Volume 1

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

  • John Ray
Date:
1928
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

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

    48/374 (page 20)
    Extracts from seventeen letters from Ray to' Courthope are given below. The first was written when he was Junior Dean of Trinity College. 1. Danny Papers. Mr. Wray* to Mr. Courthope. January 3rd, 1658. Sir,—I have little good news to acquaint you withr which made me the slower in returning you an answer.. Our friend Mr. Nidf is so farre from losing his ague, that he is brought exceedingly low, and is very much weakened by it; indeed, so ill is he at present, that if there be not some speedy amends in him, I shall not be very sure of his life. He is now come to physick and a nurse. If you stay long in the country, possibly, though I hope otherwise, you may never see him in this world any more. Having mentioned to his friend that he was thinking of taking a college living—Cheadle, in Staffordshire, worth £100 a year— he continues :— My present condition is such that I must of necessity enter into orders, or else live at great uncertainties, and expose myself to the mercy of men for my livelyhood and continuance here. I am not resolved to enter into orders, if so be I stay here, but rather the contrary, it consisting not with those designes which I intend to pursue. Now, if I shall bid farewell to my beloved and pleasant studies and employments, and give myself up to the priesthood, and take to the study of that which they call divinity, I thinke it were the best way to throw myself into the country, and make such provision for this world as other men doe, and make it my business to execute the priest's office. I have sent * So he spelt his name in the earlier part of his life ; he dropped the first letter afterwards, having ascertained that such had been the practice of his family before him. (Derham.) f John Nid was a very dear friend of Ray’s, and the latter preached his funeral sermon at Trinity College. Nid died of this illness.