Letter I.

Eleven days of weariness on board a
vessel not intended for the accommodation of
passengers have so exhausted my spirits, to say
nothing of the other causes, with which you
are already sufficiently acquainted, that it is
with some difficulty I adhere to my determination
of giving you my observations,
as I travel through new scenes, whilst warmed
with the impression they have made on me.

The captain, as I mentioned to you, promised
to put me on shore at Arendall,Open note 1Back to note ¹ or
Gothenburg, in his way to Elfineur; but contrary
winds obliged us to pass both places
during the night. In the morning, however,
after we had lost sight of the entrance of the B latter B1v 2
latter bay, the vessel was becalmed; and the
captain, to oblige me, hanging out a signal for
a pilot, bore down towards the shore.

My attention was particularly directed to
the light-house; and you can scarcely imagine
with what anxiety I watched two long hours
for a boat to emancipate me---still no one appeared.
every cloud that flitted on the horizon
was hailed as a liberator, till approaching
nearer, like most of the prospects sketched
by hope, it dissolved under the eye into disappointment.

Weary of expectation, I then began to converse
with the captain on the subject; and,
from the tenour of the information my
questions drew forth, I soon concluded, that,
if I waited for a boat, I had little chance of
getting on shore at this place. Despotism, as
is usually the case, I found had here cramped
the industry of man. The pilots being paid
by the king, and scantily, they will not run
into any danger, or even quit their hovels, if
they can possibly avoid it, only to fulfil what
is termed their duty. How different is it on
the english coast, where, in the most stormy
weather, boats immediately hail you, brought
out by the expectation of extraordinary profit.

Disliking to sail for Elfineur, and still more
to lie at anchor, or cruise about the coast for
several days, I exerted all my rhetoric to prevail
on the captain to let me have the ship’s
boat; and though I added the most forcible
of arguments, I for a long time addressed him
in vain.

It is a kind of rule at sea, not to send out a
boat. The captain was a good-natured man;
but men with common minds seldom break
through general rules. Prudence is ever the
resort of weakness; and they rarely go as far
as they may in any undertaking, who are determined
not to go beyond it on any account.
If, however, I had some trouble with the captain,
I did not lose much time with the
sailors; for they, all alacrity, hoisted out the
boat, the moment I obtained permission, and
promised to row me to the light-house.

I did not once allow myself to doubt of
obtaining a conveyance from thence round the
rocks—and then away for Gothenburg—confinement
is so unpleasant.

The day was fine; and I enjoyed the water
till, approaching the little island, poor Marguerite,
whose timidity always acts as a feeler
before her adventuring spirit, began to wonder B2 at B2v 4
at our not seeing any inhabitants. I did not
listen to her. But when, on landing, the same
silence prevailed, I caught the alarm, which
was not lessened by the sight of two old men,
whom we forced out of their wretched hut.
Scarcely human in their appearance, we with
difficulty obtained an intelligible reply to our
questions---the result of which was, that they
had no boat, and were not allowed to quit
their post, on any pretence. But, they informed
us, that there was at the other side,
eight or ten miles over, a pilot’s dwelling;
two guineas tempted the sailors to risk the
captain’s displeasure, and once more embark
to row me over.

The weather was pleasant, and the appearance
of the shore so grand, that I should
have enjoyed the two hours it took to reach
it, but for the fatigue which was too visible in
the countenances of the sailors who, instead
of uttering a complaint, were, with the
thoughtless hilarity peculiar to them, joking
about the possibility of the captain’s taking
advantage of a slight westerly breeze, which
was springing up, to sail without them. Yet,
in spite of their good humour, I could not
help growing uneasy when the shore, receding,ceding B3r 5
as it were, as we advanced, seemed to
promise no end to their toil. This anxiety
increased when, turning into the most picturesque
bay I ever saw, my eyes sought in
vain for the vestige of a human habitation.
Before I could determine what step to take in
such a dilemma, for I could not bear to think
of returning to the ship, the sight of a barge
relieved me, and we hastened towards it for
information. We were immediately directed
to pass some jutting rocks when we should
see a pilot’s hut.

There was a solemn silence in this scene,
which made itself be felt. The sun-beams
that played on the ocean, scarcely ruffled by
the lightest breeze, contrasted with the huge,
dark rocks, that looked like the rude materials
of creation forming the barrier of unwrought
space, forcibly struck me; but I should not
have been sorry if the cottage had not appeared
equally tranquil. Approaching a retreat
where strangers, especially women, so
seldom appeared, I wondered that curiosity
did not bring the beings who inhabited it to
the windows or door. I did not immediately
recollect that men who remain so near the
brute creation, as only to exert themselves to B3 find B3v 6
find the food necessary to sustain life, have
little or no imagination to call forth the curiosity
necessary to fructify the faint glimmerings
of mind which entitles them to rank as lords
of the creation.---Had they either, they could
not contentedly remain rooted in the clods
they so indolently cultivate.

Whilst the sailors went to seek for the
sluggish inhabitants, these conclusions occurred
to me; and, recollecting the extreme fondness
which the parisians ever testify for novelty,
their very curiosity appeared to me
a proof of the progress they had made in refinement.
Yes; in the art of living---in the
art of escaping from the cares which embarrass
the first steps towards the attainment
of the pleasures of social life.

The pilots informed the sailors that they
were under the direction of a lieutenant retired
from the service, who spoke english;
adding, that they could do nothing without
his orders; and even the offer of money
could hardly conquer their laziness, and
prevail on them to accompany us to his
dwelling. They would not go with me alone
which I wanted them to have done, because I
wished to dismiss the sailors as soon as possible. Once B4r 7
Once more we rowed off, they following
tardily, till, turning round another bold protuberance
of the rocks, we saw a boat making
towards us, and soon learnt that it was the
lieutenant himself, coming with some earnestness
to see who we were.

To save the sailors any further toil, I had
my baggage instantly removed into his boat;
for, as he could speak english, a previous
parley was not necessary; though Marguerite’s
respect for me could hardly keep her from expressing
the fear, strongly marked on her
countenance, which my putting ourselves
into the power of a strange man excited. He
pointed out his cottage; and, drawing near
to it, I was not sorry to see a female figure,
though I had not, like Marguerite, been
thinking of robberies, murders, or the other
evil which instantly, as the sailors would have
said, runs foul of a woman’s imagination.

On entering, I was still better pleased to find
a clean house, with some degree of a rural elegance.
The beds were of muslin, coarse it was
true, but dazzlingly white; and the floor was
strewed over with little sprigs of juniper (the
custom, as I afterwards found, of the country),
which formed a contrast with the curtains B4 and B4v 8
and produced an agreeable sensation of freshness,
to soften the ardour of noon. Still nothing
was so pleasing as the alacrity of hospitality
that the house afforded was quickly
spread on the whitest linen.---Remember I
had just left the vessel, where, without being
fastidious, I had continually been disgusted.
Fish, milk, butter, and cheese, and I am sorry
to add, brandy, the bane of this country, were
spread on the board. After we had dined,
hospitality made them, with some degree of
mystery, bring us some excellent coffee. I did
not then know that it was prohibited.

The good man of the house apologized for
coming in continually, but declared that he
was so glad to speak english, he could not
stay out. He need not have apologized; I
was equally glad of his company. With the
wife I could only exchange smiles; and she
was employed observing the make of our
clothes. My hands, I found, had first led her
to discover that I was the lady. I had, of
course, my quantum of reverences; for the
politeness of the north seems to partake of the
coldness of the climate, and the rigidity of its
iron sinewed rocks. Amongst the peasantry,
there is, however, so much of the simplicity of B5r 9
of the golden age in this land of flint℄so
much overflowing of heart, and fellow-
feeling, that only benevolence, and the honest
sympathy of nature, diffused smiles over my
countenance when they kept me standing, regardless
of my fatigue, whilst they dropt
courtesy after courtesy.

The situation of this house was beautiful,
though chosen for convenience. The master being
the officer who commanded all the pilots on
the coast, and the person appointed to guard
wrecks, it was necessary for him to fix on
a spot that would overlook the whole bay.
As he had seen some service, he wore, not
without a pride I thought becoming, a badge
to prove that he had merited well of his
country. It was happy, I thought, that he had
been paid in honour; for the stipend he received
was little more than twelve pounds
a year.---I do not trouble myself or you with
the calculation of swedish ducats. Thus, my
friend, you perceive the necessity of perquisites.
This same narrow policy runs through
every thing. I shall have occasion further to
animadvert on it.

Though my host amused me with an
account of himself, which gave me an idea of B5v 10
of the manners of the people I was about to
visit, I was eager to climb the rocks to view
the country, and see whether the honest tars
had regained their ship. With the help of the
lieutenant’s telescope I saw the vessel underway
with a fair though gentle gale. The sea
was calm, playful even as the most shallow
stream, and on the vast bason I did not see a
dark speck to indicate the boat. My conductors
were consequently arrived.

