and this unlucky incident brought a crowd around us, who were very angry at the injury the poor fellow sustained. We quitted the coach, took our portmanteaus in our hands, and went off in an instant. Though the people observed us much, they did not say a word to us, only abusing the coachman; and when our driver demanded his fare, M. L***, through an inadvertancy that might have caused us to be arrested, gave him a double louis d'or.

Having separated, when we quitted the carriage, I arrived at the appointed rendezvous with only my secretary and M. de Phelipeaux, who had joined us near the prison; and though I was very desirous of waiting for my two friends, to thank and take my leave of them, M. de Phelipeaux observed, there was not a moment to be lost. I therefore postponed, till another opportunity, my expression of gratitude to my deliverers, and we immediately set off for Rouen, where M. R**** had made every preparation for our reception.

At Rouen we were obliged to stay several days; and as our passports were perfectly regular, we did not take much care to conceal ourselves, but in the evening we walked about the town, or took the air on the banks of the Seine.

At length, every thing being ready for us to cross the channel, we quitted Rouen, and, without encountering any further dangers, I arrived in London, together with my secretary, and my friend M. de Phelipeaux, who could not prevail on himself to leave us.

PARTICULARS RESPECTING SWEDEN, BY ASCERBI.

Swedish Travelling.

THERE is no regular conveyance even between the country and the capital; none, for example, between Gothenburg and Stockholm, Stockholm and Geffe, Geffe and Upsala,

or the other principal towns of the provinces. A comparison is made between the conveniences of travelling in Sweden and Italy. The author observes, that between Helsinberg and Stockholm, a distance of near four hundred miles, nothing that can be considered as an inn is to be met with. The horses are so little, lean, and feeble, as to render it necessary to employ seven to draw a carriage, for which in Germany they only use three. They are put to the carriage four a-breast in the first line, and three in the second; and the author says, we were attended by five or six peasants, who had each a horse in our caravan; and deeming it good policy to whip up their neighbour's horses while they spared their own, they fell often a quarreling, and sometimes dealt about blows among themselves as well as among each other's horses. Such a Babylonish confusion, is not, I believe, to be met with in any other part of the world. At every posthouse a register is put into your hands, under the denomination of a day-book, in which travellers set down their names, their state or condition in life, whence they came, and whither they are going, and if they have been satisfied, or other. wise, with the postillion, or rather the peasant.

Gothenburg.

Gothenburg is the second city of the kingdom. Its environs are al most every where naked, barren, and dreary. They present an uniform scene of small eminences of black rock, where nature cannot by any power of art be forced to produce vegetation. The harbour exhibits a similar confusion of rocks, not more pleasing to the eye, and some little craggy isles of a rugged and forbidden aspect. As to the interior of the town, it resembles in some respects the towns of Holland, having canals, with rows of trees along their margin, regularly cut or clipped in the Dutch fashion. The trade and manners of the inhabitants

are noticed, and the chapter concludes with a respectful mention of the apothecaries of Gothenburg, who, having the advantage of a liberal education, are considered as superior to the same class of men in many other places.

Trolhatta Canal.

The canal of Trolhatta has been wrought through the midst of rocks by the means of gunpowder, and may justly be considered as in some respects characteristical of the Swedish nation; for it represents them as they are, prone to the conception of grand enterprizes, and distinguished by mechanical invention. As a work of art, and of bold and perse-, vering design, it is not too much to say, that it is the first in the world, even the duke of Bridgewater's canal in England, and that of Languedoc in France, not excepted.

At Trolhatta a book is presented to strangers when they are about to leave the place, and they are requested to inscribe their names in it, with some motto relative to the impression made on their minds by the falls, or other local circum

stances.

Treatment of Horses.

The treatment of horses in Sweden is next noticed. These animals stand or lie on perforated boards, like soldiers in barracks. This practice has been approved by the Veterinary Colleges of both Stockholm and Copenhagen, and universally adopt ed by the royal and other great families, on account of its salutary effect on the foot of the horse. In countries where the horses stand in a hot-bed produced by their own litter, their feet become tender, and subject to divers disorders; but you very seldom sce a lame or foundered horse in Sweden or Denmark, which, if it is not to be ascribed to the skill of the licensed farriers, who are, at least in the Danish deminions, all brought up in the Veterinary College, may, to a certain

degree, be owing to the manner of keeping the horse on boards instead of straw.

