UNIVERSITIES. 81 



future prospects. My heart was sad enough just at that 

 moment, when suddenly the bells from some church in 

 the town struck up a merry peal, so like my old favourites, 

 that in a moment all my cares vanished, I quite forgot 

 that I was a penniless adventurer in a gold- digging country 

 at the antipodes, and every other reflection was absorbed 

 in the remembrance of 



" Youth and home, and that sweet time 

 When last I heard the evening chime." 



The two universities are at Lund and Upsala. The former 

 has about 600 students, the latter double that number. At 

 both they have first-rate professors, and the system of 

 education is very good. From the appearance of the 

 students, I infer they are admitted at an earlier age than 

 in our universities. Their university costume is much 

 neater than ours, consisting of a plain dress, without a 

 gown, and a jaunty little white velvet cap, with a yellow and 

 blue rosette. The expenses of a university education are 

 much cheaper here than in England. A young student told 

 me that at Lund, about 3, and at Upsala, about 4 per 

 month, would cover all expenses. 



There are excellent schools in every town, but to this 

 subject I shall recur hereafter. 



Every Swede must read with the priest before he or she 

 can be admitted to the Lord's Table ; and every year the 

 priest has to hold a meeting in various parts of his parish, 

 and hear his parishioners read, and examine them in their 

 religion. The peasants here appear to be much more under 

 the eye of their clergymen than in England. 



It appears from the prison returns in 1858, that out of 

 100 prisoners eight could neither read nor write; eighty-one 

 could read ; nine could both read and write well ; and one 

 was of superior education. It is quite certain that the 

 lower classes in Sweden generally stand far before those 

 of England, as far as education is concerned. In 1859, 

 out of all the children of an age to be put to school in 

 Sweden, only one in seventy was uneducated. 



