sncer at woman's efforts shall be constrained to own that she, too, can faithfully and nobly fulfil her mission; until the squire of dames, whose highest ambition is to arrange a fold or decide a flounce, shall be forced to own that gentler hands are better fitted for the task, and that his laurels would be better gathered, if need were, on the battle field, certainly on the felled forest or the ploughed field, or at the forge, than in the millinery

saloon? Then faint-hearted females, seeing a sister's success, may take heart, and, incited and strengthened by noble examples, may, too, scorn humble dependence on the bouuty of richer relatives, and fearlessly go and do likewise, certain of the sympathy and support of all who, although richer in the goods of the world, yet, in one common Father, recognise a sister's claims.

THIS is a little work from a lady's pen, giving a concise and interesting account of this great man, whose name is so familiar to the world, and the value of whose researches is so well recognised. | The lives of great and good men contain a fund of instruction, and, therefore, works of the class, written in an easy and pleasant manner, are particularly suited to the young. The desire for mere works of fiction, of exciting tales, and stories of the grossest improbability, is a dangerous appetite to encourage. Indulged in to excess, it produces a vitiated and unhealty state of mind. Good wholesome literature is as necessary a tonic to the thoughts, as a clear bracing air, or a strengthening diet, is needful for the invigorating of the body. The retrospect of the career of those who have worthily and successfully passed through life's struggle is a beneficial exercise. We see much to admire, somewhat it may be to deplore-pit-falls and chasms to avoid, pleasant plains, and flowering meadows to lie down and rest in. And storms no doubt are there in every landscape of the kind, relieved by bright glances of sunshine, while rugged precipices of steep ascent, speak of toil and labour.

Such is the picture of each great man's life. He has climbed those rugged cliffs, fainting and weak it may be, yet determined to climb on. The storm has beaten on him, the sunshine warmed him to life again. He may have slumbered in the pleasant plains, or, perchance, sunk in the snaring pit-falls. But turn we now to Linnæus, and see the course he ran.

Like almost all celebrated men, he was born poor, and carving out his own fortunes, owed his renown to none other than himself. His father, the pastor of the parish of Stenbrohult, in the province of Smaland, in the south of Sweden, married Christina Prodersonia, the daughter of the former rector of the parish. Her chronicler states that she possessed all the virtues of her sex, and was an excellent economist. "No doubt," adds the authoress of this little work," she found ample room for the exercise of this her distinguishing excellence, for her husband's stipend was smal, and

she brought him a goodly family of two sons and three daughters.' We may well believe that thrift and frugality were necessary in the ménage of this small household. Carl, the subject of this memoir, was the eldest son of this good couple, who "reared him with the tenderest solicitude, devoting the utmost attention to impressing on his mind the love of virtue, both in precept and example." He was born in 1707 at Rashult.

His early life was passed in a pleasant valley adjoining the lake Möklen, surrounded by hills and woods, and cultivated grounds, and there the child of the country learnt to love its unsophisticated pleasures, and revel in the beauties scattered by Nature's hand. The elder Linnæus was fond of gardens and flowers, and had a rare collection of the latter. The child inherited his father's taste, and the first dawning of it is related as follows in the work under consideration :

:

He was hardly four years old when he chanced to accompany his father to a rural fête at Möklen; and, in the evening, it being a pleasant season of the year, the guests seated themselves on the flowery turf, and listened to the good pastor, who entertained them with remarks on the names and properties of the plants which grew around them, show ing them the roots of succisa, tormentella, and orchides. The little Carl attended with the utmost eagerness to all he saw and heard, and from that time never ceased harassing his father with questions about the name, qualities, and nature of every plant he met with, an unlooked-for result of the

evening lecture, and which seems to have cost the worthy man no small trouble; for the child (not unlike other children for that matter) very often asked more than his

father was able to answer-in addition to which he used immediately to forget all he learned, and especially the names of the plants.

This is not to be wondered at in a little fellow of four years old; however, his father was determined to improve his memory in this particular, and, therefore, "to cure him of the mischievous habit of inattention, his father refused to answer his questions unless he would promise to remember what was told him, which judicious management, wrought a speedy and effectual cure, insomuch that he tells us, he ever afterwards retained with ease whatever he heard." This statement seems rather overdrawn. It is scarcely probable that

forming all the duties of his office." Good Fortune, as usual, brought her ugly handmaid Envy with her. A rival, in the person of Dr. Rosen, started up, who wished to usurp the privilege of lecturing at these gardens. He did not obtain it, and perhaps the failure increased his envy to Linnæus.

