OF THE LIFE OF LINNAEUS. 203 



«« had been gent to you from England, and diat you had decorated your 

 *' walls with them at Hammarby.'' 



" Now to the most important point ! The Princess has lately began a 



work, and I am at a loss to guess whether it does greater honour to 

 "her scientific 'zeal, or to your System of Nature. She causes all 

 *' your Species Plantarim, together with the parts of fruftification of the 

 " plants, to be engraved in a most capital and most sumptuous style^ 



Each plate costs four Louis d'ors, and represents one plant only, with 

 " its pishlla and seminal vessels represented separately, and the number 

 *' of the plates will amount to 10,000. M. Gauther Dacoti, an ex- 

 " cellent engraver, is very recently arrived here from Paris, The 

 « species of the Veronica are already finished, and executed beautifullyi 

 " for the whole is done under the immediate inspeftion of the Princess. 

 " She is not only a great botanist, but there are also but few who equal her 

 *' in the art of drawing. She examines every plate with the most scrupu- 

 « lous attention, and correfts the slightest blemish or fault. She after- 

 " wards paints the plants in the most lively colours. This work must, of 

 « course, become the most correQ and splendid which ever graced tha 

 *' annals of botany, and will fully answer its title of Icones Omnium, 

 *» Specierum Plantarum C. Linn^i. 



" The Princess intends likewise to beautify with similar engravings 

 " your system of the animal reign. A present has been made to her of 

 " the description of the two Royal Swedish Museums, given by you, 

 " bound in a sumptuous manner, bearing on the outside the King's and 

 " the Queen's name, and the arms of Sweden. Her Highness sends you 

 *' one of the plates representing a Veronica by way of specimen. She 

 «« will be glad if it meets your approbation." 



D d 2 Besides 



