THE NORTH SWEDISH PROVINCES 137 



any other person. The composition is entirely artless 

 and unaffected, giving a most pleasing idea of the writer's 

 mind and temper, and it is interesting in showing the 

 development of a mind such as that of Linnaeus. It is 

 not a professed description of Lapland, nor even a regular 

 detail of the route of the traveller. What was familiar 

 to Linnaeus, either in books or in his own mind, he 

 omitted. By the brilliant sketches he has left us in his 

 1 Flora Lapponica,' written in Holland some years later, 

 we see his journal perfected by after-research, which 

 makes it more solid but not so fresh. In the journal 

 we meet with the first traces of ideas, opinions, or dis- 

 coveries, which scarcely acquired a shape, even in the 

 mind of the writer, till some time afterwards. The 

 familiar and correct use of the Latin language, and the 

 general accuracy of the observations, give a very high 

 idea of the author's accomplishments, considering they 

 are made without a single book to refer to or a com- 

 panion to consult. The original, moreover, displays a 

 natural eloquence, of which the translation, especially 

 when condensed, falls short. The numerous sketches 

 with a pen that occur in the MS. are strikingly illus- 

 trative. His handwriting was small, but legible and 

 elegant. 1 The ' Lachesis Lapponica ' had not been 

 translated when Stoever and Pulteney wrote, so that 

 it is here first given with the c Life.' It is interesting 

 to read this in connection with the journeys of Wheel- 

 wright and Du Chaillu on the same roads ; Linnaeus is 

 1 Partially abridged from Sir J. Smith's preface. 



