Many of the 82 Fredman's Epistles remain popular in Sweden.
Their diverse styles and themes may be illustrated with examples of some of the best-known songs.
To begin with No.
23, Ach du min Moder! (
Alas, thou my mother), which has been described as "the to-be-or-not-to-be of Swedish literature", tells, in realist style, the story of a drunk who wakes in a Stockholm gutter outside the Crawl-In Tavern.
He curses his parents for conceiving him "perhaps upon a table" as he looks at his torn clothes.
Then the tavern door opens, and he goes in and has his first drink.
The song ends with loud thanks to the drunk's mother and father.
In contrast, the Rococo No.
28, I går såg jag ditt barn, min Fröja (Yesterday I saw thy child, my Freya), tells the tale of an attempt to arrest the "nymph" Ulla Winblad, based on a real event.
Bellman here combines realism – Ulla wearing a black embroidered bodice, and losing her watch in a named street (Yxsmedsgränd) in Stockholm's Gamla stan – with images from classical mythology, such as a myrtle crown and an allusion to the goddess Aphrodite.

Quite a different tone is set in No.
40, Ge rum i Bröllops-gåln din hund! (
Make room in the wedding-hall, you dog!),
as some unruly soldiers interfere in a chaotic wedding, mixing roughly with the musicians and the wedding-party.
Shouts of "Shoulder arms!"
and panic at a chimney fire combine with a complex rhyming pattern to create a humorous picture of the disastrous event.
The story ends with the priest pocketing some of the collection money.
A later Epistle, No.
48, Solen glimmar blank och trind (The sun gleams smooth and round), narrates the relaxed and peaceful journey of a boat bringing Ulla Winblad home to Stockholm across Lake Mälaren on a lovely spring morning, after a night of carousing.
The boatmen call to each other, apparently haphazardly, but each detail helps to create a pastoral vision as "Gradually the wind blows up / In the fallen sails; / The pennant stretches, and with an oar / Olle stands on a hayboat;".
The song is "one of Bellman's greatest", creating "an incomparable panorama of that eighteenth-century Stockholm which meets us in Elias Martin's canvasses."

No.
71, Ulla!
min Ulla!
säj får jag dig bjuda (Ulla!
My Ulla!
Say, may I offer thee) is another of the best-loved pastoral Epistles, and the melody may well be by Bellman himself.
It imagines how Fredman, sitting on horseback outside Ulla's window at Fiskartorpet on a summer's day, invites her to come and dine with him on "reddest strawberries in milk and wine".
The following Epistle, No.
72, Glimmande nymf (Gleaming nymph), is a night-piece, set to an Andante melody from a French opéra comique.
It describes in erotic detail the "nymph" asleep in her bed.
To create the desired mood of rising excitement, Bellman creates a rainbow — after sunset.
Britten Austin comments that the audience "does not even notice".
Meanwhile, No.
80, Liksom en Herdinna, högtids klädd (Like a shepherdess in her best dress), is a pastorale, almost paraphrasing Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux's French guide to the construction of pastoral verse, starting with "As a Shepherdess splendidly dressed / By the spring one day in June / gathers from the grass's rosy bed / adornments and accents for her dress".
The effect is of an "almost religious invocation".

The final Epistle, No.
82, Hvila vid denna källa (Rest by this spring), is both pastoral and Rococo, depicting a "little breakfast" in the Stockholm countryside.
Red wine flows; there is roast chicken, and an almond tart.
Flowers "of a thousand kinds" are all around; a stallion parades in a field "with his mare and foal"; a bull roars; a cockerel hops on the roof, and a magpie chatters.
Meanwhile, the musicians are exhorted to blow along with the wind god Eol, small love-sprites are asked to sing, and Ulla is called a nymph.
The final chorus asks everyone to drink their dram of brandy.
Many of the 82 Fredman's Epistles remain popular in Sweden. Their diverse styles and themes may be illustrated with examples of some of the best-known songs. To begin with No. 23, Ach du min Moder! (Alas, thou my mother), which has been described as "the to-be-or-not-to-be of Swedish literature", tells, in realist style, the story of a drunk who wakes in a Stockholm gutter outside the Crawl-In Tavern. He curses his parents for conceiving him "perhaps upon a table" as he looks at his torn clothes. Then the tavern door opens, and he goes in and has his first drink. The song ends with loud thanks to the drunk's mother and father. In contrast, the Rococo No. 28, I går såg jag ditt barn, min Fröja (Yesterday I saw thy child, my Freya), tells the tale of an attempt to arrest the "nymph" Ulla Winblad, based on a real event. Bellman here combines realism – Ulla wearing a black embroidered bodice, and losing her watch in a named street (Yxsmedsgränd) in Stockholm's Gamla stan – with images from classical mythology, such as a myrtle crown and an allusion to the goddess Aphrodite.
Quite a different tone is set in No. 40, Ge rum i Bröllops-gåln din hund! (Make room in the wedding-hall, you dog!), as some unruly soldiers interfere in a chaotic wedding, mixing roughly with the musicians and the wedding-party. Shouts of "Shoulder arms!" and panic at a chimney fire combine with a complex rhyming pattern to create a humorous picture of the disastrous event. The story ends with the priest pocketing some of the collection money. A later Epistle, No. 48, Solen glimmar blank och trind (The sun gleams smooth and round), narrates the relaxed and peaceful journey of a boat bringing Ulla Winblad home to Stockholm across Lake Mälaren on a lovely spring morning, after a night of carousing. The boatmen call to each other, apparently haphazardly, but each detail helps to create a pastoral vision as "Gradually the wind blows up / In the fallen sails; / The pennant stretches, and with an oar / Olle stands on a hayboat;". The song is "one of Bellman's greatest", creating "an incomparable panorama of that eighteenth-century Stockholm which meets us in Elias Martin's canvasses."
No. 71, Ulla! min Ulla! säj får jag dig bjuda (Ulla! My Ulla! Say, may I offer thee) is another of the best-loved pastoral Epistles, and the melody may well be by Bellman himself. It imagines how Fredman, sitting on horseback outside Ulla's window at Fiskartorpet on a summer's day, invites her to come and dine with him on "reddest strawberries in milk and wine". The following Epistle, No. 72, Glimmande nymf (Gleaming nymph), is a night-piece, set to an Andante melody from a French opéra comique. It describes in erotic detail the "nymph" asleep in her bed. To create the desired mood of rising excitement, Bellman creates a rainbow — after sunset. Britten Austin comments that the audience "does not even notice". Meanwhile, No. 80, Liksom en Herdinna, högtids klädd (Like a shepherdess in her best dress), is a pastorale, almost paraphrasing Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux's French guide to the construction of pastoral verse, starting with "As a Shepherdess splendidly dressed / By the spring one day in June / gathers from the grass's rosy bed / adornments and accents for her dress". The effect is of an "almost religious invocation".
The final Epistle, No. 82, Hvila vid denna källa (Rest by this spring), is both pastoral and Rococo, depicting a "little breakfast" in the Stockholm countryside. Red wine flows; there is roast chicken, and an almond tart. Flowers "of a thousand kinds" are all around; a stallion parades in a field "with his mare and foal"; a bull roars; a cockerel hops on the roof, and a magpie chatters. Meanwhile, the musicians are exhorted to blow along with the wind god Eol, small love-sprites are asked to sing, and Ulla is called a nymph. The final chorus asks everyone to drink their dram of brandy.
Fredmans epistlar