Letters Written During a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark
{"WorkMasterId":6710,"WpPageId":284401,"ParentWpPageId":193813,"Slug":"letters-written-during-a-short-residence","Url":"https://chrisdeasy.com/theos/humanities/philosophy/philosophers/mary-wollstonecraft/letters-written-during-a-short-residence/","RelativeUrl":"theos/humanities/philosophy/philosophers/mary-wollstonecraft/letters-written-during-a-short-residence/","HasFullText":true,"RawHtmlLength":404995,"CleanHtmlLength":348885,"Kicker":"Philosophy Work","Title":"Letters Written During a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark","Deck":"The travel letters join commerce, law, nature, maternal feeling, sensibility, political economy, and moral reflection in a hybrid philosophical-literary form.","BackLink":{"Text":"Back to Mary Wollstonecraft","Url":"https://chrisdeasy.com/theos/humanities/philosophy/philosophers/mary-wollstonecraft/"},"AuthorCard":{"Label":"Author","Title":"Mary Wollstonecraft","Url":"https://chrisdeasy.com/theos/humanities/philosophy/philosophers/mary-wollstonecraft/","MediaHref":"","ImageSrc":"https://chrisdeasy.com/wp-content/uploads/mary-wollstonecraft-01-wollstonecraft-c-1797.jpg","ImageAlt":"Mary Wollstonecraft by John Opie, c. 1797, National Portrait Gallery","FilterTerra":"Western Europe","ClickText":"Mary Wollstonecraft","ClickHref":"https://chrisdeasy.com/theos/humanities/philosophy/philosophers/mary-wollstonecraft/","Copies":["1759 CE – 1797 CE","Spitalfields, London","English Enlightenment feminist philosopher, republican political writer, educator, novelist, translator, historian, and advocate of women\u0027s rational education, civic dignity, and moral independence."]},"ContextCards":[{"Label":"Period","Key":"Period:3","Title":"Early Modern History","DateText":"1500 CE – 1799 CE","Url":"https://chrisdeasy.com/theos/humanities/philosophy/eras-of-thought/philosophers-of-early-modern-history/"},{"Label":"Era","Key":"Era:9","Title":"Enlightenment and Proto-Industrial","DateText":"1700 CE – 1799 CE","Url":"https://chrisdeasy.com/theos/humanities/philosophy/eras-of-thought/philosophers-of-early-modern-history/philosophers-of-the-enlightenment-and-proto-industrial/"},{"Label":"Composition","Title":"1796 CE","Url":"","DateText":""}],"DateNote":"Displayed as 1796 for first publication; notes preserve travel-letter form and later influence on Romantic prose.","GeoCards":[{"Label":"Region","Key":"Region:1"},{"Label":"Terra Avita","Key":"TerraAvita:1"},{"Label":"Terra Avita Region","Key":"TerraAvitaRegion:2"},{"Label":"Modern Country","Key":"Country:GBR:1"}],"OriginalTitle":"Letters Written During a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark","Language":"English","DisciplineCards":[{"Label":"Primary Discipline","Key":"Discipline:aesthetics"},{"Label":"Secondary Discipline","Key":"Discipline:ethics"}],"Tradition":"Enlightenment feminism; republican political philosophy; educational theory; moral philosophy; rational religion; literary and historical criticism","FullText":{"Title":"Full Text","Copy":"Public-domain full text from Project Gutenberg eBook #3529 .","Url":"","Label":"","Kicker":"","Cards":[]},"CoreThesis":["The travel letters join commerce, law, nature, maternal feeling, sensibility, political economy, and moral reflection in a hybrid philosophical-literary form."],"Classification":{"AlternateTitles":"Letters from Sweden; Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark","KeyConcepts":"travel writing; sensibility; commerce; law; nature; maternal feeling; political economy; moral reflection","Methodology":"Source-backed Wollstonecraft work cluster; public texts are evidence only.","Structure":"Work page with title forms, integer year, notes, links, and no full text."},"Arguments":["The travel letters join commerce, law, nature, maternal feeling, sensibility, political economy, and moral reflection in a hybrid philosophical-literary form."],"Influence":{"InfluencedBy":"Richard Price, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, John Locke, Catharine Macaulay, Joseph Johnson\u0027s dissenting circle, Enlightenment moral philosophy, Anglican and rational Christian reform, and French Revolutionary politics.","InfluenceOn":""},"Significance":["Accepted as a direct Wollstonecraft work from SEP, Gutenberg, Wikisource, Commons title-page evidence, and catalog rows.","The work remains relevant to feminist philosophy, education, moral psychology, political equality, citizenship, literary form, rights discourse, and the relation of reason, passion, virtue, and social institutions."],"EvidenceNote":["Accepted as a direct Wollstonecraft work from SEP, Gutenberg, Wikisource, Commons title-page evidence, and catalog rows."],"MainSections":[{"Kind":"RawSection","Title":"Full Versions","BodyHtml":"\u003cdiv class=\"dz-philo__full-version-grid\"\u003e\n \u003carticle class=\"dz-philo__full-version-card\"\u003e\n \u003cp class=\"dz-philo__full-version-provider\"\u003eProject Gutenberg\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003ch3 class=\"dz-philo__full-version-title\"\u003eProject Gutenberg eBook #3529\u003c/h3\u003e\n \u003cp class=\"dz-philo__full-version-meta\"\u003eHtmlText · Imported\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003ca class=\"dz-philo__full-version-link\" href=\"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3529\"\u003eOpen full version\u003c/a\u003e\n \u003c/article\u003e\n \u003c/div\u003e"},{"Kind":"TextSection","Title":"Core Thesis","Paragraphs":["The travel letters join commerce, law, nature, maternal feeling, sensibility, political economy, and moral reflection in a hybrid philosophical-literary form."]},{"Kind":"FieldSection","Title":"Classification","Fields":[{"Label":"Alternate Titles","Value":"Letters from Sweden; Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark"},{"Label":"Key Concepts","Value":"travel writing; sensibility; commerce; law; nature; maternal feeling; political economy; moral reflection"},{"Label":"Methodology","Value":"Source-backed Wollstonecraft work cluster; public texts are evidence only."},{"Label":"Structure","Value":"Work page with title forms, integer year, notes, links, and no full text."}]},{"Kind":"TextSection","Title":"Arguments","Paragraphs":["The travel letters join commerce, law, nature, maternal feeling, sensibility, political economy, and moral reflection in a hybrid philosophical-literary form."]},{"Kind":"FieldSection","Title":"Influence","Fields":[{"Label":"Influenced By","Value":"Richard Price, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, John Locke, Catharine Macaulay, Joseph Johnson\u0027s dissenting circle, Enlightenment moral philosophy, Anglican and rational Christian reform, and French Revolutionary politics."},{"Label":"Influence On","Value":"Feminist philosophy, women\u0027s rights theory, republican political thought, education theory, liberal feminism, literary feminism, Mary Shelley, nineteenth-century feminism, and modern capability and equality debates."}]},{"Kind":"TextSection","Title":"Significance","Paragraphs":["Accepted as a direct Wollstonecraft work from SEP, Gutenberg, Wikisource, Commons title-page evidence, and catalog rows.","The work remains relevant to feminist philosophy, education, moral psychology, political equality, citizenship, literary form, rights discourse, and the relation of reason, passion, virtue, and social institutions."]},{"Kind":"TextSection","Title":"Evidence Note","Paragraphs":["Accepted as a direct Wollstonecraft work from SEP, Gutenberg, Wikisource, Commons title-page evidence, and catalog rows."]},{"Kind":"RawSection","Title":"Full Text","BodyHtml":"\u003cp class=\"dz-philo__section-copy dz-philo__full-text-source\"\u003ePublic-domain full text from \u003ca href=\"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3529\"\u003eProject Gutenberg eBook #3529\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003carticle class=\"dz-philo__full-text-body\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch1\u003eLETTERS\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u003cspan class=\"smcap\"\u003ewritten\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u003cspan class=\"smcap\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eduring a short residence\u003c/i\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u003cspan class=\"smcap\"\u003ein\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u003cspan class=\"smcap\"\u003eSweden\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan\r\nclass=\"smcap\"\u003eNorway\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan class=\"smcap\"\u003eand\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n\u003cspan class=\"smcap\"\u003eDenmark\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/h1\u003e\r\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"smcap\"\u003eby\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\r\nMARY WOLLSTONECRAFT.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\"\u003eCASSELL \u0026amp; COMPANY, Limited:\u003cbr\r\n/\u003e\r\n\u003cspan class=\"smcap\"\u003e\u003ci\u003elondon\u003c/i\u003e\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan\r\nclass=\"smcap\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eparis\u003c/i\u003e\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan class=\"smcap\"\u003e\u003ci\u003enew\r\nyork \u0026amp; melbourne\u003c/i\u003e\u003c/span\u003e.\u003cbr /\u003e\r\n1889.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003eINTRODUCTION.\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eMary Wollstonecraft was born on the 27th of April, 1759.\u0026nbsp;\r\nHer father\u0026mdash;a quick-tempered and unsettled man, capable of\r\nbeating wife, or child, or dog\u0026mdash;was the son of a\r\nmanufacturer who made money in Spitalfields, when Spitalfields\r\nwas prosperous.\u0026nbsp; Her mother was a rigorous Irishwoman, of\r\nthe Dixons of Ballyshannon.\u0026nbsp; Edward John\r\nWollstonecraft\u0026mdash;of whose children, besides Mary, the second\r\nchild, three sons and two daughters lived to be men and\r\nwomen\u0026mdash;in course of time got rid of about ten thousand\r\npounds, which had been left him by his father.\u0026nbsp; He began to\r\nget rid of it by farming.\u0026nbsp; Mary Wollstonecraft\u0026rsquo;s\r\nfirst-remembered home was in a farm at Epping.\u0026nbsp; When she was\r\nfive years old the family moved to another farm, by the\r\nChelmsford Road.\u0026nbsp; When she was between six and seven years\r\nold they moved again, to the neighbourhood of Barking.\u0026nbsp;\r\nThere they remained three years before the next move, which was\r\nto a farm near Beverley, in Yorkshire.\u0026nbsp; In Yorkshire they\r\nremained six years, and Mary Wollstonecraft had there what\r\neducation fell to her lot between the ages of ten and\r\nsixteen.\u0026nbsp; Edward John Wollstonecraft then gave up farming to\r\nventure upon a commercial speculation.\u0026nbsp; This caused him to\r\nlive for a year and a half at Queen\u0026rsquo;s Row, Hoxton.\u0026nbsp;\r\nHis daughter Mary was then sixteen; and while at Hoxton she had\r\nher education advanced by the friendly care of a deformed\r\nclergyman\u0026mdash;a Mr. Clare\u0026mdash;who lived next door, and stayed\r\nso much at home that his one pair of shoes had lasted him for\r\nfourteen years.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eBut Mary Wollstonecraft\u0026rsquo;s chief friend at this time was\r\nan accomplished girl only two years older than herself, who\r\nmaintained her father, mother, and family by skill in\r\ndrawing.\u0026nbsp; Her name was Frances Blood, and she especially, by\r\nher example and direct instruction, drew out her young\r\nfriend\u0026rsquo;s powers.\u0026nbsp; In 1776, Mary Wollstonecraft\u0026rsquo;s\r\nfather, a rolling stone, rolled into Wales.\u0026nbsp; Again he was a\r\nfarmer.\u0026nbsp; Next year again he was a Londoner; and Mary had\r\ninfluence enough to persuade him to choose a house at Walworth,\r\nwhere she would be near to her friend Fanny.\u0026nbsp; Then, however,\r\nthe conditions of her home life caused her to be often on the\r\npoint of going away to earn a living for herself.\u0026nbsp; In 1778,\r\nwhen she was nineteen, Mary Wollstonecraft did leave home, to\r\ntake a situation as companion with a rich tradesman\u0026rsquo;s widow\r\nat Bath, of whom it was said that none of her companions could\r\nstay with her.\u0026nbsp; Mary Wollstonecraft, nevertheless, stayed\r\ntwo years with the difficult widow, and made herself\r\nrespected.\u0026nbsp; Her mother\u0026rsquo;s failing health then caused\r\nMary to return to her.\u0026nbsp; The father was then living at\r\nEnfield, and trying to save the small remainder of his means by\r\nnot venturing upon any business at all.\u0026nbsp; The mother died\r\nafter long suffering, wholly dependent on her daughter\r\nMary\u0026rsquo;s constant care.\u0026nbsp; The mother\u0026rsquo;s last words\r\nwere often quoted by Mary Wollstonecraft in her own last years of\r\ndistress\u0026mdash;\u0026ldquo;A little patience, and all will be\r\nover.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eAfter the mother\u0026rsquo;s death, Mary Wollstonecraft left home\r\nagain, to live with her friend, Fanny Blood, who was at Walham\r\nGreen.\u0026nbsp; In 1782 she went to nurse a married sister through a\r\ndangerous illness.\u0026nbsp; The father\u0026rsquo;s need of support next\r\npressed upon her.\u0026nbsp; He had spent not only his own money, but\r\nalso the little that had been specially reserved for his\r\nchildren.\u0026nbsp; It is said to be the privilege of a passionate\r\nman that he always gets what he wants; he gets to be avoided, and\r\nthey never find a convenient corner of their own who shut\r\nthemselves out from the kindly fellowship of life.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1783 Mary Wollstonecraft\u0026mdash;aged twenty-four\u0026mdash;with\r\ntwo of her sisters, joined Fanny Blood in setting up a day school\r\nat Islington, which was removed in a few months to Newington\r\nGreen.\u0026nbsp; Early in 1785 Fanny Blood, far gone in consumption,\r\nsailed for Lisbon to marry an Irish surgeon who was settled\r\nthere.\u0026nbsp; After her marriage it was evident that she had but a\r\nfew months to live; Mary Wollstonecraft, deaf to all opposing\r\ncounsel, then left her school, and, with help of money from a\r\nfriendly woman, she went out to nurse her, and was by her when\r\nshe died.\u0026nbsp; Mary Wollstonecraft remembered her loss ten years\r\nafterwards in these \u0026ldquo;Letters from Sweden and Norway,\u0026rdquo;\r\nwhen she wrote: \u0026ldquo;The grave has closed over a dear friend,\r\nthe friend of my youth; still she is present with me, and I hear\r\nher soft voice warbling as I stray over the heath.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eMary Wollstonecraft left Lisbon for England late in December,\r\n1785.\u0026nbsp; When she came back she found Fanny\u0026rsquo;s poor\r\nparents anxious to go back to Ireland; and as she had been often\r\ntold that she could earn by writing, she wrote a pamphlet of 162\r\nsmall pages\u0026mdash;\u0026ldquo;Thoughts on the Education of\r\nDaughters\u0026rdquo;\u0026mdash;and got ten pounds for it.\u0026nbsp; This she\r\ngave to her friend\u0026rsquo;s parents to enable them to go back to\r\ntheir kindred.\u0026nbsp; In all she did there is clear evidence of an\r\nardent, generous, impulsive nature.\u0026nbsp; One day her friend\r\nFanny Blood had repined at the unhappy surroundings in the home\r\nshe was maintaining for her father and mother, and longed for a\r\nlittle home of her own to do her work in.\u0026nbsp; Her friend\r\nquietly found rooms, got furniture together, and told her that\r\nher little home was ready; she had only to walk into it.\u0026nbsp;\r\nThen it seemed strange to Mary Wollstonecraft that Fanny Blood\r\nwas withheld by thoughts that had not been uppermost in the mood\r\nof complaint.\u0026nbsp; She thought her friend irresolute, where she\r\nhad herself been generously rash.\u0026nbsp; Her end would have been\r\nhappier had she been helped, as many are, by that calm influence\r\nof home in which some knowledge of the world passes from father\r\nand mother to son and daughter, without visible teaching and\r\npreaching, in easiest companionship of young and old from day to\r\nday.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe little payment for her pamphlet on the \u0026ldquo;Education of\r\nDaughters\u0026rdquo; caused Mary Wollstonecraft to think more\r\nseriously of earning by her pen.\u0026nbsp; The pamphlet seems also to\r\nhave advanced her credit as a teacher.\u0026nbsp; After giving up her\r\nday school, she spent some weeks at Eton with the Rev. Mr. Prior,\r\none of the masters there, who recommended her as governess to the\r\ndaughters of Lord Kingsborough, an Irish viscount, eldest son of\r\nthe Earl of Kingston.\u0026nbsp; Her way of teaching was by winning\r\nlove, and she obtained the warm affection of the eldest of her\r\npupils, who became afterwards Countess Mount-Cashel.\u0026nbsp; In the\r\nsummer of 1787, Lord Kingsborough\u0026rsquo;s family, including Mary\r\nWollstonecraft, was at Bristol Hot-wells, before going to the\r\nContinent.\u0026nbsp; While there, Mary Wollstonecraft wrote her\r\nlittle tale published as \u0026ldquo;Mary, a Fiction,\u0026rdquo; wherein\r\nthere was much based on the memory of her own friendship for\r\nFanny Blood.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe publisher of Mary Wollstonecraft\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;Thoughts\r\non the Education of Daughters\u0026rdquo; was the same Joseph Johnson\r\nwho in 1785 was the publisher of Cowper\u0026rsquo;s\r\n\u0026ldquo;Task.\u0026rdquo;\u0026nbsp; With her little story written and a\r\nlittle money saved, the resolve to live by her pen could now be\r\ncarried out.\u0026nbsp; Mary Wollstonecraft, therefore, parted from\r\nher friends at Bristol, went to London, saw her publisher, and\r\nfrankly told him her determination.\u0026nbsp; He met her with\r\nfatherly kindness, and received her as a guest in his house while\r\nshe was making her arrangements.\u0026nbsp; At Michaelmas, 1787, she\r\nsettled in a house in George Street, on the Surrey side of\r\nBlackfriars Bridge.\u0026nbsp; There she produced a little book for\r\nchildren, of \u0026ldquo;Original Stories from Real Life,\u0026rdquo; and\r\nearned by drudgery for Joseph Johnson.\u0026nbsp; She translated, she\r\nabridged, she made a volume of Selections, and she wrote for an\r\n\u0026ldquo;Analytical Review,\u0026rdquo; which Mr. Johnson founded in the\r\nmiddle of the year 1788.\u0026nbsp; Among the books translated by her\r\nwas Necker \u0026ldquo;On the Importance of Religious\r\nOpinions.\u0026rdquo;\u0026nbsp; Among the books abridged by her was\r\nSalzmann\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;Elements of Morality.\u0026rdquo;\u0026nbsp; With\r\nall this hard work she lived as sparely as she could, that she\r\nmight help her family.\u0026nbsp; She supported her father.\u0026nbsp; That\r\nshe might enable her sisters to earn their living as teachers,\r\nshe sent one of them to Paris, and maintained her there for two\r\nyears; the other she placed in a school near London as\r\nparlour-boarder until she was admitted into it as a paid\r\nteacher.\u0026nbsp; She placed one brother at Woolwich to qualify for\r\nthe Navy, and he obtained a lieutenant\u0026rsquo;s commission.\u0026nbsp;\r\nFor another brother, articled to an attorney whom he did not\r\nlike, she obtained a transfer of indentures; and when it became\r\nclear that his quarrel was more with law than with the lawyers,\r\nshe placed him with a farmer before fitting him out for\r\nemigration to America.\u0026nbsp; She then sent him, so well prepared\r\nfor his work there that he prospered well.\u0026nbsp; She tried even\r\nto disentangle her father\u0026rsquo;s affairs; but the confusion in\r\nthem was beyond her powers of arrangement.\u0026nbsp; Added to all\r\nthis faithful work, she took upon herself the charge of an orphan\r\nchild, seven years old, whose mother had been in the number of\r\nher friends.\u0026nbsp; That was the life of Mary Wollstonecraft,\r\nthirty years old, in 1789, the year of the Fall of the Bastille;\r\nthe noble life now to be touched in its enthusiasms by the spirit\r\nof the Revolution, to be caught in the great storm, shattered,\r\nand lost among its wrecks.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eTo Burke\u0026rsquo;s attack on the French Revolution Mary\r\nWollstonecraft wrote an Answer\u0026mdash;one of many answers provoked\r\nby it\u0026mdash;that attracted much attention.\u0026nbsp; This was\r\nfollowed by her \u0026ldquo;Vindication of the Rights of Woman,\u0026rdquo;\r\nwhile the air was full of declamation on the \u0026ldquo;Rights of\r\nMan.\u0026rdquo;\u0026nbsp; The claims made in this little book were in\r\nadvance of the opinion of that day, but they are claims that have\r\nin our day been conceded.\u0026nbsp; They are certainly not\r\nrevolutionary in the opinion of the world that has become a\r\nhundred years older since the book was written.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eAt this time Mary Wollstonecraft had moved to rooms in Store\r\nStreet, Bedford Square.\u0026nbsp; She was fascinated by Fuseli the\r\npainter, and he was a married man.\u0026nbsp; She felt herself to be\r\ntoo strongly drawn towards him, and she went to Paris at the\r\nclose of the year 1792, to break the spell.\u0026nbsp; She felt lonely\r\nand sad, and was not the happier for being in a mansion lent to\r\nher, from which the owner was away, and in which she lived\r\nsurrounded by his servants.\u0026nbsp; Strong womanly instincts were\r\nastir within her, and they were not all wise folk who had been\r\ndrawn around her by her generous enthusiasm for the new hopes of\r\nthe world, that made it then, as Wordsworth felt, a very heaven\r\nto the young.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eFour months after she had gone to Paris, Mary Wollstonecraft\r\nmet at the house of a merchant, with whose wife she had become\r\nintimate, an American named Gilbert Imlay.\u0026nbsp; He won her\r\naffections.\u0026nbsp; That was in April, 1793.\u0026nbsp; He had no means,\r\nand she had home embarrassments, for which she was unwilling that\r\nhe should become in any way responsible.\u0026nbsp; A part of the new\r\ndream in some minds then was of a love too pure to need or bear\r\nthe bondage of authority.\u0026nbsp; The mere forced union of marriage\r\nties implied, it was said, a distrust of fidelity.\u0026nbsp; When\r\nGilbert Imlay would have married Mary Wollstonecraft, she herself\r\nrefused to bind him; she would keep him legally exempt from her\r\nresponsibilities towards the father, sisters, brothers, whom she\r\nwas supporting.\u0026nbsp; She took his name and called herself his\r\nwife, when the French Convention, indignant at the conduct of the\r\nBritish Government, issued a decree from the effects of which she\r\nwould escape as the wife of a citizen of the United States.\u0026nbsp;\r\nBut she did not marry.\u0026nbsp; She witnessed many of the horrors\r\nthat came of the loosened passions of an untaught populace.\u0026nbsp;\r\nA child was born to her\u0026mdash;a girl whom she named after the\r\ndead friend of her own girlhood.\u0026nbsp; And then she found that\r\nshe had leant upon a reed.\u0026nbsp; She was neglected; and was at\r\nlast forsaken.\u0026nbsp; Having sent her to London, Imlay there\r\nvisited her, to explain himself away.\u0026nbsp; She resolved on\r\nsuicide, and in dissuading her from that he gave her hope\r\nagain.\u0026nbsp; He needed somebody who had good judgment, and who\r\ncared for his interests, to represent him in some business\r\naffairs in Norway.\u0026nbsp; She undertook to act for him, and set\r\nout on the voyage only a week after she had determined to destroy\r\nherself.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe interest of this book which describes her travel is\r\nquickened by a knowledge of the heart-sorrow that underlies it\r\nall.\u0026nbsp; Gilbert Imlay had promised to meet her upon her\r\nreturn, and go with her to Switzerland.\u0026nbsp; But the letters she\r\nhad from him in Sweden and Norway were cold, and she came back to\r\nfind that she was wholly forsaken for an actress from a strolling\r\ncompany of players.\u0026nbsp; Then she went up the river to drown\r\nherself.\u0026nbsp; She paced the road at Putney on an October night,\r\nin 1795, in heavy rain, until her clothes were drenched, that she\r\nmight sink more surely, and then threw herself from the top of\r\nPutney Bridge.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eShe was rescued, and lived on with deadened spirit.\u0026nbsp; In\r\n1796 these \u0026ldquo;Letters from Sweden and Norway\u0026rdquo; were\r\npublished.\u0026nbsp; Early in 1797 she was married to William\r\nGodwin.\u0026nbsp; On the 10th of September in the same year, at the\r\nage of thirty-eight, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin died, after the\r\nbirth of the daughter who lived to become the wife of\r\nShelley.\u0026nbsp; The mother also would have lived, if a womanly\r\nfeeling, in itself to be respected, had not led her also to\r\nunwise departure from the customs of the world.\u0026nbsp; Peace be to\r\nher memory.\u0026nbsp; None but kind thoughts can dwell upon the life\r\nof this too faithful disciple of Rousseau.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: right\"\u003eH. M.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003eLETTER I.\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eEleven days of weariness on board a vessel not intended for\r\nthe accommodation of passengers have so exhausted my spirits, to\r\nsay nothing of the other causes, with which you are already\r\nsufficiently acquainted, that it is with some difficulty I adhere\r\nto my determination of giving you my observations, as I travel\r\nthrough new scenes, whilst warmed with the impression they have\r\nmade on me.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe captain, as I mentioned to you, promised to put me on\r\nshore at Arendall or Gothenburg in his way to Elsineur, but\r\ncontrary winds obliged us to pass both places during the\r\nnight.\u0026nbsp; In the morning, however, after we had lost sight of\r\nthe entrance of the latter bay, the vessel was becalmed; and the\r\ncaptain, to oblige me, hanging out a signal for a pilot, bore\r\ndown towards the shore.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eMy attention was particularly directed to the lighthouse, and\r\nyou can scarcely imagine with what anxiety I watched two long\r\nhours for a boat to emancipate me; still no one appeared.\u0026nbsp;\r\nEvery cloud that flitted on the horizon was hailed as a\r\nliberator, till approaching nearer, like most of the prospects\r\nsketched by hope, it dissolved under the eye into\r\ndisappointment.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eWeary of expectation, I then began to converse with the\r\ncaptain on the subject, and from the tenor of the information my\r\nquestions drew forth I soon concluded that if I waited for a boat\r\nI had little chance of getting on shore at this place.\u0026nbsp;\r\nDespotism, as is usually the case, I found had here cramped the\r\nindustry of man.\u0026nbsp; The pilots being paid by the king, and\r\nscantily, they will not run into any danger, or even quit their\r\nhovels, if they can possibly avoid it, only to fulfil what is\r\ntermed their duty.\u0026nbsp; How different is it on the English\r\ncoast, where, in the most stormy weather, boats immediately hail\r\nyou, brought out by the expectation of extraordinary profit.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eDisliking to sail for Elsineur, and still more to lie at\r\nanchor or cruise about the coast for several days, I exerted all\r\nmy rhetoric to prevail on the captain to let me have the\r\nship\u0026rsquo;s boat, and though I added the most forcible of\r\narguments, I for a long time addressed him in vain.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIt is a kind of rule at sea not to send out a boat.\u0026nbsp; The\r\ncaptain was a good-natured man; but men with common minds seldom\r\nbreak through general rules.\u0026nbsp; Prudence is ever the resort of\r\nweakness, and they rarely go as far as they may in any\r\nundertaking who are determined not to go beyond it on any\r\naccount.\u0026nbsp; If, however, I had some trouble with the captain,\r\nI did not lose much time with the sailors, for they, all\r\nalacrity, hoisted out the boat the moment I obtained permission,\r\nand promised to row me to the lighthouse.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI did not once allow myself to doubt of obtaining a conveyance\r\nfrom thence round the rocks\u0026mdash;and then away for\r\nGothenburg\u0026mdash;confinement is so unpleasant.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe day was fine, and I enjoyed the water till, approaching\r\nthe little island, poor Marguerite, whose timidity always acts as\r\na feeler before her adventuring spirit, began to wonder at our\r\nnot seeing any inhabitants.\u0026nbsp; I did not listen to her.\u0026nbsp;\r\nBut when, on landing, the same silence prevailed, I caught the\r\nalarm, which was not lessened by the sight of two old men whom we\r\nforced out of their wretched hut.\u0026nbsp; Scarcely human in their\r\nappearance, we with difficulty obtained an intelligible reply to\r\nour questions, the result of which was that they had no boat, and\r\nwere not allowed to quit their post on any pretence.\u0026nbsp; But\r\nthey informed us that there was at the other side, eight or ten\r\nmiles over, a pilot\u0026rsquo;s dwelling.\u0026nbsp; Two guineas tempted\r\nthe sailors to risk the captain\u0026rsquo;s displeasure, and once\r\nmore embark to row me over.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe weather was pleasant, and the appearance of the shore so\r\ngrand that I should have enjoyed the two hours it took to reach\r\nit, but for the fatigue which was too visible in the countenances\r\nof the sailors, who, instead of uttering a complaint, were, with\r\nthe thoughtless hilarity peculiar to them, joking about the\r\npossibility of the captain\u0026rsquo;s taking advantage of a slight\r\nwesterly breeze, which was springing up, to sail without\r\nthem.\u0026nbsp; Yet, in spite of their good humour, I could not help\r\ngrowing uneasy when the shore, receding, as it were, as we\r\nadvanced, seemed to promise no end to their toil.\u0026nbsp; This\r\nanxiety increased when, turning into the most picturesque bay I\r\never saw, my eyes sought in vain for the vestige of a human\r\nhabitation.\u0026nbsp; Before I could determine what step to take in\r\nsuch a dilemma (for I could not bear to think of returning to the\r\nship), the sight of a barge relieved me, and we hastened towards\r\nit for information.\u0026nbsp; We were immediately directed to pass\r\nsome jutting rocks, when we should see a pilot\u0026rsquo;s hut.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThere was a solemn silence in this scene which made itself be\r\nfelt.\u0026nbsp; The sunbeams that played on the ocean, scarcely\r\nruffled by the lightest breeze, contrasted with the huge dark\r\nrocks, that looked like the rude materials of creation forming\r\nthe barrier of unwrought space, forcibly struck me, but I should\r\nnot have been sorry if the cottage had not appeared equally\r\ntranquil.\u0026nbsp; Approaching a retreat where strangers, especially\r\nwomen, so seldom appeared, I wondered that curiosity did not\r\nbring the beings who inhabited it to the windows or door.\u0026nbsp; I\r\ndid not immediately recollect that men who remain so near the\r\nbrute creation, as only to exert themselves to find the food\r\nnecessary to sustain life, have little or no imagination to call\r\nforth the curiosity necessary to fructify the faint glimmerings\r\nof mind which entitle them to rank as lords of the\r\ncreation.\u0026nbsp; Had they either they could not contentedly remain\r\nrooted in the clods they so indolently cultivate.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eWhilst the sailors went to seek for the sluggish inhabitants,\r\nthese conclusions occurred to me; and, recollecting the extreme\r\nfondness which the Parisians ever testify for novelty, their very\r\ncuriosity appeared to me a proof of the progress they had made in\r\nrefinement.\u0026nbsp; Yes, in the art of living\u0026mdash;in the art of\r\nescaping from the cares which embarrass the first steps towards\r\nthe attainment of the pleasures of social life.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe pilots informed the sailors that they were under the\r\ndirection of a lieutenant retired from the service, who spoke\r\nEnglish; adding that they could do nothing without his orders,\r\nand even the offer of money could hardly conquer their laziness\r\nand prevail on them to accompany us to his dwelling.\u0026nbsp; They\r\nwould not go with me alone, which I wanted them to have done,\r\nbecause I wished to dismiss the sailors as soon as\r\npossible.\u0026nbsp; Once more we rowed off, they following tardily,\r\ntill, turning round another bold protuberance of the rocks, we\r\nsaw a boat making towards us, and soon learnt that it was the\r\nlieutenant himself, coming with some earnestness to see who we\r\nwere.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eTo save the sailors any further toil, I had my baggage\r\ninstantly removed into his boat; for, as he could speak English,\r\na previous parley was not necessary, though Marguerite\u0026rsquo;s\r\nrespect for me could hardly keep her from expressing the fear,\r\nstrongly marked on her countenance, which my putting ourselves\r\ninto the power of a strange man excited.\u0026nbsp; He pointed out his\r\ncottage; and, drawing near to it, I was not sorry to see a female\r\nfigure, though I had not, like Marguerite, been thinking of\r\nrobberies, murders, or the other evil which instantly, as the\r\nsailors would have said, runs foul of a woman\u0026rsquo;s\r\nimagination.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eOn entering I was still better pleased to find a clean house,\r\nwith some degree of rural elegance.\u0026nbsp; The beds were of\r\nmuslin, coarse it is true, but dazzlingly white; and the floor\r\nwas strewed over with little sprigs of juniper (the custom, as I\r\nafterwards found, of the country), which formed a contrast with\r\nthe curtains, and produced an agreeable sensation of freshness,\r\nto soften the ardour of noon.\u0026nbsp; Still nothing was so pleasing\r\nas the alacrity of hospitality\u0026mdash;all that the house afforded\r\nwas quickly spread on the whitest linen.\u0026nbsp; Remember, I had\r\njust left the vessel, where, without being fastidious, I had\r\ncontinually been disgusted.\u0026nbsp; Fish, milk, butter, and cheese,\r\nand, I am sorry to add, brandy, the bane of this country, were\r\nspread on the board.\u0026nbsp; After we had dined hospitality made\r\nthem, with some degree of mystery, bring us some excellent\r\ncoffee.\u0026nbsp; I did not then know that it was prohibited.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe good man of the house apologised for coming in\r\ncontinually, but declared that he was so glad to speak English he\r\ncould not stay out.\u0026nbsp; He need not have apologised; I was\r\nequally glad of his company.\u0026nbsp; With the wife I could only\r\nexchange smiles, and she was employed observing the make of our\r\nclothes.\u0026nbsp; My hands, I found, had first led her to discover\r\nthat I was the lady.\u0026nbsp; I had, of course, my quantum of\r\nreverences; for the politeness of the north seems to partake of\r\nthe coldness of the climate and the rigidity of its iron-sinewed\r\nrocks.\u0026nbsp; Amongst the peasantry there is, however, so much of\r\nthe simplicity of the golden age in this land of flint\u0026mdash;so\r\nmuch overflowing of heart and fellow-feeling, that only\r\nbenevolence and the honest sympathy of nature diffused smiles\r\nover my countenance when they kept me standing, regardless of my\r\nfatigue, whilst they dropped courtesy after courtesy.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe situation of this house was beautiful, though chosen for\r\nconvenience.\u0026nbsp; The master being the officer who commanded all\r\nthe pilots on the coast, and the person appointed to guard\r\nwrecks, it was necessary for him to fix on a spot that would\r\noverlook the whole bay.\u0026nbsp; As he had seen some service, he\r\nwore, not without a pride I thought becoming, a badge to prove\r\nthat he had merited well of his country.\u0026nbsp; It was happy, I\r\nthought, that he had been paid in honour, for the stipend he\r\nreceived was little more than twelve pounds a year.\u0026nbsp; I do\r\nnot trouble myself or you with the calculation of Swedish\r\nducats.\u0026nbsp; Thus, my friend, you perceive the necessity of\r\nperquisites.\u0026nbsp; This same narrow policy runs through\r\neverything.\u0026nbsp; I shall have occasion further to animadvert on\r\nit.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThough my host amused me with an account of himself, which\r\ngave me an idea of the manners of the people I was about to\r\nvisit, I was eager to climb the rocks to view the country, and\r\nsee whether the honest tars had regained their ship.\u0026nbsp; With\r\nthe help of the lieutenant\u0026rsquo;s telescope, I saw the vessel\r\nunder way with a fair though gentle gale.\u0026nbsp; The sea was calm,\r\nplayful even as the most shallow stream, and on the vast basin I\r\ndid not see a dark speck to indicate the boat.\u0026nbsp; My\r\nconductors were consequently arrived.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eStraying further, my eye was attracted by the sight of some\r\nheartsease that peeped through the rocks.\u0026nbsp; I caught at it as\r\na good omen, and going to preserve it in a letter that had not\r\nconveyed balm to my heart, a cruel remembrance suffused my eyes;\r\nbut it passed away like an April shower.\u0026nbsp; If you are deep\r\nread in Shakespeare, you will recollect that this was the little\r\nwestern flower tinged by love\u0026rsquo;s dart, which \u0026ldquo;maidens\r\ncall love in idleness.\u0026rdquo;\u0026nbsp; The gaiety of my babe was\r\nunmixed; regardless of omens or sentiments, she found a few wild\r\nstrawberries more grateful than flowers or fancies.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe lieutenant informed me that this was a commodious\r\nbay.\u0026nbsp; Of that I could not judge, though I felt its\r\npicturesque beauty.\u0026nbsp; Rocks were piled on rocks, forming a\r\nsuitable bulwark to the ocean.\u0026nbsp; \u0026ldquo;Come no\r\nfurther,\u0026rdquo; they emphatically said, turning their dark sides\r\nto the waves to augment the idle roar.\u0026nbsp; The view was\r\nsterile; still little patches of earth of the most exquisite\r\nverdure, enamelled with the sweetest wild flowers, seemed to\r\npromise the goats and a few straggling cows luxurious\r\nherbage.\u0026nbsp; How silent and peaceful was the scene!\u0026nbsp; I\r\ngazed around with rapture, and felt more of that spontaneous\r\npleasure which gives credibility to our expectation of happiness\r\nthan I had for a long, long time before.\u0026nbsp; I forgot the\r\nhorrors I had witnessed in France, which had cast a gloom over\r\nall nature, and suffering the enthusiasm of my\r\ncharacter\u0026mdash;too often, gracious God! damped by the tears of\r\ndisappointed affection\u0026mdash;to be lighted up afresh, care took\r\nwing while simple fellow-feeling expanded my heart.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eTo prolong this enjoyment, I readily assented to the proposal\r\nof our host to pay a visit to a family, the master of which spoke\r\nEnglish, who was the drollest dog in the country, he added,\r\nrepeating some of his stories with a hearty laugh.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI walked on, still delighted with the rude beauties of the\r\nscene; for the sublime often gave place imperceptibly to the\r\nbeautiful, dilating the emotions which were painfully\r\nconcentrated.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eWhen we entered this abode, the largest I had yet seen, I was\r\nintroduced to a numerous family; but the father, from whom I was\r\nled to expect so much entertainment, was absent.\u0026nbsp; The\r\nlieutenant consequently was obliged to be the interpreter of our\r\nreciprocal compliments.\u0026nbsp; The phrases were awkwardly\r\ntransmitted, it is true; but looks and gestures were sufficient\r\nto make them intelligible and interesting.\u0026nbsp; The girls were\r\nall vivacity, and respect for me could scarcely keep them from\r\nromping with my host, who, asking for a pinch of snuff, was\r\npresented with a box, out of which an artificial mouse, fastened\r\nto the bottom, sprang.\u0026nbsp; Though this trick had doubtless been\r\nplayed time out of mind, yet the laughter it excited was not less\r\ngenuine.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThey were overflowing with civility; but, to prevent their\r\nalmost killing my babe with kindness, I was obliged to shorten my\r\nvisit; and two or three of the girls accompanied us, bringing\r\nwith them a part of whatever the house afforded to contribute\r\ntowards rendering my supper more plentiful; and plentiful in fact\r\nit was, though I with difficulty did honour to some of the\r\ndishes, not relishing the quantity of sugar and spices put into\r\neverything.\u0026nbsp; At supper my host told me bluntly that I was a\r\nwoman of observation, for I asked him \u003ci\u003emen\u0026rsquo;s\r\nquestions\u003c/i\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe arrangements for my journey were quickly made.\u0026nbsp; I\r\ncould only have a car with post-horses, as I did not choose to\r\nwait till a carriage could be sent for to Gothenburg.\u0026nbsp; The\r\nexpense of my journey (about one or two and twenty English miles)\r\nI found would not amount to more than eleven or twelve shillings,\r\npaying, he assured me, generously.\u0026nbsp; I gave him a guinea and\r\na half.\u0026nbsp; But it was with the greatest difficulty that I\r\ncould make him take so much\u0026mdash;indeed anything\u0026mdash;for my\r\nlodging and fare.\u0026nbsp; He declared that it was next to robbing\r\nme, explaining how much I ought to pay on the road.\u0026nbsp;\r\nHowever, as I was positive, he took the guinea for himself; but,\r\nas a condition, insisted on accompanying me, to prevent my\r\nmeeting with any trouble or imposition on the way.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI then retired to my apartment with regret.\u0026nbsp; The night\r\nwas so fine that I would gladly have rambled about much longer,\r\nyet, recollecting that I must rise very early, I reluctantly went\r\nto bed; but my senses had been so awake, and my imagination still\r\ncontinued so busy, that I sought for rest in vain.\u0026nbsp; Rising\r\nbefore six, I scented the sweet morning air; I had long before\r\nheard the birds twittering to hail the dawning day, though it\r\ncould scarcely have been allowed to have departed.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eNothing, in fact, can equal the beauty of the northern\r\nsummer\u0026rsquo;s evening and night, if night it may be called that\r\nonly wants the glare of day, the full light which frequently\r\nseems so impertinent, for I could write at midnight very well\r\nwithout a candle.\u0026nbsp; I contemplated all Nature at rest; the\r\nrocks, even grown darker in their appearance, looked as if they\r\npartook of the general repose, and reclined more heavily on their\r\nfoundation.\u0026nbsp; \u0026ldquo;What,\u0026rdquo; I exclaimed, \u0026ldquo;is this\r\nactive principle which keeps me still awake?\u0026nbsp; Why fly my\r\nthoughts abroad, when everything around me appears at\r\nhome?\u0026rdquo;\u0026nbsp; My child was sleeping with equal\r\ncalmness\u0026mdash;innocent and sweet as the closing flowers.\u0026nbsp;\r\nSome recollections, attached to the idea of home, mingled with\r\nreflections respecting the state of society I had been\r\ncontemplating that evening, made a tear drop on the rosy cheek I\r\nhad just kissed, and emotions that trembled on the brink of\r\necstasy and agony gave a poignancy to my sensations which made me\r\nfeel more alive than usual.