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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/3529-0.txt b/3529-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b8c8f71 --- /dev/null +++ b/3529-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5432 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook of Letters written during a short residence +in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, by Mary Wollstonecraft, Edited by Henry +Morley + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and +most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you +will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before +using this eBook. + +Title: Letters written during a short residence in Sweden, Norway, and +Denmark + +Author: Mary Wollstonecraft + +Editor: Henry Morley + +Release Date: December 30, 2007 [eBook #3529] +[Most recently updated: June 5, 2022] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 with BOM + +Transcribed from the 1889 Cassell & Company edition by David Price, +email ccx074@pglaf.org + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LETTERS WRITTEN DURING A SHORT +RESIDENCE IN SWEDEN, NORWAY, AND DENMARK *** + + + + +CASSELL'S NATIONAL LIBRARY. + + + + +LETTERS +WRITTEN +_DURING A SHORT RESIDENCE_ +IN +SWEDEN, NORWAY, AND +DENMARK + + +BY +MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT. + +CASSELL & COMPANY, Limited: +_LONDON_, _PARIS_, _NEW YORK & MELBOURNE_. +1889. + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +Mary Wollstonecraft was born on the 27th of April, 1759. Her father--a +quick-tempered and unsettled man, capable of beating wife, or child, or +dog--was the son of a manufacturer who made money in Spitalfields, when +Spitalfields was prosperous. Her mother was a rigorous Irishwoman, of +the Dixons of Ballyshannon. Edward John Wollstonecraft--of whose +children, besides Mary, the second child, three sons and two daughters +lived to be men and women--in course of time got rid of about ten +thousand pounds, which had been left him by his father. He began to get +rid of it by farming. Mary Wollstonecraft's first-remembered home was in +a farm at Epping. When she was five years old the family moved to +another farm, by the Chelmsford Road. When she was between six and seven +years old they moved again, to the neighbourhood of Barking. There they +remained three years before the next move, which was to a farm near +Beverley, in Yorkshire. In Yorkshire they remained six years, and Mary +Wollstonecraft had there what education fell to her lot between the ages +of ten and sixteen. Edward John Wollstonecraft then gave up farming to +venture upon a commercial speculation. This caused him to live for a +year and a half at Queen's Row, Hoxton. His daughter Mary was then +sixteen; and while at Hoxton she had her education advanced by the +friendly care of a deformed clergyman--a Mr. Clare--who lived next door, +and stayed so much at home that his one pair of shoes had lasted him for +fourteen years. + +But Mary Wollstonecraft's chief friend at this time was an accomplished +girl only two years older than herself, who maintained her father, +mother, and family by skill in drawing. Her name was Frances Blood, and +she especially, by her example and direct instruction, drew out her +young friend's powers. In 1776, Mary Wollstonecraft's father, a rolling +stone, rolled into Wales. Again he was a farmer. Next year again he was +a Londoner; and Mary had influence enough to persuade him to choose a +house at Walworth, where she would be near to her friend Fanny. Then, +however, the conditions of her home life caused her to be often on the +point of going away to earn a living for herself. In 1778, when she was +nineteen, Mary Wollstonecraft did leave home, to take a situation as +companion with a rich tradesman's widow at Bath, of whom it was said +that none of her companions could stay with her. Mary Wollstonecraft, +nevertheless, stayed two years with the difficult widow, and made +herself respected. Her mother's failing health then caused Mary to +return to her. The father was then living at Enfield, and trying to save +the small remainder of his means by not venturing upon any business at +all. The mother died after long suffering, wholly dependent on her +daughter Mary's constant care. The mother's last words were often quoted +by Mary Wollstonecraft in her own last years of distress--"A little +patience, and all will be over." + +After the mother's death, Mary Wollstonecraft left home again, to live +with her friend, Fanny Blood, who was at Walham Green. In 1782 she went +to nurse a married sister through a dangerous illness. The father's need +of support next pressed upon her. He had spent not only his own money, +but also the little that had been specially reserved for his children. +It is said to be the privilege of a passionate man that he always gets +what he wants; he gets to be avoided, and they never find a convenient +corner of their own who shut themselves out from the kindly fellowship +of life. + +In 1783 Mary Wollstonecraft--aged twenty-four--with two of her sisters, +joined Fanny Blood in setting up a day school at Islington, which was +removed in a few months to Newington Green. Early in 1785 Fanny Blood, +far gone in consumption, sailed for Lisbon to marry an Irish surgeon who +was settled there. After her marriage it was evident that she had but a +few months to live; Mary Wollstonecraft, deaf to all opposing counsel, +then left her school, and, with help of money from a friendly woman, she +went out to nurse her, and was by her when she died. Mary Wollstonecraft +remembered her loss ten years afterwards in these "Letters from Sweden +and Norway," when she wrote: "The grave has closed over a dear friend, +the friend of my youth; still she is present with me, and I hear her +soft voice warbling as I stray over the heath." + +Mary Wollstonecraft left Lisbon for England late in December, 1785. When +she came back she found Fanny's poor parents anxious to go back to +Ireland; and as she had been often told that she could earn by writing, +she wrote a pamphlet of 162 small pages--"Thoughts on the Education of +Daughters"--and got ten pounds for it. This she gave to her friend's +parents to enable them to go back to their kindred. In all she did there +is clear evidence of an ardent, generous, impulsive nature. One day her +friend Fanny Blood had repined at the unhappy surroundings in the home +she was maintaining for her father and mother, and longed for a little +home of her own to do her work in. Her friend quietly found rooms, got +furniture together, and told her that her little home was ready; she had +only to walk into it. Then it seemed strange to Mary Wollstonecraft that +Fanny Blood was withheld by thoughts that had not been uppermost in the +mood of complaint. She thought her friend irresolute, where she had +herself been generously rash. Her end would have been happier had she +been helped, as many are, by that calm influence of home in which some +knowledge of the world passes from father and mother to son and +daughter, without visible teaching and preaching, in easiest +companionship of young and old from day to day. + +The little payment for her pamphlet on the "Education of Daughters" +caused Mary Wollstonecraft to think more seriously of earning by her +pen. The pamphlet seems also to have advanced her credit as a teacher. +After giving up her day school, she spent some weeks at Eton with the +Rev. Mr. Prior, one of the masters there, who recommended her as +governess to the daughters of Lord Kingsborough, an Irish viscount, +eldest son of the Earl of Kingston. Her way of teaching was by winning +love, and she obtained the warm affection of the eldest of her pupils, +who became afterwards Countess Mount-Cashel. In the summer of 1787, Lord +Kingsborough's family, including Mary Wollstonecraft, was at Bristol +Hot-wells, before going to the Continent. While there, Mary +Wollstonecraft wrote her little tale published as "Mary, a Fiction," +wherein there was much based on the memory of her own friendship for +Fanny Blood. + +The publisher of Mary Wollstonecraft's "Thoughts on the Education of +Daughters" was the same Joseph Johnson who in 1785 was the publisher of +Cowper's "Task." With her little story written and a little money +saved, the resolve to live by her pen could now be carried out. Mary +Wollstonecraft, therefore, parted from her friends at Bristol, went to +London, saw her publisher, and frankly told him her determination. He +met her with fatherly kindness, and received her as a guest in his house +while she was making her arrangements. At Michaelmas, 1787, she settled +in a house in George Street, on the Surrey side of Blackfriars Bridge. +There she produced a little book for children, of "Original Stories from +Real Life," and earned by drudgery for Joseph Johnson. She translated, +she abridged, she made a volume of Selections, and she wrote for an +"Analytical Review," which Mr. Johnson founded in the middle of the year +1788. Among the books translated by her was Necker "On the Importance of +Religious Opinions." Among the books abridged by her was Salzmann's +"Elements of Morality." With all this hard work she lived as sparely as +she could, that she might help her family. She supported her father. +That she might enable her sisters to earn their living as teachers, she +sent one of them to Paris, and maintained her there for two years; the +other she placed in a school near London as parlour-boarder until she +was admitted into it as a paid teacher. She placed one brother at +Woolwich to qualify for the Navy, and he obtained a lieutenant's +commission. For another brother, articled to an attorney whom he did not +like, she obtained a transfer of indentures; and when it became clear +that his quarrel was more with law than with the lawyers, she placed him +with a farmer before fitting him out for emigration to America. She then +sent him, so well prepared for his work there that he prospered well. +She tried even to disentangle her father's affairs; but the confusion in +them was beyond her powers of arrangement. Added to all this faithful +work, she took upon herself the charge of an orphan child, seven years +old, whose mother had been in the number of her friends. That was the +life of Mary Wollstonecraft, thirty years old, in 1789, the year of the +Fall of the Bastille; the noble life now to be touched in its +enthusiasms by the spirit of the Revolution, to be caught in the great +storm, shattered, and lost among its wrecks. + +To Burke's attack on the French Revolution Mary Wollstonecraft wrote an +Answer--one of many answers provoked by it--that attracted much +attention. This was followed by her "Vindication of the Rights of +Woman," while the air was full of declamation on the "Rights of Man." +The claims made in this little book were in advance of the opinion of +that day, but they are claims that have in our day been conceded. They +are certainly not revolutionary in the opinion of the world that has +become a hundred years older since the book was written. + +At this time Mary Wollstonecraft had moved to rooms in Store Street, +Bedford Square. She was fascinated by Fuseli the painter, and he was a +married man. She felt herself to be too strongly drawn towards him, and +she went to Paris at the close of the year 1792, to break the spell. She +felt lonely and sad, and was not the happier for being in a mansion lent +to her, from which the owner was away, and in which she lived surrounded +by his servants. Strong womanly instincts were astir within her, and +they were not all wise folk who had been drawn around her by her +generous enthusiasm for the new hopes of the world, that made it then, +as Wordsworth felt, a very heaven to the young. + +Four months after she had gone to Paris, Mary Wollstonecraft met at the +house of a merchant, with whose wife she had become intimate, an +American named Gilbert Imlay. He won her affections. That was in April, +1793. He had no means, and she had home embarrassments, for which she +was unwilling that he should become in any way responsible. A part of +the new dream in some minds then was of a love too pure to need or bear +the bondage of authority. The mere forced union of marriage ties +implied, it was said, a distrust of fidelity. When Gilbert Imlay would +have married Mary Wollstonecraft, she herself refused to bind him; she +would keep him legally exempt from her responsibilities towards the +father, sisters, brothers, whom she was supporting. She took his name +and called herself his wife, when the French Convention, indignant at +the conduct of the British Government, issued a decree from the effects +of which she would escape as the wife of a citizen of the United States. +But she did not marry. She witnessed many of the horrors that came of +the loosened passions of an untaught populace. A child was born to +her--a girl whom she named after the dead friend of her own girlhood. +And then she found that she had leant upon a reed. She was neglected; +and was at last forsaken. Having sent her to London, Imlay there visited +her, to explain himself away. She resolved on suicide, and in dissuading +her from that he gave her hope again. He needed somebody who had good +judgment, and who cared for his interests, to represent him in some +business affairs in Norway. She undertook to act for him, and set out on +the voyage only a week after she had determined to destroy herself. + +The interest of this book which describes her travel is quickened by a +knowledge of the heart-sorrow that underlies it all. Gilbert Imlay had +promised to meet her upon her return, and go with her to Switzerland. +But the letters she had from him in Sweden and Norway were cold, and she +came back to find that she was wholly forsaken for an actress from a +strolling company of players. Then she went up the river to drown +herself. She paced the road at Putney on an October night, in 1795, in +heavy rain, until her clothes were drenched, that she might sink more +surely, and then threw herself from the top of Putney Bridge. + +She was rescued, and lived on with deadened spirit. In 1796 these +"Letters from Sweden and Norway" were published. Early in 1797 she was +married to William Godwin. On the 10th of September in the same year, at +the age of thirty-eight, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin died, after the +birth of the daughter who lived to become the wife of Shelley. The +mother also would have lived, if a womanly feeling, in itself to be +respected, had not led her also to unwise departure from the customs of +the world. Peace be to her memory. None but kind thoughts can dwell upon +the life of this too faithful disciple of Rousseau. + +H. M. + + + + +LETTER I. + + +Eleven days of weariness on board a vessel not intended for the +accommodation of passengers have so exhausted my spirits, to say nothing +of the other causes, with which you are already sufficiently acquainted, +that it is with some difficulty I adhere to my determination of giving +you my observations, as I travel through new scenes, whilst warmed with +the impression they have made on me. + +The captain, as I mentioned to you, promised to put me on shore at +Arendall or Gothenburg in his way to Elsineur, but contrary winds +obliged us to pass both places during the night. In the morning, +however, after we had lost sight of the entrance of the latter bay, the +vessel was becalmed; and the captain, to oblige me, hanging out a signal +for a pilot, bore down towards the shore. + +My attention was particularly directed to the lighthouse, and you can +scarcely imagine with what anxiety I watched two long hours for a boat +to emancipate me; still no one appeared. Every cloud that flitted on the +horizon was hailed as a liberator, till approaching nearer, like most of +the prospects sketched by hope, it dissolved under the eye into +disappointment. + +Weary of expectation, I then began to converse with the captain on the +subject, and from the tenor of the information my questions drew forth I +soon concluded that if I waited for a boat I had little chance of +getting on shore at this place. Despotism, as is usually the case, I +found had here cramped the industry of man. The pilots being paid by +the king, and scantily, they will not run into any danger, or even quit +their hovels, if they can possibly avoid it, only to fulfil what is +termed their duty. How different is it on the English coast, where, in +the most stormy weather, boats immediately hail you, brought out by the +expectation of extraordinary profit. + +Disliking to sail for Elsineur, and still more to lie at anchor or +cruise about the coast for several days, I exerted all my rhetoric to +prevail on the captain to let me have the ship's boat, and though I +added the most forcible of arguments, I for a long time addressed him in +vain. + +It is a kind of rule at sea not to send out a boat. The captain was a +good-natured man; but men with common minds seldom break through general +rules. Prudence is ever the resort of weakness, and they rarely go as +far as they may in any undertaking who are determined not to go beyond +it on any account. If, however, I had some trouble with the captain, I +did not lose much time with the sailors, for they, all alacrity, hoisted +out the boat the moment I obtained permission, and promised to row me to +the lighthouse. + +I did not once allow myself to doubt of obtaining a conveyance from +thence round the rocks--and then away for Gothenburg--confinement is so +unpleasant. + +The day was fine, and I enjoyed the water till, approaching the little +island, poor Marguerite, whose timidity always acts as a feeler before +her adventuring spirit, began to wonder at our not seeing any +inhabitants. I did not listen to her. But when, on landing, the same +silence prevailed, I caught the alarm, which was not lessened by the +sight of two old men whom we forced out of their wretched hut. Scarcely +human in their appearance, we with difficulty obtained an intelligible +reply to our questions, the result of which was that they had no boat, +and were not allowed to quit their post on any pretence. But they +informed us that there was at the other side, eight or ten miles over, a +pilot's dwelling. Two guineas tempted the sailors to risk the captain's +displeasure, and once more embark to row me over. + +The weather was pleasant, and the appearance of the shore so grand that +I should have enjoyed the two hours it took to reach it, but for the +fatigue which was too visible in the countenances of the sailors, who, +instead of uttering a complaint, were, with the thoughtless hilarity +peculiar to them, joking about the possibility of the captain's taking +advantage of a slight westerly breeze, which was springing up, to sail +without them. Yet, in spite of their good humour, I could not help +growing uneasy when the shore, receding, as it were, as we advanced, +seemed to promise no end to their toil. This anxiety increased when, +turning into the most picturesque bay I ever saw, my eyes sought in vain +for the vestige of a human habitation. Before I could determine what +step to take in such a dilemma (for I could not bear to think of +returning to the ship), the sight of a barge relieved me, and we +hastened towards it for information. We were immediately directed to +pass some jutting rocks, when we should see a pilot's hut. + +There was a solemn silence in this scene which made itself be felt. The +sunbeams that played on the ocean, scarcely ruffled by the lightest +breeze, contrasted with the huge dark rocks, that looked like the rude +materials of creation forming the barrier of unwrought space, forcibly +struck me, but I should not have been sorry if the cottage had not +appeared equally tranquil. Approaching a retreat where strangers, +especially women, so seldom appeared, I wondered that curiosity did not +bring the beings who inhabited it to the windows or door. I did not +immediately recollect that men who remain so near the brute creation, as +only to exert themselves to find the food necessary to sustain life, +have little or no imagination to call forth the curiosity necessary to +fructify the faint glimmerings of mind which entitle them to rank as +lords of the creation. Had they either they could not contentedly remain +rooted in the clods they so indolently cultivate. + +Whilst the sailors went to seek for the sluggish inhabitants, these +conclusions occurred to me; and, recollecting the extreme fondness which +the Parisians ever testify for novelty, their very curiosity appeared to +me a proof of the progress they had made in refinement. Yes, in the art +of living--in the art of escaping from the cares which embarrass the +first steps towards the attainment of the pleasures of social life. + +The pilots informed the sailors that they were under the direction of a +lieutenant retired from the service, who spoke English; adding that they +could do nothing without his orders, and even the offer of money could +hardly conquer their laziness and prevail on them to accompany us to his +dwelling. They would not go with me alone, which I wanted them to have +done, because I wished to dismiss the sailors as soon as possible. Once +more we rowed off, they following tardily, till, turning round another +bold protuberance of the rocks, we saw a boat making towards us, and +soon learnt that it was the lieutenant himself, coming with some +earnestness to see who we were. + +To save the sailors any further toil, I had my baggage instantly removed +into his boat; for, as he could speak English, a previous parley was not +necessary, though Marguerite's respect for me could hardly keep her from +expressing the fear, strongly marked on her countenance, which my +putting ourselves into the power of a strange man excited. He pointed +out his cottage; and, drawing near to it, I was not sorry to see a +female figure, though I had not, like Marguerite, been thinking of +robberies, murders, or the other evil which instantly, as the sailors +would have said, runs foul of a woman's imagination. + +On entering I was still better pleased to find a clean house, with some +degree of rural elegance. The beds were of muslin, coarse it is true, +but dazzlingly white; and the floor was strewed over with little sprigs +of juniper (the custom, as I afterwards found, of the country), which +formed a contrast with the curtains, and produced an agreeable sensation +of freshness, to soften the ardour of noon. Still nothing was so +pleasing as the alacrity of hospitality--all that the house afforded was +quickly spread on the whitest linen. Remember, I had just left the +vessel, where, without being fastidious, I had continually been +disgusted. Fish, milk, butter, and cheese, and, I am sorry to add, +brandy, the bane of this country, were spread on the board. After we had +dined hospitality made them, with some degree of mystery, bring us some +excellent coffee. I did not then know that it was prohibited. + +The good man of the house apologised for coming in continually, but +declared that he was so glad to speak English he could not stay out. He +need not have apologised; I was equally glad of his company. With the +wife I could only exchange smiles, and she was employed observing the +make of our clothes. My hands, I found, had first led her to discover +that I was the lady. I had, of course, my quantum of reverences; for the +politeness of the north seems to partake of the coldness of the climate +and the rigidity of its iron-sinewed rocks. Amongst the peasantry there +is, however, so much of the simplicity of the golden age in this land of +flint--so much overflowing of heart and fellow-feeling, that only +benevolence and the honest sympathy of nature diffused smiles over my +countenance when they kept me standing, regardless of my fatigue, whilst +they dropped courtesy after courtesy. + +The situation of this house was beautiful, though chosen for +convenience. The master being the officer who commanded all the pilots +on the coast, and the person appointed to guard wrecks, it was necessary +for him to fix on a spot that would overlook the whole bay. As he had +seen some service, he wore, not without a pride I thought becoming, a +badge to prove that he had merited well of his country. It was happy, I +thought, that he had been paid in honour, for the stipend he received +was little more than twelve pounds a year. I do not trouble myself or +you with the calculation of Swedish ducats. Thus, my friend, you +perceive the necessity of perquisites. This same narrow policy runs +through everything. I shall have occasion further to animadvert on it. + +Though my host amused me with an account of himself, which gave me an +idea of the manners of the people I was about to visit, I was eager to +climb the rocks to view the country, and see whether the honest tars had +regained their ship. With the help of the lieutenant's telescope, I saw +the vessel under way with a fair though gentle gale. The sea was calm, +playful even as the most shallow stream, and on the vast basin I did not +see a dark speck to indicate the boat. My conductors were consequently +arrived. + +Straying further, my eye was attracted by the sight of some heartsease +that peeped through the rocks. I caught at it as a good omen, and going +to preserve it in a letter that had not conveyed balm to my heart, a +cruel remembrance suffused my eyes; but it passed away like an April +shower. If you are deep read in Shakespeare, you will recollect that +this was the little western flower tinged by love's dart, which "maidens +call love in idleness." The gaiety of my babe was unmixed; regardless +of omens or sentiments, she found a few wild strawberries more grateful +than flowers or fancies. + +The lieutenant informed me that this was a commodious bay. Of that I +could not judge, though I felt its picturesque beauty. Rocks were piled +on rocks, forming a suitable bulwark to the ocean. "Come no further," +they emphatically said, turning their dark sides to the waves to augment +the idle roar. The view was sterile; still little patches of earth of +the most exquisite verdure, enamelled with the sweetest wild flowers, +seemed to promise the goats and a few straggling cows luxurious herbage. +How silent and peaceful was the scene! I gazed around with rapture, and +felt more of that spontaneous pleasure which gives credibility to our +expectation of happiness than I had for a long, long time before. I +forgot the horrors I had witnessed in France, which had cast a gloom +over all nature, and suffering the enthusiasm of my character--too +often, gracious God! damped by the tears of disappointed affection--to +be lighted up afresh, care took wing while simple fellow-feeling +expanded my heart. + +To prolong this enjoyment, I readily assented to the proposal of our +host to pay a visit to a family, the master of which spoke English, who +was the drollest dog in the country, he added, repeating some of his +stories with a hearty laugh. + +I walked on, still delighted with the rude beauties of the scene; for +the sublime often gave place imperceptibly to the beautiful, dilating +the emotions which were painfully concentrated. + +When we entered this abode, the largest I had yet seen, I was introduced +to a numerous family; but the father, from whom I was led to expect so +much entertainment, was absent. The lieutenant consequently was obliged +to be the interpreter of our reciprocal compliments. The phrases were +awkwardly transmitted, it is true; but looks and gestures were +sufficient to make them intelligible and interesting. The girls were all +vivacity, and respect for me could scarcely keep them from romping with +my host, who, asking for a pinch of snuff, was presented with a box, out +of which an artificial mouse, fastened to the bottom, sprang. Though +this trick had doubtless been played time out of mind, yet the laughter +it excited was not less genuine. + +They were overflowing with civility; but, to prevent their almost +killing my babe with kindness, I was obliged to shorten my visit; and +two or three of the girls accompanied us, bringing with them a part of +whatever the house afforded to contribute towards rendering my supper +more plentiful; and plentiful in fact it was, though I with difficulty +did honour to some of the dishes, not relishing the quantity of sugar +and spices put into everything. At supper my host told me bluntly that I +was a woman of observation, for I asked him _men's questions_. + +The arrangements for my journey were quickly made. I could only have a +car with post-horses, as I did not choose to wait till a carriage could +be sent for to Gothenburg. The expense of my journey (about one or two +and twenty English miles) I found would not amount to more than eleven +or twelve shillings, paying, he assured me, generously. I gave him a +guinea and a half. But it was with the greatest difficulty that I could +make him take so much--indeed anything--for my lodging and fare. He +declared that it was next to robbing me, explaining how much I ought to +pay on the road. However, as I was positive, he took the guinea for +himself; but, as a condition, insisted on accompanying me, to prevent my +meeting with any trouble or imposition on the way. + +I then retired to my apartment with regret. The night was so fine that I +would gladly have rambled about much longer, yet, recollecting that I +must rise very early, I reluctantly went to bed; but my senses had been +so awake, and my imagination still continued so busy, that I sought for +rest in vain. Rising before six, I scented the sweet morning air; I had +long before heard the birds twittering to hail the dawning day, though +it could scarcely have been allowed to have departed. + +Nothing, in fact, can equal the beauty of the northern summer's evening +and night, if night it may be called that only wants the glare of day, +the full light which frequently seems so impertinent, for I could write +at midnight very well without a candle. I contemplated all Nature at +rest; the rocks, even grown darker in their appearance, looked as if +they partook of the general repose, and reclined more heavily on their +foundation. "What," I exclaimed, "is this active principle which keeps +me still awake? Why fly my thoughts abroad, when everything around me +appears at home?" My child was sleeping with equal calmness--innocent +and sweet as the closing flowers. Some recollections, attached to the +idea of home, mingled with reflections respecting the state of society I +had been contemplating that evening, made a tear drop on the rosy cheek +I had just kissed, and emotions that trembled on the brink of ecstasy +and agony gave a poignancy to my sensations which made me feel more +alive than usual. + +What are these imperious sympathies? How frequently has melancholy and +even misanthropy taken possession of me, when the world has disgusted +me, and friends have proved unkind. I have then considered myself as a +particle broken off from the grand mass of mankind; I was alone, till +some involuntary sympathetic emotion, like the attraction of adhesion, +made me feel that I was still a part of a mighty whole, from which I +could not sever myself--not, perhaps, for the reflection has been +carried very far, by snapping the thread of an existence, which loses +its charms in proportion as the cruel experience of life stops or +poisons the current of the heart. Futurity, what hast thou not to give +to those who know that there is such a thing as happiness! I speak not +of philosophical contentment, though pain has afforded them the +strongest conviction of it. + +After our coffee and milk--for the mistress of the house had been roused +long before us by her hospitality--my baggage was taken forward in a +boat by my host, because the car could not safely have been brought to +the house. + +The road at first was very rocky and troublesome, but our driver was +careful, and the horses accustomed to the frequent and sudden +acclivities and descents; so that, not apprehending any danger, I played +with my girl, whom I would not leave to Marguerite's care, on account of +her timidity. + +Stopping at a little inn to bait the horses, I saw the first countenance +in Sweden that displeased me, though the man was better dressed than any +one who had as yet fallen in my way. An altercation took place between +him and my host, the purport of which I could not guess, excepting that +I was the occasion of it, be it what it would. The sequel was his +leaving the house angrily; and I was immediately informed that he was +the custom-house officer. The professional had indeed effaced the +national character, for, living as he did within these frank hospitable +people, still only the exciseman appeared, the counterpart of some I had +met with in England and France. I was unprovided with a passport, not +having entered any great town. At Gothenburg I knew I could immediately +obtain one, and only the trouble made me object to the searching my +trunks. He blustered for money; but the lieutenant was determined to +guard me, according to promise, from imposition. + +To avoid being interrogated at the town-gate, and obliged to go in the +rain to give an account of myself (merely a form) before we could get +the refreshment we stood in need of, he requested us to descend--I might +have said step--from our car, and walk into town. + +I expected to have found a tolerable inn, but was ushered into a most +comfortless one; and, because it was about five o'clock, three or four +hours after their dining hour, I could not prevail on them to give me +anything warm to eat. + +The appearance of the accommodations obliged me to deliver one of my +recommendatory letters, and the gentleman to whom it was addressed sent +to look out for a lodging for me whilst I partook of his supper. As +nothing passed at this supper to characterise the country, I shall here +close my letter. + +Yours truly. + + + + +LETTER II. + + +Gothenburg is a clean airy town, and, having been built by the Dutch, +has canals running through each street; and in some of them there are +rows of trees that would render it very pleasant were it not for the +pavement, which is intolerably bad. + +There are several rich commercial houses--Scotch, French, and Swedish; +but the Scotch, I believe, have been the most successful. The commerce +and commission business with France since the war has been very +lucrative, and enriched the merchants I am afraid at the expense of the +other inhabitants, by raising the price of the necessaries of life. + +As all the men of consequence--I mean men of the largest fortune--are +merchants, their principal enjoyment is a relaxation from business at +the table, which is spread at, I think, too early an hour (between one +and two) for men who have letters to write and accounts to settle after +paying due respect to the bottle. + +However, when numerous circles are to be brought together, and when +neither literature nor public amusements furnish topics for +conversation, a good dinner appears to be the only centre to rally +round, especially as scandal, the zest of more select parties, can only +be whispered. As for politics, I have seldom found it a subject of +continual discussion in a country town in any part of the world. The +politics of the place, being on a smaller scale, suits better with the +size of their faculties; for, generally speaking, the sphere of +observation determines the extent of the mind. + +The more I see of the world, the more I am convinced that civilisation +is a blessing not sufficiently estimated by those who have not traced +its progress; for it not only refines our enjoyments, but produces a +variety which enables us to retain the primitive delicacy of our +sensations. Without the aid of the imagination all the pleasures of the +senses must sink into grossness, unless continual novelty serve as a +substitute for the imagination, which, being impossible, it was to this +weariness, I suppose, that Solomon alluded when he declared that there +was nothing new under the sun!--nothing for the common sensations +excited by the senses. Yet who will deny that the imagination and +understanding have made many, very many discoveries since those days, +which only seem harbingers of others still more noble and beneficial? I +never met with much imagination amongst people who had not acquired a +habit of reflection; and in that state of society in which the judgment +and taste are not called forth, and formed by the cultivation of the +arts and sciences, little of that delicacy of feeling and thinking is to +be found characterised by the word sentiment. The want of scientific +pursuits perhaps accounts for the hospitality, as well as for the +cordial reception which strangers receive from the inhabitants of small +towns. + +Hospitality has, I think, been too much praised by travellers as a proof +of goodness of heart, when, in my opinion, indiscriminate hospitality is +rather a criterion by which you may form a tolerable estimate of the +indolence or vacancy of a head; or, in other words, a fondness for +social pleasures in which the mind not having its proportion of +exercise, the bottle must be pushed about. + +These remarks are equally applicable to Dublin, the most hospitable city +I ever passed through. But I will try to confine my observations more +particularly to Sweden. + +It is true I have only had a glance over a small part of it; yet of its +present state of manners and acquirements I think I have formed a +distinct idea, without having visited the capital--where, in fact, less +of a national character is to be found than in the remote parts of the +country. + +The Swedes pique themselves on their politeness; but far from being the +polish of a cultivated mind, it consists merely of tiresome forms and +ceremonies. So far, indeed, from entering immediately into your +character, and making you feel instantly at your ease, like the +well-bred French, their over-acted civility is a continual restraint on +all your actions. The sort of superiority which a fortune gives when +there is no superiority of education, excepting what consists in the +observance of senseless forms, has a contrary effect than what is +intended; so that I could not help reckoning the peasantry the politest +people of Sweden, who, only aiming at pleasing you, never think of being +admired for their behaviour. + +Their tables, like their compliments, seem equally a caricature of the +French. The dishes are composed, as well as theirs, of a variety of +mixtures to destroy the native taste of the food without being as +relishing. Spices and sugar are put into everything, even into the +bread; and the only way I can account for their partiality to +high-seasoned dishes is the constant use of salted provisions. Necessity +obliges them to lay up a store of dried fish and salted meat for the +winter; and in summer, fresh meat and fish taste insipid after them. To +which may be added the constant use of spirits. Every day, before dinner +and supper, even whilst the dishes are cooling on the table, men and +women repair to a side-table; and to obtain an appetite eat bread-and- +butter, cheese, raw salmon, or anchovies, drinking a glass of brandy. +Salt fish or meat then immediately follows, to give a further whet to +the stomach. As the dinner advances, pardon me for taking up a few +minutes to describe what, alas! has detained me two or three hours on +the stretch observing, dish after dish is changed, in endless rotation, +and handed round with solemn pace to each guest; but should you happen +not to like the first dishes, which was often my case, it is a gross +breach of politeness to ask for part of any other till its turn comes. +But have patience, and there will be eating enough. Allow me to run over +the acts of a visiting day, not overlooking the interludes. + +Prelude a luncheon--then a succession of fish, flesh, and fowl for two +hours, during which time the dessert--I was sorry for the strawberries +and cream--rests on the table to be impregnated by the fumes of the +viands. Coffee immediately follows in the drawing-room, but does not +preclude punch, ale, tea and cakes, raw salmon, &c. A supper brings up +the rear, not forgetting the introductory luncheon, almost equalling in +removes the dinner. A day of this kind you would imagine sufficient; but +a to-morrow and a to-morrow--A never-ending, still-beginning feast may +be bearable, perhaps, when stern winter frowns, shaking with chilling +aspect his hoary locks; but during a summer, sweet as fleeting, let me, +my kind strangers, escape sometimes into your fir groves, wander on the +margin of your beautiful lakes, or climb your rocks, to view still +others in endless perspective, which, piled by more than giant's hand, +scale the heavens to intercept its rays, or to receive the parting tinge +of lingering day--day that, scarcely softened unto twilight, allows the +freshening breeze to wake, and the moon to burst forth in all her glory +to glide with solemn elegance through the azure expanse. + +The cow's bell has ceased to tinkle the herd to rest; they have all +paced across the heath. Is not this the witching time of night? The +waters murmur, and fall with more than mortal music, and spirits of +peace walk abroad to calm the agitated breast. Eternity is in these +moments. Worldly cares melt into the airy stuff that dreams are made of, +and reveries, mild and enchanting as the first hopes of love or the +recollection of lost enjoyment, carry the hapless wight into futurity, +who in bustling life has vainly strove to throw off the grief which lies +heavy at the heart. Good night! A crescent hangs out in the vault +before, which woos me to stray abroad. It is not a silvery reflection +of the sun, but glows with all its golden splendour. Who fears the +fallen dew? It only makes the mown grass smell more fragrant. Adieu! + + + + +LETTER III. + + +The population of Sweden has been estimated from two millions and a half +to three millions; a small number for such an immense tract of country, +of which only so much is cultivated--and that in the simplest manner--as +is absolutely requisite to supply the necessaries of life; and near the +seashore, whence herrings are easily procured, there scarcely appears a +vestige of cultivation. The scattered huts that stand shivering on the +naked rocks, braving the pitiless elements, are formed of logs of wood +rudely hewn; and so little pains are taken with the craggy foundation +that nothing like a pathway points out the door. + +Gathered into himself by the cold, lowering his visage to avoid the +cutting blast, is it surprising that the churlish pleasure of drinking +drams takes place of social enjoyments amongst the poor, especially if +we take into the account that they mostly live on high-seasoned +provision and rye bread? Hard enough, you may imagine, as it is baked +only once a year. The servants also, in most families, eat this kind of +bread, and have a different kind of food from their masters, which, in +spite of all the arguments I have heard to vindicate the custom, appears +to me a remnant of barbarism. + +In fact, the situation of the servants in every respect, particularly +that of the women, shows how far the Swedes are from having a just +conception of rational equality. They are not termed slaves; yet a man +may strike a man with impunity because he pays him wages, though these +wages are so low that necessity must teach them to pilfer, whilst +servility renders them false and boorish. Still the men stand up for the +dignity of man by oppressing the women. The most menial, and even +laborious offices, are therefore left to these poor drudges. Much of +this I have seen. In the winter, I am told, they take the linen down to +the river to wash it in the cold water, and though their hands, cut by +the ice, are cracked and bleeding, the men, their fellow-servants, will +not disgrace their manhood by carrying a tub to lighten their burden. + +You will not be surprised to hear that they do not wear shoes or +stockings, when I inform you that their wages are seldom more than +twenty or thirty shillings per annum. It is the custom, I know, to give +them a new year's gift and a present at some other period, but can it +all amount to a just indemnity for their labour? The treatment of +servants in most countries, I grant, is very unjust, and in England, +that boasted land of freedom, it is often extremely tyrannical. I have +frequently, with indignation, heard gentlemen declare that they would +never allow a servant to answer them; and ladies of the most exquisite +sensibility, who were continually exclaiming against the cruelty of the +vulgar to the brute creation, have in my presence forgot that their +attendants had human feelings as well as forms. I do not know a more +agreeable sight than to see servants part of a family. By taking an +interest, generally speaking, in their concerns you inspire them with +one for yours. We must love our servants, or we shall never be +sufficiently attentive to their happiness; and how can those masters be +attentive to their happiness who, living above their fortunes, are more +anxious to outshine their neighbours than to allow their household the +innocent enjoyments they earn? + +It is, in fact, much more difficult for servants, who are tantalised by +seeing and preparing the dainties of which they are not to partake, to +remain honest, than the poor, whose thoughts are not led from their +homely fare; so that, though the servants here are commonly thieves, you +seldom hear of housebreaking, or robbery on the highway. The country is, +perhaps, too thinly inhabited to produce many of that description of +thieves termed footpads, or highwaymen. They are usually the spawn of +great cities--the effect of the spurious desires generated by wealth, +rather than the desperate struggles of poverty to escape from misery. + +The enjoyment of the peasantry was drinking brandy and coffee, before +the latter was prohibited, and the former not allowed to be privately +distilled, the wars carried on by the late king rendering it necessary +to increase the revenue, and retain the specie in the country by every +possible means. + +The taxes before the reign of Charles XII. were inconsiderable. Since +then the burden has continually been growing heavier, and the price of +provisions has proportionately increased--nay, the advantage accruing +from the exportation of corn to France and rye to Germany will probably +produce a scarcity in both Sweden and Norway, should not a peace put a +stop to it this autumn, for speculations of various kinds have already +almost doubled the price. + +Such are the effects of war, that it saps the vitals even of the neutral +countries, who, obtaining a sudden influx of wealth, appear to be +rendered flourishing by the destruction which ravages the hapless +nations who are sacrificed to the ambition of their governors. I shall +not, however, dwell on the vices, though they be of the most +contemptible and embruting cast, to which a sudden accession of fortune +gives birth, because I believe it may be delivered as an axiom, that it +is only in proportion to the industry necessary to acquire wealth that a +nation is really benefited by it. + +The prohibition of drinking coffee under a penalty, and the +encouragement given to public distilleries, tend to impoverish the poor, +who are not affected by the sumptuary laws; for the regent has lately +laid very severe restraints on the articles of dress, which the middling +class of people found grievous, because it obliged them to throw aside +finery that might have lasted them for their lives. + +These may be termed vexatious; still the death of the king, by saving +them from the consequences his ambition would naturally have entailed on +them, may be reckoned a blessing. + +Besides, the French Revolution has not only rendered all the crowned +heads more cautious, but has so decreased everywhere (excepting amongst +themselves) a respect for nobility, that the peasantry have not only +lost their blind reverence for their seigniors, but complain in a manly +style of oppressions which before they did not think of denominating +such, because they were taught to consider themselves as a different +order of beings. And, perhaps, the efforts which the aristocrats are +making here, as well as in every other part of Europe, to secure their +sway, will be the most effectual mode of undermining it, taking into the +calculation that the King of Sweden, like most of the potentates of +Europe, has continually been augmenting his power by encroaching on the +privileges of the nobles. + +The well-bred Swedes of the capital are formed on the ancient French +model, and they in general speak that language; for they have a knack at +acquiring languages with tolerable fluency. This may be reckoned an +advantage in some respects; but it prevents the cultivation of their +own, and any considerable advance in literary pursuits. + +A sensible writer has lately observed (I have not his work by me, +therefore cannot quote his exact words), "That the Americans very wisely +let the Europeans make their books and fashions for them." But I cannot +coincide with him in this opinion. The reflection necessary to produce a +certain number even of tolerable productions augments more than he is +aware of the mass of knowledge in the community. Desultory reading is +commonly a mere pastime. But we must have an object to refer our +reflections to, or they will seldom go below the surface. As in +travelling, the keeping of a journal excites to many useful inquiries +that would not have been thought of had the traveller only determined to +see all he could see, without ever asking himself for what purpose. +Besides, the very dabbling in literature furnishes harmless topics of +conversation; for the not having such subjects at hand, though they are +often insupportably fatiguing, renders the inhabitants of little towns +prying and censorious. Idleness, rather than ill-nature, gives birth to +scandal, and to the observation of little incidents which narrows the +mind. It is frequently only the fear of being talked of which produces +that puerile scrupulosity about trifles incompatible with an enlarged +plan of usefulness, and with the basis of all moral principles--respect +for the virtues which are not merely the virtues of convention. + +I am, my friend, more and more convinced that a metropolis, or an abode +absolutely solitary, is the best calculated for the improvement of the +heart, as well as the understanding; whether we desire to become +acquainted with man, nature, or ourselves. Mixing with mankind, we are +obliged to examine our prejudices, and often imperceptibly lose, as we +analyse them. And in the country, growing intimate with nature, a +thousand little circumstances, unseen by vulgar eyes, give birth to +sentiments dear to the imagination, and inquiries which expand the soul, +particularly when cultivation has not smoothed into insipidity all its +originality of character. + +I love the country, yet whenever I see a picturesque situation chosen on +which to erect a dwelling I am always afraid of the improvements. It +requires uncommon taste to form a whole, and to introduce accommodations +and ornaments analogous with the surrounding scene. + +I visited, near Gothenburg, a house with improved land about it, with +which I was particularly delighted. It was close to a lake embosomed in +pine-clad rocks. In one part of the meadows your eye was directed to the +broad expanse, in another you were led into a shade, to see a part of +it, in the form of a river, rush amongst the fragments of rocks and +roots of trees; nothing seemed forced. One recess, particularly grand +and solemn amongst the towering cliffs, had a rude stone table and seat +placed in it, that might have served for a Druid's haunt, whilst a +placid stream below enlivened the flowers on its margin, where +light-footed elves would gladly have danced their airy rounds. + +Here the hand of taste was conspicuous though not obtrusive, and formed +a contrast with another abode in the same neighbourhood, on which much +money had been lavished; where Italian colonnades were placed to excite +the wonder of the rude crags, and a stone staircase, to threaten with +destruction a wooden house. Venuses and Apollos condemned to lie hid in +snow three parts of the year seemed equally displaced, and called the +attention off from the surrounding sublimity, without inspiring any +voluptuous sensations. Yet even these abortions of vanity have been +useful. Numberless workmen have been employed, and the superintending +artist has improved the labourers, whose unskilfulness tormented him, by +obliging them to submit to the discipline of rules. Adieu! + +Yours affectionately. + + + + +LETTER IV. + + +The severity of the long Swedish winter tends to render the people +sluggish, for though this season has its peculiar pleasures, too much +time is employed to guard against its inclemency. Still as warm clothing +is absolutely necessary, the women spin and the men weave, and by these +exertions get a fence to keep out the cold. I have rarely passed a knot +of cottages without seeing cloth laid out to bleach, and when I entered, +always found the women spinning or knitting. + +A mistaken tenderness, however, for their children, makes them even in +summer load them with flannels, and having a sort of natural antipathy +to cold water, the squalid appearance of the poor babes, not to speak of +the noxious smell which flannel and rugs retain, seems a reply to a +question I had often asked--Why I did not see more children in the +villages I passed through? Indeed the children appear to be nipt in the +bud, having neither the graces nor charms of their age. And this, I am +persuaded, is much more owing to the ignorance of the mothers than to +the rudeness of the climate. Rendered feeble by the continual +perspiration they are kept in, whilst every pore is absorbing +unwholesome moisture, they give them, even at the breast, brandy, salt +fish, and every other crude substance which air and exercise enables the +parent to digest. + +The women of fortune here, as well as everywhere else, have nurses to +suckle their children; and the total want of chastity in the lower class +of women frequently renders them very unfit for the trust. + +You have sometimes remarked to me the difference of the manners of the +country girls in England and in America; attributing the reserve of the +former to the climate--to the absence of genial suns. But it must be +their stars, not the zephyrs, gently stealing on their senses, which +here lead frail women astray. Who can look at these rocks, and allow the +voluptuousness of nature to be an excuse for gratifying the desires it +inspires? We must therefore, find some other cause beside +voluptuousness, I believe, to account for the conduct of the Swedish and +American country girls; for I am led to conclude, from all the +observations I have made, that there is always a mixture of sentiment +and imagination in voluptuousness, to which neither of them have much +pretension. + +The country girls of Ireland and Wales equally feel the first impulse of +nature, which, restrained in England by fear or delicacy, proves that +society is there in a more advanced state. Besides, as the mind is +cultivated, and taste gains ground, the passions become stronger, and +rest on something more stable than the casual sympathies of the moment. +Health and idleness will always account for promiscuous amours; and in +some degree I term every person idle, the exercise of whose mind does +not bear some proportion to that of the body. + +The Swedish ladies exercise neither sufficiently; of course, grow very +fat at an early age; and when they have not this downy appearance, a +comfortable idea, you will say, in a cold climate, they are not +remarkable for fine forms. They have, however, mostly fine complexions; +but indolence makes the lily soon displace the rose. The quantity of +coffee, spices, and other things of that kind, with want of care, almost +universally spoil their teeth, which contrast but ill with their ruby +lips. + +The manners of Stockholm are refined, I hear, by the introduction of +gallantry; but in the country, romping and coarse freedoms, with coarser +allusions, keep the spirits awake. In the article of cleanliness, the +women of all descriptions seem very deficient; and their dress shows +that vanity is more inherent in women than taste. + +The men appear to have paid still less court to the graces. They are a +robust, healthy race, distinguished for their common sense and turn for +humour, rather than for wit or sentiment. I include not, as you may +suppose, in this general character, some of the nobility and officers, +who having travelled, are polite and well informed. + +I must own to you that the lower class of people here amuse and interest +me much more than the middling, with their apish good breeding and +prejudices. The sympathy and frankness of heart conspicuous in the +peasantry produces even a simple gracefulness of deportment which has +frequently struck me as very picturesque; I have often also been touched +by their extreme desire to oblige me, when I could not explain my wants, +and by their earnest manner of expressing that desire. There is such a +charm in tenderness! It is so delightful to love our fellow-creatures, +and meet the honest affections as they break forth. Still, my good +friend, I begin to think that I should not like to live continually in +the country with people whose minds have such a narrow range. My heart +would frequently be interested; but my mind would languish for more +companionable society. + +The beauties of nature appear to me now even more alluring than in my +youth, because my intercourse with the world has formed without +vitiating my taste. But, with respect to the inhabitants of the country, +my fancy has probably, when disgusted with artificial manners, solaced +itself by joining the advantages of cultivation with the interesting +sincerity of innocence, forgetting the lassitude that ignorance will +naturally produce. I like to see animals sporting, and sympathise in +their pains and pleasures. Still I love sometimes to view the human face +divine, and trace the soul, as well as the heart, in its varying +lineaments. + +A journey to the country, which I must shortly make, will enable me to +extend my remarks.--Adieu! + + + + +LETTER V. + + +Had I determined to travel in Sweden merely for pleasure, I should +probably have chosen the road to Stockholm, though convinced, by +repeated observation, that the manners of a people are best +discriminated in the country. The inhabitants of the capital are all of +the same genus; for the varieties in the species we must, therefore, +search where the habitations of men are so separated as to allow the +difference of climate to have its natural effect. And with this +difference we are, perhaps, most forcibly struck at the first view, just +as we form an estimate of the leading traits of a character at the first +glance, of which intimacy afterwards makes us almost lose sight. + +As my affairs called me to Stromstad (the frontier town of Sweden) in my +way to Norway, I was to pass over, I heard, the most uncultivated part +of the country. Still I believe that the grand features of Sweden are +the same everywhere, and it is only the grand features that admit of +description. There is an individuality in every prospect, which remains +in the memory as forcibly depicted as the particular features that have +arrested our attention; yet we cannot find words to discriminate that +individuality so as to enable a stranger to say, this is the face, that +the view. We may amuse by setting the imagination to work; but we cannot +store the memory with a fact. + +As I wish to give you a general idea of this country, I shall continue +in my desultory manner to make such observations and reflections as the +circumstances draw forth, without losing time, by endeavouring to +arrange them. + +Travelling in Sweden is very cheap, and even commodious, if you make but +the proper arrangements. Here, as in other parts of the Continent, it is +necessary to have your own carriage, and to have a servant who can speak +the language, if you are unacquainted with it. Sometimes a servant who +can drive would be found very useful, which was our case, for I +travelled in company with two gentlemen, one of whom had a German +servant who drove very well. This was all the party; for not intending +to make a long stay, I left my little girl behind me. + +As the roads are not much frequented, to avoid waiting three or four +hours for horses, we sent, as is the constant custom, an _avant courier_ +the night before, to order them at every post, and we constantly found +them ready. Our first set I jokingly termed requisition horses; but +afterwards we had almost always little spirited animals that went on at +a round pace. + +The roads, making allowance for the ups and downs, are uncommonly good +and pleasant. The expense, including the postillions and other +incidental things, does not amount to more than a shilling the Swedish +mile. + +The inns are tolerable; but not liking the rye bread, I found it +necessary to furnish myself with some wheaten before I set out. The +beds, too, were particularly disagreeable to me. It seemed to me that I +was sinking into a grave when I entered them; for, immersed in down +placed in a sort of box, I expected to be suffocated before morning. The +sleeping between two down beds--they do so even in summer--must be very +unwholesome during any season; and I cannot conceive how the people can +bear it, especially as the summers are very warm. But warmth they seem +not to feel; and, I should think, were afraid of the air, by always +keeping their windows shut. In the winter, I am persuaded, I could not +exist in rooms thus closed up, with stoves heated in their manner, for +they only put wood into them twice a day; and, when the stove is +thoroughly heated, they shut the flue, not admitting any air to renew +its elasticity, even when the rooms are crowded with company. These +stoves are made of earthenware, and often in a form that ornaments an +apartment, which is never the case with the heavy iron ones I have seen +elsewhere. Stoves may be economical, but I like a fire, a wood one, in +preference; and I am convinced that the current of air which it attracts +renders this the best mode of warming rooms. + +We arrived early the second evening at a little village called Quistram, +where we had determined to pass the night, having been informed that we +should not afterwards find a tolerable inn until we reached Stromstad. + +Advancing towards Quistram, as the sun was beginning to decline, I was +particularly impressed by the beauty of the situation. The road was on +the declivity of a rocky mountain, slightly covered with a mossy herbage +and vagrant firs. At the bottom, a river, straggling amongst the +recesses of stone, was hastening forward to the ocean and its grey +rocks, of which we had a prospect on the left; whilst on the right it +stole peacefully forward into the meadows, losing itself in a +thickly-wooded rising ground. As we drew near, the loveliest banks of +wild flowers variegated the prospect, and promised to exhale odours to +add to the sweetness of the air, the purity of which you could almost +see, alas! not smell, for the putrefying herrings, which they use as +manure, after the oil has been extracted, spread over the patches of +earth, claimed by cultivation, destroyed every other. + +It was intolerable, and entered with us into the inn, which was in other +respects a charming retreat. + +Whilst supper was preparing I crossed the bridge, and strolled by the +river, listening to its murmurs. Approaching the bank, the beauty of +which had attracted my attention in the carriage, I recognised many of +my old acquaintance growing with great luxuriance. + +Seated on it, I could not avoid noting an obvious remark. Sweden +appeared to me the country in the world most proper to form the botanist +and natural historian; every object seemed to remind me of the creation +of things, of the first efforts of sportive nature. When a country +arrives at a certain state of perfection, it looks as if it were made +so; and curiosity is not excited. Besides, in social life too many +objects occur for any to be distinctly observed by the generality of +mankind; yet a contemplative man, or poet, in the country--I do not mean +the country adjacent to cities--feels and sees what would escape vulgar +eyes, and draws suitable inferences. This train of reflections might +have led me further, in every sense of the word; but I could not escape +from the detestable evaporation of the herrings, which poisoned all my +pleasure. + +After making a tolerable supper--for it is not easy to get fresh +provisions on the road--I retired, to be lulled to sleep by the +murmuring of a stream, of which I with great difficulty obtained +sufficient to perform my daily ablutions. + +The last battle between the Danes and Swedes, which gave new life to +their ancient enmity, was fought at this place 1788; only seventeen or +eighteen were killed, for the great superiority of the Danes and +Norwegians obliged the Swedes to submit; but sickness, and a scarcity of +provision, proved very fatal to their opponents on their return. + +It would be very easy to search for the particulars of this engagement +in the publications of the day; but as this manner of filling my pages +does not come within my plan, I probably should not have remarked that +the battle was fought here, were it not to relate an anecdote which I +had from good authority. + +I noticed, when I first mentioned this place to you, that we descended a +steep before we came to the inn; an immense ridge of rocks stretching +out on one side. The inn was sheltered under them; and about a hundred +yards from it was a bridge that crossed the river, the murmurs of which +I have celebrated; it was not fordable. The Swedish general received +orders to stop at the bridge and dispute the passage--a most +advantageous post for an army so much inferior in force; but the +influence of beauty is not confined to courts. The mistress of the inn +was handsome; when I saw her there were still some remains of beauty; +and, to preserve her house, the general gave up the only tenable +station. He was afterwards broke for contempt of orders. + +Approaching the frontiers, consequently the sea, nature resumed an +aspect ruder and ruder, or rather seemed the bones of the world waiting +to be clothed with everything necessary to give life and beauty. Still +it was sublime. + +The clouds caught their hue of the rocks that menaced them. The sun +appeared afraid to shine, the birds ceased to sing, and the flowers to +bloom; but the eagle fixed his nest high amongst the rocks, and the +vulture hovered over this abode of desolation. The farm houses, in which +only poverty resided, were formed of logs scarcely keeping off the cold +and drifting snow: out of them the inhabitants seldom peeped, and the +sports or prattling of children was neither seen or heard. The current +of life seemed congealed at the source: all were not frozen, for it was +summer, you remember; but everything appeared so dull that I waited to +see ice, in order to reconcile me to the absence of gaiety. + +The day before, my attention had frequently been attracted by the wild +beauties of the country we passed through. + +The rocks which tossed their fantastic heads so high were often covered +with pines and firs, varied in the most picturesque manner. Little woods +filled up the recesses when forests did not darken the scene, and +valleys and glens, cleared of the trees, displayed a dazzling verdure +which contrasted with the gloom of the shading pines. The eye stole into +many a covert where tranquillity seemed to have taken up her abode, and +the number of little lakes that continually presented themselves added +to the peaceful composure of the scenery. The little cultivation which +appeared did not break the enchantment, nor did castles rear their +turrets aloft to crush the cottages, and prove that man is more savage +than the natives of the woods. I heard of the bears but never saw them +stalk forth, which I was sorry for; I wished to have seen one in its +wild state. In the winter, I am told, they sometimes catch a stray cow, +which is a heavy loss to the owner. + +The farms are small. Indeed most of the houses we saw on the road +indicated poverty, or rather that the people could just live. Towards +the frontiers they grew worse and worse in their appearance, as if not +willing to put sterility itself out of countenance. No gardens smiled +round the habitations, not a potato or cabbage to eat with the fish +drying on a stick near the door. A little grain here and there appeared, +the long stalks of which you might almost reckon. The day was gloomy +when we passed over this rejected spot, the wind bleak, and winter +seemed to be contending with nature, faintly struggling to change the +season. Surely, thought I, if the sun ever shines here it cannot warm +these stones; moss only cleaves to them, partaking of their hardness, +and nothing like vegetable life appears to cheer with hope the heart. + +So far from thinking that the primitive inhabitants of the world lived +in a southern climate where Paradise spontaneously arose, I am led to +infer, from various circumstances, that the first dwelling of man +happened to be a spot like this which led him to adore a sun so seldom +seen; for this worship, which probably preceded that of demons or +demigods, certainly never began in a southern climate, where the +continual presence of the sun prevented its being considered as a good; +or rather the want of it never being felt, this glorious luminary would +carelessly have diffused its blessings without being hailed as a +benefactor. Man must therefore have been placed in the north, to tempt +him to run after the sun, in order that the different parts of the earth +might be peopled. Nor do I wonder that hordes of barbarians always +poured out of these regions to seek for milder climes, when nothing like +cultivation attached them to the soil, especially when we take into the +view that the adventuring spirit, common to man, is naturally stronger +and more general during the infancy of society. The conduct of the +followers of Mahomet, and the crusaders, will sufficiently corroborate +my assertion. + +Approaching nearer to Stromstad, the appearance of the town proved to be +quite in character with the country we had just passed through. I +hesitated to use the word country, yet could not find another; still it +would sound absurd to talk of fields of rocks. + +The town was built on and under them. Three or four weather-beaten trees +were shrinking from the wind, and the grass grew so sparingly that I +could not avoid thinking Dr. Johnson's hyperbolical assertion "that the +man merited well of his country who made a few blades of grass grow +where they never grew before," might here have been uttered with strict +propriety. The steeple likewise towered aloft, for what is a church, +even amongst the Lutherans, without a steeple? But to prevent mischief +in such an exposed situation, it is wisely placed on a rock at some +distance not to endanger the roof of the church. + +Rambling about, I saw the door open, and entered, when to my great +surprise I found the clergyman reading prayers, with only the clerk +attending. I instantly thought of Swift's "Dearly beloved Roger," but on +inquiry I learnt that some one had died that morning, and in Sweden it +is customary to pray for the dead. + +The sun, who I suspected never dared to shine, began now to convince me +that he came forth only to torment; for though the wind was still +cutting, the rocks became intolerably warm under my feet, whilst the +herring effluvia, which I before found so very offensive, once more +assailed me. I hastened back to the house of a merchant, the little +sovereign of the place, because he was by far the richest, though not +the mayor. + +Here we were most hospitably received, and introduced to a very fine and +numerous family. I have before mentioned to you the lilies of the north, +I might have added, water lilies, for the complexion of many, even of +the young women, seem to be bleached on the bosom of snow. But in this +youthful circle the roses bloomed with all their wonted freshness, and I +wondered from whence the fire was stolen which sparkled in their fine +blue eyes. + +Here we slept; and I rose early in the morning to prepare for my little +voyage to Norway. I had determined to go by water, and was to leave my +companions behind; but not getting a boat immediately, and the wind +being high and unfavourable, I was told that it was not safe to go to +sea during such boisterous weather; I was, therefore, obliged to wait +for the morrow, and had the present day on my hands, which I feared +would be irksome, because the family, who possessed about a dozen French +words amongst them and not an English phrase, were anxious to amuse me, +and would not let me remain alone in my room. The town we had already +walked round and round, and if we advanced farther on the coast, it was +still to view the same unvaried immensity of water surrounded by +barrenness. + +The gentlemen, wishing to peep into Norway, proposed going to +Fredericshall, the first town--the distance was only three Swedish +miles. There and back again was but a day's journey, and would not, I +thought, interfere with my voyage. I agreed, and invited the eldest and +prettiest of the girls to accompany us. I invited her because I like to +see a beautiful face animated by pleasure, and to have an opportunity of +regarding the country, whilst the gentlemen were amusing themselves with +her. + +I did not know, for I had not thought of it, that we were to scale some +of the most mountainous cliffs of Sweden in our way to the ferry which +separates the two countries. + +Entering amongst the cliffs, we were sheltered from the wind, warm +sunbeams began to play, streams to flow, and groves of pines diversified +the rocks. Sometimes they became suddenly bare and sublime. Once, in +particular, after mounting the most terrific precipice, we had to pass +through a tremendous defile, where the closing chasm seemed to threaten +us with instant destruction, when, turning quickly, verdant meadows and +a beautiful lake relieved and charmed my eyes. + +I had never travelled through Switzerland, but one of my companions +assured me that I should not there find anything superior, if equal, to +the wild grandeur of these views. + +As we had not taken this excursion into our plan, the horses had not +been previously ordered, which obliged us to wait two hours at the first +post. The day was wearing away. The road was so bad that walking up the +precipices consumed the time insensibly; but as we desired horses at +each post ready at a certain hour, we reckoned on returning more +speedily. + +We stopped to dine at a tolerable farm; they brought us out ham, butter, +cheese, and milk, and the charge was so moderate that I scattered a +little money amongst the children who were peeping at us, in order to +pay them for their trouble. + +Arrived at the ferry, we were still detained, for the people who attend +at the ferries have a stupid kind of sluggishness in their manner, which +is very provoking when you are in haste. At present I did not feel it, +for, scrambling up the cliffs, my eye followed the river as it rolled +between the grand rocky banks; and, to complete the scenery, they were +covered with firs and pines, through which the wind rustled as if it +were lulling itself to sleep with the declining sun. + +Behold us now in Norway; and I could not avoid feeling surprise at +observing the difference in the manners of the inhabitants of the two +sides of the river, for everything shows that the Norwegians are more +industrious and more opulent. The Swedes (for neighbours are seldom the +best friends) accuse the Norwegians of knavery, and they retaliate by +bringing a charge of hypocrisy against the Swedes. Local circumstances +probably render both unjust, speaking from their feelings rather than +reason; and is this astonishing when we consider that most writers of +travels have done the same, whose works have served as materials for the +compilers of universal histories? All are eager to give a national +character, which is rarely just, because they do not discriminate the +natural from the acquired difference. The natural, I believe, on due +consideration, will be found to consist merely in the degree of +vivacity, or thoughtfulness, pleasures or pain, inspired by the climate, +whilst the varieties which the forms of government, including religion, +produce are much more numerous and unstable. + +A people have been characterised as stupid by nature; what a paradox! +because they did not consider that slaves, having no object to stimulate +industry, have not their faculties sharpened by the only thing that can +exercise them, self-interest. Others have been brought forward as +brutes, having no aptitude for the arts and sciences, only because the +progress of improvement had not reached that stage which produces them. + +Those writers who have considered the history of man, or of the human +mind, on a more enlarged scale have fallen into similar errors, not +reflecting that the passions are weak where the necessaries of life are +too hardly or too easily obtained. + +Travellers who require that every nation should resemble their native +country, had better stay at home. It is, for example, absurd to blame a +people for not having that degree of personal cleanliness and elegance +of manners which only refinement of taste produces, and will produce +everywhere in proportion as society attains a general polish. The most +essential service, I presume, that authors could render to society, +would be to promote inquiry and discussion, instead of making those +dogmatical assertions which only appear calculated to gird the human +mind round with imaginary circles, like the paper globe which represents +the one he inhabits. + +This spirit of inquiry is the characteristic of the present century, +from which the succeeding will, I am persuaded, receive a great +accumulation of knowledge; and doubtless its diffusion will in a great +measure destroy the factitious national characters which have been +supposed permanent, though only rendered so by the permanency of +ignorance. + +Arriving at Fredericshall, at the siege of which Charles XII. lost his +life, we had only time to take a transient view of it whilst they were +preparing us some refreshment. + +Poor Charles! I thought of him with respect. I have always felt the +same for Alexander, with whom he has been classed as a madman by several +writers, who have reasoned superficially, confounding the morals of the +day with the few grand principles on which unchangeable morality rests. +Making no allowance for the ignorance and prejudices of the period, they +do not perceive how much they themselves are indebted to general +improvement for the acquirements, and even the virtues, which they would +not have had the force of mind to attain by their individual exertions +in a less advanced state of society. + +The evening was fine, as is usual at this season, and the refreshing +odour of the pine woods became more perceptible, for it was nine o'clock +when we left Fredericshall. At the ferry we were detained by a dispute +relative to our Swedish passport, which we did not think of getting +countersigned in Norway. Midnight was coming on, yet it might with such +propriety have been termed the noon of night that, had Young ever +travelled towards the north, I should not have wondered at his becoming +enamoured of the moon. But it is not the Queen of Night alone who reigns +here in all her splendour, though the sun, loitering just below the +horizon, decks her within a golden tinge from his car, illuminating the +cliffs that hide him; the heavens also, of a clear softened blue, throw +her forward, and the evening star appears a smaller moon to the naked +eye. The huge shadows of the rocks, fringed with firs, concentrating the +views without darkening them, excited that tender melancholy which, +sublimating the imagination, exalts rather than depresses the mind. + +My companions fell asleep--fortunately they did not snore; and I +contemplated, fearless of idle questions, a night such as I had never +before seen or felt, to charm the senses, and calm the heart. The very +air was balmy as it freshened into morn, producing the most voluptuous +sensations. A vague pleasurable sentiment absorbed me, as I opened my +bosom to the embraces of nature; and my soul rose to its Author, with +the chirping of the solitary birds, which began to feel, rather than +see, advancing day. I had leisure to mark its progress. The grey morn, +streaked with silvery rays, ushered in the orient beams (how beautifully +varying into purple!), yet I was sorry to lose the soft watery clouds +which preceded them, exciting a kind of expectation that made me almost +afraid to breathe, lest I should break the charm. I saw the sun--and +sighed. + +One of my companions, now awake, perceiving that the postillion had +mistaken the road, began to swear at him, and roused the other two, who +reluctantly shook off sleep. + +We had immediately to measure back our steps, and did not reach +Stromstad before five in the morning. + +The wind had changed in the night, and my boat was ready. + +A dish of coffee, and fresh linen, recruited my spirits, and I directly +set out again for Norway, purposing to land much higher up the coast. + +Wrapping my great-coat round me, I lay down on some sails at the bottom +of the boat, its motion rocking me to rest, till a discourteous wave +interrupted my slumbers, and obliged me to rise and feel a solitariness +which was not so soothing as that of the past night. + +Adieu! + + + + +LETTER VI. + + +The sea was boisterous, but, as I had an experienced pilot, I did not +apprehend any danger. Sometimes, I was told, boats are driven far out +and lost. However, I seldom calculate chances so nicely--sufficient for +the day is the obvious evil! + +We had to steer amongst islands and huge rocks, rarely losing sight of +the shore, though it now and then appeared only a mist that bordered the +water's edge. The pilot assured me that the numerous harbours on the +Norway coast were very safe, and the pilot-boats were always on the +watch. The Swedish side is very dangerous, I am also informed; and the +help of experience is not often at hand to enable strange vessels to +steer clear of the rocks, which lurk below the water close to the shore. + +There are no tides here, nor in the Cattegate, and, what appeared to me +a consequence, no sandy beach. Perhaps this observation has been made +before; but it did not occur to me till I saw the waves continually +beating against the bare rocks, without ever receding to leave a +sediment to harden. + +The wind was fair, till we had to tack about in order to enter Laurvig, +where we arrived towards three o'clock in the afternoon. It is a clean, +pleasant town, with a considerable iron-work, which gives life to it. + +As the Norwegians do not frequently see travellers, they are very +curious to know their business, and who they are--so curious, that I was +half tempted to adopt Dr. Franklin's plan, when travelling in America, +where they are equally prying, which was to write on a paper, for public +inspection, my name, from whence I came, where I was going, and what was +my business. But if I were importuned by their curiosity, their friendly +gestures gratified me. A woman coming alone interested them. And I know +not whether my weariness gave me a look of peculiar delicacy, but they +approached to assist me, and inquire after my wants, as if they were +afraid to hurt, and wished to protect me. The sympathy I inspired, thus +dropping down from the clouds in a strange land, affected me more than +it would have done had not my spirits been harassed by various +causes--by much thinking--musing almost to madness--and even by a sort +of weak melancholy that hung about my heart at parting with my daughter +for the first time. + +You know that, as a female, I am particularly attached to her; I feel +more than a mother's fondness and anxiety when I reflect on the +dependent and oppressed state of her sex. I dread lest she should be +forced to sacrifice her heart to her principles, or principles to her +heart. With trembling hand I shall cultivate sensibility and cherish +delicacy of sentiment, lest, whilst I lend fresh blushes to the rose, I +sharpen the thorns that will wound the breast I would fain guard; I +dread to unfold her mind, lest it should render her unfit for the world +she is to inhabit. Hapless woman! what a fate is thine! + +But whither am I wandering? I only meant to tell you that the +impression the kindness of the simple people made visible on my +countenance increased my sensibility to a painful degree. I wished to +have had a room to myself, for their attention, and rather distressing +observation, embarrassed me extremely. Yet, as they would bring me eggs, +and make my coffee, I found I could not leave them without hurting their +feelings of hospitality. + +It is customary here for the host and hostess to welcome their guests as +master and mistress of the house. + +My clothes, in their turn, attracted the attention of the females, and I +could not help thinking of the foolish vanity which makes many women so +proud of the observation of strangers as to take wonder very +gratuitously for admiration. This error they are very apt to fall into +when, arrived in a foreign country, the populace stare at them as they +pass. Yet the make of a cap or the singularity of a gown is often the +cause of the flattering attention which afterwards supports a fantastic +superstructure of self-conceit. + +Not having brought a carriage over with me, expecting to have met a +person where I landed, who was immediately to have procured me one, I +was detained whilst the good people of the inn sent round to all their +acquaintance to search for a vehicle. A rude sort of cabriole was at +last found, and a driver half drunk, who was not less eager to make a +good bargain on that account. I had a Danish captain of a ship and his +mate with me; the former was to ride on horseback, at which he was not +very expert, and the latter to partake of my seat. The driver mounted +behind to guide the horses and flourish the whip over our shoulders; he +would not suffer the reins out of his own hands. There was something so +grotesque in our appearance that I could not avoid shrinking into myself +when I saw a gentleman-like man in the group which crowded round the +door to observe us. I could have broken the driver's whip for cracking +to call the women and children together, but seeing a significant smile +on the face, I had before remarked, I burst into a laugh to allow him to +do so too, and away we flew. This is not a flourish of the pen, for we +actually went on full gallop a long time, the horses being very good; +indeed, I have never met with better, if so good, post-horses as in +Norway. They are of a stouter make than the English horses, appear to be +well fed, and are not easily tired. + +I had to pass over, I was informed, the most fertile and best cultivated +tract of country in Norway. The distance was three Norwegian miles, +which are longer than the Swedish. The roads were very good; the farmers +are obliged to repair them; and we scampered through a great extent of +country in a more improved state than any I had viewed since I left +England. Still there was sufficient of hills, dales, and rocks to +prevent the idea of a plain from entering the head, or even of such +scenery as England and France afford. The prospects were also +embellished by water, rivers, and lakes before the sea proudly claimed +my regard, and the road running frequently through lofty groves rendered +the landscapes beautiful, though they were not so romantic as those I +had lately seen with such delight. + +It was late when I reached Tonsberg, and I was glad to go to bed at a +decent inn. The next morning the 17th of July, conversing with the +gentleman with whom I had business to transact, I found that I should be +detained at Tonsberg three weeks, and I lamented that I had not brought +my child with me. + +The inn was quiet, and my room so pleasant, commanding a view of the +sea, confined by an amphitheatre of hanging woods, that I wished to +remain there, though no one in the house could speak English or French. +The mayor, my friend, however, sent a young woman to me who spoke a +little English, and she agreed to call on me twice a day to receive my +orders and translate them to my hostess. + +My not understanding the language was an excellent pretext for dining +alone, which I prevailed on them to let me do at a late hour, for the +early dinners in Sweden had entirely deranged my day. I could not alter +it there without disturbing the economy of a family where I was as a +visitor, necessity having forced me to accept of an invitation from a +private family, the lodgings were so incommodious. + +Amongst the Norwegians I had the arrangement of my own time, and I +determined to regulate it in such a manner that I might enjoy as much of +their sweet summer as I possibly could; short, it is true, but "passing +sweet." + +I never endured a winter in this rude clime, consequently it was not the +contrast, but the real beauty of the season which made the present +summer appear to me the finest I had ever seen. Sheltered from the north +and eastern winds, nothing can exceed the salubrity, the soft freshness +of the western gales. In the evening they also die away; the aspen +leaves tremble into stillness, and reposing nature seems to be warmed by +the moon, which here assumes a genial aspect. And if a light shower has +chanced to fall with the sun, the juniper, the underwood of the forest, +exhales a wild perfume, mixed with a thousand nameless sweets that, +soothing the heart, leave images in the memory which the imagination +will ever hold dear. + +Nature is the nurse of sentiment, the true source of taste; yet what +misery, as well as rapture, is produced by a quick perception of the +beautiful and sublime when it is exercised in observing animated nature, +when every beauteous feeling and emotion excites responsive sympathy, +and the harmonised soul sinks into melancholy or rises to ecstasy, just +as the chords are touched, like the Æolian harp agitated by the +changing wind. But how dangerous is it to foster these sentiments in +such an imperfect state of existence, and how difficult to eradicate +them when an affection for mankind, a passion for an individual, is but +the unfolding of that love which embraces all that is great and +beautiful! + +When a warm heart has received strong impressions, they are not to be +effaced. Emotions become sentiments, and the imagination renders even +transient sensations permanent by fondly retracing them. I cannot, +without a thrill of delight, recollect views I have seen, which are not +to be forgotten, nor looks I have felt in every nerve, which I shall +never more meet. The grave has closed over a dear friend, the friend of +my youth. Still she is present with me, and I hear her soft voice +warbling as I stray over the heath. Fate has separated me from another, +the fire of whose eyes, tempered by infantine tenderness, still warms my +breast; even when gazing on these tremendous cliffs sublime emotions +absorb my soul. And, smile not, if I add that the rosy tint of morning +reminds me of a suffusion which will never more charm my senses, unless +it reappears on the cheeks of my child. Her sweet blushes I may yet hide +in my bosom, and she is still too young to ask why starts the tear so +near akin to pleasure and pain. + +I cannot write any more at present. To-morrow we will talk of Tonsberg. + + + + +LETTER VII. + + +Though the king of Denmark be an absolute monarch, yet the Norwegians +appear to enjoy all the blessings of freedom. Norway may be termed a +sister kingdom; but the people have no viceroy to lord it over them, and +fatten his dependants with the fruit of their labour. + +There are only two counts in the whole country who have estates, and +exact some feudal observances from their tenantry. All the rest of the +country is divided into small farms, which belong to the cultivator. It +is true some few, appertaining to the Church, are let, but always on a +lease for life, generally renewed in favour of the eldest son, who has +this advantage as well as a right to a double portion of the property. +But the value of the farm is estimated, and after his portion is +assigned to him he must be answerable for the residue to the remaining +part of the family. + +Every farmer for ten years is obliged to attend annually about twelve +days to learn the military exercise, but it is always at a small +distance from his dwelling, and does not lead him into any new habits of +life. + +There are about six thousand regulars also in garrison at Christiania +and Fredericshall, who are equally reserved, with the militia, for the +defence of their own country. So that when the Prince Royal passed into +Sweden in 1788, he was obliged to request, not command, them to +accompany him on this expedition. + +These corps are mostly composed of the sons of the cottagers, who being +labourers on the farms, are allowed a few acres to cultivate for +themselves. These men voluntarily enlist, but it is only for a limited +period (six years), at the expiration of which they have the liberty of +retiring. The pay is only twopence a day and bread; still, considering +the cheapness of the country, it is more than sixpence in England. + +The distribution of landed property into small farms produces a degree +of equality which I have seldom seen elsewhere; and the rich being all +merchants, who are obliged to divide their personal fortune amongst +their children, the boys always receiving twice as much as the girls, +property has met a chance of accumulating till overgrowing wealth +destroys the balance of liberty. + +You will be surprised to hear me talk of liberty; yet the Norwegians +appear to me to be the most free community I have ever observed. + +The mayor of each town or district, and the judges in the country, +exercise an authority almost patriarchal. They can do much good, but +little harm,--as every individual can appeal from their judgment; and as +they may always be forced to give a reason for their conduct, it is +generally regulated by prudence. "They have not time to learn to be +tyrants," said a gentleman to me, with whom I discussed the subject. + +The farmers not fearing to be turned out of their farms, should they +displease a man in power, and having no vote to be commanded at an +election for a mock representative, are a manly race; for not being +obliged to submit to any debasing tenure in order to live, or advance +themselves in the world, they act with an independent spirit. I never +yet have heard of anything like domineering or oppression, excepting +such as has arisen from natural causes. The freedom the people enjoy +may, perhaps, render them a little litigious, and subject them to the +impositions of cunning practitioners of the law; but the authority of +office is bounded, and the emoluments of it do not destroy its utility. + +Last year a man who had abused his power was cashiered, on the +representation of the people to the bailiff of the district. + +There are four in Norway who might with propriety be termed sheriffs; +and from their sentence an appeal, by either party, may be made to +Copenhagen. + +Near most of the towns are commons, on which the cows of all the +inhabitants, indiscriminately, are allowed to graze. The poor, to whom a +cow is necessary, are almost supported by it. Besides, to render living +more easy, they all go out to fish in their own boats, and fish is their +principal food. + +The lower class of people in the towns are in general sailors; and the +industrious have usually little ventures of their own that serve to +render the winter comfortable. + +With respect to the country at large, the importation is considerably in +favour of Norway. + +They are forbidden, at present, to export corn or rye on account of the +advanced price. + +The restriction which most resembles the painful subordination of +Ireland, is that vessels, trading to the West Indies, are obliged to +pass by their own ports, and unload their cargoes at Copenhagen, which +they afterwards reship. The duty is indeed inconsiderable, but the +navigation being dangerous, they run a double risk. + +There is an excise on all articles of consumption brought to the towns; +but the officers are not strict, and it would be reckoned invidious to +enter a house to search, as in England. + +The Norwegians appear to me a sensible, shrewd people, with little +scientific knowledge, and still less taste for literature; but they are +arriving at the epoch which precedes the introduction of the arts and +sciences. + +Most of the towns are seaports, and seaports are not favourable to +improvement. The captains acquire a little superficial knowledge by +travelling, which their indefatigable attention to the making of money +prevents their digesting; and the fortune that they thus laboriously +acquire is spent, as it usually is in towns of this description, in show +and good living. They love their country, but have not much public +spirit. Their exertions are, generally speaking, only for their +families, which, I conceive, will always be the case, till politics, +becoming a subject of discussion, enlarges the heart by opening the +understanding. The French Revolution will have this effect. They sing, +at present, with great glee, many Republican songs, and seem earnestly +to wish that the republic may stand; yet they appear very much attached +to their Prince Royal, and, as far as rumour can give an idea of a +character, he appears to merit their attachment. When I am at +Copenhagen, I shall be able to ascertain on what foundation their good +opinion is built; at present I am only the echo of it. + +In the year 1788 he travelled through Norway; and acts of mercy gave +dignity to the parade, and interest to the joy his presence inspired. At +this town he pardoned a girl condemned to die for murdering an +illegitimate child, a crime seldom committed in this country. She is +since married, and become the careful mother of a family. This might be +given as an instance, that a desperate act is not always a proof of an +incorrigible depravity of character, the only plausible excuse that has +been brought forward to justify the infliction of capital punishments. + +I will relate two or three other anecdotes to you, for the truth of +which I will not vouch because the facts were not of sufficient +consequence for me to take much pains to ascertain them; and, true or +false, they evince that the people like to make a kind of mistress of +their prince. + +An officer, mortally wounded at the ill-advised battle of Quistram, +desired to speak with the prince; and with his dying breath, earnestly +recommended to his care a young woman of Christiania, to whom he was +engaged. When the prince returned there, a ball was given by the chief +inhabitants: he inquired whether this unfortunate girl was invited, and +requested that she might, though of the second class. The girl came; she +was pretty; and finding herself among her superiors, bashfully sat down +as near the door as possible, nobody taking notice of her. Shortly +after, the prince entering, immediately inquired for her, and asked her +to dance, to the mortification of the rich dames. After it was over he +handed her to the top of the room, and placing himself by her, spoke of +the loss she had sustained, with tenderness, promising to provide for +anyone she should marry, as the story goes. She is since married, and he +has not forgotten his promise. + +A little girl, during the same expedition, in Sweden, who informed him +that the logs of a bridge were out underneath, was taken by his orders +to Christiania, and put to school at his expense. + +Before I retail other beneficial effects of his journey, it is necessary +to inform you that the laws here are mild, and do not punish capitally +for any crime but murder, which seldom occurs. Every other offence +merely subjects the delinquent to imprisonment and labour in the castle, +or rather arsenal at Christiania, and the fortress at Fredericshall. The +first and second conviction produces a sentence for a limited number of +years--two, three, five, or seven, proportioned to the atrocity of the +crime. After the third he is whipped, branded in the forehead, and +condemned to perpetual slavery. This is the ordinary course of justice. +For some flagrant breaches of trust, or acts of wanton cruelty, +criminals have been condemned to slavery for life the first time of +conviction, but not frequently. The number of these slaves do not, I am +informed, amount to more than a hundred, which is not considerable, +compared with the population, upwards of eight hundred thousand. Should +I pass through Christiania, on my return to Gothenburg, I shall probably +have an opportunity of learning other particulars. + +There is also a House of Correction at Christiania for trifling +misdemeanours, where the women are confined to labour and imprisonment +even for life. The state of the prisoners was represented to the prince, +in consequence of which he visited the arsenal and House of Correction. +The slaves at the arsenal were loaded with irons of a great weight; he +ordered them to be lightened as much as possible. + +The people in the House of Correction were commanded not to speak to +him; but four women, condemned to remain there for life, got into the +passage, and fell at his feet. He granted them a pardon; and inquiring +respecting the treatment of the prisoners, he was informed that they +were frequently whipped going in, and coming out, and for any fault, at +the discretion of the inspectors. This custom he humanely abolished, +though some of the principal inhabitants, whose situation in life had +raised them above the temptation of stealing, were of opinion that these +chastisements were necessary and wholesome. + +In short, everything seems to announce that the prince really cherishes +the laudable ambition of fulfilling the duties of his station. This +ambition is cherished and directed by the Count Bernstorff, the Prime +Minister of Denmark, who is universally celebrated for his abilities and +virtue. The happiness of the people is a substantial eulogium; and, from +all I can gather, the inhabitants of Denmark and Norway are the least +oppressed people of Europe. The press is free. They translate any of the +French publications of the day, deliver their opinion on the subject, +and discuss those it leads to with great freedom, and without fearing to +displease the Government. + +On the subject of religion they are likewise becoming tolerant, at +least, and perhaps have advanced a step further in free-thinking. One +writer has ventured to deny the divinity of Jesus Christ, and to +question the necessity or utility of the Christian system, without being +considered universally as a monster, which would have been the case a +few years ago. They have translated many German works on education; and +though they have not adopted any of their plans, it has become a subject +of discussion. There are some grammar and free schools; but, from what I +hear, not very good ones. All the children learn to read, write, and +cast accounts, for the purposes of common life. They have no university; +and nothing that deserves the name of science is taught; nor do +individuals, by pursuing any branch of knowledge, excite a degree of +curiosity which is the forerunner of improvement. Knowledge is not +absolutely necessary to enable a considerable portion of the community +to live; and, till it is, I fear it never becomes general. + +In this country, where minerals abound, there is not one collection; +and, in all probability, I venture a conjecture, the want of mechanical +and chemical knowledge renders the silver mines unproductive, for the +quantity of silver obtained every year is not sufficient to defray the +expenses. It has been urged that the employment of such a number of +hands is very beneficial. But a positive loss is never to be done away; +and the men, thus employed, would naturally find some other means of +living, instead of being thus a dead weight on Government, or rather on +the community from whom its revenue is drawn. + +About three English miles from Tonsberg there is a salt work, belonging, +like all their establishments, to Government, in which they employ above +a hundred and fifty men, and maintain nearly five hundred people, who +earn their living. The clear profit, an increasing one, amounts to two +thousand pounds sterling. And as the eldest son of the inspector, an +ingenious young man, has been sent by the Government to travel, and +acquire some mathematical and chemical knowledge in Germany, it has a +chance of being improved. He is the only person I have met with here who +appears to have a scientific turn of mind. I do not mean to assert that +I have not met with others who have a spirit of inquiry. + +The salt-works at St. Ubes are basins in the sand, and the sun produces +the evaporation, but here there is no beach. Besides, the heat of summer +is so short-lived that it would be idle to contrive machines for such an +inconsiderable portion of the year. They therefore always use fires; and +the whole establishment appears to be regulated with judgment. + +The situation is well chosen and beautiful. I do not find, from the +observation of a person who has resided here for forty years, that the +sea advances or recedes on this coast. + +I have already remarked that little attention is paid to education, +excepting reading, writing, and the rudiments of arithmetic; I ought to +have added that a catechism is carefully taught, and the children +obliged to read in the churches, before the congregation, to prove that +they are not neglected. + +Degrees, to enable any one to practise any profession, must be taken at +Copenhagen; and the people of this country, having the good sense to +perceive that men who are to live in a community should at least acquire +the elements of their knowledge, and form their youthful attachments +there, are seriously endeavouring to establish a university in Norway. +And Tonsberg, as a central place in the best part of the country, had +the most suffrages, for, experiencing the bad effects of a metropolis, +they have determined not to have it in or near Christiania. Should such +an establishment take place, it will promote inquiry throughout the +country, and give a new face to society. Premiums have been offered, and +prize questions written, which I am told have merit. The building +college-halls, and other appendages of the seat of science, might enable +Tonsberg to recover its pristine consequence, for it is one of the most +ancient towns of Norway, and once contained nine churches. At present +there are only two. One is a very old structure, and has a Gothic +respectability about it, which scarcely amounts to grandeur, because, to +render a Gothic pile grand, it must have a huge unwieldiness of +appearance. The chapel of Windsor may be an exception to this rule; I +mean before it was in its present nice, clean state. When I first saw +it, the pillars within had acquired, by time, a sombre hue, which +accorded with the architecture; and the gloom increased its dimensions +to the eye by hiding its parts; but now it all bursts on the view at +once, and the sublimity has vanished before the brush and broom; for it +has been white-washed and scraped till it has become as bright and neat +as the pots and pans in a notable house-wife's kitchen--yes; the very +spurs on the recumbent knights were deprived of their venerable rust, to +give a striking proof that a love of order in trifles, and taste for +proportion and arrangement, are very distinct. The glare of light thus +introduced entirely destroys the sentiment these piles are calculated to +inspire; so that, when I heard something like a jig from the organ-loft, +I thought it an excellent hall for dancing or feasting. The measured +pace of thought with which I had entered the cathedral changed into a +trip; and I bounded on the terrace, to see the royal family, with a +number of ridiculous images in my head that I shall not now recall. + +The Norwegians are fond of music, and every little church has an organ. +In the church I have mentioned there is an inscription importing that a +king James VI. of Scotland and I. of England, who came with more than +princely gallantry to escort his bride home--stood there, and heard +divine service. + +There is a little recess full of coffins, which contains bodies embalmed +long since--so long, that there is not even a tradition to lead to a +guess at their names. + +A desire of preserving the body seems to have prevailed in most +countries of the world, futile as it is to term it a preservation, when +the noblest parts are immediately sacrificed merely to save the muscles, +skin, and bone from rottenness. When I was shown these human +petrifactions, I shrank back with disgust and horror. "Ashes to ashes!" +thought I--"Dust to dust!" If this be not dissolution, it is something +worse than natural decay--it is treason against humanity, thus to lift +up the awful veil which would fain hide its weakness. The grandeur of +the active principle is never more strongly felt than at such a sight, +for nothing is so ugly as the human form when deprived of life, and thus +dried into stone, merely to preserve the most disgusting image of death. +The contemplation of noble ruins produces a melancholy that exalts the +mind. We take a retrospect of the exertions of man, the fate of empires +and their rulers, and marking the grand destruction of ages, it seems +the necessary change of time leading to improvement. Our very soul +expands, and we forget our littleness--how painfully brought to our +recollection by such vain attempts to snatch from decay what is destined +so soon to perish. Life, what art thou? Where goes this breath?--this +_I_, so much alive? In what element will it mix, giving or receiving +fresh energy? What will break the enchantment of animation? For worlds +I would not see a form I loved--embalmed in my heart--thus +sacrilegiously handled? Pugh! my stomach turns. Is this all the +distinction of the rich in the grave? They had better quietly allow the +scythe of equality to mow them down with the common mass, than struggle +to become a monument of the instability of human greatness. + +The teeth, nails, and skin were whole, without appearing black like the +Egyptian mummies; and some silk, in which they had been wrapped, still +preserved its colour--pink--with tolerable freshness. + +I could not learn how long the bodies had been in this state, in which +they bid fair to remain till the Day of Judgment, if there is to be such +a day; and before that time, it will require some trouble to make them +fit to appear in company with angels without disgracing humanity. God +bless you! I feel a conviction that we have some perfectible principle +in our present vestment, which will not be destroyed just as we begin to +be sensible of improvement; and I care not what habit it next puts on, +sure that it will be wisely formed to suit a higher state of existence. +Thinking of death makes us tenderly cling to our affections; with more +than usual tenderness I therefore assure you that I am yours, wishing +that the temporary death of absence may not endure longer than is +absolutely necessary. + + + + +LETTER VIII. + + +Tonsberg was formerly the residence of one of the little sovereigns of +Norway; and on an adjacent mountain the vestiges of a fort remain, which +was battered down by the Swedes, the entrance of the bay lying close to +it. + +Here I have frequently strayed, sovereign of the waste; I seldom met any +human creature; and sometimes, reclining on the mossy down, under the +shelter of a rock, the prattling of the sea amongst the pebbles has +lulled me to sleep--no fear of any rude satyr's approaching to interrupt +my repose. Balmy were the slumbers, and soft the gales, that refreshed +me, when I awoke to follow, with an eye vaguely curious, the white +sails, as they turned the cliffs, or seemed to take shelter under the +pines which covered the little islands that so gracefully rose to render +the terrific ocean beautiful. The fishermen were calmly casting their +nets, whilst the sea-gulls hovered over the unruffled deep. Everything +seemed to harmonise into tranquillity; even the mournful call of the +bittern was in cadence with the tinkling bells on the necks of the cows, +that, pacing slowly one after the other, along an inviting path in the +vale below, were repairing to the cottages to be milked. With what +ineffable pleasure have I not gazed--and gazed again, losing my breath +through my eyes--my very soul diffused itself in the scene; and, seeming +to become all senses, glided in the scarcely-agitated waves, melted in +the freshening breeze, or, taking its flight with fairy wing, to the +misty mountain which bounded the prospect, fancy tripped over new lawns, +more beautiful even than the lovely slopes on the winding shore before +me. I pause, again breathless, to trace, with renewed delight, +sentiments which entranced me, when, turning my humid eyes from the +expanse below to the vault above, my sight pierced the fleecy clouds +that softened the azure brightness; and imperceptibly recalling the +reveries of childhood, I bowed before the awful throne of my Creator, +whilst I rested on its footstool. + +You have sometimes wondered, my dear friend, at the extreme affection of +my nature. But such is the temperature of my soul. It is not the +vivacity of youth, the heyday of existence. For years have I endeavoured +to calm an impetuous tide, labouring to make my feelings take an orderly +course. It was striving against the stream. I must love and admire with +warmth, or I sink into sadness. Tokens of love which I have received +have wrapped me in Elysium, purifying the heart they enchanted. My bosom +still glows. Do not saucily ask, repeating Sterne's question, "Maria, is +it still so warm?" Sufficiently, O my God! has it been chilled by +sorrow and unkindness; still nature will prevail; and if I blush at +recollecting past enjoyment, it is the rosy hue of pleasure heightened +by modesty, for the blush of modesty and shame are as distinct as the +emotions by which they are produced. + +I need scarcely inform you, after telling you of my walks, that my +constitution has been renovated here, and that I have recovered my +activity even whilst attaining a little _embonpoint_. My imprudence last +winter, and some untoward accidents just at the time I was weaning my +child, had reduced me to a state of weakness which I never before +experienced. A slow fever preyed on me every night during my residence +in Sweden, and after I arrived at Tonsberg. By chance I found a fine +rivulet filtered through the rocks, and confined in a basin for the +cattle. It tasted to me like a chalybeate; at any rate, it was pure; and +the good effect of the various waters which invalids are sent to drink +depends, I believe, more on the air, exercise, and change of scene, than +on their medicinal qualities. I therefore determined to turn my morning +walks towards it, and seek for health from the nymph of the fountain, +partaking of the beverage offered to the tenants of the shade. + +Chance likewise led me to discover a new pleasure equally beneficial to +my health. I wished to avail myself of my vicinity to the sea and bathe; +but it was not possible near the town; there was no convenience. The +young woman whom I mentioned to you proposed rowing me across the water +amongst the rocks; but as she was pregnant, I insisted on taking one of +the oars, and learning to row. It was not difficult, and I do not know a +pleasanter exercise. I soon became expert, and my train of thinking kept +time, as it were, with the oars, or I suffered the boat to be carried +along by the current, indulging a pleasing forgetfulness or fallacious +hopes. How fallacious! yet, without hope, what is to sustain life, but +the fear of annihilation--the only thing of which I have ever felt a +dread. I cannot bear to think of being no more--of losing myself--though +existence is often but a painful consciousness of misery; nay, it +appears to me impossible that I should cease to exist, or that this +active, restless spirit, equally alive to joy and sorrow, should only be +organised dust--ready to fly abroad the moment the spring snaps, or the +spark goes out which kept it together. Surely something resides in this +heart that is not perishable, and life is more than a dream. + +Sometimes, to take up my oar once more, when the sea was calm, I was +amused by disturbing the innumerable young star fish which floated just +below the surface; I had never observed them before, for they have not a +hard shell like those which I have seen on the seashore. They look like +thickened water with a white edge, and four purple circles, of different +forms, were in the middle, over an incredible number of fibres or white +lines. Touching them, the cloudy substance would turn or close, first on +one side, then on the other, very gracefully, but when I took one of +them up in the ladle, with which I heaved the water out of the boat, it +appeared only a colourless jelly. + +I did not see any of the seals, numbers of which followed our boat when +we landed in Sweden; but though I like to sport in the water I should +have had no desire to join in their gambols. + +Enough, you will say, of inanimate nature and of brutes, to use the +lordly phrase of man; let me hear something of the inhabitants. + +The gentleman with whom I had business is the Mayor of Tonsberg. He +speaks English intelligibly, and, having a sound understanding, I was +sorry that his numerous occupations prevented my gaining as much +information from him as I could have drawn forth had we frequently +conversed. The people of the town, as far as I had an opportunity of +knowing their sentiments, are extremely well satisfied with his manner +of discharging his office. He has a degree of information and good sense +which excites respect, whilst a cheerfulness, almost amounting to +gaiety, enables him to reconcile differences and keep his neighbours in +good humour. "I lost my horse," said a woman to me, "but ever since, +when I want to send to the mill, or go out, the Mayor lends me one. He +scolds if I do not come for it." + +A criminal was branded, during my stay here, for the third offence; but +the relief he received made him declare that the judge was one of the +best men in the world. + +I sent this wretch a trifle, at different times, to take with him into +slavery. As it was more than he expected, he wished very much to see me, +and this wish brought to my remembrance an anecdote I heard when I was +in Lisbon. + +A wretch who had been imprisoned several years, during which period +lamps had been put up, was at last condemned to a cruel death, yet, in +his way to execution, he only wished for one night's respite to see the +city lighted. + +Having dined in company at the mayor's I was invited with his family to +spend the day at one of the richest merchant's houses. Though I could +not speak Danish I knew that I could see a great deal; yes, I am +persuaded that I have formed a very just opinion of the character of the +Norwegians, without being able to hold converse with them. + +I had expected to meet some company, yet was a little disconcerted at +being ushered into an apartment full of well dressed people, and +glancing my eyes round they rested on several very pretty faces. Rosy +cheeks, sparkling eyes, and light brown or golden locks; for I never saw +so much hair with a yellow cast, and, with their fine complexions, it +looked very becoming. + +These women seem a mixture of indolence and vivacity; they scarcely ever +walk out, and were astonished that I should for pleasure, yet they are +immoderately fond of dancing. Unaffected in their manners, if they have +no pretensions to elegance, simplicity often produces a gracefulness of +deportment, when they are animated by a particular desire to please, +which was the case at present. The solitariness of my situation, which +they thought terrible, interested them very much in my favour. They +gathered round me, sung to me, and one of the prettiest, to whom I gave +my hand with some degree of cordiality, to meet the glance of her eyes, +kissed me very affectionately. + +At dinner, which was conducted with great hospitality, though we +remained at table too long, they sung several songs, and, amongst the +rest, translations of some patriotic French ones. As the evening +advanced they became playful, and we kept up a sort of conversation of +gestures. As their minds were totally uncultivated I did not lose much, +perhaps gained, by not being able to understand them; for fancy probably +filled up, more to their advantage, the void in the picture. Be that as +it may, they excited my sympathy, and I was very much flattered when I +was told the next day that they said it was a pleasure to look at me, I +appeared so good-natured. + +The men were generally captains of ships. Several spoke English very +tolerably, but they were merely matter-of-fact men, confined to a very +narrow circle of observation. I found it difficult to obtain from them +any information respecting their own country, when the fumes of tobacco +did not keep me at a distance. + +I was invited to partake of some other feasts, and always had to +complain of the quantity of provision and the length of time taken to +consume it; for it would not have been proper to have said devour, all +went on so fair and softly. The servants wait as slowly as their +mistresses carve. + +The young women here, as well as in Sweden, have commonly bad teeth, +which I attribute to the same causes. They are fond of finery, but do +not pay the necessary attention to their persons, to render beauty less +transient than a flower, and that interesting expression which sentiment +and accomplishments give seldom supplies its place. + +The servants have, likewise, an inferior sort of food here, but their +masters are not allowed to strike them with impunity. I might have added +mistresses, for it was a complaint of this kind brought before the mayor +which led me to a knowledge of the fact. + +The wages are low, which is particularly unjust, because the price of +clothes is much higher than that of provision. A young woman, who is wet +nurse to the mistress of the inn where I lodge, receives only twelve +dollars a year, and pays ten for the nursing of her own child. The +father had run away to get clear of the expense. There was something in +this most painful state of widowhood which excited my compassion and led +me to reflections on the instability of the most flattering plans of +happiness, that were painful in the extreme, till I was ready to ask +whether this world was not created to exhibit every possible combination +of wretchedness. I asked these questions of a heart writhing with +anguish, whilst I listened to a melancholy ditty sung by this poor girl. +It was too early for thee to be abandoned, thought I, and I hastened out +of the house to take my solitary evening's walk. And here I am again to +talk of anything but the pangs arising from the discovery of estranged +affection and the lonely sadness of a deserted heart. + +The father and mother, if the father can be ascertained, are obliged to +maintain an illegitimate child at their joint expense; but, should the +father disappear, go up the country or to sea, the mother must maintain +it herself. However, accidents of this kind do not prevent their +marrying, and then it is not unusual to take the child or children home, +and they are brought up very amicably with the marriage progeny. + +I took some pains to learn what books were written originally in their +language; but for any certain information respecting the state of Danish +literature I must wait till I arrive at Copenhagen. + +The sound of the language is soft, a great proportion of the words +ending in vowels; and there is a simplicity in the turn of some of the +phrases which have been translated to me that pleased and interested me. +In the country the farmers use the _thou_ and _thee_; and they do not +acquire the polite plurals of the towns by meeting at market. The not +having markets established in the large towns appears to me a great +inconvenience. When the farmers have anything to sell they bring it to +the neighbouring town and take it from house to house. I am surprised +that the inhabitants do not feel how very incommodious this usage is to +both parties, and redress it; they, indeed, perceive it, for when I have +introduced the subject they acknowledged that they were often in want of +necessaries, there being no butchers, and they were often obliged to buy +what they did not want; yet it was the custom, and the changing of +customs of a long standing requires more energy than they yet possess. I +received a similar reply when I attempted to persuade the women that +they injured their children by keeping them too warm. The only way of +parrying off my reasoning was that they must do as other people did; in +short, reason on any subject of change, and they stop you by saying that +"the town would talk." A person of sense, with a large fortune to +ensure respect, might be very useful here, by inducing them to treat +their children and manage their sick properly, and eat food dressed in a +simpler manner--the example, for instance, of a count's lady. + +Reflecting on these prejudices made me revert to the wisdom of those +legislators who established institutions for the good of the body under +the pretext of serving heaven for the salvation of the soul. These might +with strict propriety be termed pious frauds; and I admire the Peruvian +pair for asserting that they came from the sun, when their conduct +proved that they meant to enlighten a benighted country, whose +obedience, or even attention, could only be secured by awe. Thus much +for conquering the _inertia_ of reason; but, when it is once in motion, +fables once held sacred may be ridiculed; and sacred they were when +useful to mankind. Prometheus alone stole fire to animate the first man; +his posterity needs not supernatural aid to preserve the species, though +love is generally termed a flame; and it may not be necessary much +longer to suppose men inspired by heaven to inculcate the duties which +demand special grace when reason convinces them that they are the +happiest who are the most nobly employed. + +In a few days I am to set out for the western part of Norway, and then +shall return by land to Gothenburg. I cannot think of leaving this place +without regret. I speak of the place before the inhabitants, though +there is a tenderness in their artless kindness which attaches me to +them; but it is an attachment that inspires a regret very different from +that I felt at leaving Hull in my way to Sweden. The domestic happiness +and good-humoured gaiety of the amiable family where I and my Frances +were so hospitably received would have been sufficient to ensure the +tenderest remembrance, without the recollection of the social evening to +stimulate it, when good breeding gave dignity to sympathy and wit zest +to reason. + +Adieu!--I am just informed that my horse has been waiting this quarter +of an hour. I now venture to ride out alone. The steeple serves as a +landmark. I once or twice lost my way, walking alone, without being able +to inquire after a path; I was therefore obliged to make to the steeple, +or windmill, over hedge and ditch. + +Yours truly. + + + + +LETTER IX. + + +I have already informed you that there are only two noblemen who have +estates of any magnitude in Norway. One of these has a house near +Tonsberg, at which he has not resided for some years, having been at +court, or on embassies. He is now the Danish Ambassador in London. The +house is pleasantly situated, and the grounds about it fine; but their +neglected appearance plainly tells that there is nobody at home. + +A stupid kind of sadness, to my eye, always reigns in a huge habitation +where only servants live to put cases on the furniture and open the +windows. I enter as I would into the tomb of the Capulets, to look at +the family pictures that here frown in armour, or smile in ermine. The +mildew respects not the lordly robe, and the worm riots unchecked on the +cheek of beauty. + +There was nothing in the architecture of the building, or the form of +the furniture, to detain me from the avenue where the aged pines +stretched along majestically. Time had given a greyish cast to their +ever-green foliage; and they stood, like sires of the forest, sheltered +on all sides by a rising progeny. I had not ever seen so many oaks +together in Norway as in these woods, nor such large aspens as here were +agitated by the breeze, rendering the wind audible--nay musical; for +melody seemed on the wing around me. How different was the fresh odour +that reanimated me in the avenue, from the damp chillness of the +apartments; and as little did the gloomy thoughtfulness excited by the +dusty hangings, and worm-eaten pictures, resemble the reveries inspired +by the soothing melancholy of their shade. In the winter, these august +pines, towering above the snow, must relieve the eye beyond measure and +give life to the white waste. + +The continual recurrence of pine and fir groves in the day sometimes +wearies the sight, but in the evening, nothing can be more picturesque, +or, more properly speaking, better calculated to produce poetical +images. Passing through them, I have been struck with a mystic kind of +reverence, and I did, as it were, homage to their venerable shadows. Not +nymphs, but philosophers, seemed to inhabit them--ever musing; I could +scarcely conceive that they were without some consciousness of +existence--without a calm enjoyment of the pleasure they diffused. + +How often do my feelings produce ideas that remind me of the origin of +many poetical fictions. In solitude, the imagination bodies forth its +conceptions unrestrained, and stops enraptured to adore the beings of +its own creation. These are moments of bliss; and the memory recalls +them with delight. + +But I have almost forgotten the matters of fact I meant to relate, +respecting the counts. They have the presentation of the livings on +their estates, appoint the judges, and different civil officers, the +Crown reserving to itself the privilege of sanctioning them. But though +they appoint, they cannot dismiss. Their tenants also occupy their farms +for life, and are obliged to obey any summons to work on the part he +reserves for himself; but they are paid for their labour. In short, I +have seldom heard of any noblemen so innoxious. + +Observing that the gardens round the count's estate were better +cultivated than any I had before seen, I was led to reflect on the +advantages which naturally accrue from the feudal tenures. The tenants +of the count are obliged to work at a stated price, in his grounds and +garden; and the instruction which they imperceptibly receive from the +head gardener tends to render them useful, and makes them, in the common +course of things, better husbandmen and gardeners on their own little +farms. Thus the great, who alone travel in this period of society, for +the observation of manners and customs made by sailors is very confined, +bring home improvement to promote their own comfort, which is gradually +spread abroad amongst the people, till they are stimulated to think for +themselves. + +The bishops have not large revenues, and the priests are appointed by +the king before they come to them to be ordained. There is commonly some +little farm annexed to the parsonage, and the inhabitants subscribe +voluntarily, three times a year, in addition to the church fees, for the +support of the clergyman. The church lands were seized when Lutheranism +was introduced, the desire of obtaining them being probably the real +stimulus of reformation. The tithes, which are never required in kind, +are divided into three parts--one to the king, another to the incumbent, +and the third to repair the dilapidations of the parsonage. They do not +amount to much. And the stipend allowed to the different civil officers +is also too small, scarcely deserving to be termed an independence; that +of the custom-house officers is not sufficient to procure the +necessaries of life--no wonder, then, if necessity leads them to +knavery. Much public virtue cannot be expected till every employment, +putting perquisites out of the question, has a salary sufficient to +reward industry;--whilst none are so great as to permit the possessor to +remain idle. It is this want of proportion between profit and labour +which debases men, producing the sycophantic appellations of patron and +client, and that pernicious _esprit du corps_, proverbially vicious. + +The farmers are hospitable as well as independent. Offering once to pay +for some coffee I drank when taking shelter from the rain, I was asked, +rather angrily, if a little coffee was worth paying for. They smoke, and +drink drams, but not so much as formerly. Drunkenness, often the +attendant disgrace of hospitality, will here, as well as everywhere +else, give place to gallantry and refinement of manners; but the change +will not be suddenly produced. + +The people of every class are constant in their attendance at church; +they are very fond of dancing, and the Sunday evenings in Norway, as in +Catholic countries, are spent in exercises which exhilarate the spirits +without vitiating the heart. The rest of labour ought to be gay; and the +gladness I have felt in France on a Sunday, or Decadi, which I caught +from the faces around me, was a sentiment more truly religious than all +the stupid stillness which the streets of London ever inspired where the +Sabbath is so decorously observed. I recollect, in the country parts of +England, the churchwardens used to go out during the service to see if +they could catch any luckless wight playing at bowls or skittles; yet +what could be more harmless? It would even, I think, be a great +advantage to the English, if feats of activity (I do not include boxing +matches) were encouraged on a Sunday, as it might stop the progress of +Methodism, and of that fanatical spirit which appears to be gaining +ground. I was surprised when I visited Yorkshire, on my way to Sweden, +to find that sullen narrowness of thinking had made such a progress +since I was an inhabitant of the country. I could hardly have supposed +that sixteen or seventeen years could have produced such an alteration +for the worse in the morals of a place--yes, I say morals; for +observance of forms, and avoiding of practices, indifferent in +themselves, often supply the place of that regular attention to duties +which are so natural, that they seldom are vauntingly exercised, though +they are worth all the precepts of the law and the prophets. Besides, +many of these deluded people, with the best meaning, actually lose their +reason, and become miserable, the dread of damnation throwing them into +a state which merits the term; and still more, in running after their +preachers, expecting to promote their salvation, they disregard their +welfare in this world, and neglect the interest and comfort of their +families; so that, in proportion as they attain a reputation for piety, +they become idle. + +Aristocracy and fanaticism seem equally to be gaining ground in England, +particularly in the place I have mentioned; I saw very little of either +in Norway. The people are regular in their attendance on public worship, +but religion does not interfere with their employments. + +As the farmers cut away the wood they clear the ground. Every year, +therefore, the country is becoming fitter to support the inhabitants. +Half a century ago the Dutch, I am told, only paid for the cutting down +of the wood, and the farmers were glad to get rid of it without giving +themselves any trouble. At present they form a just estimate of its +value; nay, I was surprised to find even firewood so dear when it +appears to be in such plenty. The destruction, or gradual reduction, of +their forests will probably ameliorate the climate, and their manners +will naturally improve in the same ratio as industry requires ingenuity. +It is very fortunate that men are a long time but just above the brute +creation, or the greater part of the earth would never have been +rendered habitable, because it is the patient labour of men, who are +only seeking for a subsistence, which produces whatever embellishes +existence, affording leisure for the cultivation of the arts and +sciences that lift man so far above his first state. I never, my friend, +thought so deeply of the advantages obtained by human industry as since +I have been in Norway. The world requires, I see, the hand of man to +perfect it, and as this task naturally unfolds the faculties he +exercises, it is physically impossible that he should have remained in +Rousseau's golden age of stupidity. And, considering the question of +human happiness, where, oh where does it reside? Has it taken up its +abode with unconscious ignorance or with the high-wrought mind? Is it +the offspring of thoughtless animal spirits or the dye of fancy +continually flitting round the expected pleasure? + +The increasing population of the earth must necessarily tend to its +improvement, as the means of existence are multiplied by invention. + +You have probably made similar reflections in America, where the face of +the country, I suppose, resembles the wilds of Norway. I am delighted +with the romantic views I daily contemplate, animated by the purest air; +and I am interested by the simplicity of manners which reigns around me. +Still nothing so soon wearies out the feelings as unmarked simplicity. I +am therefore half convinced that I could not live very comfortably +exiled from the countries where mankind are so much further advanced in +knowledge, imperfect as it is, and unsatisfactory to the thinking mind. +Even now I begin to long to hear what you are doing in England and +France. My thoughts fly from this wilderness to the polished circles of +the world, till recollecting its vices and follies, I bury myself in the +woods, but find it necessary to emerge again, that I may not lose sight +of the wisdom and virtue which exalts my nature. + +What a long time it requires to know ourselves; and yet almost every one +has more of this knowledge than he is willing to own, even to himself. I +cannot immediately determine whether I ought to rejoice at having turned +over in this solitude a new page in the history of my own heart, though +I may venture to assure you that a further acquaintance with mankind +only tends to increase my respect for your judgment and esteem for your +character. Farewell! + + + + +LETTER X. + + +I have once more, my friend, taken flight, for I left Tonsberg +yesterday, but with an intention of returning in my way back to Sweden. + +The road to Laurvig is very fine, and the country the best cultivated in +Norway. I never before admired the beech tree, and when I met stragglers +here they pleased me still less. Long and lank, they would have forced +me to allow that the line of beauty requires some curves, if the stately +pine, standing near, erect, throwing her vast arms around, had not +looked beautiful in opposition to such narrow rules. + +In these respects my very reason obliges me to permit my feelings to be +my criterion. Whatever excites emotion has charms for me, though I +insist that the cultivation of the mind by warming, nay, almost creating +the imagination, produces taste and an immense variety of sensations and +emotions, partaking of the exquisite pleasure inspired by beauty and +sublimity. As I know of no end to them, the word infinite, so often +misapplied, might on this occasion be introduced with something like +propriety. + +But I have rambled away again. I intended to have remarked to you the +effect produced by a grove of towering beech, the airy lightness of +their foliage admitting a degree of sunshine, which, giving a +transparency to the leaves, exhibited an appearance of freshness and +elegance that I had never before remarked. I thought of descriptions of +Italian scenery. But these evanescent graces seemed the effect of +enchantment; and I imperceptibly breathed softly, lest I should destroy +what was real, yet looked so like the creation of fancy. Dryden's fable +of the flower and the leaf was not a more poetical reverie. + +Adieu, however, to fancy, and to all the sentiments which ennoble our +nature. I arrived at Laurvig, and found myself in the midst of a group +of lawyers of different descriptions. My head turned round, my heart +grew sick, as I regarded visages deformed by vice, and listened to +accounts of chicanery that was continually embroiling the ignorant. +These locusts will probably diminish as the people become more +enlightened. In this period of social life the commonalty are always +cunningly attentive to their own interest; but their faculties, confined +to a few objects, are so narrowed, that they cannot discover it in the +general good. The profession of the law renders a set of men still +shrewder and more selfish than the rest; and it is these men, whose wits +have been sharpened by knavery, who here undermine morality, confounding +right and wrong. + +The Count of Bernstorff, who really appears to me, from all I can +gather, to have the good of the people at heart, aware of this, has +lately sent to the mayor of each district to name, according to the size +of the place, four or six of the best-informed inhabitants, not men of +the law, out of which the citizens were to elect two, who are to be +termed mediators. Their office is to endeavour to prevent litigious +suits, and conciliate differences. And no suit is to be commenced before +the parties have discussed the dispute at their weekly meeting. If a +reconciliation should, in consequence, take place, it is to be +registered, and the parties are not allowed to retract. + +By these means ignorant people will be prevented from applying for +advice to men who may justly be termed stirrers-up of strife. They have +for a long time, to use a significant vulgarism, set the people by the +ears, and live by the spoil they caught up in the scramble. There is +some reason to hope that this regulation will diminish their number, and +restrain their mischievous activity. But till trials by jury are +established, little justice can be expected in Norway. Judges who cannot +be bribed are often timid, and afraid of offending bold knaves, lest +they should raise a set of hornets about themselves. The fear of censure +undermines all energy of character; and, labouring to be prudent, they +lose sight of rectitude. Besides, nothing is left to their conscience, +or sagacity; they must be governed by evidence, though internally +convinced that it is false. + +There is a considerable iron manufactory at Laurvig for coarse work, and +a lake near the town supplies the water necessary for working several +mills belonging to it. + +This establishment belongs to the Count of Laurvig. Without a fortune +and influence equal to his, such a work could not have been set afloat; +personal fortunes are not yet sufficient to support such undertakings. +Nevertheless the inhabitants of the town speak of the size of his estate +as an evil, because it obstructs commerce. The occupiers of small farms +are obliged to bring their wood to the neighbouring seaports to be +shipped; but he, wishing to increase the value of his, will not allow it +to be thus gradually cut down, which turns the trade into another +channel. Added to this, nature is against them, the bay being open and +insecure. I could not help smiling when I was informed that in a hard +gale a vessel had been wrecked in the main street. When there are such a +number of excellent harbours on the coast, it is a pity that accident +has made one of the largest towns grow up on a bad one. + +The father of the present count was a distant relation of the family; he +resided constantly in Denmark, and his son follows his example. They +have not been in possession of the estate many years; and their +predecessor lived near the town, introducing a degree of profligacy of +manners which has been ruinous to the inhabitants in every respect, +their fortunes not being equal to the prevailing extravagance. + +What little I have seen of the manners of the people does not please me +so well as those of Tonsberg. I am forewarned that I shall find them +still more cunning and fraudulent as I advance towards the westward, in +proportion as traffic takes place of agriculture, for their towns are +built on naked rocks, the streets are narrow bridges, and the +inhabitants are all seafaring men, or owners of ships, who keep shops. + +The inn I was at in Laurvig this journey was not the same that I was at +before. It is a good one--the people civil, and the accommodations +decent. They seem to be better provided in Sweden; but in justice I +ought to add that they charge more extravagantly. My bill at Tonsberg +was also much higher than I had paid in Sweden, and much higher than it +ought to have been where provision is so cheap. Indeed, they seem to +consider foreigners as strangers whom they shall never see again, and +may fairly pluck. And the inhabitants of the western coast, isolated, as +it were, regard those of the east almost as strangers. Each town in that +quarter seems to be a great family, suspicious of every other, allowing +none to cheat them but themselves; and, right or wrong, they support one +another in the face of justice. + +On this journey I was fortunate enough to have one companion with more +enlarged views than the generality of his countrymen, who spoke English +tolerably. + +I was informed that we might still advance a mile and a quarter in our +cabrioles; afterwards there was no choice, but of a single horse and +wretched path, or a boat, the usual mode of travelling. + +We therefore sent our baggage forward in the boat, and followed rather +slowly, for the road was rocky and sandy. We passed, however, through +several beech groves, which still delighted me by the freshness of their +light green foliage, and the elegance of their assemblage, forming +retreats to veil without obscuring the sun. + +I was surprised, at approaching the water, to find a little cluster of +houses pleasantly situated, and an excellent inn. I could have wished +to have remained there all night; but as the wind was fair, and the +evening fine, I was afraid to trust to the wind--the uncertain wind of +to-morrow. We therefore left Helgeraac immediately with the declining +sun. + +Though we were in the open sea, we sailed more amongst the rocks and +islands than in my passage from Stromstad; and they often forced very +picturesque combinations. Few of the high ridges were entirely bare; the +seeds of some pines or firs had been wafted by the winds or waves, and +they stood to brave the elements. + +Sitting, then, in a little boat on the ocean, amidst strangers, with +sorrow and care pressing hard on me--buffeting me about from clime to +clime--I felt + + "Like the lone shrub at random cast, + That sighs and trembles at each blast!" + +On some of the largest rocks there were actually groves, the retreat of +foxes and hares, which, I suppose, had tripped over the ice during the +winter, without thinking to regain the main land before the thaw. + +Several of the islands were inhabited by pilots; and the Norwegian +pilots are allowed to be the best in the world--perfectly acquainted +with their coast, and ever at hand to observe the first signal or sail. +They pay a small tax to the king and to the regulating officer, and +enjoy the fruit of their indefatigable industry. + +One of the islands, called Virgin Land, is a flat, with some depth of +earth, extending for half a Norwegian mile, with three farms on it, +tolerably well cultivated. + +On some of the bare rocks I saw straggling houses; they rose above the +denomination of huts inhabited by fishermen. My companions assured me +that they were very comfortable dwellings, and that they have not only +the necessaries, but even what might be reckoned the superfluities of +life. It was too late for me to go on shore, if you will allow me to +give that name to shivering rocks, to ascertain the fact. + +But rain coming on, and the night growing dark, the pilot declared that +it would be dangerous for us to attempt to go to the place of our +destination--East Rusoer--a Norwegian mile and a half further; and we +determined to stop for the night at a little haven, some half dozen +houses scattered under the curve of a rock. Though it became darker and +darker, our pilot avoided the blind rocks with great dexterity. + +It was about ten o'clock when we arrived, and the old hostess quickly +prepared me a comfortable bed--a little too soft or so, but I was weary; +and opening the window to admit the sweetest of breezes to fan me to +sleep, I sunk into the most luxurious rest: it was more than refreshing. +The hospitable sprites of the grots surely hovered round my pillow; and, +if I awoke, it was to listen to the melodious whispering of the wind +amongst them, or to feel the mild breath of morn. Light slumbers +produced dreams, where Paradise was before me. My little cherub was +again hiding her face in my bosom. I heard her sweet cooing beat on my +heart from the cliffs, and saw her tiny footsteps on the sands. New-born +hopes seemed, like the rainbow, to appear in the clouds of sorrow, +faint, yet sufficient to amuse away despair. + +Some refreshing but heavy showers have detained us; and here I am +writing quite alone--something more than gay, for which I want a name. + +I could almost fancy myself in Nootka Sound, or on some of the islands +on the north-west coast of America. We entered by a narrow pass through +the rocks, which from this abode appear more romantic than you can well +imagine; and seal-skins hanging at the door to dry add to the illusion. + +It is indeed a corner of the world, but you would be surprised to see +the cleanliness and comfort of the dwelling. The shelves are not only +shining with pewter and queen's ware, but some articles in silver, more +ponderous, it is true, than elegant. The linen is good, as well as +white. All the females spin, and there is a loom in the kitchen. A sort +of individual taste appeared in the arrangement of the furniture (this +is not the place for imitation) and a kindness in their desire to +oblige. How superior to the apish politeness of the towns! where the +people, affecting to be well bred, fatigue with their endless ceremony. + +The mistress is a widow, her daughter is married to a pilot, and has +three cows. They have a little patch of land at about the distance of +two English miles, where they make hay for the winter, which they bring +home in a boat. They live here very cheap, getting money from the +vessels which stress of weather, or other causes, bring into their +harbour. I suspect, by their furniture, that they smuggle a little. I +can now credit the account of the other houses, which I last night +thought exaggerated. + +I have been conversing with one of my companions respecting the laws and +regulations of Norway. He is a man within great portion of common sense +and heart--yes, a warm heart. This is not the first time I have remarked +heart without sentiment; they are distinct. The former depends on the +rectitude of the feelings, on truth of sympathy; these characters have +more tenderness than passion; the latter has a higher source--call it +imagination, genius, or what you will, it is something very different. I +have been laughing with these simple worthy folk--to give you one of my +half-score Danish words--and letting as much of my heart flow out in +sympathy as they can take. Adieu! I must trip up the rocks. The rain is +over. Let me catch pleasure on the wing--I may be melancholy to-morrow. +Now all my nerves keep time with the melody of nature. Ah! let me be +happy whilst I can. The tear starts as I think of it. I must flee from +thought, and find refuge from sorrow in a strong imagination--the only +solace for a feeling heart. Phantoms of bliss! ideal forms of +excellence! again enclose me in your magic circle, and wipe clear from +my remembrance the disappointments that reader the sympathy painful, +which experience rather increases than damps, by giving the indulgence +of feeling the sanction of reason. + +Once more farewell! + + + + +LETTER XI. + + +I left Portoer, the little haven I mentioned, soon after I finished my +last letter. The sea was rough, and I perceived that our pilot was right +not to venture farther during a hazy night. We had agreed to pay four +dollars for a boat from Helgeraac. I mention the sum, because they would +demand twice as much from a stranger. I was obliged to pay fifteen for +the one I hired at Stromstad. When we were ready to set out, our boatman +offered to return a dollar and let us go in one of the boats of the +place, the pilot who lived there being better acquainted with the coast. +He only demanded a dollar and a half, which was reasonable. I found him +a civil and rather intelligent man; he was in the American service +several years, during the Revolution. + +I soon perceived that an experienced mariner was necessary to guide us, +for we were continually obliged to tack about, to avoid the rocks, +which, scarcely reaching to the surface of the water, could only be +discovered by the breaking of the waves over them. + +The view of this wild coast, as we sailed along it, afforded me a +continual subject for meditation. I anticipated the future improvement +of the world, and observed how much man has still to do to obtain of the +earth all it could yield. I even carried my speculations so far as to +advance a million or two of years to the moment when the earth would +perhaps be so perfectly cultivated, and so completely peopled, as to +render it necessary to inhabit every spot--yes, these bleak shores. +Imagination went still farther, and pictured the state of man when the +earth could no longer support him. Whither was he to flee from universal +famine? Do not smile; I really became distressed for these fellow +creatures yet unborn. The images fastened on me, and the world appeared +a vast prison. I was soon to be in a smaller one--for no other name can +I give to Rusoer. It would be difficult to form an idea of the place, if +you have never seen one of these rocky coasts. + +We were a considerable time entering amongst the islands, before we saw +about two hundred houses crowded together under a very high rock--still +higher appearing above. Talk not of Bastilles! To be born here was to +be bastilled by nature--shut out from all that opens the understanding, +or enlarges the heart. Huddled one behind another, not more than a +quarter of the dwellings even had a prospect of the sea. A few planks +formed passages from house to house, which you must often scale, +mounting steps like a ladder to enter. + +The only road across the rocks leads to a habitation sterile enough, you +may suppose, when I tell you that the little earth on the adjacent ones +was carried there by the late inhabitant. A path, almost impracticable +for a horse, goes on to Arendall, still further to the westward. + +I inquired for a walk, and, mounting near two hundred steps made round a +rock, walked up and down for about a hundred yards viewing the sea, to +which I quickly descended by steps that cheated the declivity. The ocean +and these tremendous bulwarks enclosed me on every side. I felt the +confinement, and wished for wings to reach still loftier cliffs, whose +slippery sides no foot was so hardy as to tread. Yet what was it to +see?--only a boundless waste of water--not a glimpse of smiling +nature--not a patch of lively green to relieve the aching sight, or vary +the objects of meditation. + +I felt my breath oppressed, though nothing could be clearer than the +atmosphere. Wandering there alone, I found the solitude desirable; my +mind was stored with ideas, which this new scene associated with +astonishing rapidity. But I shuddered at the thought of receiving +existence, and remaining here, in the solitude of ignorance, till forced +to leave a world of which I had seen so little, for the character of the +inhabitants is as uncultivated, if not as picturesquely wild, as their +abode. + +Having no employment but traffic, of which a contraband trade makes the +basis of their profit, the coarsest feelings of honesty are quickly +blunted. You may suppose that I speak in general terms; and that, with +all the disadvantages of nature and circumstances, there are still some +respectable exceptions, the more praiseworthy, as tricking is a very +contagious mental disease, that dries up all the generous juices of the +heart. Nothing genial, in fact, appears around this place, or within the +circle of its rocks. And, now I recollect, it seems to me that the most +genial and humane characters I have met with in life were most alive to +the sentiments inspired by tranquil country scenes. What, indeed, is to +humanise these beings, who rest shut up (for they seldom even open their +windows), smoking, drinking brandy, and driving bargains? I have been +almost stifled by these smokers. They begin in the morning, and are +rarely without their pipe till they go to bed. Nothing can be more +disgusting than the rooms and men towards the evening--breath, teeth, +clothes, and furniture, all are spoilt. It is well that the women are +not very delicate, or they would only love their husbands because they +were their husbands. Perhaps, you may add, that the remark need not be +confined to so small a part of the world; and, _entre nous_, I am of the +same opinion. You must not term this innuendo saucy, for it does not +come home. + +If I had not determined to write I should have found my confinement +here, even for three or four days, tedious. I have no books; and to pace +up and down a small room, looking at tiles overhung by rocks, soon +becomes wearisome. I cannot mount two hundred steps to walk a hundred +yards many times in the day. Besides, the rocks, retaining the heat of +the sun, are intolerably warm. I am, nevertheless, very well; for though +there is a shrewdness in the character of these people, depraved by a +sordid love of money which repels me, still the comparisons they force +me to make keep my heart calm by exercising my understanding. + +Everywhere wealth commands too much respect, but here almost +exclusively; and it is the only object pursued, not through brake and +briar, but over rocks and waves; yet of what use would riches be to me, +I have sometimes asked myself, were I confined to live in such in a +spot? I could only relieve a few distressed objects, perhaps render +them idle, and all the rest of life would be a blank. + +My present journey has given fresh force to my opinion that no place is +so disagreeable and unimproving as a country town. I should like to +divide my time between the town and country; in a lone house, with the +business of farming and planting, where my mind would gain strength by +solitary musing, and in a metropolis to rub off the rust of thought, and +polish the taste which the contemplation of nature had rendered just. +Thus do we wish as we float down the stream of life, whilst chance does +more to gratify a desire of knowledge than our best laid plans. A degree +of exertion, produced by some want, more or less painful, is probably +the price we must all pay for knowledge. How few authors or artists have +arrived at eminence who have not lived by their employment? + +I was interrupted yesterday by business, and was prevailed upon to dine +with the English vice-consul. His house being open to the sea, I was +more at large; and the hospitality of the table pleased me, though the +bottle was rather too freely pushed about. Their manner of entertaining +was such as I have frequently remarked when I have been thrown in the +way of people without education, who have more money than wit--that is, +than they know what to do with. The women were unaffected, but had not +the natural grace which was often conspicuous at Tonsberg. There was +even a striking difference in their dress, these having loaded +themselves with finery in the style of the sailors' girls of Hull or +Portsmouth. Taste has not yet taught them to make any but an +ostentatious display of wealth. Yet I could perceive even here the first +steps of the improvement which I am persuaded will make a very obvious +progress in the course of half a century, and it ought not to be sooner, +to keep pace with the cultivation of the earth. Improving manners will +introduce finer moral feelings. They begin to read translations of some +of the most useful German productions lately published, and one of our +party sung a song ridiculing the powers coalesced against France, and +the company drank confusion to those who had dismembered Poland. + +The evening was extremely calm and beautiful. Not being able to walk, I +requested a boat as the only means of enjoying free air. + +The view of the town was now extremely fine. A huge rocky mountain stood +up behind it, and a vast cliff stretched on each side, forming a +semicircle. In a recess of the rocks was a clump of pines, amongst which +a steeple rose picturesquely beautiful. + +The churchyard is almost the only verdant spot in the place. Here, +indeed, friendship extends beyond the grave, and to grant a sod of earth +is to accord a favour. I should rather choose, did it admit of a choice, +to sleep in some of the caves of the rocks, for I am become better +reconciled to them since I climbed their craggy sides last night, +listening to the finest echoes I ever heard. We had a French horn with +us, and there was an enchanting wildness in the dying away of the +reverberation that quickly transported me to Shakespeare's magic island. +Spirits unseen seemed to walk abroad, and flit from cliff to cliff to +soothe my soul to peace. + +I reluctantly returned to supper, to be shut up in a warm room, only to +view the vast shadows of the rocks extending on the slumbering waves. I +stood at the window some time before a buzz filled the drawing-room, and +now and then the dashing of a solitary oar rendered the scene still more +solemn. + +Before I came here I could scarcely have imagined that a simple object +(rocks) could have admitted of so many interesting combinations, always +grand and often sublime. Good night! God bless you! + + + + +LETTER XII. + + +I left East Rusoer the day before yesterday. The weather was very fine; +but so calm that we loitered on the water near fourteen hours, only to +make about six and twenty miles. + +It seemed to me a sort of emancipation when we landed at Helgeraac. The +confinement which everywhere struck me whilst sojourning amongst the +rocks, made me hail the earth as a land of promise; and the situation +shone with fresh lustre from the contrast--from appearing to be a free +abode. Here it was possible to travel by land--I never thought this a +comfort before--and my eyes, fatigued by the sparkling of the sun on the +water, now contentedly reposed on the green expanse, half persuaded that +such verdant meads had never till then regaled them. + +I rose early to pursue my journey to Tonsberg. The country still wore a +face of joy--and my soul was alive to its charms. Leaving the most lofty +and romantic of the cliffs behind us, we were almost continually +descending to Tonsberg, through Elysian scenes; for not only the sea, +but mountains, rivers, lakes, and groves, gave an almost endless variety +to the prospect. The cottagers were still carrying home the hay; and the +cottages on this road looked very comfortable. Peace and plenty--I mean +not abundance--seemed to reign around--still I grew sad as I drew near +my old abode. I was sorry to see the sun so high; it was broad noon. +Tonsberg was something like a home--yet I was to enter without lighting +up pleasure in any eye. I dreaded the solitariness of my apartment, and +wished for night to hide the starting tears, or to shed them on my +pillow, and close my eyes on a world where I was destined to wander +alone. Why has nature so many charms for me--calling forth and +cherishing refined sentiments, only to wound the breast that fosters +them? How illusive, perhaps the most so, are the plans of happiness +founded on virtue and principle; what inlets of misery do they not open +in a half-civilised society? The satisfaction arising from conscious +rectitude, will not calm an injured heart, when tenderness is ever +finding excuses; and self-applause is a cold solitary feeling, that +cannot supply the place of disappointed affection, without throwing a +gloom over every prospect, which, banishing pleasure, does not exclude +pain. I reasoned and reasoned; but my heart was too full to allow me to +remain in the house, and I walked, till I was wearied out, to purchase +rest--or rather forgetfulness. + +Employment has beguiled this day, and to-morrow I set out for Moss, on +my way to Stromstad. At Gothenburg I shall embrace my Fannikin; probably +she will not know me again--and I shall be hurt if she do not. How +childish is this! still it is a natural feeling. I would not permit +myself to indulge the "thick coming fears" of fondness, whilst I was +detained by business. Yet I never saw a calf bounding in a meadow, that +did not remind me of my little frolicker. A calf, you say. Yes; but a +capital one I own. + +I cannot write composedly--I am every instant sinking into reveries--my +heart flutters, I know not why. Fool! It is time thou wert at rest. + +Friendship and domestic happiness are continually praised; yet how +little is there of either in the world, because it requires more +cultivation of mind to keep awake affection, even in our own hearts, +than the common run of people suppose. Besides, few like to be seen as +they really are; and a degree of simplicity, and of undisguised +confidence, which, to uninterested observers, would almost border on +weakness, is the charm, nay the essence of love or friendship, all the +bewitching graces of childhood again appearing. As objects merely to +exercise my taste, I therefore like to see people together who have an +affection for each other; every turn of their features touches me, and +remains pictured on my imagination in indelible characters. The zest of +novelty is, however, necessary to rouse the languid sympathies which +have been hackneyed in the world; as is the factitious behaviour, +falsely termed good-breeding, to amuse those, who, defective in taste, +continually rely for pleasure on their animal spirits, which not being +maintained by the imagination, are unavoidably sooner exhausted than the +sentiments of the heart. Friendship is in general sincere at the +commencement, and lasts whilst there is anything to support it; but as a +mixture of novelty and vanity is the usual prop, no wonder if it fall +with the slender stay. The fop in the play paid a greater compliment +than he was aware of when he said to a person, whom he meant to flatter, +"I like you almost as well as a _new acquaintance_." Why am I talking +of friendship, after which I have had such a wild-goose chase. I thought +only of telling you that the crows, as well as wild-geese, are here +birds of passage. + + + + +LETTER XIII. + + +I left Tonsberg yesterday, the 22nd of August. It is only twelve or +thirteen English miles to Moss, through a country less wild than any +tract I had hitherto passed over in Norway. It was often beautiful, but +seldom afforded those grand views which fill rather than soothe the +mind. + +We glided along the meadows and through the woods, with sunbeams playing +around us; and, though no castles adorned the prospects, a greater +number of comfortable farms met my eyes during this ride than I have +ever seen, in the same space, even in the most cultivated part of +England; and the very appearance of the cottages of the labourers +sprinkled amidst them excluded all those gloomy ideas inspired by the +contemplation of poverty. + +The hay was still bringing in, for one harvest in Norway treads on the +heels of the other. The woods were more variegated, interspersed with +shrubs. We no longer passed through forests of vast pines stretching +along with savage magnificence. Forests that only exhibited the slow +decay of time or the devastation produced by warring elements. No; oaks, +ashes, beech, and all the light and graceful tenants of our woods here +sported luxuriantly. I had not observed many oaks before, for the +greater part of the oak-planks, I am informed, come from the westward. + +In France the farmers generally live in villages, which is a great +disadvantage to the country; but the Norwegian farmers, always owning +their farms or being tenants for life, reside in the midst of them, +allowing some labourers a dwelling rent free, who have a little land +appertaining to the cottage, not only for a garden, but for crops of +different kinds, such as rye, oats, buck-wheat, hemp, flax, beans, +potatoes, and hay, which are sown in strips about it, reminding a +stranger of the first attempts at culture, when every family was obliged +to be an independent community. + +These cottagers work at a certain price (tenpence per day) for the +farmers on whose ground they live, and they have spare time enough to +cultivate their own land and lay in a store of fish for the winter. The +wives and daughters spin and the husbands and sons weave, so that they +may fairly be reckoned independent, having also a little money in hand +to buy coffee, brandy and some other superfluities. + +The only thing I disliked was the military service, which trammels them +more than I at first imagined. It is true that the militia is only +called out once a year, yet in case of war they have no alternative but +must abandon their families. Even the manufacturers are not exempted, +though the miners are, in order to encourage undertakings which require +a capital at the commencement. And, what appears more tyrannical, the +inhabitants of certain districts are appointed for the land, others for +the sea service. Consequently, a peasant, born a soldier, is not +permitted to follow his inclination should it lead him to go to sea, a +natural desire near so many seaports. + +In these regulations the arbitrary government--the King of Denmark being +the most absolute monarch in Europe--appears, which in other respects +seeks to hide itself in a lenity that almost renders the laws nullities. +If any alteration of old customs is thought of, the opinion of the old +country is required and maturely considered. I have several times had +occasion to observe that, fearing to appear tyrannical, laws are allowed +to become obsolete which ought to be put in force or better substituted +in their stead; for this mistaken moderation, which borders on timidity, +favours the least respectable part of the people. + +I saw on my way not only good parsonage houses, but comfortable +dwellings, with glebe land for the clerk, always a consequential man in +every country, a being proud of a little smattering of learning, to use +the appropriate epithet, and vain of the stiff good-breeding reflected +from the vicar, though the servility practised in his company gives it a +peculiar cast. + +The widow of the clergyman is allowed to receive the benefit of the +living for a twelvemonth after the death of the incumbent. + +Arriving at the ferry (the passage over to Moss is about six or eight +English miles) I saw the most level shore I had yet seen in Norway. The +appearance of the circumjacent country had been preparing me for the +change of scene which was to greet me when I reached the coast. For the +grand features of nature had been dwindling into prettiness as I +advanced; yet the rocks, on a smaller scale, were finely wooded to the +water's edge. Little art appeared, yet sublimity everywhere gave place +to elegance. The road had often assumed the appearance of a gravelled +one, made in pleasure-grounds; whilst the trees excited only an idea of +embellishment. Meadows, like lawns, in an endless variety, displayed the +careless graces of nature; and the ripening corn gave a richness to the +landscape analogous with the other objects. + +Never was a southern sky more beautiful, nor more soft its gales. +Indeed, I am led to conclude that the sweetest summer in the world is +the northern one, the vegetation being quick and luxuriant the moment +the earth is loosened from its icy fetters and the bound streams regain +their wonted activity. The balance of happiness with respect to climate +may be more equal than I at first imagined; for the inhabitants describe +with warmth the pleasures of a winter at the thoughts of which I +shudder. Not only their parties of pleasure but of business are reserved +for this season, when they travel with astonishing rapidity the most +direct way, skimming over hedge and ditch. + +On entering Moss I was struck by the animation which seemed to result +from industry. The richest of the inhabitants keep shops, resembling in +their manners and even the arrangement of their houses the tradespeople +of Yorkshire; with an air of more independence, or rather consequence, +from feeling themselves the first people in the place. I had not time to +see the iron-works, belonging to Mr. Anker, of Christiania, a man of +fortune and enterprise; and I was not very anxious to see them after +having viewed those at Laurvig. + +Here I met with an intelligent literary man, who was anxious to gather +information from me relative to the past and present situation of +France. The newspapers printed at Copenhagen, as well as those in +England, give the most exaggerated accounts of their atrocities and +distresses, but the former without any apparent comments or inferences. +Still the Norwegians, though more connected with the English, speaking +their language and copying their manners, wish well to the Republican +cause, and follow with the most lively interest the successes of the +French arms. So determined were they, in fact, to excuse everything, +disgracing the struggle of freedom, by admitting the tyrant's plea, +necessity, that I could hardly persuade them that Robespierre was a +monster. + +The discussion of this subject is not so general as in England, being +confined to the few, the clergy and physicians, with a small portion of +people who have a literary turn and leisure; the greater part of the +inhabitants having a variety of occupations, being owners of ships, +shopkeepers, and farmers, have employment enough at home. And their +ambition to become rich may tend to cultivate the common sense which +characterises and narrows both their hearts and views, confirming the +former to their families, taking the handmaids of it into the circle of +pleasure, if not of interest, and the latter to the inspection of their +workmen, including the noble science of bargain-making--that is, getting +everything at the cheapest, and selling it at the dearest rate. I am now +more than ever convinced that it is an intercourse with men of science +and artists which not only diffuses taste, but gives that freedom to the +understanding without which I have seldom met with much benevolence of +character on a large scale. + +Besides, though you do not hear of much pilfering and stealing in +Norway, yet they will, with a quiet conscience, buy things at a price +which must convince them they were stolen. I had an opportunity of +knowing that two or three reputable people had purchased some articles +of vagrants, who were detected. How much of the virtue which appears in +the world is put on for the world? And how little dictated by +self-respect?