184 
The Life and Work of John Ray, and 
Stirpium Britannicarum,’ which, after the ‘Historia’ and the 
‘ Methodus,’ forms the third laurel in his botanical crown, 
being, as it was, the first systematic English Flora, and not 
only remaining for man} 7 years the pocket-companion of every 
British botanist, hut acting also as the model for many similar 
works. It is worth notice that in the Preface to this work 
Bay, who never said what he did not earnestly believe, thanks 
God and congratulates his country on the establishment of 
religion, law, and liberty by the Bevolution of 1688. 
In the following year, 1691, Bay issued, in an elaborated 
form, one of his earliest productions, ‘ The Wisdom of God 
manifested in the Works of the Creation,’ which, as I have 
said, is considered by competent judges to entitle him to rank 
as a theologian with Paley and Butler. It was remarkably 
successful, having to be reprinted in the following year, 
and reaching eleven editions in about fifty years. In it he 
urges the study of Nature to be a pious duty, and one suited 
to a Sabbath day, and suggests the probability that it may 
he one of the main occupations of the endless Sabbath here¬ 
after. He followed this work, in 1692, by his ‘ Three 
Physico-theological Discourses concerning the Primitive 
Chaos and Creation, the Deluge and the Dissolution of the 
World,’ dedicated to Archbishop Tillotson, the curate, son- 
in-law and literary executor of his friend Dr. Wilkins. This 
work contains much interesting geological speculation, based 
upon a large number of carefully observed facts, and was also 
very successful, reaching a second edition in the following 
year, and a third in 1718. 
In spite of increasing age and infirmity, at the urgent 
suggestion of his friends, and particularly of Dr. (afterwards 
Sir) Tancred Bobinson, that he should undertake a Fauna 
Anglica and a History of Fossils, he did, at the age of 66, 
undertake a Synopsis of Quadrupeds and Serpents, which 
appeared in June, 1698, having been apparently completed in 
a year, and of which Dr. Pulteney says, “ In this volume we 
see the first truly systematic arrangement of animals since 
the days of Aristotle.” His classification is based upon the 
digits and the teeth, distinguishing the Solidungula, Bumi- 
