was fraught with such food for meditation; and meditations which, in these portentous times, are so Cassandra-like in their prognostics, that I hurried from the church, quite in the dismals, to talk over the past, present, and to come, with my dear Mosco friend, now arrived in St. Petersburgh.

My pictures I had finished. They were deposited in the hermitage with that of Peter the Great; and I now only waited for my passport to carry me across the frontiers into Sweden. It was the depth of winter, and I ordered the necessary equipages for that sort of travelling. The passport was sent to me. All was now closed with me in Russia, except to take my leave of the imperial head of the court in which I had experienced so much kindness. I was received with a condescension that redoubled my every hope; and as I received the most gratifying marks of the amiable Alexander's approbation, and interest in my fate; I withdrew from his presence with sentiments of never dying respect and gratitude, and with the dear conviction that "it would not be long before peace would reunite the two countries, and bring me back to Russia and to happiness!"

That night I slept not. I passed it in the saloons of some of my best friends; and freighted with many a gentle sigh to distant England, I parted from some. But from others, than friendship dearer! their tears are yet upon my cheek: and the blessings of those whom heaven, by age, seems particularly to have consecrated to itself, still dwell on my head; and I trust were not breathed in vain.

The tenth of December, five in the morning! Remember that this day is the most fearful of his life to thy fortune-persecuted friend.

LETTER XXXIV.

Abo, December, 1807.

ON the tenth of December I left St. Petersburgh for Stockholm; having had a couple of kibitkas made on a lighter and larger construction than those used in Russia, and better adapted to the Swedish roads. One of these vehicles was for myself, and the other for my honest servant Gerard Schmidt. The hospitality and attention of my friends, provided me with every portable necessary for the journey; which at this season of the year is both tedious and dangerous.

I found the roads good; and got on very rapidly through Russian Finland. This part of the empire is flat and marshy; covered with huge masses of granite, standing so thick in some places, as at a distance to bear the appearance of considerable villages. These deceptions, no doubt, often occasion bitter disappointment to the foot traveller who, worn with fatigue and hunger, hopes a few steps farther to find rest and refreshment: but drawing near, meets an assemblage of solitary stones! Vast tracts of this country are thinly scattered with low and meagre fir-trees; the aspect, consequently, is very desolate; but whether it be really as bad as it seems, I will not pretend to say: for while the bosom of nature is so overspread with snow, it is impossible to form a right judgment of its cultivation.

The Finlanders are of a small stature, sharp featured, and usually without any apparent beard. They have light complexions; with fair hair, worn long and uncombed on each side of their head. Brown woollen kaftans short to the knee; with loose black pantaloons and boots, make up their apparel. Now and then, as a wonderful finery, a sort of worked decoration adorns their upper garments. Their caps are unvaryingly of the same shape. In short, seeing one Finlander is seeing them all; and my sketch is as like their rude exterior as if it had been cut out by one of their own taylors. A most barbarous animal, you will think I have made of the poor Fin: but I must say,

in excuse for so inveterate a likeness, that take them altogether, their appearance is ten times more savage than the grimmest Russian I ever met, wrapped like a wild beast in his hairy shoub. Certainly the description is not so bearish, but the reality would convince you at once of their hideous tout ensemble; to account for it, I refer you to better physiognomists in faces and garbs; for, that the Fins are so frightful,

"The reason why, I cannot tell;

But so it is, dear Doctor Fell!"

Viborg was the first town of any magnitude I passed through: and in that place I presented the governor with my passport, who countersigned it, and treated me very civilly. The town is a seaport, and the capital of a government which bears its name; it is also a bishop's see; and carries on a considerable trade with England. Peter the First took it from the Swedes in 1710, improved its fortifications, and Russia has ever since retained it as one of her strongest bulwarks against that brave people.

I found the inns large and dirty: a very usual property, you will think, of all receptacles for travellers on these northern roads. Ay, and on every road that I have travelled, southward, eastward, and westward, excepting England. Our little island possesses not a more striking characteristic than the cleanliness and comfort of its habitations, from the palace to the cot, inns, and even alehouses included.

