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vci. n., p.

A RESIDENCE IN JUTLAND,

THE DANISH ISLES, AND COPENHAGEN

By HOEACE MARTI vat.

^C'-M^:-'

K-)l :,ii I iill'.cH (jK (<S1KR I.ARS, BiiR\Ti'OLM.

p. 348.

IN TWO VOLUMES.— Vol,. 11. n Q 0 ^ ^

LON J)ON:
JOHN MIJMfAV, A LP, KM All IJ', STIIKET.

i8<;o.

/O

T/it' i'ujhi of Trfiimfiitioii ij< ytxn n'll.

LOKPON : PRINTED BY VT. rLOlTES AXD SONS, STAMFORD STRKET,
AM) CHARING CROSS.

CONTENTS OF YOL. IL

CHAPTEE XXVIII.

The five steeples of Kallundborg chm-cli — Its castle, the last resting-
place of Christian II. — The Nero of the North vindicated — His ne-
gociatious with Scotland — Death of Prince Valdemar at Eefsnas —
Legend of the Holy Anders — Deatli of Frederic II. — Stoiy of
Prince Haghard and the fair Signe — The Birnam wood stratagem —
Sir Eskil Snubbe — The Isles of King Hiarne and Almna his
Queen Page 1

CHAPTEE XXIX.

Boiler, the place of banishment of Christina Munk — Her regal state —
The copper nail in a bed of gold — The eatable snail naturalized by
a Frenchman — Coflln of Count Griffenfeld — Prtestegaard of a Jut-
land clergyman — Agnete and the merman — The English Cinque
Ports — Legend of the Elder Queen 14

CHAPTEE XXX.

Silkeborg — Cap of Bishop Peter — The Jutland lakes — Tlie trea-
Biire-seeker — Himmelbjerg, Queen of the Jutland mountains —
The fiery beacon — Lovers of Laven Castlo — The paper manufac-
tory 20

CHAPTEE XXXI.

The fish and the ring — Fortunes of the house of Stubbe — The
traitor page — Marsk Stig, the outlaw — Cliateau of Friiseuborg —

Artificial egg-hatching 38

VOL. IL a

iv CONTENTS OF VOL. II.

CHAPTEE XXXII.

Siego of Kal0 — The lord of Mols — Danish Whittington — The
Lady Hilda TroUc — Round church of Thorsager — Chateau of
Eosenholm — Origin of the Rosenkrantz name — Holger the savant

— Erik's rehuke of Cromwell — Jutland elergy — Clausholm —
Meeting of King Frederic and Anne Eeventlow . . . . Page 46

CHAPTEE XXXIII.

Bniusgaard and the Bruccs — Randers' commerce, her gloves and
beer — Duel of the Counts — Manors of the Scheel family — A
midnight wandering in Jutland 62

CHAPTEE XXXIV.

The village of Manager — Story of Sir Hem and Sir Sem — Poor
Mary's well — A black stork — A Jutland plain — Sea of barrows —
Wicked Baroness of Lindenborg 71

CHAPTEE XXXV.

Aalborg or Eel Castle — Its armes parlantes — Death of King John —
Jens Bang and the miser's daughter — The Agger Canal — Skipper
Clemens, leader of the Vendel boers — Hog family — Their high and
ancient descent — Coat of J0rgen Bille — Great bog of Jutland —
B0rglum and Bishop Crump — The lady of Asdal and the flitch of
bacon 82

CHAPTEE XXXVI.

Old manor of H0gholt and its dairy-farm — Two sisters of Jerup —
Pontoppidan — Jutland's most northern manor — Lighthouse of
Skagen — Storm of flying sand — Wrecks — Melons and sea-nettles

— Sweet gale and bog moss — Frederikshavn — The Jutland
Dido 103

CHAPTEE XXXVII.

Manor of Voergaard — Ski^Dper Clemens and Bishop Crump again —
Lady Ingeborg Skeel and the architect — The message^of her hus-
band— Her disturbed spirit — Her prison, the Rosodonten — Her
Sunday pastime — Her monument — The road-side inns of Queen
Mai-garet — Jutland mode of boiling eggs 117

COXTEKTS OF VOL. II.

CHAPTEE XXXVIII.

X0rlund Manor — Ellen Marsviin and Ludvig Munk — IMeeting of
King Chi-istian and tlie fair Christina — Names of the Jutland
nobility — Almshouse of Aalborg — Scottish guard of Christian 11. —
Prince Niels and his tutor — Duke I\jiud's suit of scarlet — Mermaid
monument at Tiele Page 127

CHAPTEE XXXIX.

Pagan city of Viborg — Erik the Lovely and the harper — The Danish
Luther — First of the Longobavdi — Sir Niels Bugge and the Castle
of Hald — Murder of King Erik Clipping — Chuich of Anscarius —
Railway engineer — King Knud's invasion of England — Manor of
Krabbesholm — Parson jMads the slanderer — Caps of Fum- Island

— Mors, birthplace of Hamlet — His story as told by Saxo . . 136

CHAPTEE XL.

County of Thy — Superstitions concerning tombs — Plague of sand —
Wicked Queen of England — Draining the Sj0rring lake — The
pedlar and the geese — Anne Boleyn — The Liimfiorde — Story of
Liden Kirsten — Sale of a wreck — Old Abellona and her amber

— beads — Loss of life off this coast 155

CHAPTEE XLI.

The Agger canal — Food of the peasants — The girl who trod upon
bread 174

CHAPTEE XLII.

Battle of the Giants — Patriotism of a peasant — Sequel to the story of
Hamlet — Protection against flying sand — IMagnus Munk and the
still — Gipsies the outcasts of society — The dragon and the
wizard — Appearance of the Black Pest — Depopulation of the Ale
INIose 177

CHAPTEE XLIIL

Legend of the English prince and his bed of gold — The luck of
Vosborg manor — Little Peter the cow-driver — The industrious
Nisses — Long Margaret and licr ciglit murders — I'rivate tutor of
I'riuce George of Denmark — Story of Havdoek the Dane — Customs
on Cliristmas-cvo — The corporal and his little child . . . . 193

a 2

vi CONTENTS OF VOL. II.

CHAPTEE XLIV.

The bells of Thim — Gyldcnsticrno of Tliimgaard — Poorliouse of
Eingkj^bing — Old rut uf Ilee — Threshing to the sound of music

Page 210

CHAPTEE XLV.

Island of ran0 — Voluminous petticoats and black masks of the
peasant women — Their Oriental character and Dutch cleanliness —
Queen Thyre wrecked off the Isle of Man — Amber-gathering 218

CHAPTEE XLVI.

Ribe Cathedral — The anchorite Bishop — Sacred theatricals — Eibe
"ret" — Sumptuary laws — Bridal trousseau of the eighteenth century
• — Bagged schools of the middle ages — Death of Queen Dagmar —
Queen Agnes at Eibehuus — Funeral of Marsk Stig — The robber's
bride — Legend of Tovelil — A Tinghuus — The werewolf and the
nightmare — The night-raven and the basilisk — Monument to the
heroes of Fredericia — Farewell to Jutland 224

CHAPTEE XLVII.

Tlie island of Funen — Bed cabbage of Sir Niels Bugge — Ploughing
gliosis — Odin and Odense — Mm-der of St. Knud — The traitor
Blakke — Funeral of I\irstine ]Munk — Dormitorium of the Ahle-
feldts — The lady who danced herself to death — The pet cats of
Mrs. Mouse — King John and his family — The Lear of Odense
and his daughters 244

CHAPTEE XLVIII.

Funen continued — King Christian IT. and the ape — Deathplace of
Ellen Marsviin — By-laws of Nyborg — Women to be buried alive —
Laws of adulteration — King Hans' invitation to his daughter's
christening — Story of Kai Lykke and the Queen — The rival Nisses
— St. George killed the dragon in Denmark — Svendborg, the Pig
Castle — Gaas made archbishop — Island of Thorseng the apanage
of Count Valdemar — Portraits of the House of Oldenborg . . 258

CONTENTS OF VOL. II. vu

CHAPTEE XLIX.

The Island of Ly0 — Capture of King Valdemar by his treacherous
vassiil — Kirstiuo Munk and her childi'en — Horns of Wedellsborg —
:RIarksmcn of Middelfart — Snogh0i in Jutland — Brahe, the King
of Fuuen — Island of Thor0, and Balder's stone — Ellen Marsviiu
married again ; turns cattle-dealer — Her game of cards with the
king — Island of Langeland and the giant Eud — Sir Otto Knimp's
defence of Tranekjser Page 275

CHAPTER L.

Island of LoUand — Yule-feast of Oluf Hunger — Wendish families from
Kugeu — Royal ordinances — Lutheran clergy — Sir Edward the
PedaKOgue Priest — Shell of the Swedes — Mr. Ursins and our Prince
George — Birthplace of Erik Glipping — The Curate of Helsted and
the mother's curse — Tale of Sir Otto Eud and King John — Eeve-
lations of St. Bridget — The ill-behaved nuns of Maribo — Grave
of Eleanor Ulfeld — King Charles " forgets " the loan — Eleanor in
captivity and death — The bricked-up lady of Hardeuberg .. 291

CHAPTEE LI.

Island of Falster — Queen Sojihia and the parson's vdfo — How she
rules her household — The lady who could not die — Molesworth's
account of swan-shooting — Familiar spirits and other superstitions
of the island — Island of M0en — The strong-minded Dorothea —
The bathing-place of Liselund — The chalk klints and beauty of the
scenery — The Klint King — Bacchanalian harvest-home .. 312

CHAPTEE LIL

The island of Bomholm ; its reputation for salmon — A coachman
from the diggings — Eound churches of Ny and Ole — Chureh-
pusliers and hourglasses — The TroUes of Bornholm — Their tricks
upon Bondevedde — Their patriotism — How they love butter —
Tlie three-legged cat — They man the cliffs to defend the island —
Hummershuus, the luison of Cortitz and ICleanor Ulfeld . . . . 323

CHAPTER LIIL

Farming in Bornholm — Village beacons — The rock scenery — The
White Oven visited at Cliristmas secure from ghosts — Bornholm
gold coined by Christian IV. — Its diamonds in favour with Queen
Louisa — Eound church of Oster I^ars — Fastelavn at Shrovetide —
— Forest of Ahuinde — The birds at the Cross— Tower of Chris-
tiansmmdo — Horse-fair — Font of Aakirkeby 342

viii CONTENTS OF VOL. II.

CHAPTEE LIV.

Return to Zealand — Island of Bog0 — King Valdemar and the Hanse-
atikers — Tlie Goose Tower — Goose carried ofi" by King Erik —
Castigation of tlie fair Cecilia — Herlufsholm the Harrow of Denmark

— Old Bridget and the missing title-deeds — The gallant Admiral
TroUo — Hvitfeldt the chronicler's Dance of Death .. Page 358

CHAPTEE LV.

Peter Thott and his h0i — The Black Friis of Borreby — The enchanted
bell of the Letter-room — Old Valdemar Daa the alchemist — The
giant girl and the sandhills — The " Lady of the Morn " the curse
of Zealand — Thorvaldsen at Nys0 — The convent for noble ladies
at Gisselfcld — Peter Oxe the minister of Frederic II. — The
ladies of Vemmetofte — A starlight night — Spoliation of the goddess
Freia 369

CHAPTEE LVI.

The dominions of the Elf King — Hospitality at Store Hedinge — The
Trolles and the church of H0ierup — Vall0, the Queen of Danish
convents — The ancient house of Bille — Lucia the Flower of Den-
mark — The last of the Eosensparres — Ledreborg, the ancient Leira

— Court etiquette of King Eing — Legend of King Skiold, founder
of Leira 382

CHAPTEE LVII.

Destruction of the Palace of Frederiksborg by fire 393

CoNCLCSiox .. 399

ILLUSTEATIONS OF VOL. 11.

Church, Kallundboeg Frontispiece,

Round Church OF OsTER Lars, BoRXHOLM .. .. Title-jMge.

Round Church, Thorsager Page 49

Sections and Ground-Plans of Church, Thor-

SAGEU 49

Thor's Hammer become a Cross 51

Skagen 107

Feggeklit, Island of Mors 151

LiDEN Kirsten's Grave 163

Figure-Drawings OF the Fifth Century 181

Cathedral, Ribe 225

Sections OF Church OF OsTER Lars, BoRNHOLM 348

Stevnsklint AND Church OF H0IERUP 385

Font AT Aakirkeby, BoRNHOLM 357

JUTLAND

AXD

THE DANISH ISLANDS.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

The five steeples of Kallundborg clmrch — Its castle, the last resting-
place of Christian II. — The Nero of the North vimhcatcd — His ne-
gociations with Scotland ~ Death of Prince Valdemar at RefsnjEs —
Legend of the Holy Anders— Death of Frederic II. — Story of
Prince Haghard and the fair Signe — The Birnam wood stratagem —
Sir Eskil Snubbe — The Isles of liing Hiame and Alruna his Queen.

KALLUNDBOEG.

June 10th. — Kallundborg, like many other places
in Denmark, lias little to boast of beyond its site, his-
torical recollections, and its chiu-ch, founded by Esbern
Snare * — one of the most remarkable ecclesiastical
buildings , in any countiy. Long before arriving at
Kallundborg you see her four lofty octagonal to^vers
rising against the horizon; in former days it boasted,
more lofty than the rest, a fifth, springing from the
centre of the building. These five steeples ^Yerc built
by Esbern Snare, says tradition, in honour of his
family — the highest (about to bo rebuilt) t to his
mother, the lady Inge, and the four surrounding ones

* In 1171.

t Tlio reliuiltling of the centre tower has just been completed (ISGO).
Wc give the church as it now btands.

VOL. II. B

2 KALLUNDBORG. Chap. XXVIII.

to licr four (laughters; and because one of the girls
was lame, he built one of the steeples less than the
other three. Some years since there lived at Kallund-
borg a churchwarden, a man of taste ; the pillars by
which the centre tower was supported gave offence
to his eyes, so he ordered the columns to be removed,
and, deprived of its support, down came clattering the
lofty tower, extinguisher and all, about the heads of
the congregation. Unfortunately the perpetrator of
this barbarism was not buried alive under the ruins.

Of the ancient castle of Kallundborg, also founded
by Esbern Snare, on the model of Axelhuus, no re-
mains now exist. It bore an important part in the
history of its country, but was thoroughly destroyed
by the Swedes in the occupation of 1658. Within
its walls were confined first Albert of Sweden by
Queen Margaret ; then later the widow of Steen Stm-e,
and other Swedish ladies of rank, after the siege of
Stockholm in 1520. Christian himself found a resting-
place in Kallundborg, when released from the prison of
S0nderborg; and here he lived comfortably, well
clothed and fed, and was allowed the privileges of the
cliace; and here too he died at the age of seventy-
three,* after passing ten years within its walls. It is
related that one day, when out hunting, he suddenly dis-
appeared, to the great alarm of his attendants ; and
Avhen discovered hiding in a ditch, he laughed at their
fears of his escape, for where could he run to, and
indeed, who would receive him ?

The day he received the news of the death of Chris-
tian III. he burst into a flood of tears, exclaiming.

* Oliristian II. died 1559.

Chap. XXVIII. CHRISTIAN II. 3

" Xow my time will not be long :" nor was it, for he did
not lonsr survive liis consin.

I am not going to enter into the defence of this
monarch, and have Vertot brought up against me, and
the " Nero of the North " thrown in my teeth ; still,
after what I have read in the Danish historians, I am
of opinion he has been blackened more than necessary ;
added to which he had one great crime in the eyes of
the sixteenth century — his leaning towards the Re-
formed faith. Tlie Emperor Charles V., in speaking
of him, said, " If our brother-in-law, against our counsel
and will, change his religion, so also will we change our
affection and support towards him." Another writer
declares him "to have been a Protestant at heart,
though he dare not profess the faith openly."

Christian was neither ilesh nor fowl — Catholic or of the
Reformed fiiith — an object of suspicion to both parties :
had it not been for his " gi-and connexion " the
Emperor, he would in all probability have declared
himself, and have taken his seat among the Protestant
potentates of Europe.

I have already alluded to the volume of King Chris-
tian II.'s Correspondence, lately published at Copen-
hagen, from letters preserved in the archives of Bavaria,
dating from the year 1519 to 1531. There are many
therein — interesting as regards his negotiations with
England and the sister kingdom of Scotland — in which
figures a certain Dr. Alexander Kingorae, who signs
himself your "humblest of Chaplains." Kingome was
a Scotchman by birth, and employed as an emissary
to procure aid from King Henr}^ VIII. of England.
After a time the answer arrived, worded in most elegant
Latin. Dr. Kingome was received at liichmond by

B 2

4 KALLUXDBORG. Chap. XXVIII.

the Kino-'s Grace, at the same time and in the suite of
that learned man Sir Thomas l^Iore, and in the pre-
sence of Cardinal Wolsey, by the splendour of Avhose
retinue he appears to have been greatly struck. Bluff
King Hal is sorry, very sorry, that his approaching
war with Scotland prevents him from rendering the
assistance his brother the King of Denmark requires ;
his hands are fully occupied : and later the great Car-
dinal writes a letter himself to explain the reason why
his royal master cannot spare the " one ship " he prays
for. If our English Sovereign could afford no help to
poor harassed Christian, advice costs nothing ; so he
"WTites a letter in his own hand, advising liim on no
account to irritate his people by raising money in the
country : he might have as well advised a starving
mendicant to live generously.

The negotiations with Scotland proved quite as un-
satisfactory as those with her sister kingdom : indeed
more so, for the English declined to afford him aid point
blank, while the Scotch were everlastingly promising,
and intriguing about something, and never performing
their promises after all. I find a most civil letter from
the Chancellor of Scotland, regretting that the King of
Scots is too occupied by his approaching war with Eng-
land to go to his cousin's assistance ; and then come
promises and disappointment about help from the exiled
Duke of Albany. It is at last settled that Eobert Barton,
with the Avell-known Andrew, his brother, is to equip a
fleet to come to his aid, in conjunction with Eobert
Falconer. Then there's a spoke in the wheel— a riot in
Edinburgh, and the arrival of an envoy, Magnus Bille,
from King Frederic, Christian's uncle, and Falconer
proves faithless. King James V., through his secretary

CuAr. XXVIII. CHRISTIAN II. 5

Hepburn, now \mtes his cousin word to take refuge
in Scotland.

Then writes Kingome: — "James Beaton, Archbishop
of St. Andrew, wouhl so much like to be made a car-
dinal ; if King Christian could only procure his election
through the Pope and his brother-in-law the Emperor,
much ofood mig-lit ensue." But Christian's interest is
at a low ebb in those quarters; he is suspected of
hankering after " Luthers lajre ;" and the Eegent
Margaret has her eyes open and looks somewhat
askant ; so his faithful spouse Elizabeth writes him
word. As soon as matters appear to be coming round,
they are all afloat again.

