334 THROUGH THE FIELDS WITH LINN&US 



second and fourth daughters are pretty ; the first and 

 third look cross; so does the mother in the faded pastel. 

 The youngest, a little girl, has a pretty, laughing face 

 and blue eyes ; this is Sophia, the favourite child, who 

 was thought to be born dead. She is quite a little 

 Swede, with a dumpy nose and apple-blossom com- 

 plexion. Two of the girls were called Christina after 

 Linnaeus's own mother ; the third is Louisa. They all 

 have roses in their hair, which they wear powdered and 

 turned up on a cushion, not so high, however, as was 

 the fashion in England at the time. 



There are also the likenesses of some favourite 

 animals in this saloon: two monkeys over the door 

 leading to Linnaeus's own bedroom. The family arms 

 are painted over the door leading to the stairs ; a glutton 

 and a sperm whale on either side the door; and a 

 favourite long-tailed monkey a family pet on the 

 same wall as Linnaeus's own portrait. The master's 

 own leathern armchair stands in this room, whose bare 

 plank floor and ceiling are finely planed almost to a 

 polish. In the angles of the room are brackets with 

 gilt Venuses and other statuettes ; doubtless the pride 

 of the family when they came new and fashionable from 

 Stockholm: now they look trumpery. In one corner 

 stand Linnaeus's tall black staff, with runic characters 

 engraved on it, another staff with a hook to haul down 

 branches, and a knotted cudgel. 



Below the pictures the walls are papered with 

 engravings, apparently from his own publications, of 



