AN OVERDOSE OF PROSPERITY 27 



plants at Leyden and gave them new names, and they 

 were all put in order ; whereby Linnaeus gained Van 

 Roy en's entire confidence.' ! We may here mention a 

 circumstance which reflects honour on Linnasus. Pro- 

 fessor van Royen had made proposals of marriage to 

 the only daughter and heiress of Boerhaave, had been 

 rejected, and he therefore became hostile to the family. 2 

 The Botanic Garden, which he superintended, had 

 been arranged and described according to Boerhaave's 

 method : but Van Royen determined now to adopt that 

 of Linnaeus ; not so much because he considered the 

 latter to be superior, as to get rid of the associations 

 connected with a man who had slighted him. He 

 offered Linnaeus a salary of 800 florins to assist in 

 carrying out the scheme. c The respect which Linnaeus 

 felt for his friend Boerhaave would not allow him to 

 accept the offer as it was made to him ; but he remained 

 with Van Royen for a time, classified the plants after a 

 system of his own, composed expressly for this garden, 

 and made a catalogue of them, which was published in 

 Van Royen's name.' 3 In many other ways he pushed 

 on the science of natural history. 



During this time Linnaeus went every day to the 

 house of his friend Gronovius and assisted him in his 

 ' Flora Virginica,' published about the same time as Van 

 Royen's ' Hortus Leydensis/ both of these botanists 

 having adopted Linnaeus's names and principles. 4 That 



1 Diary. 8 Turton 



1 Diary. Ibid. 