In the year 152G dies Queen Elizabeth, and she is
hardly buried when it is proposed, in a letter from the
faithful Kingome, that Christian should, as a " coup
d'etat," espouse a half-sister of King James Y., thou
only fifteen years of age, daughter of our English Prin-
cess ]Margaret Tudor and her husband the Earl of
Angus, whom she married, hated, and tried to get
divorced from. But this marriage never came off;
and, what is worse, help never came from Scotland.

Christian had, however, on his side, shuffled just as
much ; for when in earlier days liis cousin, the King of
Scots, applied to him for aid against the English, ho
pleaded, as an excuse, it would interfere with his
coronation.

There must have been jolly doings in this city of
Kallundborg in former times, if you judge from the
colossal drinking-cup now preserved in the j\[useum of
Copenhagen, before the cpialfiug of which no man could
be admitted as "brother" into the Guild of St. Kuud.

G REFSN.es, Chap. XXVIII.

EEFSN^S.

At some three miles distance from Kallundborg is
situated the village of Refsnres, the barest promontory
of the island of Zealand — a scene of desolation now,
but once the hunting-grounds of the Denmark sove-
reigns. It was here, while engaged in the pursuit of a
stag, that Prince Valdemar, son of Valdemar II., met
Avith a fate similar to that of our King William Kufus.
Four gigantic masses of granite, now no longer to be
found, once marked the spot. The event is thus de-
scribed in the ancient ballad of ' Dronning Leonora :' —

"Leonora the Queen in cbikUiirth
Her young life lost, — and died.

Alas ! alas ! alas !
She came to Denmark from Portugal.
She travels forth to God's joyful hall ;
She rejoices with saints, and the choir of angels,
I'ut her body lies in St. Benedict's earth. .^
Court holds her lord in Kallundborg.
He thought with time to kill his grief ;
Hardly had months gone nine
The lord was willing to console his mind."

In fact, having grieved for nine months, he has had
enough of it, and determines to amuse himself: " Saddle
mo," he exclaims, "Swedefux!" — and off he goes
a-hunting. So hard he rides from dawn till'night, that
when he arrives at Eefsufes scarce a squire has been able
to follow him. The beaters drive the deer and hare with
shouts into the forest ; a hart starts forth ; Sir Eskiol
draws his bow, the stag shall be his prey ; the shaft
pierces the prince's breast — he falls to the ground from
his charger, and says to this world a long good night.
Horror-stnick, the attendants rush to his aid too late ;
he is dead. The affrighted waters of the Belt recede

Chap. XXVIII. SLAGELSE. 7

from the strand ; the poi-poises and fishes raise a loud
himent — even the rocks grieye. When the King hears
the fatal news, it shoots through his heart like a spear ;
he wrings his fingers till they crack, and then curses
Refsnaes. " Hereafter shall no hare or hart be found —
no tree shall henceforth live. On Refsna^s, where
flourished oak and beech, henceforth shall grow the
thorn and tlie brier —

" With sorrow they conveyed him to Riiigsted,
Saint Benedict's church received the prince, 1231."

The curse of Yaldemar was well fulfilled : no hare of
the royal forest now exists ; one solitary hawthorn,
loaded with snow-white flowers, twisted and gnarled like
those in Woodstock Park, alone attests the existence of
tlie former huntinof-fields. Well too misht King Val-
demar, and Denmark as one man, lament tlie death of
the heir-apparent (already elected in his father's life-
time),* sole offspring of good Queen Dagmar, for three
more vicious sovereigns than his half-brothei-s, sons of
Berengaria, never ascended the Danish throne.

" Oh Denmark, had you known your grief,
bfiri You would have wept tears of very blood."

;, SLAGELSE.

Five miles to Slagelse, where we first dine, and then
proceed in the cool of the evening by rail to Copen-
hagen. Stagelse is a tidy little town, once of consider-
al)le ecclesiastical eminence. The ancient ]u-overb
runs — " Roskild ringen, og Slagelse mogagen, file aldrig
ende" (the ringing at Roeskilde and manuring at Slagelse

\:usiL.

* 1231. Valdenitir, Leonora, and her child, were all buried at
Ilingrited.

8 SLAGELSE. Chap. XXVIII.

never finish) ; alluding to the extent of her convent
lands of Antvorskov, one of the richest monasteries in
Zealand, founded by the holy Anders, a saint of much
repute, who flourished in the thirteenth century. Holy
Anders — only plain Anders then — accompanied a party
of pilgrims to the Holy Land; he fell sick by the
way, and became such a burden to his fellow-travellers
— always wanting an arm, a rest — that, wearied to death,
they took advantage of a sound sleep he indulged in
somewhere near Joppa, to leave him to his fate, and rid
themselves of so troublesome a companion. Great was
his consternation when he awoke to find himself deserted ;
he gave himself up for lost, and prepared to die, when
a voice whispered to him, " Be of good cheer ; " and he
felt himself suddenly raised in the arms of angels, carried,
rapidly through the air, and, after papng a. flying visit
to St. Antony of Padua on the way, and St. Olaf of !N^or-
■\vay into the bargain, found himself gently laid down on
the summit of a hill near Slagelse. " Good bye, Anders,"
said the angel. " If you don't know what to do with
your hat when you say ]3rayers, pray hang it, and your
gloves as well, on the sunbeams."

On the summit of this hoi was erected Anders Ivors
(cross). " In memory of St. Andrew, who slept at Joppa,
and found himself here in 1205," ran the inscription,
which was destroyed after the Keformation. Well,
Anders — now holy Anders — grew in grace and reputa-
tion, and was in great favour at the court of King Erik
Plovpennig. One fine day Anders prayed the King to
grant to the poor church as much land to make a
garden — merely to grow onions and leeks — as he could
ride round on the back of a new-born colt. " By all
means," answered the King, and went to his bath. Off

Chap. XXVIII. DEATH OF FREDERIC II. 9

Anders set on his new-born steed, galloping like mad.
"A miracle! a miracle!" roared the monks. "He'll
ride round the whole island !" cried the courtiers ; " stop
him ! stop him ! " and rushed to inform the King, who
quickly left his bath ; but, before he was dried and
di'essed, Anders had lidden over such an extent of land
as gave rise to the proverb I have above quoted.

After the suppression of the monasteries Antvorskov
became a royal residence ; and here Frederic II.
died the 4th of April, 1587. He ordered the service
to be held in his own room, as he Avas very sick ;
and when the doctor felt his pulse, the King remarked,
"Let the pulse beat as it likes, we know the mercy
of God will never fail." He then fainted ; and Avhen
he recovered, he said, " It is a curious battle between
death and life" — fainted again shortly after, and
expired. Anders Bedel, the parson, in his funeral
sermon, declared, " had he abstained from wine-bibbing
he might have now been alive and in good health."
The Danish proverb of " Han drikke som en koe " — he
drinks like a cow — could not be applied to King
Frederic. I plead guilty to not having understood it
myself at first — a cow never drinks more than neces-
sary. Frederic, like all early reformed sovereigns, was
never quite at his ease when he thought of the church
spoliation he had sanctioned. So he issued an edict
forbidding the term "kloster" to be used by man or
woman, wlien speaking of Antvorskov, under pain of the
fine of a fat ox. The fines were exacted : the royal
herds increased in numbers ; but he could not beat it
out of the peasants' brains — kloster they would call it,
and kh)ster they did.

On tlie fine site of Antvorskov stands a modern

10 SIGERSTED. Chap. XXVIIl.

country-house built in tlie olden style — a pleasant
walk through an avenue of shady trees, at ten minutes'
distance from the Slot gate of the city. Slagelse boasts
of an ancient church, in no ways remarkable from the
rest of the ecclesiastical buildings of the country. On
by the rail : we flit by Sor0, take up a cargo of small
boys, and then again a stoppage.

SIGERSTED.

Ten minutes at Eingsted, enough at any time, and
quite sufficient to point out to the right the village of
Sigersted, once famous in olden story : for here dwelt
King Sigurd, father of the fair Signe. Tall and straight
as a lilievand * was the damsel, and beloved of Prince
Hagbard, the Danish king's son ; but Sigurd forbad the
marriage. Lovers' wits are proverbial — secret nuptials
take place ; and Hagbard visits his bride, as Romeo did
his Juliet, in secret. A spy denounces the lovers to the
Idng, who orders his warriors to seize the prince ; but
they refuse, for Hagbard is born of a giant race. Then
speaks out the spy : " Cut off first the hair of the
princess and bind him in her tresses; his love for
her is too great for him to burst such chains asunder."
Hagbard is bound in her silken chains : the Prin-
cess Signe cries to him to break loose ; but he refuses.
" Never can I," he declares, " injure one hair of your
head." The king orders him to be hanged ; the
lovers agi'ee they will never survive each other, and
Signe vows to set fire to her bower when Hagbard
hangs in his chains. "When he approached the gibbet,
mistrusting the constancy of woman's love, he desired

* Stalk of a lily.

CiiAP. XXYIII. BIRXAM WOOD STRATAGEM. 11

tlie soldiers to hang up first his scarlet cloak, to see how
he would look hereafter. Scarce had the cloak swunor
in the air, when a Tolume of smoke arises from the
bower of the faithful Sig^ie, and Hagbard, satisfied
with her constancy, is " launched into eternity." Then
in rushes the "lille smaa dreng" before the king's
board to announce the sad news how Signe and her
maidens burn in the " h0ie loft," and all for love of
Hagbard the Dane. "Extinguish the flames!" cries
the king ; " cut him down ; I pardon them both."

*' But when they arrived at Signelit's Lower,
There she lay burnt in the flames ;
And when tliej' came where the gallows stood,
Young Hagbard hung in his chains."

Do not imagine the matter to have ended here. In a
short space of time arrived from Ireland, where he Avas
comfortably settled, Hakon, brother of the mm-dered
prince. Silently, accompanied by his followers, he glides
up the waters of the Suus Aa. To conceal their move-
ments from the enemy, each warrior bears in his hand a
branch of the beech-tree — Birnam wood coming to Dun-
sinane five hundred years before it was ever heai-d or
thought of in Scotland. King Sigurd discovers the
stratagem : a battle takes place, and he is slain in the
contest. I'his stratagem of bearing boughs occurs very
often in the ancient Sagas. When a battle was fought
near Rcstafftirith, in Skaane, between the Danes and the
Swedes, the former broke branches from the trees and
fastened them to their horses. AMien the villagers sjiw
it from afar, tliey exclaimed, " ^lay Heaven destroy this
wallcing wood, for it will make us pav blood v forfeits
this day bel'ore the sun goes down."

12 SEXGELOSE, Chap, XXVIII.

SENGEL0SE.

We steam on — on, but not fast — stop at station after
station, till we arrive at H0ie Tliorstrup, passengers for
Sengelose; so I inspect the map; and here, not far
removed, lies Snubbe's Cross, concerning which there
hangs a story : —

It was in the thirteenth century that the Lady Snubbe,
walking in the fields near Sengel0se, gave birth to a son
and heir. Her husband, Sir Eskil Snubbe, a noble knight,
caused a cross to be erected on the spot to commemorate
the event, charging two of his farms alternately with the
repairs necessary for its preservation. In the year 1817
a quarrel arose between the proprietors of the land,
whose duty it was to do the needful, each declaring it to
be the turn of his neighbour ; so, as they could not settle
the matter amicably, they pulled the cross down, and
the name alone remains to prove the antiquity of the
house of Snubbe with an e.

Off again, and in three quarters of an horn* we are
landed at Copenhagen.

ISLES— HORSEXS.

A three hours' journey brought us to Kors0r, where,
on the quay side, smoked three steamers — one bound
for Aarhuus, a second for the islands, and a thu-d for
Horsens. On the latter we embark with a head-wind
and promise of two hours' extra passage. Towards five
o'clock we pass the small island of Endelave, where
myriads of flappers are trying their new-fledged wings on
the water. Now as we enter the fiorde a small islet of
emerald green appears faint in the horizon, fiat, almost

Chap. XXVIII. HIARN0— ALRO. 13

level with tlie -waters : this is the island of B[iarn0,*
death and burial-place of the poet king. A heap of
stones, carved over with ships of rude workmanship,
marks the place of his interment. His grave rests un-
dijiturbed by the antiquaries, though not by the cattle ;
for many years since a mad bull tore up tlie turf with
bis horns and brought to light an ancient sword. The
labourer who inhabited the farm on which the grave
was situated declared that from that hour nothing but
ill-luck happened to him. And now in the background
rises the sister isle of Alr0, the resting-place of his
Queen Alruna. There is something poetic in the idea
of these two early Scandinavians, each sleeping in their
own small grassy isle, the waters of the fiorde flowing
between them.

We coast by a wooded aitch, with an extensive farm-
house, the property of Baron Juel, Vaarso by name ; a
smaller, still green and desert, called yaars0's Calf;
then come shipping, the towers of Horsens, windmills
hard at work on hilltop, none s6 busy as the Jutland
windmill. We land upon the pier, and, after ten minutes'
walk, take up our lodgings at J0rgensens.

* Hiame had reigned for some years wlien Friedlev the heir, wliom
tliC Danes imugincdto have been dead, retin-ried to liis native countrv,
and Hiurne, after a battle in -which he was worsted, lied to tlie island
of Hinm0, disguised as a peasant : he later repairs to the court, and
gets enj'ph)j-ed as a salt-boiler in the Royal kitelien. IIo keejw his
pi.rson so dirty, the king owlers him to be washed, after wliieh lie is
recognised. Tlie king inquires of him " Did you come lierc to take my
life?" "No," replies Hiarne ; "but to decide the matter by single
.combat." Friedhv agrees, and Iliurue is blitiii and receives honourable
burial in his own islartd.

14 BOLLER. Chap. XXIX.

ly /

CHAPIEK XXIX.

ro o -

Boiler, the place of banishment of Christina Munk — Her regal state —
The copper nail in a bed of gold — The eatable snail naturalized by
a Frenchman — Coffin of Count Griifenfeld — Prajstegaard of a Jut-
land clergyman — A gnete and the merman — The English Cinque
Ports — Legend of the Elder Queen.

BOLLER.

June loth. — Out of respect to the memory of Christina
Munk — not that she deserved it — we determined to
visit Boiler, the scene of lier banishment after her
divorce and expulsion from Frederiksborg. She re-
mained here in confinement until the year 1646, when,
at the intercession of her sons-in-law, she was released :
they pleaded that her imprisonment reflected a disgrace
upon her children. From that time matters went better ;
there Avas even a prospect of reconciliation between
her and the king; and she was at her mother's in
Fun en, on her way to Copenhagen, when the news of
his death readied her. She is said to have burst into a
flood of tears, and, after a regular good cry, to have ex-
claimed, " Well, who ever would have thought I should
have shed tears for Christian's sake ?" Christina remained
at Boiler till her death, living 'in great state — a state
which was particularly displeasing to her step-son the
king, who sent commissioners down to Boiler to see
what she was after, and beg she would show the proofs
of her right to the title of Countess Slesvig-Holstein.
On their arrival they were received at the gate with

CUAP. XXIX. CHRISTINA MUXK. 15

flourishes of trumpets — a somewhat regal proceeding,
which Christina, when she found out who they Avere,
very much alarmed, declared to be a mistake. Proofs
she could produce none beyond a letter in King
Christian's own hand, directed to the well-born Mrs.
Clu-istina Munk, Countess of Slesvig-Holstein. When
she was accused of writing " we," she gave no answer,
but went off into a tirade of her persecutions, &c. &c.
From this time we hear no more about her.

An old moated mansion is Boiler, surrounded with
garden, farm, and wood, running down to the w^ater's
edge ; it is now the property of Count Friis. In the
gardens stands a pollard lime-tree, under whose branches,
supported on trellis-work, many hundred men might
, dine. Splendid oaks too, of whose possession an English
park might be proud. Christina must have known these
trees, and perhaps under their shade may have wept — not
her fault, but its discovery — and thought what a fool she
had been to sacrifice honour, position, and the fortunes of
her children,* for the attention of a chamberlain of her
husband's court. In earlier days Boiler was the scene
,[iof a romance more ti-agic still. Queen Margaret, like
lo all women, was a matchmaker ; she hated a too small
but powerful nobility, and it was her policy to SAvamp
y. them by marrying the younger sons to rich heiresses of
;! the commercial classes, and vice versa. On her giving
the high-bom Kirsten Thott in marriage to her favour-
ite Jeppe JMuus, sou of a rich burgher, the indignant
bride presented her husband with a gold ring, m whicli
was encrusted a copper nail, with this inscription :

' ,| ru .-if . ,( ^'J — n-i ()ji .; — I -I I'll

* Tlie youii^'cst of wLumCliristiau refused to recognise. Ellen Mars-
vii'n sent licr off to Cnlu^ne, where she was brought up as a eonvent
boarder, and later took the veil.

16 BOLLER. Chap. XXIX,

" Arte dig kaaber nagle, die ligger i guld " (flourish,
copper nail, thou liest in goldj. Queen IMargaret counted
not on the vengeance of the bride's betrotlied, Holger
IMunk, the lord of Boiler, who, to the rage of the
queen, picked a quarrel with the bridegroom, killed
him, and married his widow the next day.

There is something very attractive in these Danish
country-seats, reminding you much of England as it is
still in many parts, and was formerly, before the vil-
lanous taste of sundry landscape-gardeners destroyed
our fine old gardens, and laid low om- trim avenues.
Our grounds are well kept, radiant with American
shrubs and flowers ; but in nine places out of ten
where can you walk and meditate ? — straight you cannot
go ; either you tumble into an iron fence and march
into the centre of a flower-bed, or get stranded among
the rock-work, a foot upon zig, a foot upon zag: no
reveries, no brown-study in an English garden, and
very little shade into the bargain. In France you have
your clipped charmille — your terrace, wide and imposing
— your plate-bandes, laid out perhaps too formally, but
very charming altogether, and adapted to the climate
of a joyous sunny land. What I enjoy in these Danish
residences is the combination of all these advantaires
together. Your garden gay with old-fashioned flowers,
glorious roses ; then, further removed, the lime avenue
— " se perdant dans les bois " — those lovely woods
I'unning always to the water's edge. The only thing I
disapprove of is the stagnant moat, telling of fever ; it
must be unwholesome, and should be let off from time
to time.

Not far removed from the chateau of Boiler stands the
parish church of Uth. If you love old stone monuments

CsiAP. XXIX. YJERR. 17

of armed knight and liigli-born lady, visit it, and yon
Mill be gratified : Gyldernstierne and Eoscnkrantz — old
Jutland names ; the latter perhaps the most distinguished
of Denmark.