Straying further, my eye was attracted by
the sight of some heart’s-ease that peeped
through the rocks. I caught at it as a good
omen, and going to preserve it in a letter that
had not conveyed balm to my heart, a cruel
remembrance suffused my eyes; but it passed
away like an April shower. If you are deep
read in Shakspeare, you will recollect that
this was the little western flower tinged by
love’s dart, which “maidens call love in
idleness.” The gaiety of my babe was unmixed;
regardless of omens or sentiments,
she found a few wild strawberries more grateful
than flowers or fancies.

The lieutenant informed me that this was
a commodious bay. Of that I could not
judge, though I felt its picturesque beauty. 2 Rocks B6r 11
Rocks were piled on rocks, forming a suitable
bulwark to the ocean. Come no further,
they emphatically said, turning their
dark sides to the waves to augment the idle
roar. The view was sterile; still little patches
of earth, of the most exquisite verdure, enamelled
with the sweetest wild flowers, seemed
to promise the goats and a few straggling
cows luxurious herbage. How silent and
peaceful was the scene. I gazed around with
rapture, and felt more of that spontaneous
pleasure which gives credibility to our expectation
of happiness, than I had for a long, long
time before. I forgot the horrors I had witnessed
in France, which had cast a gloom
over all nature, and suffering the enthusiasm
of my character, too often, gracious God!
damped by the tears of disappointed affection,
to be lighted up afresh, care took wing while
simple fellow feeling expanded my heart.

To prolong this enjoyment, I readily assented
to the proposal of our host to pay a
visit to a family, the master of which spoke
english, who was the drollest dog in the
country, he added, repeating some of his
stories, with a hearty laugh.

I walked on, still delighted with the rude beauties B6v 12
beauties of the scene; for the sublime often
gave place imperceptibly to the beautiful, dilating
the emotions which were painfully
concentrated.

When we entered this abode, the largest I
had yet seen, I was introduced to a numerous
family; but the father, from whom I was led
to expect so much entertainment, was absent.
The lieutenant consequently was obliged to be
the interpreter of our reciprocal compliments.
the phrases were awkwardly transmitted, it
is true; but looks and gestures were sufficient
to make them intelligible and interesting.
The girls were all vivacity, and respect for
me could scarcely keep them from romping
with my host, who, asking for a pinch of
snuff, was presented with a box, out of which
an artificial mouse, fastened to the bottom,
sprung. Though this trick had doubtless
been played time out of mind, yet the
laughter it excited was not less genuine.

They were overflowing with civility; but
to prevent their almost killing my babe with
kindness, I was obliged to shorten by visit;
and two or three of the girls accompanied us,
bringing with them a part of whatever the
house afforded to contribute towards renderinging B7r 13
my supper more plentiful; and plentiful
in fact it was, though I with difficulty did
honour to some of the dishes, not relishing
the quantity of sugar and spices put into every
thing. At supper my host told me bluntly
that I was a woman of observation, for I asked
him men’s questions.

The arrangements for my journey were
quickly made; I could only have a car with
post-horses, as I did not chuse to wait till a
carriage could be sent for to Gothenburg.
The expense of my journey, about one
or two and twenty english miles, I found
would not amount to more than eleven or
twelve shillings, paying, he assured me, generously.
I gave him a guinea and a half.
But it was with the greatest difficulty that I
could make him take so much, indeed any
thing for my lodging and fare. He declared
that it was next to robbing me, explaining
how much I ought to pay on the road.
However, as I was positive, he took the guinea
for himself; but, as a condition, insisted
on accompanying me, to prevent my meeting
with any trouble or imposition on the
way.

I then retired to my apartment with regret.gret. B7v 14
The night was so fine, that I would gladly
have rambled about much longer; yet recollecting
that I must rise very early, I reluctantly
went to bed: but my senses had been so
awake, and my imagination still continued
so busy, that I sought for rest in vain.
Rising before six, I scented the sweet morning
air; I had long before heard the birds
twittering to hail the dawning day, though
it could scarcely have been allowed to have
departed.

Nothing, in fact, can equal the beauty of
the northern summer’s evening and night; if
night it may be called that only wants the
glare of day, the full light, which frequently
seems so impertinent; for I could write at
midnight very well without a candle. I contemplated
all nature of rest; the rocks, even
grown darker in their appearance, looked as
if they partook of the general repose, and reclined
more heavily on their foundation.—
What, I exclaimed, is this active principle
which keeps me still awake?---Why fly my
thoughts abroad when every thing around me
appears at home? My child was sleeping
with equal calmness---innocent and sweet as
the closing flowers.—Some recollections, attachedtached B8r 15
to the idea of home, mingled with
reflections respecting the state of society I had
been contemplating that evening, made a tear
drop on the rosy cheek I had just kissed;
and emotions that trembled on the brink of
extacy and agony gave a poignancy to my
sensations, which made me feel more alive
than usual.

What are these imperious sympathies?
How frequently has melancholy and even
mysanthropy taken possession of me, when the
world has disgusted me, and friends have
proved unkind. I have then considered myself
as a particle broken off from the grand
mass of mankind;---I was alone, till some involuntary
sympathetic emotion, like the attraction
of adhesion, made me feel that I was
still a part of a mighty whole, from which I
could not sever myself---not, perhaps, for the
reflection has been carried very far, by snapping
the thread of an existence which loses its
charms in proportion as the cruel experience
of life stops or poisons the current of the heart.
Futurity, what hast thou not to give to those
who know that there is such a thing as
happiness! I speak not of philosophical contentment,tentment, B8v 16
though pain has afforded them the
strongest conviction of it.

After our coffee and milk, for the mistress
of the house had been roused long before us
by her hospitality, my baggage was taken
forward in a boat by my host, because the
car could not safely have been brought to the
house.

The road at first was very rocky and troublesome;
but our driver was careful, and the
horses accustomed to the frequent and sudden
acclivities and descents; so that not apprehending
any danger, I played with my girl, whom
I would not leave to Marguerite’s care, on account
of her timidity.

Stopping at a little inn to bait the horses, I
saw the first countenance in Sweden that displeased
me, though the man was better
dressed than any one who had as yet fallen
in my way. An altercation took place between
him and my host, the purport of
which I could not guess, excepting that I was
the occasion of it, be it what it would. The
sequel was his leaving the house angrily; and
I was immediately informed that he was the
custom-house officer. The professional had
indeed effaced the national character, for 3 living C1r 17
living as he did with these frank hospitable
people, still only the exciseman appeared,---
the counterpart of some I had met with in
England and France. I was unprovided with
a passport, not having entered any great town.
At Gothenburg I knew I could immediately
obtain one, and only the trouble made me object
to the searching my trunks. He blustered
for money; but the lieutenant was determined
to guard me, according to promise, from
imposition.

To avoid being interrogated at the towngate,
and obliged to go in the rain to give an
account of myself, merely a form, before we
could get the refreshment we stood in need of,
he requested us to descend, I might have said
step, from our car, and walk into town.

I expected to have found a tolerable inn,
but was ushered into a most comfortless one;
and, because it was about five o’clock, three
or four hours after their dining hour, I could
not prevail on them to give me any thing
warm to eat.

The appearance of the accommodations
obliged me to deliver one of my recommendatory
letters, and the gentleman, to whom it
was addressed, sent to look out for a lodging C for C1v 18
for me whilst I partook of his supper. As
nothing passed at this supper to characterize
the country, I shall here close my letter.

Letter II.

Gothenburg is a clean airy town, and
having been built by the dutch, has canals
running through each street, and in some of
them there are rows of trees that would render
it very pleasant were it not for the pavement,
which is intolerably bad.

There are several rich commercial houses,
scotch, french, and swedish; but the scotch,
I believe, have been the most successful. The
commerce and commission business with
France since the war, has been very lucrative,
and enriched the merchants, I am afraid,
at the expence of the other inhabitants, by
raising the price of the necessaries of life.

As all the men of consequence, I mean
men of the largest fortune, are merchants,
their principal enjoyment is a relaxation from
business at the table, which is spread at, I
think, too early an hour (between one and
two) for men who have letters to write and
accounts to settle after paying due respect to
the bottle. However, when numerous circles
are to be brought together, and when
neither literature nor public amusements furnishC2 nish C2v 20
topics for conversation, a good dinner
appears to be the only centre to rally round,
especially as scandal, the zest of more select
parties, can only be whispered. As for politics,
I have seldom found it a subject of continual
discussion in a country town in any
part of the world. The politics of the place
being on a smaller scale, suits better with the
size of their faculties; for, generally speaking
the sphere of observation determines the
extent of the mind.

The more I see of the world, the more I
am convinced that civilization is a blessing
not sufficiently estimated by those who have
not traced its progress; for it not only refines
our enjoyments, but produces a variety which
enables us to retain the primitive delicacy of
our sensations. Without the aid of the imagination
all the pleasures of the senses must
sink into grossness, unless continual novelty
serve as a substitute for the imagination,
which being impossible, it was to this weariness,
I suppose, that Solomon alluded when
he declared that there was nothing new under
the sun!---nothing for the common sensations
excited by the senses. Yet who will
deny that the imagination and understanding have C3r 21
have made many, very many discoveries since
those days, which only seem harbingers of
others still more noble and beneficial. I
never met with much imagination amongst
people who had not acquired a habit of reflection;
and in that state of society in which
the judgment and taste are not called forth,
and formed by the cultivation of the arts and
sciences, little of that delicacy of feeling and
thinking is to be found characterized by the
word sentiment. The want of scientific pursuits
perhaps accounts for the hospitality, as
well as for the cordial reception which strangers
receive from the inhabitants of small towns.

