AN OVERDOSE OF PROSPERITY 35 



The travellers rested at Leyden and the Hague, and 

 then went on to Delft in the same easy manner, on the 

 same sort of splendid brick-paved road, through an 

 avenue of plane trees by the side of the canal, enlivened 

 by mills and boats, and black-and-white cows browsing 

 beneath the pollard willows ; the roadside adorned by 

 country houses, with large iron gates fencing their 

 avenues a sight which affected the still feeble Linnaeus 

 well-nigh to tears, as these things reminded him of 

 Hartecamp and all the kindness lavished on him since 

 he arrived in Holland a penniless and friendless foreigner. 

 He grasped his benefactor's hand with effusion. The 

 evening in the oozy country, with mist rising from all 

 the irrigation channels, and above all, with the feeling 

 that it was his farewell, was painfully depressing to his 

 invalid spirits. The kind Clifford did not leave him till 

 he had housed him safely in the comfortable inn, which 

 still exists, behind the town-hall of Delft and ordered 

 everything for the comfort of his further journey. 



