Dr. Robinfbn to Mr. Ray. 15^ 



not a little proud of the Chara6ter you give him in 

 your Method. Plantar, nov. which Book' I had pre- 

 sented him withal a Day before. He honour'd me 

 with two Vifits at my Inn, where once he took Oc- 

 cafion to be a little angry with Dr. Lifter (whofe Hi- 

 ftory he had by him) for his Opinion of the Origine 

 of Stones, and Shells, refembling animal Bodies. He 

 is very pofitive that he can demonftrate againft: the 

 Do&or, having been very induftrious upon that Sub- 

 je6t when he pafs'd the Italian Mountains, and wheii 

 he was in Sicily and Maltha $ befides, he fhew'd me fe- 

 veral Letters fent lately from BHTiop Stenoj (who after 

 a Pilgrimage to Loretto^ got that Preferment of the 

 great Duke) now at Florence, concerning that Hypo- 

 thecs : All which put him into fome Paflion againft 

 our fagacious Country-man, tho' he profefs'd himfelf 

 a great Admirer of Dr. Lifter. I took Occafion from 

 this to interpret fome Paflages- and Difcourfes in your 

 Travels relating to this Point, which pleas'd Mai- 

 pighi to that Degree, that he fmil'd to fee you in- 

 clinable to his Opinion. Juft as I left Bonotiia I had 

 a lamentable Spectacle of Malpighfs Houfe all in 

 Flames, occafion'd by the Negligence of his old 

 Wife : All his Pi£tures, Furniture, Books, and Ma- 

 nufcripts, were burnt. I faw him in the very Heat 

 of the Calamity, and methoughts I never beheld fo 

 much Chriftian Patience and Philofophy in any Man 

 before j for he comforted his Wife, and condol'd 

 nothing but the Lois of his Papers, which are more 

 lamented than the Alexandrian Library y or Bart ho- 

 line's Biblioihece^X, Copenhagen, 



In my Journey from Rome to Naples I obferv'd that 

 • Plant, commonly call'd, in the Phyfick Garden, Fj» 

 cus Indica y growing very plentifully on the Hill Side 

 near the Ttre 7?aberne y as alfo near the Ruins of Old 

 Anxur % and. in feveral other Places near the Via Ap- 

 pia. So that it appear'd to me like a common wild 

 Plant in that Countrey. Afterwards I rode through 



X 2 great 



