RAY 



11 A \ 



ph;a. It co-'itaiti': a poft-office, a prclbyterian churclj, :.nii 

 ■ibout 3'o or 60 houfes. 



- .P>.AV/DON, a town of Nova Scotia, 40 miles from Ha- 

 lifax, toiUainiiig about 50 or 60 liouft'S. 



Rav/con, a townfhip of the county of Haflings, in 

 Upper Canada, N. of Sidney. 



RAWLINSON, CnuiSTOPniirt, in Biography, of 

 Cork-Hall, in Lancaifiire, was born in 1677, educated in 

 Queen's college, Oxford, and died in 1733 : he was much 

 attached to Saxon and Northern literature, and publifhed an 

 edition of " King Alfred's Tranflation of Boethius de Con- 

 folationc," 8vo. 1698. 



Rawlinson, Richard, a diflant relation of the pre- 

 cedin"", a learned antiquarian, was the fon of fir Thomas 

 Rawlinfon, knight, and once lord mayor of I,ondon. He 

 was educated at St. John's college, Oxford, and was admitted 

 to the degree of doctor of the civil law in 17 1 9. He de- 

 voted himfelf to antiquarian purfuits, and made large col- 

 le&ions for a continuation of Wood's Athenve Oxonienfes, 

 and Hiftory of Oxford, and puhlithed the life of tliat in- 

 dultrious antiquary. The principal work of Mr. Rawlinfon 

 was " The Englifli Topographer," or. An hiltorical account 

 of all the pieces that have been written relating to the an- 

 cient natural hiftory or topographical defcription of any part 

 of Enghmd, 1720. He pubUfhed the "Latin Letters of 

 Abclard and Heloifa," and " A Tranflation of Du Frefnoy's 

 New Method of Studying Hiftory," 2 vols. 8vo. He died 

 at Iflington in 1755, and by his will ordered that his heart 

 Ihould be depoiited in the chapel of St. John's college, 

 Oxford. That univerfity was indebted to him for various 

 benefaftions of books, manufcripts, medals, &c. as well as 

 landed property, and an endowment for an Anglo-Saxon 

 lefture. 



RAWLLOW, in Geography, a town of Hindooftan, in 

 Palnaud ; 27 miles W.S.W. of Timerycotta. 



