ass .i ) ^hb PRESENTliD BY / A NORTHERN SUMMER; OR TRAVELS ROUND THE BALTIC, THROUGH DENMARK, SWEDEN, RUSSIA, PRUSSIA, AND ♦ ' ■ "■ - PART OF GERMAKY, IN THE YEAR 1804. / BY JOHN CARR, ESQ. AUTHO-R OF THE STRANGER IN FRANCE, &C. &C. From the first London edition, published in 1805* HARTFORD : PRINTED BY LINCOLN AND GLEASON. 1806. 0> ^^' 31992 to THE HOKORABLE SIR JAMES MACKINTOSH, KNT. RECORDER OF BOMBAT. SIR, WHILE you are imparting new light to those regions, so gloriously illuminated by the genius and the virtues of the late Sir William Jones, will you allow a Traveller to express his thoughts to you in contempla- ting your character and situation ? I cannot but felicitate that race of my ff llow-creatures who are placed within the protection of your judicial care ; yet, in recollecting how many listened to you with delight in this country, I feel your distance from it, in one point of view, a source of national regret. Conscious that these sentiments are sincere, I am encouraged by them to request, that you will honor with indulgent acceptance, a book, whose au- thor has endeavored to unite amusement and informa- tion. ir DEDICATION, Doubtful of success in each of his purposes, he is- anxious to conciliate favor, by introducing his perform* ance to the Public under the shelter of your name : a name that awakens universally the respect due to the beneficent exertions of knowledge and irresistible elo- quence. That health and felicity may attend you, in those scenes of arduous duty where your gracious Sovereign has stationed you ; and that you may return to this fa-^ Yored island, and long enjoy in it all the various rewards. of honorable service, is the ardent wish of him who is, Sir, With the truest esteem, Your faithful and obedient servant, JOHN CARR. No. 2, Garden-Court, Teimple, 1st June, 1805. X HE AGREEMENT page 1 1 CHAPTER I. Time of setting forth. A western town. Harwich. The poor Norwegian's tomb. Helogoland. Floating merry faces. Hasum. A Stuhlwaggon. The fair. The wonder. Novel application o£-a church. Waltzes. A shocking secret P« 1 3 CHAPTER IT Dull matters necessary to be known. The village wonder. Musical Postilions. Snaps. Farm4iouses andinn. The post delivered. A conspiracy. Bolton*s dollar. The little Belt. Village bride.. The great Belt. Corsoer. . Bardolph's nose p. 22 CHAPTER HT Danish character. Gin. Zealand. Turnpike gate. Mil& stones. Intelligence of women. The tomb of Juliana Maria. Husband intriguing with his wife. Margaret of Voldemar. The mourning mother. Copenhagen. A Danish dinner. Tomb of the Heroes of the second of April, 1801. The battle of that day. Lord Nelson, The brave young Welmoes p. 32 A 2 Yi CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. Valor facetious. Gallery of paintings. Curiosities. Ty- choBrahe's golden nose. The garden of Fredericsberg». The Crown Prince. The fashionable schoolmaster and little baronet. Grateful peasant. Religion. Excellent law. The burgomaster and Canary bird. The hermit of Dronningaard. Quickness of vegetation. The pris- oner's son. Palace of Rosenberg. Table d'hote. DrolL misconception of the English ladles. Rasp house, Dutch town p. 45 CHAPTER V. Fredericksborg. Storks. Fastidious Mares. Forest laws^ Penalties of travelling. Prince William of Gloucester.. Continental equipages, Hamlet's Orchard. Cronberg Castle. Some aftecting scenes which passed there. The farewell kiss. The galantry of Captain Macbride, The little court of ZelL The death of the Queen Matilda p. 6S CHAPTER VI. Cross the Sound. Sweden. Cinderella's Mice. Rapid travelling. Strange question. Roof-grazing. Mis- led by the light. A discovery. A caution. A French- hotel p. 78 CHAPTER VII. National welcome. Brief description of Stockholm. A great genius in decline. Painting. Short sketch of Gustavus III. Female stratagem. The palace. The state bed. The Opera-house. Assassination. For- giveness. A hint not intended to offend p» 89 CONTENTS. Til CHAPTER Vm. A visit in die country. Observatory. Dinner and fash- ions. Blooming girls of Delecarlia. Drottingholm. Queen Christina's cunning. Wardrobe af Charles XII. Beauty. Concealment and prudery. National importance of a British advocate. Contrasted justice^ Haga. Cause of the friendship of Gustavus III. for Sir Sydney Smith. A singular anecdote. A review. Iron mines. Linnseus p. 101 CHAPTER IX. Poor post-horses. Language. Merry criminal. Pri- soners. Psalm-singing watchmen. Washerwomen. French comedy. Passports. Indecorum of a little dog. Set sail for Swedish Finland. Begging on a new element. Islands upon islands. A massacre. The arts. Abo. Flies. Forests on fire. Russia. Fredericksham. Russian coins p. 126 CHAPTER X. Rustic urbanity. Wretched village. No. 1. Wibourg^ Greek religion. A charity sermon. Religion and extortion. A word or two to fortified towns. Starved horses. Volunteer jacket. Appearance of Peters- burg. Cossac. Renowned statue p. 1 47 CHAPTER XL Advantages of the Imperial city. The village architect. The summer gardens. Kissing. Horses with false hair. Sweetness of Russian language. Bearded mil- liners. Incorruptibility of beards. Great riches amassed by common Russians. The cause of hu- manity and justice. Music and argument better than ym CONTENTS. the whip. A Negro's notions. Slavery. The Nevr Kazan p. 15S CHAPTER XII. Pedestrians, hoA? considered. The scaffoldingof the New Kazan church. Great ingenuity of common Russians. The market. The knout. Cruelty of the Empress Elizabeth. Punishment of two lovely females p. 1T5 CHAPTER XIIL A caution. The house of Peter the Great. Singular an- ecdote. Police, A traveller's duty. An extraordina- ry purgation. A British court of criminal law. Noisy bells. Fruiterer. Ice. The sorrowful musicia.n. Drollery and drunkenness.. Imperial tlieatre. North- ern grandees p. 193 CPIAPTER XIV. A gloomy catastrophe. . p. 210. CHAPTER XV. Sir John Borlase Warren. The Polignacs. The parade. The baneful effects of passion. The Emperor. A pickpocket. A tmvelltr's memorandums. Unpugi- listic bruisers. Doctor Guthrie. Visit to the Taurida palace. The colossal hall. The winter gardens. The banquet. Prince Potemkin. Raw carrots. Flying gardens. The house of Charles XIL at Bender dis- covered p. 223 CHAPTER XVI. English ground in Russia. National baths. A new sect.. Hov/ customs vary. A panacea. Visit to the Empe- ror^s greatest favorite. A recipe for revolutionists .. Wild dogs. The marble church and pasquinade. Academy of Arts. A traveller's civilizing idea.. A CONTENTS. ix row to Kammenoi OstrofF. Delicacy and gratitude. Bravery and generosity of Gustavus III. to his barge- man. An elegant and grateful compliraent. Russian music. Its effect upon Italian ears and cows. Forest . on fire p. 237 CHAPTER XVII. Court Clock. Winter palace, Hermitage. Players and government carriages. Convent des Demoiselles^ Instability of fortune. Generosity in a child. The Foundling hospital. , p. 250 CHAPTER XVIII. Apple-feast. Dog-killers. A barrier against swindling. Festivities of Peterhoff. Horn Music. A favorite bear. German theatre. Visit to Cronstadt. Prison. Mili- tary punishment. The inn. Oranienbaum. Flying mountains. The value of a bloody beard. Fasts, famine, and firmness p. 263 CHAPTER XIX. Rising of the Neva. Academy of Sciences. The re- view. Cadet corps. Pelisses. Country palace of Zarsko Zelo. Another bust of the British Demos- thenes misplaced. Canine tumuli. Imperial plea- santry. Gatchina. Pauvoloffsky. Anniversary of a favorite saint. More dwarfs p. 274 CHAPTER XX. Leave Petersburg. The little Swede. Adventures ^at Strelna. Narva. Bears. Beds. Dorpt. Teutonic knights and whimsical revenge. Whipping of boors. Brothers-in-law. Courland. Poles. Memel. Se- verity of Prussian drilling p. 28T n CONTENTS, CHAPTER XXI. Desolate scene. English sailor wrecked. Konningbeg', Beauty in boots. Prussian roads. The celebrated ruins of Marienbourg. Dantzig. Coquetry in a box. Inhospitality. A German Jew. The little grocer, Dutch Vicar of Bray, Verses to a pretty Dantzick- er p. 300 CHAPTER XXH. Reflections upon a stuhlwaggon. Prussian villages.- Military manoeuvres. Irish rebel. Berlin. Linden walk. Toleration. Prussian dintier. Cheap living.. The palace. Cadet corps p. 3 1 L CHAPTER XXIII. Potsdam diligence. Potsdam. Sans Souci. Voltaire, and dogs of Frederick the Great. Noble firmness of an architect. King and lovely Queen of Prussia. An- ecdotes. Female travelling habit. The duchy of Meckleburg Swerin. Return to England p. 321 THE AGREEMEJyT. X HE ground which my pen is about to retrace, has not very frequently been trodden by Englishmen. Nor- thern travellers of celebrity, whohave favored the world with the fruits of their researches, have generally appli- ed their learning and ingenuity more to illustrate the histories of the countries through which they have passed, than to delineate their national characteristics. Nature generally receives our last homage ; we never wander from the contemplation of her simple charms, but v»^e return to them with pleasure. As the attempt, although aiming at originality, is not of an aspiring nature, I feel the more confidence in stating, that the object of the following pages is to describe those fea- tures which principally distinguish us from our breth- ren in other regions, and them from each other. I hope that the execution of my wishes will at least be without the fault of fortifying those prejudices which so unhappily divide nations th^t ought to be linked to- gether by mutual love and admiration. Whilst I wish to amuse, I am desirous to facilitate the steps of those who may follow me, by giving the detail of coins, and n THE AGREEMENT. post charges, and some little forms which are necessafy to be observed in a northern tour. My descriptions fol'- low the objects which they pencil, and partake of the irregularity of their appearance, I write from my feel- ings ; and as I propose that my Reader shall travel with me, it is reasonable that he should share some of the inconveniences as well as the enjoyments of the excur- sion. Before we smile together in the beautiful islands of Sweden, we must be content to bear with resignation the gloom, of her almost interminable forests of fir. If he will not commence the Tour upon these terms, and agree to support without disappointment those vicis- situdes of amusement and of languor, that seldom fail to diversify all the roads both of literature and of life, much as I shall lament the separation, it will be best for both parties, that we should not wander together over another page. . A NORTHERN SUMMER OR TRAVELS ROUND THE BALTIC. CHAPTER I. Yime of setting forth^-^A ivestern town-^Harv^icIu—'The Jioor JVorivegian^s tomb—^Helogoland — Floating merry fa- ces— ^Husum 4 StuMwaggon—^ The fair — The ivonder-^ J^ovel application of a church-— Waltzes.-^ A shocking secret. IT was on the 14th of May, 1804, that, impelled by an ardent desire of contemplating the great and interest- ing volume of man, and by the hope of ameliorating a state of health which has too often awakened the solicitude of maternal affection, and of friendly sympathy, the wri- ter of these pages bade adieu to a spot in which the morn- ing of life had rolled over his head, and which a thousand circumstances had endeared to him. I cannot quit En*- gland without casting a lingering look upon my favorite little town of Totnes, where, as a characteristic, family aU liances are so carefully presented, that one death generally stains half the town black ; and where Nature has so uni- ted the charms of enlightened society, to those of romantic scenery, that had a certain wit but tasted of the former, he would have spared the whole country in which it stands, and would, not have answered, when requested to declare B 14 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap; I. his opinion of the good people of Devon, that the further he travelled westward, the more persuaded he was that the wise men came from the east. The angry decrees of renovated war had closed the gates of the south ; the north alone lay expanded before me ; if she is less enchanting, thought I, perhaps she is the less known, and wherever man is, (women of course included) there must be variety : she has hitherto been contemplated, clad in fur, and gliding with the swiftness of a light cloud before the wind, upon her roads of shining snow. I will take a peep at her in her summer garb, afid will endeavor to form a nosegay of polar flowers. There is always a little bustle of action and confusion of ideas, when a man, about to slip from his friends, is in the agonies of flacking' up,. My mind alternately darted from my portmanteau, to the political appearances with which I was surrounded ; and, with all the vanity which gener- ally belongs to a traveller, I resolved to commemorate the period of my flight, by a cursory comment upon the state of my country, which, by the time the last strap was buck- led, was simply this : A great man had succeeded a good one in the direction of its august destinies, and another be-^ iiig who may be considered as the wonder of the west, was preparing amidst the blaze of brilliant novelties to mount the throne of a new dynasty ; amongst them was a threat to cover the shores of England, with his hostile legions. Nine hundred and ninety -nine Englishmen, out of one thousand, had started into martial array, ,on the sound of the haughty menace — patriotism, with the bright velocity of a wild-fire, ran through the valley and over the moun- tain, till at last it was discovered that we might be invaded whenever we pleased. Ministers were more puzzled by their friends, than their enemies ; where streams were expected to flow, torrents rolled headlong, and whatever may be our animosities, we are at least under an everlast- ing obligation to the French, for having enabled us to con- template such a spectacle of loyalty. How I happened to leave my country at this time, it may be proper to ex- plain : Devonshire offered, to her lasting honor, twenty thousand volunteer defenders of their homes and altars, pine thousand were only wanted or could be accepted ; ia Chap. 1.] NORTHERN SUMMER, 15 the latter, a spirited body of my fellow-toWnsnlen, who honored me by an election to command them, were not inckided ; after encovmtering (and it was equal to a demi- campign) the scrutinizing eye of militia-men, and the titter of nursery -maids, until awkwardness yielded to good discipline, and improvement had taught our observers to respect us, we found that our intended services were su- perfluous, and I was at full liberty to go to any point of the compass ; so, after the touching scene of bidding adieu to an aged and beloved mother, whilst she poured upon me many a half-stifled prayer and benediction, I hastened to the capital, where, having furnished myself with the necessary passports and letters of introduction to our embassadors from the minister of foreign affairs, a circu- lar letter of credit and bills from the house of Ransom, Xvlorland, and company, upon their foreign correspond- ents, and with a packet of very handsome letters of private introduction, which were svv'^elled by the kindness of Mr. Grill, the Swedish consul, and a passport (indispensably necessary to the visitor of Sweden) from the baron Sil- verhjelm, the enlightened and amiable representative of a brave and generous nation, I proceeded to Harwich, and at midnight passed under the barrier arch of its watch- tower, which was thrown into strong picturesque varieties of shade, by its propitious light, which from the top flung its joyous lustre over many a distant wave, so gladdening to the heart of the homeward mariner. In the morning n>e went (I had a companion with me) to the packet-agency office, where we paid four guineas each for our passage to Husum ; 1/. \\s. 6d. for provi- sions on board (seldom tasted) ; after which douceurs of 10s. 6d. each remained to be paid to the mate, and 7s. each to the crew, and 5s. apiece to a personage who con- tributes so largely to human happiness, and particularly to that of Englishmen, t'le cook ; we also paid ten guineas for the freight of a chariot belonging to an acquaintance at Petersburg, 2*. per ton on the tonnage of the vessel, and Is. in the pound upon the value of the s:ud carriage ; this accomplished, I had nothing further to do, but to amuse the time until four o'clock in the afternoon, when tlae foreign mail from London arrives. U NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap, k The churcli-yard lay adjoining to the inn : in this so»^ iemn spot, we are not always enabled to indulge in. those serious and salutary reflections, which it ought alone to inspire ; the quaint or ridiculous effiisions of the village schoolmaster, and the sexton, those prolific mortuary lau« reates, too often awaken an irresistible smile, by com* Tnemorating the ravages of death in some pious pun or holy conundrum ; a perversion which well merits the in- terposition of the ecclesiastical officer whose power ex- tends over these regions of the dead. I had not wander- ed far, before a fresh plain slab attracted my notice, and by its inscription informed me that it was raised to the tnemory of captain Christensen, of Krajore in Norway, who fell by the bite of his dog, when mad ; the tale was simply, but touchingly, told, and drew from me the fol- lowing lines : All ! hapless stranger ! who without a tear Can this sad record of thy fate survey ? Ko angry tempest laid thee breathless here. Nor hostile sword, nor Nature's soft decay. The fond companion of thy pilgrim feet. Who watch'd when thou wouldst sleep, and moan'd if miss\i Until he found his master's face so sweet, Impressd'd with death the hand he oft had kiss'd. And here, remov'd from love's lamenting eye. Far from thy native cat'racts awful sound ; Far fronfi thy dusky forests' pensive sigh, Thy poor remains repose on alien ground. Yet Pity eft shall sit beside thy stone, And sigh as tho' she mourn'd a brother gone. Soon after we had quitted the tomb of the poor Nonve' gian, the mail arrived, and at five o'clock a favoring breeze bore us fix)m the lessening shore. Now, as I am one of those unhappy beings who, like Gonzalo in the Tempest, would at any time give one thousand furlongs of sea for an acre of barren ground ; and as there may be many more who may find the rocking of the ocean somewhat imfriendly to the regularity of appetite ; let me advise them to lay in s,qmejLncho3dies,=4'einons, oranges, and a,- iittlfi.bj^andy : and as we are upon the subject of travelling economy, let me also recommend the packing up of a pair of leather sheets and a leather pillow-case^ in addition t^ Chap. I.] NORTHERN SUMMER. If their linen ones ; the former will prevent the penetration of damp, and repel vermin. As we passed Orfordness- castle, the sun was setting in great glory ; and several ships working to windward, and alternately crossing each other, presented the most graceful figures : it was such a scene as the chaste spirit of Vernet might have hovered over with delight. The . next day, we saw the topmasts of our brave blockaders off the Texel ; it was painful to contemplate the effects of a dire necessity which forces us to harass a people, who in their hearts cherish no ani- mosity, but against the tyranny which separates them from us. A noble frigate from the squadron passed us under .a cloud of sail, '' breasting the lofty surge ;" she proudly dashed tlirough the foam of the ocean, and to the eye of Fancy looked like the palace of Neptune. Her appear- ance reminded me of the nervous, spirited, and Chatham- like exclamation of a celebrated wit, upon the same sub- ject : " an English man-of-war is the thhig after all : she " speaks all languages ; is the best negotiator, and the " most profound politician, in this island ; she was Oliver '• Cromwell's embassador j she is one of the honestest " ministers of state that ever existed, ^nd never tells a " lie ; nor v/ill she suffer the proudest Frenchraan, Dutch- *' man or Spaniard, to bamboozle or give her a saucy an- " swer." On the third day, a very singular object presented it- self; it was Helogoland, avast lofty perpendicular rock rising out of the ocean, and distant about forty -five miles from the nearest shore : it is only one jpAIq in circumfer- ence, yet upon its bleak and bladeless top, no less than three thousand people live in health, prosperity, and hap- piness. The hardy inhabitants subsist principally by- fishing and piloting, and are occasionally enriched by the destroying angel of the tempest, ivhen the terrified ob- server, looking down upon the angry storm, might, in the moving language of the clown in the Winter's Tale, ex- claim, " Oh ! the most piteous cry of the poor souls, " sometimes to see 'em and not to see 'em : now the ship " boring the moon with her mainmast, and anon swal- " low'd with yest and froth." But to the honor of the brave Helogolanders, thev never augment the horrors of B 2 18 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chat. T. the enraged element. Humanity and honorable interest impel them gallantly to face the storm, and snatch the sinking mariner, and the sad remains of his floating for- tune, from the d^ep : they never suffer the love of gain to excite any other exclamation than that of thanks to God ; not that the storm has happened, but that the ocean has not swallo^ved up all th^ wreck from them. How un- like a body of barbarians Who infest the west of England, and prefer plunder to the preservation of life, and who have been'even known to destroy it, whilst struggling with the waves, for the sake of a ring or a bauble, and who are accustomed in the spring of every year, to speak af the last Hvreck s-cason as a good or a bad one, according to the violence or moderation of the preceding winter !* v. The Helogolanders are a fine healthy race of people, rei^: markably fair, live in small huts, and sleep on the shelves ranged one above another, and are governed by a chief who is deputed from the government of Denmark. Thejr are obliged to victual their island from the shore ! What SI spot for contemplation, to view ** The ambitious ocean swell, and rage, and foam, •* To be exalced with the threat'ning clouds!" We entered die river of Husum about four o'clock la the morning, in a stiff gale attended with rain. The. clouds in the w-est were dark and squally, with here and there a streak of copper co'.or ; in the east the sun was., gently breaking. WhDst I was contemplating this pic-' turesqiie appearance, and occasionally regarding the anx- ious eye and gesture of our Danish pilot, who by the aid of buoys and floating poles conducted us with admirable skill through a narrow, and the only navigable part, of the river, which Ees between two long lofty sand-banks ; the effect of the scene was encreased by an owl of yellow plu- mage, endeavoring to. reach our ship : the poor bird we supposed had been blown off the coast ; his v*ing touched! the extremity of the boom, but exhausted with fatigue, he dropped breathless in the water. A sailor, who was look- ing over the sides, v ith a quaint imprecation of mercy, pitied the dying bird. * I ?illude to the wreckers of Hope Cove, near Kingsbridge. Chat. 1.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 19 The shore as we advanced looked low, fiat, and muddy, surmounted here and there with a solitary farm-house and wind-mill ; but the river presented a scene of considera- ble gaiety. Boats put oft from the little islands which ap-» pear on either side of the river, filled with hardy men, women and boys ; the ladies wore large black glazed paste- board bonnets, glittering in the sun : they were all goings to the great fair at Husum . We cast anchor about four miles from that town, whose tall spire appeared full in our view : a large boat filled with these good holiday folks came alongside, and received us, baggage and all. As we> proceeded up the river, v/hich became narrower as we advanced, and which seemed more like thin mud than water, through which we heavily moved by the assistance of punting poles, I waded through the tedium of the time by contemplating my companions, most of whom, with myself, were covered over below with the hatches to avoid a heavy shower of rain. They were all in their holiday dresses ; the men in blue or brown druggets, and large, round hats, and the women in coarse striped camlet gowns,, in which red was the prevailing color, with those vast shining bonnets before described, and slippers with high heels without any quarters : we were crowded together almost to suffocation. Our company was more augmentr ed than improved by pigs and poultry, and the various produce of the farm, amongst which I noticed some deli- cious butter. In the party was a fine blooming young Scotswoman, who had married a Helogolander : her ex- pressive dark eyes flashed with delight, to find herself seated near an Englishman : in her look was legibly writ^ ten the inextinguishable love of our country. Upon our landing, we were immediately addressed by a Danish centinel who was upon duty at the quay, and whose dress and appearance were very shabby ; he dis- patched one of his brother soldiers with us to the burgo- master, to notify our arrival and produce passports, thence to the secretary to procure others to proceed. A little money here had the same virtue which it pos- sesses in almost every other part of the globe, by produ- cing unusual energy in these subordinate ministers of government, and enabled us to sit down to an early din? so NOHTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 1. ner at an English hotel, durhig which I was a little sur- prised at hearing one of our fellow-passengers, who was immediately proceeding to Hamburgh, frequently vocife- rate, " Is my waggon ready ?'* What a country, thought I, must this be, where a waggon is required to convey a man, and one too who was little bigger than his portman- teau 1 Observing my surprise, he informed mue, that the carriage of the country was called a Stuhlwaggon ; upon its driving up, I found that its body was very long and light, being formed of wicker work, and fixed to thin ribs of wood ; the bottom was half-filled with hay, a cross seat or stool was fastened by straps to the sides, and the whole mounted upon high slender wheels ; it runs very lightly, and is admirably adapted to the heaviness of the roads which are very deep and sandy. Soon after dinner I strolled through the fair, which was filled with peasantry from various parts of Holstein and Slesvig. The women, in their rude finery, reversed the ambition of their fair sisters on the other side of the water ; they v/ere strongly buckramed to the top of the neck, and exhibited no traces of the bosom ; but, to soften the seveiity of this rigid decorum in front, they presented such a projecting rotundity behind, that, to eyes which had been accustomed to gaze upon the symmetry of En- glish fair-ones, appeared truly grotesque, and awakened many a smile. The church, which is large and ancient, was upon this occasion disrobed of the sanctity of its character, and in its fretted aisles booths were erected, in which books and hab- erdashery were exposed to sale, and where I found some coarse copies of engraving from some of the pictures of Westail. In several places upon the continent, I v/itnes- sed, with no little degree of pride, a strildng predilection for the vrorks of this distinguished artist. Almost every article v/hich was exposed for sale was called English, al- though I am satisfied that many of them were never fash- ioned by English hands ; but the charm of the name has an influence every where ; its sound is attractive, and the very pedlar of the fair finds his account in its forgery. _ A. custom-house officer waited upon us at the inn to in- spect our luggage, but the dexterous introduction of a dol- Chap. 1.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 2^t !ar into his hand, convinced him in a moment, from the mere physiognomy of our trunks, that they contained no- thing contraband ; — let him not be blamed, for his pene- tration was admirably correct. Before the river of Husum Ti^as choaked up with mud,- the town was a place of considerable commerce ; it is now principally filled with tradesmen and farmers ; and the removal of the packets to this place from Tonningen, has circulated a considerable quantity of money amongst the inhabitants. It is rather a large town ; lime trees grow before the houses, the roofs of which run very high, and present the appearance of steps ; these vast attics are ne- ver used but as lumber-rooms, and have a very disagreea- ble effect. There is a palace with gardens belonging to- the duke of Holstein, but they are unworthy of further notice. The gaiety of the day terminated with great sobriety ; there were many light hearts, but I believe not one aching head. In the evening, a crazy violin and drum allured nie into a public room, in which the merry peasants were dancing waltzes. Heavens 1 what movements 1 A French- man, v/ho resolves every thing into operatic effect would liave felt each particular hair stand erect, had he contem- plated the heavy solemnity of the performers. The fe- males looked like so many tubs turning round, and their gallant partners never moved their pipes from their mouths. Upon quitting this scene of phlegmatic festivity, I strol- led to the quay, Avhere the skippers were landing the car- riage, which a fine sprightly powerful fellow of an Eng- lish sailor, with scarce any assistance from the smoaking crowd who had assembled to viev/ it, put together in little more than an hour. The alertness and activity of the British tar, afforded a striking contrast to the sluggishness of the Danish seamen who surrounded him. As soon a& the carriage reached the inn, we proceeded to the post- house, and ordered fou4' horses, being one m.ore than v/e were compelled to take by the Danish post law, but na more than the weight to be dravv-n and the depth of the roads rendered necessary. The post was to Flensborg, distant five Danish or twenty -five English miles, and for 512 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap.^v wliich we paid eight dollars, one marc. Of the coin and post regulations I shall speak in the next chapter. Thus having prepared every thing for our departure the next morning, we returned to the inn ; where in one of the front rooms we had not been seated long, before a pretty pale and interesting girl, whose age could not have ex- ceeded thirteen, entered with a trembling step, and pre- sented one of the gentlemen present with a note — ^the con- tents of it unfolded such a secret as must have shocked the soul of the most depraved libertine— it was written by her mother. We detained her miserable and devoted child until we had raised a little subscription for her, and dis- missed her with an involuntary exclamation of abhorrence against the parent. In the first step which an Englishman makes out of hi» own country, he is sure to meet with something to satisfy him that h€ cannot find a better. CHAPTER 11. 4 Dull mattera necessary to be known — TheviUage wonder — ——Musical fiostiliions— Snaps— —Farm-houses and inn— The fiost delivered— 'A conspiracy-— Bolton'' s dollar — The little belt— Village bride — The great belt — Corsoer—Bar- dolph^s nose. THERE is scarcely a duller thing which an ardent tra- veller or reader can encounter, than the little detail of money matters which occur on the roa^d ; and I shall therefore, with all due dispatch, dispose of it upon the pre- sent occasion. In Slesvig and Holstein, the only Danish money recei- ved is the Danish specie dollar, and the notes of the banks of Slesvig and Holstein, as also those of the bank of Nor- way. The specie dollar contains sixty skillings, or so ma- ny English pence, of the currency of Slesvig and Hol- stejii), 9.nd at par is equal to five shillings English. The eHAP.2.1 NORTHERN SUMMER. 23 lix dollar of the currency of Slesvig and Holstein contains only forty-eight sldllings ; of course four specie dollars are equal to five rix dollars current money. The rrioney Is divided into skillings, marks, and dollars : _ 16 skiilings make 1 mark. 3 marks 1 rix dol , Slesvig and Holstein cur. 3 marks 12 skil. 1 specie dollar. It will be adviseable not to take up more money than will be sufficient to last as far as the island of Fynen or Funen ; as the only money there received, and so on to the, capital, is the currency of Denmark Proper. It will be most convenient to take rix dollar notes instead of coin. It may be as well here to state the post regulations. If the! number of travellers exceeds three, they are compelled to take four horses. In Holstein and Slesvig as far as Hadersleb, a hprse is twenty skillings of that currency, per mile Danish, which is equal to five miles English ; the other charges are per station or post : thus, 4 skillings Slesvig cur. for shrivepenge. 4 Ditto for fetching horses from the field , 4 Ditto to the ostler, 4 Ditto to postillion. It is. usual, howeyer,to encrease this latter charge to one rix dollar per station. With respect to this charge two drivers are only considered as one. . Having procured all this essential information, the car- riage appeared at the door, surrounded by a crowd of gap- ing peasants, who gazed upon it as if they expected to see us mount in the air with it. As soon as we had passed the town-gate, we instantly dropped into a deep sand ; through which we ploughed our way at the rate of two miles and an half in an hour, and beheld on each side of us nothing but a dreary waste. Had not the cheering beams of the sun refreshed and supported us all the way, we must have suffered pretty severely under the pressure of a distemper which foreigners confine, and very justly, to Englishmen. Our driver was mounted on the near shaft-horse, drove four in hand in rope harness, and carri- ed, more for show than service, a prodigious long lash pi NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. ^. whip ; he was dressed in scarlet, with yellow facings, and wore a brass plate on his hat, on which was stamped « Christ'n 7." ; frora a string which was suspended over his right shoulder, depended his french horn, somewhat battered by long exercise, which he applied to his miouth with the most frightful consequences whenever we met a traveller, and with which, whenever v/e ascended a hill, he never failed to serenade our ears and those of his cattle, who, deafened by longwise, or having no taste for the con- £.oYd of sweet sounds, seklom turned their auricular or- gans towards this hoarse croaking tube. Thus did we ■^nove in all the majesty of a menagerie upon the point ,©f entering a town on a fair-day. Two or three times in the course of each post, our dri- ver begged to have a little snap money. Snaps is one of the earhest and most frequent words which a traveller will pick up in Denmark; in plain English it signifies a re- freshing glass of spirits. We always found our account in granting this request. The Danish driver is merciful to his horses : to equal- ize their labor, in the course of the station, he changes the situation of each of them. A whimsical fellow of this condition amused us not a little, by every now and then peeping into the carriage, or as he called it the ivaggon, to see that we and the luggage were all safe ; these men, whenever they stop to refresh themselves, feed their hor- ses with large slices of barley bread. We passed some neat farm-houses, having the barn with two large folding doors in the centre, the ofiices belonging to the farm on one side, and the farm-house on the other ; the whole up- on a ground floor, and under one ix)of. As we approached Flensborg, the country became more agreeable, and we observed the wonderful activity with which nature was every where exerting herself, in a cli- mate which so much confines her to time : it was then the 30th of May, and the ground had been covered with -snow only three weeks before, and some bitter winds ve- ry sensiby informed us that winter had not as yet retreat- ed very far. At a very clean inn where we dined, we found some ex- j^ellent red dried beef, sweet butter, good breads baked like Cbap.20 IjmRTHERN summer. 23 English tops and bottoms, and miserable -uin du pays. In our dining-room the best china and glass tumblers made a gala show upon the tester of the bed, which gave a double capacity to the room. I was highly pleased to ob- serve, that whilst the postillion took very good care of himself, he did not neglect his horses. At eight in the evening we reached Flensborg, hav- ing accomplished twenty-live English miles in nine hours ; a tedious time, sufficient To make any traveller peevish who had been accustomed to the velocity of an English maiL It was solely owing to the great deptii of the roads, for upon better ground, our horses " were not holloAV pampered jades of Asia, which cannot go but thirty miles a day.*' As soon as we had entered the inn, our driver present- -ed us with a small printed paper, that directed the tra- veller to state his opinion of the conduct of the former^ which is afterwards submitted to the postmaster ; and, by an ordinance of government, if any cause of com- plaint arises, the postillion is punishable. Upon a travellers reaching the end of a Danish post, it will be lucky for him if he does not find his patience put to a trial, by having to wait in general an hour for horses to forward him, which, at the time of his arrival, are nibbling the blade in some distant field. Our inn was the post-house, which every where affords the best ^yccommodations. Flensborg is a large commercial town, very neat and pleasantly situated ; it is well supplied v/ith excellent water from fountcuns, which are placed at cert^n intervals in the centre of the principal street : the houses are like those at Husum, with the addition of strong braces of iron. The view from the quay, the river, and the op- posite village, is very beautiful ; the language thus far is German, and the religion of the country throughout is Lutheran. The English chariot was still the object of admiration ; smiths thronged the yard to examine the springs, and waggon -builders to contemplate the wheels and body. The patent boxes of the former ex- cited uncommon astonishment. At the corner of the yard, the last beams of the setting sun threw an agreea- C 25 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 2. ble tint upon a variety of interesting faces, all waiting for intelligence — ^the friend, the lover, and the merchant, for the postman had just arrived, the -Messenger of grief Perhaps to thousands, and of joy to some ; To him indifF'rent whether grief or joy. Houses in ashes, or the fall of stocks, Births, deaths, and marriages, epistles wet With tears, that trickled down the writer's cheeks. Fast as the periods from his fluent quill. Or charg'd with am'rous sighs of absent swains. Or nymphs responsive, equally affect His horse and him, unconscious of them all. When I had retired to my chamber, the constant dashing cf the fountain in the court-yard, the frequent crowing of a little hoarse bantam cock, two cats making violent Sove, and a party of foraging fleas, united their powers most successfully to keep " tired nature's sweet restor- er" from my lids the greater part of the night. In the raorning, at five o'clock, we entered the great road to Copenhagen, from the city of Slesvig, and proceeded fJong the shores of the Baltic, through a sandy anU drea- ry country ; our progress was now encreased to five En- ii:\i'6h. miles an hour. We found the population very thin, the land but little cultivated, and the solitary cot- tage, which appeared to cover more misery than indus- try, had rarely a little garden by the side of it. The only vegetables which we met with were snmall stinted aspar- agus and parsnips, both of which the good people here boil in their soup. The few houses v/hich we saw on the road side, were, however, neatly built, with a light brown brick, and thatched. The steeple and the body of the church were every where divided from each other ; whence their separation arose in Denmark can be no more accounted for, I should suppose, than their conjunction in England. Upon strolling into one of the church-yards, I remark- ed that their monuments were principally composed of a frame of an oblong square, divided by cross pieces of wood painted black, and the spaces between filled with atones. Chap. 2.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 27 The country about Abenraac, a small fishing town, where v/e changed horses, was very pretty, and much re- sembled that beautiful slope of wood in Lord Borring- doh's park at Saltram, which parts the high road to Ply- mouth. The country from Abenraac to Hadersleb is hilly, woody, fertile and romantic. The cattle were every where tethered, or fastened by a cord to a circle of pas- ture. At Hadersleb, whilst dinner was preparing, we went to the Bank, to exchange our Holstein and Slesvig mon- ey for the currency of Denmark Proper, pre^ious to our embarkmg for the island of Funen. Here the exchange, which is governed by that of Hamburg, is always in fa- vorof thetraveiler going to Copenhagen. Foronehundred and thirty -five rix dollars Slesvig we procured one hun- dred and fifty -six current dollars and six skiiiings, which was at a premium of seventeen pounds per cent, in our favor. Upon our showing the banker one of the new dollars from Bolton's mint, he appeared to be much grat- ified with its beauty, and begged that we would permit him to exchange it ; a little favor, which we gladly granted him. On our return, we found a good dinner in a long room, painted of a leaden blue color, having the floor v/ell sand- ed, three little windows decorated with festoons of mus- lin, an old-fashioned chandelier threatening peril to those who passed under it, and two ancient portraits of a king and queen of Denmark, Avho looked very smirkingly upon each other. I niust not omit to introduce the reader to the kitchen, in which, in Denmark as well as in Germany, the fire- place is raised about two feet and a half high from the iioor, and very much resembles that of a blacksmith's forge ; the meat is baked, or, as they call it, roasted, in a sort of cheese-toaster, and having undergone the pre- vious operation of three parts boiling : such is a Danish inn. The traveller in this country would do v/ell to con- fine his supper solely to bread, butter, and eggs. The wine every where is very poor, and the beer detestable. •The peasantry appear to be clean and happy. It was pleasing to see, early in the morning, as we travelled, 2S NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 2, groupes of young milkmaids, whose cheeks glowed with the bloom of health, balancing their pails with great dex-- terity, and knitting and singing as they went. As we could save several tedious miles by crossing the Little Belt at its broadest part, we proceeded to Aversund instead of Snoghoi, where we found the coun-- try very undulating and beautiful, but the roads rather heavy. Nothing can be prettier than the situation of the post-house, with its gardens sloping to the water, to- which a bright sun, distinctly marking out the little island of Arroe to the south, and the greater one of Funen in front, distant about eight English miiles, added new charms. The boatmen^ with uncommon dexterity, in about ten minutes hoisted, by means of tackles, our car- riage entire and luggage into an open boat, and having a fair breeze, we crossed the Little Bslt m about an hour »nd a half, and landed at Assens. A stranger cannot but be surprised to see a king- dom so composed of islands. The province which we had just left notwithstanding the desolate appearance of some parts of it from the main road, is, on account of the independent spirit of its peasantry, the most valuable of the crown of Denmark, Rix Doll. Mark. Skills, The pass-age for^ourselves and carrage was 3 8 To assistants get dng the latter into the boat 12 At Assens, we for the first time, experienced the change of a large feather-bed, instead of a blanket and sheet. To an untravelled Englishman nothing can be more singular. In the morning, as the horses were put- ting toj a singular procession passed us : a young woman in gala, whose hair was stiffened almost to the consisten- cy of stucco with powder and pomatum, on which was raised a high cap of lace, decorated with a profusion of artificial flowei-s, and with a large nosegay of spring and artificial ilov/ers in her bosom, and a book in her hand, and turning-in her toes most abominably, passed in the most stately manner up the street, preceded by three girls in mob caps, decorated with little bits of silver and gold lace, aod in red jackets, each with a book in her [Chap. 2. NORTHERN SUMMER. 29 hand, and followed by two old Women, holding books also. The fair heroine of this singular groitpe moved to me as she passed. She was proceeding to the church, where her bridegroom was counting the lagging mo- ments of her absence. The old and the young peeped out of the doors and windows as they passed. Heavens keep me from any thing like pomp or publicity on the marriage day 1 - In this island, as I have before intimated, the cpin is provincial, thvis 16skillings make 1 mark. 6 marks 1 rix-dollar Danish currency. And one skilling of Holstein and Slesvig iB equal to tv.'^o of the currency of Denmark Proper. The post regulation as under : ' 1 horse per Danish mile 2 marks Danish currency. For fetching horses per pair 6 skillings Danish. To the ostler 4 ditto. At Odensee, which is a large respectable town, an episcopal see, the richest in Denmark next to that of Co- penhagen, and the capital of the island, we dined ; there was nothing singular in our repast,, but that the fitst dish was manna soup. There is a public school here, where a small number of boys are educated and maintained gratuitously, and a gymnasium for students of sixteen years of age. The cathedral is an ancient pile of brick, and is remarkable for nothing more than containing the tombs of John and the sanguinary Christian II. who seized upon the crown of Sweden by the right of conquest, and, in a cold-blood- .ed massacre, put six hundred of the flower of her no- bility to the sword — ^that scene of slaughter is exquisite- ly displayed in the beautiful tragedy of Gustavus Vasa» published, in 1738, by Henry Brooke, esq. and with which I am sure my reader will be delighted. -Think upon Stockholm When Cristiern seiz'd upon the hour of peace, And drench'cl the hospitable floor with blood, Then fell the flow'r of Sweden, niighty names I Her hoary senators, and gasping patriots. The tyrant spoke, and his licentious band C 2 so NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 2. Of blood-train'd ministry were loos'd to ruin. Invention wanton'd in the toil of infants Stabb'd to the breast, or reeking on the points Of sportive javelins— Husbands, sons, and sirea With dying ears drank in the loud despair Of shrieking chastity. The thatch of the cottage in this island, and in most parts of the north, is bristled at the top with cross braces of wood, to keep it together, and has a very inferior ap- pearance to the warm compact neatness of the English thatch. The road from thenee to Nioborg is good, part- ly paved, and the country on all sides very picturesque. The lambs, in the flocks which we passed, had one foot fastened to the body by a piece of string. A custom so painful to the luckless objects was intended to fix them more closely to their dams, and, by abbreviating their exercise, to fatten them. I was much surprised at not seeing either in Denmark or any other part of the north that I visited, a single member of a very ancient family, the most useful, the most ill-treated and despised of any that moves upon all- fours, an ass. About nine o'clock in the evening we arrived at Nioborg, which is a small but handsome fortified town, containing about nine hundred inhabitants ; and deter- mined, as the Vvind was fair, to cross the Great Belt that night. We vrere there obliged to show our passports ; the c?4>tain of the passage -boat, on account of the late- ness of the hour, threw many difficulties in the way of our determination, which, however, the tender looks and eloquence of a French giil at the inn, aided by a little bribery on our part, effectually removed. Here the wheels of the carriage were obliged to be taken off, and after a delightful sail of about two hours and an half, we efi"ected our passage, winch is twenty English miles, and landed at Corsoer, in the metropolitan island of Zealand. As I passed over this mighty space of water I could not help reflecting with astonishment, that in the month of February 1658^it formed a bridge of ice for the hardy troops of the v/arlike and ambitious Charles X., who, contrary to the advice of his council of war, marched Chap. 2] NORTHERN SUMMER. 31 over it to give battle to the Danes. During this tremen- dous passage a part of the ice gave way, and a whole squadron of the guards were imnciolated, not one of whom were saved, an order having been given that no one should attempt to assist his neighbor in such an emergen- cy upon pain of death. After passing the Little Belt in the same way, Charles Gustavus Adolphus obliged the Danes to make the peace of Roschild. This enterprise may be ranked amongst the most marvellous achieve- ments, and a recurrence to it will furnish ample means of occupation to the mind of the traveller during his pas- sage over these portions of the sea. It was midnight by the time v/e quitted the vessel ; the wind was very fi-esh, and the moon occasionally dart- ing in full effulgence from a mass of black clouds, illu- minated the front of an ancient castle, of little strength, near the key, which is the occasional residence of the crown prince. Upon the ramparts the cloaked centinel kept his solitary watch ; it was a " nipping and an eager air," and the scene, more than any other which I saw in Denmark, impressed the imagination with the similitu(^e of that '* In which the majesty of bury'd Denmark *' Did sometimes march." The good people at the post-house were in bed, but after many a rap at the door, it was at last opened by a figure, who most completely corresponded with the bard's description of Baixlolph. With Shakspeare we might have exclaimed, *' Thou art an admiral, thou bear'st thy lantern " In thy poop — but tis in the nose of thee " Thou art the knight of the burning lamp." As the night was very sharp, we made our way to the kitchen to catch a little warmth from its expiring em- bers ; but here we found we were distressing the coyness of a comely young cook, who had just quitted her bed to prepare something for our supper, and who was very uneasy until we had left her territory. After a comfort- able repastj Bardolph lighted us to bed. NORTHERN SUMMER. [Citaf. 1 CHAPTER in. dDanish cIiaraCUr—*Gin~'-'Zealand — Tumftike gat€-'*->Milt ' stones^'—^InteUigence qfivomen — The tomb of Juliana Ma- ria- — Husband intHgidng ivith his ivifc'— 'Margaret of Voldemar — The tnourmng nhother— 'Copenhagen,— >A Da- rdsh Dinner— Tomb of the heroes of the 2d of Afiril, 1 $0 1 — The battle of that day-—^Lord JVei^on-^The brave young TVelmoe^. IT is scarcely necessary for me to observe that the go- vernment of Denmark is despotic. The Dane is a ^ood natured, laborious character ; he is fond of spirits^ but is rarely intoxicated ; the severity of the climate naturalizes the attachment, and his deportment in the indulgence of it, is inoffensive. At breakfact at Corsoer a respectable Dane entered the room ; the landlady, a vast unv/ieldy good-humored creature in boots, without saying a word opened her cup- board, and taking dov/n a bottle of gin, presented her guest with a large Avine glass full, which he drank off", as if it had been so much cocoa milk, and immediately retired. The island of Zealand is said to be very luxuriant, and abounding with picturesque scenery ; its shores are lined with pretty towns, noble chateaus, and extensive and well-wooded domains, but upon the high road we did not observe, until oitr near approach to the capital, any indication of such exuberance and beauty ; although it was at this time the third of June, the gooseberries and currants were but just formed into berries. Upon our first post in this island, we met v/ith, for the first time in Denmark, a turnpike g^ate, which was erect- ed at the end of every Danish mile. As the roads were tolerably good, the impost v^as unobjectionable, which for a cariiage and four horses is six skillings Danish currency. This toll, in consequence of a recent ordi- nance, is paid before the traveller sets off, to the post- master, which saves the inconvenience of stopping. The turnpike -gate, like all the barrier gates of the north, is Chap. 3.] NORTHERN SUMMER: SS^ simply constructed of a long pole or bar, which turn» upon a pivot, fastened in a strong post, about four feet- high, placed on one side of the road : the end of this pole is charged at the end with a iM'eponderating weight of stpne or blocks of bood, so that when the post-master slackens the string or slight chain which attaches it hor- izontally to a post on the other side of the road, the bar rises sufficiently high to let a carriage pass under. The mile-stones here, the first which we say/ in the country, are formed of granite in the shape of a hand- some obelisk, and enumerate the miles and half miles, and b$ar the names of Christian and sometimes of Fred. V. In our route we saw several storks, who shewed no^ other symptoms of alarm when we approached them,, than awkwardly moving from us upon their red, tall, lean legs, upon which the body seemed mounted as upoii stilts. The country from Slagelse to Ringsted was very picturesque. The most ancient church in Denmark is;, in this town ; it is built of brick, with two low towers : there are some royal tombs here very ancient, which are principally filled with the ashes of the descendants of Sweyn II., and are level with the pavement. We pas- sed many forests of fine beech and oak, feathering the shores of several extensive and beautiful lakes. As we approached the capital we were a little surprised to find every thing become cheaper, and the horses and drivers leaner and shabbier, I must not Omit to state, for the honoi* of the female sex, that however we were at a loss to explain ourselves on account of our ignorance of the Danish language, and had exhausted our stock of gestures upon the men in vain, we always found that the women comprehended us v/ith one third of our pantomimic action ; and to the end of my days I shall gratefully and expaiimentally contend for the superior quickness of femyile compre- hension. We arrived on a Sunday at Roskild, which, according to Holberg, was formerly a city of many parishes, and contained within its v/ails twenty-seven churches, and an equal number of convents, though now a place of very little import. We went to the cathedral, a heavy pile of U NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap 3, brick covered with copper, with two spires, the most ancient part of which was erected under the auspices of Harold, the grandfather of Canute the Great, king of England and Denmark. The inside of this building owes its gran- deur to its size : the ceiling is stained with little sprigs of flowers in a vile taste, and are v/holly unenriched by those exquisite interlacings in the roof that form the principal beauty of Gothic architecture, the rudi- ments of which nature first imparted to our early fore- fathers, by placing before their imitative eyes the grace- ful intersections of a simple bower : the organ is upon an immense scale, and the tone very fine : the stops are moved by the feet of the organist. In a large octagon chapel, divided from the body of the cathedral by an iron grate, so finely wrought, and at a distance it resem- bles black gauze ; and in a subteranean vault, repose the remains of the royal family of Denmark, in several raised stone coffins, which are covered with black velvet palls, embroidered with small crowns of gold, falling in full drapery upon the floor. It is foreign to my purpose to enumerate them all. The most superb tomb is that of Juliana Maria, whose sanguinary conduct towards the hapless Queen Matilda and the unfortunate Counts Stru- ensee and Brandt, excited so much sensation some years since. As I gazed upon this gloomy depository of un- relenting jealousy and ambition, imagination raised the bleeding shades of those devoted men, consigned from the pinnacle of power and royal favor to the dungeon ^nd the scaftbld. Alas 1 the common tyrant, in no wide lapse of time, has closed the eyes of the ruthless de- stroyer and her victims. < I must not omit the tomb of that wonderful woman Margaret of Voldemar, or, as she w^as styled wdth a de- rision which she well revenged, the king in fietticoats. She flourished in the 1 3th century, and bore upon her brow the crowns of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. The northern Semiramis was destined to astonish the world by her marvellous exploits, and her very entrance into it was rendered somewhat extraordinary on account of her being the legitimate daughter of her father and mother. The fornaer becoming disgusted with her mo- Chap; 3.] NORTHERN SUMMER. S5 ther, confined her in a castle, and about the same time fell violently in love with one of her dames (Thonneuri, and vf?iS a suitor for her favors ; the good-humored girl affected to consent, but imparted the assignation to the unhappy queen, was instrumentaL in conveying her iri disguise to the spot, and Margaret was the fruit of this singular intrigue. We were much gratified by seeing in one of the cha- pels the rich and beautiful mausoleums of Frederic H. and Christian III. ; they were designed and made in Italy, at an immense cost, by the order of Christian IV. The sovereigns are represented in recumbent postures the size of life, under a stone canopy, supported by Co- rinthian pillars ; the basso relievos which adorn the tomb of Frederick II. are exquisite pieces of sculpture. Here are also interred mari^y distinguished heroes, who have raised the glory of their country, and live in the page of history The beautiful ideas of Addison came into my mind — . t^ When I see kings lying by those who deposed them; *' whenlconsider'rivaiwitSjplacedsideby side; or the holy " men that divided the world with their contests and dis- " putes, I reflect with sorrow and astonishment on the *' little competitions and debates of mankind ; when I " read the several dates of the tombs, of some that died " yesterday, and some six hundred years ago, I consider '' that great day when we shall all of us be cotempora- " ries, and make our appearance together." As we crossed the church-yard to return to the inn, we were stopped by the appearance of an interesting young woman, who, Avith much grief in her countenance, Avas scattering slips of lilac and half-blown tulips and fine sand from a little basket which she held in her hand, up- on a fresh grave, which from its size, and from her looks, I conjectured to be that of her infant child. It was the custom of the country, and an affecting one it was. We met with nothing to denote our approach to the capital till we reached Fredericksberg, one of the king's country palaces, about two English miles from Copenha- gen ; the appearance of much bustle, and lounging lac- queys in scarlet and silver, announced that the court was m 'northern summer. [Chap. 5. here. As we rolled down from the bea\itiful eminence^ upon the open sujmmit of which the palace stands, the city, croAvned by its palace in ruins, the Sound, and the surrounding country, presented a delightful prospect. The road was crowded with people in their Sunday dresses and merry faces, hurrying to pass the evening in the gardens of Fredericksberg, which, with the permis- sion of his majesty, is the favorite resort of the people. We were detained a few minutes at the custom-house, adjoining the first dravz-bridge, over which and an inner one we passed to the gates of the capital, which we en- tered through a long arch, forming part of the ramparts. As we approached Lubel's hotel, to which we were recommended, we passed by the walls of the royal palace, which bore ample and afflicting testimony to the colossal size and magnificence which must have formerly dis- tinguished it, before it fell a victim to the flames in 1794. Upon our visiting this splendid pile, after dinner, we found by an inscription remaining undefaced, that it was raised by Christian VI. out of his own private purse, without pinching Ins subjects, and cost six millions of dollars : it stands in an island formed by a canal, and has several gates ; the principal entrance is of wrought iron, and has a noble effect : the front has twenty -five enor- mous windows in a line, and is composed of six stories, three of which are upon a large, and the remaining three upon a small scale. This front is three hundred and sixty -seven feet long, the lateral sides three hundred and eighty nine, and the elevation one hundred and fourteen ; all the grand apartments of state were upon the fourth story ; the court is surrounded with two wings of piazza twelve feet deep, and on each side are stables for saddle and carriage horses, which are arched : these have escaped the fury of the conflagration, and are truly mag- nificent ; the racks of that which holds forty-eight horses, are of copper, and the pillars which separate the stallsare of brick stuccoed. In another we observed the racks and columns were of Norwegian marble ; the floor of the stalls is of stone, and the breadth of each is six feet. The court is three hundred and ninety feet Jong, and three hundred and forty in its greatest breadth ; Chap. 3.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 3^ the pilastres are of the composite order, and the columns ionic ; there are also two lateral courts which are sur- rounded with buildings of two hundred and forty-five feet by one hundred and six. The stable to the left is -divided by the riding-house, which is one hundred and seventy-six feet by fifty -six, and lighted by fifteen cross- bar windows, with a gallery for the royal family and spectators, and has altogether a very grand appearance. Here all the branches of the royal family were formerly lodged : so rapid was the fury of the conflagration, and such the panic which it inspired, that but little of the treasure of its pictures, furniuire, and gorgeous decora- tions could be saved. Of the internal magnificence of this palace, some idea may be formed by the following description of the ritta saal or knight's saloon : it was <>ne hundred and eighteen feet long by fifty-eight, ^was lighted by day by nine windows, and at night by three lustres which contained more than twelve hundred. wax lights : on each side was a gallery richly gilded and supported by forty -four columns of cinnamon wood, the bases and capitals of which were also richly gilded : an artist of the name of Abilgaad was commissioned to embel- lish the hall with twenty-three large paintings, from sub- jects arising from the Danish history, at one thousand rix dollars a-piece. The library of the king, which suffered much by the fire, contained one hundred and thirty thou- sand volumes and three thousand manuscripts. The palace was too enormous for that of the capital and kmg- dom, and forms a striking contrast to the present resi- lience of the royal family. Whilst I was contemplating these stupendous remains, ^ splendid English vis-a-vis dashed by, drawn by a pair of noble greys, which, with a profusion of gold lace upon the coats of the coachman and footman, attracted the no- tice and surprise of the good people of Copenhagen, who had never even seen their beloved Crown Prince in such finery : it was the equipage of a foreign quack doctor, who had had the good fortune to live and flourish in En- gland in an age of pills, Copenhagen is a small but very neat city, its circum- ference between four and five English miles ; the streets D 53 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 5. are broad and handsome ; the houses, of which there are about four thousand, exclusive of the quarter belong- ing to the sailors, and garrisons for three regiments, are generally of brick stuccoed to resemble stone, and some are of free-stone, and in an elegant style of Italian archi- tecture : the shops are in the basement story, and by ma- king no prominent appearance, do not disfigure the beau- ty of the rest of the building. Such is the case upon every part of the Continent which I have visited. In England every tradesman's shop is the raree show of the street, and perhaps it is in allusion to this as much as to any other cause, that our neighbors on the other side of the channel, have pronounced us to be a nation of shopkeepers. The streets are divided by canals, which afford great facility to the transport of goods, but have narrow and inconvenient foot-paths : the population is estimated at eighty -two thousand. La rue de Goths is :j. beautiful street, and is about three quarters of an En- glish mile long. The Kongens nye Tow or King's place, which is also the m.arket place, is a noble, spacious, irre- ♦^rular area, adorned v. ith many fine houses, several of ^viiich have been raised since the late fire. The only theatre in the city is here : it was not open during our stay. This building is detached, small, but handsome without, and within is elegantly decorated : in the sea- son, the performers play four times in the week, alter- nately opera and play, w^hich is generally in the language of the country. On account of the vast number of per- sons who have free admission to it, amongst whom are all marine and land officers, the receipts are but very lit- tle, and the deficiency, which is supplied by the king, generally amounts to about one hundred thousand rix dollars per annum. Upon the whole the court is not a very munificent patron of the drama, and the performers seldom exceed mediocrity. In the middle of the market- place is an equestrian statue in bronze of Christian V. but too deficient in merit to attract the notice of a travel- ler. One of the large buildings in this place is the cas- tle of Charlottenberg, part of which is devoted to the royal academy of painting, architecture, and sculpture ; it has eight professors and four masters ; the day for the Chap. 3.] NORTHERN SUMMER- 5# annual distribution of the prizes is the 31st of March^ the birth-day of the prince, Frederic, who is the patron. Those pupils who obtain the golden medal are sent to travel at the expense of the crown* Such of the produc-* tions of the pupils and professors as I saw did not excite a very high-opinion of the arts in Denmark. No respectable stranger can enter Copenhagen with- out speedily becoming the object of its frank, and gener- ous hospitality. The day after our arrival enabled us to partake of the hearty profusion of a Danish dinner ; it was given at the country house of one of the most res- pectable inhabitants of the city, and appeared in the fol- lowing succession : soups top and bottom, Norwegian beef boiled, ham strongly salted, fish, pigeons, fowls, stewed spinnage, and asparagus ; the meat is always cut into slices by the master of the house, and handed round by the servants. Etiquette proscribes the touch- ing of any particular dish out of its regular course, al- though the table may be groaning under the weight of its covers ; this ceremony is occasionally a little tanta- lizing. Creams, confectionary, and dried fruits followed : the wines were various and excellent. Our party was composed of English, Norwegians, Flemish, Swiss, Rus- sians, Danish and French : would to heaven that their respective nations could for ever be as cordial and joy- ous as was this chequered collection of their merry na- tives 1 The repast lasted a formidable length of time : it was two hours of hard stuffing in a fog of hot meats. The appetite oi the fair ones present, v/as far, I might say very far from being puny or fastidious, but in the homely phrase, what they eat did them good. The Danish ladies are e?i bon jioint^ and possess that frank and generous countenance, which, the moment the eye sees, the he?al understands and loves ; they much resemble tlie higher class of Wouvermann's fig- ures, and very largely partake of that gay good humor, which is so generally the companion of a plump and portly figure. Having said so much in their favor, which they eminently deserve, I cannot help hinting that they are not so attentive to neatness of dress as their neighbors ; they want such a man as Addison to rally 40 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 5\ them with his delicate satire out of a slovenly habit, which induces them, when they buy a gown, almost al- ways to. prefer a dark cotton, because it does not want iuashi7ig. The Danish ladies would immediately feel the force of the remark, without being offended at its freedom. They speak English with its proper accent^ as well as French and German fluently. The English language forms a prominent part of female education. Upon my complimenting a Danish lady on her accu- rate knowledge of the English language, she said, " We " are obliged to learn that, and French and German, m " our onvn defence.