HABITS OF THE SWEDES. 115 



say, in their rough way, that if you want to do any business 

 in Gothenburg, you must do it before one o' clock. 



But certainly the worst of all is the inactivity of the life 

 you are of necessity bound to lead here during the winter. 

 A Swedish gentleman at this time scarcely ever thinks of 

 walking a mile; he has little or nothing to see after on his 

 farm, and if he wants to visit a neighbour, he always takes 

 a sledge, short as the distance may be. We all know how 

 indolence creeps upon a man, and there are but few of us 

 who care to take a constitutional walk for the sake of exer- 

 cise alone. Give me an object in view field sports, collect- 

 ing, or any other which keeps the mind as well as the body 

 employed and I never care for any amount of fatigue ; but 

 let me have to walk up and down a gravel walk merely for 

 the sake of exercise, and I shall tire before I have done an 

 English mile. And this is just the case here. Sporting and 

 collecting may be considered quite at a stand still during 

 the winter. There is so little attraction out of doors, and so 

 much more within, in the shape of social rubbers and jovial 

 meetings of friends, that it is hardly to be wondered at if a 

 man prefers the latter, till at length custom becomes habit, 

 and bodily exercise a fatigue. Such I know always used to 

 be the case with me in the winter, for I always then became 

 so fat and lazy that it took a deal of strong exercise in the 

 spring to bring me back into condition. 



The peasants, like our own, are hardy enough, and bodily 

 exercise is sure to keep them in pretty good condition ; but 

 even with them the hardships of forest life and the climate 

 appear to tell upon the constitution, especially as they ad- 

 vance in life. 



After having observed, that scarcely any manly exercises 

 are followed here, of course we may conclude that fair British 

 boxing is not in fashion, and if a man does happen to get into a 

 row (which luckily, however, is seldom the case, and it is almost 

 sure to be his own fault if he does), he must not look for what 

 we in England consider fair play. " Up and down " is the 

 fashion here, and when a man is on the ground, that is the 

 time to " give it him," and he is lucky if he escapes with less 



