The general superintendence is vested in an inspector, chosen by the nation from the ordinary professors, and approved of by consistorium minus. Admission to, and membership of, a nation, is subject to a payment, averaging in each case fifteen crowns a term. In fine, it may be stated that all the business of the nation is regulated by statutes made by itself on sanction of consistorium minus. There are in all thirteen nations, one representing Stockholm, and the others the different dioceses and provinces of the country, the number of members in each varying from twenty-two to two hundred and three.

The nations together form the "student corps" which, again, has authorities and business of its own. The general charge of the corps is lodged in a chairman-nominated by all the students, commonly out of the province of younger university teachers, and a directory elected by the nations from amongst themselves in proportion to the number of their members. The departments are superintended by special officers or committees, all chosen by and from the student corps itself. Like each nation, the student corps has a flag or standard of its own, to be used on public occasions.

In the autumn term, 1876, there were at Upsala :—

(97,6821.), a great part of which was derived from donations-200,000, for instance, from estates granted by Gustavus Adolphus. Of the expenses a good deal is due to salaries, those of a professor being 6,000, and of an adjunct from 2,400 to 3,000 crowns per annum. In the faculty of divinity the teachers derive their payment from prebends or pastorships. Having completed their sixty-fifth year, both professors and adjuncts are entitled to pensions, amounting in the former case to 4,500, and in the latter to 2,500 crowns. Docents have no salaries, but receive their income partly by stipends -of 750 or 1,000 crowns a year-and partly from fees for private instruction. There are about 550 scholarships or stipends given either by the university, other authorities, or the student unions. They are founded principally by endowments of private charity for support of students, or for encouragement of scientific travels. In the latter case they vary from hundreds to thousands of crowns, and in the former from under one hundred to several hundreds. They are bestowed on various conditions, amongst which industry, morality, and the poverty of the receiver preponderate. During his tenure of the scholarship the student is subjected to the control of a special inspector, generally a professor, appointed in conformity with the regulations of the testator.

If we look on the university life as such, it has in times past not been wanting in peculiarities and eccentricities, as the following account of a "deposition" or initiation of freshmen in 1716 will convince the reader. "The master of ceremonies or depositor,' so the description runs, " made the freshmen put on garments of various materials and colours. Their faces were blackened, the brims of their hats bent down, and long ears and horns fastened to them, long pigs' tusks put into the corners of their mouths, which they were compelled to keep there, like pipes, under penalty of being caned. Their shoulders were

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covered with long black cloaks. this garb, more horrid and ridiculous than that in which the victims of the Inquisition were led to the stake, the depositor' drove them with a stick from the room of deposition,' like a drove of cattle, into the auditory. There he arranged them in a circle round himself, made faces and outrageous courtesies to them, ridiculed their odd attire, and finally addressed them in a serious harangue. He spoke of the vices and follies of youth, and urged the necessity of their being reformed, chastened, and polished by study. He then propounded several questions to them; but the tusks in their mouths prevented them from speaking distinctly, so that their utterances rather resembled the grunting of swine. Consequently, the depositor addressed them as such, struck them lightly on their shoulders with his cane, and reproached them. Their teeth, said he, indicated intemperance in eating and drinking, on account of which young people are apt to have their intellects clouded. Then he pulled a pair of wooden tongs out of a bag, and choked and shook them until the teeth dropped out. He then continued by saying that if they were docile and diligent, they would lose their inclination for intemperance and gluttony just as they had lost their tusks. Then he tore the long ears from their hats to intimate that they would have to study diligently in order not to resemble jackasses. He then took the horns from them as a symbol of brutal coarseness, and at last took a plane from his bag. Every freshman had to lie down, first on his stomach, then on his back and both his sides, and in each of these positions he planed their whole body, saying that literature and art would polish their minds in a similar way. After various other ludicrous ceremonies, he filled a large vessel with water, which he poured over the freshmen's heads, afterwards roughly wiping them down with a coarse rag. To conclude the farce, he admonished the company

whom he had polished, washed, and brushed, to enter upon a new life, to contend against wicked institutions, and to give up bad habits, which were apt to disfigure their mind, not less than the various parts of their disguise had disfigured their bodies."

In our own time the student life, though not without its peculiarities, will not compare with that of old, perhaps not even with that of German, English, or American students. At least we search in vain at Upsala for an academic youth who, like his German contemporary, bears in his face the marks of many a hardfought duel; or whose soul is, like that of an American, occupied by dark, fanciful ceremonies; neither do we meet with a single one who has carried from the cricket-field or the boat-race the envied prize of an athletic triumph so valued at Oxford and Cambridge.

