fay fomething appropriate to every one prefent. The duke ot
Sudermania too was very attentive to the guefts; but the prefent
king, though polite and gracious, is more referved in his manners ;
and on the whole the court has exchanged its gaiety, magnificence,
and pleaiure, for an air o f retirement and infipidity.
The intercourfe between the court and the inferior affemblies
and circles, exhibits a lingular mixture o f feudal fubmiffion and
veneration for the civ a nd military chief, and a refpeft for the per-
fonal rights o f all claffes and individuals in the n ation; for although
a confiderable fhare o f modem fervility has been introduced, yet
there ftill remains evident traces o f that fpirit o f freedom and independence
which diflinguifhed the antient inhabitants o f the
North. Thefe venerable relicks are not quite annihilated, by the
extenfion o f Afiatic defpotifm, as in Ruffia and China. A hardy
boldnefs o f character, created by the nature o f the country they
inhabit, gives to every individual a fenfe o f his own relpedability
and confequence, which is colle&ively felt and affumed by whole
bodies and communities. Tha t great poet, fcholar, and philofo-
pher, Milton, fomewhere obferves, that the Engliih are free, not
by virtue o f their written laws or conventions, but becaufe they
are by nature a free people. Laws, when they are not maintained
and invigorated by the living principle o f liberty, and a fenfe o f
juftice, foon degenerate into dead-letter : and, on the other hand,
where that fpirit is itrong and active, laws and cult on. s are
changed, qualified, and meliorated in favour o f humanity. The
moil brilliant affembly in Stockholm next to the court in full
gala,
gala, is that held once a fortnight in the upper-hall o f the E x change.
It begins at fix o’clock in the evening, and continues
till ten or eleven: here you fee collefted all the rank, faihion, and
beauty that the capital can boaft of. As foon as there is a fufficient
number o f people aifembled for country-dances the mufic begins..
T h e hall is fpacious enough to hold nine or ten different dancing
parties. There are alfo tw o rooms for card-tables. About eight
o’clock the royal family commonly make their appearance, but
without occafioning any interruption in the entertainment. T h e
queen, with her attendants, is feated in one o f the balconies.
The king, princes o f the blood, and princeffes, walk about the
room and converfe with the company. T h e king generally notices
and fpeaks to almoft every perfon in the fame manner as
in the drawing-room. He does not even pafs over thofe that
have not been prefented at court, o f which defcription are many
diftinguiihed families among the gentry, clergy, and the mercantile
- clafs, and ihews them great affability ; for though they are
not o f noble birth, yet their education and refpe&abilky in lociety
is deemed a fufficient title to thefe marks o f attention. T hey
bring their wives and daughters to thefe affemblies, and never experience,
as they might perhaps in other countries, the mortification
o f feeing them humbled or negleiied. T h e Exchange
affembly was at firft open to all company o f refpe&able appearance,
without any other condition than that o f paying for their
entrance ; but an incident happened which occafioned a partial
alteration in. this refpeft. This occurrence, as it ferves to llluf