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diff --git a/old/3529.txt b/old/3529.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9d33f60 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/3529.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5410 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, 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 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 + + + + + +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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