--so little, that I am ready to repeat the old question, +and ask, Where is truth, or rather principle, to be found? These are, +perhaps, the vapourings of a heart ill at ease--the effusions of a +sensibility wounded almost to madness. But enough of this; we will +discuss the subject in another state of existence, where truth and +justice will reign. How cruel are the injuries which make us quarrel +with human nature! At present black melancholy hovers round my +footsteps; and sorrow sheds a mildew over all the future prospects, +which hope no longer gilds. + +A rainy morning prevented my enjoying the pleasure the view of a +picturesque country would have afforded me; for though this road passed +through a country a greater extent of which was under cultivation than I +had usually seen here, it nevertheless retained all the wild charms of +Norway. Rocks still enclosed the valleys, the great sides of which +enlivened their verdure. Lakes appeared like branches of the sea, and +branches of the sea assumed the appearance of tranquil lakes; whilst +streamlets prattled amongst the pebbles and the broken mass of stone +which had rolled into them, giving fantastic turns to the trees, the +roots of which they bared. + +It is not, in fact, surprising that the pine should be often undermined; +it shoots its fibres in such a horizontal direction, merely on the +surface of the earth, requiring only enough to cover those that cling to +the crags. Nothing proves to me so clearly that it is the air which +principally nourishes trees and plants as the flourishing appearance of +these pines. The firs, demanding a deeper soil, are seldom seen in equal +health, or so numerous on the barren cliffs. They take shelter in the +crevices, or where, after some revolving ages, the pines have prepared +them a footing. + +Approaching, or rather descending, to Christiania, though the weather +continued a little cloudy, my eyes were charmed with the view of an +extensive undulated valley, stretching out under the shelter of a noble +amphitheatre of pine-covered mountains. Farm houses scattered about +animated, nay, graced a scene which still retained so much of its native +wildness, that the art which appeared seemed so necessary, it was +scarcely perceived. Cattle were grazing in the shaven meadows; and the +lively green on their swelling sides contrasted with the ripening corn +and rye. The corn that grew on the slopes had not, indeed, the laughing +luxuriance of plenty, which I have seen in more genial climes. A fresh +breeze swept across the grain, parting its slender stalks, but the wheat +did not wave its head with its wonted careless dignity, as if nature had +crowned it the king of plants. + +The view, immediately on the left, as we drove down the mountain, was +almost spoilt by the depredations committed on the rocks to make alum. I +do not know the process. I only saw that the rocks looked red after they +had been burnt, and regretted that the operation should leave a quantity +of rubbish to introduce an image of human industry in the shape of +destruction. The situation of Christiania is certainly uncommonly fine, +and I never saw a bay that so forcibly gave me an idea of a place of +safety from the storms of the ocean; all the surrounding objects were +beautiful and even grand. But neither the rocky mountains, nor the woods +that graced them, could be compared with the sublime prospects I had +seen to the westward; and as for the hills, "capped with _eternal_ +snow," Mr. Coxe's description led me to look for them, but they had +flown, for I looked vainly around for this noble background. + +A few months ago the people of Christiania rose, exasperated by the +scarcity and consequent high price of grain. The immediate cause was the +shipping of some, said to be for Moss, but which they suspected was only +a pretext to send it out of the country, and I am not sure that they +were wrong in their conjecture. Such are the tricks of trade. They threw +stones at Mr. Anker, the owner of it, as he rode out of town to escape +from their fury; they assembled about his house, and the people demanded +afterwards, with so much impetuosity, the liberty of those who were +taken up in consequence of the tumult, that the Grand Bailiff thought it +prudent to release them without further altercation. + +You may think me too severe on commerce, but from the manner it is at +present carried on little can be advanced in favour of a pursuit that +wears out the most sacred principles of humanity and rectitude. What is +speculation but a species of gambling, I might have said fraud, in which +address generally gains the prize? I was led into these reflections +when I heard of some tricks practised by merchants, miscalled reputable, +and certainly men of property, during the present war, in which common +honesty was violated: damaged goods and provision having been shipped +for the express purpose of falling into the hands of the English, who +had pledged themselves to reimburse neutral nations for the cargoes they +seized; cannon also, sent back as unfit for service, have been shipped +as a good speculation, the captain receiving orders to cruise about till +he fell in with an English frigate. Many individuals I believe have +suffered by the seizures of their vessels; still I am persuaded that the +English Government has been very much imposed upon in the charges made +by merchants who contrived to get their ships taken. This censure is not +confined to the Danes. Adieu, for the present, I must take advantage of +a moment of fine weather to walk out and see the town. + +At Christiania I met with that polite reception, which rather +characterises the progress of manners in the world, than of any +particular portion of it. The first evening of my arrival I supped with +some of the most fashionable people of the place, and almost imagined +myself in a circle of English ladies, so much did they resemble them in +manners, dress, and even in beauty; for the fairest of my countrywomen +would not have been sorry to rank with the Grand Bailiff's lady. There +were several pretty girls present, but she outshone them all, and, what +interested me still more, I could not avoid observing that in acquiring +the easy politeness which distinguishes people of quality, she had +preserved her Norwegian simplicity. There was, in fact, a graceful +timidity in her address, inexpressibly charming. This surprised me a +little, because her husband was quite a Frenchman of the _ancien +régime_, or rather a courtier, the same kind of animal in every country. + +Here I saw the cloven foot of despotism. I boasted to you that they had +no viceroy in Norway, but these Grand Bailiffs, particularly the +superior one, who resides at Christiania, are political monsters of the +same species. Needy sycophants are provided for by their relations and +connections at Copenhagen as at other courts. And though the Norwegians +are not in the abject state of the Irish, yet this second-hand +government is still felt by their being deprived of several natural +advantages to benefit the domineering state. + +The Grand Bailiffs are mostly noblemen from Copenhagen, who act as men +of common minds will always act in such situations--aping a degree of +courtly parade which clashes with the independent character of a +magistrate. Besides, they have a degree of power over the country +judges, which some of them, who exercise a jurisdiction truly +patriarchal most painfully feel. I can scarcely say why, my friend, but +in this city thoughtfulness seemed to be sliding into melancholy or +rather dulness. The fire of fancy, which had been kept alive in the +country, was almost extinguished by reflections on the ills that harass +such a large portion of mankind. I felt like a bird fluttering on the +ground unable to mount, yet unwilling to crawl tranquilly like a +reptile, whilst still conscious it had wings. + +I walked out, for the open air is always my remedy when an aching head +proceeds from an oppressed heart. Chance directed my steps towards the +fortress, and the sight of the slaves, working with chains on their +legs, only served to embitter me still more against the regulations of +society, which treated knaves in such a different manner, especially as +there was a degree of energy in some of their countenances which +unavoidably excited my attention, and almost created respect. + +I wished to have seen, through an iron grate, the face of a man who has +been confined six years for having induced the farmers to revolt against +some impositions of the Government. I could not obtain a clear account +of the affair, yet, as the complaint was against some farmers of taxes, +I am inclined to believe that it was not totally without foundation. He +must have possessed some eloquence, or have had truth on his side; for +the farmers rose by hundreds to support him, and were very much +exasperated at his imprisonment, which will probably last for life, +though he has sent several very spirited remonstrances to the upper +court, which makes the judges so averse to giving a sentence which may +be cavilled at, that they take advantage of the glorious uncertainty of +the law, to protract a decision which is only to be regulated by reasons +of state. + +The greater number of the slaves I saw here were not confined for life. +Their labour is not hard; and they work in the open air, which prevents +their constitutions from suffering by imprisonment. Still, as they are +allowed to associate together, and boast of their dexterity, not only to +each other but to the soldiers around them, in the garrison; they +commonly, it is natural to conclude, go out more confirmed and more +expert knaves than when they entered. + +It is not necessary to trace the origin of the association of ideas +which led me to think that the stars and gold keys, which surrounded me +the evening before, disgraced the wearers as much as the fetters I was +viewing--perhaps more. I even began to investigate the reason, which led +me to suspect that the former produced the latter. + +The Norwegians are extravagantly fond of courtly distinction, and of +titles, though they have no immunities annexed to them, and are easily +purchased. The proprietors of mines have many privileges: they are +almost exempt from taxes, and the peasantry born on their estates, as +well as those on the counts', are not born soldiers or sailors. + +One distinction, or rather trophy of nobility, which might have +occurred to the Hottentots, amused me; it was a bunch of hog's bristles +placed on the horses' heads, surmounting that part of the harness to +which a round piece of brass often dangles, fatiguing the eye with its +idle motion. + +From the fortress I returned to my lodging, and quickly was taken out of +town to be shown a pretty villa, and English garden. To a Norwegian both +might have been objects of curiosity; and of use, by exciting to the +comparison which leads to improvement. But whilst I gazed, I was +employed in restoring the place to nature, or taste, by giving it the +character of the surrounding scene. Serpentine walks, and +flowering-shrubs, looked trifling in a grand recess of the rocks, shaded +by towering pines. Groves of smaller trees might have been sheltered +under them, which would have melted into the landscape, displaying only +the art which ought to point out the vicinity of a human abode, +furnished with some elegance. But few people have sufficient taste to +discern, that the art of embellishing consists in interesting, not in +astonishing. + +Christiania is certainly very pleasantly situated, and the environs I +passed through, during this ride, afforded many fine and cultivated +prospects; but, excepting the first view approaching to it, rarely +present any combination of objects so strikingly new, or picturesque, as +to command remembrance. Adieu! + + + + +LETTER XIV. + + +Christiania is a clean, neat city; but it has none of the graces of +architecture, which ought to keep pace with the refining manners of a +people--or the outside of the house will disgrace the inside, giving the +beholder an idea of overgrown wealth devoid of taste. Large square +wooden houses offend the eye, displaying more than Gothic barbarism. +Huge Gothic piles, indeed, exhibit a characteristic sublimity, and a +wildness of fancy peculiar to the period when they were erected; but +size, without grandeur or elegance, has an emphatical stamp of meanness, +of poverty of conception, which only a commercial spirit could give. + +The same thought has struck me, when I have entered the meeting-house of +my respected friend, Dr. Price. I am surprised that the dissenters, who +have not laid aside all the pomps and vanities of life, should imagine a +noble pillar, or arch, unhallowed. Whilst men have senses, whatever +soothes them lends wings to devotion; else why do the beauties of +nature, where all that charm them are spread around with a lavish hand, +force even the sorrowing heart to acknowledge that existence is a +blessing? and this acknowledgment is the most sublime homage we can pay +to the Deity. + +The argument of convenience is absurd. Who would labour for wealth, if +it were to procure nothing but conveniences. If we wish to render +mankind moral from principle, we must, I am persuaded, give a greater +scope to the enjoyments of the senses by blending taste with them. This +has frequently occurred to me since I have been in the north, and +observed that there sanguine characters always take refuge in +drunkenness after the fire of youth is spent. + +But I have flown from Norway. To go back to the wooden houses; farms +constructed with logs, and even little villages, here erected in the +same simple manner, have appeared to me very picturesque. In the more +remote parts I had been particularly pleased with many cottages situated +close to a brook, or bordering on a lake, with the whole farm +contiguous. As the family increases, a little more land is cultivated; +thus the country is obviously enriched by population. Formerly the +farmers might more justly have been termed woodcutters. But now they +find it necessary to spare the woods a little, and this change will be +universally beneficial; for whilst they lived entirely by selling the +trees they felled, they did not pay sufficient attention to husbandry; +consequently, advanced very slowly in agricultural knowledge. Necessity +will in future more and more spur them on; for the ground, cleared of +wood, must be cultivated, or the farm loses its value; there is no +waiting for food till another generation of pines be grown to maturity. + +The people of property are very careful of their timber; and, rambling +through a forest near Tonsberg, belonging to the Count, I have stopped +to admire the appearance of some of the cottages inhabited by a +woodman's family--a man employed to cut down the wood necessary for the +household and the estate. A little lawn was cleared, on which several +lofty trees were left which nature had grouped, whilst the encircling +firs sported with wild grace. The dwelling was sheltered by the forest, +noble pines spreading their branches over the roof; and before the door +a cow, goat, nag, and children, seemed equally content with their lot; +and if contentment be all we can attain, it is, perhaps, best secured by +ignorance. + +As I have been most delighted with the country parts of Norway, I was +sorry to leave Christiania without going farther to the north, though +the advancing season admonished me to depart, as well as the calls of +business and affection. + +June and July are the months to make a tour through Norway; for then the +evenings and nights are the finest I have ever seen; but towards the +middle or latter end of August the clouds begin to gather, and summer +disappears almost before it has ripened the fruit of autumn--even, as it +were, slips from your embraces, whilst the satisfied senses seem to rest +in enjoyment. + +You will ask, perhaps, why I wished to go farther northward. Why? not +only because the country, from all I can gather, is most romantic, +abounding in forests and lakes, and the air pure, but I have heard much +of the intelligence of the inhabitants, substantial farmers, who have +none of that cunning to contaminate their simplicity, which displeased +me so much in the conduct of the people on the sea coast. A man who has +been detected in any dishonest act can no longer live among them. He is +universally shunned, and shame becomes the severest punishment. + +Such a contempt have they, in fact, for every species of fraud, that +they will not allow the people on the western coast to be their +countrymen; so much do they despise the arts for which those traders who +live on the rocks are notorious. + +The description I received of them carried me back to the fables of the +golden age: independence and virtue; affluence without vice; cultivation +of mind, without depravity of heart; with "ever smiling Liberty;" the +nymph of the mountain. I want faith! + +My imagination hurries me forward to seek an asylum in such a retreat +from all the disappointments I am threatened with; but reason drags me +back, whispering that the world is still the world, and man the same +compound of weakness and folly, who must occasionally excite love and +disgust, admiration and contempt. But this description, though it seems +to have been sketched by a fairy pencil, was given me by a man of sound +understanding, whose fancy seldom appears to run away with him. + +A law in Norway, termed the _odels right_, has lately been modified, and +probably will be abolished as an impediment to commerce. The heir of an +estate had the power of re-purchasing it at the original purchase money, +making allowance for such improvements as were absolutely necessary, +during the space of twenty years. At present ten is the term allowed for +afterthought; and when the regulation was made, all the men of abilities +were invited to give their opinion whether it were better to abrogate or +modify it. It is certainly a convenient and safe way of mortgaging land; +yet the most rational men whom I conversed with on the subject seemed +convinced that the right was more injurious than beneficial to society; +still if it contribute to keep the farms in the farmers' own hands, I +should be sorry to hear that it were abolished. + +The aristocracy in Norway, if we keep clear of Christiania, is far from +being formidable; and it will require a long time to enable the +merchants to attain a sufficient moneyed interest to induce them to +reinforce the upper class at the expense of the yeomanry, with whom they +are usually connected. + +England and America owe their liberty to commerce, which created new +species of power to undermine the feudal system. But let them beware of +the consequence; the tyranny of wealth is still more galling and +debasing than that of rank. + +Farewell! I must prepare for my departure. + + + + +LETTER XV. + + +I left Christiania yesterday. The weather was not very fine, and having +been a little delayed on the road, I found that it was too late to go +round, a couple of miles, to see the cascade near Fredericstadt, which I +had determined to visit. Besides, as Fredericstadt is a fortress, it was +necessary to arrive there before they shut the gate. + +The road along the river is very romantic, though the views are not +grand; and the riches of Norway, its timber, floats silently down the +stream, often impeded in its course by islands and little cataracts, the +offspring, as it were, of the great one I had frequently heard +described. + +I found an excellent inn at Fredericstadt, and was gratified by the kind +attention of the hostess, who, perceiving that my clothes were wet, took +great pains procure me, as a stranger, every comfort for the night. + +It had rained very hard, and we passed the ferry in the dark without +getting out of our carriage, which I think wrong, as the horses are +sometimes unruly. Fatigue and melancholy, however, had made me +regardless whether I went down or across the stream, and I did not know +that I was wet before the hostess marked it. My imagination has never +yet severed me from my griefs, and my mind has seldom been so free as to +allow my body to be delicate. + +How I am altered by disappointment! When going to Lisbon, the +elasticity of my mind was sufficient to ward off weariness, and my +imagination still could dip her brush in the rainbow of fancy, and +sketch futurity in glowing colours. Now--but let me talk of something +else--will you go with me to the cascade? + +The cross road to it was rugged and dreary; and though a considerable +extent of land was cultivated on all sides, yet the rocks were entirely +bare, which surprised me, as they were more on a level with the surface +than any I had yet seen. On inquiry, however, I learnt that some years +since a forest had been burnt. This appearance of desolation was beyond +measure gloomy, inspiring emotions that sterility had never produced. +Fires of this kind are occasioned by the wind suddenly rising when the +farmers are burning roots of trees, stalks of beans, &c., with which +they manure the ground. The devastation must, indeed, be terrible, when +this, literally speaking, wildfire, runs along the forest, flying from +top to top, and crackling amongst the branches. The soil, as well as the +trees, is swept away by the destructive torrent; and the country, +despoiled of beauty and riches, is left to mourn for ages. + +Admiring, as I do, these noble forests, which seem to bid defiance to +time, I looked with pain on the ridge of rocks that stretched far beyond +my eye, formerly crowned with the most beautiful verdure. + +I have often mentioned the grandeur, but I feel myself unequal to the +task of conveying an idea of the beauty and elegance of the scene when +the spiry tops of the pines are loaded with ripening seed, and the sun +gives a glow to their light-green tinge, which is changing into purple, +one tree more or less advanced contrasted with another. The profusion +with which Nature has decked them with pendant honours, prevents all +surprise at seeing in every crevice some sapling struggling for +existence. Vast masses of stone are thus encircled, and roots torn up by +the storms become a shelter for a young generation. The pine and fir +woods, left entirely to Nature, display an endless variety; and the +paths in the woods are not entangled with fallen leaves, which are only +interesting whilst they are fluttering between life and death. The grey +cobweb-like appearance of the aged pines is a much finer image of decay; +the fibres whitening as they lose their moisture, imprisoned life seems +to be stealing away. I cannot tell why, but death, under every form, +appears to me like something getting free to expand in I know not what +element--nay, I feel that this conscious being must be as unfettered, +have the wings of thought, before it can be happy. + +Reaching the cascade, or rather cataract, the roaring of which had a +long time announced its vicinity, my soul was hurried by the falls into +a new train of reflections. The impetuous dashing of the rebounding +torrent from the dark cavities which mocked the exploring eye produced +an equal activity in my mind. My thoughts darted from earth to heaven, +and I asked myself why I was chained to life and its misery. Still the +tumultuous emotions this sublime object excited were pleasurable; and, +viewing it, my soul rose with renewed dignity above its cares. Grasping +at immortality--it seemed as impossible to stop the current of my +thoughts, as of the always varying, still the same, torrent before me; I +stretched out my hand to eternity, bounding over the dark speck of life +to come. + +We turned with regret from the cascade. On a little hill, which commands +the best view of it, several obelisks are erected to commemorate the +visits of different kings. The appearance of the river above and below +the falls is very picturesque, the ruggedness of the scenery +disappearing as the torrent subsides into a peaceful stream. But I did +not like to see a number of saw-mills crowded together close to the +cataracts; they destroyed the harmony of the prospect. + +The sight of a bridge erected across a deep valley, at a little +distance, inspired very dissimilar sensations. It was most ingeniously +supported by mast-like trunks, just stripped of their branches; and +logs, placed one across the other, produced an appearance equally light +and firm, seeming almost to be built in the air when we were below it, +the height taking from the magnitude of the supporting trees give them a +slender graceful look. + +There are two noble estates in this neighbourhood, the proprietors of +which seem to have caught more than their portion of the enterprising +spirit that is gone abroad. Many agricultural experiments have been +made, and the country appears better enclosed and cultivated, yet the +cottages had not the comfortable aspect of those I had observed near +Moss and to the westward. Man is always debased by servitude of any +description, and here the peasantry are not entirely free. Adieu! + +I almost forgot to tell you that I did not leave Norway without making +some inquiries after the monsters said to have been seen in the northern +sea; but though I conversed with several captains, I could not meet with +one who had ever heard any traditional description of them, much less +had any ocular demonstration of their existence. Till the fact is better +ascertained, I should think the account of them ought to be torn out of +our geographical grammars. + + + + +LETTER XVI. + + +I set out from Fredericstadt about three o'clock in the afternoon, and +expected to reach Stromstad before the night closed in; but the wind +dying away, the weather became so calm that we scarcely made any +perceptible advances towards the opposite coast, though the men were +fatigued with rowing. + +Getting amongst the rocks and islands as the moon rose, and the stars +darted forward out of the clear expanse, I forgot that the night stole +on whilst indulging affectionate reveries, the poetical fictions of +sensibility; I was not, therefore, aware of the length of time we had +been toiling to reach Stromstad. And when I began to look around, I did +not perceive anything to indicate that we were in its neighbourhood. So +far from it, that when I inquired of the pilot, who spoke a little +English, I found that he was only accustomed to coast along the +Norwegian shore; and had been only once across to Stromstad. But he had +brought with him a fellow better acquainted, he assured me, with the +rocks by which they were to steer our course, for we had not a compass +on board; yet, as he was half a fool, I had little confidence in his +skill. There was then great reason to fear that we had lost our way, and +were straying amidst a labyrinth of rocks without a clue. + +This was something like an adventure, but not of the most agreeable +cast; besides, I was impatient to arrive at Stromstad, to be able to +send forward that night a boy to order horses on the road to be ready, +for I was unwilling to remain there a day without having anything to +detain me from my little girl, and from the letters which I was +impatient to get from you. + +I began to expostulate, and even to scold the pilot, for not having +informed me of his ignorance previous to my departure. This made him row +with more force, and we turned round one rock only to see another, +equally destitute of the tokens we were in search of to tell us where we +were. Entering also into creek after creek which promised to be the +entrance of the bay we were seeking, we advanced merely to find +ourselves running aground. + +The solitariness of the scene, as we glided under the dark shadows of +the rocks, pleased me for a while; but the fear of passing the whole +night thus wandering to and fro, and losing the next day, roused me. I +begged the pilot to return to one of the largest islands, at the side of +which we had seen a boat moored. As we drew nearer, a light through a +window on the summit became our beacon; but we were farther off than I +supposed. + +With some difficulty the pilot got on shore, not distinguishing the +landing-place; and I remained in the boat, knowing that all the relief +we could expect was a man to direct us. After waiting some time, for +there is an insensibility in the very movements of these people that +would weary more than ordinary patience, he brought with him a man who, +assisting them to row, we landed at Stromstad a little after one in the +morning. + +It was too late to send off a boy, but I did not go to bed before I had +made the arrangements necessary to enable me to set out as early as +possible. + +The sun rose with splendour. My mind was too active to allow me to +loiter long in bed, though the horses did not arrive till between seven +and eight. However, as I wished to let the boy, who went forward to +order the horses, get considerably the start of me, I bridled in my +impatience. + +This precaution was unavailing, for after the three first posts I had to +wait two hours, whilst the people at the post-house went, fair and +softly, to the farm, to bid them bring up the horses which were carrying +in the first-fruits of the harvest. I discovered here that these +sluggish peasants had their share of cunning. Though they had made me +pay for a horse, the boy had gone on foot, and only arrived half an hour +before me. This disconcerted the whole arrangement of the day; and being +detained again three hours, I reluctantly determined to sleep at +Quistram, two posts short of Uddervalla, where I had hoped to have +arrived that night. + +But when I reached Quistram I found I could not approach the door of the +inn for men, horses, and carts, cows, and pigs huddled together. From +the concourse of people I had met on the road I conjectured that there +was a fair in the neighbourhood; this crowd convinced me that it was but +too true. The boisterous merriment that almost every instant produced a +quarrel, or made me dread one, with the clouds of tobacco, and fumes of +brandy, gave an infernal appearance to the scene. There was everything +to drive me back, nothing to excite sympathy in a rude tumult of the +senses, which I foresaw would end in a gross debauch. What was to be +done? No bed was to be had, or even a quiet corner to retire to for a +moment; all was lost in noise, riot, and confusion. + +After some debating they promised me horses, which were to go on to +Uddervalla, two stages. I requested something to eat first, not having +dined; and the hostess, whom I have mentioned to you before as knowing +how to take care of herself, brought me a plate of fish, for which she +charged a rix-dollar and a half. This was making hay whilst the sun +shone. I was glad to get out of the uproar, though not disposed to +travel in an incommodious open carriage all night, had I thought that +there was any chance of getting horses. + +Quitting Quistram I met a number of joyous groups, and though the +evening was fresh many were stretched on the grass like weary cattle; +and drunken men had fallen by the road-side. On a rock, under the shade +of lofty trees, a large party of men and women had lighted a fire, +cutting down fuel around to keep it alive all night. They were drinking, +smoking, and laughing with all their might and main. I felt for the +trees whose torn branches strewed the ground. Hapless nymphs! your +haunts, I fear, were polluted by many an unhallowed flame, the casual +burst of the moment! + +The horses went on very well; but when we drew near the post-house the +postillion stopped short and neither threats nor promises could prevail +on him to go forward. He even began to howl and weep when I insisted on +his keeping his word. Nothing, indeed, can equal the stupid obstinacy of +some of these half-alive beings, who seem to have been made by +Prometheus when the fire he stole from Heaven was so exhausted that he +could only spare a spark to give life, not animation, to the inert clay. + +It was some time before we could rouse anybody; and, as I expected, +horses, we were told, could not be had in less than four or five hours. +I again attempted to bribe the churlish brute who brought us there, but +I discovered that, in spite of the courteous hostess's promises, he had +received orders not to go any father. + +As there was no remedy I entered, and was almost driven back by the +stench--a softer phrase would not have conveyed an idea of the hot +vapour that issued from an apartment in which some eight or ten people +were sleeping, not to reckon the cats and dogs stretched on the floor. +Two or three of the men or women were on the benches, others on old +chests; and one figure started half out of a trunk to look at me, whom +might have taken for a ghost, had the chemise been white, to contrast +with the sallow visage. But the costume of apparitions not being +preserved I passed, nothing dreading, excepting the effluvia, warily +amongst the pots, pans, milk-pails, and washing-tubs. After scaling a +ruinous staircase I was shown a bed-chamber. The bed did not invite me +to enter; opening, therefore, the window, and taking some clean towels +out of my night-sack, I spread them over the coverlid, on which tired +Nature found repose, in spite of the previous disgust. + +With the grey of the morn the birds awoke me; and descending to inquire +for the horses, I hastened through the apartment I have already +described, not wishing to associate the idea of a pigstye with that of a +human dwelling. + +I do not now wonder that the girls lose their fine complexions at such +an early age, or that love here is merely an appetite to fulfil the main +design of Nature, never enlivened by either affection or sentiment. + +For a few posts we found the horses waiting; but afterwards I was +retarded, as before, by the peasants, who, taking advantage of my +ignorance of the language, made me pay for the fourth horse that ought +to have gone forward to have the others in readiness, though it had +never been sent. I was particularly impatient at the last post, as I +longed to assure myself that my child was well. + +My impatience, however, did not prevent my enjoying the journey. I had +six weeks before passed over the same ground; still it had sufficient +novelty to attract my attention, and beguile, if not banish, the sorrow +that had taken up its abode in my heart. How interesting are the varied +beauties of Nature, and what peculiar charms characterise each season! +The purple hue which the heath now assumed gave it a degree of richness +that almost exceeded the lustre of the young green of spring, and +harmonised exquisitely with the rays of the ripening corn. The weather +was uninterruptedly fine, and the people busy in the fields cutting down +the corn, or binding up the sheaves, continually varied the prospect. +The rocks, it is true, were unusually rugged and dreary; yet as the road +runs for a considerable way by the side of a fine river, with extended +pastures on the other side, the image of sterility was not the +predominant object, though the cottages looked still more miserable, +after having seen the Norwegian farms. The trees likewise appeared of me +growth of yesterday, compared with those Nestors of the forest I have +frequently mentioned. The women and children were cutting off branches +from the beech, birch, oak, &c., and leaving them to dry. This way of +helping out their fodder injures the trees. But the winters are so long +that the poor cannot afford to lay in a sufficient stock of hay. By +such means they just keep life in the poor cows, for little milk can be +expected when they are so miserably fed. + +It was Saturday, and the evening was uncommonly serene. In the villages +I everywhere saw preparations for Sunday; and I passed by a little car +loaded with rye, that presented, for the pencil and heart, the sweetest +picture of a harvest home I had ever beheld. A little girl was mounted +a-straddle on a shaggy horse, brandishing a stick over its head; the +father was walking at the side of the car with a child in his arms, who +must have come to meet him with tottering steps; the little creature was +stretching out its arms to cling round his neck; and a boy, just above +petticoats, was labouring hard with a fork behind to keep the sheaves +from falling. + +My eyes followed them to the cottage, and an involuntary sigh whispered +to my heart that I envied the mother, much as I dislike cooking, who was +preparing their pottage. I was returning to my babe, who may never +experience a father's care or tenderness. The bosom that nurtured her +heaved with a pang at the thought which only an unhappy mother could +feel. + +Adieu! + + + + +LETTER XVII. + + +I was unwilling to leave Gothenburg without visiting Trolhættæ. I +wished not only to see the cascade, but to observe the progress of the +stupendous attempt to form a canal through the rocks, to the extent of +an English mile and a half. + +This work is carried on by a company, who employ daily nine hundred men; +five years was the time mentioned in the proposals addressed to the +public as necessary for the completion. A much more considerable sum +than the plan requires has been subscribed, for which there is every +reason to suppose the promoters will receive ample interest. + +The Danes survey the progress of this work with a jealous eye, as it is +principally undertaken to get clear of the Sound duty. + +Arrived at Trolhættæ, I must own that the first view of the cascade +disappointed me; and the sight of the works, as they advanced, though a +grand proof of human industry, was not calculated to warm the fancy. I, +however, wandered about; and at last coming to the conflux of the +various cataracts rushing from different falls, struggling with the huge +masses of rock, and rebounding from the profound cavities, I immediately +retracted, acknowledging that it was indeed a grand object. A little +island stood in the midst, covered with firs, which, by dividing the +torrent, rendered it more picturesque; one half appearing to issue from +a dark cavern, that fancy might easily imagine a vast fountain throwing +up its waters from the very centre of the earth. + +I gazed I know not how long, stunned with the noise, and growing giddy +with only looking at the never-ceasing tumultuous motion, I listened, +scarcely conscious where I was, when I observed a boy, half obscured by +the sparkling foam, fishing under the impending rock on the other side. +How he had descended I could not perceive; nothing like human footsteps +appeared, and the horrific crags seemed to bid defiance even to the +goat's activity. It looked like an abode only fit for the eagle, though +in its crevices some pines darted up their spiral heads; but they only +grew near the cascade, everywhere else sterility itself reigned with +dreary grandeur; for the huge grey massy rocks, which probably had been +torn asunder by some dreadful convulsion of nature, had not even their +first covering of a little cleaving moss. There were so many appearances +to excite the idea of chaos, that, instead of admiring the canal and the +works, great as they are termed, and little as they appear, I could not +help regretting that such a noble scene had not been left in all its +solitary sublimity. Amidst the awful roaring of the impetuous torrents, +the noise of human instruments and the bustle of workmen, even the +blowing up of the rocks when grand masses trembled in the darkened air, +only resembled the insignificant sport of children. + +One fall of water, partly made by art, when they were attempting to +construct sluices, had an uncommonly grand effect; the water +precipitated itself with immense velocity down a perpendicular, at least +fifty or sixty yards, into a gulf, so concealed by the foam as to give +full play to the fancy. There was a continual uproar. I stood on a rock +to observe it, a kind of bridge formed by nature, nearly on a level with +the commencement of the fall. After musing by it a long time I turned +towards the other side, and saw a gentle stream stray calmly out. I +should have concluded that it had no communication with the torrent had +I not seen a huge log that fell headlong down the cascade steal +peacefully into the purling stream. + +I retired from these wild scenes with regret to a miserable inn, and +next morning returned to Gothenburg, to prepare for my journey to +Copenhagen. + +I was sorry to leave Gothenburg without travelling farther into Sweden, +yet I imagine I should only have seen a romantic country thinly +inhabited, and these inhabitants struggling with poverty. The Norwegian +peasantry, mostly independent, have a rough kind of frankness in their +manner; but the Swedish, rendered more abject by misery, have a degree +of politeness in their address which, though it may sometimes border on +insincerity, is oftener the effect of a broken spirit, rather softened +than degraded by wretchedness. + +In Norway there are no notes in circulation of less value than a Swedish +rix-dollar. A small silver coin, commonly not worth more than a penny, +and never more than twopence, serves for change; but in Sweden they have +notes as low as sixpence. I never saw any silver pieces there, and could +not without difficulty, and giving a premium, obtain the value of a rix- +dollar in a large copper coin to give away on the road to the poor who +open the gates. + +As another proof of the poverty of Sweden, I ought to mention that +foreign merchants who have acquired a fortune there are obliged to +deposit the sixth part when they leave the kingdom. This law, you may +suppose, is frequently evaded. + +In fact, the laws here, as well as in Norway, are so relaxed that they +rather favour than restrain knavery. + +Whilst I was at Gothenburg, a man who had been confined for breaking +open his master's desk and running away with five or six thousand +rix-dollars, was only sentenced to forty days' confinement on bread and +water; and this slight punishment his relations rendered nugatory by +supplying him with more savoury food. + +The Swedes are in general attached to their families, yet a divorce may +be obtained by either party on proving the infidelity of the other or +acknowledging it themselves. The women do not often recur to this equal +privilege, for they either retaliate on their husbands by following +their own devices or sink into the merest domestic drudges, worn down by +tyranny to servile submission. Do not term me severe if I add, that +after youth is flown the husband becomes a sot, and the wife amuses +herself by scolding her servants. In fact, what is to be expected in any +country where taste and cultivation of mind do not supply the place of +youthful beauty and animal spirits? Affection requires a firmer +foundation than sympathy, and few people have a principle of action +sufficiently stable to produce rectitude of feeling; for in spite of all +the arguments I have heard to justify deviations from duty, I am +persuaded that even the most spontaneous sensations are more under the +direction of principle than weak people are willing to allow. + +But adieu to moralising. I have been writing these last sheets at an inn +in Elsineur, where I am waiting for horses; and as they are not yet +ready, I will give you a short account of my journey from Gothenburg, +for I set out the morning after I returned from Trolhættæ. + +The country during the first day's journey presented a most barren +appearance, as rocky, yet not so picturesque as Norway, because on a +diminutive scale. We stopped to sleep at a tolerable inn in +Falckersberg, a decent little town. + +The next day beeches and oaks began to grace the prospects, the sea +every now and then appearing to give them dignity. I could not avoid +observing also, that even in this part of Sweden, one of the most +sterile, as I was informed, there was more ground under cultivation than +in Norway. Plains of varied crops stretched out to a considerable +extent, and sloped down to the shore, no longer terrific. And, as far as +I could judge, from glancing my eye over the country as we drove along, +agriculture was in a more advanced state, though in the habitations a +greater appearance of poverty still remained. The cottages, indeed, +often looked most uncomfortable, but never so miserable as those I had +remarked on the road to Stromstad, and the towns were equal, if not +superior, to many of the little towns in Wales, or some I have passed +through in my way from Calais to Paris. + +The inns as we advanced were not to be complained of, unless I had +always thought of England. The people were civil, and much more moderate +in their demands than the Norwegians, particularly to the westward, +where they boldly charge for what you never had, and seem to consider +you, as they do a wreck, if not as lawful prey, yet as a lucky chance, +which they ought not to neglect to seize. + +The prospect of Elsineur, as we passed the Sound, was pleasant. I gave +three rix-dollars for my boat, including something to drink. I mention +the sum, because they impose on strangers. + +Adieu! till I arrive at Copenhagen. + + + + +LETTER XVIII.--COPENHAGEN. + + +The distance from Elsineur to Copenhagen is twenty-two miles; the road +is very good, over a flat country diversified with wood, mostly beech, +and decent mansions. There appeared to be a great quantity of corn land, +and the soil looked much more fertile than it is in general so near the +sea. The rising grounds, indeed, were very few, and around Copenhagen it +is a perfect plain; of course has nothing to recommend it but +cultivation, not decorations. If I say that the houses did not disgust +me, I tell you all I remember of them, for I cannot recollect any +pleasurable sensations they excited, or that any object, produced by +nature or art, took me out of myself. The view of the city, as we drew +near, was rather grand, but without any striking feature to interest the +imagination, excepting the trees which shade the footpaths. + +Just before I reached Copenhagen I saw a number of tents on a wide +plain, and supposed that the rage for encampments had reached this city; +but I soon discovered that they were the asylum of many of the poor +families who had been driven out of their habitations by the late fire. + +Entering soon after, I passed amongst the dust and rubbish it had left, +affrighted by viewing the extent of the devastation, for at least a +quarter of the city had been destroyed. There was little in the +appearance of fallen bricks and stacks of chimneys to allure the +imagination into soothing melancholy reveries; nothing to attract the +eye of taste, but much to afflict the benevolent heart. The depredations +of time have always something in them to employ the fancy, or lead to +musing on subjects which, withdrawing the mind from objects of sense, +seem to give it new dignity; but here I was treading on live ashes. The +sufferers were still under the pressure of the misery occasioned by this +dreadful conflagration. I could not take refuge in the thought: they +suffered, but they are no more! a reflection I frequently summon to calm +my mind when sympathy rises to anguish. I therefore desired the driver +to hasten to the hotel recommended to me, that I might avert my eyes +and snap the train of thinking which had sent me into all the corners of +the city in search of houseless heads. + +This morning I have been walking round the town, till I am weary of +observing the ravages. I had often heard the Danes, even those who had +seen Paris and London, speak of Copenhagen with rapture. Certainly I +have seen it in a very disadvantageous light, some of the best streets +having been burnt, and the whole place thrown into confusion. Still the +utmost that can, or could ever, I believe, have been said in its praise, +might be comprised in a few words. The streets are open, and many of the +houses large; but I saw nothing to rouse the idea of elegance or +grandeur, if I except the circus where the king and prince royal reside. + +The palace, which was consumed about two years ago, must have been a +handsome, spacious building; the stone-work is still standing, and a +great number of the poor, during the late fire, took refuge in its ruins +till they could find some other abode. Beds were thrown on the landing- +places of the grand staircase, where whole families crept from the cold, +and every little nook is boarded up as a retreat for some poor creatures +deprived of their home. At present a roof may be sufficient to shelter +them from the night air; but as the season advances, the extent of the +calamity will be more severely felt, I fear, though the exertions on the +part of Government are very considerable. Private charity has also, no +doubt, done much to alleviate the misery which obtrudes itself at every +turn; still, public spirit appears to me to be hardly alive here. Had it +existed, the conflagration might have been smothered in the beginning, +as it was at last, by tearing down several houses before the flames had +reached them. To this the inhabitants would not consent; and the prince +royal not having sufficient energy of character to know when he ought to +be absolute, calmly let them pursue their own course, till the whole +city seemed to be threatened with destruction. Adhering, with puerile +scrupulosity, to the law which he has imposed on himself, of acting +exactly right, he did wrong by idly lamenting whilst he marked the +progress of a mischief that one decided step would have stopped. He was +afterwards obliged to resort to violent measures; but then, who could +blame him? And, to avoid censure, what sacrifices are not made by weak +minds? + +A gentleman who was a witness of the scene assured me, likewise, that if +the people of property had taken half as much pains to extinguish the +fire as to preserve their valuables and furniture, it would soon have +been got under. But they who were not immediately in danger did not +exert themselves sufficiently, till fear, like an electrical shock, +roused all the inhabitants to a sense of the general evil. Even the +fire-engines were out of order, though the burning of the palace ought +to have admonished them of the necessity of keeping them in constant +repair. But this kind of indolence respecting what does not immediately +concern them seems to characterise the Danes. A sluggish concentration +in themselves makes them so careful to preserve their property, that +they will not venture on any enterprise to increase it in which there is +a shadow of hazard. + +Considering Copenhagen as the capital of Denmark and Norway, I was +surprised not to see so much industry or taste as in Christiania. +Indeed, from everything I have had an opportunity of observing, the +Danes are the people who have made the fewest sacrifices to the graces. + +The men of business are domestic tyrants, coldly immersed in their own +affairs, and so ignorant of the state of other countries, that they +dogmatically assert that Denmark is the happiest country in the world; +the Prince Royal the best of all possible princes; and Count Bernstorff +the wisest of ministers. + +As for the women, they are simply notable housewives; without +accomplishments or any of the charms that adorn more advanced social +life. This total ignorance may enable them to save something in their +kitchens, but it is far from rendering them better parents. On the +contrary, the children are spoiled, as they usually are when left to the +care of weak, indulgent mothers, who having no principle of action to +regulate their feelings, become the slaves of infants, enfeebling both +body and mind by false tenderness. + +I am, perhaps, a little prejudiced, as I write from the impression of +the moment; for I have been tormented to-day by the presence of unruly +children, and made angry by some invectives thrown out against the +maternal character of the unfortunate Matilda. She was censured, with +the most cruel insinuation, for her management of her son, though, from +what I could gather, she gave proofs of good sense as well as tenderness +in her attention to him. She used to bathe him herself every morning; +insisted on his being loosely clad; and would not permit his attendants +to injure his digestion by humouring his appetite. She was equally +careful to prevent his acquiring haughty airs, and playing the tyrant in +leading-strings. The Queen Dowager would not permit her to suckle him; +but the next child being a daughter, and not the Heir-Apparent of the +Crown, less opposition was made to her discharging the duty of a mother. + +Poor Matilda! thou hast haunted me ever since may arrival; and the view +I have had of the manners of the country, exciting my sympathy, has +increased my respect for thy memory. + +I am now fully convinced that she was the victim of the party she +displaced, who would have overlooked or encouraged her attachment, had +not her lover, aiming at being useful, attempted to overturn some +established abuses before the people, ripe for the change, had +sufficient spirit to support him when struggling in their behalf. Such +indeed was the asperity sharpened against her that I have heard her, +even after so many years have elapsed, charged with licentiousness, not +only for endeavouring to render the public amusements more elegant, but +for her very charities, because she erected, amongst other institutions, +a hospital to receive foundlings. Disgusted with many customs which pass +for virtues, though they are nothing more than observances of forms, +often at the expense of truth, she probably ran into an error common to +innovators, in wishing to do immediately what can only be done by time. + +Many very cogent reasons have been urged by her friends to prove that +her affection for Struensee was never carried to the length alleged +against her by those who feared her influence. Be that as it may she +certainly was no a woman of gallantry, and if she had an attachment for +him it did not disgrace her heart or understanding, the king being a +notorious debauchee and an idiot into the bargain. As the king's conduct +had always been directed by some favourite, they also endeavoured to +govern him, from a principle of self-preservation as well as a laudable +ambition; but, not aware of the prejudices they had to encounter, the +system they adopted displayed more benevolence of heart than soundness +of judgment. As to the charge, still believed, of their giving the King +drugs to injure his faculties, it is too absurd to be refuted. Their +oppressors had better have accused them of dabbling in the black art, +for the potent spell still keeps his wits in bondage. + +I cannot describe to you the effect it had on me to see this puppet of a +monarch moved by the strings which Count Bernstorff holds fast; sit, +with vacant eye, erect, receiving the homage of courtiers who mock him +with a show of respect. He is, in fact, merely a machine of state, to +subscribe the name of a king to the acts of the Government, which, to +avoid danger, have no value unless countersigned by the Prince Royal; +for he is allowed to be absolutely an idiot, excepting that now and +then an observation or trick escapes him, which looks more like madness +than imbecility. + +What a farce is life. This effigy of majesty is allowed to burn down to +the socket, whilst the hapless Matilda was hurried into an untimely +grave. + + "As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods; + They kill us for their sport." + +Adieu! + + + + +LETTER XIX. + + +Business having obliged me to go a few miles out of town this morning I +was surprised at meeting a crowd of people of every description, and +inquiring the cause of a servant, who spoke French, I was informed that +a man had been executed two hours before, and the body afterwards burnt. +I could not help looking with horror around--the fields lost their +verdure--and I turned with disgust from the well-dressed women who were +returning with their children from this sight. What a spectacle for +humanity! The seeing such a flock of idle gazers plunged me into a +train of reflections on the pernicious effects produced by false notions +of justice. And I am persuaded that till capital punishments are +entirely abolished executions ought to have every appearance of horror +given to them, instead of being, as they are now, a scene of amusement +for the gaping crowd, where sympathy is quickly effaced by curiosity. + +I have always been of opinion that the allowing actors to die in the +presence of the audience has an immoral tendency, but trifling when +compared with the ferocity acquired by viewing the reality as a show; +for it seems to me that in all countries the common people go to +executions to see how the poor wretch plays his part, rather than to +commiserate his fate, much less to think of the breach of morality which +has brought him to such a deplorable end. Consequently executions, far +from being useful examples to the survivors, have, I am persuaded, a +quite contrary effect, by hardening the heart they ought to terrify. +Besides the fear of an ignominious death, I believe, never deferred +anyone from the commission of a crime, because, in committing it, the +mind is roused to activity about present circumstances. It is a game at +hazard, at which all expect the turn of the die in their own favour, +never reflecting on the chance of ruin till it comes. In fact, from what +I saw in the fortresses of Norway, I am more and more convinced that the +same energy of character which renders a man a daring villain would have +rendered him useful to society, had that society been well organised. +When a strong mind is not disciplined by cultivation it is a sense of +injustice that renders it unjust. + +Executions, however, occur very rarely at Copenhagen; for timidity, +rather than clemency, palsies all the operations of the present +Government. The malefactor who died this morning would not, probably, +have been punished with death at any other period; but an incendiary +excites universal execration; and as the greater part of the inhabitants +are still distressed by the late conflagration, an example was thought +absolutely necessary; though, from what I can gather, the fire was +accidental. + +Not, but that I have very seriously been informed, that combustible +materials were placed at proper distance, by the emissaries of Mr. Pitt; +and, to corroborate the fact, many people insist that the flames burst +out at once in different parts of the city; not allowing the wind to +have any hand in it. So much for the plot. But the fabricators of plots +in all countries build their conjectures on the "baseless fabric of a +vision;" and it seems even a sort of poetical justice, that whilst this +Minister is crushing at home plots of his own conjuring up, on the +Continent, and in the north, he should, with as little foundation, be +accused of wishing to set the world on fire. + +I forgot to mention to you, that I was informed, by a man of veracity, +that two persons came to the stake to drink a glass of the criminal's +blood, as an infallible remedy for the apoplexy. And when I animadverted +in the company, where it was mentioned, on such a horrible violation of +nature, a Danish lady reproved me very severely, asking how I knew that +it was not a cure for the disease? adding, that every attempt was +justifiable in search of health. I did not, you may imagine, enter into +an argument with a person the slave of such a gross prejudice. And I +allude to it not only as a trait of the ignorance of the people, but to +censure the Government for not preventing scenes that throw an odium on +the human race. + +Empiricism is not peculiar to Denmark; and I know no way of rooting it +out, though it be a remnant of exploded witchcraft, till the acquiring a +general knowledge of the component parts of the human frame becomes a +part of public education. + +Since the fire, the inhabitants have been very assiduously employed in +searching for property secreted during the confusion; and it is +astonishing how many people, formerly termed reputable, had availed +themselves of the common calamity to purloin what the flames spared. +Others, expert at making a distinction without a difference, concealed +what they found, not troubling themselves to inquire for the owners, +though they scrupled to search for plunder anywhere, but amongst the +ruins. + +To be honester than the laws require is by most people thought a work of +supererogation; and to slip through the grate of the law has ever +exercised the abilities of adventurers, who wish to get rich the +shortest way. Knavery without personal danger is an art brought to great +perfection by the statesman and swindler; and meaner knaves are not +tardy in following their footsteps. + +It moves my gall to discover some of the commercial frauds practised +during the present war. In short, under whatever point of view I +consider society, it appears to me that an adoration of property is the +root of all evil. Here it does not render the people enterprising, as in +America, but thrifty and cautious. I never, therefore, was in a capital +where there was so little appearance of active industry; and as for +gaiety, I looked in vain for the sprightly gait of the Norwegians, who +in every respect appear to me to have got the start of them. This +difference I attribute to their having more liberty--a liberty which +they think their right by inheritance, whilst the Danes, when they boast +of their negative happiness, always mention it as the boon of the Prince +Royal, under the superintending wisdom of Count Bernstorff. Vassalage is +nevertheless ceasing throughout the kingdom, and with it will pass away +that sordid avarice which every modification of slavery is calculated to +produce. + +If the chief use of property be power, in the shape of the respect it +procures, is it not among the inconsistencies of human nature most +incomprehensible, that men should find a pleasure in hoarding up +property which they steal from their necessities, even when they are +convinced that it would be dangerous to display such an enviable +superiority? Is not this the situation of serfs in every country. Yet a +rapacity to accumulate money seems to become stronger in proportion as +it is allowed to be useless. + +Wealth does not appear to be sought for amongst the Danes, to obtain the +excellent luxuries of life, for a want of taste is very conspicuous at +Copenhagen; so much so that I am not surprised to hear that poor Matilda +offended the rigid Lutherans by aiming to refine their pleasures. The +elegance which she wished to introduce was termed lasciviousness; yet I +do not find that the absence of gallantry renders the wives more chaste, +or the husbands more constant. Love here seems to corrupt the morals +without polishing the manners, by banishing confidence and truth, the +charm as well as cement of domestic life. A gentleman, who has resided +in this city some time, assures me that he could not find language to +give me an idea of the gross debaucheries into which the lower order of +people fall; and the promiscuous amours of the men of the middling class +with their female servants debase both beyond measure, weakening every +species of family affection. + +I have everywhere been struck by one characteristic difference in the +conduct of the two sexes; women, in general, are seduced by their +superiors, and men jilted by their inferiors: rank and manners awe the +one, and cunning and wantonness subjugate the other; ambition creeping +into the woman's passion, and tyranny giving force to the man's, for +most men treat their mistresses as kings do their favourites: _ergo_ is +not man then the tyrant of the creation? + +Still harping on the same subject, you will exclaim--How can I avoid it, +when most of the struggles of an eventful life have been occasioned by +the oppressed state of my sex? We reason deeply when we feel forcibly. + +But to return to the straight road of observation. The sensuality so +prevalent appears to me to arise rather from indolence of mind and dull +senses, than from an exuberance of life, which often fructifies the +whole character when the vivacity of youthful spirits begins to subside +into strength of mind. + +I have before mentioned that the men are domestic tyrants, considering +them as fathers, brothers, or husbands; but there is a kind of +interregnum between the reign of the father and husband which is the +only period of freedom and pleasure that the women enjoy. Young people +who are attached to each other, with the consent of their friends, +exchange rings, and are permitted to enjoy a degree of liberty together +which I have never noticed in any other country. The days of courtship +are, therefore, prolonged till it be perfectly convenient to marry: the +intimacy often becomes very tender; and if the lover obtain the +privilege of a husband, it can only be termed half by stealth, because +the family is wilfully blind. It happens very rarely that these honorary +engagements are dissolved or disregarded, a stigma being attached to a +breach of faith which is thought more disgraceful, if not so criminal, +as the violation of the marriage-vow. + +Do not forget that, in my general observations, I do not pretend to +sketch a national character, but merely to note the present state of +morals and manners as I trace the progress of the world's improvement. +Because, during my residence in different countries, my principal object +has been to take such a dispassionate view of men as will lead me to +form a just idea of the nature of man. And, to deal ingenuously with +you, I believe I should have been less severe in the remarks I have made +on the vanity and depravity of the French, had I travelled towards the +north before I visited France. + +The interesting picture frequently drawn of the virtues of a rising +people has, I fear, been fallacious, excepting the accounts of the +enthusiasm which various public struggles have produced. We talk of the +depravity of the French, and lay a stress on the old age of the nation; +yet where has more virtuous enthusiasm been displayed than during the +two last years by the common people of France, and in their armies? I +am obliged sometimes to recollect the numberless instances which I have +either witnessed, or heard well authenticated, to balance the account of +horrors, alas! but too true. I am, therefore, inclined to believe that +the gross vices which I have always seem allied with simplicity of +manners, are the concomitants of ignorance. + +What, for example, has piety, under the heathen or Christian system, +been, but a blind faith in things contrary to the principles of reason? +And could poor reason make considerable advances when it was reckoned +the highest degree of virtue to do violence to its dictates? Lutherans, +preaching reformation, have built a reputation for sanctity on the same +foundation as the Catholics; yet I do not perceive that a regular +attendance on public worship, and their other observances, make them a +whit more true in their affections, or honest in their private +transactions. It seems, indeed, quite as easy to prevaricate with +religious injunctions as human laws, when the exercise of their reason +does not lead people to acquire principles for themselves to be the +criterion of all those they receive from others. + +If travelling, as the completion of a liberal education, were to be +adopted on rational grounds, the northern states ought to be visited +before the more polished parts of Europe, to serve as the elements even +of the knowledge of manners, only to be acquired by tracing the various +shades in different countries. But, when visiting distant climes, a +momentary social sympathy should not be allowed to influence the +conclusions of the understanding, for hospitality too frequently leads +travellers, especially those who travel in search of pleasure, to make a +false estimate of the virtues of a nation, which, I am now convinced, +bear an exact proportion to their scientific improvements. + +Adieu. + + + + +LETTER XX. + + +I have formerly censured the French for their extreme attachment to +theatrical exhibitions, because I thought that they tended to render +them vain and unnatural characters; but I must acknowledge, especially +as women of the town never appear in the Parisian as at our theatres, +that the little saving of the week is more usefully expended there every +Sunday than in porter or brandy, to intoxicate or stupify the mind. The +common people of France have a great superiority over that class in +every other country on this very score. It is merely the sobriety of the +Parisians which renders their fêtes more interesting, their gaiety never +becoming disgusting or dangerous, as is always the case when liquor +circulates. Intoxication is the pleasure of savages, and of all those +whose employments rather exhaust their animal spirits than exercise +their faculties. Is not this, in fact, the vice, both in England and the +northern states of Europe, which appears to be the greatest impediment +to general improvement? Drinking is here the principal relaxation of +the men, including smoking, but the women are very abstemious, though +they have no public amusements as a substitute. I ought to except one +theatre, which appears more than is necessary; for when I was there it +was not half full, and neither the ladies nor actresses displayed much +fancy in their dress. + +The play was founded on the story of the "Mock Doctor;" and, from the +gestures of the servants, who were the best actors, I should imagine +contained some humour. The farce, termed ballet, was a kind of +pantomime, the childish incidents of which were sufficient to show the +state of the dramatic art in Denmark, and the gross taste of the +audience. A magician, in the disguise of a tinker, enters a cottage +where the women are all busy ironing, and rubs a dirty frying-pan +against the linen. The women raise a hue-and-cry, and dance after him, +rousing their husbands, who join in the dance, but get the start of them +in the pursuit. The tinker, with the frying-pan for a shield, renders +them immovable, and blacks their cheeks. Each laughs at the other, +unconscious of his own appearance; meanwhile the women enter to enjoy +the sport, "the rare fun," with other incidents of the same species. + +The singing was much on a par with the dancing, the one as destitute of +grace as the other of expression; but the orchestra was well filled, the +instrumental being far superior to the vocal music. + +I have likewise visited the public library and museum, as well as the +palace of Rosembourg. This palace, now deserted, displays a gloomy kind +of grandeur throughout, for the silence of spacious apartments always +makes itself to be felt; I at least feel it, and I listen for the sound +of my footsteps as I have done at midnight to the ticking of the +death-watch, encouraging a kind of fanciful superstition. Every object +carried me back to past times, and impressed the manners of the age +forcibly on my mind. In this point of view the preservation of old +palaces and their tarnished furniture is useful, for they may be +considered as historical documents. + +The vacuum left by departed greatness was everywhere observable, whilst +the battles and processions portrayed on the walls told you who had here +excited revelry after retiring from slaughter, or dismissed pageantry in +search of pleasure. It seemed a vast tomb full of the shadowy phantoms +of those who had played or toiled their hour out and sunk behind the +tapestry which celebrated the conquests of love or war. Could they be no +more--to whom my imagination thus gave life? Could the thoughts, of +which there remained so many vestiges, have vanished quite away? And +these beings, composed of such noble materials of thinking and feeling, +have they only melted into the elements to keep in motion the grand mass +of life? It cannot be!--as easily could I believe that the large silver +lions at the top of the banqueting room thought and reasoned. But +avaunt! ye waking dreams! yet I cannot describe the curiosities to you. + +There were cabinets full of baubles and gems, and swords which must have +been wielded by giant's hand. The coronation ornaments wait quietly here +till wanted, and the wardrobe exhibits the vestments which formerly +graced these shows. It is a pity they do not lend them to the actors, +instead of allowing them to perish ingloriously. + +I have not visited any other palace, excepting Hirsholm, the gardens of +which are laid out with taste, and command the finest views the country +affords. As they are in the modern and English style, I thought I was +following the footsteps of Matilda, who wished to multiply around her +the images of her beloved country. I was also gratified by the sight of +a Norwegian landscape in miniature, which with great propriety makes a +part of the Danish King's garden. The cottage is well imitated, and the +whole has a pleasing effect, particularly so to me who love Norway--its +peaceful farms and spacious wilds. + +The public library consists of a collection much larger than I expected +to see; and it is well arranged. Of the value of the Icelandic +manuscripts I could not form a judgment, though the alphabet of some of +them amused me, by showing what immense labour men will submit to, in +order to transmit their ideas to posterity. I have sometimes thought it +a great misfortune for individuals to acquire a certain delicacy of +sentiment, which often makes them weary of the common occurrences of +life; yet it is this very delicacy of feeling and thinking which +probably has produced most of the performances that have benefited +mankind. It might with propriety, perhaps, be termed the malady of +genius; the cause of that characteristic melancholy which "grows with +its growth, and strengthens with its strength." + +There are some good pictures in the royal museum. Do not start, I am not +going to trouble you with a dull catalogue, or stupid criticisms on +masters to whom time has assigned their just niche in the temple of +fame; had there been any by living artists of this country, I should +have noticed them, as making a part of the sketches I am drawing of the +present state of the place. The good pictures were mixed +indiscriminately with the bad ones, in order to assort the frames. The +same fault is conspicuous in the new splendid gallery forming at Paris; +though it seems an obvious thought that a school for artists ought to be +arranged in such a manner, as to show the progressive discoveries and +improvements in the art. + +A collection of the dresses, arms, and implements of the Laplanders +attracted my attention, displaying that first species of ingenuity which +is rather a proof of patient perseverance, than comprehension of mind. +The specimens of natural history, and curiosities of art, were likewise +huddled together without that scientific order which alone renders them +useful; but this may partly have been occasioned by the hasty manner in +which they were removed from the palace when in flames. + +There are some respectable men of science here, but few literary +characters, and fewer artists. They want encouragement, and will +continue, I fear, from the present appearance of things, to languish +unnoticed a long time; for neither the vanity of wealth, nor the +enterprising spirit of commerce, has yet thrown a glance that way. + +Besides, the Prince Royal, determined to be economical, almost descends +to parsimony; and perhaps depresses his subjects, by labouring not to +oppress them; for his intentions always seem to be good--yet nothing can +give a more forcible idea of the dulness which eats away all activity of +mind, than the insipid routine of a court, without magnificence or +elegance. + +The Prince, from what I can now collect, has very moderate abilities; +yet is so well disposed, that Count Bernstorff finds him as tractable as +he could wish; for I consider the Count as the real sovereign, scarcely +behind the curtain; the Prince having none of that obstinate +self-sufficiency of youth, so often the forerunner of decision of +character. He and the Princess his wife, dine every day with the King, +to save the expense of two tables. What a mummery it must be to treat as +a king a being who has lost the majesty of man! But even Count +Bernstorff's morality submits to this standing imposition; and he avails +himself of it sometimes, to soften a refusal of his own, by saying it is +the _will_ of the King, my master, when everybody knows that he has +neither will nor memory. Much the same use is made of him as, I have +observed, some termagant wives make of their husbands; they would dwell +on the necessity of obeying their husbands, poor passive souls, who +never were allowed _to will_, when they wanted to conceal their own +tyranny. + +A story is told here of the King's formerly making a dog counsellor of +state, because when the dog, accustomed to eat at the royal table, +snatched a piece of meat off an old officer's plate, he reproved him +jocosely, saying that he, _monsieur le chien_, had not the privilege of +dining with his majesty, a privilege annexed to this distinction. + +The burning of the palace was, in fact, a fortunate circumstance, as it +afforded a pretext for reducing the establishment of the household, +which was far too great for the revenue of the Crown. The Prince Royal, +at present, runs into the opposite extreme; and the formality, if not +the parsimony, of the court, seems to extend to all the other branches +of society, which I had an opportunity of observing; though hospitality +still characterises their intercourse with strangers. + +But let me now stop; I may be a little partial, and view everything with +the jaundiced eye of melancholy--for I am sad--and have cause. + +God bless you! + + + + +LETTER XXI. + + +I have seen Count Bernstorff; and his conversation confirms me in the +opinion I had previously formed of him; I mean, since my arrival at +Copenhagen. He is a worthy man, a little vain of his virtue _à la_ +Necker; and more anxious not to do wrong, that is to avoid blame, than +desirous of doing good; especially if any particular good demands a +change. Prudence, in short, seems to be the basis of his character; and, +from the tenor of the Government, I should think inclining to that +cautious circumspection which treads on the heels of timidity. He has +considerable information, and some finesse; or he could not be a +Minister. Determined not to risk his popularity, for he is tenderly +careful of his reputation, he will never gloriously fail like Struensee, +or disturb, with the energy of genius, the stagnant state of the public +mind. + +I suppose that Lavater, whom he invited to visit him two years ago--some +say to fix the principles of the Christian religion firmly in the Prince +Royal's mind, found lines in his face to prove him a statesman of the +first order; because he has a knack at seeing a great character in the +countenances of men in exalted stations, who have noticed him or his +works. Besides, the Count's sentiments relative to the French +Revolution, agreeing with Lavater's, must have ensured his applause. + +The Danes, in general, seem extremely averse to innovation, and if +happiness only consist in opinion, they are the happiest people in the +world; for I never saw any so well satisfied with their own situation. +Yet the climate appears to be very disagreeable, the weather being dry +and sultry, or moist and cold; the atmosphere never having that sharp, +bracing purity, which in Norway prepares you to brave its rigours. I do +not hear the inhabitants of this place talk with delight of the winter, +which is the constant theme of the Norwegians; on the contrary, they +seem to dread its comfortless inclemency. + +The ramparts are pleasant, and must have been much more so before the +fire, the walkers not being annoyed by the clouds of dust which, at +present, the slightest wind wafts from the ruins. The windmills, and the +comfortable houses contiguous, belonging to the millers, as well as the +appearance of the spacious barracks for the soldiers and sailors, tend +to render this walk more agreeable. The view of the country has not much +to recommend it to notice but its extent and cultivation: yet as the eye +always delights to dwell on verdant plains, especially when we are +resident in a great city, these shady walks should be reckoned amongst +the advantages procured by the Government for the inhabitants. I like +them better than the Royal Gardens, also open to the public, because the +latter seem sunk in the heart of the city, to concentrate its fogs. + +The canals which intersect the streets are equally convenient and +wholesome; but the view of the sea commanded by the town had little to +interest me whilst the remembrance of the various bold and picturesque +shores I had seen was fresh in my memory. Still the opulent inhabitants, +who seldom go abroad, must find the spots where they fix their country +seats much pleasanter on account of the vicinity of the ocean. + +One of the best streets in Copenhagen is almost filled with hospitals, +erected by the Government, and, I am assured, as well regulated as +institutions of this kind are in any country; but whether hospitals or +workhouses are anywhere superintended with sufficient humanity I have +frequently had reason to doubt. + +The autumn is so uncommonly fine that I am unwilling to put off my +journey to Hamburg much longer, lest the weather should alter suddenly, +and the chilly harbingers of winter catch me here, where I have nothing +now to detain me but the hospitality of the families to whom I had +recommendatory letters. I lodged at an hotel situated in a large open +square, where the troops exercise and the market is kept. My apartments +were very good; and on account of the fire I was told that I should be +charged very high; yet, paying my bill just now, I find the demands much +lower in proportion than in Norway, though my dinners were in every +respect better. + +I have remained more at home since I arrived at Copenhagen than I ought +to have done in a strange place, but the mind is not always equally +active in search of information, and my oppressed heart too often sighs +out-- + + "How dull, flat, and unprofitable + Are to me all the usages of this world: + That it should come to this!" + +Farewell! Fare thee well, I say; if thou canst, repeat the adieu in a +different tone. + + + + +LETTER XXII. + + +I arrived at Corsoer the night after I quitted Copenhagen, purposing to +take my passage across the Great Belt the next morning, though the +weather was rather boisterous. It is about four-and-twenty miles but as +both I and my little girl are never attacked by sea-sickness--though who +can avoid _ennui_?--I enter a boat with the same indifference as I +change horses; and as for danger, come when it may, I dread it not +sufficiently to have any anticipating fears. + +The road from Copenhagen was very good, through an open, flat country +that had little to recommend it to notice excepting the cultivation, +which gratified my heart more than my eye. + +I took a barge with a German baron who was hastening back from a tour +into Denmark, alarmed by the intelligence of the French having passed +the Rhine. His conversation beguiled the time, and gave a sort of +stimulus to my spirits, which had been growing more and more languid +ever since my return to Gothenburg; you know why. I had often +endeavoured to rouse myself to observation by reflecting that I was +passing through scenes which I should probably never see again, and +consequently ought not to omit observing. Still I fell into reveries, +thinking, by way of excuse, that enlargement of mind and refined +feelings are of little use but to barb the arrows of sorrow which waylay +us everywhere, eluding the sagacity of wisdom and rendering principles +unavailing, if considered as a breastwork to secure our own hearts. + +Though we had not a direct wind, we were not detained more than three +hours and a half on the water, just long enough to give us an appetite +for our dinner. + +We travelled the remainder of the day and the following night in company +with the same party, the German gentleman whom I have mentioned, his +friend, and servant. The meetings at the post-houses were pleasant to +me, who usually heard nothing but strange tongues around me. Marguerite +and the child often fell asleep, and when they were awake I might still +reckon myself alone, as our train of thoughts had nothing in common. +Marguerite, it is true, was much amused by the costume of the women, +particularly by the pannier which adorned both their heads and tails, +and with great glee recounted to me the stories she had treasured up for +her family when once more within the barriers of dear Paris, not +forgetting, with that arch, agreeable vanity peculiar to the French, +which they exhibit whilst half ridiculing it, to remind me of the +importance she should assume when she informed her friends of all her +journeys by sea and land, showing the pieces of money she had collected, +and stammering out a few foreign phrases, which she repeated in a true +Parisian accent. Happy thoughtlessness! ay, and enviable harmless +vanity, which thus produced a _gaité du cœur_ worth all my philosophy! + +The man I had hired at Copenhagen advised me to go round about twenty +miles to avoid passing the Little Belt excepting by a ferry, as the wind +was contrary. But the gentlemen overruled his arguments, which we were +all very sorry for afterwards, when we found ourselves becalmed on the +Little Belt ten hours, tacking about without ceasing, to gain the shore. + +An oversight likewise made the passage appear much more tedious, nay, +almost insupportable. When I went on board at the Great Belt, I had +provided refreshments in case of detention, which remaining untouched I +thought not then any such precaution necessary for the second passage, +misled by the epithet of "little," though I have since been informed +that it is frequently the longest. This mistake occasioned much +vexation; for the child, at last, began to cry so bitterly for bread, +that fancy conjured up before me the wretched Ugolino, with his famished +children; and I, literally speaking, enveloped myself in sympathetic +horrors, augmented by every tear my babe shed, from which I could not +escape till we landed, and a luncheon of bread and basin of milk routed +the spectres of fancy. + +I then supped with my companions, with whom I was soon after to part for +ever--always a most melancholy death-like idea--a sort of separation of +soul; for all the regret which follows those from whom fate separates us +seems to be something torn from ourselves. These were strangers I +remember; yet when there is any originality in a countenance, it takes +its place in our memory, and we are sorry to lose an acquaintance the +moment he begins to interest us, though picked up on the highway. There +was, in fact, a degree of intelligence, and still more sensibility, in +the features and conversation of one of the gentlemen, that made me +regret the loss of his society during the rest of the journey; for he +was compelled to travel post, by his desire to reach his estate before +the arrival of the French. + +This was a comfortable inn, as were several others I stopped at; but the +heavy sandy roads were very fatiguing, after the fine ones we had lately +skimmed over both in Sweden and Denmark. The country resembled the most +open part of England--laid out for corn rather than grazing. It was +pleasant, yet there was little in the prospects to awaken curiosity, by +displaying the peculiar characteristics of a new country, which had so +frequently stole me from myself in Norway. We often passed over large +unenclosed tracts, not graced with trees, or at least very sparingly +enlivened by them, and the half-formed roads seemed to demand the +landmarks, set up in the waste, to prevent the traveller from straying +far out of his way, and plodding through the wearisome sand. + +The heaths were dreary, and had none of the wild charms of those of +Sweden and Norway to cheat time; neither the terrific rocks, nor smiling +herbage grateful to the sight and scented from afar, made us forget +their length. Still the country appeared much more populous, and the +towns, if not the farmhouses, were superior to those of Norway. I even +thought that the inhabitants of the former had more intelligence--at +least, I am sure they had more vivacity in their countenances than I had +seen during my northern tour: their senses seemed awake to business and +pleasure. I was therefore gratified by hearing once more the busy hum of +industrious men in the day, and the exhilarating sounds of joy in the +evening; for, as the weather was still fine, the women and children were +amusing themselves at their doors, or walking under the trees, which in +many places were planted in the streets; and as most of the towns of any +note were situated on little bays or branches of the Baltic, their +appearance as we approached was often very picturesque, and, when we +entered, displayed the comfort and cleanliness of easy, if not the +elegance of opulent, circumstances. But the cheerfulness of the people +in the streets was particularly grateful to me, after having been +depressed by the deathlike silence of those of Denmark, where every +house made me think of a tomb. The dress of the peasantry is suited to +the climate; in short, none of that poverty and dirt appeared, at the +sight of which the heart sickens. + +As I only stopped to change horses, take refreshment, and sleep, I had +not an opportunity of knowing more of the country than conclusions which +the information gathered by my eyes enabled me to draw, and that was +sufficient to convince me that I should much rather have lived in some +of the towns I now pass through than in any I had seen in Sweden or +Denmark. The people struck me as having arrived at that period when the +faculties will unfold themselves; in short; they look alive to +improvement, neither congealed by indolence, nor bent down by +wretchedness to servility. + +From the previous impression--I scarcely can trace whence I received +it--I was agreeably surprised to perceive such an appearance of comfort +in this part of Germany. I had formed a conception of the tyranny of the +petty potentates that had thrown a gloomy veil over the face of the +whole country in my imagination, that cleared away like the darkness of +night before the sun as I saw the reality. I should probably have +discovered much lurking misery, the consequence of ignorant oppression, +no doubt, had I had time to inquire into particulars; but it did not +stalk abroad and infect the surface over which my eye glanced. Yes, I am +persuaded that a considerable degree of general knowledge pervades this +country, for it is only from the exercise of the mind that the body +acquires the activity from which I drew these inferences. Indeed, the +King of Denmark's German dominions--Holstein--appeared to me far +superior to any other part of his kingdom which had fallen under my +view; and the robust rustics to have their muscles braced, instead of +the, as it were, lounge of the Danish peasantry. + +Arriving at Sleswick, the residence of Prince Charles of Hesse-Cassel, +the sight of the soldiers recalled all the unpleasing ideas of German +despotism, which imperceptibly vanished as I advanced into the country. +I viewed, with a mixture of pity and horror, these beings training to be +sold to slaughter, or be slaughtered, and fell into reflections on an +old opinion of mine, that it is the preservation of the species, not of +individuals, which appears to be the design of the Deity throughout the +whole of Nature. Blossoms come forth only to be blighted; fish lay their +spawn where it will be devoured; and what a large portion of the human +race are born merely to be swept prematurely away! Does not this waste +of budding life emphatically assert that it is not men, but Man, whose +preservation is so necessary to the completion of the grand plan of the +universe? Children peep into existence, suffer, and die; men play like +moths about a candle, and sink into the flame; war, and "the thousand +ills which flesh is heir to," mow them down in shoals; whilst the more +cruel prejudices of society palsy existence, introducing not less sure +though slower decay. + +The castle was heavy and gloomy, yet the grounds about it were laid out +with some taste; a walk, winding under the shade of lofty trees, led to +a regularly built and animated town. + +I crossed the drawbridge, and entered to see this shell of a court in +miniature, mounting ponderous stairs--it would be a solecism to say a +flight--up which a regiment of men might have marched, shouldering their +firelocks to exercise in vast galleries, where all the generations of +the Princes of Hesse-Cassel might have been mustered rank and file, +though not the phantoms of all the wretched they had bartered to support +their state, unless these airy substances could shrink and expand, like +Milton's devils, to suit the occasion. + +The sight of the presence-chamber, and of the canopy to shade the +fauteuil which aped a throne, made me smile. All the world is a stage, +thought I; and few are there in it who do not play the part they have +learnt by rote; and those who do not, seem marks set up to be pelted at +by fortune, or rather as sign-posts which point out the road to others, +whilst forced to stand still themselves amidst the mud and dust. + +Waiting for our horses, we were amused by observing the dress of the +women, which was very grotesque and unwieldy. The false notion of beauty +which prevails here as well as in Denmark, I should think very +inconvenient in summer, as it consists in giving a rotundity to a +certain part of the body, not the most slim, when Nature has done her +part. This Dutch prejudice often leads them to toil under the weight of +some ten or a dozen petticoats, which, with an enormous basket, +literally speaking, as a bonnet, or a straw hat of dimensions equally +gigantic, almost completely conceal the human form as well as face +divine, often worth showing; still they looked clean, and tripped along, +as it were, before the wind, with a weight of tackle that I could +scarcely have lifted. Many of the country girls I met appeared to me +pretty--that is, to have fine complexions, sparkling eyes, and a kind of +arch, hoyden playfulness which distinguishes the village coquette. The +swains, in their Sunday trim, attended some of these fair ones in a more +slouching pace, though their dress was not so cumbersome. The women seem +to take the lead in polishing the manners everywhere, this being the +only way to better their condition. + +From what I have seen throughout my journey, I do not think the +situation of the poor in England is much, if at all, superior to that of +the same class in different parts of the world; and in Ireland I am sure +it is much inferior. I allude to the former state of England; for at +present the accumulation of national wealth only increases the cares of +the poor, and hardens the hearts of the rich, in spite of the highly +extolled rage for almsgiving. + +You know that I have always been an enemy to what is termed charity, +because timid bigots, endeavouring thus to cover their sins, do violence +to justice, till, acting the demigod, they forget that they are men. And +there are others who do not even think of laying up a treasure in +heaven, whose benevolence is merely tyranny in disguise; they assist the +most worthless, because the most servile, and term them helpless only in +proportion to their fawning. + +After leaving Sleswick, we passed through several pretty towns; Itzchol +particularly pleased me; and the country, still wearing the same aspect, +was improved by the appearance of more trees and enclosures. But what +gratified me most was the population. I was weary of travelling four or +five hours, never meeting a carriage, and scarcely a peasant; and then +to stop at such wretched huts as I had seen in Sweden was surely +sufficient to chill any heart awake to sympathy, and throw a gloom over +my favourite subject of contemplation, the future improvement of the +world. + +The farmhouses, likewise, with the huge stables, into which we drove +whilst the horses were putting to or baiting, were very clean and +commodious. The rooms, with a door into this hall-like stable and +storehouse in one, were decent; and there was a compactness in the +appearance of the whole family lying thus snugly together under the same +roof that carried my fancy back to the primitive times, which probably +never existed with such a golden lustre as the animated imagination +lends when only able to seize the prominent features. + +At one of them, a pretty young woman, with languishing eyes of celestial +blue, conducted us into a very neat parlour, and observing how loosely +and lightly my little girl was clad, began to pity her in the sweetest +accents, regardless of the rosy down of health on her cheeks. This same +damsel was dressed--it was Sunday--with taste and even coquetry, in a +cotton jacket, ornamented with knots of blue ribbon, fancifully disposed +to give life to her fine complexion. I loitered a little to admire her, +for every gesture was graceful; and, amidst the other villagers, she +looked like a garden lily suddenly rearing its head amongst grain and +corn-flowers. As the house was small, I gave her a piece of money rather +larger than it was my custom to give to the female waiters--for I could +not prevail on her to sit down--which she received with a smile; yet +took care to give it, in my presence, to a girl who had brought the +child a slice of bread; by which I perceived that she was the mistress +or daughter of the house, and without doubt the belle of the village. +There was, in short, an appearance of cheerful industry, and of that +degree of comfort which shut out misery, in all the little hamlets as I +approached Hamburg, which agreeably surprised me. + +The short jackets which the women wear here, as well as in France, are +not only more becoming to the person, but much better calculated for +women who have rustic or household employments than the long gowns worn +in England, dangling in the dirt. + +All the inns on the road were better than I expected, though the +softness of the beds still harassed me, and prevented my finding the +rest I was frequently in want of, to enable me to bear the fatigue of +the next day. The charges were moderate, and the people very civil, with +a certain honest hilarity and independent spirit in their manner, which +almost made me forget that they were innkeepers, a set of men--waiters, +hostesses, chambermaids, &c., down to the ostler, whose cunning +servility in England I think particularly disgusting. + +The prospect of Hamburg at a distance, as well as the fine road shaded +with trees, led me to expect to see a much pleasanter city than I found. + +I was aware of the difficulty of obtaining lodgings, even at the inns, +on account of the concourse of strangers at present resorting to such a +centrical situation, and determined to go to Altona the next day to seek +for an abode, wanting now only rest. But even for a single night we were +sent from house to house, and found at last a vacant room to sleep in, +which I should have turned from with disgust had there been a choice. + +I scarcely know anything that produces more disagreeable sensations, I +mean to speak of the passing cares, the recollection of which afterwards +enlivens our enjoyments, than those excited by little disasters of this +kind. After a long journey, with our eyes directed to some particular +spot, to arrive and find nothing as it should be is vexatious, and sinks +the agitated spirits. But I, who received the cruellest of +disappointments last spring in returning to my home, term such as these +emphatically passing cares. Know you of what materials some hearts are +made? I play the child, and weep at the recollection--for the grief is +still fresh that stunned as well as wounded me--yet never did drops of +anguish like these bedew the cheeks of infantine innocence--and why +should they mine, that never was stained by a blush of guilt? Innocent +and credulous as a child, why have I not the same happy thoughtlessness? +Adieu! + + + + +LETTER XXIII. + + +I might have spared myself the disagreeable feelings I experienced the +first night of my arrival at Hamburg, leaving the open air to be shut up +in noise and dirt, had I gone immediately to Altona, where a lodging had +been prepared for me by a gentleman from whom I received many civilities +during my journey. I wished to have travelled in company with him from +Copenhagen, because I found him intelligent and friendly, but business +obliged him to hurry forward, and I wrote to him on the subject of +accommodations as soon as I was informed of the difficulties I might +have to encounter to house myself and brat. + +It is but a short and pleasant walk from Hamburg to Altona, under the +shade of several rows of trees, and this walk is the more agreeable +after quitting the rough pavement of either place. + +Hamburg is an ill, close-built town, swarming with inhabitants, and, +from what I could learn, like all the other free towns, governed in a +manner which bears hard on the poor, whilst narrowing the minds of the +rich; the character of the man is lost in the Hamburger. Always afraid +of the encroachments of their Danish neighbours, that is, anxiously +apprehensive of their sharing the golden harvest of commerce with them, +or taking a little of the trade off their hands--though they have more +than they know what to do with--they are ever on the watch, till their +very eyes lose all expression, excepting the prying glance of suspicion. + +The gates of Hamburg are shut at seven in the winter and nine in the +summer, lest some strangers, who come to traffic in Hamburg, should +prefer living, and consequently--so exactly do they calculate--spend +their money out of the walls of the Hamburger's world. Immense fortunes +have been acquired by the per-cents. arising from commissions nominally +only two and a half, but mounted to eight or ten at least by the secret +manoeuvres of trade, not to include the advantage of purchasing goods +wholesale in common with contractors, and that of having so much money +left in their hands, not to play with, I can assure you. Mushroom +fortunes have started up during the war; the men, indeed, seem of the +species of the fungus, and the insolent vulgarity which a sudden influx +of wealth usually produces in common minds is here very conspicuous, +which contrasts with the distresses of many of the emigrants, "fallen, +fallen from their high estate," such are the ups and downs of fortune's +wheel. Many emigrants have met, with fortitude, such a total change of +circumstances as scarcely can be paralleled, retiring from a palace to +an obscure lodging with dignity; but the greater number glide about, the +ghosts of greatness, with the _Croix de St. Louis_ ostentatiously +displayed, determined to hope, "though heaven and earth their wishes +crossed." Still good breeding points out the gentleman, and sentiments +of honour and delicacy appear the offspring of greatness of soul when +compared with the grovelling views of the sordid accumulators of cent. +per cent. + +Situation seems to be the mould in which men's characters are formed: so +much so, inferring from what I have lately seen, that I mean not to be +severe when I add--previously asking why priests are in general cunning +and statesmen false?--that men entirely devoted to commerce never +acquire or lose all taste and greatness of mind. An ostentatious display +of wealth without elegance, and a greedy enjoyment of pleasure without +sentiment, embrutes them till they term all virtue of an heroic cast, +romantic attempts at something above our nature, and anxiety about the +welfare of others, a search after misery in which we have no concern. +But you will say that I am growing bitter, perhaps personal. Ah! shall I +whisper to you, that you yourself are strangely altered since you have +entered deeply into commerce--more than you are aware of; never allowing +yourself to reflect, and keeping your mind, or rather passions, in a +continual state of agitation? Nature has given you talents which lie +dormant, or are wasted in ignoble pursuits. You will rouse yourself and +shake off the vile dust that obscures you, or my understanding, as well +as my heart, deceives me egregiously--only tell me when. But to go +farther afield. + +Madame la Fayette left Altona the day I arrived, to endeavour, at +Vienna, to obtain the enlargement of her husband, or permission to share +his prison. She lived in a lodging up two pairs of stairs, without a +servant, her two daughters cheerfully assisting; choosing, as well as +herself, to descend to anything before unnecessary obligations. During +her prosperity, and consequent idleness, she did not, I am told, enjoy a +good state of health, having a train of nervous complaints, which, +though they have not a name, unless the significant word _ennui_ be +borrowed, had an existence in the higher French circles; but adversity +and virtuous exertions put these ills to flight, and dispossessed her of +a devil who deserves the appellation of legion. + +Madame Genus also resided at Altona some time, under an assumed name, +with many other sufferers of less note though higher rank. It is, in +fact, scarcely possible to stir out without meeting interesting +countenances, every lineament of which tells you that they have seen +better days. + +At Hamburg, I was informed, a duke had entered into partnership with his +cook, who becoming a _traiteur_, they were both comfortably supported by +the profit arising from his industry. Many noble instances of the +attachment of servants to their unfortunate masters have come to my +knowledge, both here and in France, and touched my heart, the greatest +delight of which is to discover human virtue. + +At Altona, a president of one of the _ci-devant_ parliaments keeps an +ordinary, in the French style; and his wife with cheerful dignity +submits to her fate, though she is arrived at an age when people seldom +relinquish their prejudices. A girl who waits there brought a dozen +_double louis d'or_ concealed in her clothes, at the risk of her life, +from France, which she preserves lest sickness or any other distress +should overtake her mistress, "who," she observed, "was not accustomed +to hardships." This house was particularly recommended to me by an +acquaintance of yours, the author of the "American Farmer's Letters." I +generally dine in company with him: and the gentleman whom I have +already mentioned is often diverted by our declamations against +commerce, when we compare notes respecting the characteristics of the +Hamburgers. "Why, madam," said he to me one day, "you will not meet with +a man who has any calf to his leg; body and soul, muscles and heart, are +equally shrivelled up by a thirst of gain. There is nothing generous +even in their youthful passions; profit is their only stimulus, and +calculations the sole employment of their faculties, unless we except +some gross animal gratifications which, snatched at spare moments, tend +still more to debase the character, because, though touched by his +tricking wand, they have all the arts, without the wit, of the +wing-footed god." + +Perhaps you may also think us too severe; but I must add that the more I +saw of the manners of Hamburg, the more was I confirmed in my opinion +relative to the baleful effect of extensive speculations on the moral +character. Men are strange machines; and their whole system of morality +is in general held together by one grand principle which loses its force +the moment they allow themselves to break with impunity over the bounds +which secured their self-respect. A man ceases to love humanity, and +then individuals, as he advances in the chase after wealth; as one +clashes with his interest, the other with his pleasures: to business, as +it is termed, everything must give way; nay, is sacrificed, and all the +endearing charities of citizen, husband, father, brother, become empty +names. But--but what? Why, to snap the chain of thought, I must say +farewell. Cassandra was not the only prophetess whose warning voice has +been disregarded. How much easier it is to meet with love in the world +than affection! + +Yours sincerely. + + + + +LETTER XXIV. + + +My lodgings at Altona are tolerably comfortable, though not in any +proportion to the price I pay; but, owing to the present circumstances, +all the necessaries of life are here extravagantly dear. Considering it +as a temporary residence, the chief inconvenience of which I am inclined +to complain is the rough streets that must be passed before Marguerite +and the child can reach a level road. + +The views of the Elbe in the vicinity of the town are pleasant, +particularly as the prospects here afford so little variety. I attempted +to descend, and walk close to the water's edge; but there was no path; +and the smell of glue, hanging to dry, an extensive manufactory of which +is carried on close to the beach, I found extremely disagreeable. But to +commerce everything must give way; profit and profit are the only +speculations--"double--double, toil and trouble." I have seldom entered +a shady walk without being soon obliged to turn aside to make room for +the rope-makers; and the only tree I have seen, that appeared to be +planted by the hand of taste, is in the churchyard, to shade the tomb of +the poet Klopstock's wife. + +Most of the merchants have country houses to retire to during the +summer; and many of them are situated on the banks of the Elbe, where +they have the pleasure of seeing the packet-boats arrive--the periods of +most consequence to divide their week. + +The moving picture, consisting of large vessels and small craft, which +are continually changing their position with the tide, renders this +noble river, the vital stream of Hamburg, very interesting; and the +windings have sometimes a very fine effect, two or three turns being +visible at once, intersecting the flat meadows; a sudden bend often +increasing the magnitude of the river; and the silvery expanse, scarcely +gliding, though bearing on its bosom so much treasure, looks for a +moment like a tranquil lake. + +Nothing can be stronger than the contrast which this flat country and +strand afford, compared with the mountains and rocky coast I have lately +dwelt so much among. In fancy I return to a favourite spot, where I +seemed to have retired from man and wretchedness; but the din of trade +drags me back to all the care I left behind, when lost in sublime +emotions. Rocks aspiring towards the heavens, and, as it were, shutting +out sorrow, surrounded me, whilst peace appeared to steal along the lake +to calm my bosom, modulating the wind that agitated the neighbouring +poplars. Now I hear only an account of the tricks of trade, or listen to +the distressful tale of some victim of ambition. + +The hospitality of Hamburg is confined to Sunday invitations to the +country houses I have mentioned, when dish after dish smokes upon the +board, and the conversation ever flowing in the muddy channel of +business, it is not easy to obtain any appropriate information. Had I +intended to remain here some time, or had my mind been more alive to +general inquiries, I should have endeavoured to have been introduced to +some characters not so entirely immersed in commercial affairs, though +in this whirlpool of gain it is not very easy to find any but the +wretched or supercilious emigrants, who are not engaged in pursuits +which, in my eyes, appear as dishonourable as gambling. The interests of +nations are bartered by speculating merchants. My God! with what _sang +froid_ artful trains of corruption bring lucrative commissions into +particular hands, disregarding the relative situation of different +countries, and can much common honesty be expected in the discharge of +trusts obtained by fraud? But this _entre nous_. + +During my present journey, and whilst residing in France, I have had an +opportunity of peeping behind the scenes of what are vulgarly termed +great affairs, only to discover the mean machinery which has directed +many transactions of moment. The sword has been merciful, compared with +the depredations made on human life by contractors and by the swarm of +locusts who have battened on the pestilence they spread abroad. These +men, like the owners of negro ships, never smell on their money the +blood by which it has been gained, but sleep quietly in their beds, +terming such occupations lawful callings; yet the lightning marks not +their roofs to thunder conviction on them "and to justify the ways of +God to man." + +Why should I weep for myself? "Take, O world! thy much indebted tear!" +Adieu! + + + + +LETTER XXV. + + +There is a pretty little French theatre at Altona, and the actors are +much superior to those I saw at Copenhagen. The theatres at Hamburg are +not open yet, but will very shortly, when the shutting of the gates at +seven o'clock forces the citizens to quit their country houses. But, +respecting Hamburg, I shall not be able to obtain much more information, +as I have determined to sail with the first fair wind for England. + +The presence of the French army would have rendered my intended tour +through Germany, in my way to Switzerland, almost impracticable, had not +the advancing season obliged me to alter my plan. Besides, though +Switzerland is the country which for several years I have been +particularly desirous to visit, I do not feel inclined to ramble any +farther this year; nay, I am weary of changing the scene, and quitting +people and places the moment they begin to interest me. This also is +vanity! + + +DOVER. + +I left this letter unfinished, as I was hurried on board, and now I have +only to tell you that, at the sight of Dover cliffs, I wondered how +anybody could term them grand; they appear so insignificant to me, after +those I had seen in Sweden and Norway. + +Adieu! My spirit of observation seems to be fled, and I have been +wandering round this dirty place, literally speaking, to kill time, +though the thoughts I would fain fly from lie too close to my heart to +be easily shook off, or even beguiled, by any employment, except that of +preparing for my journey to London. + +God bless you! + +MARY ----. + + + + +APPENDIX. + + +Private business and cares have frequently so absorbed me as to prevent +my obtaining all the information during this journey which the novelty +of the scenes would have afforded, had my attention been continually +awake to inquiry. This insensibility to present objects I have often had +occasion to lament since I have been preparing these letters for the +press; but, as a person of any thought naturally considers the history +of a strange country to contrast the former with the present state of +its manners, a conviction of the increasing knowledge and happiness of +the kingdoms I passed through was perpetually the result of my +comparative reflections. + +The poverty of the poor in Sweden renders the civilisation very partial, +and slavery has retarded the improvement of every class in Denmark, yet +both are advancing; and the gigantic evils of despotism and anarchy have +in a great measure vanished before the meliorating manners of Europe. +Innumerable evils still remain, it is true, to afflict the humane +investigator, and hurry the benevolent reformer into a labyrinth of +error, who aims at destroying prejudices quickly which only time can +root out, as the public opinion becomes subject to reason. + +An ardent affection for the human race makes enthusiastic characters +eager to produce alteration in laws and governments prematurely. To +render them useful and permanent, they must be the growth of each +particular soil, and the gradual fruit of the ripening understanding of +the nation, matured by time, not forced by an unnatural fermentation. +And, to convince me that such a change is gaining ground with +accelerating pace, the view I have had of society during my northern +journey would have been sufficient had I not previously considered the +grand causes which combine to carry mankind forward and diminish the sum +of human misery. + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LETTERS WRITTEN DURING A SHORT +RESIDENCE IN SWEDEN, NORWAY, AND DENMARK*** + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the +United States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online +at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you +are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of +the +country where you are located before using this eBook. +</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; +margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Letters written during +a short residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; +margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Mary +Wollstonecraft</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; +margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Editor: Henry Morley</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: December 30, 2007 + [eBook #3529]<br /> +[Most recently updated: June 5, 2022]</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: +UTF-8</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; +text-indent:-2em'>Transcribed from the 1889 Cassell & Company +edition by +David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org</div> +<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE +PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LETTERS WRITTEN DURING A SHORT +RESIDENCE IN SWEDEN, NORWAY, AND DENMARK ***</div> + + +<p><a name="startoftext"></a></p> + +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">cassell’s +national library</span>.</p> +<h1>LETTERS<br /> +<span class="smcap">written</span><br /> +<span class="smcap"><i>during a short residence</i></span><br /> +<span class="smcap">in</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">Sweden</span>, <span +class="smcap">Norway</span>, <span class="smcap">and</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">Denmark</span></h1> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">by</span><br /> +MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">CASSELL & COMPANY, Limited:<br +/> +<span class="smcap"><i>london</i></span>, <span +class="smcap"><i>paris</i></span>, <span class="smcap"><i>new +york & melbourne</i></span>.<br /> +1889.</p> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2>INTRODUCTION.</h2> +</div> +<p>Mary Wollstonecraft was born on the 27th of April, 1759. +Her father—a quick-tempered and unsettled man, capable of +beating wife, or child, or dog—was the son of a +manufacturer who made money in Spitalfields, when Spitalfields +was prosperous. Her mother was a rigorous Irishwoman, of +the Dixons of Ballyshannon. Edward John +Wollstonecraft—of whose children, besides Mary, the second +child, three sons and two daughters lived to be men and +women—in course of time got rid of about ten thousand +pounds, which had been left him by his father. He began to +get rid of it by farming. Mary Wollstonecraft’s +first-remembered home was in a farm at Epping. When she was +five years old the family moved to another farm, by the +Chelmsford Road. When she was between six and seven years +old they moved again, to the neighbourhood of Barking. +There they remained three years before the next move, which was +to a farm near Beverley, in Yorkshire. In Yorkshire they +remained six years, and Mary Wollstonecraft had there what +education fell to her lot between the ages of ten and +sixteen. Edward John Wollstonecraft then gave up farming to +venture upon a commercial speculation. This caused him to +live for a year and a half at Queen’s Row, Hoxton. +His daughter Mary was then sixteen; and while at Hoxton she had +her education advanced by the friendly care of a deformed +clergyman—a Mr. Clare—who lived next door, and stayed +so much at home that his one pair of shoes had lasted him for +fourteen years.</p> +<p>But Mary Wollstonecraft’s chief friend at this time was +an accomplished girl only two years older than herself, who +maintained her father, mother, and family by skill in +drawing. Her name was Frances Blood, and she especially, by +her example and direct instruction, drew out her young +friend’s powers. In 1776, Mary Wollstonecraft’s +father, a rolling stone, rolled into Wales. Again he was a +farmer. Next year again he was a Londoner; and Mary had +influence enough to persuade him to choose a house at Walworth, +where she would be near to her friend Fanny. Then, however, +the conditions of her home life caused her to be often on the +point of going away to earn a living for herself. In 1778, +when she was nineteen, Mary Wollstonecraft did leave home, to +take a situation as companion with a rich tradesman’s widow +at Bath, of whom it was said that none of her companions could +stay with her. Mary Wollstonecraft, nevertheless, stayed +two years with the difficult widow, and made herself +respected. Her mother’s failing health then caused +Mary to return to her. The father was then living at +Enfield, and trying to save the small remainder of his means by +not venturing upon any business at all. The mother died +after long suffering, wholly dependent on her daughter +Mary’s constant care. The mother’s last words +were often quoted by Mary Wollstonecraft in her own last years of +distress—“A little patience, and all will be +over.”</p> +<p>After the mother’s death, Mary Wollstonecraft left home +again, to live with her friend, Fanny Blood, who was at Walham +Green. In 1782 she went to nurse a married sister through a +dangerous illness. The father’s need of support next +pressed upon her. He had spent not only his own money, but +also the little that had been specially reserved for his +children. It is said to be the privilege of a passionate +man that he always gets what he wants; he gets to be avoided, and +they never find a convenient corner of their own who shut +themselves out from the kindly fellowship of life.</p> +<p>In 1783 Mary Wollstonecraft—aged twenty-four—with +two of her sisters, joined Fanny Blood in setting up a day school +at Islington, which was removed in a few months to Newington +Green. Early in 1785 Fanny Blood, far gone in consumption, +sailed for Lisbon to marry an Irish surgeon who was settled +there. After her marriage it was evident that she had but a +few months to live; Mary Wollstonecraft, deaf to all opposing +counsel, then left her school, and, with help of money from a +friendly woman, she went out to nurse her, and was by her when +she died. Mary Wollstonecraft remembered her loss ten years +afterwards in these “Letters from Sweden and Norway,” +when she wrote: “The grave has closed over a dear friend, +the friend of my youth; still she is present with me, and I hear +her soft voice warbling as I stray over the heath.”</p> +<p>Mary Wollstonecraft left Lisbon for England late in December, +1785. When she came back she found Fanny’s poor +parents anxious to go back to Ireland; and as she had been often +told that she could earn by writing, she wrote a pamphlet of 162 +small pages—“Thoughts on the Education of +Daughters”—and got ten pounds for it. This she +gave to her friend’s parents to enable them to go back to +their kindred. In all she did there is clear evidence of an +ardent, generous, impulsive nature. One day her friend +Fanny Blood had repined at the unhappy surroundings in the home +she was maintaining for her father and mother, and longed for a +little home of her own to do her work in. Her friend +quietly found rooms, got furniture together, and told her that +her little home was ready; she had only to walk into it. +Then it seemed strange to Mary Wollstonecraft that Fanny Blood +was withheld by thoughts that had not been uppermost in the mood +of complaint. She thought her friend irresolute, where she +had herself been generously rash. Her end would have been +happier had she been helped, as many are, by that calm influence +of home in which some knowledge of the world passes from father +and mother to son and daughter, without visible teaching and +preaching, in easiest companionship of young and old from day to +day.</p> +<p>The little payment for her pamphlet on the “Education of +Daughters” caused Mary Wollstonecraft to think more +seriously of earning by her pen. The pamphlet seems also to +have advanced her credit as a teacher. After giving up her +day school, she spent some weeks at Eton with the Rev. Mr. Prior, +one of the masters there, who recommended her as governess to the +daughters of Lord Kingsborough, an Irish viscount, eldest son of +the Earl of Kingston. Her way of teaching was by winning +love, and she obtained the warm affection of the eldest of her +pupils, who became afterwards Countess Mount-Cashel. In the +summer of 1787, Lord Kingsborough’s family, including Mary +Wollstonecraft, was at Bristol Hot-wells, before going to the +Continent. While there, Mary Wollstonecraft wrote her +little tale published as “Mary, a Fiction,” wherein +there was much based on the memory of her own friendship for +Fanny Blood.</p> +<p>The publisher of Mary Wollstonecraft’s “Thoughts +on the Education of Daughters” was the same Joseph Johnson +who in 1785 was the publisher of Cowper’s +“Task.” With her little story written and a +little money saved, the resolve to live by her pen could now be +carried out. Mary Wollstonecraft, therefore, parted from +her friends at Bristol, went to London, saw her publisher, and +frankly told him her determination. He met her with +fatherly kindness, and received her as a guest in his house while +she was making her arrangements. At Michaelmas, 1787, she +settled in a house in George Street, on the Surrey side of +Blackfriars Bridge. There she produced a little book for +children, of “Original Stories from Real Life,” and +earned by drudgery for Joseph Johnson. She translated, she +abridged, she made a volume of Selections, and she wrote for an +“Analytical Review,” which Mr. Johnson founded in the +middle of the year 1788. Among the books translated by her +was Necker “On the Importance of Religious +Opinions.” Among the books abridged by her was +Salzmann’s “Elements of Morality.” With +all this hard work she lived as sparely as she could, that she +might help her family. She supported her father. That +she might enable her sisters to earn their living as teachers, +she sent one of them to Paris, and maintained her there for two +years; the other she placed in a school near London as +parlour-boarder until she was admitted into it as a paid +teacher. She placed one brother at Woolwich to qualify for +the Navy, and he obtained a lieutenant’s commission. +For another brother, articled to an attorney whom he did not +like, she obtained a transfer of indentures; and when it became +clear that his quarrel was more with law than with the lawyers, +she placed him with a farmer before fitting him out for +emigration to America. She then sent him, so well prepared +for his work there that he prospered well. She tried even +to disentangle her father’s affairs; but the confusion in +them was beyond her powers of arrangement. Added to all +this faithful work, she took upon herself the charge of an orphan +child, seven years old, whose mother had been in the number of +her friends. That was the life of Mary Wollstonecraft, +thirty years old, in 1789, the year of the Fall of the Bastille; +the noble life now to be touched in its enthusiasms by the spirit +of the Revolution, to be caught in the great storm, shattered, +and lost among its wrecks.</p> +<p>To Burke’s attack on the French Revolution Mary +Wollstonecraft wrote an Answer—one of many answers provoked +by it—that attracted much attention. This was +followed by her “Vindication of the Rights of Woman,” +while the air was full of declamation on the “Rights of +Man.” The claims made in this little book were in +advance of the opinion of that day, but they are claims that have +in our day been conceded. They are certainly not +revolutionary in the opinion of the world that has become a +hundred years older since the book was written.</p> +<p>At this time Mary Wollstonecraft had moved to rooms in Store +Street, Bedford Square. She was fascinated by Fuseli the +painter, and he was a married man. She felt herself to be +too strongly drawn towards him, and she went to Paris at the +close of the year 1792, to break the spell. She felt lonely +and sad, and was not the happier for being in a mansion lent to +her, from which the owner was away, and in which she lived +surrounded by his servants. Strong womanly instincts were +astir within her, and they were not all wise folk who had been +drawn around her by her generous enthusiasm for the new hopes of +the world, that made it then, as Wordsworth felt, a very heaven +to the young.</p> +<p>Four months after she had gone to Paris, Mary Wollstonecraft +met at the house of a merchant, with whose wife she had become +intimate, an American named Gilbert Imlay. He won her +affections. That was in April, 1793. He had no means, +and she had home embarrassments, for which she was unwilling that +he should become in any way responsible. A part of the new +dream in some minds then was of a love too pure to need or bear +the bondage of authority. The mere forced union of marriage +ties implied, it was said, a distrust of fidelity. When +Gilbert Imlay would have married Mary Wollstonecraft, she herself +refused to bind him; she would keep him legally exempt from her +responsibilities towards the father, sisters, brothers, whom she +was supporting. She took his name and called herself his +wife, when the French Convention, indignant at the conduct of the +British Government, issued a decree from the effects of which she +would escape as the wife of a citizen of the United States. +But she did not marry. She witnessed many of the horrors +that came of the loosened passions of an untaught populace. +A child was born to her—a girl whom she named after the +dead friend of her own girlhood. And then she found that +she had leant upon a reed. She was neglected; and was at +last forsaken. Having sent her to London, Imlay there +visited her, to explain himself away. She resolved on +suicide, and in dissuading her from that he gave her hope +again. He needed somebody who had good judgment, and who +cared for his interests, to represent him in some business +affairs in Norway. She undertook to act for him, and set +out on the voyage only a week after she had determined to destroy +herself.</p> +<p>The interest of this book which describes her travel is +quickened by a knowledge of the heart-sorrow that underlies it +all. Gilbert Imlay had promised to meet her upon her +return, and go with her to Switzerland. But the letters she +had from him in Sweden and Norway were cold, and she came back to +find that she was wholly forsaken for an actress from a strolling +company of players. Then she went up the river to drown +herself. She paced the road at Putney on an October night, +in 1795, in heavy rain, until her clothes were drenched, that she +might sink more surely, and then threw herself from the top of +Putney Bridge.</p> +<p>She was rescued, and lived on with deadened spirit. In +1796 these “Letters from Sweden and Norway” were +published. Early in 1797 she was married to William +Godwin. On the 10th of September in the same year, at the +age of thirty-eight, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin died, after the +birth of the daughter who lived to become the wife of +Shelley. The mother also would have lived, if a womanly +feeling, in itself to be respected, had not led her also to +unwise departure from the customs of the world. Peace be to +her memory. None but kind thoughts can dwell upon the life +of this too faithful disciple of Rousseau.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">H. M.</p> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2>LETTER I.</h2> +</div> +<p>Eleven days of weariness on board a vessel not intended for +the accommodation of passengers have so exhausted my spirits, to +say nothing of the other causes, with which you are already +sufficiently acquainted, that it is with some difficulty I adhere +to my determination of giving you my observations, as I travel +through new scenes, whilst warmed with the impression they have +made on me.</p> +<p>The captain, as I mentioned to you, promised to put me on +shore at Arendall or Gothenburg in his way to Elsineur, but +contrary winds obliged us to pass both places during the +night. In the morning, however, after we had lost sight of +the entrance of the latter bay, the vessel was becalmed; and the +captain, to oblige me, hanging out a signal for a pilot, bore +down towards the shore.</p> +<p>My attention was particularly directed to the lighthouse, and +you can scarcely imagine with what anxiety I watched two long +hours for a boat to emancipate me; still no one appeared. +Every cloud that flitted on the horizon was hailed as a +liberator, till approaching nearer, like most of the prospects +sketched by hope, it dissolved under the eye into +disappointment.</p> +<p>Weary of expectation, I then began to converse with the +captain on the subject, and from the tenor of the information my +questions drew forth I soon concluded that if I waited for a boat +I had little chance of getting on shore at this place. +Despotism, as is usually the case, I found had here cramped the +industry of man. The pilots being paid by the king, and +scantily, they will not run into any danger, or even quit their +hovels, if they can possibly avoid it, only to fulfil what is +termed their duty. How different is it on the English +coast, where, in the most stormy weather, boats immediately hail +you, brought out by the expectation of extraordinary profit.</p> +<p>Disliking to sail for Elsineur, and still more to lie at +anchor or cruise about the coast for several days, I exerted all +my rhetoric to prevail on the captain to let me have the +ship’s boat, and though I added the most forcible of +arguments, I for a long time addressed him in vain.</p> +<p>It is a kind of rule at sea not to send out a boat. The +captain was a good-natured man; but men with common minds seldom +break through general rules. Prudence is ever the resort of +weakness, and they rarely go as far as they may in any +undertaking who are determined not to go beyond it on any +account. If, however, I had some trouble with the captain, +I did not lose much time with the sailors, for they, all +alacrity, hoisted out the boat the moment I obtained permission, +and promised to row me to the lighthouse.</p> +<p>I did not once allow myself to doubt of obtaining a conveyance +from thence round the rocks—and then away for +Gothenburg—confinement is so unpleasant.</p> +<p>The day was fine, and I enjoyed the water till, approaching +the little island, poor Marguerite, whose timidity always acts as +a feeler before her adventuring spirit, began to wonder at our +not seeing any inhabitants. I did not listen to her. +But when, on landing, the same silence prevailed, I caught the +alarm, which was not lessened by the sight of two old men whom we +forced out of their wretched hut. Scarcely human in their +appearance, we with difficulty obtained an intelligible reply to +our questions, the result of which was that they had no boat, and +were not allowed to quit their post on any pretence. But +they informed us that there was at the other side, eight or ten +miles over, a pilot’s dwelling. Two guineas tempted +the sailors to risk the captain’s displeasure, and once +more embark to row me over.</p> +<p>The weather was pleasant, and the appearance of the shore so +grand that I should have enjoyed the two hours it took to reach +it, but for the fatigue which was too visible in the countenances +of the sailors, who, instead of uttering a complaint, were, with +the thoughtless hilarity peculiar to them, joking about the +possibility of the captain’s taking advantage of a slight +westerly breeze, which was springing up, to sail without +them. Yet, in spite of their good humour, I could not help +growing uneasy when the shore, receding, as it were, as we +advanced, seemed to promise no end to their toil. This +anxiety increased when, turning into the most picturesque bay I +ever saw, my eyes sought in vain for the vestige of a human +habitation. Before I could determine what step to take in +such a dilemma (for I could not bear to think of returning to the +ship), the sight of a barge relieved me, and we hastened towards +it for information. We were immediately directed to pass +some jutting rocks, when we should see a pilot’s hut.</p> +<p>There was a solemn silence in this scene which made itself be +felt. The sunbeams that played on the ocean, scarcely +ruffled by the lightest breeze, contrasted with the huge dark +rocks, that looked like the rude materials of creation forming +the barrier of unwrought space, forcibly struck me, but I should +not have been sorry if the cottage had not appeared equally +tranquil. Approaching a retreat where strangers, especially +women, so seldom appeared, I wondered that curiosity did not +bring the beings who inhabited it to the windows or door. I +did not immediately recollect that men who remain so near the +brute creation, as only to exert themselves to find the food +necessary to sustain life, have little or no imagination to call +forth the curiosity necessary to fructify the faint glimmerings +of mind which entitle them to rank as lords of the +creation. Had they either they could not contentedly remain +rooted in the clods they so indolently cultivate.</p> +<p>Whilst the sailors went to seek for the sluggish inhabitants, +these conclusions occurred to me; and, recollecting the extreme +fondness which the Parisians ever testify for novelty, their very +curiosity appeared to me a proof of the progress they had made in +refinement. Yes, in the art of living—in the art of +escaping from the cares which embarrass the first steps towards +the attainment of the pleasures of social life.</p> +<p>The pilots informed the sailors that they were under the +direction of a lieutenant retired from the service, who spoke +English; adding that they could do nothing without his orders, +and even the offer of money could hardly conquer their laziness +and prevail on them to accompany us to his dwelling. They +would not go with me alone, which I wanted them to have done, +because I wished to dismiss the sailors as soon as +possible. Once more we rowed off, they following tardily, +till, turning round another bold protuberance of the rocks, we +saw a boat making towards us, and soon learnt that it was the +lieutenant himself, coming with some earnestness to see who we +were.</p> +<p>To save the sailors any further toil, I had my baggage +instantly removed into his boat; for, as he could speak English, +a previous parley was not necessary, though Marguerite’s +respect for me could hardly keep her from expressing the fear, +strongly marked on her countenance, which my putting ourselves +into the power of a strange man excited. He pointed out his +cottage; and, drawing near to it, I was not sorry to see a female +figure, though I had not, like Marguerite, been thinking of +robberies, murders, or the other evil which instantly, as the +sailors would have said, runs foul of a woman’s +imagination.</p> +<p>On entering I was still better pleased to find a clean house, +with some degree of rural elegance. The beds were of +muslin, coarse it is true, but dazzlingly white; and the floor +was strewed over with little sprigs of juniper (the custom, as I +afterwards found, of the country), which formed a contrast with +the curtains, and produced an agreeable sensation of freshness, +to soften the ardour of noon. Still nothing was so pleasing +as the alacrity of hospitality—all that the house afforded +was quickly spread on the whitest linen. Remember, I had +just left the vessel, where, without being fastidious, I had +continually been disgusted. Fish, milk, butter, and cheese, +and, I am sorry to add, brandy, the bane of this country, were +spread on the board. After we had dined hospitality made +them, with some degree of mystery, bring us some excellent +coffee. I did not then know that it was prohibited.</p> +<p>The good man of the house apologised for coming in +continually, but declared that he was so glad to speak English he +could not stay out. He need not have apologised; I was +equally glad of his company. With the wife I could only +exchange smiles, and she was employed observing the make of our +clothes. My hands, I found, had first led her to discover +that I was the lady. I had, of course, my quantum of +reverences; for the politeness of the north seems to partake of +the coldness of the climate and the rigidity of its iron-sinewed +rocks. Amongst the peasantry there is, however, so much of +the simplicity of the golden age in this land of flint—so +much overflowing of heart and fellow-feeling, that only +benevolence and the honest sympathy of nature diffused smiles +over my countenance when they kept me standing, regardless of my +fatigue, whilst they dropped courtesy after courtesy.</p> +<p>The situation of this house was beautiful, though chosen for +convenience. The master being the officer who commanded all +the pilots on the coast, and the person appointed to guard +wrecks, it was necessary for him to fix on a spot that would +overlook the whole bay. As he had seen some service, he +wore, not without a pride I thought becoming, a badge to prove +that he had merited well of his country. It was happy, I +thought, that he had been paid in honour, for the stipend he +received was little more than twelve pounds a year. I do +not trouble myself or you with the calculation of Swedish +ducats. Thus, my friend, you perceive the necessity of +perquisites. This same narrow policy runs through +everything. I shall have occasion further to animadvert on +it.</p> +<p>Though my host amused me with an account of himself, which +gave me an idea of the manners of the people I was about to +visit, I was eager to climb the rocks to view the country, and +see whether the honest tars had regained their ship. With +the help of the lieutenant’s telescope, I saw the vessel +under way with a fair though gentle gale. The sea was calm, +playful even as the most shallow stream, and on the vast basin I +did not see a dark speck to indicate the boat. My +conductors were consequently arrived.</p> +<p>Straying further, my eye was attracted by the sight of some +heartsease that peeped through the rocks. I caught at it as +a good omen, and going to preserve it in a letter that had not +conveyed balm to my heart, a cruel remembrance suffused my eyes; +but it passed away like an April shower. If you are deep +read in Shakespeare, you will recollect that this was the little +western flower tinged by love’s dart, which “maidens +call love in idleness.” The gaiety of my babe was +unmixed; regardless of omens or sentiments, she found a few wild +strawberries more grateful than flowers or fancies.</p> +<p>The lieutenant informed me that this was a commodious +bay. Of that I could not judge, though I felt its +picturesque beauty. Rocks were piled on rocks, forming a +suitable bulwark to the ocean. “Come no +further,” they emphatically said, turning their dark sides +to the waves to augment the idle roar. The view was +sterile; still little patches of earth of the most exquisite +verdure, enamelled with the sweetest wild flowers, seemed to +promise the goats and a few straggling cows luxurious +herbage. How silent and peaceful was the scene! I +gazed around with rapture, and felt more of that spontaneous +pleasure which gives credibility to our expectation of happiness +than I had for a long, long time before. I forgot the +horrors I had witnessed in France, which had cast a gloom over +all nature, and suffering the enthusiasm of my +character—too often, gracious God! damped by the tears of +disappointed affection—to be lighted up afresh, care took +wing while simple fellow-feeling expanded my heart.</p> +<p>To prolong this enjoyment, I readily assented to the proposal +of our host to pay a visit to a family, the master of which spoke +English, who was the drollest dog in the country, he added, +repeating some of his stories with a hearty laugh.</p> +<p>I walked on, still delighted with the rude beauties of the +scene; for the sublime often gave place imperceptibly to the +beautiful, dilating the emotions which were painfully +concentrated.</p> +<p>When we entered this abode, the largest I had yet seen, I was +introduced to a numerous family; but the father, from whom I was +led to expect so much entertainment, was absent. The +lieutenant consequently was obliged to be the interpreter of our +reciprocal compliments. The phrases were awkwardly +transmitted, it is true; but looks and gestures were sufficient +to make them intelligible and interesting. The girls were +all vivacity, and respect for me could scarcely keep them from +romping with my host, who, asking for a pinch of snuff, was +presented with a box, out of which an artificial mouse, fastened +to the bottom, sprang. Though this trick had doubtless been +played time out of mind, yet the laughter it excited was not less +genuine.</p> +<p>They were overflowing with civility; but, to prevent their +almost killing my babe with kindness, I was obliged to shorten my +visit; and two or three of the girls accompanied us, bringing +with them a part of whatever the house afforded to contribute +towards rendering my supper more plentiful; and plentiful in fact +it was, though I with difficulty did honour to some of the +dishes, not relishing the quantity of sugar and spices put into +everything. At supper my host told me bluntly that I was a +woman of observation, for I asked him <i>men’s +questions</i>.</p> +<p>The arrangements for my journey were quickly made. I +could only have a car with post-horses, as I did not choose to +wait till a carriage could be sent for to Gothenburg. The +expense of my journey (about one or two and twenty English miles) +I found would not amount to more than eleven or twelve shillings, +paying, he assured me, generously. I gave him a guinea and +a half. But it was with the greatest difficulty that I +could make him take so much—indeed anything—for my +lodging and fare. He declared that it was next to robbing +me, explaining how much I ought to pay on the road. +However, as I was positive, he took the guinea for himself; but, +as a condition, insisted on accompanying me, to prevent my +meeting with any trouble or imposition on the way.</p> +<p>I then retired to my apartment with regret. The night +was so fine that I would gladly have rambled about much longer, +yet, recollecting that I must rise very early, I reluctantly went +to bed; but my senses had been so awake, and my imagination still +continued so busy, that I sought for rest in vain. Rising +before six, I scented the sweet morning air; I had long before +heard the birds twittering to hail the dawning day, though it +could scarcely have been allowed to have departed.</p> +<p>Nothing, in fact, can equal the beauty of the northern +summer’s evening and night, if night it may be called that +only wants the glare of day, the full light which frequently +seems so impertinent, for I could write at midnight very well +without a candle. I contemplated all Nature at rest; the +rocks, even grown darker in their appearance, looked as if they +partook of the general repose, and reclined more heavily on their +foundation. “What,” I exclaimed, “is this +active principle which keeps me still awake? Why fly my +thoughts abroad, when everything around me appears at +home?” My child was sleeping with equal +calmness—innocent and sweet as the closing flowers. +Some recollections, attached to the idea of home, mingled with +reflections respecting the state of society I had been +contemplating that evening, made a tear drop on the rosy cheek I +had just kissed, and emotions that trembled on the brink of +ecstasy and agony gave a poignancy to my sensations which made me +feel more alive than usual.</p> +<p>What are these imperious sympathies? How frequently has +melancholy and even misanthropy taken possession of me, when the +world has disgusted me, and friends have proved unkind. I +have then considered myself as a particle broken off from the +grand mass of mankind; I was alone, till some involuntary +sympathetic emotion, like the attraction of adhesion, made me +feel that I was still a part of a mighty whole, from which I +could not sever myself—not, perhaps, for the reflection has +been carried very far, by snapping the thread of an existence, +which loses its charms in proportion as the cruel experience of +life stops or poisons the current of the heart. Futurity, +what hast thou not to give to those who know that there is such a +thing as happiness! I speak not of philosophical +contentment, though pain has afforded them the strongest +conviction of it.</p> +<p>After our coffee and milk—for the mistress of the house +had been roused long before us by her hospitality—my +baggage was taken forward in a boat by my host, because the car +could not safely have been brought to the house.</p> +<p>The road at first was very rocky and troublesome, but our +driver was careful, and the horses accustomed to the frequent and +sudden acclivities and descents; so that, not apprehending any +danger, I played with my girl, whom I would not leave to +Marguerite’s care, on account of her timidity.</p> +<p>Stopping at a little inn to bait the horses, I saw the first +countenance in Sweden that displeased me, though the man was +better dressed than any one who had as yet fallen in my +way. An altercation took place between him and my host, the +purport of which I could not guess, excepting that I was the +occasion of it, be it what it would. The sequel was his +leaving the house angrily; and I was immediately informed that he +was the custom-house officer. The professional had indeed +effaced the national character, for, living as he did within +these frank hospitable people, still only the exciseman appeared, +the counterpart of some I had met with in England and +France. I was unprovided with a passport, not having +entered any great town. At Gothenburg I knew I could +immediately obtain one, and only the trouble made me object to +the searching my trunks. He blustered for money; but the +lieutenant was determined to guard me, according to promise, from +imposition.</p> +<p>To avoid being interrogated at the town-gate, and obliged to +go in the rain to give an account of myself (merely a form) +before we could get the refreshment we stood in need of, he +requested us to descend—I might have said step—from +our car, and walk into town.</p> +<p>I expected to have found a tolerable inn, but was ushered into +a most comfortless one; and, because it was about five +o’clock, three or four hours after their dining hour, I +could not prevail on them to give me anything warm to eat.</p> +<p>The appearance of the accommodations obliged me to deliver one +of my recommendatory letters, and the gentleman to whom it was +addressed sent to look out for a lodging for me whilst I partook +of his supper. As nothing passed at this supper to +characterise the country, I shall here close my letter.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">Yours truly.</p> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2>LETTER II.</h2> +</div> +<p>Gothenburg is a clean airy town, and, having been built by the +Dutch, has canals running through each street; and in some of +them there are rows of trees that would render it very pleasant +were it not for the pavement, which is intolerably bad.</p> +<p>There are several rich commercial houses—Scotch, French, +and Swedish; but the Scotch, I believe, have been the most +successful. The commerce and commission business with +France since the war has been very lucrative, and enriched the +merchants I am afraid at the expense of the other inhabitants, by +raising the price of the necessaries of life.</p> +<p>As all the men of consequence—I mean men of the largest +fortune—are merchants, their principal enjoyment is a +relaxation from business at the table, which is spread at, I +think, too early an hour (between one and two) for men who have +letters to write and accounts to settle after paying due respect +to the bottle.</p> +<p>However, when numerous circles are to be brought together, and +when neither literature nor public amusements furnish topics for +conversation, a good dinner appears to be the only centre to +rally round, especially as scandal, the zest of more select +parties, can only be whispered. As for politics, I have +seldom found it a subject of continual discussion in a country +town in any part of the world. The politics of the place, +being on a smaller scale, suits better with the size of their +faculties; for, generally speaking, the sphere of observation +determines the extent of the mind.</p> +<p>The more I see of the world, the more I am convinced that +civilisation is a blessing not sufficiently estimated by those +who have not traced its progress; for it not only refines our +enjoyments, but produces a variety which enables us to retain the +primitive delicacy of our sensations. Without the aid of +the imagination all the pleasures of the senses must sink into +grossness, unless continual novelty serve as a substitute for the +imagination, which, being impossible, it was to this weariness, I +suppose, that Solomon alluded when he declared that there was +nothing new under the sun!—nothing for the common +sensations excited by the senses. Yet who will deny that +the imagination and understanding have made many, very many +discoveries since those days, which only seem harbingers of +others still more noble and beneficial? I never met with +much imagination amongst people who had not acquired a habit of +reflection; and in that state of society in which the judgment +and taste are not called forth, and formed by the cultivation of +the arts and sciences, little of that delicacy of feeling and +thinking is to be found characterised by the word +sentiment. The want of scientific pursuits perhaps accounts +for the hospitality, as well as for the cordial reception which +strangers receive from the inhabitants of small towns.</p> +<p>Hospitality has, I think, been too much praised by travellers +as a proof of goodness of heart, when, in my opinion, +indiscriminate hospitality is rather a criterion by which you may +form a tolerable estimate of the indolence or vacancy of a head; +or, in other words, a fondness for social pleasures in which the +mind not having its proportion of exercise, the bottle must be +pushed about.</p> +<p>These remarks are equally applicable to Dublin, the most +hospitable city I ever passed through. But I will try to +confine my observations more particularly to Sweden.</p> +<p>It is true I have only had a glance over a small part of it; +yet of its present state of manners and acquirements I think I +have formed a distinct idea, without having visited the +capital—where, in fact, less of a national character is to +be found than in the remote parts of the country.</p> +<p>The Swedes pique themselves on their politeness; but far from +being the polish of a cultivated mind, it consists merely of +tiresome forms and ceremonies. So far, indeed, from +entering immediately into your character, and making you feel +instantly at your ease, like the well-bred French, their +over-acted civility is a continual restraint on all your +actions. The sort of superiority which a fortune gives when +there is no superiority of education, excepting what consists in +the observance of senseless forms, has a contrary effect than +what is intended; so that I could not help reckoning the +peasantry the politest people of Sweden, who, only aiming at +pleasing you, never think of being admired for their +behaviour.</p> +<p>Their tables, like their compliments, seem equally a +caricature of the French. The dishes are composed, as well +as theirs, of a variety of mixtures to destroy the native taste +of the food without being as relishing. Spices and sugar +are put into everything, even into the bread; and the only way I +can account for their partiality to high-seasoned dishes is the +constant use of salted provisions. Necessity obliges them +to lay up a store of dried fish and salted meat for the winter; +and in summer, fresh meat and fish taste insipid after +them. To which may be added the constant use of +spirits. Every day, before dinner and supper, even whilst +the dishes are cooling on the table, men and women repair to a +side-table; and to obtain an appetite eat bread-and-butter, +cheese, raw salmon, or anchovies, drinking a glass of +brandy. Salt fish or meat then immediately follows, to give +a further whet to the stomach. As the dinner advances, +pardon me for taking up a few minutes to describe what, alas! has +detained me two or three hours on the stretch observing, dish +after dish is changed, in endless rotation, and handed round with +solemn pace to each guest; but should you happen not to like the +first dishes, which was often my case, it is a gross breach of +politeness to ask for part of any other till its turn +comes. But have patience, and there will be eating +enough. Allow me to run over the acts of a visiting day, +not overlooking the interludes.</p> +<p>Prelude a luncheon—then a succession of fish, flesh, and +fowl for two hours, during which time the dessert—I was +sorry for the strawberries and cream—rests on the table to +be impregnated by the fumes of the viands. Coffee +immediately follows in the drawing-room, but does not preclude +punch, ale, tea and cakes, raw salmon, &c. A supper +brings up the rear, not forgetting the introductory luncheon, +almost equalling in removes the dinner. A day of this kind +you would imagine sufficient; but a to-morrow and a +to-morrow—A never-ending, still-beginning feast may be +bearable, perhaps, when stern winter frowns, shaking with +chilling aspect his hoary locks; but during a summer, sweet as +fleeting, let me, my kind strangers, escape sometimes into your +fir groves, wander on the margin of your beautiful lakes, or +climb your rocks, to view still others in endless perspective, +which, piled by more than giant’s hand, scale the heavens +to intercept its rays, or to receive the parting tinge of +lingering day—day that, scarcely softened unto twilight, +allows the freshening breeze to wake, and the moon to burst forth +in all her glory to glide with solemn elegance through the azure +expanse.</p> +<p>The cow’s bell has ceased to tinkle the herd to rest; +they have all paced across the heath. Is not this the +witching time of night? The waters murmur, and fall with +more than mortal music, and spirits of peace walk abroad to calm +the agitated breast. Eternity is in these moments. +Worldly cares melt into the airy stuff that dreams are made of, +and reveries, mild and enchanting as the first hopes of love or +the recollection of lost enjoyment, carry the hapless wight into +futurity, who in bustling life has vainly strove to throw off the +grief which lies heavy at the heart. Good night! A +crescent hangs out in the vault before, which woos me to stray +abroad. It is not a silvery reflection of the sun, but +glows with all its golden splendour. Who fears the fallen +dew? It only makes the mown grass smell more +fragrant. Adieu!</p> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2>LETTER III.</h2> +</div> +<p>The population of Sweden has been estimated from two millions +and a half to three millions; a small number for such an immense +tract of country, of which only so much is cultivated—and +that in the simplest manner—as is absolutely requisite to +supply the necessaries of life; and near the seashore, whence +herrings are easily procured, there scarcely appears a vestige of +cultivation. The scattered huts that stand shivering on the +naked rocks, braving the pitiless elements, are formed of logs of +wood rudely hewn; and so little pains are taken with the craggy +foundation that nothing like a pathway points out the door.</p> +<p>Gathered into himself by the cold, lowering his visage to +avoid the cutting blast, is it surprising that the churlish +pleasure of drinking drams takes place of social enjoyments +amongst the poor, especially if we take into the account that +they mostly live on high-seasoned provision and rye bread? +Hard enough, you may imagine, as it is baked only once a +year. The servants also, in most families, eat this kind of +bread, and have a different kind of food from their masters, +which, in spite of all the arguments I have heard to vindicate +the custom, appears to me a remnant of barbarism.</p> +<p>In fact, the situation of the servants in every respect, +particularly that of the women, shows how far the Swedes are from +having a just conception of rational equality. They are not +termed slaves; yet a man may strike a man with impunity because +he pays him wages, though these wages are so low that necessity +must teach them to pilfer, whilst servility renders them false +and boorish. Still the men stand up for the dignity of man +by oppressing the women. The most menial, and even +laborious offices, are therefore left to these poor +drudges. Much of this I have seen. In the winter, I +am told, they take the linen down to the river to wash it in the +cold water, and though their hands, cut by the ice, are cracked +and bleeding, the men, their fellow-servants, will not disgrace +their manhood by carrying a tub to lighten their burden.</p> +<p>You will not be surprised to hear that they do not wear shoes +or stockings, when I inform you that their wages are seldom more +than twenty or thirty shillings per annum. It is the +custom, I know, to give them a new year’s gift and a +present at some other period, but can it all amount to a just +indemnity for their labour? The treatment of servants in +most countries, I grant, is very unjust, and in England, that +boasted land of freedom, it is often extremely tyrannical. +I have frequently, with indignation, heard gentlemen declare that +they would never allow a servant to answer them; and ladies of +the most exquisite sensibility, who were continually exclaiming +against the cruelty of the vulgar to the brute creation, have in +my presence forgot that their attendants had human feelings as +well as forms. I do not know a more agreeable sight than to +see servants part of a family. By taking an interest, +generally speaking, in their concerns you inspire them with one +for yours. We must love our servants, or we shall never be +sufficiently attentive to their happiness; and how can those +masters be attentive to their happiness who, living above their +fortunes, are more anxious to outshine their neighbours than to +allow their household the innocent enjoyments they earn?</p> +<p>It is, in fact, much more difficult for servants, who are +tantalised by seeing and preparing the dainties of which they are +not to partake, to remain honest, than the poor, whose thoughts +are not led from their homely fare; so that, though the servants +here are commonly thieves, you seldom hear of housebreaking, or +robbery on the highway. The country is, perhaps, too thinly +inhabited to produce many of that description of thieves termed +footpads, or highwaymen. They are usually the spawn of +great cities—the effect of the spurious desires generated +by wealth, rather than the desperate struggles of poverty to +escape from misery.</p> +<p>The enjoyment of the peasantry was drinking brandy and coffee, +before the latter was prohibited, and the former not allowed to +be privately distilled, the wars carried on by the late king +rendering it necessary to increase the revenue, and retain the +specie in the country by every possible means.</p> +<p>The taxes before the reign of Charles XII. were +inconsiderable. Since then the burden has continually been +growing heavier, and the price of provisions has proportionately +increased—nay, the advantage accruing from the exportation +of corn to France and rye to Germany will probably produce a +scarcity in both Sweden and Norway, should not a peace put a stop +to it this autumn, for speculations of various kinds have already +almost doubled the price.</p> +<p>Such are the effects of war, that it saps the vitals even of +the neutral countries, who, obtaining a sudden influx of wealth, +appear to be rendered flourishing by the destruction which +ravages the hapless nations who are sacrificed to the ambition of +their governors. I shall not, however, dwell on the vices, +though they be of the most contemptible and embruting cast, to +which a sudden accession of fortune gives birth, because I +believe it may be delivered as an axiom, that it is only in +proportion to the industry necessary to acquire wealth that a +nation is really benefited by it.</p> +<p>The prohibition of drinking coffee under a penalty, and the +encouragement given to public distilleries, tend to impoverish +the poor, who are not affected by the sumptuary laws; for the +regent has lately laid very severe restraints on the articles of +dress, which the middling class of people found grievous, because +it obliged them to throw aside finery that might have lasted them +for their lives.</p> +<p>These may be termed vexatious; still the death of the king, by +saving them from the consequences his ambition would naturally +have entailed on them, may be reckoned a blessing.</p> +<p>Besides, the French Revolution has not only rendered all the +crowned heads more cautious, but has so decreased everywhere +(excepting amongst themselves) a respect for nobility, that the +peasantry have not only lost their blind reverence for their +seigniors, but complain in a manly style of oppressions which +before they did not think of denominating such, because they were +taught to consider themselves as a different order of +beings. And, perhaps, the efforts which the aristocrats are +making here, as well as in every other part of Europe, to secure +their sway, will be the most effectual mode of undermining it, +taking into the calculation that the King of Sweden, like most of +the potentates of Europe, has continually been augmenting his +power by encroaching on the privileges of the nobles.</p> +<p>The well-bred Swedes of the capital are formed on the ancient +French model, and they in general speak that language; for they +have a knack at acquiring languages with tolerable fluency. +This may be reckoned an advantage in some respects; but it +prevents the cultivation of their own, and any considerable +advance in literary pursuits.</p> +<p>A sensible writer has lately observed (I have not his work by +me, therefore cannot quote his exact words), “That the +Americans very wisely let the Europeans make their books and +fashions for them.” But I cannot coincide with him in +this opinion. The reflection necessary to produce a certain +number even of tolerable productions augments more than he is +aware of the mass of knowledge in the community. Desultory +reading is commonly a mere pastime. But we must have an +object to refer our reflections to, or they will seldom go below +the surface. As in travelling, the keeping of a journal +excites to many useful inquiries that would not have been thought +of had the traveller only determined to see all he could see, +without ever asking himself for what purpose. Besides, the +very dabbling in literature furnishes harmless topics of +conversation; for the not having such subjects at hand, though +they are often insupportably fatiguing, renders the inhabitants +of little towns prying and censorious. Idleness, rather +than ill-nature, gives birth to scandal, and to the observation +of little incidents which narrows the mind. It is +frequently only the fear of being talked of which produces that +puerile scrupulosity about trifles incompatible with an enlarged +plan of usefulness, and with the basis of all moral +principles—respect for the virtues which are not merely the +virtues of convention.</p> +<p>I am, my friend, more and more convinced that a metropolis, or +an abode absolutely solitary, is the best calculated for the +improvement of the heart, as well as the understanding; whether +we desire to become acquainted with man, nature, or +ourselves. Mixing with mankind, we are obliged to examine +our prejudices, and often imperceptibly lose, as we analyse +them. And in the country, growing intimate with nature, a +thousand little circumstances, unseen by vulgar eyes, give birth +to sentiments dear to the imagination, and inquiries which expand +the soul, particularly when cultivation has not smoothed into +insipidity all its originality of character.</p> +<p>I love the country, yet whenever I see a picturesque situation +chosen on which to erect a dwelling I am always afraid of the +improvements. It requires uncommon taste to form a whole, +and to introduce accommodations and ornaments analogous with the +surrounding scene.</p> +<p>I visited, near Gothenburg, a house with improved land about +it, with which I was particularly delighted. It was close +to a lake embosomed in pine-clad rocks. In one part of the +meadows your eye was directed to the broad expanse, in another +you were led into a shade, to see a part of it, in the form of a +river, rush amongst the fragments of rocks and roots of trees; +nothing seemed forced. One recess, particularly grand and +solemn amongst the towering cliffs, had a rude stone table and +seat placed in it, that might have served for a Druid’s +haunt, whilst a placid stream below enlivened the flowers on its +margin, where light-footed elves would gladly have danced their +airy rounds.</p> +<p>Here the hand of taste was conspicuous though not obtrusive, +and formed a contrast with another abode in the same +neighbourhood, on which much money had been lavished; where +Italian colonnades were placed to excite the wonder of the rude +crags, and a stone staircase, to threaten with destruction a +wooden house. Venuses and Apollos condemned to lie hid in +snow three parts of the year seemed equally displaced, and called +the attention off from the surrounding sublimity, without +inspiring any voluptuous sensations. Yet even these +abortions of vanity have been useful. Numberless workmen +have been employed, and the superintending artist has improved +the labourers, whose unskilfulness tormented him, by obliging +them to submit to the discipline of rules. Adieu!</p> +<p style="text-align: right">Yours affectionately.</p> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2>LETTER IV.</h2> +</div> +<p>The severity of the long Swedish winter tends to render the +people sluggish, for though this season has its peculiar +pleasures, too much time is employed to guard against its +inclemency. Still as warm clothing is absolutely necessary, +the women spin and the men weave, and by these exertions get a +fence to keep out the cold. I have rarely passed a knot of +cottages without seeing cloth laid out to bleach, and when I +entered, always found the women spinning or knitting.</p> +<p>A mistaken tenderness, however, for their children, makes them +even in summer load them with flannels, and having a sort of +natural antipathy to cold water, the squalid appearance of the +poor babes, not to speak of the noxious smell which flannel and +rugs retain, seems a reply to a question I had often +asked—Why I did not see more children in the villages I +passed through? Indeed the children appear to be nipt in +the bud, having neither the graces nor charms of their age. +And this, I am persuaded, is much more owing to the ignorance of +the mothers than to the rudeness of the climate. Rendered +feeble by the continual perspiration they are kept in, whilst +every pore is absorbing unwholesome moisture, they give them, +even at the breast, brandy, salt fish, and every other crude +substance which air and exercise enables the parent to +digest.</p> +<p>The women of fortune here, as well as everywhere else, have +nurses to suckle their children; and the total want of chastity +in the lower class of women frequently renders them very unfit +for the trust.</p> +<p>You have sometimes remarked to me the difference of the +manners of the country girls in England and in America; +attributing the reserve of the former to the climate—to the +absence of genial suns. But it must be their stars, not the +zephyrs, gently stealing on their senses, which here lead frail +women astray. Who can look at these rocks, and allow the +voluptuousness of nature to be an excuse for gratifying the +desires it inspires? We must therefore, find some other +cause beside voluptuousness, I believe, to account for the +conduct of the Swedish and American country girls; for I am led +to conclude, from all the observations I have made, that there is +always a mixture of sentiment and imagination in voluptuousness, +to which neither of them have much pretension.</p> +<p>The country girls of Ireland and Wales equally feel the first +impulse of nature, which, restrained in England by fear or +delicacy, proves that society is there in a more advanced +state. Besides, as the mind is cultivated, and taste gains +ground, the passions become stronger, and rest on something more +stable than the casual sympathies of the moment. Health and +idleness will always account for promiscuous amours; and in some +degree I term every person idle, the exercise of whose mind does +not bear some proportion to that of the body.</p> +<p>The Swedish ladies exercise neither sufficiently; of course, +grow very fat at an early age; and when they have not this downy +appearance, a comfortable idea, you will say, in a cold climate, +they are not remarkable for fine forms. They have, however, +mostly fine complexions; but indolence makes the lily soon +displace the rose. The quantity of coffee, spices, and +other things of that kind, with want of care, almost universally +spoil their teeth, which contrast but ill with their ruby +lips.</p> +<p>The manners of Stockholm are refined, I hear, by the +introduction of gallantry; but in the country, romping and coarse +freedoms, with coarser allusions, keep the spirits awake. +In the article of cleanliness, the women of all descriptions seem +very deficient; and their dress shows that vanity is more +inherent in women than taste.</p> +<p>The men appear to have paid still less court to the +graces. They are a robust, healthy race, distinguished for +their common sense and turn for humour, rather than for wit or +sentiment. I include not, as you may suppose, in this +general character, some of the nobility and officers, who having +travelled, are polite and well informed.</p> +<p>I must own to you that the lower class of people here amuse +and interest me much more than the middling, with their apish +good breeding and prejudices. The sympathy and frankness of +heart conspicuous in the peasantry produces even a simple +gracefulness of deportment which has frequently struck me as very +picturesque; I have often also been touched by their extreme +desire to oblige me, when I could not explain my wants, and by +their earnest manner of expressing that desire. There is +such a charm in tenderness! It is so delightful to love our +fellow-creatures, and meet the honest affections as they break +forth. Still, my good friend, I begin to think that I +should not like to live continually in the country with people +whose minds have such a narrow range. My heart would +frequently be interested; but my mind would languish for more +companionable society.</p> +<p>The beauties of nature appear to me now even more alluring +than in my youth, because my intercourse with the world has +formed without vitiating my taste. But, with respect to the +inhabitants of the country, my fancy has probably, when disgusted +with artificial manners, solaced itself by joining the advantages +of cultivation with the interesting sincerity of innocence, +forgetting the lassitude that ignorance will naturally +produce. I like to see animals sporting, and sympathise in +their pains and pleasures. Still I love sometimes to view +the human face divine, and trace the soul, as well as the heart, +in its varying lineaments.</p> +<p>A journey to the country, which I must shortly make, will +enable me to extend my remarks.—Adieu!</p> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2>LETTER V.</h2> +</div> +<p>Had I determined to travel in Sweden merely for pleasure, I +should probably have chosen the road to Stockholm, though +convinced, by repeated observation, that the manners of a people +are best discriminated in the country. The inhabitants of +the capital are all of the same genus; for the varieties in the +species we must, therefore, search where the habitations of men +are so separated as to allow the difference of climate to have +its natural effect. And with this difference we are, +perhaps, most forcibly struck at the first view, just as we form +an estimate of the leading traits of a character at the first +glance, of which intimacy afterwards makes us almost lose +sight.</p> +<p>As my affairs called me to Stromstad (the frontier town of +Sweden) in my way to Norway, I was to pass over, I heard, the +most uncultivated part of the country. Still I believe that +the grand features of Sweden are the same everywhere, and it is +only the grand features that admit of description. There is +an individuality in every prospect, which remains in the memory +as forcibly depicted as the particular features that have +arrested our attention; yet we cannot find words to discriminate +that individuality so as to enable a stranger to say, this is the +face, that the view. We may amuse by setting the +imagination to work; but we cannot store the memory with a +fact.</p> +<p>As I wish to give you a general idea of this country, I shall +continue in my desultory manner to make such observations and +reflections as the circumstances draw forth, without losing time, +by endeavouring to arrange them.</p> +<p>Travelling in Sweden is very cheap, and even commodious, if +you make but the proper arrangements. Here, as in other +parts of the Continent, it is necessary to have your own +carriage, and to have a servant who can speak the language, if +you are unacquainted with it. Sometimes a servant who can +drive would be found very useful, which was our case, for I +travelled in company with two gentlemen, one of whom had a German +servant who drove very well. This was all the party; for +not intending to make a long stay, I left my little girl behind +me.</p> +<p>As the roads are not much frequented, to avoid waiting three +or four hours for horses, we sent, as is the constant custom, an +<i>avant courier</i> the night before, to order them at every +post, and we constantly found them ready. Our first set I +jokingly termed requisition horses; but afterwards we had almost +always little spirited animals that went on at a round pace.</p> +<p>The roads, making allowance for the ups and downs, are +uncommonly good and pleasant. The expense, including the +postillions and other incidental things, does not amount to more +than a shilling the Swedish mile.</p> +<p>The inns are tolerable; but not liking the rye bread, I found +it necessary to furnish myself with some wheaten before I set +out. The beds, too, were particularly disagreeable to +me. It seemed to me that I was sinking into a grave when I +entered them; for, immersed in down placed in a sort of box, I +expected to be suffocated before morning. The sleeping +between two down beds—they do so even in summer—must +be very unwholesome during any season; and I cannot conceive how +the people can bear it, especially as the summers are very +warm. But warmth they seem not to feel; and, I should +think, were afraid of the air, by always keeping their windows +shut. In the winter, I am persuaded, I could not exist in +rooms thus closed up, with stoves heated in their manner, for +they only put wood into them twice a day; and, when the stove is +thoroughly heated, they shut the flue, not admitting any air to +renew its elasticity, even when the rooms are crowded with +company. These stoves are made of earthenware, and often in +a form that ornaments an apartment, which is never the case with +the heavy iron ones I have seen elsewhere. Stoves may be +economical, but I like a fire, a wood one, in preference; and I +am convinced that the current of air which it attracts renders +this the best mode of warming rooms.</p> +<p>We arrived early the second evening at a little village called +Quistram, where we had determined to pass the night, having been +informed that we should not afterwards find a tolerable inn until +we reached Stromstad.</p> +<p>Advancing towards Quistram, as the sun was beginning to +decline, I was particularly impressed by the beauty of the +situation. The road was on the declivity of a rocky +mountain, slightly covered with a mossy herbage and vagrant +firs. At the bottom, a river, straggling amongst the +recesses of stone, was hastening forward to the ocean and its +grey rocks, of which we had a prospect on the left; whilst on the +right it stole peacefully forward into the meadows, losing itself +in a thickly-wooded rising ground. As we drew near, the +loveliest banks of wild flowers variegated the prospect, and +promised to exhale odours to add to the sweetness of the air, the +purity of which you could almost see, alas! not smell, for the +putrefying herrings, which they use as manure, after the oil has +been extracted, spread over the patches of earth, claimed by +cultivation, destroyed every other.</p> +<p>It was intolerable, and entered with us into the inn, which +was in other respects a charming retreat.</p> +<p>Whilst supper was preparing I crossed the bridge, and strolled +by the river, listening to its murmurs. Approaching the +bank, the beauty of which had attracted my attention in the +carriage, I recognised many of my old acquaintance growing with +great luxuriance.</p> +<p>Seated on it, I could not avoid noting an obvious +remark. Sweden appeared to me the country in the world most +proper to form the botanist and natural historian; every object +seemed to remind me of the creation of things, of the first +efforts of sportive nature. When a country arrives at a +certain state of perfection, it looks as if it were made so; and +curiosity is not excited. Besides, in social life too many +objects occur for any to be distinctly observed by the generality +of mankind; yet a contemplative man, or poet, in the +country—I do not mean the country adjacent to +cities—feels and sees what would escape vulgar eyes, and +draws suitable inferences. This train of reflections might +have led me further, in every sense of the word; but I could not +escape from the detestable evaporation of the herrings, which +poisoned all my pleasure.</p> +<p>After making a tolerable supper—for it is not easy to +get fresh provisions on the road—I retired, to be lulled to +sleep by the murmuring of a stream, of which I with great +difficulty obtained sufficient to perform my daily ablutions.</p> +<p>The last battle between the Danes and Swedes, which gave new +life to their ancient enmity, was fought at this place 1788; only +seventeen or eighteen were killed, for the great superiority of +the Danes and Norwegians obliged the Swedes to submit; but +sickness, and a scarcity of provision, proved very fatal to their +opponents on their return.</p> +<p>It would be very easy to search for the particulars of this +engagement in the publications of the day; but as this manner of +filling my pages does not come within my plan, I probably should +not have remarked that the battle was fought here, were it not to +relate an anecdote which I had from good authority.</p> +<p>I noticed, when I first mentioned this place to you, that we +descended a steep before we came to the inn; an immense ridge of +rocks stretching out on one side. The inn was sheltered +under them; and about a hundred yards from it was a bridge that +crossed the river, the murmurs of which I have celebrated; it was +not fordable. The Swedish general received orders to stop +at the bridge and dispute the passage—a most advantageous +post for an army so much inferior in force; but the influence of +beauty is not confined to courts. The mistress of the inn +was handsome; when I saw her there were still some remains of +beauty; and, to preserve her house, the general gave up the only +tenable station. He was afterwards broke for contempt of +orders.</p> +<p>Approaching the frontiers, consequently the sea, nature +resumed an aspect ruder and ruder, or rather seemed the bones of +the world waiting to be clothed with everything necessary to give +life and beauty. Still it was sublime.</p> +<p>The clouds caught their hue of the rocks that menaced +them. The sun appeared afraid to shine, the birds ceased to +sing, and the flowers to bloom; but the eagle fixed his nest high +amongst the rocks, and the vulture hovered over this abode of +desolation. The farm houses, in which only poverty resided, +were formed of logs scarcely keeping off the cold and drifting +snow: out of them the inhabitants seldom peeped, and the sports +or prattling of children was neither seen or heard. The +current of life seemed congealed at the source: all were not +frozen, for it was summer, you remember; but everything appeared +so dull that I waited to see ice, in order to reconcile me to the +absence of gaiety.</p> +<p>The day before, my attention had frequently been attracted by +the wild beauties of the country we passed through.</p> +<p>The rocks which tossed their fantastic heads so high were +often covered with pines and firs, varied in the most picturesque +manner. Little woods filled up the recesses when forests +did not darken the scene, and valleys and glens, cleared of the +trees, displayed a dazzling verdure which contrasted with the +gloom of the shading pines. The eye stole into many a +covert where tranquillity seemed to have taken up her abode, and +the number of little lakes that continually presented themselves +added to the peaceful composure of the scenery. The little +cultivation which appeared did not break the enchantment, nor did +castles rear their turrets aloft to crush the cottages, and prove +that man is more savage than the natives of the woods. I +heard of the bears but never saw them stalk forth, which I was +sorry for; I wished to have seen one in its wild state. In +the winter, I am told, they sometimes catch a stray cow, which is +a heavy loss to the owner.</p> +<p>The farms are small. Indeed most of the houses we saw on +the road indicated poverty, or rather that the people could just +live. Towards the frontiers they grew worse and worse in +their appearance, as if not willing to put sterility itself out +of countenance. No gardens smiled round the habitations, +not a potato or cabbage to eat with the fish drying on a stick +near the door. A little grain here and there appeared, the +long stalks of which you might almost reckon. The day was +gloomy when we passed over this rejected spot, the wind bleak, +and winter seemed to be contending with nature, faintly +struggling to change the season. Surely, thought I, if the +sun ever shines here it cannot warm these stones; moss only +cleaves to them, partaking of their hardness, and nothing like +vegetable life appears to cheer with hope the heart.</p> +<p>So far from thinking that the primitive inhabitants of the +world lived in a southern climate where Paradise spontaneously +arose, I am led to infer, from various circumstances, that the +first dwelling of man happened to be a spot like this which led +him to adore a sun so seldom seen; for this worship, which +probably preceded that of demons or demigods, certainly never +began in a southern climate, where the continual presence of the +sun prevented its being considered as a good; or rather the want +of it never being felt, this glorious luminary would carelessly +have diffused its blessings without being hailed as a +benefactor. Man must therefore have been placed in the +north, to tempt him to run after the sun, in order that the +different parts of the earth might be peopled. Nor do I +wonder that hordes of barbarians always poured out of these +regions to seek for milder climes, when nothing like cultivation +attached them to the soil, especially when we take into the view +that the adventuring spirit, common to man, is naturally stronger +and more general during the infancy of society. The conduct +of the followers of Mahomet, and the crusaders, will sufficiently +corroborate my assertion.</p> +<p>Approaching nearer to Stromstad, the appearance of the town +proved to be quite in character with the country we had just +passed through. I hesitated to use the word country, yet +could not find another; still it would sound absurd to talk of +fields of rocks.</p> +<p>The town was built on and under them. Three or four +weather-beaten trees were shrinking from the wind, and the grass +grew so sparingly that I could not avoid thinking Dr. +Johnson’s hyperbolical assertion “that the man +merited well of his country who made a few blades of grass grow +where they never grew before,” might here have been uttered +with strict propriety. The steeple likewise towered aloft, +for what is a church, even amongst the Lutherans, without a +steeple? But to prevent mischief in such an exposed +situation, it is wisely placed on a rock at some distance not to +endanger the roof of the church.</p> +<p>Rambling about, I saw the door open, and entered, when to my +great surprise I found the clergyman reading prayers, with only +the clerk attending. I instantly thought of Swift’s +“Dearly beloved Roger,” but on inquiry I learnt that +some one had died that morning, and in Sweden it is customary to +pray for the dead.</p> +<p>The sun, who I suspected never dared to shine, began now to +convince me that he came forth only to torment; for though the +wind was still cutting, the rocks became intolerably warm under +my feet, whilst the herring effluvia, which I before found so +very offensive, once more assailed me. I hastened back to +the house of a merchant, the little sovereign of the place, +because he was by far the richest, though not the mayor.</p> +<p>Here we were most hospitably received, and introduced to a +very fine and numerous family. I have before mentioned to +you the lilies of the north, I might have added, water lilies, +for the complexion of many, even of the young women, seem to be +bleached on the bosom of snow. But in this youthful circle +the roses bloomed with all their wonted freshness, and I wondered +from whence the fire was stolen which sparkled in their fine blue +eyes.</p> +<p>Here we slept; and I rose early in the morning to prepare for +my little voyage to Norway. I had determined to go by +water, and was to leave my companions behind; but not getting a +boat immediately, and the wind being high and unfavourable, I was +told that it was not safe to go to sea during such boisterous +weather; I was, therefore, obliged to wait for the morrow, and +had the present day on my hands, which I feared would be irksome, +because the family, who possessed about a dozen French words +amongst them and not an English phrase, were anxious to amuse me, +and would not let me remain alone in my room. The town we +had already walked round and round, and if we advanced farther on +the coast, it was still to view the same unvaried immensity of +water surrounded by barrenness.