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diff --git a/old/ltswd10.txt b/old/ltswd10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8f7bef1 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/ltswd10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5679 @@ +Project Gutenberg Etext of Letters on Sweden, etc., by Wollstonecraft +#3 in our series by Mary Wollstonecraft + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.05/20/01*END* +[Portions of this header are copyright (C) 2001 by Michael S. Hart +and may be reprinted only when these Etexts are free of all fees.] +[Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be used in any sales +of Project Gutenberg Etexts or other materials be they hardware or +software or any other related product without express permission.] + + + + + +This etext was produced by David Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk, +from the 1889 Cassell & Company edition. + + + + + +LETTERS ON SWEDEN, NORWAY, AND DENMARK + +by Mary Wollstonecraft + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + + +Mary Wollstonecraft was born on the 27th of April, 1759. Her +father--a quick-tempered and unsettled man, capable of beating wife, +or child, or dog--was the son of a manufacturer who made money in +Spitalfields, when Spitalfields was prosperous. Her mother was a +rigorous Irishwoman, of the Dixons of Ballyshannon. Edward John +Wollstonecraft--of whose children, besides Mary, the second child, +three sons and two daughters lived to be men and women--in course of +the got rid of about ten thousand pounds, which had been left him by +his father. He began to get rid of it by farming. Mary +Wollstonecraft's first-remembered home was in a farm at Epping. +When she was five years old the family moved to another farm, by the +Chelmsford Road. When she was between six and seven years old they +moved again, to the neighbourhood of Barking. There they remained +three years before the next move, which was to a farm near Beverley, +in Yorkshire. In Yorkshire they remained six years, and Mary +Wollstonecraft had there what education fell to her lot between the +ages of ten and sixteen. Edward John Wollstonecraft then gave up +farming to venture upon a commercial speculation. This caused him +to live for a year and a half at Queen's Row, Hoxton. His daughter +Mary was then sixteen; and while at Hoxton she had her education +advanced by the friendly care of a deformed clergyman--a Mr. Clare-- +who lived next door, and stayed so much at home that his one pair of +shoes had lasted him for fourteen years. + +But Mary Wollstonecraft's chief friend at this time was an +accomplished girl only two years older than herself, who maintained +her father, mother, and family by skill in drawing. Her name was +Frances Blood, and she especially, by her example and direct +instruction, drew out her young friend's powers. In 1776, Mary +Wollstonecraft's father, a rolling stone, rolled into Wales. Again +he was a farmer. Next year again he was a Londoner; and Mary had +influence enough to persuade him to choose a house at Walworth, +where she would be near to her friend Fanny. Then, however, the +conditions of her home life caused her to be often on the point of +going away to earn a living for herself. In 1778, when she was +nineteen, Mary Wollstonecraft did leave home, to take a situation as +companion with a rich tradesman's widow at Bath, of whom it was said +that none of her companions could stay with her. Mary +Wollstonecraft, nevertheless, stayed two years with the difficult +widow, and made herself respected. Her mother's failing health then +caused Mary to return to her. The father was then living at +Enfield, and trying to save the small remainder of his means by not +venturing upon any business at all. The mother died after long +suffering, wholly dependent on her daughter Mary's constant care. +The mother's last words were often quoted by Mary Wollstonecraft in +her own last years of distress--"A little patience, and all will be +over." + +After the mother's death, Mary Wollstonecraft left home again, to +live with her friend, Fanny Blood, who was at Walham Green. In 1782 +she went to nurse a married sister through a dangerous illness. The +father's need of support next pressed upon her. He had spent not +only his own money, but also the little that had been specially +reserved for his children. It is said to be the privilege of a +passionate man that he always gets what he wants; he gets to be +avoided, and they never find a convenient corner of their own who +shut themselves out from the kindly fellowship of life. + +In 1783 Mary Wollstonecraft--aged twenty-four--with two of her +sisters, joined Fanny Blood in setting up a day school at Islington, +which was removed in a few months to Newington Green. Early in 1785 +Fanny Blood, far gone in consumption, sailed for Lisbon to marry an +Irish surgeon who was settled there. After her marriage it was +evident that she had but a few months to live; Mary Wollstonecraft, +deaf to all opposing counsel, then left her school, and, with help +of money from a friendly woman, she went out to nurse her, and was +by her when she died. Mary Wollstonecraft remembered her loss ten +years afterwards in these "Letters from Sweden and Norway," when she +wrote: "The grave has closed over a dear friend, the friend of my +youth; still she is present with me, and I hear her soft voice +warbling as I stray over the heath." + +Mary Wollstonecraft left Lisbon for England late in December, 1785. +When she came back she found Fanny's poor parents anxious to go back +to Ireland; and as she had been often told that she could earn by +writing, she wrote a pamphlet of 162 small pages--"Thoughts on the +Education of Daughters"--and got ten pounds for it. This she gave +to her friend's parents to enable them to go back to their kindred. +In all she did there is clear evidence of an ardent, generous, +impulsive nature. One day her friend Fanny Blood had repined at the +unhappy surroundings in the home she was maintaining for her father +and mother, and longed for a little home of her own to do her work +in. Her friend quietly found rooms, got furniture together, and +told her that her little home was ready; she had only to walk into +it. Then it seemed strange to Mary Wollstonecraft that Fanny Blood +was withheld by thoughts that had not been uppermost in the mood of +complaint. She thought her friend irresolute, where she had herself +been generously rash. Her end would have been happier had she been +helped, as many are, by that calm influence of home in which some +knowledge of the world passes from father and mother to son and +daughter, without visible teaching and preaching, in easiest +companionship of young and old from day to day. + +The little payment for her pamphlet on the "Education of Daughters" +caused Mary Wollstonecraft to think more seriously of earning by her +pen. The pamphlet seems also to have advanced her credit as a +teacher. After giving up her day school, she spent some weeks at +Eton with the Rev. Mr. Prior, one of the masters there, who +recommended her as governess to the daughters of Lord Kingsborough, +an Irish viscount, eldest son of the Earl of Kingston. Her way of +teaching was by winning love, and she obtained the warm affection of +the eldest of her pupils, who became afterwards Countess Mount- +Cashel. In the summer of 1787, Lord Kingsborough's family, +including Mary Wollstonecraft, was at Bristol Hot-wells, before +going to the Continent. While there, Mary Wollstonecraft wrote her +little tale published as "Mary, a Fiction," wherein there was much +based on the memory of her own friendship for Fanny Blood. + +The publisher of Mary Wollstonecraft's "Thoughts on the Education of +Daughters" was the same Joseph Johnson who in 1785 was the publisher +of Cowper's "Task." With her little story written and a little +money saved, the resolve to live by her pen could now be carried +out. Mary Wollstonecraft, therefore, parted from her friends at +Bristol, went to London, saw her publisher, and frankly told him her +determination. He met her with fatherly kindness, and received her +as a guest in his house while she was making her arrangements. At +Michaelmas, 1787, she settled in a house in George Street, on the +Surrey side of Blackfriars Bridge. There she produced a little book +for children, of "Original Stories from Real Life," and earned by +drudgery for Joseph Johnson. She translated, she abridged, she made +a volume of Selections, and she wrote for an "Analytical Review," +which Mr. Johnson founded in the middle of the year 1788. Among the +books translated by her was Necker "On the Importance of Religious +Opinions." Among the books abridged by her was Salzmann's "Elements +of Morality." With all this hard work she lived as sparely as she +could, that she might help her family. She supported her father. +That she might enable her sisters to earn their living as teachers, +she sent one of them to Paris, and maintained her there for two +years; the other she placed in a school near London as parlour- +boarder until she was admitted into it as a paid teacher. She +placed one brother at Woolwich to qualify for the Navy, and he +obtained a lieutenant's commission. For another brother, articled +to an attorney whom he did not like, she obtained a transfer of +indentures; and when it became clear that his quarrel was more with +law than with the lawyers, she placed him with a farmer before +fitting him out for emigration to America. She then sent him, so +well prepared for his work there that he prospered well. She tried +even to disentangle her father's affairs; but the confusion in them +was beyond her powers of arrangement. Added to all this faithful +work, she took upon herself the charge of an orphan child, seven +years old, whose mother had been in the number of her friends. That +was the life of Mary Wollstonecraft, thirty years old, in 1789, the +year of the Fall of the Bastille; the noble life now to be touched +in its enthusiasms by the spirit of the Revolution, to be caught in +the great storm, shattered, and lost among its wrecks. + +To Burke's attack on the French Revolution Mary Wollstonecraft wrote +an Answer--one of many answers provoked by it--that attracted much +attention. This was followed by her "Vindication of the Rights of +Woman while the air was full of declamation on the "Rights of Man." +The claims made in this little book were in advance of the opinion +of that day, but they are claims that have in our day been conceded. +They are certainly not revolutionary in the opinion of the world +that has become a hundred years older since the book was written. + +At this the Mary Wollstonecraft had moved to rooms in Store Street, +Bedford Square. She was fascinated by Fuseli the painter, and he +was a married man. She felt herself to be too strongly drawn +towards him, and she went to Paris at the close of the year 1792, to +break the spell. She felt lonely and sad, and was not the happier +for being in a mansion lent to her, from which the owner was away, +and in which she lived surrounded by his servants. Strong womanly +instincts were astir within her, and they were not all wise folk who +had been drawn around her by her generous enthusiasm for the new +hopes of the world, that made it then, as Wordsworth felt, a very +heaven to the young. + +Four months after she had gone to Paris, Mary Wollstonecraft met at +the house of a merchant, with whose wife she had become intimate, an +American named Gilbert Imlay. He won her affections. That was in +April, 1793. He had no means, and she had home embarrassments, for +which she was unwilling that he should become in any way +responsible. A part of the new dream in some minds then was of a +love too pure to need or bear the bondage of authority. The mere +forced union of marriage ties implied, it was said, a distrust of +fidelity. When Gilbert Imlay would have married Mary +Wollstonecraft, she herself refused to bind him; she would keep him +legally exempt from her responsibilities towards the father, +sisters, brothers, whom she was supporting. She took his name and +called herself his wife, when the French Convention, indignant at +the conduct of the British Government, issue a decree from the +effects of which she would escape as the wife of a citizen of the +United States. But she did not marry. She witnessed many of the +horrors that came of the loosened passions of an untaught populace. +A child was born to her--a girl whom she named after the dead friend +of her own girlhood. And then she found that she had leant upon a +reed. She was neglected; and was at last forsaken. Having sent her +to London, Imlay there visited her, to explain himself away. She +resolved on suicide, and in dissuading her from that he gave her +hope again. He needed somebody who had good judgment, and who cared +for his interests, to represent him in some business affairs in +Norway. She undertook to act for him, and set out on the voyage +only a week after she had determined to destroy herself. + +The interest of this book which describes her travel is quickened by +a knowledge of the heart-sorrow that underlies it all. Gilbert +Imlay had promised to meet her upon her return, and go with her to +Switzerland. But the letters she had from him in Sweden and Norway +were cold, and she came back to find that she was wholly forsaken +for an actress from a strolling company of players. Then she went +up the river to drown herself. She paced the road at Putney on an +October night, in 1795, in heavy rain, until her clothes were +drenched, that she might sink more surely, and then threw herself +from the top of Putney Bridge. + +She was rescued, and lived on with deadened spirit. In 1796 these +"Letters from Sweden and Norway" were published. Early in 1797 she +was married to William Godwin. On the 10th of September in the same +year, at the age of thirty-eight, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin died, +after the birth of the daughter who lived to become the wife of +Shelley. The mother also would have lived, if a womanly feeling, in +itself to be respected, had not led her also to unwise departure +from the customs of the world. Peace be to her memory. None but +kind thoughts can dwell upon the life of this too faithful disciple +of Rousseau. + +H. M. + + + +LETTERS WRITTEN DURING A SHORT RESIDENCE IN SWEDEN, NORWAY, AND +DENMARK. + + + +LETTER I. + + + +Eleven days of weariness on board a vessel not intended for the +accommodation of passengers have so exhausted my spirits, to say +nothing of the other causes, with which you are already sufficiently +acquainted, that it is with some difficulty I adhere to my +determination of giving you my observations, as I travel through new +scenes, whilst warmed with the impression they have made on me. + +The captain, as I mentioned to you, promised to put me on shore at +Arendall or Gothenburg in his way to Elsineur, but contrary winds +obliged us to pass both places during the night. In the morning, +however, after we had lost sight of the entrance of the latter bay, +the vessel was becalmed; and the captain, to oblige me, hanging out +a signal for a pilot, bore down towards the shore. + +My attention was particularly directed to the lighthouse, and you +can scarcely imagine with what anxiety I watched two long hours for +a boat to emancipate me; still no one appeared. Every cloud that +flitted on the horizon was hailed as a liberator, till approaching +nearer, like most of the prospects sketched by hope, it dissolved +under the eye into disappointment. + +Weary of expectation, I then began to converse with the captain on +the subject, and from the tenor of the information my questions drew +forth I soon concluded that if I waited for a boat I had little +chance of getting on shore at this place. Despotism, as is usually +the case, I found had here cramped the industry of man. The pilots +being paid by the king, and scantily, they will not run into any +danger, or even quit their hovels, if they can possibly avoid it, +only to fulfil what is termed their duty. How different is it on +the English coast, where, in the most stormy weather, boats +immediately hail you, brought out by the expectation of +extraordinary profit. + +Disliking to sail for Elsineur, and still more to lie at anchor or +cruise about the coast for several days, I exerted all my rhetoric +to prevail on the captain to let me have the ship's boat, and though +I added the most forcible of arguments, I for a long the addressed +him in vain. + +It is a kind of rule at sea not to send out a boat. The captain was +a good-natured man; but men with common minds seldom break through +general rules. Prudence is ever the resort of weakness, and they +rarely go as far as they may in any undertaking who are determined +not to go beyond it on any account. If, however, I had some trouble +with the captain, I did not lose much time with the sailors, for +they, all alacrity, hoisted out the boat the moment I obtained +permission, and promised to row me to the lighthouse. + +I did not once allow myself to doubt of obtaining a conveyance from +thence round the rocks--and then away for Gothenburg--confinement is +so unpleasant. + +The day was fine, and I enjoyed the water till, approaching the +little island, poor Marguerite, whose timidity always acts as a +feeler before her adventuring spirit, began to wonder at our not +seeing any inhabitants. I did not listen to her. But when, on +landing, the same silence prevailed, I caught the alarm, which was +not lessened by the sight of two old men whom we forced out of their +wretched hut. Scarcely human in their appearance, we with +difficulty obtained an intelligible reply to our questions, the +result of which was that they had no boat, and were not allowed to +quit their post on any pretence. But they informed us that there +was at the other side, eight or ten miles over, a pilot's dwelling. +Two guineas tempted the sailors to risk the captain's displeasure, +and once more embark to row me over. + +The weather was pleasant, and the appearance of the shore so grand +that I should have enjoyed the two hours it took to reach it, but +for the fatigue which was too visible in the countenances of the +sailors, who, instead of uttering a complaint, were, with the +thoughtless hilarity peculiar to them, joking about the possibility +of the captain's taking advantage of a slight westerly breeze, which +was springing up, to sail without them. Yet, in spite of their good +humour, I could not help growing uneasy when the shore, receding, as +it were, as we advanced, seemed to promise no end to their toil. +This anxiety increased when, turning into the most picturesque bay I +ever saw, my eyes sought in vain for the vestige of a human +habitation. Before I could determine what step to take in such a +dilemma (for I could not bear to think of returning to the ship), +the sight of a barge relieved me, and we hastened towards it for +information. We were immediately directed to pass some jutting +rocks, when we should see a pilot's hut. + +There was a solemn silence in this scene which made itself be felt. +The sunbeams that played on the ocean, scarcely ruffled by the +lightest breeze, contrasted with the huge dark rocks, that looked +like the rude materials of creation forming the barrier of unwrought +space, forcibly struck me, but I should not have been sorry if the +cottage had not appeared equally tranquil. Approaching a retreat +where strangers, especially women, so seldom appeared, I wondered +that curiosity did not bring the beings who inhabited it to the +windows or door. I did not immediately recollect that men who +remain so near the brute creation, as only to exert themselves to +find the food necessary to sustain life, have little or no +imagination to call forth the curiosity necessary to fructify the +faint glimmerings of mind which entitle them to rank as lords of the +creation. Had they either they could not contentedly remain rooted +in the clods they so indolently cultivate. + +Whilst the sailors went to seek for the sluggish inhabitants, these +conclusions occurred to me; and, recollecting the extreme fondness +which the Parisians ever testify for novelty, their very curiosity +appeared to me a proof of the progress they had made in refinement. +Yes, in the art of living--in the art of escaping from the cares +which embarrass the first steps towards the attainment of the +pleasures of social life. + +The pilots informed the sailors that they were under the direction +of a lieutenant retired from the service, who spoke English; adding +that they could do nothing without his orders, and even the offer of +money could hardly conquer their laziness and prevail on them to +accompany us to his dwelling. They would not go with me alone, +which I wanted them to have done, because I wished to dismiss the +sailors as soon as possible. Once more we rowed off, they following +tardily, till, turning round another bold protuberance of the rocks, +we saw a boat making towards us, and soon learnt that it was the +lieutenant himself, coming with some earnestness to see who we were. + +To save the sailors any further toil, I had my baggage instantly +removed into his boat; for, as he could speak English, a previous +parley was not necessary, though Marguerite's respect for me could +hardly keep her from expressing the fear, strongly marked on her +countenance, which my putting ourselves into the power of a strange +man excited. He pointed out his cottage; and, drawing near to it, I +was not sorry to see a female figure, though I had not, like +Marguerite, been thinking of robberies, murders, or the other evil +which instantly, as the sailors would have said, runs foul of a +woman's imagination. + +On entering I was still better pleased to find a clean house, with +some degree of rural elegance. The beds were of muslin, coarse it +is true, but dazzlingly white; and the floor was strewed over with +little sprigs of juniper (the custom, as I afterwards found, of the +country), which formed a contrast with the curtains, and produced an +agreeable sensation of freshness, to soften the ardour of noon. +Still nothing was so pleasing as the alacrity of hospitality--all +that the house afforded was quickly spread on the whitest linen. +Remember, I had just left the vessel, where, without being +fastidious, I had continually been disgusted. Fish, milk, butter, +and cheese, and, I am sorry to add, brandy, the bane of this +country, were spread on the board. After we had dined hospitality +made them, with some degree of mystery, bring us some excellent +coffee. I did not then know that it was prohibited. + +The good man of the house apologised for coming in continually, but +declared that he was so glad to speak English he could not stay out. +He need not have apologised; I was equally glad of his company. +With the wife I could only exchange smiles, and she was employed +observing the make of our clothes. My hands, I found, had first led +her to discover that I was the lady. I had, of course, my quantum +of reverences; for the politeness of the north seems to partake of +the coldness of the climate and the rigidity of its iron-sinewed +rocks. Amongst the peasantry there is, however, so much of the +simplicity of the golden age in this land of flint--so much +overflowing of heart and fellow-feeling, that only benevolence and +the honest sympathy of nature diffused smiles over my countenance +when they kept me standing, regardless of my fatigue, whilst they +dropped courtesy after courtesy. + +The situation of this house was beautiful, though chosen for +convenience. The master being the officer who commanded all the +pilots on the coast, and the person appointed to guard wrecks, it +was necessary for him to fix on a spot that would overlook the whole +bay. As he had seen some service, he wore, not without a pride I +thought becoming, a badge to prove that he had merited well of his +country. It was happy, I thought, that he had been paid in honour, +for the stipend he received was little more than twelve pounds a +year. I do not trouble myself or you with the calculation of +Swedish ducats. Thus, my friend, you perceive the necessity of +perquisites. This same narrow policy runs through everything. I +shall have occasion further to animadvert on it. + +Though my host amused me with an account of himself, which gave me +aim idea of the manners of the people I was about to visit, I was +eager to climb the rocks to view the country, and see whether the +honest tars had regained their ship. With the help of the +lieutenant's telescope, I saw the vessel under way with a fair +though gentle gale. The sea was calm, playful even as the most +shallow stream, and on the vast basin I did not see a dark speck to +indicate the boat. My conductors were consequently arrived. + +Straying further, my eye was attracted by the sight of some +heartsease that peeped through the rocks. I caught at it as a good +omen, and going to preserve it in a letter that had not conveyed +balm to my heart, a cruel remembrance suffused my eyes; but it +passed away like an April shower. If you are deep read in +Shakespeare, you will recollect that this was the little western +flower tinged by love's dart, which "maidens call love in idleness." +The gaiety of my babe was unmixed; regardless of omens or +sentiments, she found a few wild strawberries more grateful than +flowers or fancies. + +The lieutenant informed me that this was a commodious bay. Of that +I could not judge, though I felt its picturesque beauty. Rocks were +piled on rocks, forming a suitable bulwark to the ocean. "Come no +further," they emphatically said, turning their dark sides to the +waves to augment the idle roar. The view was sterile; still little +patches of earth of the most exquisite verdure, enamelled with the +sweetest wild flowers, seemed to promise the goats and a few +straggling cows luxurious herbage. How silent and peaceful was the +scene! I gazed around with rapture, and felt more of that +spontaneous pleasure which gives credibility to our expectation of +happiness than I had for a long, long time before. I forgot the +horrors I had witnessed in France, which had cast a gloom over all +nature, and suffering the enthusiasm of my character--too often, +gracious God! damped by the tears of disappointed affection--to be +lighted up afresh, care took wing while simple fellow-feeling +expanded my heart. + +To prolong this enjoyment, I readily assented to the proposal of our +host to pay a visit to a family, the master of which spoke English, +who was the drollest dog in the country, he added, repeating some of +his stories with a hearty laugh. + +I walked on, still delighted with the rude beauties of the scene; +for the sublime often gave place imperceptibly to the beautiful, +dilating the emotions which were painfully concentrated. + +When we entered this abode, the largest I had yet seen, I was +introduced to a numerous family; but the father, from whom I was led +to expect so much entertainment, was absent. The lieutenant +consequently was obliged to be the interpreter of our reciprocal +compliments. The phrases were awkwardly transmitted, it is true; +but looks and gestures were sufficient to make them intelligible and +interesting. The girls were all vivacity, and respect for me could +scarcely keep them from romping with my host, who, asking for a +pinch of snuff, was presented with a box, out of which an artificial +mouse, fastened to the bottom, sprang. Though this trick had +doubtless been played the out of mind, yet the laughter it excited +was not less genuine. + +They were overflowing with civility; but, to prevent their almost +killing my babe with kindness, I was obliged to shorten my visit; +and two or three of the girls accompanied us, bringing with them a +part of whatever the house afforded to contribute towards rendering +my supper more plentiful; and plentiful in fact it was, though I +with difficulty did honour to some of the dishes, not relishing the +quantity of sugar and spices put into everything. At supper my host +told me bluntly that I was a woman of observation, for I asked him +MEN'S QUESTIONS. + +The arrangements for my journey were quickly made. I could only +have a car with post-horses, as I did not choose to wait till a +carriage could be sent for to Gothenburg. The expense of my journey +(about one or two and twenty English miles) I found would not amount +to more than eleven or twelve shillings, paying, he assured me, +generously. I gave him a guinea and a half. But it was with the +greatest difficulty that I could make him take so much--indeed +anything--for my lodging and fare. He declared that it was next to +robbing me, explaining how much I ought to pay on the road. +However, as I was positive, he took the guinea for himself; but, as +a condition, insisted on accompanying me, to prevent my meeting with +any trouble or imposition on the way. + +I then retired to my apartment with regret. The night was so fine +that I would gladly have rambled about much longer, yet, +recollecting that I must rise very early, I reluctantly went to bed; +but my senses had been so awake, and my imagination still continued +so busy, that I sought for rest in vain. Rising before six, I +scented the sweet morning air; I had long before heard the birds +twittering to hail the dawning day, though it could scarcely have +been allowed to have departed. + +Nothing, in fact, can equal the beauty of the northern summer's +evening and night, if night it may be called that only wants the +glare of day, the full light which frequently seems so impertinent, +for I could write at midnight very well without a candle. I +contemplated all Nature at rest; the rocks, even grown darker in +their appearance, looked as if they partook of the general repose, +and reclined more heavily on their foundation. "What," I exclaimed, +"is this active principle which keeps me still awake? Why fly my +thoughts abroad, when everything around me appears at home?" My +child was sleeping with equal calmness--innocent and sweet as the +closing flowers. Some recollections, attached to the idea of home, +mingled with reflections respecting the state of society I had been +contemplating that evening, made a tear drop on the rosy cheek I had +just kissed, and emotions that trembled on the brink of ecstasy and +agony gave a poignancy to my sensations which made me feel more +alive than usual. + +What are these imperious sympathies? How frequently has melancholy +and even misanthropy taken possession of me, when the world has +disgusted me, and friends have proved unkind. I have then +considered myself as a particle broken off from the grand mass of +mankind; I was alone, till some involuntary sympathetic emotion, +like the attraction of adhesion, made me feel that I was still a +part of a mighty whole, from which I could not sever myself--not, +perhaps, for the reflection has been carried very far, by snapping +the thread of an existence, which loses its charms in proportion as +the cruel experience of life stops or poisons the current of the +heart. Futurity, what hast thou not to give to those who know that +there is such a thing as happiness! I speak not of philosophical +contentment, though pain has afforded them the strongest conviction +of it. + +After our coffee and milk--for the mistress of the house had been +roused long before us by her hospitality--my baggage was taken +forward in a boat by my host, because the car could not safely have +been brought to the house. + +The road at first was very rocky and troublesome, but our driver was +careful, and the horses accustomed to the frequent and sudden +acclivities and descents; so that, not apprehending any danger, I +played with my girl, whom I would not leave to Marguerite's care, on +account of her timidity. + +Stopping at a little inn to bait the horses, I saw the first +countenance in Sweden that displeased me, though the man was better +dressed than any one who had as yet fallen in my way. An +altercation took place between him and my host, the purport of which +I could not guess, excepting that I was the occasion of it, be it +what it would. The sequel was his leaving the house angrily; and I +was immediately informed that he was the custom-house officer. The +professional had indeed effaced the national character, for, living +as he did within these frank hospitable people, still only the +exciseman appeared, the counterpart of some I had met with in +England and France. I was unprovided with a passport, not having +entered any great town. At Gothenburg I knew I could immediately +obtain one, and only the trouble made me object to the searching my +trunks. He blustered for money; but the lieutenant was determined +to guard me, according to promise, from imposition. + +To avoid being interrogated at the town-gate, and obliged to go in +the rain to give an account of myself (merely a form) before we +could get the refreshment we stood in need of, he requested us to +descend--I might have said step--from our car, and walk into town. + +I expected to have found a tolerable inn, but was ushered into a +most comfortless one; and, because it was about five o'clock, three +or four hours after their dining hour, I could not prevail on them +to give me anything warm to eat. + +The appearance of the accommodations obliged me to deliver one of my +recommendatory letters, and the gentleman to whom it was addressed +sent to look out for a lodging for me whilst I partook of his +supper. As nothing passed at this supper to characterise the +country, I shall here close my letter. + +Yours truly. + + + +LETTER II. + + + +Gothenburg is a clean airy town, and, having been built by the +Dutch, has canals running through each street; and in some of them +there are rows of trees that would render it very pleasant were it +not for the pavement, which is intolerably bad. + +There are several rich commercial houses--Scotch, French, and +Swedish; but the Scotch, I believe, have been the most successful. +The commerce and commission business with France since the war has +been very lucrative, and enriched the merchants I am afraid at the +expense of the other inhabitants, by raising the price of the +necessaries of life. + +As all the men of consequence--I mean men of the largest fortune-- +are merchants, their principal enjoyment is a relaxation from +business at the table, which is spread at, I think, too early an +hour (between one and two) for men who have letters to write and +accounts to settle after paying due respect to the bottle. + +However, when numerous circles are to be brought together, and when +neither literature nor public amusements furnish topics for +conversation, a good dinner appears to be the only centre to rally +round, especially as scandal, the zest of more select parties, can +only be whispered. As for politics, I have seldom found it a +subject of continual discussion in a country town in any part of the +world. The politics of the place, being on a smaller scale, suits +better with the size of their faculties; for, generally speaking, +the sphere of observation determines the extent of the mind. + +The more I see of the world, the more I am convinced that +civilisation is a blessing not sufficiently estimated by those who +have not traced its progress; for it not only refines our +enjoyments, but produces a variety which enables us to retain the +primitive delicacy of our sensations. Without the aid of the +imagination all the pleasures of the senses must sink into +grossness, unless continual novelty serve as a substitute for the +imagination, which, being impossible, it was to this weariness, I +suppose, that Solomon alluded when he declared that there was +nothing new under the sun!