LINNiEUS. 



nxui. He was employed in arranging her collefkion of in- 

 fefts and Ihelis, in the country palace of Drotuiiijjhohii, 

 or Ulrickfdalil, and was frequently Iioiioured with the 

 company and converfation of tlicir ma'iellii-s, during his 

 attendance there. The queen interclled hcifclf in the edu- 

 cation of his fon, and promifid to frnd liim to travel 

 thio'ie'h Europe at her own expence. She alfo liftencd very 

 graciiufly to any recommendation or pcution of Linna:iis, 

 in the f rvice of fcience ; redeeminor the papers and collec- 

 tion of HafT'-lqnilf, and caufintj Kcehler to be lent to the 

 Cape of Gord Hope ; whofe mifiion hovxever was rendered 

 abortive by the jealoufy of the Dutch, though he forwarded 

 many curio'is uifeiHs and plants to his mailer from Italy. 

 Linnxus devoted fome of his leifiire time in winter, to the 

 arrangeiiient of his friend count TeiTm's coUedlion of fof- 

 fils, at Stockholm, of which an account in Latin and 

 Swedilli, making a fmall folio, with plates, came out in 

 1753. The rcfuk of his labours at Drotningliolm was not 

 given to the public till many years after, ni 1 764, when 

 his Mufcam Reg'tnt: appeared, in 8vo being a fort oi Pro- 

 dromus of an intended more fpleudid work, that was never 

 executed. His moll magnificent publication appeared in 

 I75'4, being a large folio, entitled Mufcum Regis jiilolphi 

 Frcdviii, compreiiending defcriptions of the rarer quadru- 

 peds, birds, ferpents, fifhes, &c. of the kuig's mufeum, in 

 Latin and Swedifli, with plates, and an excellent preface. 

 This preface, one of the moft entertaining and eloquent 

 recommendations of the iUidy of nature, that ever tame 

 from the pen of an enthufiallic naturaliil, was tranflatcd 

 into Englirti by the writer of the prefent article, and iirll 

 printed ni 1786; appearing again, in a volume of Tracis 

 j-elaiing to Natural Hi/l-ory, in 1798. The queen of Sweden 

 took fo much plealure in the converfation of !ier diftinguifhed 

 naturalift, that (he allowed him his habitual indulgence of 

 fmoking, even in her apartments, that he might continue 

 his labours with the m<ne eafe and fatisfaftion to himfelf. 

 He was in every refpeft politely treated, as a vifitor to hij 

 royal miftrefs, nor were his fervices accepted, without fuit- 

 able returns of royal munificence. Whether, however, he 

 felt not fo entirely at eafe as in his own ftudy, or his atten- 

 tion was diftracled by a variety of objcfts, the Mufeum Re- 

 ginee is certainly not one of his mofl correil works, as 

 thofe who (ludy its Lep'ukplera and Ihells, with critical 

 «are, will not fail to difcover. 



In the mean while, this eminent man was preparing a 

 lalling monument of his own talents and apphcation, which 

 even his rival Haller nobly denomii.ates " maximum opus 

 et aternum,'' the Species Plantarum, of which the firll edi- 

 tion was printed in 1753, the feccnd in 176;, each in 

 two volumes 8vo. The work is too well known to need 

 any defcription, but befides its importance as a complete 

 arrangement and definuion, with all neceifary indication of 

 fynonyms, of every plant of which its author had any fa- 

 tisfaftory knowledge, it is ever memorable for the adapta- 

 tion of fpecific, or as they were at firtl called, trivial names. 

