1 62 VISIT TO DENMARK [1799. 



evident signs of electricity by being pressed hard and 

 the electricity suddenly raised. 



To Mr Melanderhjelm I was introduced by Mr 

 D'Asp ;* he is an old man of about eighty, but with 

 his faculties entire. His delight is mathematics, and 

 he has published various works and papers on this 

 subject, particularly a treatise of astronomy. There 

 is no university at Stockholm, but several lectures 

 are given. The learned men are not on the whole 

 much esteemed or well known, and are stigmatised 

 as peculiarly Jacobinical ; indeed the number is not 

 considerable. There are two sets, one belonging to 

 the Academy, the other (perhaps those of most merit) 

 are private. There is a review written by one of 

 these, said to be very severe and much dreaded by 

 the Academy ; also a periodical miscellany, called 

 1 Lavingegen Blandade.' It is a collection of transla- 

 tions and original pieces, some of them very exact. 

 "We particularly admired a Swedish translation of 

 'Alonso and Imogene/ There are a great number 

 of pieces translated from the 'Wealth of Nations/ 

 All that class of men are freethinkers. 



The fine arts are in a flourishing state here con- 

 sidering how few amateurs there are among the rich. 

 There is an Academy of Painting and Sculpture found- 

 ed by the late king. Mr Fredenheim is at the head, 

 a gentleman of taste, who has travelled much and has 



* Daniel Melander, incremented to Melanderhjelm on his being en- 

 nobled in 1778, born at Stockholm 1726, died 1810. A list of his works 

 and a reference to biographical notices of him in Swedish works will 

 be found in the '^Nouvelle Biographic Ge*nerale.' 



