X DR. DERHAM S PREFACE. 



approved of by some of the authors themselves, and that 

 which mdeed I had good reasons to esteem best, I 

 accordingly did it as well as I could, abating for a mis- 

 take or two, where the papers happened to be mislaid. 



Having given an account of what I have done as pub- 

 lisher, it is time to recognise the assistance I had from 

 my friends. Sir Hans Sloane and Dr. Tankred Robinson 

 (two of the principal and most learned friends of Mr. Ray) 

 very readily furnished me with what papers they had of 

 Mr. Ray's ; and the latter procured also for me those 

 which Dr. Lister had carefully laid up as Cimelia. Mr. 

 Dale, of Braintree (Mr. Ray's neighbour and industrious 

 friend), who had taken care to preserve many of Mr. Ray's 

 papers after his death, very readily imparted them, and 

 gave me his assistance ; as also the Reverend and worthy 

 Mr. Pyke, rector of Mr. Ray's parish, gave me what 

 assistance he could ; but none more ready than Mrs. Ray 

 herself, and her daughters, who not only intrusted me to 

 search Mr. Ray's papers, but to carry away what I 

 pleased. 



And as for the papers in the Appendix, they are owing 

 to the favour of the surviving remains of Mr. Ray's best 

 friend and patron, the great Mr. Willughby ; namely, the 

 Right Honorable the Lord Middleton, and his noble 

 sister the Countess of Carnarvon, who, knowing of my 

 design, with all readiness procured for and sent me Mr. 

 Ray's, and some other learned men's letters to their most 

 ingenious father ; which, coming too late to be ranked in 

 their order in the body of the book, I was forced to cast 

 into an Appendix. 