In 1732, he set out on his expedition to Lap: land. This undertaking was at the instance of the Royal Academy, who defrayed the expenses. And we cannot here do better than give the words of his biographer in describing his progress, and the perils he encountered. She says—

During this journey, Linnaeus travelled over the greater part of Lapland, skirting the boundaries of Norway, and returned to Upsala by the eastern side of the Bothnian Gulf, having in five months performed a journey of 4,000 English miles, mostly on foot. He necessarily endured many hardships, and vast fatigue, and his life was several times imperilled. Bogs and forests intercepted his way, and food, even of the coarsest description, it was often no easy matter to obtain. Yet, amid all difficulties, his spirit was unflagging, and obstacles only seemed to quicken his seal. The natural curiosities of the country, the manners of the people, and the various features of the various regions he traversed —all were observed, and written down for future use. He collected above 100 plants, entirely undescribed and unknown before and upon his return, arranged all the flora of Lap. land according to his own favourite system, and delivered publicly an account of his journey."

The account of this journey is very interesting. After leaving Upsala, and passing through the province of Medelpad, Linnæus took his way along the seashore, and finally reached Hernosand, the principal town of Augermania, in the Bothnian Gulf.

Miss Brightwell tells us a narrow escape he had in this place in the following words :

He visited a tremendously steep and lofty mountain called Skula, where was a cavern, which he desired to explore. Here he was within a hair's breadth of a fatal accident, for one of the peasants who accompanied him, in climbing up, loosed a large stone, which was hurled down the track Linnæus had just left, and fell exactly on the spot he had occupied. "If I had not," he says, "providentially changed my route, nobody would ever have heard of me more; I was surrounded by fire and smoke, and should certainly, but for the protecting hand of Providence, have been crushed to pieces."

The character of Linnæus came out in this remark; throughout his life he was a Christiannot theoretically alone, but practically. He still pursues this weary journey; and as he goes on he says, I began to feel very solitary, and to long earnestly for a companion." The season had now changed, no flowers were visible, and the "country was covered with snow."

But we must not linger over this interesting picture. One more extract, however, we take, which sounds strangely to our southern ears in the fact it relates. It must be remembered that he had now reached the mountainous district of Lapland, and was wandering among those Alpine heights.

On my first ascending these wild Alps (he says), I felt as if in a new world. Here were no forests to be seen, but

mountains upon mountains, larger and larger as I advanced, all covered with snow. No road, no tracks, nor any sign of peared sufficiently to allow any cooling shade.

inhabitants were visible. The declining sun never disap

have been unpleasant rather than otherwise in a We pause, to suggest that cooling shade would snow covered region. Shade might have been sun's light on the snow; but a cooling shade would agreeable, as affording relief from the glare of the have been disagreeable. Many will suppose the cooling to be an error of translation. That opinion would, however, imply that the reader was not familiar with northern regions, where the continuous influence of the sun for many hours above the horizon, produces a degree of heat that would not be expected from mere position. However, to

continue.

By climbing to the more elevated parts of these lofty mountains, I could see it (the sun) at midnight above the horizon. This spectacle I consider as not one of the least of nature's miracles, for what inhabitant of other countries would not wish to behold it? (and he adds) Oh Lord, how wonderful are thy works!

On his reaching home again, after months of labour and fatigue, he received 112 silver dollars (not more than £10) from the Academy of Sciences, for his travelling expenses. A small sum when compared with the outlay for Arctic and other expeditions now granted by Governments.

We pass on to the time when the naturalist began to take au interest in a flower which cerfainly could neither be found in the cold region he had traversed, nor in the scientific works he had searched. In plain words, Linnæus fell in love. Notwithstanding his talent, and his energy, and his love of botany, he shared the weaknesses of other men, and fell in love, as we said before. The lady of his choice was the daughter of Dr. John Moroeus, and possessed of a considerable fortune. This latter consideration, which in our day would certainly not be considered a disadvantage, looked like a formidable barrier to Linnæus. Besides, he was not sure whether the doctor would give his daughter to the "penniless student," as the authoress calls him. There was great common sense in that doubt. But Linnæus was unmistakeably and seriously in love. Determining to know his fate rather than linger in uncertainty, he boldly asked the hand of the lady. "The worthy physician thought well of Linnæus, but not of his prospects in life; he wavered about giving his consent to the union, but ultimately decided, that after a probation of five years, he would give his final answer."

