256 NATURAL HISTORY of N RWAT. 



as they are in Norway. A traveller is feldom fuffered to pay for 

 his lodging, which may partly proceed from the fmall number 

 that vilit thefe parts; therefore they think it a duty, to treat 

 the ftranger as well as it is in their power, and look upon it as 

 an honour done them, if he accepts of their civilities. Notwith- 

 standing all this, the peafant never gives the upper end of the 

 table to the greateft. gueft that ever comes under his roof, for he 

 thinks that place belongs to himfelf only. They keep open houfe 

 for three weeks at Chriftmas, and fet out the beft things their 

 houfes afford, the table being fpread and loaded with victuals 

 during the whole time *. 



SECT. VIII. 



bng t iif e and As tne Norvegian contributes to the good and happinefs of 

 others, fo he alfo endeavours to make himfelf chearful, and al- 

 ways to appear good-natured. Envy and difcontent are here ba- 

 nifhed to the rich and great, whofe temporal advantages are ra- 

 ther a plague than a comfort and happinefs to them. But the 

 middling and common people who are the greateft numbers in 

 every country, and conftitute the nation itfelf, are feen here chear- 

 ful, and as happy as I believe in any country, excepting France. 

 The little they have to indulge themfelves with, which mail be 

 mown hereafter, relifhes, and agrees with them, and they enjoy it 

 though it be plain and homely;, except in public companies and 

 entertainments, where they are rather too much inclined to drink. 

 But in their daily courfe they have no fuperfTuity, and therefore 

 moil of them arrive to a great age. Many to eighty or ninety, 

 fome to a hundred or an hundred and twenty years f . 



* Ifaac Pontanus praifes the Norvegians in this and other refpecls,. in chorograph, 

 defcript. Dan. p. 697. • 



" Incolse iunt probi, fine fuco ac fallacia exterorum amantes, et fi qui alii hofpitales. 

 Et fane olim quae ceiebrata eft Julio praefertim Caefare Germanorum hofpitalitas, ea 

 velut hinc relegata hie adhuc locum tenet. Gratis enim peregrinantem excipiunt 

 aluntque, is viciflim, fi quid forte refundat, non ut debitum, fed ut benevolentis ac 

 animi grati tecmerion accipiunt." 



The Norvegian peafant's hofpitality extends itfelf fo faronChriftmas-eve, as to in- 

 vite the birds to be his guefts, and therefore, he hangs out at the barn door on a pole, 

 an unthrefh'd fheaf of corn which draws the fparrows and other fmall birds thither> 

 where they feaft and make merry. 



f In the year 1751, in the diocefe of Aggerhuus only, a hundred and thirty-fix" 

 perfons then had reached eighty years of age ; there were befides forty-one of ninety, 

 and four of a hundred, and upwards. 



J- 



