MEMOIR OF RAY. 
27 
short, but he visited the principal public buildings, 
and gives a brief account of them. From Edin- 
burgh he proceeded to Stirling and Glasgow ; from 
thence to Hamilton and Douglas, the latter of whicli 
he calls a pitiful, poor, small place, with scarce a 
house in it that will keep a man dry in a shower of 
rain ; and re-entered England by way of Dumfries 
and Carlisle. 
Ray does not appear to have derived much satis- 
faction from his northern tour. He was disappoint- 
ed in one of his principal objects, as he failed in dis- 
covering any new plants.* His remarks on Scotland 
are frequently made in a spirit of acrimony, which 
was foreign to the natural placability of his temper. 
It is probable that he was subjected to much incon- 
venience on the road, as the country was in a very 
disturbed state, and the accommodation for travellers 
of the most indifferent description. Neither were 
some of his observations on the social condition of 
the inhabitants of a kind calculated to awaken re- 
* We know not on what authority it is asserted ( Brews- 
ter's Edin. Encyc.) that Ray discovered many new plants 
in Scotland, since he expressly affirms in a letter to Mr 
Willisel that he found none. The southern division of the 
country bears so much resemblance to England in all the 
circumstances that seem to influence the distribution of 
plants, that scarcely any appreciable dissimilarity is to be 
expected. The primitive and alpine districts of the north 
present of course a very distinct vegetation, but these do 
not appear to have ever been visited by Ray* 
