troops amounted to 10,531. There is an hospital for invalids, and an academy for military sciences; several founderies, and a few fortified places. Navy.] The Swedish navy formerly consisted of about 30 ships of the line, about half that number of frigates; and several smaller vessels; and it has on many occasions distinguished itself by actions of singular bravery. Since the naval power of England, however, began to assume its present colossal magnitude, the maritime power of Sweden, in common with that of most of the European States, has been on the decline, and is said now to consist of little more than half the former number of ships. Many gallies have been built, which, in the shallow Baltic, have been found to be more serviceable than vessels of greater force. The number of registered seamen has been computed at 18,000: of these only a few are engaged in actual service, and receive pay in money. The greater part are distributed upon different parts of the coast; and, like the national troops, have certain portions of land allotted for their maintenance.

CHAP. VII.-DIVISIONS-MIDDLE SWEDEN.

SWEDEN may be divided into three parts, viz. Northern, Southern, and Middle Sweden. The ancient divisions were into Gothland, Lapland, Norland, and Sweden Proper. Middle Sweden is divided into eight laens.

1st, 2d, 3d. Stockholm, &c.] The province of Stockholm, in which the three laens of Stockholm city and country, and Drottningholm, are included, is a flat district, abounding in chasms and cliffs, and deeply indented with bays. Its climate is not so mild as that of Schonen; the soil is fertile, and agriculture is successfully pursued.

The capital of Sweden is situated at the junction of the lake Mälar, with an inlet of the Baltic. The form of the town is an irregular oblong, extending from N. to S. while the waters cross it in two channels from E. to W. The situation is extremely picturesque, as well from the mixture of land and water, as from the unevenness of the ground, which is heaved in some places into huge and abrupt rocks of gneiss and granite, and in others is beautifully rounded into softly swelling eminences, 15

15 Clarke remarks, that the approach to this city has nothing in it that affords the smallest idea of the vicinity of a metropolis. His companion Blomfield gives the following vivid account of the first impressions which Stockholm excites on a stranger's mind: -"Barkarby was the last stage before we arrived at Stockholm, and only ten English miles distant. The approach to the metropolis of a kingdom, through which we had travelled for a week without encountering one being who appeared civilized, one place which could remind us of the character of an ingenious and intelligent people, was the source of considerable curiosity. As we drew nearer, the country became more romantic, and yet not the less cultivated, in parts where cultivation was possible. The Mælar made its appearance more frequently; and lofty rocks, covered with pine, interrupted the straight course of our road. There were, however, no symptoms of that luxury and wealth which, in the neighbourhood of a metropolis, decorate the country around with villas, seats, and lodges; and convert the real enjoyments of rural retirement into the frippery and affectation of town rurality. As in other districts through which we had passed, a solitary cabin stood on the edge of a forest; a village spire enlivened the deep green of the firs; and a cart occasionally proved the existence of something like traffic. Within two miles, as we had calculated, of Stockholm, a long fence, and a gravel-walk here and there in a wood, gave tokens of a country-seat in the English taste. This we afterwards learnt was the royal seat of the Haga. Whilst we were wondering at our miscalculation of the distance of the long-expected Stockholm, we were stopped at a wooden building, and an ill-dressed man demanded to search our boxes. We delivered up our keys, and, to our extreme astonishment found that this was the entrance to the renowned city of Charles the Twelfth. Beyond was a narrow street-if street it might be called-formed by red wooden pales on the

Nothing can surpass the view from the buildings on the higher grounds; public edifices, churches, and spires; vessels lying at anchor, or with white sails, spread to the wind, sailing along the capacious channels, all rise in mingled prospect; while the lake, studded with islands, some bare and craggy, others adorned with trees, gardens, and villas, melting blue into the distant horizon, or sinking below the shadow of the cloud-capped mountains, terminates the view. The city is generally described as standing upon seven islands, but it would be more correct to limit the number to three, viz. one large island to the southward, called Sodermalm. a small one in the centre, another somewhat larger to the north-west, and a track on the mainland to the north, called Norrmalm. The smaller islands, or rather islets, contain only forts or buildings for naval purposes. The central island constituted the original city, and is still the most busy part of the town, its quays being bordered by a stately row of buildings, the residences of the principal merchants. It contains the palace and other public buildings; but the houses being high, and the streets narrow, its appearance is somewhat gloomy. The number of bridges, great and small, in this capital, is 13. The houses in the central part of the town are built either of stone or of brick, covered with plaster. Their foundations are on piles, and their height is seldom less than four or five stories; but in the suburbs few of them are more than two stories, many of them only one, and generally constructed of wood. The principal public edifices are the royal palace, the palace or house of assembling of the nobles during the sitting of the diet, the bank, the mint, and the exchange, &c. &c. The royal palace, or castle, is a quadrangular structure, with a square or court in the middle. Its situation is elevated, its dimensions of great magnitude, and the style of architecture such as to rank it with the finest palaces in Europe. The lower part of the walls

