S2 THROUGH THE FIELDS WITH LINN & US 



He considered this as the proper time for enjoying 

 the fruits of his labour, and begged that his wedding 

 might take place ; l and at last, all opposition over for 

 who could resist such a fortune and such prospects as 

 his? he married his Elizabeth on June 26, 1739, at 

 Sveden, the country house of her father near Falun, 

 after a five years' engagement ! 



The two wedding-stools, on which a Dalecarlian 

 bride and bridegroom sit in state wearing their lofty 

 crowns, upholstered in striped brocaded satin tabinet, 

 are still preserved. 



Dear, precious old Stoever improves the occasion. 

 1 Our luminary,' as he most often calls Linnaeus, ' now 

 sealed the conjugal bond.' Now that he had ' entered 

 the garden of Eden,' Haller calls him, in half-derisive, 

 half-playful skirmish, a second Adam, giving names 

 to the animals. Peter Collinson, the Quaker, wrote to 

 his dear friend to congratulate him on his marriage. 

 Haller also writes, ' May you long live happy with your 

 Moraea, and enjoy deserved fame.' 



'Life is quite a different thing by the side of a 

 beloved wife, than so forsaken and alone, even in summer. 

 Beautiful nature, I now for the first time fully enjoy 

 it, live in it. The world again clothes around me in 

 poetic forms ; old feelings are again awakening in my 

 breast. . . . Fate has conquered the difficulties for me ; it 

 has, I may say, forced me to the mark. From the future 

 I expect everything.' 2 Linnaeus might securely reckon 

 1 Diary. 2 Schiller ; Carlyle's translation. 



