LiNN^us. zoy 



spend the day with us. We sent for a peasant who 

 played on an instrument resembling a violin, to the 

 sound of which we danced in the barn of our farm- 

 house. Our balls certainly were not very splendid, 

 — the company was but small, the music superla- 

 tively rustic, and no change in the dances, which 

 were constantly either minuets or Polish ; but, re- 

 gardless of these defects, we passed our time very 

 merrily. While we were dancing, the old man, 

 who smoked his pipe with Zoega, who was deform- 

 ed and emaciated, became a spectator of our amuse- 

 ment, and sometimes, though very rarely, danced a 

 Polish dance, in which he excelled every one of us 

 young men. He was extremely delighted whenever 

 he saw us in high glee, nay, if we even became very 

 noisy. Had he not always found us so, he would 

 have manifested his apprehension that we were not 

 sufficiently entertained." 



The presents which he received from his admir- 

 ers, the fees of his pupils, his salary, and the pro- 

 perty which he had acquired by marriage, ren- 

 dered him one of the richest of the Upsal professors ; 

 and, during the latter period of his life, his stated 

 income was doubled by order of the king. The 

 emoluments which he derived from his works were 

 not great, as he got only for each printed sheet the 

 small sum of one ducat, or about nine shillings and 

 sixpence sterling. 



To add to his happiness, his son, at the age of 

 twenty-one, was appointed his assistant and suc- 

 cessor, shortly after he himself had received letters 

 of nobility, which were antedated four years. In 

 1748, Frederick I. had founded the order of the Polar 