one side, and a row of red wooden houses on the other. Trees in regular disposition, of the height of ten feet, the circumference of whose branches might be about four feet, shaded on one side the long avenue before us. As we proceeded, houses of plaster enlivened the long-continued red hue of the buildings, and here and there a broken window varied the uniformity. In a short time, the grand street called, by way of eminence, Droettnings Gatan, or Queen-street, burst upon us. The difference between this street and those seen at Gothenburg was nothing: the same regularity of the façades, the same appearance of poverty and want of cleanliness, characterized them both. The houses were lofty; the windows flat, and even with the walls, opening like casements; no shop-windows exposing to view the goods within; no appearance of trade; no crowd in the streets. An awkward carriage or two, like an old-fashioned English whiskey on four wheels, conveyed a few ill-dressed females to pay their morning visits. Foot-passengers, in default of foot-pavement, were hurrying in all directions, to avoid the unbending course of the coachman; and military men, in huge round hats, towered above the rest, with feathers of portentous size. Such was our entrance into Stockholm! For about three quarters of a mile, the same sort of view was presented. On a sudden the scene changed, and we found ourselves in a spacious square surrounded on all sides by buildings of a most magnificent description. On our right rose, above a large and rapid stream, a superb pile of architecture, connected with the square by a broad bridge of granite, and commanding at one view the innumerable buildings, streets, and avenues below it. In the centre of the square stood an equestrian colossal statue of bronze, upon a pedestal of polished granite. On each side, lofty palaces corresponded to each other; and between these and the first vast building, the winding of the lake admitted an extensive view of the city, rising like an amphitheatre, and the rocks still farther in the distance. The whole coup-d'œil was enchantment. Nothing we had ever read or seen could give an idea of the singular magnificence of such a prospect. We proceeded over the bridge, and passed at the foot of the palace. On turning to the right, the view of innumerable shipping, and a fine broad quay, increased our admiration. On the opposite side of the water, lofty houses rose one above another; the dome of a church above them, seeming to look down upon the water and city below. It is impossible to describe the effect of the whole, at first sight: the most romantic country imaginable, surrounding a populous city, rising amidst rocks and forests."

is of polished granite, the upper part brick, but with a covering of stucco, which gives it the appearance of stone. The roof, like that of a number of public buildings in Sweden, is of copper; and the interior is elegantly ornamented. The churches are substantial, and in some cases elegant buildings, generally with lofty spires; but it would be difficult to point out any one of them particularly remarkable for size, architecture, or decorations. At a short distance from the royal palace, on one of the quays, stands a fine statue of Gustavus III. cast in bronze, and raised on a pedestal of polished porphyry. This city has likewise an arsenal, situated in a pleasing promenade, called the king's garden, and two theatres. Stockholm is the mercantile emporium of the central part of Sweden, the place to which its products are brought for export, and where the greater part of the imports from abroad are deposited. Few harbours have greater depth or capacity for a thousand sail of shipping may lie here in safety, and the largest of them may come close to the quays. A number of islands and detached rocks, however, render the entrance not without danger, and the navigation of a winding channel of twenty miles in length must often be attended with considerable delay. By this means, however, Stockholm, like London, enjoys all the benefits of a sea-port, without being exposed to an attack by sea, or incurring alarms similar to those so severely experienced in the present age, by its rival Copenhagen. The number of vessels that enter the harbour annually is averaged at 1000. The manufactures of Stockholm, though not on a large scale, are pretty numerous, comprising iron-founderies, glass-works, sugar-refineries; also, leather, cotton, hats, stockings, silk, watches, clocks, mathematical instruments, and jewellery. Population 78,000.

