Books: Letters on Sweden, Norway, and Denmark

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

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Approaching, or rather descending, to Christiania, though the
weather continued a little cloudy, my eyes were charmed with the
view of an extensive undulated valley, stretching out under the
shelter of a noble amphitheatre of pine-covered mountains. Farm
houses scattered about animated, nay, graced a scene which still
retained so much of its native wildness, that the art which appeared
seemed so necessary, it was scarcely perceived. Cattle were grazing
in the shaven meadows; and the lively green on their swelling sides
contrasted with the ripening corn and rye. The corn that grew on
the slopes had not, indeed, the laughing luxuriance of plenty, which
I have seen in more genial climes. A fresh breeze swept across the
grain, parting its slender stalks, but the wheat did not wave its
head with its wonted careless dignity, as if nature had crowned it
the king of plants.

The view, immediately on the left, as we drove down the mountain,
was almost spoilt by the depredations committed on the rocks to make
alum. I do not know the process. I only saw that the rocks looked
red after they had been burnt, and regretted that the operation
should leave a quantity of rubbish to introduce an image of human
industry in the shape of destruction. The situation of Christiania
is certainly uncommonly fine, and I never saw a bay that so forcibly
gave me an idea of a place of safety from the storms of the ocean;
all the surrounding objects were beautiful and even grand. But
neither the rocky mountains, nor the woods that graced them, could
be compared with the sublime prospects I had seen to the westward;
and as for the hills, "capped with ETERNAL snow," Mr. Coxe's
description led me to look for them, but they had flown, for I
looked vainly around for this noble background.

A few months ago the people of Christiania rose, exasperated by the
scarcity and consequent high price of grain. The immediate cause
was the shipping of some, said to be for Moss, but which they
suspected was only a pretext to send it out of the country, and I am
not sure that they were wrong in their conjecture. Such are the
tricks of trade. They threw stones at Mr. Anker, the owner of it,
as he rode out of town to escape from their fury; they assembled
about his house, and the people demanded afterwards, with so much
impetuosity, the liberty of those who were taken up in consequence
of the tumult, that the Grand Bailiff thought it prudent to release
them without further altercation.

You may think me too severe on commerce, but from the manner it is
at present carried on little can be advanced in favour of a pursuit
that wears out the most sacred principles of humanity and rectitude.
What is speculation but a species of gambling, I might have said
fraud, in which address generally gains the prize? I was led into
these reflections when I heard of some tricks practised by
merchants, miscalled reputable, and certainly men of property,
during the present war, in which common honesty was violated:
damaged goods and provision having been shipped for the express
purpose of falling into the hands of the English, who had pledged
themselves to reimburse neutral nations for the cargoes they seized;
cannon also, sent back as unfit for service, have been shipped as a
good speculation, the captain receiving orders to cruise about till
he fell in with an English frigate. Many individuals I believe have
suffered by the seizures of their vessels; still I am persuaded that
the English Government has been very much imposed upon in the
charges made by merchants who contrived to get their ships taken.
This censure is not confined to the Danes. Adieu, for the present,
I must take advantage of a moment of fine weather to walk out and
see the town.

At Christiania I met with that polite reception, which rather
characterises the progress of manners in the world, than of any
particular portion of it. The first evening of my arrival I supped
with some of the most fashionable people of the place, and almost
imagined myself in a circle of English ladies, so much did they
resemble them in manners, dress, and even in beauty; for the fairest
of my countrywomen would not have been sorry to rank with the Grand
Bailiff's lady. There were several pretty girls present, but she
outshone them all, and, what interested me still more, I could not
avoid observing that in acquiring the easy politeness which
distinguishes people of quality, she had preserved her Norwegian
simplicity. There was, in fact, a graceful timidity in her address,
inexpressibly charming. This surprised me a little, because her
husband was quite a Frenchman of the ancien regime, or rather a
courtier, the same kind of animal in every country.

Here I saw the cloven foot of despotism. I boasted to you that they
had no viceroy in Norway, but these Grand Bailiffs, particularly the
superior one, who resides at Christiania, are political monsters of
the same species. Needy sycophants are provided for by their
relations and connections at Copenhagen as at other courts. And
though the Norwegians are not in the abject state of the Irish, yet
this second-hand government is still felt by their being deprived of
several natural advantages to benefit the domineering state.