^ otherwise we should frequently be ob- *' liged to sit mute, which you know is a very unpleasant " situation for any woman, for beyond the islands,*'mean-> ing Zealand and Funen, " our language, which is a dia- " lect of the Teutonic, is not understood." This I found afterwards verified : upon my return to Holstein from Prussia, a Danish sergeant in drilling a recruit from the former place, was obliged to speak to him in German . Here, as in France, the company rise and retire with the lady of the house. In the garden we found coffee and a droll fellow of a wandering mendicant Norwegian who occupied sans cerernonie one of the garden seats, and upon his rustic guitar had collected the little folks of th« family round him, who were dancing to some of the wil- dest and sweetest sounds that ever issued from the touch of simplicity. On our return to the city, and about a mile from it, a turfed hillock of small poplars attracted our notice : it was the national tonib of the heroes who fell in the mem- orable battle of Copenha.gen roads on the second of Aprils 18C1, and stood in a meadow about two hundred yards from the road, and looked towards the Crown battery. As we approached it, we sav/ a small luonumental obe- lisk which was raised to the memory of Captain Albert Thurah, by the Ci'own Prince. It appeared by the in- scription, that during the heat of that sanguinary battle a signal was made from one of the l>lock ships, that all the officers on board were killed ; the Crown Prince, who behaved with distinguished judgment and compo- sure during the whole of that terrific and anjdous day, Chap. 5.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 41 and was giving his orders on shore, exclaimed "Avho will take the command ?" The gallant Thurah replied, " I will, my Prince,'* and immediately leaped into a boat, and as he was mounting the deck of the block ship, a British shot numbered him amongst the dead, which formed a ghastly pile before him^ and consigned his spi- rit and his glory to the regions of immortality. He was a young man of great promise. It is thus that death often Strikes the poor peasant ; he sinks in the dark. Nor leaves e'en the wreck of a name, He strikes the young warrior, a glorious mark. He sinks in the blaze of his fame. As the battle under all its circumstances was as awful and affecting as any in the English and Danish history, the reader will I am sure feel no reluctance minutely to contemplate the larger tomb which first attracted our notice : it is a pyramidal hillock, neatly turfed and plan ted with sapling poplars, corresponding with the number of ofilccrs v/ho fell. At the base of the principal front are tomb stones recording the names of each of these offii cers and their respective ships. A little above is an ob- elisk of grey northern marble, raised upon a pedestal of granite bearing this inscription : To the memory of those u^ho fell for their country^ their grateful fellQ~.v citizens raise this monument^ Afiril 2, 1801. And beneath, on a white marble tablet, under a wreath of laurel, oak, pjid cypress bound together, is mscribed : The wreath tvhich the country bestows never ivithers over the grave of the fallen warrior. The whole is enclosed in a square palisado : as a nation- al monument, it is too diminutive. The next day I visited the spot where so much blood v/as shed. A young Danish officer upon the Crown battery obligingly pointed out the disposition of the ships, and spoke of the battle with great impartiality. From the position of the British fleets, before the squadron un- der Ijord Nelson bore down, and rendered his intention D 2 42 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap.^« indubitable, the Danes were firmly of opinion that the British commander intended to proceed either to Cal- scrona or Revel, and made no preparation for defence ; their ships were lying in ordinary, they therefore trust- ed solely to their block ships and batteries. On that day the hero of the Nile surpassed those achievements, which an admiring and astonished world conceived must for ever remain without imitation as they had been without example, in the annals of the British navy. Favored by a fortunate shift of wind, and an extraordinary elevation of the tide, which at the time M^as higher than the Danes had long remembered it, he place'd his unsupported squadron, and as it is said with an iinobsevued signal of retreat flying at the mast head of the ship of the chief in command, in a most advanta- geous and formidable position. The citizens of Copen- hagen in a moment flew to their posts ; all distinctions were lost in the love of their country. Nobles and me- chanics, gentlemen and shopmen rushed together ia crowds to the quays ; the sick crawled out of their beds, and the very lame were led to the sea side, imploring to be taken in the boats, which were perpetually going oif with crowds to the block ships. A carnage at once tre- mendous and novel only served to encrease their enthu- siasm. What an awful moment ! The invoked ven- geance of the British nation, with the fury and velocity of lightning, was falling with terrible desolation upon a race of gallant people, in their very capital, whose kings were once seated upon the throne of England, and in the veins of whose magnanimous prince flowed the blood of her august family. Nature must have shudder- ed as she centemplated such a war of brethren : the conflict was short, but sanguinary beyond example ; in. the midst of the slaughter the heroic Nelson dispatched a flag of truce on shore with a note to the Crown Prince^ in which he expressed a wish that a stop should be put to the further effusion of human blood, and to avert the destruction of the Danish arsenal and of the capital, which he observed that the Danes miust then see were at his mercy. He once more proposed their withdraw- ing from the tripje league, and acknowledging the supre-^ Chap, 3.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 4$ macy of the British fla^. As soon as the Prince's answer was received a cessation of hostilities took place, and Lord Nelson left his ship to go on shore. Upon his ar- rival at the quay he found a carriage which had been sent for him by Mr. D., a merchant ©f high respectabil- ity, the confusion being too great to enable the Prince to send one of the royal carriages ; in the former the gallant admiral proceeded to the palace in the octagon, through crowds of people, whose fury was rising to frenzy, and amongst whom his person was in more im- minent danger than even from the cannon of the block ships ; but nothing could shake the soul of such a man. Arrived at the palace in the Octagon he calmly descended from the carriage amidst the murmurs and groans of the enraged concourse, which not even the presence of the I>anish officers who accompanied him could restrain . The Crown Prince received him in the hall and conducted him up stairs, and presented him to the King, whose long-shattered state of mind had left him but very little sensibility to display upon the trying occasion. The objects of this impressive interview were soon . adjusted, to the perfect satisfaction of Lord Nelson and his ap- plauding country ; that done, he assumed the gaiety and good-humor of a visitor, and partook of some refresh- ment with the Crown Prince. During the repast Lord Nelson spoke in raptures of the bravery of the Danes,, and particularly requested the Prince to introduce him to a very young officer, whom he described as having performed wonders during the battle, by attacking his own ship: immediately under her lower guns. It proved to be the gallant young Wei- moes, a stripling of seventeen ; the British hero em- braced him with the enthusiasm of a brother, and delicate- ly intimated to the Prince that he ought to make him an admiral, to which the Prince very happily replied, " If, my Lord, I were to make all my iDrave officers admirals, I should have no captains or lieutenants in my service." This heroic youth had volunteered the command of a praam, which is a sort of raft, carrying six small cannon, and manned with twenty -four men who pushed off fron^ sJiore, and in the fury of the battle placed themselves 44 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 3. tinder the stern of Lord Nelson's ship, which they most successfully attacked, in such a manner that although they were below tlie reach of his stern chasers, the Bri- tish marines made terrible slaughter ainongst them : twenty of these gallant men fell by their bullets, but their young commander continued knee-deep in dead at his post, until the truce was announced. He has been hon- ored, as he most eminently deserved to btJ, with the grateful remembrance of his country and of his Prince, who, as a mark of his regard, presented him with a me- dallion commemorative of his gallantry, and has appoint- ed him to the command of his yacht, in which he makes^ his annual visit to Holstein. The issue of this contest was glorious and decisive ; could it be otherwise, when its destinies were committed to Nelson ? To shov/ how brittle must be the bands of a confede- racy of powers, whose jealousy and dislike is ever un- happily in proportion to their proximity, the Sv/edes very composedly contemplated the battle from their hills, and • appeared to lose all sensation of their share of its mor- tifying results in the humiliation of a rival country. So np.ture pulls the strings of a little man and a great nation ; the latter is only the larger puppet, and requires more strength to put it in motion. La place Frederic, or the Octagon, containing the pal- aces of the royal family, and where Lord Nelson had the audience that I have just mientioned, is composed of four small palaces all uniform, each having two wings : four very noble streets, principally inhabited by the no- bility, lead to this place : the grand entrance is through a gate composed of double rov/s of Corinthian pillars and a rich entablature ; one of the streets is terminated by the harbor, and the other by the church of Frederic, which has been long left unfinished ; it has the appear- ance of an elegcint design, and reminded me, both hy its condition and style of architecture, of L'Egiise de Made- line at Paris. In the centre of the Octagon is an eques- trian statue of Frederic V. in bronze, by Saly ; it was erected in 1769 by the Danish East India Company, and is said to have cost 80,000/. An Englishman cannot help remarking the slovenly appearance of the grass, Chap. 4:] NORTHERN SUMMER. 4^ v/hich i3 here permitted to shoot up through the stones, and particularly within the railing of the statue : the soldiers who are always lounging about the palaces, would remove the evil in almost the time that I hav*^ taken to comment upon it. CHAPTER IV. Valor /acetlous— ^Gallery of paintings-^Curiosities^-^Tych^ Brake* s golden nose — The gm'den of FredeHcsberg—' The croivn prince— ^The fashionable schoolmaster and lit-' tie baronet— 'Grateful fieamnt~-^Religion'—-]Lxc client laity --—The burgomaster and Canary bird — The hermit of Dronningaard— -^Quickness of -vegetation — The prisoner' % son-— Palace of Rosenberg— *Table d'hote— -^Dr oil miscon^ cepiion of the English ladies— 'Raup house — Dutch toivn. THERE is something very pleasant in contemplating the most inconsiderable actions, even the little badinage of great men. I forgot in my last chapter ta mention the playful good-humor which Lord Nelson dis- played soon after the battle of Copenhagen roads. By the ship which conveyed his dispatches to England, he sent a note to some respectable wine -merchants to whom, he was indebted for some wine, in v/hich he sportively said that, " he trusted they would pardon his not having " sooner sent a checque for his bill, on account of his '» having been lately much engage d^ In one of the wings of the burnt palace, to which the fiames did not extend, the gallery of pictures and muse- um of curiosities are placed. In the former we found a few excellent pictures, and particularly noticed a Jesus betrayed, by Michael Angelo ; a naked Venus, in a very singular posture, by Titian ; a good Vv^oman, by Leonar- do de Vinci ; the Holy Family, by Raphael ; a dead Christ on the cross, by Rubens ; adjoining to this is an unaccountable picture upon a large scale, the subject 46 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 4, Fallen Angels : the artist, with singular whim, has sub" stituted butterflies for fig-leaves. In the cabinet of curiosities is a very ingenious inven- tion for tranquillizing the fears of jealous husbands ; a stuffed stag, said to have lived several centuries ^ a lion and bear ; there is here also a celestial globe made by Tycho Brahe, who was sent to Copenhagen by his father in the sixteenth century to study rhetoric and philosophy, but the great eclipse of the sun on August the 21 sty 1 562, engaged him to study astronomy. He wa^ the in^ ventor of a new system of the world and had some fol- lowers, but it is said that his learning made him sufier- stitious, and his philosophy irritable^ to such a degree that in a philosophical dispute the argument rose to such a pitch of personal violence that he lost his nose, which he supplied by a gold and silver one admirably construct- ed ; he was also very fond of Automata, and the reputa- tion which he obtained of a conjurer. I was much pleased with the convivial cup of the cel- ebrated Margaret of Valdemar ; it had ten lips, which were marked with the respective names of those whom she honored with her intimacy, who were the companions of her table, and were permitted to taste of the Tuscan grape out of the same vessel. There are here also some exquisite carvings in wood, by a Norwegian farmer, with a common knife ; some mummies badly preserved ; a piece of amber weighing more than twenty -seven pounds, found in Jutland ; lustres of amber ; several models of ships in amber, ivory, shell, and mother of pearl ; beau- tiful works of ivory ; a toilet of amber of surprizing workmanship ; a great lustre of the same, with twenty- four branches, made by M. Spengler. A compleat closet filled with bits of wood, carved by the peasants of Nor- way, who are extremely expert in this v/ork ; a portrait of Denner ; a bit of ivory, prettily worked by Queen Louise, mother of the present King ; others of the same kind, by Pierre Legrand; the emperors Leopold, Rodolph II. Sec. ; Jesus Christ on the cross, carved in wood, of so fine a v/orkmanship that it must be seen through a mag- nifying glass, it is attributed to Albert Durer ; a carriage with six horsesji of an inconceivable amallness j a great Chap. 4.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 47 jug of ivory 5 with a triumph of Bacchus of a very fine workiTianship, by Jacob Hollander, a Norwegian ; the descent from the cross, a superb piece, by Magnus Berg ; several figures dressed in foreign dresses, Indian, Chinese, Sec. ; great vases of gold and silver ; a flagon or decanter itjf'rock chrystal, very beautifully engraved; a horn of gold, found in Jutland, in 1639, the inscription on which has puzzled the learned; a bust of Brutus in bronze ; many precious antiquities of the country ; a portrait of Charles XH. ; the skull of archbishop Absalom, with his dress ; the prelate's skull reminded me of the ridiculous question which a lady put to one of the librarians of the British mviseum, " Pray sir, have'nt you a skull of Oli- ver Cromwell here ?" " No, madam," replied the man t)f learning and antiquity ; " Deare me," said she, " I wonder at that, for they have a very fine one in the mu- seum at Oxford." There are also some curious religious utensils, v/hich were used by the ancient natives of the north. Such is a sketch of the Danish gallery and mu- seum, y/hich is worthy the notice of the traveller. In order to Iiave a better view of the city, upon leav- ing the museum, I ascended by an external spiral stair- case, the top of the church in Christiaa-haven, one of the quarters of Copenhagen ; from this eminence the view was delightful ; the city, its palaces, ''churches, docks, arsenals, and the little Dutch town which lay about two English miles off ; the roads, the shores of Sweden, and the Sound embellished with ships, lay like a map below me. Immediately underneath us we saw a funeral pro- cession of a prmcipal inhabitant, proceeding to that *^ dark and narrow house, whose mark is one grey stone ;" the coffin, covered with a pall, was placed upon a bier, surmounted with a canopy, which moved upon four little broad wheels, and was drawn by a pair of horses. I regretted to observe that the Danes pursue the same per- nicious custom which obtains in England of burying their dead in the city. There are people who live in the tow- er of the church, to give signals in case of fire breaking out, of which the Danes have a great dread, for no peo- ple have suffered more from its destructive visitation. A precautionary warning to the inhabitants to take care of i^ NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 4. their fires and candles, and a long string of bkssings'upon the heads of all the royal family of Denmark, constitute the elaborate subject of the watchman's comment after he has announced the time. Nothing can be more annoy- ing to a fatigued stranger than his noisy and melancholy ditty every half-hour ; but the police is admirable, and the city safe at all hours of the night. This church was the only one which was worthy of notice. The Lu- theran religion seldom arrays herself in the graceful drapery of the arts ; confiding in the purity of her pre- cepts, and the devotional spirit of her unaspiring follow- ers, she is satisfied if her shed but repel the storm of the heavens ; nor does she seek to attract the wanderer to her temple, by the elegant and expressive powers of the architect, the painter, and the statuary. The Exchange is a large ancient building of brick : v/ithin are little shops, very much resembling Exeter Change, in Lon- don, but more commodious and handsome. At the en- trance nearest to the burnt palace the merchants assem- ble. In this quarter of the town there are some excel- lent pastry shops, where the English and other foreign news-papers are taken in. The beautiful appearance of the evening attracted us to Fredericsberg, the palace of which is small, and stands upon an eminence ; the gar- dens slope from its terrace : they are confined, but tastefully ari'anged ; the Crown Prince shares the de- light they afford in common with the meanest of his subjects. As the King resided at this time in the palace we could not see it, and from all that I could learn we had not much occasion for regret. He passes much of his time here, wiiich he divides between billiards, romances, and his flute ; he enjoys good health, but his mind is so infirm that his royal functions seldom exceed the signing of state papers. I was much disappointed in not having the honor of being presented to the Crown Prince, who at this time was in Holstein with that able and excellent minister Count Bernstoff. The Prince is virtually the sovereign of the kingdom, as his father has for many yeaes presented only the phantom of a king. The mis- fortunes of the august mother of the Prince, his virtues and his wisdom unite to render him very interesting to sin Englishman. In person I was informed that he was short and slender, his eyes are of a light blue, his nose aqiiiline, his face singularly fair, and his hair almost white ; his mind is very capacious, cultivated, and active : his disposition is very a-miable ; and in the discharge of his august duties he is indefatigable. He is an enemy to dissipation and parade, and avoids the latter upon ail but necessary occasions ; his virtues constitute his guard of honor, and excite distinction and respect wherever he moves : in his youth he was a prince of great promise, and every blossom has ripened into fruit. At the age of sixteen he effected a revolution in the councils, and crush- ed the powerful ambition pf the sanguinary Juliana Ma- ■tia, and consigned her intj-iguinj^ and turbulent spirit to the shades and seclusion ^f F^iedensberg, by a master- piece of discretion, eloquence, and policy. If the Prince has any fault, it is that the does not suffi- ciently oppi'eciate the genius of his country, which is more commercial than military. Impelled by a martial enthusiasm, he appears to consider the encouragement of commerce, as an object less worthy of his notice, than the discipline, and perhaps superfluous augmentation of his troops, whose energies will in all human probability, be long confined to defensive operalion ; yet in another mode this prince has sagaciously consulted the interests •of his country and the happiness of his people, by ab- staining from any material participation in those conflicts, -which have so long deteriorated the interests of the rest of Europe. Small in size and resources, Denmark haa ' every thing to lose and nothing to gain. A dwarf amongst * giants, had she moved in the general confusion, she - -would have been crushed by some powerful foe, or trod- den upon by some ponderous ally. THe King's daughter is married to the Prince of Augustenbourg, and is spoken of as a very beautiful and accomplished woman. The daughters of Prince Frederic, the brother of the king, and - the favorite son of Juliana; Maria, are also much beloved and admired. The court days in summer are few : in winter there ii* '51 kvee once a fortnight : on these days there are supDers, E go NOF.THERN SUMMER. [Chap. 4. when strangers, upon the presumption of their having the rank of Colonels, are invited. At this meeting the number of men and women is equal, and all precedence, except that of the royal family, is determined by drawing lots as at a bull in England. In the Vvinter, when people aggregate from necessity together, the socialmeetings in Copenhagen are said to be very frequent and delightful, and the ministers are very polite to strangers well intro- duced. The acdon of the 2d of April was of too short a dura- tion to produce any other impression on the country than a temporary irritation, and the event of that day taught her the impolicy and danger of departing from a state of unequivocal neutrality ; at the same time it dis- played to the world what never yet was questioned, the valor and enthusiastic patriotism of the Danes. It will be considered, however, as somewhat singular, that for two successive years, they commemorated the return of that day, as a day of victory. A whimsical Dane adopted another mode of softening the a.ftair, by endeavoring to prove, what was his own irremovable conviction, that Lord Nelson v/as of Danish extraction. They now, how- ever confine themselves to the glory of a gallant but una- vailing resistance, and in a little lapse of time their love for the English will return to its former channels. The conduct of England upon this m.emorable occa- sion, reminds me of the policy of a certain fashionable school-master who had the care of three pupils of dis- tinction, a duke, a viscount, and a baronet ; the boy of the highest rank, Avho was the oldest and the most mis- chievous, during the absence of the learned doctor, pre- vailed upon his comrades to spend an evening at a fash- ionable bagnio ; the doctor unexpectedly returned in the interim, and upon discovering where his pupils had been, felt a reluctance in wounding the high feelings of the duke and viscount, and visited the sins of all three upon the hapless lower seat of honor of the poor little baronet. Thus Russia and Sweden led Denmark into the northern confederacy against the supremacy of the British flag, and Lord Nelson whipped the latter for the presump- tion of all the parties to the said league. Denmark has Chap. 4.1 NORTHERN SUMMER. 51 reaped the fruits of her neutrality, and without fatiguing the reader by a long string of comparative exports and imports, nothing can be clearer than that her interests have been in a state of progressive amelioration for seve- ral years past. The radical emancipation of her peasant- ry has remunerated her with a merited reward, the love of a free people, and the happy results of unshackled en- terprize. This blessing has not only been felt, but ex- pressed. A few miles from the capital, on one side of the pub- lic road, is a plain and simple monument, expressive of the condition of those who raised it : it was erected by the peasants of the late Count Bernstoff, in gratitude for their liberation : 'Tis liberty alone that gives the flow'er Of fleeting life its lustre and perfume i And we are weeds without it. Cowper. Curiosity led me one day into the principal court of judicature : it was a handsome large room, in a range of buildings in which the governor of the city resides : the throne was in front ; twelve judges presided attired in rich costume : there were only two advocates present, v/ho wore embroidered capes and blue silk gowns. The laws of Denmark, with an exception to the forest laws, are simple and wholesome, and are impartially adminis- tered, although the king is despotic. Justice does not appear, preceded by Corruption, and followed by Famine. There is one law in Denmark which restrains the tyran- ny of parents towards their children, that deserves to be particularly mentioned : No parent can, by his own act, disinherit his child : if he thinks that his son will disho- nor him, and dissipate his fortune, he cannot change the usual channel of his property, without applying to the sovereign for permission, v/ho, in council, cautiously considers the allegation and answer ; and thus the refu- sal or permission is the result of a public process. Ad- mirable as the laws of Enirland are, it v/ould be 'well if svich a law as this, adapted to the genius of the constitu- tion, could be introduced. Alas 1 in England, how often is the happiness of an excellent child fiaciiPiced to the If% NaRTHERN SUMMER. tCsAP.. 4. unnatiiral caprice or p.vide of an .^ngry,. foolish, -mercena- ry parent ! The mildness of the Danish government is such, that when the king and a snbject, as is frequently the case, happen to be engaged in litigation, respecting titles to land, the judges are recomniended, if the point be dubi- ous, to decree in favor of the subject. A short, time be- fore we arrived, a woman had been found guilty, of mtir- der, and she was sentenced only to four years of solitary^ confinement.. The Crown Prince is unwilling to see the sword of justice stained with hunian blood : he i& mei'ci*' Jul almost to a fault ; Tlie quality of mercy is not strained' ; It droppeth, as the gentle rain* fi'om lieav*n. Upon the place beneath. It is twice blessed :^ It blesseth him that gives,, and him that takes.. The internal taxes are raised or reduced at the discre- tion of the king, which with the customs and tolls upon exports and imports, the duties paid by foreigners', and his own demesne lands and confiscations, constitute the revenues of the crown. The land tax ad valor ei7i is admi-- rably managed in Denmark, by which the soil is char- ged according to its fertility, which is estimated by the quantity of grain required to sow a certain quantity of land. This tax is formed into classes : the peasants have no assignable property in the soil, like tenants in England upon long leases ; they contract with their landlord to cultivate so much land, in the manner prescribed by the ordinances respecting agriculture, and pay their rent ei- ther in money or provision. Such is the law now, that they can experience no oppression : Princes and Lords may flourish or may fade, A breath can make them as a breath hath made, But a bold Peasantry, their Country's pride. When once destroy'd can never be supplied. The hospitality of the numerous and highly respecta- ble family of the De Conincks, the principal merchants at Copenhagen, would not suffer us to quit the capita], without visiting their beautiful seat called Dronningaard Chap. 4.] NORTHERN SUMMER. n or Queen's palace. As we reserved Sunday for this little country excursion, we learned, not without some incon^ venience, that the Danes are remarkably rigid in their observance of the hours of worship. On that day during divine service no one is permitted to quit or enter the city but at one gate. Immediately after we had passed the wrong draw-bridge, the clock stnick eleven, and the gate closed upon all erratic sinners : this unlucky event compelled us to go round the ramparts, and make a de-- viation of several miles. Thoroughly impressed as I am with the necessity of preserving the sanctity of the Sabbath, I must confess I am a.t a loss to see the utility of barring gates to keep religion in. This expedient ap-- pears to me as useless as that of a burgomaster, who, upon a favorite lady flying to him in tears to tell him that her canary bird had escaped from its cage, ordered the drawbridges of the town to be raised to prevent the elopement of the little fugitive. The gates are shut in summer at twelve, and in winter at seven at night. Dronningaard is the first private residence in Denmark, lies about sixteen ^English miles from the. eity ; the grounds, which are very extensive, and tastefully laid out, slope down to a noble lake, twelve English miles in circumference, and is skirted v/ith fine woods, and ro- mantic country houses. At the end of a beautiful walk I was struck with the appearance of an elegant marble column, on a tablet affixed to which was inscribed : " This Monument is erected in gratitude to a ?mid and beneficent Government^ under whose auspices I enjoy the 'blessings that surround me. ^^ In another part of the grounds, in a spat of deep seclu- sion, we beheld the ruins of a hermitage, before which was the channel of a little brook, then dried up ; and a little further, in a nook, an open grave and a tomb-stonci The story of this retired spot deserves to be mention- ed. Time has shed many winter snows upon the roman- tic beauties of Dronningaard, since one who, weary of the pomp of courts and the tumult of camps, in the prime of life, covered with honors and with fortune, sought from its hospitable owner permission to raise a seques- tered cell, in which he might pass the remainder of his E^ 5i NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 4, days in all the austerities and privation of an anchorite. This singular man had long, previous to the revolution in Holland, distinguished himself at the head of his regi- ment, but in an unhappy moment the love of aggran- dizement took possession of his heart, and marrying un- der its influence, misery followed : and here, in a little wood of tall firs he raised this simple fabric : moss warmed it within, and the bark of the birch defended it without ; a stream of rock water once ran in a bed of pebbles before the door, i]i which the young willow dipt its leaves ; aiid at a little distance from a bed of M'ild ro- ses the labernum gracefully rose and suspended her yel- low flowers : he selected an adjoining spot for the depo- sitory of his remains when death like a lover's pinch That hurts, but is desir'd, should have terminated all his sufferings here. Every- day he dug a small portion of his grave vmtil he had fin- ished it : he then composed his epitaph in French, and had it inscribed apon a stone ; the reader I think will be pleased with it in the English dress Avhich it has received from the distinguished pen of William Hay ley, Esq. : THE HERMIT'S EPITAPH. Here may he rest, who, shunning scenes of strife, Ejoy'd at Droriningaard a Hermit's life ; The faithless splendor of a court he knew, And all the ardor of the tented field. Soft Passion's idler charm, not less untruf. And all that lisdess Luxury can yield. He tasted, tender Love ! thy chaster sweet ; Thy proiTiis'd happiness prov'd mere deceit. To Hymen's hailow'd fane by Reason led. He deem'd the path he trod, the path of bliss ? Oh ! ever mourn'd mistake ! from int'rest bred^ Its dupe was plung'd in Misery's abyss. But Friendship oifer'd him, benignant power, Her cheering hand, in trouble's darkest hour. Beside this shaded stream, her soothing voice Bade the disconsolate again rejoice : Peace in his heart revives, serenely sweet ; The caliTi content so sought for as his choice, (^jiits him no more in^tUis beloy'd j^treai. / Chap. 4.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 5^ In this singular solitude he passed several years, when the plans of his life became suddenly reversed, by a let- ter of recal from his prince, which contained the most flattering expressions of regard. The wishes of his sove- reign and of his country were imperative, he flew, to Hol- land, and at the head of his regiment fought and fell. The night preceding his departure, he composed a fare- well to the enchanting scenery in w^hose bosom he had found repose,, which as an affectionate reniembrance of the unfortunate hermit, is inscribed upon a tablet of mar- ble, raised in a little grove not far from the hermitage ; for the following translation I am indebted to the poetie and elegant mind of Leigh Hunt, Esq. : FAREWELL OF THE HERMIT OF DRONNINGAARD. Vain would life's pilgrim, ling'ring on his way. Snatch the short respite of a summer's day ; Pale Sorrow, bending o'er his sad repose, Still finds a tear in ev'ry shelt'ring rose : Still breaks his dream, and leads th' unwilling slave To weep, and wander to a distant grave. E'en he, whose steps since life's ungenial morn Have found no path unfretted with rude thorn ; From all he lov'd must turn his looks away, Far, far from thee, fair Dronningaard, must stray. Must leave the Eden of his fancy's dreams. Its twilight groves and long-resounding streams ; Streams, w-here the tears of fond regret have ran. And back return to sorrow and to man I O yet once more, ye groves, your sighs repeat, And bid fare well to these reluctant feet : Once more arise, thou soft, thou sootKjng wave. In weeping m.urmurs, ere I seek my grave ; Ere yet a thousand social ills I share. Consuming war, and more consuming care, Pleasures that ill conceal their future pains. Virtue in want, blest Liberty in chains, Vice, proud and powerful as the winter's wind. And all the dire deliriums of mankind. Yet e'en this heart may hail its rest to come ; Sorrow, thy reign is ended in the tomb ! There close the eyes, that wept their fires away ; There drop the hands that clasp'd to mourn and, pray i There sleeps the restlessness of aching hearts j There Love/the tyrant; buries 9M his d^rts I .5& NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 4. O grant me, heav'n, thus sweetly to repose ! Tis thus my soul shalt triumph o'er its woes ; Spring from the world, nor drop one painful tear On all it leaves^ on all it treasures here ; Save once, perhaps, when pensive moonlight gleams O'er Dronningaard's meek sh?des and murmuring strearasy The sacred grief, to dear remembrance true, O'er her soft flow'rs may shed its gentlest dew, May once in sounds, that soothe the suff'ring mind. Breathe its lorn murmurs through the solemn wind ; Lament, sweet spot, thy charms must wither'd be, And linger e'en fronn heav'n to sigh for thee ! The dispatch with which nature pushes on her vegeta- ti®n in these cold climates is amazing : this delightful spot, which was now in full foilage, presented nothing but naked branches a fortnight before. I quitted Dron- ningaard with almost as much regret as did the devoted eremite. A visit to the Crown-battery was very interesting. A young Danish officer, who w^as present at the battle of the second of April, pointed out the respective positions of the fleets and block ships, and described with great candor and liberality the particulars of the engagement. This formidable battery is about half an English mile from shore, is square, and the water flows into the middle of it ; it is now very rapidly enlarging, and undergoing such alterations as will make it a place of great strength. It is also in contemplation to raise a fresh battery to the southward in addition to that called the lunette. The harbor is very capacious and safe. The holm or arsenal is not shewn without the permission of the admiral. The ships in ordinary are finely arranged and make a gallant show : a gallery or narrow bYidge, resting upon piles, runs on each side of the line, which is patrolled day and night. The magazines, forges, and workshops are upon an admirable construction; each ship* has her different magazine, containing all the materials for her rapid equipment. This depot is furnished with iron from Norway, hemp from Riga, cloth from Russia and Hol- land, and wood from Pomerania.. The rope-walks are each a thousand feet long. As I was enjoying, one fine afternoon, a row in that part of the harbor where the arj*- -Chap. 4.] NORTHETlISr SUMMER. -5r7? ^senal is, and nothing can be more beautiful: or interest- „Jpg than such an excursion, I observed a man of war , ^ying near the quay of a peculiar construction : she swel- ; led amazingly in the upper sides, forming a considerable . portion of a circle, for the purpose of enabling her to , bring several of her after guns to act with her bow guns or with her stern chasers : she had a very clumsy appear- ance, and I was informed that the experiment had .not „ answered the wishes of government. The number of -.merchant vessels we saw at the quay confirmed the ac- e eount we received of the magnitude of the Danish com- ^merce. Nature, which has broken the -kingdom into ^islands, has instinctively .made the Danes merchants. aod. ^?9ailors : their principal foreign txade is with France, Por- ^;!!;Hgal,^ and Italy, and the , East and West Indies : their ,,prinpipal domestic trade is. with Norway, and even with .Iceland, which, to all but its patriotic and contented na- tive, is a most deplorable- country j the very outskirts of ^the world. The . seamen, , are registered, and are divided _into two classes, the stationary sailors who are always in the employ of the crown ; the others , are, in tiines of peace, permitted to enter into merchant ships, subject to ^recal in case of war, and have a small annual, stipend, ^/rhe academy of marine cadets forms one of the palaces ein the Octagon ; it was founded by Frederic V. Here, .9,nd,?it;an hotej wiiich belongs to it, sixty youths are main-- .tained and instructed in the principles of navi;gation, at , the expense of the. crown. There are also. several other young gentlemen admitted to the school, hut are not .^ji^aintained there. Every year several of these gallant .pupils makcia cruise in a brig of war, that they may blend practice with: theory.. The academy of land cadets is fpretty nearly upon thesam^ establishment : fifty boys ,,are maintained and educated for a military life, by the . crown, and others are admitted to tlie school, but main- .tained at their own expense. The former are well fed, Ifeut are never permitted to ^rink tea. In the academy, is ^a riding house, and in the adjoining stables eight horses, are kept for the use:of the young pupils.in the art of. ricUug.. M ^ NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 4, In the course of my rambles I visited the citadel, which is small and stands at the extremity of the city, and con- tains two battalions ; it has two gates, one towards the city, and the other towards the country ; the latter is well fortified by five bastions. Adjoining the chapel is the dungeon in which the Count Struensee was confined ; it is indeed a most dismal hole ; it was here that he light- ened the Aveight of his chains and the horrors of impri- sonment by his flute, upon which, so little apprehensive was he of his impending fate, that his favorite air was from the Deserteur, beginning with Mourir c'est notre dernier ressort. Upon quitting this melancholy abode we requested the soldier who conducted us to shew us that of his unhappy fellow-sufferer Brandt : he accord- ingly led us through a gloomy stone passage, and after unlocking and unbarring a massy door conducted us up a winding stone staircase into the cell, where, to my sur- prise, a sun-beam slanting through a small grated win- dow, presented to us the figure of a man of respectable appearance, and of about the middle age of life, emacia- ted by long confinement and bowed down by grief. As we approached him a faint blush partially spread over his sallow cheek, and a tear stood in his eye, which he endeavored to conceal with his hand, and with a bow of humiliation turned from as to a little bird cage which he was constructing. We apologized for our intrusion, and hastily turning towards the door, we beheld a beau- tiful boy standing near it, apparently about eight years old : his look at once explained that the prisoner was his father : the face of this little child of sorrow was the most artless and expressive I ever beheld. As we de- scended he followed, and when at the bottom of the stairs, we asked him why he looked so pale, the little creature replied in French, " Ah, Sir! I look so because I have just recovered fiT>m a fever ; I do not always look so : I shall soon be well, but my poor papa never will." We put money in his hand, and begged him to take it to his father ; this he immediately returned saying, " No,' sir, indeed I m-ust not, my father will be angry with me." Ail our efforts Vf ere in vain ; it was a scene of affecting mystery. The soldier took up the child and kissed it, Ckaf. 4.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 5» and bidding him return to his father, closed the door. He informed us that the prisoner had been convicted of for- gery, but stated that there were many strong circumstan- ces in his favor. Oh, how I wished that that merciful prince Vvdiose ears are ever more open to the sounds of suflering than of flattery, had heard what we heard 1 the looks and language of the little prattler would have pleaded for the wretched prisoner. The little ancient palace of Rosenberg, said to be built by Inigo Jones, attracted our notice, the gardens belong- ing to which form the principal town parade of the bells and beaux of Copenhagen. The statues in these gar- dens are not worthy of notice, although recommended to the notice of travellers by many of the Copenhagers. In the street adjoining are the barracks for the foot guards, and a covered hall for military exercise, of four hundred feet long. This Gothic edifice is principally remarkable for containing the room in which the King holds his an- nual bed of justice, and for the jewel office : the former is a long low room, the whole length of the building ; before thethrone uponthefloor stand three lions of massy silver, in different attitudes as large as life, and excite a fine idea of barbarous grandeur : the walls are surrounded with large pieces of ancient tapestry, somewhat the worse for age, representing the exploits of tlie most military of the Danish monarchs in their wars with the Swedes. In a little room adjoining the hall are several services of plate, vases, wine-glasses, and goblets, in chrystal, which were presented to Frederic IV. by the Venetian States ; the collection is very valuable and tastefully arranged. In another small apartment, we saw the saddle of Christian IV. covered with pearls, said to be worth 30,000/. which he once used upon a magnificent gala day in Copenha- gen. In the cabinet of jewels are the coronation chairs, crov/ns, and various valuable and curious assortm.ents of jewelry ; but I w^as most gratified by a beautiful service of Danish porcelain, which was made in the new manu- factory of china, on which was exquisitely painted the Flore Dancia, or the indigenous botanical productions of Denmark and Norway. We found it difficult to get a peep at this place, on account, as we were told, of the ^O' .NORTHERN SWrMER. IChap. 4, grand marshal of the court always haviDg the custody •of the key. An old officer of the rank of colonel shewed the curiosities, and through the hands of an attendant received a ducat for his trouble. From the palace I proceeded to the observatory, a noble round tower, one hundred and twenty feet high, in which ;a spiral road of brick nearly winds to the top, so that thus .far any one might ascend or descend on horseback with perfectease and safety : at the top is the observatory of the celebrated Ticho Brahe. The instruments are good andin excellentcondition ; amongst the telescopes there is one that is twelve Danish feet long, and magnifies eight hundred times, made by Alh of Copenhagen. From this tower a young Dane precipitated himself, a short time before we visited it, and was dashed to pieces : at the school to which he belonged, the master had passed over his merits, as he too rashly thought, to compliment a boy of higher rank, but his inferior in learning. The wounded sensibility of the former dro.ve him to frenzy, and caused the melancholy catastrophe above related. Not far from the observatory is the university library ; it contains about four thousand volumes, they are chiefly Aipon theology and jurisprudence ; there are also about two thousand manuscripts, amongst the most rare of the latter is a bible in Rvmic characters. This library has an annual revenue of eight hundred crowns for the sole purpose of purchasing books, and is open to the public. The school of surgery is a small, neat and handsome mo- dern building : under this ix)bf a singular instance of acute sensibility happened a few years since, which is still much talked M3f^ As Kruger, a celebrated anatomi- cal lecturer, was addressing his pupils, he received a let- ter announcing the death of a very dear friend at P^ris ; he was observed to be much agitated, and exclaimed, "<« I have received intelligence which I shall never long survive : I cannot recover the shock." His scholars, ^vho very much loved him, pressed round, and bore him to his home in their arms, where he expired a few hours after. The hospital for secret lying-in, is a handsome edi- fice : here pregnantwomen, who have reasons for seeking 4;onceaiment, are received upon paying a small stipend i €^AP.4.] NORTHERN SUMMEK. 61 they enter at night in masks, and are never seen but by those who are necessary to their comfort, and their names are never required. This is a noble institution, and is said to have produced a very visible diminution in the crime of infanticide. At the tables d'hote at Copenhagen, a stranger is at first truck with the appearance of noblemen with stars glitter- ing upon their breast, being seated at the same table with the rest of the company. This seldom occurs but in the summer, Avhen the heads of noble families who pass that season of the year at their chateaus, come occasion- ally to town, where their houses are generally shut up till the winter. It was at one of these places that I met with an extraordinary instance of the ignorance in which a native of one country may remain of the manners of another. A Danish gentleman, as he was picking his teeth with his foi'k, a delicate custom very prevalent upr« on the continent amongst ail classes, observed that he had heard the English women were very pretty, but he was confident that he never could love them : upon being pressed for his reason he replied, because he understood they were never seen without a pipe in their mouths I We told him that it was very true they had frequently pifies in their mouths, and very sweet ones too, but that they never smoaked : nay, so much did they abhor it, that they regarded the man with disgust who indulged himself in the habit. At Copenhagen I had an opportunity of observing, that a Turk in a Lutheran country can get as gloriously drunk as a Christian. At a table d'hote which I fre- quented, we were occasionally amused by a little fat fol- lower of Mahomet, who had just arrived, with some ap- pearance of consequence, but with a suspicious applica- tion to the Danish government : the mussulman verjr soon forgot or defied the sumptuary provisions of the Al- coran, and became enamored with some excellent port ■wine and English bottled porter ; his libations, which were pretty copious, were generally followed by dancing and kidding his turban round the room ; at length, he was suddenly told to look out for other quarters. A little fa- cetious waiter was asked whether he had removed Hm, F 62 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 4s to prevent his further auginenting the anger of the prophet ? " I know nothing about his prophet," said he, ** all that I know is, that he has got no more money.'* After having perused the description which travellers have given of the grounds and house of Count Bernstoff, I was somewhat disappointed upon visiting them : the former are certainly finely wooded, and command a beau- tiful view of the Sound, but they are not laid out with much taste ; the latter is by no means splendid. I was more gratified with the King's park, which is extensive and highly picturesque, as I was v/ith the grounds and gardens of Prince Frederic, the King's brother : this spot is very delightful, and on account of the motley crowds which flock to it, is in miniature (a very small one) at once the Versailles and Greemvich-part of Denmark. The laws of Denmark prevent the gratifications of shooting : a young Dane, who had been in England, ob- served to me one day with a most serious countenance, that nothing could exceed the impertinence of the hawks^ who, availing themselves of the laws, flew into the room and killed his canary birds. A gloomy curiosity conducted us to the Rasp-house, where capital offenders are confined for life : the' male convicts, some of whom were ironed, rasp and saw Bra- silwood and rein-deer's horns; the latter is used in soup. The females spin. The prisoners are separately confin- ed : the house of correction is on the right : here offen- ders of both sexes are enclosed in the same room, many of them young and healthy, but strange to relate, I only saw one little child in the apartment : they all looked neat and clean, and are made by their labor to contribute tow^ards their support. It has often surprised me that the latter arrangement has not been adopted in the prin- cipal ]Drisons of England ; surely it is a subject well -worthy the notice of the statesman. We have hun- dreds of miserable wretches shut up in confinement af- ter conviction, who, with the exception of picking oakum in some of the correctional houses, and that too in a very desultory and unprofitable manner, do nothing but render their depravity more desperate. Justice de- mands that their services, if possible, should atone for Chap. 4.] NORTHERN SUMMfiR. Ct their crimes ; policy, that they should help to maintaiA themselves ; and humanity, that their health should be promoted by their labor. The AdKiiralty -hospital, the Citizen-hospital, the Or- phans-house, and the hospital of Frederic, are all very humane foundations and well maintained ; there is nothing in them vv^orthy of elaborate description. To an Englishman such establishments, and every other insti- tution by which misfortune can be relieved, misery alle- viated, and infirmity recovered, are proudly familiar to his eye : they constitute the principal beauty of every town and city in his country. Although the manufacto- ries of the north are much inferior to those of the south, I must not omit to mention the gratification which we derived from visiting the manufactory of china, which is very beautiful, and although inits infancy, is thought to rival those of Saxony, Berlin, and Vienna. This manu- factory furnished the beautiful service which we saw in the palace of Rosenberg : it is under the care of direc- tors, who very liberally and politely shew the whole of this very curious and elegant establishment to strangers. I did not leave Copenhagen without visiting the Dutch town in the isle of Amak, about two English miles from the capital, which is inhabited by about four thousand peo- ple, descendants from a col©ny from East Friesland, who were invited to reside here with certain privileges, by one of the ancient kings of Denmark, for the purpose of supplying the city with milk, cheese, butter, and vegeta^ bles ; the neatness and luxuriance of their little gardens cannot be surpassed : they dress in the Dutch style, and are governed by their own laws. The road from this village to the city is constantly crowded with these inde- fatigable people, who by their bustle and activity give it the appearance of a great ant-hill. In Denmark no other money is to be seen than the money of the country, the currency of which is penally protected: I must except, liowever, Dutch ducats which pass all over Europe, and are very seldom below par. There is here a plentiful lack of gold and silver coin, and abundance of copper. Having seen most of the lions of Copenhagen, we pre- pared to bid adieu to our friends, and to shape our course ,^4 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 4. towards Sweden : as a necessary preliminary w^e exchan- ged our Danish" money for Swedish sjnall notes : the ex- change was about three per cent, in our favor ; by this precaution we obviated the difficulty of procuring change for large Swedish notes in the country, and the inconven- ience (and not a small one it is) of carrying its coin. W« also procured a servant who spoke Swedish, which waa very necessary, and purchased ropes and cross bars to enable us to construct a new harness and tackling in Sweden according to the custom of travelling there. When a man is about to set out on a long journey, it is a fortimate thing for him if some little pleasant or ridic- ulous event occur to set him off in good humor ; no- thing therefore could happen more opportunely than the following circumstance : Just before our departure w« had occasion to go to a leather breeches maker^ to which "we were conducted by our lacquais de place : our gentle- man, who by the byc* V/llS iin li;:li'?>^'0 and the coolest of Lis countrymen, with the greatest sang Jroid aadrCoSCd himself very familiarly to the Baron E , the Bavari* >an minister, who was in the shop when we entered, and at last begged to have the honor of introducing him to tis. We bowed to each other with a smile of astonish- ment at the intrepid assurance of our mutual fnend. We took the road to Elsineur, attended by several of our Co- penhagen friends, who begged to accompany us as far as Fredericksborg, where it was agreed that we should dine and part. Every thing in Denmark is very dear, pretty nearly as much so as iu Eng^laud. €hap. 5.] NORTHERK SUMMER. 65 CHAPTER V. Fredericksborg—Storks — Fastidious mares-^Forest laws ^Penalties of tra-uelUng — Prince William of Glouces- ter — Continental equifiages — ^Hamlet's Orchard — -Cron- berg castle — 'Some affecting scenes which passed there — ^ The farewell kiss — The gallantry of captain Macbridc '—The little court of Zdl — The death of the Queen Ma- tilda. THE road from Copenhagen to Fredericksborg, dis- tant about sixteen English miles, is very beautiful, and presents a luxuriant display of lakes, woods, corn- fields, and forests of beech, oak, and fir. Before we reached that town, we passed through a forest of wild horses, some of which we saw ; they had a noble, rough appearance, and presented a fine study for such a pen- cil as Gilpin's. Whilst our dinner was preparing we vis- ited the palace, a heavy and most incongruous massy pile of building, in which black marble contends with red brick, and the simple graces of the Grecian order, with all the minute fretted perplexities of the Gothic ; the whole is covered with copper, and was built by Christian IV. ; it stands in a lake, and seems to be fit only for the residence of frogs, and I believe, with the exception of two old house-keepers, it has no other in- naates. The Sal de Chevalier is a very long room, crowded with paintings, badly arranged, and perishing with damp and mildew : some of them seemed to de- serve a better fate. The pillars which support the cor- nice of the fire-place in this room were once crowned with silver capitals, which the Swedes carried off in one of their irruptions. In the chapel we saw the throne upon which the kings of Denmark were formerly- crowned : the roof is most superbly gilt and decorated, and the walls are covered with the arms of the knights of the first order. As we passed through one of the old galleries, over a moat, • a gust of wind shook the crazy casement, and the great clock heavily struck its hour : it was altogether a place well suited for a second editioa F 2 66 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 5. of the exploits of Sir Bertrand, or would form an ap- propriate academy for the spectre-loving pupils of the German school. In the gloomy grounds of this palace we again saw our old friend the stork : this subject of his Danish Ma- jesty generally quits his territories in October, and re- turns in Spring ; and what is singular, he always returns to his own nest. From this place we walked to the royal stud, about half a mile distant, (the road to which was exquisitely picturesque) where the king has two thousand fine hors- es, each of which is disfigured, by being marked with a large letter on one side of the haunch, and the year pf his birth on the other. There is here a beautiful and very rare breed of milk-white horses : they always herd together, and the mares will not permit the stalions of any other breed to approach them. I have been inform- ed ihat there is a similar breed in the island of Ceylon. There is as much good nature as policy in the permis- sion which his Danish Majesty grants to all the farmers, to have their mares covered by his finest stallions gratui- tously : hence the fine breed of horses in Denmark, the keep of which happily for that noble animal, is the only cheap thing in the kingdom. This part of the country is said to abound more in game than any other, but although the forest-laws prevail with all their rigor in Denmark Proper, except that the punishment of death is commuted into perpetual impris- onment, yet there is but little game, and but little in- crease in the breed of deer. It is a just retribution for the severity of the prohibition. After a glass of excel- lent Burgundy, which, as it was the signal of departure, seemed to lose half its flavor, we pressed our excellent friends by the hands, and proceeded on the road to El- smeur. It is one of the penalties of travelling, and a painful one it is, to meet with here and there a being, who de- lights, attaches, and is gone for ever. It was even so with one from whom I parted on this very spot, in all human probability never more to meet on this side the grave, He was a youth full of genius, accomplished, Chap. 5.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 67 diffident, gentle, brave, and generous : he came from the region of mountains and cataracts, from the Swiss- erland of the north, where the winter snow is seen un- disturbed to settle on the naked breast of the hardy and happy peasant. I must again borrow the language of my adored Shakespeare, to paint my noble young Nor^ wegian : " His head unmellowM, but his judgment ripe-.: And in a word (for far behind his wortlt CoiTie all the praises that I now bestow), He was conaplete in feature and in mind, With all good grace to grace a gentleman." My memory will long dwell with delight upon the name of Knudtzon. Time would not admit of our seeing Fredericsvaark, which is near this place. The cannon-foundery and man- ufactories were established by General Claussen, who, by his skill and perseverance, has triumphed over the most formidable difficulties of local situation : the wiiole is at present under the superintendance of our ingenious countryman, Mr. English. It is said that this establish- ment can completely equip a fifty gun ship in two months, in all her guns, powder," and stores. The country houses, many of which we passed, are generally built of wood, piainted red or light yellow : they seldom exceed two stories, frequently containing only a sviit of ground floor apartments, and are far more comfortable within, than handsome without. Some- times they are built of brick, when the frame and tim- bers are visible, and have a very unpleasant appearance. The gardens are in general formally laid out, and the garden door is remarkable for being formed of a frame covered with fine wire netting, through which the grounds behind appear a& through a muslin veil, and the garden railing is almost invariably heavy and tasteless. Through a forest of fine beech, the sun shining glori* ously, and making the trunk of many a tree look like a pillar of gold, and illuminating the casement of many a romantic little cottage, we reached the palace of Fre- densborg, or the Mansion of Peace ; it stands in a val- 68 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 5. ley, and was the retreat of the remorseless Juliana Ma- ria, after the young Crown Piince had taken possession of the veins of government, which, having stained with blood, she vainly endeavored to retain. Here in solitude she resigned her breath. No doubt her last moments v/ere agonized by the compunctious visitings of con- science, for the vvrongs which she had heaped up©n the unfortunate Matilda, and her savage sacrifice of Struen- see and Brandt. The grass was growing in the court, and upon the steps. The building is a large square front, surmounted with a dome, and extensive crescent wmgs ; the vvhole is of brick, stuccoed white. The wiridow-shutters were closed, and the glass in several places broken ; all looked dreary and desolate : after thundering at the door with a stick, w-e at length gained admittance. The apartments were handsome, and con- tained several good Flemish paintings. The domestic shewed us, with great exultation, the hall in which the Crown Prince entertained Prince William of Gloucester with a grand dinner about two years before. The Danes always mentioned this Prince with expressions of regard and admiration, that shewed how favorable were the im- pressions created by his amiable deportment and engag- ing manners during his visit to Denmark. The gardens and woods are very beautiful, but neglected, and gently slope down to the extensive lake of Esserom. As we roved along, the birds, Vv ith plaintive melodies, hailed the moist approach of evening, and our time just ad- mitted of our visiting, which we did with real satisfac- tion, a vast number of statues, which are circularly rang- ed in an open space surrounded by shrubs, representing the various costumes ot the Norwegian peasantry : some of them appeared to be admirably chiseled. Upon returning to the carriage, the images of what I had just seen produced the following lines. : Chap. 5.] NORTHERN SUMMER. ©t FREDE.YSBORG, THE DESERTED PALACE OF THE LATE qUEEN DOV/AGa*. JULIANA MARIA. Blest are the steps of Virtue's queen ! Where'er she moves fresh roses bloom, And when she droops, kind Nature pour* Her genuine tears in gentle show'rs. That love to dew the willow greeu That over-canopies her tomb. But ah ! no willing mourner her* Attends to tell the tale of woe : Why is yon statue prostrate thrown. Why has the grass green'd o'er the stonft. Why 'gainst the spider'd casement dreai: So sullen seems the wind to blow ? How mournful was the lonely bird, Withi" yon dark neglected grove ! Say, was it fancy ? From its throat Issu'd a strange and cheerless note ; 'Twas not so sa.d as grief I heard. Nor yet so wildly sweet as love. In the deep gloom of yonder dell, Amibition's blood-stain'd victincis sighed t While time beholds, without a tear, Fell Desolation hovering near, Whose angry blushes seem to tell. Here Juliana shudd'ring died. As we descended to Elsineur, the town, the Sound, en-* livened by shipping at anchor and under sail, and the shores of Sweden, presented an enchanting prospect, which the brilliancy of the sky at this season of the year, in these northern climates, enabled me to contemplate till midnight. The next morning as I was quitting my hotel to take another ramble, the Governor of Copenha- gen, Prince W., and his Princess and suit, who had been spending the preceding day at Elsineur, were setting off for the capital : they were all crammed into a shabby coach, drawn by six horses in rope harness. It is aston- kliing how little a handsome travelling ec^uipage is un- |» NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 5. clerstood upon the continent. The town, which is prin- cipally built of brick, is large, and has a very respectable appearance. The gardens of Marie Lyst, or Maria's Delight, which are within half an English mile of Elsineur, cannot fail to prove very interesting to every admirer of our immor- tal Shakespeare. I here trod upon the very spot, where, with all the uncertainty of antiquity, tradition asserts that the'Father of Hamlet was murdered : that affecting dra- ma is doubly dear to me. Its beauties are above ail eulo- gium ; and I well remember, the desire of seeing a ghost occasioned its being the first I ever beheld. As I stood under the shade of a spreading beech, the " Majesty of buried Denmark" seemed to say to the afflicted prince ; Sleeping within my orchard. My custom always in the afternoon, Upon iTiy secure hoar thine uncle stole, With juice of cursed heberon in a viaU And in the porches of mine ears did pour The leprous distilinent Thus was I sleeping, by a brother's hand Of life, of crown, of queen, at once dispatch'd. Cut off, e'en in the blossoms of my sin, Unhousell'd, unappointed, unaneal'd. No i*eckoning made, but sent to my account With all my imperfections on my head. A more beautiful spot for such a frightful conference could not have been selected. The walks from this cele- brated scene, to the tower which overhangs the cliff, and from whence there is a fine view of Cronberg Castle, are enchantmg. There is a little chateau near Hamlet's Orchard belonging to the Crown Prince, who permits one of his chamberlains, called a kammerherr (a noble- man) to reside lieve : the symbol of his distinction is a singular one ; a golden key, fastened by a blue ribband to the back part of the body of his coat. The spires of the fortress of Cronberg, which appear- ed immediately below me, and the battlements upon which the hapless Matilda v/as permitted to walk during her confinement in that castle, excited an irresistible ^'ish to lay before my reader a few of the most aSectin^ mRAT. 5.] NORTHERN SUMMER. . 