</p> +<p>The gentlemen, wishing to peep into Norway, proposed going to +Fredericshall, the first town—the distance was only three +Swedish miles. There and back again was but a day’s +journey, and would not, I thought, interfere with my +voyage. I agreed, and invited the eldest and prettiest of +the girls to accompany us. I invited her because I like to +see a beautiful face animated by pleasure, and to have an +opportunity of regarding the country, whilst the gentlemen were +amusing themselves with her.</p> +<p>I did not know, for I had not thought of it, that we were to +scale some of the most mountainous cliffs of Sweden in our way to +the ferry which separates the two countries.</p> +<p>Entering amongst the cliffs, we were sheltered from the wind, +warm sunbeams began to play, streams to flow, and groves of pines +diversified the rocks. Sometimes they became suddenly bare +and sublime. Once, in particular, after mounting the most +terrific precipice, we had to pass through a tremendous defile, +where the closing chasm seemed to threaten us with instant +destruction, when, turning quickly, verdant meadows and a +beautiful lake relieved and charmed my eyes.</p> +<p>I had never travelled through Switzerland, but one of my +companions assured me that I should not there find anything +superior, if equal, to the wild grandeur of these views.</p> +<p>As we had not taken this excursion into our plan, the horses +had not been previously ordered, which obliged us to wait two +hours at the first post. The day was wearing away. +The road was so bad that walking up the precipices consumed the +time insensibly; but as we desired horses at each post ready at a +certain hour, we reckoned on returning more speedily.</p> +<p>We stopped to dine at a tolerable farm; they brought us out +ham, butter, cheese, and milk, and the charge was so moderate +that I scattered a little money amongst the children who were +peeping at us, in order to pay them for their trouble.</p> +<p>Arrived at the ferry, we were still detained, for the people +who attend at the ferries have a stupid kind of sluggishness in +their manner, which is very provoking when you are in +haste. At present I did not feel it, for, scrambling up the +cliffs, my eye followed the river as it rolled between the grand +rocky banks; and, to complete the scenery, they were covered with +firs and pines, through which the wind rustled as if it were +lulling itself to sleep with the declining sun.</p> +<p>Behold us now in Norway; and I could not avoid feeling +surprise at observing the difference in the manners of the +inhabitants of the two sides of the river, for everything shows +that the Norwegians are more industrious and more opulent. +The Swedes (for neighbours are seldom the best friends) accuse +the Norwegians of knavery, and they retaliate by bringing a +charge of hypocrisy against the Swedes. Local circumstances +probably render both unjust, speaking from their feelings rather +than reason; and is this astonishing when we consider that most +writers of travels have done the same, whose works have served as +materials for the compilers of universal histories? All are +eager to give a national character, which is rarely just, because +they do not discriminate the natural from the acquired +difference. The natural, I believe, on due consideration, +will be found to consist merely in the degree of vivacity, or +thoughtfulness, pleasures or pain, inspired by the climate, +whilst the varieties which the forms of government, including +religion, produce are much more numerous and unstable.</p> +<p>A people have been characterised as stupid by nature; what a +paradox! because they did not consider that slaves, having no +object to stimulate industry, have not their faculties sharpened +by the only thing that can exercise them, self-interest. +Others have been brought forward as brutes, having no aptitude +for the arts and sciences, only because the progress of +improvement had not reached that stage which produces them.</p> +<p>Those writers who have considered the history of man, or of +the human mind, on a more enlarged scale have fallen into similar +errors, not reflecting that the passions are weak where the +necessaries of life are too hardly or too easily obtained.</p> +<p>Travellers who require that every nation should resemble their +native country, had better stay at home. It is, for +example, absurd to blame a people for not having that degree of +personal cleanliness and elegance of manners which only +refinement of taste produces, and will produce everywhere in +proportion as society attains a general polish. The most +essential service, I presume, that authors could render to +society, would be to promote inquiry and discussion, instead of +making those dogmatical assertions which only appear calculated +to gird the human mind round with imaginary circles, like the +paper globe which represents the one he inhabits.</p> +<p>This spirit of inquiry is the characteristic of the present +century, from which the succeeding will, I am persuaded, receive +a great accumulation of knowledge; and doubtless its diffusion +will in a great measure destroy the factitious national +characters which have been supposed permanent, though only +rendered so by the permanency of ignorance.</p> +<p>Arriving at Fredericshall, at the siege of which Charles XII. +lost his life, we had only time to take a transient view of it +whilst they were preparing us some refreshment.</p> +<p>Poor Charles! I thought of him with respect. I +have always felt the same for Alexander, with whom he has been +classed as a madman by several writers, who have reasoned +superficially, confounding the morals of the day with the few +grand principles on which unchangeable morality rests. +Making no allowance for the ignorance and prejudices of the +period, they do not perceive how much they themselves are +indebted to general improvement for the acquirements, and even +the virtues, which they would not have had the force of mind to +attain by their individual exertions in a less advanced state of +society.</p> +<p>The evening was fine, as is usual at this season, and the +refreshing odour of the pine woods became more perceptible, for +it was nine o’clock when we left Fredericshall. At +the ferry we were detained by a dispute relative to our Swedish +passport, which we did not think of getting countersigned in +Norway. Midnight was coming on, yet it might with such +propriety have been termed the noon of night that, had Young ever +travelled towards the north, I should not have wondered at his +becoming enamoured of the moon. But it is not the Queen of +Night alone who reigns here in all her splendour, though the sun, +loitering just below the horizon, decks her within a golden tinge +from his car, illuminating the cliffs that hide him; the heavens +also, of a clear softened blue, throw her forward, and the +evening star appears a smaller moon to the naked eye. The +huge shadows of the rocks, fringed with firs, concentrating the +views without darkening them, excited that tender melancholy +which, sublimating the imagination, exalts rather than depresses +the mind.</p> +<p>My companions fell asleep—fortunately they did not +snore; and I contemplated, fearless of idle questions, a night +such as I had never before seen or felt, to charm the senses, and +calm the heart. The very air was balmy as it freshened into +morn, producing the most voluptuous sensations. A vague +pleasurable sentiment absorbed me, as I opened my bosom to the +embraces of nature; and my soul rose to its Author, with the +chirping of the solitary birds, which began to feel, rather than +see, advancing day. I had leisure to mark its +progress. The grey morn, streaked with silvery rays, +ushered in the orient beams (how beautifully varying into +purple!), yet I was sorry to lose the soft watery clouds which +preceded them, exciting a kind of expectation that made me almost +afraid to breathe, lest I should break the charm. I saw the +sun—and sighed.</p> +<p>One of my companions, now awake, perceiving that the +postillion had mistaken the road, began to swear at him, and +roused the other two, who reluctantly shook off sleep.</p> +<p>We had immediately to measure back our steps, and did not +reach Stromstad before five in the morning.</p> +<p>The wind had changed in the night, and my boat was ready.</p> +<p>A dish of coffee, and fresh linen, recruited my spirits, and I +directly set out again for Norway, purposing to land much higher +up the coast.</p> +<p>Wrapping my great-coat round me, I lay down on some sails at +the bottom of the boat, its motion rocking me to rest, till a +discourteous wave interrupted my slumbers, and obliged me to rise +and feel a solitariness which was not so soothing as that of the +past night.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">Adieu!</p> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2>LETTER VI.</h2> +</div> +<p>The sea was boisterous, but, as I had an experienced pilot, I +did not apprehend any danger. Sometimes, I was told, boats +are driven far out and lost. However, I seldom calculate +chances so nicely—sufficient for the day is the obvious +evil!</p> +<p>We had to steer amongst islands and huge rocks, rarely losing +sight of the shore, though it now and then appeared only a mist +that bordered the water’s edge. The pilot assured me +that the numerous harbours on the Norway coast were very safe, +and the pilot-boats were always on the watch. The Swedish +side is very dangerous, I am also informed; and the help of +experience is not often at hand to enable strange vessels to +steer clear of the rocks, which lurk below the water close to the +shore.</p> +<p>There are no tides here, nor in the Cattegate, and, what +appeared to me a consequence, no sandy beach. Perhaps this +observation has been made before; but it did not occur to me till +I saw the waves continually beating against the bare rocks, +without ever receding to leave a sediment to harden.</p> +<p>The wind was fair, till we had to tack about in order to enter +Laurvig, where we arrived towards three o’clock in the +afternoon. It is a clean, pleasant town, with a +considerable iron-work, which gives life to it.</p> +<p>As the Norwegians do not frequently see travellers, they are +very curious to know their business, and who they are—so +curious, that I was half tempted to adopt Dr. Franklin’s +plan, when travelling in America, where they are equally prying, +which was to write on a paper, for public inspection, my name, +from whence I came, where I was going, and what was my +business. But if I were importuned by their curiosity, +their friendly gestures gratified me. A woman coming alone +interested them. And I know not whether my weariness gave +me a look of peculiar delicacy, but they approached to assist me, +and inquire after my wants, as if they were afraid to hurt, and +wished to protect me. The sympathy I inspired, thus +dropping down from the clouds in a strange land, affected me more +than it would have done had not my spirits been harassed by +various causes—by much thinking—musing almost to +madness—and even by a sort of weak melancholy that hung +about my heart at parting with my daughter for the first +time.</p> +<p>You know that, as a female, I am particularly attached to her; +I feel more than a mother’s fondness and anxiety when I +reflect on the dependent and oppressed state of her sex. I +dread lest she should be forced to sacrifice her heart to her +principles, or principles to her heart. With trembling hand +I shall cultivate sensibility and cherish delicacy of sentiment, +lest, whilst I lend fresh blushes to the rose, I sharpen the +thorns that will wound the breast I would fain guard; I dread to +unfold her mind, lest it should render her unfit for the world +she is to inhabit. Hapless woman! what a fate is thine!</p> +<p>But whither am I wandering? I only meant to tell you +that the impression the kindness of the simple people made +visible on my countenance increased my sensibility to a painful +degree. I wished to have had a room to myself, for their +attention, and rather distressing observation, embarrassed me +extremely. Yet, as they would bring me eggs, and make my +coffee, I found I could not leave them without hurting their +feelings of hospitality.</p> +<p>It is customary here for the host and hostess to welcome their +guests as master and mistress of the house.</p> +<p>My clothes, in their turn, attracted the attention of the +females, and I could not help thinking of the foolish vanity +which makes many women so proud of the observation of strangers +as to take wonder very gratuitously for admiration. This +error they are very apt to fall into when, arrived in a foreign +country, the populace stare at them as they pass. Yet the +make of a cap or the singularity of a gown is often the cause of +the flattering attention which afterwards supports a fantastic +superstructure of self-conceit.</p> +<p>Not having brought a carriage over with me, expecting to have +met a person where I landed, who was immediately to have procured +me one, I was detained whilst the good people of the inn sent +round to all their acquaintance to search for a vehicle. A +rude sort of cabriole was at last found, and a driver half drunk, +who was not less eager to make a good bargain on that +account. I had a Danish captain of a ship and his mate with +me; the former was to ride on horseback, at which he was not very +expert, and the latter to partake of my seat. The driver +mounted behind to guide the horses and flourish the whip over our +shoulders; he would not suffer the reins out of his own +hands. There was something so grotesque in our appearance +that I could not avoid shrinking into myself when I saw a +gentleman-like man in the group which crowded round the door to +observe us. I could have broken the driver’s whip for +cracking to call the women and children together, but seeing a +significant smile on the face, I had before remarked, I burst +into a laugh to allow him to do so too, and away we flew. +This is not a flourish of the pen, for we actually went on full +gallop a long time, the horses being very good; indeed, I have +never met with better, if so good, post-horses as in +Norway. They are of a stouter make than the English horses, +appear to be well fed, and are not easily tired.</p> +<p>I had to pass over, I was informed, the most fertile and best +cultivated tract of country in Norway. The distance was +three Norwegian miles, which are longer than the Swedish. +The roads were very good; the farmers are obliged to repair them; +and we scampered through a great extent of country in a more +improved state than any I had viewed since I left England. +Still there was sufficient of hills, dales, and rocks to prevent +the idea of a plain from entering the head, or even of such +scenery as England and France afford. The prospects were +also embellished by water, rivers, and lakes before the sea +proudly claimed my regard, and the road running frequently +through lofty groves rendered the landscapes beautiful, though +they were not so romantic as those I had lately seen with such +delight.</p> +<p>It was late when I reached Tonsberg, and I was glad to go to +bed at a decent inn. The next morning the 17th of July, +conversing with the gentleman with whom I had business to +transact, I found that I should be detained at Tonsberg three +weeks, and I lamented that I had not brought my child with +me.</p> +<p>The inn was quiet, and my room so pleasant, commanding a view +of the sea, confined by an amphitheatre of hanging woods, that I +wished to remain there, though no one in the house could speak +English or French. The mayor, my friend, however, sent a +young woman to me who spoke a little English, and she agreed to +call on me twice a day to receive my orders and translate them to +my hostess.</p> +<p>My not understanding the language was an excellent pretext for +dining alone, which I prevailed on them to let me do at a late +hour, for the early dinners in Sweden had entirely deranged my +day. I could not alter it there without disturbing the +economy of a family where I was as a visitor, necessity having +forced me to accept of an invitation from a private family, the +lodgings were so incommodious.</p> +<p>Amongst the Norwegians I had the arrangement of my own time, +and I determined to regulate it in such a manner that I might +enjoy as much of their sweet summer as I possibly could; short, +it is true, but “passing sweet.”</p> +<p>I never endured a winter in this rude clime, consequently it +was not the contrast, but the real beauty of the season which +made the present summer appear to me the finest I had ever +seen. Sheltered from the north and eastern winds, nothing +can exceed the salubrity, the soft freshness of the western +gales. In the evening they also die away; the aspen leaves +tremble into stillness, and reposing nature seems to be warmed by +the moon, which here assumes a genial aspect. And if a +light shower has chanced to fall with the sun, the juniper, the +underwood of the forest, exhales a wild perfume, mixed with a +thousand nameless sweets that, soothing the heart, leave images +in the memory which the imagination will ever hold dear.</p> +<p>Nature is the nurse of sentiment, the true source of taste; +yet what misery, as well as rapture, is produced by a quick +perception of the beautiful and sublime when it is exercised in +observing animated nature, when every beauteous feeling and +emotion excites responsive sympathy, and the harmonised soul +sinks into melancholy or rises to ecstasy, just as the chords are +touched, like the Æolian harp agitated by the changing +wind. But how dangerous is it to foster these sentiments in +such an imperfect state of existence, and how difficult to +eradicate them when an affection for mankind, a passion for an +individual, is but the unfolding of that love which embraces all +that is great and beautiful!</p> +<p>When a warm heart has received strong impressions, they are +not to be effaced. Emotions become sentiments, and the +imagination renders even transient sensations permanent by fondly +retracing them. I cannot, without a thrill of delight, +recollect views I have seen, which are not to be forgotten, nor +looks I have felt in every nerve, which I shall never more +meet. The grave has closed over a dear friend, the friend +of my youth. Still she is present with me, and I hear her +soft voice warbling as I stray over the heath. Fate has +separated me from another, the fire of whose eyes, tempered by +infantine tenderness, still warms my breast; even when gazing on +these tremendous cliffs sublime emotions absorb my soul. +And, smile not, if I add that the rosy tint of morning reminds me +of a suffusion which will never more charm my senses, unless it +reappears on the cheeks of my child. Her sweet blushes I +may yet hide in my bosom, and she is still too young to ask why +starts the tear so near akin to pleasure and pain.</p> +<p>I cannot write any more at present. To-morrow we will +talk of Tonsberg.</p> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2>LETTER VII.</h2> +</div> +<p>Though the king of Denmark be an absolute monarch, yet the +Norwegians appear to enjoy all the blessings of freedom. +Norway may be termed a sister kingdom; but the people have no +viceroy to lord it over them, and fatten his dependants with the +fruit of their labour.</p> +<p>There are only two counts in the whole country who have +estates, and exact some feudal observances from their +tenantry. All the rest of the country is divided into small +farms, which belong to the cultivator. It is true some few, +appertaining to the Church, are let, but always on a lease for +life, generally renewed in favour of the eldest son, who has this +advantage as well as a right to a double portion of the +property. But the value of the farm is estimated, and after +his portion is assigned to him he must be answerable for the +residue to the remaining part of the family.</p> +<p>Every farmer for ten years is obliged to attend annually about +twelve days to learn the military exercise, but it is always at a +small distance from his dwelling, and does not lead him into any +new habits of life.</p> +<p>There are about six thousand regulars also in garrison at +Christiania and Fredericshall, who are equally reserved, with the +militia, for the defence of their own country. So that when +the Prince Royal passed into Sweden in 1788, he was obliged to +request, not command, them to accompany him on this +expedition.</p> +<p>These corps are mostly composed of the sons of the cottagers, +who being labourers on the farms, are allowed a few acres to +cultivate for themselves. These men voluntarily enlist, but +it is only for a limited period (six years), at the expiration of +which they have the liberty of retiring. The pay is only +twopence a day and bread; still, considering the cheapness of the +country, it is more than sixpence in England.</p> +<p>The distribution of landed property into small farms produces +a degree of equality which I have seldom seen elsewhere; and the +rich being all merchants, who are obliged to divide their +personal fortune amongst their children, the boys always +receiving twice as much as the girls, property has met a chance +of accumulating till overgrowing wealth destroys the balance of +liberty.</p> +<p>You will be surprised to hear me talk of liberty; yet the +Norwegians appear to me to be the most free community I have ever +observed.</p> +<p>The mayor of each town or district, and the judges in the +country, exercise an authority almost patriarchal. They can +do much good, but little harm,—as every individual can +appeal from their judgment; and as they may always be forced to +give a reason for their conduct, it is generally regulated by +prudence. “They have not time to learn to be +tyrants,” said a gentleman to me, with whom I discussed the +subject.</p> +<p>The farmers not fearing to be turned out of their farms, +should they displease a man in power, and having no vote to be +commanded at an election for a mock representative, are a manly +race; for not being obliged to submit to any debasing tenure in +order to live, or advance themselves in the world, they act with +an independent spirit. I never yet have heard of anything +like domineering or oppression, excepting such as has arisen from +natural causes. The freedom the people enjoy may, perhaps, +render them a little litigious, and subject them to the +impositions of cunning practitioners of the law; but the +authority of office is bounded, and the emoluments of it do not +destroy its utility.</p> +<p>Last year a man who had abused his power was cashiered, on the +representation of the people to the bailiff of the district.</p> +<p>There are four in Norway who might with propriety be termed +sheriffs; and from their sentence an appeal, by either party, may +be made to Copenhagen.</p> +<p>Near most of the towns are commons, on which the cows of all +the inhabitants, indiscriminately, are allowed to graze. +The poor, to whom a cow is necessary, are almost supported by +it. Besides, to render living more easy, they all go out to +fish in their own boats, and fish is their principal food.</p> +<p>The lower class of people in the towns are in general sailors; +and the industrious have usually little ventures of their own +that serve to render the winter comfortable.</p> +<p>With respect to the country at large, the importation is +considerably in favour of Norway.</p> +<p>They are forbidden, at present, to export corn or rye on +account of the advanced price.</p> +<p>The restriction which most resembles the painful subordination +of Ireland, is that vessels, trading to the West Indies, are +obliged to pass by their own ports, and unload their cargoes at +Copenhagen, which they afterwards reship. The duty is +indeed inconsiderable, but the navigation being dangerous, they +run a double risk.</p> +<p>There is an excise on all articles of consumption brought to +the towns; but the officers are not strict, and it would be +reckoned invidious to enter a house to search, as in England.</p> +<p>The Norwegians appear to me a sensible, shrewd people, with +little scientific knowledge, and still less taste for literature; +but they are arriving at the epoch which precedes the +introduction of the arts and sciences.</p> +<p>Most of the towns are seaports, and seaports are not +favourable to improvement. The captains acquire a little +superficial knowledge by travelling, which their indefatigable +attention to the making of money prevents their digesting; and +the fortune that they thus laboriously acquire is spent, as it +usually is in towns of this description, in show and good +living. They love their country, but have not much public +spirit. Their exertions are, generally speaking, only for +their families, which, I conceive, will always be the case, till +politics, becoming a subject of discussion, enlarges the heart by +opening the understanding. The French Revolution will have +this effect. They sing, at present, with great glee, many +Republican songs, and seem earnestly to wish that the republic +may stand; yet they appear very much attached to their Prince +Royal, and, as far as rumour can give an idea of a character, he +appears to merit their attachment. When I am at Copenhagen, +I shall be able to ascertain on what foundation their good +opinion is built; at present I am only the echo of it.</p> +<p>In the year 1788 he travelled through Norway; and acts of +mercy gave dignity to the parade, and interest to the joy his +presence inspired. At this town he pardoned a girl +condemned to die for murdering an illegitimate child, a crime +seldom committed in this country. She is since married, and +become the careful mother of a family. This might be given +as an instance, that a desperate act is not always a proof of an +incorrigible depravity of character, the only plausible excuse +that has been brought forward to justify the infliction of +capital punishments.</p> +<p>I will relate two or three other anecdotes to you, for the +truth of which I will not vouch because the facts were not of +sufficient consequence for me to take much pains to ascertain +them; and, true or false, they evince that the people like to +make a kind of mistress of their prince.</p> +<p>An officer, mortally wounded at the ill-advised battle of +Quistram, desired to speak with the prince; and with his dying +breath, earnestly recommended to his care a young woman of +Christiania, to whom he was engaged. When the prince +returned there, a ball was given by the chief inhabitants: he +inquired whether this unfortunate girl was invited, and requested +that she might, though of the second class. The girl came; +she was pretty; and finding herself among her superiors, +bashfully sat down as near the door as possible, nobody taking +notice of her. Shortly after, the prince entering, +immediately inquired for her, and asked her to dance, to the +mortification of the rich dames. After it was over he +handed her to the top of the room, and placing himself by her, +spoke of the loss she had sustained, with tenderness, promising +to provide for anyone she should marry, as the story goes. +She is since married, and he has not forgotten his promise.</p> +<p>A little girl, during the same expedition, in Sweden, who +informed him that the logs of a bridge were out underneath, was +taken by his orders to Christiania, and put to school at his +expense.</p> +<p>Before I retail other beneficial effects of his journey, it is +necessary to inform you that the laws here are mild, and do not +punish capitally for any crime but murder, which seldom +occurs. Every other offence merely subjects the delinquent +to imprisonment and labour in the castle, or rather arsenal at +Christiania, and the fortress at Fredericshall. The first +and second conviction produces a sentence for a limited number of +years—two, three, five, or seven, proportioned to the +atrocity of the crime. After the third he is whipped, +branded in the forehead, and condemned to perpetual +slavery. This is the ordinary course of justice. For +some flagrant breaches of trust, or acts of wanton cruelty, +criminals have been condemned to slavery for life the first time +of conviction, but not frequently. The number of these +slaves do not, I am informed, amount to more than a hundred, +which is not considerable, compared with the population, upwards +of eight hundred thousand. Should I pass through +Christiania, on my return to Gothenburg, I shall probably have an +opportunity of learning other particulars.</p> +<p>There is also a House of Correction at Christiania for +trifling misdemeanours, where the women are confined to labour +and imprisonment even for life. The state of the prisoners +was represented to the prince, in consequence of which he visited +the arsenal and House of Correction. The slaves at the +arsenal were loaded with irons of a great weight; he ordered them +to be lightened as much as possible.</p> +<p>The people in the House of Correction were commanded not to +speak to him; but four women, condemned to remain there for life, +got into the passage, and fell at his feet. He granted them +a pardon; and inquiring respecting the treatment of the +prisoners, he was informed that they were frequently whipped +going in, and coming out, and for any fault, at the discretion of +the inspectors. This custom he humanely abolished, though +some of the principal inhabitants, whose situation in life had +raised them above the temptation of stealing, were of opinion +that these chastisements were necessary and wholesome.</p> +<p>In short, everything seems to announce that the prince really +cherishes the laudable ambition of fulfilling the duties of his +station. This ambition is cherished and directed by the +Count Bernstorff, the Prime Minister of Denmark, who is +universally celebrated for his abilities and virtue. The +happiness of the people is a substantial eulogium; and, from all +I can gather, the inhabitants of Denmark and Norway are the least +oppressed people of Europe. The press is free. They +translate any of the French publications of the day, deliver +their opinion on the subject, and discuss those it leads to with +great freedom, and without fearing to displease the +Government.</p> +<p>On the subject of religion they are likewise becoming +tolerant, at least, and perhaps have advanced a step further in +free-thinking. One writer has ventured to deny the divinity +of Jesus Christ, and to question the necessity or utility of the +Christian system, without being considered universally as a +monster, which would have been the case a few years ago. +They have translated many German works on education; and though +they have not adopted any of their plans, it has become a subject +of discussion. There are some grammar and free schools; +but, from what I hear, not very good ones. All the children +learn to read, write, and cast accounts, for the purposes of +common life. They have no university; and nothing that +deserves the name of science is taught; nor do individuals, by +pursuing any branch of knowledge, excite a degree of curiosity +which is the forerunner of improvement. Knowledge is not +absolutely necessary to enable a considerable portion of the +community to live; and, till it is, I fear it never becomes +general.</p> +<p>In this country, where minerals abound, there is not one +collection; and, in all probability, I venture a conjecture, the +want of mechanical and chemical knowledge renders the silver +mines unproductive, for the quantity of silver obtained every +year is not sufficient to defray the expenses. It has been +urged that the employment of such a number of hands is very +beneficial. But a positive loss is never to be done away; +and the men, thus employed, would naturally find some other means +of living, instead of being thus a dead weight on Government, or +rather on the community from whom its revenue is drawn.</p> +<p>About three English miles from Tonsberg there is a salt work, +belonging, like all their establishments, to Government, in which +they employ above a hundred and fifty men, and maintain nearly +five hundred people, who earn their living. The clear +profit, an increasing one, amounts to two thousand pounds +sterling. And as the eldest son of the inspector, an +ingenious young man, has been sent by the Government to travel, +and acquire some mathematical and chemical knowledge in Germany, +it has a chance of being improved. He is the only person I +have met with here who appears to have a scientific turn of +mind. I do not mean to assert that I have not met with +others who have a spirit of inquiry.</p> +<p>The salt-works at St. Ubes are basins in the sand, and the sun +produces the evaporation, but here there is no beach. +Besides, the heat of summer is so short-lived that it would be +idle to contrive machines for such an inconsiderable portion of +the year. They therefore always use fires; and the whole +establishment appears to be regulated with judgment.</p> +<p>The situation is well chosen and beautiful. I do not +find, from the observation of a person who has resided here for +forty years, that the sea advances or recedes on this coast.</p> +<p>I have already remarked that little attention is paid to +education, excepting reading, writing, and the rudiments of +arithmetic; I ought to have added that a catechism is carefully +taught, and the children obliged to read in the churches, before +the congregation, to prove that they are not neglected.</p> +<p>Degrees, to enable any one to practise any profession, must be +taken at Copenhagen; and the people of this country, having the +good sense to perceive that men who are to live in a community +should at least acquire the elements of their knowledge, and form +their youthful attachments there, are seriously endeavouring to +establish a university in Norway. And Tonsberg, as a +central place in the best part of the country, had the most +suffrages, for, experiencing the bad effects of a metropolis, +they have determined not to have it in or near Christiania. +Should such an establishment take place, it will promote inquiry +throughout the country, and give a new face to society. +Premiums have been offered, and prize questions written, which I +am told have merit. The building college-halls, and other +appendages of the seat of science, might enable Tonsberg to +recover its pristine consequence, for it is one of the most +ancient towns of Norway, and once contained nine churches. +At present there are only two. One is a very old structure, +and has a Gothic respectability about it, which scarcely amounts +to grandeur, because, to render a Gothic pile grand, it must have +a huge unwieldiness of appearance. The chapel of Windsor +may be an exception to this rule; I mean before it was in its +present nice, clean state. When I first saw it, the pillars +within had acquired, by time, a sombre hue, which accorded with +the architecture; and the gloom increased its dimensions to the +eye by hiding its parts; but now it all bursts on the view at +once, and the sublimity has vanished before the brush and broom; +for it has been white-washed and scraped till it has become as +bright and neat as the pots and pans in a notable +house-wife’s kitchen—yes; the very spurs on the +recumbent knights were deprived of their venerable rust, to give +a striking proof that a love of order in trifles, and taste for +proportion and arrangement, are very distinct. The glare of +light thus introduced entirely destroys the sentiment these piles +are calculated to inspire; so that, when I heard something like a +jig from the organ-loft, I thought it an excellent hall for +dancing or feasting. The measured pace of thought with +which I had entered the cathedral changed into a trip; and I +bounded on the terrace, to see the royal family, with a number of +ridiculous images in my head that I shall not now recall.</p> +<p>The Norwegians are fond of music, and every little church has +an organ. In the church I have mentioned there is an +inscription importing that a king James VI. of Scotland and I. of +England, who came with more than princely gallantry to escort his +bride home—stood there, and heard divine service.</p> +<p>There is a little recess full of coffins, which contains +bodies embalmed long since—so long, that there is not even +a tradition to lead to a guess at their names.</p> +<p>A desire of preserving the body seems to have prevailed in +most countries of the world, futile as it is to term it a +preservation, when the noblest parts are immediately sacrificed +merely to save the muscles, skin, and bone from rottenness. +When I was shown these human petrifactions, I shrank back with +disgust and horror. “Ashes to ashes!” thought +I—“Dust to dust!” If this be not +dissolution, it is something worse than natural decay—it is +treason against humanity, thus to lift up the awful veil which +would fain hide its weakness. The grandeur of the active +principle is never more strongly felt than at such a sight, for +nothing is so ugly as the human form when deprived of life, and +thus dried into stone, merely to preserve the most disgusting +image of death. The contemplation of noble ruins produces a +melancholy that exalts the mind. We take a retrospect of +the exertions of man, the fate of empires and their rulers, and +marking the grand destruction of ages, it seems the necessary +change of time leading to improvement. Our very soul +expands, and we forget our littleness—how painfully brought +to our recollection by such vain attempts to snatch from decay +what is destined so soon to perish. Life, what art +thou? Where goes this breath?—this <i>I</i>, so much +alive? In what element will it mix, giving or receiving +fresh energy? What will break the enchantment of +animation? For worlds I would not see a form I +loved—embalmed in my heart—thus sacrilegiously +handled? Pugh! my stomach turns. Is this all the +distinction of the rich in the grave? They had better +quietly allow the scythe of equality to mow them down with the +common mass, than struggle to become a monument of the +instability of human greatness.</p> +<p>The teeth, nails, and skin were whole, without appearing black +like the Egyptian mummies; and some silk, in which they had been +wrapped, still preserved its colour—pink—with +tolerable freshness.</p> +<p>I could not learn how long the bodies had been in this state, +in which they bid fair to remain till the Day of Judgment, if +there is to be such a day; and before that time, it will require +some trouble to make them fit to appear in company with angels +without disgracing humanity. God bless you! I feel a +conviction that we have some perfectible principle in our present +vestment, which will not be destroyed just as we begin to be +sensible of improvement; and I care not what habit it next puts +on, sure that it will be wisely formed to suit a higher state of +existence. Thinking of death makes us tenderly cling to our +affections; with more than usual tenderness I therefore assure +you that I am yours, wishing that the temporary death of absence +may not endure longer than is absolutely necessary.</p> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2>LETTER VIII.</h2> +</div> +<p>Tonsberg was formerly the residence of one of the little +sovereigns of Norway; and on an adjacent mountain the vestiges of +a fort remain, which was battered down by the Swedes, the +entrance of the bay lying close to it.</p> +<p>Here I have frequently strayed, sovereign of the waste; I +seldom met any human creature; and sometimes, reclining on the +mossy down, under the shelter of a rock, the prattling of the sea +amongst the pebbles has lulled me to sleep—no fear of any +rude satyr’s approaching to interrupt my repose. +Balmy were the slumbers, and soft the gales, that refreshed me, +when I awoke to follow, with an eye vaguely curious, the white +sails, as they turned the cliffs, or seemed to take shelter under +the pines which covered the little islands that so gracefully +rose to render the terrific ocean beautiful. The fishermen +were calmly casting their nets, whilst the sea-gulls hovered over +the unruffled deep. Everything seemed to harmonise into +tranquillity; even the mournful call of the bittern was in +cadence with the tinkling bells on the necks of the cows, that, +pacing slowly one after the other, along an inviting path in the +vale below, were repairing to the cottages to be milked. +With what ineffable pleasure have I not gazed—and gazed +again, losing my breath through my eyes—my very soul +diffused itself in the scene; and, seeming to become all senses, +glided in the scarcely-agitated waves, melted in the freshening +breeze, or, taking its flight with fairy wing, to the misty +mountain which bounded the prospect, fancy tripped over new +lawns, more beautiful even than the lovely slopes on the winding +shore before me. I pause, again breathless, to trace, with +renewed delight, sentiments which entranced me, when, turning my +humid eyes from the expanse below to the vault above, my sight +pierced the fleecy clouds that softened the azure brightness; and +imperceptibly recalling the reveries of childhood, I bowed before +the awful throne of my Creator, whilst I rested on its +footstool.</p> +<p>You have sometimes wondered, my dear friend, at the extreme +affection of my nature. But such is the temperature of my +soul. It is not the vivacity of youth, the heyday of +existence. For years have I endeavoured to calm an +impetuous tide, labouring to make my feelings take an orderly +course. It was striving against the stream. I must +love and admire with warmth, or I sink into sadness. Tokens +of love which I have received have wrapped me in Elysium, +purifying the heart they enchanted. My bosom still +glows. Do not saucily ask, repeating Sterne’s +question, “Maria, is it still so warm?” +Sufficiently, O my God! has it been chilled by sorrow and +unkindness; still nature will prevail; and if I blush at +recollecting past enjoyment, it is the rosy hue of pleasure +heightened by modesty, for the blush of modesty and shame are as +distinct as the emotions by which they are produced.</p> +<p>I need scarcely inform you, after telling you of my walks, +that my constitution has been renovated here, and that I have +recovered my activity even whilst attaining a little +<i>embonpoint</i>. My imprudence last winter, and some +untoward accidents just at the time I was weaning my child, had +reduced me to a state of weakness which I never before +experienced. A slow fever preyed on me every night during +my residence in Sweden, and after I arrived at Tonsberg. By +chance I found a fine rivulet filtered through the rocks, and +confined in a basin for the cattle. It tasted to me like a +chalybeate; at any rate, it was pure; and the good effect of the +various waters which invalids are sent to drink depends, I +believe, more on the air, exercise, and change of scene, than on +their medicinal qualities. I therefore determined to turn +my morning walks towards it, and seek for health from the nymph +of the fountain, partaking of the beverage offered to the tenants +of the shade.</p> +<p>Chance likewise led me to discover a new pleasure equally +beneficial to my health. I wished to avail myself of my +vicinity to the sea and bathe; but it was not possible near the +town; there was no convenience. The young woman whom I +mentioned to you proposed rowing me across the water amongst the +rocks; but as she was pregnant, I insisted on taking one of the +oars, and learning to row. It was not difficult, and I do +not know a pleasanter exercise. I soon became expert, and +my train of thinking kept time, as it were, with the oars, or I +suffered the boat to be carried along by the current, indulging a +pleasing forgetfulness or fallacious hopes. How fallacious! +yet, without hope, what is to sustain life, but the fear of +annihilation—the only thing of which I have ever felt a +dread. I cannot bear to think of being no more—of +losing myself—though existence is often but a painful +consciousness of misery; nay, it appears to me impossible that I +should cease to exist, or that this active, restless spirit, +equally alive to joy and sorrow, should only be organised +dust—ready to fly abroad the moment the spring snaps, or +the spark goes out which kept it together. Surely something +resides in this heart that is not perishable, and life is more +than a dream.</p> +<p>Sometimes, to take up my oar once more, when the sea was calm, +I was amused by disturbing the innumerable young star fish which +floated just below the surface; I had never observed them before, +for they have not a hard shell like those which I have seen on +the seashore. They look like thickened water with a white +edge, and four purple circles, of different forms, were in the +middle, over an incredible number of fibres or white lines. +Touching them, the cloudy substance would turn or close, first on +one side, then on the other, very gracefully, but when I took one +of them up in the ladle, with which I heaved the water out of the +boat, it appeared only a colourless jelly.</p> +<p>I did not see any of the seals, numbers of which followed our +boat when we landed in Sweden; but though I like to sport in the +water I should have had no desire to join in their gambols.</p> +<p>Enough, you will say, of inanimate nature and of brutes, to +use the lordly phrase of man; let me hear something of the +inhabitants.</p> +<p>The gentleman with whom I had business is the Mayor of +Tonsberg. He speaks English intelligibly, and, having a +sound understanding, I was sorry that his numerous occupations +prevented my gaining as much information from him as I could have +drawn forth had we frequently conversed. The people of the +town, as far as I had an opportunity of knowing their sentiments, +are extremely well satisfied with his manner of discharging his +office. He has a degree of information and good sense which +excites respect, whilst a cheerfulness, almost amounting to +gaiety, enables him to reconcile differences and keep his +neighbours in good humour. “I lost my horse,” +said a woman to me, “but ever since, when I want to send to +the mill, or go out, the Mayor lends me one. He scolds if I +do not come for it.”</p> +<p>A criminal was branded, during my stay here, for the third +offence; but the relief he received made him declare that the +judge was one of the best men in the world.</p> +<p>I sent this wretch a trifle, at different times, to take with +him into slavery. As it was more than he expected, he +wished very much to see me, and this wish brought to my +remembrance an anecdote I heard when I was in Lisbon.</p> +<p>A wretch who had been imprisoned several years, during which +period lamps had been put up, was at last condemned to a cruel +death, yet, in his way to execution, he only wished for one +night’s respite to see the city lighted.</p> +<p>Having dined in company at the mayor’s I was invited +with his family to spend the day at one of the richest +merchant’s houses. Though I could not speak Danish I +knew that I could see a great deal; yes, I am persuaded that I +have formed a very just opinion of the character of the +Norwegians, without being able to hold converse with them.</p> +<p>I had expected to meet some company, yet was a little +disconcerted at being ushered into an apartment full of well +dressed people, and glancing my eyes round they rested on several +very pretty faces. Rosy cheeks, sparkling eyes, and light +brown or golden locks; for I never saw so much hair with a yellow +cast, and, with their fine complexions, it looked very +becoming.</p> +<p>These women seem a mixture of indolence and vivacity; they +scarcely ever walk out, and were astonished that I should for +pleasure, yet they are immoderately fond of dancing. +Unaffected in their manners, if they have no pretensions to +elegance, simplicity often produces a gracefulness of deportment, +when they are animated by a particular desire to please, which +was the case at present. The solitariness of my situation, +which they thought terrible, interested them very much in my +favour. They gathered round me, sung to me, and one of the +prettiest, to whom I gave my hand with some degree of cordiality, +to meet the glance of her eyes, kissed me very +affectionately.</p> +<p>At dinner, which was conducted with great hospitality, though +we remained at table too long, they sung several songs, and, +amongst the rest, translations of some patriotic French +ones. As the evening advanced they became playful, and we +kept up a sort of conversation of gestures. As their minds +were totally uncultivated I did not lose much, perhaps gained, by +not being able to understand them; for fancy probably filled up, +more to their advantage, the void in the picture. Be that +as it may, they excited my sympathy, and I was very much +flattered when I was told the next day that they said it was a +pleasure to look at me, I appeared so good-natured.</p> +<p>The men were generally captains of ships. Several spoke +English very tolerably, but they were merely matter-of-fact men, +confined to a very narrow circle of observation. I found it +difficult to obtain from them any information respecting their +own country, when the fumes of tobacco did not keep me at a +distance.</p> +<p>I was invited to partake of some other feasts, and always had +to complain of the quantity of provision and the length of time +taken to consume it; for it would not have been proper to have +said devour, all went on so fair and softly. The servants +wait as slowly as their mistresses carve.</p> +<p>The young women here, as well as in Sweden, have commonly bad +teeth, which I attribute to the same causes. They are fond +of finery, but do not pay the necessary attention to their +persons, to render beauty less transient than a flower, and that +interesting expression which sentiment and accomplishments give +seldom supplies its place.</p> +<p>The servants have, likewise, an inferior sort of food here, +but their masters are not allowed to strike them with +impunity. I might have added mistresses, for it was a +complaint of this kind brought before the mayor which led me to a +knowledge of the fact.</p> +<p>The wages are low, which is particularly unjust, because the +price of clothes is much higher than that of provision. A +young woman, who is wet nurse to the mistress of the inn where I +lodge, receives only twelve dollars a year, and pays ten for the +nursing of her own child. The father had run away to get +clear of the expense. There was something in this most +painful state of widowhood which excited my compassion and led me +to reflections on the instability of the most flattering plans of +happiness, that were painful in the extreme, till I was ready to +ask whether this world was not created to exhibit every possible +combination of wretchedness. I asked these questions of a +heart writhing with anguish, whilst I listened to a melancholy +ditty sung by this poor girl. It was too early for thee to +be abandoned, thought I, and I hastened out of the house to take +my solitary evening’s walk. And here I am again to +talk of anything but the pangs arising from the discovery of +estranged affection and the lonely sadness of a deserted +heart.</p> +<p>The father and mother, if the father can be ascertained, are +obliged to maintain an illegitimate child at their joint expense; +but, should the father disappear, go up the country or to sea, +the mother must maintain it herself. However, accidents of +this kind do not prevent their marrying, and then it is not +unusual to take the child or children home, and they are brought +up very amicably with the marriage progeny.</p> +<p>I took some pains to learn what books were written originally +in their language; but for any certain information respecting the +state of Danish literature I must wait till I arrive at +Copenhagen.</p> +<p>The sound of the language is soft, a great proportion of the +words ending in vowels; and there is a simplicity in the turn of +some of the phrases which have been translated to me that pleased +and interested me. In the country the farmers use the +<i>thou</i> and <i>thee</i>; and they do not acquire the polite +plurals of the towns by meeting at market. The not having +markets established in the large towns appears to me a great +inconvenience. When the farmers have anything to sell they +bring it to the neighbouring town and take it from house to +house. I am surprised that the inhabitants do not feel how +very incommodious this usage is to both parties, and redress it; +they, indeed, perceive it, for when I have introduced the subject +they acknowledged that they were often in want of necessaries, +there being no butchers, and they were often obliged to buy what +they did not want; yet it was the custom, and the changing of +customs of a long standing requires more energy than they yet +possess. I received a similar reply when I attempted to +persuade the women that they injured their children by keeping +them too warm. The only way of parrying off my reasoning +was that they must do as other people did; in short, reason on +any subject of change, and they stop you by saying that +“the town would talk.” A person of sense, with +a large fortune to ensure respect, might be very useful here, by +inducing them to treat their children and manage their sick +properly, and eat food dressed in a simpler manner—the +example, for instance, of a count’s lady.</p> +<p>Reflecting on these prejudices made me revert to the wisdom of +those legislators who established institutions for the good of +the body under the pretext of serving heaven for the salvation of +the soul. These might with strict propriety be termed pious +frauds; and I admire the Peruvian pair for asserting that they +came from the sun, when their conduct proved that they meant to +enlighten a benighted country, whose obedience, or even +attention, could only be secured by awe. Thus much for +conquering the <i>inertia</i> of reason; but, when it is once in +motion, fables once held sacred may be ridiculed; and sacred they +were when useful to mankind. Prometheus alone stole fire to +animate the first man; his posterity needs not supernatural aid +to preserve the species, though love is generally termed a flame; +and it may not be necessary much longer to suppose men inspired +by heaven to inculcate the duties which demand special grace when +reason convinces them that they are the happiest who are the most +nobly employed.</p> +<p>In a few days I am to set out for the western part of Norway, +and then shall return by land to Gothenburg. I cannot think +of leaving this place without regret. I speak of the place +before the inhabitants, though there is a tenderness in their +artless kindness which attaches me to them; but it is an +attachment that inspires a regret very different from that I felt +at leaving Hull in my way to Sweden. The domestic happiness +and good-humoured gaiety of the amiable family where I and my +Frances were so hospitably received would have been sufficient to +ensure the tenderest remembrance, without the recollection of the +social evening to stimulate it, when good breeding gave dignity +to sympathy and wit zest to reason.</p> +<p>Adieu!—I am just informed that my horse has been waiting +this quarter of an hour. I now venture to ride out +alone. The steeple serves as a landmark. I once or +twice lost my way, walking alone, without being able to inquire +after a path; I was therefore obliged to make to the steeple, or +windmill, over hedge and ditch.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">Yours truly.</p> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2>LETTER IX.</h2> +</div> +<p>I have already informed you that there are only two noblemen +who have estates of any magnitude in Norway. One of these +has a house near Tonsberg, at which he has not resided for some +years, having been at court, or on embassies. He is now the +Danish Ambassador in London. The house is pleasantly +situated, and the grounds about it fine; but their neglected +appearance plainly tells that there is nobody at home.</p> +<p>A stupid kind of sadness, to my eye, always reigns in a huge +habitation where only servants live to put cases on the furniture +and open the windows. I enter as I would into the tomb of +the Capulets, to look at the family pictures that here frown in +armour, or smile in ermine. The mildew respects not the +lordly robe, and the worm riots unchecked on the cheek of +beauty.</p> +<p>There was nothing in the architecture of the building, or the +form of the furniture, to detain me from the avenue where the +aged pines stretched along majestically. Time had given a +greyish cast to their ever-green foliage; and they stood, like +sires of the forest, sheltered on all sides by a rising +progeny. I had not ever seen so many oaks together in +Norway as in these woods, nor such large aspens as here were +agitated by the breeze, rendering the wind audible—nay +musical; for melody seemed on the wing around me. How +different was the fresh odour that reanimated me in the avenue, +from the damp chillness of the apartments; and as little did the +gloomy thoughtfulness excited by the dusty hangings, and +worm-eaten pictures, resemble the reveries inspired by the +soothing melancholy of their shade. In the winter, these +august pines, towering above the snow, must relieve the eye +beyond measure and give life to the white waste.</p> +<p>The continual recurrence of pine and fir groves in the day +sometimes wearies the sight, but in the evening, nothing can be +more picturesque, or, more properly speaking, better calculated +to produce poetical images. Passing through them, I have +been struck with a mystic kind of reverence, and I did, as it +were, homage to their venerable shadows. Not nymphs, but +philosophers, seemed to inhabit them—ever musing; I could +scarcely conceive that they were without some consciousness of +existence—without a calm enjoyment of the pleasure they +diffused.</p> +<p>How often do my feelings produce ideas that remind me of the +origin of many poetical fictions. In solitude, the +imagination bodies forth its conceptions unrestrained, and stops +enraptured to adore the beings of its own creation. These +are moments of bliss; and the memory recalls them with +delight.</p> +<p>But I have almost forgotten the matters of fact I meant to +relate, respecting the counts. They have the presentation +of the livings on their estates, appoint the judges, and +different civil officers, the Crown reserving to itself the +privilege of sanctioning them. But though they appoint, +they cannot dismiss. Their tenants also occupy their farms +for life, and are obliged to obey any summons to work on the part +he reserves for himself; but they are paid for their +labour. In short, I have seldom heard of any noblemen so +innoxious.</p> +<p>Observing that the gardens round the count’s estate were +better cultivated than any I had before seen, I was led to +reflect on the advantages which naturally accrue from the feudal +tenures. The tenants of the count are obliged to work at a +stated price, in his grounds and garden; and the instruction +which they imperceptibly receive from the head gardener tends to +render them useful, and makes them, in the common course of +things, better husbandmen and gardeners on their own little +farms. Thus the great, who alone travel in this period of +society, for the observation of manners and customs made by +sailors is very confined, bring home improvement to promote their +own comfort, which is gradually spread abroad amongst the people, +till they are stimulated to think for themselves.</p> +<p>The bishops have not large revenues, and the priests are +appointed by the king before they come to them to be +ordained. There is commonly some little farm annexed to the +parsonage, and the inhabitants subscribe voluntarily, three times +a year, in addition to the church fees, for the support of the +clergyman. The church lands were seized when Lutheranism +was introduced, the desire of obtaining them being probably the +real stimulus of reformation. The tithes, which are never +required in kind, are divided into three parts—one to the +king, another to the incumbent, and the third to repair the +dilapidations of the parsonage. They do not amount to +much. And the stipend allowed to the different civil +officers is also too small, scarcely deserving to be termed an +independence; that of the custom-house officers is not sufficient +to procure the necessaries of life—no wonder, then, if +necessity leads them to knavery. Much public virtue cannot +be expected till every employment, putting perquisites out of the +question, has a salary sufficient to reward +industry;—whilst none are so great as to permit the +possessor to remain idle. It is this want of proportion +between profit and labour which debases men, producing the +sycophantic appellations of patron and client, and that +pernicious <i>esprit du corps</i>, proverbially vicious.</p> +<p>The farmers are hospitable as well as independent. +Offering once to pay for some coffee I drank when taking shelter +from the rain, I was asked, rather angrily, if a little coffee +was worth paying for. They smoke, and drink drams, but not +so much as formerly. Drunkenness, often the attendant +disgrace of hospitality, will here, as well as everywhere else, +give place to gallantry and refinement of manners; but the change +will not be suddenly produced.</p> +<p>The people of every class are constant in their attendance at +church; they are very fond of dancing, and the Sunday evenings in +Norway, as in Catholic countries, are spent in exercises which +exhilarate the spirits without vitiating the heart. The +rest of labour ought to be gay; and the gladness I have felt in +France on a Sunday, or Decadi, which I caught from the faces +around me, was a sentiment more truly religious than all the +stupid stillness which the streets of London ever inspired where +the Sabbath is so decorously observed. I recollect, in the +country parts of England, the churchwardens used to go out during +the service to see if they could catch any luckless wight playing +at bowls or skittles; yet what could be more harmless? It +would even, I think, be a great advantage to the English, if +feats of activity (I do not include boxing matches) were +encouraged on a Sunday, as it might stop the progress of +Methodism, and of that fanatical spirit which appears to be +gaining ground. I was surprised when I visited Yorkshire, +on my way to Sweden, to find that sullen narrowness of thinking +had made such a progress since I was an inhabitant of the +country. I could hardly have supposed that sixteen or +seventeen years could have produced such an alteration for the +worse in the morals of a place—yes, I say morals; for +observance of forms, and avoiding of practices, indifferent in +themselves, often supply the place of that regular attention to +duties which are so natural, that they seldom are vauntingly +exercised, though they are worth all the precepts of the law and +the prophets. Besides, many of these deluded people, with +the best meaning, actually lose their reason, and become +miserable, the dread of damnation throwing them into a state +which merits the term; and still more, in running after their +preachers, expecting to promote their salvation, they disregard +their welfare in this world, and neglect the interest and comfort +of their families; so that, in proportion as they attain a +reputation for piety, they become idle.</p> +<p>Aristocracy and fanaticism seem equally to be gaining ground +in England, particularly in the place I have mentioned; I saw +very little of either in Norway. The people are regular in +their attendance on public worship, but religion does not +interfere with their employments.</p> +<p>As the farmers cut away the wood they clear the ground. +Every year, therefore, the country is becoming fitter to support +the inhabitants. Half a century ago the Dutch, I am told, +only paid for the cutting down of the wood, and the farmers were +glad to get rid of it without giving themselves any +trouble. At present they form a just estimate of its value; +nay, I was surprised to find even firewood so dear when it +appears to be in such plenty. The destruction, or gradual +reduction, of their forests will probably ameliorate the climate, +and their manners will naturally improve in the same ratio as +industry requires ingenuity. It is very fortunate that men +are a long time but just above the brute creation, or the greater +part of the earth would never have been rendered habitable, +because it is the patient labour of men, who are only seeking for +a subsistence, which produces whatever embellishes existence, +affording leisure for the cultivation of the arts and sciences +that lift man so far above his first state. I never, my +friend, thought so deeply of the advantages obtained by human +industry as since I have been in Norway. The world +requires, I see, the hand of man to perfect it, and as this task +naturally unfolds the faculties he exercises, it is physically +impossible that he should have remained in Rousseau’s +golden age of stupidity. And, considering the question of +human happiness, where, oh where does it reside? Has it +taken up its abode with unconscious ignorance or with the +high-wrought mind? Is it the offspring of thoughtless +animal spirits or the dye of fancy continually flitting round the +expected pleasure?</p> +<p>The increasing population of the earth must necessarily tend +to its improvement, as the means of existence are multiplied by +invention.</p> +<p>You have probably made similar reflections in America, where +the face of the country, I suppose, resembles the wilds of +Norway. I am delighted with the romantic views I daily +contemplate, animated by the purest air; and I am interested by +the simplicity of manners which reigns around me. Still +nothing so soon wearies out the feelings as unmarked +simplicity. I am therefore half convinced that I could not +live very comfortably exiled from the countries where mankind are +so much further advanced in knowledge, imperfect as it is, and +unsatisfactory to the thinking mind. Even now I begin to +long to hear what you are doing in England and France. My +thoughts fly from this wilderness to the polished circles of the +world, till recollecting its vices and follies, I bury myself in +the woods, but find it necessary to emerge again, that I may not +lose sight of the wisdom and virtue which exalts my nature.</p> +<p>What a long time it requires to know ourselves; and yet almost +every one has more of this knowledge than he is willing to own, +even to himself. I cannot immediately determine whether I +ought to rejoice at having turned over in this solitude a new +page in the history of my own heart, though I may venture to +assure you that a further acquaintance with mankind only tends to +increase my respect for your judgment and esteem for your +character. Farewell!</p> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2>LETTER X.</h2> +</div> +<p>I have once more, my friend, taken flight, for I left Tonsberg +yesterday, but with an intention of returning in my way back to +Sweden.</p> +<p>The road to Laurvig is very fine, and the country the best +cultivated in Norway. I never before admired the beech +tree, and when I met stragglers here they pleased me still +less. Long and lank, they would have forced me to allow +that the line of beauty requires some curves, if the stately +pine, standing near, erect, throwing her vast arms around, had +not looked beautiful in opposition to such narrow rules.</p> +<p>In these respects my very reason obliges me to permit my +feelings to be my criterion. Whatever excites emotion has +charms for me, though I insist that the cultivation of the mind +by warming, nay, almost creating the imagination, produces taste +and an immense variety of sensations and emotions, partaking of +the exquisite pleasure inspired by beauty and sublimity. As +I know of no end to them, the word infinite, so often misapplied, +might on this occasion be introduced with something like +propriety.</p> +<p>But I have rambled away again. I intended to have +remarked to you the effect produced by a grove of towering beech, +the airy lightness of their foliage admitting a degree of +sunshine, which, giving a transparency to the leaves, exhibited +an appearance of freshness and elegance that I had never before +remarked. I thought of descriptions of Italian +scenery. But these evanescent graces seemed the effect of +enchantment; and I imperceptibly breathed softly, lest I should +destroy what was real, yet looked so like the creation of +fancy. Dryden’s fable of the flower and the leaf was +not a more poetical reverie.</p> +<p>Adieu, however, to fancy, and to all the sentiments which +ennoble our nature. I arrived at Laurvig, and found myself +in the midst of a group of lawyers of different +descriptions. My head turned round, my heart grew sick, as +I regarded visages deformed by vice, and listened to accounts of +chicanery that was continually embroiling the ignorant. +These locusts will probably diminish as the people become more +enlightened. In this period of social life the commonalty +are always cunningly attentive to their own interest; but their +faculties, confined to a few objects, are so narrowed, that they +cannot discover it in the general good. The profession of +the law renders a set of men still shrewder and more selfish than +the rest; and it is these men, whose wits have been sharpened by +knavery, who here undermine morality, confounding right and +wrong.</p> +<p>The Count of Bernstorff, who really appears to me, from all I +can gather, to have the good of the people at heart, aware of +this, has lately sent to the mayor of each district to name, +according to the size of the place, four or six of the +best-informed inhabitants, not men of the law, out of which the +citizens were to elect two, who are to be termed mediators. +Their office is to endeavour to prevent litigious suits, and +conciliate differences. And no suit is to be commenced +before the parties have discussed the dispute at their weekly +meeting. If a reconciliation should, in consequence, take +place, it is to be registered, and the parties are not allowed to +retract.</p> +<p>By these means ignorant people will be prevented from applying +for advice to men who may justly be termed stirrers-up of +strife. They have for a long time, to use a significant +vulgarism, set the people by the ears, and live by the spoil they +caught up in the scramble. There is some reason to hope +that this regulation will diminish their number, and restrain +their mischievous activity. But till trials by jury are +established, little justice can be expected in Norway. +Judges who cannot be bribed are often timid, and afraid of +offending bold knaves, lest they should raise a set of hornets +about themselves. The fear of censure undermines all energy +of character; and, labouring to be prudent, they lose sight of +rectitude. Besides, nothing is left to their conscience, or +sagacity; they must be governed by evidence, though internally +convinced that it is false.</p> +<p>There is a considerable iron manufactory at Laurvig for coarse +work, and a lake near the town supplies the water necessary for +working several mills belonging to it.</p> +<p>This establishment belongs to the Count of Laurvig. +Without a fortune and influence equal to his, such a work could +not have been set afloat; personal fortunes are not yet +sufficient to support such undertakings. Nevertheless the +inhabitants of the town speak of the size of his estate as an +evil, because it obstructs commerce. The occupiers of small +farms are obliged to bring their wood to the neighbouring +seaports to be shipped; but he, wishing to increase the value of +his, will not allow it to be thus gradually cut down, which turns +the trade into another channel. Added to this, nature is +against them, the bay being open and insecure. I could not +help smiling when I was informed that in a hard gale a vessel had +been wrecked in the main street. When there are such a +number of excellent harbours on the coast, it is a pity that +accident has made one of the largest towns grow up on a bad +one.</p> +<p>The father of the present count was a distant relation of the +family; he resided constantly in Denmark, and his son follows his +example. They have not been in possession of the estate +many years; and their predecessor lived near the town, +introducing a degree of profligacy of manners which has been +ruinous to the inhabitants in every respect, their fortunes not +being equal to the prevailing extravagance.</p> +<p>What little I have seen of the manners of the people does not +please me so well as those of Tonsberg. I am forewarned +that I shall find them still more cunning and fraudulent as I +advance towards the westward, in proportion as traffic takes +place of agriculture, for their towns are built on naked rocks, +the streets are narrow bridges, and the inhabitants are all +seafaring men, or owners of ships, who keep shops.</p> +<p>The inn I was at in Laurvig this journey was not the same that +I was at before. It is a good one—the people civil, +and the accommodations decent. They seem to be better +provided in Sweden; but in justice I ought to add that they +charge more extravagantly. My bill at Tonsberg was also +much higher than I had paid in Sweden, and much higher than it +ought to have been where provision is so cheap. Indeed, +they seem to consider foreigners as strangers whom they shall +never see again, and may fairly pluck. And the inhabitants +of the western coast, isolated, as it were, regard those of the +east almost as strangers. Each town in that quarter seems +to be a great family, suspicious of every other, allowing none to +cheat them but themselves; and, right or wrong, they support one +another in the face of justice.</p> +<p>On this journey I was fortunate enough to have one companion +with more enlarged views than the generality of his countrymen, +who spoke English tolerably.</p> +<p>I was informed that we might still advance a mile and a +quarter in our cabrioles; afterwards there was no choice, but of +a single horse and wretched path, or a boat, the usual mode of +travelling.</p> +<p>We therefore sent our baggage forward in the boat, and +followed rather slowly, for the road was rocky and sandy. +We passed, however, through several beech groves, which still +delighted me by the freshness of their light green foliage, and +the elegance of their assemblage, forming retreats to veil +without obscuring the sun.</p> +<p>I was surprised, at approaching the water, to find a little +cluster of houses pleasantly situated, and an excellent +inn. I could have wished to have remained there all night; +but as the wind was fair, and the evening fine, I was afraid to +trust to the wind—the uncertain wind of to-morrow. We +therefore left Helgeraac immediately with the declining sun.</p> +<p>Though we were in the open sea, we sailed more amongst the +rocks and islands than in my passage from Stromstad; and they +often forced very picturesque combinations. Few of the high +ridges were entirely bare; the seeds of some pines or firs had +been wafted by the winds or waves, and they stood to brave the +elements.</p> +<p>Sitting, then, in a little boat on the ocean, amidst +strangers, with sorrow and care pressing hard on +me—buffeting me about from clime to clime—I felt</p> +<blockquote><p>“Like the lone shrub at random cast,<br /> +That sighs and trembles at each blast!”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>On some of the largest rocks there were actually groves, the +retreat of foxes and hares, which, I suppose, had tripped over +the ice during the winter, without thinking to regain the main +land before the thaw.</p> +<p>Several of the islands were inhabited by pilots; and the +Norwegian pilots are allowed to be the best in the +world—perfectly acquainted with their coast, and ever at +hand to observe the first signal or sail. They pay a small +tax to the king and to the regulating officer, and enjoy the +fruit of their indefatigable industry.</p> +<p>One of the islands, called Virgin Land, is a flat, with some +depth of earth, extending for half a Norwegian mile, with three +farms on it, tolerably well cultivated.</p> +<p>On some of the bare rocks I saw straggling houses; they rose +above the denomination of huts inhabited by fishermen. My +companions assured me that they were very comfortable dwellings, +and that they have not only the necessaries, but even what might +be reckoned the superfluities of life. It was too late for +me to go on shore, if you will allow me to give that name to +shivering rocks, to ascertain the fact.</p> +<p>But rain coming on, and the night growing dark, the pilot +declared that it would be dangerous for us to attempt to go to +the place of our destination—East Rusoer—a Norwegian +mile and a half further; and we determined to stop for the night +at a little haven, some half dozen houses scattered under the +curve of a rock. Though it became darker and darker, our +pilot avoided the blind rocks with great dexterity.</p> +<p>It was about ten o’clock when we arrived, and the old +hostess quickly prepared me a comfortable bed—a little too +soft or so, but I was weary; and opening the window to admit the +sweetest of breezes to fan me to sleep, I sunk into the most +luxurious rest: it was more than refreshing. The hospitable +sprites of the grots surely hovered round my pillow; and, if I +awoke, it was to listen to the melodious whispering of the wind +amongst them, or to feel the mild breath of morn. Light +slumbers produced dreams, where Paradise was before me. My +little cherub was again hiding her face in my bosom. I +heard her sweet cooing beat on my heart from the cliffs, and saw +her tiny footsteps on the sands. New-born hopes seemed, +like the rainbow, to appear in the clouds of sorrow, faint, yet +sufficient to amuse away despair.</p> +<p>Some refreshing but heavy showers have detained us; and here I +am writing quite alone—something more than gay, for which I +want a name.</p> +<p>I could almost fancy myself in Nootka Sound, or on some of the +islands on the north-west coast of America. We entered by a +narrow pass through the rocks, which from this abode appear more +romantic than you can well imagine; and seal-skins hanging at the +door to dry add to the illusion.</p> +<p>It is indeed a corner of the world, but you would be surprised +to see the cleanliness and comfort of the dwelling. The +shelves are not only shining with pewter and queen’s ware, +but some articles in silver, more ponderous, it is true, than +elegant. The linen is good, as well as white. All the +females spin, and there is a loom in the kitchen. A sort of +individual taste appeared in the arrangement of the furniture +(this is not the place for imitation) and a kindness in their +desire to oblige. How superior to the apish politeness of +the towns! where the people, affecting to be well bred, fatigue +with their endless ceremony.</p> +<p>The mistress is a widow, her daughter is married to a pilot, +and has three cows. They have a little patch of land at +about the distance of two English miles, where they make hay for +the winter, which they bring home in a boat. They live here +very cheap, getting money from the vessels which stress of +weather, or other causes, bring into their harbour. I +suspect, by their furniture, that they smuggle a little. I +can now credit the account of the other houses, which I last +night thought exaggerated.</p> +<p>I have been conversing with one of my companions respecting +the laws and regulations of Norway. He is a man within +great portion of common sense and heart—yes, a warm +heart. This is not the first time I have remarked heart +without sentiment; they are distinct. The former depends on +the rectitude of the feelings, on truth of sympathy; these +characters have more tenderness than passion; the latter has a +higher source—call it imagination, genius, or what you +will, it is something very different. I have been laughing +with these simple worthy folk—to give you one of my +half-score Danish words—and letting as much of my heart +flow out in sympathy as they can take. Adieu! I must +trip up the rocks. The rain is over. Let me catch +pleasure on the wing—I may be melancholy to-morrow. +Now all my nerves keep time with the melody of nature. Ah! +let me be happy whilst I can. The tear starts as I think of +it. I must flee from thought, and find refuge from sorrow +in a strong imagination—the only solace for a feeling +heart. Phantoms of bliss! ideal forms of excellence! again +enclose me in your magic circle, and wipe clear from my +remembrance the disappointments that reader the sympathy painful, +which experience rather increases than damps, by giving the +indulgence of feeling the sanction of reason.</p> +<p>Once more farewell!</p> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2>LETTER XI.</h2> +</div> +<p>I left Portoer, the little haven I mentioned, soon after I +finished my last letter. The sea was rough, and I perceived +that our pilot was right not to venture farther during a hazy +night. We had agreed to pay four dollars for a boat from +Helgeraac. I mention the sum, because they would demand +twice as much from a stranger. I was obliged to pay fifteen +for the one I hired at Stromstad. When we were ready to set +out, our boatman offered to return a dollar and let us go in one +of the boats of the place, the pilot who lived there being better +acquainted with the coast. He only demanded a dollar and a +half, which was reasonable. I found him a civil and rather +intelligent man; he was in the American service several years, +during the Revolution.</p> +<p>I soon perceived that an experienced mariner was necessary to +guide us, for we were continually obliged to tack about, to avoid +the rocks, which, scarcely reaching to the surface of the water, +could only be discovered by the breaking of the waves over +them.</p> +<p>The view of this wild coast, as we sailed along it, afforded +me a continual subject for meditation. I anticipated the +future improvement of the world, and observed how much man has +still to do to obtain of the earth all it could yield. I +even carried my speculations so far as to advance a million or +two of years to the moment when the earth would perhaps be so +perfectly cultivated, and so completely peopled, as to render it +necessary to inhabit every spot—yes, these bleak +shores. Imagination went still farther, and pictured the +state of man when the earth could no longer support him. +Whither was he to flee from universal famine? Do not smile; +I really became distressed for these fellow creatures yet +unborn. The images fastened on me, and the world appeared a +vast prison. I was soon to be in a smaller one—for no +other name can I give to Rusoer. It would be difficult to +form an idea of the place, if you have never seen one of these +rocky coasts.</p> +<p>We were a considerable time entering amongst the islands, +before we saw about two hundred houses crowded together under a +very high rock—still higher appearing above. Talk not +of Bastilles! To be born here was to be bastilled by +nature—shut out from all that opens the understanding, or +enlarges the heart. Huddled one behind another, not more +than a quarter of the dwellings even had a prospect of the +sea. A few planks formed passages from house to house, +which you must often scale, mounting steps like a ladder to +enter.</p> +<p>The only road across the rocks leads to a habitation sterile +enough, you may suppose, when I tell you that the little earth on +the adjacent ones was carried there by the late inhabitant. +A path, almost impracticable for a horse, goes on to Arendall, +still further to the westward.</p> +<p>I inquired for a walk, and, mounting near two hundred steps +made round a rock, walked up and down for about a hundred yards +viewing the sea, to which I quickly descended by steps that +cheated the declivity. The ocean and these tremendous +bulwarks enclosed me on every side. I felt the confinement, +and wished for wings to reach still loftier cliffs, whose +slippery sides no foot was so hardy as to tread. Yet what +was it to see?—only a boundless waste of water—not a +glimpse of smiling nature—not a patch of lively green to +relieve the aching sight, or vary the objects of meditation.</p> +<p>I felt my breath oppressed, though nothing could be clearer +than the atmosphere. Wandering there alone, I found the +solitude desirable; my mind was stored with ideas, which this new +scene associated with astonishing rapidity. But I shuddered +at the thought of receiving existence, and remaining here, in the +solitude of ignorance, till forced to leave a world of which I +had seen so little, for the character of the inhabitants is as +uncultivated, if not as picturesquely wild, as their abode.</p> +<p>Having no employment but traffic, of which a contraband trade +makes the basis of their profit, the coarsest feelings of honesty +are quickly blunted. You may suppose that I speak in +general terms; and that, with all the disadvantages of nature and +circumstances, there are still some respectable exceptions, the +more praiseworthy, as tricking is a very contagious mental +disease, that dries up all the generous juices of the +heart. Nothing genial, in fact, appears around this place, +or within the circle of its rocks. And, now I recollect, it +seems to me that the most genial and humane characters I have met +with in life were most alive to the sentiments inspired by +tranquil country scenes. What, indeed, is to humanise these +beings, who rest shut up (for they seldom even open their +windows), smoking, drinking brandy, and driving bargains? I +have been almost stifled by these smokers. They begin in +the morning, and are rarely without their pipe till they go to +bed. Nothing can be more disgusting than the rooms and men +towards the evening—breath, teeth, clothes, and furniture, +all are spoilt. It is well that the women are not very +delicate, or they would only love their husbands because they +were their husbands. Perhaps, you may add, that the remark +need not be confined to so small a part of the world; and, +<i>entre nous</i>, I am of the same opinion. You must not +term this innuendo saucy, for it does not come home.</p> +<p>If I had not determined to write I should have found my +confinement here, even for three or four days, tedious. I +have no books; and to pace up and down a small room, looking at +tiles overhung by rocks, soon becomes wearisome. I cannot +mount two hundred steps to walk a hundred yards many times in the +day. Besides, the rocks, retaining the heat of the sun, are +intolerably warm. I am, nevertheless, very well; for though +there is a shrewdness in the character of these people, depraved +by a sordid love of money which repels me, still the comparisons +they force me to make keep my heart calm by exercising my +understanding.</p> +<p>Everywhere wealth commands too much respect, but here almost +exclusively; and it is the only object pursued, not through brake +and briar, but over rocks and waves; yet of what use would riches +be to me, I have sometimes asked myself, were I confined to live +in such in a spot? I could only relieve a few distressed +objects, perhaps render them idle, and all the rest of life would +be a blank.</p> +<p>My present journey has given fresh force to my opinion that no +place is so disagreeable and unimproving as a country town. +I should like to divide my time between the town and country; in +a lone house, with the business of farming and planting, where my +mind would gain strength by solitary musing, and in a metropolis +to rub off the rust of thought, and polish the taste which the +contemplation of nature had rendered just. Thus do we wish +as we float down the stream of life, whilst chance does more to +gratify a desire of knowledge than our best laid plans. A +degree of exertion, produced by some want, more or less painful, +is probably the price we must all pay for knowledge. How +few authors or artists have arrived at eminence who have not +lived by their employment?</p> +<p>I was interrupted yesterday by business, and was prevailed +upon to dine with the English vice-consul. His house being +open to the sea, I was more at large; and the hospitality of the +table pleased me, though the bottle was rather too freely pushed +about. Their manner of entertaining was such as I have +frequently remarked when I have been thrown in the way of people +without education, who have more money than wit—that is, +than they know what to do with. The women were unaffected, +but had not the natural grace which was often conspicuous at +Tonsberg. There was even a striking difference in their +dress, these having loaded themselves with finery in the style of +the sailors’ girls of Hull or Portsmouth. Taste has +not yet taught them to make any but an ostentatious display of +wealth. Yet I could perceive even here the first steps of +the improvement which I am persuaded will make a very obvious +progress in the course of half a century, and it ought not to be +sooner, to keep pace with the cultivation of the earth. +Improving manners will introduce finer moral feelings. They +begin to read translations of some of the most useful German +productions lately published, and one of our party sung a song +ridiculing the powers coalesced against France, and the company +drank confusion to those who had dismembered Poland.</p> +<p>The evening was extremely calm and beautiful. Not being +able to walk, I requested a boat as the only means of enjoying +free air.</p> +<p>The view of the town was now extremely fine. A huge +rocky mountain stood up behind it, and a vast cliff stretched on +each side, forming a semicircle. In a recess of the rocks +was a clump of pines, amongst which a steeple rose picturesquely +beautiful.</p> +<p>The churchyard is almost the only verdant spot in the +place. Here, indeed, friendship extends beyond the grave, +and to grant a sod of earth is to accord a favour. I should +rather choose, did it admit of a choice, to sleep in some of the +caves of the rocks, for I am become better reconciled to them +since I climbed their craggy sides last night, listening to the +finest echoes I ever heard. We had a French horn with us, +and there was an enchanting wildness in the dying away of the +reverberation that quickly transported me to Shakespeare’s +magic island. Spirits unseen seemed to walk abroad, and +flit from cliff to cliff to soothe my soul to peace.</p> +<p>I reluctantly returned to supper, to be shut up in a warm +room, only to view the vast shadows of the rocks extending on the +slumbering waves. I stood at the window some time before a +buzz filled the drawing-room, and now and then the dashing of a +solitary oar rendered the scene still more solemn.</p> +<p>Before I came here I could scarcely have imagined that a +simple object (rocks) could have admitted of so many interesting +combinations, always grand and often sublime. Good +night! God bless you!</p> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2>LETTER XII.</h2> +</div> +<p>I left East Rusoer the day before yesterday. The weather +was very fine; but so calm that we loitered on the water near +fourteen hours, only to make about six and twenty miles.</p> +<p>It seemed to me a sort of emancipation when we landed at +Helgeraac. The confinement which everywhere struck me +whilst sojourning amongst the rocks, made me hail the earth as a +land of promise; and the situation shone with fresh lustre from +the contrast—from appearing to be a free abode. Here +it was possible to travel by land—I never thought this a +comfort before—and my eyes, fatigued by the sparkling of +the sun on the water, now contentedly reposed on the green +expanse, half persuaded that such verdant meads had never till +then regaled them.</p> +<p>I rose early to pursue my journey to Tonsberg. The +country still wore a face of joy—and my soul was alive to +its charms. Leaving the most lofty and romantic of the +cliffs behind us, we were almost continually descending to +Tonsberg, through Elysian scenes; for not only the sea, but +mountains, rivers, lakes, and groves, gave an almost endless +variety to the prospect. The cottagers were still carrying +home the hay; and the cottages on this road looked very +comfortable. Peace and plenty—I mean not +abundance—seemed to reign around—still I grew sad as +I drew near my old abode. I was sorry to see the sun so +high; it was broad noon. Tonsberg was something like a +home—yet I was to enter without lighting up pleasure in any +eye. I dreaded the solitariness of my apartment, and wished +for night to hide the starting tears, or to shed them on my +pillow, and close my eyes on a world where I was destined to +wander alone. Why has nature so many charms for +me—calling forth and cherishing refined sentiments, only to +wound the breast that fosters them? How illusive, perhaps +the most so, are the plans of happiness founded on virtue and +principle; what inlets of misery do they not open in a +half-civilised society? The satisfaction arising from +conscious rectitude, will not calm an injured heart, when +tenderness is ever finding excuses; and self-applause is a cold +solitary feeling, that cannot supply the place of disappointed +affection, without throwing a gloom over every prospect, which, +banishing pleasure, does not exclude pain. I reasoned and +reasoned; but my heart was too full to allow me to remain in the +house, and I walked, till I was wearied out, to purchase +rest—or rather forgetfulness.</p> +<p>Employment has beguiled this day, and to-morrow I set out for +Moss, on my way to Stromstad. At Gothenburg I shall embrace +my Fannikin; probably she will not know me again—and I +shall be hurt if she do not. How childish is this! still it +is a natural feeling. I would not permit myself to indulge +the “thick coming fears” of fondness, whilst I was +detained by business. Yet I never saw a calf bounding in a +meadow, that did not remind me of my little frolicker. A +calf, you say. Yes; but a capital one I own.</p> +<p>I cannot write composedly—I am every instant sinking +into reveries—my heart flutters, I know not why. +Fool! It is time thou wert at rest.</p> +<p>Friendship and domestic happiness are continually praised; yet +how little is there of either in the world, because it requires +more cultivation of mind to keep awake affection, even in our own +hearts, than the common run of people suppose. Besides, few +like to be seen as they really are; and a degree of simplicity, +and of undisguised confidence, which, to uninterested observers, +would almost border on weakness, is the charm, nay the essence of +love or friendship, all the bewitching graces of childhood again +appearing. As objects merely to exercise my taste, I +therefore like to see people together who have an affection for +each other; every turn of their features touches me, and remains +pictured on my imagination in indelible characters. The +zest of novelty is, however, necessary to rouse the languid +sympathies which have been hackneyed in the world; as is the +factitious behaviour, falsely termed good-breeding, to amuse +those, who, defective in taste, continually rely for pleasure on +their animal spirits, which not being maintained by the +imagination, are unavoidably sooner exhausted than the sentiments +of the heart. Friendship is in general sincere at the +commencement, and lasts whilst there is anything to support it; +but as a mixture of novelty and vanity is the usual prop, no +wonder if it fall with the slender stay. The fop in the +play paid a greater compliment than he was aware of when he said +to a person, whom he meant to flatter, “I like you almost +as well as a <i>new acquaintance</i>.” Why am I +talking of friendship, after which I have had such a wild-goose +chase. I thought only of telling you that the crows, as +well as wild-geese, are here birds of passage.</p> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2>LETTER XIII.</h2> +</div> +<p>I left Tonsberg yesterday, the 22nd of August. It is +only twelve or thirteen English miles to Moss, through a country +less wild than any tract I had hitherto passed over in +Norway. It was often beautiful, but seldom afforded those +grand views which fill rather than soothe the mind.</p> +<p>We glided along the meadows and through the woods, with +sunbeams playing around us; and, though no castles adorned the +prospects, a greater number of comfortable farms met my eyes +during this ride than I have ever seen, in the same space, even +in the most cultivated part of England; and the very appearance +of the cottages of the labourers sprinkled amidst them excluded +all those gloomy ideas inspired by the contemplation of +poverty.</p> +<p>The hay was still bringing in, for one harvest in Norway +treads on the heels of the other. The woods were more +variegated, interspersed with shrubs. We no longer passed +through forests of vast pines stretching along with savage +magnificence. Forests that only exhibited the slow decay of +time or the devastation produced by warring elements. No; +oaks, ashes, beech, and all the light and graceful tenants of our +woods here sported luxuriantly. I had not observed many +oaks before, for the greater part of the oak-planks, I am +informed, come from the westward.</p> +<p>In France the farmers generally live in villages, which is a +great disadvantage to the country; but the Norwegian farmers, +always owning their farms or being tenants for life, reside in +the midst of them, allowing some labourers a dwelling rent free, +who have a little land appertaining to the cottage, not only for +a garden, but for crops of different kinds, such as rye, oats, +buck-wheat, hemp, flax, beans, potatoes, and hay, which are sown +in strips about it, reminding a stranger of the first attempts at +culture, when every family was obliged to be an independent +community.</p> +<p>These cottagers work at a certain price (tenpence per day) for +the farmers on whose ground they live, and they have spare time +enough to cultivate their own land and lay in a store of fish for +the winter. The wives and daughters spin and the husbands +and sons weave, so that they may fairly be reckoned independent, +having also a little money in hand to buy coffee, brandy and some +other superfluities.</p> +<p>The only thing I disliked was the military service, which +trammels them more than I at first imagined. It is true +that the militia is only called out once a year, yet in case of +war they have no alternative but must abandon their +families. Even the manufacturers are not exempted, though +the miners are, in order to encourage undertakings which require +a capital at the commencement. And, what appears more +tyrannical, the inhabitants of certain districts are appointed +for the land, others for the sea service. Consequently, a +peasant, born a soldier, is not permitted to follow his +inclination should it lead him to go to sea, a natural desire +near so many seaports.</p> +<p>In these regulations the arbitrary government—the King +of Denmark being the most absolute monarch in +Europe—appears, which in other respects seeks to hide +itself in a lenity that almost renders the laws nullities. +If any alteration of old customs is thought of, the opinion of +the old country is required and maturely considered. I have +several times had occasion to observe that, fearing to appear +tyrannical, laws are allowed to become obsolete which ought to be +put in force or better substituted in their stead; for this +mistaken moderation, which borders on timidity, favours the least +respectable part of the people.</p> +<p>I saw on my way not only good parsonage houses, but +comfortable dwellings, with glebe land for the clerk, always a +consequential man in every country, a being proud of a little +smattering of learning, to use the appropriate epithet, and vain +of the stiff good-breeding reflected from the vicar, though the +servility practised in his company gives it a peculiar cast.</p> +<p>The widow of the clergyman is allowed to receive the benefit +of the living for a twelvemonth after the death of the +incumbent.</p> +<p>Arriving at the ferry (the passage over to Moss is about six +or eight English miles) I saw the most level shore I had yet seen +in Norway. The appearance of the circumjacent country had +been preparing me for the change of scene which was to greet me +when I reached the coast. For the grand features of nature +had been dwindling into prettiness as I advanced; yet the rocks, +on a smaller scale, were finely wooded to the water’s +edge. Little art appeared, yet sublimity everywhere gave +place to elegance. The road had often assumed the +appearance of a gravelled one, made in pleasure-grounds; whilst +the trees excited only an idea of embellishment. Meadows, +like lawns, in an endless variety, displayed the careless graces +of nature; and the ripening corn gave a richness to the landscape +analogous with the other objects.</p> +<p>Never was a southern sky more beautiful, nor more soft its +gales. Indeed, I am led to conclude that the sweetest +summer in the world is the northern one, the vegetation being +quick and luxuriant the moment the earth is loosened from its icy +fetters and the bound streams regain their wonted activity. +The balance of happiness with respect to climate may be more +equal than I at first imagined; for the inhabitants describe with +warmth the pleasures of a winter at the thoughts of which I +shudder. Not only their parties of pleasure but of business +are reserved for this season, when they travel with astonishing +rapidity the most direct way, skimming over hedge and ditch.</p> +<p>On entering Moss I was struck by the animation which seemed to +result from industry. The richest of the inhabitants keep +shops, resembling in their manners and even the arrangement of +their houses the tradespeople of Yorkshire; with an air of more +independence, or rather consequence, from feeling themselves the +first people in the place. I had not time to see the +iron-works, belonging to Mr. Anker, of Christiania, a man of +fortune and enterprise; and I was not very anxious to see them +after having viewed those at Laurvig.</p> +<p>Here I met with an intelligent literary man, who was anxious +to gather information from me relative to the past and present +situation of France. The newspapers printed at Copenhagen, +as well as those in England, give the most exaggerated accounts +of their atrocities and distresses, but the former without any +apparent comments or inferences. Still the Norwegians, +though more connected with the English, speaking their language +and copying their manners, wish well to the Republican cause, and +follow with the most lively interest the successes of the French +arms. So determined were they, in fact, to excuse +everything, disgracing the struggle of freedom, by admitting the +tyrant’s plea, necessity, that I could hardly persuade them +that Robespierre was a monster.</p> +<p>The discussion of this subject is not so general as in +England, being confined to the few, the clergy and physicians, +with a small portion of people who have a literary turn and +leisure; the greater part of the inhabitants having a variety of +occupations, being owners of ships, shopkeepers, and farmers, +have employment enough at home. And their ambition to +become rich may tend to cultivate the common sense which +characterises and narrows both their hearts and views, confirming +the former to their families, taking the handmaids of it into the +circle of pleasure, if not of interest, and the latter to the +inspection of their workmen, including the noble science of +bargain-making—that is, getting everything at the cheapest, +and selling it at the dearest rate. I am now more than ever +convinced that it is an intercourse with men of science and +artists which not only diffuses taste, but gives that freedom to +the understanding without which I have seldom met with much +benevolence of character on a large scale.</p> +<p>Besides, though you do not hear of much pilfering and stealing +in Norway, yet they will, with a quiet conscience, buy things at +a price which must convince them they were stolen. I had an +opportunity of knowing that two or three reputable people had +purchased some articles of vagrants, who were detected. How +much of the virtue which appears in the world is put on for the +world? And how little dictated by self-respect?—so +little, that I am ready to repeat the old question, and ask, +Where is truth, or rather principle, to be found? These +are, perhaps, the vapourings of a heart ill at ease—the +effusions of a sensibility wounded almost to madness. But +enough of this; we will discuss the subject in another state of +existence, where truth and justice will reign. How cruel +are the injuries which make us quarrel with human nature! +At present black melancholy hovers round my footsteps; and sorrow +sheds a mildew over all the future prospects, which hope no +longer gilds.</p> +<p>A rainy morning prevented my enjoying the pleasure the view of +a picturesque country would have afforded me; for though this +road passed through a country a greater extent of which was under +cultivation than I had usually seen here, it nevertheless +retained all the wild charms of Norway. Rocks still +enclosed the valleys, the great sides of which enlivened their +verdure. Lakes appeared like branches of the sea, and +branches of the sea assumed the appearance of tranquil lakes; +whilst streamlets prattled amongst the pebbles and the broken +mass of stone which had rolled into them, giving fantastic turns +to the trees, the roots of which they bared.</p> +<p>It is not, in fact, surprising that the pine should be often +undermined; it shoots its fibres in such a horizontal direction, +merely on the surface of the earth, requiring only enough to +cover those that cling to the crags. Nothing proves to me +so clearly that it is the air which principally nourishes trees +and plants as the flourishing appearance of these pines. +The firs, demanding a deeper soil, are seldom seen in equal +health, or so numerous on the barren cliffs. They take +shelter in the crevices, or where, after some revolving ages, the +pines have prepared them a footing.</p> +<p>Approaching, or rather descending, to Christiania, though the +weather continued a little cloudy, my eyes were charmed with the +view of an extensive undulated valley, stretching out under the +shelter of a noble amphitheatre of pine-covered mountains. +Farm houses scattered about animated, nay, graced a scene which +still retained so much of its native wildness, that the art which +appeared seemed so necessary, it was scarcely perceived. +Cattle were grazing in the shaven meadows; and the lively green +on their swelling sides contrasted with the ripening corn and +rye. The corn that grew on the slopes had not, indeed, the +laughing luxuriance of plenty, which I have seen in more genial +climes. A fresh breeze swept across the grain, parting its +slender stalks, but the wheat did not wave its head with its +wonted careless dignity, as if nature had crowned it the king of +plants.</p> +<p>The view, immediately on the left, as we drove down the +mountain, was almost spoilt by the depredations committed on the +rocks to make alum. I do not know the process. I only +saw that the rocks looked red after they had been burnt, and +regretted that the operation should leave a quantity of rubbish +to introduce an image of human industry in the shape of +destruction. The situation of Christiania is certainly +uncommonly fine, and I never saw a bay that so forcibly gave me +an idea of a place of safety from the storms of the ocean; all +the surrounding objects were beautiful and even grand. But +neither the rocky mountains, nor the woods that graced them, +could be compared with the sublime prospects I had seen to the +westward; and as for the hills, “capped with <i>eternal</i> +snow,” Mr. Coxe’s description led me to look for +them, but they had flown, for I looked vainly around for this +noble background.</p> +<p>A few months ago the people of Christiania rose, exasperated +by the scarcity and consequent high price of grain. The +immediate cause was the shipping of some, said to be for Moss, +but which they suspected was only a pretext to send it out of the +country, and I am not sure that they were wrong in their +conjecture. Such are the tricks of trade. They threw +stones at Mr. Anker, the owner of it, as he rode out of town to +escape from their fury; they assembled about his house, and the +people demanded afterwards, with so much impetuosity, the liberty +of those who were taken up in consequence of the tumult, that the +Grand Bailiff thought it prudent to release them without further +altercation.</p> +<p>You may think me too severe on commerce, but from the manner +it is at present carried on little can be advanced in favour of a +pursuit that wears out the most sacred principles of humanity and +rectitude. What is speculation but a species of gambling, I +might have said fraud, in which address generally gains the +prize? I was led into these reflections when I heard of +some tricks practised by merchants, miscalled reputable, and +certainly men of property, during the present war, in which +common honesty was violated: damaged goods and provision having +been shipped for the express purpose of falling into the hands of +the English, who had pledged themselves to reimburse neutral +nations for the cargoes they seized; cannon also, sent back as +unfit for service, have been shipped as a good speculation, the +captain receiving orders to cruise about till he fell in with an +English frigate. Many individuals I believe have suffered +by the seizures of their vessels; still I am persuaded that the +English Government has been very much imposed upon in the charges +made by merchants who contrived to get their ships taken. +This censure is not confined to the Danes. Adieu, for the +present, I must take advantage of a moment of fine weather to +walk out and see the town.</p> +<p>At Christiania I met with that polite reception, which rather +characterises the progress of manners in the world, than of any +particular portion of it. The first evening of my arrival I +supped with some of the most fashionable people of the place, and +almost imagined myself in a circle of English ladies, so much did +they resemble them in manners, dress, and even in beauty; for the +fairest of my countrywomen would not have been sorry to rank with +the Grand Bailiff’s lady. There were several pretty +girls present, but she outshone them all, and, what interested me +still more, I could not avoid observing that in acquiring the +easy politeness which distinguishes people of quality, she had +preserved her Norwegian simplicity. There was, in fact, a +graceful timidity in her address, inexpressibly charming. +This surprised me a little, because her husband was quite a +Frenchman of the <i>ancien régime</i>, or rather a +courtier, the same kind of animal in every country.</p> +<p>Here I saw the cloven foot of despotism. I boasted to +you that they had no viceroy in Norway, but these Grand Bailiffs, +particularly the superior one, who resides at Christiania, are +political monsters of the same species. Needy sycophants +are provided for by their relations and connections at Copenhagen +as at other courts. And though the Norwegians are not in +the abject state of the Irish, yet this second-hand government is +still felt by their being deprived of several natural advantages +to benefit the domineering state.</p> +<p>The Grand Bailiffs are mostly noblemen from Copenhagen, who +act as men of common minds will always act in such +situations—aping a degree of courtly parade which clashes +with the independent character of a magistrate. Besides, +they have a degree of power over the country judges, which some +of them, who exercise a jurisdiction truly patriarchal most +painfully feel. I can scarcely say why, my friend, but in +this city thoughtfulness seemed to be sliding into melancholy or +rather dulness. The fire of fancy, which had been kept +alive in the country, was almost extinguished by reflections on +the ills that harass such a large portion of mankind. I +felt like a bird fluttering on the ground unable to mount, yet +unwilling to crawl tranquilly like a reptile, whilst still +conscious it had wings.</p> +<p>I walked out, for the open air is always my remedy when an +aching head proceeds from an oppressed heart. Chance +directed my steps towards the fortress, and the sight of the +slaves, working with chains on their legs, only served to +embitter me still more against the regulations of society, which +treated knaves in such a different manner, especially as there +was a degree of energy in some of their countenances which +unavoidably excited my attention, and almost created respect.</p> +<p>I wished to have seen, through an iron grate, the face of a +man who has been confined six years for having induced the +farmers to revolt against some impositions of the +Government. I could not obtain a clear account of the +affair, yet, as the complaint was against some farmers of taxes, +I am inclined to believe that it was not totally without +foundation. He must have possessed some eloquence, or have +had truth on his side; for the farmers rose by hundreds to +support him, and were very much exasperated at his imprisonment, +which will probably last for life, though he has sent several +very spirited remonstrances to the upper court, which makes the +judges so averse to giving a sentence which may be cavilled at, +that they take advantage of the glorious uncertainty of the law, +to protract a decision which is only to be regulated by reasons +of state.</p> +<p>The greater number of the slaves I saw here were not confined +for life. Their labour is not hard; and they work in the +open air, which prevents their constitutions from suffering by +imprisonment. Still, as they are allowed to associate +together, and boast of their dexterity, not only to each other +but to the soldiers around them, in the garrison; they commonly, +it is natural to conclude, go out more confirmed and more expert +knaves than when they entered.</p> +<p>It is not necessary to trace the origin of the association of +ideas which led me to think that the stars and gold keys, which +surrounded me the evening before, disgraced the wearers as much +as the fetters I was viewing—perhaps more. I even +began to investigate the reason, which led me to suspect that the +former produced the latter.</p> +<p>The Norwegians are extravagantly fond of courtly distinction, +and of titles, though they have no immunities annexed to them, +and are easily purchased. The proprietors of mines have +many privileges: they are almost exempt from taxes, and the +peasantry born on their estates, as well as those on the +counts’, are not born soldiers or sailors.</p> +<p>One distinction, or rather trophy of nobility, which might +have occurred to the Hottentots, amused me; it was a bunch of +hog’s bristles placed on the horses’ heads, +surmounting that part of the harness to which a round piece of +brass often dangles, fatiguing the eye with its idle motion.</p> +<p>From the fortress I returned to my lodging, and quickly was +taken out of town to be shown a pretty villa, and English +garden. To a Norwegian both might have been objects of +curiosity; and of use, by exciting to the comparison which leads +to improvement. But whilst I gazed, I was employed in +restoring the place to nature, or taste, by giving it the +character of the surrounding scene. Serpentine walks, and +flowering-shrubs, looked trifling in a grand recess of the rocks, +shaded by towering pines. Groves of smaller trees might +have been sheltered under them, which would have melted into the +landscape, displaying only the art which ought to point out the +vicinity of a human abode, furnished with some elegance. +But few people have sufficient taste to discern, that the art of +embellishing consists in interesting, not in astonishing.</p> +<p>Christiania is certainly very pleasantly situated, and the +environs I passed through, during this ride, afforded many fine +and cultivated prospects; but, excepting the first view +approaching to it, rarely present any combination of objects so +strikingly new, or picturesque, as to command remembrance. +Adieu!</p> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2>LETTER XIV.</h2> +</div> +<p>Christiania is a clean, neat city; but it has none of the +graces of architecture, which ought to keep pace with the +refining manners of a people—or the outside of the house +will disgrace the inside, giving the beholder an idea of +overgrown wealth devoid of taste. Large square wooden +houses offend the eye, displaying more than Gothic +barbarism. Huge Gothic piles, indeed, exhibit a +characteristic sublimity, and a wildness of fancy peculiar to the +period when they were erected; but size, without grandeur or +elegance, has an emphatical stamp of meanness, of poverty of +conception, which only a commercial spirit could give.</p> +<p>The same thought has struck me, when I have entered the +meeting-house of my respected friend, Dr. Price. I am +surprised that the dissenters, who have not laid aside all the +pomps and vanities of life, should imagine a noble pillar, or +arch, unhallowed. Whilst men have senses, whatever soothes +them lends wings to devotion; else why do the beauties of nature, +where all that charm them are spread around with a lavish hand, +force even the sorrowing heart to acknowledge that existence is a +blessing? and this acknowledgment is the most sublime homage we +can pay to the Deity.</p> +<p>The argument of convenience is absurd. Who would labour +for wealth, if it were to procure nothing but conveniences. +If we wish to render mankind moral from principle, we must, I am +persuaded, give a greater scope to the enjoyments of the senses +by blending taste with them. This has frequently occurred +to me since I have been in the north, and observed that there +sanguine characters always take refuge in drunkenness after the +fire of youth is spent.</p> +<p>But I have flown from Norway. To go back to the wooden +houses; farms constructed with logs, and even little villages, +here erected in the same simple manner, have appeared to me very +picturesque. In the more remote parts I had been +particularly pleased with many cottages situated close to a +brook, or bordering on a lake, with the whole farm +contiguous. As the family increases, a little more land is +cultivated; thus the country is obviously enriched by +population. Formerly the farmers might more justly have +been termed woodcutters. But now they find it necessary to +spare the woods a little, and this change will be universally +beneficial; for whilst they lived entirely by selling the trees +they felled, they did not pay sufficient attention to husbandry; +consequently, advanced very slowly in agricultural +knowledge. Necessity will in future more and more spur them +on; for the ground, cleared of wood, must be cultivated, or the +farm loses its value; there is no waiting for food till another +generation of pines be grown to maturity.</p> +<p>The people of property are very careful of their timber; and, +rambling through a forest near Tonsberg, belonging to the Count, +I have stopped to admire the appearance of some of the cottages +inhabited by a woodman’s family—a man employed to cut +down the wood necessary for the household and the estate. A +little lawn was cleared, on which several lofty trees were left +which nature had grouped, whilst the encircling firs sported with +wild grace. The dwelling was sheltered by the forest, noble +pines spreading their branches over the roof; and before the door +a cow, goat, nag, and children, seemed equally content with their +lot; and if contentment be all we can attain, it is, perhaps, +best secured by ignorance.</p> +<p>As I have been most delighted with the country parts of +Norway, I was sorry to leave Christiania without going farther to +the north, though the advancing season admonished me to depart, +as well as the calls of business and affection.</p> +<p>June and July are the months to make a tour through Norway; +for then the evenings and nights are the finest I have ever seen; +but towards the middle or latter end of August the clouds begin +to gather, and summer disappears almost before it has ripened the +fruit of autumn—even, as it were, slips from your embraces, +whilst the satisfied senses seem to rest in enjoyment.</p> +<p>You will ask, perhaps, why I wished to go farther +northward. Why? not only because the country, from all I +can gather, is most romantic, abounding in forests and lakes, and +the air pure, but I have heard much of the intelligence of the +inhabitants, substantial farmers, who have none of that cunning +to contaminate their simplicity, which displeased me so much in +the conduct of the people on the sea coast. A man who has +been detected in any dishonest act can no longer live among +them. He is universally shunned, and shame becomes the +severest punishment.</p> +<p>Such a contempt have they, in fact, for every species of +fraud, that they will not allow the people on the western coast +to be their countrymen; so much do they despise the arts for +which those traders who live on the rocks are notorious.</p> +<p>The description I received of them carried me back to the +fables of the golden age: independence and virtue; affluence +without vice; cultivation of mind, without depravity of heart; +with “ever smiling Liberty;” the nymph of the +mountain. I want faith!</p> +<p>My imagination hurries me forward to seek an asylum in such a +retreat from all the disappointments I am threatened with; but +reason drags me back, whispering that the world is still the +world, and man the same compound of weakness and folly, who must +occasionally excite love and disgust, admiration and +contempt. But this description, though it seems to have +been sketched by a fairy pencil, was given me by a man of sound +understanding, whose fancy seldom appears to run away with +him.</p> +<p>A law in Norway, termed the <i>odels right</i>, has lately +been modified, and probably will be abolished as an impediment to +commerce. The heir of an estate had the power of +re-purchasing it at the original purchase money, making allowance +for such improvements as were absolutely necessary, during the +space of twenty years. At present ten is the term allowed +for afterthought; and when the regulation was made, all the men +of abilities were invited to give their opinion whether it were +better to abrogate or modify it. It is certainly a +convenient and safe way of mortgaging land; yet the most rational +men whom I conversed with on the subject seemed convinced that +the right was more injurious than beneficial to society; still if +it contribute to keep the farms in the farmers’ own hands, +I should be sorry to hear that it were abolished.</p> +<p>The aristocracy in Norway, if we keep clear of Christiania, is +far from being formidable; and it will require a long time to +enable the merchants to attain a sufficient moneyed interest to +induce them to reinforce the upper class at the expense of the +yeomanry, with whom they are usually connected.</p> +<p>England and America owe their liberty to commerce, which +created new species of power to undermine the feudal +system. But let them beware of the consequence; the tyranny +of wealth is still more galling and debasing than that of +rank.</p> +<p>Farewell! I must prepare for my departure.</p> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2>LETTER XV.</h2> +</div> +<p>I left Christiania yesterday. The weather was not very +fine, and having been a little delayed on the road, I found that +it was too late to go round, a couple of miles, to see the +cascade near Fredericstadt, which I had determined to +visit. Besides, as Fredericstadt is a fortress, it was +necessary to arrive there before they shut the gate.</p> +<p>The road along the river is very romantic, though the views +are not grand; and the riches of Norway, its timber, floats +silently down the stream, often impeded in its course by islands +and little cataracts, the offspring, as it were, of the great one +I had frequently heard described.</p> +<p>I found an excellent inn at Fredericstadt, and was gratified +by the kind attention of the hostess, who, perceiving that my +clothes were wet, took great pains procure me, as a stranger, +every comfort for the night.</p> +<p>It had rained very hard, and we passed the ferry in the dark +without getting out of our carriage, which I think wrong, as the +horses are sometimes unruly. Fatigue and melancholy, +however, had made me regardless whether I went down or across the +stream, and I did not know that I was wet before the hostess +marked it. My imagination has never yet severed me from my +griefs, and my mind has seldom been so free as to allow my body +to be delicate.</p> +<p>How I am altered by disappointment! When going to +Lisbon, the elasticity of my mind was sufficient to ward off +weariness, and my imagination still could dip her brush in the +rainbow of fancy, and sketch futurity in glowing colours. +Now—but let me talk of something else—will you go +with me to the cascade?</p> +<p>The cross road to it was rugged and dreary; and though a +considerable extent of land was cultivated on all sides, yet the +rocks were entirely bare, which surprised me, as they were more +on a level with the surface than any I had yet seen. On +inquiry, however, I learnt that some years since a forest had +been burnt. This appearance of desolation was beyond +measure gloomy, inspiring emotions that sterility had never +produced. Fires of this kind are occasioned by the wind +suddenly rising when the farmers are burning roots of trees, +stalks of beans, &c., with which they manure the ground. +The devastation must, indeed, be terrible, when this, literally +speaking, wildfire, runs along the forest, flying from top to +top, and crackling amongst the branches. The soil, as well +as the trees, is swept away by the destructive torrent; and the +country, despoiled of beauty and riches, is left to mourn for +ages.</p> +<p>Admiring, as I do, these noble forests, which seem to bid +defiance to time, I looked with pain on the ridge of rocks that +stretched far beyond my eye, formerly crowned with the most +beautiful verdure.</p> +<p>I have often mentioned the grandeur, but I feel myself unequal +to the task of conveying an idea of the beauty and elegance of +the scene when the spiry tops of the pines are loaded with +ripening seed, and the sun gives a glow to their light-green +tinge, which is changing into purple, one tree more or less +advanced contrasted with another. The profusion with which +Nature has decked them with pendant honours, prevents all +surprise at seeing in every crevice some sapling struggling for +existence. Vast masses of stone are thus encircled, and +roots torn up by the storms become a shelter for a young +generation. The pine and fir woods, left entirely to +Nature, display an endless variety; and the paths in the woods +are not entangled with fallen leaves, which are only interesting +whilst they are fluttering between life and death. The grey +cobweb-like appearance of the aged pines is a much finer image of +decay; the fibres whitening as they lose their moisture, +imprisoned life seems to be stealing away. I cannot tell +why, but death, under every form, appears to me like something +getting free to expand in I know not what element—nay, I +feel that this conscious being must be as unfettered, have the +wings of thought, before it can be happy.</p> +<p>Reaching the cascade, or rather cataract, the roaring of which +had a long time announced its vicinity, my soul was hurried by +the falls into a new train of reflections. The impetuous +dashing of the rebounding torrent from the dark cavities which +mocked the exploring eye produced an equal activity in my +mind. My thoughts darted from earth to heaven, and I asked +myself why I was chained to life and its misery. Still the +tumultuous emotions this sublime object excited were pleasurable; +and, viewing it, my soul rose with renewed dignity above its +cares. Grasping at immortality—it seemed as +impossible to stop the current of my thoughts, as of the always +varying, still the same, torrent before me; I stretched out my +hand to eternity, bounding over the dark speck of life to +come.</p> +<p>We turned with regret from the cascade. On a little +hill, which commands the best view of it, several obelisks are +erected to commemorate the visits of different kings. The +appearance of the river above and below the falls is very +picturesque, the ruggedness of the scenery disappearing as the +torrent subsides into a peaceful stream. But I did not like +to see a number of saw-mills crowded together close to the +cataracts; they destroyed the harmony of the prospect.</p> +<p>The sight of a bridge erected across a deep valley, at a +little distance, inspired very dissimilar sensations. It +was most ingeniously supported by mast-like trunks, just stripped +of their branches; and logs, placed one across the other, +produced an appearance equally light and firm, seeming almost to +be built in the air when we were below it, the height taking from +the magnitude of the supporting trees give them a slender +graceful look.</p> +<p>There are two noble estates in this neighbourhood, the +proprietors of which seem to have caught more than their portion +of the enterprising spirit that is gone abroad. Many +agricultural experiments have been made, and the country appears +better enclosed and cultivated, yet the cottages had not the +comfortable aspect of those I had observed near Moss and to the +westward. Man is always debased by servitude of any +description, and here the peasantry are not entirely free. +Adieu!</p> +<p>I almost forgot to tell you that I did not leave Norway +without making some inquiries after the monsters said to have +been seen in the northern sea; but though I conversed with +several captains, I could not meet with one who had ever heard +any traditional description of them, much less had any ocular +demonstration of their existence. Till the fact is better +ascertained, I should think the account of them ought to be torn +out of our geographical grammars.</p> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2>LETTER XVI.</h2> +</div> +<p>I set out from Fredericstadt about three o’clock in the +afternoon, and expected to reach Stromstad before the night +closed in; but the wind dying away, the weather became so calm +that we scarcely made any perceptible advances towards the +opposite coast, though the men were fatigued with rowing.</p> +<p>Getting amongst the rocks and islands as the moon rose, and +the stars darted forward out of the clear expanse, I forgot that +the night stole on whilst indulging affectionate reveries, the +poetical fictions of sensibility; I was not, therefore, aware of +the length of time we had been toiling to reach Stromstad. +And when I began to look around, I did not perceive anything to +indicate that we were in its neighbourhood. So far from it, +that when I inquired of the pilot, who spoke a little English, I +found that he was only accustomed to coast along the Norwegian +shore; and had been only once across to Stromstad. But he +had brought with him a fellow better acquainted, he assured me, +with the rocks by which they were to steer our course, for we had +not a compass on board; yet, as he was half a fool, I had little +confidence in his skill. There was then great reason to +fear that we had lost our way, and were straying amidst a +labyrinth of rocks without a clue.</p> +<p>This was something like an adventure, but not of the most +agreeable cast; besides, I was impatient to arrive at Stromstad, +to be able to send forward that night a boy to order horses on +the road to be ready, for I was unwilling to remain there a day +without having anything to detain me from my little girl, and +from the letters which I was impatient to get from you.</p> +<p>I began to expostulate, and even to scold the pilot, for not +having informed me of his ignorance previous to my +departure. This made him row with more force, and we turned +round one rock only to see another, equally destitute of the +tokens we were in search of to tell us where we were. +Entering also into creek after creek which promised to be the +entrance of the bay we were seeking, we advanced merely to find +ourselves running aground.</p> +<p>The solitariness of the scene, as we glided under the dark +shadows of the rocks, pleased me for a while; but the fear of +passing the whole night thus wandering to and fro, and losing the +next day, roused me. I begged the pilot to return to one of +the largest islands, at the side of which we had seen a boat +moored. As we drew nearer, a light through a window on the +summit became our beacon; but we were farther off than I +supposed.</p> +<p>With some difficulty the pilot got on shore, not +distinguishing the landing-place; and I remained in the boat, +knowing that all the relief we could expect was a man to direct +us. After waiting some time, for there is an insensibility +in the very movements of these people that would weary more than +ordinary patience, he brought with him a man who, assisting them +to row, we landed at Stromstad a little after one in the +morning.</p> +<p>It was too late to send off a boy, but I did not go to bed +before I had made the arrangements necessary to enable me to set +out as early as possible.</p> +<p>The sun rose with splendour. My mind was too active to +allow me to loiter long in bed, though the horses did not arrive +till between seven and eight. However, as I wished to let +the boy, who went forward to order the horses, get considerably +the start of me, I bridled in my impatience.</p> +<p>This precaution was unavailing, for after the three first +posts I had to wait two hours, whilst the people at the +post-house went, fair and softly, to the farm, to bid them bring +up the horses which were carrying in the first-fruits of the +harvest. I discovered here that these sluggish peasants had +their share of cunning. Though they had made me pay for a +horse, the boy had gone on foot, and only arrived half an hour +before me. This disconcerted the whole arrangement of the +day; and being detained again three hours, I reluctantly +determined to sleep at Quistram, two posts short of Uddervalla, +where I had hoped to have arrived that night.</p> +<p>But when I reached Quistram I found I could not approach the +door of the inn for men, horses, and carts, cows, and pigs +huddled together. From the concourse of people I had met on +the road I conjectured that there was a fair in the +neighbourhood; this crowd convinced me that it was but too +true. The boisterous merriment that almost every instant +produced a quarrel, or made me dread one, with the clouds of +tobacco, and fumes of brandy, gave an infernal appearance to the +scene. There was everything to drive me back, nothing to +excite sympathy in a rude tumult of the senses, which I foresaw +would end in a gross debauch. What was to be done? No +bed was to be had, or even a quiet corner to retire to for a +moment; all was lost in noise, riot, and confusion.</p> +<p>After some debating they promised me horses, which were to go +on to Uddervalla, two stages. I requested something to eat +first, not having dined; and the hostess, whom I have mentioned +to you before as knowing how to take care of herself, brought me +a plate of fish, for which she charged a rix-dollar and a +half. This was making hay whilst the sun shone. I was +glad to get out of the uproar, though not disposed to travel in +an incommodious open carriage all night, had I thought that there +was any chance of getting horses.</p> +<p>Quitting Quistram I met a number of joyous groups, and though +the evening was fresh many were stretched on the grass like weary +cattle; and drunken men had fallen by the road-side. On a +rock, under the shade of lofty trees, a large party of men and +women had lighted a fire, cutting down fuel around to keep it +alive all night. They were drinking, smoking, and laughing +with all their might and main. I felt for the trees whose +torn branches strewed the ground. Hapless nymphs! your +haunts, I fear, were polluted by many an unhallowed flame, the +casual burst of the moment!</p> +<p>The horses went on very well; but when we drew near the +post-house the postillion stopped short and neither threats nor +promises could prevail on him to go forward. He even began +to howl and weep when I insisted on his keeping his word. +Nothing, indeed, can equal the stupid obstinacy of some of these +half-alive beings, who seem to have been made by Prometheus when +the fire he stole from Heaven was so exhausted that he could only +spare a spark to give life, not animation, to the inert clay.</p> +<p>It was some time before we could rouse anybody; and, as I +expected, horses, we were told, could not be had in less than +four or five hours. I again attempted to bribe the churlish +brute who brought us there, but I discovered that, in spite of +the courteous hostess’s promises, he had received orders +not to go any father.</p> +<p>As there was no remedy I entered, and was almost driven back +by the stench—a softer phrase would not have conveyed an +idea of the hot vapour that issued from an apartment in which +some eight or ten people were sleeping, not to reckon the cats +and dogs stretched on the floor. Two or three of the men or +women were on the benches, others on old chests; and one figure +started half out of a trunk to look at me, whom might have taken +for a ghost, had the chemise been white, to contrast with the +sallow visage. But the costume of apparitions not being +preserved I passed, nothing dreading, excepting the effluvia, +warily amongst the pots, pans, milk-pails, and +washing-tubs. After scaling a ruinous staircase I was shown +a bed-chamber. The bed did not invite me to enter; opening, +therefore, the window, and taking some clean towels out of my +night-sack, I spread them over the coverlid, on which tired +Nature found repose, in spite of the previous disgust.</p> +<p>With the grey of the morn the birds awoke me; and descending +to inquire for the horses, I hastened through the apartment I +have already described, not wishing to associate the idea of a +pigstye with that of a human dwelling.</p> +<p>I do not now wonder that the girls lose their fine complexions +at such an early age, or that love here is merely an appetite to +fulfil the main design of Nature, never enlivened by either +affection or sentiment.</p> +<p>For a few posts we found the horses waiting; but afterwards I +was retarded, as before, by the peasants, who, taking advantage +of my ignorance of the language, made me pay for the fourth horse +that ought to have gone forward to have the others in readiness, +though it had never been sent. I was particularly impatient +at the last post, as I longed to assure myself that my child was +well.</p> +<p>My impatience, however, did not prevent my enjoying the +journey. I had six weeks before passed over the same +ground; still it had sufficient novelty to attract my attention, +and beguile, if not banish, the sorrow that had taken up its +abode in my heart. How interesting are the varied beauties +of Nature, and what peculiar charms characterise each +season! The purple hue which the heath now assumed gave it +a degree of richness that almost exceeded the lustre of the young +green of spring, and harmonised exquisitely with the rays of the +ripening corn. The weather was uninterruptedly fine, and +the people busy in the fields cutting down the corn, or binding +up the sheaves, continually varied the prospect. The rocks, +it is true, were unusually rugged and dreary; yet as the road +runs for a considerable way by the side of a fine river, with +extended pastures on the other side, the image of sterility was +not the predominant object, though the cottages looked still more +miserable, after having seen the Norwegian farms. The trees +likewise appeared of me growth of yesterday, compared with those +Nestors of the forest I have frequently mentioned. The +women and children were cutting off branches from the beech, +birch, oak, &c., and leaving them to dry. This way of +helping out their fodder injures the trees. But the winters +are so long that the poor cannot afford to lay in a sufficient +stock of hay. By such means they just keep life in the poor +cows, for little milk can be expected when they are so miserably +fed.</p> +<p>It was Saturday, and the evening was uncommonly serene. +In the villages I everywhere saw preparations for Sunday; and I +passed by a little car loaded with rye, that presented, for the +pencil and heart, the sweetest picture of a harvest home I had +ever beheld. A little girl was mounted a-straddle on a +shaggy horse, brandishing a stick over its head; the father was +walking at the side of the car with a child in his arms, who must +have come to meet him with tottering steps; the little creature +was stretching out its arms to cling round his neck; and a boy, +just above petticoats, was labouring hard with a fork behind to +keep the sheaves from falling.</p> +<p>My eyes followed them to the cottage, and an involuntary sigh +whispered to my heart that I envied the mother, much as I dislike +cooking, who was preparing their pottage. I was returning +to my babe, who may never experience a father’s care or +tenderness. The bosom that nurtured her heaved with a pang +at the thought which only an unhappy mother could feel.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">Adieu!</p> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2>LETTER XVII.</h2> +</div> +<p>I was unwilling to leave Gothenburg without visiting +Trolhættæ. I wished not only to see the +cascade, but to observe the progress of the stupendous attempt to +form a canal through the rocks, to the extent of an English mile +and a half.</p> +<p>This work is carried on by a company, who employ daily nine +hundred men; five years was the time mentioned in the proposals +addressed to the public as necessary for the completion. A +much more considerable sum than the plan requires has been +subscribed, for which there is every reason to suppose the +promoters will receive ample interest.</p> +<p>The Danes survey the progress of this work with a jealous eye, +as it is principally undertaken to get clear of the Sound +duty.</p> +<p>Arrived at Trolhættæ, I must own that the first +view of the cascade disappointed me; and the sight of the works, +as they advanced, though a grand proof of human industry, was not +calculated to warm the fancy. I, however, wandered about; +and at last coming to the conflux of the various cataracts +rushing from different falls, struggling with the huge masses of +rock, and rebounding from the profound cavities, I immediately +retracted, acknowledging that it was indeed a grand object. +A little island stood in the midst, covered with firs, which, by +dividing the torrent, rendered it more picturesque; one half +appearing to issue from a dark cavern, that fancy might easily +imagine a vast fountain throwing up its waters from the very +centre of the earth.</p> +<p>I gazed I know not how long, stunned with the noise, and +growing giddy with only looking at the never-ceasing tumultuous +motion, I listened, scarcely conscious where I was, when I +observed a boy, half obscured by the sparkling foam, fishing +under the impending rock on the other side. How he had +descended I could not perceive; nothing like human footsteps +appeared, and the horrific crags seemed to bid defiance even to +the goat’s activity. It looked like an abode only fit +for the eagle, though in its crevices some pines darted up their +spiral heads; but they only grew near the cascade, everywhere +else sterility itself reigned with dreary grandeur; for the huge +grey massy rocks, which probably had been torn asunder by some +dreadful convulsion of nature, had not even their first covering +of a little cleaving moss. There were so many appearances +to excite the idea of chaos, that, instead of admiring the canal +and the works, great as they are termed, and little as they +appear, I could not help regretting that such a noble scene had +not been left in all its solitary sublimity. Amidst the +awful roaring of the impetuous torrents, the noise of human +instruments and the bustle of workmen, even the blowing up of the +rocks when grand masses trembled in the darkened air, only +resembled the insignificant sport of children.</p> +<p>One fall of water, partly made by art, when they were +attempting to construct sluices, had an uncommonly grand effect; +the water precipitated itself with immense velocity down a +perpendicular, at least fifty or sixty yards, into a gulf, so +concealed by the foam as to give full play to the fancy. +There was a continual uproar. I stood on a rock to observe +it, a kind of bridge formed by nature, nearly on a level with the +commencement of the fall. After musing by it a long time I +turned towards the other side, and saw a gentle stream stray +calmly out. I should have concluded that it had no +communication with the torrent had I not seen a huge log that +fell headlong down the cascade steal peacefully into the purling +stream.</p> +<p>I retired from these wild scenes with regret to a miserable +inn, and next morning returned to Gothenburg, to prepare for my +journey to Copenhagen.</p> +<p>I was sorry to leave Gothenburg without travelling farther +into Sweden, yet I imagine I should only have seen a romantic +country thinly inhabited, and these inhabitants struggling with +poverty. The Norwegian peasantry, mostly independent, have +a rough kind of frankness in their manner; but the Swedish, +rendered more abject by misery, have a degree of politeness in +their address which, though it may sometimes border on +insincerity, is oftener the effect of a broken spirit, rather +softened than degraded by wretchedness.</p> +<p>In Norway there are no notes in circulation of less value than +a Swedish rix-dollar. A small silver coin, commonly not +worth more than a penny, and never more than twopence, serves for +change; but in Sweden they have notes as low as sixpence. I +never saw any silver pieces there, and could not without +difficulty, and giving a premium, obtain the value of a +rix-dollar in a large copper coin to give away on the road to the +poor who open the gates.</p> +<p>As another proof of the poverty of Sweden, I ought to mention +that foreign merchants who have acquired a fortune there are +obliged to deposit the sixth part when they leave the +kingdom. This law, you may suppose, is frequently +evaded.</p> +<p>In fact, the laws here, as well as in Norway, are so relaxed +that they rather favour than restrain knavery.</p> +<p>Whilst I was at Gothenburg, a man who had been confined for +breaking open his master’s desk and running away with five +or six thousand rix-dollars, was only sentenced to forty +days’ confinement on bread and water; and this slight +punishment his relations rendered nugatory by supplying him with +more savoury food.</p> +<p>The Swedes are in general attached to their families, yet a +divorce may be obtained by either party on proving the infidelity +of the other or acknowledging it themselves. The women do +not often recur to this equal privilege, for they either +retaliate on their husbands by following their own devices or +sink into the merest domestic drudges, worn down by tyranny to +servile submission. Do not term me severe if I add, that +after youth is flown the husband becomes a sot, and the wife +amuses herself by scolding her servants. In fact, what is +to be expected in any country where taste and cultivation of mind +do not supply the place of youthful beauty and animal +spirits? Affection requires a firmer foundation than +sympathy, and few people have a principle of action sufficiently +stable to produce rectitude of feeling; for in spite of all the +arguments I have heard to justify deviations from duty, I am +persuaded that even the most spontaneous sensations are more +under the direction of principle than weak people are willing to +allow.</p> +<p>But adieu to moralising. I have been writing these last +sheets at an inn in Elsineur, where I am waiting for horses; and +as they are not yet ready, I will give you a short account of my +journey from Gothenburg, for I set out the morning after I +returned from Trolhættæ.</p> +<p>The country during the first day’s journey presented a +most barren appearance, as rocky, yet not so picturesque as +Norway, because on a diminutive scale. We stopped to sleep +at a tolerable inn in Falckersberg, a decent little town.</p> +<p>The next day beeches and oaks began to grace the prospects, +the sea every now and then appearing to give them dignity. +I could not avoid observing also, that even in this part of +Sweden, one of the most sterile, as I was informed, there was +more ground under cultivation than in Norway. Plains of +varied crops stretched out to a considerable extent, and sloped +down to the shore, no longer terrific. And, as far as I +could judge, from glancing my eye over the country as we drove +along, agriculture was in a more advanced state, though in the +habitations a greater appearance of poverty still remained. +The cottages, indeed, often looked most uncomfortable, but never +so miserable as those I had remarked on the road to Stromstad, +and the towns were equal, if not superior, to many of the little +towns in Wales, or some I have passed through in my way from +Calais to Paris.</p> +<p>The inns as we advanced were not to be complained of, unless I +had always thought of England. The people were civil, and +much more moderate in their demands than the Norwegians, +particularly to the westward, where they boldly charge for what +you never had, and seem to consider you, as they do a wreck, if +not as lawful prey, yet as a lucky chance, which they ought not +to neglect to seize.</p> +<p>The prospect of Elsineur, as we passed the Sound, was +pleasant. I gave three rix-dollars for my boat, including +something to drink. I mention the sum, because they impose +on strangers.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">Adieu! till I arrive at +Copenhagen.</p> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2>LETTER XVIII.—COPENHAGEN.</h2> +</div> +<p>The distance from Elsineur to Copenhagen is twenty-two miles; +the road is very good, over a flat country diversified with wood, +mostly beech, and decent mansions. There appeared to be a +great quantity of corn land, and the soil looked much more +fertile than it is in general so near the sea. The rising +grounds, indeed, were very few, and around Copenhagen it is a +perfect plain; of course has nothing to recommend it but +cultivation, not decorations. If I say that the houses did +not disgust me, I tell you all I remember of them, for I cannot +recollect any pleasurable sensations they excited, or that any +object, produced by nature or art, took me out of myself. +The view of the city, as we drew near, was rather grand, but +without any striking feature to interest the imagination, +excepting the trees which shade the footpaths.</p> +<p>Just before I reached Copenhagen I saw a number of tents on a +wide plain, and supposed that the rage for encampments had +reached this city; but I soon discovered that they were the +asylum of many of the poor families who had been driven out of +their habitations by the late fire.</p> +<p>Entering soon after, I passed amongst the dust and rubbish it +had left, affrighted by viewing the extent of the devastation, +for at least a quarter of the city had been destroyed. +There was little in the appearance of fallen bricks and stacks of +chimneys to allure the imagination into soothing melancholy +reveries; nothing to attract the eye of taste, but much to +afflict the benevolent heart. The depredations of time have +always something in them to employ the fancy, or lead to musing +on subjects which, withdrawing the mind from objects of sense, +seem to give it new dignity; but here I was treading on live +ashes. The sufferers were still under the pressure of the +misery occasioned by this dreadful conflagration. I could +not take refuge in the thought: they suffered, but they are no +more! a reflection I frequently summon to calm my mind when +sympathy rises to anguish. I therefore desired the driver +to hasten to the hotel recommended to me, that I might avert my +eyes and snap the train of thinking which had sent me into all +the corners of the city in search of houseless heads.</p> +<p>This morning I have been walking round the town, till I am +weary of observing the ravages. I had often heard the +Danes, even those who had seen Paris and London, speak of +Copenhagen with rapture. Certainly I have seen it in a very +disadvantageous light, some of the best streets having been +burnt, and the whole place thrown into confusion. Still the +utmost that can, or could ever, I believe, have been said in its +praise, might be comprised in a few words. The streets are +open, and many of the houses large; but I saw nothing to rouse +the idea of elegance or grandeur, if I except the circus where +the king and prince royal reside.</p> +<p>The palace, which was consumed about two years ago, must have +been a handsome, spacious building; the stone-work is still +standing, and a great number of the poor, during the late fire, +took refuge in its ruins till they could find some other +abode. Beds were thrown on the landing-places of the grand +staircase, where whole families crept from the cold, and every +little nook is boarded up as a retreat for some poor creatures +deprived of their home. At present a roof may be sufficient +to shelter them from the night air; but as the season advances, +the extent of the calamity will be more severely felt, I fear, +though the exertions on the part of Government are very +considerable. Private charity has also, no doubt, done much +to alleviate the misery which obtrudes itself at every turn; +still, public spirit appears to me to be hardly alive here. +Had it existed, the conflagration might have been smothered in +the beginning, as it was at last, by tearing down several houses +before the flames had reached them. To this the inhabitants +would not consent; and the prince royal not having sufficient +energy of character to know when he ought to be absolute, calmly +let them pursue their own course, till the whole city seemed to +be threatened with destruction. Adhering, with puerile +scrupulosity, to the law which he has imposed on himself, of +acting exactly right, he did wrong by idly lamenting whilst he +marked the progress of a mischief that one decided step would +have stopped. He was afterwards obliged to resort to +violent measures; but then, who could blame him? And, to +avoid censure, what sacrifices are not made by weak minds?</p> +<p>A gentleman who was a witness of the scene assured me, +likewise, that if the people of property had taken half as much +pains to extinguish the fire as to preserve their valuables and +furniture, it would soon have been got under. But they who +were not immediately in danger did not exert themselves +sufficiently, till fear, like an electrical shock, roused all the +inhabitants to a sense of the general evil. Even the +fire-engines were out of order, though the burning of the palace +ought to have admonished them of the necessity of keeping them in +constant repair. But this kind of indolence respecting what +does not immediately concern them seems to characterise the +Danes. A sluggish concentration in themselves makes them so +careful to preserve their property, that they will not venture on +any enterprise to increase it in which there is a shadow of +hazard.</p> +<p>Considering Copenhagen as the capital of Denmark and Norway, I +was surprised not to see so much industry or taste as in +Christiania. Indeed, from everything I have had an +opportunity of observing, the Danes are the people who have made +the fewest sacrifices to the graces.</p> +<p>The men of business are domestic tyrants, coldly immersed in +their own affairs, and so ignorant of the state of other +countries, that they dogmatically assert that Denmark is the +happiest country in the world; the Prince Royal the best of all +possible princes; and Count Bernstorff the wisest of +ministers.</p> +<p>As for the women, they are simply notable housewives; without +accomplishments or any of the charms that adorn more advanced +social life. This total ignorance may enable them to save +something in their kitchens, but it is far from rendering them +better parents. On the contrary, the children are spoiled, +as they usually are when left to the care of weak, indulgent +mothers, who having no principle of action to regulate their +feelings, become the slaves of infants, enfeebling both body and +mind by false tenderness.</p> +<p>I am, perhaps, a little prejudiced, as I write from the +impression of the moment; for I have been tormented to-day by the +presence of unruly children, and made angry by some invectives +thrown out against the maternal character of the unfortunate +Matilda. She was censured, with the most cruel insinuation, +for her management of her son, though, from what I could gather, +she gave proofs of good sense as well as tenderness in her +attention to him. She used to bathe him herself every +morning; insisted on his being loosely clad; and would not permit +his attendants to injure his digestion by humouring his +appetite. She was equally careful to prevent his acquiring +haughty airs, and playing the tyrant in leading-strings. +The Queen Dowager would not permit her to suckle him; but the +next child being a daughter, and not the Heir-Apparent of the +Crown, less opposition was made to her discharging the duty of a +mother.</p> +<p>Poor Matilda! thou hast haunted me ever since may arrival; and +the view I have had of the manners of the country, exciting my +sympathy, has increased my respect for thy memory.</p> +<p>I am now fully convinced that she was the victim of the party +she displaced, who would have overlooked or encouraged her +attachment, had not her lover, aiming at being useful, attempted +to overturn some established abuses before the people, ripe for +the change, had sufficient spirit to support him when struggling +in their behalf. Such indeed was the asperity sharpened +against her that I have heard her, even after so many years have +elapsed, charged with licentiousness, not only for endeavouring +to render the public amusements more elegant, but for her very +charities, because she erected, amongst other institutions, a +hospital to receive foundlings. Disgusted with many customs +which pass for virtues, though they are nothing more than +observances of forms, often at the expense of truth, she probably +ran into an error common to innovators, in wishing to do +immediately what can only be done by time.</p> +<p>Many very cogent reasons have been urged by her friends to +prove that her affection for Struensee was never carried to the +length alleged against her by those who feared her +influence. Be that as it may she certainly was no a woman +of gallantry, and if she had an attachment for him it did not +disgrace her heart or understanding, the king being a notorious +debauchee and an idiot into the bargain. As the +king’s conduct had always been directed by some favourite, +they also endeavoured to govern him, from a principle of +self-preservation as well as a laudable ambition; but, not aware +of the prejudices they had to encounter, the system they adopted +displayed more benevolence of heart than soundness of +judgment. As to the charge, still believed, of their giving +the King drugs to injure his faculties, it is too absurd to be +refuted. Their oppressors had better have accused them of +dabbling in the black art, for the potent spell still keeps his +wits in bondage.</p> +<p>I cannot describe to you the effect it had on me to see this +puppet of a monarch moved by the strings which Count Bernstorff +holds fast; sit, with vacant eye, erect, receiving the homage of +courtiers who mock him with a show of respect. He is, in +fact, merely a machine of state, to subscribe the name of a king +to the acts of the Government, which, to avoid danger, have no +value unless countersigned by the Prince Royal; for he is allowed +to be absolutely an idiot, excepting that now and then an +observation or trick escapes him, which looks more like madness +than imbecility.</p> +<p>What a farce is life. This effigy of majesty is allowed +to burn down to the socket, whilst the hapless Matilda was +hurried into an untimely grave.</p> +<blockquote><p>“As flies to wanton boys, are we to the +gods;<br /> +They kill us for their sport.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p style="text-align: right">Adieu!</p> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2>LETTER XIX.</h2> +</div> +<p>Business having obliged me to go a few miles out of town this +morning I was surprised at meeting a crowd of people of every +description, and inquiring the cause of a servant, who spoke +French, I was informed that a man had been executed two hours +before, and the body afterwards burnt. I could not help +looking with horror around—the fields lost their +verdure—and I turned with disgust from the well-dressed +women who were returning with their children from this +sight. What a spectacle for humanity! The seeing such +a flock of idle gazers plunged me into a train of reflections on +the pernicious effects produced by false notions of +justice. And I am persuaded that till capital punishments +are entirely abolished executions ought to have every appearance +of horror given to them, instead of being, as they are now, a +scene of amusement for the gaping crowd, where sympathy is +quickly effaced by curiosity.</p> +<p>I have always been of opinion that the allowing actors to die +in the presence of the audience has an immoral tendency, but +trifling when compared with the ferocity acquired by viewing the +reality as a show; for it seems to me that in all countries the +common people go to executions to see how the poor wretch plays +his part, rather than to commiserate his fate, much less to think +of the breach of morality which has brought him to such a +deplorable end. Consequently executions, far from being +useful examples to the survivors, have, I am persuaded, a quite +contrary effect, by hardening the heart they ought to +terrify. Besides the fear of an ignominious death, I +believe, never deferred anyone from the commission of a crime, +because, in committing it, the mind is roused to activity about +present circumstances. It is a game at hazard, at which all +expect the turn of the die in their own favour, never reflecting +on the chance of ruin till it comes. In fact, from what I +saw in the fortresses of Norway, I am more and more convinced +that the same energy of character which renders a man a daring +villain would have rendered him useful to society, had that +society been well organised. When a strong mind is not +disciplined by cultivation it is a sense of injustice that +renders it unjust.</p> +<p>Executions, however, occur very rarely at Copenhagen; for +timidity, rather than clemency, palsies all the operations of the +present Government. The malefactor who died this morning +would not, probably, have been punished with death at any other +period; but an incendiary excites universal execration; and as +the greater part of the inhabitants are still distressed by the +late conflagration, an example was thought absolutely necessary; +though, from what I can gather, the fire was accidental.</p> +<p>Not, but that I have very seriously been informed, that +combustible materials were placed at proper distance, by the +emissaries of Mr. Pitt; and, to corroborate the fact, many people +insist that the flames burst out at once in different parts of +the city; not allowing the wind to have any hand in it. So +much for the plot. But the fabricators of plots in all +countries build their conjectures on the “baseless fabric +of a vision;” and it seems even a sort of poetical justice, +that whilst this Minister is crushing at home plots of his own +conjuring up, on the Continent, and in the north, he should, with +as little foundation, be accused of wishing to set the world on +fire.</p> +<p>I forgot to mention to you, that I was informed, by a man of +veracity, that two persons came to the stake to drink a glass of +the criminal’s blood, as an infallible remedy for the +apoplexy. And when I animadverted in the company, where it +was mentioned, on such a horrible violation of nature, a Danish +lady reproved me very severely, asking how I knew that it was not +a cure for the disease? adding, that every attempt was +justifiable in search of health. I did not, you may +imagine, enter into an argument with a person the slave of such a +gross prejudice. And I allude to it not only as a trait of +the ignorance of the people, but to censure the Government for +not preventing scenes that throw an odium on the human race.</p> +<p>Empiricism is not peculiar to Denmark; and I know no way of +rooting it out, though it be a remnant of exploded witchcraft, +till the acquiring a general knowledge of the component parts of +the human frame becomes a part of public education.</p> +<p>Since the fire, the inhabitants have been very assiduously +employed in searching for property secreted during the confusion; +and it is astonishing how many people, formerly termed reputable, +had availed themselves of the common calamity to purloin what the +flames spared. Others, expert at making a distinction +without a difference, concealed what they found, not troubling +themselves to inquire for the owners, though they scrupled to +search for plunder anywhere, but amongst the ruins.</p> +<p>To be honester than the laws require is by most people thought +a work of supererogation; and to slip through the grate of the +law has ever exercised the abilities of adventurers, who wish to +get rich the shortest way. Knavery without personal danger +is an art brought to great perfection by the statesman and +swindler; and meaner knaves are not tardy in following their +footsteps.</p> +<p>It moves my gall to discover some of the commercial frauds +practised during the present war. In short, under whatever +point of view I consider society, it appears to me that an +adoration of property is the root of all evil. Here it does +not render the people enterprising, as in America, but thrifty +and cautious. I never, therefore, was in a capital where +there was so little appearance of active industry; and as for +gaiety, I looked in vain for the sprightly gait of the +Norwegians, who in every respect appear to me to have got the +start of them. This difference I attribute to their having +more liberty—a liberty which they think their right by +inheritance, whilst the Danes, when they boast of their negative +happiness, always mention it as the boon of the Prince Royal, +under the superintending wisdom of Count Bernstorff. +Vassalage is nevertheless ceasing throughout the kingdom, and +with it will pass away that sordid avarice which every +modification of slavery is calculated to produce.</p> +<p>If the chief use of property be power, in the shape of the +respect it procures, is it not among the inconsistencies of human +nature most incomprehensible, that men should find a pleasure in +hoarding up property which they steal from their necessities, +even when they are convinced that it would be dangerous to +display such an enviable superiority? Is not this the +situation of serfs in every country. Yet a rapacity to +accumulate money seems to become stronger in proportion as it is +allowed to be useless.</p> +<p>Wealth does not appear to be sought for amongst the Danes, to +obtain the excellent luxuries of life, for a want of taste is +very conspicuous at Copenhagen; so much so that I am not +surprised to hear that poor Matilda offended the rigid Lutherans +by aiming to refine their pleasures. The elegance which she +wished to introduce was termed lasciviousness; yet I do not find +that the absence of gallantry renders the wives more chaste, or +the husbands more constant. Love here seems to corrupt the +morals without polishing the manners, by banishing confidence and +truth, the charm as well as cement of domestic life. A +gentleman, who has resided in this city some time, assures me +that he could not find language to give me an idea of the gross +debaucheries into which the lower order of people fall; and the +promiscuous amours of the men of the middling class with their +female servants debase both beyond measure, weakening every +species of family affection.</p> +<p>I have everywhere been struck by one characteristic difference +in the conduct of the two sexes; women, in general, are seduced +by their superiors, and men jilted by their inferiors: rank and +manners awe the one, and cunning and wantonness subjugate the +other; ambition creeping into the woman’s passion, and +tyranny giving force to the man’s, for most men treat their +mistresses as kings do their favourites: <i>ergo</i> is not man +then the tyrant of the creation?</p> +<p>Still harping on the same subject, you will exclaim—How +can I avoid it, when most of the struggles of an eventful life +have been occasioned by the oppressed state of my sex? We +reason deeply when we feel forcibly.</p> +<p>But to return to the straight road of observation. The +sensuality so prevalent appears to me to arise rather from +indolence of mind and dull senses, than from an exuberance of +life, which often fructifies the whole character when the +vivacity of youthful spirits begins to subside into strength of +mind.</p> +<p>I have before mentioned that the men are domestic tyrants, +considering them as fathers, brothers, or husbands; but there is +a kind of interregnum between the reign of the father and husband +which is the only period of freedom and pleasure that the women +enjoy. Young people who are attached to each other, with +the consent of their friends, exchange rings, and are permitted +to enjoy a degree of liberty together which I have never noticed +in any other country. The days of courtship are, therefore, +prolonged till it be perfectly convenient to marry: the intimacy +often becomes very tender; and if the lover obtain the privilege +of a husband, it can only be termed half by stealth, because the +family is wilfully blind. It happens very rarely that these +honorary engagements are dissolved or disregarded, a stigma being +attached to a breach of faith which is thought more disgraceful, +if not so criminal, as the violation of the marriage-vow.</p> +<p>Do not forget that, in my general observations, I do not +pretend to sketch a national character, but merely to note the +present state of morals and manners as I trace the progress of +the world’s improvement. Because, during my residence +in different countries, my principal object has been to take such +a dispassionate view of men as will lead me to form a just idea +of the nature of man. And, to deal ingenuously with you, I +believe I should have been less severe in the remarks I have made +on the vanity and depravity of the French, had I travelled +towards the north before I visited France.</p> +<p>The interesting picture frequently drawn of the virtues of a +rising people has, I fear, been fallacious, excepting the +accounts of the enthusiasm which various public struggles have +produced. We talk of the depravity of the French, and lay a +stress on the old age of the nation; yet where has more virtuous +enthusiasm been displayed than during the two last years by the +common people of France, and in their armies? I am obliged +sometimes to recollect the numberless instances which I have +either witnessed, or heard well authenticated, to balance the +account of horrors, alas! but too true. I am, therefore, +inclined to believe that the gross vices which I have always seem +allied with simplicity of manners, are the concomitants of +ignorance.</p> +<p>What, for example, has piety, under the heathen or Christian +system, been, but a blind faith in things contrary to the +principles of reason? And could poor reason make +considerable advances when it was reckoned the highest degree of +virtue to do violence to its dictates? Lutherans, preaching +reformation, have built a reputation for sanctity on the same +foundation as the Catholics; yet I do not perceive that a regular +attendance on public worship, and their other observances, make +them a whit more true in their affections, or honest in their +private transactions. It seems, indeed, quite as easy to +prevaricate with religious injunctions as human laws, when the +exercise of their reason does not lead people to acquire +principles for themselves to be the criterion of all those they +receive from others.</p> +<p>If travelling, as the completion of a liberal education, were +to be adopted on rational grounds, the northern states ought to +be visited before the more polished parts of Europe, to serve as +the elements even of the knowledge of manners, only to be +acquired by tracing the various shades in different +countries. But, when visiting distant climes, a momentary +social sympathy should not be allowed to influence the +conclusions of the understanding, for hospitality too frequently +leads travellers, especially those who travel in search of +pleasure, to make a false estimate of the virtues of a nation, +which, I am now convinced, bear an exact proportion to their +scientific improvements.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">Adieu.</p> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2>LETTER XX.</h2> +</div> +<p>I have formerly censured the French for their extreme +attachment to theatrical exhibitions, because I thought that they +tended to render them vain and unnatural characters; but I must +acknowledge, especially as women of the town never appear in the +Parisian as at our theatres, that the little saving of the week +is more usefully expended there every Sunday than in porter or +brandy, to intoxicate or stupify the mind. The common +people of France have a great superiority over that class in +every other country on this very score. It is merely the +sobriety of the Parisians which renders their fêtes more +interesting, their gaiety never becoming disgusting or dangerous, +as is always the case when liquor circulates. Intoxication +is the pleasure of savages, and of all those whose employments +rather exhaust their animal spirits than exercise their +faculties. Is not this, in fact, the vice, both in England +and the northern states of Europe, which appears to be the +greatest impediment to general improvement? Drinking is +here the principal relaxation of the men, including smoking, but +the women are very abstemious, though they have no public +amusements as a substitute. I ought to except one theatre, +which appears more than is necessary; for when I was there it was +not half full, and neither the ladies nor actresses displayed +much fancy in their dress.</p> +<p>The play was founded on the story of the “Mock +Doctor;” and, from the gestures of the servants, who were +the best actors, I should imagine contained some humour. +The farce, termed ballet, was a kind of pantomime, the childish +incidents of which were sufficient to show the state of the +dramatic art in Denmark, and the gross taste of the +audience. A magician, in the disguise of a tinker, enters a +cottage where the women are all busy ironing, and rubs a dirty +frying-pan against the linen. The women raise a +hue-and-cry, and dance after him, rousing their husbands, who +join in the dance, but get the start of them in the +pursuit. The tinker, with the frying-pan for a shield, +renders them immovable, and blacks their cheeks. Each +laughs at the other, unconscious of his own appearance; meanwhile +the women enter to enjoy the sport, “the rare fun,” +with other incidents of the same species.</p> +<p>The singing was much on a par with the dancing, the one as +destitute of grace as the other of expression; but the orchestra +was well filled, the instrumental being far superior to the vocal +music.</p> +<p>I have likewise visited the public library and museum, as well +as the palace of Rosembourg. This palace, now deserted, +displays a gloomy kind of grandeur throughout, for the silence of +spacious apartments always makes itself to be felt; I at least +feel it, and I listen for the sound of my footsteps as I have +done at midnight to the ticking of the death-watch, encouraging a +kind of fanciful superstition. Every object carried me back +to past times, and impressed the manners of the age forcibly on +my mind. In this point of view the preservation of old +palaces and their tarnished furniture is useful, for they may be +considered as historical documents.</p> +<p>The vacuum left by departed greatness was everywhere +observable, whilst the battles and processions portrayed on the +walls told you who had here excited revelry after retiring from +slaughter, or dismissed pageantry in search of pleasure. It +seemed a vast tomb full of the shadowy phantoms of those who had +played or toiled their hour out and sunk behind the tapestry +which celebrated the conquests of love or war. Could they +be no more—to whom my imagination thus gave life? +Could the thoughts, of which there remained so many vestiges, +have vanished quite away? And these beings, composed of +such noble materials of thinking and feeling, have they only +melted into the elements to keep in motion the grand mass of +life? It cannot be!—as easily could I believe that +the large silver lions at the top of the banqueting room thought +and reasoned. But avaunt! ye waking dreams! yet I cannot +describe the curiosities to you.</p> +<p>There were cabinets full of baubles and gems, and swords which +must have been wielded by giant’s hand. The +coronation ornaments wait quietly here till wanted, and the +wardrobe exhibits the vestments which formerly graced these +shows. It is a pity they do not lend them to the actors, +instead of allowing them to perish ingloriously.</p> +<p>I have not visited any other palace, excepting Hirsholm, the +gardens of which are laid out with taste, and command the finest +views the country affords. As they are in the modern and +English style, I thought I was following the footsteps of +Matilda, who wished to multiply around her the images of her +beloved country. I was also gratified by the sight of a +Norwegian landscape in miniature, which with great propriety +makes a part of the Danish King’s garden. The cottage +is well imitated, and the whole has a pleasing effect, +particularly so to me who love Norway—its peaceful farms +and spacious wilds.</p> +<p>The public library consists of a collection much larger than I +expected to see; and it is well arranged. Of the value of +the Icelandic manuscripts I could not form a judgment, though the +alphabet of some of them amused me, by showing what immense +labour men will submit to, in order to transmit their ideas to +posterity. I have sometimes thought it a great misfortune +for individuals to acquire a certain delicacy of sentiment, which +often makes them weary of the common occurrences of life; yet it +is this very delicacy of feeling and thinking which probably has +produced most of the performances that have benefited +mankind. It might with propriety, perhaps, be termed the +malady of genius; the cause of that characteristic melancholy +which “grows with its growth, and strengthens with its +strength.”</p> +<p>There are some good pictures in the royal museum. Do not +start, I am not going to trouble you with a dull catalogue, or +stupid criticisms on masters to whom time has assigned their just +niche in the temple of fame; had there been any by living artists +of this country, I should have noticed them, as making a part of +the sketches I am drawing of the present state of the +place. The good pictures were mixed indiscriminately with +the bad ones, in order to assort the frames. The same fault +is conspicuous in the new splendid gallery forming at Paris; +though it seems an obvious thought that a school for artists +ought to be arranged in such a manner, as to show the progressive +discoveries and improvements in the art.</p> +<p>A collection of the dresses, arms, and implements of the +Laplanders attracted my attention, displaying that first species +of ingenuity which is rather a proof of patient perseverance, +than comprehension of mind. The specimens of natural +history, and curiosities of art, were likewise huddled together +without that scientific order which alone renders them useful; +but this may partly have been occasioned by the hasty manner in +which they were removed from the palace when in flames.</p> +<p>There are some respectable men of science here, but few +literary characters, and fewer artists. They want +encouragement, and will continue, I fear, from the present +appearance of things, to languish unnoticed a long time; for +neither the vanity of wealth, nor the enterprising spirit of +commerce, has yet thrown a glance that way.</p> +<p>Besides, the Prince Royal, determined to be economical, almost +descends to parsimony; and perhaps depresses his subjects, by +labouring not to oppress them; for his intentions always seem to +be good—yet nothing can give a more forcible idea of the +dulness which eats away all activity of mind, than the insipid +routine of a court, without magnificence or elegance.</p> +<p>The Prince, from what I can now collect, has very moderate +abilities; yet is so well disposed, that Count Bernstorff finds +him as tractable as he could wish; for I consider the Count as +the real sovereign, scarcely behind the curtain; the Prince +having none of that obstinate self-sufficiency of youth, so often +the forerunner of decision of character. He and the +Princess his wife, dine every day with the King, to save the +expense of two tables. What a mummery it must be to treat +as a king a being who has lost the majesty of man! But even +Count Bernstorff’s morality submits to this standing +imposition; and he avails himself of it sometimes, to soften a +refusal of his own, by saying it is the <i>will</i> of the King, +my master, when everybody knows that he has neither will nor +memory. Much the same use is made of him as, I have +observed, some termagant wives make of their husbands; they would +dwell on the necessity of obeying their husbands, poor passive +souls, who never were allowed <i>to will</i>, when they wanted to +conceal their own tyranny.</p> +<p>A story is told here of the King’s formerly making a dog +counsellor of state, because when the dog, accustomed to eat at +the royal table, snatched a piece of meat off an old +officer’s plate, he reproved him jocosely, saying that he, +<i>monsieur le chien</i>, had not the privilege of dining with +his majesty, a privilege annexed to this distinction.</p> +<p>The burning of the palace was, in fact, a fortunate +circumstance, as it afforded a pretext for reducing the +establishment of the household, which was far too great for the +revenue of the Crown. The Prince Royal, at present, runs +into the opposite extreme; and the formality, if not the +parsimony, of the court, seems to extend to all the other +branches of society, which I had an opportunity of observing; +though hospitality still characterises their intercourse with +strangers.</p> +<p>But let me now stop; I may be a little partial, and view +everything with the jaundiced eye of melancholy—for I am +sad—and have cause.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">God bless you!</p> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2>LETTER XXI.