Books: Letters on Sweden, Norway, and Denmark
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Mary Wollstonecraft >> Letters on Sweden, Norway, and Denmark
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Poor Matilda! thou hast haunted me ever since may arrival; and the
view I have had of the manners of the country, exciting my sympathy,
has increased my respect for thy memory.
I am now fully convinced that she was the victim of the party she
displaced, who would have overlooked or encouraged her attachment,
had not her lover, aiming at being useful, attempted to overturn
some established abuses before the people, ripe for the change, had
sufficient spirit to support him when struggling in their behalf.
Such indeed was the asperity sharpened against her that I have heard
her, even after so many years have elapsed, charged with
licentiousness, not only for endeavouring to render the public
amusements more elegant, but for her very charities, because she
erected, amongst other institutions, a hospital to receive
foundlings. Disgusted with many customs which pass for virtues,
though they are nothing more than observances of forms, often at the
expense of truth, she probably ran into an error common to
innovators, in wishing to do immediately what can only be done by
time.
Many very cogent reasons have been urged by her friends to prove
that her affection for Struensee was never carried to the length
alleged against her by those who feared her influence. Be that as
it may she certainly was no a woman of gallantry, and if she had an
attachment for him it did not disgrace her heart or understanding,
the king being a notorious debauchee and an idiot into the bargain.
As the king's conduct had always been directed by some favourite,
they also endeavoured to govern him, from a principle of self-
preservation as well as a laudable ambition; but, not aware of the
prejudices they had to encounter, the system they adopted displayed
more benevolence of heart than soundness of judgment. As to the
charge, still believed, of their giving the King drugs to injure his
faculties, it is too absurd to be refuted. Their oppressors had
better have accused them of dabbling in the black art, for the
potent spell still keeps his wits in bondage.
I cannot describe to you the effect it had on me to see this puppet
of a monarch moved by the strings which Count Bernstorff holds fast;
sit, with vacant eye, erect, receiving the homage of courtiers who
mock him with a show of respect. He is, in fact, merely a machine
of state, to subscribe the name of a king to the acts of the
Government, which, to avoid danger, have no value unless
countersigned by the Prince Royal; for he is allowed to be
absolutely aim idiot, excepting that now and then an observation or
trick escapes him, which looks more like madness than imbecility.
What a farce is life. This effigy of majesty is allowed to burn
down to the socket, whilst the hapless Matilda was hurried into an
untimely grave.
"As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods;
They kill us for their sport."
Adieu!
LETTER XIX.
Business having obliged me to go a few miles out of town this
morning I was surprised at meeting a crowd of people of every
description, and inquiring the cause of a servant, who spoke French,
I was informed that a man had been executed two hours before, and
the body afterwards burnt. I could not help looking with horror
around--the fields lost their verdure--and I turned with disgust
from the well-dressed women who were returning with their children
from this sight. What a spectacle for humanity! The seeing such a
flock of idle gazers plunged me into a train of reflections on the
pernicious effects produced by false notions of justice. And I am
persuaded that till capital punishments are entirely abolished
executions ought to have every appearance of horror given to them,
instead of being, as they are now, a scene of amusement for the
gaping crowd, where sympathy is quickly effaced by curiosity.
I have always been of opinion that the allowing actors to die in the
presence of the audience has an immoral tendency, but trifling when
compared with the ferocity acquired by viewing the reality as a
show; for it seems to me that in all countries the common people go
to executions to see how the poor wretch plays his part, rather than
to commiserate his fate, much less to think of the breach of
morality which has brought him to such a deplorable end.
Consequently executions, far from being useful examples to the
survivors, have, I am persuaded, a quite contrary effect, by
hardening the heart they ought to terrify. Besides the fear of an
ignominious death, I believe, never deferred anyone from the
commission of a crime, because, in committing it, the mind is roused
to activity about present circumstances. It is a game at hazard, at
which all expect the turn of the die in their own favour, never
reflecting on the chance of ruin till it comes. In fact, from what
I saw in the fortresses of Norway, I am more and more convinced that
the same energy of character which renders a man a daring villain
would have rendered him useful to society, had that society been
well organised. When a strong mind is not disciplined by
cultivation it is a sense of injustice that renders it unjust.
