128 THROUGH THE FIELDS WITH LINNAEUS 



gnawings of poverty to contend with, he became popular. 

 The elder professors enjoyed his wit and humour they 

 love to be lightly amused, the old do ; the younger and 

 more earnest sought him for the less sparkling treasures 

 of his mind. A walk with him was of immense interest ; 

 he crowded the air and earth with things of life ; Pan 

 lived again. He abounded in conversation, and delighted 

 to pour forth the treasures of his knowledge, and 

 thoughts no longer unspeakable ; tongue-loosened by 

 the oil and wine of gladness, revealing to their astonish- 

 ment Nature's open secret. It was not the money he 

 made : it was the fact of success, of appreciation, that made 

 him 'burst out and rollick along in the joy of existence/ 

 Youth had long been stoppered back with him. It was 

 his delight in finding those dreams were true all with 

 which he used to live in dreamland with Artedi. 



Ah, why was there no Boswell at his elbow to colan- 

 der his best for us ? The diaries only give us the bare 

 facts : we know not what it was to hear his thoughts, 

 fresh, full, powerful like a clear mountain stream; but 

 we know for certain it was fine to hear his ideas bubble 

 forth new-born in beauty in his native tongue, for in after 

 years students, ay, and professors, crowded to Upsala 

 simply to hear him speak in Latin too. These would 

 not have travelled to that far-off nook had not the 

 object been well worth the journey. He was a good 

 listener too, and loved to hear Rudbeck tell all about bis 

 journey with his father into Lapland, and the wonders 

 of the great lone North. Eagerly he explored the 



