beauty in all the valleys, even to the sixty-third le, and indeed many degrees higher. Oaks are comern districts, but there are no beeches in any part of 10, 211.

of Christiania are wide and straight, but the houses and irregular; at every cross street, or nearly so, e cistern or well, cased with wood, into which a constant ter is made to flow, so that the inhabitants can supply ith this necessary article whenever it may suit their conI some of the back streets the houses are almost entirely low, but neatly and curiously carved. The pavement cots is wretched.

se in which the Storthing, or Norwegian parliament, meet Ag the business of the state, is amongst the best in the as a very handsome portico of wood. This meeting is ce in every three years, unless anything of great importrequire its assembling. They commence their sittings th of February, and continue till the end of August; and of attendance are from nine in the morning till nine in the with an interval in the middle of the day of an hour or so, ey retire to dinner.

sages

ver saw an assemblage of men wearing the appearance of ongly as the members of the Storthing. They were mostly of in age; clad generally in coarse grey woollen coats-their hair and flowing over their shoulders-and their whole deportment e, sober, and intent on the business before them. The president reading a paper, which lasted the whole time we were there, and nich each member appeared to have a printed copy. What the ject was I know not, but it seemed to occupy their whole attention: was no moving about, but all kept their seats, with their hats and observed the greatest silence and decorum.'-pp. 213-215. The route from Christiania to Tronyem (Drontheim of the ps), nearly due north, proceeds alternately over arms of the , called fiords, and the rocky ridges which separate them; so hat the whole journey is a succession of lake and mountain, and oth of the most romantic character. The mode of travelling is described as follows:

Preparatory to our leaving Christiania we were advised to purchase two small, light carriages, called here carrioles, in which we were to be our own drivers over that part of the country we intended to traverse. We were assured that this would be the most comfortable and convenient, as well as independent, and, at the same time, economode of travelling, generally adopted by travellers who could nage to drive a horse in harness. The cost of each carriole ve pounds; and for this trifling sum we purchased what y country be called elegant little carriages. pp. 216,

pond, they might as well have kept up that illusion by planting the fatal "willow," which we are told

"grows ascaunt the brook

And shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream."

• An Englishman could not fail to be delighted with the bare imagination that he was regarding some relic or scion of that treacherous tree, from which poor Ophelia met her death.

66

There, on the pendent boughs, her coronet weeds
Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke-

When down her weedy trophies—and herself—

Fell in the weeping brook."

But though this garden exhibits no brook, nor willow, nor other traces of Hamlet or of Ophelia, and though as a garden it hardly deserves the name, it serves as a promenade for the inhabitants of the town-is delightfully situated-and some of its walks are well shaded with trees.'-pp. 178, 179.

This is surely very agreeably narrated-with a happy mixture of the sensibility which Shakspeare excites, and of the pleasantry which Danish indifference provokes.

Mr. Barrow, and his companion Mr. Rouse, had left London on the 26th of June, and returned on the 1st of September; having accomplished a journey of about 4000 miles by sea and land in the space of sixty-eight days, without any accident, with little inconvenience, and with only one really bad night's lodging.

His second tour, with the same companion, was made in 1833, through less frequented, and, as to natural objects, more interesting scenes. They proceeded, as before, to Hamburgh, and by Copenhagen to Christiania-all-with the exception of a day and a half's journey by land from Hamburgh to Travemunde on the Balticby steam.

