in-law, at Falun, he found it almost impossible to recollect his name.' His best and finest work was done long after this, in goodly quantity, but the shadow always hung over him; unseen, it was there, like the hidden rift within the lute. He needed another open-air holiday—if his tours can be called holidays. 163 CHAPTER XVIII. WÄSTGOTA RESA-ROUND THE VENERN LAKE. The giant element From rock to rock leaps with delirious bound, Crushing the cliffs which, downward worn and rent More like the fountain of an infant sea Torn from the womb of mountains by the throes With many windings through the vale :-Look back! As if to sweep down all things in its track, Childe Harold. 'IN the beginning of 1746, both their Royal Highnesses Adolf Frideric1 and Louisa Ulrica visited the university, and gave the professors gold medals. Though all the other professors received but one, Linnæus received two, as a mark of peculiar favour,' and also because their Royal Highnesses best loved his peculiar science. Linnæus may be said to have set the fashion of natural history in Sweden. This proves his great 1 Always so spelt in Linnæus's books, title-pages, &c. 2 personal charms of speech and manner, for no fashion becomes a rage unless set off by the charms of those who initiate it.' 'Immediately after the distribution of medals Linnæus undertook the Wästgota Resa, or tour in West Gothland, which had been commanded by the states.' He kept a minute and valuable diary of his tour, which extended from June 12 to August 11. This, being written in Swedish, has never been published in England. None of Linnæus's biographers give even an outline of it. In the following abstract, in which I have been aided by a German translation of the diary, it will be interesting, especially to those who know Sweden and can trace the changes that have taken place since Linnæus wrote, to compare the difference between now and then, and trace the progress, or otherwise, of nearly three half-centuries. The most important portions of the diary, the scientific objects of the journey, I omit, as not being within the scope of this book; these things, being embodied in Linnæus's technical works, are already at the command of the scientific reader. While summarising the great man's views, I add my own superficial observations on the aspect of the country. A salvo of adieux, with waving of handerchiefs, arose The Museum of the Royal Academy of Upsala was augmented by a considerable donation from the king, whilst hereditary prince, in 1746; by another from Count Gyllenborg the year before; and by a third from Mr. Gryll (Grill), an opulent citizen of Stockholm.'Encycl. Brit., eighth edition. 2 Made by D. Schreber in 1764. as Professor Linnæus left his house in the Svartbäcksgatan on Thursday, June 12, 1746, taking the good Enköping road, in a direct line from his own house. He set out on horseback, for he meant to ride to Westerås and get on his ground as speedily as he could, leaving the further manner of his route for circumstances to determine. He proposed to travel great part of his way on foot, for, as every naturalist knows, one's power of observation is comparatively limited on horseback. When the eye is carried forward by an external agency, and its motion is not altogether regulated by the will, many minute objects are too imperfectly seen to convey a definite image, and, however often one may dismount, many slight suggestions that would be tested on foot are allowed to pass without verification.' On foot one is one's own master and has one's eyes at command. at command. Even nowadays, with trains and steamers convenient, or presumed to be so, crosscountry travelling is always tedious and difficult in Sweden; for, once off the main lines of rail or boat, one gets involved in a meshwork of junctions that do not fit and boats that do not run; where the chances are that the very thing one most reckoned upon as a motive power is stäng—that is, shut up immovably. One hundred and fifty years ago the rate of travelling must have been incalculably slow, except in winter, when, land and water being all one white marble crust of ice and snow, the lakes and rivers presented 1 Hooker and Ball's Travels in Morocco. no barrier to travel in any direction, and the land offered a smooth surface in every quarter save the actual forest. All the Svartbäcksgatan and the houses of the 'Smålandic nation' turned out to bid good-bye to the professor-the adieu that sounds like I O U, and the ‘good-day' that sounds like 'Good dog, good dog'the white-capped students wishing that they too could make the trip; the babies kissing their little fat hands; the old crones, as one so generally sees them in Sweden, with faces set in the lines of kindliness; only the wife and mother looking anxious; and even she was not very anxious this time-for was not her Carl an experienced traveller? and this was a holiday jaunt. The street was thronged, just as the railway-stations are now, when the very train is full of friends come to see each other off-two-thirds friends to one-third passengers; so that those who have saved the train by only twenty minutes fancy there is no room left for them, their wraps, and the personalties necessary on long Swedish railway journeys. However, the guard's approach to nip the tickets removes two-thirds of the crowd, and, as the remaining third alights at the next station, one has the carriage to oneself all the rest of the way. It would be unfair to calculate the railway dividends by appearances. Linnæus just names the places' he passed through— Not as in Spain, artfully to fill the carriages to secure more space for their own friends. |