is spot in
the Pagan ages was a famous resort for sacrifices. History, or at
least legend tells us that in those days the original temple was
surrounded by a sacred grove wherein the sacrifices were made to
propitiate the deities worshipped there,--human blood being
considered the most acceptable. So powerful was the heathenish
infatuation, that parents even immolated their children. An account
is still extant of seventy-two bodies of human beings being seen here
at one time, suspended and dead upon the trees. Odin was once a
sacred deity here; now the name represents among the peasantry that
of the Devil. The present temple in its architectural aspect is
nearly a duplicate of Notre Dame in Paris, and is the largest
cathedral in the north of Europe. The same architect, Etienne de
Bonnevil, designed them both, and came to Upsala, accompanied by a
small army of mechanics from France, to begin the work which was
destined, from various causes, to linger along through two centuries.
The interior is impressive from its severe simplicity. The flying
buttresses inside the structure give a peculiarly striking effect.
Between each of them is a small chapel. The vaulting is supported by
twenty-four soaring pillars. The dead, cold walls are finished in
glaring whitewash without any relief. Under the altar is an elaborate
and much-venerated shrine of silver containing the ashes of Saint
Eric, the patron saint of Sweden.

Upsala has often been the scene of fierce and bloody conflicts. Saint
Eric was slain here in 1161. It has its university and its historical
associations; but it has neither trade nor commerce of any sort
beyond that of a small inland town,--its streets never being
disturbed by business activity or the "fever of living," though there
is a population here of at least fifteen or sixteen thousand persons.
The University, founded in 1477 and richly endowed by Gustavus
Adolphus, is the just pride of the country,--having to-day some
fifteen hundred students and forty-eight competent professors. No one
can enter the profession of law, medicine, or divinity in Sweden who
has not graduated either at this University or at that of Lund. Its
library contains nearly or quite two hundred thousand bound volumes
and over seven thousand important manuscripts. Among the latter is a
copy of the four Gospels, with movable silver letters placed on
parchment at the chapter heads, the whole being in the old Gothic
language. This book, na