*73 
CHARACTER OF LINN^US. 
« moved or irritated ; that he is but slow in adopting opinions, and 
« perseveres perhaps with too much obstinacy in those which he had 
« once received; that he was not possessed of moderation sufficient to 
« resist the censure and the contradi&ions of his rivals. — Such avowals 
only prove, that Linn*us was passionately fond of fame, and that 
K this passion like all others is subject to frailties and excesses. But 
“ how small is the number of men who have that courage which he 
u had to own their frailties.” 
“ Thus the care which he took of his eulogium, and which in another 
man might perhaps have been the mere impulse of vanity, was in him 
** but a fresh proof of his love of truth. After having combated errors 
a all his life time, he would not palliate those which admiration or envy 
« might have urged for or against him.” 
The extraordinary laconism in the works of Linn.* us, and per- 
haps the too frequent use of systematic description, render the perusal 
of them difficult ; they require more being studied than read ; but 
afford afterwards a rich compensation in the precision of his ideas, 
and in the advantage of presenting, all at once, a multiplicity of results. 
Linn*us was well aware that naked truth possessed the most captivat- 
ing charms, and that those ornaments which are used to set her off, serve 
only to mask her. He was more eager to form naturalists and to instru6l 
students than to" entertain amateurs. The powers of eloquence which 
allure the latter and please the idle fancy, were a gift which he never 
desired to make his own. His countrymen, at the same time, found in 
the works which he wrote in his mother-tongue, an elegant and pleasant 
diftion, and that kind of eloquence, which among all others, is the 
most enrapturing, and perhaps the only one peculiarly adapted to phi- 
2 losophical 
