BOOK from table; and we dined with the great marihal, who keeps
1 — J a public table on thefe occaiions.
About half paft five we were prefented to the prince royal, who,
although fcarcely fir years old, went through the forms of a drawing
room with wonderful eafe and addrefs for fo young a perfon.
We afterwards repaired to the Swediih opera of Iphigenia in
Aulis, tranflated from the French, and the words adapted to
Gluck s mufie. The theatre is imall but neat; the ftage was well
filled, and the piece well performed.
At the conclufion of the opera we embarked in a covered
barge, eroded the water in the rain, got into our carriage,
and arrived at Stockholm about midnight. Such is the neceflary
etiquette of the Swediih court; but the king contrives as much
as poffible to relieve the ennui of the day by the affability of his
manners, and the vivacity of his converfation.
The prefent king has paid great attention to the literature and
language of his native country. He has conftrufted, at a confider-
able expence, an opera-houfe in Stockholm, for the reprefentation
of operas in the Swediih language. The building is fmall, but well
arranged, and will contain about eight hundred fpeftators. The
ornaments, fcenes,- and decorations, are extremely rich and elegant.
The troop, confidering the recency of the eftablilhment,
will no doubt greatly improve, as the king loves and encourages
theatrical reprefentations, and has compofed feveral pieces for the
■ Rage.
The
S T O G K H O L M.
The polite arts have made their way into Sweden, and flouriih c h a p .
II.
-under the king’s patronage. «_ —.— j
Among the living artifts who do honour to their country, mull
be mentioned Mr. Sergell, a ftatuary, who paifed fome time at
Rome at the king’s expence, and is now fettled at Stockholm.
His work-ihop contained feveral ftatues and models, which
prove his tafte in feizing the fpirit of the antique. I particularly
admired a moft elegant Cupid and Pfyche; Otriades, in the agonies
of death engraving upon his buckler, with the point of his
lance, An 'Tgo'jraiw, “ To the God of Victory,” his countenance
exprefiing a fine aflemblage of pain, furmounted by courage; a
buft of Guftavus Adolphus, round which the prince royal is entwining
a wreath of laurel, in the true fpirit of the antique.
Mr. Sergell is likewife employed in fuper-intending and finifh-
ing the equeftrian ilatue of Guftavus Adolphus in bronze, after
the defign. of Archeveque, a celebrated French ftatuary, fince
dead. It is of a colofial fize *, and reprefents Guftavus
Adolphus, the favourite hero of Sweden, in complete armour,
excepting his head, which is encircled with laurel; his right
hand holds a truncheon pointing downwards. The hero fits
well on the horfe, and the animal has great fpirit.
Mr. Sergell has added to the .original defign the figures o f
* T h e following are its dimenf.onsi' height o f the hero, i f Handing, foUr-
Height, from the bottom o f the pedeftal teen f e e t ; length o f the horfe, from the
to the top o f the hero’ s head, forty feet ; head to the crupper, ten feet. F ig u re
from the bottom o f the horfe’s feet to the o f Oxenftiern, nine feet,
lo p o f the hero’ s head, eighteen feet $
Hiftory,