</h2> +</div> +<p>I have seen Count Bernstorff; and his conversation confirms me +in the opinion I had previously formed of him; I mean, since my +arrival at Copenhagen. He is a worthy man, a little vain of +his virtue <i>à la</i> Necker; and more anxious not to do +wrong, that is to avoid blame, than desirous of doing good; +especially if any particular good demands a change. +Prudence, in short, seems to be the basis of his character; and, +from the tenor of the Government, I should think inclining to +that cautious circumspection which treads on the heels of +timidity. He has considerable information, and some +finesse; or he could not be a Minister. Determined not to +risk his popularity, for he is tenderly careful of his +reputation, he will never gloriously fail like Struensee, or +disturb, with the energy of genius, the stagnant state of the +public mind.</p> +<p>I suppose that Lavater, whom he invited to visit him two years +ago—some say to fix the principles of the Christian +religion firmly in the Prince Royal’s mind, found lines in +his face to prove him a statesman of the first order; because he +has a knack at seeing a great character in the countenances of +men in exalted stations, who have noticed him or his works. +Besides, the Count’s sentiments relative to the French +Revolution, agreeing with Lavater’s, must have ensured his +applause.</p> +<p>The Danes, in general, seem extremely averse to innovation, +and if happiness only consist in opinion, they are the happiest +people in the world; for I never saw any so well satisfied with +their own situation. Yet the climate appears to be very +disagreeable, the weather being dry and sultry, or moist and +cold; the atmosphere never having that sharp, bracing purity, +which in Norway prepares you to brave its rigours. I do not +hear the inhabitants of this place talk with delight of the +winter, which is the constant theme of the Norwegians; on the +contrary, they seem to dread its comfortless inclemency.</p> +<p>The ramparts are pleasant, and must have been much more so +before the fire, the walkers not being annoyed by the clouds of +dust which, at present, the slightest wind wafts from the +ruins. The windmills, and the comfortable houses +contiguous, belonging to the millers, as well as the appearance +of the spacious barracks for the soldiers and sailors, tend to +render this walk more agreeable. The view of the country +has not much to recommend it to notice but its extent and +cultivation: yet as the eye always delights to dwell on verdant +plains, especially when we are resident in a great city, these +shady walks should be reckoned amongst the advantages procured by +the Government for the inhabitants. I like them better than +the Royal Gardens, also open to the public, because the latter +seem sunk in the heart of the city, to concentrate its fogs.</p> +<p>The canals which intersect the streets are equally convenient +and wholesome; but the view of the sea commanded by the town had +little to interest me whilst the remembrance of the various bold +and picturesque shores I had seen was fresh in my memory. +Still the opulent inhabitants, who seldom go abroad, must find +the spots where they fix their country seats much pleasanter on +account of the vicinity of the ocean.</p> +<p>One of the best streets in Copenhagen is almost filled with +hospitals, erected by the Government, and, I am assured, as well +regulated as institutions of this kind are in any country; but +whether hospitals or workhouses are anywhere superintended with +sufficient humanity I have frequently had reason to doubt.</p> +<p>The autumn is so uncommonly fine that I am unwilling to put +off my journey to Hamburg much longer, lest the weather should +alter suddenly, and the chilly harbingers of winter catch me +here, where I have nothing now to detain me but the hospitality +of the families to whom I had recommendatory letters. I +lodged at an hotel situated in a large open square, where the +troops exercise and the market is kept. My apartments were +very good; and on account of the fire I was told that I should be +charged very high; yet, paying my bill just now, I find the +demands much lower in proportion than in Norway, though my +dinners were in every respect better.</p> +<p>I have remained more at home since I arrived at Copenhagen +than I ought to have done in a strange place, but the mind is not +always equally active in search of information, and my oppressed +heart too often sighs out—</p> +<blockquote><p>“How dull, flat, and unprofitable<br /> +Are to me all the usages of this world:<br /> +That it should come to this!”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Farewell! Fare thee well, I say; if thou canst, repeat +the adieu in a different tone.</p> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2>LETTER XXII.</h2> +</div> +<p>I arrived at Corsoer the night after I quitted Copenhagen, +purposing to take my passage across the Great Belt the next +morning, though the weather was rather boisterous. It is +about four-and-twenty miles but as both I and my little girl are +never attacked by sea-sickness—though who can avoid +<i>ennui</i>?—I enter a boat with the same indifference as +I change horses; and as for danger, come when it may, I dread it +not sufficiently to have any anticipating fears.</p> +<p>The road from Copenhagen was very good, through an open, flat +country that had little to recommend it to notice excepting the +cultivation, which gratified my heart more than my eye.</p> +<p>I took a barge with a German baron who was hastening back from +a tour into Denmark, alarmed by the intelligence of the French +having passed the Rhine. His conversation beguiled the +time, and gave a sort of stimulus to my spirits, which had been +growing more and more languid ever since my return to Gothenburg; +you know why. I had often endeavoured to rouse myself to +observation by reflecting that I was passing through scenes which +I should probably never see again, and consequently ought not to +omit observing. Still I fell into reveries, thinking, by +way of excuse, that enlargement of mind and refined feelings are +of little use but to barb the arrows of sorrow which waylay us +everywhere, eluding the sagacity of wisdom and rendering +principles unavailing, if considered as a breastwork to secure +our own hearts.</p> +<p>Though we had not a direct wind, we were not detained more +than three hours and a half on the water, just long enough to +give us an appetite for our dinner.</p> +<p>We travelled the remainder of the day and the following night +in company with the same party, the German gentleman whom I have +mentioned, his friend, and servant. The meetings at the +post-houses were pleasant to me, who usually heard nothing but +strange tongues around me. Marguerite and the child often +fell asleep, and when they were awake I might still reckon myself +alone, as our train of thoughts had nothing in common. +Marguerite, it is true, was much amused by the costume of the +women, particularly by the pannier which adorned both their heads +and tails, and with great glee recounted to me the stories she +had treasured up for her family when once more within the +barriers of dear Paris, not forgetting, with that arch, agreeable +vanity peculiar to the French, which they exhibit whilst half +ridiculing it, to remind me of the importance she should assume +when she informed her friends of all her journeys by sea and +land, showing the pieces of money she had collected, and +stammering out a few foreign phrases, which she repeated in a +true Parisian accent. Happy thoughtlessness! ay, and +enviable harmless vanity, which thus produced a <i>gaité +du cœur</i> worth all my philosophy!</p> +<p>The man I had hired at Copenhagen advised me to go round about +twenty miles to avoid passing the Little Belt excepting by a +ferry, as the wind was contrary. But the gentlemen +overruled his arguments, which we were all very sorry for +afterwards, when we found ourselves becalmed on the Little Belt +ten hours, tacking about without ceasing, to gain the shore.</p> +<p>An oversight likewise made the passage appear much more +tedious, nay, almost insupportable. When I went on board at +the Great Belt, I had provided refreshments in case of detention, +which remaining untouched I thought not then any such precaution +necessary for the second passage, misled by the epithet of +“little,” though I have since been informed that it +is frequently the longest. This mistake occasioned much +vexation; for the child, at last, began to cry so bitterly for +bread, that fancy conjured up before me the wretched Ugolino, +with his famished children; and I, literally speaking, enveloped +myself in sympathetic horrors, augmented by every tear my babe +shed, from which I could not escape till we landed, and a +luncheon of bread and basin of milk routed the spectres of +fancy.</p> +<p>I then supped with my companions, with whom I was soon after +to part for ever—always a most melancholy death-like +idea—a sort of separation of soul; for all the regret which +follows those from whom fate separates us seems to be something +torn from ourselves. These were strangers I remember; yet +when there is any originality in a countenance, it takes its +place in our memory, and we are sorry to lose an acquaintance the +moment he begins to interest us, though picked up on the +highway. There was, in fact, a degree of intelligence, and +still more sensibility, in the features and conversation of one +of the gentlemen, that made me regret the loss of his society +during the rest of the journey; for he was compelled to travel +post, by his desire to reach his estate before the arrival of the +French.</p> +<p>This was a comfortable inn, as were several others I stopped +at; but the heavy sandy roads were very fatiguing, after the fine +ones we had lately skimmed over both in Sweden and Denmark. +The country resembled the most open part of England—laid +out for corn rather than grazing. It was pleasant, yet +there was little in the prospects to awaken curiosity, by +displaying the peculiar characteristics of a new country, which +had so frequently stole me from myself in Norway. We often +passed over large unenclosed tracts, not graced with trees, or at +least very sparingly enlivened by them, and the half-formed roads +seemed to demand the landmarks, set up in the waste, to prevent +the traveller from straying far out of his way, and plodding +through the wearisome sand.</p> +<p>The heaths were dreary, and had none of the wild charms of +those of Sweden and Norway to cheat time; neither the terrific +rocks, nor smiling herbage grateful to the sight and scented from +afar, made us forget their length. Still the country +appeared much more populous, and the towns, if not the +farmhouses, were superior to those of Norway. I even +thought that the inhabitants of the former had more +intelligence—at least, I am sure they had more vivacity in +their countenances than I had seen during my northern tour: their +senses seemed awake to business and pleasure. I was +therefore gratified by hearing once more the busy hum of +industrious men in the day, and the exhilarating sounds of joy in +the evening; for, as the weather was still fine, the women and +children were amusing themselves at their doors, or walking under +the trees, which in many places were planted in the streets; and +as most of the towns of any note were situated on little bays or +branches of the Baltic, their appearance as we approached was +often very picturesque, and, when we entered, displayed the +comfort and cleanliness of easy, if not the elegance of opulent, +circumstances. But the cheerfulness of the people in the +streets was particularly grateful to me, after having been +depressed by the deathlike silence of those of Denmark, where +every house made me think of a tomb. The dress of the +peasantry is suited to the climate; in short, none of that +poverty and dirt appeared, at the sight of which the heart +sickens.</p> +<p>As I only stopped to change horses, take refreshment, and +sleep, I had not an opportunity of knowing more of the country +than conclusions which the information gathered by my eyes +enabled me to draw, and that was sufficient to convince me that I +should much rather have lived in some of the towns I now pass +through than in any I had seen in Sweden or Denmark. The +people struck me as having arrived at that period when the +faculties will unfold themselves; in short; they look alive to +improvement, neither congealed by indolence, nor bent down by +wretchedness to servility.</p> +<p>From the previous impression—I scarcely can trace whence +I received it—I was agreeably surprised to perceive such an +appearance of comfort in this part of Germany. I had formed +a conception of the tyranny of the petty potentates that had +thrown a gloomy veil over the face of the whole country in my +imagination, that cleared away like the darkness of night before +the sun as I saw the reality. I should probably have +discovered much lurking misery, the consequence of ignorant +oppression, no doubt, had I had time to inquire into particulars; +but it did not stalk abroad and infect the surface over which my +eye glanced. Yes, I am persuaded that a considerable degree +of general knowledge pervades this country, for it is only from +the exercise of the mind that the body acquires the activity from +which I drew these inferences. Indeed, the King of +Denmark’s German dominions—Holstein—appeared to +me far superior to any other part of his kingdom which had fallen +under my view; and the robust rustics to have their muscles +braced, instead of the, as it were, lounge of the Danish +peasantry.</p> +<p>Arriving at Sleswick, the residence of Prince Charles of +Hesse-Cassel, the sight of the soldiers recalled all the +unpleasing ideas of German despotism, which imperceptibly +vanished as I advanced into the country. I viewed, with a +mixture of pity and horror, these beings training to be sold to +slaughter, or be slaughtered, and fell into reflections on an old +opinion of mine, that it is the preservation of the species, not +of individuals, which appears to be the design of the Deity +throughout the whole of Nature. Blossoms come forth only to +be blighted; fish lay their spawn where it will be devoured; and +what a large portion of the human race are born merely to be +swept prematurely away! Does not this waste of budding life +emphatically assert that it is not men, but Man, whose +preservation is so necessary to the completion of the grand plan +of the universe? Children peep into existence, suffer, and +die; men play like moths about a candle, and sink into the flame; +war, and “the thousand ills which flesh is heir to,” +mow them down in shoals; whilst the more cruel prejudices of +society palsy existence, introducing not less sure though slower +decay.</p> +<p>The castle was heavy and gloomy, yet the grounds about it were +laid out with some taste; a walk, winding under the shade of +lofty trees, led to a regularly built and animated town.</p> +<p>I crossed the drawbridge, and entered to see this shell of a +court in miniature, mounting ponderous stairs—it would be a +solecism to say a flight—up which a regiment of men might +have marched, shouldering their firelocks to exercise in vast +galleries, where all the generations of the Princes of +Hesse-Cassel might have been mustered rank and file, though not +the phantoms of all the wretched they had bartered to support +their state, unless these airy substances could shrink and +expand, like Milton’s devils, to suit the occasion.</p> +<p>The sight of the presence-chamber, and of the canopy to shade +the fauteuil which aped a throne, made me smile. All the +world is a stage, thought I; and few are there in it who do not +play the part they have learnt by rote; and those who do not, +seem marks set up to be pelted at by fortune, or rather as +sign-posts which point out the road to others, whilst forced to +stand still themselves amidst the mud and dust.</p> +<p>Waiting for our horses, we were amused by observing the dress +of the women, which was very grotesque and unwieldy. The +false notion of beauty which prevails here as well as in Denmark, +I should think very inconvenient in summer, as it consists in +giving a rotundity to a certain part of the body, not the most +slim, when Nature has done her part. This Dutch prejudice +often leads them to toil under the weight of some ten or a dozen +petticoats, which, with an enormous basket, literally speaking, +as a bonnet, or a straw hat of dimensions equally gigantic, +almost completely conceal the human form as well as face divine, +often worth showing; still they looked clean, and tripped along, +as it were, before the wind, with a weight of tackle that I could +scarcely have lifted. Many of the country girls I met +appeared to me pretty—that is, to have fine complexions, +sparkling eyes, and a kind of arch, hoyden playfulness which +distinguishes the village coquette. The swains, in their +Sunday trim, attended some of these fair ones in a more slouching +pace, though their dress was not so cumbersome. The women +seem to take the lead in polishing the manners everywhere, this +being the only way to better their condition.</p> +<p>From what I have seen throughout my journey, I do not think +the situation of the poor in England is much, if at all, superior +to that of the same class in different parts of the world; and in +Ireland I am sure it is much inferior. I allude to the +former state of England; for at present the accumulation of +national wealth only increases the cares of the poor, and hardens +the hearts of the rich, in spite of the highly extolled rage for +almsgiving.</p> +<p>You know that I have always been an enemy to what is termed +charity, because timid bigots, endeavouring thus to cover their +sins, do violence to justice, till, acting the demigod, they +forget that they are men. And there are others who do not +even think of laying up a treasure in heaven, whose benevolence +is merely tyranny in disguise; they assist the most worthless, +because the most servile, and term them helpless only in +proportion to their fawning.</p> +<p>After leaving Sleswick, we passed through several pretty +towns; Itzchol particularly pleased me; and the country, still +wearing the same aspect, was improved by the appearance of more +trees and enclosures. But what gratified me most was the +population. I was weary of travelling four or five hours, +never meeting a carriage, and scarcely a peasant; and then to +stop at such wretched huts as I had seen in Sweden was surely +sufficient to chill any heart awake to sympathy, and throw a +gloom over my favourite subject of contemplation, the future +improvement of the world.</p> +<p>The farmhouses, likewise, with the huge stables, into which we +drove whilst the horses were putting to or baiting, were very +clean and commodious. The rooms, with a door into this +hall-like stable and storehouse in one, were decent; and there +was a compactness in the appearance of the whole family lying +thus snugly together under the same roof that carried my fancy +back to the primitive times, which probably never existed with +such a golden lustre as the animated imagination lends when only +able to seize the prominent features.</p> +<p>At one of them, a pretty young woman, with languishing eyes of +celestial blue, conducted us into a very neat parlour, and +observing how loosely and lightly my little girl was clad, began +to pity her in the sweetest accents, regardless of the rosy down +of health on her cheeks. This same damsel was +dressed—it was Sunday—with taste and even coquetry, +in a cotton jacket, ornamented with knots of blue ribbon, +fancifully disposed to give life to her fine complexion. I +loitered a little to admire her, for every gesture was graceful; +and, amidst the other villagers, she looked like a garden lily +suddenly rearing its head amongst grain and corn-flowers. +As the house was small, I gave her a piece of money rather larger +than it was my custom to give to the female waiters—for I +could not prevail on her to sit down—which she received +with a smile; yet took care to give it, in my presence, to a girl +who had brought the child a slice of bread; by which I perceived +that she was the mistress or daughter of the house, and without +doubt the belle of the village. There was, in short, an +appearance of cheerful industry, and of that degree of comfort +which shut out misery, in all the little hamlets as I approached +Hamburg, which agreeably surprised me.</p> +<p>The short jackets which the women wear here, as well as in +France, are not only more becoming to the person, but much better +calculated for women who have rustic or household employments +than the long gowns worn in England, dangling in the dirt.</p> +<p>All the inns on the road were better than I expected, though +the softness of the beds still harassed me, and prevented my +finding the rest I was frequently in want of, to enable me to +bear the fatigue of the next day. The charges were +moderate, and the people very civil, with a certain honest +hilarity and independent spirit in their manner, which almost +made me forget that they were innkeepers, a set of +men—waiters, hostesses, chambermaids, &c., down to the +ostler, whose cunning servility in England I think particularly +disgusting.</p> +<p>The prospect of Hamburg at a distance, as well as the fine +road shaded with trees, led me to expect to see a much pleasanter +city than I found.</p> +<p>I was aware of the difficulty of obtaining lodgings, even at +the inns, on account of the concourse of strangers at present +resorting to such a centrical situation, and determined to go to +Altona the next day to seek for an abode, wanting now only +rest. But even for a single night we were sent from house +to house, and found at last a vacant room to sleep in, which I +should have turned from with disgust had there been a choice.</p> +<p>I scarcely know anything that produces more disagreeable +sensations, I mean to speak of the passing cares, the +recollection of which afterwards enlivens our enjoyments, than +those excited by little disasters of this kind. After a +long journey, with our eyes directed to some particular spot, to +arrive and find nothing as it should be is vexatious, and sinks +the agitated spirits. But I, who received the cruellest of +disappointments last spring in returning to my home, term such as +these emphatically passing cares. Know you of what +materials some hearts are made? I play the child, and weep +at the recollection—for the grief is still fresh that +stunned as well as wounded me—yet never did drops of +anguish like these bedew the cheeks of infantine +innocence—and why should they mine, that never was stained +by a blush of guilt? Innocent and credulous as a child, why +have I not the same happy thoughtlessness? Adieu!</p> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2>LETTER XXIII.</h2> +</div> +<p>I might have spared myself the disagreeable feelings I +experienced the first night of my arrival at Hamburg, leaving the +open air to be shut up in noise and dirt, had I gone immediately +to Altona, where a lodging had been prepared for me by a +gentleman from whom I received many civilities during my +journey. I wished to have travelled in company with him +from Copenhagen, because I found him intelligent and friendly, +but business obliged him to hurry forward, and I wrote to him on +the subject of accommodations as soon as I was informed of the +difficulties I might have to encounter to house myself and +brat.</p> +<p>It is but a short and pleasant walk from Hamburg to Altona, +under the shade of several rows of trees, and this walk is the +more agreeable after quitting the rough pavement of either +place.</p> +<p>Hamburg is an ill, close-built town, swarming with +inhabitants, and, from what I could learn, like all the other +free towns, governed in a manner which bears hard on the poor, +whilst narrowing the minds of the rich; the character of the man +is lost in the Hamburger. Always afraid of the +encroachments of their Danish neighbours, that is, anxiously +apprehensive of their sharing the golden harvest of commerce with +them, or taking a little of the trade off their +hands—though they have more than they know what to do +with—they are ever on the watch, till their very eyes lose +all expression, excepting the prying glance of suspicion.</p> +<p>The gates of Hamburg are shut at seven in the winter and nine +in the summer, lest some strangers, who come to traffic in +Hamburg, should prefer living, and consequently—so exactly +do they calculate—spend their money out of the walls of the +Hamburger’s world. Immense fortunes have been +acquired by the per-cents. arising from commissions nominally +only two and a half, but mounted to eight or ten at least by the +secret manoeuvres of trade, not to include the advantage of +purchasing goods wholesale in common with contractors, and that +of having so much money left in their hands, not to play with, I +can assure you. Mushroom fortunes have started up during +the war; the men, indeed, seem of the species of the fungus, and +the insolent vulgarity which a sudden influx of wealth usually +produces in common minds is here very conspicuous, which +contrasts with the distresses of many of the emigrants, +“fallen, fallen from their high estate,” such are the +ups and downs of fortune’s wheel. Many emigrants have +met, with fortitude, such a total change of circumstances as +scarcely can be paralleled, retiring from a palace to an obscure +lodging with dignity; but the greater number glide about, the +ghosts of greatness, with the <i>Croix de St. Louis</i> +ostentatiously displayed, determined to hope, “though +heaven and earth their wishes crossed.” Still good +breeding points out the gentleman, and sentiments of honour and +delicacy appear the offspring of greatness of soul when compared +with the grovelling views of the sordid accumulators of cent. per +cent.</p> +<p>Situation seems to be the mould in which men’s +characters are formed: so much so, inferring from what I have +lately seen, that I mean not to be severe when I +add—previously asking why priests are in general cunning +and statesmen false?—that men entirely devoted to commerce +never acquire or lose all taste and greatness of mind. An +ostentatious display of wealth without elegance, and a greedy +enjoyment of pleasure without sentiment, embrutes them till they +term all virtue of an heroic cast, romantic attempts at something +above our nature, and anxiety about the welfare of others, a +search after misery in which we have no concern. But you +will say that I am growing bitter, perhaps personal. Ah! +shall I whisper to you, that you yourself are strangely altered +since you have entered deeply into commerce—more than you +are aware of; never allowing yourself to reflect, and keeping +your mind, or rather passions, in a continual state of +agitation? Nature has given you talents which lie dormant, +or are wasted in ignoble pursuits. You will rouse yourself +and shake off the vile dust that obscures you, or my +understanding, as well as my heart, deceives me +egregiously—only tell me when. But to go farther +afield.</p> +<p>Madame la Fayette left Altona the day I arrived, to endeavour, +at Vienna, to obtain the enlargement of her husband, or +permission to share his prison. She lived in a lodging up +two pairs of stairs, without a servant, her two daughters +cheerfully assisting; choosing, as well as herself, to descend to +anything before unnecessary obligations. During her +prosperity, and consequent idleness, she did not, I am told, +enjoy a good state of health, having a train of nervous +complaints, which, though they have not a name, unless the +significant word <i>ennui</i> be borrowed, had an existence in +the higher French circles; but adversity and virtuous exertions +put these ills to flight, and dispossessed her of a devil who +deserves the appellation of legion.</p> +<p>Madame Genus also resided at Altona some time, under an +assumed name, with many other sufferers of less note though +higher rank. It is, in fact, scarcely possible to stir out +without meeting interesting countenances, every lineament of +which tells you that they have seen better days.</p> +<p>At Hamburg, I was informed, a duke had entered into +partnership with his cook, who becoming a <i>traiteur</i>, they +were both comfortably supported by the profit arising from his +industry. Many noble instances of the attachment of +servants to their unfortunate masters have come to my knowledge, +both here and in France, and touched my heart, the greatest +delight of which is to discover human virtue.</p> +<p>At Altona, a president of one of the <i>ci-devant</i> +parliaments keeps an ordinary, in the French style; and his wife +with cheerful dignity submits to her fate, though she is arrived +at an age when people seldom relinquish their prejudices. A +girl who waits there brought a dozen <i>double louis +d’or</i> concealed in her clothes, at the risk of her life, +from France, which she preserves lest sickness or any other +distress should overtake her mistress, “who,” she +observed, “was not accustomed to hardships.” +This house was particularly recommended to me by an acquaintance +of yours, the author of the “American Farmer’s +Letters.” I generally dine in company with him: and +the gentleman whom I have already mentioned is often diverted by +our declamations against commerce, when we compare notes +respecting the characteristics of the Hamburgers. +“Why, madam,” said he to me one day, “you will +not meet with a man who has any calf to his leg; body and soul, +muscles and heart, are equally shrivelled up by a thirst of +gain. There is nothing generous even in their youthful +passions; profit is their only stimulus, and calculations the +sole employment of their faculties, unless we except some gross +animal gratifications which, snatched at spare moments, tend +still more to debase the character, because, though touched by +his tricking wand, they have all the arts, without the wit, of +the wing-footed god.”</p> +<p>Perhaps you may also think us too severe; but I must add that +the more I saw of the manners of Hamburg, the more was I +confirmed in my opinion relative to the baleful effect of +extensive speculations on the moral character. Men are +strange machines; and their whole system of morality is in +general held together by one grand principle which loses its +force the moment they allow themselves to break with impunity +over the bounds which secured their self-respect. A man +ceases to love humanity, and then individuals, as he advances in +the chase after wealth; as one clashes with his interest, the +other with his pleasures: to business, as it is termed, +everything must give way; nay, is sacrificed, and all the +endearing charities of citizen, husband, father, brother, become +empty names. But—but what? Why, to snap the +chain of thought, I must say farewell. Cassandra was not +the only prophetess whose warning voice has been +disregarded. How much easier it is to meet with love in the +world than affection!</p> +<p style="text-align: right">Yours sincerely.</p> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2>LETTER XXIV.</h2> +</div> +<p>My lodgings at Altona are tolerably comfortable, though not in +any proportion to the price I pay; but, owing to the present +circumstances, all the necessaries of life are here extravagantly +dear. Considering it as a temporary residence, the chief +inconvenience of which I am inclined to complain is the rough +streets that must be passed before Marguerite and the child can +reach a level road.</p> +<p>The views of the Elbe in the vicinity of the town are +pleasant, particularly as the prospects here afford so little +variety. I attempted to descend, and walk close to the +water’s edge; but there was no path; and the smell of glue, +hanging to dry, an extensive manufactory of which is carried on +close to the beach, I found extremely disagreeable. But to +commerce everything must give way; profit and profit are the only +speculations—“double—double, toil and +trouble.” I have seldom entered a shady walk without +being soon obliged to turn aside to make room for the +rope-makers; and the only tree I have seen, that appeared to be +planted by the hand of taste, is in the churchyard, to shade the +tomb of the poet Klopstock’s wife.</p> +<p>Most of the merchants have country houses to retire to during +the summer; and many of them are situated on the banks of the +Elbe, where they have the pleasure of seeing the packet-boats +arrive—the periods of most consequence to divide their +week.</p> +<p>The moving picture, consisting of large vessels and small +craft, which are continually changing their position with the +tide, renders this noble river, the vital stream of Hamburg, very +interesting; and the windings have sometimes a very fine effect, +two or three turns being visible at once, intersecting the flat +meadows; a sudden bend often increasing the magnitude of the +river; and the silvery expanse, scarcely gliding, though bearing +on its bosom so much treasure, looks for a moment like a tranquil +lake.</p> +<p>Nothing can be stronger than the contrast which this flat +country and strand afford, compared with the mountains and rocky +coast I have lately dwelt so much among. In fancy I return +to a favourite spot, where I seemed to have retired from man and +wretchedness; but the din of trade drags me back to all the care +I left behind, when lost in sublime emotions. Rocks +aspiring towards the heavens, and, as it were, shutting out +sorrow, surrounded me, whilst peace appeared to steal along the +lake to calm my bosom, modulating the wind that agitated the +neighbouring poplars. Now I hear only an account of the +tricks of trade, or listen to the distressful tale of some victim +of ambition.</p> +<p>The hospitality of Hamburg is confined to Sunday invitations +to the country houses I have mentioned, when dish after dish +smokes upon the board, and the conversation ever flowing in the +muddy channel of business, it is not easy to obtain any +appropriate information. Had I intended to remain here some +time, or had my mind been more alive to general inquiries, I +should have endeavoured to have been introduced to some +characters not so entirely immersed in commercial affairs, though +in this whirlpool of gain it is not very easy to find any but the +wretched or supercilious emigrants, who are not engaged in +pursuits which, in my eyes, appear as dishonourable as +gambling. The interests of nations are bartered by +speculating merchants. My God! with what <i>sang froid</i> +artful trains of corruption bring lucrative commissions into +particular hands, disregarding the relative situation of +different countries, and can much common honesty be expected in +the discharge of trusts obtained by fraud? But this +<i>entre nous</i>.</p> +<p>During my present journey, and whilst residing in France, I +have had an opportunity of peeping behind the scenes of what are +vulgarly termed great affairs, only to discover the mean +machinery which has directed many transactions of moment. +The sword has been merciful, compared with the depredations made +on human life by contractors and by the swarm of locusts who have +battened on the pestilence they spread abroad. These men, +like the owners of negro ships, never smell on their money the +blood by which it has been gained, but sleep quietly in their +beds, terming such occupations lawful callings; yet the lightning +marks not their roofs to thunder conviction on them “and to +justify the ways of God to man.”</p> +<p>Why should I weep for myself? “Take, O world! thy +much indebted tear!” Adieu!</p> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2>LETTER XXV.</h2> +</div> +<p>There is a pretty little French theatre at Altona, and the +actors are much superior to those I saw at Copenhagen. The +theatres at Hamburg are not open yet, but will very shortly, when +the shutting of the gates at seven o’clock forces the +citizens to quit their country houses. But, respecting +Hamburg, I shall not be able to obtain much more information, as +I have determined to sail with the first fair wind for +England.</p> +<p>The presence of the French army would have rendered my +intended tour through Germany, in my way to Switzerland, almost +impracticable, had not the advancing season obliged me to alter +my plan. Besides, though Switzerland is the country which +for several years I have been particularly desirous to visit, I +do not feel inclined to ramble any farther this year; nay, I am +weary of changing the scene, and quitting people and places the +moment they begin to interest me. This also is vanity!</p> +<h3>DOVER.</h3> +<p>I left this letter unfinished, as I was hurried on board, and +now I have only to tell you that, at the sight of Dover cliffs, I +wondered how anybody could term them grand; they appear so +insignificant to me, after those I had seen in Sweden and +Norway.</p> +<p>Adieu! My spirit of observation seems to be fled, and I +have been wandering round this dirty place, literally speaking, +to kill time, though the thoughts I would fain fly from lie too +close to my heart to be easily shook off, or even beguiled, by +any employment, except that of preparing for my journey to +London.</p> +<p>God bless you!</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Mary</span> +----.</p> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2>APPENDIX.</h2> +</div> +<p>Private business and cares have frequently so absorbed me as +to prevent my obtaining all the information during this journey +which the novelty of the scenes would have afforded, had my +attention been continually awake to inquiry. This +insensibility to present objects I have often had occasion to +lament since I have been preparing these letters for the press; +but, as a person of any thought naturally considers the history +of a strange country to contrast the former with the present +state of its manners, a conviction of the increasing knowledge +and happiness of the kingdoms I passed through was perpetually +the result of my comparative reflections.</p> +<p>The poverty of the poor in Sweden renders the civilisation +very partial, and slavery has retarded the improvement of every +class in Denmark, yet both are advancing; and the gigantic evils +of despotism and anarchy have in a great measure vanished before +the meliorating manners of Europe. Innumerable evils still +remain, it is true, to afflict the humane investigator, and hurry +the benevolent reformer into a labyrinth of error, who aims at +destroying prejudices quickly which only time can root out, as +the public opinion becomes subject to reason.</p> +<p>An ardent affection for the human race makes enthusiastic +characters eager to produce alteration in laws and governments +prematurely. To render them useful and permanent, they must +be the growth of each particular soil, and the gradual fruit of +the ripening understanding of the nation, matured by time, not +forced by an unnatural fermentation. And, to convince me +that such a change is gaining ground with accelerating pace, the +view I have had of society during my northern journey would have +been sufficient had I not previously considered the grand causes +which combine to carry mankind forward and diminish the sum of +human misery.</p> + + + +<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT +GUTENBERG EBOOK LETTERS WRITTEN DURING A SHORT +RESIDENCE IN SWEDEN, NORWAY, AND DENMARK ***</div> +<div style='text-align:left'> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions +will +be renamed. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Letters written during a short residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark + + +Author: Mary Wollstonecraft + +Editor: Henry Morley + +Release Date: December 30, 2007 [eBook #3529] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LETTERS WRITTEN DURING A SHORT +RESIDENCE IN SWEDEN, NORWAY, AND DENMARK*** +</pre> +<p><a name="startoftext"></a></p> +<p>Transcribed from the 1889 Cassell & Company edition by +David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">cassell’s +national library</span>.</p> +<h1>LETTERS<br /> +<span class="smcap">written</span><br /> +<span class="smcap"><i>during a short residence</i></span><br /> +<span class="smcap">in</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">Sweden</span>, <span +class="smcap">Norway</span>, <span class="smcap">and</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">Denmark</span></h1> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">by</span><br /> +MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">CASSELL & COMPANY, Limited:<br +/> +<span class="smcap"><i>london</i></span>, <span +class="smcap"><i>paris</i></span>, <span class="smcap"><i>new +york & melbourne</i></span>.<br /> +1889.</p> +<h2>INTRODUCTION.</h2> +<p>Mary Wollstonecraft was born on the 27th of April, 1759. +Her father—a quick-tempered and unsettled man, capable of +beating wife, or child, or dog—was the son of a +manufacturer who made money in Spitalfields, when Spitalfields +was prosperous. Her mother was a rigorous Irishwoman, of +the Dixons of Ballyshannon. Edward John +Wollstonecraft—of whose children, besides Mary, the second +child, three sons and two daughters lived to be men and +women—in course of the got rid of about ten thousand +pounds, which had been left him by his father. He began to +get rid of it by farming. Mary Wollstonecraft’s +first-remembered home was in a farm at Epping. When she was +five years old the family moved to another farm, by the +Chelmsford Road. When she was between six and seven years +old they moved again, to the neighbourhood of Barking. +There they remained three years before the next move, which was +to a farm near Beverley, in Yorkshire. In Yorkshire they +remained six years, and Mary Wollstonecraft had there what +education fell to her lot between the ages of ten and +sixteen. Edward John Wollstonecraft then gave up farming to +venture upon a commercial speculation. This caused him to +live for a year and a half at Queen’s Row, Hoxton. +His daughter Mary was then sixteen; and while at Hoxton she had +her education advanced by the friendly care of a deformed +clergyman—a Mr. Clare—who lived next door, and stayed +so much at home that his one pair of shoes had lasted him for +fourteen years.</p> +<p>But Mary Wollstonecraft’s chief friend at this time was +an accomplished girl only two years older than herself, who +maintained her father, mother, and family by skill in +drawing. Her name was Frances Blood, and she especially, by +her example and direct instruction, drew out her young +friend’s powers. In 1776, Mary Wollstonecraft’s +father, a rolling stone, rolled into Wales. Again he was a +farmer. Next year again he was a Londoner; and Mary had +influence enough to persuade him to choose a house at Walworth, +where she would be near to her friend Fanny. Then, however, +the conditions of her home life caused her to be often on the +point of going away to earn a living for herself. In 1778, +when she was nineteen, Mary Wollstonecraft did leave home, to +take a situation as companion with a rich tradesman’s widow +at Bath, of whom it was said that none of her companions could +stay with her. Mary Wollstonecraft, nevertheless, stayed +two years with the difficult widow, and made herself +respected. Her mother’s failing health then caused +Mary to return to her. The father was then living at +Enfield, and trying to save the small remainder of his means by +not venturing upon any business at all. The mother died +after long suffering, wholly dependent on her daughter +Mary’s constant care. The mother’s last words +were often quoted by Mary Wollstonecraft in her own last years of +distress—“A little patience, and all will be +over.”</p> +<p>After the mother’s death, Mary Wollstonecraft left home +again, to live with her friend, Fanny Blood, who was at Walham +Green. In 1782 she went to nurse a married sister through a +dangerous illness. The father’s need of support next +pressed upon her. He had spent not only his own money, but +also the little that had been specially reserved for his +children. It is said to be the privilege of a passionate +man that he always gets what he wants; he gets to be avoided, and +they never find a convenient corner of their own who shut +themselves out from the kindly fellowship of life.</p> +<p>In 1783 Mary Wollstonecraft—aged twenty-four—with +two of her sisters, joined Fanny Blood in setting up a day school +at Islington, which was removed in a few months to Newington +Green. Early in 1785 Fanny Blood, far gone in consumption, +sailed for Lisbon to marry an Irish surgeon who was settled +there. After her marriage it was evident that she had but a +few months to live; Mary Wollstonecraft, deaf to all opposing +counsel, then left her school, and, with help of money from a +friendly woman, she went out to nurse her, and was by her when +she died. Mary Wollstonecraft remembered her loss ten years +afterwards in these “Letters from Sweden and Norway,” +when she wrote: “The grave has closed over a dear friend, +the friend of my youth; still she is present with me, and I hear +her soft voice warbling as I stray over the heath.”</p> +<p>Mary Wollstonecraft left Lisbon for England late in December, +1785. When she came back she found Fanny’s poor +parents anxious to go back to Ireland; and as she had been often +told that she could earn by writing, she wrote a pamphlet of 162 +small pages—“Thoughts on the Education of +Daughters”—and got ten pounds for it. This she +gave to her friend’s parents to enable them to go back to +their kindred. In all she did there is clear evidence of an +ardent, generous, impulsive nature. One day her friend +Fanny Blood had repined at the unhappy surroundings in the home +she was maintaining for her father and mother, and longed for a +little home of her own to do her work in. Her friend +quietly found rooms, got furniture together, and told her that +her little home was ready; she had only to walk into it. +Then it seemed strange to Mary Wollstonecraft that Fanny Blood +was withheld by thoughts that had not been uppermost in the mood +of complaint. She thought her friend irresolute, where she +had herself been generously rash. Her end would have been +happier had she been helped, as many are, by that calm influence +of home in which some knowledge of the world passes from father +and mother to son and daughter, without visible teaching and +preaching, in easiest companionship of young and old from day to +day.</p> +<p>The little payment for her pamphlet on the “Education of +Daughters” caused Mary Wollstonecraft to think more +seriously of earning by her pen. The pamphlet seems also to +have advanced her credit as a teacher. After giving up her +day school, she spent some weeks at Eton with the Rev. Mr. Prior, +one of the masters there, who recommended her as governess to the +daughters of Lord Kingsborough, an Irish viscount, eldest son of +the Earl of Kingston. Her way of teaching was by winning +love, and she obtained the warm affection of the eldest of her +pupils, who became afterwards Countess Mount-Cashel. In the +summer of 1787, Lord Kingsborough’s family, including Mary +Wollstonecraft, was at Bristol Hot-wells, before going to the +Continent. While there, Mary Wollstonecraft wrote her +little tale published as “Mary, a Fiction,” wherein +there was much based on the memory of her own friendship for +Fanny Blood.</p> +<p>The publisher of Mary Wollstonecraft’s “Thoughts +on the Education of Daughters” was the same Joseph Johnson +who in 1785 was the publisher of Cowper’s +“Task.” With her little story written and a +little money saved, the resolve to live by her pen could now be +carried out. Mary Wollstonecraft, therefore, parted from +her friends at Bristol, went to London, saw her publisher, and +frankly told him her determination. He met her with +fatherly kindness, and received her as a guest in his house while +she was making her arrangements. At Michaelmas, 1787, she +settled in a house in George Street, on the Surrey side of +Blackfriars Bridge. There she produced a little book for +children, of “Original Stories from Real Life,” and +earned by drudgery for Joseph Johnson. She translated, she +abridged, she made a volume of Selections, and she wrote for an +“Analytical Review,” which Mr. Johnson founded in the +middle of the year 1788. Among the books translated by her +was Necker “On the Importance of Religious +Opinions.” Among the books abridged by her was +Salzmann’s “Elements of Morality.” With +all this hard work she lived as sparely as she could, that she +might help her family. She supported her father. That +she might enable her sisters to earn their living as teachers, +she sent one of them to Paris, and maintained her there for two +years; the other she placed in a school near London as +parlour-boarder until she was admitted into it as a paid +teacher. She placed one brother at Woolwich to qualify for +the Navy, and he obtained a lieutenant’s commission. +For another brother, articled to an attorney whom he did not +like, she obtained a transfer of indentures; and when it became +clear that his quarrel was more with law than with the lawyers, +she placed him with a farmer before fitting him out for +emigration to America. She then sent him, so well prepared +for his work there that he prospered well. She tried even +to disentangle her father’s affairs; but the confusion in +them was beyond her powers of arrangement. Added to all +this faithful work, she took upon herself the charge of an orphan +child, seven years old, whose mother had been in the number of +her friends. That was the life of Mary Wollstonecraft, +thirty years old, in 1789, the year of the Fall of the Bastille; +the noble life now to be touched in its enthusiasms by the spirit +of the Revolution, to be caught in the great storm, shattered, +and lost among its wrecks.</p> +<p>To Burke’s attack on the French Revolution Mary +Wollstonecraft wrote an Answer—one of many answers provoked +by it—that attracted much attention. This was +followed by her “Vindication of the Rights of Woman,” +while the air was full of declamation on the “Rights of +Man.” The claims made in this little book were in +advance of the opinion of that day, but they are claims that have +in our day been conceded. They are certainly not +revolutionary in the opinion of the world that has become a +hundred years older since the book was written.</p> +<p>At this the Mary Wollstonecraft had moved to rooms in Store +Street, Bedford Square. She was fascinated by Fuseli the +painter, and he was a married man. She felt herself to be +too strongly drawn towards him, and she went to Paris at the +close of the year 1792, to break the spell. She felt lonely +and sad, and was not the happier for being in a mansion lent to +her, from which the owner was away, and in which she lived +surrounded by his servants. Strong womanly instincts were +astir within her, and they were not all wise folk who had been +drawn around her by her generous enthusiasm for the new hopes of +the world, that made it then, as Wordsworth felt, a very heaven +to the young.</p> +<p>Four months after she had gone to Paris, Mary Wollstonecraft +met at the house of a merchant, with whose wife she had become +intimate, an American named Gilbert Imlay. He won her +affections. That was in April, 1793. He had no means, +and she had home embarrassments, for which she was unwilling that +he should become in any way responsible. A part of the new +dream in some minds then was of a love too pure to need or bear +the bondage of authority. The mere forced union of marriage +ties implied, it was said, a distrust of fidelity. When +Gilbert Imlay would have married Mary Wollstonecraft, she herself +refused to bind him; she would keep him legally exempt from her +responsibilities towards the father, sisters, brothers, whom she +was supporting. She took his name and called herself his +wife, when the French Convention, indignant at the conduct of the +British Government, issue a decree from the effects of which she +would escape as the wife of a citizen of the United States. +But she did not marry. She witnessed many of the horrors +that came of the loosened passions of an untaught populace. +A child was born to her—a girl whom she named after the +dead friend of her own girlhood. And then she found that +she had leant upon a reed. She was neglected; and was at +last forsaken. Having sent her to London, Imlay there +visited her, to explain himself away. She resolved on +suicide, and in dissuading her from that he gave her hope +again. He needed somebody who had good judgment, and who +cared for his interests, to represent him in some business +affairs in Norway. She undertook to act for him, and set +out on the voyage only a week after she had determined to destroy +herself.</p> +<p>The interest of this book which describes her travel is +quickened by a knowledge of the heart-sorrow that underlies it +all. Gilbert Imlay had promised to meet her upon her +return, and go with her to Switzerland. But the letters she +had from him in Sweden and Norway were cold, and she came back to +find that she was wholly forsaken for an actress from a strolling +company of players. Then she went up the river to drown +herself. She paced the road at Putney on an October night, +in 1795, in heavy rain, until her clothes were drenched, that she +might sink more surely, and then threw herself from the top of +Putney Bridge.</p> +<p>She was rescued, and lived on with deadened spirit. In +1796 these “Letters from Sweden and Norway” were +published. Early in 1797 she was married to William +Godwin. On the 10th of September in the same year, at the +age of thirty-eight, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin died, after the +birth of the daughter who lived to become the wife of +Shelley. The mother also would have lived, if a womanly +feeling, in itself to be respected, had not led her also to +unwise departure from the customs of the world. Peace be to +her memory. None but kind thoughts can dwell upon the life +of this too faithful disciple of Rousseau.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">H. M.</p> +<h2>LETTER I.</h2> +<p>Eleven days of weariness on board a vessel not intended for +the accommodation of passengers have so exhausted my spirits, to +say nothing of the other causes, with which you are already +sufficiently acquainted, that it is with some difficulty I adhere +to my determination of giving you my observations, as I travel +through new scenes, whilst warmed with the impression they have +made on me.</p> +<p>The captain, as I mentioned to you, promised to put me on +shore at Arendall or Gothenburg in his way to Elsineur, but +contrary winds obliged us to pass both places during the +night. In the morning, however, after we had lost sight of +the entrance of the latter bay, the vessel was becalmed; and the +captain, to oblige me, hanging out a signal for a pilot, bore +down towards the shore.</p> +<p>My attention was particularly directed to the lighthouse, and +you can scarcely imagine with what anxiety I watched two long +hours for a boat to emancipate me; still no one appeared. +Every cloud that flitted on the horizon was hailed as a +liberator, till approaching nearer, like most of the prospects +sketched by hope, it dissolved under the eye into +disappointment.</p> +<p>Weary of expectation, I then began to converse with the +captain on the subject, and from the tenor of the information my +questions drew forth I soon concluded that if I waited for a boat +I had little chance of getting on shore at this place. +Despotism, as is usually the case, I found had here cramped the +industry of man. The pilots being paid by the king, and +scantily, they will not run into any danger, or even quit their +hovels, if they can possibly avoid it, only to fulfil what is +termed their duty. How different is it on the English +coast, where, in the most stormy weather, boats immediately hail +you, brought out by the expectation of extraordinary profit.</p> +<p>Disliking to sail for Elsineur, and still more to lie at +anchor or cruise about the coast for several days, I exerted all +my rhetoric to prevail on the captain to let me have the +ship’s boat, and though I added the most forcible of +arguments, I for a long the addressed him in vain.</p> +<p>It is a kind of rule at sea not to send out a boat. The +captain was a good-natured man; but men with common minds seldom +break through general rules. Prudence is ever the resort of +weakness, and they rarely go as far as they may in any +undertaking who are determined not to go beyond it on any +account. If, however, I had some trouble with the captain, +I did not lose much time with the sailors, for they, all +alacrity, hoisted out the boat the moment I obtained permission, +and promised to row me to the lighthouse.</p> +<p>I did not once allow myself to doubt of obtaining a conveyance +from thence round the rocks—and then away for +Gothenburg—confinement is so unpleasant.</p> +<p>The day was fine, and I enjoyed the water till, approaching +the little island, poor Marguerite, whose timidity always acts as +a feeler before her adventuring spirit, began to wonder at our +not seeing any inhabitants. I did not listen to her. +But when, on landing, the same silence prevailed, I caught the +alarm, which was not lessened by the sight of two old men whom we +forced out of their wretched hut. Scarcely human in their +appearance, we with difficulty obtained an intelligible reply to +our questions, the result of which was that they had no boat, and +were not allowed to quit their post on any pretence. But +they informed us that there was at the other side, eight or ten +miles over, a pilot’s dwelling. Two guineas tempted +the sailors to risk the captain’s displeasure, and once +more embark to row me over.</p> +<p>The weather was pleasant, and the appearance of the shore so +grand that I should have enjoyed the two hours it took to reach +it, but for the fatigue which was too visible in the countenances +of the sailors, who, instead of uttering a complaint, were, with +the thoughtless hilarity peculiar to them, joking about the +possibility of the captain’s taking advantage of a slight +westerly breeze, which was springing up, to sail without +them. Yet, in spite of their good humour, I could not help +growing uneasy when the shore, receding, as it were, as we +advanced, seemed to promise no end to their toil. This +anxiety increased when, turning into the most picturesque bay I +ever saw, my eyes sought in vain for the vestige of a human +habitation. Before I could determine what step to take in +such a dilemma (for I could not bear to think of returning to the +ship), the sight of a barge relieved me, and we hastened towards +it for information. We were immediately directed to pass +some jutting rocks, when we should see a pilot’s hut.</p> +<p>There was a solemn silence in this scene which made itself be +felt. The sunbeams that played on the ocean, scarcely +ruffled by the lightest breeze, contrasted with the huge dark +rocks, that looked like the rude materials of creation forming +the barrier of unwrought space, forcibly struck me, but I should +not have been sorry if the cottage had not appeared equally +tranquil. Approaching a retreat where strangers, especially +women, so seldom appeared, I wondered that curiosity did not +bring the beings who inhabited it to the windows or door. I +did not immediately recollect that men who remain so near the +brute creation, as only to exert themselves to find the food +necessary to sustain life, have little or no imagination to call +forth the curiosity necessary to fructify the faint glimmerings +of mind which entitle them to rank as lords of the +creation. Had they either they could not contentedly remain +rooted in the clods they so indolently cultivate.</p> +<p>Whilst the sailors went to seek for the sluggish inhabitants, +these conclusions occurred to me; and, recollecting the extreme +fondness which the Parisians ever testify for novelty, their very +curiosity appeared to me a proof of the progress they had made in +refinement. Yes, in the art of living—in the art of +escaping from the cares which embarrass the first steps towards +the attainment of the pleasures of social life.</p> +<p>The pilots informed the sailors that they were under the +direction of a lieutenant retired from the service, who spoke +English; adding that they could do nothing without his orders, +and even the offer of money could hardly conquer their laziness +and prevail on them to accompany us to his dwelling. They +would not go with me alone, which I wanted them to have done, +because I wished to dismiss the sailors as soon as +possible. Once more we rowed off, they following tardily, +till, turning round another bold protuberance of the rocks, we +saw a boat making towards us, and soon learnt that it was the +lieutenant himself, coming with some earnestness to see who we +were.</p> +<p>To save the sailors any further toil, I had my baggage +instantly removed into his boat; for, as he could speak English, +a previous parley was not necessary, though Marguerite’s +respect for me could hardly keep her from expressing the fear, +strongly marked on her countenance, which my putting ourselves +into the power of a strange man excited. He pointed out his +cottage; and, drawing near to it, I was not sorry to see a female +figure, though I had not, like Marguerite, been thinking of +robberies, murders, or the other evil which instantly, as the +sailors would have said, runs foul of a woman’s +imagination.</p> +<p>On entering I was still better pleased to find a clean house, +with some degree of rural elegance. The beds were of +muslin, coarse it is true, but dazzlingly white; and the floor +was strewed over with little sprigs of juniper (the custom, as I +afterwards found, of the country), which formed a contrast with +the curtains, and produced an agreeable sensation of freshness, +to soften the ardour of noon. Still nothing was so pleasing +as the alacrity of hospitality—all that the house afforded +was quickly spread on the whitest linen. Remember, I had +just left the vessel, where, without being fastidious, I had +continually been disgusted. Fish, milk, butter, and cheese, +and, I am sorry to add, brandy, the bane of this country, were +spread on the board. After we had dined hospitality made +them, with some degree of mystery, bring us some excellent +coffee. I did not then know that it was prohibited.</p> +<p>The good man of the house apologised for coming in +continually, but declared that he was so glad to speak English he +could not stay out. He need not have apologised; I was +equally glad of his company. With the wife I could only +exchange smiles, and she was employed observing the make of our +clothes. My hands, I found, had first led her to discover +that I was the lady. I had, of course, my quantum of +reverences; for the politeness of the north seems to partake of +the coldness of the climate and the rigidity of its iron-sinewed +rocks. Amongst the peasantry there is, however, so much of +the simplicity of the golden age in this land of flint—so +much overflowing of heart and fellow-feeling, that only +benevolence and the honest sympathy of nature diffused smiles +over my countenance when they kept me standing, regardless of my +fatigue, whilst they dropped courtesy after courtesy.</p> +<p>The situation of this house was beautiful, though chosen for +convenience. The master being the officer who commanded all +the pilots on the coast, and the person appointed to guard +wrecks, it was necessary for him to fix on a spot that would +overlook the whole bay. As he had seen some service, he +wore, not without a pride I thought becoming, a badge to prove +that he had merited well of his country. It was happy, I +thought, that he had been paid in honour, for the stipend he +received was little more than twelve pounds a year. I do +not trouble myself or you with the calculation of Swedish +ducats. Thus, my friend, you perceive the necessity of +perquisites. This same narrow policy runs through +everything. I shall have occasion further to animadvert on +it.</p> +<p>Though my host amused me with an account of himself, which +gave me aim idea of the manners of the people I was about to +visit, I was eager to climb the rocks to view the country, and +see whether the honest tars had regained their ship. With +the help of the lieutenant’s telescope, I saw the vessel +under way with a fair though gentle gale. The sea was calm, +playful even as the most shallow stream, and on the vast basin I +did not see a dark speck to indicate the boat. My +conductors were consequently arrived.</p> +<p>Straying further, my eye was attracted by the sight of some +heartsease that peeped through the rocks. I caught at it as +a good omen, and going to preserve it in a letter that had not +conveyed balm to my heart, a cruel remembrance suffused my eyes; +but it passed away like an April shower. If you are deep +read in Shakespeare, you will recollect that this was the little +western flower tinged by love’s dart, which “maidens +call love in idleness.” The gaiety of my babe was +unmixed; regardless of omens or sentiments, she found a few wild +strawberries more grateful than flowers or fancies.</p> +<p>The lieutenant informed me that this was a commodious +bay. Of that I could not judge, though I felt its +picturesque beauty. Rocks were piled on rocks, forming a +suitable bulwark to the ocean. “Come no +further,” they emphatically said, turning their dark sides +to the waves to augment the idle roar. The view was +sterile; still little patches of earth of the most exquisite +verdure, enamelled with the sweetest wild flowers, seemed to +promise the goats and a few straggling cows luxurious +herbage. How silent and peaceful was the scene! I +gazed around with rapture, and felt more of that spontaneous +pleasure which gives credibility to our expectation of happiness +than I had for a long, long time before. I forgot the +horrors I had witnessed in France, which had cast a gloom over +all nature, and suffering the enthusiasm of my +character—too often, gracious God! damped by the tears of +disappointed affection—to be lighted up afresh, care took +wing while simple fellow-feeling expanded my heart.</p> +<p>To prolong this enjoyment, I readily assented to the proposal +of our host to pay a visit to a family, the master of which spoke +English, who was the drollest dog in the country, he added, +repeating some of his stories with a hearty laugh.</p> +<p>I walked on, still delighted with the rude beauties of the +scene; for the sublime often gave place imperceptibly to the +beautiful, dilating the emotions which were painfully +concentrated.</p> +<p>When we entered this abode, the largest I had yet seen, I was +introduced to a numerous family; but the father, from whom I was +led to expect so much entertainment, was absent. The +lieutenant consequently was obliged to be the interpreter of our +reciprocal compliments. The phrases were awkwardly +transmitted, it is true; but looks and gestures were sufficient +to make them intelligible and interesting. The girls were +all vivacity, and respect for me could scarcely keep them from +romping with my host, who, asking for a pinch of snuff, was +presented with a box, out of which an artificial mouse, fastened +to the bottom, sprang. Though this trick had doubtless been +played the out of mind, yet the laughter it excited was not less +genuine.</p> +<p>They were overflowing with civility; but, to prevent their +almost killing my babe with kindness, I was obliged to shorten my +visit; and two or three of the girls accompanied us, bringing +with them a part of whatever the house afforded to contribute +towards rendering my supper more plentiful; and plentiful in fact +it was, though I with difficulty did honour to some of the +dishes, not relishing the quantity of sugar and spices put into +everything. At supper my host told me bluntly that I was a +woman of observation, for I asked him <i>men’s +questions</i>.</p> +<p>The arrangements for my journey were quickly made. I +could only have a car with post-horses, as I did not choose to +wait till a carriage could be sent for to Gothenburg. The +expense of my journey (about one or two and twenty English miles) +I found would not amount to more than eleven or twelve shillings, +paying, he assured me, generously. I gave him a guinea and +a half. But it was with the greatest difficulty that I +could make him take so much—indeed anything—for my +lodging and fare. He declared that it was next to robbing +me, explaining how much I ought to pay on the road. +However, as I was positive, he took the guinea for himself; but, +as a condition, insisted on accompanying me, to prevent my +meeting with any trouble or imposition on the way.</p> +<p>I then retired to my apartment with regret. The night +was so fine that I would gladly have rambled about much longer, +yet, recollecting that I must rise very early, I reluctantly went +to bed; but my senses had been so awake, and my imagination still +continued so busy, that I sought for rest in vain. Rising +before six, I scented the sweet morning air; I had long before +heard the birds twittering to hail the dawning day, though it +could scarcely have been allowed to have departed.</p> +<p>Nothing, in fact, can equal the beauty of the northern +summer’s evening and night, if night it may be called that +only wants the glare of day, the full light which frequently +seems so impertinent, for I could write at midnight very well +without a candle. I contemplated all Nature at rest; the +rocks, even grown darker in their appearance, looked as if they +partook of the general repose, and reclined more heavily on their +foundation. “What,” I exclaimed, “is this +active principle which keeps me still awake? Why fly my +thoughts abroad, when everything around me appears at +home?” My child was sleeping with equal +calmness—innocent and sweet as the closing flowers. +Some recollections, attached to the idea of home, mingled with +reflections respecting the state of society I had been +contemplating that evening, made a tear drop on the rosy cheek I +had just kissed, and emotions that trembled on the brink of +ecstasy and agony gave a poignancy to my sensations which made me +feel more alive than usual.</p> +<p>What are these imperious sympathies? How frequently has +melancholy and even misanthropy taken possession of me, when the +world has disgusted me, and friends have proved unkind. I +have then considered myself as a particle broken off from the +grand mass of mankind; I was alone, till some involuntary +sympathetic emotion, like the attraction of adhesion, made me +feel that I was still a part of a mighty whole, from which I +could not sever myself—not, perhaps, for the reflection has +been carried very far, by snapping the thread of an existence, +which loses its charms in proportion as the cruel experience of +life stops or poisons the current of the heart. Futurity, +what hast thou not to give to those who know that there is such a +thing as happiness! I speak not of philosophical +contentment, though pain has afforded them the strongest +conviction of it.</p> +<p>After our coffee and milk—for the mistress of the house +had been roused long before us by her hospitality—my +baggage was taken forward in a boat by my host, because the car +could not safely have been brought to the house.</p> +<p>The road at first was very rocky and troublesome, but our +driver was careful, and the horses accustomed to the frequent and +sudden acclivities and descents; so that, not apprehending any +danger, I played with my girl, whom I would not leave to +Marguerite’s care, on account of her timidity.</p> +<p>Stopping at a little inn to bait the horses, I saw the first +countenance in Sweden that displeased me, though the man was +better dressed than any one who had as yet fallen in my +way. An altercation took place between him and my host, the +purport of which I could not guess, excepting that I was the +occasion of it, be it what it would. The sequel was his +leaving the house angrily; and I was immediately informed that he +was the custom-house officer. The professional had indeed +effaced the national character, for, living as he did within +these frank hospitable people, still only the exciseman appeared, +the counterpart of some I had met with in England and +France. I was unprovided with a passport, not having +entered any great town. At Gothenburg I knew I could +immediately obtain one, and only the trouble made me object to +the searching my trunks. He blustered for money; but the +lieutenant was determined to guard me, according to promise, from +imposition.</p> +<p>To avoid being interrogated at the town-gate, and obliged to +go in the rain to give an account of myself (merely a form) +before we could get the refreshment we stood in need of, he +requested us to descend—I might have said step—from +our car, and walk into town.</p> +<p>I expected to have found a tolerable inn, but was ushered into +a most comfortless one; and, because it was about five +o’clock, three or four hours after their dining hour, I +could not prevail on them to give me anything warm to eat.</p> +<p>The appearance of the accommodations obliged me to deliver one +of my recommendatory letters, and the gentleman to whom it was +addressed sent to look out for a lodging for me whilst I partook +of his supper. As nothing passed at this supper to +characterise the country, I shall here close my letter.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">Yours truly.</p> +<h2>LETTER II.</h2> +<p>Gothenburg is a clean airy town, and, having been built by the +Dutch, has canals running through each street; and in some of +them there are rows of trees that would render it very pleasant +were it not for the pavement, which is intolerably bad.</p> +<p>There are several rich commercial houses—Scotch, French, +and Swedish; but the Scotch, I believe, have been the most +successful. The commerce and commission business with +France since the war has been very lucrative, and enriched the +merchants I am afraid at the expense of the other inhabitants, by +raising the price of the necessaries of life.</p> +<p>As all the men of consequence—I mean men of the largest +fortune—are merchants, their principal enjoyment is a +relaxation from business at the table, which is spread at, I +think, too early an hour (between one and two) for men who have +letters to write and accounts to settle after paying due respect +to the bottle.</p> +<p>However, when numerous circles are to be brought together, and +when neither literature nor public amusements furnish topics for +conversation, a good dinner appears to be the only centre to +rally round, especially as scandal, the zest of more select +parties, can only be whispered. As for politics, I have +seldom found it a subject of continual discussion in a country +town in any part of the world. The politics of the place, +being on a smaller scale, suits better with the size of their +faculties; for, generally speaking, the sphere of observation +determines the extent of the mind.</p> +<p>The more I see of the world, the more I am convinced that +civilisation is a blessing not sufficiently estimated by those +who have not traced its progress; for it not only refines our +enjoyments, but produces a variety which enables us to retain the +primitive delicacy of our sensations. Without the aid of +the imagination all the pleasures of the senses must sink into +grossness, unless continual novelty serve as a substitute for the +imagination, which, being impossible, it was to this weariness, I +suppose, that Solomon alluded when he declared that there was +nothing new under the sun!—nothing for the common +sensations excited by the senses. Yet who will deny that +the imagination and understanding have made many, very many +discoveries since those days, which only seem harbingers of +others still more noble and beneficial? I never met with +much imagination amongst people who had not acquired a habit of +reflection; and in that state of society in which the judgment +and taste are not called forth, and formed by the cultivation of +the arts and sciences, little of that delicacy of feeling and +thinking is to be found characterised by the word +sentiment. The want of scientific pursuits perhaps accounts +for the hospitality, as well as for the cordial reception which +strangers receive from the inhabitants of small towns.</p> +<p>Hospitality has, I think, been too much praised by travellers +as a proof of goodness of heart, when, in my opinion, +indiscriminate hospitality is rather a criterion by which you may +form a tolerable estimate of the indolence or vacancy of a head; +or, in other words, a fondness for social pleasures in which the +mind not having its proportion of exercise, the bottle must be +pushed about.</p> +<p>These remarks are equally applicable to Dublin, the most +hospitable city I ever passed through. But I will try to +confine my observations more particularly to Sweden.</p> +<p>It is true I have only had a glance over a small part of it; +yet of its present state of manners and acquirements I think I +have formed a distinct idea, without having visited the +capital—where, in fact, less of a national character is to +be found than in the remote parts of the country.</p> +<p>The Swedes pique themselves on their politeness; but far from +being the polish of a cultivated mind, it consists merely of +tiresome forms and ceremonies. So far, indeed, from +entering immediately into your character, and making you feel +instantly at your ease, like the well-bred French, their +over-acted civility is a continual restraint on all your +actions. The sort of superiority which a fortune gives when +there is no superiority of education, excepting what consists in +the observance of senseless forms, has a contrary effect than +what is intended; so that I could not help reckoning the +peasantry the politest people of Sweden, who, only aiming at +pleasing you, never think of being admired for their +behaviour.</p> +<p>Their tables, like their compliments, seem equally a +caricature of the French. The dishes are composed, as well +as theirs, of a variety of mixtures to destroy the native taste +of the food without being as relishing. Spices and sugar +are put into everything, even into the bread; and the only way I +can account for their partiality to high-seasoned dishes is the +constant use of salted provisions. Necessity obliges them +to lay up a store of dried fish and salted meat for the winter; +and in summer, fresh meat and fish taste insipid after +them. To which may be added the constant use of +spirits. Every day, before dinner and supper, even whilst +the dishes are cooling on the table, men and women repair to a +side-table; and to obtain an appetite eat bread-and-butter, +cheese, raw salmon, or anchovies, drinking a glass of +brandy. Salt fish or meat then immediately follows, to give +a further whet to the stomach. As the dinner advances, +pardon me for taking up a few minutes to describe what, alas! has +detained me two or three hours on the stretch observing, dish +after dish is changed, in endless rotation, and handed round with +solemn pace to each guest; but should you happen not to like the +first dishes, which was often my case, it is a gross breach of +politeness to ask for part of any other till its turn +comes. But have patience, and there will be eating +enough. Allow me to run over the acts of a visiting day, +not overlooking the interludes.</p> +<p>Prelude a luncheon—then a succession of fish, flesh, and +fowl for two hours, during which time the dessert—I was +sorry for the strawberries and cream—rests on the table to +be impregnated by the fumes of the viands. Coffee +immediately follows in the drawing-room, but does not preclude +punch, ale, tea and cakes, raw salmon, &c. A supper +brings up the rear, not forgetting the introductory luncheon, +almost equalling in removes the dinner. A day of this kind +you would imagine sufficient; but a to-morrow and a +to-morrow—A never-ending, still-beginning feast may be +bearable, perhaps, when stern winter frowns, shaking with +chilling aspect his hoary locks; but during a summer, sweet as +fleeting, let me, my kind strangers, escape sometimes into your +fir groves, wander on the margin of your beautiful lakes, or +climb your rocks, to view still others in endless perspective, +which, piled by more than giant’s hand, scale the heavens +to intercept its rays, or to receive the parting tinge of +lingering day—day that, scarcely softened unto twilight, +allows the freshening breeze to wake, and the moon to burst forth +in all her glory to glide with solemn elegance through the azure +expanse.</p> +<p>The cow’s bell has ceased to tinkle the herd to rest; +they have all paced across the heath. Is not this the +witching time of night? The waters murmur, and fall with +more than mortal music, and spirits of peace walk abroad to calm +the agitated breast. Eternity is in these moments. +Worldly cares melt into the airy stuff that dreams are made of, +and reveries, mild and enchanting as the first hopes of love or +the recollection of lost enjoyment, carry the hapless wight into +futurity, who in bustling life has vainly strove to throw off the +grief which lies heavy at the heart. Good night! A +crescent hangs out in the vault before, which woos me to stray +abroad. It is not a silvery reflection of the sun, but +glows with all its golden splendour. Who fears the fallen +dew? It only makes the mown grass smell more +fragrant. Adieu!</p> +<h2>LETTER III.</h2> +<p>The population of Sweden has been estimated from two millions +and a half to three millions; a small number for such an immense +tract of country, of which only so much is cultivated—and +that in the simplest manner—as is absolutely requisite to +supply the necessaries of life; and near the seashore, whence +herrings are easily procured, there scarcely appears a vestige of +cultivation. The scattered huts that stand shivering on the +naked rocks, braving the pitiless elements, are formed of logs of +wood rudely hewn; and so little pains are taken with the craggy +foundation that nothing hike a pathway points out the door.</p> +<p>Gathered into himself by the cold, lowering his visage to +avoid the cutting blast, is it surprising that the churlish +pleasure of drinking drams takes place of social enjoyments +amongst the poor, especially if we take into the account that +they mostly live on high-seasoned provision and rye bread? +Hard enough, you may imagine, as it is baked only once a +year. The servants also, in most families, eat this kind of +bread, and have a different kind of food from their masters, +which, in spite of all the arguments I have heard to vindicate +the custom, appears to me a remnant of barbarism.</p> +<p>In fact, the situation of the servants in every respect, +particularly that of the women, shows how far the Swedes are from +having a just conception of rational equality. They are not +termed slaves; yet a man may strike a man with impunity because +he pays him wages, though these wages are so low that necessity +must teach them to pilfer, whilst servility renders them false +and boorish. Still the men stand up for the dignity of man +by oppressing the women. The most menial, and even +laborious offices, are therefore left to these poor +drudges. Much of this I have seen. In the winter, I +am told, they take the linen down to the river to wash it in the +cold water, and though their hands, cut by the ice, are cracked +and bleeding, the men, their fellow-servants, will not disgrace +their manhood by carrying a tub to lighten their burden.</p> +<p>You will not be surprised to hear that they do not wear shoes +or stockings, when I inform you that their wages are seldom more +than twenty or thirty shillings per annum. It is the +custom, I know, to give them a new year’s gift and a +present at some other period, but can it all amount to a just +indemnity for their labour? The treatment of servants in +most countries, I grant, is very unjust, and in England, that +boasted land of freedom, it is often extremely tyrannical. +I have frequently, with indignation, heard gentlemen declare that +they would never allow a servant to answer them; and ladies of +the most exquisite sensibility, who were continually exclaiming +against the cruelty of the vulgar to the brute creation, have in +my presence forgot that their attendants had human feelings as +well as forms. I do not know a more agreeable sight than to +see servants part of a family. By taking an interest, +generally speaking, in their concerns you inspire them with one +for yours. We must love our servants, or we shall never be +sufficiently attentive to their happiness; and how can those +masters be attentive to their happiness who, living above their +fortunes, are more anxious to outshine their neighbours than to +allow their household the innocent enjoyments they earn?</p> +<p>It is, in fact, much more difficult for servants, who are +tantalised by seeing and preparing the dainties of which they are +not to partake, to remain honest, than the poor, whose thoughts +are not led from their homely fare; so that, though the servants +here are commonly thieves, you seldom hear of housebreaking, or +robbery on the highway. The country is, perhaps, too thinly +inhabited to produce many of that description of thieves termed +footpads, or highwaymen. They are usually the spawn of +great cities—the effect of the spurious desires generated +by wealth, rather than the desperate struggles of poverty to +escape from misery.</p> +<p>The enjoyment of the peasantry was drinking brandy and coffee, +before the latter was prohibited, and the former not allowed to +be privately distilled, the wars carried on by the late king +rendering it necessary to increase the revenue, and retain the +specie in the country by every possible means.</p> +<p>The taxes before the reign of Charles XII. were +inconsiderable. Since then the burden has continually been +growing heavier, and the price of provisions has proportionately +increased—nay, the advantage accruing from the exportation +of corn to France and rye to Germany will probably produce a +scarcity in both Sweden and Norway, should not a peace put a stop +to it this autumn, for speculations of various kinds have already +almost doubled the price.</p> +<p>Such are the effects of war, that it saps the vitals even of +the neutral countries, who, obtaining a sudden influx of wealth, +appear to be rendered flourishing by the destruction which +ravages the hapless nations who are sacrificed to the ambition of +their governors. I shall not, however, dwell on the vices, +though they be of the most contemptible and embruting cast, to +which a sudden accession of fortune gives birth, because I +believe it may be delivered as an axiom, that it is only in +proportion to the industry necessary to acquire wealth that a +nation is really benefited by it.</p> +<p>The prohibition of drinking coffee under a penalty, and the +encouragement given to public distilleries, tend to impoverish +the poor, who are not affected by the sumptuary laws; for the +regent has lately laid very severe restraints on the articles of +dress, which the middling class of people found grievous, because +it obliged them to throw aside finery that might have lasted them +for their lives.</p> +<p>These may be termed vexatious; still the death of the king, by +saving them from the consequences his ambition would naturally +have entailed on them, may be reckoned a blessing.</p> +<p>Besides, the French Revolution has not only rendered all the +crowned heads more cautious, but has so decreased everywhere +(excepting amongst themselves) a respect for nobility, that the +peasantry have not only lost their blind reverence for their +seigniors, but complain in a manly style of oppressions which +before they did not think of denominating such, because they were +taught to consider themselves as a different order of +beings. And, perhaps, the efforts which the aristocrats are +making here, as well as in every other part of Europe, to secure +their sway, will be the most effectual mode of undermining it, +taking into the calculation that the King of Sweden, like most of +the potentates of Europe, has continually been augmenting his +power by encroaching on the privileges of the nobles.</p> +<p>The well-bred Swedes of the capital are formed on the ancient +French model, and they in general speak that language; for they +have a knack at acquiring languages with tolerable fluency. +This may be reckoned an advantage in some respects; but it +prevents the cultivation of their own, and any considerable +advance in literary pursuits.</p> +<p>A sensible writer has lately observed (I have not his work by +me, therefore cannot quote his exact words), “That the +Americans very wisely let the Europeans make their books and +fashions for them.” But I cannot coincide with him in +this opinion. The reflection necessary to produce a certain +number even of tolerable productions augments more than he is +aware of the mass of knowledge in the community. Desultory +reading is commonly a mere pastime. But we must have an +object to refer our reflections to, or they will seldom go below +the surface. As in travelling, the keeping of a journal +excites to many useful inquiries that would not have been thought +of had the traveller only determined to see all he could see, +without ever asking himself for what purpose. Besides, the +very dabbling in literature furnishes harmless topics of +conversation; for the not having such subjects at hand, though +they are often insupportably fatiguing, renders the inhabitants +of little towns prying and censorious. Idleness, rather +than ill-nature, gives birth to scandal, and to the observation +of little incidents which narrows the mind. It is +frequently only the fear of being talked of which produces that +puerile scrupulosity about trifles incompatible with an enlarged +plan of usefulness, and with the basis of all moral +principles—respect for the virtues which are not merely the +virtues of convention.</p> +<p>I am, my friend, more and more convinced that a metropolis, or +an abode absolutely solitary, is the best calculated for the +improvement of the heart, as well as the understanding; whether +we desire to become acquainted with man, nature, or +ourselves. Mixing with mankind, we are obliged to examine +our prejudices, and often imperceptibly lose, as we analyse +them. And in the country, growing intimate with nature, a +thousand little circumstances, unseen by vulgar eyes, give birth +to sentiments dear to the imagination, and inquiries which expand +the soul, particularly when cultivation has not smoothed into +insipidity all its originality of character.</p> +<p>I love the country, yet whenever I see a picturesque situation +chosen on which to erect a dwelling I am always afraid of the +improvements. It requires uncommon taste to form a whole, +and to introduce accommodations and ornaments analogous with the +surrounding-scene.</p> +<p>It visited, near Gothenburg, a house with improved land about +it, with which I was particularly delighted. It was close +to a lake embosomed in pine-clad rocks. In one part of the +meadows your eye was directed to the broad expanse, in another +you were led into a shade, to see a part of it, in the form of a +river, rush amongst the fragments of rocks and roots of trees; +nothing seemed forced. One recess, particularly grand and +solemn amongst the towering cliffs, had a rude stone table and +seat placed in it, that might have served for a Druid’s +haunt, whilst a placid stream below enlivened the flowers on its +margin, where light-footed elves would gladly have danced their +airy rounds.</p> +<p>Here the hand of taste was conspicuous though not obtrusive, +and formed a contrast with another abode in the same +neighbourhood, on which much money had been lavished; where +Italian colonnades were placed to excite the wonder of the rude +crags, and a stone staircase, to threaten with destruction a +wooden house. Venuses and Apollos condemned to lie hid in +snow three parts of the year seemed equally displaced, and called +the attention off from the surrounding sublimity, without +inspiring any voluptuous sensations. Yet even these +abortions of vanity have been useful. Numberless workmen +have been employed, and the superintending artist has improved +the labourers, whose unskilfulness tormented him, by obliging +them to submit to the discipline of rules. Adieu!</p> +<p style="text-align: right">Yours affectionately.</p> +<h2>LETTER IV.</h2> +<p>The severity of the long Swedish winter tends to render the +people sluggish, for though this season has its peculiar +pleasures, too much time is employed to guard against its +inclemency. Still as warm clothing is absolutely necessary, +the women spin and the men weave, and by these exertions get a +fence to keep out the cold. I have rarely passed a knot of +cottages without seeing cloth laid out to bleach, and when I +entered, always found the women spinning or knitting.</p> +<p>A mistaken tenderness, however, for their children, makes them +even in summer load them with flannels, and having a sort of +natural antipathy to cold water, the squalid appearance of the +poor babes, not to speak of the noxious smell which flannel and +rugs retain, seems a reply to a question I had often +asked—Why I did not see more children in the villages I +passed through? Indeed the children appear to be nipt in +the bud, having neither the graces nor charms of their age. +And this, I am persuaded, is much more owing to the ignorance of +the mothers than to the rudeness of the climate. Rendered +feeble by the continual perspiration they are kept in, whilst +every pore is absorbing unwholesome moisture, they give them, +even at the breast, brandy, salt fish, and every other crude +substance which air and exercise enables the parent to +digest.</p> +<p>The women of fortune here, as well as everywhere else, have +nurses to suckle their children; and the total want of chastity +in the lower class of women frequently renders them very unfit +for the trust.</p> +<p>You have sometimes remarked to me the difference of the +manners of the country girls in England and in America; +attributing the reserve of the former to the climate—to the +absence of genial suns. But it must be their stars, not the +zephyrs, gently stealing on their senses, which here lead frail +women astray. Who can look at these rocks, and allow the +voluptuousness of nature to be an excuse for gratifying the +desires it inspires? We must therefore, find some other +cause beside voluptuousness, I believe, to account for the +conduct of the Swedish and American country girls; for I am led +to conclude, from all the observations I have made, that there is +always a mixture of sentiment and imagination in voluptuousness, +to which neither of them have much pretension.</p> +<p>The country girls of Ireland and Wales equally feel the first +impulse of nature, which, restrained in England by fear or +delicacy, proves that society is there in a more advanced +state. Besides, as the mind is cultivated, and taste gains +ground, the passions become stronger, and rest on something more +stable than the casual sympathies of the moment. Health and +idleness will always account for promiscuous amours; and in some +degree I term every person idle, the exercise of whose mind does +not bear some proportion to that of the body.</p> +<p>The Swedish ladies exercise neither sufficiently; of course, +grow very fat at an early age; and when they have not this downy +appearance, a comfortable idea, you will say, in a cold climate, +they are not remarkable for fine forms. They have, however, +mostly fine complexions; but indolence makes the lily soon +displace the rose. The quantity of coffee, spices, and +other things of that kind, with want of care, almost universally +spoil their teeth, which contrast but ill with their ruby +lips.</p> +<p>The manners of Stockholm are refined, I hear, by the +introduction of gallantry; but in the country, romping and coarse +freedoms, with coarser allusions, keep the spirits awake. +In the article of cleanliness, the women of all descriptions seem +very deficient; and their dress shows that vanity is more +inherent in women than taste.</p> +<p>The men appear to have paid still less court to the +graces. They are a robust, healthy race, distinguished for +their common sense and turn for humour, rather than for wit or +sentiment. I include not, as you may suppose, in this +general character, some of the nobility and officers, who having +travelled, are polite and well informed.</p> +<p>I must own to you that the lower class of people here amuse +and interest me much more than the middling, with their apish +good breeding and prejudices. The sympathy and frankness of +heart conspicuous in the peasantry produces even a simple +gracefulness of deportment which has frequently struck me as very +picturesque; I have often also been touched by their extreme +desire to oblige me, when I could not explain my wants, and by +their earnest manner of expressing that desire. There is +such a charm in tenderness! It is so delightful to love our +fellow-creatures, and meet the honest affections as they break +forth. Still, my good friend, I begin to think that I +should not like to live continually in the country with people +whose minds have such a narrow range. My heart would +frequently be interested; but my mind would languish for more +companionable society.</p> +<p>The beauties of nature appear to me now even more alluring +than in my youth, because my intercourse with the world has +formed without vitiating my taste. But, with respect to the +inhabitants of the country, my fancy has probably, when disgusted +with artificial manners, solaced itself by joining the advantages +of cultivation with the interesting sincerity of innocence, +forgetting the lassitude that ignorance will naturally +produce. I like to see animals sporting, and sympathise in +their pains and pleasures. Still I love sometimes to view +the human face divine, and trace the soul, as well as the heart, +in its varying lineaments.</p> +<p>A journey to the country, which I must shortly make, will +enable me to extend my remarks.—Adieu!</p> +<h2>LETTER V.</h2> +<p>Had I determined to travel in Sweden merely for pleasure, I +should probably have chosen the road to Stockholm, though +convinced, by repeated observation, that the manners of a people +are best discriminated in the country. The inhabitants of +the capital are all of the same genus; for the varieties in the +species we must, therefore, search where the habitations of men +are so separated as to allow the difference of climate to have +its natural effect. And with this difference we are, +perhaps, most forcibly struck at the first view, just as we form +an estimate of the leading traits of a character at the first +glance, of which intimacy afterwards makes us almost lose +sight.</p> +<p>As my affairs called me to Stromstad (the frontier town of +Sweden) in my way to Norway, I was to pass over, I heard, the +most uncultivated part of the country. Still I believe that +the grand features of Sweden are the same everywhere, and it is +only the grand features that admit of description. There is +an individuality in every prospect, which remains in the memory +as forcibly depicted as the particular features that have +arrested our attention; yet we cannot find words to discriminate +that individuality so as to enable a stranger to say, this is the +face, that the view. We may amuse by setting the +imagination to work; but we cannot store the memory with a +fact.</p> +<p>As I wish to give you a general idea of this country, I shall +continue in my desultory manner to make such observations and +reflections as the circumstances draw forth, without losing time, +by endeavouring to arrange them.</p> +<p>Travelling in Sweden is very cheap, and even commodious, if +you make but the proper arrangements. Here, as in other +parts of the Continent, it is necessary to have your own +carriage, and to have a servant who can speak the language, if +you are unacquainted with it. Sometimes a servant who can +drive would be found very useful, which was our case, for I +travelled in company with two gentlemen, one of whom had a German +servant who drove very well. This was all the party; for +not intending to make a long stay, I left my little girl behind +me.</p> +<p>As the roads are not much frequented, to avoid waiting three +or four hours for horses, we sent, as is the constant custom, an +<i>avant courier</i> the night before, to order them at every +post, and we constantly found them ready. Our first set I +jokingly termed requisition horses; but afterwards we had almost +always little spirited animals that went on at a round pace.</p> +<p>The roads, making allowance for the ups and downs, are +uncommonly good and pleasant. The expense, including the +postillions and other incidental things, does not amount to more +than a shilling the Swedish mile.</p> +<p>The inns are tolerable; but not liking the rye bread, I found +it necessary to furnish myself with some wheaten before I set +out. The beds, too, were particularly disagreeable to +me. It seemed to me that I was sinking into a grave when I +entered them; for, immersed in down placed in a sort of box, I +expected to be suffocated before morning. The sleeping +between two down beds—they do so even in summer—must +be very unwholesome during any season; and I cannot conceive how +the people can bear it, especially as the summers are very +warm. But warmth they seem not to feel; and, I should +think, were afraid of the air, by always keeping their windows +shut. In the winter, I am persuaded, I could not exist in +rooms thus closed up, with stoves heated in their manner, for +they only put wood into them twice a day; and, when the stove is +thoroughly heated, they shut the flue, not admitting any air to +renew its elasticity, even when the rooms are crowded with +company. These stoves are made of earthenware, and often in +a form that ornaments an apartment, which is never the case with +the heavy iron ones I have seen elsewhere. Stoves may be +economical, but I like a fire, a wood one, in preference; and I +am convinced that the current of air which it attracts renders +this the best mode of warming rooms.</p> +<p>We arrived early the second evening at a little village called +Quistram, where we had determined to pass the night, having been +informed that we should not afterwards find a tolerable inn until +we reached Stromstad.</p> +<p>Advancing towards Quistram, as the sun was beginning to +decline, I was particularly impressed by the beauty of the +situation. The road was on the declivity of a rocky +mountain, slightly covered with a mossy herbage and vagrant +firs. At the bottom, a river, straggling amongst the +recesses of stone, was hastening forward to the ocean and its +grey rocks, of which we had a prospect on the left; whilst on the +right it stole peacefully forward into the meadows, losing itself +in a thickly-wooded rising ground. As we drew near, the +loveliest banks of wild flowers variegated the prospect, and +promised to exhale odours to add to the sweetness of the air, the +purity of which you could almost see, alas! not smell, for the +putrefying herrings, which they use as manure, after the oil has +been extracted, spread over the patches of earth, claimed by +cultivation, destroyed every other.</p> +<p>It was intolerable, and entered with us into the inn, which +was in other respects a charming retreat.</p> +<p>Whilst supper was preparing I crossed the bridge, and strolled +by the river, listening to its murmurs. Approaching the +bank, the beauty of which had attracted my attention in the +carriage, I recognised many of my old acquaintance growing with +great luxuriance.</p> +<p>Seated on it, I could not avoid noting an obvious +remark. Sweden appeared to me the country in the world most +proper to form the botanist and natural historian; every object +seemed to remind me of the creation of things, of the first +efforts of sportive nature. When a country arrives at a +certain state of perfection, it looks as if it were made so; and +curiosity is not excited. Besides, in social life too many +objects occur for any to be distinctly observed by the generality +of mankind; yet a contemplative man, or poet, in the +country—I do not mean the country adjacent to +cities—feels and sees what would escape vulgar eyes, and +draws suitable inferences. This train of reflections might +have led me further, in every sense of the word; but I could not +escape from the detestable evaporation of the herrings, which +poisoned all my pleasure.</p> +<p>After making a tolerable supper—for it is not easy to +get fresh provisions on the road—I retired, to be lulled to +sleep by the murmuring of a stream, of which I with great +difficulty obtained sufficient to perform my daily ablutions.</p> +<p>The last battle between the Danes and Swedes, which gave new +life to their ancient enmity, was fought at this place 1788; only +seventeen or eighteen were killed, for the great superiority of +the Danes and Norwegians obliged the Swedes to submit; but +sickness, and a scarcity of provision, proved very fatal to their +opponents on their return.</p> +<p>It would be very easy to search for the particulars of this +engagement in the publications of the day; but as this manner of +filling my pages does not come within my plan, I probably should +not have remarked that the battle was fought here, were it not to +relate an anecdote which I had from good authority.</p> +<p>I noticed, when I first mentioned this place to you, that we +descended a steep before we came to the inn; an immense ridge of +rocks stretching out on one side. The inn was sheltered +under them; and about a hundred yards from it was a bridge that +crossed the river, the murmurs of which I have celebrated; it was +not fordable. The Swedish general received orders to stop +at the bridge and dispute the passage—a most advantageous +post for an army so much inferior in force; but the influence of +beauty is not confined to courts. The mistress of the inn +was handsome; when I saw her there were still some remains of +beauty; and, to preserve her house, the general gave up the only +tenable station. He was afterwards broke for contempt of +orders.</p> +<p>Approaching the frontiers, consequently the sea, nature +resumed an aspect ruder and ruder, or rather seemed the bones of +the world waiting to be clothed with everything necessary to give +life and beauty. Still it was sublime.</p> +<p>The clouds caught their hue of the rocks that menaced +them. The sun appeared afraid to shine, the birds ceased to +sing, and the flowers to bloom; but the eagle fixed his nest high +amongst the rocks, and the vulture hovered over this abode of +desolation. The farm houses, in which only poverty resided, +were formed of logs scarcely keeping off the cold and drifting +snow: out of them the inhabitants seldom peeped, and the sports +or prattling of children was neither seen or heard. The +current of life seemed congealed at the source: all were not +frozen, for it was summer, you remember; but everything appeared +so dull that I waited to see ice, in order to reconcile me to the +absence of gaiety.</p> +<p>The day before, my attention had frequently been attracted by +the wild beauties of the country we passed through.</p> +<p>The rocks which tossed their fantastic heads so high were +often covered with pines and firs, varied in the most picturesque +manner. Little woods filled up the recesses when forests +did not darken the scene, and valleys and glens, cleared of the +trees, displayed a dazzling verdure which contrasted with the +gloom of the shading pines. The eye stole into many a +covert where tranquillity seemed to have taken up her abode, and +the number of little lakes that continually presented themselves +added to the peaceful composure of the scenery. The little +cultivation which appeared did not break the enchantment, nor did +castles rear their turrets aloft to crush the cottages, and prove +that man is more savage than the natives of the woods. I +heard of the bears but never saw them stalk forth, which I was +sorry for; I wished to have seen one in its wild state. In +the winter, I am told, they sometimes catch a stray cow, which is +a heavy loss to the owner.</p> +<p>The farms are small. Indeed most of the houses we saw on +the road indicated poverty, or rather that the people could just +live. Towards the frontiers they grew worse and worse in +their appearance, as if not willing to put sterility itself out +of countenance. No gardens smiled round the habitations, +not a potato or cabbage to eat with the fish drying on a stick +near the door. A little grain here and there appeared, the +long stalks of which you might almost reckon. The day was +gloomy when we passed over this rejected spot, the wind bleak, +and winter seemed to be contending with nature, faintly +struggling to change the season. Surely, thought I, if the +sun ever shines here it cannot warm these stones; moss only +cleaves to them, partaking of their hardness, and nothing like +vegetable life appears to cheer with hope the heart.</p> +<p>So far from thinking that the primitive inhabitants of the +world lived in a southern climate where Paradise spontaneously +arose, I am led to infer, from various circumstances, that the +first dwelling of man happened to be a spot like this which led +him to adore a sun so seldom seen; for this worship, which +probably preceded that of demons or demigods, certainly never +began in a southern climate, where the continual presence of the +sun prevented its being considered as a good; or rather the want +of it never being felt, this glorious luminary would carelessly +have diffused its blessings without being hailed as a +benefactor. Man must therefore have been placed in the +north, to tempt him to run after the sun, in order that the +different parts of the earth might be peopled. Nor do I +wonder that hordes of barbarians always poured out of these +regions to seek for milder climes, when nothing like cultivation +attached them to the soil, especially when we take into the view +that the adventuring spirit, common to man, is naturally stronger +and more general during the infancy of society. The conduct +of the followers of Mahomet, and the crusaders, will sufficiently +corroborate my assertion.</p> +<p>Approaching nearer to Stromstad, the appearance of the town +proved to be quite in character with the country we had just +passed through. I hesitated to use the word country, yet +could not find another; still it would sound absurd to talk of +fields of rocks.</p> +<p>The town was built on and under them. Three or four +weather-beaten trees were shrinking from the wind, and the grass +grew so sparingly that I could not avoid thinking Dr. +Johnson’s hyperbolical assertion “that the man +merited well of his country who made a few blades of grass grow +where they never grew before,” might here have been uttered +with strict propriety. The steeple likewise towered aloft, +for what is a church, even amongst the Lutherans, without a +steeple? But to prevent mischief in such an exposed +situation, it is wisely placed on a rock at some distance not to +endanger the roof of the church.</p> +<p>Rambling about, I saw the door open, and entered, when to my +great surprise I found the clergyman reading prayers, with only +the clerk attending. I instantly thought of Swift’s +“Dearly beloved Roger,” but on inquiry I learnt that +some one had died that morning, and in Sweden it is customary to +pray for the dead.</p> +<p>The sun, who I suspected never dared to shine, began now to +convince me that he came forth only to torment; for though the +wind was still cutting, the rocks became intolerably warm under +my feet, whilst the herring effluvia, which I before found so +very offensive, once more assailed me. I hastened back to +the house of a merchant, the little sovereign of the place, +because he was by far the richest, though not the mayor.</p> +<p>Here we were most hospitably received, and introduced to a +very fine and numerous family. I have before mentioned to +you the lilies of the north, I might have added, water lilies, +for the complexion of many, even of the young women, seem to be +bleached on the bosom of snow. But in this youthful circle +the roses bloomed with all their wonted freshness, and I wondered +from whence the fire was stolen which sparkled in their fine blue +eyes.</p> +<p>Here we slept; and I rose early in the morning to prepare for +my little voyage to Norway. I had determined to go by +water, and was to leave my companions behind; but not getting a +boat immediately, and the wind being high and unfavourable, I was +told that it was not safe to go to sea during such boisterous +weather; I was, therefore, obliged to wait for the morrow, and +had the present day on my hands, which I feared would be irksome, +because the family, who possessed about a dozen French words +amongst them and not an English phrase, were anxious to amuse me, +and would not let me remain alone in my room. The town we +had already walked round and round, and if we advanced farther on +the coast, it was still to view the same unvaried immensity of +water surrounded by barrenness.</p> +<p>The gentlemen, wishing to peep into Norway, proposed going to +Fredericshall, the first town—the distance was only three +Swedish miles. There and back again was but a day’s +journey, and would not, I thought, interfere with my +voyage. I agreed, and invited the eldest and prettiest of +the girls to accompany us. I invited her because I like to +see a beautiful face animated by pleasure, and to have an +opportunity of regarding the country, whilst the gentlemen were +amusing themselves with her.</p> +<p>I did not know, for I had not thought of it, that we were to +scale some of the most mountainous cliffs of Sweden in our way to +the ferry which separates the two countries.</p> +<p>Entering amongst the cliffs, we were sheltered from the wind, +warm sunbeams began to play, streams to flow, and groves of pines +diversified the rocks. Sometimes they became suddenly bare +and sublime. Once, in particular, after mounting the most +terrific precipice, we had to pass through a tremendous defile, +where the closing chasm seemed to threaten us with instant +destruction, when, turning quickly, verdant meadows and a +beautiful lake relieved and charmed my eyes.</p> +<p>I had never travelled through Switzerland, but one of my +companions assured me that I should not there find anything +superior, if equal, to the wild grandeur of these views.</p> +<p>As we had not taken this excursion into our plan, the horses +had not been previously ordered, which obliged us to wait two +hours at the first post. The day was wearing away. +The road was so bad that walking up the precipices consumed the +time insensibly; but as we desired horses at each post ready at a +certain hour, we reckoned on returning more speedily.</p> +<p>We stopped to dine at a tolerable farm; they brought us out +ham, butter, cheese, and milk, and the charge was so moderate +that I scattered a little money amongst the children who were +peeping at us, in order to pay them for their trouble.</p> +<p>Arrived at the ferry, we were still detained, for the people +who attend at the ferries have a stupid kind of sluggishness in +their manner, which is very provoking when you are in +haste. At present I did not feel it, for, scrambling up the +cliffs, my eye followed the river as it rolled between the grand +rocky banks; and, to complete the scenery, they were covered with +firs and pines, through which the wind rustled as if it were +lulling itself to sleep with the declining sun.</p> +<p>Behold us now in Norway; and I could not avoid feeling +surprise at observing the difference in the manners of the +inhabitants of the two sides of the river, for everything shows +that the Norwegians are more industrious and more opulent. +The Swedes (for neighbours are seldom the best friends) accuse +the Norwegians of knavery, and they retaliate by bringing a +charge of hypocrisy against the Swedes. Local circumstances +probably render both unjust, speaking from their feelings rather +than reason; and is this astonishing when we consider that most +writers of travels have done the same, whose works have served as +materials for the compilers of universal histories? All are +eager to give a national character, which is rarely just, because +they do not discriminate the natural from the acquired +difference. The natural, I believe, on due consideration, +will be found to consist merely in the degree of vivacity, or +thoughtfulness, pleasures or pain, inspired by the climate, +whilst the varieties which the forms of government, including +religion, produce are much more numerous and unstable.</p> +<p>A people have been characterised as stupid by nature; what a +paradox! because they did not consider that slaves, having no +object to stimulate industry; have not their faculties sharpened +by the only thing that can exercise them, self-interest. +Others have been brought forward as brutes, having no aptitude +for the arts and sciences, only because the progress of +improvement had not reached that stage which produces them.</p> +<p>Those writers who have considered the history of man, or of +the human mind, on a more enlarged scale have fallen into similar +errors, not reflecting that the passions are weak where the +necessaries of life are too hardly or too easily obtained.</p> +<p>Travellers who require that every nation should resemble their +native country, had better stay at home. It is, for +example, absurd to blame a people for not having that degree of +personal cleanliness and elegance of manners which only +refinement of taste produces, and will produce everywhere in +proportion as society attains a general polish. The most +essential service, I presume, that authors could render to +society, would be to promote inquiry and discussion, instead of +making those dogmatical assertions which only appear calculated +to gird the human mind round with imaginary circles, like the +paper globe which represents the one he inhabits.</p> +<p>This spirit of inquiry is the characteristic of the present +century, from which the succeeding will, I am persuaded, receive +a great accumulation of knowledge; and doubtless its diffusion +will in a great measure destroy the factitious national +characters which have been supposed permanent, though only +rendered so by the permanency of ignorance.</p> +<p>Arriving at Fredericshall, at the siege of which Charles XII. +lost his life, we had only time to take a transient view of it +whilst they were preparing us some refreshment.</p> +<p>Poor Charles! I thought of him with respect. I +have always felt the same for Alexander, with whom he has been +classed as a madman by several writers, who have reasoned +superficially, confounding the morals of the day with the few +grand principles on which unchangeable morality rests. +Making no allowance for the ignorance and prejudices of the +period, they do not perceive how much they themselves are +indebted to general improvement for the acquirements, and even +the virtues, which they would not have had the force of mind to +attain by their individual exertions in a less advanced state of +society.</p> +<p>The evening was fine, as is usual at this season, and the +refreshing odour of the pine woods became more perceptible, for +it was nine o’clock when we left Fredericshall. At +the ferry we were detained by a dispute relative to our Swedish +passport, which we did not think of getting countersigned in +Norway. Midnight was coming on, yet it might with such +propriety have been termed the noon of night that, had Young ever +travelled towards the north, I should not have wondered at his +becoming enamoured of the moon. But it is not the Queen of +Night alone who reigns here in all her splendour, though the sun, +loitering just below the horizon, decks her within a golden tinge +from his car, illuminating the cliffs that hide him; the heavens +also, of a clear softened blue, throw her forward, and the +evening star appears a smaller moon to the naked eye. The +huge shadows of the rocks, fringed with firs, concentrating the +views without darkening them, excited that tender melancholy +which, sublimating the imagination, exalts rather than depresses +the mind.</p> +<p>My companions fell asleep—fortunately they did not +snore; and I contemplated, fearless of idle questions, a night +such as I had never before seen or felt, to charm the senses, and +calm the heart. The very air was balmy as it freshened into +morn, producing the most voluptuous sensations. A vague +pleasurable sentiment absorbed me, as I opened my bosom to the +embraces of nature; and my soul rose to its Author, with the +chirping of the solitary birds, which began to feel, rather than +see, advancing day. I had leisure to mark its +progress. The grey morn, streaked with silvery rays, +ushered in the orient beams (how beautifully varying into +purple!), yet I was sorry to lose the soft watery clouds which +preceded them, exciting a kind of expectation that made me almost +afraid to breathe, lest I should break the charm. I saw the +sun—and sighed.</p> +<p>One of my companions, now awake, perceiving that the +postillion had mistaken the road, began to swear at him, and +roused the other two, who reluctantly shook off sleep.</p> +<p>We had immediately to measure back our steps, and did not +reach Stromstad before five in the morning.</p> +<p>The wind had changed in the night, and my boat was ready.</p> +<p>A dish of coffee, and fresh linen, recruited my spirits, and I +directly set out again for Norway, purposing to land much higher +up the coast.</p> +<p>Wrapping my great-coat round me, I lay down on some sails at +the bottom of the boat, its motion rocking me to rest, till a +discourteous wave interrupted my slumbers, and obliged me to rise +and feel a solitariness which was not so soothing as that of the +past night.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">Adieu!</p> +<h2>LETTER VI.</h2> +<p>The sea was boisterous, but, as I had an experienced pilot, I +did not apprehend any danger. Sometimes, I was told, boats +are driven far out and lost. However, I seldom calculate +chances so nicely—sufficient for the day is the obvious +evil!</p> +<p>We had to steer amongst islands and huge rocks, rarely losing +sight of the shore, though it now and then appeared only a mist +that bordered the water’s edge. The pilot assured me +that the numerous harbours on the Norway coast were very safe, +and the pilot-boats were always on the watch. The Swedish +side is very dangerous, I am also informed; and the help of +experience is not often at hand to enable strange vessels to +steer clear of the rocks, which lurk below the water close to the +shore.</p> +<p>There are no tides here, nor in the Cattegate, and, what +appeared to me a consequence, no sandy beach. Perhaps this +observation has been made before; but it did not occur to me till +I saw the waves continually beating against the bare rocks, +without ever receding to leave a sediment to harden.</p> +<p>The wind was fair, till we had to tack about in order to enter +Laurvig, where we arrived towards three o’clock in the +afternoon. It is a clean, pleasant town, with a +considerable iron-work, which gives life to it.</p> +<p>As the Norwegians do not frequently see travellers, they are +very curious to know their business, and who they are—so +curious, that I was half tempted to adopt Dr. Franklin’s +plan, when travelling in America, where they are equally prying, +which was to write on a paper, for public inspection, my name, +from whence I came, where I was going, and what was my +business. But if I were importuned by their curiosity, +their friendly gestures gratified me. A woman coming alone +interested them. And I know not whether my weariness gave +me a look of peculiar delicacy, but they approached to assist me, +and inquire after my wants, as if they were afraid to hurt, and +wished to protect me. The sympathy I inspired, thus +dropping down from the clouds in a strange land, affected me more +than it would have done had not my spirits been harassed by +various causes—by much thinking—musing almost to +madness—and even by a sort of weak melancholy that hung +about my heart at parting with my daughter for the first +time.</p> +<p>You know that, as a female, I am particularly attached to her; +I feel more than a mother’s fondness and anxiety when I +reflect on the dependent and oppressed state of her sex. I +dread lest she should be forced to sacrifice her heart to her +principles, or principles to her heart. With trembling hand +I shall cultivate sensibility and cherish delicacy of sentiment, +lest, whilst I lend fresh blushes to the rose, I sharpen the +thorns that will wound the breast I would fain guard; I dread to +unfold her mind, lest it should render her unfit for the world +she is to inhabit. Hapless woman! what a fate is thine!</p> +<p>But whither am I wandering? I only meant to tell you +that the impression the kindness of the simple people made +visible on my countenance increased my sensibility to a painful +degree. I wished to have had a room to myself, for their +attention, and rather distressing observation, embarrassed me +extremely. Yet, as they would bring me eggs, and make my +coffee, I found I could not leave them without hurting their +feelings of hospitality.</p> +<p>It is customary here for the host and hostess to welcome their +guests as master and mistress of the house.</p> +<p>My clothes, in their turn, attracted the attention of the +females, and I could not help thinking of the foolish vanity +which makes many women so proud of the observation of strangers +as to take wonder very gratuitously for admiration. This +error they are very apt to fall into when, arrived in a foreign +country, the populace stare at them as they pass. Yet the +make of a cap or the singularity of a gown is often the cause of +the flattering attention which afterwards supports a fantastic +superstructure of self-conceit.</p> +<p>Not having brought a carriage over with me, expecting to have +met a person where I landed, who was immediately to have procured +me one, I was detained whilst the good people of the inn sent +round to all their acquaintance to search for a vehicle. A +rude sort of cabriole was at last found, and a driver half drunk, +who was not less eager to make a good bargain on that +account. I had a Danish captain of a ship and his mate with +me; the former was to ride on horseback, at which he was not very +expert, and the latter to partake of my seat. The driver +mounted behind to guide the horses and flourish the whip over our +shoulders; he would not suffer the reins out of his own +hands. There was something so grotesque in our appearance +that I could not avoid shrinking into myself when I saw a +gentleman-like man in the group which crowded round the door to +observe us. I could have broken the driver’s whip for +cracking to call the women and children together, but seeing a +significant smile on the face, I had before remarked, I burst +into a laugh to allow him to do so too, and away we flew. +This is not a flourish of the pen, for we actually went on full +gallop a long time, the horses being very good; indeed, I have +never met with better, if so good, post-horses as in +Norway. They are of a stouter make than the English horses, +appear to be well fed, and are not easily tired.</p> +<p>I had to pass over, I was informed, the most fertile and best +cultivated tract of country in Norway. The distance was +three Norwegian miles, which are longer than the Swedish. +The roads were very good; the farmers are obliged to repair them; +and we scampered through a great extent of country in a more +improved state than any I had viewed since I left England. +Still there was sufficient of hills, dales, and rocks to prevent +the idea of a plain from entering the head, or even of such +scenery as England and France afford. The prospects were +also embellished by water, rivers, and lakes before the sea +proudly claimed my regard, and the road running frequently +through lofty groves rendered the landscapes beautiful, though +they were not so romantic as those I had lately seen with such +delight.</p> +<p>It was late when I reached Tonsberg, and I was glad to go to +bed at a decent inn. The next morning the 17th of July, +conversing with the gentleman with whom I had business to +transact, I found that I should be detained at Tonsberg three +weeks, and I lamented that I had not brought my child with +me.</p> +<p>The inn was quiet, and my room so pleasant, commanding a view +of the sea, confined by an amphitheatre of hanging woods, that I +wished to remain there, though no one in the house could speak +English or French. The mayor, my friend, however, sent a +young woman to me who spoke a little English, and she agreed to +call on me twice a day to receive my orders and translate them to +my hostess.</p> +<p>My not understanding the language was an excellent pretext for +dining alone, which I prevailed on them to let me do at a late +hour, for the early dinners in Sweden had entirely deranged my +day. I could not alter it there without disturbing the +economy of a family where I was as a visitor, necessity having +forced me to accept of an invitation from a private family, the +lodgings were so incommodious.</p> +<p>Amongst the Norwegians I had the arrangement of my own time, +and I determined to regulate it in such a manner that I might +enjoy as much of their sweet summer as I possibly could; short, +it is true, but “passing sweet.”</p> +<p>I never endured a winter in this rude clime, consequently it +was not the contrast, but the real beauty of the season which +made the present summer appear to me the finest I had ever +seen. Sheltered from the north and eastern winds, nothing +can exceed the salubrity, the soft freshness of the western +gales. In the evening they also die away; the aspen leaves +tremble into stillness, and reposing nature seems to be warmed by +the moon, which here assumes a genial aspect. And if a +light shower has chanced to fall with the sun, the juniper, the +underwood of the forest, exhales a wild perfume, mixed with a +thousand nameless sweets that, soothing the heart, leave images +in the memory which the imagination will ever hold dear.</p> +<p>Nature is the nurse of sentiment, the true source of taste; +yet what misery, as well as rapture, is produced by a quick +perception of the beautiful and sublime when it is exercised in +observing animated nature, when every beauteous feeling and +emotion excites responsive sympathy, and the harmonised soul +sinks into melancholy or rises to ecstasy, just as the chords are +touched, like the Æolian harp agitated by the changing +wind. But how dangerous is it to foster these sentiments in +such an imperfect state of existence, and how difficult to +eradicate them when an affection for mankind, a passion for an +individual, is but the unfolding of that love which embraces all +that is great and beautiful!</p> +<p>When a warm heart has received strong impressions, they are +not to be effaced. Emotions become sentiments, and the +imagination renders even transient sensations permanent by fondly +retracing them. I cannot, without a thrill of delight, +recollect views I have seen, which are not to be forgotten, nor +looks I have felt in every nerve, which I shall never more +meet. The grave has closed over a dear friend, the friend +of my youth. Still she is present with me, and I hear her +soft voice warbling as I stray over the heath. Fate has +separated me from another, the fire of whose eyes, tempered by +infantine tenderness, still warms my breast; even when gazing on +these tremendous cliffs sublime emotions absorb my soul. +And, smile not, if I add that the rosy tint of morning reminds me +of a suffusion which will never more charm my senses, unless it +reappears on the cheeks of my child. Her sweet blushes I +may yet hide in my bosom, and she is still too young to ask why +starts the tear so near akin to pleasure and pain.</p> +<p>I cannot write any more at present. To-morrow we will +talk of Tonsberg.</p> +<h2>LETTER VII.</h2> +<p>Though the king of Denmark be an absolute monarch, yet the +Norwegians appear to enjoy all the blessings of freedom. +Norway may be termed a sister kingdom; but the people have no +viceroy to lord it over them, and fatten his dependants with the +fruit of their labour.</p> +<p>There are only two counts in the whole country who have +estates, and exact some feudal observances from their +tenantry. All the rest of the country is divided into small +farms, which belong to the cultivator. It is true some few, +appertaining to the Church, are let, but always on a lease for +life, generally renewed in favour of the eldest son, who has this +advantage as well as a right to a double portion of the +property. But the value of the farm is estimated, and after +his portion is assigned to him he must be answerable for the +residue to the remaining part of the family.</p> +<p>Every farmer for ten years is obliged to attend annually about +twelve days to learn the military exercise, but it is always at a +small distance from his dwelling, and does not lead him into any +new habits of life.</p> +<p>There are about six thousand regulars also in garrison at +Christiania and Fredericshall, who are equally reserved, with the +militia, for the defence of their own country. So that when +the Prince Royal passed into Sweden in 1788, he was obliged to +request, not command, them to accompany him on this +expedition.</p> +<p>These corps are mostly composed of the sons of the cottagers, +who being labourers on the farms, are allowed a few acres to +cultivate for themselves. These men voluntarily enlist, but +it is only for a limited period (six years), at the expiration of +which they have the liberty of retiring. The pay is only +twopence a day and bread; still, considering the cheapness of the +country, it is more than sixpence in England.</p> +<p>The distribution of landed property into small farms produces +a degree of equality which I have seldom seen elsewhere; and the +rich being all merchants, who are obliged to divide their +personal fortune amongst their children, the boys always +receiving twice as much as the girls, property has met a chance +of accumulating till overgrowing wealth destroys the balance of +liberty.</p> +<p>You will be surprised to hear me talk of liberty; yet the +Norwegians appear to me to be the most free community I have ever +observed.</p> +<p>The mayor of each town or district, and the judges in the +country, exercise an authority almost patriarchal. They can +do much good, but little harm,—as every individual can +appeal from their judgment; and as they may always be forced to +give a reason for their conduct, it is generally regulated by +prudence. “They have not time to learn to be +tyrants,” said a gentleman to me, with whom I discussed the +subject.</p> +<p>The farmers not fearing to be turned out of their farms, +should they displease a man in power, and having no vote to be +commanded at an election for a mock representative, are a manly +race; for not being obliged to submit to any debasing tenure in +order to live, or advance themselves in the world, they act with +an independent spirit. I never yet have heard of anything +like domineering or oppression, excepting such as has arisen from +natural causes. The freedom the people enjoy may, perhaps, +render them a little litigious, and subject them to the +impositions of cunning practitioners of the law; but the +authority of office is bounded, and the emoluments of it do not +destroy its utility.</p> +<p>Last year a man who had abused his power was cashiered, on the +representation of the people to the bailiff of the district.</p> +<p>There are four in Norway who might with propriety be termed +sheriffs; and from their sentence an appeal, by either party, may +be made to Copenhagen.</p> +<p>Near most of the towns are commons, on which the cows of all +the inhabitants, indiscriminately, are allowed to graze. +The poor, to whom a cow is necessary, are almost supported by +it. Besides, to render living more easy, they all go out to +fish in their own boats, and fish is their principal food.</p> +<p>The lower class of people in the towns are in general sailors; +and the industrious have usually little ventures of their own +that serve to render the winter comfortable.</p> +<p>With respect to the country at large, the importation is +considerably in favour of Norway.</p> +<p>They are forbidden, at present, to export corn or rye on +account of the advanced price.</p> +<p>The restriction which most resembles the painful subordination +of Ireland, is that vessels, trading to the West Indies, are +obliged to pass by their own ports, and unload their cargoes at +Copenhagen, which they afterwards reship. The duty is +indeed inconsiderable, but the navigation being dangerous, they +run a double risk.</p> +<p>There is an excise on all articles of consumption brought to +the towns; but the officers are not strict, and it would be +reckoned invidious to enter a house to search, as in England.</p> +<p>The Norwegians appear to me a sensible, shrewd people, with +little scientific knowledge, and still less taste for literature; +but they are arriving at the epoch which precedes the +introduction of the arts and sciences.</p> +<p>Most of the towns are seaports, and seaports are not +favourable to improvement. The captains acquire a little +superficial knowledge by travelling, which their indefatigable +attention to the making of money prevents their digesting; and +the fortune that they thus laboriously acquire is spent, as it +usually is in towns of this description, in show and good +living. They love their country, but have not much public +spirit. Their exertions are, generally speaking, only for +their families, which, I conceive, will always be the case, till +politics, becoming a subject of discussion, enlarges the heart by +opening the understanding. The French Revolution will have +this effect. They sing, at present, with great glee, many +Republican songs, and seem earnestly to wish that the republic +may stand; yet they appear very much attached to their Prince +Royal, and, as far as rumour can give an idea of a character, he +appears to merit their attachment. When I am at Copenhagen, +I shall be able to ascertain on what foundation their good +opinion is built; at present I am only the echo of it.</p> +<p>In the year 1788 he travelled through Norway; and acts of +mercy gave dignity to the parade, and interest to the joy his +presence inspired. At this town he pardoned a girl +condemned to die for murdering an illegitimate child, a crime +seldom committed in this country. She is since married, and +become the careful mother of a family. This might be given +as an instance, that a desperate act is not always a proof of an +incorrigible depravity of character, the only plausible excuse +that has been brought forward to justify the infliction of +capital punishments.</p> +<p>I will relate two or three other anecdotes to you, for the +truth of which I will not vouch because the facts were not of +sufficient consequence for me to take much pains to ascertain +them; and, true or false, they evince that the people like to +make a kind of mistress of their prince.</p> +<p>An officer, mortally wounded at the ill-advised battle of +Quistram, desired to speak with the prince; and with his dying +breath, earnestly recommended to his care a young woman of +Christiania, to whom he was engaged. When the prince +returned there, a ball was given by the chief inhabitants: he +inquired whether this unfortunate girl was invited, and requested +that she might, though of the second class. The girl came; +she was pretty; and finding herself among her superiors, +bashfully sat down as near the door as possible, nobody taking +notice of her. Shortly after, the prince entering, +immediately inquired for her, and asked her to dance, to the +mortification of the rich dames. After it was over he +handed her to the top of the room, and placing himself by her, +spoke of the loss she had sustained, with tenderness, promising +to provide for anyone she should marry, as the story goes. +She is since married, and he has not forgotten his promise.</p> +<p>A little girl, during the same expedition, in Sweden, who +informed him that the logs of a bridge were out underneath, was +taken by his orders to Christiania, and put to school at his +expense.</p> +<p>Before I retail other beneficial effects of his journey, it is +necessary to inform you that the laws here are mild, and do not +punish capitally for any crime but murder, which seldom +occurs. Every other offence merely subjects the delinquent +to imprisonment and labour in the castle, or rather arsenal at +Christiania, and the fortress at Fredericshall. The first +and second conviction produces a sentence for a limited number of +years—two, three, five, or seven, proportioned to the +atrocity of the crime. After the third he is whipped, +branded in the forehead, and condemned to perpetual +slavery. This is the ordinary course of justice. For +some flagrant breaches of trust, or acts of wanton cruelty, +criminals have been condemned to slavery for life time first the +of conviction, but not frequently. The number of these +slaves do not, I am informed, amount to more than a hundred, +which is not considerable, compared with the population, upwards +of eight hundred thousand. Should I pass through +Christiania, on my return to Gothenburg, I shall probably have an +opportunity of learning other particulars.</p> +<p>There is also a House of Correction at Christiania for +trifling misdemeanours, where the women are confined to labour +and imprisonment even for life. The state of the prisoners +was represented to the prince, in consequence of which he visited +the arsenal and House of Correction. The slaves at the +arsenal were loaded with irons of a great weight; he ordered them +to be lightened as much as possible.</p> +<p>The people in the House of Correction were commanded not to +speak to him; but four women, condemned to remain there for life, +got into the passage, and fell at his feet. He granted them +a pardon; and inquiring respecting the treatment of the +prisoners, he was informed that they were frequently whipped +going in, and coming out, and for any fault, at the discretion of +the inspectors. This custom he humanely abolished, though +some of the principal inhabitants, whose situation in life had +raised them above the temptation of stealing, were of opinion +that these chastisements were necessary and wholesome.</p> +<p>In short, everything seems to announce that the prince really +cherishes the laudable ambition of fulfilling the duties of his +station. This ambition is cherished and directed by the +Count Bernstorff, the Prime Minister of Denmark, who is +universally celebrated for his abilities and virtue. The +happiness of the people is a substantial eulogium; and, from all +I can gather, the inhabitants of Denmark and Norway are the least +oppressed people of Europe. The press is free. They +translate any of the French publications of the day, deliver +their opinion on the subject, and discuss those it leads to with +great freedom, and without fearing to displease the +Government.</p> +<p>On the subject of religion they are likewise becoming +tolerant, at least, and perhaps have advanced a step further in +free-thinking. One writer has ventured to deny the divinity +of Jesus Christ, and to question the necessity or utility of the +Christian system, without being considered universally as a +monster, which would have been the case a few years ago. +They have translated many German works on education; and though +they have not adopted any of their plans, it has become a subject +of discussion. There are some grammar and free schools; +but, from what I hear, not very good ones. All the children +learn to read, write, and cast accounts, for the purposes of +common life. They have no university; and nothing that +deserves the name of science is taught; nor do individuals, by +pursuing any branch of knowledge, excite a degree of curiosity +which is the forerunner of improvement. Knowledge is not +absolutely necessary to enable a considerable portion of the +community to live; and, till it is, I fear it never becomes +general.</p> +<p>In this country, where minerals abound, there is not one +collection; and, in all probability, I venture a conjecture, the +want of mechanical and chemical knowledge renders the silver +mines unproductive, for the quantity of silver obtained every +year is not sufficient to defray the expenses. It has been +urged that the employment of such a number of hands is very +beneficial. But a positive loss is never to be done away; +and the men, thus employed, would naturally find some other means +of living, instead of being thus a dead weight on Government, or +rather on the community from whom its revenue is drawn.</p> +<p>About three English miles from Tonsberg there is a salt work, +belonging, like all their establishments, to Government, in which +they employ above a hundred and fifty men, and maintain nearly +five hundred people, who earn their living. The clear +profit, an increasing one, amounts to two thousand pounds +sterling. And as the eldest son of the inspector, an +ingenious young man, has been sent by the Government to travel, +and acquire some mathematical and chemical knowledge in Germany, +it has a chance of being improved. He is the only person I +have met with here who appears to have a scientific turn of +mind. I do not mean to assert that I have not met with +others who have a spirit of inquiry.</p> +<p>The salt-works at St. Ubes are basins in the sand, and the sun +produces the evaporation, but here there is no beach. +Besides, the heat of summer is so short-lived that it would be +idle to contrive machines for such an inconsiderable portion of +the year. They therefore always use fires; and the whole +establishment appears to be regulated with judgment.</p> +<p>The situation is well chosen and beautiful. I do not +find, from the observation of a person who has resided here for +forty years, that the sea advances or recedes on this coast.</p> +<p>I have already remarked that little attention is paid to +education, excepting reading, writing, and the rudiments of +arithmetic; I ought to have added that a catechism is carefully +taught, and the children obliged to read in the churches, before +the congregation, to prove that they are not neglected.</p> +<p>Degrees, to enable any one to practise any profession, must be +taken at Copenhagen; and the people of this country, having the +good sense to perceive that men who are to live in a community +should at least acquire the elements of their knowledge, and form +their youthful attachments there, are seriously endeavouring to +establish a university in Norway. And Tonsberg, as a +central place in the best part of the country, had the most +suffrages, for, experiencing the bad effects of a metropolis, +they have determined not to have it in or near Christiania. +Should such an establishment take place, it will promote inquiry +throughout the country, and give a new face to society. +Premiums have been offered, and prize questions written, which I +am told have merit. The building college-halls, and other +appendages of the seat of science, might enable Tonsberg to +recover its pristine consequence, for it is one of the most +ancient towns of Norway, and once contained nine churches. +At present there are only two. One is a very old structure, +and has a Gothic respectability about it, which scarcely amounts +to grandeur, because, to render a Gothic pile grand, it must have +a huge unwieldiness of appearance. The chapel of Windsor +may be an exception to this rule; I mean before it was in its +present nice, clean state. When I first saw it, the pillars +within had acquired, by time, a sombre hue, which accorded with +the architecture; and the gloom increased its dimensions to the +eye by hiding its parts; but now it all bursts on the view at +once, and the sublimity has vanished before the brush and broom; +for it has been white-washed and scraped till it has become as +bright and neat as the pots and pans in a notable +house-wife’s kitchen—yes; the very spurs on the +recumbent knights were deprived of their venerable rust, to give +a striking proof that a love of order in trifles, and taste for +proportion and arrangement, are very distinct. The glare of +light thus introduced entirely destroys the sentiment these piles +are calculated to inspire; so that, when I heard something like a +jig from the organ-loft, I thought it an excellent hall for +dancing or feasting. The measured pace of thought with +which I had entered the cathedral changed into a trip; and I +bounded on the terrace, to see the royal family, with a number of +ridiculous images in my head that I shall not now recall.</p> +<p>The Norwegians are fond of music, and every little church has +an organ. In the church I have mentioned there is an +inscription importing that a king James VI. of Scotland and I. of +England, who came with more than princely gallantry to escort his +bride home—stood there, and heard divine service.</p> +<p>There is a little recess full of coffins, which contains +bodies embalmed long since—so long, that there is not even +a tradition to lead to a guess at their names.</p> +<p>A desire of preserving the body seems to have prevailed in +most countries of the world, futile as it is to term it a +preservation, when the noblest parts are immediately sacrificed +merely to save the muscles, skin, and bone from rottenness. +When I was shown these human petrifactions, I shrank back with +disgust and horror. “Ashes to ashes!” thought +I—“Dust to dust!” If this be not +dissolution, it is something worse than natural decay—it is +treason against humanity, thus to lift up the awful veil which +would fain hide its weakness. The grandeur of the active +principle is never more strongly felt than at such a sight, for +nothing is so ugly as the human form when deprived of life, and +thus dried into stone, merely to preserve the most disgusting +image of death. The contemplation of noble ruins produces a +melancholy that exalts the mind. We take a retrospect of +the exertions of man, the fate of empires and their rulers, and +marking the grand destruction of ages, it seems the necessary +change of the leading to improvement. Our very soul +expands, and we forget our littleness—how painfully brought +to our recollection by such vain attempts to snatch from decay +what is destined so soon to perish. Life, what art +thou? Where goes this breath?—this <i>I</i>, so much +alive? In what element will it mix, giving or receiving +fresh energy? What will break the enchantment of +animation? For worlds I would not see a form I +loved—embalmed in my heart—thus sacrilegiously +handled? Pugh! my stomach turns. Is this all the +distinction of the rich in the grave? They had better +quietly allow the scythe of equality to mow them down with the +common mass, than struggle to become a monument of the +instability of human greatness.</p> +<p>The teeth, nails, and skin were whole, without appearing black +like the Egyptian mummies; and some silk, in which they had been +wrapped, still preserved its colour—pink—with +tolerable freshness.</p> +<p>I could not learn how long the bodies had been in this state, +in which they bid fair to remain till the Day of Judgment, if +there is to be such a day; and before that time, it will require +some trouble to make them fit to appear in company with angels +without disgracing humanity. God bless you! I feel a +conviction that we have some perfectible principle in our present +vestment, which will not be destroyed just as we begin to be +sensible of improvement; and I care not what habit it next puts +on, sure that it will be wisely formed to suit a higher state of +existence. Thinking of death makes us tenderly cling to our +affections; with more than usual tenderness I therefore assure +you that I am yours, wishing that the temporary death of absence +may not endure longer than is absolutely necessary.</p> +<h2>LETTER VIII.</h2> +<p>Tonsberg was formerly the residence of one of the little +sovereigns of Norway; and on an adjacent mountain the vestiges of +a fort remain, which was battered down by the Swedes, the +entrance of the bay lying close to it.</p> +<p>Here I have frequently strayed, sovereign of the waste; I +seldom met any human creature; and sometimes, reclining on the +mossy down, under the shelter of a rock, the prattling of the sea +amongst the pebbles has lulled me to sleep—no fear of any +rude satyr’s approaching to interrupt my repose. +Balmy were the slumbers, and soft the gales, that refreshed me, +when I awoke to follow, with an eye vaguely curious, the white +sails, as they turned the cliffs, or seemed to take shelter under +the pines which covered the little islands that so gracefully +rose to render the terrific ocean beautiful. The fishermen +were calmly casting their nets, whilst the sea-gulls hovered over +the unruffled deep. Everything seemed to harmonise into +tranquillity; even the mournful call of the bittern was in +cadence with the tinkling bells on the necks of the cows, that, +pacing slowly one after the other, along an inviting path in the +vale below, were repairing to the cottages to be milked. +With what ineffable pleasure have I not gazed—and gazed +again, losing my breath through my eyes—my very soul +diffused itself in the scene; and, seeming to become all senses, +glided in the scarcely-agitated waves, melted in the freshening +breeze, or, taking its flight with fairy wing, to the misty +mountain which bounded the prospect, fancy tripped over new +lawns, more beautiful even than the lovely slopes on the winding +shore before me. I pause, again breathless, to trace, with +renewed delight, sentiments which entranced me, when, turning my +humid eyes from the expanse below to the vault above, my sight +pierced the fleecy clouds that softened the azure brightness; and +imperceptibly recalling the reveries of childhood, I bowed before +the awful throne of my Creator, whilst I rested on its +footstool.</p> +<p>You have sometimes wondered, my dear friend, at the extreme +affection of my nature. But such is the temperature of my +soul. It is not the vivacity of youth, the heyday of +existence. For years have I endeavoured to calm an +impetuous tide, labouring to make my feelings take an orderly +course. It was striving against the stream. I must +love and admire with warmth, or I sink into sadness. Tokens +of love which I have received have wrapped me in Elysium, +purifying the heart they enchanted. My bosom still +glows. Do not saucily ask, repeating Sterne’s +question, “Maria, is it still so warm?” +Sufficiently, O my God! Has it been chilled by sorrow and +unkindness; still nature will prevail; and if I blush at +recollecting past enjoyment, it is the rosy hue of pleasure +heightened by modesty, for the blush of modesty and shame are as +distinct as the emotions by which they are produced.</p> +<p>I need scarcely inform you, after telling you of my walks, +that my constitution has been renovated here, and that I have +recovered my activity even whilst attaining a little +<i>embonpoint</i>. My imprudence last winter, and some +untoward accidents just at the time I was weaning my child, had +reduced me to a state of weakness which I never before +experienced. A slow fever preyed on me every night during +my residence in Sweden, and after I arrived at Tonsberg. By +chance I found a fine rivulet filtered through the rocks, and +confined in a basin for the cattle. It tasted to me like a +chalybeate; at any rate, it was pure; and the good effect of the +various waters which invalids are sent to drink depends, I +believe, more on the air, exercise, and change of scene, than on +their medicinal qualities. I therefore determined to turn +my morning walks towards it, and seek for health from the nymph +of the fountain, partaking of the beverage offered to the tenants +of the shade.</p> +<p>Chance likewise led me to discover a new pleasure equally +beneficial to my health. I wished to avail myself of my +vicinity to the sea and bathe; but it was not possible near the +town; there was no convenience. The young woman whom I +mentioned to you proposed rowing me across the water amongst the +rocks; but as she was pregnant, I insisted on taking one of the +oars, and learning to row. It was not difficult, and I do +not know a pleasanter exercise. I soon became expert, and +my train of thinking kept time, as it were, with the oars, or I +suffered the boat to be carried along by the current, indulging a +pleasing forgetfulness or fallacious hopes. How fallacious! +yet, without hope, what is to sustain life, but the fear of +annihilation—the only thing of which I have ever felt a +dread. I cannot bear to think of being no more—of +losing myself—though existence is often but a painful +consciousness of misery; nay, it appears to me impossible that I +should cease to exist, or that this active, restless spirit, +equally alive to joy and sorrow, should only be organised +dust—ready to fly abroad the moment the spring snaps, or +the spark goes out which kept it together. Surely something +resides in this heart that is not perishable, and life is more +than a dream.</p> +<p>Sometimes, to take up my oar once more, when the sea was calm, +I was amused by disturbing the innumerable young star fish which +floated just below the surface; I had never observed them before, +for they have not a hard shell like those which I have seen on +the seashore. They look like thickened water with a white +edge, and four purple circles, of different forms, were in the +middle, over an incredible number of fibres or white lines. +Touching them, the cloudy substance would turn or close, first on +one side, then on the other, very gracefully, but when I took one +of them up in the ladle, with which I heaved the water out of the +boat, it appeared only a colourless jelly.</p> +<p>I did not see any of the seals, numbers of which followed our +boat when we landed in Sweden; but though I like to sport in the +water I should have had no desire to join in their gambols.</p> +<p>Enough, you will say, of inanimate nature and of brutes, to +use the lordly phrase of man; let me hear something of the +inhabitants.</p> +<p>The gentleman with whom I had business is the Mayor of +Tonsberg. He speaks English intelligibly, and, having a +sound understanding, I was sorry that his numerous occupations +prevented my gaining as much information from him as I could have +drawn forth had we frequently conversed. The people of the +town, as far as I had an opportunity of knowing their sentiments, +are extremely well satisfied with his manner of discharging his +office. He has a degree of information and good sense which +excites respect, whilst a cheerfulness, almost amounting to +gaiety, enables him to reconcile differences and keep his +neighbours in good humour. “I lost my horse,” +said a woman to me, “but ever since, when I want to send to +the mill, or go out, the Mayor lends me one. He scolds if I +do not come for it.”</p> +<p>A criminal was branded, during my stay here, for the third +offence; but the relief he received made him declare that the +judge was one of the best men in the world.</p> +<p>I sent this wretch a trifle, at different times, to take with +him into slavery. As it was more than he expected, he +wished very much to see me, and this wish brought to my +remembrance an anecdote I heard when I was in Lisbon.</p> +<p>A wretch who had been imprisoned several years, during which +period lamps had been put up, was at last condemned to a cruel +death, yet, in his way to execution, he only wished for one +night’s respite to see the city lighted.</p> +<p>Having dined in company at the mayor’s I was invited +with his family to spend the day at one of the richest +merchant’s houses. Though I could not speak Danish I +knew that I could see a great deal; yes, I am persuaded that I +have formed a very just opinion of the character of the +Norwegians, without being able to hold converse with them.</p> +<p>I had expected to meet some company, yet was a little +disconcerted at being ushered into an apartment full of well +dressed people, and glancing my eyes round they rested on several +very pretty faces. Rosy cheeks, sparkling eyes, and light +brown or golden locks; for I never saw so much hair with a yellow +cast, and, with their fine complexions, it looked very +becoming.</p> +<p>These women seem a mixture of indolence and vivacity; they +scarcely ever walk out, and were astonished that I should for +pleasure, yet they are immoderately fond of dancing. +Unaffected in their manners, if they have no pretensions to +elegance, simplicity often produces a gracefulness of deportment, +when they are animated by a particular desire to please, which +was the case at present. The solitariness of my situation, +which they thought terrible, interested them very much in my +favour. They gathered round me, sung to me, and one of the +prettiest, to whom I gave my hand with some degree of cordiality, +to meet the glance of her eyes, kissed me very +affectionately.</p> +<p>At dinner, which was conducted with great hospitality, though +we remained at table too long, they sung several songs, and, +amongst the rest, translations of some patriotic French +ones. As the evening advanced they became playful, and we +kept up a sort of conversation of gestures. As their minds +were totally uncultivated I did not lose much, perhaps gained, by +not being able to understand them; for fancy probably filled up, +more to their advantage, the void in the picture. Be that +as it may, they excited my sympathy, and I was very much +flattered when I was told the next day that they said it was a +pleasure to look at me, I appeared so good-natured.</p> +<p>The men were generally captains of ships. Several spoke +English very tolerably, but they were merely matter-of-fact men, +confined to a very narrow circle of observation. I found it +difficult to obtain from them any information respecting their +own country, when the fumes of tobacco did not keep me at a +distance.</p> +<p>I was invited to partake of some other feasts, and always had +to complain of the quantity of provision and the length of time +taken to consume it; for it would not have been proper to have +said devour, all went on so fair and softly. The servants +wait as slowly as their mistresses carve.</p> +<p>The young women here, as well as in Sweden, have commonly bad +teeth, which I attribute to the same causes. They are fond +of finery, but do not pay the necessary attention to their +persons, to render beauty less transient than a flower, and that +interesting expression which sentiment and accomplishments give +seldom supplies its place.</p> +<p>The servants have, likewise, an inferior sort of food here, +but their masters are not allowed to strike them with +impunity. I might have added mistresses, for it was a +complaint of this kind brought before the mayor which led me to a +knowledge of the fact.</p> +<p>The wages are low, which is particularly unjust, because the +price of clothes is much higher than that of provision. A +young woman, who is wet nurse to the mistress of the inn where I +lodge, receives only twelve dollars a year, and pays ten for the +nursing of her own child. The father had run away to get +clear of the expense. There was something in this most +painful state of widowhood which excited my compassion and led me +to reflections on the instability of the most flattering plans of +happiness, that were painful in the extreme, till I was ready to +ask whether this world was not created to exhibit every possible +combination of wretchedness. I asked these questions of a +heart writhing with anguish, whilst I listened to a melancholy +ditty sung by this poor girl. It was too early for thee to +be abandoned, thought I, and I hastened out of the house to take +my solitary evening’s walk. And here I am again to +talk of anything but the pangs arising from the discovery of +estranged affection and the lonely sadness of a deserted +heart.</p> +<p>The father and mother, if the father can be ascertained, are +obliged to maintain an illegitimate child at their joint expense; +but, should the father disappear, go up the country or to sea, +the mother must maintain it herself. However, accidents of +this kind do not prevent their marrying, and then it is not +unusual to take the child or children home, and they are brought +up very amicably with the marriage progeny.</p> +<p>I took some pains to learn what books were written originally +in their language; but for any certain information respecting the +state of Danish literature I must wait till I arrive at +Copenhagen.</p> +<p>The sound of the language is soft, a great proportion of the +words ending in vowels; and there is a simplicity in the turn of +some of the phrases which have been translated to me that pleased +and interested me. In the country the farmers use the +<i>thou</i> and <i>thee</i>; and they do not acquire the polite +plurals of the towns by meeting at market. The not having +markets established in the large towns appears to me a great +inconvenience. When the farmers have anything to sell they +bring it to the neighbouring town and take it from house to +house. I am surprised that the inhabitants do not feel how +very incommodious this usage is to both parties, and redress it; +they, indeed, perceive it, for when I have introduced the subject +they acknowledged that they were often in want of necessaries, +there being no butchers, and they were often obliged to buy what +they did not want; yet it was the custom, and the changing of +customs of a long standing requires more energy than they yet +possess. I received a similar reply when I attempted to +persuade the women that they injured their children by keeping +them too warm. The only way of parrying off my reasoning +was that they must do as other people did; in short, reason on +any subject of change, and they stop you by saying that +“the town would talk.” A person of sense, with +a large fortune to ensure respect, might be very useful here, by +inducing them to treat their children and manage their sick +properly, and eat food dressed in a simpler manner—the +example, for instance, of a count’s lady.</p> +<p>Reflecting on these prejudices made me revert to the wisdom of +those legislators who established institutions for the good of +the body under the pretext of serving heaven for the salvation of +the soul. These might with strict propriety be termed pious +frauds; and I admire the Peruvian pair for asserting that they +came from the sun, when their conduct proved that they meant to +enlighten a benighted country, whose obedience, or even +attention, could only be secured by awe. Thus much for +conquering the <i>inertia</i> of reason; but, when it is once in +motion, fables once held sacred may be ridiculed; and sacred they +were when useful to mankind. Prometheus alone stole fire to +animate the first man; his posterity needs not supernatural aid +to preserve the species, though love is generally termed a flame; +and it may not be necessary much longer to suppose men inspired +by heaven to inculcate the duties which demand special grace when +reason convinces them that they are the happiest who are the most +nobly employed.</p> +<p>In a few days I am to set out for the western part of Norway, +and then shall return by land to Gothenburg. I cannot think +of leaving this place without regret. I speak of the place +before the inhabitants, though there is a tenderness in their +artless kindness which attaches me to them; but it is an +attachment that inspires a regret very different from that I felt +at leaving Hull in my way to Sweden. The domestic happiness +and good-humoured gaiety of the amiable family where I and my +Frances were so hospitably received would have been sufficient to +ensure the tenderest remembrance, without the recollection of the +social evening to stimulate it, when good breeding gave dignity +to sympathy and wit zest to reason.</p> +<p>Adieu!—I am just informed that my horse has been waiting +this quarter of an hour. I now venture to ride out +alone. The steeple serves as a landmark. I once or +twice lost my way, walking alone, without being able to inquire +after a path; I was therefore obliged to make to the steeple, or +windmill, over hedge and ditch.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">Yours truly.</p> +<h2>LETTER IX.</h2> +<p>I have already informed you that there are only two noblemen +who have estates of any magnitude in Norway. One of these +has a house near Tonsberg, at which he has not resided for some +years, having been at court, or on embassies. He is now the +Danish Ambassador in London. The house is pleasantly +situated, and the grounds about it fine; but their neglected +appearance plainly tells that there is nobody at home.</p> +<p>A stupid kind of sadness, to my eye, always reigns in a huge +habitation where only servants live to put cases on the furniture +and open the windows. I enter as I would into the tomb of +the Capulets, to look at the family pictures that here frown in +armour, or smile in ermine. The mildew respects not the +lordly robe, and the worm riots unchecked on the cheek of +beauty.</p> +<p>There was nothing in the architecture of the building, or the +form of the furniture, to detain me from the avenue where the +aged pines stretched along majestically. Time had given a +greyish cast to their ever-green foliage; and they stood, like +sires of the forest, sheltered on all sides by a rising +progeny. I had not ever seen so many oaks together in +Norway as in these woods, nor such large aspens as here were +agitated by the breeze, rendering the wind audible—nay +musical; for melody seemed on the wing around me. How +different was the fresh odour that reanimated me in the avenue, +from the damp chillness of the apartments; and as little did the +gloomy thoughtfulness excited by the dusty hangings, and +worm-eaten pictures, resemble the reveries inspired by the +soothing melancholy of their shade. In the winter, these +august pines, towering above the snow, must relieve the eye +beyond measure and give life to the white waste.</p> +<p>The continual recurrence of pine and fir groves in the day +sometimes wearies the sight, but in the evening, nothing can be +more picturesque, or, more properly speaking, better calculated +to produce poetical images. Passing through them, I have +been struck with a mystic kind of reverence, and I did, as it +were, homage to their venerable shadows. Not nymphs, but +philosophers, seemed to inhabit them—ever musing; I could +scarcely conceive that they were without some consciousness of +existence—without a calm enjoyment of the pleasure they +diffused.</p> +<p>How often do my feelings produce ideas that remind me of the +origin of many poetical fictions. In solitude, the +imagination bodies forth its conceptions unrestrained, and stops +enraptured to adore the beings of its own creation. These +are moments of bliss; and the memory recalls them with +delight.</p> +<p>But I have almost forgotten the matters of fact I meant to +relate, respecting the counts. They have the presentation +of the livings on their estates, appoint the judges, and +different civil officers, the Crown reserving to itself the +privilege of sanctioning them. But though they appoint, +they cannot dismiss. Their tenants also occupy their farms +for life, and are obliged to obey any summons to work on the part +he reserves for himself; but they are paid for their +labour. In short, I have seldom heard of any noblemen so +innoxious.</p> +<p>Observing that the gardens round the count’s estate were +better cultivated than any I had before seen, I was led to +reflect on the advantages which naturally accrue from the feudal +tenures. The tenants of the count are obliged to work at a +stated price, in his grounds and garden; and the instruction +which they imperceptibly receive from the head gardener tends to +render them useful, and makes them, in the common course of +things, better husbandmen and gardeners on their own little +farms. Thus the great, who alone travel in this period of +society, for the observation of manners and customs made by +sailors is very confined, bring home improvement to promote their +own comfort, which is gradually spread abroad amongst the people, +till they are stimulated to think for themselves.</p> +<p>The bishops have not large revenues, and the priests are +appointed by the king before they come to them to be +ordained. There is commonly some little farm annexed to the +parsonage, and the inhabitants subscribe voluntarily, three times +a year, in addition to the church fees, for the support of the +clergyman. The church lands were seized when Lutheranism +was introduced, the desire of obtaining them being probably the +real stimulus of reformation. The tithes, which are never +required in kind, are divided into three parts—one to the +king, another to the incumbent, and the third to repair the +dilapidations of the parsonage. They do not amount to +much. And the stipend allowed to the different civil +officers is also too small, scarcely deserving to be termed an +independence; that of the custom-house officers is not sufficient +to procure the necessaries of life—no wonder, then, if +necessity leads them to knavery. Much public virtue cannot +be expected till every employment, putting perquisites out of the +question, has a salary sufficient to reward +industry;—whilst none are so great as to permit the +possessor to remain idle. It is this want of proportion +between profit and labour which debases men, producing the +sycophantic appellations of patron and client, and that +pernicious <i>esprit du corps</i>, proverbially vicious.</p> +<p>The farmers are hospitable as well as independent. +Offering once to pay for some coffee I drank when taking shelter +from the rain, I was asked, rather angrily, if a little coffee +was worth paying for. They smoke, and drink drams, but not +so much as formerly. Drunkenness, often the attendant +disgrace of hospitality, will here, as well as everywhere else, +give place to gallantry and refinement of manners; but the change +will not be suddenly produced.</p> +<p>The people of every class are constant in their attendance at +church; they are very fond of dancing, and the Sunday evenings in +Norway, as in Catholic countries, are spent in exercises which +exhilarate the spirits without vitiating the heart. The +rest of labour ought to be gay; and the gladness I have felt in +France on a Sunday, or Decadi, which I caught from the faces +around me, was a sentiment more truly religious than all the +stupid stillness which the streets of London ever inspired where +the Sabbath is so decorously observed. I recollect, in the +country parts of England, the churchwardens used to go out during +the service to see if they could catch any luckless wight playing +at bowls or skittles; yet what could be more harmless? It +would even, I think, be a great advantage to the English, if +feats of activity (I do not include boxing matches) were +encouraged on a Sunday, as it might stop the progress of +Methodism, and of that fanatical spirit which appears to be +gaining ground. I was surprised when I visited Yorkshire, +on my way to Sweden, to find that sullen narrowness of thinking +had made such a progress since I was an inhabitant of the +country. I could hardly have supposed that sixteen or +seventeen years could have produced such an alteration for the +worse in the morals of a place—yes, I say morals; for +observance of forms, and avoiding of practices, indifferent in +themselves, often supply the place of that regular attention to +duties which are so natural, that they seldom are vauntingly +exercised, though they are worth all the precepts of the law and +the prophets. Besides, many of these deluded people, with +the best meaning, actually lose their reason, and become +miserable, the dread of damnation throwing them into a state +which merits the term; and still more, in running after their +preachers, expecting to promote their salvation, they disregard +their welfare in this world, and neglect the interest and comfort +of their families; so that, in proportion as they attain a +reputation for piety, they become idle.</p> +<p>Aristocracy and fanaticism seem equally to be gaining ground +in England, particularly in the place I have mentioned; I saw +very little of either in Norway. The people are regular in +their attendance on public worship, but religion does not +interfere with their employments.</p> +<p>As the farmers cut away the wood they clear the ground. +Every year, therefore, the country is becoming fitter to support +the inhabitants. Half a century ago the Dutch, I am told, +only paid for the cutting down of the wood, and the farmers were +glad to get rid of it without giving themselves any +trouble. At present they form a just estimate of its value; +nay, I was surprised to find even firewood so dear when it +appears to be in such plenty. The destruction, or gradual +reduction, of their forests will probably ameliorate the climate, +and their manners will naturally improve in the same ratio as +industry requires ingenuity. It is very fortunate that men +are a long time but just above the brute creation, or the greater +part of the earth would never have been rendered habitable, +because it is the patient labour of men, who are only seeking for +a subsistence, which produces whatever embellishes existence, +affording leisure for the cultivation of the arts and sciences +that lift man so far above his first state. I never, my +friend, thought so deeply of the advantages obtained by human +industry as since I have been in Norway. The world +requires, I see, the hand of man to perfect it, and as this task +naturally unfolds the faculties he exercises, it is physically +impossible that he should have remained in Rousseau’s +golden age of stupidity. And, considering the question of +human happiness, where, oh where does it reside? Has it +taken up its abode with unconscious ignorance or with the +high-wrought mind? Is it the offspring of thoughtless +animal spirits or the dye of fancy continually flitting round the +expected pleasure?</p> +<p>The increasing population of the earth must necessarily tend +to its improvement, as the means of existence are multiplied by +invention.</p> +<p>You have probably made similar reflections in America, where +the face of the country, I suppose, resembles the wilds of +Norway. I am delighted with the romantic views I daily +contemplate, animated by the purest air; and I am interested by +the simplicity of manners which reigns around me. Still +nothing so soon wearies out the feelings as unmarked +simplicity. I am therefore half convinced that I could not +live very comfortably exiled from the countries where mankind are +so much further advanced in knowledge, imperfect as it is, and +unsatisfactory to the thinking mind. Even now I begin to +long to hear what you are doing in England and France. My +thoughts fly from this wilderness to the polished circles of the +world, till recollecting its vices and follies, I bury myself in +the woods, but find it necessary to emerge again, that I may not +lose sight of the wisdom and virtue which exalts my nature.</p> +<p>What a long time it requires to know ourselves; and yet almost +every one has more of this knowledge than he is willing to own, +even to himself. I cannot immediately determine whether I +ought to rejoice at having turned over in this solitude a new +page in the history of my own heart, though I may venture to +assure you that a further acquaintance with mankind only tends to +increase my respect for your judgment and esteem for your +character. Farewell!</p> +<h2>LETTER X.</h2> +<p>I have once more, my friend, taken flight, for I left Tonsberg +yesterday, but with an intention of returning in my way back to +Sweden.</p> +<p>The road to Laurvig is very fine, and the country the best +cultivated in Norway. I never before admired the beech +tree, and when I met stragglers here they pleased me still +less. Long and lank, they would have forced me to allow +that the line of beauty requires some curves, if the stately +pine, standing near, erect, throwing her vast arms around, had +not looked beautiful in opposition to such narrow rules.</p> +<p>In these respects my very reason obliges me to permit my +feelings to be my criterion. Whatever excites emotion has +charms for me, though I insist that the cultivation of the mind +by warming, nay, almost creating the imagination, produces taste +and an immense variety of sensations and emotions, partaking of +the exquisite pleasure inspired by beauty and sublimity. As +I know of no end to them, the word infinite, so often misapplied, +might on this occasion be introduced with something like +propriety.</p> +<p>But I have rambled away again. I intended to have +remarked to you the effect produced by a grove of towering beech, +the airy lightness of their foliage admitting a degree of +sunshine, which, giving a transparency to the leaves, exhibited +an appearance of freshness and elegance that I had never before +remarked. I thought of descriptions of Italian +scenery. But these evanescent graces seemed the effect of +enchantment; and I imperceptibly breathed softly, lest I should +destroy what was real, yet looked so like the creation of +fancy. Dryden’s fable of the flower and the leaf was +not a more poetical reverie.</p> +<p>Adieu, however, to fancy, and to all the sentiments which +ennoble our nature. I arrived at Laurvig, and found myself +in the midst of a group of lawyers of different +descriptions. My head turned round, my heart grew sick, as +I regarded visages deformed by vice, and listened to accounts of +chicanery that was continually embroiling the ignorant. +These locusts will probably diminish as the people become more +enlightened. In this period of social life the commonalty +are always cunningly attentive to their own interest; but their +faculties, confined to a few objects, are so narrowed, that they +cannot discover it in the general good. The profession of +the law renders a set of men still shrewder and more selfish than +the rest; and it is these men, whose wits have been sharpened by +knavery, who here undermine morality, confounding right and +wrong.</p> +<p>The Count of Bernstorff, who really appears to me, from all I +can gather, to have the good of the people at heart, aware of +this, has lately sent to the mayor of each district to name, +according to the size of the place, four or six of the +best-informed inhabitants, not men of the law, out of which the +citizens were to elect two, who are to be termed mediators. +Their office is to endeavour to prevent litigious suits, and +conciliate differences. And no suit is to be commenced +before the parties have discussed the dispute at their weekly +meeting. If a reconciliation should, in consequence, take +place, it is to be registered, and the parties are not allowed to +retract.</p> +<p>By these means ignorant people will be prevented from applying +for advice to men who may justly be termed stirrers-up of +strife. They have for a long time, to use a significant +vulgarism, set the people by the ears, and live by the spoil they +caught up in the scramble. There is some reason to hope +that this regulation will diminish their number, and restrain +their mischievous activity. But till trials by jury are +established, little justice can be expected in Norway. +Judges who cannot be bribed are often timid, and afraid of +offending bold knaves, lest they should raise a set of hornets +about themselves. The fear of censure undermines all energy +of character; and, labouring to be prudent, they lose sight of +rectitude. Besides, nothing is left to their conscience, or +sagacity; they must be governed by evidence, though internally +convinced that it is false.