--nothing for the common sensations +excited by the senses. Yet who will deny that the imagination and +understanding have made many, very many discoveries since those +days, which only seem harbingers of others still more noble and +beneficial? I never met with much imagination amongst people who +had not acquired a habit of reflection; and in that state of society +in which the judgment and taste are not called forth, and formed by +the cultivation of the arts and sciences, little of that delicacy of +feeling and thinking is to be found characterised by the word +sentiment. The want of scientific pursuits perhaps accounts for the +hospitality, as well as for the cordial reception which strangers +receive from the inhabitants of small towns. + +Hospitality has, I think, been too much praised by travellers as a +proof of goodness of heart, when, in my opinion, indiscriminate +hospitality is rather a criterion by which you may form a tolerable +estimate of the indolence or vacancy of a head; or, in other words, +a fondness for social pleasures in which the mind not having its +proportion of exercise, the bottle must be pushed about. + +These remarks are equally applicable to Dublin, the most hospitable +city I ever passed through. But I will try to confine my +observations more particularly to Sweden. + +It is true I have only had a glance over a small part of it; yet of +its present state of manners and acquirements I think I have formed +a distinct idea, without having visited the capital--where, in fact, +less of a national character is to be found than in the remote parts +of the country. + +The Swedes pique themselves on their politeness; but far from being +the polish of a cultivated mind, it consists merely of tiresome +forms and ceremonies. So far, indeed, from entering immediately +into your character, and making you feel instantly at your ease, +like the well-bred French, their over-acted civility is a continual +restraint on all your actions. The sort of superiority which a +fortune gives when there is no superiority of education, excepting +what consists in the observance of senseless forms, has a contrary +effect than what is intended; so that I could not help reckoning the +peasantry the politest people of Sweden, who, only aiming at +pleasing you, never think of being admired for their behaviour. + +Their tables, like their compliments, seem equally a caricature of +the French. The dishes are composed, as well as theirs, of a +variety of mixtures to destroy the native taste of the food without +being as relishing. Spices and sugar are put into everything, even +into the bread; and the only way I can account for their partiality +to high-seasoned dishes is the constant use of salted provisions. +Necessity obliges them to lay up a store of dried fish and salted +meat for the winter; and in summer, fresh meat and fish taste +insipid after them. To which may be added the constant use of +spirits. Every day, before dinner and supper, even whilst the +dishes are cooling on the table, men and women repair to a side- +table; and to obtain an appetite eat bread-and-butter, cheese, raw +salmon, or anchovies, drinking a glass of brandy. Salt fish or meat +then immediately follows, to give a further whet to the stomach. As +the dinner advances, pardon me for taking up a few minutes to +describe what, alas! has detained me two or three hours on the +stretch observing, dish after dish is changed, in endless rotation, +and handed round with solemn pace to each guest; but should you +happen not to like the first dishes, which was often my case, it is +a gross breach of politeness to ask for part of any other till its +turn comes. But have patience, and there will be eating enough. +Allow me to run over the acts of a visiting day, not overlooking the +interludes. + +Prelude a luncheon--then a succession of fish, flesh, and fowl for +two hours, during which time the dessert--I was sorry for the +strawberries and cream--rests on the table to be impregnated by the +fumes of the viands. Coffee immediately follows in the drawing- +room, but does not preclude punch, ale, tea and cakes, raw salmon, +&c. A supper brings up the rear, not forgetting the introductory +luncheon, almost equalling in removes the dinner. A day of this +kind you would imagine sufficient; but a to-morrow and a to-morrow-- +A never-ending, still-beginning feast may be bearable, perhaps, when +stern winter frowns, shaking with chilling aspect his hoary locks; +but during a summer, sweet as fleeting, let me, my kind strangers, +escape sometimes into your fir groves, wander on the margin of your +beautiful lakes, or climb your rocks, to view still others in +endless perspective, which, piled by more than giant's hand, scale +the heavens to intercept its rays, or to receive the parting tinge +of lingering day--day that, scarcely softened unto twilight, allows +the freshening breeze to wake, and the moon to burst forth in all +her glory to glide with solemn elegance through the azure expanse. + +The cow's bell has ceased to tinkle the herd to rest; they have all +paced across the heath. Is not this the witching time of night? +The waters murmur, and fall with more than mortal music, and spirits +of peace walk abroad to calm the agitated breast. Eternity is in +these moments. Worldly cares melt into the airy stuff that dreams +are made of, and reveries, mild and enchanting as the first hopes of +love or the recollection of lost enjoyment, carry the hapless wight +into futurity, who in bustling life has vainly strove to throw off +the grief which lies heavy at the heart. Good night! A crescent +hangs out in the vault before, which woos me to stray abroad. It is +not a silvery reflection of the sun, but glows with all its golden +splendour. Who fears the fallen dew? It only makes the mown grass +smell more fragrant. Adieu! + + + +LETTER III. + + + +The population of Sweden has been estimated from two millions and a +half to three millions; a small number for such an immense tract of +country, of which only so much is cultivated--and that in the +simplest manner--as is absolutely requisite to supply the +necessaries of life; and near the seashore, whence herrings are +easily procured, there scarcely appears a vestige of cultivation. +The scattered huts that stand shivering on the naked rocks, braving +the pitiless elements, are formed of logs of wood rudely hewn; and +so little pains are taken with the craggy foundation that nothing +hike a pathway points out the door. + +Gathered into himself by the cold, lowering his visage to avoid the +cutting blast, is it surprising that the churlish pleasure of +drinking drams takes place of social enjoyments amongst the poor, +especially if we take into the account that they mostly live on +high-seasoned provision and rye bread? Hard enough, you may +imagine, as it is baked only once a year. The servants also, in +most families, eat this kind of bread, and have a different kind of +food from their masters, which, in spite of all the arguments I have +heard to vindicate the custom, appears to me a remnant of barbarism. + +In fact, the situation of the servants in every respect, +particularly that of the women, shows how far the Swedes are from +having a just conception of rational equality. They are not termed +slaves; yet a man may strike a man with impunity because he pays him +wages, though these wages are so low that necessity must teach them +to pilfer, whilst servility renders them false and boorish. Still +the men stand up for the dignity of man by oppressing the women. +The most menial, and even laborious offices, are therefore left to +these poor drudges. Much of this I have seen. In the winter, I am +told, they take the linen down to the river to wash it in the cold +water, and though their hands, cut by the ice, are cracked and +bleeding, the men, their fellow-servants, will not disgrace their +manhood by carrying a tub to lighten their burden. + +You will not be surprised to hear that they do not wear shoes or +stockings, when I inform you that their wages are seldom more than +twenty or thirty shillings per annum. It is the custom, I know, to +give them a new year's gift and a present at some other period, but +can it all amount to a just indemnity for their labour? The +treatment of servants in most countries, I grant, is very unjust, +and in England, that boasted land of freedom, it is often extremely +tyrannical. I have frequently, with indignation, heard gentlemen +declare that they would never allow a servant to answer them; and +ladies of the most exquisite sensibility, who were continually +exclaiming against the cruelty of the vulgar to the brute creation, +have in my presence forgot that their attendants had human feelings +as well as forms. I do not know a more agreeable sight than to see +servants part of a family. By taking an interest, generally +speaking, in their concerns you inspire them with one for yours. We +must love our servants, or we shall never be sufficiently attentive +to their happiness; and how can those masters be attentive to their +happiness who, living above their fortunes, are more anxious to +outshine their neighbours than to allow their household the innocent +enjoyments they earn? + +It is, in fact, much more difficult for servants, who are tantalised +by seeing and preparing the dainties of which they are not to +partake, to remain honest, than the poor, whose thoughts are not led +from their homely fare; so that, though the servants here are +commonly thieves, you seldom hear of housebreaking, or robbery on +the highway. The country is, perhaps, too thinly inhabited to +produce many of that description of thieves termed footpads, or +highwaymen. They are usually the spawn of great cities--the effect +of the spurious desires generated by wealth, rather than the +desperate struggles of poverty to escape from misery. + +The enjoyment of the peasantry was drinking brandy and coffee, +before the latter was prohibited, and the former not allowed to be +privately distilled, the wars carried on by the late king rendering +it necessary to increase the revenue, and retain the specie in the +country by every possible means. + +The taxes before the reign of Charles XII. were inconsiderable. +Since then the burden has continually been growing heavier, and the +price of provisions has proportionately increased--nay, the +advantage accruing from the exportation of corn to France and rye to +Germany will probably produce a scarcity in both Sweden and Norway, +should not a peace put a stop to it this autumn, for speculations of +various kinds have already almost doubled the price. + +Such are the effects of war, that it saps the vitals even of the +neutral countries, who, obtaining a sudden influx of wealth, appear +to be rendered flourishing by the destruction which ravages the +hapless nations who are sacrificed to the ambition of their +governors. I shall not, however, dwell on the vices, though they be +of the most contemptible and embruting cast, to which a sudden +accession of fortune gives birth, because I believe it may be +delivered as an axiom, that it is only in proportion to the industry +necessary to acquire wealth that a nation is really benefited by it. + +The prohibition of drinking coffee under a penalty, and the +encouragement given to public distilleries, tend to impoverish the +poor, who are not affected by the sumptuary laws; for the regent has +lately laid very severe restraints on the articles of dress, which +the middling class of people found grievous, because it obliged them +to throw aside finery that might have lasted them for their lives. + +These may be termed vexatious; still the death of the king, by +saving them from the consequences his ambition would naturally have +entailed on them, may be reckoned a blessing. + +Besides, the French Revolution has not only rendered all the crowned +heads more cautious, but has so decreased everywhere (excepting +amongst themselves) a respect for nobility, that the peasantry have +not only lost their blind reverence for their seigniors, but +complain in a manly style of oppressions which before they did not +think of denominating such, because they were taught to consider +themselves as a different order of beings. And, perhaps, the +efforts which the aristocrats are making here, as well as in every +other part of Europe, to secure their sway, will be the most +effectual mode of undermining it, taking into the calculation that +the King of Sweden, like most of the potentates of Europe, has +continually been augmenting his power by encroaching on the +privileges of the nobles. + +The well-bred Swedes of the capital are formed on the ancient French +model, and they in general speak that language; for they have a +knack at acquiring languages with tolerable fluency. This may be +reckoned an advantage in some respects; but it prevents the +cultivation of their own, and any considerable advance in literary +pursuits. + +A sensible writer has lately observed (I have not his work by me, +therefore cannot quote his exact words), "That the Americans very +wisely let the Europeans make their books and fashions for them." +But I cannot coincide with him in this opinion. The reflection +necessary to produce a certain number even of tolerable productions +augments more than he is aware of the mass of knowledge in the +community. Desultory reading is commonly a mere pastime. But we +must have an object to refer our reflections to, or they will seldom +go below the surface. As in travelling, the keeping of a journal +excites to many useful inquiries that would not have been thought of +had the traveller only determined to see all he could see, without +ever asking himself for what purpose. Besides, the very dabbling in +literature furnishes harmless topics of conversation; for the not +having such subjects at hand, though they are often insupportably +fatiguing, renders the inhabitants of little towns prying and +censorious. Idleness, rather than ill-nature, gives birth to +scandal, and to the observation of little incidents which narrows +the mind. It is frequently only the fear of being talked of which +produces that puerile scrupulosity about trifles incompatible with +an enlarged plan of usefulness, and with the basis of all moral +principles--respect for the virtues which are not merely the virtues +of convention. + +I am, my friend, more and more convinced that a metropolis, or an +abode absolutely solitary, is the best calculated for the +improvement of the heart, as well as the understanding; whether we +desire to become acquainted with man, nature, or ourselves. Mixing +with mankind, we are obliged to examine our prejudices, and often +imperceptibly lose, as we analyse them. And in the country, growing +intimate with nature, a thousand little circumstances, unseen by +vulgar eyes, give birth to sentiments dear to the imagination, and +inquiries which expand the soul, particularly when cultivation has +not smoothed into insipidity all its originality of character. + +I love the country, yet whenever I see a picturesque situation +chosen on which to erect a dwelling I am always afraid of the +improvements. It requires uncommon taste to form a whole, and to +introduce accommodations and ornaments analogous with the +surrounding-scene. + +It visited, near Gothenburg, a house with improved land about it, +with which I was particularly delighted. It was close to a lake +embosomed in pine-clad rocks. In one part of the meadows your eye +was directed to the broad expanse, in another you were led into a +shade, to see a part of it, in the form of a river, rush amongst the +fragments of rocks and roots of trees; nothing seemed forced. One +recess, particularly grand and solemn amongst the towering cliffs, +had a rude stone table and seat placed in it, that might have served +for a Druid's haunt, whilst a placid stream below enlivened the +flowers on its margin, where light-footed elves would gladly have +danced their airy rounds. + +Here the hand of taste was conspicuous though not obtrusive, and +formed a contrast with another abode in the same neighbourhood, on +which much money had been lavished; where Italian colonnades were +placed to excite the wonder of the rude crags, and a stone +staircase, to threaten with destruction a wooden house. Venuses and +Apollos condemned to lie hid in snow three parts of the year seemed +equally displaced, and called the attention off from the surrounding +sublimity, without inspiring any voluptuous sensations. Yet even +these abortions of vanity have been useful. Numberless workmen have +been employed, and the superintending artist has improved the +labourers, whose unskilfulness tormented him, by obliging them to +submit to the discipline of rules. Adieu! + +Yours affectionately. + + + +LETTER IV. + + + +The severity of the long Swedish winter tends to render the people +sluggish, for though this season has its peculiar pleasures, too +much time is employed to guard against its inclemency. Still as +warm clothing is absolutely necessary, the women spin and the men +weave, and by these exertions get a fence to keep out the cold. I +have rarely passed a knot of cottages without seeing cloth laid out +to bleach, and when I entered, always found the women spinning or +knitting. + +A mistaken tenderness, however, for their children, makes them even +in summer load them with flannels, and having a sort of natural +antipathy to cold water, the squalid appearance of the poor babes, +not to speak of the noxious smell which flannel and rugs retain, +seems a reply to a question I had often asked--Why I did not see +more children in the villages I passed through? Indeed the children +appear to be nipt in the bud, having neither the graces nor charms +of their age. And this, I am persuaded, is much more owing to the +ignorance of the mothers than to the rudeness of the climate. +Rendered feeble by the continual perspiration they are kept in, +whilst every pore is absorbing unwholesome moisture, they give them, +even at the breast, brandy, salt fish, and every other crude +substance which air and exercise enables the parent to digest. + +The women of fortune here, as well as everywhere else, have nurses +to suckle their children; and the total want of chastity in the +lower class of women frequently renders them very unfit for the +trust. + +You have sometimes remarked to me the difference of the manners of +the country girls in England and in America; attributing the reserve +of the former to the climate--to the absence of genial suns. But it +must be their stars, not the zephyrs, gently stealing on their +senses, which here lead frail women astray. Who can look at these +rocks, and allow the voluptuousness of nature to be an excuse for +gratifying the desires it inspires? We must therefore, find some +other cause beside voluptuousness, I believe, to account for the +conduct of the Swedish and American country girls; for I am led to +conclude, from all the observations I have made, that there is +always a mixture of sentiment and imagination in voluptuousness, to +which neither of them have much pretension. + +The country girls of Ireland and Wales equally feel the first +impulse of nature, which, restrained in England by fear or delicacy, +proves that society is there in a more advanced state. Besides, as +the mind is cultivated, and taste gains ground, the passions become +stronger, and rest on something more stable than the casual +sympathies of the moment. Health and idleness will always account +for promiscuous amours; and in some degree I term every person idle, +the exercise of whose mind does not bear some proportion to that of +the body. + +The Swedish ladies exercise neither sufficiently; of course, grow +very fat at an early age; and when they have not this downy +appearance, a comfortable idea, you will say, in a cold climate, +they are not remarkable for fine forms. They have, however, mostly +fine complexions; but indolence makes the lily soon displace the +rose. The quantity of coffee, spices, and other things of that +kind, with want of care, almost universally spoil their teeth, which +contrast but ill with their ruby lips. + +The manners of Stockholm are refined, I hear, by the introduction of +gallantry; but in the country, romping and coarse freedoms, with +coarser allusions, keep the spirits awake. In the article of +cleanliness, the women of all descriptions seem very deficient; and +their dress shows that vanity is more inherent in women than taste. + +The men appear to have paid still less court to the graces. They +are a robust, healthy race, distinguished for their common sense and +turn for humour, rather than for wit or sentiment. I include not, +as you may suppose, in this general character, some of the nobility +and officers, who having travelled, are polite and well informed. + +I must own to you that the lower class of people here amuse and +interest me much more than the middling, with their apish good +breeding and prejudices. The sympathy and frankness of heart +conspicuous in the peasantry produces even a simple gracefulness of +deportment which has frequently struck me as very picturesque; I +have often also been touched by their extreme desire to oblige me, +when I could not explain my wants, and by their earnest manner of +expressing that desire. There is such a charm in tenderness! It is +so delightful to love our fellow-creatures, and meet the honest +affections as they break forth. Still, my good friend, I begin to +think that I should not like to live continually in the country with +people whose minds have such a narrow range. My heart would +frequently be interested; but my mind would languish for more +companionable society. + +The beauties of nature appear to me now even more alluring than in +my youth, because my intercourse with the world has formed without +vitiating my taste. But, with respect to the inhabitants of the +country, my fancy has probably, when disgusted with artificial +manners, solaced itself by joining the advantages of cultivation +with the interesting sincerity of innocence, forgetting the +lassitude that ignorance will naturally produce. I like to see +animals sporting, and sympathise in their pains and pleasures. +Still I love sometimes to view the human face divine, and trace the +soul, as well as the heart, in its varying lineaments. + +A journey to the country, which I must shortly make, will enable me +to extend my remarks.--Adieu! + + + +LETTER V. + + + +Had I determined to travel in Sweden merely for pleasure, I should +probably have chosen the road to Stockholm, though convinced, by +repeated observation, that the manners of a people are best +discriminated in the country. The inhabitants of the capital are +all of the same genus; for the varieties in the species we must, +therefore, search where the habitations of men are so separated as +to allow the difference of climate to have its natural effect. And +with this difference we are, perhaps, most forcibly struck at the +first view, just as we form an estimate of the leading traits of a +character at the first glance, of which intimacy afterwards makes us +almost lose sight. + +As my affairs called me to Stromstad (the frontier town of Sweden) +in my way to Norway, I was to pass over, I heard, the most +uncultivated part of the country. Still I believe that the grand +features of Sweden are the same everywhere, and it is only the grand +features that admit of description. There is an individuality in +every prospect, which remains in the memory as forcibly depicted as +the particular features that have arrested our attention; yet we +cannot find words to discriminate that individuality so as to enable +a stranger to say, this is the face, that the view. We may amuse by +setting the imagination to work; but we cannot store the memory with +a fact. + +As I wish to give you a general idea of this country, I shall +continue in my desultory manner to make such observations and +reflections as the circumstances draw forth, without losing time, by +endeavouring to arrange them. + +Travelling in Sweden is very cheap, and even commodious, if you make +but the proper arrangements. Here, as in other parts of the +Continent, it is necessary to have your own carriage, and to have a +servant who can speak the language, if you are unacquainted with it. +Sometimes a servant who can drive would be found very useful, which +was our case, for I travelled in company with two gentlemen, one of +whom had a German servant who drove very well. This was all the +party; for not intending to make a long stay, I left my little girl +behind me. + +As the roads are not much frequented, to avoid waiting three or four +hours for horses, we sent, as is the constant custom, an avant +courier the night before, to order them at every post, and we +constantly found them ready. Our first set I jokingly termed +requisition horses; but afterwards we had almost always little +spirited animals that went on at a round pace. + +The roads, making allowance for the ups and downs, are uncommonly +good and pleasant. The expense, including the postillions and other +incidental things, does not amount to more than a shilling the +Swedish mile. + +The inns are tolerable; but not liking the rye bread, I found it +necessary to furnish myself with some wheaten before I set out. The +beds, too, were particularly disagreeable to me. It seemed to me +that I was sinking into a grave when I entered them; for, immersed +in down placed in a sort of box, I expected to be suffocated before +morning. The sleeping between two down beds--they do so even in +summer--must be very unwholesome during any season; and I cannot +conceive how the people can bear it, especially as the summers are +very warm. But warmth they seem not to feel; and, I should think, +were afraid of the air, by always keeping their windows shut. In +the winter, I am persuaded, I could not exist in rooms thus closed +up, with stoves heated in their manner, for they only put wood into +them twice a day; and, when the stove is thoroughly heated, they +shut the flue, not admitting any air to renew its elasticity, even +when the rooms are crowded with company. These stoves are made of +earthenware, and often in a form that ornaments an apartment, which +is never the case with the heavy iron ones I have seen elsewhere. +Stoves may be economical, but I like a fire, a wood one, in +preference; and I am convinced that the current of air which it +attracts renders this the best mode of warming rooms. + +We arrived early the second evening at a little village called +Quistram, where we had determined to pass the night, having been +informed that we should not afterwards find a tolerable inn until we +reached Stromstad. + +Advancing towards Quistram, as the sun was beginning to decline, I +was particularly impressed by the beauty of the situation. The road +was on the declivity of a rocky mountain, slightly covered with a +mossy herbage and vagrant firs. At the bottom, a river, straggling +amongst the recesses of stone, was hastening forward to the ocean +and its grey rocks, of which we had a prospect on the left; whilst +on the right it stole peacefully forward into the meadows, losing +itself in a thickly-wooded rising ground. As we drew near, the +loveliest banks of wild flowers variegated the prospect, and +promised to exhale odours to add to the sweetness of the air, the +purity of which you could almost see, alas! not smell, for the +putrefying herrings, which they use as manure, after the oil has +been extracted, spread over the patches of earth, claimed by +cultivation, destroyed every other. + +It was intolerable, and entered with us into the inn, which was in +other respects a charming retreat. + +Whilst supper was preparing I crossed the bridge, and strolled by +the river, listening to its murmurs. Approaching the bank, the +beauty of which had attracted my attention in the carriage, I +recognised many of my old acquaintance growing with great +luxuriance. + +Seated on it, I could not avoid noting an obvious remark. Sweden +appeared to me the country in the world most proper to form the +botanist and natural historian; every object seemed to remind me of +the creation of things, of the first efforts of sportive nature. +When a country arrives at a certain state of perfection, it looks as +if it were made so; and curiosity is not excited. Besides, in +social life too many objects occur for any to be distinctly observed +by the generality of mankind; yet a contemplative man, or poet, in +the country--I do not mean the country adjacent to cities--feels and +sees what would escape vulgar eyes, and draws suitable inferences. +This train of reflections might have led me further, in every sense +of the word; but I could not escape from the detestable evaporation +of the herrings, which poisoned all my pleasure. + +After making a tolerable supper--for it is not easy to get fresh +provisions on the road--I retired, to be lulled to sleep by the +murmuring of a stream, of which I with great difficulty obtained +sufficient to perform my daily ablutions. + +The last battle between the Danes and Swedes, which gave new life to +their ancient enmity, was fought at this place 1788; only seventeen +or eighteen were killed, for the great superiority of the Danes and +Norwegians obliged the Swedes to submit; but sickness, and a +scarcity of provision, proved very fatal to their opponents on their +return. + +It would be very easy to search for the particulars of this +engagement in the publications of the day; but as this manner of +filling my pages does not come within my plan, I probably should not +have remarked that the battle was fought here, were it not to relate +an anecdote which I had from good authority. + +I noticed, when I first mentioned this place to you, that we +descended a steep before we came to the inn; an immense ridge of +rocks stretching out on one side. The inn was sheltered under them; +and about a hundred yards from it was a bridge that crossed the +river, the murmurs of which I have celebrated; it was not fordable. +The Swedish general received orders to stop at the bridge and +dispute the passage--a most advantageous post for an army so much +inferior in force; but the influence of beauty is not confined to +courts. The mistress of the inn was handsome; when I saw her there +were still some remains of beauty; and, to preserve her house, the +general gave up the only tenable station. He was afterwards broke +for contempt of orders. + +Approaching the frontiers, consequently the sea, nature resumed an +aspect ruder and ruder, or rather seemed the bones of the world +waiting to be clothed with everything necessary to give life and +beauty. Still it was sublime. + +The clouds caught their hue of the rocks that menaced them. The sun +appeared afraid to shine, the birds ceased to sing, and the flowers +to bloom; but the eagle fixed his nest high amongst the rocks, and +the vulture hovered over this abode of desolation. The farm houses, +in which only poverty resided, were formed of logs scarcely keeping +off the cold and drifting snow: out of them the inhabitants seldom +peeped, and the sports or prattling of children was neither seen or +heard. The current of life seemed congealed at the source: all +were not frozen, for it was summer, you remember; but everything +appeared so dull that I waited to see ice, in order to reconcile me +to the absence of gaiety. + +The day before, my attention had frequently been attracted by the +wild beauties of the country we passed through. + +The rocks which tossed their fantastic heads so high were often +covered with pines and firs, varied in the most picturesque manner. +Little woods filled up the recesses when forests did not darken the +scene, and valleys and glens, cleared of the trees, displayed a +dazzling verdure which contrasted with the gloom of the shading +pines. The eye stole into many a covert where tranquillity seemed +to have taken up her abode, and the number of little lakes that +continually presented themselves added to the peaceful composure of +the scenery. The little cultivation which appeared did not break +the enchantment, nor did castles rear their turrets aloft to crush +the cottages, and prove that man is more savage than the natives of +the woods. I heard of the bears but never saw them stalk forth, +which I was sorry for; I wished to have seen one in its wild state. +In the winter, I am told, they sometimes catch a stray cow, which is +a heavy loss to the owner. + +The farms are small. Indeed most of the houses we saw on the road +indicated poverty, or rather that the people could just live. +Towards the frontiers they grew worse and worse in their appearance, +as if not willing to put sterility itself out of countenance. No +gardens smiled round the habitations, not a potato or cabbage to eat +with the fish drying on a stick near the door. A little grain here +and there appeared, the long stalks of which you might almost +reckon. The day was gloomy when we passed over this rejected spot, +the wind bleak, and winter seemed to be contending with nature, +faintly struggling to change the season. Surely, thought I, if the +sun ever shines here it cannot warm these stones; moss only cleaves +to them, partaking of their hardness, and nothing like vegetable +life appears to cheer with hope the heart. + +So far from thinking that the primitive inhabitants of the world +lived in a southern climate where Paradise spontaneously arose, I am +led to infer, from various circumstances, that the first dwelling of +man happened to be a spot like this which led him to adore a sun so +seldom seen; for this worship, which probably preceded that of +demons or demigods, certainly never began in a southern climate, +where the continual presence of the sun prevented its being +considered as a good; or rather the want of it never being felt, +this glorious luminary would carelessly have diffused its blessings +without being hailed as a benefactor. Man must therefore have been +placed in the north, to tempt him to run after the sun, in order +that the different parts of the earth might be peopled. Nor do I +wonder that hordes of barbarians always poured out of these regions +to seek for milder climes, when nothing like cultivation attached +them to the soil, especially when we take into the view that the +adventuring spirit, common to man, is naturally stronger and more +general during the infancy of society. The conduct of the followers +of Mahomet, and the crusaders, will sufficiently corroborate my +assertion. + +Approaching nearer to Stromstad, the appearance of the town proved +to be quite in character with the country we had just passed +through. I hesitated to use the word country, yet could not find +another; still it would sound absurd to talk of fields of rocks. + +The town was built on and under them. Three or four weather-beaten +trees were shrinking from the wind, and the grass grew so sparingly +that I could not avoid thinking Dr. Johnson's hyperbolical assertion +"that the man merited well of his country who made a few blades of +grass grow where they never grew before," might here have been +uttered with strict propriety. The steeple likewise towered aloft, +for what is a church, even amongst the Lutherans, without a steeple? +But to prevent mischief in such an exposed situation, it is wisely +placed on a rock at some distance not to endanger the roof of the +church. + +Rambling about, I saw the door open, and entered, when to my great +surprise I found the clergyman reading prayers, with only the clerk +attending. I instantly thought of Swift's "Dearly beloved Roger," +but on inquiry I learnt that some one had died that morning, and in +Sweden it is customary to pray for the dead. + +The sun, who I suspected never dared to shine, began now to convince +me that he came forth only to torment; for though the wind was still +cutting, the rocks became intolerably warm under my feet, whilst the +herring effluvia, which I before found so very offensive, once more +assailed me. I hastened back to the house of a merchant, the little +sovereign of the place, because he was by far the richest, though +not the mayor. + +Here we were most hospitably received, and introduced to a very fine +and numerous family. I have before mentioned to you the lilies of +the north, I might have added, water lilies, for the complexion of +many, even of the young women, seem to be bleached on the bosom of +snow. But in this youthful circle the roses bloomed with all their +wonted freshness, and I wondered from whence the fire was stolen +which sparkled in their fine blue eyes. + +Here we slept; and I rose early in the morning to prepare for my +little voyage to Norway. I had determined to go by water, and was +to leave my companions behind; but not getting a boat immediately, +and the wind being high and unfavourable, I was told that it was not +safe to go to sea during such boisterous weather; I was, therefore, +obliged to wait for the morrow, and had the present day on my hands, +which I feared would be irksome, because the family, who possessed +about a dozen French words amongst them and not an English phrase, +were anxious to amuse me, and would not let me remain alone in my +room. The town we had already walked round and round, and if we +advanced farther on the coast, it was still to view the same +unvaried immensity of water surrounded by barrenness. + +The gentlemen, wishing to peep into Norway, proposed