52 THROUGH THE FIELDS WITH LINN^US 



eyes ' ; an aspect of country to which he never knew 

 a parallel. He saw the utmost possible productiveness 

 of nature, unsurpassed even in the tropics. 



Dr. Johnson l mentions a few of the objects which 

 would have likewise interested Linnaeus ; among them 

 4 a house furnished from Japan and fitted up in Europe/ 

 Linnaeus had acquired a taste for Japanese curiosities in 

 Holland, where the old Japanese collections are still 

 unrivalled. ' Also seeds and woods in the king's cabinet, 

 very neat, not perhaps perfect. Gold ore and candles of the 

 candie-tree.' Both these great men visited the menagerie 

 at Versailles, and noticed the cygnets, halcyons or gulls, 

 pelicans, and the small black stag of China, and some 

 larger animals lions, elephants, &c. Johnson observes, 

 ' The great in France live very magnificently, but the 

 rest very miserably. There is no happy middle state 

 as in England ' (and in Sweden). What a change in 

 France since then ! 



M. du Fay proposed to Linnaeus to remain in France, 

 with the offer of being made an ordinary member of 

 the Royal Academy of Sciences, and receiving a salary. 

 He declined, as he was anxious to return to Sweden 

 without further delay. This proves the personal admira- 

 tion of the French for Linnaeus, so akin to themselves 

 in clear mind and crystal-cut expression, and so un- 

 like the generality of their visitors of Gothic race. But 

 his system was never frankly received among them. Sir 

 J. Smith, travelling in 1790, says, f Anthony de Jussieu 

 1 Travels in France. 