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eWhat are these imperious sympathies?\u0026nbsp; How frequently has\r\nmelancholy and even misanthropy taken possession of me, when the\r\nworld has disgusted me, and friends have proved unkind.\u0026nbsp; I\r\nhave then considered myself as a particle broken off from the\r\ngrand mass of mankind; I was alone, till some involuntary\r\nsympathetic emotion, like the attraction of adhesion, made me\r\nfeel that I was still a part of a mighty whole, from which I\r\ncould not sever myself\u0026mdash;not, perhaps, for the reflection has\r\nbeen carried very far, by snapping the thread of an existence,\r\nwhich loses its charms in proportion as the cruel experience of\r\nlife stops or poisons the current of the heart.\u0026nbsp; Futurity,\r\nwhat hast thou not to give to those who know that there is such a\r\nthing as happiness!\u0026nbsp; I speak not of philosophical\r\ncontentment, though pain has afforded them the strongest\r\nconviction of it.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eAfter our coffee and milk\u0026mdash;for the mistress of the house\r\nhad been roused long before us by her hospitality\u0026mdash;my\r\nbaggage was taken forward in a boat by my host, because the car\r\ncould not safely have been brought to the house.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe road at first was very rocky and troublesome, but our\r\ndriver was careful, and the horses accustomed to the frequent and\r\nsudden acclivities and descents; so that, not apprehending any\r\ndanger, I played with my girl, whom I would not leave to\r\nMarguerite\u0026rsquo;s care, on account of her timidity.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eStopping at a little inn to bait the horses, I saw the first\r\ncountenance in Sweden that displeased me, though the man was\r\nbetter dressed than any one who had as yet fallen in my\r\nway.\u0026nbsp; An altercation took place between him and my host, the\r\npurport of which I could not guess, excepting that I was the\r\noccasion of it, be it what it would.\u0026nbsp; The sequel was his\r\nleaving the house angrily; and I was immediately informed that he\r\nwas the custom-house officer.\u0026nbsp; The professional had indeed\r\neffaced the national character, for, living as he did within\r\nthese frank hospitable people, still only the exciseman appeared,\r\nthe counterpart of some I had met with in England and\r\nFrance.\u0026nbsp; I was unprovided with a passport, not having\r\nentered any great town.\u0026nbsp; At Gothenburg I knew I could\r\nimmediately obtain one, and only the trouble made me object to\r\nthe searching my trunks.\u0026nbsp; He blustered for money; but the\r\nlieutenant was determined to guard me, according to promise, from\r\nimposition.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eTo avoid being interrogated at the town-gate, and obliged to\r\ngo in the rain to give an account of myself (merely a form)\r\nbefore we could get the refreshment we stood in need of, he\r\nrequested us to descend\u0026mdash;I might have said step\u0026mdash;from\r\nour car, and walk into town.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI expected to have found a tolerable inn, but was ushered into\r\na most comfortless one; and, because it was about five\r\no\u0026rsquo;clock, three or four hours after their dining hour, I\r\ncould not prevail on them to give me anything warm to eat.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe appearance of the accommodations obliged me to deliver one\r\nof my recommendatory letters, and the gentleman to whom it was\r\naddressed sent to look out for a lodging for me whilst I partook\r\nof his supper.\u0026nbsp; As nothing passed at this supper to\r\ncharacterise the country, I shall here close my letter.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: right\"\u003eYours truly.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003eLETTER II.\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eGothenburg is a clean airy town, and, having been built by the\r\nDutch, has canals running through each street; and in some of\r\nthem there are rows of trees that would render it very pleasant\r\nwere it not for the pavement, which is intolerably bad.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThere are several rich commercial houses\u0026mdash;Scotch, French,\r\nand Swedish; but the Scotch, I believe, have been the most\r\nsuccessful.\u0026nbsp; The commerce and commission business with\r\nFrance since the war has been very lucrative, and enriched the\r\nmerchants I am afraid at the expense of the other inhabitants, by\r\nraising the price of the necessaries of life.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eAs all the men of consequence\u0026mdash;I mean men of the largest\r\nfortune\u0026mdash;are merchants, their principal enjoyment is a\r\nrelaxation from business at the table, which is spread at, I\r\nthink, too early an hour (between one and two) for men who have\r\nletters to write and accounts to settle after paying due respect\r\nto the bottle.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eHowever, when numerous circles are to be brought together, and\r\nwhen neither literature nor public amusements furnish topics for\r\nconversation, a good dinner appears to be the only centre to\r\nrally round, especially as scandal, the zest of more select\r\nparties, can only be whispered.\u0026nbsp; As for politics, I have\r\nseldom found it a subject of continual discussion in a country\r\ntown in any part of the world.\u0026nbsp; The politics of the place,\r\nbeing on a smaller scale, suits better with the size of their\r\nfaculties; for, generally speaking, the sphere of observation\r\ndetermines the extent of the mind.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe more I see of the world, the more I am convinced that\r\ncivilisation is a blessing not sufficiently estimated by those\r\nwho have not traced its progress; for it not only refines our\r\nenjoyments, but produces a variety which enables us to retain the\r\nprimitive delicacy of our sensations.\u0026nbsp; Without the aid of\r\nthe imagination all the pleasures of the senses must sink into\r\ngrossness, unless continual novelty serve as a substitute for the\r\nimagination, which, being impossible, it was to this weariness, I\r\nsuppose, that Solomon alluded when he declared that there was\r\nnothing new under the sun!\u0026mdash;nothing for the common\r\nsensations excited by the senses.\u0026nbsp; Yet who will deny that\r\nthe imagination and understanding have made many, very many\r\ndiscoveries since those days, which only seem harbingers of\r\nothers still more noble and beneficial?\u0026nbsp; I never met with\r\nmuch imagination amongst people who had not acquired a habit of\r\nreflection; and in that state of society in which the judgment\r\nand taste are not called forth, and formed by the cultivation of\r\nthe arts and sciences, little of that delicacy of feeling and\r\nthinking is to be found characterised by the word\r\nsentiment.\u0026nbsp; The want of scientific pursuits perhaps accounts\r\nfor the hospitality, as well as for the cordial reception which\r\nstrangers receive from the inhabitants of small towns.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eHospitality has, I think, been too much praised by travellers\r\nas a proof of goodness of heart, when, in my opinion,\r\nindiscriminate hospitality is rather a criterion by which you may\r\nform a tolerable estimate of the indolence or vacancy of a head;\r\nor, in other words, a fondness for social pleasures in which the\r\nmind not having its proportion of exercise, the bottle must be\r\npushed about.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThese remarks are equally applicable to Dublin, the most\r\nhospitable city I ever passed through.\u0026nbsp; But I will try to\r\nconfine my observations more particularly to Sweden.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIt is true I have only had a glance over a small part of it;\r\nyet of its present state of manners and acquirements I think I\r\nhave formed a distinct idea, without having visited the\r\ncapital\u0026mdash;where, in fact, less of a national character is to\r\nbe found than in the remote parts of the country.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe Swedes pique themselves on their politeness; but far from\r\nbeing the polish of a cultivated mind, it consists merely of\r\ntiresome forms and ceremonies.\u0026nbsp; So far, indeed, from\r\nentering immediately into your character, and making you feel\r\ninstantly at your ease, like the well-bred French, their\r\nover-acted civility is a continual restraint on all your\r\nactions.\u0026nbsp; The sort of superiority which a fortune gives when\r\nthere is no superiority of education, excepting what consists in\r\nthe observance of senseless forms, has a contrary effect than\r\nwhat is intended; so that I could not help reckoning the\r\npeasantry the politest people of Sweden, who, only aiming at\r\npleasing you, never think of being admired for their\r\nbehaviour.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eTheir tables, like their compliments, seem equally a\r\ncaricature of the French.\u0026nbsp; The dishes are composed, as well\r\nas theirs, of a variety of mixtures to destroy the native taste\r\nof the food without being as relishing.\u0026nbsp; Spices and sugar\r\nare put into everything, even into the bread; and the only way I\r\ncan account for their partiality to high-seasoned dishes is the\r\nconstant use of salted provisions.\u0026nbsp; Necessity obliges them\r\nto lay up a store of dried fish and salted meat for the winter;\r\nand in summer, fresh meat and fish taste insipid after\r\nthem.\u0026nbsp; To which may be added the constant use of\r\nspirits.\u0026nbsp; Every day, before dinner and supper, even whilst\r\nthe dishes are cooling on the table, men and women repair to a\r\nside-table; and to obtain an appetite eat bread-and-butter,\r\ncheese, raw salmon, or anchovies, drinking a glass of\r\nbrandy.\u0026nbsp; Salt fish or meat then immediately follows, to give\r\na further whet to the stomach.\u0026nbsp; As the dinner advances,\r\npardon me for taking up a few minutes to describe what, alas! has\r\ndetained me two or three hours on the stretch observing, dish\r\nafter dish is changed, in endless rotation, and handed round with\r\nsolemn pace to each guest; but should you happen not to like the\r\nfirst dishes, which was often my case, it is a gross breach of\r\npoliteness to ask for part of any other till its turn\r\ncomes.\u0026nbsp; But have patience, and there will be eating\r\nenough.\u0026nbsp; Allow me to run over the acts of a visiting day,\r\nnot overlooking the interludes.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003ePrelude a luncheon\u0026mdash;then a succession of fish, flesh, and\r\nfowl for two hours, during which time the dessert\u0026mdash;I was\r\nsorry for the strawberries and cream\u0026mdash;rests on the table to\r\nbe impregnated by the fumes of the viands.\u0026nbsp; Coffee\r\nimmediately follows in the drawing-room, but does not preclude\r\npunch, ale, tea and cakes, raw salmon, \u0026amp;c.\u0026nbsp; A supper\r\nbrings up the rear, not forgetting the introductory luncheon,\r\nalmost equalling in removes the dinner.\u0026nbsp; A day of this kind\r\nyou would imagine sufficient; but a to-morrow and a\r\nto-morrow\u0026mdash;A never-ending, still-beginning feast may be\r\nbearable, perhaps, when stern winter frowns, shaking with\r\nchilling aspect his hoary locks; but during a summer, sweet as\r\nfleeting, let me, my kind strangers, escape sometimes into your\r\nfir groves, wander on the margin of your beautiful lakes, or\r\nclimb your rocks, to view still others in endless perspective,\r\nwhich, piled by more than giant\u0026rsquo;s hand, scale the heavens\r\nto intercept its rays, or to receive the parting tinge of\r\nlingering day\u0026mdash;day that, scarcely softened unto twilight,\r\nallows the freshening breeze to wake, and the moon to burst forth\r\nin all her glory to glide with solemn elegance through the azure\r\nexpanse.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe cow\u0026rsquo;s bell has ceased to tinkle the herd to rest;\r\nthey have all paced across the heath.\u0026nbsp; Is not this the\r\nwitching time of night?\u0026nbsp; The waters murmur, and fall with\r\nmore than mortal music, and spirits of peace walk abroad to calm\r\nthe agitated breast.\u0026nbsp; Eternity is in these moments.\u0026nbsp;\r\nWorldly cares melt into the airy stuff that dreams are made of,\r\nand reveries, mild and enchanting as the first hopes of love or\r\nthe recollection of lost enjoyment, carry the hapless wight into\r\nfuturity, who in bustling life has vainly strove to throw off the\r\ngrief which lies heavy at the heart.\u0026nbsp; Good night!\u0026nbsp; A\r\ncrescent hangs out in the vault before, which woos me to stray\r\nabroad.\u0026nbsp; It is not a silvery reflection of the sun, but\r\nglows with all its golden splendour.\u0026nbsp; Who fears the fallen\r\ndew?\u0026nbsp; It only makes the mown grass smell more\r\nfragrant.\u0026nbsp; Adieu!\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003eLETTER III.\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe population of Sweden has been estimated from two millions\r\nand a half to three millions; a small number for such an immense\r\ntract of country, of which only so much is cultivated\u0026mdash;and\r\nthat in the simplest manner\u0026mdash;as is absolutely requisite to\r\nsupply the necessaries of life; and near the seashore, whence\r\nherrings are easily procured, there scarcely appears a vestige of\r\ncultivation.\u0026nbsp; The scattered huts that stand shivering on the\r\nnaked rocks, braving the pitiless elements, are formed of logs of\r\nwood rudely hewn; and so little pains are taken with the craggy\r\nfoundation that nothing like a pathway points out the door.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eGathered into himself by the cold, lowering his visage to\r\navoid the cutting blast, is it surprising that the churlish\r\npleasure of drinking drams takes place of social enjoyments\r\namongst the poor, especially if we take into the account that\r\nthey mostly live on high-seasoned provision and rye bread?\u0026nbsp;\r\nHard enough, you may imagine, as it is baked only once a\r\nyear.\u0026nbsp; The servants also, in most families, eat this kind of\r\nbread, and have a different kind of food from their masters,\r\nwhich, in spite of all the arguments I have heard to vindicate\r\nthe custom, appears to me a remnant of barbarism.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIn fact, the situation of the servants in every respect,\r\nparticularly that of the women, shows how far the Swedes are from\r\nhaving a just conception of rational equality.\u0026nbsp; They are not\r\ntermed slaves; yet a man may strike a man with impunity because\r\nhe pays him wages, though these wages are so low that necessity\r\nmust teach them to pilfer, whilst servility renders them false\r\nand boorish.\u0026nbsp; Still the men stand up for the dignity of man\r\nby oppressing the women.\u0026nbsp; The most menial, and even\r\nlaborious offices, are therefore left to these poor\r\ndrudges.\u0026nbsp; Much of this I have seen.\u0026nbsp; In the winter, I\r\nam told, they take the linen down to the river to wash it in the\r\ncold water, and though their hands, cut by the ice, are cracked\r\nand bleeding, the men, their fellow-servants, will not disgrace\r\ntheir manhood by carrying a tub to lighten their burden.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eYou will not be surprised to hear that they do not wear shoes\r\nor stockings, when I inform you that their wages are seldom more\r\nthan twenty or thirty shillings per annum.\u0026nbsp; It is the\r\ncustom, I know, to give them a new year\u0026rsquo;s gift and a\r\npresent at some other period, but can it all amount to a just\r\nindemnity for their labour?\u0026nbsp; The treatment of servants in\r\nmost countries, I grant, is very unjust, and in England, that\r\nboasted land of freedom, it is often extremely tyrannical.\u0026nbsp;\r\nI have frequently, with indignation, heard gentlemen declare that\r\nthey would never allow a servant to answer them; and ladies of\r\nthe most exquisite sensibility, who were continually exclaiming\r\nagainst the cruelty of the vulgar to the brute creation, have in\r\nmy presence forgot that their attendants had human feelings as\r\nwell as forms.\u0026nbsp; I do not know a more agreeable sight than to\r\nsee servants part of a family.\u0026nbsp; By taking an interest,\r\ngenerally speaking, in their concerns you inspire them with one\r\nfor yours.\u0026nbsp; We must love our servants, or we shall never be\r\nsufficiently attentive to their happiness; and how can those\r\nmasters be attentive to their happiness who, living above their\r\nfortunes, are more anxious to outshine their neighbours than to\r\nallow their household the innocent enjoyments they earn?\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIt is, in fact, much more difficult for servants, who are\r\ntantalised by seeing and preparing the dainties of which they are\r\nnot to partake, to remain honest, than the poor, whose thoughts\r\nare not led from their homely fare; so that, though the servants\r\nhere are commonly thieves, you seldom hear of housebreaking, or\r\nrobbery on the highway.\u0026nbsp; The country is, perhaps, too thinly\r\ninhabited to produce many of that description of thieves termed\r\nfootpads, or highwaymen.\u0026nbsp; They are usually the spawn of\r\ngreat cities\u0026mdash;the effect of the spurious desires generated\r\nby wealth, rather than the desperate struggles of poverty to\r\nescape from misery.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe enjoyment of the peasantry was drinking brandy and coffee,\r\nbefore the latter was prohibited, and the former not allowed to\r\nbe privately distilled, the wars carried on by the late king\r\nrendering it necessary to increase the revenue, and retain the\r\nspecie in the country by every possible means.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe taxes before the reign of Charles XII. were\r\ninconsiderable.\u0026nbsp; Since then the burden has continually been\r\ngrowing heavier, and the price of provisions has proportionately\r\nincreased\u0026mdash;nay, the advantage accruing from the exportation\r\nof corn to France and rye to Germany will probably produce a\r\nscarcity in both Sweden and Norway, should not a peace put a stop\r\nto it this autumn, for speculations of various kinds have already\r\nalmost doubled the price.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eSuch are the effects of war, that it saps the vitals even of\r\nthe neutral countries, who, obtaining a sudden influx of wealth,\r\nappear to be rendered flourishing by the destruction which\r\nravages the hapless nations who are sacrificed to the ambition of\r\ntheir governors.\u0026nbsp; I shall not, however, dwell on the vices,\r\nthough they be of the most contemptible and embruting cast, to\r\nwhich a sudden accession of fortune gives birth, because I\r\nbelieve it may be delivered as an axiom, that it is only in\r\nproportion to the industry necessary to acquire wealth that a\r\nnation is really benefited by it.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe prohibition of drinking coffee under a penalty, and the\r\nencouragement given to public distilleries, tend to impoverish\r\nthe poor, who are not affected by the sumptuary laws; for the\r\nregent has lately laid very severe restraints on the articles of\r\ndress, which the middling class of people found grievous, because\r\nit obliged them to throw aside finery that might have lasted them\r\nfor their lives.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThese may be termed vexatious; still the death of the king, by\r\nsaving them from the consequences his ambition would naturally\r\nhave entailed on them, may be reckoned a blessing.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eBesides, the French Revolution has not only rendered all the\r\ncrowned heads more cautious, but has so decreased everywhere\r\n(excepting amongst themselves) a respect for nobility, that the\r\npeasantry have not only lost their blind reverence for their\r\nseigniors, but complain in a manly style of oppressions which\r\nbefore they did not think of denominating such, because they were\r\ntaught to consider themselves as a different order of\r\nbeings.\u0026nbsp; And, perhaps, the efforts which the aristocrats are\r\nmaking here, as well as in every other part of Europe, to secure\r\ntheir sway, will be the most effectual mode of undermining it,\r\ntaking into the calculation that the King of Sweden, like most of\r\nthe potentates of Europe, has continually been augmenting his\r\npower by encroaching on the privileges of the nobles.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe well-bred Swedes of the capital are formed on the ancient\r\nFrench model, and they in general speak that language; for they\r\nhave a knack at acquiring languages with tolerable fluency.\u0026nbsp;\r\nThis may be reckoned an advantage in some respects; but it\r\nprevents the cultivation of their own, and any considerable\r\nadvance in literary pursuits.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eA sensible writer has lately observed (I have not his work by\r\nme, therefore cannot quote his exact words), \u0026ldquo;That the\r\nAmericans very wisely let the Europeans make their books and\r\nfashions for them.\u0026rdquo;\u0026nbsp; But I cannot coincide with him in\r\nthis opinion.\u0026nbsp; The reflection necessary to produce a certain\r\nnumber even of tolerable productions augments more than he is\r\naware of the mass of knowledge in the community.\u0026nbsp; Desultory\r\nreading is commonly a mere pastime.\u0026nbsp; But we must have an\r\nobject to refer our reflections to, or they will seldom go below\r\nthe surface.\u0026nbsp; As in travelling, the keeping of a journal\r\nexcites to many useful inquiries that would not have been thought\r\nof had the traveller only determined to see all he could see,\r\nwithout ever asking himself for what purpose.\u0026nbsp; Besides, the\r\nvery dabbling in literature furnishes harmless topics of\r\nconversation; for the not having such subjects at hand, though\r\nthey are often insupportably fatiguing, renders the inhabitants\r\nof little towns prying and censorious.\u0026nbsp; Idleness, rather\r\nthan ill-nature, gives birth to scandal, and to the observation\r\nof little incidents which narrows the mind.\u0026nbsp; It is\r\nfrequently only the fear of being talked of which produces that\r\npuerile scrupulosity about trifles incompatible with an enlarged\r\nplan of usefulness, and with the basis of all moral\r\nprinciples\u0026mdash;respect for the virtues which are not merely the\r\nvirtues of convention.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI am, my friend, more and more convinced that a metropolis, or\r\nan abode absolutely solitary, is the best calculated for the\r\nimprovement of the heart, as well as the understanding; whether\r\nwe desire to become acquainted with man, nature, or\r\nourselves.\u0026nbsp; Mixing with mankind, we are obliged to examine\r\nour prejudices, and often imperceptibly lose, as we analyse\r\nthem.\u0026nbsp; And in the country, growing intimate with nature, a\r\nthousand little circumstances, unseen by vulgar eyes, give birth\r\nto sentiments dear to the imagination, and inquiries which expand\r\nthe soul, particularly when cultivation has not smoothed into\r\ninsipidity all its originality of character.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI love the country, yet whenever I see a picturesque situation\r\nchosen on which to erect a dwelling I am always afraid of the\r\nimprovements.\u0026nbsp; It requires uncommon taste to form a whole,\r\nand to introduce accommodations and ornaments analogous with the\r\nsurrounding scene.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI visited, near Gothenburg, a house with improved land about\r\nit, with which I was particularly delighted.\u0026nbsp; It was close\r\nto a lake embosomed in pine-clad rocks.\u0026nbsp; In one part of the\r\nmeadows your eye was directed to the broad expanse, in another\r\nyou were led into a shade, to see a part of it, in the form of a\r\nriver, rush amongst the fragments of rocks and roots of trees;\r\nnothing seemed forced.\u0026nbsp; One recess, particularly grand and\r\nsolemn amongst the towering cliffs, had a rude stone table and\r\nseat placed in it, that might have served for a Druid\u0026rsquo;s\r\nhaunt, whilst a placid stream below enlivened the flowers on its\r\nmargin, where light-footed elves would gladly have danced their\r\nairy rounds.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eHere the hand of taste was conspicuous though not obtrusive,\r\nand formed a contrast with another abode in the same\r\nneighbourhood, on which much money had been lavished; where\r\nItalian colonnades were placed to excite the wonder of the rude\r\ncrags, and a stone staircase, to threaten with destruction a\r\nwooden house.\u0026nbsp; Venuses and Apollos condemned to lie hid in\r\nsnow three parts of the year seemed equally displaced, and called\r\nthe attention off from the surrounding sublimity, without\r\ninspiring any voluptuous sensations.\u0026nbsp; Yet even these\r\nabortions of vanity have been useful.\u0026nbsp; Numberless workmen\r\nhave been employed, and the superintending artist has improved\r\nthe labourers, whose unskilfulness tormented him, by obliging\r\nthem to submit to the discipline of rules.\u0026nbsp; Adieu!\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: right\"\u003eYours affectionately.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003eLETTER IV.\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe severity of the long Swedish winter tends to render the\r\npeople sluggish, for though this season has its peculiar\r\npleasures, too much time is employed to guard against its\r\ninclemency.\u0026nbsp; Still as warm clothing is absolutely necessary,\r\nthe women spin and the men weave, and by these exertions get a\r\nfence to keep out the cold.\u0026nbsp; I have rarely passed a knot of\r\ncottages without seeing cloth laid out to bleach, and when I\r\nentered, always found the women spinning or knitting.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eA mistaken tenderness, however, for their children, makes them\r\neven in summer load them with flannels, and having a sort of\r\nnatural antipathy to cold water, the squalid appearance of the\r\npoor babes, not to speak of the noxious smell which flannel and\r\nrugs retain, seems a reply to a question I had often\r\nasked\u0026mdash;Why I did not see more children in the villages I\r\npassed through?\u0026nbsp; Indeed the children appear to be nipt in\r\nthe bud, having neither the graces nor charms of their age.\u0026nbsp;\r\nAnd this, I am persuaded, is much more owing to the ignorance of\r\nthe mothers than to the rudeness of the climate.\u0026nbsp; Rendered\r\nfeeble by the continual perspiration they are kept in, whilst\r\nevery pore is absorbing unwholesome moisture, they give them,\r\neven at the breast, brandy, salt fish, and every other crude\r\nsubstance which air and exercise enables the parent to\r\ndigest.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe women of fortune here, as well as everywhere else, have\r\nnurses to suckle their children; and the total want of chastity\r\nin the lower class of women frequently renders them very unfit\r\nfor the trust.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eYou have sometimes remarked to me the difference of the\r\nmanners of the country girls in England and in America;\r\nattributing the reserve of the former to the climate\u0026mdash;to the\r\nabsence of genial suns.\u0026nbsp; But it must be their stars, not the\r\nzephyrs, gently stealing on their senses, which here lead frail\r\nwomen astray.\u0026nbsp; Who can look at these rocks, and allow the\r\nvoluptuousness of nature to be an excuse for gratifying the\r\ndesires it inspires?\u0026nbsp; We must therefore, find some other\r\ncause beside voluptuousness, I believe, to account for the\r\nconduct of the Swedish and American country girls; for I am led\r\nto conclude, from all the observations I have made, that there is\r\nalways a mixture of sentiment and imagination in voluptuousness,\r\nto which neither of them have much pretension.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe country girls of Ireland and Wales equally feel the first\r\nimpulse of nature, which, restrained in England by fear or\r\ndelicacy, proves that society is there in a more advanced\r\nstate.\u0026nbsp; Besides, as the mind is cultivated, and taste gains\r\nground, the passions become stronger, and rest on something more\r\nstable than the casual sympathies of the moment.\u0026nbsp; Health and\r\nidleness will always account for promiscuous amours; and in some\r\ndegree I term every person idle, the exercise of whose mind does\r\nnot bear some proportion to that of the body.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe Swedish ladies exercise neither sufficiently; of course,\r\ngrow very fat at an early age; and when they have not this downy\r\nappearance, a comfortable idea, you will say, in a cold climate,\r\nthey are not remarkable for fine forms.\u0026nbsp; They have, however,\r\nmostly fine complexions; but indolence makes the lily soon\r\ndisplace the rose.\u0026nbsp; The quantity of coffee, spices, and\r\nother things of that kind, with want of care, almost universally\r\nspoil their teeth, which contrast but ill with their ruby\r\nlips.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe manners of Stockholm are refined, I hear, by the\r\nintroduction of gallantry; but in the country, romping and coarse\r\nfreedoms, with coarser allusions, keep the spirits awake.\u0026nbsp;\r\nIn the article of cleanliness, the women of all descriptions seem\r\nvery deficient; and their dress shows that vanity is more\r\ninherent in women than taste.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe men appear to have paid still less court to the\r\ngraces.\u0026nbsp; They are a robust, healthy race, distinguished for\r\ntheir common sense and turn for humour, rather than for wit or\r\nsentiment.\u0026nbsp; I include not, as you may suppose, in this\r\ngeneral character, some of the nobility and officers, who having\r\ntravelled, are polite and well informed.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI must own to you that the lower class of people here amuse\r\nand interest me much more than the middling, with their apish\r\ngood breeding and prejudices.\u0026nbsp; The sympathy and frankness of\r\nheart conspicuous in the peasantry produces even a simple\r\ngracefulness of deportment which has frequently struck me as very\r\npicturesque; I have often also been touched by their extreme\r\ndesire to oblige me, when I could not explain my wants, and by\r\ntheir earnest manner of expressing that desire.\u0026nbsp; There is\r\nsuch a charm in tenderness!\u0026nbsp; It is so delightful to love our\r\nfellow-creatures, and meet the honest affections as they break\r\nforth.\u0026nbsp; Still, my good friend, I begin to think that I\r\nshould not like to live continually in the country with people\r\nwhose minds have such a narrow range.\u0026nbsp; My heart would\r\nfrequently be interested; but my mind would languish for more\r\ncompanionable society.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe beauties of nature appear to me now even more alluring\r\nthan in my youth, because my intercourse with the world has\r\nformed without vitiating my taste.\u0026nbsp; But, with respect to the\r\ninhabitants of the country, my fancy has probably, when disgusted\r\nwith artificial manners, solaced itself by joining the advantages\r\nof cultivation with the interesting sincerity of innocence,\r\nforgetting the lassitude that ignorance will naturally\r\nproduce.\u0026nbsp; I like to see animals sporting, and sympathise in\r\ntheir pains and pleasures.\u0026nbsp; Still I love sometimes to view\r\nthe human face divine, and trace the soul, as well as the heart,\r\nin its varying lineaments.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eA journey to the country, which I must shortly make, will\r\nenable me to extend my remarks.\u0026mdash;Adieu!\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003eLETTER V.\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eHad I determined to travel in Sweden merely for pleasure, I\r\nshould probably have chosen the road to Stockholm, though\r\nconvinced, by repeated observation, that the manners of a people\r\nare best discriminated in the country.\u0026nbsp; The inhabitants of\r\nthe capital are all of the same genus; for the varieties in the\r\nspecies we must, therefore, search where the habitations of men\r\nare so separated as to allow the difference of climate to have\r\nits natural effect.\u0026nbsp; And with this difference we are,\r\nperhaps, most forcibly struck at the first view, just as we form\r\nan estimate of the leading traits of a character at the first\r\nglance, of which intimacy afterwards makes us almost lose\r\nsight.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eAs my affairs called me to Stromstad (the frontier town of\r\nSweden) in my way to Norway, I was to pass over, I heard, the\r\nmost uncultivated part of the country.\u0026nbsp; Still I believe that\r\nthe grand features of Sweden are the same everywhere, and it is\r\nonly the grand features that admit of description.\u0026nbsp; There is\r\nan individuality in every prospect, which remains in the memory\r\nas forcibly depicted as the particular features that have\r\narrested our attention; yet we cannot find words to discriminate\r\nthat individuality so as to enable a stranger to say, this is the\r\nface, that the view.\u0026nbsp; We may amuse by setting the\r\nimagination to work; but we cannot store the memory with a\r\nfact.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eAs I wish to give you a general idea of this country, I shall\r\ncontinue in my desultory manner to make such observations and\r\nreflections as the circumstances draw forth, without losing time,\r\nby endeavouring to arrange them.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eTravelling in Sweden is very cheap, and even commodious, if\r\nyou make but the proper arrangements.\u0026nbsp; Here, as in other\r\nparts of the Continent, it is necessary to have your own\r\ncarriage, and to have a servant who can speak the language, if\r\nyou are unacquainted with it.\u0026nbsp; Sometimes a servant who can\r\ndrive would be found very useful, which was our case, for I\r\ntravelled in company with two gentlemen, one of whom had a German\r\nservant who drove very well.\u0026nbsp; This was all the party; for\r\nnot intending to make a long stay, I left my little girl behind\r\nme.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eAs the roads are not much frequented, to avoid waiting three\r\nor four hours for horses, we sent, as is the constant custom, an\r\n\u003ci\u003eavant courier\u003c/i\u003e the night before, to order them at every\r\npost, and we constantly found them ready.\u0026nbsp; Our first set I\r\njokingly termed requisition horses; but afterwards we had almost\r\nalways little spirited animals that went on at a round pace.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe roads, making allowance for the ups and downs, are\r\nuncommonly good and pleasant.\u0026nbsp; The expense, including the\r\npostillions and other incidental things, does not amount to more\r\nthan a shilling the Swedish mile.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe inns are tolerable; but not liking the rye bread, I found\r\nit necessary to furnish myself with some wheaten before I set\r\nout.\u0026nbsp; The beds, too, were particularly disagreeable to\r\nme.\u0026nbsp; It seemed to me that I was sinking into a grave when I\r\nentered them; for, immersed in down placed in a sort of box, I\r\nexpected to be suffocated before morning.\u0026nbsp; The sleeping\r\nbetween two down beds\u0026mdash;they do so even in summer\u0026mdash;must\r\nbe very unwholesome during any season; and I cannot conceive how\r\nthe people can bear it, especially as the summers are very\r\nwarm.\u0026nbsp; But warmth they seem not to feel; and, I should\r\nthink, were afraid of the air, by always keeping their windows\r\nshut.\u0026nbsp; In the winter, I am persuaded, I could not exist in\r\nrooms thus closed up, with stoves heated in their manner, for\r\nthey only put wood into them twice a day; and, when the stove is\r\nthoroughly heated, they shut the flue, not admitting any air to\r\nrenew its elasticity, even when the rooms are crowded with\r\ncompany.\u0026nbsp; These stoves are made of earthenware, and often in\r\na form that ornaments an apartment, which is never the case with\r\nthe heavy iron ones I have seen elsewhere.\u0026nbsp; Stoves may be\r\neconomical, but I like a fire, a wood one, in preference; and I\r\nam convinced that the current of air which it attracts renders\r\nthis the best mode of warming rooms.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eWe arrived early the second evening at a little village called\r\nQuistram, where we had determined to pass the night, having been\r\ninformed that we should not afterwards find a tolerable inn until\r\nwe reached Stromstad.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eAdvancing towards Quistram, as the sun was beginning to\r\ndecline, I was particularly impressed by the beauty of the\r\nsituation.\u0026nbsp; The road was on the declivity of a rocky\r\nmountain, slightly covered with a mossy herbage and vagrant\r\nfirs.\u0026nbsp; At the bottom, a river, straggling amongst the\r\nrecesses of stone, was hastening forward to the ocean and its\r\ngrey rocks, of which we had a prospect on the left; whilst on the\r\nright it stole peacefully forward into the meadows, losing itself\r\nin a thickly-wooded rising ground.\u0026nbsp; As we drew near, the\r\nloveliest banks of wild flowers variegated the prospect, and\r\npromised to exhale odours to add to the sweetness of the air, the\r\npurity of which you could almost see, alas! not smell, for the\r\nputrefying herrings, which they use as manure, after the oil has\r\nbeen extracted, spread over the patches of earth, claimed by\r\ncultivation, destroyed every other.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIt was intolerable, and entered with us into the inn, which\r\nwas in other respects a charming retreat.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eWhilst supper was preparing I crossed the bridge, and strolled\r\nby the river, listening to its murmurs.\u0026nbsp; Approaching the\r\nbank, the beauty of which had attracted my attention in the\r\ncarriage, I recognised many of my old acquaintance growing with\r\ngreat luxuriance.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eSeated on it, I could not avoid noting an obvious\r\nremark.\u0026nbsp; Sweden appeared to me the country in the world most\r\nproper to form the botanist and natural historian; every object\r\nseemed to remind me of the creation of things, of the first\r\nefforts of sportive nature.\u0026nbsp; When a country arrives at a\r\ncertain state of perfection, it looks as if it were made so; and\r\ncuriosity is not excited.\u0026nbsp; Besides, in social life too many\r\nobjects occur for any to be distinctly observed by the generality\r\nof mankind; yet a contemplative man, or poet, in the\r\ncountry\u0026mdash;I do not mean the country adjacent to\r\ncities\u0026mdash;feels and sees what would escape vulgar eyes, and\r\ndraws suitable inferences.\u0026nbsp; This train of reflections might\r\nhave led me further, in every sense of the word; but I could not\r\nescape from the detestable evaporation of the herrings, which\r\npoisoned all my pleasure.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eAfter making a tolerable supper\u0026mdash;for it is not easy to\r\nget fresh provisions on the road\u0026mdash;I retired, to be lulled to\r\nsleep by the murmuring of a stream, of which I with great\r\ndifficulty obtained sufficient to perform my daily ablutions.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe last battle between the Danes and Swedes, which gave new\r\nlife to their ancient enmity, was fought at this place 1788; only\r\nseventeen or eighteen were killed, for the great superiority of\r\nthe Danes and Norwegians obliged the Swedes to submit; but\r\nsickness, and a scarcity of provision, proved very fatal to their\r\nopponents on their return.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIt would be very easy to search for the particulars of this\r\nengagement in the publications of the day; but as this manner of\r\nfilling my pages does not come within my plan, I probably should\r\nnot have remarked that the battle was fought here, were it not to\r\nrelate an anecdote which I had from good authority.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI noticed, when I first mentioned this place to you, that we\r\ndescended a steep before we came to the inn; an immense ridge of\r\nrocks stretching out on one side.\u0026nbsp; The inn was sheltered\r\nunder them; and about a hundred yards from it was a bridge that\r\ncrossed the river, the murmurs of which I have celebrated; it was\r\nnot fordable.\u0026nbsp; The Swedish general received orders to stop\r\nat the bridge and dispute the passage\u0026mdash;a most advantageous\r\npost for an army so much inferior in force; but the influence of\r\nbeauty is not confined to courts.\u0026nbsp; The mistress of the inn\r\nwas handsome; when I saw her there were still some remains of\r\nbeauty; and, to preserve her house, the general gave up the only\r\ntenable station.\u0026nbsp; He was afterwards broke for contempt of\r\norders.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eApproaching the frontiers, consequently the sea, nature\r\nresumed an aspect ruder and ruder, or rather seemed the bones of\r\nthe world waiting to be clothed with everything necessary to give\r\nlife and beauty.\u0026nbsp; Still it was sublime.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe clouds caught their hue of the rocks that menaced\r\nthem.\u0026nbsp; The sun appeared afraid to shine, the birds ceased to\r\nsing, and the flowers to bloom; but the eagle fixed his nest high\r\namongst the rocks, and the vulture hovered over this abode of\r\ndesolation.\u0026nbsp; The farm houses, in which only poverty resided,\r\nwere formed of logs scarcely keeping off the cold and drifting\r\nsnow: out of them the inhabitants seldom peeped, and the sports\r\nor prattling of children was neither seen or heard.\u0026nbsp; The\r\ncurrent of life seemed congealed at the source: all were not\r\nfrozen, for it was summer, you remember; but everything appeared\r\nso dull that I waited to see ice, in order to reconcile me to the\r\nabsence of gaiety.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe day before, my attention had frequently been attracted by\r\nthe wild beauties of the country we passed through.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe rocks which tossed their fantastic heads so high were\r\noften covered with pines and firs, varied in the most picturesque\r\nmanner.\u0026nbsp; Little woods filled up the recesses when forests\r\ndid not darken the scene, and valleys and glens, cleared of the\r\ntrees, displayed a dazzling verdure which contrasted with the\r\ngloom of the shading pines.\u0026nbsp; The eye stole into many a\r\ncovert where tranquillity seemed to have taken up her abode, and\r\nthe number of little lakes that continually presented themselves\r\nadded to the peaceful composure of the scenery.\u0026nbsp; The little\r\ncultivation which appeared did not break the enchantment, nor did\r\ncastles rear their turrets aloft to crush the cottages, and prove\r\nthat man is more savage than the natives of the woods.\u0026nbsp; I\r\nheard of the bears but never saw them stalk forth, which I was\r\nsorry for; I wished to have seen one in its wild state.