Journal of Proceedings. clxi
life and structure, he toiled on, issuing work after work, the Synopsis
of British Plants, in 1690 ; the ' Wisdom of God manifested in the
Works of the Creation,' in 1691 ; his ' Physico-Theological Discourses,' in
1692 ; the Synopsis of Quadrupeds and Serpents, and the two volumes of
travels, one translated from Rauwolff, with a catalogue of the plants of
the Levant, in 1698 ; the ' Stirpium Europeanarum Sylloge,' in 1694 ;
the catalogues of plants in each county in Gibson's Camden in 1696 ;
the second edition of the Synopsis of British Plants, with his correspon-
dence with Rivinus, and a Dissertation on the Classification of Plants,
in 1696; two papers in the ' Philosophical Transactions,' in 1697; 'A
Persuasive to a Holy Life,' in 1700 ; the second edition of the ' Methodus
Plantarum,' in 1703 ; and the third and concluding volume of the
' Historia,' over 1,000 folio pages, the last work published in his lifetime,
in 1704.
In his letters he speaks of his garden as ill-situated and having a cold
soil, of his house as exposed to north and north-east wind, and of himself
as "one who is subject to colds and whose lungs are apt to be affected."
In 1693 he complains of sleeplessness and pain, and in March, 1696, he
writes " My glass runs low " ; and in another letter, that he was " unable
to continue long from the fire to write much." On August 15th, 1696,
he writes : " My little family are, I thank God, at present all in health ; "
but not many months later he speaks of Mary, one of the twins, who was
possibly consumptive, as having a jaundice and soon after (in 1697) she
died. In KIDS he writes of his wife and the other twin daughter as
being very ill but recovering.
After the third volume of ' Historia Plantarum ' was out of his
hands, before May, 1704, that is, Ray's own health seems to have become
much worse, and his efforts to work up his own and Willughby's
materials for a History of Insects were hampered by constant and
severe pain. His letters to Sloane and Petiver describe the progress
of his work, and his proposals for its publication, with explanations that
he can only work about two hours a day, that " cold weather is very
grievous to him," and that he doubts whether he " shall over-live this
winter."
Then comes the touching farewell letter to Sloane dated January
7th, 1704 (1705, N.S.), printed in Derham and Lankester's collections,
in which, his strength failing him, he was forced to break off abruptly ;
then the visit of the Rev. Mr. Pyke, Rector of Black Notley, to the
dying man and the calm confession of faith, which is printed by Dr.
Derham, but omitted by Dr. Lankester ; and then the end. Ray died at
Dewlands on Wednesday, January 17th, 1704-5, at "about ten in the
forenoon." His friend and pupil, Samuel Dale, writes on the 10th to
Petiver :—"Last night I visited our worthy friend, Mr. Ray, and found
him so bad as not like to continue many days." Under date the 17th,
he writes : "Yesterday I was againe to visit our worthy good friend
Mr. Ray, whome I found alive and yt. was all, his sences being fleeting
and not well to be understood what he said " : and two days later he
writes ; " The post by which I sent my letter of the 17th had not been
out of town above a quarter of an hour, before the dolefull but expected
tidings of the death of our good friend was brought me."
Derham, whose life of Ray was largely based on information fur-
nished him by the widow and by Dale, says : " All his collections of
natural curiosities he bestowed on his friend and neighbour, Mr. Samuel
Dale, author of the ' Pharmacologia,' to whom they were delivered about
a week before his death."
On January 24th, Dale wrote to Sloane with reference to the income,
less than £40 a year, left to Mrs. Ray and her three daughters, mention-
ing the amount already written of the ' History of Insects '; and he
l