34 NATURAL HISTORY. 



sap, spontaneous generation, musk-scented insects, the 

 scolopendra, the acid juice of pismires, the darting of 

 spiders, the anatomy of the porpus, the air-bladder in 

 fishes, the macreuse' [scoter duck], 'and the wood- 

 cracker.' * A number of these letters, together with those 

 of his correspondents, were published shortly after Ray's 

 death by Dr Derham; inr which the industrious reader 

 will surely discover, as Dr Derham quaintly puts it, ' so 

 entertaining and profitable a variety of curious learning, as 

 will sufficiently compensate for defects, and cause him to 

 think that neither have I cast away my time and pains, 

 nor he his cost.' 



Amidst all this press of scientific work, Ray found time 

 for the softer emotions, and in June 1673 he was married, 

 in Middleton Church, to Margaret, daughter of Mr John 

 Oakeley of Launton in Oxfordshire, his wife being some 

 twenty-five years younger than himself. About two years 

 after this event, Ray, who had with his wife been living 

 at Middleton Hall in Warwickshire, removed to Sutton 

 Cofield, a place about four miles off; his tuition of 

 Willughby's sons having now come to a close. Two 

 years later (1677) he again moved his quarters, this time 

 to Falborne Hall in Essex, whence two years afterwards 

 he finally shifted to Black Notley, his native place, in 

 which he spent the remaining years of his life. 



From this time onward Ray's life was wholly unevent- 

 ful, and was occupied in incessant and most fruitful toil at 

 his favourite sciences, and in constant correspondence 

 with his friends. Book after book came from his hands, 

 some botanical, some zoological, some theological. Some 



* 'Memorials of Ray,' p. 32. 



