four high slender wheels; it runs very lightly, and is admirably adapted to the heaviness of the roads, which are very deep and sandy.

Soon after dinner I strolled through the fair, which was filled with peasantry from various parts of Holstein and Slesvig. The women, in their rude finery, reversed the ambition of their fair sisters on the other side of the water; they were strongly buckramed to the top of the neck, and exhibited no traces of the bosom; but, to soften the severity of this rigid decorum in front, they presented such a projecting rotundity behind, that, to eyes which had been accustomed to gaze upon the symmetry of English fair-ones, appeared truly grotesque, and awakened many a smile.

The church, which is large and ancient, was upon this occasion disrobed of the sanctity of its character, and in its fretted aisles booths were erected, in which books and haberdashery were exposed to sale, and where I found some coarse copies of engraving from some of the pictures of Westall. In several places upon the continent, I witnessed, with no little degree of pride, a striking predilection for the works of this distinguished artist. Almost article which was exposed sale was called English, although I am satisfied that many of them were never fashioned by English hands; but the charm of the name has an influence every where; its sound is

every

attractive, and the very pedlar of the fair finds his account in its forgery.

A custom-house officer waited upon us at the inn to inspect our luggage, but the dexterous introduction of a dollar into his hand, convinced him in a moment, from the mere physiognomy of our trunks, that they contained nothing contraband;-let him not be blamed, for his penetration was admirably correct.

Before the river of Husum was choaked up with mud, the town was a place of considerable commerce; it is now principally filled with tradesmen and farmers; and the removal of the packets to this place from Tonningen, has circulated a considerable quantity of money amongst the inhabitants. It is rather a large town; lime trees grow before the houses, the roofs of which run very high, and present the appearance of steps; these vast attics are never used but as lumber-rooms, and have a very disagreeable effect. There is a palace with gardens belonging to the duke of Holstein, but they are unworthy of further notice.

The gaiety of the day terminated with great sobriety; there were many light hearts, but I believe not one aching head. In the evening, a crazy violin and drum allured me into a public room, in which the merry peasants were dancing

16

ACTIVITY OF A BRITISH TAR.

waltzes. Heavens! what movements! A Frenchman, who resolves every thing into operatic effect, would have felt each particular hair stand erect, had he contemplated the heavy solemnity of the performers. The females looked like so many tubs turning round, and their gallant partners never moved their pipes from their mouths.

Upon quitting this scene of phlegmatic festivity, I strolled to the quay, where the skippers were landing the carriage, which a fine sprightly powerful fellow of an English sailor, with scarce any assistance from the smoking crowd who had assembled to view it, put together in little more than an hour. The alertness and activity of the British tar, afforded a striking contrast to the sluggishness of the Danish seamen who surrounded him. As soon as the carriage reached the inn, we proceeded to the post-house, and ordered four horses, being one more than we were compellable to take by the Danish post law, but no more than the weight to be drawn and the depth of the roads rendered necessary. The post was to Fleursborg, distant five Danish or twenty-five English miles, and for which we paid eight dollars, one marc. Of the coin and post regulations I shall speak in the next chapter.

Thus having prepared every thing for our departure the next morning, we returned to the inn; where in one of the front rooms we had not been seated long, before a pretty pale

and interesting girl, whose age could not have exceeded thirteen, entered with a trembling step, and presented one of the gentlemen present with a note-the contents of it unfolded such a secret as must have shocked the soul of the most depraved libertine-it was written by her mother. We detained her miserable and devoted child until we had raised a little subscription for her, and dismissed her with an involuntary exclamation of abhorrence against the parent.

In the first step which an Englishman makes out of his own country, he is sure to meet with something to satisfy him that he cannot find a better.

D

DULL MATTERS NECESSARY TO BE KNOWN-THE VILLAGE WONDER -MUSICAL POSTILLIONS-SNAPS-FARM-HOUSES AND INN-THE POST DELIVERED-A CONSPIRACY-BOLTON'S DOLLAR—THE LITTLE BELT-VILLAGE BRIDE-THE GREAT BELT-CORSOER-BARDOLPH'S NOSE.

THERE is scarcely a duller thing which an ardent traveller or reader can encounter, than the little detail of money matters which occur on the road; and I shall therefore, with all due dispatch, dispose of it upon the present occasion.

In Slesvig and Holstein, the only Danish money received is the Danish specie dollar, and the notes of the banks of Slesvig and Holstein, as also those of the bank of Norway. The specie dollar contains sixty skillings, or so many English pence, of the currency of Slesvig and Holstein, and at par is equal to five shillings English. The rix dollar of the currency of Slesvig and Holstein contains only forty-eight skillings; of course four specie dollars are equal to five rix dollars current money. The money is divided into skillings, marks, and dollars: