The story concerning the drawing out the nail driven crosse the wood-
pecker's hole is without doubt a fable.

Asseveres and vesicates are unusuall words, and I know not whether the
wits will allow them.
___________________________________

[The name of John Ray holds a pre-eminent place amongst the
naturalists of Great Britain. He was the first in this country who
attempted a classification of the vegetable kingdom, and his system
possessed many important and valuable characteristics. Ray was the son
of a blacksmith at Black Notley, near Braintree, in Essex, where he
was born, in 1627. The letter here printed sufficiently indicates his
natural shrewdness and intelligence. One of his works here referred to
is entitled "Three Physico-Theological Discourses concerning Chaos,
the Deluge, and the Dissolution of the World," 1692. There is a well-
written memoir of Ray in the "Penny CyclopEedia," Aubrey's portrait,
by the celebrated miniature-painter Samuel Cooper, alluded to above,
is not now extant; but another portrait of him by Faithorne is
preserved in the Ashmolean Museum, and has been several times
engraved. A print from the latter drawing accompanied the "Memoirs of
Aubrey," published by the Wiltshire Topographical Society. Cooper died
in 1672, and was buried in the old church of St. Pancras, London. Ray
visited Italy between the years 1663 and 1666. J. B.]


INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.
CHOROGRAPHIA.