Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Letter IV
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you will say, in a cold climate, they are not remarkable
for fine forms. They have, however, mostly fine
complexions; but indolence makes the lily soon displace
the rose. The quantity of coffee, spices, and other
things of that kind, with want of care, almost
universally spoil their teeth, which contrast but ill with
their ruby lips.
The manners of Stockholm are refined, I hear, by
the introduction of gallantry; but in the country,
romping and coarse freedoms, with coarser allusions,
keep the spirits awake. In the article of cleanliness, the
women of all descriptions seem very deficient; and
their dress shows that vanity is more inherent in
women than taste.
The men appear to have paid still less court to the
graces. They are a robust, healthy race, distinguished
for their common sense and turn for humour, rather
than for wit or sentiment. I include not, as you may
suppose, in this general character, some of the nobility
and officers, who having travelled, are polite and well
informed.
I must own to you that the lower class of people
here amuse and interest me much more than the
middling, with their apish good breeding and
prejudices. The sympathy and frankness of heart
conspicuous in the peasantry produces even a simple
gracefulness of deportment which has frequently
struck me as very picturesque; I have often also been
touched by their extreme desire to oblige me, when I
could not explain my wants, and by their earnest
manner of expressing that desire. There is such a
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