LiNNiEUS. 



Tunddmtnla Botamca, a finall od^avo of j6 pages, in tlie ligent and communicative friends in Dr. Shaw, the oriental 



form of aphoiifnis, which contains the very eflence of bota- traveller, profcflTor Martyii the elder, the wcU-knowu Philip 



nical philofophy, a'id has never been fuperfeded nor refuted. Miller, and the celebrated Peter Collinfon. (See Collin'- 



The fubfequent performances of the author himfelf, and of son.) Thefe men of true fcicnce admiMd his genius and 



his followers, have been excellent, in proportion as they have valued his friendlhip ; they promnlud his w ifiiea by '.very 



kept to the maxims of this httle book.. After Liiinsiis had 

 been a few months under profefFor Burmann's roof, he was 

 introduced by Boerhanv.- to Mr George Clifford, an opu- 

 lent banker, whofe garden at Hartecamp was one of the 



means in their lower, enriching him with hooks ; and I'up- 

 plying him plentifully with plants, both for his own h'.-rba- 

 rium, aid the garden of his patron at Hartecamp. He 

 was mtvh ftruck with what he faw of London, and has 



richeft in the world, a.^d who thought himfelf happy in :he celebn.ced it in an expreffion which has cft.m been repeated, 

 opportunity of procm-ipg fuch a mjn to ftudy and iu;'cr- calling thi'. famous city the '■'■ pimSum fallen! in vittllo orbis." 

 intend his coUeftion, as well as to make known to the world Of his o'ifervations on the natural hiltory of this country, 

 any novelties it might contain. Linnsus was therefore re- nothing is prelerved but a tradition, that the golden bloom 

 moved to Hartecamp, where, as he lays, " he lived Ike a of the furze on the commons near London, efpecially Put- 

 prince," more glorious, no doubt, than an Aliatic delpot, ney-heath, delighted him fo much, thai he fell on his knees 

 in the innumerable vegetable tribes which daily offered their in a rapture at the fight. He was always an admirer of 

 homage at his feet. With an ample library, as well a:' gar- this plant, and laboured in vain to preftrve it through a 

 den, at his command, in both which he had unlimited Swedilli winter m his greenhoiife ; as we in England are 

 powers to fupply any defects that he might dilcover, he had obliged to Ihelter the Cape (hrub in a Hove, though it covers 

 DOW the means of cultivating his beloved fcience without walls in the open air at Paris. 



reilriftion or impediment, ai'.d appears to have been truly On his i-eturn to Holland, he continued the impreffion of 



fcnfible of the happinefs of his h)t. He now wrote and his Gi-fu-ra P/an/aru/n, which appeared in 1737. Li October, 



printed his admirable Flora Lappon'tca, the plates of which 1736, he was made a member of the Imperial Academy 



were fupplied by the contributions of a fociety at Amiler- 

 dani. This work, one of the happieft literary compofitions 

 of its author, is llrikingly charafterillic of the Hate of his 

 mind at the time it was written. It is redundant in obfer. 

 vation and refleftion, on every fubjeft whicli could be inter- 

 woven with its profefied object, conveyed m the moll engaging 

 ftyle ; a ftyle independent of ftud;ed phrafcology, flowing 

 direftly from the heart, and deriving its principal charm 

 from the delight which the author takes in what he has to 

 communicate. The enthufiafm with which his imagination 

 retraces every idea o£his Lapland expedition, turns the wild 

 fcenes of that country, even in the mind of his reader, into 

 a paradife, inhabited by all that is innocent and good. His 



Nature Curiuforum, by the title, according to the cuflom of 

 that body, of Diofcorides fecundus. He was now tempted 

 by Boerhaave to undertake a botanical expedition to the 

 Cape of Good Hope and to America, at the pubhc ex- 

 pence, and flattered with the expectation of a ProfelTorlhip 

 in Holland at his return ; but he neither chofe to encounter 

 the hazards of the undertaking, nor to give up his profpetl* 

 at home. He would not however leave the bencfaftier to 

 whom he owed fo much, till he had accomplifhed all that was 

 to be expefted from him. He printed in 1737 the Firida- 

 rium Cliffbrtianum, an oftavo catalogue of his friend's gar- 

 den, difpofed according to his own fexual fytlem ; of whicli 

 he publifhed, later in the fame year, at Leyden, an exempli- 



effufions refemble the longings of an exiled Swifs ; and are fication under the title of Methodus Sexualts, in which all the 

