3 14 THROUGH THE FIELDS WITH LINNAEUS 



Man is essentially mimetic ; this is why a fashion 

 spreads. Rousseau, besides, had written this one up 

 and invested it with poetry. White of Selborne and 

 his correspondents were all at work observing. The 

 curiosity of Europe was aroused, and this chiefly by 

 means of Linnaeus, through his own personal charm ; 

 for though Haller and other great men were as deeply 

 scientific as he, they never attracted the world's atten- 

 tion. Science would have remained locked in frowsy 

 cabinets to this day had not Linnaeus's influence over 

 the rich and great placed power and money at its 

 service. Rewards now flowed rapidly in. 



' He was presented by her Majesty with a fine gold 

 ring set with an Oriental ruby. Count Tessin gave him 

 a gold watch and Rumphius's " Herbarium Amboinense," 

 worth 100 plStar' [about 27Z.]. 'But what pleased 

 Linnaeus most was that H.M. Louisa Ulrica, that 

 excellent queen, inquired after his then only son, 

 and being informed that he had a taste that way, she 

 promised to send him, when he was grown up, to travel 

 over Europe at her own expense at which gracious 

 promise Linnaeus heartily rejoiced.' l On April 27, 1753, 

 Linnaeus, who had long been Knight-errant of the 

 Woods, received from the hand of his sovereign the 

 order of the Polar Star, never before conferred for 

 literary merit, nor bestowed below the rank of a noble- 

 man. 2 Linnaeus was one of Nature's noblemen. Was 

 not his blood purer than that of a Norman pirate ? 



1 Diary. 2 Rosen was ennobled, but not knighted. 