71 circumstances, which passed under its gloomy roof du- ring her captivity. It is well known what neglect and suffering the Queen, in the bloom of youth and beauty? endured, from the fatal imbecility of the King's mind, and the hatred and jeal- ousy of Sophia Magdalen, the grandmother, and Juliana Maria, the step-mother, of his Majesty ; and that the anger of the latter was encreased by Matilda's producing a prince, an event v/hich annihilated the hopes that Juli- ana cheiished of seeing the elevation of her favorite son Prince Trederick, to the throne. The Queen, about this period, 1769, was saved from ruin, only by attaching to her confidence the Count Struensee, who, sagacious, pe- netrating, bold, enterprising, and handsome, without the pretensions of birth, had ascended to an unlimited power over the will of the sovereign, had obtained the reins of government, and had far ach^anced with almost unexam- pled celerity and unshaken firmness in reforming the mighty abuses Avhich encumbered and distorted the fi- nance, the laws, the administration of justice, the police, the marine, the army, and the exchequer, and in short ev- ery department of government. Struensee restored the i^ueen to the bosom of her sovereign, and with the assistance of Count Brandt, the friend of Struensee, envi- roned the King, and made him inaccessible to every oth- er person. His Majesty's great delight at this period arose from the society/ of a negro boy, and a little girl about ten years of age, who used to anmuse him by break- ing the windows of the palace, soiling and tearing the furniture, and throwing dung and-turf at the statues in the garden. Struensee experienced the usual fate of re- formers, the abhorrence of those whom he corrected, and the suspicions or indifference of the people whom he served. He dislodged a nest of hornets : Juliana, with the keen unwearied vigilance of the tyger-cat, watched her victims from the gloomy shades of Fredensborg ; where herself and her party, consisting of Counts Ran- zau, Koller, and others, fixed on the 1 7th of January, 1772, to close the career of their hated rivals : their sa- vage resolve was facilitated by the last fatal and infatua- ted measures of Struensee, who beheld too late the phren- rt NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 5, zy of precipitate s)"^ steins of reform : he prevailed upon the King to issue an edict empowering every creditor to arrest his debtor without reference to birth or rank ; the nobility flew to their estates in all directions, with re- venge in their hearts ; he terrified and grievously offen- ded the mxild and rigid citizens of Copenhagen, by assi- milating its police to that of Paris, and by disbanding the royal foot-guards, composed of Norwegians, for the pur- pose of drafting them into other regiments. His days, his hours, were now numbered : on the night of the 1 6th of January, a magmficent hal fiare was given at the great palace, since, as I have related, burned. The young Queen never looked more lovely, she was the very soul of this scene of festive grandeur : Grace was in every step, heaven in her eye. It was the collected brilliancy of the expiring flame. At three o*clock a dead silence reigned throughout the pa- lace : the conspirators, with several guards, passed the bridge over the canal, and surrounded the avenues. Ju- liana, Prince Frederick, and Ranzau, went to the door of the King's apartment, which at first the fidelity of a page in waiting refused to unlock ; they terrified the monarch by their representations of an impending plot, and thrust into his hands for signature, the orders for seizing the Queen, Struensee, and Brandt. Upon seeing the name of Matilda upon the order, love and reason for a moment took possession of the King's mind, and he threw the pa- per from him, but upon being ardently pressed, he sign- ed it, put his head upon his pillow, pulled the bed-clothes over him, and in a short time forgot what he had done. Koller proceeded to Struensee's room, and being a pow- erful man, seized the latter by tiie throat, and with some assistance sent him and Brandt in a close carriage, strong- ly guarded, to the citadel. Ranzau and Colonel Eickstadt opened the door of the Queen's chamber, and awoke her from^ profound sleep to unexpected horror. These sa- vage intruders are said upon her resisting to have struck her : the indecency and indignity of the scene can scarce- ly be imagined ; after the Queen had hurried on her clothes, she was forced into a carriage, attended by a Ghap. 5.] NORTHERN SUMMER. rs squadron of dragoons, and sent off to the fortress of Cronberg' ; upon her arrival, she was supported toiler' bed-chamber, a cold, damp, stone room : upon observinr^ the bed she exclaimed, " Take me av/ay 1 take me away i " rest is not for the miserable, there is no rest for me.'"* After some violent convulsions of nature, tears came to her relief : " Thank God," said the wretched Queen, " for this blessing, my enemies cannot rob me of iL." Up- on hearing the voice of her infant the Princess Louisa, who had been sent after her in anoth-er carriage, she pres- sed her to her bosom, kissed her v/ith the most impassion- ed affection, and bathed her with tears. " Ah I art thou here ?'* said she, " poor unfortunate innocent ; this is indeed some balm to thy wretched mother." In the ca- pital a scene of terror, tumult, and forced festivity fol- lowed : at twelve o'clock the next day, Juliana and her son paraded the King in his state coach, arrayed in his regalia, through the pmicipal streets, but only here and there a solitary shout of joy was heard. For three days the imprisoned queen refused to take any food, and '« Three times she crossed the shade of sleepless night." It is said that the King never once enquired for her, and diow became the sole property of the infamous Juliana, who guarded her treasure with the eye of a basilisk. The court of Great Britain made a mild but firm communi- cation upon the subject of the personal safety of the •Queen : nine commissioners were appointed to examine the prisoners : the following were the principal charges against Struensee. 1 . A horrid design against the life of his sacred Ma- jesty. 2. An attempt to oblige the King to resign the crown. 3. A criminal connection v/itli the Queen. 4. The improper manner in Vv^ich he had educated the Prince Royal. 5. The great power and decisive influence he had ac- <^uired in the government of the state. 6. The manner in which he used this power and influ- ence in the administi'ation of affairs. G r4 NORTHERN SUMMER. -[Ckap. 5.. Aip.onr;;st the charges preferred against tlie Count Liui^dt \.'as the ibilowiiig ridiculous one : " While the King vras playing in his usual manner '' -with Count Brandt, the Count bit his Mtvjesty's fino-er.'* Four commissioners proceeded to examine the Queen, ^yho, ^.vith the v/rctched Constance, might have exclaimed Hei'e I and Sorrow sit, Here is my ilirone, let \ii\\g% come bow to it. Her answers were pointed, kiminous and dignified : she denied most sojemniy any criminal intercourse with Stru- cnsee. S. — — , a counsellor of state, abruptly informed the Queen, that Struensee had already signed a confes- sion in the highest degree disgraceful to the honor and c!ie:nity of her Majesty. " Impossible 1" exclaimed the astonished Queen, '<• Struensee never could make such " a confession : and if he did, I here call heaven to wit- ••' ness, that what he said was false." The artful S . played off a master-piece of subtilty, which would liave done honor to a demon : " Well then," said he, " as your " Majesty has protested against the truth of his confes- " sion, he deserves to die for having so traitorously defi- " led the sacred character of the Queen of Denm.ark." This remark struck the wretched Princess senseless in her chair : after a terrible conflict between honor and humanity, pale and trem.bling, in a faultering voice she said, " And if I confess what Struensee has said to be *' true, may he hope for mercy ?*' which v/ords she pro- ;nounced with the most affecting voice, and with all the captivations of youth, beauty, and majesty, in distress : S nodded, as if to assure her of Struensee's safety upon those terms, and immediately drev/ up her confes- aon to that effect, and presented it to her to sign ; upon this her frame .became agitated v,dth the most violent emotions ; she took up the pen and began to write her nam.e, and proceeded as far as Carol — , when observing the malicious joy w^iich sparkled in the eyes of S , she became convinced that the whole was a base strata- gem, and, throwing avfay the pen, exclaimed, " I.am de- *' ceived, Struensee never accused me, I know him too ^ yv-ell ; he never could have been guilty of so great ^ eiiAP. 5.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 75 " crime." She endeavored to rise, but her strength failed her, she sunk do'vn, fainted, and fell back into her chair. In this state, the barbarous and audacious S put the pen between her fingers, which he held and guided, and before the unfortunate Princess could recover, the leUers ^—'ina Matilda^ were added. The commissioners iiiniii:- diately departed, and itft her alone : upon her recover- ing and finding them gone, she conjectured the full hor- ror of her situation. To afford some coloring to the mock trial which fol- lowed, the advocate Uhidal was appointed her defender : his speech on behalf of the Queen, was in the highest degree able, pathetic, and convincing. Uhldai di;> charged such duties, as in a fevf years afterwards devolv- ed upon the eloquent Malsherbes, and with equal effect : the illustrious clients of both were pre -judged : it was the shov/ of justice, not to investigate, but to give a spu- rious eclat to their fate. Hov/ opposite v/as this tribunal to that which Sheridan, in ablaze of eloquence, apostro- phized upon the trial of Wa.rren Hastings, Esq. ! *' From such a base caricature of justice," exclaimed the orator, " I turn my eyes with horror. I turn them " here to this dignified and high tribunal, vv^here the Ivla- " jesty of real Justice sits enthroned. Here I perceive " her in her proper robes of truth and mercy, chaste " and simple, accessible and patient, awful without se- " verity, inquisitive without m^eanness, her loveliest at- " tribute appears in stooping to raise the oppressed, and " to bind up the wounds of the afHicted." The grand tribunal divorced the Queen, and separated her for ever from the King, and proposed to blemish th« birth of the Princess Louisa, by their decree, and reduce the little itmocent to that orphanage " which springs not " from the grave, that falls not from the hand of Provi- " dence, or the stroke, of death ;" but the cruel design was never executed. Uhidal also exerted all the powers of his eloquence for the two unfortunate Counts. Hu- manity revolts at their sentence, which the unhappy King, it is said, signed with thoughtless gaiety : tivey had been confined from the seventeenth of January, and fin the tvrenty-tighth of March, at eleven o'clock, were To NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 5. diTiv/n cait to execution in two separate cririiages, in a field near the east gate of the town : Brandt ascended tlie scaffold first, and displayed the most undaunted in- trepidity. After his sentence was ready and his coat of arms torn, he calmly prayed a few minutes, and then spoke with great mildness to the people. Upon the ex- ecutioner endeavoring to assist him in taliixng oft' his pelisse, he said, *• Stand off, do not presume to touch " me :" he then stretched out his hand, v/hich, without shrinking from the blow, v/as struck off, and almost at the same moment his head was severed from his body. Struensee, during this bloody scene, stood at the bottom of the scaffold in trembling agony, and became so faint >7hen his friend's blood gushed through the boards, and* trickled down the steps, that he w^as obliged to-be sup- ported as he ascended them : here his courage wholly forsook him ; he several times drew back his hancl, wliich w^as dreadfully maimed before it was cut off, and &t length he was obliged to be held down before the ex- ecutioner could perform his last office. Copenhagen was unpeopled on the day of this savage saciifice ; but iilthough the feelings of the vast crowed which surround- ed the scaffold, had been artfully v/rought upon by Ju- liana and her partizans, they beheld the scene of butch- cry with horror, and retired to their homes in sullen silence. Nothing but the spirited conduct of our then ambassador, Sir Robert Keith, prevented the Queeii from being immolated at the same tim.e. On the 27th of May, a squadron of two British frig- ates and a cutter, under the command of the gallant Cap- tain Macbride, cast anchor off Helsingfors, and on th« 3 0th every thing was finally arranged for the removal of the Queen : upon the barge being announced, she clasp- ed her infant daughter to her breast, and shed upon her a shower of tears. The Queen then sunk into an appa- rent stupor ; upon recovering, she prepared to tear her- self away, but the voice, the smiles, and endearing mo- tions of the babe chained her to the spot ; at last, sum- moning up all her resolution, she once more took it to h.er arms, and in ail the ardor and agony of distracted i jvcj imprinted upon its lips the farewell kiss, and re-- Chap. 5.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 77 turning it to the attendant, exclainiev.!, '* Away ! away ! I now possess nothing here," and was supported to the barge in a state of agony which bafHes description. — Upon the Queen approaching the frigate, the sque^dron saluted her as the sister of his Britannic Majesty, and when she came on board, Captain Macbride hoisted the Danish colors, and insisted upon the fortress of Cronberg sahiting her as Queen of Denmark, wiiich sakite was returned with two guns less. The squadron then set sail for Stade, in the Hanoverian dominions, but, owing to contrary winds, was detained y\dtliin sight of the castle the whole day, and in the early part of the following morning its spires were still faintly visible, and until they completely faded in the mist of -^distance, the Queen sat upon the deck, her eyes ri vetted upon them, and her hands clasped in silent agony. Shall we follow the wretched Matilda a little farther ? The path is solitary, very short, and at the end of it is her tomb. Upon her landing at Stade she proceeded to a little remote hunt- ing seat upon the borders of the Elbe, where she remain-* ed a few months, until the castle of Zell, destined for her future residence, was prepared for her : she removed to it in the autumn ; here her little court was remarked for its elegance and accomplishments, for its bounty to the peasantry, and the cheerful serenity which reigned throughout. The Queen spent much of her time alone, and having obtained the portraits of her children from Denmark, she placed them in a retired apartment, and frequently addressed them in the most affecting manner as if present. So passed away the time of this beautiful and accom- plished exile, until the eleventh of May 1775, when a rapid inflammatory fever put a period to her afflictions in the twenty -fourth year of her age. Her coffin is next to that of the dukes of Zell. Farevfell poor Queen I " Ah ! while we sigh we sink, and are -wlijit we deplore." G2 T^ NORTHERN SUMMF.H, [Chap. &, CHAPTER VI. Cress the scund—Siveden — Ciriderella's mice — Rafiid ira- vellmg'-^Stran^e question Ho ff -grazing Misled bij ths light — A discovery d caution — A French hatch ^I^HE traveller will do right to obtain letters of intro- A. duction to Mr. Fenwick, our consul at Elsineur : tliey will be the means of making him acquainted with an nmi&ble and highly respectable family, whose man- ners, information, and hospitality, must afford gratifica- tion. In the evening we procured a boat, embarked ourselves and baggage, and, by the assistance of a gen- tle breeze that just curled the water, w^e crossed the Sound, about four English miles in breadth, and in three quarters of an hour found ourselves in Sweden. We passed close by Cronberg Castle, v/hich stands upon a peninsular point the nearest to Sweden. I was again forcibly struck with the abbey -like appearance of this building : it now forms the residence oi the Governor of Elsineur. It mounts three hundred and sixty-five pieces of cannon, and its subterranean apartments vvill hold micre than a regiment of men. Fame, at one period, assign- ed to it the character of the impregnable and impassable fortress. On the celebrr.ted second of April, Admirals Parker and Nelson passed it with perfect security, and disdained to return a shot. Two British seventy -fours judiciously moored, and well served, would, in a short time, blow all its boasted bastions and intrenchments at the moon. No visitor, without special permiiscion from the governor (seldom granted), is ailov/ed to put his foot upon the draw -bridge : why all this caution is used, I know not ; perhaps to keep up the mystery of invinci- bility. For my part, I am so well assured that the poli- cy of power is unostentatiously to show itself, that could I have discharged a paper bullet from my little boat into this redoubted castle, I would have enclosed in it this sentence : " Where there is concealment there is appre- hension." This place w^as open to every one, until the •wand of Fatima was broken on the second of April. Cji.M'. 6.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 79' The Crown battery is a place of real force, and even Englishmen are permitted to see it Avithout the least dif- ficulty. We disembarked under the steep and rbcky shores of Helsinborg, and a small town upon a long pier,- where the carriaee was landed with considerable risk- and difficulty ; and I warn those who travel with one, to take good care that they cross the Sound in calm, weather, as it is obliged to be lifted out of the boat by mere manual strength. On landing, a Swedish hussar, a line-looking fellow, in blue looss trowers and jacket,., with his two side-locks plaited, and fastened at the end by little w^eights of lead, demanded very civilly our passports ; and, whilst he v/ent to the commander with, them, paid our robust boatmen in Danish money :. Dollars Marks S killings For the boat - - 3 q Carriae-e - - 2 o Drink money - 3 We now settled all our accounts with Denmark, and proceeded to a very neat little inn, not far from the shore, where we found comfortable accommodations, which I suppose' are improved by the neighborhood of Ramlos, where the nobility of this province assemble every season to drink the waters. Having refreshed ourselves with some excellent coffee, we hastened to the duties of the evening, which proved a very busy one, for we intended to start direct for Stockholm, at five o'clock in the morn- ing, and our impatience cost our /inde nothing less than figuring away a few days afterwards in the Stockholm Gazette as a couple of couriers just landed. The reader who never means to, make a nearer approach to Swe- den, than from his fire-side to his library, may as well pass over the following dull but necessary detail of money matters : SWEDISH MONEY. SILVER. 12 Runstycks make r shilling. 48 Skillings -— 1 silver dollar or Banco dollar »^ 1 Silver dollar is worth at par five shillings English.. to NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 6. PAPER. The notes of Government are in plotes, Ricksg-alds, and Banco dollars. A plote is equal to 16 skillings, or one third of a silver dollar, or Is. 8f/. English. This small paper is very useful to travellers. A PJch.^alds dollar carries an agio of 50 per cent, so that one silver dollar is equal to one and a half of a Ricks- gal ds dollar. A Banco dollar is worth at par 5^. English, the same as the silver dollar. N. B. Banco money is both coin and paper. To the Swedish collector of the customs we paid Drs. Mks. Sks. For tax and wharfao^e - - 2 12 Porterag-e - - 1 12 We paid also a little sum to the custom-house oflBcer for a slight search. Whilst we were settling these little matters, a young fellow, from whose face the picture of honesty might have been penciled, with the additional recommendation of a military hat, cockade and feather, such as might be- long to the rank of a serjeant, made a low bow, and an application, which will be more clearly understood when the reader is informed that in Sweden, the traveller Avho is not willing to wait an hour and a half for his hoi'ses at the end of a post, will take special care to dispatch some hours before he sets off, an avante courier, called a ■vorbodc^ who will proceed to the end of the journey for a mere trifle per mile Swedish, which is equal to six miles and three quarters English, and will order horseS: to be ready at the proper post houses, at the hours which are mentioned in his instructions. The peasants are obliged by law, to furnish the adjoin- ing post-houses with a certain number of horses, accord- ing to the value of their farms, and are under the control of the post-master. The horses are obliged to remain twenty -four hours at the post-house : their owners are paid for their time and trouble, if a traveller arrives ; if not, they lose both. This regulation must be oppres- sive to the peasant, and injurious to agriculture, and calb- Chap. 6.] NORTHERN SUMMER. ST loudly for amelioration. The price 'of posting is twelve skillings, or eight pence Engiish, for a horse, per Swe- dish mile. When the post-house happens to be in a town the price is doubled. The object of our visitor was to state that he was going to Feltza, (a great part of the way to Stockholm) and if we would pay for the hire of a little cart and horse he v/ould act as our vorbode, and carry some of the luggage : to these terms we soon acceded, and he retired to rest in order to start at two o'clock in the morning, which he did in a little carriage, somewhat of the size and shape of that v.^hich in London I have seen drawn by a large mastiff, and filled with dogs* ir^eat. Our servant, who had been in Sweden before, and knew its characteristic honesty, entrusted him with his trunk, to which we added another. Our next care was to prepare our rope harness, as our tackling w^s to be entirely of a new construction, and to lay in provision for the journey, the mo&t valuable part of which was some ribs of roasted mutton, cooked after our own fash" ion ; but lo ! and behold ! v/hen we rose in the morning, our basket in which it had been most carefully deposited, had been rifled by some vile dog, and only a mangled and indented wreck remained. The unprovided travel- ler may vainly expect to find any thing which he can eat on the road ; even eggs in this part of the country are a rarity. As I had it in contemplation ;to spend the winter at Venice or Rome, I v/as oblige^^l with regret to proceed direct to Stockholm, instead of visiting Carlscrona, the celebrated Swedish arsenal, th Upon our arrival at Feltja, the last post to the capital, our vorbode took leave of us, and expressed very affec- tionately his regret that he could not proceed with our luggage further. We Were much pleased with his civi- lity on the road ; for he halted every evening at the same inn with us, and started three or four hours before us every morning, to have our horses ready at the different posts, and indeed I never saw a more frank, honest look- ing fellow. We entered the suburbs of Stockholm over a long floating bridge under a gate, and, at the custom-house which adjoins it, we underwent a rigorous examination, which we could neither mitigate by money nor persua- sion : it was the delay only that we dreaded. The search, however, intmduced us to a very interesting secret. Just as I had finished, in my careless way, sitting upon one of .the trunks which had been strapped, a little eulogium in my memorandum book upon the simple fidelity of our young Swede, we discovered the cause of his having so tenderly regretted that he could proceed no further with us than Feltja. His vorbodeshiji had, duiing his custody of our trunks, picked their locks, and mode free with a great coat, nankeen breeches, some . shirts and handker- chiefs ; but what our poor servant, who partook of the loss, regretted most, although I never witnessed greater philosophy in grief, was a golden locket, given to him by some cherry-]ip*d princess or another, to prevent the usu- al effects of time and distance on roving lovers. Somci wanderers, like Voltaire's traveller, who observing that M NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chat. G. the host of the first inn he entered had ^arrotty looks, made a memorandum that all the men of that country were red haired, would, from this unexpected develope- ment, have protested against the honesty af all Sweden^ Heavens ! what a fool should I have been, had I permit- ted the felonious treachery of this fellow to make me think unworthily of a race of men through ages so justljr renowned for their valor and their virtue : perhaps Swe- den never enrolled this man amongst her children. The forbidden friiit too, was placed close to his lips, and ali suspicion and vigilance withdrawn ; and forlorn indeed v/ould be the condition of society, if property had no other protection than an appeal to the virtues of mankinds Our misfortune, however, was a feather, compared to that which bcfel an English merchant on this very spot a few days before, who was proceeding to Petersburg; and, as it may operate as a serviceable caution, I shall men- tion it. In his packages were some English bonnets,, gloves, and shoes, presents to some beloved sisters : the rude talons of the law pounced upon the whole col- lection, and condemned their unfortunate bearer to the penalty of 130/. Having replaced our goods and chat- tels, we proceeded, passing through a suburbal part of more than an English mile long, terribly paved with large unwieldy and unequal stones, and entered the city which promised us great gratification. We drove to the Hotel Francais., so called perchance, because not a •^soul in the house could speak a word of French. Like Bottom's ide^, in the Mid&un\mer Night's Dream, " 'I <' will get Peter .Quince to write a ballad of this dream i '' it shall ]>e called Bottom!' s Dream^ because it -hath no ^' hottom'^ After groping up a dark winding stone stair- case, we were, with much difficulty, shewn into a com- fortable suit of apartments. It is surprising that the -hotels in Stockholm ^e so few and so bad. CftAP. r.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 89 CHAPTER Vn. ^sTational ivelcome — Brief descHfition ofStockhoht—->ji^reat genius in decline — Painting — Short sketch of Gustavus III. — Female stratagem— 'The palace — The state bed — The opera house- — Assassination— ^Forgiveness — ,4 hint not intended to offend, 1^1 the morning our slumbers were gently dispelled by music, which " came o*er our ears like the sweet south." According to the custom of the country seve- ral musicians, I believe belonging to the military band, serenaded us at our chamber door, with some exquisite soft national airs, which induced us to rise. After break- fast we ascended an eminence of rock called Mount Mo- ses, in the south suburb, from whence we beheld in a bird's eye view this singular and beautiful city, which appears to be a little larger than Bristol, is situated in 59 deg. 20 min. of north latitude, and stands upon a small portion of two peninsulas and seven islands of grey gra- nite, washed by a branch of the Baltic, the lake Maler and the streams that flow from it. The palace, a large quadrangular building, uniting elegance to grandeur, rises from the centre of the city, which it commands in all directions. It will be more particularly described af« terwards. The merchants' houses, which are in the south suburb, run parallel with ' the spacious quay, and front the ships which are moored close to it, are lofty, and in a graceful style of Italian architecture. Most of the buildings, rising amphitheatrically one above another, are either stone or brick stuccoed, of a white or light yel- low color, and the roofs are covered with dark or light brown tiles, and presents with the surrounding scenery of scattered half-covered rock, thin forests of fir, the lake, and the windings of the Baltic, a most romantic and enchanting prospect. The streets are very badly paved. The reputation of Sergell the statuary speedily attract- ed us to his house, where we beheld his beautiful Cupid and Psyche, which he has determined shall not be sold, until that event shall have happened which stops and sane- H2 00 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. T. tines the works of genius. These figures display the finest conceptions of feeling, grace, and elegance, and heartily did I rejoice to find it in that country, which I trust will never permit it to be removed. In a tempora- ry building, we had also the gratification of seeing the colossal pedestrian statue of the late Gusta\Tis III. in bronze, which had just been cast, and was then polish- ing : it is a present from the citizens of Stockholm, and will cost when finished, 40,000/. and is intended to com- memorate the marine victory, obtained by that illustri- ous prince over the Russians, in 1790. The King, with a mild but intrepid countenance, which I was informed is a most faithful likeness of him, is represented holding a rudder in one hand, and extending an olive branch with the other : he is attired in the very graceful costume which he introduced, resembling that of the old Spanish, and the feet are sandaled. It is a noble work of art, and may, in all human probability, be considered as the last effort of its distinguished author : a pedestal of one solid block of porphyry is already raised near the palace to receive it upon the quay, which in that part is formed into a crescent. Sergell, so long and so justly celebrated, is rapidly de- scending into the vale of years, and although honored and enriched, a morbid melancholy, such as might arise from neglect and poverty, disrobes his graceful occupation of her attractions, and renders him disgusted "with himself and with the world. It has been said, and very justly, that only extreixie mental wretchedness can make a man indifferent to the applauses of his fellow-creatures : such is the forlorn case of the great but hapless Sergell ; the friends of his youth have no charm for him, the admira-r tion of his countrymen and of foreigners no.exhiliration. Visible only to his v/orkmen, and that reluctantly, the il- lustrious artist is sinking into the inelancholy misan- thrope ; but when his hand shall no longer display its skill, taste will worship, and wealth will covet, the mar- ble v/hich it has touched, and time will enrol his name smongst the most favored sons of Genius. In painting, the two Martins, who are brothers, may be considered as reflecting considerable honor upon their \ Chap. 7.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 91 country ; one of them, I believe' the youngest, has paint- ed and engraved a series of views of StockhohTi with great fidelity and beauty. In the academy of sculpture and painting, raised by Adoiphus Frederick, are some fi.ne casts, said to be the first impressions of the only moulds ever permitted to be taken from the antiques at Rome : they were given to Charles XI. by Louis XIV. There are also some casts from the bas-reliefs of Trajan's column. The children of tradesmen are gratuitously taught to draw in this in- stitution, that their minds may be . furnished with ira« pressions of taste in those trades which are susceptible of them. All the pupils furnish their, own crayons and paper : out of the funds of the academy, a certain num- ber are sent into foreign countries to improve them- selves. The funds, unaided, would be inadequate to the object, but the munificence of public spirited indivi- duals, which throughout Sweden is very great, has hith* erto supplied the deficiency. The academy of sciences was founded in 1739, and consists of one hundred members and foreign associates. Their researclies, reputed to possess considerable learn- ing and ability, are published every three months in the Swedish language. The cabinet of natural history is enriched with several rare collections, particularly with subjects which occurred in one of Captain Cook's circumnavigations, deposited in the academy of Mr. Sparmann. Most of the living artists of Sweden owe their eleva- tion and consequent fame to the protective hand of the late king, Gustavus III., a prince, who, to the energies and capacities of an illustrious warrior, united all the re- fined elegances of the most accomplished gentleman : liis active spirit knew no repose ; at one time the world beheld him amidst the most formidable difficulties and dangers, leading his fleets to glory in the boisterous bil- lows of the Baltic ; at another time it marked him amidst the ruins of Italy, collecting with a sagacious eye and profuse hand, the rich materials for ameliorating the taste und genius of his own country. What Frederic the Great was to Berlin, Gustavus the Third was to Stock- «2 Northern SUMMER. (CnA^.r. ■holm : almost every object which embellishes this beau- tiful city arose from his patronage, frequently from his own designs, and will be durable monuments of that ca- pacious and graceful mind, which, had iK>t death arrest- ed,would, in the profusion of its munificence, haVe impov- erished the country which it adorned. This prince de- Tived what hereditary talent he possessed from his moth- er Ulrica, who, by a capacious and highly cultivated mind, displayed that she was w^orthy of being the sister of Frederic the Great. Her marriage with Adolphus Frederic v/as the fruit of her ovm unassisted address, which, as it has some novelty, I shall relate : The court and senate ^of Sweden sent an ambassador incognito to Berlin, to watch apd report upon the characters and dis- positions of Frederic's two unmarried sisters, Ulrica and Amelia, the former of whom had the reputation of be- ing very haughty, crafty, satyrical and capricious ; and the Swedish court had already pretty nearly determined in favor of Amelia, who was remarkable for the attrac- tion of her person and the sweetness of her mind. The mission of the ambassador was soon buzzed abroad, and Amelia was overwhelmed with miisery, on account of her insuperable objection to renounce the tenets of Cal- vin for those of Luther : in this state of wretchedness she implored the assistance of her sister's counsels tt) prevent an union so repugnant to her happiness. The wary Ulrica advised her to assume the most insolent and repulsive deportment to every one, in the presence of the Swedish ambassador, which advice she followed, whilst Ulrica put on all those amiable qualities which her sister had provisionally laid aside : every one, igno- rant of the cause, was astonished at the change ; the ambassador infomied his court, that fame had complete- ly mistaken the two sisters, and had actually reversed their reciprocal good and bad qualities. Ulrica was con- sequently preferred, and mounted the throne of Swe- den, to the no little mortification of Amelia, who too fete discovered the stratagem of her sister and her Ad- viser. A traveller will find much gratification in occasionally dining at the merchants' club, to which strangers are in- troduced by subscribers ; here vve found the dinners £35- rellent, ^nd served up in a handsome style at a very moderate expense ; the apartments are elegant, consistr- 'ing of a noble dinner-room, an anti-room, a billiard-room, ■and a reading-room where the foreign papers are taken in. The view from the rooms over the Mseler, upon the Tocky cliffs, crowned with straggling parts of the sub- urbs, is very beautifal. There is another club superior to this in style and expense, but as the rooms were un- "der repair, its meetings ^vere suspended. One -after- noon, as I was quitting* the merchants* club to go to the church of Ridderholm, the quay in that quarter pre- sented an tmcommonly crowded appearance of gaiety tind vivacity ; the little canal which runs under the bridge leading to the church was covered with boats filled with garlands and small j)6les wreathed with flowers ; the old and the young, the lame and the vigorous, pressed ea- gerly for wad to purchase these rural decorations, desti- osedof rude masses of that rock ; on this side thei-e are parterres over two projecting gaileiios, and a garden ; the chapel is very rich, and op- posite to it is tl>e hall for the meeting of the Erstates, where the seats are amphitheatrically arranged, those of the no- bles on the right of the throne, and those of the clergy, the bourgeois, and peasants on the left j there is a gallery 94 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap, f, round it, and the whole has a grand effect. As only the senators and their ladies have the privilege of enter-' ing the grand court in their carriage on court days, those who are not possessed of this rank are as much exposed in bad weather as the English ladies of fashion are when they pay their respects to their Majesties at St. James's, where many a fair one enveloped in a mighty hoop, is frequently obliged to tack according to the wind. Not many years since, an erect stately duchess dowager, in endeavoring to reach her carriage, right in the wind's eye, was completely blown down. I considered myself fortunate in seeing the King's museum immediately after the opening of several pack- ages containing five hundred valuable paintings and an- tique statues from Italy, where they had been purchas- ed about eleven years since, by Gustavus III., but owing to the French revolution and the wars which it engendered, were prevented from reaching the place of their destination before : they lay in great confusion, and some of them v/ere much damaged. Amongst the antinque statues were those of Cicero and Caracalla, won- derfully fine. The state rooms are on the third story^ to which there is a most tedious ascent, under arcades of porphyry. Prince Charles's apartments, which are the first, are superb : his little drawing-room is well worthy of notice, the seats of which are in the form of a divan : at their back is a vast magnificent horizontal mirror, the frame of which is of yellow and purple- colored glass, and was presented by the reigning Empe- ror of Russia. The Queen's apartments are elegant, but the windows are old fashioned, heavy, very large, high from the floor, and look into a qua.dranguar' court; however, if they command no fine scenes in the sum- mer, they are warmer in the winter, a better thing of the two in such a climate. There are several pretty little rooms, called cozing or chit-chat rooms ; nothing could be more neat, snug, and comfortable, or better adapted for the enjoyments of unrestrained conversation> The King's apartments are very handsome, some of the rooms are adorned with beautiful Gobeline tapestry from Paris. Chap. 7.] NORTHERN SUMMER, §5 The chamber most interesting to us was that in which Gustaviis III. expired. We saw the bed on which he lay, from the time that he was brought wound- ed to the palace from the masquerade at the opera-house, until he breathed his last. In this room it was that the dying prince personally examined his murderer Anker- ^ti'oem, when he confessed his guilt, and was immedi- ately ordered to retire. The general circumstances of this melancholy catastrophe are well known ; perhaps it may not be as generally so, that Ankerstroem preserv- ed such resolute coolness at the time of the perpetration of the deed, that, in order to make sure of his mark, as the King, who was dressed in a loose Domino, and with- out a mask, was reclining, a little oppressed by the heat, against one of the side scenes, Ankerstroem placed his hands upon the back of the Sovereign, who, upon feeling him, turned shortly round, when the regicide fired. — The King, who thought that he was a victim to French machinations, as he fell, excl?imed, " My assassin is a " Frenchman i" the consolation of the illustrious Duke d*Enghein was denied him. The hero, the friend, and the idol of Sweden, perished by the hands of a Swede. As soon as this outrage was known, the most eminent surgeons flew to his relief. The first words which the Kin^ uttered, were to request that they would give him their candid opinion, observing, with great serenity, that if he had only a few hours to live, he would employ them in arranging the affairs of the state, and those of his family ; and that, in such an extremity, it would be unavailing to augment his pains, and consume his time, in dressing his wound. The surgeon having examined it, assured his Majesty that it was not dangerous ; in consequence of this opinion he permitted it to be dressed, and was conveyed to the palace. The next day an in- teresting and affecting scene took place ; the Countess Fersen, the Count Brahe, and the Baron de Geer, who had absented themselves for a looig period from court, were the first to enquire after the health of the King, who requested them to enter the room where he was, and received them with the most touching goodness, ex- pressing the cordial delight which he felt in seeing them t6. NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chab..^. tlnisfoTget tlieir animosities in these memorable words : *' My wound is not without a blessing, since it restorer "to me my friends," He languished in great torment for eighteen days. It is generally supposed that the. malignant spirit of politics had no influence in this horri- ble outrage, but that he fell the victim of private revenue, and fanatical disappointment. Several young men, who thought themselves aggrieved by the neglect of their prince, w^re concerned in this conspiracy ; but it waSh his dying request, which was observed, that only Anker- stroem should suffer death. Upon, the tomb of thisv brave, eloquent, and magnanimous prince^ should: ba engraved the beautiful and beneficent sentence that ap-* pears in the new form of government with which he pre-> sented the Swedes at the time of the memorable, revolu- tion. " I regard it as the greatest honor to be the first *' citizen amongst a free people." It has been asserted, and I believe with truth, that his sensibility towards the- female sex was far from being lively : he seldom cohab- ited with his Queen. Strange to tell, gifted with acute feelings, and a warm and brilliant imagination, this ac- complished prince, of a i^ce of beautiful women, dis^ played an example of almost monkish continence. But that love had not wholly renounced his heart, we may. infer from an anecdote o£ a little picture, which adorns one of the apartments of the palace : it is a portrait of a lovely young woman, of w^hom the King became ena- mored during his tour in Italy. Upon hearing of her death, he is said to have shed tears, and displayed all the impassioned indications of an afflicted lover. The royal library is very valuable, containing twenty thousand volumes, and four hudred- manuscripts. Amtongst the collection are some precious books, particularly one. called the Codex Aureus^ from the great number of gilt- letters which it contains. There are also two enormous latin MSSi, the vellum leaves of which are made of as$es' skins, and are of an amazing siz^. The Prince Royal, or heir apparent, a child between six and seven years of age, inhabited a part of this pal- ace, which, instead of presenting the gay bustle of a cpurtj bore all the apj)earance of neglect and desertion* Chap. 7.] NORTHERN SUMMER. #r The mysterious questions of the rustic, were explained. The people of Sweden had not been gladdened with the presence of their young Sovereign and his beautiful Queen, to whom they are devotedly and deservedly at- tached, for a long space of time, during which the court had been removed to the territory of the Prince of Baden, the father of the Queen of Sweden. The effect of such an absence was felt and deplored every where. No doubt the virtuous suggestions of his own heart will speedily restore the King to his people, and another traveller will have the gratification which was denied me, of seeing him in the bosom of his country, where a Prince always appears to the most advantage. The King is said to possess a very amiable mind, and to regard the memory of his illustrious father with enthusiastic adora- tian : I contemplated a powerful proof of it in an obe- lisk of one solid block of porphyry, forty feet high, which is at once a monument of his taste and piety. I should not be doing justice to the King, were I not to mention the abhorrence which he, in common with his subjects, has manifested at the cold-blooded outrage committed against the person of the devoted Duke d'Enghein. The opera-house, built by Gustavus III., is an ele- gant square building ; upon the architrave is inscribed, " Patris AfusisJ' The front is adorned with Corinthian columns and pilasters: the interior, which is small, and cannot contain above nine hundred persons, is in the ;form of a broken ellipsis ; and, even by day-Ught (for ^tKere was no performance during our stay), appeared to ^be superbly decorated. The dresses and decorations of the performers, which solely belong to the crown, we ,^ere informed, are of great value ; and in these respects , the Swedish opera is said to surpass every other in Eu- ^irope. The royal seats are in the pit. Swedish plays are performed here, many of which were composed by the accomplished Gustavus III., whose taste in that species of composition excited the literary jealousy of old Fred- -feric the Great. It was an admirable policy, worthy of ' such a genius as Gustavus, to attach a nation to its own language, by making it that of the stage ; the surest, I »8 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 7. because the mostfiattering mode of raising it to its utmost polish. The first Swedish opera ever performed, was Thetis and Peleus : the favorite national piece is Gusta^ vus Veisa. Upon the death of Gustavus III., the opera lost much of its attraction. When it is, considered that, in his time, a ballet occupied ninety personages of the light fantastic toe, and put into activity no less than eigh- ty fancy-dress makers, it was necessary that the pruning- knife should be used to curtail these luxuriant suckers of the state, the graceful, but too costly growth of a prince- ly and munificent mind. In this building there are some very handsome apartments for the King's private par- ties. I had much to regret that no plays were perform- ed here during my stay. The female, who shewed me the building, was much affected when she pointed to the spot where Ankerstro- cm comniitted the bloody deed. Alas ! how inscrutable are the ways of Heaven 1 When the illustrious victim raised this beautiful fabric from the ground, he little thought of the part which he was to perform in the san- guinary scene of the seventeenth of March, 1792, and that mimic sorrow was to yield to genuine woe. This structure, and the opposite palace of the Princess Sophia Albertina, the King's aunt, which is uniform with the former, form the sides of a handsome square called la Place du A^ordj and is adorned in the centre with a fine equestrian sta.tue, in bronze, of Gustavus Adolphus, who, excepting his head, which is crowned with laurel, is in complete armor, and in his right hand is an inclined truncheon : the horse has much animation and the rider great elegance. This colossal statue was cast from the designs of Archeveque, a very distinguished French sta- tuary, who dying before it was finished, left its comple- tion to the masterly hand of Sergell : it was erected in 1790. The latter has introduced the figures of History pointing to an inscription on the pedestal, and of the Chancellor Oxenstiern. The pedestal, which is of gra- nite, is decorated by medallions of the principal favorite generals of Gustavus Adolphus, viz. Torstenson, Baner, James de la Gardie, Horn, and Saxe Weimar : all by Sergell, The unbounded friendship and confidence which Chap, f.] NORTHERN SUMMER. ## existed between this great Prince and the upright Ox- en stiern, form the theme of historic delight; and the gentle counteraction of their mutual, and rather opposite, char- acters, rendered each the idol and the benefactor of his coun- try. It is said that Gustavus having, upon some affair of state, observed to Oxenstiern,that he was cold and phleg- matic, and that he checked him in his career, the Chancel- lor replied : " Sire, indeed I own that I am cold : but " unless I had occasionally tempered and moderated " your heat, you would have been burnt up long ago." Gustavus Adolphus never engaged in any battle, without first praying at the head of his troops ; after which he used to thunder out, in a strong and energetic manner, a German hymn, in which he was joined by his whole army: the effect of thirty or forty thousand people thus singing together was wonderful and terrible. He used to say, that a man made a better soldier in proportion to his being a better Christian, and there was no person so happy as those who died in the performance of their du- ty. Of the death of this great hero, it was said, " that " he died with his sword in his hand, the word of com- " mand in his mouth, and with victory in his imagina- " tion." Only the complimentary part of the following witty epigram, which was made upon the equestrian stat- ue of Louis Xni., which formerly stood in the Place des Victoires in Paris, with the four cardinal virtues standing round it, would apply to that of Gustavus Adolphus : O le beau monument ! O le beau pedestal ! Les Venues sont a pied, et le Vice a cheval. Oh ! noble statue> noble pedestal ! Vice proudly rides, the Virtues are on foot. In front of this statue, to the south, the eye with pleasure contemplates an elegant stone bridge, not quite finished, crossing a rapid stream of the Msler, at the end of which the palace displays a majestic and highly graceful back scene : this spot presents the finest architecture in the city. The traveller will be gratified, by noticing the beauti- ful colonnade of solid porphyry which forms the entrance XHt) NORTHEHN SUMMER. [Chap. 7. to the grand stair-case of the Princess Sophia Albertina's palace. A tasteful observer must regret that these ex- quisite columns are so much concealed. The streets of the Queen and of the Regency, in the north quarter, are by farthe most handsome, and form the residence of fash- ion. The spire and church of Ridderholm, rising from the centre of the principal island, add to the romantic beauties of the surrounding scenery. The interior of this edifice, which is large and heavy, is only v/orthy of notice, on account of its containing the ashes of such illustrious personages as Gustavus Adolphus, and his equal in bravery, but neither in prudence or justice, Charles XIL, who carried the system of daring to pret* ty nearly its utmost extent, and, in his end, verified the •words of the great dramatist : «* Glory is like a circle in the water Which never ceaseth to enlarge itself, Till, by broad spreading, it disperse to nought." The tomb of the latter is very simple and characteristic : it is of black marble, upon which are thrown a lion's skin and club, in bright yellow bronze. In another part of the building are the ashes of a general much more en- titled to the admiration of posterity, the illustrious Johri Baner , Avho was deservedly the favorite of the great Gustavus Adolphus, and who, after a series of splendid Tictovies, expired on the tenth of May, 1641. Chap. 80 NORTHERN SUMMER. 101 CHAPTER Vni. A visit in the country^-^Observatorij — Dinner and Fashions '-'Blooming girls of DelecarU.a——Drottingholm— 'Queen Christina's Cunning — JVardrobe of Charles XII. — .. Beauty — Concealment and prudery— 'J^ational import- ance of a British advocate— Contrasted justice — Kaga — Cause of the fnendship of Gustavus III. for Sir Sid- ney Smith i singular anecdote — wi revieiv—-^Irott JMin eS'—'Linn ceus. AN invitation into the country enabled U3 to contem- plate 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 v/inter 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 acquaintences the firs Were ever and anon presenting themselves, and shedding mel- ancholy upon us. The chateau to which vre were in- vited was of vrood, small, but very tastefully fitted up : the grounds, which were very extensive, were delight- fully laid out, and on one side rippled the waters of the Mseler, embellished 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 hos- pitable region are considered as mere preparatives for the meal which is to follow ; amongst the superior or- ders 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 ele- ment of honey ; by the bye it rather surprises a stranger to meet with so little sea-fish in a country which is wash-> ed by so many seas. The herring fishery, which has hitherto been of so much importance to Sweden, has 12 102 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 8. nearly disappeared. To return to our dinuer : 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 man- ners, 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 pro- found bows and courtsies ; these being dispatched, each gentleman tripped off with a lady under his arm, to cof- fee in the drav/ing-room. Nothing else like formality occurred in the course of the day. Just as we were quitting this spot of cordial hospital- ity, we were stopped by the appearance of two fine fe- male 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 traveliing wardrobe a solitary chemise, which as cleanliness demanded, they washed in the passing brook, and dried on their healthy and hardy frame, which, hov/ever, was elegantly shaped ; the glov/ 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 JEicket and short petticoat of various colors : and they were mounted upon wooden shoes with prodigious high heels, shod with iron. There was an air of neatness, innocence, delicacy, and good humor about them, which would have made even a bil- ious spectator happy to look upon them. Unextinguish- able loyalty, great strength of body, content, and sweet- ness 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 tlius Chap. 8.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 103 he describes them, after he has discovered himself to them ill the mines, in the beautiful language of the bard, v/hose dramatic genius has conspired to render his hero immortal : here last I came, And shut me from the s\in, whose hateful beams Serv'd but to shew the ruins of my country. When here, my friends, 'twas here- at length I found What I had left to look for, gallant spirits, la the rough form of untaught peasantry. Yes, I will take these rustic sons of Liberty In the first warmth and hvirry of their souls ; And should the tyrant then attempt our heights. He comes upon his fate. Led on by Gustavus Vasa, they restored liberty to their country, and expelled the bloody tyrant miscalled Chris- tia?2. These, too, were the peasants, who, having heard in the midst of tl^eir mines and forests that their sove- reign Charles XII. was a prisoner in Turkey, dispatched a deputation to the Regency at Stockholm, and offered to go, at their own expense, to the number of twenty thousand men, to deliver their royal master out of the hands of his enemies. Their sovereigns have ever found tiieixi the incorruptible and enthusiastic supporters of the throne. Surrounded with treason and peril, their king has found them faithful amongst the faith- less, and never sought their succor in vain. In conse- quence of the terrible defection which appeared in the Swedish army in the campaign of the year 1788 against the Russians, when, ov/ing to the machinations of tlie Swedish traitor Sprengporten, who was in the pay of the Empress Catherine, the Swedish officers, although con- fident of victory, refused to march, because Gustavus III. had commenced the war without consulting the es- tates, the King was compelled to retire to Stockholm, where the insolence and intrigues of the nobility threat- ened the reduction of his regal rights to the mere phan- tom of sovereignty. Menaced vvith revolt and assassina- tion, this great prince, attended by a single domestic, in secrecy reached the mountains of Delecarlia, the Z7w- moveable seat of Swedish loyalty-) v/here, with ail that bold, 104 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 8^ affecting, and irresistible eloquence, for which he was so justly famed, upon the rock on which, in elder times, their idol Gustavus Vasa had addressed them, he in^k- ed them to rally round the throne, and preserve their Sovereign from the cabals of treason. At the sound of his voice they formed themselves into battalions, with - electric celerity, and encreasing as they advanced, pro- ceeded under the commiand of Baron Armfelt to Drot- tingholm, where they overawed the factious. At this very period, an unexpected disaster miade fresh demands upon the inexhaustible resources of Gustavus's mind, which encreased with his emergencies. The Prince of- Hesse, at the head of twelve thousand men, marched from Norway to Gottenborg, at the gates of which, at a late hour, the King having surmounted great difficulties in his way through Wermlandia, presented himself, and the next morning surprised the Danish herald, by in- forming him in person from the ramparts, that sooner than surrender the place, the garrison should be buried under its ruins, and accordingly ordered the bridge over the river Gothael to be burnt. It is well known, that the wise and active mediation of Mr. Elliot, our then minis- ter at Copenhagen, prevailed upon the Prince of Hesse to retire. To return to the Delecarlians : the dress of the men is always of a grey or black coarse cloth, and, on account of the many services which they have rendered to government, and their proved patriotism, they enjoy the flattering and gracious privilege of taking the King*s hand wherever they meet him : the pressure must ever be delightful to both parties. From the mountains of health and liberty, Gustavus III. selected the wet-nurse of the present King, that, with her milk, he might im- bibe vigor and the love of his country. This woman was the wife of a Delecarlian peasant, lineally descended from the brave and honest Andrew Preston, who preserv- ed Gustavus Vasa fromi the murderers who were sent in pursuit of him by Christian. The houses of the Dele- carlian peasants are as simple as their owners are virtu- ous : they have but one hole in the roof, exposed to the south, v/hich answers the double purpose of a window and a clock ; their meals are regulated by the sun*s ray a V Chaf. 8.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 10^ upon a chest, placed beneath this hole on one side ; or upon the stove, mth which all the Swedish houses are warmed, standing on the other. We were much gratified with the palace of Drotting- holm : a pleasant drive of about ten miles brought us to the island on which it stands in the lake Mseler ; the road to it lay through rocks covered with firs, and over two large floating bridges ; the building is large but light, and is of brick stuccoed white ; the hall and stair-case are in bad taste ; their ornaments are white upon a dark brown ground, resembling sugar plumbs upon ginger- bread. The state rooms are very rich and elegant, and Sin Englishman is much gratified to find in the library a very large and choice collection of English authors. There is a beautiful picture here of a weeping Ariadne, by Wertmeller, a Swedish artist, who, unfortunately for his country, has for ever left it, and settled in America. Whenever I reflect upon a neglected artist of merit, a delightful little anecdote, which is related of Francis I, always occurs to me : that sovereign having received a picture ef St. Michael from the hand of Raphael d'Urbi- no, which he much coveted, be remunerated Raphael far beyond what his modesty conceived he ought to re- ceive : the generous artist, however, made him a pres- ent of a Holy Family, painted by himself, which the courteous mxonarch received, saying, that persons famous in the arts partake of the immortality of princes, and are upon a footing with them. In this palace there is the head of a Persian Sybil, in mosaic, exquisitely beautiful, and two costly and elegant presents from the late Empress Catharine II. of tables of lapis lazuli and Siberian agate. There are also some ex- quisite statues in alabaster and marble, and Etruscan vases, purchased in Italy by Gustavus III. during his southern tour. The Etruscan vases are very beautiful ; but in tone of color, classical richness, elegance and va- riety of shape, not equal to those which I had previously seen in England at Gillwell Lodge, the seat of William Chinnery, Esq., who unquestionably has the finest pri- vate collection of this land in England, perhaps in Eu- rope. 106 NORTHERN SUMIS^ER. [Chap. S^ There is here a portrait of that eccentric personage. Queen Christiana, who abdicated the throne of Sweden in 1660, and left to her successor, Charles X., the costly discovery that, amidst all her wdiimsical caprices, she had taken good care to clear most of the palaces of their rarest furniture previous to her retiring to Rome : pick- ing out even the jewels of the crown before she resigned it. So completely had she secured every thing that was valuable, that Charles X. was obliged to borrow several necessary utensils for his coronation. This loss, for I suppose it must not be called a depredation, has been amply restored by the taste and munificence.of Gustavus III. In the state sleeping-chamber, the royal banner of light blue and silver was fixed at the foot of the bed, and had a very chivalrous appearance. In the garden, there is a theatre, which is large and handsome ; but since the death of Gustavus HI., who was much attached to this place, and made it the seat of his brilliant festivi- ties, it has been little used. In the gardens there is a range of snlhall houses in the Chinese taste, but neither the former nor the latter are worthy of much notice. After our return from Drottingholm we gained admis- sion, but with much difficulty, to the arsenal. This de- pot of military triumphs is a brick-building, consisting of a ground floor, with lofty windows down to the ground, stands at the end of the King's gardens, the only mall of Stockholm, and has all the appearance of a large green- house. The artillery, which is planted before it, has the ridiculous effect of being placed there to defend the most precious of exotic trees within from all external enemies, who either move in air or pace the earth. The contents, alas ! are such fruits " as the tree of war bears," and well deserve the attention of the traveller and antiquary. Here is an immense collection of trophies and standards taken from the enemies of Sweden, and a long line of stuffed kings, in the actual armor which they wore, m^ounted upon wooden horses, painted to resemble, and as large as life, chronologically arranged. I was particu- larly struck with the clothes of Charles XII. which he wore when he was killed at the seige of Frederickshall, and very proudly put them on, viz. a long shabby blu« Chap.s.] northekn summer. lor frock of common cloth, with lai'ge flaps and brass buttons, 2i little greasy low cocked had, a handsome pair of gloves, fit to have touched the delicate hands of the Countess of Koningsmarck, a pair of stiif high-heeled Biiiitary boots, perhaps it was one of those which he threatened to send to the senate at Stockholm, to which they were to apply for orders until his return, when they were impatient at his absence during his mad freaks in Turkey. As it is natural to think that great souls generally inhabit large bodies, my surprise was excited by finding that when I had completely buttoned the frock of this mighty mad- man upon my greyhound figure, miy lungs gave sensible tokens of an unusual pressure from without. I must be indulged in giving the following extract from an account of this marvellous madcap, which was given by a person who had seen him, and who thus speaks of him : " His " coat is plain cloth, with ordinary brass buttons, the *' skirts pinned up behind and before, v/hich shews his <' Majesty's old leather waistcoat and breeches, which " they tell me are sometimes so greasy that they may <' be fried. But when I saw him they were almost new ; '• for he had been a gallant a little before, and had been « to see King Augustus' Queen upon her return from ^< Leipsic, and, to be fine, he put on those new leather *' breeches, spoke not above three words to her, but talk- " ed to a foolish dwarf she had about a quarter of an hour, " and then left her. His hair is light brown, very grea- " sy, and very short, never cojnbed but tuith hisjingers. " At dinner he eats a piece of bread and butter, which he, " spreads with his thumbs." Think of all this as applied to " the most powerful " among the kings that worship Jesus ; redresser of " wrongs and injuries, and protector of right in the " ports and republics of south and north ; shining in ma- " jesty^ love of honor and glory, and of our sublime Porte " — Charles, King of Sweden, whose enterprizes may <' God crown with success." The said blood-besprinkled gloves, and bullet-pierced hat, have furnished abundant and fatiguing sources of vague and violent disputation : pages, nay volumes, have been written, to ascertain whether the death of Ch.'U'les K^ NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. «. -was fair or foul : a fact to be found only in the records of Heaven, and of small import to be known here. Let the blow have been given from whatever hand it may, Swe- den had good reason to bless it, and happy are those who live in times which furnish but little of such materials for the page of history as Charles supplied. Though Charles wa.s said to possess a great coldness of character, the following anecdote will shew that he was susceptible of flattery : whilst the batteries of the citadel of Fredeiickshall were firing heavily at the enemy's trenches, a young woman who was looking at the King from an adjoming house, dropped her ring into the street : Charles observing her Scdd, " Madam, do the guns of this <' place always make such an uproar ?" " Only wlien w^-e <' have such iilustrious visitors as your Majesty," replied the girl. The King was niixh plea.sed, and ordered one of his soldiers to return the ring. This extraordinary being must have sometimes excited the smiles, as he often did the tears of mankind. After the Turks, irritated by his refusal to depart, were obliged to burn his house over his head, and by main force send him to Bender, Charles XII. a fugitive, attended only by a few wretched follov/ers ruined, and his coffers completely exhausted, wrote to his €nvoy at the court of Louis XIV. to send him the exact ceremonials of that brilliant and magnificent court that he might immediciteiy adopt them. Hurried away by kings, palaces, and statues, I have to my shame (my cheek reddens whilst I write) staid thus long in Stockholm ere I noticed those, without whom a crown is unenviable, the most magnificent abode cheer- less, and of whom the most graceful images of art are but imperfect imitations. The Swedish ladies are in ge- neral remarkably well shaped, cjj bon point and have a fair transparent delicacy of complexion, yet, though the favorites of bountiful nature, strange to relate, they are more disposed to conceal than display those charms, which in other countries, with every possible assistance, the fair possessor presents to the enraptured eye to the best advantage. A long gloomy black cloak covers the beautiful Swede v^hen she walks, confounding all the dis- tinctions of symmetry and deformity ; and even her pretty Chap. 8.1 NORTHERN SUMMER, iOi* feet, which are as neat and as well turned as those of a fine Frenchwoman, are seldom seen without the aid of a favoring breeze. Even the sultry summer has no in- fluence in withdrawing this melancholy drapery, but I am informed that it is less worn now than formerly : of- ten have I wished that the silk-worm had refused his contribvition towards this tantalizing concealment : occa- sionally the streets of Stockholm displayed some bewitch- ing seceders from the abominable habit. This custom arises from the sumptuary laws which forbid the use of colored silks. The Swedish ladies are generally highly accomplish- ed, and speak with fluency English, French, and Ger- man, and their tenderness and sensibility by no means partake of the severity of their northern latitude ; yet they exhibit two striking characteristics of whimsical prudery : in passing the streets a Swedish hidy never looks behind her, nor does she ever w^elcomethe approach or cheer the departure of a visitor by permitting him to touch the cherry of her lips ; the ardent admirer of ■beauty must be content to see that Welcome ever smiles. And farewell goes out sighing. This chilling custom is somewhat singular, when it is •considered that the salutation of kissing, even between man and man, hateful as it is to an \intravelied English- man, prevails almost in every part of the continent.