JET. 22.] AND SCANDINAVIA. 183 



remain so much the same. Thus, that of posting was 

 not different in 1736, as we see by Duther's voyage 

 and how long before I know not. 



It seems not improbable that some violent convul- 

 sion will take place from the state of events. 



The language of Sweden is evidently sprung from 

 the Teutonic, and that it is a very pure remnant of that 

 stock may be inferred from a curious circumstance. 



Almost everywhere else we find in names of persons 

 and places remnants of dead language, and not to be 

 understood by the present natives, though easily 

 understood by knowing the roots of the ancient local 

 tongue. But in Sweden the case is quite different; 

 all the names are modern Swedish, and any one 

 moderately acquainted with that language as it is at 

 present spoken there, can easily discover the meaning 

 of each appellation. For instance, one can form a 

 very good guess at the situation, &c., of a place before 

 seeing it. Names of persons can almost all be traced 

 as easily ; and this is connected with another pecu- 

 liarity. No one but a noble can properly have any 

 surname, though merchants, &c., do take them. Then 

 in courts of law these names are not acknowledged 

 they are called in deeds and citations, James, James's 

 son, and Anne, James's daughter. 



The lower classes, as peasants, have actually no 

 surnames at all, being constantly called by their 

 Christian names. Thus a parish register is an unin- 

 telligible list of Christian names with the fathers' 

 a-ffixed. When a gentleman hires a servant, he often 



