320 
LINNAEUS 
and sickly nephew S. N. Hook, who was often at 
Hammarby, dying there in 1773, as the result of 
drinking ice-cold table beer when heated by dancing. 
Linne also kept up a correspondence with his brother 
and sisters in Smaland, as well as with his mother-in- 
law at Falun. The long visits which he made with 
his family at Christmas in 1743, 1752 and 1755 to 
Falun, and his mother-in-law’s journeys to Uppsala, 
show the affectionate relations between them. 
Mention should be made of the animals he had at 
various times, such as the monkey “ Grinn ” which 
was a present from the Queen, and a weasel, provided 
with a bell for its neck, which had its lair among the 
rocks at Hammarby, and hunted the rats; he even 
kept crickets in the bake-house, which sang him to 
sleep at night, to the no small disgust of his wife, who 
could not make out whence they came, and spared no 
trouble to try and banish them. 
His dogs were special favourites, especially a big 
one named “ Pompey,” who was so attached to him 
as to follow him everywhere, even to church. When 
Linne was living at Hammarby, he went to Danmark 
church on Sundays, when he used to stop and rest 
a while on a certain big stone, to smoke a pipe, which 
on resuming his walk he hid under a bush, to take up 
again on the way home. Linne stayed in church 
about an hour, but when he thought the sermon was 
too long, he went out, followed by his dog. This 
became so constant a habit of his, that the dog would 
go alone the same way, stop by the same stone, go 
into church, and then seat himself quietly on the 
Hammarby bench; this when Linne from some cause 
was prevented from going himself. The parson 
noticed this, and when he complained to Linne, he 
was answered jokingly, that he could see that his 
sermons were altogether too long, when even a dumb 
animal went out. 
Linne’s economic position must now be mentioned. 
A certain pecuniary advantage followed his removal 
