47^ ANECDOTES. 



'» consigned them to that obscurity and oblivion in which they have 

 long ago been buried. Notwithstanding this, he could not easily for- 

 give aggressions, and strained every nerve to erase them from the 

 *' annals of literature. He was liberal in dispensing praise, because 

 he was fond of being flattered; and this, indeed, may be consi- 

 " dered as his greatest foible. At the same time, his ambition was 

 " founded upon the consciousness of his own greatness, and upon the 

 " merits which he acquired in a science, over which he had for 

 " so many years wielded the sceptre of sovereignty. Tournefort, 

 " as he often told me, was his pattern in his youth; he did all he could 

 " to equal him, and found at last, that he had left Tournefort at a 

 " great diftance beneath him. 



" L I N N u s has been particularly charged with avarice. It cannot be 

 « denied, that his way of living, considering his good circumstances, was 

 " very moderate, and that he surely did not despise gold. But if I weigh 

 *' in my mind, those extremes of poverty, which so long and so heavily 

 * overwhelmed him, I can easily account for this parsimony. But I 

 «' could not say, that his frugality ever degenerated into sordid avarice. 

 *' I can even prove quite the contrary by my own experience. After hav- 

 " ing given us lectures all the summer round, we were not only obliged 

 " to urge him to receive the fee due for these leftures, but even 

 " to leave the money slyly upon his chest, as he had signified his 

 " resolution not to take it, in a final and peremptory manner. 



" He was not quite happy and comfortable in his own family. His 

 " wife was tall, robust, domineering, selfish, and destitute of every ad- 

 " vantage of a good education. She frequently robbed us of the joys 

 " which gilded our social moments. Unable to hold any conversa- 

 2 " tion 



