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.
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