\u0026nbsp; In\r\nthe winter, I am told, they sometimes catch a stray cow, which is\r\na heavy loss to the owner.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe farms are small.\u0026nbsp; Indeed most of the houses we saw on\r\nthe road indicated poverty, or rather that the people could just\r\nlive.\u0026nbsp; Towards the frontiers they grew worse and worse in\r\ntheir appearance, as if not willing to put sterility itself out\r\nof countenance.\u0026nbsp; No gardens smiled round the habitations,\r\nnot a potato or cabbage to eat with the fish drying on a stick\r\nnear the door.\u0026nbsp; A little grain here and there appeared, the\r\nlong stalks of which you might almost reckon.\u0026nbsp; The day was\r\ngloomy when we passed over this rejected spot, the wind bleak,\r\nand winter seemed to be contending with nature, faintly\r\nstruggling to change the season.\u0026nbsp; Surely, thought I, if the\r\nsun ever shines here it cannot warm these stones; moss only\r\ncleaves to them, partaking of their hardness, and nothing like\r\nvegetable life appears to cheer with hope the heart.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eSo far from thinking that the primitive inhabitants of the\r\nworld lived in a southern climate where Paradise spontaneously\r\narose, I am led to infer, from various circumstances, that the\r\nfirst dwelling of man happened to be a spot like this which led\r\nhim to adore a sun so seldom seen; for this worship, which\r\nprobably preceded that of demons or demigods, certainly never\r\nbegan in a southern climate, where the continual presence of the\r\nsun prevented its being considered as a good; or rather the want\r\nof it never being felt, this glorious luminary would carelessly\r\nhave diffused its blessings without being hailed as a\r\nbenefactor.\u0026nbsp; Man must therefore have been placed in the\r\nnorth, to tempt him to run after the sun, in order that the\r\ndifferent parts of the earth might be peopled.\u0026nbsp; Nor do I\r\nwonder that hordes of barbarians always poured out of these\r\nregions to seek for milder climes, when nothing like cultivation\r\nattached them to the soil, especially when we take into the view\r\nthat the adventuring spirit, common to man, is naturally stronger\r\nand more general during the infancy of society.\u0026nbsp; The conduct\r\nof the followers of Mahomet, and the crusaders, will sufficiently\r\ncorroborate my assertion.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eApproaching nearer to Stromstad, the appearance of the town\r\nproved to be quite in character with the country we had just\r\npassed through.\u0026nbsp; I hesitated to use the word country, yet\r\ncould not find another; still it would sound absurd to talk of\r\nfields of rocks.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe town was built on and under them.\u0026nbsp; Three or four\r\nweather-beaten trees were shrinking from the wind, and the grass\r\ngrew so sparingly that I could not avoid thinking Dr.\r\nJohnson\u0026rsquo;s hyperbolical assertion \u0026ldquo;that the man\r\nmerited well of his country who made a few blades of grass grow\r\nwhere they never grew before,\u0026rdquo; might here have been uttered\r\nwith strict propriety.\u0026nbsp; The steeple likewise towered aloft,\r\nfor what is a church, even amongst the Lutherans, without a\r\nsteeple?\u0026nbsp; But to prevent mischief in such an exposed\r\nsituation, it is wisely placed on a rock at some distance not to\r\nendanger the roof of the church.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eRambling about, I saw the door open, and entered, when to my\r\ngreat surprise I found the clergyman reading prayers, with only\r\nthe clerk attending.\u0026nbsp; I instantly thought of Swift\u0026rsquo;s\r\n\u0026ldquo;Dearly beloved Roger,\u0026rdquo; but on inquiry I learnt that\r\nsome one had died that morning, and in Sweden it is customary to\r\npray for the dead.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe sun, who I suspected never dared to shine, began now to\r\nconvince me that he came forth only to torment; for though the\r\nwind was still cutting, the rocks became intolerably warm under\r\nmy feet, whilst the herring effluvia, which I before found so\r\nvery offensive, once more assailed me.\u0026nbsp; I hastened back to\r\nthe house of a merchant, the little sovereign of the place,\r\nbecause he was by far the richest, though not the mayor.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eHere we were most hospitably received, and introduced to a\r\nvery fine and numerous family.\u0026nbsp; I have before mentioned to\r\nyou the lilies of the north, I might have added, water lilies,\r\nfor the complexion of many, even of the young women, seem to be\r\nbleached on the bosom of snow.\u0026nbsp; But in this youthful circle\r\nthe roses bloomed with all their wonted freshness, and I wondered\r\nfrom whence the fire was stolen which sparkled in their fine blue\r\neyes.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eHere we slept; and I rose early in the morning to prepare for\r\nmy little voyage to Norway.\u0026nbsp; I had determined to go by\r\nwater, and was to leave my companions behind; but not getting a\r\nboat immediately, and the wind being high and unfavourable, I was\r\ntold that it was not safe to go to sea during such boisterous\r\nweather; I was, therefore, obliged to wait for the morrow, and\r\nhad the present day on my hands, which I feared would be irksome,\r\nbecause the family, who possessed about a dozen French words\r\namongst them and not an English phrase, were anxious to amuse me,\r\nand would not let me remain alone in my room.\u0026nbsp; The town we\r\nhad already walked round and round, and if we advanced farther on\r\nthe coast, it was still to view the same unvaried immensity of\r\nwater surrounded by barrenness.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe gentlemen, wishing to peep into Norway, proposed going to\r\nFredericshall, the first town\u0026mdash;the distance was only three\r\nSwedish miles.\u0026nbsp; There and back again was but a day\u0026rsquo;s\r\njourney, and would not, I thought, interfere with my\r\nvoyage.\u0026nbsp; I agreed, and invited the eldest and prettiest of\r\nthe girls to accompany us.\u0026nbsp; I invited her because I like to\r\nsee a beautiful face animated by pleasure, and to have an\r\nopportunity of regarding the country, whilst the gentlemen were\r\namusing themselves with her.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI did not know, for I had not thought of it, that we were to\r\nscale some of the most mountainous cliffs of Sweden in our way to\r\nthe ferry which separates the two countries.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eEntering amongst the cliffs, we were sheltered from the wind,\r\nwarm sunbeams began to play, streams to flow, and groves of pines\r\ndiversified the rocks.\u0026nbsp; Sometimes they became suddenly bare\r\nand sublime.\u0026nbsp; Once, in particular, after mounting the most\r\nterrific precipice, we had to pass through a tremendous defile,\r\nwhere the closing chasm seemed to threaten us with instant\r\ndestruction, when, turning quickly, verdant meadows and a\r\nbeautiful lake relieved and charmed my eyes.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI had never travelled through Switzerland, but one of my\r\ncompanions assured me that I should not there find anything\r\nsuperior, if equal, to the wild grandeur of these views.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eAs we had not taken this excursion into our plan, the horses\r\nhad not been previously ordered, which obliged us to wait two\r\nhours at the first post.\u0026nbsp; The day was wearing away.\u0026nbsp;\r\nThe road was so bad that walking up the precipices consumed the\r\ntime insensibly; but as we desired horses at each post ready at a\r\ncertain hour, we reckoned on returning more speedily.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eWe stopped to dine at a tolerable farm; they brought us out\r\nham, butter, cheese, and milk, and the charge was so moderate\r\nthat I scattered a little money amongst the children who were\r\npeeping at us, in order to pay them for their trouble.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eArrived at the ferry, we were still detained, for the people\r\nwho attend at the ferries have a stupid kind of sluggishness in\r\ntheir manner, which is very provoking when you are in\r\nhaste.\u0026nbsp; At present I did not feel it, for, scrambling up the\r\ncliffs, my eye followed the river as it rolled between the grand\r\nrocky banks; and, to complete the scenery, they were covered with\r\nfirs and pines, through which the wind rustled as if it were\r\nlulling itself to sleep with the declining sun.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eBehold us now in Norway; and I could not avoid feeling\r\nsurprise at observing the difference in the manners of the\r\ninhabitants of the two sides of the river, for everything shows\r\nthat the Norwegians are more industrious and more opulent.\u0026nbsp;\r\nThe Swedes (for neighbours are seldom the best friends) accuse\r\nthe Norwegians of knavery, and they retaliate by bringing a\r\ncharge of hypocrisy against the Swedes.\u0026nbsp; Local circumstances\r\nprobably render both unjust, speaking from their feelings rather\r\nthan reason; and is this astonishing when we consider that most\r\nwriters of travels have done the same, whose works have served as\r\nmaterials for the compilers of universal histories?\u0026nbsp; All are\r\neager to give a national character, which is rarely just, because\r\nthey do not discriminate the natural from the acquired\r\ndifference.\u0026nbsp; The natural, I believe, on due consideration,\r\nwill be found to consist merely in the degree of vivacity, or\r\nthoughtfulness, pleasures or pain, inspired by the climate,\r\nwhilst the varieties which the forms of government, including\r\nreligion, produce are much more numerous and unstable.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eA people have been characterised as stupid by nature; what a\r\nparadox! because they did not consider that slaves, having no\r\nobject to stimulate industry, have not their faculties sharpened\r\nby the only thing that can exercise them, self-interest.\u0026nbsp;\r\nOthers have been brought forward as brutes, having no aptitude\r\nfor the arts and sciences, only because the progress of\r\nimprovement had not reached that stage which produces them.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThose writers who have considered the history of man, or of\r\nthe human mind, on a more enlarged scale have fallen into similar\r\nerrors, not reflecting that the passions are weak where the\r\nnecessaries of life are too hardly or too easily obtained.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eTravellers who require that every nation should resemble their\r\nnative country, had better stay at home.\u0026nbsp; It is, for\r\nexample, absurd to blame a people for not having that degree of\r\npersonal cleanliness and elegance of manners which only\r\nrefinement of taste produces, and will produce everywhere in\r\nproportion as society attains a general polish.\u0026nbsp; The most\r\nessential service, I presume, that authors could render to\r\nsociety, would be to promote inquiry and discussion, instead of\r\nmaking those dogmatical assertions which only appear calculated\r\nto gird the human mind round with imaginary circles, like the\r\npaper globe which represents the one he inhabits.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThis spirit of inquiry is the characteristic of the present\r\ncentury, from which the succeeding will, I am persuaded, receive\r\na great accumulation of knowledge; and doubtless its diffusion\r\nwill in a great measure destroy the factitious national\r\ncharacters which have been supposed permanent, though only\r\nrendered so by the permanency of ignorance.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eArriving at Fredericshall, at the siege of which Charles XII.\r\nlost his life, we had only time to take a transient view of it\r\nwhilst they were preparing us some refreshment.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003ePoor Charles!\u0026nbsp; I thought of him with respect.\u0026nbsp; I\r\nhave always felt the same for Alexander, with whom he has been\r\nclassed as a madman by several writers, who have reasoned\r\nsuperficially, confounding the morals of the day with the few\r\ngrand principles on which unchangeable morality rests.\u0026nbsp;\r\nMaking no allowance for the ignorance and prejudices of the\r\nperiod, they do not perceive how much they themselves are\r\nindebted to general improvement for the acquirements, and even\r\nthe virtues, which they would not have had the force of mind to\r\nattain by their individual exertions in a less advanced state of\r\nsociety.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe evening was fine, as is usual at this season, and the\r\nrefreshing odour of the pine woods became more perceptible, for\r\nit was nine o\u0026rsquo;clock when we left Fredericshall.\u0026nbsp; At\r\nthe ferry we were detained by a dispute relative to our Swedish\r\npassport, which we did not think of getting countersigned in\r\nNorway.\u0026nbsp; Midnight was coming on, yet it might with such\r\npropriety have been termed the noon of night that, had Young ever\r\ntravelled towards the north, I should not have wondered at his\r\nbecoming enamoured of the moon.\u0026nbsp; But it is not the Queen of\r\nNight alone who reigns here in all her splendour, though the sun,\r\nloitering just below the horizon, decks her within a golden tinge\r\nfrom his car, illuminating the cliffs that hide him; the heavens\r\nalso, of a clear softened blue, throw her forward, and the\r\nevening star appears a smaller moon to the naked eye.\u0026nbsp; The\r\nhuge shadows of the rocks, fringed with firs, concentrating the\r\nviews without darkening them, excited that tender melancholy\r\nwhich, sublimating the imagination, exalts rather than depresses\r\nthe mind.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eMy companions fell asleep\u0026mdash;fortunately they did not\r\nsnore; and I contemplated, fearless of idle questions, a night\r\nsuch as I had never before seen or felt, to charm the senses, and\r\ncalm the heart.\u0026nbsp; The very air was balmy as it freshened into\r\nmorn, producing the most voluptuous sensations.\u0026nbsp; A vague\r\npleasurable sentiment absorbed me, as I opened my bosom to the\r\nembraces of nature; and my soul rose to its Author, with the\r\nchirping of the solitary birds, which began to feel, rather than\r\nsee, advancing day.\u0026nbsp; I had leisure to mark its\r\nprogress.\u0026nbsp; The grey morn, streaked with silvery rays,\r\nushered in the orient beams (how beautifully varying into\r\npurple!), yet I was sorry to lose the soft watery clouds which\r\npreceded them, exciting a kind of expectation that made me almost\r\nafraid to breathe, lest I should break the charm.\u0026nbsp; I saw the\r\nsun\u0026mdash;and sighed.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eOne of my companions, now awake, perceiving that the\r\npostillion had mistaken the road, began to swear at him, and\r\nroused the other two, who reluctantly shook off sleep.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eWe had immediately to measure back our steps, and did not\r\nreach Stromstad before five in the morning.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe wind had changed in the night, and my boat was ready.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eA dish of coffee, and fresh linen, recruited my spirits, and I\r\ndirectly set out again for Norway, purposing to land much higher\r\nup the coast.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eWrapping my great-coat round me, I lay down on some sails at\r\nthe bottom of the boat, its motion rocking me to rest, till a\r\ndiscourteous wave interrupted my slumbers, and obliged me to rise\r\nand feel a solitariness which was not so soothing as that of the\r\npast night.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\"\u003eAdieu!\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003eLETTER VI.\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe sea was boisterous, but, as I had an experienced pilot, I\r\ndid not apprehend any danger.\u0026nbsp; Sometimes, I was told, boats\r\nare driven far out and lost.\u0026nbsp; However, I seldom calculate\r\nchances so nicely\u0026mdash;sufficient for the day is the obvious\r\nevil!\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eWe had to steer amongst islands and huge rocks, rarely losing\r\nsight of the shore, though it now and then appeared only a mist\r\nthat bordered the water\u0026rsquo;s edge.\u0026nbsp; The pilot assured me\r\nthat the numerous harbours on the Norway coast were very safe,\r\nand the pilot-boats were always on the watch.\u0026nbsp; The Swedish\r\nside is very dangerous, I am also informed; and the help of\r\nexperience is not often at hand to enable strange vessels to\r\nsteer clear of the rocks, which lurk below the water close to the\r\nshore.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThere are no tides here, nor in the Cattegate, and, what\r\nappeared to me a consequence, no sandy beach.\u0026nbsp; Perhaps this\r\nobservation has been made before; but it did not occur to me till\r\nI saw the waves continually beating against the bare rocks,\r\nwithout ever receding to leave a sediment to harden.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe wind was fair, till we had to tack about in order to enter\r\nLaurvig, where we arrived towards three o\u0026rsquo;clock in the\r\nafternoon.\u0026nbsp; It is a clean, pleasant town, with a\r\nconsiderable iron-work, which gives life to it.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eAs the Norwegians do not frequently see travellers, they are\r\nvery curious to know their business, and who they are\u0026mdash;so\r\ncurious, that I was half tempted to adopt Dr. Franklin\u0026rsquo;s\r\nplan, when travelling in America, where they are equally prying,\r\nwhich was to write on a paper, for public inspection, my name,\r\nfrom whence I came, where I was going, and what was my\r\nbusiness.\u0026nbsp; But if I were importuned by their curiosity,\r\ntheir friendly gestures gratified me.\u0026nbsp; A woman coming alone\r\ninterested them.\u0026nbsp; And I know not whether my weariness gave\r\nme a look of peculiar delicacy, but they approached to assist me,\r\nand inquire after my wants, as if they were afraid to hurt, and\r\nwished to protect me.\u0026nbsp; The sympathy I inspired, thus\r\ndropping down from the clouds in a strange land, affected me more\r\nthan it would have done had not my spirits been harassed by\r\nvarious causes\u0026mdash;by much thinking\u0026mdash;musing almost to\r\nmadness\u0026mdash;and even by a sort of weak melancholy that hung\r\nabout my heart at parting with my daughter for the first\r\ntime.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eYou know that, as a female, I am particularly attached to her;\r\nI feel more than a mother\u0026rsquo;s fondness and anxiety when I\r\nreflect on the dependent and oppressed state of her sex.\u0026nbsp; I\r\ndread lest she should be forced to sacrifice her heart to her\r\nprinciples, or principles to her heart.\u0026nbsp; With trembling hand\r\nI shall cultivate sensibility and cherish delicacy of sentiment,\r\nlest, whilst I lend fresh blushes to the rose, I sharpen the\r\nthorns that will wound the breast I would fain guard; I dread to\r\nunfold her mind, lest it should render her unfit for the world\r\nshe is to inhabit.\u0026nbsp; Hapless woman! what a fate is thine!\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eBut whither am I wandering?\u0026nbsp; I only meant to tell you\r\nthat the impression the kindness of the simple people made\r\nvisible on my countenance increased my sensibility to a painful\r\ndegree.\u0026nbsp; I wished to have had a room to myself, for their\r\nattention, and rather distressing observation, embarrassed me\r\nextremely.\u0026nbsp; Yet, as they would bring me eggs, and make my\r\ncoffee, I found I could not leave them without hurting their\r\nfeelings of hospitality.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIt is customary here for the host and hostess to welcome their\r\nguests as master and mistress of the house.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eMy clothes, in their turn, attracted the attention of the\r\nfemales, and I could not help thinking of the foolish vanity\r\nwhich makes many women so proud of the observation of strangers\r\nas to take wonder very gratuitously for admiration.\u0026nbsp; This\r\nerror they are very apt to fall into when, arrived in a foreign\r\ncountry, the populace stare at them as they pass.\u0026nbsp; Yet the\r\nmake of a cap or the singularity of a gown is often the cause of\r\nthe flattering attention which afterwards supports a fantastic\r\nsuperstructure of self-conceit.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eNot having brought a carriage over with me, expecting to have\r\nmet a person where I landed, who was immediately to have procured\r\nme one, I was detained whilst the good people of the inn sent\r\nround to all their acquaintance to search for a vehicle.\u0026nbsp; A\r\nrude sort of cabriole was at last found, and a driver half drunk,\r\nwho was not less eager to make a good bargain on that\r\naccount.\u0026nbsp; I had a Danish captain of a ship and his mate with\r\nme; the former was to ride on horseback, at which he was not very\r\nexpert, and the latter to partake of my seat.\u0026nbsp; The driver\r\nmounted behind to guide the horses and flourish the whip over our\r\nshoulders; he would not suffer the reins out of his own\r\nhands.\u0026nbsp; There was something so grotesque in our appearance\r\nthat I could not avoid shrinking into myself when I saw a\r\ngentleman-like man in the group which crowded round the door to\r\nobserve us.\u0026nbsp; I could have broken the driver\u0026rsquo;s whip for\r\ncracking to call the women and children together, but seeing a\r\nsignificant smile on the face, I had before remarked, I burst\r\ninto a laugh to allow him to do so too, and away we flew.\u0026nbsp;\r\nThis is not a flourish of the pen, for we actually went on full\r\ngallop a long time, the horses being very good; indeed, I have\r\nnever met with better, if so good, post-horses as in\r\nNorway.\u0026nbsp; They are of a stouter make than the English horses,\r\nappear to be well fed, and are not easily tired.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI had to pass over, I was informed, the most fertile and best\r\ncultivated tract of country in Norway.\u0026nbsp; The distance was\r\nthree Norwegian miles, which are longer than the Swedish.\u0026nbsp;\r\nThe roads were very good; the farmers are obliged to repair them;\r\nand we scampered through a great extent of country in a more\r\nimproved state than any I had viewed since I left England.\u0026nbsp;\r\nStill there was sufficient of hills, dales, and rocks to prevent\r\nthe idea of a plain from entering the head, or even of such\r\nscenery as England and France afford.\u0026nbsp; The prospects were\r\nalso embellished by water, rivers, and lakes before the sea\r\nproudly claimed my regard, and the road running frequently\r\nthrough lofty groves rendered the landscapes beautiful, though\r\nthey were not so romantic as those I had lately seen with such\r\ndelight.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIt was late when I reached Tonsberg, and I was glad to go to\r\nbed at a decent inn.\u0026nbsp; The next morning the 17th of July,\r\nconversing with the gentleman with whom I had business to\r\ntransact, I found that I should be detained at Tonsberg three\r\nweeks, and I lamented that I had not brought my child with\r\nme.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe inn was quiet, and my room so pleasant, commanding a view\r\nof the sea, confined by an amphitheatre of hanging woods, that I\r\nwished to remain there, though no one in the house could speak\r\nEnglish or French.\u0026nbsp; The mayor, my friend, however, sent a\r\nyoung woman to me who spoke a little English, and she agreed to\r\ncall on me twice a day to receive my orders and translate them to\r\nmy hostess.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eMy not understanding the language was an excellent pretext for\r\ndining alone, which I prevailed on them to let me do at a late\r\nhour, for the early dinners in Sweden had entirely deranged my\r\nday.\u0026nbsp; I could not alter it there without disturbing the\r\neconomy of a family where I was as a visitor, necessity having\r\nforced me to accept of an invitation from a private family, the\r\nlodgings were so incommodious.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eAmongst the Norwegians I had the arrangement of my own time,\r\nand I determined to regulate it in such a manner that I might\r\nenjoy as much of their sweet summer as I possibly could; short,\r\nit is true, but \u0026ldquo;passing sweet.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI never endured a winter in this rude clime, consequently it\r\nwas not the contrast, but the real beauty of the season which\r\nmade the present summer appear to me the finest I had ever\r\nseen.\u0026nbsp; Sheltered from the north and eastern winds, nothing\r\ncan exceed the salubrity, the soft freshness of the western\r\ngales.\u0026nbsp; In the evening they also die away; the aspen leaves\r\ntremble into stillness, and reposing nature seems to be warmed by\r\nthe moon, which here assumes a genial aspect.\u0026nbsp; And if a\r\nlight shower has chanced to fall with the sun, the juniper, the\r\nunderwood of the forest, exhales a wild perfume, mixed with a\r\nthousand nameless sweets that, soothing the heart, leave images\r\nin the memory which the imagination will ever hold dear.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eNature is the nurse of sentiment, the true source of taste;\r\nyet what misery, as well as rapture, is produced by a quick\r\nperception of the beautiful and sublime when it is exercised in\r\nobserving animated nature, when every beauteous feeling and\r\nemotion excites responsive sympathy, and the harmonised soul\r\nsinks into melancholy or rises to ecstasy, just as the chords are\r\ntouched, like the Æolian harp agitated by the changing\r\nwind.\u0026nbsp; But how dangerous is it to foster these sentiments in\r\nsuch an imperfect state of existence, and how difficult to\r\neradicate them when an affection for mankind, a passion for an\r\nindividual, is but the unfolding of that love which embraces all\r\nthat is great and beautiful!\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eWhen a warm heart has received strong impressions, they are\r\nnot to be effaced.\u0026nbsp; Emotions become sentiments, and the\r\nimagination renders even transient sensations permanent by fondly\r\nretracing them.\u0026nbsp; I cannot, without a thrill of delight,\r\nrecollect views I have seen, which are not to be forgotten, nor\r\nlooks I have felt in every nerve, which I shall never more\r\nmeet.\u0026nbsp; The grave has closed over a dear friend, the friend\r\nof my youth.\u0026nbsp; Still she is present with me, and I hear her\r\nsoft voice warbling as I stray over the heath.\u0026nbsp; Fate has\r\nseparated me from another, the fire of whose eyes, tempered by\r\ninfantine tenderness, still warms my breast; even when gazing on\r\nthese tremendous cliffs sublime emotions absorb my soul.\u0026nbsp;\r\nAnd, smile not, if I add that the rosy tint of morning reminds me\r\nof a suffusion which will never more charm my senses, unless it\r\nreappears on the cheeks of my child.\u0026nbsp; Her sweet blushes I\r\nmay yet hide in my bosom, and she is still too young to ask why\r\nstarts the tear so near akin to pleasure and pain.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI cannot write any more at present.\u0026nbsp; To-morrow we will\r\ntalk of Tonsberg.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003eLETTER VII.\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThough the king of Denmark be an absolute monarch, yet the\r\nNorwegians appear to enjoy all the blessings of freedom.\u0026nbsp;\r\nNorway may be termed a sister kingdom; but the people have no\r\nviceroy to lord it over them, and fatten his dependants with the\r\nfruit of their labour.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThere are only two counts in the whole country who have\r\nestates, and exact some feudal observances from their\r\ntenantry.\u0026nbsp; All the rest of the country is divided into small\r\nfarms, which belong to the cultivator.\u0026nbsp; It is true some few,\r\nappertaining to the Church, are let, but always on a lease for\r\nlife, generally renewed in favour of the eldest son, who has this\r\nadvantage as well as a right to a double portion of the\r\nproperty.\u0026nbsp; But the value of the farm is estimated, and after\r\nhis portion is assigned to him he must be answerable for the\r\nresidue to the remaining part of the family.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eEvery farmer for ten years is obliged to attend annually about\r\ntwelve days to learn the military exercise, but it is always at a\r\nsmall distance from his dwelling, and does not lead him into any\r\nnew habits of life.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThere are about six thousand regulars also in garrison at\r\nChristiania and Fredericshall, who are equally reserved, with the\r\nmilitia, for the defence of their own country.\u0026nbsp; So that when\r\nthe Prince Royal passed into Sweden in 1788, he was obliged to\r\nrequest, not command, them to accompany him on this\r\nexpedition.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThese corps are mostly composed of the sons of the cottagers,\r\nwho being labourers on the farms, are allowed a few acres to\r\ncultivate for themselves.\u0026nbsp; These men voluntarily enlist, but\r\nit is only for a limited period (six years), at the expiration of\r\nwhich they have the liberty of retiring.\u0026nbsp; The pay is only\r\ntwopence a day and bread; still, considering the cheapness of the\r\ncountry, it is more than sixpence in England.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe distribution of landed property into small farms produces\r\na degree of equality which I have seldom seen elsewhere; and the\r\nrich being all merchants, who are obliged to divide their\r\npersonal fortune amongst their children, the boys always\r\nreceiving twice as much as the girls, property has met a chance\r\nof accumulating till overgrowing wealth destroys the balance of\r\nliberty.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eYou will be surprised to hear me talk of liberty; yet the\r\nNorwegians appear to me to be the most free community I have ever\r\nobserved.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe mayor of each town or district, and the judges in the\r\ncountry, exercise an authority almost patriarchal.\u0026nbsp; They can\r\ndo much good, but little harm,\u0026mdash;as every individual can\r\nappeal from their judgment; and as they may always be forced to\r\ngive a reason for their conduct, it is generally regulated by\r\nprudence.\u0026nbsp; \u0026ldquo;They have not time to learn to be\r\ntyrants,\u0026rdquo; said a gentleman to me, with whom I discussed the\r\nsubject.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe farmers not fearing to be turned out of their farms,\r\nshould they displease a man in power, and having no vote to be\r\ncommanded at an election for a mock representative, are a manly\r\nrace; for not being obliged to submit to any debasing tenure in\r\norder to live, or advance themselves in the world, they act with\r\nan independent spirit.\u0026nbsp; I never yet have heard of anything\r\nlike domineering or oppression, excepting such as has arisen from\r\nnatural causes.\u0026nbsp; The freedom the people enjoy may, perhaps,\r\nrender them a little litigious, and subject them to the\r\nimpositions of cunning practitioners of the law; but the\r\nauthority of office is bounded, and the emoluments of it do not\r\ndestroy its utility.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eLast year a man who had abused his power was cashiered, on the\r\nrepresentation of the people to the bailiff of the district.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThere are four in Norway who might with propriety be termed\r\nsheriffs; and from their sentence an appeal, by either party, may\r\nbe made to Copenhagen.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eNear most of the towns are commons, on which the cows of all\r\nthe inhabitants, indiscriminately, are allowed to graze.\u0026nbsp;\r\nThe poor, to whom a cow is necessary, are almost supported by\r\nit.\u0026nbsp; Besides, to render living more easy, they all go out to\r\nfish in their own boats, and fish is their principal food.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe lower class of people in the towns are in general sailors;\r\nand the industrious have usually little ventures of their own\r\nthat serve to render the winter comfortable.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eWith respect to the country at large, the importation is\r\nconsiderably in favour of Norway.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThey are forbidden, at present, to export corn or rye on\r\naccount of the advanced price.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe restriction which most resembles the painful subordination\r\nof Ireland, is that vessels, trading to the West Indies, are\r\nobliged to pass by their own ports, and unload their cargoes at\r\nCopenhagen, which they afterwards reship.\u0026nbsp; The duty is\r\nindeed inconsiderable, but the navigation being dangerous, they\r\nrun a double risk.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThere is an excise on all articles of consumption brought to\r\nthe towns; but the officers are not strict, and it would be\r\nreckoned invidious to enter a house to search, as in England.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe Norwegians appear to me a sensible, shrewd people, with\r\nlittle scientific knowledge, and still less taste for literature;\r\nbut they are arriving at the epoch which precedes the\r\nintroduction of the arts and sciences.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eMost of the towns are seaports, and seaports are not\r\nfavourable to improvement.\u0026nbsp; The captains acquire a little\r\nsuperficial knowledge by travelling, which their indefatigable\r\nattention to the making of money prevents their digesting; and\r\nthe fortune that they thus laboriously acquire is spent, as it\r\nusually is in towns of this description, in show and good\r\nliving.\u0026nbsp; They love their country, but have not much public\r\nspirit.\u0026nbsp; Their exertions are, generally speaking, only for\r\ntheir families, which, I conceive, will always be the case, till\r\npolitics, becoming a subject of discussion, enlarges the heart by\r\nopening the understanding.\u0026nbsp; The French Revolution will have\r\nthis effect.\u0026nbsp; They sing, at present, with great glee, many\r\nRepublican songs, and seem earnestly to wish that the republic\r\nmay stand; yet they appear very much attached to their Prince\r\nRoyal, and, as far as rumour can give an idea of a character, he\r\nappears to merit their attachment.\u0026nbsp; When I am at Copenhagen,\r\nI shall be able to ascertain on what foundation their good\r\nopinion is built; at present I am only the echo of it.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIn the year 1788 he travelled through Norway; and acts of\r\nmercy gave dignity to the parade, and interest to the joy his\r\npresence inspired.\u0026nbsp; At this town he pardoned a girl\r\ncondemned to die for murdering an illegitimate child, a crime\r\nseldom committed in this country.\u0026nbsp; She is since married, and\r\nbecome the careful mother of a family.\u0026nbsp; This might be given\r\nas an instance, that a desperate act is not always a proof of an\r\nincorrigible depravity of character, the only plausible excuse\r\nthat has been brought forward to justify the infliction of\r\ncapital punishments.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI will relate two or three other anecdotes to you, for the\r\ntruth of which I will not vouch because the facts were not of\r\nsufficient consequence for me to take much pains to ascertain\r\nthem; and, true or false, they evince that the people like to\r\nmake a kind of mistress of their prince.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eAn officer, mortally wounded at the ill-advised battle of\r\nQuistram, desired to speak with the prince; and with his dying\r\nbreath, earnestly recommended to his care a young woman of\r\nChristiania, to whom he was engaged.\u0026nbsp; When the prince\r\nreturned there, a ball was given by the chief inhabitants: he\r\ninquired whether this unfortunate girl was invited, and requested\r\nthat she might, though of the second class.\u0026nbsp; The girl came;\r\nshe was pretty; and finding herself among her superiors,\r\nbashfully sat down as near the door as possible, nobody taking\r\nnotice of her.\u0026nbsp; Shortly after, the prince entering,\r\nimmediately inquired for her, and asked her to dance, to the\r\nmortification of the rich dames.\u0026nbsp; After it was over he\r\nhanded her to the top of the room, and placing himself by her,\r\nspoke of the loss she had sustained, with tenderness, promising\r\nto provide for anyone she should marry, as the story goes.\u0026nbsp;\r\nShe is since married, and he has not forgotten his promise.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eA little girl, during the same expedition, in Sweden, who\r\ninformed him that the logs of a bridge were out underneath, was\r\ntaken by his orders to Christiania, and put to school at his\r\nexpense.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eBefore I retail other beneficial effects of his journey, it is\r\nnecessary to inform you that the laws here are mild, and do not\r\npunish capitally for any crime but murder, which seldom\r\noccurs.\u0026nbsp; Every other offence merely subjects the delinquent\r\nto imprisonment and labour in the castle, or rather arsenal at\r\nChristiania, and the fortress at Fredericshall.\u0026nbsp; The first\r\nand second conviction produces a sentence for a limited number of\r\nyears\u0026mdash;two, three, five, or seven, proportioned to the\r\natrocity of the crime.\u0026nbsp; After the third he is whipped,\r\nbranded in the forehead, and condemned to perpetual\r\nslavery.\u0026nbsp; This is the ordinary course of justice.\u0026nbsp; For\r\nsome flagrant breaches of trust, or acts of wanton cruelty,\r\ncriminals have been condemned to slavery for life the first time\r\nof conviction, but not frequently.\u0026nbsp; The number of these\r\nslaves do not, I am informed, amount to more than a hundred,\r\nwhich is not considerable, compared with the population, upwards\r\nof eight hundred thousand.\u0026nbsp; Should I pass through\r\nChristiania, on my return to Gothenburg, I shall probably have an\r\nopportunity of learning other particulars.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThere is also a House of Correction at Christiania for\r\ntrifling misdemeanours, where the women are confined to labour\r\nand imprisonment even for life.\u0026nbsp; The state of the prisoners\r\nwas represented to the prince, in consequence of which he visited\r\nthe arsenal and House of Correction.\u0026nbsp; The slaves at the\r\narsenal were loaded with irons of a great weight; he ordered them\r\nto be lightened as much as possible.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe people in the House of Correction were commanded not to\r\nspeak to him; but four women, condemned to remain there for life,\r\ngot into the passage, and fell at his feet.\u0026nbsp; He granted them\r\na pardon; and inquiring respecting the treatment of the\r\nprisoners, he was informed that they were frequently whipped\r\ngoing in, and coming out, and for any fault, at the discretion of\r\nthe inspectors.\u0026nbsp; This custom he humanely abolished, though\r\nsome of the principal inhabitants, whose situation in life had\r\nraised them above the temptation of stealing, were of opinion\r\nthat these chastisements were necessary and wholesome.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIn short, everything seems to announce that the prince really\r\ncherishes the laudable ambition of fulfilling the duties of his\r\nstation.\u0026nbsp; This ambition is cherished and directed by the\r\nCount Bernstorff, the Prime Minister of Denmark, who is\r\nuniversally celebrated for his abilities and virtue.\u0026nbsp; The\r\nhappiness of the people is a substantial eulogium; and, from all\r\nI can gather, the inhabitants of Denmark and Norway are the least\r\noppressed people of Europe.\u0026nbsp; The press is free.\u0026nbsp; They\r\ntranslate any of the French publications of the day, deliver\r\ntheir opinion on the subject, and discuss those it leads to with\r\ngreat freedom, and without fearing to displease the\r\nGovernment.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eOn the subject of religion they are likewise becoming\r\ntolerant, at least, and perhaps have advanced a step further in\r\nfree-thinking.\u0026nbsp; One writer has ventured to deny the divinity\r\nof Jesus Christ, and to question the necessity or utility of the\r\nChristian system, without being considered universally as a\r\nmonster, which would have been the case a few years ago.\u0026nbsp;\r\nThey have translated many German works on education; and though\r\nthey have not adopted any of their plans, it has become a subject\r\nof discussion.\u0026nbsp; There are some grammar and free schools;\r\nbut, from what I hear, not very good ones.\u0026nbsp; All the children\r\nlearn to read, write, and cast accounts, for the purposes of\r\ncommon life.\u0026nbsp; They have no university; and nothing that\r\ndeserves the name of science is taught; nor do individuals, by\r\npursuing any branch of knowledge, excite a degree of curiosity\r\nwhich is the forerunner of improvement.\u0026nbsp; Knowledge is not\r\nabsolutely necessary to enable a considerable portion of the\r\ncommunity to live; and, till it is, I fear it never becomes\r\ngeneral.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIn this country, where minerals abound, there is not one\r\ncollection; and, in all probability, I venture a conjecture, the\r\nwant of mechanical and chemical knowledge renders the silver\r\nmines unproductive, for the quantity of silver obtained every\r\nyear is not sufficient to defray the expenses.\u0026nbsp; It has been\r\nurged that the employment of such a number of hands is very\r\nbeneficial.\u0026nbsp; But a positive loss is never to be done away;\r\nand the men, thus employed, would naturally find some other means\r\nof living, instead of being thus a dead weight on Government, or\r\nrather on the community from whom its revenue is drawn.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eAbout three English miles from Tonsberg there is a salt work,\r\nbelonging, like all their establishments, to Government, in which\r\nthey employ above a hundred and fifty men, and maintain nearly\r\nfive hundred people, who earn their living.\u0026nbsp; The clear\r\nprofit, an increasing one, amounts to two thousand pounds\r\nsterling.\u0026nbsp; And as the eldest son of the inspector, an\r\ningenious young man, has been sent by the Government to travel,\r\nand acquire some mathematical and chemical knowledge in Germany,\r\nit has a chance of being improved.\u0026nbsp; He is the only person I\r\nhave met with here who appears to have a scientific turn of\r\nmind.\u0026nbsp; I do not mean to assert that I have not met with\r\nothers who have a spirit of inquiry.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe salt-works at St. Ubes are basins in the sand, and the sun\r\nproduces the evaporation, but here there is no beach.\u0026nbsp;\r\nBesides, the heat of summer is so short-lived that it would be\r\nidle to contrive machines for such an inconsiderable portion of\r\nthe year.