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180 LETTERS ON SWEDEN,
and, amidst the other villagers, she looked like a
garden lily suddenly rearing its head amongst grain
and corn-flowers. As the house Avas small, I gave her
a piece of money rather larger than it was my custom
to give to the female waiters for I could not prevail
on her to sit down- which she received with a smile ;
yet took care to give it, in my presence, to a girl who
had brought the child a slice of bread ; by which I
perceived that she was the mistress or daughter of the
house, and without doubt the belle of the village.
There was, in short, an appearance of cheerful in-
dustry, and of that degree of comfort which shut out
misery, in all the little hamlets as I approached
Hamburg, which agreeably surprised me.
The short jackets which the women wear here, as
well as in France, are not only more becoming to
the person, but much better calculated for women
who have rustic or household employments than the
long gowns worn in England, dangling in the dirt.
All the inns on the road were better than I expected,
though the softness of the beds still harassed me, and
prevented my finding the rest I was frequently in
want of, to enable me to bear the fatigue of the next
day. The charges were moderate, and the people very
civil, with a certain honest hilarity and independent
spirit in their manner, which almost made me forget
that they were innkeepers, a set of men waiters, host-
esses, chambermaids, &c., down to the ostler, whose
cunning servility in England I think particularly dis-
gusting.
The prospect of Hamburg at a distance, as woll as
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