going to +Fredericshall, the first town--the distance was only three Swedish +miles. There and back again was but a day's journey, and would not, +I thought, interfere with my voyage. I agreed, and invited the +eldest and prettiest of the girls to accompany us. I invited her +because I like to see a beautiful face animated by pleasure, and to +have an opportunity of regarding the country, whilst the gentlemen +were amusing themselves with her. + +I did not know, for I had not thought of it, that we were to scale +some of the most mountainous cliffs of Sweden in our way to the +ferry which separates the two countries. + +Entering amongst the cliffs, we were sheltered from the wind, warm +sunbeams began to play, streams to flow, and groves of pines +diversified the rocks. Sometimes they became suddenly bare and +sublime. Once, in particular, after mounting the most terrific +precipice, we had to pass through a tremendous defile, where the +closing chasm seemed to threaten us with instant destruction, when, +turning quickly, verdant meadows and a beautiful lake relieved and +charmed my eyes. + +I had never travelled through Switzerland, but one of my companions +assured me that I should not there find anything superior, if equal, +to the wild grandeur of these views. + +As we had not taken this excursion into our plan, the horses had not +been previously ordered, which obliged us to wait two hours at the +first post. The day was wearing away. The road was so bad that +walking up the precipices consumed the time insensibly; but as we +desired horses at each post ready at a certain hour, we reckoned on +returning more speedily. + +We stopped to dine at a tolerable farm; they brought us out ham, +butter, cheese, and milk, and the charge was so moderate that I +scattered a little money amongst the children who were peeping at +us, in order to pay them for their trouble. + +Arrived at the ferry, we were still detained, for the people who +attend at the ferries have a stupid kind of sluggishness in their +manner, which is very provoking when you are in haste. At present I +did not feel it, for, scrambling up the cliffs, my eye followed the +river as it rolled between the grand rocky banks; and, to complete +the scenery, they were covered with firs and pines, through which +the wind rustled as if it were lulling itself to sleep with the +declining sun. + +Behold us now in Norway; and I could not avoid feeling surprise at +observing the difference in the manners of the inhabitants of the +two sides of the river, for everything shows that the Norwegians are +more industrious and more opulent. The Swedes (for neighbours are +seldom the best friends) accuse the Norwegians of knavery, and they +retaliate by bringing a charge of hypocrisy against the Swedes. +Local circumstances probably render both unjust, speaking from their +feelings rather than reason; and is this astonishing when we +consider that most writers of travels have done the same, whose +works have served as materials for the compilers of universal +histories? All are eager to give a national character, which is +rarely just, because they do not discriminate the natural from the +acquired difference. The natural, I believe, on due consideration, +will be found to consist merely in the degree of vivacity, or +thoughtfulness, pleasures or pain, inspired by the climate, whilst +the varieties which the forms of government, including religion, +produce are much more numerous and unstable. + +A people have been characterised as stupid by nature; what a +paradox! because they did not consider that slaves, having no object +to stimulate industry; have not their faculties sharpened by the +only thing that can exercise them, self-interest. Others have been +brought forward as brutes, having no aptitude for the arts and +sciences, only because the progress of improvement had not reached +that stage which produces them. + +Those writers who have considered the history of man, or of the +human mind, on a more enlarged scale have fallen into similar +errors, not reflecting that the passions are weak where the +necessaries of life are too hardly or too easily obtained. + +Travellers who require that every nation should resemble their +native country, had better stay at home. It is, for example, absurd +to blame a people for not having that degree of personal cleanliness +and elegance of manners which only refinement of taste produces, and +will produce everywhere in proportion as society attains a general +polish. The most essential service, I presume, that authors could +render to society, would be to promote inquiry and discussion, +instead of making those dogmatical assertions which only appear +calculated to gird the human mind round with imaginary circles, like +the paper globe which represents the one he inhabits. + +This spirit of inquiry is the characteristic of the present century, +from which the succeeding will, I am persuaded, receive a great +accumulation of knowledge; and doubtless its diffusion will in a +great measure destroy the factitious national characters which have +been supposed permanent, though only rendered so by the permanency +of ignorance. + +Arriving at Fredericshall, at the siege of which Charles XII. lost +his life, we had only time to take a transient view of it whilst +they were preparing us some refreshment. + +Poor Charles! I thought of him with respect. I have always felt +the same for Alexander, with whom he has been classed as a madman by +several writers, who have reasoned superficially, confounding the +morals of the day with the few grand principles on which +unchangeable morality rests. Making no allowance for the ignorance +and prejudices of the period, they do not perceive how much they +themselves are indebted to general improvement for the acquirements, +and even the virtues, which they would not have had the force of +mind to attain by their individual exertions in a less advanced +state of society. + +The evening was fine, as is usual at this season, and the refreshing +odour of the pine woods became more perceptible, for it was nine +o'clock when we left Fredericshall. At the ferry we were detained +by a dispute relative to our Swedish passport, which we did not +think of getting countersigned in Norway. Midnight was coming on, +yet it might with such propriety have been termed the noon of night +that, had Young ever travelled towards the north, I should not have +wondered at his becoming enamoured of the moon. But it is not the +Queen of Night alone who reigns here in all her splendour, though +the sun, loitering just below the horizon, decks her within a golden +tinge from his car, illuminating the cliffs that hide him; the +heavens also, of a clear softened blue, throw her forward, and the +evening star appears a smaller moon to the naked eye. The huge +shadows of the rocks, fringed with firs, concentrating the views +without darkening them, excited that tender melancholy which, +sublimating the imagination, exalts rather than depresses the mind. + +My companions fell asleep--fortunately they did not snore; and I +contemplated, fearless of idle questions, a night such as I had +never before seen or felt, to charm the senses, and calm the heart. +The very air was balmy as it freshened into morn, producing the most +voluptuous sensations. A vague pleasurable sentiment absorbed me, +as I opened my bosom to the embraces of nature; and my soul rose to +its Author, with the chirping of the solitary birds, which began to +feel, rather than see, advancing day. I had leisure to mark its +progress. The grey morn, streaked with silvery rays, ushered in the +orient beams (how beautifully varying into purple!), yet I was sorry +to lose the soft watery clouds which preceded them, exciting a kind +of expectation that made me almost afraid to breathe, lest I should +break the charm. I saw the sun--and sighed. + +One of my companions, now awake, perceiving that the postillion had +mistaken the road, began to swear at him, and roused the other two, +who reluctantly shook off sleep. + +We had immediately to measure back our steps, and did not reach +Stromstad before five in the morning. + +The wind had changed in the night, and my boat was ready. + +A dish of coffee, and fresh linen, recruited my spirits, and I +directly set out again for Norway, purposing to land much higher up +the coast. + +Wrapping my great-coat round me, I lay down on some sails at the +bottom of the boat, its motion rocking me to rest, till a +discourteous wave interrupted my slumbers, and obliged me to rise +and feel a solitariness which was not so soothing as that of the +past night. + +Adieu! + + + +LETTER VI. + + + +The sea was boisterous, but, as I had an experienced pilot, I did +not apprehend any danger. Sometimes, I was told, boats are driven +far out and lost. However, I seldom calculate chances so nicely-- +sufficient for the day is the obvious evil! + +We had to steer amongst islands and huge rocks, rarely losing sight +of the shore, though it now and then appeared only a mist that +bordered the water's edge. The pilot assured me that the numerous +harbours on the Norway coast were very safe, and the pilot-boats +were always on the watch. The Swedish side is very dangerous, I am +also informed; and the help of experience is not often at hand to +enable strange vessels to steer clear of the rocks, which lurk below +the water close to the shore. + +There are no tides here, nor in the Cattegate, and, what appeared to +me a consequence, no sandy beach. Perhaps this observation has been +made before; but it did not occur to me till I saw the waves +continually beating against the bare rocks, without ever receding to +leave a sediment to harden. + +The wind was fair, till we had to tack about in order to enter +Laurvig, where we arrived towards three o'clock in the afternoon. +It is a clean, pleasant town, with a considerable iron-work, which +gives life to it. + +As the Norwegians do not frequently see travellers, they are very +curious to know their business, and who they are--so curious, that I +was half tempted to adopt Dr. Franklin's plan, when travelling in +America, where they are equally prying, which was to write on a +paper, for public inspection, my name, from whence I came, where I +was going, and what was my business. But if I were importuned by +their curiosity, their friendly gestures gratified me. A woman +coming alone interested them. And I know not whether my weariness +gave me a look of peculiar delicacy, but they approached to assist +me, and inquire after my wants, as if they were afraid to hurt, and +wished to protect me. The sympathy I inspired, thus dropping down +from the clouds in a strange land, affected me more than it would +have done had not my spirits been harassed by various causes--by +much thinking--musing almost to madness--and even by a sort of weak +melancholy that hung about my heart at parting with my daughter for +the first time. + +You know that, as a female, I am particularly attached to her; I +feel more than a mother's fondness and anxiety when I reflect on the +dependent and oppressed state of her sex. I dread lest she should +be forced to sacrifice her heart to her principles, or principles to +her heart. With trembling hand I shall cultivate sensibility and +cherish delicacy of sentiment, lest, whilst I lend fresh blushes to +the rose, I sharpen the thorns that will wound the breast I would +fain guard; I dread to unfold her mind, lest it should render her +unfit for the world she is to inhabit. Hapless woman! what a fate +is thine! + +But whither am I wandering? I only meant to tell you that the +impression the kindness of the simple people made visible on my +countenance increased my sensibility to a painful degree. I wished +to have had a room to myself, for their attention, and rather +distressing observation, embarrassed me extremely. Yet, as they +would bring me eggs, and make my coffee, I found I could not leave +them without hurting their feelings of hospitality. + +It is customary here for the host and hostess to welcome their +guests as master and mistress of the house. + +My clothes, in their turn, attracted the attention of the females, +and I could not help thinking of the foolish vanity which makes many +women so proud of the observation of strangers as to take wonder +very gratuitously for admiration. This error they are very apt to +fall into when, arrived in a foreign country, the populace stare at +them as they pass. Yet the make of a cap or the singularity of a +gown is often the cause of the flattering attention which afterwards +supports a fantastic superstructure of self-conceit. + +Not having brought a carriage over with me, expecting to have met a +person where I landed, who was immediately to have procured me one, +I was detained whilst the good people of the inn sent round to all +their acquaintance to search for a vehicle. A rude sort of cabriole +was at last found, and a driver half drunk, who was not less eager +to make a good bargain on that account. I had a Danish captain of a +ship and his mate with me; the former was to ride on horseback, at +which he was not very expert, and the latter to partake of my seat. +The driver mounted behind to guide the horses and flourish the whip +over our shoulders; he would not suffer the reins out of his own +hands. There was something so grotesque in our appearance that I +could not avoid shrinking into myself when I saw a gentleman-like +man in the group which crowded round the door to observe us. I +could have broken the driver's whip for cracking to call the women +and children together, but seeing a significant smile on the face, I +had before remarked, I burst into a laugh to allow him to do so too, +and away we flew. This is not a flourish of the pen, for we +actually went on full gallop a long time, the horses being very +good; indeed, I have never met with better, if so good, post-horses +as in Norway. They are of a stouter make than the English horses, +appear to be well fed, and are not easily tired. + +I had to pass over, I was informed, the most fertile and best +cultivated tract of country in Norway. The distance was three +Norwegian miles, which are longer than the Swedish. The roads were +very good; the farmers are obliged to repair them; and we scampered +through a great extent of country in a more improved state than any +I had viewed since I left England. Still there was sufficient of +hills, dales, and rocks to prevent the idea of a plain from entering +the head, or even of such scenery as England and France afford. The +prospects were also embellished by water, rivers, and lakes before +the sea proudly claimed my regard, and the road running frequently +through lofty groves rendered the landscapes beautiful, though they +were not so romantic as those I had lately seen with such delight. + +It was late when I reached Tonsberg, and I was glad to go to bed at +a decent inn. The next morning the 17th of July, conversing with +the gentleman with whom I had business to transact, I found that I +should be detained at Tonsberg three weeks, and I lamented that I +had not brought my child with me. + +The inn was quiet, and my room so pleasant, commanding a view of the +sea, confined by an amphitheatre of hanging woods, that I wished to +remain there, though no one in the house could speak English or +French. The mayor, my friend, however, sent a young woman to me who +spoke a little English, and she agreed to call on me twice a day to +receive my orders and translate them to my hostess. + +My not understanding the language was an excellent pretext for +dining alone, which I prevailed on them to let me do at a late hour, +for the early dinners in Sweden had entirely deranged my day. I +could not alter it there without disturbing the economy of a family +where I was as a visitor, necessity having forced me to accept of an +invitation from a private family, the lodgings were so incommodious. + +Amongst the Norwegians I had the arrangement of my own time, and I +determined to regulate it in such a manner that I might enjoy as +much of their sweet summer as I possibly could; short, it is true, +but "passing sweet." + +I never endured a winter in this rude clime, consequently it was not +the contrast, but the real beauty of the season which made the +present summer appear to me the finest I had ever seen. Sheltered +from the north and eastern winds, nothing can exceed the salubrity, +the soft freshness of the western gales. In the evening they also +die away; the aspen leaves tremble into stillness, and reposing +nature seems to be warmed by the moon, which here assumes a genial +aspect. And if a light shower has chanced to fall with the sun, the +juniper, the underwood of the forest, exhales a wild perfume, mixed +with a thousand nameless sweets that, soothing the heart, leave +images in the memory which the imagination will ever hold dear. + +Nature is the nurse of sentiment, the true source of taste; yet what +misery, as well as rapture, is produced by a quick perception of the +beautiful and sublime when it is exercised in observing animated +nature, when every beauteous feeling and emotion excites responsive +sympathy, and the harmonised soul sinks into melancholy or rises to +ecstasy, just as the chords are touched, like the AEolian harp +agitated by the changing wind. But how dangerous is it to foster +these sentiments in such an imperfect state of existence, and how +difficult to eradicate them when an affection for mankind, a passion +for an individual, is but the unfolding of that love which embraces +all that is great and beautiful! + +When a warm heart has received strong impressions, they are not to +be effaced. Emotions become sentiments, and the imagination renders +even transient sensations permanent by fondly retracing them. I +cannot, without a thrill of delight, recollect views I have seen, +which are not to be forgotten, nor looks I have felt in every nerve, +which I shall never more meet. The grave has closed over a dear +friend, the friend of my youth. Still she is present with me, and I +hear her soft voice warbling as I stray over the heath. Fate has +separated me from another, the fire of whose eyes, tempered by +infantine tenderness, still warms my breast; even when gazing on +these tremendous cliffs sublime emotions absorb my soul. And, smile +not, if I add that the rosy tint of morning reminds me of a +suffusion which will never more charm my senses, unless it reappears +on the cheeks of my child. Her sweet blushes I may yet hide in my +bosom, and she is still too young to ask why starts the tear so near +akin to pleasure and pain. + +I cannot write any more at present. To-morrow we will talk of +Tonsberg. + + + +LETTER VII. + + + +Though the king of Denmark be an absolute monarch, yet the +Norwegians appear to enjoy all the blessings of freedom. Norway may +be termed a sister kingdom; but the people have no viceroy to lord +it over them, and fatten his dependants with the fruit of their +labour. + +There are only two counts in the whole country who have estates, and +exact some feudal observances from their tenantry. All the rest of +the country is divided into small farms, which belong to the +cultivator. It is true some few, appertaining to the Church, are +let, but always on a lease for life, generally renewed in favour of +the eldest son, who has this advantage as well as a right to a +double portion of the property. But the value of the farm is +estimated, and after his portion is assigned to him he must be +answerable for the residue to the remaining part of the family. + +Every farmer for ten years is obliged to attend annually about +twelve days to learn the military exercise, but it is always at a +small distance from his dwelling, and does not lead him into any new +habits of life. + +There are about six thousand regulars also in garrison at +Christiania and Fredericshall, who are equally reserved, with the +militia, for the defence of their own country. So that when the +Prince Royal passed into Sweden in 1788, he was obliged to request, +not command, them to accompany him on this expedition. + +These corps are mostly composed of the sons of the cottagers, who +being labourers on the farms, are allowed a few acres to cultivate +for themselves. These men voluntarily enlist, but it is only for a +limited period (six years), at the expiration of which they have the +liberty of retiring. The pay is only twopence a day and bread; +still, considering the cheapness of the country, it is more than +sixpence in England. + +The distribution of landed property into small farms produces a +degree of equality which I have seldom seen elsewhere; and the rich +being all merchants, who are obliged to divide their personal +fortune amongst their children, the boys always receiving twice as +much as the girls, property has met a chance of accumulating till +overgrowing wealth destroys the balance of liberty. + +You will be surprised to hear me talk of liberty; yet the Norwegians +appear to me to be the most free community I have ever observed. + +The mayor of each town or district, and the judges in the country, +exercise an authority almost patriarchal. They can do much good, +but little harm,--as every individual can appeal from their +judgment; and as they may always be forced to give a reason for +their conduct, it is generally regulated by prudence. "They have +not time to learn to be tyrants," said a gentleman to me, with whom +I discussed the subject. + +The farmers not fearing to be turned out of their farms, should they +displease a man in power, and having no vote to be commanded at an +election for a mock representative, are a manly race; for not being +obliged to submit to any debasing tenure in order to live, or +advance themselves in the world, they act with an independent +spirit. I never yet have heard of anything like domineering or +oppression, excepting such as has arisen from natural causes. The +freedom the people enjoy may, perhaps, render them a little +litigious, and subject them to the impositions of cunning +practitioners of the law; but the authority of office is bounded, +and the emoluments of it do not destroy its utility. + +Last year a man who had abused his power was cashiered, on the +representation of the people to the bailiff of the district. + +There are four in Norway who might with propriety be termed +sheriffs; and from their sentence an appeal, by either party, may be +made to Copenhagen. + +Near most of the towns are commons, on which the cows of all the +inhabitants, indiscriminately, are allowed to graze. The poor, to +whom a cow is necessary, are almost supported by it. Besides, to +render living more easy, they all go out to fish in their own boats, +and fish is their principal food. + +The lower class of people in the towns are in general sailors; and +the industrious have usually little ventures of their own that serve +to render the winter comfortable. + +With respect to the country at large, the importation is +considerably in favour of Norway. + +They are forbidden, at present, to export corn or rye on account of +the advanced price. + +The restriction which most resembles the painful subordination of +Ireland, is that vessels, trading to the West Indies, are obliged to +pass by their own ports, and unload their cargoes at Copenhagen, +which they afterwards reship. The duty is indeed inconsiderable, +but the navigation being dangerous, they run a double risk. + +There is an excise on all articles of consumption brought to the +towns; but the officers are not strict, and it would be reckoned +invidious to enter a house to search, as in England. + +The Norwegians appear to me a sensible, shrewd people, with little +scientific knowledge, and still less taste for literature; but they +are arriving at the epoch which precedes the introduction of the +arts and sciences. + +Most of the towns are seaports, and seaports are not favourable to +improvement. The captains acquire a little superficial knowledge by +travelling, which their indefatigable attention to the making of +money prevents their digesting; and the fortune that they thus +laboriously acquire is spent, as it usually is in towns of this +description, in show and good living. They love their country, but +have not much public spirit. Their exertions are, generally +speaking, only for their families, which, I conceive, will always be +the case, till politics, becoming a subject of discussion, enlarges +the heart by opening the understanding. The French Revolution will +have this effect. They sing, at present, with great glee, many +Republican songs, and seem earnestly to wish that the republic may +stand; yet they appear very much attached to their Prince Royal, +and, as far as rumour can give an idea of a character, he appears to +merit their attachment. When I am at Copenhagen, I shall be able to +ascertain on what foundation their good opinion is built; at present +I am only the echo of it. + +In the year 1788 he travelled through Norway; and acts of mercy gave +dignity to the parade, and interest to the joy his presence +inspired. At this town he pardoned a girl condemned to die for +murdering an illegitimate child, a crime seldom committed in this +country. She is since married, and become the careful mother of a +family. This might be given as an instance, that a desperate act is +not always a proof of an incorrigible depravity of character, the +only plausible excuse that has been brought forward to justify the +infliction of capital punishments. + +I will relate two or three other anecdotes to you, for the truth of +which I will not vouch because the facts were not of sufficient +consequence for me to take much pains to ascertain them; and, true +or false, they evince that the people like to make a kind of +mistress of their prince. + +An officer, mortally wounded at the ill-advised battle of Quistram, +desired to speak with the prince; and with his dying breath, +earnestly recommended to his care a young woman of Christiania, to +whom he was engaged. When the prince returned there, a ball was +given by the chief inhabitants: he inquired whether this +unfortunate girl was invited, and requested that she might, though +of the second class. The girl came; she was pretty; and finding +herself among her superiors, bashfully sat down as near the door as +possible, nobody taking notice of her. Shortly after, the prince +entering, immediately inquired for her, and asked her to dance, to +the mortification of the rich dames. After it was over he handed +her to the top of the room, and placing himself by her, spoke of the +loss she had sustained, with tenderness, promising to provide for +anyone she should marry, as the story goes. She is since married, +and he has not forgotten his promise. + +A little girl, during the same expedition, in Sweden, who informed +him that the logs of a bridge were out underneath, was taken by his +orders to Christiania, and put to school at his expense. + +Before I retail other beneficial effects of his journey, it is +necessary to inform you that the laws here are mild, and do not +punish capitally for any crime but murder, which seldom occurs. +Every other offence merely subjects the delinquent to imprisonment +and labour in the castle, or rather arsenal at Christiania, and the +fortress at Fredericshall. The first and second conviction produces +a sentence for a limited number of years--two, three, five, or +seven, proportioned to the atrocity of the crime. After the third +he is whipped, branded in the forehead, and condemned to perpetual +slavery. This is the ordinary course of justice. For some flagrant +breaches of trust, or acts of wanton cruelty, criminals have been +condemned to slavery for life time first the of conviction, but not +frequently. The number of these slaves do not, I am informed, +amount to more than a hundred, which is not considerable, compared +with the population, upwards of eight hundred thousand. Should I +pass through Christiania, on my return to Gothenburg, I shall +probably have an opportunity of learning other particulars. + +There is also a House of Correction at Christiania for trifling +misdemeanours, where the women are confined to labour and +imprisonment even for life. The state of the prisoners was +represented to the prince, in consequence of which he visited the +arsenal and House of Correction. The slaves at the arsenal were +loaded with irons of a great weight; he ordered them to be lightened +as much as possible. + +The people in the House of Correction were commanded not to speak to +him; but four women, condemned to remain there for life, got into +the passage, and fell at his feet. He granted them a pardon; and +inquiring respecting the treatment of the prisoners, he was informed +that they were frequently whipped going in, and coming out, and for +any fault, at the discretion of the inspectors. This custom he +humanely abolished, though some of the principal inhabitants, whose +situation in life had raised them above the temptation of stealing, +were of opinion that these chastisements were necessary and +wholesome. + +In short, everything seems to announce that the prince really +cherishes the laudable ambition of fulfilling the duties of his +station. This ambition is cherished and directed by the Count +Bernstorff, the Prime Minister of Denmark, who is universally +celebrated for his abilities and virtue. The happiness of the +people is a substantial eulogium; and, from all I can gather, the +inhabitants of Denmark and Norway are the least oppressed people of +Europe. The press is free. They translate any of the French +publications of the day, deliver their opinion on the subject, and +discuss those it leads to with great freedom, and without fearing to +displease the Government. + +On the subject of religion they are likewise becoming tolerant, at +least, and perhaps have advanced a step further in free-thinking. +One writer has ventured to deny the divinity of Jesus Christ, and to +question the necessity or utility of the Christian system, without +being considered universally as a monster, which would have been the +case a few years ago. They have translated many German works on +education; and though they have not adopted any of their plans, it +has become a subject of discussion. There are some grammar and free +schools; but, from what I hear, not very good ones. All the +children learn to read, write, and cast accounts, for the purposes +of common life. They have no university; and nothing that deserves +the name of science is taught; nor do individuals, by pursuing any +branch of knowledge, excite a degree of curiosity which is the +forerunner of improvement. Knowledge is not absolutely necessary to +enable a considerable portion of the community to live; and, till it +is, I fear it never becomes general. + +In this country, where minerals abound, there is not one collection; +and, in all probability, I venture a conjecture, the want of +mechanical and chemical knowledge renders the silver mines +unproductive, for the quantity of silver obtained every year is not +sufficient to defray the expenses. It has been urged that the +employment of such a number of hands is very beneficial. But a +positive loss is never to be done away; and the men, thus employed, +would naturally find some other means of living, instead of being +thus a dead weight on Government, or rather on the community from +whom its revenue is drawn. + +About three English miles from Tonsberg there is a salt work, +belonging, like all their establishments, to Government, in which +they employ above a hundred and fifty men, and maintain nearly five +hundred people, who earn their living. The clear profit, an +increasing one, amounts to two thousand pounds sterling. And as the +eldest son of the inspector, an ingenious young man, has been sent +by the Government to travel, and acquire some mathematical and +chemical knowledge in Germany, it has a chance of being improved. +He is the only person I have met with here who appears to have a +scientific turn of mind. I do not mean to assert that I have not +met with others who have a spirit of inquiry. + +The salt-works at St. Ubes are basins in the sand, and the sun +produces the evaporation, but here there is no beach. Besides, the +heat of summer is so short-lived that it would be idle to contrive +machines for such an inconsiderable portion of the year. They +therefore always use fires; and the whole establishment appears to +be regulated with judgment. + +The situation is well chosen and beautiful. I do not find, from the +observation of a person who has resided here for forty years, that +the sea advances or recedes on this coast. + +I have already remarked that little attention is paid to education, +excepting reading, writing, and the rudiments of arithmetic; I ought +to have added that a catechism is carefully taught, and the children +obliged to read in the churches, before the congregation, to prove +that they are not neglected. + +Degrees, to enable any one to practise any profession, must be taken +at Copenhagen; and the people of this country, having the good sense +to perceive that men who are to live in a community should at least +acquire the elements of their knowledge, and form their youthful +attachments there, are seriously endeavouring to establish a +university in Norway. And Tonsberg, as a central place in the best +part of the country, had the most suffrages, for, experiencing the +bad effects of a metropolis, they have determined not to have it in +or near Christiania. Should such an establishment take place, it +will promote inquiry throughout the country, and give a new face to +society. Premiums have been offered, and prize questions written, +which I am told have merit. The building college-halls, and other +appendages of the seat of science, might enable Tonsberg to recover +its pristine consequence, for it is one of the most ancient towns of +Norway, and once contained nine churches. At present there are only +two. One is a very old structure, and has a Gothic respectability +about it, which scarcely amounts to grandeur, because, to render a +Gothic pile grand, it must have a huge unwieldiness of appearance. +The chapel of Windsor may be an exception to this rule; I mean +before it was in its present nice, clean state. When I first saw +it, the pillars within had acquired, by time, a sombre hue, which +accorded with the architecture; and the gloom increased its +dimensions to the eye by hiding its parts; but now it all bursts on +the view at once, and the sublimity has vanished before the brush +and broom; for it has been white-washed and scraped till it has +become as bright and neat as the pots and pans in a notable house- +wife's kitchen--yes; the very spurs on the recumbent knights were +deprived of their venerable rust, to give a striking proof that a +love of order in trifles, and taste for proportion and arrangement, +are very distinct. The glare of light thus introduced entirely +destroys the sentiment these piles are calculated to inspire; so +that, when I heard something like a jig from the organ-loft, I +thought it an excellent hall for dancing or feasting. The measured +pace of thought with which I had entered the cathedral changed into +a trip; and I bounded on the terrace, to see the royal family, with +a number of ridiculous images in my head that I shall not now +recall. + +The Norwegians are fond of music, and every little church has an +organ. In the church I have mentioned there is an inscription +importing that a king James VI. of Scotland and I. of England, who +came with more than princely gallantry to escort his bride home-- +stood there, and heard divine service. + +There is a little recess full of coffins, which contains bodies +embalmed long since--so long, that there is not even a tradition to +lead to a guess at their names. + +A desire of preserving the body seems to have prevailed in most +countries of the world, futile as it is to term it a preservation, +when the noblest parts are immediately sacrificed merely to save the +muscles, skin, and bone from rottenness. When I was shown these +human petrifactions, I shrank back with disgust and horror. "Ashes +to ashes!" thought I--"Dust to dust!" If this be not dissolution, +it is something worse than natural decay--it is treason against +humanity, thus to lift up the awful veil which would fain hide its +weakness. The grandeur of the active principle is never more +strongly felt than at such a sight, for nothing is so ugly as the +human form when deprived of life, and thus dried into stone, merely +to preserve the most disgusting image of death. The contemplation +of noble ruins produces a melancholy that exalts the mind. We take +a retrospect of the exertions of man, the fate of empires and their +rulers, and marking the grand destruction of ages, it seems the +necessary change of the leading to improvement. Our very soul +expands, and we forget our littleness--how painfully brought to our +recollection by such vain attempts to snatch from decay what is +destined so soon to perish. Life, what art thou? Where goes this +breath?