!

He was probably the poorest native of Finland I had met in the courfe of my travels to this place. The space of ground on which his houfe ftood was twelve fquare feet, and the. roof fix in height, This unfortunate man had a complaint in one of his hands, which rendered him unfit to gain his livelihood by labour. His wife was making their bread, and had heated the oven to bake it; the bread contained fo much straw and fo little meal, that, in order to make the dough adhere, fhe was obliged to ufe a wooden frame, fuch as is employed in making cheefe. He had neither field nor cow, buttermilk nor animal food, and was exilling in the moft deplorable condition. I confefs the prefence of thofe doric pillars, contrafted with fo much poverty and mifery, irritated my feelings to fuch a degree, that I should not have been forry to fee them a heap of ruins. To what purpose this parochical magnificence, while the parishioners themfelves remain in a state of starvation!! "Down," faid I within my felf," down with the pillars, cupolas, and temple; give again to thefe poor wretches their wonted humble place of devotion: and, intead of wafting treafure on idle fhow, beftow it in cultivating the foil, and giving them fubfiftence."

Had this ebullition of philanthropy been vented in the traveller's native country, we might have paffed it without remark: there, as well as with us, may be found charitable inftitutions, to which the aged and infirm may have recourse, when deflitute of other means of fupport; but, in the dreary and inhofpitable regions of which we are now treating, where there are neither alms-houfes nor monafteries, fubfiftence can only be gained by individual exertion, and no medium exists between a certain degree of competence and abfolute want. The whole of the flory amounts to this; that a poor lame beggar, probably for the fake of collecting alms with more facility, had raised a little hut clofe to the parish church! When we confider that this parifh equalled, if not furpaffed, in extent most of our counties, containing, as the author himself allows, more than "nine hundred fquare miles," we do not feel much inclined to condemn the exertions by which a ftructure, fomewhat more expenfive than ordinary, was raised for the purpofe of public worthip. With refpect to the "feelings" of the infirm Finlander on the occafion, we apprehend they were not altogether in unifon with thofe of this fentimental blufferer: the demolition of the church, in which he probably took as much pride as the rest of his countrymen, would fcarcely appear to him the readieft way of relieving his neceffities; nor indeed would his " fabfiftence" have been much better fecured if, following Mr. A.'s ideas, all the dwellings of Finland had been reduced to a level with his own.

"If you have tears prepare to shed 'em now."

Nothing in fociety can be the fource of more melancholy to a feeling mind, than a quick and violent contrast of extreme poverty

and luxury. I remember to have experienced fimilar mournful reflections on the inequalities among men, in the courfe of my travels through the British dominions. It was in Ireland, where, happening to be with a hunting party, (Mr. Acerbi always takes care to be on the luxurious fide,) I perceived a hut, formed from a dunghill: on looking in, I faw naked children fleeping, without any fort of covering for their bodies, with their father, mother, and hogs; and what fupported this miferable hovel was a wall of ten feet high which furrounded his honour's park."

66

Mr. Acerbi appears to know as little of the hiftory of Ireland as of that of any other country. Does he fuppofe, that before his honour's park" was walled round the natives lived in palaces? His feeling mind," however, may be fomewhat comforted with the affurance, that this Irishman, with his dunghill, his pigs," and perhaps his cows, was in a comparative fate of cafe, which half the peafantry of the continent might envy. As to the fupport of As to the fupport of "his honour's wall," we fee no great evil in that; indeed, we are rather difpofed to admire the fellow's ingenuity, who could turn it to fo good an account, and fave at once both labour and ex-pence. Scrioully, we are fick of thefe fpurious whinings of the vagabond" friends of humanity;" and had rather hear (which, by the way, we never do) that Mr. Acerbi had given a poor man fixpence, than read a thousand eloquent harangues upon his mifery.

In the next page to this fentimental stuff, Mr. A. regales us with an anecdote, of which it is difficult to fay, whether the ftupidity or the filthinefs of it be the most prominent. We muft avow, that we never accompanied a traveller, whofe manners, habits, and general line of conduct were fo forward, illiberal, and repulfive.

