Letter 0490

Posted on August 2, 2016 by -

John Ray to Hans Sloane – March 2, 1697/8


Item info

Date: March 2, 1697/8
Author: John Ray
Recipient: Hans Sloane

Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4037
Folio: ff. 35-36


Original Page


Transcription

[fol. 35] Sr I have this morning sent back by Carrier the Section I last received from You, & intreat you to send me the remainder of the Copy or as much as is ready for I intend to apply my self wholly to it, till I have finished it, being desirous to get the Work off of my hands. For upon this sad Accident & by reason of my growing infirmities I am well mortified as to naturall studies & enquiries, though I shall not so long as life & strength last wholly desert them, but make them some part of my parergon & diversion, as I should only have done before. I should be glad to hear of your health and welfare: my wife is full of grief having not yet been been able fully to concoct her passion, she tenders her humble service & thanks for all your favours, with whom joyns Sr Your affectionate friend & humble servant John Ray B.N. March 2. 1697.

John Ray informs Sloane that he has finished reading over and critiquing the latest section of Sloane’s work, and encourages Sloane to send the next part as quickly as possible, for Ray is not sure how long his health will hold out and he will be unable to continue his intellectual pursuits. He states that the recent passing of his daughter has made him more sensitive to his mortality.

Ray was a theologian and naturalist who collected and catalogued his botanical findings in the much lauded Historia plantarum (1686, 1688) (Scott Mandelbrote, Ray , John (16271705), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Oct 2005 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/23203, accessed 18 June 2013]).



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