Hospitality has, I think, been too much
praised by travellers as a proof of goodness of
heart, when in my opinion indiscriminate
hospitality is rather a criterion by which you
may form a tolerable estimate of the indolence
or vacancy of a head; or, in other
words, a fondness for social pleasures in
which the mind not having its proportion of
exercise, the bottle must be pushed about.

These remarks are equally applicable
to Dublin, the most hospitable city I
ever passed through. But I will try to C3 confine C3v 22
confine my observations more particularly
to Sweden.

It is true I have only had a glance over a
small part of it; yet of its present state of
manners and acquirements I think I have
formed a distinct idea, without having visited
the capital, where, in fact, less of a national
character is to be found than in the remote
parts of the country.

The swedes pique themselves on their politeness;
but far from being the polish of a
cultivated mind, it consists merely of tiresome
forms and ceremonies. So far indeed from
entering immediately into your character, and
making you feel instantly at your ease, like the
well-bred french, their over-acted civility is a
continual restraint on all your actions. The
sort of superiority which a fortune gives
when there is no superiority of education, excepting
what consists in the observance of
senseless forms, has a contrary effect than
what is intended; so what I could not help
reckoning the peasantry the politest people of
Sweden, who only aiming at pleasing you,
never think of being admired for their behaviour.

Their tables, like their compliments, seem equally C4r 23
equally a caricature of the french. The
dishes are composed, as well as theirs, of a
variety of mixtures to destroy the native
taste of the food without being as relishing.
Spices and sugar are put into every thing,
even into the bread; and the only way I can
account for their partiality to high-seasoned
dishes, is the constant use of salted provisions.
Necessity obliges them to lay up a store of
dried fish, and salted meat, for the winter;
and in summer, fresh meat and fish taste insipid
after them. To which may be added the
constant use of spirits. Every day, before
dinner and supper, even whilst the dishes are
cooling on the table, men and women repair
to a side-table, and to obtain an appetite, eat
bread and butter, cheese, raw salmon, or anchovies,
drinking a glass of brandy. Salt
fish or meat then immediately follows, to
give a further whet to the stomach. As the
dinner advances, pardon me for taking up a
few minutes to describe what, alas! has detained
me two or three hours on the stretch,
observing, dish after dish is changed, in endless
rotation, and handed round with solemn pace
to each guest; but should you happen not to like
the first dishes, which was often my case, it is C4 a gross C4v 24
a gross breach of politeness to ask for part of
any other till its turn comes. But have
patience, and there will be eating enough.
Allow me to run over the acts of a visiting
day, not overlooking the interludes.

Prelude a luncheon---then a succession of
fish, flesh and fowl for two hours; during
which time the desert, I was sorry for the
strawberries audand cream, rests on the table to
be impregnated by the fumes of the viands.
Coffee immediately follows in the drawing-
room; but does not preclude punch, ale, tea
and cakes, raw salmon, &c. A supper brings
up the rear, not forgetting the introductory luncheon,
almost equalling in removes the dinner.
A day of this kind you would imagine
sufficient--but a to-morrow and a to-morrow
never ending, still beginning feast
may be bearable, perhaps, when stern winter
frowns, shaking with chilling aspect his hoary
locks; but during a summer, sweet as fleeting,
let me, my kind strangers, escape sometimes
into your fir groves, wander on the margin of
your beautiful lakes, or climb your rocks
to view still others in endless perspective;
which, piled by more than giant’s hand, scale
the heavens to intercept its rays, or to receive the C5r 25
the parting tinge of lingering day----day that,
scarcely softened into twilight, allows the
freshening breeze to wake, and the moon to
burst forth in all her glory to glide with solemn
elegance through the azure expanse.

The cow’s bell has ceased to tinkle the
herd to rest; they have all paced across the
heath. Is not this the witching time of night?
The waters murmur, and fall with more than
mortal music, and spirits of peace walk abroad
to calm the agitated breast. Eternity is in
these moments: worldly cares melt into the
airy stuff that dreams are made of; and reveries,
mild and enchanting as the first hopes
of love, or the recollection of lost enjoyment,
carry the hapless wight into futurity, who, in
bustling life, has vainly strove to throw off the
grief which lies heavy at the heart. Good
night! A crescent hangs out in the vault
before, which woos me to stray abroad:---it is
not a silvery reflection of the sun, but glows
with all its golden splendour. Who fears the
falling dew? It only makes the mown grass
smell more fragrant.

Letter III.

The population of Sweden has been estimated
from two millions and a half to three
millions; a small number for such an immense
tract of country: of which only so
much is cultivated, and that in the simplest
manner, as is absolutely necessary to supply
the necessaries of life; and near the sea-
shore, from whence herrings are easily procured,
there scarcely appears a vestige of cultivation.
The scattered huts that stand shivering
on the naked rocks, braving the pitiless
elements, are formed of logs of wood, rudely
hewn; and so little pains are taken with the
craggy foundation, that nothing like a pathway
points out the door.

Gathered into himself by the cold, lowering
his visage to avoid the cutting blast, is it
surprising that the churlish pleasure of drinking
drams takes place of social enjoyments
amongst the poor, especially if we take into
the account, that they mostly live on high-
seasoned provisions and rye bread? Hard
enough, you may imagine, as it is only baked
once a year. The servants also, in most families,milies, C6r 27
eat this kind of bread, and have a
different kind of food from their masters,
which, in spite of all the arguments I have
heard to vindicate the custom, appears to me
a remnant of barbarism.

In fact, the situation of the servants
in every respect, particularly that of the
women, shews how far the swedes are from
having a just conception of rational equality.
They are not termed slaves; yet a man may
strike a man with impunity because he pays
him wages; though these wages are so low, that
necessity must teach them to pilfer, whilst
servility renders them false and boorish. Still
the men stand up for the dignity of man, by
oppressing the women. The most menial,
and even laborious offices, are therefore left to
these poor drudges. Much of this I have
seen. In the winter, I am told, they take the
linen down to the river, to wash it in the cold
water; and though their hands, cut by the ice,
are cracked and bleeding, the men, their fellow
servants, will not disgrace their manhood
by carrying a tub to lighten their burden.

You will not be surprised to hear that they
do not wear shoes or stockings, when I inform
you that their wages are seldom more than C6v 28
than twenty or thirty shillings per annum. It
is the custom, I know, to give them a new
year’s gift, and a present at some other period;
but can it all amount to a just indemnity
for their labour? The treatment of
servants in most countries, I grant, is very
unjust; and in England, that boasted land of
freedom, it is often extremely tyrannical. I
have frequently, with indignation, heard gentlemen
declare that they would never allow
a servant to answer them; and ladies of the
most exquisite sensibility, who were continually
exclaiming against the cruelty of the
vulgar to the brute creation, have in my
presence forgot that their attendants had human
feelings, as well as forms. I do not
know a more agreeable sight than to see
servants part of a family. By taking an interest,
generally speaking, in their concerns,
you inspire them with one for yours. We
must love our servants, or we shall never be
sufficiently attentive to their happiness; and
how can those masters be attentive to their
happiness, who living above their fortunes,
are more anxious to outshine their neighbours
than to allow their houshold the innocent
enjoyments they earn.

It is, in fact, much more difficult for
servants who are tantalized by seeing and
preparing the dainties of which they are not
to partake, to remain honest, than the poor
whose thoughts are not led from their homely
fare; so that, though the servants here are
commonly thieves, you seldom hear of house-
breaking, or robbery on the highway. The
country is, perhaps, too thinly inhabited to
produce many of that description of thieves
termed “footpads”, or “highwaymen”. They are
usually the spawn of great cities; the effect
of the spurious desires generated by wealth,
rather than the desperate struggles of poverty
to escape from misery.

The enjoyment of the peasantry was drinking
brandy and coffee, before the latter was
prohibited, and the former not allowed to be
privately distilled. The wars carried on by the
late king rendering it necessary to increase
the revenue, and retain the specie in the country
by every possible means.

The taxes before the reign of Charles the
twelfth were inconsiderable. Since then, the
burden has continually been growing heavier,
and the price of provisions has proportionably
increased; nay, the advantage accruing from
the exportation of corn to France, and rye to Germany, C7v 30
Germany, will probably produce a scarcity
in both Sweden and Norway, should not
a peace put a stop to it this autumn; for speculations
of various kinds have already almost
doubled the price.

Such are the effects of war, that it saps
the vitals even of the neutral countries, who,
obtaining a sudden influx of wealth, appear to
be rendered flourishing by the destruction
which ravages the hapless nations who are
sacrificed to the ambition of their governors.
I shall not, however, dwell on the vices,
though they be of the most contemptible and
embruting cast, to which a sudden accession
of fortune gives birth, because I believe it
may be delivered as an axiom that it is only in
proportion to the industry necessary to acquire
wealth, that a nation is really benefited
by it.

