ABSTRACT
Thomas Robert Malthus visited the country in one of the hardest years ever known in Europe, 1799, and found the Norwegians wearing a face of plenty and content, while their neighbours the Swedes appeared to be starving. He found the death-rate lower in Norway than in any country in Europe. Malthus tells that the lists of births, marriages, and deaths in Mid Europe give more information about its internal economy than the observations of the wisest travellers. By the influence of good climate and much intercourse with foreigners, along with advantages of upbringing, a nation of Southern Europe comes to put into its notion of happiness a great many more elements than a northern nation. Economical motives have come very late in all the great European emigrations. The only European countries where English travellers could easily make their way in those years.