--this _I_, so much alive? In what element will it mix, +giving or receiving fresh energy? What will break the enchantment +of animation? For worlds I would not see a form I loved--embalmed +in my heart --thus sacrilegiously handled? Pugh! my stomach turns. +Is this all the distinction of the rich in the grave? They had +better quietly allow the scythe of equality to mow them down with +the common mass, than struggle to become a monument of the +instability of human greatness. + +The teeth, nails, and skin were whole, without appearing black like +the Egyptian mummies; and some silk, in which they had been wrapped, +still preserved its colour--pink--with tolerable freshness. + +I could not learn how long the bodies had been in this state, in +which they bid fair to remain till the Day of Judgment, if there is +to be such a day; and before that time, it will require some trouble +to make them fit to appear in company with angels without disgracing +humanity. God bless you! I feel a conviction that we have some +perfectible principle in our present vestment, which will not be +destroyed just as we begin to be sensible of improvement; and I care +not what habit it next puts on, sure that it will be wisely formed +to suit a higher state of existence. Thinking of death makes us +tenderly cling to our affections; with more than usual tenderness I +therefore assure you that I am yours, wishing that the temporary +death of absence may not endure longer than is absolutely necessary. + + + +LETTER VIII. + + + +Tonsberg was formerly the residence of one of the little sovereigns +of Norway; and on an adjacent mountain the vestiges of a fort +remain, which was battered down by the Swedes, the entrance of the +bay lying close to it. + +Here I have frequently strayed, sovereign of the waste; I seldom met +any human creature; and sometimes, reclining on the mossy down, +under the shelter of a rock, the prattling of the sea amongst the +pebbles has lulled me to sleep--no fear of any rude satyr's +approaching to interrupt my repose. Balmy were the slumbers, and +soft the gales, that refreshed me, when I awoke to follow, with an +eye vaguely curious, the white sails, as they turned the cliffs, or +seemed to take shelter under the pines which covered the little +islands that so gracefully rose to render the terrific ocean +beautiful. The fishermen were calmly casting their nets, whilst the +sea-gulls hovered over the unruffled deep. Everything seemed to +harmonise into tranquillity; even the mournful call of the bittern +was in cadence with the tinkling bells on the necks of the cows, +that, pacing slowly one after the other, along an inviting path in +the vale below, were repairing to the cottages to be milked. With +what ineffable pleasure have I not gazed--and gazed again, losing my +breath through my eyes--my very soul diffused itself in the scene; +and, seeming to become all senses, glided in the scarcely-agitated +waves, melted in the freshening breeze, or, taking its flight with +fairy wing, to the misty mountain which bounded the prospect, fancy +tripped over new lawns, more beautiful even than the lovely slopes +on the winding shore before me. I pause, again breathless, to +trace, with renewed delight, sentiments which entranced me, when, +turning my humid eyes from the expanse below to the vault above, my +sight pierced the fleecy clouds that softened the azure brightness; +and imperceptibly recalling the reveries of childhood, I bowed +before the awful throne of my Creator, whilst I rested on its +footstool. + +You have sometimes wondered, my dear friend, at the extreme +affection of my nature. But such is the temperature of my soul. It +is not the vivacity of youth, the heyday of existence. For years +have I endeavoured to calm an impetuous tide, labouring to make my +feelings take an orderly course. It was striving against the +stream. I must love and admire with warmth, or I sink into sadness. +Tokens of love which I have received have wrapped me in Elysium, +purifying the heart they enchanted. My bosom still glows. Do not +saucily ask, repeating Sterne's question, "Maria, is it still so +warm?" Sufficiently, O my God! Has it been chilled by sorrow and +unkindness; still nature will prevail; and if I blush at +recollecting past enjoyment, it is the rosy hue of pleasure +heightened by modesty, for the blush of modesty and shame are as +distinct as the emotions by which they are produced. + +I need scarcely inform you, after telling you of my walks, that my +constitution has been renovated here, and that I have recovered my +activity even whilst attaining a little embonpoint. My imprudence +last winter, and some untoward accidents just at the time I was +weaning my child, had reduced me to a state of weakness which I +never before experienced. A slow fever preyed on me every night +during my residence in Sweden, and after I arrived at Tonsberg. By +chance I found a fine rivulet filtered through the rocks, and +confined in a basin for the cattle. It tasted to me like a +chalybeate; at any rate, it was pure; and the good effect of the +various waters which invalids are sent to drink depends, I believe, +more on the air, exercise, and change of scene, than on their +medicinal qualities. I therefore determined to turn my morning +walks towards it, and seek for health from the nymph of the +fountain, partaking of the beverage offered to the tenants of the +shade. + +Chance likewise led me to discover a new pleasure equally beneficial +to my health. I wished to avail myself of my vicinity to the sea +and bathe; but it was not possible near the town; there was no +convenience. The young woman whom I mentioned to you proposed +rowing me across the water amongst the rocks; but as she was +pregnant, I insisted on taking one of the oars, and learning to row. +It was not difficult, and I do not know a pleasanter exercise. I +soon became expert, and my train of thinking kept time, as it were, +with the oars, or I suffered the boat to be carried along by the +current, indulging a pleasing forgetfulness or fallacious hopes. +How fallacious! yet, without hope, what is to sustain life, but the +fear of annihilation--the only thing of which I have ever felt a +dread. I cannot bear to think of being no more--of losing myself-- +though existence is often but a painful consciousness of misery; +nay, it appears to me impossible that I should cease to exist, or +that this active, restless spirit, equally alive to joy and sorrow, +should only be organised dust--ready to fly abroad the moment the +spring snaps, or the spark goes out which kept it together. Surely +something resides in this heart that is not perishable, and life is +more than a dream. + +Sometimes, to take up my oar once more, when the sea was calm, I was +amused by disturbing the innumerable young star fish which floated +just below the surface; I had never observed them before, for they +have not a hard shell like those which I have seen on the seashore. +They look like thickened water with a white edge, and four purple +circles, of different forms, were in the middle, over an incredible +number of fibres or white lines. Touching them, the cloudy +substance would turn or close, first on one side, then on the other, +very gracefully, but when I took one of them up in the ladle, with +which I heaved the water out of the boat, it appeared only a +colourless jelly. + +I did not see any of the seals, numbers of which followed our boat +when we landed in Sweden; but though I like to sport in the water I +should have had no desire to join in their gambols. + +Enough, you will say, of inanimate nature and of brutes, to use the +lordly phrase of man; let me hear something of the inhabitants. + +The gentleman with whom I had business is the Mayor of Tonsberg. He +speaks English intelligibly, and, having a sound understanding, I +was sorry that his numerous occupations prevented my gaining as much +information from him as I could have drawn forth had we frequently +conversed. The people of the town, as far as I had an opportunity +of knowing their sentiments, are extremely well satisfied with his +manner of discharging his office. He has a degree of information +and good sense which excites respect, whilst a cheerfulness, almost +amounting to gaiety, enables him to reconcile differences and keep +his neighbours in good humour. "I lost my horse," said a woman to +me, "but ever since, when I want to send to the mill, or go out, the +Mayor lends me one. He scolds if I do not come for it." + +A criminal was branded, during my stay here, for the third offence; +but the relief he received made him declare that the judge was one +of the best men in the world. + +I sent this wretch a trifle, at different times, to take with him +into slavery. As it was more than he expected, he wished very much +to see me, and this wish brought to my remembrance an anecdote I +heard when I was in Lisbon. + +A wretch who had been imprisoned several years, during which period +lamps had been put up, was at last condemned to a cruel death, yet, +in his way to execution, he only wished for one night's respite to +see the city lighted. + +Having dined in company at the mayor's I was invited with his family +to spend the day at one of the richest merchant's houses. Though I +could not speak Danish I knew that I could see a great deal; yes, I +am persuaded that I have formed a very just opinion of the character +of the Norwegians, without being able to hold converse with them. + +I had expected to meet some company, yet was a little disconcerted +at being ushered into an apartment full of well dressed people, and +glancing my eyes round they rested on several very pretty faces. +Rosy cheeks, sparkling eyes, and light brown or golden locks; for I +never saw so much hair with a yellow cast, and, with their fine +complexions, it looked very becoming. + +These women seem a mixture of indolence and vivacity; they scarcely +ever walk out, and were astonished that I should for pleasure, yet +they are immoderately fond of dancing. Unaffected in their manners, +if they have no pretensions to elegance, simplicity often produces a +gracefulness of deportment, when they are animated by a particular +desire to please, which was the case at present. The solitariness +of my situation, which they thought terrible, interested them very +much in my favour. They gathered round me, sung to me, and one of +the prettiest, to whom I gave my hand with some degree of +cordiality, to meet the glance of her eyes, kissed me very +affectionately. + +At dinner, which was conducted with great hospitality, though we +remained at table too long, they sung several songs, and, amongst +the rest, translations of some patriotic French ones. As the +evening advanced they became playful, and we kept up a sort of +conversation of gestures. As their minds were totally uncultivated +I did not lose much, perhaps gained, by not being able to understand +them; for fancy probably filled up, more to their advantage, the +void in the picture. Be that as it may, they excited my sympathy, +and I was very much flattered when I was told the next day that they +said it was a pleasure to look at me, I appeared so good-natured. + +The men were generally captains of ships. Several spoke English +very tolerably, but they were merely matter-of-fact men, confined to +a very narrow circle of observation. I found it difficult to obtain +from them any information respecting their own country, when the +fumes of tobacco did not keep me at a distance. + +I was invited to partake of some other feasts, and always had to +complain of the quantity of provision and the length of time taken +to consume it; for it would not have been proper to have said +devour, all went on so fair and softly. The servants wait as slowly +as their mistresses carve. + +The young women here, as well as in Sweden, have commonly bad teeth, +which I attribute to the same causes. They are fond of finery, but +do not pay the necessary attention to their persons, to render +beauty less transient than a flower, and that interesting expression +which sentiment and accomplishments give seldom supplies its place. + +The servants have, likewise, an inferior sort of food here, but +their masters are not allowed to strike them with impunity. I might +have added mistresses, for it was a complaint of this kind brought +before the mayor which led me to a knowledge of the fact. + +The wages are low, which is particularly unjust, because the price +of clothes is much higher than that of provision. A young woman, +who is wet nurse to the mistress of the inn where I lodge, receives +only twelve dollars a year, and pays ten for the nursing of her own +child. The father had run away to get clear of the expense. There +was something in this most painful state of widowhood which excited +my compassion and led me to reflections on the instability of the +most flattering plans of happiness, that were painful in the +extreme, till I was ready to ask whether this world was not created +to exhibit every possible combination of wretchedness. I asked +these questions of a heart writhing with anguish, whilst I listened +to a melancholy ditty sung by this poor girl. It was too early for +thee to be abandoned, thought I, and I hastened out of the house to +take my solitary evening's walk. And here I am again to talk of +anything but the pangs arising from the discovery of estranged +affection and the lonely sadness of a deserted heart. + +The father and mother, if the father can be ascertained, are obliged +to maintain an illegitimate child at their joint expense; but, +should the father disappear, go up the country or to sea, the mother +must maintain it herself. However, accidents of this kind do not +prevent their marrying, and then it is not unusual to take the child +or children home, and they are brought up very amicably with the +marriage progeny. + +I took some pains to learn what books were written originally in +their language; but for any certain information respecting the state +of Danish literature I must wait till I arrive at Copenhagen. + +The sound of the language is soft, a great proportion of the words +ending in vowels; and there is a simplicity in the turn of some of +the phrases which have been translated to me that pleased and +interested me. In the country the farmers use the THOU and THEE; +and they do not acquire the polite plurals of the towns by meeting +at market. The not having markets established in the large towns +appears to me a great inconvenience. When the farmers have anything +to sell they bring it to the neighbouring town and take it from +house to house. I am surprised that the inhabitants do not feel how +very incommodious this usage is to both parties, and redress it; +they, indeed, perceive it, for when I have introduced the subject +they acknowledged that they were often in want of necessaries, there +being no butchers, and they were often obliged to buy what they did +not want; yet it was the custom, and the changing of customs of a +long standing requires more energy than they yet possess. I +received a similar reply when I attempted to persuade the women that +they injured their children by keeping them too warm. The only way +of parrying off my reasoning was that they must do as other people +did; in short, reason on any subject of change, and they stop you by +saying that "the town would talk." A person of sense, with a large +fortune to ensure respect, might be very useful here, by inducing +them to treat their children and manage their sick properly, and eat +food dressed in a simpler manner--the example, for instance, of a +count's lady. + +Reflecting on these prejudices made me revert to the wisdom of those +legislators who established institutions for the good of the body +under the pretext of serving heaven for the salvation of the soul. +These might with strict propriety be termed pious frauds; and I +admire the Peruvian pair for asserting that they came from the sun, +when their conduct proved that they meant to enlighten a benighted +country, whose obedience, or even attention, could only be secured +by awe. Thus much for conquering the INERTIA of reason; but, when +it is once in motion, fables once held sacred may be ridiculed; and +sacred they were when useful to mankind. Prometheus alone stole +fire to animate the first man; his posterity needs not supernatural +aid to preserve the species, though love is generally termed a +flame; and it may not be necessary much longer to suppose men +inspired by heaven to inculcate the duties which demand special +grace when reason convinces them that they are the happiest who are +the most nobly employed. + +In a few days I am to set out for the western part of Norway, and +then shall return by land to Gothenburg. I cannot think of leaving +this place without regret. I speak of the place before the +inhabitants, though there is a tenderness in their artless kindness +which attaches me to them; but it is an attachment that inspires a +regret very different from that I felt at leaving Hull in my way to +Sweden. The domestic happiness and good-humoured gaiety of the +amiable family where I and my Frances were so hospitably received +would have been sufficient to ensure the tenderest remembrance, +without the recollection of the social evening to stimulate it, when +good breeding gave dignity to sympathy and wit zest to reason. + +Adieu!--I am just informed that my horse has been waiting this +quarter of an hour. I now venture to ride out alone. The steeple +serves as a landmark. I once or twice lost my way, walking alone, +without being able to inquire after a path; I was therefore obliged +to make to the steeple, or windmill, over hedge and ditch. + +Yours truly. + + + +LETTER IX. + + + +I have already informed you that there are only two noblemen who +have estates of any magnitude in Norway. One of these has a house +near Tonsberg, at which he has not resided for some years, having +been at court, or on embassies. He is now the Danish Ambassador in +London. The house is pleasantly situated, and the grounds about it +fine; but their neglected appearance plainly tells that there is +nobody at home. + +A stupid kind of sadness, to my eye, always reigns in a huge +habitation where only servants live to put cases on the furniture +and open the windows. I enter as I would into the tomb of the +Capulets, to look at the family pictures that here frown in armour, +or smile in ermine. The mildew respects not the lordly robe, and +the worm riots unchecked on the cheek of beauty. + +There was nothing in the architecture of the building, or the form +of the furniture, to detain me from the avenue where the aged pines +stretched along majestically. Time had given a greyish cast to +their ever-green foliage; and they stood, like sires of the forest, +sheltered on all sides by a rising progeny. I had not ever seen so +many oaks together in Norway as in these woods, nor such large +aspens as here were agitated by the breeze, rendering the wind +audible--nay musical; for melody seemed on the wing around me. How +different was the fresh odour that reanimated me in the avenue, from +the damp chillness of the apartments; and as little did the gloomy +thoughtfulness excited by the dusty hangings, and worm-eaten +pictures, resemble the reveries inspired by the soothing melancholy +of their shade. In the winter, these august pines, towering above +the snow, must relieve the eye beyond measure and give life to the +white waste. + +The continual recurrence of pine and fir groves in the day sometimes +wearies the sight, but in the evening, nothing can be more +picturesque, or, more properly speaking, better calculated to +produce poetical images. Passing through them, I have been struck +with a mystic kind of reverence, and I did, as it were, homage to +their venerable shadows. Not nymphs, but philosophers, seemed to +inhabit them--ever musing; I could scarcely conceive that they were +without some consciousness of existence--without a calm enjoyment of +the pleasure they diffused. + +How often do my feelings produce ideas that remind me of the origin +of many poetical fictions. In solitude, the imagination bodies +forth its conceptions unrestrained, and stops enraptured to adore +the beings of its own creation. These are moments of bliss; and the +memory recalls them with delight. + +But I have almost forgotten the matters of fact I meant to relate, +respecting the counts. They have the presentation of the livings on +their estates, appoint the judges, and different civil officers, the +Crown reserving to itself the privilege of sanctioning them. But +though they appoint, they cannot dismiss. Their tenants also occupy +their farms for life, and are obliged to obey any summons to work on +the part he reserves for himself; but they are paid for their +labour. In short, I have seldom heard of any noblemen so innoxious. + +Observing that the gardens round the count's estate were better +cultivated than any I had before seen, I was led to reflect on the +advantages which naturally accrue from the feudal tenures. The +tenants of the count are obliged to work at a stated price, in his +grounds and garden; and the instruction which they imperceptibly +receive from the head gardener tends to render them useful, and +makes them, in the common course of things, better husbandmen and +gardeners on their own little farms. Thus the great, who alone +travel in this period of society, for the observation of manners and +customs made by sailors is very confined, bring home improvement to +promote their own comfort, which is gradually spread abroad amongst +the people, till they are stimulated to think for themselves. + +The bishops have not large revenues, and the priests are appointed +by the king before they come to them to be ordained. There is +commonly some little farm annexed to the parsonage, and the +inhabitants subscribe voluntarily, three times a year, in addition +to the church fees, for the support of the clergyman. The church +lands were seized when Lutheranism was introduced, the desire of +obtaining them being probably the real stimulus of reformation. The +tithes, which are never required in kind, are divided into three +parts--one to the king, another to the incumbent, and the third to +repair the dilapidations of the parsonage. They do not amount to +much. And the stipend allowed to the different civil officers is +also too small, scarcely deserving to be termed an independence; +that of the custom-house officers is not sufficient to procure the +necessaries of life--no wonder, then, if necessity leads them to +knavery. Much public virtue cannot be expected till every +employment, putting perquisites out of the question, has a salary +sufficient to reward industry;--whilst none are so great as to +permit the possessor to remain idle. It is this want of proportion +between profit and labour which debases men, producing the +sycophantic appellations of patron and client, and that pernicious +esprit du corps, proverbially vicious. + +The farmers are hospitable as well as independent. Offering once to +pay for some coffee I drank when taking shelter from the rain, I was +asked, rather angrily, if a little coffee was worth paying for. +They smoke, and drink drams, but not so much as formerly. +Drunkenness, often the attendant disgrace of hospitality, will here, +as well as everywhere else, give place to gallantry and refinement +of manners; but the change will not be suddenly produced. + +The people of every class are constant in their attendance at +church; they are very fond of dancing, and the Sunday evenings in +Norway, as in Catholic countries, are spent in exercises which +exhilarate the spirits without vitiating the heart. The rest of +labour ought to be gay; and the gladness I have felt in France on a +Sunday, or Decadi, which I caught from the faces around me, was a +sentiment more truly religious than all the stupid stillness which +the streets of London ever inspired where the Sabbath is so +decorously observed. I recollect, in the country parts of England, +the churchwardens used to go out during the service to see if they +could catch any luckless wight playing at bowls or skittles; yet +what could be more harmless? It would even, I think, be a great +advantage to the English, if feats of activity (I do not include +boxing matches) were encouraged on a Sunday, as it might stop the +progress of Methodism, and of that fanatical spirit which appears to +be gaining ground. I was surprised when I visited Yorkshire, on my +way to Sweden, to find that sullen narrowness of thinking had made +such a progress since I was an inhabitant of the country. I could +hardly have supposed that sixteen or seventeen years could have +produced such an alteration for the worse in the morals of a place-- +yes, I say morals; for observance of forms, and avoiding of +practices, indifferent in themselves, often supply the place of that +regular attention to duties which are so natural, that they seldom +are vauntingly exercised, though they are worth all the precepts of +the law and the prophets. Besides, many of these deluded people, +with the best meaning, actually lose their reason, and become +miserable, the dread of damnation throwing them into a state which +merits the term; and still more, in running after their preachers, +expecting to promote their salvation, they disregard their welfare +in this world, and neglect the interest and comfort of their +families; so that, in proportion as they attain a reputation for +piety, they become idle. + +Aristocracy and fanaticism seem equally to be gaining ground in +England, particularly in the place I have mentioned; I saw very +little of either in Norway. The people are regular in their +attendance on public worship, but religion does not interfere with +their employments. + +As the farmers cut away the wood they clear the ground. Every year, +therefore, the country is becoming fitter to support the +inhabitants. Half a century ago the Dutch, I am told, only paid for +the cutting down of the wood, and the farmers were glad to get rid +of it without giving themselves any trouble. At present they form a +just estimate of its value; nay, I was surprised to find even +firewood so dear when it appears to be in such plenty. The +destruction, or gradual reduction, of their forests will probably +ameliorate the climate, and their manners will naturally improve in +the same ratio as industry requires ingenuity. It is very fortunate +that men are a long time but just above the brute creation, or the +greater part of the earth would never have been rendered habitable, +because it is the patient labour of men, who are only seeking for a +subsistence, which produces whatever embellishes existence, +affording leisure for the cultivation of the arts and sciences that +lift man so far above his first state. I never, my friend, thought +so deeply of the advantages obtained by human industry as since I +have been in Norway. The world requires, I see, the hand of man to +perfect it, and as this task naturally unfolds the faculties he +exercises, it is physically impossible that he should have remained +in Rousseau's golden age of stupidity. And, considering the +question of human happiness, where, oh where does it reside? Has it +taken up its abode with unconscious ignorance or with the high- +wrought mind? Is it the offspring of thoughtless animal spirits or +the dye of fancy continually flitting round the expected pleasure? + +The increasing population of the earth must necessarily tend to its +improvement, as the means of existence are multiplied by invention. + +You have probably made similar reflections in America, where the +face of the country, I suppose, resembles the wilds of Norway. I am +delighted with the romantic views I daily contemplate, animated by +the purest air; and I am interested by the simplicity of manners +which reigns around me. Still nothing so soon wearies out the +feelings as unmarked simplicity. I am therefore half convinced that +I could not live very comfortably exiled from the countries where +mankind are so much further advanced in knowledge, imperfect as it +is, and unsatisfactory to the thinking mind. Even now I begin to +long to hear what you are doing in England and France. My thoughts +fly from this wilderness to the polished circles of the world, till +recollecting its vices and follies, I bury myself in the woods, but +find it necessary to emerge again, that I may not lose sight of the +wisdom and virtue which exalts my nature. + +What a long time it requires to know ourselves; and yet almost every +one has more of this knowledge than he is willing to own, even to +himself. I cannot immediately determine whether I ought to rejoice +at having turned over in this solitude a new page in the history of +my own heart, though I may venture to assure you that a further +acquaintance with mankind only tends to increase my respect for your +judgment and esteem for your character. Farewell! + + + +LETTER X. + + + +I have once more, my friend, taken flight, for I left Tonsberg +yesterday, but with an intention of returning in my way back to +Sweden. + +The road to Laurvig is very fine, and the country the best +cultivated in Norway. I never before admired the beech tree, and +when I met stragglers here they pleased me still less. Long and +lank, they would have forced me to allow that the line of beauty +requires some curves, if the stately pine, standing near, erect, +throwing her vast arms around, had not looked beautiful in +opposition to such narrow rules. + +In these respects my very reason obliges me to permit my feelings to +be my criterion. Whatever excites emotion has charms for me, though +I insist that the cultivation of the mind by warming, nay, almost +creating the imagination, produces taste and an immense variety of +sensations and emotions, partaking of the exquisite pleasure +inspired by beauty and sublimity. As I know of no end to them, the +word infinite, so often misapplied, might on this occasion be +introduced with something like propriety. + +But I have rambled away again. I intended to have remarked to you +the effect produced by a grove of towering beech, the airy lightness +of their foliage admitting a degree of sunshine, which, giving a +transparency to the leaves, exhibited an appearance of freshness and +elegance that I had never before remarked. I thought of +descriptions of Italian scenery. But these evanescent graces seemed +the effect of enchantment; and I imperceptibly breathed softly, lest +I should destroy what was real, yet looked so like the creation of +fancy. Dryden's fable of the flower and the leaf was not a more +poetical reverie. + +Adieu, however, to fancy, and to all the sentiments which ennoble +our nature. I arrived at Laurvig, and found myself in the midst of +a group of lawyers of different descriptions. My head turned round, +my heart grew sick, as I regarded visages deformed by vice, and +listened to accounts of chicanery that was continually embroiling +the ignorant. These locusts will probably diminish as the people +become more enlightened. In this period of social life the +commonalty are always cunningly attentive to their own interest; but +their faculties, confined to a few objects, are so narrowed, that +they cannot discover it in the general good. The profession of the +law renders a set of men still shrewder and more selfish than the +rest; and it is these men, whose wits have been sharpened by +knavery, who here undermine morality, confounding right and wrong. + +The Count of Bernstorff, who really appears to me, from all I can +gather, to have the good of the people at heart, aware of this, has +lately sent to the mayor of each district to name, according to the +size of the place, four or six of the best-informed inhabitants, not +men of the law, out of which the citizens were to elect two, who are +to be termed mediators. Their office is to endeavour to prevent +litigious suits, and conciliate differences. And no suit is to be +commenced before the parties have discussed the dispute at their +weekly meeting. If a reconciliation should, in consequence, take +place, it is to be registered, and the parties are not allowed to +retract. + +By these means ignorant people will be prevented from applying for +advice to men who may justly be termed stirrers-up of strife. They +have for a long time, to use a significant vulgarism, set the people +by the ears, and live by the spoil they caught up in the scramble. +There is some reason to hope that this regulation will diminish +their number, and restrain their mischievous activity. But till +trials by jury are established, little justice can be expected in +Norway. Judges who cannot be bribed are often timid, and afraid of +offending bold knaves, lest they should raise a set of hornets about +themselves. The fear of censure undermines all energy of character; +and, labouring to be prudent, they lose sight of rectitude. +Besides, nothing is left to their conscience, or sagacity; they must +be governed by evidence, though internally convinced that it is +false. + +There is a considerable iron manufactory at Laurvig for coarse work, +and a lake near the town supplies the water necessary for working +several mills belonging to it. + +This establishment belongs to the Count of Laurvig. Without a +fortune and influence equal to his, such a work could not have been +set afloat; personal fortunes are not yet sufficient to support such +undertakings. Nevertheless the inhabitants of the town speak of the +size of his estate as an evil, because it obstructs commerce. The +occupiers of small farms are obliged to bring their wood to the +neighbouring seaports to be shipped; but he, wishing to increase the +value of his, will not allow it to be thus gradually cut down, which +turns the trade into another channel. Added to this, nature is +against them, the bay being open and insecure. I could not help +smiling when I was informed that in a hard gale a vessel had been +wrecked in the main street. When there are such a number of +excellent harbours on the coast, it is a pity that accident has made +one of the largest towns grow up on a bad one. + +The father of the present count was a distant relation of the +family; he resided constantly in Denmark, and his son follows his +example. They have not been in possession of the estate many years; +and their predecessor lived near the town, introducing a degree of +profligacy of manners which has been ruinous to the inhabitants in +every respect, their fortunes not being equal to the prevailing +extravagance. + +What little I have seen of the manners of the people does not please +me so well as those of Tonsberg. I am forewarned that I shall find +them still more cunning and fraudulent as I advance towards the +westward, in proportion as traffic takes place of agriculture, for +their towns are built on naked rocks, the streets are narrow +bridges, and the inhabitants are all seafaring men, or owners of +ships, who keep shops. + +The inn I was at in Laurvig this journey was not the same that I was +at before. It is a good one--the people civil, and the +accommodations decent. They seem to be better provided in Sweden; +but in justice I ought to add that they charge more extravagantly. +My bill at Tonsberg was also much higher than I had paid in Sweden, +and much higher than it ought to have been where provision is so +cheap. Indeed, they seem to consider foreigners as strangers whom +they shall never see again, and may fairly pluck. And the +inhabitants of the western coast, isolated, as it were, regard those +of the east almost as strangers. Each town in that quarter seems to +be a great family, suspicious of every other, allowing none to cheat +them but themselves; and, right or wrong, they support one another +in the face of justice. + +On this journey I was fortunate enough to have one companion with +more enlarged views than the generality of his countrymen, who spoke +English tolerably. + +I was informed that we might still advance a mile and a quarter in +our cabrioles; afterwards there was no choice, but of a single horse +and wretched path, or a boat, the