Executions, however, occur very rarely at Copenhagen; for timidity,
rather than clemency, palsies all the operations of the present
Government. The malefactor who died this morning would not,
probably, have been punished with death at any other period; but an
incendiary excites universal execration; and as the greater part of
the inhabitants are still distressed by the late conflagration, an
example was thought absolutely necessary; though, from what I can
gather, the fire was accidental.
Not, but that I have very seriously been informed, that combustible
materials were placed at proper distance, by the emissaries of Mr.
Pitt; and, to corroborate the fact, many people insist that the
flames burst out at once in different parts of the city; not
allowing the wind to have any hand in it. So much for the plot.
But the fabricators of plots in all countries build their
conjectures on the "baseless fabric of a vision;" and it seems even
a sort of poetical justice, that whilst this Minister is crushing at
home plots of his own conjuring up, on the Continent, and in the
north, he should, with as little foundation, be accused of wishing
to set the world on fire.
I forgot to mention to you, that I was informed, by a man of
veracity, that two persons came to the stake to drink a glass of the
criminal's blood, as an infallible remedy for the apoplexy. And
when I animadverted in the company, where it was mentioned, on such
a horrible violation of nature, a Danish lady reproved me very
severely, asking how I knew that it was not a cure for the disease?
adding, that every attempt was justifiable in search of health. I
did not, you may imagine, enter into an argument with a person the
slave of such a gross prejudice. And I allude to it not only as a
trait of the ignorance of the people, but to censure the Government
for not preventing scenes that throw an odium on the human race.
Empiricism is not peculiar to Denmark; and I know no way of rooting
it out, though it be a remnant of exploded witchcraft, till the
acquiring a general knowledge of the component parts of the human
frame becomes a part of public education.
Since the fire, the inhabitants have been very assiduously employed
in searching for property secreted during the confusion; and it is
astonishing how many people, formerly termed reputable, had availed
themselves of the common calamity to purloin what the flames spared.
Others, expert at making a distinction without a difference,
concealed what they found, not troubling themselves to inquire for
the owners, though they scrupled to search for plunder anywhere, but
amongst the ruins.
To be honester than the laws require is by most people thought a
work of supererogation; and to slip through the grate of the law has
ever exercised the abilities of adventurers, who wish to get rich
the shortest way. Knavery without personal danger is an art brought
to great perfection by the statesman and swindler; and meaner knaves
are not tardy in following their footsteps.
It moves my gall to discover some of the commercial frauds practised
during the present war. In short, under whatever point of view I
consider society, it appears to me that an adoration of property is
the root of all evil. Here it does not render the people
enterprising, as in America, but thrifty and cautious. I never,
therefore, was in a capital where there was so little appearance of
active industry; and as for gaiety, I looked in vain for the
sprightly gait of the Norwegians, who in every respect appear to me
to have got the start of them. This difference I attribute to their
having more liberty--a liberty which they think their right by
inheritance, whilst the Danes, when they boast of their negative
happiness, always mention it as the boon of the Prince Royal, under
the superintending wisdom of Count Bernstorff. Vassalage is
nevertheless ceasing throughout the kingdom, and with it will pass
away that sordid avarice which every modification of slavery is
calculated to produce.
If the chief use of property be power, in the shape of the respect
it procures, is it not among the inconsistencies of human nature
most incomprehensible, that men should find a pleasure in hoarding
up property which they steal from their necessities, even when they
are convinced that it would be dangerous to display such an enviable
superiority? Is not this the situation of serfs in every country.
Yet a rapacity to accumulate money seems to become stronger in
proportion as it is allowed to be useless.
