I retired from these wild scenes with regret to a miserable inn, and
next morning returned to Gothenburg, to prepare for my journey to
Copenhagen.
I was sorry to leave Gothenburg without travelling farther into
Sweden, yet I imagine I should only have seen a romantic country
thinly inhabited, and these inhabitants struggling with poverty.
The Norwegian peasantry, mostly independent, have a rough kind of
frankness in their manner; but the Swedish, rendered more abject by
misery, have a degree of politeness in their address which, though
it may sometimes border on insincerity, is oftener the effect of a
broken spirit, rather softened than degraded by wretchedness.
In Norway there are no notes in circulation of less value than a
Swedish rix-dollar. A small silver coin, commonly not worth more
than a penny, and never more than twopence, serves for change; but
in Sweden they have notes as low as sixpence. I never saw any
silver pieces there, and could not without difficulty, and giving a
premium, obtain the value of a rix-dollar in a large copper coin to
give away on the road to the poor who open the gates.
As another proof of the poverty of Sweden, I ought to mention that
foreign merchants who have acquired a fortune there are obliged to
deposit the sixth part when they leave the kingdom.
