368 LINN^US. 



tlian with books, yet not unacquainted with the la- 

 bours of others, he succeeded in eliciting order from 

 the chaotic confusion which he found prevailing in his 

 favourite sciences. His memory, which was uncom- 

 monly vigorous, was, like his other faculties, devoted 

 to natural history alone ; and it was the first that suf- 

 fered decay. When he was only fifty years of age 

 it already exhibited symptoms of decline ; and a 

 few years before his death it was almost entirely 

 extinguished. In the study of modern languages 

 he had never made sufficient progress to enable 

 him to express his ideas with fluency in any other 

 than his native .tongue. His intercourse with 

 strangers was carried on in Latin, of which he had 

 a competent knowledge, although in his letters he 

 paid little attention to elegance, or even in some cases 

 to grammatical accuracy. He used to say to his 

 friends, — " Malo tres alapas a Prisciano, quam 

 unam a Natura, — I would rather have three slaps 

 from Priscian than one from Nature." 



The love of fame was his predominant passion. 

 It possessed his soul at an early age, strength- 

 ened as he advanced in years, and retained its hold 

 to the last. " Famam extendere factis" was his 

 favourite motto, and that which, when ennobled, 

 he chose for his coat of arms. But his ambition 

 was entirely confined to science, and never influ- 

 enced his conduct towards the persons with whom 

 he had intercourse, nor manifested itself by the as- 

 sumption of superiority. Fond of praise, he w^as 

 liberal in dispensing it to others ; and, although 

 nothing afforded him more pleasure than flattery, 

 he was neither apt to boast of his merits, nor disin- 

 clined to extol those of his fellow-labourers. 