</p> +<p>There is a considerable iron manufactory at Laurvig for coarse +work, and a lake near the town supplies the water necessary for +working several mills belonging to it.</p> +<p>This establishment belongs to the Count of Laurvig. +Without a fortune and influence equal to his, such a work could +not have been set afloat; personal fortunes are not yet +sufficient to support such undertakings. Nevertheless the +inhabitants of the town speak of the size of his estate as an +evil, because it obstructs commerce. The occupiers of small +farms are obliged to bring their wood to the neighbouring +seaports to be shipped; but he, wishing to increase the value of +his, will not allow it to be thus gradually cut down, which turns +the trade into another channel. Added to this, nature is +against them, the bay being open and insecure. I could not +help smiling when I was informed that in a hard gale a vessel had +been wrecked in the main street. When there are such a +number of excellent harbours on the coast, it is a pity that +accident has made one of the largest towns grow up on a bad +one.</p> +<p>The father of the present count was a distant relation of the +family; he resided constantly in Denmark, and his son follows his +example. They have not been in possession of the estate +many years; and their predecessor lived near the town, +introducing a degree of profligacy of manners which has been +ruinous to the inhabitants in every respect, their fortunes not +being equal to the prevailing extravagance.</p> +<p>What little I have seen of the manners of the people does not +please me so well as those of Tonsberg. I am forewarned +that I shall find them still more cunning and fraudulent as I +advance towards the westward, in proportion as traffic takes +place of agriculture, for their towns are built on naked rocks, +the streets are narrow bridges, and the inhabitants are all +seafaring men, or owners of ships, who keep shops.</p> +<p>The inn I was at in Laurvig this journey was not the same that +I was at before. It is a good one—the people civil, +and the accommodations decent. They seem to be better +provided in Sweden; but in justice I ought to add that they +charge more extravagantly. My bill at Tonsberg was also +much higher than I had paid in Sweden, and much higher than it +ought to have been where provision is so cheap. Indeed, +they seem to consider foreigners as strangers whom they shall +never see again, and may fairly pluck. And the inhabitants +of the western coast, isolated, as it were, regard those of the +east almost as strangers. Each town in that quarter seems +to be a great family, suspicious of every other, allowing none to +cheat them but themselves; and, right or wrong, they support one +another in the face of justice.</p> +<p>On this journey I was fortunate enough to have one companion +with more enlarged views than the generality of his countrymen, +who spoke English tolerably.</p> +<p>I was informed that we might still advance a mile and a +quarter in our cabrioles; afterwards there was no choice, but of +a single horse and wretched path, or a boat, the usual mode of +travelling.</p> +<p>We therefore sent our baggage forward in the boat, and +followed rather slowly, for the road was rocky and sandy. +We passed, however, through several beech groves, which still +delighted me by the freshness of their light green foliage, and +the elegance of their assemblage, forming retreats to veil +without obscuring the sun.</p> +<p>I was surprised, at approaching the water, to find a little +cluster of houses pleasantly situated, and an excellent +inn. I could have wished to have remained there all night; +but as the wind was fair, and the evening fine, I was afraid to +trust to the wind—the uncertain wind of to-morrow. We +therefore left Helgeraac immediately with the declining sun.</p> +<p>Though we were in the open sea, we sailed more amongst the +rocks and islands than in my passage from Stromstad; and they +often forced very picturesque combinations. Few of the high +ridges were entirely bare; the seeds of some pines or firs had +been wafted by the winds or waves, and they stood to brave the +elements.</p> +<p>Sitting, then, in a little boat on the ocean, amidst +strangers, with sorrow and care pressing hard on +me—buffeting me about from clime to clime—I felt</p> +<blockquote><p>“Like the lone shrub at random cast,<br /> +That sighs and trembles at each blast!”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>On some of the largest rocks there were actually groves, the +retreat of foxes and hares, which, I suppose, had tripped over +the ice during the winter, without thinking to regain the main +land before the thaw.</p> +<p>Several of the islands were inhabited by pilots; and the +Norwegian pilots are allowed to be the best in the +world—perfectly acquainted with their coast, and ever at +hand to observe the first signal or sail. They pay a small +tax to the king and to the regulating officer, and enjoy the +fruit of their indefatigable industry.</p> +<p>One of the islands, called Virgin Land, is a flat, with some +depth of earth, extending for half a Norwegian mile, with three +farms on it, tolerably well cultivated.</p> +<p>On some of the bare rocks I saw straggling houses; they rose +above the denomination of huts inhabited by fishermen. My +companions assured me that they were very comfortable dwellings, +and that they have not only the necessaries, but even what might +be reckoned the superfluities of life. It was too late for +me to go on shore, if you will allow me to give that name to +shivering rocks, to ascertain the fact.</p> +<p>But rain coming on, and the night growing dark, the pilot +declared that it would be dangerous for us to attempt to go to +the place of our destination—East Rusoer—a Norwegian +mile and a half further; and we determined to stop for the night +at a little haven, some half dozen houses scattered under the +curve of a rock. Though it became darker and darker, our +pilot avoided the blind rocks with great dexterity.</p> +<p>It was about ten o’clock when we arrived, and the old +hostess quickly prepared me a comfortable bed—a little too +soft or so, but I was weary; and opening the window to admit the +sweetest of breezes to fan me to sleep, I sunk into the most +luxurious rest: it was more than refreshing. The hospitable +sprites of the grots surely hovered round my pillow; and, if I +awoke, it was to listen to the melodious whispering of the wind +amongst them, or to feel the mild breath of morn. Light +slumbers produced dreams, where Paradise was before me. My +little cherub was again hiding her face in my bosom. I +heard her sweet cooing beat on my heart from the cliffs, and saw +her tiny footsteps on the sands. New-born hopes seemed, +like the rainbow, to appear in the clouds of sorrow, faint, yet +sufficient to amuse away despair.</p> +<p>Some refreshing but heavy showers have detained us; and here I +am writing quite alone—something more than gay, for which I +want a name.</p> +<p>I could almost fancy myself in Nootka Sound, or on some of the +islands on the north-west coast of America. We entered by a +narrow pass through the rocks, which from this abode appear more +romantic than you can well imagine; and seal-skins hanging at the +door to dry add to the illusion.</p> +<p>It is indeed a corner of the world, but you would be surprised +to see the cleanliness and comfort of the dwelling. The +shelves are not only shining with pewter and queen’s ware, +but some articles in silver, more ponderous, it is true, than +elegant. The linen is good, as well as white. All the +females spin, and there is a loom in the kitchen. A sort of +individual taste appeared in the arrangement of the furniture +(this is not the place for imitation) and a kindness in their +desire to oblige. How superior to the apish politeness of +the towns! where the people, affecting to be well bred, fatigue +with their endless ceremony.</p> +<p>The mistress is a widow, her daughter is married to a pilot, +and has three cows. They have a little patch of land at +about the distance of two English miles, where they make hay for +the winter, which they bring home in a boat. They live here +very cheap, getting money from the vessels which stress of +weather, or other causes, bring into their harbour. I +suspect, by their furniture, that they smuggle a little. I +can now credit the account of the other houses, which I last +night thought exaggerated.</p> +<p>I have been conversing with one of my companions respecting +the laws and regulations of Norway. He is a man within +great portion of common sense and heart—yes, a warm +heart. This is not the first time I have remarked heart +without sentiment; they are distinct. The former depends on +the rectitude of the feelings, on truth of sympathy; these +characters have more tenderness than passion; the latter has a +higher source—call it imagination, genius, or what you +will, it is something very different. I have been laughing +with these simple worthy folk—to give you one of my +half-score Danish words—and letting as much of my heart +flow out in sympathy as they can take. Adieu! I must +trip up the rocks. The rain is ever. Let me catch +pleasure on the wing—I may be melancholy to-morrow. +Now all my nerves keep time with the melody of nature. Ah! +let me be happy whilst I can. The tear starts as I think of +it. I must flee from thought, and find refuge from sorrow +in a strong imagination—the only solace for a feeling +heart. Phantoms of bliss! ideal forms of excellence! again +enclose me in your magic circle, and wipe clear from my +remembrance the disappointments that reader the sympathy painful, +which experience rather increases than damps, by giving the +indulgence of feeling the sanction of reason.</p> +<p>Once more farewell!</p> +<h2>LETTER XI.</h2> +<p>I left Portoer, the little haven I mentioned, soon after I +finished my last letter. The sea was rough, and I perceived +that our pilot was right not to venture farther during a hazy +night. We had agreed to pay four dollars for a boat from +Helgeraac. I mention the sum, because they would demand +twice as much from a stranger. I was obliged to pay fifteen +for the one I hired at Stromstad. When we were ready to set +out, our boatman offered to return a dollar and let us go in one +of the boats of the place, the pilot who lived there being better +acquainted with the coast. He only demanded a dollar and a +half, which was reasonable. I found him a civil and rather +intelligent man; he was in the American service several years, +during the Revolution.</p> +<p>I soon perceived that an experienced mariner was necessary to +guide us, for we were continually obliged to tack about, to avoid +the rocks, which, scarcely reaching to the surface of the water, +could only be discovered by the breaking of the waves over +them.</p> +<p>The view of this wild coast, as we sailed along it, afforded +me a continual subject for meditation. I anticipated the +future improvement of the world, and observed how much man has +still to do to obtain of the earth all it could yield. I +even carried my speculations so far as to advance a million or +two of years to the moment when the earth would perhaps be so +perfectly cultivated, and so completely peopled, as to render it +necessary to inhabit every spot—yes, these bleak +shores. Imagination went still farther, and pictured the +state of man when the earth could no longer support him. +Whither was he to flee from universal famine? Do not smile; +I really became distressed for these fellow creatures yet +unborn. The images fastened on me, and the world appeared a +vast prison. I was soon to be in a smaller one—for no +other name can I give to Rusoer. It would be difficult to +form an idea of the place, if you have never seen one of these +rocky coasts.</p> +<p>We were a considerable time entering amongst the islands, +before we saw about two hundred houses crowded together under a +very high rock—still higher appearing above. Talk not +of Bastilles! To be born here was to be bastilled by +nature—shut out from all that opens the understanding, or +enlarges the heart. Huddled one behind another, not more +than a quarter of the dwellings even had a prospect of the +sea. A few planks formed passages from house to house, +which you must often scale, mounting steps like a ladder to +enter.</p> +<p>The only road across the rocks leads to a habitation sterile +enough, you may suppose, when I tell you that the little earth on +the adjacent ones was carried there by the late inhabitant. +A path, almost impracticable for a horse, goes on to Arendall, +still further to the westward.</p> +<p>I inquired for a walk, and, mounting near two hundred steps +made round a rock, walked up and down for about a hundred yards +viewing the sea, to which I quickly descended by steps that +cheated the declivity. The ocean and these tremendous +bulwarks enclosed me on every side. I felt the confinement, +and wished for wings to reach still loftier cliffs, whose +slippery sides no foot was so hardy as to tread. Yet what +was it to see?—only a boundless waste of water—not a +glimpse of smiling nature—not a patch of lively green to +relieve the aching sight, or vary the objects of meditation.</p> +<p>I felt my breath oppressed, though nothing could be clearer +than the atmosphere. Wandering there alone, I found the +solitude desirable; my mind was stored with ideas, which this new +scene associated with astonishing rapidity. But I shuddered +at the thought of receiving existence, and remaining here, in the +solitude of ignorance, till forced to leave a world of which I +had seen so little, for the character of the inhabitants is as +uncultivated, if not as picturesquely wild, as their abode.</p> +<p>Having no employment but traffic, of which a contraband trade +makes the basis of their profit, the coarsest feelings of honesty +are quickly blunted. You may suppose that I speak in +general terms; and that, with all the disadvantages of nature and +circumstances, there are still some respectable exceptions, the +more praiseworthy, as tricking is a very contagious mental +disease, that dries up all the generous juices of the +heart. Nothing genial, in fact, appears around this place, +or within the circle of its rocks. And, now I recollect, it +seems to me that the most genial and humane characters I have met +with in life were most alive to the sentiments inspired by +tranquil country scenes. What, indeed, is to humanise these +beings, who rest shut up (for they seldom even open their +windows), smoking, drinking brandy, and driving bargains? I +have been almost stifled by these smokers. They begin in +the morning, and are rarely without their pipe till they go to +bed. Nothing can be more disgusting than the rooms and men +towards the evening—breath, teeth, clothes, and furniture, +all are spoilt. It is well that the women are not very +delicate, or they would only love their husbands because they +were their husbands. Perhaps, you may add, that the remark +need not be confined to so small a part of the world; and, +<i>entre nous</i>, I am of the same opinion. You must not +term this innuendo saucy, for it does not come home.</p> +<p>If I had not determined to write I should have found my +confinement here, even for three or four days, tedious. I +have no books; and to pace up and down a small room, looking at +tiles overhung by rocks, soon becomes wearisome. I cannot +mount two hundred steps to walk a hundred yards many times in the +day. Besides, the rocks, retaining the heat of the sun, are +intolerably warm. I am, nevertheless, very well; for though +there is a shrewdness in the character of these people, depraved +by a sordid love of money which repels me, still the comparisons +they force me to make keep my heart calm by exercising my +understanding.</p> +<p>Everywhere wealth commands too much respect, but here almost +exclusively; and it is the only object pursued, not through brake +and briar, but over rocks and waves; yet of what use would riches +be to me, I have sometimes asked myself, were I confined to live +in such in a spot? I could only relieve a few distressed +objects, perhaps render them idle, and all the rest of life would +be a blank.</p> +<p>My present journey has given fresh force to my opinion that no +place is so disagreeable and unimproving as a country town. +I should like to divide my time between the town and country; in +a lone house, with the business of farming and planting, where my +mind would gain strength by solitary musing, and in a metropolis +to rub off the rust of thought, and polish the taste which the +contemplation of nature had rendered just. Thus do we wish +as we float down the stream of life, whilst chance does more to +gratify a desire of knowledge than our best laid plans. A +degree of exertion, produced by some want, more or less painful, +is probably the price we must all pay for knowledge. How +few authors or artists have arrived at eminence who have not +lived by their employment?</p> +<p>I was interrupted yesterday by business, and was prevailed +upon to dine with the English vice-consul. His house being +open to the sea, I was more at large; and the hospitality of the +table pleased me, though the bottle was rather too freely pushed +about. Their manner of entertaining was such as I have +frequently remarked when I have been thrown in the way of people +without education, who have more money than wit—that is, +than they know what to do with. The women were unaffected, +but had not the natural grace which was often conspicuous at +Tonsberg. There was even a striking difference in their +dress, these having loaded themselves with finery in the style of +the sailors’ girls of Hull or Portsmouth. Taste has +not yet taught them to make any but an ostentatious display of +wealth. Yet I could perceive even here the first steps of +the improvement which I am persuaded will make a very obvious +progress in the course of half a century, and it ought not to be +sooner, to keep pace with the cultivation of the earth. +Improving manners will introduce finer moral feelings. They +begin to read translations of some of the most useful German +productions lately published, and one of our party sung a song +ridiculing the powers coalesced against France, and the company +drank confusion to those who had dismembered Poland.</p> +<p>The evening was extremely calm and beautiful. Not being +able to walk, I requested a boat as the only means of enjoying +free air.</p> +<p>The view of the town was now extremely fine. A huge +rocky mountain stood up behind it, and a vast cliff stretched on +each side, forming a semicircle. In a recess of the rocks +was a clump of pines, amongst which a steeple rose picturesquely +beautiful.</p> +<p>The churchyard is almost the only verdant spot in the +place. Here, indeed, friendship extends beyond the grave, +and to grant a sod of earth is to accord a favour. I should +rather choose, did it admit of a choice, to sleep in some of the +caves of the rocks, for I am become better reconciled to them +since I climbed their craggy sides last night, listening to the +finest echoes I ever heard. We had a French horn with us, +and there was an enchanting wildness in the dying away of the +reverberation that quickly transported me to Shakespeare’s +magic island. Spirits unseen seemed to walk abroad, and +flit from cliff to cliff to soothe my soul to peace.</p> +<p>I reluctantly returned to supper, to be shut up in a warm +room, only to view the vast shadows of the rocks extending on the +slumbering waves. I stood at the window some time before a +buzz filled the drawing-room, and now and then the dashing of a +solitary oar rendered the scene still more solemn.</p> +<p>Before I came here I could scarcely have imagined that a +simple object (rocks) could have admitted of so many interesting +combinations, always grand and often sublime. Good +night! God bless you!</p> +<h2>LETTER XII.</h2> +<p>I left East Rusoer the day before yesterday. The weather +was very fine; but so calm that we loitered on the water near +fourteen hours, only to make about six and twenty miles.</p> +<p>It seemed to me a sort of emancipation when we landed at +Helgeraac. The confinement which everywhere struck me +whilst sojourning amongst the rocks, made me hail the earth as a +land of promise; and the situation shone with fresh lustre from +the contrast—from appearing to be a free abode. Here +it was possible to travel by land—I never thought this a +comfort before—and my eyes, fatigued by the sparkling of +the sun on the water, now contentedly reposed on the green +expanse, half persuaded that such verdant meads had never till +then regaled them.</p> +<p>I rose early to pursue my journey to Tonsberg. The +country still wore a face of joy—and my soul was alive to +its charms. Leaving the most lofty and romantic of the +cliffs behind us, we were almost continually descending to +Tonsberg, through Elysian scenes; for not only the sea, but +mountains, rivers, lakes, and groves, gave an almost endless +variety to the prospect. The cottagers were still carrying +home the hay; and the cottages on this road looked very +comfortable. Peace and plenty—I mean not +abundance—seemed to reign around—still I grew sad as +I drew near my old abode. I was sorry to see the sun so +high; it was broad noon. Tonsberg was something like a +home—yet I was to enter without lighting up pleasure in any +eye. I dreaded the solitariness of my apartment, and wished +for night to hide the starting tears, or to shed them on my +pillow, and close my eyes on a world where I was destined to +wander alone. Why has nature so many charms for +me—calling forth and cherishing refined sentiments, only to +wound the breast that fosters them? How illusive, perhaps +the most so, are the plans of happiness founded on virtue and +principle; what inlets of misery do they not open in a +half-civilised society? The satisfaction arising from +conscious rectitude, will not calm an injured heart, when +tenderness is ever finding excuses; and self-applause is a cold +solitary feeling, that cannot supply the place of disappointed +affection, without throwing a gloom over every prospect, which, +banishing pleasure, does not exclude pain. I reasoned and +reasoned; but my heart was too full to allow me to remain in the +house, and I walked, till I was wearied out, to purchase +rest—or rather forgetfulness.</p> +<p>Employment has beguiled this day, and to-morrow I set out for +Moss, on my way to Stromstad. At Gothenburg I shall embrace +my Fannikin; probably she will not know me again—and I +shall be hurt if she do not. How childish is this! still it +is a natural feeling. I would not permit myself to indulge +the “thick coming fears” of fondness, whilst I was +detained by business. Yet I never saw a calf bounding in a +meadow, that did not remind me of my little frolicker. A +calf, you say. Yes; but a capital one I own.</p> +<p>I cannot write composedly—I am every instant sinking +into reveries—my heart flutters, I know not why. +Fool! It is time thou wert at rest.</p> +<p>Friendship and domestic happiness are continually praised; yet +how little is there of either in the world, because it requires +more cultivation of mind to keep awake affection, even in our own +hearts, than the common run of people suppose. Besides, few +like to be seen as they really are; and a degree of simplicity, +and of undisguised confidence, which, to uninterested observers, +would almost border on weakness, is the charm, nay the essence of +love or friendship, all the bewitching graces of childhood again +appearing. As objects merely to exercise my taste, I +therefore like to see people together who have an affection for +each other; every turn of their features touches me, and remains +pictured on my imagination in indelible characters. The +zest of novelty is, however, necessary to rouse the languid +sympathies which have been hackneyed in the world; as is the +factitious behaviour, falsely termed good-breeding, to amuse +those, who, defective in taste, continually rely for pleasure on +their animal spirits, which not being maintained by the +imagination, are unavoidably sooner exhausted than the sentiments +of the heart. Friendship is in general sincere at the +commencement, and lasts whilst there is anything to support it; +but as a mixture of novelty and vanity is the usual prop, no +wonder if it fall with the slender stay. The fop in the +play paid a greater compliment than he was aware of when he said +to a person, whom he meant to flatter, “I like you almost +as well as a <i>new acquaintance</i>.” Why am I +talking of friendship, after which I have had such a wild-goose +chase. I thought only of telling you that the crows, as +well as wild-geese, are here birds of passage.</p> +<h2>LETTER XIII.</h2> +<p>I left Tonsberg yesterday, the 22nd of August. It is +only twelve or thirteen English miles to Moss, through a country +less wild than any tract I had hitherto passed over in +Norway. It was often beautiful, but seldom afforded those +grand views which fill rather than soothe the mind.</p> +<p>We glided along the meadows and through the woods, with +sunbeams playing around us; and, though no castles adorned the +prospects, a greater number of comfortable farms met my eyes +during this ride than I have ever seen, in the same space, even +in the most cultivated part of England; and the very appearance +of the cottages of the labourers sprinkled amidst them excluded +all those gloomy ideas inspired by the contemplation of +poverty.</p> +<p>The hay was still bringing in, for one harvest in Norway +treads on the heels of the other. The woods were more +variegated, interspersed with shrubs. We no longer passed +through forests of vast pines stretching along with savage +magnificence. Forests that only exhibited the slow decay of +time or the devastation produced by warring elements. No; +oaks, ashes, beech, and all the light and graceful tenants of our +woods here sported luxuriantly. I had not observed many +oaks before, for the greater part of the oak-planks, I am +informed, come from the westward.</p> +<p>In France the farmers generally live in villages, which is a +great disadvantage to the country; but the Norwegian farmers, +always owning their farms or being tenants for life, reside in +the midst of them, allowing some labourers a dwelling rent free, +who have a little land appertaining to the cottage, not only for +a garden, but for crops of different kinds, such as rye, oats, +buck-wheat, hemp, flax, beans, potatoes, and hay, which are sown +in strips about it, reminding a stranger of the first attempts at +culture, when every family was obliged to be an independent +community.</p> +<p>These cottagers work at a certain price (tenpence per day) for +the farmers on whose ground they live, and they have spare time +enough to cultivate their own land and lay in a store of fish for +the winter. The wives and daughters spin and the husbands +and sons weave, so that they may fairly be reckoned independent, +having also a little money in hand to buy coffee, brandy and some +other superfluities.</p> +<p>The only thing I disliked was the military service, which +trammels them more than I at first imagined. It is true +that the militia is only called out once a year, yet in case of +war they have no alternative but must abandon their +families. Even the manufacturers are not exempted, though +the miners are, in order to encourage undertakings which require +a capital at the commencement. And, what appears more +tyrannical, the inhabitants of certain districts are appointed +for the land, others for the sea service. Consequently, a +peasant, born a soldier, is not permitted to follow his +inclination should it lead him to go to sea, a natural desire +near so many seaports.</p> +<p>In these regulations the arbitrary government—the King +of Denmark being the most absolute monarch in +Europe—appears, which in other respects seeks to hide +itself in a lenity that almost renders the laws nullities. +If any alteration of old customs is thought of, the opinion of +the old country is required and maturely considered. I have +several times had occasion to observe that, fearing to appear +tyrannical, laws are allowed to become obsolete which ought to be +put in force or better substituted in their stead; for this +mistaken moderation, which borders on timidity, favours the least +respectable part of the people.</p> +<p>I saw on my way not only good parsonage houses, but +comfortable dwellings, with glebe land for the clerk, always a +consequential man in every country, a being proud of a little +smattering of learning, to use the appropriate epithet, and vain +of the stiff good-breeding reflected from the vicar, though the +servility practised in his company gives it a peculiar cast.</p> +<p>The widow of the clergyman is allowed to receive the benefit +of the living for a twelvemonth after the death of the +incumbent.</p> +<p>Arriving at the ferry (the passage over to Moss is about six +or eight English miles) I saw the most level shore I had yet seen +in Norway. The appearance of the circumjacent country had +been preparing me for the change of scene which was to greet me +when I reached the coast. For the grand features of nature +had been dwindling into prettiness as I advanced; yet the rocks, +on a smaller scale, were finely wooded to the water’s +edge. Little art appeared, yet sublimity everywhere gave +place to elegance. The road had often assumed the +appearance of a gravelled one, made in pleasure-grounds; whilst +the trees excited only an idea of embellishment. Meadows, +like lawns, in an endless variety, displayed the careless graces +of nature; and the ripening corn gave a richness to the landscape +analogous with the other objects.</p> +<p>Never was a southern sky more beautiful, nor more soft its +gales. Indeed, I am led to conclude that the sweetest +summer in the world is the northern one, the vegetation being +quick and luxuriant the moment the earth is loosened from its icy +fetters and the bound streams regain their wonted activity. +The balance of happiness with respect to climate may be more +equal than I at first imagined; for the inhabitants describe with +warmth the pleasures of a winter at the thoughts of which I +shudder. Not only their parties of pleasure but of business +are reserved for this season, when they travel with astonishing +rapidity the most direct way, skimming over hedge and ditch.</p> +<p>On entering Moss I was struck by the animation which seemed to +result from industry. The richest of the inhabitants keep +shops, resembling in their manners and even the arrangement of +their houses the tradespeople of Yorkshire; with an air of more +independence, or rather consequence, from feeling themselves the +first people in the place. I had not time to see the +iron-works, belonging to Mr. Anker, of Christiania, a man of +fortune and enterprise; and I was not very anxious to see them +after having viewed those at Laurvig.</p> +<p>Here I met with an intelligent literary man, who was anxious +to gather information from me relative to the past and present +situation of France. The newspapers printed at Copenhagen, +as well as those in England, give the most exaggerated accounts +of their atrocities and distresses, but the former without any +apparent comments or inferences. Still the Norwegians, +though more connected with the English, speaking their language +and copying their manners, wish well to the Republican cause, and +follow with the most lively interest the successes of the French +arms. So determined were they, in fact, to excuse +everything, disgracing the struggle of freedom, by admitting the +tyrant’s plea, necessity, that I could hardly persuade them +that Robespierre was a monster.</p> +<p>The discussion of this subject is not so general as in +England, being confined to the few, the clergy and physicians, +with a small portion of people who have a literary turn and +leisure; the greater part of the inhabitants having a variety of +occupations, being owners of ships, shopkeepers, and farmers, +have employment enough at home. And their ambition to +become rich may tend to cultivate the common sense which +characterises and narrows both their hearts and views, confirming +the former to their families, taking the handmaids of it into the +circle of pleasure, if not of interest, and the latter to the +inspection of their workmen, including the noble science of +bargain-making—that is, getting everything at the cheapest, +and selling it at the dearest rate. I am now more than ever +convinced that it is an intercourse with men of science and +artists which not only diffuses taste, but gives that freedom to +the understanding without which I have seldom met with much +benevolence of character on a large scale.</p> +<p>Besides, though you do not hear of much pilfering and stealing +in Norway, yet they will, with a quiet conscience, buy things at +a price which must convince them they were stolen. I had an +opportunity of knowing that two or three reputable people had +purchased some articles of vagrants, who were detected. How +much of the virtue which appears in the world is put on for the +world? And how little dictated by self-respect?—so +little, that I am ready to repeat the old question, and ask, +Where is truth, or rather principle, to be found? These +are, perhaps, the vapourings of a heart ill at ease—the +effusions of a sensibility wounded almost to madness. But +enough of this; we will discuss the subject in another state of +existence, where truth and justice will reign. How cruel +are the injuries which make us quarrel with human nature! +At present black melancholy hovers round my footsteps; and sorrow +sheds a mildew over all the future prospects, which hope no +longer gilds.</p> +<p>A rainy morning prevented my enjoying the pleasure the view of +a picturesque country would have afforded me; for though this +road passed through a country a greater extent of which was under +cultivation than I had usually seen here, it nevertheless +retained all the wild charms of Norway. Rocks still +enclosed the valleys, the great sides of which enlivened their +verdure. Lakes appeared like branches of the sea, and +branches of the sea assumed the appearance of tranquil lakes; +whilst streamlets prattled amongst the pebbles and the broken +mass of stone which had rolled into them, giving fantastic turns +to the trees, the roots of which they bared.</p> +<p>It is not, in fact, surprising that the pine should be often +undermined; it shoots its fibres in such a horizontal direction, +merely on the surface of the earth, requiring only enough to +cover those that cling to the crags. Nothing proves to me +so clearly that it is the air which principally nourishes trees +and plants as the flourishing appearance of these pines. +The firs, demanding a deeper soil, are seldom seen in equal +health, or so numerous on the barren cliffs. They take +shelter in the crevices, or where, after some revolving ages, the +pines have prepared them a footing.</p> +<p>Approaching, or rather descending, to Christiania, though the +weather continued a little cloudy, my eyes were charmed with the +view of an extensive undulated valley, stretching out under the +shelter of a noble amphitheatre of pine-covered mountains. +Farm houses scattered about animated, nay, graced a scene which +still retained so much of its native wildness, that the art which +appeared seemed so necessary, it was scarcely perceived. +Cattle were grazing in the shaven meadows; and the lively green +on their swelling sides contrasted with the ripening corn and +rye. The corn that grew on the slopes had not, indeed, the +laughing luxuriance of plenty, which I have seen in more genial +climes. A fresh breeze swept across the grain, parting its +slender stalks, but the wheat did not wave its head with its +wonted careless dignity, as if nature had crowned it the king of +plants.</p> +<p>The view, immediately on the left, as we drove down the +mountain, was almost spoilt by the depredations committed on the +rocks to make alum. I do not know the process. I only +saw that the rocks looked red after they had been burnt, and +regretted that the operation should leave a quantity of rubbish +to introduce an image of human industry in the shape of +destruction. The situation of Christiania is certainly +uncommonly fine, and I never saw a bay that so forcibly gave me +an idea of a place of safety from the storms of the ocean; all +the surrounding objects were beautiful and even grand. But +neither the rocky mountains, nor the woods that graced them, +could be compared with the sublime prospects I had seen to the +westward; and as for the hills, “capped with <i>eternal</i> +snow,” Mr. Coxe’s description led me to look for +them, but they had flown, for I looked vainly around for this +noble background.</p> +<p>A few months ago the people of Christiania rose, exasperated +by the scarcity and consequent high price of grain. The +immediate cause was the shipping of some, said to be for Moss, +but which they suspected was only a pretext to send it out of the +country, and I am not sure that they were wrong in their +conjecture. Such are the tricks of trade. They threw +stones at Mr. Anker, the owner of it, as he rode out of town to +escape from their fury; they assembled about his house, and the +people demanded afterwards, with so much impetuosity, the liberty +of those who were taken up in consequence of the tumult, that the +Grand Bailiff thought it prudent to release them without further +altercation.</p> +<p>You may think me too severe on commerce, but from the manner +it is at present carried on little can be advanced in favour of a +pursuit that wears out the most sacred principles of humanity and +rectitude. What is speculation but a species of gambling, I +might have said fraud, in which address generally gains the +prize? I was led into these reflections when I heard of +some tricks practised by merchants, miscalled reputable, and +certainly men of property, during the present war, in which +common honesty was violated: damaged goods and provision having +been shipped for the express purpose of falling into the hands of +the English, who had pledged themselves to reimburse neutral +nations for the cargoes they seized; cannon also, sent back as +unfit for service, have been shipped as a good speculation, the +captain receiving orders to cruise about till he fell in with an +English frigate. Many individuals I believe have suffered +by the seizures of their vessels; still I am persuaded that the +English Government has been very much imposed upon in the charges +made by merchants who contrived to get their ships taken. +This censure is not confined to the Danes. Adieu, for the +present, I must take advantage of a moment of fine weather to +walk out and see the town.</p> +<p>At Christiania I met with that polite reception, which rather +characterises the progress of manners in the world, than of any +particular portion of it. The first evening of my arrival I +supped with some of the most fashionable people of the place, and +almost imagined myself in a circle of English ladies, so much did +they resemble them in manners, dress, and even in beauty; for the +fairest of my countrywomen would not have been sorry to rank with +the Grand Bailiff’s lady. There were several pretty +girls present, but she outshone them all, and, what interested me +still more, I could not avoid observing that in acquiring the +easy politeness which distinguishes people of quality, she had +preserved her Norwegian simplicity. There was, in fact, a +graceful timidity in her address, inexpressibly charming. +This surprised me a little, because her husband was quite a +Frenchman of the <i>ancien régime</i>, or rather a +courtier, the same kind of animal in every country.</p> +<p>Here I saw the cloven foot of despotism. I boasted to +you that they had no viceroy in Norway, but these Grand Bailiffs, +particularly the superior one, who resides at Christiania, are +political monsters of the same species. Needy sycophants +are provided for by their relations and connections at Copenhagen +as at other courts. And though the Norwegians are not in +the abject state of the Irish, yet this second-hand government is +still felt by their being deprived of several natural advantages +to benefit the domineering state.</p> +<p>The Grand Bailiffs are mostly noblemen from Copenhagen, who +act as men of common minds will always act in such +situations—aping a degree of courtly parade which clashes +with the independent character of a magistrate. Besides, +they have a degree of power over the country judges, which some +of them, who exercise a jurisdiction truly patriarchal most +painfully feel. I can scarcely say why, my friend, but in +this city thoughtfulness seemed to be sliding into melancholy or +rather dulness. The fire of fancy, which had been kept +alive in the country, was almost extinguished by reflections on +the ills that harass such a large portion of mankind. I +felt like a bird fluttering on the ground unable to mount, yet +unwilling to crawl tranquilly like a reptile, whilst still +conscious it had wings.</p> +<p>I walked out, for the open air is always my remedy when an +aching head proceeds from an oppressed heart. Chance +directed my steps towards the fortress, and the sight of the +slaves, working with chains on their legs, only served to +embitter me still more against the regulations of society, which +treated knaves in such a different manner, especially as there +was a degree of energy in some of their countenances which +unavoidably excited my attention, and almost created respect.</p> +<p>I wished to have seen, through an iron grate, the face of a +man who has been confined six years for having induced the +farmers to revolt against some impositions of the +Government. I could not obtain a clear account of the +affair, yet, as the complaint was against some farmers of taxes, +I am inclined to believe that it was not totally without +foundation. He must have possessed some eloquence, or have +had truth on his side; for the farmers rose by hundreds to +support him, and were very much exasperated at his imprisonment, +which will probably last for life, though he has sent several +very spirited remonstrances to the upper court, which makes the +judges so averse to giving a sentence which may be cavilled at, +that they take advantage of the glorious uncertainty of the law, +to protract a decision which is only to be regulated by reasons +of state.</p> +<p>The greater number of the slaves I saw here were not confined +for life. Their labour is not hard; and they work in the +open air, which prevents their constitutions from suffering by +imprisonment. Still, as they are allowed to associate +together, and boast of their dexterity, not only to each other +but to the soldiers around them, in the garrison; they commonly, +it is natural to conclude, go out more confirmed and more expert +knaves than when they entered.</p> +<p>It is not necessary to trace the origin of the association of +ideas which led me to think that the stars and gold keys, which +surrounded me the evening before, disgraced the wearers as much +as the fetters I was viewing—perhaps more. I even +began to investigate the reason, which led me to suspect that the +former produced the latter.</p> +<p>The Norwegians are extravagantly fond of courtly distinction, +and of titles, though they have no immunities annexed to them, +and are easily purchased. The proprietors of mines have +many privileges: they are almost exempt from taxes, and the +peasantry born on their estates, as well as those on the +counts’, are not born soldiers or sailors.</p> +<p>One distinction, or rather trophy of nobility, which I might +have occurred to the Hottentots, amused me; it was a bunch of +hog’s bristles placed on the horses’ heads, +surmounting that part of the harness to which a round piece of +brass often dangles, fatiguing the eye with its idle motion.</p> +<p>From the fortress I returned to my lodging, and quickly was +taken out of town to be shown a pretty villa, and English +garden. To a Norwegian both might have been objects of +curiosity; and of use, by exciting to the comparison which leads +to improvement. But whilst I gazed, I was employed in +restoring the place to nature, or taste, by giving it the +character of the surrounding scene. Serpentine walks, and +flowering-shrubs, looked trifling in a grand recess of the rooks, +shaded by towering pines. Groves of smaller trees might +have been sheltered under them, which would have melted into the +landscape, displaying only the art which ought to point out the +vicinity of a human abode, furnished with some elegance. +But few people have sufficient taste to discern, that the art of +embellishing consists in interesting, not in astonishing.</p> +<p>Christiania is certainly very pleasantly situated, and the +environs I passed through, during this ride, afforded many fine +and cultivated prospects; but, excepting the first view +approaching to it, rarely present any combination of objects so +strikingly new, or picturesque, as to command remembrance. +Adieu!</p> +<h2>LETTER XIV.</h2> +<p>Christiania is a clean, neat city; but it has none of the +graces of architecture, which ought to keep pace with the +refining manners of a people—or the outside of the house +will disgrace the inside, giving the beholder an idea of +overgrown wealth devoid of taste. Large square wooden +houses offend the eye, displaying more than Gothic +barbarism. Huge Gothic piles, indeed, exhibit a +characteristic sublimity, and a wildness of fancy peculiar to the +period when they were erected; but size, without grandeur or +elegance, has an emphatical stamp of meanness, of poverty of +conception, which only a commercial spirit could give.</p> +<p>The same thought has struck me, when I have entered the +meeting-house of my respected friend, Dr. Price. I am +surprised that the dissenters, who have not laid aside all the +pomps and vanities of life, should imagine a noble pillar, or +arch, unhallowed. Whilst men have senses, whatever soothes +them lends wings to devotion; else why do the beauties of nature, +where all that charm them are spread around with a lavish hand, +force even the sorrowing heart to acknowledge that existence is a +blessing? and this acknowledgment is the most sublime homage we +can pay to the Deity.</p> +<p>The argument of convenience is absurd. Who would labour +for wealth, if it were to procure nothing but conveniences. +If we wish to render mankind moral from principle, we must, I am +persuaded, give a greater scope to the enjoyments of the senses +by blending taste with them. This has frequently occurred +to me since I have been in the north, and observed that there +sanguine characters always take refuge in drunkenness after the +fire of youth is spent.</p> +<p>But I have flown from Norway. To go back to the wooden +houses; farms constructed with logs, and even little villages, +here erected in the same simple manner, have appeared to me very +picturesque. In the more remote parts I had been +particularly pleased with many cottages situated close to a +brook, or bordering on a lake, with the whole farm +contiguous. As the family increases, a little more land is +cultivated; thus the country is obviously enriched by +population. Formerly the farmers might more justly have +been termed woodcutters. But now they find it necessary to +spare the woods a little, and this change will be universally +beneficial; for whilst they lived entirely by selling the trees +they felled, they did not pay sufficient attention to husbandry; +consequently, advanced very slowly in agricultural +knowledge. Necessity will in future more and more spur them +on; for the ground, cleared of wood, must be cultivated, or the +farm loses its value; there is no waiting for food till another +generation of pines be grown to maturity.</p> +<p>The people of property are very careful of their timber; and, +rambling through a forest near Tonsberg, belonging to the Count, +I have stopped to admire the appearance of some of the cottages +inhabited by a woodman’s family—a man employed to cut +down the wood necessary for the household and the estate. A +little lawn was cleared, on which several lofty trees were left +which nature had grouped, whilst the encircling firs sported with +wild grace. The dwelling was sheltered by the forest, noble +pines spreading their branches over the roof; and before the door +a cow, goat, nag, and children, seemed equally content with their +lot; and if contentment be all we can attain, it is, perhaps, +best secured by ignorance.</p> +<p>As I have been most delighted with the country parts of +Norway, I was sorry to leave Christiania without going farther to +the north, though the advancing season admonished me to depart, +as well as the calls of business and affection.</p> +<p>June and July are the months to make a tour through Norway; +for then the evenings and nights are the finest I have ever seen; +but towards the middle or latter end of August the clouds begin +to gather, and summer disappears almost before it has ripened the +fruit of autumn—even, as it were, slips from your embraces, +whilst the satisfied senses seem to rest in enjoyment.</p> +<p>You will ask, perhaps, why I wished to go farther +northward. Why? not only because the country, from all I +can gather, is most romantic, abounding in forests and lakes, and +the air pure, but I have heard much of the intelligence of the +inhabitants, substantial farmers, who have none of that cunning +to contaminate their simplicity, which displeased me so much in +the conduct of the people on the sea coast. A man who has +been detected in any dishonest act can no longer live among +them. He is universally shunned, and shame becomes the +severest punishment.</p> +<p>Such a contempt have they, in fact, for every species of +fraud, that they will not allow the people on the western coast +to be their countrymen; so much do they despise the arts for +which those traders who live on the rocks are notorious.</p> +<p>The description I received of them carried me back to the +fables of the golden age: independence and virtue; affluence +without vice; cultivation of mind, without depravity of heart; +with “ever smiling Liberty;” the nymph of the +mountain. I want faith!</p> +<p>My imagination hurries me forward to seek an asylum in such a +retreat from all the disappointments I am threatened with; but +reason drags me back, whispering that the world is still the +world, and man the same compound of weakness and folly, who must +occasionally excite love and disgust, admiration and +contempt. But this description, though it seems to have +been sketched by a fairy pencil, was given me by a man of sound +understanding, whose fancy seldom appears to run away with +him.</p> +<p>A law in Norway, termed the <i>odels right</i>, has lately +been modified, and probably will be abolished as an impediment to +commerce. The heir of an estate had the power of +re-purchasing it at the original purchase money, making allowance +for such improvements as were absolutely necessary, during the +space of twenty years. At present ten is the term allowed +for afterthought; and when the regulation was made, all the men +of abilities were invited to give their opinion whether it were +better to abrogate or modify it. It is certainly a +convenient and safe way of mortgaging land; yet the most rational +men whom I conversed with on the subject seemed convinced that +the right was more injurious than beneficial to society; still if +it contribute to keep the farms in the farmers’ own hands, +I should be sorry to hear that it were abolished.</p> +<p>The aristocracy in Norway, if we keep clear of Christiania, is +far from being formidable; and it will require a long the to +enable the merchants to attain a sufficient moneyed interest to +induce them to reinforce the upper class at the expense of the +yeomanry, with whom they are usually connected.</p> +<p>England and America owe their liberty to commerce, which +created new species of power to undermine the feudal +system. But let them beware of the consequence; the tyranny +of wealth is still more galling and debasing than that of +rank.</p> +<p>Farewell! I must prepare for my departure.</p> +<h2>LETTER XV.</h2> +<p>I left Christiania yesterday. The weather was not very +fine, and having been a little delayed on the road, I found that +it was too late to go round, a couple of miles, to see the +cascade near Fredericstadt, which I had determined to +visit. Besides, as Fredericstadt is a fortress, it was +necessary to arrive there before they shut the gate.</p> +<p>The road along the river is very romantic, though the views +are not grand; and the riches of Norway, its timber, floats +silently down the stream, often impeded in its course by islands +and little cataracts, the offspring, as it were, of the great one +I had frequently heard described.</p> +<p>I found an excellent inn at Fredericstadt, and was gratified +by the kind attention of the hostess, who, perceiving that my +clothes were wet, took great pains procure me, as a stranger, +every comfort for the night.</p> +<p>It had rained very hard, and we passed the ferry in the dark +without getting out of our carriage, which I think wrong, as the +horses are sometimes unruly. Fatigue and melancholy, +however, had made me regardless whether I went down or across the +stream, and I did not know that I was wet before the hostess +marked it. My imagination has never yet severed me from my +griefs, and my mind has seldom been so free as to allow my body +to be delicate.</p> +<p>How I am altered by disappointment! When going to +Lisbon, the elasticity of my mind was sufficient to ward off +weariness, and my imagination still could dip her brush in the +rainbow of fancy, and sketch futurity in glowing colours. +Now—but let me talk of something else—will you go +with me to the cascade?</p> +<p>The cross road to it was rugged and dreary; and though a +considerable extent of land was cultivated on all sides, yet the +rocks were entirely bare, which surprised me, as they were more +on a level with the surface than any I had yet seen. On +inquiry, however, I learnt that some years since a forest had +been burnt. This appearance of desolation was beyond +measure gloomy, inspiring emotions that sterility had never +produced. Fires of this kind are occasioned by the wind +suddenly rising when the farmers are burning roots of trees, +stalks of beans, &c, with which they manure the ground. +The devastation must, indeed, be terrible, when this, literally +speaking, wildfire, runs along the forest, flying from top to +top, and crackling amongst the branches. The soil, as well +as the trees, is swept away by the destructive torrent; and the +country, despoiled of beauty and riches, is left to mourn for +ages.</p> +<p>Admiring, as I do, these noble forests, which seem to bid +defiance to time, I looked with pain on the ridge of rocks that +stretched far beyond my eye, formerly crowned with the most +beautiful verdure.</p> +<p>I have often mentioned the grandeur, but I feel myself unequal +to the task of conveying an idea of the beauty and elegance of +the scene when the spiry tops of the pines are loaded with +ripening seed, and the sun gives a glow to their light-green +tinge, which is changing into purple, one tree more or less +advanced contrasted with another. The profusion with which +Nature has decked them with pendant honours, prevents all +surprise at seeing in every crevice some sapling struggling for +existence. Vast masses of stone are thus encircled, and +roots torn up by the storms become a shelter for a young +generation. The pine and fir woods, left entirely to +Nature, display an endless variety; and the paths in the woods +are not entangled with fallen leaves, which are only interesting +whilst they are fluttering between life and death. The grey +cobweb-like appearance of the aged pines is a much finer image of +decay; the fibres whitening as they lose their moisture, +imprisoned life seems to be stealing away. I cannot tell +why, but death, under every form, appears to me like something +getting free to expand in I know not what element—nay, I +feel that this conscious being must be as unfettered, have the +wings of thought, before it can be happy.</p> +<p>Reaching the cascade, or rather cataract, the roaring of which +had a long time announced its vicinity, my soul was hurried by +the falls into a new train of reflections. The impetuous +dashing of the rebounding torrent from the dark cavities which +mocked the exploring eye produced an equal activity in my +mind. My thoughts darted from earth to heaven, and I asked +myself why I was chained to life and its misery. Still the +tumultuous emotions this sublime object excited were pleasurable; +and, viewing it, my soul rose with renewed dignity above its +cares. Grasping at immortality—it seemed as +impossible to stop the current of my thoughts, as of the always +varying, still the same, torrent before me; I stretched out my +hand to eternity, bounding over the dark speck of life to +come.</p> +<p>We turned with regret from the cascade. On a little +hill, which commands the best view of it, several obelisks are +erected to commemorate the visits of different kings. The +appearance of the river above and below the falls is very +picturesque, the ruggedness of the scenery disappearing as the +torrent subsides into a peaceful stream. But I did not like +to see a number of saw-mills crowded together close to the +cataracts; they destroyed the harmony of the prospect.</p> +<p>The sight of a bridge erected across a deep valley, at a +little distance, inspired very dissimilar sensations. It +was most ingeniously supported by mast-like trunks, just stripped +of their branches; and logs, placed one across the other, +produced an appearance equally light and firm, seeming almost to +be built in the air when we were below it, the height taking from +the magnitude of the supporting trees give them a slender +graceful look.</p> +<p>There are two noble estates in this neighbourhood, the +proprietors of which seem to have caught more than their portion +of the enterprising spirit that is gone abroad. Many +agricultural experiments have been made, and the country appears +better enclosed and cultivated, yet the cottages had not the +comfortable aspect of those I had observed near Moss and to the +westward. Man is always debased by servitude of any +description, and here the peasantry are not entirely free. +Adieu!</p> +<p>I almost forgot to tell you that I did not leave Norway +without making some inquiries after the monsters said to have +been seen in the northern sea; but though I conversed with +several captains, I could not meet with one who had ever heard +any traditional description of them, much less had any ocular +demonstration of their existence. Till the fact is better +ascertained, I should think the account of them ought to be torn +out of our geographical grammars.</p> +<h2>LETTER XVI.</h2> +<p>I set out from Fredericstadt about three o’clock in the +afternoon, and expected to reach Stromstad before the night +closed in; but the wind dying away, the weather became so calm +that we scarcely made any perceptible advances towards the +opposite coast, though the men were fatigued with rowing.</p> +<p>Getting amongst the rocks and islands as the moon rose, and +the stars darted forward out of the clear expanse, I forgot that +the night stole on whilst indulging affectionate reveries, the +poetical fictions of sensibility; I was not, therefore, aware of +the length of time we had been toiling to reach Stromstad. +And when I began to look around, I did not perceive anything to +indicate that we were in its neighbourhood. So far from it, +that when I inquired of the pilot, who spoke a little English, I +found that he was only accustomed to coast along the Norwegian +shore; and had been only once across to Stromstad. But he +had brought with him a fellow better acquainted, he assured me, +with the rocks by which they were to steer our course, for we had +not a compass on board; yet, as he was half a fool, I had little +confidence in his skill. There was then great reason to +fear that we had lost our way, and were straying amidst a +labyrinth of rocks without a clue.</p> +<p>This was something like an adventure, but not of the most +agreeable cast; besides, I was impatient to arrive at Stromstad, +to be able to send forward that night a boy to order horses on +the road to be ready, for I was unwilling to remain there a day +without having anything to detain me from my little girl, and +from the letters which I was impatient to get from you.</p> +<p>I began to expostulate, and even to scold the pilot, for not +having informed me of his ignorance previous to my +departure. This made him row with more force, and we turned +round one rock only to see another, equally destitute of the +tokens we were in search of to tell us where we were. +Entering also into creek after creek which promised to be the +entrance of the bay we were seeking, we advanced merely to find +ourselves running aground.</p> +<p>The solitariness of the scene, as we glided under the dark +shadows of the rocks, pleased me for a while; but the fear of +passing the whole night thus wandering to and fro, and losing the +next day, roused me. I begged the pilot to return to one of +the largest islands, at the side of which we had seen a boat +moored. As we drew nearer, a light through a window on the +summit became our beacon; but we were farther off than I +supposed.</p> +<p>With some difficulty the pilot got on shore, not +distinguishing the landing-place; and I remained in the boat, +knowing that all the relief we could expect was a man to direct +us. After waiting some time, for there is an insensibility +in the very movements of these people that would weary more than +ordinary patience, he brought with him a man who, assisting them +to row, we landed at Stromstad a little after one in the +morning.</p> +<p>It was too late to send off a boy, but I did not go to bed +before I had made the arrangements necessary to enable me to set +out as early as possible.</p> +<p>The sun rose with splendour. My mind was too active to +allow me to loiter long in bed, though the horses did not arrive +till between seven and eight. However, as I wished to let +the boy, who went forward to order the horses, get considerably +the start of me, I bridled in my impatience.</p> +<p>This precaution was unavailing, for after the three first +posts I had to wait two hours, whilst the people at the +post-house went, fair and softly, to the farm, to bid them bring +up the horses which were carrying in the first-fruits of the +harvest. I discovered here that these sluggish peasants had +their share of cunning. Though they had made me pay for a +horse, the boy had gone on foot, and only arrived half an hour +before me. This disconcerted the whole arrangement of the +day; and being detained again three hours, I reluctantly +determined to sleep at Quistram, two posts short of Uddervalla, +where I had hoped to have arrived that night.</p> +<p>But when I reached Quistram I found I could not approach the +door of the inn for men, horses, and carts, cows, and pigs +huddled together. From the concourse of people I had met on +the road I conjectured that there was a fair in the +neighbourhood; this crowd convinced me that it was but too +true. The boisterous merriment that almost every instant +produced a quarrel, or made me dread one, with the clouds of +tobacco, and fumes of brandy, gave an infernal appearance to the +scene. There was everything to drive me back, nothing to +excite sympathy in a rude tumult of the senses, which I foresaw +would end in a gross debauch. What was to be done? No +bed was to be had, or even a quiet corner to retire to for a +moment; all was lost in noise, riot, and confusion.</p> +<p>After some debating they promised me horses, which were to go +on to Uddervalla, two stages. I requested something to eat +first, not having dined; and the hostess, whom I have mentioned +to you before as knowing how to take care of herself, brought me +a plate of fish, for which she charged a rix-dollar and a +half. This was making hay whilst the sun shone. I was +glad to get out of the uproar, though not disposed to travel in +an incommodious open carriage all night, had I thought that there +was any chance of getting horses.</p> +<p>Quitting Quistram I met a number of joyous groups, and though +the evening was fresh many were stretched on the grass like weary +cattle; and drunken men had fallen by the road-side. On a +rock, under the shade of lofty trees, a large party of men and +women had lighted a fire, cutting down fuel around to keep it +alive all night. They were drinking, smoking, and laughing +with all their might and main. I felt for the trees whose +torn branches strewed the ground. Hapless nymphs! your +haunts, I fear, were polluted by many an unhallowed flame, the +casual burst of the moment!</p> +<p>The horses went on very well; but when we drew near the +post-house the postillion stopped short and neither threats nor +promises could prevail on him to go forward. He even began +to howl and weep when I insisted on his keeping his word. +Nothing, indeed, can equal the stupid obstinacy of some of these +half-alive beings, who seem to have been made by Prometheus when +the fire he stole from Heaven was so exhausted that he could only +spare a spark to give life, not animation, to the inert clay.</p> +<p>It was some time before we could rouse anybody; and, as I +expected, horses, we were told, could not be had in less than +four or five hours. I again attempted to bribe the churlish +brute who brought us there, but I discovered that, in spite of +the courteous hostess’s promises, he had received orders +not to go any father.</p> +<p>As there was no remedy I entered, and was almost driven back +by the stench—a softer phrase would not have conveyed an +idea of the hot vapour that issued from an apartment in which +some eight or ten people were sleeping, not to reckon the cats +and dogs stretched on the floor. Two or three of the men or +women were on the benches, others on old chests; and one figure +started half out of a trunk to look at me, whom might have taken +for a ghost, had the chemise been white, to contrast with the +sallow visage. But the costume of apparitions not being +preserved I passed, nothing dreading, excepting the effluvia, +warily amongst the pots, pans, milk-pails, and +washing-tubs. After scaling a ruinous staircase I was shown +a bed-chamber. The bed did not invite me to enter; opening, +therefore, the window, and taking some clean towels out of my +night-sack, I spread them over the coverlid, on which tired +Nature found repose, in spite of the previous disgust.</p> +<p>With the grey of the morn the birds awoke me; and descending +to inquire for the horses, I hastened through the apartment I +have already described, not wishing to associate the idea of a +pigstye with that of a human dwelling.</p> +<p>I do not now wonder that the girls lose their fine complexions +at such an early age, or that love here is merely an appetite to +fulfil the main design of Nature, never enlivened by either +affection or sentiment.</p> +<p>For a few posts we found the horses waiting; but afterwards I +was retarded, as before, by the peasants, who, taking advantage +of my ignorance of the language, made me pay for the fourth horse +that ought to have gone forward to have the others in readiness, +though it had never been sent. I was particularly impatient +at the last post, as I longed to assure myself that my child was +well.</p> +<p>My impatience, however, did not prevent my enjoying the +journey. I had six weeks before passed over the same +ground; still it had sufficient novelty to attract my attention, +and beguile, if not banish, the sorrow that had taken up its +abode in my heart. How interesting are the varied beauties +of Nature, and what peculiar charms characterise each +season! The purple hue which the heath now assumed gave it +a degree of richness that almost exceeded the lustre of the young +green of spring, and harmonised exquisitely with the rays of the +ripening corn. The weather was uninterruptedly fine, and +the people busy in the fields cutting down the corn, or binding +up the sheaves, continually varied the prospect. The rocks, +it is true, were unusually rugged and dreary; yet as the road +runs for a considerable way by the side of a fine river, with +extended pastures on the other side, the image of sterility was +not the predominant object, though the cottages looked still more +miserable, after having seen the Norwegian farms. The trees +likewise appeared of me growth of yesterday, compared with those +Nestors of the forest I have frequently mentioned. The +women and children were cutting off branches from the beech, +birch, oak, &c, and leaving them to dry. This way of +helping out their fodder injures the trees. But the winters +are so long that the poor cannot afford to lay in a sufficient +stock of hay. By such means they just keep life in the poor +cows, for little milk can be expected when they are so miserably +fed.</p> +<p>It was Saturday, and the evening was uncommonly serene. +In the villages I everywhere saw preparations for Sunday; and I +passed by a little car loaded with rye, that presented, for the +pencil and heart, the sweetest picture of a harvest home I had +ever beheld. A little girl was mounted a-straddle on a +shaggy horse, brandishing a stick over its head; the father was +walking at the side of the car with a child in his arms, who must +have come to meet him with tottering steps; the little creature +was stretching out its arms to cling round his neck; and a boy, +just above petticoats, was labouring hard with a fork behind to +keep the sheaves from falling.</p> +<p>My eyes followed them to the cottage, and an involuntary sigh +whispered to my heart that I envied the mother, much as I dislike +cooking, who was preparing their pottage. I was returning +to my babe, who may never experience a father’s care or +tenderness. The bosom that nurtured her heaved with a pang +at the thought which only an unhappy mother could feel.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">Adieu!</p> +<h2>LETTER XVII.</h2> +<p>I was unwilling to leave Gothenburg without visiting +Trolhættæ. I wished not only to see the +cascade, but to observe the progress of the stupendous attempt to +form a canal through the rocks, to the extent of an English mile +and a half.</p> +<p>This work is carried on by a company, who employ daily nine +hundred men; five years was the time mentioned in the proposals +addressed to the public as necessary for the completion. A +much more considerable sum than the plan requires has been +subscribed, for which there is every reason to suppose the +promoters will receive ample interest.</p> +<p>The Danes survey the progress of this work with a jealous eye, +as it is principally undertaken to get clear of the Sound +duty.</p> +<p>Arrived at Trolhættæ, I must own that the first +view of the cascade disappointed me; and the sight of the works, +as they advanced, though a grand proof of human industry, was not +calculated to warm the fancy. I, however, wandered about; +and at last coming to the conflux of the various cataracts +rushing from different falls, struggling with the huge masses of +rock, and rebounding from the profound cavities, I immediately +retracted, acknowledging that it was indeed a grand object. +A little island stood in the midst, covered with firs, which, by +dividing the torrent, rendered it more picturesque; one half +appearing to issue from a dark cavern, that fancy might easily +imagine a vast fountain throwing up its waters from the very +centre of the earth.</p> +<p>I gazed I know not how long, stunned with the noise, and +growing giddy with only looking at the never-ceasing tumultuous +motion, I listened, scarcely conscious where I was, when I +observed a boy, half obscured by the sparkling foam, fishing +under the impending rock on the other side. How he had +descended I could not perceive; nothing like human footsteps +appeared, and the horrific crags seemed to bid defiance even to +the goat’s activity. It looked like an abode only fit +for the eagle, though in its crevices some pines darted up their +spiral heads; but they only grew near the cascade, everywhere +else sterility itself reigned with dreary grandeur; for the huge +grey massy rocks, which probably had been torn asunder by some +dreadful convulsion of nature, had not even their first covering +of a little cleaving moss. There were so many appearances +to excite the idea of chaos, that, instead of admiring the canal +and the works, great as they are termed, and little as they +appear, I could not help regretting that such a noble scene had +not been left in all its solitary sublimity. Amidst the +awful roaring of the impetuous torrents, the noise of human +instruments and the bustle of workmen, even the blowing up of the +rocks when grand masses trembled in the darkened air, only +resembled the insignificant sport of children.</p> +<p>One fall of water, partly made by art, when they were +attempting to construct sluices, had an uncommonly grand effect; +the water precipitated itself with immense velocity down a +perpendicular, at least fifty or sixty yards, into a gulf, so +concealed by the foam as to give full play to the fancy. +There was a continual uproar. I stood on a rock to observe +it, a kind of bridge formed by nature, nearly on a level with the +commencement of the fall. After musing by it a long time I +turned towards the other side, and saw a gentle stream stray +calmly out. I should have concluded that it had no +communication with the torrent had I not seen a huge log that +fell headlong down the cascade steal peacefully into the purling +stream.</p> +<p>I retired from these wild scenes with regret to a miserable +inn, and next morning returned to Gothenburg, to prepare for my +journey to Copenhagen.</p> +<p>I was sorry to leave Gothenburg without travelling farther +into Sweden, yet I imagine I should only have seen a romantic +country thinly inhabited, and these inhabitants struggling with +poverty. The Norwegian peasantry, mostly independent, have +a rough kind of frankness in their manner; but the Swedish, +rendered more abject by misery, have a degree of politeness in +their address which, though it may sometimes border on +insincerity, is oftener the effect of a broken spirit, rather +softened than degraded by wretchedness.</p> +<p>In Norway there are no notes in circulation of less value than +a Swedish rix-dollar. A small silver coin, commonly not +worth more than a penny, and never more than twopence, serves for +change; but in Sweden they have notes as low as sixpence. I +never saw any silver pieces there, and could not without +difficulty, and giving a premium, obtain the value of a +rix-dollar in a large copper coin to give away on the road to the +poor who open the gates.</p> +<p>As another proof of the poverty of Sweden, I ought to mention +that foreign merchants who have acquired a fortune there are +obliged to deposit the sixth part when they leave the +kingdom. This law, you may suppose, is frequently +evaded.</p> +<p>In fact, the laws here, as well as in Norway, are so relaxed +that they rather favour than restrain knavery.</p> +<p>Whilst I was at Gothenburg, a man who had been confined for +breaking open his master’s desk and running away with five +or six thousand rix-dollars, was only sentenced to forty +days’ confinement on bread and water; and this slight +punishment his relations rendered nugatory by supplying him with +more savoury food.</p> +<p>The Swedes are in general attached to their families, yet a +divorce may be obtained by either party on proving the infidelity +of the other or acknowledging it themselves. The women do +not often recur to this equal privilege, for they either +retaliate on their husbands by following their own devices or +sink into the merest domestic drudges, worn down by tyranny to +servile submission. Do not term me severe if I add, that +after youth is flown the husband becomes a sot, and the wife +amuses herself by scolding her servants. In fact, what is +to be expected in any country where taste and cultivation of mind +do not supply the place of youthful beauty and animal +spirits? Affection requires a firmer foundation than +sympathy, and few people have a principle of action sufficiently +stable to produce rectitude of feeling; for in spite of all the +arguments I have heard to justify deviations from duty, I am +persuaded that even the most spontaneous sensations are more +under the direction of principle than weak people are willing to +allow.</p> +<p>But adieu to moralising. I have been writing these last +sheets at an inn in Elsineur, where I am waiting for horses; and +as they are not yet ready, I will give you a short account of my +journey from Gothenburg, for I set out the morning after I +returned from Trolhættæ.</p> +<p>The country during the first day’s journey presented a +most barren appearance, as rocky, yet not so picturesque as +Norway, because on a diminutive scale. We stopped to sleep +at a tolerable inn in Falckersberg, a decent little town.</p> +<p>The next day beeches and oaks began to grace the prospects, +the sea every now and then appearing to give them dignity. +I could not avoid observing also, that even in this part of +Sweden, one of the most sterile, as I was informed, there was +more ground under cultivation than in Norway. Plains of +varied crops stretched out to a considerable extent, and sloped +down to the shore, no longer terrific. And, as far as I +could judge, from glancing my eye over the country as we drove +along, agriculture was in a more advanced state, though in the +habitations a greater appearance of poverty still remained. +The cottages, indeed, often looked most uncomfortable, but never +so miserable as those I had remarked on the road to Stromstad, +and the towns were equal, if not superior, to many of the little +towns in Wales, or some I have passed through in my way from +Calais to Paris.</p> +<p>The inns as we advanced were not to be complained of, unless I +had always thought of England. The people were civil, and +much more moderate in their demands than the Norwegians, +particularly to the westward, where they boldly charge for what +you never had, and seem to consider you, as they do a wreck, if +not as lawful prey, yet as a lucky chance, which they ought not +to neglect to seize.</p> +<p>The prospect of Elsineur, as we passed the Sound, was +pleasant. I gave three rix-dollars for my boat, including +something to drink. I mention the sum, because they impose +on strangers.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">Adieu! till I arrive at +Copenhagen.</p> +<h2>LETTER XVIII.—COPENHAGEN.</h2> +<p>The distance from Elsineur to Copenhagen is twenty-two miles; +the road is very good, over a flat country diversified with wood, +mostly beech, and decent mansions. There appeared to be a +great quantity of corn land, and the soil looked much more +fertile than it is in general so near the sea. The rising +grounds, indeed, were very few, and around Copenhagen it is a +perfect plain; of course has nothing to recommend it but +cultivation, not decorations. If I say that the houses did +not disgust me, I tell you all I remember of them, for I cannot +recollect any pleasurable sensations they excited, or that any +object, produced by nature or art, took me out of myself. +The view of the city, as we drew near, was rather grand, but +without any striking feature to interest the imagination, +excepting the trees which shade the footpaths.</p> +<p>Just before I reached Copenhagen I saw a number of tents on a +wide plain, and supposed that the rage for encampments had +reached this city; but I soon discovered that they were the +asylum of many of the poor families who had been driven out of +their habitations by the late fire.</p> +<p>Entering soon after, I passed amongst the dust and rubbish it +had left, affrighted by viewing the extent of the devastation, +for at least a quarter of the city had been destroyed. +There was little in the appearance of fallen bricks and stacks of +chimneys to allure the imagination into soothing melancholy +reveries; nothing to attract the eye of taste, but much to +afflict the benevolent heart. The depredations of time have +always something in them to employ the fancy, or lead to musing +on subjects which, withdrawing the mind from objects of sense, +seem to give it new dignity; but here I was treading on live +ashes. The sufferers were still under the pressure of the +misery occasioned by this dreadful conflagration. I could +not take refuge in the thought: they suffered, but they are no +more! a reflection I frequently summon to calm my mind when +sympathy rises to anguish. I therefore desired the driver +to hasten to the hotel recommended to me, that I might avert my +eyes and snap the train of thinking which had sent me into all +the corners of the city in search of houseless heads.</p> +<p>This morning I have been walking round the town, till I am +weary of observing the ravages. I had often heard the +Danes, even those who had seen Paris and London, speak of +Copenhagen with rapture. Certainly I have seen it in a very +disadvantageous light, some of the best streets having been +burnt, and the whole place thrown into confusion. Still the +utmost that can, or could ever, I believe, have been said in its +praise, might be comprised in a few words. The streets are +open, and many of the houses large; but I saw nothing to rouse +the idea of elegance or grandeur, if I except the circus where +the king and prince royal reside.</p> +<p>The palace, which was consumed about two years ago, must have +been a handsome, spacious building; the stone-work is still +standing, and a great number of the poor, during the late fire, +took refuge in its ruins till they could find some other +abode. Beds were thrown on the landing-places of the grand +staircase, where whole families crept from the cold, and every +little nook is boarded up as a retreat for some poor creatures +deprived of their home. At present a roof may be sufficient +to shelter them from the night air; but as the season advances, +the extent of the calamity will be more severely felt, I fear, +though the exertions on the part of Government are very +considerable. Private charity has also, no doubt, done much +to alleviate the misery which obtrudes itself at every turn; +still, public spirit appears to me to be hardly alive here. +Had it existed, the conflagration might have been smothered in +the beginning, as it was at last, by tearing down several houses +before the flames had reached them. To this the inhabitants +would not consent; and the prince royal not having sufficient +energy of character to know when he ought to be absolute, calmly +let them pursue their own course, till the whole city seemed to +be threatened with destruction. Adhering, with puerile +scrupulosity, to the law which he has imposed on himself, of +acting exactly right, he did wrong by idly lamenting whilst he +marked the progress of a mischief that one decided step would +have stopped. He was afterwards obliged to resort to +violent measures; but then, who could blame him? And, to +avoid censure, what sacrifices are not made by weak minds?</p> +<p>A gentleman who was a witness of the scene assured me, +likewise, that if the people of property had taken half as much +pains to extinguish the fire as to preserve their valuables and +furniture, it would soon have been got under. But they who +were not immediately in danger did not exert themselves +sufficiently, till fear, like an electrical shock, roused all the +inhabitants to a sense of the general evil. Even the +fire-engines were out of order, though the burning of the palace +ought to have admonished them of the necessity of keeping them in +constant repair. But this kind of indolence respecting what +does not immediately concern them seems to characterise the +Danes. A sluggish concentration in themselves makes them so +careful to preserve their property, that they will not venture on +any enterprise to increase it in which there is a shadow of +hazard.</p> +<p>Considering Copenhagen as the capital of Denmark and Norway, I +was surprised not to see so much industry or taste as in +Christiania. Indeed, from everything I have had an +opportunity of observing, the Danes are the people who have made +the fewest sacrifices to the graces.</p> +<p>The men of business are domestic tyrants, coldly immersed in +their own affairs, and so ignorant of the state of other +countries, that they dogmatically assert that Denmark is the +happiest country in the world; the Prince Royal the best of all +possible princes; and Count Bernstorff the wisest of +ministers.</p> +<p>As for the women, they are simply notable housewives; without +accomplishments or any of the charms that adorn more advanced +social life. This total ignorance may enable them to save +something in their kitchens, but it is far from rendering them +better parents. On the contrary, the children are spoiled, +as they usually are when left to the care of weak, indulgent +mothers, who having no principle of action to regulate their +feelings, become the slaves of infants, enfeebling both body and +mind by false tenderness.</p> +<p>I am, perhaps, a little prejudiced, as I write from the +impression of the moment; for I have been tormented to-day by the +presence of unruly children, and made angry by some invectives +thrown out against the maternal character of the unfortunate +Matilda. She was censured, with the most cruel insinuation, +for her management of her son, though, from what I could gather, +she gave proofs of good sense as well as tenderness in her +attention to him. She used to bathe him herself every +morning; insisted on his being loosely clad; and would not permit +his attendants to injure his digestion by humouring his +appetite. She was equally careful to prevent his acquiring +haughty airs, and playing the tyrant in leading-strings. +The Queen Dowager would not permit her to suckle him; but the +next child being a daughter, and not the Heir-Apparent of the +Crown, less opposition was made to her discharging the duty of a +mother.</p> +<p>Poor Matilda! thou hast haunted me ever since may arrival; and +the view I have had of the manners of the country, exciting my +sympathy, has increased my respect for thy memory.</p> +<p>I am now fully convinced that she was the victim of the party +she displaced, who would have overlooked or encouraged her +attachment, had not her lover, aiming at being useful, attempted +to overturn some established abuses before the people, ripe for +the change, had sufficient spirit to support him when struggling +in their behalf. Such indeed was the asperity sharpened +against her that I have heard her, even after so many years have +elapsed, charged with licentiousness, not only for endeavouring +to render the public amusements more elegant, but for her very +charities, because she erected, amongst other institutions, a +hospital to receive foundlings. Disgusted with many customs +which pass for virtues, though they are nothing more than +observances of forms, often at the expense of truth, she probably +ran into an error common to innovators, in wishing to do +immediately what can only be done by time.</p> +<p>Many very cogent reasons have been urged by her friends to +prove that her affection for Struensee was never carried to the +length alleged against her by those who feared her +influence. Be that as it may she certainly was no a woman +of gallantry, and if she had an attachment for him it did not +disgrace her heart or understanding, the king being a notorious +debauchee and an idiot into the bargain. As the +king’s conduct had always been directed by some favourite, +they also endeavoured to govern him, from a principle of +self-preservation as well as a laudable ambition; but, not aware +of the prejudices they had to encounter, the system they adopted +displayed more benevolence of heart than soundness of +judgment. As to the charge, still believed, of their giving +the King drugs to injure his faculties, it is too absurd to be +refuted. Their oppressors had better have accused them of +dabbling in the black art, for the potent spell still keeps his +wits in bondage.</p> +<p>I cannot describe to you the effect it had on me to see this +puppet of a monarch moved by the strings which Count Bernstorff +holds fast; sit, with vacant eye, erect, receiving the homage of +courtiers who mock him with a show of respect. He is, in +fact, merely a machine of state, to subscribe the name of a king +to the acts of the Government, which, to avoid danger, have no +value unless countersigned by the Prince Royal; for he is allowed +to be absolutely aim idiot, excepting that now and then an +observation or trick escapes him, which looks more like madness +than imbecility.</p> +<p>What a farce is life. This effigy of majesty is allowed +to burn down to the socket, whilst the hapless Matilda was +hurried into an untimely grave.</p> +<blockquote><p>“As flies to wanton boys, are we to the +gods;<br /> +They kill us for their sport.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p style="text-align: right">Adieu!</p> +<h2>LETTER XIX.</h2> +<p>Business having obliged me to go a few miles out of town this +morning I was surprised at meeting a crowd of people of every +description, and inquiring the cause of a servant, who spoke +French, I was informed that a man had been executed two hours +before, and the body afterwards burnt. I could not help +looking with horror around—the fields lost their +verdure—and I turned with disgust from the well-dressed +women who were returning with their children from this +sight. What a spectacle for humanity! The seeing such +a flock of idle gazers plunged me into a train of reflections on +the pernicious effects produced by false notions of +justice. And I am persuaded that till capital punishments +are entirely abolished executions ought to have every appearance +of horror given to them, instead of being, as they are now, a +scene of amusement for the gaping crowd, where sympathy is +quickly effaced by curiosity.</p> +<p>I have always been of opinion that the allowing actors to die +in the presence of the audience has an immoral tendency, but +trifling when compared with the ferocity acquired by viewing the +reality as a show; for it seems to me that in all countries the +common people go to executions to see how the poor wretch plays +his part, rather than to commiserate his fate, much less to think +of the breach of morality which has brought him to such a +deplorable end. Consequently executions, far from being +useful examples to the survivors, have, I am persuaded, a quite +contrary effect, by hardening the heart they ought to +terrify. Besides the fear of an ignominious death, I +believe, never deferred anyone from the commission of a crime, +because, in committing it, the mind is roused to activity about +present circumstances. It is a game at hazard, at which all +expect the turn of the die in their own favour, never reflecting +on the chance of ruin till it comes. In fact, from what I +saw in the fortresses of Norway, I am more and more convinced +that the same energy of character which renders a man a daring +villain would have rendered him useful to society, had that +society been well organised. When a strong mind is not +disciplined by cultivation it is a sense of injustice that +renders it unjust.</p> +<p>Executions, however, occur very rarely at Copenhagen; for +timidity, rather than clemency, palsies all the operations of the +present Government. The malefactor who died this morning +would not, probably, have been punished with death at any other +period; but an incendiary excites universal execration; and as +the greater part of the inhabitants are still distressed by the +late conflagration, an example was thought absolutely necessary; +though, from what I can gather, the fire was accidental.</p> +<p>Not, but that I have very seriously been informed, that +combustible materials were placed at proper distance, by the +emissaries of Mr. Pitt; and, to corroborate the fact, many people +insist that the flames burst out at once in different parts of +the city; not allowing the wind to have any hand in it. So +much for the plot. But the fabricators of plots in all +countries build their conjectures on the “baseless fabric +of a vision;” and it seems even a sort of poetical justice, +that whilst this Minister is crushing at home plots of his own +conjuring up, on the Continent, and in the north, he should, with +as little foundation, be accused of wishing to set the world on +fire.</p> +<p>I forgot to mention to you, that I was informed, by a man of +veracity, that two persons came to the stake to drink a glass of +the criminal’s blood, as an infallible remedy for the +apoplexy. And when I animadverted in the company, where it +was mentioned, on such a horrible violation of nature, a Danish +lady reproved me very severely, asking how I knew that it was not +a cure for the disease? adding, that every attempt was +justifiable in search of health. I did not, you may +imagine, enter into an argument with a person the slave of such a +gross prejudice. And I allude to it not only as a trait of +the ignorance of the people, but to censure the Government for +not preventing scenes that throw an odium on the human race.</p> +<p>Empiricism is not peculiar to Denmark; and I know no way of +rooting it out, though it be a remnant of exploded witchcraft, +till the acquiring a general knowledge of the component parts of +the human frame becomes a part of public education.</p> +<p>Since the fire, the inhabitants have been very assiduously +employed in searching for property secreted during the confusion; +and it is astonishing how many people, formerly termed reputable, +had availed themselves of the common calamity to purloin what the +flames spared. Others, expert at making a distinction +without a difference, concealed what they found, not troubling +themselves to inquire for the owners, though they scrupled to +search for plunder anywhere, but amongst the ruins.</p> +<p>To be honester than the laws require is by most people thought +a work of supererogation; and to slip through the grate of the +law has ever exercised the abilities of adventurers, who wish to +get rich the shortest way. Knavery without personal danger +is an art brought to great perfection by the statesman and +swindler; and meaner knaves are not tardy in following their +footsteps.</p> +<p>It moves my gall to discover some of the commercial frauds +practised during the present war. In short, under whatever +point of view I consider society, it appears to me that an +adoration of property is the root of all evil. Here it does +not render the people enterprising, as in America, but thrifty +and cautious. I never, therefore, was in a capital where +there was so little appearance of active industry; and as for +gaiety, I looked in vain for the sprightly gait of the +Norwegians, who in every respect appear to me to have got the +start of them. This difference I attribute to their having +more liberty—a liberty which they think their right by +inheritance, whilst the Danes, when they boast of their negative +happiness, always mention it as the boon of the Prince Royal, +under the superintending wisdom of Count Bernstorff. +Vassalage is nevertheless ceasing throughout the kingdom, and +with it will pass away that sordid avarice which every +modification of slavery is calculated to produce.</p> +<p>If the chief use of property be power, in the shape of the +respect it procures, is it not among the inconsistencies of human +nature most incomprehensible, that men should find a pleasure in +hoarding up property which they steal from their necessities, +even when they are convinced that it would be dangerous to +display such an enviable superiority? Is not this the +situation of serfs in every country. Yet a rapacity to +accumulate money seems to become stronger in proportion as it is +allowed to be useless.</p> +<p>Wealth does not appear to be sought for amongst the Danes, to +obtain the excellent luxuries of life, for a want of taste is +very conspicuous at Copenhagen; so much so that I am not +surprised to hear that poor Matilda offended the rigid Lutherans +by aiming to refine their pleasures. The elegance which she +wished to introduce was termed lasciviousness; yet I do not find +that the absence of gallantry renders the wives more chaste, or +the husbands more constant. Love here seems to corrupt the +morals without polishing the manners, by banishing confidence and +truth, the charm as well as cement of domestic life. A +gentleman, who has resided in this city some time, assures me +that he could not find language to give me an idea of the gross +debaucheries into which the lower order of people fall; and the +promiscuous amours of the men of the middling class with their +female servants debase both beyond measure, weakening every +species of family affection.</p> +<p>I have everywhere been struck by one characteristic difference +in the conduct of the two sexes; women, in general, are seduced +by their superiors, and men jilted by their inferiors: rank and +manners awe the one, and cunning and wantonness subjugate the +other; ambition creeping into the woman’s passion, and +tyranny giving force to the man’s, for most men treat their +mistresses as kings do their favourites: <i>ergo</i> is not man +then the tyrant of the creation?</p> +<p>Still harping on the same subject, you will exclaim—How +can I avoid it, when most of the struggles of an eventful life +have been occasioned by the oppressed state of my sex? We +reason deeply when we feel forcibly.</p> +<p>But to return to the straight road of observation. The +sensuality so prevalent appears to me to arise rather from +indolence of mind and dull senses, than from an exuberance of +life, which often fructifies the whole character when the +vivacity of youthful spirits begins to subside into strength of +mind.</p> +<p>I have before mentioned that the men are domestic tyrants, +considering them as fathers, brothers, or husbands; but there is +a kind of interregnum between the reign of the father and husband +which is the only period of freedom and pleasure that the women +enjoy. Young people who are attached to each other, with +the consent of their friends, exchange rings, and are permitted +to enjoy a degree of liberty together which I have never noticed +in any other country. The days of courtship are, therefore, +prolonged till it be perfectly convenient to marry: the intimacy +often becomes very tender; and if the lover obtain the privilege +of a husband, it can only be termed half by stealth, because the +family is wilfully blind. It happens very rarely that these +honorary engagements are dissolved or disregarded, a stigma being +attached to a breach of faith which is thought more disgraceful, +if not so criminal, as the violation of the marriage-vow.</p> +<p>Do not forget that, in my general observations, I do not +pretend to sketch a national character, but merely to note the +present state of morals and manners as I trace the progress of +the world’s improvement. Because, during my residence +in different countries, my principal object has been to take such +a dispassionate view of men as will lead me to form a just idea +of the nature of man. And, to deal ingenuously with you, I +believe I should have been less severe in the remarks I have made +on the vanity and depravity of the French, had I travelled +towards the north before I visited France.</p> +<p>The interesting picture frequently drawn of the virtues of a +rising people has, I fear, been fallacious, excepting the +accounts of the enthusiasm which various public struggles have +produced. We talk of the depravity of the French, and lay a +stress on the old age of the nation; yet where has more virtuous +enthusiasm been displayed than during the two last years by the +common people of France, and in their armies? I am obliged +sometimes to recollect the numberless instances which I have +either witnessed, or heard well authenticated, to balance the +account of horrors, alas! but too true. I am, therefore, +inclined to believe that the gross vices which I have always seem +allied with simplicity of manners, are the concomitants of +ignorance.</p> +<p>What, for example, has piety, under the heathen or Christian +system, been, but a blind faith in things contrary to the +principles of reason? And could poor reason make +considerable advances when it was reckoned the highest degree of +virtue to do violence to its dictates? Lutherans, preaching +reformation, have built a reputation for sanctity on the same +foundation as the Catholics; yet I do not perceive that a regular +attendance on public worship, and their other observances, make +them a whit more true in their affections, or honest in their +private transactions. It seems, indeed, quite as easy to +prevaricate with religious injunctions as human laws, when the +exercise of their reason does not lead people to acquire +principles for themselves to be the criterion of all those they +receive from others.</p> +<p>If travelling, as the completion of a liberal education, were +to be adopted on rational grounds, the northern states ought to +be visited before the more polished parts of Europe, to serve as +the elements even of the knowledge of manners, only to be +acquired by tracing the various shades in different +countries. But, when visiting distant climes, a momentary +social sympathy should not be allowed to influence the +conclusions of the understanding, for hospitality too frequently +leads travellers, especially those who travel in search of +pleasure, to make a false estimate of the virtues of a nation, +which, I am now convinced, bear an exact proportion to their +scientific improvements.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">Adieu.</p> +<h2>LETTER XX.</h2> +<p>I have formerly censured the French for their extreme +attachment to theatrical exhibitions, because I thought that they +tended to render them vain and unnatural characters; but I must +acknowledge, especially as women of the town never appear in the +Parisian as at our theatres, that the little saving of the week +is more usefully expended there every Sunday than in porter or +brandy, to intoxicate or stupify the mind. The common +people of France have a great superiority over that class in +every other country on this very score. It is merely the +sobriety of the Parisians which renders their fêtes more +interesting, their gaiety never becoming disgusting or dangerous, +as is always the case when liquor circulates. Intoxication +is the pleasure of savages, and of all those whose employments +rather exhaust their animal spirits than exercise their +faculties. Is not this, in fact, the vice, both in England +and the northern states of Europe, which appears to be the +greatest impediment to general improvement? Drinking is +here the principal relaxation of the men, including smoking, but +the women are very abstemious, though they have no public +amusements as a substitute. I ought to except one theatre, +which appears more than is necessary; for when I was there it was +not half full, and neither the ladies nor actresses displayed +much fancy in their dress.</p> +<p>The play was founded on the story of the “Mock +Doctor;” and, from the gestures of the servants, who were +the best actors, I should imagine contained some humour. +The farce, termed ballet, was a kind of pantomime, the childish +incidents of which were sufficient to show the state of the +dramatic art in Denmark, and the gross taste of the +audience. A magician, in the disguise of a tinker, enters a +cottage where the women are all busy ironing, and rubs a dirty +frying-pan against the linen. The women raise a +hue-and-cry, and dance after him, rousing their husbands, who +join in the dance, but get the start of them in the +pursuit. The tinker, with the frying-pan for a shield, +renders them immovable, and blacks their cheeks. Each +laughs at the other, unconscious of his own appearance; meanwhile +the women enter to enjoy the sport, “the rare fun,” +with other incidents of the same species.</p> +<p>The singing was much on a par with the dancing, the one as +destitute of grace as the other of expression; but the orchestra +was well filled, the instrumental being far superior to the vocal +music.</p> +<p>I have likewise visited the public library and museum, as well +as the palace of Rosembourg. This palace, now deserted, +displays a gloomy kind of grandeur throughout, for the silence of +spacious apartments always makes itself to be felt; I at least +feel it, and I listen for the sound of my footsteps as I have +done at midnight to the ticking of the death-watch, encouraging a +kind of fanciful superstition. Every object carried me back +to past times, and impressed the manners of the age forcibly on +my mind. In this point of view the preservation of old +palaces and their tarnished furniture is useful, for they may be +considered as historical documents.</p> +<p>The vacuum left by departed greatness was everywhere +observable, whilst the battles and processions portrayed on the +walls told you who had here excited revelry after retiring from +slaughter, or dismissed pageantry in search of pleasure. It +seemed a vast tomb full of the shadowy phantoms of those who had +played or toiled their hour out and sunk behind the tapestry +which celebrated the conquests of love or war. Could they +be no more—to whom my imagination thus gave life? +Could the thoughts, of which there remained so many vestiges, +have vanished quite away? And these beings, composed of +such noble materials of thinking and feeling, have they only +melted into the elements to keep in motion the grand mass of +life? It cannot be!—as easily could I believe that +the large silver lions at the top of the banqueting room thought +and reasoned. But avaunt! ye waking dreams! yet I cannot +describe the curiosities to you.</p> +<p>There were cabinets full of baubles and gems, and swords which +must have been wielded by giant’s hand. The +coronation ornaments wait quietly here till wanted, and the +wardrobe exhibits the vestments which formerly graced these +shows. It is a pity they do not lend them to the actors, +instead of allowing them to perish ingloriously.</p> +<p>I have not visited any other palace, excepting Hirsholm, the +gardens of which are laid out with taste, and command the finest +views the country affords. As they are in the modern and +English style, I thought I was following the footsteps of +Matilda, who wished to multiply around her the images of her +beloved country. I was also gratified by the sight of a +Norwegian landscape in miniature, which with great propriety +makes a part of the Danish King’s garden. The cottage +is well imitated, and the whole has a pleasing effect, +particularly so to me who love Norway—its peaceful farms +and spacious wilds.</p> +<p>The public library consists of a collection much larger than I +expected to see; and it is well arranged. Of the value of +the Icelandic manuscripts I could not form a judgment, though the +alphabet of some of them amused me, by showing what immense +labour men will submit to, in order to transmit their ideas to +posterity. I have sometimes thought it a great misfortune +for individuals to acquire a certain delicacy of sentiment, which +often makes them weary of the common occurrences of life; yet it +is this very delicacy of feeling and thinking which probably has +produced most of the performances that have benefited +mankind. It might with propriety, perhaps, be termed the +malady of genius; the cause of that characteristic melancholy +which “grows with its growth, and strengthens with its +strength.”</p> +<p>There are some good pictures in the royal museum. Do not +start, I am not going to trouble you with a dull catalogue, or +stupid criticisms on masters to whom time has assigned their just +niche in the temple of fame; had there been any by living artists +of this country, I should have noticed them, as making a part of +the sketches I am drawing of the present state of the +place. The good pictures were mixed indiscriminately with +the bad ones, in order to assort the frames. The same fault +is conspicuous in the new splendid gallery forming at Paris; +though it seems an obvious thought that a school for artists +ought to be arranged in such a manner, as to show the progressive +discoveries and improvements in the art.</p> +<p>A collection of the dresses, arms, and implements of the +Laplanders attracted my attention, displaying that first species +of ingenuity which is rather a proof of patient perseverance, +than comprehension of mind. The specimens of natural +history, and curiosities of art, were likewise huddled together +without that scientific order which alone renders them useful; +but this may partly have been occasioned by the hasty manner in +which they were removed from the palace when in flames.</p> +<p>There are some respectable men of science here, but few +literary characters, and fewer artists. They want +encouragement, and will continue, I fear, from the present +appearance of things, to languish unnoticed a long time; for +neither the vanity of wealth, nor the enterprising spirit of +commerce, has yet thrown a glance that way.</p> +<p>Besides, the Prince Royal, determined to be economical, almost +descends to parsimony; and perhaps depresses his subjects, by +labouring not to oppress them; for his intentions always seem to +be good—yet nothing can give a more forcible idea of the +dulness which eats away all activity of mind, than the insipid +routine of a court, without magnificence or elegance.</p> +<p>The Prince, from what I can now collect, has very moderate +abilities; yet is so well disposed, that Count Bernstorff finds +him as tractable as he could wish; for I consider the Count as +the real sovereign, scarcely behind the curtain; the Prince +having none of that obstinate self-sufficiency of youth, so often +the forerunner of decision of character. He and the +Princess his wife, dine every day with the King, to save the +expense of two tables. What a mummery it must be to treat +as a king a being who has lost the majesty of man! But even +Count Bernstorff’s morality submits to this standing +imposition; and he avails himself of it sometimes, to soften a +refusal of his own, by saying it is the <i>will</i> of the King, +my master, when everybody knows that he has neither will nor +memory. Much the same use is made of him as, I have +observed, some termagant wives make of their husbands; they would +dwell on the necessity of obeying their husbands, poor passive +souls, who never were allowed <i>to will</i>, when they wanted to +conceal their own tyranny.</p> +<p>A story is told here of the King’s formerly making a dog +counsellor of state, because when the dog, accustomed to eat at +the royal table, snatched a piece of meat off an old +officer’s plate, he reproved him jocosely, saying that he, +<i>monsieur le chien</i>, had not the privilege of dining with +his majesty, a privilege annexed to this distinction.</p> +<p>The burning of the palace was, in fact, a fortunate +circumstance, as it afforded a pretext for reducing the +establishment of the household, which was far too great for the +revenue of the Crown. The Prince Royal, at present, runs +into the opposite extreme; and the formality, if not the +parsimony, of the court, seems to extend to all the other +branches of society, which I had an opportunity of observing; +though hospitality still characterises their intercourse with +strangers.</p> +<p>But let me now stop; I may be a little partial, and view +everything with the jaundiced eye of melancholy—for I am +sad—and have cause.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">God bless you!</p> +<h2>LETTER XXI.</h2> +<p>I have seen Count Bernstorff; and his conversation confirms me +in the opinion I had previously formed of him; I mean, since my +arrival at Copenhagen. He is a worthy man, a little vain of +his virtue <i>à la</i> Necker; and more anxious not to do +wrong, that is to avoid blame, than desirous of doing good; +especially if any particular good demands a change. +Prudence, in short, seems to be the basis of his character; and, +from the tenor of the Government, I should think inclining to +that cautious circumspection which treads on the heels of +timidity. He has considerable information, and some +finesse; or he could not be a Minister. Determined not to +risk his popularity, for he is tenderly careful of his +reputation, he will never gloriously fail like Struensee, or +disturb, with the energy of genius, the stagnant state of the +public mind.</p> +<p>I suppose that Lavater, whom he invited to visit him two years +ago—some say to fix the principles of the Christian +religion firmly in the Prince Royal’s mind, found lines in +his face to prove him a statesman of the first order; because he +has a knack at seeing a great character in the countenances of +men in exalted stations, who have noticed him or his works. +Besides, the Count’s sentiments relative to the French +Revolution, agreeing with Lavater’s, must have ensured his +applause.</p> +<p>The Danes, in general, seem extremely averse to innovation, +and if happiness only consist in opinion, they are the happiest +people in the world; for I never saw any so well satisfied with +their own situation. Yet the climate appears to be very +disagreeable, the weather being dry and sultry, or moist and +cold; the atmosphere never having that sharp, bracing purity, +which in Norway prepares you to brave its rigours. I do not +hear the inhabitants of this place talk with delight of the +winter, which is the constant theme of the Norwegians; on the +contrary, they seem to dread its comfortless inclemency.</p> +<p>The ramparts are pleasant, and must have been much more so +before the fire, the walkers not being annoyed by the clouds of +dust which, at present, the slightest wind wafts from the +ruins. The windmills, and the comfortable houses +contiguous, belonging to the millers, as well as the appearance +of the spacious barracks for the soldiers and sailors, tend to +render this walk more agreeable. The view of the country +has not much to recommend it to notice but its extent and +cultivation: yet as the eye always delights to dwell on verdant +plains, especially when we are resident in a great city, these +shady walks should be reckoned amongst the advantages procured by +the Government for the inhabitants. I like them better than +the Royal Gardens, also open to the public, because the latter +seem sunk in the heart of the city, to concentrate its fogs.</p> +<p>The canals which intersect the streets are equally convenient +and wholesome; but the view of the sea commanded by the town had +little to interest me whilst the remembrance of the various bold +and picturesque shores I had seen was fresh in my memory. +Still the opulent inhabitants, who seldom go abroad, must find +the spots were they fix their country seats much pleasanter on +account of the vicinity of the ocean.</p> +<p>One of the best streets in Copenhagen is almost filled with +hospitals, erected by the Government, and, I am assured, as well +regulated as institutions of this kind are in any country; but +whether hospitals or workhouses are anywhere superintended with +sufficient humanity I have frequently had reason to doubt.</p> +<p>The autumn is so uncommonly fine that I am unwilling to put +off my journey to Hamburg much longer, lest the weather should +alter suddenly, and the chilly harbingers of winter catch me +here, where I have nothing now to detain me but the hospitality +of the families to whom I had recommendatory letters. I +lodged at an hotel situated in a large open square, where the +troops exercise and the market is kept. My apartments were +very good; and on account of the fire I was told that I should be +charged very high; yet, paying my bill just now, I find the +demands much lower in proportion than in Norway, though my +dinners were in every respect better.</p> +<p>I have remained more at home since I arrived at Copenhagen +than I ought to have done in a strange place, but the mind is not +always equally active in search of information, and my oppressed +heart too often sighs out—</p> +<blockquote><p>“How dull, flat, and unprofitable<br /> +Are to me all the usages of this world:<br /> +That it should come to this!”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Farewell! Fare thee well, I say; if thou canst, repeat +the adieu in a different tone.</p> +<h2>LETTER XXII.</h2> +<p>I arrived at Corsoer the night after I quitted Copenhagen, +purposing to take my passage across the Great Belt the next +morning, though the weather was rather boisterous. It is +about four-and-twenty miles but as both I and my little girl are +never attacked by sea-sickness—though who can avoid +<i>ennui</i>?—I enter a boat with the same indifference as +I change horses; and as for danger, come when it may, I dread it +not sufficiently to have any anticipating fears.</p> +<p>The road from Copenhagen was very good, through an open, flat +country that had little to recommend it to notice excepting the +cultivation, which gratified my heart more than my eye.</p> +<p>I took a barge with a German baron who was hastening back from +a tour into Denmark, alarmed by the intelligence of the French +having passed the Rhine. His conversation beguiled the +time, and gave a sort of stimulus to my spirits, which had been +growing more and more languid ever since my return to Gothenburg; +you know why. I had often endeavoured to rouse myself to +observation by reflecting that I was passing through scenes which +I should probably never see again, and consequently ought not to +omit observing. Still I fell into reveries, thinking, by +way of excuse, that enlargement of mind and refined feelings are +of little use but to barb the arrows of sorrow which waylay us +everywhere, eluding the sagacity of wisdom and rendering +principles unavailing, if considered as a breastwork to secure +our own hearts.</p> +<p>Though we had not a direct wind, we were not detained more +than three hours and a half on the water, just long enough to +give us an appetite for our dinner.</p> +<p>We travelled the remainder of the day and the following night +in company with the same party, the German gentleman whom I have +mentioned, his friend, and servant. The meetings at the +post-houses were pleasant to me, who usually heard nothing but +strange tongues around me. Marguerite and the child often +fell asleep, and when they were awake I might still reckon myself +alone, as our train of thoughts had nothing in common. +Marguerite, it is true, was much amused by the costume of the +women, particularly by the pannier which adorned both their heads +and tails, and with great glee recounted to me the stories she +had treasured up for her family when once more within the +barriers of dear Paris, not forgetting, with that arch, agreeable +vanity peculiar to the French, which they exhibit whilst half +ridiculing it, to remind me of the importance she should assume +when she informed her friends of all her journeys by sea and +land, showing the pieces of money she had collected, and +stammering out a few foreign phrases, which she repeated in a +true Parisian accent. Happy thoughtlessness! ay, and +enviable harmless vanity, which thus produced a <i>gaité +du coeur</i> worth all my philosophy!</p> +<p>The man I had hired at Copenhagen advised me to go round about +twenty miles to avoid passing the Little Belt excepting by a +ferry, as the wind was contrary. But the gentlemen +overruled his arguments, which we were all very sorry for +afterwards, when we found ourselves becalmed on the Little Belt +ten hours, tacking about without ceasing, to gain the shore.</p> +<p>An oversight likewise made the passage appear much more +tedious, nay, almost insupportable. When I went on board at +the Great Belt, I had provided refreshments in case of detention, +which remaining untouched I thought not then any such precaution +necessary for the second passage, misled by the epithet of +“little,” though I have since been informed that it +is frequently the longest. This mistake occasioned much +vexation; for the child, at last, began to cry so bitterly for +bread, that fancy conjured up before me the wretched Ugolino, +with his famished children; and I, literally speaking, enveloped +myself in sympathetic horrors, augmented by every fear my babe +shed, from which I could not escape till we landed, and a +luncheon of bread and basin of milk routed the spectres of +fancy.</p> +<p>I then supped with my companions, with whom I was soon after +to part for ever—always a most melancholy death-like +idea—a sort of separation of soul; for all the regret which +follows those from whom fate separates us seems to be something +torn from ourselves. These were strangers I remember; yet +when there is any originality in a countenance, it takes its +place in our memory, and we are sorry to lose an acquaintance the +moment he begins to interest us, through picked up on the +highway. There was, in fact, a degree of intelligence, and +still more sensibility, in the features and conversation of one +of the gentlemen, that made me regret the loss of his society +during the rest of the journey; for he was compelled to travel +post, by his desire to reach his estate before the arrival of the +French.</p> +<p>This was a comfortable inn, as were several others I stopped +at; but the heavy sandy roads were very fatiguing, after the fine +ones we had lately skimmed over both in Sweden and Denmark. +The country resembled the most open part of England—laid +out for corn rather than grazing. It was pleasant, yet +there was little in the prospects to awaken curiosity, by +displaying the peculiar characteristics of a new country, which +had so frequently stole me from myself in Norway. We often +passed over large unenclosed tracts, not graced with trees, or at +least very sparingly enlivened by them, and the half-formed roads +seemed to demand the landmarks, set up in the waste, to prevent +the traveller from straying far out of his way, and plodding +through the wearisome sand.</p> +<p>The heaths were dreary, and had none of the wild charms of +those of Sweden and Norway to cheat time; neither the terrific +rocks, nor smiling herbage grateful to the sight and scented from +afar, made us forget their length. Still the country +appeared much more populous, and the towns, if not the +farmhouses, were superior to those of Norway. I even +thought that the inhabitants of the former had more +intelligence—at least, I am sure they had more vivacity in +their countenances than I had seen during my northern tour: their +senses seemed awake to business and pleasure. I was +therefore gratified by hearing once more the busy hum of +industrious men in the day, and the exhilarating sounds of joy in +the evening; for, as the weather was still fine, the women and +children were amusing themselves at their doors, or walking under +the trees, which in many places were planted in the streets; and +as most of the towns of any note were situated on little bays or +branches of the Baltic, their appearance as we approached was +often very picturesque, and, when we entered, displayed the +comfort and cleanliness of easy, if not the elegance of opulent, +circumstances. But the cheerfulness of the people in the +streets was particularly grateful to me, after having been +depressed by the deathlike silence of those of Denmark, where +every house made me think of a tomb. The dress of the +peasantry is suited to the climate; in short, none of that +poverty and dirt appeared, at the sight of which the heart +sickens.</p> +<p>As I only stopped to change horses, take refreshment, and +sleep, I had not an opportunity of knowing more of the country +than conclusions which the information gathered by my eyes +enabled me to draw, and that was sufficient to convince me that I +should much rather have lived in some of the towns I now pass +through than in any I had seen in Sweden or Denmark. The +people struck me as having arrived at that period when the +faculties will unfold themselves; in short; they look alive to +improvement, neither congealed by indolence, nor bent down by +wretchedness to servility.</p> +<p>From the previous impression—I scarcely can trace whence +I received it—I was agreeably surprised to perceive such an +appearance of comfort in this part of Germany. I had formed +a conception of the tyranny of the petty potentates that had +thrown a gloomy veil over the face of the whole country in my +imagination, that cleared away like the darkness of night before +the sun as I saw the reality. I should probably have +discovered much lurking misery, the consequence of ignorant +oppression, no doubt, had I had time to inquire into particulars; +but it did not stalk abroad and infect the surface over which my +eye glanced. Yes, I am persuaded that a considerable degree +of general knowledge pervades this country, for it is only from +the exercise of the mind that the body acquires the activity from +which I drew these inferences. Indeed, the King of +Denmark’s German dominions—Holstein—appeared to +me far superior to any other part of his kingdom which had fallen +under my view; and the robust rustics to have their muscles +braced, instead of the, as it were, lounge of the Danish +peasantry.</p> +<p>Arriving at Sleswick, the residence of Prince Charles of +Hesse-Cassel, the sight of the soldiers recalled all the +unpleasing ideas of German despotism, which imperceptibly +vanished as I advanced into the country. I viewed, with a +mixture of pity and horror, these beings training to be sold to +slaughter, or be slaughtered, and fell into reflections on an old +opinion of mine, that it is the preservation of the species, not +of individuals, which appears to be the design of the Deity +throughout the whole of Nature. Blossoms come forth only to +be blighted; fish lay their spawn where it will be devoured; and +what a large portion of the human race are born merely to be +swept prematurely away! Does not this waste of budding life +emphatically assert that it is not men, but Man, whose +preservation is so necessary to the completion of the grand plan +of the universe? Children peep into existence, suffer, and +die; men play like moths about a candle, and sink into the flame; +war, and “the thousand ills which flesh is heir to,” +mow them down in shoals; whilst the more cruel prejudices of +society palsy existence, introducing not less sure though slower +decay.</p> +<p>The castle was heavy and gloomy, yet the grounds about it were +laid out with some taste; a walk, winding under the shade of +lofty trees, led to a regularly built and animated town.</p> +<p>I crossed the drawbridge, and entered to see this shell of a +court in miniature, mounting ponderous stairs—it would be a +solecism to say a flight—up which a regiment of men might +have marched, shouldering their firelocks to exercise in vast +galleries, where all the generations of the Princes of +Hesse-Cassel might have been mustered rank and file, though not +the phantoms of all the wretched they had bartered to support +their state, unless these airy substances could shrink and +expand, like Milton’s devils, to suit the occasion.</p> +<p>The sight of the presence-chamber, and of the canopy to shade +the fauteuil which aped a throne, made me smile. All the +world is a stage, thought I; and few are there in it who do not +play the part they have learnt by rote; and those who do not, +seem marks set up to be pelted at by fortune, or rather as +sign-posts which point out the road to others, whilst forced to +stand still themselves amidst the mud and dust.</p> +<p>Waiting for our horses, we were amused by observing the dress +of the women, which was very grotesque and unwieldy. The +false notion of beauty which prevails here as well as in Denmark, +I should think very inconvenient in summer, as it consists in +giving a rotundity to a certain part of the body, not the most +slim, when Nature has done her part. This Dutch prejudice +often leads them to toil under the weight of some ten or a dozen +petticoats, which, with an enormous basket, literally speaking, +as a bonnet, or a straw hat of dimensions equally gigantic, +almost completely conceal the human form as well as face divine, +often worth showing; still they looked clean, and tripped along, +as it were, before the wind, with a weight of tackle that I could +scarcely have lifted. Many of the country girls I met +appeared to me pretty—that is, to have fine complexions, +sparkling eyes, and a kind of arch, hoyden playfulness which +distinguishes the village coquette. The swains, in their +Sunday trim, attended some of these fair ones in a more slouching +pace, though their dress was not so cumbersome. The women +seem to take the lead in polishing the manners everywhere, this +being the only way to better their condition.</p> +<p>From what I have seen throughout my journey, I do not think +the situation of the poor in England is much, if at all, superior +to that of the same class in different parts of the world; and in +Ireland I am sure it is much inferior. I allude to the +former state of England; for at present the accumulation of +national wealth only increases the cares of the poor, and hardens +the hearts of the rich, in spite of the highly extolled rage for +almsgiving.</p> +<p>You know that I have always been an enemy to what is termed +charity, because timid bigots, endeavouring thus to cover their +sins, do violence to justice, till, acting the demigod, they +forget that they are men. And there are others who do not +even think of laying up a treasure in heaven, whose benevolence +is merely tyranny in disguise; they assist the most worthless, +because the most servile, and term them helpless only in +proportion to their fawning.</p> +<p>After leaving Sleswick, we passed through several pretty +towns; Itzchol particularly pleased me; and the country, still +wearing the same aspect, was improved by the appearance of more +trees and enclosures. But what gratified me most was the +population. I was weary of travelling four or five hours, +never meeting a carriage, and scarcely a peasant; and then to +stop at such wretched huts as I had seen in Sweden was surely +sufficient to chill any heart awake to sympathy, and throw a +gloom over my favourite subject of contemplation, the future +improvement of the world.</p> +<p>The farmhouses, likewise, with the huge stables, into which we +drove whilst the horses were putting to or baiting, were very +clean and commodious. The rooms, with a door into this +hall-like stable and storehouse in one, were decent; and there +was a compactness in the appearance of the whole family lying +thus snugly together under the same roof that carried my fancy +back to the primitive times, which probably never existed with +such a golden lustre as the animated imagination lends when only +able to seize the prominent features.</p> +<p>At one of them, a pretty young woman, with languishing eyes of +celestial blue, conducted us into a very neat parlour, and +observing how loosely and lightly my little girl was clad, began +to pity her in the sweetest accents, regardless of the rosy down +of health on her cheeks. This same damsel was +dressed—it was Sunday—with taste and even coquetry, +in a cotton jacket, ornamented with knots of blue ribbon, +fancifully disposed to give life to her fine complexion. I +loitered a little to admire her, for every gesture was graceful; +and, amidst the other villagers, she looked like a garden lily +suddenly rearing its head amongst grain and corn-flowers. +As the house was small, I gave her a piece of money rather larger +than it was my custom to give to the female waiters—for I +could not prevail on her to sit down—which she received +with a smile; yet took care to give it, in my presence, to a girl +who had brought the child a slice of bread; by which I perceived +that she was the mistress or daughter of the house, and without +doubt the belle of the village. There was, in short, an +appearance of cheerful industry, and of that degree of comfort +which shut out misery, in all the little hamlets as I approached +Hamburg, which agreeably surprised me.</p> +<p>The short jackets which the women wear here, as well as in +France, are not only more becoming to the person, but much better +calculated for women who have rustic or household employments +than the long gowns worn in England, dangling in the dirt.</p> +<p>All the inns on the road were better than I expected, though +the softness of the beds still harassed me, and prevented my +finding the rest I was frequently in want of, to enable me to +bear the fatigue of the next day. The charges were +moderate, and the people very civil, with a certain honest +hilarity and independent spirit in their manner, which almost +made me forget that they were innkeepers, a set of +men—waiters, hostesses, chambermaids, &c., down to the +ostler, whose cunning servility in England I think particularly +disgusting.</p> +<p>The prospect of Hamburg at a distance, as well as the fine +road shaded with trees, led me to expect to see a much pleasanter +city than I found.</p> +<p>I was aware of the difficulty of obtaining lodgings, even at +the inns, on account of the concourse of strangers at present +resorting to such a centrical situation, and determined to go to +Altona the next day to seek for an abode, wanting now only +rest. But even for a single night we were sent from house +to house, and found at last a vacant room to sleep in, which I +should have turned from with disgust had there been a choice.</p> +<p>I scarcely know anything that produces more disagreeable +sensations, I mean to speak of the passing cares, the +recollection of which afterwards enlivens our enjoyments, than +those excited by little disasters of this kind. After a +long journey, with our eyes directed to some particular spot, to +arrive and find nothing as it should be is vexatious, and sinks +the agitated spirits. But I, who received the cruellest of +disappointments last spring in returning to my home, term such as +these emphatically passing cares. Know you of what +materials some hearts are made? I play the child, and weep +at the recollection—for the grief is still fresh that +stunned as well as wounded me—yet never did drops of +anguish like these bedew the cheeks of infantine +innocence—and why should they mine, that never was stained +by a blush of guilt? Innocent and credulous as a child, why +have I not the same happy thoughtlessness? Adieu!</p> +<h2>LETTER XXIII.</h2> +<p>I might have spared myself the disagreeable feelings I +experienced the first night of my arrival at Hamburg, leaving the +open air to be shut up in noise and dirt, had I gone immediately +to Altona, where a lodging had been prepared for me by a +gentleman from whom I received many civilities during my +journey. I wished to have travelled in company with him +from Copenhagen, because I found him intelligent and friendly, +but business obliged him to hurry forward, and I wrote to him on +the subject of accommodations as soon as I was informed of the +difficulties I might have to encounter to house myself and +brat.</p> +<p>It is but a short and pleasant walk from Hamburg to Altona, +under the shade of several rows of trees, and this walk is the +more agreeable after quitting the rough pavement of either +place.</p> +<p>Hamburg is an ill, close-built town, swarming with +inhabitants, and, from what I could learn, like all the other +free towns, governed in a manner which bears hard on the poor, +whilst narrowing the minds of the rich; the character of the man +is lost in the Hamburger. Always afraid of the +encroachments of their Danish neighbours, that is, anxiously +apprehensive of their sharing the golden harvest of commerce with +them, or taking a little of the trade off their +hands—though they have more than they know what to do +with—they are ever on the watch, till their very eyes lose +all expression, excepting the prying glance of suspicion.</p> +<p>The gates of Hamburg are shut at seven in the winter and nine +in the summer, lest some strangers, who come to traffic in +Hamburg, should prefer living, and consequently—so exactly +do they calculate—spend their money out of the walls of the +Hamburger’s world. Immense fortunes have been +acquired by the per-cents. arising from commissions nominally +only two and a half, but mounted to eight or ten at least by the +secret manoeuvres of trade, not to include the advantage of +purchasing goods wholesale in common with contractors, and that +of having so much money left in their hands, not to play with, I +can assure you. Mushroom fortunes have started up during +the war; the men, indeed, seem of the species of the fungus, and +the insolent vulgarity which a sudden influx of wealth usually +produces in common minds is here very conspicuous, which +contrasts with the distresses of many of the emigrants, +“fallen, fallen from their high estate,” such are the +ups and downs of fortune’s wheel. Many emigrants have +met, with fortitude, such a total change of circumstances as +scarcely can be paralleled, retiring from a palace to an obscure +lodging with dignity; but the greater number glide about, the +ghosts of greatness, with the <i>Croix de St. Louis</i> +ostentatiously displayed, determined to hope, “though +heaven and earth their wishes crossed.” Still good +breeding points out the gentleman, and sentiments of honour and +delicacy appear the offspring of greatness of soul when compared +with the grovelling views of the sordid accumulators of cent. per +cent.</p> +<p>Situation seems to be the mould in which men’s +characters are formed: so much so, inferring from what I have +lately seen, that I mean not to be severe when I +add—previously asking why priests are in general cunning +and statesmen false?—that men entirely devoted to commerce +never acquire or lose all taste and greatness of mind. An +ostentatious display of wealth without elegance, and a greedy +enjoyment of pleasure without sentiment, embrutes them till they +term all virtue of an heroic cast, romantic attempts at something +above our nature, and anxiety about the welfare of others, a +search after misery in which we have no concern. But you +will say that I am growing bitter, perhaps personal. Ah! +shall I whisper to you, that you yourself are strangely altered +since you have entered deeply into commerce—more than you +are aware of; never allowing yourself to reflect, and keeping +your mind, or rather passions, in a continual state of +agitation? Nature has given you talents which lie dormant, +or are wasted in ignoble pursuits. You will rouse yourself +and shake off the vile dust that obscures you, or my +understanding, as well as my heart, deceives me +egregiously—only tell me when. But to go farther +afield.</p> +<p>Madame la Fayette left Altona the day I arrived, to endeavour, +at Vienna, to obtain the enlargement of her husband, or +permission to share his prison. She lived in a lodging up +two pairs of stairs, without a servant, her two daughters +cheerfully assisting; choosing, as well as herself, to descend to +anything before unnecessary obligations. During her +prosperity, and consequent idleness, she did not, I am told, +enjoy a good state of health, having a train of nervous +complaints, which, though they have not a name, unless the +significant word <i>ennui</i> be borrowed, had an existence in +the higher French circles; but adversity and virtuous exertions +put these ills to flight, and dispossessed her of a devil who +deserves the appellation of legion.</p> +<p>Madame Genus also resided at Altona some time, under an +assumed name, with many other sufferers of less note though +higher rank. It is, in fact, scarcely possible to stir out +without meeting interesting countenances, every lineament of +which tells you that they have seen better days.</p> +<p>At Hamburg, I was informed, a duke had entered into +partnership with his cook, who becoming a <i>traiteur</i>, they +were both comfortably supported by the profit arising from his +industry. Many noble instances of the attachment of +servants to their unfortunate masters have come to my knowledge, +both here and in France, and touched my heart, the greatest +delight of which is to discover human virtue.</p> +<p>At Altona, a president of one of the <i>ci-devant</i> +parliaments keeps an ordinary, in the French style; and his wife +with cheerful dignity submits to her fate, though she is arrived +at an age when people seldom relinquish their prejudices. A +girl who waits there brought a dozen <i>double louis +d’or</i> concealed in her clothes, at the risk of her life, +from France, which she preserves lest sickness or any other +distress should overtake her mistress, “who,” she +observed, “was not accustomed to hardships.” +This house was particularly recommended to me by an acquaintance +of yours, the author of the “American Farmer’s +Letters.” I generally dine in company with him: and +the gentleman whom I have already mentioned is often diverted by +our declamations against commerce, when we compare notes +respecting the characteristics of the Hamburgers. +“Why, madam,” said he to me one day, “you will +not meet with a man who has any calf to his leg; body and soul, +muscles and heart, are equally shrivelled up by a thirst of +gain. There is nothing generous even in their youthful +passions; profit is their only stimulus, and calculations the +sole employment of their faculties, unless we except some gross +animal gratifications which, snatched at spare moments, tend +still more to debase the character, because, though touched by +his tricking wand, they have all the arts, without the wit, of +the wing-footed god.”</p> +<p>Perhaps you may also think us too severe; but I must add that +the more I saw of the manners of Hamburg, the more was I +confirmed in my opinion relative to the baleful effect of +extensive speculations on the moral character. Men are +strange machines; and their whole system of morality is in +general held together by one grand principle which loses its +force the moment they allow themselves to break with impunity +over the bounds which secured their self-respect. A man +ceases to love humanity, and then individuals, as he advances in +the chase after wealth; as one clashes with his interest, the +other with his pleasures: to business, as it is termed, +everything must give way; nay, is sacrificed, and all the +endearing charities of citizen, husband, father, brother, become +empty names. But—but what? Why, to snap the +chain of thought, I must say farewell. Cassandra was not +the only prophetess whose warning voice has been +disregarded. How much easier it is to meet with love in the +world than affection!</p> +<p style="text-align: right">Yours sincerely.</p> +<h2>LETTER XXIV.</h2> +<p>My lodgings at Altona are tolerably comfortable, though not in +any proportion to the price I pay; but, owing to the present +circumstances, all the necessaries of life are here extravagantly +dear. Considering it as a temporary residence, the chief +inconvenience of which I am inclined to complain is the rough +streets that must be passed before Marguerite and the child can +reach a level road.</p> +<p>The views of the Elbe in the vicinity of the town are +pleasant, particularly as the prospects here afford so little +variety. I attempted to descend, and walk close to the +water’s edge; but there was no path; and the smell of glue, +hanging to dry, an extensive manufactory of which is carried on +close to the beach, I found extremely disagreeable. But to +commerce everything must give way; profit and profit are the only +speculations—“double—double, toil and +trouble.” I have seldom entered a shady walk without +being soon obliged to turn aside to make room for the +rope-makers; and the only tree I have seen, that appeared to be +planted by the hand of taste, is in the churchyard, to shade the +tomb of the poet Klopstock’s wife.</p> +<p>Most of the merchants have country houses to retire to during +the summer; and many of them are situated on the banks of the +Elbe, where they have the pleasure of seeing the packet-boats +arrive—the periods of most consequence to divide their +week.</p> +<p>The moving picture, consisting of large vessels and small +craft, which are continually changing their position with the +tide, renders this noble river, the vital stream of Hamburg, very +interesting; and the windings have sometimes a very fine effect, +two or three turns being visible at once, intersecting the flat +meadows; a sudden bend often increasing the magnitude of the +river; and the silvery expanse, scarcely gliding, though bearing +on its bosom so much treasure, looks for a moment like a tranquil +lake.</p> +<p>Nothing can be stronger than the contrast which this flat +country and strand afford, compared with the mountains and rocky +coast I have lately dwelt so much among. In fancy I return +to a favourite spot, where I seemed to have retired from man and +wretchedness; but the din of trade drags me back to all the care +I left behind, when lost in sublime emotions. Rocks +aspiring towards the heavens, and, as it were, shutting out +sorrow, surrounded me, whilst peace appeared to steal along the +lake to calm my bosom, modulating the wind that agitated the +neighbouring poplars. Now I hear only an account of the +tricks of trade, or listen to the distressful tale of some victim +of ambition.</p> +<p>The hospitality of Hamburg is confined to Sunday invitations +to the country houses I have mentioned, when dish after dish +smokes upon the board, and the conversation ever flowing in the +muddy channel of business, it is not easy to obtain any +appropriate information. Had I intended to remain here some +time, or had my mind been more alive to general inquiries, I +should have endeavoured to have been introduced to some +characters not so entirely immersed in commercial affairs, though +in this whirlpool of gain it is not very easy to find any but the +wretched or supercilious emigrants, who are not engaged in +pursuits which, in my eyes, appear as dishonourable as +gambling. The interests of nations are bartered by +speculating merchants. My God! with what <i>sang froid</i> +artful trains of corruption bring lucrative commissions into +particular hands, disregarding the relative situation of +different countries, and can much common honesty be expected in +the discharge of trusts obtained by fraud? But this +<i>entre nous</i>.</p> +<p>During my present journey, and whilst residing in France, I +have had an opportunity of peeping behind the scenes of what are +vulgarly termed great affairs, only to discover the mean +machinery which has directed many transactions of moment. +The sword has been merciful, compared with the depredations made +on human life by contractors and by the swarm of locusts who have +battened on the pestilence they spread abroad. These men, +like the owners of negro ships, never smell on their money the +blood by which it has been gained, but sleep quietly in their +beds, terming such occupations lawful callings; yet the lightning +marks not their roofs to thunder conviction on them “and to +justify the ways of God to man.”</p> +<p>Why should I weep for myself? “Take, O world! thy +much indebted tear!” Adieu!</p> +<h2>LETTER XXV.</h2> +<p>There is a pretty little French theatre at Altona, and the +actors are much superior to those I saw at Copenhagen. The +theatres at Hamburg are not open yet, but will very shortly, when +the shutting of the gates at seven o’clock forces the +citizens to quit their country houses. But, respecting +Hamburg, I shall not be able to obtain much more information, as +I have determined to sail with the first fair wind for +England.</p> +<p>The presence of the French army would have rendered my +intended tour through Germany, in my way to Switzerland, almost +impracticable, had not the advancing season obliged me to alter +my plan. Besides, though Switzerland is the country which +for several years I have been particularly desirous to visit, I +do not feel inclined to ramble any farther this year; nay, I am +weary of changing the scene, and quitting people and places the +moment they begin to interest me. This also is vanity!</p> +<h3>DOVER.</h3> +<p>I left this letter unfinished, as I was hurried on board, and +now I have only to tell you that, at the sight of Dover cliffs, I +wondered how anybody could term them grand; they appear so +insignificant to me, after those I had seen in Sweden and +Norway.</p> +<p>Adieu! My spirit of observation seems to be fled, and I +have been wandering round this dirty place, literally speaking, +to kill time, though the thoughts I would fain fly from lie too +close to my heart to be easily shook off, or even beguiled, by +any employment, except that of preparing for my journey to +London.</p> +<p>God bless you!</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Mary</span> +----.</p> +<h2>APPENDIX.</h2> +<p>Private business and cares have frequently so absorbed me as +to prevent my obtaining all the information during this journey +which the novelty of the scenes would have afforded, had my +attention been continually awake to inquiry. This +insensibility to present objects I have often had occasion to +lament since I have been preparing these letters for the press; +but, as a person of any thought naturally considers the history +of a strange country to contrast the former with the present +state of its manners, a conviction of the increasing knowledge +and happiness of the kingdoms I passed through was perpetually +the result of my comparative reflections.</p> +<p>The poverty of the poor in Sweden renders the civilisation +very partial, and slavery has retarded the improvement of every +class in Denmark, yet both are advancing; and the gigantic evils +of despotism and anarchy have in a great measure vanished before +the meliorating manners of Europe. Innumerable evils still +remain, it is true, to afflict the humane investigator, and hurry +the benevolent reformer into a labyrinth of error, who aims at +destroying prejudices quickly which only time can root out, as +the public opinion becomes subject to reason.</p> +<p>An ardent affection for the human race makes enthusiastic +characters eager to produce alteration in laws and governments +prematurely. To render them useful and permanent, they must +be the growth of each particular soil, and the gradual fruit of +the ripening understanding of the nation, matured by time, not +forced by an unnatural fermentation. And, to convince me +that such a change is gaining ground with accelerating pace, the +view I have had of society during my northern journey would have +been sufficient had I not previously considered the grand causes +which combine to carry mankind forward and diminish the sum of +human misery.</p> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LETTERS WRITTEN DURING A SHORT +RESIDENCE IN SWEDEN, NORWAY, AND DENMARK***</p> +<pre> + + +***** This file should be named 3529-h.htm or 3529-h.zip****** + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/5/2/3529 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Letters written during a short residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark + + +Author: Mary Wollstonecraft + +Editor: Henry Morley + +Release Date: December 30, 2007 [eBook #3529] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LETTERS WRITTEN DURING A SHORT +RESIDENCE IN SWEDEN, NORWAY, AND DENMARK*** + + +Transcribed from the 1889 Cassell & Company edition by David Price, email +ccx074@pglaf.org + +CASSELL'S NATIONAL LIBRARY. + + + + + +LETTERS +WRITTEN +_DURING A SHORT RESIDENCE_ +IN +SWEDEN, NORWAY, AND +DENMARK + + +BY +MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT. + +CASSELL & COMPANY, Limited: +_LONDON_, _PARIS_, _NEW YORK & MELBOURNE_. +1889. + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +Mary Wollstonecraft was born on the 27th of April, 1759. Her father--a +quick-tempered and unsettled man, capable of beating wife, or child, or +dog--was the son of a manufacturer who made money in Spitalfields, when +Spitalfields was prosperous. Her mother was a rigorous Irishwoman, of +the Dixons of Ballyshannon. Edward John Wollstonecraft--of whose +children, besides Mary, the second child, three sons and two daughters +lived to be men and women--in course of the got rid of about ten thousand +pounds, which had been left him by his father. He began to get rid of it +by farming. Mary Wollstonecraft's first-remembered home was in a farm at +Epping. When she was five years old the family moved to another farm, by +the Chelmsford Road. When she was between six and seven years old they +moved again, to the neighbourhood of Barking. There they remained three +years before the next move, which was to a farm near Beverley, in +Yorkshire. In Yorkshire they remained six years, and Mary Wollstonecraft +had there what education fell to her lot between the ages of ten and +sixteen. Edward John Wollstonecraft then gave up farming to venture upon +a commercial speculation. This caused him to live for a year and a half +at Queen's Row, Hoxton. His daughter Mary was then sixteen; and while at +Hoxton she had her education advanced by the friendly care of a deformed +clergyman--a Mr. Clare--who lived next door, and stayed so much at home +that his one pair of shoes had lasted him for fourteen years. + +But Mary Wollstonecraft's chief friend at this time was an accomplished +girl only two years older than herself, who maintained her father, +mother, and family by skill in drawing. Her name was Frances Blood, and +she especially, by her example and direct instruction, drew out her young +friend's powers. In 1776, Mary Wollstonecraft's father, a rolling stone, +rolled into Wales. Again he was a farmer. Next year again he was a +Londoner; and Mary had influence enough to persuade him to choose a house +at Walworth, where she would be near to her friend Fanny. Then, however, +the conditions of her home life caused her to be often on the point of +going away to earn a living for herself. In 1778, when she was nineteen, +Mary Wollstonecraft did leave home, to take a situation as companion with +a rich tradesman's widow at Bath, of whom it was said that none of her +companions could stay with her. Mary Wollstonecraft, nevertheless, +stayed two years with the difficult widow, and made herself respected. +Her mother's failing health then caused Mary to return to her. The +father was then living at Enfield, and trying to save the small remainder +of his means by not venturing upon any business at all. The mother died +after long suffering, wholly dependent on her daughter Mary's constant +care. The mother's last words were often quoted by Mary Wollstonecraft +in her own last years of distress--"A little patience, and all will be +over." + +After the mother's death, Mary Wollstonecraft left home again, to live +with her friend, Fanny Blood, who was at Walham Green. In 1782 she went +to nurse a married sister through a dangerous illness. The father's need +of support next pressed upon her. He had spent not only his own money, +but also the little that had been specially reserved for his children. It +is said to be the privilege of a passionate man that he always gets what +he wants; he gets to be avoided, and they never find a convenient corner +of their own who shut themselves out from the kindly fellowship of life. + +In 1783 Mary Wollstonecraft--aged twenty-four--with two of her sisters, +joined Fanny Blood in setting up a day school at Islington, which was +removed in a few months to Newington Green. Early in 1785 Fanny Blood, +far gone in consumption, sailed for Lisbon to marry an Irish surgeon who +was settled there. After her marriage it was evident that she had but a +few months to live; Mary Wollstonecraft, deaf to all opposing counsel, +then left her school, and, with help of money from a friendly woman, she +went out to nurse her, and was by her when she died. Mary Wollstonecraft +remembered her loss ten years afterwards in these "Letters from Sweden +and Norway," when she wrote: "The grave has closed over a dear friend, +the friend of my youth; still she is present with me, and I hear her soft +voice warbling as I stray over the heath." + +Mary Wollstonecraft left Lisbon for England late in December, 1785. When +she came back she found Fanny's poor parents anxious to go back to +Ireland; and as she had been often told that she could earn by writing, +she wrote a pamphlet of 162 small pages--"Thoughts on the Education of +Daughters"--and got ten pounds for it. This she gave to her friend's +parents to enable them to go back to their kindred. In all she did there +is clear evidence of an ardent, generous, impulsive nature. One day her +friend Fanny Blood had repined at the unhappy surroundings in the home +she was maintaining for her father and mother, and longed for a little +home of her own to do her work in. Her friend quietly found rooms, got +furniture together, and told her that her little home was ready; she had +only to walk into it. Then it seemed strange to Mary Wollstonecraft that +Fanny Blood was withheld by thoughts that had not been uppermost in the +mood of complaint. She thought her friend irresolute, where she had +herself been generously rash. Her end would have been happier had she +been helped, as many are, by that calm influence of home in which some +knowledge of the world passes from father and mother to son and daughter, +without visible teaching and preaching, in easiest companionship of young +and old from day to day. + +The little payment for her pamphlet on the "Education of Daughters" +caused Mary Wollstonecraft to think more seriously of earning by her pen. +The pamphlet seems also to have advanced her credit as a teacher. After +giving up her day school, she spent some weeks at Eton with the Rev. Mr. +Prior, one of the masters there, who recommended her as governess to the +daughters of Lord Kingsborough, an Irish viscount, eldest son of the Earl +of Kingston. Her way of teaching was by winning love, and she obtained +the warm affection of the eldest of her pupils, who became afterwards +Countess Mount-Cashel. In the summer of 1787, Lord Kingsborough's +family, including Mary Wollstonecraft, was at Bristol Hot-wells, before +going to the Continent. While there, Mary Wollstonecraft wrote her +little tale published as "Mary, a Fiction," wherein there was much based +on the memory of her own friendship for Fanny Blood. + +The publisher of Mary Wollstonecraft's "Thoughts on the Education of +Daughters" was the same Joseph Johnson who in 1785 was the publisher of +Cowper's "Task." With her little story written and a little money saved, +the resolve to live by her pen could now be carried out. Mary +Wollstonecraft, therefore, parted from her friends at Bristol, went to +London, saw her publisher, and frankly told him her determination. He +met her with fatherly kindness, and received her as a guest in his house +while she was making her arrangements. At Michaelmas, 1787, she settled +in a house in George Street, on the Surrey side of Blackfriars Bridge. +There she produced a little book for children, of "Original Stories from +Real Life," and earned by drudgery for Joseph Johnson. She translated, +she abridged, she made a volume of Selections, and she wrote for an +"Analytical Review," which Mr. Johnson founded in the middle of the year +1788. Among the books translated by her was Necker "On the Importance of +Religious Opinions." Among the books abridged by her was Salzmann's +"Elements of Morality." With all this hard work she lived as sparely as +she could, that she might help her family. She supported her father. +That she might enable her sisters to earn their living as teachers, she +sent one of them to Paris, and maintained her there for two years; the +other she placed in a school near London as parlour-boarder until she was +admitted into it as a paid teacher. She placed one brother at Woolwich +to qualify for the Navy, and he obtained a lieutenant's commission. For +another brother, articled to an attorney whom he did not like, she +obtained a transfer of indentures; and when it became clear that his +quarrel was more with law than with the lawyers, she placed him with a +farmer before fitting him out for emigration to America. She then sent +him, so well prepared for his work there that he prospered well. She +tried even to disentangle her father's affairs; but the confusion in them +was beyond her powers of arrangement. Added to all this faithful work, +she took upon herself the charge of an orphan child, seven years old, +whose mother had been in the number of her friends. That was the life of +Mary Wollstonecraft, thirty years old, in 1789, the year of the Fall of +the Bastille; the noble life now to be touched in its enthusiasms by the +spirit of the Revolution, to be caught in the great storm, shattered, and +lost among its wrecks. + +To Burke's attack on the French Revolution Mary Wollstonecraft wrote an +Answer--one of many answers provoked by it--that attracted much +attention. This was followed by her "Vindication of the Rights of +Woman," while the air was full of declamation on the "Rights of Man." The +claims made in this little book were in advance of the opinion of that +day, but they are claims that have in our day been conceded. They are +certainly not revolutionary in the opinion of the world that has become a +hundred years older since the book was written. + +At this the Mary Wollstonecraft had moved to rooms in Store Street, +Bedford Square. She was fascinated by Fuseli the painter, and he was a +married man. She felt herself to be too strongly drawn towards him, and +she went to Paris at the close of the year 1792, to break the spell. She +felt lonely and sad, and was not the happier for being in a mansion lent +to her, from which the owner was away, and in which she lived surrounded +by his servants. Strong womanly instincts were astir within her, and +they were not all wise folk who had been drawn around her by her generous +enthusiasm for the new hopes of the world, that made it then, as +Wordsworth felt, a very heaven to the young. + +Four months after she had gone to Paris, Mary Wollstonecraft met at the +house of a merchant, with whose wife she had become intimate, an American +named Gilbert Imlay. He won her affections. That was in April, 1793. He +had no means, and she had home embarrassments, for which she was +unwilling that he should become in any way responsible. A part of the +new dream in some minds then was of a love too pure to need or bear the +bondage of authority. The mere forced union of marriage ties implied, it +was said, a distrust of fidelity. When Gilbert Imlay would have married +Mary Wollstonecraft, she herself refused to bind him; she would keep him +legally exempt from her responsibilities towards the father, sisters, +brothers, whom she was supporting. She took his name and called herself +his wife, when the French Convention, indignant at the conduct of the +British Government, issue a decree from the effects of which she would +escape as the wife of a citizen of the United States. But she did not +marry. She witnessed many of the horrors that came of the loosened +passions of an untaught populace. A child was born to her--a girl whom +she named after the dead friend of her own girlhood. And then she found +that she had leant upon a reed. She was neglected; and was at last +forsaken. Having sent her to London, Imlay there visited her, to explain +himself away. She resolved on suicide, and in dissuading her from that +he gave her hope again. He needed somebody who had good judgment, and +who cared for his interests, to represent him in some business affairs in +Norway. She undertook to act for him, and set out on the voyage only a +week after she had determined to destroy herself. + +The interest of this book which describes her travel is quickened by a +knowledge of the heart-sorrow that underlies it all. Gilbert Imlay had +promised to meet her upon her return, and go with her to Switzerland. But +the letters she had from him in Sweden and Norway were cold, and she came +back to find that she was wholly forsaken for an actress from a strolling +company of players. Then she went up the river to drown herself. She +paced the road at Putney on an October night, in 1795, in heavy rain, +until her clothes were drenched, that she might sink more surely, and +then threw herself from the top of Putney Bridge. + +She was rescued, and lived on with deadened spirit. In 1796 these +"Letters from Sweden and Norway" were published. Early in 1797 she was +married to William Godwin. On the 10th of September in the same year, at +the age of thirty-eight, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin died, after the birth +of the daughter who lived to become the wife of Shelley. The mother also +would have lived, if a womanly feeling, in itself to be respected, had +not led her also to unwise departure from the customs of the world. Peace +be to her memory. None but kind thoughts can dwell upon the life of this +too faithful disciple of Rousseau. + +H. M. + + + + +LETTER I. + + +Eleven days of weariness on board a vessel not intended for the +accommodation of passengers have so exhausted my spirits, to say nothing +of the other causes, with which you are already sufficiently acquainted, +that it is with some difficulty I adhere to my determination of giving +you my observations, as I travel through new scenes, whilst warmed with +the impression they have made on me. + +The captain, as I mentioned to you, promised to put me on shore at +Arendall or Gothenburg in his way to Elsineur, but contrary winds obliged +us to pass both places during the night. In the morning, however, after +we had lost sight of the entrance of the latter bay, the vessel was +becalmed; and the captain, to oblige me, hanging out a signal for a +pilot, bore down towards the shore. + +My attention was particularly directed to the lighthouse, and you can +scarcely imagine with what anxiety I watched two long hours for a boat to +emancipate me; still no one appeared. Every cloud that flitted on the +horizon was hailed as a liberator, till approaching nearer, like most of +the prospects sketched by hope, it dissolved under the eye into +disappointment. + +Weary of expectation, I then began to converse with the captain on the +subject, and from the tenor of the information my questions drew forth I +soon concluded that if I waited for a boat I had little chance of getting +on shore at this place. Despotism, as is usually the case, I found had +here cramped the industry of man. The pilots being paid by the king, and +scantily, they will not run into any danger, or even quit their hovels, +if they can possibly avoid it, only to fulfil what is termed their duty. +How different is it on the English coast, where, in the most stormy +weather, boats immediately hail you, brought out by the expectation of +extraordinary profit. + +Disliking to sail for Elsineur, and still more to lie at anchor or cruise +about the coast for several days, I exerted all my rhetoric to prevail on +the captain to let me have the ship's boat, and though I added the most +forcible of arguments, I for a long the addressed him in vain. + +It is a kind of rule at sea not to send out a boat. The captain was a +good-natured man; but men with common minds seldom break through general +rules. Prudence is ever the resort of weakness, and they rarely go as +far as they may in any undertaking who are determined not to go beyond it +on any account. If, however, I had some trouble with the captain, I did +not lose much time with the sailors, for they, all alacrity, hoisted out +the boat the moment I obtained permission, and promised to row me to the +lighthouse. + +I did not once allow myself to doubt of obtaining a conveyance from +thence round the rocks--and then away for Gothenburg--confinement is so +unpleasant. + +The day was fine, and I enjoyed the water till, approaching the little +island, poor Marguerite, whose timidity always acts as a feeler before +her adventuring spirit, began to wonder at our not seeing any +inhabitants. I did not listen to her. But when, on landing, the same +silence prevailed, I caught the alarm, which was not lessened by the +sight of two old men whom we forced out of their wretched hut. Scarcely +human in their appearance, we with difficulty obtained an intelligible +reply to our questions, the result of which was that they had no boat, +and were not allowed to quit their post on any pretence. But they +informed us that there was at the other side, eight or ten miles over, a +pilot's dwelling. Two guineas tempted the sailors to risk the captain's +displeasure, and once more embark to row me over. + +The weather was pleasant, and the appearance of the shore so grand that I +should have enjoyed the two hours it took to reach it, but for the +fatigue which was too visible in the countenances of the sailors, who, +instead of uttering a complaint, were, with the thoughtless hilarity +peculiar to them, joking about the possibility of the captain's taking +advantage of a slight westerly breeze, which was springing up, to sail +without them. Yet, in spite of their good humour, I could not help +growing uneasy when the shore, receding, as it were, as we advanced, +seemed to promise no end to their toil. This anxiety increased when, +turning into the most picturesque bay I ever saw, my eyes sought in vain +for the vestige of a human habitation. Before I could determine what +step to take in such a dilemma (for I could not bear to think of +returning to the ship), the sight of a barge relieved me, and we hastened +towards it for information. We were immediately directed to pass some +jutting rocks, when we should see a pilot's hut. + +There was a solemn silence in this scene which made itself be felt. The +sunbeams that played on the ocean, scarcely ruffled by the lightest +breeze, contrasted with the huge dark rocks, that looked like the rude +materials of creation forming the barrier of unwrought space, forcibly +struck me, but I should not have been sorry if the cottage had not +appeared equally tranquil. Approaching a retreat where strangers, +especially women, so seldom appeared, I wondered that curiosity did not +bring the beings who inhabited it to the windows or door. I did not +immediately recollect that men who remain so near the brute creation, as +only to exert themselves to find the food necessary to sustain life, have +little or no imagination to call forth the curiosity necessary to +fructify the faint glimmerings of mind which entitle them to rank as +lords of the creation. Had they either they could not contentedly remain +rooted in the clods they so indolently cultivate. + +Whilst the sailors went to seek for the sluggish inhabitants, these +conclusions occurred to me; and, recollecting the extreme fondness which +the Parisians ever testify for novelty, their very curiosity appeared to +me a proof of the progress they had made in refinement. Yes, in the art +of living--in the art of escaping from the cares which embarrass the +first steps towards the attainment of the pleasures of social life. + +The pilots informed the sailors that they were under the direction of a +lieutenant retired from the service, who spoke English; adding that they +could do nothing without his orders, and even the offer of money could +hardly conquer their laziness and prevail on them to accompany us to his +dwelling. They would not go with me alone, which I wanted them to have +done, because I wished to dismiss the sailors as soon as possible. Once +more we rowed off, they following tardily, till, turning round another +bold protuberance of the rocks, we saw a boat making towards us, and soon +learnt that it was the lieutenant himself, coming with some earnestness +to see who we were. + +To save the sailors any further toil, I had my baggage instantly removed +into his boat; for, as he could speak English, a previous parley was not +necessary, though Marguerite's respect for me could hardly keep her from +expressing the fear, strongly marked on her countenance, which my putting +ourselves into the power of a strange man excited. He pointed out his +cottage; and, drawing near to it, I was not sorry to see a female figure, +though I had not, like Marguerite, been thinking of robberies, murders, +or the other evil which instantly, as the sailors would have said, runs +foul of a woman's imagination. + +On entering I was still better pleased to find a clean house, with some +degree of rural elegance. The beds were of muslin, coarse it is true, +but dazzlingly white; and the floor was strewed over with little sprigs +of juniper (the custom, as I afterwards found, of the country), which +formed a contrast with the curtains, and produced an agreeable sensation +of freshness, to soften the ardour of noon. Still nothing was so +pleasing as the alacrity of hospitality--all that the house afforded was +quickly spread on the whitest linen. Remember, I had just left the +vessel, where, without being fastidious, I had continually been +disgusted. Fish, milk, butter, and cheese, and, I am sorry to add, +brandy, the bane of this country, were spread on the board. After we had +dined hospitality made them, with some degree of mystery, bring us some +excellent coffee. I did not then know that it was prohibited. + +The good man of the house apologised for coming in continually, but +declared that he was so glad to speak English he could not stay out. He +need not have apologised; I was equally glad of his company. With the +wife I could only exchange smiles, and she was employed observing the +make of our clothes. My hands, I found, had first led her to discover +that I was the lady. I had, of course, my quantum of reverences; for the +politeness of the north seems to partake of the coldness of the climate +and the rigidity of its iron-sinewed rocks. Amongst the peasantry there +is, however, so much of the simplicity of the golden age in this land of +flint--so much overflowing of heart and fellow-feeling, that only +benevolence and the honest sympathy of nature diffused smiles over my +countenance when they kept me standing, regardless of my fatigue, whilst +they dropped courtesy after courtesy. + +The situation of this house was beautiful, though chosen for convenience. +The master being the officer who commanded all the pilots on the coast, +and the person appointed to guard wrecks, it was necessary for him to fix +on a spot that would overlook the whole bay. As he had seen some +service, he wore, not without a pride I thought becoming, a badge to +prove that he had merited well of his country. It was happy, I thought, +that he had been paid in honour, for the stipend he received was little +more than twelve pounds a year. I do not trouble myself or you with the +calculation of Swedish ducats. Thus, my friend, you perceive the +necessity of perquisites. This same narrow policy runs through +everything. I shall have occasion further to animadvert on it. + +Though my host amused me with an account of himself, which gave me aim +idea of the manners of the people I was about to visit, I was eager to +climb the rocks to view the country, and see whether the honest tars had +regained their ship. With the help of the lieutenant's telescope, I saw +the vessel under way with a fair though gentle gale. The sea was calm, +playful even as the most shallow stream, and on the vast basin I did not +see a dark speck to indicate the boat. My conductors were consequently +arrived. + +Straying further, my eye was attracted by the sight of some heartsease +that peeped through the rocks. I caught at it as a good omen, and going +to preserve it in a letter that had not conveyed balm to my heart, a +cruel remembrance suffused my eyes; but it passed away like an April +shower. If you are deep read in Shakespeare, you will recollect that +this was the little western flower tinged by love's dart, which "maidens +call love in idleness." The gaiety of my babe was unmixed; regardless of +omens or sentiments, she found a few wild strawberries more grateful than +flowers or fancies. + +The lieutenant informed me that this was a commodious bay. Of that I +could not judge, though I felt its picturesque beauty. Rocks were piled +on rocks, forming a suitable bulwark to the ocean. "Come no further," +they emphatically said, turning their dark sides to the waves to augment +the idle roar. The view was sterile; still little patches of earth of +the most exquisite verdure, enamelled with the sweetest wild flowers, +seemed to promise the goats and a few straggling cows luxurious herbage. +How silent and peaceful was the scene! I gazed around with rapture, and +felt more of that spontaneous pleasure which gives credibility to our +expectation of happiness than I had for a long, long time before. I +forgot the horrors I had witnessed in France, which had cast a gloom over +all nature, and suffering the enthusiasm of my character--too often, +gracious God! damped by the tears of disappointed affection--to be +lighted up afresh, care took wing while simple fellow-feeling expanded my +heart. + +To prolong this enjoyment, I readily assented to the proposal of our host +to pay a visit to a family, the master of which spoke English, who was +the drollest dog in the country, he added, repeating some of his stories +with a hearty laugh. + +I walked on, still delighted with the rude beauties of the scene; for the +sublime often gave place imperceptibly to the beautiful, dilating the +emotions which were painfully concentrated. + +When we entered this abode, the largest I had yet seen, I was introduced +to a numerous family; but the father, from whom I was led to expect so +much entertainment, was absent. The lieutenant consequently was obliged +to be the interpreter of our reciprocal compliments. The phrases were +awkwardly transmitted, it is true; but looks and gestures were sufficient +to make them intelligible and interesting. The girls were all vivacity, +and respect for me could scarcely keep them from romping with my host, +who, asking for a pinch of snuff, was presented with a box, out of which +an artificial mouse, fastened to the bottom, sprang. Though this trick +had doubtless been played the out of mind, yet the laughter it excited +was not less genuine. + +They were overflowing with civility; but, to prevent their almost killing +my babe with kindness, I was obliged to shorten my visit; and two or +three of the girls accompanied us, bringing with them a part of whatever +the house afforded to contribute towards rendering my supper more +plentiful; and plentiful in fact it was, though I with difficulty did +honour to some of the dishes, not relishing the quantity of sugar and +spices put into everything. At supper my host told me bluntly that I was +a woman of observation, for I asked him _men's questions_. + +The arrangements for my journey were quickly made. I could only have a +car with post-horses, as I did not choose to wait till a carriage could +be sent for to Gothenburg. The expense of my journey (about one or two +and twenty English miles) I found would not amount to more than eleven or +twelve shillings, paying, he assured me, generously. I gave him a guinea +and a half. But it was with the greatest difficulty that I could make +him take so much--indeed anything--for my lodging and fare. He declared +that it was next to robbing me, explaining how much I ought to pay on the +road. However, as I was positive, he took the guinea for himself; but, +as a condition, insisted on accompanying me, to prevent my meeting with +any trouble or imposition on the way. + +I then retired to my apartment with regret. The night was so fine that I +would gladly have rambled about much longer, yet, recollecting that I +must rise very early, I reluctantly went to bed; but my senses had been +so awake, and my imagination still continued so busy, that I sought for +rest in vain. Rising before six, I scented the sweet morning air; I had +long before heard the birds twittering to hail the dawning day, though it +could scarcely have been allowed to have departed. + +Nothing, in fact, can equal the beauty of the northern summer's evening +and night, if night it may be called that only wants the glare of day, +the full light which frequently seems so impertinent, for I could write +at midnight very well without a candle. I contemplated all Nature at +rest; the rocks, even grown darker in their appearance, looked as if they +partook of the general repose, and reclined more heavily on their +foundation. "What," I exclaimed, "is this active principle which keeps +me still awake? Why fly my thoughts abroad, when everything around me +appears at home?" My child was sleeping with equal calmness--innocent +and sweet as the closing flowers. Some recollections, attached to the +idea of home, mingled with reflections respecting the state of society I +had been contemplating that evening, made a tear drop on the rosy cheek I +had just kissed, and emotions that trembled on the brink of ecstasy and +agony gave a poignancy to my sensations which made me feel more alive +than usual. + +What are these imperious sympathies? How frequently has melancholy and +even misanthropy taken possession of me, when the world has disgusted me, +and friends have proved unkind. I have then considered myself as a +particle broken off from the grand mass of mankind; I was alone, till +some involuntary sympathetic emotion, like the attraction of adhesion, +made me feel that I was still a part of a mighty whole, from which I +could not sever myself--not, perhaps, for the reflection has been carried +very far, by snapping the thread of an existence, which loses its charms +in proportion as the cruel experience of life stops or poisons the +current of the heart. Futurity, what hast thou not to give to those who +know that there is such a thing as happiness! I speak not of +philosophical contentment, though pain has afforded them the strongest +conviction of it. + +After our coffee and milk--for the mistress of the house had been roused +long before us by her hospitality--my baggage was taken forward in a boat +by my host, because the car could not safely have been brought to the +house. + +The road at first was very rocky and troublesome, but our driver was +careful, and the horses accustomed to the frequent and sudden acclivities +and descents; so that, not apprehending any danger, I played with my +girl, whom I would not leave to Marguerite's care, on account of her +timidity. + +Stopping at a little inn to bait the horses, I saw the first countenance +in Sweden that displeased me, though the man was better dressed than any +one who had as yet fallen in my way. An altercation took place between +him and my host, the purport of which I could not guess, excepting that I +was the occasion of it, be it what it would. The sequel was his leaving +the house angrily; and I was immediately informed that he was the custom- +house officer. The professional had indeed effaced the national +character, for, living as he did within these frank hospitable people, +still only the exciseman appeared, the counterpart of some I had met with +in England and France. I was unprovided with a passport, not having +entered any great town. At Gothenburg I knew I could immediately obtain +one, and only the trouble made me object to the searching my trunks. He +blustered for money; but the lieutenant was determined to guard me, +according to promise, from imposition. + +To avoid being interrogated at the town-gate, and obliged to go in the +rain to give an account of myself (merely a form) before we could get the +refreshment we stood in need of, he requested us to descend--I might have +said step--from our car, and walk into town. + +I expected to have found a tolerable inn, but was ushered into a most +comfortless one; and, because it was about five o'clock, three or four +hours after their dining hour, I could not prevail on them to give me +anything warm to eat. + +The appearance of the accommodations obliged me to deliver one of my +recommendatory letters, and the gentleman to whom it was addressed sent +to look out for a lodging for me whilst I partook of his supper. As +nothing passed at this supper to characterise the country, I shall here +close my letter. + +Yours truly. + + + + +LETTER II. + + +Gothenburg is a clean airy town, and, having been built by the Dutch, has +canals running through each street; and in some of them there are rows of +trees that would render it very pleasant were it not for the pavement, +which is intolerably bad. + +There are several rich commercial houses--Scotch, French, and Swedish; +but the Scotch, I believe, have been the most successful. The commerce +and commission business with France since the war has been very +lucrative, and enriched the merchants I am afraid at the expense of the +other inhabitants, by raising the price of the necessaries of life. + +As all the men of consequence--I mean men of the largest fortune--are +merchants, their principal enjoyment is a relaxation from business at the +table, which is spread at, I think, too early an hour (between one and +two) for men who have letters to write and accounts to settle after +paying due respect to the bottle. + +However, when numerous circles are to be brought together, and when +neither literature nor public amusements furnish topics for conversation, +a good dinner appears to be the only centre to rally round, especially as +scandal, the zest of more select parties, can only be whispered. As for +politics, I have seldom found it a subject of continual discussion in a +country town in any part of the world. The politics of the place, being +on a smaller scale, suits better with the size of their faculties; for, +generally speaking, the sphere of observation determines the extent of +the mind. + +The more I see of the world, the more I am convinced that civilisation is +a blessing not sufficiently estimated by those who have not traced its +progress; for it not only refines our enjoyments, but produces a variety +which enables us to retain the primitive delicacy of our sensations. +Without the aid of the imagination all the pleasures of the senses must +sink into grossness, unless continual novelty serve as a substitute for +the imagination, which, being impossible, it was to this weariness, I +suppose, that Solomon alluded when he declared that there was nothing new +under the sun!