46 
them an higher idea of the value of the 
collection; and they had unlimited 
offers from Russia. They, therefore, 
wanted to break off their negotiations 
with me; but the Professor would not 
consent to that, and insisted on their 
waiting for my refusal. For this ho- 
nourable conduct, he has unfortunate- 
ly incurred much censure; and all 
sorts of false reports have been raised 
against him: such as, that I had bribed 
him with a hundred pounds; which, 
however, was so far from being the 
ease, that he never had a present from 
me, except a few English books out of 
the Linnean library, worth about six 
or eight pounds ; which he desired to 
purchase of me, as he could not get 
them in Sweden, and which I prevail- 
ed on him with some difficulty to ac- 
cept. I thought this a very small and 
inadequate return for the trouble he 
had on my account; and it surely 
could not be considered as a bribe. 
At this time Baron Alstroemen 
claimed of the heirs of Linneus a 
debt, which the younger Linneus 
owed him, and for which they agreed 
to give him a small herbarium, made 
‘by the said Linneus during his father’s 
life ; containing only duplicates of the 
great collections, and not any of the 
plants he afterwards collected in his 
travels. On consideration of this, they 
agreed to abate one hundred of the 
purchase-money : to all this L consent- 
ed. I paid half the money down, and 
the rest in three months; and in Oc- 
tober 1784 received the collection, in 
twenty-six great boxes, perfectly safe. 
I paid eighty guineas to the captain 
for freight, which was too much by 
half: but I was careful to avoid all 
delay; for the ship had just sailed, 
when the King of Sweden returned, 
and, hearing the story, he sent a vessel 
after the ship, to bring it back: but, 
happily for me, it was too late. The 
English government, in consequence 
of the application of my friend Sir 
John Jervis, was very indulgent to me, 
in suffering the whole collection to 
pass the Custom-house without any 
examination or expense, except a 
slight duty on the books. 
As to what Dr, Pauhl has mentioned 
jn his “‘ Observationes Botanica,” about 
a Mr. Maukle, I have authority to say 
it is altogether false; and, if it had 
been true, it could not have prevented 
the collection coming away, unless 
the heirs had aeted dishonourably to- 
ward me, I donot wonder the Swedes 
Stephensiuna, No. XX. 
[Aug. 1, 
are angry at losing such a treasure: 
but they onght to stick to truth; and T 
can at any time justify Dr. Acrel and 
myself, by publishing our whole cor- 
respondence. J have endeavoured to 
do him some justice in my dedication 
of my “ Reliquic Riudbechiane.” 
The collection’ consists of every 
thing possessed’ by ‘the two Linnei, 
relating to natural history or medicine. 
The library may ‘contain about 2,500 _ 
volumes, or many more, if all the dis- 
sertations were’ reckoned separately. 
The herbarium of Linnéus contains all 
the plants described in Species Planta- 
rum, except ‘perhaps about five hun- 
dred species, (fungi and palme ex- 
cepted,) and it has, perhaps, more than 
five hundred undescribed. The her- 
barium of young Linneus is more 
splendid, and on better paper: it con- 
tains most of the plants of his Supple- 
mentum, except what are in his father’s 
herbarium; and has, besides, about 
1,500 very fine specimens from Com- 
merson’s collection, most of them 
new; besides vast collections from 
Dombey, Lamarck, Pourrett, Guan, 
Smeathman, Masson, and, above all, 
a prodigious quantity from Sir Joseph 
Banks, who gave him duplicates of 
almost every one of Aublet’s speci- 
mens, as well as of his own West In- 
dian plants, with a few of those col- 
lected in his own travels round the 
world; of which last, however, he has 
not given any away to any body. 
Young Linneus also made ample cel- 
lections from the gardens of Holland, 
France, and England; he made his 
collection a duplicate one, indepen- 
dent of his father’s, and separate from 
it, as I still keep it, and have added 
many things to it collected by myself 
in England, France, Italy, and the 
Alps. I am also enriching it daily by 
the kindness of my friends; and have 
Jately had a fine addition frem the 
East Indies. 
The insects are not so numerous, 
but they consist of most of those that 
are described by Linneus, and new 
ones. The shells are about thrice as 
many as are mentioned in the “ Sys- 
tema Nature,” and many of them very 
valuable; as young Linneus had in- 
creased that part of the collection very 
much. The fossils are numerous, but 
mostly bad specimens, and in a bad 
condition. I have also many birds 
from the South Sea; with some Indian 
dresses and weapons; and a number 
of dried fish, particularly all those sent 
by 
