LINNyEUS IN ENGLAND. 87 



the latter end of July, at Cliffort's expence. No country could 

 offer greater aliments for his desire of knowledge, nor was there one 

 he had more anxiously wished to visit than this happy island. Clif- 

 fort's intention of enriching his garden with foreign, and especially 

 with North- American plants, which were cultivated in the nurseries of 

 Oxford and London, and of establishing fresh connexions for the bene- 

 fit of his museum and garden, coincided with the desires of Likn/T-us. 

 Cliffort, who did not like to be long deprived of the latter, limited 

 the time of his absence to the short period of eight or twelve days. 

 But LiNNyEus was eight days on his passage from Rotterdam to Har- 

 wich. He arrived at London with a letter of recommendation from 

 BoERHAAVE to Sir Hans Sloane, Bart, then the greatest amateur 

 and colledor in natural history, and afterwards founder of the British 

 Museum. This letter is still carefully preserved among the archives 

 of that museum. The substance of tiiis lecter, to the honour of Lin- 

 naeus, and as an exa£l opinion of thai great man, respetting the genius 

 of our young botanist, deserves particular mention : " The bearer of 

 « this letter,'' says Boerhaavf., " is alone luorthy of seeing you — alone 

 « worthy of being seen by you. He who shall see yoic beta together, shall 



see two men, whose like will scarcely ever he found in the world*." 



But notwithstanding a recommendation couched in such expressions 

 as Boerhaave, whose mind was unsullied by flattery, had never 

 written before, and which Sir Hans Sloane had never received of 

 any foreigner, Linnaeus did not meet with that warm and friendly 

 reception which he had fancied. The old Baronet did not seem quite 



* Lin us qui has tibi dabit Litteras, est unice dignus, Te videre, unice dignus, a te vi- 

 deri. Q^i vas videbit simul, videbit hominum par, cui simile vix dabit orbis. 



pleased 