In the afternoon we drove over to Steenshallegaard,
the seat of Baron Juel, on the opposite side of the fiorde
to Boiler, remarkable for the beauty of its site. The
entrance through the gaard, or farmyard — the moated
grange itself, surrounded on one side by a square of
farm-buildings — shocks an English eye ; but when gen-
tlemen farm on the scale of Jutlanders — feed and lodge
some hundred retainers — it is necessary to keep these
matters near at hand. An avenue of limes, some half
a mile in length, led us to a hill-top, from whence we
momited to an adjoining h0i, commanding the country
round and the fiorde below. Hiarn0 and Alr0, Vaarsp
and her Calf — glorious woods and pasture-lands — a real
Danish landscape. The country is refreshed after a long
drought by frequent showers. The Helix pomatia —
eatable snail — here abounds : excellent for consumptive
patients. You find them in England in the " Pilgrim's
walks " — Sir Kenelm Digby too introduced them in the
neighbourhood of Croydon ; his wife, the Lady Yenetia,
affected tlieni much for the benefit of her complexion ;
so tradition says : and here at Boiler, as well as at
Lethraborg, tiie only two places where they exist in
Denmark, they were introduced by a Frenchman.

ViEHR.

We returned homo by Ya;hr, a small village, tlic last
resting-place of Griffenfeld, who, after twenty-seven
years' imi)risonmcnt in the fortress of jMunkliolm, near
Tronyem, died at tlie house of his only daughter,

VOL. II. c

18 YJEUR. CiiAr. XXIX.

Baroness Krag, a.d. 1G97, in Lis sixty-third year. We
stopped our carriage at tlie. prastogaard to demand the
church keys ; the pastor himself accompanied us. Grif-
feufeld's remains he in an oak coffin, above ground,
placed in an open chapel or dormitorium. A simple
inscription on a gilded plate informs the reader that
within repose the mortal remains of Christian Y.'s Grand
Chancellor; this plate, however, moves with a secret
spring, and below appears a second, on which are in-
scribed his honours and titles, in all the pomp of heraldry.
" The illustrious, noble, and well-born, &c. (son of a small
wine-vender — rather too much that). Knight of the
Elephant, Denmark's Lord Chancellor," followed uj) by
the history of his disgrace, date of his imprisonment
and death — an inscription the family dared not exliibit
at the period of his death,. Mi^jg '^xife is, buried ii;i a Vjault
below.* .-r,:-r, ,•.,-.^,r^ .....rrr ,::..■.>,.,• '--r,.;

We returned to our carriage through the praestegaard,
the pastor having invited us to visit his domain. It may
amuse you perhaps to have a description of the parson-
age of a Jutland clergyman. You first drive through an
archway into the gaard or square court — a yard sur-
rounded with farm-buildings : opposite stands the house
occupied by the family ; a few lime-trees are planted in

,_,,the centre ; a house-dog barks violently, as though he'd
break his chain ; cocks, and hens, and chicks stalk
about; carts and horses; but no manure — all clean,
though somewhat untidy. The houses consist mostly

, , of one story : you enter rooms scrupulously neat ajid
'J

* Baron Krag, his son-in-law, has a long epitaphium ; twice ambas-
sador to Paris ; three times married ; twelve children by Griffenfeld's
daughter ; a very grand wig and lace jabot, picked out most tastefully
in wliite marble.

Chap. XXIX. JUTLAND PILESTEGAARD. 19

clean ; windows opening on the other side into a flower-
garden ; lots of roses, lilacs, and common flowers. Here
the garden led into a hanging beech Avood, with walks
and seats ; a so or lake below — small, but large enough
for the enjoyment of a boat, and fish in plenty. Then
there is sure to be an orchard and vegetable garden, and
a lime-avenue leading somewhere. The Danish clergy
are poorly paid ; but, farming on a considerable scale,
their poverty is not of a repulsive kind, like that of
towns : they have plenty at hand — eggs, butter, milk,
poultiy, pigs in profusion, cut their own turf from the
never-absent mose for winter fuel. I inquired of our
new acquaintance how many cows he kept. " Very few,"
he replied ; " I have but a small farm — only twelve,"
Comjilaiut is made that when their farms are too large
they are apt to think more of their cows than of their
parishioners. From those with whom I have become
acquainted, I should say they were a well-educated,
mild, gentlemanlike set of men : their wives good and
useful helpmates, doing their duty in their state of life,
and, like their husbands, simple-minded, and entirely
free from all pretension — the very great chami of the
Danish nation in general — at the same time void of all
mauvaise honte or awkwardness. These pra^stegaards
may be little soignd to om- refined ideas ; but I don't feel
quite sure that the farm-house plenty which surrounds
them does not fully compensate for the absence of the
neat green entrance-gate, and the lam*el-girt drive round
the well-mowed gi-ass-plot, before the house-door of an
Eugliijh parsonage.

c 2

20 SKANDERBORG. Chap. XXIX.

SKANDERBORG.

June nth. — Breakfasted this morning at Skander-
borg. Lucky Ave did not sleep there last night. One
liuudred Danish students from the University of Co-
penhagen, on a Avalking tour through Jutland — very
joyous — serenading tlie authorities wherever they go —
were camjjed in the hotel, like a swarm of locusts.
They had not, however, devoured everything, but we
fared perhaps better for their presence. We are now
in the land of plenty — no more " portions " served by
rule, but large buffets spread out with a dozen cold
dishes, meat and aspics, eggs and salad — eat as much
as vou like at two marks a head. We did not remain
long at Skanderborg — just time enough to walk doAvn
to the castle islet — regret its destruction — to wonder
whether it was wdthin that sole remaining turret the
havfrue (mermaid) danced on the floor while she foretold
the fate of good Queen Dagmar ; w'ho, Christian-like,
instead of " frying her on the fire," as the slie-woman-fish
anticipated, clothed her " in scarlet red " and had her
conducted back in safety to the waters of the Kattegat.

I should really like to know what fish has given rise
to the fable of the mermaid and man so prevalent in
these northern seas — havfrue and havman, as they are
called — for in Denmark no legend is complete without
them. When in early days a young girl committed
suicide by drowning, the act was set down to the
blandishments of some merman, who enticed her to the
depths below ; as in the beautiful ballad of ' Agnete,'
where the havman " stoppede " her ears and " stoppede "
her mouth, and carried her to the coral caves below.
Agnete lives with her spouse for nine years, and bears

Chap. XXIX. AGNETE AND THE MERIIAX. 21

him seven children ; when one day she hears under the
water " the church-hells of England ring," and is seized
with a very proper desire to attend mass. Her fishy
lover grants her permission, stops her ears and mouth,
and leaves her on the strand. Agnete follows into the
church her mother, who asks her, " Where have you been
these last years nine ?" She replies, " Under the deep
water with my lord the havman." Once on land, Agnete
shows no desire to return. The merman follows her to
the church — "his face is fair, his eye is blue, and his
long hair shines like living gold " — but as he enters the
door, " all the saints and. angels avert their heads."
" Come back, come back," he cries ; " Agnete, your
children cry after you.

" Oh, think upon the great ; oh, think upon the small ;
Oh, think upon the little one who lies in the cradle."

But Agnete, heartless creature, refuses, and replies —

" I won't think upon the great or think upon the small,

Hah ! Hah ! Hah !
Xor think upon the little one who cries in the cradle,

Hah! Hah! Hah!"

Long and dreary was the way — sometimes catching
a glimpse of the MOS-S0 on the hill-top — till we arrived
at the ancient but tumbledown chm'ch of Dover. We
are all among the Cinque Ports to-day. Further on to
the left lies liye. Sandwig, in ancient times written
" wich," lies by the sea-coast. Strange our ii\Q most
ancient harbom's of importance in England should all
bear names of Scandinavian origin. Hastings derives
her title from the pirate chief: and Winchelsea —
Vinkel S0 ; though who this Yinkel might be who dared

22 SKANDERBORG. Chap. XXIX.

to name a part of onr ocean 80, as tlioiigli a boggy tarn in
his own marshy Jutland, I am nnprcpared to say.

A pouring rain — one of nature's own shower-baths —
catches us just as we arrive at the end of Ivnud-S0 —
a lovely lake — not blue to-day, but agitated into wave-
lets by the stormy breeze — all sand here. Slowly the
" wagen " trails its way through the ruts ; on foot we
fare worse ; impossible to walk. But we mount the
hill-side, and after a heavy tug arrive at the kro of
Tulstrup. Here the panting horses rest to bait. The
shower is over — sun bursts out — we can gaze at the
lake below from the village cemetery on the adjoining
hoi. Humble and towerless is Tulstrup church ; its
bell hangs suspended to a wooden belfry in the church-
yard, itself of most unpretending form and principle ; but
the small degraded edifice, built of granite, is surely of
noble foundation — a thank-offering probably, though no
legend attests the supposition. It is of early date ; a
round arch doorway, adorned with early carvings — as
works of art on a par with King Gorm's Stone at Jel-
linge. On one side a yawning wolf (l0ve lure, the old
sacristan calls it) on his hind legs, as large as life, with
huge protruding tongue ; on the opposite a damsel,
resembling those very primitive wooden dolls you some-
times see displayed in a huckster's shop — large head,
immoveable arms, long feet, and petticoat parted round
tlie waist. In her hand she holds a distaff, as I imagine
it to be, and looks ready to faint avray from fear of the
ravenous wolf — nothing but a church-door between
them. At the other entrance we have the Angel of
Christianity trampling upon the Dragon of Paganism.
Above, the same lady seated, with an infant in her arms.

Chap. XXIX. TULSTRUP CHUr.CH. 23

The angel holds a purse of gold in his hand ; my ideas
are tliat the lady has given a purse of gold to Luild the
church, in consequence of a vow she has made. Deaf
old sacristan knows nothing, not even to what saint the
church is dedicated. We go in ; at one end lies an
enormous oak chest, cross-barred over with iron bands
into a tartan pattern. We try to raise the lid ; it requires
all the united efforts of aged sacristan and stronger self
to do so ; and now we find two small square compart-
ments— same form, same pattern — fitted witli massive
lock and key, expressly to contain the church plate,
and preserve it safe from robber hand ; but where is it ?
Two blue glass vessels serve now for the sacrament ; on
the altar-table tlie very candles are wooden savealls ; a
small fat-lamp inserted in the top is used at Sabbath
Vespers. Cliurchwardening flourishes here, even in these
liigh latitudes. The ancient granite font is painted
verdant green, like a suburban garden gate. The open
seats bear date 1587.

In the clmrchyard I stumbled on what I have never
before met with — a grave covered over with the roughly
severed trunlc of a tree, unbarlvcd, rudely-fashioned ;
a sarcopliagus like tliat once placed over the grave of
Queen Hedvig at S0borg.

And now they summon us from tlie hoi-top, from
Mhich wo have made out anotlior lake, Lille-So by
name. The liorses are baited ; on with our journey.
Wo just distinguisli the winding of Juul Lake and a
little pr(jmontory jutting out into its waters, terminated
by a sepulchral mound — tlie Scandinavian mIio chose
such a site must liavc been a poet — when, as we climb the
liill before arriving at Linaa, concerning which place I
have a story to relate, down comes again a torrent

24 SK^VNDERBORG. Chap. XXIX.

plump upon our heads. We take refuge under railway
■wrappers, and may have passed through a paradise for
what we know. When we again peep forth from our
shelter, the postboy points to a branch of elder-flowers
the maid-servant bears in her hand, shakes his head, and
then points to the clouds fleeting through the aii-. Made-
moiselle Therese, in her ignorance, had plucked during
our halt at Tulstrup a branch of these flowers, preserva-
tives, if steeped in water, against tan and freckles,
without first demanding permission of Hyldemoir, " the
elder-queen," who avenges any molestation of her tree,
and no peasant would dare to pluck its flowers without
first addressing her in the following words : — " 0, Hildi,
our mother ; 0, Hildi, our mother ! let me take some
of thy elder." These words thrice repeated, she grants
permission willingly enough, but, according to the post-
boy's theory, it was the neglect of this observance which
caused this pelting hail, this inhospitable reception to
the Highlands of Jutland.

Dark is the superstition of the peasant as regards the
elder-queen, and woe to the child who sleeps in a cradle
of elder-wood. No sooner does the mother quit the
room than Hyldemoir appears ; vampire-like, she sucks
its life-blood from its breasts, she pulls it by the legs,
and torments the helpless infant in every possible manner.
Still the elder-tree has been revered from the earliest
times, and the peasant as well as the artizan loves to
plant it near his dwelling ; it brings good luck to the
baker and to the gardener ; leave it alone, and Hylde-
moir will do you no injury.

The elements have ceased their war; and now we
enter a glorious valley, hills on each side coated with
beech and pine — beech in their golden foliage still;

Chap. XXIX. APPROACH TO SILKEBORG. o

zo

the heather b^o^vIl, the reindeer lichen white and abun-
dant ; hiter the leaves will become brown and the heather
purj)le, so each season has its charms if mankind will
only see it. We are now on the royal chaiissee ; electric
telegraph on each side of us. The horses are fagged as
we are. We meet troops of peasants, cows, and horses —
evidently a fair going on — reach the end of the plain —
pouring rain again — turn down a hill, catch sight of a lake,
a town, a confused idea of river and other matters — all
very charaiing when you are dry, but disgusting when
you are half drowned : and so we made our entry into
the most youthful of Denmark's cities, her youngest
daughter, the town of Silkeborg.

2G SILKEBORG. Chap. XXX,

UOil -^^ ii'jyJ'lU0.1

CHAPTER XXX (^ ^foOTfe

Silkeborg — Cap of Bishop Peter — The Jutland lakes — The treasure- : :
seeker — Himmelbjerg, Queen of the Jutland mountains — The
fiery beacon — Lovers of Laven Castle — The paper manufactoryi ^

. KX

SILKEBORG.

We found the " Dania " in a terrible state of bustle,
no chance of rooms before evening ; after a long delay
we got our dinners served, and it was a wonder we did, :
such a crowd as there was below — farmers by the gtoss
buying, selling, and chaffering. Towards sunset the fair -
took itself off, and we were left in peace and quietness.
Hans Andersen had described to us what we were to
see, and lent us the translation of his charming little
book, ' To Be or not to Be,' which told us the tales
and legends of the neighbourhood, for, to the English
traveller, Sillceborg is still a terra incognita; the
very maps of our country, as well as the Handbook,
ignore its existence. When on our arrival at Copen-
hagen last autumn we spoke of our tour in Jutland,
the first question invariably was, "How did you like
Silkeborg? Not seen Silkeborg? Is it possible?"
until we felt quite cross, and began to look upon it as a
sort of Jutland *'Mrs. Harris," expressly invented for
om- botheration. Then we began to inquire what and
where Silkeborg really was, and soon learned how some
ten years since it was nought but a beautiful and dreary
waste, the resort of gipsies, uninhabited and uncul-

Chap, XXX. PAPER MAKUF ACTOR Y. 27

tivated ; and how in the space of a few years it had risen
to the rank of a flourishing town of fourteen hundred
inhabitants, increasing daily in wealth and prosjDerity.
Fourteen years have now elapsed since Mr. Drewsen,
struck by the advantageous site, on the lake side, with
the abundant waters of the Guden Aa, determined to
turn to account this useless stream, and establish there
a paper manufactory ; he did so, and succeeded : his
paper gained the great prize both at the English
and French Exhibitions, no manufacturer having yet
equalled the glazing of the material, which is formed
by a machine of his own invention. The manufactory
stands at the entrance of the town, near the bridge which
spans the Guden Aa; beyond stands the modern resi-
dence of jMr, Drewsen, in the midst of a fair and fruitful
garden, now, a wilderness of roses, the old-fashioned
yellow cabbage — so luxuriant in the Lion Court of the
AUiambra, but most capricious to bloom in England — the
Damask, the York and Lancaster, and the Cinnamon, va-
rieties long since expelled from modern English gardens.
If you fancy, because Silkeborg is the youngest toAvn
of the Danish dominions, she has no history of her own,
no legend, you are much mistaken ; on the very gi-ound
where we now stand once proudly frowned the towers of
her castle, a stronghold of the Bishops of Aarhuus. Put
by the paper and its manufactory, and fancy youi-self
carried back to the twelfth centmy, when Bishop Peter
Bagnscn * held the diocese of Aarhuus. For reasons
best known to himself, he determined to build a chateau

* Die4 1204. His mother Ingeborg was niece to Sir Asker Eyg, and
sister t(i tlie murdered cousin whom Bishop Absalon canonized. Boo
vol. i. p. 106.

28 SILKEBORG. Chap. XXX.

fort on the veiy banks of the Lang-So ; so he journeys
forth to fix the site, accompanied by a prior and a
stalwart knight, one of his relations; and in an open
boat they sail dovm. the Guden Aa to the borders of the
Lang-Sp. " Build it here," exclaims the prior, pointing
to a promontory hard by. " Nonsense !" said the knight ;
" trust to my judgment, I am a military man ;" and they
wrangle and dispute until the bishop's patience is quite
worn out, when a sudden gust of wind catches his silken
skull-cap, and away it flies into the deep waters. " Let
it go," exclaims Bishop Peter : " where the cap stays its
course, there will we build a fortress, and call its name
Silkeborg."

