CRIME. 9 



more than an average of worthless characters in my neigh- 

 bourhood, as compared with the country in general, was 

 little to be wondered at, for Ronnum was not only situated 

 close to a navigable river, always the haunt of disreputable 

 characters, but near to Wenersborg, which in the old Nor- 

 wegian wars had been a garrison town, and the population 

 in consequence somewhat demoralized. 



Drunkenness, the besetting fault of the lower classes in 

 Sweden, as the passion for cards is of the higher, was unfor- 

 tunately very prevalent amongst my poorer neighbours, and 

 the cause probably of a large portion of the crime that did 

 exist. 



