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FORTIa’s TRAVELS IN SWEDEN.

439

of his fellow citizens, were content with an oaken crown and a public infcription : Hehas well deferved of his country : but man in the prefent age is far from this noble fim-plicity, he is governed by prejudices of too ftrong afcendancy, not to look upon this asan ideal payment for his labours. Until the univerfe become enlightened by that greatpeople which has declared itfelf the light and pattern of the world ; until philofophyfhall have extended its beneficent influence to all clafles of fociety, people of the Northand South, whofe fervices are repaid by ribbons, and erodes, preferve them, blefs them,,know that man in a favage ftate is not unacquainted with orders; for Captain Wilfonmet with an Order of the Bone in the Pelew ifiands. Infenfate as we are, we feek tocarry back man in a polifhed ftate beyond the fimplicity of natural man. Let us foregothe vanity of being more wife than nature, nor ftrive to furpafs, content with imitatingher in her works. Alas! how far are we from this L

Chap. X.— Cajlles of the King ,— Droitningholm.—The Environs of Stockholm.

HIS Majefty has fome chateaux in the neighbourhood of Stockholm , and two othersfome miles diftant thence, which we fhall notice, Gripfhohn and Stroni/holm. Drottning*holm (or Queen’s ifland) is one mile from Stockholm , in an ifland of lake Mceler: thisis the molt elegant of all the royal houfes, and on every account deferves particular in-fpection. The caltle is on the border of the lake, which has from this fpot a moltfuperb appearance ; the fituation in fummer is delightful, and its gardens, which areextenfive, are at the back. It has an impofing appearance: each of its two fayades ,which are regular, has one and thirty windows, without including two round pavillionsat the ends. Near it are a number of other buildings, capable of houfing a hundredand feventy gentlemen. The princes and princeffes have feparate pavillions contiguousto the cattle. The front next the lake has a grand flight of fteps with a baluftrade, onwhich are placed a number of flower-pots made of iron. It has four open arcades, themiddle,ones ferving for entrances: on a fort of platform between the caftle and theflight of fteps, are two fmall ftatues in bronze ; between the fteps and the lake, a Nep-tune of the faipe. On the top of the fteps, two marble lions holding fhields, upon thedifferent fteps a number of marble ftatues. On the oppofite fide next the caftle, thereis a terrace along the whole front, ornamented with a baluftrade and two ftatues inbronze; a large grafs plot planted with yew, and feveral fmall bafons in but indifferentorder. In the middle is a large bafon, with an Hercules crulhing the hydra, and feveralfigures grouped around, all in bronze. By the fide of the bafon are two fmall figuresin bronze. As you defeend from the middle of the terrace, you fee four large vafesand four ftatues of the fame metal, two of which natural as life. At each extremity ofthe terrace is an -iron gate, over one of them is two lions, and on the fide two figuresholding cyphers, fmaller than life : on the other are two horfes, fmaller than the naturaliize, the whole in bronze. The ftatues, as well as every thing in bronze, were takenat Prague ; on one of thefe vafes is ftill to be feen the cypher of the Emperor Ferdi-nand . Thefe pieces are in the ftyle of the Tufcan fchool, one in which a number of(jermans ftudied at that time.

The Interior. As you enter the caftle from the garden fide, you have on the left twoantichambers; in the fecond is the reprefentation in a picture of a Laplander in hisfledge, drawn by a reindeer. A cabinet in which are fome paintings, porcelain, andChina figures : here is to be feen the firft porphyry vafe manufactured in Sweden : onthe right is the King’s bedchamber, it is richly ornamented with gilding, and elegantly

furni flied,.