the truth of which
I will not vouch because the facts were not of sufficient consequence for
me to take much pains to ascertain them; and, true or false, they evince
that the people like to make a kind of mistress of their prince.

An officer, mortally wounded at the ill-advised battle of Quistram,
desired to speak with the prince; and with his dying breath, earnestly
recommended to his care a young woman of Christiania, to whom he was
engaged. When the prince returned there, a ball was given by the chief
inhabitants: he inquired whether this unfortunate girl was invited, and
requested that she might, though of the second class. The girl came; she
was pretty; and finding herself among her superiors, bashfully sat down
as near the door as possible, nobody taking notice of her. Shortly
after, the prince entering, immediately inquired for her, and asked her
to dance, to the mortification of the rich dames. After it was over he
handed her to the top of the room, and placing himself by her, spoke of
the loss she had sustained, with tenderness, promising to provide for
anyone she should marry, as the story goes. She is since married, and he
has not forgotten his promise.

A little girl, during the same expedition, in Sweden, who informed him
that the logs of a bridge were out underneath, was taken by his orders to
Christiania, and put to school at his expense.

Before I retail other beneficial effects of his journey, it is necessary
to inform you that the laws here are mild, and do not punish capitally
for any crime but murder, which seldom occurs. Every other offence
merely subjects the delinquent to imprisonment and labour in the castle,
or rather arsenal at Christiania, and the fortress at Fredericshall. The
first and second conviction produces a sentence for a limited number of
years--two, three, five, or seven, proportioned to the atrocity of the
crime. After the third he is whipped, branded in the forehead, and
condemned to perpetual slavery. This is the ordinary course of justice.
For some flagrant breaches of trust, or acts of wanton cruelty, criminals
have been condemned to slavery for life time first the of conviction, but
not frequently. The number of these slaves do not, I am informed, amount
to more than a hundred, which is not considerable, compared with the
population, upwards of eight hundred thousand. Should I pass through
Christiania, on my return to Gothenburg, I shall probably have an
opportun