Wealth does not appear to be sought for amongst the Danes, to obtain
the excellent luxuries of life, for a want of taste is very
conspicuous at Copenhagen; so much so that I am not surprised to
hear that poor Matilda offended the rigid Lutherans by aiming to
refine their pleasures. The elegance which she wished to introduce
was termed lasciviousness; yet I do not find that the absence of
gallantry renders the wives more chaste, or the husbands more
constant. Love here seems to corrupt the morals without polishing
the manners, by banishing confidence and truth, the charm as well as
cement of domestic life. A gentleman, who has resided in this city
some time, assures me that he could not find language to give me an
idea of the gross debaucheries into which the lower order of people
fall; and the promiscuous amours of the men of the middling class
with their female servants debase both beyond measure, weakening
every species of family affection.
I have everywhere been struck by one characteristic difference in
the conduct of the two sexes; women, in general, are seduced by
their superiors, and men jilted by their inferiors: rank and
manners awe the one, and cunning and wantonness subjugate the other;
ambition creeping into the woman's passion, and tyranny giving force
to the man's, for most men treat their mistresses as kings do their
favourites: ergo is not man then the tyrant of the creation?
Still harping on the same subject, you will exclaim--How can I avoid
it, when most of the struggles of an eventful life have been
occasioned by the oppressed state of my sex? We reason deeply when
we feel forcibly.
But to return to the straight road of observation. The sensuality
so prevalent appears to me to arise rather from indolence of mind
and dull senses, than from an exuberance of life, which often
fructifies the whole character when the vivacity of youthful spirits
begins to subside into strength of mind.
I have before mentioned that the men are domestic tyrants,
considering them as fathers, brothers, or husbands; but there is a
kind of interregnum between the reign of the father and husband
which is the only period of freedom and pleasure that the women
enjoy. Young people who are attached to each other, with the
consent of their friends, exchange rings, and are permitted to enjoy
a degree of liberty together which 1 have never noticed in any other
country. The days of courtship are, therefore, prolonged till it be
perfectly convenient to marry: the intimacy often becomes very
tender; and if the lover obtain the privilege of a husband, it can
only be termed half by stealth, because the family is wilfully
blind. It happens very rarely that these honorary engagements are
dissolved or disregarded, a stigma being attached to a breach of
faith which is thought more disgraceful, if not so criminal, as the
violation of the marriage-vow.
Do not forget that, in my general observations, I do not pretend to
sketch a national character, but merely to note the present state of
morals and manners as I trace the progress of the world's
improvement. Because, during my residence in different countries,
my principal object has been to take such a dispassionate view of
men as will lead me to form a just idea of the nature of man. And,
to deal ingenuously with you, I believe I should have been less
severe in the remarks I have made on the vanity and depravity of the
French, had I travelled towards the north before I visited France.
The interesting picture frequently drawn of the virtues of a rising
people has, I fear, been fallacious, excepting the accounts of the
enthusiasm which various public struggles have produced. We talk of
the depravity of the French, and lay a stress on the old age of the
nation; yet where has more virtuous enthusiasm been displayed than
during the two last years by the common people of France, and in
their armies? I am obliged sometimes to recollect the numberless
instances which I have either witnessed, or heard well
authenticated, to balance the account of horrors, alas! but too
true. I am, therefore, inclined to believe that the gross vices
which I have always seem allied with simplicity of manners, are the
concomitants of ignorance.
What, for example, has piety, under the heathen or Christian system,
been, but a blind faith in things contrary to the principles of
reason? And could poor reason make considerable advances when it
was reckoned the highest degree of virtue to do violence to its
dictates? Lutherans, preaching reformation, have built a reputation
for sanctity on the same foundation as the Catholics; yet I do not
perceive that a regular attendance on public worship, and their
other observances, make them a whit more true in their affections,
or honest in their private transactions. It seems, indeed, quite as
easy to prevaricate with religious injunctions as human laws, when
the exercise of their reason does not lead people to acquire
principles for themselves to be the criterion of all those they
receive from others.
If travelling, as the completion of a liberal education, were to be
adopted on rational grounds, the northern states ought to be visited
before the more polished parts of Europe, to serve as the elements
even of the knowledge of manners, only to be acquired by tracing the
various shades in different countries. But, when visiting distant
climes, a momentary social sympathy should not be allowed to
influence the conclusions of the understanding, for hospitality too
frequently leads travellers, especially those who travel in search
of pleasure, to make a false estimate of the virtues of a nation,
which, I am now convinced, bear an exact proportion to their
scientific improvements.