usual mode of travelling. + +We therefore sent our baggage forward in the boat, and followed +rather slowly, for the road was rocky and sandy. We passed, +however, through several beech groves, which still delighted me by +the freshness of their light green foliage, and the elegance of +their assemblage, forming retreats to veil without obscuring the +sun. + +I was surprised, at approaching the water, to find a little cluster +of houses pleasantly situated, and an excellent inn. I could have +wished to have remained there all night; but as the wind was fair, +and the evening fine, I was afraid to trust to the wind--the +uncertain wind of to-morrow. We therefore left Helgeraac +immediately with the declining sun. + +Though we were in the open sea, we sailed more amongst the rocks and +islands than in my passage from Stromstad; and they often forced +very picturesque combinations. Few of the high ridges were entirely +bare; the seeds of some pines or firs had been wafted by the winds +or waves, and they stood to brave the elements. + +Sitting, then, in a little boat on the ocean, amidst strangers, with +sorrow and care pressing hard on me--buffeting me about from clime +to clime--I felt + + +"Like the lone shrub at random cast, +That sighs and trembles at each blast!" + + +On some of the largest rocks there were actually groves, the retreat +of foxes and hares, which, I suppose, had tripped over the ice +during the winter, without thinking to regain the main land before +the thaw. + +Several of the islands were inhabited by pilots; and the Norwegian +pilots are allowed to be the best in the world--perfectly acquainted +with their coast, and ever at hand to observe the first signal or +sail. They pay a small tax to the king and to the regulating +officer, and enjoy the fruit of their indefatigable industry. + +One of the islands, called Virgin Land, is a flat, with some depth +of earth, extending for half a Norwegian mile, with three farms on +it, tolerably well cultivated. + +On some of the bare rocks I saw straggling houses; they rose above +the denomination of huts inhabited by fishermen. My companions +assured me that they were very comfortable dwellings, and that they +have not only the necessaries, but even what might be reckoned the +superfluities of life. It was too late for me to go on shore, if +you will allow me to give that name to shivering rocks, to ascertain +the fact. + +But rain coming on, and the night growing dark, the pilot declared +that it would be dangerous for us to attempt to go to the place of +our destination--East Rusoer--a Norwegian mile and a half further; +and we determined to stop for the night at a little haven, some half +dozen houses scattered under the curve of a rock. Though it became +darker and darker, our pilot avoided the blind rocks with great +dexterity. + +It was about ten o'clock when we arrived, and the old hostess +quickly prepared me a comfortable bed--a little too soft or so, but +I was weary; and opening the window to admit the sweetest of breezes +to fan me to sleep, I sunk into the most luxurious rest: it was +more than refreshing. The hospitable sprites of the grots surely +hovered round my pillow; and, if I awoke, it was to listen to the +melodious whispering of the wind amongst them, or to feel the mild +breath of morn. Light slumbers produced dreams, where Paradise was +before me. My little cherub was again hiding her face in my bosom. +I heard her sweet cooing beat on my heart from the cliffs, and saw +her tiny footsteps on the sands. New-born hopes seemed, like the +rainbow, to appear in the clouds of sorrow, faint, yet sufficient to +amuse away despair. + +Some refreshing but heavy showers have detained us; and here I am +writing quite alone--something more than gay, for which I want a +name. + +I could almost fancy myself in Nootka Sound, or on some of the +islands on the north-west coast of America. We entered by a narrow +pass through the rocks, which from this abode appear more romantic +than you can well imagine; and seal-skins hanging at the door to dry +add to the illusion. + +It is indeed a corner of the world, but you would be surprised to +see the cleanliness and comfort of the dwelling. The shelves are +not only shining with pewter and queen's ware, but some articles in +silver, more ponderous, it is true, than elegant. The linen is +good, as well as white. All the females spin, and there is a loom +in the kitchen. A sort of individual taste appeared in the +arrangement of the furniture (this is not the place for imitation) +and a kindness in their desire to oblige. How superior to the apish +politeness of the towns! where the people, affecting to be well +bred, fatigue with their endless ceremony. + +The mistress is a widow, her daughter is married to a pilot, and has +three cows. They have a little patch of land at about the distance +of two English miles, where they make hay for the winter, which they +bring home in a boat. They live here very cheap, getting money from +the vessels which stress of weather, or other causes, bring into +their harbour. I suspect, by their furniture, that they smuggle a +little. I can now credit the account of the other houses, which I +last night thought exaggerated. + +I have been conversing with one of my companions respecting the laws +and regulations of Norway. He is a man within great portion of +common sense and heart--yes, a warm heart. This is not the first +time I have remarked heart without sentiment; they are distinct. +The former depends on the rectitude of the feelings, on truth of +sympathy; these characters have more tenderness than passion; the +latter has a higher source--call it imagination, genius, or what you +will, it is something very different. I have been laughing with +these simple worthy folk--to give you one of my half-score Danish +words--and letting as much of my heart flow out in sympathy as they +can take. Adieu! I must trip up the rocks. The rain is ever. Let +me catch pleasure on the wing--I may be melancholy to-morrow. Now +all my nerves keep time with the melody of nature. Ah! let me be +happy whilst I can. The tear starts as I think of it. I must flee +from thought, and find refuge from sorrow in a strong imagination-- +the only solace for a feeling heart. Phantoms of bliss! ideal forms +of excellence! again enclose me in your magic circle, and wipe clear +from my remembrance the disappointments that reader the sympathy +painful, which experience rather increases than damps, by giving the +indulgence of feeling the sanction of reason. + +Once more farewell! + + + +LETTER XI. + + + +I left Portoer, the little haven I mentioned, soon after I finished +my last letter. The sea was rough, and I perceived that our pilot +was right not to venture farther during a hazy night. We had agreed +to pay four dollars for a boat from Helgeraac. I mention the sum, +because they would demand twice as much from a stranger. I was +obliged to pay fifteen for the one I hired at Stromstad. When we +were ready to set out, our boatman offered to return a dollar and +let us go in one of the boats of the place, the pilot who lived +there being better acquainted with the coast. He only demanded a +dollar and a half, which was reasonable. I found him a civil and +rather intelligent man; he was in the American service several +years, during the Revolution. + +I soon perceived that an experienced mariner was necessary to guide +us, for we were continually obliged to tack about, to avoid the +rocks, which, scarcely reaching to the surface of the water, could +only be discovered by the breaking of the waves over them. + +The view of this wild coast, as we sailed along it, afforded me a +continual subject for meditation. I anticipated the future +improvement of the world, and observed how much man has still to do +to obtain of the earth all it could yield. I even carried my +speculations so far as to advance a million or two of years to the +moment when the earth would perhaps be so perfectly cultivated, and +so completely peopled, as to render it necessary to inhabit every +spot--yes, these bleak shores. Imagination went still farther, and +pictured the state of man when the earth could no longer support +him. Whither was he to flee from universal famine? Do not smile; I +really became distressed for these fellow creatures yet unborn. The +images fastened on me, and the world appeared a vast prison. I was +soon to be in a smaller one--for no other name can I give to Rusoer. +It would be difficult to form an idea of the place, if you have +never seen one of these rocky coasts. + +We were a considerable time entering amongst the islands, before we +saw about two hundred houses crowded together under a very high +rock--still higher appearing above. Talk not of Bastilles! To be +born here was to be bastilled by nature--shut out from all that +opens the understanding, or enlarges the heart. Huddled one behind +another, not more than a quarter of the dwellings even had a +prospect of the sea. A few planks formed passages from house to +house, which you must often scale, mounting steps like a ladder to +enter. + +The only road across the rocks leads to a habitation sterile enough, +you may suppose, when I tell you that the little earth on the +adjacent ones was carried there by the late inhabitant. A path, +almost impracticable for a horse, goes on to Arendall, still further +to the westward. + +I inquired for a walk, and, mounting near two hundred steps made +round a rock, walked up and down for about a hundred yards viewing +the sea, to which I quickly descended by steps that cheated the +declivity. The ocean and these tremendous bulwarks enclosed me on +every side. I felt the confinement, and wished for wings to reach +still loftier cliffs, whose slippery sides no foot was so hardy as +to tread. Yet what was it to see?--only a boundless waste of water- +-not a glimpse of smiling nature--not a patch of lively green to +relieve the aching sight, or vary the objects of meditation. + +I felt my breath oppressed, though nothing could be clearer than the +atmosphere. Wandering there alone, I found the solitude desirable; +my mind was stored with ideas, which this new scene associated with +astonishing rapidity. But I shuddered at the thought of receiving +existence, and remaining here, in the solitude of ignorance, till +forced to leave a world of which I had seen so little, for the +character of the inhabitants is as uncultivated, if not as +picturesquely wild, as their abode. + +Having no employment but traffic, of which a contraband trade makes +the basis of their profit, the coarsest feelings of honesty are +quickly blunted. You may suppose that I speak in general terms; and +that, with all the disadvantages of nature and circumstances, there +are still some respectable exceptions, the more praiseworthy, as +tricking is a very contagious mental disease, that dries up all the +generous juices of the heart. Nothing genial, in fact, appears +around this place, or within the circle of its rocks. And, now I +recollect, it seems to me that the most genial and humane characters +I have met with in life were most alive to the sentiments inspired +by tranquil country scenes. What, indeed, is to humanise these +beings, who rest shut up (for they seldom even open their windows), +smoking, drinking brandy, and driving bargains? I have been almost +stifled by these smokers. They begin in the morning, and are rarely +without their pipe till they go to bed. Nothing can be more +disgusting than the rooms and men towards the evening--breath, +teeth, clothes, and furniture, all are spoilt. It is well that the +women are not very delicate, or they would only love their husbands +because they were their husbands. Perhaps, you may add, that the +remark need not be confined to so small a part of the world; and, +entre nous, I am of the same opinion. You must not term this +innuendo saucy, for it does not come home. + +If I had not determined to write I should have found my confinement +here, even for three or four days, tedious. I have no books; and to +pace up and down a small room, looking at tiles overhung by rocks, +soon becomes wearisome. I cannot mount two hundred steps to walk a +hundred yards many times in the day. Besides, the rocks, retaining +the heat of the sun, are intolerably warm. I am, nevertheless, very +well; for though there is a shrewdness in the character of these +people, depraved by a sordid love of money which repels me, still +the comparisons they force me to make keep my heart calm by +exercising my understanding. + +Everywhere wealth commands too much respect, but here almost +exclusively; and it is the only object pursued, not through brake +and briar, but over rocks and waves; yet of what use would riches be +to me, I have sometimes asked myself, were I confined to live in +such in a spot? I could only relieve a few distressed objects, +perhaps render them idle, and all the rest of life would be a blank. + +My present journey has given fresh force to my opinion that no place +is so disagreeable and unimproving as a country town. I should like +to divide my time between the town and country; in a lone house, +with the business of farming and planting, where my mind would gain +strength by solitary musing, and in a metropolis to rub off the rust +of thought, and polish the taste which the contemplation of nature +had rendered just. Thus do we wish as we float down the stream of +life, whilst chance does more to gratify a desire of knowledge than +our best laid plans. A degree of exertion, produced by some want, +more or less painful, is probably the price we must all pay for +knowledge. How few authors or artists have arrived at eminence who +have not lived by their employment? + +I was interrupted yesterday by business, and was prevailed upon to +dine with the English vice-consul. His house being open to the sea, +I was more at large; and the hospitality of the table pleased me, +though the bottle was rather too freely pushed about. Their manner +of entertaining was such as I have frequently remarked when I have +been thrown in the way of people without education, who have more +money than wit--that is, than they know what to do with. The women +were unaffected, but had not the natural grace which was often +conspicuous at Tonsberg. There was even a striking difference in +their dress, these having loaded themselves with finery in the style +of the sailors' girls of Hull or Portsmouth. Taste has not yet +taught them to make any but an ostentatious display of wealth. Yet +I could perceive even here the first steps of the improvement which +I am persuaded will make a very obvious progress in the course of +half a century, and it ought not to be sooner, to keep pace with the +cultivation of the earth. Improving manners will introduce finer +moral feelings. They begin to read translations of some of the most +useful German productions lately published, and one of our party +sung a song ridiculing the powers coalesced against France, and the +company drank confusion to those who had dismembered Poland. + +The evening was extremely calm and beautiful. Not being able to +walk, I requested a boat as the only means of enjoying free air. + +The view of the town was now extremely fine. A huge rocky mountain +stood up behind it, and a vast cliff stretched on each side, forming +a semicircle. In a recess of the rocks was a clump of pines, +amongst which a steeple rose picturesquely beautiful. + +The churchyard is almost the only verdant spot in the place. Here, +indeed, friendship extends beyond the grave, and to grant a sod of +earth is to accord a favour. I should rather choose, did it admit +of a choice, to sleep in some of the caves of the rocks, for I am +become better reconciled to them since I climbed their craggy sides +last night, listening to the finest echoes I ever heard. We had a +French horn with us, and there was an enchanting wildness in the +dying away of the reverberation that quickly transported me to +Shakespeare's magic island. Spirits unseen seemed to walk abroad, +and flit from cliff to cliff to soothe my soul to peace. + +I reluctantly returned to supper, to be shut up in a warm room, only +to view the vast shadows of the rocks extending on the slumbering +waves. I stood at the window some time before a buzz filled the +drawing-room, and now and then the dashing of a solitary oar +rendered the scene still more solemn. + +Before I came here I could scarcely have imagined that a simple +object (rocks) could have admitted of so many interesting +combinations, always grand and often sublime. Good night! God +bless you! + + + +LETTER XII. + + + +I left East Rusoer the day before yesterday. The weather was very +fine; but so calm that we loitered on the water near fourteen hours, +only to make about six and twenty miles. + +It seemed to me a sort of emancipation when we landed at Helgeraac. +The confinement which everywhere struck me whilst sojourning amongst +the rocks, made me hail the earth as a land of promise; and the +situation shone with fresh lustre from the contrast--from appearing +to be a free abode. Here it was possible to travel by land--I never +thought this a comfort before--and my eyes, fatigued by the +sparkling of the sun on the water, now contentedly reposed on the +green expanse, half persuaded that such verdant meads had never till +then regaled them. + +I rose early to pursue my journey to Tonsberg. The country still +wore a face of joy--and my soul was alive to its charms. Leaving +the most lofty and romantic of the cliffs behind us, we were almost +continually descending to Tonsberg, through Elysian scenes; for not +only the sea, but mountains, rivers, lakes, and groves, gave an +almost endless variety to the prospect. The cottagers were still +carrying home the hay; and the cottages on this road looked very +comfortable. Peace and plenty--I mean not abundance--seemed to +reign around--still I grew sad as I drew near my old abode. I was +sorry to see the sun so high; it was broad noon. Tonsberg was +something like a home--yet I was to enter without lighting up +pleasure in any eye. I dreaded the solitariness of my apartment, +and wished for night to hide the starting tears, or to shed them on +my pillow, and close my eyes on a world where I was destined to +wander alone. Why has nature so many charms for me--calling forth +and cherishing refined sentiments, only to wound the breast that +fosters them? How illusive, perhaps the most so, are the plans of +happiness founded on virtue and principle; what inlets of misery do +they not open in a half-civilised society? The satisfaction arising +from conscious rectitude, will not calm an injured heart, when +tenderness is ever finding excuses; and self-applause is a cold +solitary feeling, that cannot supply the place of disappointed +affection, without throwing a gloom over every prospect, which, +banishing pleasure, does not exclude pain. I reasoned and reasoned; +but my heart was too full to allow me to remain in the house, and I +walked, till I was wearied out, to purchase rest--or rather +forgetfulness. + +Employment has beguiled this day, and to-morrow I set out for Moss, +on my way to Stromstad. At Gothenburg I shall embrace my Fannikin; +probably she will not know me again--and I shall be hurt if she do +not. How childish is this! still it is a natural feeling. I would +not permit myself to indulge the "thick coming fears" of fondness, +whilst I was detained by business. Yet I never saw a calf bounding +in a meadow, that did not remind me of my little frolicker. A calf, +you say. Yes; but a capital one I own. + +I cannot write composedly--I am every instant sinking into reveries- +-my heart flutters, I know not why. Fool! It is time thou wert at +rest. + +Friendship and domestic happiness are continually praised; yet how +little is there of either in the world, because it requires more +cultivation of mind to keep awake affection, even in our own hearts, +than the common run of people suppose. Besides, few like to be seen +as they really are; and a degree of simplicity, and of undisguised +confidence, which, to uninterested observers, would almost border on +weakness, is the charm, nay the essence of love or friendship, all +the bewitching graces of childhood again appearing. As objects +merely to exercise my taste, I therefore like to see people together +who have an affection for each other; every turn of their features +touches me, and remains pictured on my imagination in indelible +characters. The zest of novelty is, however, necessary to rouse the +languid sympathies which have been hackneyed in the world; as is the +factitious behaviour, falsely termed good-breeding, to amuse those, +who, defective in taste, continually rely for pleasure on their +animal spirits, which not being maintained by the imagination, are +unavoidably sooner exhausted than the sentiments of the heart. +Friendship is in general sincere at the commencement, and lasts +whilst there is anything to support it; but as a mixture of novelty +and vanity is the usual prop, no wonder if it fall with the slender +stay. The fop in the play paid a greater compliment than he was +aware of when he said to a person, whom he meant to flatter, "I like +you almost as well as a NEW ACQUAINTANCE." Why am I talking of +friendship, after which I have had such a wild-goose chase. I +thought only of telling you that the crows, as well as wild-geese, +are here birds of passage. + + + +LETTER XIII. + + + +I left Tonsberg yesterday, the 22nd of August. It is only twelve or +thirteen English miles to Moss, through a country less wild than any +tract I had hitherto passed over in Norway. It was often beautiful, +but seldom afforded those grand views which fill rather than soothe +the mind. + +We glided along the meadows and through the woods, with sunbeams +playing around us; and, though no castles adorned the prospects, a +greater number of comfortable farms met my eyes during this ride +than I have ever seen, in the same space, even in the most +cultivated part of England; and the very appearance of the cottages +of the labourers sprinkled amidst them excluded all those gloomy +ideas inspired by the contemplation of poverty. + +The hay was still bringing in, for one harvest in Norway treads on +the heels of the other. The woods were more variegated, +interspersed with shrubs. We no longer passed through forests of +vast pines stretching along with savage magnificence. Forests that +only exhibited the slow decay of time or the devastation produced by +warring elements. No; oaks, ashes, beech, and all the light and +graceful tenants of our woods here sported luxuriantly. I had not +observed many oaks before, for the greater part of the oak-planks, I +am informed, come from the westward. + +In France the farmers generally live in villages, which is a great +disadvantage to the country; but the Norwegian farmers, always +owning their farms or being tenants for life, reside in the midst of +them, allowing some labourers a dwelling rent free, who have a +little land appertaining to the cottage, not only for a garden, but +for crops of different kinds, such as rye, oats, buck-wheat, hemp, +flax, beans, potatoes, and hay, which are sown in strips about it, +reminding a stranger of the first attempts at culture, when every +family was obliged to be an independent community. + +These cottagers work at a certain price (tenpence per day) for the +farmers on whose ground they live, and they have spare time enough +to cultivate their own land and lay in a store of fish for the +winter. The wives and daughters spin and the husbands and sons +weave, so that they may fairly be reckoned independent, having also +a little money in hand to buy coffee, brandy and some other +superfluities. + +The only thing I disliked was the military service, which trammels +them more than I at first imagined. It is true that the militia is +only called out once a year, yet in case of war they have no +alternative but must abandon their families. Even the manufacturers +are not exempted, though the miners are, in order to encourage +undertakings which require a capital at the commencement. And, what +appears more tyrannical, the inhabitants of certain districts are +appointed for the land, others for the sea service. Consequently, a +peasant, born a soldier, is not permitted to follow his inclination +should it lead him to go to sea, a natural desire near so many +seaports. + +In these regulations the arbitrary government--the King of Denmark +being the most absolute monarch in Europe--appears, which in other +respects seeks to hide itself in a lenity that almost renders the +laws nullities. If any alteration of old customs is thought of, the +opinion of the old country is required and maturely considered. I +have several times had occasion to observe that, fearing to appear +tyrannical, laws are allowed to become obsolete which ought to be +put in force or better substituted in their stead; for this mistaken +moderation, which borders on timidity, favours the least respectable +part of the people. + +I saw on my way not only good parsonage houses, but comfortable +dwellings, with glebe land for the clerk, always a consequential man +in every country, a being proud of a little smattering of learning, +to use the appropriate epithet, and vain of the stiff good-breeding +reflected from the vicar, though the servility practised in his +company gives it a peculiar cast. + +The widow of the clergyman is allowed to receive the benefit of the +living for a twelvemonth after the death of the incumbent. + +Arriving at the ferry (the passage over to Moss is about six or +eight English miles) I saw the most level shore I had yet seen in +Norway. The appearance of the circumjacent country had been +preparing me for the change of scene which was to greet me when I +reached the coast. For the grand features of nature had been +dwindling into prettiness as I advanced; yet the rocks, on a smaller +scale, were finely wooded to the water's edge. Little art appeared, +yet sublimity everywhere gave place to elegance. The road had often +assumed the appearance of a gravelled one, made in pleasure-grounds; +whilst the trees excited only an idea of embellishment. Meadows, +like lawns, in an endless variety, displayed the careless graces of +nature; and the ripening corn gave a richness to the landscape +analogous with the other objects. + +Never was a southern sky more beautiful, nor more soft its gales. +Indeed, I am led to conclude that the sweetest summer in the world +is the northern one, the vegetation being quick and luxuriant the +moment the earth is loosened from its icy fetters and the bound +streams regain their wonted activity. The balance of happiness with +respect to climate may be more equal than I at first imagined; for +the inhabitants describe with warmth the pleasures of a winter at +the thoughts of which I shudder. Not only their parties of pleasure +but of business are reserved for this season, when they travel with +astonishing rapidity the most direct way, skimming over hedge and +ditch. + +On entering Moss I was struck by the animation which seemed to +result from industry. The richest of the inhabitants keep shops, +resembling in their manners and even the arrangement of their houses +the tradespeople of Yorkshire; with an air of more independence, or +rather consequence, from feeling themselves the first people in the +place. I had not time to see the iron-works, belonging to Mr. +Anker, of Christiania, a man of fortune and enterprise; and I was +not very anxious to see them after having viewed those at Laurvig. + +Here I met with an intelligent literary man, who was anxious to +gather information from me relative to the past and present +situation of France. The newspapers printed at Copenhagen, as well +as those in England, give the most exaggerated accounts of their +atrocities and distresses, but the former without any apparent +comments or inferences. Still the Norwegians, though more connected +with the English, speaking their language and copying their manners, +wish well to the Republican cause, and follow with the most lively +interest the successes of the French arms. So determined were they, +in fact, to excuse everything, disgracing the struggle of freedom, +by admitting the tyrant's plea, necessity, that I could hardly +persuade them that Robespierre was a monster. + +The discussion of this subject is not so general as in England, +being confined to the few, the clergy and physicians, with a small +portion of people who have a literary turn and leisure; the greater +part of the inhabitants having a variety of occupations, being +owners of ships, shopkeepers, and farmers, have employment enough at +home. And their ambition to become rich may tend to cultivate the +common sense which characterises and narrows both their hearts and +views, confirming the former to their families, taking the handmaids +of it into the circle of pleasure, if not of interest, and the +latter to the inspection of their workmen, including the noble +science of bargain-making--that is, getting everything at the +cheapest, and selling it at the dearest rate. I am now more than +ever convinced that it is an intercourse with men of science and +artists which not only diffuses taste, but gives that freedom to the +understanding without which I have seldom met with much benevolence +of character on a large scale. + +Besides, though you do not hear of much pilfering and stealing in +Norway, yet they will, with a quiet conscience, buy things at a +price which must convince them they were stolen. I had an +opportunity of knowing that two or three reputable people had +purchased some articles of vagrants, who were detected. How much of +the virtue which appears in the world is put on for the world? And +how little dictated by self-respect?--so little, that I am ready to +repeat the old question, and ask, Where is truth, or rather +principle, to be found? These are, perhaps, the vapourings of a +heart ill at ease--the effusions of a sensibility wounded almost to +madness. But enough of this; we will discuss the subject in another +state of existence, where truth and justice will reign. How cruel +are the injuries which make us quarrel with human nature! At +present black melancholy hovers round my footsteps; and sorrow sheds +a mildew over all the future prospects, which hope no longer gilds. + +A rainy morning prevented my enjoying the pleasure the view of a +picturesque country would have afforded me; for though this road +passed through a country a greater extent of which was under +cultivation than I had usually seen here, it nevertheless retained +all the wild charms of Norway. Rocks still enclosed the valleys, +the great sides of which enlivened their verdure. Lakes appeared +like branches of the sea, and branches of the sea assumed the +appearance of tranquil lakes; whilst streamlets prattled amongst the +pebbles and the broken mass of stone which had rolled into them, +giving fantastic turns to the trees, the roots of which they bared. + +It is not, in fact, surprising that the pine should be often +undermined; it shoots its fibres in such a horizontal direction, +merely on the surface of the earth, requiring only enough to cover +those that cling to the crags. Nothing proves to me so clearly that +it is the air which principally nourishes trees and plants as the +flourishing appearance of these pines. The firs, demanding a deeper +soil, are seldom seen in equal health, or so numerous on the barren +cliffs. They take shelter in the crevices, or where, after some +revolving ages, the pines have prepared them a footing. + +Approaching, or rather descending, to Christiania, though the +weather continued a little cloudy, my eyes were charmed with the +view of an extensive undulated valley, stretching out under the +shelter of a noble amphitheatre of pine-covered mountains. Farm +houses scattered about animated, nay, graced a scene which still +retained so much of its native wildness, that the art which appeared +seemed so necessary, it was scarcely perceived. Cattle were grazing +in the shaven meadows; and the lively green on their swelling sides +contrasted with the ripening corn and rye. The corn that grew on +the slopes had not, indeed, the laughing luxuriance of plenty, which +I have seen in more genial climes. A fresh breeze swept across the +grain, parting its slender stalks, but the wheat did not wave its +head with its wonted careless dignity, as if nature had crowned it +the king of plants. + +The view, immediately on the left, as we drove down the mountain, +was almost spoilt by the depredations committed on the rocks to make +alum. I do not know the process. I only saw that the rocks looked +red after they had been burnt, and regretted that the operation +should leave a quantity of rubbish to introduce an image of human +industry in the shape of destruction. The situation of Christiania +is certainly uncommonly fine, and I never saw a bay that so forcibly +gave me an idea of a place of safety from the storms of the ocean; +all the surrounding objects were beautiful and even grand. But +neither the rocky mountains, nor the woods that graced them, could +be compared with the sublime prospects I had seen to the westward; +and as for the hills, "capped with ETERNAL snow," Mr. Coxe's +description led me to look for them, but they had flown, for I +looked vainly around for this noble background. + +A few months ago the people of Christiania rose, exasperated by the +scarcity and consequent high price of grain. The immediate cause +was the shipping of some, said to be for Moss, but which they +suspected was only a pretext to send it out of the country, and I am +not sure that they were wrong in their conjecture. Such are the +tricks of trade. They threw stones at Mr. Anker, the owner of it, +as he rode out of town to escape from their fury; they assembled +about his house, and the people demanded afterwards, with so much +impetuosity, the liberty of those who were taken up in consequence +of the tumult, that the Grand Bailiff thought it prudent to release +them without further altercation. + +You may think me too severe on commerce, but from the manner it is +at present carried on little can be advanced in favour of a pursuit +that wears out the most sacred principles of humanity and rectitude. +What is speculation but a species of gambling, I might have said +fraud, in which address generally gains the prize? I was led into +these reflections when I heard of some tricks practised by +merchants, miscalled reputable, and certainly men of property, +during the present war, in which common honesty was violated: +damaged goods and provision having been shipped for the express +purpose of falling into the hands of the English, who had pledged +themselves to reimburse neutral nations for the cargoes they seized; +cannon also, sent back as unfit for service, have been shipped as a +good speculation, the captain receiving orders to cruise about till +he fell in with an English frigate. Many individuals I believe have +suffered by the seizures of their vessels; still I am persuaded that +the English Government has been very much imposed upon in the +charges made by merchants who contrived to get their ships taken. +This censure is not confined to the Danes. Adieu, for the present, +I must take advantage of a moment of fine weather to walk out and +see the town. + +At Christiania I met with that polite reception, which rather +characterises the progress of manners in the world, than of any +particular portion of it. The first evening of my arrival I supped +with some of the most fashionable people of the place, and almost +imagined myself in a circle of English ladies, so much did they +resemble them in manners, dress, and even in beauty; for the fairest +of my countrywomen would not have been sorry to rank with the Grand +Bailiff's lady. There were several pretty girls present, but she +outshone them all, and, what interested me still more, I could not +avoid observing that in acquiring the easy politeness which +distinguishes people of quality, she had preserved her Norwegian +simplicity. There was, in fact, a graceful timidity in her address, +inexpressibly charming. This surprised me a little, because her +husband was quite a Frenchman of the ancien regime, or rather a +courtier, the same kind of animal in every country. + +Here I saw the cloven foot of despotism. I boasted to you that they +had no viceroy in Norway, but these Grand Bailiffs, particularly the +superior one, who resides at Christiania, are political monsters of +the same species. Needy sycophants are provided