102 RAY AND SOME OF HIS FELLOW-WORKERS 



by Writing." After the Eevolution he had the satis- 

 faction of congratulating himself and his readers upon the 

 triumph of liberty, the purification of religion, and the 

 restoration of the ancient laws of England, but his solemn 

 thanksgiving makes no mention of private injuries.^ 



The most intimate of Ray's friends was Francis, only 

 son of Sir Francis Willughby of Middleton Hall in 

 Warwickshire and of WoUaton, near Nottingham. The 

 hall at WoUaton, built in 1588, is one of the noblest 

 examples of English domestic architecture. When an 

 undergraduate at Cambridge Willughby came under the 

 influence of Eay, joined him in his journeys, and helped 

 him to frame liberal schemes for the advancement of 

 natural history. After Eay was forced to leave Cam- 

 bridge, the two friends determined to visit foreign 

 countries together. Adding to their party two pupils 

 of Eay, they travelled through the Low Countries, 

 Germany, Switzerland, Bavaria, Italy, Sicily and Malta. 

 Three of them returned through Switzerland and France, 

 while Willughby protracted his tour by a visit to Spain. 

 Eay tells us that his friend had designed a voyage 

 to the new world in order to perfect his History 

 of Animals, hMt did not live to undertake it. The 

 arrangement of their collections, fresh journeys in the 

 British Isles, and experimental researches engaged the 

 two naturalists for several years more, when Willughby 

 was cut off by a sadden illness. 



Eay was made one of the executors under Willughby's 

 will, and charged with the education of two sons. Sixty 

 pounds a year (the amount was afterwards slightly 

 increased) was bequeathed to him for life, and this was 

 henceforth his principal livelihood. He married a young 

 woman resident at Middleton Hall, who helped him with 



' Preface to the Synopsis Stirpium. 



