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a sexton, habited like themselves, walked about with a long and stout pole, with which he continued to strike the floor; and if this did not rouse them, he drove it forcibly against their ribs, or suffered it to fall with all its weight upon their sculls." pp. 392, 393.

"As we accompanied the Minister to his house, we ventured to ask the reason of the very loud tone of voice he had used in preaching. He said he was aware that it must appear extraordinary to a stranger; but that if he were to address the Laplanders in a lower key, they would consider him as a feeble and impotent missionary, wholly unfit for his office, and would never come to church: that the merit and abilities of the preacher are always estimated, both among the Colonists and Lapps, by the strength and power of his voice." pp. 393, 394.

The balloon did not meet with all the success that had been anticipated, a paper kite proving a much more attractive object.

Dr Clarke did not proceed farther north than Enontekis, but returned southwards towards Finland. At the junction of the Aunis with the Kiemi, he considers himself as passing a second time the boundary of the Frigid Zone, and gives the following general view of the scenery which it pre

sents:

"A moment's retrospect upon the ge neral condition of the Arctic regions will shew whether we had reasonable cause of regret, in the consciousness that we should never again return thither. It is true, as Linnæus said of this country, that it is the land of peace; but it is the peace of an unbroken solitude, into which, if man presumes to penetrate, his first interrogations are answered by the howling of wolves and bears; and, at every step he takes, the stings of venomous insects inflict excruciating torments. When he looks around him, a wide and trackless forest extends in every direction; in which there is a character of sameness so little varied, that dulness rather than peace may be said to reign with supreme dominion. Many a weary league is passed without meeting a single animal. The quadrupeds, excepting beasts of prey, are seen only near the solitary dwellings. Birds are few in number, excepting upon the rivers; where aquatic fowls, during one short season of the year, find an unmolested retreat, in which to hatch and rear their offspring. With the exception of the few colonial families settled in little farms, widely dispersed along the banks of the rivers, the human race may be considered as amongst the greatest rarities of the country. A single tent,

more like a mole-hill than any habitation of men, in the midst of some forest, or upon the summit of some mountain, harbours a few wretched pigmies, cut off from all communion with society; whose dwarfish stature, and smoke-dried aspect, scarcely admits of their being recognised as intellectual beings " created in the image of God." pp. 450, 451.

"After all that has been urged, it should be admitted, that the summer season is not that in which it is best to visit Lapland; although it be indispensable towards many purposes of scientific research. Winter is the festival time of all the inhabitants of these Northern latitudes. It is then that the Laplanders may be said to fly upon the wings of the wind. In this season, so congenial to his habits, his spirits are more elevated; a constant intercourse prevails among the nomade and held provisions are more abundant, and agricultural families; all the fairs are more easily kept and conveyed; none of the evils of which travellers most complain are then felt; the perpetual darkness, in which the whole region is said to be shrowded, has been strongly misrepresented and exaggerated; the absence of the sun's rays is greatly compensated by serene and cloudless skies, in which all the other luminaries known in other latitudes; and, among of heaven shine with a degree of lustre unthese, the Aurora Borealis, added to the effect of reflection from a surface of glittering snow, produce a degree of light, of which persons can have no idea who have not witnessed a Lapland winter." pp. 452, 453.

The scenery seen by our author in crossing the country from Sundswall to the frontier of Norway, is describOf a lake near Bergsiö, he says, ed by him as equal to any in Europe.

"There is nothing in the Vale of Keswick superior to the scenery here. At this time, every thing conspired to render our views of it the more delightful;-the busy labours of harvest; the crimson splendour of the sun, setting behind the distant mountains; the melodies of the peasants' pipes; the deeper and more-resounding tones of the lure; " and all that echoed to the song of Even;" gave life, and spirit, and gladness, to the scenery; making it altogether enchanting. The musical sounds which we heard proceeded from a simple instrument, like the old English flute now out of use in our country-the pipe of the Alpine shepherds: it is common in the valleys of Helsingland, and seems to characterize a livelier race of men than the inhabitants of the more northern provinces. We slept in great comfort at Bergsio; and the next day we passed a series of the finest landscapes the eye ever beheld; com

bining all the charms of agriculture with the most majestic features of uncultivated nature;-sloping hop-grounds, rich in closures, farms, cottages, cattle, amidst the grandcur and magnificence of lakes and mountains." pp 547, 548.