The Grand Bailiffs are mostly noblemen from Copenhagen, who act as
men of common minds will always act in such situations--aping a
degree of courtly parade which clashes with the independent
character of a magistrate. Besides, they have a degree of power
over the country judges, which some of them, who exercise a
jurisdiction truly patriarchal most painfully feel. I can scarcely
say why, my friend, but in this city thoughtfulness seemed to be
sliding into melancholy or rather dulness. The fire of fancy, which
had been kept alive in the country, was almost extinguished by
reflections on the ills that harass such a large portion of mankind.
I felt like a bird fluttering on the ground unable to mount, yet
unwilling to crawl tranquilly like a reptile, whilst still conscious
it had wings.

1 walked out, for the open air is always my remedy when an aching
head proceeds from an oppressed heart. Chance directed my steps
towards the fortress, and the sight of the slaves, working with
chains on their legs, only served to embitter me still more against
the regulations of society, which treated knaves in such a different
manner, especially as there was a degree of energy in some of their
countenances which unavoidably excited my attention, and almost
created respect.

I wished to have seen, through an iron grate, the face of a man who
has been confined six years for having induced the farmers to revolt
against some impositions of the Government. I could not obtain a
clear account of the affair, yet, as the complaint was against some
farmers of taxes, I am inclined to believe that it was not totally
without foundation. He must have possessed some eloquence, or have
had truth on his side; for the farmers rose by hundreds to support
him, and were very much exasperated at his imprisonment, which will
probably last for life, though he has sent several very spirited
remonstrances to the upper court, which makes the judges so averse
to giving a sentence which may be cavilled at, that they take
advantage of the glorious uncertainty of the law, to protract a
decision which is only to be regulated by reasons of state.

The greater number of the slaves I saw here were not confined for
life. Their labour is not hard; and they work in the open air,
which prevents their constitutions from suffering by imprisonment.
Still, as they are allowed to associate together, and boast of their
dexterity, not only to each other but to the soldiers around them,
in the garrison; they commonly, it is natural to conclude, go out
more confirmed and more expert knaves than when they entered.

It is not necessary to trace the origin of the association of ideas
which led me to think that the stars and gold keys, which surrounded
me the evening before, disgraced the wearers as much as the fetters
I was viewing--perhaps more. I even began to investigate the
reason, which led me to suspect that the former produced the latter.

The Norwegians are extravagantly fond of courtly distinction, and of
titles, though they have no immunities annexed to them, and are
easily purchased. The proprietors of mines have many privileges:
they are almost exempt from taxes, and the peasantry born on their
estates, as well as those on the counts', are not born soldiers or
sailors.

One distinction, or rather trophy of nobility, which I might have
occurred to the Hottentots, amused me; it was a bunch of hog's
bristles placed on the horses' heads, surmounting that part of the
harness to which a round piece of brass often dangles, fatiguing the
eye with its idle motion.

From the fortress I returned to my lodging, and quickly was taken
out of town to be shown a pretty villa, and English garden. To a
Norwegian both might have been objects of curiosity; and of use, by
exciting to the comparison which leads to improvement. But whilst I
gazed, I was employed in restoring the place to nature, or taste, by
giving it the character of the surrounding scene. Serpentine walks,
and flowering-shrubs, looked trifling in a grand recess of the
rooks, shaded by towering pines. Groves of smaller trees might have
been sheltered under them, which would have melted into the
landscape, displaying only the art which ought to point out the
vicinity of a human abode, furnished with some elegance. But few
people have sufficient taste to discern, that the art of
embellishing consists in interesting, not in astonishing.

Christiania is certainly very pleasantly situated, and the environs
I passed through, during this ride, afforded many fine and
cultivated prospects; but, excepting the first view approaching to
it, rarely present any combination of objects so strikingly new, or
picturesque, as to command remembrance. Adieu!

LETTER XIV.