We have tlii'ee days' sight-seeing before us, taking
matters quietly in homoeojiathic doses, so we started this
morning at ten o'clock. Our road ran by the Lang-S0,
where all the world seemed busy making bricks, on to
the Amalia Kilde, by the forest side, a spring quite
chalybeate enough to be nasty, good water spoilt by
a taste of rusty iron. This spring is a favourite picnic
and tea-drinking spot of the Silkeborgians : seats, and
large wooden tables capable of dining twenty-four, are
placed on the lake's bank, under the shade; a rustic
open-air kitchen, where you may fry your own fish, and
then eat them afterwards. How the old women in tliis
country pass their livelong day, sitting out of doors, with-
out dying before morning, was to me a mystery, until I
witnessed one day the ascent of an aged matron into a
stuhlwageu. She wore ten knitted woollen petticoats at
the smallest calculation ; you might have plumped her
down flat in the middle of a bog without her perceiving
the dampness of her situation. From the age of fifty until
she is gathered to her fathers, a woman in Denmark be-

Chap. XXX. THE WOODS. 29

takes herself to knitting warm petticoats, at the ratio of
one per annum, which she wears over that of the pre-
ceding year, until she becomes a moAang mass of woollen
fiibric, defymg rheumatism, lumbago, damp, and all
such sublunary evils to which age is heir ; but the old
women know best. There is an old Danish proverb—
" ifan klai'der sig paa Fransk, og fryser paa Dansk "
—Dress like a Frenchman, and you'll fi-eeze as a Dane. •

The woods* have become close and stuffy in these
unpruned regions ; the cranberry is in full bloom, and
the small trailing seren-priis, as they here term the
veronica, of brilliant blue ; a dwarf genista too, with
golden flowers. After resting at Drewsenh0i, com-
manding the village of Lysang-bro, on the opposite
side of the lalce, we again glance at that named after
King Frederic YII., whence we had a glorious view
over hills clothed with beech and pine, and the moor
below was studded with heaps of turf ranged in pyra-
mids, fii-st one, then two by two, looking like some
funeral train wending through the valley. Suddenly we
turn to the left, when a panorama bursts upon our view,
a net-ATork of deep blue lakes as far as the eye can
gaze ; there may bo five, there may be ten, they are so
tangled one Avithin another. AYe proceeded onward a
little loncrer, and then returned home through a wood
carpeted with tlie trefoil leaf of the wood-sorrel. Huge
anthills rise pyramidical under the pine-trees — tlie
black ant, from which formic acid and vinegar are
extracted in Norway. We find dinner waiting ; soup,
veal-cutlets admirably dregsed, salads, and compotes
f — ■', . ,

* These woods wcro visited by Cliristian IV. "Oct. 21st, IGIG,
' Drof^ jcir" frcim Skaiulerljorf:? to Silkcltorfr. 2"Jiid was I in tlie forest,
aud ordered timber to be cut dowu." — Christian IV.'s Journal. " -

30 SILKEBORG. Chap. XXX.

of five or six varieties, large disli of wild strawberries,
and plenty of rich cream. The apartment too has
been swept and garnished, and a little salon arranged
for us ; sofas and chairs dragged in, pictures hung on
the walls, bowpots too of pinks and roses. The land-
lady hopes Ave are comfortable ; she has done her best ;
of course we are pleased. I don't know what Jutland

■ may be some ten years hence, when intersected by
railroads and civilization ; at present, if you meet with
aught but civility and attention, it is your own fault.
In the evening we again drove out, and a charming drive
it was ; but blue lakes, green woods, and browTi heather,
though beautiful in themselves, sound tiresome on j)aper,
and you have already had a dose of them,

June IQth. — Little Lina, the Blenheim spaniel, was
wagging her tail, imploring of Jacques, the man-servant,
to put her up into the carriage before everybody, dread-
fully afraid she might be forgotten among those big
hoop petticoats, indispensable necessaries for ladies travel-
ling in Jutland. We were all ready to start, and seated,
when a black cloud appears overshadowing the Ashole
heaven, but the weather cannot be w^orse than it was

,iitiie day of our arrival. Me may come in for a rainbow
among the hills; no use waiting, so we crossed the
bridge over the Guden Aa : the river is covered with
water-lilies, and teems with trout, pike, and crayfish.
The eels, which they served us en aspic this morning
for breakftist, came from the lake hard by, Avhere a
small striped skipper-house, now^ turned into a beer-
house, wath tea-garden, skittles, and poppinjay, was
once the residence of the keeper who superintended
the taking and sale of the eels, in earlier days a royal
monopoly. ly/- — iasY^ .

Chap. XXX. JUTLAND LAKES. /.SI

Some years since an enormous pike was found dead
pn the Guden Aa's bank, together Avith an eagle, whose
eh\ws were finuly imbedded in his ilesh. The bird had
pounced upon his prey, and the fish, unable to extricate
himself from the talons of his enemy, plunged beneath
the waters, di-agging his antagonist along with him ; so
they both perished, and are now preserved stuffed, as
they were found, in a private collection at Silkeborg.n
> A two hours' drive brings us to an old stiiped gaard.

i;An aged peasant opens wide the gate; four skilhngs
is his fee. We pass through, leave the carriage on a
plateau by the forest side strewed with paper and burnt
ashes, relics of the students' picnic, and then in two
minutes' time we stand upon the Himmelbjerg, five
hundred and fifty feet above the level of the sea — a mere
molehill to Alpine travellers, but here equal to as inany
thousands in a highland range. "^"' -frr t'>4 iuq

.,;, i June 20th. — These Jutland lakes are strung like birds'

.i^ggs on a thread, connected by one continuous stream,
the Guden Aa, up whose placid waters in days gone
by many a viking has sailed his victorious craft, laden
with the spoils of England, Gaul, and Italy ; and
in these more peaceful days steamboat.?, bearing the
red-cross flag, will ply from Eanders upwards, when
Silkeborg has become, as all men prophesy she will, the
Birmingham of Jutland, bearing this time not plundered
riches, but the produce of honesty, industry, and enter-
prise. :'t

The otter will then be chased from his lair ; he now
abounds, and along the banks you may mark his track.

I, Salmon, too — so plentiful, that by law no servant of
Eanders town can be fed -with its flesh more than once
a week — will soon disappear. The banks of the Guden

32 SILKEBORG. Chap. XXX.

Aa are flat till it passes near Silkeborg, and there vre
string on to its waters the Lang So, about which I
have nothing to tell you save the story of the treasure-
seeker — Peter Guldgraver — a Holsteiner by birth. To
him was revealed in a dream the existence of a mighty
treasure, buried long since by the ancient lords of the
castle. Find it he would : in the year 1780 he sold his
Holstein farm, and came a stranger to the wide Jutland
waste ; he dug and dug deeper and deeper, till money
wasted and hope grew sick ; still he dug on. Some
say he died, buried by a fall of earth just when the
pickaxe had struck upon the hidden treasure, and that
his whitened skeleton still lies clutching at the gold
almost within his bony grasp, like that of Diomede
found beneath the ashes of Pompeii. He fell a victim
to the malice of some Jutland witch.

String on quickly to our flowing stream the 0rn Sp,
the Bras S0, and later the Borre S0 — well viewed in its
mild woodland beauties from the Amalia-hoi ; and now
we stand on Aasen Point ; the vaster Juul lake lies at
our feet. But observe only the hills opposite : look at
those two gigantic mounds, sej)ulture of some warrior
king ; look at the smaller ones raised for humbler men.
What an eruption of hillocks I brown and bare, too,
are these barrows, once, no doubt, clothed with beech
and silver birch. Fire has passed over them, ignited
by some gipsy camp or careless benighted traveller : so
we string on to our thread the Juul S0, spotted over
with islands, and we stand again upon Himmelbjerg —
Himmelbjerg, like the Anglian Thyre, pride of the
Danes and queen over all Jutland mountains.

She stands alone before the lakeside, queenhke, hold-
ing her court ; her ladies range themselves behind her.

OiiAP XXX. HDDIELBJERG. 33

To the left stands the grande maitresse, a fat stumpy
ohl hill, tricked out in purple and yellow squares and
patches of roseate clover, red, purple, and yellow — very
bad taste if you will — but the grande maitresse never
knew how to dress herself ; she gets her gown from that
dowdiest of all comi milliners, old Mrs. Nature. Behind
Himmelbjerg stand her ladies, attired in green, fresh
and springlike, plumed in feathery beech — somewhat
sunburnt, it must be owned, from constant exposure to
the weather. One is chstinguished from the rest, for
she bears from early times a fiery beacon on her crest,
lighted in the days of Skipper Clemens, and even in the
present century, to summon the land to arms to repel
the invader or suppress the 0pror.* Last of all defile
before her a range of youthful hillocks : lowly they bow
before their queen, in their clothing of purple and
brown, reheved by garlands of golden broom, glistening
with crystallized sand, somewhat heavy ; but travellers
can't expect to find much " chic " in Jutland.

Mark well that point to the right, on the opposite
side of the Juul lake, a small promontory clothed with
wood : there, says tradition, once stood the towers of
Laveu Castle. Here, in Pagan times, resided a petty
king, whose only daughter was wooed by a neighl)ouring
Smaa Konge like himself, but the father forbad the mar-

* Beacons are common cnougli in tlic Danish dominions, as we later
found. In former days it was tlic custom to " send the liiuUtikhe,"
a small piece of wood with the name of the king cut at the two ends,
passed from man to man, to summon the people to war ; a branch
of willow, Imnit at cither end, was also used. lie who missed the
" gathering" was hanged to the same branch of willow at the entrance
of his own fii.ld, and his house biu-nt to the ground. When at Fndcriks-
borg the king showed mo a small piece of stone inscribed witii Kunic
characters — the only specimen, I believe, still in existence — which was
formerly used in the duchy of Sloavig for the same purpose.
VOL. II. D

. 34 SILKEBORG. Chap. XXX.

riairo. The lover introduced himself into Laven Castle
in disguise ; some say as a blind harper. Be that as it
may, the tire-woman one morning at early dawn found
her mistress's bed untenanted, like in the old song —

" Lady Jane she'd gone off with that silly blind harper,

That silly blind harper who plainly could see.
Twang-twankadillo, Twang-twankadillo, dillo, dillo, dee."

And now the coursers are saddled, and hot pursuit gains
on the flying pair : closely the maiden clings to her
lover's neck. They pass where Sveibsek ferry-house now
stands — you see the spot before you — then reach the
forest, and near the old ranger's house among the oaks
he loses his hat — " Hattenses " the place is still called —
and then, closely pressed by his pursuers, he tries to
ford the river. Horse and riders both plunge into the
stream ; the courser stumbles, sinks, then rises again,
and now sinks deeper and deeper and gradually dis-
appears, for no human aid can avail them — horse,
king, and damsel suffocated, di'owned in the morass,
which closes above their heads, before the eyes of the
agonized father. The place where the king lover lost
his life is still called by the peasants of the country
" Kongensdyp." Tradition tells no more; but maybe
the body of that fair princess has been rescued from its
muddy grave, and later reposed beneath the green hpi
on that little promontory before remarked, jutting out
into the waters of the Juul lake.

But if Himmelbjerg holds her court here on high, an
English princess, not less powerful — Morgana, sister
of good King Arthur, fairified by tradition — reigns below
on that black moor, striking wonder and admiration
into the minds of the simple Jutlanders. We did not
meet her — she was absent during the time of our visit.

Chap. XXX. CHAIN OF LAKES. 35

Endless are the traditions of this wild half-unkno\^"n
country. On the moor near SilkeLorg once stood a
large square stone, inscribed Avith Eunic characters,
illegible to the most wise, even to the witches of the
country. The peasants saw it and revered, regard-
ing it with a superstitious dread ; for beneath lay hid
a treasure of solid gold, the size and weight of a full-
grown Jutlander (18 stone, or thereabouts). One day a
stranger herdsman laid his tether on it ; the stone sank
deep into the morass and chsappeared, but not for ever,
for the wise women say that in some future time, when
Denmark's king shall be a prisoner in a foreign land,
the stone will reappear, and the treasure be found, —
a king's ransom.

^Xe now string on the Knud S0 — last week all wave-
lets, to-day calm and unruffled — and next come Eye
Mplle S0 and the Eye mills (pronounce it Ecu), where
once a cloister stood, oft honoured by the presence of
King Christopher, who loved to hunt the wild boar in
this neighbourhood. Old folks will still tell you tales of
ravening wolves, and show you the pits for wild boars :
races both long since extinct. Now come the Ves S0
and the Guden S0, and then in the distance, not visible
to the eye, huks on the jMos S0, our old acquaintance,
full of fish ; later comes Skanderborg. Our chain is
now complete — twelve lake eggs on one thread of waters ;
a very pretty collection, is it not ?

After one last glance we bid adieu to ITimmelb-
jerg, and, stopping one moment at the old eastern
well to draw a draught of water, drive home through tlio
heath and forest Only look how the dormice scamper
among the ferns, wide awake, for to-day is the longest
day, and that day dedicated to St Vitus. Old stylo it

D 2

36 SILKEBORG. ' CHAr. XXX.

may be; but the mice know nothing about tliat, and
stick to their old customs.

Ducks and wild geese abound on the lakes ; plovers
and black game on the moors. You can sail, if you
like, in a little boat on the Guden Aa from Silkeborg
downwards, threading in your course the waters I have
here enumerated, sleeping at the roadside inn of Eye.
You can fish, you can shoot — only do not get bogged,
like the Smaa Konge : you can di-aw, you can botanize,
living cheaply and well at the " Dania ;" and, if you
have time to spare, while away many a pleasant day
in the midst of the varying scenery of Himmelbjerg
and the lake-bound city of Silkeborg.

We did not leave Silkeborg without visiting the
" Fabrik," in which I was agreeably surprised. No ram-
pageous machinery tearing itself to pieces, but quiet
sedate cylinders, rolling noiselessly along in company
with running water. We were first introduced to the
rags, specimens of which hung suspended, like clothiers'
samples to a card, twenty-five varieties, mostly of very
coarse material ; and here for the first time I learned
how the finest writing-paper used for billets-doux is made
from coarse home- spun worn-out labourers' shirts and
dishclouts; then came the old sails — sails that have
borne a gallant craft o'er wave and ocean, in process of
time become transformed into that thin satin high-glazed
tissue, oftenest pink or yellow, used by smart shop-
keepers for lining handkerchief-boxes, and sometimes,
though I pity those who use it, into "old-fashioned
foreign post." Coarse toile d'emballage, as the French
term it, such as encases bales of cotton, and that used
by gardeners for basket-covering, again finds favour in
the packing line in the form of coarse brown paper.

Chap. XXX. PAPER-MAKING. 37

I climbed a ladder to inspect the rags previous to tlieii'
pm-ification. Heavens, what filth! and to think they
must be sorted into twenty-five heaps and don't breed
a pestilence! ^^Tien sorted they are tumbled into a
huge boiler, shovelled in with quick lime, and there
simmer for twenty-four hours (thii'ty-six would not be
too much), next carried up stairs, all dye and dirt re-
moved, and then boiled for twelve more. Having now
gained a clean biU of health, they are combed to death and
destruction, become masses of whitened pulp, like fresh-
scraped charpie for a Parisian ambulance ; next, when
reduced to a finer substance, like curds and sour milk, it
is carefully strained in running water. Now, as water-
gruel, it passes over a green canvas ; at the third cylinder
spreads out like wafer on a coarse blanket; later it
begins to diy, and then for the fii'st time runs alone,
and, bravely leaping over the chasm between the two
cylinders, falls dry and solid into the arms of the chopping
apparatus, which clips it into three and prunes its edges ;
then it is roUed up a mile in length and handed over to
the opposite side of the establishment for glazing, for
whicli process a patent has been taken out by the pro-
prietor in all the countries of Europe. In other manu-
factories the paper is glazed in sheets already cut ; here
in one long rouleau it passes between hot cylinders — goes
in one side rough, and comes out on the other glazed
Avitli varnish : the process to an unintellectual eye ap-
pearing as simple as it is succcssfid.

38 LINAA. Chap. XXXI.

CHAPTER XXXI.

The fish and the 'ring — Fortunes of the house of Stubbe — The
traitor page — Marsk Stig, the outlaw — Chateau of Friisenborg —
Artificial egg -hatching.

LINAA.

June. 2lst. — The horses are ordered at six o'clock — it
is nearly seven before they arrive — postihon overslept
himself. We retrace our steps as far as the village
of Linaa, concerning which I before promised you a
story.

Many centuries ago there lived, in the neighbour-
hood of the kro where we now stand, three sisters,
Linaa, Dall, and Bjara by name, as remarkable for their
piety as for their riches. Their father, a fierce viking,
on his departure upon some marauding expedition, con-
fided to their care his treasure, and then disappeared
from the face of the earth — killed in battle, slain, or
drowned ; so his daughters wisely dug up his gold, in-
stead of leaving it to grace in modern days the cabinets
of the Musee Scandinave, and divided it among them ;
each determined to apply a part of her share to a good
purpose very much in vogue at that period — the build-
ing of a church. Three sacred edifices soon rose proudly
on the banks of the adjoining lake, on the spots where
the villages of Linaa, Dallerup, and Bjarup now stand.
For matins, mid-day, and vesper song, these pious damsels
passed the water in a boat — quite edifying it would

CnAr. XXXI. THE FISH AND THE RING. 39

have been to the siuToimdiug population, but unfor-
timately there was no one to see them ; Juthxnd was
then a bleak, bare desert, quite uninhabited. One
Sabbath morn the sisters as usual rowed across the
waters of the lake ; Bjara held the oars, Linaa steered,
Avhile Dall was busily employed looking out the morn-
ing lessons in her Book of Hours. The bark now touches
land ; the sisters leap ashore — when suddenly Bjara
misses from her finger her golden ring, the gift of her
■s-ildng father. '* My ring, my ring ! " cries Bjara ; " some-
body must have taken it ; lost — stolen !" — and she begins
to hunt in every corner of the boat, but without suc-
cess ; so, waxing wroth, she invokes maledictions on the
head of the man, woman, or living thing, who may have
deprived her of her ornament. Loud and fearful were
her curses ; in vain her sisters tried to pacify her.
" Bjara, dear Bjara ! how can you be so wicked ?"
exclaimed Dall, while Linaa wept bitterly. Their
entreaties were of no avail ; but now, as they gain the
church porch, the waters of the lake begin to swell,
overflow, and gradually disperse themselves over the
plain, leaving the bottom dry, and the fishes, eels, carp,
salmon, perch, and flounders, all stranded upon the
heather. "It's a fish who has swallowed my ring,"
triumphantly exclaims Bjara ; and quick and sharp as a
policeman she passes in review the different members of
tlie finny tribe. The eels wriggle ; flounders perform
somersaults in the air — no guilt there ; pike open wide
their jaws, — " Put your finger down if you like," say they ;
" you'll catch something, not the ring" — when, reposing
on a bed of reeds, puffing, blowing, she espies a bloated
carp : " Here's the culprit," she exclaims — out with her
bodlvin, rips him up without mercy, and tbaws forth from

40 LINAA. Chap. XXXI.

Lis stomacli her lost treasure. Anon the waters again
become troubled, aud recede quickly, fish and all, to
the basin of the lake. Somehow or other, though, the
lake never recovered Bjara's malediction; gradually
it tliickened, dried up, and the Bjarup S0 in course
of time became a Bjarup Mose. See how the curse
recoiled upon Bjara's church. The foundation soon
gave way, the effect, some say, of the inundation ; it is
now a heap of ruins, while Dallerup and Linaa both stand,
picturesque objects, though perhaps a little churchward-
enized. We are at MoUerup : let us observe the storks
— one, two, three, fom* nests, each with young ones ready
to ily — not quite courage yet ; and here arrives the male
— what has he brought them home for breakfast in his
mouth ? a marsh frog ! More nests still in Laasby : happy
village ! rather too productive perhaps, for the storks
brhig " triplets" to the Danish peasants, as common an
occurrence as twins in England. In our own tongue we
have no term like " triliinge ;" we borrow triplets from
the dice-box — a very bad throw in either case ; but the
storks mean to be kind, though the present be un-
welcome. Mind how you make game of the young
ones ; they never forget it — are very tenacious about
then" long lanky legs. As there is nothing to look at
until we come to Skovby, I may as well tell what befell
the Stubbe family — " gammel adelige familie uddodt,"
— all because they laughed at the young storks' legs.