The grandest spectacle of all was that presented by the lake called the Ran Sion.

"This magnificent piece of water, through which flows the whole current of the Ljusdal, is one of the finest lakes in Europe; and it is far beyond any other, in the surprising combination which it exhibits, of rural scenery with the sublimer objects of Nature. Mountains, islands, bays, promontories, broken shores, towering forests, hanging woods, sloping fields, cottages and farm-houses, with all the flood of waters, light, and life about it, make it, perhaps, the grandest and most perfect association of the kind existing." p. 569.

Our author was not less delighted when he approached the confines of Norway.

"Having ascended a mountain, as we traversed its summit, we commanded, towards the south, a valley of such extent and beauty, spreading wide below us, as it will be difficult to describe. The opposite mountains were many leagues distant; and from the heights, over which we passed, the most immense forests descended in one prodigious sweep of woodland, with towering trees o'er trees, down into the profoundest recesses of this valley; where, amidst the tufted groves, appeared the glit tering surface of intervening waters; and beyond rose, as boldly as it fell from the spot where we viewed it, the same succession of unbroken primeval vegetation; -woods, tenanted only by wolves and bears and wandering elks, and all the savage animals of these vast wildernesses, reaching up the sides of all the distant mountains whose summits, black and naked, as if casting off the cumbrous load of timber which veiled their sides and bases, shone clear in æther, or were concealed within their caps of clouds. Descending from this magnificent prospect, another equally striking was presented. The southwestern extremity of a lake, called the Funnesdal Sion, appeared in a profound abyss of woods, locked by mountains: be. yond this piece of water, and high above all other summits, towered the precipitous ridges of the Norwegian Alps, giving to this mountain barrier between the two countries a character of grandeur which is not exhibited by the same range in any other part of it, or by any other mountain scenery in Sweden; although, after all, it cannot be compared with the Alps dividing

Italy from Switzerland. Many of their tops were resplendent with beds of snow, which remains unmelted throughout the year, but did not exhibit the splendour and brilliancy of the snow-clad summits of the Helvetian barrier." pp. 581, 582.

The following are the first observations made by our author on entering the Norwegian territory.

in observing a change for the better as to "We experienced an agreeable surprise accommodations, immediately upon our leaving Sweden. The cleanliness of the cottages on the Norwegian side of these resemblance to English customs and lanmountains was very remarkable; and the guage, which we had remarked in the mountainous parts of Sweden, was here more striking than ever. Everything we of England. Polished pewter dishes and saw called to mind "the good old times" earthenware plates, set in rows along the walls; rows of brown mugs for beer; burnished kettles and saucepans; bright wooden benches, bedsteads, chairs and tables, bleached with frequent scowering; pails and ladles, white as the milk they were to contain. And besides this, a great improvement in the condition of the natives; better clothes, better bread, and many even of the luxuries of life. The Swedish peasants who visit these parts buy of the inhabitants some of the last, such as brandy and tobacco; which, fortunately for the natives of Herjeadalen, they have not at home. A striking difference is also discernible between the inhabitants of the two countries. The Norwegians are a smaller race of men; the athletic and gigantic stature characteristic of the northern Swedes no longer appears. There is also a difference of dress and manner: Instead of a hat or skull-cap, the Norwegian wears a red or blue woollen night-cap, or else a cap shaped like that of an English jockey : and, instead of strings in his shoes, enormous brass buckles, covering almost the whole of the upper part of the foot; instead of open hearths for fire-places, the less cheerful and unpleasant stove appears in every chamber; instead of woollen counterpanes, lined with woollen fleece or rein-deer skins, the beds in Norway are covered with bags, stuffed with the down of the Eyder duck." pp. 598, 599.