4th. Upsala.] There is nothing to particularize in the features of the laen of Upsala. The whole district is level, and is generally considered one of the most fertile provinces of Sweden. The capital, Upsala, whose university has already been spoken of, is accounted the second city of Sweden, not on account of its present importance, but because of its formerly being the residence of the Court. It is situated on an extensive plain, upon the small stream Fyrisä, by which it is divided into two almost equal parts. In the centre is a square or area, from which the principal streets extend in straight lines, so that it has the appearance of greater regularity than is common in the cities of the north. The greater part of the houses are of wood painted red, a mode of building very common in Sweden. Several of the houses are of brick covered with stucco. The roofs are generally of turf. Upsala, as it was formerly the royal residence, contained a palace, begun in 1549, by Gustavus Vasa, and almost totally destroyed by fire in 1702: part of what remains has been converted into a prison; and the magnificent hall, in which the Diet of Sweden formerly met, and of which the length is 140 feet, and the breadth 90 feet, now serves the purpose of a granary. The cathedral, which was begun in the 13th century, is the finest ecclesiastical structure in all Sweden. It is a brick building, for the most part in the Gothic style of architecture; but with some late additions in the Doric order, which, instead of beautifying the structure, has disfigured it by the conjunction of incongruous objects. This cathedral contains the tomb of the celebrated Gastavus Vasa, with several relics of a historical, as well as of a religious kind; but none which is more deserving of notice than the tomb of Linnæus. "A simple entablature of stone," says Dr. Clarke, "now covers the mouldering reliques of this illustrious man. With what emotions of sacred enthu

186

LISHMENTS FOR EDUCATION.

CHAP. V.-RELIGION-LANGUAGE-LITERATURE-ESTABvigorous and steady supporters of the reformed faith, having adopted Religion.] THE Swedes have long been accounted among the most it with almost complete unanimity in the reign of Gustavus Vasa, and having subsequently made the most signal exertions for its maintenance in Germany. That form of it designated Lutheranism has been adopted likewise. Emanuel Swedenborg, famous for visions and mystical reveries, as the national creed, and embraced by a great proportion of the Lapps Some other sects exist in this country, as Greeks, members of the was a native of Sweden, and has still a considerable number of followers. reformed church, about 150 Jews, and a few Pietists; but they do not, the whole, bear a great proportion to the other inhabitants. To the Catholics, there prevails a general and decided antipathy: nor would it have been prudent, but a few years back, for a priest of that persuasion to have shown himself openly in the provincial parts of the country.

upon

Language.] The Icelandic language is the mother of the Swedish and Danish dialects. The learned Dane, E. C. Rask, bears testimony to the extraordinary copiousness, flexibility, and force of the old Icelandic, which, in those qualities, he affirms to be superior to every modern language; and Sweden is considered to have preserved the elements of the original tongue with comparative purity, presenting at this moment, in the national dialect, one of the most musical and flexible languages in Europe."1

Literature.] The introduction of Christianity into Sweden, about the middle of the 12th century, mitigated the fierce and roving spirit of the descendants of the Asae; and the union of Calmar gave peace and stability to the three Scandinavian States. But the songs and traditions of the ancient Scalds were allowed to perish from the national poetry of

of the Italian; and we might cite several instances of words common to all the three. Acerbi, as an Italian, sometimes understood the expressions used by the natives of Finland. But how great is the obscurity which involves the origin of the Finnish tongue! The people who speak it have no written character: their language therefore suffers in writing. Foreigners judge of it by the manner in which it is written either by the Russians or by the Swedes; and both these nations, using their own characters, express the language of the Finns, not merely according to their peculiar notions of its pronunciation, but, what is worse, according to their peculiar method of expressing that pronunciation. Nothing can be softer, or more harmonious, than the sounds uttered by a Finland peasant, when reciting his Pater Noster. It is full of labials, nasals, open vowels, and diphthongs, and is destitute even of a single guttural. It may be considered, therefore, as having, of all languages, the least resemblance to the Arabic, which, as spoken by the Arabs, is full of the harshest gutturals."— Clarke, vol. x. pp. 24, 25.

see.

Coxe assures us, that it has, in many instances, a strong similarity to Old English, or rather to the present dialect of Scotland. Nothing was more common than to hear the postillions exclaim, "Come, let us go." (Com, let oss go.) "Let us (Let oss se.) "Stand still." (Stand still.) "Hold your tongue." (Hold din tunga.) "Go on." (Go an.) A writer in the first number of the Foreign Review, has furnished us with a comparative list of words, exhibiting the relation subsisting between the Icelandic, English, German, and Swedish languages, from which we here insert a few specimens: :

Icelandic.

Swedish.

German.

English.

friend