\u0026nbsp; They therefore always use fires; and the whole\r\nestablishment appears to be regulated with judgment.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe situation is well chosen and beautiful.\u0026nbsp; I do not\r\nfind, from the observation of a person who has resided here for\r\nforty years, that the sea advances or recedes on this coast.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI have already remarked that little attention is paid to\r\neducation, excepting reading, writing, and the rudiments of\r\narithmetic; I ought to have added that a catechism is carefully\r\ntaught, and the children obliged to read in the churches, before\r\nthe congregation, to prove that they are not neglected.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eDegrees, to enable any one to practise any profession, must be\r\ntaken at Copenhagen; and the people of this country, having the\r\ngood sense to perceive that men who are to live in a community\r\nshould at least acquire the elements of their knowledge, and form\r\ntheir youthful attachments there, are seriously endeavouring to\r\nestablish a university in Norway.\u0026nbsp; And Tonsberg, as a\r\ncentral place in the best part of the country, had the most\r\nsuffrages, for, experiencing the bad effects of a metropolis,\r\nthey have determined not to have it in or near Christiania.\u0026nbsp;\r\nShould such an establishment take place, it will promote inquiry\r\nthroughout the country, and give a new face to society.\u0026nbsp;\r\nPremiums have been offered, and prize questions written, which I\r\nam told have merit.\u0026nbsp; The building college-halls, and other\r\nappendages of the seat of science, might enable Tonsberg to\r\nrecover its pristine consequence, for it is one of the most\r\nancient towns of Norway, and once contained nine churches.\u0026nbsp;\r\nAt present there are only two.\u0026nbsp; One is a very old structure,\r\nand has a Gothic respectability about it, which scarcely amounts\r\nto grandeur, because, to render a Gothic pile grand, it must have\r\na huge unwieldiness of appearance.\u0026nbsp; The chapel of Windsor\r\nmay be an exception to this rule; I mean before it was in its\r\npresent nice, clean state.\u0026nbsp; When I first saw it, the pillars\r\nwithin had acquired, by time, a sombre hue, which accorded with\r\nthe architecture; and the gloom increased its dimensions to the\r\neye by hiding its parts; but now it all bursts on the view at\r\nonce, and the sublimity has vanished before the brush and broom;\r\nfor it has been white-washed and scraped till it has become as\r\nbright and neat as the pots and pans in a notable\r\nhouse-wife\u0026rsquo;s kitchen\u0026mdash;yes; the very spurs on the\r\nrecumbent knights were deprived of their venerable rust, to give\r\na striking proof that a love of order in trifles, and taste for\r\nproportion and arrangement, are very distinct.\u0026nbsp; The glare of\r\nlight thus introduced entirely destroys the sentiment these piles\r\nare calculated to inspire; so that, when I heard something like a\r\njig from the organ-loft, I thought it an excellent hall for\r\ndancing or feasting.\u0026nbsp; The measured pace of thought with\r\nwhich I had entered the cathedral changed into a trip; and I\r\nbounded on the terrace, to see the royal family, with a number of\r\nridiculous images in my head that I shall not now recall.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe Norwegians are fond of music, and every little church has\r\nan organ.\u0026nbsp; In the church I have mentioned there is an\r\ninscription importing that a king James VI. of Scotland and I. of\r\nEngland, who came with more than princely gallantry to escort his\r\nbride home\u0026mdash;stood there, and heard divine service.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThere is a little recess full of coffins, which contains\r\nbodies embalmed long since\u0026mdash;so long, that there is not even\r\na tradition to lead to a guess at their names.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eA desire of preserving the body seems to have prevailed in\r\nmost countries of the world, futile as it is to term it a\r\npreservation, when the noblest parts are immediately sacrificed\r\nmerely to save the muscles, skin, and bone from rottenness.\u0026nbsp;\r\nWhen I was shown these human petrifactions, I shrank back with\r\ndisgust and horror.\u0026nbsp; \u0026ldquo;Ashes to ashes!\u0026rdquo; thought\r\nI\u0026mdash;\u0026ldquo;Dust to dust!\u0026rdquo;\u0026nbsp; If this be not\r\ndissolution, it is something worse than natural decay\u0026mdash;it is\r\ntreason against humanity, thus to lift up the awful veil which\r\nwould fain hide its weakness.\u0026nbsp; The grandeur of the active\r\nprinciple is never more strongly felt than at such a sight, for\r\nnothing is so ugly as the human form when deprived of life, and\r\nthus dried into stone, merely to preserve the most disgusting\r\nimage of death.\u0026nbsp; The contemplation of noble ruins produces a\r\nmelancholy that exalts the mind.\u0026nbsp; We take a retrospect of\r\nthe exertions of man, the fate of empires and their rulers, and\r\nmarking the grand destruction of ages, it seems the necessary\r\nchange of time leading to improvement.\u0026nbsp; Our very soul\r\nexpands, and we forget our littleness\u0026mdash;how painfully brought\r\nto our recollection by such vain attempts to snatch from decay\r\nwhat is destined so soon to perish.\u0026nbsp; Life, what art\r\nthou?\u0026nbsp; Where goes this breath?\u0026mdash;this \u003ci\u003eI\u003c/i\u003e, so much\r\nalive?\u0026nbsp; In what element will it mix, giving or receiving\r\nfresh energy?\u0026nbsp; What will break the enchantment of\r\nanimation?\u0026nbsp; For worlds I would not see a form I\r\nloved\u0026mdash;embalmed in my heart\u0026mdash;thus sacrilegiously\r\nhandled?\u0026nbsp; Pugh! my stomach turns.\u0026nbsp; Is this all the\r\ndistinction of the rich in the grave?\u0026nbsp; They had better\r\nquietly allow the scythe of equality to mow them down with the\r\ncommon mass, than struggle to become a monument of the\r\ninstability of human greatness.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe teeth, nails, and skin were whole, without appearing black\r\nlike the Egyptian mummies; and some silk, in which they had been\r\nwrapped, still preserved its colour\u0026mdash;pink\u0026mdash;with\r\ntolerable freshness.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI could not learn how long the bodies had been in this state,\r\nin which they bid fair to remain till the Day of Judgment, if\r\nthere is to be such a day; and before that time, it will require\r\nsome trouble to make them fit to appear in company with angels\r\nwithout disgracing humanity.\u0026nbsp; God bless you!\u0026nbsp; I feel a\r\nconviction that we have some perfectible principle in our present\r\nvestment, which will not be destroyed just as we begin to be\r\nsensible of improvement; and I care not what habit it next puts\r\non, sure that it will be wisely formed to suit a higher state of\r\nexistence.\u0026nbsp; Thinking of death makes us tenderly cling to our\r\naffections; with more than usual tenderness I therefore assure\r\nyou that I am yours, wishing that the temporary death of absence\r\nmay not endure longer than is absolutely necessary.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003eLETTER VIII.\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eTonsberg was formerly the residence of one of the little\r\nsovereigns of Norway; and on an adjacent mountain the vestiges of\r\na fort remain, which was battered down by the Swedes, the\r\nentrance of the bay lying close to it.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eHere I have frequently strayed, sovereign of the waste; I\r\nseldom met any human creature; and sometimes, reclining on the\r\nmossy down, under the shelter of a rock, the prattling of the sea\r\namongst the pebbles has lulled me to sleep\u0026mdash;no fear of any\r\nrude satyr\u0026rsquo;s approaching to interrupt my repose.\u0026nbsp;\r\nBalmy were the slumbers, and soft the gales, that refreshed me,\r\nwhen I awoke to follow, with an eye vaguely curious, the white\r\nsails, as they turned the cliffs, or seemed to take shelter under\r\nthe pines which covered the little islands that so gracefully\r\nrose to render the terrific ocean beautiful.\u0026nbsp; The fishermen\r\nwere calmly casting their nets, whilst the sea-gulls hovered over\r\nthe unruffled deep.\u0026nbsp; Everything seemed to harmonise into\r\ntranquillity; even the mournful call of the bittern was in\r\ncadence with the tinkling bells on the necks of the cows, that,\r\npacing slowly one after the other, along an inviting path in the\r\nvale below, were repairing to the cottages to be milked.\u0026nbsp;\r\nWith what ineffable pleasure have I not gazed\u0026mdash;and gazed\r\nagain, losing my breath through my eyes\u0026mdash;my very soul\r\ndiffused itself in the scene; and, seeming to become all senses,\r\nglided in the scarcely-agitated waves, melted in the freshening\r\nbreeze, or, taking its flight with fairy wing, to the misty\r\nmountain which bounded the prospect, fancy tripped over new\r\nlawns, more beautiful even than the lovely slopes on the winding\r\nshore before me.\u0026nbsp; I pause, again breathless, to trace, with\r\nrenewed delight, sentiments which entranced me, when, turning my\r\nhumid eyes from the expanse below to the vault above, my sight\r\npierced the fleecy clouds that softened the azure brightness; and\r\nimperceptibly recalling the reveries of childhood, I bowed before\r\nthe awful throne of my Creator, whilst I rested on its\r\nfootstool.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eYou have sometimes wondered, my dear friend, at the extreme\r\naffection of my nature.\u0026nbsp; But such is the temperature of my\r\nsoul.\u0026nbsp; It is not the vivacity of youth, the heyday of\r\nexistence.\u0026nbsp; For years have I endeavoured to calm an\r\nimpetuous tide, labouring to make my feelings take an orderly\r\ncourse.\u0026nbsp; It was striving against the stream.\u0026nbsp; I must\r\nlove and admire with warmth, or I sink into sadness.\u0026nbsp; Tokens\r\nof love which I have received have wrapped me in Elysium,\r\npurifying the heart they enchanted.\u0026nbsp; My bosom still\r\nglows.\u0026nbsp; Do not saucily ask, repeating Sterne\u0026rsquo;s\r\nquestion, \u0026ldquo;Maria, is it still so warm?\u0026rdquo;\u0026nbsp;\r\nSufficiently, O my God!\u0026nbsp; has it been chilled by sorrow and\r\nunkindness; still nature will prevail; and if I blush at\r\nrecollecting past enjoyment, it is the rosy hue of pleasure\r\nheightened by modesty, for the blush of modesty and shame are as\r\ndistinct as the emotions by which they are produced.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI need scarcely inform you, after telling you of my walks,\r\nthat my constitution has been renovated here, and that I have\r\nrecovered my activity even whilst attaining a little\r\n\u003ci\u003eembonpoint\u003c/i\u003e.\u0026nbsp; My imprudence last winter, and some\r\nuntoward accidents just at the time I was weaning my child, had\r\nreduced me to a state of weakness which I never before\r\nexperienced.\u0026nbsp; A slow fever preyed on me every night during\r\nmy residence in Sweden, and after I arrived at Tonsberg.\u0026nbsp; By\r\nchance I found a fine rivulet filtered through the rocks, and\r\nconfined in a basin for the cattle.\u0026nbsp; It tasted to me like a\r\nchalybeate; at any rate, it was pure; and the good effect of the\r\nvarious waters which invalids are sent to drink depends, I\r\nbelieve, more on the air, exercise, and change of scene, than on\r\ntheir medicinal qualities.\u0026nbsp; I therefore determined to turn\r\nmy morning walks towards it, and seek for health from the nymph\r\nof the fountain, partaking of the beverage offered to the tenants\r\nof the shade.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eChance likewise led me to discover a new pleasure equally\r\nbeneficial to my health.\u0026nbsp; I wished to avail myself of my\r\nvicinity to the sea and bathe; but it was not possible near the\r\ntown; there was no convenience.\u0026nbsp; The young woman whom I\r\nmentioned to you proposed rowing me across the water amongst the\r\nrocks; but as she was pregnant, I insisted on taking one of the\r\noars, and learning to row.\u0026nbsp; It was not difficult, and I do\r\nnot know a pleasanter exercise.\u0026nbsp; I soon became expert, and\r\nmy train of thinking kept time, as it were, with the oars, or I\r\nsuffered the boat to be carried along by the current, indulging a\r\npleasing forgetfulness or fallacious hopes.\u0026nbsp; How fallacious!\r\nyet, without hope, what is to sustain life, but the fear of\r\nannihilation\u0026mdash;the only thing of which I have ever felt a\r\ndread.\u0026nbsp; I cannot bear to think of being no more\u0026mdash;of\r\nlosing myself\u0026mdash;though existence is often but a painful\r\nconsciousness of misery; nay, it appears to me impossible that I\r\nshould cease to exist, or that this active, restless spirit,\r\nequally alive to joy and sorrow, should only be organised\r\ndust\u0026mdash;ready to fly abroad the moment the spring snaps, or\r\nthe spark goes out which kept it together.\u0026nbsp; Surely something\r\nresides in this heart that is not perishable, and life is more\r\nthan a dream.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eSometimes, to take up my oar once more, when the sea was calm,\r\nI was amused by disturbing the innumerable young star fish which\r\nfloated just below the surface; I had never observed them before,\r\nfor they have not a hard shell like those which I have seen on\r\nthe seashore.\u0026nbsp; They look like thickened water with a white\r\nedge, and four purple circles, of different forms, were in the\r\nmiddle, over an incredible number of fibres or white lines.\u0026nbsp;\r\nTouching them, the cloudy substance would turn or close, first on\r\none side, then on the other, very gracefully, but when I took one\r\nof them up in the ladle, with which I heaved the water out of the\r\nboat, it appeared only a colourless jelly.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI did not see any of the seals, numbers of which followed our\r\nboat when we landed in Sweden; but though I like to sport in the\r\nwater I should have had no desire to join in their gambols.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eEnough, you will say, of inanimate nature and of brutes, to\r\nuse the lordly phrase of man; let me hear something of the\r\ninhabitants.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe gentleman with whom I had business is the Mayor of\r\nTonsberg.\u0026nbsp; He speaks English intelligibly, and, having a\r\nsound understanding, I was sorry that his numerous occupations\r\nprevented my gaining as much information from him as I could have\r\ndrawn forth had we frequently conversed.\u0026nbsp; The people of the\r\ntown, as far as I had an opportunity of knowing their sentiments,\r\nare extremely well satisfied with his manner of discharging his\r\noffice.\u0026nbsp; He has a degree of information and good sense which\r\nexcites respect, whilst a cheerfulness, almost amounting to\r\ngaiety, enables him to reconcile differences and keep his\r\nneighbours in good humour.\u0026nbsp; \u0026ldquo;I lost my horse,\u0026rdquo;\r\nsaid a woman to me, \u0026ldquo;but ever since, when I want to send to\r\nthe mill, or go out, the Mayor lends me one.\u0026nbsp; He scolds if I\r\ndo not come for it.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eA criminal was branded, during my stay here, for the third\r\noffence; but the relief he received made him declare that the\r\njudge was one of the best men in the world.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI sent this wretch a trifle, at different times, to take with\r\nhim into slavery.\u0026nbsp; As it was more than he expected, he\r\nwished very much to see me, and this wish brought to my\r\nremembrance an anecdote I heard when I was in Lisbon.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eA wretch who had been imprisoned several years, during which\r\nperiod lamps had been put up, was at last condemned to a cruel\r\ndeath, yet, in his way to execution, he only wished for one\r\nnight\u0026rsquo;s respite to see the city lighted.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eHaving dined in company at the mayor\u0026rsquo;s I was invited\r\nwith his family to spend the day at one of the richest\r\nmerchant\u0026rsquo;s houses.\u0026nbsp; Though I could not speak Danish I\r\nknew that I could see a great deal; yes, I am persuaded that I\r\nhave formed a very just opinion of the character of the\r\nNorwegians, without being able to hold converse with them.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI had expected to meet some company, yet was a little\r\ndisconcerted at being ushered into an apartment full of well\r\ndressed people, and glancing my eyes round they rested on several\r\nvery pretty faces.\u0026nbsp; Rosy cheeks, sparkling eyes, and light\r\nbrown or golden locks; for I never saw so much hair with a yellow\r\ncast, and, with their fine complexions, it looked very\r\nbecoming.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThese women seem a mixture of indolence and vivacity; they\r\nscarcely ever walk out, and were astonished that I should for\r\npleasure, yet they are immoderately fond of dancing.\u0026nbsp;\r\nUnaffected in their manners, if they have no pretensions to\r\nelegance, simplicity often produces a gracefulness of deportment,\r\nwhen they are animated by a particular desire to please, which\r\nwas the case at present.\u0026nbsp; The solitariness of my situation,\r\nwhich they thought terrible, interested them very much in my\r\nfavour.\u0026nbsp; They gathered round me, sung to me, and one of the\r\nprettiest, to whom I gave my hand with some degree of cordiality,\r\nto meet the glance of her eyes, kissed me very\r\naffectionately.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eAt dinner, which was conducted with great hospitality, though\r\nwe remained at table too long, they sung several songs, and,\r\namongst the rest, translations of some patriotic French\r\nones.\u0026nbsp; As the evening advanced they became playful, and we\r\nkept up a sort of conversation of gestures.\u0026nbsp; As their minds\r\nwere totally uncultivated I did not lose much, perhaps gained, by\r\nnot being able to understand them; for fancy probably filled up,\r\nmore to their advantage, the void in the picture.\u0026nbsp; Be that\r\nas it may, they excited my sympathy, and I was very much\r\nflattered when I was told the next day that they said it was a\r\npleasure to look at me, I appeared so good-natured.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe men were generally captains of ships.\u0026nbsp; Several spoke\r\nEnglish very tolerably, but they were merely matter-of-fact men,\r\nconfined to a very narrow circle of observation.\u0026nbsp; I found it\r\ndifficult to obtain from them any information respecting their\r\nown country, when the fumes of tobacco did not keep me at a\r\ndistance.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI was invited to partake of some other feasts, and always had\r\nto complain of the quantity of provision and the length of time\r\ntaken to consume it; for it would not have been proper to have\r\nsaid devour, all went on so fair and softly.\u0026nbsp; The servants\r\nwait as slowly as their mistresses carve.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe young women here, as well as in Sweden, have commonly bad\r\nteeth, which I attribute to the same causes.\u0026nbsp; They are fond\r\nof finery, but do not pay the necessary attention to their\r\npersons, to render beauty less transient than a flower, and that\r\ninteresting expression which sentiment and accomplishments give\r\nseldom supplies its place.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe servants have, likewise, an inferior sort of food here,\r\nbut their masters are not allowed to strike them with\r\nimpunity.\u0026nbsp; I might have added mistresses, for it was a\r\ncomplaint of this kind brought before the mayor which led me to a\r\nknowledge of the fact.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe wages are low, which is particularly unjust, because the\r\nprice of clothes is much higher than that of provision.\u0026nbsp; A\r\nyoung woman, who is wet nurse to the mistress of the inn where I\r\nlodge, receives only twelve dollars a year, and pays ten for the\r\nnursing of her own child.\u0026nbsp; The father had run away to get\r\nclear of the expense.\u0026nbsp; There was something in this most\r\npainful state of widowhood which excited my compassion and led me\r\nto reflections on the instability of the most flattering plans of\r\nhappiness, that were painful in the extreme, till I was ready to\r\nask whether this world was not created to exhibit every possible\r\ncombination of wretchedness.\u0026nbsp; I asked these questions of a\r\nheart writhing with anguish, whilst I listened to a melancholy\r\nditty sung by this poor girl.\u0026nbsp; It was too early for thee to\r\nbe abandoned, thought I, and I hastened out of the house to take\r\nmy solitary evening\u0026rsquo;s walk.\u0026nbsp; And here I am again to\r\ntalk of anything but the pangs arising from the discovery of\r\nestranged affection and the lonely sadness of a deserted\r\nheart.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe father and mother, if the father can be ascertained, are\r\nobliged to maintain an illegitimate child at their joint expense;\r\nbut, should the father disappear, go up the country or to sea,\r\nthe mother must maintain it herself.\u0026nbsp; However, accidents of\r\nthis kind do not prevent their marrying, and then it is not\r\nunusual to take the child or children home, and they are brought\r\nup very amicably with the marriage progeny.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI took some pains to learn what books were written originally\r\nin their language; but for any certain information respecting the\r\nstate of Danish literature I must wait till I arrive at\r\nCopenhagen.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe sound of the language is soft, a great proportion of the\r\nwords ending in vowels; and there is a simplicity in the turn of\r\nsome of the phrases which have been translated to me that pleased\r\nand interested me.\u0026nbsp; In the country the farmers use the\r\n\u003ci\u003ethou\u003c/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003ethee\u003c/i\u003e; and they do not acquire the polite\r\nplurals of the towns by meeting at market.\u0026nbsp; The not having\r\nmarkets established in the large towns appears to me a great\r\ninconvenience.\u0026nbsp; When the farmers have anything to sell they\r\nbring it to the neighbouring town and take it from house to\r\nhouse.\u0026nbsp; I am surprised that the inhabitants do not feel how\r\nvery incommodious this usage is to both parties, and redress it;\r\nthey, indeed, perceive it, for when I have introduced the subject\r\nthey acknowledged that they were often in want of necessaries,\r\nthere being no butchers, and they were often obliged to buy what\r\nthey did not want; yet it was the custom, and the changing of\r\ncustoms of a long standing requires more energy than they yet\r\npossess.\u0026nbsp; I received a similar reply when I attempted to\r\npersuade the women that they injured their children by keeping\r\nthem too warm.\u0026nbsp; The only way of parrying off my reasoning\r\nwas that they must do as other people did; in short, reason on\r\nany subject of change, and they stop you by saying that\r\n\u0026ldquo;the town would talk.\u0026rdquo;\u0026nbsp; A person of sense, with\r\na large fortune to ensure respect, might be very useful here, by\r\ninducing them to treat their children and manage their sick\r\nproperly, and eat food dressed in a simpler manner\u0026mdash;the\r\nexample, for instance, of a count\u0026rsquo;s lady.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eReflecting on these prejudices made me revert to the wisdom of\r\nthose legislators who established institutions for the good of\r\nthe body under the pretext of serving heaven for the salvation of\r\nthe soul.\u0026nbsp; These might with strict propriety be termed pious\r\nfrauds; and I admire the Peruvian pair for asserting that they\r\ncame from the sun, when their conduct proved that they meant to\r\nenlighten a benighted country, whose obedience, or even\r\nattention, could only be secured by awe.\u0026nbsp; Thus much for\r\nconquering the \u003ci\u003einertia\u003c/i\u003e of reason; but, when it is once in\r\nmotion, fables once held sacred may be ridiculed; and sacred they\r\nwere when useful to mankind.\u0026nbsp; Prometheus alone stole fire to\r\nanimate the first man; his posterity needs not supernatural aid\r\nto preserve the species, though love is generally termed a flame;\r\nand it may not be necessary much longer to suppose men inspired\r\nby heaven to inculcate the duties which demand special grace when\r\nreason convinces them that they are the happiest who are the most\r\nnobly employed.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIn a few days I am to set out for the western part of Norway,\r\nand then shall return by land to Gothenburg.\u0026nbsp; I cannot think\r\nof leaving this place without regret.\u0026nbsp; I speak of the place\r\nbefore the inhabitants, though there is a tenderness in their\r\nartless kindness which attaches me to them; but it is an\r\nattachment that inspires a regret very different from that I felt\r\nat leaving Hull in my way to Sweden.\u0026nbsp; The domestic happiness\r\nand good-humoured gaiety of the amiable family where I and my\r\nFrances were so hospitably received would have been sufficient to\r\nensure the tenderest remembrance, without the recollection of the\r\nsocial evening to stimulate it, when good breeding gave dignity\r\nto sympathy and wit zest to reason.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eAdieu!\u0026mdash;I am just informed that my horse has been waiting\r\nthis quarter of an hour.\u0026nbsp; I now venture to ride out\r\nalone.\u0026nbsp; The steeple serves as a landmark.\u0026nbsp; I once or\r\ntwice lost my way, walking alone, without being able to inquire\r\nafter a path; I was therefore obliged to make to the steeple, or\r\nwindmill, over hedge and ditch.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: right\"\u003eYours truly.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003eLETTER IX.\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI have already informed you that there are only two noblemen\r\nwho have estates of any magnitude in Norway.\u0026nbsp; One of these\r\nhas a house near Tonsberg, at which he has not resided for some\r\nyears, having been at court, or on embassies.\u0026nbsp; He is now the\r\nDanish Ambassador in London.\u0026nbsp; The house is pleasantly\r\nsituated, and the grounds about it fine; but their neglected\r\nappearance plainly tells that there is nobody at home.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eA stupid kind of sadness, to my eye, always reigns in a huge\r\nhabitation where only servants live to put cases on the furniture\r\nand open the windows.\u0026nbsp; I enter as I would into the tomb of\r\nthe Capulets, to look at the family pictures that here frown in\r\narmour, or smile in ermine.\u0026nbsp; The mildew respects not the\r\nlordly robe, and the worm riots unchecked on the cheek of\r\nbeauty.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThere was nothing in the architecture of the building, or the\r\nform of the furniture, to detain me from the avenue where the\r\naged pines stretched along majestically.\u0026nbsp; Time had given a\r\ngreyish cast to their ever-green foliage; and they stood, like\r\nsires of the forest, sheltered on all sides by a rising\r\nprogeny.\u0026nbsp; I had not ever seen so many oaks together in\r\nNorway as in these woods, nor such large aspens as here were\r\nagitated by the breeze, rendering the wind audible\u0026mdash;nay\r\nmusical; for melody seemed on the wing around me.\u0026nbsp; How\r\ndifferent was the fresh odour that reanimated me in the avenue,\r\nfrom the damp chillness of the apartments; and as little did the\r\ngloomy thoughtfulness excited by the dusty hangings, and\r\nworm-eaten pictures, resemble the reveries inspired by the\r\nsoothing melancholy of their shade.\u0026nbsp; In the winter, these\r\naugust pines, towering above the snow, must relieve the eye\r\nbeyond measure and give life to the white waste.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe continual recurrence of pine and fir groves in the day\r\nsometimes wearies the sight, but in the evening, nothing can be\r\nmore picturesque, or, more properly speaking, better calculated\r\nto produce poetical images.\u0026nbsp; Passing through them, I have\r\nbeen struck with a mystic kind of reverence, and I did, as it\r\nwere, homage to their venerable shadows.\u0026nbsp; Not nymphs, but\r\nphilosophers, seemed to inhabit them\u0026mdash;ever musing; I could\r\nscarcely conceive that they were without some consciousness of\r\nexistence\u0026mdash;without a calm enjoyment of the pleasure they\r\ndiffused.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eHow often do my feelings produce ideas that remind me of the\r\norigin of many poetical fictions.\u0026nbsp; In solitude, the\r\nimagination bodies forth its conceptions unrestrained, and stops\r\nenraptured to adore the beings of its own creation.\u0026nbsp; These\r\nare moments of bliss; and the memory recalls them with\r\ndelight.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eBut I have almost forgotten the matters of fact I meant to\r\nrelate, respecting the counts.\u0026nbsp; They have the presentation\r\nof the livings on their estates, appoint the judges, and\r\ndifferent civil officers, the Crown reserving to itself the\r\nprivilege of sanctioning them.\u0026nbsp; But though they appoint,\r\nthey cannot dismiss.\u0026nbsp; Their tenants also occupy their farms\r\nfor life, and are obliged to obey any summons to work on the part\r\nhe reserves for himself; but they are paid for their\r\nlabour.\u0026nbsp; In short, I have seldom heard of any noblemen so\r\ninnoxious.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eObserving that the gardens round the count\u0026rsquo;s estate were\r\nbetter cultivated than any I had before seen, I was led to\r\nreflect on the advantages which naturally accrue from the feudal\r\ntenures.\u0026nbsp; The tenants of the count are obliged to work at a\r\nstated price, in his grounds and garden; and the instruction\r\nwhich they imperceptibly receive from the head gardener tends to\r\nrender them useful, and makes them, in the common course of\r\nthings, better husbandmen and gardeners on their own little\r\nfarms.\u0026nbsp; Thus the great, who alone travel in this period of\r\nsociety, for the observation of manners and customs made by\r\nsailors is very confined, bring home improvement to promote their\r\nown comfort, which is gradually spread abroad amongst the people,\r\ntill they are stimulated to think for themselves.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe bishops have not large revenues, and the priests are\r\nappointed by the king before they come to them to be\r\nordained.\u0026nbsp; There is commonly some little farm annexed to the\r\nparsonage, and the inhabitants subscribe voluntarily, three times\r\na year, in addition to the church fees, for the support of the\r\nclergyman.\u0026nbsp; The church lands were seized when Lutheranism\r\nwas introduced, the desire of obtaining them being probably the\r\nreal stimulus of reformation.\u0026nbsp; The tithes, which are never\r\nrequired in kind, are divided into three parts\u0026mdash;one to the\r\nking, another to the incumbent, and the third to repair the\r\ndilapidations of the parsonage.\u0026nbsp; They do not amount to\r\nmuch.\u0026nbsp; And the stipend allowed to the different civil\r\nofficers is also too small, scarcely deserving to be termed an\r\nindependence; that of the custom-house officers is not sufficient\r\nto procure the necessaries of life\u0026mdash;no wonder, then, if\r\nnecessity leads them to knavery.\u0026nbsp; Much public virtue cannot\r\nbe expected till every employment, putting perquisites out of the\r\nquestion, has a salary sufficient to reward\r\nindustry;\u0026mdash;whilst none are so great as to permit the\r\npossessor to remain idle.\u0026nbsp; It is this want of proportion\r\nbetween profit and labour which debases men, producing the\r\nsycophantic appellations of patron and client, and that\r\npernicious \u003ci\u003eesprit du corps\u003c/i\u003e, proverbially vicious.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe farmers are hospitable as well as independent.\u0026nbsp;\r\nOffering once to pay for some coffee I drank when taking shelter\r\nfrom the rain, I was asked, rather angrily, if a little coffee\r\nwas worth paying for.\u0026nbsp; They smoke, and drink drams, but not\r\nso much as formerly.\u0026nbsp; Drunkenness, often the attendant\r\ndisgrace of hospitality, will here, as well as everywhere else,\r\ngive place to gallantry and refinement of manners; but the change\r\nwill not be suddenly produced.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe people of every class are constant in their attendance at\r\nchurch; they are very fond of dancing, and the Sunday evenings in\r\nNorway, as in Catholic countries, are spent in exercises which\r\nexhilarate the spirits without vitiating the heart.\u0026nbsp; The\r\nrest of labour ought to be gay; and the gladness I have felt in\r\nFrance on a Sunday, or Decadi, which I caught from the faces\r\naround me, was a sentiment more truly religious than all the\r\nstupid stillness which the streets of London ever inspired where\r\nthe Sabbath is so decorously observed.\u0026nbsp; I recollect, in the\r\ncountry parts of England, the churchwardens used to go out during\r\nthe service to see if they could catch any luckless wight playing\r\nat bowls or skittles; yet what could be more harmless?\u0026nbsp; It\r\nwould even, I think, be a great advantage to the English, if\r\nfeats of activity (I do not include boxing matches) were\r\nencouraged on a Sunday, as it might stop the progress of\r\nMethodism, and of that fanatical spirit which appears to be\r\ngaining ground.\u0026nbsp; I was surprised when I visited Yorkshire,\r\non my way to Sweden, to find that sullen narrowness of thinking\r\nhad made such a progress since I was an inhabitant of the\r\ncountry.\u0026nbsp; I could hardly have supposed that sixteen or\r\nseventeen years could have produced such an alteration for the\r\nworse in the morals of a place\u0026mdash;yes, I say morals; for\r\nobservance of forms, and avoiding of practices, indifferent in\r\nthemselves, often supply the place of that regular attention to\r\nduties which are so natural, that they seldom are vauntingly\r\nexercised, though they are worth all the precepts of the law and\r\nthe prophets.\u0026nbsp; Besides, many of these deluded people, with\r\nthe best meaning, actually lose their reason, and become\r\nmiserable, the dread of damnation throwing them into a state\r\nwhich merits the term; and still more, in running after their\r\npreachers, expecting to promote their salvation, they disregard\r\ntheir welfare in this world, and neglect the interest and comfort\r\nof their families; so that, in proportion as they attain a\r\nreputation for piety, they become idle.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eAristocracy and fanaticism seem equally to be gaining ground\r\nin England, particularly in the place I have mentioned; I saw\r\nvery little of either in Norway.\u0026nbsp; The people are regular in\r\ntheir attendance on public worship, but religion does not\r\ninterfere with their employments.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eAs the farmers cut away the wood they clear the ground.\u0026nbsp;\r\nEvery year, therefore, the country is becoming fitter to support\r\nthe inhabitants.\u0026nbsp; Half a century ago the Dutch, I am told,\r\nonly paid for the cutting down of the wood, and the farmers were\r\nglad to get rid of it without giving themselves any\r\ntrouble.\u0026nbsp; At present they form a just estimate of its value;\r\nnay, I was surprised to find even firewood so dear when it\r\nappears to be in such plenty.\u0026nbsp; The destruction, or gradual\r\nreduction, of their forests will probably ameliorate the climate,\r\nand their manners will naturally improve in the same ratio as\r\nindustry requires ingenuity.\u0026nbsp; It is very fortunate that men\r\nare a long time but just above the brute creation, or the greater\r\npart of the earth would never have been rendered habitable,\r\nbecause it is the patient labour of men, who are only seeking for\r\na subsistence, which produces whatever embellishes existence,\r\naffording leisure for the cultivation of the arts and sciences\r\nthat lift man so far above his first state.\u0026nbsp; I never, my\r\nfriend, thought so deeply of the advantages obtained by human\r\nindustry as since I have been in Norway.\u0026nbsp; The world\r\nrequires, I see, the hand of man to perfect it, and as this task\r\nnaturally unfolds the faculties he exercises, it is physically\r\nimpossible that he should have remained in Rousseau\u0026rsquo;s\r\ngolden age of stupidity.\u0026nbsp; And, considering the question of\r\nhuman happiness, where, oh where does it reside?\u0026nbsp; Has it\r\ntaken up its abode with unconscious ignorance or with the\r\nhigh-wrought mind?\u0026nbsp; Is it the offspring of thoughtless\r\nanimal spirits or the dye of fancy continually flitting round the\r\nexpected pleasure?\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe increasing population of the earth must necessarily tend\r\nto its improvement, as the means of existence are multiplied by\r\ninvention.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eYou have probably made similar reflections in America, where\r\nthe face of the country, I suppose, resembles the wilds of\r\nNorway.\u0026nbsp; I am delighted with the romantic views I daily\r\ncontemplate, animated by the purest air; and I am interested by\r\nthe simplicity of manners which reigns around me.\u0026nbsp; Still\r\nnothing so soon wearies out the feelings as unmarked\r\nsimplicity.\u0026nbsp; I am therefore half convinced that I could not\r\nlive very comfortably exiled from the countries where mankind are\r\nso much further advanced in knowledge, imperfect as it is, and\r\nunsatisfactory to the thinking mind.\u0026nbsp; Even now I begin to\r\nlong to hear what you are doing in England and France.\u0026nbsp; My\r\nthoughts fly from this wilderness to the polished circles of the\r\nworld, till recollecting its vices and follies, I bury myself in\r\nthe woods, but find it necessary to emerge again, that I may not\r\nlose sight of the wisdom and virtue which exalts my nature.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eWhat a long time it requires to know ourselves; and yet almost\r\nevery one has more of this knowledge than he is willing to own,\r\neven to himself.\u0026nbsp; I cannot immediately determine whether I\r\nought to rejoice at having turned over in this solitude a new\r\npage in the history of my own heart, though I may venture to\r\nassure you that a further acquaintance with mankind only tends to\r\nincrease my respect for your judgment and esteem for your\r\ncharacter.\u0026nbsp; Farewell!\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003eLETTER X.\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI have once more, my friend, taken flight, for I left Tonsberg\r\nyesterday, but with an intention of returning in my way back to\r\nSweden.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe road to Laurvig is very fine, and the country the best\r\ncultivated in Norway.\u0026nbsp; I never before admired the beech\r\ntree, and when I met stragglers here they pleased me still\r\nless.\u0026nbsp; Long and lank, they would have forced me to allow\r\nthat the line of beauty requires some curves, if the stately\r\npine, standing near, erect, throwing her vast arms around, had\r\nnot looked beautiful in opposition to such narrow rules.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIn these respects my very reason obliges me to permit my\r\nfeelings to be my criterion.\u0026nbsp; Whatever excites emotion has\r\ncharms for me, though I insist that the cultivation of the mind\r\nby warming, nay, almost creating the imagination, produces taste\r\nand an immense variety of sensations and emotions, partaking of\r\nthe exquisite pleasure inspired by beauty and sublimity.\u0026nbsp; As\r\nI know of no end to them, the word infinite, so often misapplied,\r\nmight on this occasion be introduced with something like\r\npropriety.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eBut I have rambled away again.\u0026nbsp; I intended to have\r\nremarked to you the effect produced by a grove of towering beech,\r\nthe airy lightness of their foliage admitting a degree of\r\nsunshine, which, giving a transparency to the leaves, exhibited\r\nan appearance of freshness and elegance that I had never before\r\nremarked.\u0026nbsp; I thought of descriptions of Italian\r\nscenery.\u0026nbsp; But these evanescent graces seemed the effect of\r\nenchantment; and I imperceptibly breathed softly, lest I should\r\ndestroy what was real, yet looked so like the creation of\r\nfancy.\u0026nbsp; Dryden\u0026rsquo;s fable of the flower and the leaf was\r\nnot a more poetical reverie.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eAdieu, however, to fancy, and to all the sentiments which\r\nennoble our nature.\u0026nbsp; I arrived at Laurvig, and found myself\r\nin the midst of a group of lawyers of different\r\ndescriptions.\u0026nbsp; My head turned round, my heart grew sick, as\r\nI regarded visages deformed by vice, and listened to accounts of\r\nchicanery that was continually embroiling the ignorant.\u0026nbsp;\r\nThese locusts will probably diminish as the people become more\r\nenlightened.\u0026nbsp; In this period of social life the commonalty\r\nare always cunningly attentive to their own interest; but their\r\nfaculties, confined to a few objects, are so narrowed, that they\r\ncannot discover it in the general good.\u0026nbsp; The profession of\r\nthe law renders a set of men still shrewder and more selfish than\r\nthe rest; and it is these men, whose wits have been sharpened by\r\nknavery, who here undermine morality, confounding right and\r\nwrong.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe Count of Bernstorff, who really appears to me, from all I\r\ncan gather, to have the good of the people at heart, aware of\r\nthis, has lately sent to the mayor of each district to name,\r\naccording to the size of the place, four or six of the\r\nbest-informed inhabitants, not men of the law, out of which the\r\ncitizens were to elect two, who are to be termed mediators.\u0026nbsp;\r\nTheir office is to endeavour to prevent litigious suits, and\r\nconciliate differences.\u0026nbsp; And no suit is to be commenced\r\nbefore the parties have discussed the dispute at their weekly\r\nmeeting.\u0026nbsp; If a reconciliation should, in consequence, take\r\nplace, it is to be registered, and the parties are not allowed to\r\nretract.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eBy these means ignorant people will be prevented from applying\r\nfor advice to men who may justly be termed stirrers-up of\r\nstrife.\u0026nbsp; They have for a long time, to use a significant\r\nvulgarism, set the people by the ears, and live by the spoil they\r\ncaught up in the scramble.\u0026nbsp; There is some reason to hope\r\nthat this regulation will diminish their number, and restrain\r\ntheir mischievous activity.\u0026nbsp; But till trials by jury are\r\nestablished, little justice can be expected in Norway.\u0026nbsp;\r\nJudges who cannot be bribed are often timid, and afraid of\r\noffending bold knaves, lest they should raise a set of hornets\r\nabout themselves.\u0026nbsp; The fear of censure undermines all energy\r\nof character; and, labouring to be prudent, they lose sight of\r\nrectitude.