The prohibition of drinking coffee, under
a penalty, and the encouragement given to
public distilleries, tend to impoverish the poor,
who are not affected by the sumptuary laws;
for the regent has lately laid very severe
restraints on the article of dress, which the
middling class of people found grievous
because it obliged them to throw aside finery C8r 31
finery that might have lasted them for their
lives.Open note 2Back to note ²

These may be termed vexations; still the
death of the king, by saving them from the
consequences his ambition would naturally
have entailed on them, may be reckoned a
blessing.

Besides, the french revolution has not only
rendered all the crowned heads more cautious,
but has so decreased every where (excepting
amongst themselves) a respect for nobility,
that the peasantry have not only lost their
blind reverence for their seigniors, but complain,
in a manly style, of oppressions which
before they did not think of denominating
such, because they were taught to consider
themselves as a different order of beings. And,
perhaps, the efforts which the aristocrats are
making here, as well as in every other part of
Europe, to secure their sway, will be the
most effectual mode of undermining it; taking
into the calculation, that the king of Sweden,
like most of the potentates of Europe, has
continually been augmenting his power by
encroaching on the privileges of the nobles.

The well-bred swedes of the capital are
formed on the ancient french model; and
they in general speak that language; for they
have a knack at acquiring languages, with
tolerable fluency. This may be reckoned an
advantage in some respects; but it prevents
the cultivation of their own, and any considerable
advance in literary pursuits.

A sensible writerOpen note 3Back to note ³ has lately observed, (I have
not his work by me, therefore cannot quote
his exact words) “that the americans very
wisely let the europeans make their books
and fashions for them.” But I cannot coincide
with him in this opinion. The reflection
necessary to produce a certain number
even of tolerable productions, augments, more
than he is aware of, the mass of knowledge in
the community. Desultory reading is commonly
merely a pastime. But we must have an
object to refer our reflections to, or they will
seldom go below the surface. As in travelling,
the keeping of a journal excites to
many useful enquiries that would not have
been thought of, had the traveller only determined
to see all he could see, without ever
asking himself for what purpose. Besides, the
very dabbling in literature furnishes harmless topics D1r 33
topics of conversation; for the not having
such subjects at hand, though they are often
insupportably fatiguing, renders the inhabitants
of little towns prying and censorious. Idleness,
rather than ill-nature, gives birth to
scandal, and to the observation of little incidents
which narrows the mind. It is frequently
only the fear of being talked of,
which produces that puerile scrupulosity about
trifles incompatible with an enlarged plan of
usefulness, and with the basis of all moral
principles---respect for the virtues which are
not merely the virtues of convention.

I am, my friend, more and more convinced
that a metropolis, or an abode absolutely solitary,
is the best calculated for the improvement
of the heart, as well as the understanding;
whether we desire to become acquainted with
man, nature, or ourselves. Mixing with mankind,
we are obliged to examine our prejudices,
and often imperceptibly lose, as
we analyze them. And in the country, growing
intimate with nature, a thousand little
circumstances, unseen by vulgar eyes, give
birth to sentiments dear to the imagination,
and inquiries which expand the soul, particularlyD larly D1v 34
when cultivation has not smoothed into
insipidity all its originality of character.

I love the country; yet whenever I see a
picturesque situation chosen on which to erect
a dwelling, I am always afraid of the improvements.
It requires uncommon taste to
form a whole, and to introduce accommodations
and ornaments analogous with the surrounding
scene .Open note 4Back to note ⁴

I visited, near Gothenburg, a house with
improved land about it, with which I was
particularly delighted. It was close to a lake
embosomed in pine clad rocks. In one part of
the meadows, your eye was directed to the
broad expanse; in another, you were led into 5 D2r 35
into a shade, to see a part of it, in the form of
a river, rush amongst the fragments of rocks
and roots of trees; nothing seemed forced.
One recess, particularly grand and solemn,
amongst the towering cliffs, had a rude stone
table, and seat, placed in it, that might have
served for a druid’s haunt; whilst a placid
stream below enlivened the flowers on its
margin, where light-footed elves would gladly
have danced their airy rounds.

Here the hand of taste was conspicuous,
though not obtrusive, and formed a contrast
with another abode in the same neighbourhood,
on which much money had been lavished;
where italian colonades were placed
to excite the wonder of the rude craggs; and D2 a stone D2v 36
a stone stair-case, to threaten with destruction
a wooden house. Venuses and Apollos condemned
to lie hid in snow three parts of the
year, seemed equally displaced, and called the
attention off from the surrounding sublimity,
without inspiring any voluptuous sensations.
Yet even these abortions of vanity have been
useful. Numberless workmen have been employed,
and the superintending artist has improved
the labourers whose unskilfulness tormented
him, by obliging them to submit to the
discipline of rules. Adieu!

Letter IV.

The severity of the long swedish winter
tends to render the people sluggish; for,
though this season has its peculiar pleasures,
too much time is employed to guard against
its inclemency. Still, as warm cloathing is
absolutely necessary, the women spin, and the
men weave, and by these exertions get a fence
to keep out the cold. I have rarely passed
a knot of cottages without seeing cloth laid
out to bleach; and when I entered, always
found the women spinning or knitting.

A mistaken tenderness, however, for their
children, makes them, even in summer, load
them with flannels; and, having a sort of natural
antipathy to cold water, the squalid appearance
of the poor babes, not to speak of
the noxious smell which flannel and rugs retain,
seems a reply to a question I had often asked—
Why I did not see more children in the villages
I passed through? Indeed the children
appear to be nipt in the bud, having neither
the graces nor charms of their age. And this,
I am persuaded, is much more owing to the
ignorance of the mothers than to the rudeness D3 of D3v 38
of the climate. Rendered feeble by the continual
perspiration they are kept in, whilst
every pore is absorbing unwholesome moisture,
they give them, even at the breast,
brandy, salt fish, and every other crude substance,
which air and exercise enables the
parent to digest.

The women of fortune here, as well as
every where else, have nurses to suckle their
children; and the total want of chastity in
the lower class of women frequently renders
them very unfit for the trust.

You have sometimes remarked to me the
difference of the manners of the country girls
in England and in America; attributing the
reserve of the former to the climate—to the
absence of genial suns. But it must be their
stars, not the zephyrs gently stealing on their
senses, which here lead frail women astray.—
Who can look at these rocks, and allow the
voluptuousness of nature to be an excuse for
gratifying the desires it inspires? We must,
therefore, find some other cause beside voluptuousness,
I believe, to account for the
conduct of the swedish and american country
girls; for I am led to conclude, from all the
observations I have made, that there is always a mixture D4r 39
a mixture of sentiment and imagination in
voluptuousness, to which neither of them
have much pretension.

The country girls of Ireland and Wales
equally feel the first impulse of nature,
which, restrained in England by fear or delicacy,
proves that society is there in a more advanced
state. Besides, as the mind is cultivated,
and taste gains ground, the passions become
stronger, and rest on something more
stable than the casual sympathies of the moment.
Health and idleness will always account
for the promiscuous amours; and in some
degree I term every person idle, the exercise
of whose mind does not bear some proportion
to that of the body.

The swedish ladies exercise neither sufficiently;
of course, grow very fat at an early age;
and when they have not this downy appearance,
a comfortable idea, you will say, in a cold
climate, they are not remarkable for fine forms.
They have, however, mostly fine complexions;
but indolence makes the lily soon displace the
rose. The quantity of coffee, spices, and other
things of that kind, with want of care, almost
universally spoil their teeth, which contrast
but ill with their ruby lips.

The manners of Stockholm are refined,
I hear, by the introduction of gallantry; but
in the country, romping and coarse freedoms,
with coarser allusions, keep the spirits
awake. In the article of cleanliness, the women,
of all descriptions, seem very deficient;
and their dress shews that vanity is more inherent
in women then taste.

The men appear to have paid still less court
to the graces. They are a robust, healthy
race, distinguished for their common sense and
turn for humour, rather than for wit or sentiment.
I include not, as you may suppose, in
this general character, some of the nobility and
officers, who having travelled, are polite and
well informed.

I must own to you, that the lower class of
people here amuse and interest me much
more than the middling, with their apish good
breeding and prejudices. The sympathy and
frankness of heart conspicuous in the peasantry
produces even a simple gracefulness of deportment,
which has frequently struck me as very
picturesque; I have often also been touched
by their extreme desire to oblige me, when I
could not explain my wants, and by their
earnest manner of expressing that desire. There is D5r 41
is such a charm in tenderness!---It is so delightful
to love our fellow-creatures, and meet
the honest affections as they break forth. Still,
my good friend, I begin to think that I should
not like to live continually in the country,
with people whose minds have such a narrow
range. My heart would frequently be interested;
but my mind would languish for
more companionable society.