That was the very extreme of prudence. No doubt he hoped the young people, or, at least, his daughter, for Linnæus was then in his thirtieth year, would alter their minds. Dr. John must have been a worldly-wise man, and expected more from delay than from absolute necessity. There was no hesitation about Linnæus. Being betrothed it became his duty to provide the means of maintaining a wife. By the advice of a friend, he

chose medicine as his profession, and determined to take a doctor's degree in some foreign university. Thus his travels began again, and having about £15 in his purse, for the sake of the fair Moroeus he "set off to the University of Hardervyck. Thence he went through the lower provinces of Sweden to Lubeck, and finally to Hamburgh, "Where he continued about a month," The authoress here gives us an amusing account of an imposition which he detected in the museum of the Burgomaster Anderson, where she tells

us

There was a seven-headed monster, which had been regarded as a masterpiece of nature, and figured by the celebrated Seba in his Thesaurus; it was esteemed so valuable, that it had been pledged in security for a loan of 10,000 marks (£750).

manner.

66

Linnæus thought himself extremely happy in obtaining a sight of this curiosity, which he viewed at the place where it lay, deposited in a box about an ell and a half long, and embalmed in a perfect He gazed with the utmost wonder at the prodigy, and could not sufficiently admire it, till at length, bent upon a close inspection of the marvellous phenomenon, he, with keen eye, examined the gaping mouths of the beast, some of which had been shrivelled up, worn by the edge of time, and showed the teeth, which, it seemed to him, bore a strong resemblance to those of weasles. Weasles' teeth in a serpent's mouth! Strange, and wholly inconsistent with the established laws of the "Rèque Animal." There must be something amiss. Regardless of disagreeable embarrassments, and of all probable results, the young naturalist pronounced the famous seven-headed bydra-that rare master-piece of nature," which had formerly been exhibited on an altar in a Roman Catholic church at Prague, to be a deception, composed of weasel's jaw-bones covered with serpent's teeth! "It may be readily imagined," says Miss Brightwell, "that this discovery by no means enhanced the value of the prodigy; and in the end Linnæus found it would be his wisest course to follow the advice of Dr. Joenisch, who whispered in his car to begone, with all possible speed, if he wished to avoid all endless delays and litigations." Amsterdam was the next place he visited; then he returned to Heardervyck, where, on June 23rd, 1735, he obtained his degree. In 1736, he came to England, bearing with him a letter of introduction from the celebrated physician Boerhaave to Sir Hans Sloane, the founder of the British Museum. He was "much struck with London, and it has been reported that the golden bloom of the furze on the commons in the vicinity of London delighted him so much that he fell on his knees in a rapture at the sight. He was always an admirer of this plant, and vainly endeavoured to preserve it in a greenhouse through a Swedish winter."

Paris was also honoured by his presence, as well as other continental cities; but he did not remain very long in any of these. In September, 1738, he took up his residence in Stockholm, and "hoped

to establish himself there as a physician. It was up-hill work at first, but success ultimately rewarded him. His fortunes now began to mend, and we read

The merits and fame of Linnæus rose from this time into

higher repute, and attracted to him the attention of Count Tessin, who had been tutor to the King of Sweden, and was himself well versed in the sciences, and a lover of natural history. This nobleman showed him the utmost favour, and through his influence procured him a salary of 200 ducats per aunum, on consideration that he would give public lectures on botany and mineralogy. This was but the

commencement of his benefits, which Linnæus, desirous of transmitting the memory of his benefactor to posterity, has thus enumerated in the last edition of his great work, the Systema Naturae:" "He received me, a stranger, on my return; he obtained me a salary from the States; the appointment of physician to the Admiralty, the professorship of botany at Upsala, the title of the Dean of the College of Physicians, the favour of two Kings, and recommended me by a medal to posterity."

Fortune being thus propitious, he married, on the 26th of June, 1739, Sara Elizabeth Moroeus.

Thus have we accompanied the naturalist through the weary part of his career up to the summit of his ambition. He was now a celebrated man, famous in his public position, happy in his domestic relations. He went on perseveringly with his studies, and published several works. He did not much fancy his medical duties, but they brought grist to the mill, and therefore were continued. He is said by one of his biographers to have been

fonder of meddling with plants than with patients." Probably this was true, for in the little book before us we find it stated that, in writing to Haller, he said-" Once I had plants and no money, now, what is money without plants ?"

The authoress traces his future progress, and tells us of the honours which were conferred on him up to the autumn of 1741, when he removed with his wife and infant son to Upsala, henceforth his constant residence. He obtained the Botanic Chair at Upsala, and as a Professor "was thoroughly absorbed in the discharge of his academical functions."

But we hasten on to the concluding scene of the pleasant work. Another son was born to Linnæus at a somewhat advanced period of his life. This boy died before he was three years old. He had also four daughter's, the eldest of whom inherited her father's taste for botany. His son, at the age of eighteen, was appointed Demonstrator in the Botanic Garden at Upsala, and at twentyone was nominated Assistant Professor of Botany in the University, with a promise to succeed to all his father's academical furctions.