The farm-houses and farmers are afterwards described.

"Farms in great number appeared on all sides, affording, by the variety and singularities of their situation, the most beautiful objects. We passed many elegant country-seats. The outsides of all of them were painted red; they had sashed windows, and the frames of the windows were

painted green. The form and neatness of these rural retreats shewed their owners to possess a good deal of taste: they were generally oblong buildings, consisting of one floor. But the farm-houses afforded the most interesting sight to us. If any one wishes to see what English farmers once were, and how they fared, he should visit Norway. Immense families all sitting down together at one table, from the highest to the lowest. If but a bit of butter be called for, in one of these houses, a mass is brought forth weighing six or eight pounds; and so highly ornamented, being turned out of moulds, with the shape of cathedrals set off with Gothic spires, and various other devices, that, according to the Janguage of our English farmers' wives, we should deem it almost a pity to cut it.' Throughout this part of Norway, the family plate of butter seemed to be the statedish of the house." p. 620.

"We entered one of the largest farmhouses. Here we found twenty persons, all members of one family, assembled at the same table, eating their favourite harvest-pudding, out of large wooden bowls. This pudding is made of barley, and served hot. Into this mess, which resembles what is called hasty-pudding in our farmhouses, they dip their spoons: the spoon, being half filled with it, is afterwards dip ped in milk, and with this sauce they eat

it.

At the head of the table sate the grey. headed patriarch of this numerous family, surrounded by his children and his children's children; for among the healthy and handsome young persons present, there were his sons and their wives, his daughters and their husbands; and many of his grand-children ran towards him, clinging to his knees, as being alarmed at our intrusion." p. 621.

The first town at which Dr Clarke arrived was Trönyem, the same which appears in our maps under the name of Drontheim. It is thus described:

"Having ascended a steep eminence, and turning suddenly round the corner of a rock, the glorious prospect of the City of Trönÿem, covering a peninsula in the finest bay the eye ever beheld, appeared far below us. Its rising spires and white glittering edifices immediately reminded the author of the city and beautiful Bay of Naples, to which it is somewhat similar. In the latter, the grandeur of Vesuvius, the cliffs and hanging vineyards of Sorrento, the shining heights and shores of Capri, with all the orange-groves of Baia, the rocks and caverns of Posilipo, possess, besides their natural beauties, a variety of local attractions, which, for the delights they afford, place them above every thing else in Europe: but, considered only in VOL. V.

point of picturesque beauty, the Bay of Trönijem does not yield to the Bay of Naples. It is everywhere land-locked by mountains, which resemble, as to their height and distance from the eye, those which surround the Bay of Naples; Vesurius alone excepted. The Castel del' Uovo, so distinguished a feature of the Neapolitan Bay, is eclipsed by the appearance of the isle and fortress of Munkholm, opposite the town of Trönijem. Up and down, in every direction near the town, appear the villas of the merchants; and riding at anchor in the bay, ships of all burden, and boats passing and repassing. Among these, the boats of the natives are distinguished by the peculiarity of their construction, because they are always rigged with a large square sail, and have a single mast: in these vessels they venture to any part of the coast. The town itself is fortified, and the works are in the best condition; the ramparts and fosse being covered with a smooth green turf, kept in the finest order.

"This city, once the capital of Norway, and residence of her Kings, by no means corresponds, in its actual appearance, with the accounts published of its diminished state and ruinous appearance. Although the last town towards the Pole, the trayeller viewing it sees nothing but what may remind him of the cities of the south. It is of very considerable size: its streets are wide, well paved, and filled with regular well-built houses, generally plastered and white-washed. There is no part of Copenhagen better built, or neater in its aspect, than the streets of Trönijem." pp. 623-625.

