RAY. 151 



another of his best friends. Bishop Wilkins, who died 

 on the 19th November 1672. Being thus deprived 

 of some of those persons whose intercourse had afford- 

 ed him the purest pleasure, he began to think of 

 consoling himself by marriage ; having formed an 

 attachment to a young woman recommended by her 

 personal and mental accomplishments. She was 

 the daughter of Mr John Oakeley of Launton, in 

 Oxfordshire. They were married in Middleton 

 Church, on the 5th June 1673. This lady gave 

 him important assistance in educating Mr Willugh- 

 by's children ; and afterwards, by her unremitting 

 attentions and constant affection, contributed to en- 

 liven his mind, when he was labouring under the 

 pressure of protracted disease. 



In the year just named, he published an account 

 of the observations which he had made in his travels 

 on the Continent, to which was appended a cata- 

 logue of plants observed in foreign countries, and 

 also, about the same time, his Collection of Unusual 

 or Local English Words, adding to it a catalogue 

 of English birds and fishes, and an account of the 

 way of smelting and refining metals and minerals. 

 Mr Oldenburgh, the secretary of the Royal Society, 

 having solicited him by numerous letters to com- 

 municate any discoveries which he might have 

 made, he sent several papers, some of which were 

 printed in the Philosophical Transactions, as well as 

 a discourse concerning seeds and the specific differ- 

 ences of plants, which was read to the members. 



In 1674 and the following year, he was busily 

 engaged in the task of preparing for the press Mr 

 Willughby's observations on birds. These notices 

 had been committed to paper without any method, 



