Mix thou bark with corn even as aforetime,

Frosts have killed the harvest of our neighbour !""

A more cheerful little sketch is:

THE YOUNG FOWLER.

When he came into the house at nightfall
She was angry with him, his old mother.

"Son," she said, "thou lay ́st thy snares each morning,
And each day thou com'st back empty-handed!
Either thou lack'st skill, or thou art idle;

Others can take prey where thou hast ta'en none !

Thus to her the gay young man made answer:
"Who need wonder that our luck is different,
When the same birds are not for our snaring?
At the little farm that lieth yonder,
Lives a wondrous bird, my good old mother
Snares I laid to catch it all the autumn,
Now, this very winter have I caught it;
But till spring I shall not bring it hither.
Marvellous is this bird! for it possesses
Not wings, but arms for tenderest embracing;
Not down, but locks of silky, sunny lustre ;
No beak, but two fresh lips so warm and rosy

Equally agreeable and more original is :

OJAN PAVO'S CHALLENGE.

Came from Tavastland tall Ojan Pavo,
Tall and mighty 'mong the sons of Finland
Steadfast as a mountain clothed in pinewood,
Bold and fleet, and powerful as a tempest.
He could from the earth uproot the fir-tree;
Could the bear encounter single-handed,
Lift the horse above the loftiest fences,
And, as straw, compel strong men to bow down.
Now he stood, the steadfast Ojan Pavo,
Proud and vigorous at the nation's council;

In the Court he stood among the people,

Like a lofty fir-tree amid brushwood ;

And he raised his voice, and thus addressed them:

"If there be a man here born of woman

Who can, from the spot whereon I plant me,
Move me only for a single moment,

To him will I yield my farm so wealthy;
He shall win from me my silver treasure ;
Of my numerous flocks he shall be master,
And his I will become both soul and body!"
To the people thus spake Ojan Pavo.
But the country youth shrunk back in terror,
To the proud one, answering but by silence
No man was there to accept his challenge.

But with love and admiration gazed they,
All the maidens, on that youthful champion
As he stood the powerful Ojan Pavo-
Like a lofty fir-tree among brush-wood,
His eyes flashing like the stars of heaven,
And his open forehead clear as daylight,
And his rich locks flowing to his shoulder
Like a streamlet falling down in sunshine.

From the throng of women forth stepped Anna,
She the fairest of that country's maidens,
Lovely as the morning at its rising.

Forth she stepped in haste to Ojan Pavo,
Round his neck she flung her arms so tender,
Laid her throbbing heart against his bosom,
Pressed against his cheek her cheek so rosy.
Then she bade him break the bonds that held him.
But the youth stood moveless, and was vanquished ;
Yielding thus, he spake unto the maiden :

66

Anna, Anna, I have lost my wager;

Thou must take from me my farm so wealthy;
Thou hast won from me my silver treasure ;
Thou of all my flocks art now possessor;
And I am thine,-thine both soul and body!"

We could go on extracting from Runeberg. His "Brother of the Cloud," is a scene out of the war with the Russian invaders, which is extremely impressive and beautifully described. But we must only add, that we wonder that Runeberg, with all the wealth and novelty of the subject before him, has not given us some prose romances from Finland, in which the peculiar scenery, the life of the people, so full of the lonely, the wild and the picturesque, with the stirring events of the contest with the Russians, should be blended into as rich and original a whole as one can imagine it.

Besides Runeberg, we must barely glance over the remaining poets and literary men. J. A. Wadman, who lived in Göteborg in great poverty, and died there at an advanced age, was a clever satirist and a poet of the Bacchanalian school. Amongst his most clever satirical sketches are "The King and the Beggar," "Master Schmidt," and "The King and the Shoemaker." Ingelman, a poet of more feeling than genius, translated Oehlenschläger's "Helgé." Wieselgren, a clergyman of Scania, is a poet of much merit, but better known for his "History of the Swedish Polite Literature," to the close of the sixteenth century, to whose work up to that period we are much indebted. Erik Wilhelm Ruda has written a great variety of poetry, more descriptive than original. "The Wild Boar Hunt," "Brynolf's Story," "Hagbart and Signé," are amongst his chief productions. Olof Fryxell, brother of the historian, is author of various poems and some prose of much but unequal merit. His works are published under the titles of "Poems," "Writings." "Day and Night."

Besides these, there are numerous others: as Hedborn, a clergyman in Askeryd, who is the author of "Memory

and Poetry." Böttiger, author of "Memories of Youth," etc. Böttiger is professor in Upsala, and son-in-law of Tegnér, whose Life he has published. Adlersparré, Gentleman of the Chamber, author of "Poems of Youth." Braun, an officer and humoristic poetCronhamn, also a Bacchanalian poet. Assar Lindeblad, a clergyman. Ridderstad, an officer, a lyrical poet, and author of a tragedy, "Roderick and Albin." Behind these still come up, Sätherberg, a pleasant painter of nature; Blanché, a clever vaudeville writer; Strandberg, the poet of freedom; Malmström, Nybom and Bergman, Upsala notabilities; Gosselman, a sea-officer, and author of "Travels in America" and "Letters from a Wandering Seaman ;" Unge, also an officer, and humorous poet and traveller; Dr. O. P. Sturzenbecher, a brilliant writer of Heiné's school, author of " Orvar Odd," etc., and of the able "Lectures on Swedish Literature," delivered before the Scandinavian Society in Copenhagen, to which we have been much indebted. There are still Carlén, the husband of Emily Carlén; Nervander, translator of the poems of King Ludvig of Bavaria; Wennström, Göransson, and numbers of others, whom we will trust are yet destined to add fresh laurels to their own and their country's wreath. It would be unjust and also ungrateful, however, not to mention here Professor Hagberg, the excellent translator of Shakspeare, in twelve volumes, which he has lately presented to the Shakspeare Society in England.

CHAPTER XXI.

THE ROMANCE AND NOVEL WRITERS OF SWEDEN.

IF the literature of Sweden is almost wholly modern, its romance and novel literature is especially so. Mörk, as we have seen, about the middle of the eighteenth century, was the first to enter upon the field of prose fiction. His models were Fenelon, Lowenstein and Barclay; and his productions are heavy, bombastic, diffuse and monotonous. Their titles may indicate their character: "The Romance of Adalrik and Göthilda," "Thecla, or the Tried Honour of the Throne," "Eugenia, or the Bewildered Wellmeaning One," etc. He died in 1763; and from that time to the end of the century, the country was overflowed with foreign romances. Lafontaine was a great name in the circulating libraries; and his "Victor, or the Wood Child," and "The Subterranean Burial Vault," says a lively writer, cost more tears and candle-ends than can be well counted. But this, like all other unsound stuff, had its day. Hobgoblins, like other horrors, lost their charm by familiarity; no interesting robbers, either, as philanthropists, or dreadful murderers, would show themselves after Rinaldini; and even Kotzebue's most novel