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CHAPTER XI. 



LEYDEN THE FAT OF THE LAND. 



When lands are gone and money spent, 

 Then Learning is most excellent. 



CARL'S first business was to see if anything had turned 

 up since his previous eight days' stay in Amsterdam, 

 where he had tried to place the MS. of his ' Sy sterna 

 Naturae ' to advantage, and to present his letters of 

 introduction to the rulers of the scientific world. He 

 was anxious to make himself known to the leading 

 Dutch naturalists before he returned home. Wearing 

 his gay hat, he waited on the professor of botany, Dr. 

 Burmann, with no immediate result ; but, as Carlyle 

 says, l Hope diminished burns not the less brightly, but 

 like a star of hope.' 



He afterwards proceeded through Haarlem to Ley- 

 den, where he visited the botanical garden and Professor 

 van Royen ; but of all the persons Linnaeus met with 

 in Holland none paid him more attention than J. Fred 

 Gronovius, doctor of medicine. 1 Carl having paid him 

 a visit, Gronovius returned it, and saw the sketch of 



1 Diary. 



u 2 



