In 1774, at age 17, he started studies at Lund University and produced two dissertations within two years, but was expelled just before presenting the second one.

There he wrote a dissertation on the justification of the American declaration of independence, but was told this subject was too sensitive, because of Sweden's diplomatic relation with Great Britain.

Despite a questionable reputation, he received a royal scholarship in 1780 and went to Göttingen in Germany, where he studied and lived beyond his means.

In 1787 he went to Finland and in 1788 married Eva Jacquette Hastfer, with whom he moved back to Stockholm the next year.

The Swedish Academy in 1860 put a stone on his grave on the cemetery of Church of Adolf Fredrik in Stockholm.