Contemplating that evening, made a tear drop on the rosy cheek I had
just kissed, and emotions that trembled on the brink of ecstasy and
agony gave a poignancy to my sensations which made me feel more
alive than usual.
What are these imperious sympathies? How frequently has melancholy
and even misanthropy taken possession of me, when the world has
disgusted me, and friends have proved unkind. I have then
considered myself as a particle broken off from the grand mass of
mankind; I was alone, till some involuntary sympathetic emotion,
like the attraction of adhesion, made me feel that I was still a
part of a mighty whole, from which I could not sever myself - not,
perhaps, for the reflection has been carried very far, by snapping
the thread of an existence, which loses its charms in proportion as
the cruel experience of life stops or poisons the current of the
heart. Futurity, what hast thou not to give to those who know that
there is such a thing as happiness! I speak not of philosophical
contentment, though pain has afforded them the strongest conviction
of it.
After our coffee and milk - for the mistress of the house had been
roused long before us by her hospitality - my baggage was taken
forward in a boat by my host, because the car could not safely have
been brought to the house.
The road at first was very rocky and troublesome, but our driver was
careful, and the horses accustomed to the frequent and sudden
acclivities and descents; so that, not apprehending any danger, I
played with my girl, whom I would not leave to Marguerite's care, on
account of her timidity.
Stopping at a little inn to bait the horses, I saw the first
countenance in Sweden that displeased me, though the man was better
dressed than any one who had as yet fallen in my way. An
altercation took place between him and my host, the purport of which
I could not guess, excepting that I was the occasion of it, be it
what it would. The sequel was his leaving the house angrily; and I
was immediately informed that he was the custom-house officer. The
professional had indeed effaced the national character, for, living
as he did within these frank hospitable people, still only the
exciseman appeared, the counterpart of some I had met with in
England and France. I was unprovided with a passport, not having
entered any great town. At Gothenburg I knew I could immediately
obtain one, and only the trouble made me object to the searching my
trunks. He blustered for money; but the lieutenant was determined
to guard me, according to promise, from imposition.
To avoid being interrogated at the town-gate, and obliged to go in
the rain to give an account of myself (merely a form) before we
could get the refreshment we stood in need of, he requested us to
descend - I might have said step - from our car, and walk into town.
I expected to have found a tolerable inn, but was ushered into a
most comfortless one; and, because it was about five o'clock, three
or four hours after their dining hour, I could not prevail on them
to give me anything warm to eat.
The appearance of the accommodations obliged me to deliver one of my
recommendatory letters, and the gentleman to whom it was addressed
sent to look out for a lodging for me whilst I partook of his
supper. 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.
However, when numerous circles are to be brought together, and when
neither literature nor public amusements furnish topics for
conversation, a good dinner appears to be the only centre to rally
round, especially as scandal, the zest of more select parties, can
only be whispered. As for politics, I have seldom found it a
subject of continual discussion in a country town in any part of the
world. The politics of the place, being on a smaller scale, suits
better with the size of their faculties; for, generally speaking,
the sphere of observation determines the extent of the mind.
The more I see of the world, the more I am convinced that
civilisation is a blessing not sufficiently estimated by those who
have not traced its progress; for it not only refines our
enjoyments, but produces a variety which enables us to retain the
primitive delicacy of our sensations. Without the aid of the
imagination all the pleasures of the senses must sink into
grossness, unless continual novelty serve as a substitute for the
imagination, which, being impossible, it was to this weariness, I
suppose, that Solomon alluded when he declared that there was
nothing new under the sun!