 This cantris'ance, which Linnxus firit ufed in his Pan Sue- 

 cicus, a difi'ertation printed in 1749, extended to minerals 

 in his Mufeum Tejjinieinum, and fnbfequentlv to all the de- 

 partments of zoology, has perhaps rendered his works more 

 popular than any one of their merits befides. His fpecific dif- 

 ferences were intended to be ufed as namet ; but their un- 

 avoidable length rendernig this imprafticable, and the appli- 

 cation of numeral figures to each fpecies, in Haller's 

 manner, being Hill more burthenfome to the memory, all 

 natural fcience woidd have been ruined for want of a com- 

 mon language, were it not for this fimple and happy in- 

 vention. By this means we fpeak of every natural produc- 



tion in two words, its generic and its fpecific name. No 

 ambiguous comparifons or references are wanted, no pre- 

 fuppolition of any thing already known. The diilinguifh- 

 ing charader of each objeft is mcllly llamped in its name ; 

 and if this perfeftion of the art cannot always be attained, 

 the memory is alTillcd, often ve-y ingenioufl), with collateral 

 ii:formation, indicating the colour, the habit, or the qua- 

 lities of the objeft of our examination. 'The philofophical 

 tribe of iiaturahlls, for fo thcv are called by themfelves 

 and their admirers, do not therefore depreciate Linnaeus, 

 wlien they call him a nomerclator. On the contrary, they 

 celebrate iiini for a merit which no other perfon has at- 

 tained, and without which their own difcoveries and re- 

 marks, of whatever value, would not be underllood. 

 Neither can fome of his fellow labourers, in the difcrimiiia- 

 tive departmetit of natural fcience, be jiillified, for either 

 flightint; this invrntion, or giving the credit of it to others. 

 The metht.d of Rivinus is not the fame ; as he defigi-.ed his 

 names for fpecific charafters, to which purpofe they are 

 neccflarily, from their brevity, inadequate. Whatever may 

 have been thought of the Linna:an trivial names at their 

 firll appearance, they are now in univtrfal ufe, and their 

 principle has been, with the greatcd advantage, extended to 

 chemiilry, of which the ;elebrated Bergman, the friend of 

 Linnxus, originally fet the example. 



Thefe herculean literary labours, combined with the 

 praclice of pliyfic, were more than the bodily conllitution 

 of Linna:us could fupport. He was attacked with the 

 ilone, and had alfo, from time to time, returns of gout. 

 He confidered the wood llrawberry as a fpecific for both 

 dilorders, and they never greatly interfered with his com» 

 fort or his duties. Oil the 27th of April 1 753, he re- 

 ceived, from the hand of his fovereign, the order of the 

 Polar Star, an honour v.'hich had never before been conferred 

 for literary merit. A tlill more remarkable, if not more 

 grateful, comphment was paid him not long after by the 

 king of Spain, wlio invited him to fettle at Madrid, with 

 the offer of nobility, the free exercife of his religion, and a 

 fplendid botanical appointment. This propofal was con- 

 veyed to him in a handfome letter by the duke of Grimaldi, 

 then prime minifter, and was as handfomely declined by 

 Linnceus, who declared, that if he had any merits, they were 

 due to his own country. This patriotic moderation re- 

 ceived its juft reward in November 1756, when he wasraifed 

 to the rank of Swedifli nobility, and took the name of Von 

 Linne. 



The Syflema Nalura had already gone through nine edi- 

 tions in different countries. Its author had, for feveral 

 years, a more ample edition of the animal department in 

 contemplation, on the plan of his Species Plantarum, and thit 

 conftituted the fn-ll volume of the tenth edition, pubhlhed 

 in 1758. The fccond volume, which came out the follow, 

 jng year, was an epitome of the vegetable kingdom. Here 

 the genera appear with fhort effential charaders, and the 

 fpecies are noted by little more than their (pecific differences, 

 with few references and no indication of their native coun- 

 tries. This fame great and important work appeared tlill 

 more enlarged, in a twelfth edition, in the year 1766: to 

 this the Mineral kingdom was added in a third volume on 

 the fame plan with the firll. We can readily pardon the felf- 

 complacency of its author, when, in his diary written for the 

 life of his friend Menander, he calls the Syjlema Naturs 

 " a work to which Natural Hiflory never had a fellow." 

 We may venture to predift that as this was tiie firll per- 

 formanceof the kind it will certaiidy be the lall ; the fcience 

 of natural hillory is now become fo vaft, that no man can 

 ever take the lead again as an umverfal naturaliil. 



The 



