very much
exasperated at his imprisonment, which will probably last for life,
though he has sent several very spirited remonstrances to the upper
court, which makes the judges so averse to giving a sentence which may be
cavilled at, that they take advantage of the glorious uncertainty of the
law, to protract a decision which is only to be regulated by reasons of
state.

The greater number of the slaves I saw here were not confined for life.
Their labour is not hard; and they work in the open air, which prevents
their constitutions from suffering by imprisonment. Still, as they are
allowed to associate together, and boast of their dexterity, not only to
each other but to the soldiers around them, in the garrison; they
commonly, it is natural to conclude, go out more confirmed and more
expert knaves than when they entered.

It is not necessary to trace the origin of the association of ideas which
led me to think that the stars and gold keys, which surrounded me the
evening before, disgraced the wearers as much as the fetters I was
viewing--perhaps more. I even began to investigate the reason, which led
me to suspect that the former produced the latter.

The Norwegians are extravagantly fond of courtly distinction, and of
titles, though they have no immunities annexed to them, and are easily
purchased. The proprietors of mines have many privileges: they are
almost exempt from taxes, and the peasantry born on their estates, as
well as those on the counts', are not born soldiers or sailors.

One distinction, or rather trophy of nobility, which I might have
occurred to the Hottentots, amused me; it was a bunch of hog's bristles
placed on the horses' heads, surmounting that part of the harness to
which a round piece of brass often dangles, fatiguing the eye with its
idle motion.

From the fortress I returned to my lodging, and quickly was taken out of
town to be shown a pretty villa, and English garden. To a Norwegian both
might have been objects of curiosity; and of use, by exciting to the
comparison which leads to improvement. But whilst I gazed, I was
employed in restoring the place to nature, or taste, by giving it the
character of the surrounding scene. Serpentine walks, and
flowering-shrubs, looked trifling in a grand recess of the rooks, shaded
by towering pines. Groves of smaller trees might have been sheltered
under them, which would have melted into the landscape, displaying only
the art which ought to p