You have all heard of Cadet Roussel, whose fortunes
hung on his possessing three of everything — •

" Cadet Eonssel a trois habits,
Deux jaunos, et I'autre en papier gris," —

the last not a solid article perhaps, but it rhymes

Chap. XXXI. ' FATE OF THE STUBBE3. 41

very nicely. Well, the fortunes of tlie noble lionse of
Stubbe depended upon the mystic number seven: —
7 churches, 7 mills, 7 islands, 7 lakes, 7 forests,
77 ploughs, 777 windows in their manor; cows, pigs,
horses, all in proportion ; and 7 children, or 77 if they
could get them, — so much the better, but 7 they must
have. This last, as he proved to be, of the Stubbes,
was a bad small boy, always making game of the
yomig storks as they sat in their mother's nest on the
house-top. " Stork, long-legged stork," he sang : I'm
sure I forget what besides, but something very rude, at
which they were highly affronted. " All very fine now,
]\Ir. Stubbe ; wait a little, and our turn will come ;
Avho '11 laugh then ? " muttered the old mother.

The young squhe grew up and was sent to Aal-
borg College, where he received a fii-st-rate educa-
tion : learnt Italian and dancing, — and very useful he
must have found the former accomphshment, living on
his estates in Jutland, among the moors and forests ; he
spoke it however with a fii-st-rate (Aalborg) accent.
Young Stubbe grows apace, and somehow does not
tame down. He is thirty now, and should think of
settling : forty finds him an old bachelor, and fifty still.
" Marry before it is too late and I close my eyes," ex-
claims his venerable mother ; so marry he did — a neigh-
bour's daughter. " Plenty of time, mother," he laugh-
ingly exclaimed ; " you know we Stubbes always throw
doublets; I shall have my seven children before five
years are over." There is great joy at Stubbcsholm, an
heir expected daily. Young Stubbe rubs liis hands —
" Triplets, you 'U see, mother, like the old lady on her
epitaphium in the church-aisle — our grandam." " Hali,
liah .^" laughed the old stork from the top of the chimney,

42 LINAA. Chap. XXXI.

wliere sTie was listening ; " we shall see wlien the time
comes." The time did come, and a bad time too — dead
twins — nearly costing the young mother's life ; and
months and years rolled on — more dead chikben, and
more still, and Stubbe borne down with age and sorrow.
Then says the old stork, " Vengeance is not ours ; we
must pardon his offences for his young wife's sake."
Next time a living baby comes, fresh and blue-eyed ;
and then come twins, and then a fourth, and twins
again. Stubbe rubs his hands : six children living ;
one more and he is saved; and so he would have
been had he reckoned with the storks alone ; but grim
Death steps in — a fit of apoj^lexy after the christening
dinner of the last-born child : he is carried to the
church vaults, father of six cliildren. The fortunes of
the Stubbes now ended : like others of ancient line-
age, they passed away — one lake " Stubbe S0 " * marked
on the map alone recalls their memory.

At Skovby pause one moment. Turn to the right
and gaze towards Storring; there you will discern
two mounds of earth, not far removed one from the
other — Dronningh0i and Steileh0i they are called.
Here, on the first-named, stood Queen Agnes of Bran-
denbm-g. widowed queen of Erik Glipping, who was
slain by the Grand Marshal Stig f and other confederate

* Stubbe S0 is in the Mols district.

t Marsk (Marshal) Stig Andersen Hvide was of the same family as
Absalon and Duke Porse ; like the latter, he made a gi-and mar-
riage. Concerning the intimacy of King Erik and this lady there was
great scandal, and it was to revenge the insult offered to his honour that
the marshal plotted, and later executed, the murder of his sovereign.
Marsk Stig was renowned all over the North for Ms splendour. lu an
old Swedish lay it runs, " Stig, he proceeds to the marble halls : there
he invites tlie king to his home so joyfully ; he invites the king and
all his men, the queen with her damsels fair. When they came to

Ciup. XXXI. FRIISENBORG. 43

nobles, near the village of Finderup, as I shall relate
when we arrive there. Here she stood to superintend
in person the execution of his traitor page, Eane
Jonsen, who betrayed his lord and master into the
assassins' hands. Eane suJBfercd death upon the wheel,
and Agnes feasted her eyes with the sight of his dying
agony.

IMarsk Stig with his brother nobles took refuge in
the little island of Hjelm, where after the manner of the
day he turned pirate ; as the outlawed Earl of Hunt-
ingdon he took'to the greenwood-tree, and soon became
the terror of the neighboui'hood. The ruins of his castle
stiU exist.

FRIISENBOEG.

We leave the road and make for Friisenborg,
chateau of Count Friis. We stop for one minute at
the village church of Hammel, to look at an early
carving of St. Hubert over an ancient round-arch door,
and admire there an admirably preserved grave-stone
of exquisite execution, fresh as from the sculptor's
hand, of Valdemar Parsberg and his ^vife Ide Lykke
— noble and high-born, date 1589. The Parsbergs
have passed away ; they were once possessors of Friisen-
borg, but resisted the establishment of absolute mo-
narchy by Clu-istian Y., and together with all the old
Jutland nobility from that period disappeared from the
state of affairs : many emigrated to Sweden.

We enter Friisenborg through a Gothic gateway

ChUflc Stig's gate, there plays a hind, tliero dances a hart, so joyfully ;
and when tliey came to Stig's court the fences were of steel and iron
wrought, the floor was made of marhlo stone, and the walla were inlaid
with white ivory."

44 FRUSENBORG. Chap. XXXI.

emblazoned with the family arms, drive to the com-t
entrance, where the moat is large and surrounded by
horse-chesnuts of splendid growth, send up our cards,
and demand permission to visit the gardens. The
old chateau is quaint, flanked with antiquated towers,
wliitewashed too, all except its stone foundations; the
whitewash contrasts queerly with the marble bust of
its long-wigged founder Count Mogens Friis, black as
time can make it, inserted in a niche above the door-
way, with an inscrij)tion saying how the Grefskav was
created in his favour by Christian V. in the year
1671. In five minutes' time we are joined by Count
Friis and his countess, who themselves do us the
honours of the place, and press us greatly to stop :
we finish by remaining over dinner, leaving for Aarhuus
towards the cool of the evening.

Of the chateau I say little : its interior is grand and
at the same time habitable — the Eiddersaal, a magni-
ficent apartment, hung with family portraits, works of
art, many of historical interest : among them are por-
traits of Eleanor and Corfitz Ulfeld, and Christina an
elder sister of the Reventlow Queen — Countess Friis
by marriage, pretty, and not such a fool as her sister.
Count Friis Friisenborg,* Juel — Wind — Friis — is the
richest nobleman in all Denmark. His father is still
alive, an aged man, but inhabits Boiler, having by royal
consent ceded the County to his son, the present occu-
pier of the place. In another year the chateau will
almost cease to exist ; it is to undergo an entire restora-
tion at the^ands of an able architect, in the style of the

* Friis of Friisenborg is a distinct family from Friis of Borreby, of
whom more later.

CuAr. XXXI, THE CHATEAU. 45

coimtry: how wise the Danes are to stick to it! when
completed it will be one of the finest residences of its
style in Europe. And Frederiksborg may bless its
stars that the future Friisenborg is not situated in the
island of Zealand. In the ornamental poultry yard there
were several hens sitting on their eggs. The nest is that
to be met with in all the peasants' houses — a truss of
straw tightly bound towards the end, and opened fun-
nel-shaped towards the top ; the straw being neatly
turned in at the opening and fastened down. They are
placed between a wooden bar and the wall-side, and
very clean and tidy they looked. The custom of " egg-
hatching " — there is a finer term — in ovens appears to
have been practised in Denmark in Christian IV.'s time.
He writes word to the hen-woman — " When the cliickens
come out of the eggs which are in the ovens, let the
girl have some SAvan and some turkey eggs." *

We are now in the land of " beeves," large numbers of
which are here fattened for exportation for the London
market. Molesworth, in speaking of Jutland, says, —
" This is the best country the Kng of Denmark has ;
but neglected on account of its distance from Copen-
hagen. Quantities of beeves and oxen are exported
to Holland annually, to fatten in the rich pastures of
that country."

Towards sunset we took leave of our kind hosts, ivnd
after a three hours' drive are again installed in our old
quarters of last year, in the hot, dusty, bad-smclhng
city of Aarhuus.

* Dated, FrcdcriLsborg, 2(Jtli June, 1G30.

46 KAL0. Chap. XXXII.

CHAPTER XXXII.

Siege of Kal0 — The lord of Mols — Danish Whittington — The
Lady Hilda TroUe — Eound chvirch of Thorsager — Chateau of
Eosenholm — Origin of the Eosenkrantz name — Holger the
savant — Erik's rebuke of Cromwell — Jutland clergy — Claushohn
— Meeting of King Frederic and Anne Eeventlow.

KAL0— THOESAGEE.

June 24:th. — Something invariably occurs to prevent
our starting early : horses were ordered at six, but a
heavy downfall of rain — true outpouring of the heavens
— caused us to defer our departure until seven. The
sun then made his appearance, and, the dust laid, nature
seemed quite refreshed and glistening. We cut the
high road, as we always do when possible, make out
a menu of the places we desire to visit, submit it to
the postmaster, who writes out a ticket, all charges
included, no extra pourboires or pikes, money paid
down. A stated time — rather a long one — given within
which the postilion is compelled to perform the journey,
or none at all, when you wish to loiter on the road,
as to-day for instance. Posting in Denmark, two-horse
carriage and all expenses included, amounts to nine
pence per English mile.

Our road runs along the bank of the fiorde, a charm-
ing drive ; as we approach the further end the ancient
castle of Kal0 — where in early days was founded a
cloister by some English monks — stands picturesquely
planted. You may reach it on foot when the water is low.

Chap. XXXII. THE LORD OF MOLS. 47

Afterwards it was tlie prison of Gustavus Vasa, from
whence lie escaped to Lubek when on parole. Later
Kal0 was given to Ulrik Frederic Gyldenl0ve by
Christian V. The generosity of the kings towards their
natural children gave rise to a saying — "Bastards
have better luck than children born in wedlock ;" in
the case of the Gyldenlpves, it may be added, they
deserved " better luck."

These are the most extensive ruins in Denmark —
not saying much to be sure; but an old tower still
stands, and they look pictm-esque on their gTcen island.*

Not far from Kal0 lies the Mols district, the Jutland
Bceotia — not that its inhabitants merit the reputation
of dullness more than their neighbours, but they have
got the name of it, and endless are the " Joe Millers "
retailed at their expense.

One day the lord of ]Mols came into Aarhuus,
and there ate some salted herrings, so good he had
never tasted the like before ; so he purchased a hun-
dred, and on his return home put them into his pond,
leaving them a year's grace to increase and multiply.
When the year had gone by he determined to fish : he
fished from sunrise to sunset, but caught not one her-
rmg ; so he caused the pond to be dragged, and all ho
took in his nets was one large fat eel.

" Here is the culprit," cried the lord ; " here is the

* Wlien Kal0 was besieged by the Count of Ilolstoin, Gerhard tho
tyrant, provisions were exliaustcd, and tlicro remained in tho custlo
but one sow. But, to make believe they possessed more, the besieged
tJiree times a day pinclied tho sow to make her scream ; and as the
enemy purposely sent a beggar-woman to the castle to repurttlie state of
the garrison, they every time gave lier a larger juecc of bread. Hence
Count Gerhard believed them to have abuudaucc, and raised the siego
in tho seventh whiter.

48 KAL0. Chap. XXXIl.

devourer of my herrings !" So he summoned the whole
village round, and they consulted on the death the fat
eel should die. " Burn him alive," said one. " Collar
him," said another, " and I'll eat him afterwards."
" Hang him," advised a third. " No," interrupted an
old man, " he'll slip through the rope. I myself was
once nearly lost at sea, and I know from experience
there is no death so cruel as drowning."

So the de\dce of the old man met with general
applause, and he was invited to accompany liis lord in
a boat out at sea [to drown the eel, who, when he was
cast into the water, wriggled, twirled, and twisted for

joy-

" See !" exclaimed the old man to the lord of Mols,
" see how the eel writhes — what a hard death he is
dymg !"

A little higher up the coast lies the Castle of Kats-
holm, concerning the foundation of which there hangs
a tale much like that of our own Dick Whittino-ton. A
bad unjust man died, and left his property between his
three sons ; but the youngest, who was an honest lad,
when he had received his share, said to himself, " What
has come with sin must go away with care :" so he
determined to put the money to the water ordeal, and
cast it into the lake, knowing that what was unjustly
got would sink and the rest jfloat. He did so, and one
farthing only floated ; with this farthing he purchased
a cat, not far from kittening time, and went by ship to
a foreign land where rats and mice abounded and cats
were unknown. There his kittens bore him little cats
in their turn ; he sold them, made a large fortune, re-
turned to Jutland, and there built a castle, which he
called Katsholm.

KUUND CHUKCH, THOHSAGKK.

Vci. 11. p. 49.

SECTIONS AND GROUND-l'LANS OF CIIUIICII, TIIOUSAGKI!.

Vol. 11 p 4i>

CiFAP. XXXII. LADY HILDE TROLLE. 49

But Katsliolm was not always inliabitcd by lionest
people, for in the last century Lady Hilde Trolle,
Baroness of H0gliolm, dwelt there — a bad harsh wo-
man, who had sold her body to the evil one for cer-
tain sublunary advantages. When the appointed time
arrived she was in bed with her daughter ; a terrible
noise was heard on the staircase, and she well knew that
her last hour was come. She bade her daughter rise
and see who was there, in hopes the demon might make
a mistake and carry her off instead, but the girl reso-
lutely refused to do as she was bidden. Then the door
flew open, and the lady was dragged out on the staircase.
Terrible shrieks were heard, and all died away. The
next morn in sr her head was found on tlie stairs torn
from her body, for the agreement had been only made
for her body, and the demon kept to the letter of his
bond ; so it was buried in the old coffin of a former
possessor of the castle, whom the Lady Hilde had turned
out of his last abode to make use of his bones for her
necromancies.

And now we go on to Thorsager to visit its far-famed
round church — the most perfect of the eight still exist-
ing in Denmark,* It stands well on an elevation,
a picturesque object as you approach, towering like a
castle above the village. Its constniction is assigned to
Bishop Peter, our old friend of Aarhuus and Silkeborg,
though, had he trusted to chance and his silken cap in
this case, and the wind as high as it is to-day, there is
no knowing where the peasants might have had to run
for their devotions. Some say that there existed in early

* Two in Zealand— Storehedinge and Biemcdo; one in Funen —
Home, atFaabor;; ; one in Jutland — Thorsager ; and four in Uornholm
— Osterlarg, Nykerd, 01s, and Ny. Storehedinge is oetagonal.

VOL. II. E

50 THOnSAGER. Chap. XXXII.

days a temple of Thor on this site — later Christianised,
as was often the case .; the round part cannot be of Bishop
Peter's day, he may have added the rounded apse, tlie
gabled tower, and the porch ; but architecture in Jutland
was behind that of other countries. This church is of
an earlier date than the twelfth century ; the original
building is circular, the round-vaulted roof supported
by massive columns ; an interior circular tower leads
to the belfry above ; and from the strength of the
supporting columns, it may be inferred a tower far
more imposing than the small existing extinguishers
had formerly risen from their bases. Hanging to the
church walls were white and silver garlands, placed
according to ancient usasfe to commemorate the death
of some youthful maiden — a custom which existed in
England formerly. Thirteen storks' nests on the
village house-tops, all teeming Avith young, did we
count from the churchyard of Thorsager.

It is curious to witness, when travelling, the gradual
transition from the Pagan worship to that of the
Christian faith. In Brittany you see the crucifix
planted above the menhir, sanctifying the Pagan
monument. " Let the idea soak in," thought the
priests, — " the old man may still in his heart adhere
to his early worship, but the child will bow to the cross
later," — and a fine jumble of Eomanism and Paganism
still exists there to the present day. Here Thor
formed a stumbling-block to proselytising monks in the
tenth century. Before the porch and doorway of Thor-
sager church lie two simple grave-stones of very early
date, inscribed wdth Kunic characters, hardly legible
even to those who understand them : on one is a single
cross ; on the earlier stone a cross also, but a cross so

Chap. XXXII. EOSEXHOLM. 51

strongly resembling tlie hammer of Tlior, it might do
as \yell for one as for the other. "How little differ-
ence !" must have argued the monk ;
" another point only and the hammer
becomes a cross ;" so the giant's
chamber became abandoned, no more
gold ornaments interred. The cross
is engraved upon the stone slab — very
heathen-looking cross — but there must
be a beginning to all things ; in the
next generation Thor and his hammer
are forgotten. Workmen were busy
whitewashing the old brick edifice,
lich-gate and all. What a wicked
waste of quick-lime does take place in Denmark ! It
was refreshing, on arriving at Rosenholm, to feel our-
selves again among respectable old red brick, relieved
by Gothic mouldings, white stone copings, and armorial
shields picked out in their proper colours.

ROSENHOLM.

We were received at the entrance by the brother
of Baron Rosenkrantz, and soon joined by the j-est
of the family — residing at that time in the castle
— who conducted us round the apartments, pointing
out to us the most remarkable of the numerous col-
lection of family portraits, and those of historic in-
terest, amounting to many hundreds in number.

The chateau of Roscnholm was founded in the six-
teenth century by J0rgen Rosonkrantz — the earlier
manor of the family, Hevringsholra, having beeu de-
stroyed by Skipper Clemens and his band. Above the

E 2

52 ROSENHOLM. Chap. XXXII.

entrance lio caused to be placed the following inscrip-
tion, after tlie fashion of the day, —

" We have not built a durable house,
But we hope later to possess one."

