* 
8o LINNiEUS IN HOLLAND. 
belonged to the species of bays. We examined other flowers; he 
objected, but I refuted his objections, and persuaded him. At last, 
he asked me ; ts Will you help me in my Ceylon collection ? Will and 
“ can you stay at Amsterdam ?" Linnaeus informed him that his poverty 
rendered it absolutely impossible. Burmann had already grown 
so fond of him and his acquirements, that he generously offered to 
board and lodge him in his own house, free from all expence. 
Linnaeus, enlivened with the hope of making perhaps his for- 
tune in Holland , and delighted with a situation which could pro- 
cure him so many opportunities of enlarging the knowledge which had 
been constantly the objeCt of his exertions, accepted with gratitude the 
hospitable offer. Though fortune offered him no settled prospe&s, yet 
he could return to Sweden in spring with both more advantage and 
greater convenience. He entered the house of .Burmann, where he 
found a considerable collection of natural curiosities, and what was 
more valuable still, a seleCt library of books relative to botany and 
natural history in general. These became of service in the completion 
of several of his works, among which was comprised his Botanical 
Library (Bibliotheca Botanica ), published by him three years after, and 
dedicated to the friend who had shown him so much kindness. He 
d an opportunity partly to requite those favours to the son of Bur- 
mann, who studied under him at Upsal, in the year 1759, and in- 
herited the dignity and fame of his father. Among the many distin- 
guished members of Burmann s family, we deem it proper to mention 
the meritorious Philologist Peter Burmann, who was a son of the 
proteCtor of Linnaeus. 
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