CHAP.

VI.

Extraor

venture.

English manufacture, and luxuries quite strange to us in this part of our journey. The rooms for receiving strangers were carpeted, and dinary Adadorned with English prints. We found a beautiful young woman, elegantly dressed, who was seated at a table, working tambour. Her mother and all her family also appeared handsome. We began to suspect, from the nature of our reception, a renewal of the singular adventure which befel us, soon after our arrival in Sweden, at Sjoryd, upon the Lake Wener'; and so it proved. After an excellent dinner, in which we were regaled wirh Madeira and Burgundy, our host said he would receive nothing in payment. What could this mean? Had we been conducted, by some Tony Lumpkin, to a Gentleman's house, instead of an inn? like Goldsmith's travellers in "She stoops to conquer." As we put these questions to each other, desirous of an explanation, the owner of the mansion, observing our embarrassment, said, he had been already more than remunerated by our company, and pressed us to remain; adding, that we should confer an additional obligation upon him if we would prolong our stay. In this dilemma, all that we could prevail upon

(1) See p. 159 of the preceding Volume.

CHAP. them to accept was our umbrella; a thing the

VI.

lady of the house luckily wanted. We then asked them to give us a commission for England. The answer of this kind family will excite a smile: "Send us," they said, "a Gloucester cheese:" and, in return, they promised us some Gammel Orske (perhaps more properly written Gamla Norske), the sort of cheese we have before mentioned, the produce of their own farm, which was one of the largest we had ever seen. Our Cow-house. host invited us to inspect his cow-house, a curio

Glass Manufactory.

sity then perfectly new to us; although such establishments have since been introduced into England. It was as clean as the chambers of his dwelling; with stalls on either side of a long room, capable of containing sixty cows, the number then present, besides twenty horses, and sixty sheep. The stable for the horses was above the cow-house, and as clean as the rest. In lofts above the horses he kept his hay and

corn.

Near this farm there is a glass-manufactory, belonging to the Crown: it is farmed out to individuals. The brother of our host rented it of the person who superintends all the glass-works in Denmark and Norway. We visited the manufactory. The workmen were then employed in blowing green-glass

VI.

wine-bottles, and cylinders for window-glass, CHAP. which are afterwards rolled out into square plates. The produce of this manufactory is sent to Christiania, to be exported first to Copenhagen, and afterwards to the East Indies. The glass seemed to be clear and of a good quality'; but the Director told us it was much inferior to English glass. An English workman had lately constructed for them a furnace, made after the model of those used in our own country.

Throughout the course of the Louven, and upon the shores of the Miösen Lake, a sufficient quantity of corn is produced for home consumption, and some also for exportation; but in times of scarcity, corn is brought from Christiania. As we journeyed from Svennes, by an excellent road, to Svee, we saw the corn shocks, Svee. and in some places the uncut corn, still stand- Appearing. We could not say that a yellow harvest Harvest. gladdened the plains; for the corn which had been cut, and that which yet remained for the sickle, was all of it green. That which had been cut, remained heaped upon upright poles,

ance of the

(1) Dr. Thomson says of the Swedish glass, which is manufactured in the same way, that objects appear through it in their true places; so that it has all the advantage of mirror-glass, without being so high-priced.See the valuable "Travels in Sweden" of Thomas Thomson, M. D. p. 40. Lond. 1813.

VI.

CHAP. and upon racks, to dry; and as we proceeded farther, the appearance of a harvest thus suspended above fields that were covered with ice and snow afforded a very curious sight.

Views of the Miösen Lake.

We were delighted with the superb views which the Miösen exhibited. It reminded us of the Lake Windermere; because the cultivated fields, rising gradually from the water's edge, distinguish it from the generality of the Norwegian lakes; and these, constituting one of its principal beauties, give it a resemblance to Windermere'.

(1) On the opposite side of the Lake is Ringsager, famous in Norwegian history for a decisive blow struck by Oluf, the saint and king, against the Pagan Princes; and which raised him, in a moment, from an almost expelled monarch, to become once more the Autocrat of all Norway. The particulars are cited from the Norwegian annals, by Von Buch. (Travels, p. 83.) The severity and tyranny with which Oluf endeavoured to establish Christianity in the valleys, and persecuted the

Pagans,

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The prospect of an extensive harvest and large CHAP. tracts of standing corn, with intermingled villages and churches, is everywhere presented to view, until, in the distant perspective, they are lost amidst woods and mountains. We had this kind of scenery, and these views of the Miösen, not only in all the way from Svennes to Svee, but also as far as Hund, a distance equal to twenty Hund. English miles, at the least. From Hund we descended to a bridge in the road to Brelie, Brelie. where we saw a very fine cataract. The per- Cataract. pendicular height of the fall itself was not great; but the body of water was considerable; the rocks about it black, craggy, and massive2; and the force of the torrent so impetuous, that it

Pagans, at length roused five of the petty kings of the country to regain their freedom, and to expel him. RÖREK, of Hedemarcken; RING, of Toten and Hadeland; Dao, the ruler of Walders; and GUDRIOD, a prince in Guldbrandsdalen; united their forces at Ringsager, to concert an attack against King Oluf, with very superior numbers. The king heard of their arrival at Minde, where he was stationed with only 400 men. He speedily manned several vessels; ascended the Miösen hastily, in the dead of the night; surprised the kings in their beds at Ringsager, took them prisoners, and thus, with one blow, destroyed their wellconcerted plan. RING and DAG were banished from the country; GUDRIOD was deprived of his tongue, and RÖREK of his sight.

(2) These rocks are of black limestone, alternating with thin strata of clay-slate. Upon the opposite side of the Miösen, according to Von Buch, who pursued the other route, by the king's road, the rocks consist of well-characterized greywacke, especially about the arm of the lake which reaches towards Fangsbierg. At Fangsbierg he saw greywacke, several hundred feet in height.-See Von Buch's Travels, p. 81. Lond.1813.