'Christiania gave us the idea of being a quiet, dull town. The most frequented part towards the evening was the ramparts, which surround a point of land projecting into the bay, and form a delightful promenade. The houses in the suburbs or outskirts are generally of wood, but there are also within the town several of brick, covered with plaster or stucco. The view of the town and its beautiful bay, when seen from the surrounding hills, is highly picturesque, and will amply repay the traveller for the trouble of ascending them. These are all skirted with villas and grounds in cultivation, which contribute much to the cheerful appearance of Christiania. These little villas, belonging to the merchants and traders, are called Leckken; they are surrounded with meadows, to give pasture to a cow or two for their milk, and orchards, producing apples, cherries, and gooseberries; even pears and apricots are said to grow in the open air, but we saw none. Though the Scotch and the spruce firs and birch chiefly compose the forests that climb up the Scandinavian mountains, the ash, the lime-tree, the elm, the alder, the sycamore, and the hazel, grow in

great

great vigour and beauty in all the valleys, even to the sixty-third degree of latitude, and indeed many degrees higher. Oaks are common in the southern districts, but there are no beeches in any part of Norway. pp. 210, 211.

The streets of Christiania are wide and straight, but the houses are straggling and irregular; at every cross street, or nearly so, there is a large cistern or well, cased with wood, into which a constant stream of water is made to flow, so that the inhabitants can supply themselves with this necessary article whenever it may suit their convenience. In some of the back streets the houses are almost entirely of wood, very low, but neatly and curiously carved. The pavement of all the streets is wretched.

'The house in which the Storthing, or Norwegian parliament, meet for conducting the business of the state, is amongst the best in the city, and has a very handsome portico of wood. This meeting is held only once in every three years, unless anything of great importance should require its assembling. They commence their sittings in the month of February, and continue till the end of August; and the hours of attendance are from nine in the morning till nine in the evening, with an interval in the middle of the day of an hour or so, when they retire to dinner.

'I never saw an assemblage of men wearing the appearance of sages so strongly as the members of the Storthing. They were mostly of a certain age; clad generally in coarse grey woollen coats-their hair long, and flowing over their shoulders-and their whole deportment grave, sober, and intent on the business before them. The president was reading a paper, which lasted the whole time we were there, and of which each member appeared to have a printed copy. What the subject was I know not, but it seemed to occupy their whole attention: there was no moving about, but all kept their seats, with their hats off, and observed the greatest silence and decorum.'—pp. 213-215.

The route from Christiania to Tronyem (Drontheim of the maps), nearly due north, proceeds alternately over arms of the sea, called fiords, and the rocky ridges which separate them; so that the whole journey is a succession of lake and mountain, and both of the most romantic character. The mode of travelling is described as follows:

Preparatory to our leaving Christiania we were advised to purchase two small, light carriages, called here carrioles, in which we were to be our own drivers over that part of the country we intended to traverse. We were assured that this would be the most comfortable and convenient, as well as independent, and, at the same time, economical, mode of travelling, generally adopted by travellers who could singly manage to drive a horse in harness. The cost of each carriole was about five pounds; and for this trifling sum we purchased what would in any country be called elegant little carriages. pp. 216,

217,

212

The

The following description of one stage of this wild journey will afford a fair specimen of the whole :

Early on the following morning we hired a good-sized boat, and, after some little difficulty in getting our carrioles embarked, prepared to proceed on the Sogne fiord, which we were told was the only mode of pursuing our journey. We also engaged five men to row us down this arm of the fiord, at a specie dollar a head, the value of which is 3s. 4d. We ascertained, as nearly as we could, that the distance we had to go was not less than twenty-eight English miles. When all was ready, we embarked on this inlet of the sea, though here at a very considerable distance from it. Our agreement was, that one of the men was to pull two oars, so that altogether we were considered to pay for and to row six oars. Our boatmen were remarkably fine fellows, and pulled a regular and steady stroke; and the oars, being broad and flat at the end, took great hold of the water. The boats were light, and, like the whale-boats, were of the same shape at the bow and stern, both of which rise very much out of the water, and run to a sharp edge. The long tiller they make use of is rather awkward and uncouth, extending very much into the boat, and consequently an annoyance to the passengers. Their general appearance, however, might be called elegant, and the workmanship excellent. Our boatmen had taken care to provide plenty of provisions for themselves, and at the end of two or three hours, at most, they pulled to the shore, where they landed in a cove made by some rocks, and there regaled themselves at their leisure.

