was, that at the 

 latter College, " the politer arts and sciences" 

 were much more cultivated than at the former, 

 where they chiefly addicted themselves to dis- 

 putations. 



It may, therefore, be probable that Mr Ray's 

 early acquired and deeply cherished taste for the 

 pursuits of science might have served to awaken 

 similar inclinations in the mind of his friend Mr 

 Willughby. There is also positive proof, that 

 while at Cambridge, as well as in after life, they 

 often examined, and searched, and explored 

 together, and as will shortly be seen, that Mr 

 Willughby, with others, assisted Mr Ray in his 

 botanical investigations. It may also be inferred, 

 from Mr Ray's superiority in years and know- 

 ledge, that Mr Willughby might have, on their 

 first acquaintance, derived from him much skill 

 and information ; yet all this is not sufficient to 

 justify the assertion, that Mr Willughby was Mr 

 Ray's pupil, an assertion made inadvertently in 

 the first instance, and no doubt, afterwards, inad- 

 vertently copied.* 



It may now be permitted to state the only 

 evidence on this question which has presented 

 itself to the writer of this memoir. In Cole's MS. 



* Dr Smith's Life of Ray, in Rees's Cyclopaedia, is an 

 instance, perhaps, of the latter description. 



