178 RAY. 



to the Word of God." After making this declara- 

 tion, he desired the Rev. Mr Pyke, rector of Black 

 Notley, to read to him the prayers of the church 

 appointed to be used in the visitation of the sick ; 

 and, in particular, the absolution. He then re- 

 ceived the sacrament, ^' which, as it is men's duty 

 often to receive in the time of health, so, at the hour 

 of death," he said, *' it was a necessary viaticum he 

 thought for the great journey he was now a-going." 

 He died in his own house, at Black Notley, on 

 the 17th January 1705, having reached the seventy- 

 seventh year of his age, and was buried, accord- 

 ing to his own desire, in the church of that parish. 

 The authors of the Biographia Britannica, however, 

 assert that he declined the offer made by the rector, 

 of a place in the chancel, choosing rather to repose 

 with his ancestors in the churchyard. A monu- 

 ment was erected to him at the expense of some of 

 his friends, with an elegant Latin epitaph, descrip- 

 tive of his character, composed by the Rev. William 

 Coyte, M. A. In 1737, this monument, having 

 fallen into decay, was restored at the charge of Dr 

 Legge, and removed into the church. Forty-five 

 years after, it was repaired by Sir Thomas Gery 

 Cullum and others, who subjoined an additional 

 inscription. 



According to his biographer, Dr Derham, he 

 '' was a man of excellent natural parts, and had a 

 singular vivacity in his style, whether he wrote in 

 English or Latin. In a word, in his dealings, no 

 man more strictly just ; in his conversation, no man 

 more humble, courteous, and affable. Towards God, 

 no man more devout ; and towards the poor and dis- 

 tressed, no man more compassionate and charitable. 



