RAY AND WILLUGHBY. 29 



wear no gowns till they be laureat, as 'they call it. 

 At our being there (being the time of the vacancy), 

 there was not a student in town ; the premier also, as 

 they call him, was absent in London. In the hall of 

 this College, the king's commissioner, Middleton, was 

 entertained by the citizens of Edinburgh. 



'(4) The parliament house, which is but of small con- 

 tent, as far as we could judge, not capable of holding 

 two hundred persons. The Lords and commons sit 

 both in the same room together. There is also a place 

 which they call the inner house, in which sit fifteen lords, 

 chosen out of the house, as it were a grand committee. 

 There is an outer room like the lobby, which they call 

 the waiting-room; and two other rooms above-stairs, 

 where commissioners sit. We saw Argyle and Guthry 

 their heads standing on the gates and toll-booth. At 

 the time we were in Scotland, divers women were burnt 

 for witches, they reported to the number of about one 

 hundred and twenty.' 



In 1660, after the Restoration, Ray was ordained; 

 but two years later his direct connection with the 

 Church of England came to an end, in consequence of 

 the passing of the 'Act of Uniformity.' By this act, 

 as is well known, every clergyman was required to 

 declare his assent to everything contained in the Book 

 of Common Prayer, to take the oath of canonical 

 obedience, and to abjure the Solemn League and Cove- 

 nant; and there is no reason to doubt that Ray, an 

 attached son of the church, would willingly have signed 

 these articles. A declaration was, however, further 



