64 THROUGH THE FIELDS WITH LINNAEUS 



CHAPTER XV. 



LIFE AT STOCKHOLM. 



Reuben and Rachel, though as fond as doves, 

 Were yet discreet and cautious in their loves, 

 Nor would attend to Cupid's wild commands, 

 Till cool affection bade them join their hands. 

 When both were poor, they thought it argued ill 

 Of hasty love to make them poorer still. 



CRABBE'S Parish Register. 



could not be allowed to marry till some pro- 

 spect of a permanent establishment should be discovered. 

 Stockholm was thought of as a promising abode. 1 His 

 own longing was towards Upsala, his Alma Mater, whom 

 he wished to endow with the lustre of his discoveries. 

 But here there was no opening, nor likely to be one soon 

 enough to satisfy a lover's impatience. His future father- 

 in-law ridiculed his botanical researches as ' drawing 

 his attention from the practice of medicine, which was 

 his safest means of subsistence.' Extraneous studies are 

 always viewed by the narrow-minded as an obstacle to 

 success in any profession : and Carl's former friends were 

 more inclined to view him from the standpoint of their 



1 Pulteney. 



