Rome's idolatry, they take offence at all Chriftian religion; by which it appeared that Rome is the greateft enemy of the Jews converfion.

For the place of the Jews next meeting, it is probable it will be in Syria, in which country I alfo was, and did there converfe with the fect of the Rechabites living in Syria; they ftill obferve their old cuftoms and rules, they neither fow nor plant,

nor build houses; but live in tents, and often remove from one place to another, with their family, bag and baggage. And feeing I find that, by the Italian tongue, I can converse with the Jews or any other nation, in all the parts of the world where I have been, if God give me an opportunity, I fhall willingly attend their next council. The good Lord profper it. Amen.

A comparative View of Sweden and Denmark, and of the Perfons and Manners of their respective Inhabitants*.

THE

HE ftrait of the Sound feparates Denmark from Sweden, the inhabitants of which countries are certainly defcended from the fame origin, they live under the fame climate, and they speak the fame language; but there are circumstances which form a striking contraft, not only between the two countries, but between the people that inhabit them.

centuries, the Swedes were of a much higher ftature than they are at prefent; in proof of which, the following facts are recorded in the Memoirs of their academy.

'On digging, in July 1764, in the church-yard of the old eloifter of Wreta, there were found, at the depth of two yards, feveral stone coffins containing human bones of an astonishing fize. Upon digging further there was discovered, in a fine white fand at the depth of

In Denmark the hills are small, the ground even but ftony, the woods of fmall extent, the plains immenfe, the lakes fmall, and there are no ri-four yards, a perfect skeleton well vers; the habits of the men are long, preferved, about eight feet long. and red is the prevailing colour. In • When the foundations of the tower Sweden nothing is to be feen but 'at Linkoping were laid, two fkemountains, rocks, vallies, forefts, vaftletons of the fame fize were disco

lakes, and great rivers; the cloaths are worn fhort, and their colour is blue.

vered, one of which had the impreffion of a deep wound in the fkull.

The Swede is of an active, firm The bones contained in the make; he is lively, induftrious, gay, ftone coffin of king Inge Halftanand affable. The Dane, whofe fi-ons, in the church of Wreta, are gure is not fo flender, is more flug-nearly of the fame dimenfions, and gifh, he is fond of reft, does not labour with the fame activity, his humour is more flegmatic and ferious, his temperament is cold, but he is conftant in friendship, though he does not fo readily form connections. Some of the literati of the country maintain, that in the 11th and 12th

L12

hiftory fays, that the kings Stenkilfon and Ragwald Knaphofding were ftill taller than he. They lived in the beginning of the 14th century. Skeletons of the fame fize are often found in old church yards when they dig deep.'

The different dialects of their language

Voyage en Suede, &c.'-By a Dutch Officer.

guage are characteristic of the different genius of the two nations; both of them pronounce with a finging tone, but the Swede fings quicker, ends many words with vowels, particularly with a, as in fome provinces boku a book, hesta a horfe, baka a mountain; accenting quickly and accutely the laft fyllable, while the former was pronounced grave. But the Dane has a flow pronounciation, fomewhat guttural, and he terminates many words in confonants, as book, heft, baken: fo that two Swedes fpeaking together infpire gaity, while the lugubrious accents of two Danes, affect thofe with melancholy who do not understand their language.

they are labouring in the fields, never want a veil of black crape; anď this is neceffary to defend their eyes against the fplendour of the fnow, during their long winters; and against the reverberation of the fun's rays from the rocks, during their long days in fummer.

The Swedes differ lefs from their original progenitors than the Danes. Many firangers come to fettle among thefe lait, either attracted by the nature of their government, or by that of their poffeffions: these frangers become naturalized in the country, and in the towns; many noble and plebeian families, many perfons employed in the political and military lines, many artificers and artists are foreigners, efpecially Germans; while in Sweden, except a very few families, all are Swedes or of Swedish extraction. By the tenth article of the new constitution, No foreigner of whatever rank or condition,' (though he were a prince) can hold any office political, civil, or military; nor can he enjoy any post, except at court.’

