ad been received, and we had
proceeded without any considerable delay.

CHAPTER VIII

My first care on arriving in this town was to find a countrywoman of mine
who had been married to a lawyer here. It is said of the Viennese that
they cannot live away from their Stephen's steeple; but here was a proof
of the contrary, for there are few couples living so happily as these
friends, and yet they were nearly one thousand miles from St. Stephen's
steeple. {47}

I passed through the whole town on the way from the quay to the hotel,
and thence to my friend. The town is not large, and not very pretty.
The newly-built portion is the best, for it at least has broad, tolerably
long streets, in which the houses are of brick, and sometimes large. In
the by-streets I frequently found wooden barracks ready to fall. The
square is large, but irregular; and as it is used as a general
market-place, it is also very dirty.

[Picture: Christiania]

In the suburbs the houses are mostly built of wood. There are some
rather pretty public buildings; the finest among them are the royal
castle and the fortress. They are built on little elevations, and afford
a beautiful view. The old royal palace is in the town, but not at all
distinguishable from a common private house. The house in which the
Storthing {48} assembles is large, and its portico rests on pillars; but
the steps are of wood, as in all stone houses in Scandinavia. The
theatre seemed large enough for the population; but I did not enter it.
The freemasons' lodge is one of the most beautiful buildings in the town;
it contains two large saloons, which are used for assemblies or
festivities of various kinds, besides serving as the meeting-place of the
freemasons. The university seemed almost too richly built; it is not
finished yet, but is so beautiful that it would be an ornament to the
largest capital. The butchers' market is also very pretty. It is of a
semi-circular shape, and is surrounded by arched passages, in which the
buyers stand, sheltered from the weather. The whole edifice is built of
bricks, left in their natural state, neither stuccoed with mortar nor
whitewashed. There are not many other palaces or fine public buildings,
and most of the houses are one-storied.

One of the features of the place--a custom which is of great use to the
traveller, and prevails in all Scandinavian towns--is, that the names of
the streets are a