30 



MEMORIALS OF RAY : 



gathered up in his travels through the counties of England. 

 And the reason why he published them was, not barely 

 because it was a new subject that might amuse the 

 curious, but also be of good use to strangers that should 

 have occasion to visit those parts, or have dealings there. 

 And to make this book the more acceptable to the buyers 

 as well as a little more bulky, he added to the first edition, 

 a ' Catalogue of Enghsh Birds and Eishes, and the Way 

 of Smelting and Refining such Metals and Minerals as 

 England doth produce :' but the birds and fishes were 

 left out in the second edition of this book, in the year 

 1691 ; by reason the catalogue was imperfect, and 

 because Mr. Ray had not only published a better account 

 of those animals, but also intended to draw up a method- 

 ical synopsis of all the English animals, together with the 

 fossils : unto which useful undertaking he was solicited 

 by some of his learned friends, particularly by Dr. 

 Tancred Robinson. 



In the year 1674 following, Mr. Oldenburg,* the 



* Oldenburg, Henry, was born about the year 1626, in the duchy of 

 Bremen. In 1653, or before, he came to London in the capacity of consul 

 from the town of Bremen, but he does not appear to have held that office 

 more than two years. In 1656 he became tutor to Lord Henry O'Bryan, a 

 young Irish nobleman, whom he accompanied to the University of Oxford, 

 and at the same time entered himself as a student, chiefly, it is supposed, in 

 order to obtain access to the Bodleian Hbrary. He was afterwards tutor to 

 Lord WnHam Cavendish. While resident at Oxford, he became acquainted 

 with several of the more eminent hterary and scientific men of the time, 

 among whom were Dr. WaUis, Ward, and the other originators of the present 

 Hoyal Society. His acquamtance with Milton commenced somewhat earher, 

 as appears by Milton's letters to Oldenburg between the years 1654 and 1659, 

 published in his ' Epistolse Pamiliares.' In 1662 the Royal Society having 

 obtained a charter of incorporation. Dr. Wnkins and Mr. Oldenburg were 

 appointed secretaries to the Society. According to most biographers, the 

 nominal appointment of Oldenburg was that of assistant secretary to Dr. 

 wnkins ; but in the list of members who attended the first council held by 

 the Society after its incorporation, (Thomson's ' History of the Koyal So- 

 ciety,') we observe only one secretary specified, namely Oldenburg ; and it is 

 certain that those duties which demanded the greatest zeal and assiduity de- 

 volved exclusively upon him. In the ' General Dictionary,' (London, 1739, 

 foHo, art. Oldenburg,) there will be found several of his letters to Mr. Robert 

 Boyle, who was one of his regular correspondents, and with whom he was 

 always on the most friendly terms. The following extract from one of those 

 letters, dated 17th December, 1667, shows that up to that time he had re- 

 ceived no salary from the Society, and that his only emoluments were de- 