6

The Danish and Swedish women are handfome, amiable, and well educated; they are in general fair, with a delicate complexion, blue eyes and fine hair: but the Swedish women have the most animated look, a more expreffive countenance, a more elegant fhape, and they are more fprightly: the Danish ladies are apt to grow fat and languid. I imagine the former are more amorous, and Both nations love the fciences and the latter more fufceptible of ten- polite literature, and have diftinguithdernels and attachment. In Den- ed themfelves in both. The Swedes mark, the women of the middling reckon many learned men, who not and lower ranks are exceedingly only have acquired and ftill mainfond of drefs, and facrifice every tain a diftinguifhed place among their thing to their apparel, which is ge- countrymen, but who have at the nerally compofed of various colours, fame time obtained the admiration the red always predominant, In and efteem of all Europe. Who has Sweden, women of every ftation go not heard of Linnæus t; of Bergveiled; even the country girls, when mann; of Celfius; of Menanderhielm;

of

*The inhabitants of Smoland are thought to be the people who have departed leaft from the manners and appearance of their anceflors the Goths. They contract no marriages out of their own parish, or at leaft out of the province, and from time immemorial no inhabitant of any other province has fettled in this; accordingly the people here, have the reputation of being the talleft and most robuft in all Sweden.

+1 expected to have found at Upfal, fays our traveller, feme monument of the veneration which the Swedes pay to the memory of the late Linnæus; but I was difappointed. I asked my guide where the tomb of that great man was; the tomb? faid he, he has none, he was buried fomewhere in this church, but I don't know in what place: upon which he and I went to fearch for the fpot; we read

of Wargentin; of de Geer, the Reaumur of Sweden; and of the learned hiftoriographer Lagerbring. The Danes on the other hand have to boat of Tycho-Brahé; of Roemer; of Gafpard Bartholin; of Simon Pauli; of Wormius; of Holberg, and of feveral others permit me likewife to add to this catalogue four men, as diftinguished for their private worth as for their extenfive learning, who now do honour to Copenhagen; M. de Kratzenftein rector of the univerfity and profeffor of experimental philofophy; de Suhm the chamberlain; de Trefcauw profeffor of Divinity; and Kalifchen profeffor of anatomy.

*

A great part of the Swedish as well as of the Danifh nobility, after having received at home an excellent preliminary education, travel

to other countries, and enrich their own at their return, with the knowledge they have acquired of new laws, and the manners of other nations. Both are diftinguifbed by an eafy and frank politenefs; but the Danish nobles do not poffefs the fame fpirit of hofpitality, that relict of primitive times, which the Swedish nobility pique thenfelves on perpetuating t.

The royal Swedish regiment in the fervice of France, gives an opportunity to the youth of going abroad for fome time. Those who are deftined for the military, but ef pecially for the marine department, are obliged to enter into the fervice of fome foreign power, before they can expect advancement in their own country; by this practice, thofe who have ambition, and that in general

they

all the infcriptions we could find on the pavement; at last we difcovered a stone half hid by a bench, on which was engraven, Hic jacet Linnæus Profeffor, &c. without any diftinguifhing mark, or appropriate infcription, but in every thing like the ftones laid over a common citizen; I confels, I was a little hurt at it. Luckily, faid I, the monument he has erected to himself by his works are imperishable, and will endure, when the hardest marble that ought to have formed his ftatue shall have crumbled into clay.'

The following is an extract of a letter I received in February 1789, from the learned and worthy profeffor de Trefcauw.

It is to M. de Suhm that we are indebted for the moft accurate accounts we have with regard to the hiftory of Denmark. This learned man has a perfect acquaintance with the ancient languages, and his industry in historical researches is incredible. He has published fourteen volumes in 4to. chiefly on the hiftory of the North, viz. One on the origin of nations in general: One on the origin of the northern nations: One on Odin and the mythology of the northern nations: Two on the migration of the northern nations: Four on the critical hiftory of Denmark: Four on the hiftory of Denmark, with tables in folio,-and One, containing historical collections relative to the Danish history.

