In St. Peter's
at Rome, and four times the weight of the "Great Tom of Lincoln."
The metal used consisted of cannons taken from the Turks during
their memorable sieges of Vienna. The cathedral is 350 feet long
and 200 wide, being less than St. Paul's in London, which is 510
feet long and 282 wide. - ED.
{48} The Storthing is the name given to the Norwegian parliament,
which assembles once every three years at Christiania. The time and
place of meeting are fixed by law, and the king has no power to
prevent or postpone its assembly. It consists of about a hundred
members, who divide themselves into two houses. The members must
not be under thirty years of age, and must have lived for ten years
in Norway. The electors are required to be twenty-five years of
age, and to be either burgesses of a town, or to possess property of
the annual value of 30l. The members must possess the same
qualification. The members of the Storthing are usually plain-
spoken, sensible men, who have no desire to shine as orators, but
who despatch with great native sagacity the business brought before
them. This Storthing is the most independent legislative assembly
in Europe; for not only has the king no power to prevent its meeting
at the appointed time, but should he refuse to assent to any laws
that are passed, these laws come into force without his assent,
provided they are passed by three successive parliaments. - ED.
{49} The present king of Sweden and Norway is Oscar, one of the few
fortunate scions of those lowly families that were raised to royal
power and dignity by Napoleon. His father, Bernadotte, was the son
of an advocate, and entered the French army as a common soldier; in
that service he rose to the rank of marshal, and then became crown-
prince, and ultimately king of Sweden. He died in 1844. The mother
of Oscar was Desiree Clary, a sister of Julie Clary, wife of Joseph
Bonaparte, the elder brother of Napoleon. This lady was asked in
marriage by Napoleon himself, but her father refused his assent; and
instead of becoming an unfortunate empress of France, she became a
fortunate queen of Sweden and Norway. Oscar was born at Paris in
1799, and received his education chiefly in Hanover. He accompanied
his father to Sweden in 1810, and ascended the throne on his
father's death in 1844. In 1824 he married Josephine Beauharnois,
daughter of Prince Eugene, and granddaughter of the brilliant and
fascinating Josephine, the first and best wife of Napoleon. Oscar
is much beloved by his subjects; his administration is mild, just,
and equable; and his personal abilities and acquirements are far
beyond the average of crowned heads. - ED.
{50} Bergen is a town of about twenty-five thousand inhabitants,
situated near the Kons Fiord, on the west coast of Norway, and
distant about 350 miles from Christiania. It is the seat of a
bishopric, and a place of very considerable trade, its exports being
chiefly fish. It has given its name to a county and a township in
the state of New Jersey. There are three other Bergens, - one in the
island of Rugen, one in the Netherlands, and another in the
electorate of Hesse. - ED.
{51} Kulle is the Swedish for hill.
{52} Delekarlien is a Swedish province, situated ninety or one
hundred miles north of Stockholm.
{53} The family of Sturre was one of the most distinguished in
Sweden. Sten Sturre introduced printing into Sweden, founded the
University of Upsala, and induced many learned men to come over. He
was mortally wounded in a battle against the Danes, and died in
1520.
His successors as governors, Suante, Nilson Sturre, and his son,
Sten Sturre the younger, still live in the memory of the Swedish
nation, and are honoured for their patriotism and valour.
{54} The University of Upsala is the most celebrated in the north.
It owes its origin to Sten Sturre, the regent of the kingdom, by
whom it was founded in 1476, on the same plan as the University of
Paris. Through the influence of the Jesuits, who wished to
establish a new academy in Stockholm, it was dissolved in 1583, but
re-established in 1598. Gustavus Vasa, who was educated at Upsala,
gave it many privileges, and much encouragement; and Gustavus
Adolphus reconstituted it, and give it very liberal endowments.
There are twenty-four professors, and the number of students is
between four and five hundred. - ED.
{55} See novel of Ivar, the Skjuts Boy, by Miss Emilie Carlen.
{56} At Calmar was concluded, in 1397, the famous treaty which
bears its name, by which Denmark, Sweden, and Norway were united
under one crown, that crown placed nominally on the head of Eric
Duke of Pomerania, but virtually on that of his aunt Margaret, who
has received the name of "the Semiramis of the North." - ED.
{57} There is now a railway direct from Hamburgh to Berlin. - ED.
{58} A florin is about two shillings sterling. - ED.
{59} Herr T. Scheffer of Modling, near Vienna, gives the following
characteristic of this new dipteral animal, which belongs to the
family muscidae, and resembles the species borborus:
Antennae deflexae, breves, triarticulatae, articulo ultimo phoereco;
seda nuda.
Hypoctoma subprominulum, fronte lata, setosa. Oculi rotundi,
remoti. Abdomen quinque annulatum, dorso nudo. Tarsi simplices.
Alae incumbentes, abdomine longiores, nervo primo simplici.
Niger, abdomine nitido, antennis pedibusque rufopiceis.
End of Visit to Iceland, by Madame Ida Pfeiffer
