The Sun.
London, England, 1856-05-19 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

A Summer in, North,lrn Europe. By Selina Bun-
bury, author of "Life in Sweden," &c. 2 vols.
Hurst and Blaokett.
This is a very lively and agreeable hook of travels,
full of sketches of national characters and descrip-
tions of scenery given in a pleasing and entertain-
ing style. The authoress, who is already favour-
ably known to the public both as a novelist and a
traveller, has previously given us a narrative of
her life and adventures in Sweden during a northern
winter. The present work, however, does not re-
strict us to one country, for we are introduced to
scenes in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Gothland,
the Alaiol Islands, of which we have all heard so
much, and many other places of interest. In all
she met with a *most hospitable reception—indeed
the description she gives throughout of her ac-
quaintance with the inhaaitants of the North
latavei a very favourable impression. Their kind-
ness and readiness to accommodate and oblige a
total stranger was without exception, and the au-
thoress has well, repaid the friendly attend nis she
met with, in the attractive picture she has drawn
of then. She has evidently visited many countries,
and is therefore iu some degree qualified to judge
of national character as well as of architecture and
national features. Her descriptions of the latter
are full of admiration of the wonderful effects of the
northern winter, of which she is an enthusiastic
admirer. So vivid is her rocolleciiou of the splen-
daur of a northern night, with its clear spherical
moon and glittering crystal snow, that she often
reft-..rs to it, and depicts it even in the record of her
summer excursions. She tells the tale of her' own
advtntures very agreeably, and many amusing mis-
fortunes are related for the reader'sgratideatiou. One
of these was on the occasion of her first lauding in
Sweden, when she ;only knew a few words of the
langeage, but trusting to the information of her
guide-book repaired to an hotel where English was
said to be spoken. A. young woman appeared, to
whom she put the question, " Can you speak Eng
lisp ?',' and received the Satisfactory answer of
" Yes." The wearied traveller accordingly gave
her order ; foremost in the list, of course, the Eag-
lish demand for tea. "Yes" was the reply to every
inquiry or command, . and the attendant disap-
peared. An hour elapsed—no tea. The bell was
rung ; up came/ the English interpreter, who, on
being asked if the refreshments were ready, replied
Ytis," and went away again. Another hour and
another ring at the bell. A stranger this time
came, and made the traveller understand that the
English flicka was out. At length she returned.
" We are tired of waiting for this tea," exclaims
the traveller. " Yes," is still the cheerful reply.
A new light breaks on the victim's mind, " Is yes
the only word you can say T' she asks. " Yes," is
once mote the answer 1 How she extricated her.
self from her difficulty she does not tell us. Many
of the old traditions and romantic tales of the'
country are interspersed, and afford a pltalirg
variety. Many anecdotes of the famous Gus:avn,
Vasa are also introduced, though the writer tit oi
not seem to regard that Warlime monarch with much
admiration. Had he been unsuccessfnl, she says,
and ended hie life as Gustavus Vasa, the Adven-
turer, instead of King Gustav the First, she might
have felt the same interest in his career as in that
of Charles Edward, but as history puts that possi-
bility out of the question, she cannot help differing
entirely with her good friends the Sweden, who

hold his memory in affectionate veneration ; his
name, she says, is a. touchstone to Swedish enthu-
siasm.

The following is an amusing anecdote of a dilem-
ma in which the hospitable inhabitants of a little
country post station were found on the arrival of
the authoress and her companion :
" rnere was an air of excitement about the quiet,
out-of the-world little place, which was evidently nct
lessened by the report that an English traveller bad ar-
rived. The hoste4s, in particular, seemed to be in dis-
tress, and discovering that my companion was la native,
she appr ,ached her confidentially, and begged her to
ask me to tell them the Swedish for keek.

"I naturally thought of the English kick, but knew'
nothing of keek ; however, the reason of the inquiry
was soon made known. Some hours previously two
English gentlemen had arrived there, as usual, for a
change iof herses.From the time that their former
skjuits departed, they had, the still wonder-stricken host&
declared, continued to move about, crying 'keek,
keek and saying no other 'word.
" In vain they tried to satisfy the unintelligible want :
all that the house could afford was presented in turn,
and at every renewed offer the word keek, keek was
repeated. Whoever they met, whoever came to them,
heard only this word. At last a man who had been in
Norway, and had heard the word chicken,' shrewdly
guessed it was the English for that creature, called kontl
in Swedish. Forthwith, the good-hearted hostess,
'On hospitable thoughts intent,

rushed out and sacrificed her only hen, cooked it in the
mode not most calculated to render its mastication less
laborious, and offered it up to the hungry and impatient
travellers. Alas ! they left it uneaten, and only cried
keek, keak !' more than ever.
" It certainly was a chick they wanted, however,
said Friherrinan.

