fr 
• 17 
LETTER I. 
MyIdear Boy, 
I seize the first leisure half- 
hour that occurs, to fulfil my promise 
of" giving you some details of the life of 
the great Swedish naturalist. As your 
sister will write of home-affairs, I have 
nothing to do but to set out with you 
at once to the shores of the Baltic. In 
the tongue of land which so nearly ap* 
proaches the territory of Denmark, you 
will find the province of Smaland. In 
a small village in this province, Linnae¬ 
us was born. His father, a clergyman 
of the Swedish church, in very limited 
circumstances, was descended from a 
