50 



MEMOEIi^LS OF RAY 



in several of his letters to his friends, wherein he expresses 

 himself in very strong terms on this subject. 



These contests with Rivinus and Tonrnefort occa- 

 sioned Mr. Ray to review and amend his own method ; 

 and accordingly he drew it up in a more complete form 

 than he had done in his old ' Methodus Plantarum/ 

 which was published in 1682, or than he had made use 

 of in his ' Historia Plantarum.' 



This new reformed method he finished in the year 

 1698, notwithstanding, at the same time, he was griev- 

 ously vexed with a continual diarrhoea, and very painful 

 ulcers in his legs, which ate deep into the flesh, and kept 

 him waking whole nights ; by which means he was so 

 disabled from going to London, or anywhere among the 

 physic- gardens (which was absolutely necessary to the 

 perfecting his ' Methodus Nova') that he tells Dr. Tan- 

 cred Robinson, in a letter of September the 30th, 1698, 

 " he could not so much as walk into the neighbouring 

 fields," &c. 



This book, although finished in 1698, could not be 

 printed without difficulty in four or five years after ; for 

 the London booksellers were unwilling to undertake it, 

 so that Mr. Ray was forced to consult his learned friend 

 Dr. Hotton, the botanic professor of Leyden, about it ; 

 who, with all readiness, undertook to have it printed in 

 Holland, and was so earnest to get the copy over, that I 

 find many importunate letters from him to Mr. Ray about 

 it ; and at last, having received the copy, he got the 

 Waasbergs of Amsterdam to undertake it, who printed 

 1100 copies at Leyden (where Dr. Hotton lived,) that he 

 might supervise the press. 



The printers finished their task in 1708 ; and the 

 Waasbergs (thinking it for their interest) had it said in 

 the title-page, that it was printed at London, for Smith 

 and Walford, who used to print Mr. Ray's things, and 

 desired Mr. Ray's leave to say so ; but he refused his 

 consent, it being a manifest falsehood. However, they 

 did it without his leave, pleading it to be their right, and 



