60 
MEMOIR OF LINNAEUS. 
His memory was most comprehensive, and remained 
almost unimpaired till his sixtieth year ; but the most 
remarkable feature in his comprehensive mind, was the 
power to seize upon the essential characters of what- 
ever he was engaged with, to separate the useful from 
the useless, and at once to characterise them with that 
decision and clearness which so peculiarly mark his 
writings and descriptions. A better example of this can- 
not be referred to, and his style will be better understood 
in the perusal, than his Imperium Naturce, or the pre- 
face to the three kingdoms of his Sy sterna Naturce. 
This love of order was equally conspicuous in his 
domestic arrangements. In winter he slept from nine 
to six, in summer Horn ten to three ; but he never 
extended his application of mind beyond the moment 
at which he felt fatigue, and whatever fact came to 
his knowledge, he noted it immediately in its proper 
place. He was frugal in his way of living, and in his 
greatest prosperity never gave way to extravagance 
or ostentation ; he was a strict economist, yet liberal 
in conferring benefits. He often relieved his pupils 
when in want, and was always ready to assist them 
in their travels, either by money or advice. In his 
capacity as teacher, he possessed the faculty of in- 
teresting his hearers, and of making himself easily 
understood, and his pupils looked upon him more in 
the light of a counsellor or beloved adviser, than as a 
■grave or austere professor. 
