278 e H A P T E R 20. 
cpntcmporaries, and have juftly tranfmitted' 
his name to pofterity, among thofe who 
have done honour to their age and country. 
Even learned foreigners have been eloquent 
in his praife. French vi^riters have ftikd 
hini the Englijh Tournefort an 
eulogy that fufficiently evinced the high, 
opinion they had of his merit. And the 
late eminent Haller not only attributes 
to Ray the merit of iniproving and eleva« 
ting botanical knowledge, but from his life 
dates a new aera in the records of the fci-» 
cnce. 
But Mr. Ray's enquiries v^^ere not limit-, 
cd to natural knowledge. His Foreign Tra- 
vels and his Itineraries prove, that antiqui- 
ties, polity, government, and legiflation, at-, 
traded a fhare of his regard ^ as his philo- 
logical books are evidences of his attention 
to language, and of his defire to irnprove 
and illuftrate his native tongue. 
To all thefe endowments he joined an 
unremitting induftry and perfeverance in the 
profecution of his ftudies y and, what marks 
a fortitude of mind as uncommon as it is 
enviable, his affiduity feemed to ftrengthen 
with 