RAY, John, in Biography, whom Haller terms the 

 greateil botanill in the memory of man, and to whofe 

 tranfcendent merits we have already briefly adverted, in 

 treating of the genus- dedicated by Plumier to his name, fee 

 Raiania ; was born at Black Notley, near Braintree, in 

 Efl'ex, Nov. 29, 1628. His father, Roger Ray, though 

 in the humble ftation of a blackfmith, gave him a learned 

 education ; firll at the grammar-fcliool of his native town, 

 at that time not very well condufted ; and fubfequcntly at 

 Cambridge, where he entered at Catharine Hall, in his 1 6th 

 year, June 28th, 1644, being defigned for holy orders. In 

 iibouta year and three quai-ters afterwards, he removed to 

 Trinity College, where he found the young men occupied 

 in a more liberal train of itudies, with lefs of fcholaftic dif- 

 putations and quibbles. Ray was fortunate in having for 

 his tutor at Trinity, Dr. Duport, an eminent Greek 

 fcholar, under whofe fottering and partial care, he foon 

 made up for all the deiiciencies of his early education, in the 

 learned languages, including Hebrew. By this gentleman 

 he was always mentioned with peculiar regard. He was no 

 lefs happy in a youthful literary friend and fellow-lludent, 

 afterwards the celebrated Dr. Ifaac. Barrow. Even at this 

 early period, Riy began to cultivate natural hiftory ; and 

 diftinguidied iiimlelf by many fchool exercifes as an orator, 

 no lefs than by his general talle for (ludy, his love of virtue, 

 andhis gentlcnefsof manners, qualities which fhone brighter 

 and brighter to the lateft period of his life. His merit oc- 

 cafioned,him to be chofen a Minor Fellow of Trinity, along 

 with his friend Barrow, September 8th, 1649. On taking 

 his degree of Mafter of Arts, he became a Major or Senior 

 Fellow; and aiterwards, OAober ift, 165 1, Greek Lec- 

 turer of the college. At the end of two years he was ap- 



pointed Mathematical Leftiirer, and in two yrars more, 

 Oftober 2d, 1655, Humanity Reader. He fubfequcntly 

 filled feveral refpcftable olHces in his college, as Junior Dean, 

 College Steward, &c., and during his rcfidence in the uni- 

 verfity, became tutor to many gentlemen of rank and for- 

 tune, who were fenfible of their obligations to him ; amongfl 

 whom the moft eminently diftinguilhed by perfonal worth, 

 and congeniality of talents with himfelf, was Mr. Francis 

 Wilhighby, of Middleton-hall in Warwicklhire, fo well 

 known by his pofthumous works on Birds and Filhes, 

 edited by the affeftionatc care of Ray. 



At this period it was ufual for young men of ability and 

 learning, though not in orders, to deliver fermons, and com- 

 mon-place readings, as they were called ; not only in the 

 chapels or halls of their own colleges, but even before the 

 univerfity body, at St. Mary's church. In thefc Ray emi- 

 nently diftinguiftied himfelf. He was among tlie ilrft who 

 ventured to lead the attention of his hearers, from the un- 

 profitable fubtleties of fcholaftic divinity, and the trammels 

 of Ariftotelian philofophy, to an obfervation ;f nature, and 

 a practical inveftigation of trutii. The rudiments of many 

 ot his fubfequent writings originated in thefe juvenile edays, 

 particularly his celebrated book on the " Wifdom of God 

 manifeiled in the Works of the Creation," known all over 

 the world by its nvimerous editions and tranflations, and uni- 

 verfally admired for its rational piety, found philofophy, 

 and folid inftruftion. This book is the bafis of all the la- 

 bours of following divines, who have made the book of na- 

 ture a commentary on the book of revelation ; a confirmation 

 of truths, which Nature has not authority, of herfelf, to 

 eftablilh. In it the author inculcates the doftrine of a con- 

 ilantly fuperintending Providence ; as well as the advantage, 

 and even the duty, of contemplating the works of God. 

 This, he fays, is part of the bufinefs of a fabbath day, as 

 it will be, probably, of our employment through that 

 eternal reft, of which the fabbath is a type. Archbidiop 

 Tennifon is recorded to have told Dr. Derham, that " Mr. 

 Ray was much celebrated, in his time, at Cambridge, for 

 preaching fohd and ufeful divinity, inftead of that enthu- 

 fiaftic Ituff, which the fermons of that time were generally 

 filled with." Two of his funeral difcourfes are mentioned 

 with particular approbation ; one on the death of Dr. Ar- 

 rowfmith, mafter of his college ; the other on that of 

 one of his moft intimate and beloved colleagues, Mr. John 

 Nid, likewife a Senior Fellow of Trinity, who had a great 

 (hare in Ray's firft botanical publication, the Catalogus 

 Plantarum circa Cantabrigiam nnJcenUum, printed in 1660; 

 which may be confidered as the prototype of his Syncpfu, 

 hereafter mentioned. Indeed before this little volume ap- 

 peared, its author had vifited various parts of England and 

 Wales, for the purpofe of inveftigating their native plants, 

 as he did feveral times afterwards ; nor were his obfervations 

 confined to natural hiftory, but extended to local and general 

 hiftory, antiquities, tlie arts, and all kinds of ufeful know- 

 ledge. His amufing Itineraries were publiftied, along with 

 his life, by Dr. Derham, and a few letters to that gentle- 

 man, by the care of Dr. George Scott, F.R.S., in 1760, 

 under the title of " Seleft Remains of the learned John 

 Ray, M.A., &c." Ray's firft botanical tour occupied 

 nearly fix weeks, from Auguft 9th to September 18th, 

 1658. On the 23d of December 1660, he was ordained, 

 both deacon and prieft at the fame time, by Dr. Sanderfoii, 

 then bilTiop of Lincoln. In 166 1 he travelled with Mr. 

 Willughby into Scotland, returning by Cumberland and 

 Weftmoreland ; and the following yecr, with the fame 

 companion, he accompliftied a more particular inveftigation 

 of Wales. How critically he ftudied the botany of the 



countrieti 



