what is generally deemed the more enviable height of six feet. The covering used in the North is mostly of a bag of down or feathers, just wide enough to cover the coffin-like box supposed to do duty as bedstead. Once within the box, should the unfortunate wight make a single turn in the course of the night, he will be sure to find "the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it." In fact, he will awaken to the unpleasant consciousness that he is minus any covering. Should he reach for the lost bag, he will be sure to hit his elbow against the side of the box, which requires only a lid to render its adaptedness to burial purposes complete. Indeed, the whole seems better fitted to receive the body for its last sleep than for the repose which one seeks on the pathway to it. There is something classical in this; the Greeks represented Death and his twin brother, Sleep, as two beautiful infants reposing in the arms of Night. It is a pleasing fancy; but for beds I should prefer not to be reminded of the resemblance between the two brothers.

Soon after the clergyman's family were established at the inn, the loud crack, crack, of the post-boy's whip announced another arrival. The carriage was a more modern and recherché affair than any posting carriage I had yet seen in Sweden. A gentlemen and lady alight; they are speaking French. There is a something characteristic of the grande nation in the little things monsieur is taking out from the carriage box, madame meantime occupied in petting her poodle and watching the safe delivery of the whole into the hands of Jacques, so I hear him called, who bows, and constantly raises his hat to monsieur and madame with all the grace of a thoroughbred Parisian servant. There is no mistaking this party; there is a certain air of haut ton about them, and Jacques exhibits that peculiar deference and precision of bearing, although doubtless of the school of Louis Philippe and the last Bonaparte, which would have done honor to the age of Louis le Grand. The Parisian servant has withal a wonderful tact at impressing upon the minds of others the importance of monsieur and madame. He has at last succeeded in gaining the united attention of all the garçons, flikas, and jomfrus of the establishment, and the master and

mistress in addition. The bell which hangs in the little gallery outside the rooms occupied by the clergyman's family, has been ringing several times, and still remains unanswered. Everything seems to indicate that the newly-arrived guests are people of consequence, and the knowing look and peculiar manner of Jacques at once confirm this impression. Who can they be? Were they an English party there would be nothing to excite any especial degree of curiosity in all this; but the French so rarely abandon the charms of la belle Paris, to wander over other lands, and, above all, through a province so wild and remote as that of Dalecarlia. It had been so quiet at the little inn since our arrival; scarce a carriage of any description had been seen passing, save the rude carts of the peasantry, that the sudden change to all this bustle and excitement has, I must confess, aroused my curiosity. Mr. Irving, in his graphic description of a rainy Sunday at a country inn, could have felt no more desirous of ascertaining who was "the stout gentleman," than I found myself to learn who were the remarkable personages who were monopolizing so completely the comforts of our quiet and retired inn.

It is not long that a very distinguished guest remains in a European country inn before one, if he chances to be a quiet and unknown individual, will find his own comforts materially diminished for the sake of lavishing all that the establishment can furnish upon the prince or lord, one of which the stranger is sure to be in the estimation of the landlord.

A short time had elapsed after this arrival extraordinary when my room, which chanced to be the best in the house, was besieged by some three or four servants, demanding the few extra articles of furniture which it contained for the new guests. Happening to be in particularly good humor, I allowed my solitary armchair, with a small table which I had used as a writing desk, as well as some other articles, to be appropriated to the use of the distinguished strangers, without the slightest attempt at demurring. I then surveyed the apartment, and was disposed to congratulate myself that after such an incursion so much was left for my comfort. But, as the fates would have it, I was left in this philosophical and agree

able state of mind but a brief period, when a sudden knock at the door announced that something more was wanted. What can it be now? said I to myself. It may be the bed and bedstead; these I resolved to surrender at discretion. But no; it was the sofa on which I had just thrown myself in the absence of an armchair. This was a little too much, even for my equanimity, and I announced that if madame could not possibly get on without my sofa, that I had resolved to go with it, being at the moment in possession. Here was an obstacle to the further progress of sacking my apartment, which seemed unexpected, and to produce a momentary pause in the operations of the pillagers. But the flika assured me that madame, the princess, could not possibly exist over Sunday without a sofa. But who is the princess? demanded I, and was assured that she was of the blood royal of France. Here I threw myself on my American nationality, and declared to the flika that I was a sovereign of America. | She evidently knew little, if anything, of my kingdom, and doubtless thought it very strange that their humble inn should be at the same moment honored with the presence of an American sovereign and a prince of the blood royal of France. This ruse, however, secured me the possession of the sofa, and I now imagined that further inroads would be discontinued; but no, the master had seen me reading at breakfast a French paper, the Journal des Debats. Another knock at the door, and the master sent his compliments, asking for the loan of the French paper for the prince. How provoking! it was evident that an American sovereign was of far less importance at Leksand than a French prince. But I was resolved to be amiable, and accordingly sent the prince the journal which I had that day received from Stockholm. As the allied powers were at that time in possession of the Baltic, I made up my mind to pocket the affront, thinking, however, for a moment, of throwing myself on the tender mercies of Mr. Secretary Marcy.