Adieu.
LETTER XX.
I have formerly censured the French for their extreme attachment to
theatrical exhibitions, because I thought that they tended to render
them vain and unnatural characters; but I must acknowledge,
especially as women of the town never appear in the Parisian as at
our theatres, that the little saving of the week is more usefully
expended there every Sunday than in porter or brandy, to intoxicate
or stupify the mind. The common people of France have a great
superiority over that class in every other country on this very
score. It is merely the sobriety of the Parisians which renders
their fetes more interesting, their gaiety never becoming disgusting
or dangerous, as is always the case when liquor circulates.
Intoxication is the pleasure of savages, and of all those whose
employments rather exhaust their animal spirits than exercise their
faculties. Is not this, in fact, the vice, both in England and the
northern states of Europe, which appears to be the greatest
impediment to general improvement? Drinking is here the principal
relaxation of the men, including smoking, but the women are very
abstemious, though they have no public amusements as a substitute.
I ought to except one theatre, which appears more than is necessary;
for when I was there it was not half full, and neither the ladies
nor actresses displayed much fancy in their dress.
The play was founded on the story of the "Mock Doctor;" and, from
the gestures of the servants, who were the best actors, I should
imagine contained some humour. The farce, termed ballet, was a kind
of pantomime, the childish incidents of which were sufficient to
show the state of the dramatic art in Denmark, and the gross taste
of the audience. A magician, in the disguise of a tinker, enters a
cottage where the women are all busy ironing, and rubs a dirty
frying-pan against the linen. The women raise a hue-and-cry, and
dance after him, rousing their husbands, who join in the dance, but
get the start of them in the pursuit. The tinker, with the frying-
pan for a shield, renders them immovable, and blacks their cheeks.
Each laughs at the other, unconscious of his own appearance;
meanwhile the women enter to enjoy the sport, "the rare fun," with
other incidents of the same species.
The singing was much on a par with the dancing, the one as destitute
of grace as the other of expression; but the orchestra was well
filled, the instrumental being far superior to the vocal music.
I have likewise visited the public library and museum, as well as
the palace of Rosembourg. This palace, now deserted, displays a
gloomy kind of grandeur throughout, for the silence of spacious
apartments always makes itself to be felt; I at least feel it, and I
listen for the sound of my footsteps as I have done at midnight to
the ticking of the death-watch, encouraging a kind of fanciful
superstition. Every object carried me back to past times, and
impressed the manners of the age forcibly on my mind. In this point
of view the preservation of old palaces and their tarnished
furniture is useful, for they may be considered as historical
documents.
The vacuum left by departed greatness was everywhere observable,
whilst the battles and processions portrayed on the walls told you
who had here excited revelry after retiring from slaughter, or
dismissed pageantry in search of pleasure. It seemed a vast tomb
full of the shadowy phantoms of those who had played or toiled their
hour out and sunk behind the tapestry which celebrated the conquests
of love or war. Could they be no more--to whom my imagination thus
gave life? Could the thoughts, of which there remained so many
vestiges, have vanished quite away? And these beings, composed of
such noble materials of thinking and feeling, have they only melted
into the elements to keep in motion the grand mass of life? It
cannot be!--as easily could I believe that the large silver lions at
the top of the banqueting room thought and reasoned. But avaunt! ye
waking dreams! yet I cannot describe the curiosities to you.
There were cabinets full of baubles and gems, and swords which must
have been wielded by giant's hand. The coronation ornaments wait
quietly here till wanted, and the wardrobe exhibits the vestments
which formerly graced these shows. It is a pity they do not lend
them to the actors, instead of allowing them to perish ingloriously.
I have not visited any other palace, excepting Hirsholm, the gardens
of which are laid out with taste, and command the finest views the
country affords. As they are in the modern and English style, I
thought I was following the footsteps of Matilda, who wished to
multiply around her the images of her beloved country. I was also
gratified by the sight of a Norwegian landscape in miniature, which
with great propriety makes a part of the Danish King's garden. The
cottage is well imitated, and the whole has a pleasing effect,
particularly so to me who love Norway--its peaceful farms and
spacious wilds.