From Kemi, Mr. A. proceeds to Tornea. The name of this place is familiar to our readers, as it has been generally confidered as they plus ultra of European travellers. The French mathematicians, who faw it in the depth of winter, have left us a moft frightful account of it. Mr. A. whose vifit is made at a more aufpicious feafon, gives a more flattering, and, we doubt not, a more juft defcription.

From this town they proceed to Upper Torneă, a distance of about fixty miles; till then, the road is naturally good, and kept in excellent repair; but here, as Mr. Acerbi remarks,

"every thing terminates; you inftantly obferve that you are about to enter an uncultivated country, and take leave of the civilized No more horses, no road, no lodging for paffengers, except I

BRIT. CRIT. VOL. XXII. AUGUST, 1803.

a fort

a fort of caravanfary, which the merchants of Tornea have provided for their accommodation, in travelling in winter to the different fairs, which are held at places extremely remote." P. 356.

At Upper Torneă the whole party, ten in number, are lodged with "the most unbounded hofpitality," at the house of the Rev. Mr. Swanfberg; and here Mr. Á. makes an obfervation which fhould, we think, have operated to restrain that licence of invective with which he purfues the Swedish clergy. See p. 364.

From this place, the travellers proceed by water, and not without imminent peril. It would indeed feem that the fummer feafon is not the beft adapted for traverfing Lapland, and that the months wafted in fidling at Uleåborg might have been devoted to it with more effect. Nature has been bountiful to thefe fecluded regions, and filled their rivers with the choiceft fish; a refource of the utmoft confequence to the poor inha

bitants.

Mr. A. fpeaks in high terms of the fkill and intrepidity of the Finland boatmen. One of them, "by way of eminence," he names" the Bonaparte of the cataracts." When we confider the favours this great man has conferred on the writer's native country, by labouring, through the medium of univerfal plunder and deftruction, to reduce it to that happy state of nature which he fo much admires, we cannot but venerate his grateful attachment to him: an attachment, which is now probably much increased by a refidence in the common jail of Paris, to which Bonaparte long fince configned him, for indulging, in the "land of liberty," an idea of that freedom which he had fomewhat too fully exercised in the countries of priests and flaves.

At Muonionifca, where they arrive after the most serious difficulties, Mr. A. once more indulges in his darling propenfity (indeed the principal one for which his book appears to be written) of ridiculing the clergy. We were prepared to animadvert upon this chapter, had we not observed, that the bafe, and cowardly, and ungrateful attack on the aged and unfortunate paftor of Muonionifca had attracted the notice of Col. Skiöldebrand; who, from perfonal knowledge, refcues him from the calumnies of his fellow-traveller with a warmth that does honour to his feelings. Here, too, Mr. A. finds an opportunity of introducing the Firft Conful, and in a way that /proves him to be almoft as well acquainted with his real character as with that of Guftavus III. Of all confiftencies, commend us to that of a determined Jacobin! "This map reafoned with much juftice and fagacity on the fubject of politics; he was a determined enemy to every thing defpotic,

and

and he had an infinite refpect for Bonaparte"!!! Vol. ii. p. 17.

At Lappajervi (about thirty miles to the north of Muonionifca) the author confiders himself as fomewhat within the proper boundary of Lapland; and here, for the first time, he has a fight of the natives. This is the most interesting part of the journey.

At Lappajervi their Finland guides quit them, and they are obliged to put themselves under the directions of the Laplanders, who conduct them to Kauto Keino, a hamlet on the river Alten. The whole of this journey is well written, and is extremely amufing. We fhall give the introduction to their new guides.

"We foon reached the mouth of the rivulet, on the banks of which the rendezvous was appointed. We afcended it through all its windings, and were impatient to join the Laplanders, left they should think us long in coming, and grow tired in waiting for us; for we had conceived no high opinion of their patience or their complai-1 fance. At length we arrived where they were. The party was compofed of fix men and a young girl. We found them feared under a birch tree, on the branches of which they had hung up the provisions of the journey, which confifted of dry fifh. They lay along the ground, in different pofitions, furrounding a large fire, by which they roafted their fish, which for this purpofe was held in cleft sticks, cut from the tree which fhaded them. The girl was the first who perceived us, and pointed us out to the men, who feemed to pay attention only to their cooking; fo that we landed and walked up to them without being the leaft noticed or regarded.