The portraits date from the sixteenth century —
beginning with the father and mother of the founder.
Passing over the various sovereigns, of whom we have
already had a sufficient dose elsewhere, among those
of Jutland interest we have the portrait of fair Ellen
Marsviin, mother of Christina Munk, who determined,
as you will later hear, if she did marry an old man, it
shouldn't be for nothing. Here hangs Holger Rosen-
krantz, the savant, who founded at Eosenholm two
schools, one for young girls, another for youths, whose
education he superintended himself. Next is Erik, the
vouthful ambassador at the court of Cromwell, under
Christian V., in buff jerkin and falling collar ; on his first
presentation his ill-mannered host scoffed at his youthful
appearance : " A minister without a beard !" " If,"
replied Rosenkrantz, " my sovereign had known it was
a beard you required, he could have sent you a goat ;
at any rate, my beard is of older date than your pro-
tectorate." The Protector collapsed, and so the matter
ended.*

* Among the heroines of this family was Anna, wife of Holger
Kosenkrantz, lord of Boiler. Slie had been grande maitresse to three
successive Queens of Denmark, and was banished the country by
king Christian II., who received in ill part the good advice she gave
him. When Frederic I. ascended the throne she was recalled, and
arrived at Eingsted, with others of the nobility. Tiio soldiers of the
exiled monarch still committed great excesses in the country ; the
lady Anna advised them to desist, as their king could never regain the
aftections of his subjects, which advice so irritated them, as well as
certain citizens of Copenhagen, that they massacred her without mercy.
The lady Anna appears to have been too fond of giving advice
unasked. Two Miss Globs, at tliat time on a visit to her, nearly

Chap. XXXII. THE ROSENKRAXTZ FAJIILY. 63

Another Eosenkrantz, Palle, Avas sent to England as
ambassador in the time of James I., to arrange the pay-
ment of 300,000 crowns, lent, at 6 per cent, interest,
by King Christian to James, when Iving of Scotland.
James was so pleased with Eosenkrantz that he gave
him his portrait set round with diamonds.

Then we have Olaf, the apologist for the nobility
and denier of the divine right of kings — pronounced a
traitor, exiled, his property confiscated; next Eosen-
krantz, minister of Christian VII., in grand gala dress
as Knight of the Elephant ; and endless others, all more
or less distinguished in their way, many bearing round
their necks massive gold chains to which are attached
portraits of their sovereigns. Then the Jutland alii
ances of the family: Eleanor Ulfeld; the Eeventlow
■Queen — far superior to that of Frederiksborg ; —
Krag, Krabbe, H0g, Eriis, Sehested, de Eeetz, Brahe,
Gabel, Lange, Bille, Bielke, and other families, many
of them since passed away — chi'onological portraits of
ooO years, interesting even to a stranger but slightly
acquainted with the histoiy of the Eosenkrantz family.

We visited the gardens and the woods; never saw
so many snakes, harmless though they are. Game too
abounds in the forest — foxes, hares, and birds of all
kinds ; grand fox battues, you will be shocked to hear,
every autumn. (Count Friis hunts his foxes with a small
pack of beagles.) I wonder what my old fox-hunting
friend would say to whom I once spoke of this custom :
" Shoot a fox, Sir? zounds ! I'd sooner shoot a Dane ;"
and he would have done so.

After much land pressing we remained to dinner ;

'i7/T')Il li'i-r'ii:''.-,..,!T . j ' .1' .^ .! i;Ji;;li"i j-),-' .
I— — . ^ 1 I

undonvcnt the same fak- ; Imt their beauty cxcitci.l the pity of the
bystanders, who rescued them.

54 ROSEXHOLM. Chap. XXXII.

dined in the old Riddersaal, where above the carved
chimney— fireplace fitted with chenets of the period —
hang Jdrgen Rosenkrantz and Dorthe Lange his wife,
15(57, and other splendid full-length portraits.

The name of Rosenkrantz, well known to all readers
of ' Hamlet,' is of great antiquity ; all you hear of that
blood is good, illustrious, and well spoken of in the
annals of the country ; and the Jutland peasants will
point out, around the manor of Hevringsholni, which is
said to have been in their possession from the sixth
century, numerous barrows, where the earlier members
of the family lie interred.*

It was a mystery how, in Jutland, where the great
names are of primteval simplicity, mostly signifying
the names of animals — daa, hog ; brock (badger),
&c. — anything so romantic as Rosenla-antz— crown of
roses— could have inserted itself. It appears that Sir
Otto Nielsen of Hevringsholm accompanied Christian I.
to Rome on a pilgrimage, and the pope of the time
presented the sovereign with a golden violet, Sir Otto
with a crown of roses — strange present to a Northman ;
iu consequence of which honour Sir Otto thenceforth
adopted the patronymic of Rosenkrantz.

There exists a tradition that Rosenheim will fall in
its own ruins some Christmas-eve ; but as lono- as the

* There is no doubt that this custom of bur5dng imder h^is con-
tinued long after tlie introduction of the Eeformed ttiitli. In former
days there existed a Eunic stone in the churchyard of Tommerby, near
Skive, unfortunately removed by Sir Iver Krabbe to Torstedlund,
with the following inscription : —

" My name is Vidric Viis,
My father dwelt in Floieriis.
I built this church for thee,
But you must pray for me.
My father lies in Aaleh0i,
Myself I lie iuVegelhpi."

CiiAP. XXXII. CHURCH OF IIORXSLET. 55

little turret-shaped clock, of tlie sixteenth century, en-
graved with the arms of J0rgen and his wife Dorthe
Lange, continues to wag its pendulum and strike the
hours, no ill will befall Eosenholm, and, from the activity
it evinces at present in the salon, little alarm need be
excited for the future fate of the family whose destinies
its good works hold within its power.

People talk much of the ill will existing between the
landlord and the peasant in the country ; but to-day I
was struck, on admii'ing at dinner a massive silver
ewer engraved with trailing vine-leaves, to find by the
inscription it was an ottering of affection and gi'atitude
from the peasants of the adjoining village to Baron
Eosenkrantz, on the celebi'ation of his silver marriage :
there was also a bread-basket of the same metal pre-
sented by the servants and retainers of the family.
After dinner we drove down to visit the village church
of Hornslet, a very St. Denis of the family, dating from
the fifteenth century : here we have them all again —
Erik, governor of the castle of Bergen, \\ho received
Bothwell on his arrival ; Holger and his wife ; Erik, no
longer to be snubbed, but Erik, portly " Legatus ad
Anglos," in company with three ladies, his wives, all
dressed in white satin — as though they had inherited
each other's gowns. Then there is a library in the
church for the use of the population — the gift of Holger
the savant ; and lastly a chained book bound in copper,
with a list of the monuments, inscriptions, and epi-
taphia, a legacy to the church from Erik's widow ;
and a deal else about the chronicles of the familv.*

* In the collection of engravings by Schatten is the frontispiece to
the funcnil sermon, representing the epitiipliiuin of Krik Kosinlcriuitz,
in whicli an angel is pictured as Uescemliug from heaven ami piuciuy a
crown of roaes upon his brow.

56 KOSENHOLM. Chap. XXXII.

In the Kosenbolm archives was preserved the private
collection of royal autographs extant from the time of
Christian III. downwards ; the letters of Erik during
his embassy to England, as well as the correspondence
with Ulfeld, Christina Munk, Tycho Brahe, &c. They
were unfortunately removed, after the death of the
minister Kosenkrantz, to Norway, and consumed in the
conflagration of Frederikshall, 1826. J0rgen Kosen-
krantz, founder of Eosenholm, was in the household
of Queen Dorothea, and employed on all occasions by
Frederic 11. He was sent envoy to the Emperor, Duke of
Saxony, and other potentates. In his journal, 7th October,
156-i, we find : " Travelled from Leipsic to Vienna, to
have audience of the Emperor ]\Iaximilian, who re-
ceived me in his own chamber ; and there was no one
else — we were alone. But his council and all his
servants were in the next room, and could hear our
converse ; and he gave answers nobly and well."

We drive through the extensive forest where in 1849
the German army encamped itself: they luckily ad-
vanced no further north, but were speedily expelled
from the country. The sun was sinking behind the hill
— half-past nine — as we drove tlu-ough the village : sud-
denly a bell began to toll. " What is that ?" we inquired.
The sunset bell always rings as the sun goes down. —
the ancient curfew of England, as it still exists in old
cathedral towns. Do not imagine we leave to-night
for Eanders, our kind hosts will not hear of it; so
here am I, sitting in an old tapestried chamber,
writing my journal. My windows look on the moat.
There are no ghosts, and my tapestries are pleasant
to gaze upon — a hunting scene and a picnic ; a boy page
plays the cithern, while couples dance under the green-

I

Chap. XXXII. BULSKOVGAARD. 57

wood tree. No fear of ghosts among sucli liglit-liearted
beings. The stove too — such an antique stove — with
bas-relief and cipher of Frederic IV. ; and there is the
king too, with a Lady on each side — his two queens per-
haps— no, they are Justice and Plenty ; the king on
horseback ; hand issuing from the clouds places a crown
upon his head, '' proving thereby the Divine Right of
Danish kings." Queer to find this in the house of a
Eosenkrantz ! a family who suffered from its opposition
to absolutism, but such was the Jesuitism of the day : as
the Portuguese missionaries caused sacred subjects to be
painted on china, for the conversion of the Chinese —
very rare these pieces are, the Emperor ordered them
all to be broken up — so the absolute Government of
Frederic IV. caused the Divine Right to be propa-
gated on the stoves.

Friday, 2bth. — After breakfast we drove overtoBuls-
kovgaard, a residence belonging to a brother of the
possessor of Rosenholm, near the fiorde, overlooking the
island of Kalo and its ruined castle ; dined ; and at five
o'clock took leave of oiu- hospitable friends. The old
Danish proverb of " De Eeisende have mange Herberge,
og faa Venner" — " Travellers find many inns, but few
friends " — is not here realized ; on the contrary, the
Jutlanders seem "At holde Kong Artus hof " — keep open
house — a proverb the open table of that mythic sove-
reign, at which all knights found a cover ready, gave rise
to. At Bulskovgaard i\r. de Rosenkrantz showed me a
piece of prtrcelain clay found on his estate, of which he
forwards large quantities every year ior the fabrication of
porcelain at Copenhagen. Our way ran through a wide
expansive countrj', windy and bleak, wliich, were it not
for the regiment of turl'-heaps ranged like huge black

58 CLxVUSHOLSI. Chap. XXXII.

"pastilles a brMer" along the morass, would have
reminded me of parts of Dorsetshire : every house is
protected by a wood ; every village nestles in a dell.
The Jutland clergy are not badly paid on an ave-
rage : he of Hornslet, the village church we last even-
ing visited, enjoys an income of 1000 thalers, about
120?. English, house, &c. ; he of M0rke 3000, about
360?. : part is paid in money, part in tithes ; and it
may be consolatory to their English brethren to hear
the clergy have as much difficulty in getting tithes paid
in Jutland as elsewhere. In Aalborg and its neigh-
bom-hood their tithes depend upon the price of corn.
Considering the cheapness of the land they live in, they
are not badly off; added to which, their wives and
families are more simple in their habits than those of an
English clergyman ; no young man of good family ever
choosing the chm-ch as his profession. In each village
there is a school and school-house, fm-nished partly by
the Government, partly by the community, an apo-
thecary and doctor : gymnastics too are the fashion,
poles and gibbets erected for the boys in every " hands-
bye " we pass. We are quite pleased this evening to
come across a pair of ruined village stocks, quite out of
fashion here as in our oym country.

CLAUSHOLM.

We are now on our way (if we are not first blown to
shreds) to Clausholm, the bhthplace as well as death-
^place of the Eeventlow Queen.

In early days this manor belonged to the Brok
family, great people once in these parts. In the year
1404 one of this family, Jens Brok, was slain by

Chap. XXXII. THE REVENTLOW QUEEN. 51)

another Jutland noble, by name Jens Lovenbalk.
The Broks demand vengeance against the murderer
from the great Queen Margaret, who orders a reconci-
liation next year to take place in her presence at
Helsin<?borfi;.

She condemns the mm-derer to give his victim a
splendid funeral, which is to be attended by the members
of both families, to -found an eternal mass for his
soul in St. Clement's church of Aarhuus, and also to
send at his own expense six pilgrims to six different
holy places, Jerusalem and St. lago in Spain among
the number ; as well as nine more to the most remark-
able shrines in the Xorth : that done, the culprit was
to be considered as whitewashed.

Clausholm aftenvards came into possession of the
Grand Chancellor Eeventlow, father of the queen, Avho
liere died in 1708.

It was three years after the death of her father the
king first met the fair Anna at a royal masquerade at
Koldinghuus.* With Frederic it was love at first
sight ; he at once declared his passion. Anna replied,
she must " ask mamma," and ask mamma she did, and
received a box on the ears for her comfort ; for the
aged countess was a woman of high and honom-ablo prin-
ciples. Six months later Frederic determined to visit
Anna at her mother's house of Clausholm, where he
was received with great politeness by the widow of the
Grand Chancellor. The dinner concluded, he had the
vulgarity to leave a roll of 1000 ducats in his napkin,

* Frederic caused tliifl meeting to bo commemorated Ly a cliarming
painted ceiling at Frederiksborg, rcpreseutiiig the masquerade ut
Koldinsrhuus.

60 CLAUSHOLM. Chap, XXXII,

wliicli the high-spirited lady observing ordered in the
king's presence to be distributed to the poor of the
hamlet. The king, disgusted at his want of success,
returned to Skanderborg, where the sister of fair Anna,
as well as her brother, informed him that she really
cared for him.

The servants were gained, the waiting-maid of com'se.
When the king drove up by night to Clausholm the
fair Anna came out from a side-door to meet him, and
was carried off by the king to Skanderborg, where he
contracted with her " a conscience marriage," created
her Princess of Slesvig, and for ten years lived with her,
the husband of two wives, until the death of his first
queen, when he espoused her a few days afterwards.

Christian VI., after the death of his father, wrote her
a short letter with his own hand, stating how, after so
many years' disgraceful living with his father, her subse-
quent marriage and coronation, she deserved the severest
punishment. He accuses her of stealing jewels from
Kosenborg, but allows her to retain Clausholm, granting
her a pension of 28,000 thalers, a capital of 100,000,
and a box of diamonds bequeathed her by his father.

Her mother, after a lapse of seven years, consented
again to see her. Then she retired, banished by her
stepson, and died twelve years later from an attack of
small-pox, 7th January, 1743. -nilorf

As we drive up, her arms still appear painted on
the massive wooden deors of the castle gateway.

She was a great fool this Anna Sophia, and piqued
herself on the writing of bad verses, which she caused
to be engraved on the gold tankards in her possession.
On one vase of gold, found among her treasures, three

Chap. XXXII. AN OLD-FASHIONED GARDEN. Bl

feet high, date 1717, with her name and cipher imder a
royal crown, is engraved —

"Ma main m'a scu gagner cet or par son adrease :
Que ue doit esp^rer mon coeur par sa tendresse ?"

On another —

*' It pleased the king to be tricked and lose this gold, the contents
of which he will taste. But the loss is not great when the king
loses gold to a person who is I'aithful for ever."

In Rosenborg is preserved a gilt vase, ordered by
Frederic to commemorate his marriage with Anna
Sophia. He had much better have said nothing about
it.

It stands well embowered in woods, does Clausholm —
terraces, allees, and slopes — without any exception the
prettiest old place we have yet visited. Such a dream
too of an old-fashioned garden — the pen of the poet
Crabbo could alone describe it. No flower blessed
with a botanical name would dare to blow within
its hedges. A guard should be set to watch the en-
trance and ask, " Avez-vous fait vos preuves ?" " Have
you been painted by Van Huysum ?" Eoses and tulips,
lilies and candytuft, sweet William and marjorum, gilli-
flowers and traveller's-joy : wlien plucked they would
only form '• posies," and could be placed in nothing but
a " bou-pot." It would be pleasant to dream of Claus-
holm— a souvenir of the past.

62 RANDERS. Chap, XXXIII.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

Brausgaard and the Bruces — Banders' 'commerce, her gloves and

beer — Duel of the Counts — Manors of the Scheel family — A
midnight wandering in Jutland.

EANDEES.

We then made for Eanders, passing by tile manor of
Brunsgaard, pronounced Bruce, still a common name
in Jutland. With all due respect to the memory of
Scotland's mighty Bruce, Bruce in the Danish tongue
signifies nothino- more nor less than " muddle-headed."
An horn' and a half's drive brings us to the bridge
of Banders, which crosses the clear water of the
Guden Aa.

Saturday, 26th. — A most successful little town is
Eanders, one of the pleasantest in Jutland, not situated
on the fiorde, as Murray declares, but at seven miles'
distance. Guden Aa still teems with salmon and
trout ; excellent fish, preserved against nets, but open
to flies at large. They don't rise. It might be pic-
turesque, too, little Banders, were it not too genteel
and seized with the fear of the "bumpkin fever."
Such .old timber houses, chessboard and striped ! such
carvings ! Front, how he would have loved them ! but
striped houses are here deemed vulgar, village-like ; so
they paint them stone colour, and hoj)e that travellers
may mistake tliem for plaster, if not stucco. On Guden
Aa's banks bristles a little merchant fleet of shipping —

Chap. XXXIII. COMMERCE. 63

deals en masse from Norway and Sweden, for the Jut-
land peasants are inveterate builders ; then, too, they
export corn and fish, their far-famed diy salmon fetching
a liigher price in the market than any other. Pork,
too, they salt in Jutland, and Kanders manufactures
linen — quite a little commerce of their o\\ n ; on the
other side is the barge laden ready for Silkeborg— an
eight days' passage.

To-day is market-day ; such a rich market ! Look
at the butter : the meat of best quality, ?>^d. a Danish
pound, two ounces more than the English ; second qua-
lity, dd. Look at the potatoes and other vegetables ;
above all, those splendid pots of yellow piccotees laden
with flowers. Observe, too, those old Jutland peasants,
— their pictm-esque costumes, Hessian boots, velvet
breeches, and old-cut coat of our grandfathers' days,
covered with huge silver buttons. And the w^omen
bringing their rolls of home-made linen to market:
how solid, how well-to-do they look! a pleasure to see
them! no finery, but good, wrought, stout, homespun
dresses. The young men, sad to say, run after modern
fashions, adopt the town-made trousers, and fight shy
of good mud-preserving Hessians. Eanders possesses
one fine church, dedicated to St. Morton, founded,
as a fresco on the walls denotes, " In memoriam,"
by good King John, who all devoutly hope "re-
quiescat in pace." You walk over sepulchral stones,
— knights, Imrghers, and ladies, plenty of them, none
remarkable that you ever heard of. Not far from the
church stands an hospital for one hundred and fifty aged
men and womr^n, clothed and fed, as well ns jieiisions of
twenty-five dollars yearly paid to out-door pensioners, —
a charitable foundation raised on the very spot where,

64 KANDERS. Chap. XXXIII.

in the wars of the Counts, Niels Ebbesen slew in single
combat the rebel Count of Holstein ; for Banders, like
other towns, has her history, and has played her part
in her country's story. Her gloves Avere famous in
the eighteenth century ; French ladies much affected
them and wore them at night : they were said to
render a fair white hand whiter still ; and the proverb
ran — "As well known as Banders gloves." Banders,
too, in early days boasted a manufactory of equal but
less enviable notoriety — her beer. In the year 158G
no less than six murders committed within her walls
were attributed by the judge to the effects of this in-
toxicating liquor. The German proverb ran — "He
Mho comes from Banders not intoxicated or beaten is a
lucky man."

