TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE 



THE EARL OF MACCLESFIELD, 



PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY,* 



My Lord, 



As Mr. Ray was both an eminent Philosopher and 

 a Fellow of the Royal Society, there is no one to whom 

 the following sheets conld, with so much propriety, be 

 addressed, as to your Lordship. I will not here, my 

 Lord, attempt an encomium on your Lordship's character, 

 for it would be thought presumption in me to endeavour 

 to do justice to those excellent qualities which so eminently 

 distinguish your Lordship. May you, my Lord, long live 

 an ornament to your country, and to that illustrious body 

 over which you so worthily preside. 



I will not, my Lord, make any apology for not giving 

 a more elaborate life of Mr. Ray ; I shall only beg leave 

 to assure your Lordship that it now appears as it was left 

 by Dr. Derham,f who even seemed to despair of ever 



* Macclesfield, Riglit Honorable George Parker, second Earl of, was pre- 

 sident of the Hoyal Society from 1750 to 1764, and contributed tlie following 

 paper to the 'Philosophical Transactions' for 1740: "Remarks on the Solar 

 and the Lunar Years, the cycle of nineteen years, commonly called the 

 Golden Number, the Epact, and the Method of finding the time of Easter, 

 as it is now observed in most parts of Eui'ope." He was a principal pro- 

 moter of the reformation of the Calendar, and made a speech on this subject 

 in the House of Lords, which was afterwards pubhshed. He died in 1766. 



f Derham, the Reverend WiUiam, D.D., was born at Stovi^on, near 

 Worcester, in November 1657, and received his early education at Blockley 

 in the same county. He was admitted of Trinity College, Oxford, in 1675. 

 Having completed his academic studies, he was ordained, and in 1685 was 



