298 THE LIFE OF THE YOUNGER LINN^LUS. 
the Royal Society of London, that great lover of nature, who so much dis- 
tinguished himself, and acquired such transcendent merit as a promoter 
of natural history, by the great sums which he expends upon natural 
curiosities, by bis own enthusiasm for that science, and by his partici- 
pating in Captain Cook’s second voyage round the world. The man- 
ner in which Sir Hans Sloane had received the father, and the recep- 
tion which the son now met with, formed a most striking contrast. Sir 
Joseph was an ancient correspondent and friend of his father’s, and re- 
ceived the younger Linnaeus, whose countryman and colleague Dr. 
Solander had accompanied him on his voyage round the world, and 
was now his intimate friend and assistant, with all that warmth of 
friendship and kindness, which, under similar circumstances, can possi- 
bly be expressed by the noblest and most elevated mind.. 
Sir Joseph made Linnaeus welcome to make his house his own du- 
ring his stay in England , and the latter found in it the most seleQ; com- 
pany. The rare colleftion of natural treasures brought together from all 
parts of the world, especially those from the new discovered countries in 
the South Seas, which he saw at Sir Joseph’s, was the greatest treat for 
his curiosity and his love of knowledge. This colleftion, on account of 
the copiousness, the rarity, and value of its contents, is the first of 
which any private individual could ever boast in Europe. Linnaus 
viewed, and examined article by article, and saw more curiosities here 
than he would have obst ved, had he travelled himself for a long series 
of years in the remotest quarters of the globe. Sir Joseph, with his 
wonted liberality, enriched his visitor with a number of duplicate-plants 
and other natural curiosities. The British Museum, that great repository 
of natural science and art, whose immense treasures were then principally 
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