The public library consists of a collection much larger than I
expected to see; and it is well arranged. Of the value of the
Icelandic manuscripts I could not form a judgment, though the
alphabet of some of them amused me, by showing what immense labour
men will submit to, in order to transmit their ideas to posterity.
I have sometimes thought it a great misfortune for individuals to
acquire a certain delicacy of sentiment, which often makes them
weary of the common occurrences of life; yet it is this very
delicacy of feeling and thinking which probably has produced most of
the performances that have benefited mankind. It might with
propriety, perhaps, be termed the malady of genius; the cause of
that characteristic melancholy which "grows with its growth, and
strengthens with its strength."
There are some good pictures in the royal museum. Do not start, I
am not going to trouble you with a dull catalogue, or stupid
criticisms on masters to whom time has assigned their just niche in
the temple of fame; had there been any by living artists of this
country, I should have noticed them, as making a part of the
sketches I am drawing of the present state of the place. The good
pictures were mixed indiscriminately with the bad ones, in order to
assort the frames. The same fault is conspicuous in the new
splendid gallery forming at Paris; though it seems an obvious
thought that a school for artists ought to be arranged in such a
manner, as to show the progressive discoveries and improvements in
the art.
A collection of the dresses, arms, and implements of the Laplanders
attracted my attention, displaying that first species of ingenuity
which is rather a proof of patient perseverance, than comprehension
of mind. The specimens of natural history, and curiosities of art,
were likewise huddled together without that scientific order which
alone renders them useful; but this may partly have been occasioned
by the hasty manner in which they were removed from the palace when
in flames.
There are some respectable men of science here, but few literary
characters, and fewer artists. They want encouragement, and will
continue, I fear, from the present appearance of things, to languish
unnoticed a long time; for neither the vanity of wealth, nor the
enterprising spirit of commerce, has yet thrown a glance that way.
Besides, the Prince Royal, determined to be economical, almost
descends to parsimony; and perhaps depresses his subjects, by
labouring not to oppress them; for his intentions always seem to be
good--yet nothing can give a more forcible idea of the dulness which
eats away all activity of mind, than the insipid routine of a court,
without magnificence or elegance.
The Prince, from what I can now collect, has very moderate
abilities; yet is so well disposed, that Count Bernstorff finds him
as tractable as he could wish; for I consider the Count as the real
sovereign, scarcely behind the curtain; the Prince having none of
that obstinate self-sufficiency of youth, so often the forerunner of
decision of character. He and the Princess his wife, dine every day
with the King, to save the expense of two tables. What a mummery it
must be to treat as a king a being who has lost the majesty of man!
But even Count Bernstorff's morality submits to this standing
imposition; and he avails himself of it sometimes, to soften a
refusal of his own, by saying it is the WILL of the King, my master,
when everybody knows that he has neither will nor memory. Much the
same use is made of him as, I have observed, some termagant wives
make of their husbands; they would dwell on the necessity of obeying
their husbands, poor passive souls, who never were allowed TO WILL,
when they wanted to conceal their own tyranny.
A story is told here of the King's formerly making a dog counsellor
of state, because when the dog, accustomed to eat at the royal
table, snatched a piece of meat off an old officer's plate, he
reproved him jocosely, saying that he, monsieur le chien, had not
the privilege of dining with his majesty, a privilege annexed to
this distinction.
The burning of the palace was, in fact, a fortunate circumstance, as
it afforded a pretext for reducing the establishment of the
household, which was far too great for the revenue of the Crown.
The Prince Royal, at present, runs into the opposite extreme; and
the formality, if not the parsimony, of the court, seems to extend
to all the other branches of society, which I had an opportunity of
observing; though hospitality still characterises their intercourse
with strangers.
But let me now stop; I may be a little partial, and view everything
with the jaundiced eye of melancholy--for I am sad--and have cause.
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