Its government is a monarchy, changed, nearly 150 years ago, from limited to absolute, in consequence of the voluntary surrender of their liberties by the lower orders of the state, insulted and oppressed by the higher. It is, however, administered with mildness and moderation, and is restricted by legal forms.* The established religion in all the dominions is the Lutheran. Its superior order of clergy is dignified with the episcopal title, but enjoys only a moderate degree of power or splendour, The peasantry in Denmark Proper are mostly in a state of vassalage, and in their manners bear the mark of their servitude. Those of Norway, on the contrary, are mostly free, and in their character and demeanour display the generous tokens of liberty. They are brave, frank, and spirited; and, notwithstanding the rudeness of their climate, are possessed of more of the comforts of life than most of their rank throughout Europe.

The language of all these countries is a dialect of the ancient Gothic, of which the Icelandic is reckoned the purest.

The Danes do not stand high as a literary nation; their principal writings consisting of historical compilations, for which Iceland in the early ages afforded considerable materials. That remote island, indeed, like Ireland, seems in the confusions of the continent to have been a place of refuge for letters, and its treasures in poetry, history, and mythology have engaged the curiosity of modern erudition. The genius of the Danes at present is chiefly turned to commerce and economical improvement. The capital of Denmark, Copenhagen, in the island of Zeeland, is a noted sea-port. Its name, indeed, in the language of the country signifies Merchant's-haven. It is one of the best built cities in the north of Europe, and has a population estimated at 95000 persons. Its port is well fortified, and in one of its suburbs are docks and arsenals upon a large scale for the royal navy, which is usually laid up here. Copenhagen possesses an university and a royal academy of sciences, neither of much distinction. Its citizens are hospitable, and much addicted to social entertainments and public amusements. Sleswig, the capital of the dutchy of that name, is a well-built town in the German style. Kiel in Holstein has a rspectable university. Altona, on the Elbe, almost contiguous to Hamburg, in

point of commerce and population is the second city of the kingdom. Of Norway the capital is Bergen, a sea-port with a moderate share of trade. Christiana, on the southern coast of Norway, is, however, the principal port for the exportation of the timber and metals of that country.

The population of the Danish dominions is small in comparison with their extent. The whole amount is reckoned at two millions and a half, of which Norway supplies only 800000, and Iceland not more than 50000.

The manufactures of these countries are few, and only for domestic use. The exports are chiefly of native products; those of Denmark and Holstein being corn, cattle and horses; of Norway, timber in great quantity, silver, copper, and iron, hides, and fish; of Iceland, dried fish, feathers, and skins. The Danish settlements on the coasts of Coromandel and Guinea, and in the West Indies, afford other articles of commerce, and increase the number of sailors. The shipping trade is considerable, and enables Denmark to support a respectable navy, manned with hardy and brave sea-men. The public revenue is not large, but adequate to the expenses.

SWEDEN.

THIS country composes the whole interior part of the great Scandinavian peninsula, and constitutes its chief breadth. From its southern extremity in about latitude 55° 20′ it stretches in a northern direction inclined to the east to nearly the 70th degree of latitude, and then, bending round, forms an eastern branch, which comes down to latitude 60°. The gulf of Bothnia interposes itself between the two branches, and the gulf of Finland forms the separation between the eastern branch and Livonia. The Baltic sea, with its entrance, the Cattegat, washes the rest of its coast. Its inland limit on the western side is chiefly the great chain of mountains mentioned under Norway. This, however, ceases to be the boundary toward the southern extremity, and the two kingdoms are there separated only by an imaginary line. The eastern boundary on the side of Russia is partly another mountainous ridge, partly an assumed line. The greatest length of Sweden is computed at 1150 English miles; its greatest breadth, including the Bothnian gulf, at about 600 miles.

Sweden, in general, is marked with the rude features of a northern region. Of these features many are highly picturesque, and afford assemblages of rural beauty which, in a more propitious climate, would greatly delight the lovers of nature. Its surface is diversified with numerous lakes, some of great extent, large and clear rivers, torrents and cataracts, dark forests, craggy rocks, and verdant dales. A striking characteristic of the country in many parts is the frequency of detached masses of rock, starting out of the ground, and imparting a singularly wild and rugged appearance to the landscape.