" ' And when did they cease to cry ' keekr I asked.

" Never,' said the afhicted host and hostess, looking
fixedly in my face with profound gravity—' Never.
Tney were saying it here for three hours while the post-
horse4 were being brought, and whe❑ they got into their
carriage and were driving off, the last word they said,
when skjuit,bonden was getting into his seat, • Was
`keek, keek !'
" I bunt into an uncontrollable laugh.
" Well,' said Frtherrioan, 'your countrymen's dis-
tress amuses you, yet you cannot tell what they meant;
Oyes, they said quick ! quick ! They wanted the
horses ; when they got them at last they wanted to be
driven quick ! quick ! Travellers sometimes seem to
think one word must be intelligible, even if a great
ouliber are n ,t.' "

T►►e feeling towards the English was very
friendly, bet many were 'disposed to regard the
Russians with a less favourable sentiment. The
annexation of Finland to the Russian empire ap-
pears to have given little satisfaction. The reader
will not be sorry to learn, however, that Russia
and the Russians occupy a very small space in the
volumes—indeed they are only casually men-
tioned. _Neither does the war present itself to our
notice, with the exception of a few incidental re-
marks in the description of the Baltic islands.

Among the most formidable of our authoress's
undertakings was the descent of the Falun mine..
She was induced to make this adventurous expe-
dition by the representations of her travelling com-
panion, who declared she was not afraid, and
would encourage her. However, when equipped for
the exploit, she found her leader had come to the
conclusion to remain on the surface of the earth
instead of venturing below it. Our traveller, who
appears by no means deficient in spirit, set off
alone. She had previously read Dr. Clarke's ac-
counts of his descent into two mines in Sweden—
one a very dangerous and difficult one, into the
iron mine of Persberg, and another, a compara-
tively easy one, into the copper mine of Falun.
However, she soon found her hopes and expecta-
tions disappointed, as the following description
will show :

" The de-cent of this latter mine was easy where
Clarke visited it fifty years ago, and continued to be easy
until about two years previous to our visit, when an ex-
tensive ran took place which destroyed the winding easy
flight o' steps, which I had understood led all the way,
for two hundred fathoms, down to the bottom. My
descent,. therefore, was; after all, to be made almost ex-
actly as De. Clarke describes the terrible descent into the
iron mine of Persberg.
"This was by means of perpendicular ladders, placed
on a series of very small platforms, which serve as
landing-places ; but each platform borders on a preci-
pice, where you hear the sound of Water gurgling in
darkness ; the staves of the ladders are cold, slipper-Jr,
ivered with black mud and soft ice. Imagine an ate
tempt to go down these in thick darkness, with a guide
standing on the platform above you, holding a torch,
which casts its light over your head only to bewilder ;
for it you turn that bead to look where your steps lead,
yOu only see profound gho-Nn beneath, and, for aught
you know, you are to step off that ladder into—what !
that inquiry the man seems to think unnecessary—he
tells you to go on.
" It was in such a position that the extract I had
read from Dr. Clarke, and which had beeeu mistakingly
applied t this mine' unfortunately occurred to me :
[n addition to the danger to be apprehended from the
atase of the ladders, the staves were covered with ice or
:nail, and reudsred so slippery that we could have no
dependence on our hands if our feet.failed us. Then, to
complete our tears, as we mention this to the miners,
they said, Have a care; it was just so one of our
women, fell as she was descending to her work.' `And
not b ',mile of her ?" Became of her ?—she became
pankaka I
"119 re, indeed, another observation• of his was also
qp disable As the iab-urers are not accustomed to
reci-ive s rangers they never use precautions, nor offer
the assi-tansy usually afforied in more frequented mines.'
Time weigni, of a great pea-coat was a rather unfortunate
equipment to choose for such a descent.
"' A. miner (ame up the ascending , ladder ; as the
torch-light flashed on his face it appeared to me very
tike one of those that used to frighten my childhood,
when seen in the r-flection of blazing spirits and sulphur
urned on a pewter dish. He looked at me as we
iias-ed, and his look seamed to say, am glad to go
up, and you are foolish to go down.'
"At length we came to the chamber where all the
Kings of Sweden, from time immemorial up to King
Oscar, have eaten a dinner ; for by an ancient usage
this is one of the many penalties inflicted on the Swedish
Kings. To dance in the town-hall on New-year's -
night, to drive through the Djurgard in procession on.
the let of May, to descend into Store ICopparbergen on
their accession to the throne—these, and many 'similar
little performances, are entailed on the possession of
that crown."