As to dress, too, there is little or nothing about an Upsala student to distinguish him. from a nonacademic youth of his own social position. His confrater at Oxford and Cambridge, for instance, is immediately recognisable from the outside world by a medieval, monastic attire which gives him the semblance of a man in holy orders. Visiting Cambridge, I was at first struck at the sight of the quaint cap and gown or surplice, thinking "how many goodlooking candidates for the Church there are here." A German student differs from his countrymen-at least when belonging to a "corps" or "union." If he be a "Bursch," he will exhibit a cloven nose or lip-perhaps both— or some other scratch or scar on his face, indicating him as one of the leading spirits among the students of his alma mater. He commonly wears a coloured head-covering, and a ribbon to match surrounding his breast; and as a "chargirter," or in "wichs" (complete student rig), has "kanonen (bluchers) and spurs; tight white leather breeches, "peckesche' (black embroidered velvet jacket). "paradeschläger" (dress-sword), large

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leather gloves, ribbon, and either "" cerevis or "barret "-the one an embroidered velvet cap scarcely big enough to cover an infant's head, the other a velvet head-gear, provided with an embroidered roll or lap, with a buckle and two plumes on the left side. Compared with English and German students, the Upsalians, consequently, make but a poor show, for in winter they are dressed like other mortals, and only in summer time don a cap of a somewhat academical peculiarity. This head-dress of velvet, with the top white, the brim black, and a blue and yellow badge in front, not unfitly marks out the wearers as the chosen sons of Apollo.

With reference to the teachers, the only apparent distinction between them and other gentlemen is a dress coat, with a velvet collar on which is embroidered two lyres and a laurel wreath, to be worn on academic and other solemn occasions.

As the students thus usually resemble the Philistines" in apparel and outer appearance, they can also socially mingle with them, though no doubt choosing rather to join company amongst themselves, and more specially so within the same "nation." Their peculiar transactions and habits of life, such as they are, will be found in the gatherings of the students as 66 27 corps and "nations." In the former capacity they meet for business in some large hall of the university buildings, under the presidency of the chairman or speaker of the " corps," and with a right in every student of participating actively in what is carried on; or they sit as the "student directory," for the preparatory consideration of questions to be determined upon by the assembly at large. When in "directory" the meeting is made up of some thirty to fifty of the most influential, experienced, and conservative students; in the " corps" of some hundreds or perhaps a thousand; the decisions thus depending upon the pure de

mocracy. In both large and small assemblies the business is carried on in the most commendable way, and the debates may often serve as models in regard both to substance and form. The "student corps," preceded by a flag of its own and the colours of the different nations, takes the lead in celebrating the patriotic and religious anniversaries of Swedish history, such as the union between Sweden and Norway (Nov. 4th), the accession of Gustavus Vasa (June 6th), the death of Charles XII. (Nov. 30th), and of Gustavus Adolphus (Nov. 6th). It also celebrates, at the beginning of the spring term, the "Knutfest," as a general memorial day in honour of the "fathers," and of any Scandinavian celebrities who may have died during the previous year.

The gatherings of a

"nation" are

of a twofold character: either for business, or for enjoying life. In the former the " curator presides over the whole of the nation, and every member is obliged to attend under pain of a fine, unless prevented from doing so by reasons to be approved of by the president. A general attendance is ensured also by the fact that the matters transacted concern individuals more directly than those debated in the corps meetings. The whole of the students form, so to speak, a "United States" on a small scale, a democratic federative republic, where the "corps" authorities and affairs are the exceptions, and the "national" ones the rule. A "nation," therefore, not only manages the affairs kindred to those of the student corps, but elects officers, enacts rules and regulations, decides upon the budget of the bodyperhaps on the reparation of its "parliament house," or on the building of a new one, on the purchase of books and newspapers, and so forth; and will often have to give testimonials of study and character, to grant loans, stipends, and the like. Untimely or hasty decisions are the less to be feared, as the votes, with hardly an exception, are graded-as, for instance, three in a

senior, two in a junior, and one in a recentior. The debates may be prolonged during whole sessions. In each nation there are, naturally, both friends of "the old, good, and experienced," and "radicals," who look "the new" straightforward in the face without fear and anxiety. As far as my own experience reaches, the "national" meetings distinguish themselves for high parliamentary manners and mature determinations, and form a practical school for training the students in judicious, business-like transactions, in praise of which too much can hardly be said. The decisions, once taken-are faithfully acted upon by the whole corporation, without fear of "reaction" or coup d'état. In the same way, scientific meetings, either of a nation or of particular academic societies, carry on their business, the students endeavouring earnestly, by disputations and deliveries, to draw attention to, or solve questions pertaining to, various branches of learning. But such earnestness expires with the term; and, just as Mr. Toots, at the end of the half, "threw off his allegiance and put on his ring, and happening to mention the Doctor in casual conversation shortly afterwards, spoke of him as 'Blimber,' so, half an hour after the close of the parliamentary or scientific session, the circumspect philosopher, or conscientious censor, or grave legislator, will turn out to be a gay, heedless freshman, enjoying himself at a glass of "Swedish punch," accompanied by cheerful laugh, song, music, theatricals, dancing, and other

amusements.

