ESSEX AND EARLY BOTANISTS 127 



white Hellebor" or helleborine. He also met with 

 the rare liquorice vetch, which he terms the liquorice 

 hatchet fetch, " the leaves whereof hath the taste of 

 Liquorice root " ; and this, he adds, he also found in 

 other parts of Essex, as "in the townes called Clare 

 and Henningham." A few years later, the distin- 

 guished botanist, Thomas Johnson, who published 

 an enlarged edition of Gerarde' s Herbal, found this 

 plant at Purfleet, " about the foot of the hill whereon 

 the winde-mill stands." 



But a greater name than that of Gerarde is asso- 

 ciated with the flora of the county. We refer to the 

 illustrious John Ray, the foremost naturalist of his 

 age, and the founder of modern scientific botany. He 

 was born at Black Notley, near Braintree, some twelve 

 years after the death of Gerarde. The entry of his 

 baptism may still be made out in the church register 

 stained brown with age, and runs in almost illegible 

 writing: "John son of Roger and Eliz. Wray bapt. 

 June 29, 1628." In later life John Ray (as he came 

 afterwards to spell his name) returned to his native 

 village and built himself a house " on Dewlands," 

 where he died in the year 1705. A melancholy 

 interest attaches to this house on Dewlands, which 

 was standing till recently in almost exactly the same 

 condition as when Ray lived and died there. During 

 the afternoon of Wednesday, September 19, 1900, it 

 was swiftly and totally destroyed by fire. Its dis- 

 appearance will be deeply regretted by all botanists. 

 Black Notley has been well called the Mecca of Essex 

 naturalists, and now its main object of interest is 

 gone. Ray's stately tomb, a pyramidal monument 

 some ten feet in height and bearing a lengthy Latin 

 inscription, may still be visited in the churchyard, but 



