THE LAST 375 



Sir J. Panics to Sir J. E. Smith. 



Christmas Day, 1817. 



' I fear you will differ from me in opinion when I 

 fancy Jussieu's natural orders to be superior to those 

 of Linnseus. I do not, however, mean to allege that he 

 has even an equal degree of merit in having compiled 

 them. He has taken all Linnaeus had done as his own ; 

 and, having thus possessed himself of an elegant and 

 substantial fabric, has done much towards increasing 

 its beauty, but far less towards any improvement in 

 its stability.' 



Linnaeus's widow survived to extreme old age. 



On the death of the younger Linne his mother 

 wished to sell the museum and library to Sir Joseph 

 Banks, at the price of 1,000 guineas. On his refusal, 

 by his advice they were bought by Sir J. E. Smith for 

 1,029/. The sale was precipitated before the return of 

 the King of Sweden, then on his travels, 1 lest he should 

 oblige the heirs to dispose of the whole cheaper to the 

 University of Upsala, This would have been the case, 

 as it appears from the king's exertions on his return : 

 he sent a courier to the Sound and a vessel by sea to 

 intercept the ship that was bearing away the prize 

 By thy wild and stormy steep, Elsinore 1 



The collection, packed in twenty-eight great boxes, 

 reached England in safety, and passed the Custom 

 House unexamined. The letters to Linnaeus are about 

 three thousand. 



1 King Gustavus III. was then in France. 