\u0026nbsp; Besides, nothing is left to their conscience, or\r\nsagacity; they must be governed by evidence, though internally\r\nconvinced that it is false.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThere is a considerable iron manufactory at Laurvig for coarse\r\nwork, and a lake near the town supplies the water necessary for\r\nworking several mills belonging to it.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThis establishment belongs to the Count of Laurvig.\u0026nbsp;\r\nWithout a fortune and influence equal to his, such a work could\r\nnot have been set afloat; personal fortunes are not yet\r\nsufficient to support such undertakings.\u0026nbsp; Nevertheless the\r\ninhabitants of the town speak of the size of his estate as an\r\nevil, because it obstructs commerce.\u0026nbsp; The occupiers of small\r\nfarms are obliged to bring their wood to the neighbouring\r\nseaports to be shipped; but he, wishing to increase the value of\r\nhis, will not allow it to be thus gradually cut down, which turns\r\nthe trade into another channel.\u0026nbsp; Added to this, nature is\r\nagainst them, the bay being open and insecure.\u0026nbsp; I could not\r\nhelp smiling when I was informed that in a hard gale a vessel had\r\nbeen wrecked in the main street.\u0026nbsp; When there are such a\r\nnumber of excellent harbours on the coast, it is a pity that\r\naccident has made one of the largest towns grow up on a bad\r\none.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe father of the present count was a distant relation of the\r\nfamily; he resided constantly in Denmark, and his son follows his\r\nexample.\u0026nbsp; They have not been in possession of the estate\r\nmany years; and their predecessor lived near the town,\r\nintroducing a degree of profligacy of manners which has been\r\nruinous to the inhabitants in every respect, their fortunes not\r\nbeing equal to the prevailing extravagance.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eWhat little I have seen of the manners of the people does not\r\nplease me so well as those of Tonsberg.\u0026nbsp; I am forewarned\r\nthat I shall find them still more cunning and fraudulent as I\r\nadvance towards the westward, in proportion as traffic takes\r\nplace of agriculture, for their towns are built on naked rocks,\r\nthe streets are narrow bridges, and the inhabitants are all\r\nseafaring men, or owners of ships, who keep shops.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe inn I was at in Laurvig this journey was not the same that\r\nI was at before.\u0026nbsp; It is a good one\u0026mdash;the people civil,\r\nand the accommodations decent.\u0026nbsp; They seem to be better\r\nprovided in Sweden; but in justice I ought to add that they\r\ncharge more extravagantly.\u0026nbsp; My bill at Tonsberg was also\r\nmuch higher than I had paid in Sweden, and much higher than it\r\nought to have been where provision is so cheap.\u0026nbsp; Indeed,\r\nthey seem to consider foreigners as strangers whom they shall\r\nnever see again, and may fairly pluck.\u0026nbsp; And the inhabitants\r\nof the western coast, isolated, as it were, regard those of the\r\neast almost as strangers.\u0026nbsp; Each town in that quarter seems\r\nto be a great family, suspicious of every other, allowing none to\r\ncheat them but themselves; and, right or wrong, they support one\r\nanother in the face of justice.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eOn this journey I was fortunate enough to have one companion\r\nwith more enlarged views than the generality of his countrymen,\r\nwho spoke English tolerably.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI was informed that we might still advance a mile and a\r\nquarter in our cabrioles; afterwards there was no choice, but of\r\na single horse and wretched path, or a boat, the usual mode of\r\ntravelling.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eWe therefore sent our baggage forward in the boat, and\r\nfollowed rather slowly, for the road was rocky and sandy.\u0026nbsp;\r\nWe passed, however, through several beech groves, which still\r\ndelighted me by the freshness of their light green foliage, and\r\nthe elegance of their assemblage, forming retreats to veil\r\nwithout obscuring the sun.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI was surprised, at approaching the water, to find a little\r\ncluster of houses pleasantly situated, and an excellent\r\ninn.\u0026nbsp; I could have wished to have remained there all night;\r\nbut as the wind was fair, and the evening fine, I was afraid to\r\ntrust to the wind\u0026mdash;the uncertain wind of to-morrow.\u0026nbsp; We\r\ntherefore left Helgeraac immediately with the declining sun.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThough we were in the open sea, we sailed more amongst the\r\nrocks and islands than in my passage from Stromstad; and they\r\noften forced very picturesque combinations.\u0026nbsp; Few of the high\r\nridges were entirely bare; the seeds of some pines or firs had\r\nbeen wafted by the winds or waves, and they stood to brave the\r\nelements.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eSitting, then, in a little boat on the ocean, amidst\r\nstrangers, with sorrow and care pressing hard on\r\nme\u0026mdash;buffeting me about from clime to clime\u0026mdash;I felt\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;Like the lone shrub at random cast,\u003cbr /\u003e\r\nThat sighs and trembles at each blast!\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eOn some of the largest rocks there were actually groves, the\r\nretreat of foxes and hares, which, I suppose, had tripped over\r\nthe ice during the winter, without thinking to regain the main\r\nland before the thaw.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eSeveral of the islands were inhabited by pilots; and the\r\nNorwegian pilots are allowed to be the best in the\r\nworld\u0026mdash;perfectly acquainted with their coast, and ever at\r\nhand to observe the first signal or sail.\u0026nbsp; They pay a small\r\ntax to the king and to the regulating officer, and enjoy the\r\nfruit of their indefatigable industry.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eOne of the islands, called Virgin Land, is a flat, with some\r\ndepth of earth, extending for half a Norwegian mile, with three\r\nfarms on it, tolerably well cultivated.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eOn some of the bare rocks I saw straggling houses; they rose\r\nabove the denomination of huts inhabited by fishermen.\u0026nbsp; My\r\ncompanions assured me that they were very comfortable dwellings,\r\nand that they have not only the necessaries, but even what might\r\nbe reckoned the superfluities of life.\u0026nbsp; It was too late for\r\nme to go on shore, if you will allow me to give that name to\r\nshivering rocks, to ascertain the fact.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eBut rain coming on, and the night growing dark, the pilot\r\ndeclared that it would be dangerous for us to attempt to go to\r\nthe place of our destination\u0026mdash;East Rusoer\u0026mdash;a Norwegian\r\nmile and a half further; and we determined to stop for the night\r\nat a little haven, some half dozen houses scattered under the\r\ncurve of a rock.\u0026nbsp; Though it became darker and darker, our\r\npilot avoided the blind rocks with great dexterity.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIt was about ten o\u0026rsquo;clock when we arrived, and the old\r\nhostess quickly prepared me a comfortable bed\u0026mdash;a little too\r\nsoft or so, but I was weary; and opening the window to admit the\r\nsweetest of breezes to fan me to sleep, I sunk into the most\r\nluxurious rest: it was more than refreshing.\u0026nbsp; The hospitable\r\nsprites of the grots surely hovered round my pillow; and, if I\r\nawoke, it was to listen to the melodious whispering of the wind\r\namongst them, or to feel the mild breath of morn.\u0026nbsp; Light\r\nslumbers produced dreams, where Paradise was before me.\u0026nbsp; My\r\nlittle cherub was again hiding her face in my bosom.\u0026nbsp; I\r\nheard her sweet cooing beat on my heart from the cliffs, and saw\r\nher tiny footsteps on the sands.\u0026nbsp; New-born hopes seemed,\r\nlike the rainbow, to appear in the clouds of sorrow, faint, yet\r\nsufficient to amuse away despair.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eSome refreshing but heavy showers have detained us; and here I\r\nam writing quite alone\u0026mdash;something more than gay, for which I\r\nwant a name.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI could almost fancy myself in Nootka Sound, or on some of the\r\nislands on the north-west coast of America.\u0026nbsp; We entered by a\r\nnarrow pass through the rocks, which from this abode appear more\r\nromantic than you can well imagine; and seal-skins hanging at the\r\ndoor to dry add to the illusion.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIt is indeed a corner of the world, but you would be surprised\r\nto see the cleanliness and comfort of the dwelling.\u0026nbsp; The\r\nshelves are not only shining with pewter and queen\u0026rsquo;s ware,\r\nbut some articles in silver, more ponderous, it is true, than\r\nelegant.\u0026nbsp; The linen is good, as well as white.\u0026nbsp; All the\r\nfemales spin, and there is a loom in the kitchen.\u0026nbsp; A sort of\r\nindividual taste appeared in the arrangement of the furniture\r\n(this is not the place for imitation) and a kindness in their\r\ndesire to oblige.\u0026nbsp; How superior to the apish politeness of\r\nthe towns! where the people, affecting to be well bred, fatigue\r\nwith their endless ceremony.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe mistress is a widow, her daughter is married to a pilot,\r\nand has three cows.\u0026nbsp; They have a little patch of land at\r\nabout the distance of two English miles, where they make hay for\r\nthe winter, which they bring home in a boat.\u0026nbsp; They live here\r\nvery cheap, getting money from the vessels which stress of\r\nweather, or other causes, bring into their harbour.\u0026nbsp; I\r\nsuspect, by their furniture, that they smuggle a little.\u0026nbsp; I\r\ncan now credit the account of the other houses, which I last\r\nnight thought exaggerated.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI have been conversing with one of my companions respecting\r\nthe laws and regulations of Norway.\u0026nbsp; He is a man within\r\ngreat portion of common sense and heart\u0026mdash;yes, a warm\r\nheart.\u0026nbsp; This is not the first time I have remarked heart\r\nwithout sentiment; they are distinct.\u0026nbsp; The former depends on\r\nthe rectitude of the feelings, on truth of sympathy; these\r\ncharacters have more tenderness than passion; the latter has a\r\nhigher source\u0026mdash;call it imagination, genius, or what you\r\nwill, it is something very different.\u0026nbsp; I have been laughing\r\nwith these simple worthy folk\u0026mdash;to give you one of my\r\nhalf-score Danish words\u0026mdash;and letting as much of my heart\r\nflow out in sympathy as they can take.\u0026nbsp; Adieu!\u0026nbsp; I must\r\ntrip up the rocks.\u0026nbsp; The rain is over.\u0026nbsp; Let me catch\r\npleasure on the wing\u0026mdash;I may be melancholy to-morrow.\u0026nbsp;\r\nNow all my nerves keep time with the melody of nature.\u0026nbsp; Ah!\r\nlet me be happy whilst I can.\u0026nbsp; The tear starts as I think of\r\nit.\u0026nbsp; I must flee from thought, and find refuge from sorrow\r\nin a strong imagination\u0026mdash;the only solace for a feeling\r\nheart.\u0026nbsp; Phantoms of bliss! ideal forms of excellence! again\r\nenclose me in your magic circle, and wipe clear from my\r\nremembrance the disappointments that reader the sympathy painful,\r\nwhich experience rather increases than damps, by giving the\r\nindulgence of feeling the sanction of reason.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eOnce more farewell!\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003eLETTER XI.\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI left Portoer, the little haven I mentioned, soon after I\r\nfinished my last letter.\u0026nbsp; The sea was rough, and I perceived\r\nthat our pilot was right not to venture farther during a hazy\r\nnight.\u0026nbsp; We had agreed to pay four dollars for a boat from\r\nHelgeraac.\u0026nbsp; I mention the sum, because they would demand\r\ntwice as much from a stranger.\u0026nbsp; I was obliged to pay fifteen\r\nfor the one I hired at Stromstad.\u0026nbsp; When we were ready to set\r\nout, our boatman offered to return a dollar and let us go in one\r\nof the boats of the place, the pilot who lived there being better\r\nacquainted with the coast.\u0026nbsp; He only demanded a dollar and a\r\nhalf, which was reasonable.\u0026nbsp; I found him a civil and rather\r\nintelligent man; he was in the American service several years,\r\nduring the Revolution.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI soon perceived that an experienced mariner was necessary to\r\nguide us, for we were continually obliged to tack about, to avoid\r\nthe rocks, which, scarcely reaching to the surface of the water,\r\ncould only be discovered by the breaking of the waves over\r\nthem.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe view of this wild coast, as we sailed along it, afforded\r\nme a continual subject for meditation.\u0026nbsp; I anticipated the\r\nfuture improvement of the world, and observed how much man has\r\nstill to do to obtain of the earth all it could yield.\u0026nbsp; I\r\neven carried my speculations so far as to advance a million or\r\ntwo of years to the moment when the earth would perhaps be so\r\nperfectly cultivated, and so completely peopled, as to render it\r\nnecessary to inhabit every spot\u0026mdash;yes, these bleak\r\nshores.\u0026nbsp; Imagination went still farther, and pictured the\r\nstate of man when the earth could no longer support him.\u0026nbsp;\r\nWhither was he to flee from universal famine?\u0026nbsp; Do not smile;\r\nI really became distressed for these fellow creatures yet\r\nunborn.\u0026nbsp; The images fastened on me, and the world appeared a\r\nvast prison.\u0026nbsp; I was soon to be in a smaller one\u0026mdash;for no\r\nother name can I give to Rusoer.\u0026nbsp; It would be difficult to\r\nform an idea of the place, if you have never seen one of these\r\nrocky coasts.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eWe were a considerable time entering amongst the islands,\r\nbefore we saw about two hundred houses crowded together under a\r\nvery high rock\u0026mdash;still higher appearing above.\u0026nbsp; Talk not\r\nof Bastilles!\u0026nbsp; To be born here was to be bastilled by\r\nnature\u0026mdash;shut out from all that opens the understanding, or\r\nenlarges the heart.\u0026nbsp; Huddled one behind another, not more\r\nthan a quarter of the dwellings even had a prospect of the\r\nsea.\u0026nbsp; A few planks formed passages from house to house,\r\nwhich you must often scale, mounting steps like a ladder to\r\nenter.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe only road across the rocks leads to a habitation sterile\r\nenough, you may suppose, when I tell you that the little earth on\r\nthe adjacent ones was carried there by the late inhabitant.\u0026nbsp;\r\nA path, almost impracticable for a horse, goes on to Arendall,\r\nstill further to the westward.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI inquired for a walk, and, mounting near two hundred steps\r\nmade round a rock, walked up and down for about a hundred yards\r\nviewing the sea, to which I quickly descended by steps that\r\ncheated the declivity.\u0026nbsp; The ocean and these tremendous\r\nbulwarks enclosed me on every side.\u0026nbsp; I felt the confinement,\r\nand wished for wings to reach still loftier cliffs, whose\r\nslippery sides no foot was so hardy as to tread.\u0026nbsp; Yet what\r\nwas it to see?\u0026mdash;only a boundless waste of water\u0026mdash;not a\r\nglimpse of smiling nature\u0026mdash;not a patch of lively green to\r\nrelieve the aching sight, or vary the objects of meditation.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI felt my breath oppressed, though nothing could be clearer\r\nthan the atmosphere.\u0026nbsp; Wandering there alone, I found the\r\nsolitude desirable; my mind was stored with ideas, which this new\r\nscene associated with astonishing rapidity.\u0026nbsp; But I shuddered\r\nat the thought of receiving existence, and remaining here, in the\r\nsolitude of ignorance, till forced to leave a world of which I\r\nhad seen so little, for the character of the inhabitants is as\r\nuncultivated, if not as picturesquely wild, as their abode.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eHaving no employment but traffic, of which a contraband trade\r\nmakes the basis of their profit, the coarsest feelings of honesty\r\nare quickly blunted.\u0026nbsp; You may suppose that I speak in\r\ngeneral terms; and that, with all the disadvantages of nature and\r\ncircumstances, there are still some respectable exceptions, the\r\nmore praiseworthy, as tricking is a very contagious mental\r\ndisease, that dries up all the generous juices of the\r\nheart.\u0026nbsp; Nothing genial, in fact, appears around this place,\r\nor within the circle of its rocks.\u0026nbsp; And, now I recollect, it\r\nseems to me that the most genial and humane characters I have met\r\nwith in life were most alive to the sentiments inspired by\r\ntranquil country scenes.\u0026nbsp; What, indeed, is to humanise these\r\nbeings, who rest shut up (for they seldom even open their\r\nwindows), smoking, drinking brandy, and driving bargains?\u0026nbsp; I\r\nhave been almost stifled by these smokers.\u0026nbsp; They begin in\r\nthe morning, and are rarely without their pipe till they go to\r\nbed.\u0026nbsp; Nothing can be more disgusting than the rooms and men\r\ntowards the evening\u0026mdash;breath, teeth, clothes, and furniture,\r\nall are spoilt.\u0026nbsp; It is well that the women are not very\r\ndelicate, or they would only love their husbands because they\r\nwere their husbands.\u0026nbsp; Perhaps, you may add, that the remark\r\nneed not be confined to so small a part of the world; and,\r\n\u003ci\u003eentre nous\u003c/i\u003e, I am of the same opinion.\u0026nbsp; You must not\r\nterm this innuendo saucy, for it does not come home.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIf I had not determined to write I should have found my\r\nconfinement here, even for three or four days, tedious.\u0026nbsp; I\r\nhave no books; and to pace up and down a small room, looking at\r\ntiles overhung by rocks, soon becomes wearisome.\u0026nbsp; I cannot\r\nmount two hundred steps to walk a hundred yards many times in the\r\nday.\u0026nbsp; Besides, the rocks, retaining the heat of the sun, are\r\nintolerably warm.\u0026nbsp; I am, nevertheless, very well; for though\r\nthere is a shrewdness in the character of these people, depraved\r\nby a sordid love of money which repels me, still the comparisons\r\nthey force me to make keep my heart calm by exercising my\r\nunderstanding.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eEverywhere wealth commands too much respect, but here almost\r\nexclusively; and it is the only object pursued, not through brake\r\nand briar, but over rocks and waves; yet of what use would riches\r\nbe to me, I have sometimes asked myself, were I confined to live\r\nin such in a spot?\u0026nbsp; I could only relieve a few distressed\r\nobjects, perhaps render them idle, and all the rest of life would\r\nbe a blank.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eMy present journey has given fresh force to my opinion that no\r\nplace is so disagreeable and unimproving as a country town.\u0026nbsp;\r\nI should like to divide my time between the town and country; in\r\na lone house, with the business of farming and planting, where my\r\nmind would gain strength by solitary musing, and in a metropolis\r\nto rub off the rust of thought, and polish the taste which the\r\ncontemplation of nature had rendered just.\u0026nbsp; Thus do we wish\r\nas we float down the stream of life, whilst chance does more to\r\ngratify a desire of knowledge than our best laid plans.\u0026nbsp; A\r\ndegree of exertion, produced by some want, more or less painful,\r\nis probably the price we must all pay for knowledge.\u0026nbsp; How\r\nfew authors or artists have arrived at eminence who have not\r\nlived by their employment?\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI was interrupted yesterday by business, and was prevailed\r\nupon to dine with the English vice-consul.\u0026nbsp; His house being\r\nopen to the sea, I was more at large; and the hospitality of the\r\ntable pleased me, though the bottle was rather too freely pushed\r\nabout.\u0026nbsp; Their manner of entertaining was such as I have\r\nfrequently remarked when I have been thrown in the way of people\r\nwithout education, who have more money than wit\u0026mdash;that is,\r\nthan they know what to do with.\u0026nbsp; The women were unaffected,\r\nbut had not the natural grace which was often conspicuous at\r\nTonsberg.\u0026nbsp; There was even a striking difference in their\r\ndress, these having loaded themselves with finery in the style of\r\nthe sailors\u0026rsquo; girls of Hull or Portsmouth.\u0026nbsp; Taste has\r\nnot yet taught them to make any but an ostentatious display of\r\nwealth.\u0026nbsp; Yet I could perceive even here the first steps of\r\nthe improvement which I am persuaded will make a very obvious\r\nprogress in the course of half a century, and it ought not to be\r\nsooner, to keep pace with the cultivation of the earth.\u0026nbsp;\r\nImproving manners will introduce finer moral feelings.\u0026nbsp; They\r\nbegin to read translations of some of the most useful German\r\nproductions lately published, and one of our party sung a song\r\nridiculing the powers coalesced against France, and the company\r\ndrank confusion to those who had dismembered Poland.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe evening was extremely calm and beautiful.\u0026nbsp; Not being\r\nable to walk, I requested a boat as the only means of enjoying\r\nfree air.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe view of the town was now extremely fine.\u0026nbsp; A huge\r\nrocky mountain stood up behind it, and a vast cliff stretched on\r\neach side, forming a semicircle.\u0026nbsp; In a recess of the rocks\r\nwas a clump of pines, amongst which a steeple rose picturesquely\r\nbeautiful.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe churchyard is almost the only verdant spot in the\r\nplace.\u0026nbsp; Here, indeed, friendship extends beyond the grave,\r\nand to grant a sod of earth is to accord a favour.\u0026nbsp; I should\r\nrather choose, did it admit of a choice, to sleep in some of the\r\ncaves of the rocks, for I am become better reconciled to them\r\nsince I climbed their craggy sides last night, listening to the\r\nfinest echoes I ever heard.\u0026nbsp; We had a French horn with us,\r\nand there was an enchanting wildness in the dying away of the\r\nreverberation that quickly transported me to Shakespeare\u0026rsquo;s\r\nmagic island.\u0026nbsp; Spirits unseen seemed to walk abroad, and\r\nflit from cliff to cliff to soothe my soul to peace.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI reluctantly returned to supper, to be shut up in a warm\r\nroom, only to view the vast shadows of the rocks extending on the\r\nslumbering waves.\u0026nbsp; I stood at the window some time before a\r\nbuzz filled the drawing-room, and now and then the dashing of a\r\nsolitary oar rendered the scene still more solemn.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eBefore I came here I could scarcely have imagined that a\r\nsimple object (rocks) could have admitted of so many interesting\r\ncombinations, always grand and often sublime.\u0026nbsp; Good\r\nnight!\u0026nbsp; God bless you!\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003eLETTER XII.\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI left East Rusoer the day before yesterday.\u0026nbsp; The weather\r\nwas very fine; but so calm that we loitered on the water near\r\nfourteen hours, only to make about six and twenty miles.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIt seemed to me a sort of emancipation when we landed at\r\nHelgeraac.\u0026nbsp; The confinement which everywhere struck me\r\nwhilst sojourning amongst the rocks, made me hail the earth as a\r\nland of promise; and the situation shone with fresh lustre from\r\nthe contrast\u0026mdash;from appearing to be a free abode.\u0026nbsp; Here\r\nit was possible to travel by land\u0026mdash;I never thought this a\r\ncomfort before\u0026mdash;and my eyes, fatigued by the sparkling of\r\nthe sun on the water, now contentedly reposed on the green\r\nexpanse, half persuaded that such verdant meads had never till\r\nthen regaled them.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI rose early to pursue my journey to Tonsberg.\u0026nbsp; The\r\ncountry still wore a face of joy\u0026mdash;and my soul was alive to\r\nits charms.\u0026nbsp; Leaving the most lofty and romantic of the\r\ncliffs behind us, we were almost continually descending to\r\nTonsberg, through Elysian scenes; for not only the sea, but\r\nmountains, rivers, lakes, and groves, gave an almost endless\r\nvariety to the prospect.\u0026nbsp; The cottagers were still carrying\r\nhome the hay; and the cottages on this road looked very\r\ncomfortable.\u0026nbsp; Peace and plenty\u0026mdash;I mean not\r\nabundance\u0026mdash;seemed to reign around\u0026mdash;still I grew sad as\r\nI drew near my old abode.\u0026nbsp; I was sorry to see the sun so\r\nhigh; it was broad noon.\u0026nbsp; Tonsberg was something like a\r\nhome\u0026mdash;yet I was to enter without lighting up pleasure in any\r\neye.\u0026nbsp; I dreaded the solitariness of my apartment, and wished\r\nfor night to hide the starting tears, or to shed them on my\r\npillow, and close my eyes on a world where I was destined to\r\nwander alone.\u0026nbsp; Why has nature so many charms for\r\nme\u0026mdash;calling forth and cherishing refined sentiments, only to\r\nwound the breast that fosters them?\u0026nbsp; How illusive, perhaps\r\nthe most so, are the plans of happiness founded on virtue and\r\nprinciple; what inlets of misery do they not open in a\r\nhalf-civilised society?\u0026nbsp; The satisfaction arising from\r\nconscious rectitude, will not calm an injured heart, when\r\ntenderness is ever finding excuses; and self-applause is a cold\r\nsolitary feeling, that cannot supply the place of disappointed\r\naffection, without throwing a gloom over every prospect, which,\r\nbanishing pleasure, does not exclude pain.\u0026nbsp; I reasoned and\r\nreasoned; but my heart was too full to allow me to remain in the\r\nhouse, and I walked, till I was wearied out, to purchase\r\nrest\u0026mdash;or rather forgetfulness.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eEmployment has beguiled this day, and to-morrow I set out for\r\nMoss, on my way to Stromstad.\u0026nbsp; At Gothenburg I shall embrace\r\nmy Fannikin; probably she will not know me again\u0026mdash;and I\r\nshall be hurt if she do not.\u0026nbsp; How childish is this! still it\r\nis a natural feeling.\u0026nbsp; I would not permit myself to indulge\r\nthe \u0026ldquo;thick coming fears\u0026rdquo; of fondness, whilst I was\r\ndetained by business.\u0026nbsp; Yet I never saw a calf bounding in a\r\nmeadow, that did not remind me of my little frolicker.\u0026nbsp; A\r\ncalf, you say.\u0026nbsp; Yes; but a capital one I own.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI cannot write composedly\u0026mdash;I am every instant sinking\r\ninto reveries\u0026mdash;my heart flutters, I know not why.\u0026nbsp;\r\nFool!\u0026nbsp; It is time thou wert at rest.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eFriendship and domestic happiness are continually praised; yet\r\nhow little is there of either in the world, because it requires\r\nmore cultivation of mind to keep awake affection, even in our own\r\nhearts, than the common run of people suppose.\u0026nbsp; Besides, few\r\nlike to be seen as they really are; and a degree of simplicity,\r\nand of undisguised confidence, which, to uninterested observers,\r\nwould almost border on weakness, is the charm, nay the essence of\r\nlove or friendship, all the bewitching graces of childhood again\r\nappearing.\u0026nbsp; As objects merely to exercise my taste, I\r\ntherefore like to see people together who have an affection for\r\neach other; every turn of their features touches me, and remains\r\npictured on my imagination in indelible characters.\u0026nbsp; The\r\nzest of novelty is, however, necessary to rouse the languid\r\nsympathies which have been hackneyed in the world; as is the\r\nfactitious behaviour, falsely termed good-breeding, to amuse\r\nthose, who, defective in taste, continually rely for pleasure on\r\ntheir animal spirits, which not being maintained by the\r\nimagination, are unavoidably sooner exhausted than the sentiments\r\nof the heart.\u0026nbsp; Friendship is in general sincere at the\r\ncommencement, and lasts whilst there is anything to support it;\r\nbut as a mixture of novelty and vanity is the usual prop, no\r\nwonder if it fall with the slender stay.\u0026nbsp; The fop in the\r\nplay paid a greater compliment than he was aware of when he said\r\nto a person, whom he meant to flatter, \u0026ldquo;I like you almost\r\nas well as a \u003ci\u003enew acquaintance\u003c/i\u003e.\u0026rdquo;\u0026nbsp; Why am I\r\ntalking of friendship, after which I have had such a wild-goose\r\nchase.\u0026nbsp; I thought only of telling you that the crows, as\r\nwell as wild-geese, are here birds of passage.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003eLETTER XIII.\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI left Tonsberg yesterday, the 22nd of August.\u0026nbsp; It is\r\nonly twelve or thirteen English miles to Moss, through a country\r\nless wild than any tract I had hitherto passed over in\r\nNorway.\u0026nbsp; It was often beautiful, but seldom afforded those\r\ngrand views which fill rather than soothe the mind.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eWe glided along the meadows and through the woods, with\r\nsunbeams playing around us; and, though no castles adorned the\r\nprospects, a greater number of comfortable farms met my eyes\r\nduring this ride than I have ever seen, in the same space, even\r\nin the most cultivated part of England; and the very appearance\r\nof the cottages of the labourers sprinkled amidst them excluded\r\nall those gloomy ideas inspired by the contemplation of\r\npoverty.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe hay was still bringing in, for one harvest in Norway\r\ntreads on the heels of the other.\u0026nbsp; The woods were more\r\nvariegated, interspersed with shrubs.\u0026nbsp; We no longer passed\r\nthrough forests of vast pines stretching along with savage\r\nmagnificence.\u0026nbsp; Forests that only exhibited the slow decay of\r\ntime or the devastation produced by warring elements.\u0026nbsp; No;\r\noaks, ashes, beech, and all the light and graceful tenants of our\r\nwoods here sported luxuriantly.\u0026nbsp; I had not observed many\r\noaks before, for the greater part of the oak-planks, I am\r\ninformed, come from the westward.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIn France the farmers generally live in villages, which is a\r\ngreat disadvantage to the country; but the Norwegian farmers,\r\nalways owning their farms or being tenants for life, reside in\r\nthe midst of them, allowing some labourers a dwelling rent free,\r\nwho have a little land appertaining to the cottage, not only for\r\na garden, but for crops of different kinds, such as rye, oats,\r\nbuck-wheat, hemp, flax, beans, potatoes, and hay, which are sown\r\nin strips about it, reminding a stranger of the first attempts at\r\nculture, when every family was obliged to be an independent\r\ncommunity.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThese cottagers work at a certain price (tenpence per day) for\r\nthe farmers on whose ground they live, and they have spare time\r\nenough to cultivate their own land and lay in a store of fish for\r\nthe winter.\u0026nbsp; The wives and daughters spin and the husbands\r\nand sons weave, so that they may fairly be reckoned independent,\r\nhaving also a little money in hand to buy coffee, brandy and some\r\nother superfluities.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe only thing I disliked was the military service, which\r\ntrammels them more than I at first imagined.\u0026nbsp; It is true\r\nthat the militia is only called out once a year, yet in case of\r\nwar they have no alternative but must abandon their\r\nfamilies.\u0026nbsp; Even the manufacturers are not exempted, though\r\nthe miners are, in order to encourage undertakings which require\r\na capital at the commencement.\u0026nbsp; And, what appears more\r\ntyrannical, the inhabitants of certain districts are appointed\r\nfor the land, others for the sea service.\u0026nbsp; Consequently, a\r\npeasant, born a soldier, is not permitted to follow his\r\ninclination should it lead him to go to sea, a natural desire\r\nnear so many seaports.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIn these regulations the arbitrary government\u0026mdash;the King\r\nof Denmark being the most absolute monarch in\r\nEurope\u0026mdash;appears, which in other respects seeks to hide\r\nitself in a lenity that almost renders the laws nullities.\u0026nbsp;\r\nIf any alteration of old customs is thought of, the opinion of\r\nthe old country is required and maturely considered.\u0026nbsp; I have\r\nseveral times had occasion to observe that, fearing to appear\r\ntyrannical, laws are allowed to become obsolete which ought to be\r\nput in force or better substituted in their stead; for this\r\nmistaken moderation, which borders on timidity, favours the least\r\nrespectable part of the people.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI saw on my way not only good parsonage houses, but\r\ncomfortable dwellings, with glebe land for the clerk, always a\r\nconsequential man in every country, a being proud of a little\r\nsmattering of learning, to use the appropriate epithet, and vain\r\nof the stiff good-breeding reflected from the vicar, though the\r\nservility practised in his company gives it a peculiar cast.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe widow of the clergyman is allowed to receive the benefit\r\nof the living for a twelvemonth after the death of the\r\nincumbent.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eArriving at the ferry (the passage over to Moss is about six\r\nor eight English miles) I saw the most level shore I had yet seen\r\nin Norway.\u0026nbsp; The appearance of the circumjacent country had\r\nbeen preparing me for the change of scene which was to greet me\r\nwhen I reached the coast.\u0026nbsp; For the grand features of nature\r\nhad been dwindling into prettiness as I advanced; yet the rocks,\r\non a smaller scale, were finely wooded to the water\u0026rsquo;s\r\nedge.\u0026nbsp; Little art appeared, yet sublimity everywhere gave\r\nplace to elegance.\u0026nbsp; The road had often assumed the\r\nappearance of a gravelled one, made in pleasure-grounds; whilst\r\nthe trees excited only an idea of embellishment.\u0026nbsp; Meadows,\r\nlike lawns, in an endless variety, displayed the careless graces\r\nof nature; and the ripening corn gave a richness to the landscape\r\nanalogous with the other objects.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eNever was a southern sky more beautiful, nor more soft its\r\ngales.\u0026nbsp; Indeed, I am led to conclude that the sweetest\r\nsummer in the world is the northern one, the vegetation being\r\nquick and luxuriant the moment the earth is loosened from its icy\r\nfetters and the bound streams regain their wonted activity.\u0026nbsp;\r\nThe balance of happiness with respect to climate may be more\r\nequal than I at first imagined; for the inhabitants describe with\r\nwarmth the pleasures of a winter at the thoughts of which I\r\nshudder.\u0026nbsp; Not only their parties of pleasure but of business\r\nare reserved for this season, when they travel with astonishing\r\nrapidity the most direct way, skimming over hedge and ditch.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eOn entering Moss I was struck by the animation which seemed to\r\nresult from industry.\u0026nbsp; The richest of the inhabitants keep\r\nshops, resembling in their manners and even the arrangement of\r\ntheir houses the tradespeople of Yorkshire; with an air of more\r\nindependence, or rather consequence, from feeling themselves the\r\nfirst people in the place.\u0026nbsp; I had not time to see the\r\niron-works, belonging to Mr. Anker, of Christiania, a man of\r\nfortune and enterprise; and I was not very anxious to see them\r\nafter having viewed those at Laurvig.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eHere I met with an intelligent literary man, who was anxious\r\nto gather information from me relative to the past and present\r\nsituation of France.\u0026nbsp; The newspapers printed at Copenhagen,\r\nas well as those in England, give the most exaggerated accounts\r\nof their atrocities and distresses, but the former without any\r\napparent comments or inferences.\u0026nbsp; Still the Norwegians,\r\nthough more connected with the English, speaking their language\r\nand copying their manners, wish well to the Republican cause, and\r\nfollow with the most lively interest the successes of the French\r\narms.\u0026nbsp; So determined were they, in fact, to excuse\r\neverything, disgracing the struggle of freedom, by admitting the\r\ntyrant\u0026rsquo;s plea, necessity, that I could hardly persuade them\r\nthat Robespierre was a monster.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe discussion of this subject is not so general as in\r\nEngland, being confined to the few, the clergy and physicians,\r\nwith a small portion of people who have a literary turn and\r\nleisure; the greater part of the inhabitants having a variety of\r\noccupations, being owners of ships, shopkeepers, and farmers,\r\nhave employment enough at home.\u0026nbsp; And their ambition to\r\nbecome rich may tend to cultivate the common sense which\r\ncharacterises and narrows both their hearts and views, confirming\r\nthe former to their families, taking the handmaids of it into the\r\ncircle of pleasure, if not of interest, and the latter to the\r\ninspection of their workmen, including the noble science of\r\nbargain-making\u0026mdash;that is, getting everything at the cheapest,\r\nand selling it at the dearest rate.\u0026nbsp; I am now more than ever\r\nconvinced that it is an intercourse with men of science and\r\nartists which not only diffuses taste, but gives that freedom to\r\nthe understanding without which I have seldom met with much\r\nbenevolence of character on a large scale.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eBesides, though you do not hear of much pilfering and stealing\r\nin Norway, yet they will, with a quiet conscience, buy things at\r\na price which must convince them they were stolen.\u0026nbsp; I had an\r\nopportunity of knowing that two or three reputable people had\r\npurchased some articles of vagrants, who were detected.\u0026nbsp; How\r\nmuch of the virtue which appears in the world is put on for the\r\nworld?\u0026nbsp; And how little dictated by self-respect?\u0026mdash;so\r\nlittle, that I am ready to repeat the old question, and ask,\r\nWhere is truth, or rather principle, to be found?\u0026nbsp; These\r\nare, perhaps, the vapourings of a heart ill at ease\u0026mdash;the\r\neffusions of a sensibility wounded almost to madness.\u0026nbsp; But\r\nenough of this; we will discuss the subject in another state of\r\nexistence, where truth and justice will reign.\u0026nbsp; How cruel\r\nare the injuries which make us quarrel with human nature!\u0026nbsp;\r\nAt present black melancholy hovers round my footsteps; and sorrow\r\nsheds a mildew over all the future prospects, which hope no\r\nlonger gilds.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eA rainy morning prevented my enjoying the pleasure the view of\r\na picturesque country would have afforded me; for though this\r\nroad passed through a country a greater extent of which was under\r\ncultivation than I had usually seen here, it nevertheless\r\nretained all the wild charms of Norway.\u0026nbsp; Rocks still\r\nenclosed the valleys, the great sides of which enlivened their\r\nverdure.\u0026nbsp; Lakes appeared like branches of the sea, and\r\nbranches of the sea assumed the appearance of tranquil lakes;\r\nwhilst streamlets prattled amongst the pebbles and the broken\r\nmass of stone which had rolled into them, giving fantastic turns\r\nto the trees, the roots of which they bared.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIt is not, in fact, surprising that the pine should be often\r\nundermined; it shoots its fibres in such a horizontal direction,\r\nmerely on the surface of the earth, requiring only enough to\r\ncover those that cling to the crags.\u0026nbsp; Nothing proves to me\r\nso clearly that it is the air which principally nourishes trees\r\nand plants as the flourishing appearance of these pines.\u0026nbsp;\r\nThe firs, demanding a deeper soil, are seldom seen in equal\r\nhealth, or so numerous on the barren cliffs.\u0026nbsp; They take\r\nshelter in the crevices, or where, after some revolving ages, the\r\npines have prepared them a footing.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eApproaching, or rather descending, to Christiania, though the\r\nweather continued a little cloudy, my eyes were charmed with the\r\nview of an extensive undulated valley, stretching out under the\r\nshelter of a noble amphitheatre of pine-covered mountains.\u0026nbsp;\r\nFarm houses scattered about animated, nay, graced a scene which\r\nstill retained so much of its native wildness, that the art which\r\nappeared seemed so necessary, it was scarcely perceived.\u0026nbsp;\r\nCattle were grazing in the shaven meadows; and the lively green\r\non their swelling sides contrasted with the ripening corn and\r\nrye.\u0026nbsp; The corn that grew on the slopes had not, indeed, the\r\nlaughing luxuriance of plenty, which I have seen in more genial\r\nclimes.\u0026nbsp; A fresh breeze swept across the grain, parting its\r\nslender stalks, but the wheat did not wave its head with its\r\nwonted careless dignity, as if nature had crowned it the king of\r\nplants.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe view, immediately on the left, as we drove down the\r\nmountain, was almost spoilt by the depredations committed on the\r\nrocks to make alum.\u0026nbsp; I do not know the process.\u0026nbsp; I only\r\nsaw that the rocks looked red after they had been burnt, and\r\nregretted that the operation should leave a quantity of rubbish\r\nto introduce an image of human industry in the shape of\r\ndestruction.\u0026nbsp; The situation of Christiania is certainly\r\nuncommonly fine, and I never saw a bay that so forcibly gave me\r\nan idea of a place of safety from the storms of the ocean; all\r\nthe surrounding objects were beautiful and even grand.\u0026nbsp; But\r\nneither the rocky mountains, nor the woods that graced them,\r\ncould be compared with the sublime prospects I had seen to the\r\nwestward; and as for the hills, \u0026ldquo;capped with \u003ci\u003eeternal\u003c/i\u003e\r\nsnow,\u0026rdquo; Mr. Coxe\u0026rsquo;s description led me to look for\r\nthem, but they had flown, for I looked vainly around for this\r\nnoble background.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eA few months ago the people of Christiania rose, exasperated\r\nby the scarcity and consequent high price of grain.\u0026nbsp; The\r\nimmediate cause was the shipping of some, said to be for Moss,\r\nbut which they suspected was only a pretext to send it out of the\r\ncountry, and I am not sure that they were wrong in their\r\nconjecture.\u0026nbsp; Such are the tricks of trade.\u0026nbsp; They threw\r\nstones at Mr. Anker, the owner of it, as he rode out of town to\r\nescape from their fury; they assembled about his house, and the\r\npeople demanded afterwards, with so much impetuosity, the liberty\r\nof those who were taken up in consequence of the tumult, that the\r\nGrand Bailiff thought it prudent to release them without further\r\naltercation.