360 THROUGH THE FIELDS WITH LINNAEUS 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



THE LAST. 



Thy creatures have been my books, but Thy Scriptures much 

 more. I have sought Thee in Thy fields and Thy gardens. I have 

 found Thee in Thy Word and Thy temples. BACON. 



IN 1771 Linne still led an active bustling life, and 

 though his powers were considerably on the wane, he 

 published this year the ' Mantissa Altera,' which Sir J. 

 Smith says shows several lapses of memory. ' We have 

 no volume published by Linne later than this, which 

 may be looked upon as his botanical testament.' ! 



On December 14, 1772, in the sixty-fifth year of 

 his age, he delivered the customary oration upon his 

 resignation as rector of the Assembly, which office 

 he had already held three times. This was his last 

 public exertion. His subject of this, his fifth public 

 oration, was on < The Delights of Nature,' a speech so 

 beautiful, that the students of the different Swedish 

 ' nations ' in the university sent deputies to him next day 

 to entreat its translation. The original oration ' Delicia? 

 Natures * was written but a few days before it was 



1 Smith. 



