thinking of it, and reasoning about it; but as much as possible to be kept in the dark as to its very existence. The effects to be desired or dreaded in any country from the productions of the press, are no doubt, in proportion to the degree and extent of education which the people at large have received. It does not follow, from the circumstance of the Swedes being all taught to read, and attached to established tenets and modes of worship, that they should be an honest and good sort of people: this however is the case. The Swedes, I mean the peasantry, (for as to the inhabitants of towns, they are corrupt in proportion to their population, their commerce, and their luxury) are a frank, open, kind-hearted, gay, hospitable, hardy, and spirited people. It would be difficult to point out any nation that is more distinguished by a happy union of genius, bravery, and natural probity of dispo sition. They are represented by their neighbours as the gascons of Scandinavia. This charge when due allowance is made for the mutual jealousy and antipathy of neighbouring nations, amounts to no more than this, that they are actuated by that sensibility to fame, and love of distinction, which generally predominate in the breasts of brave, generous, and adventurous people.

"Every parish has it school, in which the common rudiments of reading and writing are taught. Besides this, there is a public school maintained in every large town at the expence of the crown, in which the boys continue till about their eleventh or twelfth year, when they are commonly sent to one of the gymnasia. These are also public schools, but upon a larger scale than the former: and one of them exists in almost every province. From the gymnasia the young men, at the age of seventeen or eighteen, proceed to one of the universities, and for the greater part to Upsala. In the gymnasia, and many of the greater schools, they are not only instructed in the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew languages, but in the principal doctrines of theology. These schola illustres and gymnasia, are under the care and inspection of the bishops of the respective dioceses in which they are established, and where the bishops constantly reside. The bishops, accompanied by

some of the inferior clergy, and others, visit and examine the schools publicly at fixed periods. The course of education, and the books read, are not left to the discretion of the teachers, but prescribed by public authority. At Stockholm there is a German school, which is placed under the inspection of two German ministers of the gospel. In this seminary the pupils are instructed in Grecian, Roman, and modern history, geography and religion. The Swedish gentlemen are seldom contented with what may be called a scholastic, or a gymnastic education, but proceed either from one of the greater, or, as they call them, the illustrious schools; or more generally from one of the gymnasia to the university. The sons of wealthy tradesmen too, and peasants, have very frequently the advantage of an university education. If any of the youth whose circumstances might not admit of an university education, give indications of fine parts, and a genius for any department of science; the inspectors, who are in general allowed to discharge their duty with great diligence and fidelity, make a report of him to the king, who then orders that he may receive an education suitable to his talents and his merit. I may take this opportunity to observe, that the Swedish clergy are for the most part regular and decent in their deportment, and attentive to the duties of their office.'

Reflecting on the state of the arts and sciences, Mr. Acerbi observes, that a greater progress has been made in the sciences and arts, both liberal and mechanical, by the Swedes, than by any other nation struggling with equal disadvantages of soil and climate, and labouring under the discouragement of internal convulsions and external aggressions, from proud, powerful, and overbearing neighbours. Their commerce, all things considered, and their manufactures are in a flourishing state. The spirit of the people, under various changes unfavourable to liberty, remains yet unbroken. The government is still obliged in some degree to respect the public opinion. There is much regard paid to the natural claims of individuals; justice is tempered with mercy, and great attention is shewn in their hospitals and other institutions to the situation of the poor and helpless. From the influence of the court among a

quick, lively, and active race of men, private intrigue and cabal have, to a great degree, crept into every department of society; and this is what I find the greatest subject of blame, or of regret, in speaking of that country. The resources of a state are chiefly three; population, revenue, and territory. The first two are not considerable in Sweden; the last is great in extent, though not so in its immediate value: but the vast extent of territory itself is an object of importance. Land and seas, however sterile and rude, constantly become more fertile and useful as the course of science and art advances-as the French say,Tourjours va la terre aubon." Art subdues natural difficulties and disadvantages, and finds new uses for materials of every description: and, finally, it may be justly observed that, in the very rudeness of the natural elements, and in their poverty, the Swedes have a pledge and security for civil freedom and political independence.