Of the mountains of Sweden the principal are those which form the boundary ridge on the side of Norway, and may be reckoned common to both countries. Branches are in many

parts sent off from this chain into Sweden, especially towards the north, where they constitute the Lapland Alps. The long ridge which separates Swedish from Russian Lapland, and terminates in Finland, is a continuation of this chain. In the south-west, branches proceed from the Dofrine hills, which overspread the mountainous region of Dalecarlia.

These high tracts give birth to numerous rivers, which take a direct course to the Bothnian gulph on its western, northern, and eastern sides. One of the principal of these, the Tornea, entering the head of that gulf, is noted for the access it affords, though by a difficult and interrupted navigation, to the remotest part of Lapland, bordering on the North cape. In the southern part of Sweden the rivers run into the Baltic and Cattegat, but have generally a short course and broken channel. The most important of the Swedish rivers is the Dahl, which, springing from the Dofrine ridge, waters the province to which it gives name (Dalarn or Dalecarlia) and enters the gulf of Bothnia at its southern extremity, near the town of Gefle. It has a cataract near its mouth, rendered awfully sublime by the breadth of the stream and the wildness of the surrounding scenery.

The lakes of Sweden surpass those of most European countries in number and magnitude. The Wener, nearly 100 miles by 50 or 60, almost deserves the name of an inland sea. The Weter, in its neighbourhood, is equally long, but narrower. The Meler, which communicates with the Baltic near Stockholm, is a large expanse of water besprinkled with islands. Lapland possesses numerous lakes in the course of its rivers: that of Enara, near the North cape, is the most extensive. Finland is overspread with lakes in such a manner, that a great proportion of its surface appears to be water. Many of the Swedish lakes abound in fish, and are serviceable as means of inland navigation. They are frequently skirted with forests, which greatly add to their beauty. Forests are likewise common in other parts, supplying timber for domestic use and for exportation, and fuel for the numerous founderies and forges. Although the great extent of latitude occupied by Sweden necessarily implies considerable diversity of climate in its dif

ferent parts, yet the whole comes under the denomination of a cold country, and the gradation is only from moderate to extreme severity. The sea on its most southern coast is frozen in hard winters, and the Bothnian gulf constantly becomes a field of ice in that season, and is regularly crossed by travellers in sledges. Between the long winters and the short summers there is scarcely any interval of spring or autumn, and the labours of agriculture are crowded into a short compass. The great length of the days in the northern latitudes, where for a certain time the sun never sets, produces extreme heat, which, however, is too fugitive to bring to maturity any of the more valuable fruits of the earth. The most favourable circumstance in the climate is, that the interposition of the Norwegian mountains defends the country from those gales which bring deluges of rain from the Atlantic upon the northwestern coasts of Europe, and thus renders the weather steady and equable.

The southern part of Sweden, under skilful culture, yields grain in tolerable abundance; wheat, however, is a rarity beyond the reach of the lower classes, and rye, barley, and oats compose their principal sustenance. In unfavourable years even these fail; and it is not uncommon for the poor to be reduced to mix a large proportion of the inner bark of the fir with meal, in order to make out their due quantity of unsavoury bread. Fruit-trees are scarcely seen beyond the southern provinces; the moors and woods, however, supply a variety of berries, which make an agreeable and salutary addition to the common articles of food. The pastures in general are lean, and the domestic animals are of the smaller size. The forests abound in game, both footed and feathered. In Lapland a species of elk, the renne or rein-deer, which in a wild state is an object of the chase, by domestication is rendered the most valuable possession of the inhabitants, and the foundation of their rural economy.

Sweden is peculiarly a mineral country, and its riches in this kingdom of nature have long been assiduously cultivated. Gold and silver are found, though not in quantities which render them objects of profit comparable to the inferior metals. Of the lat