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eYou may think me too severe on commerce, but from the manner\r\nit is at present carried on little can be advanced in favour of a\r\npursuit that wears out the most sacred principles of humanity and\r\nrectitude.\u0026nbsp; What is speculation but a species of gambling, I\r\nmight have said fraud, in which address generally gains the\r\nprize?\u0026nbsp; I was led into these reflections when I heard of\r\nsome tricks practised by merchants, miscalled reputable, and\r\ncertainly men of property, during the present war, in which\r\ncommon honesty was violated: damaged goods and provision having\r\nbeen shipped for the express purpose of falling into the hands of\r\nthe English, who had pledged themselves to reimburse neutral\r\nnations for the cargoes they seized; cannon also, sent back as\r\nunfit for service, have been shipped as a good speculation, the\r\ncaptain receiving orders to cruise about till he fell in with an\r\nEnglish frigate.\u0026nbsp; Many individuals I believe have suffered\r\nby the seizures of their vessels; still I am persuaded that the\r\nEnglish Government has been very much imposed upon in the charges\r\nmade by merchants who contrived to get their ships taken.\u0026nbsp;\r\nThis censure is not confined to the Danes.\u0026nbsp; Adieu, for the\r\npresent, I must take advantage of a moment of fine weather to\r\nwalk out and see the town.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eAt Christiania I met with that polite reception, which rather\r\ncharacterises the progress of manners in the world, than of any\r\nparticular portion of it.\u0026nbsp; The first evening of my arrival I\r\nsupped with some of the most fashionable people of the place, and\r\nalmost imagined myself in a circle of English ladies, so much did\r\nthey resemble them in manners, dress, and even in beauty; for the\r\nfairest of my countrywomen would not have been sorry to rank with\r\nthe Grand Bailiff\u0026rsquo;s lady.\u0026nbsp; There were several pretty\r\ngirls present, but she outshone them all, and, what interested me\r\nstill more, I could not avoid observing that in acquiring the\r\neasy politeness which distinguishes people of quality, she had\r\npreserved her Norwegian simplicity.\u0026nbsp; There was, in fact, a\r\ngraceful timidity in her address, inexpressibly charming.\u0026nbsp;\r\nThis surprised me a little, because her husband was quite a\r\nFrenchman of the \u003ci\u003eancien r\u0026eacute;gime\u003c/i\u003e, or rather a\r\ncourtier, the same kind of animal in every country.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eHere I saw the cloven foot of despotism.\u0026nbsp; I boasted to\r\nyou that they had no viceroy in Norway, but these Grand Bailiffs,\r\nparticularly the superior one, who resides at Christiania, are\r\npolitical monsters of the same species.\u0026nbsp; Needy sycophants\r\nare provided for by their relations and connections at Copenhagen\r\nas at other courts.\u0026nbsp; And though the Norwegians are not in\r\nthe abject state of the Irish, yet this second-hand government is\r\nstill felt by their being deprived of several natural advantages\r\nto benefit the domineering state.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe Grand Bailiffs are mostly noblemen from Copenhagen, who\r\nact as men of common minds will always act in such\r\nsituations\u0026mdash;aping a degree of courtly parade which clashes\r\nwith the independent character of a magistrate.\u0026nbsp; Besides,\r\nthey have a degree of power over the country judges, which some\r\nof them, who exercise a jurisdiction truly patriarchal most\r\npainfully feel.\u0026nbsp; I can scarcely say why, my friend, but in\r\nthis city thoughtfulness seemed to be sliding into melancholy or\r\nrather dulness.\u0026nbsp; The fire of fancy, which had been kept\r\nalive in the country, was almost extinguished by reflections on\r\nthe ills that harass such a large portion of mankind.\u0026nbsp; I\r\nfelt like a bird fluttering on the ground unable to mount, yet\r\nunwilling to crawl tranquilly like a reptile, whilst still\r\nconscious it had wings.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI walked out, for the open air is always my remedy when an\r\naching head proceeds from an oppressed heart.\u0026nbsp; Chance\r\ndirected my steps towards the fortress, and the sight of the\r\nslaves, working with chains on their legs, only served to\r\nembitter me still more against the regulations of society, which\r\ntreated knaves in such a different manner, especially as there\r\nwas a degree of energy in some of their countenances which\r\nunavoidably excited my attention, and almost created respect.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI wished to have seen, through an iron grate, the face of a\r\nman who has been confined six years for having induced the\r\nfarmers to revolt against some impositions of the\r\nGovernment.\u0026nbsp; I could not obtain a clear account of the\r\naffair, yet, as the complaint was against some farmers of taxes,\r\nI am inclined to believe that it was not totally without\r\nfoundation.\u0026nbsp; He must have possessed some eloquence, or have\r\nhad truth on his side; for the farmers rose by hundreds to\r\nsupport him, and were very much exasperated at his imprisonment,\r\nwhich will probably last for life, though he has sent several\r\nvery spirited remonstrances to the upper court, which makes the\r\njudges so averse to giving a sentence which may be cavilled at,\r\nthat they take advantage of the glorious uncertainty of the law,\r\nto protract a decision which is only to be regulated by reasons\r\nof state.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe greater number of the slaves I saw here were not confined\r\nfor life.\u0026nbsp; Their labour is not hard; and they work in the\r\nopen air, which prevents their constitutions from suffering by\r\nimprisonment.\u0026nbsp; Still, as they are allowed to associate\r\ntogether, and boast of their dexterity, not only to each other\r\nbut to the soldiers around them, in the garrison; they commonly,\r\nit is natural to conclude, go out more confirmed and more expert\r\nknaves than when they entered.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIt is not necessary to trace the origin of the association of\r\nideas which led me to think that the stars and gold keys, which\r\nsurrounded me the evening before, disgraced the wearers as much\r\nas the fetters I was viewing\u0026mdash;perhaps more.\u0026nbsp; I even\r\nbegan to investigate the reason, which led me to suspect that the\r\nformer produced the latter.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe Norwegians are extravagantly fond of courtly distinction,\r\nand of titles, though they have no immunities annexed to them,\r\nand are easily purchased.\u0026nbsp; The proprietors of mines have\r\nmany privileges: they are almost exempt from taxes, and the\r\npeasantry born on their estates, as well as those on the\r\ncounts\u0026rsquo;, are not born soldiers or sailors.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eOne distinction, or rather trophy of nobility, which might\r\nhave occurred to the Hottentots, amused me; it was a bunch of\r\nhog\u0026rsquo;s bristles placed on the horses\u0026rsquo; heads,\r\nsurmounting that part of the harness to which a round piece of\r\nbrass often dangles, fatiguing the eye with its idle motion.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eFrom the fortress I returned to my lodging, and quickly was\r\ntaken out of town to be shown a pretty villa, and English\r\ngarden.\u0026nbsp; To a Norwegian both might have been objects of\r\ncuriosity; and of use, by exciting to the comparison which leads\r\nto improvement.\u0026nbsp; But whilst I gazed, I was employed in\r\nrestoring the place to nature, or taste, by giving it the\r\ncharacter of the surrounding scene.\u0026nbsp; Serpentine walks, and\r\nflowering-shrubs, looked trifling in a grand recess of the rocks,\r\nshaded by towering pines.\u0026nbsp; Groves of smaller trees might\r\nhave been sheltered under them, which would have melted into the\r\nlandscape, displaying only the art which ought to point out the\r\nvicinity of a human abode, furnished with some elegance.\u0026nbsp;\r\nBut few people have sufficient taste to discern, that the art of\r\nembellishing consists in interesting, not in astonishing.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eChristiania is certainly very pleasantly situated, and the\r\nenvirons I passed through, during this ride, afforded many fine\r\nand cultivated prospects; but, excepting the first view\r\napproaching to it, rarely present any combination of objects so\r\nstrikingly new, or picturesque, as to command remembrance.\u0026nbsp;\r\nAdieu!\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003eLETTER XIV.\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eChristiania is a clean, neat city; but it has none of the\r\ngraces of architecture, which ought to keep pace with the\r\nrefining manners of a people\u0026mdash;or the outside of the house\r\nwill disgrace the inside, giving the beholder an idea of\r\novergrown wealth devoid of taste.\u0026nbsp; Large square wooden\r\nhouses offend the eye, displaying more than Gothic\r\nbarbarism.\u0026nbsp; Huge Gothic piles, indeed, exhibit a\r\ncharacteristic sublimity, and a wildness of fancy peculiar to the\r\nperiod when they were erected; but size, without grandeur or\r\nelegance, has an emphatical stamp of meanness, of poverty of\r\nconception, which only a commercial spirit could give.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe same thought has struck me, when I have entered the\r\nmeeting-house of my respected friend, Dr. Price.\u0026nbsp; I am\r\nsurprised that the dissenters, who have not laid aside all the\r\npomps and vanities of life, should imagine a noble pillar, or\r\narch, unhallowed.\u0026nbsp; Whilst men have senses, whatever soothes\r\nthem lends wings to devotion; else why do the beauties of nature,\r\nwhere all that charm them are spread around with a lavish hand,\r\nforce even the sorrowing heart to acknowledge that existence is a\r\nblessing? and this acknowledgment is the most sublime homage we\r\ncan pay to the Deity.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe argument of convenience is absurd.\u0026nbsp; Who would labour\r\nfor wealth, if it were to procure nothing but conveniences.\u0026nbsp;\r\nIf we wish to render mankind moral from principle, we must, I am\r\npersuaded, give a greater scope to the enjoyments of the senses\r\nby blending taste with them.\u0026nbsp; This has frequently occurred\r\nto me since I have been in the north, and observed that there\r\nsanguine characters always take refuge in drunkenness after the\r\nfire of youth is spent.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eBut I have flown from Norway.\u0026nbsp; To go back to the wooden\r\nhouses; farms constructed with logs, and even little villages,\r\nhere erected in the same simple manner, have appeared to me very\r\npicturesque.\u0026nbsp; In the more remote parts I had been\r\nparticularly pleased with many cottages situated close to a\r\nbrook, or bordering on a lake, with the whole farm\r\ncontiguous.\u0026nbsp; As the family increases, a little more land is\r\ncultivated; thus the country is obviously enriched by\r\npopulation.\u0026nbsp; Formerly the farmers might more justly have\r\nbeen termed woodcutters.\u0026nbsp; But now they find it necessary to\r\nspare the woods a little, and this change will be universally\r\nbeneficial; for whilst they lived entirely by selling the trees\r\nthey felled, they did not pay sufficient attention to husbandry;\r\nconsequently, advanced very slowly in agricultural\r\nknowledge.\u0026nbsp; Necessity will in future more and more spur them\r\non; for the ground, cleared of wood, must be cultivated, or the\r\nfarm loses its value; there is no waiting for food till another\r\ngeneration of pines be grown to maturity.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe people of property are very careful of their timber; and,\r\nrambling through a forest near Tonsberg, belonging to the Count,\r\nI have stopped to admire the appearance of some of the cottages\r\ninhabited by a woodman\u0026rsquo;s family\u0026mdash;a man employed to cut\r\ndown the wood necessary for the household and the estate.\u0026nbsp; A\r\nlittle lawn was cleared, on which several lofty trees were left\r\nwhich nature had grouped, whilst the encircling firs sported with\r\nwild grace.\u0026nbsp; The dwelling was sheltered by the forest, noble\r\npines spreading their branches over the roof; and before the door\r\na cow, goat, nag, and children, seemed equally content with their\r\nlot; and if contentment be all we can attain, it is, perhaps,\r\nbest secured by ignorance.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eAs I have been most delighted with the country parts of\r\nNorway, I was sorry to leave Christiania without going farther to\r\nthe north, though the advancing season admonished me to depart,\r\nas well as the calls of business and affection.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eJune and July are the months to make a tour through Norway;\r\nfor then the evenings and nights are the finest I have ever seen;\r\nbut towards the middle or latter end of August the clouds begin\r\nto gather, and summer disappears almost before it has ripened the\r\nfruit of autumn\u0026mdash;even, as it were, slips from your embraces,\r\nwhilst the satisfied senses seem to rest in enjoyment.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eYou will ask, perhaps, why I wished to go farther\r\nnorthward.\u0026nbsp; Why? not only because the country, from all I\r\ncan gather, is most romantic, abounding in forests and lakes, and\r\nthe air pure, but I have heard much of the intelligence of the\r\ninhabitants, substantial farmers, who have none of that cunning\r\nto contaminate their simplicity, which displeased me so much in\r\nthe conduct of the people on the sea coast.\u0026nbsp; A man who has\r\nbeen detected in any dishonest act can no longer live among\r\nthem.\u0026nbsp; He is universally shunned, and shame becomes the\r\nseverest punishment.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eSuch a contempt have they, in fact, for every species of\r\nfraud, that they will not allow the people on the western coast\r\nto be their countrymen; so much do they despise the arts for\r\nwhich those traders who live on the rocks are notorious.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe description I received of them carried me back to the\r\nfables of the golden age: independence and virtue; affluence\r\nwithout vice; cultivation of mind, without depravity of heart;\r\nwith \u0026ldquo;ever smiling Liberty;\u0026rdquo; the nymph of the\r\nmountain.\u0026nbsp; I want faith!\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eMy imagination hurries me forward to seek an asylum in such a\r\nretreat from all the disappointments I am threatened with; but\r\nreason drags me back, whispering that the world is still the\r\nworld, and man the same compound of weakness and folly, who must\r\noccasionally excite love and disgust, admiration and\r\ncontempt.\u0026nbsp; But this description, though it seems to have\r\nbeen sketched by a fairy pencil, was given me by a man of sound\r\nunderstanding, whose fancy seldom appears to run away with\r\nhim.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eA law in Norway, termed the \u003ci\u003eodels right\u003c/i\u003e, has lately\r\nbeen modified, and probably will be abolished as an impediment to\r\ncommerce.\u0026nbsp; The heir of an estate had the power of\r\nre-purchasing it at the original purchase money, making allowance\r\nfor such improvements as were absolutely necessary, during the\r\nspace of twenty years.\u0026nbsp; At present ten is the term allowed\r\nfor afterthought; and when the regulation was made, all the men\r\nof abilities were invited to give their opinion whether it were\r\nbetter to abrogate or modify it.\u0026nbsp; It is certainly a\r\nconvenient and safe way of mortgaging land; yet the most rational\r\nmen whom I conversed with on the subject seemed convinced that\r\nthe right was more injurious than beneficial to society; still if\r\nit contribute to keep the farms in the farmers\u0026rsquo; own hands,\r\nI should be sorry to hear that it were abolished.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe aristocracy in Norway, if we keep clear of Christiania, is\r\nfar from being formidable; and it will require a long time to\r\nenable the merchants to attain a sufficient moneyed interest to\r\ninduce them to reinforce the upper class at the expense of the\r\nyeomanry, with whom they are usually connected.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eEngland and America owe their liberty to commerce, which\r\ncreated new species of power to undermine the feudal\r\nsystem.\u0026nbsp; But let them beware of the consequence; the tyranny\r\nof wealth is still more galling and debasing than that of\r\nrank.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eFarewell!\u0026nbsp; I must prepare for my departure.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003eLETTER XV.\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI left Christiania yesterday.\u0026nbsp; The weather was not very\r\nfine, and having been a little delayed on the road, I found that\r\nit was too late to go round, a couple of miles, to see the\r\ncascade near Fredericstadt, which I had determined to\r\nvisit.\u0026nbsp; Besides, as Fredericstadt is a fortress, it was\r\nnecessary to arrive there before they shut the gate.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe road along the river is very romantic, though the views\r\nare not grand; and the riches of Norway, its timber, floats\r\nsilently down the stream, often impeded in its course by islands\r\nand little cataracts, the offspring, as it were, of the great one\r\nI had frequently heard described.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI found an excellent inn at Fredericstadt, and was gratified\r\nby the kind attention of the hostess, who, perceiving that my\r\nclothes were wet, took great pains procure me, as a stranger,\r\nevery comfort for the night.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIt had rained very hard, and we passed the ferry in the dark\r\nwithout getting out of our carriage, which I think wrong, as the\r\nhorses are sometimes unruly.\u0026nbsp; Fatigue and melancholy,\r\nhowever, had made me regardless whether I went down or across the\r\nstream, and I did not know that I was wet before the hostess\r\nmarked it.\u0026nbsp; My imagination has never yet severed me from my\r\ngriefs, and my mind has seldom been so free as to allow my body\r\nto be delicate.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eHow I am altered by disappointment!\u0026nbsp; When going to\r\nLisbon, the elasticity of my mind was sufficient to ward off\r\nweariness, and my imagination still could dip her brush in the\r\nrainbow of fancy, and sketch futurity in glowing colours.\u0026nbsp;\r\nNow\u0026mdash;but let me talk of something else\u0026mdash;will you go\r\nwith me to the cascade?\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe cross road to it was rugged and dreary; and though a\r\nconsiderable extent of land was cultivated on all sides, yet the\r\nrocks were entirely bare, which surprised me, as they were more\r\non a level with the surface than any I had yet seen.\u0026nbsp; On\r\ninquiry, however, I learnt that some years since a forest had\r\nbeen burnt.\u0026nbsp; This appearance of desolation was beyond\r\nmeasure gloomy, inspiring emotions that sterility had never\r\nproduced.\u0026nbsp; Fires of this kind are occasioned by the wind\r\nsuddenly rising when the farmers are burning roots of trees,\r\nstalks of beans, \u0026amp;c., with which they manure the ground.\u0026nbsp;\r\nThe devastation must, indeed, be terrible, when this, literally\r\nspeaking, wildfire, runs along the forest, flying from top to\r\ntop, and crackling amongst the branches.\u0026nbsp; The soil, as well\r\nas the trees, is swept away by the destructive torrent; and the\r\ncountry, despoiled of beauty and riches, is left to mourn for\r\nages.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eAdmiring, as I do, these noble forests, which seem to bid\r\ndefiance to time, I looked with pain on the ridge of rocks that\r\nstretched far beyond my eye, formerly crowned with the most\r\nbeautiful verdure.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI have often mentioned the grandeur, but I feel myself unequal\r\nto the task of conveying an idea of the beauty and elegance of\r\nthe scene when the spiry tops of the pines are loaded with\r\nripening seed, and the sun gives a glow to their light-green\r\ntinge, which is changing into purple, one tree more or less\r\nadvanced contrasted with another.\u0026nbsp; The profusion with which\r\nNature has decked them with pendant honours, prevents all\r\nsurprise at seeing in every crevice some sapling struggling for\r\nexistence.\u0026nbsp; Vast masses of stone are thus encircled, and\r\nroots torn up by the storms become a shelter for a young\r\ngeneration.\u0026nbsp; The pine and fir woods, left entirely to\r\nNature, display an endless variety; and the paths in the woods\r\nare not entangled with fallen leaves, which are only interesting\r\nwhilst they are fluttering between life and death.\u0026nbsp; The grey\r\ncobweb-like appearance of the aged pines is a much finer image of\r\ndecay; the fibres whitening as they lose their moisture,\r\nimprisoned life seems to be stealing away.\u0026nbsp; I cannot tell\r\nwhy, but death, under every form, appears to me like something\r\ngetting free to expand in I know not what element\u0026mdash;nay, I\r\nfeel that this conscious being must be as unfettered, have the\r\nwings of thought, before it can be happy.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eReaching the cascade, or rather cataract, the roaring of which\r\nhad a long time announced its vicinity, my soul was hurried by\r\nthe falls into a new train of reflections.\u0026nbsp; The impetuous\r\ndashing of the rebounding torrent from the dark cavities which\r\nmocked the exploring eye produced an equal activity in my\r\nmind.\u0026nbsp; My thoughts darted from earth to heaven, and I asked\r\nmyself why I was chained to life and its misery.\u0026nbsp; Still the\r\ntumultuous emotions this sublime object excited were pleasurable;\r\nand, viewing it, my soul rose with renewed dignity above its\r\ncares.\u0026nbsp; Grasping at immortality\u0026mdash;it seemed as\r\nimpossible to stop the current of my thoughts, as of the always\r\nvarying, still the same, torrent before me; I stretched out my\r\nhand to eternity, bounding over the dark speck of life to\r\ncome.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eWe turned with regret from the cascade.\u0026nbsp; On a little\r\nhill, which commands the best view of it, several obelisks are\r\nerected to commemorate the visits of different kings.\u0026nbsp; The\r\nappearance of the river above and below the falls is very\r\npicturesque, the ruggedness of the scenery disappearing as the\r\ntorrent subsides into a peaceful stream.\u0026nbsp; But I did not like\r\nto see a number of saw-mills crowded together close to the\r\ncataracts; they destroyed the harmony of the prospect.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe sight of a bridge erected across a deep valley, at a\r\nlittle distance, inspired very dissimilar sensations.\u0026nbsp; It\r\nwas most ingeniously supported by mast-like trunks, just stripped\r\nof their branches; and logs, placed one across the other,\r\nproduced an appearance equally light and firm, seeming almost to\r\nbe built in the air when we were below it, the height taking from\r\nthe magnitude of the supporting trees give them a slender\r\ngraceful look.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThere are two noble estates in this neighbourhood, the\r\nproprietors of which seem to have caught more than their portion\r\nof the enterprising spirit that is gone abroad.\u0026nbsp; Many\r\nagricultural experiments have been made, and the country appears\r\nbetter enclosed and cultivated, yet the cottages had not the\r\ncomfortable aspect of those I had observed near Moss and to the\r\nwestward.\u0026nbsp; Man is always debased by servitude of any\r\ndescription, and here the peasantry are not entirely free.\u0026nbsp;\r\nAdieu!\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI almost forgot to tell you that I did not leave Norway\r\nwithout making some inquiries after the monsters said to have\r\nbeen seen in the northern sea; but though I conversed with\r\nseveral captains, I could not meet with one who had ever heard\r\nany traditional description of them, much less had any ocular\r\ndemonstration of their existence.\u0026nbsp; Till the fact is better\r\nascertained, I should think the account of them ought to be torn\r\nout of our geographical grammars.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003eLETTER XVI.\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI set out from Fredericstadt about three o\u0026rsquo;clock in the\r\nafternoon, and expected to reach Stromstad before the night\r\nclosed in; but the wind dying away, the weather became so calm\r\nthat we scarcely made any perceptible advances towards the\r\nopposite coast, though the men were fatigued with rowing.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eGetting amongst the rocks and islands as the moon rose, and\r\nthe stars darted forward out of the clear expanse, I forgot that\r\nthe night stole on whilst indulging affectionate reveries, the\r\npoetical fictions of sensibility; I was not, therefore, aware of\r\nthe length of time we had been toiling to reach Stromstad.\u0026nbsp;\r\nAnd when I began to look around, I did not perceive anything to\r\nindicate that we were in its neighbourhood.\u0026nbsp; So far from it,\r\nthat when I inquired of the pilot, who spoke a little English, I\r\nfound that he was only accustomed to coast along the Norwegian\r\nshore; and had been only once across to Stromstad.\u0026nbsp; But he\r\nhad brought with him a fellow better acquainted, he assured me,\r\nwith the rocks by which they were to steer our course, for we had\r\nnot a compass on board; yet, as he was half a fool, I had little\r\nconfidence in his skill.\u0026nbsp; There was then great reason to\r\nfear that we had lost our way, and were straying amidst a\r\nlabyrinth of rocks without a clue.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThis was something like an adventure, but not of the most\r\nagreeable cast; besides, I was impatient to arrive at Stromstad,\r\nto be able to send forward that night a boy to order horses on\r\nthe road to be ready, for I was unwilling to remain there a day\r\nwithout having anything to detain me from my little girl, and\r\nfrom the letters which I was impatient to get from you.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI began to expostulate, and even to scold the pilot, for not\r\nhaving informed me of his ignorance previous to my\r\ndeparture.\u0026nbsp; This made him row with more force, and we turned\r\nround one rock only to see another, equally destitute of the\r\ntokens we were in search of to tell us where we were.\u0026nbsp;\r\nEntering also into creek after creek which promised to be the\r\nentrance of the bay we were seeking, we advanced merely to find\r\nourselves running aground.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe solitariness of the scene, as we glided under the dark\r\nshadows of the rocks, pleased me for a while; but the fear of\r\npassing the whole night thus wandering to and fro, and losing the\r\nnext day, roused me.\u0026nbsp; I begged the pilot to return to one of\r\nthe largest islands, at the side of which we had seen a boat\r\nmoored.\u0026nbsp; As we drew nearer, a light through a window on the\r\nsummit became our beacon; but we were farther off than I\r\nsupposed.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eWith some difficulty the pilot got on shore, not\r\ndistinguishing the landing-place; and I remained in the boat,\r\nknowing that all the relief we could expect was a man to direct\r\nus.\u0026nbsp; After waiting some time, for there is an insensibility\r\nin the very movements of these people that would weary more than\r\nordinary patience, he brought with him a man who, assisting them\r\nto row, we landed at Stromstad a little after one in the\r\nmorning.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIt was too late to send off a boy, but I did not go to bed\r\nbefore I had made the arrangements necessary to enable me to set\r\nout as early as possible.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe sun rose with splendour.\u0026nbsp; My mind was too active to\r\nallow me to loiter long in bed, though the horses did not arrive\r\ntill between seven and eight.\u0026nbsp; However, as I wished to let\r\nthe boy, who went forward to order the horses, get considerably\r\nthe start of me, I bridled in my impatience.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThis precaution was unavailing, for after the three first\r\nposts I had to wait two hours, whilst the people at the\r\npost-house went, fair and softly, to the farm, to bid them bring\r\nup the horses which were carrying in the first-fruits of the\r\nharvest.\u0026nbsp; I discovered here that these sluggish peasants had\r\ntheir share of cunning.\u0026nbsp; Though they had made me pay for a\r\nhorse, the boy had gone on foot, and only arrived half an hour\r\nbefore me.\u0026nbsp; This disconcerted the whole arrangement of the\r\nday; and being detained again three hours, I reluctantly\r\ndetermined to sleep at Quistram, two posts short of Uddervalla,\r\nwhere I had hoped to have arrived that night.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eBut when I reached Quistram I found I could not approach the\r\ndoor of the inn for men, horses, and carts, cows, and pigs\r\nhuddled together.\u0026nbsp; From the concourse of people I had met on\r\nthe road I conjectured that there was a fair in the\r\nneighbourhood; this crowd convinced me that it was but too\r\ntrue.\u0026nbsp; The boisterous merriment that almost every instant\r\nproduced a quarrel, or made me dread one, with the clouds of\r\ntobacco, and fumes of brandy, gave an infernal appearance to the\r\nscene.\u0026nbsp; There was everything to drive me back, nothing to\r\nexcite sympathy in a rude tumult of the senses, which I foresaw\r\nwould end in a gross debauch.\u0026nbsp; What was to be done?\u0026nbsp; No\r\nbed was to be had, or even a quiet corner to retire to for a\r\nmoment; all was lost in noise, riot, and confusion.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eAfter some debating they promised me horses, which were to go\r\non to Uddervalla, two stages.\u0026nbsp; I requested something to eat\r\nfirst, not having dined; and the hostess, whom I have mentioned\r\nto you before as knowing how to take care of herself, brought me\r\na plate of fish, for which she charged a rix-dollar and a\r\nhalf.\u0026nbsp; This was making hay whilst the sun shone.\u0026nbsp; I was\r\nglad to get out of the uproar, though not disposed to travel in\r\nan incommodious open carriage all night, had I thought that there\r\nwas any chance of getting horses.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eQuitting Quistram I met a number of joyous groups, and though\r\nthe evening was fresh many were stretched on the grass like weary\r\ncattle; and drunken men had fallen by the road-side.\u0026nbsp; On a\r\nrock, under the shade of lofty trees, a large party of men and\r\nwomen had lighted a fire, cutting down fuel around to keep it\r\nalive all night.\u0026nbsp; They were drinking, smoking, and laughing\r\nwith all their might and main.\u0026nbsp; I felt for the trees whose\r\ntorn branches strewed the ground.\u0026nbsp; Hapless nymphs! your\r\nhaunts, I fear, were polluted by many an unhallowed flame, the\r\ncasual burst of the moment!\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe horses went on very well; but when we drew near the\r\npost-house the postillion stopped short and neither threats nor\r\npromises could prevail on him to go forward.\u0026nbsp; He even began\r\nto howl and weep when I insisted on his keeping his word.\u0026nbsp;\r\nNothing, indeed, can equal the stupid obstinacy of some of these\r\nhalf-alive beings, who seem to have been made by Prometheus when\r\nthe fire he stole from Heaven was so exhausted that he could only\r\nspare a spark to give life, not animation, to the inert clay.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIt was some time before we could rouse anybody; and, as I\r\nexpected, horses, we were told, could not be had in less than\r\nfour or five hours.\u0026nbsp; I again attempted to bribe the churlish\r\nbrute who brought us there, but I discovered that, in spite of\r\nthe courteous hostess\u0026rsquo;s promises, he had received orders\r\nnot to go any father.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eAs there was no remedy I entered, and was almost driven back\r\nby the stench\u0026mdash;a softer phrase would not have conveyed an\r\nidea of the hot vapour that issued from an apartment in which\r\nsome eight or ten people were sleeping, not to reckon the cats\r\nand dogs stretched on the floor.\u0026nbsp; Two or three of the men or\r\nwomen were on the benches, others on old chests; and one figure\r\nstarted half out of a trunk to look at me, whom might have taken\r\nfor a ghost, had the chemise been white, to contrast with the\r\nsallow visage.\u0026nbsp; But the costume of apparitions not being\r\npreserved I passed, nothing dreading, excepting the effluvia,\r\nwarily amongst the pots, pans, milk-pails, and\r\nwashing-tubs.\u0026nbsp; After scaling a ruinous staircase I was shown\r\na bed-chamber.\u0026nbsp; The bed did not invite me to enter; opening,\r\ntherefore, the window, and taking some clean towels out of my\r\nnight-sack, I spread them over the coverlid, on which tired\r\nNature found repose, in spite of the previous disgust.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eWith the grey of the morn the birds awoke me; and descending\r\nto inquire for the horses, I hastened through the apartment I\r\nhave already described, not wishing to associate the idea of a\r\npigstye with that of a human dwelling.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI do not now wonder that the girls lose their fine complexions\r\nat such an early age, or that love here is merely an appetite to\r\nfulfil the main design of Nature, never enlivened by either\r\naffection or sentiment.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eFor a few posts we found the horses waiting; but afterwards I\r\nwas retarded, as before, by the peasants, who, taking advantage\r\nof my ignorance of the language, made me pay for the fourth horse\r\nthat ought to have gone forward to have the others in readiness,\r\nthough it had never been sent.\u0026nbsp; I was particularly impatient\r\nat the last post, as I longed to assure myself that my child was\r\nwell.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eMy impatience, however, did not prevent my enjoying the\r\njourney.\u0026nbsp; I had six weeks before passed over the same\r\nground; still it had sufficient novelty to attract my attention,\r\nand beguile, if not banish, the sorrow that had taken up its\r\nabode in my heart.\u0026nbsp; How interesting are the varied beauties\r\nof Nature, and what peculiar charms characterise each\r\nseason!\u0026nbsp; The purple hue which the heath now assumed gave it\r\na degree of richness that almost exceeded the lustre of the young\r\ngreen of spring, and harmonised exquisitely with the rays of the\r\nripening corn.\u0026nbsp; The weather was uninterruptedly fine, and\r\nthe people busy in the fields cutting down the corn, or binding\r\nup the sheaves, continually varied the prospect.\u0026nbsp; The rocks,\r\nit is true, were unusually rugged and dreary; yet as the road\r\nruns for a considerable way by the side of a fine river, with\r\nextended pastures on the other side, the image of sterility was\r\nnot the predominant object, though the cottages looked still more\r\nmiserable, after having seen the Norwegian farms.\u0026nbsp; The trees\r\nlikewise appeared of me growth of yesterday, compared with those\r\nNestors of the forest I have frequently mentioned.\u0026nbsp; The\r\nwomen and children were cutting off branches from the beech,\r\nbirch, oak, \u0026amp;c., and leaving them to dry.\u0026nbsp; This way of\r\nhelping out their fodder injures the trees.\u0026nbsp; But the winters\r\nare so long that the poor cannot afford to lay in a sufficient\r\nstock of hay.\u0026nbsp; By such means they just keep life in the poor\r\ncows, for little milk can be expected when they are so miserably\r\nfed.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIt was Saturday, and the evening was uncommonly serene.\u0026nbsp;\r\nIn the villages I everywhere saw preparations for Sunday; and I\r\npassed by a little car loaded with rye, that presented, for the\r\npencil and heart, the sweetest picture of a harvest home I had\r\never beheld.\u0026nbsp; A little girl was mounted a-straddle on a\r\nshaggy horse, brandishing a stick over its head; the father was\r\nwalking at the side of the car with a child in his arms, who must\r\nhave come to meet him with tottering steps; the little creature\r\nwas stretching out its arms to cling round his neck; and a boy,\r\njust above petticoats, was labouring hard with a fork behind to\r\nkeep the sheaves from falling.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eMy eyes followed them to the cottage, and an involuntary sigh\r\nwhispered to my heart that I envied the mother, much as I dislike\r\ncooking, who was preparing their pottage.\u0026nbsp; I was returning\r\nto my babe, who may never experience a father\u0026rsquo;s care or\r\ntenderness.\u0026nbsp; The bosom that nurtured her heaved with a pang\r\nat the thought which only an unhappy mother could feel.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: right\"\u003eAdieu!\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003eLETTER XVII.\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI was unwilling to leave Gothenburg without visiting\r\nTrolh\u0026aelig;tt\u0026aelig;.\u0026nbsp; I wished not only to see the\r\ncascade, but to observe the progress of the stupendous attempt to\r\nform a canal through the rocks, to the extent of an English mile\r\nand a half.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThis work is carried on by a company, who employ daily nine\r\nhundred men; five years was the time mentioned in the proposals\r\naddressed to the public as necessary for the completion.\u0026nbsp; A\r\nmuch more considerable sum than the plan requires has been\r\nsubscribed, for which there is every reason to suppose the\r\npromoters will receive ample interest.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe Danes survey the progress of this work with a jealous eye,\r\nas it is principally undertaken to get clear of the Sound\r\nduty.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eArrived at Trolh\u0026aelig;tt\u0026aelig;, I must own that the first\r\nview of the cascade disappointed me; and the sight of the works,\r\nas they advanced, though a grand proof of human industry, was not\r\ncalculated to warm the fancy.\u0026nbsp; I, however, wandered about;\r\nand at last coming to the conflux of the various cataracts\r\nrushing from different falls, struggling with the huge masses of\r\nrock, and rebounding from the profound cavities, I immediately\r\nretracted, acknowledging that it was indeed a grand object.\u0026nbsp;\r\nA little island stood in the midst, covered with firs, which, by\r\ndividing the torrent, rendered it more picturesque; one half\r\nappearing to issue from a dark cavern, that fancy might easily\r\nimagine a vast fountain throwing up its waters from the very\r\ncentre of the earth.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI gazed I know not how long, stunned with the noise, and\r\ngrowing giddy with only looking at the never-ceasing tumultuous\r\nmotion, I listened, scarcely conscious where I was, when I\r\nobserved a boy, half obscured by the sparkling foam, fishing\r\nunder the impending rock on the other side.\u0026nbsp; How he had\r\ndescended I could not perceive; nothing like human footsteps\r\nappeared, and the horrific crags seemed to bid defiance even to\r\nthe goat\u0026rsquo;s activity.\u0026nbsp; It looked like an abode only fit\r\nfor the eagle, though in its crevices some pines darted up their\r\nspiral heads; but they only grew near the cascade, everywhere\r\nelse sterility itself reigned with dreary grandeur; for the huge\r\ngrey massy rocks, which probably had been torn asunder by some\r\ndreadful convulsion of nature, had not even their first covering\r\nof a little cleaving moss.\u0026nbsp; There were so many appearances\r\nto excite the idea of chaos, that, instead of admiring the canal\r\nand the works, great as they are termed, and little as they\r\nappear, I could not help regretting that such a noble scene had\r\nnot been left in all its solitary sublimity.\u0026nbsp; Amidst the\r\nawful roaring of the impetuous torrents, the noise of human\r\ninstruments and the bustle of workmen, even the blowing up of the\r\nrocks when grand masses trembled in the darkened air, only\r\nresembled the insignificant sport of children.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eOne fall of water, partly made by art, when they were\r\nattempting to construct sluices, had an uncommonly grand effect;\r\nthe water precipitated itself with immense velocity down a\r\nperpendicular, at least fifty or sixty yards, into a gulf, so\r\nconcealed by the foam as to give full play to the fancy.\u0026nbsp;\r\nThere was a continual uproar.\u0026nbsp; I stood on a rock to observe\r\nit, a kind of bridge formed by nature, nearly on a level with the\r\ncommencement of the fall.\u0026nbsp; After musing by it a long time I\r\nturned towards the other side, and saw a gentle stream stray\r\ncalmly out.\u0026nbsp; I should have concluded that it had no\r\ncommunication with the torrent had I not seen a huge log that\r\nfell headlong down the cascade steal peacefully into the purling\r\nstream.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI retired from these wild scenes with regret to a miserable\r\ninn, and next morning returned to Gothenburg, to prepare for my\r\njourney to Copenhagen.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI was sorry to leave Gothenburg without travelling farther\r\ninto Sweden, yet I imagine I should only have seen a romantic\r\ncountry thinly inhabited, and these inhabitants struggling with\r\npoverty.\u0026nbsp; The Norwegian peasantry, mostly independent, have\r\na rough kind of frankness in their manner; but the Swedish,\r\nrendered more abject by misery, have a degree of politeness in\r\ntheir address which, though it may sometimes border on\r\ninsincerity, is oftener the effect of a broken spirit, rather\r\nsoftened than degraded by wretchedness.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIn Norway there are no notes in circulation of less value than\r\na Swedish rix-dollar.\u0026nbsp; A small silver coin, commonly not\r\nworth more than a penny, and never more than twopence, serves for\r\nchange; but in Sweden they have notes as low as sixpence.\u0026nbsp; I\r\nnever saw any silver pieces there, and could not without\r\ndifficulty, and giving a premium, obtain the value of a\r\nrix-dollar in a large copper coin to give away on the road to the\r\npoor who open the gates.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eAs another proof of the poverty of Sweden, I ought to mention\r\nthat foreign merchants who have acquired a fortune there are\r\nobliged to deposit the sixth part when they leave the\r\nkingdom.\u0026nbsp; This law, you may suppose, is frequently\r\nevaded.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIn fact, the laws here, as well as in Norway, are so relaxed\r\nthat they rather favour than restrain knavery.