But good, as we all know, sometimes comes out of evil.
In the days of Skipper Clemens, when, after the battle
of Svenstrup Heath, Eosenkrantz * and Banner, beaten by
the peasant forces, retired on Banders, they were there
besieged without success; for the "boers" found so
much beer in the cellars outside the walls that they gave
themselves over to intoxication, and Banders proved to
the rabble forces of the Jutland Jacquerie a second
Capua.

We visited the public gardens, the airy barracks for
the young cavalry recruits, and their spacious stables ;
turned into the Town-hall to look at the modern picture
of the duel between Niels Ebbesen and the Holstein
count, and the charming portrait of Lena Brok, who

* One of his brothers, Otto, fell in the tight— you may see liis tomb
at Krogsbsek cliurch, raised by his spouse, a Gyldenstierue, and over
his coffin lies the sword he on that day so bravely wielded in the
mele'e.

CuAP. XXXIII. G.UIMEL-ESTRUP. 65

left her money to the toAvn to portion off poor young
maidens. We feel quite in England to-day, what Avith
the Bruees and the Broks ; and here again was a por-
trait of old John Caroe, pronounced Carew, ancient
burgomaster of the city. Then on to-day's journey or
near it we have the villages of Dyrby, Ilaaby, and
Beilby, and again at the table-d'hote they served us
" gooseberry fool."

GAMMEL-ESTRUP.

The horses are announced ; we start for Gammel-
Estrup, the ancient Herregaard of the Counts of
Scheel — "gaard" in Danish answers to our English
word " court," of which some two or three are always
added to the main building, offices, stables, &c. A
very ugly road we drove over. Before arriving at our
destination — fiir to the right lies Ammel Hede (heath),
properly called Amlets Hede, which is mentioned in
ISaxo Grammaticus as one of the places so named
after the Danish prince — we met with a fox wending
his way leism-dy along the roadside. Don't imagine
he cared for us — not a whit : as the wagen passed he
turned round, sat up just like a pointer dog, or fox
in the fable of Maitre Corbeau. He would have given
me a paw liad I requested him. Tlio towers of
Gammel-Estnip now appear in sight. We drive as
usual through the gaard and gateway, cross two sepa-
rate moats — bright sparkling running water here, con-
nected M'ith the Eanders fiorde ; SAvans in numbers,
and cygnets too — (piite right tlie heraklic bearings and
supporters of the house of Sclieel — and then descend in
tlie inner court of the castle. Count Schec-l was ab-
sent, but his brother-in-law, Captain Sparling of the

VOL. II. F

66 GAMMEL-ESTRUP, Chap. XXXIII.

Hussars, had kindly given us a note to one of the
family, who did the honours of the place. We walked
through the garden : in green " caisses " stood gigantic
orange-trees in full blossom and perfume, nearly coeval
with the building, which dates from an early part
of the sixteenth century, commenced before, but not
finished in time for Skipper Clemens to burn it to the
ground. Of red brick, flanked on the entrance side by
two octagonal towers, crowned with open-work battle-
ments, it reminded me of Hampton Court.

When once in these Jutland courts, and you have
visited the Riddersaal, you have seen the best. Here it
is a spacious oblong room, the conventional form ; heavy
ceiling richly decorated in compartments once painted ;
walls hung with ancient tapestry, representing some
twelve chateaux, all, like this, ending in " Up," *
possessed by the family in the last century, when
the Count of Scheel of that ilk is said to have
ridden from Grenaa to Viborg, a distance of sixty Eng-
lish miles, without once quitting his own estates ; but
said Count Scheel, a fast young officer, loved cards and
dice as well, and he gambled away estate after estate.
The saal is entirely hung round mth oval portraits,
many of them very charming, by Juel. We are now
well " up " in these pictures, and recognise at once one
old acquaintance. I was quite glad again to see the
Arveprinds, son of Juliana, and his fair wife of most
destructive eyes, "fendus a I'amande," with just a
Chinese " squeedge " at the corners ; they are heredi-
tary too, and are reproduced in a second generation
in the person of her handsome granddaughter, the
.Princess Augusta of Hesse.

* " Up " is a corruption of thorp."

Chap. XXXIII. RESIDENCE OF THE SCHEELS. 67

Here hangs, mounted on his white horse, the portrait
of Count J0rgen Scheel, 1740, minister to the Court of
the Empress of All the Russias in the last centmy, one
of the handsomest men of his day ; at least the Em-
press Catherine appears to have been of this opinion,
for with her he was in gi'eat favour, so much so as
to excite the jealousy of the favomite, Orloff, by
M'hose artifices he is said to have died poisoned at
St. Petersburg. We then climbed the corkscrew
tower to the rooms above. Long corridors hung with
portraits : Christian IV. and other worthies, royal and of
gentle blood, sadly in want of restoration. Such black
wood, brass-bound chests stand ranged along the passages,
fuU, may be, of the faded dresses of the originals of the
pictures which cover the walls. Can't you imagine the
velvet doublets and guipure-trimmed farthingales con-
tained in such a tapestiy-hung chamber? Grim knights
and most prim ladies frown down upon you from their
frames. Old beds of needlework (prodigies of patience
and bad perspective, topped by stumpy panaches of dis-
coloured feathers), handiwork of some fonner countess
and her ladies; old mirrors, old toilets, powder and
pomade boxes, tables covered with old Dutch tiles, e^-c.
" Surely there must be a ghost-chamber here ? " we
inquired. There was once a ghost who liaunted one of
the largest rooms in the castle, fitted with two beds
— no one will, however, sleep there, and it is now a
lumber-room. , ; . ^

We must positively stay to tea. Seven miles Danish
on to J\[ariager before niglitfall. We liesitate, but it is
all prepared, so we accept. A Jutlander would feel
WTetchcd if you quitted liis house without breaking
your fast. Tired of inquiring how many cows people

F 2

68 GAMMEL-ESTRUP. Chap. XXXIII.

keep, I ask this time, in my very best Danish,
'•How many horses?" Eighty-five is the reply, in
the stable, for farm piui^oses as well. We are now
in the horse country. There was a cattle-market at
Eanclers this morning — mercifully we were spared a
horse-market : last week there were more than a thou-
sand brought in for sale ; good strong animals they
are too, perhaps a little heavy in the shoulder.
Six thousand were lately sent to France, and orders
came for three thousand more. The " Jagt," too, is
excellent, deer, chevreuil, birds of all kinds in abun-
dance, and fish into the bargain. We now take our
leave, and jump out for one minute at Auning church
to visit the monument of Count J0rgen Scheel. He
reclines, after the manner of his day, in long curled
wig and armour (Danes wore it later than other
nations), bearing in his hand a baton, of some kind
he had probably used in lifetime ; beside him an
angel sounds the last trumj), while about his head
a sister seraph unfolds a roll of marble, on which
appear in bas-relief the features of the Eussian Em-
press— queer idea, considering the scandal of the
times ! Having tipped the " Deacon," as they here
call the gi'ave-digger — an odd jumble of clerical titles
— we are again en route. Jutland farmers make
their own bricks, bake them at the house-side, and
build them to the ready established timber as soon as
worked and dry. We meet a chevreuil browsing on
the heath, and then a manor-house, which the talkative
postboy greatly admires, painted bright yellow. No
signposts, and bye-roads by the dozen. We miss our
way, and after a great deal of hallooing and inquiring
arrive at the fefry's side, whose barge, for conveni-

Chap. XXXIII. JIIDXIGHT WANDERING. 69

euce sake, is kept midway out at sea, and has to be
fetched by a cockle-shell. The postilion too, tells
his horses to "stande"— not to staac— " stille," he
constantly inquires the "vay," no longer "vei;" and
beffs to know if we start tomorrow in the "fore-
noun," or the " atternoun,"— -veiy bad Danish, " qmte
incomprehensible the Jutlanders," so folks told me
in Copenhagen, but very like the English language.
Well, we get over the fen-y, and walk on some mile
and a half on tlie straight road, and are hallooed back
again. Who ever would have imagined that woody
path to the right ? And noAV it is eleven o'clock and
twilight, and all the world asleep. We drive over a bare
waste ; ought to pass through the villages of Tweed and
Kirby, so pronounced at any rate.* AVe stop, knock
up the people in the village, tap at one casement ; no
answer ; on till the tenth ; a voice replies ; by this time
the nine others are awake — all heads out at once, half
asleep, directing, or more probably misdirecting, our
steps — such a chatter — might as well have disturbed a
hen-house. " Turn to the right :" some eight different
paths diverge like the points of a star. Here's a puzzle ;
of course go wrong; are received at the entrance of
a farm-yard by a furious watch-dog; turn again;
we wander, benighted — no sign, no post through the
land. See, there's the fiorde : we approach it — no sucli
thing : a long line of mist rising along the valley from
the Mose, but the road is good ; two miles we rattle along
at a merry pace ; all wrong again — 'tis a herregaard.
" Oh!" exf.'hiims the postboy, " if I had only turned my
stocking inside out we should never have lost the way."

* Tvede and KrerLy.

70 GAMMEL-ESTKUP. Chap. XXXIII.

A Jutland remedy. We are at last in the bon cliemin ;
lialf-past one o'clock, no watchman to tell it though,
nothing but sleepy ruminating cows and frightened
tethered sheep under our very carriage-wheels. Those
most uncomfortable creatures, the larks, are already up
and about, swelling their voices in praise of early morn
till ready to burst. Rising with the lark in Jutland
must be never going to bed at all. The heavens — twi-
light long since over — become rosy-tinted, betokening
the sun's early arrival. We now enter a forest — all
beech and heather — the fiorde in sight. We drive along
the heights above : how calm, how beautiful ! A small
capped snow-white tower — 'tis Manager — nestling
among the trees; below lies the little village. We
rattle down the hill-side, knock up the Gja3stgiver and
liis myrmidons : by five o'clock (sun long ago up and
about) we are in bed and asleep. N.B. Never go wan-
dering after nightfall among unknown cross-roads in
Jutland.

Chap. XXXIV. MAEIAGEE. 71

CHAPTEE XXXIY.

The village of Manager — Story of Sir Hem and Sir Sem — Poor
Marj-'s well — A black stork — A Jutland plain -:— Sea of barrows —
Wicked Baroness of Lindenborgr.

MAPJAGER.

Sunday, 2Gth. — When I rose from my bed this morn-
ing and gazed from the attic windoAV on the scene
below, it seemed, had we searched all Denmark over,
we could not have selected a calmer, quieter spot to
pass our Sunday than the small village of Mariager.
Our inn is of the humblest description : whitewashed
walls, but cleanest of beds ; a better breakfast, tea and
all, could not have been served us at the Clarendon,
on prettier porcelain or finer linen. The landlord
gathers us his finest roses to decorate our table, set out
in the village ball-room, an indispensable necessary in
these dance-loving lands.

How pretty, too, is the cloister church of ]\[ariager
rising from among the trees, di.stinguished from her
village sisters by her high-arched lancet windows and
stately gable ; she reminds me of some fair lady, who,
like La Valliere, has retired secluded from the world,
to seek consolation and that peace which this world
affordeth not, in solitude, meditation, and prayer. She
is still grande. dame, even in her adversity. The people,
too, respect her, poverty-stricken though she be ; tliey
have planted and trailed a natural archway of limes,

72 MARIAGER. Chap. XXXIV.

under which you approach her cemetery. The village
runs down to the waterside, and possesses there a wee
harbour all of its own, wliere two or three Norwegian
vessels unload their planks upon the jetty. Not far
removed is the small bathing establishment, and over
the little custom-house floats the Danish flag.

Very quiet and composed is the village of Manager
on this Sabbath morn : a few peasants in their Sunday's
best, patterns of rustic neatness, are now on their way
to church. A stuhhvagen drives by laden with six Jut-
landers, sober old-fashioned folks; beside the driver
sits a musician, with distended cheeks, playing most
vigorously on the flageolet. A wedding or something-
must be going on : we go and see, and meet a return
christening, a small baby, well wrapped and nigh suffo-
cated in a colom-ed blanket. As we enter the church-
yard we meet the stifi'-ruffed parson, who calls his
"deacon" to accompany us. Deacon, an Old Mor-
tality, knows all the tombstones by heart, and is anxious
to display his knowledge. Well-worn knight and eccle-
siastic, whose inscriptions will soon be trodden away, and
become things of the past, like the families in whose
houses they were erected — most of them slain at the
battle of Aalborghuus * — lie here interred.

Very English do they sound to our astonished ears :
the Hogs, Broks, Lockes, Lawson, Gait, and Beuzon ;
the list closing with good Bishop Crump (crooked),
last Eoman Catholic prelate of Aalborg, who, the
Eeformation once declared, ousted from his diocese
(stift), retu-ed to Manager or its whereabouts, and lies
buried among his relatives, not far removed from

* 1534.

CiiAP. XXXIV. CONVENT CHURCH. 73

Sir Otto Crump and his noble and liigh-born lady
Dame Anna Locke. Wliile deciphering his epitaph-
ium on tlie carved stone, thinking how calm and
quiet must have been his end, removed far from
this world's strife iti placid Mariager, Old Mortahty
opens wide a gate, and there before my eyes lay ex-
tended the Avorthy Bishop, all dust and bones past cor-
ruption. By his side lay the bodies of two cloistered
nuns — I trust no facetious inuendo of the early lie-
formers — and in the same sepulchral chamber lie
bmidled together old crucifixes, figures of saints, and
objects of papistic times, placed aside until again
wanted.

This convent church, white^Aashed and slated, rising
from her leafy frame, would have inspired the muse of
some 2^0Gt of tlie last century — Gray, Goldsmith, or
the like. But here am I gossij)ing about Mariager,
and quite forgetting her early history. " Early history!"
you reply ; "no doubt about that; some establishment of
fat monks or idle nuns, all in honour of the Virgin —
trust them to choose a good situation ! plenty of fish,
plenty of game in the forest hard by : they knew well
what they were about, forsooth !"'

But ]\Iary the Virgin had nought to do with this
foundation, IMary, a virgin, and a luckless one too,
endowed with two hearts (" La femme a deux coeurs,"
of which 1 have heard say, is no novelty), — here was a
sad Iiistory. It was long, long ago there li\'ed on the
baidcs of the deep blue fiorde we now gaze upon a
youthful damsel, before-mentioned Mary, the fairest, the
richest in all North Jutland : she had suitors, as you
may imagine, in plenty — all Jutland at her feet — but

74 MARIAGER. Chap. XXXIV.

distinguished among the train two alone found favour in
her eyes, Sir Hem and Sir Sem — Sir Hem, the bkie-
eyed, the golden-haired, a Northman "pur sang;" Sir
Sem, of mixed Oriental blood, black-eyed and olive
tinted ; his mother, a fair Eastern maiden, had followed
some stout Varangian, — her dowry a string of Cufic
coins twined among her tresses, — from the marble halls
of imjjerial Byzantium.

Fair-haired Sir Hem, black-eyed Sir Sem — what could
poor Mary do? "1 cannot marry both," she piteously
exclaimed ; and she felt her heart always warmed
towards the jDresent one ; and that, you know, as she
confidentially owned to a female friend, would never do
after marriage. Hers was the old story of

" How liappy could I be with either,
Were the other dear charmer away!"

" I can no longer stand this shilly-shally !" exclaims
Sir Hem.

" No more can I," replied Sir Sem.

" We must fight it out, and he who falls — "

" Hold, brother ! he who dies ; there must be but
one survivor. We will fight naked to our waists."

"Agreed."

The rivals now fall to — clash, clash, go the swords
(long swords, heavy as the iron bar of a gaol gate) —
clash, clash, clash again ; the golden tresses of Sir Hem
are now dyed scarlet red ; the clear ohve skin of the
brave Sir Sem blanched pale with loss of blood. Clash,
clash, they go — now fainter, cla-ash, cla-a-ash, till they
sound no longer, and each knight sinks dying, side by
side, in a pool of clotted gore.

Chap. XXXIV. POOR MARY AND HER LOVERS. 75

" Brother/' murmured Sir Hem, " your hand ! we
fought for love, not hate." A slight, feeble pressm-e
responds, a whispering faint " Good-night !"

" Stoji them, stop them !" exclaimed the frantic Mary,
^^•hen the news of the combat reached her. " Stop,
oh, stoji ! I'll marry you both," — and she rushes to the
sjjot. Too late — she casts herself on both the bodies
at once, and gives way to her agony of grief. Survive
them she will not — she who had caused their death ;
so she makes her will, bequeaths all her possessions
to the Church to found a cloister, and builds two
chiu-ches over the remains of her lover victims. Sir
Hem and Sir Sem — those two white village chm-ches.
Hem and Sem, you pass on your road, as we did, when
we wandered about the wide j)lains in our midnight
journey to Mariager.

"Now," exclaims Mary, "I have done with life !"
and she casts herself headlong into the deep well 'ad-
joining the ancient monastery, of which one ivied and
extinguisher-capped tower remains.

" But our beloved fomidross," asks a brother of the
prior who directs the building of the risuig convent,
where shall we bmy her ?"

"Hush, hush!" responds the prior, "not in consecrated
gi'oimd, the holy i\Iother Church forbids us ; but bide
a time, leave her where she is, the story will blow over ;
we can't canonize a suicide, but we will work miracles
at her cell." And gradually a rumour goes forth,
how a love-sick maiden, deserted by her lover, at the
last stage of consumption had recovered her youth,
freshness, and peace of mind by rpiaffing the water
from poor jMary's well. The spring l>ecame fam(jus,
though I doubt it did much good — it only made men

76 HADSUND. CiiAP. XXXIV.

more heartless — " Stuff and nonsense !" they replied to
the prayers of the helpless victims. " Go " (not as

men say now, to the :, but ) " to ]\Iaria Kilde, and

you'll soon be all right agam.'"

Our landlord proposed a visit to Hor-h0i, situated
behind the Munksholm wood, the burial-place of King
Hor, a sovereign unmentioned even hi the most lying
of Danish chronicles.

We did not go, having passed it the morning of
our arrival ; from its summit you can count on a clear
day upwards of fifty church-towers, proving the flatness
of the adjacent country.

HADSUND.

