enter it in a regal manner till they had given pledges to the mountaineers, to retain their privileges. On these independent people, therefore, Gustavus placed a firm confidence.

Disguising himself as a peasant, he set forth on his way to Dalecarlia, accompanied by a boor who was to be his guide. He crossed over the whole country of Sudermania, then passed between Mericia and Westmonia, and after the fatigues of a long and dangerous journey, arrived safe amongst the mountains. He had no sooner entered the province, than he was abandoned by his guide, who absconded, robbing him of all the money he had provided for his subsistence. He wandered up and down amongst these dreadful deserts, destitute of friends and money, not daring to own that he was even a gentleman. At length the inhabitants, then hardly more civilized than savages, proposed to him to work for his livelihood. To conceal himself from discovery, and to support nature, he accordingly hired himself to labour in this very mine; and for a long course of time did he toil in these caverns, and breathe as his common aliment the air, one respiration of which seemed to bring me the summons of death. But I shall speak further of him by and by.

This mine is said to produce the best copper in Europe; and is useful, not only on account of its internal wealth, but in providing subsistence for so many subjects as work in its bosom. The three great mines of the kingdom employ annually, in constant pay, about twentyfive thousand six hundred persons.

Fahlun is most delightfully situated (were it not for its noxious

vapours), amidst rocks and hills, and between the arms of a magnificent lake. The town is not very large, containing about fifteen hundred houses; and two churches, one more modern than the other; the roofs of both are covered with copper, which the atmosphere has turned a bright green. The surrounding forges, and other works carried on by fire, most frightfully besoot the houses, and give a dirty appearance to the whole. The inhabitants think to mend the matter by besmearing the walls with a red sort of paint; but as you" cannot wash the blackamoor white," neither can they make their abodes, at the best, look better than a chimney-sweeper daubed and dressed out for May-day. The sons of the miners, until they attain a proper age to be sent underground, are employed in making nails; some of which are so small as to be used in fastening the models for the larger machinery. Not being anxious that they shall drive any into my coffin, I leave this black pandæmonium to-morrow: promising that the next epistle Castor has from Pollux, shall not be from the dominions of Proserpine. Adieu.

LETTER XLIII.

WE

Mountains of Dalecarlia, April, 1808.

E left Fahlun on Wednesday the thirtieth of last month. When mounted on the first height that rises from the town, we looked back; the view that presented itself was gloomily picturesque; the plain and lake, and the hill on which the city stands, rising out of the mist; the spires of the churches, and the long assemblage of dark buildings, half concealed by the volumes of sulphureous smoke rolling in turbulent masses over their heads; the adjacent and distant mountains, wooded to their summits with the tree spontaneous to the country, whose spiral form seems to contemn the wintry snows; all expressed so severe a beauty, that while I admired, I wrapped myself round in my pelisse, and gave our steeds two or three impulses extraordinary to draw us to the upper world. They appeared as willing as their masters to leave the Stygian shores; and flying along the continued chain of precipitous mountains, brought us to the edge of a lake, bounded on one side by a rising ground; and on the other, as far as our eye could reach, by innumerable luxuriant islands,

On the little hill just mentioned, stood a very ancient habitation; of so simple an architecture, that you would have taken it for a hind's cottage, instead of a place that, in times of old, had been the abode of

nobility. It consisted of a long barn-like structure, formed of fir, covered in a strange fashion with scales, and odd ornamental twistings in the carved wood. But the spot was hallowed by the virtues of its heroic mistress, who saved, by her presence of mind, the life of the future deliverer of her country. The following are the circumstances alluded to; and most of them were communicated to me under the very roof.

Gustavus, having, by an evil accident, been discovered in the mines, and after being narrowly betrayed by a Swedish nobleman, bent his course towards this house, then inhabited by a gentleman of the name of Pearson (or Peterson), whom he had known in the armies of the late administrator. Here, he hoped, from the obligations he had formerly laid on the officer, that he should at least find a safe retreat. Pearson received him with every mark of friendship; nay, treated him with that respect and submission which noble minds are proud to pay to the truly great, when robbed of their external honours. He seemed more afflicted by the misfortunes of Gustavus, than that Prince was for himself; and exclaimed with such vehemence against the Danes, that, instead of awaiting a proposal to take up arms, he offered, unasked, to try the spirit of the mountaineers; and declared that himself and his vassals would be the first to set an example, and turn out under the command of his beloved general.

Gustavus was rejoiced to find that he had at last found a man who was not afraid to draw his sword in the defence of his country; and endeavoured by the most impressive arguments, and the prospect of a suitable recompence for the personal risks he ran, to confirm him in

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so generous a resolution. Pearson answered with repeated assurances of fidelity he named the gentlemen and the leading persons among the peasants whom he hoped to engage in the enterprize. Gustavus relied on his word, and promising not to name himself to any while he was absent, some days afterwards saw him leave the house to put his design in execution.

It was indeed a design, and a black one. Under the specious cloak of a zealous affection for Gustavus, the traitor was contriving his ruin. The hope of making his court to the Danish tyrant, and the expectation of a large reward, made this son of Judas resolve to sacrifice his honour to his ambition, and, for the sake of a few ducats, violate the most sacred laws of hospitality, by betraying his guest. In pursuance of that base resolution he went straight to one of Christiern's officers commanding in the province, and informed him that Gustavus was his prisoner. Having committed this treachery, he had not courage to face his victim; and telling the Dane how to surprise the Prince, who, he said, believed himself to be under the protection of a friend, (shame to manhood, to dare to confess that he could betray such a confidence!) he proposed taking a wider circuit home, while they, apparently unknown to him, rifled it of its treasure. "It will be an easy matter," said he, "for not even my

wife knows that it is Gustavus."

Accordingly the officer, at the head of a party of well-armed soldiers, marched directly to the lake. The men invested the house, while the leader, abruptly entering, found Pearson's wife, according to the fashion of those days, employed in culinary preparations. At some distance from her sat a young man in a rustic garb, lopping off the knots from