portionable to the width of their sledges and as the second always follows the tract of the first, this furrow, in the course of time, and by new falls of snow accumulating on the sides, becomes so deep, that it forms a kind of case, which admits only sledges of the same dimension." p. 176.

On the 16th of March, 1799, the travellers leave Stockholm, and arrive at Grisle halmn the same evening, a distance not less than sixty. nine English miles, in which space no inn is to be met with nor refreshment procured. Enveloped in pelices of Russian bear's skins, their heads closely covered with fur caps, and their hands in gloves lined with wool or fur, they found no reason to complain of cold the whole way.

The author with much interest describes the happiness of the peasantry, he says, "the traits of innocence, simplicity, and contentment, which, on entering any one of their cabins, you may perceive in their countenances, form a picture that must greatly move the sensibility of a stranger, and interest the feelings of his heart." p. 181.

Chap. XI. Grislehamn is a small port town, remarkable only for its being a place of rendezvous for travellers by sea and land, in their way to or from Sweden or Finland. At this place our travellers enter upon the gulph of Bothnia; the following description is given of this journey, accompanied with a plate.

"The distance across is forty-three English miles, thirty of which you travel on the ice without touching on land. This passage over the frozen sea is, doubtless, the most singular and striking spectacle that a traveller from the south can behold. I laid my account with having a journey more dull and unvaried than surprising or dangerous. I expected to travel forty-three miles without sight of land, over a vast and uniform plain, and that every successive mile would be in exact unison and monotonous correspondence with those I had already travelled; but my astonishment was greatly increased in proportion as we advanced from our starting post. The sea, at first smooth and even, became more and more rugged and unequal. It assumed, as we proceeded, an undulating appear ance, resembling the waves by which it had been agitated. At length we

met with masses of ice heaped one upon the other, and some of them seeming as if they were suspended in the air, while others were raised in the form of pyramids. On the whole, they exhibited a picture of the wildest and most savage confusion, that surprized the eye by the novelty of its appearance. It was an immense chaos of icy ruins, presented to view under every possible form, and embellished by superb stalactites of a blue green colour.

"Amidst this chaos, it was not without difficulty and trouble that our horses and sledges were able to find and pursue their way. It was necessary to make frequent windings, and sometimes to return in a contrary direction, following that of a frozen wave, in order to avoid a collection of icy mountains that lay before us. In spite of all our expedients for discovering the evenest paths, our sledges were every moment overturned to the right or the left; and frequently the legs of one or other of the company, raised perpendicularly in the air, served as a signal for the whole caravan to halt. The inconvenience and danger of our journey were still farther increased by the following circumstance: Our horses were made wild and furious, both by the sight and smell of our great pelisses, manufactured of the skins of Russian wolves or bears. Whenever one of the sledges was overturned, the horses belonging to it, or to that next to it, frighted at the sight of what they supposed to be a wolf or bear rolling on the ice, would set off at full gallop, to the great terror of both passenger and driver. The peasant, apprehensive of losing his horse in the midst of this desert, kept firm hold of the bridle, and suffered the horse to drag his body through masses of ice, of which some sharp points threatened to cut him to pieces. The animal, at last wearied out by the constancy of the man, and dishear tened by the obstacles continually opposed to his flight, would stop; then we were enabled to get into our sledges, but not till the driver had blindfolded the animal's eyes." p. 184, 185.

In their way over the gulph they stop to refresh at the island of Signilskår, and "between the isles of Vergata and Kumlinge. They have for their guide a peasant of about fiftyfive years of age, who, though he had never received any education, nor

read any books, astonished them with the great freedom of his conversation as well as the good sense of his observations. Being informed they were from Italy, he expressed much astonishment; he had heard,

he said, that there was a war in Italy;

and that there was in that country a warrior who struck terror into all the world; alluding, no doubt, to Bonaparte." p. 190.

Chap. XII. An account of the isles of Aland-Their situations, name and history-Parishes and Civil Regulations-Soil and produce-The Inhabitants-their manners and customs -Natural History - QuadrupedsBirds-Amphibious animals-Fishes -Insects-Plants, and minerals.

Concerning the inhabitants the author writes, "The Alanders are upon the whole an ingenious, lively, and courteous people, and on the sea display a great degree of skill and resolution. As a proof of the regu. larity of their lives, it is only neces sary to observe, that from the year 1749 to 1793, no more than seven criminals were capitally convicted, and within that space of time only seven murders committed, which is in the proportion of one execution and one murder to one thousand eight hundred natural deaths; whereas in London, during the year 1791, out of eighteen thousand seven hundred and sixty who died, thirty-seven suffered under the hands of the executioner; and at Naples and in Sicily, six hundred murders are supposed to be perpetrated one year with another, in a population of five millions. From the year 1749 to 1773, there were born in Aland one hundred and nineteen illegitimate children; from 1774 to 1790, the number of these was one hundred and twenty-six, which is in the proportion for the first twenty-five years, of one bastard child to eighty-three legitimate children; and for the following sixteen years of one to fiftythree. The latter proportion, however, is in some measure a proof of the increase of moral depravity, though it be trifling when compared with other places, such as Stockholm and Abo, where one sixth part of the children born are illegitimate; and if we take the births through Sweden, we shall find the proportion to be to forty-five." p. 199, 200. (To be continued.)

one

LXXXVII. THE POETICAL REGIS TER, and Repository of Fugitive Poetry, for 1801.

"THIS volume is an enlargement, and it is hoped an improvement, of the plan of a work established in France in the year 1765, entitled the Almanack des Muses. That work includes only poetry and criticism; the first nearly, if not all original, and the latter to a very limited extent. In the Poetical Register it is proposed to include every subject connected with poetry." Advertisement, p.iv.

The contents of this work are divided into Original Poetry-Ancient Poetry-Fugitive, Poetry-Criticisms of Poetical Works-Catalogue of Poetical Works of 1801-Poetical Biography, containing Memoirs of Mrs. Chapone; and Miscellanies, consisting of a letter from Miss SewardCatalogue of living Poets, and notices of Poetical Publications in the Press.

From the department of Original Poetry we present our readers with the following production of Miss Seward:

O'er each bar'd shoulder hangs the idle rake,

And busy fancy paints the coming wake.

But from the lip th' unfinish'd periods break,

And joy's warm blushes deeper tinge the cheek;

For see th' expected youths, in vigor's pride,

Stoutly are striding down the mountain's side;

O'er the swift brook, at once, they lightly bound,

And gay good-morrows thro' the fields resound.

And now is labour busy in the dale; The cow stands duteous by the cleanly pail,

Where the rich milk descends in eddying tides,

Pure as the virgin hands through which it glides.

The youths, with short'ning arm, and bending head,

Sweep their bright scythes along the shiver'd mead.

Three blithsome maids the grassy plunder shake; Three draw, with gentle hand, the thrifty rake,

And three, mid carol sweet, and jocund tale,

Shatter the breathing verdure to the gale. Where yonder cottages' ascending smoke,

In spiral columns, wreaths the sungilt oak;

pare

The steaming breakfast thro' the vale to bear.

See, with pleas'd looks, gay Ceres' happy train,

Watch their young donors, loaded on the plain;

Inhale the grateful fumes that round them rise,

Mark their slow, heedful step, and earnest eyes;

The chubby hands that grasp the earthen rim,

Where health's warm viand rises to the brim.

Light on the new-shorn bank recline the band,

And take the present from the willing hand.

With eager appetite and poignant taste,

Thank the kind bearers, and enjoy

the feast.