54 
MEMOIR OF 
given at the commencement of this volume,* and 
his character, as thus delineated by his faithful 
and impartial friend, who was almost daily in his 
company during nearly half his life. 
By the aid of merely that natural skill in phy- 
siognomy which most persons believe themselves 
to acquire in their intercourse with the world, it 
seems easy to read in his countenance that per- 
fect subjugation of the animal propensities and 
omnipotent supremacy of intellect — that unearthly 
purity, modified by deep resources ofbenevolence — 
that accurate contemplativeness — which allied him 
to the sublimest occupations and purposes. It is 
our beau ideal of a naturalist’s countenance. 
In the year 1653, and the eighteenth year of 
Mr Willughby’s life, we find him a fellow com- 
moner at Trinity College, Cambridge. During his 
residence in the University, he formed an acquain- 
tance with several persons, afterwards dis- 
tinguished by their learning and talent, among 
whom were Mr, afterwards Dr, Isaac Barrow, 
the celebrated divine and mathematician ; but 
the chief and most remarkable of his friends was 
Mr Ray, or Wray, as that eminent writer spelt 
his name at this period, and who, having been 
born in the year 1628, was seven years older 
than Mr Willughby; and having been chosen 
minor-fellow of Trinity in the year 1649, must 
have been a fellow of between three and four years 
* It is derived from an original painting, now at 
Wollaton. 