During a residence of some time, Dr Clarke had an opportunity of making observations on the manners of the people.

"The inhabitants are not less distinguished by their politeness than by their hospitality. Their houses are thrown open to strangers in the most generous manner; but upon entering them, a degree of elegance is apparent, both in their furniture and in the form and disposition of their apartments, not seen in any of the Swedish towns, excepting Stockholm. Their customs are, to rise with the sun, when they take a small breakfast; and at nine they have a kind of luncheon, which they call Duel. At twelve or one, they dine: the dinner is followed by coffee: and in the evening they drink tea and play at cards; when punch is always served. About ten they usually sup, but do not go early to bed. The lower order of people, in sum mer, sit up the whole night, and take no sleep for a considerable length of time. Sunday is, in fact, their sleeping day: if

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they do not go to church, they spend the greater part of the sabbath in sleep; and in winter they amply repay themselves for any privation of their hours of repose during summer." p. 627.

The two countries of Denmark and Norway, although united, were held together by no common tie ;-almost as nuch hatred existing between a Dane and a Norwegian, as between a Norwegian and a Swede. Their national Song, so expressive of patriotic feeling, and of the longing which all the Norwegians entertain of an emancipation, was heard with rapture, and resounded in every society, from one extremity of the country to the other; being the oftener sung, because it had been prohibited by the Court of Denmark. In the room under the apartments in which we lodged, an evening club was regularly held; where a large party being always assembled, we used to hear this national air chaunted with a degree of enthusiasm, emphasis, and passion, greater than we ever remembered to have been called forth by the national songs of any country, if we except our sacred anthem, "God save the King." A great number of the inhabitants speak the English language; and, as it is so nearly allied to their own, they learn it with ease and expedition; many words, and even whole sentences, being the same in both." pp. 627-630.

In his journey southwards, Dr Clarke had a full opportunity of observing the Norwegian scenery. He says, it is the peculiar characteristic of the Norwegian mountains, to combine the grandeur of Alpine scenery with the dark solemnity of the groves of Sweden, and the luxuriant softness of the vales of Italy." He afterwards observes,

"Throughout the Passage of the Dourefield there is no want of inhabitants. The mountains are peopled from their bases quite up to their summits; farm-houses being everywhere visible, standing on little sloping terraces, above precipices so naked that they exhibit scarcely a mark of any vegetable produce; excepting where the pine and the birch occasionally sprout from fissures in the rocks. In looking up these precipices, if a spot appear not absolutely perpendicular, there may be seen a goat, and sometimes even a cow, browzing, in places where it seems to be impossible that they should move without being dashed to atoms. Indeed, it sometimes happens that the latter is altogether unable to quit the place to which it has ventured; and, in such cases, a peasant is let down, with ropes, to the spot, who fastens them about the animal, and both are drawn up by

herdsmen above. Journeying through Wales, the appearance of sheep feeding in mountain pastures is a pleasing but no unusual sight; and in Switzerland, the exhibition of farms stationed in alpine solitudes delights the traveller by the singularity and pleasantness of the prospect: but in Norway the impression is not that of pleasure it is a mixed sensation of amazement and of terror." pp. 719, 720.

After such copious extracts, any farther observations would, we presume, be superfluous. The noble scenery of these countries is illustrated by a number of interesting designs, beautifully etched by Miss L. Byrne. There are maps of the south of Sweden, and of some districts of Lapland. We do not exactly know why there should not be one of the north of Sweden. We observe that this is the first section of a new part of Dr Clarke's Travels. We know not into what region of the world we are next to follow him; but we feel assured that we shall do so with pleasure and instruction.

THOUGHTS ON TRIAL BY JURY IN CIVIL CASES IN SCOTLAND.