It is a pity that thefe works are not tranflated. As the author does not enter upon the Norwegian hiftory, Schionning, another hiftorian equally refpectable, has publifhed that hiftory, in three vols. 4to. As he was a Norwegian and deeply acquainted with its hiflory, proofs of which he has given in the new edition of the hiftory of Snorro in Latin, and in his work on the ancient geography of Norway, nothing can be more compleat than this work; but a tranflation is wanted. To fupply this want, Meffrs. Gehhardi and Chriftiani have published a work, or rather two works on the hiftory of Denmark, of Norway, and of the Dutchies of Slefwig and Holftein, in feveral volumes in 4to. and 8vo. in which they have profited by the performances of de Suhm and Schionning.

It is a general cuftom in Sweden, especially in the northern provinces, that the great lords have apartments in their castles and country feats, which are deftined for the reception of fuch travellers as are recommended to them; thefe they occupy even in the abfence of the lord, and then a domeftic called Verwalter takes care of them, and provides them with every thing neceffary either for maintenance or ac commodation.

The Swedith peafant, vigorous, active, and induftrious,reaps the fruits of his labours for himself and his family, after deducting the tenths and his rent. If he is obliged to per'form fome fervices for which he gets no return, he confoles himself with the thought, that he is a member of a body which forms the fourth order in the state, and that he has a vote in the government of his country. This idea gives an energy to his difpofition which is wanting in Denmark. There, on the contrary, the ftate of the peasant is little diftant from flavery, he is chained to the foil which he labours for his lord, and is bound to perform fervices which are unfpeakably grievous, and thus feems the moft miferable of beings. This state of fervitude, joined to his natural indolence, gives him an air of humiliation, which his neighbour on the other fide of the Sound is totally free from.

rure of gloves, their economical mofity and jealoufy that reign befurnaces, and many other works, are tween the two nations, the Swedish futficient proofs of their induftry handicraftsmen and manufacturers are and activity. Some manufactures in much encouraged in Denmark; they Denmark exceed theirs, particular- are found intelligent, ingenious, and ly those of cloth, of filk, of printed indefatigable, and thofe Danes who linen, and hats. fet on foot any enterprife, do them. the juftice to prefer them to their own countrymen, I faw a little colony from Scania, to the number of forty or fifty perfons, fettled on the eftate of a friend of mine, and who were employed in clearing it. Treble the number of Danes were working befide them. I obferved that the moft difficult operations, those that required the greatest attention, and which it was neceffary to abandon to the kill of the labourer, were always given to the Swedes, by the infpector, who was a native of Holstein. At reaping time too, the Swedes were preferred. In the felling and cutting of wood, the Danish forefter employed his own countrymen as little as poffible, and I was convinced that he did right. Swede fometimes performed as much as three Danes. What furprised me ftill more was, that as foon as the evening bell announced the ceffation of labour, the Swedes repaired to their mofs-clad earthen huts, with their wives and children, where, as a relief from their toil, they danced either to the found of a violin they had among them, or to the finging of their wives or their daughters, a ball that was repeated every evening when the weather permitted; while the worn-out Danes retired either to drink brandy, or went to bed. At a little rural feaft that was given by my friend, the Scanians would not mingle with the reft; they retired to a corner of the field, where they diverted themfelves in their own way. The Danish mufic and dancing were too languid for them. They preferred their own quick steps and fprightly airs.

Hitherto, no one has followed the example of the late Count Bernstorf, (who a few years ago gave his peafants their freedom) notwithstanding the quadruple products of his lands, and the prefent wealth of thofe very pealants, who were formerly as poor and miferable as their neighbours. To perpetuate the memory of their benefactor, they have, laft year, erected to his honour, a magnificent monument of Norwegian marble, executed by the profeffor of fculpture Wiedefelt. This monument, on which there is an infcription in letters of gold, is placed in one of the Count's freed estates, about a league from Copenhagen, by the fide of the great road that leads to Elfineur.

Notwithstanding the ancient ani

A

In the fpring feafon, many Swedes

come