of Norway, and it is to a previous excursion to Drontheim, and a visit to Stockholm after their release, that we are indebted for the volume before us.

Mr. Malthus, in his Essay on Population, has enlarged with an unusual degree of enthusiasm on the beauty of the Norwegian vallies, which we presume are those whose salubrity is so much extolled by Sir John Sinclair; and some letters of Mrs. Wolstonecroft, on the same subject, have been produced as specimens of successful description. As far as we can judge from Mr. Lamotte's account, the scenery of Norway bears a strong resemblance to that of Switzerland, although in point of magnificence, its mountains and lakes must yield to those for which that picturesque country is so peculiarly distinguished. This opinion we have formed from the inspection of the plates with which M. Lamotte's book is enriched; they are from drawings by Sir Thomas Acland, and shew no common degree of taste in the selection of points of view adapted to the pencil: they are a very agreeable relief to the volume itself, which, to confess the truth, is but a slender performance.

There are so few modern works that afford any insight into the history of Norway, that we should have been glad if M. Lamotte had extended the first article in his Appendix on Norwegian antiquities to a greater length. Pontoppidan's History of Norway, which appeared in the middle of the last century, was composed, as he states, with a view to promote the glory of God, and though it contained much valuable information on subjects of natural history, we should say, that in some points it was not much calculated for the edification of man. The good archbishop's credulity far exceeds all reasonable bounds, and no accounts, however absurd, appear to stagger him, excepting an assertion of Adam Von Bremen, that in some parts of Norway the women are gifted with that inconvenient appendage, a beard. M. Lamotte, though he is willing to admit that Pontoppidan's stories are a little overcharged, is apparently a disciple of Guthrie, who has very gravely given the kraken and his attendant monster a place in his account of the natural productions of Norway; and, not to be behind hand with the compiler, quotes Pliny as an authority for the existence of a whale, which from its inordinate size, would confound the energies of the most intrepid harpooner of modern days: he argues, with some degree of fairness, that the recollection of the ridicule which was cast upon the accounts of Bruce and Le Vaillant ought to render us cautious in our disbelief since the appearance of the Hottentot Venus; and he might have added, since it has been discovered, that the pracice of eating live beefsteaks, which for some time was consider

ed as one of Bruce's Abyssinian tales, was formerly resorted to on emergencies by the people of Scotland.

Their connection with Norway in ancient times was of the most intimate nature; the hopes of plunder first brought to their shores the restless freebooters for which that country was distinguished; success invited fresh adventurers, and even before the conquest of England by the people of the north who had settled in France, the bones of many of the kings of Norway and the Isles were deposited in the sacred precincts of Icolmkill. The western islands were not ceded to Scotland till the year 1266, in the reign of Magnus V. and a corrupt Norwegian is still spoken) in some of the Orkneys, which remained subject to Norway till 1468. In the 13th century Norway must have been a formidable power, if we believe the accounts which are given of the fleet of may Haco IV. who mounted the throne in the year 1252. It is said to have consisted of 300 vessels, some of which were 30 feet above the water, and carried 400 men. During this reign the Icelanders were persuaded to place themselves under the dominion of Norway, and they appear to have lost, with their independence, all title to the literary honours for which their island was so early distinguished.

Until the conclusion of the fourteenth century, Norway was governed by her own monarchs. The crowns of the three northern kingdoms were then united in the person of Margaret of Waldemar, the Semiramis of the north, and since that period the kingdoms of Denmark and Norway have been subject to the same sovereign. Had the modern system of arrondissemens at that time been understood, a more compact and obvious arrangement in the division of the kingdoms might have been insisted on, and Norway would then have been annexed to Sweden, as it has been by the recent treaty between the Crown Prince and the King of Denmark.

We cannot wonder that the Danes should have shewn considerable reluctance in consenting to part with so valuable an appendage; though the population of Norway does not exceed 700,000 souls, the Danish fleet and armies have been hitherto recruited from the brave and independent inhabitants of this mountainous country. In Pontoppidan's time the Norwegian army was reckoned at 30,000 effective men, and the seamen which the country could furnish were supposed to amount to between 14 and 15,000. M. Lamotte makes the force of the militia, which is raised by a mild species of conscription, to amount to nearly the same number both for the land and sea service; and he contends that Norway has nothing to fear from the attacks of Sweden, if resolved to defend the passes of her mountains. The translator of Von Buch is of the same opinion, and conceives the separation of

Norway from Denmark as not to be effected without the consent of the natives. The instances which are brought of failure on the part of her enemies, are doubtless conclusive proofs that Norway would not become an easy prey to an invading army: but in estimating the degree of security which she may fairly be allowed to possess, it will be proper to examine by whom the attempts to invade her have hitherto been undertaken, and with what reasonable prospect of success the approaches against her have been conducted. One celebrated achievement of the Norwegian peasantry appears to have been handed down with much exultation to the present day. Von Buch relates that a ballad which says how Sinclair came over the salt sea,

To storm the cliffs of Norway,'

is heard in all the Norwegian towns, and his account of the affair which gave rise to it, and the spot where it happened, is as follows.

At mid-day I reached the narrow pass of Krigelen where Sinclair fell. 1. It was a true Morgarten conflict. The road was narrow, and ent out of the solid rock, and overhung the steep and precipitous banks of the river which rushed along at the bottom. Sinclair had no where met with opposition, for almost all the youth of the country had been drawn to the Swedish war in the south of Norway. He had no suspicion of any attack here, and carelessly pursued his way; the boors with great address proceeded unperceived over the rocks, and dexterously detached a small division to the other side of the river, which made its appearance over against the Scots on a large meadow, and with considerable irregularity kept firing on their enemy below. The Scots despised this ineffectual attack, and passed on, but their attention was directed to the meadow on the other side of the river.

