“ o f them the whole year. But a reiidence in this province, from
“ a ridiculous vanity, is by no means fo agreeable as it might be.
« The-vifits o f gentlemen to one another are always vifits o f cere-
“ mony. The y are attended with their horfes, dogs, and a train
“ o f fervants, and remain at each others houfes for feveral days to-
“ gether. Their round o f vifits being made, they live at home
“ for the remainder o f the year. T he y are fo conceited o f their
“ rank, that they will notadmit women o f inferior 'birth into their
“ .company, even though they be married to perfons o f the Mghefl
“ quality;”
T he Swedes know nothing o f horfe-racing, nor are they at all
acquainted with what the Engliih call hunting. When they
fpeak o f the chaee, they mean by it the fport o f fhooting game.
-In this they fancy themfelves great adepts, though they have not
Attained to any degree o f fkill in the art, and are by no means to
be compared to the lportfmen o f Italy or England. Hawkingj-
and the various modes o f catching birds, which conflitute fo great
a fburce o f amufement in -Lombardy, are wholly unknown to
¡them; nor do they take any great pleafure in riding on horfe-
-back, or in other diverfions and fports o f the field, that yield a
•mixture o f pure air and bodily exercife. T he great enemy to the
-ipirit o f fociety in Sweden, both in town and country, -and that
-which renders their parties the moil; heavy and infipid in Europe,
is cards and other games o f hazard. Ladies and gentlemen, old
and young, neither think nor dream o f any thing but cards. There
is
is no enjoyment without play. No perfon is looked upon as fo-
ciable and pleafant, unlefs he knows how to play at bofton:* this
is reckoned the height o f focial accomplifhment. All you can
do in fummer in the open air for your amufement, is to make
excurfions in the environs o f Stockholm, or to faunter in the
garden o f Vauxhall, which is an humble imitation o f that near
London. As for walking about in the town, that is out o f the
queflion, on account o f the pavement o f the flreets, which, I believe,
is by far the worfl that can be met with in Europe. There
are fometimes carriage-races, and alio boat-races, or what they-
call regatta, which ferve as a temporary diverfion. T he principal
walks or excurfions are, to the royal parks at Ulrikfdal,.
Haga, Drottningholm, and Carleberg. T he king has fome palaces-
in the vicinity o f Stockholm, befides thefe o f Gripfholm, and
Stromfholm; but the moft beautiful, as well as the moil frequently
inhabited, is that o f D rottningholm.
Drottningholm, or Queen's Ifland, is fituated at the diflance of
fix miles from Stockholm, 011 an ifland in the lake o f Malar.
The palace or caflle Hands on the edge o f the lake, which here
prefents a magnificent view. The fituation o f the palace is beautiful,
and the gardens belonging to it being o f confiderable extent
add much to its allurements. This building appears to great advantage.
The front and back parts are perfectly uniform, each
containing thirty-one windows,, befides thofe in the two pavilions
or wings. Near the place is a number o f houfes, in which one
* Bofton is the name o f a game at cards-not unlike th a t o f cafino.
hundred