could judge, bears a considerable resemblance to that of the church of
England. The Swedes have a common prayer book. The service
begins with psalms, which, as far as I could judge by the ear, were in
'prose. The organ plays, and all the congregation join in the singing.
The priest then read prayers at the altar. The singing was repeated,
and prayers were again read. This continued for a considerable time,
and to me who did not understand the language it was not a little
fatiguing. Last o f all a clergyman went up into the pulpit and read
a sermon with great rapidity, holding up the leaves o f the manuscript
in his hand. As soon as he had finished a leaf he gave it to a man who
stood behind him ready to receive it. As soon as the sermon was
finished the clergyman went out; psalms began, and the service concluded.
The attention paid to Sunday in Sweden is much less than is paid to
it in Great Britain; and to me, who had been educated in Scotland,
where the sabbath is observed with peculiar strictness, the difference
appeared so great that I could not help remarking it. The only thing,
as far as I could observe, which distinguished Sunday from the other
days o f the week was that the shops were shut and the churches open.
The tradesmen work at all their different professions on Sunday as on
any other day. Thus I saw blacksmiths, shoe-makers, tailors, &c. at
work in their shops upon Sunday as usual. The theatres are likewise
open upon Sunday evening. But this is not surprising, as the Swedish
Sunday ends at six in the evening, beginning at six the preceding evening.
This is the way they reckon their time: the day with them
always begins at six in the evening, and terminates at six in the evening.
Thus in travelling, for example, on the first of October I found
the date in the day-books after six o’clock always marked second of
October.
In the city o f Stockholm; strictly so called, there are only two
Swedish churches; namely, the Great Church, hard by the palace, and
the Svartbrodra Kloster, formerly a cloister. There is. likewise a
German church, a Finnish church, two French protestant churches, and
a Jewish synagogue. There is a church also in the Ritterholm which
has a magnificent outside, but it was shut up when I was at Stockholm,
so that I had no opportunity of seeing it. In the Norra Malm, or
north suburb, there are six churches, namely, St. Clara’s cloyster, St.
Clara’s church, Adolphus Frederick’s church, St. Jacob’s church, St.
John’s chapel, St. George’s chapel. In the Soder Malm, or south
suburb, there are five churches; namely, Mary Magdalen’s church,
Catharine’s church, Holy Cross chapel, a Russian church, and a Roman
Catholic church; so that the whole Swedish national churches in
Stockholm amount to eleven. There are five churches belonging to
foreigners, a Roman Catholic chapel and a Jewish synagogue. From
this statement it would appear that the number o f dissenters in
Sweden is exceedingly small. I do not recollect to have observed any
dissenting churches in any of the numerous towns through which I
passed: it can hardly be said that any exist in Stockholm. This is
very different from what is to be seen in Britain and Holland. In
England, I am persuaded, the dissenters amount to about one half of
the population, and in Scotland, perhaps, to a fourth or fifth part of
the whole; The natural tendency to dissent is greater in episcopalian
than in presbyterian countries, because the morals o f the great body
o f the clergy must be expected to be more lax in the first case than
the second, in consequence o f the great difference of discipline and
situation. Hence I conceive, that in Sweden some peculiar circumstances
must exist to prevent dissenting, probably some prohibitory
laws.
One' o f the most curious places in Stockholm is the arsenal. It is
situated in the north suburb in what is called the King’s Garden, a
small spot laid out in pleasant walks and planted with trees, constituting
an agreeable walk which is open to all the inhabitants o f Stockholm.
The arsenal contains a vast number o f standards and trophies
taken from the Danes, the Poles, and the Russians, most o f them by
Charles XII. There is also to be seen the, , skin of the horse upon
which Gustavus Adolphus rode at the battle of Lutzen. There is
a boat built by Peter the Great, at Sardam, in Holland, which was
taken by a Swedish vessel while on its way to Petersburgh; but