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eWhilst I was at Gothenburg, a man who had been confined for\r\nbreaking open his master\u0026rsquo;s desk and running away with five\r\nor six thousand rix-dollars, was only sentenced to forty\r\ndays\u0026rsquo; confinement on bread and water; and this slight\r\npunishment his relations rendered nugatory by supplying him with\r\nmore savoury food.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe Swedes are in general attached to their families, yet a\r\ndivorce may be obtained by either party on proving the infidelity\r\nof the other or acknowledging it themselves.\u0026nbsp; The women do\r\nnot often recur to this equal privilege, for they either\r\nretaliate on their husbands by following their own devices or\r\nsink into the merest domestic drudges, worn down by tyranny to\r\nservile submission.\u0026nbsp; Do not term me severe if I add, that\r\nafter youth is flown the husband becomes a sot, and the wife\r\namuses herself by scolding her servants.\u0026nbsp; In fact, what is\r\nto be expected in any country where taste and cultivation of mind\r\ndo not supply the place of youthful beauty and animal\r\nspirits?\u0026nbsp; Affection requires a firmer foundation than\r\nsympathy, and few people have a principle of action sufficiently\r\nstable to produce rectitude of feeling; for in spite of all the\r\narguments I have heard to justify deviations from duty, I am\r\npersuaded that even the most spontaneous sensations are more\r\nunder the direction of principle than weak people are willing to\r\nallow.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eBut adieu to moralising.\u0026nbsp; I have been writing these last\r\nsheets at an inn in Elsineur, where I am waiting for horses; and\r\nas they are not yet ready, I will give you a short account of my\r\njourney from Gothenburg, for I set out the morning after I\r\nreturned from Trolh\u0026aelig;tt\u0026aelig;.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe country during the first day\u0026rsquo;s journey presented a\r\nmost barren appearance, as rocky, yet not so picturesque as\r\nNorway, because on a diminutive scale.\u0026nbsp; We stopped to sleep\r\nat a tolerable inn in Falckersberg, a decent little town.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe next day beeches and oaks began to grace the prospects,\r\nthe sea every now and then appearing to give them dignity.\u0026nbsp;\r\nI could not avoid observing also, that even in this part of\r\nSweden, one of the most sterile, as I was informed, there was\r\nmore ground under cultivation than in Norway.\u0026nbsp; Plains of\r\nvaried crops stretched out to a considerable extent, and sloped\r\ndown to the shore, no longer terrific.\u0026nbsp; And, as far as I\r\ncould judge, from glancing my eye over the country as we drove\r\nalong, agriculture was in a more advanced state, though in the\r\nhabitations a greater appearance of poverty still remained.\u0026nbsp;\r\nThe cottages, indeed, often looked most uncomfortable, but never\r\nso miserable as those I had remarked on the road to Stromstad,\r\nand the towns were equal, if not superior, to many of the little\r\ntowns in Wales, or some I have passed through in my way from\r\nCalais to Paris.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe inns as we advanced were not to be complained of, unless I\r\nhad always thought of England.\u0026nbsp; The people were civil, and\r\nmuch more moderate in their demands than the Norwegians,\r\nparticularly to the westward, where they boldly charge for what\r\nyou never had, and seem to consider you, as they do a wreck, if\r\nnot as lawful prey, yet as a lucky chance, which they ought not\r\nto neglect to seize.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe prospect of Elsineur, as we passed the Sound, was\r\npleasant.\u0026nbsp; I gave three rix-dollars for my boat, including\r\nsomething to drink.\u0026nbsp; I mention the sum, because they impose\r\non strangers.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: right\"\u003eAdieu! till I arrive at\r\nCopenhagen.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003eLETTER XVIII.\u0026mdash;COPENHAGEN.\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe distance from Elsineur to Copenhagen is twenty-two miles;\r\nthe road is very good, over a flat country diversified with wood,\r\nmostly beech, and decent mansions.\u0026nbsp; There appeared to be a\r\ngreat quantity of corn land, and the soil looked much more\r\nfertile than it is in general so near the sea.\u0026nbsp; The rising\r\ngrounds, indeed, were very few, and around Copenhagen it is a\r\nperfect plain; of course has nothing to recommend it but\r\ncultivation, not decorations.\u0026nbsp; If I say that the houses did\r\nnot disgust me, I tell you all I remember of them, for I cannot\r\nrecollect any pleasurable sensations they excited, or that any\r\nobject, produced by nature or art, took me out of myself.\u0026nbsp;\r\nThe view of the city, as we drew near, was rather grand, but\r\nwithout any striking feature to interest the imagination,\r\nexcepting the trees which shade the footpaths.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eJust before I reached Copenhagen I saw a number of tents on a\r\nwide plain, and supposed that the rage for encampments had\r\nreached this city; but I soon discovered that they were the\r\nasylum of many of the poor families who had been driven out of\r\ntheir habitations by the late fire.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eEntering soon after, I passed amongst the dust and rubbish it\r\nhad left, affrighted by viewing the extent of the devastation,\r\nfor at least a quarter of the city had been destroyed.\u0026nbsp;\r\nThere was little in the appearance of fallen bricks and stacks of\r\nchimneys to allure the imagination into soothing melancholy\r\nreveries; nothing to attract the eye of taste, but much to\r\nafflict the benevolent heart.\u0026nbsp; The depredations of time have\r\nalways something in them to employ the fancy, or lead to musing\r\non subjects which, withdrawing the mind from objects of sense,\r\nseem to give it new dignity; but here I was treading on live\r\nashes.\u0026nbsp; The sufferers were still under the pressure of the\r\nmisery occasioned by this dreadful conflagration.\u0026nbsp; I could\r\nnot take refuge in the thought: they suffered, but they are no\r\nmore! a reflection I frequently summon to calm my mind when\r\nsympathy rises to anguish.\u0026nbsp; I therefore desired the driver\r\nto hasten to the hotel recommended to me, that I might avert my\r\neyes and snap the train of thinking which had sent me into all\r\nthe corners of the city in search of houseless heads.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThis morning I have been walking round the town, till I am\r\nweary of observing the ravages.\u0026nbsp; I had often heard the\r\nDanes, even those who had seen Paris and London, speak of\r\nCopenhagen with rapture.\u0026nbsp; Certainly I have seen it in a very\r\ndisadvantageous light, some of the best streets having been\r\nburnt, and the whole place thrown into confusion.\u0026nbsp; Still the\r\nutmost that can, or could ever, I believe, have been said in its\r\npraise, might be comprised in a few words.\u0026nbsp; The streets are\r\nopen, and many of the houses large; but I saw nothing to rouse\r\nthe idea of elegance or grandeur, if I except the circus where\r\nthe king and prince royal reside.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe palace, which was consumed about two years ago, must have\r\nbeen a handsome, spacious building; the stone-work is still\r\nstanding, and a great number of the poor, during the late fire,\r\ntook refuge in its ruins till they could find some other\r\nabode.\u0026nbsp; Beds were thrown on the landing-places of the grand\r\nstaircase, where whole families crept from the cold, and every\r\nlittle nook is boarded up as a retreat for some poor creatures\r\ndeprived of their home.\u0026nbsp; At present a roof may be sufficient\r\nto shelter them from the night air; but as the season advances,\r\nthe extent of the calamity will be more severely felt, I fear,\r\nthough the exertions on the part of Government are very\r\nconsiderable.\u0026nbsp; Private charity has also, no doubt, done much\r\nto alleviate the misery which obtrudes itself at every turn;\r\nstill, public spirit appears to me to be hardly alive here.\u0026nbsp;\r\nHad it existed, the conflagration might have been smothered in\r\nthe beginning, as it was at last, by tearing down several houses\r\nbefore the flames had reached them.\u0026nbsp; To this the inhabitants\r\nwould not consent; and the prince royal not having sufficient\r\nenergy of character to know when he ought to be absolute, calmly\r\nlet them pursue their own course, till the whole city seemed to\r\nbe threatened with destruction.\u0026nbsp; Adhering, with puerile\r\nscrupulosity, to the law which he has imposed on himself, of\r\nacting exactly right, he did wrong by idly lamenting whilst he\r\nmarked the progress of a mischief that one decided step would\r\nhave stopped.\u0026nbsp; He was afterwards obliged to resort to\r\nviolent measures; but then, who could blame him?\u0026nbsp; And, to\r\navoid censure, what sacrifices are not made by weak minds?\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eA gentleman who was a witness of the scene assured me,\r\nlikewise, that if the people of property had taken half as much\r\npains to extinguish the fire as to preserve their valuables and\r\nfurniture, it would soon have been got under.\u0026nbsp; But they who\r\nwere not immediately in danger did not exert themselves\r\nsufficiently, till fear, like an electrical shock, roused all the\r\ninhabitants to a sense of the general evil.\u0026nbsp; Even the\r\nfire-engines were out of order, though the burning of the palace\r\nought to have admonished them of the necessity of keeping them in\r\nconstant repair.\u0026nbsp; But this kind of indolence respecting what\r\ndoes not immediately concern them seems to characterise the\r\nDanes.\u0026nbsp; A sluggish concentration in themselves makes them so\r\ncareful to preserve their property, that they will not venture on\r\nany enterprise to increase it in which there is a shadow of\r\nhazard.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eConsidering Copenhagen as the capital of Denmark and Norway, I\r\nwas surprised not to see so much industry or taste as in\r\nChristiania.\u0026nbsp; Indeed, from everything I have had an\r\nopportunity of observing, the Danes are the people who have made\r\nthe fewest sacrifices to the graces.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe men of business are domestic tyrants, coldly immersed in\r\ntheir own affairs, and so ignorant of the state of other\r\ncountries, that they dogmatically assert that Denmark is the\r\nhappiest country in the world; the Prince Royal the best of all\r\npossible princes; and Count Bernstorff the wisest of\r\nministers.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eAs for the women, they are simply notable housewives; without\r\naccomplishments or any of the charms that adorn more advanced\r\nsocial life.\u0026nbsp; This total ignorance may enable them to save\r\nsomething in their kitchens, but it is far from rendering them\r\nbetter parents.\u0026nbsp; On the contrary, the children are spoiled,\r\nas they usually are when left to the care of weak, indulgent\r\nmothers, who having no principle of action to regulate their\r\nfeelings, become the slaves of infants, enfeebling both body and\r\nmind by false tenderness.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI am, perhaps, a little prejudiced, as I write from the\r\nimpression of the moment; for I have been tormented to-day by the\r\npresence of unruly children, and made angry by some invectives\r\nthrown out against the maternal character of the unfortunate\r\nMatilda.\u0026nbsp; She was censured, with the most cruel insinuation,\r\nfor her management of her son, though, from what I could gather,\r\nshe gave proofs of good sense as well as tenderness in her\r\nattention to him.\u0026nbsp; She used to bathe him herself every\r\nmorning; insisted on his being loosely clad; and would not permit\r\nhis attendants to injure his digestion by humouring his\r\nappetite.\u0026nbsp; She was equally careful to prevent his acquiring\r\nhaughty airs, and playing the tyrant in leading-strings.\u0026nbsp;\r\nThe Queen Dowager would not permit her to suckle him; but the\r\nnext child being a daughter, and not the Heir-Apparent of the\r\nCrown, less opposition was made to her discharging the duty of a\r\nmother.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003ePoor Matilda! thou hast haunted me ever since may arrival; and\r\nthe view I have had of the manners of the country, exciting my\r\nsympathy, has increased my respect for thy memory.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI am now fully convinced that she was the victim of the party\r\nshe displaced, who would have overlooked or encouraged her\r\nattachment, had not her lover, aiming at being useful, attempted\r\nto overturn some established abuses before the people, ripe for\r\nthe change, had sufficient spirit to support him when struggling\r\nin their behalf.\u0026nbsp; Such indeed was the asperity sharpened\r\nagainst her that I have heard her, even after so many years have\r\nelapsed, charged with licentiousness, not only for endeavouring\r\nto render the public amusements more elegant, but for her very\r\ncharities, because she erected, amongst other institutions, a\r\nhospital to receive foundlings.\u0026nbsp; Disgusted with many customs\r\nwhich pass for virtues, though they are nothing more than\r\nobservances of forms, often at the expense of truth, she probably\r\nran into an error common to innovators, in wishing to do\r\nimmediately what can only be done by time.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eMany very cogent reasons have been urged by her friends to\r\nprove that her affection for Struensee was never carried to the\r\nlength alleged against her by those who feared her\r\ninfluence.\u0026nbsp; Be that as it may she certainly was no a woman\r\nof gallantry, and if she had an attachment for him it did not\r\ndisgrace her heart or understanding, the king being a notorious\r\ndebauchee and an idiot into the bargain.\u0026nbsp; As the\r\nking\u0026rsquo;s conduct had always been directed by some favourite,\r\nthey also endeavoured to govern him, from a principle of\r\nself-preservation as well as a laudable ambition; but, not aware\r\nof the prejudices they had to encounter, the system they adopted\r\ndisplayed more benevolence of heart than soundness of\r\njudgment.\u0026nbsp; As to the charge, still believed, of their giving\r\nthe King drugs to injure his faculties, it is too absurd to be\r\nrefuted.\u0026nbsp; Their oppressors had better have accused them of\r\ndabbling in the black art, for the potent spell still keeps his\r\nwits in bondage.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI cannot describe to you the effect it had on me to see this\r\npuppet of a monarch moved by the strings which Count Bernstorff\r\nholds fast; sit, with vacant eye, erect, receiving the homage of\r\ncourtiers who mock him with a show of respect.\u0026nbsp; He is, in\r\nfact, merely a machine of state, to subscribe the name of a king\r\nto the acts of the Government, which, to avoid danger, have no\r\nvalue unless countersigned by the Prince Royal; for he is allowed\r\nto be absolutely an idiot, excepting that now and then an\r\nobservation or trick escapes him, which looks more like madness\r\nthan imbecility.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eWhat a farce is life.\u0026nbsp; This effigy of majesty is allowed\r\nto burn down to the socket, whilst the hapless Matilda was\r\nhurried into an untimely grave.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;As flies to wanton boys, are we to the\r\ngods;\u003cbr /\u003e\r\nThey kill us for their sport.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\r\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: right\"\u003eAdieu!\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003eLETTER XIX.\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eBusiness having obliged me to go a few miles out of town this\r\nmorning I was surprised at meeting a crowd of people of every\r\ndescription, and inquiring the cause of a servant, who spoke\r\nFrench, I was informed that a man had been executed two hours\r\nbefore, and the body afterwards burnt.\u0026nbsp; I could not help\r\nlooking with horror around\u0026mdash;the fields lost their\r\nverdure\u0026mdash;and I turned with disgust from the well-dressed\r\nwomen who were returning with their children from this\r\nsight.\u0026nbsp; What a spectacle for humanity!\u0026nbsp; The seeing such\r\na flock of idle gazers plunged me into a train of reflections on\r\nthe pernicious effects produced by false notions of\r\njustice.\u0026nbsp; And I am persuaded that till capital punishments\r\nare entirely abolished executions ought to have every appearance\r\nof horror given to them, instead of being, as they are now, a\r\nscene of amusement for the gaping crowd, where sympathy is\r\nquickly effaced by curiosity.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI have always been of opinion that the allowing actors to die\r\nin the presence of the audience has an immoral tendency, but\r\ntrifling when compared with the ferocity acquired by viewing the\r\nreality as a show; for it seems to me that in all countries the\r\ncommon people go to executions to see how the poor wretch plays\r\nhis part, rather than to commiserate his fate, much less to think\r\nof the breach of morality which has brought him to such a\r\ndeplorable end.\u0026nbsp; Consequently executions, far from being\r\nuseful examples to the survivors, have, I am persuaded, a quite\r\ncontrary effect, by hardening the heart they ought to\r\nterrify.\u0026nbsp; Besides the fear of an ignominious death, I\r\nbelieve, never deferred anyone from the commission of a crime,\r\nbecause, in committing it, the mind is roused to activity about\r\npresent circumstances.\u0026nbsp; It is a game at hazard, at which all\r\nexpect the turn of the die in their own favour, never reflecting\r\non the chance of ruin till it comes.\u0026nbsp; In fact, from what I\r\nsaw in the fortresses of Norway, I am more and more convinced\r\nthat the same energy of character which renders a man a daring\r\nvillain would have rendered him useful to society, had that\r\nsociety been well organised.\u0026nbsp; When a strong mind is not\r\ndisciplined by cultivation it is a sense of injustice that\r\nrenders it unjust.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eExecutions, however, occur very rarely at Copenhagen; for\r\ntimidity, rather than clemency, palsies all the operations of the\r\npresent Government.\u0026nbsp; The malefactor who died this morning\r\nwould not, probably, have been punished with death at any other\r\nperiod; but an incendiary excites universal execration; and as\r\nthe greater part of the inhabitants are still distressed by the\r\nlate conflagration, an example was thought absolutely necessary;\r\nthough, from what I can gather, the fire was accidental.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eNot, but that I have very seriously been informed, that\r\ncombustible materials were placed at proper distance, by the\r\nemissaries of Mr. Pitt; and, to corroborate the fact, many people\r\ninsist that the flames burst out at once in different parts of\r\nthe city; not allowing the wind to have any hand in it.\u0026nbsp; So\r\nmuch for the plot.\u0026nbsp; But the fabricators of plots in all\r\ncountries build their conjectures on the \u0026ldquo;baseless fabric\r\nof a vision;\u0026rdquo; and it seems even a sort of poetical justice,\r\nthat whilst this Minister is crushing at home plots of his own\r\nconjuring up, on the Continent, and in the north, he should, with\r\nas little foundation, be accused of wishing to set the world on\r\nfire.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI forgot to mention to you, that I was informed, by a man of\r\nveracity, that two persons came to the stake to drink a glass of\r\nthe criminal\u0026rsquo;s blood, as an infallible remedy for the\r\napoplexy.\u0026nbsp; And when I animadverted in the company, where it\r\nwas mentioned, on such a horrible violation of nature, a Danish\r\nlady reproved me very severely, asking how I knew that it was not\r\na cure for the disease? adding, that every attempt was\r\njustifiable in search of health.\u0026nbsp; I did not, you may\r\nimagine, enter into an argument with a person the slave of such a\r\ngross prejudice.\u0026nbsp; And I allude to it not only as a trait of\r\nthe ignorance of the people, but to censure the Government for\r\nnot preventing scenes that throw an odium on the human race.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eEmpiricism is not peculiar to Denmark; and I know no way of\r\nrooting it out, though it be a remnant of exploded witchcraft,\r\ntill the acquiring a general knowledge of the component parts of\r\nthe human frame becomes a part of public education.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eSince the fire, the inhabitants have been very assiduously\r\nemployed in searching for property secreted during the confusion;\r\nand it is astonishing how many people, formerly termed reputable,\r\nhad availed themselves of the common calamity to purloin what the\r\nflames spared.\u0026nbsp; Others, expert at making a distinction\r\nwithout a difference, concealed what they found, not troubling\r\nthemselves to inquire for the owners, though they scrupled to\r\nsearch for plunder anywhere, but amongst the ruins.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eTo be honester than the laws require is by most people thought\r\na work of supererogation; and to slip through the grate of the\r\nlaw has ever exercised the abilities of adventurers, who wish to\r\nget rich the shortest way.\u0026nbsp; Knavery without personal danger\r\nis an art brought to great perfection by the statesman and\r\nswindler; and meaner knaves are not tardy in following their\r\nfootsteps.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIt moves my gall to discover some of the commercial frauds\r\npractised during the present war.\u0026nbsp; In short, under whatever\r\npoint of view I consider society, it appears to me that an\r\nadoration of property is the root of all evil.\u0026nbsp; Here it does\r\nnot render the people enterprising, as in America, but thrifty\r\nand cautious.\u0026nbsp; I never, therefore, was in a capital where\r\nthere was so little appearance of active industry; and as for\r\ngaiety, I looked in vain for the sprightly gait of the\r\nNorwegians, who in every respect appear to me to have got the\r\nstart of them.\u0026nbsp; This difference I attribute to their having\r\nmore liberty\u0026mdash;a liberty which they think their right by\r\ninheritance, whilst the Danes, when they boast of their negative\r\nhappiness, always mention it as the boon of the Prince Royal,\r\nunder the superintending wisdom of Count Bernstorff.\u0026nbsp;\r\nVassalage is nevertheless ceasing throughout the kingdom, and\r\nwith it will pass away that sordid avarice which every\r\nmodification of slavery is calculated to produce.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIf the chief use of property be power, in the shape of the\r\nrespect it procures, is it not among the inconsistencies of human\r\nnature most incomprehensible, that men should find a pleasure in\r\nhoarding up property which they steal from their necessities,\r\neven when they are convinced that it would be dangerous to\r\ndisplay such an enviable superiority?\u0026nbsp; Is not this the\r\nsituation of serfs in every country.\u0026nbsp; Yet a rapacity to\r\naccumulate money seems to become stronger in proportion as it is\r\nallowed to be useless.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eWealth does not appear to be sought for amongst the Danes, to\r\nobtain the excellent luxuries of life, for a want of taste is\r\nvery conspicuous at Copenhagen; so much so that I am not\r\nsurprised to hear that poor Matilda offended the rigid Lutherans\r\nby aiming to refine their pleasures.\u0026nbsp; The elegance which she\r\nwished to introduce was termed lasciviousness; yet I do not find\r\nthat the absence of gallantry renders the wives more chaste, or\r\nthe husbands more constant.\u0026nbsp; Love here seems to corrupt the\r\nmorals without polishing the manners, by banishing confidence and\r\ntruth, the charm as well as cement of domestic life.\u0026nbsp; A\r\ngentleman, who has resided in this city some time, assures me\r\nthat he could not find language to give me an idea of the gross\r\ndebaucheries into which the lower order of people fall; and the\r\npromiscuous amours of the men of the middling class with their\r\nfemale servants debase both beyond measure, weakening every\r\nspecies of family affection.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI have everywhere been struck by one characteristic difference\r\nin the conduct of the two sexes; women, in general, are seduced\r\nby their superiors, and men jilted by their inferiors: rank and\r\nmanners awe the one, and cunning and wantonness subjugate the\r\nother; ambition creeping into the woman\u0026rsquo;s passion, and\r\ntyranny giving force to the man\u0026rsquo;s, for most men treat their\r\nmistresses as kings do their favourites: \u003ci\u003eergo\u003c/i\u003e is not man\r\nthen the tyrant of the creation?\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eStill harping on the same subject, you will exclaim\u0026mdash;How\r\ncan I avoid it, when most of the struggles of an eventful life\r\nhave been occasioned by the oppressed state of my sex?\u0026nbsp; We\r\nreason deeply when we feel forcibly.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eBut to return to the straight road of observation.\u0026nbsp; The\r\nsensuality so prevalent appears to me to arise rather from\r\nindolence of mind and dull senses, than from an exuberance of\r\nlife, which often fructifies the whole character when the\r\nvivacity of youthful spirits begins to subside into strength of\r\nmind.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI have before mentioned that the men are domestic tyrants,\r\nconsidering them as fathers, brothers, or husbands; but there is\r\na kind of interregnum between the reign of the father and husband\r\nwhich is the only period of freedom and pleasure that the women\r\nenjoy.\u0026nbsp; Young people who are attached to each other, with\r\nthe consent of their friends, exchange rings, and are permitted\r\nto enjoy a degree of liberty together which I have never noticed\r\nin any other country.\u0026nbsp; The days of courtship are, therefore,\r\nprolonged till it be perfectly convenient to marry: the intimacy\r\noften becomes very tender; and if the lover obtain the privilege\r\nof a husband, it can only be termed half by stealth, because the\r\nfamily is wilfully blind.\u0026nbsp; It happens very rarely that these\r\nhonorary engagements are dissolved or disregarded, a stigma being\r\nattached to a breach of faith which is thought more disgraceful,\r\nif not so criminal, as the violation of the marriage-vow.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eDo not forget that, in my general observations, I do not\r\npretend to sketch a national character, but merely to note the\r\npresent state of morals and manners as I trace the progress of\r\nthe world\u0026rsquo;s improvement.\u0026nbsp; Because, during my residence\r\nin different countries, my principal object has been to take such\r\na dispassionate view of men as will lead me to form a just idea\r\nof the nature of man.\u0026nbsp; And, to deal ingenuously with you, I\r\nbelieve I should have been less severe in the remarks I have made\r\non the vanity and depravity of the French, had I travelled\r\ntowards the north before I visited France.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe interesting picture frequently drawn of the virtues of a\r\nrising people has, I fear, been fallacious, excepting the\r\naccounts of the enthusiasm which various public struggles have\r\nproduced.\u0026nbsp; We talk of the depravity of the French, and lay a\r\nstress on the old age of the nation; yet where has more virtuous\r\nenthusiasm been displayed than during the two last years by the\r\ncommon people of France, and in their armies?\u0026nbsp; I am obliged\r\nsometimes to recollect the numberless instances which I have\r\neither witnessed, or heard well authenticated, to balance the\r\naccount of horrors, alas! but too true.\u0026nbsp; I am, therefore,\r\ninclined to believe that the gross vices which I have always seem\r\nallied with simplicity of manners, are the concomitants of\r\nignorance.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eWhat, for example, has piety, under the heathen or Christian\r\nsystem, been, but a blind faith in things contrary to the\r\nprinciples of reason?\u0026nbsp; And could poor reason make\r\nconsiderable advances when it was reckoned the highest degree of\r\nvirtue to do violence to its dictates?\u0026nbsp; Lutherans, preaching\r\nreformation, have built a reputation for sanctity on the same\r\nfoundation as the Catholics; yet I do not perceive that a regular\r\nattendance on public worship, and their other observances, make\r\nthem a whit more true in their affections, or honest in their\r\nprivate transactions.\u0026nbsp; It seems, indeed, quite as easy to\r\nprevaricate with religious injunctions as human laws, when the\r\nexercise of their reason does not lead people to acquire\r\nprinciples for themselves to be the criterion of all those they\r\nreceive from others.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIf travelling, as the completion of a liberal education, were\r\nto be adopted on rational grounds, the northern states ought to\r\nbe visited before the more polished parts of Europe, to serve as\r\nthe elements even of the knowledge of manners, only to be\r\nacquired by tracing the various shades in different\r\ncountries.\u0026nbsp; But, when visiting distant climes, a momentary\r\nsocial sympathy should not be allowed to influence the\r\nconclusions of the understanding, for hospitality too frequently\r\nleads travellers, especially those who travel in search of\r\npleasure, to make a false estimate of the virtues of a nation,\r\nwhich, I am now convinced, bear an exact proportion to their\r\nscientific improvements.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: right\"\u003eAdieu.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003eLETTER XX.\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI have formerly censured the French for their extreme\r\nattachment to theatrical exhibitions, because I thought that they\r\ntended to render them vain and unnatural characters; but I must\r\nacknowledge, especially as women of the town never appear in the\r\nParisian as at our theatres, that the little saving of the week\r\nis more usefully expended there every Sunday than in porter or\r\nbrandy, to intoxicate or stupify the mind.\u0026nbsp; The common\r\npeople of France have a great superiority over that class in\r\nevery other country on this very score.\u0026nbsp; It is merely the\r\nsobriety of the Parisians which renders their f\u0026ecirc;tes more\r\ninteresting, their gaiety never becoming disgusting or dangerous,\r\nas is always the case when liquor circulates.\u0026nbsp; Intoxication\r\nis the pleasure of savages, and of all those whose employments\r\nrather exhaust their animal spirits than exercise their\r\nfaculties.\u0026nbsp; Is not this, in fact, the vice, both in England\r\nand the northern states of Europe, which appears to be the\r\ngreatest impediment to general improvement?\u0026nbsp; Drinking is\r\nhere the principal relaxation of the men, including smoking, but\r\nthe women are very abstemious, though they have no public\r\namusements as a substitute.\u0026nbsp; I ought to except one theatre,\r\nwhich appears more than is necessary; for when I was there it was\r\nnot half full, and neither the ladies nor actresses displayed\r\nmuch fancy in their dress.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe play was founded on the story of the \u0026ldquo;Mock\r\nDoctor;\u0026rdquo; and, from the gestures of the servants, who were\r\nthe best actors, I should imagine contained some humour.\u0026nbsp;\r\nThe farce, termed ballet, was a kind of pantomime, the childish\r\nincidents of which were sufficient to show the state of the\r\ndramatic art in Denmark, and the gross taste of the\r\naudience.\u0026nbsp; A magician, in the disguise of a tinker, enters a\r\ncottage where the women are all busy ironing, and rubs a dirty\r\nfrying-pan against the linen.\u0026nbsp; The women raise a\r\nhue-and-cry, and dance after him, rousing their husbands, who\r\njoin in the dance, but get the start of them in the\r\npursuit.\u0026nbsp; The tinker, with the frying-pan for a shield,\r\nrenders them immovable, and blacks their cheeks.\u0026nbsp; Each\r\nlaughs at the other, unconscious of his own appearance; meanwhile\r\nthe women enter to enjoy the sport, \u0026ldquo;the rare fun,\u0026rdquo;\r\nwith other incidents of the same species.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe singing was much on a par with the dancing, the one as\r\ndestitute of grace as the other of expression; but the orchestra\r\nwas well filled, the instrumental being far superior to the vocal\r\nmusic.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI have likewise visited the public library and museum, as well\r\nas the palace of Rosembourg.\u0026nbsp; This palace, now deserted,\r\ndisplays a gloomy kind of grandeur throughout, for the silence of\r\nspacious apartments always makes itself to be felt; I at least\r\nfeel it, and I listen for the sound of my footsteps as I have\r\ndone at midnight to the ticking of the death-watch, encouraging a\r\nkind of fanciful superstition.\u0026nbsp; Every object carried me back\r\nto past times, and impressed the manners of the age forcibly on\r\nmy mind.\u0026nbsp; In this point of view the preservation of old\r\npalaces and their tarnished furniture is useful, for they may be\r\nconsidered as historical documents.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe vacuum left by departed greatness was everywhere\r\nobservable, whilst the battles and processions portrayed on the\r\nwalls told you who had here excited revelry after retiring from\r\nslaughter, or dismissed pageantry in search of pleasure.\u0026nbsp; It\r\nseemed a vast tomb full of the shadowy phantoms of those who had\r\nplayed or toiled their hour out and sunk behind the tapestry\r\nwhich celebrated the conquests of love or war.\u0026nbsp; Could they\r\nbe no more\u0026mdash;to whom my imagination thus gave life?\u0026nbsp;\r\nCould the thoughts, of which there remained so many vestiges,\r\nhave vanished quite away?\u0026nbsp; And these beings, composed of\r\nsuch noble materials of thinking and feeling, have they only\r\nmelted into the elements to keep in motion the grand mass of\r\nlife?\u0026nbsp; It cannot be!\u0026mdash;as easily could I believe that\r\nthe large silver lions at the top of the banqueting room thought\r\nand reasoned.\u0026nbsp; But avaunt! ye waking dreams! yet I cannot\r\ndescribe the curiosities to you.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThere were cabinets full of baubles and gems, and swords which\r\nmust have been wielded by giant\u0026rsquo;s hand.\u0026nbsp; The\r\ncoronation ornaments wait quietly here till wanted, and the\r\nwardrobe exhibits the vestments which formerly graced these\r\nshows.\u0026nbsp; It is a pity they do not lend them to the actors,\r\ninstead of allowing them to perish ingloriously.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI have not visited any other palace, excepting Hirsholm, the\r\ngardens of which are laid out with taste, and command the finest\r\nviews the country affords.\u0026nbsp; As they are in the modern and\r\nEnglish style, I thought I was following the footsteps of\r\nMatilda, who wished to multiply around her the images of her\r\nbeloved country.\u0026nbsp; I was also gratified by the sight of a\r\nNorwegian landscape in miniature, which with great propriety\r\nmakes a part of the Danish King\u0026rsquo;s garden.\u0026nbsp; The cottage\r\nis well imitated, and the whole has a pleasing effect,\r\nparticularly so to me who love Norway\u0026mdash;its peaceful farms\r\nand spacious wilds.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe public library consists of a collection much larger than I\r\nexpected to see; and it is well arranged.\u0026nbsp; Of the value of\r\nthe Icelandic manuscripts I could not form a judgment, though the\r\nalphabet of some of them amused me, by showing what immense\r\nlabour men will submit to, in order to transmit their ideas to\r\nposterity.\u0026nbsp; I have sometimes thought it a great misfortune\r\nfor individuals to acquire a certain delicacy of sentiment, which\r\noften makes them weary of the common occurrences of life; yet it\r\nis this very delicacy of feeling and thinking which probably has\r\nproduced most of the performances that have benefited\r\nmankind.\u0026nbsp; It might with propriety, perhaps, be termed the\r\nmalady of genius; the cause of that characteristic melancholy\r\nwhich \u0026ldquo;grows with its growth, and strengthens with its\r\nstrength.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThere are some good pictures in the royal museum.\u0026nbsp; Do not\r\nstart, I am not going to trouble you with a dull catalogue, or\r\nstupid criticisms on masters to whom time has assigned their just\r\nniche in the temple of fame; had there been any by living artists\r\nof this country, I should have noticed them, as making a part of\r\nthe sketches I am drawing of the present state of the\r\nplace.\u0026nbsp; The good pictures were mixed indiscriminately with\r\nthe bad ones, in order to assort the frames.\u0026nbsp; The same fault\r\nis conspicuous in the new splendid gallery forming at Paris;\r\nthough it seems an obvious thought that a school for artists\r\nought to be arranged in such a manner, as to show the progressive\r\ndiscoveries and improvements in the art.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eA collection of the dresses, arms, and implements of the\r\nLaplanders attracted my attention, displaying that first species\r\nof ingenuity which is rather a proof of patient perseverance,\r\nthan comprehension of mind.\u0026nbsp; The specimens of natural\r\nhistory, and curiosities of art, were likewise huddled together\r\nwithout that scientific order which alone renders them useful;\r\nbut this may partly have been occasioned by the hasty manner in\r\nwhich they were removed from the palace when in flames.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThere are some respectable men of science here, but few\r\nliterary characters, and fewer artists.\u0026nbsp; They want\r\nencouragement, and will continue, I fear, from the present\r\nappearance of things, to languish unnoticed a long time; for\r\nneither the vanity of wealth, nor the enterprising spirit of\r\ncommerce, has yet thrown a glance that way.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eBesides, the Prince Royal, determined to be economical, almost\r\ndescends to parsimony; and perhaps depresses his subjects, by\r\nlabouring not to oppress them; for his intentions always seem to\r\nbe good\u0026mdash;yet nothing can give a more forcible idea of the\r\ndulness which eats away all activity of mind, than the insipid\r\nroutine of a court, without magnificence or elegance.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe Prince, from what I can now collect, has very moderate\r\nabilities; yet is so well disposed, that Count Bernstorff finds\r\nhim as tractable as he could wish; for I consider the Count as\r\nthe real sovereign, scarcely behind the curtain; the Prince\r\nhaving none of that obstinate self-sufficiency of youth, so often\r\nthe forerunner of decision of character.\u0026nbsp; He and the\r\nPrincess his wife, dine every day with the King, to save the\r\nexpense of two tables.\u0026nbsp; What a mummery it must be to treat\r\nas a king a being who has lost the majesty of man!\u0026nbsp; But even\r\nCount Bernstorff\u0026rsquo;s morality submits to this standing\r\nimposition; and he avails himself of it sometimes, to soften a\r\nrefusal of his own, by saying it is the \u003ci\u003ewill\u003c/i\u003e of the King,\r\nmy master, when everybody knows that he has neither will nor\r\nmemory.\u0026nbsp; Much the same use is made of him as, I have\r\nobserved, some termagant wives make of their husbands; they would\r\ndwell on the necessity of obeying their husbands, poor passive\r\nsouls, who never were allowed \u003ci\u003eto will\u003c/i\u003e, when they wanted to\r\nconceal their own tyranny.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eA story is told here of the King\u0026rsquo;s formerly making a dog\r\ncounsellor of state, because when the dog, accustomed to eat at\r\nthe royal table, snatched a piece of meat off an old\r\nofficer\u0026rsquo;s plate, he reproved him jocosely, saying that he,\r\n\u003ci\u003emonsieur le chien\u003c/i\u003e, had not the privilege of dining with\r\nhis majesty, a privilege annexed to this distinction.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe burning of the palace was, in fact, a fortunate\r\ncircumstance, as it afforded a pretext for reducing the\r\nestablishment of the household, which was far too great for the\r\nrevenue of the Crown.\u0026nbsp; The Prince Royal, at present, runs\r\ninto the opposite extreme; and the formality, if not the\r\nparsimony, of the court, seems to extend to all the other\r\nbranches of society, which I had an opportunity of observing;\r\nthough hospitality still characterises their intercourse with\r\nstrangers.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eBut let me now stop; I may be a little partial, and view\r\neverything with the jaundiced eye of melancholy\u0026mdash;for I am\r\nsad\u0026mdash;and have cause.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: right\"\u003eGod bless you!\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003eLETTER XXI.\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI have seen Count Bernstorff; and his conversation confirms me\r\nin the opinion I had previously formed of him; I mean, since my\r\narrival at Copenhagen.\u0026nbsp; He is a worthy man, a little vain of\r\nhis virtue \u003ci\u003e\u0026agrave; la\u003c/i\u003e Necker; and more anxious not to do\r\nwrong, that is to avoid blame, than desirous of doing good;\r\nespecially if any particular good demands a change.\u0026nbsp;\r\nPrudence, in short, seems to be the basis of his character; and,\r\nfrom the tenor of the Government, I should think inclining to\r\nthat cautious circumspection which treads on the heels of\r\ntimidity.\u0026nbsp; He has considerable information, and some\r\nfinesse; or he could not be a Minister.\u0026nbsp; Determined not to\r\nrisk his popularity, for he is tenderly careful of his\r\nreputation, he will never gloriously fail like Struensee, or\r\ndisturb, with the energy of genius, the stagnant state of the\r\npublic mind.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI suppose that Lavater, whom he invited to visit him two years\r\nago\u0026mdash;some say to fix the principles of the Christian\r\nreligion firmly in the Prince Royal\u0026rsquo;s mind, found lines in\r\nhis face to prove him a statesman of the first order; because he\r\nhas a knack at seeing a great character in the countenances of\r\nmen in exalted stations, who have noticed him or his works.\u0026nbsp;\r\nBesides, the Count\u0026rsquo;s sentiments relative to the French\r\nRevolution, agreeing with Lavater\u0026rsquo;s, must have ensured his\r\napplause.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe Danes, in general, seem extremely averse to innovation,\r\nand if happiness only consist in opinion, they are the happiest\r\npeople in the world; for I never saw any so well satisfied with\r\ntheir own situation.