white plain, the ground rose shelving up, and villages and cottages and pretty wooden houses were

seen.

"But where is the lake?" I asked.

"You are on it," was the answer.

"On it!" I cried, looking out of the window. A pair of horses and a heavy sledge were driving over the lake, their bells tinkling pleasantly in the stilly air. But that was all safe; and we reached the end of our drive; and afterwards came to Herr Hjerta's handsome and comfortable house, and took coffee, and went out to see his manufactories. First we entered the silk factory here there are both hand and steam looms, and though the Swedes have not as yet attained to perfection in the art of silk weaving, it is impossible not to wish well to the infant efforts, and to desire that the obstructions, which appear to exist in the way of their improvement, were removed. Herr Hjerta is foremost in the little band of his countrymen who have zealously striven to promote the manufacturing industry of Sweden. He gives

employment in various ways to, I think, five or six hundred persons, mostly women; I saw comparatively few men at work. The cheerful, happy, healthful look of most of these, especially the

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young ones, struck me as being so unlike the over-worked, faded, almost hopeless expression one sees among a similar class, not in England alone, but in France, at Lyons and other great manufacturing towns. The silks are mostly of a very common and cheap description, but a species of damask made for furniture covering and hangings, is really good and handsome. hand-loom weaving interested me; after the speed and clang of steam-machinery, one seemed to go back to a distant age on entering a room where a number of women were laboriously employed with the same sort of looms as they now constantly use in the country houses in Sweden. The introduction of power-looms, which is now taking place, will possibly deprive the poor industrious country people of one means of support; for the immensely strong linens and slight flannels, the weaving of which affords them employment during their long dreary winters, and which are carried about for sale, will soon be superseded here as they have been in England and Ireland. Sweden, however, appears to have other resources for its scanty population; agriculture is still in a backward state, and under the present system it is clear that manufactures have made little progress.

From the silk factories we had a charming walk to see a new branch of industry, which Herr Hjerta introduced to Sweden; the manufacture of what we call composite candles. I never can forget the sky-scene I saw on that evening! The red clear light, which the departure of the sun leaves on fine afternoons on this northern sky, had nearly faded away; the moon was, rising curiously beautiful, and the horizon presented a most singular and interesting aspect. I was at first certain that it was at the sea I looked, whose light green surface seemed studded with rocks, encircled by a lighter coloured vapour: and through the various hues the moonlight was stealing and yarying them more and more; the undulating, extensive, and picturesque landscape was one vast sheet of frozen snow; the path we trod, bordered by fine trees, ascended to a height, and below us lay the bed of the icy lake, on whose high banks leafless trees and little snug-looking red wooden houses were interspersed with masses of grotesquely shaped rocks, the forms of which, in their deep snowy covering, and in the clear yet shadowy light, looked more grotesque still.

So we came on to the lake again, and crossing a part of it on foot, entered the candle manufac

tory, and, nearly stifled with the smell, beheld a scene as different from that outside the door, which I have tried, but vainly, to represent, as it is well possible to imagine.

Most of the persons employed here were Dalecarlians, men and women; their curious dresses being varied according to the parishes of their native province. In the small dark room we entered, a man and woman—whose stout figures, sheepskin jackets, red stockings and caps, were seen to advantage by the light they held-leaned over a great boiler, the vapour from which threw them into shadow. In another department of the same work, we found two very pretty young Dahlkuller; a sight not often seen, for strength, not beauty, is the general attribute of these women; but when very young, before labour and exposure to weather have produced their usual effects, I have seen some pretty ones, and these two were undoubtedly the most so. The fineness of their features was uncommon, for in general they are very large and coarse; but their good humour, their cheerful temper, was not peculiar; their good and happy laugh came, as it always seems to do, from a true Dalecarlian heart. I asked them to speak their native language, which is

distinct from the Swedish, and one of them naïvely replied, "I cannot, for I do not know what to say;" and then both laughed so heartily, and one kept asking the other to speak, until I had heard as much as I wanted.

Some of these hard-working, and in general good people, stay for the winter in Stockholm, and get what employment they can. It is, however, considered to be unfortunate for them when they do so; and it is but seldom that such persons return to their simple homes with a pure, unblemished character. They are in general a religious people, strongly attached to their own ways and customs; and their appearance in the churches of Stockholm-where (the pew system being strict here) they frequently stand in the aisles during a long sermon-is very remarkable.

I have said, however, that I would relate how I came to be laid aside from all my icy walks and drives, and I must now do so.

Leaving the candle manufactory, the beautiful aspect of the moonlit lake tempted us to walk over it; it was a lovely walk-the round, bright moon, which seemed to come half-way down from the clear blue sky to lend us its light, shone so gloriously, and threw such a radiance on the

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