46 



REMARKABLE OCCURRENCES. 



" tures on mineralogy, was universally beloved, and remained there a 

 " whole month. The physician of that distrift passed for a rich man. 

 " Considering the poverty of the province, he could justly be deemed 

 « opulent. His name was Mor^eus, eminent for his learning and skill 

 " among the Swedish physicians (Linnaeus called him afterwards in 

 " one of his dissertations the great physician of the Swedes, magnum 

 " gentis nosia; medicum). Physic, especially praftical medicine, was the 

 " science which he esteemed and preferred above all others. He grew 

 " fond of me. I visited him frequently, and always met with an amicable 

 " reception. He had two daughters. Sarah Elizabeth, the eldest, 

 " was a beautiful girl. A certain Baron had paid his addresses to her, 

 ^' though without success. I saw her, was amazed, smitten, and fell 



in love. My caresses and representations won her heart. She promised 

 " her consent, and vowed to be mine. But as a poor young man I was 

 « much perplexed to ask her of the father. At last I ventured. Mo- 

 " R-*:us consented and refused. He loved me, but not my uncertain 

 " and adverse fate. He finally declared, that his daughter should re- 

 " main unmarried three years longer, and at the expiration of that time 

 " he would give his ultimate decision." 



Thus LiNN-€:us had a bride in the twenty-seventh 'year of his age. 

 Little did old Mor^eus think, how great a man his son-in-law would 



d'lcere non erubescebat 'vulgus, hnmo erat inter omnes in ista pauperrima pro-vincia d'ltlssimuSf 

 nomine Morbus, vlr etiam inter Sueciie medicos, doBrinam si speBes, facile primus. Vir isle 

 nullum 'vita genus medicina inferiorem (praxin hie speBans) esse, millies pronunciavit ; me 

 interim amahat. Adit domum ejus, non semel gratus.ipsi hospes. Filiam habuit (et aliam xtate 

 inferiorem) pulchram, quam ambiebat Liber Baro quidam frustra ; nidi, obsttipui, pracordia 

 intima sensi attonitus nonjis intumuisse curis. Amani, ilia tandem niiBa blanditiis uotis, &c. Gff. 

 et me amabat, promisit, dixit fat. Patrem adloqui e rvhiscm pauperrimus, dixi tamen ;— 

 Voluit et noluit, me amabat pater, non mea fata, dixit : intaBa permanebit per :res annts, 

 dicam turn demum. Letter to Haller, Stockholm^ September 12, 1739. 



once 