\u0026nbsp; Yet the climate appears to be very\r\ndisagreeable, the weather being dry and sultry, or moist and\r\ncold; the atmosphere never having that sharp, bracing purity,\r\nwhich in Norway prepares you to brave its rigours.\u0026nbsp; I do not\r\nhear the inhabitants of this place talk with delight of the\r\nwinter, which is the constant theme of the Norwegians; on the\r\ncontrary, they seem to dread its comfortless inclemency.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe ramparts are pleasant, and must have been much more so\r\nbefore the fire, the walkers not being annoyed by the clouds of\r\ndust which, at present, the slightest wind wafts from the\r\nruins.\u0026nbsp; The windmills, and the comfortable houses\r\ncontiguous, belonging to the millers, as well as the appearance\r\nof the spacious barracks for the soldiers and sailors, tend to\r\nrender this walk more agreeable.\u0026nbsp; The view of the country\r\nhas not much to recommend it to notice but its extent and\r\ncultivation: yet as the eye always delights to dwell on verdant\r\nplains, especially when we are resident in a great city, these\r\nshady walks should be reckoned amongst the advantages procured by\r\nthe Government for the inhabitants.\u0026nbsp; I like them better than\r\nthe Royal Gardens, also open to the public, because the latter\r\nseem sunk in the heart of the city, to concentrate its fogs.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe canals which intersect the streets are equally convenient\r\nand wholesome; but the view of the sea commanded by the town had\r\nlittle to interest me whilst the remembrance of the various bold\r\nand picturesque shores I had seen was fresh in my memory.\u0026nbsp;\r\nStill the opulent inhabitants, who seldom go abroad, must find\r\nthe spots where they fix their country seats much pleasanter on\r\naccount of the vicinity of the ocean.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eOne of the best streets in Copenhagen is almost filled with\r\nhospitals, erected by the Government, and, I am assured, as well\r\nregulated as institutions of this kind are in any country; but\r\nwhether hospitals or workhouses are anywhere superintended with\r\nsufficient humanity I have frequently had reason to doubt.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe autumn is so uncommonly fine that I am unwilling to put\r\noff my journey to Hamburg much longer, lest the weather should\r\nalter suddenly, and the chilly harbingers of winter catch me\r\nhere, where I have nothing now to detain me but the hospitality\r\nof the families to whom I had recommendatory letters.\u0026nbsp; I\r\nlodged at an hotel situated in a large open square, where the\r\ntroops exercise and the market is kept.\u0026nbsp; My apartments were\r\nvery good; and on account of the fire I was told that I should be\r\ncharged very high; yet, paying my bill just now, I find the\r\ndemands much lower in proportion than in Norway, though my\r\ndinners were in every respect better.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI have remained more at home since I arrived at Copenhagen\r\nthan I ought to have done in a strange place, but the mind is not\r\nalways equally active in search of information, and my oppressed\r\nheart too often sighs out\u0026mdash;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;How dull, flat, and unprofitable\u003cbr /\u003e\r\nAre to me all the usages of this world:\u003cbr /\u003e\r\nThat it should come to this!\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eFarewell!\u0026nbsp; Fare thee well, I say; if thou canst, repeat\r\nthe adieu in a different tone.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003eLETTER XXII.\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI arrived at Corsoer the night after I quitted Copenhagen,\r\npurposing to take my passage across the Great Belt the next\r\nmorning, though the weather was rather boisterous.\u0026nbsp; It is\r\nabout four-and-twenty miles but as both I and my little girl are\r\nnever attacked by sea-sickness\u0026mdash;though who can avoid\r\n\u003ci\u003eennui\u003c/i\u003e?\u0026mdash;I enter a boat with the same indifference as\r\nI change horses; and as for danger, come when it may, I dread it\r\nnot sufficiently to have any anticipating fears.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe road from Copenhagen was very good, through an open, flat\r\ncountry that had little to recommend it to notice excepting the\r\ncultivation, which gratified my heart more than my eye.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI took a barge with a German baron who was hastening back from\r\na tour into Denmark, alarmed by the intelligence of the French\r\nhaving passed the Rhine.\u0026nbsp; His conversation beguiled the\r\ntime, and gave a sort of stimulus to my spirits, which had been\r\ngrowing more and more languid ever since my return to Gothenburg;\r\nyou know why.\u0026nbsp; I had often endeavoured to rouse myself to\r\nobservation by reflecting that I was passing through scenes which\r\nI should probably never see again, and consequently ought not to\r\nomit observing.\u0026nbsp; Still I fell into reveries, thinking, by\r\nway of excuse, that enlargement of mind and refined feelings are\r\nof little use but to barb the arrows of sorrow which waylay us\r\neverywhere, eluding the sagacity of wisdom and rendering\r\nprinciples unavailing, if considered as a breastwork to secure\r\nour own hearts.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThough we had not a direct wind, we were not detained more\r\nthan three hours and a half on the water, just long enough to\r\ngive us an appetite for our dinner.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eWe travelled the remainder of the day and the following night\r\nin company with the same party, the German gentleman whom I have\r\nmentioned, his friend, and servant.\u0026nbsp; The meetings at the\r\npost-houses were pleasant to me, who usually heard nothing but\r\nstrange tongues around me.\u0026nbsp; Marguerite and the child often\r\nfell asleep, and when they were awake I might still reckon myself\r\nalone, as our train of thoughts had nothing in common.\u0026nbsp;\r\nMarguerite, it is true, was much amused by the costume of the\r\nwomen, particularly by the pannier which adorned both their heads\r\nand tails, and with great glee recounted to me the stories she\r\nhad treasured up for her family when once more within the\r\nbarriers of dear Paris, not forgetting, with that arch, agreeable\r\nvanity peculiar to the French, which they exhibit whilst half\r\nridiculing it, to remind me of the importance she should assume\r\nwhen she informed her friends of all her journeys by sea and\r\nland, showing the pieces of money she had collected, and\r\nstammering out a few foreign phrases, which she repeated in a\r\ntrue Parisian accent.\u0026nbsp; Happy thoughtlessness! ay, and\r\nenviable harmless vanity, which thus produced a \u003ci\u003egaité\r\ndu cœur\u003c/i\u003e worth all my philosophy!\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe man I had hired at Copenhagen advised me to go round about\r\ntwenty miles to avoid passing the Little Belt excepting by a\r\nferry, as the wind was contrary.\u0026nbsp; But the gentlemen\r\noverruled his arguments, which we were all very sorry for\r\nafterwards, when we found ourselves becalmed on the Little Belt\r\nten hours, tacking about without ceasing, to gain the shore.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eAn oversight likewise made the passage appear much more\r\ntedious, nay, almost insupportable.\u0026nbsp; When I went on board at\r\nthe Great Belt, I had provided refreshments in case of detention,\r\nwhich remaining untouched I thought not then any such precaution\r\nnecessary for the second passage, misled by the epithet of\r\n\u0026ldquo;little,\u0026rdquo; though I have since been informed that it\r\nis frequently the longest.\u0026nbsp; This mistake occasioned much\r\nvexation; for the child, at last, began to cry so bitterly for\r\nbread, that fancy conjured up before me the wretched Ugolino,\r\nwith his famished children; and I, literally speaking, enveloped\r\nmyself in sympathetic horrors, augmented by every tear my babe\r\nshed, from which I could not escape till we landed, and a\r\nluncheon of bread and basin of milk routed the spectres of\r\nfancy.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI then supped with my companions, with whom I was soon after\r\nto part for ever\u0026mdash;always a most melancholy death-like\r\nidea\u0026mdash;a sort of separation of soul; for all the regret which\r\nfollows those from whom fate separates us seems to be something\r\ntorn from ourselves.\u0026nbsp; These were strangers I remember; yet\r\nwhen there is any originality in a countenance, it takes its\r\nplace in our memory, and we are sorry to lose an acquaintance the\r\nmoment he begins to interest us, though picked up on the\r\nhighway.\u0026nbsp; There was, in fact, a degree of intelligence, and\r\nstill more sensibility, in the features and conversation of one\r\nof the gentlemen, that made me regret the loss of his society\r\nduring the rest of the journey; for he was compelled to travel\r\npost, by his desire to reach his estate before the arrival of the\r\nFrench.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThis was a comfortable inn, as were several others I stopped\r\nat; but the heavy sandy roads were very fatiguing, after the fine\r\nones we had lately skimmed over both in Sweden and Denmark.\u0026nbsp;\r\nThe country resembled the most open part of England\u0026mdash;laid\r\nout for corn rather than grazing.\u0026nbsp; It was pleasant, yet\r\nthere was little in the prospects to awaken curiosity, by\r\ndisplaying the peculiar characteristics of a new country, which\r\nhad so frequently stole me from myself in Norway.\u0026nbsp; We often\r\npassed over large unenclosed tracts, not graced with trees, or at\r\nleast very sparingly enlivened by them, and the half-formed roads\r\nseemed to demand the landmarks, set up in the waste, to prevent\r\nthe traveller from straying far out of his way, and plodding\r\nthrough the wearisome sand.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe heaths were dreary, and had none of the wild charms of\r\nthose of Sweden and Norway to cheat time; neither the terrific\r\nrocks, nor smiling herbage grateful to the sight and scented from\r\nafar, made us forget their length.\u0026nbsp; Still the country\r\nappeared much more populous, and the towns, if not the\r\nfarmhouses, were superior to those of Norway.\u0026nbsp; I even\r\nthought that the inhabitants of the former had more\r\nintelligence\u0026mdash;at least, I am sure they had more vivacity in\r\ntheir countenances than I had seen during my northern tour: their\r\nsenses seemed awake to business and pleasure.\u0026nbsp; I was\r\ntherefore gratified by hearing once more the busy hum of\r\nindustrious men in the day, and the exhilarating sounds of joy in\r\nthe evening; for, as the weather was still fine, the women and\r\nchildren were amusing themselves at their doors, or walking under\r\nthe trees, which in many places were planted in the streets; and\r\nas most of the towns of any note were situated on little bays or\r\nbranches of the Baltic, their appearance as we approached was\r\noften very picturesque, and, when we entered, displayed the\r\ncomfort and cleanliness of easy, if not the elegance of opulent,\r\ncircumstances.\u0026nbsp; But the cheerfulness of the people in the\r\nstreets was particularly grateful to me, after having been\r\ndepressed by the deathlike silence of those of Denmark, where\r\nevery house made me think of a tomb.\u0026nbsp; The dress of the\r\npeasantry is suited to the climate; in short, none of that\r\npoverty and dirt appeared, at the sight of which the heart\r\nsickens.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eAs I only stopped to change horses, take refreshment, and\r\nsleep, I had not an opportunity of knowing more of the country\r\nthan conclusions which the information gathered by my eyes\r\nenabled me to draw, and that was sufficient to convince me that I\r\nshould much rather have lived in some of the towns I now pass\r\nthrough than in any I had seen in Sweden or Denmark.\u0026nbsp; The\r\npeople struck me as having arrived at that period when the\r\nfaculties will unfold themselves; in short; they look alive to\r\nimprovement, neither congealed by indolence, nor bent down by\r\nwretchedness to servility.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eFrom the previous impression\u0026mdash;I scarcely can trace whence\r\nI received it\u0026mdash;I was agreeably surprised to perceive such an\r\nappearance of comfort in this part of Germany.\u0026nbsp; I had formed\r\na conception of the tyranny of the petty potentates that had\r\nthrown a gloomy veil over the face of the whole country in my\r\nimagination, that cleared away like the darkness of night before\r\nthe sun as I saw the reality.\u0026nbsp; I should probably have\r\ndiscovered much lurking misery, the consequence of ignorant\r\noppression, no doubt, had I had time to inquire into particulars;\r\nbut it did not stalk abroad and infect the surface over which my\r\neye glanced.\u0026nbsp; Yes, I am persuaded that a considerable degree\r\nof general knowledge pervades this country, for it is only from\r\nthe exercise of the mind that the body acquires the activity from\r\nwhich I drew these inferences.\u0026nbsp; Indeed, the King of\r\nDenmark\u0026rsquo;s German dominions\u0026mdash;Holstein\u0026mdash;appeared to\r\nme far superior to any other part of his kingdom which had fallen\r\nunder my view; and the robust rustics to have their muscles\r\nbraced, instead of the, as it were, lounge of the Danish\r\npeasantry.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eArriving at Sleswick, the residence of Prince Charles of\r\nHesse-Cassel, the sight of the soldiers recalled all the\r\nunpleasing ideas of German despotism, which imperceptibly\r\nvanished as I advanced into the country.\u0026nbsp; I viewed, with a\r\nmixture of pity and horror, these beings training to be sold to\r\nslaughter, or be slaughtered, and fell into reflections on an old\r\nopinion of mine, that it is the preservation of the species, not\r\nof individuals, which appears to be the design of the Deity\r\nthroughout the whole of Nature.\u0026nbsp; Blossoms come forth only to\r\nbe blighted; fish lay their spawn where it will be devoured; and\r\nwhat a large portion of the human race are born merely to be\r\nswept prematurely away!\u0026nbsp; Does not this waste of budding life\r\nemphatically assert that it is not men, but Man, whose\r\npreservation is so necessary to the completion of the grand plan\r\nof the universe?\u0026nbsp; Children peep into existence, suffer, and\r\ndie; men play like moths about a candle, and sink into the flame;\r\nwar, and \u0026ldquo;the thousand ills which flesh is heir to,\u0026rdquo;\r\nmow them down in shoals; whilst the more cruel prejudices of\r\nsociety palsy existence, introducing not less sure though slower\r\ndecay.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe castle was heavy and gloomy, yet the grounds about it were\r\nlaid out with some taste; a walk, winding under the shade of\r\nlofty trees, led to a regularly built and animated town.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI crossed the drawbridge, and entered to see this shell of a\r\ncourt in miniature, mounting ponderous stairs\u0026mdash;it would be a\r\nsolecism to say a flight\u0026mdash;up which a regiment of men might\r\nhave marched, shouldering their firelocks to exercise in vast\r\ngalleries, where all the generations of the Princes of\r\nHesse-Cassel might have been mustered rank and file, though not\r\nthe phantoms of all the wretched they had bartered to support\r\ntheir state, unless these airy substances could shrink and\r\nexpand, like Milton\u0026rsquo;s devils, to suit the occasion.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe sight of the presence-chamber, and of the canopy to shade\r\nthe fauteuil which aped a throne, made me smile.\u0026nbsp; All the\r\nworld is a stage, thought I; and few are there in it who do not\r\nplay the part they have learnt by rote; and those who do not,\r\nseem marks set up to be pelted at by fortune, or rather as\r\nsign-posts which point out the road to others, whilst forced to\r\nstand still themselves amidst the mud and dust.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eWaiting for our horses, we were amused by observing the dress\r\nof the women, which was very grotesque and unwieldy.\u0026nbsp; The\r\nfalse notion of beauty which prevails here as well as in Denmark,\r\nI should think very inconvenient in summer, as it consists in\r\ngiving a rotundity to a certain part of the body, not the most\r\nslim, when Nature has done her part.\u0026nbsp; This Dutch prejudice\r\noften leads them to toil under the weight of some ten or a dozen\r\npetticoats, which, with an enormous basket, literally speaking,\r\nas a bonnet, or a straw hat of dimensions equally gigantic,\r\nalmost completely conceal the human form as well as face divine,\r\noften worth showing; still they looked clean, and tripped along,\r\nas it were, before the wind, with a weight of tackle that I could\r\nscarcely have lifted.\u0026nbsp; Many of the country girls I met\r\nappeared to me pretty\u0026mdash;that is, to have fine complexions,\r\nsparkling eyes, and a kind of arch, hoyden playfulness which\r\ndistinguishes the village coquette.\u0026nbsp; The swains, in their\r\nSunday trim, attended some of these fair ones in a more slouching\r\npace, though their dress was not so cumbersome.\u0026nbsp; The women\r\nseem to take the lead in polishing the manners everywhere, this\r\nbeing the only way to better their condition.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eFrom what I have seen throughout my journey, I do not think\r\nthe situation of the poor in England is much, if at all, superior\r\nto that of the same class in different parts of the world; and in\r\nIreland I am sure it is much inferior.\u0026nbsp; I allude to the\r\nformer state of England; for at present the accumulation of\r\nnational wealth only increases the cares of the poor, and hardens\r\nthe hearts of the rich, in spite of the highly extolled rage for\r\nalmsgiving.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eYou know that I have always been an enemy to what is termed\r\ncharity, because timid bigots, endeavouring thus to cover their\r\nsins, do violence to justice, till, acting the demigod, they\r\nforget that they are men.\u0026nbsp; And there are others who do not\r\neven think of laying up a treasure in heaven, whose benevolence\r\nis merely tyranny in disguise; they assist the most worthless,\r\nbecause the most servile, and term them helpless only in\r\nproportion to their fawning.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eAfter leaving Sleswick, we passed through several pretty\r\ntowns; Itzchol particularly pleased me; and the country, still\r\nwearing the same aspect, was improved by the appearance of more\r\ntrees and enclosures.\u0026nbsp; But what gratified me most was the\r\npopulation.\u0026nbsp; I was weary of travelling four or five hours,\r\nnever meeting a carriage, and scarcely a peasant; and then to\r\nstop at such wretched huts as I had seen in Sweden was surely\r\nsufficient to chill any heart awake to sympathy, and throw a\r\ngloom over my favourite subject of contemplation, the future\r\nimprovement of the world.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe farmhouses, likewise, with the huge stables, into which we\r\ndrove whilst the horses were putting to or baiting, were very\r\nclean and commodious.\u0026nbsp; The rooms, with a door into this\r\nhall-like stable and storehouse in one, were decent; and there\r\nwas a compactness in the appearance of the whole family lying\r\nthus snugly together under the same roof that carried my fancy\r\nback to the primitive times, which probably never existed with\r\nsuch a golden lustre as the animated imagination lends when only\r\nable to seize the prominent features.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eAt one of them, a pretty young woman, with languishing eyes of\r\ncelestial blue, conducted us into a very neat parlour, and\r\nobserving how loosely and lightly my little girl was clad, began\r\nto pity her in the sweetest accents, regardless of the rosy down\r\nof health on her cheeks.\u0026nbsp; This same damsel was\r\ndressed\u0026mdash;it was Sunday\u0026mdash;with taste and even coquetry,\r\nin a cotton jacket, ornamented with knots of blue ribbon,\r\nfancifully disposed to give life to her fine complexion.\u0026nbsp; I\r\nloitered a little to admire her, for every gesture was graceful;\r\nand, amidst the other villagers, she looked like a garden lily\r\nsuddenly rearing its head amongst grain and corn-flowers.\u0026nbsp;\r\nAs the house was small, I gave her a piece of money rather larger\r\nthan it was my custom to give to the female waiters\u0026mdash;for I\r\ncould not prevail on her to sit down\u0026mdash;which she received\r\nwith a smile; yet took care to give it, in my presence, to a girl\r\nwho had brought the child a slice of bread; by which I perceived\r\nthat she was the mistress or daughter of the house, and without\r\ndoubt the belle of the village.\u0026nbsp; There was, in short, an\r\nappearance of cheerful industry, and of that degree of comfort\r\nwhich shut out misery, in all the little hamlets as I approached\r\nHamburg, which agreeably surprised me.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe short jackets which the women wear here, as well as in\r\nFrance, are not only more becoming to the person, but much better\r\ncalculated for women who have rustic or household employments\r\nthan the long gowns worn in England, dangling in the dirt.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eAll the inns on the road were better than I expected, though\r\nthe softness of the beds still harassed me, and prevented my\r\nfinding the rest I was frequently in want of, to enable me to\r\nbear the fatigue of the next day.\u0026nbsp; The charges were\r\nmoderate, and the people very civil, with a certain honest\r\nhilarity and independent spirit in their manner, which almost\r\nmade me forget that they were innkeepers, a set of\r\nmen\u0026mdash;waiters, hostesses, chambermaids, \u0026amp;c., down to the\r\nostler, whose cunning servility in England I think particularly\r\ndisgusting.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe prospect of Hamburg at a distance, as well as the fine\r\nroad shaded with trees, led me to expect to see a much pleasanter\r\ncity than I found.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI was aware of the difficulty of obtaining lodgings, even at\r\nthe inns, on account of the concourse of strangers at present\r\nresorting to such a centrical situation, and determined to go to\r\nAltona the next day to seek for an abode, wanting now only\r\nrest.\u0026nbsp; But even for a single night we were sent from house\r\nto house, and found at last a vacant room to sleep in, which I\r\nshould have turned from with disgust had there been a choice.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI scarcely know anything that produces more disagreeable\r\nsensations, I mean to speak of the passing cares, the\r\nrecollection of which afterwards enlivens our enjoyments, than\r\nthose excited by little disasters of this kind.\u0026nbsp; After a\r\nlong journey, with our eyes directed to some particular spot, to\r\narrive and find nothing as it should be is vexatious, and sinks\r\nthe agitated spirits.\u0026nbsp; But I, who received the cruellest of\r\ndisappointments last spring in returning to my home, term such as\r\nthese emphatically passing cares.\u0026nbsp; Know you of what\r\nmaterials some hearts are made?\u0026nbsp; I play the child, and weep\r\nat the recollection\u0026mdash;for the grief is still fresh that\r\nstunned as well as wounded me\u0026mdash;yet never did drops of\r\nanguish like these bedew the cheeks of infantine\r\ninnocence\u0026mdash;and why should they mine, that never was stained\r\nby a blush of guilt?\u0026nbsp; Innocent and credulous as a child, why\r\nhave I not the same happy thoughtlessness?\u0026nbsp; Adieu!\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003eLETTER XXIII.\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI might have spared myself the disagreeable feelings I\r\nexperienced the first night of my arrival at Hamburg, leaving the\r\nopen air to be shut up in noise and dirt, had I gone immediately\r\nto Altona, where a lodging had been prepared for me by a\r\ngentleman from whom I received many civilities during my\r\njourney.\u0026nbsp; I wished to have travelled in company with him\r\nfrom Copenhagen, because I found him intelligent and friendly,\r\nbut business obliged him to hurry forward, and I wrote to him on\r\nthe subject of accommodations as soon as I was informed of the\r\ndifficulties I might have to encounter to house myself and\r\nbrat.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIt is but a short and pleasant walk from Hamburg to Altona,\r\nunder the shade of several rows of trees, and this walk is the\r\nmore agreeable after quitting the rough pavement of either\r\nplace.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eHamburg is an ill, close-built town, swarming with\r\ninhabitants, and, from what I could learn, like all the other\r\nfree towns, governed in a manner which bears hard on the poor,\r\nwhilst narrowing the minds of the rich; the character of the man\r\nis lost in the Hamburger.\u0026nbsp; Always afraid of the\r\nencroachments of their Danish neighbours, that is, anxiously\r\napprehensive of their sharing the golden harvest of commerce with\r\nthem, or taking a little of the trade off their\r\nhands\u0026mdash;though they have more than they know what to do\r\nwith\u0026mdash;they are ever on the watch, till their very eyes lose\r\nall expression, excepting the prying glance of suspicion.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe gates of Hamburg are shut at seven in the winter and nine\r\nin the summer, lest some strangers, who come to traffic in\r\nHamburg, should prefer living, and consequently\u0026mdash;so exactly\r\ndo they calculate\u0026mdash;spend their money out of the walls of the\r\nHamburger\u0026rsquo;s world.\u0026nbsp; Immense fortunes have been\r\nacquired by the per-cents. arising from commissions nominally\r\nonly two and a half, but mounted to eight or ten at least by the\r\nsecret manoeuvres of trade, not to include the advantage of\r\npurchasing goods wholesale in common with contractors, and that\r\nof having so much money left in their hands, not to play with, I\r\ncan assure you.\u0026nbsp; Mushroom fortunes have started up during\r\nthe war; the men, indeed, seem of the species of the fungus, and\r\nthe insolent vulgarity which a sudden influx of wealth usually\r\nproduces in common minds is here very conspicuous, which\r\ncontrasts with the distresses of many of the emigrants,\r\n\u0026ldquo;fallen, fallen from their high estate,\u0026rdquo; such are the\r\nups and downs of fortune\u0026rsquo;s wheel.\u0026nbsp; Many emigrants have\r\nmet, with fortitude, such a total change of circumstances as\r\nscarcely can be paralleled, retiring from a palace to an obscure\r\nlodging with dignity; but the greater number glide about, the\r\nghosts of greatness, with the \u003ci\u003eCroix de St. Louis\u003c/i\u003e\r\nostentatiously displayed, determined to hope, \u0026ldquo;though\r\nheaven and earth their wishes crossed.\u0026rdquo;\u0026nbsp; Still good\r\nbreeding points out the gentleman, and sentiments of honour and\r\ndelicacy appear the offspring of greatness of soul when compared\r\nwith the grovelling views of the sordid accumulators of cent. per\r\ncent.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eSituation seems to be the mould in which men\u0026rsquo;s\r\ncharacters are formed: so much so, inferring from what I have\r\nlately seen, that I mean not to be severe when I\r\nadd\u0026mdash;previously asking why priests are in general cunning\r\nand statesmen false?\u0026mdash;that men entirely devoted to commerce\r\nnever acquire or lose all taste and greatness of mind.\u0026nbsp; An\r\nostentatious display of wealth without elegance, and a greedy\r\nenjoyment of pleasure without sentiment, embrutes them till they\r\nterm all virtue of an heroic cast, romantic attempts at something\r\nabove our nature, and anxiety about the welfare of others, a\r\nsearch after misery in which we have no concern.\u0026nbsp; But you\r\nwill say that I am growing bitter, perhaps personal.\u0026nbsp; Ah!\r\nshall I whisper to you, that you yourself are strangely altered\r\nsince you have entered deeply into commerce\u0026mdash;more than you\r\nare aware of; never allowing yourself to reflect, and keeping\r\nyour mind, or rather passions, in a continual state of\r\nagitation?\u0026nbsp; Nature has given you talents which lie dormant,\r\nor are wasted in ignoble pursuits.\u0026nbsp; You will rouse yourself\r\nand shake off the vile dust that obscures you, or my\r\nunderstanding, as well as my heart, deceives me\r\negregiously\u0026mdash;only tell me when.\u0026nbsp; But to go farther\r\nafield.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eMadame la Fayette left Altona the day I arrived, to endeavour,\r\nat Vienna, to obtain the enlargement of her husband, or\r\npermission to share his prison.\u0026nbsp; She lived in a lodging up\r\ntwo pairs of stairs, without a servant, her two daughters\r\ncheerfully assisting; choosing, as well as herself, to descend to\r\nanything before unnecessary obligations.\u0026nbsp; During her\r\nprosperity, and consequent idleness, she did not, I am told,\r\nenjoy a good state of health, having a train of nervous\r\ncomplaints, which, though they have not a name, unless the\r\nsignificant word \u003ci\u003eennui\u003c/i\u003e be borrowed, had an existence in\r\nthe higher French circles; but adversity and virtuous exertions\r\nput these ills to flight, and dispossessed her of a devil who\r\ndeserves the appellation of legion.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eMadame Genus also resided at Altona some time, under an\r\nassumed name, with many other sufferers of less note though\r\nhigher rank.\u0026nbsp; It is, in fact, scarcely possible to stir out\r\nwithout meeting interesting countenances, every lineament of\r\nwhich tells you that they have seen better days.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eAt Hamburg, I was informed, a duke had entered into\r\npartnership with his cook, who becoming a \u003ci\u003etraiteur\u003c/i\u003e, they\r\nwere both comfortably supported by the profit arising from his\r\nindustry.\u0026nbsp; Many noble instances of the attachment of\r\nservants to their unfortunate masters have come to my knowledge,\r\nboth here and in France, and touched my heart, the greatest\r\ndelight of which is to discover human virtue.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eAt Altona, a president of one of the \u003ci\u003eci-devant\u003c/i\u003e\r\nparliaments keeps an ordinary, in the French style; and his wife\r\nwith cheerful dignity submits to her fate, though she is arrived\r\nat an age when people seldom relinquish their prejudices.\u0026nbsp; A\r\ngirl who waits there brought a dozen \u003ci\u003edouble louis\r\nd\u0026rsquo;or\u003c/i\u003e concealed in her clothes, at the risk of her life,\r\nfrom France, which she preserves lest sickness or any other\r\ndistress should overtake her mistress, \u0026ldquo;who,\u0026rdquo; she\r\nobserved, \u0026ldquo;was not accustomed to hardships.\u0026rdquo;\u0026nbsp;\r\nThis house was particularly recommended to me by an acquaintance\r\nof yours, the author of the \u0026ldquo;American Farmer\u0026rsquo;s\r\nLetters.\u0026rdquo;\u0026nbsp; I generally dine in company with him: and\r\nthe gentleman whom I have already mentioned is often diverted by\r\nour declamations against commerce, when we compare notes\r\nrespecting the characteristics of the Hamburgers.\u0026nbsp;\r\n\u0026ldquo;Why, madam,\u0026rdquo; said he to me one day, \u0026ldquo;you will\r\nnot meet with a man who has any calf to his leg; body and soul,\r\nmuscles and heart, are equally shrivelled up by a thirst of\r\ngain.\u0026nbsp; There is nothing generous even in their youthful\r\npassions; profit is their only stimulus, and calculations the\r\nsole employment of their faculties, unless we except some gross\r\nanimal gratifications which, snatched at spare moments, tend\r\nstill more to debase the character, because, though touched by\r\nhis tricking wand, they have all the arts, without the wit, of\r\nthe wing-footed god.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003ePerhaps you may also think us too severe; but I must add that\r\nthe more I saw of the manners of Hamburg, the more was I\r\nconfirmed in my opinion relative to the baleful effect of\r\nextensive speculations on the moral character.\u0026nbsp; Men are\r\nstrange machines; and their whole system of morality is in\r\ngeneral held together by one grand principle which loses its\r\nforce the moment they allow themselves to break with impunity\r\nover the bounds which secured their self-respect.\u0026nbsp; A man\r\nceases to love humanity, and then individuals, as he advances in\r\nthe chase after wealth; as one clashes with his interest, the\r\nother with his pleasures: to business, as it is termed,\r\neverything must give way; nay, is sacrificed, and all the\r\nendearing charities of citizen, husband, father, brother, become\r\nempty names.\u0026nbsp; But\u0026mdash;but what?\u0026nbsp; Why, to snap the\r\nchain of thought, I must say farewell.\u0026nbsp; Cassandra was not\r\nthe only prophetess whose warning voice has been\r\ndisregarded.\u0026nbsp; How much easier it is to meet with love in the\r\nworld than affection!\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: right\"\u003eYours sincerely.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003eLETTER XXIV.\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eMy lodgings at Altona are tolerably comfortable, though not in\r\nany proportion to the price I pay; but, owing to the present\r\ncircumstances, all the necessaries of life are here extravagantly\r\ndear.\u0026nbsp; Considering it as a temporary residence, the chief\r\ninconvenience of which I am inclined to complain is the rough\r\nstreets that must be passed before Marguerite and the child can\r\nreach a level road.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe views of the Elbe in the vicinity of the town are\r\npleasant, particularly as the prospects here afford so little\r\nvariety.\u0026nbsp; I attempted to descend, and walk close to the\r\nwater\u0026rsquo;s edge; but there was no path; and the smell of glue,\r\nhanging to dry, an extensive manufactory of which is carried on\r\nclose to the beach, I found extremely disagreeable.\u0026nbsp; But to\r\ncommerce everything must give way; profit and profit are the only\r\nspeculations\u0026mdash;\u0026ldquo;double\u0026mdash;double, toil and\r\ntrouble.\u0026rdquo;\u0026nbsp; I have seldom entered a shady walk without\r\nbeing soon obliged to turn aside to make room for the\r\nrope-makers; and the only tree I have seen, that appeared to be\r\nplanted by the hand of taste, is in the churchyard, to shade the\r\ntomb of the poet Klopstock\u0026rsquo;s wife.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eMost of the merchants have country houses to retire to during\r\nthe summer; and many of them are situated on the banks of the\r\nElbe, where they have the pleasure of seeing the packet-boats\r\narrive\u0026mdash;the periods of most consequence to divide their\r\nweek.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe moving picture, consisting of large vessels and small\r\ncraft, which are continually changing their position with the\r\ntide, renders this noble river, the vital stream of Hamburg, very\r\ninteresting; and the windings have sometimes a very fine effect,\r\ntwo or three turns being visible at once, intersecting the flat\r\nmeadows; a sudden bend often increasing the magnitude of the\r\nriver; and the silvery expanse, scarcely gliding, though bearing\r\non its bosom so much treasure, looks for a moment like a tranquil\r\nlake.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eNothing can be stronger than the contrast which this flat\r\ncountry and strand afford, compared with the mountains and rocky\r\ncoast I have lately dwelt so much among.\u0026nbsp; In fancy I return\r\nto a favourite spot, where I seemed to have retired from man and\r\nwretchedness; but the din of trade drags me back to all the care\r\nI left behind, when lost in sublime emotions.\u0026nbsp; Rocks\r\naspiring towards the heavens, and, as it were, shutting out\r\nsorrow, surrounded me, whilst peace appeared to steal along the\r\nlake to calm my bosom, modulating the wind that agitated the\r\nneighbouring poplars.\u0026nbsp; Now I hear only an account of the\r\ntricks of trade, or listen to the distressful tale of some victim\r\nof ambition.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe hospitality of Hamburg is confined to Sunday invitations\r\nto the country houses I have mentioned, when dish after dish\r\nsmokes upon the board, and the conversation ever flowing in the\r\nmuddy channel of business, it is not easy to obtain any\r\nappropriate information.\u0026nbsp; Had I intended to remain here some\r\ntime, or had my mind been more alive to general inquiries, I\r\nshould have endeavoured to have been introduced to some\r\ncharacters not so entirely immersed in commercial affairs, though\r\nin this whirlpool of gain it is not very easy to find any but the\r\nwretched or supercilious emigrants, who are not engaged in\r\npursuits which, in my eyes, appear as dishonourable as\r\ngambling.\u0026nbsp; The interests of nations are bartered by\r\nspeculating merchants.\u0026nbsp; My God! with what \u003ci\u003esang froid\u003c/i\u003e\r\nartful trains of corruption bring lucrative commissions into\r\nparticular hands, disregarding the relative situation of\r\ndifferent countries, and can much common honesty be expected in\r\nthe discharge of trusts obtained by fraud?\u0026nbsp; But this\r\n\u003ci\u003eentre nous\u003c/i\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eDuring my present journey, and whilst residing in France, I\r\nhave had an opportunity of peeping behind the scenes of what are\r\nvulgarly termed great affairs, only to discover the mean\r\nmachinery which has directed many transactions of moment.\u0026nbsp;\r\nThe sword has been merciful, compared with the depredations made\r\non human life by contractors and by the swarm of locusts who have\r\nbattened on the pestilence they spread abroad.\u0026nbsp; These men,\r\nlike the owners of negro ships, never smell on their money the\r\nblood by which it has been gained, but sleep quietly in their\r\nbeds, terming such occupations lawful callings; yet the lightning\r\nmarks not their roofs to thunder conviction on them \u0026ldquo;and to\r\njustify the ways of God to man.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eWhy should I weep for myself?\u0026nbsp; \u0026ldquo;Take, O world! thy\r\nmuch indebted tear!\u0026rdquo;\u0026nbsp; Adieu!\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003eLETTER XXV.\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThere is a pretty little French theatre at Altona, and the\r\nactors are much superior to those I saw at Copenhagen.\u0026nbsp; The\r\ntheatres at Hamburg are not open yet, but will very shortly, when\r\nthe shutting of the gates at seven o\u0026rsquo;clock forces the\r\ncitizens to quit their country houses.\u0026nbsp; But, respecting\r\nHamburg, I shall not be able to obtain much more information, as\r\nI have determined to sail with the first fair wind for\r\nEngland.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe presence of the French army would have rendered my\r\nintended tour through Germany, in my way to Switzerland, almost\r\nimpracticable, had not the advancing season obliged me to alter\r\nmy plan.\u0026nbsp; Besides, though Switzerland is the country which\r\nfor several years I have been particularly desirous to visit, I\r\ndo not feel inclined to ramble any farther this year; nay, I am\r\nweary of changing the scene, and quitting people and places the\r\nmoment they begin to interest me.\u0026nbsp; This also is vanity!\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003ch3\u003eDOVER.\u003c/h3\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eI left this letter unfinished, as I was hurried on board, and\r\nnow I have only to tell you that, at the sight of Dover cliffs, I\r\nwondered how anybody could term them grand; they appear so\r\ninsignificant to me, after those I had seen in Sweden and\r\nNorway.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eAdieu!\u0026nbsp; My spirit of observation seems to be fled, and I\r\nhave been wandering round this dirty place, literally speaking,\r\nto kill time, though the thoughts I would fain fly from lie too\r\nclose to my heart to be easily shook off, or even beguiled, by\r\nany employment, except that of preparing for my journey to\r\nLondon.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eGod bless you!\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: right\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"smcap\"\u003eMary\u003c/span\u003e\r\n—-.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003eAPPENDIX.\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003ePrivate business and cares have frequently so absorbed me as\r\nto prevent my obtaining all the information during this journey\r\nwhich the novelty of the scenes would have afforded, had my\r\nattention been continually awake to inquiry.\u0026nbsp; This\r\ninsensibility to present objects I have often had occasion to\r\nlament since I have been preparing these letters for the press;\r\nbut, as a person of any thought naturally considers the history\r\nof a strange country to contrast the former with the present\r\nstate of its manners, a conviction of the increasing knowledge\r\nand happiness of the kingdoms I passed through was perpetually\r\nthe result of my comparative reflections.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe poverty of the poor in Sweden renders the civilisation\r\nvery partial, and slavery has retarded the improvement of every\r\nclass in Denmark, yet both are advancing; and the gigantic evils\r\nof despotism and anarchy have in a great measure vanished before\r\nthe meliorating manners of Europe.\u0026nbsp; Innumerable evils still\r\nremain, it is true, to afflict the humane investigator, and hurry\r\nthe benevolent reformer into a labyrinth of error, who aims at\r\ndestroying prejudices quickly which only time can root out, as\r\nthe public opinion becomes subject to reason.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eAn ardent affection for the human race makes enthusiastic\r\ncharacters eager to produce alteration in laws and governments\r\nprematurely.\u0026nbsp; To render them useful and permanent, they must\r\nbe the growth of each particular soil, and the gradual fruit of\r\nthe ripening understanding of the nation, matured by time, not\r\nforced by an unnatural fermentation.\u0026nbsp; And, to convince me\r\nthat such a change is gaining ground with accelerating pace, the\r\nview I have had of society during my northern journey would have\r\nbeen sufficient had I not previously considered the grand causes\r\nwhich combine to carry mankind forward and diminish the sum of\r\nhuman misery.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv style=\u0027display:block; margin-top:4em\u0027\u003e*** END OF THE PROJECT \r\nGUTENBERG EBOOK LETTERS WRITTEN DURING A SHORT\r\nRESIDENCE IN SWEDEN, NORWAY, AND DENMARK ***\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv style=\u0027text-align:left\u0027\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv style=\u0027display:block; margin:1em 0\u0027\u003e\r\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one\u0026#8212;the old editions \r\nwill\r\nbe renamed.\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv style=\u0027display:block; 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