DEDICATION. 



5 



ingenious correspondents ; where he observes, that not- 

 withstanding he had made a considerable progress in his 

 Life, yet he was afraid he should scarce be able to ac- 

 complish what he intended, as he had much less leisure 

 at that time than when he undertook that work. 



The three letters from Mr. Ray to Dr. Derham are 

 not, my Lord, in the collection just mentioned ; I have 

 therefore given them a place among the remains, which I 

 hope is done with the more propriety, as they have some 

 reference to Mr. Ray's life.* 



The Itineraries, my Lord, are in Mr. Ray's ovm hand- 

 writing; and as no one was ever more accmate in his 

 observations than he was, I thought it would not be 

 right to keep them any longer from the public, especially 

 as I have letters by me from some eminent persons to 

 Dr. Derham, earnestly pressing the publication of them. 

 Permit me now, my Lord, to offer them, with the other 

 remains of Mr. Ray, to the public, under your Lordship's 

 protection, and to subscribe myself, my Lord, 



Your Lordship's most obedient, humble servant, 



George Scott. f 



* Ray's letters are arranged chronologically in this work. Those alluded to 

 in the text are dated May 8th, 1702 ; March 31st, 1703 ; August 16th, 1704. 



f Of George Scott I can find no satisfactory information. He appears to 

 have been a friend of Dr. Derham's ; and the notes which are signed G. S., 

 and which are found in the original edition of Ray's Life by Derham, are 

 undoubtedly his. In Watt's ' BibHotheca Britaimica' there is a George Lems 

 Scott, p.n. A.S.S., mentioned as a gentleman of considerable talents and ge- 

 neral learning. He was born at Hanover, of Scottish parents, and died 

 in 1780. 



