y are cordial and sincere. There may
be among the more polished classes a certain degree of formality which
to a stranger bears the appearance of reserve; but this quickly passes
away, and the pleasure is all the greater in finding that there is
really very little reserve about them. With all their adhesion to
forms and ceremonies, they are simple and unaffected in their manners,
and have a natural repugnance to whatever is meretricious. In a word,
the Swedes are an honest, straightforward, sterling people, resembling
more, in certain points of character, the English than any of their
Continental neighbors, though I must do them the justice to say that
they rarely have so unpleasant a way of manifesting their best traits.
I can readily believe that the longer they are known the better they
may be liked. It is true I saw nothing of Swedish society beyond what
a casual tourist can see in passing rapidly through the country, yet
that little impressed me very favorably, and disposes me to rely with
confidence upon what I gathered from others who have enjoyed a more
extended experience.

The home sketches of Fredrika Bremer give a more thorough insight of
Swedish life and manners than perhaps those of any other writer. Of
late years, however, Miss Bremer does not appear to have maintained
her early popularity. She is said to have written some things which
have given offense and provoked severe criticism, and I was surprised
to hear her productions mentioned by several of her countrymen in
somewhat disparaging terms. This was a source of disappointment to me,
for I had supposed she was the most popular writer in Sweden; and I
could not easily forget the pleasure I had derived from the perusal of
"The H---- Family," "Nina," "The Professor," and other of her
charming delineations of domestic life. As no man is a prophet in his
own valley, I suppose the same may be said of women. To this, however,
Jenny Lind is an exception.

But, as usual, I find myself steering out of the channel. We were now
in the great Wenern Lake, a vast sheet of water fifty miles broad by
one hundred in length. The elevation of this lake is 147 feet above
the sea level. Its shores are densely wooded, and it abounds in
islands, many of which are inhabited and cultivated. Several rivers of
considerable size empty their waters into the Wenern, among which is
the Klar, a large and rapid stream having its source in the mountains
of Norway, at a distance of t