HIS CHILDREN 
317 
chosen on the ground of special fitness, but for his 
position as his father's son. It must be specially 
borne in mind, that without having undergone any 
examination or ever disputed, by the Crown Prince 
Gustaf's order he was promoted honorary doctor in 
the medical faculty. In 1765, when he was only 
twenty-four years of age, this brought him into an 
awkward position with his equals in age, who felt a 
certain ill-will towards him, nicknaming him “ the 
young Dauphin.” 
Still more unfortunate was the effect on the young 
man himself of these lightly won advancements. 
Although he did not lack a good disposition and 
possessed an uncommonly fine memory, he found it 
difficult to apply himself to serious work. For a short 
time he would do well, and seriously attack scientific 
problems, but his ardour soon slackened. His pre¬ 
possessing appearance and polite manners made him 
welcome in society, and it was difficult to drag him 
from it. In the letter of a contemporary it is written: 
“ The young gentleman enjoys himself every day, 
enquiring less after Flora than after the Nymphs; he 
has a proud gait, dresses and powders in the fashion, 
and is a constant visitor where handsome ladies are.” 
That his father did not shut his eyes to this, and still 
less his mother, is well known. Probably they hoped 
that a change would take place if he married well. 
The young elegant's pretensions in this respect were 
meanwhile not easy to satisfy; “ difficulties,'' he 
said, “ arise in securing a girl who has money, and is 
at the same time beautiful and amiable; I have not 
found these qualities in one person : I was near it 
with Archbishop Troil’s daughter, who is a beauty, 
and we became fast friends, but her father’s sudden 
death showed that there was not much to divide 
among ten children and a stepmother.” Accordingly 
his father dissuaded him from this marriage, and 
suggested another lady, S. Asp, who was rich and 
pretty, but had not had smallpox, so he could not be 
