Volume 1

Further correspondence of John Ray / edited by Robert W.T. Gunther.

  • Ray, John, 1627-1705.
Date:
1928
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Further correspondence of John Ray / edited by Robert W.T. Gunther. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    tlie 24th of August 1662 he quitted his Fellowship aforesaid, because he could not, in the Oath of Abjura- ton, swear that he did believe it was [not] binding to others. In his life he was Charitable to the Poor, according to his ability; sober, frugal, studious and religious, alloting the greatest part of his Time to the Service of God and his Studies. As to his Religion he was a Member of the Church of England, being ordained both Deacon and Presbyter by Robert, then Lord Bishop of Lincoln, in his Chappel at Barbican near London, on the 23d. of December 1660, and in this Communion he did continue unto his dying day. As his Death came not to him unexpected, so it found him not unprepar’d, he being found in all the duties of a good Christian, but relying upon the Merits of his Saviour Jesus Christ in his Hope of Glory. As to his Worldly Estate he settled all upon his Wife and Daughters, except a small Legacy to the Poor of his own Parish and 5li. to Trinity College to buy Books for the Library. All his Collections of Natural Curiosities he bestowed upon his friend and neighbour, Mr. Dale, to whom he caused them to be deliver’d about a week before his Death. And as this learned man never affected pomp in his lifetime, so at his death he desired to be privately buried, ordering his corps to be nailed up that none might see him, and altho’ the Reverend Rector of the Parish offer’d him on his death bed a place of interment in the chancel of his church, yet he modestly refused it, choosing rather to be buried in the church yard with his ancestors. During Ray’s abode at Falbourn Hall, his mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Ray, died at Black Notley. Ray thus recorded her death :—