THOSE who purchase this pamphlet in the hope of perusing "Thoughts on Trial by Jury in Civil Cases in Scotland," will be miserably disappointed. It is merely a defence, unlimited and unqualified, of what has generally been called the Jury Court job. There is no studding of the dry argument with reflections; there is no relief whatever; it is special pleading throughout; and this is the more remarkable, inasmuch as the author can obviously write well, having the power, we should think, if he had had the disposition, to invest his subject with some degree of interest. As it is, however, he has made out a better defence of the new Jury Court bill than many, who have attended little to the whole bearings of the case, would have thought it susceptible of; but here again he has lost the hold which it was in his power to take of the public, by defending the weak parts of his cause as strenuously, and with the same air of complacency, as the strong; and to this he has added

Edinburgh, 1819. Constable and Co.

a deeper injury, by bringing character in aid of facts and arguments, instead of leaving facts and arguments to support and defend character. Nothing tends more to shake public confidence in public men, than to rest the defence of any part of their conduct on their reputation. And the reason is obvious. For let the character of such functionaries be what it may, nobody will dare publicly to call it in question. The judges and the clerks of the Jury Court might be habitually the very scorn of all the classes of practitioners, and yet, in answer to any one who should sound their praise, not a syllable of disapprobation would be given to the public. No one would assert of any functionary that he was peevish, splenetic, conceited, and obstinate. And thus, we think, it is fortunate for all the functionaries of this new court, that they are known to the public otherwise, than by the lavished praise of this anonymous pamphleteer. The only legitimate and judicious praise of public men, is to shew how their conduct has benefited their country.

We heartily concur with our author, however, in bis opinion that Scotland is mightily indebted to those public characters who have conferred upon us the boon of jury trial in civil causes; but not, we conceive, upon the same grounds. One of the greatest advantages of the measure, perhaps, is, that it has set afloat another system which was so expensive, dilatory, and uncertain, that it is impossible for us to rest ultimately in a worse situation than we were. We are by no means sure that jury trial has been introduced in the best manner; but most of the defects may probably be accounted for by the guarded or timid spirit in which the alterations have been made, and the fear entertained of alarming long established prejudices so much at once, as to endanger the new scheme altogether. While great allowances may be made on this score, it must be manifest to all that the new system has a tendency to raise and inspirit the public at large, as well as to elevate the character and develope the talents of our judges. Landholders and mercantile men will be improved by their more familiar intercourse with lawyers, and lawyers by the necessity they will find themselves un

der of attending to the views and feelings of the other classes of society.

Here, then, is positive good; and we see no positive evil of a character more serious than that with which we were previously familiar. Jury trial unquestionably condenses as it were into a focus, the anxieties, labours, and responsibilities, which were formerly scattered over a wide surface; and hence the prejudice of many professional men against it. Having fewer opportunities of covering their blunders, they are afraid of appearing to more disadvantage in the eyes of their clients; but this, as it quickens attention, must be favourable on the whole; and though more errors may be detected, there is every reason to think that fewer of them will be committed. Even although it were necessary to concede that the summary nature of jury trial may subject parties to some risks not incidental to the old system, there is ample compensation in the expedition, the more complete expiscation of facts, and, we are inclined to think, the necessarily more awakened, and, therefore, more valuable consideration of each case that takes place under the new. The expence, also, we should fain hope, will be less on the whole, though it bulks more when disbursed for the most part in a day, than when scattered over winter and summer sessions, and even years. The expence, however, will depend much on the regulations which shall be established under authority of the new act. Those made under the first were certainly burdensome. Parties were bandied from one court to another in such a manner, and such fees exacted at every step, as if the rules of court had been made for sake of the fees only, and not for the furtherance of justice. By sending the litigant at once to the Jury Court, it is plainly intended by the new law to lessen expence, and simplify the proceedings. If these objects be attended to as they may be in framing the new regulations; and if a suitable remuneration be allowed under them for all the trouble necessary and proper in preparing and attending to the business of the court, (for the body of the attornies cannot remain honest or honourable if much underpaid for their labour, or if their remuneration be arbitrarily reduced,) a great deal of

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