70 MEMOIR OF RAT. 



All these qualities were refined and exalted by the 

 purest Christian feeling, and the union of the whole 

 constitutes a character which procured the admira- 

 tion of cotemporaries, and well deserves to be re- 

 commended to the imitation of posterity. * 



* While the natural sciences are rapidly advancing in 

 discovery, it is pleasing to find their most ardent cultiva- 

 tors cherishing the recollection of this great man with 

 such feelings as pupils entertain towards an aged and re- 

 vered preceptor ; wondering at the ability with which he 

 used the opportunities within his reach, and anxious that 

 his memory should be honoured by the generations of after 

 days. A few years since, some of the admirers of Ray in 

 London proposed that his memory should be commemo- 

 rated by some appropriate meeting. The proposal was 

 enthusiastically received by the leading naturalists of the 

 metropolis and its vicinity, and the 29th November 1828, 

 the second centenary of his birth-day, was selected for the 

 purpose of a public expression of the high estimation in 

 which he was held by the lovers of every branch of na- 

 tural history. One hundred and thirty of the most dis- 

 tinguished cultivators and patrons of science gave a pub- 

 lic dinner, at Free-masons' Hall, Davis Gilbert, Esq. pre- 

 sident of the Royal Society, in the chair, and spent the 

 evening admiring his genius, and anxious to use their 

 best endeavours for the future commemoration of his piety 

 and learning. 



For the particulars of this meeting, see Annals of Fhi- 

 y^ vol. v. p. 140. 