Stockholm.

The grand and most distinguished feature in the locality of that city, namely, being situated on islands, amidst gulfs and lakes, is destroyed by the ice. The same water which divides the inhabitants of the different quarters in summer unites them in winter. It becomes a plain which is traversed by every body. The islands are islands no longer : horses in sledges, phaetons, and in vehicles of all sorts, placed on scates, scour the gulf and lakes by the side of ships fixed in the ice, and astonished as it were to find themselves in such company on the same element.

There is no part of this great mass of water that is not arrested and subdued by the frost, except the, current under the north bridge, and on the south near the king's stable. Here the water, which during the keenest frost dashes and foams with great noise through the arches of the bridge, sends up majestic clouds of vapour to a considerable height in the atmosphere, where, in the extreme rigour of winter, being converted by the intenseness of the cold into solid particles, they are precipitated down through their weight, and presenting their surface to the sun, assume the appearance of a shower of silver sand reflecting the solar rays, and adorned with all manner of colours. In the interior of Stockholm, throughout all its different quarters, every thing in winter undergoes a sudden change. The snow that begins to fall in the latter weeks of autumn covers and hides the streets for the space of six months, and renders them more pleasant and convenient than they are in summer or autumn, at which seasons, partly on account of the pavement, and partly on account of the dirt, they are often almost impassable. One layer of snow on another, hardened by the frost, forms a surface more equal and agreeable

to walk on, which is sometimes raised more than a yard above the stones of the street. You are no longer stunned by the irksome noise of carriage wheels, but this is exchanged for the tinkling of little bells, with which they deck the horses before the sledges. The only wheels now to be seen in Stockholm are those of small carts employed by men-servants of families to fetch water from the pump in a cask. This compound of cart and cask always struck me as a very curious and extraordinary object, insomuch that I once took the trouble of following it, in order to have a nearer view of the whimsical robe in which the frost had invested it, and particularly of the variegated and fantastical drapery in which the wheels were covered and adorned. This vehicle, with all its appurtenances, afforded to a native of Italy a very singular spectacle. The horse was wrapped up, as it seemed, in a mantle of white down, which, under his breast and belly, was fringed with points and tufts of ice. Stalactical ornaments of the same kind, some of them to the length of a foot, were also attached to his nose and mouth. The servant that attended the cart had on a frock, which was encrusted with a solid mass of ice. His eye-brows and hair jingled with isicles, which were formed by the action of the frost on his breath and perspiration.

The season of summer, at which time the nobility and gentry retire to their country houses, which are fitted up with great magnificence and luxury. Those villas are, for the most part, pleasantly situated, and embellished by works of art, which second and improve the efforts of nature. You there find hot-houses, in which they raise peaches, pineapples, grapes, and other fruits. All kinds of wines, liquors, and other • delicacies, are lavished at the table of a Swedish gentleman, or rich manufacturer, or merchant in the country.

Festival.

On the twenty-fourth of June, or Midsummer-day, the king and royal

family come to the park, where they take up their abode in tents for the remainder of the month, that is for the space of nearly a week. A camp is formed of the garrison of Stockholm, composed of two regiments of foot-guards,some companies of horseguards, and a corps of artillery. Along the lines of the camp they raise poles or posts, adorned with branches of cyphers, and sometimes scutcheons with mottos or devices. At the foot of the posts are placed barrels of beer on wooden frames. About six or seven o'clock in the afternoon, on a particular signal, the barrels are opened, when each soldier is presented with a pipe, a loaf of bread, two herrings, and some money. All this is done at the expence of the officers. In the mean time the military music plays, and the soldiers begin for to drink and to dance. Upon each of the barrels sits a soldier, in the form of a Bacchus, or of some other figure more or less ridiculous. Those that are dressed up in this manner first taste the liquor and propose the toasts, which are generally numerous, and constantly accompanied with the cry of vivat, answering to the English huzza. When any of the royal family, or a general officer, chance to pass by, their healths are drank, and always with the same accompaniment of vivat. A kind of masquerade ensues for a short time, during which the soldiers amuse the people, that flock round them in the lines of the camp with songs, and indulge themselves in various freaks and acts of merriment. On the beating of the retreat every thing is submitted to the reign of order. Such festivals, without diminishing respect, certainly tend to excite in the soldiery and people an interest and attachment to the royal family.