^ I was very desirous of attending the courtso f justice, or as they are called the k (dinner s-ratteryoi which there are Tour in Stockholm, but I found they were ail close, and only the judges and parties and necessary officers per- mitted to enter. What a contrast to the unreserved open- ness with which the laws in England are administered ! By unfolding the gates of justice, and displaying her in all her awful majesty, her ordinances become widely pro- mulgated, and the respect paid to her decrees augmented •by the reverence which is excited by her presence ; her seat is not only tlie depository of the law, but of all de- scriptions of learning, and is a school of eloquence in which the language of the country receives its hio-hest K no NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. ^. polish. Of what national importance the powers of afl illustrious advocate may become, let those say, who have witnessed the brilliant genius, exalted persuasion and profound knowledge of an Erskine, and can trace their consequences to a country which knovrs hoAv to appre- ciate them. The laws of Sweden are considered to be simple, mild, clear, and just, and since the labors of Gus- tavus III. to render them so, have been impartially ad- ministered. In civil causes each- party pays his own coEts ; this m^ust frequently be unjust ; but whilst Svre- den, however, may learn something from the manner in which the laws are dispensed in England, she presents to our admiration a spirit v/hich we should do well to im- itate : the prosecutor sustains no share whatever of the expenses of prosecuting a crimmal. In England there is a highly important society, first established by the celebrated Sir John Fielding, the ob- jects of which are actively and ably conducted by its so- licitor and secretary, S* S. Hunt, Esq. for prosecuting felons. These objects are to prevent the impunity which too frequently follows depredation, from the heavy extra expenses which often attend the discovery, apprehension, and trial, of delinquents, by raising a year- ly subscription fund to indemnify the suffering individu- al who prosecutes in the name of the Crown. How a foreigner who takes a keen and close peep at us, must be surprised to observe an institution, which, whilst it exhibits the patriotic spirit of individuals, reflects with not a little justified severity, upon the absence of a legis- lative provision, which is of so much consequence to the country. It may be said, that there are a certain description of these expenses wiiich a judge in his dis- cretion may allow uiion apfilication. The natural pride of a respectable British subject, to whom such expen- ses may prove sJi object, ought not, in the performance of a great public duty, in which the repose of the nation is concerned, and the King in consequence the avov/ed and recorded prosecutor, to be put to the blush by ask- in sr for it mfoi'ma paufieris. This most just indemnity ou'o-ht to form a part of the law of the land. By another admirable provision Sweden is enabled to ascertain the Chap. 8.] NORTHERN SUMMER. U:l ^tate of her population every tfcird year, and which is effected by the periodical returns from the clergymen and magistrates, of the births, deaths, marriages, ' and the number of inhabitants that are living in their sever- al districts, a measure highly worthy of adoption in Eng- land. The laws of Sweden, the most novel to an English - •man, are those by which primogeniture is disrobed of those exclusive rights which attach to it in other coun- tries : all the matle children of a nobleman are equally fioble, but to prevent the confusion of numbers, the eld- iCst only, upon the decease of the father, represents the family at the Diet, and all inheiitances are equally di- vided, but created property is subject to tlie will of the father. The punishments in Swe^ien are beheading, hangings whipping, and imprisonment : the three former are in- flicted in the market-place ; the instrument of flagellation is a rod of tough/i5irch twigs. There is a horrid custom in Sweden, as odious as our hanging malefactors in chains, of exposing the naked bodies of delinquents who •have suffered death, extended by their limbs to trees un- til they rot. Two or three of these shocking objects oc- cur in terrorem upon the road from Gotheberg to Stock- liolm, on account of its being a greater thorough fare," and •more robberies having been committed there. The cri- Tnina.1 laws of Sweden may be considered as mild, and the punishment of death is rarely inflicted. I was rather disappointed upon seeing the House of Nobles ; it contains the hall and room which are reserv- ed for that branch of the Diet, and which, as it is now convened at the will of the sovereign, may be considered as a mere phantom of power. If the authority of the states were any thing better than nominal, the country gentlemen would have some cause to complain, as they are wholly excluded from any legislative participation, this shadowy representation being confnied, and it was even so when the Diet was in its plenitude of power, and held the Sovereign dependant, to the nobles, clergy, citi- zens, and peasants. Th.e exterior of the building is sim- ple but handsome. In the square before the House of V12 NORTHERN SUMMEIl. [Cbap. 8v Kobles is the pedestrian statue of Gustavus Vasa, hj Meyer, erected by the nobles at a great expense, but in my humble opinion unworthy of the immortal man whose memory it is intented to perpetuate. A delightful morning attracted me to Haga, which is at the short distance of a mile and a half English from the north gate of the city. As this little palace and gar- dens were built and disposed after the design of the grace-, ful Gustavus III. with the assistance of Masrelier, and were the favorite retreat of the former, my gratification was certain. The approach to the villa is through a^. winding v/alk of luxuriant shrubs, the most flourishing and, beautiful of any that I saw in the north : at a small distance: there is a line of picturesque rocks, crowned with firs ;: and at the bottom of a rich meadow, by the side of the Mseier, presenting anoble sheet of water, surrounded -with forests of fir, stands the chateau, built of wood, and painted to resemble stone, containing a small front of three stories and two long gallery wings. The grounds, and ornamental buildings reminded me of the J^eiit Tri- anon of the unfortunate Queen of France at Versailles. The rooms are small, but elegantly fitted up. Gustavus. spent much of his time here ; it is said that this spot was particularly endeared to him, on account of his having secretly consulted with his friends, in the recesses of the rocks Vv^iich constitute one of the great beauties of the scenery, upon the revolution of 1772. This cirumstance induced him, when he travelled, to assume the title of count Haga. Adjoining, upon an eminence, is the foundation of a vast palace, w^hich Gustavus HI. commenced in the year 179 1, but which has neve radvanced since his death. The undertaking was too vast and expensive for the country, and is very judiciously laid aside by the reigning sovereign. . - In the library I was gratified by seing several draw- ings and architectural designs of its accomplished foun- der, which displayed much taste and genius. The friend- ship and confidence with which this prince honored the heroic Sir Sidney Smith is well knov/n ; the King first conceived an attachment for him from the resemblance which he thought, and which he frequently was heard Ckap. 8.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 113 to observe, existed between the face of the hero of Acre and Charles XII. As Sir Sidney is one of my favorite heroes, I will run the hazard of being blamed for deviating from my nar- rative a little, and for detaining the reader^ an extra mo- ment to relate a singular prepossession he felt, when a youth, of his fame, and the theatre of his future glory, which has just occurred to my memory. Being sent, some years since, on shore upon the Irish coast with a brother officer, who is now holding a deservedly high sit- uation in the service, to look for some deserters from their ship, after a long, fatiguing, and fruitless pursuit, they halted at a little inn to refresh themselves ; having dined. Sir Sidney on a sudden became silent, and seemed lost in meditation : " My dirk for your thoughts," ex- claimed his friend, gently tapping him on the shoulder ; " Avhat project, Sidney, has got possession of you now ?" ^' My good fellovf,*' replied the young warrior, his ex- pressive] countenance brightening as he spoke, " you " will no doubt suppose me a little disordered In my " mind, but I have been thinking that, before twelve '* years shall have roiled over my head, I shall make the " British arms triumphant in Holy I^and." We need Hot knock at the cabinet door of St. Cloud to know how speedily this prediction was verified. In the afternoon, after our return from Ilaga, we went on the Baltic to the park, situate on the east side -of the city, three English miles distant, to see a re- view and sham fight of about four thousand troops, en- camped there. The park is a place of great resort in fine weather, like our Hyde-park. Our v/ater excursion was delightfuL The manoeuvres commenced at five o'clock in the evening, upon the arrival of the Prince Royul, a little sickly child about six years old, who oii this occasion represented his father. He passed the line in an open carriage drawn by six horses, attended by some military officers and two pages of his household, followed by an escort of body guards. After the pages, who wore a Spanish costume, consisting of a jacke^t of stone-colored cloth, with slashed sleeves and a short robe, had seated their little charge upon a rock, jutting out of K 2 - o 114 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. ^. a rising ground, the regiments were put in motion, and displayed a strong, martial, and well disciplined body of men. When the bloodless battle was concluded, the re- giments passed in open order before the Prince, who with great docility held his little hat in his hand during the ceremony, then remounted his carriage and returned to his nursery. The costume of the two pages was the only relic, I met with, of the fantastic change which Gustavus III. produced in the dress of his subjects ; the difficulty and danger of which, it is said, was artfully suggested by Catherine II. when he visited her at Pc- tersburgh, in order to induce his pride and spirit more ardently to attempt the change by which sh^ secretly hoped that he would disgust the Swedes, and thereby induce them to attempt the restoration of the fallen pri- rileges of the states, overturned by the celebrated revo- lution which he effected by his fortitude, consummate address, and eloquence. It was one of the distinguish- ing marks of the policy of the modern Semiramis of the north, to embroil her royal neighbors in perpetual confiict v/ith each other, or with their own subjects. The Swedes v/ere too loyal, too good tempered, and too wise to quarrel with their Prince, and such a Prince as Gustavus IIL about the cut of a coat ; but they reluctantly adopted a fashion which had no similitude in the north, and assim- ilated them in appearance with a people who bear no analogy to them but in national honor, the subjects of his Castilian Majesty. Before v^'e left the Gamp, v/e pre- sented a fine liltie peasant boy, who was playing near us, v,'ith some fruit : his mother sent him to thank us, which he did by kissing our hands : a token of gratitude all over the north. The military force of Sweden is divided into regular or garrison regiments, and n-ational militia : only the lat- ter will require some explanation. The levies for this establishment are made from the lands belonging to the crown, the holders of which contribute not only to the support of the troops, but of the clergy and civil officers. The estates are called Hemmans, and divided into rottes ; .each rotte is charged in a settled proportion ; the most Valuable with the support of cavalry? the others with that Chap. 8.] NORTHERN .SUMMER. 115 of infentiy . The nien, tiius selected from the very heart of the peasantry, are ah->iost always healthy, stout, and well proportioned. In war and in peace, tlie crown land- holders are compeliable gratuitously to transport these levies and their baggage to their respective regiments, and to allot a cottage and barn, a small portion of ground, and to cultivate it during the absence of the soldier upon the service of government, for the support of his fami- ly, and also to supply him with a coarse suit of clothes, tv/o pair of shoes, arad a small yearly stipend. In peace, where the districts adjoin, the soldiers assemble by com- panit^s every Sunday after divine worship, to be exer- cised by their dfficers and Serjeants. Before and after, harvest, the regiment is drawn out and encamped in its district for three weeks. In every third or fourth year^ encampments of several regiments together are formed in some province which is generally the centre of many districts ; and, during the rest of their time, these- niar^ tial husbandmen^ who are enrolled for life, are permitted to work as laborers for the landholder, at the usual price of labor. Such is a brief abstract of the manner in which this great constitutional force, " this cheap defence of nations," is organised. Upon our return from the review, we were much gra- tified with seeing the gun boats from the Admiralty Isle m^ancsuvre. These vessels are used upon the lake M^elar, amongst the rocks, and on the coast of Finland ; but are incapable of weathering high seas or strong winds : some of them are of forty -four oars, and carry twenty -foar pounders in their bow. Although it was the twenty-eighth of June, it was so chilly, that I began to give credit to a remark that the north has two winters a ivhite and a green G?ie. We now prepared to make a little excursion to Upsala, and the mines of Danmora, distant about eighty-five English miles : for this expedition we hired a little light phaeton for one plote and sixteen skillings per day : this vehicle required only two horses, and was well' adapted to the cross roads. The prevailing carriage, used by the re- spectable part of the inhabitants, is a gig, with a small seat behind for a servant, who at a distance appears ta 116 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 5. be holding by the queue of his master, and has altogeth- er a very whimsical effect. The traveller, whose time is not limited, would do well to visit the foundaries of Sahlahutta, the silver mines of Sahlberg and of Herstenbotten ; Afvestad, where the copper is refined ; Norberg, remarkable for its very curious mineral productions ; Fahlun, the capi- tal of the heroic Delecariians, the famous silver mines of Kopparberg, the cataracts of Elfscarleby, Mr. Grill's anchor-forge at Suderfors ; at all which places, as well as at Danmoi^, the natural treasure and phenomena of Sweden are displayed in the most interesting and sublime manner. To secure admission to most of these places^ it will be adviseable to procure letters of introduction to the proprietors or inspectors. Pressed, as I have before stated myself to have been for time, my election fell up- on the mines of Danmora, and a visit to Upsala. The country through which we passed, with our ac- customed celerity, v/as rather rich and picturesque, and in many parts abounded with corn fields ; but as we ap- proached Upsala, and afterwards Danmora, the scenery became bleak and dreary. The first evening we slept at Upsala, and very early the next morning proceeded to Danmora, where we arrived in time to hear the blow- ing of the rock, which commences every day at twelve o'clock precisely. As we Vv^ere looking down the princi- pal mouth of the mine, which presented a vast and frightful gulf, closing in impenetrable darkness, our ears weie assailed by the deep-toned thunder of the explo- sion below, which rolled through the vast and gloomy caverns of this profound abyss in sounds the most awful Mkd sublime : frequently large masses of rock are thrown out by the violence of the discharge. In these mighty excavations, the hand of man has tciled for three centuries. These mines produce a vast quantity of ore of a superior quality, much used in the British steel- nianufactcries. Feeling an invincible disinclination to descend the principal pit in a bucket, v/e reached the bottom, of another abyss, about four hundred feet deep, by crazy ladders placed almost perpendicularly, a mode which was attended with mu-ch trouble and consider able €hap. 8.] NORTHERN SUMMER. lir peril : we found the bottom covered with indiss©hibl@ ice. Our curiosity was speedily satisfied, and we gladly regained the summit.. Mark the force of habit ! Two elderly miners stepped from the firm earth upon the rim of a bucket, which hung over this dizzy depth, apd, holding the cord, descended ; one singing and the other taking snuff. The hydraulic machinery by which the mines, are kept dry, move a chain of six thousand feet, which, after drawing the water from the mine, forces it through an aqueduct of five thousand feet : this mine is called the Peru of Sweden. From the mines we pro* ceeded to Mr. Tanner's forges at Osterby, about one English mile off, where one thousand persons are em-^t- ployed : Bath*d in the laborious drop Of painful industry The ore, as it comes from the mine, is piled upon layers of fir, and partially melted : it is then pounded by vast hammers moved by water, afterwards liquefied in a fur- nace of charcoal, whence it runs into a long mould of sand, where, as soon as it hardens, it is drawn out and laid in piles in the open air. These enormous rough pieces are again melted, and beaten into bars for expor- tation- See, pale and hollow-e^fed, in his blue shirt,. Before the scorching furnace, reeking stands The weary smith ! a thundering water-wheel Alternately uplifts his cumbrous pair Of roaring bellows The town of Osterby is small, but neat, and princi- pally inhabited by persons who have concerns with the mines. At the inn, which is very pretty and romantic, we faired sumptuously upon strumlins and a cock of the woods, that had been preserved in butter ; and, after a hearty repast, returned to Upsala. This town, which is an archiepiscopal see, and one of the most ancient Chris- tian establishments in Sweden, stands in a vast plain, in which the general character of barrenness is occasion- ;illy relieved by some few corn-fields and partial spats of tl6 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 8. meadow. Some of the private dwellings and the colle-- ges are handsome, and are generally stuccoed and stain- ed of a yellow color ; but the majority of houses are composed of wood, painted red, and have behind them little gardens filled with apple and other fruit trees. The liver Sala, which comnnunicates with the Mseler, divides the town. I never saw the grass so high and so green upon the roofs of the houses as here. Upon looking from my bed-roonm window at the inn, I could not distinguish several of them from the green hill on whose summit the ancient palace stands. Upon entering the court gate of this edifice, which is of brick, and has at one angle a large round tower, with a copper cupola, a number of baggage carriages were preparing to follow the Duke of Sudermania (the King's uncle, and, during his minority, the Regent of Sweden,) who had left the apartments which he has here, the day before, to join his regiment. This Prince possesses considerable talents: unfortunate- ly there is at present a coolness between his Royal High- ness and his august nephew. Part of the palace only re- mains, the rest having been consumed by fire. From the height upon which it stands the scite of the ancient town of Upsala, formerly the capital of Sweden, and the residence of the high priest of Oden, are discernible. Our time v/ould not admit of our seeing the celebrated Morasteen, or stone of Mora, on which the ancient so- vereigns of Sv/eden were crowned ; the last in 1512 : it is preserved, vvith other curious stones, in a shed about seven n:iiles from Upsaia. Under a heap of rubbish, which formerly composed a part of the palace, we were informed are the remains of some state dungeons, in one of which the following affecting scene occuiTed ; %n the year 1 567, Eric IV. the most bloody tyrant ever seated upon the throne of Sv/eden, seized upon the illustrious family of the Stures, who were the objects of his iealoasy, and, in a moment of anger, descended the dungeon in which Count Sture was confined, and stab- bed him in the ami : the young captive fell upon his knees, implored his clemency, and drawing the dagger from the wound, kissed it, and presented it to his en- Chap. 8.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 1 1$ raged and remorseless sovereign, who caused him to be immediately dispatched. It would form a fine subject for the pencil. The cathedral is a prodigious unwieldy pile of brick, with two square towers at the west end, in the gothic style which have been recently decorated with a doric architrave, and surmounted by two cupolas of copper, supported by doric pillars of iron. In contemplating such a heterogeneous mixture of architecture, in a spot dedicated to the sciences, I could scarcely give credit to the evidence of my eyes ; but the worst wine is ahvays drank in the vineyard. The present cathedral is erected upon the scite of the ancient one, which v/as burnt down about one hundred and fifty years since. The interior is handsome, and is adorned with a magnificent organ, w^hich was played when we entered, and poured forth some of the most powerful tones I ever heard. As I was looking upon the ground, I found that I was stand- ing upon the slab that covered the ashes of the iminortal LinnsEus, and his son, as appeared by the fbilowmg sinirt pie and very inadequate inscription : / Ossa Caroli a Linne equitis aurati marito optimo filio unico Garolo a Linke patris successori et siby Sara Elizabeta Wotljea. The affectionate reverence of the pupils of this distin- guished expounder of nature, and the powers of his cele- brated friend, Sergell, have endeavored to supply the humility of the preceding tribute, by raising, in a little recess, a monument of Swedish porphyry, supporting a large m.edaiiion of the head of the illustrious naturalist, which is siiid to be an admirable likeness of him ; under it is the following plain inscription : t2(5 KORTHERN SUMMER. [CHA*.m. Carolo a Linne Botannicoriim priiicipi Amici et discipuli^ 1798. Although this monument is more worthy of him, yet it Is far below what a traveller would have expected to find in the northern seat of learning, and in the place which gave Linnseus birth. . His spirit still seems to pervade and consecrate this celebrated spot. The traveller hears every remark enriched with the name of Linnjeus. " There," said a Swede, with a smile of national pride and an eye of delight, " is the house in which he *' lived, and there the garden and bower in which he *' studied ; over these fields he used to fly, when the sun <' refreshed them with his earliest beam, attended by a "<' numerous body of affectionate students, to explore the <' beauties, and unfold, with the eye of a subordinate Prov- '<' idence, the secrets of nature ; there, if in their ram- " bles any one discovered a curious plant or insect, the " sound of a French-horn collected the herborizing par- " ty, who assembled round their chief, to listen to the " wisdom that fell from his tongue." In a private chapel in this chathedral is the tomb of the glorious Gustavus Vasa, whose efiigy is placed be- tween that of his two wives, Catharine and Margaret ; and in another, that of the Stures, v/hom I have before mentioned ; the latin inscription upon this monument thus affectingly concludes : " All that \vas noble and " magnanimous could not soften the irort heart of their " sovereign 1 Reader, if thou art not as unfeeling, la- " ment the undeserved fate of such virtue." In one of the recesses we saw a small recumbent statue of John III. which experienced a similar fate ; the ship that was conveying it to Sweden from Italy, where it was made, sunk near Dantzig, and the statue remained under water for one hundred and fifty yeai^, when it was fished up, and presented by the burghers of Dantzig to Eric, and was deposited in the old cathedral. Here repose giiso the remains of the celebrated chancellor Oxen- Cbap.8.] northern summer. J54 'stiern. It is surprising that neither this great man, nor Christian IV. of Denmark, the two great ornaments ^nd benefactors of their countries, have any mpnumentji j:aised to their memories. The reader may be plea^^.d with the following account t)f the Chancellor from the pen of the eccentric Christi- aia, queen of Sweden, who was pl^iced, during her minor- ity, under the guardianship of -Oxenstiern. " This ex^ ^* traordinary man hacl amassed a great deal of learning, " having been a hard student in his youth : he read even •♦* in the midst of his important accupations. He had a " great knowledge of the affairs, and of the interests of "mankind: he knew the forte and the foible of all th_e ■*' states of Europe : he was master of great talents, acoa- _** sumraate prudence, a vast capacity, and a noble soul : ^ he was indefatigable : he possessed a most incredible ;^ assiduity and application to business ; he raade it liis ^j pleasure and his only occupation : he was> las sober as "^Vany person could be, in a country and in an age when " that virtue was unknown. He was a sound sleeper, and ■*' used to say, that nothing had either prevented his sleep- ^' ing, or av/akened him out of his sleep, during the whole ^' course of his life, except the death of my father Gus- ■** tavus, and the loss of the battle of Nordingue. He has *' often told me that, when he \yent to bed, he put off his j<' cares with his clothes, and let them both go to rest till ^' the next morning. In other respects, he was ambi- ^' tious but honest, incorruptible, and a little too slow and *' phlegmatic." As we proceeded to the College of Botany and its gar- dens, it was singular to see the professors o^ philosophy ^qoted. Every thing in Sv/eden is performed in boots : as soon as a child can walk he is booted ; perhaps the cheapness of leather may be the cause of this. The col- lege was erected \mder the auspices of the late king, with his accustqmed taste and magnificence. Monsieur Aft- zelius, professor of chemistry, and who presides over the cabinet of mineralogies, attended us with great politeness. This gentleman has lately returned to Sweden from a •very interesting, and perilous investigation of the naturaJ L 122 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. «. history of the interior of Africa, and has enriched the department over which he ably presides, with several tare and precious objects, which he brought from that country. His mineral collection is much esteemed, but I confess my inability to describe it. Amongst other matters, the conversation turned upon the authenticity of many of Mungo Parke's marvellous stories, upon which the Professor assured us, that he be- lieved his relation to be perfectly true, and declared, that in that distant and unfrequented region he had himself, met with many extraordinary objects and occurrences, which it required great courage to relate. I have, since iny return to England, seen some beautiful drawings imade upon the spot, descriptive of the manners, and particularly of the rural economy of the interior Afri- cans, by a highly ingenious and enterprising artist, Sa- muel Daniell, Esq. which fully confirm the observation of the learned Professor, and might, from their concur- ling and convincing testimony, abate the force of his ap- prehensions. Upon the subject of abolishing the slave- trade, the Professor made a remark, which, fiowing from local knowledge and long intercourse, strongly impres- sed my mind : he deprecated any other than a gradual abolition, for which the minds of the negroes should be prepared ; and declared, in a very emphatic manner his perfect conviction that a violent emancipation would only shock and endanger this great cause of humanity. Although unacquainted with botany, I was much gratified by seeing one of the rooms, in which there were some beautiful and flourishing date and plane trees, bedded in fine mould, and several rare plants from the South Sea islands, growing against a green treillage that ran on all sides of the apartment, which was form- ed into walks, and had a very agreeable effect. Amongst the curiosities in tliis room, I did not fail to pay my respects to a venerable parrot, which we were as- sured had exceeded his hundredth year : he displayed the marks of great antiquity, part of his plumage was entirely gone, and there was a very visible appearance of feebleness both in his eyes and in his beak ; but he is '6tiy lilvely to see sevei-al years more roll over his tufted Chai-. 8.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 12S head. The warmth of the room affords the tempera- ture of native climate to the plants ; it was gratifying to see art thus supporting nature in a bleak and hostile climate. The hot -house, which is just finished, is a magnificent hall, supported by doric pillars, and which, when finish- ed, will be warmed by fourteen stoves and nine flues, concealed in the columns. There were no plants here at this time. The room for the museum is also not yet completed, the design is excellent. The lecture -room is very capacious and handsome, and opens into that part of the garden which is finished and ready for the stu- dents, under a portico of pestum columns. The plants in this garden are arranged agreeable to the plan and classification of Linnaus, and afford no doubt a rich men- tal banquet for the erudite herbalist. The library of the university is not now thought deserving of the high re- putation which was once affixed to it : it is divided into three apartments, the first is dedicated to belleslet- ters, history, and natural history ; the second is mis- cellaneous, and was presented to the university by the late King ; and the third is confined to theology, juris- prudence, and medicine. This library has been aug- mented at various times by the literary collections of those countries which have bowed to the Swedish sword. The librarian, who had li\^ed some years with Sir Joseph Banks in that capacity, shewed us a very precious man- uscript of a Gothic translation of the four gospels, sup- posed to have been made in the fourth century, upon vellum, richly illuminated with large silver and some golden letters, which have been made by the brush : the former are faded, but the latter are in excellent preser- vation. This book formed a part of the literary pillage of Prague, in 1648. and was sent to Christina by Count Konigsmark ; from that princess it was pilfered by a Dutchman, upon whose death it was purchased for 250/. by som.e good patriotic Swede, and presented to the university.. We were shewn some curiosities, Mdiich, in justice to the university of Upsala, I must acknowledge that even llicse who displayed them were ashamed of, and were I®4 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. K better calculated to augment the cabinet of some little, da;pricious, spoiled, princess, who was just capable of running alone, than that of a grave and learned body,;; viz. the slippers of the Virgin Mary, Judas's purse, Sec. In a small room in the library we saw a lai^ge chesty^ ^out the size of a bureau bedstead, double locked and Scaled, containing the manuscripts of the late King, vrhich he directed should not be opened till fifty years after his decease. Conjecture and expectation frequent*, ly hover over this case, which will, no doubt, one da.^' wiifold to Sweden much interesting memoii', and literarjr treasure. Here we were shewn some Icelandic manu- scripts, said to be upwards of eight hundred years old, arid several Lapland tracts. How wonderful, that litera- ture should have lived, and even siiiiledi itt' ri^gioii^^ #hich the sun rarely warms ! In cne of the mineralogical collections, separate front that of M. Aftzeliils, we were much gratified by seeing* some transparent agates containing flies, elastic sand- stones, incorhbustible purses of asbestos, a mineral found , iri the iron mines of Danemora, some beautiful chrystal^ and many other rarities, which were displayed and ex- pidned with the greatest perspicuity and urbanity. The students amount to about one thousand, lodge, and board' themselves according to their finances, and inclinations, in the tov,*n : in general they wear a black gown without sleeves. By an unaccountable mistake we omitted to bring with us Sotne letters of introduction to the university, v/hich were offered to us at Stockholm, but upon a professor^ who happened to be in the cathredral at the same times'^' with ourselves, observing that v/e were Englishmen, he,, in the politest manner, enabled us to see what was" most worthy of our attention. Our omission, and Professor Aftzelius's imperfect knowledge of the English lan- guage, produced a momentary embarrassment : " How *' dare you,'* said he, making a low baw, " come here " \\dthout letters of introduction ?'* What he meant ^ is obvious, from the politeness with which he received ^^ \is. The Professor will not be angry, I am sure, and the following whimsical error will completely keep hira in CiiAP. 8.] NORTHERN SUMMER. i^^ cbnntenaiice ; it was related by the btaVe and venfe'rable Prince de Leigne, Wllorti I had the pleasure of irieetiiig at Mf . Jackson's, our ambassador at Berlin, of ah Eng- ' lishman who had been introduced to him, and who was vehemently anxious to make himself master of the French language. It was the custom with this gentle- man, for the purpose of restraining as mu:ch as possible the blunders v/hich he was perpetually committing, always in conversation to speak each sentence in Eng- lish first, and then to translate it into French. One day he called upon the Prince who is a very active mian, al- though fai* advanced in years, and finding him on his",.. couchj and wishing to rally him on the occasion, thus - began : " My Prince, Man Prince — ^I am glad to see " yow^je suis charn.e de vous voir — On your couch, dans ^'- voire accouchment — .that is, instead of ^ on your So- " pha,' ' in your lying in." The revenues of this university, the first in the north of Europe, are rather narrow ; fortunate would it be for this learned institution if it v/ere more the fashion to coiiirriit the sons of gentlemen and noblemen to its care ; nothing but such patronage is wanting to expand its energies, genius and learning having made this spot their favorite residence. The attentions that we received there, and which our own forgetfulness rendered acciden- tal^ have left a lasting impression upon my mind of the respect which is p&id to Englishmen. It is by quitting it that we are able best to appreciate the value of our country ; every Englishman who leaves it from honorable motives, becomes a subordinate repre- sentative of it, and ought to revolt at tarnishing a name which is every where honored. The population of Sweden, including Finland, is rapid-f ly encreasing ; it is at present ascertained to exceed three millions. The revenues of Sweden arise from the. poll-tax, about one shilling and three pence each person, with certain exceptions ; royal demesnes, windows, horses, equipages, supernumerary servants, watches, tobacco, snuff, duties on exports and imports and distilled spirits, on mines and forges, part of the great tythes^ L 2 12^ NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chai^. f . deductions from salaries, pensions and places, and mo- nopoly of salt-petre. The herring fishery is said to be much on the decline. We found every thing, except cloth, very cheap in Sweden. CHAPTER IX. Poor post-horses — Language — Merry criminc?.— 'Prison' ers—-.Psalmsingi7ig watchmen — Wash erwo7ne?i — .French comedy — P assfiorts~~-Indcconini of a little dog — Set sail for Swedi'jh Finland'— 'Begging on a ne~v element — Isl"^ ands upon islands — 'A massacre — The arte— ^ Abo-— — Forests on fire— 'Russia— ^F'red^rickshani— Russian coins. THE Swedish peasantry are certainly not so merciful to their horses as their neisrhbors the Danes : but provident and generous Nature, who foreseeing the cru- elty of man tov/ards the poor ass, armed his sides with the toughest hide, made Lis temper patient, and taught him to feed contentedly upon the thistle, seems to have fortified the Swedish post-horse against hardships and neglect. I have frequently seen this poor animal, after he. has brought us to the end of a long station, left to stand" in the road, refreshed only now and then by some little bits of hard bread, broken from a circle which the driver generally wears slung over his shoulders. During this excursion, as v/ell as on our first progress through the country, my ear was frequently deli-^hted by the strong. i*esemblance between, and even identity of the Swedish and English languages, as in the following words : god dag, good day ; farvel, farewell ; efter, after ; go, go j vel, well ; hott, hat ; long, long ; eta, eat ; fisk, fish ;. peppar, pepper ; salt, salt ; vinn, wine ; liten, little j, tvo, two J go out, go out ; streum, river ; rod, red^ Sec. &;c. Chap. 9.] NORTHERN SUMMER. ISJ. The Swedish language, which is derived from the Gothic, has two different pronunciations ; one in which every letter in a word is heard jusl as it is written, such as it is used in the various branches of oratory ; the oth- er, established by custom for common use, has many abbreviations, and, in many instances, I was informed by an intelligent Swede, deviates from the rules of gram- mar. The language is very sonorous : it places, as does the Danish, the article at the end of the nouns, as in the most ancient languages, contrary to the English and Ger- man, as the man^ der man ; Swedish, mannen. Some of the national son g^ are said to be very sweety and to breathe the true spirit of poetry. Amongst their modern poets, they speak with great rapture of Dah'n ; and amongst their ancient of Stiernhielm, who flourished in the reign of Gustavus Adolphus, and, wonderful ta relate, was the greatest mathematician and fioet of his ag.e. Perhaps it was the life of that singular man that suggested that whimsical satyrical poem, " the Loves of the Triangles.'* The highest orders of the Swedes are highly culti- vated, well informed, and accomplishe'd. In conse- quence of every parish having a public school, almost every peasant can read, and many of the sons of the peas- ants are sent from these schools to the colleges at Upsala.. As I was strolling through the streets of Stockholm,^ just after our return from Upsala, I met with an occur- rence which clearly established that an annate senti- ment of submission to the laws will better ensure the safe cvistody of their violator than guards and gaolers ; and it is admitted, that the Sv/edes are more under the influence of such an impulse than any other people. Turning a corner, I was overtaken by a rav/ flaxen-head- ed countryman, wJio, as it afterwards proved, had never been in the city before, driving, in a little country cart, a very robust merry looking fellow, whose hands were fastened by a large clumsy pair of handcuffs, and one '^^ leg chained to some little slips of wood which composed part of the body of the vehicle. Both driver and culprit had, it appeared, indulged themselves with a few snaps on the road, and were neither of them very sober nor iM^ NORTHERN SUMIVCEII. [Chap.#. soiTowfuI. The prisoner, Who, frorri his siipenor size and strength, might, larri satisfied, have easily knocked' down the rustic with the iron round his hands, if he had"'*' been so disposed, and effected his escape with little ornd'*'* difficulty, sat at his ease, amusing himself with now and" then pinching his conductor. Which was always follbwed by a joke, and a mutual hearty laugh. In this wtiy^ they jogged on through the city, the thief shewing his driver the road to the gaol, as merrily as if he had been going to the house of festivity. I saw several prisoners passed from one town to another, under similar circumstances of apparent insecurity. They all appeared to be too un- concerned, if not cheerful, to be secured by the tram- mels of conscience, which is said to be sometimes ca- pable of holding a ruffian by a hair. Upon visiting the principal prison, the rooms appear- ed to me to be too small and close, were much too crowded with prisoners, and the healthy and the sick were confined together. The prisoners Avere not com- pelled to work as in Copenhagen, to which circumstance, and the preceding causes, their salloAV looks may be attributable : they are permitted to take the air only;' for a short time in the court-yard twice in the day. F ' Was shocked to see a bar of iron, as long and as thick as a great kitchen poker, rivetted to each man's leg, and which, to enable him to move, he was obliged to preserve in a horizontal position, by a cord fastened to the end of it, and suspended from his waist. To load a prisoner with irons of any other weight or shape than what are ne- cessary for security, is a reflection upon the justice, hu- manity, and policy of the government that permits it. The women were confined in a separate division of the building : they were not ironed, but their cells were too close and crowded ; and they were also permitted to live in indolence. I mtist confess, when I reflected upon the enlightened benevolence of the Swedish nation, I was surprised to see how little this place appeared to have shared in its solicitude, and mo^>t cordisilly do I hope that the time is not distant, when these miserable wretches will be rendered more comfortable, and less burthensoine to the state. <^MAP. 9.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 1^4 The wklchmen of Stockholm, like their brethren of Copenhagen, cry the hour most lustily, and sing anthenilS" almost all night, to the no little annoyance of foreigneri^ who have been accustomed to confine their devotions to' the day. These important personages of the night pe- rambulate the town with a- curious weapon like a pitch^ fork, each side of the fork having a spring barb, used in securing a running thief by the leg. The use of it re- quires some skill and practice, and constitutes no incon- siderable part of the valuable art and mystery of thief-- catching. Before I quit this charming city, I cannot h^lp paying a compliment to a deserving and meritorious part of its female inhabitants, I mean the washerwomen, v^hich I" am sui^ alHovers of clean linen will re-echo.. It is re- freshing to see them enter one's room with the greatest' pro/irete, with their baskets filled w'ith linen as white as the driven snovi^s of Lapland, and lay it out upon the ta- ble with that look and movement of conscious, but de-- cent pride, which every creature feels who has reason t© be in good humor with her own works : their bills are surprisingly moderate. Perhaps Mdien the meiits of these ladies are more widely known, luxury delighting in whatever is foreign, may seek their aid, and the winds of heaven may waft into Swedish harbors vessels freight-^ ed with Jbul linen from English shores. We found the French comedy tolerably well attend- ed ; the interior of the thea.tre is small, and of an ob- long shape, meanly decorated, and badly lighted : the royal-box is in the centre of the front, the wiiole of which it occupies. The performers were respectable, and receive very liberal encouragement from the public : the scenery was tolerable. The embellishments of this theatre suffer from the prodigal bounty v/hioh has been lavished upon the opera. As the time fixed for our departure was rapidly ad- vancing, to enable us to pass through Russia, we were obliged to furnish ourselves with a passport from the Governor of Stockholm, for which we paid eight rix- doUars and a half, and another passport from the Russian liunister, resident at thie Swedish court; which cost tw one proof at least of the safety and convenience of this valuable coin. Before we parted, we observed that he entered our nam.es in a register as arrivals on the second of July : at first v/e v/ere surprised, for, according to my journal, it was the fourteenth ; but a moment's recollec- tion informed us that we were in a country in which the Julian calendar, with the old style, obtains, before which our calculation always precedes, by an advanced march of twelve days. Both old and new style are superior to the poetical absurdity of the French calen- dar, Y/hich must be at perpetual variance with the im* mutable law of climates and geography : for instance^ when a merchant is mel in g away under the fiery sun of the French West India Islands, his correspondence will be dated Nivose, or the month of snow. After making our bows to the little Major, and secretly wishing, for his civility, in the language of his favorite author, that he might be " the stolen sigh of the soul" of some fair Finn girl, and that " her fine blue eyes " might roll to him in secret," but not for ever, a circum- stance, by the by, which age, form, and feature, had ren- dered not very likely to happen, we were m^ost vexatious- ly detained en the opposite side of the v/ay by the cus- tom-house officers, who, under a broiling sun, ransacked every article of our luggage ; even the private recesses of the writing-desk were not sacred. The scrupulous fidelity with which they performed their duty, was, on. this occasion, as, alas 1 on many others of more import- ance, the reason of our leaving virtue to be its own re- ward ; for, provoked v/ith the trouble they caused us, CHAr. 9.] :NT0RTHE]RN summer. 143 we gave them nothing but black looks, and a few private inverted blessing's. We nov/ began to reckon our stations by versts : a verst is about three quarters of an English mile, and is marked upon a post, painted like the bridge, somewhat resembling, only that the verst-post is square and much taller, a barber's pole. The rapidity of our travelling, and the frequent appearance of these memorials of our velocity, were the only cheering circumstances that we met with. Upon the road we saw several peasants bare- headed, cropped, fair, with shorn beards, and booted. We met with little or no delay for horses : the peasant, to whom they belonged, attended us to take them back. After passing through a country the most wretched and rocky imaginable, a country formerly wrested by the Russians from the Swedes, in v/hich the gloomy sterility of nature w?.s only once relieved by the w^aterfalis which attracted our notice at Kagfors: and a large camp of several Russian regim.ents, who had a very fine ap- pearance, we reached, at eleven o'clock at night, the draw-bridge of Fredericksham, the gates of which had been some time closed. After repeatedly knocking, a little beardless officer presented himself, and very polite- ly requested to have our passports and post-order, with which he disappeared. Here we waited in suspense for three quarters of an hour : all owing to the provoking integrity and detention of the custom-house officer at the barrier. At length we heard some massy bolts move, the gates unfolded, and we entered the town through a long arch under the ramparts, and anxiously looked out for an hotel : it was then as light as the day, but as silent as the tomb. At length v/e halted before a house, which our little officer, as well as w^e could un- derstand him, informed us was the only inn in the town. Here we found no person moving : after trying at the door for some time in vain- I peeped into the front room, and beheld a spaclacle a la mode de Rw^se^ to me completely novel ; it was a collection of nine or ten men and women all lying, with their clothes on, promis- cuously upon the floor like pi:\s, heads and tails togeth- er. An officer passing by informed us that this was a 144 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap, i private house, and that the inn, in Russ called a kabac, was the next door : but that it was locked up and empty, the host having gone to enjoy the breezes of the sea side for a few days. This circumstance plainly demon- strated one of two things ; either that this part of Rus- sia is not much frequented by travellers, or, as I fre- quently experienced, that an inn-keeper, however poor, is very indifferent whether he affords them any accorn- modation.. We had been travelling all day under a fervid sun, were covered with dust, and parched with thirst ; our Abo ham was glowing to the bone, our last bottle of claret was as warm as milk from the cow, and our poor exhausted horses were licking the walls of an adjoining building to cool their tongues. In this dilemma I be- Iield an elegant young officer, uncovered, in a dark bottle-green uniform (the legionary color of Russia), and an elderly gentleman, upon whose breast two resplend- ent stars shone, coming towards us : these stars were two propitious constellations. The principal personage addressed us in a very kind and conciliatory manner in Erench. Upon our explaining our situation, he said, " I " am very sorry this fellow is out of the way, but it shall " make no difference. When Englishmen enter Russia " it is to experience hospitality, not inconvenience ; trust " to me, I vvili immediately provide for you :" he bowed, gave directions to an officer who followed at a distance, and passed on. This amiable man proved to be the Count Merir^nd off, the Governor of Russian Finland, who, fortunately for us, had arrived about an hour be- fore from Wibourg. An officer soon afterwards came to us, and conducted us to a very handsome house be- longing to a Russian gentleman of fortune. Our kind host, who spoke a little English, introduced us into a spacious drawing-room, where we went to rest upon two delightful beds, which were mounted upon chairs. Our poor servant, after the manner of the Russians, ranked no higher in our host's estimation than a faithful mas- tiff, and was left to make a bed of our great coats on the floor of the entry, and to sleep comme il plait a Dieu. C^Ait.9.1 N^^RTHBRN SUMMER. lU The next day we had a peep at the town, which is afnall but hMidsQBie> from tke square in wliich the guard- house stands, a building of brick stuccoed, and painted green and ,white» almost every sti'eet may be seen. It 'was here, in the year 1783, that Catherine II. and G.us- tavus III. had an interview. Upon this occasion, to im- press the Swedish monarch with the magnificence of the Russian empire, and to render their intercourse less ^restrained, a temporary wooden palace was erected, con- taining a grand suite of rooms, and a theati^, by the or- der of the Empress, The town appeared to b^ filled with military. The Russians of consequence generally despise a pedestrian. I was uncommonly struck with -seeing ofiacers going to the camp, *\nd even the parade in the town, upon a di^ska, or, as they are called in Russ, a drojeka, an open caniage, mpijnted upon springs, and four little wl^eels, formed for Ii,old|ng two persons, who sit sideways, with their backs towards each other, upon a stuffed seat, frequently made of satin ; the driver wore along beard (which, we now beg-an to see upon every rustic face), a large coarse brown co^t, fastened rovyid the middle by a red sash, was booted, and sat in front, close %) the horses^ heels, whcts^ p^.e wasj as is usual in Rus- sia, a full trot. We here exchanged our Swedish mo^ey at Mr. groom's, and f crawled indolently and unwholesomely along. Not a Xv^c was to be seen ; not even a m^elancholy fir ! Time, that bids the barrenness of nature bear, that enables the shepherd and his flock to find shelter and rich pasture in? tlie altered desert, has passed over these regions v/ithout .shedding his accus'omed beneficence. These people, or^ as they are called, the Finns, I found always distinguisha« fcle in the capital from the proper Russian, by their squalid and loathsome appearance. Yet even in this inhospitable spot, are to be found what ms^ny a traveller in England has frequently lamented the want of, viz. the exposition of every diverging road care- fully, and intelligibly, marked out by a directing post. Although the peasantry of the country, in these imme- diate parts, are so wretched, a considerable portion of Russian Finland is considered to be as fertile in corn as. .jmy part of the Polar empire. We were prevented from reaching Wibourg on the -day we set off frona Fredericksham, on account of our being detained, for want of horses, at Terviock, which forms the last stage to the former place. Here, as it was too hot to admit of two sleeping in a chaise, I entered a sorry post-hous€ j the room contained only a crib and Chaf. 10.] KORTHERN SUMMER. 14^ a sheet, as aged, and as bro\^n, and as filthy, as the post- master's face and hands, who, after having given nie to understand that I might use the bed after he had done with it, vef y Gomposedly jumped into it with his clothes ©R, and soon made this black hole resound with one of the loudest, and least tuneable, nasal noises,^ I eve? heard* Sleep sat heavy upon me, and with my pelisse for a bed, and my portmantau for a pillow, I closed my eyes upon the floor, which appeared to be the favorite promenade €f flics, fieas, and tarrakans. Necessity, like *' Misery, acquaittts a man with Strange bed-fellows»" At three in the morning, I was- awakened by the jin- gling of the bells of our horses, v,^hich the peasants very- merrily galloppedup to the door. The sun was up, and threatened very speedily to destr shaken whenever charity dropped her mite. I had good reason to believe that our landlord, who v/as a thorough -paced Italian, had been a devotee here, and wished to supply by extortion the vacancy which a sudden impulse of beneficence had occasioned in his^ purse, for the fellow had the impudence to charge us ten rubles and fifty copecs for a breakfast, a plain dinner, and a bottle of claret. " Gentlemen," said he, in reply to our remonstrance, (which by the bye was a successful one) " why do you object to high charges ? they are the " inevitable consequences of approaching the capital.** There are some who, thinking with less respect than I do of the Russians, would have thought that they had inoculated this native of the south with knavery, but I was satisfied from his tone, look, and gesture, that he took it in the natural way : so wishing that we might never see his face, nor that of a fortified town more, we mounted our carriage and proceeded to the gate leading to Petersburg, where we were again detained at the guard-house three quarters of an hour, because it was necessary that the deputy governor should once more 152 :;ORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 10 ' See his own wretched scrawl at the bottom of our post- drder, not then even perfectly dry. In what a situation would English travellers in their front, or a rocky mountain floats upon the ckep.^ At Petersburg there is no public to consult, the public buildings are therefore the result of one man's will. In England the public is every thing, and the variety of its taste appears in the variety of its buildings. Petersburg is divided into three grand sections by the Neva, and a branch of it called the Little Neva, which issues from the Ladoga lake, and disembogues in the gulf of Cronstadt : this division resembles that of Paris by the Seine. The first section is called the Admiralty quarter, situated on the south side of the river, and com- prises the largest and most superb part of the city, and is the residence of the Imperial family, the nobility, a principal part of the merchants and gentry, and nearly^ the ^Ybole of the trading community : this part is formed into ^ number of islands by the intersections of the Moika, the Fontanka, the Katarina, and Nikola canals* The second section is named the Vas^li Gstrof, situated on the north-west of the river, where there are laaany public buildings and elegant streets ; this part coincides with the Fauxbourg St. Germain of Paris : and the third ig ca,lled the Island of St. Petersburg, standing on the north side of the river, and is distinguishable for the for- tress and containing some good streets. The country about the city is very flat §njd sterik. ; but the gardens in the suburbal p>art have been much im^ proved by the introduction of vast quantities of vegetable mould, which has been brought from distant parts of the country, and also by ship ballast. The morniiig after oui; arrival, was spent in delivering our letters of intro- duction ; and such is the spirit of hospitality here, so frequently and so justly extolled, that it became n§- c^ssary to chronicle down the invitations that flowed in upon us from all quarters. In cur walk upon this occasion, it was with astoliish- ment that we beheld the bank and pavement of hewn granite, which we first saw in the English line in the GaleernhoSf: figure to yourself a parapet and footpath * The, re4estal of Peter the Great, wliich ^yas floated «p the Neva on vast rafts. CHAr. 11.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 161 of the hardest rock which nature produces, of great breadth and thickness, gracing the southern side of the river, and running parallel, with a line of magniiicer.t palaces and splendid mansions for near two English miles 1 - In the evening I visited the summer gardens that face the Neva, the palisade of which unquestionably the grandest in Europe, is composed of thirty -six massy Dc- ric columns of solid granite, surmounted by alternate Vases and urns, the whole of which, from the ground, are about twenty feet high, connected by a magnificent railing, formed of spears of wrought iron tipped with aud expressed, by his manner, some reluctance and dis- gust, which arose, as we afterwards found, from the horror with which the coinmon Russians regard the citadel, on account of its containing the state dungeons, and of the horrible stories to which they have given birth. As we gallopsGl all the way, the usual pace in Petersburg, we soon crossed the Emperor's bridge, and passed the draw-bridge, and outer court of this melan- Qhoiy place, which is built of massy walls of brick, feced v/ith hewn granite, of the same materiajs as the five bas- tians which defend it. We were set down at the door of the church of St. Peter and St. Paul, remarkable for being the burial-place of the Russian sovereigns, and for its lofty and beautiful spire, two hundred and forty feet high richly covered with ducat gold. The inside of the church was damp and dreary, and had no beauties of architecture to recommend it. In oblong square se- pulchres of stone,' raised and arranged in lines on the right of the shrine, and covered with velvet richly em- broidered with gold and silver, repose the remains of Peter the Great, his Empress Catharine, the celebrated peasant of Livonia, of Alexey, Anne, Elizabeth, and 164 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 1 h Peter III. and Catherine II. ; and, on the other side of the church, at a distance is the tomb of Paul, the late Emperor, opposite to a whole length painting of the Saint of his name, covered like the others, but with more cost and grandeur. An inscription in copper informed us, that the unhappy Emperor died on the eleventh or /we//? A of March, 1801. On each side of the church, very carelessly arranged, are banners of war, trun- cheons, keys of cities, and arms, taken in battle by the Russians : amongst the former were some Turkish col- ors taken by Count Orloff, or rather, if merit had its due, by the Bridsh Admirals Greig and Dugdale, in the celebrated engagement off Tscheme, when the whole of the vast Turkish fleet, except one man of war and a few gallies, were burnt, so that " the sun at its rising " saw no more of its flag." The view from the belfry is one of the grandest spec- tacles I ever beheld : below flowed the Neva ; before us lay the whole city expanded, from the Convent des De- moiselles to the end of the Galeernhoff, a line of palaces and superb houses, extending nearly six English miles ; immediately facing us was the marble palace, the palace of Peter the Great ; the hermitage, the winter palace, crov/ded with statues and pillars ; and the admiralty, its church, and the dome of the marble church ; in the fortress frorn this height we could discern a number of gloomy prison yards and the gratings of dungeons, than which nothing could look more melancholy ; and also^ the mint, which appeared a handsome building, where the gold and silver from the mines of Siberia are reflned and converted into coin. Here also we had a fine view of the country over the Wibourg suburbs, and in a distant part of the citadel was pointed out the court of the pris- on ill which the unfortunate young princess, who was en- snared from Leghorn by the treacherous stratagems of Orloff, and afterwards confined in this place, is said to have perished. The story of this devoted young per- sonage is still wrapped in some obscurity : After the burning of the Turkish fleets near Tscheme, a beautiful young Russian lady, atteneded by an elderly lady, appear- ed at Leghorn j although she appeared without sh^w,. Chap. II.] NORTHERN SUMMEK. 165 or the means of making any, her society was ipuch courted on account of the sweetness and accomplish- ments of her mind, the attractions of her person, and a certain air of majesty w'iiich particularly distinguished her. To some of her most confidential friends she communicated the fatal secret, that she was the daugh- ter of the Empress Elizabeth by a private, raaa'rii^-e, and that her pretensions to the throne of Russia were superior to those of Catherine 11., to whoge suspicious ear the communication w^s imparted with uAcominon celerity. Allured by the deceitful solicitations of a Rus- sian officer, who was an agent of Count Orloff, who pro- Jtiised to esp(>use hei> cause, and to gain over tlie Count, she came to Pisa in the year 1775, where Alexey Orloff th,en resided in great magiyiicence during the rep^ii^s of his fieet. Upon her arrival the Count paid his respects to her with all the deference and ceremony due to a feigning spverign^ afiected to believe her story, and pro- :^\iised to support her pretensions. At length, after ap- pearing vvith her at every fasluo;nable place during the cstrnivai, and pa^ying her the most marked and flattering ..^tentions; he ayoWiid? in the most respectCui manner, a .tender pas-sion for her, jmkI submitted to her the glitter- ing prospect of her mounting with him the throqe to waich she was entitled. Intoxicated with the idea? she gave him her hand. A few days after the nuptials, the -jCoLint announced a mAgniiicent marine entertamment ill honor of the marriage,. The young personage pro- ceeded to hi<* ship ia all irnsjgi^ary naval pomp ; as sooa .as she entered the cabin, gr?x.ious heaven, what a display ^^pf treachery was developed 1 OrloiT upbraided her with i.^ejiiiT^ an ijmpostor, and the more barbarously to degrade her, ordered her delicate hands to be fastened by hand- cuS's, -vyhicli had been prepared for the purpose, and quit- ted the ship which inimediitely sailed for Gronstadt, ,fi-om v/hence she was brought to the fortress in a caver- .j-ed barge, v/here she v/as immolated, and neyer heard of more. It is supposed that she was drowned in her -.dungeon, which was rather d^^ep; duriiig one of the inun- ..d^i'iDns of the Neva. In a part of this fortress is a little .^a^> wluch is said to be the father of the Russian marui©, 1^ NORTHERN SUMMER. [CuAiliC by ha\ing furnished Peter the Great when a child, with the rudiments of naval architecture, which he afterwards so passionately pursued at Sardam. It was brought from Moscow, and deposited here with great pomp, in 1723, and was called by Peter " the Little Grandsire /^ Upon our return from the fortress I took a view of the celebrated street called the Grand or A'evski., Perspective : it runs in a direct line from the church of the admiralty, from|which the principal streets of the admiralty quarter branch like radii, to the monastery of St. Alexander Nev- ski : its length is about four miles, and its breadth not quite equal to that of our Oxford-street ; it is lined with very noble houses, and what willafiord the most delightto the liberal and reflecting observer, with elegant churches, in which the devout man, without restraint may wor- ship his God after the dictates of his own habits or per- suasion. Here sectarian fury never disfigures the tern.