memory

I.

opinions

Gustavus

as one of the splendid monuments of the reign CHAP. of Gustavus the Third, to whom it is entirely due; and of whom, in the present conflicting state of party and opinion in Sweden, it is almost impossible to speak with truth and accuracy. According to one set of men, his should Conflicting be held as deservedly glorious. When his con- respecting duct in public affairs is censured, as having the Third. proved ruinous to the Swedish finances, "let the works he left behind him," say they, "at least be properly estimated, to prove that his lavish expenditure of the public money was. always intended for the public good, and never idly nor vainly squandered." The same set of men affirm that Gustavus the Third was not calculated for the Swedes; that his polished manners and enlightened mind were too refined for them; that not a single work exists in Sweden calculated to promote public honours, to give encouragement to the arts and sciences, to improve the manufactures, or to afford patronage to learning, but it may be referred to his reign. Equally endowed, they add, by every qualification that is requisite to form the character of a profound statesman and a great king, posterity will recall with gratitude the memory of this distinguished monarch, will drop a tear in viewing the splendid monuments of his taste and patriotism, and will

CHAP. shudder in the recollection of his fate: and

I.

- when the prejudices of party, the interests of selfish politicians, and the suggestions of private resentment, shall be done away, future generations will read his history, and place him with Augustus and Hadrian. Having heard this eulogium, as it is frequently pronounced in Sweden, the whole of it will be contradicted by an opposite statement, made by persons who spare no pains to execrate the very name of Gustavus the Third; and who, vilifying his character by the most odious of calumnies, speak of him only as an object of detestation. The time is not yet arrived when History will place him in his true light. In the mean time, to counteract in some degree the injurious designs of his adversaries, it may be added, from the representation made by those who resided with him while he was in France, and were intimately acquainted with the man, that nothing can be more unjust than the aspersions cast upon his private character'.

Having thus described whatever is worthy the notice of a traveller visiting the public buildings of this University, a few words may now be added upon the manners of the inha

(1) In this number was the late Professor Pallas, and other distinguished men of letters, with whom Gustavus associated.

bitants. When an Englishman speaks of the Universities of Sweden, or when he is reading the different accounts that have been published of Upsala, it is not often that any right notions are entertained, either of the Seminary that bears this name, or of the habits and tact of the Students and Professors. If, for example, he forms his notion of a Swedish University from any thing he has seen of similar establishments in his own country, associating ideas of Cambridge and Oxford with his imaginary conceptions of Upsala, Lund, and ibo, he will be egregiously in error. It is not easy to conceive any thing more foreign to all our notions of the dignity and splendour of a national seminary for education, than in the real state of things in Upsala. Perhaps there may be something to compare with it in the Universities of Scotland; but even in the last there is nothing so low as in Sweden. Let the Reader figure to himself a few dirty-looking lackeys out of place, lounging about in slouched white hats, with a loose surtout thrown over their shoulders, one arm of which hangs empty and dangling by their side, and long military boots rising above the knees; their hair uncut, uncombed, and undressed, hanging as long in front as in the rear, but parted over the middle of the forehead, so as to

I.

Habits and the Stu

manners of

dents.

I.

CHAP. fall in long unsightly tresses about the eyes, cheeks, and ears; giving to the whole figure an appearance not unlike the effigies which the rabble in England dress up to represent Guy Fawkes upon a Fifth of November. This description of their costume is no exaggeration; it is peculiar to all of them, of whatever rank or situation in the University, boys or men; but by much the greater part are boys. Then for their lodgings;-for, as it was before stated, there is no such building as a College for the accommodation of any of them: they all dwell in hired lodgings, in the private houses of the tradesmen and other inhabitants :-entering one of these lodgings, and comparing them with the justly reprehensible luxury and extravagance visible in the room of a student in our English Universities, the contrast is great indeed!—a single gloomy chamber, with a bench or couch, by way of bed, in one corner; a stove, and perhaps two chairs; the naked walls hung with wretched prints or dingy-looking maps; and tobacco-pipes, and other lumber, littering about the chamber. We found here one of the identical party by whom we were formerly assailed in our journey from Umeå to Malmagen, in the Norwegian Alps; and whom we have mentioned in a former Volume, as a student of Upsala,

I.

Cellars,

who presented to us some Runic Calendars'. By his means we obtained an introduction to many of his fellow-students, and became acquainted with the internal policy of the place. Every one studies what, and when, he pleases: of course, very little real application to learning takes place among them. Soon after mid-day, they resort in numbers, " à la cave," as it is termed; that is to say, to a public cellar for Public drinking, of which there are two or three in Upsala, precisely answering to the tap-rooms in English alehouses. Here they smoke tobacco, and drink beer, or brandy, or wine. The beer is a composition manufactured at Stockholm, and very bad: although perhaps less unwholesome than the deleterious mixture now sold under the name of beer in England; which, by its baneful effects, has actually altered the character of the lower orders, and substituted a morbid and gloomy irascibility for jovial hilarity; so that a merry drunkard is hardly ever seen. The wine, though called French wine, is also from the breweries of Stockholm; and the brandy is of the worst quality. Swedish brandy, in whatever part of the country it is found, is everywhere alike; a weak spirit, flavoured with aniseed,

(1) See p. 122 of the Xth Volume of these Travels,