3°4 
TRAVELS 
is ended. Daring intervals, they recruit their fpirits with beer or 
brandy, and fometimes continue the improvifation to a late hour. 
Dancing not being very common amongfl the Finnifh peafantry, 
their amufement at fairs, or at their private meetings, confifls in 
thefe kind of fongs, or recitations, fometimes accompanied by the 
harp, if that inftrument be at hand, when the harper fupplies the 
place of the repetitor. 
I fhall now lay before my readers fome fpecimens of thefe 
poems, in which there will be obferved much redundancy of ex- 
preffion, the fenfe being continued through two or more verfes, 
the phrafe only varied, as in the eaftern compofitions. The Fin- 
nifli tongue is peculiarly adapted to this kind of phrafeology, as it 
is highly copious, and abounding with fynonymous words. 
The full fpecimen I fhall produce is an extraft from a poem, 
or funeral elegy, compofed by Paulo Rentes, a Finnifh peafant, 
upon the occafion of his brother’s deceafe. This poem was printed 
at Abo in 1765. 
“ The word went forth from Heaven; from Him in whofe 
“ hands are all things. 
“Come hither, I will make thee my friend; approach, for 
“ thou fhalt henceforth be my companion. Come down from 
“ the high hill; leave the feat of forrow behind thee; enough 
“ haft thou fuffered ; the tears thou haft fhed are fufficient; thou 
“ hall felt pain and difeafe ; the hour of thy deliverance is come; 
“ thou are fet free from evil days; peace hafleneth to meet thee; 
“ relief from grief to come. 
Thus 