All the different kinds of merry student amusements centre in the "student-sexa and its appurtenances. Of course, this can vary indefinitely as to number of partakers and breadth of arrangements, but the more characteristic features are not difficult to trace. The battlefield of fun is generally the senatorial - philosophical hall just mentioned, now transformed into an

abode for Apollo, Bacchus, and the Muses. But sometimes the festival is of a general character, when the honorary members, students, and other outside persons are invited as guests of the nation, or of its individual members, and when only a part of the festivity is played off in the nationhouse, and the other part, usually the "sexa" proper, in a restaurant of larger dimensions.

The following narratives of the first festival of my own nation, at which I, as a new-fledged freshman, was a party on entering the university in 1859, and of the last general student one, before I left Sweden in 1874, will give the reader some idea of Upsala students' revelries in their more extravagant and frolicsome manner,

About midday, on a wintry February day in 1859, my comrades and I left the nation's house in sledges to be carried to Old Upsala. Deep snow covers the frozen ground, a boreal chill pervades the air, and but a feeble sun throws some pale beams on the jolly companions. On such a day it was but a natural precaution to have tasted some drops of the academic "nectar before we started, and even to have a provision of it for our journey. This was not without adventures. For on account either of the runaway habits of our spirited steeds, or because the drivers understand less how to manage them than the punch-glasses, we have pushed on not so very far ere the sledge upsets and some of the company are rolling in the snow. At length, however, all-ladies and gentlemen, runaway and steadyreach the goal, and burdened with old Northern mead in mighty silverplated horns, presented by former Swedish princes, laboriously climb the wide-renowned hills of Old Upsala. On their tops, with an extensive view round the very cradle of the Swedish nation, with a blue-skyed heaven above, and Odin, Thor, and Frei "buried” beneath, songs resound and horns circle among the brothers to the honour of the vernacular gods, who still

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speak and sing in the "Eddas," and of the "Fathers" who a thousand years ago brought forth rich terial and intellectual harvests out of the desolate wildernesses of the North. On our return we are warmed by several dances, the writer himself being engaged in a Swedish waltz by a native-born Englishman from Oxford. Whether Terpsichore laughed or wept, no one can say, but the performers themselves were greatly pleased. A free-and-easy luncheon too, similar to a "sexa,' though not on so large a scale, precedes the entrance into the theatre, where other members of the nation are acting a French vaudeville. Intense applause on the part of the public testifies to the ability of the players, and the ladylike graces and loveliness of the "student actresses" must have caused keen heart pains to many a Philistine spectator. By the way, I

will notice here that most nations have a theatre of their own fairly well appointed, and furnishing the students once or twice a year with scenical entertainments. The piece-the parts for women inclusive-is throughout acted by students only, even when ladies are present among the public. By the more prominent studentartists public dramatic performances are also given at the theatre of Upsala, and even outside the city.

The doors of Thalia finally closed, those to the "sexa" hall are thrown open, and into it we march to the air of a student song mingling with the tones of a band playing in the gallery. A table of vast dimensions down the middle of the room contains the pièces de résistance, but other small ones are ranged at intervals along the walls. The latter are covered by milk jugs, beer and porter bottles, tumblers, and such like primitive matters; but the big one is dressed in a festival, gentlemanlike way, bouquets, flowerpots, and trees out of the Linnæan botanical garden mixing with silver and porcelain plates on a ground of shining white. To a hungry soul like myself,

however, the contents of the dishes are far more important than the dishes themselves, and truly there was plenty to calm the most ravenous appetite. Polyphemus himself need not have left this table of vast dimensions unsatisfied! Beef, veal, mutton, pork, hare, chickens, partridge; salmon, eel, herring-even "Norwegian herring in paper"-pike, sardines; cheese, butter, bread; potatoes, spinach, radishes; compote, tart, cake, sweetmeats; apples, walnuts, raisins, oranges; chablis, hock, sherry, Bordeaux, muscat, and "Swedish aqua vita." A liberal host, indeed! And so watchfully as he cares for us all throughout the supper! The tables never lack anything whatever, but assiduous waiters are busy supplementing the old provisions and bringing forth new ones continually. I hardly disparage the hospitality of Penelope by applying Homer's description to our restaurateur :

"With sheep and shaggy goats the porkers bled,

And the proud steer was on the marble spread;

With fire prepared they deal the morsels round,

Wine rosy-bright the brimming goblets crowned."

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Of the whole fabric of drinks and dishes at such a supper as this, the first in honour and moment are the "Swedish" bread and brandy, They form the essential part, and without them the most experienced chef, with all the gastronomic wines and meats of Paris, would be unable to bring an Upsala sexa " into existence. The Swedish brandy, made from potatoes, rye, or barley, is of different sorts, and that commonly used at "the bread-andbutter table," and called "Talu brandy," is, when good, both animating and of excellent taste. It aims at giving an appetite, and does not fail in its aim. At a "sexa" it is the first to be "mouthed in," and "the whole" may be followed by "the half," "the third," and so forth, these expres