August. - At Upsala I shipped myself and my cariole on board of a very neat little steam-boat, the "Uppland," for Stockholm. A branch of the Malare, which at some distant period appears to have covered the whole of the extensive plain around Upsala, is navigable up to the town; although for some miles it is more like an artificial work, or small canal, than a river or lake; and this branch is at one place so narrow as to be crossed by a bridge. Skokloster, a considerable building, the seat of Count Brahe, is seen to advantage from the steam-boat. It would be reckoned in England among the first class of noblemen's mansions; but the grounds around do not correspond with the house. From the want of tenants or agricultural capital in the country, large estates must be in part farmed by the proprietor himself; and the litter of a barn-yard, or patches of potato land, under the windows of a palace, appear out of place. The most interesting object in the day's journey is the ruins of the ancient city of Sigtuna, the Saga city, the capital of Odin himself; or, at least, the chief seat of the power and religion of idolatry in Sweden before Christianity was introduced, and long before Stockholm, or even Upsala, existed. I was surprised to see four towers of ancient buildings still remaining; for I had understood the site of Sigtuna was all that could be found: and remains of edifices of stone are so rare in this country, that ruins of a much later date excite curiosity. Sigtuna was a town in ruins so early as the tenth century; so that the buildings to which these four square towers and other remains of walls have belonged, must go up probably to the eighth or ninth century. The place being out of the high road, has not been much observed or visited; but now that steam is making old places new, and new old, to the traveller, ruins which are coeval with the religion of Odin, and older than any edifices connected with Christianity in the North, deserve the careful examination of the antiquarian. The real state of the arts, and the degree of civilisation, among the followers of Odin, before their conversion to Christianity, are little known, and appear to be under-rated by historians. Their commerce, even with distant countries, was considerable. The very great quantities of Arabic and Greek coins found in Scandinavia, prove an active intercourse with the East. The gold ornaments, cups, arms, and utensils found in tumuli in these northern countries, show a wonderful perfection of workmanship; and if these are of eastern origin, still the importing them, the obtaining them either by purchase or piracy, proves a great advance in still more important arts than the working in gold or silver. They must have been merchants, ship-builders, navigators, masters of all the main arts of civilised life, to have crossed the seas to get at them in any way. The obscure traditionary accounts of the former commercial greatness of Novogorod, of a caravan trade with the East, and a diffusion from that city of the silks and spiceries of the East, by the way of Wisby, speak of a course of trade which preceded the rise of the Hanstowns, and existed prior to the introduction of Christianity in the north. The remains of buildings belonging to a period of which we know so little, and which had certainly made greater advances in the arts of civilised life than historians admit, are interesting. Sigtuna has still the privileges of a town, but has only 372 inhabitants, who live by manufacturing coarse pottery, the most ancient of manufactures in cities, and one which seems the last to quit its site. TUMULT. SPIRIT OF THE GOVERNMENT. OF THE PEOPLE. IN SWEDEN. PRIVILEGES. FERENT CLASSES. - LAND HEMMANS.-INSOKEN UTSOKEN. SATERI. PROPORTIONS OF TAXES PAID BY DIFAGRICULTURAL POPULATION. MANUPUBLIC FUNC FACTURING AND TOWN POPULATION. PEASANTRY. HERED COURTS. JURY.-LAGMANS'S COURTS. OF HOF COURTS. FAULT THE COURTS. USELESS FUNCTIONARIES. FALSE APPEARANCES OF IMPORTANCE IN THE SWEDISH GOVERNMENT. Stockholm, August. I HAVE been much surprised since my arrival, at the sudden change which has taken place during the few weeks that I have been in the North, in the spirit of this versatile people. I left them talking and laughing about the ultra precautions which their government was taking against popular commotion, because a few boys had broken the windows of a public functionary connected with the prosecution, and con demnation to a punishment too harsh in a civilised age, of a popular writer. Government has almost created the commotion it wished to prevent. The respectable citizens, who cared nothing for M. Crusenstolpe or his writings, and had scarcely heard of a few windows being broken in a remote street by a dozen or two of idle boys, have been placed under military law, their streets patrolled by cavalry, some persons killed, several wounded, and many arrested and imprisoned while going about their lawful business at ordinary hours. They have taken umbrage at these demonstrations of governing with a power beyond the law, under circumstances which the common police of the city, and the regular application of the laws, were adequate to meet. The governor of Stockholm, Baron Sprengporten, was abruptly dismissed from his office, because he dissuaded the King, when his opinion was asked, from calling in military aid without necessity. The most respectable of the citizens showed their approbation of his conduct by escorting him on his retirement to his country seat, and unanimously voting addresses to him. The popular liberal newspapers, the Aftonblad, the Allahanda, and the Freya, were suppressed for their observations on this unnecessary recourse to military power; but they re-appeared immediately with redoubled vigour, under a trifling change of title. The New Freya,' instead of The Freya,' the Twenty-fifth' instead of the Twenty-fourth' Aftonblad. The press in Sweden can only be irritated by the censorship, not stifled. The right |