Christiania is a clean, neat city; but it has none of the graces of
architecture, which ought to keep pace with the refining manners of
a people--or the outside of the house will disgrace the inside,
giving the beholder an idea of overgrown wealth devoid of taste.
Large square wooden houses offend the eye, displaying more than
Gothic barbarism. Huge Gothic piles, indeed, exhibit a
characteristic sublimity, and a wildness of fancy peculiar to the
period when they were erected; but size, without grandeur or
elegance, has an emphatical stamp of meanness, of poverty of
conception, which only a commercial spirit could give.

The same thought has struck me, when I have entered the meeting-
house of my respected friend, Dr. Price. I am surprised that the
dissenters, who have not laid aside all the pomps and vanities of
life, should imagine a noble pillar, or arch, unhallowed. Whilst
men have senses, whatever soothes them lends wings to devotion; else
why do the beauties of nature, where all that charm them are spread
around with a lavish hand, force even the sorrowing heart to
acknowledge that existence is a blessing? and this acknowledgment is
the most sublime homage we can pay to the Deity.

The argument of convenience is absurd. Who would labour for wealth,
if it were to procure nothing but conveniences. If we wish to
render mankind moral from principle, we must, I am persuaded, give a
greater scope to the enjoyments of the senses by blending taste with
them. This has frequently occurred to me since I have been in the
north, and observed that there sanguine characters always take
refuge in drunkenness after the fire of youth is spent.

But I have flown from Norway. To go back to the wooden houses;
farms constructed with logs, and even little villages, here erected
in the same simple manner, have appeared to me very picturesque. In
the more remote parts I had been particularly pleased with many
cottages situated close to a brook, or bordering on a lake, with the
whole farm contiguous. As the family increases, a little more land
is cultivated; thus the country is obviously enriched by population.
Formerly the farmers might more justly have been termed woodcutters.
But now they find it necessary to spare the woods a little, and this
change will be universally beneficial; for whilst they lived
entirely by selling the trees they felled, they did not pay
sufficient attention to husbandry; consequently, advanced very
slowly in agricultural knowledge. Necessity will in future more and
more spur them on; for the ground, cleared of wood, must be
cultivated, or the farm loses its value; there is no waiting for
food till another generation of pines be grown to maturity.

The people of property are very careful of their timber; and,
rambling through a forest near Tonsberg, belonging to the Count, I
have stopped to admire the appearance of some of the cottages
inhabited by a woodman's family--a man employed to cut down the wood
necessary for the household and the estate. A little lawn was
cleared, on which several lofty trees were left which nature had
grouped, whilst the encircling firs sported with wild grace. The
dwelling was sheltered by the forest, noble pines spreading their
branches over the roof; and before the door a cow, goat, nag, and
children, seemed equally content with their lot; and if contentment
be all we can attain, it is, perhaps, best secured by ignorance.

As I have been most delighted with the country parts of Norway, I
was sorry to leave Christiania without going farther to the north,
though the advancing season admonished me to depart, as well as the
calls of business and affection.

June and July are the months to make a tour through Norway; for then
the evenings and nights are the finest I have ever seen; but towards
the middle or latter end of August the clouds begin to gather, and
summer disappears almost before it has ripened the fruit of autumn--
even, as it were, slips from your embraces, whilst the satisfied
senses seem to rest in enjoyment.

You will ask, perhaps, why I wished to go farther northward. Why?
not only because the country, from all I can gather, is most
romantic, abounding in forests and lakes, and the air pure, but I
have heard much of the intelligence of the inhabitants, substantial
farmers, who have none of that cunning to contaminate their
simplicity, which displeased me so much in the conduct of the people
on the sea coast. A man who has been detected in any dishonest act
can no longer live among them. He is universally shunned, and shame
becomes the severest punishment.

Such a contempt have they, in fact, for every species of fraud, that
they will not allow the people on the western coast to be their
countrymen; so much do they despise the arts for which those traders
who live on the rocks are notorious.

The description I received of them carried me back to the fables of
the golden age: independence and virtue; affluence without vice;
cultivation of mind, without depravity of heart; with "ever smiling
Liberty;" the nymph of the mountain. I want faith!

