feafons travelling becomes almoft impoflible, and the capital as.
well as other towns, are fo clogged and blocked up with mud and
dirt, that you can fcarcely move from one place to another. It
is for this reafon that the Swedes fo generally wear outer Ihoes,
called galoches, which are very ufeful and neceflary for the pre-
fervation o f health, by keeping the feet from wet. A t this feafon
a carriage o f one’s own becomes indifpenfably neceflary ; for the
hackney coaches o f Stockholm are fo filthy as not to be endured
•by any lady, or almoft any gentleman.
It is not unnatural to fuppofe, that in the midft o f a Swediih
winter an Italian would run a rifk o f perifhing through cold;
but this is by no means the cafe. I was at Stockholm all the
winter o f ] 7 0 9 , when the cold was at or below twenty-five degrees
o f the thermometer o f Gelfius; and I can declare with
perfect truth, that I differed much lefs from the feverity o f the
weather than I have fbmetimes done in Italy. I f the cold in
thofe climates be great, the means o f warding off its effedts are
proportionably great. T h e ftoves in Sweden are the moft ingeni-
oufly contrived for heating a chamber, and keeping it warm with
a' very fmall quantity o f fuel, o f any in' Europe. The y are rather
dangerous, it is true, i f entrufted to ftrangers, who do not know
how to manage them, and who, by fhutting up the vent at an
improper time, may occafiom too great an expenditure o f vital air.
But the Swedes know lb exactly the moment when it is fit to
clofe the air-hole, that there is fcarcely an inftance o f any accident
happening from the ufe o f ftoves in Sweden. They are in
general
general fo conftructed, as to correfpond in their appearance with
the furniture and ftyle o f the apartment in which they are placed.
A great number o f pipes proceed from the ftove, which do not
merely ferveto conduct the fmoke, but their chief ufe is to circulate
the heated air that is combined with the fmoke throughout
the apartment. It. is true that, in order to refill the power o f
winter at Stockholm, you muft, when you go out, carry about
with you a whole wardrobe o f cloaths; this inconvenience, however,
is little thought of,. when cuftom has rendered it familiar.
I have often been greatly diverted at feeing a Swede, before he
came into a room, divefting himfelf o f his pellice, great coat,
and upper ihoes, and leaving them in the anti-chamber. The
veftments or exuviee o f ten perfons are fufficient to load a large
table. I knew a gentleman, who dilliked pellices, and fubftituted
common great coats, o f which he wore two at a time. Thefe,,
with two pair o f gloves, his galoches, and his flick, make altogether
ten different articles for the anti-chamber, viz. two great
coats, two galoches, four gloves, one flick, and one hat. A good
memory is requifite not to forget any o f thofe .articles on taking
your leave, W h en a gentleman has occafion in winter to go any
where on foot, or to walk ever fo fhort a diftance from hrs carriage,
he wears great j ack-boots,, lined with fur or. flannel, and under
them .ihoes and white ftockings ;. the boots he pulls off in the
anti-chamber. W ith fuch boots and a good pellice, a man may
fet the utmoft feverity o f Cold at defiance.
Ctf the winter amufements o f Stockholm, I do not feel any
1 2. great