to be some danger of our either running foul of the other boat, or
getting a shot in our hull from the fort. They do not understand
joking at Waxholm, as was learned a short time since to his cost by
the commander of the Russian steamer Ischora, who did not reply
when summoned. Hastily furnishing the required information to the
castle, our captain shouted out the needful orders to his crew, and
we passed on in safety.

"The steamer which we now met bore the Swedish flag, and was
conveying the Crown Prince Oscar (the grandson of a lawyer and a
silk-mercer) and his wife, to Germany. They had left Stockholm in
the night time, to avoid all public ceremony and formality. A crowd
of artillerymen now lined the walls of Waxholm to give the usual
salute, and we could hear the booming of the guns long after we
were out of sight of ship and fort. In another hour I obtained my
first view of Stockholm."

Stockholm, the Venice of the North, has been thought by many travellers
to present a more striking _coup-d'oeil_ than any other European
capital, Constantinople excepted. Built upon seven islands, formed by
inlets of the sea and the Maeler Lake, it spreads over a surface very
large in proportion to the number of its houses and inhabitants, and
exhibits a singular mixture of streets, squares, and churches, with
rock, wood, and water. The ground on which it stands is uneven, and in
many places declivitous; the different parts of the city are connected
by bridges, and on every side is seen the fresh green foliage of the
north. The natural canals which intersect Stockholm are of great depth,
and ships of large burden are enabled to penetrate into the very heart
of the town. The general style of building offers little to admire; the
houses being for the most part flat-fronted, monotonous, and graceless,
without any species of architectural decoration to relieve their
inelegant uniformity. It is the position of the city, the air of
lightness given to it by the water, which traverses it in every
direction, and the life and movement of the port, that form its chief
recommendations. In their architectural ideas the Swedes appear to be
entirely utilitarian, disdainful of ornament; and if a house of more
modern and tasteful build, with windows of a handsome size, cornices,
and entablatures, is here and there to be met with, it is almost certain
to have been erected by G