My imagination hurries me forward to seek an asylum in such a
retreat from all the disappointments I am threatened with; but
reason drags me back, whispering that the world is still the world,
and man the same compound of weakness and folly, who must
occasionally excite love and disgust, admiration and contempt. But
this description, though it seems to have been sketched by a fairy
pencil, was given me by a man of sound understanding, whose fancy
seldom appears to run away with him.

A law in Norway, termed the odels right, has lately been modified,
and probably will be abolished as an impediment to commerce. The
heir of an estate had the power of re-purchasing it at the original
purchase money, making allowance for such improvements as were
absolutely necessary, during the space of twenty years. At present
ten is the term allowed for afterthought; and when the regulation
was made, all the men of abilities were invited to give their
opinion whether it were better to abrogate or modify it. It is
certainly a convenient and safe way of mortgaging land; yet the most
rational men whom I conversed with on the subject seemed convinced
that the right was more injurious than beneficial to society; still
if it contribute to keep the farms in the farmers' own hands, I
should be sorry to hear that it were abolished.

The aristocracy in Norway, if we keep clear of Christiania, is far
from being formidable; and it will require a long the to enable the
merchants to attain a sufficient moneyed interest to induce them to
reinforce the upper class at the expense of the yeomanry, with whom
they are usually connected.

England and America owe their liberty to commerce, which created new
species of power to undermine the feudal system. But let them
beware of the consequence; the tyranny of wealth is still more
galling and debasing than that of rank.

Farewell! I must prepare for my departure.

LETTER XV.

I left Christiania yesterday. The weather was not very fine, and
having been a little delayed on the road, I found that it was too
late to go round, a couple of miles, to see the cascade near
Fredericstadt, which I had determined to visit. Besides, as
Fredericstadt is a fortress, it was necessary to arrive there before
they shut the gate.

The road along the river is very romantic, though the views are not
grand; and the riches of Norway, its timber, floats silently down
the stream, often impeded in its course by islands and little
cataracts, the offspring, as it were, of the great one I had
frequently heard described.

I found an excellent inn at Fredericstadt, and was gratified by the
kind attention of the hostess, who, perceiving that my clothes were
wet, took great pains procure me, as a stranger, every comfort for
the night.

It had rained very hard, and we passed the ferry in the dark without
getting out of our carriage, which I think wrong, as the horses are
sometimes unruly. Fatigue and melancholy, however, had made me
regardless whether I went down or across the stream, and I did not
know that I was wet before the hostess marked it. My imagination
has never yet severed me from my griefs, and my mind has seldom been
so free as to allow my body to be delicate.

How I am altered by disappointment! When going to Lisbon, the
elasticity of my mind was sufficient to ward off weariness, and my
imagination still could dip her brush in the rainbow of fancy, and
sketch futurity in glowing colours. Now--but let me talk of
something else--will you go with me to the cascade?

The cross road to it was rugged and dreary; and though a
considerable extent of land was cultivated on all sides, yet the
rocks were entirely bare, which surprised me, as they were more on a
level with the surface than any I had yet seen. On inquiry,
however, I learnt that some years since a forest had been burnt.
This appearance of desolation was beyond measure gloomy, inspiring
emotions that sterility had never produced. Fires of this kind are
occasioned by the wind suddenly rising when the farmers are burning
roots of trees, stalks of beans, &c, with which they manure the
ground. The devastation must, indeed, be terrible, when this,
literally speaking, wildfire, runs along the forest, flying from top
to top, and crackling amongst the branches. The soil, as well as
the trees, is swept away by the destructive torrent; and the
country, despoiled of beauty and riches, is left to mourn for ages.

Admiring, as I do, these noble forests, which seem to bid defiance
to time, I looked with pain on the ridge of rocks that stretched far
beyond my eye, formerly crowned with the most beautiful verdure.

