in bright yellow bronze. In another part of the building are the ashes of a general much more entitled to the admiration of posterity, the illustrious John Baner, who was deservedly the favourite of the great Gustavus Adolphus, and who, after a series of splendid victories, expired on the tenth of May, 1641. ( 137 ) CHAP. VIII. - A VISIT IN THE COUNTRY-OBSERVATORY-DINNER AND FASHIONS --BLOOMING GIRLS OF DELECARLIA--DROTTINGHOLM--QUEEN CHRISTINA'S CUNNING-WARDROBE OF CHARLES XII.-BEAUTYCONCEALMENT AND PRUDERY--NATIONAL IMPORTANCE OF A BRITISH ADVOCATE--CONTRASTED JUSTICE--HAGA-CAUSE OF THE FRIENDSHIP OF GUSTAVUS III. FOR SIR SIDNEY SMITH-A SINGULAR ANECDOTE-A REVIEW-IRON MINES-LINNÆUS. AN invitation into the country enabled us to contemplate a little of the rural character of the Swedes. In our way we passed by the observatory, which stands upon an inconsiderable eminence in the north suburbs: its horizon is too circumscribed on account of the rocks which surround it; and as the artificial heat of stoves would cloud the glasses in the winter nights, which are the best for observation, it is of very little utility. Our ride to our friends was occasionally very beautiful, but the funereal heads of our old acquaintances the firs were ever and anon presenting themselves, and shedding melancholy upon us. The chateau to which we were invited was of wood, small, but very tastefully fitted up: the grounds, which were very extensive, were delightfully laid out, and on one side rippled the waters of the Mæler, embellished Τ by vessels of various sizes gliding upon its tranquil bosom. A short time before dinner was announced, a table was set out with bread, cheese, butter, and liqueurs: all these good things in this hospitable region are considered as mere preparatives for the meal which is to follow; amongst the superior orders this custom is universal. Our dinner was in the following order: pickled fish, meats, soups, fish, pastry, ice, and dried fruits; preserved gooseberries formed the sauce of the mutton, and the fish floated in a new element of honey; by the bye it rather surprises a stranger to meet with so little sea-fish in a country which is washed by so many seas. The herring fishery, which has hitherto been of so much importance to Sweden, has nearly disappeared. To return to our dinner: each dish was carved and handed round, as in Denmark; a regulation truly delightful to one who abhors carving and carves badly. The spirit of French fashion, but a little disciplined, reigns in Sweden, and gives a lightness and elegance to dress: the table, and the furniture, and even their manners, partake considerably of its gaiety, except that as soon as our amiable and elegant hostess arose, upon our rising at the same time, we stood solemnly gazing upon each other for half a minute, and then exchanged profound bows and curtsies; these being dispatched, each gentleman tripped off with a lady under his arm, to coffee in the drawing-room. Nothing else like formality occurred in the course of the day. DELECARLIAN FEMALES. 139 Just as we were quitting this spot of cordial hospitality, we were stopped by the appearance of two fine female peasants from the distant province of Delecarlia : their sisterhood partake very much of the erratic spirit and character of our Welch girls they had travelled all the way on foot, to offer themselves as hay-makers; their food on the road was black bread and water, and their travelling wardrobe a solitary chemise, which, as cleanliness demanded, they washed in the passing brook, and dried on their healthy and hardy frame, which, however, was elegantly shaped; the glow of Hebe was upon their dimpled cheeks, not a little heightened by the sun, “which had made a golden set upon them;" their eyes were blue, large, sweet, and expressive; their dress was singular, composed of a jacket and short petticoat of various colours; and they were mounted upon wooden shoes with prodigious high heels, shod with iron. There was an air of neatness, innocence, delicacy, and good humour about them, which would have made even a bilious spectator happy to look upon them. Unextinguishable loyalty, great strength of body, content, and sweetness of temper, beauty of face, and symmetry of person, are said to be the characteristics of the Delecarlian mountaineers, a race rendered for ever celebrated in the history of one of the greatest men that ever adorned the historic page of Sweden, Gustavus Vasa. It is thus he describes them, after he has discovered himself to them in the mines, in the beau 140 PEASANTS OF DELECARLIA. tiful language of the bard, whose dramatic genius has con spired to render his hero immortal : here last I came, And shut me from the sun, whose hateful beams In the first warmth and hurry of their souls; Led on by Gustavus Vasa, they restored liberty to their country, and expelled the bloody tyrant miscalled Christian. These, too, were the peasants who, having heard in the midst of their mines and forests that their sovereign Charles XII. was a prisoner in Turkey, dispatched a deputation to the Regency at Stockholm, and offered to go, at their own expence, to the number of twenty thousand men, to deliver their royal master out of the hands of his enemies. Their sovereigns have ever found them the incorruptible and enthusiastic supporters of the throne. Surrounded with treason and peril, their king has found them faithful amongst the faithless, and never sought their succour in vain. In consequence of the terrible defection which appeared in the Swedish army in the campaign of the year 1788 against the Russians, when, owing to the machinations of the Swedish traitor Sprengporten, who |