Swedish' Dinners.

The Swedish dinner parties are expensive arrangements of show and formality. It will often happen that out of forty or fifty people, who ap

pear in consequence of an invitation sent with all possible ceremony, and perhaps a week or a fortnight before the appointed day, scarcely three or four know one another sufficiently to make the meeting agreeable. A foreigner may fare still worse, and have the misfortune of being seated near a person totally unaquainted with any language but his own. Before the company sit down to din ner, they first pay their respects to a side table, laden with bread, butter, cheese, pickled salmon, and liquor, or brandy, and by the tasting of these, previous to their repast, endeavour to give an edge to their appetite, and to stimulate the stomach to perform its office. After this prelude, the guests arrange themselves about the dinner table, where every one finds at his place three kinds of bread, flat and coarse rye bread, white bread, and brown bread. The first sort is what the peasants eat; it is crisp and dry; the second sort is common bread; but the brown, last mentioned, has a sweet taste, being made with the water with which the vessels in the sugar houses are washed, and is the nastiest thing possible. All the dishes are at once put upon the table, but no one is allowed to ask for what he likes best, the dishes being handed round in regular succession; and an Englishman has often occasion for all his patience, to wait till the one is put in motion on which he has fixed his choice. The Swedes are more knowing in this respect, and, like the French, eat of every thing that comes before them: and although the different dishes do not seem to harmonize together, yet such is the force of habit, that the guests find no inconvenience from the most opposite mixtures. Anchovies, herrings, onions, eggs, pastry, often meet together on the same plate, and are swallowed promiscuously. The sweet is associated with the sour, mustard with sugar, confectionaries with salt meat, or salt fish; in short, eatables are intermingled with a poetical licence, that

sets the precepts of Horace at defiance.

Sed non ut placidis coceantimmitia.

Swedish Character.

Gustavus III, who kept a watch. ful eye on every event that might influence the state of society, interdicted all mention in the Swedish journals of a French revolution, either good or bad. He wished the people not only to be prevented from 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 disposition. 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.

There is no country in the world in which greater provision has been made, and more pains taken for the advancement and diffusion of know

ledge among all classes of society, than in Sweden.

Every parish has its 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 boys continue till about their eleventh or twelfth year, when they are commonly sent to one of the gymnasia. There also are 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. The higher schools are under the care and inspection of the bishops, who, accompanied with some of the inferior clergy, visit them at stated periods.

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.

The state of Sweden, and particularly that of the capital, has left this general impression on my mind, 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 disadvantage 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, re

VOL. II. NO. VII.

mains yet unbroken. The government is still obliged, in some degree, to respect the public opinion. There is much regard paid to the national claims of individuals; justice is tempered with mercy, and great attention is shown in their hospitals and other institutions to the situations 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.

ON SOME WAYS OF ORNAMENTING THE TEETH, IN USE AMONG VARIOUS NATIONS.

THE ways of ornamenting the teeth, which I shall specify in this paper, are a fresh proof in favour of the remark, that even the most nonsensical usages of nations, or at least such as appear so to Europeans, have always a certain foundation, which we are only enabled to disccver, when sagacious travellers make us properly acquainted with the general way of thinking of nations remote and altogether different from us. Nothing can easily seem more ridiculous, than that several nations should stain their teeth black, or gild them, or file them to a point, or even pull them out, in order to beautify themselves; and yet all these disfigurations naturally spring from each other, and all of them together from a custom that is common or peculiar to these nations alone.

All the great nations of the southern Asia, the Hindoos, the Ceylonese, the Tunquinese, and Siamese, the Malayans, Chinese, and Japanese, the Madagascans, and, in part, the Amboynese and Ternates, lastly, the inhabitants of the Philippines, and the Madagascans that take their origin from the southern Asia, look upon their naturally glossy white teeth as a deformity which

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