Books: Letters on Sweden, Norway, and Denmark

M >> Mary Wollstonecraft >> Letters on Sweden, Norway, and Denmark

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In short, everything seems to announce that the prince really
cherishes the laudable ambition of fulfilling the duties of his
station. This ambition is cherished and directed by the Count
Bernstorff, the Prime Minister of Denmark, who is universally
celebrated for his abilities and virtue. The happiness of the
people is a substantial eulogium; and, from all I can gather, the
inhabitants of Denmark and Norway are the least oppressed people of
Europe. The press is free. They translate any of the French
publications of the day, deliver their opinion on the subject, and
discuss those it leads to with great freedom, and without fearing to
displease the Government.

On the subject of religion they are likewise becoming tolerant, at
least, and perhaps have advanced a step further in free-thinking.
One writer has ventured to deny the divinity of Jesus Christ, and to
question the necessity or utility of the Christian system, without
being considered universally as a monster, which would have been the
case a few years ago. They have translated many German works on
education; and though they have not adopted any of their plans, it
has become a subject of discussion. There are some grammar and free
schools; but, from what I hear, not very good ones. All the
children learn to read, write, and cast accounts, for the purposes
of common life. They have no university; and nothing that deserves
the name of science is taught; nor do individuals, by pursuing any
branch of knowledge, excite a degree of curiosity which is the
forerunner of improvement. Knowledge is not absolutely necessary to
enable a considerable portion of the community to live; and, till it
is, I fear it never becomes general.

In this country, where minerals abound, there is not one collection;
and, in all probability, I venture a conjecture, the want of
mechanical and chemical knowledge renders the silver mines
unproductive, for the quantity of silver obtained every year is not
sufficient to defray the expenses. It has been urged that the
employment of such a number of hands is very beneficial. But a
positive loss is never to be done away; and the men, thus employed,
would naturally find some other means of living, instead of being
thus a dead weight on Government, or rather on the community from
whom its revenue is drawn.

About three English miles from Tonsberg there is a salt work,
belonging, like all their establishments, to Government, in which
they employ above a hundred and fifty men, and maintain nearly five
hundred people, who earn their living. The clear profit, an
increasing one, amounts to two thousand pounds sterling. And as the
eldest son of the inspector, an ingenious young man, has been sent
by the Government to travel, and acquire some mathematical and
chemical knowledge in Germany, it has a chance of being improved.
He is the only person I have met with here who appears to have a
scientific turn of mind. I do not mean to assert that I have not
met with others who have a spirit of inquiry.

The salt-works at St. Ubes are basins in the sand, and the sun
produces the evaporation, but here there is no beach. Besides, the
heat of summer is so short-lived that it would be idle to contrive
machines for such an inconsiderable portion of the year. They
therefore always use fires; and the whole establishment appears to
be regulated with judgment.

The situation is well chosen and beautiful. I do not find, from the
observation of a person who has resided here for forty years, that
the sea advances or recedes on this coast.

I have already remarked that little attention is paid to education,
excepting reading, writing, and the rudiments of arithmetic; I ought
to have added that a catechism is carefully taught, and the children
obliged to read in the churches, before the congregation, to prove
that they are not neglected.