I have often mentioned the grandeur, but I feel myself unequal to
the task of conveying an idea of the beauty and elegance of the
scene when the spiry tops of the pines are loaded with ripening
seed, and the sun gives a glow to their light-green tinge, which is
changing into purple, one tree more or less advanced contrasted with
another. The profusion with which Nature has decked them with
pendant honours, prevents all surprise at seeing in every crevice
some sapling struggling for existence. Vast masses of stone are
thus encircled, and roots torn up by the storms become a shelter for
a young generation. The pine and fir woods, left entirely to
Nature, display an endless variety; and the paths in the woods are
not entangled with fallen leaves, which are only interesting whilst
they are fluttering between life and death. The grey cobweb-like
appearance of the aged pines is a much finer image of decay; the
fibres whitening as they lose their moisture, imprisoned life seems
to be stealing away. I cannot tell why, but death, under every
form, appears to me like something getting free to expand in I know
not what element--nay, I feel that this conscious being must be as
unfettered, have the wings of thought, before it can be happy.

Reaching the cascade, or rather cataract, the roaring of which had a
long time announced its vicinity, my soul was hurried by the falls
into a new train of reflections. The impetuous dashing of the
rebounding torrent from the dark cavities which mocked the exploring
eye produced an equal activity in my mind. My thoughts darted from
earth to heaven, and I asked myself why I was chained to life and
its misery. Still the tumultuous emotions this sublime object
excited were pleasurable; and, viewing it, my soul rose with renewed
dignity above its cares. Grasping at immortality--it seemed as
impossible to stop the current of my thoughts, as of the always
varying, still the same, torrent before me; I stretched out my hand
to eternity, bounding over the dark speck of life to come.

We turned with regret from the cascade. On a little hill, which
commands the best view of it, several obelisks are erected to
commemorate the visits of different kings. The appearance of the
river above and below the falls is very picturesque, the ruggedness
of the scenery disappearing as the torrent subsides into a peaceful
stream. But I did not like to see a number of saw-mills crowded
together close to the cataracts; they destroyed the harmony of the
prospect.

The sight of a bridge erected across a deep valley, at a little
distance, inspired very dissimilar sensations. It was most
ingeniously supported by mast-like trunks, just stripped of their
branches; and logs, placed one across the other, produced an
appearance equally light and firm, seeming almost to be built in the
air when we were below it, the height taking from the magnitude of
the supporting trees give them a slender graceful look.

There are two noble estates in this neighbourhood, the proprietors
of which seem to have caught more than their portion of the
enterprising spirit that is gone abroad. Many agricultural
experiments have been made, and the country appears better enclosed
and cultivated, yet the cottages had not the comfortable aspect of
those I had observed near Moss and to the westward. Man is always
debased by servitude of any description, and here the peasantry are
not entirely free. Adieu!

I almost forgot to tell you that I did not leave Norway without
making some inquiries after the monsters said to have been seen in
the northern sea; but though I conversed with several captains, I
could not meet with one who had ever heard any traditional
description of them, much less had any ocular demonstration of their
existence. Till the fact is better ascertained, I should think the
account of them ought to be torn out of our geographical grammars.

LETTER XVI.

I set out from Fredericstadt about three o'clock in the afternoon,
and expected to reach Stromstad before the night closed in; but the
wind dying away, the weather became so calm that we scarcely made
any perceptible advances towards the opposite coast, though the men
were fatigued with rowing.

Getting amongst the rocks and islands as the moon rose, and the
stars darted forward out of the clear expanse, I forgot that the
night stole on whilst indulging affectionate reveries, the poetical
fictions of sensibility; I was not, therefore, aware of the length
of time we had been toiling to reach Stromstad. And when I began to
look around, I did not perceive anything to indicate that we were in
its neighbourhood. So far from it, that when I inquired of the
pilot, who spoke a little English, I found that he was only
accustomed to coast along the Norwegian shore; and had been only
once across to Stromstad. But he had brought with him a fellow
better acquainted, he assured me, with the rocks by which they were
to steer our course, for we had not a compass on board; yet, as he
was half a fool, I had little confidence in his skill. There was
then great reason to fear that we had lost our way, and were
straying amidst a labyrinth of rocks without a clue.

This was something like an adventure, but not of the most agreeable
cast; besides, I was impatient to arrive at Stromstad, to be able to
send forward that night a boy to order horses on the road to be
ready, for I was unwilling to remain there a day without having
anything to detain me from my little girl, and from the letters
which I was impatient to get from you.

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