The people of the humble inn at Leksand were on this occasion nearer correct in their estimate of the rank of their guest than such persons usually are. He proved to be a distinguished French general, whom the Emperor of the French had sent on a special mission to Sweden,

and had, as it appeared, availed himself of the opportunity to see something of tho interior of the country.

Sunday morning was bright and beautiful. The Lake of Silja was sleeping calmly, its mirror-like surface reflecting distinctly the wooded hill-sides and cottages, save where it was slightly ruffled by the many-oared boats, already, at the hour of seven, moving in the direction of the house of prayer. One must be up betimes in Dalecarlia if he would witness the assembling of the people at church. Already the avenue of birches, which led from near my window to the sacred edifice, was gay with the many-colored costumes of the females, the neat white cap of the matron contrasting pleasantly with the dazzling red of the maid. Scarlet bodices and black skirts, with yellow aprons, present altogether a combination of colors somewhat questionable when viewed only as a matter of taste; yet the effect of hundreds of persons in these colors walking in the same direction, forming various groups along the grassy pathway, and occasionally seen through the foliage of the trees, is singularly picturesque and novel.

Finding the people moving in the direction of the church at so early an hour, we hurried to the shore of the lake to witness the arrival of the Leksand Church fleet. At the same moment some twenty of these curious craft were in sight. Among them were numerous boats manned by twenty or twenty-five oars each. It was interesting to watch them as they glided out from beyond one promontory or another into the center of the lake, all converging to the same point. These boats are of a peculiar build, and resemble closely those now used upon the Bospho

rus.

They are very high and sharp fore and aft, the outline being very graceful. They are particularly well rowed, and the hundreds of oars now rising together, and again striking the water in exact time, produced an effect singularly pleasing. The picturesqueness of the whole scene is greatly increased by the brilliancy of the costumes. An artist could desire nothing finer than the snowy white of the caps and sleeves, with scarlet waists and yellow aprons, contrasted with the bright blue of the lake and deep green of the shores.

As the boats near the shore there is a little strife discernible in the rapidly in

creasing strokes of the oars; but this does not seem to engender the least unkind feeling. It was a motley crew which landed on that fine Sunday morning from the numerous boats. The passengers stepped on shore in the greatest possible quiet and order. All ages were here represented; the aged and decrepit were carefully helped out of the boats by the stalwart youths, while the young mother stepped cautiously to the shore, giving a glance of maternal' pride and affection at the infant which she carried in her arms. The father lifted out the children of different ages, and placed them upon a sure footing.

The newly-married swains were known by the embroidered shoulders of their coats, their sweet-hearts' tributes of affection previous to marriage. An occasional sly and modest glance from the maidens, directed toward youths who were noble specimens of manly vigor, with countenances honest, ingenuous, and pleasing, if not handsome, attracted my attention. The hair of the maidens was, in some instances, cut short; indeed, this ornament of the sex is turned to advantage in Dalecarlia. The peasant girl in humble circumstances often sells guard chains, bracelets, &c., braided from her own hair, and very pretty are some of these ornaments. Not so with the males; their

"Among the men you behold muscular forms, and not unfrequently noble heads, adorned with a rich growth of hair, which, parted on the forehead and crown of the head, falls down over the neck in those rich, natural locks, with which romance so proudly embellishes its heroes, but which we can recollect to have seen nowhere but among the peasants of Dalecarlia."

The Dalecarlian peasant women cannot be said to possess any great degree of beauty, yet there is a something in their round faces, fair complexions, blue eyes, and white teeth, to which may be added singularly cheerful faces, which is altogether pleasing. The men are oftentimes fine specimens of physical development. Their powerful and muscular frames, with finely-formed limbs, more of the Herculean than of the Apollo stamp, set off to advantage by their peculiar costume, added to honest, open, and goodnatured countenances, present a tout ensemble which cannot fail to excite admiration. They seem to occupy the same relative position in the family of man that the works of Michael Angelo do in art. Whatever may be the emotion inspired by their appearance, it is surely not one of contempt.

A strong and a brave people are the Dalecarlians. According to the saga "of

The bushes along the borders of the lake served for the toilets of the women, where, after arranging their hair and inspecting their dresses, they moved in the direction of the church, each one carrying a Prayer Book wrapped in a snowy white handkerchief.