'The boors suddenly made their appearance on the rocks in every direction; they closed up every avenue of advance; they prevented Sinclair fell in the foremost ranks, and the every means of retreat. rest were dashed to pieces like earthen pots, as it is expressed in the Norwegian rhime.

The Scots were brought into Norway,' continues M. Von Buch, in consequence of a plan, which, as experience has shewn, was of too bold a conception. King Gustavus Adolphus, in his first unsuccessful war with Christian IV, dispatched Colonel Munckhaven in the spring of 1612 to enlist men in the Netherlands, and in Scotland. As the Colonel was endeavouring to return at the end of the summer, with 2300 fresh troops, he found the whole line of coast from Gottenburgh to Calmac shut to the Swedes. Necessity compelled him, therefore, to break through Norway. The greater part of his men reached Sweden in safety, but the Scots were not so fortunate in their attempt.'

Charles XII was not likely to succeed in his attempt against Norway, had he escaped his fate at the outset. His army was disaffected, and his resources exhausted; and the destruction of the troops under Armfeldt on their return from their ineffectual

is

investment of Drontheim, in the beginning of the last century, not surprizing, when we consider the season of the year when he began his operations, and the inadequate means with which he proceeded to besiege the place.

Von Buch's speculations on this subject are not given with his usual acuteness. He conceives that Drontheim has no danger to apprehend from the side of Sweden, which is the more singular, as he at the same time admits that this town might become. of the same importance to the north of Sweden, that Gottenburgh is to the south, and that the possession of this district has always been a favourite project with the Swedish monarchs. His remarks on the peculiar character which pervades the town of Drontheim compared with those sea-ports, whose foreign relations have a more extensive nature, are in a better style, and indeed, extremely judicious.

In no part of Norway,' says he, 'is so strong an attachment shown to their country as by the people of Drontheim, and where they are more disposed to make the greatest sacrifices. Christiana sends boards and planks to England, from whence she draws the means of living with comfort, and even splendour, she therefore has an interest in the prosperity of England. Bergen sends fish to Holland, and expects gardenstuffs in return, the people of Bergen therefore are not indifferent to what passes in Holland, but in Drontheim the foreign relations are not so determinate, their view is alone fixed on the country in which they live in security and repose, and every attempt to disturb this quiet, awakens in them most powerfully the disposition to repel any foreign attack. Drontheim possesses the patriotism and public spirit of a solitary republic. Christiana resembles other trading towns with extensive connections in a monarchical state.'

The good Pontoppidan would probably account for the difference, from the superior clearness of the air in the northern districts; for after gravely assuring us that the brains of the Norwegians are not actually frozen up as ignorant people might imagine, from the severity of the climate, he produces, as an instance to the contrary, the peculiar ingenuity of the people of Drontheim. We should conceive he might have disproved this opinion still more triumphantly, if he had only reminded his readers of the early appearance of literature in Iceland, and of the well-known fact that at the time when the legal duel was universally allowed in the rest of Europe, it was abolished in Iceland by public proclamation.

The population of Drontheim and Christiana is nearly the same, about 9000. But the importance of the commerce carried on between England and the latter is sufficiently attested by the greater degree of affluence and prosperity for which it is distinguished. The deals from this quarter are in much higher repute than those of any other part of Norway; the scrupulous and precise

Englishman,' we are told, rejects the deals of Drontheim, and sends them to his less fastidious neighbour in Ireland, though the price of those in Christiana and Frederickstadt is much higher;' and this preference is accounted for, by their being more skilfully sawed, and of a more uniform thickness in the latter towns than elsewhere. The Scotch fir produces the timber which is called red-wood in this country; the spruce fir, that which is denominated white; and M. Von Buch gives a lively picture of the activity which pervades the town of Christiana, when the sledges come down from the mountains and deposit their loads in the great timber magazines.

A strong predilection for the English exists, as we are told, among the inhabitants of this town, and at the time of the Copenhagen expedition, when the irritation against this country, was at its highest pitch, they are said to have exculpated the people of England from all blame in the transaction, at the expense of the adininistration. Alas!

-let us our lives, our souls,

Our debts, four careful wives, our children and

Our sins, lay on the ministry! They must bear all.'

We have no doubt that if any encouragement given to this idea will serve to unite the Norwegians more firmly to us, the unprincipled statesmen who planned this inglorious expedition,' will be patriotic enough to take upon themselves the whole odium of it, although we consider it somewhat hard that they should be call

ed

upon to do so, for we do not find that where success attends their measures, the same proportion of praise is awarded them, either on this or the other side of the water. The most triumphant results are then said to be brought about solely by a fortunate course of events, and all consider themselves entitled to join in the general cry of victory, without impeachment of former consistency. The climate of Norway is by no means so rigorous as might be supposed the harbour of Bergen is much less frequently frozen up than those of Hamburg and Lubeck; and the desert appearance of great part of the country chiefly arises from the inequality of the ground, and the proportion of rock which covers the soil; but these mountains are extremely rich in mineral productions; copper and iron are found in abundance, and even silver and gold are occasionally discovered.

To a country so scantily supplied with the means of subsistence, (for it is only in sheltered situations that the ground can be culti vated with any prospect of advantage,) the fisheries on the coast afford a most seasonable and providential relief. Von Buch has produced much useful information on this subject, and we should be glad to see the activity with which this valuable branch of national wealth is pursued in those northern latitudes, imitated