Had I determined to travel in Sweden merely for pleasure, I should
probably have chosen the road to Stockholm, though convinced, by repeated
observation, that the manners of a people are best discriminated in the
country. The inhabitants of the capital are all of the same genus; for
the varieties in the species we must, therefore, search where the
habitations of men are so separated as to allow the difference of climate
to have its natural effect. And with this difference we are, perhaps, most forcibly struck at the first view, just as we form an estimate of the leading traits of a character at the first glance, of which intimacy afterwards makes us almost lose sight.
As my affairs called me to Stromstad (the frontier town of Sweden) in my
way to Norway, I was to pass over, I heard, the most uncultivated part of
the country. Still I believe that the grand features of Sweden are the
same everywhere, and it is only the grand features that admit of
description. There is an individuality in every prospect, which remains
in the memory as forcibly depicted as the particular features that have
arrested our attention; yet we cannot find words to discriminate that
individuality so as to enable a stranger to say, this is the face, that
the view. We may amuse by setting the imagination to work; but we cannot
store the memory with a fact.
As I wish to give you a general idea of this country, I shall continue in
my desultory manner to make such observations and reflections as the
circumstances draw forth, without losing time, by endeavouring to arrange
them.
Travelling in Sweden is very cheap, and even commodious, if you make but
the proper arrangements. Here, as in other parts of the Continent, it is
necessary to have your own carriage, and to have a servant who can speak
the language, if you are unacquainted with it. Sometimes a servant who
can drive would be found very useful, which was our case, for I travelled
in company with two gentlemen, one of whom had a German servant who drove
very well. This was all the party; for not intending to make a long
stay, I left my little girl behind me.
As the roads are not much frequented, to avoid waiting three or four
hours for horses, we sent, as is the constant custom, an _avant courier_
the night before, to order them at every post, and we constantly found
them ready. Our first set I jokingly termed requisition horses; but
afterwards we had almost always little spirited animals that went on at a
round pace.
The roads, making allowance for the ups and downs, are uncommonly good
and pleasant. The expense, including the postillions and other
incidental things, does not amount to more than a shilling the Swedish
mile.
The inns are tolerable; but not liking the rye bread, I found it
necessary to furnish myself with some wheaten before I set out. The
beds, too, were particularly disagreeable to me. It seemed to me that I
was sinking into a grave when I entered them; for, immersed in down
placed in a sort of box, I expected to be suffocated before morning. The
sleeping between two down beds--they do so even in summer--must be very
unwholesome during any season; and I cannot conceive how the people can
bear it, especially as the summers are very warm. But warmth they seem
not to feel; and, I should think, were afraid of the air, by always
keeping their windows shut. In the winter, I am persuaded, I could not
exist in rooms thus closed up, with stoves heated in their manner, for
they only put wood into them twice a day; and, when the stove is
thoroughly heated, they shut the flue, not admitting any air to renew its
elasticity, even when the rooms are crowded with company. These stoves
are made of earthenware, and often in a form that ornaments an apartment, which is never the case with the heavy iron ones I have seen elsewhere. Stoves may be economical, but I like a fire, a wood one, in preference; and I am convinced that the current of air which it attracts renders this the best mode of warming rooms.
We arrived early the second evening at a little village called Quistram, where we had determined to pass the night, having been informed that we should not afterwards find a tolerable inn until we reached Stromstad.