INTRODUCTION. ix 



I was reminded that I was not one of them, it was to 

 prove to me that the hearts of the good-natured Swedes 

 warmed towards the foreigner. " I charge you nothing, 

 because you are a stranger," was the reply of a good 

 doctor in Carlstad, who had attended me for three weeks 

 in a case of ague, to my question as to what was his 

 fee. This simple sentence spoke volumes. It would there- 

 fore ill become me to turn round and speak badly of the 

 inhabitants of a country, after having for so long a time 

 received daily proofs of their simple, warm-hearted kind- 

 ness. 



Among people like these, it is indeed a man's own fault 

 if he cannot get on. I conformed as much as possible 

 to the habits of the people among whom I was thrown, 

 and was treated with uniform kindness and civility. I 

 endeavoured to comply with their manners and customs, 

 and did not as too many English travellers are in the 

 habit of doing go about abusing and finding fault with 

 trifles, or make invidious comparisons between this country 

 and England. I behaved with courtesy to the gentlemen, 

 with kindness and liberality to the peasants, and neither 

 were thrown away. If I wished for fishing, or shooting, 

 I never had the slightest difficulty in obtaining it, if I 

 went the right way to work; and if ever I have met 

 with any jealousy, it has invariably been at the hands of 

 my own countrymen. 



A want of kindness and courtesy towards the stranger 

 is certainly not among the faults of the Swedes, and I can 

 pretty confidently say, that there are few other countries in 

 Europe, where an Englishman is better received than in 

 Sweden. 



English travellers are exploring every corner of the 