Degrees, to enable any one to practise any profession, must be taken
at Copenhagen; and the people of this country, having the good sense
to perceive that men who are to live in a community should at least
acquire the elements of their knowledge, and form their youthful
attachments there, are seriously endeavouring to establish a
university in Norway. And Tonsberg, as a central place in the best
part of the country, had the most suffrages, for, experiencing the
bad effects of a metropolis, they have determined not to have it in
or near Christiania. Should such an establishment take place, it
will promote inquiry throughout the country, and give a new face to
society. Premiums have been offered, and prize questions written,
which I am told have merit. The building college-halls, and other
appendages of the seat of science, might enable Tonsberg to recover
its pristine consequence, for it is one of the most ancient towns of
Norway, and once contained nine churches. At present there are only
two. One is a very old structure, and has a Gothic respectability
about it, which scarcely amounts to grandeur, because, to render a
Gothic pile grand, it must have a huge unwieldiness of appearance.
The chapel of Windsor may be an exception to this rule; I mean
before it was in its present nice, clean state. When I first saw
it, the pillars within had acquired, by time, a sombre hue, which
accorded with the architecture; and the gloom increased its
dimensions to the eye by hiding its parts; but now it all bursts on
the view at once, and the sublimity has vanished before the brush
and broom; for it has been white-washed and scraped till it has
become as bright and neat as the pots and pans in a notable house-
wife's kitchen--yes; the very spurs on the recumbent knights were
deprived of their venerable rust, to give a striking proof that a
love of order in trifles, and taste for proportion and arrangement,
are very distinct. The glare of light thus introduced entirely
destroys the sentiment these piles are calculated to inspire; so
that, when I heard something like a jig from the organ-loft, I
thought it an excellent hall for dancing or feasting. The measured
pace of thought with which I had entered the cathedral changed into
a trip; and I bounded on the terrace, to see the royal family, with
a number of ridiculous images in my head that I shall not now
recall.

The Norwegians are fond of music, and every little church has an
organ. In the church I have mentioned there is an inscription
importing that a king James VI. of Scotland and I. of England, who
came with more than princely gallantry to escort his bride home--
stood there, and heard divine service.

There is a little recess full of coffins, which contains bodies
embalmed long since--so long, that there is not even a tradition to
lead to a guess at their names.

A desire of preserving the body seems to have prevailed in most
countries of the world, futile as it is to term it a preservation,
when the noblest parts are immediately sacrificed merely to save the
muscles, skin, and bone from rottenness. When I was shown these
human petrifactions, I shrank back with disgust and horror. "Ashes
to ashes!" thought I--"Dust to dust!" If this be not dissolution,
it is something worse than natural decay--it is treason against
humanity, thus to lift up the awful veil which would fain hide its
weakness. The grandeur of the active principle is never more
strongly felt than at such a sight, for nothing is so ugly as the
human form when deprived of life, and thus dried into stone, merely
to preserve the most disgusting image of death. The contemplation
of noble ruins produces a melancholy that exalts the mind. We take
a retrospect of the exertions of man, the fate of empires and their
rulers, and marking the grand destruction of ages, it seems the
necessary change of the leading to improvement. Our very soul
expands, and we forget our littleness--how painfully brought to our
recollection by such vain attempts to snatch from decay what is
destined so soon to perish. Life, what art thou? Where goes this
breath?--this _I_, so much alive? In what element will it mix,
giving or receiving fresh energy? What will break the enchantment
of animation? For worlds I would not see a form I loved--embalmed
in my heart --thus sacrilegiously handled? Pugh! my stomach turns.
Is this all the distinction of the rich in the grave? They had
better quietly allow the scythe of equality to mow them down with
the common mass, than struggle to become a monument of the
instability of human greatness.

The teeth, nails, and skin were whole, without appearing black like
the Egyptian mummies; and some silk, in which they had been wrapped,
still preserved its colour--pink--with tolerable freshness.

I could not learn how long the bodies had been in this state, in
which they bid fair to remain till the Day of Judgment, if there is
to be such a day; and before that time, it will require some trouble
to make them fit to appear in company with angels without disgracing
humanity. God bless you! I feel a conviction that we have some
perfectible principle in our present vestment, which will not be
destroyed just as we begin to be sensible of improvement; and I care
not what habit it next puts on, sure that it will be wisely formed
to suit a higher state of existence. Thinking of death makes us
tenderly cling to our affections; with more than usual tenderness I
therefore assure you that I am yours, wishing that the temporary
death of absence may not endure longer than is absolutely necessary.

LETTER VIII.

Tonsberg was formerly the residence of one of the little sovereigns
of Norway; and on an adjacent mountain the vestiges of a fort
remain, which was battered down by the Swedes, the entrance of the
bay lying close to it.