for by their +relations and connections at Copenhagen as at other courts. And +though the Norwegians are not in the abject state of the Irish, yet +this second-hand government is still felt by their being deprived of +several natural advantages to benefit the domineering state. + +The Grand Bailiffs are mostly noblemen from Copenhagen, who act as +men of common minds will always act in such situations--aping a +degree of courtly parade which clashes with the independent +character of a magistrate. Besides, they have a degree of power +over the country judges, which some of them, who exercise a +jurisdiction truly patriarchal most painfully feel. I can scarcely +say why, my friend, but in this city thoughtfulness seemed to be +sliding into melancholy or rather dulness. The fire of fancy, which +had been kept alive in the country, was almost extinguished by +reflections on the ills that harass such a large portion of mankind. +I felt like a bird fluttering on the ground unable to mount, yet +unwilling to crawl tranquilly like a reptile, whilst still conscious +it had wings. + +1 walked out, for the open air is always my remedy when an aching +head proceeds from an oppressed heart. Chance directed my steps +towards the fortress, and the sight of the slaves, working with +chains on their legs, only served to embitter me still more against +the regulations of society, which treated knaves in such a different +manner, especially as there was a degree of energy in some of their +countenances which unavoidably excited my attention, and almost +created respect. + +I wished to have seen, through an iron grate, the face of a man who +has been confined six years for having induced the farmers to revolt +against some impositions of the Government. I could not obtain a +clear account of the affair, yet, as the complaint was against some +farmers of taxes, I am inclined to believe that it was not totally +without foundation. He must have possessed some eloquence, or have +had truth on his side; for the farmers rose by hundreds to support +him, and were very much exasperated at his imprisonment, which will +probably last for life, though he has sent several very spirited +remonstrances to the upper court, which makes the judges so averse +to giving a sentence which may be cavilled at, that they take +advantage of the glorious uncertainty of the law, to protract a +decision which is only to be regulated by reasons of state. + +The greater number of the slaves I saw here were not confined for +life. Their labour is not hard; and they work in the open air, +which prevents their constitutions from suffering by imprisonment. +Still, as they are allowed to associate together, and boast of their +dexterity, not only to each other but to the soldiers around them, +in the garrison; they commonly, it is natural to conclude, go out +more confirmed and more expert knaves than when they entered. + +It is not necessary to trace the origin of the association of ideas +which led me to think that the stars and gold keys, which surrounded +me the evening before, disgraced the wearers as much as the fetters +I was viewing--perhaps more. I even began to investigate the +reason, which led me to suspect that the former produced the latter. + +The Norwegians are extravagantly fond of courtly distinction, and of +titles, though they have no immunities annexed to them, and are +easily purchased. The proprietors of mines have many privileges: +they are almost exempt from taxes, and the peasantry born on their +estates, as well as those on the counts', are not born soldiers or +sailors. + +One distinction, or rather trophy of nobility, which I might have +occurred to the Hottentots, amused me; it was a bunch of hog's +bristles placed on the horses' heads, surmounting that part of the +harness to which a round piece of brass often dangles, fatiguing the +eye with its idle motion. + +From the fortress I returned to my lodging, and quickly was taken +out of town to be shown a pretty villa, and English garden. To a +Norwegian both might have been objects of curiosity; and of use, by +exciting to the comparison which leads to improvement. But whilst I +gazed, I was employed in restoring the place to nature, or taste, by +giving it the character of the surrounding scene. Serpentine walks, +and flowering-shrubs, looked trifling in a grand recess of the +rooks, shaded by towering pines. Groves of smaller trees might have +been sheltered under them, which would have melted into the +landscape, displaying only the art which ought to point out the +vicinity of a human abode, furnished with some elegance. But few +people have sufficient taste to discern, that the art of +embellishing consists in interesting, not in astonishing. + +Christiania is certainly very pleasantly situated, and the environs +I passed through, during this ride, afforded many fine and +cultivated prospects; but, excepting the first view approaching to +it, rarely present any combination of objects so strikingly new, or +picturesque, as to command remembrance. Adieu! + + + +LETTER XIV. + + + +Christiania is a clean, neat city; but it has none of the graces of +architecture, which ought to keep pace with the refining manners of +a people--or the outside of the house will disgrace the inside, +giving the beholder an idea of overgrown wealth devoid of taste. +Large square wooden houses offend the eye, displaying more than +Gothic barbarism. Huge Gothic piles, indeed, exhibit a +characteristic sublimity, and a wildness of fancy peculiar to the +period when they were erected; but size, without grandeur or +elegance, has an emphatical stamp of meanness, of poverty of +conception, which only a commercial spirit could give. + +The same thought has struck me, when I have entered the meeting- +house of my respected friend, Dr. Price. I am surprised that the +dissenters, who have not laid aside all the pomps and vanities of +life, should imagine a noble pillar, or arch, unhallowed. Whilst +men have senses, whatever soothes them lends wings to devotion; else +why do the beauties of nature, where all that charm them are spread +around with a lavish hand, force even the sorrowing heart to +acknowledge that existence is a blessing? and this acknowledgment is +the most sublime homage we can pay to the Deity. + +The argument of convenience is absurd. Who would labour for wealth, +if it were to procure nothing but conveniences. If we wish to +render mankind moral from principle, we must, I am persuaded, give a +greater scope to the enjoyments of the senses by blending taste with +them. This has frequently occurred to me since I have been in the +north, and observed that there sanguine characters always take +refuge in drunkenness after the fire of youth is spent. + +But I have flown from Norway. To go back to the wooden houses; +farms constructed with logs, and even little villages, here erected +in the same simple manner, have appeared to me very picturesque. In +the more remote parts I had been particularly pleased with many +cottages situated close to a brook, or bordering on a lake, with the +whole farm contiguous. As the family increases, a little more land +is cultivated; thus the country is obviously enriched by population. +Formerly the farmers might more justly have been termed woodcutters. +But now they find it necessary to spare the woods a little, and this +change will be universally beneficial; for whilst they lived +entirely by selling the trees they felled, they did not pay +sufficient attention to husbandry; consequently, advanced very +slowly in agricultural knowledge. Necessity will in future more and +more spur them on; for the ground, cleared of wood, must be +cultivated, or the farm loses its value; there is no waiting for +food till another generation of pines be grown to maturity. + +The people of property are very careful of their timber; and, +rambling through a forest near Tonsberg, belonging to the Count, I +have stopped to admire the appearance of some of the cottages +inhabited by a woodman's family--a man employed to cut down the wood +necessary for the household and the estate. A little lawn was +cleared, on which several lofty trees were left which nature had +grouped, whilst the encircling firs sported with wild grace. The +dwelling was sheltered by the forest, noble pines spreading their +branches over the roof; and before the door a cow, goat, nag, and +children, seemed equally content with their lot; and if contentment +be all we can attain, it is, perhaps, best secured by ignorance. + +As I have been most delighted with the country parts of Norway, I +was sorry to leave Christiania without going farther to the north, +though the advancing season admonished me to depart, as well as the +calls of business and affection. + +June and July are the months to make a tour through Norway; for then +the evenings and nights are the finest I have ever seen; but towards +the middle or latter end of August the clouds begin to gather, and +summer disappears almost before it has ripened the fruit of autumn-- +even, as it were, slips from your embraces, whilst the satisfied +senses seem to rest in enjoyment. + +You will ask, perhaps, why I wished to go farther northward. Why? +not only because the country, from all I can gather, is most +romantic, abounding in forests and lakes, and the air pure, but I +have heard much of the intelligence of the inhabitants, substantial +farmers, who have none of that cunning to contaminate their +simplicity, which displeased me so much in the conduct of the people +on the sea coast. A man who has been detected in any dishonest act +can no longer live among them. He is universally shunned, and shame +becomes the severest punishment. + +Such a contempt have they, in fact, for every species of fraud, that +they will not allow the people on the western coast to be their +countrymen; so much do they despise the arts for which those traders +who live on the rocks are notorious. + +The description I received of them carried me back to the fables of +the golden age: independence and virtue; affluence without vice; +cultivation of mind, without depravity of heart; with "ever smiling +Liberty;" the nymph of the mountain. I want faith! + +My imagination hurries me forward to seek an asylum in such a +retreat from all the disappointments I am threatened with; but +reason drags me back, whispering that the world is still the world, +and man the same compound of weakness and folly, who must +occasionally excite love and disgust, admiration and contempt. But +this description, though it seems to have been sketched by a fairy +pencil, was given me by a man of sound understanding, whose fancy +seldom appears to run away with him. + +A law in Norway, termed the odels right, has lately been modified, +and probably will be abolished as an impediment to commerce. The +heir of an estate had the power of re-purchasing it at the original +purchase money, making allowance for such improvements as were +absolutely necessary, during the space of twenty years. At present +ten is the term allowed for afterthought; and when the regulation +was made, all the men of abilities were invited to give their +opinion whether it were better to abrogate or modify it. It is +certainly a convenient and safe way of mortgaging land; yet the most +rational men whom I conversed with on the subject seemed convinced +that the right was more injurious than beneficial to society; still +if it contribute to keep the farms in the farmers' own hands, I +should be sorry to hear that it were abolished. + +The aristocracy in Norway, if we keep clear of Christiania, is far +from being formidable; and it will require a long the to enable the +merchants to attain a sufficient moneyed interest to induce them to +reinforce the upper class at the expense of the yeomanry, with whom +they are usually connected. + +England and America owe their liberty to commerce, which created new +species of power to undermine the feudal system. But let them +beware of the consequence; the tyranny of wealth is still more +galling and debasing than that of rank. + +Farewell! I must prepare for my departure. + + + +LETTER XV. + + + +I left Christiania yesterday. The weather was not very fine, and +having been a little delayed on the road, I found that it was too +late to go round, a couple of miles, to see the cascade near +Fredericstadt, which I had determined to visit. Besides, as +Fredericstadt is a fortress, it was necessary to arrive there before +they shut the gate. + +The road along the river is very romantic, though the views are not +grand; and the riches of Norway, its timber, floats silently down +the stream, often impeded in its course by islands and little +cataracts, the offspring, as it were, of the great one I had +frequently heard described. + +I found an excellent inn at Fredericstadt, and was gratified by the +kind attention of the hostess, who, perceiving that my clothes were +wet, took great pains procure me, as a stranger, every comfort for +the night. + +It had rained very hard, and we passed the ferry in the dark without +getting out of our carriage, which I think wrong, as the horses are +sometimes unruly. Fatigue and melancholy, however, had made me +regardless whether I went down or across the stream, and I did not +know that I was wet before the hostess marked it. My imagination +has never yet severed me from my griefs, and my mind has seldom been +so free as to allow my body to be delicate. + +How I am altered by disappointment! When going to Lisbon, the +elasticity of my mind was sufficient to ward off weariness, and my +imagination still could dip her brush in the rainbow of fancy, and +sketch futurity in glowing colours. Now--but let me talk of +something else--will you go with me to the cascade? + +The cross road to it was rugged and dreary; and though a +considerable extent of land was cultivated on all sides, yet the +rocks were entirely bare, which surprised me, as they were more on a +level with the surface than any I had yet seen. On inquiry, +however, I learnt that some years since a forest had been burnt. +This appearance of desolation was beyond measure gloomy, inspiring +emotions that sterility had never produced. Fires of this kind are +occasioned by the wind suddenly rising when the farmers are burning +roots of trees, stalks of beans, &c, with which they manure the +ground. The devastation must, indeed, be terrible, when this, +literally speaking, wildfire, runs along the forest, flying from top +to top, and crackling amongst the branches. The soil, as well as +the trees, is swept away by the destructive torrent; and the +country, despoiled of beauty and riches, is left to mourn for ages. + +Admiring, as I do, these noble forests, which seem to bid defiance +to time, I looked with pain on the ridge of rocks that stretched far +beyond my eye, formerly crowned with the most beautiful verdure. + +I have often mentioned the grandeur, but I feel myself unequal to +the task of conveying an idea of the beauty and elegance of the +scene when the spiry tops of the pines are loaded with ripening +seed, and the sun gives a glow to their light-green tinge, which is +changing into purple, one tree more or less advanced contrasted with +another. The profusion with which Nature has decked them with +pendant honours, prevents all surprise at seeing in every crevice +some sapling struggling for existence. Vast masses of stone are +thus encircled, and roots torn up by the storms become a shelter for +a young generation. The pine and fir woods, left entirely to +Nature, display an endless variety; and the paths in the woods are +not entangled with fallen leaves, which are only interesting whilst +they are fluttering between life and death. The grey cobweb-like +appearance of the aged pines is a much finer image of decay; the +fibres whitening as they lose their moisture, imprisoned life seems +to be stealing away. I cannot tell why, but death, under every +form, appears to me like something getting free to expand in I know +not what element--nay, I feel that this conscious being must be as +unfettered, have the wings of thought, before it can be happy. + +Reaching the cascade, or rather cataract, the roaring of which had a +long time announced its vicinity, my soul was hurried by the falls +into a new train of reflections. The impetuous dashing of the +rebounding torrent from the dark cavities which mocked the exploring +eye produced an equal activity in my mind. My thoughts darted from +earth to heaven, and I asked myself why I was chained to life and +its misery. Still the tumultuous emotions this sublime object +excited were pleasurable; and, viewing it, my soul rose with renewed +dignity above its cares. Grasping at immortality--it seemed as +impossible to stop the current of my thoughts, as of the always +varying, still the same, torrent before me; I stretched out my hand +to eternity, bounding over the dark speck of life to come. + +We turned with regret from the cascade. On a little hill, which +commands the best view of it, several obelisks are erected to +commemorate the visits of different kings. The appearance of the +river above and below the falls is very picturesque, the ruggedness +of the scenery disappearing as the torrent subsides into a peaceful +stream. But I did not like to see a number of saw-mills crowded +together close to the cataracts; they destroyed the harmony of the +prospect. + +The sight of a bridge erected across a deep valley, at a little +distance, inspired very dissimilar sensations. It was most +ingeniously supported by mast-like trunks, just stripped of their +branches; and logs, placed one across the other, produced an +appearance equally light and firm, seeming almost to be built in the +air when we were below it, the height taking from the magnitude of +the supporting trees give them a slender graceful look. + +There are two noble estates in this neighbourhood, the proprietors +of which seem to have caught more than their portion of the +enterprising spirit that is gone abroad. Many agricultural +experiments have been made, and the country appears better enclosed +and cultivated, yet the cottages had not the comfortable aspect of +those I had observed near Moss and to the westward. Man is always +debased by servitude of any description, and here the peasantry are +not entirely free. Adieu! + +I almost forgot to tell you that I did not leave Norway without +making some inquiries after the monsters said to have been seen in +the northern sea; but though I conversed with several captains, I +could not meet with one who had ever heard any traditional +description of them, much less had any ocular demonstration of their +existence. Till the fact is better ascertained, I should think the +account of them ought to be torn out of our geographical grammars. + + + +LETTER XVI. + + + +I set out from Fredericstadt about three o'clock in the afternoon, +and expected to reach Stromstad before the night closed in; but the +wind dying away, the weather became so calm that we scarcely made +any perceptible advances towards the opposite coast, though the men +were fatigued with rowing. + +Getting amongst the rocks and islands as the moon rose, and the +stars darted forward out of the clear expanse, I forgot that the +night stole on whilst indulging affectionate reveries, the poetical +fictions of sensibility; I was not, therefore, aware of the length +of time we had been toiling to reach Stromstad. And when I began to +look around, I did not perceive anything to indicate that we were in +its neighbourhood. So far from it, that when I inquired of the +pilot, who spoke a little English, I found that he was only +accustomed to coast along the Norwegian shore; and had been only +once across to Stromstad. But he had brought with him a fellow +better acquainted, he assured me, with the rocks by which they were +to steer our course, for we had not a compass on board; yet, as he +was half a fool, I had little confidence in his skill. There was +then great reason to fear that we had lost our way, and were +straying amidst a labyrinth of rocks without a clue. + +This was something like an adventure, but not of the most agreeable +cast; besides, I was impatient to arrive at Stromstad, to be able to +send forward that night a boy to order horses on the road to be +ready, for I was unwilling to remain there a day without having +anything to detain me from my little girl, and from the letters +which I was impatient to get from you. + +I began to expostulate, and even to scold the pilot, for not having +informed me of his ignorance previous to my departure. This made +him row with more force, and we turned round one rock only to see +another, equally destitute of the tokens we were in search of to +tell us where we were. Entering also into creek after creek which +promised to be the entrance of the bay we were seeking, we advanced +merely to find ourselves running aground. + +The solitariness of the scene, as we glided under the dark shadows +of the rocks, pleased me for a while; but the fear of passing the +whole night thus wandering to and fro, and losing the next day, +roused me. I begged the pilot to return to one of the largest +islands, at the side of which we had seen a boat moored. As we drew +nearer, a light through a window on the summit became our beacon; +but we were farther off than I supposed. + +With some difficulty the pilot got on shore, not distinguishing the +landing-place; and I remained in the boat, knowing that all the +relief we could expect was a man to direct us. After waiting some +time, for there is an insensibility in the very movements of these +people that would weary more than ordinary patience, he brought with +him a man who, assisting them to row, we landed at Stromstad a +little after one in the morning. + +It was too late to send off a boy, but I did not go to bed before I +had made the arrangements necessary to enable me to set out as early +as possible. + +The sun rose with splendour. My mind was too active to allow me to +loiter long in bed, though the horses did not arrive till between +seven and eight. However, as I wished to let the boy, who went +forward to order the horses, get considerably the start of me, I +bridled in my impatience. + +This precaution was unavailing, for after the three first posts I +had to wait two hours, whilst the people at the post-house went, +fair and softly, to the farm, to bid them bring up the horses which +were carrying in the first-fruits of the harvest. I discovered here +that these sluggish peasants had their share of cunning. Though +they had made me pay for a horse, the boy had gone on foot, and only +arrived half an hour before me. This disconcerted the whole +arrangement of the day; and being detained again three hours, I +reluctantly determined to sleep at Quistram, two posts short of +Uddervalla, where I had hoped to have arrived that night. + +But when I reached Quistram I found I could not approach the door of +the inn for men, horses, and carts, cows, and pigs huddled together. +From the concourse of people I had met on the road I conjectured +that there was a fair in the neighbourhood; this crowd convinced me +that it was but too true. The boisterous merriment that almost +every instant produced a quarrel, or made me dread one, with the +clouds of tobacco, and fumes of brandy, gave an infernal appearance +to the scene. There was everything to drive me back, nothing to +excite sympathy in a rude tumult of the senses, which I foresaw +would end in a gross debauch. What was to be done? No bed was to +be had, or even a quiet corner to retire to for a moment; all was +lost in noise, riot, and confusion. + +After some debating they promised me horses, which were to go on to +Uddervalla, two stages. I requested something to eat first, not +having dined; and the hostess, whom I have mentioned to you before +as knowing how to take care of herself, brought me a plate of fish, +for which she charged a rix-dollar and a half. This was making hay +whilst the sun shone. I was glad to get out of the uproar, though +not disposed to travel in an incommodious open carriage all night, +had I thought that there was any chance of getting horses. + +Quitting Quistram I met a number of joyous groups, and though the +evening was fresh many were stretched on the grass like weary +cattle; and drunken men had fallen by the road-side. On a rock, +under the shade of lofty trees, a large party of men and women had +lighted a fire, cutting down fuel around to keep it alive all night. +They were drinking, smoking, and laughing with all their might and +main. I felt for the trees whose torn branches strewed the ground. +Hapless nymphs! your haunts, I fear, were polluted by many an +unhallowed flame, the casual burst of the moment! + +The horses went on very well; but when we drew near the post-house +the postillion stopped short and neither threats nor promises could +prevail on him to go forward. He even began to howl and weep when I +insisted on his keeping his word. Nothing, indeed, can equal the +stupid obstinacy of some of these half-alive beings, who seem to +have been made by Prometheus when the fire he stole from Heaven was +so exhausted that he could only spare a spark to give life, not +animation, to the inert clay. + +It was some time before we could rouse anybody; and, as I expected, +horses, we were told, could not be had in less than four or five +hours. I again attempted to bribe the churlish brute who brought us +there, but I discovered that, in spite of the courteous hostess's +promises, he had received orders not to go any father. + +As there was no remedy I entered, and was almost driven back by the +stench--a softer phrase would not have conveyed an idea of the hot +vapour that issued from an apartment in which some eight or ten +people were sleeping, not to reckon the cats and dogs stretched on +the floor. Two or three of the men or women were on the benches, +others on old chests; and one figure started half out of a trunk to +look at me, whom might have taken for a ghost, had the chemise been +white, to contrast with the sallow visage. But the costume of +apparitions not being preserved I passed, nothing dreading, +excepting the effluvia, warily amongst the pots, pans, milk-pails, +and washing-tubs. After scaling a ruinous staircase I was shown a +bed-chamber. The bed did not invite me to enter; opening, +therefore, the window, and taking some clean towels out of my night- +sack, I spread them over the coverlid, on which tired Nature found +repose, in spite of the previous disgust. + +With the grey of the morn the birds awoke me; and descending to +inquire for the horses, I hastened through the apartment I have +already described, not wishing to associate the idea of a pigstye +with that of a human dwelling. + +I do not now wonder that the girls lose their fine complexions at +such an early age, or that love here is merely an appetite to fulfil +the main design of Nature, never enlivened by either affection or +sentiment. + +For a few posts we found the horses waiting; but afterwards I was +retarded, as before, by the peasants, who, taking advantage of my +ignorance of the language, made me pay for the fourth horse that +ought to have gone forward to have the others in readiness, though +it had never been sent. I was particularly impatient at the last +post, as I longed to assure myself that my child was well. + +My impatience, however, did not prevent my enjoying the journey. I +had six weeks before passed over the same ground; still it had +sufficient novelty to attract my attention, and beguile, if not +banish, the sorrow that had taken up its abode in my heart. How +interesting are the varied beauties of Nature, and what peculiar +charms characterise each season! The purple hue which the heath now +assumed gave it a degree of richness that almost exceeded the lustre +of the young green of spring, and harmonised exquisitely with the +rays of the ripening corn. The weather was uninterruptedly fine, +and the people busy in the fields cutting down the corn, or binding +up the sheaves, continually varied the prospect. The rocks, it is +true, were unusually rugged and dreary; yet as the road runs for a +considerable way by the side of a fine river, with extended pastures +on the other side, the image of sterility was not the predominant +object, though the cottages looked still more miserable, after +having seen the Norwegian farms. The trees likewise appeared of me +growth of yesterday, compared with those Nestors of the forest I +have frequently mentioned. The women and children were cutting off +branches from the beech, birch, oak, &c, and leaving them to dry. +This way of helping out their fodder injures the trees. But the +winters are so long that the poor cannot afford to lay in a +sufficient stock of hay. By such means they just keep life in the +poor cows, for little milk can be expected when they are so +miserably fed. + +It was Saturday, and the evening was uncommonly serene. In the +villages I everywhere saw preparations for Sunday; and I passed by a +little car loaded with rye, that presented, for the pencil and +heart, the sweetest picture of a harvest home I had ever beheld. A +little girl was mounted a-straddle on a shaggy horse, brandishing a +stick over its head; the father was walking at the side of the car +with a child in his arms, who must have come to meet him with +tottering steps; the little creature was stretching out its arms to +cling round his neck; and a boy, just above petticoats, was +labouring hard with a fork behind to keep the sheaves from falling. + +My eyes followed them to the cottage, and an involuntary sigh +whispered to my heart that I envied the mother, much as I dislike +cooking, who was preparing their pottage. I was returning to my +babe, who may never experience a father's care or tenderness. The +bosom that nurtured her heaved with a pang at the thought which only +an unhappy mother could feel. + +Adieu! + + + +LETTER XVII. + + + +I was unwilling to leave Gothenburg without visiting Trolhaettae. I +wished not only to see the cascade, but to observe the progress of +the stupendous attempt to form a canal through the rocks, to the +extent of an English mile and a half. + +This work is carried on by a company, who employ daily nine hundred +men; five years was the time mentioned in the proposals addressed to +the public as necessary for the completion. A much more +considerable sum than the plan requires has been subscribed, for +which there is every reason to suppose the promoters will receive +ample interest. + +The Danes survey the progress of this work with a jealous eye, as it +is principally undertaken to get clear of the Sound duty. + +Arrived at Trolhaettae, I must own that the first view of the +cascade disappointed me; and the sight of the works, as they +advanced, though a grand proof of human industry, was not calculated +to warm the fancy. I, however, wandered about; and at last coming +to the conflux of the various cataracts rushing from different +falls, struggling with the huge masses of rock, and rebounding from +the profound cavities, I immediately retracted, acknowledging that +it was indeed a grand object. A little island stood in the midst, +covered with firs, which, by dividing the torrent, rendered it more +picturesque; one half appearing to issue from a dark cavern, that +fancy might easily imagine a vast fountain throwing up its waters +from the very centre of the earth. + +I gazed I know not how long, stunned with the noise, and growing +giddy with only looking at the never-ceasing tumultuous motion, I +listened, scarcely conscious where I was, when I observed a boy, +half obscured by the sparkling foam, fishing under the impending +rock on the other side. How he had descended I could not perceive; +nothing like human footsteps appeared, and the horrific crags seemed +to bid defiance even to the goat's activity. It looked like an +abode only fit for the eagle, though in its crevices some pines +darted up their spiral heads; but they only grew near the cascade, +everywhere else sterility itself reigned with dreary grandeur; for +the huge grey massy rocks, which probably had been torn asunder by +some dreadful convulsion of nature, had not even their first +covering of a little cleaving moss. There were so many appearances +to excite the idea of chaos, that, instead of admiring the canal and +the works, great as they are termed, and little as they appear, I +could not help regretting that such a noble scene had not been left +in all its solitary sublimity. Amidst the awful roaring of the +impetuous torrents, the noise of human instruments and the bustle of +workmen, even the blowing up of the rocks when grand masses trembled +in the darkened air, only resembled the insignificant sport of +children. + +One fall of water, partly made by art, when they were attempting to +construct sluices, had an uncommonly grand effect; the water +precipitated itself with immense velocity down a perpendicular, at +least fifty or sixty yards, into a gulf, so concealed by the foam as +to give full play to the fancy. There was a continual uproar. I +stood on a rock to observe it, a kind of bridge formed by nature, +nearly on a level with the commencement of the fall. After musing +by it a long time I turned towards the other side, and saw a gentle +stream stray calmly out. I should have concluded that it had no +communication with the torrent had I not seen a huge log that fell +headlong down the cascade steal peacefully into the purling stream. + +I retired from these wild scenes with regret to a miserable inn, and +next morning returned to Gothenburg, to prepare for my journey to +Copenhagen. + +I was sorry to leave Gothenburg without travelling farther into +Sweden, yet I imagine I should only have seen a romantic country +thinly inhabited, and these inhabitants struggling with poverty. +The Norwegian peasantry, mostly independent, have a rough kind of +frankness in their manner; but the Swedish, rendered more abject by +misery, have a degree of politeness in their address which, though +it may sometimes border on insincerity, is oftener the effect of a +broken spirit, rather softened than degraded by wretchedness. + +In Norway there are no notes in circulation of less value than a +Swedish rix-dollar. A small silver coin, commonly not worth more +than a penny, and never more than twopence, serves for change; but +in Sweden they have notes as low as sixpence. I never saw any +silver pieces there, and could not without difficulty, and giving a +premium, obtain the value of a rix-dollar in a large copper coin to +give away on the road to the poor who open the gates. + +As another proof of the poverty of Sweden, I ought to mention that +foreign merchants who have acquired a fortune there are obliged to +deposit the sixth part when they leave the kingdom. This law, you +may suppose, is frequently evaded. + +In fact, the laws here, as well as in Norway, are so relaxed that +they rather favour than restrain knavery. + +Whilst I was at Gothenburg, a man who had been confined for breaking +open his master's desk and running away with five or six thousand +rix-dollars, was only sentenced to forty days' confinement on bread +and water; and this slight punishment his relations rendered +nugatory by supplying him with more savoury food. + +The Swedes are in general attached to their families, yet a divorce +may be obtained by either party on proving the infidelity of the +other or acknowledging it themselves. The women do not often recur +to this equal privilege, for they either retaliate on their husbands +by following their own devices or sink into the merest domestic +drudges, worn down by tyranny to servile submission. Do not term me +severe if I add, that after youth is flown the husband becomes a +sot, and the wife amuses herself by scolding her servants. In fact, +what is to be expected in any country where taste and cultivation of +mind do not supply the place of youthful beauty and animal spirits? +Affection requires a firmer foundation than sympathy, and few people +have a principle of action sufficiently stable to produce rectitude +of feeling; for in spite of all the arguments I have heard to +justify deviations from duty, I am persuaded that even the most +spontaneous sensations are more under the direction of principle +than weak people are willing to allow. + +But adieu to moralising. I have been writing these last sheets at +an inn in Elsineur, where I am waiting for horses; and as they are +not yet ready, I will give you a short account of my journey from +Gothenburg, for I set out the morning after I returned from +Trolhaettae. + +The country during the first day's journey presented a most barren +appearance, as rocky, yet not so picturesque as Norway, because on a +diminutive scale. We stopped to sleep at a tolerable inn in +Falckersberg, a decent little town. + +The next day beeches and oaks began to grace the prospects, the sea +every now and then appearing to give them dignity. I could not +avoid observing also, that even in this part of Sweden, one of the +most sterile, as I was informed, there was more ground under +cultivation than in Norway. Plains of varied crops stretched out to +a considerable extent, and sloped down to the shore, no longer +terrific. And, as far as I could judge, from glancing my eye over +the country as we drove along, agriculture was in a more advanced +state, though in the habitations a greater appearance of poverty +still remained. The cottages, indeed, often looked most +uncomfortable, but never so miserable as those I had remarked on the +road to Stromstad, and the towns were equal, if not superior, to +many of the little towns in Wales, or some I have passed through in +my way from Calais to Paris. + +The inns as we advanced were not to be complained of, unless I had +always thought of England. The people were civil, and much more +moderate in their demands than the Norwegians, particularly to the +westward, where they boldly charge for what you never had, and seem +to consider you, as they do a wreck, if not as lawful prey, yet as a +lucky chance, which they ought not to neglect to seize. + +The prospect of Elsineur, as we passed the Sound, was pleasant. I +gave three rix-dollars for my boat, including something to drink. I +mention the sum, because they impose on strangers. + +Adieu! till I arrive at Copenhagen. + + + +LETTER XVIII.