onnected by a short canal, on whose
shores the most delightful houses are erected.

[Picture: Stockholm]

My first visit was to the beautiful church of Ritterholm, which is used
more for a cemetery and an armory than for a place of worship. The
vaults serve as burial-places for the kings, and their monuments are
erected in the side-chapels. On each side of the nave of the church are
placed effigies of armed knights on horseback, whose armour belonged to
the former kings of Sweden. The walls and angles of the church are
profusely decorated with flags and standards, said to number five
thousand. In addition to this, the keys of conquered towns and
fortresses hang along the side-walls, and drums are piled upon the floor;
trophies taken from different nations with which Sweden has been at war.

Besides these curiosities, several coats of armour and garments of
Swedish regents are displayed behind glass-cases in the side-chapels.
Among them, the dress which Charles XII. wore on the day of his death,
and his hat perforated by a ball, interested me most. His riding-boots
stand on the ground beside it. The modern dress and hat, embroidered
with gold and ornamented with feathers, of the last king, the founder of
the new dynasty, is not less interesting, partly perhaps from the great
contrast.

The church of St. Nicholas stands on the same side of the canal, and is
one of the finest Protestant churches I had seen; it is very evident that
it was built in Catholic times, and that its former decorations have been
allowed to remain. It contains several large and small oil-paintings,
some ancient and some modern monuments, and a profusion of gilding. The
organ is fine and large; flanking the entrance of the church are
beautiful reliefs, hewn in stone; and above it, carved in wood, a statue
of the archangel Michael, larger than life, sitting on horseback on a
bridge, in the act of killing the dragon.

Near the church is situated the royal palace, which needs a more fluent
pen than mine to describe it. It would fill a volume were I to enumerate
and describe the treasures, curiosities, and beauties of its
construction, or its interior arrangement; I can only say that I never
saw any thing to equal it, except the royal palace of Naples. Such an
edifice is the more surprising in the north, and in a country which has
never been overstocked with wealth.

The church of Shifferholm is remarkable only