The beauties of nature appear to me now
even more alluring than in my youth, because
my intercourse with the world has formed,
without vitiating my taste. But, with respect
to the inhabitants of the country, my fancy has
probably, when disgusted with artificial manners,
solaced itself by joining the advantages
of cultivation with the interesting sincerity
of innocence, forgetting the lassitude that ignorance
will naturally produce. I like to see
animals sporting, and sympathize in their
pains and pleasures. Still I love sometimes to
view the human face divine, and trace the
soul, as well as the heart, in its varying lineaments.

A journey to the country, which I must
shortly make, will enable me to extend my
remarks.—

Letter V.

Had I determined to travel in Sweden
merely for pleasure, I should probably have
chosen the road to Stockholm, though convinced,
by repeated observation, that the
manners of a people are best discriminated in
the country. The inhabitants of the capital
are all of the same genus; for the varieties in
the species we must, therefore, search where
the habitations of men are so separated as to
allow the difference of climate to have its natural
effect. And with this difference we are,
perhaps, most forcibly struck at the first view,
just as we form an estimate of the leading
traits of a character at the first glance, of
which intimacy afterwards makes us almost
lose sight.

As my affairs called me to Stromstad (the
frontier town of Sweden) in my way to
Norway, I was to pass over, I heard, the
most uncultivated part of the country. Still
I believe that the grand features of Sweden
are the same every where, and it is only the
grand features that admit of description. There D6r 43
There is an individuality in every prospect,
which remains in the memory as forcibly
depicted as the particular features that have arrested
our attention; yet we cannot find
words to discriminate that individuality so as
to enable a stranger to say, this is the face, that
the view. We may amuse by setting the
imagination to work; but we cannot store the
memory with a fact.

As I wish to give you a general idea of
this country, I shall continue in my desultory
manner to make such observations and
reflections as the circumstances draw forth,
without losing time, by endeavouring to arrange
them.

Travelling in Sweden is very cheap, and
even commodious, if you make but the proper
arrangements. Here, as in other parts of the
continent, it is necessary to have your own
carriage, and to have a servant who can speak
the language, if you are unacquainted with it.
Sometimes a servant who can drive would be
found very useful, which was our case, for I
travelled in company with two gentlemen,
one of whom had a german servant who drove
very well. This was all the party; for not intending D6v 44
intending to make a long stay, I left my little
girl behind me.

As the roads are not much frequented, to
avoid waiting three or four hours for horses, we
sent, as is the constant custom, an avant courier
the night before, to order them at every
post, and we constantly found them ready.
Our first set I jokingly termed requisition horses;
but afterwards we had almost always little
spirited animals that went on at a round pace.

The roads, making allowance for the ups
and downs, are uncommonly good and pleasant.
The expence, including the postillions
and other incidental things, does not amount
to more than a shilling the swedish mile. Open note 5Back to note ⁵

The inns are tolerable; but not liking the
rye bread, I found it necessary to furnish
myself with some wheaten before I set out.
The beds too were particularly disagreeable to
me. It seemed to me that I was sinking into
a grave when I entered them; for, immersed
in down placed in a sort of box, I expected to
be suffocated before morning. The sleeping
between two down beds, they do so even in
summer, must be very unwholesome during 2 any D7r 45
any season; and I cannot conceive how the
people can bear it, especially as the summers
are very warm. But warmth they seem not
to feel; and, I should think, were afraid of
the air, by always keeping their windows
shut. In the winter, I am persuaded, I could
not exist in rooms thus closed up, with stoves
heated in their manner, for they only put
wood into them twice a day; and, when
the stove is thoroughly heated, they shut the
flue, not admitting any air to renew its elasticity,
even when the rooms are crowded with
company. These stoves are made of earthenware,
and often in a form that ornaments an
apartment, which is never the case with the
heavy iron ones I haven seen elsewhere. Stoves
may be economical; but I like a fire, a wood
one, in preference; and I am convinced that
the current of air which it attracts renders this
the best mode of warming rooms.

We arrived early the second evening at a
little village called Quistram, where we had
determined to pass the night; having been informed
that we should not afterwards find a
tolerable inn until we reached Stromstad.

Advancing towards Quistram, as the sun was
beginning to decline, I was particularly impressedpressed D7v 46
by the beauty of the situation. The
road was on the declivity of a rocky mountain,
slightly covered with a moss herbage
and vagrant firs. At the bottom, a river,
straggling amongst the recesses of stone, was
hastening forward to the ocean and its grey
rocks, of which we had a prospect on the
left, whilst on the right it stole peacefully
forward into the meadows, losing itself in a
thickly wooded rising ground. As we drew
near, the loveliest banks of wild flowers variegated
the prospect, and promised to exhale
odours to add to the sweetness of the air,
the purity of which you could almost see,
alas! not smell, for the putrifying herrings,
which they use as manure, after the
oil has been extracted, spread over the
patched of earth, claimed by cultivation, destroyed
every other.

It was intolerable, and entered with us
into the inn, which was in other respects a
charming retreat.

Whilst supper was preparing I crossed the
bridge, and strolled by the river, listening to
its murmurs. Approaching the bank, the
beauty of which had attracted my attention
in the carriage, I recognized many of my old D8r 47
old acquaintance growing with great luxuriancy.

Seated on it, I could not avoid noting an
obvious remark. Sweden appeared to me the
country in the world most proper to form
the botanist and natural historian: every object
seemed to remind me of the creation of
things, of the first efforts of sportive nature.
When a country arrives at a certain state of
perfection, it looks as if it were made so; and
curiosity is not excited. Besides, in social life
too many objects occur for any to be distinctly
observed by the generality of mankind; yet a
contemplative man, or a poet, in the country, I
do not mean the country adjacent to cities,
feels and sees what would escape vulgar eyes,
and draws suitable inferences. This train of
reflections might have led me further, in every
sense of the word; but I could not escape
from the detestable evaporation of the herrings,
which poisoned all my pleasure.

After making a tolerable supper, for it is
not easy to get fresh provisions on the road, I
retired, to be lulled to sleep by the murmuring
of a stream, of which I with great difficulty
obtained sufficient to perform my daily
ablutions.

The last battle between the Danes and
Swedes, which gave new life to their ancient
enmity, was fought at this place 17881788; only
seventeen or eighteen were killed; for the
great superiority of the Danes and Norwegians
obliged the Swedes to submit; but
sickness, and a scarcity of provisions, proved
very fatal to their opponents, on their return.

It would be very easy to search for the
particulars of this engagement in the publications
of the day; but as this manner of
filling my pages does not come within my
plan, I probably should not have remarked
that the battle was fought here, were it not
to relate an anecdote which I had from good
authority.

I noticed, which I first mentioned this place
to you, that we descended a steep before we
came to the inn; an immense ridge of rocks
stretching out on one side. The inn was
sheltered under them; and about a hundred
yards from it was a bridge that crossed the
river, whose murmurs I have celebrated; it
was not fordable. The swedish general received
orders to stop at the bridge, and dispute
the passage; a most advantageous post for E1r 49
for an army so much inferior in force: but
the influence of beauty is not confined to
courts. The mistress of the inn was handsome:
when I saw her there were still some remains
of beauty; and, to preserve her house,
the general gave up the only tenable station.
He was afterwards broke for contempt of orders.

Approaching the frontiers, consequently the
sea, nature resumed an aspect ruder and
ruder, or rather seemed the bones of the
world waiting to be clothed with every thing
necessary to give life and beauty. Still it was
sublime.

The clouds caught their hue of the rocks
that menaced them. The sun appeared
afraid to shine, the birds ceased to sing, and
the flowers to bloom; but the eagle fixed his
nest high amongst the rocks, and the vulture
hovered over this abode of desolation. The
farm houses, in which only poverty resided,
were formed of logs scarcely keeping off the
cold and drifting snow; out of them the inhabitants
seldom peeped, and the sports or
prattling of children was neither seen nor
heard. The current of life seemed congealed
at the source: all were not frozen; for it E was E1v 50
was summer, you remember; but every thing
appeared so dull, that I waited to see ice, in
order to reconcile me to the absence of
gaiety.

The day before, my attention had frequently
been attracted by the wild beauties
of the country we passed through.

The rocks which tossed their fantastic
heads so high were often covered with pines
and firs, varied in the most picturesque manner.
Little woods filled up the recesses, when
forests did not darken the scene; and vallies
and glens, cleared of the trees, displayed a
dazzling verdure which contrasted with the
gloom of the shading pines. The eye stole
into many a covert where tranquillity seemed
to have taken up her abode, and the number
of little lakes that continually presented themselves
added to the peaceful composure of the
scenery. The little cultivation which appeared
did not break the enchantment, nor
did castles rear their turrets aloft to crush the
cottages, and prove that man is more savage
than the natives of the woods. I heard of
the bears, but never saw them stalk forth,
which I was sorry for; I wished to have
seen one in its wild state. In the winter, I am E2r 51
am told, they sometimes catch a stray cow,
which is a heavy loss to the owner.

