HAY. 



in order to make obfervations upon plants, for the greater 

 perfeftion of thi6 laft edition of liis MflhoJiis, he was not 

 able to walk into his neighbouring fields. He flill, iievcr- 

 thelefs, kei)t up to the laft his correfpondence with his 

 friends, in the vivacity and clearnefs of ftyle which was na 



WiUiam Coyte, M.A., father of the late Dr. Coyte of 

 Ipfwich, aod the original manufcript is now before us, con- 

 taining the information tiiat Ray was interred in the church- 

 yard. Ill 1737, the monument in queflion, which feems to 

 have been a fort of altar tomb, being nearly ruined, was 



tural to him. Latin and Englifh, it is faid, were equally reftored at the charge of Dr Legge, and removed for fliel- 

 readv to his pen. So indefatigable was he in the cultivation ter into the church ; where therefore it became a cenotaph, 

 ------ • °-.- -- c 1..0 as an inlcription added on this occafion terms it. Forty- 



five years afterwards the tomb again underwent a repair, by 

 the care of the prefent fir Thomas Gery Cullum and others, 

 who fubjoined a third inicriptioH, as follows : 



of the ftudy of Nature, that within a year or two of his 

 death, he began to colleft his fcattcnd notes for a work on 

 Infedts, and aftually drew up a Methodus Infitlorum, which 

 was printed, foon after his deceafe, in a little odlavo of 

 fixteen pages, and republiflied in the front of his Hiflorm 

 Infetlorum. This laft book, comprifing all his own and 

 Mr. Willughby's deTcnptions of infeas, came from the 

 preftin 17 10, at the expence of the Royal Society, and 

 under the fupermtendance of Dr. Derham. It confills of 

 375 quarto pages, befides an appendix of twenty-three 

 more, on Biitilh Beetles, by Litter. Ray attributes to 

 Willughby that part of his fyftem which concerns infefts 

 fuppofcd to undergo no mctamorphufis. Thefe are moftly 

 the aptera of Linnius, excluding the trujlacea, but admitting 

 intcftinal •vermes, earth-worms, and even leeches. All the 

 defcnptions and remarks of his departed friend are marked 

 with the initials F.W. This work is a mafs of accurate 

 and authentic obfervation ; but, for want of plates, has 

 never come into popular ufe. Linnreus ftudied it much, and 

 has often cited the defcriptions, the appropriation of whicli 

 is, however, too difficult and uncertain to vender them of 

 general or extenfive fervice. Thofe wliich regard the Le- 

 puloplera, and their caterpillars, are moft copious. 



The ftudy of infefts was probably the laft that engaged 

 the attention of this great and wife man ; who, though on 

 the verge of eternity, in the full poflcflion of himielt, and 

 in the anticipation of the moft glorious manifeftations of his 

 Creator, did not difdain or negleft to contemplate him in 

 Lis leaft and loweft woi-ks. Such an example might fcrve 

 for an occafional anfvvcr to thofe who afteft to think the 

 ftudy of any of the works of God below the dignity of confiderable. His pecuniary circumftances were very hmited. 



Tumulum hunc, 



a nonnuUis humanitati, et fcientix 



naturali, favcntibus, 



olim conditum, 



et aliortim bona diligentia 



poftca reftauratum, 1737, 



nunc e vetuftatis fitu et fordibus 



pauci de novo revocarunt, r792. 



A more lafting monument was dedicated to the memory of 

 our great Enghfh naturalift, in the genus of plants which 

 bears hisname. (See Raiania. ) The opinion we have there, 

 111 few words expreded, of his liigli rank in botanical fcience, 

 it is hoped the prefent more difluie account will juftify. 