'It is deemed a very great calamity in Sweden, and one not less heavy than a bad harvest, if the winter be such as to prevent the use of sledges, because it is by means of these that bulky commodities, namely, iron, wood, grain, and other articles, are conveyed from one place to another. Winters, however, so mild that sledges cannot be used, sometimes will happen; then the cominunication is limited, and commercial intercourse confined: for the highways are by no means sufficient for the purposes of travelling and carrying goods; whereas, with a sledge you may proceed on the snow, through forests and marshes, across rivers and lakes, without any impediment or interruption. It is on account of this facility of transporting merchandize over the ice, that all the great fairs in Sweden and Finland are held in the winter season. Nor is it an uncommon thing for the peasants to undertake journeys, with whatever they have got for the market, of 3 or 400 English miles. They have been known to travel with their sledges about 200 miles in ten or twelve days. There were some circumstances that obliged us to be very circumspect and nice in our selection of the sledge that was to carry us in our intended expedition from Stockholm towards the north. The great and covered sledges, built like the body of a carriage,

and placed on skates, are certainly the warmest, the most sociable, and in every respect the most commodious; but these were by no means adapted to a journey through Finland. Here it is necessary to have sledges of a certain determinate width, such as can be drawn by one horse along the narrow roads, or rather in the ruts or tracks of this country. In many places the roads are bordered on both sides by snow to the height of five or six feet, forming as it were two ramparts, between which you are to move along. The little open sledges, such as are used in Stockholm on parties of pleasure, and made commonly in the shape of a cockle-shell, seemed upon the whole the most eligible, on account of their lightness, and their being sufficiently narrow for the straitest passages. But these sledges, though convenient enough for a small excursion, become very fatiguing on a long journey; and in one of seven or eight hundred English miles would have been altogether insupportable. Without some particular precaution, in adding a prop or support behind, it was impossible to resist the impulse, or guide the movement and direction of the sledge, in uneven parts of the road. During the whole of our journey we were under the necessity of being our own drivers. There were at the time some Finland sledges to be had at Stockholm, which might have served equally for Sweden and Finland; but these vehicles, used only in travelling through that part of Sweden which lies between Stockholm and Finland, were drawn by particular sets of horses. The peasants, unaccustomed to such sledges, refused to furnish their horses, as their harness did not suit them. They complained that they were clumsy, awkward, and heavy, because they did not rest on iron but large wooden skates. As there is but very little travelling in Finland, the regulations for the roads are not so strict as in Sweden. The snow commonly lays deeper, and the inhabitants, accustomed to the form of their own sledges, see no reason for any road wider than the only carriages they are acquainted with require.

"We departed from Stockholm on the 16th of March, 1799, at seven o'clock in the morning, passing through the north gate. Enveloped in pellices of Russian bear's skins, our heads closely

covered with fur caps, and our hands in gloves lined with wool or fur, we found no reason to complain of cold the whole way to Grislehamn, where we arrived on the same evening. The sky was covered with clouds and dark, and consequently our journey was dismal, or at least gloomy. The first object that presented itself to our view on leaving Stockholm behind us, was the gardens of Haga, with the lake which in the summer season forms so great an embellishment to this delightful retreat. It was no longer that delicious paradise, that pleasure ground tufted with trees in leaf, and adorned with shrubberies and coppice wood, through which the winding paths, under a pleasing shade, imperceptibly conducted the visitor to some fountain, or to the vaulted roof of some little temple, or some cabin, the asylum of simplicity and love: it was the skeleton, or, more properly, the inanimated carcase of that garden.

Having traversed the lake of Haga, we passed very near the country house of the queen dowager Ulrica, called Ulricksdale. Beyond Ulricksdale nothing occurred that was in the least interesting the whole way to Grislehamn, a distance from Stockholm of not less than sixty-nine English miles. The face of the country cannot be said to be either flat or hilly: it is unequal ground, but rising and falling by gentle swells. The eye, fatigued by the dazzling whiteness of the snow, reposes itself with pleasure on the dark green of the pines, which are often met with throughout the whole of the journey. What amused us most was to see foxes here and there standing or walking about on the highway without any apparent solicitude for their safety. We were astonished to find this quadruped so incautious, and so devoid of that sagacity and prudence which is the characteristic of the species. The business for which those animals come to the highway we discovered to be no other than to eat the new-dropped dung of the horses that passed. If, while they were in search or possession of this, a sledge happened to go by, they would only leap over to the other side of the ditch, and turn about and keep a constant eye on the equipage, or whatever or whomsoever they considered as objects of just suspicion and danger, without moving VOL. IV. 2 T