The farms are small. Indeed most of the
houses we saw on the road indicated poverty,
or rather that the people could just
live. Towards the frontiers they grew
worse and worse in their appearance, as if
not willing to put sterility itself out of countenance.
No gardens smiled round the habitations,
not a potatoe or cabbage to eat with
the fish drying on a stick near the door. A
little grain here and there appeared, the long
stalks of which you might almost reckon.
The day was gloomy when we passed over
this rejected spot, the wind bleak, and winter
seemed to be contending with nature, saintly
struggling to change the season. Surely,
thought I, if the sun ever shines here, it
cannot warm these stones; moss only cleaves
to them, partaking of their hardness; and
nothing like vegetable life appears to chear
with hope the heart.

So far from thinking that the primitive
inhabitants of the world lived in a southern
climate, where Paradise spontaneously arose,
I am led to infer, from various circumstances,
that the first dwelling of man happened to be E2 a spot E2v 52
a spot like this which led him to adore a sun
so seldom seen; for this worship, which probably
preceded that of demons or demi-gods,
certainly never began in a southern climate,
where the continual presence of the sun prevented
its being considered as a good; or
rather the want of it never being felt, this
glorious luminary would carelessly have diffused
its blessings without being hailed as a
benefactor. Man must therefore have been
placed in the north, to tempt him to run
after the sun, in order that the different parts
of the earth might be peopled. Nor do I
wonder that hordes of barbarians always
poured out of these regions to seek for
milder climes, when nothing like cultivation
attached them to the soil; especially when we
take into the view that the adventuring spirit,
common to man, is naturally stronger and
more general during the infancy of society.
The conduct of the followers of Mahomet,
and the crusaders, will sufficiently corroborate
my assertion.

Approaching nearer to Stromstad, the appearance
of the town proved to be quite in
character with the country we had just passed
through. I hesitated to use the word country,try, E3r 53
yet could not find another; still it
would sound absurd to talk of fields of
rocks.

The town was built on, and under them.
Three of four weather-beaten trees were
shrinking from the wind; and the grass
grew so sparingly, that I could not avoid
thinking Dr. Johnson’s hyperbolical assertion
“that the man merited well of his country
who made a few blades of grass grow
where they never grew before,” might here
have been uttered with strict propriety. The
steeple likewise towered aloft; for what is a
church, even amongst the Lutherans, without
a steeple? But to prevent mischief in
such an exposed situation, it is wisely placed
on a rock at some distance, not to endanger
the roof of the church.

Rambling about, I saw the door open,
and entered, when to my great surprise I
found the clergyman reading prayers, with
only the clerk attending. I instantly thought
of Swift’s “Dearly beloved Roger;” but on
enquiry I learnt that some one had died that
morning, and in Sweden it is customary to
pray for the dead.

The sun, who I suspected never dares to E3 shine E3v 54
shine, began now to convince me that he
came forth only to torment; for though the
wind was still cutting, the rocks became intolerably
warm under my feet; whilst the herring
effluvia, which I before found so very
offensive, once more assailed me. I hastened
back to the house of a merchant, the little
sovereign of the place, because he was by far
the richest, though not the mayor.

Here we were most hospitably received,
and introduced to a very fine and numerous
family. I have before mentioned to you the
lillies of the north, I might have added, water
lillies, for the complexion of many, even
of the young women seem to be bleached on
the bosom of snow. But in this youthful
circle the roses bloomed with all their wonted
freshness, and I wondered from whence the
fire was stolen which sparkled in their fine
blue eyes.

Here we slept; and I rose early in the
morning to prepare for my little voyage to
Norway. I had determined to go by water,
and was to leave my companions behind;
but not getting a boat immediately, and the
wind being high and unfavourable, I was
told that it was not safe to go to sea during 4 such E4r 55
such boisterous weather; I was therefore
obliged to wait for the morrow, and had the
present day on my hands; which I feared
would be irksome, because the family, who
possessed about a dozen french words amongst
them, and not an english phrase, were anxious
to amuse me, and would not let me remain
alone in my room. The town we had already
walked round and round; and if we advanced
farther on the coast, it was still to view the
same unvaried immensity of water, surrounded
by barrenness.

The gentlemen wishing to peep into Norway,
proposed going to Fredericshall, the first
town, the distance was only three swedish
miles. There, and back again, was but a
day’s journey, and would not, I thought,
interfere with my voyage. I agreed, and
invited the eldest and prettiest of the girls
to accompany us. I invited her, because I
liked to see a beautiful face animated by pleasure,
and to have an opportunity of regarding
the country, whilst the gentlemen were
amusing themselves with her.

I did not know, for I had not thought of
it, that we were to scale some of the most
mountainous cliffs of Sweden, in our way to E4 the E4v 56
the ferry which separates the two countries.

Entering amongst the cliffs, we were sheltered
from the wind; warm sun-beams began
to play, streams to flow, and groves of
pines diversified the rocks. Sometimes they
became suddenly bare and sublime. Once,
in particular, after mounting the most terrific
precipice, we had to pass through a tremendous
defile, where the closing chasm seemed
to threaten us with instant destruction, when
turning quickly, verdant meadows and a
beautiful lake relieved and charmed my
eyes.

I have never travelled through Switzerland;
but one of my companions assured me, that I
should not there find any thing superior, if
equal to the wild grandeur of these views.

As we had not taken this excursion into
our plan, the horses had not been previously
ordered, which obliged us to wait two
hours at the first post. The day was wearing
away. The road was so bad, that walking
up the precipices consumed the time insensibly.
But as we desired horses at each
post ready at a certain hour, we reckoned
on returning more speedily.

We stopt to dine at a tolerable farm. They
brought us out ham, butter, cheese, and
milk; and the charge was so moderate, that
I scattered a little money amongst the children
who were peeping at us, in order to pay
them for their trouble.

Arrived at the ferry, we were still detained;
for the people who attend at the ferries have
a stupid kind of sluggishness in their manner,
which is very provoking when you are
inhaste. At present I did not feel it; for
scrambling up the cliffs, my eye followed the
river as it rolled between the grand rocky
banks; and to complete the scenery, they
were covered with firs and pines, through
which the wind rustled, as if it were lulling
itself to sleep with the declining sun.

Behold us now in Norway; and I could
not avoid feeling surprise at observing the
difference in the manners of the inhabitants of
the two sides of the river; for every thing shews
that the norwegians are more industrious and
more opulent. The Swedes, for neighbours are
seldom the best friends, accuse the norwegians
of knavery, and they retaliate by bringing
a charge of hypocrisy against the Swedes.
Local circumstances probably render both 3 unjust, E5v 58
unjust, speaking from their feelings, rather
than reason: and is this astonishing when
we consider that most writers of travels
have done the same, whose works have served
as materials for the compilers of universal
histories. All are eager to give a national
character; which is rarely just, because they
do not discriminate the natural from the acquired
difference. The natural, I believe, on
due consideration, will be found to consist
merely in the degree of vivacity or thoughtfulness,
pleasure, or pain, inspired by the
climate, whilst the varieties which the forms
of government, including religion, produce,
are much more numerous and unstable.

A people have been characterized as stupid
by nature; what a paradox! because they
did not consider that slaves, having no object
to stimulate industry, have not their faculties
sharpened by the only thing that can
exercise them, self-interest. Others have
been brought forward as brutes, having no
aptitude for the arts and sciences, only because
the progress of improvement had not
reached that stage which produces them.

Those writers who have considered the
history of man, or of the human mind, on a more E6r 59
more enlarged scale, have fallen into similar
errors, not reflecting that the passions are
weak where the necessaries of life are too
hardly or too easily obtained.

Travellers who require that every nation
should resemble their native country, had better
stay at home. It is, for example, absurd
to blame a people for not having that degree
of personal cleanliness and elegance of manners
which only refinement of taste produces,
and will produce every where in proportion
as society attains a general polish.
The most essential service, I presume, that
authors could render to society, would be to
promote inquiry and discussion, instead of
making those dogmatical assertions which only
appear calculated to gird the human mind
round with imaginary circles, like the paper
globe which represents the one he inhabits.

This spirit of inquiry is the characteristic
of the present century, from which the succeeding
will, I am persuaded, receive a great
accumulation of knowledge; and doubtless
its diffusion will in a great measure destroy the
factitious national characters which have been
supposed permanent, though only rendered
so by the permanency of ignorance.

Arriving at Fredericshall, at the siege of
which Charles XII. lost his life, we had only
time to take a transient view of it, whilst
they were preparing us some refreshment.

Poor Charles! I thought of him with respect.
I have always felt the same for
Alexander; with whom he has been classed
as a madman, by several writers, who have
reasoned superficially, confounding the morals
of the day with the few grand principles
on which unchangeable morality rests. Making
no allowance for the ignorance and prejudices
of the period, they do not perceive how
much they themselves are indebted to general
improvement for the acquirements, and even
the virtues, which they would not have had
the force of mind to attain, by their individual
exertions in a less advanced state of
society.

The evening was fine, as is usual at this
season; and the refreshing odour of the pine
woods became more perceptible; for it was
nine o’clock when we left Fredericshall. At
the ferry we were detained by a dispute relative
to our swedish passport, which we did
not think of getting countersigned in Norway.
Midnight was coming on; yet it might E7r 61
might with such propriety have been termed
the noon of night, that had Young ever travelled
towards the north, I should not have
wondered at his becoming enamoured of the
moon. But it is not the queen of night
alone who reigns here in all her splendor,
though the sun, loitering just below the horizon,
decks her with a golden tinge from his
car, illuminating the cliffs that hide him;
the heavens also, of a clear softened blue,
throw her forward, and the evening star
appears a lesser moon to the naked eye. The
huge shadows of the rocks, fringed with
firs, concentrating the views, without darkening
them, excited that tender melancholy
which, sublimating the imagination, exalts,
rather than depresses the mind.

