As nothing passed at this supper to characterise the
country, I shall here close my letter.
Yours truly.
LETTER II.
Gothenburg is a clean airy town, and, having been built by the
Dutch, has canals running through each street; and in some of them
there are rows of trees that would render it very pleasant were it
not for the pavement, which is intolerably bad.
There are several rich commercial houses - Scotch, French, and
Swedish; but the Scotch, I believe, have been the most successful.
The commerce and commission business with France since the war has
been very lucrative, and enriched the merchants I am afraid at the
expense of the other inhabitants, by raising the price of the
necessaries of life.
As all the men of consequence - I mean men of the largest fortune -
are merchants, their principal enjoyment is a relaxation from
business at the table, which is spread at, I think, too early an
hour (between one and two) for men who have letters to write and
accounts to settle after paying due respect to the bottle.
