第11章 LETTER III(2)

The prohibition of drinking coffee under a penalty,and the encouragement given to public distilleries,tend to impoverish the poor,who are not affected by the sumptuary laws;for the regent has lately laid very severe restraints on the articles of dress,which the middling class of people found grievous,because it obliged them to throw aside finery that might have lasted them for their lives.

These may be termed vexatious;still the death of the king,by saving them from the consequences his ambition would naturally have entailed on them,may be reckoned a blessing.

Besides,the French Revolution has not only rendered all the crowned heads more cautious,but has so decreased everywhere (excepting amongst themselves)a respect for nobility,that the peasantry have not only lost their blind reverence for their seigniors,but complain in a manly style of oppressions which before they did not think of denominating such,because they were taught to consider themselves as a different order of beings.And,perhaps,the efforts which the aristocrats are making here,as well as in every other part of Europe,to secure their sway,will be the most effectual mode of undermining it,taking into the calculation that the King of Sweden,like most of the potentates of Europe,has continually been augmenting his power by encroaching on the privileges of the nobles.

The well-bred Swedes of the capital are formed on the ancient French model,and they in general speak that language;for they have a knack at acquiring languages with tolerable fluency.This may be reckoned an advantage in some respects;but it prevents the cultivation of their own,and any considerable advance in literary pursuits.

A sensible writer has lately observed (I have not his work by me,therefore cannot quote his exact words),"That the Americans very wisely let the Europeans make their books and fashions for them."But I cannot coincide with him in this opinion.The reflection necessary to produce a certain number even of tolerable productions augments more than he is aware of the mass of knowledge in the community.Desultory reading is commonly a mere pastime.But we must have an object to refer our reflections to,or they will seldom go below the surface.As in travelling,the keeping of a journal excites to many useful inquiries that would not have been thought of had the traveller only determined to see all he could see,without ever asking himself for what purpose.Besides,the very dabbling in literature furnishes harmless topics of conversation;for the not having such subjects at hand,though they are often insupportably fatiguing,renders the inhabitants of little towns prying and censorious.Idleness,rather than ill-nature,gives birth to scandal,and to the observation of little incidents which narrows the mind.It is frequently only the fear of being talked of which produces that puerile scrupulosity about trifles incompatible with an enlarged plan of usefulness,and with the basis of all moral principles--respect for the virtues which are not merely the virtues of convention.

I am,my friend,more and more convinced that a metropolis,or an abode absolutely solitary,is the best calculated for the improvement of the heart,as well as the understanding;whether we desire to become acquainted with man,nature,or ourselves.Mixing with mankind,we are obliged to examine our prejudices,and often imperceptibly lose,as we analyse them.And in the country,growing intimate with nature,a thousand little circumstances,unseen by vulgar eyes,give birth to sentiments dear to the imagination,and inquiries which expand the soul,particularly when cultivation has not smoothed into insipidity all its originality of character.

I love the country,yet whenever I see a picturesque situation chosen on which to erect a dwelling I am always afraid of the improvements.It requires uncommon taste to form a whole,and to introduce accommodations and ornaments analogous with the surrounding-scene.

It visited,near Gothenburg,a house with improved land about it,with which I was particularly delighted.It was close to a lake embosomed in pine-clad rocks.In one part of the meadows your eye was directed to the broad expanse,in another you were led into a shade,to see a part of it,in the form of a river,rush amongst the fragments of rocks and roots of trees;nothing seemed forced.One recess,particularly grand and solemn amongst the towering cliffs,had a rude stone table and seat placed in it,that might have served for a Druid's haunt,whilst a placid stream below enlivened the flowers on its margin,where light-footed elves would gladly have danced their airy rounds.

Here the hand of taste was conspicuous though not obtrusive,and formed a contrast with another abode in the same neighbourhood,on which much money had been lavished;where Italian colonnades were placed to excite the wonder of the rude crags,and a stone staircase,to threaten with destruction a wooden house.Venuses and Apollos condemned to lie hid in snow three parts of the year seemed equally displaced,and called the attention off from the surrounding sublimity,without inspiring any voluptuous sensations.Yet even these abortions of vanity have been useful.Numberless workmen have been employed,and the superintending artist has improved the labourers,whose unskilfulness tormented him,by obliging them to submit to the discipline of rules.Adieu!

Yours affectionately.