" Not many visitors to this mine go further than this
royal cha ober. And indeed the vision, to one who,
does so for only once in a lifetime—the first and only
time—may haunt him afterwards. The glare of fitful
light, the sulphurous faces of those who seem to have
parted for ever from the bright sun and the light of
earth—the sound of unseen water—the horrid depths
yawning so close that a single step aside would send one
down aci Vat) mine-master's son sent a large block of
,wood for my instruction, teaching me by action what he
did not say in words. All this, and more than this, yea
will see, and hear the sounds of the block as it rebounds
from ledge to ledge, Lolling, falling, and hear the sound
coming fainter, fainter, till after the lapse, I should
think, of nearly a minute, it is heard no more.
"It was the discovery that, on landing on one of the
very small platforms, I had stepped back within half a
foot of one of these gulfs, that totally freed me from any
desire to see more of the copper mine of Falun. After
that my courage failed, and I only recollect clinging to
an upright ladder, and crying to my stolid guide,
will go up ! I will go up !'
" He said afterwards that he feared then the chance of
my ever going up was small, for he believed I ohould be
physically deprived of the power of movement, and re-
main there, encumbering, I suppose, the mine descent
for ever."

Fortunately she "made an effort," and pre-
sently emerged into the light of day ; " but not
for half the mines of Golcanda," she exclaims,
"do I think I would again go into the copper
mine of Falun." We think the reader will hardly
be surprised at her arriving at this conclusion,
especially when ho learns that, in addition to her
alarm and risk during the descent itself, that she
was crippled from fatigue, as she pathetically de-
scribes it. Certainly her picture of Stora Kop-
parbergen, as the Swedes term it, is less attractive
than her other northern scenes, and few of her
readers are likely to be tempted to make its de-
scent, even though it claims to have been worked
in the time of Solomon's Temple. To all who wish
fora gay and varied panorama of Northern life
and scenery, and for a work full of information,
conveyed through an entertaining medium, we
commend these volumes, as among the most lively
and generally attractive travels that have appeared.
for some time.

CRYSTAL PALACE—FIVE SHILLING DAY, MAT 17.
Admigsions on payment, 357; do. by season tickets,.
1,383 ; total visitors, 1,740._

Tag AmERICIAN MAILEL—The royal mail steam ship
Africa, Capt. Stone, sailed from the Mersey, on Satur-
day, about 10 a.m., for New York, wi' h the usual weekly
mails for the North Arnericao Continent, ninety-three
pas4engers, and a fair cargo of mi-rehandise.
An audacious robbery was committed ten days ago in
Spain. A picture of the Assumption, generally ascribed
to Murillo, or at least to one of his best pupils, was taken
from the high altar of the church of Mendiguren, near
Vittoria ,

A VERY 111011 WIND—SERIOUS DAMAGE.—Daring
yesterday a very high wind prevailed in London, and
considerable damage was done in several parts in con-
sequence. In Hyde-park at least twenty-five trees were
more or less injured, some of them being actually torn
up by the roots. Two of them were blown down, while
many people were taking shelter under them from the
rain, and it is very remarkable no serious injuries were
sustained. As it was, however, several of the bystanders
received bruises on various parts of the body and had
their clothes spoiled. In the Green-park also some of
the trees were torn up by the roots, and huge branches
of others were hurled to a considerable distance. The
preparations for the forthcoming peace fireworks, which
bad been erected opposite Berkley-street, Piccadilly,
were for the most part blown down, and other portions
of the different structures were likewise injured. Many
chimney-pots, ac., were blown into the streets, and
some ciamwre was done to the shipping in the Downs;
but although several accidents of a minor character have
occurred, we have heard of no lives being loot.