Aper 2.1929 Mrs. Franklin & Brown. wide, been complimented by their wives with the agreeable name of-Bears. As "The Neighbours" might be regarded as a salutary picture of new-married life, "The Home," I think, will be found equally charming and useful as a picture of family life during the growth of the children. A sketch of home dis worldly fortune, or extraordinary events, a deep interest may gather about a group of individuals, and how faults and failings, and diversity of dispositions, which without the great saving principles would lead to sorrow and disunion, are, by these saving principles, love and good sense, made to work themselves out, and leave behind them a scene of harmony, affection, and moral culture, most charming to contemplate. I am not intending, any more than the amiable authoress herself, to present these as fault-less stories. "Vi THE speedy appearance of this volume af ter "The Neighbours," is a sufficient proof of the success of that work. Indeed, the evidences of this success have been too unequivocal to have escaped any one; and perhaps it would be difficult to decide which has been most gratified by it, the author or the translator. The most kind and cordial, I may say, the most neigh-cipline, in which is seen how, without great bourly manner in which "The Neigbours" have been received, both by the press and the English public, has not only gone with a grateful delight to my heart, as an evidence that whatever is sound and good, come whence it may, will be heartily welcomed by my own proud and noble country, but has flown on rapid wings to the North, and given a charming surprise to the excellent authoress. Before the copy which I had requested my publishers to forward to her had reached Stockholm, Miss Bremer had received various letters from her countrymen in London congratulating her and themselves on having seen "The Neighbours" receive such handsome "neighbour's fare" in the literary circles there. No feeling is so dear to the heart of an author, who is conscious of writing for the improvement as well as the pleasure of his fellow-men, as to find the sphere of his usefulness suddenly, and as it were by miracle, immeasurably widened. To learn, therefore, at once that she was not only read and beloved in England, but that within a month after its appearance in London, "The Neighbours" was reprinted in the great United States newspaper, "The New World," and diffused all over that vast country, and read in the wildest regions of the back woods, while a good edition was rapidly passing through the American press, we may believe was no indifferent intelligence. Indeed, the high estimation in which the literature of England is held in the North, makes it a proud circumstance to any one to be introduced into it, and warmly welcomed there. Miss Bremer, in a letter to me, says with her usual modesty, on this subject, "England har en sä rik, sä utbildad roman litteratur, och mina skrifter äro sä ojemna, sä fulla af brister, att jag knappt förstär huru-the fastidious, refined society of England-kan smälta dessa nordiska ra-ämnen!" England possesses a romance literature so rich, so fully developed, and my writings are so unequal, and full of faults, that I can hardly understand how the fastidious, refined society of England, can digest these rude Northern materials. But letters from all classes of English society, and from members of the very highest, shew me how enthusiastically these ra-ämnen have been welcomed; so that good husbands have, far and We must remember that they are the product of a nation possessing tastes, in some respects, different to ours, yet still, in the main, extremely kindred in feeling as in language. Miss Bremer describes them to me as a people of a highly intellectual spirit, of strong impulses, but somewhat unsteady in following them out. Svenskar äro ett folk af starka impulser, men ostadigt utförande. Men jag vill ej skylla ifrän mig upa mitt folk! Detta folk har en rik och djupsinnig ande." It will be seen that they, like the Germans, and like our ancestors in the days of the Tudors and Stuarts, are very fond of acting scenes and surprises in family life; a striking instance of which in these volumes, is that where the Franks, on returning from Axelholm, are received by the Father and Jacobi at an inn, in the disguise of landlord and waiter. It may be as well to state here, that the title of Excellence is the highest one next to the princes of the blood in Sweden. It is, indeed, a sort of order of merit; is confined to twelve persons, who may be otherwise noble or not, and is not hereditary. I must add also with pleasure, that to my valued friend, Madame von Schoultz, who has resided many years in Sweden, I am much indebted for endeavours to bring this translation