Here I have frequently strayed, sovereign of the waste; I seldom met
any human creature; and sometimes, reclining on the mossy down,
under the shelter of a rock, the prattling of the sea amongst the
pebbles has lulled me to sleep--no fear of any rude satyr's
approaching to interrupt my repose. Balmy were the slumbers, and
soft the gales, that refreshed me, when I awoke to follow, with an
eye vaguely curious, the white sails, as they turned the cliffs, or
seemed to take shelter under the pines which covered the little
islands that so gracefully rose to render the terrific ocean
beautiful. The fishermen were calmly casting their nets, whilst the
sea-gulls hovered over the unruffled deep. Everything seemed to
harmonise into tranquillity; even the mournful call of the bittern
was in cadence with the tinkling bells on the necks of the cows,
that, pacing slowly one after the other, along an inviting path in
the vale below, were repairing to the cottages to be milked. With
what ineffable pleasure have I not gazed--and gazed again, losing my
breath through my eyes--my very soul diffused itself in the scene;
and, seeming to become all senses, glided in the scarcely-agitated
waves, melted in the freshening breeze, or, taking its flight with
fairy wing, to the misty mountain which bounded the prospect, fancy
tripped over new lawns, more beautiful even than the lovely slopes
on the winding shore before me. I pause, again breathless, to
trace, with renewed delight, sentiments which entranced me, when,
turning my humid eyes from the expanse below to the vault above, my
sight pierced the fleecy clouds that softened the azure brightness;
and imperceptibly recalling the reveries of childhood, I bowed
before the awful throne of my Creator, whilst I rested on its
footstool.

You have sometimes wondered, my dear friend, at the extreme
affection of my nature. But such is the temperature of my soul. It
is not the vivacity of youth, the heyday of existence. For years
have I endeavoured to calm an impetuous tide, labouring to make my
feelings take an orderly course. It was striving against the
stream. I must love and admire with warmth, or I sink into sadness.
Tokens of love which I have received have wrapped me in Elysium,
purifying the heart they enchanted. My bosom still glows. Do not
saucily ask, repeating Sterne's question, "Maria, is it still so
warm?" Sufficiently, O my God! Has it been chilled by sorrow and
unkindness; still nature will prevail; and if I blush at
recollecting past enjoyment, it is the rosy hue of pleasure
heightened by modesty, for the blush of modesty and shame are as
distinct as the emotions by which they are produced.

I need scarcely inform you, after telling you of my walks, that my
constitution has been renovated here, and that I have recovered my
activity even whilst attaining a little embonpoint. My imprudence
last winter, and some untoward accidents just at the time I was
weaning my child, had reduced me to a state of weakness which I
never before experienced. A slow fever preyed on me every night
during my residence in Sweden, and after I arrived at Tonsberg. By
chance I found a fine rivulet filtered through the rocks, and
confined in a basin for the cattle. It tasted to me like a
chalybeate; at any rate, it was pure; and the good effect of the
various waters which invalids are sent to drink depends, I believe,
more on the air, exercise, and change of scene, than on their
medicinal qualities. I therefore determined to turn my morning
walks towards it, and seek for health from the nymph of the
fountain, partaking of the beverage offered to the tenants of the
shade.

Chance likewise led me to discover a new pleasure equally beneficial
to my health. I wished to avail myself of my vicinity to the sea
and bathe; but it was not possible near the town; there was no
convenience. The young woman whom I mentioned to you proposed
rowing me across the water amongst the rocks; but as she was
pregnant, I insisted on taking one of the oars, and learning to row.
It was not difficult, and I do not know a pleasanter exercise. I
soon became expert, and my train of thinking kept time, as it were,
with the oars, or I suffered the boat to be carried along by the
current, indulging a pleasing forgetfulness or fallacious hopes.
How fallacious! yet, without hope, what is to sustain life, but the
fear of annihilation--the only thing of which I have ever felt a
dread. I cannot bear to think of being no more--of losing myself--
though existence is often but a painful consciousness of misery;
nay, it appears to me impossible that I should cease to exist, or
that this active, restless spirit, equally alive to joy and sorrow,
should only be organised dust--ready to fly abroad the moment the
spring snaps, or the spark goes out which kept it together. Surely
something resides in this heart that is not perishable, and life is
more than a dream.