--nothing for the common sensations excited by the senses. +Yet who will deny that the imagination and understanding have made many, +very many discoveries since those days, which only seem harbingers of +others still more noble and beneficial? I never met with much +imagination amongst people who had not acquired a habit of reflection; +and in that state of society in which the judgment and taste are not +called forth, and formed by the cultivation of the arts and sciences, +little of that delicacy of feeling and thinking is to be found +characterised by the word sentiment. The want of scientific pursuits +perhaps accounts for the hospitality, as well as for the cordial +reception which strangers receive from the inhabitants of small towns. + +Hospitality has, I think, been too much praised by travellers as a proof +of goodness of heart, when, in my opinion, indiscriminate hospitality is +rather a criterion by which you may form a tolerable estimate of the +indolence or vacancy of a head; or, in other words, a fondness for social +pleasures in which the mind not having its proportion of exercise, the +bottle must be pushed about. + +These remarks are equally applicable to Dublin, the most hospitable city +I ever passed through. But I will try to confine my observations more +particularly to Sweden. + +It is true I have only had a glance over a small part of it; yet of its +present state of manners and acquirements I think I have formed a +distinct idea, without having visited the capital--where, in fact, less +of a national character is to be found than in the remote parts of the +country. + +The Swedes pique themselves on their politeness; but far from being the +polish of a cultivated mind, it consists merely of tiresome forms and +ceremonies. So far, indeed, from entering immediately into your +character, and making you feel instantly at your ease, like the well-bred +French, their over-acted civility is a continual restraint on all your +actions. The sort of superiority which a fortune gives when there is no +superiority of education, excepting what consists in the observance of +senseless forms, has a contrary effect than what is intended; so that I +could not help reckoning the peasantry the politest people of Sweden, +who, only aiming at pleasing you, never think of being admired for their +behaviour. + +Their tables, like their compliments, seem equally a caricature of the +French. The dishes are composed, as well as theirs, of a variety of +mixtures to destroy the native taste of the food without being as +relishing. Spices and sugar are put into everything, even into the +bread; and the only way I can account for their partiality to +high-seasoned dishes is the constant use of salted provisions. Necessity +obliges them to lay up a store of dried fish and salted meat for the +winter; and in summer, fresh meat and fish taste insipid after them. To +which may be added the constant use of spirits. Every day, before dinner +and supper, even whilst the dishes are cooling on the table, men and +women repair to a side-table; and to obtain an appetite eat bread-and- +butter, cheese, raw salmon, or anchovies, drinking a glass of brandy. +Salt fish or meat then immediately follows, to give a further whet to the +stomach. As the dinner advances, pardon me for taking up a few minutes +to describe what, alas! has detained me two or three hours on the stretch +observing, dish after dish is changed, in endless rotation, and handed +round with solemn pace to each guest; but should you happen not to like +the first dishes, which was often my case, it is a gross breach of +politeness to ask for part of any other till its turn comes. But have +patience, and there will be eating enough. Allow me to run over the acts +of a visiting day, not overlooking the interludes. + +Prelude a luncheon--then a succession of fish, flesh, and fowl for two +hours, during which time the dessert--I was sorry for the strawberries +and cream--rests on the table to be impregnated by the fumes of the +viands. Coffee immediately follows in the drawing-room, but does not +preclude punch, ale, tea and cakes, raw salmon, &c. A supper brings up +the rear, not forgetting the introductory luncheon, almost equalling in +removes the dinner. A day of this kind you would imagine sufficient; but +a to-morrow and a to-morrow--A never-ending, still-beginning feast may be +bearable, perhaps, when stern winter frowns, shaking with chilling aspect +his hoary locks; but during a summer, sweet as fleeting, let me, my kind +strangers, escape sometimes into your fir groves, wander on the margin of +your beautiful lakes, or climb your rocks, to view still others in +endless perspective, which, piled by more than giant's hand, scale the +heavens to intercept its rays, or to receive the parting tinge of +lingering day--day that, scarcely softened unto twilight, allows the +freshening breeze to wake, and the moon to burst forth in all her glory +to glide with solemn elegance through the azure expanse. + +The cow's bell has ceased to tinkle the herd to rest; they have all paced +across the heath. Is not this the witching time of night? The waters +murmur, and fall with more than mortal music, and spirits of peace walk +abroad to calm the agitated breast. Eternity is in these moments. +Worldly cares melt into the airy stuff that dreams are made of, and +reveries, mild and enchanting as the first hopes of love or the +recollection of lost enjoyment, carry the hapless wight into futurity, +who in bustling life has vainly strove to throw off the grief which lies +heavy at the heart. Good night! A crescent hangs out in the vault +before, which woos me to stray abroad. It is not a silvery reflection of +the sun, but glows with all its golden splendour. Who fears the fallen +dew? It only makes the mown grass smell more fragrant. Adieu! + + + + +LETTER III. + + +The population of Sweden has been estimated from two millions and a half +to three millions; a small number for such an immense tract of country, +of which only so much is cultivated--and that in the simplest manner--as +is absolutely requisite to supply the necessaries of life; and near the +seashore, whence herrings are easily procured, there scarcely appears a +vestige of cultivation. The scattered huts that stand shivering on the +naked rocks, braving the pitiless elements, are formed of logs of wood +rudely hewn; and so little pains are taken with the craggy foundation +that nothing hike a pathway points out the door. + +Gathered into himself by the cold, lowering his visage to avoid the +cutting blast, is it surprising that the churlish pleasure of drinking +drams takes place of social enjoyments amongst the poor, especially if we +take into the account that they mostly live on high-seasoned provision +and rye bread? Hard enough, you may imagine, as it is baked only once a +year. The servants also, in most families, eat this kind of bread, and +have a different kind of food from their masters, which, in spite of all +the arguments I have heard to vindicate the custom, appears to me a +remnant of barbarism. + +In fact, the situation of the servants in every respect, particularly +that of the women, shows how far the Swedes are from having a just +conception of rational equality. They are not termed slaves; yet a man +may strike a man with impunity because he pays him wages, though these +wages are so low that necessity must teach them to pilfer, whilst +servility renders them false and boorish. Still the men stand up for the +dignity of man by oppressing the women. The most menial, and even +laborious offices, are therefore left to these poor drudges. Much of +this I have seen. In the winter, I am told, they take the linen down to +the river to wash it in the cold water, and though their hands, cut by +the ice, are cracked and bleeding, the men, their fellow-servants, will +not disgrace their manhood by carrying a tub to lighten their burden. + +You will not be surprised to hear that they do not wear shoes or +stockings, when I inform you that their wages are seldom more than twenty +or thirty shillings per annum. It is the custom, I know, to give them a +new year's gift and a present at some other period, but can it all amount +to a just indemnity for their labour? The treatment of servants in most +countries, I grant, is very unjust, and in England, that boasted land of +freedom, it is often extremely tyrannical. I have frequently, with +indignation, heard gentlemen declare that they would never allow a +servant to answer them; and ladies of the most exquisite sensibility, who +were continually exclaiming against the cruelty of the vulgar to the +brute creation, have in my presence forgot that their attendants had +human feelings as well as forms. I do not know a more agreeable sight +than to see servants part of a family. By taking an interest, generally +speaking, in their concerns you inspire them with one for yours. We must +love our servants, or we shall never be sufficiently attentive to their +happiness; and how can those masters be attentive to their happiness who, +living above their fortunes, are more anxious to outshine their +neighbours than to allow their household the innocent enjoyments they +earn? + +It is, in fact, much more difficult for servants, who are tantalised by +seeing and preparing the dainties of which they are not to partake, to +remain honest, than the poor, whose thoughts are not led from their +homely fare; so that, though the servants here are commonly thieves, you +seldom hear of housebreaking, or robbery on the highway. The country is, +perhaps, too thinly inhabited to produce many of that description of +thieves termed footpads, or highwaymen. They are usually the spawn of +great cities--the effect of the spurious desires generated by wealth, +rather than the desperate struggles of poverty to escape from misery. + +The enjoyment of the peasantry was drinking brandy and coffee, before the +latter was prohibited, and the former not allowed to be privately +distilled, the wars carried on by the late king rendering it necessary to +increase the revenue, and retain the specie in the country by every +possible means. + +The taxes before the reign of Charles XII. were inconsiderable. Since +then the burden has continually been growing heavier, and the price of +provisions has proportionately increased--nay, the advantage accruing +from the exportation of corn to France and rye to Germany will probably +produce a scarcity in both Sweden and Norway, should not a peace put a +stop to it this autumn, for speculations of various kinds have already +almost doubled the price. + +Such are the effects of war, that it saps the vitals even of the neutral +countries, who, obtaining a sudden influx of wealth, appear to be +rendered flourishing by the destruction which ravages the hapless nations +who are sacrificed to the ambition of their governors. I shall not, +however, dwell on the vices, though they be of the most contemptible and +embruting cast, to which a sudden accession of fortune gives birth, +because I believe it may be delivered as an axiom, that it is only in +proportion to the industry necessary to acquire wealth that a nation is +really benefited by it. + +The prohibition of drinking coffee under a penalty, and the encouragement +given to public distilleries, tend to impoverish the poor, who are not +affected by the sumptuary laws; for the regent has lately laid very +severe restraints on the articles of dress, which the middling class of +people found grievous, because it obliged them to throw aside finery that +might have lasted them for their lives. + +These may be termed vexatious; still the death of the king, by saving +them from the consequences his ambition would naturally have entailed on +them, may be reckoned a blessing. + +Besides, the French Revolution has not only rendered all the crowned +heads more cautious, but has so decreased everywhere (excepting amongst +themselves) a respect for nobility, that the peasantry have not only lost +their blind reverence for their seigniors, but complain in a manly style +of oppressions which before they did not think of denominating such, +because they were taught to consider themselves as a different order of +beings. And, perhaps, the efforts which the aristocrats are making here, +as well as in every other part of Europe, to secure their sway, will be +the most effectual mode of undermining it, taking into the calculation +that the King of Sweden, like most of the potentates of Europe, has +continually been augmenting his power by encroaching on the privileges of +the nobles. + +The well-bred Swedes of the capital are formed on the ancient French +model, and they in general speak that language; for they have a knack at +acquiring languages with tolerable fluency. This may be reckoned an +advantage in some respects; but it prevents the cultivation of their own, +and any considerable advance in literary pursuits. + +A sensible writer has lately observed (I have not his work by me, +therefore cannot quote his exact words), "That the Americans very wisely +let the Europeans make their books and fashions for them." But I cannot +coincide with him in this opinion. The reflection necessary to produce a +certain number even of tolerable productions augments more than he is +aware of the mass of knowledge in the community. Desultory reading is +commonly a mere pastime. But we must have an object to refer our +reflections to, or they will seldom go below the surface. As in +travelling, the keeping of a journal excites to many useful inquiries +that would not have been thought of had the traveller only determined to +see all he could see, without ever asking himself for what purpose. +Besides, the very dabbling in literature furnishes harmless topics of +conversation; for the not having such subjects at hand, though they are +often insupportably fatiguing, renders the inhabitants of little towns +prying and censorious. Idleness, rather than ill-nature, gives birth to +scandal, and to the observation of little incidents which narrows the +mind. It is frequently only the fear of being talked of which produces +that puerile scrupulosity about trifles incompatible with an enlarged +plan of usefulness, and with the basis of all moral principles--respect +for the virtues which are not merely the virtues of convention. + +I am, my friend, more and more convinced that a metropolis, or an abode +absolutely solitary, is the best calculated for the improvement of the +heart, as well as the understanding; whether we desire to become +acquainted with man, nature, or ourselves. Mixing with mankind, we are +obliged to examine our prejudices, and often imperceptibly lose, as we +analyse them. And in the country, growing intimate with nature, a +thousand little circumstances, unseen by vulgar eyes, give birth to +sentiments dear to the imagination, and inquiries which expand the soul, +particularly when cultivation has not smoothed into insipidity all its +originality of character. + +I love the country, yet whenever I see a picturesque situation chosen on +which to erect a dwelling I am always afraid of the improvements. It +requires uncommon taste to form a whole, and to introduce accommodations +and ornaments analogous with the surrounding-scene. + +It visited, near Gothenburg, a house with improved land about it, with +which I was particularly delighted. It was close to a lake embosomed in +pine-clad rocks. In one part of the meadows your eye was directed to the +broad expanse, in another you were led into a shade, to see a part of it, +in the form of a river, rush amongst the fragments of rocks and roots of +trees; nothing seemed forced. One recess, particularly grand and solemn +amongst the towering cliffs, had a rude stone table and seat placed in +it, that might have served for a Druid's haunt, whilst a placid stream +below enlivened the flowers on its margin, where light-footed elves would +gladly have danced their airy rounds. + +Here the hand of taste was conspicuous though not obtrusive, and formed a +contrast with another abode in the same neighbourhood, on which much +money had been lavished; where Italian colonnades were placed to excite +the wonder of the rude crags, and a stone staircase, to threaten with +destruction a wooden house. Venuses and Apollos condemned to lie hid in +snow three parts of the year seemed equally displaced, and called the +attention off from the surrounding sublimity, without inspiring any +voluptuous sensations. Yet even these abortions of vanity have been +useful. Numberless workmen have been employed, and the superintending +artist has improved the labourers, whose unskilfulness tormented him, by +obliging them to submit to the discipline of rules. Adieu! + +Yours affectionately. + + + + +LETTER IV. + + +The severity of the long Swedish winter tends to render the people +sluggish, for though this season has its peculiar pleasures, too much +time is employed to guard against its inclemency. Still as warm clothing +is absolutely necessary, the women spin and the men weave, and by these +exertions get a fence to keep out the cold. I have rarely passed a knot +of cottages without seeing cloth laid out to bleach, and when I entered, +always found the women spinning or knitting. + +A mistaken tenderness, however, for their children, makes them even in +summer load them with flannels, and having a sort of natural antipathy to +cold water, the squalid appearance of the poor babes, not to speak of the +noxious smell which flannel and rugs retain, seems a reply to a question +I had often asked--Why I did not see more children in the villages I +passed through? Indeed the children appear to be nipt in the bud, having +neither the graces nor charms of their age. And this, I am persuaded, is +much more owing to the ignorance of the mothers than to the rudeness of +the climate. Rendered feeble by the continual perspiration they are kept +in, whilst every pore is absorbing unwholesome moisture, they give them, +even at the breast, brandy, salt fish, and every other crude substance +which air and exercise enables the parent to digest. + +The women of fortune here, as well as everywhere else, have nurses to +suckle their children; and the total want of chastity in the lower class +of women frequently renders them very unfit for the trust. + +You have sometimes remarked to me the difference of the manners of the +country girls in England and in America; attributing the reserve of the +former to the climate--to the absence of genial suns. But it must be +their stars, not the zephyrs, gently stealing on their senses, which here +lead frail women astray. Who can look at these rocks, and allow the +voluptuousness of nature to be an excuse for gratifying the desires it +inspires? We must therefore, find some other cause beside +voluptuousness, I believe, to account for the conduct of the Swedish and +American country girls; for I am led to conclude, from all the +observations I have made, that there is always a mixture of sentiment and +imagination in voluptuousness, to which neither of them have much +pretension. + +The country girls of Ireland and Wales equally feel the first impulse of +nature, which, restrained in England by fear or delicacy, proves that +society is there in a more advanced state. Besides, as the mind is +cultivated, and taste gains ground, the passions become stronger, and +rest on something more stable than the casual sympathies of the moment. +Health and idleness will always account for promiscuous amours; and in +some degree I term every person idle, the exercise of whose mind does not +bear some proportion to that of the body. + +The Swedish ladies exercise neither sufficiently; of course, grow very +fat at an early age; and when they have not this downy appearance, a +comfortable idea, you will say, in a cold climate, they are not +remarkable for fine forms. They have, however, mostly fine complexions; +but indolence makes the lily soon displace the rose. The quantity of +coffee, spices, and other things of that kind, with want of care, almost +universally spoil their teeth, which contrast but ill with their ruby +lips. + +The manners of Stockholm are refined, I hear, by the introduction of +gallantry; but in the country, romping and coarse freedoms, with coarser +allusions, keep the spirits awake. In the article of cleanliness, the +women of all descriptions seem very deficient; and their dress shows that +vanity is more inherent in women than taste. + +The men appear to have paid still less court to the graces. They are a +robust, healthy race, distinguished for their common sense and turn for +humour, rather than for wit or sentiment. I include not, as you may +suppose, in this general character, some of the nobility and officers, +who having travelled, are polite and well informed. + +I must own to you that the lower class of people here amuse and interest +me much more than the middling, with their apish good breeding and +prejudices. The sympathy and frankness of heart conspicuous in the +peasantry produces even a simple gracefulness of deportment which has +frequently struck me as very picturesque; I have often also been touched +by their extreme desire to oblige me, when I could not explain my wants, +and by their earnest manner of expressing that desire. There is such a +charm in tenderness! It is so delightful to love our fellow-creatures, +and meet the honest affections as they break forth. Still, my good +friend, I begin to think that I should not like to live continually in +the country with people whose minds have such a narrow range. My heart +would frequently be interested; but my mind would languish for more +companionable society. + +The beauties of nature appear to me now even more alluring than in my +youth, because my intercourse with the world has formed without vitiating +my taste. But, with respect to the inhabitants of the country, my fancy +has probably, when disgusted with artificial manners, solaced itself by +joining the advantages of cultivation with the interesting sincerity of +innocence, forgetting the lassitude that ignorance will naturally +produce. I like to see animals sporting, and sympathise in their pains +and pleasures. Still I love sometimes to view the human face divine, and +trace the soul, as well as the heart, in its varying lineaments. + +A journey to the country, which I must shortly make, will enable me to +extend my remarks.--Adieu! + + + + +LETTER V. + + +Had I determined to travel in Sweden merely for pleasure, I should +probably have chosen the road to Stockholm, though convinced, by repeated +observation, that the manners of a people are best discriminated in the +country. The inhabitants of the capital are all of the same genus; for +the varieties in the species we must, therefore, search where the +habitations of men are so separated as to allow the difference of climate +to have its natural effect. And with this difference we are, perhaps, +most forcibly struck at the first view, just as we form an estimate of +the leading traits of a character at the first glance, of which intimacy +afterwards makes us almost lose sight. + +As my affairs called me to Stromstad (the frontier town of Sweden) in my +way to Norway, I was to pass over, I heard, the most uncultivated part of +the country. Still I believe that the grand features of Sweden are the +same everywhere, and it is only the grand features that admit of +description. There is an individuality in every prospect, which remains +in the memory as forcibly depicted as the particular features that have +arrested our attention; yet we cannot find words to discriminate that +individuality so as to enable a stranger to say, this is the face, that +the view. We may amuse by setting the imagination to work; but we cannot +store the memory with a fact. + +As I wish to give you a general idea of this country, I shall continue in +my desultory manner to make such observations and reflections as the +circumstances draw forth, without losing time, by endeavouring to arrange +them. + +Travelling in Sweden is very cheap, and even commodious, if you make but +the proper arrangements. Here, as in other parts of the Continent, it is +necessary to have your own carriage, and to have a servant who can speak +the language, if you are unacquainted with it. Sometimes a servant who +can drive would be found very useful, which was our case, for I travelled +in company with two gentlemen, one of whom had a German servant who drove +very well. This was all the party; for not intending to make a long +stay, I left my little girl behind me. + +As the roads are not much frequented, to avoid waiting three or four +hours for horses, we sent, as is the constant custom, an _avant courier_ +the night before, to order them at every post, and we constantly found +them ready. Our first set I jokingly termed requisition horses; but +afterwards we had almost always little spirited animals that went on at a +round pace. + +The roads, making allowance for the ups and downs, are uncommonly good +and pleasant. The expense, including the postillions and other +incidental things, does not amount to more than a shilling the Swedish +mile. + +The inns are tolerable; but not liking the rye bread, I found it +necessary to furnish myself with some wheaten before I set out. The +beds, too, were particularly disagreeable to me. It seemed to me that I +was sinking into a grave when I entered them; for, immersed in down +placed in a sort of box, I expected to be suffocated before morning. The +sleeping between two down beds--they do so even in summer--must be very +unwholesome during any season; and I cannot conceive how the people can +bear it, especially as the summers are very warm. But warmth they seem +not to feel; and, I should think, were afraid of the air, by always +keeping their windows shut. In the winter, I am persuaded, I could not +exist in rooms thus closed up, with stoves heated in their manner, for +they only put wood into them twice a day; and, when the stove is +thoroughly heated, they shut the flue, not admitting any air to renew its +elasticity, even when the rooms are crowded with company. These stoves +are made of earthenware, and often in a form that ornaments an apartment, +which is never the case with the heavy iron ones I have seen elsewhere. +Stoves may be economical, but I like a fire, a wood one, in preference; +and I am convinced that the current of air which it attracts renders this +the best mode of warming rooms. + +We arrived early the second evening at a little village called Quistram, +where we had determined to pass the night, having been informed that we +should not afterwards find a tolerable inn until we reached Stromstad. + +Advancing towards Quistram, as the sun was beginning to decline, I was +particularly impressed by the beauty of the situation. The road was on +the declivity of a rocky mountain, slightly covered with a mossy herbage +and vagrant firs. At the bottom, a river, straggling amongst the +recesses of stone, was hastening forward to the ocean and its grey rocks, +of which we had a prospect on the left; whilst on the right it stole +peacefully forward into the meadows, losing itself in a thickly-wooded +rising ground. As we drew near, the loveliest banks of wild flowers +variegated the prospect, and promised to exhale odours to add to the +sweetness of the air, the purity of which you could almost see, alas! not +smell, for the putrefying herrings, which they use as manure, after the +oil has been extracted, spread over the patches of earth, claimed by +cultivation, destroyed every other. + +It was intolerable, and entered with us into the inn, which was in other +respects a charming retreat. + +Whilst supper was preparing I crossed the bridge, and strolled by the +river, listening to its murmurs. Approaching the bank, the beauty of +which had attracted my attention in the carriage, I recognised many of my +old acquaintance growing with great luxuriance. + +Seated on it, I could not avoid noting an obvious remark. Sweden +appeared to me the country in the world most proper to form the botanist +and natural historian; every object seemed to remind me of the creation +of things, of the first efforts of sportive nature. When a country +arrives at a certain state of perfection, it looks as if it were made so; +and curiosity is not excited. Besides, in social life too many objects +occur for any to be distinctly observed by the generality of mankind; yet +a contemplative man, or poet, in the country--I do not mean the country +adjacent to cities--feels and sees what would escape vulgar eyes, and +draws suitable inferences. This train of reflections might have led me +further, in every sense of the word; but I could not escape from the +detestable evaporation of the herrings, which poisoned all my pleasure. + +After making a tolerable supper--for it is not easy to get fresh +provisions on the road--I retired, to be lulled to sleep by the murmuring +of a stream, of which I with great difficulty obtained sufficient to +perform my daily ablutions. + +The last battle between the Danes and Swedes, which gave new life to +their ancient enmity, was fought at this place 1788; only seventeen or +eighteen were killed, for the great superiority of the Danes and +Norwegians obliged the Swedes to submit; but sickness, and a scarcity of +provision, proved very fatal to their opponents on their return. + +It would be very easy to search for the particulars of this engagement in +the publications of the day; but as this manner of filling my pages does +not come within my plan, I probably should not have remarked that the +battle was fought here, were it not to relate an anecdote which I had +from good authority. + +I noticed, when I first mentioned this place to you, that we descended a +steep before we came to the inn; an immense ridge of rocks stretching out +on one side. The inn was sheltered under them; and about a hundred yards +from it was a bridge that crossed the river, the murmurs of which I have +celebrated; it was not fordable. The Swedish general received orders to +stop at the bridge and dispute the passage--a most advantageous post for +an army so much inferior in force; but the influence of beauty is not +confined to courts. The mistress of the inn was handsome; when I saw her +there were still some remains of beauty; and, to preserve her house, the +general gave up the only tenable station. He was afterwards broke for +contempt of orders. + +Approaching the frontiers, consequently the sea, nature resumed an aspect +ruder and ruder, or rather seemed the bones of the world waiting to be +clothed with everything necessary to give life and beauty. Still it was +sublime. + +The clouds caught their hue of the rocks that menaced them. The sun +appeared afraid to shine, the birds ceased to sing, and the flowers to +bloom; but the eagle fixed his nest high amongst the rocks, and the +vulture hovered over this abode of desolation. The farm houses, in which +only poverty resided, were formed of logs scarcely keeping off the cold +and drifting snow: out of them the inhabitants seldom peeped, and the +sports or prattling of children was neither seen or heard. The current +of life seemed congealed at the source: all were not frozen, for it was +summer, you remember; but everything appeared so dull that I waited to +see ice, in order to reconcile me to the absence of gaiety. + +The day before, my attention had frequently been attracted by the wild +beauties of the country we passed through. + +The rocks which tossed their fantastic heads so high were often covered +with pines and firs, varied in the most picturesque manner. Little woods +filled up the recesses when forests did not darken the scene, and valleys +and glens, cleared of the trees, displayed a dazzling verdure which +contrasted with the gloom of the shading pines. The eye stole into many +a covert where tranquillity seemed to have taken up her abode, and the +number of little lakes that continually presented themselves added to the +peaceful composure of the scenery. The little cultivation which appeared +did not break the enchantment, nor did castles rear their turrets aloft +to crush the cottages, and prove that man is more savage than the natives +of the woods. I heard of the bears but never saw them stalk forth, which +I was sorry for; I wished to have seen one in its wild state. In the +winter, I am told, they sometimes catch a stray cow, which is a heavy +loss to the owner. + +The farms are small. Indeed most of the houses we saw on the road +indicated poverty, or rather that the people could just live. Towards +the frontiers they grew worse and worse in their appearance, as if not +willing to put sterility itself out of countenance. No gardens smiled +round the habitations, not a potato or cabbage to eat with the fish +drying on a stick near the door. A little grain here and there appeared, +the long stalks of which you might almost reckon. The day was gloomy +when we passed over this rejected spot, the wind bleak, and winter seemed +to be contending with nature, faintly struggling to change the season. +Surely, thought I, if the sun ever shines here it cannot warm these +stones; moss only cleaves to them, partaking of their hardness, and +nothing like vegetable life appears to cheer with hope the heart. + +So far from thinking that the primitive inhabitants of the world lived in +a southern climate where Paradise spontaneously arose, I am led to infer, +from various circumstances, that the first dwelling of man happened to be +a spot like this which led him to adore a sun so seldom seen; for this +worship, which probably preceded that of demons or demigods, certainly +never began in a southern climate, where the continual presence of the +sun prevented its being considered as a good; or rather the want of it +never being felt, this glorious luminary would carelessly have diffused +its blessings without being hailed as a benefactor. Man must therefore +have been placed in the north, to tempt him to run after the sun, in +order that the different parts of the earth might be peopled. Nor do I +wonder that hordes of barbarians always poured out of these regions to +seek for milder climes, when nothing like cultivation attached them to +the soil, especially when we take into the view that the adventuring +spirit, common to man, is naturally stronger and more general during the +infancy of society. The conduct of the followers of Mahomet, and the +crusaders, will sufficiently corroborate my assertion. + +Approaching nearer to Stromstad, the appearance of the town proved to be +quite in character with the country we had just passed through. I +hesitated to use the word country, yet could not find another; still it +would sound absurd to talk of fields of rocks. + +The town was built on and under them. Three or four weather-beaten trees +were shrinking from the wind, and the grass grew so sparingly that I +could not avoid thinking Dr. Johnson's hyperbolical assertion "that the +man merited well of his country who made a few blades of grass grow where +they never grew before," might here have been uttered with strict +propriety. The steeple likewise towered aloft, for what is a church, +even amongst the Lutherans, without a steeple? But to prevent mischief +in such an exposed situation, it is wisely placed on a rock at some +distance not to endanger the roof of the church. + +Rambling about, I saw the door open, and entered, when to my great +surprise I found the clergyman reading prayers, with only the clerk +attending. I instantly thought of Swift's "Dearly beloved Roger," but on +inquiry I learnt that some one had died that morning, and in Sweden it is +customary to pray for the dead. + +The sun, who I suspected never dared to shine, began now to convince me +that he came forth only to torment; for though the wind was still +cutting, the rocks became intolerably warm under my feet, whilst the +herring effluvia, which I before found so very offensive, once more +assailed me. I hastened back to the house of a merchant, the little +sovereign of the place, because he was by far the richest, though not the +mayor. + +Here we were most hospitably received, and introduced to a very fine and +numerous family. I have before mentioned to you the lilies of the north, +I might have added, water lilies, for the complexion of many, even of the +young women, seem to be bleached on the bosom of snow. But in this +youthful circle the roses bloomed with all their wonted freshness, and I +wondered from whence the fire was stolen which sparkled in their fine +blue eyes. + +Here we slept; and I rose early in the morning to prepare for my little +voyage to Norway. I had determined to go by water, and was to leave my +companions behind; but not getting a boat immediately, and the wind being +high and unfavourable, I was told that it was not safe to go to sea +during such boisterous weather; I was, therefore, obliged to wait for the +morrow, and had the present day on my hands, which I feared would be +irksome, because the family, who possessed about a dozen French words +amongst them and not an English phrase, were anxious to amuse me, and +would not let me remain alone in my room. The town we had already walked +round and round, and if we advanced farther on the coast, it was still to +view the same unvaried immensity of water surrounded by barrenness. + +The gentlemen, wishing to peep into Norway, proposed going to +Fredericshall, the first town--the distance was only three Swedish miles. +There and back again was but a day's journey, and would not, I thought, +interfere with my voyage. I agreed, and invited the eldest and prettiest +of the girls to accompany us. I invited her because I like to see a +beautiful face animated by pleasure, and to have an opportunity of +regarding the country, whilst the gentlemen were amusing themselves with +her. + +I did not know, for I had not thought of it, that we were to scale some +of the most mountainous cliffs of Sweden in our way to the ferry which +separates the two countries. + +Entering amongst the cliffs, we were sheltered from the wind, warm +sunbeams began to play, streams to flow, and groves of pines diversified +the rocks. Sometimes they became suddenly bare and sublime. Once, in +particular, after mounting the most terrific precipice, we had to pass +through a tremendous defile, where the closing chasm seemed to threaten +us with instant destruction, when, turning quickly, verdant meadows and a +beautiful lake relieved and charmed my eyes. + +I had never travelled through Switzerland, but one of my companions +assured me that I should not there find anything superior, if equal, to +the wild grandeur of these views. + +As we had not taken this excursion into our plan, the horses had not been +previously ordered, which obliged us to wait two hours at the first post. +The day was wearing away. The road was so bad that walking up the +precipices consumed the time insensibly; but as we desired horses at each +post ready at a certain hour, we reckoned on returning more speedily. + +We stopped to dine at a tolerable farm; they brought us out ham, butter, +cheese, and milk, and the charge was so moderate that I scattered a +little money amongst the children who were peeping at us, in order to pay +them for their trouble. + +Arrived at the ferry, we were still detained, for the people who attend +at the ferries have a stupid kind of sluggishness in their manner, which +is very provoking when you are in haste. At present I did not feel it, +for, scrambling up the cliffs, my eye followed the river as it rolled +between the grand rocky banks; and, to complete the scenery, they were +covered with firs and pines, through which the wind rustled as if it were +lulling itself to sleep with the declining sun. + +Behold us now in Norway; and I could not avoid feeling surprise at +observing the difference in the manners of the inhabitants of the two +sides of the river, for everything shows that the Norwegians are more +industrious and more opulent. The Swedes (for neighbours are seldom the +best friends) accuse the Norwegians of knavery, and they retaliate by +bringing a charge of hypocrisy against the Swedes. Local circumstances +probably render both unjust, speaking from their feelings rather than +reason; and is this astonishing when we consider that most writers of +travels have done the same, whose works have served as materials for the +compilers of universal histories? All are eager to give a national +character, which is rarely just, because they do not discriminate the +natural from the acquired difference. The natural, I believe, on due +consideration, will be found to consist merely in the degree of vivacity, +or thoughtfulness, pleasures or pain, inspired by the climate, whilst the +varieties which the forms of government, including religion, produce are +much more numerous and unstable. + +A people have been characterised as stupid by nature; what a paradox! +because they did not consider that slaves, having no object to stimulate +industry; have not their faculties sharpened by the only thing that can +exercise them, self-interest. Others have been brought forward as +brutes, having no aptitude for the arts and sciences, only because the +progress of improvement had not reached that stage which produces them. + +Those writers who have considered the history of man, or of the human +mind, on a more enlarged scale have fallen into similar errors, not +reflecting that the passions are weak where the necessaries of life are +too hardly or too easily obtained. + +Travellers who require that every nation should resemble their native +country, had better stay at home. It is, for example, absurd to blame a +people for not having that degree of personal cleanliness and elegance of +manners which only refinement of taste produces, and will produce +everywhere in proportion as society attains a general polish. The most +essential service, I presume, that authors could render to society, would +be to promote inquiry and discussion, instead of making those dogmatical +assertions which only appear calculated to gird the human mind round with +imaginary circles, like the paper globe which represents the one he +inhabits. + +This spirit of inquiry is the characteristic of the present century, from +which the succeeding will, I am persuaded, receive a great accumulation +of knowledge; and doubtless its diffusion will in a great measure destroy +the factitious national characters which have been supposed permanent, +though only rendered so by the permanency of ignorance. + +Arriving at Fredericshall, at the siege of which Charles XII. lost his +life, we had only time to take a transient view of it whilst they were +preparing us some refreshment. + +Poor Charles! I thought of him with respect. I have always felt the +same for Alexander, with whom he has been classed as a madman by several +writers, who have reasoned superficially, confounding the morals of the +day with the few grand principles on which unchangeable morality rests. +Making no allowance for the ignorance and prejudices of the period, they +do not perceive how much they themselves are indebted to general +improvement for the acquirements, and even the virtues, which they would +not have had the force of mind to attain by their individual exertions in +a less advanced state of society. + +The evening was fine, as is usual at this season, and the refreshing +odour of the pine woods became more perceptible, for it was nine o'clock +when we left Fredericshall. At the ferry we were detained by a dispute +relative to our Swedish passport, which we did not think of getting +countersigned in Norway. Midnight was coming on, yet it might with such +propriety have been termed the noon of night that, had Young ever +travelled towards the north, I should not have wondered at his becoming +enamoured of the moon. But it is not the Queen of Night alone who reigns +here in all her splendour, though the sun, loitering just below the +horizon, decks her within a golden tinge from his car, illuminating the +cliffs that hide him; the heavens also, of a clear softened blue, throw +her forward, and the evening star appears a smaller moon to the naked +eye. The huge shadows of the rocks, fringed with firs, concentrating the +views without darkening them, excited that tender melancholy which, +sublimating the imagination, exalts rather than depresses the mind. + +My companions fell asleep--fortunately they did not snore; and I +contemplated, fearless of idle questions, a night such as I had never +before seen or felt, to charm the senses, and calm the heart. The very +air was balmy as it freshened into morn, producing the most voluptuous +sensations. A vague pleasurable sentiment absorbed me, as I opened my +bosom to the embraces of nature; and my soul rose to its Author, with the +chirping of the solitary birds, which began to feel, rather than see, +advancing day. I had leisure to mark its progress. The grey morn, +streaked with silvery rays, ushered in the orient beams (how beautifully +varying into purple!), yet I was sorry to lose the soft watery clouds +which preceded them, exciting a kind of expectation that made me almost +afraid to breathe, lest I should break the charm. I saw the sun--and +sighed. + +One of my companions, now awake, perceiving that the postillion had +mistaken the road, began to swear at him, and roused the other two, who +reluctantly shook off sleep. + +We had immediately to measure back our steps, and did not reach Stromstad +before five in the morning. + +The wind had changed in the night, and my boat was ready. + +A dish of coffee, and fresh linen, recruited my spirits, and I directly +set out again for Norway, purposing to land much higher up the coast. + +Wrapping my great-coat round me, I lay down on some sails at the bottom +of the boat, its motion rocking me to rest, till a discourteous wave +interrupted my slumbers, and obliged me to rise and feel a solitariness +which was not so soothing as that of the past night. + +Adieu! + + + + +LETTER VI. + + +The sea was boisterous, but, as I had an experienced pilot, I did not +apprehend any danger. Sometimes, I was told, boats are driven far out +and lost. However, I seldom calculate chances so nicely--sufficient for +the day is the obvious evil! + +We had to steer amongst islands and huge rocks, rarely losing sight of +the shore, though it now and then appeared only a mist that bordered the +water's edge. The pilot assured me that the numerous harbours on the +Norway coast were very safe, and the pilot-boats were always on the +watch. The Swedish side is very dangerous, I am also informed; and the +help of experience is not often at hand to enable strange vessels to +steer clear of the rocks, which lurk below the water close to the shore. + +There are no tides here, nor in the Cattegate, and, what appeared to me a +consequence, no sandy beach. Perhaps this observation has been made +before; but it did not occur to me till I saw the waves continually +beating against the bare rocks, without ever receding to leave a sediment +to harden. + +The wind was fair, till we had to tack about in order to enter Laurvig, +where we arrived towards three o'clock in the afternoon. It is a clean, +pleasant town, with a considerable iron-work, which gives life to it. + +As the Norwegians do not frequently see travellers, they are very curious +to know their business, and who they are--so curious, that I was half +tempted to adopt Dr. Franklin's plan, when travelling in America, where +they are equally prying, which was to write on a paper, for public +inspection, my name, from whence I came, where I was going, and what was +my business. But if I were importuned by their curiosity, their friendly +gestures gratified me. A woman coming alone interested them. And I know +not whether my weariness gave me a look of peculiar delicacy, but they +approached to assist me, and inquire after my wants, as if they were +afraid to hurt, and wished to protect me. The sympathy I inspired, thus +dropping down from the clouds in a strange land, affected me more than it +would have done had not my spirits been harassed by various causes--by +much thinking--musing almost to madness--and even by a sort of weak +melancholy that hung about my heart at parting with my daughter for the +first time. + +You know that, as a female, I am particularly attached to her; I feel +more than a mother's fondness and anxiety when I reflect on the dependent +and oppressed state of her sex. I dread lest she should be forced to +sacrifice her heart to her principles, or principles to her heart. With +trembling hand I shall cultivate sensibility and cherish delicacy of +sentiment, lest, whilst I lend fresh blushes to the rose, I sharpen the +thorns that will wound the breast I would fain guard; I dread to unfold +her mind, lest it should render her unfit for the world she is to +inhabit. Hapless woman! what a fate is thine! + +But whither am I wandering? I only meant to tell you that the impression +the kindness of the simple people made visible on my countenance +increased my sensibility to a painful degree. I wished to have had a +room to myself, for their attention, and rather distressing observation, +embarrassed me extremely. Yet, as they would bring me eggs, and make my +coffee, I found I could not leave them without hurting their feelings of +hospitality. + +It is customary here for the host and hostess to welcome their guests as +master and mistress of the house. + +My clothes, in their turn, attracted the attention of the females, and I +could not help thinking of the foolish vanity which makes many women so +proud of the observation of strangers as to take wonder very gratuitously +for admiration. This error they are very apt to fall into when, arrived +in a foreign country, the populace stare at them as they pass. Yet the +make of a cap or the singularity of a gown is often the cause of the +flattering attention which afterwards supports a fantastic superstructure +of self-conceit. + +Not having brought a carriage over with me, expecting to have met a +person where I landed, who was immediately to have procured me one, I was +detained whilst the good people of the inn sent round to all their +acquaintance to search for a vehicle. A rude sort of cabriole was at +last found, and a driver half drunk, who was not less eager to make a +good bargain on that account. I had a Danish captain of a ship and his +mate with me; the former was to ride on horseback, at which he was not +very expert, and the latter to partake of my seat. The driver mounted +behind to guide the horses and flourish the whip over our shoulders; he +would not suffer the reins out of his own hands. There was something so +grotesque in our appearance that I could not avoid shrinking into myself +when I saw a gentleman-like man in the group which crowded round the door +to observe us. I could have broken the driver's whip for cracking to +call the women and children together, but seeing a significant smile on +the face, I had before remarked, I burst into a laugh to allow him to do +so too, and away we flew. This is not a flourish of the pen, for we +actually went on full gallop a long time, the horses being very good; +indeed, I have never met with better, if so good, post-horses as in +Norway. They are of a stouter make than the English horses, appear to be +well fed, and are not easily tired. + +I had to pass over, I was informed, the most fertile and best cultivated +tract of country in Norway. The distance was three Norwegian miles, +which are longer than the Swedish. The roads were very good; the farmers +are obliged to repair them; and we scampered through a great extent of +country in a more improved state than any I had viewed since I left +England. Still there was sufficient of hills, dales, and rocks to +prevent the idea of a plain from entering the head, or even of such +scenery as England and France afford. The prospects were also +embellished by water, rivers, and lakes before the sea proudly claimed my +regard, and the road running frequently through lofty groves rendered the +landscapes beautiful, though they were not so romantic as those I had +lately seen with such delight. + +It was late when I reached Tonsberg, and I was glad to go to bed at a +decent inn. The next morning the 17th of July, conversing with the +gentleman with whom I had business to transact, I found that I should be +detained at Tonsberg three weeks, and I lamented that I had not brought +my child with me. + +The inn was quiet, and my room so pleasant, commanding a view of the sea, +confined by an amphitheatre of hanging woods, that I wished to remain +there, though no one in the house could speak English or French. The +mayor, my friend, however, sent a young woman to me who spoke a little +English, and she agreed to call on me twice a day to receive my orders +and translate them to my hostess. + +My not understanding the language was an excellent pretext for dining +alone, which I prevailed on them to let me do at a late hour, for the +early dinners in Sweden had entirely deranged my day. I could not alter +it there without disturbing the economy of a family where I was as a +visitor, necessity having forced me to accept of an invitation from a +private family, the lodgings were so incommodious. + +Amongst the Norwegians I had the arrangement of my own time, and I +determined to regulate it in such a manner that I might enjoy as much of +their sweet summer as I possibly could; short, it is true, but "passing +sweet." + +I never endured a winter in this rude clime, consequently it was not the +contrast, but the real beauty of the season which made the present summer +appear to me the finest I had ever seen. Sheltered from the north and +eastern winds, nothing can exceed the salubrity, the soft freshness of +the western gales. In the evening they also die away; the aspen leaves +tremble into stillness, and reposing nature seems to be warmed by the +moon, which here assumes a genial aspect. And if a light shower has +chanced to fall with the sun, the juniper, the underwood of the forest, +exhales a wild perfume, mixed with a thousand nameless sweets that, +soothing the heart, leave images in the memory which the imagination will +ever hold dear. + +Nature is the nurse of sentiment, the true source of taste; yet what +misery, as well as rapture, is produced by a quick perception of the +beautiful and sublime when it is exercised in observing animated nature, +when every beauteous feeling and emotion excites responsive sympathy, and +the harmonised soul sinks into melancholy or rises to ecstasy, just as +the chords are touched, like the AEolian harp agitated by the changing +wind. But how dangerous is it to foster these sentiments in such an +imperfect state of existence, and how difficult to eradicate them when an +affection for mankind, a passion for an individual, is but the unfolding +of that love which embraces all that is great and beautiful! + +When a warm heart has received strong impressions, they are not to be +effaced. Emotions become sentiments, and the imagination renders even +transient sensations permanent by fondly retracing them. I cannot, +without a thrill of delight, recollect views I have seen, which are not +to be forgotten, nor looks I have felt in every nerve, which I shall +never more meet. The grave has closed over a dear friend, the friend of +my youth. Still she is present with me, and I hear her soft voice +warbling as I stray over the heath. Fate has separated me from another, +the fire of whose eyes, tempered by infantine tenderness, still warms my +breast; even when gazing on these tremendous cliffs sublime emotions +absorb my soul. And, smile not, if I add that the rosy tint of morning +reminds me of a suffusion which will never more charm my senses, unless +it reappears on the cheeks of my child. Her sweet blushes I may yet hide +in my bosom, and she is still too young to ask why starts the tear so +near akin to pleasure and pain. + +I cannot write any more at present. To-morrow we will talk of Tonsberg. + + + + +LETTER VII. + + +Though the king of Denmark be an absolute monarch, yet the Norwegians +appear to enjoy all the blessings of freedom. Norway may be termed a +sister kingdom; but the people have no viceroy to lord it over them, and +fatten his dependants with the fruit of their labour. + +There are only two counts in the whole country who have estates, and +exact some feudal observances from their tenantry. All the rest of the +country is divided into small farms, which belong to the cultivator. It +is true some few, appertaining to the Church, are let, but always on a +lease for life, generally renewed in favour of the eldest son, who has +this advantage as well as a right to a double portion of the property. +But the value of the farm is estimated, and after his portion is assigned +to him he must be answerable for the residue to the remaining part of the +family. + +Every farmer for ten years is obliged to attend annually about twelve +days to learn the military exercise, but it is always at a small distance +from his dwelling, and does not lead him into any new habits of life. + +There are about six thousand regulars also in garrison at Christiania and +Fredericshall, who are equally reserved, with the militia, for the +defence of their own country. So that when the Prince Royal passed into +Sweden in 1788, he was obliged to request, not command, them to accompany +him on this expedition. + +These corps are mostly composed of the sons of the cottagers, who being +labourers on the farms, are allowed a few acres to cultivate for +themselves. These men voluntarily enlist, but it is only for a limited +period (six years), at the expiration of which they have the liberty of +retiring. The pay is only twopence a day and bread; still, considering +the cheapness of the country, it is more than sixpence in England. + +The distribution of landed property into small farms produces a degree of +equality which I have seldom seen elsewhere; and the rich being all +merchants, who are obliged to divide their personal fortune amongst their +children, the boys always receiving twice as much as the girls, property +has met a chance of accumulating till overgrowing wealth destroys the +balance of liberty. + +You will be surprised to hear me talk of liberty; yet the Norwegians +appear to me to be the most free community I have ever observed. + +The mayor of each town or district, and the judges in the country, +exercise an authority almost patriarchal. They can do much good, but +little harm,--as every individual can appeal from their judgment; and as +they may always be forced to give a reason for their conduct, it is +generally regulated by prudence. "They have not time to learn to be +tyrants," said a gentleman to me, with whom I discussed the subject. + +The farmers not fearing to be turned out of their farms, should they +displease a man in power, and having no vote to be commanded at an +election for a mock representative, are a manly race; for not being +obliged to submit to any debasing tenure in order to live, or advance +themselves in the world, they act with an independent spirit. I never +yet have heard of anything like domineering or oppression, excepting such +as has arisen from natural causes. The freedom the people enjoy may, +perhaps, render them a little litigious, and subject them to the +impositions of cunning practitioners of the law; but the authority of +office is bounded, and the emoluments of it do not destroy its utility. + +Last year a man who had abused his power was cashiered, on the +representation of the people to the bailiff of the district. + +There are four in Norway who might with propriety be termed sheriffs; and +from their sentence an appeal, by either party, may be made to +Copenhagen. + +Near most of the towns are commons, on which the cows of all the +inhabitants, indiscriminately, are allowed to graze. The poor, to whom a +cow is necessary, are almost supported by it. Besides, to render living +more easy, they all go out to fish in their own boats, and fish is their +principal food. + +The lower class of people in the towns are in general sailors; and the +industrious have usually little ventures of their own that serve to +render the winter comfortable. + +With respect to the country at large, the importation is considerably in +favour of Norway. + +They are forbidden, at present, to export corn or rye on account of the +advanced price. + +The restriction which most resembles the painful subordination of +Ireland, is that vessels, trading to the West Indies, are obliged to pass +by their own ports, and unload their cargoes at Copenhagen, which they +afterwards reship. The duty is indeed inconsiderable, but the navigation +being dangerous, they run a double risk. + +There is an excise on all articles of consumption brought to the towns; +but the officers are not strict, and it would be reckoned invidious to +enter a house to search, as in England. + +The Norwegians appear to me a sensible, shrewd people, with little +scientific knowledge, and still less taste for literature; but they are +arriving at the epoch which precedes the introduction of the arts and +sciences. + +Most of the towns are seaports, and seaports are not favourable to +improvement. The captains acquire a little superficial knowledge by +travelling, which their indefatigable attention to the making of money +prevents their digesting; and the fortune that they thus laboriously +acquire is spent, as it usually is in towns of this description, in show +and good living. They love their country, but have not much public +spirit. Their exertions are, generally speaking, only for their +families, which, I conceive, will always be the case, till politics, +becoming a subject of discussion, enlarges the heart by opening the +understanding. The French Revolution will have this effect. They sing, +at present, with great glee, many Republican songs, and seem earnestly to +wish that the republic may stand; yet they appear very much attached to +their Prince Royal, and, as far as rumour can give an idea of a +character, he appears to merit their attachment. When I am at +Copenhagen, I shall be able to ascertain on what foundation their good +opinion is built; at present I am only the echo of it. + +In the year 1788 he travelled through Norway; and acts of mercy gave +dignity to the parade, and interest to the joy his presence inspired. At +this town he pardoned a girl condemned to die for murdering an +illegitimate child, a crime seldom committed in this country. She is +since married, and become the careful mother of a family. This might be +given as an instance, that a desperate act is not always a proof of an +incorrigible depravity of character, the only plausible excuse that has +been brought forward to justify the infliction of capital punishments. + +I will relate two or three other anecdotes to you, for the truth of which +I will not vouch because the facts were not of sufficient consequence for +me to take much pains to ascertain them; and, true or false, they evince +that the people like to make a kind of mistress of their prince. + +An officer, mortally wounded at the ill-advised battle of Quistram, +desired to speak with the prince; and with his dying breath, earnestly +recommended to his care a young woman of Christiania, to whom he was +engaged. When the prince returned there, a ball was given by the chief +inhabitants: he inquired whether this unfortunate girl was invited, and +requested that she might, though of the second class. The girl came; she +was pretty; and finding herself among her superiors, bashfully sat down +as near the door as possible, nobody taking notice of her. Shortly +after, the prince entering, immediately inquired for her, and asked her +to dance, to the mortification of the rich dames. After it was over he +handed her to the top of the room, and placing himself by her, spoke of +the loss she had sustained, with tenderness, promising to provide for +anyone she should marry, as the story goes. She is since married, and he +has not forgotten his promise. + +A little girl, during the same expedition, in Sweden, who informed him +that the logs of a bridge were out underneath, was taken by his orders to +Christiania, and put to school at his expense. + +Before I retail other beneficial effects of his journey, it is necessary +to inform you that the laws here are mild, and do not punish capitally +for any crime but murder, which seldom occurs. Every other offence +merely subjects the delinquent to imprisonment and labour in the castle, +or rather arsenal at Christiania, and the fortress at Fredericshall. The +first and second conviction produces a sentence for a limited number of +years--two, three, five, or seven, proportioned to the atrocity of the +crime. After the third he is whipped, branded in the forehead, and +condemned to perpetual slavery. This is the ordinary course of justice. +For some flagrant breaches of trust, or acts of wanton cruelty, criminals +have been condemned to slavery for life time first the of conviction, but +not frequently. The number of these slaves do not, I am informed, amount +to more than a hundred, which is not considerable, compared with the +population, upwards of eight hundred thousand. Should I pass through +Christiania, on my return to Gothenburg, I shall probably have an +opportunity of learning other particulars. + +There is also a House of Correction at Christiania for trifling +misdemeanours, where the women are confined to labour and imprisonment +even for life. The state of the prisoners was represented to the prince, +in consequence of which he visited the arsenal and House of Correction. +The slaves at the arsenal were loaded with irons of a great weight; he +ordered them to be lightened as much as possible. + +The people in the House of Correction were commanded not to speak to him; +but four women, condemned to remain there for life, got into the passage, +and fell at his feet. He granted them a pardon; and inquiring respecting +the treatment of the prisoners, he was informed that they were frequently +whipped going in, and coming out, and for any fault, at the discretion of +the inspectors. This custom he humanely abolished, though some of the +principal inhabitants, whose situation in life had raised them above the +temptation of stealing, were of opinion that these chastisements were +necessary and wholesome. + +In short, everything seems to announce that the prince really cherishes +the laudable ambition of fulfilling the duties of his station. This +ambition is cherished and directed by the Count Bernstorff, the Prime +Minister of Denmark, who is universally celebrated for his abilities and +virtue. The happiness of the people is a substantial eulogium; and, from +all I can gather, the inhabitants of Denmark and Norway are the least +oppressed people of Europe. The press is free. They translate any of +the French publications of the day, deliver their opinion on the subject, +and discuss those it leads to with great freedom, and without fearing to +displease the Government. + +On the subject of religion they are likewise becoming tolerant, at least, +and perhaps have advanced a step further in free-thinking. One writer +has ventured to deny the divinity of Jesus Christ, and to question the +necessity or utility of the Christian system, without being considered +universally as a monster, which would have been the case a few years ago. +They have translated many German works on education; and though they have +not adopted any of their plans, it has become a subject of discussion. +There are some grammar and free schools; but, from what I hear, not very +good ones. All the children learn to read, write, and cast accounts, for +the purposes of common life. They have no university; and nothing that +deserves the name of science is taught; nor do individuals, by pursuing +any branch of knowledge, excite a degree of curiosity which is the +forerunner of improvement. Knowledge is not absolutely necessary to +enable a considerable portion of the community to live; and, till it is, +I fear it never becomes general. + +In this country, where minerals abound, there is not one collection; and, +in all probability, I venture a conjecture, the want of mechanical and +chemical knowledge renders the silver mines unproductive, for the +quantity of silver obtained every year is not sufficient to defray the +expenses. It has been urged that the employment of such a number of +hands is very beneficial. But a positive loss is never to be done away; +and the men, thus employed, would naturally find some other means of +living, instead of being thus a dead weight on Government, or rather on +the community from whom its revenue is drawn. + +About three English miles from Tonsberg there is a salt work, belonging, +like all their establishments, to Government, in which they employ above +a hundred and fifty men, and maintain nearly five hundred people, who +earn their living. The clear profit, an increasing one, amounts to two +thousand pounds sterling. And as the eldest son of the inspector, an +ingenious young man, has been sent by the Government to travel, and +acquire some mathematical and chemical knowledge in Germany, it has a +chance of being improved. He is the only person I have met with here who +appears to have a scientific turn of mind. I do not mean to assert that +I have not met with others who have a spirit of inquiry. + +The salt-works at St. Ubes are basins in the sand, and the sun produces +the evaporation, but here there is no beach. Besides, the heat of summer +is so short-lived that it would be idle to contrive machines for such an +inconsiderable portion of the year. They therefore always use fires; and +the whole establishment appears to be regulated with judgment. + +The situation is well chosen and beautiful. I do not find, from the +observation of a person who has resided here for forty years, that the +sea advances or recedes on this coast. + +I have already remarked that little attention is paid to education, +excepting reading, writing, and the rudiments of arithmetic; I ought to +have added that a catechism is carefully taught, and the children obliged +to read in the churches, before the congregation, to prove that they are +not neglected. + +Degrees, to enable any one to practise any profession, must be taken at +Copenhagen; and the people of this country, having the good sense to +perceive that men who are to live in a community should at least acquire +the elements of their knowledge, and form their youthful attachments +there, are seriously endeavouring to establish a university in Norway. +And Tonsberg, as a central place in the best part of the country, had the +most suffrages, for, experiencing the bad effects of a metropolis, they +have determined not to have it in or near Christiania. Should such an +establishment take place, it will promote inquiry throughout the country, +and give a new face to society. Premiums have been offered, and prize +questions written, which I am told have merit. The building +college-halls, and other appendages of the seat of science, might enable +Tonsberg to recover its pristine consequence, for it is one of the most +ancient towns of Norway, and once contained nine churches. At present +there are only two. One is a very old structure, and has a Gothic +respectability about it, which scarcely amounts to grandeur, because, to +render a Gothic pile grand, it must have a huge unwieldiness of +appearance. The chapel of Windsor may be an exception to this rule; I +mean before it was in its present nice, clean state. When I first saw +it, the pillars within had acquired, by time, a sombre hue, which +accorded with the architecture; and the gloom increased its dimensions to +the eye by hiding its parts; but now it all bursts on the view at once, +and the sublimity has vanished before the brush and broom; for it has +been white-washed and scraped till it has become as bright and neat as +the pots and pans in a notable house-wife's kitchen--yes; the very spurs +on the recumbent knights were deprived of their venerable rust, to give a +striking proof that a love of order in trifles, and taste for proportion +and arrangement, are very distinct. The glare of light thus introduced +entirely destroys the sentiment these piles are calculated to inspire; so +that, when I heard something like a jig from the organ-loft, I thought it +an excellent hall for dancing or feasting. The measured pace of thought +with which I had entered the cathedral changed into a trip; and I bounded +on the terrace, to see the royal family, with a number of ridiculous +images in my head that I shall not now recall. + +The Norwegians are fond of music, and every little church has an organ. +In the church I have mentioned there is an inscription importing that a +king James VI. of Scotland and I. of England, who came with more than +princely gallantry to escort his bride home--stood there, and heard +divine service. + +There is a little recess full of coffins, which contains bodies embalmed +long since--so long, that there is not even a tradition to lead to a +guess at their names. + +A desire of preserving the body seems to have prevailed in most countries +of the world, futile as it is to term it a preservation, when the noblest +parts are immediately sacrificed merely to save the muscles, skin, and +bone from rottenness. When I was shown these human petrifactions, I +shrank back with disgust and horror. "Ashes to ashes!" thought I--"Dust +to dust!" If this be not dissolution, it is something worse than natural +decay--it is treason against humanity, thus to lift up the awful veil +which would fain hide its weakness. The grandeur of the active principle +is never more strongly felt than at such a sight, for nothing is so ugly +as the human form when deprived of life, and thus dried into stone, +merely to preserve the most disgusting image of death. The contemplation +of noble ruins produces a melancholy that exalts the mind. We take a +retrospect of the exertions of man, the fate of empires and their rulers, +and marking the grand destruction of ages, it seems the necessary change +of the leading to improvement. Our very soul expands, and we forget our +littleness--how painfully brought to our recollection by such vain +attempts to snatch from decay what is destined so soon to perish. Life, +what art thou? Where goes this breath?--this _I_, so much alive? In +what element will it mix, giving or receiving fresh energy? What will +break the enchantment of animation? For worlds I would not see a form I +loved--embalmed in my heart--thus sacrilegiously handled? Pugh! my +stomach turns. Is this all the distinction of the rich in the grave? +They had better quietly allow the scythe of equality to mow them down +with the common mass, than struggle to become a monument of the +instability of human greatness. + +The teeth, nails, and skin were whole, without appearing black like the +Egyptian mummies; and some silk, in which they had been wrapped, still +preserved its colour--pink--with tolerable freshness. + +I could not learn how long the bodies had been in this state, in which +they bid fair to remain till the Day of Judgment, if there is to be such +a day; and before that time, it will require some trouble to make them +fit to appear in company with angels without disgracing humanity. God +bless you! I feel a conviction that we have some perfectible principle +in our present vestment, which will not be destroyed just as we begin to +be sensible of improvement; and I care not what habit it next puts on, +sure that it will be wisely formed to suit a higher state of existence. +Thinking of death makes us tenderly cling to our affections; with more +than usual tenderness I therefore assure you that I am yours, wishing +that the temporary death of absence may not endure longer than is +absolutely necessary. + + + + +LETTER VIII. + + +Tonsberg was formerly the residence of one of the little sovereigns of +Norway; and on an adjacent mountain the vestiges of a fort remain, which +was battered down by the Swedes, the entrance of the bay lying close to +it. + +Here I have frequently strayed, sovereign of the waste; I seldom met any +human creature; and sometimes, reclining on the mossy down, under the +shelter of a rock, the prattling of the sea amongst the pebbles has +lulled me to sleep--no fear of any rude satyr's approaching to interrupt +my repose. Balmy were the slumbers, and soft the gales, that refreshed +me, when I awoke to follow, with an eye vaguely curious, the white sails, +as they turned the cliffs, or seemed to take shelter under the pines +which covered the little islands that so gracefully rose to render the +terrific ocean beautiful. The fishermen were calmly casting their nets, +whilst the sea-gulls hovered over the unruffled deep. Everything seemed +to harmonise into tranquillity; even the mournful call of the bittern was +in cadence with the tinkling bells on the necks of the cows, that, pacing +slowly one after the other, along an inviting path in the vale below, +were repairing to the cottages to be milked. With what ineffable +pleasure have I not gazed--and gazed again, losing my breath through my +eyes--my very soul diffused itself in the scene; and, seeming to become +all senses, glided in the scarcely-agitated waves, melted in the +freshening breeze, or, taking its flight with fairy wing, to the misty +mountain which bounded the prospect, fancy tripped over new lawns, more +beautiful even than the lovely slopes on the winding shore before me. I +pause, again breathless, to trace, with renewed delight, sentiments which +entranced me, when, turning my humid eyes from the expanse below to the +vault above, my sight pierced the fleecy clouds that softened the azure +brightness; and imperceptibly recalling the reveries of childhood, I +bowed before the awful throne of my Creator, whilst I rested on its +footstool. + +You have sometimes wondered, my dear friend, at the extreme affection of +my nature. But such is the temperature of my soul. It is not the +vivacity of youth, the heyday of existence. For years have I endeavoured +to calm an impetuous tide, labouring to make my feelings take an orderly +course. It was striving against the stream. I must love and admire with +warmth, or I sink into sadness. Tokens of love which I have received +have wrapped me in Elysium, purifying the heart they enchanted. My bosom +still glows. Do not saucily ask, repeating Sterne's question, "Maria, is +it still so warm?" Sufficiently, O my God! Has it been chilled by +sorrow and unkindness; still nature will prevail; and if I blush at +recollecting past enjoyment, it is the rosy hue of pleasure heightened by +modesty, for the blush of modesty and shame are as distinct as the +emotions by which they are produced. + +I need scarcely inform you, after telling you of my walks, that my +constitution has been renovated here, and that I have recovered my +activity even whilst attaining a little _embonpoint_. My imprudence last +winter, and some untoward accidents just at the time I was weaning my +child, had reduced me to a state of weakness which I never before +experienced. A slow fever preyed on me every night during my residence +in Sweden, and after I arrived at Tonsberg. By chance I found a fine +rivulet filtered through the rocks, and confined in a basin for the +cattle. It tasted to me like a chalybeate; at any rate, it was pure; and +the good effect of the various waters which invalids are sent to drink +depends, I believe, more on the air, exercise, and change of scene, than +on their medicinal qualities. I therefore determined to turn my morning +walks towards it, and seek for health from the nymph of the fountain, +partaking of the beverage offered to the tenants of the shade. + +Chance likewise led me to discover a new pleasure equally beneficial to +my health. I wished to avail myself of my vicinity to the sea and bathe; +but it was not possible near the town; there was no convenience. The +young woman whom I mentioned to you proposed rowing me across the water +amongst the rocks; but as she was pregnant, I insisted on taking one of +the oars, and learning to row. It was not difficult, and I do not know a +pleasanter exercise. I soon became expert, and my train of thinking kept +time, as it were, with the oars, or I suffered the boat to be carried +along by the current, indulging a pleasing forgetfulness or fallacious +hopes. How fallacious! yet, without hope, what is to sustain life, but +the fear of annihilation--the only thing of which I have ever felt a +dread. I cannot bear to think of being no more--of losing myself--though +existence is often but a painful consciousness of misery; nay, it appears +to me impossible that I should cease to exist, or that this active, +restless spirit, equally alive to joy and sorrow, should only be +organised dust--ready to fly abroad the moment the spring snaps, or the +spark goes out which kept it together. Surely something resides in this +heart that is not perishable, and life is more than a dream. + +Sometimes, to take up my oar once more, when the sea was calm, I was +amused by disturbing the innumerable young star fish which floated just +below the surface; I had never observed them before, for they have not a +hard shell like those which I have seen on the seashore. They look like +thickened water with a white edge, and four purple circles, of different +forms, were in the middle, over an incredible number of fibres or white +lines. Touching them, the cloudy substance would turn or close, first on +one side, then on the other, very gracefully, but when I took one of them +up in the ladle, with which I heaved the water out of the boat, it +appeared only a colourless jelly. + +I did not see any of the seals, numbers of which followed our boat when +we landed in Sweden; but though I like to sport in the water I should +have had no desire to join in their gambols. + +Enough, you will say, of inanimate nature and of brutes, to use the +lordly phrase of man; let me hear something of the inhabitants. + +The gentleman with whom I had business is the Mayor of Tonsberg. He +speaks English intelligibly, and, having a sound understanding, I was +sorry that his numerous occupations prevented my gaining as much +information from him as I could have drawn forth had we frequently +conversed. The people of the town, as far as I had an opportunity of +knowing their sentiments, are extremely well satisfied with his manner of +discharging his office. He has a degree of information and good sense +which excites respect, whilst a cheerfulness, almost amounting to gaiety, +enables him to reconcile differences and keep his neighbours in good +humour. "I lost my horse," said a woman to me, "but ever since, when I +want to send to the mill, or go out, the Mayor lends me one. He scolds +if I do not come for it." + +A criminal was branded, during my stay here, for the third offence; but +the relief he received made him declare that the judge was one of the +best men in the world. + +I sent this wretch a trifle, at different times, to take with him into +slavery. As it was more than he expected, he wished very much to see me, +and this wish brought to my remembrance an anecdote I heard when I was in +Lisbon. + +A wretch who had been imprisoned several years, during which period lamps +had been put up, was at last condemned to a cruel death, yet, in his way +to execution, he only wished for one night's respite to see the city +lighted. + +Having dined in company at the mayor's I was invited with his family to +spend the day at one of the richest merchant's houses. Though I could +not speak Danish I knew that I could see a great deal; yes, I am +persuaded that I have formed a very just opinion of the character of the +Norwegians, without being able to hold converse with them. + +I had expected to meet some company, yet was a little disconcerted at +being ushered into an apartment full of well dressed people, and glancing +my eyes round they rested on several very pretty faces. Rosy cheeks, +sparkling eyes, and light brown or golden locks; for I never saw so much +hair with a yellow cast, and, with their fine complexions, it looked very +becoming. + +These women seem a mixture of indolence and vivacity; they scarcely ever +walk out, and were astonished that I should for pleasure, yet they are +immoderately fond of dancing. Unaffected in their manners, if they have +no pretensions to elegance, simplicity often produces a gracefulness of +deportment, when they are animated by a particular desire to please, +which was the case at present. The solitariness of my situation, which +they thought terrible, interested them very much in my favour. They +gathered round me, sung to me, and one of the prettiest, to whom I gave +my hand with some degree of cordiality, to meet the glance of her eyes, +kissed me very affectionately. + +At dinner, which was conducted with great hospitality, though we remained +at table too long, they sung several songs, and, amongst the rest, +translations of some patriotic French ones. As the evening advanced they +became playful, and we kept up a sort of conversation of gestures. As +their minds were totally uncultivated I did not lose much, perhaps +gained, by not being able to understand them; for fancy probably filled +up, more to their advantage, the void in the picture. Be that as it may, +they excited my sympathy, and I was very much flattered when I was told +the next day that they said it was a pleasure to look at me, I appeared +so good-natured. + +The men were generally captains of ships. Several spoke English very +tolerably, but they were merely matter-of-fact men, confined to a very +narrow circle of observation. I found it difficult to obtain from them +any information respecting their own country, when the fumes of tobacco +did not keep me at a distance. + +I was invited to partake of some other feasts, and always had to complain +of the quantity of provision and the length of time taken to consume it; +for it would not have been proper to have said devour, all went on so +fair and softly. The servants wait as slowly as their mistresses carve. + +The young women here, as well as in Sweden, have commonly bad teeth, +which I attribute to the same causes. They are fond of finery, but do +not pay the necessary attention to their persons, to render beauty less +transient than a flower, and that interesting expression which sentiment +and accomplishments give seldom supplies its place. + +The servants have, likewise, an inferior sort of food here, but their +masters are not allowed to strike them with impunity. I might have added +mistresses, for it was a complaint of this kind brought before the mayor +which led me to a knowledge of the fact. + +The wages are low, which is particularly unjust, because the price of +clothes is much higher than that of provision. A young woman, who is wet +nurse to the mistress of the inn where I lodge, receives only twelve +dollars a year, and pays ten for the nursing of her own child. The +father had run away to get clear of the expense. There was something in +this most painful state of widowhood which excited my compassion and led +me to reflections on the instability of the most flattering plans of +happiness, that were painful in the extreme, till I was ready to ask +whether this world was not created to exhibit every possible combination +of wretchedness. I asked these questions of a heart writhing with +anguish, whilst I listened to a melancholy ditty sung by this poor girl. +It was too early for thee to be abandoned, thought I, and I hastened out +of the house to take my solitary evening's walk. And here I am again to +talk of anything but the pangs arising from the discovery of estranged +affection and the lonely sadness of a deserted heart. + +The father and mother, if the father can be ascertained, are obliged to +maintain an illegitimate child at their joint expense; but, should the +father disappear, go up the country or to sea, the mother must maintain +it herself. However, accidents of this kind do not prevent their +marrying, and then it is not unusual to take the child or children home, +and they are brought up very amicably with the marriage progeny. + +I took some pains to learn what books were written originally in their +language; but for any certain information respecting the state of Danish +literature I must wait till I arrive at Copenhagen. + +The sound of the language is soft, a great proportion of the words ending +in vowels; and there is a simplicity in the turn of some of the phrases +which have been translated to me that pleased and interested me. In the +country the farmers use the _thou_ and _thee_; and they do not acquire +the polite plurals of the towns by meeting at market. The not having +markets established in the large towns appears to me a great +inconvenience. When the farmers have anything to sell they bring it to +the neighbouring town and take it from house to house. I am surprised +that the inhabitants do not feel how very incommodious this usage is to +both parties, and redress it; they, indeed, perceive it, for when I have +introduced the subject they acknowledged that they were often in want of +necessaries, there being no butchers, and they were often obliged to buy +what they did not want; yet it was the custom, and the changing of +customs of a long standing requires more energy than they yet possess. I +received a similar reply when I attempted to persuade the women that they +injured their children by keeping them too warm. The only way of +parrying off my reasoning was that they must do as other people did; in +short, reason on any subject of change, and they stop you by saying that +"the town would talk." A person of sense, with a large fortune to ensure +respect, might be very useful here, by inducing them to treat their +children and manage their sick properly, and eat food dressed in a +simpler manner--the example, for instance, of a count's lady. + +Reflecting on these prejudices made me revert to the wisdom of those +legislators who established institutions for the good of the body under +the pretext of serving heaven for the salvation of the soul. These might +with strict propriety be termed pious frauds; and I admire the Peruvian +pair for asserting that they came from the sun, when their conduct proved +that they meant to enlighten a benighted country, whose obedience, or +even attention, could only be secured by awe. Thus much for conquering +the _inertia_ of reason; but, when it is once in motion, fables once held +sacred may be ridiculed; and sacred they were when useful to mankind. +Prometheus alone stole fire to animate the first man; his posterity needs +not supernatural aid to preserve the species, though love is generally +termed a flame; and it may not be necessary much longer to suppose men +inspired by heaven to inculcate the duties which demand special grace +when reason convinces them that they are the happiest who are the most +nobly employed. + +In a few days I am to set out for the western part of Norway, and then +shall return by land to Gothenburg. I cannot think of leaving this place +without regret. I speak of the place before the inhabitants, though +there is a tenderness in their artless kindness which attaches me to +them; but it is an attachment that inspires a regret very different from +that I felt at leaving Hull in my way to Sweden. The domestic happiness +and good-humoured gaiety of the amiable family where I and my Frances +were so hospitably received would have been sufficient to ensure the +tenderest remembrance, without the recollection of the social evening to +stimulate it, when good breeding gave dignity to sympathy and wit zest to +reason. + +Adieu!--I am just informed that my horse has been waiting this quarter of +an hour. I now venture to ride out alone. The steeple serves as a +landmark. I once or twice lost my way, walking alone, without being able +to inquire after a path; I was therefore obliged to make to the steeple, +or windmill, over hedge and ditch. + +Yours truly. + + + + +LETTER IX. + + +I have already informed you that there are only two noblemen who have +estates of any magnitude in Norway. One of these has a house near +Tonsberg, at which he has not resided for some years, having been at +court, or on embassies. He is now the Danish Ambassador in London. The +house is pleasantly situated, and the grounds about it fine; but their +neglected appearance plainly tells that there is nobody at home. + +A stupid kind of sadness, to my eye, always reigns in a huge habitation +where only servants live to put cases on the furniture and open the +windows. I enter as I would into the tomb of the Capulets, to look at +the family pictures that here frown in armour, or smile in ermine. The +mildew respects not the lordly robe, and the worm riots unchecked on the +cheek of beauty. + +There was nothing in the architecture of the building, or the form of the +furniture, to detain me from the avenue where the aged pines stretched +along majestically. Time had given a greyish cast to their ever-green +foliage; and they stood, like sires of the forest, sheltered on all sides +by a rising progeny. I had not ever seen so many oaks together in Norway +as in these woods, nor such large aspens as here were agitated by the +breeze, rendering the wind audible--nay musical; for melody seemed on the +wing around me. How different was the fresh odour that reanimated me in +the avenue, from the damp chillness of the apartments; and as little did +the gloomy thoughtfulness excited by the dusty hangings, and worm-eaten +pictures, resemble the reveries inspired by the soothing melancholy of +their shade. In the winter, these august pines, towering above the snow, +must relieve the eye beyond measure and give life to the white waste. + +The continual recurrence of pine and fir groves in the day sometimes +wearies the sight, but in the evening, nothing can be more picturesque, +or, more properly speaking, better calculated to produce poetical images. +Passing through them, I have been struck with a mystic kind of reverence, +and I did, as it were, homage to their venerable shadows. Not nymphs, +but philosophers, seemed to inhabit them--ever musing; I could scarcely +conceive that they were without some consciousness of existence--without +a calm enjoyment of the pleasure they diffused. + +How often do my feelings produce ideas that remind me of the origin of +many poetical fictions. In solitude, the imagination bodies forth its +conceptions unrestrained, and stops enraptured to adore the beings of its +own creation. These are moments of bliss; and the memory recalls them +with delight. + +But I have almost forgotten the matters of fact I meant to relate, +respecting the counts. They have the presentation of the livings on +their estates, appoint the judges, and different civil officers, the +Crown reserving to itself the privilege of sanctioning them. But though +they appoint, they cannot dismiss. Their tenants also occupy their farms +for life, and are obliged to obey any summons to work on the part he +reserves for himself; but they are paid for their labour. In short, I +have seldom heard of any noblemen so innoxious. + +Observing that the gardens round the count's estate were better +cultivated than any I had before seen, I was led to reflect on the +advantages which naturally accrue from the feudal tenures. The tenants +of the count are obliged to work at a stated price, in his grounds and +garden; and the instruction which they imperceptibly receive from the +head gardener tends to render them useful, and makes them, in the common +course of things, better husbandmen and gardeners on their own little +farms. Thus the great, who alone travel in this period of society, for +the observation of manners and customs made by sailors is very confined, +bring home improvement to promote their own comfort, which is gradually +spread abroad amongst the people, till they are stimulated to think for +themselves. + +The bishops have not large revenues, and the priests are appointed by the +king before they come to them to be ordained. There is commonly some +little farm annexed to the parsonage, and the inhabitants subscribe +voluntarily, three times a year, in addition to the church fees, for the +support of the clergyman. The church lands were seized when Lutheranism +was introduced, the desire of obtaining them being probably the real +stimulus of reformation. The tithes, which are never required in kind, +are divided into three parts--one to the king, another to the incumbent, +and the third to repair the dilapidations of the parsonage. They do not +amount to much. And the stipend allowed to the different civil officers +is also too small, scarcely deserving to be termed an independence; that +of the custom-house officers is not sufficient to procure the necessaries +of life--no wonder, then, if necessity leads them to knavery. Much +public virtue cannot be expected till every employment, putting +perquisites out of the question, has a salary sufficient to reward +industry;--whilst none are so great as to permit the possessor to remain +idle. It is this want of proportion between profit and labour which +debases men, producing the sycophantic appellations of patron and client, +and that pernicious _esprit du corps_, proverbially vicious. + +The farmers are hospitable as well as independent. Offering once to pay +for some coffee I drank when taking shelter from the rain, I was asked, +rather angrily, if a little coffee was worth paying for. They smoke, and +drink drams, but not so much as formerly. Drunkenness, often the +attendant disgrace of hospitality, will here, as well as everywhere else, +give place to gallantry and refinement of manners; but the change will +not be suddenly produced. + +The people of every class are constant in their attendance at church; +they are very fond of dancing, and the Sunday evenings in Norway, as in +Catholic countries, are spent in exercises which exhilarate the spirits +without vitiating the heart. The rest of labour ought to be gay; and the +gladness I have felt in France on a Sunday, or Decadi, which I caught +from the faces around me, was a sentiment more truly religious than all +the stupid stillness which the streets of London ever inspired where the +Sabbath is so decorously observed. I recollect, in the country parts of +England, the churchwardens used to go out during the service to see if +they could catch any luckless wight playing at bowls or skittles; yet +what could be more harmless? It would even, I think, be a great +advantage to the English, if feats of activity (I do not include boxing +matches) were encouraged on a Sunday, as it might stop the progress of +Methodism, and of that fanatical spirit which appears to be gaining +ground. I was surprised when I visited Yorkshire, on my way to Sweden, +to find that sullen narrowness of thinking had made such a progress since +I was an inhabitant of the country. I could hardly have supposed that +sixteen or seventeen years could have produced such an alteration for the +worse in the morals of a place--yes, I say morals; for observance of +forms, and avoiding of practices, indifferent in themselves, often supply +the place of that regular attention to duties which are so natural, that +they seldom are vauntingly exercised, though they are worth all the +precepts of the law and the prophets. Besides, many of these deluded +people, with the best meaning, actually lose their reason, and become +miserable, the dread of damnation throwing them into a state which merits +the term; and still more, in running after their preachers, expecting to +promote their salvation, they disregard their welfare in this world, and +neglect the interest and comfort of their families; so that, in +proportion as they attain a reputation for piety, they become idle. + +Aristocracy and fanaticism seem equally to be gaining ground in England, +particularly in the place I have mentioned; I saw very little of either +in Norway. The people are regular in their attendance on public worship, +but religion does not interfere with their employments. + +As the farmers cut away the wood they clear the ground. Every year, +therefore, the country is becoming fitter to support the inhabitants. +Half a century ago the Dutch, I am told, only paid for the cutting down +of the wood, and the farmers were glad to get rid of it without giving +themselves any trouble. At present they form a just estimate of its +value; nay, I was surprised to find even firewood so dear when it appears +to be in such plenty. The destruction, or gradual reduction, of their +forests will probably ameliorate the climate, and their manners will +naturally improve in the same ratio as industry requires ingenuity. It +is very fortunate that men are a long time but just above the brute +creation, or the greater part of the earth would never have been rendered +habitable, because it is the patient labour of men, who are only seeking +for a subsistence, which produces whatever embellishes existence, +affording leisure for the cultivation of the arts and sciences that lift +man so far above his first state. I never, my friend, thought so deeply +of the advantages obtained by human industry as since I have been in +Norway. The world requires, I see, the hand of man to perfect it, and as +this task naturally unfolds the faculties he exercises, it is physically +impossible that he should have remained in Rousseau's golden age of +stupidity. And, considering the question of human happiness, where, oh +where does it reside? Has it taken up its abode with unconscious +ignorance or with the high-wrought mind? Is it the offspring of +thoughtless animal spirits or the dye of fancy continually flitting round +the expected pleasure? + +The increasing population of the earth must necessarily tend to its +improvement, as the means of existence are multiplied by invention. + +You have probably made similar reflections in America, where the face of +the country, I suppose, resembles the wilds of Norway. I am delighted +with the romantic views I daily contemplate, animated by the purest air; +and I am interested by the simplicity of manners which reigns around me. +Still nothing so soon wearies out the feelings as unmarked simplicity. I +am therefore half convinced that I could not live very comfortably exiled +from the countries where mankind are so much further advanced in +knowledge, imperfect as it is, and unsatisfactory to the thinking mind. +Even now I begin to long to hear what you are doing in England and +France. My thoughts fly from this wilderness to the polished circles of +the world, till recollecting its vices and follies, I bury myself in the +woods, but find it necessary to emerge again, that I may not lose sight +of the wisdom and virtue which exalts my nature. + +What a long time it requires to know ourselves; and yet almost every one +has more of this knowledge than he is willing to own, even to himself. I +cannot immediately determine whether I ought to rejoice at having turned +over in this solitude a new page in the history of my own heart, though I +may venture to assure you that a further acquaintance with mankind only +tends to increase my respect for your judgment and esteem for your +character. Farewell! + + + + +LETTER X. + + +I have once more, my friend, taken flight, for I left Tonsberg yesterday, +but with an intention of returning in my way back to Sweden. + +The road to Laurvig is very fine, and the country the best cultivated in +Norway. I never before admired the beech tree, and when I met stragglers +here they pleased me still less. Long and lank, they would have forced +me to allow that the line of beauty requires some curves, if the stately +pine, standing near, erect, throwing her vast arms around, had not looked +beautiful in opposition to such narrow rules. + +In these respects my very reason obliges me to permit my feelings to be +my criterion. Whatever excites emotion has charms for me, though I +insist that the cultivation of the mind by warming, nay, almost creating +the imagination, produces taste and an immense variety of sensations and +emotions, partaking of the exquisite pleasure inspired by beauty and +sublimity. As I know of no end to them, the word infinite, so often +misapplied, might on this occasion be introduced with something like +propriety. + +But I have rambled away again. I intended to have remarked to you the +effect produced by a grove of towering beech, the airy lightness of their +foliage admitting a degree of sunshine, which, giving a transparency to +the leaves, exhibited an appearance of freshness and elegance that I had +never before remarked. I thought of descriptions of Italian scenery. But +these evanescent graces seemed the effect of enchantment; and I +imperceptibly breathed softly, lest I should destroy what was real, yet +looked so like the creation of fancy. Dryden's fable of the flower and +the leaf was not a more poetical reverie. + +Adieu, however, to fancy, and to all the sentiments which ennoble our +nature. I arrived at Laurvig, and found myself in the midst of a group +of lawyers of different descriptions. My head turned round, my heart +grew sick, as I regarded visages deformed by vice, and listened to +accounts of chicanery that was continually embroiling the ignorant. These +locusts will probably diminish as the people become more enlightened. In +this period of social life the commonalty are always cunningly attentive +to their own interest; but their faculties, confined to a few objects, +are so narrowed, that they cannot discover it in the general good. The +profession of the law renders a set of men still shrewder and more +selfish than the rest; and it is these men, whose wits have been +sharpened by knavery, who here undermine morality, confounding right and +wrong. + +The Count of Bernstorff, who really appears to me, from all I can gather, +to have the good of the people at heart, aware of this, has lately sent +to the mayor of each district to name, according to the size of the +place, four or six of the best-informed inhabitants, not men of the law, +out of which the citizens were to elect two, who are to be termed +mediators. Their office is to endeavour to prevent litigious suits, and +conciliate differences. And no suit is to be commenced before the +parties have discussed the dispute at their weekly meeting. If a +reconciliation should, in consequence, take place, it is to be +registered, and the parties are not allowed to retract. + +By these means ignorant people will be prevented from applying for advice +to men who may justly be termed stirrers-up of strife. They have for a +long time, to use a significant vulgarism, set the people by the ears, +and live by the spoil they caught up in the scramble. There is some +reason to hope that this regulation will diminish their number, and +restrain their mischievous activity. But till trials by jury are +established, little justice can be expected in Norway. Judges who cannot +be bribed are often timid, and afraid of offending bold knaves, lest they +should raise a set of hornets about themselves. The fear of censure +undermines all energy of character; and, labouring to be prudent, they +lose sight of rectitude. Besides, nothing is left to their conscience, +or sagacity; they must be governed by evidence, though internally +convinced that it is false. + +There is a considerable iron manufactory at Laurvig for coarse work, and +a lake near the town supplies the water necessary for working several +mills belonging to it. + +This establishment belongs to the Count of Laurvig. Without a fortune +and influence equal to his, such a work could not have been set afloat; +personal fortunes are not yet sufficient to support such undertakings. +Nevertheless the inhabitants of the town speak of the size of his estate +as an evil, because it obstructs commerce. The occupiers of small farms +are obliged to bring their wood to the neighbouring seaports to be +shipped; but he, wishing to increase the value of his, will not allow it +to be thus gradually cut down, which turns the trade into another +channel. Added to this, nature is against them, the bay being open and +insecure. I could not help smiling when I was informed that in a hard +gale a vessel had been wrecked in the main street. When there are such a +number of excellent harbours on the coast, it is a pity that accident has +made one of the largest towns grow up on a bad one. + +The father of the present count was a distant relation of the family; he +resided constantly in Denmark, and his son follows his example. They +have not been in possession of the estate many years; and their +predecessor lived near the town, introducing a degree of profligacy of +manners which has been ruinous to the inhabitants in every respect, their +fortunes not being equal to the prevailing extravagance. + +What little I have seen of the manners of the people does not please me +so well as those of Tonsberg. I am forewarned that I shall find them +still more cunning and fraudulent as I advance towards the westward, in +proportion as traffic takes place of agriculture, for their towns are +built on naked rocks, the streets are narrow bridges, and the inhabitants +are all seafaring men, or owners of ships, who keep shops. + +The inn I was at in Laurvig this journey was not the same that I was at +before. It is a good one--the people civil, and the accommodations +decent. They seem to be better provided in Sweden; but in justice I +ought to add that they charge more extravagantly. My bill at Tonsberg +was also much higher than I had paid in Sweden, and much higher than it +ought to have been where provision is so cheap. Indeed, they seem to +consider foreigners as strangers whom they shall never see again, and may +fairly pluck. And the inhabitants of the western coast, isolated, as it +were, regard those of the east almost as strangers. Each town in that +quarter seems to be a great family, suspicious of every other, allowing +none to cheat them but themselves; and, right or wrong, they support one +another in the face of justice. + +On this journey I was fortunate enough to have one companion with more +enlarged views than the generality of his countrymen, who spoke English +tolerably. + +I was informed that we might still advance a mile and a quarter in our +cabrioles; afterwards there was no choice, but of a single horse and +wretched path, or a boat, the usual mode of travelling. + +We therefore sent our baggage forward in the boat, and followed rather +slowly, for the road was rocky and sandy. We passed, however, through +several beech groves, which still delighted me by the freshness of their +light green foliage, and the elegance of their assemblage, forming +retreats to veil without obscuring the sun. + +I was surprised, at approaching the water, to find a little cluster of +houses pleasantly situated, and an excellent inn. I could have wished to +have remained there all night; but as the wind was fair, and the evening +fine, I was afraid to trust to the wind--the uncertain wind of to-morrow. +We therefore left Helgeraac immediately with the declining sun. + +Though we were in the open sea, we sailed more amongst the rocks and +islands than in my passage from Stromstad; and they often forced very +picturesque combinations. Few of the high ridges were entirely bare; the +seeds of some pines or firs had been wafted by the winds or waves, and +they stood to brave the elements. + +Sitting, then, in a little boat on the ocean, amidst strangers, with +sorrow and care pressing hard on me--buffeting me about from clime to +clime--I felt + + "Like the lone shrub at random cast, + That sighs and trembles at each blast!" + +On some of the largest rocks there were actually groves, the retreat of +foxes and hares, which, I suppose, had tripped over the ice during the +winter, without thinking to regain the main land before the thaw. + +Several of the islands were inhabited by pilots; and the Norwegian pilots +are allowed to be the best in the world--perfectly acquainted with their +coast, and ever at hand to observe the first signal or sail. They pay a +small tax to the king and to the regulating officer, and enjoy the fruit +of their indefatigable industry. + +One of the islands, called Virgin Land, is a flat, with some depth of +earth, extending for half a Norwegian mile, with three farms on it, +tolerably well cultivated. + +On some of the bare rocks I saw straggling houses; they rose above the +denomination of huts inhabited by fishermen. My companions assured me +that they were very comfortable dwellings, and that they have not only +the necessaries, but even what might be reckoned the superfluities of +life. It was too late for me to go on shore, if you will allow me to +give that name to shivering rocks, to ascertain the fact. + +But rain coming on, and the night growing dark, the pilot declared that +it would be dangerous for us to attempt to go to the place of our +destination--East Rusoer--a Norwegian mile and a half further; and we +determined to stop for the night at a little haven, some half dozen +houses scattered under the curve of a rock. Though it became darker and +darker, our pilot avoided the blind rocks with great dexterity. + +It was about ten o'clock when we arrived, and the old hostess quickly +prepared me a comfortable bed--a little too soft or so, but I was weary; +and opening the window to admit the sweetest of breezes to fan me to +sleep, I sunk into the most luxurious rest: it was more than refreshing. +The hospitable sprites of the grots surely hovered round my pillow; and, +if I awoke, it was to listen to the melodious whispering of the wind +amongst them, or to feel the mild breath of morn. Light slumbers +produced dreams, where Paradise was before me. My little cherub was +again hiding her face in my bosom. I heard her sweet cooing beat on my +heart from the cliffs, and saw her tiny footsteps on the sands. New-born +hopes seemed, like the rainbow, to appear in the clouds of sorrow, faint, +yet sufficient to amuse away despair. + +Some refreshing but heavy showers have detained us; and here I am writing +quite alone--something more than gay, for which I want a name. + +I could almost fancy myself in Nootka Sound, or on some of the islands on +the north-west coast of America. We entered by a narrow pass through the +rocks, which from this abode appear more romantic than you can well +imagine; and seal-skins hanging at the door to dry add to the illusion. + +It is indeed a corner of the world, but you would be surprised to see the +cleanliness and comfort of the dwelling. The shelves are not only +shining with pewter and queen's ware, but some articles in silver, more +ponderous, it is true, than elegant. The linen is good, as well as +white. All the females spin, and there is a loom in the kitchen. A sort +of individual taste appeared in the arrangement of the furniture (this is +not the place for imitation) and a kindness in their desire to oblige. +How superior to the apish politeness of the towns! where the people, +affecting to be well bred, fatigue with their endless ceremony. + +The mistress is a widow, her daughter is married to a pilot, and has +three cows. They have a little patch of land at about the distance of +two English miles, where they make hay for the winter, which they bring +home in a boat. They live here very cheap, getting money from the +vessels which stress of weather, or other causes, bring into their +harbour. I suspect, by their furniture, that they smuggle a little. I +can now credit the account of the other houses, which I last night +thought exaggerated. + +I have been conversing with one of my companions respecting the laws and +regulations of Norway. He is a man within great portion of common sense +and heart--yes, a warm heart. This is not the first time I have remarked +heart without sentiment; they are distinct. The former depends on the +rectitude of the feelings, on truth of sympathy; these characters have +more tenderness than passion; the latter has a higher source--call it +imagination, genius, or what you will, it is something very different. I +have been laughing with these simple worthy folk--to give you one of my +half-score Danish words--and letting as much of my heart flow out in +sympathy as they can take. Adieu! I must trip up the rocks. The rain +is ever. Let me catch pleasure on the wing--I may be melancholy +to-morrow. Now all my nerves keep time with the melody of nature. Ah! +let me be happy whilst I can. The tear starts as I think of it. I must +flee from thought, and find refuge from sorrow in a strong +imagination--the only solace for a feeling heart. Phantoms of bliss! +ideal forms of excellence! again enclose me in your magic circle, and +wipe clear from my remembrance the disappointments that reader the +sympathy painful, which experience rather increases than damps, by giving +the indulgence of feeling the sanction of reason. + +Once more farewell! + + + + +LETTER XI. + + +I left Portoer, the little haven I mentioned, soon after I finished my +last letter. The sea was rough, and I perceived that our pilot was right +not to venture farther during a hazy night. We had agreed to pay four +dollars for a boat from Helgeraac. I mention the sum, because they would +demand twice as much from a stranger. I was obliged to pay fifteen for +the one I hired at Stromstad. When we were ready to set out, our boatman +offered to return a dollar and let us go in one of the boats of the +place, the pilot who lived there being better acquainted with the coast. +He only demanded a dollar and a half, which was reasonable. I found him +a civil and rather intelligent man; he was in the American service +several years, during the Revolution. + +I soon perceived that an experienced mariner was necessary to guide us, +for we were continually obliged to tack about, to avoid the rocks, which, +scarcely reaching to the surface of the water, could only be discovered +by the breaking of the waves over them. + +The view of this wild coast, as we sailed along it, afforded me a +continual subject for meditation. I anticipated the future improvement +of the world, and observed how much man has still to do to obtain of the +earth all it could yield. I even carried my speculations so far as to +advance a million or two of years to the moment when the earth would +perhaps be so perfectly cultivated, and so completely peopled, as to +render it necessary to inhabit every spot--yes, these bleak shores. +Imagination went still farther, and pictured the state of man when the +earth could no longer support him. Whither was he to flee from universal +famine? Do not smile; I really became distressed for these fellow +creatures yet unborn. The images fastened on me, and the world appeared +a vast prison. I was soon to be in a smaller one--for no other name can +I give to Rusoer. It would be difficult to form an idea of the place, if +you have never seen one of these rocky coasts. + +We were a considerable time entering amongst the islands, before we saw +about two hundred houses crowded together under a very high rock--still +higher appearing above. Talk not of Bastilles! To be born here was to +be bastilled by nature--shut out from all that opens the understanding, +or enlarges the heart. Huddled one behind another, not more than a +quarter of the dwellings even had a prospect of the sea. A few planks +formed passages from house to house, which you must often scale, mounting +steps like a ladder to enter. + +The only road across the rocks leads to a habitation sterile enough, you +may suppose, when I tell you that the little earth on the adjacent ones +was carried there by the late inhabitant. A path, almost impracticable +for a horse, goes on to Arendall, still further to the westward. + +I inquired for a walk, and, mounting near two hundred steps made round a +rock, walked up and down for about a hundred yards viewing the sea, to +which I quickly descended by steps that cheated the declivity. The ocean +and these tremendous bulwarks enclosed me on every side. I felt the +confinement, and wished for wings to reach still loftier cliffs, whose +slippery sides no foot was so hardy as to tread. Yet what was it to +see?--only a boundless waste of water--not a glimpse of smiling +nature--not a patch of lively green to relieve the aching sight, or vary +the objects of meditation. + +I felt my breath oppressed, though nothing could be clearer than the +atmosphere. Wandering there alone, I found the solitude desirable; my +mind was stored with ideas, which this new scene associated with +astonishing rapidity. But I shuddered at the thought of receiving +existence, and remaining here, in the solitude of ignorance, till forced +to leave a world of which I had seen so little, for the character of the +inhabitants is as uncultivated, if not as picturesquely wild, as their +abode. + +Having no employment but traffic, of which a contraband trade makes the +basis of their profit, the coarsest feelings of honesty are quickly +blunted. You may suppose that I speak in general terms; and that, with +all the disadvantages of nature and circumstances, there are still some +respectable exceptions, the more praiseworthy, as tricking is a very +contagious mental disease, that dries up all the generous juices of the +heart. Nothing genial, in fact, appears around this place, or within the +circle of its rocks. And, now I recollect, it seems to me that the most +genial and humane characters I have met with in life were most alive to +the sentiments inspired by tranquil country scenes. What, indeed, is to +humanise these beings, who rest shut up (for they seldom even open their +windows), smoking, drinking brandy, and driving bargains? I have been +almost stifled by these smokers. They begin in the morning, and are +rarely without their pipe till they go to bed. Nothing can be more +disgusting than the rooms and men towards the evening--breath, teeth, +clothes, and furniture, all are spoilt. It is well that the women are +not very delicate, or they would only love their husbands because they +were their husbands. Perhaps, you may add, that the remark need not be +confined to so small a part of the world; and, _entre nous_, I am of the +same opinion. You must not term this innuendo saucy, for it does not +come home. + +If I had not determined to write I should have found my confinement here, +even for three or four days, tedious. I have no books; and to pace up +and down a small room, looking at tiles overhung by rocks, soon becomes +wearisome. I cannot mount two hundred steps to walk a hundred yards many +times in the day. Besides, the rocks, retaining the heat of the sun, are +intolerably warm. I am, nevertheless, very well; for though there is a +shrewdness in the character of these people, depraved by a sordid love of +money which repels me, still the comparisons they force me to make keep +my heart calm by exercising my understanding. + +Everywhere wealth commands too much respect, but here almost exclusively; +and it is the only object pursued, not through brake and briar, but over +rocks and waves; yet of what use would riches be to me, I have sometimes +asked myself, were I confined to live in such in a spot? I could only +relieve a few distressed objects, perhaps render them idle, and all the +rest of life would be a blank. + +My present journey has given fresh force to my opinion that no place is +so disagreeable and unimproving as a country town. I should like to +divide my time between the town and country; in a lone house, with the +business of farming and planting, where my mind would gain strength by +solitary musing, and in a metropolis to rub off the rust of thought, and +polish the taste which the contemplation of nature had rendered just. +Thus do we wish as we float down the stream of life, whilst chance does +more to gratify a desire of knowledge than our best laid plans. A degree +of exertion, produced by some want, more or less painful, is probably the +price we must all pay for knowledge. How few authors or artists have +arrived at eminence who have not lived by their employment? + +I was interrupted yesterday by business, and was prevailed upon to dine +with the English vice-consul. His house being open to the sea, I was +more at large; and the hospitality of the table pleased me, though the +bottle was rather too freely pushed about. Their manner of entertaining +was such as I have frequently remarked when I have been thrown in the way +of people without education, who have more money than wit--that is, than +they know what to do with. The women were unaffected, but had not the +natural grace which was often conspicuous at Tonsberg. There was even a +striking difference in their dress, these having loaded themselves with +finery in the style of the sailors' girls of Hull or Portsmouth. Taste +has not yet taught them to make any but an ostentatious display of +wealth. Yet I could perceive even here the first steps of the +improvement which I am persuaded will make a very obvious progress in the +course of half a century, and it ought not to be sooner, to keep pace +with the cultivation of the earth. Improving manners will introduce +finer moral feelings. They begin to read translations of some of the +most useful German productions lately published, and one of our party +sung a song ridiculing the powers coalesced against France, and the +company drank confusion to those who had dismembered Poland. + +The evening was extremely calm and beautiful. Not being able to walk, I +requested a boat as the only means of enjoying free air. + +The view of the town was now extremely fine. A huge rocky mountain stood +up behind it, and a vast cliff stretched on each side, forming a +semicircle. In a recess of the rocks was a clump of pines, amongst which +a steeple rose picturesquely beautiful. + +The churchyard is almost the only verdant spot in the place. Here, +indeed, friendship extends beyond the grave, and to grant a sod of earth +is to accord a favour. I should rather choose, did it admit of a choice, +to sleep in some of the caves of the rocks, for I am become better +reconciled to them since I climbed their craggy sides last night, +listening to the finest echoes I ever heard. We had a French horn with +us, and there was an enchanting wildness in the dying away of the +reverberation that quickly transported me to Shakespeare's magic island. +Spirits unseen seemed to walk abroad, and flit from cliff to cliff to +soothe my soul to peace. + +I reluctantly returned to supper, to be shut up in a warm room, only to +view the vast shadows of the rocks extending on the slumbering waves. I +stood at the window some time before a buzz filled the drawing-room, and +now and then the dashing of a solitary oar rendered the scene still more +solemn. + +Before I came here I could scarcely have imagined that a simple object +(rocks) could have admitted of so many interesting combinations, always +grand and often sublime. Good night! God bless you! + + + + +LETTER XII. + + +I left East Rusoer the day before yesterday. The weather was very fine; +but so calm that we loitered on the water near fourteen hours, only to +make about six and twenty miles. + +It seemed to me a sort of emancipation when we landed at Helgeraac. The +confinement which everywhere struck me whilst sojourning amongst the +rocks, made me hail the earth as a land of promise; and the situation +shone with fresh lustre from the contrast--from appearing to be a free +abode. Here it was possible to travel by land--I never thought this a +comfort before--and my eyes, fatigued by the sparkling of the sun on the +water, now contentedly reposed on the green expanse, half persuaded that +such verdant meads had never till then regaled them. + +I rose early to pursue my journey to Tonsberg. The country still wore a +face of joy--and my soul was alive to its charms. Leaving the most lofty +and romantic of the cliffs behind us, we were almost continually +descending to Tonsberg, through Elysian scenes; for not only the sea, but +mountains, rivers, lakes, and groves, gave an almost endless variety to +the prospect. The cottagers were still carrying home the hay; and the +cottages on this road looked very comfortable. Peace and plenty--I mean +not abundance--seemed to reign around--still I grew sad as I drew near my +old abode. I was sorry to see the sun so high; it was broad noon. +Tonsberg was something like a home--yet I was to enter without lighting +up pleasure in any eye. I dreaded the solitariness of my apartment, and +wished for night to hide the starting tears, or to shed them on my +pillow, and close my eyes on a world where I was destined to wander +alone. Why has nature so many charms for me--calling forth and +cherishing refined sentiments, only to wound the breast that fosters +them? How illusive, perhaps the most so, are the plans of happiness +founded on virtue and principle; what inlets of misery do they not open +in a half-civilised society? The satisfaction arising from conscious +rectitude, will not calm an injured heart, when tenderness is ever +finding excuses; and self-applause is a cold solitary feeling, that +cannot supply the place of disappointed affection, without throwing a +gloom over every prospect, which, banishing pleasure, does not exclude +pain. I reasoned and reasoned; but my heart was too full to allow me to +remain in the house, and I walked, till I was wearied out, to purchase +rest--or rather forgetfulness. + +Employment has beguiled this day, and to-morrow I set out for Moss, on my +way to Stromstad. At Gothenburg I shall embrace my Fannikin; probably +she will not know me again--and I shall be hurt if she do not. How +childish is this! still it is a natural feeling. I would not permit +myself to indulge the "thick coming fears" of fondness, whilst I was +detained by business. Yet I never saw a calf bounding in a meadow, that +did not remind me of my little frolicker. A calf, you say. Yes; but a +capital one I own. + +I cannot write composedly--I am every instant sinking into reveries--my +heart flutters, I know not why. Fool! It is time thou wert at rest. + +Friendship and domestic happiness are continually praised; yet how little +is there of either in the world, because it requires more cultivation of +mind to keep awake affection, even in our own hearts, than the common run +of people suppose. Besides, few like to be seen as they really are; and +a degree of simplicity, and of undisguised confidence, which, to +uninterested observers, would almost border on weakness, is the charm, +nay the essence of love or friendship, all the bewitching graces of +childhood again appearing. As objects merely to exercise my taste, I +therefore like to see people together who have an affection for each +other; every turn of their features touches me, and remains pictured on +my imagination in indelible characters. The zest of novelty is, however, +necessary to rouse the languid sympathies which have been hackneyed in +the world; as is the factitious behaviour, falsely termed good-breeding, +to amuse those, who, defective in taste, continually rely for pleasure on +their animal spirits, which not being maintained by the imagination, are +unavoidably sooner exhausted than the sentiments of the heart. Friendship +is in general sincere at the commencement, and lasts whilst there is +anything to support it; but as a mixture of novelty and vanity is the +usual prop, no wonder if it fall with the slender stay. The fop in the +play paid a greater compliment than he was aware of when he said to a +person, whom he meant to flatter, "I like you almost as well as a _new +acquaintance_." Why am I talking of friendship, after which I have had +such a wild-goose chase. I thought only of telling you that the crows, +as well as wild-geese, are here birds of passage. + + + + +LETTER XIII. + + +I left Tonsberg yesterday, the 22nd of August. It is only twelve or +thirteen English miles to Moss, through a country less wild than any +tract I had hitherto passed over in Norway. It was often beautiful, but +seldom afforded those grand views which fill rather than soothe the mind. + +We glided along the meadows and through the woods, with sunbeams playing +around us; and, though no castles adorned the prospects, a greater number +of comfortable farms met my eyes during this ride than I have ever seen, +in the same space, even in the most cultivated part of England; and the +very appearance of the cottages of the labourers sprinkled amidst them +excluded all those gloomy ideas inspired by the contemplation of poverty. + +The hay was still bringing in, for one harvest in Norway treads on the +heels of the other. The woods were more variegated, interspersed with +shrubs. We no longer passed through forests of vast pines stretching +along with savage magnificence. Forests that only exhibited the slow +decay of time or the devastation produced by warring elements. No; oaks, +ashes, beech, and all the light and graceful tenants of our woods here +sported luxuriantly. I had not observed many oaks before, for the +greater part of the oak-planks, I am informed, come from the westward. + +In France the farmers generally live in villages, which is a great +disadvantage to the country; but the Norwegian farmers, always owning +their farms or being tenants for life, reside in the midst of them, +allowing some labourers a dwelling rent free, who have a little land +appertaining to the cottage, not only for a garden, but for crops of +different kinds, such as rye, oats, buck-wheat, hemp, flax, beans, +potatoes, and hay, which are sown in strips about it, reminding a +stranger of the first attempts at culture, when every family was obliged +to be an independent community. + +These cottagers work at a certain price (tenpence per day) for the +farmers on whose ground they live, and they have spare time enough to +cultivate their own land and lay in a store of fish for the winter. The +wives and daughters spin and the husbands and sons weave, so that they +may fairly be reckoned independent, having also a little money in hand to +buy coffee, brandy and some other superfluities. + +The only thing I disliked was the military service, which trammels them +more than I at first imagined. It is true that the militia is only +called out once a year, yet in case of war they have no alternative but +must abandon their families. Even the manufacturers are not exempted, +though the miners are, in order to encourage undertakings which require a +capital at the commencement. And, what appears more tyrannical, the +inhabitants of certain districts are appointed for the land, others for +the sea service. Consequently, a peasant, born a soldier, is not +permitted to follow his inclination should it lead him to go to sea, a +natural desire near so many seaports. + +In these regulations the arbitrary government--the King of Denmark being +the most absolute monarch in Europe--appears, which in other respects +seeks to hide itself in a lenity that almost renders the laws nullities. +If any alteration of old customs is thought of, the opinion of the old +country is required and maturely considered. I have several times had +occasion to observe that, fearing to appear tyrannical, laws are allowed +to become obsolete which ought to be put in force or better substituted +in their stead; for this mistaken moderation, which borders on timidity, +favours the least respectable part of the people. + +I saw on my way not only good parsonage houses, but comfortable +dwellings, with glebe land for the clerk, always a consequential man in +every country, a being proud of a little smattering of learning, to use +the appropriate epithet, and vain of the stiff good-breeding reflected +from the vicar, though the servility practised in his company gives it a +peculiar cast. + +The widow of the clergyman is allowed to receive the benefit of the +living for a twelvemonth after the death of the incumbent. + +Arriving at the ferry (the passage over to Moss is about six or eight +English miles) I saw the most level shore I had yet seen in Norway. The +appearance of the circumjacent country had been preparing me for the +change of scene which was to greet me when I reached the coast. For the +grand features of nature had been dwindling into prettiness as I +advanced; yet the rocks, on a smaller scale, were finely wooded to the +water's edge. Little art appeared, yet sublimity everywhere gave place +to elegance. The road had often assumed the appearance of a gravelled +one, made in pleasure-grounds; whilst the trees excited only an idea of +embellishment. Meadows, like lawns, in an endless variety, displayed the +careless graces of nature; and the ripening corn gave a richness to the +landscape analogous with the other objects. + +Never was a southern sky more beautiful, nor more soft its gales. Indeed, +I am led to conclude that the sweetest summer in the world is the +northern one, the vegetation being quick and luxuriant the moment the +earth is loosened from its icy fetters and the bound streams regain their +wonted activity. The balance of happiness with respect to climate may be +more equal than I at first imagined; for the inhabitants describe with +warmth the pleasures of a winter at the thoughts of which I shudder. Not +only their parties of pleasure but of business are reserved for this +season, when they travel with astonishing rapidity the most direct way, +skimming over hedge and ditch. + +On entering Moss I was struck by the animation which seemed to result +from industry. The richest of the inhabitants keep shops, resembling in +their manners and even the arrangement of their houses the tradespeople +of Yorkshire; with an air of more independence, or rather consequence, +from feeling themselves the first people in the place. I had not time to +see the iron-works, belonging to Mr. Anker, of Christiania, a man of +fortune and enterprise; and I was not very anxious to see them after +having viewed those at Laurvig. + +Here I met with an intelligent literary man, who was anxious to gather +information from me relative to the past and present situation of France. +The newspapers printed at Copenhagen, as well as those in England, give +the most exaggerated accounts of their atrocities and distresses, but the +former without any apparent comments or inferences. Still the +Norwegians, though more connected with the English, speaking their +language and copying their manners, wish well to the Republican cause, +and follow with the most lively interest the successes of the French +arms. So determined were they, in fact, to excuse everything, disgracing +the struggle of freedom, by admitting the tyrant's plea, necessity, that +I could hardly persuade them that Robespierre was a monster. + +The discussion of this subject is not so general as in England, being +confined to the few, the clergy and physicians, with a small portion of +people who have a literary turn and leisure; the greater part of the +inhabitants having a variety of occupations, being owners of ships, +shopkeepers, and farmers, have employment enough at home. And their +ambition to become rich may tend to cultivate the common sense which +characterises and narrows both their hearts and views, confirming the +former to their families, taking the handmaids of it into the circle of +pleasure, if not of interest, and the latter to the inspection of their +workmen, including the noble science of bargain-making--that is, getting +everything at the cheapest, and selling it at the dearest rate. I am now +more than ever convinced that it is an intercourse with men of science +and artists which not only diffuses taste, but gives that freedom to the +understanding without which I have seldom met with much benevolence of +character on a large scale. + +Besides, though you do not hear of much pilfering and stealing in Norway, +yet they will, with a quiet conscience, buy things at a price which must +convince them they were stolen. I had an opportunity of knowing that two +or three reputable people had purchased some articles of vagrants, who +were detected. How much of the virtue which appears in the world is put +on for the world? And how little dictated by self-respect?--so little, +that I am ready to repeat the old question, and ask, Where is truth, or +rather principle, to be found? These are, perhaps, the vapourings of a +heart ill at ease--the effusions of a sensibility wounded almost to +madness. But enough of this; we will discuss the subject in another +state of existence, where truth and justice will reign. How cruel are +the injuries which make us quarrel with human nature! At present black +melancholy hovers round my footsteps; and sorrow sheds a mildew over all +the future prospects, which hope no longer gilds. + +A rainy morning prevented my enjoying the pleasure the view of a +picturesque country would have afforded me; for though this road passed +through a country a greater extent of which was under cultivation than I +had usually seen here, it nevertheless retained all the wild charms of +Norway. Rocks still enclosed the valleys, the great sides of which +enlivened their verdure. Lakes appeared like branches of the sea, and +branches of the sea assumed the appearance of tranquil lakes; whilst +streamlets prattled amongst the pebbles and the broken mass of stone +which had rolled into them, giving fantastic turns to the trees, the +roots of which they bared. + +It is not, in fact, surprising that the pine should be often undermined; +it shoots its fibres in such a horizontal direction, merely on the +surface of the earth, requiring only enough to cover those that cling to +the crags. Nothing proves to me so clearly that it is the air which +principally nourishes trees and plants as the flourishing appearance of +these pines. The firs, demanding a deeper soil, are seldom seen in equal +health, or so numerous on the barren cliffs. They take shelter in the +crevices, or where, after some revolving ages, the pines have prepared +them a footing. + +Approaching, or rather descending, to Christiania, though the weather +continued a little cloudy, my eyes were charmed with the view of an +extensive undulated valley, stretching out under the shelter of a noble +amphitheatre of pine-covered mountains. Farm houses scattered about +animated, nay, graced a scene which still retained so much of its native +wildness, that the art which appeared seemed so necessary, it was +scarcely perceived. Cattle were grazing in the shaven meadows; and the +lively green on their swelling sides contrasted with the ripening corn +and rye. The corn that grew on the slopes had not, indeed, the laughing +luxuriance of plenty, which I have seen in more genial climes. A fresh +breeze swept across the grain, parting its slender stalks, but the wheat +did not wave its head with its wonted careless dignity, as if nature had +crowned it the king of plants. + +The view, immediately on the left, as we drove down the mountain, was +almost spoilt by the depredations committed on the rocks to make alum. I +do not know the process. I only saw that the rocks looked red after they +had been burnt, and regretted that the operation should leave a quantity +of rubbish to introduce an image of human industry in the shape of +destruction. The situation of Christiania is certainly uncommonly fine, +and I never saw a bay that so forcibly gave me an idea of a place of +safety from the storms of the ocean; all the surrounding objects were +beautiful and even grand. But neither the rocky mountains, nor the woods +that graced them, could be compared with the sublime prospects I had seen +to the westward; and as for the hills, "capped with _eternal_ snow," Mr. +Coxe's description led me to look for them, but they had flown, for I +looked vainly around for this noble background. + +A few months ago the people of Christiania rose, exasperated by the +scarcity and consequent high price of grain. The immediate cause was the +shipping of some, said to be for Moss, but which they suspected was only +a pretext to send it out of the country, and I am not sure that they were +wrong in their conjecture. Such are the tricks of trade. They threw +stones at Mr. Anker, the owner of it, as he rode out of town to escape +from their fury; they assembled about his house, and the people demanded +afterwards, with so much impetuosity, the liberty of those who were taken +up in consequence of the tumult, that the Grand Bailiff thought it +prudent to release them without further altercation. + +You may think me too severe on commerce, but from the manner it is at +present carried on little can be advanced in favour of a pursuit that +wears out the most sacred principles of humanity and rectitude. What is +speculation but a species of gambling, I might have said fraud, in which +address generally gains the prize? I was led into these reflections when +I heard of some tricks practised by merchants, miscalled reputable, and +certainly men of property, during the present war, in which common +honesty was violated: damaged goods and provision having been shipped for +the express purpose of falling into the hands of the English, who had +pledged themselves to reimburse neutral nations for the cargoes they +seized; cannon also, sent back as unfit for service, have been shipped as +a good speculation, the captain receiving orders to cruise about till he +fell in with an English frigate. Many individuals I believe have +suffered by the seizures of their vessels; still I am persuaded that the +English Government has been very much imposed upon in the charges made by +merchants who contrived to get their ships taken. This censure is not +confined to the Danes. Adieu, for the present, I must take advantage of +a moment of fine weather to walk out and see the town. + +At Christiania I met with that polite reception, which rather +characterises the progress of manners in the world, than of any +particular portion of it. The first evening of my arrival I supped with +some of the most fashionable people of the place, and almost imagined +myself in a circle of English ladies, so much did they resemble them in +manners, dress, and even in beauty; for the fairest of my countrywomen +would not have been sorry to rank with the Grand Bailiff's lady. There +were several pretty girls present, but she outshone them all, and, what +interested me still more, I could not avoid observing that in acquiring +the easy politeness which distinguishes people of quality, she had +preserved her Norwegian simplicity. There was, in fact, a graceful +timidity in her address, inexpressibly charming. This surprised me a +little, because her husband was quite a Frenchman of the _ancien regime_, +or rather a courtier, the same kind of animal in every country. + +Here I saw the cloven foot of despotism. I boasted to you that they had +no viceroy in Norway, but these Grand Bailiffs, particularly the superior +one, who resides at Christiania, are political monsters of the same +species. Needy sycophants are provided for by their relations and +connections at Copenhagen as at other courts. And though the Norwegians +are not in the abject state of the Irish, yet this second-hand government +is still felt by their being deprived of several natural advantages to +benefit the domineering state. + +The Grand Bailiffs are mostly noblemen from Copenhagen, who act as men of +common minds will always act in such situations--aping a degree of +courtly parade which clashes with the independent character of a +magistrate. Besides, they have a degree of power over the country +judges, which some of them, who exercise a jurisdiction truly patriarchal +most painfully feel. I can scarcely say why, my friend, but in this city +thoughtfulness seemed to be sliding into melancholy or rather dulness. +The fire of fancy, which had been kept alive in the country, was almost +extinguished by reflections on the ills that harass such a large portion +of mankind. I felt like a bird fluttering on the ground unable to mount, +yet unwilling to crawl tranquilly like a reptile, whilst still conscious +it had wings. + +I walked out, for the open air is always my remedy when an aching head +proceeds from an oppressed heart. Chance directed my steps towards the +fortress, and the sight of the slaves, working with chains on their legs, +only served to embitter me still more against the regulations of society, +which treated knaves in such a different manner, especially as there was +a degree of energy in some of their countenances which unavoidably +excited my attention, and almost created respect. + +I wished to have seen, through an iron grate, the face of a man who has +been confined six years for having induced the farmers to revolt against +some impositions of the Government. I could not obtain a clear account +of the affair, yet, as the complaint was against some farmers of taxes, I +am inclined to believe that it was not totally without foundation. He +must have possessed some eloquence, or have had truth on his side; for +the farmers rose by hundreds to support him, and were very much +exasperated at his imprisonment, which will probably last for life, +though he has sent several very spirited remonstrances to the upper +court, which makes the judges so averse to giving a sentence which may be +cavilled at, that they take advantage of the glorious uncertainty of the +law, to protract a decision which is only to be regulated by reasons of +state. + +The greater number of the slaves I saw here were not confined for life. +Their labour is not hard; and they work in the open air, which prevents +their constitutions from suffering by imprisonment. Still, as they are +allowed to associate together, and boast of their dexterity, not only to +each other but to the soldiers around them, in the garrison; they +commonly, it is natural to conclude, go out more confirmed and more +expert knaves than when they entered. + +It is not necessary to trace the origin of the association of ideas which +led me to think that the stars and gold keys, which surrounded me the +evening before, disgraced the wearers as much as the fetters I was +viewing--perhaps more. I even began to investigate the reason, which led +me to suspect that the former produced the latter. + +The Norwegians are extravagantly fond of courtly distinction, and of +titles, though they have no immunities annexed to them, and are easily +purchased. The proprietors of mines have many privileges: they are +almost exempt from taxes, and the peasantry born on their estates, as +well as those on the counts', are not born soldiers or sailors. + +One distinction, or rather trophy of nobility, which I might have +occurred to the Hottentots, amused me; it was a bunch of hog's bristles +placed on the horses' heads, surmounting that part of the harness to +which a round piece of brass often dangles, fatiguing the eye with its +idle motion. + +From the fortress I returned to my lodging, and quickly was taken out of +town to be shown a pretty villa, and English garden. To a Norwegian both +might have been objects of curiosity; and of use, by exciting to the +comparison which leads to improvement. But whilst I gazed, I was +employed in restoring the place to nature, or taste, by giving it the +character of the surrounding scene. Serpentine walks, and +flowering-shrubs, looked trifling in a grand recess of the rooks, shaded +by towering pines. Groves of smaller trees might have been sheltered +under them, which would have melted into the landscape, displaying only +the art which ought to point out the vicinity of a human abode, furnished +with some elegance. But few people have sufficient taste to discern, +that the art of embellishing consists in interesting, not in astonishing. + +Christiania is certainly very pleasantly situated, and the environs I +passed through, during this ride, afforded many fine and cultivated +prospects; but, excepting the first view approaching to it, rarely +present any combination of objects so strikingly new, or picturesque, as +to command remembrance. Adieu! + + + + +LETTER XIV. + + +Christiania is a clean, neat city; but it has none of the graces of +architecture, which ought to keep pace with the refining manners of a +people--or the outside of the house will disgrace the inside, giving the +beholder an idea of overgrown wealth devoid of taste. Large square +wooden houses offend the eye, displaying more than Gothic barbarism. Huge +Gothic piles, indeed, exhibit a characteristic sublimity, and a wildness +of fancy peculiar to the period when they were erected; but size, without +grandeur or elegance, has an emphatical stamp of meanness, of poverty of +conception, which only a commercial spirit could give. + +The same thought has struck me, when I have entered the meeting-house of +my respected friend, Dr. Price. I am surprised that the dissenters, who +have not laid aside all the pomps and vanities of life, should imagine a +noble pillar, or arch, unhallowed. Whilst men have senses, whatever +soothes them lends wings to devotion; else why do the beauties of nature, +where all that charm them are spread around with a lavish hand, force +even the sorrowing heart to acknowledge that existence is a blessing? and +this acknowledgment is the most sublime homage we can pay to the Deity. + +The argument of convenience is absurd. Who would labour for wealth, if +it were to procure nothing but conveniences. If we wish to render +mankind moral from principle, we must, I am persuaded, give a greater +scope to the enjoyments of the senses by blending taste with them. This +has frequently occurred to me since I have been in the north, and +observed that there sanguine characters always take refuge in drunkenness +after the fire of youth is spent. + +But I have flown from Norway. To go back to the wooden houses; farms +constructed with logs, and even little villages, here erected in the same +simple manner, have appeared to me very picturesque. In the more remote +parts I had been particularly pleased with many cottages situated close +to a brook, or bordering on a lake, with the whole farm contiguous. As +the family increases, a little more land is cultivated; thus the country +is obviously enriched by population. Formerly the farmers might more +justly have been termed woodcutters. But now they find it necessary to +spare the woods a little, and this change will be universally beneficial; +for whilst they lived entirely by selling the trees they felled, they did +not pay sufficient attention to husbandry; consequently, advanced very +slowly in agricultural knowledge. Necessity will in future more and more +spur them on; for the ground, cleared of wood, must be cultivated, or the +farm loses its value; there is no waiting for food till another +generation of pines be grown to maturity. + +The people of property are very careful of their timber; and, rambling +through a forest near Tonsberg, belonging to the Count, I have stopped to +admire the appearance of some of the cottages inhabited by a woodman's +family--a man employed to cut down the wood necessary for the household +and the estate. A little lawn was cleared, on which several lofty trees +were left which nature had grouped, whilst the encircling firs sported +with wild grace. The dwelling was sheltered by the forest, noble pines +spreading their branches over the roof; and before the door a cow, goat, +nag, and children, seemed equally content with their lot; and if +contentment be all we can attain, it is, perhaps, best secured by +ignorance. + +As I have been most delighted with the country parts of Norway, I was +sorry to leave Christiania without going farther to the north, though the +advancing season admonished me to depart, as well as the calls of +business and affection. + +June and July are the months to make a tour through Norway; for then the +evenings and nights are the finest I have ever seen; but towards the +middle or latter end of August the clouds begin to gather, and summer +disappears almost before it has ripened the fruit of autumn--even, as it +were, slips from your embraces, whilst the satisfied senses seem to rest +in enjoyment. + +You will ask, perhaps, why I wished to go farther northward. Why? not +only because the country, from all I can gather, is most romantic, +abounding in forests and lakes, and the air pure, but I have heard much +of the intelligence of the inhabitants, substantial farmers, who have +none of that cunning to contaminate their simplicity, which displeased me +so much in the conduct of the people on the sea coast. A man who has +been detected in any dishonest act can no longer live among them. He is +universally shunned, and shame becomes the severest punishment. + +Such a contempt have they, in fact, for every species of fraud, that they +will not allow the people on the western coast to be their countrymen; so +much do they despise the arts for which those traders who live on the +rocks are notorious. + +The description I received of them carried me back to the fables of the +golden age: independence and virtue; affluence without vice; cultivation +of mind, without depravity of heart; with "ever smiling Liberty;" the +nymph of the mountain. I want faith! + +My imagination hurries me forward to seek an asylum in such a retreat +from all the disappointments I am threatened with; but reason drags me +back, whispering that the world is still the world, and man the same +compound of weakness and folly, who must occasionally excite love and +disgust, admiration and contempt. But this description, though it seems +to have been sketched by a fairy pencil, was given me by a man of sound +understanding, whose fancy seldom appears to run away with him. + +A law in Norway, termed the _odels right_, has lately been modified, and +probably will be abolished as an impediment to commerce. The heir of an +estate had the power of re-purchasing it at the original purchase money, +making allowance for such improvements as were absolutely necessary, +during the space of twenty years. At present ten is the term allowed for +afterthought; and when the regulation was made, all the men of abilities +were invited to give their opinion whether it were better to abrogate or +modify it. It is certainly a convenient and safe way of mortgaging land; +yet the most rational men whom I conversed with on the subject seemed +convinced that the right was more injurious than beneficial to society; +still if it contribute to keep the farms in the farmers' own hands, I +should be sorry to hear that it were abolished. + +The aristocracy in Norway, if we keep clear of Christiania, is far from +being formidable; and it will require a long the to enable the merchants +to attain a sufficient moneyed interest to induce them to reinforce the +upper class at the expense of the yeomanry, with whom they are usually +connected. + +England and America owe their liberty to commerce, which created new +species of power to undermine the feudal system. But let them beware of +the consequence; the tyranny of wealth is still more galling and debasing +than that of rank. + +Farewell! I must prepare for my departure. + + + + +LETTER XV. + + +I left Christiania yesterday. The weather was not very fine, and having +been a little delayed on the road, I found that it was too late to go +round, a couple of miles, to see the cascade near Fredericstadt, which I +had determined to visit. Besides, as Fredericstadt is a fortress, it was +necessary to arrive there before they shut the gate. + +The road along the river is very romantic, though the views are not +grand; and the riches of Norway, its timber, floats silently down the +stream, often impeded in its course by islands and little cataracts, the +offspring, as it were, of the great one I had frequently heard described. + +I found an excellent inn at Fredericstadt, and was gratified by the kind +attention of the hostess, who, perceiving that my clothes were wet, took +great pains procure me, as a stranger, every comfort for the night. + +It had rained very hard, and we passed the ferry in the dark without +getting out of our carriage, which I think wrong, as the horses are +sometimes unruly. Fatigue and melancholy, however, had made me +regardless whether I went down or across the stream, and I did not know +that I was wet before the hostess marked it. My imagination has never +yet severed me from my griefs, and my mind has seldom been so free as to +allow my body to be delicate. + +How I am altered by disappointment! When going to Lisbon, the elasticity +of my mind was sufficient to ward off weariness, and my imagination still +could dip her brush in the rainbow of fancy, and sketch futurity in +glowing colours. Now--but let me talk of something else--will you go +with me to the cascade? + +The cross road to it was rugged and dreary; and though a considerable +extent of land was cultivated on all sides, yet the rocks were entirely +bare, which surprised me, as they were more on a level with the surface +than any I had yet seen. On inquiry, however, I learnt that some years +since a forest had been burnt. This appearance of desolation was beyond +measure gloomy, inspiring emotions that sterility had never produced. +Fires of this kind are occasioned by the wind suddenly rising when the +farmers are burning roots of trees, stalks of beans, &c, with which they +manure the ground. The devastation must, indeed, be terrible, when this, +literally speaking, wildfire, runs along the forest, flying from top to +top, and crackling amongst the branches. The soil, as well as the trees, +is swept away by the destructive torrent; and the country, despoiled of +beauty and riches, is left to mourn for ages. + +Admiring, as I do, these noble forests, which seem to bid defiance to +time, I looked with pain on the ridge of rocks that stretched far beyond +my eye, formerly crowned with the most beautiful verdure. + +I have often mentioned the grandeur, but I feel myself unequal to the +task of conveying an idea of the beauty and elegance of the scene when +the spiry tops of the pines are loaded with ripening seed, and the sun +gives a glow to their light-green tinge, which is changing into purple, +one tree more or less advanced contrasted with another. The profusion +with which Nature has decked them with pendant honours, prevents all +surprise at seeing in every crevice some sapling struggling for +existence. Vast masses of stone are thus encircled, and roots torn up by +the storms become a shelter for a young generation. The pine and fir +woods, left entirely to Nature, display an endless variety; and the paths +in the woods are not entangled with fallen leaves, which are only +interesting whilst they are fluttering between life and death. The grey +cobweb-like appearance of the aged pines is a much finer image of decay; +the fibres whitening as they lose their moisture, imprisoned life seems +to be stealing away. I cannot tell why, but death, under every form, +appears to me like something getting free to expand in I know not what +element--nay, I feel that this conscious being must be as unfettered, +have the wings of thought, before it can be happy. + +Reaching the cascade, or rather cataract, the roaring of which had a long +time announced its vicinity, my soul was hurried by the falls into a new +train of reflections. The impetuous dashing of the rebounding torrent +from the dark cavities which mocked the exploring eye produced an equal +activity in my mind. My thoughts darted from earth to heaven, and I +asked myself why I was chained to life and its misery. Still the +tumultuous emotions this sublime object excited were pleasurable; and, +viewing it, my soul rose with renewed dignity above its cares. Grasping +at immortality--it seemed as impossible to stop the current of my +thoughts, as of the always varying, still the same, torrent before me; I +stretched out my hand to eternity, bounding over the dark speck of life +to come. + +We turned with regret from the cascade. On a little hill, which commands +the best view of it, several obelisks are erected to commemorate the +visits of different kings. The appearance of the river above and below +the falls is very picturesque, the ruggedness of the scenery disappearing +as the torrent subsides into a peaceful stream. But I did not like to +see a number of saw-mills crowded together close to the cataracts; they +destroyed the harmony of the prospect. + +The sight of a bridge erected across a deep valley, at a little distance, +inspired very dissimilar sensations. It was most ingeniously supported +by mast-like trunks, just stripped of their branches; and logs, placed +one across the other, produced an appearance equally light and firm, +seeming almost to be built in the air when we were below it, the height +taking from the magnitude of the supporting trees give them a slender +graceful look. + +There are two noble estates in this neighbourhood, the proprietors of +which seem to have caught more than their portion of the enterprising +spirit that is gone abroad. Many agricultural experiments have been +made, and the country appears better enclosed and cultivated, yet the +cottages had not the comfortable aspect of those I had observed near Moss +and to the westward. Man is always debased by servitude of any +description, and here the peasantry are not entirely free. Adieu! + +I almost forgot to tell you that I did not leave Norway without making +some inquiries after the monsters said to have been seen in the northern +sea; but though I conversed with several captains, I could not meet with +one who had ever heard any traditional description of them, much less had +any ocular demonstration of their existence. Till the fact is better +ascertained, I should think the account of them ought to be torn out of +our geographical grammars. + + + + +LETTER XVI. + + +I set out from Fredericstadt about three o'clock in the afternoon, and +expected to reach Stromstad before the night closed in; but the wind +dying away, the weather became so calm that we scarcely made any +perceptible advances towards the opposite coast, though the men were +fatigued with rowing. + +Getting amongst the rocks and islands as the moon rose, and the stars +darted forward out of the clear expanse, I forgot that the night stole on +whilst indulging affectionate reveries, the poetical fictions of +sensibility; I was not, therefore, aware of the length of time we had +been toiling to reach Stromstad. And when I began to look around, I did +not perceive anything to indicate that we were in its neighbourhood. So +far from it, that when I inquired of the pilot, who spoke a little +English, I found that he was only accustomed to coast along the Norwegian +shore; and had been only once across to Stromstad. But he had brought +with him a fellow better acquainted, he assured me, with the rocks by +which they were to steer our course, for we had not a compass on board; +yet, as he was half a fool, I had little confidence in his skill. There +was then great reason to fear that we had lost our way, and were straying +amidst a labyrinth of rocks without a clue. + +This was something like an adventure, but not of the most agreeable cast; +besides, I was impatient to arrive at Stromstad, to be able to send +forward that night a boy to order horses on the road to be ready, for I +was unwilling to remain there a day without having anything to detain me +from my little girl, and from the letters which I was impatient to get +from you. + +I began to expostulate, and even to scold the pilot, for not having +informed me of his ignorance previous to my departure. This made him row +with more force, and we turned round one rock only to see another, +equally destitute of the tokens we were in search of to tell us where we +were. Entering also into creek after creek which promised to be the +entrance of the bay we were seeking, we advanced merely to find ourselves +running aground. + +The solitariness of the scene, as we glided under the dark shadows of the +rocks, pleased me for a while; but the fear of passing the whole night +thus wandering to and fro, and losing the next day, roused me. I begged +the pilot to return to one of the largest islands, at the side of which +we had seen a boat moored. As we drew nearer, a light through a window +on the summit became our beacon; but we were farther off than I supposed. + +With some difficulty the pilot got on shore, not distinguishing the +landing-place; and I remained in the boat, knowing that all the relief we +could expect was a man to direct us. After waiting some time, for there +is an insensibility in the very movements of these people that would +weary more than ordinary patience, he brought with him a man who, +assisting them to row, we landed at Stromstad a little after one in the +morning. + +It was too late to send off a boy, but I did not go to bed before I had +made the arrangements necessary to enable me to set out as early as +possible. + +The sun rose with splendour. My mind was too active to allow me to +loiter long in bed, though the horses did not arrive till between seven +and eight. However, as I wished to let the boy, who went forward to +order the horses, get considerably the start of me, I bridled in my +impatience. + +This precaution was unavailing, for after the three first posts I had to +wait two hours, whilst the people at the post-house went, fair and +softly, to the farm, to bid them bring up the horses which were carrying +in the first-fruits of the harvest. I discovered here that these +sluggish peasants had their share of cunning. Though they had made me +pay for a horse, the boy had gone on foot, and only arrived half an hour +before me. This disconcerted the whole arrangement of the day; and being +detained again three hours, I reluctantly determined to sleep at +Quistram, two posts short of Uddervalla, where I had hoped to have +arrived that night. + +But when I reached Quistram I found I could not approach the door of the +inn for men, horses, and carts, cows, and pigs huddled together. From +the concourse of people I had met on the road I conjectured that there +was a fair in the neighbourhood; this crowd convinced me that it was but +too true. The boisterous merriment that almost every instant produced a +quarrel, or made me dread one, with the clouds of tobacco, and fumes of +brandy, gave an infernal appearance to the scene. There was everything +to drive me back, nothing to excite sympathy in a rude tumult of the +senses, which I foresaw would end in a gross debauch. What was to be +done? No bed was to be had, or even a quiet corner to retire to for a +moment; all was lost in noise, riot, and confusion. + +After some debating they promised me horses, which were to go on to +Uddervalla, two stages. I requested something to eat first, not having +dined; and the hostess, whom I have mentioned to you before as knowing +how to take care of herself, brought me a plate of fish, for which she +charged a rix-dollar and a half. This was making hay whilst the sun +shone. I was glad to get out of the uproar, though not disposed to +travel in an incommodious open carriage all night, had I thought that +there was any chance of getting horses. + +Quitting Quistram I met a number of joyous groups, and though the evening +was fresh many were stretched on the grass like weary cattle; and drunken +men had fallen by the road-side. On a rock, under the shade of lofty +trees, a large party of men and women had lighted a fire, cutting down +fuel around to keep it alive all night. They were drinking, smoking, and +laughing with all their might and main. I felt for the trees whose torn +branches strewed the ground. Hapless nymphs! your haunts, I fear, were +polluted by many an unhallowed flame, the casual burst of the moment! + +The horses went on very well; but when we drew near the post-house the +postillion stopped short and neither threats nor promises could prevail +on him to go forward. He even began to howl and weep when I insisted on +his keeping his word. Nothing, indeed, can equal the stupid obstinacy of +some of these half-alive beings, who seem to have been made by Prometheus +when the fire he stole from Heaven was so exhausted that he could only +spare a spark to give life, not animation, to the inert clay. + +It was some time before we could rouse anybody; and, as I expected, +horses, we were told, could not be had in less than four or five hours. I +again attempted to bribe the churlish brute who brought us there, but I +discovered that, in spite of the courteous hostess's promises, he had +received orders not to go any father. + +As there was no remedy I entered, and was almost driven back by the +stench--a softer phrase would not have conveyed an idea of the hot vapour +that issued from an apartment in which some eight or ten people were +sleeping, not to reckon the cats and dogs stretched on the floor. Two or +three of the men or women were on the benches, others on old chests; and +one figure started half out of a trunk to look at me, whom might have +taken for a ghost, had the chemise been white, to contrast with the +sallow visage. But the costume of apparitions not being preserved I +passed, nothing dreading, excepting the effluvia, warily amongst the +pots, pans, milk-pails, and washing-tubs. After scaling a ruinous +staircase I was shown a bed-chamber. The bed did not invite me to enter; +opening, therefore, the window, and taking some clean towels out of my +night-sack, I spread them over the coverlid, on which tired Nature found +repose, in spite of the previous disgust. + +With the grey of the morn the birds awoke me; and descending to inquire +for the horses, I hastened through the apartment I have already +described, not wishing to associate the idea of a pigstye with that of a +human dwelling. + +I do not now wonder that the girls lose their fine complexions at such an +early age, or that love here is merely an appetite to fulfil the main +design of Nature, never enlivened by either affection or sentiment. + +For a few posts we found the horses waiting; but afterwards I was +retarded, as before, by the peasants, who, taking advantage of my +ignorance of the language, made me pay for the fourth horse that ought to +have gone forward to have the others in readiness, though it had never +been sent. I was particularly impatient at the last post, as I longed to +assure myself that my child was well. + +My impatience, however, did not prevent my enjoying the journey. I had +six weeks before passed over the same ground; still it had sufficient +novelty to attract my attention, and beguile, if not banish, the sorrow +that had taken up its abode in my heart. How interesting are the varied +beauties of Nature, and what peculiar charms characterise each season! +The purple hue which the heath now assumed gave it a degree of richness +that almost exceeded the lustre of the young green of spring, and +harmonised exquisitely with the rays of the ripening corn. The weather +was uninterruptedly fine, and the people busy in the fields cutting down +the corn, or binding up the sheaves, continually varied the prospect. The +rocks, it is true, were unusually rugged and dreary; yet as the road runs +for a considerable way by the side of a fine river, with extended +pastures on the other side, the image of sterility was not the +predominant object, though the cottages looked still more miserable, +after having seen the Norwegian farms. The trees likewise appeared of me +growth of yesterday, compared with those Nestors of the forest I have +frequently mentioned. The women and children were cutting off branches +from the beech, birch, oak, &c, and leaving them to dry. This way of +helping out their fodder injures the trees. But the winters are so long +that the poor cannot afford to lay in a sufficient stock of hay. By such +means they just keep life in the poor cows, for little milk can be +expected when they are so miserably fed. + +It was Saturday, and the evening was uncommonly serene. In the villages +I everywhere saw preparations for Sunday; and I passed by a little car +loaded with rye, that presented, for the pencil and heart, the sweetest +picture of a harvest home I had ever beheld. A little girl was mounted a- +straddle on a shaggy horse, brandishing a stick over its head; the father +was walking at the side of the car with a child in his arms, who must +have come to meet him with tottering steps; the little creature was +stretching out its arms to cling round his neck; and a boy, just above +petticoats, was labouring hard with a fork behind to keep the sheaves +from falling. + +My eyes followed them to the cottage, and an involuntary sigh whispered +to my heart that I envied the mother, much as I dislike cooking, who was +preparing their pottage. I was returning to my babe, who may never +experience a father's care or tenderness. The bosom that nurtured her +heaved with a pang at the thought which only an unhappy mother could +feel. + +Adieu! + + + + +LETTER XVII. + + +I was unwilling to leave Gothenburg without visiting Trolhaettae. I +wished not only to see the cascade, but to observe the progress of the +stupendous attempt to form a canal through the rocks, to the extent of an +English mile and a half. + +This work is carried on by a company, who employ daily nine hundred men; +five years was the time mentioned in the proposals addressed to the +public as necessary for the completion. A much more considerable sum +than the plan requires has been subscribed, for which there is every +reason to suppose the promoters will receive ample interest. + +The Danes survey the progress of this work with a jealous eye, as it is +principally undertaken to get clear of the Sound duty. + +Arrived at Trolhaettae, I must own that the first view of the cascade +disappointed me; and the sight of the works, as they advanced, though a +grand proof of human industry, was not calculated to warm the fancy. I, +however, wandered about; and at last coming to the conflux of the various +cataracts rushing from different falls, struggling with the huge masses +of rock, and rebounding from the profound cavities, I immediately +retracted, acknowledging that it was indeed a grand object. A little +island stood in the midst, covered with firs, which, by dividing the +torrent, rendered it more picturesque; one half appearing to issue from a +dark cavern, that fancy might easily imagine a vast fountain throwing up +its waters from the very centre of the earth. + +I gazed I know not how long, stunned with the noise, and growing giddy +with only looking at the never-ceasing tumultuous motion, I listened, +scarcely conscious where I was, when I observed a boy, half obscured by +the sparkling foam, fishing under the impending rock on the other side. +How he had descended I could not perceive; nothing like human footsteps +appeared, and the horrific crags seemed to bid defiance even to the +goat's activity. It looked like an abode only fit for the eagle, though +in its crevices some pines darted up their spiral heads; but they only +grew near the cascade, everywhere else sterility itself reigned with +dreary grandeur; for the huge grey massy rocks, which probably had been +torn asunder by some dreadful convulsion of nature, had not even their +first covering of a little cleaving moss. There were so many appearances +to excite the idea of chaos, that, instead of admiring the canal and the +works, great as they are termed, and little as they appear, I could not +help regretting that such a noble scene had not been left in all its +solitary sublimity. Amidst the awful roaring of the impetuous torrents, +the noise of human instruments and the bustle of workmen, even the +blowing up of the rocks when grand masses trembled in the darkened air, +only resembled the insignificant sport of children. + +One fall of water, partly made by art, when they were attempting to +construct sluices, had an uncommonly grand effect; the water precipitated +itself with immense velocity down a perpendicular, at least fifty or +sixty yards, into a gulf, so concealed by the foam as to give full play +to the fancy. There was a continual uproar. I stood on a rock to +observe it, a kind of bridge formed by nature, nearly on a level with the +commencement of the fall. After musing by it a long time I turned +towards the other side, and saw a gentle stream stray calmly out. I +should have concluded that it had no communication with the torrent had I +not seen a huge log that fell headlong down the cascade steal peacefully +into the purling stream. + +I retired from these wild scenes with regret to a miserable inn, and next +morning returned to Gothenburg, to prepare for my journey to Copenhagen. + +I was sorry to leave Gothenburg without travelling farther into Sweden, +yet I imagine I should only have seen a romantic country thinly +inhabited, and these inhabitants struggling with poverty. The Norwegian +peasantry, mostly independent, have a rough kind of frankness in their +manner; but the Swedish, rendered more abject by misery, have a degree of +politeness in their address which, though it may sometimes border on +insincerity, is oftener the effect of a broken spirit, rather softened +than degraded by wretchedness. + +In Norway there are no notes in circulation of less value than a Swedish +rix-dollar. A small silver coin, commonly not worth more than a penny, +and never more than twopence, serves for change; but in Sweden they have +notes as low as sixpence. I never saw any silver pieces there, and could +not without difficulty, and giving a premium, obtain the value of a rix- +dollar in a large copper coin to give away on the road to the poor who +open the gates. + +As another proof of the poverty of Sweden, I ought to mention that +foreign merchants who have acquired a fortune there are obliged to +deposit the sixth part when they leave the kingdom. This law, you may +suppose, is frequently evaded. + +In fact, the laws here, as well as in Norway, are so relaxed that they +rather favour than restrain knavery. + +Whilst I was at Gothenburg, a man who had been confined for breaking open +his master's desk and running away with five or six thousand rix-dollars, +was only sentenced to forty days' confinement on bread and water; and +this slight punishment his relations rendered nugatory by supplying him +with more savoury food. + +The Swedes are in general attached to their families, yet a divorce may +be obtained by either party on proving the infidelity of the other or +acknowledging it themselves. The women do not often recur to this equal +privilege, for they either retaliate on their husbands by following their +own devices or sink into the merest domestic drudges, worn down by +tyranny to servile submission. Do not term me severe if I add, that +after youth is flown the husband becomes a sot, and the wife amuses +herself by scolding her servants. In fact, what is to be expected in any +country where taste and cultivation of mind do not supply the place of +youthful beauty and animal spirits? Affection requires a firmer +foundation than sympathy, and few people have a principle of action +sufficiently stable to produce rectitude of feeling; for in spite of all +the arguments I have heard to justify deviations from duty, I am +persuaded that even the most spontaneous sensations are more under the +direction of principle than weak people are willing to allow. + +But adieu to moralising. I have been writing these last sheets at an inn +in Elsineur, where I am waiting for horses; and as they are not yet +ready, I will give you a short account of my journey from Gothenburg, for +I set out the morning after I returned from Trolhaettae. + +The country during the first day's journey presented a most barren +appearance, as rocky, yet not so picturesque as Norway, because on a +diminutive scale. We stopped to sleep at a tolerable inn in +Falckersberg, a decent little town. + +The next day beeches and oaks began to grace the prospects, the sea every +now and then appearing to give them dignity. I could not avoid observing +also, that even in this part of Sweden, one of the most sterile, as I was +informed, there was more ground under cultivation than in Norway. Plains +of varied crops stretched out to a considerable extent, and sloped down +to the shore, no longer terrific. And, as far as I could judge, from +glancing my eye over the country as we drove along, agriculture was in a +more advanced state, though in the habitations a greater appearance of +poverty still remained. The cottages, indeed, often looked most +uncomfortable, but never so miserable as those I had remarked on the road +to Stromstad, and the towns were equal, if not superior, to many of the +little towns in Wales, or some I have passed through in my way from +Calais to Paris. + +The inns as we advanced were not to be complained of, unless I had always +thought of England. The people were civil, and much more moderate in +their demands than the Norwegians, particularly to the westward, where +they boldly charge for what you never had, and seem to consider you, as +they do a wreck, if not as lawful prey, yet as a lucky chance, which they +ought not to neglect to seize. + +The prospect of Elsineur, as we passed the Sound, was pleasant. I gave +three rix-dollars for my boat, including something to drink. I mention +the sum, because they impose on strangers. + +Adieu! till I arrive at Copenhagen. + + + + +LETTER XVIII.