My companions fell asleep:——fortunately
they did not snore; and I contemplated,
fearless of idle questions, a night such as I had
never before seen or felt to charm the senses,
and calm the heart. The very air was balmy,
as it freshened into morn, producing the
most voluptuous sensations. A vague pleasurable
sentiment absorbed me, as I opened
my bosom to the embraces of nature; and
my soul rose to its author, with the chirping of E7v 62
of the solitary birds, which began to feel, rather
than see, advancing day. I had leisure
to mark its progress. The grey morn,
streaked with silvery rays, ushered in the
orient beams,---how beautifully varying into
purple!---yet, I was sorry to lose the soft
watry clouds which preceded them, exciting
a kind of expectation that made me almost
afraid to breathe, lest I should break the
charm. I saw the sun—and sighed.

One of my companions, now awake, perceiving
that the postillion had mistaken the
road, began to swear at him, and roused the
other two, who reluctantly shook off sleep.

We had immediately to measure back our
steps, and did not reach Stromstad before
five in the morning.

The wind had changed in the night, and
my boat was ready.

A dish of coffee, and fresh linen, recruited
my spirits; and I directly set out again
for Norway; purposing to land much higher
up the coast.

Wrapping my great coat round me, I lay
down on some sails at the bottom of the
boat, its motion rocking me to rest, till a
discourteous wave interrupted my slumbers, and E8r 63
and obliged me to rise and feel a solitariness
which was not so soothing as that of the
past night.

Letter VI.

The sea was boisterous; but, as I had an
experienced pilot, I did not apprehend any
danger. Sometimes I was told, boats are
driven far out and lost. However, I seldom
calculate chances so nicely—sufficient for the
day is the obvious evil!

We had to steer amongst islands and huge
rocks, rarely losing sight of the shore, though
it now and then appeared only a mist that
bordered the water’s edge. The pilot assured
me that the numerous harbours on the
Norway coast were very safe. and the pilot-
boats were always on the watch. The Swedish
side is very dangerous, I am also informed;
and the help of experience is not often at
hand, to enable strange vessels to steer clear
of the rocks, which lurk below the water,
close to the shore.

There are no tides here, nor in the cattegate;
and, what appeared to me a consequence, no
sandy beach. Perhaps this observation has
been made before; but it did not occur to me
till I saw the waves continually beating against the F1r 65
the bare rocks, without ever receding to leave
a sediment to harden.

The wind was fair, till we had to tack
about in order to enter Laurvig, where we
arrived towards three o’clock in the afternoon.
It is a clean, pleasant town, with
a considerable iron-work, which gives life
to it.

As the norwegians do not frequently see travellers,
they are very curious to know their
business, and who they are---so curious that I
was half tempted to adopt Dr. Franklin’s
plan, when travelling in America, where they
are equally prying, which was to write on
a paper, for public inspection, my name,
from whence I came, where I was going, and
what was my business. But if I were importuned
by their curiosity, their friendly
gestures gratified me. A woman, coming
alone, interested them. And I know not
whether my weariness gave me a look of peculiar
delicacy; but they approached to assist
me, and enquire after my wants, as if they
were afraid to hurt, and wished to protect me.
The sympathy I inspired, thus dropping down
from the clouds in a strange land, affected me
more than it would have done, had not my F spirits F1v 66
spirits been harassed by various causes----by
much thinking---musing almost to madness---
and even by a sort of weak melancholy that
hung about my heart at parting with my
daughter for the first time.

You know that as a female I am particularly
attached to her----I feel more than a
mother’s fondness and anxiety, when I reflect
on the dependent and oppressed state of her
sex. I dread lest she should be forced to sacrifice
her heart to her principles, or principles
to her heart. With trembling hand I
shall cultivate sensibility, and cherish delicacy
of sentiment, lest, whilst I lend fresh blushes
to the rose, I sharpen the thorns that will
wound the breast I would fain guard---I
dread to unfold her mind, lest it should render
her unfit for the world she is to inhabit—
Hapless woman! what a fate is thine!

But whither am I wandering? I only meant
to tell you that the impression the kindness of
the simple people made visible on my countenance
increased my sensibility to a painful degree.
I wished to have had a room to myself;
for their attention, and rather distressing observation,
embarrassed me extremely. Yet, as
they would bring me eggs, and make my coffee, F2r 67
coffee, I found I could not leave them without
hurting their feelings of hospitality.

It is customary here for the host and
hostess to welcome their guests as master and
mistress of the house.

My clothes, in their turn, attracted the
attention of the females; and I could not help
thinking of the foolish vanity which makes
many women so proud of the observation of
strangers as to take wonder very gratuitously
for admiration. This error they are very
apt to fall into; when arrived in a foreign
country, the populace stare at them as they
pass: yet the make of a cap, or the singularity
of a gown, is often the cause of the flattering
attention, which afterwards supports a fantastic
superstructure of self-conceit.

Not having brought a carriage over with
me, expecting to have met a person where
I landed, who was immediately to have procured
me one, I was detained whilst the
good people of the inn sent round to all
their acquaintance to search for a vehicle. A
rude sort of cabriole was at last found, and a
driver half drunk, who was not less eager
to make a good bargain on that account. I
had a danish captain of a ship and his mate F2 with F2v 68
with me: the former was to ride on horseback,
at which he was not very expert, and
the latter to partake of my feat. The
driver mounted behind to guide the horses,
and flourish the whip over our shoulders;
he would not suffer the reins out of his
own hands. There was something so grotesque
in our appearance, that I could not
avoid shrinking into myself when I saw a
gentleman-like man in the group which
crowded round the door to observe us. I
could have broken the driver’s whip for
cracking to call the women and children
together; but seeing a significant smile on
the face, I had before remarked, I burst into
a laugh, to allow him to do so too,---and
away we flew. This is not a flourish of the
pen; for we actually went on full gallop a
long time, the horses being very good; indeed
I have never met with better, if so
good, post-horses, as in Norway; they are
of a stouter make than then english horses,
appear to be well fed, and are not easily
tired.

I had to pass over, I was informed, the
most fertile and best cultivated tract of country
in Norway. The distance was three norwegianwegian F3r 69
miles, which are longer than the
swedish. The roads were very good; the
farmers are obliged to repair them; and we
scampered through a great extent of country
in a more improved state than any I had viewed
since I left England. Still there was sufficient
of hills, dales, and rocks, to prevent the idea
of a plain from entering the head, or even
of such scenery as England and France afford.
The prospects were also embellished
by water, rivers, and lakes, before the sea
proudly claimed my regard; and the road
running frequently through lofty groves,
rendered the landscapes beautiful, though
they were not so romantic as those I had
lately seen with such delight.

It was late when I reached Tonsberg;
and I was glad to go to bed at a decent
inn. The next morning, the --07-1717th of July,
conversing with the gentleman with whom I
had business to transact, I found that I
should be detained at Tonsberg three weeks;
and I lamented that I had not brought my
child with me.

The inn was quiet, and my room so
pleasant, commanding a view of the sea,
confined by an amphitheatre of hanging F3 woods, F3v 70
woods, that I wished to remain there,
though no one in the house could speak
english or french. The mayor, my friend,
however, sent a young woman to me who
spoke a little english, and she agreed to call
on me twice a day, to receive my orders,
and translate them to my hostess.

My not understanding the language was
an excellent pretext for dining alone, which
I prevailed on them to let me do at a late
hour; for the early dinners in Sweden had
entirely deranged my day. I could not alter
it there, without disturbing the economy
of a family where I was a visitor; necessity
having forced me to accept of an
invitation from a private family, the lodgings
were so incommodious.

Amongst the norwegians I had the arrangement
of my own time; and I determined
to regulate it in such a manner, that
I might enjoy as much of their sweet
summer as I possibly could;---short, it is
true; but passing sweet.

I never endured a winter in this rude
clime; consequently it was not the contrast,
but the real beauty of the season which
made the present summer appear to me the F4r 71
the finest I had ever seen. Sheltered
from the north and eastern winds, nothing
can exceed the salubrity, the soft freshness
of the western gales. In the evening they
also die away; the aspen leaves tremble
into stillness, and reposing nature seems to
be warmed by the moon, which here assumes
a genial aspect: and if a light shower has
chanced to fall with the sun, the juniper
the underwood of the forest, exhales a
wild perfume, mixed with a thousand nameless
sweets, that, soothing the heart, leave
images in the memory which the imagination
will ever hold dear.