Sometimes, to take up my oar once more, when the sea was calm, I was
amused by disturbing the innumerable young star fish which floated
just below the surface; I had never observed them before, for they
have not a hard shell like those which I have seen on the seashore.
They look like thickened water with a white edge, and four purple
circles, of different forms, were in the middle, over an incredible
number of fibres or white lines. Touching them, the cloudy
substance would turn or close, first on one side, then on the other,
very gracefully, but when I took one of them up in the ladle, with
which I heaved the water out of the boat, it appeared only a
colourless jelly.

I did not see any of the seals, numbers of which followed our boat
when we landed in Sweden; but though I like to sport in the water I
should have had no desire to join in their gambols.

Enough, you will say, of inanimate nature and of brutes, to use the
lordly phrase of man; let me hear something of the inhabitants.

The gentleman with whom I had business is the Mayor of Tonsberg. He
speaks English intelligibly, and, having a sound understanding, I
was sorry that his numerous occupations prevented my gaining as much
information from him as I could have drawn forth had we frequently
conversed. The people of the town, as far as I had an opportunity
of knowing their sentiments, are extremely well satisfied with his
manner of discharging his office. He has a degree of information
and good sense which excites respect, whilst a cheerfulness, almost
amounting to gaiety, enables him to reconcile differences and keep
his neighbours in good humour. "I lost my horse," said a woman to
me, "but ever since, when I want to send to the mill, or go out, the
Mayor lends me one. He scolds if I do not come for it."

A criminal was branded, during my stay here, for the third offence;
but the relief he received made him declare that the judge was one
of the best men in the world.

I sent this wretch a trifle, at different times, to take with him
into slavery. As it was more than he expected, he wished very much
to see me, and this wish brought to my remembrance an anecdote I
heard when I was in Lisbon.

A wretch who had been imprisoned several years, during which period
lamps had been put up, was at last condemned to a cruel death, yet,
in his way to execution, he only wished for one night's respite to
see the city lighted.

Having dined in company at the mayor's I was invited with his family
to spend the day at one of the richest merchant's houses. Though I
could not speak Danish I knew that I could see a great deal; yes, I
am persuaded that I have formed a very just opinion of the character
of the Norwegians, without being able to hold converse with them.

I had expected to meet some company, yet was a little disconcerted
at being ushered into an apartment full of well dressed people, and
glancing my eyes round they rested on several very pretty faces.
Rosy cheeks, sparkling eyes, and light brown or golden locks; for I
never saw so much hair with a yellow cast, and, with their fine
complexions, it looked very becoming.

These women seem a mixture of indolence and vivacity; they scarcely
ever walk out, and were astonished that I should for pleasure, yet
they are immoderately fond of dancing. Unaffected in their manners,
if they have no pretensions to elegance, simplicity often produces a
gracefulness of deportment, when they are animated by a particular
desire to please, which was the case at present. The solitariness
of my situation, which they thought terrible, interested them very
much in my favour. They gathered round me, sung to me, and one of
the prettiest, to whom I gave my hand with some degree of
cordiality, to meet the glance of her eyes, kissed me very
affectionately.

At dinner, which was conducted with great hospitality, though we
remained at table too long, they sung several songs, and, amongst
the rest, translations of some patriotic French ones. As the
evening advanced they became playful, and we kept up a sort of
conversation of gestures. As their minds were totally uncultivated
I did not lose much, perhaps gained, by not being able to understand
them; for fancy probably filled up, more to their advantage, the
void in the picture. Be that as it may, they excited my sympathy,
and I was very much flattered when I was told the next day that they
said it was a pleasure to look at me, I appeared so good-natured.

The men were generally captains of ships. Several spoke English
very tolerably, but they were merely matter-of-fact men, confined to
a very narrow circle of observation. I found it difficult to obtain
from them any information respecting their own country, when the
fumes of tobacco did not keep me at a distance.

I was invited to partake of some other feasts, and always had to
complain of the quantity of provision and the length of time taken
to consume it; for it would not have been proper to have said
devour, all went on so fair and softly. The servants wait as slowly
as their mistresses carve.

The young women here, as well as in Sweden, have commonly bad teeth,
which I attribute to the same causes. They are fond of finery, but
do not pay the necessary attention to their persons, to render
beauty less transient than a flower, and that interesting expression
which sentiment and accomplishments give seldom supplies its place.

