b o o k “ Thongh his love o f fame was boundlefs, and his common
. . ' . “ adage, Famam extendere faclis, the true image o f his foul,
“ .yet this ambition had no other objeCt than literary emi-
“ -nence ; and never degenerated into an offeniive and unfo-
“ cial pride. Nor was the rank, to which he had been raifed
u by the favour of his fovereign, any otherwife agreeable to
“ him than as a mark o f his high reputation in fcience. In
“ matters relative to botany he could not eaiilv brook any
•“ contradiction: he thankfully, indeed, received and ufed
<! the annotations o f his friends for the improvement o f his
“ works ; but he difdained the attacks o f his opponents, and,
“ by never replying, coniigned them to that oblivion in
which they have long been buried. He was himfelf li-
** beral in his encomiums, and not difpleafed with being ad-
■** mired, which feems to have been his principal foible : his
“ love o f praife, however, was founded on the ilrong per-
ception of his own excellence ; on his acknowledged im-
“ provements o f natural hiftory; and upon the confciouf-
xt nefs of being efteemed the fir ft fyftematick writer o f the
“ age. Tournefort, as he often affured me, he had looked
ff up to from his youth as the mailer whom he had
<( propofed to imitate, and whom he foon furpaffed in a very
M confiderable degree.
“ His way o f life was moderate and parfimonious; and
“ he has been accufed of covetoufnefs *. I cannot, however,'
“ but hold him in fbme meafure excufed, i f he placed too
high a value upon money, the want o f which lie had fo
“ long and fo feverely experienced. It may alfo be urged in
* I t is afufficient refuta tion o f th e ch a rg e “ arid m a&s o f ch a r ity ; and that he always
o f avarice : that “ though he was ex trem e ly remitted to po o r iludents what was due
“ fp a r in g in his own p r iv a te expences ; y e t “ to him fg r a ttending his le& u re s .”
4 *4ie was lib era l in en te r ta in in g his .friend^, 93» c k .
" his defence, that the habits o f extreme parfimony, which CHA-P-
“ ■he had contracted under the moil preffing neceffities, ad-. V-Jl‘ ‘ .
“ hered to him afterwards; and could not be fliaken off even
‘4 in times o f affluence. I never, however, perceived that
“ his frugality degenerated into fordid avarice-; and I can
“ alledge my own example as an inftance to the contrary. He-
“ refufed in, fo peremptory a manner to accept the acknowle
d g em e n t due-to him for reading ledures to us during
“ the whole fummer, that we were obliged (after having in
“ vain endeavoured to force it upon him) to leave it fecretly
u behind us.”
i To the honour 0f his country andtheprefentage, L innaus ■
reaped the advantage o f his fuperior genius by the unfoli-
cited accumulation o f wealth and honours. In 17-53 he was-
created a knight o f the Polar-ftar, and ennobled in 1-756.
His writings brought him, on account o f their number ,
no mconfiderable emolument'^; while-his falary as profeffor
his praClice as a phyfician, and the prefents which he occa-
iionally received from his fcholars, rendered him eafy and'
independent. He purchafed in the neighbourhood o f Up-
iala two eftates,. at Hammarby and at Scefja, at the former o f
winch he built a v illa ; and at his deceafe bequeathed an ample
provilion to his widow and children.. He left four
daughters and one fon, Charles Linnasus, who fucceeded
him in.the pnofeirorfliip,.and died on. the firil o f November
The name o f Linnaeus- may be cl ailed amongft thofe o f
Newton,, Boyle, Locke, Haller, Euler, and other great philosophers,
who were friends to religion : he. always- teilified
in his converfations, writings, and aClions, the hioheit reve-
tence for the Supreme Being,; and was fo ilrongly im-
* A d u ca t, or abou t 9j . each ilieet. F ab r ic iu s .,
preiled