 It muft be lamented that he made, as far as we can learn, 

 no colledfion of dried plants, which might ferve to afcertain, 

 in every cale, what he dcfcribed. The great Herbariums 

 of Buddie, Uvedale, &c. ftill kept in the Britifti Mufeum, 

 are indeed fuppofed to fupply, in a great meafure, this de- 

 feft ; they having been collected by perfons who had fre- 

 quent communication with Ray, and were well acquainted 

 with his plants. Whatever he had preferved relative to any 

 branch of natural hillory, he gave, a week before his death, 

 to his neighbour Mr. Samuel Dale, author of the Pharma- 

 cologia. Nothing is faid of his library, which was probably in- 



their philofophy ; for the moft inordinate vanity muft look 

 with refpeft oii what formed the abftrufe ftudie; of fo dif- 

 tinguilbed a perfon as Ray. His laft letter to Dr. Derham, 

 who had juft been to vifit him, is dated Augutt 16, 1704. 

 He fpeaks of having lately obtained Mr. Willughby's ento- 

 mological papers, and defciibes himfelf as then entering on 

 his Hiftory of Infefts. How well he employed his time 

 during the autumn, is evident from what we have related 

 concerning this work, for he never faw another fpring. He 

 died at Black Notley, in a houfe of his own building, 

 Jan. 17, 1705, in the 77th year of his age. His charafter 

 is thus concifely given by Derham. " In his dealings, no 

 man more ftriftly juit ; in his converfation, no man more 

 humble, courteous, and aff^able ; towards God, no man 

 more devout ; and towards the poor and diftrefled, no man 

 more companionate and charitable, according to his abilities." 

 The friend who wrote this eulogium, in his " Life of Mr. 

 Ray," afi'erts, that he was buried, according to his- own 



for he merely conformed as a layman to the church of Eng- 

 land, and was unwilhng to fubfcribe what was requifite for 

 receiving preferment. He is recorded neverthelefs to have 

 difapproved of feparatifts from the national chureh ; juftly 

 difgufted, probably, by the contentions and fanaticifm he had 

 feen throughout the greater part of his life. His principles 

 and feelings foared far above the faftidious diitinftions, 

 which marked the orthodox or the heterodox of thofe times, 

 and his mind was uncontamiuated with their paffions. His 

 good fenfe might well lead him to regret, that thofe who 

 had fo lately efcaped a moft tremendous common enemy, 

 fttould be fo prone to quarrel amongft themfelves. It is 

 an honour to both thefe parties that they have been emulous 

 to claim him as their ally. 



In the preceding review of the literary produftions of 

 Ray, more numerous, as Hallerfays, than thofe of any other 

 botanilt, Linnaeus excepted, we have been obliged to pafs 

 over feveral things of lefs note ; fuch as his lifts of native 



defiie, m the church of Black Notley; but the authcns of Brit ifh plants, for Gibfon's edition of Camden's 5r/Vann(a ; 



the Biographia Britannica are probably more correft, in 

 faying, that he declined the offer made him by the reftor, of 

 a place of interment in the chancel, choofing rather to re- 

 pofe with his anceftors, in the church-yard. He perhaps 

 thought, with bifliop Hall, that " the houfe of God ought 

 not to be made a repofitory for dead carcafes." However 

 this might be, the latter account is confirmed by the original 

 fituatioR of his monviment, erefted at the expence, in part at 

 leaft, of bifliop Compton. The long and elegant Latin 

 epitaph has often been publifhed. Its author was the Rev. 



and even a variety of communications to the Royal Society. 

 Neither have we touched on the principles of his botanical 

 fyftem, that fubjedl being explained at length by our prede- 

 ceffbr, the late Rev. Mr. Wood, under the article Classifi- 

 cation. Thofe who are anxious to perufe a more full and 

 critical inveftigation of his works and ftudies, than it has been 

 pofTible to give in this place, will do well to confult Dr. 

 Pulteney's " Sketches of the Progrefs of Botany in Eng- 

 land." The " Philofophical Letters," collected and publiftied 

 in 1718, by Dr. Derham, containing 68 written by Ray, and 

 7 raanv 



