The Norwegians Appear To Me A Sensible, Shrewd People, With Little
Scientific Knowledge, And Still Less Taste For Literature; But They
Are Arriving At The Epoch Which Precedes The Introduction Of The
Arts And Sciences.
Most of the towns are seaports, and seaports are not favourable to
improvement.
The captains acquire a little superficial knowledge by
travelling, which their indefatigable attention to the making of
money prevents their digesting; and the fortune that they thus
laboriously acquire is spent, as it usually is in towns of this
description, in show and good living. They love their country, but
have not much public spirit. Their exertions are, generally
speaking, only for their families, which, I conceive, will always be
the case, till politics, becoming a subject of discussion, enlarges
the heart by opening the understanding. The French Revolution will
have this effect. They sing, at present, with great glee, many
Republican songs, and seem earnestly to wish that the republic may
stand; yet they appear very much attached to their Prince Royal,
and, as far as rumour can give an idea of a character, he appears to
merit their attachment. When I am at Copenhagen, I shall be able to
ascertain on what foundation their good opinion is built; at present
I am only the echo of it.
In the year 1788 he travelled through Norway; and acts of mercy gave
dignity to the parade, and interest to the joy his presence
inspired. At this town he pardoned a girl condemned to die for
murdering an illegitimate child, a crime seldom committed in this
country. She is since married, and become the careful mother of a
family. This might be given as an instance, that a desperate act is
not always a proof of an incorrigible depravity of character, the
only plausible excuse that has been brought forward to justify the
infliction of capital punishments.
I will relate two or three other anecdotes to you, for the truth of
which I will not vouch because the facts were not of sufficient
consequence for me to take much pains to ascertain them; and, true
or false, they evince that the people like to make a kind of
mistress of their prince.
An officer, mortally wounded at the ill-advised battle of Quistram,
desired to speak with the prince; and with his dying breath,
earnestly recommended to his care a young woman of Christiania, to
whom he was engaged. When the prince returned there, a ball was
given by the chief inhabitants: he inquired whether this
unfortunate girl was invited, and requested that she might, though
of the second class. The girl came; she was pretty; and finding
herself among her superiors, bashfully sat down as near the door as
possible, nobody taking notice of her. Shortly after, the prince
entering, immediately inquired for her, and asked her to dance, to
the mortification of the rich dames. After it was over he handed
her to the top of the room, and placing himself by her, spoke of the
loss she had sustained, with tenderness, promising to provide for
anyone she should marry, as the story goes.
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