CH. xvil. ZOOLOGY. 139 



if they had not both been great men ; but which becomes 

 much more interesting when we remember that it was their 

 love of the study of Nature which first brought them together, 

 and which made them inseparable, not only in life, but in 

 their woiks after death. 



John Ray, one of the greatest botanists of the seven- 

 teenth century, was born near Braintree, in Essex, in the 

 year 1628. Though only the son of a blacksmith, he re- 

 ceived a good education at the grammar school of the town 

 and went afterwards to Cambridge, where he remained as a 

 tutor after he had taken his degree. Here one of his first 

 pupils was a Mr. Francis Willughby, of Middleton Hall, in 

 Warwickshire, a man seven years younger than himself, and 

 belonging to quite a different rank in society. These two 

 men, however, had one great interest in common they were 

 both passionately fond of Natural History, and spent all 

 their spare time in studying it together. 



They soon found that the descriptions and classifications 

 of plants and animals which had been drawn up by earlier 

 naturalists were very imperfect, and they formed the project 

 of making a complete classification of all known plants and 

 animals, describing them as far as they were able, and 

 arranging them in groups according to their different cha- 

 racters. Willughby undertook the birds, beasts, and fishes, 

 while Ray devoted himself chiefly to plants ; but they worked 

 together in all the branches, and Ray, as we shall see, ended 

 by doing far more than his share of the work. 



From 1663 to 1666 the two friends travelled together 

 over England, France, Germany, and Italy, making collec- 

 tions of plants and animals, and Willughby took a pleasure 

 in using his wealth to add to the knowledge of his poorer 

 companion. Soon after their return Ray was made a fellow 

 of the Royal Society, and Willughby was not long before he 



