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CHARACTERS, 



Character of GustavusAdol- 

 PHUS IV. LATE King of 

 Sweden, and account of his 

 Dethronement. 



From Thomsons Travels in Sweden. 



BEFORE I went to Sweden, 

 I was strongly impressed 

 with a high opinion of the lateKing 

 of Sweden, Gustavus Adolphus IV. 

 as it had been drawn with so much 

 zeal and apparent truth in the Bri- 

 tish newspapers. I disapproved of 

 the Swedish revolution, and was 

 eager to learn the opinion enter- 

 tained of it by well-informed 

 people in Sweden. I found every 

 person concur in the same opinion, 

 while the picture drawn of the 

 conduct of Gustavus Adolphus was 

 £0 different from what I had con- 

 ceived from the statements in the 

 English newspapers, that I was un- 

 willing to admit it, and I yielded 

 only to the evidence of well-au- 

 thenticated facts. 



Gustavus IV. possessed certain 

 qualities which gate him a re- 

 semblance to Charles XII. the 

 prince, whose conduct he consi- 

 dered as a model for his imitation. 

 Like Charles, he had an obstina- 

 cy of character so great that it 

 was impossible to induce him to 



alter any resolution, however ab- 

 surd or ridiculous, which he had 

 once formed, even though it were 

 demonstrated to him by the clearest 

 evidence, that persisting in it could 

 lead only to disaster and ruin. 

 Another quality in which he re- 

 sembled Charles XII. was in his 

 capacity of enduring cold which 

 was uncommonly great. He used 

 to travel in the winter with only a 

 slight covering, when his courtiers 

 were trembling with cold under 

 the load of two or three great- 

 coats and surtouts. 



Instead of defending his own 

 frontiers, he left them defenceless 

 to the invading enemy, while the 

 whole of his attention was turned 

 to romantic schemes, altogether 

 beyond the power of his resources 

 to realise. He had early become 

 the submissive votary of religion, 

 or, more accurately speaking, of 

 superstition ; and during his tra- 

 vels in Germany, he got hold of a 

 commentary on the Revelations,by 

 a man of the name of Jung, which, 

 though originally written in Ger- 

 man, had been translated into 

 Swedish. This book became the 

 subject of his assiduous study; the 

 opinions which it contained, were 

 implicitly adopted, and regulated 

 all his conduct. The second beast 



