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83 LETTERS ON SWEDEN,
he ordained. There is commonly some little farm
annexed to the parsonage, and the inhabitants subscribe
voluntarily, three times a year, in addition to the
church fees, for the support of the clergyman. The
church lands were seized when Lutheranism was in-
troduced, the desire of obtaining them being probably
the real stimulus of reformation. The tithes, which
are never required in kind, are divided into three
parts one to the king, another to the incumbent, and
the third to repair the dilapidations of the parsonage.
They do not amount to much. And the stipend al-
lowed to the different civil officers is also too small,
scarcely deserving to be termed an independence ;
that
of the custom-house officers is not sufficient to procure
the necessaries of life no wonder, then, if necessity
leads them to knavery. Much public virtue cannot
be expected till every employment, putting perquisites
out of the question, has a salary sufficient to reward
industry; whilst none are so great as to permit the
possessor to remain idle. It is this want of proportion
between profit and labour which debases men, pro-
ducing the sycophantic appellations of patron and
client, and that pernicious esprit du corps, proverbially
vicious.
The farmers are hospitable as well as independent.
Offering once to pay for some coffee I drank when
taking shelter from the rain, I was asked, rather
angrily, if a little coffee was worth paying for. They
smdke, and drink drams, but not so much as formerly.
Drunkenness, often the attendant disgrace of hos-
pitality, will here, as well as everywhere else, give
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