will expire with himself; we are all equal in Norway, though of course we do think a good deal of position, and address persons always by the title of their office, or calling, or profession, and not by their simple names."

The Professor was ready to start now, he went off and left me alone, for the first time, in a forest in Norway.

I sat on one of the masses of rock which, covered with long white moss, crisp and dry, have such a good effect beneath these towering firs, whose tops it is difficult for the eye to reach. The most unbroken stillness was around; there is something in absolute silence which is delightful when one knows it will soon be broken, but is very overpowering when no such knowledge exists. I felt that I might sit there for hours and not even hear a bird's voice, or wing; not even the rustle of a leaf, for fir trees do not rustle theirs. After some time I thought it would be pleasanter to leave the silence, and pursue the road in the direction of Baron W.'s.

From the top of the next hill I saw two women walking on before me. Anxious for company, I hastened forward, and overtook and walked with them. They talk of John Bull as morose, surly,

shy, or suspicious of a stranger's advances; in these qualities he may find his superiors in Norway, with the addition of a degree of pride it is well not to offend. I could not help being struck with the difference between these women and the kind and affable women of France, especially of the simple and laborious mountaineers of the Pyrenees. What wonder, excitement, and commiseration my adventure would have caused among them, and their patois was less intelligible to me than my present companions' Norwegian. These women only wondered at my dress; the oldest more than the other. She must know why I wore silk travelling; how much my dress cost; she felt it, looked at it, plucked the chain of my watch, and wanted to understand why I carried a gold chain about with me; then got my left hand, and tried to make out through my glove if I had a wedding ring on my finger; convinced that she felt one she nodded to her comrade and said it was there.

I showed her my right arm and said it was hurt, but that did not create any interest. They went into a small house of blackened wood; I sat in the porch to rest, not being invited within. A dirty man brought me a glass of water which I

asked for, and laughed a great deal at our accident.

The way appeared very long, and I was getting exceedingly tired, when, from the top of a most laborious hill, I saw a pretty scene before meironworks in a pleasant valley, a handsome mansion, a river and bridge; but by far the prettiest sight was the Professor, just in the act of crossing the bridge with a nice phaeton. And so in the carriage of Baron W. we got at last to Ringerige.

We stopped at the wretched little inn of Krogleven. What an inn would have been built up here if this spot were on English soil! Yet the owner's name is actually John Bull; he has been in England too, and speaks English. But what a wild, dirty, viewless place this is, as a place of resort for tourists in search of the beautiful and picturesque! It has often struck me that such inns, both in Norway and Sweden, seem built purposely to exclude a view.

Fortunately we are foremost of three parties, which arrived almost simultaneously, in order to see the sun rise to-morrow from Krogleven. There are just two bed-rooms, and one eating-room; we have secured all to ourselves, but somehow the other travellers appear quite easy. The communication

between the clay passage by which we enter, and the two upper rooms, is made by means of a rough and nearly perpendicular ladder. The fare, which is spread out immediately upon our table, seems to be very good, and to get it immediately is still better; but the Professor will not let me taste it; I am hungry, tired, wounded, and very cross; but I must ascend Krogleven, I must see the sun go down.

"Ascend it on foot? Is not this Krogleven usually called Ringerige, which the wife of a civil engineer told me she had the hardihood to ascend on horseback, with an artilleryman to attend her ?"

"Yes, they call it all Ringerige; but Ringerige, you know, means Ring's kingdom, the dominions of old King Ring, who took Ingeborg the Fair from Frithiof, and gave her back to him before he died. All the plain, which you will see from the top of Krogleven, is Ringerige."

I thanked the Professor for historical and geographical information, and set forth for the ascent of Krogleven, with misgivings as to its accomplishment, after an upset, a walk, and without a pony or artilleryman. But as a substitute for both, my feet were immersed in a pair of real brogues, borrowed from the sturdy girl at the inn.

The substitution proved sufficient, for the only difficulty of the walk lay in its being exceedingly swampy. The miserable inn is built on the mountain, or great hill; there is a better one at its foot. We walked down there and up again the next day; but after a Pyrenean or Alpine promenade, Krogleven appears a very small ascent. The top presents a view which is the most admired in Norway, and concerning which a traveller there is sure to be asked if he meets a Norwegian in any other country. It is not, however, such a view as elicits a cry of wonder or delight as it bursts upon you; it grows in interest and beauty as you gaze upon its features, which are extensive, but neither grand nor strikingly diversified. For my part, when trium

phantly led to the point called Kongen's Udsigt, or the King's View, I felt the torment of having previously seen too much, wide and beautiful as it is.

A large, nearly circular valley lies beneath; its lovely lakes were glistening in the declining sunlight, circled with mountains stretching away in the distance, among which the giant of Norway, the Gousta, is scantily visible with its peak of snow, though, I think, seventy English miles off.

VOL. I.

K