LINLITHGOWSH1RE LINNE. 



481 



and grange at Linlithgow, whence the town origi- 

 nated ; and it was the frequent residence of the court 

 in the sixteenth century, when it became the scene of 

 some remarkable events. In St Mary's aisle of the 

 principal church occurred the supposed apparition of 

 St John to James IV., to warn him of his approach- 

 ing fate at the battle of Plodden Field, as related by 

 the historian Lindsay, of Pitscottie, and introduced by 

 Sir Walter Scott into his poem of " Marmion." 

 Mary queen of Scots was born in the royal palace 

 here, December 8, 1542. In one of the streets is 

 still shown the gallery, whence the Regent Murray 

 was shot at and killed, as he was passing through the 

 town on horseback, by Hamilton of Bothwell-Haugh, 

 in 1570 ; and at Linlithgow the " Solemn League 

 and Covenant " was publicly burned in 1662. Several 

 royal charters were granted to this town. Population 

 of burgh and parish in 1831, 4,874; in 1841,5950. 



LINLITHGOWSHIRE, or WEST LOTHIAN, 

 a county of Scotland, lying on the south shore of the 

 firth of Forth, having Edinburghshire on the east 

 and south-east, Lanarkshire on the south-west, and 

 Stirlingshire on the west. It is about twenty miles 

 in length, and twelve in breadth. The soil of this 

 county is in general a rich and fertile loum. Coal 

 and limestone abound ; ironstone is also to be found 

 in some parts of the shire. A vein of lead ore was 

 discovered in the reign of James VI., so richly im- 

 pregnated with silver, that it was sufficiently profit- 

 able to be worked for the sake of the silver which it 

 furnished. Volcanic appearances occur in several 

 places, or at least such an arrangement of rocky 

 strata, as some geologists usually attribute to the 

 action of volcanic heat ; thus particularly at Dundas 

 Hill, in the parish of Dalmeny, there is a bold mass of 

 basaltic rocks, displaying occasionally in their struc- 

 ture regular basaltic columns. There are many hand- 

 some noblemen's and gentlemen's seats in various 

 parts of Linlithgowshire, among which the more dis- 

 tinguished are Hopeton House, the earl of Hope- 

 ton's magnificent residence ; Barnbogle Castle, be- 

 longing to the earl of Iloseberry ; Calder House, the 

 seat of lord Torphichen ; Craigie Hall, and Dundas 

 Castle. The two royal burghs are Linlithgow and 

 Queensferry : the other principal towns are Bor- 

 rowstowness, Whitburn, Bathgate, and Kirkliston. 

 Population in 1831, 23,291; in 1841, 26,872. 



LINN, JOHN BLAIR, an American poet, was born 

 March 14, 1777, at Phippenburgh, Pennsylvania. 

 His poetical talents displayed themselves while he 

 was yet a youth at Columbia college, New York, 

 and, before he had reached his seventeenth year, a 

 volume of his effusions, both in prose and verse, was 

 published. After finishing his collegiate course, he 

 commenced the study of law, at the age of eighteen, 

 with general Hamilton, but continued in his office 

 only about a year, during which time, he brought a 

 tragedy, called Bourville Castle, upon the stage, with 

 success. Having removed to Schenectady, and re- 

 ceived strong religious impressions, to which he had 

 always been inclined, he entered upon the study of 

 theology, and, in 1798, he was licensed to preach, 

 and soon became distinguished for pulpit eloquence. 

 He was installed pastor of the first Presbyterian 

 church in Philadelphia, in June, 1799. The duties 

 of this situation he discharged for the two subsequent 

 years, in a manner consistent with the fervour of his 

 piety and the excellence of his mind. He continued, 

 however, to cultivate his poetical talents. His 

 Powers of Genius, a didactic poem of considerable 

 length, experienced flattering success, and in a few 

 months reached a second edition. In the same volume 

 with it were printed various minor pieces. A con- 

 troversy in which he became engaged with doctor 

 Piiestley, was engendered by a publication of the 



latter on the merits of Socrates, which were placed 

 before those of Jesus Christ. The religious feelings 

 of Mr Linn prompted him to answer the doctor's 

 pamphlet, which he did in a manner worthy of his 

 cause. The last work on which Mr Linn employed 

 liis leisure hours, was a narrative poem, published by 

 his friends, under the title of Valerian, after his death, 

 which took place August 30, 1804. 



LINN^EAN SOCIETY; a society in London, 

 instituted in 1788, by Sir J. E. Smith, and incorpor- 

 ated in 1802, for the promotion of the study of 

 natural history. 



LINNE, CHARLES, but more generally designated 

 by his Latinized name, Linnteus, the most celebrated 

 naturalist of his age, was a native of Sweden. He 

 was the son of a clergyman, and was born May 13, 

 old style, 1707, at Roeshult, in the province of Sma- 

 land. His father was fond of gardening, and his 

 little domain was stocked with plants not commonly 

 cultivated a circumstance to which the prevailing 

 taste of the son may be fairly attributed. He was 

 sent to the grammar-school, and afterwards to the 

 gymnasium of Wexio, to be educated for the minis- 

 try ; but, as he disliked the studies of the school, and 

 preferred to collect plants and catch butterflies, he 

 remained behind his fellow-pupils in Latin and Greek, 

 and the teachers declared to his father that he was 

 only fit for a mechanic. The father sent him to a 

 shoemaker ; but the physician Rothmann, having dis- 

 covered talents in the boy, induced his parents to let 

 him study. As botany afforded him no prospect of 

 a support, Linne was obliged to study medicine. In 

 1727, he entered at the university of Lund in Scania, 

 whence he removed, the following year, to Upsal. 

 During his early residence there, the narrowness of 

 his father's circumstances exposed him to great dif- 

 ficulties, from which he was relieved by the patronage 

 of Celsius, the theological professor, an eminent 

 naturalist, who had become acquainted with him in 

 the botanical garden at Upsal, and through whose 

 recommendation he obtained some private pupils. 

 He also formed a friendship with Artedi, a medical 

 student like himself, devoted to the cultivation of 

 natural history. He now, in his twenty-fourth year, 

 conceived the idea of a new arrangement of plants, 

 or the sexual system of botany, relative to which he 

 wrote a memoir, which was shown to Rudbeck, the 

 botanical professor, who was so struck with its inge- 

 nuity, that he received the author into his house, as 

 tutor to his sons, and made him his assistant in the 

 office of delivering lectures. Forty years before, 

 Rudbeck had made a journey to Lapland, which ex- 

 cited the curiosity of the learned. A new journey 

 was now concluded upon, and in 1732, Linne was 

 sent by the academy of sciences at Upsal, to make a 

 tour through Lapland, from which he returned to- 

 wards the close of the year, Fifty Swedish dollars 

 were thought sufficient by Linne to defray his ex- 

 penses, and with this small sum he made a journey 

 of more than 3500 miles, unaccompanied. In 1733, 

 he visited the mining district around Fahlun, and gave 

 lectures on mineralogy, having formed a system of 

 that science, afterwards published in his Systema 

 Natures. While he was thus adding to his reputa- 

 tion at Upsal, he became involved in a violent 

 quarrel with the medical professor, Nicholas Rosen, 

 who seems to have acted with a great deal of illiberal- 

 ity, and found means to prevent Linne from continu- 

 ing his private lectures. He therefore engaged in a 

 scientific tour through the province of Dalecftrlia, 

 and remained for some time at Fahlun, lecturing and 

 practising medicine with considerable success. He 

 again went to Lapland on a mineralogical tour, with 

 seven young men; and, in 1735, published a complete 

 Flora of this country a classical work. In the 

 2 H 



