NATURE AND LIFE IN LAPLAND. 451 



The distinctive beauty of Stockholm is in its situation. Built 

 partly on islands in Lake Malar, it is intersected in every direction by 

 the waters of the lake and of the Baltic, and, with its busy quays, 

 broad streets, handsome buildings, pleasant gardens, and clear atmos- 

 phere, is certainly one of the brightest and most charming capitals in 

 Europe. The streets are still enlivened by the gay costumes of the 

 peasants, especially those of the nearest provinces ; it is said, how- 

 ever, that their use is gradually dying out before the advance of rail- 

 roads and other enemies of the picturesque. 



The Swedes are undoubtedly a fine race ; many of the men are 

 very tall, and the women are almost universally refined-looking and 

 graceful in their carriage. A crowd of Swedes might at any time be 

 mistaken by an Englishman for a crowd of the better sort in his own 

 country ; and in character there is the same resemblance to a high 

 average English standard. The middle and trading classes have 

 great sympathy with the English nation and its institutions, and are 

 ready at all times to express and prove it; the aristocracy and higher 

 ranks of society are more inclined to favor French manners and cus- 

 toms, but this is due to the influence of the court and to the origin 

 of the royal family. Every educated Swede reads and probably 

 speaks English well, and with very slight, if airy, foreign accent. 

 English newspapers and books of all kinds are largely read, and Eng- 

 lish literature is a prominent branch of study at the high or middle- 

 class schools, of which, as of all other educational institutions, there 

 is an ample supply in Sweden. All along the coast of the gulf of 

 Bothnia, in every little town of a few hundred, or at most of two 

 or three thousand, inhabitants, there is a large school of this descrip- 

 tion, with a full staff of masters, lektors, and assistants, provided ac- 

 cording to a fixed scale, and forming part of the general organization 

 for national instruction. We met several of these teachers, and 

 found them extremely well-informed and intelligent men, speaking 

 English, French, and German, and accepting for the communication 

 of these acquirements salaries which would be deemed totally inade- 

 quate in any other and richer country. They were all home-taught, 

 by books and not viva voce, and hence, though well qualified to trans- 

 late English into Swedish, they found it more difficult to reverse the 

 process and to interpret their thoughts into elegant English. " The 

 weather is deplorable," said one of these gentlemen ; " it makes for 

 the melancholy, and influences on the humors." 



The fees charged in the schools are moderate, and such as to induce 

 a general acceptance of the educational advantages offered by the 

 class for whom they are intended. Primary education in Sweden is 

 free and compulsory, though it is seldom necessary to recur to the 

 interference of the magistrates. The Swedes cannot be made to 

 understand the beauty of our English system, by which a national 

 service, undertaken on the distinct ground of its importance to the 



