MAKE A MEME
View Large Image
| View Original: | Arendal,_with_Töyöen_(JW_Edy_plate_18).jpg (2252x1454) | |||
| Download: | Original | Medium | Small | Thumb |
| Courtesy of: | commons.wikimedia.org | More Like This | ||
| Keywords: Arendal, with Töyöen (JW Edy plate 18).jpg Artwork Creator John William Edy en Arendal with Töyöen and in his circumstances laboured under other very serious impediments His opportunities for observation had neither been frequent nor of an extended kind But even an easy circulation among the various societies of a people will avail a stranger but little in his endeavours to gain a knowledge of their prevalent opinions and propensities or to comprehend what is commonly called the genius of people unless be possesses a familiar acquaintance with their language and resides for a considerable time among them Of these advantages our American had none Some heaven-born travellers there may be who entirely trust to their quickness in observation to that intuitive glance which requires only a part to judge of a whole and who would disdain to acquire knowledge by ordinary means Yet I cannot help agreeing with Fielding that a man will not write or speak the worse for knowing something of his subject; and the achievements of but too many travellers amply demonstrate that a judgment of foreign nations founded on rapid observation is almost certainly a mere tissue of ludicrous and disgraceful mistakes How few travellers think it necessary to exclaim with Sterne But I have scarce set foot in your dominions In no country perhaps is a traveller more liable to error in his views and estimates of human nature than in Norway because not only the inhabitants of a province but frequently those of a single parish differ from each other in disposition character customs manners and appearance Too great caution cannot therefore be employed in appreciating the national character of the Norwegians the more so if the observer should chance to be prepossessed with the following remark It is not possible for a writer of this country to speak ill of the Norwegians for of all strangers the people of Norway love and admire the British the most a 1 This is not only in direct opposition to the remark of the American gentleman previously alluded to to which however very little credit ought to be attached but it is as hostile to the opinions of others who had every inclination to view the Norwegians in the most favourable light with regard to Britain An attempt to reconcile judgments of so contrary a nature might probably appear an invidious and would perhaps become an ungrateful task My object will therefore be simply to state what I myself saw and heard; and I shall do this perfectly unconcerned whether my observations may favour or disfavour those notions concerning Norway which travellers have formed in many cases perhaps chiefly according to the different modes in which their personal interests may have been consulted 1 a Edinburgh Review No IV 1803 p 306 Art Tableau des Etats Danois par J P Catteau Collapse bottom http //urn nb no/URN NBN no-nb_digibok_2011072910001 Boydell's picturesque scenery of Norway London 1820 Plate no 18 p 131 in scanned copy no-nb_digibok_2011072910001 PD-Art-100 John William Edy Boydell's picturesque scenery of Norway Culture of Arendal Historical images of Arendal | ||||
.jpg){kind=link}