Nature is the nurse of sentiment,---the
true source of taste;----yet what misery,
as well as rapture, is produced by a quick perception
of the beautiful and sublime, when
it is exercised in observing animated nature,
when every beauteous feeling and emotion excites
responsive sympathy, and the harmonized
soul sinks into melancholy, or rises to extasy,
just as the chords are touched, like the
æolian harp agitated by the changing wind.
But how dangerous is it to foster these
sentiments in such an imperfect state of
existence; and how difficult to eradicate F4 them F4v 72
them when an affection for mankind, a passion
for an individual, is but the unfolding
of that love which embraces all that is
great and beautiful.

When a warm heart has received strong impressions,
they are not to be effaced. Emotions
become sentiments; and the imagination renders
even transient sensations permanent, by
fondly retracing them. I cannot, without a thrill
of delight, recollect views I have seen,
which are not to be forgotten,---nor looks
I have felt in every nerve which I shall never
more meet. The grave has closed over a
dear friend, the friend of my youth; still
she is present with me, and I hear her soft
voice warbling as I stray over the heath.
Fate has separated me from another, the
fire of whose eyes, tempered by infantine
tenderness, still warms my breast; even
when gazing on these tremendous cliffs, sublime
emotions absorb my soul. And, smile
not, if I add, that the rosy tint of morning
reminds me of a suffusion, which will never
more charm my senses, unless it reappears
on the cheeks of my child. Her
sweet blushes I may yet hide in my bosom,
and she is still too young to ask why starts the F5r 73
the tear, so near akin to pleasure and
pain?

I cannot write any more at present. Tomorrow
we will talk of Tonsberg.

Letter VII.

Though the king of Denmark be an
absolute monarch, yet the norwegians appear
to enjoy all the blessings of freedom. Norway
may be termed a sister kingdom; but the
people have no viceroy to lord it over them,
and fatten his dependants with the fruit of
their labour.

There are only two counts in the whole
country, who have estates, and exact some
feudal observances from their tenantry. All
the rest of the country is divided into small
farms, which belong to the cultivator. It
is true, some few, appertaining to the church,
are let; but always on a lease for life,
generally renewed in favour of the eldest
son, who has this advantage, as well as a
right to a double portion of the property.
But the value of the farm is estimated; and
after his portion is assigned to him, he
must be answerable for the residue to the
remaining part of the family.

Every farmer, for ten years, is obliged
to attend annually about twelve days, to
learn the military exercise; but it is always at F6r 75
at a small distance from his dwelling, and
does not lead him into any new habits of
life.

There are about six thousand regulars also,
garrisoned at Christiania and Fredericshall,
which are equally reserved, with the militia,
for the defence of their own country,
So that when the prince royal passed into
Sweden, in 17881788, he was obliged to request,
not command, them to accompany him on
this expedition.

These corps are mostly composed of the sons
of the cottagers, who being labourers on the
farms, are allowed a few acres to cultivate
for themselves. These men voluntarily enlist;
but it is only for a limited period, (six
years) at the expiration of which they have
the liberty of retiring. The pay is only
two-pence a day, and bread; still, considering
the cheapness of the country, it is more
than sixpence in England.

The distribution of landed property into
small farms, produces a degree of equality
which I have seldom seen elsewhere;
and the rich being all merchants, who are
obliged to divide their personal fortune
amongst their children, the boys always receiving
twice as much as the girls, propertyperty F6v 76
has not a chance of accumulating till
overgrown wealth destroys the balance of
liberty.

You will be surprised to hear me talk of
liberty; yet the norwegians appear to me
to be the most free community I have ever
observed.

The mayor of each town or district, and
the judges in the country, exercise an authority
almost patriarchal. They can do
much good, but little harm, as every individual
can appeal from their judgment:
and as they may always be forced to give
a reason for their conduct, it is generally
regulated by prudence. “They have not
time to learn to be tyrants,” said a gentleman
to me, with whom I discussed the subject.

The farmers not fearing to be turned
out of their farms, should they displease a
man in power, and having no vote to be
commanded at an election for a mock representative,
are a manly race; for not being
obliged to submit to any debasing tenure,
in order to live, or advance themselves
in the world, they act with an independent
spirit. I never yet have heard of any thing F7r 77
thing like domineering, or oppression, excepting
such as has arisen from natural causes.
The freedom the people enjoy may, perhaps,
render them a little litigious, and subject
them to the impositions of cunning practitioners
of the law; but the authority of office
is bounded, and the emoluments of it do not
destroy its utility.

Last year a man, who had abused
his power, was cashiered, on the representation
of the people to the bailiff of the district.

There are four in Norway, who might
with propriety be termed sheriffs; and, from
their sentence, an appeal, by either party,
may be made to Copenhagen.

Near most of the towns are commons, on
which the cows of all the inhabitants, indiscriminately,
are allowed to fraze. The poor,
to whom a cow is necessary, are almost supported
by it. Besides, to render living more
easy, they all go out to fish in their own
boats; and fish is their principal food.

The lower class of people in the towns are
in general sailors; and the industrious have
usually little vantures of their own that serve
to render the winter comfortable.

With respect to the country at large, the
importation is considerably in favour of Norway.

They are forbidden, at present, to export
corn or rye, on account of the advanced
price.

The restriction which most resembles the
painful subordination of Ireland, is that vessels,
trading to the West Indies, are obliged
to pass by their own ports, and unload their
cargoes at Copenhagen, which they afterwards
re-ship. The duty is indeed inconsiderable;
but the navigation being dangerous,
they run a double risk.

There is an excise on all articles of consumption
brought to the towns; but the
officers are not strict; and it would be
reckoned invidious to enter a house to search,
as in England.

The norwegians appear to me a sensible,
shrewd people, with little scientific knowledge,
and still less taste for literature: but
they are arriving at the epoch which precedes
the introduction of the arts and sciences.

Most of the towns are sea-ports, and sea-
ports are not favourable to improvement.
The captains acquire a little superficial knowledge
by travelling, which their indefatigable3 ble F8r 79
attention to the making of money prevents
their digesting; and the fortune that
they thus laboriously acquire, is spent, as it
usually is in towns of this description, in
shew and good living. They love their
country, but have not much public spirit.Open note 6Back to note ⁶
Their exertions are, generally speaking, only
for their families; which I conceive will always
be the case, till politics, becoming a
subject of discussion, enlarges the heart by
opening the understanding. The french revolution
will have this effect. They sing
at present, with great glee, many republican
songs, and seem earnestly to wish that the
republic may stand; yet they appear very
much attached to their prince royal; and, as
far as rumour can give an idea of a character,
he appears to merit their attachment. When
I am at Copenhagen, I shall be able to ascertain
on what foundation their good opinion
is built; at present I am only the echo
of it.

In the year 17881788 he travelled through
Norway; and acts of mercy gave dignity to
the parade, and interest to the joy, his presence
inspired. At this town he pardoned
a girl condemned to die for murdering an
illegitimate child, a crime seldom committed
in this country. She is since married, and
become the careful mother of a family. This
might be given as an instance, that a desperate
act is not always a proof of an incorrigible
depravity of character; the only plausible
excuse that has been brought forward to
justify the infliction of capital punishments.

I will relate two or three other anecdotes
to you; for the truth of which I will not
vouch, because the facts were not of sufficient
consequence for me to take much pains to
ascertain them; and, true or false, they
evince that the people like to make a kind
of mistress of their prince.

An officer, mortally wounded at the
ill-advised battle of Quistram, desired to
speak with the prince; and, with his dying
breath, earnestly recommended to his care
a young woman of Christiania, to whom
he was engaged. When the prince returned
there, a ball was given by the chief inhabitants.bitants. G1r 81
He inquired whether this unfortunate
girl was invited, and requested that she
might, though of the second class. The
girl came; she was pretty; and finding herself
amongst her superiors, bashfully sat
down as near the door as possible, nobody
taking notice of her. Shortly after, the prince
entering, immediately inquired for her, and
asked her to dance, to the mortification of
the rich dames. After it was over he handed
her to the top of the room, and placing himself
by her, spoke of the loss she had sustained,
with tenderness, promising to provide
for any one she should marry,---as the story
goes. She is since married, and he has not
forgotten his promise.

A little girl, during the same expedition,
in Sweden, who informed him that the logs
of a bridge were cut underneath, was taken
by his orders to Christiania, and put to
school at his expence.

Before I retail other beneficial. effects of his
journey, it is necessary to inform you that
the laws here are mild, and do not punish
capitally for any crime but murder, which seldom
occurs. Every other offence merely
subjects the delinquent to imprisonment and
labour in the castle, or rather arsenal, at Christiania,G tiania, G1r 82
and the fortress at Fredericshall. The
first and second conviction produces a sentence
for a limited number of years,--two,
three, five, or seven, proportioned to the
atrocity of the crime. After the third he is
whipped, branded in the forehead, and condemned
to perpetual slavery. This is the
ordinary march of justice. For some flagrant
breaches of trust, or acts of wanton
cruelty, criminals have been condemned to
slavery for life, the first time of conviction,
but not frequently. The number of these
slaves do not, I am informed, amount to
more than an hundred, which is not
considerable, compared with the population,
upwards of eight hundred thousand.
Should I pass through Christiania, on my
return to Gothenburg, I shall probably have
an opportunity of learning other particulars.