-- pie of the Almighty : the Greek and the Protestant, the Armenian and the Catholic, here quietly pass to their respective places of devotion, and unite in sending up to the throne of heaven the hallowed, though varying, sounds of their grateful adoration, which, blending as they ascend, charm the Divine ear, with the most accep-- table homage, the harmony of religion. The late Emperor very materially affected the beauty of this street by destroying the foot-paths which were formerly on each side, and forming a very broad path in the centre of it, v/hich he planted with Linden tree?,, and guarded by a low railing. The idea was evidently taken from the beautiful Linden walk at Berlin, which originated in the exquisite taste and genius of Frederic, so justly called the Great. The trees look very sickly, and for want of soil and moisture never can flourish, and cannot atone for the violation which is offered to taste. If this great nuisance was removed, the perspective would be one of the finest in Europe. The great bee- hive of the city, called the Gostinnoi dvor-f is in this street ; it is a vast building, wholly dedicated to trade, containing two piazza stories, and presenting three un- equal sides, the longest of which is upwards of nine hun- dred feet : under this roof is an immense number of Chap. 11.] NORTHERN SUMMER. I6f shops and stores : the neatness of the shops, and the dexterity and activity of the shopmen, cannot but im- • press a stranger. The haberdashers here, as in England, afe fine lusty fellows, but add to their athletic appear- aiice a prodigious bushy beard ; this said beard is the pride and glory of Russian naanhood : " It is the equal grace Both of his wisdom and his face/* which the churches of the north and of the east protect- ed with uncommon zeal and contumacy, whilst the ra- zor of ecclesiastical discipline committed sad ravages upon it in the southern and western regions : at one time, as if in derision, this venerable growth of the hu- man visage was cut into a tapering cone, it next assumed the gravity of the scollop, then it alarmed the ladies in •whiskers, and afterwards tickled their cheeks with a few monkish hairs upon the upper lip, till at length the holy scythe, pursuing its victory, cleared every hair, until the chin assumed the polish and smoothness of an alabaster statue. The Russian beard struck terror into the soul of Peter the Great, he dared not attack it. It was not surprising that Catherine wished to see its honors shorn but amidst her mighty and resplendent conquests, the beard re- mained not only unassaulted but unassailable ; and if a smooth chin is one of the characteristics of high civili- zation, I believe the Russian will implore his saint to let him live and die a barbarian. The following anecdote is an authentic one : A noble- man having laid a wager upon the subject, offered a common Russian, one of his slaves, freedom and two thousand pounds to part with his beard ; the reply of the poor fellow was, " I had sooner part with my life." To return to the shops ; before the door of each of them, parades a shop-boy, whose duty it is to importune every passenger to walk in and buy : this little fellow seems to partake of the same spirit y/hich so indefatigably moves his brethren, who mount guard before the old clothes and slop shops of Monmouth-street. it$ NORtllERN SUMMER. [Ghap. H. The acuteness, frugality, aiid perseverance, of tHese peiDple, virtues which never fail to raise for their fortu- nate possessor a pyramid of wealth, is "siirpfizititg. Most of these tradesmen have been rasnoschiks, or am- bulatory venders of little merchandizes in the street^, •who, by a judicious application of the golden ruJe, <' take care of the cofiecs^ and the rubles will take care " of themselves," well digested with black bread and a little quas, a common antiscorbutic acidulous beverage, produced by pouring hot water on rye or barley, and fer- mented, have become marcJiahds des mc'des^ or, success- ful followers of other trades ; the Auitful principle of getting and saving has enabled them to purchase houses, and com.mence money brokers and lenders, in which ca- pacity many of them die immensely rich. These shopkeepers have also their phrases of allure- ■ment. The haberdasher says : " Walk in my fair o-ne, *' we have straw bonnets which will very much become " that pretty face ; oh ! how well they would look upon " you : how much more your lover would adniife you " in one." In an adjoining shop the shoemaker is seen sweeping the pretty foot of some fair customer vvith his long beard, as he adjusts the glossy slipper. Upon ta- bles, before the doors of the upholsterers, in which all de- scriptions of furniture may be purchased, plaister of l^aris busts of Alexander and his Icvely consort are pre- sented to the eye : " Sir, I am sure you like the Empe- " ror and the Empress, they are exactly like the origin- " als, you shall have them for twelve rubles ; I cannot ^' sell them apart, they must not be separated, they al- « ways go together, sir ; they are, you miay rely upon " it, exactly like the originals." The consummate knowledge which the Russian shop- keeper possesses of the most coin plicated calculation, and the entangled ce.prices of that cameleon-colored god- dess who presides over the Exchange, is absolutely as- tonishing;. If he cannot write, he has recourse to a small wooden frame, containing ro-;vs of beans, or little wood- en balls, strung upon stretched wires, and with this sim- ple machine he vrould vSet the spirit of Necker at defi- ance, it has been the fashion amongst travellers to as- enA?; 1 1.] NORTHER]^ SUMMER. 1 6S sert, asid they seem to have alternately received and im^ parted the prejudice, without the trouble and the justice of : maldng- their own observations, that the Russians are th-e greatest cheats in the universe. If the worthy shop- keepers of London, of Paris, and of Vienna, had nevei' been known to consider that the " — — — value of the thing Is jiist as much as it will bring/' then^ indeed, might Mercury, invested v/ith his least favorable attribute, regard the shop-boards of Gostin- noi dvor as his^chosen altars. Accustomed to obtain wealth in the detail, and to have their reservoirs filled by partial drops, and not by copious showers, they display that little trick, which may be seen in all other countries linder sirmlar influences. It is related of Peter the Great, that when a deputation of Jews v^aited upon him, l-o' solicit permission to settle at Petersburg, he replied t '* My good friends, I esteem you too much to grant you ^<' that fa\T)r, for my people will out- vdt you." The Russian has an apology for his craft ; nature fur^' nishes him with it ; he is doubly a slave, first to hisim- m.ediate master, and secondly to his Emperor. It is the policy of the poor fellow, to conceal as cautiously as he can, not from the latter, for he is the fond father of his people, although constitutionally his paramount owner, but from his immediate lord, the amount of his profits : he does, what I have heard has been done in another country, where, thank God, petty legalized tyranny has " ihever yet had an inch of ground to rest upon 1 he makes an inaccurate r^ roM^iiSH. 17:3 vti^- "'It is not thTe^HoTse but tlie oTits- that cai^r)^ you r' as-long'astJie animal will- eat he feeds him ; and his ap- pt^rstxce ^iim^Vij honors^ and his grc«:efiil services re- fituiierate, the htimaiiity of his- master. A R^assian, in the ebuUitioit of^ passion, itiay da a ferocious thing, but never an ill-natm^e-d^ cm. No- b%in"g under l>eiiTet5 suf-' passes him in ths gaiety of the heart. His little nation- al' son g^ cheers htm wherever he goes. Where a Ger- man would- smoke for Gomfort, the Russian sings. Tltem Is nisthin^ cold about him but his-vnntry clisnate ; ^vhen- &ver he speafc«, it is w^tli good-huraor and vivacity^ ac- companied b*y the most animated gestures ; and although I do not think: that the Graaes^ would at first pull caps jibouthim,- yet in- the dance, for spirit and agility, T would' matbh and* bjtck him ag;ainst any one of the most agile' sons of carelfessnesS' in the" C/iatri/is Eh/sL's.. ■ Itrhis religious notions, the Russian knows not the 'mean' ing ax bigotry, aiid what is better, of toleration. He mer- cifully thinks that every one will go to heaven, only that the Russians will h^ve the best'place. When these sim- ple ehiidi^n of Nature address each otiier, it is always by the affectionate names of my fftther, my mother, my bro-- ther, or my sister, acGording to the age aud sex of the '^ti.Yif. To these good qualities of- the heart let me axid the favorable and manly appearance of the Russians, I mean the proper Russian : durin'g my stay- in" theiir resi- dence I never saw one man that was either lame or de- formed, or vrho squinted^ and they are remarkable for the beauty of their teeth . Their dress is plain and simple* consi'stingGf a long coat of woolen cloth, reaching to the knees, and folding before, fastened round the middle by a ^sh, into"^ which his thick leather g-lovss^are generally tucked, and frequently it holds his axe ; his drawers are of the same stuff vvith his coat, and his legs are usually covered with heavy boots, or swathed round v/ith banda- ges, for they scarcely ever wear stockings, a.nd for shoes he uses coarse saiidals made of cloth and the matted bark of linden or birch ; his hair is ahvays cropped : the dress of the common women did not appear to me to va- ry much from that of our ov/n females of the same de- gree ; it consisted of a tunic, generally of some shawy P 2 174 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. IfJ color, ^vith the sleeves of the shift appearing. The milk- women iookeci very Avell in this dress ; and the manner in which they carry an ashen bow, from the ends of which are suspended little 'jars covered with matted birch bark, resting upon one shoulder, gives them an un- commonly graceful appearance. When the tradesmen's wives go out, they generally cover the top of their caps with a large rich silk handkerchief, which falls behind ;. this appeared to be a very favorite decoration. Prudence demands some little knowledge of a characr ter before we associate with it, and it is with great plea- sure that in this early stage I present the Russian. . What of good he has he owes to himself ; his foibles,, and they are few, originate elsewhere : he is the absolute slave af his lord, and ranks with the sod of his.domains ;• of a lord whose despotism is frequently itiore biting than the Siberian blast. Never illumined by education, bruis- ed with ignoble blows, the object and frequently the vic- tim of baroni^J rapacity, with a wide world before him, this oppressed child of nature is denied the common^ right of raising his shed where his condition may be ameliorated, fiermitted only to toil in a distant district un- der the protection of that disgraceful badge of vassalage, a certificate cf leave -^ and upon his return compellable to- lay the scanty fruits of his labor at the feet of his master ;- and finally, he is excluded from the common privilege, which nature has bestov/ed upon the birds of the air and, the beasts of the wilderness, of chusing his mate ; he must marry when and whom his master orders. Yet under all this pressure, enough to destroy the marveU lous elasticity of a Frenchman's mind, the Russian is. what I have depicted him. If the reader is not pleased- with the portrait, the painter is in fault.. Chap. 12.] NORTHERN SUMMER. ITS CHAPTER XH. Pedestrians^ how considered — The scaffolding of the neW' Kazan church — -Great ingenuity of common Russians — ♦ The market — The Knout — r building, is^ in religious estimMion') the most considerable of the Greek church eSj^sn- account of its containing the figure of the^ Virgin. Upon all public occasions, the Emperor and court assist, with great splendor, in the celebration of divine v,^orship here. Behind it v/as a vast' pile 6f< scaffolding,^ raised for the purpose of erecting a magnificent metropolitan church-, in the room of the onewliich I have just named. This^ place of worship, when completed, will surpass in size and splendor every other building in the residetice ^ and^ if I may judge from the model, will be little inferior in magnitude and grandeur to our St. Paul's. The Em*^ peror has allotted an enormous sum for its completion r all the holy utensils are to be set with the richest diamonds; even the screen is to be studded with pre- cious stones-. The scaffolding of this colossal temple i§ stupendous, and most ingeniously designed and execut- ed, and would alone be sufiitient to prove the genius an-d indefatigable labor of the Russians. Most of the masons' and bricklayers who were engaged in raising the New Kazan, as- Well as those who are to be seen embellishing the city in other parts, are boors from the pro^dnc^s. The axe constitutes the eavpenter's boxl of tocfls*: with- that he performs all his work. No one can observe Avith^ v/hat admirable judgnient, perspicuity, and precision, these untutorefd rusticsw'ork, and what gra:cefui objects rise from their uncouth hands, without doing them- the justice to say, that they are not to be surpassed by the most refined people in' imitation and ingenuity: fram me they have drawn many a silent eulogium as I passed' throii2-h the streets. Whilst I was gazing upon the New Kazan^ the foun- dation of v/hicl'i, as well as the pedestals of the columns, are already raised, on a sudden ail the hats ileW off about me, in compliment to the Empress Dowager, and her lovely daughters the Grand Duchesses, who, with their attendants, were passing in two very .plain carriages of a dark olive color, drav»Ti each by four horses, with two GnAP. 12^] NOHTHERKSUSIMER. W footmen, behind, in liveries of the^oior of tbe earriages^ "ttdtli a red cape, large cocked hats, and military b©ot« : Mupon the pann^is were merely the letter E, and the black eagle. This august family^ like that of the sove- reign of England, but with less show, frequently ride about the city, and pay friendly visits. Strolling nearly to the end of the Perspective, I found Hiyself in the market -place, and saw lying near the great market^ scales, tiie apparatus to which delinquents are fastened, when they receive the punishment of the knout, that terrible scotirge which Peter the Great and the Empress Elissbeth-wcre perpetually raising over the heads of their subjects, but which the mercy of the present Emperor never, except for crimes of the deep- est dye, permits to be exercised with fatal violence. The last man who perished by it, broke into the cottage of a family consisting of five persons, in a dark night, and butchered every one of them with a pole-axe. An acjt of such wanton biirbarity, and so alien to the character of the Russian, did not fail to excite the highest sensa- tions of horror. After a fair trial, the murderer was twice knouted ; and, upon receiving his kist punish- ment, was, in the language of the Russian executioner, <-*■ finished" by receiving seveml strokes of the thong dex- terously applied to the loins, which were thus cut open : the miserable wretch was then raised, and the ligaments Ivhich united the nostrils were terribly lascerated by pin- cers ; but tills latter part of his punishment, as I vfas in- formed by a gentleman who was present, created no ad- ditional pang to the sufferer, for tlie last stroke of the scourge only fell upon a breathless body. When a criminal is going to receive the knout, he has a right, if he ehuses, to stop at a certain kabac, and drink an allow* ance of liquor at the expense of government. I question if the cruelty , of punishment is to be de- termined by the quantum of unnecessary agony which it causes, vvhether the iniiiclion of death by suspension is not almost as barbarous as the knout : sufTerei^s in the former mode have been seen to display, for eight and ten minutes, ail the appearances of the most horrible torment, There is no mode of putting a capital offeti* 178 NpRTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 12. der to death so swift and decisive as decapitation. The scaffold, the preparation, the fatal stroke, the blood, are pregnant with exemplary and repulsive horror : the pang of the sufferer is instantaneous — ^all the substantial ends of justice are effected with all possible humanity. In Russia, ladies of rank have suffered the punish- ment of the knout : the Abbe Chappe D'Auteroche re- lates the circumstance of an execution of this nature which took place in the reign of the cruel Elizebeth. He states that Madame Lapookin, who was one of the loveliest w^omen belonging to tjhe court of that Empress, had been intimately connected v,4th a. foreign ambassa- dor who was concerned in a conspiracy against Eliza- beth, and, on this account, his fair companion was de- nounced as an accessary in his guilt, and condemned to undergo the knout : the truth was, Madame Lapookin had been indiscreet enough to mention some of the endless amours of her imperial mistress. The beautiful cul- prit mounted the scaffold in an elegant undress, which en- creased the beauty of her charais and the interest of her situation. Distinguished by the caplivation of her mind and person, she' had been the idol of the court, and wherever she moved, she was environed by admirers : she was now surrounded by executioners, upon whom she gazed with astonishment, and seemed to doubt that she was the object of such cruel preparations. One of tjie executioners pulled off" a cloak which covered her bosom, at which, like Charlotte Cordey as she was pre- paring for the guillotine, her modesty took alarm, she started back, turned pale, and burst into tears. Her clothes were soon stripped off, and she was naked to the waist, before the eager eyes of an immense concourse of people profoundly silent. One of the executioners then took her by both hands, and turning half round, raised her on his back, inclining forwards, lifting her a little from the ground ; upon which the other execu- tioner laid hold of her delicate limbs with his rough hands, adjusted her on the back of his coadjutor, and placed her in the properest posture for receiving the punishment. He then retreated a few steps, measuring the proper distance with a steady eye, and leaping back- Chap. 12.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 179 wards, gave a stroke with the whip, so as to carry away 5. slip of skin from the neck to the bottom of her back ; then striking his feet against the ground, he made a second blow parallel to the former, and in a few miinutes all the skin of the back was cut away in small slips, most of which remained hanging to her chemise : her tongue was cut out immediately after, and she was ban- ished to Siberia. ., It is impossible to reflect upon this savage scene, in which the Empress betrayed all the qualities of a ruth- less barbarian, without equal horror and indignation. History represents Elizabeth as the most indolent, vo- luptuous, and sensual of her sex, which her portraits fully confirm. An anecdote is related of her, which proves, if any thing further were wanting, that she was a total stranger to feeling. One of her ladies in waiting, who was far advanced in years, and labored under a great weakness in her legs, one day very nearly fainted in the presence of the Empress from the fatigue of standing. Elizabeth observing her situation, enquired the cause ; and, upon being informed, she coolly re- plied : " Oh, is it so ? then lean a little against those " dravv^ers, and I will 7nake believe that I don't see you." The late Empress Catherine exercised her vengeance upon a similar occasion with more lenity, but in a very mortifying manner. A lovely young woman, who had married the Count M , one of her discarded favor- ites, obtained from her husband some singular particu- lars respectmg his intimacy with the Emxpress, which she very injudiciously related to some of her female friends at Moscow, where she resided. Not long after, just as the lady and her husband were resigning them- selves to sleep, they were awakened by a loud knocking at the door of their chamber, which the husband unbolt- ed, when a stout police officer entered with alarge rod in one hand, and an imperial order in the other. The hus- band was commanded to kneel on one side of the bed, and make no resistance or noise, as in the next room there were several brethren of this summary minister of justice in waiting. The lady was ordered, just as she was, to descend from the bed, and lay herself upon im NaRTHERN SUMMER. [Chap.1^ the fioeF ; tbe officer ^:hett tied hfer - hafEds- aad fe et, attd g^ve her a scyefe whipping : whea h^e hadr finished the discipline, he loosened her, raised her up, and said, *' This is the punishment which the Empress inflicts " upon tattlers ; the next time you go to Siberia." The story was soon buzzed abroad, and the poor young fedy could not appear for some time after in Moscow without exciting a titter. In her pleasures^ Catherine only reflected upon the un- bridled indulgences of the sovereigns of the opposite sex, which she cherished as precedents of indisputable authority. As an Ejn^ress,^ she considered herself above those restraints with which the protective code of society has environed the delicacy and chastity of women, the brigl>t lustre of which cannot be breathed upon without being sullied. It is not likely that I, who belong to a country which female modesty has selected for her fa- Torite residence, and in the diadem of which she has fixed her v hitest plume, should advocate the licentious- ness of Catherine ; yet it is but justice to her memory to say, that she endeavored to conceal her faulty plear sures under a surface of refinement ; that she punished, with efficacious severity, every inclination to depravity in her court ; and that she labored only to make the better parts of her character exemplary. The present Empress Dowager, though past the me* ridian of beauty, exhibits very powerful traces of her having been one of nature's favorites; Her complexion is veiy fine, her face full, her eyes of hazel color, sweet and expressive ; her person somewhat corpulent, but very majestic. Her manners are in a peculiar degree soft, benign, and captivating. She devotes herself to the education of the younger branches of her august fkmily, to the superintendence and encouragement of benevo- lent institutions, and to a very tasteful cultivation of the arts. One of her pursuits is somewhat singulatr ; she is an excellent medalist. I have seen some of her v/orks in this elegant branch of art, as well as some of her chasing in gold, which would do honor to any artist. Her needle-work is also very beautiful, and must be ad- Chaf. 12.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 1$1 inirecl even by those who haA^^e beheld the exquisite per- formances of a Linwood. . The present Emperor Alexander is about twenty -nine years of age, his face is full, very fair, and his complex- ion pale ; his eyes blue, and expressive of that beneficent niiidness which is one of the prominent features of his character. His person is tall, lusty, and well propor- tioned ; but, being a little deaf, to facilitate his hearing, he stoops : his deportm.ent is condescending, yet digni- fied. In the discharge of his august duties he displays great activity and acuteness, but without shew and bus- tle : the leading features of bis mind are sound discre* tion and humanity, qualities which cannot fail to render an empire flourishing and a people happy ! He is so much an enemy to parade, that he is frequently seen wrapped up in hisregimental cloak, riding about the cap- lial alone, upon a little common di oshka : in this man- ner he has been known to administer to the wants of the poor. It is his wish, if he should be recognized in this state of privacy, that no one will take off their hats ; but the graciousness of his desire only puts the heart in the hand as it uncovers the head. I have many times seen him in a chariot, perfectly plain, of a dark olive, drawn t>y four horses, driven by a bearded coachman, a com- mon little postillion, and attended by a single footman. Soldiers are always upon the look out for him, to give timely notice to the guard of his approach ; without this precaution it would be impossible, amidst the crowd of carriages which is to be seen in the residence, to pay him. the honors due to his rank. The Emperor is very much attached to the English, numbers of whom have settled in the empire, and have formed, under the auspices of the government, a sort of colony. The Emperor has often been heard to say that " The man within whose " reach heaven has placed the greatest materials for ma- " king life happy, was, in his opinion, an English coun- ^^ try Gentleman.'^ Although the Emperor has never visited Englar^l, he 13 perfectly acquainted with its character and manners, as he is with its language. A very amiable and respecta- ble English gentleman, Mr. G. of the treasury, was, bv Q 182 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 12. the wish of Catherine, brought up with him, and was the play -mate and associate of his early years. The in- cidents of boyish days, so dear to every feeling and gen- erous mind, left their accustomed impressions upon the heart of Alexander ; and though time placed him at an immeasurable distance from his early companion, he has never ceased to honor him with the most gracious re- gard ; in the display of which he exhibited the Emperor only' in the munificent proofs of his friendship. I heard another instance of the strong partiality of Alexander for England. When an English gentleman, who, a short time before the death of Paul, had frequently played du- ets upon the flute with the Grand Duke, v^as preparing to quit the empire for his own country, in consequence of the sudden antipathy which the former had taken to our countrymen ; after the close of the last piece they ever performed together, Alexander thus feelingly apos- trophized the flute of his friendly musician, as he held it in his hand : " Adieu, sweet instrument ! you have '' charmed away many an hour of care ; often and deep- " ly shall I regret the absence of your enchanting " sounds ; but you are going to breathe them in the best " and happiest counlry in the world." These are trifling anecdotes to record, but they conduct the reader to the heart. *< Man is most natural in little things." How nmch and how justly, the Emperor is bfeloved' by his people, will occasionally appear as I proceed. The Russians, who have had so many foreign princes to govern them, behold with enthusiastic fondness an Em- peror born in Russia. The face of the reigning Empress is very sweet and expressive ; her person is slight, but very elegant, and of tlie usual height of her sex ; she is remarkably amiable, and diffident, even to shyness. Her mind is highly cultivated, and her manners soft, gracious, and fascinating. Her sister, the Queen of Sv/eden, if there be any fidelity in the chisel of Sergeli, must be a model of female beauty. The .Emperor and Smpress have no family. They were united at "sn ex- Chap. 12.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 183 traordinary early age, fro-m a wish of Catherme to can- template as many of her posterity, who were .destined 'to succeed to the throne, as she could before slie died. The two Grand Duchesses, who are grown up? do honor ;to the care of their Imperial mother, and excite the attach- ment and admiration of all who approach them. The youngest of the two was married to the prince of Sai^ Weimar, during my stay in Petersburg ; and as the ceremony of their nuptial will illustrate the nKinners ^nd customs of the R.ussians, I shall hereafeer give a -bi^ef description of it. From the place of execution in the market place, I made my way to the Monastery of St. Alexander Nevsky, at the very extremity of the eastern part of the city. In the street were several carts standing, Med with pea^e in pod, with their roots just as v/hen they were poilled up from the garden, and with their stalks, which the poor people bought, sonfietimes for themselves, ai>d sometimes for their horses ; to both, the vegetable, wbiqii v/as eaten shell and stalk together, appeared a dainty. The -monastery occupies a vast space of . gcoimd. is moated round, and eontams a magjiihcent church, sur- mounted by a vast copper dome, a'chapel, the cells, re- fectories, and dormitories for sixty monks, a seminary, and the residence of the metropolitan archbishop. The front of the basement of the buildings, which are all connected together, is painted of a deep crimBon color, and, from the immense quantity and size ©f the windows, resembles a collection of colossal hot-^houseo. In the church, which is very elegant, I saw the shrine of St. Alexander Nevsky, the tutelar saint of Russia, formerly one of its sovereigns, who was raised to that disting^uished honor, in consequence of his having most gallantly repulsed the Swedes, or Finns, some centviries since, on the banks of the Neva. The monument, and military trophies which adorn it, as well as the pillars and canopy under w^hich it stands, are of wrought massy silver, made from theiirst ore of that metal ever discov- ered in Russia. One of the columns, v/hich forms the hack of the space allotted for the Imperial family, is a whole length portrait of the late Empress, well executed- 184 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 1% The altar, screen, and decorations, are very superb There are cloisters round the whole of the buildings, formed almost entirely of double windows, by which in winter every house in Russia, of the least respectability,, is protected against the terrible severity of the cold : the joists, and all other avenues of air, being either covered with pasted paper or felt. Every part of the monastery appeared to be very neat and clean, and the mansion of the archbishop handsome. The chanting of some line deep-toned voices attracted me to the chapel, where the monks, assisted by the priest, were at their devotion. The dress of the former is singularly gloomy ; on their heads they wore a high hat, covered with black crape flowing dov/n the back : the habit, which fell below the ancles, -was black cloth lined with a soir^bre dark blue stuff, their beards were of a great length, and each monk carried a rosary of brown or black beads. As I was re-^ turning, several beautiful monuments in the church-yard attracted my steps ; they appeared to be constructed and arranged as in England. While engaged in examining them, an elderly lady, in deep mourning, apparently about sixty years of age, with a pale but dignified face, leaning upon the arm of a graceful youth, clad in the same suit of sorrow, slowly passed by mte, and at some distance stopped before a small but elegant tomb, which, from its unsullied whiteness, had the appearance of ha- >ingbeen but very lately erected. I noticed them unob- served. They stood under the sliade of a wide spread- ing silver birch', and turning towards the church of the monastery, the youth pulled off his hat, and they both prostrated and crossed themselves, according to the forms of the Greek faith ; the female then, clasping her hands, dropped her head upon the pedestal of the monu- ment, and appeared to be lo3t in profound and aifecting meditation. The yovmg man knelt by her side, and if I mistook not the cause which moved his hand, he wept. Some minutes elapsed, they then arose, tenderly survey- ing the spot, ascended the hillock of grass, and kissed a little marble urn, which surmounted the monument. My conjecture enclosed in it the heart of sonae long-loved }iusband and father. They then withdrew in the same CiiAP. 12.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 185 s -ad, solemn, and impressive manner, with which they entered, and I approached the object of their melancholy regard. The pedestal winch supported the urn was eni- bellished with two medallions ; one represented Resig- nation, with the face of a beautiful female, upon which the most angelic sweetness appeared to triumph over languor and pain ; the other depicted Hope, modestly, yet ardently looking to heaven. There was a small in- scription between the two heads, in Russ, and underneath, the figures, 1804. The Russians, like wise people, al- ways bury their dead in the suburbs. The late Empress never permitted burials in the day ; she thought, with sQ'me reference to the popular prejudice, that the gloom of the spectacle ought to be confined, as much as possi- ble, to the relatives of the deceased ; and I should sup- pose that her ukase, regulating this awful ceremony, still continues, for I never saw a funeral during my stay in Russia. The reader will, I am sure; be pleased with the beauty and pathos of the following stanzas, which form a part of the hymn recited over the body previous to its inhuma- tion. < " Oh, what is life ? a blossom ! a vapor or dew of '' the inorning ! Approach and contemplate the grave. " Where now is the graceful form ! where is youth ! " where the organs of sight 1 and where the beauty of " complexion 1 " What lamentation, and wailing, and mourning, and " struggling, when tiie soul is separated from the body I " Human life seems altogether vanity ; a transient " shadow ; the slef^Ji of error ; the unavailing labor of *' imagined existence. Let us therefore fly from ^Yitrx '• corruption of the world, that we may inherit the king- *' dom of heaven." " Thou Mother of the sun that never sets ; Parent of " God, we beseech thee intercede with thy divine " offspring, that he who hath departed hence, may enjoy " repose with the souls of the just. Unblemished Vir- " gin ! may he enjoy the eternal inheritance of heaven *' in the abodes of the righteous." Q 2 CttAP. 12.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 166 The superstition of the Russians is very great. Upen the ceremony of tdessing the waters in the winter, v/hen a large hole is perforated in the Neva, a woman suppli- cated a priest to immerse her newborn child ; the priest consented, but in dipping the miserable little sufferer, his fingers were so benumbed, that he iiTecoverably dropped it under the ice ; the pr.rent, with a smile of de- light) exclaimed, " He is gone to heaven." In one of the churches I saw a woman doing penance for the following crime : She had not long been mari'jed before she polluted the bed. of her husband, whom sh^e used to keep in an almost constant state of intoxication. One day, whilst «he v^as indulging herself in ker adul- terous attachment, her hvisband unexpectedly appeared perfectly sober : stung with jealousy by what he saw, he sprang upon his guilty rival, and v.ith a knife stabbed him to the heart. The laws of England would have pro- tected the miserable man, but by those of Russia he was knouted and sent to Siberia ; and his wife who was- the authoress of this bloody tragedy, was ordered by her priest to prostrate herself six hundred times a day foi* two years before the Virgin. Her conscience and h&r bigotry enforced punctual observance of the prescribed mortifications. By the Russian laws, if the husband is of a tyrannical and violent temper, a -w^oman may com- mit adultery with impunity. The Russians are fanatically attached to the very stone, brick- wood, and plaster, of their churches : they have a remark that whilst the Russians build their churches first and their towns aftenvards' the English never think of a temple until they have erected their own dwellings. It is somewhat singular, that with all their religicus enthusiasm, the Russians pay their priests naore misera- bly than we do cur curates; but periiaps it may be traced to the extreme ignorance of the former. After wealth and birth, knowledge awakens respect, and per- haps the Russian populace would revolt at the idea of making their ministers independent before their minds wese cultivated : to their saints they would devote their liver ; to tlieir priests they^give black bread. Chat. 12.] -NORTHERN SUMMER. JW T^'^^ the Oreek faith admits of confession, the follow- iirg anecdote will prov^ : A priest came to hear the con- fession of a great nman : " Holy father," says the Comit, " Ivave you a good memory ?'* " Yes." " Then you re- " member v/h at I told you at my last confession ; since <'tiiatl have h^.d the same temptations from without ; *' the same weaknesses from within ; and here is the *' same number of rubles." Another reason was now assi<^ned for Paui*s having- introduced the magpie color which I have before men- tioned : it w^as that the soldiers, raw recruits, and boors, i;mployed for government, miight the more readily dis- ting-uish the buildings which belonged to it. As I crossed the draw-bridge of the Ligova canal, the latter appeared to be almost choaked with barks of a pro* digious length filled with billets of birch -wood, for the immediate use of the kitchen, and for a winter-stock of fuel; this and the rent of houses, a.nd necessaiy equi» pages, and bread, constitute the most expensive part of house-keeping in Petersburg, which in most other res- pects is moderate. These vessels, in which not only wood but charcoal is brought from the shores of the nearest rivers, or of the Ladoga lake, never return, but are broken up and sold, for building houses for the poor, or for fuel. These barks, unavoidably necessar)^, sadly disfigure the beautiful canals which form the pride and comfort of this capital ; and here, as upon the sides of the Seine, the washerwoman are the principal water npnphs. Most of the canals are finely embanked with granite, and have a rich iron railing running on each side. The Fontanka Canal is eminently beautiful. These intersections of water assimilate Petersburo: in some degree to Venice. As I returned through the Grand Perspective, I took a peep at that part of it which is called the Yuemnkm^ answering to the Long Acre of London, where there is a long row of carriage builders* shops ; here are droshkaes, calashkies, chariot-s, sledges, and all sorts of carriages, many of them veiy neat, some of them very heavy, but none very lasting ; yet there is no knavei'y ; those who build them use the best materi- als the country ->¥ill aSbrd, and in shape -and fashion^' 188 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 1'^. v/here the carriage will admit of it, they imitate us very closely, aPxd a stranger may buy a very com.fortable ca-- laslika for about five hundred rubles, for which, a little -more elegantly and substantially made, if caiashkjes and rubles ran in England, he would at least pay one thou- sand of the latter. This depot, or the yards of the coachmakers, amongst whom there is an English one, in the second line of the Galeernhoff, are the best places for a foreigner to purchase a carriage when he is about to quit Russia. As I walked along I observed, on each side of the street, several stands, each attended by a reverend look- ing long-bearded Russian, v/ith piroghi, or little pies fill- ed with meat, next to which were eggs, and salted cu- cumbers, of which the Russians are particularly fond, and in a third were pvramids of berries, much resemblins- a mulberry in shape, but of a light yellowish color, call- ed the marosbki ; the cramberry, called the glukoi ; \dld straw berries, whortle berries, and cloud berries, said to be excellent antiscorbutics. I cannot say much of the attractive cleanliness and delicacy of the fiatissier, but a Russian stomach is not squeamish ; and for a very few copecs it may be, in the estimation of its ov/ner, substan- tially and completely filled. The fasts of the Russians are very frequent, and very rigidly observed. As a fast in England always reminds me of a feast, I will just give a brief sketch of a Russian dinner, which is seldom later than three o'clock : upon a side-board in the drawing-room is always placed a table filled with fish, meats, and sausages salted, pickled, and smoked, bread and butter, and liqueurs ; these airy nothings arc mere running footmen of the dinner, which is in the following order : a cold dish, generally of sturgeon or some other fish, precedes, followed by soup, a num* ber of miade dishes, a profusion of roast and boiled meats, amongst which the Ukraine beef is distinguisable, and abundance of excellent vegetables ; then pastry, and a desert of very fine melons, and sour flavorless wall fruit : the table is covered with a variety of wines, and excellent ale and beer. The master of the house or a cook carves, and slices of every dish are handed round to the Chap. 12.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 1S9 guests. One of the most gratifying* things that I al^ ways saw upon the table, was a large vase of ice broken into small pieces, with which the giiest cools his wine and beer. In the yard every Russian house has two large cellars, one warm for winter, and the other filled with ice for the summer. The soup, and coffee, and chocolate are frequently iced. One day at dinner, I sat by a lovely Russian lady, that is, born in Russia but of German parents : the explanation will save me a re- mark embarrassing to gallantry, and which I wish to avoid, respecting the beauty of the firoper Russian v/omen, at least of those whom I sav/. This accom- plished woman, in my own language as pure as ever it fell from English lady's lips, requested some salt ; upoa my presenting it she said, ••' Whenever you give salt, "' never fail to smile ; it is a superstitious custom in '»' Russia.'* A sinile is in this country considered as a charm against /2ozso72. Heavens 1 surely they have not yet to learn that *' A man may smile, may smile, and be a viiliaa." They have a beautiful proverbial expression : ' '« Banter, but never make the cheek red."^ Nature has less to do v/ith climate than library gossips suppose, at least I thought so vviien I committed the following blunder : " You never saw my Sophiaka be- ■fore," said Madaime L , pcinting to a fine little girl at table, about ten years of age ; ''She is your daughter y '• I presume ?'* '- Mtidame L 's daughter T' exclaim- ed a geniiieman, " surely that cannot be, she is more ''. like your 6r,7^fr." The fact was, the child was nei- ther daughter nor sister, but a little visitor. The result v/as, that the piincipal part of Madame L——'s enchanting ct>nver3ation during diimer was withdrawn from me, and addressed to the gentleman ■ whose error was the most fortunate. Afier a fev/ glasses of delicious wines, champagne included, the Lidy rises, and the company retires to coffee in the drawing-room. 1" he rooms of .j'JLispcclable houses ai^e never papered, but where the im NORimERN SUMMER. IChap. 12. .sides are not covered with silk or cotton, they are colored in a brilliant and beautiful manner to resemble papering. In this act the natives are uncommonly tasteful and i-apid. The hospitality of this place cannot be surpassed t When a stranger is introduced, the family mention the ^ays of the week when they receive their friends, and expect that he ^vill include himself in the number : the invitation is frank ^nd cordiei, and is seldom repeated ; where it is understood there is no occasion for it. The frippery and formality of forced, and frequently treach- erous ceremony, is not known here. At the back of the Gastinnci dvcr are the fruit, bird, tind poultry markets, in a street of wooden sheds like those at a fair in England. Apples, pears, rasberries, currants, peaches, excellent melons and pine apples, are temptingly presented to the eye, and are all intolerably dear, even when you are permitted to buy for half the price at first demanded, for the custom of asking double the sum intended to be taken prevails in all this neigh- borhood ; but as it is w^U known, it seldom answers. In the bird quarter were pigeons, sparrows, liawks, birds of the rock, and a few others, in greater numbers than va- riety : upon a beam in this place was suspended the image of a favorite Saint, with a lamp burning before rlmr. In the poultiy department very fine geese, ducks, and fowls were in great abundance. The bank next at- tracted my attention : it is a large and very beautiful building of brick stuccoed, containing a centre and two wdngs, and adorned in front by a very handsome and elegant iron-railing. The whole of this neighborhood is filled with kabacs and public -houses, v/here dinners are dressed, and beer, and mead, and brandy sold. At the end of the Gand Perspective, the church of the Admiralty, with its lofty spire, plated with ducat geld, having a vein in the form of a ship, presents itself, and, like a haughty female, ashamed in her proud attire of her mean origin and humble relations, seems scorn- •fully to lift herself above the long gloomy line of low brick buildings which, with the yards behind, constitute the Admiralty, and disfigure this part gi the capital* / CffAK 12.] NORTHERN SUMMER: 13^ Time has proved that Peter the Great acted wisely in chusing the situation for his eity. The shallowness of the Neva presents an insuperable barrier to the fleets of Sweden, and a noble river, so clear that it is drank with- out filtration, divides and enriches the quarters of the city with the beauty and purity of its waters : but, with the powerful facilities of building ships at Gronstadt, a >arge impregnable island at the mouth of the Neva, in the gulf of Finland, and the grand naval arsenal of Russia, I must confess, in my poor opinion, he has not been equally judicious in establishing an Admiralty at Petersburg. So little is the depth of water at the latter place, that whenever a ship of war is launched, she is obliged to be floated down to Crcnstadt upon camels. Of the trouble and expense of such a removal let the reader judge, when I inform him that I saw this stupendous machinery mounted upon thousands of wedges of wood, in a meadow, about half a mile from any water in which they could be floated. My astonishment could not have been exceeded, had I beheld a first rate seventy-four up- on the top of St. James's palace 1 Suppose the clear shell of a larger ship than ever yet was built were cut in two, and each part put into an outer case, but at such a distance from it as to lieave throughout a hollow space of from eight to ten feet : such was the appearance of the camels. But how they are removed from the place where they lie in ordinary, supposing any number of men were employed, surpasses my imagination ; hov,^- ever, like every thing else in Russia, when they are tranted they make their appearance, and come when they are called to the Admiralty, where each takes its station on either side of the ship which they are destined to carry to Cronstadt. By the means of vast moveable weights, and by opening several apertures in^Jie exter- nal sides of this mighty section of a ship to admit the water, they are sunk, drawn close together under the curve of the ship, and braced v/ith cables ; a work fit for a race of giants ! To see them moved and directed by men, must present the image of the recumbent body of Gulliver covered with Lilliputians. But v/hilst the fram,e of man becomes diminutive by the side of his 1"^ NORTHERN SUMMER, [Chap. 12« own works, bis soul expands, and rises with his labors. The Admiralty is a vast oblong square : the side to\\ ards the river is open, and far from being ornamental to the adjoining palaces : that toward the city is defended by earthen ramparts, fortined with cannon, and secured by draw-bridges. The store-houses appeared to be well ar- ranged : there were two ships, one of seventy-four and the other of sixty guns, ready for launching. An Eng- lishiTis,n cannot fail being struck with the prodigious waste which occurs in the dock -yards, in consequence of the carpenters using their hatchets instead of the saw in dividing timber. The chips form, the perquisite of the workmen ; but the government would save an immense quantity of valuable timber •* ould it give an equivalent, and insist upon the use o2 the saw. In the naval con- stitution of Russia there is a regulation which cries aloud making private signs, induced the Prince immediately to relii-e. The astonished Dutchman said, " Why you appear to have « great acquaintance here ?" " Yes," replied Peter, « andL. *' so may you, if you stay here but ten days : there are " plenty of such needy noblemen as the one you saw, " they are always in debt, and very glad to borrow money " of any one, and they have even found out me ; but, sir, " bev/are of these fellows, resist their importunity, how- " ever flatteringj and do not be dazzled by their stars and " garters, and such trumpery." This explanatory advice put the stranger a little more at his ease, who drank and smoked on very cheerfully, and made his barg-ain with the Imperial Merchant for a cargo ; just as he had settled this point to hi^ wi-sh, the officer of the guard, which had been changed, entei'ed to receive ms orders, and stood v>^ith profound respect uncovered, and before Peter could stop him, addressed him by the title of Imperial Majesty. The Dutchman sprang from his chair, fell on his knees before the Emperor and Empress, and implored forgiveness for the liberties he had been taking. Peter enjoyed the scene, and laughing heariiiy, raised up the terrified suppliant, and made him kiss the Empress' hand, presented him with fifteen hundred ru- bies, gave him a freight, and ordered that his v-essel, as long as her timbers remained together, should be pennit- ted to enter all the Russian ports free of duty. This pri- vilege made the rapid fortune of the owner. A friend of mine frequently sav/ her, some years since, at Crcnstadt. Gn the right hand side of the cottage is a boat, buiit by the hands of Peter the Great. It resembles a large Thames wherry, and does honor to the skill of the prhice' ly boat -bulkier. As I sat in the carriage, y*i>iting for some of ray companions, I made a sketch of the house, l)oat, a droshka, and a groupe of Russians and an Ame- rican, who were there. Upon our return the evening was advanced, and the night-watch was set ; we met the po- lice master mounted upon a droshka, drawn by two hor- ses in full gallop, fallowed by two of the police on horse- back, dressed in H^bt green, and armed with sabres ; 196 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 13^. they were going their rounds through the city, to see that order was preserved, and that the nocturnal guards, amounting to five hundred, were at their respective posts. Soon after, we met with a patroling troop of Cossacs on liorseback. In no city is there greater safety and tran- quillity preserved than at Petersburg, which for this pur- pose is divided into ten departments, and these divided into several smaller parts, each of which has its proper chief and subordinate officers, who by a very simple or- ganization, preserve the capital, at all hours of the night, in a state of quiet and seciuity, that cannot fail to excite the admiration of foreigners, and particularly of English- men. Those detestable agents of government, spies, have no existence in Petersburg ; without their baneful assistance, the police is so admirably and powerfully ex- tended, that, like a spider's web, whatever comes in con- tact with it, is felt from the centre to the extremities. The commanding officers of the police do not rank with the officers of the army, nor are ihey received with much respect in society. 1 one evening saw an instance of severity which cur- prised and disgusted me, but probably it was intended to- strike terror, and to abbreviate the labor of the police, by commanding an instanta.neous submission to its funct- ionaries. A quarrel had taken place between two men in the street through which I \y?j5 passing, and before the third exchange of imprecations, two of the police appeared, and ordered these disturbers of the peace to walk before them to the nearest sieja, or little watch- house but one of them refused to go, upon which an officer drew his sabre, and cut him in the face ; the man, like a true Russian, more affected at the sight of the blood, than by the pain of the wound, submitted himself to the law, and marched off without further delay. It would be well for the safety and tranquillity of the inhabitants of London, and more particularly of its im- mediate neighborhood, if its police were more extended^ gvjift^rA potverful. In this respect we are assuredly in- ferior to most nations. I am aware that arbitrary gov- ernments have, hitherto, displayed the most perfect sys- tems of police ; but is this the reason why the genius and Chap. 13.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 197 constitution of a free one cannot admit of its extending domestic protection to its subjects ? Is civil liberty in- compatible with preventive policy ? Is the freedom of the country gone, when murderers and robbers cease to be free ? or is it to preserve our chartered privileges, that a band of superannuated watchmen, who, to protract their becoming an additional burden upon the poor-rate, beyond the ordinary era of eleemosynary aid, are hel' meted in flannel night-caps, and with a rattle and a Ian- thorn^ admirable equipment for second childhood^ and eyes dim ivith age I are sent forth to guard the lives and pro- perty of the inhabitants of the most crow^ded, populous, and wealthy city in the world ? To find fault is an easy and an odious office. But a traveller, like a bee, should never be upon the wing without bringing home some sweet to encrease the honey of his native hive. Neither at night, nor by day, are the streets infested by v/omeii of the town ; they live in a quarter by themselves, and I believe are not very num.erous ; some of them are Po- lish, of course handsome ; some Germans, of course fas- cinating ; and some, and the most of them, fair and frail wanderers from the upper parts of Finland, which, al- though the portion of the province that we saw was so destitute of every thing like beauty, is said to possess many pretty faces and good persons amongst the ip- males. If it be true, as Mr. Justice Colquhoun's re- gister asserts, that the prostitutes of London amount to fifty thousand, I should not suppose, from all that I could learn, that the frail sisterhood oi Petersburg ex- ceeds a tenth of their number. Where these unhappy beings abound, it is always a compliment to the chastity of the purer part of the sex. There w^as som.e portion of sagacity in the remark made by a poor little niglit v/anderer, in a city on the continent which shall be nameless, when a traveller, v/ho pitied and relieved her distress, observed, that he was surprised to see so fevr of the sisterhood in such a capital. " Alas, sir," said tiie unfortunate, " wq cannot live for the virtuous part of " our sex." One morning presented a very singular" spectacle. A number of well dressed women, v/alking in pairi, fastened bv the arm to each other with cords, R 2 198 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 15. witli their band-boxes in their hands, and each couple attended by a police officer, were very quietly and de- corously marchfng to the Emperor's cotton-milis, which are correctional houses of industry for ladies of, this description. There were no repining looks atnongst them, not a pouting lip, so great in general is the con- stitutional submission to the law in the north. Upoff enquiry, I found that a man had been violently iil-treated in the haunts of these Idalian goddesses, and that upon the affair being represented to the Emperor, he ordered three hundred of them, to be marched off for a few months, as above mentioned. How the list was filled up, wheth- er by ballot, or promiscuously, I know not. Passing by the senate in which the nobles assemble to digest and discuss such laws as the Emperor may chuse to submit to their consideration, the image of justice which adorns the right hand side of the grand entrance towards the statue of Peter the Great, attracted my notice : she v/as blindfolded as asual, but the equipoise of her scales was destroyed : a wag who some time since had lost his cause, in consequence, as he thought, of the venality of his judges, betvvcen frolic and pique had dexterously cast a copcc into one of them, and had thus kicked up the beani, It would be unfair and invidiov.s to investigate the pre- sent laws of Russia : the Emperor is convinced of their radical defects, and it is intended, with all possible speed, to bless the empire with a nev/ code. The brilliant elementary outline of legislatio'n, which Catherine 11. with the most imposing pomp and solemnity submitted to the deputies from all parts of the empire, in which she professed to' give equitable lav/s to all her sul^jects, from Lapland to the Caspian, and from the Baltic to the wall of China, which excited the homage, how sincere I know not, of Frederick, and, what she valued more, of Voltaire, has never been acted upon. At this meet- ing the follovdng cmious incident happened : Two Sa- moid deputies v/ere directed by the Empress to state those legislative provisions which they thought were best adapted to their own nation. One of them replied, '' Our laws are feW; and we vv^ant nb more.** " What l** Cnxf. 13.3 NORTHERN- Stt^ftM^^'. i^ exclaimed the i'mpeiiai legislatrtX, " do tlieftyittiird«i',- « and adi]ltei7, never appear anioni^st 5^011 ?" " We *< have such cnmes," aiisv/ered the deputy, " a-nd they" " are punished : the man who deprives another of his « lite wrongfully, is put to death."—" But what," said- her Mujesty? intenaiptinf;^ hini, " are the punishments « of theft and adultery ?" " How !" said the Samoid, with- great astonishment, " are they not suSiciently " punished by detection V* Many events have con- spired to prevent the accomplishment of the magnificent plan of Gacherine ; and heavily oppressive indeed would the present lii^;?^ of Russia be, if an appeal to the Em- peror did not lie fi^oin the inost abject of his subjects. The courts of the grand police ofBce opposite the Ad- miralty'^ are cit)wded evei^y day, whei'e the lav/s are ex- pounded and administered^ according to the discretion of the judicial crHicers appointed to pneaide OY'CT them. Whilst En?iland might borrow some ideas from the po- lice of Russia, she is enabled tb present to the latter the sublimest spectacle of justice. Let us press for a raiO- ment thrmigh tlie crowd, into a British coult of crirtiina! justice ; see that emaciated tattered wretch at the' bar ! he is without friends and without money ; he can bring no witnesses ; he can retain no counsel. What then 1 Is all the force of the law and the powers of eloquence against him ? Listen : the judge before whom he stands is his advocate I Hear that acute and favorable interroga- gation to the witness that presses against the culprit's life ; mark that benign exposition ; the miserable being is saved : tears gush from his eyes ; he falls upon his knees, and in broken accents blesses heaven that he was born in a country whose laws befriend the friendless and the persecuted. I have hitherto omitted to mention the terrible an- noyance of the bells of the Greek churches, the most deep-toned of any I ever heard : those of one very near my chamber used every morning to curtail that little portion of sleep which legions of flies had allowed me. To a stranger, the alternate clashing and jingling of the^se deep-mouthed tenants of the steeple, for an hour without any interval, is very harrassing ; the bells, like 200 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 13, saleable horses going to a fair, are tied in successiont and by pulling the rope which connects them, the agreeable harmony of clashing is effected, whilst the melody of chiming is produced by striking the particular bell with a wedge of iron. The Russian saints are said to be very fond of this matin music ; and many was the time and oft that I wished it confined exclusively to their ears. Amongst the other early sounds of the bvisy morning, with which you are saluted, some are very foreign, and others very familiar, to an EngHshman, and might, if the files would permit, half induce him to think that he were in the capital of his own country : amongst the latter I was particularly delighted with the cry of the fruiterer, who, with a reverend beard, carried upon his head an oblong board, on which, in little baskets of birch bark, very neat and. clean, the choicest summer fruits of Russia were disposed. Nothing could be more grateful than a block of ice, brought in every morning, to chill the water of the Neva with which we washed our- selves : I am at a loss to conjecture hov/ the natives of tropical climates can survive their sultry summers with- out ice. Soon after our arrival we dined at the elegant and hospitable country house of Mons. B , upon the Peterhofi road, w^here we sat down about thirty to din- ner, and after coffee, retired to the gardens, formed of little romantic islands rising out of a small lake, the whole surrounded by. a v/ood. When we were weary of rowing some pleasure boats, an amusement of which the Rusbians are very fond, we returned to the house, and the rest of the evening was spent in cards and walt- zing. The day following we were introduced to the English club by a member, where the .company is very select, consisting of Russian and Polish noblemen, for- eigners of respectability, and that truly digivjied charac- ter, an English merchant. The dinner is always excel- lent, and served up in the English fashion : adjoining are rooms for billiards and reading, where the principal foreign papers are taken in. The porter was ornamented with a very broad sash of velvet, richly embroidered vdth silver, thrown o"ver the left shculder, and held a staff tip- Chap. 13.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 2:0 F pedwith silver, as do most of the porters of the principal nobility. The building on the outside is far from being^- handsoiTie ; but the apartments are good, and particu-^ larly the eating-room, which is very lofty, and has tv/o enormous stoves made of brick, covered with blue Dutch tiles : upon the whole, its appearance is very inferior to the club-houses of Stockholm. About two o'clock, the dinner hour at this place, the court-yard is crowded with carriages and equipages. A fortunate removal of people from the hotel, ena- bled me to change my apartment for another more pleas- antly situated ; the price was the same, viz. seven ru- bles, or nineteen shillings English, per week. This rooni was divided, a la Bzcsse, by a screen behind which my bed or crib was placed. The windows looked upon the Moika canal, where of an evening I used to be sere- naded by the common bargemen, and sometimes by the rowers of the pleasure -barges. Of the Russian song and music I will speak by and bye : I shall only now, as some iTiodest banisters say, humbly insist upon it, that barbarians have not a natural and ardent taste for music and singing. One evening, while aiTiusing myself with a young bear in the court-yard of the house of a friend, my ears were £Tatitied by some wild notes, which, up- on tuiTiing round, I found issued from an instrument re- sembling a guitar, upon which a native of Archangel was pls-ving very svreetly : the tenderness of the scene improved the music. The poor fellow was v/eeping as he played, to mitigate the sufferings of his wife, upon whom death had fixed his seal, and who, Vv'ith her head reclining upon her hand, sat at an open v/indov/ in the basement floor to enjoy a little air. The rude and sor- rowful musician, and his pale and interesting wife, form- ed a subject for the painter. This sensibility, which would have charmed a traveller had he beheld it in the love -in spiring groves of Italy,, v/as tlie produce of the frozen regions of the V/hite Sea ! The natives of Arch- angel are looked upon as more civilized than their more southern brethren, and servants from this part of Rus- sia are preferred for their integrity, intelligence, and ac- tivitv.. 202 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 15. Although I have expressed my attachment to the Rus- sian, and like the gocwi humored fellow prodigiously ; yet I must admit that he has no objection to improve his notions of earthly felicity by a little occasional inebriation. At a house where I passed the evening, previous to sup- per we had been drinking some ale, which in this coun- try is prized on account of its being both excellent and forbidden, having left a couple of bottles about half full upon the table when supper was announced, a nwst de- mure looking menial, with a long beard, who stood be- hind my chair, was ordered to bring them in : after some little hesitation, he informed liis master " tliat be *' was very sorry for it ; but that, as he passed through " the room, by mere accident he had emptied the bot- " ties." Nature, by some of her odd freaks, very soon confirmed the truth of one part of this statement. This propensity is much encouraged by the extraordinary number of festivals which occur in this country, particu- larly at the end of Lent ; almost as many as the feasts of the civic coi'poration of London, which it is said v/ould present, if they v.'ere duly observed, one for every day in the year, and some over. One day whilst I was at Petei^burg, as the Emperor was returning from Cronstadt, when the weather was most oppressively hot, be halted at a little village about twenty versts from the residence, in consequence of the relay of horses not being immediately ready. An En« giish merchant who had a country house adjoining, with that warmth of heart which forgets and surpasses all eti- quette, ran out, and presented to the Emperor, who ap- peared to be in great heat and covered wi:h dust, a glass of excellent Burton ale, for which his Majesty, with his usual afi'abi-ity, thanked his attentive host, and drank. Both the Emperor and the merchant forgot that the be- verage was prohibited, or secretly relished it more on that account. A German who was present, and was struck with the frank and cordial avidity with which the Emperor emptied the glass, observed, "that had a " Frenchman offered it, his Majesty would have ir^dc *f OBe of his horse-s taste It first." Chap. IS.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 205 Upon another occasion the Emperor exhibited the na- tive goodness of his heart : some British bottled porter, which is also prohibited, was shipped for an EngUshman whose lady was very much indisposed, and to whom it was recommended by her physicians. Scarcely had it reached Petersburg from Cronstadt, before it was seized by the custom-house officer : upon the Emperor hearing of it, he sent to the customs, declaring it to be his own, (for such, in truth, the law of confiscation had made it,) and immediately forwarded it, with some very kind ex- pressions, to the fair invalid. The princely magnificence in which some of the Russian nobility live is prodigious. Iiaving occasion ©ne day to find out a person who occupied a suit of rooms in one of the great town hotels of Count SheramacofF, the Russian Duke of Bedford, we had an opportunity of seeing this enormous pile, in v/hich a great number of respectable families reside ; and the rent, amounting to twenty thousand rubles, is applied by its m.unifice,nt lord to the relief of the poor. Exclusive of another superb mansion in the city, which he inhabits, the Count has a town on the road to Moscow called Paulova, con- tainine' about two thousand five hundred houses, and five churches : this place is the Birmingham of Russia, all the inhabitants of which are his slaves^ v;ho carry on an extensive trade on the Caspian Sea. In the neighbor- hood of this place, he has a palace rivalling Versailles in extent and splendor. Many of his slaves, all of wliom adore him, have realized vast fortunes, and display at their tables sumptuous services of plate, every costly luxury, and have foreign masters to teach their children. Though rolling in unwieldy revenues, the Count is fre- quently embarrassed, from his princely munificence ; yet he never replenishes his exhausted treasury, by ex- ercising the sovereign right v/hich he has to raise the capitation -tax of his peasantry. What additional bles- sings might not such a nobleman bestow upon his coun- try, by converting his vassals into tenants : — how great and immediate would be the influence and example of a spirit so liberal r— -with v/hat power has Fortime invested him to accelerate the civilisation of his cGuntry i One 504 NORTHERISI SUMMEH. TChap. 