18 



THE YOUNG 



NATUEALIST. 



found a signal was given, and they all 

 gathered together to hear their leader's 

 remarks. In this way his students were 

 taught his system, and when they left 

 the university, they were prepared to 

 promulgate and defend it. 



Linnaeus was now at the height of his 

 fame. He was admitted a member of 

 most of the scientific societies of Europe, 

 He held various lucrative public appoint- 

 ments, and was so highly esteemed by 

 King Prederic Adolphus that he not 

 only received a patent of nobility but 

 was admitted to the private friendship 

 of the monarch, who was an ardent 

 naturalist, as was also his Queen, He 

 was now called Von Linne, and assumed 

 a coat of arms in accordance with his 

 new rank. Perhaps the most flattering 

 evidence of his fame was an offer from 

 the king of Spain, who invited him to 

 Madrid, where he proposed to give him 

 an annual salary of 2000 pistoles, letters 

 of nobility, and above all, to allow him 

 the free exercise of his own religion. 

 Linnaeus, however, was an ardent 

 patriot, and while he acknowledged the 

 honour proposed in most grateful terms, 

 he said if he had any merits they were 

 due to his own country." The income 

 he was now receiving from his various 

 public appointments was ^ch that he 

 was able to purchase the Villa of Har- 

 manby, some three miles from Upsala, 

 and for the last fifteen years of his life 

 he generally resided there during the 

 summer. It was not, however, alto- 

 gether for retirement that he did so, for 

 his pupils followed him there, and many 

 of them used to take lodgings in the 



neighbouring villages. He erected a 

 little building on an eminence in his 

 grounds, from which he commanded a 

 view of the surrounding country. Here 

 he kept his collections, and here he 

 used to deliver lectures to those of his 

 pupils who had followed him. 



At this period of his life he was much 

 troubled with severe attacks of gout, 

 for which the best remedy was to be 

 shown a collection of novelties. On one 

 occasion he was so ill that he had almost 

 entirely lost the use of his limbs and 

 was confined to bed. The return of one 

 of his pupils named Kalm from North 

 America with a number of new plants 

 and other things had such an efi'ect upon 

 him that his desire to see them and 

 delightat examinin g them effected a cure . 



He was now fifty-six years of age, 

 and feeling himself past his prime he 

 desired to resign office. The king in a 

 most flattering manner refused to accept 

 his resignation, increased his salary, 

 and appointed his son to be assistant in 

 the professorship. This appointment 

 of a very young man to a chair which 

 was looked on as most difficult to fill, 

 was indeed a high compliment to the 

 merits of his father. Relieved in this 

 way from the most onerous of his work, 

 Linnaeus continued to perform his public 

 duties till within two years of his death. 

 In 1771 he resigned his office of rector 

 in the assembly, and selected for the 

 subject of his oration on retiring the 

 '* Delicae Naturae." The oration was 

 considered so beautiful that the students 

 in the Swedish provinces sent a depu- 

 tation to him asking for its translation 