Linnæus was now an old man, and the accompaniments of age were gradually creeping over him. In 1764 he had an attack of pleurisy; from this he recovered, but feebleness was coming on him. His memory began to fail, and he could no longer prosecute his studies and researches as he had formerly done.

In December, 1772, Linnæus resigned his office of Rector of the University, which he had thrice

exercised; and on this occasion he gave an oration on the "Delights of Nature." It was the last ever delivered by him, and was so much admired by the audience, that, the morning after, a deputation was sent to him in the name of the University, to request that he would print it in the Swedish language."

In the spring of 1774, he had an attack of apoplexy; another occurred in 1776, and this last paralysed one side, and reduced him to the condition of a cripple. "He used," and we again extract Miss Brightwell's words, "to be carried to his museum, where he gazed on the treasures he had collected with so much care and labour.

Lingering and painful were the twelvemonths of his existence; but at length, on the 10th January, 1778, he quietly expired in his sleep, having lived precisely seventy years, seven months, and seven days."

We have derived great pleasure from the perusal of this pleasing little volume. Such works are a credit to the female pen, and much more useful than the silly and senseless works of fiction, which do nothing more than occupy, for they can scarcely be said to amuse, a vacant hour. Miss Brightwell deserves the thanks of all, but especially the young, for her interesting and instructive little work, "The Life of Linnæus."

ALEPPINE

THE East is a land of metaphor, flowery in rhetoric; a land of much waste of breath and absurd compliments. It is a land of acute bargains-Greeks, Turks, Hebrews, Armenians, and foreigners of almost every nation, striving to outvie each other in what we would term, downright cheating. They will "strain at a guat and swallow a camel," almost in the literal sense of this proverb. Hadji Mishmis, the devout Greek merchant, who has spent the Easter festival at Jerusalem, and lit the precious candle, now swathed in holy linen, and laid up against his burial, at the very threshold of the Holy Sepulchre, would willingly undergo any amount of personal suffering or deprivation, rather than break through the priest-ordained edicts which prohibit meat or fish, or even eggs or milk through the numerous fast days registered in the Greek Kalends; not even when prostrated by sickness, and when olives, and oil, and garlic are prescribed by physician and priest, can this conscientious Greek, and his fanatical family, be induced to break through the fast, and have some chicken broth. Yet this very man, lying at the gate of death, will stir up every energy at the prospect of bargain, and, perhaps, with his last gasp, ask one hundred per cent over value, looking as cool the while, and secretly caconating if the customer has been such a prodigious dolt as to close with the offer. The same may be said of the Armenian, the Jew, and the Turk; the one and the other would sooner forfeit their beards | (and that is considered a great and a shameful sacrifice) rather than break through the Sabbath observances, or the abstinence imposed by the fast of the Ramden. Yet these very men would die broken hearted if, on a retrospective glance at their past lives, they could not reflect upon poor victims gulled, and many a hundred per cent., net gains, pocketed.

The same love of bargaining, though in a very different form, extends to the females of all classes in Syria or Palestine. They would be wretched

BARGAIN S.

if they could obtain even decided bargains in their favour, unless the success had been purchased at the cost of a couple of hours jabbering and bating; and the smaller the value of the desired article, so much the more vehement and strenuous are they in beating down hapless shopkeepers, till, after hours of fatiguing exertion to the lungs of all parties concerned, perhaps a quarter of a yard of calico is purchased, and a piastre or so changes hands.

In mercantile transactions, however, where considerable sums are at stake, the real thirst for and delight in bargaining shine forth palpably. To such a pitch has the system been carried at Aleppo, that no merchant, of whatever creed or nation, is unprovided with regular professional "delalh,” or brokers-men who act as "go betweens" to contracting parties; and without whom the whole glory and fiction of Eastern bargaining would be null and void.

There is as much, and as systematic an education in the rearing of the Syrian "delalb," as is required for the bar, or any other learned profes sion; though, of course, of a widely different nature. Where strict morality is the guiding star of the one, roguery and knavishness are the helm and sail of the other. Almost from his first effort at lisping, the hopeful offspring of the delalh (and the occupation, like most other occupations, trades, and callings in the East, invariably passes from father to son, or confines itself to branches of the same family), is initiated into the art of deception and lying. A double face and a false tongue are an indispensable requisition if he hopes to thrive in this world; and, not being an exotic, the young Syrian takes to it very kindly.

Little Hadji Mohamed, long before he attains the dignity of anything like decent clothing, or a pair of slippers, may be encountered any day in the filthier and more populous parts of the city, amongst a wretched rabble of unwashed children, disposing of lollipops at an infinitissimal per