as near as possible in spirit and meaning to the original. Heidelberg, March 12th, 1843. M. H. P. S. Should errors of the press occur, my absence must plead the excuse: at the issue of the next translation, this inconvenience will no longer exist. THE HOME; OR, FAMILY CARES AND FAMILY JOYS. CHAPTER I. MORNING DISPUTES AND EVENING CONTENTIONS. "My dear child," said Judge Frank, in a tone of vexation, "it is not worth while reading aloud to you, if you keep yawning incessantly, and looking about, first to the right and then to the left;" and with these words he laid down a treatise of Jeremy Bentham, which he had been reading, and ran from his seat. about to the movement party; at least wherever building and molestation-making comes across them!" The conversation, which had hitherto appeared perfectly good-humoured, seemed to as sume a tone of bitterness from that word "molestation-making;" and in return the voice of the Judge was somewhat austere, as he replied to her taunt against the gentlemen. "Yes," said he, "they are not afraid of a little trouble Ah, forgive me, dear friend," returned his whenever a great advantage is to be obtained. wife, "but really these good things are all so But are we to have no breakfast to-day? difficult to comprehend, and I was thinking It is twenty-two minutes after nine! It really Come here, dear Brigitta!" said is shocking, dear Elise, that you cannot teach Mrs. Eliza Frank, beckoning an old servant to your maids punctuality! There is nothing more her, to whom she then spoke in an under tone. intolerable than to lose one's time in waiting; Whilst this was going on, the Judge, a hand- nothing more useless; nothing more insupportsome strong-built man of probably forty, walked able; nothing which more easily might be preup and down the room, and then suddenly paus-vented, if people would only resolutely set about ing, as if in consideration, before one of the walls, he exclaimed to his wife, who by this time had finished her conversation with the old servant, "See, love, now if we were to have a door open here-and it could very easily be done, for it is only a lath-and-plaster wall-we could then get so conveniently into our bedroom, without first going through the ante-room and the nursery-it would indeed be capital!" "But then, where could the sofa stand?" answered Elise, with some anxiety. it! Life is really too short for one to be able to waste half of it in waiting! Five-and-twenty minutes after nine! and the children-are they not ready too? Dear Elise-" "I'll go and see after them," said she; and went out quickly. It was Sunday. The June sun shone into a large cheerful room, and upon a snow-white damask tablecloth, which in soft silken folds was spread over a long table, on which a handsome coffee-service was set out with considerable elegance. The disturbed countenance with which the Judge had approached the breakfasttable, cleared itself instantly as a person, whom But, my best friend," replied she, "there young ladies would unquestionably have called would come a very dangerous draft from the door" horribly ugly" but whom no reflective physievery one who sat in the corner." "The sofa ?" returned her husband, "O, the sofa could be wheeled a little aside; there is more than room enough for it." 66 ognomist could have observed without interest, "Ah! always difficulties and impediments!" entered the room. This person was tall, exsaid the husband. "But cannot you see, your-tremely thin, and somewhat inclined to the left self, what a great advantage it would be if there were a door here?" "No, candidly speaking," said she, "I think it is better as it is." "Yes, that is always the way with ladies," returned he, "they will have nothing touched, nothing done, nothing changed, even to obtain improvement and convenience; everything is good and excellent as it is, till somebody makes the alteration for them, and then they can see at once how much better it is; and then they exclaim, 'Ah, see now, that is charming !! Ladies, without doubt, belong to the stand-still party!" "And the gentlemen," added she, "belong side; the complexion was dark, and the somewhat noble features wore a melancholy expression, which only seldom gave place to a smile of unusual beauty. The forehead elevated itself, with its deep lines, above the large brown extraordinary eyes, and above this a wood of black-brown hair erected itself, under whose thick stiff curls people said a multitude of illhumours and paradoxes exerted themselves; so also, indeed, might they in all those deep furrows with which his countenance was lined, not one of which certainly was without its own signification. Still, there was not a sharp angle of that face; there was nothing, either in word or voice, of the Assessor, Jeremias Mun |