14 



MEMORIALS 0¥ RAY 



and some other gentlemen) through Huntingdonshire, 

 Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire, Yorkshire, the bishoprick 

 of Durham, Northumberland, and so into Scotland, as far 

 as Glasgow and Stirling, and thence back again through 

 Cumberland and Westmoreland. They set out on July 

 26th, 1661, from Cambridge, and finished their journey 

 the 30th of August. 



The year after this, Mr, Ray (and Mr. Willughby with 

 him) took another journey from Cambridge. They set 

 out on May 8th, 1662, and passed through Northamp- 



progress in the study of botany, and had already begun to reduce to harmony 

 the confused facts which had been heaped together in that department of 

 science; and this seems to have inspired Willughby to do the same for 

 zoology. The Pandects of Gessner and Aldrovandus had been published, 

 but the question that occurred to liis mind was, How much of all this is 

 true, and how much is false ? To answer this question for the science of 

 zoology as it then existed, he set to work. For this purpose he went to 

 Oxford in 1660, in order that he might consult the works on natural history 

 in the libraries there. Shortly after the return of Willughby from Oxford, Ray 

 refused to subscribe to the Bartholomew Act, and was obliged to resign liis 

 fellowship and leave Cambridge. The consequence was that the two friends 

 made a tour on the Continent, visiting France, Spain, Italy, Germany, and 

 the Low Countries, with the object of gaining aU possible information on 

 natural history: Ray examined plants, wliilst Willughby attended to the 

 animals. They returned laden with treasures, which Willughby immediately 

 commenced working at, for the purpose of publishing a large work on the 

 animal kingdom. Before doing this, he contemplated a voyage to America, 

 in order to add to his knowledge. But he died, in the midst of all his labours 

 and in the prime of life, on the 3d of July, 1672. He had published little, 

 and thought his labours too imperfect to justify their publication. Ray 

 however urged upon him, as he says in one of his works, for three reasons, 

 that he should allow him to pubKsh his works : first, the glory of God ; se- 

 condly, the assistance of others in the same studies ; and thirdly, the honour 

 of their native land. Upon these grounds he permitted his works to be 

 published, and Ray became their editor. He also left Ray one of his exe- 

 cutors, and committed to him the charge of educating his two sons, Francis 

 and Thomas. Francis, the elder, who was then only four years old, died 

 young ; and Thomas subsequently became Lord Middleton. For this office, 

 which Ray sacredly fulfilled, WiUughby left him 60/. a year, which con- 

 stituted the chief part of this great man's income throughout liis hfe. 



The first work edited by Ray after Willughby' s death was his Ornithology, 

 with the title ' Ornithologise Libri Tres : in quibus Aves omnes hactenus 

 cognitge, in methodum naturis suis convenientem, redactse, accurate descri- 

 buntur. Descriptiones iconibus elegantissimis et vivarum avium sunillimis 

 seri incisis iUustrantur. Totum opus recognovit, digessit, supplevit Johamiis 

 Raius,' London, 1676, folio. This work was translated into English by Ray, 

 and the plates republished in 1678. It contains a vast amomit of original 

 observation, and gives a very fuU and exact account of the habits of the 

 birds described, as well as' of tlieii' diseases, and the mode of keeping 