One of the last boats which arrived brought a corpse for burial. The coffin was placed upon the shoulders of four men, who passed on in the direction of the

cession of rustics, in their quaint costumes, as they wound around the wooded pathway which led in that direction, was picturesque in the extreme.

The novel scene of the arrival of the Leksand Church fleet was deeply impressive. My mind naturally reverted to the fleets of the sea-kings of old, as well as to the allied fleet at that moment cruising near us in the Baltic, with missiles designed to carry death and destruction in their blighting course. But here, in place of deadly weapons, each one carried in his hand the arms of life; for as one after another landed from the boats, I observed

that each carried the book of prayer; and the destination of the fleet was not an armed fortress, but a place of worship of the "Prince of Peace." I confess I have never in my life felt so disposed to venerate those philanthropists, however fruitless may be their efforts, who devote themselves to the glorious principles of peace. But pardon, dear reader, my pen is an errant one; and I have really no intention of writing a dissertation on the principles of the Peace Society.

The Church of Leksand was on this occasion crowded to the utmost extent of its capacity. The season is here comparatively short, which allows many of the people the privilege of attending Di

"O yes; three thousand miles." At this reply the honest peasant stared at me in perfect amazement, and had one dropped down from the moon he would scarcely have excited more curiosity. He soon circulated among the crowd, and informed them of the fact that I had come a distance of three thousand miles beyond England. The people gathered about me as if I had been a wild animal on exhibition. I answered all their queries so far as my stock of Swedish would serve, and could hear often among them the words repeated, "three thousand miles!" No wonder that the distance looked formidable to the honest peasants, who had scarce any of them ever been beyond sight of the smoke of their own chimneys; and when one multiplies three thousand by seven, the length of a Swedish mile, the distance | would seem formidable to persons who had seen much more of the world than the honest Dalesmen.

There is one pleasing custom among this people which I have thus far neglected to mention. It cannot be said of them, as the Psalmist has said of some," Neither do they which go by say, The blessing of the Lord be upon you: we bless you in the name of the Lord." Old and young here on Sunday morning raise their hats to the stranger and say, "God's peace rest upon you."

Monday morning I received a very kind invitation from the clergyman of Leksand, domprost he is called, a sort of rural dean, to pass the day with him. The parsonage establishment, of which I present an illustration, is built upon three sides of a square. The building at the left of the inclosure is occupied by the kitchen, servants' rooms, &c. That at the right is exclusively devoted to the guests, while the tenement which appears in the background of the sketch is occupied by the family. A kindhearted and most amiable old gentleman I found the domprost. His library was large and well selected, made up of works in various languages, the German predominating. The parson himself had the appearance of a lover of good cheer. The prostina [the Swedish wife bears the title of her husband; thus the wife of a prost (priest) is prostina. I am not quite sure but the good lady at Leksand should be dignified with the title of dom prostina; she was, at all events, a most accomplished, kind, and hospitable lady] reminded me

somewhat of Miss Bremer's character of "The great mother in Dalom." There was a slight severity in her manner, as it struck me, toward her good-natured husband; but perhaps the domprost deserved an occasional reprimand. On one side of the house was a garden beautifully laid out and devoted mostly to flowers. In the rear of this was a bowling alley situated upon the border of a picturesque ravine. This the good domprost assured me was the most expensive thing about the parsonage, as he often had company who required a good deal of punch to keep up the excitement of the game. Judging from the freeness with which this article was offered at the parsonage, I should imagine the necessary outlay for a year's supply would equal the whole income of many of our country clergy at home. The guest's house is a large establishment of itself; it contains one large room, used as a drawing-room and dancing-room; here was a piano and some very good pictures. The apartment was handsomely furnished, but without a carpet. The remainder of the building was devoted to sleeping rooms for the guests, and would altogether accommodate a large number of visitors. The income of the clergy here is generally large, while the expense of living in the interior of the country is extremely moderate. The income of the domprost from his parish was, I learned, something like four thousand dollars per annum, which would be fully equal to six, if not seven thousand dollars in the United States. But here the clergy are obliged to keep up a train of expenditure in dispensing hospitality, which no one at home is expected to do.

In the church of Leksand a mural tablet, erected in honor of "the great mother in Dalom," was pointed out to me. "She died in the year 1657, lamented by the whole Dal country, which honored her for her noble person and good heart, with the title of 'Stormoder i Dalom,' the great mother in Dalom. Her memory still lives in honor in the district, and this title of respect is usually inherited by the most stately and genteel prostina there."

Having exhausted the attractions of Leksand, I took passage in a small and very inferior steamer, the only one on Lake Silja, for Mora. On the boat I met the clergyman and his family who had been passing Sunday at the Leksand inn. They seemed disposed to set aside all