254 THROUGH THE FIELDS WITH LINNsEUS 



annum. He strained every nerve to obtain a continu- 

 ance of this, but failed. ' He had enjoyed it one year, 

 but after that nothing, and as soon as he went abroad 

 he lost this exhibition through his enemies.' l 



Falun had materially altered in its aspect for Lin- 

 naeus since he had been absent. Sara Elizabeth, the 

 elder of the two handsome daughters of Dr. Moraeus, 

 had come from Sveden, her father's country seat at 

 some distance from Falun, and she, like the rest of the 

 world in the Dalecarlian capital, was curious to see the 

 interesting traveller who had recently returned suc- 

 cessful at the head of an adventurous band of explorers. 

 In fancy I can see their introduction to each other ; 

 they first shook hands, then she bobbed a curtsey, and 

 he lifted off his hat. This is the order of the usual 

 salutation in Sweden. The little girls and young 

 women always dip a curtsey to everyone in the company ; 

 even the youngest boys never omit to take off their hats 

 separately to each person. * I was struck when I first 

 saw her/ writes Linnaeus to his friend Haller, ' and felt 

 my heart assailed by new sensations and anxieties. 

 Nature is nature wherever you find it,' whether in the 

 land of Romeo or of Linnaeus. Elizabeth, too, seems 

 at once to have felt the strange power of eyes made to 

 discover truth ; and here was a truth entirely new to 

 him that the charm of a beautiful maiden is the 

 most exquisite thing in the world. He who had coun- 

 selled the young men, his companions, to keep their 

 1 Diary. 