13. -of the Count's slaves advertised, during my stay in Petersburg, for a farriily preceptor, with an offer of two thousand rubles per annum, and six rubles per day for his table, and a cook 1 The Count was under severe domes- tic affiiclion at this time, having just lost his. amiable lady, who had formerly been one of his slaves : she left behind her a little son to console him, whom the Empe- ror elevated to the rank of nobility ; a measure rendered necessary in consequence of his mixed birth, to enable him to enjoy his father's wealth and honors. Prince Sheramatoff, who is the lord of one hundred and forty t-hcusand slaves, lost eighty thousand rubles one night at the ga.ming-table : not having so much money at imme- diate command, he offered to transfer to the winner an estate of slaves of that value : as soon as the unfortu- nate vassals heard of the intended assignment, dreading to have another master, they immediately raised the money amongst them, and sent it to their lord. Many of the nobles have three hundred servants ; and one of that order, it is reported, had thirteen thousand in con- stant attendance. ■ The manners of the Russian nobility very much par- take of the manners of the old school of France, and, in complimentary profession, perhaps a little exceed it. They are acute observers of human nature ; and know- ing that their urbanity, on account of their polar situa- tion, is generally suspected, they are even anxious to make a profuse display of it. They are remarkably hos- pitable, and very attentive to strangers. Connubial hap- piness amongst the higher orders seldom endures eleven m-onths after the honey-moon, when the parties general- ly kiss, pout, part, and afterwards are happy. Divorce is not recognized by the laws of Russiai The road to Moscow freqently exhibits a singular spectacle of lords and their ladies, taldng a half yearly glance at each oth- ^r as they meet, in exchanging their residences in the two cities, for their mutual accommodation and amuse- ment : this is the nearest point of contact. The educa- tion of the young nobility very frequently suffers from the free and unguarded manner with which they receive every needy adventurer in the capacity of domestic tutor, Ghap. 13.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 205 particularly if he be an Englishman : English taylors, and servants out of livery, and travelling valets, fre- ,quently become the preceptors and governors of chil- dren. A fellow of this description said one day : " In " summer I be clerk to a butcher at Cronstadt, and in " winter I teaches English to the Russian nobility's chil " dren." I knew a lady whose valet left her at Peters- burg, in consequence of having been appointed to the ^uperintendance of the children of a Russian nobleman of high distinction, with one thousand rubles per annum, a table, and two slaves. The Russian nobility are in .general very extravagant, and consequently frequently embarrassed : their bills are often at a discount of sixty, and even seventy pounds per cent. Soon after our arrival, we visited the Grand Imperial Theatre, or Opera House, called the Stone-Theatre, v/hich stands in a large open place, nearly in front of the Marine Garrison, form.erly the New^ Goal, and the Nico- lai Canal. At four angles, in this spacious area, are four pavilions of iron, supported by pillars of the same met- al, resting upon a circular basement of granite, within which, in winter, large fir fires are constructed, the wind "being kept off by vast circular moveable shutters of iron, for warming and sci'eening the servants of those who visit the theatre in the winter. Previous to the erection of these sheds, many of those unfortunate persons were frozen to death. The government, attentive to the lives of the people, has interdicted performances at the opera, when the frost is unusually severe. The front is a noble porti- co, supported by doric pillars ; the interior is about the size of Covent-Garden, of an oval shape, and splendidly but rather heavily decorated. The lower tier of boxes project from the sides, at the back of which are pilasters, adorned with appropriate decorations, richly gilded, a- bove v/hich are three rows of boxes, supported by Corin- thian pillars, each of which, as well as tiiose below, con- tain nine persons. Nothing less than the whole box can be taken. It frequently happens that servants stand be- hind their masters or mistresses in the boxes, during the performance, and present a curious motly appearaiice. The Imperial box is in the centre of the first tier, pro- S 306 -KORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 13. jecting a little, is sttiall^ 'ai^d very plaitily decorated. The pit has seven or eight rows of seats with backs to them, in v/hich a commodious portion of space for each specta- tor is marked off by little plates of brass, numbered up- on the top of the back seat ; this part is called the faute- uils. Such is the order observed here, and in every the- atre On the continent, that however popular the piece, a spectator may, during any part of the performance, reach his seat, in this part of the theatre, without any difficulty. Behind, but not boarded off, is tli« pit and the parterre. The price of admission to the boxes and fauteuils are two silver rubles, little more than five shil- lings. There are no galleries. The massy girandoles, one of which is placed at every pilaster, are never illu- minated but when the Imperial family are present, on which occasion only, a magnificent circle of large pa- tent lamps is used, descending from the centre of the roof; at otlier times its place is supplied by one of smiall- er dimensions, v/hen the obscurity which prevails indu- ces the ladies generally to appear in an undress. Al- though this gloom before the curtain is said to be advan- tageous to the CiTect of scenery, yet the eye is saddened, us it runs its circuit in vain for forms adorned with grace- ful drapery, the glittering gem, the nodding plume, and looks of adorned beauty, that give fresh brilliance to the fav galaxy of light. This theatre is furnished with a great number of doors and passages, reservoirs of water, Lnd an engine in case of fire, and with concealed flues and stoves, to give it summer warmth in winter. It is ahvays strongly guarded by a detachment from the guards, as vv eU as by the police officers, who preserve the most admirable order among the carriages and servants. It is not an ungratifying sight, after the opera, to pause at the doors and see with what uncommon sldll and velocity the carriages, each drawn by four horses, drive up to the grand entrance under the portico, receive their company and gallop off at full speed ; pockets are very rarelypicked, and accidents seldom happen. Owing to the size and quantity of decorations, and the spacious arrangement of the boxes, I should "not think tiie theatre could contain more than twelve hundred per- Chap. 13.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 20.7 sons. Its receipts have n^ver yet exceeded one thou- sand six hundred and eighty rvibles, or two hundred ixpA forty pounds. How different from, a Londpn theatre, which, on a crowded night, when a Siddojis or. a Litcb- field delight their audience, is lined with faces, and the very walls appear to breathe 1 The first opera I saw was Blue Eeard, perforixied by Italian performers, the subject of which vaii-ed but little from the representation of it in England, except that the last wife of Blue Beard has a lover, who in the concluding act lays the sanguinary tyrant breathless with his sword. The catastrophe was finely worked up, and drew from the Russians successions of enthusiastic acclamation. Do these sentiments of teuderness^ these noble notions pf retributive justice, denote an immutable,, barbarism ? The processions were in, the first style of magniace],TL9ei the dresses and ornaments were very costly, and it is not unusual to introduce, on these occasions, one thousand men, selected from the guards for the expression of their faces and symmetry of their figures, to swell the scene of pomp. The orchestra was very full, and combined the first-rate powers of music. The scenes were handsome *ind well managed. A room was formed of entire sides, and well finished ; and a garden was displayed \vith all its characteristics. The Emperor contributes very mu- .nificently to the support of this thea.tre ; and as ail the machinists and workmen are his slaves, they are all un- der admirable discipline. The introduction of a tree in- to a study, or fringing the top of a forest with rich ciel- ing, scenic blunders wbich frequently occur on the Eng- lish stage, would hazard the backs of the Russian scene shifters. This theatre has a very beautiful set of scenes, which is never displayed but on nights when the Imperial Family honor it with their presence. The silence and decorum of the audience cannot but impress the mind of any one, who has witnessed the boisterous clamors of an English audience. The curtain ascends at six o'clock precisely. No after-piece, as with us, only now and then a ballet, succeeds the opera, which is generally con- cluded by nine o'clock, when the company go to the -Summer Gardens, drive about the city, or proceed to card and supper parties. 208 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 13; This theatre is as much dedicated to the Russian muses, as to those of more genial climates. In this respect Catherine II. pursued the same plan of domestic policy, so wisely adopted by Gustavus III. but the plan since her demise has never been encouraged by the higher circles. A Russ play has the same effect upon fashion in Russia, as George Barnwell has upon the same class in England. Although in the former there are some inimitable performers, as in the hero of the lat- ter, one of the most perfect and affecting imitatioiis of nature, in that v/alk of the drama, ever exhibited upon any stage, is displayed by Mr. Charles Kemble. I went one evening, in company with my amiable and gallant friend, Captrdn Elphinstone, to see a Russ opera, called " The school for Jealousy :" it is not much es- teemed. As it proceeded Captain E. explained it to me : the sentiments were frequently coarse, sometimes very obscene ; the actors, who vvere Russians, appeared to perform with great ability ; the heroine of the piece v^'as represented by a very pretty and interesting girl^ who was taken from the hospital of foundlings : she* manifested grace, and a bewitching naivete^ and played and sung most sweetly. I am sorry I have forgotten her name; she is the principal Russ actress, and is a very great favorite. In the course of the play, to my astonish- ment, was introduced a scene of the inside of the mad- house at Petersburg, in which amongst a number of horrible grotesque figures, a mad periwig-maker threw a handful of hair povvder into the face of a frantic girl, who ran raving about the stage v/ith dishevelled locks, which excited strong risibility amongst the audience. I was so disgusted at the spectacle, and the applause, that I wished it had not happened ; but as it did, I record it. Although an English audience har>. been delighted at a dance of undertakers, laughed at the feasts of skele- tons in pantomimes, and in Hamlet has expressed great mrith at seeing a buffoon grave-digger roll human skulls upon the stage, and beat them about with his spade, it could not endure a sight in which those objects whom pity and every tender feeling have consecrated, 5!.re brought forward with ridicule. But let it be re- Chap. 13.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 209 membered that madness is less frequent in Russia than in milder regions ; and hence the people, for they are very far from being strangers to feelings which would do honor to the most civilized of the hum^n race, are less acquainted v/ith, and consequently less affected by its appearance; and when it is thus wantonly displayed upon the stage, it appears under the mask of buifoonery- The governmxent would do well to suppress this and every similar exhibition, calculated only to imbrute'a ci- vilized mind, and postpone the refinement of a riide one. I was much more pleased with the Russ opera of the Nymph of the Dnieper, vv^hich is so popular and attrac- tive, that it never fails to fill the seats of fashion. It is chiefly intended to display the ancient costume and mu- sic of Russia. The story is very simple : A prince has sworn eternal constancy to a nymph, who is violently at- tached to him ; his father, a powerful king, wishes him to marry a princess of an ancient house ; the prince con- sents, but the nuptials are always interrupted by the stratagems of the jealous nymph, who appears in various disguises. The first scene was singularly beautiful : it displayed a river and its banks, and nymphs swimming ; the manner in which they rose upon the water was admira- bly natural ; the music of the ancient Russ airs, in which the celebrated Cossacka is introduced, were exquisite ; the scenery v/as very fine, and displayed a namber of pantomimic changes. The Russian noblemen are fond of the drama ; almost every country m^ansion has a private theatre. Those of the nobility, who, from disgust to' the court, or some othef cause, confin* their residence to Moscow and the adja- cent country, live in the voluptuous magnificence of eas- tern satraps : after dinner they frequently retire to a vast rotunda, and sip their coffee, during a battle of dogs, wild bearS) and wolves ; from thence they go to their private theatres, wh^re'great dramatic skill is frequently displav* ed by their slaves, v/ho perform, and v/ho also furnish the orchestra. These people are tutored by French players, ^vho are very liberally .payed by their employers. 210 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 14. CHAPTER XIV. A Gloomy Catastrophe. IT is \Yith deep regret that I approach the delicate and awful subject of this chapter. Humanity would glad- ly cover it v.ith the pail of oblivion ; but justice to the memory of an unhappy monarch, and to the chief of the august family of Russia, demand a candid though careful developementof the events which preceded the fall of the last Emperor. The original source of my information is from one who beheld the catastrophe which I am about to relate, whom I can neither name nor doubt ; a catas- trophe which is too near the period in Avhich I write, not to render an unrestrained disclosure of all the particulars with which I have been furnished, unfair if not impru- dent. The causes that first created those well-knovfn prejudices which Catherine II. cherished against her son, have perished with her ; but all the world knows, that, during the many years which rolled away between the Grand Duke's arrival at the age of maturity and his elevation to the throne, his august mother never r^drait- ted him to any participation of power, but kept him in a state of the most abject and mortifying separation from- the court, and in almost total ignorance of the affairs of the empire. Although Paul, by his birth, was generalis- simo of the armies, he never was permitted to head a regiment ; and although, by the same right, grand admi- ral of the Baltic, he was interdicted from ever visiting the fleet at Cronstadt. To these painful pri\-fttions may be- added, that when he v/as recommended, that is crdered, to travel, ^during his absence Catherine seized and sent to Siberia one of his most cherished friends, because she discovered that he had informed her son of some incon- siderable state affair. Thus Paul beheld himself not only severed from the being who gave him birth, but from all the ordinary felicities of life. The pressure of his hand excited suspicion ; peril was in his attachment, and in his confidence guilt and treason. He could not have a friend, without furnishing a victim. Ghap. 14.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 211 A gentleman nearly connected with me, now no more, a man of talent and acute observation and veracity, had several years since the honor of spending a short period at the little secluded court of Gatchina, upon which, as the dazzling beams of imperial favor never shone, the abserver was left in the tranquillity of the shade, to make a more calm, steady, and undiverted survey. At this time, Paul displayed a m.ind very elegantly inclined, and without being brilliant, highly cultivated, accomplished and informed, frank and generous, brave and magnani- mous, a heart tender and affectionate, and a disposition very svfeet, though most acutely and poignantly sus- ceptiblej: his person was not handsome, but his eye was penetrating, and his manners such as denoted the finish- ed gentleman. In his youth he was seen by the bed- side of the dying Panin, the hoary and able minister of Catherine, and his tutor, kissing and bathing his hand v/ith tears. As an evidence of his intellectual vigor, let the ela.borate and able ukase, by which he settled the precedence and provision of the imperial family, un- questionably his own unassisted composition, be referred to. He loved his amiable princess, and his children, with the most ardent, the most indulgent fondness, and it was the labor of their love, as well as of his servants, who were devotedly attached to him, to requite his af- fections and graciousness, and to endeavor to fill up with every endearing, every studied attention, the gloomy chasm which had been formed by an unnatural and in- explicable neglect ; but this chasm was a bottomless abyss, upon the brink of which his wounded spirit was ev- er v/andering ! Paul possessed a high martial inclination, and, reflecting that he might one day mount the throne of a military empire, he made the art of war the princi- pal object of his studies ; but neither this pursuit, so co- pious, so interesting, nor tiie endearments of those v/ho surrounded him, could expel from his niind the sense of his injuries. He beheld himself, the second person- age and the destined ruler of the empire, postponed to the periodical favorite of his mother, the minister of her unbounded voluptuousness, not unfrequently elevated to the presidency of the Hermitage from th.e ranks, with no 212 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. U, other pretensions than vigorous Lealth and a mighty fraiiie ; whilst, on the other hand, the bleeding shade of his father \vasfor ever, in his morbid imagination, point- ing to his wound, and whispering revenge. Thus exiled from the hgart of his m.other, is it a matter of gurprise that he should exclude her from his own ? Catherine more than once observed, that her son nvoiild not long occupy the throne after her decease ; and it has been the fashion to say, that her alienation from him was justified by the events which succeeded her death. With this prophetic spirit, she devoted all her cai'e to the education of her grandsons, Alexander and .Constantine, and exercised all the povvxrs she possessed towards the consummation of her prediction. She fore- told that the flower which she had planted would wither early : she shook it till every blossom fell, apd shaded it so, that the dew of Heaven should never visit it more : she pressed and pierced the delicate and ardent mind of her son until she subverted it. Was it then a proof of inspiration, to prognosticate the brevity of his reign over an empire, the "history of which has too often and fatally ' proved, that hovvxver despotic its government, and there is not one under heaven more absohite, a cautious and dexterous cultivation of the interest, feelings, prejudices, and affections of the people, is inseparable from the safe* ty of the ruler ? A short time before her demise, Catherine committed to P Z , her last favorite, whom she highly es- teemed, a declaration of her will, addressed to the senate, purporting that Paul should be passed over in the suc- cession, and that the Grand Duke Alexander should mount the, vacant throne. As soon as the favorite was acquainted with the sudden death of the Empress, he flew to Paviovsk, about thirty -five versts from the capi- tal, where Paul occasionally resided, whom he met on the road ; and, after a short explanation, delivered up ta him this important document. ' Paul, charmed with his zeal and loyalty, preserved him in all his honors and for- tunes, vvhiista general and rapid dispersion, to all points of the compass, instantaneously succeeded amongst the members of the male seraglio of the Hermitage. Th^ CHAr. 14.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 21^ Emperor ascended the throne without difficulty, but a total stranger to his subjects. One of the first mea- sures of his reign displayed, in a very sing-ular manner, the native goodness of his heart, under the clouds that rapidly began to overshadow it, in an act of piety tov^^ards his murdered father, whose remains he removed from the church of St. Alexander Nevski, called the Monas- tery ; and having exhibited them in great funeral state, hq consigned them to the sepulchre of Catharine II., in the cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul. The latter part of this extraordinary transaction has often induced me ta think that Paul did not believe that his mother issued the order for the assassination of his father. At this eccen- tric soleranity, he compelled Count Alexey OrlofF, and Prince Baratynski, under whose hands the unhappy mo- narch is said to have perished, to stand on each side of the body as it lay in state, and afterv/ards to follow it to the tomb as the principal mourners. Not long after this event, his mind began occasionally to display the most fearful symptoms of distraction ; but when his reason was restored, the hapless Emperor never failed to endeavor, with the most affecting sensi- bility, to repair the ruin and havoc which his delirium had occasioned. The deposed Stanislaus, the broken- hearted King of Poland, partook alternately of his be- neficence and severity ; but with v/hat demonstration of respect and genuine grief did the Emperor attend the obsequies of this last of the Sarmates ? On that gloomy occasion, he commanded in person the guards who as- sisted at the funeral ; and uncovering himself, with the most affecting emotions, saluted the coffin as it passed^ To the memory of the hoary and heroic Suvaroff, wha fell a broken hearted victim to the distraction of his Im- perial master, in periods of agonized and compunctious reflection, he raised a colossal statue of bronze, in the vast area behind Benskoi's palace, opposite to Romant- zoff 's monument ; and, on the days when he reviewed his troops there, he used to order them to march by in open order, and face the statue, which he said represent- ed one of the greatest and bravest generals of his own or any other age. 2.1-fe NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 14' Notwithstanding the important service which P- Z had rendered him, the (Emperor could never sep- arate him, in his mind's eye, from the caresses of his moth- er, and speedily became disgusted with him ; spoke of him with great asperity to his friends, and at length, con- verting the bounty of Catherine into a robbery, he de- nounced him as a defaulter to the Imperial treasury of half a million of rubles ; and, convinced of the justice Qf the allegation, proceeded, without loss of time, to sequester the vast estates v/hich belonged to him and to his two brothers. Driven to desperation by such con- , sure I shottid be acquainted with it." " Then I am ** satisfied," said the Emperor, and the governor with^ drew. Before Paul retired to rest, he unexpectedly ex- pressed the most tender solicitude for the Empress and his children, kissed them with all the warmth of fare- well fondness, and remained v/ith them longer than \isual ; and after he had visited the centinels at their dif- ferent posts, he retired to his channber, where he had Hot long remained, before, under some colorable pretex-t, that satisfied the men, the guard was changed by the officers w^ho had the command for the night, and were engaged in the confederacy. An hussar, whom the Emperor had particularly honored by his notice and at- tention, always at night slept at his bed-room door, in the anti-room. It was impossible to remove this faithful* soldier by any fair means. At this momentous period, silence reigned throughout the palace, except v/here it was disturbed by the pacing of the centinels, or at a dis- tance by the murmurs of the Neva, and only a few lights were to be seen distantly and irregularly gleaming' through the windows of this dai'k colossal abode. In the- dead of the night, Z and his friends, amounting to eight or nine persons) passed thedrafW-bridge, easily as- cended the stair-case which led to Paul's chamber, and met with no resistance till they reached the anti-room, wiien the faithful hussar, awakened by the noise^ chal- lenged them, and presented his fusee : much as they must have all admired ihe brave fidelity of the guard, neither time nor circumstances would admit of an act of generosity, wiiich might have endangered the whole plan. Z — ^— drew his sabre and cu". the poor fellow down. Paul, awakened by the noise, sprung from his sopha : at this moment the whole party rushed into his room : the unhappy Sovereign, anticipating their design, at first endeavored to entrench himself in the chairs and tables, then recovering himself, he assumed ahigh tone, told, them they w^re his prisoners, and called upon them to surrender. Finding that they fixed their eyes steadily and fiercely upon him, and continued advancing towards him, he implored them to spare his life, de- clared his consent instantly to- relinquish the scepti-e, 220 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chaf. 1 4> and to accept of any terms which they would dictate. In his raving, he offered to make them princes, and to- give them estates, and titles, and orders, without end. They now began to press upon him, when he made a convulsive effort to reach the window : in the attempt he failed, and indeed so high was it from the ground, that had he succeeded, the expedient would only have put a more instantaneous period to his m.isery. In the effort he very severely cut his hand with the glass ; and as they drew him back he grasped a chair, with which he felled one of the assailants, and a desperate resistance took place So great was the noise, that notwithstanding the massy v/alis, and thick double folding-doors, which di- vided the apartments, the Empress was disturbed, and. began to cry for help, when a voice whispered in her ear,: and imperatively told her to remain quiet, otherwise, if she uttered another word, she should be put to instant death. Whilst the Emperor was thus makiiig a last struggle, the Prince Y- struck him on one of his temples with his list, and laid him upon the floor ; Paul,, recovering from the blow, again implored his life ; at ibis moment the heart of P Z relented, and* upon being observed to tremble and hesitate, a young Hanoverian resolutely exclaimed, " We have passed the Rubicon : if we spare his life, before the setting of to- morrow's sun, we shall be his victims 1" upon which he took off his sash, turned it twice round the naked neck of the Emperor, and giving one end to Z. , and hold- ing the other himself, they pulled for a considerable time v/ith all their force, until their miserable sovereign was no more ; they then retired from the palace without the least molestation, and returned to their respective hom^s. What occurred after their departure can be better conceived than depicted : medical aid was resort- ed to, but in vain, and upon the breathless body of the Emperor fell the tears of his widowed Empress and children, and domestics ; nor was genuine grief ever more forcibly or feelingly displayed than by him on whose brow this melancholy event had planted the crown. So passed away this night of horror, and thus, perished a Prince, tq whom nature wgts severehj bouiiti- tHAP. U.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 221 fill. The acuteness and pungency of his feeling was incompatible with happiness : unnatural prejudice press- ed upon the fibre, too finely spun, and snapped it. 'Tis not as heads that never ache suppose, Forgery of fancy, and a dream of woes ; Man is a harp whose chords ekide the sight, Each yielding harnnony, dispos'd aright ; The screws revers'd (a task which if he please God in a moment executes with ease), Ten thousand thousand strings at once go loose, Lost, till he tune them, all their power and use. COWPETI. The Sim shone upon a new crder of things. At seven o'clock the intelligence of the demise of Paul spread through the capital. The interval of time from its first communication to its diffusion over every part of Peters- burg, was scarcely perceptible. At the parade Alex=an- der presented himself on horseback, when the troops, with tears rolling down their rugged and sun-brov/ned faces, hailed him with loud and cordial acciam^ation. The young Emperor was overwhelmed, and at the mo- ment of mounting the throne of the most extensive em- pire under heaven, he was seen to turn from the grand and affecting spectacle, and weep. What followed is of very subordinate consideration y but perhaps it will be eagerly asked, to what extremity, did the avenging arm of Justice pursue the perpetrators of the deed ? Mercy, the brightest jewel of every crown, and a forlorn and melancholy conviction, that the reign- ing motive was the salvation of the empire, prevented her from being vindictive. Never upon the theatre of life was there presented a scene of more affecting magna- nimity ; decency,' not revenge, governed the sacritice. P Z was ordered not to approach the Imperial residence, and the governor of the city was transferred to Riga. As soon as Madame Chevalier was informed of the demise ol her Imperial patron, she prepared, un- der the protection of her brother, a dancer, for Right, with a booty of nearly a mi) lion of rubles. A police of- ficer v^^as sent to inspect and report upon her property : amongst a pile of valuable articles, he discovered u T 2 ^g NOHTHEEN SUMMER. [Chaj. 15. diamond crose of no gre^ intrinsic value, which had been given by Peter I. to a branch of the Imperial Fami- ly, and, on that account much esteemed ; it was to re^ cover this that the ofiicer was sent, who obtained it, after the most indecent and unprincipled resistance on her part. Passports were then granted to Madame Cheva- lier and her brother. Thus terminated this extraordina- ry and itppresgjve tragedy. CHAPTER XV. ^ir John Bar las€ Warreti^^The PoUgnacs-^The parade-^ The baneful effects of' passion — >The JE,mperor-^A pick- pocket — *A traveller's memorandutns-^Unpugilistic brui- sers^ — Doctor Guiherie— -Visit to the tauricla palace—^ The colossal hcdl — The ivinter gardens — The banquet'-— Prince Poteinkin-^-^Ranv carrots — Plyijig gardetiS'—^The house of Charles XII. at Bender discovered. IT was impossible for an Englishman to visit Peters- burg when I did, without feeling a justifiable national pride in finding his country represented by one of her jnost distinguished naval heroes, who, to the frankness ^nd bincerity so peculiar to that character, unites the graceful attractions of the most courteous and polished manners. From the intrepid minister, and his elegant and enlightened lady, I experienced that urbanity and attention, which eminently distinguished their conduct, and endeared them to the Russian court and to their countrymen. The Emperor, in his private circles, lias often extolled the nautical skill and undaunted valor of Sir John Borlase Warren, and honored him with his friendship. In no period of those political storms whicli have so long shaken, and still continue to convulse, the continent of Europe, has the cabinet of Russia manifest- ed a more propitious and cordial disposition to the cause Chap. 15.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 22a and interests of Great Britain, than during the diplo- macy of the gallant Admiral. The house cf embassy, a noble mansion, in the Eng- lish line, was fitted up with great taste, and the hospi- tality which prcA^ailed in it M^as truly Pussian. The parties which assembled there were very select and agreeable. Amongst the most frequent visitors I met the Due de Polignac and several of the members of that illustrious house, who, from the highest rank, and an in- fluence equal to that of their sovereign, have been cast into the regions of the north, by the terrible tornado of the French revolution, where, in the sensib.ility and mu- nincence of the Emperor, they have found protection. The noble fortitude of the Polignacs, and particularly the heroic and affecting eloquence of one of the brr-thers before the tribunal of Bonaparte, created at this period a strong sensation in the public mind, and in no part of the world more forcibly than at Petersburg. In another age, when passion and prejudice shall repose in " the " tomb of all the Capulets," the calm investigating his- torian may perhaps, but in better language, describe their crime, as I have ever considered it, a conspiracy of Bonaparte against himself, to enable him to assume the imperial purple. Sunday is always at Petersburg a day of great festivi- ty, but it only manifests itself after the hours of devo- tion. On this day the parade is well worthy the travel- ler's notice : it commences at ten o'clock, in that great area which liesbetvreen one side of the winter palace and the magnificent crescent, which formerly constituted the palace of Catherine's most cherished favorite Lan- skoi ; the men amounted to four thousand, and present- ed a very noble and martial appearance ; their uniform consisted of a round hat, Vv'ith only a rim in front, and green feather, a short green coat, buttoned tight round the body, and white duck breeches cut very high, so that no waistcoat is necessary. The belly of the soldier is tightly strapped in, for the purpose of giving an artificial breadth to the chest. With an exception to the English and consular guards, I never saw finer men in my life, nor greater neatness in dress and person. The Emperor 224 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 15. came from the palace, mounted upon a beautiful grey- charger, attended by two or three officers ; he wore an amazing large cocked hat, fastened under his chin by a biak leather strap, and buttoned to prevent the wind from occasioning that accident, for which a cruel disci- plinarian (Frederick the Great) once severely flogged a poor Prussian soldier. The rest of his dress was a short coat of dark olive-green color, decorated with a small star and the cordon blue, white leather breeches, and high military boots, with very long projecting spurs. Upon this occasion there is always a great concourse of the commonalty, and a great muster of officers to pay their respects to the Emperor, who rode at an easy canter down the line. As he passed I was much surprised to hear each company salute him with deep-toned voices, and highly gratified when I was informed that the salu- tation was, " Good day to our Emperor." The words ^eemed to bring down the haughty disdain of military discipline to its proper level, and to place the hearts of the Emperor and his brave soldiers in contact with each other. Upon his return he alig;hted and took his station in the centre, when the regiments passed the Emperor, i^pho stood uncovered all the time, in open order, the band playing and officers saluting. As the imperial colors passed, which time or war, or both, had reduced to a few shreds of silk, all the officers and spectators boAV- ed. As the last comp?tny was marching off the ground, a lane was formed to the palace through the people, who gazed upon their young Emperor with enthusiastic de- light. The whole was a very interesting spectacle, for which by the bye I had nearly paid rather dearly. Think- ing, perhaps, that I was far removed from the nimble- fingered disciples of London, or what is more likely, not thinking about the matter, I carelessly carried my pocket- book to the parade : a common Russian had for some time, it appeared, watched me with a cat-like eye, and at the moment the Emperor passed me, he affected to relieve me from the pressure of the mob, and at the same time really endeavored to relieve meof my letter of credid, some ruble notes, and what I fear the critics will wish I nevef^ had recovered, many of the memorandums from which Chap. 15.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 225 I am now writing. A German valet, belonging to a gen- tleman who was with me, instantly seized him by the throat ere his hand could leave my pocket, when he as speedily relinquished his prey. The attempt was made with a skilful knowledge of seizing op.fiortunities^ by which some folks become wealthy, others imficrial^ and the dexterity and lightness of his finger would have ob- tained a medal of felonious honor in the academy of Barrington. However, as I lost no property by the fel- low, I ordered the active servant to dismiss him ; and the terrified Russian rushed rapidly from my sight, and was lost in the surrounding crowd. The Russian is not naturally addicted to thieving : he is seldom seen in hostility to life, in order to obtain the felonious possession of another man's property. A rare instance of what however may be committed in an ebul- lition of passion, occurred at the preceding pai^ade. An officer, in consequence of very improper behavior, was put under arrest ; in the bitterness of wounded pride, he slew the centinel who was placed at his chamber door : the Emperor, instead of dooming him to death, ordered him to receive twenty -five strokes of the knout, to be braiided in the forehead with ~vor^ or rogue, and be sent to Siberia. As I was quitting the throng, two fellows, somewhat tipsy, began to quarrel ; and, after abusing each other very violently as they walked along, they at last pro- ceeded to blows. No pugilistic science was displayed : they fought with the hand expanded, as awkwardly as women play at battledore and shuttlecock ; no desperate contusion ensued. A police officer soon appeared, and, taking out a cord from his pocket, tied the combatants back to back, and placing them upon a droshka, gallop- ped them off to the nearest sieja. The police of Eng- land would do well to act with the same spirit and promp- titude towards those academic bruisers, who, in the most daring manner, violate the public tranquillity, and bid defiance to the authority of the law. A short time before my arrival, an affair, which in some degree illustrates the Russian character, had crea-^ ted Qonsiderable interest. A gallant English merchaiit 2m NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. IS^ conceiving himself ruddy treated at the theatre by a^ Russian officer, one of the Emperor's aid-du-caraps, sant him a challenge. The officer declined the combat^ and aqptpealed to the Emperor, which, according to the cus- tom of his country, he might do without abstain upon his courage. Those martial notions: of honor, which reign so imperiously in England and France, are but lit- tle known in'Russia,'where the feudal system, the judi- cial combat and its chivalrous concomitants, never ob- tained, and where the sword never forms, and never has formed, a necessary appendage to the dress of the peo- ple, which, till lately, has forages been worn amongst their brethren in more southern latitudes. It was with great pleasure that I availed myself of an: introduction to the venerable Doctor Guthrie, physician to the Noble Land Cadet corps, a gentleman of the most amiable manners, a philosopher, and well known to the world for his various scientific and literary productions, and particularly for being the editor, as he has modestly jumounced himselfj of the Letters of his deceased lady from'the Crimea, whither she went, but in vain, in search of health. It is very generally believed, that the Doctor very largely contributed to this able and bee bestowed upon him the name of 1828 NORTHERN SUMMER. IChap. 15. the Taurian, in honor of his conquest of the Crimea, and called this building after him. Upon the death of the Prince, the Empress purchased it of his family for a vast sum . The grand front of this buildin g, which is of brick, istuccoed white, is towards the street leading to the Con- vent des Demoiselles, in the east end of the city, consist- ing of a centre, adorned with a portico supported by co- lumns, and a large cupola of copper painted green, and extensive wings. A variety of out-offices, orangeries, and hot-houses, reach from the left wing to a prodigious distance : in the front is a court -yard, divided from the street by a handsome railing. The exterior of this build- ing is very extensive, but low ; and although it has a princely appearance, does not excite the astonishment that a stranger feels in entering it. Through the civility of our countryman, Mr. Gould, the Emperor's gardiner, who enjoys a munificent salary, and a handsome house on the west side of the gardens, I was frequently enabled to visit this delightful place. The kitchen, fruit, and pleasure-gardens, and hot-houses, occupy a vast space of gromid, which are watered by several canals ; over one .of them is thrown the celebrated model of a flying cover- ed bridge of one arch, which an obscure illiterate Russian constructed, for the purpose of embracing the two sides of the Neva, opposite to the statue of Peter the Great : it is about seventy feet long, and is a v/onderful display of mechanical ingenuity. This extraordinary peasant has clearly elucidated the practicability of such a meas- ure : the model is capable of bearing more comp irative weight than could ever press upon the bridge itself. The enormous expense which must atlend ' such an undertak- ing will, in all probability, reserve it for a distant peiiod. The ingenious artist received a handsome pension from the late Empress, and the satisfaction of having displayed with what extent of capacity, unassisted Nature has gift- ed the P».ussian mind. In this part of the grounds Cath- erine II. w&s in the habit of taking her morning prome- nade with a male friend ; and in the evening attended by her court. The pleasure-grounds are small, but beautifully laid but by Mr. Gould, who was a pupil of the celebrated Ghap. 15.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 229 Browine ; and who, at the advanced age of seventy-two :f-y'ear&, beholds this Utile paradise, which he created from a- mephitic bog, flourishing and exciting the admiration of foreigners, and in the shade of which Potemkin, Cathe- rine the Great, and two succeeding Emperors of Russia, have sought tranquillity and repose from the oppressive w^eight of public duty. This respectable Englishman, who has realized a hand- some fortune, the fruit of imperial munificence, for long services, keeps an elegant and hospitable table, and is vi- sited by persons of the first respectability. The late un- fortunate king of Poland, during his residence, or rather incarceration, in Petersburg, felt a melancholy pleasure in quitting the phantom of royalty^ v/hich mocked rather than consoled him, in the palace of Siberian marble, to pour the sufferings of his afflicted mind into the breast of the frank, cordial, and ingenious Englishman, in this abode of privacy. The pleasure-grounds are very elegantly disposed, and, as we passed the little green palisade v/hich separates them from the kitchen garden, we contemplated, with pleasure, the favorite seat of Catherine the Great that here presented itself : it v/as a long, tasteful garden so- pha of iron, interlaced, painted green, and stood under the branches of an oak. Here she used to take her coffee ; and, upon this very seat, she gave private and unrestrain- ed audience to the late King of Sweden. I am enabled, from indubitable authority, to state, that the age of Cath- erine v/hen she expired was seventy- five, although three years are taken from it in the calendar. As we descended a little slope from Catherine's seat, we passed by two birch trees, revered by the superstitious Russians, on account of their having been, with a third of the same species, preserved, when the morass in which they grew w^as first converted into a garden, and the ve- getable patriarchs of the place : we were gravely tslcl that, when Paul died, the one vrhich is missing perished from excessive sensibility, I never knew before, that na- ture had endued the birch with acute feelings : I remem- ber, at school, it was admitted, nem. con. that it had the power of exciting them. U ^50 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 15. The first Toom we entered from the garden, was the celebrated hall in which Prince Potemkin gave the most gorgeous and costly entertainment ever recorded since the days of Roman voluptuousness ; I am not able to communicate to my readers the ideas which this enor^ iiious room excited. If a pagan were to be transported into it in his sleep, when he awoke he could not fail of thinking that he had undergone an apotheosis, and had been conducted to the banqueting-room of Jupiter. It was built after the unassisted design of Poiemkin, and untesj to a sublime conception, all the graces of finished taste. This prodigious room is supported by double rows of colossal doric pillars, opening on one side into a vast pavilion, composing the winter-garden, which I saw prepared for the Emperor, who resides here for a short time every year, just before I left Petersburg. This garden is very extensive : the trees, chiefly orange, of an enormous size, are sunk in the earth in their tubs, and are entirely covered with fine mould : the walks are gravel- led, wind and undulate in a very delightful manner, are neatly turfed, and lined with roses and other flowers : the whole of the pavilion is lighted by lofty windows : from the ceiling depend several magnificent lustres of the richest cut glass. Here, whilst the polar winter is raging without, ccver^ ing the v»-orld in white, and hardening the earth to mar- ble ; when water tossed in the air drops down in ice ; may be seen the foliage, and inhaled the fragrance, of an Arabian grove, in the soft and benign climate of an Ital- ian spring. The novelty and voluptuous luxuriance of this green refreshing ^spectacle, seen through a colonade of massy white pillars, and reduplicated by vast mirrors, is matchless. Between the columns, now no longer in- cumbered with boxes for spectators as they formerly v,^ere, are a great number of beautiful statues and colos- r.al casts : the two celebrated vases of Carrara marble, the largest in the world, occupy the centre of the room leading to the winter-garden. The Dying Gladiator, Cupid and Psyce, a recumbent Hermaphrodite, and many other exquisite productions of the chisel, aftord Sample gratification to the man of taste. Amongst the Chap. 15.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 231 busts, is that of the Right Honorable Charles James Fox, by Nollekens ; an admirable likeness of that dis- tinguished orator. Paul, during his temporary aversion, to the English, ordered this bust into the cellar : wheth- er he intended that his spleen should carry the marks of some humor, I know not. His august successor re- moved it from the region of the Tuscan juice, and the depths of darkness, and ordered it to occupy its present station, where by the side of Grecian and Roman virtue, the sun of heaven shines full upon it. Opposite to the winter-garden is a beautiful salooh, divided from the hall only by the colonnade, which is filled with rare antiques, principally busts* Amongst them a head of Achilles, ard a small Silenus, are justly regarded as the most precious. During the darkened hours of Paul, he converted this palace into a garrison ; and the hall, pavilion, and saloon, into a riding-school for his troops ! The rest of the rooms, which are upon the ground fioor, have been elegantly hut very simply fitted up by the present Emperor, and all their gorgeous hangings, furniture, and decorations, have been removed and de- posited in magazines. In one of the rooms there is a set of superb lustres, every drop of glass in which may be set in motion by clock-work, concealed in the centre, when it presents the appearance of a little cascade. The theatre, which has been much reduced, is still sp?.ci3U3 and very handsome. It may not be uninteresting to give a very brief des- cription of the entertainment which I have before al- luded to, as I received it from Mr. Gould, who con- tributed his talents to augment the rich variety of that resplendent festival : Soon after Prince Potemkin's re- turn from the conquest of Crim Tartary, under the in- fluence of a gloomy prepossession that it would be the last time that he should have it in his powder to pay due honor to his imperial benefactress, he resolved upon giving a banquet, which, in modern Europe and Asia, should have no parallel. What the expenses attending it amounted to, were never known, but they must have been prodigious. For several months previous to the gala, the most distinguished artists were invited from a52 :N0RTHERN summer. [Chap. 15, distant countries to assist in its completion. The grand outline was designed by the Prince, and so various as well as vast were the parts, that not one of the assistants could fornn any previous idea of the whole of it. In the general bustle of preparation, the following anecdote, that proves the natural taste of Potemkin's mind is re- lated : He had ordered a statue of Catherine to be form- ed of alabaster, which he intended should be raised upon a pedestal, in a temple of precious stones, in the winter- garden ; for the motto upon its entablature he wrote : ^' To the mother of my Country, and to me. the most ^ gracious." In his design, the artist had extended the liand and elevated the sceptre, in the formal style of our Queen Anne's appearance in wax-work : the critical eye of this Prince, although he has been termed, and in iiome instances justly, a splendid barbarian, in a mo- jnent perceived the deficiency of grace in the attitude, and ordered the sceptre to be inclined : the artist retired to another room in chagiin, and exclaimed, " This great " savage has more taste than I have, who have been '• brought up in the lap of the Arts." Upon giving another direction the artist stared, and remonstrated up- on the enormous sum vv'hich it would cost : " What I " Sir," said Potemkin, " do you affect to know the depth *' of my treasury I Be assured it stands in no need of " your sensibility." After which his orders were obeyed without any reference to expenditure. Nothing could exceed the public sensation which this -fete excited. At length the evening arrived when the Prince was to appear in all his pomp and glory, before his fond and adored sovereign. The walls of these splendid apartments were most richly and beautifully illuminated, and decorated with various exquisite trans- parencies ; and the stairs, hall, avenues, and sides of the rooms were lined with officers of state, attached to the household of the Prince, and servants, in the most costly dresses, and magnificent liveries. The orchestra ex- ceeded six hundred vocal and instrumental musicians, and announced the entrance of the Empress and her court, richly attired, by a grand overture and chorus, which reverberated through the colonnades and saloons. CHAr. 15.] NORTHERN SUMMER. '233 Potemkin conducted his Imperial visitor to an elevated chair glittering with gold and diamonds : midway be- tween the columns were boxes gilt with pale gold, and lined with green silk, filled with spectators in gala dresses. The festivity commenced with a dance of youths of both sexes, habited in white, and covered with pearls and jewels, at the head of v\?hom were the present Emperor and the Grand duke Constantine his brother. After the dance, and the most costly refreshments, the party repaired to the theatre, at the other end of the palace, where an occasional piece, composed in honor of the Empress, was performed, in which all the powers of singing, acting, dancing, dress, scenery, and decorations, were displayed. Upon the conclusion of the drama, the audience rose, and as if impelled by magic, the benches, touched by springs, moved and formed into tables and little seats, which were almost instantaneously covered with the richest viands, served \ip in gold and silver. The curtain again rose, and discovered a hall of mirrors, from which descended globular lustres of crystal, and a. table appeared covered with the rarity of almost every • region, splendidly served in gold ; and at the head, up- on a throne gikled and glittering with precious stones, sat the Empress surrounded by her court, the most brilliant in Europe. Sucli were the arrangements in this place, that every one could see and be seen. In the colossal hall were spread tables filled with delicacies and the most costly wines, and at the head of it was a pro- digious massy cistern of solid silver, containing sterlet soup, which is said alone to have cost ten thousand rubles. During this splendid repast, in every room the softest music was heard, which rather enlivened than re- strained the current of conversation. Universal deco- rum and hilarity prevailed ; every wish was anticipated, every sense was gratified, The banquet was followed by a succession of magnifi- cent exhibitions, and the Empress did not retire till mid- night. As she proceeded to her carriage, it was observed that she appeared much affected by the homage which had been paid to her, encreased, perhaps, by the tender remembrance of departed hours ; and as she turned to U2 >I234 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 15, bid the Prince adieu, she could scarcely support herself: at this touching moment, Potemkin fell upon his knees, and covered her hand with his tears and kisses : it was destined that he should never more behold her under that roof, and his mind seemed to be fully possessed of the idea. A short time afterwards, as he was proceedijig from Yassy to Nicol?def, he was seized with a violent cholic, which it is supposed was produced by his singu-i- lar irregularities ; he alighted from his travelling car- riage, supported by his nieces, with difficulty reached a bank on the side of the road and expired in their arms. His remains were interred with magnificent honors, at Cherson, on the banks of the Dnieper, and a splendid mausoleum was raised to his memory by the order of" her Czarian majesty. The dislike which Paul ever bore towards- Potemkin,, principally on account of his being the favorite of his imperial mother, induced the Emperor during the dread-^ ful subversion of his mind, to order the body of the Prince to be raised and exposed, and the miausoleum de-- stroyed. A lady whom I met, and who was obliged, during this fearful period, to take refuge in the Crimea, beheld the ruins of the tomb, and. the remains of the Prince exposed to the birds of the air. To what trifles do many persons owe their eleva-- tion : Potemkin was indebted for his honors and for-- tunes to 2ifcather. In the revolution which gave the late Empress sole possession of the throiie, she appeared at the head of the Ismaiiof guards, when Potemkin, a. young officer in the cavalry, perceiving that she had no feather in her hat, as she appeared on that momentous occasion en militaire^ rode up to her and presented his.. This extraordinary man experienced, in early life, a dis-- appointment of the heart, which so frequently forces the mind out of its proper sphere, and unsettles it for ever. Potemkin rushed into the fi-c'^d of battle, and in search of death obtained glory. The cruel fair one still rejected him, notwithstanding his scars and honors, became vio- lently smitten with an ugly old man, v.hom she mar-, yied, and hated for ever after. Chap. 15.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 2S5- Potemkin very frequently refused to pay his trades- men : it is said that a very celebrated French veterinary professor went from Vienna to Petersburg, for the pur- pose of curing a beautiful charger, that had been pre- sented to the Prince by the Emperor Joseph H., and which was so ill that the medical world of Petersburg had given it over. The Professor built a stable for the animal upon a particular construction, and after the most incessant attention succeeded in restoring it to health. When the horse-doctor waited upon Potemkin with the joyful news, and expected to be profusely paid for .the heavy sums of money which he had expended, and for his time and skUl, he was forbidden the sight of the Prince, never could see him afterwards, and never was paid : yet notwithstanding these occasional acts of avari- cious dishonesty, and although his property was estima- ted at nine millions of rubles in cash, forty-five thousand peasants, besides two pensions, one of seventy-five thou- sand rubles, and another of thirty thousand rubles, for his table, such was his prodigality that he was frequently embarrassed. In winter he used to wear a muff of the, value of one thousand pounds. In one of the Prince's journies to the Crimea, Mr. Gould attended him, being at that time his head garden-^ er, and v/as preceded by several hundred assistants.. Whenever the Prince halted, if it were only for a day, he found his travelling pavilion raised, and surrounded by a garden in the English taste, composed of trees and shrubs, raised, and carried forward as the cavalcade pro- ceeded^ and divided by gravel walks. Yet, strange to relate, amidst this Asiatic pomp, whilst the subordinate attendants fared upon every dainty that wealth could purchase, the poor Englishman, whenever the Prince rec^uested him to travel in his carriage, which frequently occurred, was obliged to put up vfith the most homely fare, which Potemkin, always irregular and eccentric, generally preferred. At a sumptuous entertainment, where every rarity of epicurism invited the appetite, the Prince has been known to order a raw qarrot, or tui" nip, and to dine upon it.. =236 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 16. I must relate the following little anecdote, and then I have done with Potenikin. One day, in the course of their journey, they halted at Bender, in Bessarabia, where, whilst the Prince was alone at dinner, Mr. G. rambled about the neighborhood, for the purpose of discovering the scite, or remains, of the house of Charles XII. of Sweden, in which, on the twelfth of Feb- ruary, 1713, he and a few followers madly bade defiance to the whole Ottoman army, after having been repeatedly and earnestly entreated to leave the dominions of the Grand Turk. After a diligent search, with the assist- ance of some of the natives, the English gardener dis- covered the nuns which the eccentric spirit of the Swe- dish King had rendered so interesting, and exultingly returned to the Prince with the intelligence, who ex- claimed with liberal joy, "the English discover every " thing,** immediately proceeded to it ; and, after re- garding its remains with a very lively sensation, ordered the house to be repaired, and partly rebuilt, and a gar- 'den to be constructed roundit, which were accordingly "4one, as a monument of his respect for the- conqueror of Narva. Chap. 16.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 2# CHAPTER XVI. English ground in Ruasio'-^A'ational baths — 4 new sect » Horj customs vary — A panacea-— -Visit to the Kmfieror^s ' greatest favorite— 'A recipe for revolutionists — Wild dogs-— 'The marble church and pasquinade— -Academy of art-^A traveller's civilizing idea—A row to Kaimnenol Qstr off— ^Delicacy and gratitude— -•Bravery and generos* ity of Gustavus III. to his bargeviarh—An elegant and gHucful compliment-r^-'Bussian jrnisic—Ita effect upon Italian ears and co-ws—^Forest en fire. DURING my stay at Petei^sburg, I paid several visits to the country houses of the English merchants on the Peterhoff road, where they live in great elegance. In the gardens of one of them, I trod with delight upon British ground : an ardent love for his country had indu* ced the hospitable owner, at a great expense, to bring a qiiantity of English ballast from British ships to cover his walks wii;h. Every garden is furnished with large swings, capable of holding two persons standing and one between, sitting. Of this dive r:.ion the Russians are very fond. As I was roving in my friend^s grounds I ~ heard the cry of seme hounds in an adjoining kennel, belonging to a Russian nobleman : the nobility are very fond of the sports of the field. The gentlemen of the English factory have a regular pack and sporting estab- lishment at Garrella. Having assumed a tolerable shab- by dress, no difficult thing for a. traveller at any time to command, for the purpose of qualifying ourselves for the approaching scene, and to prevent the suspicion of improper motives ; we proceeded to the great national bath on a Saturday, vrhich seems to be a purifying day every where. After passing over a raised wooden path-, by the side of a long vrooden v/all, we halted at a house built of the same materials, which formed the grand entra.nce. Here, upon paying five copecs a-piece, from a hole in a dark shed, or magazine of birch rods with the leaves on, a band poked out one of them to each of us, which we 238 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 16^. took, without at the time knowing for what purpose they were to be used. On the entrance on each side were stalls of black bread, little pies, quass, and liqueurs. In the first court we beheld me'n and women indiscriminately mingled together, in a state similar to that which prece- ded the slightest notion of breeches and waistcoats. They were arranged like so many hounds in a dog-ken- nel, upon benches tier above tier, where they were wringing their beards and combing and plaiting their hair. In the middle of the yard was a jet d*eau playing into a great wooden cistern ; as the bathers came out of the vapor-room, red and reeking with heat, they ran to this tank, and filling a bucket with cold water, raised it, and threw it over their heads. When these baths are near a river they plunge .into it, and in the winter roll themselves in the snow. I opened the door of the vapor-room, in which I could not continue above a nainute, and in that time a profuse perspiration came over me. The room was capacious^ women and men were piled one above another amphithe- atrically ; the vapor which filled the room, and gave it the atmosphere of a digester, was produced from water being t4iroAvn upon a great number of heated stones, sonme of them red hot. In this place, to assist the cause" of perspiration and washing, they exchange the little tender and delicate ofiees of flogging, soaping, and rub- bing each other down. The Russians in this, as well as mtany other customs, bear a strong analogy to the Gre- cians. These scenes, such is the effect of habit, are seldom productive of libertinism, even amongst the na- tives ; to every foreigner they cannot fidl to be offensive and repulsive. If a painter wishes to delineate a Ve- nus, or even any part of the figure, let him not go to a Russian bath for a model. My curiosity was soon satis-^ fied, I visited no other part of the building, and right glad vv^as I to quit this disgusting scene. These bath?, iiowever, which are to be found in every village, prove that the Russians are naturally clean. After these ablu- tions, clean shirts and shifts are put on for Sunday. It is highly interesting to observe how nations differ from each other in their customs, and how frequently Chap. 16.1 NORTHERN SUMMER. 239 they reverse them. As we are upon the subject of bath- ingT^ cannot help mentionmg that, as I was walking with some English ladies in the Summer Gardens one evening, I saw about sixty men and women enjoying themselves in a small canal which runs from the Neva to the Michaeleski palace. Public as this spectacle was, there seemed to be the most perfect innocence amongst all the parties. One man was very desirous that I should see how well his wife could swim ; and a Polish servant i,n waiting said, with great naivete, to pne of our Eng- lish ladies, (a very amiable and sensible woman, in whose service he was,) " Madam, there is a fine seat there," pointing to one upon the side of the water, " where " you can have an excellent view, and see the manner in " which the Russians swim." Their manner is some- what curious ; they swim as if a dog had taught them. As I was one day walking by the side of the canal which runs before the Opera-house, I saw two young, and I think I may add, modest women, seeking shelter from the sun in the limpid stream. The forms of these Musi- doras did m.ore honor to their sex, than any which I had hefore seen. The Russians beat all the doctors hollow. Tjiey hare one simple (I know not if certain) cure for every de- scription of disease, viz. two glases of brandy, a scourg- ing and soaping in the vapor-bath, and a roll in the Ne- va, or snow. The smile of the sovereign has an universal influence ; if you are well at court, it is well with you every where. Impressed with this truth, I resolved to visit the great- est favorite of his Imperial Majesty. As his sagacity was extraordinary ; as he paid no consideration to ex- terior himself, nor minded it in others ; and, moreover, £^s his residence was in the neighborhood of the bath, I made up my mind to avail myself of his liberal notions, and seek an audience without returning to my hotel, a distance of three miles at least to change my dress. Al- though, with respect to the appearance of his visitors, he was very accommodating, yet I found him, like all courtiers, inaccessible without a bribe ; and accordingly, the hcnor of being introduced to him cost me something, 240 NORTHERN SUMISIER. [C^af. 16. it is useless tmw to say; what. Was it not singukr ? Upon entering his apartment, which v/as very lofty, I found him heavily ironed by one leg, and guarded ; yet, strange as this appeared, I was rejoiced to find, for his character stands very high, that he was not in disgrace. The personage I am speaking of was his Majesty's ele- phant, who was at least eleven feet high, and, like his Im- perial master, majestic, yet gracious ; and though fear- fully armed with power, most discreet and gentle in its use. Kis establishment consisted of a faithful Persian, who received and repaid his affections. In the ground behind the elephant's apartment, we saw some Caimuc sheep grazing, distinguishable from the same species of animals in other countries, by a vast bag of hard fat which grows from the rump. As I was returning from his elephantic majesty, a friend of mine pointed to a Russian who was crossing a bridge, and in- formed m.e that some years since he was one of the lead- ing characters of a sect, whose tenets extended eternal rewards of happiness to those who, crossing the great design of God in creating man, deprived themselves of the possibility of becomingthe fathers of families : against the sprerding fanaticism of these miCnstroas visionaries, which aimed at the radical extinction of society, Cathe- rine II. directed a prompt and decisive blow; those of its wretched and deluded followers who are known, are branded, vvherever they appear, with public derision. Catherine putxlown a sect still more formidable, and by the follovving v/himsically wise manner, saved her people from the baneful contagion of French principles. Du- ring that revolution, Vv'hich portended ruin to all the sa- cred establishments of all nations, when in England Pitt trampled out the brightening embers, and saved his country from the devouring flames, a group of mischie^ vous emissaries from France arrived at Petersburg, and began, in whispers amongst the mob, to persuade the poor droshka driver, and the ambulatory vender of honey quass, that thrones were only to be considered as stools, and that they had as much right to sit upon one of them as their Empress : Catherine, concealing her real i^p- Prehensions, availed herself of the powers with v/hiclv CttAKl6.