194 CHAPTER 15. 
works of God, he laid, at this time, in 
his college ledures, the foundation of his 
Wifdom of God in the Creation," and 
of his ^' Three Phyfico-theological Dif- 
courfes ^" v/hich were afterwards fo well 
received by the public. 
At the period when Mr. Ray turned his 
attention to the ftudy of nature, the know- 
ledge of plants was not highly fuperior to 
the ftate in which Turner had found it, 
in the fame place, more than a century be- 
fore. In this ftudy Ray could find no 
mafter. I am not able to fay, that a fingle 
publication, of a fcientific nature, on the 
fubjeft of plants, had ever appeared at Cam^ 
-bridge I for Maplefs Green Foreft " will 
fcarcely be thought worthy of that appella- 
tion. Oxford had, indeed, not only experi- 
enced the benefit of private encouragement, 
but of public munificence, in the eftablifh- 
ment of a Garden, But at the fifter uni- 
verfity Mr. Ray flood alone, himfelf indeed 
an hofi- ! Self-taught as he was, and full 
of ardour, he fo forcibly difplayed the uti- 
lity of botanical knowledge, and its inti- 
mate connedtion with the arts, and conve-. 
niences. 
