Derham’s Life of Ray
Extracts from Pettiver’s transcript of the first draft of Derham’s Life of Ray.
Printed in Further Correspondence of John Ray, 1928, edited by Robert W T Gunther, Vice-President of the Linnean Society.
“He was born at a village in Essex call’d Black Notley on November 29, 1628.”
“daughters, 3 of which survived him, and only one of which is since married.”
“He was both Deacon and Priest of the C of E, ordain’d about 1660, by the learned Bishop Sanderson, altho for some few (and if it was not too presumptuous one would say trivial) reasons, he could not comply with ye Bartholomey Act, and consequently [could] not execute his Function, yet he was a strict as well as pious and exemplary Conformist to ye establish’d Church as the constant tenor of his life, as well as Noble Declaration [confession of faith] to ye rector of his parish shewed.”
“an excellent Orator in ye University, and a good Preacher, and a good Crittick in Greek and Lattin, skill’d in Hebrew not to name ye modern languages French and italian, which he understood, and [just] as he was well skill’d in most parts of Learning, so was he ready to communicate it, and as humble in his opinion of himself and it.”
“a singular vivacity in his style, whether he wrote in English, or Latine, which was equally easy to him, all which he retained even to his Dying day; of which I have seen good evidences now by me in some of his letters, writtem manifestly with a dying hand.”