"The men were clothed in a kind of fmock frock, made of the skin of the rein deer, with a collar erect, and stiffened behind. They wore a belt about their waifts, and which confined their drefs close to their bodies, and drew it into the form of a bag, wherein they put whatever they had occafion to carry about with them.

"They had pantaloons on, likewife made of rein deer's fkin, with fhort boots, the foles of which were wide, and ftuffed out with dry grafs. The girl wore pantaloons and boots of the fame fhape; but her clothing was of wool, and her cap, which was made of green cloth, was pointed upwards. They were most of them very fhort, and their molt remarkable features were their fmall eyes and prominent cheek bones. The face of the girl was not unhandfome; the appeared to be eighteen or nineteen years of age; her complexion was fair, with light hair, approaching to chefnut colour.

"

Four out of the fix men had black hair; from whence I conclude this to be the prevailing colour among the Laplanders, distinguishing them from the Finlanders, among whom, during the whole of my journey, I did not remark one who had hair of that colour.

"The perfons and drefs of thefe Laplanders, taken altogether, were the most filthy and difagreeable that is poffible to conceive. They held the fifth they were eating in their hands, and the oil that

diftilled

diftilled from it ran down their arms into the fleeves of their coats, which might be fcented at the distance of fome yards.

The girl had rather more cleanliness in her perfon, and fome portion of that decency (which is fo peculiar to her fex.) This was apparent in her refufing to drink what was offered her, and efpecially brandy, of which the was in reality as fond as the men. This affectation of modefly and reluctance in women to poffefs what they with for, but which at the fame time would appear unbecoming, appear to be qualities inherent in the fex, fince this prudery is obfervable even among women in Lapland." Vol. ii. p. 42.

In p. 14, Mr. A. feems to think, that those regions would he an eligible retreat for those who have been the victims of the vices and paffions which riot in great towns and in refined and civilized countries.

"Ah! how ought such a disturbed and afflicted mind to cover the innocence and fimplicity of this country! How fortunate would it be for him, could he exchange this, with its artless joys, for the highblown luxuries in which he had hitherto lived."

Very fortunate, indeed! Here is mofs, hic mollia prata, Lycori; and mufquetoes-mali culices, ranæque paluftres. In a word, nothing but a diftillery feems wanting, in the author's opinion, to realize the vifions of the golden age!

At Kauto Keino their difficulties might be confidered in fome measure as overcome; for the Alten, on which they are now to embark, empties itself into the fea, at no great distance from the North Cape, the great object of their expedition. Here Mr. A. receives a leffon, from which we are sorry to find he derived no apparent advantage.

"The village of Kauto Keino is inhabited by four families and a prieft, and it has a church. By the line of frontier agreed upon in 1751, between Sweden and Denmark, Kauto Keino was included within the dominions of the latter. On looking at the map, one is surprised to find here the boundary between these two kingdoms; instead of its following the ridge of mountains, which forms a natural feparation to the fouth and the north in that corner of Europe. By that arrangement the territory of Denmark turns towards the fouth, and takes in an angle of Lapland, which ought naturally to belong to Sweden. We did not fail to make enquiry into the cause of this fingular deviation from apparent reafon and juftnefs, and we flattered ourselves that we had traced it to a fecret of ftate, being informed that it was the effect of bribery and corruption. The Swedish commiffary, we were told, had been induced to make a ceffion of the angle in queftion by the power of Danish gold; and numerous extravagant anecdotes were mentioned of this perfon, who was reprefented as much addicted both to wine and to women; that care was taken to throw in the way of this man of pleasure, the whole luxury of Lapland; and that he was overcome by the manifold temptations held out to him, and agreed to the divifion as before itated." P. 70.