158 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN. 



it is surprising how far lie will go to serve you for a trifle. 

 It is better to be careful in dealing with, them, and, above 

 all, let ready-money on either side, form the basis of the con- 

 tracts. You need never try to drive one of them out of his 

 regular beaten track. If you want anything done for you, 

 you must let him do it after his own fashion ; but one thing 

 you may always depend upon, it will be done. He is always 

 very civil ; touches his cap when he meets you, with an open, 

 hearty frankness, that shows he is willing to form a good 

 acquaintance with you at once. He is often, however, 

 exceedingly servile to those who have a larger handle to their 

 names than himself, and scrupulously addresses every one 

 by his titles. Titles are much more in fashion here even 

 than in England, and I have read a notice of the death of 

 some old officers in a Swedish paper, in which the titles 

 alone have occupied six lines. I was once shooting with an 

 English friend, and the peasant who was with me did not at 

 first seem to be at all at his ease. At last he called me on 

 one side, and begged to know how he should ' ' style " my 

 friend, if he spoke to him. " Oh," I said, "< Baron' 

 is good enough for him." And my friend was highly 

 delighted throughout the day with his new title, which 

 the peasant took care not to omit whenever he addressed 

 him. 



Fattening cattle for the butcher seems hardly to pay ; 

 at least, it is not the fashion. They are wretched butchers. 

 The way in which the bullocks are slaughtered is bar- 

 barous in the extreme, and I am certain I have seen a 

 calf or pig nearly a quarter of an hour in agony before 

 it died. There is some capital beef, however, in Gothen- 

 burg. This is probably to suit the tastes of the North Sea 

 skippers, who set the English fashions in this little seaport, 

 and in some of the gentlemen's houses, I have tasted an 

 excellent round of beef. It is an open question with me 

 whether it would not be a good speculation for an English 

 cattle-dealer to buy up a hundred or so of the Swedish oxen, 

 at about three years old, send them over to England, and 

 give them a year's run to get them fit for the butcher. I 