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 241 «h€ was clothed, without shedding a drop of blood. She knew lidicule to be, m able hands, a powerful weapon j and resolved to wield it upon the present occasiori. One evening the police officers were ordered to seize all these illuminated apostles of liberty, and bear them away to the lunatic asylum, where the Empress had directed that their heads should be shaved and blistered, and their bodies well scoured by aperient medicines, and kept «n meagre diet ; this regimen was continued for four-* teen days, when their confinement terminated. The com- mon Russians had heard of their fate, and really believ- ing that they had been insane, neglected and deserted them upon their re-appearance in the city with shorn heads, hollow eyes, and sunk cheeks, and all the strik- ing indications of a recently bewildered mind. If this mild and ingenious project had failed, Catherine would have let loose all the energy of power, and for this pur- pose she rapidly caused to be built that vast edifice, now used for the marine barracks, v/hich she destined for a state prison. The transition from revolutionists to wild dogs is very simple and natural. About three versts on the left hand side of the Zarsko Zeilo road, is a Wood infested with these animals. To this place dead horses, and ail the rank garbage of the city, which a Russian stomach can- not relish, are carried. These doga never aim at p.rose^ iytism, and are never seen beyond the boundaries of their thicket. Having thrown aside our bathing dresses, We went to the palace of Saint Pvlichael, Where, as I have related, the last Emperor perished. As Paul had expressed so much aversion to the imperial mansions in which his mother delighted, I felt a curiosity minutely to examine a palace of his own creation. In addition to what has been before observed, the whole of this enormous pile was Kiiilt by an Italian, of red Dutch brick, which at a distance has an animating appearance, upon a basement of he^vn granite, that resembles a foundation of rock. The grand entrance from the great perspecUve through the riding-room and offices, is very handsome. Upon the architrave is written in Russ charactei^, as it was translated to me, the follow- W 242 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 16. ing singular motto : " May my house endure like the *' Lord's." The Russians observe, with their accustom- ed superstition, that the number of letters of this inscrip- tion correspond with the number of Paul's years, and that out of them an anagram may be composed, denoting that he who raised the building would perish by a violent death. The interior is vast, but very gloomy. The cham- bers which were shewn were stripped of their furniture and all their moveable decorations, which are lodged in the cabinet of jewels, but the ornaments which remained exhibited a style of costly magnificence ; the doors, some of which were of various-colored glass, and richly gilded, were uncommonly superb. We saw the room in which the unfortunate Sovereign perished, and his private stair- case before mentioned. All the rooms, except those which were used for state, are occupied by persons be- longing to the court ; amongst others Mr. Cameron, the imperial architect, has a superb suite of apartments, those which w^ere formerly occupied by the present Emperor and Empress before they ascended the throne : in one of which is a fire-place which had been encrusted with jew- els. To the taste and genius of this gentleman, Russia is indebted for many of her beautiful architectural ob- jects. From the palace of St. Michael, we went, by a special appointment and permission, obtained after much trouble," to the Academy of Arts, and in our way stopped at the marble church of St. Isaac, which was erected, but not finished, by the late Empress : it is entirely built of Si- berian marble, porphyry, and jasper, at an immense cost, has a vast copper dome gilded, and is the most magnifi- cent place of worship in Petersburg ; yet, after all, it has a very sombre appearance without. The late Emperor, disgusted, as I have already ex* plained, with every thing which had engaged the care and regard of his Imperial mother, raised in ridicule a little tov/er of brick, covered with a small dome, on the west side of this temple. During the calamitous state of his mind, an indiscreet wag affixed to the door of the church the following pasquinade, in Russ verses : " To Paul the First, Emperor, &c." Ghap. 16.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 243 "in Tnarble should thy nciother's mem'rv shine ; In perishable brick ^nd plaster thine." The writer paid dearly for his wit ; he was discovered, knouted, had his nostrils torn, and was sent to Siberia. Upon the accession of the present Emperor, application Was made by his friends for his release, which was gran- ted, and a miserable miutilated wreth was restored to those who could with difficulty recognize him. The interior of this building is truly magnificent, be- ing entirely composed of the most precious Siberian marble. Near the altar was an elegant pulpit, the only one that I saw in any of the Greek churches : it was built by the orders of the late Empress, who was desir- ous of enlightening her people in their faith by devotion- al discourses. The Academy of Arts is an enormous pile of quad- rangular brick building, in the Vassili-Ostroff. In the /council-roomi we were shewn a beautiful golden medal of the head of Paul by the present Empress dow^ager, which at once proves the taste of her mind, and the pow- erful affections of her heart. In the hall of statues were a great number of fine casts from the antique, particu- larly a beautiful one of the Belvidere Apollo : the ori- ginal, in the Imperial Museum at Paris, afforded me the greatest delight I ever experienced in contemplating any work of art, and v/hich I greatly preferred to the Lao- coon. Amongst the pictures was a perfect and precious piece of painting, in fresco, from Herculaneum. As we passed through a suite of roonas, in which the youngest class of students, from the age of eight or nine years, were drawing (all of whom, as well as the rest of the pupils, are clothed, educated and maintained, at the expense of the crown), we saw some promising w^orks of art ; but, strange to relate, they were principally con- fined to the younger artists : the tree looks healthy to- wards the roots, but weakens as it spreads. I could not help observing, that most of the adult students were oc- cupied in painting whole and half length likenesses of the Emperor, in his regimentals, instead of attending to the works of the ancient masters, several of whose pro- S44 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 10. ductions adorn their ^leries. The Almighty Disposer of the Universe has limited nations, as well as individuals^ to their proper share of his beneficence. Whilst he has determined that the vine of the Tyrol shall never bend -with its luscious grape upon the shores of the Frozen Sea, he seems to have allotted a more benign region to Painting, and to have precludepress Elizabeth, is grand from its magnitude, but very heavy ; within its w^alls are many courts, galleries, and passages, and stair-cases without number. In the winter it requires fifteen hundred stoves, or as the Russians call them pitchkas, and the resident English, peeches, to warm it. What could induce Cathenne to call one of the most costly and elegant palaces in Europe by the name of the Hermitage I cannot imagine ; not more preposterous would it be to hear Windsor Castle denominated the Nut- shell. Its situation on the banks of the Neva is very beautiful ; the apartments are still magnificent, although much of their rich furniture has been removed, and are embellished with the Houghton and other choice collec- tions, to which artists have free access to copy. One room was entirely filled with some of the finest produc- tions of Vemet ; there is also a great number by Teni- Chap. 17.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 251 ers. Upon the same floor with the picture galleries, which, with the state-rooms, occupy the second story, is a spacious covered winter garden, filled with orange trees, and foreign singing birds, opening into- a summer gar- den upon the top of the palace, in which there is a beau- tiful long gravelled walk, lined with shrubs and large graceful birch trees, whose roots I should think must have for some time threatened to make their way through the ceiling of the drawing-rooms below. The whole is adorned with statues, elegant garden sophas, and tem- ples, and on each side are magnificent galleries. In the cabinet of curiosities I was much pleased with a faithful aiid exquisite model of a Russian boor's farm-house in wax. In the music-room adjoining to this are some large and admirable pictures, by Sneyder, representing fish, fowl, and fruit. In the cabinet of jewels there is a rich display of all sorts of jewelry ; and amongst others, un- der a grea,t glass case, are the celebrated mechanical pea- cock, owl, cock, and grasshopper, of the size of life, which was made in England, at a vast expense, and pre- sented by Potemkin to the late Empress. The machine- ry is damaged : the cock, mounted on a tree of gold, no longer crows, nor hoots the owl, nor does the pea- cock spread his tail, at the expiration of the hour, but the grasshopper still skips round to denote the moments. This animal is nearly the size of his more animated brethren in Russian Finland, which are said to be an inch and a half long. There were also several ivary cups, the fruits of the ingenuity of Peter the Great, whose versatility w^as such, that apparently with equal ease, he could bend from the founding of cities, leading ai^mies into the field, and fighting battles, to building boats, turn- ing wooden spoons and platters, and carving in ivory. Raphael's hall, one of the galleries running paralled with the garden, is superbly painted and decorated, and has a fine collection of minerals : its inkdd floor is uncom- monly rich and exquisite. I searched in vain for Sir Joshua Reynolds's celebrated Infant Hercules, purchased by the late Empress for the Hermitan,-e. Upon enquiry I found that it had been re- moved into a private apartment below, and was seldom ^e^ NOHlTMERN SUMMlER. 3[Cha>. If . ^hewn ; the reason assigned was, that the Rtrssians have a superstitious horror of death, and that as the subject 'was the strangling of the serpent by the infant god, it "was on that account unpopular. Upon onv return through the rooms, we went to the court theatre^ con- nected with the Hermitage by a gallery over an arch, %hich crosses a cut of water from the Neva to the Moika canal. The space before the curtain is filled with seats rising amphitheatrically, and the whole, without being large, is elegant. The performers were rehearsing at the time : afterwards as we were quitting the palace, my curiosity was excited by a number of Imperial coaches, presenting a gradation of qualities ; some were tol- erably good, some shabby and others very old and crazy, to which m^ust be added a V"ery long vehicle, such as is used in England for conveying wild beasts, having four horses abreast, all drawn up before that part of the pal- ace where the theatre is situated. Upon the conclusion of the rehearsal, the players descended : the tragedians and genteel comedians occupied the better carriages^ the lov/ comedians the more ancient and defective ones, and the cboruK-singers, to the amount of about thirty, skipped into the long coach, and were all driven to their respective homes. These machines are kept for the sole service of the players. Not far from the Hermitage, and upon a line with it, is the magnificent palace raised by Catherine II. for Gregory Orloff, and afterwards allotted, by the iate Em- peror, to the last of the Kings of Poland : it is built of grey Siberian marble, and adorned with columns and pi- lastres of the same stone, of a brown and reddish color. The balustrades of the balconies, and the frames of th^ windows, are of brass richly gilded. All the splendid furDiture and moveable decorations have been removed, and the whole is now occupied by persons belonging to the court. In consequence of the gracious orders of the Em- press Dowager to that effect, we visited a very interest- ing institution under her immediate protection, the Con- vent des Demoiseilcs. This Imperial seminary, which has no equal in Europe, contains three hundred and GHAP/ir.l NORTHERN SinViMER. 253 seventy -two young ladies cf nobility ; and two hundred and forty daughters of citizens. There is also another institu- tion under the same roof, called that of Saint Catherine, in which there are one hundred and eighty eight chil- dren, of the inferior orders of nobility. The age of admis- sion is six years. The noble young ladies are taught Ger- mau, French, Italian, drawing, music, dancing, geogra- phy, embroidery, and every other elegant pursuit. The daughters of the bourgeois are instructed in what is useful alone, and can conduce to their making good tradesmen's wives. Their genius, or bias of mind, wlien-ever it can be ascertained, is -always consulted in their pursuits. The building is like a great town ; it was ioTvaQvlf occupied by the monks of Smolnoi, who have been removed to accommodate much more useful and lovely members of society. In th-e centre is a vast neglected church, surmounted with a dome in the centre of four small cupolas, all of copper gilded. This edifice forms a venerable and prominent feature in the city. We were received at the grand entrance by some of the offi- cers attached to the establishment, in full uniform, a dress whidi is worn by all male persons belonging to Imperial institutions, on account of the gov erniuent be- ing military. We wei'e first conducted to the kitchen, where we saw and ta^sted a sample of the day's dinner, consisting of excellent soup, boiled beef, vegetables, and pastry. The young ladies are divided into classes of age, and distinguished by brown, blue, and green and. white dresses. In the first school v/e were presented to her Excellency Madame Adlerberg, the directress of the convent, wlio appeared, decorated with the order of Saint Catherii^, a lady of great beauty and elegance of deport- ment ; her mind and character were explained by the siniies and looks of affection which every where attended her, as wfe proceeded through the schools. In the sick room there were only three patients, who were most tenderly attended by the proper nurses : the name, age, disorder, and treatment of the invalid, is inscribed upon a little tablet fixed over her head to the back of the bed. The dormitories were remarkably neat, and even ele- gant. Some of the little girls surnrised us by the X 254 NORTHERN SU.MMER. [Chap. 17. excellence to which they had attained in drawing. In the Greek church belonging to the convent, we were attended by the priest in his full robes, who shew^ed us a magnificent cup of gold studded with jewels, used in devotion^ the w^ork of the Empress dow- iiger. The mortality among the children is very inconsider- fible ; upon an average only two die annually out of eight hundred, unless after filling up of several vacancies, oc- curring at the same time, when the children admitted from the provinces sometimes bring diseases with them. In the blue class we saw an instance of the mutability of fortune, in a little girl about eleven years of age, the Princess S' the grand^daughter of the late King of Poland. In the dispersion of the family she was left des- titute. Her mother, in a frenzy produced by the de- thronement of her father, threw her son, a child, from a balcony into the street, and dashed out his brains. This orphan relic of an august and most unfortunate family, w as saved from actual want by the humanity and feeling of the Princess Biron, with whose daughter she is edu- cated in the convent. Tlie young Princess Bivon, in the blue dress of her class, underwent an examination in French and writing in our presence, and acqmtted herself with infinite credit. In the green and white class, where the eldest young ladies are, we were entertained with some very delightful Russ and French airs and cho- ruses, accompanied by the harpsichord. In the institution of Saint Catherine, under the di- rection of Madame Bredkoff, an elderly lady of distin- guished talents, and sweetness of disposition, the fol- lowing little circumstance occurred, which will prove that the Russian mind, whatever may have been said of it, is susceptible of feeling and generosity. In this in- stitution, which is supported by the Empress dowager, a limited number only of young ladies are admitted, free of expense, by ballot ; but others are received upon pay- ing, as it is termed, a pension. At the last admission, two little girls, the eldest not exceeding ten years of age, the daughter of a naval captain, who in this country is noble, the father of a large family presented themselves, Chap, ir.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 255 and drew, the one a prize, the other a blank. Although so young, they knew that fate had, in this manner, re- solved upon their separation ; they felt it, and wep'. Another young lady, to whom the next chance devolved, drew a prize, and ' observing the distress of the sisters, without holding any communication with their parents, or with any other person, spontaneously ran up to the luckless little girl, presented her with the ticket, and leading her up to the directress, said, " See, Madam, I " have drawn a prize, but my papa can afford to pay the " pension, and I am sure will pay it for me : pray let " one who is less fortunate, enjoy the good that has hap- " pened to me." This charming anecdote was immedi- ately reported to the Empress dowager, who expressed the highest delight, and paid, out of her own purse, the pension of the little benefactress. An idea has gone forth, that when the period arrives for the fair pupils to quit the convent for the great thea- tre of the world, so many years of sequestration from it renders them totally ignorant, awkward, and that they enter society with little less .surprise than that which a man born blind, and suddenly restored to sight, would express on his first contemplation of objects. But this remark is completely disproved by the good-breeding and polished manners which the young ladies displayecL in the convent : in addition to which it may be observed, that every month, or oftener, they have a public and splendid ball, which is always crowded by people of fashion', their relations or friends, with whom, upon tliese occasions, they have unrestrained intercourse. At Eas- ter, and other festivals, by the order of the Empress dowager, they take a lide round the city to see the di- version of sliding down the ice-hills, or the various festivities incident to the occasion and season. The Em- press dowager takes great pleasure in visiting this in- stitution ; and whenever she appears, the young people crowd round her, to kiss the palm of her hand, as if she were their common parent. In other countries there may be institutions upon the same principle, but not one of the same magnitu and decorations, were calculated to kindle and cherish the noble and generous flame. As the camps for thirty thousand men were formed in the neighborhood for the annual reviews, we found it dif- ficult to obtfin beds ; our servants, who in the estima- tion of inn-keepers, have no higher pretensions to their notice than their pigs and poultry, were left to shift for themselves upon the floor. On our return to the capital we proceeded to the encampment, to be present at the first manoeuvres, but which had been countermanded ear- ly in the morning ; here a scene took place, which, as itdevelopes a little of the low Russian character, I may Chap. 18.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 271 be permitted to relate : Ivan, the coachman of a chariot belonging to the party, a most grave and reverend -I ook*- ing personage, adorned M'ith a beard of extraordinary miagnitude and beauty, became offended with something that had been said by tv(ro servants, the one a German, the other a Pole, named David and Rominski, who were standing behind the foremost coach, in which I was v/ith some other friends ; Ivan, who had displayed a degree of siilkiness early in the morning, very unusual with the Russians, retorted their banter by endeavcring to drive the pole of his carriage against the legs of the servants, who, incensed at his conduct, jumped down and endeav- ored to seize Ivan, who threshed them heartily from his coach-bO,i : at last the Pole, who naturally abhors a Rus* sian, succeeded in dragging him froin his seat, curled bis hand round in his hair, tripped up his heels', and laid poor Ivan flat, and in this posture administered a sound fiagellation upon the back of the charioteer with his own whip, exclaiming at the same time, " I will let him know " that I am a Pole." If we may trace effects to remote causes it would not be unfair to conjecture, that the abdi- cation or rather dethronement of King Stanislaus Ponia- tofsky rendered some of the blows a little more severe than ordinary. When the punishment was over, and Ivan was once more upon his legs, it appeared that in his descent to the earth, he had cut his nose slightly against a stone, and was bleeding tolerably freely. Ivan knew the value of this accident, and took great good care to husband every crimson drop, and letting it spread and thicken upon his beard, raised a m^ost hideous yell and ran and preferred his complaint to a picquet guard of Cossacks of the Don, who placed us all under military arrest, and dispatched a comrade to their Colonel, with an account of what had happened within the lines ; the an- swer returned was, that he would not interfere, and that if any injury had been received it might be redressed at the first town. Ivan, who hy the bye, was a clever fellow, • during the absence of the cossack had prostrated himself ■on' the ground, and imitated tolerably well the agonies of a dying man : as soon as he was told what the reply was, and finding that we were driving off without him, throw- 272 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 18. ing aside the terrors of death, he in a moment vaulted into his box, and never drove or looked better, until we enter- ed the town of Peterhoff, which was crowded on account of the Court being at the palace, when he set up the most frightful yell, tore his hair, displayed his bloody beard, and called upon the police officers to seize us all and do him justice. In a short time we were surrounded with crowds ; the police officers, seeing we were English, heard the accuser, but shewed no disposition to detain us, so v/e proposed adjourning to the garden of the palace, and in one of its recesses to partake of the cold collation which we had brought with us. As we quitted the car- riage, ourcoachman whispered something to Ivan, who, with an arch look, told our valet, if we would give him tv/enty-five rubles, he would settle the business amica- bly : this we refused upon two grounds ; first that he merited what had happened ; and next, admitting he de- served any compensation, it was too exorbitant to demand twenty-five rubles for a bloody nose, when we learnt at Cronstadt, that twenty -three had only been paid for the loss of an eye. Wc went quietly to dinner in a delightful spot, well shaded from the sun; whilst we were enjoying our re- past, a little ragged boy approached us, to whom we offered some meat, but although he looked half famished we could not prevail upon him to touch it, as it was a fast. In one of the w^alks we met a lady of rank at- tended by a female dwarf, supremely ugly and deformed, and dressed like a shepherdess on her nuptial day. Whilst we were regaling ourselves Ivan was making the best use of his time with the guards and police officers, and upon our resuming our seats and endeavoring to pro- ceed, the barrier was dropped, and bayonets presented towards our horses ; we then all alighted, and attended by a great throng of guards and police officers, proceed- ed to the apartments of the deputy grand police master, whomi we found in his chamber in his shirt, fiddling be- fore a saint who was suspended in the corner : this genr tleman addressed us in German to which one of the par- ty, to whom it was his native tongue, replied, during which Ivan displayed his blood to great advantage, but Ghap. 18.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 273 was ignorant of what w^as passing. In the course of the conversation, the magistrate abserved, " that the coach- " man deserved to be thrashed ; and that, had we beaten " him to a jellij-, so that blood had not followed, all would " have been well ; but," after a long pause, very good- humoredly said, " that we should no longer be detained," and accordingly ordered the guards to let us pass. No- thing could exceed the chagrin of poor Ivan when he heard the fate of his application : — no non-suited plaintiff ever threw his face into more burlesque distortions. Upon the road he stopped at every kabac for a drop of sorrow's medicine, which if Ivan had apostrohphized, he would have exclaimed : " Oh ! thou invisible spirit of brandy ; if thou hast no name to " be known by, let us call thee Angel.'' 274 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 19. CHAPTER XIX. Mhing of the JVeva Academy of sciences—^ The review—^ Cadet corpus— ~Pelisses-'->Countrij palace of Zatsko Zelo »— ^Another bust of the British Demosthenes misplaced—^ ■ Canine tumuli-^-^Imperial pleasantry'— -Gatchina'—Pau-' voloffsky—^-Anniversary of a favorite saint-^-More dwarfs, A SHORT time before I left Petersburg, the inhab- itants were apprehl^nsive of a terrible inundation, of the Neva, in consequence of the wind blowing very fresh at south-south-west, which forces the waters of the gulf of Finland against the river, and prevents the stream from finding its level. The guns of the Admiralty- fired, and in the evening four lights were raised upon its church spire, the usual warning upon such occasions to the people, to take care of themselves and their prop- erty, and a general consternation spread through the city. About eight o'clock at night a part of the Galeernhoff was five feet under water, and the bridges of pontoons rose to a considerable height, so that the planks which connected them with the shores, presented on each side a formidable acclivity, which carriages of every descrip- tion surmounted by the uncommon skill and energy of the drivers and horses : their mode of reaching these almost perpendicular ascents was efi*ected by lashing the horses, at a considerable distance, into a full gallop, and by a great number of police officers and soldiers, who al- ways attend at the bridges on these occasions to prevent accidents, running behind and propelling the carriage, or saving it from being dashed to pieces,vby its not being able to turn the summit. Luckily the wind, the Neva, and the public apprehensions, subsided together, with- out any damage being done. The change enabled our party to visit the Academy of Sciences, a noble building, situated on the north side of the Neva, in Vassilli-Ostroff. After passing through the library, whose damp walls were feebly lighted from above, and where there is nothing but some Tartarian Chap. 19.1 NORTHERN SUMMER. ItYS manusciipts worthy of detaining the attention of a trav- eller, we entered the museum of natural curiosities, in which the principal objects were various parts of the hu- man frame, foetuses, miscarriages, and births, from the first impregnation to perfect birth, monsters human and animal, and a variety of most odious and disgusting et ceteras, in pickie. The skin of the Heyduc, or favor- ite servant of Peter the Great, is here, stretched upon a wooden image of his size, which shews that the man must have been six feet and a half high, and that natui^e had furnished him with a skin nearly as thick and impenetra^ ble as that of the rhinoceros's hide. In the gallery above was a Lapponian dog-sledge ; the habiliments of a Sibe- rian magician, or gipsey, priiicipally composed of a great number of iron rings and drops placed upon a wooden statue ; several presents from the undaunted and enterprising Captain Cook, and a variety of stuffed bii ds- and animals. In the room of Peter the Great was a wax figure of his height, which was above six feet, resemb^ ling him in form and face, and dressed in one of his full suits : in an adjoining cupboard were his hat, pierced with a bullet at Pultowa, breeches that wanted repair, and stockings that required darning. In another room were his turning machines, with v/hich he used to relax himself; cupboaitls filled with brazen dishes of his em-» bossing, and spoons and platters of his turning : in short, all the curiosity which the merest trifles of great genius generally excite, is, in this instance, destroyed by their abundance. In every public garden, or building, there is a profuse display of his clothes, arms, or culinary utensils : if a twentieth part of them were burnt, the remainder would be more worthy of notice. How sin- gular is it, that cotemporary genius never excites our at- tentions, and awakens our feelings, so forcibly as that which is departed ! In contemplating a great man, the mind's eye reverses the laws of vision, by magnifying the object in proportion as it recedes from it. Upon the basement story is a very curious mechanical writing- desk, by Roentgen, a Germ.an, of Neuwied, presented to the Academy by Catherine, who gave twenty-live- thousand rubles for it. Upon touching a spring, a varie- 276 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 19. ty of drawers fly out, a writing-desk expands, and boxes for letters and papers rise. A part of the machinery may be set so, that if any person were to attempt to touch any of the private recesses appropriated for mon- ey, or confidential papers, he would be surprised by a beautifLil tune, which would give due notice to the own- er. We were told that, in the Academy, are to be seen moon-stones, or blocks of native iron, which, it is con- jectured by the learned, must have been cast from the volcano of some planet. They were not shewn to us : but several of these phenomena are to be miet with in different parts of Russa. It seems hostile to the laws of gravitation, that a single atom should be able to swerve from its planet. Adjoining the Academy is a pavilion containing the Gottorp globe, eleven feet in diameter from pole to pole : the concavity is marked with the stars and constellations, and is capable of holding several persons : as some ladies of our party ventered in, upon the exhibitor turning the globe on its axis, we were more sensibly impressed with the idea of the motion of the heavenly bodies. In the evening after the opera, a party of us set off to the camp, and passed the night in our carriage, in order to be present at the review, which commenced the next day at eight o'clock. After getting a comfortable break- fast in a Cossac hut, v/e proceeded to the ground. The manoeuvres commenced in a \illage about three miles off, w^here a sharp cannonading took place. The contending armies, consisting of about fifteen thousand men each, the one headed by the Emperor, and the other by Gen- eral , began to move towards each other, in a vast valley, and halted within half a mile of each other, when a tremendous discharge of artellery took place, and firing of different parties was kept up all the time^ at distances of five and six miles. , Here the manceuvres of that day concluded, and v/e returned home to a late dinner. It was nov/ the second of September, N. S. and the summer began to. give tokens of rapid decline : the lamps but feebly supplied that light which, not even many days before, gave to the evening the character of a mild mid- day. Chap. 19.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 2f7 We were much gratiiied in visiting, by an express ap- pointment, a nursery of future heroes, called the second Imperial Cadet Corps, in which seven hundred children are educated and maintained, as gentlemen, for the pro- fession of arms, at the expense of the country. The go- Yemor, a nobleman of high rank, and several of the of- ficers attached to the instiution, attended us through the. progressive schools. Every child follows his own reli- gious persuasion, for which purpose there are a Lutheran and a Greek church under the same roof : the latter is sin- gularly elegant. The dormitories, as well as every oth- er part of the establishment were remarkably clean and handsome, the pupils having separate beds. In the store-rooms each boy's change of linen and clothes were very neatly folded up, and his name marked upon a tab- let over them. At one of the doors we saw some of these soldiers in miniature relieve guard. In the schools are taught mathematics, gunnery, mapping, French, Ger- mian, and Russian ; fencing and dancing, and every other science and accomplishment which can complete the soldier and the gentleman. We were present at their dinner, which is served at half past tv/elve o'clock. The dining-hall is tv/o hundred feet long, by forty broad. Every table held twenty-two boys, for each of whom a soup and meat plate, a silver fork, knife, and napkin, and a large slice of wholesome country bread, were laid ; and at each end were two large silver goblets filled with ex- cellent quass : they have four substantial dishes three times a week, and three on the other days. All the boys, after marching in regular order from the respective Schools, appeared at the several doors of the dining-hall, headed by their captains : upon the roll of the drum, they marched in slow time to their respective tables, forming three companies of two huiidred each (the fuzi- leer company, composed of the sons of the soldiers, did not dine till afterwards) ; at the second roll they halted, - faced, and sat down : all their dishes appeared to be ex- cellent : their uniform was bottle green, faced with red. Great attention appeared to have been paid to their man- ners, by the decorum and urbanity which \^s displayed at their tables. The kitchens for soup, boiling, and roast- Y 278 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 19. in g were remarkably neat although we saw them just after dinner had been served up. There are several other cadet corps upon the same princely establishment, and create in the mind of a stranger a high idea of the wealth and patriotic spirit of the empire. A foreigner should not quit Petersburg without see- ing the cabinet of jewels and furs, contained in a superb building in the Grand Perspective : here the clocks, gilded and bronze ornaments of the palace of Saint Michael, are deposited, all of which are very magnifi* cent ; there are also massy balustrades and tables of solid silver. Amongst the jewellery I was much pleas- ed with several beautiful watches, upon the backs of which were little figures, some in the act of angling and drawing up little fish ; others cooking meat, pump- ing, and rocking cradles ; in others little cascades of glass were set in motion. There was a profusion of magnificent diamond snuff-boxes, stars, Sec. for imperial presents. In the apartments below was the museum of furs, where we saw several pelisses made of tiny dorsal slips of the black fox, valued each at ten thousand pounds. This animal, a native of Siberia, is so rare and so small, that one of these pelisses cannot be made in less than ten years, and they are then paid to the Emperor in lieu of money, as tributes from different provinces. These are generally presented upon some great national occa- sion to crowned heads. There are also fine collections of sables and other furs, many of which are annually sold. As I have mentioned these tributes, it may be proper here to observe, that the imperial revenues chiefly arise from the poll tax, the crown and church lands, the duties on export and import, profi.ts of the mint, the excise up- on salt, the sale of spiritous liquors, post-offices and post- ing. The proprietors of houses, as well natives as foreigners, pay in lieu of all other taxes, and in discharge from the odious burthen of maintaining soldiers, to . vvhich they were formerly liable, a duty of one half per 1 cent, ad valorem^ upon the house, and a ground rent Chap. 19.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 270 which varies according to local advantages, for every square fathom. Of course, I did not leave the capital without seeing Zarsko Zelo, the most magnificent of the country pala- ces, about twenty-four versts from Petersburg. The entrance to it is through a forest, under a lofty arch of artificial rock, surmounted with a Chinese w^atch tower ; after which we passed a Chinese town, where the enor- mous imperial pile, consisting of three stories, one thou- sand two hundred feet long, opened upon us. It was built by Catherine I. ; embellished and barbarously gilt by Elizabeth, and greatly beautified and inodernized by the late Empress. Amongst the numerous rooms fitted up in the style of ancient magnificence, the amber- room, a vast apartment, entirely lined with pieces of that valuable fossil bitumen, presented by Frederick Wil- liam I. to Peter the Great, but not put up till the reign of Elizabeth. One of the pieces of amber expressed in rude characters, by its veins, the year in which it was presented. The apartments, which Catherine has fitted up and embellished, display the highest taste and profusion of expense ; the floor of one of these roonris was inlaid with mother-of-pearl, representing a variety of flowers and elegant figures ; but I was most pleased with her two celebrated chambers of entire glass, which in novelty and beauty exceed all description. The sides and ciel- ings of these rooms were formed of pieces of thick glass, about a foot square, of a cream and pale blue color, con- nected by fine frames of brass richly gilded. In the centre, upon steps of glass rose a divan, above which was a vast mirror, and on each side were slender pillars of light blue glass that supported an elegant canopy. Behind the mirror w:?s a rich state bed. Even the doors, sophas, and chairs, were of colored glass, elegantly shaped, and very light. Fronti the rooms we entered a vast terrace under a colonnade, and proceeded to the baths, which are lasting monuments of the taste of Mr. Cameron, the imperial architect. They contain a suite of superb rooms, one of which is entirely composed of the richest agates and por- 28© NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 19. phyry ; in this saloon were two pieces in mosaic, the most brilliant and beautiful I ever beheld. Near the baths is a vast terrace upon arches, with a central cover- ed gallery of great extent, capable at all times of afford- ing either a cool or a sheltered promenade. Upon this terrace are a great number of line busts of distinguish- ed men ; am.ongst others was a copy of that of Mr. Fox, in bronze, placed on the left of Cicero. As I contem- plated the head of the British orator, I secretly protested against his situation, and was endeavoring to give him> the rights v^^hen a terrified attendant and his companion ran up to me, and prevented me from performing this. Jict of justice. In the gardens which are extensively and very taste- fully laid out by the late and present Mr. Bush, father and son, to whom the care of these gardens and hot- houses have been successively committed, we saw the Hermitage, in the iir^ fioor of which the late Empress, and a select party of her friends, used to dine without at- tendants, for which purpose she had a table constructed of most complicated machinery, at a great expense, through which the covers descended and rose by means of a great central trap-door, as did the plates through cylinders. The party was by this means supplied with every delicacy, without being seen or heard. The ma- chinery below filled a large room, and at first made me think I was under the stage of a theatre : this was anoth- er of Catherine's playthings. As we moved through the grounds, we were struck with a rostral column, raised to Feodor Orloff for the conquest of the Morea : a mar- ble obelisk to Romiantzoff, for his victories near Kagul ; a marble pillar, on a pedestal of granite, to Orlofr Tches- minskoi ; and the pailadian bridge, formed in Siberia, and erected here over a branch of the lake : it is simi- lar to that at Lord PembrQke's. In a retired part is an Egyptian pyramid, behind which are several tombs, erected by the late Empress to the memory of her fa- vorite dogs : amongst these I copied the following, ths composition of Catherine. Ghap. 19.] NORTHl^RN SUMMER, 281 Cigit Duchessee, la fidele compagne de Sir Tom. Anderson. Elie le siiivit en Riisse I'an 1776. Aime et respecte par sa nombreuse posterite elle d^ceda en 1782, agee de 15 ans, laissant 115 descendans tant levriers que levrettes. ^ There is a small superb palace, within about two hundred yards of Zarsko Zelo, built by the late Empress, for her grandson Alexander. Some of the rooms are of marble, and very magnificent. At Zarsko Zelo there are no inns, but the hospitality of Mr. Bush, the Eng- lish gardener, prevents this inconvenience from being felt by any foreigner, who is respectably introduced to him. In censequence of a letter from our ambassador, we were very handsomely received, and entertained by Mr. Bush, in whose house, in the life-time of his father, the following whimsical circumstance occurred. When Joseph II. Emperor of Germany, to whom eveiy ap- pearance of show was disgusting, expressed his inten- tions of visiting Catherine II. Aie offered him apart- ments in her palace, which he declined, Her Majesty, well knowing his dislike to parade, had Mr. Bush's house fitted up as an inn, v.ith the sign of a Catherine- ivhecl^ below which, appeared, in German characters, " The Ealkenstein Arms," the name which the Empe- ror assumed. His Majesty knew nothing of tlie ingen- ious and attentive deception, till after he had quitted Rus- .sia ; a number of very laughable occurrences took place. When the Emperor once went from Vienna to Moscow^ he preceded the I'oyal carriages to order the horses, as an avant-couner-f in order to avoid the obnoxious pomi) and ceremony which an acknowledgment of his rrmk would have awakened. 282 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 19. From Zarsko Zelo v/e set off for a town near the pal- ace of Gatchina, about eighteen versts from the former, where we arrived about eleven at night ; although so near an imperial residence, three of us were obliged at the inn to sleep upon straw, there being only one sopha va- cant : however, the palace and gardens compensated this little inconvenience. The former was raised by Gregory Orloff, and, on his death, purchased by the late Em- press. The rooms were superb, amongst which were two of a crescent shape, richly furnished and ornament- ed ; and a chamber, the sopha, bed, canopy, cieling, and sides of which were formed of white callico, whilst over the latter projecting a little, v/as stretched a broad net- work of the same stuff, with roses in the centre of each divison : the -effect was unique and very beautiful. The gardens were romantic and elegant. In a small lake were a great number of beautiful gondolas and pleasure^ boats ; and on a large space of water, a frigate of twen- ty-two guns, originally built to afford Paul, when a youth, some little notion of a man of war. With a fair wind it is capable of sailing about one hundred yards. It is kept in good order, for the purpose of forming an agreeable object, and on festive occasions is illuminated. From Gatchina we proceeded to Pauvoloffsky, another imperial chateau, built by Paul in 1780, and which, with. Gatchina, form the principal country residences of the Empress Dowager and the^younger branches of the Im- perial family, who were there at the time of our visit. Such a crowded court I never beheld ; every window seemed to be filled with faces, and every avenue with officers of the household, servants and cooks ; it was like a great bee-hive. We took only an hasty glance at the state rooms, wi:iich were fitted up in a style of gorgeous mag-nificence. The pannels of one of the apartments contained excellent copies of some of the exquisite In- dia views of Messieurs Daniels. In the Dov/ager Em- press' cabinet was a most elegant writing table, the top of which was lined on each side with Chinese roses„ blowing, in vases sunk to a level with the surface. On the eleventh of September the Court, and all the people of Petersburg capable of v»^alking. attended in Chap. 19.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 283 great pomp the celebration of the anniversary of their tutelar spirit, Saint Alexander Nevsky. After perform- ing their devotion at the Kazan, the Court, in grand pro- cession, in their state carriages, proceeded ta the gate of the monastery (which I have before described), where they were received by the metropolitan and all the bish- ops in their full pontificals, adorned v/ith pearls and dia- monds, and by the monks and choristers, who preceded the Imperial family, chaunting hymns, upon a raised platform, covered with scarlei cloth, to the church, where the effect produced by their entrance was very sublime^ They then proceeded to the silver shrine of the saint, which, after several prayers and hymns, as I was inform- ed, they kissed, for the crowd was so great, that I could not see the whole of the ceremony ; after which they returned, and partook of some refreshments at the house of the archbishop. As soon as they had retired, some thousands of people flocked to the shrine of Saint Alex- ander, and to another of the Virgin adjoining, to touch them with their lips. As the Empress Dowager passed, the musheeks or common boors said to one another, " There goes our <' good mother." All the miale Russians, of equal degree in rank, address each other by the name of brat, or brother ; which is also used by any one speaking to his. inferior. The Emperor calls his subjects brats. A friend of mine heard Paul one day say to a bearded workman, " My brother take care, the ice is too thin to " bear you." When the low address their superiors they say batushka moia, " my father." Very near the mon-^ astery is the glass manufactory, where the vast mirrors, for which Russia is so celebrated, are roiled. The es- tablishment resembles a little town : almost all the art- ists are Russians, and in their various departments dis- played great taste and ingenuity. From this place we visited the hotel of the Prince Usupoff, a very noble edifice, but, like all the great houses of the nobility, presented a scene of uncommon neglect and dirt in the front and court yard ; for exam- ple, several of the broken windows of the basement story were filled with hay, and in the yard lay offdl-meatj 284 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 1^. bones, shells, and horse dung, here and there half con- cealed by grass growmg above the stones. The Prince has a fine gallery of pamtings and statues, which he has collected at a vast expense in Italy : most of the subjects are in the highest degree voluptuous. Over one paint- ing the Prince has extended a curtain : how little does he know of human nature, if he wishes to pay homage to modesty by exciting curiosity : I will venture to say there was more indecorum and peril in the curtain than in the picture. In the library, which is very excellent, we were attended by a frightful bilious dwarf, about forty years of age ; a Polish laquais took him by his little shrivelled hand, and patting him on the head, observed to us, that he had been in a small island in the Mediter- ranean, v/hich svf armed with dwarfs, many of whom he solemnly declared were not taller than cats set upon their hinder legs ! ! ! In the language of Count Aranza, •*♦ That's a lie.'* A few days before I left the city I applied, through a friend of mine, to the polatch or executioner, to purchase of him a knout, to bring v/ith ine to England : upon go- ing to his house, which seemed to be a very comfortable one, he was from home, but his wife took up one of the thongs, and in a very gentle and tender manner began explaining the theory and practice of this instrument of torture, in the course of which she observed, that it was made, not of the skin of a wild ass, as has been assert- ed, for. excepting a small breed of that animal in Sibe- ria, not one is to be found in any other part of the empire, but of ox's hide soaked in milk and dried, and that her husband was so expert, that he could cut a piece of flesh from the back of exactly its size. These functionaries of justice are held in such abhorrence, that although this very executioner offered to give four thousand rubles as a dowry with his daughter to a common droslika driver, she was rejected vvith scorn. The merciless Empress Elizabeth, enjoyed the reputation of having abolished the punishment of death : she little deserved the homage which was paid to her : the fact was, know- Chap. 19.] NORTHERN SUMMEIt. 285 ing how hateful the appearance of death is to the Rus- sans, she ordered a capital culprit to be knouted to such a degree, that he was only enabled to reach his prison alive, when his lacerated frame was thrown upon a bed of boards, and left to gangrene and mortify for want of medical application : such was the boasted humanity of Elizabeth ! To the superstitious dread of seeing a corpse, vi^hich marks the Russian character, let me add an un- conquerable aversion to receiving any thing as a present which has a sharp point : a gentleman presented a young Russ lady with an elegant female pocket-book, in which there was a row of needles ; with some concern she took from her purse a little silver piece, and gave it to the donor as the fiur chase money. A number of interesting objects still remained to be seen, but my time, and an alteration in my intention of visiting Italy, made it necessary to bid adieu to a city, which I shall never reflect upon but with admiration, nor upon those of its inhabitants, to vv^hom I had the honor of being kno^'^Ti, without respect and esteem. In the decline of the summer, (for I now speak of it as departed from these regions) the weather was very variable ; a fiercely sultry day was succeeded by a very chilly one, within thirty hours, from being scarcely able to endure m.y dressing-gown, I was glad to place myself before, a wonder in Russia, a blazing fire in an English stove ; but the atmospheric fluctuations are certainly not so great as in cur own clim.ate, and this circumstance might, perhaps, have induced a Russ servant, who had just returned from England, to say, upon being asked whether he was soon familiarized vv'ith our country, " I understood quick all tings dere, but de climate, dat I '- could no understand." The harvests in the provinces near the capital, v/hich is generally got in by the tenth of August N. S. had b len housed for more than a month, black clouds frequently obscured the sun, the winds be- gan to blow loud and blfeak, the leaves were rapidly fall- ing, and each succeeding day grew visibly shorter : these were sufficient warnings for birds of passage to wing their way to milder regions. As some very agreeable coun- 286 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 1*. trymen and travellers were setting off for Berlin, I had the good fortune of being invited to join the party : to their barouche I added a Swedish carriage, requiring on- ly one horse, to assist in the general conveyance. As this little carriage excited uncomraon delight and wonder in some countries through which we passed, and lost all its popularity in another, as will be hereafter told ; and moreover as I grew attached to it in proportion as I saw its merits, and beheld them at one time acknowledged, at another derided, I must be indulged in describing it, A small body of railing with a seat for two persons, a head of canvas, and a well for luggage, mounted upon two wheels about three feet high, and a shaft for one horse, composed the whole of this redoubted vehicle. In Russia, everv traveller is obliged to purchase a travel- ling carriage, unless he is disposed to hazard a general dislocation in a kibitka. Chap. 20.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 287 CHAPl^R XX. Leave Petersburg — The little Swede — 'Adventures at Strel- na—^JVarvO'— 'Bears — Beds-^Dorfit — Teutonic knights and ivhimsical revenge — Whij(iping of boors — Brothers- in-laiv — Courland'T—Poles^—'Memel'— 'Seventy of Prus- sian drilling. T is a great object in quitting a great city, where you have strong ties to detain you, resokitely to set off on the appointed day for the commencement of one's jour- ney, be the hour what it may, and even if you can pro- ceed no further than one post. After a deley of foui* hours, occasioned by the stupidity of the post- master, at eight o'clock in thd^ evening of the nineteenth of Septem- ber, N. S. the servants of our hospitable friends, Messrs. Vennings, who had been some time previously employed in filling every crack and corner of the carriages with bottles of porter, claret, and all sorts of provisions, an- nounced that every thing was ready. As we all assem- bled in the court yard, my old companion Mishka, to the full stretch of her chain, stood on her hinder legs, and seemed, in her rude way, for her voice was not the most musical, to regret my departure, but upon my giving her some sugar, I found it an error of vanity, for she instant- ly ran into her house to enjoy it, and, as in the moment of repletion neither Bruins nor Englishmen, nor perhaps any other being, like to be disturbed, I did not say with the song — " Give me thy paw, my bonny bonny bear,*' but left her, to shake hands with those from whom we had received the most polite and kind attentions. My friend Captain Eiphinstone insisted upon riding to the bridge with me, in the little Swede, as he called it, where we parted with mutual and genuine regret. The moon shone very bright. The little Russ driver, who sat on the shaft, unfortunately for my ears and the temperature of my mind, proved to be a great singer : ,288 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 2©. his shrill pipe never ceased till we reached Streina, the first stage, where we proposed sleeping-. As soon as we drove up to the door of a handsome inn, which ov/ed its architectural consequence to the prox- imity of the Grand Duke Constantine's country palace, the host told our servant, a German, he had no room for us : upon which a voice from the top of the banisters, with Stentorian energy, exclaimed in Russ, '' By G- — d " there is room, the gentlemen shall be accommodated, " or'by to-morrow evening- the Grand Duke Constantine " shall biov/ you all to the devil." The translation of this extraordinary exclamation vv^e received afterwards, upon which a Russ officer, a little flushed with the Tuscan grape, came doAvn to us, and began, according to the cus- tom of the Continent, to kiss us all round. When we had submitted to this detestable cererftony, he led, or ra- ther drove us up stairs : lavishing upon the master of the inn all the opprobrious epithets he could collect, in bad French ; ordered a handsome supper, and all sorts of wines ; pressed us by the hands, swore the English were the finest fellows in the world, and again repeated his lov- ing kindnessby another salutation : when one of the par- ty recoiling a little from the \iolence of his friendship, he turned round, shrugged up his shoulders, and in a most signincant manner exclaimed, " My G— d, he does " not kiss like a man 1" Afte^- making a hearty supper, we ordered our bill, but the omcer swore he would mur- der our host if he presented any, and ordered him out of the room, declaring that we were his own guests, which he followed by screaming several Russ songs ; after which we begged to know the name of this strange crea- ture, and presented him with a piece of paper and a pen- cil ; but after many ineffectual efforts, we plainly saw *' that his education had stopped before he had learnt to " read or write." Finding that we could get no beds, we ordered horses, travelled all night upon good roads, and arrived early the next morning to breakfast at Koskowa. All the post-houses beyond Streina are kept by Ger- mans ; for each horse we paid two copecs per verst. This part of Ingria formerly belonged to the SAvedes. The female peasantry wear a fiat bonnet of red silk and Cha^. ^0.3 NORTHERN SUMMER im ;^old lace, large ear-rings, a vest without sleeves, and cloth round their legs : women, before their marriage, wear their hair plaited, and hanging down ; the males ai'e dimply clad in sheeps' skins, with the wool inside. I would recommend every traveller to sleep at Jarn- feurg, one stage before Narva. At the former, the post- master told us he had no horses ; but the magic of a sil- ver ruble discovered six, quietly eating their hay in the stable, which speedily brought us over a wooden road to Narva, at nine o*clock in the evening, to a very com- fortable inn. Here the Russ character began to subside ; snost of the boo!*s speak German. In the m^oniing we were much gratified with contem- plating a town, which the romantic heroisrai of Charles XII. of Sweden has for ever rendered celebrated. We passed over the ground where, on the 30th November, 1 700, Charles routed one hundred thousand Muscovites with eight thousand Swedes. History says, that upon the first discharge of the enemy's shot, a ball slightly grazed the King's left shoulder ; of this he at the time took no notice : soon after his horse was killed, and a second had his head carried away by a cannon-ball. As lie was nimbly mounting the third. " These fellows," says he, " make m.e exercise." His sagacity and hu- manity were auspicious in the disposal of his prisoners, who were five times his numbers : after they had laid down their arms the King returned them their colors, and presented their officers with their swords, marched them across the river, and sent them home. I have heard of the humane policy of a British general, who finding, after a battle, that his prisoners greatly exceed- ed his own troops in numbers, and not possessing the local faculties that favored the Swedish conqueror, to prevent any ill consequences from a situation so em- l>arra3sing, lie made every prisoner swallow a copious -quantity of jalap, and then ordered the v/aistband of his breeches to be cut : by this aperient and harmless poli- cy, he placed four men under the irresistible control of one. A a 290 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 20. The waterfalls are about an English mile from the town. At a distance, the trees, which hang over the val- ley through which the waters roll, were enveloped in mist. I should suppose these falls to be about three hundred feet wide, and their descent about seventeen. The weather at this time was delightful, resembling some of our finest days in May. In the evening we went to a play, performed by a strolling company of Ger- mans : the hero of the piece was a young English mer- chant decorated with a polar star on his left breast ; and another of the dramatis Persona was^ drunken lady. We left Narva at seven the next morning, and enter- ed the province of Livonia. The roads were excellent, and the country beautiful : our horses small, plump, and strong ; and above we were serenaded by -larks sing- ing in a cloudless sky. Our drivers wore hats covered with oil-skin, and woollen gloves ; and the German pipe began to smoke. The little Swede excited the wonder and admiration of every Livonian booi*, who had never before beheld such a vehicle. In the evening things be- gan to assume a less pleasing aspect : as we approached the lake Piepus, the roads became very sandy, and the country dreary. At the post-house at Kleinpringern, w^e saw the skins of several bears hanging up to dry, and conversed with a party of hunters, who were going in pursuit of that animal, with which, as well as with wolves, the woods on each side abound. Here let me recommend every traveller to take an additional number of horses to his carriage, otherwise he will experience the inconvenience which attended us before we reached Rennapungen, the next stage. To the little Swede we put two horses, to the barauche six ; all lean, miserable animals, wretchedly tackled, and in this trim we started at nine o'clock in the evening,' and, axeltree-deep in sand, we ploughed our way at the rate of two English miles an hour : at last our poor jaded cattle, panting and al- most breathless, after several preceding pauses, made a decisive stand in the depth of a dark forest, the silence of which was only interrupted by the distant howling of bears. Our drivers, after screaming in a very shrill Chap. 20.] NORTHERN SUMMER: 291 tone, as we wefe afterwards infornled, to keep these ani- mals off, dropped their heads upon the necks of their horses, and very composedly went to sleep : a comforta- ble situation for a set of impatient Englishmen ! Finding that the horses of the Utile Swede began to prick their ears after three quarters of an hour's stoppage, I and my companion awoke our postilion, and ordered him to pro- ceed, that we might send fresh horses for the other car- riage. To our surprise we jogged on tolerably well, reached Rennapungen in about four hours, and dispatch- ed fresh horses for our friends, who rejoined us at five o'clock in the morning. When I entered the inn at this place, two Russian Counts, and their suite, occupied all the beds ; so I mounted an old spinnet, and with a portmanteau for a pillow, and fatigue for opiate, went to. sleep, until the travellers, who started very early were gone, when I got into abed, which the body of a Count of the empire had just warmed. This circumstance reminded me of the answer of a chamber-maid, at an inn at Exeter, who, up-, on my requesting to have a comfortable bed, observed, " Indeed, Sir, you cannot have a better one than the one " I have secured for you ;" and, by way of recommenda- tion, added, " Lord B , who arrived from Lisbon " about ten days since, died in it two nights ago." The following day we passed through a country v/hich, no doubt, was a perfect Paradise in the estimation of the race of Bruins ; to whom I left its unenvied enjoyment, to sit dov/n to a comfortable dinner at Nonal, the next stage, hciving abundantly replenished our stock of pro- visions at Narva. After skirting a small portion of the Piepus lake, a vast space of water, eighty versts broad, and one hundred and sixty long, ive arrived at Dorpt, which stands upon a small river that communicates with the lake. The town is extensive, has severed good streets and handsome houses, and is celebrated for its universi- ty, in which there are twenty -four professors, and one hundred and forty students, one-third of whom are nc- ble. Upon the summit of a hill that commands the town, are the remains of a vast and ancient abbey, which 2^ NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap, 2a. was founded by the knights of the Teutonic Order, now repairing for the reception of the university library : the palace of the Grand Master occupied the spot where the fortifications are building. The Teutonic Order was es- tablished in the twelfth century, and declined in the fif- teenth. In a crusade against Saladin, for the recovery of the Holy Land, a great number of German volunteers, accompanied the Emperor Barbarossa : upon whose death his followers, who had distinguished themselves on that spot where, several centuries afterwards, it was destined that Sir Sidney Smith, with unexampled hero- ism, should plant the British standard before Acre, elect- ed fresh leaders, under whom they performed such feats of valor, that Henry, king of Jerusalem, the Patriarch, and other Princes, instituted an order of knighthood in their favor, and were ultimately placed under the pro- tection of the Virgin Mary : in honor of whom they rais- ed several magnificent structures at Marienborg, or the city of the Virgin Mary, near Dantzig. Afterwards growing rich, they elected a Grand Master, who was in- vested with sovereign prerogatives : by the bulls that were granted in their favor, they were represented as pro- fessing temperance and continence ; virtues which, no. doubt, were religiously observed by soldiers, and travel- led men of gallantry. The prison of Dorpt, in which a number of unfortu- nate creatures are immured, is a subterranean vault, damp, dark, narrow, and pregnant with disease and. misery. To be confined in it is, in general, something; worse than being sent to the scaffold ; for a lingering death is the usual fate of the wretch upon whom its gates are closed. Han way, in the name of justice and humani- ty, denounced this dungeon : to the present Emperor some recent representations have been made upon the subject ; they will not be made in vain to one who, glo- riously reversing the ordinary habits of beneficence, lis- tens with more fixed attention to the sounds of misery in proportion as they are distant and feeble. If a pebble be thrown into a standing pool, it will dis- turb its even surface from the centre to the extremities j Chap. 20.