HOME LIFE 315 
times required, in an ample linen closet, full of home¬ 
made linen. 
This unresting occupation in housekeeping with 
the oversight of many servants, caused a certain rough¬ 
ness of speech and moroseness, Fabricius mentioning 
that she “ often drove pleasure from our society.” 
This must not be ascribed to want of good feeling, but 
rather to a certain unpolished straightforwardness of 
character. Thus, when Gustaf III. on the 12th 
August, 1775, visited Linne in Uppsala, and his escort 
remained mounted on their horses in pouring rain by 
the yard, she thought it ought not to be, and when 
the King, after a time, asked her if she had any wish 
which he could fulfil, answered straight out, that she 
wished that His Majesty would allow his people to 
dismount, dry their clothes, and take some refreshment. 
The King knit his brows at the unexpected reply, but 
the result was that the fellows, to their great delight, 
emptied the water out of their boots, and before a big 
kitchen fire dried their soaked garments and enjoyed 
a hearty meal with beer. Among her descendants the 
idea prevailed that “ the old woman Linne ” was some¬ 
what rough and overpowering in her manner, but was 
good and friendly at bottom. 
It is not to be supposed that dissensions and 
misunderstandings between husband and wife never 
occurred; they did sometimes happen, as was natural, 
for each of them was hasty and easily provoked. 
From this, other folk surmised that Linne “ stood 
under the slipper,” i.e., petticoat government, and 
that his home was not entirely happy. As has before 
been mentioned, Linne let his wife direct household 
matters as she wished, and if he was comfortable he 
never complained. He had so little interest in 
household affairs, that he did not know his own 
people, and once asked a man-servant “ Who are 
you?” Once when Professor Melanderhielm came 
before his time to a party, he and Linne engaged in 
a lively discussion, quite forgetting the occasion, and 
