UPSALA 89 



He made himself master of the bearings of the town, 

 and with experienced glance at once fixed upon the best 

 site for a botanic garden, when he, the radical reformer, 

 should once get a voice in the matter ; he examined 

 the place with curiosity, considering what improvements 

 he should make when high in the university for a great 

 man he determined and fully expected to be. On the 

 whole, he was pleased with the view of Upsala. These 

 are his own words : < Upsala is the ancient seat of 

 government. Its palace was destroyed by fire in 1702. 

 With respect to situation and variety of prospects, 

 scarcely any city can be compared with this. For the 

 distance of a quarter of a Swedish mile it is surrounded 

 with fertile corn-fields, which are bounded by hills, and 

 the view is terminated by spacious forests.' 



Time was flying, and Carl had to report himself as 

 arrived and enrol himself in one of the thirteen 'nations ' 

 of the university. He had to find himself in lodgings and 

 settle down : all this to do before dusk and the days 

 shorten in September, especially so far north as Upsala. 

 This palpable fact startled the young SmSlander. He 

 briskly returned to the town across the broken turfy 

 ground behind the castle, through the court (that was to 

 have been a quadrangle, only it was never made so, the 

 town front of the castle alone being built) containing 

 the long-bearded bust of Gustavus Vasa mounted on four 

 cannons. He scrambled round among the unfinished 

 turrets, finding no path down the steep hill on that side, 

 but lingering a moment to behold the panoramic view 