The servants have, likewise, an inferior sort of food here, but
their masters are not allowed to strike them with impunity. I might
have added mistresses, for it was a complaint of this kind brought
before the mayor which led me to a knowledge of the fact.

The wages are low, which is particularly unjust, because the price
of clothes is much higher than that of provision. A young woman,
who is wet nurse to the mistress of the inn where I lodge, receives
only twelve dollars a year, and pays ten for the nursing of her own
child. The father had run away to get clear of the expense. There
was something in this most painful state of widowhood which excited
my compassion and led me to reflections on the instability of the
most flattering plans of happiness, that were painful in the
extreme, till I was ready to ask whether this world was not created
to exhibit every possible combination of wretchedness. I asked
these questions of a heart writhing with anguish, whilst I listened
to a melancholy ditty sung by this poor girl. It was too early for
thee to be abandoned, thought I, and I hastened out of the house to
take my solitary evening's walk. And here I am again to talk of
anything but the pangs arising from the discovery of estranged
affection and the lonely sadness of a deserted heart.

The father and mother, if the father can be ascertained, are obliged
to maintain an illegitimate child at their joint expense; but,
should the father disappear, go up the country or to sea, the mother
must maintain it herself. However, accidents of this kind do not
prevent their marrying, and then it is not unusual to take the child
or children home, and they are brought up very amicably with the
marriage progeny.

I took some pains to learn what books were written originally in
their language; but for any certain information respecting the state
of Danish literature I must wait till I arrive at Copenhagen.

The sound of the language is soft, a great proportion of the words
ending in vowels; and there is a simplicity in the turn of some of
the phrases which have been translated to me that pleased and
interested me. In the country the farmers use the THOU and THEE;
and they do not acquire the polite plurals of the towns by meeting
at market. The not having markets established in the large towns
appears to me a great inconvenience. When the farmers have anything
to sell they bring it to the neighbouring town and take it from
house to house. I am surprised that the inhabitants do not feel how
very incommodious this usage is to both parties, and redress it;
they, indeed, perceive it, for when I have introduced the subject
they acknowledged that they were often in want of necessaries, there
being no butchers, and they were often obliged to buy what they did
not want; yet it was the custom, and the changing of customs of a
long standing requires more energy than they yet possess. I
received a similar reply when I attempted to persuade the women that
they injured their children by keeping them too warm. The only way
of parrying off my reasoning was that they must do as other people
did; in short, reason on any subject of change, and they stop you by
saying that "the town would talk." A person of sense, with a large
fortune to ensure respect, might be very useful here, by inducing
them to treat their children and manage their sick properly, and eat
food dressed in a simpler manner--the example, for instance, of a
count's lady.

Reflecting on these prejudices made me revert to the wisdom of those
legislators who established institutions for the good of the body
under the pretext of serving heaven for the salvation of the soul.
These might with strict propriety be termed pious frauds; and I
admire the Peruvian pair for asserting that they came from the sun,
when their conduct proved that they meant to enlighten a benighted
country, whose obedience, or even attention, could only be secured
by awe. Thus much for conquering the INERTIA of reason; but, when
it is once in motion, fables once held sacred may be ridiculed; and
sacred they were when useful to mankind. Prometheus alone stole
fire to animate the first man; his posterity needs not supernatural
aid to preserve the species, though love is generally termed a
flame; and it may not be necessary much longer to suppose men
inspired by heaven to inculcate the duties which demand special
grace when reason convinces them that they are the happiest who are
the most nobly employed.

In a few days I am to set out for the western part of Norway, and
then shall return by land to Gothenburg. I cannot think of leaving
this place without regret. I speak of the place before the
inhabitants, though there is a tenderness in their artless kindness
which attaches me to them; but it is an attachment that inspires a
regret very different from that I felt at leaving Hull in my way to
Sweden. The domestic happiness and good-humoured gaiety of the
amiable family where I and my Frances were so hospitably received
would have been sufficient to ensure the tenderest remembrance,
without the recollection of the social evening to stimulate it, when
good breeding gave dignity to sympathy and wit zest to reason.

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