The hotel of Viborg was rendered still more prolific in all manner of filthy abominations, by a party of soldiers quartered there; the whole city being filled with Russian troops. The villages around were likewise overflowing with this military flood, on its passage to the frontiers of Sweden. As I followed the track, I passed numerous regiments on their march: their cannon, war carriages, troops of Cossacs, and other accompaniments; sometimes proceeding in scattered parties, and at others, halting in groups of various positions, could not fail of producing picturesque and interesting scenes. Thirty thousand men, I am told, is the present Russian force in Finland. And to me it will be surprising, if they do not fail upon Sweden much sooner than that kingdom expects the attack.

On my approach to the borders, I found the country become hilly, and assume a more savage outline. The mountainous and rugged scenery of Salvator Rosa, will give you a very just idea of the face of this wild country. It is the very theatre in which a romance writer would place his supernatural visitants, or a painter his banditti. When the snow is off, I have no doubt that the return of warmer suns will crown many of these now barren rocks with a verdure, which, in some places, must soften into beauty their prevailing grandeur. The eye and the imagination, fatigued with a too prolonged gaze on gigantic nature, turn with delight to the little green valley, where some cottage lurks, embosomed in trees, promising rest and cheerfulness with its humility.

Aberforce is the last of the Russian possessions in this extensive province, which anciently was called Carelia; and now marks the boundary of the Russian empire on the side of Sweden. Here my baggage was examined, and all the imperial coin and paper money taken from me, for which I received Swedish in exchange. Having showed my passport to the commanding officer, and passed the lines, in a few minutes I was no longer in the territories of Alexander; I no longer breathed the air of the same empire with one, who was as part of my own being. Call me not romantic! but at that moment I found the pangs of separation renewed afresh; and had I not had the remembrance of the parting graciousness of its august monarch to quiet my anxieties, with what a redoubled gloom should I have prepared myself to encounter the gulf that was yet to divide me further! But Hope, my faithful ally, rose again before me; and I willingly followed her visionary flight, as I lay wrapped up in my kibitka, till she seemed to alight on the temple of Concord, and reunite the hands of Russia and England. Ah, my friend! had the shrewdest seer that ever pretended to read the stars, have told me three years ago, that the political conduct of two great empires, in the year 1807, would immediately influence my future fate, I should have laughed at so pompous a prediction for so insignificant a personage, and have told the prophet, that the-storms on the mountains would never reach my humble dell. But so it is:

and peace or war opens to me all my joys, or shuts them from me, with bars more impenetrable than walls of iron.

Having left Aberforce, which is nothing more than a long line of hills, well defended with huge bulwarks of granite, I passed over a low piece of neutral territory, that in a few moments brought me to the Swedish frontiers. Here I found a very slender guard; and after the usual formalities, passed through them with great ease. I was rather surprised to find so slight a defence opposed to the coming enemy; but as I proceeded my astonishment increased, as I rarely saw any thing bearing the least affinity with arms: and when I recalled the large army I had just quitted, on the full march to overwhelm this country, I was totally at a loss how to account for so unguarded a security. Either the information they receive must be very bad, or some policy is carrying on beyond my comprehension; for, I cannot seriously suppose that Baron de Steddinge, the worthy representative of the royal Gustavus on the frontiers, would allow so hostile an appearance to escape his vigilance. Whatever may be the occult reason for the present tranquillity, all is at perfect rest in Swedish Finland. Liberty and comfort smile every where; peace sits on every countenance, and decorates the landscape, as if this had been her chosen reign for many a year. The view was delightful; and had I not been sure that Bellona was at my heels, ready to burn up their present and promised happiness, I might have enjoyed the scene; but the prospect of its impending destruction, like the mystical lore of the Scottish wizard, disturbed my fancy; and I was glad to press forward.

The means of travelling rapidly do not fall off in Swedish Finland. The horses are smaller than those on the Russian side; but their motion in descending the hills is so swift, as to be really terrific. Every thing seemed to partake of the activity of these animals; for although they were obliged to be sent for, at different stages, from the neighbouring boors, yet all was despatched with such promptitude that I was detained a very short time at the posthouses, and speeded on my journey almost as quickly as in England.

There is nothing particularly striking or singular in the