Page:History of the Literature of the Scandinavian North.djvu/389

Rh taste in his works: "Om Smaken och dess allmänna lagar" (On taste and its general laws); "Om den äldre svenska literaturens förhållande till den franska," etc. (1745-1800), the son of the renowned constructor of Sveaborg and founder of the Swedish "Skerry-Fleet," occupies a very peculiar place in Swedish literature. Like his father he belonged to the military profession, and assisted the former in the execution of his great works. From his father he had also inherited his fine taste and rare talent for the fine arts. After a two years' journey in Southern Europe he found application for his profound views of art and its laws in "Resa till Italien," and "De fria konsters filosofi." In both of these truly ingenious works he greatly emphasizes the importance of antique art. They contain many short suggestions, which, by eminent thinkers of later times, have been regarded as new and important discoveries. His works, which have been frequently republished (the last time in 1866), are very obscure on account of the exceedingly condensed style, but his system has at various times been developed by the best Swedish writers, particularly by Atterbom in his "Svenska siare och skalder," and by Nybläus.

The best prose writer of that time was unquestionably (1752-1824), the tutor of Gustav III. His æsthetical and philosophical views, which he developed in various works, and which his position as secretary of the Swedish Academy enabled him to give a wide circulation, do not differ from the views current in his day, for in æsthetics he agreed with the rules established by the Academy, and in philosophy he adopted Locke's system. Meanwhile the philosophy of Kant had begun to be introduced into Sweden, and this was chiefly owing to the efforts of the Upsala professor, (died 1810). (1760-1835) edited an important organ for the dissemination of the new views introduced at the close of the eighteenth century, namely, the periodical which at first bore the title, "Läsning