mes the country has produced. Holberg the
comedian was born in Bergen; but he is generally classed among the
Danish authors. In art, however, Norway takes no mean rank, the names of
her painters Dahl, Gude, and Tidemand having a European reputation.
Professor Munck is about fifty years of age, and a fine specimen of the
Viking stock. He speaks English fluently, and I regretted that the
shortness of my stay did not allow me to make further drafts on his
surplus intelligence. In the Museum of Northern Antiquities, which is
small, as compared with that of Copenhagen, but admirably arranged, I
made the acquaintance of Professor Keyser, the author of a very
interesting work, on the "Religion of Northmen," a translation of which
by Mr. Barclay Pennock, appeared in New York, some three years ago.

I was indebted to Professor Munck, for a sight of the Storthing, or
National Legislative Assembly, which was then in session. The large hall
of the University, a semi-circular room, something like our Senate
Chamber, has been given up to its use, until an appropriate building
shall be erected. The appearance and conduct of the body strikingly
reminded me of one of our State Legislatures. The members were plain,
practical-looking men, chosen from all classes, and without any
distinguishing mark of dress. The speaker was quite a young man, with a
moustache. Schweigaard the first jurist in Norway, was speaking as we
entered. The hall is very badly constructed for sound, and I could not
understand the drift of his speech, but was exceedingly struck by the
dryness of his manner. The Norwegian Constitution has been in operation
forty-three years, and its provisions, in most respects so just and
liberal, have been most thoroughly and satisfactorily tested. The Swedes
and a small conservative party in Norway, would willingly see the powers
of the Storthing curtailed a little; but the people now know what they
have got, and are further than ever from yielding any part of it. In the
house of almost every Norwegian farmer, one sees the constitution, with
the _facsimile_ autographs of its signers, framed and conspicuously hung
up. The reproach has been made, that it is not an original
instrument--that it is merely a translation of the Spanish Constitution
of 1812, a copy of the French Constitution of 1791, &c.; but it is none
the worse for that. Its framers at least had the wisdom to produce the
right thing at the right time, and by their resolut