第38章 LETTER XIII(4)

The Grand Bailiffs are mostly noblemen from Copenhagen,who act as men of common minds will always act in such situations--aping a degree of courtly parade which clashes with the independent character of a magistrate.Besides,they have a degree of power over the country judges,which some of them,who exercise a jurisdiction truly patriarchal most painfully feel.I can scarcely say why,my friend,but in this city thoughtfulness seemed to be sliding into melancholy or rather dulness.The fire of fancy,which had been kept alive in the country,was almost extinguished by reflections on the ills that harass such a large portion of mankind.

I felt like a bird fluttering on the ground unable to mount,yet unwilling to crawl tranquilly like a reptile,whilst still conscious it had wings.

1walked out,for the open air is always my remedy when an aching head proceeds from an oppressed heart.Chance directed my steps towards the fortress,and the sight of the slaves,working with chains on their legs,only served to embitter me still more against the regulations of society,which treated knaves in such a different manner,especially as there was a degree of energy in some of their countenances which unavoidably excited my attention,and almost created respect.

I wished to have seen,through an iron grate,the face of a man who has been confined six years for having induced the farmers to revolt against some impositions of the Government.I could not obtain a clear account of the affair,yet,as the complaint was against some farmers of taxes,I am inclined to believe that it was not totally without foundation.He must have possessed some eloquence,or have had truth on his side;for the farmers rose by hundreds to support him,and were 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 Igazed,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 point out the vicinity of a human abode,furnished with some elegance.But few people have sufficient taste to discern,that the art of embellishing consists in interesting,not in astonishing.

Christiania is certainly very pleasantly situated,and the environs I passed through,during this ride,afforded many fine and cultivated prospects;but,excepting the first view approaching to it,rarely present any combination of objects so strikingly new,or picturesque,as to command remembrance.Adieu!