220 
LINNAEUS 
Kuhn, Zoega and I, accompanied him into the 
country. In winter we lodged close to him, and he 
came to see us almost every day in his short, red 
dressing-gown, green fur cap, and pipe in hand. He 
generally came for ‘ half an hour,' but stayed one or 
even two hours, his conversation being extremely 
animated and pleasant. Either it consisted of 
anecdotes of the learned in his science, whom he 
had met at home or abroad, or he cleared up our 
doubts and questions in science. He laughed heartily, 
and his face beamed with gladness and high spirits, 
which plainly showed how ready his soul was for 
society and intimacy. 
“ Still happier was our life in the country. We 
lived about three-quarters of a mile from his house at 
Hammarby in a peasant’s cottage, where we had 
established ourselves after our own fashion, and had 
our own household.” (They constantly had their 
meals with the Linnean family.) “ He (Linne) in 
summer rose early, usually about four a.m. About 
six o’clock, as his dwelling house was being built, he 
came to breakfast with us, and lectured on natural 
orders as long as we liked, generally from ten a.m. 
onwards. Afterwards we went about noon to the 
rocks near by, which, under his guidance, provided 
sufficient occupation and interest. Towards evening 
we went to his garden, and later on we played at 
trisett [ £ three sixes ’] with his wife, her favourite card 
game. 
“ On Sundays the entire family was with us at our 
place, and sometimes we let a countryman come with 
an instrument looking like a violin [hurdy-gurdy], when 
we danced in the barn to our great contentment. 
Truly our balls were not particularly brilliant, the 
company not numerous, the music wretched, but we 
danced in turn minuets and polkas and enjoyed 
ourselves not a little. The old man, looking on, 
smoked his pipe with Zoega, who was delicate, and 
even he himself, though rarely, danced a Polish dance, 
