304 
LINNiEUS 
in 1754, “ I have learned in forty-seven years of life 
that if others are let alone in peace, the world goes on 
without disturbance, but as soon as commotion is 
made, friction arises, and a little hornet will often 
produce a dangerous wound. 55 
His compassion towards the unhappy was very 
striking, his eyes often filling with tears on hearing 
of sad cases, especially when it was little children 
who were afflicted. 
Then his statement that he was not hasty in judg¬ 
ment must be taken with a certain modification so far 
as it concerns scientific questions. A striking instance 
of this was his suspicion that the prohibition of 
printing Swedish authors 5 books abroad was aimed 
directly and exclusively against him. Among those 
who took part in this prohibition were Tessin and 
Ekeblad, and it needed but little reflection to realize 
that these friends and admirers would not have 
willingly caused him harm or anxiety. 
“ He did not possess the art of dissembling, 55 
records Acrel, “ his face showed at once whether a 
person pleased him or not, the surest proof of his dis¬ 
like being his silence, but he hated most, quarrels and 
coarse answers. 55 Many instances of his straight¬ 
forwardness might be given, but two such may suffice, 
preserved by tradition in the family. When Queen 
Lovisa Ulrika, whom he so highly admired, expressed 
her wish to receive one of his daughters at Court, he 
answered with a positive refusal. The Queen being 
startled, asked if he could not entrust his daughter to 
her care; he readily assented, but said that he thought 
the matter had not been rightly understood. Another 
time when he was staying at Drottningholm, to arrange 
the Queen’s Museum, he was called in to play blind- 
man’s bluff with the courtiers. In such cases it was 
strictly against etiquette to catch the Queen, but Linne, 
who thought he could better employ his time than in 
playing, took care, when he became blindman, to see 
a little, and then caught the Queen* as vsoon as he 