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 293 but if a stone be cast into the ocean, it creates but a|mo- nientary interruption, unfelt by the succeeding wave ; thus will a petty occurrence agitate the tranquillity of a small community, which would produce no sensation up- on expanded and active society. A trifle, not quite as light as air, a few days before our arrival, had rudely and unexpectedly shattered the peace and harmony which once reigned in the academic bowers of Dorpt. Professors were di'awn out in battle array, and Vengeance assumed the mask of Learning. Two professors* ladies had had a violent dispute at cards, and unfortunately they lived opposite to each oth- er : one of them, upon a sunny day, when all things look clear and bright, ordered her maid, a plump, brawny, Livonian girl, whilst her opponent's husband, a grave and I'everend gentleman, was looking out of his window, as a mark of scorn and contempt, to turn her back to- wards him in her chamber, and exhibit le derriere de sa /ierso7ine, sans voile. It was a Livonian thought : the social condition of the coimtry, the rash infirmity of hu- man nature, the summary projects of pique, all plead for the urbanity of the lady, v/ho only in this solitary in- stance forgot the dignity of her situation. All Dorpt was at first convulsed with laughter, save the parties concerned, and their immediate friends. The most eru- dite civilians were sent for ; and after long and sagacious consultations, a bill was filed against the mistress and her maid, to which regular answers were put in, most ably drawn up. Nothing short of penance and excommunica- tion were expected. No doubt, this most important suit has been long since determined ; and much do I regret, that ignorance of the decree prevents me from finishing the fragment of this curious event. L^pon turning the corner of a street, we beheld a sight at once shocking and humiliating to the pride of man, a vast pile of skulls and bones of the terrific and ambitious knights of the Teutonic Order. In breaking up some cemeteries, for erecting the foundation of a new university, these wretch- ed remains were removed, that once formed the plumed and glittering warrior, who, A a 2 294 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 20. f* with his beaver on. His cuisses on his thighs, gallanrly arm'd, Rose from the ground like feather'd Mercury ; And vaulted with such ease into his seat. As if an angel dropt down from the clouds." The students at the university seem desirous of retain- ing in their dress some traces of the martial founders of the town, by wearing great military boots and spurs, a common coat, and a leather helmet with an iron crest : a costume less appropriate could not easily have been im- agined. The peasant women of this province are very ordinary, and wear huge pewter breast-buckles uporfc their neck handkerchiefs. At Uttern, the first stage, v»^e found the governor of the province had ordered all the post-horses for himself and suite, and Avas expected every hour to return from a singular species of service. It appeared that an ukase had been passed considerably ameliorating the condition of the Livonian peasants, but the nature of it having been mistaken by three or four villages in the neighbor- hood of the post-house, they revolted. Two companies of infantry were marched against them, and after flog- ging half a dozen of the principal farmers, tranquillity was restored, and we met the soldiers returning. This spirit of disaffection detained us at this post-house all night for want of horses. At night a Russian, apparently of rank, of a power- ful and majestic figure, and elegant manners, arrived : after a very agreeable conversation at breakfast, he de- parted early in the morning for Moscow, to which city he gave us a cordial invitation : the stranger proved to be Count P Z -, who took the lead in the gloo- my catastrophe which occurred in the palace of Saint Michael. In ail the post-houses is a tablet, framed and glazed, called the taxe, on which is printed the settled price of provisions, horses, and carriages. Travelling still con- tinued cheap, at the rate of ten-pence English for eight horses for an English mile ; but it v/as painful to see the emaciated state of these poor anijn?.ls. The roads still Chap. 20.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 295 • continued dreadfully sandy ; we were seldom able to go above three versts an hour. The little Swede, who over- turned us very harmlessly in the sand, a little before we reached Woliemar, where we dined, still preserved her popularity ; and, as modest simplicity frequently tri- umphs over presuming splendor, she diverted all the at- tention of the natives from her shewy and handsome companion. Some English travellers, who followed and at length overtook us, became acquainted with all our movements from the impression which the moving won- der had excited. The post-drivers in Livonia, Courland, and throughout Germany, are called by every person Schwagers, or brothers-in-law. Iri the last stage to Ri- ga we overtook a long line of little carts, about as high as a wheel-barrow, filled with hay or poultry, attended by peasants dressed in great slouched hats and blue jack- ets, going to market : the suburbs are very extensive. The town is fortified, and is a place of great antiquity ; it is remarkable only for one thing, that there is nothing in it worthy of observation. The necessity of setting the washerwoman to work detained us here two days. It is necessary at this place to take a fresh coin : ac- cordingly we went to a money-changer's shop, of which there are several, where the man of money sat behind his counter, upon which were rouleaus of various coins, with whom we settled the matter premising that one du- cut was worth three rubles and sisity copecs, in the follow- ing manner : Four ortens, or Courland guldens, make one feinfer, Sixteen feinfers — __ — _ one marc, Forty marcs — — - — one ferdinger, Eight ferdingers — — . — one rix dollar, Two rix dollars and twelve ferdingers — one ducat. As we quitted the last gate at Riga, where we under- v;ent a tedious examination of passports, we crossed the' Duna, a river which penetrates a great \Aay into Poland, and supplies all these parts with the natural treasure of that country ; part of the bridge which is built of fir, 296 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 20. floats upon the water, and part rests upon sand in the shallows ; the whole is level and very long. A peasant driving by us with improper velocity, an officer ordered him to stop, and flogged him with a large thick whip. The country to Mittau, which is twenty -eight miles from Riga, is very luxuriant and gratifying. As this road is much travelled, we bargained with a man, who let out horses at Riga, to furnish us with six, which were excellent, and two skilful drivers, to carry us throughout to Memel. Although this part of ancient Poland, and the province of Livonia, constitute the gran- ary of the north, we frequently found the bread intolera- ble ; it seemed as if to two pounds of rye, one pound of sand had been added. We reached Mittau, the capital of Courland, in the evening ; the first object that an- nounced the town was the vast, inelegant, neglected pal- ace of the late sovereigns of Courland, built of brick, stuccoed white, standing up>on a bleak eminence, un- gracedby a single shrub or tree. A great part of this ponderous pile was some years since burned down ; a Dutch officer obtained a contract for rebuilding it ; and having got drunk everyday upon the profits of his coarse and clumsy ignorance, died, leaving behind him the whole of the southern side of this building as his appro- priate monument. Courland has been for some years incorporated with Russia, a junction which was mana- ged by force and finesse-. The late Empress insidiously excited a dispute between the Courlanders and Livoni- ans, respecting a canal which was to transport the mer- chandize of Courland into Livonia ; at which the Cour- landers revolted, and sought the protection of Catherine : upon which she sent for the reigning Duke, to consult with him at Petersburg ; scarcely had he passed the bridge of Mittau before the nobility held a meeting, and determined to put the country under the care of Cather- ine. At this assembly some disputes arose, and swords were draAvn, but the presence of the Russian general, Pahlen, instantly decided the matter : the poor Duke heard of the revolution at Petersburg. Mittau is a long, straggling, ill-built town, and most wretchedly paved. €hap. 20.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 29T On the evening of our arrival there was a great fair^ an^ at night, about a mile from the town, some excellent fire-works took place, which to enable them more dis- tinctly to see, two old ladies, who stood next to me on the bridge, brought out thciv lanihorns. At several of the inns we saw people regaling themselves with beer soup^ a great dainty in this country and in many parts of Ger- many ; it is composed of beer, yolks of eggs, wheat and sugar, boiled together. We departed from Mittau, the next morning, and passed through the most enchanting forest scenery, composed of pines, aspins, oak, nut-trees^ and larch ; at some distance we saw a wolf cross the road. Upon quitting the luxuriant fields, and rich and cheerful peasantry, of the ci-devant duchy of Courland,. a number of wooden cottages with high sloping roofs, and rows of crosses, about fifteen feet high, with large wooden crucifixes affixed to them, raised on the road side, and peasants with fur caps and short pelisses, an- nounced that we were in that part of Poland which fell to the Russians in the last partition ; a mere slip of land, not broader than ten English miles. As we did not penetrate into that interesting country, I had not a per-- sonal opportunity of ascertaining whether the Poles, now that the first shock of separation and national extinction is over, are more happy than they were before their final dismemberment. However, I was assured by a very intelligent friend, who had recently returned from a tour through the heart of Poland, that the condition of the people, most unjustifiable as the means employed were, is considerably ameliorated : an assurance which may the more readily be believed, when it is considered that, as a nation, their constitution was radically mischievous, and that their political atmosphere, was never free from storm and convulsion. It has been said, that the great patriot, and last defender of Poland, has declared, since her fate has been decided, that it was better for his coun- try to be thus severed, and placed under the various pro- tections of other powerful governments, than to remain an eternal prey to all the honors of an elective mon- archy, baronial tyranny, and intestine dissension. At 298 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 20. Polangen, celebrated for the amber found in its neigh- borhood, we reached the barrier of the Russian empire ; a Cossac of the Don, who stood at a circular sentry-box, by the side of a stand of perpendicular spears, let slip the chain, the bar arose, and we dropped into a deep road of neutral sand.) and at the distance of about an English mile and a half stopped to contemplate two old weather- beaten posts of demarkation, surmounted with the eagles of Prussia and Russia, badly painted, where, after we had, in mirth, indulged ourselves in standing at the same time in both countries, we placed ourselves under the wing of the Prussian eagle, and arrived to a late dinner at Memel. Here we found an excellent inn. To our landlady one of the gentlemen said, " I wish to change some mo- " ney, and should like to speak to your husband." " If " you do, you had better go to the church-yard," said his relic, who was herself apparently dying of a dropsy, Me- mel is a large commercial town, lying on the shores of the Baltic, most wretchedly paved, and for ever covered with mud ; yet the ladies figured away in nankeen shoes and silk stockings, and displayed many a well-turned an- kle. In the citadel, w^hich commands an agreeable view of the town, we sav/ the prisons, which appeared to be very wretched. The men, and shocking to tell, the wo- men also, were secured by irons fastened between the knee and calf of either leg. Upon my remonstrating v.'ith the gaoler, v/ho spoke a little English, against the unnecessary cruelty, and even indecency, of treating his female prisoners in this manner, he morosely observed, *'• that he had more to apprehend from the women than " the men : that the former were at the bottom of all " mischief, and therefore ought to be ever more guarded " against." We waited at Memel two days, in hourly expectation of the wind changing, that we might proceed to Koning- berg by water, instead of wading over a tract of moun- tainous sand, eighty English miles long, and not more than three in breadth in its broadest part, called the Cu- riche Haff, that runs up within half a mile of Memel, Ghap. 20.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 299 and divides the Baltic from an immense space of water which flows within one stage of Koningberg. During this period, I every day attended the parade and drills, and was shocked at the inhuman blows which upon every petty occasion, assailed the backs of the soldiers, not from a light supple cane, but a heavy stick, making eve- ry blow resound. My blood boiled in my veins, to see a little deformed bantam officer, covered with, almost extinguished by, a huge cocked hat, inflicting these dis- graceful strokes, that, savagely as they were administer- ed, cut deeper into the spirit than the flesh, upon a portly respectable soldier for some trivial mistake. I saw no such severity in Russia, where some of the finest troops in the world may be seen. I observed, not only here but in other parts of Prussia, that every soldier is pro- vided with a sword. The river which runs up to the town from the Baltic, was crowded with vessels ; the market-boats were filled with butter, pumkins, red on- ions, and Baltic fish in wells. 300 irO:RTHERN SUMMEE. [Chap.21. CHAPTER XXI. Desolate scene — English sailor wrecked — Konntngherg"-' JBeaiitij in boots— 'Friissian roads — The celebrated ruina of Mari^nbourg — Da7itzig — Coquetry in a box — Inhos- pitalitij — J German Jew—^Tht little grocer-^Dutch w- car of Braij'-^Verses to a pretty Dantzicker. AS the wind shewed no disposition to change in our favor, we embarked with our horses and carriages^ in the feny-boats, and proceeded on the Curiche Half: by keeping the right wheels as much as we could in the Baltic, which frequently sun'ounded us, we arrived at the first post-house, which lay in the centre of mountains of sand. Here we learned that some preceding travellers had carried away all the horses, and accordingly our hos- tess recommended us to embark with our vehicles in a boat which is kept for such emergences, and proceed by the lake to the next stage ; which advice we accepted, and v/ere indebted to a ponderous fat young lady belong- ing to the post-house, who waded into the water, and, turning her back towards us, shoved us off" from the beech. We set sail with a favorable light breeze, which died away after we had proceeded about seven English miles, when we put into a creek before a few little wretch- ed fishing huts, under the roof of which with cocks, hens, ducks, pigs, and dogs, we passed an uncomfortable night : just as we were lying down an English sailor en- tered the room, with a face a little grave, but not dejected, to see, as he said, some of his countrymen, " hoping no " offence :" the poor fellow, we found, had been wrecked a few nights before, on the Baltic side of this inhospita- ble region. After hearing his tale and making a little collection for him, we resigned ourselves to as much sleep as is allotted to those who are destined to be attack- ed by battalions of fleas. In the morning we could ob- tain no post-horses, the wind was against us, and at least eight English miles lay between us and the post-house. €hai'.21.] northern SUMMER. 301 Hoping for some fortunate change, I resolved to look about me, and after considerable fatigue, ascended one of those vast sandy summits which characterize this cheer- less part of the globe : from the top, on one side, lay the Baltic, and on its beach the cordless masts and hull of a wreck, high and dry ; on the other, the lake which had borne us thus far, and before and behind a line of moun- tains of sand, many of them I should suppose to be a hundred feet high, over whose sparkling surface the eye cannot wander for two minutes together without expe- riencing the same sensations of pain as are felt upon con- templating snovf : below, in a bladeless valley, stood two wretched horses, almost skeletons, scarcely making any shadow in the sun : the natives of tliis sandy desert, we were afterwards informed by a respectable authority, eat live eels dipped in salt, which they devour as they writhe with anguish round their hands. The whole of this hideous vvaste looked like the region of famine. A shift of wind springing up, we ventured once more «pon the lake ; and after a little fair sailing, we were driven, in our little open boat, v/here there was scarcely room for the helmsman to steer, nearly out of. sight of land ; the wind freshened to a gale, and the rain fell heavily : at last v/hen v/e had renounced all sanguine expectations of ever touching land agiin, a favorable breeze sprung up, and about ten o'clock at night we reached the quay of the post-house called Nidden, and after supping, were shewn into a large gloomy room to our cribs, where we were surrounded by at least four- teen sleeping damsels, lying with their clothes on, in filth and coarseness, fit to be the inamoratas of the coal- heavers of London. The next morning, as we w^ere preparing to start we were presented with an enormous bill, which made us feel like the Clown in As You Like It, when he exclaims, " It strikes a man more dead than " a great reckoning in a little room.." This im.position, after much altercation, w^e successfully resisted. As we approached Koningberg the country assumed a more agreeable aspect ; at the inns we found better accommodations, andm.et with what tousv/asa great B b 302 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 21, treat, excellent potatoes, a vegetable which has only been introduced into the north within these twenty years. It is scarcely possible to conceive the dreadful state of the roads during the last stage from Mulsen : it was a suc- cession of pits. On the tenth of October we saw tbe spires of Koningberg, and after passing the place of exe- cution, where three posts were standing, surmounted with wheels, upon which malefactors are exposed, we entered the ancient capital of Prussia Proper : as we were proceeding to the Ditchen Hause, a noble hotel, we passed a vast antique and gloomy pile of red brick ; one of my companions pronounced it to be either the gaol or the palace ; it proved to be the latter, and to be inhabited by the governor : in the church adjoining, Frederick the Great was crowned. The city was first founded in 1255 ; is extensive, having fourteen parishes ; the streets are narrow, terribly paved, and have no foot- path ; almost every woman I saw was handsome, and wore great thick boots, and a black ribbon tied in a bow in the front of their caps. We were obliged to stay here two days, on account of the wheels of the Utile Swede ha\T.ng presented a strong disposition to renounce a circle for a square. The parade exhibited three fine regiments : previous to their forming the line we were again shocked with several instances of the severity of Prussian drilling. The King of Prussia scarcely ever visits this city. The trade is very considerable : one thousand vessels sailed last year into its ports. The river Pregel, which is here rather shallow, was crowded with market boats, filled with fish, butter, bread, plumbs, and Bergamot pears. I was present at a marriage cere- mony in one of the reformed Catholic churches, which was very simple : the priest joined the hands^ of the couple, and addressed them extemporaneously with con- siderable eloquence, as it was explained to me, invoking them to constancy, to love and cherish each other. The young bride and bridegroom seemed much affected, and shed many tears. Upon my return to the inn, where it was again my Mg) in common with the rest of the party, to sleep ux Chap. 21.1 NORTHERN SUMMER. 303 the ball-room, I found a little gentleman \vith a neat bob- wig, a narrow rim of a beard, just sufficient with his features to denote that he was a member of tlie syna- gogue ; the object of his visit was to change our money for a new currency, as under : Twenty -four groschen, or ninety kleine, or three gulder, or thirty ditchen, are equal to - - one dollar. Three dollars and four groschen - - one ducat. The price of posting is ten groschen per horse, per on6 German mile, or four English miles and a half. A courier ha.ving arrived to secure about a hundred post-horses for the new married couple, the Grand Duchess of Russia and the Prince of Saxe Weimar and suite, who were on their route from Russia to Weimar, we lost not a minute to put ourselves in motion ; and the little Swede ^ who began now to be much despised, beinp* completely repaired, we reached Frauemborg the next evening, where we stopped the carriage at the foot of an almost perpendicular hill, crowned with a vast extensive edifice of red brick, including a monastery and a Catholic church: it was dusk as I ascended this height, from which there was a fine view of the luxuriant country through which we had passed, and immediately below us a wide-spreading beach and the sea. One of the monks conducted us to the church, which is very large, and the awfulness of the scene v/as increased by the mys- terious gloom which pervaded every part of this massy pile : we had only time to see the tomb of Copernicus, whose remains, we were assured, repose under a plain stone slab which was shewn to us upon the pavement. At the last stage, to my great regret, a majority of the party resolved upon seeing Dantzig. It is impossible for an Englishman who has never left his own country, to form any notion of the Prussian roads in general, particularly of that which lay before us to Elbing : I cannot say that we moved by land or by water, but in a skilful mixture of both, through which we evaded, axletree-deep, over trees laid across each other at 304 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 21. tinequal distances. To complain would be useless ; moreover, the inost terrible of joltings, every minute threatening a general dislocation, would hazard the repining tongue being severed by the teeth. We reached Elbing to breakfast : a very neat town, not unlike a swallow's nest, which is within very comfor- table, and without nothing but sticks and mud. Conside- rable commerce is carried on, and the appearance of the people is respectable, prosperous, and happy. The fruit and vegetable sellers carry their articles in little pails, suspended at the ends of a curved stick, like the milk Y/omen of London. The houses are very singular ; but, as they resemble those of Dantzig, one description will be sufficient. The post from Elbing to Marienbourg is nineteen English miles, a tremendous long stage ; indeed, an au- tumnal day's journey upon such roads, which were pre- cisely the same as those we had already passed, except that we had the variety of an endless row of shabby som- bre willow pollards. Our poor horses halted several times, when they had a copious libation of water, but noth- ing else. The German postilions seem to think with Dr. Sangrado, that nothing is so nourishing as water ; and, what is more surprizing, the horses seem to think so too. I have seen a German horse drink three large pails full, as fast as his driver could supply him. To - cheer our postilions, we gave them occasionally some snaps, or glasses of excellent brandy, that we had vvith us, which the fellows drank ; and, with a smile, seemed ready v,ith Caliban to exclaim : " That's a brave god, and bears celestial liquor." In the evening we reached Marienbourg, a small tOM'n once celebrated for being the principal residence of the Kni^'hts of the Teutonic Order, as I have before mentioned, who raised a castle, and several other struc- tures, in a style of unrivalled gothic magnificence, in the twelfth century. To these hallowed remains, so treas- tirable to the reflecting mind, Frederick the Greatj al- Chap. 21.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 5G5 though a professed admirer of antiquities and of art, paid no veneration. The hoary pile has been beaten down, to furnish materials for buildidg Prussian bar- racks, hospitals, and magazines, and scarcely any vestige is left of this pride of ages but the chapel : in the v^^in- dow of which, is a colossal wooden Virgin but little de- faced ; and, by her size and shape, entitled to associate with Gog and Magog, in the Guildhall of London. We w^P€ -thirteen hours in reaching Dantzig from Ma- rienbo^'g, a distance of thirty English miles, through a country abounding with corn-fields, in one of which we counted nine bustards, each of them larger than a turkey. After passing several monasteries, beautifully embosom- ed in trees, and the suburbs of Dantzig, extending near- ly two English miles, we reached the draw -bridge, and entered the capital of Pomerelia in the evening ; and, at the Hotel de Lion Blanc-, which was very crowded at the time of our arrival, we were very glad to resume our old quarters, to which we appeared to have a travelling pre- scriptive right, a vast bail and card room. Nothing can exceed the fantastic appearance of the houses, which are very lofty, and have vast sloping roofs, the fronts of which are surmounted with lions, angels, sons, griffins. Sec. Th« whidov/s are very large and square ; and the outsides of these edifices are generally painted with brown or green colors, with great softness and variety : in the streets, which are wretchedly paved, and narrow, and, if the atmosphere be damp, covered ankie-deep with mud, are several noble chesnut and wal- nut trees. The Rathhaus, or Hotel de Ville, is an ele- gant spiral structure of stone, with a variety of elaborate decorations. The prison is w^ell arranged : on one side are felons ; and, on the other, the house of correction, where the women are separated from the men. The fe- raiale prisoners, many of whom were servants, sent by their masters or mistresses for misbehavior, to receive the discipline of the house, were employed in carding and spinning, and arc obliged to produce, at the end of the week, a certain quantity of work ; or, in default, re- ceive a whipping : the prisoners looked healthy and clean. B b 2 306 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 2K The Lutheran church is a noble structure : in one of the towers is a gloomy well, into which ceitf«in offenders against the catholic faith, many years since, used to be let down, and left to perish : the stirrups and chains by which they descended were shewn to us. The Bourse is most whimsically decorated with a marble statue of Augustus III., king of Poland, models of ships, heavy carvings in wood, and great dingy pictures. The Vistu- la, the largest and longest river in Poland, after spring- ing from mount Crapach, on the confines of Silesia, and crossing Poland and Prussia, washes the walls of Dant- zig, and falls into the Baltic. Upon this river a stranger cannot fail being struck with the singular appearance of the Polish grain-boats, in shape resembling a canoe, ma- ny of which are eighty feet long, by fourteen broad, without any deck, and have a single elastic mast, taper- ing to the top, fifty, and even sixty, feet high, upon which they fasten a small light sail that is capable of be^ ing raised, or depressed, so as to catch the wind, above the undulating heights of the shores of the Vistula. We saw several store-houses of salt : the only sak merchant in the Prussian dominions is the King, who has the mo- nopoly. The exportations of corn from this city are amazing ; and it may justly be considered as the grain depot of Europe. The exportation of grain, for the preceding year, amounted to thirty-four thousand one hundred and forty -nine lasts ; a last being equal to eigh- ty-four Winchester bushels : that of the year before to fifty -two thousand four hundred and sixteen. The peo- ple appear to be at length reconciled to the loss of their hanseatic sovereignty, and, having no remedy, subm-it themselves "without repining to the Prussian sceptre. Mirabeau, one of the most brilliant orators of lus age, said, " that the Dantzickers, who, according to appear- " ances, supposed kings were hobgoblins, were so en- " raptured to meet with one who did not tat their chil- « dren, that in the excess ©f their enthusiasm, they were " willing to put themselves, witliout restrednt under the " Prussian government.'* Chap. 21.] NORTHERN SUMMER, 307 On a Sunday we visited the theatre, a handsome ro* tunda, wher*; we saw, the great favorite of the Germans, the tragedy of Mary Queen of Scots, between whom, and the sanguinary Elizabeth, the author effected an in- terview : there was no after-piece as usual. The form of the theatre before the curtain, was three parts of a circle ; and the scenery, dresses, and decorations, were all handsoine. The grand drop scene, used instead of a curtain, was sprinkled with gigantic heads, and had a very strange and whimsical appearance. Nothing could exceed the polite and profound attention paid to the bu- siness of the stage : if any one of the audience only whispered rather loudly, all eyes were turned towards him, and a buz of general disapprobation made him si- lent. In the box, next to that in which I sat, was a lady of fashion, remarkably deformed ; in age, I should sup- pose, touching the frontier of desperation, dressed in a white robe, and a garland of artificial flowers ; to attract more notice, she was knitting a rich silk purse : the whole of the party exchanged frequent glances with her ; but, alas 1 had she known what was passing between the eye ancj the mind, our homage would not have proved very acceptable. In Dantzig, every thing partakes of that petty spirit which is^ too often engendered by traffic amongst small communities of mercantile men. Heaven protect the being who visits this city without a commercial com- mission 1 As we were walking by the Bourse, we request- ed a German Jew, who had the appearance of a gentle- man, to shew us the way to a commercial house to get some money exchanged ; upon which he offered to ac- company us. " We cannot. Sir, think of troubling you : " if you will only direct us, it will be suflicient,'* said my German friend and companion. " Oh ! Gentlemen," replied the descendant of Abraham, " I beg you will not " mention it ; you will of course pay me for my trouble " and I shall be happy to attend you." Having parted with my friend, who proceeded to Ber- lin, I went to Fare Wasser, with a view of embarking for Copenhagen, which would have considerably curtail 308 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 21. ed my journey to Husum ; biit the wind being contrary, and blowing a hurricane, mid several English captains, who were there, assuring me that it frequently continu- ed so for three weeks and a month together, after spend- ing three cheerless days in hopes that a change might take place, I returned to Dantzig, where, without know- ing a human being, for this city was not originally in- cluded in our route, I presented myself at the counting- house of an elderly Englishman, a denizen of Dantzig, and, in the presence of a host of clerks, detaled my sto- ry, and requested that he would be so oblig^ing as to per- mit one of thern, who spoke English, to attend me a few minutes to the post-house, that I might endeavor to overtake my friends. The hoary merchant, with an immoveable countenance, coldly looked at me, and brief- ly replied, " It is our post day ;'* and, v^'ithout saying another v/ord, returned to his accompts. It reminded me of Gadshiil and the Carrier, in the first part of Hen- ry the Fourth : *' Gad. I pray thee, lend me ihy Untern, to see my gelding in the stable. *' Car. Lend thee my lantern, quotha ! Marry, I'll see thee hanged first." This Englishman had grown old in the traffic of Dant- zig, and the generous spirit of his country had been in- durated into the selfishness of accumulation. The Hale Siucde Vt^as now in the lowest state ' of depre- ciation : the post-m.aster thought her unworthy of being- drawn by a Prussian prancer, and absolutely refused to put a horse into the shafts ; at the same time he offered me a ducat that is nine shillings and sixpence, for her. I would have set fire to iier, sooner than that he should have had her. The god of gold seemed to have made this spot his favorite temple, to have constituted a bag of corn his chosen altar, and to have recorded his oracles in a ledger : the ramparts of the town seem preserved only to repel hospitaliliy and generosity. The Dan tzickers keep a cash account of civilities, and never indulge in festivity without resorting to calculation. A calculating coun- Chap. 21.] NORTHERN SUMMER. S09 tenance under a little bob-^Yig, shining brushed cocked- hat that has seen good service, a brown coat, waistcoat and breeches of the same color, worsted stockings, a pair of shining little silver buckles, and an ivory-headed cane, denote the thrifty Dantzicker : the very beggar in the streets seems to expect a double proportion of bounty for his misfortune and for^the trouble of asking relief. As I was purchasing some articles at a grocer's for my journey, his wife held a little child in her arms, not old enougli to speak, to whom I gave a pear, and presently after I presented him with a gulden, a little coin, which lie griped, apparently with the same instinct that would induce a young bear to rifle a honey jar, and dropped the fruit. The little grocer seemed much pleased with his son's preference ; and, in German, as well as I could un- derstand him, exclaimed, " that he would make a brave " tradesman." In this place, where there were so many of my own countrymen settled, accident led me to the civilities of a polite and amiable young JDutchman, who had not staid long enough in Dantzig to lose every liberal sentiment. " How strange," said I, " that amongst the residents of " this place you alone should wish to serve an unfortu- '•'• nate solitary Englishman ; an-A that, too, whilst our ^' respective countries are at war i" "It is true, our coun- '' tries are at war," said he, in good English ; " but Avhat " is that to us ? every man tvhom I can sei^'e is my coun- *^ try man J'* Through the medium of this gentleman, I hired a man to go with me all the way to Berlin (who, on such occasions, is called a fuhrmrai), instead of going post, to avoid as much as possible the galling pressure of Prus- sian imposition. To the friendly Dutchman I sold the little Swede for ten ducats, Y\^hich he vowed he would brush up and paint, and drive with into the country. On the day preceding my departure, my Dutch friend rela- ted the following story. Being at church one Sunday, at Alkmaar, when that town v/as in tlie possession of the English forces, previous to the sermon the preacher prayed very fervently for the long life of his Majesty 310 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 2 i. George III., and the prosperity of England. Scarcely- had he finished this pious compliment, before an inha- bitant entered, and announced that the English forces were retiring, and that the French were about to resume the protection of the place : upon hearing which, this Dutch Vicar of Bray explained to his audience, that the supplication v/hich they had just lieard was coerced ; but that now, being able to follow the spontaneous emotions of his own heart, he begged them to unite with him in offering up a prayer to the throne of grace, to bless and preserve General Brune and the French armies 1 Before I met with the courteous Dutchman, the only consolation which I found, was in sitting in the same room with the young Maitresse d' hotel de Lion Blanc^ where, without knowing each other's language, we con- trived to pass away the hours not unpleasantly. The beauty and sprightliness of this young woman produced ihe following yew d' esprit : The sign of the house should be chang'd, I'll be sworn, Where enchanted we find so much beauty and grace i Then quick from the door let the lix)n be torn, And an angel expand her white wings in his place- The young Dutchman translated it into German, an€ presented it to the fair one. €«AP.22.1 NORTHERN SUMMER/ 3U CHAPTER XXIL Reflections ufion a stuhhuaggo?i— -Prussian villages — J[£l' itary manoeuvres — Irish rebel— ^Berlin'— *Linden lualk^—* T'oleration — Prussian dinner— ^Cheap, living'— >The pa- lace — Cadet corps, THE traveller going to Germany will be under the necessity of changing his money as under : Twenty-four good, or ninety Prussian groschen, arc equal to one dollar, or three Prussian guilders. N. B. Six Prussian dollars are equal to one pound En- glish. When the stuhlwaggon, that was to carry me to Ber- lin, a distance of upwards of three hundred English miles, in the stipulated time of eight days, drove up to the door, I observed that it had no springs, consequently I could not be detained on the road by their breaking ; that I should be nearly jolted to death, but that would be an admirable substitute for want of exercise ; that I should not be able to sleep by day, consequently I should sleep the better by night ; that my driver could not speak English, nor I three words of German, ergo^ we should associate like a couple of dumb waiters, and my reflections, if chance any should arise, would not be shaken. Having settled all these points in m.y mind, with infinite pleasure I passed the draw -bridge of this seat of extortion and inhospitaiity, and as soon as Ave had cleared the suburbs and dropped into a deep sandy road, my heavy unimpassioned driver took from his waistcoat pocket a piece of dry fungus, and holding it under a flint, with a small steel struck a light, kindled his pipe, and was soon lost in smoke, and.a happy vacuity of thought. Although the red leavesjof retiring autumn were falling in showers from the trees, the country appeared very picturesque and rich. After we passed the town and abbey of Oliva, the latter celebrated for containing in S13 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 22^ one of its chambers the table on which the treaty of peace was sit^ned betwecii the crowned heads of Germany, Poland, and Sweden, called the Trer-ty of Oliva, my driver turned into a bye road, the inequaiides of which I can compi.re to nothing but those of a chiirch-yard, thronged with graves ; we v/ere several limes obliged to alight, in order to support the ciirriage on one side whilst it crawled along the edge of a miry bank. The uncertainty of a German mile never fails to puzzle a traveller : there is a long and a short one ; the former is as indefinite as a Yorkshire mile, which I believe is from steeple to steeple, som.etimes it means five, six, and seven English miles, the latter I have already ex- plained. On the road every Prussian was at once equipped for his bed and for a ball, by having his head adorned with a prodigious cocked hat, and a night-cap under it. The Prussian farm-houses were either tiled or very neatly thatched : some of them were built of brick, and others cf a light brown clay, but the favorite color is thiit of vivid Hesh, were remt^rkably neat ; the ground exhibit- ed the marks of high cultivation, and the farmers looked rich and respectable, and perfectly English. Although the scii is sandy, yet from its fineness it is capable of bearing all sorts of vegetables^-for the kitchen : out of four grains of rye sown, the tillers calculate that one will rise. By the time I reached Stolpe, I had formed a little budget of current German expressions, which, at the inn in that town, enabled me to understand a man- who said to me, " Pray sir, are you a Frenchman ?" *^ No, I am an Englishman." " x\h, sir, so much the " better for you, and so much the more agreeable to me," said he. I wondered to hear such language from Prus- sian lips : but I afterwards found the man who address- ed me was a Dutchman. The road to Berlin has, in one respect, a great advan- tage, there is a constant and rapid succession of towns and villages, but no scattered cottages : upon every ac- clivity the traveller commands six or seven spires rising from little clumps of trees, and clusters of houses the ^HAP/22.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 313 Toad to each of these small communities for about a quarter of a mile is paved with large rough angular stones, which constitute the pride of the parish, and are Drought from a great distance, and with considerable cost. Upon my wishing them at the devil one day, "^vhich I never failed to do as often as I had to contend with them, my driver turned round and said, " Do not ^' wish them there : do you know that each of those ^^Jine stones cost four good groschen ?" In Prussia, robberies very seldom happen : the Prus- sians only pilfer in the shape of extortion, ** And for a pistol they present a bill." Having seen many Englishmen travel through their country with a moveable arsenal of arms in their car- riages, united to the received opinion that suicide pre- vails more in England than in any other country, they conclude that the preparation is not against robbers, but to furnish their owner with a choice of deaths, if his ennui is not dissipated by roving. My adventures upon the road were few, and not wor- thy of relation, except that my driver was very fond of quitting the main road for every short cut, in which we were frequently obliged, carriage and all, to spring as "well as we could over a small ditch ; having repeatedly warned him that we should be overturned, at last my prediction was verified, the wheels were uppermost, and we lay sprawling in the road : as soon, as I could look around me I found the diiver in great agony, and con- cluded that he had at least shattered a rib or a leg : but the misfortune was a much greater one in his estimation, he had broken his pipe, ^Yhich lay in the road by the side of scattered provisions and trunks ; he lamented his loss bitterly, and frequently, as we were replacing matters, apostrophized the remains of this natural and inestima- ble source of German comfort. We frequently passed through the most beautiful avenues of majestic oak, stately lindens, and graceful beech and birch trees. I found the inns very poor : at Pinnow I slept upon a bed C c 314 NORTHERN SUIMMER. [Chap.SS^ of straw. In the best room are generally the depot of the Sunday gowns, the best crockery, two or th.'ee filthy straw beds, a stove of black Dutch tiles, one or two corn chests, a chair with a broken back, jars of butter : adjoin- ing there is generally a room for the daughter or upper servant of the host, who reclines her sv.eet person upon a bed placed upon a corn-bin, and surrounded by a winter stock of potatoes. If the traveller fasten the door of his bed-room he will be under the necessity of rising to open it, twenty times after he is, in bed, that the master or mistress of the house may have access to something or another which is deposited in his chamber. The winter was now rapidly setting in, and in every post-house the stoves were warmed : before one of then! some peasant children v*'ere reposing upon forms, and their mother standing with her back against it, fast asleep. The peasants erect their ovens, which are made of clay, about seven feet high in the shape of a dome, at the extremity of their orchards, removed as far as pos- sible from any thatch. All the roads and bye-lanes in Prussia are abundantly supplied with legible and intelli- gible directing posts, representing a negro's head, with large white eyes, and a pig tail, whilst two long stiff arms point the wanderer on his way. The want of this species of attention to travellers in England is severely felt. It is scarcely necessary for me to observe that the universal language of Prussia is German. The garrison towns are numerous, at which the tra- Teller is obliged to furnish the officer of the guard v.ith his name, condition, and motive of travelling. The sol- diers looked to great advantage ; they have a favorite, and much admired manoeuvre, of forming hollow squares by sections, which at present is confined to the Prussian service ; and by means of a hollow curve, at the bottom of the barrel of the Prussian musket, leading into the pan, through a large touch-hole, no priming is necessary, or rather tiie loading primes, by which several motions- are saved. With this improvement, and a hccvy ram- rod, an expert Prussian soldier, even with Prussian pow- der, far inferor to that of England, can load and fire twelve times in one minute. A soldier who had not Ghap. 22.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 315 long been enlisted, performed these motions in my pre- sence ten times in that period by my watch. At Konigberg, as I was sitting down to dinner, a port- ly soldier, in the Prussian uniform, opened the door, and addressed me in English. With much address and respect, under the venial pretence of my not having written my name legibly at the barrier, he introduced himself to mie, and enabled me very soon to discover tiiat he was one of those infatuated Irishmen, who hav- ing incurred the displeasure of the British government, had been plucked from a station of respectability, and the bosom of a beloved family, exiled from his country, and doomed to wear the habit, and endure the discipline of a Prussian soldier for ten wretched years, five of which he had already survived. The poor fellow acknov/ledged the fatal delusion which had thus torn him from all that Was )deear to him, and reduced him to the humiliation of gladly receiving a dollar from a stranger. Between Gruneberg and Freyenwalde I passed the Oder, which flows to the walls of Olmutz, rendered em- inently familiar to the memory by the cruel captivity of La Fayette, and the spirit of British generosity which restored him and his lovely Marchioness to light and liberty. Upon our leaving Freyenwalde, we ploughed our way through the dark forests and trackless sands oi Branden- bourg, the latter of which FredeHc the Great highly valued as a national barrier, capable of impeding and embarrassing an approaching enemy. Of their depth and dreariness no one can judge, but those who have wa- ded through them : we quitted them with great joy to roll merrily along over a noble new royal road, of alDout ten English miles in length, lined with sapling lindens ; and, early on the eighth day from my leaving Dantzig^, I passed the gate of the v\^all which surrounds Berlin, and with forty-one ducats discharged my companion at the Hotel de Russie. Having refreshed myself, I sallied into the Linden Walk, which is very broad, is formed of triple rov/s of the graceful and umbrageous tree from which it receives 316 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 22 its name, and is situated in the centre of the street,, having carriage roads on each side, from whi<>h it is pro- tected by a handsome line of granite posts connected by- bars of iron, and illuminated at night by large re- flecting lamps, suspended over the centre by cords, stretched from corresponding supporters of wrought iron : its length is about an English mile, and presents^ at one end the rich portico of the marble opera-house and the palace, and at the other the celebrated Branden- bourg gate, designed by Monsieur Langhans from the Propylium of Athens, and raised in 1780. This superb monument of tasteful architecture is a stone colonnade,, of a light reddish-yellow color, composed of twelve grand fluted Corinthian colunms, forty-four feet high, and five feet seven inches in diameter, six on each side, leaving a space for the gates to fold between, presenting five colossal portals, through which the park is se^ in fine perspective. The wings composing the custom and guard houses are adorned with eighteen lesser columns,, twenty -nine feet high and three feet in diameter : the whole is crowned by colossal figures of the Angel of Peace driving fou^r horses abreast in a triumphal car, be- low which are ricJi basso-relievos. This most elegant structure, and the Walk of Lindens, are unique, and would abundantly repay any traveller for the fatigues of ^.n eight days'" journey to behold them. In the walk, although the weather was very cold, several ladies were promenading without caps or bonnets, and others were riding astride on horseback, according to the fashion of the country, in a long riding habit, pantaloons, and half- boots. In the street scarcely any other objects were to be seen, than *' the soldier and his sword.** Upon ascending the gallery of the superb dome of the institution of the poor, in the grand market place, I commanded the wall of the city, the dimensions of which are small, I should not think larger than those of Bath ; but having been the result of one design, and in Chap. 52.] NORTHERN SUMMER. SVr a great measure built in one reign, it has the advantage of being regular. The river Spree runs through it, and is adorned by some handsome stone bridges. The streets are spacious, and, to the surprise of a stranger, are well paved for carriages and pedestrians, although nature has refused to furnish the country with a single stone : this denial has been supplied by the policy of Frederick the Great, who made all the vessels that came up the Elbe, the Hawel, or the Spree, take on board at Magdeburg a certain quantity of freestone, and disembark it at Berlin gratis. The houses are generally built of brick stucco- ed, but some are of stone, in the Italian style of archi- tecture. The palace of Prince Henry, the brother of Frederick the Great, lately deceased, is built of stone ; but, for want of ornament, possesses but little attraction for the eye : the royal palace is an enormous square pile of the same materials, whose massy and gloomy walls the reigning sovereign has wisely resigned to his court- iers, for a small plain mansion, opposite the common foundery. Mon-bijou, the residence of the Queen Dow- ager, is a palace, or rather a long gallery, nearly the whole being upon the ground floor, situated on the side of the river Spree, embosomed in a wood and gardens. The Rotunda, or Catholic church, partly designed by Cardinal Alberoni, is a noble edifice, the grand altar of which was made at Rome, and is celebrated for its beau- ty. Soon after Frederick the Great ascended the throne, he conceived the sublime idea of building a vast Panthe- on, in which every description of devotion might, at an allotted time, find its altar. Policy, if not genuine char- ity, induced that sagacious prince to think that tolerance was necessary to the interest as well as the dignity of a nation ; and he was desirous of not only seeing his sub- jects and foreigners worship their God in their way, but that, like brothers, they should prostrate themselves be- fore him in the same temple. On account of the state of the treasury, Frederick was successfully advised to drop this benign plan, and it was never afterv/ards resum- ed. The generality of the Prussians are Calviniata. C c 2 318 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 22, In the evening after my arrival I went to 'New Thea- tre, a superb building, on the entablature of which the following elegant inscription appeared in German, " Whilst we sjnile we mend the manners." All the front of the inside was occupied by the royal box, formed into a saloon, from the centre of the ceiling of which a rich lustre descended, and on each side were alabaster vasea. The boxes were neat and well arranged. Over the cur- tain was u large transparent clock ; the players aa ere good ; the orchestra very full anftfine ; and the sceneryy particularly the drop, or curtain scene, very beautiful. The statue of the celebrated general Ziethen, the fa- vorite;t;of Frederick the Great, and one of the, greatest and bravest generals of Prussia, is well worthy the notice of the traveller. It is raised in Wilhelm's Platz, or Wil- liam's Place, upon a pedestal, on three sides of which are basso-relievos, representing the hero on horseback^ in some of the most celebrated campaigns, surrounded by an elegant railing : the figure of the general, in his hussar regimentals, is as large as life ; his hand is raised, to his chin, which was his usual attitude of meditation : it is said to be a strong resemblance, and is a fine piece of statuary. In this little square there are several other statues of Prussian generals, who distinguished them- selves in the seven years' war, without any inscription.. Upon my German friend enquiring of some of the sol- diers who were standing near us, their names, they told us they knew nothing about them. It is well known that no living creature is more ignorant than a Prussians soldier. As we passed to the Royal Opera-house, the cavahy were drilling ; the wretchedness of their horses not a little surprised me : the same remark applied to those of every other regiment of cavahy which I saw. The opera-house, which is never open but during the carni- val, is a superb and elegant building, raised by Freder- ick the Great. The audience are admitted gratis, by tickets issued by the King's authority : the pit is allotted to the regiments in garrison, each of which is permitted to senjil so many men. In the time of Frederick the Chap. 22.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 319 Great, it was no unusual spectacle to see the wives of the soldiers sitting upon their husbands* shoulders : the in- ternal decorations are, I was informed, very magnificent. Berlin is justly celebrated for the excellence of its ho- tels : in my sitting room, looking upon the Linden-walk, I had every article of useful and elegant furniture, my bed-room and sopha-bed and linen were remarkably neat and clean, and both rooms, although the frost was set in with intense severity, were, by means of stoves which were supplied from the passage, as warm as a summer day.^ ?it is a received opinion, that Englishmen are sa accustomed to sit by their fire-sides, that they cannot grow warm unless they see the fire : to this remark I have only to observe, that I partook so insensibly of the atmosphere which pervaded my room, that I neither thought of heat, cold, or fire-places. At breskfast, the rolls, butter, and coffee, were delicious and the china beautiful. The porcelain of Berlin is very fine, and nearly equal to that of Saxony. In the infancy of this, manufactory, Frederick the Great granted permission to the Jews within his dominions to marry, only upon con- dition that they should pu^hase a certain quantity of this china ; by this despxotic policy he soon brought it into repute. At our table dhote in the hotel, the dinner, with little variation, was in the following order : cold henings and salted cucumbers, sonp, bouilli, ham with sliced can'Ots, honey and rice pudding, venison and stewed pease. In the streets were groups of female fruiterers, sitting before tubs filled with the finest grapes, and bergamot pears, walnuts, &c. From those stands a respectable dessert m,ay be furnished for the value of three- pence English. Upon the Spree were a great number of boats, completely laden with the finest apples and pear?» Living in Berlin is moderate, in the country remarkably cheap. A bachelor in Hesse Darmstadt, and in many other parts of Germany can enjoy elegant society, have every day a bottle of excellent wine, and keep his horse, for one hundred and twenty pounds per annum. In the audience-room of the great palace, we were shewn a chandelier of chrystal which cost 4,200/. ; a- S^O NORTHERN SUMMER. CCha?. n: tnongst the paintings, which are few, we noticed a por- trait of the Duke of Ferara, by Correglo, for which ten thousand ducats were given : there is also a beautiful statue of Marcus Aureiius, drawn up from the Tiber about fifty years since ; several curious and costly clocks and secretaries of exquisite workmanship and mechan- ism, one of which, should any one improperly attempt to open it, would betray the robber by a tune similar to that in the Academy of Sciences in Petersburg : we were also shewn a circular closet in a turret, from whence Frederick, in his latter days, used to contemplate the people in the streets. The Cadet corps is a noble establishment, much re- sembling those in F'etersburg : Ave attended a parade of about four hundred boys, who, as they were not sized, nor ranked according to age, presented a striking in- stance of the progress of merit, by displaying mere " apple-munching urchins" commanding companies of boys bigger than themselves. From the Cadet corps we tisited an exhibition of the Prussian arts and manufac- tures, displayed in a suite of rooms, the busts, models, and carpets, were beautiful : ^me of the drawings were pretty, but the paintings v/ere below criticism. English manufactures are severely prohibited in Prussia. Chap. 25.]. NORTHERN SUMMER 3#f CHAPTER XXni. Potsdam diligence — Potsdam^-Sans souci — Voltaire^ andJ dogs of Frederick the Great — J\foble firmness of an ar- chitect—mKing and lovely Queen of Prussia— -jinecdotes •—Female travelling habit — The duchy of Meckleburg Siverin — Return to England.. ON the Sunday aftea- mjr arrival, namely, the third of November, I seated myself, at seven o'clock in the morning, with an intelligent companion, in the Potsdam diligence, a vehicle considerably less commodious than that of Paris : it was without springs,^ and so villainous- ly put together, that the biting air pierced through a hundred crevices ; sliding wooden pannels supplied the place of glasses, and in the back part were two seats the occupiers of which were separated from each other by a stout iron bar. Our companions, male and female, were clad in their winter dress of muffs and fur shoes. After passing through a country of cornfields and fir forests, and some small frozen ponds, at eleven we reached the barrier of Potsdam, which is situated on the river Havel, and is formed into an isle by the adjoining lakes and ca- nals, about sixteen English miles from Berlin. Having expelled tlie cold with some soup, we hired a little phaeton, and immediately proceeded to Sans Souci,^^ distant about two English miles, which, as well as the neighboring country palaces, are so much the fruit of the great Frederick's taste, that it was like paying a visit to his spirit. As we proceeded to the gallery of pic- tures, we passed by his hot-houses, which he cherished with great care. So partial was his Majesty to hot- house fruit, that befoi'e the buildings were erected, he who would have scantily provided for a gallant officer mu- tilated in his service, did not hesitate to pay a ducat for a cherry ! When he was dying, his pine-apples occu* pied his principal attention. ^2 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 2^, We entered the picture gallery from the road through a rustic door : this room, two hundred and fifty-eight feet long, thirty -six broad, and fifteen high, is supported by CaiTara pillars, and is superbly gilded and ornament- ed. The collection is very select and precious : we principally noticed the Graces, by Dominichino ; Ver- tumnus and Pomona, by Leonardo da Vinci ; Titian and his wife, by himself : Danae and Cupid, by the same artist ; Venus bathing, by Corregio ; three different styles of Painting, by Guido ; the Holy Family, by Ra- phael, which cost fourteen thousand ducats ; a Cave of Devils, by Teniers, in which his mother and wife are represented as members of the infernal family, his fa- ther as Saint Antonio, and himself in a bonnet rou^e^ laughing at the group ; a Head of Christ, by Vandyke : Ignorance and wisdom, by Corregio ; a Head of Christ, upon leaf gold, by Rap>hael, for which Frederick the Great paid six thousand ducats ; several other paintings, by the same great master, upon the same ground ; a Virgin and Infant, by Rubens ; and severa;l other exqui- site works of art. There was once a beautiful little Magdalen here, by Raphael, which Frederick bartered to the Elector of Saxony for a troop of horse : this sort of barter seems to have been unusual. Augustus II., Elector of Saxony, purchased forty-eight bulky porce- lain vases of Frederick William I., of Prussia, for a fine regiment of dragoons. From the gallery we ascended a stair-case, and entered a terrace, whence a beautiful view of the river, and the surrounding country, lay expanded before us. As we proceeded to the palace, or pavilion, composed of a long suite of rooms upon a ground floor, the tombs of Fred- erick's dogs were pointed out to us, the only creatures for whom he entertained a cordial aftection. It is well known that he indulged the strange belief, that these an- imals possessed the power of discriminating character, and that he disliked those at whom they barked : most of these canine favorites were honored with a TOyal epi- taph. It is related, that whenever he went to war, he always carried a small Italian greyhound with him ; and Chap. 23.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 52f that when, in the seven years' war, he happened to be pursued by a reconnoitring party of Austriins, he took shelter under a dry aixh of a bridge, with Lis favor- ite in his arms ; and that although the enemy passed and repassed the bridge several times, yet the animal, natur- ally churlish, lay quite still, and scarcely breathed ; had he barked, Frederick must have been discovered and taken prisoner, and Prussia, in ail human probability, would have shared the fate of Poland, and swelled the empires of Russia and of Germany. There is another story told, the authenticity of whicli is indubit-ible : Frederick the Great, in his dying moments, expressed a wish to be buried by the side of his dogs. One of these favor- ites, another greyhound bitch, was taken at the battle of Sorr, when the baggage was plundered by Trenck and Nadasti. Regardless of infciior losses, the King was in the act of writing to Nadasti, to request his bitch might be restored, when the Avistrian General, knowing his love for the animal, which was itself greatly attached to him, had sent it back : the bitch, unperceived by the monarch, leaped upon the table while he was writing, and, as usual, began to caress him, at which he was so affected that he shed tears. The day before he had cut off many thousands of men, and charged his dear chil- dren to give no Saxon quarter. The only amiable trait in Frederick's composition was of a canine nature : he possessed nothing to attach man to him but his fondness for dogs. ,v' We saw the room where Frederick slept and died : it was plain and simple ; and, upon the chimney-piece, was a beautiful antiqvie of Julius Csssar when a boy. After passing through several handsome rooms, we reached the dining-room. It is well known that Freder- ick the Great indulged in the pleasures of the table, and that English, French, German, Italian, Russian cooks, were employed in this royal philosopher's kitchen. The apartment of Voltaire, where I could not resist sitting down in his chair before his desk, dotted all ovci- with spots of a pen, more keen and triumphant than the sAvord, and wondermg how such a genius could associate ^24 NORTHERN SUMMER. [Chap. 23, for three years with the crafty, ungrateful, cold, unger- -ous, tyrannical, rancorous, and implacable Frederick, ivho, if he merited the title of great, had no pretensions to that of good : that the wit and the sovereign should have differed no one can wonder ; but every one must that they had not quarrelled and parted sooner. In the life of Voltaire we see the triumph of letters. The late Empress of Russia courted his friendship by every touching art which, even from clever women in the ordinary ranks of life, is irresistible : she did nothing without affecting to consult him ; she invited him to Pe- tersburg, and placed the model of his house at Ferney, in the hermitage. Frederick the Great sought him with avidity, bordering on abject solicitation ; but the mean and ungenerous despotism of the sovereign's heart, ren- dered him unworthy the honor of an association, which with equal meanness and harshness he dissolved. Why was Voltaire thus courted by two of the most distinguish- ed potentates of their own, or perhaps of any other age ? Because they knew that the pen of such a genius could give any color to their actions, and could measure out and extend their fame. The gardens of Sans Souci appeared to be elegantly arranged ; but it was no time to explore leafless bower* tind alleys no longer green : *' When icicles hang by the wall, And Dick the shepherd blows his nail, "And Tom bears logs into the hall. And milk comes frozen home in pail.'* The facade of Sans Souci, towards the plain, is very ele- gant ; towards the terrace very heavy, where it resem- bles more a great tasteless green-house than a royal residence. From Sans Souci, we drove through a beau- tiful park to the new palace, distant about an English mile and a half. After passing two grand lodges and out-offices, connected by an elegant semicircular colon- nade of eighty-eight columns, we entered the palace, the front of v/hich is adorned with Corinthian pilasters, and the body built with the rich red Dutch brick : the €HAr.23.] NORTHERN SUMMER. 3?5 I went on board the pack- et, which narrowly escaped being frozen in the river, and after encountering a severe gale, during which our only consolation resembled that of Gonzalo in the Tempest, »who observed of his captain, " That he seemed to have " no dro^yning mark upon him," we crossed the north seas in forty -six hours, and landef'd upon the shores of that beloved country which, uneclipsed by any superior in arms, in arts, or in sciences ; and without a rival in commerce, in agriculture, or in riches ; possesses more religion and morality, more humanity and miunificence, more public and private integrity, is more blessed with freedom, more enlightened by eloquence, more adorned with beauty, more graced with chastity, and richer in all the requisites to form that least assuming, but first of earthly blessings, domestic comfort^ than any nation upon the globe. If, my Reader ! after having paid our homage to the merits of other countries, we return together, with more settled admiration, to that which has giyen us birth, I shall the less regret my absence from her, and from those who are the dearest to my heart, and to whom I am indebted for all my present enjoyments. Having felt most sensibly, in the hour of my return, those prime distinctions of my country, which eminent- ly and justly endear her to all her children, I close the volume with an ardent wish, that Heaven may gracious- ly render those distinctions perpetual. FINIS. LINCOLN h GLEASON,. Ji their Book-Si'ose, in Hartford^ have for Sale thefol- loiving^ and a variety of other valuable BO OKS ; DENON's Travels in Upper and Lower Egypt, du- ringtlie campaigns of Gen. Bonaparte in that coun- ti'y, 2 vols. 8vo. with plates, Staunton's Embassy to China, 8vo. Jones' Asia, 8vo. Stephens' History of the French Wars, 2 vols. 8vo. Conquest of Mexico, by Cupt. 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