--COPENHAGEN. + + +The distance from Elsineur to Copenhagen is twenty-two miles; the road is +very good, over a flat country diversified with wood, mostly beech, and +decent mansions. There appeared to be a great quantity of corn land, and +the soil looked much more fertile than it is in general so near the sea. +The rising grounds, indeed, were very few, and around Copenhagen it is a +perfect plain; of course has nothing to recommend it but cultivation, not +decorations. If I say that the houses did not disgust me, I tell you all +I remember of them, for I cannot recollect any pleasurable sensations +they excited, or that any object, produced by nature or art, took me out +of myself. The view of the city, as we drew near, was rather grand, but +without any striking feature to interest the imagination, excepting the +trees which shade the footpaths. + +Just before I reached Copenhagen I saw a number of tents on a wide plain, +and supposed that the rage for encampments had reached this city; but I +soon discovered that they were the asylum of many of the poor families +who had been driven out of their habitations by the late fire. + +Entering soon after, I passed amongst the dust and rubbish it had left, +affrighted by viewing the extent of the devastation, for at least a +quarter of the city had been destroyed. There was little in the +appearance of fallen bricks and stacks of chimneys to allure the +imagination into soothing melancholy reveries; nothing to attract the eye +of taste, but much to afflict the benevolent heart. The depredations of +time have always something in them to employ the fancy, or lead to musing +on subjects which, withdrawing the mind from objects of sense, seem to +give it new dignity; but here I was treading on live ashes. The +sufferers were still under the pressure of the misery occasioned by this +dreadful conflagration. I could not take refuge in the thought: they +suffered, but they are no more! a reflection I frequently summon to calm +my mind when sympathy rises to anguish. I therefore desired the driver +to hasten to the hotel recommended to me, that I might avert my eyes and +snap the train of thinking which had sent me into all the corners of the +city in search of houseless heads. + +This morning I have been walking round the town, till I am weary of +observing the ravages. I had often heard the Danes, even those who had +seen Paris and London, speak of Copenhagen with rapture. Certainly I +have seen it in a very disadvantageous light, some of the best streets +having been burnt, and the whole place thrown into confusion. Still the +utmost that can, or could ever, I believe, have been said in its praise, +might be comprised in a few words. The streets are open, and many of the +houses large; but I saw nothing to rouse the idea of elegance or +grandeur, if I except the circus where the king and prince royal reside. + +The palace, which was consumed about two years ago, must have been a +handsome, spacious building; the stone-work is still standing, and a +great number of the poor, during the late fire, took refuge in its ruins +till they could find some other abode. Beds were thrown on the landing- +places of the grand staircase, where whole families crept from the cold, +and every little nook is boarded up as a retreat for some poor creatures +deprived of their home. At present a roof may be sufficient to shelter +them from the night air; but as the season advances, the extent of the +calamity will be more severely felt, I fear, though the exertions on the +part of Government are very considerable. Private charity has also, no +doubt, done much to alleviate the misery which obtrudes itself at every +turn; still, public spirit appears to me to be hardly alive here. Had it +existed, the conflagration might have been smothered in the beginning, as +it was at last, by tearing down several houses before the flames had +reached them. To this the inhabitants would not consent; and the prince +royal not having sufficient energy of character to know when he ought to +be absolute, calmly let them pursue their own course, till the whole city +seemed to be threatened with destruction. Adhering, with puerile +scrupulosity, to the law which he has imposed on himself, of acting +exactly right, he did wrong by idly lamenting whilst he marked the +progress of a mischief that one decided step would have stopped. He was +afterwards obliged to resort to violent measures; but then, who could +blame him? And, to avoid censure, what sacrifices are not made by weak +minds? + +A gentleman who was a witness of the scene assured me, likewise, that if +the people of property had taken half as much pains to extinguish the +fire as to preserve their valuables and furniture, it would soon have +been got under. But they who were not immediately in danger did not +exert themselves sufficiently, till fear, like an electrical shock, +roused all the inhabitants to a sense of the general evil. Even the fire- +engines were out of order, though the burning of the palace ought to have +admonished them of the necessity of keeping them in constant repair. But +this kind of indolence respecting what does not immediately concern them +seems to characterise the Danes. A sluggish concentration in themselves +makes them so careful to preserve their property, that they will not +venture on any enterprise to increase it in which there is a shadow of +hazard. + +Considering Copenhagen as the capital of Denmark and Norway, I was +surprised not to see so much industry or taste as in Christiania. Indeed, +from everything I have had an opportunity of observing, the Danes are the +people who have made the fewest sacrifices to the graces. + +The men of business are domestic tyrants, coldly immersed in their own +affairs, and so ignorant of the state of other countries, that they +dogmatically assert that Denmark is the happiest country in the world; +the Prince Royal the best of all possible princes; and Count Bernstorff +the wisest of ministers. + +As for the women, they are simply notable housewives; without +accomplishments or any of the charms that adorn more advanced social +life. This total ignorance may enable them to save something in their +kitchens, but it is far from rendering them better parents. On the +contrary, the children are spoiled, as they usually are when left to the +care of weak, indulgent mothers, who having no principle of action to +regulate their feelings, become the slaves of infants, enfeebling both +body and mind by false tenderness. + +I am, perhaps, a little prejudiced, as I write from the impression of the +moment; for I have been tormented to-day by the presence of unruly +children, and made angry by some invectives thrown out against the +maternal character of the unfortunate Matilda. She was censured, with +the most cruel insinuation, for her management of her son, though, from +what I could gather, she gave proofs of good sense as well as tenderness +in her attention to him. She used to bathe him herself every morning; +insisted on his being loosely clad; and would not permit his attendants +to injure his digestion by humouring his appetite. She was equally +careful to prevent his acquiring haughty airs, and playing the tyrant in +leading-strings. The Queen Dowager would not permit her to suckle him; +but the next child being a daughter, and not the Heir-Apparent of the +Crown, less opposition was made to her discharging the duty of a mother. + +Poor Matilda! thou hast haunted me ever since may arrival; and the view I +have had of the manners of the country, exciting my sympathy, has +increased my respect for thy memory. + +I am now fully convinced that she was the victim of the party she +displaced, who would have overlooked or encouraged her attachment, had +not her lover, aiming at being useful, attempted to overturn some +established abuses before the people, ripe for the change, had sufficient +spirit to support him when struggling in their behalf. Such indeed was +the asperity sharpened against her that I have heard her, even after so +many years have elapsed, charged with licentiousness, not only for +endeavouring to render the public amusements more elegant, but for her +very charities, because she erected, amongst other institutions, a +hospital to receive foundlings. Disgusted with many customs which pass +for virtues, though they are nothing more than observances of forms, +often at the expense of truth, she probably ran into an error common to +innovators, in wishing to do immediately what can only be done by time. + +Many very cogent reasons have been urged by her friends to prove that her +affection for Struensee was never carried to the length alleged against +her by those who feared her influence. Be that as it may she certainly +was no a woman of gallantry, and if she had an attachment for him it did +not disgrace her heart or understanding, the king being a notorious +debauchee and an idiot into the bargain. As the king's conduct had +always been directed by some favourite, they also endeavoured to govern +him, from a principle of self-preservation as well as a laudable +ambition; but, not aware of the prejudices they had to encounter, the +system they adopted displayed more benevolence of heart than soundness of +judgment. As to the charge, still believed, of their giving the King +drugs to injure his faculties, it is too absurd to be refuted. Their +oppressors had better have accused them of dabbling in the black art, for +the potent spell still keeps his wits in bondage. + +I cannot describe to you the effect it had on me to see this puppet of a +monarch moved by the strings which Count Bernstorff holds fast; sit, with +vacant eye, erect, receiving the homage of courtiers who mock him with a +show of respect. He is, in fact, merely a machine of state, to subscribe +the name of a king to the acts of the Government, which, to avoid danger, +have no value unless countersigned by the Prince Royal; for he is allowed +to be absolutely aim idiot, excepting that now and then an observation or +trick escapes him, which looks more like madness than imbecility. + +What a farce is life. This effigy of majesty is allowed to burn down to +the socket, whilst the hapless Matilda was hurried into an untimely +grave. + + "As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods; + They kill us for their sport." + +Adieu! + + + + +LETTER XIX. + + +Business having obliged me to go a few miles out of town this morning I +was surprised at meeting a crowd of people of every description, and +inquiring the cause of a servant, who spoke French, I was informed that a +man had been executed two hours before, and the body afterwards burnt. I +could not help looking with horror around--the fields lost their +verdure--and I turned with disgust from the well-dressed women who were +returning with their children from this sight. What a spectacle for +humanity! The seeing such a flock of idle gazers plunged me into a train +of reflections on the pernicious effects produced by false notions of +justice. And I am persuaded that till capital punishments are entirely +abolished executions ought to have every appearance of horror given to +them, instead of being, as they are now, a scene of amusement for the +gaping crowd, where sympathy is quickly effaced by curiosity. + +I have always been of opinion that the allowing actors to die in the +presence of the audience has an immoral tendency, but trifling when +compared with the ferocity acquired by viewing the reality as a show; for +it seems to me that in all countries the common people go to executions +to see how the poor wretch plays his part, rather than to commiserate his +fate, much less to think of the breach of morality which has brought him +to such a deplorable end. Consequently executions, far from being useful +examples to the survivors, have, I am persuaded, a quite contrary effect, +by hardening the heart they ought to terrify. Besides the fear of an +ignominious death, I believe, never deferred anyone from the commission +of a crime, because, in committing it, the mind is roused to activity +about present circumstances. It is a game at hazard, at which all expect +the turn of the die in their own favour, never reflecting on the chance +of ruin till it comes. In fact, from what I saw in the fortresses of +Norway, I am more and more convinced that the same energy of character +which renders a man a daring villain would have rendered him useful to +society, had that society been well organised. When a strong mind is not +disciplined by cultivation it is a sense of injustice that renders it +unjust. + +Executions, however, occur very rarely at Copenhagen; for timidity, +rather than clemency, palsies all the operations of the present +Government. The malefactor who died this morning would not, probably, +have been punished with death at any other period; but an incendiary +excites universal execration; and as the greater part of the inhabitants +are still distressed by the late conflagration, an example was thought +absolutely necessary; though, from what I can gather, the fire was +accidental. + +Not, but that I have very seriously been informed, that combustible +materials were placed at proper distance, by the emissaries of Mr. Pitt; +and, to corroborate the fact, many people insist that the flames burst +out at once in different parts of the city; not allowing the wind to have +any hand in it. So much for the plot. But the fabricators of plots in +all countries build their conjectures on the "baseless fabric of a +vision;" and it seems even a sort of poetical justice, that whilst this +Minister is crushing at home plots of his own conjuring up, on the +Continent, and in the north, he should, with as little foundation, be +accused of wishing to set the world on fire. + +I forgot to mention to you, that I was informed, by a man of veracity, +that two persons came to the stake to drink a glass of the criminal's +blood, as an infallible remedy for the apoplexy. And when I animadverted +in the company, where it was mentioned, on such a horrible violation of +nature, a Danish lady reproved me very severely, asking how I knew that +it was not a cure for the disease? adding, that every attempt was +justifiable in search of health. I did not, you may imagine, enter into +an argument with a person the slave of such a gross prejudice. And I +allude to it not only as a trait of the ignorance of the people, but to +censure the Government for not preventing scenes that throw an odium on +the human race. + +Empiricism is not peculiar to Denmark; and I know no way of rooting it +out, though it be a remnant of exploded witchcraft, till the acquiring a +general knowledge of the component parts of the human frame becomes a +part of public education. + +Since the fire, the inhabitants have been very assiduously employed in +searching for property secreted during the confusion; and it is +astonishing how many people, formerly termed reputable, had availed +themselves of the common calamity to purloin what the flames spared. +Others, expert at making a distinction without a difference, concealed +what they found, not troubling themselves to inquire for the owners, +though they scrupled to search for plunder anywhere, but amongst the +ruins. + +To be honester than the laws require is by most people thought a work of +supererogation; and to slip through the grate of the law has ever +exercised the abilities of adventurers, who wish to get rich the shortest +way. Knavery without personal danger is an art brought to great +perfection by the statesman and swindler; and meaner knaves are not tardy +in following their footsteps. + +It moves my gall to discover some of the commercial frauds practised +during the present war. In short, under whatever point of view I +consider society, it appears to me that an adoration of property is the +root of all evil. Here it does not render the people enterprising, as in +America, but thrifty and cautious. I never, therefore, was in a capital +where there was so little appearance of active industry; and as for +gaiety, I looked in vain for the sprightly gait of the Norwegians, who in +every respect appear to me to have got the start of them. This +difference I attribute to their having more liberty--a liberty which they +think their right by inheritance, whilst the Danes, when they boast of +their negative happiness, always mention it as the boon of the Prince +Royal, under the superintending wisdom of Count Bernstorff. Vassalage is +nevertheless ceasing throughout the kingdom, and with it will pass away +that sordid avarice which every modification of slavery is calculated to +produce. + +If the chief use of property be power, in the shape of the respect it +procures, is it not among the inconsistencies of human nature most +incomprehensible, that men should find a pleasure in hoarding up property +which they steal from their necessities, even when they are convinced +that it would be dangerous to display such an enviable superiority? Is +not this the situation of serfs in every country. Yet a rapacity to +accumulate money seems to become stronger in proportion as it is allowed +to be useless. + +Wealth does not appear to be sought for amongst the Danes, to obtain the +excellent luxuries of life, for a want of taste is very conspicuous at +Copenhagen; so much so that I am not surprised to hear that poor Matilda +offended the rigid Lutherans by aiming to refine their pleasures. The +elegance which she wished to introduce was termed lasciviousness; yet I +do not find that the absence of gallantry renders the wives more chaste, +or the husbands more constant. Love here seems to corrupt the morals +without polishing the manners, by banishing confidence and truth, the +charm as well as cement of domestic life. A gentleman, who has resided +in this city some time, assures me that he could not find language to +give me an idea of the gross debaucheries into which the lower order of +people fall; and the promiscuous amours of the men of the middling class +with their female servants debase both beyond measure, weakening every +species of family affection. + +I have everywhere been struck by one characteristic difference in the +conduct of the two sexes; women, in general, are seduced by their +superiors, and men jilted by their inferiors: rank and manners awe the +one, and cunning and wantonness subjugate the other; ambition creeping +into the woman's passion, and tyranny giving force to the man's, for most +men treat their mistresses as kings do their favourites: _ergo_ is not +man then the tyrant of the creation? + +Still harping on the same subject, you will exclaim--How can I avoid it, +when most of the struggles of an eventful life have been occasioned by +the oppressed state of my sex? We reason deeply when we feel forcibly. + +But to return to the straight road of observation. The sensuality so +prevalent appears to me to arise rather from indolence of mind and dull +senses, than from an exuberance of life, which often fructifies the whole +character when the vivacity of youthful spirits begins to subside into +strength of mind. + +I have before mentioned that the men are domestic tyrants, considering +them as fathers, brothers, or husbands; but there is a kind of +interregnum between the reign of the father and husband which is the only +period of freedom and pleasure that the women enjoy. Young people who +are attached to each other, with the consent of their friends, exchange +rings, and are permitted to enjoy a degree of liberty together which I +have never noticed in any other country. The days of courtship are, +therefore, prolonged till it be perfectly convenient to marry: the +intimacy often becomes very tender; and if the lover obtain the privilege +of a husband, it can only be termed half by stealth, because the family +is wilfully blind. It happens very rarely that these honorary +engagements are dissolved or disregarded, a stigma being attached to a +breach of faith which is thought more disgraceful, if not so criminal, as +the violation of the marriage-vow. + +Do not forget that, in my general observations, I do not pretend to +sketch a national character, but merely to note the present state of +morals and manners as I trace the progress of the world's improvement. +Because, during my residence in different countries, my principal object +has been to take such a dispassionate view of men as will lead me to form +a just idea of the nature of man. And, to deal ingenuously with you, I +believe I should have been less severe in the remarks I have made on the +vanity and depravity of the French, had I travelled towards the north +before I visited France. + +The interesting picture frequently drawn of the virtues of a rising +people has, I fear, been fallacious, excepting the accounts of the +enthusiasm which various public struggles have produced. We talk of the +depravity of the French, and lay a stress on the old age of the nation; +yet where has more virtuous enthusiasm been displayed than during the two +last years by the common people of France, and in their armies? I am +obliged sometimes to recollect the numberless instances which I have +either witnessed, or heard well authenticated, to balance the account of +horrors, alas! but too true. I am, therefore, inclined to believe that +the gross vices which I have always seem allied with simplicity of +manners, are the concomitants of ignorance. + +What, for example, has piety, under the heathen or Christian system, +been, but a blind faith in things contrary to the principles of reason? +And could poor reason make considerable advances when it was reckoned the +highest degree of virtue to do violence to its dictates? Lutherans, +preaching reformation, have built a reputation for sanctity on the same +foundation as the Catholics; yet I do not perceive that a regular +attendance on public worship, and their other observances, make them a +whit more true in their affections, or honest in their private +transactions. It seems, indeed, quite as easy to prevaricate with +religious injunctions as human laws, when the exercise of their reason +does not lead people to acquire principles for themselves to be the +criterion of all those they receive from others. + +If travelling, as the completion of a liberal education, were to be +adopted on rational grounds, the northern states ought to be visited +before the more polished parts of Europe, to serve as the elements even +of the knowledge of manners, only to be acquired by tracing the various +shades in different countries. But, when visiting distant climes, a +momentary social sympathy should not be allowed to influence the +conclusions of the understanding, for hospitality too frequently leads +travellers, especially those who travel in search of pleasure, to make a +false estimate of the virtues of a nation, which, I am now convinced, +bear an exact proportion to their scientific improvements. + +Adieu. + + + + +LETTER XX. + + +I have formerly censured the French for their extreme attachment to +theatrical exhibitions, because I thought that they tended to render them +vain and unnatural characters; but I must acknowledge, especially as +women of the town never appear in the Parisian as at our theatres, that +the little saving of the week is more usefully expended there every +Sunday than in porter or brandy, to intoxicate or stupify the mind. The +common people of France have a great superiority over that class in every +other country on this very score. It is merely the sobriety of the +Parisians which renders their fetes more interesting, their gaiety never +becoming disgusting or dangerous, as is always the case when liquor +circulates. Intoxication is the pleasure of savages, and of all those +whose employments rather exhaust their animal spirits than exercise their +faculties. Is not this, in fact, the vice, both in England and the +northern states of Europe, which appears to be the greatest impediment to +general improvement? Drinking is here the principal relaxation of the +men, including smoking, but the women are very abstemious, though they +have no public amusements as a substitute. I ought to except one +theatre, which appears more than is necessary; for when I was there it +was not half full, and neither the ladies nor actresses displayed much +fancy in their dress. + +The play was founded on the story of the "Mock Doctor;" and, from the +gestures of the servants, who were the best actors, I should imagine +contained some humour. The farce, termed ballet, was a kind of +pantomime, the childish incidents of which were sufficient to show the +state of the dramatic art in Denmark, and the gross taste of the +audience. A magician, in the disguise of a tinker, enters a cottage +where the women are all busy ironing, and rubs a dirty frying-pan against +the linen. The women raise a hue-and-cry, and dance after him, rousing +their husbands, who join in the dance, but get the start of them in the +pursuit. The tinker, with the frying-pan for a shield, renders them +immovable, and blacks their cheeks. Each laughs at the other, +unconscious of his own appearance; meanwhile the women enter to enjoy the +sport, "the rare fun," with other incidents of the same species. + +The singing was much on a par with the dancing, the one as destitute of +grace as the other of expression; but the orchestra was well filled, the +instrumental being far superior to the vocal music. + +I have likewise visited the public library and museum, as well as the +palace of Rosembourg. This palace, now deserted, displays a gloomy kind +of grandeur throughout, for the silence of spacious apartments always +makes itself to be felt; I at least feel it, and I listen for the sound +of my footsteps as I have done at midnight to the ticking of the death- +watch, encouraging a kind of fanciful superstition. Every object carried +me back to past times, and impressed the manners of the age forcibly on +my mind. In this point of view the preservation of old palaces and their +tarnished furniture is useful, for they may be considered as historical +documents. + +The vacuum left by departed greatness was everywhere observable, whilst +the battles and processions portrayed on the walls told you who had here +excited revelry after retiring from slaughter, or dismissed pageantry in +search of pleasure. It seemed a vast tomb full of the shadowy phantoms +of those who had played or toiled their hour out and sunk behind the +tapestry which celebrated the conquests of love or war. Could they be no +more--to whom my imagination thus gave life? Could the thoughts, of +which there remained so many vestiges, have vanished quite away? And +these beings, composed of such noble materials of thinking and feeling, +have they only melted into the elements to keep in motion the grand mass +of life? It cannot be!--as easily could I believe that the large silver +lions at the top of the banqueting room thought and reasoned. But +avaunt! ye waking dreams! yet I cannot describe the curiosities to you. + +There were cabinets full of baubles and gems, and swords which must have +been wielded by giant's hand. The coronation ornaments wait quietly here +till wanted, and the wardrobe exhibits the vestments which formerly +graced these shows. It is a pity they do not lend them to the actors, +instead of allowing them to perish ingloriously. + +I have not visited any other palace, excepting Hirsholm, the gardens of +which are laid out with taste, and command the finest views the country +affords. As they are in the modern and English style, I thought I was +following the footsteps of Matilda, who wished to multiply around her the +images of her beloved country. I was also gratified by the sight of a +Norwegian landscape in miniature, which with great propriety makes a part +of the Danish King's garden. The cottage is well imitated, and the whole +has a pleasing effect, particularly so to me who love Norway--its +peaceful farms and spacious wilds. + +The public library consists of a collection much larger than I expected +to see; and it is well arranged. Of the value of the Icelandic +manuscripts I could not form a judgment, though the alphabet of some of +them amused me, by showing what immense labour men will submit to, in +order to transmit their ideas to posterity. I have sometimes thought it +a great misfortune for individuals to acquire a certain delicacy of +sentiment, which often makes them weary of the common occurrences of +life; yet it is this very delicacy of feeling and thinking which probably +has produced most of the performances that have benefited mankind. It +might with propriety, perhaps, be termed the malady of genius; the cause +of that characteristic melancholy which "grows with its growth, and +strengthens with its strength." + +There are some good pictures in the royal museum. Do not start, I am not +going to trouble you with a dull catalogue, or stupid criticisms on +masters to whom time has assigned their just niche in the temple of fame; +had there been any by living artists of this country, I should have +noticed them, as making a part of the sketches I am drawing of the +present state of the place. The good pictures were mixed +indiscriminately with the bad ones, in order to assort the frames. The +same fault is conspicuous in the new splendid gallery forming at Paris; +though it seems an obvious thought that a school for artists ought to be +arranged in such a manner, as to show the progressive discoveries and +improvements in the art. + +A collection of the dresses, arms, and implements of the Laplanders +attracted my attention, displaying that first species of ingenuity which +is rather a proof of patient perseverance, than comprehension of mind. +The specimens of natural history, and curiosities of art, were likewise +huddled together without that scientific order which alone renders them +useful; but this may partly have been occasioned by the hasty manner in +which they were removed from the palace when in flames. + +There are some respectable men of science here, but few literary +characters, and fewer artists. They want encouragement, and will +continue, I fear, from the present appearance of things, to languish +unnoticed a long time; for neither the vanity of wealth, nor the +enterprising spirit of commerce, has yet thrown a glance that way. + +Besides, the Prince Royal, determined to be economical, almost descends +to parsimony; and perhaps depresses his subjects, by labouring not to +oppress them; for his intentions always seem to be good--yet nothing can +give a more forcible idea of the dulness which eats away all activity of +mind, than the insipid routine of a court, without magnificence or +elegance. + +The Prince, from what I can now collect, has very moderate abilities; yet +is so well disposed, that Count Bernstorff finds him as tractable as he +could wish; for I consider the Count as the real sovereign, scarcely +behind the curtain; the Prince having none of that obstinate +self-sufficiency of youth, so often the forerunner of decision of +character. He and the Princess his wife, dine every day with the King, +to save the expense of two tables. What a mummery it must be to treat as +a king a being who has lost the majesty of man! But even Count +Bernstorff's morality submits to this standing imposition; and he avails +himself of it sometimes, to soften a refusal of his own, by saying it is +the _will_ of the King, my master, when everybody knows that he has +neither will nor memory. Much the same use is made of him as, I have +observed, some termagant wives make of their husbands; they would dwell +on the necessity of obeying their husbands, poor passive souls, who never +were allowed _to will_, when they wanted to conceal their own tyranny. + +A story is told here of the King's formerly making a dog counsellor of +state, because when the dog, accustomed to eat at the royal table, +snatched a piece of meat off an old officer's plate, he reproved him +jocosely, saying that he, _monsieur le chien_, had not the privilege of +dining with his majesty, a privilege annexed to this distinction. + +The burning of the palace was, in fact, a fortunate circumstance, as it +afforded a pretext for reducing the establishment of the household, which +was far too great for the revenue of the Crown. The Prince Royal, at +present, runs into the opposite extreme; and the formality, if not the +parsimony, of the court, seems to extend to all the other branches of +society, which I had an opportunity of observing; though hospitality +still characterises their intercourse with strangers. + +But let me now stop; I may be a little partial, and view everything with +the jaundiced eye of melancholy--for I am sad--and have cause. + +God bless you! + + + + +LETTER XXI. + + +I have seen Count Bernstorff; and his conversation confirms me in the +opinion I had previously formed of him; I mean, since my arrival at +Copenhagen. He is a worthy man, a little vain of his virtue _a la_ +Necker; and more anxious not to do wrong, that is to avoid blame, than +desirous of doing good; especially if any particular good demands a +change. Prudence, in short, seems to be the basis of his character; and, +from the tenor of the Government, I should think inclining to that +cautious circumspection which treads on the heels of timidity. He has +considerable information, and some finesse; or he could not be a +Minister. Determined not to risk his popularity, for he is tenderly +careful of his reputation, he will never gloriously fail like Struensee, +or disturb, with the energy of genius, the stagnant state of the public +mind. + +I suppose that Lavater, whom he invited to visit him two years ago--some +say to fix the principles of the Christian religion firmly in the Prince +Royal's mind, found lines in his face to prove him a statesman of the +first order; because he has a knack at seeing a great character in the +countenances of men in exalted stations, who have noticed him or his +works. Besides, the Count's sentiments relative to the French +Revolution, agreeing with Lavater's, must have ensured his applause. + +The Danes, in general, seem extremely averse to innovation, and if +happiness only consist in opinion, they are the happiest people in the +world; for I never saw any so well satisfied with their own situation. +Yet the climate appears to be very disagreeable, the weather being dry +and sultry, or moist and cold; the atmosphere never having that sharp, +bracing purity, which in Norway prepares you to brave its rigours. I do +not hear the inhabitants of this place talk with delight of the winter, +which is the constant theme of the Norwegians; on the contrary, they seem +to dread its comfortless inclemency. + +The ramparts are pleasant, and must have been much more so before the +fire, the walkers not being annoyed by the clouds of dust which, at +present, the slightest wind wafts from the ruins. The windmills, and the +comfortable houses contiguous, belonging to the millers, as well as the +appearance of the spacious barracks for the soldiers and sailors, tend to +render this walk more agreeable. The view of the country has not much to +recommend it to notice but its extent and cultivation: yet as the eye +always delights to dwell on verdant plains, especially when we are +resident in a great city, these shady walks should be reckoned amongst +the advantages procured by the Government for the inhabitants. I like +them better than the Royal Gardens, also open to the public, because the +latter seem sunk in the heart of the city, to concentrate its fogs. + +The canals which intersect the streets are equally convenient and +wholesome; but the view of the sea commanded by the town had little to +interest me whilst the remembrance of the various bold and picturesque +shores I had seen was fresh in my memory. Still the opulent inhabitants, +who seldom go abroad, must find the spots were they fix their country +seats much pleasanter on account of the vicinity of the ocean. + +One of the best streets in Copenhagen is almost filled with hospitals, +erected by the Government, and, I am assured, as well regulated as +institutions of this kind are in any country; but whether hospitals or +workhouses are anywhere superintended with sufficient humanity I have +frequently had reason to doubt. + +The autumn is so uncommonly fine that I am unwilling to put off my +journey to Hamburg much longer, lest the weather should alter suddenly, +and the chilly harbingers of winter catch me here, where I have nothing +now to detain me but the hospitality of the families to whom I had +recommendatory letters. I lodged at an hotel situated in a large open +square, where the troops exercise and the market is kept. My apartments +were very good; and on account of the fire I was told that I should be +charged very high; yet, paying my bill just now, I find the demands much +lower in proportion than in Norway, though my dinners were in every +respect better. + +I have remained more at home since I arrived at Copenhagen than I ought +to have done in a strange place, but the mind is not always equally +active in search of information, and my oppressed heart too often sighs +out-- + + "How dull, flat, and unprofitable + Are to me all the usages of this world: + That it should come to this!" + +Farewell! Fare thee well, I say; if thou canst, repeat the adieu in a +different tone. + + + + +LETTER XXII. + + +I arrived at Corsoer the night after I quitted Copenhagen, purposing to +take my passage across the Great Belt the next morning, though the +weather was rather boisterous. It is about four-and-twenty miles but as +both I and my little girl are never attacked by sea-sickness--though who +can avoid _ennui_?--I enter a boat with the same indifference as I change +horses; and as for danger, come when it may, I dread it not sufficiently +to have any anticipating fears. + +The road from Copenhagen was very good, through an open, flat country +that had little to recommend it to notice excepting the cultivation, +which gratified my heart more than my eye. + +I took a barge with a German baron who was hastening back from a tour +into Denmark, alarmed by the intelligence of the French having passed the +Rhine. His conversation beguiled the time, and gave a sort of stimulus +to my spirits, which had been growing more and more languid ever since my +return to Gothenburg; you know why. I had often endeavoured to rouse +myself to observation by reflecting that I was passing through scenes +which I should probably never see again, and consequently ought not to +omit observing. Still I fell into reveries, thinking, by way of excuse, +that enlargement of mind and refined feelings are of little use but to +barb the arrows of sorrow which waylay us everywhere, eluding the +sagacity of wisdom and rendering principles unavailing, if considered as +a breastwork to secure our own hearts. + +Though we had not a direct wind, we were not detained more than three +hours and a half on the water, just long enough to give us an appetite +for our dinner. + +We travelled the remainder of the day and the following night in company +with the same party, the German gentleman whom I have mentioned, his +friend, and servant. The meetings at the post-houses were pleasant to +me, who usually heard nothing but strange tongues around me. Marguerite +and the child often fell asleep, and when they were awake I might still +reckon myself alone, as our train of thoughts had nothing in common. +Marguerite, it is true, was much amused by the costume of the women, +particularly by the pannier which adorned both their heads and tails, and +with great glee recounted to me the stories she had treasured up for her +family when once more within the barriers of dear Paris, not forgetting, +with that arch, agreeable vanity peculiar to the French, which they +exhibit whilst half ridiculing it, to remind me of the importance she +should assume when she informed her friends of all her journeys by sea +and land, showing the pieces of money she had collected, and stammering +out a few foreign phrases, which she repeated in a true Parisian accent. +Happy thoughtlessness! ay, and enviable harmless vanity, which thus +produced a _gaite du coeur_ worth all my philosophy! + +The man I had hired at Copenhagen advised me to go round about twenty +miles to avoid passing the Little Belt excepting by a ferry, as the wind +was contrary. But the gentlemen overruled his arguments, which we were +all very sorry for afterwards, when we found ourselves becalmed on the +Little Belt ten hours, tacking about without ceasing, to gain the shore. + +An oversight likewise made the passage appear much more tedious, nay, +almost insupportable. When I went on board at the Great Belt, I had +provided refreshments in case of detention, which remaining untouched I +thought not then any such precaution necessary for the second passage, +misled by the epithet of "little," though I have since been informed that +it is frequently the longest. This mistake occasioned much vexation; for +the child, at last, began to cry so bitterly for bread, that fancy +conjured up before me the wretched Ugolino, with his famished children; +and I, literally speaking, enveloped myself in sympathetic horrors, +augmented by every fear my babe shed, from which I could not escape till +we landed, and a luncheon of bread and basin of milk routed the spectres +of fancy. + +I then supped with my companions, with whom I was soon after to part for +ever--always a most melancholy death-like idea--a sort of separation of +soul; for all the regret which follows those from whom fate separates us +seems to be something torn from ourselves. These were strangers I +remember; yet when there is any originality in a countenance, it takes +its place in our memory, and we are sorry to lose an acquaintance the +moment he begins to interest us, through picked up on the highway. There +was, in fact, a degree of intelligence, and still more sensibility, in +the features and conversation of one of the gentlemen, that made me +regret the loss of his society during the rest of the journey; for he was +compelled to travel post, by his desire to reach his estate before the +arrival of the French. + +This was a comfortable inn, as were several others I stopped at; but the +heavy sandy roads were very fatiguing, after the fine ones we had lately +skimmed over both in Sweden and Denmark. The country resembled the most +open part of England--laid out for corn rather than grazing. It was +pleasant, yet there was little in the prospects to awaken curiosity, by +displaying the peculiar characteristics of a new country, which had so +frequently stole me from myself in Norway. We often passed over large +unenclosed tracts, not graced with trees, or at least very sparingly +enlivened by them, and the half-formed roads seemed to demand the +landmarks, set up in the waste, to prevent the traveller from straying +far out of his way, and plodding through the wearisome sand. + +The heaths were dreary, and had none of the wild charms of those of +Sweden and Norway to cheat time; neither the terrific rocks, nor smiling +herbage grateful to the sight and scented from afar, made us forget their +length. Still the country appeared much more populous, and the towns, if +not the farmhouses, were superior to those of Norway. I even thought +that the inhabitants of the former had more intelligence--at least, I am +sure they had more vivacity in their countenances than I had seen during +my northern tour: their senses seemed awake to business and pleasure. I +was therefore gratified by hearing once more the busy hum of industrious +men in the day, and the exhilarating sounds of joy in the evening; for, +as the weather was still fine, the women and children were amusing +themselves at their doors, or walking under the trees, which in many +places were planted in the streets; and as most of the towns of any note +were situated on little bays or branches of the Baltic, their appearance +as we approached was often very picturesque, and, when we entered, +displayed the comfort and cleanliness of easy, if not the elegance of +opulent, circumstances. But the cheerfulness of the people in the +streets was particularly grateful to me, after having been depressed by +the deathlike silence of those of Denmark, where every house made me +think of a tomb. The dress of the peasantry is suited to the climate; in +short, none of that poverty and dirt appeared, at the sight of which the +heart sickens. + +As I only stopped to change horses, take refreshment, and sleep, I had +not an opportunity of knowing more of the country than conclusions which +the information gathered by my eyes enabled me to draw, and that was +sufficient to convince me that I should much rather have lived in some of +the towns I now pass through than in any I had seen in Sweden or Denmark. +The people struck me as having arrived at that period when the faculties +will unfold themselves; in short; they look alive to improvement, neither +congealed by indolence, nor bent down by wretchedness to servility. + +From the previous impression--I scarcely can trace whence I received it--I +was agreeably surprised to perceive such an appearance of comfort in this +part of Germany. I had formed a conception of the tyranny of the petty +potentates that had thrown a gloomy veil over the face of the whole +country in my imagination, that cleared away like the darkness of night +before the sun as I saw the reality. I should probably have discovered +much lurking misery, the consequence of ignorant oppression, no doubt, +had I had time to inquire into particulars; but it did not stalk abroad +and infect the surface over which my eye glanced. Yes, I am persuaded +that a considerable degree of general knowledge pervades this country, +for it is only from the exercise of the mind that the body acquires the +activity from which I drew these inferences. Indeed, the King of +Denmark's German dominions--Holstein--appeared to me far superior to any +other part of his kingdom which had fallen under my view; and the robust +rustics to have their muscles braced, instead of the, as it were, lounge +of the Danish peasantry. + +Arriving at Sleswick, the residence of Prince Charles of Hesse-Cassel, +the sight of the soldiers recalled all the unpleasing ideas of German +despotism, which imperceptibly vanished as I advanced into the country. I +viewed, with a mixture of pity and horror, these beings training to be +sold to slaughter, or be slaughtered, and fell into reflections on an old +opinion of mine, that it is the preservation of the species, not of +individuals, which appears to be the design of the Deity throughout the +whole of Nature. Blossoms come forth only to be blighted; fish lay their +spawn where it will be devoured; and what a large portion of the human +race are born merely to be swept prematurely away! Does not this waste +of budding life emphatically assert that it is not men, but Man, whose +preservation is so necessary to the completion of the grand plan of the +universe? Children peep into existence, suffer, and die; men play like +moths about a candle, and sink into the flame; war, and "the thousand +ills which flesh is heir to," mow them down in shoals; whilst the more +cruel prejudices of society palsy existence, introducing not less sure +though slower decay. + +The castle was heavy and gloomy, yet the grounds about it were laid out +with some taste; a walk, winding under the shade of lofty trees, led to a +regularly built and animated town. + +I crossed the drawbridge, and entered to see this shell of a court in +miniature, mounting ponderous stairs--it would be a solecism to say a +flight--up which a regiment of men might have marched, shouldering their +firelocks to exercise in vast galleries, where all the generations of the +Princes of Hesse-Cassel might have been mustered rank and file, though +not the phantoms of all the wretched they had bartered to support their +state, unless these airy substances could shrink and expand, like +Milton's devils, to suit the occasion. + +The sight of the presence-chamber, and of the canopy to shade the +fauteuil which aped a throne, made me smile. All the world is a stage, +thought I; and few are there in it who do not play the part they have +learnt by rote; and those who do not, seem marks set up to be pelted at +by fortune, or rather as sign-posts which point out the road to others, +whilst forced to stand still themselves amidst the mud and dust. + +Waiting for our horses, we were amused by observing the dress of the +women, which was very grotesque and unwieldy. The false notion of beauty +which prevails here as well as in Denmark, I should think very +inconvenient in summer, as it consists in giving a rotundity to a certain +part of the body, not the most slim, when Nature has done her part. This +Dutch prejudice often leads them to toil under the weight of some ten or +a dozen petticoats, which, with an enormous basket, literally speaking, +as a bonnet, or a straw hat of dimensions equally gigantic, almost +completely conceal the human form as well as face divine, often worth +showing; still they looked clean, and tripped along, as it were, before +the wind, with a weight of tackle that I could scarcely have lifted. Many +of the country girls I met appeared to me pretty--that is, to have fine +complexions, sparkling eyes, and a kind of arch, hoyden playfulness which +distinguishes the village coquette. The swains, in their Sunday trim, +attended some of these fair ones in a more slouching pace, though their +dress was not so cumbersome. The women seem to take the lead in +polishing the manners everywhere, this being the only way to better their +condition. + +From what I have seen throughout my journey, I do not think the situation +of the poor in England is much, if at all, superior to that of the same +class in different parts of the world; and in Ireland I am sure it is +much inferior. I allude to the former state of England; for at present +the accumulation of national wealth only increases the cares of the poor, +and hardens the hearts of the rich, in spite of the highly extolled rage +for almsgiving. + +You know that I have always been an enemy to what is termed charity, +because timid bigots, endeavouring thus to cover their sins, do violence +to justice, till, acting the demigod, they forget that they are men. And +there are others who do not even think of laying up a treasure in heaven, +whose benevolence is merely tyranny in disguise; they assist the most +worthless, because the most servile, and term them helpless only in +proportion to their fawning. + +After leaving Sleswick, we passed through several pretty towns; Itzchol +particularly pleased me; and the country, still wearing the same aspect, +was improved by the appearance of more trees and enclosures. But what +gratified me most was the population. I was weary of travelling four or +five hours, never meeting a carriage, and scarcely a peasant; and then to +stop at such wretched huts as I had seen in Sweden was surely sufficient +to chill any heart awake to sympathy, and throw a gloom over my favourite +subject of contemplation, the future improvement of the world. + +The farmhouses, likewise, with the huge stables, into which we drove +whilst the horses were putting to or baiting, were very clean and +commodious. The rooms, with a door into this hall-like stable and +storehouse in one, were decent; and there was a compactness in the +appearance of the whole family lying thus snugly together under the same +roof that carried my fancy back to the primitive times, which probably +never existed with such a golden lustre as the animated imagination lends +when only able to seize the prominent features. + +At one of them, a pretty young woman, with languishing eyes of celestial +blue, conducted us into a very neat parlour, and observing how loosely +and lightly my little girl was clad, began to pity her in the sweetest +accents, regardless of the rosy down of health on her cheeks. This same +damsel was dressed--it was Sunday--with taste and even coquetry, in a +cotton jacket, ornamented with knots of blue ribbon, fancifully disposed +to give life to her fine complexion. I loitered a little to admire her, +for every gesture was graceful; and, amidst the other villagers, she +looked like a garden lily suddenly rearing its head amongst grain and +corn-flowers. As the house was small, I gave her a piece of money rather +larger than it was my custom to give to the female waiters--for I could +not prevail on her to sit down--which she received with a smile; yet took +care to give it, in my presence, to a girl who had brought the child a +slice of bread; by which I perceived that she was the mistress or +daughter of the house, and without doubt the belle of the village. There +was, in short, an appearance of cheerful industry, and of that degree of +comfort which shut out misery, in all the little hamlets as I approached +Hamburg, which agreeably surprised me. + +The short jackets which the women wear here, as well as in France, are +not only more becoming to the person, but much better calculated for +women who have rustic or household employments than the long gowns worn +in England, dangling in the dirt. + +All the inns on the road were better than I expected, though the softness +of the beds still harassed me, and prevented my finding the rest I was +frequently in want of, to enable me to bear the fatigue of the next day. +The charges were moderate, and the people very civil, with a certain +honest hilarity and independent spirit in their manner, which almost made +me forget that they were innkeepers, a set of men--waiters, hostesses, +chambermaids, &c., down to the ostler, whose cunning servility in England +I think particularly disgusting. + +The prospect of Hamburg at a distance, as well as the fine road shaded +with trees, led me to expect to see a much pleasanter city than I found. + +I was aware of the difficulty of obtaining lodgings, even at the inns, on +account of the concourse of strangers at present resorting to such a +centrical situation, and determined to go to Altona the next day to seek +for an abode, wanting now only rest. But even for a single night we were +sent from house to house, and found at last a vacant room to sleep in, +which I should have turned from with disgust had there been a choice. + +I scarcely know anything that produces more disagreeable sensations, I +mean to speak of the passing cares, the recollection of which afterwards +enlivens our enjoyments, than those excited by little disasters of this +kind. After a long journey, with our eyes directed to some particular +spot, to arrive and find nothing as it should be is vexatious, and sinks +the agitated spirits. But I, who received the cruellest of +disappointments last spring in returning to my home, term such as these +emphatically passing cares. Know you of what materials some hearts are +made? I play the child, and weep at the recollection--for the grief is +still fresh that stunned as well as wounded me--yet never did drops of +anguish like these bedew the cheeks of infantine innocence--and why +should they mine, that never was stained by a blush of guilt? Innocent +and credulous as a child, why have I not the same happy thoughtlessness? +Adieu! + + + + +LETTER XXIII. + + +I might have spared myself the disagreeable feelings I experienced the +first night of my arrival at Hamburg, leaving the open air to be shut up +in noise and dirt, had I gone immediately to Altona, where a lodging had +been prepared for me by a gentleman from whom I received many civilities +during my journey. I wished to have travelled in company with him from +Copenhagen, because I found him intelligent and friendly, but business +obliged him to hurry forward, and I wrote to him on the subject of +accommodations as soon as I was informed of the difficulties I might have +to encounter to house myself and brat. + +It is but a short and pleasant walk from Hamburg to Altona, under the +shade of several rows of trees, and this walk is the more agreeable after +quitting the rough pavement of either place. + +Hamburg is an ill, close-built town, swarming with inhabitants, and, from +what I could learn, like all the other free towns, governed in a manner +which bears hard on the poor, whilst narrowing the minds of the rich; the +character of the man is lost in the Hamburger. Always afraid of the +encroachments of their Danish neighbours, that is, anxiously apprehensive +of their sharing the golden harvest of commerce with them, or taking a +little of the trade off their hands--though they have more than they know +what to do with--they are ever on the watch, till their very eyes lose +all expression, excepting the prying glance of suspicion. + +The gates of Hamburg are shut at seven in the winter and nine in the +summer, lest some strangers, who come to traffic in Hamburg, should +prefer living, and consequently--so exactly do they calculate--spend +their money out of the walls of the Hamburger's world. Immense fortunes +have been acquired by the per-cents. arising from commissions nominally +only two and a half, but mounted to eight or ten at least by the secret +manoeuvres of trade, not to include the advantage of purchasing goods +wholesale in common with contractors, and that of having so much money +left in their hands, not to play with, I can assure you. Mushroom +fortunes have started up during the war; the men, indeed, seem of the +species of the fungus, and the insolent vulgarity which a sudden influx +of wealth usually produces in common minds is here very conspicuous, +which contrasts with the distresses of many of the emigrants, "fallen, +fallen from their high estate," such are the ups and downs of fortune's +wheel. Many emigrants have met, with fortitude, such a total change of +circumstances as scarcely can be paralleled, retiring from a palace to an +obscure lodging with dignity; but the greater number glide about, the +ghosts of greatness, with the _Croix de St. Louis_ ostentatiously +displayed, determined to hope, "though heaven and earth their wishes +crossed." Still good breeding points out the gentleman, and sentiments +of honour and delicacy appear the offspring of greatness of soul when +compared with the grovelling views of the sordid accumulators of cent. +per cent. + +Situation seems to be the mould in which men's characters are formed: so +much so, inferring from what I have lately seen, that I mean not to be +severe when I add--previously asking why priests are in general cunning +and statesmen false?--that men entirely devoted to commerce never acquire +or lose all taste and greatness of mind. An ostentatious display of +wealth without elegance, and a greedy enjoyment of pleasure without +sentiment, embrutes them till they term all virtue of an heroic cast, +romantic attempts at something above our nature, and anxiety about the +welfare of others, a search after misery in which we have no concern. But +you will say that I am growing bitter, perhaps personal. Ah! shall I +whisper to you, that you yourself are strangely altered since you have +entered deeply into commerce--more than you are aware of; never allowing +yourself to reflect, and keeping your mind, or rather passions, in a +continual state of agitation? Nature has given you talents which lie +dormant, or are wasted in ignoble pursuits. You will rouse yourself and +shake off the vile dust that obscures you, or my understanding, as well +as my heart, deceives me egregiously--only tell me when. But to go +farther afield. + +Madame la Fayette left Altona the day I arrived, to endeavour, at Vienna, +to obtain the enlargement of her husband, or permission to share his +prison. She lived in a lodging up two pairs of stairs, without a +servant, her two daughters cheerfully assisting; choosing, as well as +herself, to descend to anything before unnecessary obligations. During +her prosperity, and consequent idleness, she did not, I am told, enjoy a +good state of health, having a train of nervous complaints, which, though +they have not a name, unless the significant word _ennui_ be borrowed, +had an existence in the higher French circles; but adversity and virtuous +exertions put these ills to flight, and dispossessed her of a devil who +deserves the appellation of legion. + +Madame Genus also resided at Altona some time, under an assumed name, +with many other sufferers of less note though higher rank. It is, in +fact, scarcely possible to stir out without meeting interesting +countenances, every lineament of which tells you that they have seen +better days. + +At Hamburg, I was informed, a duke had entered into partnership with his +cook, who becoming a _traiteur_, they were both comfortably supported by +the profit arising from his industry. Many noble instances of the +attachment of servants to their unfortunate masters have come to my +knowledge, both here and in France, and touched my heart, the greatest +delight of which is to discover human virtue. + +At Altona, a president of one of the _ci-devant_ parliaments keeps an +ordinary, in the French style; and his wife with cheerful dignity submits +to her fate, though she is arrived at an age when people seldom +relinquish their prejudices. A girl who waits there brought a dozen +_double louis d'or_ concealed in her clothes, at the risk of her life, +from France, which she preserves lest sickness or any other distress +should overtake her mistress, "who," she observed, "was not accustomed to +hardships." This house was particularly recommended to me by an +acquaintance of yours, the author of the "American Farmer's Letters." I +generally dine in company with him: and the gentleman whom I have already +mentioned is often diverted by our declamations against commerce, when we +compare notes respecting the characteristics of the Hamburgers. "Why, +madam," said he to me one day, "you will not meet with a man who has any +calf to his leg; body and soul, muscles and heart, are equally shrivelled +up by a thirst of gain. There is nothing generous even in their youthful +passions; profit is their only stimulus, and calculations the sole +employment of their faculties, unless we except some gross animal +gratifications which, snatched at spare moments, tend still more to +debase the character, because, though touched by his tricking wand, they +have all the arts, without the wit, of the wing-footed god." + +Perhaps you may also think us too severe; but I must add that the more I +saw of the manners of Hamburg, the more was I confirmed in my opinion +relative to the baleful effect of extensive speculations on the moral +character. Men are strange machines; and their whole system of morality +is in general held together by one grand principle which loses its force +the moment they allow themselves to break with impunity over the bounds +which secured their self-respect. A man ceases to love humanity, and +then individuals, as he advances in the chase after wealth; as one +clashes with his interest, the other with his pleasures: to business, as +it is termed, everything must give way; nay, is sacrificed, and all the +endearing charities of citizen, husband, father, brother, become empty +names. But--but what? Why, to snap the chain of thought, I must say +farewell. Cassandra was not the only prophetess whose warning voice has +been disregarded. How much easier it is to meet with love in the world +than affection! + +Yours sincerely. + + + + +LETTER XXIV. + + +My lodgings at Altona are tolerably comfortable, though not in any +proportion to the price I pay; but, owing to the present circumstances, +all the necessaries of life are here extravagantly dear. Considering it +as a temporary residence, the chief inconvenience of which I am inclined +to complain is the rough streets that must be passed before Marguerite +and the child can reach a level road. + +The views of the Elbe in the vicinity of the town are pleasant, +particularly as the prospects here afford so little variety. I attempted +to descend, and walk close to the water's edge; but there was no path; +and the smell of glue, hanging to dry, an extensive manufactory of which +is carried on close to the beach, I found extremely disagreeable. But to +commerce everything must give way; profit and profit are the only +speculations--"double--double, toil and trouble." I have seldom entered +a shady walk without being soon obliged to turn aside to make room for +the rope-makers; and the only tree I have seen, that appeared to be +planted by the hand of taste, is in the churchyard, to shade the tomb of +the poet Klopstock's wife. + +Most of the merchants have country houses to retire to during the summer; +and many of them are situated on the banks of the Elbe, where they have +the pleasure of seeing the packet-boats arrive--the periods of most +consequence to divide their week. + +The moving picture, consisting of large vessels and small craft, which +are continually changing their position with the tide, renders this noble +river, the vital stream of Hamburg, very interesting; and the windings +have sometimes a very fine effect, two or three turns being visible at +once, intersecting the flat meadows; a sudden bend often increasing the +magnitude of the river; and the silvery expanse, scarcely gliding, though +bearing on its bosom so much treasure, looks for a moment like a tranquil +lake. + +Nothing can be stronger than the contrast which this flat country and +strand afford, compared with the mountains and rocky coast I have lately +dwelt so much among. In fancy I return to a favourite spot, where I +seemed to have retired from man and wretchedness; but the din of trade +drags me back to all the care I left behind, when lost in sublime +emotions. Rocks aspiring towards the heavens, and, as it were, shutting +out sorrow, surrounded me, whilst peace appeared to steal along the lake +to calm my bosom, modulating the wind that agitated the neighbouring +poplars. Now I hear only an account of the tricks of trade, or listen to +the distressful tale of some victim of ambition. + +The hospitality of Hamburg is confined to Sunday invitations to the +country houses I have mentioned, when dish after dish smokes upon the +board, and the conversation ever flowing in the muddy channel of +business, it is not easy to obtain any appropriate information. Had I +intended to remain here some time, or had my mind been more alive to +general inquiries, I should have endeavoured to have been introduced to +some characters not so entirely immersed in commercial affairs, though in +this whirlpool of gain it is not very easy to find any but the wretched +or supercilious emigrants, who are not engaged in pursuits which, in my +eyes, appear as dishonourable as gambling. The interests of nations are +bartered by speculating merchants. My God! with what _sang froid_ artful +trains of corruption bring lucrative commissions into particular hands, +disregarding the relative situation of different countries, and can much +common honesty be expected in the discharge of trusts obtained by fraud? +But this _entre nous_. + +During my present journey, and whilst residing in France, I have had an +opportunity of peeping behind the scenes of what are vulgarly termed +great affairs, only to discover the mean machinery which has directed +many transactions of moment. The sword has been merciful, compared with +the depredations made on human life by contractors and by the swarm of +locusts who have battened on the pestilence they spread abroad. These +men, like the owners of negro ships, never smell on their money the blood +by which it has been gained, but sleep quietly in their beds, terming +such occupations lawful callings; yet the lightning marks not their roofs +to thunder conviction on them "and to justify the ways of God to man." + +Why should I weep for myself? "Take, O world! thy much indebted tear!" +Adieu! + + + + +LETTER XXV. + + +There is a pretty little French theatre at Altona, and the actors are +much superior to those I saw at Copenhagen. The theatres at Hamburg are +not open yet, but will very shortly, when the shutting of the gates at +seven o'clock forces the citizens to quit their country houses. But, +respecting Hamburg, I shall not be able to obtain much more information, +as I have determined to sail with the first fair wind for England. + +The presence of the French army would have rendered my intended tour +through Germany, in my way to Switzerland, almost impracticable, had not +the advancing season obliged me to alter my plan. Besides, though +Switzerland is the country which for several years I have been +particularly desirous to visit, I do not feel inclined to ramble any +farther this year; nay, I am weary of changing the scene, and quitting +people and places the moment they begin to interest me. This also is +vanity! + + + +DOVER. + + +I left this letter unfinished, as I was hurried on board, and now I have +only to tell you that, at the sight of Dover cliffs, I wondered how +anybody could term them grand; they appear so insignificant to me, after +those I had seen in Sweden and Norway. + +Adieu! My spirit of observation seems to be fled, and I have been +wandering round this dirty place, literally speaking, to kill time, +though the thoughts I would fain fly from lie too close to my heart to be +easily shook off, or even beguiled, by any employment, except that of +preparing for my journey to London. + +God bless you! + +MARY ----. + + + + +APPENDIX. + + +Private business and cares have frequently so absorbed me as to prevent +my obtaining all the information during this journey which the novelty of +the scenes would have afforded, had my attention been continually awake +to inquiry. This insensibility to present objects I have often had +occasion to lament since I have been preparing these letters for the +press; but, as a person of any thought naturally considers the history of +a strange country to contrast the former with the present state of its +manners, a conviction of the increasing knowledge and happiness of the +kingdoms I passed through was perpetually the result of my comparative +reflections. + +The poverty of the poor in Sweden renders the civilisation very partial, +and slavery has retarded the improvement of every class in Denmark, yet +both are advancing; and the gigantic evils of despotism and anarchy have +in a great measure vanished before the meliorating manners of Europe. +Innumerable evils still remain, it is true, to afflict the humane +investigator, and hurry the benevolent reformer into a labyrinth of +error, who aims at destroying prejudices quickly which only time can root +out, as the public opinion becomes subject to reason. + +An ardent affection for the human race makes enthusiastic characters +eager to produce alteration in laws and governments prematurely. To +render them useful and permanent, they must be the growth of each +particular soil, and the gradual fruit of the ripening understanding of +the nation, matured by time, not forced by an unnatural fermentation. +And, to convince me that such a change is gaining ground with +accelerating pace, the view I have had of society during my northern +journey would have been sufficient had I not previously considered the +grand causes which combine to carry mankind forward and diminish the sum +of human misery. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LETTERS WRITTEN DURING A SHORT +RESIDENCE IN SWEDEN, NORWAY, AND DENMARK*** + + +******* This file should be named 3529.txt or 3529.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/5/2/3529 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.05/20/01*END* +[Portions of this header are copyright (C) 2001 by Michael S. Hart +and may be reprinted only when these Etexts are free of all fees.] +[Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be used in any sales +of Project Gutenberg Etexts or other materials be they hardware or +software or any other related product without express permission.] + + + + + +This etext was produced by David Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk, +from the 1889 Cassell & Company edition. + + + + + +LETTERS ON SWEDEN, NORWAY, AND DENMARK + +by Mary Wollstonecraft + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + + +Mary Wollstonecraft was born on the 27th of April, 1759. Her +father--a quick-tempered and unsettled man, capable of beating wife, +or child, or dog--was the son of a manufacturer who made money in +Spitalfields, when Spitalfields was prosperous. Her mother was a +rigorous Irishwoman, of the Dixons of Ballyshannon. Edward John +Wollstonecraft--of whose children, besides Mary, the second child, +three sons and two daughters lived to be men and women--in course of +the got rid of about ten thousand pounds, which had been left him by +his father. He began to get rid of it by farming. Mary +Wollstonecraft's first-remembered home was in a farm at Epping. +When she was five years old the family moved to another farm, by the +Chelmsford Road. When she was between six and seven years old they +moved again, to the neighbourhood of Barking. There they remained +three years before the next move, which was to a farm near Beverley, +in Yorkshire. In Yorkshire they remained six years, and Mary +Wollstonecraft had there what education fell to her lot between the +ages of ten and sixteen. Edward John Wollstonecraft then gave up +farming to venture upon a commercial speculation. This caused him +to live for a year and a half at Queen's Row, Hoxton. His daughter +Mary was then sixteen; and while at Hoxton she had her education +advanced by the friendly care of a deformed clergyman--a Mr. Clare-- +who lived next door, and stayed so much at home that his one pair of +shoes had lasted him for fourteen years. + +But Mary Wollstonecraft's chief friend at this time was an +accomplished girl only two years older than herself, who maintained +her father, mother, and family by skill in drawing. Her name was +Frances Blood, and she especially, by her example and direct +instruction, drew out her young friend's powers. In 1776, Mary +Wollstonecraft's father, a rolling stone, rolled into Wales. Again +he was a farmer. Next year again he was a Londoner; and Mary had +influence enough to persuade him to choose a house at Walworth, +where she would be near to her friend Fanny. Then, however, the +conditions of her home life caused her to be often on the point of +going away to earn a living for herself. In 1778, when she was +nineteen, Mary Wollstonecraft did leave home, to take a situation as +companion with a rich tradesman's widow at Bath, of whom it was said +that none of her companions could stay with her. Mary +Wollstonecraft, nevertheless, stayed two years with the difficult +widow, and made herself respected. Her mother's failing health then +caused Mary to return to her. The father was then living at +Enfield, and trying to save the small remainder of his means by not +venturing upon any business at all. The mother died after long +suffering, wholly dependent on her daughter Mary's constant care. +The mother's last words were often quoted by Mary Wollstonecraft in +her own last years of distress--"A little patience, and all will be +over." + +After the mother's death, Mary Wollstonecraft left home again, to +live with her friend, Fanny Blood, who was at Walham Green. In 1782 +she went to nurse a married sister through a dangerous illness. The +father's need of support next pressed upon her. He had spent not +only his own money, but also the little that had been specially +reserved for his children. It is said to be the privilege of a +passionate man that he always gets what he wants; he gets to be +avoided, and they never find a convenient corner of their own who +shut themselves out from the kindly fellowship of life. + +In 1783 Mary Wollstonecraft--aged twenty-four--with two of her +sisters, joined Fanny Blood in setting up a day school at Islington, +which was removed in a few months to Newington Green. Early in 1785 +Fanny Blood, far gone in consumption, sailed for Lisbon to marry an +Irish surgeon who was settled there. After her marriage it was +evident that she had but a few months to live; Mary Wollstonecraft, +deaf to all opposing counsel, then left her school, and, with help +of money from a friendly woman, she went out to nurse her, and was +by her when she died. Mary Wollstonecraft remembered her loss ten +years afterwards in these "Letters from Sweden and Norway," when she +wrote: "The grave has closed over a dear friend, the friend of my +youth; still she is present with me, and I hear her soft voice +warbling as I stray over the heath." + +Mary Wollstonecraft left Lisbon for England late in December, 1785. +When she came back she found Fanny's poor parents anxious to go back +to Ireland; and as she had been often told that she could earn by +writing, she wrote a pamphlet of 162 small pages--"Thoughts on the +Education of Daughters"--and got ten pounds for it. This she gave +to her friend's parents to enable them to go back to their kindred. +In all she did there is clear evidence of an ardent, generous, +impulsive nature. One day her friend Fanny Blood had repined at the +unhappy surroundings in the home she was maintaining for her father +and mother, and longed for a little home of her own to do her work +in. Her friend quietly found rooms, got furniture together, and +told her that her little home was ready; she had only to walk into +it. Then it seemed strange to Mary Wollstonecraft that Fanny Blood +was withheld by thoughts that had not been uppermost in the mood of +complaint. She thought her friend irresolute, where she had herself +been generously rash. Her end would have been happier had she been +helped, as many are, by that calm influence of home in which some +knowledge of the world passes from father and mother to son and +daughter, without visible teaching and preaching, in easiest +companionship of young and old from day to day. + +The little payment for her pamphlet on the "Education of Daughters" +caused Mary Wollstonecraft to think more seriously of earning by her +pen. The pamphlet seems also to have advanced her credit as a +teacher. After giving up her day school, she spent some weeks at +Eton with the Rev. Mr. Prior, one of the masters there, who +recommended her as governess to the daughters of Lord Kingsborough, +an Irish viscount, eldest son of the Earl of Kingston. Her way of +teaching was by winning love, and she obtained the warm affection of +the eldest of her pupils, who became afterwards Countess Mount- +Cashel. In the summer of 1787, Lord Kingsborough's family, +including Mary Wollstonecraft, was at Bristol Hot-wells, before +going to the Continent. While there, Mary Wollstonecraft wrote her +little tale published as "Mary, a Fiction," wherein there was much +based on the memory of her own friendship for Fanny Blood. + +The publisher of Mary Wollstonecraft's "Thoughts on the Education of +Daughters" was the same Joseph Johnson who in 1785 was the publisher +of Cowper's "Task." With her little story written and a little +money saved, the resolve to live by her pen could now be carried +out. Mary Wollstonecraft, therefore, parted from her friends at +Bristol, went to London, saw her publisher, and frankly told him her +determination. He met her with fatherly kindness, and received her +as a guest in his house while she was making her arrangements. At +Michaelmas, 1787, she settled in a house in George Street, on the +Surrey side of Blackfriars Bridge. There she produced a little book +for children, of "Original Stories from Real Life," and earned by +drudgery for Joseph Johnson. She translated, she abridged, she made +a volume of Selections, and she wrote for an "Analytical Review," +which Mr. Johnson founded in the middle of the year 1788. Among the +books translated by her was Necker "On the Importance of Religious +Opinions." Among the books abridged by her was Salzmann's "Elements +of Morality." With all this hard work she lived as sparely as she +could, that she might help her family. She supported her father. +That she might enable her sisters to earn their living as teachers, +she sent one of them to Paris, and maintained her there for two +years; the other she placed in a school near London as parlour- +boarder until she was admitted into it as a paid teacher. She +placed one brother at Woolwich to qualify for the Navy, and he +obtained a lieutenant's commission. For another brother, articled +to an attorney whom he did not like, she obtained a transfer of +indentures; and when it became clear that his quarrel was more with +law than with the lawyers, she placed him with a farmer before +fitting him out for emigration to America. She then sent him, so +well prepared for his work there that he prospered well. She tried +even to disentangle her father's affairs; but the confusion in them +was beyond her powers of arrangement. Added to all this faithful +work, she took upon herself the charge of an orphan child, seven +years old, whose mother had been in the number of her friends. That +was the life of Mary Wollstonecraft, thirty years old, in 1789, the +year of the Fall of the Bastille; the noble life now to be touched +in its enthusiasms by the spirit of the Revolution, to be caught in +the great storm, shattered, and lost among its wrecks. + +To Burke's attack on the French Revolution Mary Wollstonecraft wrote +an Answer--one of many answers provoked by it--that attracted much +attention. This was followed by her "Vindication of the Rights of +Woman while the air was full of declamation on the "Rights of Man." +The claims made in this little book were in advance of the opinion +of that day, but they are claims that have in our day been conceded. +They are certainly not revolutionary in the opinion of the world +that has become a hundred years older since the book was written. + +At this the Mary Wollstonecraft had moved to rooms in Store Street, +Bedford Square. She was fascinated by Fuseli the painter, and he +was a married man. She felt herself to be too strongly drawn +towards him, and she went to Paris at the close of the year 1792, to +break the spell. She felt lonely and sad, and was not the happier +for being in a mansion lent to her, from which the owner was away, +and in which she lived surrounded by his servants. Strong womanly +instincts were astir within her, and they were not all wise folk who +had been drawn around her by her generous enthusiasm for the new +hopes of the world, that made it then, as Wordsworth felt, a very +heaven to the young. + +Four months after she had gone to Paris, Mary Wollstonecraft met at +the house of a merchant, with whose wife she had become intimate, an +American named Gilbert Imlay. He won her affections. That was in +April, 1793. He had no means, and she had home embarrassments, for +which she was unwilling that he should become in any way +responsible. A part of the new dream in some minds then was of a +love too pure to need or bear the bondage of authority. The mere +forced union of marriage ties implied, it was said, a distrust of +fidelity. When Gilbert Imlay would have married Mary +Wollstonecraft, she herself refused to bind him; she would keep him +legally exempt from her responsibilities towards the father, +sisters, brothers, whom she was supporting. She took his name and +called herself his wife, when the French Convention, indignant at +the conduct of the British Government, issue a decree from the +effects of which she would escape as the wife of a citizen of the +United States. But she did not marry. She witnessed many of the +horrors that came of the loosened passions of an untaught populace. +A child was born to her--a girl whom she named after the dead friend +of her own girlhood. And then she found that she had leant upon a +reed. She was neglected; and was at last forsaken. Having sent her +to London, Imlay there visited her, to explain himself away. She +resolved on suicide, and in dissuading her from that he gave her +hope again. He needed somebody who had good judgment, and who cared +for his interests, to represent him in some business affairs in +Norway. She undertook to act for him, and set out on the voyage +only a week after she had determined to destroy herself. + +The interest of this book which describes her travel is quickened by +a knowledge of the heart-sorrow that underlies it all. Gilbert +Imlay had promised to meet her upon her return, and go with her to +Switzerland. But the letters she had from him in Sweden and Norway +were cold, and she came back to find that she was wholly forsaken +for an actress from a strolling company of players. Then she went +up the river to drown herself. She paced the road at Putney on an +October night, in 1795, in heavy rain, until her clothes were +drenched, that she might sink more surely, and then threw herself +from the top of Putney Bridge. + +She was rescued, and lived on with deadened spirit. In 1796 these +"Letters from Sweden and Norway" were published. Early in 1797 she +was married to William Godwin. On the 10th of September in the same +year, at the age of thirty-eight, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin died, +after the birth of the daughter who lived to become the wife of +Shelley. The mother also would have lived, if a womanly feeling, in +itself to be respected, had not led her also to unwise departure +from the customs of the world. Peace be to her memory. None but +kind thoughts can dwell upon the life of this too faithful disciple +of Rousseau. + +H. M. + + + +LETTERS WRITTEN DURING A SHORT RESIDENCE IN SWEDEN, NORWAY, AND +DENMARK. + + + +LETTER I. + + + +Eleven days of weariness on board a vessel not intended for the +accommodation of passengers have so exhausted my spirits, to say +nothing of the other causes, with which you are already sufficiently +acquainted, that it is with some difficulty I adhere to my +determination of giving you my observations, as I travel through new +scenes, whilst warmed with the impression they have made on me. + +The captain, as I mentioned to you, promised to put me on shore at +Arendall or Gothenburg in his way to Elsineur, but contrary winds +obliged us to pass both places during the night. In the morning, +however, after we had lost sight of the entrance of the latter bay, +the vessel was becalmed; and the captain, to oblige me, hanging out +a signal for a pilot, bore down towards the shore. + +My attention was particularly directed to the lighthouse, and you +can scarcely imagine with what anxiety I watched two long hours for +a boat to emancipate me; still no one appeared. Every cloud that +flitted on the horizon was hailed as a liberator, till approaching +nearer, like most of the prospects sketched by hope, it dissolved +under the eye into disappointment. + +Weary of expectation, I then began to converse with the captain on +the subject, and from the tenor of the information my questions drew +forth I soon concluded that if I waited for a boat I had little +chance of getting on shore at this place. Despotism, as is usually +the case, I found had here cramped the industry of man. The pilots +being paid by the king, and scantily, they will not run into any +danger, or even quit their hovels, if they can possibly avoid it, +only to fulfil what is termed their duty. How different is it on +the English coast, where, in the most stormy weather, boats +immediately hail you, brought out by the expectation of +extraordinary profit. + +Disliking to sail for Elsineur, and still more to lie at anchor or +cruise about the coast for several days, I exerted all my rhetoric +to prevail on the captain to let me have the ship's boat, and though +I added the most forcible of arguments, I for a long the addressed +him in vain. + +It is a kind of rule at sea not to send out a boat. The captain was +a good-natured man; but men with common minds seldom break through +general rules. Prudence is ever the resort of weakness, and they +rarely go as far as they may in any undertaking who are determined +not to go beyond it on any account. If, however, I had some trouble +with the captain, I did not lose much time with the sailors, for +they, all alacrity, hoisted out the boat the moment I obtained +permission, and promised to row me to the lighthouse. + +I did not once allow myself to doubt of obtaining a conveyance from +thence round the rocks--and then away for Gothenburg--confinement is +so unpleasant. + +The day was fine, and I enjoyed the water till, approaching the +little island, poor Marguerite, whose timidity always acts as a +feeler before her adventuring spirit, began to wonder at our not +seeing any inhabitants. I did not listen to her. But when, on +landing, the same silence prevailed, I caught the alarm, which was +not lessened by the sight of two old men whom we forced out of their +wretched hut. Scarcely human in their appearance, we with +difficulty obtained an intelligible reply to our questions, the +result of which was that they had no boat, and were not allowed to +quit their post on any pretence. But they informed us that there +was at the other side, eight or ten miles over, a pilot's dwelling. +Two guineas tempted the sailors to risk the captain's displeasure, +and once more embark to row me over. + +The weather was pleasant, and the appearance of the shore so grand +that I should have enjoyed the two hours it took to reach it, but +for the fatigue which was too visible in the countenances of the +sailors, who, instead of uttering a complaint, were, with the +thoughtless hilarity peculiar to them, joking about the possibility +of the captain's taking advantage of a slight westerly breeze, which +was springing up, to sail without them. Yet, in spite of their good +humour, I could not help growing uneasy when the shore, receding, as +it were, as we advanced, seemed to promise no end to their toil. +This anxiety increased when, turning into the most picturesque bay I +ever saw, my eyes sought in vain for the vestige of a human +habitation. Before I could determine what step to take in such a +dilemma (for I could not bear to think of returning to the ship), +the sight of a barge relieved me, and we hastened towards it for +information. We were immediately directed to pass some jutting +rocks, when we should see a pilot's hut. + +There was a solemn silence in this scene which made itself be felt. +The sunbeams that played on the ocean, scarcely ruffled by the +lightest breeze, contrasted with the huge dark rocks, that looked +like the rude materials of creation forming the barrier of unwrought +space, forcibly struck me, but I should not have been sorry if the +cottage had not appeared equally tranquil. Approaching a retreat +where strangers, especially women, so seldom appeared, I wondered +that curiosity did not bring the beings who inhabited it to the +windows or door. I did not immediately recollect that men who +remain so near the brute creation, as only to exert themselves to +find the food necessary to sustain life, have little or no +imagination to call forth the curiosity necessary to fructify the +faint glimmerings of mind which entitle them to rank as lords of the +creation. Had they either they could not contentedly remain rooted +in the clods they so indolently cultivate. + +Whilst the sailors went to seek for the sluggish inhabitants, these +conclusions occurred to me; and, recollecting the extreme fondness +which the Parisians ever testify for novelty, their very curiosity +appeared to me a proof of the progress they had made in refinement. +Yes, in the art of living--in the art of escaping from the cares +which embarrass the first steps towards the attainment of the +pleasures of social life. + +The pilots informed the sailors that they were under the direction +of a lieutenant retired from the service, who spoke English; adding +that they could do nothing without his orders, and even the offer of +money could hardly conquer their laziness and prevail on them to +accompany us to his dwelling. They would not go with me alone, +which I wanted them to have done, because I wished to dismiss the +sailors as soon as possible. Once more we rowed off, they following +tardily, till, turning round another bold protuberance of the rocks, +we saw a boat making towards us, and soon learnt that it was the +lieutenant himself, coming with some earnestness to see who we were. + +To save the sailors any further toil, I had my baggage instantly +removed into his boat; for, as he could speak English, a previous +parley was not necessary, though Marguerite's respect for me could +hardly keep her from expressing the fear, strongly marked on her +countenance, which my putting ourselves into the power of a strange +man excited. He pointed out his cottage; and, drawing near to it, I +was not sorry to see a female figure, though I had not, like +Marguerite, been thinking of robberies, murders, or the other evil +which instantly, as the sailors would have said, runs foul of a +woman's imagination. + +On entering I was still better pleased to find a clean house, with +some degree of rural elegance. The beds were of muslin, coarse it +is true, but dazzlingly white; and the floor was strewed over with +little sprigs of juniper (the custom, as I afterwards found, of the +country), which formed a contrast with the curtains, and produced an +agreeable sensation of freshness, to soften the ardour of noon. +Still nothing was so pleasing as the alacrity of hospitality--all +that the house afforded was quickly spread on the whitest linen. +Remember, I had just left the vessel, where, without being +fastidious, I had continually been disgusted. Fish, milk, butter, +and cheese, and, I am sorry to add, brandy, the bane of this +country, were spread on the board. After we had dined hospitality +made them, with some degree of mystery, bring us some excellent +coffee. I did not then know that it was prohibited. + +The good man of the house apologised for coming in continually, but +declared that he was so glad to speak English he could not stay out. +He need not have apologised; I was equally glad of his company. +With the wife I could only exchange smiles, and she was employed +observing the make of our clothes. My hands, I found, had first led +her to discover that I was the lady. I had, of course, my quantum +of reverences; for the politeness of the north seems to partake of +the coldness of the climate and the rigidity of its iron-sinewed +rocks. Amongst the peasantry there is, however, so much of the +simplicity of the golden age in this land of flint--so much +overflowing of heart and fellow-feeling, that only benevolence and +the honest sympathy of nature diffused smiles over my countenance +when they kept me standing, regardless of my fatigue, whilst they +dropped courtesy after courtesy. + +The situation of this house was beautiful, though chosen for +convenience. The master being the officer who commanded all the +pilots on the coast, and the person appointed to guard wrecks, it +was necessary for him to fix on a spot that would overlook the whole +bay. As he had seen some service, he wore, not without a pride I +thought becoming, a badge to prove that he had merited well of his +country. It was happy, I thought, that he had been paid in honour, +for the stipend he received was little more than twelve pounds a +year. I do not trouble myself or you with the calculation of +Swedish ducats. Thus, my friend, you perceive the necessity of +perquisites. This same narrow policy runs through everything. I +shall have occasion further to animadvert on it. + +Though my host amused me with an account of himself, which gave me +aim idea of the manners of the people I was about to visit, I was +eager to climb the rocks to view the country, and see whether the +honest tars had regained their ship. With the help of the +lieutenant's telescope, I saw the vessel under way with a fair +though gentle gale. The sea was calm, playful even as the most +shallow stream, and on the vast basin I did not see a dark speck to +indicate the boat. My conductors were consequently arrived. + +Straying further, my eye was attracted by the sight of some +heartsease that peeped through the rocks. I caught at it as a good +omen, and going to preserve it in a letter that had not conveyed +balm to my heart, a cruel remembrance suffused my eyes; but it +passed away like an April shower. If you are deep read in +Shakespeare, you will recollect that this was the little western +flower tinged by love's dart, which "maidens call love in idleness." +The gaiety of my babe was unmixed; regardless of omens or +sentiments, she found a few wild strawberries more grateful than +flowers or fancies. + +The lieutenant informed me that this was a commodious bay. Of that +I could not judge, though I felt its picturesque beauty. Rocks were +piled on rocks, forming a suitable bulwark to the ocean. "Come no +further," they emphatically said, turning their dark sides to the +waves to augment the idle roar. The view was sterile; still little +patches of earth of the most exquisite verdure, enamelled with the +sweetest wild flowers, seemed to promise the goats and a few +straggling cows luxurious herbage. How silent and peaceful was the +scene! I gazed around with rapture, and felt more of that +spontaneous pleasure which gives credibility to our expectation of +happiness than I had for a long, long time before. I forgot the +horrors I had witnessed in France, which had cast a gloom over all +nature, and suffering the enthusiasm of my character--too often, +gracious God! damped by the tears of disappointed affection--to be +lighted up afresh, care took wing while simple fellow-feeling +expanded my heart. + +To prolong this enjoyment, I readily assented to the proposal of our +host to pay a visit to a family, the master of which spoke English, +who was the drollest dog in the country, he added, repeating some of +his stories with a hearty laugh. + +I walked on, still delighted with the rude beauties of the scene; +for the sublime often gave place imperceptibly to the beautiful, +dilating the emotions which were painfully concentrated. + +When we entered this abode, the largest I had yet seen, I was +introduced to a numerous family; but the father, from whom I was led +to expect so much entertainment, was absent. The lieutenant +consequently was obliged to be the interpreter of our reciprocal +compliments. The phrases were awkwardly transmitted, it is true; +but looks and gestures were sufficient to make them intelligible and +interesting. The girls were all vivacity, and respect for me could +scarcely keep them from romping with my host, who, asking for a +pinch of snuff, was presented with a box, out of which an artificial +mouse, fastened to the bottom, sprang. Though this trick had +doubtless been played the out of mind, yet the laughter it excited +was not less genuine. + +They were overflowing with civility; but, to prevent their almost +killing my babe with kindness, I was obliged to shorten my visit; +and two or three of the girls accompanied us, bringing with them a +part of whatever the house afforded to contribute towards rendering +my supper more plentiful; and plentiful in fact it was, though I +with difficulty did honour to some of the dishes, not relishing the +quantity of sugar and spices put into everything. At supper my host +told me bluntly that I was a woman of observation, for I asked him +MEN'S QUESTIONS. + +The arrangements for my journey were quickly made. I could only +have a car with post-horses, as I did not choose to wait till a +carriage could be sent for to Gothenburg. The expense of my journey +(about one or two and twenty English miles) I found would not amount +to more than eleven or twelve shillings, paying, he assured me, +generously. I gave him a guinea and a half. But it was with the +greatest difficulty that I could make him take so much--indeed +anything--for my lodging and fare. He declared that it was next to +robbing me, explaining how much I ought to pay on the road. +However, as I was positive, he took the guinea for himself; but, as +a condition, insisted on accompanying me, to prevent my meeting with +any trouble or imposition on the way. + +I then retired to my apartment with regret. The night was so fine +that I would gladly have rambled about much longer, yet, +recollecting that I must rise very early, I reluctantly went to bed; +but my senses had been so awake, and my imagination still continued +so busy, that I sought for rest in vain. Rising before six, I +scented the sweet morning air; I had long before heard the birds +twittering to hail the dawning day, though it could scarcely have +been allowed to have departed. + +Nothing, in fact, can equal the beauty of the northern summer's +evening and night, if night it may be called that only wants the +glare of day, the full light which frequently seems so impertinent, +for I could write at midnight very well without a candle. I +contemplated all Nature at rest; the rocks, even grown darker in +their appearance, looked as if they partook of the general repose, +and reclined more heavily on their foundation. "What," I exclaimed, +"is this active principle which keeps me still awake? Why fly my +thoughts abroad, when everything around me appears at home?" My +child was sleeping with equal calmness--innocent and sweet as the +closing flowers. Some recollections, attached to the idea of home, +mingled with reflections respecting the state of society I had been +contemplating that evening, made a tear drop on the rosy cheek I had +just kissed, and emotions that trembled on the brink of ecstasy and +agony gave a poignancy to my sensations which made me feel more +alive than usual. + +What are these imperious sympathies? How frequently has melancholy +and even misanthropy taken possession of me, when the world has +disgusted me, and friends have proved unkind. I have then +considered myself as a particle broken off from the grand mass of +mankind; I was alone, till some involuntary sympathetic emotion, +like the attraction of adhesion, made me feel that I was still a +part of a mighty whole, from which I could not sever myself--not, +perhaps, for the reflection has been carried very far, by snapping +the thread of an existence, which loses its charms in proportion as +the cruel experience of life stops or poisons the current of the +heart. Futurity, what hast thou not to give to those who know that +there is such a thing as happiness! I speak not of philosophical +contentment, though pain has afforded them the strongest conviction +of it. + +After our coffee and milk--for the mistress of the house had been +roused long before us by her hospitality--my baggage was taken +forward in a boat by my host, because the car could not safely have +been brought to the house. + +The road at first was very rocky and troublesome, but our driver was +careful, and the horses accustomed to the frequent and sudden +acclivities and descents; so that, not apprehending any danger, I +played with my girl, whom I would not leave to Marguerite's care, on +account of her timidity. + +Stopping at a little inn to bait the horses, I saw the first +countenance in Sweden that displeased me, though the man was better +dressed than any one who had as yet fallen in my way. An +altercation took place between him and my host, the purport of which +I could not guess, excepting that I was the occasion of it, be it +what it would. The sequel was his leaving the house angrily; and I +was immediately informed that he was the custom-house officer. The +professional had indeed effaced the national character, for, living +as he did within these frank hospitable people, still only the +exciseman appeared, the counterpart of some I had met with in +England and France. I was unprovided with a passport, not having +entered any great town. At Gothenburg I knew I could immediately +obtain one, and only the trouble made me object to the searching my +trunks. He blustered for money; but the lieutenant was determined +to guard me, according to promise, from imposition. + +To avoid being interrogated at the town-gate, and obliged to go in +the rain to give an account of myself (merely a form) before we +could get the refreshment we stood in need of, he requested us to +descend--I might have said step--from our car, and walk into town. + +I expected to have found a tolerable inn, but was ushered into a +most comfortless one; and, because it was about five o'clock, three +or four hours after their dining hour, I could not prevail on them +to give me anything warm to eat. + +The appearance of the accommodations obliged me to deliver one of my +recommendatory letters, and the gentleman to whom it was addressed +sent to look out for a lodging for me whilst I partook of his +supper. As nothing passed at this supper to characterise the +country, I shall here close my letter. + +Yours truly. + + + +LETTER II. + + + +Gothenburg is a clean airy town, and, having been built by the +Dutch, has canals running through each street; and in some of them +there are rows of trees that would render it very pleasant were it +not for the pavement, which is intolerably bad. + +There are several rich commercial houses--Scotch, French, and +Swedish; but the Scotch, I believe, have been the most successful. +The commerce and commission business with France since the war has +been very lucrative, and enriched the merchants I am afraid at the +expense of the other inhabitants, by raising the price of the +necessaries of life. + +As all the men of consequence--I mean men of the largest fortune-- +are merchants, their principal enjoyment is a relaxation from +business at the table, which is spread at, I think, too early an +hour (between one and two) for men who have letters to write and +accounts to settle after paying due respect to the bottle. + +However, when numerous circles are to be brought together, and when +neither literature nor public amusements furnish topics for +conversation, a good dinner appears to be the only centre to rally +round, especially as scandal, the zest of more select parties, can +only be whispered. As for politics, I have seldom found it a +subject of continual discussion in a country town in any part of the +world. The politics of the place, being on a smaller scale, suits +better with the size of their faculties; for, generally speaking, +the sphere of observation determines the extent of the mind. + +The more I see of the world, the more I am convinced that +civilisation is a blessing not sufficiently estimated by those who +have not traced its progress; for it not only refines our +enjoyments, but produces a variety which enables us to retain the +primitive delicacy of our sensations. Without the aid of the +imagination all the pleasures of the senses must sink into +grossness, unless continual novelty serve as a substitute for the +imagination, which, being impossible, it was to this weariness, I +suppose, that Solomon alluded when he declared that there was +nothing new under the sun!--nothing for the common sensations +excited by the senses. Yet who will deny that the imagination and +understanding have made many, very many discoveries since those +days, which only seem harbingers of others still more noble and +beneficial? I never met with much imagination amongst people who +had not acquired a habit of reflection; and in that state of society +in which the judgment and taste are not called forth, and formed by +the cultivation of the arts and sciences, little of that delicacy of +feeling and thinking is to be found characterised by the word +sentiment. The want of scientific pursuits perhaps accounts for the +hospitality, as well as for the cordial reception which strangers +receive from the inhabitants of small towns. + +Hospitality has, I think, been too much praised by travellers as a +proof of goodness of heart, when, in my opinion, indiscriminate +hospitality is rather a criterion by which you may form a tolerable +estimate of the indolence or vacancy of a head; or, in other words, +a fondness for social pleasures in which the mind not having its +proportion of exercise, the bottle must be pushed about. + +These remarks are equally applicable to Dublin, the most hospitable +city I ever passed through. But I will try to confine my +observations more particularly to Sweden. + +It is true I have only had a glance over a small part of it; yet of +its present state of manners and acquirements I think I have formed +a distinct idea, without having visited the capital--where, in fact, +less of a national character is to be found than in the remote parts +of the country. + +The Swedes pique themselves on their politeness; but far from being +the polish of a cultivated mind, it consists merely of tiresome +forms and ceremonies. So far, indeed, from entering immediately +into your character, and making you feel instantly at your ease, +like the well-bred French, their over-acted civility is a continual +restraint on all your actions. The sort of superiority which a +fortune gives when there is no superiority of education, excepting +what consists in the observance of senseless forms, has a contrary +effect than what is intended; so that I could not help reckoning the +peasantry the politest people of Sweden, who, only aiming at +pleasing you, never think of being admired for their behaviour. + +Their tables, like their compliments, seem equally a caricature of +the French. The dishes are composed, as well as theirs, of a +variety of mixtures to destroy the native taste of the food without +being as relishing. Spices and sugar are put into everything, even +into the bread; and the only way I can account for their partiality +to high-seasoned dishes is the constant use of salted provisions. +Necessity obliges them to lay up a store of dried fish and salted +meat for the winter; and in summer, fresh meat and fish taste +insipid after them. To which may be added the constant use of +spirits. Every day, before dinner and supper, even whilst the +dishes are cooling on the table, men and women repair to a side- +table; and to obtain an appetite eat bread-and-butter, cheese, raw +salmon, or anchovies, drinking a glass of brandy. Salt fish or meat +then immediately follows, to give a further whet to the stomach. As +the dinner advances, pardon me for taking up a few minutes to +describe what, alas! has detained me two or three hours on the +stretch observing, dish after dish is changed, in endless rotation, +and handed round with solemn pace to each guest; but should you +happen not to like the first dishes, which was often my case, it is +a gross breach of politeness to ask for part of any other till its +turn comes. But have patience, and there will be eating enough. +Allow me to run over the acts of a visiting day, not overlooking the +interludes. + +Prelude a luncheon--then a succession of fish, flesh, and fowl for +two hours, during which time the dessert--I was sorry for the +strawberries and cream--rests on the table to be impregnated by the +fumes of the viands. Coffee immediately follows in the drawing- +room, but does not preclude punch, ale, tea and cakes, raw salmon, +&c. A supper brings up the rear, not forgetting the introductory +luncheon, almost equalling in removes the dinner. A day of this +kind you would imagine sufficient; but a to-morrow and a to-morrow-- +A never-ending, still-beginning feast may be bearable, perhaps, when +stern winter frowns, shaking with chilling aspect his hoary locks; +but during a summer, sweet as fleeting, let me, my kind strangers, +escape sometimes into your fir groves, wander on the margin of your +beautiful lakes, or climb your rocks, to view still others in +endless perspective, which, piled by more than giant's hand, scale +the heavens to intercept its rays, or to receive the parting tinge +of lingering day--day that, scarcely softened unto twilight, allows +the freshening breeze to wake, and the moon to burst forth in all +her glory to glide with solemn elegance through the azure expanse. + +The cow's bell has ceased to tinkle the herd to rest; they have all +paced across the heath. Is not this the witching time of night? +The waters murmur, and fall with more than mortal music, and spirits +of peace walk abroad to calm the agitated breast. Eternity is in +these moments. Worldly cares melt into the airy stuff that dreams +are made of, and reveries, mild and enchanting as the first hopes of +love or the recollection of lost enjoyment, carry the hapless wight +into futurity, who in bustling life has vainly strove to throw off +the grief which lies heavy at the heart. Good night! A crescent +hangs out in the vault before, which woos me to stray abroad. It is +not a silvery reflection of the sun, but glows with all its golden +splendour. Who fears the fallen dew? It only makes the mown grass +smell more fragrant. Adieu! + + + +LETTER III. + + + +The population of Sweden has been estimated from two millions and a +half to three millions; a small number for such an immense tract of +country, of which only so much is cultivated--and that in the +simplest manner--as is absolutely requisite to supply the +necessaries of life; and near the seashore, whence herrings are +easily procured, there scarcely appears a vestige of cultivation. +The scattered huts that stand shivering on the naked rocks, braving +the pitiless elements, are formed of logs of wood rudely hewn; and +so little pains are taken with the craggy foundation that nothing +hike a pathway points out the door. + +Gathered into himself by the cold, lowering his visage to avoid the +cutting blast, is it surprising that the churlish pleasure of +drinking drams takes place of social enjoyments amongst the poor, +especially if we take into the account that they mostly live on +high-seasoned provision and rye bread? Hard enough, you may +imagine, as it is baked only once a year. The servants also, in +most families, eat this kind of bread, and have a different kind of +food from their masters, which, in spite of all the arguments I have +heard to vindicate the custom, appears to me a remnant of barbarism. + +In fact, the situation of the servants in every respect, +particularly that of the women, shows how far the Swedes are from +having a just conception of rational equality. They are not termed +slaves; yet a man may strike a man with impunity because he pays him +wages, though these wages are so low that necessity must teach them +to pilfer, whilst servility renders them false and boorish. Still +the men stand up for the dignity of man by oppressing the women. +The most menial, and even laborious offices, are therefore left to +these poor drudges. Much of this I have seen. In the winter, I am +told, they take the linen down to the river to wash it in the cold +water, and though their hands, cut by the ice, are cracked and +bleeding, the men, their fellow-servants, will not disgrace their +manhood by carrying a tub to lighten their burden. + +You will not be surprised to hear that they do not wear shoes or +stockings, when I inform you that their wages are seldom more than +twenty or thirty shillings per annum. It is the custom, I know, to +give them a new year's gift and a present at some other period, but +can it all amount to a just indemnity for their labour? The +treatment of servants in most countries, I grant, is very unjust, +and in England, that boasted land of freedom, it is often extremely +tyrannical. I have frequently, with indignation, heard gentlemen +declare that they would never allow a servant to answer them; and +ladies of the most exquisite sensibility, who were continually +exclaiming against the cruelty of the vulgar to the brute creation, +have in my presence forgot that their attendants had human feelings +as well as forms. I do not know a more agreeable sight than to see +servants part of a family. By taking an interest, generally +speaking, in their concerns you inspire them with one for yours. We +must love our servants, or we shall never be sufficiently attentive +to their happiness; and how can those masters be attentive to their +happiness who, living above their fortunes, are more anxious to +outshine their neighbours than to allow their household the innocent +enjoyments they earn? + +It is, in fact, much more difficult for servants, who are tantalised +by seeing and preparing the dainties of which they are not to +partake, to remain honest, than the poor, whose thoughts are not led +from their homely fare; so that, though the servants here are +commonly thieves, you seldom hear of housebreaking, or robbery on +the highway. The country is, perhaps, too thinly inhabited to +produce many of that description of thieves termed footpads, or +highwaymen. They are usually the spawn of great cities--the effect +of the spurious desires generated by wealth, rather than the +desperate struggles of poverty to escape from misery. + +The enjoyment of the peasantry was drinking brandy and coffee, +before the latter was prohibited, and the former not allowed to be +privately distilled, the wars carried on by the late king rendering +it necessary to increase the revenue, and retain the specie in the +country by every possible means. + +The taxes before the reign of Charles XII. were inconsiderable. +Since then the burden has continually been growing heavier, and the +price of provisions has proportionately increased--nay, the +advantage accruing from the exportation of corn to France and rye to +Germany will probably produce a scarcity in both Sweden and Norway, +should not a peace put a stop to it this autumn, for speculations of +various kinds have already almost doubled the price. + +Such are the effects of war, that it saps the vitals even of the +neutral countries, who, obtaining a sudden influx of wealth, appear +to be rendered flourishing by the destruction which ravages the +hapless nations who are sacrificed to the ambition of their +governors. I shall not, however, dwell on the vices, though they be +of the most contemptible and embruting cast, to which a sudden +accession of fortune gives birth, because I believe it may be +delivered as an axiom, that it is only in proportion to the industry +necessary to acquire wealth that a nation is really benefited by it. + +The prohibition of drinking coffee under a penalty, and the +encouragement given to public distilleries, tend to impoverish the +poor, who are not affected by the sumptuary laws; for the regent has +lately laid very severe restraints on the articles of dress, which +the middling class of people found grievous, because it obliged them +to throw aside finery that might have lasted them for their lives. + +These may be termed vexatious; still the death of the king, by +saving them from the consequences his ambition would naturally have +entailed on them, may be reckoned a blessing. + +Besides, the French Revolution has not only rendered all the crowned +heads more cautious, but has so decreased everywhere (excepting +amongst themselves) a respect for nobility, that the peasantry have +not only lost their blind reverence for their seigniors, but +complain in a manly style of oppressions which before they did not +think of denominating such, because they were taught to consider +themselves as a different order of beings. And, perhaps, the +efforts which the aristocrats are making here, as well as in every +other part of Europe, to secure their sway, will be the most +effectual mode of undermining it, taking into the calculation that +the King of Sweden, like most of the potentates of Europe, has +continually been augmenting his power by encroaching on the +privileges of the nobles. + +The well-bred Swedes of the capital are formed on the ancient French +model, and they in general speak that language; for they have a +knack at acquiring languages with tolerable fluency. This may be +reckoned an advantage in some respects; but it prevents the +cultivation of their own, and any considerable advance in literary +pursuits. + +A sensible writer has lately observed (I have not his work by me, +therefore cannot quote his exact words), "That the Americans very +wisely let the Europeans make their books and fashions for them." +But I cannot coincide with him in this opinion. The reflection +necessary to produce a certain number even of tolerable productions +augments more than he is aware of the mass of knowledge in the +community. Desultory reading is commonly a mere pastime. But we +must have an object to refer our reflections to, or they will seldom +go below the surface. As in travelling, the keeping of a journal +excites to many useful inquiries that would not have been thought of +had the traveller only determined to see all he could see, without +ever asking himself for what purpose. Besides, the very dabbling in +literature furnishes harmless topics of conversation; for the not +having such subjects at hand, though they are often insupportably +fatiguing, renders the inhabitants of little towns prying and +censorious. Idleness, rather than ill-nature, gives birth to +scandal, and to the observation of little incidents which narrows +the mind. It is frequently only the fear of being talked of which +produces that puerile scrupulosity about trifles incompatible with +an enlarged plan of usefulness, and with the basis of all moral +principles--respect for the virtues which are not merely the virtues +of convention. + +I am, my friend, more and more convinced that a metropolis, or an +abode absolutely solitary, is the best calculated for the +improvement of the heart, as well as the understanding; whether we +desire to become acquainted with man, nature, or ourselves. Mixing +with mankind, we are obliged to examine our prejudices, and often +imperceptibly lose, as we analyse them. And in the country, growing +intimate with nature, a thousand little circumstances, unseen by +vulgar eyes, give birth to sentiments dear to the imagination, and +inquiries which expand the soul, particularly when cultivation has +not smoothed into insipidity all its originality of character. + +I love the country, yet whenever I see a picturesque situation +chosen on which to erect a dwelling I am always afraid of the +improvements. It requires uncommon taste to form a whole, and to +introduce accommodations and ornaments analogous with the +surrounding-scene. + +It visited, near Gothenburg, a house with improved land about it, +with which I was particularly delighted. It was close to a lake +embosomed in pine-clad rocks. In one part of the meadows your eye +was directed to the broad expanse, in another you were led into a +shade, to see a part of it, in the form of a river, rush amongst the +fragments of rocks and roots of trees; nothing seemed forced. One +recess, particularly grand and solemn amongst the towering cliffs, +had a rude stone table and seat placed in it, that might have served +for a Druid's haunt, whilst a placid stream below enlivened the +flowers on its margin, where light-footed elves would gladly have +danced their airy rounds. + +Here the hand of taste was conspicuous though not obtrusive, and +formed a contrast with another abode in the same neighbourhood, on +which much money had been lavished; where Italian colonnades were +placed to excite the wonder of the rude crags, and a stone +staircase, to threaten with destruction a wooden house. Venuses and +Apollos condemned to lie hid in snow three parts of the year seemed +equally displaced, and called the attention off from the surrounding +sublimity, without inspiring any voluptuous sensations. Yet even +these abortions of vanity have been useful. Numberless workmen have +been employed, and the superintending artist has improved the +labourers, whose unskilfulness tormented him, by obliging them to +submit to the discipline of rules. Adieu! + +Yours affectionately. + + + +LETTER IV. + + + +The severity of the long Swedish winter tends to render the people +sluggish, for though this season has its peculiar pleasures, too +much time is employed to guard against its inclemency. Still as +warm clothing is absolutely necessary, the women spin and the men +weave, and by these exertions get a fence to keep out the cold. I +have rarely passed a knot of cottages without seeing cloth laid out +to bleach, and when I entered, always found the women spinning or +knitting. + +A mistaken tenderness, however, for their children, makes them even +in summer load them with flannels, and having a sort of natural +antipathy to cold water, the squalid appearance of the poor babes, +not to speak of the noxious smell which flannel and rugs retain, +seems a reply to a question I had often asked--Why I did not see +more children in the villages I passed through? Indeed the children +appear to be nipt in the bud, having neither the graces nor charms +of their age. And this, I am persuaded, is much more owing to the +ignorance of the mothers than to the rudeness of the climate. +Rendered feeble by the continual perspiration they are kept in, +whilst every pore is absorbing unwholesome moisture, they give them, +even at the breast, brandy, salt fish, and every other crude +substance which air and exercise enables the parent to digest. + +The women of fortune here, as well as everywhere else, have nurses +to suckle their children; and the total want of chastity in the +lower class of women frequently renders them very unfit for the +trust. + +You have sometimes remarked to me the difference of the manners of +the country girls in England and in America; attributing the reserve +of the former to the climate--to the absence of genial suns. But it +must be their stars, not the zephyrs, gently stealing on their +senses, which here lead frail women astray. Who can look at these +rocks, and allow the voluptuousness of nature to be an excuse for +gratifying the desires it inspires? We must therefore, find some +other cause beside voluptuousness, I believe, to account for the +conduct of the Swedish and American country girls; for I am led to +conclude, from all the observations I have made, that there is +always a mixture of sentiment and imagination in voluptuousness, to +which neither of them have much pretension. + +The country girls of Ireland and Wales equally feel the first +impulse of nature, which, restrained in England by fear or delicacy, +proves that society is there in a more advanced state. Besides, as +the mind is cultivated, and taste gains ground, the passions become +stronger, and rest on something more stable than the casual +sympathies of the moment. Health and idleness will always account +for promiscuous amours; and in some degree I term every person idle, +the exercise of whose mind does not bear some proportion to that of +the body. + +The Swedish ladies exercise neither sufficiently; of course, grow +very fat at an early age; and when they have not this downy +appearance, a comfortable idea, you will say, in a cold climate, +they are not remarkable for fine forms. They have, however, mostly +fine complexions; but indolence makes the lily soon displace the +rose. The quantity of coffee, spices, and other things of that +kind, with want of care, almost universally spoil their teeth, which +contrast but ill with their ruby lips. + +The manners of Stockholm are refined, I hear, by the introduction of +gallantry; but in the country, romping and coarse freedoms, with +coarser allusions, keep the spirits awake. In the article of +cleanliness, the women of all descriptions seem very deficient; and +their dress shows that vanity is more inherent in women than taste. + +The men appear to have paid still less court to the graces. They +are a robust, healthy race, distinguished for their common sense and +turn for humour, rather than for wit or sentiment. I include not, +as you may suppose, in this general character, some of the nobility +and officers, who having travelled, are polite and well informed. + +I must own to you that the lower class of people here amuse and +interest me much more than the middling, with their apish good +breeding and prejudices. The sympathy and frankness of heart +conspicuous in the peasantry produces even a simple gracefulness of +deportment which has frequently struck me as very picturesque; I +have often also been touched by their extreme desire to oblige me, +when I could not explain my wants, and by their earnest manner of +expressing that desire. There is such a charm in tenderness! It is +so delightful to love our fellow-creatures, and meet the honest +affections as they break forth. Still, my good friend, I begin to +think that I should not like to live continually in the country with +people whose minds have such a narrow range. My heart would +frequently be interested; but my mind would languish for more +companionable society. + +The beauties of nature appear to me now even more alluring than in +my youth, because my intercourse with the world has formed without +vitiating my taste. But, with respect to the inhabitants of the +country, my fancy has probably, when disgusted with artificial +manners, solaced itself by joining the advantages of cultivation +with the interesting sincerity of innocence, forgetting the +lassitude that ignorance will naturally produce. I like to see +animals sporting, and sympathise in their pains and pleasures. +Still I love sometimes to view the human face divine, and trace the +soul, as well as the heart, in its varying lineaments. + +A journey to the country, which I must shortly make, will enable me +to extend my remarks.--Adieu! + + + +LETTER V. + + + +Had I determined to travel in Sweden merely for pleasure, I should +probably have chosen the road to Stockholm, though convinced, by +repeated observation, that the manners of a people are best +discriminated in the country. The inhabitants of the capital are +all of the same genus; for the varieties in the species we must, +therefore, search where the habitations of men are so separated as +to allow the difference of climate to have its natural effect. And +with this difference we are, perhaps, most forcibly struck at the +first view, just as we form an estimate of the leading traits of a +character at the first glance, of which intimacy afterwards makes us +almost lose sight. + +As my affairs called me to Stromstad (the frontier town of Sweden) +in my way to Norway, I was to pass over, I heard, the most +uncultivated part of the country. Still I believe that the grand +features of Sweden are the same everywhere, and it is only the grand +features that admit of description. There is an individuality in +every prospect, which remains in the memory as forcibly depicted as +the particular features that have arrested our attention; yet we +cannot find words to discriminate that individuality so as to enable +a stranger to say, this is the face, that the view. We may amuse by +setting the imagination to work; but we cannot store the memory with +a fact. + +As I wish to give you a general idea of this country, I shall +continue in my desultory manner to make such observations and +reflections as the circumstances draw forth, without losing time, by +endeavouring to arrange them. + +Travelling in Sweden is very cheap, and even commodious, if you make +but the proper arrangements. Here, as in other parts of the +Continent, it is necessary to have your own carriage, and to have a +servant who can speak the language, if you are unacquainted with it. +Sometimes a servant who can drive would be found very useful, which +was our case, for I travelled in company with two gentlemen, one of +whom had a German servant who drove very well. This was all the +party; for not intending to make a long stay, I left my little girl +behind me. + +As the roads are not much frequented, to avoid waiting three or four +hours for horses, we sent, as is the constant custom, an avant +courier the night before, to order them at every post, and we +constantly found them ready. Our first set I jokingly termed +requisition horses; but afterwards we had almost always little +spirited animals that went on at a round pace. + +The roads, making allowance for the ups and downs, are uncommonly +good and pleasant. The expense, including the postillions and other +incidental things, does not amount to more than a shilling the +Swedish mile. + +The inns are tolerable; but not liking the rye bread, I found it +necessary to furnish myself with some wheaten before I set out. The +beds, too, were particularly disagreeable to me. It seemed to me +that I was sinking into a grave when I entered them; for, immersed +in down placed in a sort of box, I expected to be suffocated before +morning. The sleeping between two down beds--they do so even in +summer--must be very unwholesome during any season; and I cannot +conceive how the people can bear it, especially as the summers are +very warm. But warmth they seem not to feel; and, I should think, +were afraid of the air, by always keeping their windows shut. In +the winter, I am persuaded, I could not exist in rooms thus closed +up, with stoves heated in their manner, for they only put wood into +them twice a day; and, when the stove is thoroughly heated, they +shut the flue, not admitting any air to renew its elasticity, even +when the rooms are crowded with company. These stoves are made of +earthenware, and often in a form that ornaments an apartment, which +is never the case with the heavy iron ones I have seen elsewhere. +Stoves may be economical, but I like a fire, a wood one, in +preference; and I am convinced that the current of air which it +attracts renders this the best mode of warming rooms. + +We arrived early the second evening at a little village called +Quistram, where we had determined to pass the night, having been +informed that we should not afterwards find a tolerable inn until we +reached Stromstad. + +Advancing towards Quistram, as the sun was beginning to decline, I +was particularly impressed by the beauty of the situation. The road +was on the declivity of a rocky mountain, slightly covered with a +mossy herbage and vagrant firs. At the bottom, a river, straggling +amongst the recesses of stone, was hastening forward to the ocean +and its grey rocks, of which we had a prospect on the left; whilst +on the right it stole peacefully forward into the meadows, losing +itself in a thickly-wooded rising ground. As we drew near, the +loveliest banks of wild flowers variegated the prospect, and +promised to exhale odours to add to the sweetness of the air, the +purity of which you could almost see, alas! not smell, for the +putrefying herrings, which they use as manure, after the oil has +been extracted, spread over the patches of earth, claimed by +cultivation, destroyed every other. + +It was intolerable, and entered with us into the inn, which was in +other respects a charming retreat. + +Whilst supper was preparing I crossed the bridge, and strolled by +the river, listening to its murmurs. Approaching the bank, the +beauty of which had attracted my attention in the carriage, I +recognised many of my old acquaintance growing with great +luxuriance. + +Seated on it, I could not avoid noting an obvious remark. Sweden +appeared to me the country in the world most proper to form the +botanist and natural historian; every object seemed to remind me of +the creation of things, of the first efforts of sportive nature. +When a country arrives at a certain state of perfection, it looks as +if it were made so; and curiosity is not excited. Besides, in +social life too many objects occur for any to be distinctly observed +by the generality of mankind; yet a contemplative man, or poet, in +the country--I do not mean the country adjacent to cities--feels and +sees what would escape vulgar eyes, and draws suitable inferences. +This train of reflections might have led me further, in every sense +of the word; but I could not escape from the detestable evaporation +of the herrings, which poisoned all my pleasure. + +After making a tolerable supper--for it is not easy to get fresh +provisions on the road--I retired, to be lulled to sleep by the +murmuring of a stream, of which I with great difficulty obtained +sufficient to perform my daily ablutions. + +The last battle between the Danes and Swedes, which gave new life to +their ancient enmity, was fought at this place 1788; only seventeen +or eighteen were killed, for the great superiority of the Danes and +Norwegians obliged the Swedes to submit; but sickness, and a +scarcity of provision, proved very fatal to their opponents on their +return. + +It would be very easy to search for the particulars of this +engagement in the publications of the day; but as this manner of +filling my pages does not come within my plan, I probably should not +have remarked that the battle was fought here, were it not to relate +an anecdote which I had from good authority. + +I noticed, when I first mentioned this place to you, that we +descended a steep before we came to the inn; an immense ridge of +rocks stretching out on one side. The inn was sheltered under them; +and about a hundred yards from it was a bridge that crossed the +river, the murmurs of which I have celebrated; it was not fordable. +The Swedish general received orders to stop at the bridge and +dispute the passage--a most advantageous post for an army so much +inferior in force; but the influence of beauty is not confined to +courts. The mistress of the inn was handsome; when I saw her there +were still some remains of beauty; and, to preserve her house, the +general gave up the only tenable station. He was afterwards broke +for contempt of orders. + +Approaching the frontiers, consequently the sea, nature resumed an +aspect ruder and ruder, or rather seemed the bones of the world +waiting to be clothed with everything necessary to give life and +beauty. Still it was sublime. + +The clouds caught their hue of the rocks that menaced them. The sun +appeared afraid to shine, the birds ceased to sing, and the flowers +to bloom; but the eagle fixed his nest high amongst the rocks, and +the vulture hovered over this abode of desolation. The farm houses, +in which only poverty resided, were formed of logs scarcely keeping +off the cold and drifting snow: out of them the inhabitants seldom +peeped, and the sports or prattling of children was neither seen or +heard. The current of life seemed congealed at the source: all +were not frozen, for it was summer, you remember; but everything +appeared so dull that I waited to see ice, in order to reconcile me +to the absence of gaiety. + +The day before, my attention had frequently been attracted by the +wild beauties of the country we passed through. + +The rocks which tossed their fantastic heads so high were often +covered with pines and firs, varied in the most picturesque manner. +Little woods filled up the recesses when forests did not darken the +scene, and valleys and glens, cleared of the trees, displayed a +dazzling verdure which contrasted with the gloom of the shading +pines. The eye stole into many a covert where tranquillity seemed +to have taken up her abode, and the number of little lakes that +continually presented themselves added to the peaceful composure of +the scenery. The little cultivation which appeared did not break +the enchantment, nor did castles rear their turrets aloft to crush +the cottages, and prove that man is more savage than the natives of +the woods. I heard of the bears but never saw them stalk forth, +which I was sorry for; I wished to have seen one in its wild state. +In the winter, I am told, they sometimes catch a stray cow, which is +a heavy loss to the owner. + +The farms are small. Indeed most of the houses we saw on the road +indicated poverty, or rather that the people could just live. +Towards the frontiers they grew worse and worse in their appearance, +as if not willing to put sterility itself out of countenance. No +gardens smiled round the habitations, not a potato or cabbage to eat +with the fish drying on a stick near the door. A little grain here +and there appeared, the long stalks of which you might almost +reckon. The day was gloomy when we passed over this rejected spot, +the wind bleak, and winter seemed to be contending with nature, +faintly struggling to change the season. Surely, thought I, if the +sun ever shines here it cannot warm these stones; moss only cleaves +to them, partaking of their hardness, and nothing like vegetable +life appears to cheer with hope the heart. + +So far from thinking that the primitive inhabitants of the world +lived in a southern climate where Paradise spontaneously arose, I am +led to infer, from various circumstances, that the first dwelling of +man happened to be a spot like this which led him to adore a sun so +seldom seen; for this worship, which probably preceded that of +demons or demigods, certainly never began in a southern climate, +where the continual presence of the sun prevented its being +considered as a good; or rather the want of it never being felt, +this glorious luminary would carelessly have diffused its blessings +without being hailed as a benefactor. Man must therefore have been +placed in the north, to tempt him to run after the sun, in order +that the different parts of the earth might be peopled. Nor do I +wonder that hordes of barbarians always poured out of these regions +to seek for milder climes, when nothing like cultivation attached +them to the soil, especially when we take into the view that the +adventuring spirit, common to man, is naturally stronger and more +general during the infancy of society. The conduct of the followers +of Mahomet, and the crusaders, will sufficiently corroborate my +assertion. + +Approaching nearer to Stromstad, the appearance of the town proved +to be quite in character with the country we had just passed +through. I hesitated to use the word country, yet could not find +another; still it would sound absurd to talk of fields of rocks. + +The town was built on and under them. Three or four weather-beaten +trees were shrinking from the wind, and the grass grew so sparingly +that I could not avoid thinking Dr. Johnson's hyperbolical assertion +"that the man merited well of his country who made a few blades of +grass grow where they never grew before," might here have been +uttered with strict propriety. The steeple likewise towered aloft, +for what is a church, even amongst the Lutherans, without a steeple? +But to prevent mischief in such an exposed situation, it is wisely +placed on a rock at some distance not to endanger the roof of the +church. + +Rambling about, I saw the door open, and entered, when to my great +surprise I found the clergyman reading prayers, with only the clerk +attending. I instantly thought of Swift's "Dearly beloved Roger," +but on inquiry I learnt that some one had died that morning, and in +Sweden it is customary to pray for the dead. + +The sun, who I suspected never dared to shine, began now to convince +me that he came forth only to torment; for though the wind was still +cutting, the rocks became intolerably warm under my feet, whilst the +herring effluvia, which I before found so very offensive, once more +assailed me. I hastened back to the house of a merchant, the little +sovereign of the place, because he was by far the richest, though +not the mayor. + +Here we were most hospitably received, and introduced to a very fine +and numerous family. I have before mentioned to you the lilies of +the north, I might have added, water lilies, for the complexion of +many, even of the young women, seem to be bleached on the bosom of +snow. But in this youthful circle the roses bloomed with all their +wonted freshness, and I wondered from whence the fire was stolen +which sparkled in their fine blue eyes. + +Here we slept; and I rose early in the morning to prepare for my +little voyage to Norway. I had determined to go by water, and was +to leave my companions behind; but not getting a boat immediately, +and the wind being high and unfavourable, I was told that it was not +safe to go to sea during such boisterous weather; I was, therefore, +obliged to wait for the morrow, and had the present day on my hands, +which I feared would be irksome, because the family, who possessed +about a dozen French words amongst them and not an English phrase, +were anxious to amuse me, and would not let me remain alone in my +room. The town we had already walked round and round, and if we +advanced farther on the coast, it was still to view the same +unvaried immensity of water surrounded by barrenness. + +The gentlemen, wishing to peep into Norway, proposed going to +Fredericshall, the first town--the distance was only three Swedish +miles. There and back again was but a day's journey, and would not, +I thought, interfere with my voyage. I agreed, and invited the +eldest and prettiest of the girls to accompany us. I invited her +because I like to see a beautiful face animated by pleasure, and to +have an opportunity of regarding the country, whilst the gentlemen +were amusing themselves with her. + +I did not know, for I had not thought of it, that we were to scale +some of the most mountainous cliffs of Sweden in our way to the +ferry which separates the two countries. + +Entering amongst the cliffs, we were sheltered from the wind, warm +sunbeams began to play, streams to flow, and groves of pines +diversified the rocks. Sometimes they became suddenly bare and +sublime. Once, in particular, after mounting the most terrific +precipice, we had to pass through a tremendous defile, where the +closing chasm seemed to threaten us with instant destruction, when, +turning quickly, verdant meadows and a beautiful lake relieved and +charmed my eyes. + +I had never travelled through Switzerland, but one of my companions +assured me that I should not there find anything superior, if equal, +to the wild grandeur of these views. + +As we had not taken this excursion into our plan, the horses had not +been previously ordered, which obliged us to wait two hours at the +first post. The day was wearing away. The road was so bad that +walking up the precipices consumed the time insensibly; but as we +desired horses at each post ready at a certain hour, we reckoned on +returning more speedily. + +We stopped to dine at a tolerable farm; they brought us out ham, +butter, cheese, and milk, and the charge was so moderate that I +scattered a little money amongst the children who were peeping at +us, in order to pay them for their trouble. + +Arrived at the ferry, we were still detained, for the people who +attend at the ferries have a stupid kind of sluggishness in their +manner, which is very provoking when you are in haste. At present I +did not feel it, for, scrambling up the cliffs, my eye followed the +river as it rolled between the grand rocky banks; and, to complete +the scenery, they were covered with firs and pines, through which +the wind rustled as if it were lulling itself to sleep with the +declining sun. + +Behold us now in Norway; and I could not avoid feeling surprise at +observing the difference in the manners of the inhabitants of the +two sides of the river, for everything shows that the Norwegians are +more industrious and more opulent. The Swedes (for neighbours are +seldom the best friends) accuse the Norwegians of knavery, and they +retaliate by bringing a charge of hypocrisy against the Swedes. +Local circumstances probably render both unjust, speaking from their +feelings rather than reason; and is this astonishing when we +consider that most writers of travels have done the same, whose +works have served as materials for the compilers of universal +histories? All are eager to give a national character, which is +rarely just, because they do not discriminate the natural from the +acquired difference. The natural, I believe, on due consideration, +will be found to consist merely in the degree of vivacity, or +thoughtfulness, pleasures or pain, inspired by the climate, whilst +the varieties which the forms of government, including religion, +produce are much more numerous and unstable. + +A people have been characterised as stupid by nature; what a +paradox! because they did not consider that slaves, having no object +to stimulate industry; have not their faculties sharpened by the +only thing that can exercise them, self-interest. Others have been +brought forward as brutes, having no aptitude for the arts and +sciences, only because the progress of improvement had not reached +that stage which produces them. + +Those writers who have considered the history of man, or of the +human mind, on a more enlarged scale have fallen into similar +errors, not reflecting that the passions are weak where the +necessaries of life are too hardly or too easily obtained. + +Travellers who require that every nation should resemble their +native country, had better stay at home. It is, for example, absurd +to blame a people for not having that degree of personal cleanliness +and elegance of manners which only refinement of taste produces, and +will produce everywhere in proportion as society attains a general +polish. The most essential service, I presume, that authors could +render to society, would be to promote inquiry and discussion, +instead of making those dogmatical assertions which only appear +calculated to gird the human mind round with imaginary circles, like +the paper globe which represents the one he inhabits. + +This spirit of inquiry is the characteristic of the present century, +from which the succeeding will, I am persuaded, receive a great +accumulation of knowledge; and doubtless its diffusion will in a +great measure destroy the factitious national characters which have +been supposed permanent, though only rendered so by the permanency +of ignorance. + +Arriving at Fredericshall, at the siege of which Charles XII. lost +his life, we had only time to take a transient view of it whilst +they were preparing us some refreshment. + +Poor Charles! I thought of him with respect. I have always felt +the same for Alexander, with whom he has been classed as a madman by +several writers, who have reasoned superficially, confounding the +morals of the day with the few grand principles on which +unchangeable morality rests. Making no allowance for the ignorance +and prejudices of the period, they do not perceive how much they +themselves are indebted to general improvement for the acquirements, +and even the virtues, which they would not have had the force of +mind to attain by their individual exertions in a less advanced +state of society. + +The evening was fine, as is usual at this season, and the refreshing +odour of the pine woods became more perceptible, for it was nine +o'clock when we left Fredericshall. At the ferry we were detained +by a dispute relative to our Swedish passport, which we did not +think of getting countersigned in Norway. Midnight was coming on, +yet it might with such propriety have been termed the noon of night +that, had Young ever travelled towards the north, I should not have +wondered at his becoming enamoured of the moon. But it is not the +Queen of Night alone who reigns here in all her splendour, though +the sun, loitering just below the horizon, decks her within a golden +tinge from his car, illuminating the cliffs that hide him; the +heavens also, of a clear softened blue, throw her forward, and the +evening star appears a smaller moon to the naked eye. The huge +shadows of the rocks, fringed with firs, concentrating the views +without darkening them, excited that tender melancholy which, +sublimating the imagination, exalts rather than depresses the mind. + +My companions fell asleep--fortunately they did not snore; and I +contemplated, fearless of idle questions, a night such as I had +never before seen or felt, to charm the senses, and calm the heart. +The very air was balmy as it freshened into morn, producing the most +voluptuous sensations. A vague pleasurable sentiment absorbed me, +as I opened my bosom to the embraces of nature; and my soul rose to +its Author, with the chirping of the solitary birds, which began to +feel, rather than see, advancing day. I had leisure to mark its +progress. The grey morn, streaked with silvery rays, ushered in the +orient beams (how beautifully varying into purple!), yet I was sorry +to lose the soft watery clouds which preceded them, exciting a kind +of expectation that made me almost afraid to breathe, lest I should +break the charm. I saw the sun--and sighed. + +One of my companions, now awake, perceiving that the postillion had +mistaken the road, began to swear at him, and roused the other two, +who reluctantly shook off sleep. + +We had immediately to measure back our steps, and did not reach +Stromstad before five in the morning. + +The wind had changed in the night, and my boat was ready. + +A dish of coffee, and fresh linen, recruited my spirits, and I +directly set out again for Norway, purposing to land much higher up +the coast. + +Wrapping my great-coat round me, I lay down on some sails at the +bottom of the boat, its motion rocking me to rest, till a +discourteous wave interrupted my slumbers, and obliged me to rise +and feel a solitariness which was not so soothing as that of the +past night. + +Adieu! + + + +LETTER VI. + + + +The sea was boisterous, but, as I had an experienced pilot, I did +not apprehend any danger. Sometimes, I was told, boats are driven +far out and lost. However, I seldom calculate chances so nicely-- +sufficient for the day is the obvious evil! + +We had to steer amongst islands and huge rocks, rarely losing sight +of the shore, though it now and then appeared only a mist that +bordered the water's edge. The pilot assured me that the numerous +harbours on the Norway coast were very safe, and the pilot-boats +were always on the watch. The Swedish side is very dangerous, I am +also informed; and the help of experience is not often at hand to +enable strange vessels to steer clear of the rocks, which lurk below +the water close to the shore. + +There are no tides here, nor in the Cattegate, and, what appeared to +me a consequence, no sandy beach. Perhaps this observation has been +made before; but it did not occur to me till I saw the waves +continually beating against the bare rocks, without ever receding to +leave a sediment to harden. + +The wind was fair, till we had to tack about in order to enter +Laurvig, where we arrived towards three o'clock in the afternoon. +It is a clean, pleasant town, with a considerable iron-work, which +gives life to it. + +As the Norwegians do not frequently see travellers, they are very +curious to know their business, and who they are--so curious, that I +was half tempted to adopt Dr. Franklin's plan, when travelling in +America, where they are equally prying, which was to write on a +paper, for public inspection, my name, from whence I came, where I +was going, and what was my business. But if I were importuned by +their curiosity, their friendly gestures gratified me. A woman +coming alone interested them. And I know not whether my weariness +gave me a look of peculiar delicacy, but they approached to assist +me, and inquire after my wants, as if they were afraid to hurt, and +wished to protect me. The sympathy I inspired, thus dropping down +from the clouds in a strange land, affected me more than it would +have done had not my spirits been harassed by various causes--by +much thinking--musing almost to madness--and even by a sort of weak +melancholy that hung about my heart at parting with my daughter for +the first time. + +You know that, as a female, I am particularly attached to her; I +feel more than a mother's fondness and anxiety when I reflect on the +dependent and oppressed state of her sex. I dread lest she should +be forced to sacrifice her heart to her principles, or principles to +her heart. With trembling hand I shall cultivate sensibility and +cherish delicacy of sentiment, lest, whilst I lend fresh blushes to +the rose, I sharpen the thorns that will wound the breast I would +fain guard; I dread to unfold her mind, lest it should render her +unfit for the world she is to inhabit. Hapless woman! what a fate +is thine! + +But whither am I wandering? I only meant to tell you that the +impression the kindness of the simple people made visible on my +countenance increased my sensibility to a painful degree. I wished +to have had a room to myself, for their attention, and rather +distressing observation, embarrassed me extremely. Yet, as they +would bring me eggs, and make my coffee, I found I could not leave +them without hurting their feelings of hospitality. + +It is customary here for the host and hostess to welcome their +guests as master and mistress of the house. + +My clothes, in their turn, attracted the attention of the females, +and I could not help thinking of the foolish vanity which makes many +women so proud of the observation of strangers as to take wonder +very gratuitously for admiration. This error they are very apt to +fall into when, arrived in a foreign country, the populace stare at +them as they pass. Yet the make of a cap or the singularity of a +gown is often the cause of the flattering attention which afterwards +supports a fantastic superstructure of self-conceit. + +Not having brought a carriage over with me, expecting to have met a +person where I landed, who was immediately to have procured me one, +I was detained whilst the good people of the inn sent round to all +their acquaintance to search for a vehicle. A rude sort of cabriole +was at last found, and a driver half drunk, who was not less eager +to make a good bargain on that account. I had a Danish captain of a +ship and his mate with me; the former was to ride on horseback, at +which he was not very expert, and the latter to partake of my seat. +The driver mounted behind to guide the horses and flourish the whip +over our shoulders; he would not suffer the reins out of his own +hands. There was something so grotesque in our appearance that I +could not avoid shrinking into myself when I saw a gentleman-like +man in the group which crowded round the door to observe us. I +could have broken the driver's whip for cracking to call the women +and children together, but seeing a significant smile on the face, I +had before remarked, I burst into a laugh to allow him to do so too, +and away we flew. This is not a flourish of the pen, for we +actually went on full gallop a long time, the horses being very +good; indeed, I have never met with better, if so good, post-horses +as in Norway. They are of a stouter make than the English horses, +appear to be well fed, and are not easily tired. + +I had to pass over, I was informed, the most fertile and best +cultivated tract of country in Norway. The distance was three +Norwegian miles, which are longer than the Swedish. The roads were +very good; the farmers are obliged to repair them; and we scampered +through a great extent of country in a more improved state than any +I had viewed since I left England. Still there was sufficient of +hills, dales, and rocks to prevent the idea of a plain from entering +the head, or even of such scenery as England and France afford. The +prospects were also embellished by water, rivers, and lakes before +the sea proudly claimed my regard, and the road running frequently +through lofty groves rendered the landscapes beautiful, though they +were not so romantic as those I had lately seen with such delight. + +It was late when I reached Tonsberg, and I was glad to go to bed at +a decent inn. The next morning the 17th of July, conversing with +the gentleman with whom I had business to transact, I found that I +should be detained at Tonsberg three weeks, and I lamented that I +had not brought my child with me. + +The inn was quiet, and my room so pleasant, commanding a view of the +sea, confined by an amphitheatre of hanging woods, that I wished to +remain there, though no one in the house could speak English or +French. The mayor, my friend, however, sent a young woman to me who +spoke a little English, and she agreed to call on me twice a day to +receive my orders and translate them to my hostess. + +My not understanding the language was an excellent pretext for +dining alone, which I prevailed on them to let me do at a late hour, +for the early dinners in Sweden had entirely deranged my day. I +could not alter it there without disturbing the economy of a family +where I was as a visitor, necessity having forced me to accept of an +invitation from a private family, the lodgings were so incommodious. + +Amongst the Norwegians I had the arrangement of my own time, and I +determined to regulate it in such a manner that I might enjoy as +much of their sweet summer as I possibly could; short, it is true, +but "passing sweet." + +I never endured a winter in this rude clime, consequently it was not +the contrast, but the real beauty of the season which made the +present summer appear to me the finest I had ever seen. Sheltered +from the north and eastern winds, nothing can exceed the salubrity, +the soft freshness of the western gales. In the evening they also +die away; the aspen leaves tremble into stillness, and reposing +nature seems to be warmed by the moon, which here assumes a genial +aspect. And if a light shower has chanced to fall with the sun, the +juniper, the underwood of the forest, exhales a wild perfume, mixed +with a thousand nameless sweets that, soothing the heart, leave +images in the memory which the imagination will ever hold dear. + +Nature is the nurse of sentiment, the true source of taste; yet what +misery, as well as rapture, is produced by a quick perception of the +beautiful and sublime when it is exercised in observing animated +nature, when every beauteous feeling and emotion excites responsive +sympathy, and the harmonised soul sinks into melancholy or rises to +ecstasy, just as the chords are touched, like the AEolian harp +agitated by the changing wind. But how dangerous is it to foster +these sentiments in such an imperfect state of existence, and how +difficult to eradicate them when an affection for mankind, a passion +for an individual, is but the unfolding of that love which embraces +all that is great and beautiful! + +When a warm heart has received strong impressions, they are not to +be effaced. Emotions become sentiments, and the imagination renders +even transient sensations permanent by fondly retracing them. I +cannot, without a thrill of delight, recollect views I have seen, +which are not to be forgotten, nor looks I have felt in every nerve, +which I shall never more meet. The grave has closed over a dear +friend, the friend of my youth. Still she is present with me, and I +hear her soft voice warbling as I stray over the heath. Fate has +separated me from another, the fire of whose eyes, tempered by +infantine tenderness, still warms my breast; even when gazing on +these tremendous cliffs sublime emotions absorb my soul. And, smile +not, if I add that the rosy tint of morning reminds me of a +suffusion which will never more charm my senses, unless it reappears +on the cheeks of my child. Her sweet blushes I may yet hide in my +bosom, and she is still too young to ask why starts the tear so near +akin to pleasure and pain. + +I cannot write any more at present. To-morrow we will talk of +Tonsberg. + + + +LETTER VII. + + + +Though the king of Denmark be an absolute monarch, yet the +Norwegians appear to enjoy all the blessings of freedom. Norway may +be termed a sister kingdom; but the people have no viceroy to lord +it over them, and fatten his dependants with the fruit of their +labour. + +There are only two counts in the whole country who have estates, and +exact some feudal observances from their tenantry. All the rest of +the country is divided into small farms, which belong to the +cultivator. It is true some few, appertaining to the Church, are +let, but always on a lease for life, generally renewed in favour of +the eldest son, who has this advantage as well as a right to a +double portion of the property. But the value of the farm is +estimated, and after his portion is assigned to him he must be +answerable for the residue to the remaining part of the family. + +Every farmer for ten years is obliged to attend annually about +twelve days to learn the military exercise, but it is always at a +small distance from his dwelling, and does not lead him into any new +habits of life. + +There are about six thousand regulars also in garrison at +Christiania and Fredericshall, who are equally reserved, with the +militia, for the defence of their own country. So that when the +Prince Royal passed into Sweden in 1788, he was obliged to request, +not command, them to accompany him on this expedition. + +These corps are mostly composed of the sons of the cottagers, who +being labourers on the farms, are allowed a few acres to cultivate +for themselves. These men voluntarily enlist, but it is only for a +limited period (six years), at the expiration of which they have the +liberty of retiring. The pay is only twopence a day and bread; +still, considering the cheapness of the country, it is more than +sixpence in England. + +The distribution of landed property into small farms produces a +degree of equality which I have seldom seen elsewhere; and the rich +being all merchants, who are obliged to divide their personal +fortune amongst their children, the boys always receiving twice as +much as the girls, property has met a chance of accumulating till +overgrowing wealth destroys the balance of liberty. + +You will be surprised to hear me talk of liberty; yet the Norwegians +appear to me to be the most free community I have ever observed. + +The mayor of each town or district, and the judges in the country, +exercise an authority almost patriarchal. They can do much good, +but little harm,--as every individual can appeal from their +judgment; and as they may always be forced to give a reason for +their conduct, it is generally regulated by prudence. "They have +not time to learn to be tyrants," said a gentleman to me, with whom +I discussed the subject. + +The farmers not fearing to be turned out of their farms, should they +displease a man in power, and having no vote to be commanded at an +election for a mock representative, are a manly race; for not being +obliged to submit to any debasing tenure in order to live, or +advance themselves in the world, they act with an independent +spirit. I never yet have heard of anything like domineering or +oppression, excepting such as has arisen from natural causes. The +freedom the people enjoy may, perhaps, render them a little +litigious, and subject them to the impositions of cunning +practitioners of the law; but the authority of office is bounded, +and the emoluments of it do not destroy its utility. + +Last year a man who had abused his power was cashiered, on the +representation of the people to the bailiff of the district. + +There are four in Norway who might with propriety be termed +sheriffs; and from their sentence an appeal, by either party, may be +made to Copenhagen. + +Near most of the towns are commons, on which the cows of all the +inhabitants, indiscriminately, are allowed to graze. The poor, to +whom a cow is necessary, are almost supported by it. Besides, to +render living more easy, they all go out to fish in their own boats, +and fish is their principal food. + +The lower class of people in the towns are in general sailors; and +the industrious have usually little ventures of their own that serve +to render the winter comfortable. + +With respect to the country at large, the importation is +considerably in favour of Norway. + +They are forbidden, at present, to export corn or rye on account of +the advanced price. + +The restriction which most resembles the painful subordination of +Ireland, is that vessels, trading to the West Indies, are obliged to +pass by their own ports, and unload their cargoes at Copenhagen, +which they afterwards reship. The duty is indeed inconsiderable, +but the navigation being dangerous, they run a double risk. + +There is an excise on all articles of consumption brought to the +towns; but the officers are not strict, and it would be reckoned +invidious to enter a house to search, as in England. + +The Norwegians appear to me a sensible, shrewd people, with little +scientific knowledge, and still less taste for literature; but they +are arriving at the epoch which precedes the introduction of the +arts and sciences. + +Most of the towns are seaports, and seaports are not favourable to +improvement. The captains acquire a little superficial knowledge by +travelling, which their indefatigable attention to the making of +money prevents their digesting; and the fortune that they thus +laboriously acquire is spent, as it usually is in towns of this +description, in show and good living. They love their country, but +have not much public spirit. Their exertions are, generally +speaking, only for their families, which, I conceive, will always be +the case, till politics, becoming a subject of discussion, enlarges +the heart by opening the understanding. The French Revolution will +have this effect. They sing, at present, with great glee, many +Republican songs, and seem earnestly to wish that the republic may +stand; yet they appear very much attached to their Prince Royal, +and, as far as rumour can give an idea of a character, he appears to +merit their attachment. When I am at Copenhagen, I shall be able to +ascertain on what foundation their good opinion is built; at present +I am only the echo of it. + +In the year 1788 he travelled through Norway; and acts of mercy gave +dignity to the parade, and interest to the joy his presence +inspired. At this town he pardoned a girl condemned to die for +murdering an illegitimate child, a crime seldom committed in this +country. She is since married, and become the careful mother of a +family. This might be given as an instance, that a desperate act is +not always a proof of an incorrigible depravity of character, the +only plausible excuse that has been brought forward to justify the +infliction of capital punishments. + +I will relate two or three other anecdotes to you, for the truth of +which I will not vouch because the facts were not of sufficient +consequence for me to take much pains to ascertain them; and, true +or false, they evince that the people like to make a kind of +mistress of their prince. + +An officer, mortally wounded at the ill-advised battle of Quistram, +desired to speak with the prince; and with his dying breath, +earnestly recommended to his care a young woman of Christiania, to +whom he was engaged. When the prince returned there, a ball was +given by the chief inhabitants: he inquired whether this +unfortunate girl was invited, and requested that she might, though +of the second class. The girl came; she was pretty; and finding +herself among her superiors, bashfully sat down as near the door as +possible, nobody taking notice of her. Shortly after, the prince +entering, immediately inquired for her, and asked her to dance, to +the mortification of the rich dames. After it was over he handed +her to the top of the room, and placing himself by her, spoke of the +loss she had sustained, with tenderness, promising to provide for +anyone she should marry, as the story goes. She is since married, +and he has not forgotten his promise. + +A little girl, during the same expedition, in Sweden, who informed +him that the logs of a bridge were out underneath, was taken by his +orders to Christiania, and put to school at his expense. + +Before I retail other beneficial effects of his journey, it is +necessary to inform you that the laws here are mild, and do not +punish capitally for any crime but murder, which seldom occurs. +Every other offence merely subjects the delinquent to imprisonment +and labour in the castle, or rather arsenal at Christiania, and the +fortress at Fredericshall. The first and second conviction produces +a sentence for a limited number of years--two, three, five, or +seven, proportioned to the atrocity of the crime. After the third +he is whipped, branded in the forehead, and condemned to perpetual +slavery. This is the ordinary course of justice. For some flagrant +breaches of trust, or acts of wanton cruelty, criminals have been +condemned to slavery for life time first the of conviction, but not +frequently. The number of these slaves do not, I am informed, +amount to more than a hundred, which is not considerable, compared +with the population, upwards of eight hundred thousand. Should I +pass through Christiania, on my return to Gothenburg, I shall +probably have an opportunity of learning other particulars. + +There is also a House of Correction at Christiania for trifling +misdemeanours, where the women are confined to labour and +imprisonment even for life. The state of the prisoners was +represented to the prince, in consequence of which he visited the +arsenal and House of Correction. The slaves at the arsenal were +loaded with irons of a great weight; he ordered them to be lightened +as much as possible. + +The people in the House of Correction were commanded not to speak to +him; but four women, condemned to remain there for life, got into +the passage, and fell at his feet. He granted them a pardon; and +inquiring respecting the treatment of the prisoners, he was informed +that they were frequently whipped going in, and coming out, and for +any fault, at the discretion of the inspectors. This custom he +humanely abolished, though some of the principal inhabitants, whose +situation in life had raised them above the temptation of stealing, +were of opinion that these chastisements were necessary and +wholesome. + +In short, everything seems to announce that the prince really +cherishes the laudable ambition of fulfilling the duties of his +station. This ambition is cherished and directed by the Count +Bernstorff, the Prime Minister of Denmark, who is universally +celebrated for his abilities and virtue. The happiness of the +people is a substantial eulogium; and, from all I can gather, the +inhabitants of Denmark and Norway are the least oppressed people of +Europe. The press is free. They translate any of the French +publications of the day, deliver their opinion on the subject, and +discuss those it leads to with great freedom, and without fearing to +displease the Government. + +On the subject of religion they are likewise becoming tolerant, at +least, and perhaps have advanced a step further in free-thinking. +One writer has ventured to deny the divinity of Jesus Christ, and to +question the necessity or utility of the Christian system, without +being considered universally as a monster, which would have been the +case a few years ago. They have translated many German works on +education; and though they have not adopted any of their plans, it +has become a subject of discussion. There are some grammar and free +schools; but, from what I hear, not very good ones. All the +children learn to read, write, and cast accounts, for the purposes +of common life. They have no university; and nothing that deserves +the name of science is taught; nor do individuals, by pursuing any +branch of knowledge, excite a degree of curiosity which is the +forerunner of improvement. Knowledge is not absolutely necessary to +enable a considerable portion of the community to live; and, till it +is, I fear it never becomes general. + +In this country, where minerals abound, there is not one collection; +and, in all probability, I venture a conjecture, the want of +mechanical and chemical knowledge renders the silver mines +unproductive, for the quantity of silver obtained every year is not +sufficient to defray the expenses. It has been urged that the +employment of such a number of hands is very beneficial. But a +positive loss is never to be done away; and the men, thus employed, +would naturally find some other means of living, instead of being +thus a dead weight on Government, or rather on the community from +whom its revenue is drawn. + +About three English miles from Tonsberg there is a salt work, +belonging, like all their establishments, to Government, in which +they employ above a hundred and fifty men, and maintain nearly five +hundred people, who earn their living. The clear profit, an +increasing one, amounts to two thousand pounds sterling. And as the +eldest son of the inspector, an ingenious young man, has been sent +by the Government to travel, and acquire some mathematical and +chemical knowledge in Germany, it has a chance of being improved. +He is the only person I have met with here who appears to have a +scientific turn of mind. I do not mean to assert that I have not +met with others who have a spirit of inquiry. + +The salt-works at St. Ubes are basins in the sand, and the sun +produces the evaporation, but here there is no beach. Besides, the +heat of summer is so short-lived that it would be idle to contrive +machines for such an inconsiderable portion of the year. They +therefore always use fires; and the whole establishment appears to +be regulated with judgment. + +The situation is well chosen and beautiful. I do not find, from the +observation of a person who has resided here for forty years, that +the sea advances or recedes on this coast. + +I have already remarked that little attention is paid to education, +excepting reading, writing, and the rudiments of arithmetic; I ought +to have added that a catechism is carefully taught, and the children +obliged to read in the churches, before the congregation, to prove +that they are not neglected. + +Degrees, to enable any one to practise any profession, must be taken +at Copenhagen; and the people of this country, having the good sense +to perceive that men who are to live in a community should at least +acquire the elements of their knowledge, and form their youthful +attachments there, are seriously endeavouring to establish a +university in Norway. And Tonsberg, as a central place in the best +part of the country, had the most suffrages, for, experiencing the +bad effects of a metropolis, they have determined not to have it in +or near Christiania. Should such an establishment take place, it +will promote inquiry throughout the country, and give a new face to +society. Premiums have been offered, and prize questions written, +which I am told have merit. The building college-halls, and other +appendages of the seat of science, might enable Tonsberg to recover +its pristine consequence, for it is one of the most ancient towns of +Norway, and once contained nine churches. At present there are only +two. One is a very old structure, and has a Gothic respectability +about it, which scarcely amounts to grandeur, because, to render a +Gothic pile grand, it must have a huge unwieldiness of appearance. +The chapel of Windsor may be an exception to this rule; I mean +before it was in its present nice, clean state. When I first saw +it, the pillars within had acquired, by time, a sombre hue, which +accorded with the architecture; and the gloom increased its +dimensions to the eye by hiding its parts; but now it all bursts on +the view at once, and the sublimity has vanished before the brush +and broom; for it has been white-washed and scraped till it has +become as bright and neat as the pots and pans in a notable house- +wife's kitchen--yes; the very spurs on the recumbent knights were +deprived of their venerable rust, to give a striking proof that a +love of order in trifles, and taste for proportion and arrangement, +are very distinct. The glare of light thus introduced entirely +destroys the sentiment these piles are calculated to inspire; so +that, when I heard something like a jig from the organ-loft, I +thought it an excellent hall for dancing or feasting. The measured +pace of thought with which I had entered the cathedral changed into +a trip; and I bounded on the terrace, to see the royal family, with +a number of ridiculous images in my head that I shall not now +recall. + +The Norwegians are fond of music, and every little church has an +organ. In the church I have mentioned there is an inscription +importing that a king James VI. of Scotland and I. of England, who +came with more than princely gallantry to escort his bride home-- +stood there, and heard divine service. + +There is a little recess full of coffins, which contains bodies +embalmed long since--so long, that there is not even a tradition to +lead to a guess at their names. + +A desire of preserving the body seems to have prevailed in most +countries of the world, futile as it is to term it a preservation, +when the noblest parts are immediately sacrificed merely to save the +muscles, skin, and bone from rottenness. When I was shown these +human petrifactions, I shrank back with disgust and horror. "Ashes +to ashes!" thought I--"Dust to dust!" If this be not dissolution, +it is something worse than natural decay--it is treason against +humanity, thus to lift up the awful veil which would fain hide its +weakness. The grandeur of the active principle is never more +strongly felt than at such a sight, for nothing is so ugly as the +human form when deprived of life, and thus dried into stone, merely +to preserve the most disgusting image of death. The contemplation +of noble ruins produces a melancholy that exalts the mind. We take +a retrospect of the exertions of man, the fate of empires and their +rulers, and marking the grand destruction of ages, it seems the +necessary change of the leading to improvement. Our very soul +expands, and we forget our littleness--how painfully brought to our +recollection by such vain attempts to snatch from decay what is +destined so soon to perish. Life, what art thou? Where goes this +breath?