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vations. He prompted the Empress Catherine to offer 

 an unlimited sum for the museum, library, and manu- 

 scripts of Linnaeus ; but, fortunately for their present 

 possessor, the offer was made too late. A Flora Rossica, 

 on the most magnificent scale, was undertaken by Pallas, 

 his Imperial mistress proposing to defray the cost of the 

 whole undertaking, not merely for sale, but for gratui- 

 tous presentation, on the most princely scale, to all who 

 had any taste or ability to make use of the book. This 

 well-intended munificence was the cause of the ruin of 

 the project. Half of a first volume was bestowed as the 

 Empress intended. But the second part, instead of fol- 

 lowing the destination of the first, got into the hands of 

 interested people, who defeated the liberal designs of 

 their sovereign, misapplied her money, and by the dis- 

 gust and disappointment which ensued, prevented the 

 continuance of the work. Those who wished to com- 

 plete their sets, or to obtain the book at all, were obliged 

 to become clandestine purchasers, buying, as a favour, 

 what they ought to have received as a free gift ; and 

 were moreover, like the writer of this, often obliged to 

 put up with imperfect copies. In like manner, the in- 

 tentions of the great Mr. Howard, respecting his book 

 on Prisons, were rendered ineffectual, by the disgrace- 

 ful avarice of certain London booksellers, who immedi- 

 ately bought up, and sold at a greatly advanced price, 

 the whole edition, which its benevolent author had de- 

 stined to be accessible to every body at an unusually 

 cheap rate. These examples, amongst others, show that 

 it is the most difficult thing in the world to employ pa- 

 tronage, as well as gratuitous charity of any kind, to real 

 advantage, except under the guidance of the most rigo- 

 rous discretion. " All that men of power can do for 

 men of genius," says Gray, if we recollect aright, "is to 

 leave them at liberty, or they become like birds in a cage," 

 whose song is no longer that of nature and enjoyment. 

 The great and the affluent may foster and encourage 



