( 222 ) 
CHAP. l8. 
Account of Mr. Ray continued — Meditates the 
writing of his General Hiftoiy of Plants — 
Methodus PlantaruiTij as introductory to that 
work — ^wo firfl volumes of the Hiflory^ in 
which an defcrihed near /even thoufand 'plants 
— -Fafciculus Stirpiuna — Firfi edition of the 
Synopfis Stirpium Britannicaruni. 
R A Y, 
R. Ray being fettled at Black Nof^ 
ley, and delivered from that anxiety 
which had attended him fince Mr. Wil« 
lughby's death, refumed with great vigour 
his wonted ftudy of plants ; and, having al- 
ready acquired a reputation that juflified any 
expectation his friends might have formed, 
he, in compliance with their wiflies, at- 
tached himfelf ferioufly to write A Gene- 
" ral Hiftory of Plants." 
Preparatory to this great work, which he 
intended to arrange fyftematically, he put 
forth, in 1682, his Methodus Plan- 
TARUM," enlarged, and improved, from the 
fynoptical 
