BO MEMOIR OP LINN^US. 



Academy of Sciences of Upsala, the Academy of 

 Sciences at Montpelier, the Royal Academies of Berlin 

 and Paris, and Royal Society of London, all' ranked 

 him among their members. In l?6l, he attained an 

 additional accession of honours, being presented by 

 his Sovereign with letters of nobility. His name 

 wa^s changed to Von Linne, and arms were assumed 

 corresponding with his new rank. But, perhaps, 

 the most flattering testimony of the extent and 

 magnitude of his fame, was that which he received 

 from the King of Spain, who invited him to settle 

 at Madrid, with the offer of an annual pension for life 

 of 2000 pistoles, letters of nobility, and the free exer- 

 cise of his own religion. He returned his most grate- 

 ful acknowledgments for the intended honour ; and 

 his answer, that " if he had any merits, they were 

 due to his own country," shows the sense of obligation 

 which he felt to the countrymen who had raised him 

 to such an eminence. 



The salaries which Linnaeus received from his 

 various public appointments, had placed him in afflu- 

 ent circumstances, and allowed him to gratify a wish 

 which he had long indulged, the possession of a villa, 

 where he could spend a part of his time, away from 

 the hurry and bustle of a public life, and enjoy the 

 quiet delights of a country retirement. He accord- 

 ingly purchased the villa of Harmanby, about a league 

 from Upsala, and during the last fifteen years of his 

 life, mostly chose it for his summer residence. Here 



