conduct of the Swedish and American country girls; for I am led to
conclude, from all the observations I have made, that there is
always a mixture of sentiment and imagination in voluptuousness, to
which neither of them have much pretension.

The country girls of Ireland and Wales equally feel the first
impulse of nature, which, restrained in England by fear or delicacy,
proves that society is there in a more advanced state. Besides, as
the mind is cultivated, and taste gains ground, the passions become
stronger, and rest on something more stable than the casual
sympathies of the moment. Health and idleness will always account
for promiscuous amours; and in some degree I term every person idle,
the exercise of whose mind does not bear some proportion to that of
the body.

The Swedish ladies exercise neither sufficiently; of course, grow
very fat at an early age; and when they have not this downy
appearance, a comfortable idea, 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.