_My dear Sir,_
_Among the various consultations and communications which have taken
place between us in the course of our long and uninterrupted friendship,
I recollect that one object of your anxious curiosity has always been
the_ Lachesis Lapponica _of Linnaeus, so often alluded to by himself and
his pupils, and the original Swedish manuscript of which came into my
hands with the rest of his collection. Of this I now present you with
an English translation; and I offer it to you with the more
satisfaction, because you are, amongst all my Linnaean acquaintance, one
of the most capable of entering into every feeling of the original
writer. His love of truth and of nature were not more ardent than your
own, nor was his mental profit more. You, who have so deeply studied the
works he prepared for the public, will with no less pleasure listen with
me to his familiar conversation. We here behold, not the awful preceptor
of the learned world in his professorial chair, but a youthful
inexperienced student, full of ardour and curiosity, such as we
ourselves have been, recording his ideas and observations for his own
use, not delivering them forth for the instruction of others; and while
we admire his perseverance and acuteness, we can sympathize with his
embarrassments, and readily pardon his very inconsiderable mistakes.
Happy are those who, like you, can equally sympathize in his pious and
benevolent affections, his disdain of hypocrisy and oppression, and his
never-ceasing desire to turn his scientific acquisitions to practical
utility!_
_Be pleased, my dear Sir, to accept, with your usual favour, this
sincere tribute of respect and esteem, from_
_Your very faithful friend,_
_J. E. SMITH._