from instant destruction: and when he did yield his sword, it was, although to peasants, to men who fought, each with the determination of a hero. As I am preparing to quit Stockholm, and have so many farewels to say before my departure, you will not be surprised, and perhaps you will not be sorry, that instead of running you forward to another subject, I leave you on the march with the brave Alanders. As long as you drop them short of the isles of Bothnia, very well, both for your own sake, and that of your faithful friend. LETTER XLVIII. ΟΝ Gottenburg, June, 1808. N the fifth of June, after having been honoured the day before with a most hospitable dinner from His Excellency our good minister, and my kind friend Mr. Thornton, I set off from Stockholm at nine in the morning, accompanied by a gentleman lately arrived from St. Petersburgh. We had previously purchased a small Swedish carriage that precisely held two persons, for which I paid fifty dollars; and having sent our forebode forward, we had no difficulty in getting horses. At two o'clock the following day, we arrived at Arboga; having passed through an extremely wild country. Were it not for the extensive woods which sometimes enveloped us for many miles, I should have declared that the stony deserts of Arabia could not be more stupendous and barren than parts of this province. I never saw, even in Finland, such immense tracks of granite; and in such places they stood so huge and scattered, as to seem, at a little distance, the ruins of vast fortresses, or towns and churches. |