ter, copper is one of the most valuable. The principal mines of this metal are situated in the province of Dalecarlia: that near the town of Fahlun has been worked during many centuries, and is one of the largest in Europe. Lead is also a product of the Swedish mines; but it is for the abundance and excellence of its iron that Sweden is particularly celebrated. This metal is widely diffused, and forms a very considerable article of commerce. The iron of the mine of Danmora in Upland is chiefly exported to England, where it is converted into the best steel. Cobalt, zinc, and antimony, are met with in different parts. Coal has been discovered, but as yet is little used, the plenty of wood supplying the present demands for fuel.

The Swedes are a people chiefly of Gothic origin, and bear the national character of frankness, bravery, honesty, and hospitality common to that race. They have more vivacity than is usual among the northern people, whence they have been termed the French of the north. They also resemble that people in an insinuating, accommodating turn, which fits them for making their way, and also in a disposition to make the most of their merits. They are generally well made and robust. In their complexions they vary; the prevalent colour in some provinces being dark and tawny, in others fair.

The Swedish language is one of the dialects of the Teutonic, and differs from its sister-dialects in a greater proportion of vowels, with which many of their words terminate. It seems

to produce a pliancy in the organs of speech; for the Swedes are remarkable for their readiness in acquiring foreign lan guages, and speaking them well.

The peasantry are chiefly employed in the labours of husbandry, and in working the mines. There being few mechanics by trade among them, most of the peasants exercise various handicrafts for domestic use, in which they display much ingenuity. The towns are inhabited by persons engaged in commerce. The nobility and gentry reside much upon their estates in the country, few being able to afford the expenses incident to a court and capital.

No nation has at different periods been more distinguished for a martial spirit, and under some of their kings they were the admiration and terror of Europe; but the political circumstances of modern times have sunk them in the scale of power, and their spirits have fallen with their consequence.

The northern part of Sweden is inhabited by a very different race of men, the Laplanders. The wide region called Lapland, or Lapmark, extends, indeed, into the limits of Norway and Russia; but the greater part of it belongs to Sweden, of which it occupies the whole district round the northern part of the gulf of Bothnia. This country, near the gulf, is chiefly composed of granite rock; but inland it consists of vast marshy forests, intermixed with lakes, and terminating at length in mountains.

The rigorous cold which prevails in this tract has stamped a peculiar character on the persons and manners of the people inhabiting it. They are a diminutive race, with large heads, narrow eyes, black hair, and swarthy complexion, speaking a rude and scarcely articulate language, apparently proper to themselves, but said to bear a resemblance to the Finnish.

;

In way of life they are divided into the fixed and the wandering Laplanders. The first are settled in villages near the sea or lakes, and are chiefly occupied in fishing. The second are a truly pastoral people, living in tents or huts, and keeping herds of rein-deer, which constitute their principal wealth. These animals supply them with food from their milk and flesh with clothing from their skins; and there is no part about them which is not put to some domestic use. In summer the pastoral Laplander keeps his herds on the mountains, where they feed on the short grass, and escape the insects, which are a dreadful pest both to man and beast in that season, In the long winters they are brought down to the forests and plains, where their chief sustenance is a species of lichen or dry moss, produced in such abundance as to cover and whiten large tracts of ground. This useful animal, which can only live in an intensely cold climate, serves the Laplander likewise as a beast of draught, and, being harnessed to a light sledge, conveys him and his goods over the frozen snow to the fairs held at dis

tant towns during the winter. The eggs of water-fowl and various kinds of game afford other articles of food to these people; nor are they entirely unprovided with bread and vegetables. Many of them live in a kind of rustic plenty, which compensates for the dreariness of their climate and the solitude of their abodes.

They know little of the obligations or restraints of civil so, ciety, and nothing of the hardships of war, for which, from their timidity and smallness of stature, they are totally unfit. They are weak, ignorant, and superstitious; but harmless, and not void of the ingenuity requisite in their modes of living. They have a kind of rude poetry, in which they address their mistresses, or recount their success in the chase. The whole number of this nation is not considerable, the population of their wild regions being exceedingly thin and scattered.

