Journal of Proceedings. clxiii
service to you: And we should be very glad to hear of your good health.
Which I sincerely wish you. And should be proud if you wou'd honour
me with a line, or two, from your most excellent hand. I am Mr.
Ray's youngest daughter, & am married to ye Rev'd. Mr. Joshua Blower
living in Bradwell; near Braintree in Essex, who also gives you his
humble service though unknown. I am, Sr. Hans,
" Bradwell, Your obliged humble
" May ye 16,1727. "Sert., Jane Blower."
"Worthy Sr.,—I Rec'd your obliging Letter, which was as acceptable
to me as if it had been ye Riches of the Indies : For I think such con-
descending goodness & inviolable friendship can never too much be valued.
I wish it had been my Fortune to have liv'd nearer you, that I might
have had ye benefit of your good advice ; which I should prefer above
all others and my spouse too, who gives you his most humble service &
thanks. And if at any time yu have any business that calls you
into ye country: we both shou'd be exceeding glad, of y6 honour to
see you, at Bradwell Parsonage which also I am afraid we must not
hope for.
. " I am, Sr. Hans, Your most obliged humble
"Servt., Jane Blower."
"Ray," says Derham's published life, " was buried (according to his
own desire) in the church of that parish " (Black Notley) ; but this is
certainly a mistake for churchyard (Sloane MSS., 3338). A monument
was erected at the expense of Henry Compton, Bishop of London (who
had visited Ray a year before his death) and others, with a long Latin
inscription by the Rev. William Coyte. This is printed by Derham and
by Lankester. It has been translated as follows :—
John Hay, Master of Arts,
Once Fellow of Trinity College in Cambridge.
Afterwards
A member of the Royal Society in London;
And to both of those learned bodies
An illustrious Ornament.
Hid in this narrow tomb, this marble span,
Lies all that death could snatch from this great man.
His body moulders in its native clay ;
While o'er wide worlds his Works their beams display
As bright and everlasting as the day.
To those just fame ascribes immortal breath,
And in his Writings he outlives his death.
Of every Science every part he knew,
Read in all Arts divine and human too :
Like Solomon (and Solomon alone
We as a greater King of knowledge own)
Our modern Sage dark Nature's Secrets read
From the tall Cedar to the hyssop's bed :
From the unwieldiest Beast of land or deep,
To the least Insect that has power to creep.
Nor did his artful labours only shew
Those Plants which on the earth's wide surface grew,
But piercing ev'n her darkest entrails through,
All that was wise, all that was great, he knew,
And Nature's inmost gloom made clear to common view.
From foreign stores his learning bright supplies,
Exposing treasures hid from cithers' eyes,
Loading his single mind to make his country wise.
But what's yet more, he was so Meekly great,
That envy unrepining saw his state;
For, rare accomplishments ! his humble mind
Possess' d a jewell, which it could not find.
A great descent lent nothing to his fame;
Virtue, not birth, distinguished his high name,
Titles and wealth he never strove to gain,