fortia’s travels in Sweden . 395

Tirjl audience offoreign minijlers. —During our ftay at Stockholm , a new envoy fromTru ffia had his firft audience of the King and royal family ; the following is a defcriptionof the ceremony. A carriage belonging to the court, in which was the mailer of theceremonies, went to bring the minifter from his hotel at about half-pall feven at night;the minifter got in ; befide him fat the minifter from Holland, and in front the mailerof the ceremonies. In a following carriage was the Charge d’ Jjfaires of Pruffia. Uponhis introduction into the great dining-room, where there was a large company collected,it was announced that the King was ready to receive the credentials of the new minif-ter ; upon this the doors of the audience chamber, which adjoined, were opened. TheKing had his hat on ; he was feated on an arm chair of crimfon cloth, the back ofwhich was ornamented with the arms of Sweden , carved in wood and gilt; he was ad-dreffed in French , and-anfwered in the fame language with inexpreffible grace and dig-nity : he had five or fix of the principal officers of his court about him. Upon the mi-nifter from Pruffia leaving the prefence, he was afterwards conduCled fucceffively to thePrince Royal and the other Princes and Princefies. We followed him to the youngPrince, who made his fpeech with all the noblCnefs of manner and confidence that afovereign the moll accuftomed to thefe forms could poffibly Ihew; we were the onlyfpeftators upon the occafion. The minifter w'as re-conduCied to his hotel in the famemanner, and in the fame 'carriage, which, by a pleafant chance, has preferred thename of a Dutch minifter of whom it was purchafed, and is known by no other appel-lation.

The coaches of ambafiadors and fenators only enter the court of the caftle, which isvery inconvenient for others, the open piazzas under which you walk not Iheltering youIrom the wind.

The royal caftle is fituated within the city proper, on an eminence, fo that it is vifible,from every quarter, and forms a ftriking object. It is not large, but its architecture isgood, and it is altogether one of the prettied: modern palaces in exiftence. Le VoyageurHollandais afferts, that it is larger than that of Copenhagen , but not fo handfome nor foelegantly furnifhed; precifely the reverie is the truth. It is built of brick, cafed, theroof a ritalienne , was begun by Charles XI. , and entirely finiffied by the late King; itforms almoft a perfect fquare. The interior court is two hundred and fixty feet by twohundred and twenty-four, and has feventeen windows by fifteen ; it is four ftories high,three of which are lofty and one low. The entrance court is femicircular; the fronthas twenty-three windows in a row; ten Doric columns, joining the wall, fupport anequal number of Ionic coryatides, and above them are ten fmall Corinthian pillars, whichreach the top of the building. The fouth fide, or that of the theatre, has fix large Co-rinthian pillars half immerged, crowned with trophies, twenty-one windows, and as w r ellas the oppofite fide, is three hundred and twenty-eight feet long. The fourth fide,which fronts the fea, has twenty three windows, and is three hundred and fixty-fourfeet long; is fix ftories high, three of which are lofty, and three fmall in the wingsa !one. The corps de logis, which is of nine windows, is but of four ftories, three ofwhich are lofty, one low, with three arcades in the midft. To the corps de logis therea re CompoiW pillars, and at each window of the firft ilory two fmall Ionian pillars.Po the principal corps de logis in the court are nine arcades, the pillars of the CorinthianP r der, and two fmall columns to the windows, the fame as in front ;• the oppofite fideis the fame. The breadth of the building at the corps de logis of the principal entrance,an d at two others, is 52 feet; at the two remaining, an arch ferves as a gateway. Theriepth of the building on the fide of the declivity is but forty-two feet; at the extremities°i this Hope are two large lions in bronze. Before one of the fronts of the caftle is a

3 e 2 ■ fmall