LINNAEUS IN HOLLAND. 79 



enterprises are so frequently decided, may be with great propriety ap- 

 plied here to LlNN^US. 



" Nel cammin di nostra vita, 

 " Senza i rai del ciel cortese 

 " Si smarrisce ogn'alma ardita, 

 " Tiema il cor, vacilla il pie. 



" A compir le b^lle imprcse 

 " L'arte giova, il senno ha parte ; 

 " Ma vaneggia il senno e Parte 

 " Quando Amico il ciel non e, 



LiNNiEUS set off from Leyde^i io Amsterdam, there to embark for 

 his country. Boerhaave had given him a letter of recommendation 

 to his pupil John Burmann, then Professor of Botany in the capital 

 of Holland. Burmann was then occupied incompleting a description 

 of plants of the island of Ceylon. On account of Boerhaave's re- 

 commendation, LiNN.^ius met with a friendly reception; but he hap- 

 pened to surprise his new patron, just at a time when he was over- 

 whelmed with occupation, and the latter begged, therefore, Linn/eus 

 to come to see him once more before his departure, and to excuse him 

 then for not being at leisure. Linn.eus complied. At this second 

 visit the conversation turned upon botany. " Would you wish to sec my 

 "plants?" asked Bubmann — soLinn^us relates this anecdote — 

 « With great pleasure," replied L Burmann showed me a shrub — 

 adding: " This is a rarity." I took one flower, examined it, and 

 observed that it was a species of bay. " No, no," replied Burmann. 

 « But indeed it is," observed 1 3 these are the blossorns of the Cinnamon 

 tree, Laurus Cinnamonum.—-''^ To be sure they they are," said Bur- 

 man N, " but as to bay" — Here I interrupted, and convinced him that it 

 2 belonged 



