There is a public school here, where a small number of boys are educated and maintained gratuitously, and a gymnasium for students of sixteen years of age. The cathedral is an ancient pile of brick, and is remarkable for nothing more than containing the tombs of John and the sanguinary Christian II. who seized upon the crown of Sweden by the right of conquest, and, in a cold-blooded massacre, put six hundred of the flower of her nobility to the sword-that scene of slaughter is exquisitely displayed in the beautiful tragedy of Gustavus Vasa, published, in 1738, by Henry Brooke, esq. and with which I am sure my reader will be delighted.

-Think upon Stockholm

When Cristiern seiz'd upon the hour of peace,
And drench'd the hospitable floor with blood,
Then fell the flow'r of Sweden, mighty names!
Her hoary senators, and gasping patriots.
The tyrant spoke, and his licentious band
Of blood-train'd ministry were loos'd to ruin.
Invention wanton'd in the toil of infants
Stabb'd to the breast, or reeking on the points
Of sportive javelins-Husbands, sons, and sires
With dying ears drank in the loud despair
Of shrieking chastity.

The thatch of the cottage in this island, and in most parts of the north, is bristled at the top with cross braces of wood, to keep it together, and has a very inferior appearance to the warm compact neatness of the English thatch. The road

from hence to Nioborg is good, partly paved, and the country on all sides very picturesque. The lambs, in the flocks which we passed, had one foot fastened to the body by a piece of string. A custom so painful to the luckless objects was intended to fix them more closely to their dams, and, by abbreviating their exercise, to fatten them.

I was much surprised at not seeing either in Denmark or any other part of the north that I visited, a single member of a very ancient family, the most useful, the most ill-treated and despised of any that moves upon all-fours, an ass.

About nine o'clock in the evening we arrived at Nioborg, which is a small but handsome fortified town, containing about nine hundred inhabitants; and determined, as the wind was fair, to cross the Great Belt that night. We were there obliged to show our passports; the captain of the passage-boat, on account of the lateness of the hour, threw many difficulties in the way of our determination, which, however, the tender looks and eloquence of a French girl at the inn, aided by a little bribery on our part, effectually removed. Here the wheels of the carriage were obliged to be taken off, and after a delightful sail of about two hours and an half, we effected our passage, which is twenty English miles, and landed at Corsoer, in the metropolitan island of Zealand.

As I passed over this mighty space of water I could not help reflecting with astonishment, that in the month of February 1658 it formed a bridge of ice for the hardy troops of the warlike and ambitious Charles X., who, contrary to the advice of his council of war, marched over it to give battle to the Danes. During this tremendous passage a part of the ice gave way, and a whole squadron of the guards were immolated, not one of whom were saved, an order having been given that no one should attempt to assist his neighbour in such an emergency upon pain of death. After passing the Little Belt in the same way, Charles Gustavus Adolphus obliged the Danes to make the peace of Roschild. This enterprise may be ranked amongst the most marvellous achievements, and a recurrence to it will furnish ample means of occupation to the mind of the traveller during his passage over these portions of the sea.

It was midnight by the time we quitted the vessel; the wind was very fresh, and the moon occasionally darting in full effulgence from a mass of black clouds, illumined the front of an ancient castle, of little strength, near the key, which is the occasional residence of the crown prince. Upon the ramparts the cloaked centinel kept his solitary watch; it was a "nipping and an eager air,” and the scene, more than any other which I saw in Denmark, impressed the imagination with the similitude of that

32

BARDOLPH'S NOSE.

"In which the majesty of bury'd Denmark

"Did sometimes march."

The good people at the post-house were in bed, but after many a rap at the door, it was at last opened by a figure, who most completely corresponded with the bard's description of Bardolph. With Shakspeare we might have exclaimed,

"Thou art an admiral, thou bear'st thy lantern
"In thy poop-but 'tis in the nose of thee-
"Thou art the knight of the burning lamp.”

As the night was very sharp, we made our way to the kitchen to catch a little warmth from its expiring embers; but here we found we were distressing the coyness of a comely young cook, who had just quitted her bed to prepare something for our supper, and who was very uneasy until we had left her territory. After a comfortable repast, Bardolph lighted us to bed.

DANISH CHARACTER GIN

ZEALAND

TURNPIKE GATE-MILE STONES-INTELLIGENCE OF WOMEN-THE TOMB OF JULIANA MARIA HUSBAND INTRIGUING WITH HIS WIFE--MARGARET OF VOLDEMAR-THE MOURNING MOTHER-COPENHAGEN-A DANISH DINNER-TOMB of the Heroes of the 2D OF APRIL, 1801-THE BATTLE OF THAT DAY-LORD NELSON-THE BRAVE YOUNG WELMOES.

IT is scarcely necessary for me to observe that the government of Denmark is despotic. The Dane is a good natured, laborious character; he is fond of spirits, but is rarely intoxicated; the severity of the climate naturalizes the attachment, and his deportment in the indulgence of it, is inoffensive.

At breakfast at Corsoer a respectable Dane entered the room; the landlady, a vast unwieldy good-humoured creature in boots, without saying a word opened her cupboard, and taking down a bottle of gin, presented her guest with a large wine glass full, which he drank off, as if it had been so much cocoa milk, and immediately retired.

The island of Zealand is said to be very luxuriant, and

F