OPPONENTS OF LINN^US.- 



" occasion to be angry with me, you will like me if you see me in person, 

 " and come to get acquainted with my v/ay of thinking. My very ene- 

 " mies must own in my absence how much I esteem you. I lament ex- 

 " tremely my having offended your noble disposition towards me, I 

 " regret my fault, and crave your pardon. I hope this explanation will 

 " afford you satisfaftion, and you will, as formerly, remain my friend." 



And so did Haller remain the friend of Linnaeus. He gave him 

 the noblest and most egregious proofs of his friendship. Their mutual 

 correspondence continued till 1750. Three years after, Haller left 

 Goeiiingen, and returned to Bern, his native city. A colleftion of 

 critical disquisitions, which Haller's son published against Linn^us, 

 during four years, reckoning from 1750, seems however to have been 

 the cause which broke off that correspondence. 



The personal and reciprocal esteem and attachment between these 

 two great men, was not unfrequently disturbed by jealousy and literary 

 discordance. Considering the difference of their genius and way of 

 thinking, it could not happen otherwise. That poet who sung with 

 such beautiful philosophy the vanity of honour, would not have been 

 the polyhistor of the age, had not a sense of that same honour guided 

 him on the path of fame. With all the discretion and sedate grandeur 

 of his temper, he was not insensible of its sweets and its value. 



As to LiNN.tus, glory was the soul of all his endeavours, and the 

 idol of his affeftions. He rose to be the monarch of botany, and 

 claimed universal homage. Haller followed his own method in that 

 science. How could it therefore have been possible that public dis- 

 putes, reproaches, and petty attacks should not sometimes have broken 

 out between them, 



" LiNN.'EUs" 



