and staircase are in bad taste; their ornaments are white upon a dark brown ground, resembling sugarplumbs upon gingerbread. The state rooms are very rich and elegant, and an 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 Wertmuller, a Swedish artist, who, unfortunately for his country, has for ever left it, and settled in America.

After our return from Drottingholm we gained admission, but with much difficulty, to the arsenal. This depot 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 armour which they wore, mounted upon wooden horses, painted to resemble, and as large as life, chronologically arranged. I was particularly struck with the clothes of Charles XII, which he wore when he was killed at the siege of Frederickshall, and very proudly put them on, viz. a long shabby blue frock of common cloth, with large flaps and brass buttons, a little greasy low cocked hat, a handsome pair of gloves, fit to have touched the delicate hands of the Countess of Koningsmarck, a pair of stiff high-heeled military 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 surprize was excited by finding that when I had completely buttoned the frock of this mighty madman upon my greyhound figure, my lungs gave sensible tokens of an unusual pressure from without.

The Swedish ladies are in general remarkably well shaped, en bon point, and have a fair transparent delicacy of complexion, yet though the favourites 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 when she walks, confounding all the distinctions of symmetry and deformity; and even her pretty feet, which are as neat and as well turned as those of a fine Frenchwoman, are seldom seen without the aid of a favouring breeze. Even the sultry summer has no influence in withdrawing this melancholy drapery, but I am informed that it is less worn now than formerly: often have I wished that the silk-worm had refused his contribution towards this tantalizing concealment: occasionally the streets of Stockholm displayed some bewitching seceders from the abominable habit. This custom arises from the sumptuary laws, which forbid the use of coloured silks.

The Swedish ladies are generally highly accomplished, and speak with fluency English, French, and German, and their tenderness and sensibility by no means partake of the severity of their northern latitude. I was very desirous of attending the courts of justice, or as they are termed the kæmners-rætter, of which there are four in Stockholm, but I found they were all close, and only the judges and parties and necessary officers permitted to enter. What a contrast to the unreserved openness with which the laws in England are administered!

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 countries: all the male children of a nobleman are equally noble, but to prevent the confusion of numbers, the eldest only, upon the decease of the father, represents the family at the Diet, and all inheritances are equally divided, but created property is subject to the will of the father.

The punishments in Sweden are beheading, hanging, whipping, and imprisonment: the three former are inflicted in the market-place; the instrument of flagellation is a rod of tough birch 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 until they rot. Two or three of these shocking objects occur in terrorem upon the road from Gotheberg to Stockholm, on account of its being a greater thoroughfare, and more robberies having been committed there. The criminal 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 reserved 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 representa tion being confined, and it was even so when the Diet was in its plenitude of power, and held the sovereign dependant, to the nobles, clergy, citizens, and pea. sants. The exterior of the building is simple but handsome. In the square before the House of Nobles is the pedestrian statue of Gustavus Vasa, by Meyer, erected by the nobles at a great expence, but in my humble opinion unworthy of the immortal man whose memory it is intended 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 gardens were built and disposed after the design of the graceful Gustavus III. with the assistance of Masrelier, and were the favourite retreat of the former, my gratification was certain. The approach to the villa is through a winding walk 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 Mæler, presenting a noble sheet of water, surFounded 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 Petit Trianon 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 which constitute one of the great beauties of the scenery, upon the revolution of 1772. This circumstance induced him, when he travelled, to assume the title of count Haga.

In the library I was gratified by seeing several drawings and architectural designs of its accomplished founder, which displayed much taste and genius. The friendship and confidence with which this prince honoured the heroic sir Sidney Smith is well known; the King first conceived an attachment for him from the resemblance which he thought, and which he frequently was heard to observe, existed between the face of the hero of Acre and Charles XII.

The military force of Sweden is divided into regular or garrison regiments, and national militia: only the latter 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 of infantry. The men, thus selected from the very heart of the peasantry, are almost always healthy, stout, and well proportioned. In war and in peace, the crown landholders are compellable 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 family, and also to supply him with a coarse suit of clothes, two pair of shoes, and a small yearly stipend. In peace, where the districts adjoin, the soldiers assemble by companies every Sunday after divine worship, to be exercised by their officers 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 martial husbandmen, who are enrolled for life, are permitted to work as labourers for the landholder, at the usual price of labour. Such is a brief abstract of the manner in which this great constitutional force, "this cheap defence of nations," is organized.

Upon our return from the review, we were much gratified with seeing the gun-boats from the Admiralty Isle manœuvre. These vessels are used upon the lake Mæler, 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-four pounders in their bow.