--COPENHAGEN. + + + +The distance from Elsineur to Copenhagen is twenty-two miles; the +road is very good, over a flat country diversified with wood, mostly +beech, and decent mansions. There appeared to be a great quantity +of corn land, and the soil looked much more fertile than it is in +general so near the sea. The rising grounds, indeed, were very few, +and around Copenhagen it is a perfect plain; of course has nothing +to recommend it but cultivation, not decorations. If I say that the +houses did not disgust me, I tell you all I remember of them, for I +cannot recollect any pleasurable sensations they excited, or that +any object, produced by nature or art, took me out of myself. The +view of the city, as we drew near, was rather grand, but without any +striking feature to interest the imagination, excepting the trees +which shade the footpaths. + +Just before I reached Copenhagen I saw a number of tents on a wide +plain, and supposed that the rage for encampments had reached this +city; but I soon discovered that they were the asylum of many of the +poor families who had been driven out of their habitations by the +late fire. + +Entering soon after, I passed amongst the dust and rubbish it had +left, affrighted by viewing the extent of the devastation, for at +least a quarter of the city had been destroyed. There was little in +the appearance of fallen bricks and stacks of chimneys to allure the +imagination into soothing melancholy reveries; nothing to attract +the eye of taste, but much to afflict the benevolent heart. The +depredations of time have always something in them to employ the +fancy, or lead to musing on subjects which, withdrawing the mind +from objects of sense, seem to give it new dignity; but here I was +treading on live ashes. The sufferers were still under the pressure +of the misery occasioned by this dreadful conflagration. I could +not take refuge in the thought: they suffered, but they are no +more! a reflection I frequently summon to calm my mind when sympathy +rises to anguish. I therefore desired the driver to hasten to the +hotel recommended to me, that I might avert my eyes and snap the +train of thinking which had sent me into all the corners of the city +in search of houseless heads. + +This morning I have been walking round the town, till I am weary of +observing the ravages. I had often heard the Danes, even those who +had seen Paris and London, speak of Copenhagen with rapture. +Certainly I have seen it in a very disadvantageous light, some of +the best streets having been burnt, and the whole place thrown into +confusion. Still the utmost that can, or could ever, I believe, +have been said in its praise, might be comprised in a few words. +The streets are open, and many of the houses large; but I saw +nothing to rouse the idea of elegance or grandeur, if I except the +circus where the king and prince royal reside. + +The palace, which was consumed about two years ago, must have been a +handsome, spacious building; the stone-work is still standing, and a +great number of the poor, during the late fire, took refuge in its +ruins till they could find some other abode. Beds were thrown on +the landing-places of the grand staircase, where whole families +crept from the cold, and every little nook is boarded up as a +retreat for some poor creatures deprived of their home. At present +a roof may be sufficient to shelter them from the night air; but as +the season advances, the extent of the calamity will be more +severely felt, I fear, though the exertions on the part of +Government are very considerable. Private charity has also, no +doubt, done much to alleviate the misery which obtrudes itself at +every turn; still, public spirit appears to me to be hardly alive +here. Had it existed, the conflagration might have been smothered +in the beginning, as it was at last, by tearing down several houses +before the flames had reached them. To this the inhabitants would +not consent; and the prince royal not having sufficient energy of +character to know when he ought to be absolute, calmly let them +pursue their own course, till the whole city seemed to be threatened +with destruction. Adhering, with puerile scrupulosity, to the law +which he has imposed on himself, of acting exactly right, he did +wrong by idly lamenting whilst he marked the progress of a mischief +that one decided step would have stopped. He was afterwards obliged +to resort to violent measures; but then, who could blame him? And, +to avoid censure, what sacrifices are not made by weak minds? + +A gentleman who was a witness of the scene assured me, likewise, +that if the people of property had taken half as much pains to +extinguish the fire as to preserve their valuables and furniture, it +would soon have been got under. But they who were not immediately +in danger did not exert themselves sufficiently, till fear, like an +electrical shock, roused all the inhabitants to a sense of the +general evil. Even the fire-engines were out of order, though the +burning of the palace ought to have admonished them of the necessity +of keeping them in constant repair. But this kind of indolence +respecting what does not immediately concern them seems to +characterise the Danes. A sluggish concentration in themselves +makes them so careful to preserve their property, that they will not +venture on any enterprise to increase it in which there is a shadow +of hazard. + +Considering Copenhagen as the capital of Denmark and Norway, I was +surprised not to see so much industry or taste as in Christiania. +Indeed, from everything I have had an opportunity of observing, the +Danes are the people who have made the fewest sacrifices to the +graces. + +The men of business are domestic tyrants, coldly immersed in their +own affairs, and so ignorant of the state of other countries, that +they dogmatically assert that Denmark is the happiest country in the +world; the Prince Royal the best of all possible princes; and Count +Bernstorff the wisest of ministers. + +As for the women, they are simply notable housewives; without +accomplishments or any of the charms that adorn more advanced social +life. This total ignorance may enable them to save something in +their kitchens, but it is far from rendering them better parents. +On the contrary, the children are spoiled, as they usually are when +left to the care of weak, indulgent mothers, who having no principle +of action to regulate their feelings, become the slaves of infants, +enfeebling both body and mind by false tenderness. + +I am, perhaps, a little prejudiced, as I write from the impression +of the moment; for I have been tormented to-day by the presence of +unruly children, and made angry by some invectives thrown out +against the maternal character of the unfortunate Matilda. She was +censured, with the most cruel insinuation, for her management of her +son, though, from what I could gather, she gave proofs of good sense +as well as tenderness in her attention to him. She used to bathe +him herself every morning; insisted on his being loosely clad; and +would not permit his attendants to injure his digestion by humouring +his appetite. She was equally careful to prevent his acquiring +haughty airs, and playing the tyrant in leading-strings. The Queen +Dowager would not permit her to suckle him; but the next child being +a daughter, and not the Heir-Apparent of the Crown, less opposition +was made to her discharging the duty of a mother. + +Poor Matilda! thou hast haunted me ever since may arrival; and the +view I have had of the manners of the country, exciting my sympathy, +has increased my respect for thy memory. + +I am now fully convinced that she was the victim of the party she +displaced, who would have overlooked or encouraged her attachment, +had not her lover, aiming at being useful, attempted to overturn +some established abuses before the people, ripe for the change, had +sufficient spirit to support him when struggling in their behalf. +Such indeed was the asperity sharpened against her that I have heard +her, even after so many years have elapsed, charged with +licentiousness, not only for endeavouring to render the public +amusements more elegant, but for her very charities, because she +erected, amongst other institutions, a hospital to receive +foundlings. Disgusted with many customs which pass for virtues, +though they are nothing more than observances of forms, often at the +expense of truth, she probably ran into an error common to +innovators, in wishing to do immediately what can only be done by +time. + +Many very cogent reasons have been urged by her friends to prove +that her affection for Struensee was never carried to the length +alleged against her by those who feared her influence. Be that as +it may she certainly was no a woman of gallantry, and if she had an +attachment for him it did not disgrace her heart or understanding, +the king being a notorious debauchee and an idiot into the bargain. +As the king's conduct had always been directed by some favourite, +they also endeavoured to govern him, from a principle of self- +preservation as well as a laudable ambition; but, not aware of the +prejudices they had to encounter, the system they adopted displayed +more benevolence of heart than soundness of judgment. As to the +charge, still believed, of their giving the King drugs to injure his +faculties, it is too absurd to be refuted. Their oppressors had +better have accused them of dabbling in the black art, for the +potent spell still keeps his wits in bondage. + +I cannot describe to you the effect it had on me to see this puppet +of a monarch moved by the strings which Count Bernstorff holds fast; +sit, with vacant eye, erect, receiving the homage of courtiers who +mock him with a show of respect. He is, in fact, merely a machine +of state, to subscribe the name of a king to the acts of the +Government, which, to avoid danger, have no value unless +countersigned by the Prince Royal; for he is allowed to be +absolutely aim idiot, excepting that now and then an observation or +trick escapes him, which looks more like madness than imbecility. + +What a farce is life. This effigy of majesty is allowed to burn +down to the socket, whilst the hapless Matilda was hurried into an +untimely grave. + +"As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods; +They kill us for their sport." + +Adieu! + + + +LETTER XIX. + + + +Business having obliged me to go a few miles out of town this +morning I was surprised at meeting a crowd of people of every +description, and inquiring the cause of a servant, who spoke French, +I was informed that a man had been executed two hours before, and +the body afterwards burnt. I could not help looking with horror +around--the fields lost their verdure--and I turned with disgust +from the well-dressed women who were returning with their children +from this sight. What a spectacle for humanity! The seeing such a +flock of idle gazers plunged me into a train of reflections on the +pernicious effects produced by false notions of justice. And I am +persuaded that till capital punishments are entirely abolished +executions ought to have every appearance of horror given to them, +instead of being, as they are now, a scene of amusement for the +gaping crowd, where sympathy is quickly effaced by curiosity. + +I have always been of opinion that the allowing actors to die in the +presence of the audience has an immoral tendency, but trifling when +compared with the ferocity acquired by viewing the reality as a +show; for it seems to me that in all countries the common people go +to executions to see how the poor wretch plays his part, rather than +to commiserate his fate, much less to think of the breach of +morality which has brought him to such a deplorable end. +Consequently executions, far from being useful examples to the +survivors, have, I am persuaded, a quite contrary effect, by +hardening the heart they ought to terrify. Besides the fear of an +ignominious death, I believe, never deferred anyone from the +commission of a crime, because, in committing it, the mind is roused +to activity about present circumstances. It is a game at hazard, at +which all expect the turn of the die in their own favour, never +reflecting on the chance of ruin till it comes. In fact, from what +I saw in the fortresses of Norway, I am more and more convinced that +the same energy of character which renders a man a daring villain +would have rendered him useful to society, had that society been +well organised. When a strong mind is not disciplined by +cultivation it is a sense of injustice that renders it unjust. + +Executions, however, occur very rarely at Copenhagen; for timidity, +rather than clemency, palsies all the operations of the present +Government. The malefactor who died this morning would not, +probably, have been punished with death at any other period; but an +incendiary excites universal execration; and as the greater part of +the inhabitants are still distressed by the late conflagration, an +example was thought absolutely necessary; though, from what I can +gather, the fire was accidental. + +Not, but that I have very seriously been informed, that combustible +materials were placed at proper distance, by the emissaries of Mr. +Pitt; and, to corroborate the fact, many people insist that the +flames burst out at once in different parts of the city; not +allowing the wind to have any hand in it. So much for the plot. +But the fabricators of plots in all countries build their +conjectures on the "baseless fabric of a vision;" and it seems even +a sort of poetical justice, that whilst this Minister is crushing at +home plots of his own conjuring up, on the Continent, and in the +north, he should, with as little foundation, be accused of wishing +to set the world on fire. + +I forgot to mention to you, that I was informed, by a man of +veracity, that two persons came to the stake to drink a glass of the +criminal's blood, as an infallible remedy for the apoplexy. And +when I animadverted in the company, where it was mentioned, on such +a horrible violation of nature, a Danish lady reproved me very +severely, asking how I knew that it was not a cure for the disease? +adding, that every attempt was justifiable in search of health. I +did not, you may imagine, enter into an argument with a person the +slave of such a gross prejudice. And I allude to it not only as a +trait of the ignorance of the people, but to censure the Government +for not preventing scenes that throw an odium on the human race. + +Empiricism is not peculiar to Denmark; and I know no way of rooting +it out, though it be a remnant of exploded witchcraft, till the +acquiring a general knowledge of the component parts of the human +frame becomes a part of public education. + +Since the fire, the inhabitants have been very assiduously employed +in searching for property secreted during the confusion; and it is +astonishing how many people, formerly termed reputable, had availed +themselves of the common calamity to purloin what the flames spared. +Others, expert at making a distinction without a difference, +concealed what they found, not troubling themselves to inquire for +the owners, though they scrupled to search for plunder anywhere, but +amongst the ruins. + +To be honester than the laws require is by most people thought a +work of supererogation; and to slip through the grate of the law has +ever exercised the abilities of adventurers, who wish to get rich +the shortest way. Knavery without personal danger is an art brought +to great perfection by the statesman and swindler; and meaner knaves +are not tardy in following their footsteps. + +It moves my gall to discover some of the commercial frauds practised +during the present war. In short, under whatever point of view I +consider society, it appears to me that an adoration of property is +the root of all evil. Here it does not render the people +enterprising, as in America, but thrifty and cautious. I never, +therefore, was in a capital where there was so little appearance of +active industry; and as for gaiety, I looked in vain for the +sprightly gait of the Norwegians, who in every respect appear to me +to have got the start of them. This difference I attribute to their +having more liberty--a liberty which they think their right by +inheritance, whilst the Danes, when they boast of their negative +happiness, always mention it as the boon of the Prince Royal, under +the superintending wisdom of Count Bernstorff. Vassalage is +nevertheless ceasing throughout the kingdom, and with it will pass +away that sordid avarice which every modification of slavery is +calculated to produce. + +If the chief use of property be power, in the shape of the respect +it procures, is it not among the inconsistencies of human nature +most incomprehensible, that men should find a pleasure in hoarding +up property which they steal from their necessities, even when they +are convinced that it would be dangerous to display such an enviable +superiority? Is not this the situation of serfs in every country. +Yet a rapacity to accumulate money seems to become stronger in +proportion as it is allowed to be useless. + +Wealth does not appear to be sought for amongst the Danes, to obtain +the excellent luxuries of life, for a want of taste is very +conspicuous at Copenhagen; so much so that I am not surprised to +hear that poor Matilda offended the rigid Lutherans by aiming to +refine their pleasures. The elegance which she wished to introduce +was termed lasciviousness; yet I do not find that the absence of +gallantry renders the wives more chaste, or the husbands more +constant. Love here seems to corrupt the morals without polishing +the manners, by banishing confidence and truth, the charm as well as +cement of domestic life. A gentleman, who has resided in this city +some time, assures me that he could not find language to give me an +idea of the gross debaucheries into which the lower order of people +fall; and the promiscuous amours of the men of the middling class +with their female servants debase both beyond measure, weakening +every species of family affection. + +I have everywhere been struck by one characteristic difference in +the conduct of the two sexes; women, in general, are seduced by +their superiors, and men jilted by their inferiors: rank and +manners awe the one, and cunning and wantonness subjugate the other; +ambition creeping into the woman's passion, and tyranny giving force +to the man's, for most men treat their mistresses as kings do their +favourites: ergo is not man then the tyrant of the creation? + +Still harping on the same subject, you will exclaim--How can I avoid +it, when most of the struggles of an eventful life have been +occasioned by the oppressed state of my sex? We reason deeply when +we feel forcibly. + +But to return to the straight road of observation. The sensuality +so prevalent appears to me to arise rather from indolence of mind +and dull senses, than from an exuberance of life, which often +fructifies the whole character when the vivacity of youthful spirits +begins to subside into strength of mind. + +I have before mentioned that the men are domestic tyrants, +considering them as fathers, brothers, or husbands; but there is a +kind of interregnum between the reign of the father and husband +which is the only period of freedom and pleasure that the women +enjoy. Young people who are attached to each other, with the +consent of their friends, exchange rings, and are permitted to enjoy +a degree of liberty together which 1 have never noticed in any other +country. The days of courtship are, therefore, prolonged till it be +perfectly convenient to marry: the intimacy often becomes very +tender; and if the lover obtain the privilege of a husband, it can +only be termed half by stealth, because the family is wilfully +blind. It happens very rarely that these honorary engagements are +dissolved or disregarded, a stigma being attached to a breach of +faith which is thought more disgraceful, if not so criminal, as the +violation of the marriage-vow. + +Do not forget that, in my general observations, I do not pretend to +sketch a national character, but merely to note the present state of +morals and manners as I trace the progress of the world's +improvement. Because, during my residence in different countries, +my principal object has been to take such a dispassionate view of +men as will lead me to form a just idea of the nature of man. And, +to deal ingenuously with you, I believe I should have been less +severe in the remarks I have made on the vanity and depravity of the +French, had I travelled towards the north before I visited France. + +The interesting picture frequently drawn of the virtues of a rising +people has, I fear, been fallacious, excepting the accounts of the +enthusiasm which various public struggles have produced. We talk of +the depravity of the French, and lay a stress on the old age of the +nation; yet where has more virtuous enthusiasm been displayed than +during the two last years by the common people of France, and in +their armies? I am obliged sometimes to recollect the numberless +instances which I have either witnessed, or heard well +authenticated, to balance the account of horrors, alas! but too +true. I am, therefore, inclined to believe that the gross vices +which I have always seem allied with simplicity of manners, are the +concomitants of ignorance. + +What, for example, has piety, under the heathen or Christian system, +been, but a blind faith in things contrary to the principles of +reason? And could poor reason make considerable advances when it +was reckoned the highest degree of virtue to do violence to its +dictates? Lutherans, preaching reformation, have built a reputation +for sanctity on the same foundation as the Catholics; yet I do not +perceive that a regular attendance on public worship, and their +other observances, make them a whit more true in their affections, +or honest in their private transactions. It seems, indeed, quite as +easy to prevaricate with religious injunctions as human laws, when +the exercise of their reason does not lead people to acquire +principles for themselves to be the criterion of all those they +receive from others. + +If travelling, as the completion of a liberal education, were to be +adopted on rational grounds, the northern states ought to be visited +before the more polished parts of Europe, to serve as the elements +even of the knowledge of manners, only to be acquired by tracing the +various shades in different countries. But, when visiting distant +climes, a momentary social sympathy should not be allowed to +influence the conclusions of the understanding, for hospitality too +frequently leads travellers, especially those who travel in search +of pleasure, to make a false estimate of the virtues of a nation, +which, I am now convinced, bear an exact proportion to their +scientific improvements. + +Adieu. + + + +LETTER XX. + + + +I have formerly censured the French for their extreme attachment to +theatrical exhibitions, because I thought that they tended to render +them vain and unnatural characters; but I must acknowledge, +especially as women of the town never appear in the Parisian as at +our theatres, that the little saving of the week is more usefully +expended there every Sunday than in porter or brandy, to intoxicate +or stupify the mind. The common people of France have a great +superiority over that class in every other country on this very +score. It is merely the sobriety of the Parisians which renders +their fetes more interesting, their gaiety never becoming disgusting +or dangerous, as is always the case when liquor circulates. +Intoxication is the pleasure of savages, and of all those whose +employments rather exhaust their animal spirits than exercise their +faculties. Is not this, in fact, the vice, both in England and the +northern states of Europe, which appears to be the greatest +impediment to general improvement? Drinking is here the principal +relaxation of the men, including smoking, but the women are very +abstemious, though they have no public amusements as a substitute. +I ought to except one theatre, which appears more than is necessary; +for when I was there it was not half full, and neither the ladies +nor actresses displayed much fancy in their dress. + +The play was founded on the story of the "Mock Doctor;" and, from +the gestures of the servants, who were the best actors, I should +imagine contained some humour. The farce, termed ballet, was a kind +of pantomime, the childish incidents of which were sufficient to +show the state of the dramatic art in Denmark, and the gross taste +of the audience. A magician, in the disguise of a tinker, enters a +cottage where the women are all busy ironing, and rubs a dirty +frying-pan against the linen. The women raise a hue-and-cry, and +dance after him, rousing their husbands, who join in the dance, but +get the start of them in the pursuit. The tinker, with the frying- +pan for a shield, renders them immovable, and blacks their cheeks. +Each laughs at the other, unconscious of his own appearance; +meanwhile the women enter to enjoy the sport, "the rare fun," with +other incidents of the same species. + +The singing was much on a par with the dancing, the one as destitute +of grace as the other of expression; but the orchestra was well +filled, the instrumental being far superior to the vocal music. + +I have likewise visited the public library and museum, as well as +the palace of Rosembourg. This palace, now deserted, displays a +gloomy kind of grandeur throughout, for the silence of spacious +apartments always makes itself to be felt; I at least feel it, and I +listen for the sound of my footsteps as I have done at midnight to +the ticking of the death-watch, encouraging a kind of fanciful +superstition. Every object carried me back to past times, and +impressed the manners of the age forcibly on my mind. In this point +of view the preservation of old palaces and their tarnished +furniture is useful, for they may be considered as historical +documents. + +The vacuum left by departed greatness was everywhere observable, +whilst the battles and processions portrayed on the walls told you +who had here excited revelry after retiring from slaughter, or +dismissed pageantry in search of pleasure. It seemed a vast tomb +full of the shadowy phantoms of those who had played or toiled their +hour out and sunk behind the tapestry which celebrated the conquests +of love or war. Could they be no more--to whom my imagination thus +gave life? Could the thoughts, of which there remained so many +vestiges, have vanished quite away? And these beings, composed of +such noble materials of thinking and feeling, have they only melted +into the elements to keep in motion the grand mass of life? It +cannot be!--as easily could I believe that the large silver lions at +the top of the banqueting room thought and reasoned. But avaunt! ye +waking dreams! yet I cannot describe the curiosities to you. + +There were cabinets full of baubles and gems, and swords which must +have been wielded by giant's hand. The coronation ornaments wait +quietly here till wanted, and the wardrobe exhibits the vestments +which formerly graced these shows. It is a pity they do not lend +them to the actors, instead of allowing them to perish ingloriously. + +I have not visited any other palace, excepting Hirsholm, the gardens +of which are laid out with taste, and command the finest views the +country affords. As they are in the modern and English style, I +thought I was following the footsteps of Matilda, who wished to +multiply around her the images of her beloved country. I was also +gratified by the sight of a Norwegian landscape in miniature, which +with great propriety makes a part of the Danish King's garden. The +cottage is well imitated, and the whole has a pleasing effect, +particularly so to me who love Norway--its peaceful farms and +spacious wilds. + +The public library consists of a collection much larger than I +expected to see; and it is well arranged. Of the value of the +Icelandic manuscripts I could not form a judgment, though the +alphabet of some of them amused me, by showing what immense labour +men will submit to, in order to transmit their ideas to posterity. +I have sometimes thought it a great misfortune for individuals to +acquire a certain delicacy of sentiment, which often makes them +weary of the common occurrences of life; yet it is this very +delicacy of feeling and thinking which probably has produced most of +the performances that have benefited mankind. It might with +propriety, perhaps, be termed the malady of genius; the cause of +that characteristic melancholy which "grows with its growth, and +strengthens with its strength." + +There are some good pictures in the royal museum. Do not start, I +am not going to trouble you with a dull catalogue, or stupid +criticisms on masters to whom time has assigned their just niche in +the temple of fame; had there been any by living artists of this +country, I should have noticed them, as making a part of the +sketches I am drawing of the present state of the place. The good +pictures were mixed indiscriminately with the bad ones, in order to +assort the frames. The same fault is conspicuous in the new +splendid gallery forming at Paris; though it seems an obvious +thought that a school for artists ought to be arranged in such a +manner, as to show the progressive discoveries and improvements in +the art. + +A collection of the dresses, arms, and implements of the Laplanders +attracted my attention, displaying that first species of ingenuity +which is rather a proof of patient perseverance, than comprehension +of mind. The specimens of natural history, and curiosities of art, +were likewise huddled together without that scientific order which +alone renders them useful; but this may partly have been occasioned +by the hasty manner in which they were removed from the palace when +in flames. + +There are some respectable men of science here, but few literary +characters, and fewer artists. They want encouragement, and will +continue, I fear, from the present appearance of things, to languish +unnoticed a long time; for neither the vanity of wealth, nor the +enterprising spirit of commerce, has yet thrown a glance that way. + +Besides, the Prince Royal, determined to be economical, almost +descends to parsimony; and perhaps depresses his subjects, by +labouring not to oppress them; for his intentions always seem to be +good--yet nothing can give a more forcible idea of the dulness which +eats away all activity of mind, than the insipid routine of a court, +without magnificence or elegance. + +The Prince, from what I can now collect, has very moderate +abilities; yet is so well disposed, that Count Bernstorff finds him +as tractable as he could wish; for I consider the Count as the real +sovereign, scarcely behind the curtain; the Prince having none of +that obstinate self-sufficiency of youth, so often the forerunner of +decision of character. He and the Princess his wife, dine every day +with the King, to save the expense of two tables. What a mummery it +must be to treat as a king a being who has lost the majesty of man! +But even Count Bernstorff's morality submits to this standing +imposition; and he avails himself of it sometimes, to soften a +refusal of his own, by saying it is the WILL of the King, my master, +when everybody knows that he has neither will nor memory. Much the +same use is made of him as, I have observed, some termagant wives +make of their husbands; they would dwell on the necessity of obeying +their husbands, poor passive souls, who never were allowed TO WILL, +when they wanted to conceal their own tyranny. + +A story is told here of the King's formerly making a dog counsellor +of state, because when the dog, accustomed to eat at the royal +table, snatched a piece of meat off an old officer's plate, he +reproved him jocosely, saying that he, monsieur le chien, had not +the privilege of dining with his majesty, a privilege annexed to +this distinction. + +The burning of the palace was, in fact, a fortunate circumstance, as +it afforded a pretext for reducing the establishment of the +household, which was far too great for the revenue of the Crown. +The Prince Royal, at present, runs into the opposite extreme; and +the formality, if not the parsimony, of the court, seems to extend +to all the other branches of society, which I had an opportunity of +observing; though hospitality still characterises their intercourse +with strangers. + +But let me now stop; I may be a little partial, and view everything +with the jaundiced eye of melancholy--for I am sad--and have cause. + +God bless you! + + + +LETTER XXI. + + + +I have seen Count Bernstorff; and his conversation confirms me in +the opinion I had previously formed of him; I mean, since my arrival +at Copenhagen. He is a worthy man, a little vain of his virtue a la +Necker; and more anxious not to do wrong, that is to avoid blame, +than desirous of doing good; especially if any particular good +demands a change. Prudence, in short, seems to be the basis of his +character; and, from the tenor of the Government, I should think +inclining to that cautious circumspection which treads on the heels +of timidity. He has considerable information, and some finesse; or +he could not be a Minister. Determined not to risk his popularity, +for he is tenderly careful of his reputation, he will never +gloriously fail like Struensee, or disturb, with the energy of +genius, the stagnant state of the public mind. + +I suppose that Lavater, whom he invited to visit him two years ago-- +some say to fix the principles of the Christian religion firmly in +the Prince Royal's mind, found lines in his face to prove him a +statesman of the first order; because he has a knack at seeing a +great character in the countenances of men in exalted stations, who +have noticed him or his works. Besides, the Count's sentiments +relative to the French Revolution, agreeing with Lavater's, must +have ensured his applause. + +The Danes, in general, seem extremely averse to innovation, and if +happiness only consist in opinion, they are the happiest people in +the world; for I never saw any so well satisfied with their own +situation. Yet the climate appears to be very disagreeable, the +weather being dry and sultry, or moist and cold; the atmosphere +never having that sharp, bracing purity, which in Norway prepares +you to brave its rigours. I do not hear the inhabitants of this +place talk with delight of the winter, which is the constant theme +of the Norwegians; on the contrary, they seem to dread its +comfortless inclemency. + +The ramparts are pleasant, and must have been much more so before +the fire, the walkers not being annoyed by the clouds of dust which, +at present, the slightest wind wafts from the ruins. The windmills, +and the comfortable houses contiguous, belonging to the millers, as +well as the appearance of the spacious barracks for the soldiers and +sailors, tend to render this walk more agreeable. The view of the +country has not much to recommend it to notice but its extent and +cultivation: yet as the eye always delights to dwell on verdant +plains, especially when we are resident in a great city, these shady +walks should be reckoned amongst the advantages procured by the +Government for the inhabitants. I like them better than the Royal +Gardens, also open to the public, because the latter seem sunk in +the heart of the city, to concentrate its fogs. + +The canals which intersect the streets are equally convenient and +wholesome; but the view of the sea commanded by the town had little +to interest me whilst the remembrance of the various bold and +picturesque shores I had seen was fresh in my memory. Still the +opulent inhabitants, who seldom go abroad, must find the spots were +they fix their country seats much pleasanter on account of the +vicinity of the ocean. + +One of the best streets in Copenhagen is almost filled with +hospitals, erected by the Government, and, I am assured, as well +regulated as institutions of this kind are in any country; but +whether hospitals or workhouses are anywhere superintended with +sufficient humanity I have frequently had reason to doubt. + +The autumn is so uncommonly fine that I am unwilling to put off my +journey to Hamburg much longer, lest the weather should alter +suddenly, and the chilly harbingers of winter catch me here, where I +have nothing now to detain me but the hospitality of the families to +whom I had recommendatory letters. I lodged at an hotel situated in +a large open square, where the troops exercise and the market is +kept. My apartments were very good; and on account of the fire I +was told that I should be charged very high; yet, paying my bill +just now, I find the demands much lower in proportion than in +Norway, though my dinners were in every respect better. + +I have remained more at home since I arrived at Copenhagen than I +ought to have done in a strange place, but the mind is not always +equally active in search of information, and my oppressed heart too +often sighs out - + + +"How dull, flat, and unprofitable +Are to me all the usages of this world: +That it should come to this!" + + +Farewell! Fare thee well, I say; if thou canst, repeat the adieu in +a different tone. + + + +LETTER XXII. + + + +I arrived at Corsoer the night after I quitted Copenhagen, purposing +to take my passage across the Great Belt the next morning, though +the weather was rather boisterous. It is about four-and-twenty +miles but as both I and my little girl are never attacked by sea- +sickness--though who can avoid ennui?