S78 
to the fifth volume cf your Magarite; 
and have read the letter which difgraces 
it. I find a man who cou!d not conftrue 
the above fimple paffage, deciding with 
the authcrity of a Quintilian or a Johnfon 
on Latin and Englifh fyle. Before him 
the great Linneus, the candid Martyn, 
the modefi Witherirg, the ingenious 
Litchfield Society, and the accomplifhed 
fcholar- Mr. Brand, fall under. indiieri- 
minate ceafure. If my worthy friend 
Dr. Shaw efeapes, it cannot be that this 
Critic is adequate to appreciate his beau- 
ties. Hecan only have adopted the ge- 
neral opinion, which happens in this cafe 
-jult. To keep within the bounds 
of ya I could wifh to forget the 
writer, and only reply to his remarks, 
' One cannot fupprefs a fmile at his inabi- 
a ‘* £0 compicher d the end and aim of 
Mr. Brand,” and at his being fo ready 
to ‘wave any further notice of his trea- 
mn ” , Mr. Brand’s defign, moft admir- 
ably and decifively executed, was to per- 
fasde the truly learned to allow, on the 
authority of the firft critics of ancient 
Rome, of the conttrnétion of new words, 
where, on account of new ideas, they were 
become necefiary in {cience; proceeding 
always according to the principles and 
analegies of the Latin tongue. He chal- 
lenges them to preduce an inftance, in the 
philofephical language of Linnzus, of 
his having formed a term on any other 
PP inciples ; anid no one has an{wered the 
challenge. It is eafy, therefore, to. per- 
rr: why Mr. Caley was diflatished with 
Mr. Brand. He found all his own ideas 
refated, but had not the difcretion to 
k:ep them to himfelf. The only alter- 
native was to acct not to underfand the 
plain and luminous deductions which con- 
victed, bat did not convince him. Even 
thus circumftanced, he ought to have 
-brought forward forne infances from Lin- 
nzus, te fupport his moft. illiberal and 
unqualified aflerticns. I could with him 
to produce examples of ‘* that language, 
io highly kepnenaee to purity and exergy 
-—that phrafeoiogy foreign to every lan- 
guage—that he erogeneous jargon—that 
barbarous phrafeclogy with which na- 
tural hiftoery io ad/ its departments is em- 
barrafied.”” It is fcarcely worth groping 
im the dirt to find out where he picked up 
thefe phra ales, ter I cannot cali them ideas, 
die wi:l, perhaps, gucte Mr, Datnes Bar. 
zington, who criticifes the trivial name 
of the woo! leock (rufiicala), as if it were 
the whole fpecific charaCicr 5; a anore ab- 
furd and difgraceful miltake than.any of 
dr. Caley’s own. Orh he may hone heard 
Letter from Dr. Smith. ~- 
[Dee. i; 
cenfures of fome pieces in the Amanitates 
Academica, which having been written by 
the pupils of Linrzeus, are extremely un- 
equal in ftyle: fome of them very well, 
and-even finely written; others, with more 
philofophical truth than clafiical language, 
But has he heard fault found with the 
Flora Lappextca, the various prefaces, or 
introductory chapters, ef .the immortal 
Swede; or the charageti@tic fketches, or 
rather ae iature piCures, of the manners 
and peculiarities of animals 1 in the Syfema 
Nature? 
The fcientific longvnen of Linnzus 
was not formed ina day, nor was it the 
production of one mind. His unpreme- 
ditated manu{cripts indeed, the original 
journal of his Lapland Tour, and various 
other things, in my poflefiion, fhew the 
Latin language to have been familiar to. 
him. in whatever language he wrote, 2 
vivacity and precifon of expreffion evinced 
the natural quicknefs and clearnefs of his 
thoughts ; but he often preferred a Latin 
fentence or word to his native tongue. 
His extemporary quotations are often very 
happy. Inthe hurry of his immenfe epif- 
tolary correfpondence, he thought only of 
communicating his ideas as compendioufly 
-as poffible ; and had mo time for the trifling 
of allufive phrafeology. He would not, 
like Cardinal Bembo, have fupprefled or 
enfeebled an original thought, rather than 
exprefs it in an arrangement of words not 
exadtly to be found in Cicero ; but he 
had recourfe to the ancients, and to Ci- 
cero himfelf, for all that they afforded for 
his own great purpofe. In the progrefs 
of his extenfve undertakings, amon 
which the improvement of {cientific lan- 
guage was one of the moft arducus, he 
never difdained affiftance. On this par- 
ticular fubject, he had the counfel of the 
beft {cholars his country afforded, p-rti- 
cularly of one of the name of Celhus. 
Critics in language are often faftidious, 
and very difputatious among themfelves, 
more efpecially when they have no other 
knowledge or purfuit ; and no doubt, the 
language of Linngeus, and evenof Ray, 
in whofe praife I moft readily concur, 
may be open to fuch criticifm in fome 
parts of his works; and in others, may 
oftea be ufed with inattention. Similar 
blemifhes fhould be correéted wherever 
they occur ; but the whole fabric is not 
cn their account to be overturned. 
I could add more on this fubjeét, as 
well as on Englifh botanical language, 
but I rather choole patiently to continue 
my own progreflive endeavours to further 
the improvement of the latter. 
language 
A living | 
a 