Another race of men distinct from the Swedes is that of the Finns or Finlanders, who chiefly inhabit the eastern side of the Bothnian gulf. They speak a language of their own, and are distinguished by some peculiarities of person and manners; but those who live under the dominion of Sweden are continually losing their distinctions. A large part of their country has been given up to Russia, and their present connexions are principally with that power.

Various islands in the Baltic sea and Bothnian gulf belong to the crown of Sweden, of which the principal are Rugen near the coast of Pomerania, Oeland, Gothland, and Aland. These are in general tolerably fertile and well inhabited. Wisby in the isle of Gothland was once a great seat of commerce, and is famous in history for having given birth to a maritime code of great authority throughout Europe. The dutchy of Pomerania, making a part of Germany, and only politically annexed to Sweden, will come more properly in another chapter.

The government of Sweden is a monarchy, which at different periods has received different degrees of limitation from the diet or general assembly of the several orders of the state. In 1772 the late king, Gustavus III, effected a revolution which rendered the crown nearly absolute. The exertion of the royal authority, however, is liable to great checks from

the representations of the diet, and still more from the influence of foreign potentates, who are able to purchase a party among the poor and venal nobility. Few countries have more severely felt the evils of faction, or the interference of foreign interests.

The religion established in all the Swedish dominions is the Lutheran in its episcopal form. All other modes of worship were severely excluded, till the modern spirit of toleration began to spread to this country. So small, however, is the resort of foreigners to it, that the number of separatists from the national church is inconsiderable.

The population of Sweden is small in comparison to its extent, probably less than three millions. The class of nobility is very numerous, and several orders of knighthood have been devised for the purpose of attaching them to the crown by cheap honours. The military establishment has been disproportionally great under some martial kings; but neither the fund of population nor the revenue can admit of such extraordinary exertions without lasting inconvenience. Indeed, Sweden has generally been subsidised by the powers with whom she has cooperated in arms.

Stockholm, the capital, seated upon an outlet by which the lake Maeler communicates with the Baltic, covers several rocky islands, and, from the mixture of buildings and expanses of water, presents a singular and romantic appearance. It is tolerably built, and moderately populous, being both the residence of the court and the centre of commerce. Its harbour is somewhat difficult of access, but secure and capacious when entered. The port of Stockholm is supposed to possess above one half of the foreign trade of the kingdom. It has a royal academy of sciences, and other literary institutions.

Gottenburg, or Gotheborg, is the second city for trade and population: it is the seat of the Swedish East-India company, and carries on a very extensive herring fishery. A water-communication between this place and the capital has been opened, part of which is a canal made with great labour and expense. Carlskrona is noted as being the station of the royal navy: its docks, hewn in the rock, are works of vast magnitude. Upsal,

the seat of an archbishop, is distinguished by its university, the principal in the kingdom, and celebrated throughout Europe for the eminence of its professors. It had to boast of the illustrious Linnæus, who rendered it peculiarly famous for the study of natural history. It likewise possesses a royal academy of sciences. Lunden, and Abo the capital of Finland, are also universities of repute. Education is cheap and well attended to in Sweden, whence a certain degree of literature is widely diffused; but this is rather of the useful than the ornamental kind. Mineralogy, as being connected with the most valuable products of the country, and chemistry, as teaching the most advantageous use of these products, have been cultivated by the Swedes with peculiar ardour and success. The disciples of the Linnean school have done great honour to themselves and their country, by their travels into various parts of the globe for the purpose of making researches into the objects presented by all the kingdoms of nature, and into the practice of the economic arts. The native language of Sweden, being confined within her own dominions, has not much engaged the attention of her writers; yet works in various branches have lately been composed in it, which have obtained local celebrity.

Sweden possesses few manufactures: those of iron and steel are the most considerable. It makes some articles of clothing, but only for home consumption. Its exports are chiefly products of the country, such as planks, beams, and masts, iron, steel, and copper, pitch and tar, potash, and cured herrings. It imports part of the corn requisite for its support, and various articles of luxury. Its East India trade is of late years become inconsiderable. Its only colonial possession, the island of St. Bartholomew, affords it a small share in the West India trade. With the European states, its principal commercial connexion is with England, and next to that, with France.