enness seems to be a
leading vice. I saw, at least, fifty people, more or less intoxicated,
in the course of a short walk, one afternoon. The grog shops, however,
are rigidly closed at six o'clock on Saturday evening, and remain so
until Monday morning, any violation or evasion of the law being severely
punished. The same course has been adopted here as in Sweden; the price
of brandy has been doubled, by restrictions on its manufacture, and
every encouragement has been afforded to breweries. The beer of
Christiania is equal in flavour and purity to any in the world, and it
is now in great demand all over Norway.

The day after our arrival the sky cleared again, and we were favoured
with superb weather; which might well be the case, as the people told me
it had previously been raining every day for a month. The gardens,
groves, and lawns of velvet turf, so long moistened, now blazed out with
splendid effect in the hot August sunshine. "Is there such a green
anywhere else in the world?" asked my friend. "If anywhere, only in
England--but scarcely there," I was obliged to confess. Yet there was an
acquaintance of mine in Bergen, a Hammerfest merchant, who, in this
rare climax of summer beauty, looked melancholy and dissatisfied. "I
want to get back to the north," said he, "I miss our Arctic summer.
These dark nights are so disagreeable, that I am very tired of them.
There is nothing equal to our three months of daylight, and they alone
reconcile us to the winter." Who will say, after this, that anything
more than the fundamental qualities of human nature are the same in all
climates? But from the same foundation you may build either a Grecian
temple or a Chinese pagoda.

The lions of Bergen are soon disposed of. After you have visited the
fortress and admired the sturdy solidity of Walkendorf's Tower, you may
walk into the German church which stands open (or did, when we were
there), without a soul to prevent you from carrying off some of the
queer old carved work and pictures. The latter are hideous enough to be
perfectly safe, and the church, though exceedingly quaint and
interesting, is not beautiful. Then you may visit the museum, which
contains an excellent collection of northern fish, and some very curious
old furniture. The collection of antiquities is not remarkable; but it
should be remembered that the museum has been created within the last
twenty years, and is entirely the result of private taste and
enterpris