--this _I_, so much alive? In what element will it mix, +giving or receiving fresh energy? What will break the enchantment +of animation? For worlds I would not see a form I loved--embalmed +in my heart --thus sacrilegiously handled? Pugh! my stomach turns. +Is this all the distinction of the rich in the grave? They had +better quietly allow the scythe of equality to mow them down with +the common mass, than struggle to become a monument of the +instability of human greatness. + +The teeth, nails, and skin were whole, without appearing black like +the Egyptian mummies; and some silk, in which they had been wrapped, +still preserved its colour--pink--with tolerable freshness. + +I could not learn how long the bodies had been in this state, in +which they bid fair to remain till the Day of Judgment, if there is +to be such a day; and before that time, it will require some trouble +to make them fit to appear in company with angels without disgracing +humanity. God bless you! I feel a conviction that we have some +perfectible principle in our present vestment, which will not be +destroyed just as we begin to be sensible of improvement; and I care +not what habit it next puts on, sure that it will be wisely formed +to suit a higher state of existence. Thinking of death makes us +tenderly cling to our affections; with more than usual tenderness I +therefore assure you that I am yours, wishing that the temporary +death of absence may not endure longer than is absolutely necessary. + + + +LETTER VIII. + + + +Tonsberg was formerly the residence of one of the little sovereigns +of Norway; and on an adjacent mountain the vestiges of a fort +remain, which was battered down by the Swedes, the entrance of the +bay lying close to it. + +Here I have frequently strayed, sovereign of the waste; I seldom met +any human creature; and sometimes, reclining on the mossy down, +under the shelter of a rock, the prattling of the sea amongst the +pebbles has lulled me to sleep--no fear of any rude satyr's +approaching to interrupt my repose. Balmy were the slumbers, and +soft the gales, that refreshed me, when I awoke to follow, with an +eye vaguely curious, the white sails, as they turned the cliffs, or +seemed to take shelter under the pines which covered the little +islands that so gracefully rose to render the terrific ocean +beautiful. The fishermen were calmly casting their nets, whilst the +sea-gulls hovered over the unruffled deep. Everything seemed to +harmonise into tranquillity; even the mournful call of the bittern +was in cadence with the tinkling bells on the necks of the cows, +that, pacing slowly one after the other, along an inviting path in +the vale below, were repairing to the cottages to be milked. With +what ineffable pleasure have I not gazed--and gazed again, losing my +breath through my eyes--my very soul diffused itself in the scene; +and, seeming to become all senses, glided in the scarcely-agitated +waves, melted in the freshening breeze, or, taking its flight with +fairy wing, to the misty mountain which bounded the prospect, fancy +tripped over new lawns, more beautiful even than the lovely slopes +on the winding shore before me. I pause, again breathless, to +trace, with renewed delight, sentiments which entranced me, when, +turning my humid eyes from the expanse below to the vault above, my +sight pierced the fleecy clouds that softened the azure brightness; +and imperceptibly recalling the reveries of childhood, I bowed +before the awful throne of my Creator, whilst I rested on its +footstool. + +You have sometimes wondered, my dear friend, at the extreme +affection of my nature. But such is the temperature of my soul. It +is not the vivacity of youth, the heyday of existence. For years +have I endeavoured to calm an impetuous tide, labouring to make my +feelings take an orderly course. It was striving against the +stream. I must love and admire with warmth, or I sink into sadness. +Tokens of love which I have received have wrapped me in Elysium, +purifying the heart they enchanted. My bosom still glows. Do not +saucily ask, repeating Sterne's question, "Maria, is it still so +warm?" Sufficiently, O my God! Has it been chilled by sorrow and +unkindness; still nature will prevail; and if I blush at +recollecting past enjoyment, it is the rosy hue of pleasure +heightened by modesty, for the blush of modesty and shame are as +distinct as the emotions by which they are produced. + +I need scarcely inform you, after telling you of my walks, that my +constitution has been renovated here, and that I have recovered my +activity even whilst attaining a little embonpoint. My imprudence +last winter, and some untoward accidents just at the time I was +weaning my child, had reduced me to a state of weakness which I +never before experienced. A slow fever preyed on me every night +during my residence in Sweden, and after I arrived at Tonsberg. By +chance I found a fine rivulet filtered through the rocks, and +confined in a basin for the cattle. It tasted to me like a +chalybeate; at any rate, it was pure; and the good effect of the +various waters which invalids are sent to drink depends, I believe, +more on the air, exercise, and change of scene, than on their +medicinal qualities. I therefore determined to turn my morning +walks towards it, and seek for health from the nymph of the +fountain, partaking of the beverage offered to the tenants of the +shade. + +Chance likewise led me to discover a new pleasure equally beneficial +to my health. I wished to avail myself of my vicinity to the sea +and bathe; but it was not possible near the town; there was no +convenience. The young woman whom I mentioned to you proposed +rowing me across the water amongst the rocks; but as she was +pregnant, I insisted on taking one of the oars, and learning to row. +It was not difficult, and I do not know a pleasanter exercise. I +soon became expert, and my train of thinking kept time, as it were, +with the oars, or I suffered the boat to be carried along by the +current, indulging a pleasing forgetfulness or fallacious hopes. +How fallacious! yet, without hope, what is to sustain life, but the +fear of annihilation--the only thing of which I have ever felt a +dread. I cannot bear to think of being no more--of losing myself-- +though existence is often but a painful consciousness of misery; +nay, it appears to me impossible that I should cease to exist, or +that this active, restless spirit, equally alive to joy and sorrow, +should only be organised dust--ready to fly abroad the moment the +spring snaps, or the spark goes out which kept it together. Surely +something resides in this heart that is not perishable, and life is +more than a dream. + +Sometimes, to take up my oar once more, when the sea was calm, I was +amused by disturbing the innumerable young star fish which floated +just below the surface; I had never observed them before, for they +have not a hard shell like those which I have seen on the seashore. +They look like thickened water with a white edge, and four purple +circles, of different forms, were in the middle, over an incredible +number of fibres or white lines. Touching them, the cloudy +substance would turn or close, first on one side, then on the other, +very gracefully, but when I took one of them up in the ladle, with +which I heaved the water out of the boat, it appeared only a +colourless jelly. + +I did not see any of the seals, numbers of which followed our boat +when we landed in Sweden; but though I like to sport in the water I +should have had no desire to join in their gambols. + +Enough, you will say, of inanimate nature and of brutes, to use the +lordly phrase of man; let me hear something of the inhabitants. + +The gentleman with whom I had business is the Mayor of Tonsberg. He +speaks English intelligibly, and, having a sound understanding, I +was sorry that his numerous occupations prevented my gaining as much +information from him as I could have drawn forth had we frequently +conversed. The people of the town, as far as I had an opportunity +of knowing their sentiments, are extremely well satisfied with his +manner of discharging his office. He has a degree of information +and good sense which excites respect, whilst a cheerfulness, almost +amounting to gaiety, enables him to reconcile differences and keep +his neighbours in good humour. "I lost my horse," said a woman to +me, "but ever since, when I want to send to the mill, or go out, the +Mayor lends me one. He scolds if I do not come for it." + +A criminal was branded, during my stay here, for the third offence; +but the relief he received made him declare that the judge was one +of the best men in the world. + +I sent this wretch a trifle, at different times, to take with him +into slavery. As it was more than he expected, he wished very much +to see me, and this wish brought to my remembrance an anecdote I +heard when I was in Lisbon. + +A wretch who had been imprisoned several years, during which period +lamps had been put up, was at last condemned to a cruel death, yet, +in his way to execution, he only wished for one night's respite to +see the city lighted. + +Having dined in company at the mayor's I was invited with his family +to spend the day at one of the richest merchant's houses. Though I +could not speak Danish I knew that I could see a great deal; yes, I +am persuaded that I have formed a very just opinion of the character +of the Norwegians, without being able to hold converse with them. + +I had expected to meet some company, yet was a little disconcerted +at being ushered into an apartment full of well dressed people, and +glancing my eyes round they rested on several very pretty faces. +Rosy cheeks, sparkling eyes, and light brown or golden locks; for I +never saw so much hair with a yellow cast, and, with their fine +complexions, it looked very becoming. + +These women seem a mixture of indolence and vivacity; they scarcely +ever walk out, and were astonished that I should for pleasure, yet +they are immoderately fond of dancing. Unaffected in their manners, +if they have no pretensions to elegance, simplicity often produces a +gracefulness of deportment, when they are animated by a particular +desire to please, which was the case at present. The solitariness +of my situation, which they thought terrible, interested them very +much in my favour. They gathered round me, sung to me, and one of +the prettiest, to whom I gave my hand with some degree of +cordiality, to meet the glance of her eyes, kissed me very +affectionately. + +At dinner, which was conducted with great hospitality, though we +remained at table too long, they sung several songs, and, amongst +the rest, translations of some patriotic French ones. As the +evening advanced they became playful, and we kept up a sort of +conversation of gestures. As their minds were totally uncultivated +I did not lose much, perhaps gained, by not being able to understand +them; for fancy probably filled up, more to their advantage, the +void in the picture. Be that as it may, they excited my sympathy, +and I was very much flattered when I was told the next day that they +said it was a pleasure to look at me, I appeared so good-natured. + +The men were generally captains of ships. Several spoke English +very tolerably, but they were merely matter-of-fact men, confined to +a very narrow circle of observation. I found it difficult to obtain +from them any information respecting their own country, when the +fumes of tobacco did not keep me at a distance. + +I was invited to partake of some other feasts, and always had to +complain of the quantity of provision and the length of time taken +to consume it; for it would not have been proper to have said +devour, all went on so fair and softly. The servants wait as slowly +as their mistresses carve. + +The young women here, as well as in Sweden, have commonly bad teeth, +which I attribute to the same causes. They are fond of finery, but +do not pay the necessary attention to their persons, to render +beauty less transient than a flower, and that interesting expression +which sentiment and accomplishments give seldom supplies its place. + +The servants have, likewise, an inferior sort of food here, but +their masters are not allowed to strike them with impunity. I might +have added mistresses, for it was a complaint of this kind brought +before the mayor which led me to a knowledge of the fact. + +The wages are low, which is particularly unjust, because the price +of clothes is much higher than that of provision. A young woman, +who is wet nurse to the mistress of the inn where I lodge, receives +only twelve dollars a year, and pays ten for the nursing of her own +child. The father had run away to get clear of the expense. There +was something in this most painful state of widowhood which excited +my compassion and led me to reflections on the instability of the +most flattering plans of happiness, that were painful in the +extreme, till I was ready to ask whether this world was not created +to exhibit every possible combination of wretchedness. I asked +these questions of a heart writhing with anguish, whilst I listened +to a melancholy ditty sung by this poor girl. It was too early for +thee to be abandoned, thought I, and I hastened out of the house to +take my solitary evening's walk. And here I am again to talk of +anything but the pangs arising from the discovery of estranged +affection and the lonely sadness of a deserted heart. + +The father and mother, if the father can be ascertained, are obliged +to maintain an illegitimate child at their joint expense; but, +should the father disappear, go up the country or to sea, the mother +must maintain it herself. However, accidents of this kind do not +prevent their marrying, and then it is not unusual to take the child +or children home, and they are brought up very amicably with the +marriage progeny. + +I took some pains to learn what books were written originally in +their language; but for any certain information respecting the state +of Danish literature I must wait till I arrive at Copenhagen. + +The sound of the language is soft, a great proportion of the words +ending in vowels; and there is a simplicity in the turn of some of +the phrases which have been translated to me that pleased and +interested me. In the country the farmers use the THOU and THEE; +and they do not acquire the polite plurals of the towns by meeting +at market. The not having markets established in the large towns +appears to me a great inconvenience. When the farmers have anything +to sell they bring it to the neighbouring town and take it from +house to house. I am surprised that the inhabitants do not feel how +very incommodious this usage is to both parties, and redress it; +they, indeed, perceive it, for when I have introduced the subject +they acknowledged that they were often in want of necessaries, there +being no butchers, and they were often obliged to buy what they did +not want; yet it was the custom, and the changing of customs of a +long standing requires more energy than they yet possess. I +received a similar reply when I attempted to persuade the women that +they injured their children by keeping them too warm. The only way +of parrying off my reasoning was that they must do as other people +did; in short, reason on any subject of change, and they stop you by +saying that "the town would talk." A person of sense, with a large +fortune to ensure respect, might be very useful here, by inducing +them to treat their children and manage their sick properly, and eat +food dressed in a simpler manner--the example, for instance, of a +count's lady. + +Reflecting on these prejudices made me revert to the wisdom of those +legislators who established institutions for the good of the body +under the pretext of serving heaven for the salvation of the soul. +These might with strict propriety be termed pious frauds; and I +admire the Peruvian pair for asserting that they came from the sun, +when their conduct proved that they meant to enlighten a benighted +country, whose obedience, or even attention, could only be secured +by awe. Thus much for conquering the INERTIA of reason; but, when +it is once in motion, fables once held sacred may be ridiculed; and +sacred they were when useful to mankind. Prometheus alone stole +fire to animate the first man; his posterity needs not supernatural +aid to preserve the species, though love is generally termed a +flame; and it may not be necessary much longer to suppose men +inspired by heaven to inculcate the duties which demand special +grace when reason convinces them that they are the happiest who are +the most nobly employed. + +In a few days I am to set out for the western part of Norway, and +then shall return by land to Gothenburg. I cannot think of leaving +this place without regret. I speak of the place before the +inhabitants, though there is a tenderness in their artless kindness +which attaches me to them; but it is an attachment that inspires a +regret very different from that I felt at leaving Hull in my way to +Sweden. The domestic happiness and good-humoured gaiety of the +amiable family where I and my Frances were so hospitably received +would have been sufficient to ensure the tenderest remembrance, +without the recollection of the social evening to stimulate it, when +good breeding gave dignity to sympathy and wit zest to reason. + +Adieu!--I am just informed that my horse has been waiting this +quarter of an hour. I now venture to ride out alone. The steeple +serves as a landmark. I once or twice lost my way, walking alone, +without being able to inquire after a path; I was therefore obliged +to make to the steeple, or windmill, over hedge and ditch. + +Yours truly. + + + +LETTER IX. + + + +I have already informed you that there are only two noblemen who +have estates of any magnitude in Norway. One of these has a house +near Tonsberg, at which he has not resided for some years, having +been at court, or on embassies. He is now the Danish Ambassador in +London. The house is pleasantly situated, and the grounds about it +fine; but their neglected appearance plainly tells that there is +nobody at home. + +A stupid kind of sadness, to my eye, always reigns in a huge +habitation where only servants live to put cases on the furniture +and open the windows. I enter as I would into the tomb of the +Capulets, to look at the family pictures that here frown in armour, +or smile in ermine. The mildew respects not the lordly robe, and +the worm riots unchecked on the cheek of beauty. + +There was nothing in the architecture of the building, or the form +of the furniture, to detain me from the avenue where the aged pines +stretched along majestically. Time had given a greyish cast to +their ever-green foliage; and they stood, like sires of the forest, +sheltered on all sides by a rising progeny. I had not ever seen so +many oaks together in Norway as in these woods, nor such large +aspens as here were agitated by the breeze, rendering the wind +audible--nay musical; for melody seemed on the wing around me. How +different was the fresh odour that reanimated me in the avenue, from +the damp chillness of the apartments; and as little did the gloomy +thoughtfulness excited by the dusty hangings, and worm-eaten +pictures, resemble the reveries inspired by the soothing melancholy +of their shade. In the winter, these august pines, towering above +the snow, must relieve the eye beyond measure and give life to the +white waste. + +The continual recurrence of pine and fir groves in the day sometimes +wearies the sight, but in the evening, nothing can be more +picturesque, or, more properly speaking, better calculated to +produce poetical images. Passing through them, I have been struck +with a mystic kind of reverence, and I did, as it were, homage to +their venerable shadows. Not nymphs, but philosophers, seemed to +inhabit them--ever musing; I could scarcely conceive that they were +without some consciousness of existence--without a calm enjoyment of +the pleasure they diffused. + +How often do my feelings produce ideas that remind me of the origin +of many poetical fictions. In solitude, the imagination bodies +forth its conceptions unrestrained, and stops enraptured to adore +the beings of its own creation. These are moments of bliss; and the +memory recalls them with delight. + +But I have almost forgotten the matters of fact I meant to relate, +respecting the counts. They have the presentation of the livings on +their estates, appoint the judges, and different civil officers, the +Crown reserving to itself the privilege of sanctioning them. But +though they appoint, they cannot dismiss. Their tenants also occupy +their farms for life, and are obliged to obey any summons to work on +the part he reserves for himself; but they are paid for their +labour. In short, I have seldom heard of any noblemen so innoxious. + +Observing that the gardens round the count's estate were better +cultivated than any I had before seen, I was led to reflect on the +advantages which naturally accrue from the feudal tenures. The +tenants of the count are obliged to work at a stated price, in his +grounds and garden; and the instruction which they imperceptibly +receive from the head gardener tends to render them useful, and +makes them, in the common course of things, better husbandmen and +gardeners on their own little farms. Thus the great, who alone +travel in this period of society, for the observation of manners and +customs made by sailors is very confined, bring home improvement to +promote their own comfort, which is gradually spread abroad amongst +the people, till they are stimulated to think for themselves. + +The bishops have not large revenues, and the priests are appointed +by the king before they come to them to be ordained. There is +commonly some little farm annexed to the parsonage, and the +inhabitants subscribe voluntarily, three times a year, in addition +to the church fees, for the support of the clergyman. The church +lands were seized when Lutheranism was introduced, the desire of +obtaining them being probably the real stimulus of reformation. The +tithes, which are never required in kind, are divided into three +parts--one to the king, another to the incumbent, and the third to +repair the dilapidations of the parsonage. They do not amount to +much. And the stipend allowed to the different civil officers is +also too small, scarcely deserving to be termed an independence; +that of the custom-house officers is not sufficient to procure the +necessaries of life--no wonder, then, if necessity leads them to +knavery. Much public virtue cannot be expected till every +employment, putting perquisites out of the question, has a salary +sufficient to reward industry;--whilst none are so great as to +permit the possessor to remain idle. It is this want of proportion +between profit and labour which debases men, producing the +sycophantic appellations of patron and client, and that pernicious +esprit du corps, proverbially vicious. + +The farmers are hospitable as well as independent. Offering once to +pay for some coffee I drank when taking shelter from the rain, I was +asked, rather angrily, if a little coffee was worth paying for. +They smoke, and drink drams, but not so much as formerly. +Drunkenness, often the attendant disgrace of hospitality, will here, +as well as everywhere else, give place to gallantry and refinement +of manners; but the change will not be suddenly produced. + +The people of every class are constant in their attendance at +church; they are very fond of dancing, and the Sunday evenings in +Norway, as in Catholic countries, are spent in exercises which +exhilarate the spirits without vitiating the heart. The rest of +labour ought to be gay; and the gladness I have felt in France on a +Sunday, or Decadi, which I caught from the faces around me, was a +sentiment more truly religious than all the stupid stillness which +the streets of London ever inspired where the Sabbath is so +decorously observed. I recollect, in the country parts of England, +the churchwardens used to go out during the service to see if they +could catch any luckless wight playing at bowls or skittles; yet +what could be more harmless? It would even, I think, be a great +advantage to the English, if feats of activity (I do not include +boxing matches) were encouraged on a Sunday, as it might stop the +progress of Methodism, and of that fanatical spirit which appears to +be gaining ground. I was surprised when I visited Yorkshire, on my +way to Sweden, to find that sullen narrowness of thinking had made +such a progress since I was an inhabitant of the country. I could +hardly have supposed that sixteen or seventeen years could have +produced such an alteration for the worse in the morals of a place-- +yes, I say morals; for observance of forms, and avoiding of +practices, indifferent in themselves, often supply the place of that +regular attention to duties which are so natural, that they seldom +are vauntingly exercised, though they are worth all the precepts of +the law and the prophets. Besides, many of these deluded people, +with the best meaning, actually lose their reason, and become +miserable, the dread of damnation throwing them into a state which +merits the term; and still more, in running after their preachers, +expecting to promote their salvation, they disregard their welfare +in this world, and neglect the interest and comfort of their +families; so that, in proportion as they attain a reputation for +piety, they become idle. + +Aristocracy and fanaticism seem equally to be gaining ground in +England, particularly in the place I have mentioned; I saw very +little of either in Norway. The people are regular in their +attendance on public worship, but religion does not interfere with +their employments. + +As the farmers cut away the wood they clear the ground. Every year, +therefore, the country is becoming fitter to support the +inhabitants. Half a century ago the Dutch, I am told, only paid for +the cutting down of the wood, and the farmers were glad to get rid +of it without giving themselves any trouble. At present they form a +just estimate of its value; nay, I was surprised to find even +firewood so dear when it appears to be in such plenty. The +destruction, or gradual reduction, of their forests will probably +ameliorate the climate, and their manners will naturally improve in +the same ratio as industry requires ingenuity. It is very fortunate +that men are a long time but just above the brute creation, or the +greater part of the earth would never have been rendered habitable, +because it is the patient labour of men, who are only seeking for a +subsistence, which produces whatever embellishes existence, +affording leisure for the cultivation of the arts and sciences that +lift man so far above his first state. I never, my friend, thought +so deeply of the advantages obtained by human industry as since I +have been in Norway. The world requires, I see, the hand of man to +perfect it, and as this task naturally unfolds the faculties he +exercises, it is physically impossible that he should have remained +in Rousseau's golden age of stupidity. And, considering the +question of human happiness, where, oh where does it reside? Has it +taken up its abode with unconscious ignorance or with the high- +wrought mind? Is it the offspring of thoughtless animal spirits or +the dye of fancy continually flitting round the expected pleasure? + +The increasing population of the earth must necessarily tend to its +improvement, as the means of existence are multiplied by invention. + +You have probably made similar reflections in America, where the +face of the country, I suppose, resembles the wilds of Norway. I am +delighted with the romantic views I daily contemplate, animated by +the purest air; and I am interested by the simplicity of manners +which reigns around me. Still nothing so soon wearies out the +feelings as unmarked simplicity. I am therefore half convinced that +I could not live very comfortably exiled from the countries where +mankind are so much further advanced in knowledge, imperfect as it +is, and unsatisfactory to the thinking mind. Even now I begin to +long to hear what you are doing in England and France. My thoughts +fly from this wilderness to the polished circles of the world, till +recollecting its vices and follies, I bury myself in the woods, but +find it necessary to emerge again, that I may not lose sight of the +wisdom and virtue which exalts my nature. + +What a long time it requires to know ourselves; and yet almost every +one has more of this knowledge than he is willing to own, even to +himself. I cannot immediately determine whether I ought to rejoice +at having turned over in this solitude a new page in the history of +my own heart, though I may venture to assure you that a further +acquaintance with mankind only tends to increase my respect for your +judgment and esteem for your character. Farewell! + + + +LETTER X. + + + +I have once more, my friend, taken flight, for I left Tonsberg +yesterday, but with an intention of returning in my way back to +Sweden. + +The road to Laurvig is very fine, and the country the best +cultivated in Norway. I never before admired the beech tree, and +when I met stragglers here they pleased me still less. Long and +lank, they would have forced me to allow that the line of beauty +requires some curves, if the stately pine, standing near, erect, +throwing her vast arms around, had not looked beautiful in +opposition to such narrow rules. + +In these respects my very reason obliges me to permit my feelings to +be my criterion. Whatever excites emotion has charms for me, though +I insist that the cultivation of the mind by warming, nay, almost +creating the imagination, produces taste and an immense variety of +sensations and emotions, partaking of the exquisite pleasure +inspired by beauty and sublimity. As I know of no end to them, the +word infinite, so often misapplied, might on this occasion be +introduced with something like propriety. + +But I have rambled away again. I intended to have remarked to you +the effect produced by a grove of towering beech, the airy lightness +of their foliage admitting a degree of sunshine, which, giving a +transparency to the leaves, exhibited an appearance of freshness and +elegance that I had never before remarked. I thought of +descriptions of Italian scenery. But these evanescent graces seemed +the effect of enchantment; and I imperceptibly breathed softly, lest +I should destroy what was real, yet looked so like the creation of +fancy. Dryden's fable of the flower and the leaf was not a more +poetical reverie. + +Adieu, however, to fancy, and to all the sentiments which ennoble +our nature. I arrived at Laurvig, and found myself in the midst of +a group of lawyers of different descriptions. My head turned round, +my heart grew sick, as I regarded visages deformed by vice, and +listened to accounts of chicanery that was continually embroiling +the ignorant. These locusts will probably diminish as the people +become more enlightened. In this period of social life the +commonalty are always cunningly attentive to their own interest; but +their faculties, confined to a few objects, are so narrowed, that +they cannot discover it in the general good. The profession of the +law renders a set of men still shrewder and more selfish than the +rest; and it is these men, whose wits have been sharpened by +knavery, who here undermine morality, confounding right and wrong. + +The Count of Bernstorff, who really appears to me, from all I can +gather, to have the good of the people at heart, aware of this, has +lately sent to the mayor of each district to name, according to the +size of the place, four or six of the best-informed inhabitants, not +men of the law, out of which the citizens were to elect two, who are +to be termed mediators. Their office is to endeavour to prevent +litigious suits, and conciliate differences. And no suit is to be +commenced before the parties have discussed the dispute at their +weekly meeting. If a reconciliation should, in consequence, take +place, it is to be registered, and the parties are not allowed to +retract. + +By these means ignorant people will be prevented from applying for +advice to men who may justly be termed stirrers-up of strife. They +have for a long time, to use a significant vulgarism, set the people +by the ears, and live by the spoil they caught up in the scramble. +There is some reason to hope that this regulation will diminish +their number, and restrain their mischievous activity. But till +trials by jury are established, little justice can be expected in +Norway. Judges who cannot be bribed are often timid, and afraid of +offending bold knaves, lest they should raise a set of hornets about +themselves. The fear of censure undermines all energy of character; +and, labouring to be prudent, they lose sight of rectitude. +Besides, nothing is left to their conscience, or sagacity; they must +be governed by evidence, though internally convinced that it is +false. + +There is a considerable iron manufactory at Laurvig for coarse work, +and a lake near the town supplies the water necessary for working +several mills belonging to it. + +This establishment belongs to the Count of Laurvig. Without a +fortune and influence equal to his, such a work could not have been +set afloat; personal fortunes are not yet sufficient to support such +undertakings. Nevertheless the inhabitants of the town speak of the +size of his estate as an evil, because it obstructs commerce. The +occupiers of small farms are obliged to bring their wood to the +neighbouring seaports to be shipped; but he, wishing to increase the +value of his, will not allow it to be thus gradually cut down, which +turns the trade into another channel. Added to this, nature is +against them, the bay being open and insecure. I could not help +smiling when I was informed that in a hard gale a vessel had been +wrecked in the main street. When there are such a number of +excellent harbours on the coast, it is a pity that accident has made +one of the largest towns grow up on a bad one. + +The father of the present count was a distant relation of the +family; he resided constantly in Denmark, and his son follows his +example. They have not been in possession of the estate many years; +and their predecessor lived near the town, introducing a degree of +profligacy of manners which has been ruinous to the inhabitants in +every respect, their fortunes not being equal to the prevailing +extravagance. + +What little I have seen of the manners of the people does not please +me so well as those of Tonsberg. I am forewarned that I shall find +them still more cunning and fraudulent as I advance towards the +westward, in proportion as traffic takes place of agriculture, for +their towns are built on naked rocks, the streets are narrow +bridges, and the inhabitants are all seafaring men, or owners of +ships, who keep shops. + +The inn I was at in Laurvig this journey was not the same that I was +at before. It is a good one--the people civil, and the +accommodations decent. They seem to be better provided in Sweden; +but in justice I ought to add that they charge more extravagantly. +My bill at Tonsberg was also much higher than I had paid in Sweden, +and much higher than it ought to have been where provision is so +cheap. Indeed, they seem to consider foreigners as strangers whom +they shall never see again, and may fairly pluck. And the +inhabitants of the western coast, isolated, as it were, regard those +of the east almost as strangers. Each town in that quarter seems to +be a great family, suspicious of every other, allowing none to cheat +them but themselves; and, right or wrong, they support one another +in the face of justice. + +On this journey I was fortunate enough to have one companion with +more enlarged views than the generality of his countrymen, who spoke +English tolerably. + +I was informed that we might still advance a mile and a quarter in +our cabrioles; afterwards there was no choice, but of a single horse +and wretched path, or a boat, the usual mode of travelling. + +We therefore sent our baggage forward in the boat, and followed +rather slowly, for the road was rocky and sandy. We passed, +however, through several beech groves, which still delighted me by +the freshness of their light green foliage, and the elegance of +their assemblage, forming retreats to veil without obscuring the +sun. + +I was surprised, at approaching the water, to find a little cluster +of houses pleasantly situated, and an excellent inn. I could have +wished to have remained there all night; but as the wind was fair, +and the evening fine, I was afraid to trust to the wind--the +uncertain wind of to-morrow. We therefore left Helgeraac +immediately with the declining sun. + +Though we were in the open sea, we sailed more amongst the rocks and +islands than in my passage from Stromstad; and they often forced +very picturesque combinations. Few of the high ridges were entirely +bare; the seeds of some pines or firs had been wafted by the winds +or waves, and they stood to brave the elements. + +Sitting, then, in a little boat on the ocean, amidst strangers, with +sorrow and care pressing hard on me--buffeting me about from clime +to clime--I felt + + +"Like the lone shrub at random cast, +That sighs and trembles at each blast!" + + +On some of the largest rocks there were actually groves, the retreat +of foxes and hares, which, I suppose, had tripped over the ice +during the winter, without thinking to regain the main land before +the thaw. + +Several of the islands were inhabited by pilots; and the Norwegian +pilots are allowed to be the best in the world--perfectly acquainted +with their coast, and ever at hand to observe the first signal or +sail. They pay a small tax to the king and to the regulating +officer, and enjoy the fruit of their indefatigable industry. + +One of the islands, called Virgin Land, is a flat, with some depth +of earth, extending for half a Norwegian mile, with three farms on +it, tolerably well cultivated. + +On some of the bare rocks I saw straggling houses; they rose above +the denomination of huts inhabited by fishermen. My companions +assured me that they were very comfortable dwellings, and that they +have not only the necessaries, but even what might be reckoned the +superfluities of life. It was too late for me to go on shore, if +you will allow me to give that name to shivering rocks, to ascertain +the fact. + +But rain coming on, and the night growing dark, the pilot declared +that it would be dangerous for us to attempt to go to the place of +our destination--East Rusoer--a Norwegian mile and a half further; +and we determined to stop for the night at a little haven, some half +dozen houses scattered under the curve of a rock. Though it became +darker and darker, our pilot avoided the blind rocks with great +dexterity. + +It was about ten o'clock when we arrived, and the old hostess +quickly prepared me a comfortable bed--a little too soft or so, but +I was weary; and opening the window to admit the sweetest of breezes +to fan me to sleep, I sunk into the most luxurious rest: it was +more than refreshing. The hospitable sprites of the grots surely +hovered round my pillow; and, if I awoke, it was to listen to the +melodious whispering of the wind amongst them, or to feel the mild +breath of morn. Light slumbers produced dreams, where Paradise was +before me. My little cherub was again hiding her face in my bosom. +I heard her sweet cooing beat on my heart from the cliffs, and saw +her tiny footsteps on the sands. New-born hopes seemed, like the +rainbow, to appear in the clouds of sorrow, faint, yet sufficient to +amuse away despair. + +Some refreshing but heavy showers have detained us; and here I am +writing quite alone--something more than gay, for which I want a +name. + +I could almost fancy myself in Nootka Sound, or on some of the +islands on the north-west coast of America. We entered by a narrow +pass through the rocks, which from this abode appear more romantic +than you can well imagine; and seal-skins hanging at the door to dry +add to the illusion. + +It is indeed a corner of the world, but you would be surprised to +see the cleanliness and comfort of the dwelling. The shelves are +not only shining with pewter and queen's ware, but some articles in +silver, more ponderous, it is true, than elegant. The linen is +good, as well as white. All the females spin, and there is a loom +in the kitchen. A sort of individual taste appeared in the +arrangement of the furniture (this is not the place for imitation) +and a kindness in their desire to oblige. How superior to the apish +politeness of the towns! where the people, affecting to be well +bred, fatigue with their endless ceremony. + +The mistress is a widow, her daughter is married to a pilot, and has +three cows. They have a little patch of land at about the distance +of two English miles, where they make hay for the winter, which they +bring home in a boat. They live here very cheap, getting money from +the vessels which stress of weather, or other causes, bring into +their harbour. I suspect, by their furniture, that they smuggle a +little. I can now credit the account of the other houses, which I +last night thought exaggerated. + +I have been conversing with one of my companions respecting the laws +and regulations of Norway. He is a man within great portion of +common sense and heart--yes, a warm heart. This is not the first +time I have remarked heart without sentiment; they are distinct. +The former depends on the rectitude of the feelings, on truth of +sympathy; these characters have more tenderness than passion; the +latter has a higher source--call it imagination, genius, or what you +will, it is something very different. I have been laughing with +these simple worthy folk--to give you one of my half-score Danish +words--and letting as much of my heart flow out in sympathy as they +can take. Adieu! I must trip up the rocks. The rain is ever. Let +me catch pleasure on the wing--I may be melancholy to-morrow. Now +all my nerves keep time with the melody of nature. Ah! let me be +happy whilst I can. The tear starts as I think of it. I must flee +from thought, and find refuge from sorrow in a strong imagination-- +the only solace for a feeling heart. Phantoms of bliss! ideal forms +of excellence! again enclose me in your magic circle, and wipe clear +from my remembrance the disappointments that reader the sympathy +painful, which experience rather increases than damps, by giving the +indulgence of feeling the sanction of reason. + +Once more farewell! + + + +LETTER XI. + + + +I left Portoer, the little haven I mentioned, soon after I finished +my last letter. The sea was rough, and I perceived that our pilot +was right not to venture farther during a hazy night. We had agreed +to pay four dollars for a boat from Helgeraac. I mention the sum, +because they would demand twice as much from a stranger. I was +obliged to pay fifteen for the one I hired at Stromstad. When we +were ready to set out, our boatman offered to return a dollar and +let us go in one of the boats of the place, the pilot who lived +there being better acquainted with the coast. He only demanded a +dollar and a half, which was reasonable. I found him a civil and +rather intelligent man; he was in the American service several +years, during the Revolution. + +I soon perceived that an experienced mariner was necessary to guide +us, for we were continually obliged to tack about, to avoid the +rocks, which, scarcely reaching to the surface of the water, could +only be discovered by the breaking of the waves over them. + +The view of this wild coast, as we sailed along it, afforded me a +continual subject for meditation. I anticipated the future +improvement of the world, and observed how much man has still to do +to obtain of the earth all it could yield. I even carried my +speculations so far as to advance a million or two of years to the +moment when the earth would perhaps be so perfectly cultivated, and +so completely peopled, as to render it necessary to inhabit every +spot--yes, these bleak shores. Imagination went still farther, and +pictured the state of man when the earth could no longer support +him. Whither was he to flee from universal famine? Do not smile; I +really became distressed for these fellow creatures yet unborn. The +images fastened on me, and the world appeared a vast prison. I was +soon to be in a smaller one--for no other name can I give to Rusoer. +It would be difficult to form an idea of the place, if you have +never seen one of these rocky coasts. + +We were a considerable time entering amongst the islands, before we +saw about two hundred houses crowded together under a very high +rock--still higher appearing above. Talk not of Bastilles! To be +born here was to be bastilled by nature--shut out from all that +opens the understanding, or enlarges the heart. Huddled one behind +another, not more than a quarter of the dwellings even had a +prospect of the sea. A few planks formed passages from house to +house, which you must often scale, mounting steps like a ladder to +enter. + +The only road across the rocks leads to a habitation sterile enough, +you may suppose, when I tell you that the little earth on the +adjacent ones was carried there by the late inhabitant. A path, +almost impracticable for a horse, goes on to Arendall, still further +to the westward. + +I inquired for a walk, and, mounting near two hundred steps made +round a rock, walked up and down for about a hundred yards viewing +the sea, to which I quickly descended by steps that cheated the +declivity. The ocean and these tremendous bulwarks enclosed me on +every side. I felt the confinement, and wished for wings to reach +still loftier cliffs, whose slippery sides no foot was so hardy as +to tread. Yet what was it to see?--only a boundless waste of water- +-not a glimpse of smiling nature--not a patch of lively green to +relieve the aching sight, or vary the objects of meditation. + +I felt my breath oppressed, though nothing could be clearer than the +atmosphere. Wandering there alone, I found the solitude desirable; +my mind was stored with ideas, which this new scene associated with +astonishing rapidity. But I shuddered at the thought of receiving +existence, and remaining here, in the solitude of ignorance, till +forced to leave a world of which I had seen so little, for the +character of the inhabitants is as uncultivated, if not as +picturesquely wild, as their abode. + +Having no employment but traffic, of which a contraband trade makes +the basis of their profit, the coarsest feelings of honesty are +quickly blunted. You may suppose that I speak in general terms; and +that, with all the disadvantages of nature and circumstances, there +are still some respectable exceptions, the more praiseworthy, as +tricking is a very contagious mental disease, that dries up all the +generous juices of the heart. Nothing genial, in fact, appears +around this place, or within the circle of its rocks. And, now I +recollect, it seems to me that the most genial and humane characters +I have met with in life were most alive to the sentiments inspired +by tranquil country scenes. What, indeed, is to humanise these +beings, who rest shut up (for they seldom even open their windows), +smoking, drinking brandy, and driving bargains? I have been almost +stifled by these smokers. They begin in the morning, and are rarely +without their pipe till they go to bed. Nothing can be more +disgusting than the rooms and men towards the evening--breath, +teeth, clothes, and furniture, all are spoilt. It is well that the +women are not very delicate, or they would only love their husbands +because they were their husbands. Perhaps, you may add, that the +remark need not be confined to so small a part of the world; and, +entre nous, I am of the same opinion. You must not term this +innuendo saucy, for it does not come home. + +If I had not determined to write I should have found my confinement +here, even for three or four days, tedious. I have no books; and to +pace up and down a small room, looking at tiles overhung by rocks, +soon becomes wearisome. I cannot mount two hundred steps to walk a +hundred yards many times in the day. Besides, the rocks, retaining +the heat of the sun, are intolerably warm. I am, nevertheless, very +well; for though there is a shrewdness in the character of these +people, depraved by a sordid love of money which repels me, still +the comparisons they force me to make keep my heart calm by +exercising my understanding. + +Everywhere wealth commands too much respect, but here almost +exclusively; and it is the only object pursued, not through brake +and briar, but over rocks and waves; yet of what use would riches be +to me, I have sometimes asked myself, were I confined to live in +such in a spot? I could only relieve a few distressed objects, +perhaps render them idle, and all the rest of life would be a blank. + +My present journey has given fresh force to my opinion that no place +is so disagreeable and unimproving as a country town. I should like +to divide my time between the town and country; in a lone house, +with the business of farming and planting, where my mind would gain +strength by solitary musing, and in a metropolis to rub off the rust +of thought, and polish the taste which the contemplation of nature +had rendered just. Thus do we wish as we float down the stream of +life, whilst chance does more to gratify a desire of knowledge than +our best laid plans. A degree of exertion, produced by some want, +more or less painful, is probably the price we must all pay for +knowledge. How few authors or artists have arrived at eminence who +have not lived by their employment? + +I was interrupted yesterday by business, and was prevailed upon to +dine with the English vice-consul. His house being open to the sea, +I was more at large; and the hospitality of the table pleased me, +though the bottle was rather too freely pushed about. Their manner +of entertaining was such as I have frequently remarked when I have +been thrown in the way of people without education, who have more +money than wit--that is, than they know what to do with. The women +were unaffected, but had not the natural grace which was often +conspicuous at Tonsberg. There was even a striking difference in +their dress, these having loaded themselves with finery in the style +of the sailors' girls of Hull or Portsmouth. Taste has not yet +taught them to make any but an ostentatious display of wealth. Yet +I could perceive even here the first steps of the improvement which +I am persuaded will make a very obvious progress in the course of +half a century, and it ought not to be sooner, to keep pace with the +cultivation of the earth. Improving manners will introduce finer +moral feelings. They begin to read translations of some of the most +useful German productions lately published, and one of our party +sung a song ridiculing the powers coalesced against France, and the +company drank confusion to those who had dismembered Poland. + +The evening was extremely calm and beautiful. Not being able to +walk, I requested a boat as the only means of enjoying free air. + +The view of the town was now extremely fine. A huge rocky mountain +stood up behind it, and a vast cliff stretched on each side, forming +a semicircle. In a recess of the rocks was a clump of pines, +amongst which a steeple rose picturesquely beautiful. + +The churchyard is almost the only verdant spot in the place. Here, +indeed, friendship extends beyond the grave, and to grant a sod of +earth is to accord a favour. I should rather choose, did it admit +of a choice, to sleep in some of the caves of the rocks, for I am +become better reconciled to them since I climbed their craggy sides +last night, listening to the finest echoes I ever heard. We had a +French horn with us, and there was an enchanting wildness in the +dying away of the reverberation that quickly transported me to +Shakespeare's magic island. Spirits unseen seemed to walk abroad, +and flit from cliff to cliff to soothe my soul to peace. + +I reluctantly returned to supper, to be shut up in a warm room, only +to view the vast shadows of the rocks extending on the slumbering +waves. I stood at the window some time before a buzz filled the +drawing-room, and now and then the dashing of a solitary oar +rendered the scene still more solemn. + +Before I came here I could scarcely have imagined that a simple +object (rocks) could have admitted of so many interesting +combinations, always grand and often sublime. Good night! God +bless you! + + + +LETTER XII. + + + +I left East Rusoer the day before yesterday. The weather was very +fine; but so calm that we loitered on the water near fourteen hours, +only to make about six and twenty miles. + +It seemed to me a sort of emancipation when we landed at Helgeraac. +The confinement which everywhere struck me whilst sojourning amongst +the rocks, made me hail the earth as a land of promise; and the +situation shone with fresh lustre from the contrast--from appearing +to be a free abode. Here it was possible to travel by land--I never +thought this a comfort before--and my eyes, fatigued by the +sparkling of the sun on the water, now contentedly reposed on the +green expanse, half persuaded that such verdant meads had never till +then regaled them. + +I rose early to pursue my journey to Tonsberg. The country still +wore a face of joy--and my soul was alive to its charms. Leaving +the most lofty and romantic of the cliffs behind us, we were almost +continually descending to Tonsberg, through Elysian scenes; for not +only the sea, but mountains, rivers, lakes, and groves, gave an +almost endless variety to the prospect. The cottagers were still +carrying home the hay; and the cottages on this road looked very +comfortable. Peace and plenty--I mean not abundance--seemed to +reign around--still I grew sad as I drew near my old abode. I was +sorry to see the sun so high; it was broad noon. Tonsberg was +something like a home--yet I was to enter without lighting up +pleasure in any eye. I dreaded the solitariness of my apartment, +and wished for night to hide the starting tears, or to shed them on +my pillow, and close my eyes on a world where I was destined to +wander alone. Why has nature so many charms for me--calling forth +and cherishing refined sentiments, only to wound the breast that +fosters them? How illusive, perhaps the most so, are the plans of +happiness founded on virtue and principle; what inlets of misery do +they not open in a half-civilised society? The satisfaction arising +from conscious rectitude, will not calm an injured heart, when +tenderness is ever finding excuses; and self-applause is a cold +solitary feeling, that cannot supply the place of disappointed +affection, without throwing a gloom over every prospect, which, +banishing pleasure, does not exclude pain. I reasoned and reasoned; +but my heart was too full to allow me to remain in the house, and I +walked, till I was wearied out, to purchase rest--or rather +forgetfulness. + +Employment has beguiled this day, and to-morrow I set out for Moss, +on my way to Stromstad. At Gothenburg I shall embrace my Fannikin; +probably she will not know me again--and I shall be hurt if she do +not. How childish is this! still it is a natural feeling. I would +not permit myself to indulge the "thick coming fears" of fondness, +whilst I was detained by business. Yet I never saw a calf bounding +in a meadow, that did not remind me of my little frolicker. A calf, +you say. Yes; but a capital one I own. + +I cannot write composedly--I am every instant sinking into reveries- +-my heart flutters, I know not why. Fool! It is time thou wert at +rest. + +Friendship and domestic happiness are continually praised; yet how +little is there of either in the world, because it requires more +cultivation of mind to keep awake affection, even in our own hearts, +than the common run of people suppose. Besides, few like to be seen +as they really are; and a degree of simplicity, and of undisguised +confidence, which, to uninterested observers, would almost border on +weakness, is the charm, nay the essence of love or friendship, all +the bewitching graces of childhood again appearing. As objects +merely to exercise my taste, I therefore like to see people together +who have an affection for each other; every turn of their features +touches me, and remains pictured on my imagination in indelible +characters. The zest of novelty is, however, necessary to rouse the +languid sympathies which have been hackneyed in the world; as is the +factitious behaviour, falsely termed good-breeding, to amuse those, +who, defective in taste, continually rely for pleasure on their +animal spirits, which not being maintained by the imagination, are +unavoidably sooner exhausted than the sentiments of the heart. +Friendship is in general sincere at the commencement, and lasts +whilst there is anything to support it; but as a mixture of novelty +and vanity is the usual prop, no wonder if it fall with the slender +stay. The fop in the play paid a greater compliment than he was +aware of when he said to a person, whom he meant to flatter, "I like +you almost as well as a NEW ACQUAINTANCE." Why am I talking of +friendship, after which I have had such a wild-goose chase. I +thought only of telling you that the crows, as well as wild-geese, +are here birds of passage. + + + +LETTER XIII. + + + +I left Tonsberg yesterday, the 22nd of August. It is only twelve or +thirteen English miles to Moss, through a country less wild than any +tract I had hitherto passed over in Norway. It was often beautiful, +but seldom afforded those grand views which fill rather than soothe +the mind. + +We glided along the meadows and through the woods, with sunbeams +playing around us; and, though no castles adorned the prospects, a +greater number of comfortable farms met my eyes during this ride +than I have ever seen, in the same space, even in the most +cultivated part of England; and the very appearance of the cottages +of the labourers sprinkled amidst them excluded all those gloomy +ideas inspired by the contemplation of poverty. + +The hay was still bringing in, for one harvest in Norway treads on +the heels of the other. The woods were more variegated, +interspersed with shrubs. We no longer passed through forests of +vast pines stretching along with savage magnificence. Forests that +only exhibited the slow decay of time or the devastation produced by +warring elements. No; oaks, ashes, beech, and all the light and +graceful tenants of our woods here sported luxuriantly. I had not +observed many oaks before, for the greater part of the oak-planks, I +am informed, come from the westward. + +In France the farmers generally live in villages, which is a great +disadvantage to the country; but the Norwegian farmers, always +owning their farms or being tenants for life, reside in the midst of +them, allowing some labourers a dwelling rent free, who have a +little land appertaining to the cottage, not only for a garden, but +for crops of different kinds, such as rye, oats, buck-wheat, hemp, +flax, beans, potatoes, and hay, which are sown in strips about it, +reminding a stranger of the first attempts at culture, when every +family was obliged to be an independent community. + +These cottagers work at a certain price (tenpence per day) for the +farmers on whose ground they live, and they have spare time enough +to cultivate their own land and lay in a store of fish for the +winter. The wives and daughters spin and the husbands and sons +weave, so that they may fairly be reckoned independent, having also +a little money in hand to buy coffee, brandy and some other +superfluities. + +The only thing I disliked was the military service, which trammels +them more than I at first imagined. It is true that the militia is +only called out once a year, yet in case of war they have no +alternative but must abandon their families. Even the manufacturers +are not exempted, though the miners are, in order to encourage +undertakings which require a capital at the commencement. And, what +appears more tyrannical, the inhabitants of certain districts are +appointed for the land, others for the sea service. Consequently, a +peasant, born a soldier, is not permitted to follow his inclination +should it lead him to go to sea, a natural desire near so many +seaports. + +In these regulations the arbitrary government--the King of Denmark +being the most absolute monarch in Europe--appears, which in other +respects seeks to hide itself in a lenity that almost renders the +laws nullities. If any alteration of old customs is thought of, the +opinion of the old country is required and maturely considered. I +have several times had occasion to observe that, fearing to appear +tyrannical, laws are allowed to become obsolete which ought to be +put in force or better substituted in their stead; for this mistaken +moderation, which borders on timidity, favours the least respectable +part of the people. + +I saw on my way not only good parsonage houses, but comfortable +dwellings, with glebe land for the clerk, always a consequential man +in every country, a being proud of a little smattering of learning, +to use the appropriate epithet, and vain of the stiff good-breeding +reflected from the vicar, though the servility practised in his +company gives it a peculiar cast. + +The widow of the clergyman is allowed to receive the benefit of the +living for a twelvemonth after the death of the incumbent. + +Arriving at the ferry (the passage over to Moss is about six or +eight English miles) I saw the most level shore I had yet seen in +Norway. The appearance of the circumjacent country had been +preparing me for the change of scene which was to greet me when I +reached the coast. For the grand features of nature had been +dwindling into prettiness as I advanced; yet the rocks, on a smaller +scale, were finely wooded to the water's edge. Little art appeared, +yet sublimity everywhere gave place to elegance. The road had often +assumed the appearance of a gravelled one, made in pleasure-grounds; +whilst the trees excited only an idea of embellishment. Meadows, +like lawns, in an endless variety, displayed the careless graces of +nature; and the ripening corn gave a richness to the landscape +analogous with the other objects. + +Never was a southern sky more beautiful, nor more soft its gales. +Indeed, I am led to conclude that the sweetest summer in the world +is the northern one, the vegetation being quick and luxuriant the +moment the earth is loosened from its icy fetters and the bound +streams regain their wonted activity. The balance of happiness with +respect to climate may be more equal than I at first imagined; for +the inhabitants describe with warmth the pleasures of a winter at +the thoughts of which I shudder. Not only their parties of pleasure +but of business are reserved for this season, when they travel with +astonishing rapidity the most direct way, skimming over hedge and +ditch. + +On entering Moss I was struck by the animation which seemed to +result from industry. The richest of the inhabitants keep shops, +resembling in their manners and even the arrangement of their houses +the tradespeople of Yorkshire; with an air of more independence, or +rather consequence, from feeling themselves the first people in the +place. I had not time to see the iron-works, belonging to Mr. +Anker, of Christiania, a man of fortune and enterprise; and I was +not very anxious to see them after having viewed those at Laurvig. + +Here I met with an intelligent literary man, who was anxious to +gather information from me relative to the past and present +situation of France. The newspapers printed at Copenhagen, as well +as those in England, give the most exaggerated accounts of their +atrocities and distresses, but the former without any apparent +comments or inferences. Still the Norwegians, though more connected +with the English, speaking their language and copying their manners, +wish well to the Republican cause, and follow with the most lively +interest the successes of the French arms. So determined were they, +in fact, to excuse everything, disgracing the struggle of freedom, +by admitting the tyrant's plea, necessity, that I could hardly +persuade them that Robespierre was a monster. + +The discussion of this subject is not so general as in England, +being confined to the few, the clergy and physicians, with a small +portion of people who have a literary turn and leisure; the greater +part of the inhabitants having a variety of occupations, being +owners of ships, shopkeepers, and farmers, have employment enough at +home. And their ambition to become rich may tend to cultivate the +common sense which characterises and narrows both their hearts and +views, confirming the former to their families, taking the handmaids +of it into the circle of pleasure, if not of interest, and the +latter to the inspection of their workmen, including the noble +science of bargain-making--that is, getting everything at the +cheapest, and selling it at the dearest rate. I am now more than +ever convinced that it is an intercourse with men of science and +artists which not only diffuses taste, but gives that freedom to the +understanding without which I have seldom met with much benevolence +of character on a large scale. + +Besides, though you do not hear of much pilfering and stealing in +Norway, yet they will, with a quiet conscience, buy things at a +price which must convince them they were stolen. I had an +opportunity of knowing that two or three reputable people had +purchased some articles of vagrants, who were detected. How much of +the virtue which appears in the world is put on for the world? And +how little dictated by self-respect?--so little, that I am ready to +repeat the old question, and ask, Where is truth, or rather +principle, to be found? These are, perhaps, the vapourings of a +heart ill at ease--the effusions of a sensibility wounded almost to +madness. But enough of this; we will discuss the subject in another +state of existence, where truth and justice will reign. How cruel +are the injuries which make us quarrel with human nature! At +present black melancholy hovers round my footsteps; and sorrow sheds +a mildew over all the future prospects, which hope no longer gilds. + +A rainy morning prevented my enjoying the pleasure the view of a +picturesque country would have afforded me; for though this road +passed through a country a greater extent of which was under +cultivation than I had usually seen here, it nevertheless retained +all the wild charms of Norway. Rocks still enclosed the valleys, +the great sides of which enlivened their verdure. Lakes appeared +like branches of the sea, and branches of the sea assumed the +appearance of tranquil lakes; whilst streamlets prattled amongst the +pebbles and the broken mass of stone which had rolled into them, +giving fantastic turns to the trees, the roots of which they bared. + +It is not, in fact, surprising that the pine should be often +undermined; it shoots its fibres in such a horizontal direction, +merely on the surface of the earth, requiring only enough to cover +those that cling to the crags. Nothing proves to me so clearly that +it is the air which principally nourishes trees and plants as the +flourishing appearance of these pines. The firs, demanding a deeper +soil, are seldom seen in equal health, or so numerous on the barren +cliffs. They take shelter in the crevices, or where, after some +revolving ages, the pines have prepared them a footing. + +Approaching, or rather descending, to Christiania, though the +weather continued a little cloudy, my eyes were charmed with the +view of an extensive undulated valley, stretching out under the +shelter of a noble amphitheatre of pine-covered mountains. Farm +houses scattered about animated, nay, graced a scene which still +retained so much of its native wildness, that the art which appeared +seemed so necessary, it was scarcely perceived. Cattle were grazing +in the shaven meadows; and the lively green on their swelling sides +contrasted with the ripening corn and rye. The corn that grew on +the slopes had not, indeed, the laughing luxuriance of plenty, which +I have seen in more genial climes. A fresh breeze swept across the +grain, parting its slender stalks, but the wheat did not wave its +head with its wonted careless dignity, as if nature had crowned it +the king of plants. + +The view, immediately on the left, as we drove down the mountain, +was almost spoilt by the depredations committed on the rocks to make +alum. I do not know the process. I only saw that the rocks looked +red after they had been burnt, and regretted that the operation +should leave a quantity of rubbish to introduce an image of human +industry in the shape of destruction. The situation of Christiania +is certainly uncommonly fine, and I never saw a bay that so forcibly +gave me an idea of a place of safety from the storms of the ocean; +all the surrounding objects were beautiful and even grand. But +neither the rocky mountains, nor the woods that graced them, could +be compared with the sublime prospects I had seen to the westward; +and as for the hills, "capped with ETERNAL snow," Mr. Coxe's +description led me to look for them, but they had flown, for I +looked vainly around for this noble background. + +A few months ago the people of Christiania rose, exasperated by the +scarcity and consequent high price of grain. The immediate cause +was the shipping of some, said to be for Moss, but which they +suspected was only a pretext to send it out of the country, and I am +not sure that they were wrong in their conjecture. Such are the +tricks of trade. They threw stones at Mr. Anker, the owner of it, +as he rode out of town to escape from their fury; they assembled +about his house, and the people demanded afterwards, with so much +impetuosity, the liberty of those who were taken up in consequence +of the tumult, that the Grand Bailiff thought it prudent to release +them without further altercation. + +You may think me too severe on commerce, but from the manner it is +at present carried on little can be advanced in favour of a pursuit +that wears out the most sacred principles of humanity and rectitude. +What is speculation but a species of gambling, I might have said +fraud, in which address generally gains the prize? I was led into +these reflections when I heard of some tricks practised by +merchants, miscalled reputable, and certainly men of property, +during the present war, in which common honesty was violated: +damaged goods and provision having been shipped for the express +purpose of falling into the hands of the English, who had pledged +themselves to reimburse neutral nations for the cargoes they seized; +cannon also, sent back as unfit for service, have been shipped as a +good speculation, the captain receiving orders to cruise about till +he fell in with an English frigate. Many individuals I believe have +suffered by the seizures of their vessels; still I am persuaded that +the English Government has been very much imposed upon in the +charges made by merchants who contrived to get their ships taken. +This censure is not confined to the Danes. Adieu, for the present, +I must take advantage of a moment of fine weather to walk out and +see the town. + +At Christiania I met with that polite reception, which rather +characterises the progress of manners in the world, than of any +particular portion of it. The first evening of my arrival I supped +with some of the most fashionable people of the place, and almost +imagined myself in a circle of English ladies, so much did they +resemble them in manners, dress, and even in beauty; for the fairest +of my countrywomen would not have been sorry to rank with the Grand +Bailiff's lady. There were several pretty girls present, but she +outshone them all, and, what interested me still more, I could not +avoid observing that in acquiring the easy politeness which +distinguishes people of quality, she had preserved her Norwegian +simplicity. There was, in fact, a graceful timidity in her address, +inexpressibly charming. This surprised me a little, because her +husband was quite a Frenchman of the ancien regime, or rather a +courtier, the same kind of animal in every country. + +Here I saw the cloven foot of despotism. I boasted to you that they +had no viceroy in Norway, but these Grand Bailiffs, particularly the +superior one, who resides at Christiania, are political monsters of +the same species. Needy sycophants are provided for by their +relations and connections at Copenhagen as at other courts. And +though the Norwegians are not in the abject state of the Irish, yet +this second-hand government is still felt by their being deprived of +several natural advantages to benefit the domineering state. + +The Grand Bailiffs are mostly noblemen from Copenhagen, who act as +men of common minds will always act in such situations--aping a +degree of courtly parade which clashes with the independent +character of a magistrate. Besides, they have a degree of power +over the country judges, which some of them, who exercise a +jurisdiction truly patriarchal most painfully feel. I can scarcely +say why, my friend, but in this city thoughtfulness seemed to be +sliding into melancholy or rather dulness. The fire of fancy, which +had been kept alive in the country, was almost extinguished by +reflections on the ills that harass such a large portion of mankind. +I felt like a bird fluttering on the ground unable to mount, yet +unwilling to crawl tranquilly like a reptile, whilst still conscious +it had wings. + +1 walked out, for the open air is always my remedy when an aching +head proceeds from an oppressed heart. Chance directed my steps +towards the fortress, and the sight of the slaves, working with +chains on their legs, only served to embitter me still more against +the regulations of society, which treated knaves in such a different +manner, especially as there was a degree of energy in some of their +countenances which unavoidably excited my attention, and almost +created respect. + +I wished to have seen, through an iron grate, the face of a man who +has been confined six years for having induced the farmers to revolt +against some impositions of the Government. I could not obtain a +clear account of the affair, yet, as the complaint was against some +farmers of taxes, I am inclined to believe that it was not totally +without foundation. He must have possessed some eloquence, or have +had truth on his side; for the farmers rose by hundreds to support +him, and were very much exasperated at his imprisonment, which will +probably last for life, though he has sent several very spirited +remonstrances to the upper court, which makes the judges so averse +to giving a sentence which may be cavilled at, that they take +advantage of the glorious uncertainty of the law, to protract a +decision which is only to be regulated by reasons of state. + +The greater number of the slaves I saw here were not confined for +life. Their labour is not hard; and they work in the open air, +which prevents their constitutions from suffering by imprisonment. +Still, as they are allowed to associate together, and boast of their +dexterity, not only to each other but to the soldiers around them, +in the garrison; they commonly, it is natural to conclude, go out +more confirmed and more expert knaves than when they entered. + +It is not necessary to trace the origin of the association of ideas +which led me to think that the stars and gold keys, which surrounded +me the evening before, disgraced the wearers as much as the fetters +I was viewing--perhaps more. I even began to investigate the +reason, which led me to suspect that the former produced the latter. + +The Norwegians are extravagantly fond of courtly distinction, and of +titles, though they have no immunities annexed to them, and are +easily purchased. The proprietors of mines have many privileges: +they are almost exempt from taxes, and the peasantry born on their +estates, as well as those on the counts', are not born soldiers or +sailors. + +One distinction, or rather trophy of nobility, which I might have +occurred to the Hottentots, amused me; it was a bunch of hog's +bristles placed on the horses' heads, surmounting that part of the +harness to which a round piece of brass often dangles, fatiguing the +eye with its idle motion. + +From the fortress I returned to my lodging, and quickly was taken +out of town to be shown a pretty villa, and English garden. To a +Norwegian both might have been objects of curiosity; and of use, by +exciting to the comparison which leads to improvement. But whilst I +gazed, I was employed in restoring the place to nature, or taste, by +giving it the character of the surrounding scene. Serpentine walks, +and flowering-shrubs, looked trifling in a grand recess of the +rooks, shaded by towering pines. Groves of smaller trees might have +been sheltered under them, which would have melted into the +landscape, displaying only the art which ought to point out the +vicinity of a human abode, furnished with some elegance. But few +people have sufficient taste to discern, that the art of +embellishing consists in interesting, not in astonishing. + +Christiania is certainly very pleasantly situated, and the environs +I passed through, during this ride, afforded many fine and +cultivated prospects; but, excepting the first view approaching to +it, rarely present any combination of objects so strikingly new, or +picturesque, as to command remembrance. Adieu! + + + +LETTER XIV. + + + +Christiania is a clean, neat city; but it has none of the graces of +architecture, which ought to keep pace with the refining manners of +a people--or the outside of the house will disgrace the inside, +giving the beholder an idea of overgrown wealth devoid of taste. +Large square wooden houses offend the eye, displaying more than +Gothic barbarism. Huge Gothic piles, indeed, exhibit a +characteristic sublimity, and a wildness of fancy peculiar to the +period when they were erected; but size, without grandeur or +elegance, has an emphatical stamp of meanness, of poverty of +conception, which only a commercial spirit could give. + +The same thought has struck me, when I have entered the meeting- +house of my respected friend, Dr. Price. I am surprised that the +dissenters, who have not laid aside all the pomps and vanities of +life, should imagine a noble pillar, or arch, unhallowed. Whilst +men have senses, whatever soothes them lends wings to devotion; else +why do the beauties of nature, where all that charm them are spread +around with a lavish hand, force even the sorrowing heart to +acknowledge that existence is a blessing? and this acknowledgment is +the most sublime homage we can pay to the Deity. + +The argument of convenience is absurd. Who would labour for wealth, +if it were to procure nothing but conveniences. If we wish to +render mankind moral from principle, we must, I am persuaded, give a +greater scope to the enjoyments of the senses by blending taste with +them. This has frequently occurred to me since I have been in the +north, and observed that there sanguine characters always take +refuge in drunkenness after the fire of youth is spent. + +But I have flown from Norway. To go back to the wooden houses; +farms constructed with logs, and even little villages, here erected +in the same simple manner, have appeared to me very picturesque. In +the more remote parts I had been particularly pleased with many +cottages situated close to a brook, or bordering on a lake, with the +whole farm contiguous. As the family increases, a little more land +is cultivated; thus the country is obviously enriched by population. +Formerly the farmers might more justly have been termed woodcutters. +But now they find it necessary to spare the woods a little, and this +change will be universally beneficial; for whilst they lived +entirely by selling the trees they felled, they did not pay +sufficient attention to husbandry; consequently, advanced very +slowly in agricultural knowledge. Necessity will in future more and +more spur them on; for the ground, cleared of wood, must be +cultivated, or the farm loses its value; there is no waiting for +food till another generation of pines be grown to maturity. + +The people of property are very careful of their timber; and, +rambling through a forest near Tonsberg, belonging to the Count, I +have stopped to admire the appearance of some of the cottages +inhabited by a woodman's family--a man employed to cut down the wood +necessary for the household and the estate. A little lawn was +cleared, on which several lofty trees were left which nature had +grouped, whilst the encircling firs sported with wild grace. The +dwelling was sheltered by the forest, noble pines spreading their +branches over the roof; and before the door a cow, goat, nag, and +children, seemed equally content with their lot; and if contentment +be all we can attain, it is, perhaps, best secured by ignorance. + +As I have been most delighted with the country parts of Norway, I +was sorry to leave Christiania without going farther to the north, +though the advancing season admonished me to depart, as well as the +calls of business and affection. + +June and July are the months to make a tour through Norway; for then +the evenings and nights are the finest I have ever seen; but towards +the middle or latter end of August the clouds begin to gather, and +summer disappears almost before it has ripened the fruit of autumn-- +even, as it were, slips from your embraces, whilst the satisfied +senses seem to rest in enjoyment. + +You will ask, perhaps, why I wished to go farther northward. Why? +not only because the country, from all I can gather, is most +romantic, abounding in forests and lakes, and the air pure, but I +have heard much of the intelligence of the inhabitants, substantial +farmers, who have none of that cunning to contaminate their +simplicity, which displeased me so much in the conduct of the people +on the sea coast. A man who has been detected in any dishonest act +can no longer live among them. He is universally shunned, and shame +becomes the severest punishment. + +Such a contempt have they, in fact, for every species of fraud, that +they will not allow the people on the western coast to be their +countrymen; so much do they despise the arts for which those traders +who live on the rocks are notorious. + +The description I received of them carried me back to the fables of +the golden age: independence and virtue; affluence without vice; +cultivation of mind, without depravity of heart; with "ever smiling +Liberty;" the nymph of the mountain. I want faith! + +My imagination hurries me forward to seek an asylum in such a +retreat from all the disappointments I am threatened with; but +reason drags me back, whispering that the world is still the world, +and man the same compound of weakness and folly, who must +occasionally excite love and disgust, admiration and contempt. But +this description, though it seems to have been sketched by a fairy +pencil, was given me by a man of sound understanding, whose fancy +seldom appears to run away with him. + +A law in Norway, termed the odels right, has lately been modified, +and probably will be abolished as an impediment to commerce. The +heir of an estate had the power of re-purchasing it at the original +purchase money, making allowance for such improvements as were +absolutely necessary, during the space of twenty years. At present +ten is the term allowed for afterthought; and when the regulation +was made, all the men of abilities were invited to give their +opinion whether it were better to abrogate or modify it. It is +certainly a convenient and safe way of mortgaging land; yet the most +rational men whom I conversed with on the subject seemed convinced +that the right was more injurious than beneficial to society; still +if it contribute to keep the farms in the farmers' own hands, I +should be sorry to hear that it were abolished. + +The aristocracy in Norway, if we keep clear of Christiania, is far +from being formidable; and it will require a long the to enable the +merchants to attain a sufficient moneyed interest to induce them to +reinforce the upper class at the expense of the yeomanry, with whom +they are usually connected. + +England and America owe their liberty to commerce, which created new +species of power to undermine the feudal system. But let them +beware of the consequence; the tyranny of wealth is still more +galling and debasing than that of rank. + +Farewell! I must prepare for my departure. + + + +LETTER XV. + + + +I left Christiania yesterday. The weather was not very fine, and +having been a little delayed on the road, I found that it was too +late to go round, a couple of miles, to see the cascade near +Fredericstadt, which I had determined to visit. Besides, as +Fredericstadt is a fortress, it was necessary to arrive there before +they shut the gate. + +The road along the river is very romantic, though the views are not +grand; and the riches of Norway, its timber, floats silently down +the stream, often impeded in its course by islands and little +cataracts, the offspring, as it were, of the great one I had +frequently heard described. + +I found an excellent inn at Fredericstadt, and was gratified by the +kind attention of the hostess, who, perceiving that my clothes were +wet, took great pains procure me, as a stranger, every comfort for +the night. + +It had rained very hard, and we passed the ferry in the dark without +getting out of our carriage, which I think wrong, as the horses are +sometimes unruly. Fatigue and melancholy, however, had made me +regardless whether I went down or across the stream, and I did not +know that I was wet before the hostess marked it. My imagination +has never yet severed me from my griefs, and my mind has seldom been +so free as to allow my body to be delicate. + +How I am altered by disappointment! When going to Lisbon, the +elasticity of my mind was sufficient to ward off weariness, and my +imagination still could dip her brush in the rainbow of fancy, and +sketch futurity in glowing colours. Now--but let me talk of +something else--will you go with me to the cascade? + +The cross road to it was rugged and dreary; and though a +considerable extent of land was cultivated on all sides, yet the +rocks were entirely bare, which surprised me, as they were more on a +level with the surface than any I had yet seen. On inquiry, +however, I learnt that some years since a forest had been burnt. +This appearance of desolation was beyond measure gloomy, inspiring +emotions that sterility had never produced. Fires of this kind are +occasioned by the wind suddenly rising when the farmers are burning +roots of trees, stalks of beans, &c, with which they manure the +ground. The devastation must, indeed, be terrible, when this, +literally speaking, wildfire, runs along the forest, flying from top +to top, and crackling amongst the branches. The soil, as well as +the trees, is swept away by the destructive torrent; and the +country, despoiled of beauty and riches, is left to mourn for ages. + +Admiring, as I do, these noble forests, which seem to bid defiance +to time, I looked with pain on the ridge of rocks that stretched far +beyond my eye, formerly crowned with the most beautiful verdure. + +I have often mentioned the grandeur, but I feel myself unequal to +the task of conveying an idea of the beauty and elegance of the +scene when the spiry tops of the pines are loaded with ripening +seed, and the sun gives a glow to their light-green tinge, which is +changing into purple, one tree more or less advanced contrasted with +another. The profusion with which Nature has decked them with +pendant honours, prevents all surprise at seeing in every crevice +some sapling struggling for existence. Vast masses of stone are +thus encircled, and roots torn up by the storms become a shelter for +a young generation. The pine and fir woods, left entirely to +Nature, display an endless variety; and the paths in the woods are +not entangled with fallen leaves, which are only interesting whilst +they are fluttering between life and death. The grey cobweb-like +appearance of the aged pines is a much finer image of decay; the +fibres whitening as they lose their moisture, imprisoned life seems +to be stealing away. I cannot tell why, but death, under every +form, appears to me like something getting free to expand in I know +not what element--nay, I feel that this conscious being must be as +unfettered, have the wings of thought, before it can be happy. + +Reaching the cascade, or rather cataract, the roaring of which had a +long time announced its vicinity, my soul was hurried by the falls +into a new train of reflections. The impetuous dashing of the +rebounding torrent from the dark cavities which mocked the exploring +eye produced an equal activity in my mind. My thoughts darted from +earth to heaven, and I asked myself why I was chained to life and +its misery. Still the tumultuous emotions this sublime object +excited were pleasurable; and, viewing it, my soul rose with renewed +dignity above its cares. Grasping at immortality--it seemed as +impossible to stop the current of my thoughts, as of the always +varying, still the same, torrent before me; I stretched out my hand +to eternity, bounding over the dark speck of life to come. + +We turned with regret from the cascade. On a little hill, which +commands the best view of it, several obelisks are erected to +commemorate the visits of different kings. The appearance of the +river above and below the falls is very picturesque, the ruggedness +of the scenery disappearing as the torrent subsides into a peaceful +stream. But I did not like to see a number of saw-mills crowded +together close to the cataracts; they destroyed the harmony of the +prospect. + +The sight of a bridge erected across a deep valley, at a little +distance, inspired very dissimilar sensations. It was most +ingeniously supported by mast-like trunks, just stripped of their +branches; and logs, placed one across the other, produced an +appearance equally light and firm, seeming almost to be built in the +air when we were below it, the height taking from the magnitude of +the supporting trees give them a slender graceful look. + +There are two noble estates in this neighbourhood, the proprietors +of which seem to have caught more than their portion of the +enterprising spirit that is gone abroad. Many agricultural +experiments have been made, and the country appears better enclosed +and cultivated, yet the cottages had not the comfortable aspect of +those I had observed near Moss and to the westward. Man is always +debased by servitude of any description, and here the peasantry are +not entirely free. Adieu! + +I almost forgot to tell you that I did not leave Norway without +making some inquiries after the monsters said to have been seen in +the northern sea; but though I conversed with several captains, I +could not meet with one who had ever heard any traditional +description of them, much less had any ocular demonstration of their +existence. Till the fact is better ascertained, I should think the +account of them ought to be torn out of our geographical grammars. + + + +LETTER XVI. + + + +I set out from Fredericstadt about three o'clock in the afternoon, +and expected to reach Stromstad before the night closed in; but the +wind dying away, the weather became so calm that we scarcely made +any perceptible advances towards the opposite coast, though the men +were fatigued with rowing. + +Getting amongst the rocks and islands as the moon rose, and the +stars darted forward out of the clear expanse, I forgot that the +night stole on whilst indulging affectionate reveries, the poetical +fictions of sensibility; I was not, therefore, aware of the length +of time we had been toiling to reach Stromstad. And when I began to +look around, I did not perceive anything to indicate that we were in +its neighbourhood. So far from it, that when I inquired of the +pilot, who spoke a little English, I found that he was only +accustomed to coast along the Norwegian shore; and had been only +once across to Stromstad. But he had brought with him a fellow +better acquainted, he assured me, with the rocks by which they were +to steer our course, for we had not a compass on board; yet, as he +was half a fool, I had little confidence in his skill. There was +then great reason to fear that we had lost our way, and were +straying amidst a labyrinth of rocks without a clue. + +This was something like an adventure, but not of the most agreeable +cast; besides, I was impatient to arrive at Stromstad, to be able to +send forward that night a boy to order horses on the road to be +ready, for I was unwilling to remain there a day without having +anything to detain me from my little girl, and from the letters +which I was impatient to get from you. + +I began to expostulate, and even to scold the pilot, for not having +informed me of his ignorance previous to my departure. This made +him row with more force, and we turned round one rock only to see +another, equally destitute of the tokens we were in search of to +tell us where we were. Entering also into creek after creek which +promised to be the entrance of the bay we were seeking, we advanced +merely to find ourselves running aground. + +The solitariness of the scene, as we glided under the dark shadows +of the rocks, pleased me for a while; but the fear of passing the +whole night thus wandering to and fro, and losing the next day, +roused me. I begged the pilot to return to one of the largest +islands, at the side of which we had seen a boat moored. As we drew +nearer, a light through a window on the summit became our beacon; +but we were farther off than I supposed. + +With some difficulty the pilot got on shore, not distinguishing the +landing-place; and I remained in the boat, knowing that all the +relief we could expect was a man to direct us. After waiting some +time, for there is an insensibility in the very movements of these +people that would weary more than ordinary patience, he brought with +him a man who, assisting them to row, we landed at Stromstad a +little after one in the morning. + +It was too late to send off a boy, but I did not go to bed before I +had made the arrangements necessary to enable me to set out as early +as possible. + +The sun rose with splendour. My mind was too active to allow me to +loiter long in bed, though the horses did not arrive till between +seven and eight. However, as I wished to let the boy, who went +forward to order the horses, get considerably the start of me, I +bridled in my impatience. + +This precaution was unavailing, for after the three first posts I +had to wait two hours, whilst the people at the post-house went, +fair and softly, to the farm, to bid them bring up the horses which +were carrying in the first-fruits of the harvest. I discovered here +that these sluggish peasants had their share of cunning. Though +they had made me pay for a horse, the boy had gone on foot, and only +arrived half an hour before me. This disconcerted the whole +arrangement of the day; and being detained again three hours, I +reluctantly determined to sleep at Quistram, two posts short of +Uddervalla, where I had hoped to have arrived that night. + +But when I reached Quistram I found I could not approach the door of +the inn for men, horses, and carts, cows, and pigs huddled together. +From the concourse of people I had met on the road I conjectured +that there was a fair in the neighbourhood; this crowd convinced me +that it was but too true. The boisterous merriment that almost +every instant produced a quarrel, or made me dread one, with the +clouds of tobacco, and fumes of brandy, gave an infernal appearance +to the scene. There was everything to drive me back, nothing to +excite sympathy in a rude tumult of the senses, which I foresaw +would end in a gross debauch. What was to be done? No bed was to +be had, or even a quiet corner to retire to for a moment; all was +lost in noise, riot, and confusion. + +After some debating they promised me horses, which were to go on to +Uddervalla, two stages. I requested something to eat first, not +having dined; and the hostess, whom I have mentioned to you before +as knowing how to take care of herself, brought me a plate of fish, +for which she charged a rix-dollar and a half. This was making hay +whilst the sun shone. I was glad to get out of the uproar, though +not disposed to travel in an incommodious open carriage all night, +had I thought that there was any chance of getting horses. + +Quitting Quistram I met a number of joyous groups, and though the +evening was fresh many were stretched on the grass like weary +cattle; and drunken men had fallen by the road-side. On a rock, +under the shade of lofty trees, a large party of men and women had +lighted a fire, cutting down fuel around to keep it alive all night. +They were drinking, smoking, and laughing with all their might and +main. I felt for the trees whose torn branches strewed the ground. +Hapless nymphs! your haunts, I fear, were polluted by many an +unhallowed flame, the casual burst of the moment! + +The horses went on very well; but when we drew near the post-house +the postillion stopped short and neither threats nor promises could +prevail on him to go forward. He even began to howl and weep when I +insisted on his keeping his word. Nothing, indeed, can equal the +stupid obstinacy of some of these half-alive beings, who seem to +have been made by Prometheus when the fire he stole from Heaven was +so exhausted that he could only spare a spark to give life, not +animation, to the inert clay. + +It was some time before we could rouse anybody; and, as I expected, +horses, we were told, could not be had in less than four or five +hours. I again attempted to bribe the churlish brute who brought us +there, but I discovered that, in spite of the courteous hostess's +promises, he had received orders not to go any father. + +As there was no remedy I entered, and was almost driven back by the +stench--a softer phrase would not have conveyed an idea of the hot +vapour that issued from an apartment in which some eight or ten +people were sleeping, not to reckon the cats and dogs stretched on +the floor. Two or three of the men or women were on the benches, +others on old chests; and one figure started half out of a trunk to +look at me, whom might have taken for a ghost, had the chemise been +white, to contrast with the sallow visage. But the costume of +apparitions not being preserved I passed, nothing dreading, +excepting the effluvia, warily amongst the pots, pans, milk-pails, +and washing-tubs. After scaling a ruinous staircase I was shown a +bed-chamber. The bed did not invite me to enter; opening, +therefore, the window, and taking some clean towels out of my night- +sack, I spread them over the coverlid, on which tired Nature found +repose, in spite of the previous disgust. + +With the grey of the morn the birds awoke me; and descending to +inquire for the horses, I hastened through the apartment I have +already described, not wishing to associate the idea of a pigstye +with that of a human dwelling. + +I do not now wonder that the girls lose their fine complexions at +such an early age, or that love here is merely an appetite to fulfil +the main design of Nature, never enlivened by either affection or +sentiment. + +For a few posts we found the horses waiting; but afterwards I was +retarded, as before, by the peasants, who, taking advantage of my +ignorance of the language, made me pay for the fourth horse that +ought to have gone forward to have the others in readiness, though +it had never been sent. I was particularly impatient at the last +post, as I longed to assure myself that my child was well. + +My impatience, however, did not prevent my enjoying the journey. I +had six weeks before passed over the same ground; still it had +sufficient novelty to attract my attention, and beguile, if not +banish, the sorrow that had taken up its abode in my heart. How +interesting are the varied beauties of Nature, and what peculiar +charms characterise each season! The purple hue which the heath now +assumed gave it a degree of richness that almost exceeded the lustre +of the young green of spring, and harmonised exquisitely with the +rays of the ripening corn. The weather was uninterruptedly fine, +and the people busy in the fields cutting down the corn, or binding +up the sheaves, continually varied the prospect. The rocks, it is +true, were unusually rugged and dreary; yet as the road runs for a +considerable way by the side of a fine river, with extended pastures +on the other side, the image of sterility was not the predominant +object, though the cottages looked still more miserable, after +having seen the Norwegian farms. The trees likewise appeared of me +growth of yesterday, compared with those Nestors of the forest I +have frequently mentioned. The women and children were cutting off +branches from the beech, birch, oak, &c, and leaving them to dry. +This way of helping out their fodder injures the trees. But the +winters are so long that the poor cannot afford to lay in a +sufficient stock of hay. By such means they just keep life in the +poor cows, for little milk can be expected when they are so +miserably fed. + +It was Saturday, and the evening was uncommonly serene. In the +villages I everywhere saw preparations for Sunday; and I passed by a +little car loaded with rye, that presented, for the pencil and +heart, the sweetest picture of a harvest home I had ever beheld. A +little girl was mounted a-straddle on a shaggy horse, brandishing a +stick over its head; the father was walking at the side of the car +with a child in his arms, who must have come to meet him with +tottering steps; the little creature was stretching out its arms to +cling round his neck; and a boy, just above petticoats, was +labouring hard with a fork behind to keep the sheaves from falling. + +My eyes followed them to the cottage, and an involuntary sigh +whispered to my heart that I envied the mother, much as I dislike +cooking, who was preparing their pottage. I was returning to my +babe, who may never experience a father's care or tenderness. The +bosom that nurtured her heaved with a pang at the thought which only +an unhappy mother could feel. + +Adieu! + + + +LETTER XVII. + + + +I was unwilling to leave Gothenburg without visiting Trolhaettae. I +wished not only to see the cascade, but to observe the progress of +the stupendous attempt to form a canal through the rocks, to the +extent of an English mile and a half. + +This work is carried on by a company, who employ daily nine hundred +men; five years was the time mentioned in the proposals addressed to +the public as necessary for the completion. A much more +considerable sum than the plan requires has been subscribed, for +which there is every reason to suppose the promoters will receive +ample interest. + +The Danes survey the progress of this work with a jealous eye, as it +is principally undertaken to get clear of the Sound duty. + +Arrived at Trolhaettae, I must own that the first view of the +cascade disappointed me; and the sight of the works, as they +advanced, though a grand proof of human industry, was not calculated +to warm the fancy. I, however, wandered about; and at last coming +to the conflux of the various cataracts rushing from different +falls, struggling with the huge masses of rock, and rebounding from +the profound cavities, I immediately retracted, acknowledging that +it was indeed a grand object. A little island stood in the midst, +covered with firs, which, by dividing the torrent, rendered it more +picturesque; one half appearing to issue from a dark cavern, that +fancy might easily imagine a vast fountain throwing up its waters +from the very centre of the earth. + +I gazed I know not how long, stunned with the noise, and growing +giddy with only looking at the never-ceasing tumultuous motion, I +listened, scarcely conscious where I was, when I observed a boy, +half obscured by the sparkling foam, fishing under the impending +rock on the other side. How he had descended I could not perceive; +nothing like human footsteps appeared, and the horrific crags seemed +to bid defiance even to the goat's activity. It looked like an +abode only fit for the eagle, though in its crevices some pines +darted up their spiral heads; but they only grew near the cascade, +everywhere else sterility itself reigned with dreary grandeur; for +the huge grey massy rocks, which probably had been torn asunder by +some dreadful convulsion of nature, had not even their first +covering of a little cleaving moss. There were so many appearances +to excite the idea of chaos, that, instead of admiring the canal and +the works, great as they are termed, and little as they appear, I +could not help regretting that such a noble scene had not been left +in all its solitary sublimity. Amidst the awful roaring of the +impetuous torrents, the noise of human instruments and the bustle of +workmen, even the blowing up of the rocks when grand masses trembled +in the darkened air, only resembled the insignificant sport of +children. + +One fall of water, partly made by art, when they were attempting to +construct sluices, had an uncommonly grand effect; the water +precipitated itself with immense velocity down a perpendicular, at +least fifty or sixty yards, into a gulf, so concealed by the foam as +to give full play to the fancy. There was a continual uproar. I +stood on a rock to observe it, a kind of bridge formed by nature, +nearly on a level with the commencement of the fall. After musing +by it a long time I turned towards the other side, and saw a gentle +stream stray calmly out. I should have concluded that it had no +communication with the torrent had I not seen a huge log that fell +headlong down the cascade steal peacefully into the purling stream. + +I retired from these wild scenes with regret to a miserable inn, and +next morning returned to Gothenburg, to prepare for my journey to +Copenhagen. + +I was sorry to leave Gothenburg without travelling farther into +Sweden, yet I imagine I should only have seen a romantic country +thinly inhabited, and these inhabitants struggling with poverty. +The Norwegian peasantry, mostly independent, have a rough kind of +frankness in their manner; but the Swedish, rendered more abject by +misery, have a degree of politeness in their address which, though +it may sometimes border on insincerity, is oftener the effect of a +broken spirit, rather softened than degraded by wretchedness. + +In Norway there are no notes in circulation of less value than a +Swedish rix-dollar. A small silver coin, commonly not worth more +than a penny, and never more than twopence, serves for change; but +in Sweden they have notes as low as sixpence. I never saw any +silver pieces there, and could not without difficulty, and giving a +premium, obtain the value of a rix-dollar in a large copper coin to +give away on the road to the poor who open the gates. + +As another proof of the poverty of Sweden, I ought to mention that +foreign merchants who have acquired a fortune there are obliged to +deposit the sixth part when they leave the kingdom. This law, you +may suppose, is frequently evaded. + +In fact, the laws here, as well as in Norway, are so relaxed that +they rather favour than restrain knavery. + +Whilst I was at Gothenburg, a man who had been confined for breaking +open his master's desk and running away with five or six thousand +rix-dollars, was only sentenced to forty days' confinement on bread +and water; and this slight punishment his relations rendered +nugatory by supplying him with more savoury food. + +The Swedes are in general attached to their families, yet a divorce +may be obtained by either party on proving the infidelity of the +other or acknowledging it themselves. The women do not often recur +to this equal privilege, for they either retaliate on their husbands +by following their own devices or sink into the merest domestic +drudges, worn down by tyranny to servile submission. Do not term me +severe if I add, that after youth is flown the husband becomes a +sot, and the wife amuses herself by scolding her servants. In fact, +what is to be expected in any country where taste and cultivation of +mind do not supply the place of youthful beauty and animal spirits? +Affection requires a firmer foundation than sympathy, and few people +have a principle of action sufficiently stable to produce rectitude +of feeling; for in spite of all the arguments I have heard to +justify deviations from duty, I am persuaded that even the most +spontaneous sensations are more under the direction of principle +than weak people are willing to allow. + +But adieu to moralising. I have been writing these last sheets at +an inn in Elsineur, where I am waiting for horses; and as they are +not yet ready, I will give you a short account of my journey from +Gothenburg, for I set out the morning after I returned from +Trolhaettae. + +The country during the first day's journey presented a most barren +appearance, as rocky, yet not so picturesque as Norway, because on a +diminutive scale. We stopped to sleep at a tolerable inn in +Falckersberg, a decent little town. + +The next day beeches and oaks began to grace the prospects, the sea +every now and then appearing to give them dignity. I could not +avoid observing also, that even in this part of Sweden, one of the +most sterile, as I was informed, there was more ground under +cultivation than in Norway. Plains of varied crops stretched out to +a considerable extent, and sloped down to the shore, no longer +terrific. And, as far as I could judge, from glancing my eye over +the country as we drove along, agriculture was in a more advanced +state, though in the habitations a greater appearance of poverty +still remained. The cottages, indeed, often looked most +uncomfortable, but never so miserable as those I had remarked on the +road to Stromstad, and the towns were equal, if not superior, to +many of the little towns in Wales, or some I have passed through in +my way from Calais to Paris. + +The inns as we advanced were not to be complained of, unless I had +always thought of England. The people were civil, and much more +moderate in their demands than the Norwegians, particularly to the +westward, where they boldly charge for what you never had, and seem +to consider you, as they do a wreck, if not as lawful prey, yet as a +lucky chance, which they ought not to neglect to seize. + +The prospect of Elsineur, as we passed the Sound, was pleasant. I +gave three rix-dollars for my boat, including something to drink. I +mention the sum, because they impose on strangers. + +Adieu! till I arrive at Copenhagen. + + + +LETTER XVIII.--COPENHAGEN. + + + +The distance from Elsineur to Copenhagen is twenty-two miles; the +road is very good, over a flat country diversified with wood, mostly +beech, and decent mansions. There appeared to be a great quantity +of corn land, and the soil looked much more fertile than it is in +general so near the sea. The rising grounds, indeed, were very few, +and around Copenhagen it is a perfect plain; of course has nothing +to recommend it but cultivation, not decorations. If I say that the +houses did not disgust me, I tell you all I remember of them, for I +cannot recollect any pleasurable sensations they excited, or that +any object, produced by nature or art, took me out of myself. The +view of the city, as we drew near, was rather grand, but without any +striking feature to interest the imagination, excepting the trees +which shade the footpaths. + +Just before I reached Copenhagen I saw a number of tents on a wide +plain, and supposed that the rage for encampments had reached this +city; but I soon discovered that they were the asylum of many of the +poor families who had been driven out of their habitations by the +late fire. + +Entering soon after, I passed amongst the dust and rubbish it had +left, affrighted by viewing the extent of the devastation, for at +least a quarter of the city had been destroyed. There was little in +the appearance of fallen bricks and stacks of chimneys to allure the +imagination into soothing melancholy reveries; nothing to attract +the eye of taste, but much to afflict the benevolent heart. The +depredations of time have always something in them to employ the +fancy, or lead to musing on subjects which, withdrawing the mind +from objects of sense, seem to give it new dignity; but here I was +treading on live ashes. The sufferers were still under the pressure +of the misery occasioned by this dreadful conflagration. I could +not take refuge in the thought: they suffered, but they are no +more! a reflection I frequently summon to calm my mind when sympathy +rises to anguish. I therefore desired the driver to hasten to the +hotel recommended to me, that I might avert my eyes and snap the +train of thinking which had sent me into all the corners of the city +in search of houseless heads. + +This morning I have been walking round the town, till I am weary of +observing the ravages. I had often heard the Danes, even those who +had seen Paris and London, speak of Copenhagen with rapture. +Certainly I have seen it in a very disadvantageous light, some of +the best streets having been burnt, and the whole place thrown into +confusion. Still the utmost that can, or could ever, I believe, +have been said in its praise, might be comprised in a few words. +The streets are open, and many of the houses large; but I saw +nothing to rouse the idea of elegance or grandeur, if I except the +circus where the king and prince royal reside. + +The palace, which was consumed about two years ago, must have been a +handsome, spacious building; the stone-work is still standing, and a +great number of the poor, during the late fire, took refuge in its +ruins till they could find some other abode. Beds were thrown on +the landing-places of the grand staircase, where whole families +crept from the cold, and every little nook is boarded up as a +retreat for some poor creatures deprived of their home. At present +a roof may be sufficient to shelter them from the night air; but as +the season advances, the extent of the calamity will be more +severely felt, I fear, though the exertions on the part of +Government are very considerable. Private charity has also, no +doubt, done much to alleviate the misery which obtrudes itself at +every turn; still, public spirit appears to me to be hardly alive +here. Had it existed, the conflagration might have been smothered +in the beginning, as it was at last, by tearing down several houses +before the flames had reached them. To this the inhabitants would +not consent; and the prince royal not having sufficient energy of +character to know when he ought to be absolute, calmly let them +pursue their own course, till the whole city seemed to be threatened +with destruction. Adhering, with puerile scrupulosity, to the law +which he has imposed on himself, of acting exactly right, he did +wrong by idly lamenting whilst he marked the progress of a mischief +that one decided step would have stopped. He was afterwards obliged +to resort to violent measures; but then, who could blame him? And, +to avoid censure, what sacrifices are not made by weak minds? + +A gentleman who was a witness of the scene assured me, likewise, +that if the people of property had taken half as much pains to +extinguish the fire as to preserve their valuables and furniture, it +would soon have been got under. But they who were not immediately +in danger did not exert themselves sufficiently, till fear, like an +electrical shock, roused all the inhabitants to a sense of the +general evil. Even the fire-engines were out of order, though the +burning of the palace ought to have admonished them of the necessity +of keeping them in constant repair. But this kind of indolence +respecting what does not immediately concern them seems to +characterise the Danes. A sluggish concentration in themselves +makes them so careful to preserve their property, that they will not +venture on any enterprise to increase it in which there is a shadow +of hazard. + +Considering Copenhagen as the capital of Denmark and Norway, I was +surprised not to see so much industry or taste as in Christiania. +Indeed, from everything I have had an opportunity of observing, the +Danes are the people who have made the fewest sacrifices to the +graces. + +The men of business are domestic tyrants, coldly immersed in their +own affairs, and so ignorant of the state of other countries, that +they dogmatically assert that Denmark is the happiest country in the +world; the Prince Royal the best of all possible princes; and Count +Bernstorff the wisest of ministers. + +As for the women, they are simply notable housewives; without +accomplishments or any of the charms that adorn more advanced social +life. This total ignorance may enable them to save something in +their kitchens, but it is far from rendering them better parents. +On the contrary, the children are spoiled, as they usually are when +left to the care of weak, indulgent mothers, who having no principle +of action to regulate their feelings, become the slaves of infants, +enfeebling both body and mind by false tenderness. + +I am, perhaps, a little prejudiced, as I write from the impression +of the moment; for I have been tormented to-day by the presence of +unruly children, and made angry by some invectives thrown out +against the maternal character of the unfortunate Matilda. She was +censured, with the most cruel insinuation, for her management of her +son, though, from what I could gather, she gave proofs of good sense +as well as tenderness in her attention to him. She used to bathe +him herself every morning; insisted on his being loosely clad; and +would not permit his attendants to injure his digestion by humouring +his appetite. She was equally careful to prevent his acquiring +haughty airs, and playing the tyrant in leading-strings. The Queen +Dowager would not permit her to suckle him; but the next child being +a daughter, and not the Heir-Apparent of the Crown, less opposition +was made to her discharging the duty of a mother. + +Poor Matilda! thou hast haunted me ever since may arrival; and the +view I have had of the manners of the country, exciting my sympathy, +has increased my respect for thy memory. + +I am now fully convinced that she was the victim of the party she +displaced, who would have overlooked or encouraged her attachment, +had not her lover, aiming at being useful, attempted to overturn +some established abuses before the people, ripe for the change, had +sufficient spirit to support him when struggling in their behalf. +Such indeed was the asperity sharpened against her that I have heard +her, even after so many years have elapsed, charged with +licentiousness, not only for endeavouring to render the public +amusements more elegant, but for her very charities, because she +erected, amongst other institutions, a hospital to receive +foundlings. Disgusted with many customs which pass for virtues, +though they are nothing more than observances of forms, often at the +expense of truth, she probably ran into an error common to +innovators, in wishing to do immediately what can only be done by +time. + +Many very cogent reasons have been urged by her friends to prove +that her affection for Struensee was never carried to the length +alleged against her by those who feared her influence. Be that as +it may she certainly was no a woman of gallantry, and if she had an +attachment for him it did not disgrace her heart or understanding, +the king being a notorious debauchee and an idiot into the bargain. +As the king's conduct had always been directed by some favourite, +they also endeavoured to govern him, from a principle of self- +preservation as well as a laudable ambition; but, not aware of the +prejudices they had to encounter, the system they adopted displayed +more benevolence of heart than soundness of judgment. As to the +charge, still believed, of their giving the King drugs to injure his +faculties, it is too absurd to be refuted. Their oppressors had +better have accused them of dabbling in the black art, for the +potent spell still keeps his wits in bondage. + +I cannot describe to you the effect it had on me to see this puppet +of a monarch moved by the strings which Count Bernstorff holds fast; +sit, with vacant eye, erect, receiving the homage of courtiers who +mock him with a show of respect. He is, in fact, merely a machine +of state, to subscribe the name of a king to the acts of the +Government, which, to avoid danger, have no value unless +countersigned by the Prince Royal; for he is allowed to be +absolutely aim idiot, excepting that now and then an observation or +trick escapes him, which looks more like madness than imbecility. + +What a farce is life. This effigy of majesty is allowed to burn +down to the socket, whilst the hapless Matilda was hurried into an +untimely grave. + +"As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods; +They kill us for their sport." + +Adieu! + + + +LETTER XIX. + + + +Business having obliged me to go a few miles out of town this +morning I was surprised at meeting a crowd of people of every +description, and inquiring the cause of a servant, who spoke French, +I was informed that a man had been executed two hours before, and +the body afterwards burnt. I could not help looking with horror +around--the fields lost their verdure--and I turned with disgust +from the well-dressed women who were returning with their children +from this sight. What a spectacle for humanity! The seeing such a +flock of idle gazers plunged me into a train of reflections on the +pernicious effects produced by false notions of justice. And I am +persuaded that till capital punishments are entirely abolished +executions ought to have every appearance of horror given to them, +instead of being, as they are now, a scene of amusement for the +gaping crowd, where sympathy is quickly effaced by curiosity. + +I have always been of opinion that the allowing actors to die in the +presence of the audience has an immoral tendency, but trifling when +compared with the ferocity acquired by viewing the reality as a +show; for it seems to me that in all countries the common people go +to executions to see how the poor wretch plays his part, rather than +to commiserate his fate, much less to think of the breach of +morality which has brought him to such a deplorable end. +Consequently executions, far from being useful examples to the +survivors, have, I am persuaded, a quite contrary effect, by +hardening the heart they ought to terrify. Besides the fear of an +ignominious death, I believe, never deferred anyone from the +commission of a crime, because, in committing it, the mind is roused +to activity about present circumstances. It is a game at hazard, at +which all expect the turn of the die in their own favour, never +reflecting on the chance of ruin till it comes. In fact, from what +I saw in the fortresses of Norway, I am more and more convinced that +the same energy of character which renders a man a daring villain +would have rendered him useful to society, had that society been +well organised. When a strong mind is not disciplined by +cultivation it is a sense of injustice that renders it unjust. + +Executions, however, occur very rarely at Copenhagen; for timidity, +rather than clemency, palsies all the operations of the present +Government. The malefactor who died this morning would not, +probably, have been punished with death at any other period; but an +incendiary excites universal execration; and as the greater part of +the inhabitants are still distressed by the late conflagration, an +example was thought absolutely necessary; though, from what I can +gather, the fire was accidental. + +Not, but that I have very seriously been informed, that combustible +materials were placed at proper distance, by the emissaries of Mr. +Pitt; and, to corroborate the fact, many people insist that the +flames burst out at once in different parts of the city; not +allowing the wind to have any hand in it. So much for the plot. +But the fabricators of plots in all countries build their +conjectures on the "baseless fabric of a vision;" and it seems even +a sort of poetical justice, that whilst this Minister is crushing at +home plots of his own conjuring up, on the Continent, and in the +north, he should, with as little foundation, be accused of wishing +to set the world on fire. + +I forgot to mention to you, that I was informed, by a man of +veracity, that two persons came to the stake to drink a glass of the +criminal's blood, as an infallible remedy for the apoplexy. And +when I animadverted in the company, where it was mentioned, on such +a horrible violation of nature, a Danish lady reproved me very +severely, asking how I knew that it was not a cure for the disease? +adding, that every attempt was justifiable in search of health. I +did not, you may imagine, enter into an argument with a person the +slave of such a gross prejudice. And I allude to it not only as a +trait of the ignorance of the people, but to censure the Government +for not preventing scenes that throw an odium on the human race. + +Empiricism is not peculiar to Denmark; and I know no way of rooting +it out, though it be a remnant of exploded witchcraft, till the +acquiring a general knowledge of the component parts of the human +frame becomes a part of public education. + +Since the fire, the inhabitants have been very assiduously employed +in searching for property secreted during the confusion; and it is +astonishing how many people, formerly termed reputable, had availed +themselves of the common calamity to purloin what the flames spared. +Others, expert at making a distinction without a difference, +concealed what they found, not troubling themselves to inquire for +the owners, though they scrupled to search for plunder anywhere, but +amongst the ruins. + +To be honester than the laws require is by most people thought a +work of supererogation; and to slip through the grate of the law has +ever exercised the abilities of adventurers, who wish to get rich +the shortest way. Knavery without personal danger is an art brought +to great perfection by the statesman and swindler; and meaner knaves +are not tardy in following their footsteps. + +It moves my gall to discover some of the commercial frauds practised +during the present war. In short, under whatever point of view I +consider society, it appears to me that an adoration of property is +the root of all evil. Here it does not render the people +enterprising, as in America, but thrifty and cautious. I never, +therefore, was in a capital where there was so little appearance of +active industry; and as for gaiety, I looked in vain for the +sprightly gait of the Norwegians, who in every respect appear to me +to have got the start of them. This difference I attribute to their +having more liberty--a liberty which they think their right by +inheritance, whilst the Danes, when they boast of their negative +happiness, always mention it as the boon of the Prince Royal, under +the superintending wisdom of Count Bernstorff. Vassalage is +nevertheless ceasing throughout the kingdom, and with it will pass +away that sordid avarice which every modification of slavery is +calculated to produce. + +If the chief use of property be power, in the shape of the respect +it procures, is it not among the inconsistencies of human nature +most incomprehensible, that men should find a pleasure in hoarding +up property which they steal from their necessities, even when they +are convinced that it would be dangerous to display such an enviable +superiority? Is not this the situation of serfs in every country. +Yet a rapacity to accumulate money seems to become stronger in +proportion as it is allowed to be useless. + +Wealth does not appear to be sought for amongst the Danes, to obtain +the excellent luxuries of life, for a want of taste is very +conspicuous at Copenhagen; so much so that I am not surprised to +hear that poor Matilda offended the rigid Lutherans by aiming to +refine their pleasures. The elegance which she wished to introduce +was termed lasciviousness; yet I do not find that the absence of +gallantry renders the wives more chaste, or the husbands more +constant. Love here seems to corrupt the morals without polishing +the manners, by banishing confidence and truth, the charm as well as +cement of domestic life. A gentleman, who has resided in this city +some time, assures me that he could not find language to give me an +idea of the gross debaucheries into which the lower order of people +fall; and the promiscuous amours of the men of the middling class +with their female servants debase both beyond measure, weakening +every species of family affection. + +I have everywhere been struck by one characteristic difference in +the conduct of the two sexes; women, in general, are seduced by +their superiors, and men jilted by their inferiors: rank and +manners awe the one, and cunning and wantonness subjugate the other; +ambition creeping into the woman's passion, and tyranny giving force +to the man's, for most men treat their mistresses as kings do their +favourites: ergo is not man then the tyrant of the creation? + +Still harping on the same subject, you will exclaim--How can I avoid +it, when most of the struggles of an eventful life have been +occasioned by the oppressed state of my sex? We reason deeply when +we feel forcibly. + +But to return to the straight road of observation. The sensuality +so prevalent appears to me to arise rather from indolence of mind +and dull senses, than from an exuberance of life, which often +fructifies the whole character when the vivacity of youthful spirits +begins to subside into strength of mind. + +I have before mentioned that the men are domestic tyrants, +considering them as fathers, brothers, or husbands; but there is a +kind of interregnum between the reign of the father and husband +which is the only period of freedom and pleasure that the women +enjoy. Young people who are attached to each other, with the +consent of their friends, exchange rings, and are permitted to enjoy +a degree of liberty together which 1 have never noticed in any other +country. The days of courtship are, therefore, prolonged till it be +perfectly convenient to marry: the intimacy often becomes very +tender; and if the lover obtain the privilege of a husband, it can +only be termed half by stealth, because the family is wilfully +blind. It happens very rarely that these honorary engagements are +dissolved or disregarded, a stigma being attached to a breach of +faith which is thought more disgraceful, if not so criminal, as the +violation of the marriage-vow. + +Do not forget that, in my general observations, I do not pretend to +sketch a national character, but merely to note the present state of +morals and manners as I trace the progress of the world's +improvement. Because, during my residence in different countries, +my principal object has been to take such a dispassionate view of +men as will lead me to form a just idea of the nature of man. And, +to deal ingenuously with you, I believe I should have been less +severe in the remarks I have made on the vanity and depravity of the +French, had I travelled towards the north before I visited France. + +The interesting picture frequently drawn of the virtues of a rising +people has, I fear, been fallacious, excepting the accounts of the +enthusiasm which various public struggles have produced. We talk of +the depravity of the French, and lay a stress on the old age of the +nation; yet where has more virtuous enthusiasm been displayed than +during the two last years by the common people of France, and in +their armies? I am obliged sometimes to recollect the numberless +instances which I have either witnessed, or heard well +authenticated, to balance the account of horrors, alas! but too +true. I am, therefore, inclined to believe that the gross vices +which I have always seem allied with simplicity of manners, are the +concomitants of ignorance. + +What, for example, has piety, under the heathen or Christian system, +been, but a blind faith in things contrary to the principles of +reason? And could poor reason make considerable advances when it +was reckoned the highest degree of virtue to do violence to its +dictates? Lutherans, preaching reformation, have built a reputation +for sanctity on the same foundation as the Catholics; yet I do not +perceive that a regular attendance on public worship, and their +other observances, make them a whit more true in their affections, +or honest in their private transactions. It seems, indeed, quite as +easy to prevaricate with religious injunctions as human laws, when +the exercise of their reason does not lead people to acquire +principles for themselves to be the criterion of all those they +receive from others. + +If travelling, as the completion of a liberal education, were to be +adopted on rational grounds, the northern states ought to be visited +before the more polished parts of Europe, to serve as the elements +even of the knowledge of manners, only to be acquired by tracing the +various shades in different countries. But, when visiting distant +climes, a momentary social sympathy should not be allowed to +influence the conclusions of the understanding, for hospitality too +frequently leads travellers, especially those who travel in search +of pleasure, to make a false estimate of the virtues of a nation, +which, I am now convinced, bear an exact proportion to their +scientific improvements. + +Adieu. + + + +LETTER XX. + + + +I have formerly censured the French for their extreme attachment to +theatrical exhibitions, because I thought that they tended to render +them vain and unnatural characters; but I must acknowledge, +especially as women of the town never appear in the Parisian as at +our theatres, that the little saving of the week is more usefully +expended there every Sunday than in porter or brandy, to intoxicate +or stupify the mind. The common people of France have a great +superiority over that class in every other country on this very +score. It is merely the sobriety of the Parisians which renders +their fetes more interesting, their gaiety never becoming disgusting +or dangerous, as is always the case when liquor circulates. +Intoxication is the pleasure of savages, and of all those whose +employments rather exhaust their animal spirits than exercise their +faculties. Is not this, in fact, the vice, both in England and the +northern states of Europe, which appears to be the greatest +impediment to general improvement? Drinking is here the principal +relaxation of the men, including smoking, but the women are very +abstemious, though they have no public amusements as a substitute. +I ought to except one theatre, which appears more than is necessary; +for when I was there it was not half full, and neither the ladies +nor actresses displayed much fancy in their dress. + +The play was founded on the story of the "Mock Doctor;" and, from +the gestures of the servants, who were the best actors, I should +imagine contained some humour. The farce, termed ballet, was a kind +of pantomime, the childish incidents of which were sufficient to +show the state of the dramatic art in Denmark, and the gross taste +of the audience. A magician, in the disguise of a tinker, enters a +cottage where the women are all busy ironing, and rubs a dirty +frying-pan against the linen. The women raise a hue-and-cry, and +dance after him, rousing their husbands, who join in the dance, but +get the start of them in the pursuit. The tinker, with the frying- +pan for a shield, renders them immovable, and blacks their cheeks. +Each laughs at the other, unconscious of his own appearance; +meanwhile the women enter to enjoy the sport, "the rare fun," with +other incidents of the same species. + +The singing was much on a par with the dancing, the one as destitute +of grace as the other of expression; but the orchestra was well +filled, the instrumental being far superior to the vocal music. + +I have likewise visited the public library and museum, as well as +the palace of Rosembourg. This palace, now deserted, displays a +gloomy kind of grandeur throughout, for the silence of spacious +apartments always makes itself to be felt; I at least feel it, and I +listen for the sound of my footsteps as I have done at midnight to +the ticking of the death-watch, encouraging a kind of fanciful +superstition. Every object carried me back to past times, and +impressed the manners of the age forcibly on my mind. In this point +of view the preservation of old palaces and their tarnished +furniture is useful, for they may be considered as historical +documents. + +The vacuum left by departed greatness was everywhere observable, +whilst the battles and processions portrayed on the walls told you +who had here excited revelry after retiring from slaughter, or +dismissed pageantry in search of pleasure. It seemed a vast tomb +full of the shadowy phantoms of those who had played or toiled their +hour out and sunk behind the tapestry which celebrated the conquests +of love or war. Could they be no more--to whom my imagination thus +gave life? Could the thoughts, of which there remained so many +vestiges, have vanished quite away? And these beings, composed of +such noble materials of thinking and feeling, have they only melted +into the elements to keep in motion the grand mass of life? It +cannot be!--as easily could I believe that the large silver lions at +the top of the banqueting room thought and reasoned. But avaunt! ye +waking dreams! yet I cannot describe the curiosities to you. + +There were cabinets full of baubles and gems, and swords which must +have been wielded by giant's hand. The coronation ornaments wait +quietly here till wanted, and the wardrobe exhibits the vestments +which formerly graced these shows. It is a pity they do not lend +them to the actors, instead of allowing them to perish ingloriously. + +I have not visited any other palace, excepting Hirsholm, the gardens +of which are laid out with taste, and command the finest views the +country affords. As they are in the modern and English style, I +thought I was following the footsteps of Matilda, who wished to +multiply around her the images of her beloved country. I was also +gratified by the sight of a Norwegian landscape in miniature, which +with great propriety makes a part of the Danish King's garden. The +cottage is well imitated, and the whole has a pleasing effect, +particularly so to me who love Norway--its peaceful farms and +spacious wilds. + +The public library consists of a collection much larger than I +expected to see; and it is well arranged. Of the value of the +Icelandic manuscripts I could not form a judgment, though the +alphabet of some of them amused me, by showing what immense labour +men will submit to, in order to transmit their ideas to posterity. +I have sometimes thought it a great misfortune for individuals to +acquire a certain delicacy of sentiment, which often makes them +weary of the common occurrences of life; yet it is this very +delicacy of feeling and thinking which probably has produced most of +the performances that have benefited mankind. It might with +propriety, perhaps, be termed the malady of genius; the cause of +that characteristic melancholy which "grows with its growth, and +strengthens with its strength." + +There are some good pictures in the royal museum. Do not start, I +am not going to trouble you with a dull catalogue, or stupid +criticisms on masters to whom time has assigned their just niche in +the temple of fame; had there been any by living artists of this +country, I should have noticed them, as making a part of the +sketches I am drawing of the present state of the place. The good +pictures were mixed indiscriminately with the bad ones, in order to +assort the frames. The same fault is conspicuous in the new +splendid gallery forming at Paris; though it seems an obvious +thought that a school for artists ought to be arranged in such a +manner, as to show the progressive discoveries and improvements in +the art. + +A collection of the dresses, arms, and implements of the Laplanders +attracted my attention, displaying that first species of ingenuity +which is rather a proof of patient perseverance, than comprehension +of mind. The specimens of natural history, and curiosities of art, +were likewise huddled together without that scientific order which +alone renders them useful; but this may partly have been occasioned +by the hasty manner in which they were removed from the palace when +in flames. + +There are some respectable men of science here, but few literary +characters, and fewer artists. They want encouragement, and will +continue, I fear, from the present appearance of things, to languish +unnoticed a long time; for neither the vanity of wealth, nor the +enterprising spirit of commerce, has yet thrown a glance that way. + +Besides, the Prince Royal, determined to be economical, almost +descends to parsimony; and perhaps depresses his subjects, by +labouring not to oppress them; for his intentions always seem to be +good--yet nothing can give a more forcible idea of the dulness which +eats away all activity of mind, than the insipid routine of a court, +without magnificence or elegance. + +The Prince, from what I can now collect, has very moderate +abilities; yet is so well disposed, that Count Bernstorff finds him +as tractable as he could wish; for I consider the Count as the real +sovereign, scarcely behind the curtain; the Prince having none of +that obstinate self-sufficiency of youth, so often the forerunner of +decision of character. He and the Princess his wife, dine every day +with the King, to save the expense of two tables. What a mummery it +must be to treat as a king a being who has lost the majesty of man! +But even Count Bernstorff's morality submits to this standing +imposition; and he avails himself of it sometimes, to soften a +refusal of his own, by saying it is the WILL of the King, my master, +when everybody knows that he has neither will nor memory. Much the +same use is made of him as, I have observed, some termagant wives +make of their husbands; they would dwell on the necessity of obeying +their husbands, poor passive souls, who never were allowed TO WILL, +when they wanted to conceal their own tyranny. + +A story is told here of the King's formerly making a dog counsellor +of state, because when the dog, accustomed to eat at the royal +table, snatched a piece of meat off an old officer's plate, he +reproved him jocosely, saying that he, monsieur le chien, had not +the privilege of dining with his majesty, a privilege annexed to +this distinction. + +The burning of the palace was, in fact, a fortunate circumstance, as +it afforded a pretext for reducing the establishment of the +household, which was far too great for the revenue of the Crown. +The Prince Royal, at present, runs into the opposite extreme; and +the formality, if not the parsimony, of the court, seems to extend +to all the other branches of society, which I had an opportunity of +observing; though hospitality still characterises their intercourse +with strangers. + +But let me now stop; I may be a little partial, and view everything +with the jaundiced eye of melancholy--for I am sad--and have cause. + +God bless you! + + + +LETTER XXI. + + + +I have seen Count Bernstorff; and his conversation confirms me in +the opinion I had previously formed of him; I mean, since my arrival +at Copenhagen. He is a worthy man, a little vain of his virtue a la +Necker; and more anxious not to do wrong, that is to avoid blame, +than desirous of doing good; especially if any particular good +demands a change. Prudence, in short, seems to be the basis of his +character; and, from the tenor of the Government, I should think +inclining to that cautious circumspection which treads on the heels +of timidity. He has considerable information, and some finesse; or +he could not be a Minister. Determined not to risk his popularity, +for he is tenderly careful of his reputation, he will never +gloriously fail like Struensee, or disturb, with the energy of +genius, the stagnant state of the public mind. + +I suppose that Lavater, whom he invited to visit him two years ago-- +some say to fix the principles of the Christian religion firmly in +the Prince Royal's mind, found lines in his face to prove him a +statesman of the first order; because he has a knack at seeing a +great character in the countenances of men in exalted stations, who +have noticed him or his works. Besides, the Count's sentiments +relative to the French Revolution, agreeing with Lavater's, must +have ensured his applause. + +The Danes, in general, seem extremely averse to innovation, and if +happiness only consist in opinion, they are the happiest people in +the world; for I never saw any so well satisfied with their own +situation. Yet the climate appears to be very disagreeable, the +weather being dry and sultry, or moist and cold; the atmosphere +never having that sharp, bracing purity, which in Norway prepares +you to brave its rigours. I do not hear the inhabitants of this +place talk with delight of the winter, which is the constant theme +of the Norwegians; on the contrary, they seem to dread its +comfortless inclemency. + +The ramparts are pleasant, and must have been much more so before +the fire, the walkers not being annoyed by the clouds of dust which, +at present, the slightest wind wafts from the ruins. The windmills, +and the comfortable houses contiguous, belonging to the millers, as +well as the appearance of the spacious barracks for the soldiers and +sailors, tend to render this walk more agreeable. The view of the +country has not much to recommend it to notice but its extent and +cultivation: yet as the eye always delights to dwell on verdant +plains, especially when we are resident in a great city, these shady +walks should be reckoned amongst the advantages procured by the +Government for the inhabitants. I like them better than the Royal +Gardens, also open to the public, because the latter seem sunk in +the heart of the city, to concentrate its fogs. + +The canals which intersect the streets are equally convenient and +wholesome; but the view of the sea commanded by the town had little +to interest me whilst the remembrance of the various bold and +picturesque shores I had seen was fresh in my memory. Still the +opulent inhabitants, who seldom go abroad, must find the spots were +they fix their country seats much pleasanter on account of the +vicinity of the ocean. + +One of the best streets in Copenhagen is almost filled with +hospitals, erected by the Government, and, I am assured, as well +regulated as institutions of this kind are in any country; but +whether hospitals or workhouses are anywhere superintended with +sufficient humanity I have frequently had reason to doubt. + +The autumn is so uncommonly fine that I am unwilling to put off my +journey to Hamburg much longer, lest the weather should alter +suddenly, and the chilly harbingers of winter catch me here, where I +have nothing now to detain me but the hospitality of the families to +whom I had recommendatory letters. I lodged at an hotel situated in +a large open square, where the troops exercise and the market is +kept. My apartments were very good; and on account of the fire I +was told that I should be charged very high; yet, paying my bill +just now, I find the demands much lower in proportion than in +Norway, though my dinners were in every respect better. + +I have remained more at home since I arrived at Copenhagen than I +ought to have done in a strange place, but the mind is not always +equally active in search of information, and my oppressed heart too +often sighs out - + + +"How dull, flat, and unprofitable +Are to me all the usages of this world: +That it should come to this!" + + +Farewell! Fare thee well, I say; if thou canst, repeat the adieu in +a different tone. + + + +LETTER XXII. + + + +I arrived at Corsoer the night after I quitted Copenhagen, purposing +to take my passage across the Great Belt the next morning, though +the weather was rather boisterous. It is about four-and-twenty +miles but as both I and my little girl are never attacked by sea- +sickness--though who can avoid ennui?--I enter a boat with the same +indifference as I change horses; and as for danger, come when it +may, I dread it not sufficiently to have any anticipating fears. + +The road from Copenhagen was very good, through an open, flat +country that had little to recommend it to notice excepting the +cultivation, which gratified my heart more than my eye. + +I took a barge with a German baron who was hastening back from a +tour into Denmark, alarmed by the intelligence of the French having +passed the Rhine. His conversation beguiled the time, and gave a +sort of stimulus to my spirits, which had been growing more and more +languid ever since my return to Gothenburg; you know why. I had +often endeavoured to rouse myself to observation by reflecting that +I was passing through scenes which I should probably never see +again, and consequently ought not to omit observing. Still I fell +into reveries, thinking, by way of excuse, that enlargement of mind +and refined feelings are of little use but to barb the arrows of +sorrow which waylay us everywhere, eluding the sagacity of wisdom +and rendering principles unavailing, if considered as a breastwork +to secure our own hearts. + +Though we had not a direct wind, we were not detained more than +three hours and a half on the water, just long enough to give us an +appetite for our dinner. + +We travelled the remainder of the day and the following night in +company with the same party, the German gentleman whom I have +mentioned, his friend, and servant. The meetings at the post-houses +were pleasant to me, who usually heard nothing but strange tongues +around me. Marguerite and the child often fell asleep, and when +they were awake I might still reckon myself alone, as our train of +thoughts had nothing in common. Marguerite, it is true, was much +amused by the costume of the women, particularly by the pannier +which adorned both their heads and tails, and with great glee +recounted to me the stories she had treasured up for her family when +once more within the barriers of dear Paris, not forgetting, with +that arch, agreeable vanity peculiar to the French, which they +exhibit whilst half ridiculing it, to remind me of the importance +she should assume when she informed her friends of all her journeys +by sea and land, showing the pieces of money she had collected, and +stammering out a few foreign phrases, which she repeated in a true +Parisian accent. Happy thoughtlessness! ay, and enviable harmless +vanity, which thus produced a gaite du coeur worth all my +philosophy! + +The man I had hired at Copenhagen advised me to go round about +twenty miles to avoid passing the Little Belt excepting by a ferry, +as the wind was contrary. But the gentlemen overruled his +arguments, which we were all very sorry for afterwards, when we +found ourselves becalmed on the Little Belt ten hours, tacking about +without ceasing, to gain the shore. + +An oversight likewise made the passage appear much more tedious, +nay, almost insupportable. When I went on board at the Great Belt, +I had provided refreshments in case of detention, which remaining +untouched I thought not then any such precaution necessary for the +second passage, misled by the epithet of "little," though I have +since been informed that it is frequently the longest. This mistake +occasioned much vexation; for the child, at last, began to cry so +bitterly for bread, that fancy conjured up before me the wretched +Ugolino, with his famished children; and I, literally speaking, +enveloped myself in sympathetic horrors, augmented by every fear my +babe shed, from which I could not escape till we landed, and a +luncheon of bread and basin of milk routed the spectres of fancy. + +I then supped with my companions, with whom I was soon after to part +for ever--always a most melancholy death-like idea--a sort of +separation of soul; for all the regret which follows those from whom +fate separates us seems to be something torn from ourselves. These +were strangers I remember; yet when there is any originality in a +countenance, it takes its place in our memory, and we are sorry to +lose an acquaintance the moment he begins to interest us, through +picked up on the highway. There was, in fact, a degree of +intelligence, and still more sensibility, in the features and +conversation of one of the gentlemen, that made me regret the loss +of his society during the rest of the journey; for he was compelled +to travel post, by his desire to reach his estate before the arrival +of the French. + +This was a comfortable inn, as were several others I stopped at; but +the heavy sandy roads were very fatiguing, after the fine ones we +had lately skimmed over both in Sweden and Denmark. The country +resembled the most open part of England--laid out for corn rather +than grazing. It was pleasant, yet there was little in the +prospects to awaken curiosity, by displaying the peculiar +characteristics of a new country, which had so frequently stole me +from myself in Norway. We often passed over large unenclosed +tracts, not graced with trees, or at least very sparingly enlivened +by them, and the half-formed roads seemed to demand the landmarks, +set up in the waste, to prevent the traveller from straying far out +of his way, and plodding through the wearisome sand. + +The heaths were dreary, and had none of the wild charms of those of +Sweden and Norway to cheat time; neither the terrific rocks, nor +smiling herbage grateful to the sight and scented from afar, made us +forget their length. Still the country appeared much more populous, +and the towns, if not the farmhouses, were superior to those of +Norway. I even thought that the inhabitants of the former had more +intelligence--at least, I am sure they had more vivacity in their +countenances than I had seen during my northern tour: their senses +seemed awake to business and pleasure. I was therefore gratified by +hearing once more the busy hum of industrious men in the day, and +the exhilarating sounds of joy in the evening; for, as the weather +was still fine, the women and children were amusing themselves at +their doors, or walking under the trees, which in many places were +planted in the streets; and as most of the towns of any note were +situated on little bays or branches of the Baltic, their appearance +as we approached was often very picturesque, and, when we entered, +displayed the comfort and cleanliness of easy, if not the elegance +of opulent, circumstances. But the cheerfulness of the people in +the streets was particularly grateful to me, after having been +depressed by the deathlike silence of those of Denmark, where every +house made me think of a tomb. The dress of the peasantry is suited +to the climate; in short, none of that poverty and dirt appeared, at +the sight of which the heart sickens. + +As I only stopped to change horses, take refreshment, and sleep, I +had not an opportunity of knowing more of the country than +conclusions which the information gathered by my eyes enabled me to +draw, and that was sufficient to convince me that I should much +rather have lived in some of the towns I now pass through than in +any I had seen in Sweden or Denmark. The people struck me as having +arrived at that period when the faculties will unfold themselves; in +short; they look alive to improvement, neither congealed by +indolence, nor bent down by wretchedness to servility. + +From the previous impression--I scarcely can trace whence I received +it--I was agreeably surprised to perceive such an appearance of +comfort in this part of Germany. I had formed a conception of the +tyranny of the petty potentates that had thrown a gloomy veil over +the face of the whole country in my imagination, that cleared away +like the darkness of night before the sun as I saw the reality. I +should probably have discovered much lurking misery, the consequence +of ignorant oppression, no doubt, had I had time to inquire into +particulars; but it did not stalk abroad and infect the surface over +which my eye glanced. Yes, I am persuaded that a considerable +degree of general knowledge pervades this country, for it is only +from the exercise of the mind that the body acquires the activity +from which I drew these inferences. Indeed, the King of Denmark's +German dominions--Holstein--appeared to me far superior to any other +part of his kingdom which had fallen under my view; and the robust +rustics to have their muscles braced, instead of the, as it were, +lounge of the Danish peasantry. + +Arriving at Sleswick, the residence of Prince Charles of Hesse- +Cassel, the sight of the soldiers recalled all the unpleasing ideas +of German despotism, which imperceptibly vanished as I advanced into +the country. I viewed, with a mixture of pity and horror, these +beings training to be sold to slaughter, or be slaughtered, and fell +into reflections on an old opinion of mine, that it is the +preservation of the species, not of individuals, which appears to be +the design of the Deity throughout the whole of Nature. Blossoms +come forth only to be blighted; fish lay their spawn where it will +be devoured; and what a large portion of the human race are born +merely to be swept prematurely away! Does not this waste of budding +life emphatically assert that it is not men, but Man, whose +preservation is so necessary to the completion of the grand plan of +the universe? Children peep into existence, suffer, and die; men +play like moths about a candle, and sink into the flame; war, and +"the thousand ills which flesh is heir to," mow them down in shoals; +whilst the more cruel prejudices of society palsy existence, +introducing not less sure though slower decay. + +The castle was heavy and gloomy, yet the grounds about it were laid +out with some taste; a walk, winding under the shade of lofty trees, +led to a regularly built and animated town. + +I crossed the drawbridge, and entered to see this shell of a court +in miniature, mounting ponderous stairs--it would be a solecism to +say a flight--up which a regiment of men might have marched, +shouldering their firelocks to exercise in vast galleries, where all +the generations of the Princes of Hesse-Cassel might have been +mustered rank and file, though not the phantoms of all the wretched +they had bartered to support their state, unless these airy +substances could shrink and expand, like Milton's devils, to suit +the occasion. + +The sight of the presence-chamber, and of the canopy to shade the +fauteuil which aped a throne, made me smile. All the world is a +stage, thought I; and few are there in it who do not play the part +they have learnt by rote; and those who do not, seem marks set up to +be pelted at by fortune, or rather as sign-posts which point out the +road to others, whilst forced to stand still themselves amidst the +mud and dust. + +Waiting for our horses, we were amused by observing the dress of the +women, which was very grotesque and unwieldy. The false notion of +beauty which prevails here as well as in Denmark, I should think +very inconvenient in summer, as it consists in giving a rotundity to +a certain part of the body, not the most slim, when Nature has done +her part. This Dutch prejudice often leads them to toil under the +weight of some ten or a dozen petticoats, which, with an enormous +basket, literally speaking, as a bonnet, or a straw hat of +dimensions equally gigantic, almost completely conceal the human +form as well as face divine, often worth showing; still they looked +clean, and tripped along, as it were, before the wind, with a weight +of tackle that I could scarcely have lifted. Many of the country +girls I met appeared to me pretty--that is, to have fine +complexions, sparkling eyes, and a kind of arch, hoyden playfulness +which distinguishes the village coquette. The swains, in their +Sunday trim, attended some of these fair ones in a more slouching +pace, though their dress was not so cumbersome. The women seem to +take the lead in polishing the manners everywhere, this being the +only way to better their condition. + +From what I have seen throughout my journey, I do not think the +situation of the poor in England is much, if at all, superior to +that of the same class in different parts of the world; and in +Ireland I am sure it is much inferior. I allude to the former state +of England; for at present the accumulation of national wealth only +increases the cares of the poor, and hardens the hearts of the rich, +in spite of the highly extolled rage for almsgiving. + +You know that I have always been an enemy to what is termed charity, +because timid bigots, endeavouring thus to cover their sins, do +violence to justice, till, acting the demigod, they forget that they +are men. And there are others who do not even think of laying up a +treasure in heaven, whose benevolence is merely tyranny in disguise; +they assist the most worthless, because the most servile, and term +them helpless only in proportion to their fawning. + +After leaving Sleswick, we passed through several pretty towns; +Itzchol particularly pleased me; and the country, still wearing the +same aspect, was improved by the appearance of more trees and +enclosures. But what gratified me most was the population. I was +weary of travelling four or five hours, never meeting a carriage, +and scarcely a peasant; and then to stop at such wretched huts as I +had seen in Sweden was surely sufficient to chill any heart awake to +sympathy, and throw a gloom over my favourite subject of +contemplation, the future improvement of the world. + +The farmhouses, likewise, with the huge stables, into which we drove +whilst the horses were putting to or baiting, were very clean and +commodious. The rooms, with a door into this hall-like stable and +storehouse in one, were decent; and there was a compactness in the +appearance of the whole family lying thus snugly together under the +same roof that carried my fancy back to the primitive times, which +probably never existed with such a golden lustre as the animated +imagination lends when only able to seize the prominent features. + +At one of them, a pretty young woman, with languishing eyes of +celestial blue, conducted us into a very neat parlour, and observing +how loosely and lightly my little girl was clad, began to pity her +in the sweetest accents, regardless of the rosy down of health on +her cheeks. This same damsel was dressed--it was Sunday--with taste +and even coquetry, in a cotton jacket, ornamented with knots of blue +ribbon, fancifully disposed to give life to her fine complexion. I +loitered a little to admire her, for every gesture was graceful; +and, amidst the other villagers, she looked like a garden lily +suddenly rearing its head amongst grain and corn-flowers. As the +house was small, I gave her a piece of money rather larger than it +was my custom to give to the female waiters--for I could not prevail +on her to sit down--which she received with a smile; yet took care +to give it, in my presence, to a girl who had brought the child a +slice of bread; by which I perceived that she was the mistress or +daughter of the house, and without doubt the belle of the village. +There was, in short, an appearance of cheerful industry, and of that +degree of comfort which shut out misery, in all the little hamlets +as I approached Hamburg, which agreeably surprised me. + +The short jackets which the women wear here, as well as in France, +are not only more becoming to the person, but much better calculated +for women who have rustic or household employments than the long +gowns worn in England, dangling in the dirt. + +All the inns on the road were better than I expected, though the +softness of the beds still harassed me, and prevented my finding the +rest I was frequently in want of, to enable me to bear the fatigue +of the next day. The charges were moderate, and the people very +civil, with a certain honest hilarity and independent spirit in +their manner, which almost made me forget that they were innkeepers, +a set of men--waiters, hostesses, chambermaids, &c., down to the +ostler, whose cunning servility in England I think particularly +disgusting. + +The prospect of Hamburg at a distance, as well as the fine road +shaded with trees, led me to expect to see a much pleasanter city +than I found. + +I was aware of the difficulty of obtaining lodgings, even at the +inns, on account of the concourse of strangers at present resorting +to such a centrical situation, and determined to go to Altona the +next day to seek for an abode, wanting now only rest. But even for +a single night we were sent from house to house, and found at last a +vacant room to sleep in, which I should have turned from with +disgust had there been a choice. + +I scarcely know anything that produces more disagreeable sensations, +I mean to speak of the passing cares, the recollection of which +afterwards enlivens our enjoyments, than those excited by little +disasters of this kind. After a long journey, with our eyes +directed to some particular spot, to arrive and find nothing as it +should be is vexatious, and sinks the agitated spirits. But I, who +received the cruellest of disappointments last spring in returning +to my home, term such as these emphatically passing cares. Know you +of what materials some hearts are made? I play the child, and weep +at the recollection--for the grief is still fresh that stunned as +well as wounded me--yet never did drops of anguish like these bedew +the cheeks of infantine innocence--and why should they mine, that +never was stained by a blush of guilt? Innocent and credulous as a +child, why have I not the same happy thoughtlessness? Adieu! + + + +LETTER XXIII. + + + +I might have spared myself the disagreeable feelings I experienced +the first night of my arrival at Hamburg, leaving the open air to be +shut up in noise and dirt, had I gone immediately to Altona, where a +lodging had been prepared for me by a gentleman from whom I received +many civilities during my journey. I wished to have travelled in +company with him from Copenhagen, because I found him intelligent +and friendly, but business obliged him to hurry forward, and I wrote +to him on the subject of accommodations as soon as I was informed of +the difficulties I might have to encounter to house myself and brat. + +It is but a short and pleasant walk from Hamburg to Altona, under +the shade of several rows of trees, and this walk is the more +agreeable after quitting the rough pavement of either place. + +Hamburg is an ill, close-built town, swarming with inhabitants, and, +from what I could learn, like all the other free towns, governed in +a manner which bears hard on the poor, whilst narrowing the minds of +the rich; the character of the man is lost in the Hamburger. Always +afraid of the encroachments of their Danish neighbours, that is, +anxiously apprehensive of their sharing the golden harvest of +commerce with them, or taking a little of the trade off their hands- +-though they have more than they know what to do with--they are ever +on the watch, till their very eyes lose all expression, excepting +the prying glance of suspicion. + +The gates of Hamburg are shut at seven in the winter and nine in the +summer, lest some strangers, who come to traffic in Hamburg, should +prefer living, and consequently--so exactly do they calculate--spend +their money out of the walls of the Hamburger's world. Immense +fortunes have been acquired by the per-cents. arising from +commissions nominally only two and a half, but mounted to eight or +ten at least by the secret manoeuvres of trade, not to include the +advantage of purchasing goods wholesale in common with contractors, +and that of having so much money left in their hands, not to play +with, I can assure you. Mushroom fortunes have started up during +the war; the men, indeed, seem of the species of the fungus, and the +insolent vulgarity which a sudden influx of wealth usually produces +in common minds is here very conspicuous, which contrasts with the +distresses of many of the emigrants, "fallen, fallen from their high +estate," such are the ups and downs of fortune's wheel. Many +emigrants have met, with fortitude, such a total change of +circumstances as scarcely can be paralleled, retiring from a palace +to an obscure lodging with dignity; but the greater number glide +about, the ghosts of greatness, with the Croix de St. Louis +ostentatiously displayed, determined to hope, "though heaven and +earth their wishes crossed." Still good breeding points out the +gentleman, and sentiments of honour and delicacy appear the +offspring of greatness of soul when compared with the grovelling +views of the sordid accumulators of cent. per cent. + +Situation seems to be the mould in which men's characters are +formed: so much so, inferring from what I have lately seen, that I +mean not to be severe when I add--previously asking why priests are +in general cunning and statesmen false?--that men entirely devoted +to commerce never acquire or lose all taste and greatness of mind. +An ostentatious display of wealth without elegance, and a greedy +enjoyment of pleasure without sentiment, embrutes them till they +term all virtue of an heroic cast, romantic attempts at something +above our nature, and anxiety about the welfare of others, a search +after misery in which we have no concern. But you will say that I +am growing bitter, perhaps personal. Ah! shall I whisper to you, +that you yourself are strangely altered since you have entered +deeply into commerce--more than you are aware of; never allowing +yourself to reflect, and keeping your mind, or rather passions, in a +continual state of agitation? Nature has given you talents which +lie dormant, or are wasted in ignoble pursuits. You will rouse +yourself and shake off the vile dust that obscures you, or my +understanding, as well as my heart, deceives me egregiously--only +tell me when. But to go farther afield. + +Madame la Fayette left Altona the day I arrived, to endeavour, at +Vienna, to obtain the enlargement of her husband, or permission to +share his prison. She lived in a lodging up two pairs of stairs, +without a servant, her two daughters cheerfully assisting; choosing, +as well as herself, to descend to anything before unnecessary +obligations. During her prosperity, and consequent idleness, she +did not, I am told, enjoy a good state of health, having a train of +nervous complaints, which, though they have not a name, unless the +significant word ennui be borrowed, had an existence in the higher +French circles; but adversity and virtuous exertions put these ills +to flight, and dispossessed her of a devil who deserves the +appellation of legion. + +Madame Genus also resided at Altona some time, under an assumed +name, with many other sufferers of less note though higher rank. It +is, in fact, scarcely possible to stir out without meeting +interesting countenances, every lineament of which tells you that +they have seen better days. + +At Hamburg, I was informed, a duke had entered into partnership with +his cook, who becoming a traiteur, they were both comfortably +supported by the profit arising from his industry. Many noble +instances of the attachment of servants to their unfortunate masters +have come to my knowledge, both here and in France, and touched my +heart, the greatest delight of which is to discover human virtue. + +At Altona, a president of one of the ci-devant parliaments keeps an +ordinary, in the French style; and his wife with cheerful dignity +submits to her fate, though she is arrived at an age when people +seldom relinquish their prejudices. A girl who waits there brought +a dozen double louis d'or concealed in her clothes, at the risk of +her life, from France, which she preserves lest sickness or any +other distress should overtake her mistress, "who," she observed, +"was not accustomed to hardships." This house was particularly +recommended to me by an acquaintance of yours, the author of the +"American Farmer's Letters." I generally dine in company with him: +and the gentleman whom I have already mentioned is often diverted by +our declamations against commerce, when we compare notes respecting +the characteristics of the Hamburgers. "Why, madam," said he to me +one day, "you will not meet with a man who has any calf to his leg; +body and soul, muscles and heart, are equally shrivelled up by a +thirst of gain. There is nothing generous even in their youthful +passions; profit is their only stimulus, and calculations the sole +employment of their faculties, unless we except some gross animal +gratifications which, snatched at spare moments, tend still more to +debase the character, because, though touched by his tricking wand, +they have all the arts, without the wit, of the wing-footed god." + +Perhaps you may also think us too severe; but I must add that the +more I saw of the manners of Hamburg, the more was I confirmed in my +opinion relative to the baleful effect of extensive speculations on +the moral character. Men are strange machines; and their whole +system of morality is in general held together by one grand +principle which loses its force the moment they allow themselves to +break with impunity over the bounds which secured their self- +respect. A man ceases to love humanity, and then individuals, as he +advances in the chase after wealth; as one clashes with his +interest, the other with his pleasures: to business, as it is +termed, everything must give way; nay, is sacrificed, and all the +endearing charities of citizen, husband, father, brother, become +empty names. But--but what? Why, to snap the chain of thought, I +must say farewell. Cassandra was not the only prophetess whose +warning voice has been disregarded. How much easier it is to meet +with love in the world than affection! + +Yours sincerely. + + + +LETTER XXIV. + + + +My lodgings at Altona are tolerably comfortable, though not in any +proportion to the price I pay; but, owing to the present +circumstances, all the necessaries of life are here extravagantly +dear. Considering it as a temporary residence, the chief +inconvenience of which I am inclined to complain is the rough +streets that must be passed before Marguerite and the child can +reach a level road. + +The views of the Elbe in the vicinity of the town are pleasant, +particularly as the prospects here afford so little variety. I +attempted to descend, and walk close to the water's edge; but there +was no path; and the smell of glue, hanging to dry, an extensive +manufactory of which is carried on close to the beach, I found +extremely disagreeable. But to commerce everything must give way; +profit and profit are the only speculations--"double--double, toil +and trouble." I have seldom entered a shady walk without being soon +obliged to turn aside to make room for the rope-makers; and the only +tree I have seen, that appeared to be planted by the hand of taste, +is in the churchyard, to shade the tomb of the poet Klopstock's +wife. + +Most of the merchants have country houses to retire to during the +summer; and many of them are situated on the banks of the Elbe, +where they have the pleasure of seeing the packet-boats arrive--the +periods of most consequence to divide their week. + +The moving picture, consisting of large vessels and small craft, +which are continually changing their position with the tide, renders +this noble river, the vital stream of Hamburg, very interesting; and +the windings have sometimes a very fine effect, two or three turns +being visible at once, intersecting the flat meadows; a sudden bend +often increasing the magnitude of the river; and the silvery +expanse, scarcely gliding, though bearing on its bosom so much +treasure, looks for a moment like a tranquil lake. + +Nothing can be stronger than the contrast which this flat country +and strand afford, compared with the mountains and rocky coast I +have lately dwelt so much among. In fancy I return to a favourite +spot, where I seemed to have retired from man and wretchedness; but +the din of trade drags me back to all the care I left behind, when +lost in sublime emotions. Rocks aspiring towards the heavens, and, +as it were, shutting out sorrow, surrounded me, whilst peace +appeared to steal along the lake to calm my bosom, modulating the +wind that agitated the neighbouring poplars. Now I hear only an +account of the tricks of trade, or listen to the distressful tale of +some victim of ambition. + +The hospitality of Hamburg is confined to Sunday invitations to the +country houses I have mentioned, when dish after dish smokes upon +the board, and the conversation ever flowing in the muddy channel of +business, it is not easy to obtain any appropriate information. Had +I intended to remain here some time, or had my mind been more alive +to general inquiries, I should have endeavoured to have been +introduced to some characters not so entirely immersed in commercial +affairs, though in this whirlpool of gain it is not very easy to +find any but the wretched or supercilious emigrants, who are not +engaged in pursuits which, in my eyes, appear as dishonourable as +gambling. The interests of nations are bartered by speculating +merchants. My God! with what sang froid artful trains of corruption +bring lucrative commissions into particular hands, disregarding the +relative situation of different countries, and can much common +honesty be expected in the discharge of trusts obtained by fraud? +But this entre nous. + +During my present journey, and whilst residing in France, I have had +an opportunity of peeping behind the scenes of what are vulgarly +termed great affairs, only to discover the mean machinery which has +directed many transactions of moment. The sword has been merciful, +compared with the depredations made on human life by contractors and +by the swarm of locusts who have battened on the pestilence they +spread abroad. These men, like the owners of negro ships, never +smell on their money the blood by which it has been gained, but +sleep quietly in their beds, terming such occupations lawful +callings; yet the lightning marks not their roofs to thunder +conviction on them "and to justify the ways of God to man." + +Why should I weep for myself? "Take, O world! thy much indebted +tear!" Adieu! + + + +LETTER XXV. + + + +There is a pretty little French theatre at Altona, and the actors +are much superior to those I saw at Copenhagen. The theatres at +Hamburg are not open yet, but will very shortly, when the shutting +of the gates at seven o'clock forces the citizens to quit their +country houses. But, respecting Hamburg, I shall not be able to +obtain much more information, as I have determined to sail with the +first fair wind for England. + +The presence of the French army would have rendered my intended tour +through Germany, in my way to Switzerland, almost impracticable, had +not the advancing season obliged me to alter my plan. Besides, +though Switzerland is the country which for several years I have +been particularly desirous to visit, I do not feel inclined to +ramble any farther this year; nay, I am weary of changing the scene, +and quitting people and places the moment they begin to interest me. +This also is vanity! + +DOVER. + +I left this letter unfinished, as I was hurried on board, and now I +have only to tell you that, at the sight of Dover cliffs, I wondered +how anybody could term them grand; they appear so insignificant to +me, after those I had seen in Sweden and Norway. + +Adieu! My spirit of observation seems to be fled, and I have been +wandering round this dirty place, literally speaking, to kill time, +though the thoughts I would fain fly from lie too close to my heart +to be easily shook off, or even beguiled, by any employment, except +that of preparing for my journey to London. + +God bless you! + +MARY. + + + +APPENDIX. + + + +Private business and cares have frequently so absorbed me as to +prevent my obtaining all the information during this journey which +the novelty of the scenes would have afforded, had my attention been +continually awake to inquiry. This insensibility to present objects +I have often had occasion to lament since I have been preparing +these letters for the press; but, as a person of any thought +naturally considers the history of a strange country to contrast the +former with the present state of its manners, a conviction of the +increasing knowledge and happiness of the kingdoms I passed through +was perpetually the result of my comparative reflections. + +The poverty of the poor in Sweden renders the civilisation very +partial, and slavery has retarded the improvement of every class in +Denmark, yet both are advancing; and the gigantic evils of despotism +and anarchy have in a great measure vanished before the meliorating +manners of Europe. Innumerable evils still remain, it is true, to +afflict the humane investigator, and hurry the benevolent reformer +into a labyrinth of error, who aims at destroying prejudices quickly +which only time can root out, as the public opinion becomes subject +to reason. + +An ardent affection for the human race makes enthusiastic characters +eager to produce alteration in laws and governments prematurely. To +render them useful and permanent, they must be the growth of each +particular soil, and the gradual fruit of the ripening understanding +of the nation, matured by time, not forced by an unnatural +fermentation. And, to convince me that such a change is gaining +ground with accelerating pace, the view I have had of society during +my northern journey would have been sufficient had I not previously +considered the grand causes which combine to carry mankind forward +and diminish the sum of human misery. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg Etext of Letters on Sweden, etc., by Wollstonecraft + diff --git a/old/ltswd10.zip b/old/ltswd10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..07fa674 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/ltswd10.zip |