i

The mountains on either side of this enclosed branch of the fiord descended abruptly to the water's edge, down the ravines and chasms of which fell numerous full and broad cascades, six or eight being visible at the same moment. At one time this branch of the fiord exhibited a fine expansive lake; again it became so narrow, as to give the appearance of a river hemmed in between two rocky banks. The first branch on which we had to row is called Urland, out of which we turned southerly into another arm of the same fiord, called Nærön; the two may be considered as one continued lake, enclosed between mountains of great picturesque beauty, some of them rising perpendicularly, like the side of a gigantic wall, to the stupendous height of 4600 to 5400 feet. The weather was beautiful, and as we rowed along the lake, not a breath of wind was felt sufficient to raise a ripple on the water; but the intense heat of the sun was almost intolerable; and whilst we were suffering from its piercing rays, it was somewhat vexatious to look up to the snow-clad mountains, and still more so to see large patches of it lying very low down in the crevices and other places, to which the sun has never had access.

'It would be endless to describe, or rather to attempt to describe, the ever-varied beauties of the face of nature, exhibited the whole way from Christiania to Bergen.'

To help the very imperfect view which we can give of these natural features, we must add a sketch of the inhabitants.

"The

1

'The men mostly wear a red skull-cap, not unlike those which are worn by the Greeks, short jackets, and trousers. Each man has a large knife attached to his side, generally speaking, by a leather waist-belt, on which is frequently some number of brass ornaments. The knife is a most useful instrument to the native peasantry of Norway, equally adapted to cut wood, and to cut their bread and cheese, and, indeed, to perform as much and as varied service as the little dagger of Hudibras, and some of them a great deal more: for with this knife they make their own furniture, chairs, tables, saddles, harness, carts, and wheels; also chests, boxes, howls, basins, spoons, drinking-cups; in short, all kinds of wooden-work, some specimens of which are very ingeniously carved. Necessity, the great mother of invention, has made them all artisans. There is no trade, in fact, that a Norwegian peasant cannot, and does not, when required, turn his hand to; he unites in his own person that of a carpenter, blacksmith, weaver, rope-maker, tailor, shoemaker, joiner, and cabinetmaker. But all this is matter of necessity, and the production is probably not worth the labour and time bestowed upon it, except that both time and labour, if not thus employed, might be lost in indolence and inactivity. 66 "Whoever," says Von Buch, in the true Johnsonian style, "makes so many things, must make them badly, and will not be able to do with the bad what he could have done with better." But the question here is not whether good is preferable to bad, but where or how he is to procure what is better? Having no market to go to, he is glad to compromise between excellence and utility, between what is good and what is indispensable. Nor are instances of the higher qualities wanting: in the Museum of Copenhagen are many curious specimens of carving in wood by the Norwegian peasants, and among others a bust of Christian V., executed by a simple cow-herd, who, when the king paid a visit to Tronyem, in the year 1688, stood in the way he had to pass, with a knife in his hand, and cut out so complete a likeness of his countenance, without having any other opportunity of seeing him, that it was sent, as a great curiosity, to Copenhagen, where it still remains in the Royal Museum.'—pp. 252, 253. Dronthiem, though chiefly built of wood, is a considerable town-perhaps we should say city, for it has a cathedral. Our traveller always spells the name of this place Tronyem, which he thus justifies :

'The name of this town, which the English call Drontheim, is spelled by the Norwegians Trondhjem, and pronounced Tronyem; which latter form I have ventured to adopt, as more convenient than the correct orthography, of which no mere English reader could guess the true pronunciation.'-p. 337. And he then alleges the authority of Clarke to the same purpose. The Doctor says in the Preface to his Scandinavia,' &c.Trunyem is the real name of the place. It was the wish of many of its literary inhabitants that this should be duly stated to the English nation, with a view, if it be possible, to abolish the nick-names of

Drontheim