326 THROUGH THE FIELDS WITH LINN&US 



Johnson expressed himself ' a great friend to public 

 amusements, for they keep people from vice.' Doubt- 

 less Linnaeus, who was of a lively social turn, relished 

 these things, and most likely would have had Dr. John- 

 son pointed out to him. Though we never read that 

 they met, they might well have done so, here or at Lady 

 Ann Monson's house, and they could have talked Latin 

 fluently together. The Hunterian Oration, which was 

 then always delivered in Latin, was a subject of interest 

 for Linnaeus. Johnson's name was already immortal, 

 but, although John Hunter was even then a distin- 

 guished representative of British surgery, the world did 

 not yet know that both Hunter and Linnasua were as 

 great as the lexicographer himself. 



Lady Ann Monsoii, herself a lady of talent, and a 

 botanist of no mean order, was very kind and attentive 

 to Linnaeus, who named a beautiful plant Monsonia in 

 her honour. 



There was plenty of gaiety going on in London; 

 for May has always been the London season, and this 

 was May. Linnaeus saw Garrick act, and he saw the 

 lions at Exeter Change, and on Sunday he went to the 

 Foundling Chapel and heard the Te Deum, Jubilate, and 

 an anthem (on occasion of the charity sermon) com- 

 posed by George Frederick Handel, Esq., and per- 

 formed under his direction, where, because of the 

 pressure of the crowd, 'The gentlemen are desired to come 

 without swords and the ladies without hoops.' 



Linnaeus seems greatly to have enjoyed Chelsea ; and 