 in fail incipient fymptoms of that oppreflion of the heart, known genera of plants are fo arranged by name only, 

 which, after a while, rendered his abode in Holland, with This year alfo produced his magnificent Hortus differtlanus, 

 all its icientific charms, no longer tolerable, to one born in in folio, in which all the plants of Mr. Clifford's colleftion, 

 the purer air of Sweden, and nurtured amongll her Lapland 

 alps. 



The profperous condition of Linnxus, under the patron- 

 age of Mr. Chfford, afforded him much more than a felfifh 



gratification, when he met with his old friend Artedi, at 

 Amfterdam, dellitute of the means of profecuiing his ftu- 



whether living or dried, are enumerated, with many defcrip- 

 tions and highly interefting remarks, an almoil complete 

 detail of fynonyms, and fome'of the moil exquilite plates 

 ever fcen in any book. This fplendid volume was not pub- 

 lifhed, but only given away by Mr. Clitlord. It was begun 

 and completed in nine months. In the intervals of this 



dies, obtaining his degree, or even of fupporting himfelf labour the Critica Botanica, an octavo volume, was written 

 with credit or decency. " He hud fpent all his money in and printed. Tliis is an entertaining commentary and illuf- 

 London ;" an accident not peculiar to a poor Swedifh ilu- tration of part of the Fundamenta, from feclion 210 to 324, 



relating to nomenclature and Ipecitic chara6lers. It is a 

 book not fo much known as it delerves, being very rare. 

 Thefe fevere labours however proved too much for the health 

 of Linnxus, and he conceived that the autumnal air of 

 Holland, as is very probable, did not agree with him. 

 Though he had every luxury and indulgence at his com- 

 mand, and was careffed bv his patron, and by all who came 

 near him, with the moll flattering attentions, he longed to 



dent ; and would now have been dellitute but for the 

 exertions of !iis friend, who recommended him to Seba, to 

 whom the learning and abilities of Artedi were peculiarly 

 ferviceable, in completing the third volume of his magni- 

 ficent Thefiiurus, chiefly devoted to fifhes. We have already 

 alluded to the unfortunate catallrophe of this young man, 

 and a Ihort fketch of his life is given in its prcper place. 

 See Aktedi. 



In 1736, after having written his Mufa Cl'iffhrhana, Lin- return to his nalire country. Having left Mr. Chfford. he 

 nxus was fent by Mr. Clifford to England, ai:d was intro- could not refufe his affillance for a while to Profeilbr Adrian 

 dnced to the lovers and teachers of natural fcience, at " " 

 O.^ford and London more efpccially. Of his reception 

 from the Sherardian ProfefFor, we have already fpoken. 

 (See Dll-LEMUs.) He was flrongly recommended by 

 Boerhaave, in a letter which flill exills, to fir Hans Sloane ; 

 but this indefatigable collector neitlier underilood nor cared 

 for thofe improTements in botanic fcience which he might 

 have learned from his vifitor. Linnxus found more intel- 



Van Royen at Leyden, in the arrangement and dcfcription 

 of the garden there, which feems rather to have dilpleafed 

 his late patron, and not perhaps without reafon, after the 

 flrong inducements he had offered to retain him. Linnaus 

 exculed himtelf as well as he could, and while givmg his 

 affillance to Van Royen, compofed and printed the ClaJJct 

 Planlarum, which is a complete view of all the botanical 

 fyllcms ever known. Here alfo he publifhed his friend 



Arttdi'e 



1^ 



