LIFE OP LINNjEUS. 19 
time between the duties of his pastoral 
office and the cultivation of his garden. 
The elder Linnaeus was a great lover 
of gardening ; and a very limited in¬ 
come made the productiveness of his 
parterres, at the same time, an affair of 
pecuniary interest ; the sale of his 
flower-roots making an important ad¬ 
dition to his means of support. In this 
simple scene of rural industry, the first 
year of the life of Linnaeus was pass¬ 
ed. Flowers were his first play¬ 
things ; and it is said that the infant 
naturalist manifested unusual delight 
while gazing on their bright colours, 
and inhaling their fragrance. To use 
the words of a French poet: 
Some persons have imagined, that to 
this circumstance in his early life may 
