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4. TIME OF FREEDOM. DALIN. LINNE. 327
prince. This was a natural arrangement under the cir
cumstances, since Ulrica had been practically regent, in
her brother s absence in Russia, Turkey and elsewhere,
and was the only adult member of the family resident in
Sweden. She had, however, to give up her hereditary
right, and submit to election, and the government, during
the whole reign of her husband (Frederick of Hesse)
(1718 1751), and that of another German prince, Adol-
phus Frederick of Holstein-Gottorp (17511771)
-
a
period of over forty years was in the hands of an olig
archy. The return of Sweden to an elective monarchy on
these two occasions is, of course, a very important political
fact. It facilitated the change of dynasty by which the
present royal family came to the throne in the early years
of the last century.
The period was one of humiliation for the crown and of
great political unrest within, but, on the whole, it was a
time of growth both for literature and science and for the
Church.
Even in these lectures it seems right to take some
notice of the general progress of culture in Sweden,
and I cannot omit to draw your attention on the one hand
to Olof Dalin, as a representative of literature, and on the
other to the great botanist, Karl von Linne or Linnaeus
(1707 78), founder, with others, of the Swedish Academy
of Science, such as the astronomer, Anders Celsius, and
the chemist, Torberg Bergman, and his pupil, Scheele.
Dalin s Swedish Argus, which appeared in 1732, was pro
duced when he was quite a young man, aged twenty-four.
It had the same objects as Addison s Spectator and other
similar periodical essays, the improvement of morals and
style ;
but it was also intended to spread useful information.
Dalin himself wrote much better and more naturally than
his predecessors, and was popular both as a poet and a
historian. Of his History of the Kingdom of Sweden :
t
was said that he had brought down history from the book
shelves into the hearts of the people. His little poems
were sung all over the country, and it was his greatest joy
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