--I enter a boat with the same +indifference as I change horses; and as for danger, come when it +may, I dread it not sufficiently to have any anticipating fears. + +The road from Copenhagen was very good, through an open, flat +country that had little to recommend it to notice excepting the +cultivation, which gratified my heart more than my eye. + +I took a barge with a German baron who was hastening back from a +tour into Denmark, alarmed by the intelligence of the French having +passed the Rhine. His conversation beguiled the time, and gave a +sort of stimulus to my spirits, which had been growing more and more +languid ever since my return to Gothenburg; you know why. I had +often endeavoured to rouse myself to observation by reflecting that +I was passing through scenes which I should probably never see +again, and consequently ought not to omit observing. Still I fell +into reveries, thinking, by way of excuse, that enlargement of mind +and refined feelings are of little use but to barb the arrows of +sorrow which waylay us everywhere, eluding the sagacity of wisdom +and rendering principles unavailing, if considered as a breastwork +to secure our own hearts. + +Though we had not a direct wind, we were not detained more than +three hours and a half on the water, just long enough to give us an +appetite for our dinner. + +We travelled the remainder of the day and the following night in +company with the same party, the German gentleman whom I have +mentioned, his friend, and servant. The meetings at the post-houses +were pleasant to me, who usually heard nothing but strange tongues +around me. Marguerite and the child often fell asleep, and when +they were awake I might still reckon myself alone, as our train of +thoughts had nothing in common. Marguerite, it is true, was much +amused by the costume of the women, particularly by the pannier +which adorned both their heads and tails, and with great glee +recounted to me the stories she had treasured up for her family when +once more within the barriers of dear Paris, not forgetting, with +that arch, agreeable vanity peculiar to the French, which they +exhibit whilst half ridiculing it, to remind me of the importance +she should assume when she informed her friends of all her journeys +by sea and land, showing the pieces of money she had collected, and +stammering out a few foreign phrases, which she repeated in a true +Parisian accent. Happy thoughtlessness! ay, and enviable harmless +vanity, which thus produced a gaite du coeur worth all my +philosophy! + +The man I had hired at Copenhagen advised me to go round about +twenty miles to avoid passing the Little Belt excepting by a ferry, +as the wind was contrary. But the gentlemen overruled his +arguments, which we were all very sorry for afterwards, when we +found ourselves becalmed on the Little Belt ten hours, tacking about +without ceasing, to gain the shore. + +An oversight likewise made the passage appear much more tedious, +nay, almost insupportable. When I went on board at the Great Belt, +I had provided refreshments in case of detention, which remaining +untouched I thought not then any such precaution necessary for the +second passage, misled by the epithet of "little," though I have +since been informed that it is frequently the longest. This mistake +occasioned much vexation; for the child, at last, began to cry so +bitterly for bread, that fancy conjured up before me the wretched +Ugolino, with his famished children; and I, literally speaking, +enveloped myself in sympathetic horrors, augmented by every fear my +babe shed, from which I could not escape till we landed, and a +luncheon of bread and basin of milk routed the spectres of fancy. + +I then supped with my companions, with whom I was soon after to part +for ever--always a most melancholy death-like idea--a sort of +separation of soul; for all the regret which follows those from whom +fate separates us seems to be something torn from ourselves. These +were strangers I remember; yet when there is any originality in a +countenance, it takes its place in our memory, and we are sorry to +lose an acquaintance the moment he begins to interest us, through +picked up on the highway. There was, in fact, a degree of +intelligence, and still more sensibility, in the features and +conversation of one of the gentlemen, that made me regret the loss +of his society during the rest of the journey; for he was compelled +to travel post, by his desire to reach his estate before the arrival +of the French. + +This was a comfortable inn, as were several others I stopped at; but +the heavy sandy roads were very fatiguing, after the fine ones we +had lately skimmed over both in Sweden and Denmark. The country +resembled the most open part of England--laid out for corn rather +than grazing. It was pleasant, yet there was little in the +prospects to awaken curiosity, by displaying the peculiar +characteristics of a new country, which had so frequently stole me +from myself in Norway. We often passed over large unenclosed +tracts, not graced with trees, or at least very sparingly enlivened +by them, and the half-formed roads seemed to demand the landmarks, +set up in the waste, to prevent the traveller from straying far out +of his way, and plodding through the wearisome sand. + +The heaths were dreary, and had none of the wild charms of those of +Sweden and Norway to cheat time; neither the terrific rocks, nor +smiling herbage grateful to the sight and scented from afar, made us +forget their length. Still the country appeared much more populous, +and the towns, if not the farmhouses, were superior to those of +Norway. I even thought that the inhabitants of the former had more +intelligence--at least, I am sure they had more vivacity in their +countenances than I had seen during my northern tour: their senses +seemed awake to business and pleasure. I was therefore gratified by +hearing once more the busy hum of industrious men in the day, and +the exhilarating sounds of joy in the evening; for, as the weather +was still fine, the women and children were amusing themselves at +their doors, or walking under the trees, which in many places were +planted in the streets; and as most of the towns of any note were +situated on little bays or branches of the Baltic, their appearance +as we approached was often very picturesque, and, when we entered, +displayed the comfort and cleanliness of easy, if not the elegance +of opulent, circumstances. But the cheerfulness of the people in +the streets was particularly grateful to me, after having been +depressed by the deathlike silence of those of Denmark, where every +house made me think of a tomb. The dress of the peasantry is suited +to the climate; in short, none of that poverty and dirt appeared, at +the sight of which the heart sickens. + +As I only stopped to change horses, take refreshment, and sleep, I +had not an opportunity of knowing more of the country than +conclusions which the information gathered by my eyes enabled me to +draw, and that was sufficient to convince me that I should much +rather have lived in some of the towns I now pass through than in +any I had seen in Sweden or Denmark. The people struck me as having +arrived at that period when the faculties will unfold themselves; in +short; they look alive to improvement, neither congealed by +indolence, nor bent down by wretchedness to servility. + +From the previous impression--I scarcely can trace whence I received +it--I was agreeably surprised to perceive such an appearance of +comfort in this part of Germany. I had formed a conception of the +tyranny of the petty potentates that had thrown a gloomy veil over +the face of the whole country in my imagination, that cleared away +like the darkness of night before the sun as I saw the reality. I +should probably have discovered much lurking misery, the consequence +of ignorant oppression, no doubt, had I had time to inquire into +particulars; but it did not stalk abroad and infect the surface over +which my eye glanced. Yes, I am persuaded that a considerable +degree of general knowledge pervades this country, for it is only +from the exercise of the mind that the body acquires the activity +from which I drew these inferences. Indeed, the King of Denmark's +German dominions--Holstein--appeared to me far superior to any other +part of his kingdom which had fallen under my view; and the robust +rustics to have their muscles braced, instead of the, as it were, +lounge of the Danish peasantry. + +Arriving at Sleswick, the residence of Prince Charles of Hesse- +Cassel, the sight of the soldiers recalled all the unpleasing ideas +of German despotism, which imperceptibly vanished as I advanced into +the country. I viewed, with a mixture of pity and horror, these +beings training to be sold to slaughter, or be slaughtered, and fell +into reflections on an old opinion of mine, that it is the +preservation of the species, not of individuals, which appears to be +the design of the Deity throughout the whole of Nature. Blossoms +come forth only to be blighted; fish lay their spawn where it will +be devoured; and what a large portion of the human race are born +merely to be swept prematurely away! Does not this waste of budding +life emphatically assert that it is not men, but Man, whose +preservation is so necessary to the completion of the grand plan of +the universe? Children peep into existence, suffer, and die; men +play like moths about a candle, and sink into the flame; war, and +"the thousand ills which flesh is heir to," mow them down in shoals; +whilst the more cruel prejudices of society palsy existence, +introducing not less sure though slower decay. + +The castle was heavy and gloomy, yet the grounds about it were laid +out with some taste; a walk, winding under the shade of lofty trees, +led to a regularly built and animated town. + +I crossed the drawbridge, and entered to see this shell of a court +in miniature, mounting ponderous stairs--it would be a solecism to +say a flight--up which a regiment of men might have marched, +shouldering their firelocks to exercise in vast galleries, where all +the generations of the Princes of Hesse-Cassel might have been +mustered rank and file, though not the phantoms of all the wretched +they had bartered to support their state, unless these airy +substances could shrink and expand, like Milton's devils, to suit +the occasion. + +The sight of the presence-chamber, and of the canopy to shade the +fauteuil which aped a throne, made me smile. All the world is a +stage, thought I; and few are there in it who do not play the part +they have learnt by rote; and those who do not, seem marks set up to +be pelted at by fortune, or rather as sign-posts which point out the +road to others, whilst forced to stand still themselves amidst the +mud and dust. + +Waiting for our horses, we were amused by observing the dress of the +women, which was very grotesque and unwieldy. The false notion of +beauty which prevails here as well as in Denmark, I should think +very inconvenient in summer, as it consists in giving a rotundity to +a certain part of the body, not the most slim, when Nature has done +her part. This Dutch prejudice often leads them to toil under the +weight of some ten or a dozen petticoats, which, with an enormous +basket, literally speaking, as a bonnet, or a straw hat of +dimensions equally gigantic, almost completely conceal the human +form as well as face divine, often worth showing; still they looked +clean, and tripped along, as it were, before the wind, with a weight +of tackle that I could scarcely have lifted. Many of the country +girls I met appeared to me pretty--that is, to have fine +complexions, sparkling eyes, and a kind of arch, hoyden playfulness +which distinguishes the village coquette. The swains, in their +Sunday trim, attended some of these fair ones in a more slouching +pace, though their dress was not so cumbersome. The women seem to +take the lead in polishing the manners everywhere, this being the +only way to better their condition. + +From what I have seen throughout my journey, I do not think the +situation of the poor in England is much, if at all, superior to +that of the same class in different parts of the world; and in +Ireland I am sure it is much inferior. I allude to the former state +of England; for at present the accumulation of national wealth only +increases the cares of the poor, and hardens the hearts of the rich, +in spite of the highly extolled rage for almsgiving. + +You know that I have always been an enemy to what is termed charity, +because timid bigots, endeavouring thus to cover their sins, do +violence to justice, till, acting the demigod, they forget that they +are men. And there are others who do not even think of laying up a +treasure in heaven, whose benevolence is merely tyranny in disguise; +they assist the most worthless, because the most servile, and term +them helpless only in proportion to their fawning. + +After leaving Sleswick, we passed through several pretty towns; +Itzchol particularly pleased me; and the country, still wearing the +same aspect, was improved by the appearance of more trees and +enclosures. But what gratified me most was the population. I was +weary of travelling four or five hours, never meeting a carriage, +and scarcely a peasant; and then to stop at such wretched huts as I +had seen in Sweden was surely sufficient to chill any heart awake to +sympathy, and throw a gloom over my favourite subject of +contemplation, the future improvement of the world. + +The farmhouses, likewise, with the huge stables, into which we drove +whilst the horses were putting to or baiting, were very clean and +commodious. The rooms, with a door into this hall-like stable and +storehouse in one, were decent; and there was a compactness in the +appearance of the whole family lying thus snugly together under the +same roof that carried my fancy back to the primitive times, which +probably never existed with such a golden lustre as the animated +imagination lends when only able to seize the prominent features. + +At one of them, a pretty young woman, with languishing eyes of +celestial blue, conducted us into a very neat parlour, and observing +how loosely and lightly my little girl was clad, began to pity her +in the sweetest accents, regardless of the rosy down of health on +her cheeks. This same damsel was dressed--it was Sunday--with taste +and even coquetry, in a cotton jacket, ornamented with knots of blue +ribbon, fancifully disposed to give life to her fine complexion. I +loitered a little to admire her, for every gesture was graceful; +and, amidst the other villagers, she looked like a garden lily +suddenly rearing its head amongst grain and corn-flowers. As the +house was small, I gave her a piece of money rather larger than it +was my custom to give to the female waiters--for I could not prevail +on her to sit down--which she received with a smile; yet took care +to give it, in my presence, to a girl who had brought the child a +slice of bread; by which I perceived that she was the mistress or +daughter of the house, and without doubt the belle of the village. +There was, in short, an appearance of cheerful industry, and of that +degree of comfort which shut out misery, in all the little hamlets +as I approached Hamburg, which agreeably surprised me. + +The short jackets which the women wear here, as well as in France, +are not only more becoming to the person, but much better calculated +for women who have rustic or household employments than the long +gowns worn in England, dangling in the dirt. + +All the inns on the road were better than I expected, though the +softness of the beds still harassed me, and prevented my finding the +rest I was frequently in want of, to enable me to bear the fatigue +of the next day. The charges were moderate, and the people very +civil, with a certain honest hilarity and independent spirit in +their manner, which almost made me forget that they were innkeepers, +a set of men--waiters, hostesses, chambermaids, &c., down to the +ostler, whose cunning servility in England I think particularly +disgusting. + +The prospect of Hamburg at a distance, as well as the fine road +shaded with trees, led me to expect to see a much pleasanter city +than I found. + +I was aware of the difficulty of obtaining lodgings, even at the +inns, on account of the concourse of strangers at present resorting +to such a centrical situation, and determined to go to Altona the +next day to seek for an abode, wanting now only rest. But even for +a single night we were sent from house to house, and found at last a +vacant room to sleep in, which I should have turned from with +disgust had there been a choice. + +I scarcely know anything that produces more disagreeable sensations, +I mean to speak of the passing cares, the recollection of which +afterwards enlivens our enjoyments, than those excited by little +disasters of this kind. After a long journey, with our eyes +directed to some particular spot, to arrive and find nothing as it +should be is vexatious, and sinks the agitated spirits. But I, who +received the cruellest of disappointments last spring in returning +to my home, term such as these emphatically passing cares. Know you +of what materials some hearts are made? I play the child, and weep +at the recollection--for the grief is still fresh that stunned as +well as wounded me--yet never did drops of anguish like these bedew +the cheeks of infantine innocence--and why should they mine, that +never was stained by a blush of guilt? Innocent and credulous as a +child, why have I not the same happy thoughtlessness? Adieu! + + + +LETTER XXIII. + + + +I might have spared myself the disagreeable feelings I experienced +the first night of my arrival at Hamburg, leaving the open air to be +shut up in noise and dirt, had I gone immediately to Altona, where a +lodging had been prepared for me by a gentleman from whom I received +many civilities during my journey. I wished to have travelled in +company with him from Copenhagen, because I found him intelligent +and friendly, but business obliged him to hurry forward, and I wrote +to him on the subject of accommodations as soon as I was informed of +the difficulties I might have to encounter to house myself and brat. + +It is but a short and pleasant walk from Hamburg to Altona, under +the shade of several rows of trees, and this walk is the more +agreeable after quitting the rough pavement of either place. + +Hamburg is an ill, close-built town, swarming with inhabitants, and, +from what I could learn, like all the other free towns, governed in +a manner which bears hard on the poor, whilst narrowing the minds of +the rich; the character of the man is lost in the Hamburger. Always +afraid of the encroachments of their Danish neighbours, that is, +anxiously apprehensive of their sharing the golden harvest of +commerce with them, or taking a little of the trade off their hands- +-though they have more than they know what to do with--they are ever +on the watch, till their very eyes lose all expression, excepting +the prying glance of suspicion. + +The gates of Hamburg are shut at seven in the winter and nine in the +summer, lest some strangers, who come to traffic in Hamburg, should +prefer living, and consequently--so exactly do they calculate--spend +their money out of the walls of the Hamburger's world. Immense +fortunes have been acquired by the per-cents. arising from +commissions nominally only two and a half, but mounted to eight or +ten at least by the secret manoeuvres of trade, not to include the +advantage of purchasing goods wholesale in common with contractors, +and that of having so much money left in their hands, not to play +with, I can assure you. Mushroom fortunes have started up during +the war; the men, indeed, seem of the species of the fungus, and the +insolent vulgarity which a sudden influx of wealth usually produces +in common minds is here very conspicuous, which contrasts with the +distresses of many of the emigrants, "fallen, fallen from their high +estate," such are the ups and downs of fortune's wheel. Many +emigrants have met, with fortitude, such a total change of +circumstances as scarcely can be paralleled, retiring from a palace +to an obscure lodging with dignity; but the greater number glide +about, the ghosts of greatness, with the Croix de St. Louis +ostentatiously displayed, determined to hope, "though heaven and +earth their wishes crossed." Still good breeding points out the +gentleman, and sentiments of honour and delicacy appear the +offspring of greatness of soul when compared with the grovelling +views of the sordid accumulators of cent. per cent. + +Situation seems to be the mould in which men's characters are +formed: so much so, inferring from what I have lately seen, that I +mean not to be severe when I add--previously asking why priests are +in general cunning and statesmen false?--that men entirely devoted +to commerce never acquire or lose all taste and greatness of mind. +An ostentatious display of wealth without elegance, and a greedy +enjoyment of pleasure without sentiment, embrutes them till they +term all virtue of an heroic cast, romantic attempts at something +above our nature, and anxiety about the welfare of others, a search +after misery in which we have no concern. But you will say that I +am growing bitter, perhaps personal. Ah! shall I whisper to you, +that you yourself are strangely altered since you have entered +deeply into commerce--more than you are aware of; never allowing +yourself to reflect, and keeping your mind, or rather passions, in a +continual state of agitation? Nature has given you talents which +lie dormant, or are wasted in ignoble pursuits. You will rouse +yourself and shake off the vile dust that obscures you, or my +understanding, as well as my heart, deceives me egregiously--only +tell me when. But to go farther afield. + +Madame la Fayette left Altona the day I arrived, to endeavour, at +Vienna, to obtain the enlargement of her husband, or permission to +share his prison. She lived in a lodging up two pairs of stairs, +without a servant, her two daughters cheerfully assisting; choosing, +as well as herself, to descend to anything before unnecessary +obligations. During her prosperity, and consequent idleness, she +did not, I am told, enjoy a good state of health, having a train of +nervous complaints, which, though they have not a name, unless the +significant word ennui be borrowed, had an existence in the higher +French circles; but adversity and virtuous exertions put these ills +to flight, and dispossessed her of a devil who deserves the +appellation of legion. + +Madame Genus also resided at Altona some time, under an assumed +name, with many other sufferers of less note though higher rank. It +is, in fact, scarcely possible to stir out without meeting +interesting countenances, every lineament of which tells you that +they have seen better days. + +At Hamburg, I was informed, a duke had entered into partnership with +his cook, who becoming a traiteur, they were both comfortably +supported by the profit arising from his industry. Many noble +instances of the attachment of servants to their unfortunate masters +have come to my knowledge, both here and in France, and touched my +heart, the greatest delight of which is to discover human virtue. + +At Altona, a president of one of the ci-devant parliaments keeps an +ordinary, in the French style; and his wife with cheerful dignity +submits to her fate, though she is arrived at an age when people +seldom relinquish their prejudices. A girl who waits there brought +a dozen double louis d'or concealed in her clothes, at the risk of +her life, from France, which she preserves lest sickness or any +other distress should overtake her mistress, "who," she observed, +"was not accustomed to hardships." This house was particularly +recommended to me by an acquaintance of yours, the author of the +"American Farmer's Letters." I generally dine in company with him: +and the gentleman whom I have already mentioned is often diverted by +our declamations against commerce, when we compare notes respecting +the characteristics of the Hamburgers. "Why, madam," said he to me +one day, "you will not meet with a man who has any calf to his leg; +body and soul, muscles and heart, are equally shrivelled up by a +thirst of gain. There is nothing generous even in their youthful +passions; profit is their only stimulus, and calculations the sole +employment of their faculties, unless we except some gross animal +gratifications which, snatched at spare moments, tend still more to +debase the character, because, though touched by his tricking wand, +they have all the arts, without the wit, of the wing-footed god." + +Perhaps you may also think us too severe; but I must add that the +more I saw of the manners of Hamburg, the more was I confirmed in my +opinion relative to the baleful effect of extensive speculations on +the moral character. Men are strange machines; and their whole +system of morality is in general held together by one grand +principle which loses its force the moment they allow themselves to +break with impunity over the bounds which secured their self- +respect. A man ceases to love humanity, and then individuals, as he +advances in the chase after wealth; as one clashes with his +interest, the other with his pleasures: to business, as it is +termed, everything must give way; nay, is sacrificed, and all the +endearing charities of citizen, husband, father, brother, become +empty names. But--but what? Why, to snap the chain of thought, I +must say farewell. Cassandra was not the only prophetess whose +warning voice has been disregarded. How much easier it is to meet +with love in the world than affection! + +Yours sincerely. + + + +LETTER XXIV. + + + +My lodgings at Altona are tolerably comfortable, though not in any +proportion to the price I pay; but, owing to the present +circumstances, all the necessaries of life are here extravagantly +dear. Considering it as a temporary residence, the chief +inconvenience of which I am inclined to complain is the rough +streets that must be passed before Marguerite and the child can +reach a level road. + +The views of the Elbe in the vicinity of the town are pleasant, +particularly as the prospects here afford so little variety. I +attempted to descend, and walk close to the water's edge; but there +was no path; and the smell of glue, hanging to dry, an extensive +manufactory of which is carried on close to the beach, I found +extremely disagreeable. But to commerce everything must give way; +profit and profit are the only speculations--"double--double, toil +and trouble." I have seldom entered a shady walk without being soon +obliged to turn aside to make room for the rope-makers; and the only +tree I have seen, that appeared to be planted by the hand of taste, +is in the churchyard, to shade the tomb of the poet Klopstock's +wife. + +Most of the merchants have country houses to retire to during the +summer; and many of them are situated on the banks of the Elbe, +where they have the pleasure of seeing the packet-boats arrive--the +periods of most consequence to divide their week. + +The moving picture, consisting of large vessels and small craft, +which are continually changing their position with the tide, renders +this noble river, the vital stream of Hamburg, very interesting; and +the windings have sometimes a very fine effect, two or three turns +being visible at once, intersecting the flat meadows; a sudden bend +often increasing the magnitude of the river; and the silvery +expanse, scarcely gliding, though bearing on its bosom so much +treasure, looks for a moment like a tranquil lake. + +Nothing can be stronger than the contrast which this flat country +and strand afford, compared with the mountains and rocky coast I +have lately dwelt so much among. In fancy I return to a favourite +spot, where I seemed to have retired from man and wretchedness; but +the din of trade drags me back to all the care I left behind, when +lost in sublime emotions. Rocks aspiring towards the heavens, and, +as it were, shutting out sorrow, surrounded me, whilst peace +appeared to steal along the lake to calm my bosom, modulating the +wind that agitated the neighbouring poplars. Now I hear only an +account of the tricks of trade, or listen to the distressful tale of +some victim of ambition. + +The hospitality of Hamburg is confined to Sunday invitations to the +country houses I have mentioned, when dish after dish smokes upon +the board, and the conversation ever flowing in the muddy channel of +business, it is not easy to obtain any appropriate information. Had +I intended to remain here some time, or had my mind been more alive +to general inquiries, I should have endeavoured to have been +introduced to some characters not so entirely immersed in commercial +affairs, though in this whirlpool of gain it is not very easy to +find any but the wretched or supercilious emigrants, who are not +engaged in pursuits which, in my eyes, appear as dishonourable as +gambling. The interests of nations are bartered by speculating +merchants. My God! with what sang froid artful trains of corruption +bring lucrative commissions into particular hands, disregarding the +relative situation of different countries, and can much common +honesty be expected in the discharge of trusts obtained by fraud? +But this entre nous. + +During my present journey, and whilst residing in France, I have had +an opportunity of peeping behind the scenes of what are vulgarly +termed great affairs, only to discover the mean machinery which has +directed many transactions of moment. The sword has been merciful, +compared with the depredations made on human life by contractors and +by the swarm of locusts who have battened on the pestilence they +spread abroad. These men, like the owners of negro ships, never +smell on their money the blood by which it has been gained, but +sleep quietly in their beds, terming such occupations lawful +callings; yet the lightning marks not their roofs to thunder +conviction on them "and to justify the ways of God to man." + +Why should I weep for myself? "Take, O world! thy much indebted +tear!" Adieu! + + + +LETTER XXV. + + + +There is a pretty little French theatre at Altona, and the actors +are much superior to those I saw at Copenhagen. The theatres at +Hamburg are not open yet, but will very shortly, when the shutting +of the gates at seven o'clock forces the citizens to quit their +country houses. But, respecting Hamburg, I shall not be able to +obtain much more information, as I have determined to sail with the +first fair wind for England. + +The presence of the French army would have rendered my intended tour +through Germany, in my way to Switzerland, almost impracticable, had +not the advancing season obliged me to alter my plan. Besides, +though Switzerland is the country which for several years I have +been particularly desirous to visit, I do not feel inclined to +ramble any farther this year; nay, I am weary of changing the scene, +and quitting people and places the moment they begin to interest me. +This also is vanity! + +DOVER. + +I left this letter unfinished, as I was hurried on board, and now I +have only to tell you that, at the sight of Dover cliffs, I wondered +how anybody could term them grand; they appear so insignificant to +me, after those I had seen in Sweden and Norway. + +Adieu! My spirit of observation seems to be fled, and I have been +wandering round this dirty place, literally speaking, to kill time, +though the thoughts I would fain fly from lie too close to my heart +to be easily shook off, or even beguiled, by any employment, except +that of preparing for my journey to London. + +God bless you! + +MARY. + + + +APPENDIX. + + + +Private business and cares have frequently so absorbed me as to +prevent my obtaining all the information during this journey which +the novelty of the scenes would have afforded, had my attention been +continually awake to inquiry. This insensibility to present objects +I have often had occasion to lament since I have been preparing +these letters for the press; but, as a person of any thought +naturally considers the history of a strange country to contrast the +former with the present state of its manners, a conviction of the +increasing knowledge and happiness of the kingdoms I passed through +was perpetually the result of my comparative reflections. + +The poverty of the poor in Sweden renders the civilisation very +partial, and slavery has retarded the improvement of every class in +Denmark, yet both are advancing; and the gigantic evils of despotism +and anarchy have in a great measure vanished before the meliorating +manners of Europe. Innumerable evils still remain, it is true, to +afflict the humane investigator, and hurry the benevolent reformer +into a labyrinth of error, who aims at destroying prejudices quickly +which only time can root out, as the public opinion becomes subject +to reason. + +An ardent affection for the human race makes enthusiastic characters +eager to produce alteration in laws and governments prematurely. To +render them useful and permanent, they must be the growth of each +particular soil, and the gradual fruit of the ripening understanding +of the nation, matured by time, not forced by an unnatural +fermentation. And, to convince me that such a change is gaining +ground with accelerating pace, the view I have had of society during +my northern journey would have been sufficient had I not previously +considered the grand causes which combine to carry mankind forward +and diminish the sum of human misery. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg Etext of Letters on Sweden, etc., by Wollstonecraft + |