June lltli. — The smi is high in the heavens ; the
horses are ordered at four ; we still linger, mi willing
to quit so fair a scene, but an eight hours' journey lies
before us to Aalborg, and we have had a dose of night
travelling and losmg ourselves. We have the choice
either to go by Hobr0 and the royal chaussee on to
Aalborg, or by the more intricate road to Hadsimd,
and then, crossing the ferry, by Lindenborg on to our
destination. Uncm-ed of oiu- hatred of the electric
telegraph, we choose the latter, and drive along the
water's edge : the green beech cap the overhanging
banks ; on the opjiosite side appear fine country resi-
dences, paradises in the summer season, backed by the
never- wanting forest. And now what is that ? We stop
the carriage : a stork, a black stork, fislmig in the
waters — black as a raven — the first we have seen ; his
dwellmg-house, no doubt, m the forest hard by, for
black storks build their nests in trees, avoiding the

Chap. XXXrV. "STONEHENGE." 77

society of liimiau Idiicl* He now flies away back with
the produce of his chase to his mate and young
ones, and we continue our journey. As we pass near a
country house the scarlet postilion points to behind the
road, " Stonehenge ;" and there as sure as fate stands a
lofty dolmen — Stonehenges, as the peasants call them
in these parts. He talks to his horses, too : one he
terms " ole ors," the companion " mare," — hoppe is the
correct word — just like a British ostler.

We were charged for four glasses of " toddie " in our
moderate Mariager bill — brandy and water taken on
our first arrival half perished with dew (dug), pro-
noimced like our o-wn by the postilion, after our nocturnal
wanderings among the moses. Such a night as he'd
passed — " Sicken a one he'd never kenned." All of
which makes me half imagine myself somewhere in
the provinces of old England.

We reach Hadsund ferry ; boats of course on op-
posite side, and no man visible. Tu Avhu, tu whu!
soimds tlie postilion, like some stranger at the castle-
warden's gate. No answer from the ferry-house, a
building, had it only an extra story added to it, as big
as a mansion in Belgrave-square. At last two lazy men
appear : we sit like Patience and admire the opposite
chateau of Dalsgaard, embedded among the trees, and
pluck nosegays of white orchises. The boat arrives at
last, and we get over to the other side ; half an hour's
time after quitting the ferry-liouse we bid adieu to all
beauty, and enter on one of those wide-extending mystc-

* It is a curious fact that, although these birds breed every year, no
one can tell wliat becomes of the young ones ; the number of uests
never increases.

78 HADSUND. Chap. XXXIV.

rious plains typical of North Jutland. Picture to yourself
a raging sea, all wave and battle, ferment and locomo-
tion, suddenly stilled by the magic wand of a magician, to
stay as it now is, never to move again, but become, after
a time, like stagnant water, covered with duckweed, green,
later black from the decomposition of vegetable matter.
Such is the country we this evening drove through,
wearisome to a degree, still not uninteresting : patches
of corn, patches of heath, black soil, white sand, a
curious irregular colouring not often witnessed in
nature. Even the endless tumuli give a certain variety
to the scene, standing detached, as they always do,
against the horizon : some black, others green ; one
has been just flayed, for its turf's sake, or may be
for its heather, manufactm'ed by the women into
brooms and carried to Aalborg market. Many and
rich are the ornaments of silver and gold which lie
interred within these ancient graves ; each year brings
them forth, and fresh objects grace the cabinets of the
Museum of Copenhagen. A gentleman at Aalborg
informed me that last year, on the property of his
brother at Buderupholm, three Danish miles south of
Aalborg, there lay in the midst of the field a large
stone always m the way of the ploughshare, so the pro-
prietor gave orders to the labourers to dig a hole by its
side and bmy it. On moving the mass of granite they
discovered beneath three gold armlets of exquisite work-
manship, for each of which they received from the
committee at Copenhagen the full value in solid cash,
350 dollars, nearly 40Z. of our English money.

On the same estate the peasants, while engaged in
cuttmg turf (what a blessing these moses prove to the

Chap. XXXIV. SEA OF BARROWS. 79

humbler classes ! *) — the peasants tliscovered the body
of a female pegged down m the bog, a spurious Queen
Gunliild.

As we drove along I fell mto a reverie, and tried to
picture to myself the map of Jutland and the Danish
isles, such as it might have been before the birth of
Christ, when these long valleys, now half under culti-
vation, half mose, were still extensive lakes, sloppings
of the great deluge, not yet dried up in time to pass
away from the evaporation of the sun's rays and the
labour of mankind.

That the waters are refusing in these parts there can
be no doubt ; the very names as well as the stranded
appearance of the sites on which the villages are built
attest the fact — Trandersholm (island), Engholm, and
twenty others.

The worthy mayor of Aalborg told me himself that,
where he used to fish some eighteen years since in the
little lake of Gravlev, the land has been long since
mider cultivation, and from no di'aming process. The
islands, too, of the Liunfiorde are gradually becoming
connected with the land — Oxholm, and many others :
while at the farm of Eevs the proprietor continued,
imtil fifty years ago, to hold the privilege of ferrying
over travellers in his boat to Gudenholm, where car-
riages have passed over dry land for many centuries.
It i8 more easy to realise this transition in a summer
twilight, when there is a sombre mysterious gloom as
far as the straining eye can gaze over this sea of
hillocks.

After a weary three hours' drive we arrive at Lin-

♦ One thousand largo tiirvcs here sell for 28. Gd. Euglish— they fiud
no bog-oak tliougli, as in Ireland.

80 HADSUND. Chap. XXXIV.

clenborg, an ancient chateau (Grevskab) of Count
ScLimraelraaim, picturesque, quaintly begabled, and
Jiardly visible from the trees which grow roimd, sepa-
rating it from the grass-green moat, stagnant and noisy
as an old French grenouilliere.

" What a pity the evening is so far advanced !" we
exclaimed; but it was no pity, for in the soft
tones of twilight the old building looked more myste-
rious, in the midst, too, of such a wild country, em-
bowered in trees — alone — isolated. Somehow or other
at the moment its history had escaped my memory,
otherwise for gilded gold I would never have traversed
the road we trod drowsily along after nightfall, for there
are dark tales of Lindenborg well known to the pea-
sants of the surrounding country.

Rsesholm, as it was called until created into a county,
has passed through many hands — strange it is how
these manors changed proprietors in Jutland ; none,
I believe, save Eosenholm, descended from father to
son for the lapse of three hundred and fifty years — later
it became the possession by purchase of Claus Daa, a
noble Jutlander, married to King Christian IV.'s grand-
daughter, Sophia, Baroness of Lindenov. Claus Daa
came to an untimely death in the castle, no one knew
how, " beside the red door," was buried and forgotten.
Years rolled on, and the &ir but very frail Sophia
became attacked by that scom-ge of the female sex, a
hideous cancer. Fearful were the torments she en-
dured, not only of body, but of mind. As a last resource,
she caused her suffering frame to be transported in a
Ktter by four horses over the jolting roads and ruts to
Aalborg, even in these days, as we ourselves can at-
test, a weary jom-ney. To stifle her screams, she was

Chap. XXXIV. BARONESS OF LINDEXBORG. 81

accompanied by a band of musicians ; at each paroxysm
they bm-st forth into melody, adding to the torments of
the sufferer. She reaches Aalborg, and submits to the
sui'geon's knife — an operation of no avail. Grim Death
is fast approaching : she sends for the Bishop, and on
her death-bed makes a full and true confession of the
murder of her husband. She wished for more liberty
for the mdulgence of her guilty passions. She died;
but oft on a wintry night the passing traveller still hears
the tramp of the litter-bearers and horses, with the
agonising shrieks of the suffering lady, surpassing in
shi'illness the trumpets and clarions, hu-ed, like the
gongs of an Indian suttee, to conceal them from the
horror-stricken villagers. It is one o'clock — the very
recollection of this story gives me the " creeps " — it is
pleasant to see in the morning twilight the spire of
St. Budolph, and to be lodged safe and sound away
from all ghosts and goblins at the hotel Phoenix in the
city of Aalborg.

VOL. n. o

82 AALBORG. Chap. XXXV.

CHAPTEE XXXV.

Aalborg or Eel Castle — Its amies parlantes — Death of King John —
Jens Bang and the miser's daughter — The Agger Canal — Skipper
Clemens, leader of the Vendel beers — Hog family — Their high and
ancient descent — Coat of J0rgen Billo — Great bog of Jutland —
B0rglum and Bishop Crump — The lady of Asdal and the flitch of
bacon.

AALBORG.

June 2Sth. — We are at Aalborg, Eel Castle — simple
people those early Scandinavians, with their Flounder
Castles and their eels ; no Tonquebec here — no Chateau
Gaillard in this country — all plain speaking; and
here we are on the Liimfiorde, within two days'
journey from Skagen, which people prophesied we
should never reach. My fii'st impression of Aalborg
as we entered the town was favourable: old houses,
antique and respectable-looking; narrow streets; and
here and there a running Aa (I can't say river, and
won't insult the natives by calHng it stream), three
of which pass through the city — 0ster Aa, Vester Aa,
and Blegdams Aa by name — each separate stream con-
tributing as its share an eel to the heraldic bearings
of the town — three red eels on a iield or. The banks of
the Liimfiorde are here flat ; but an expanse of water is
always pleasing to the eye; it runs from here four
Danish miles down to Hals.*

* Where, in a.d. 965, Harald Graafcld, King of Norway, son of
Queen Gunhild, was assassinated by Guld Harald, later murdered
himself by Hakon Jarl.

CUAP. XXXV. ST. BUDOLPH'S CHURCH. 83

Aalborg is not a town of sights, guide-book-speaking —
no bounden duties ; a most blessed circumstance : still
there is quite enough to interest and while away a day,
pottering about without any fixed plan or stereotyped
project. The pavement is not famous, but there are
S3'mptoms of progress ; three long streets have been
lately re paved ; gas was introduced here as soon, if not
before, Copenhagen ; and a liberal supply of water is
forced by hydraulic pumps to the upper stories of every
house in the place, from Bleg Ivilde. There is no
doubt that this valley originally formed part of the
fiorde ; the city must have then been almost an island, the
truth of which theory is carried out by the oyster-beds
foimd embedded in the rocks near Bleg Ivilde — ^beds of
unopened oysters, growing, as oysters do in nature,
double, the round shell undermost — not separate, like
the kitchen heaps of the Northern Museum, of which
plenty have been discovered on the heiglits above the
Liimfiorde.

Leaving the hotel, we stroll down the street leading
to St. Budolph's church : the doors are open ; odd
women occupied in cleaning it out, each armed with a
goose's 'wing — ancient Scandinavian duster, used, I have
no doubt, in the time of King Gorm. St. Budolph's is
like all churches in these parts — carving, paint, and
gold.

AVe must visit that adjoining house * in the corner
of the ancient Kloster court, gabled and ancient. Here,
in the year 1513, Feb. 20tli, expired King Hans (John),
father of Christian II,, Kniglit of the most houom-able

* One of the few wliich in this part of tlic town escaped the raging
conflagration of lOGO or thereahouts, fiince wliich date no fire has
attacked Aalborg ; heuce her uutitiuuted uppeurauce.

G 2

84 AALBORG. Chap. XXXV.

Order of the Garter, and a good friend to England. He
allowed our merchants an "alderman" in each Danish
seaport town, to protect then- commercial privileges.
Fifty-eight years of age was King Hans or John : he
rode one morning on horseback, strong and in health,
from Eingkj0bing, escaping from a flood at Elbe : while
passing a river he fell from his horse, broke his leg,
canght cold, and died in the very room we are now
about to visit, to admire the stone chimney-piece, sole
remnant of his time. It is supported by two Jutland
warriors — most formidable individuals they must have
jjeen — sword in hand, somewhat like pictures of one's
childhood's giants, in painted helm and corslet and gilded
moustaches, quite beautiful. A pious motto is inscribed
above — " Protectio Domini, fundamentum stabile."

King John was not of a happy disposition ; always
seeing matters in a dark point of view. The year of his
death he was sitting at a table with his friends in the
palace of Copenhagen, when'the almanac for the follow-
ing year, just arrived from Germany, was brought into
his presence ; in this almanac it was declared that in
" this year would die a great potentate," which the king
immediately settled to be himself, and told liis son
and the courtiers his opinion ; then, as Duke Christian
did . not contradict him, he turned wroth, and sharply
remarked, "It might just as well be you, for death
spares neither youth nor age." The presentiment
however did not quit liim ; for when, after a rough
passage across the Belt from Kors0r, in which his vessel
was in danger of being lost, he stood on the bridge of
Nyborg, he apostrophised the water, saying, " Farewell
Belt! you have treated me so ill that I shall never
pass over you again." When the flood took place at

Chap. XXXV. DEATH OF KING JOHN. 85

Eibe and he was compelled to quit the castle, he took
refuge iu the house of the oldest burgomaster of the
city, and there remained some days. One morning he
stood before the door, watching the ebb and flow of the
tide, and the ice floating in the western haven. Tm-ning
to his courtiers, he said, " Let honour be given — over
all lords and over all kings to whom we j^ay honom'
and worship, over all potentates in the world — to Him
who, without gun or shaft, or any warlike weapon, alone
can hold us by His will in this city ; to Him alone must
we yield ourselves prisoners — iu love, honour, and
victory — eternally !" From the time of his accident he-
declared he should never recover ; and calling to him
his son Christian, gave him much good counsel for his
country's weal (to which the heir-apparent paid but
little attention) ; and having received the Sacrament,
" from which he derived great consolation," he expressed
no fear of death, but died calmly. His saying was, " I
wish that my inferiors should not fear me, and that my
superiors should not despise me." He was the first
sovereign who assumed the title of " majesty " in place
of " your liigh-born grace." King John was betrothed
to Princess Mary, daughter of Edward IV. of England,
in 1476, but she died iu Greenwich before the marriage
took place.

In the town-house, if you care to mount the staircase,
you will find many royal portraits, mostly rubbish, from
Christian I. downwards : much to the credit of the cor-
poration, they appear to have treated their pictures as
we do our London houses, caused them to be repainted
(three coats) ever}' seven years; but you will see
untouched among them our English Queen Louisa.
She wears the very parure later seen on Queen Juliana.

86 AALBORG. Chap. XXXV.

Her portraits are more rarely met witL. in town-halls
and public places than in *the farmers' houses, where
her memory is still cherished.

And now we come to the pride of Aalborg — the Srane-
Apothek. In Denmark the apotheker answers to the
French "pharmacien ;" they hold there a much higher
position than they do in England. As the lives of so
many are intrusted to their care, they are not selected
without a most searching examination. In former days
travellers appear to have been lodged at the apothek.
We find in Daniel Major's Travels, 1693, "At the
apothecary's I was treated with hare steak, excellent
salmon trout, and good aqua vitse, and all at a cheap
price." Again, in Holger Jacobeus' Journal, 1671,
" In Odense lodged at the apothecary's, and drank lemon
brandy," The signs of all apotheks in Denmark are
swans or lions, except one I have seen named after
lung Solomon ; this, of Aalborg, was built in the year
1623, and is the finest specimen of the Eenaissance
to be met with out of Zealand — such a queer old
tourelle too it has, tacked on to the doorway. At the
above-mentioned date there lived in the city of Aalborg
a wealthy wine-merchant, Jens Bang by name, one of
the olden school, liberal to a fault, honourable in his
dealings with all men. Young too he was, and loved
the daughter of old miser Knud Jensen, the eel-salter
— the fairest maid in the north of Jutland, A rich son-
in-law was much to old Knud's taste ; but it made his
heart bleed to see his money fly so freely ; and when
Jens Bang commenced to build the house we now gaze
upon, Knud swore with a bitter oath that, if he did not
at once desist from so extravagant an imdertaking, he
would end liis days in the poorhouse. Jens laughed,

Chap. XXXV. JEXS BANG. 87

and replied, " Well, if such is to be the case, it shall
be in one of my own building." So he founded the
" fattiirhuus " for aged men and women outside of the
town, which bears his name. We are now standing on
the new market, take the apothek en biais, and see,
separated by the running stream called 0ster Aa, on
the opposite side, the ancient residence of Knud the
miser — an old striped house, with high-pitched roof
and long open gallery in front, reminding you of Ches-
ter's city: in this house died the wicked Baroness
of Lindenborg ; it is now a conditori ; below the
gallery is a cobbler's stall. Cannot you pictui-e to
yourself the fair Mette, Knud's "datter," fresh and
piquante in her youth and beauty, in trim bom-geoise
dress of the seventeenth century, leaning over the
gallery, watching the progress of her future mansion ;
the miser father, with long white beard and velvet cap
on head, appearing in the background, stick in hand,
chiding the damsel for loitering, and sending her back
to her domestic duties, not, liowever, before she has
caught sight of Jens Bang, nodded, smiled, and waved
her handkerchief in token of recognition, thereby en-
raging the miser doubly? — a scene like an old Dutch
picture — a IMieris, or a Gerard Dow, exquisitely finished.
But you turn up your nose at such subjects not high art.
Time rolled on ; the miser died ; Jens Bang es-
poused his pretty daughter, and the prophecy of tho
old man was long since forgotten. Jens prospered ; he
speculated, and purchased Sajby Gaard, a fine estate ;
all went well until the occupation of Jutland by General
Wrangel and the Swedes. Wrangel inhabited the cor-
ner house lower down. You may visit his rooms — two
splendid empanelled chambers of richly-wrought oak'

88 AALBORG. Chap. XXXV.

once adorned Avitli pions saws, long since painted over,
but still discernible. Before quitting Aalborg, Wrangel
imposed so heavy a ransom on the town, the burghers
could not raise the sum ; Jens Bang, open and gene-
rous as ever, came forward, purse in hand, willing to
advance the money on the simple word of his fellow-
citizens. He did so ; was never repaid ; became a
ruined man, and died, as the miser had prophesied, an
inmate of the poorhouse he himself had founded. Such
is the story of Jens Bang, which adds an interest to the
old house we all admire at Aalborg.

Look at this quaint entrance a few doors lower down
— above, the figure of a lady stands in a niche ; it is
Christina Munk. The house belonged to her mother,
Ellen Marsviin, whose effigy, as well as that of Ludvig
Munk, her father, if it be them, guards the doorway ;
date, 1616. Around the head of Christina hung a swarm
of bees — mason-bees — who from the memory of man
have built their nests in the wall behind her head —
pleasant vicinity. If you care for an antique font,
circular, with the date 1166 plainly visible in the
sculptured granite, there is one of gigantic proportions
in the yard of Wrangel's dwelling-house — monstraceous
carving too upon it ; cherubim with faces as broad as
Wiltshire cheeses ; and pigs, or some other animals,
with tails expanding at the points into full-blown lilies.

By the harbour — a new little harbour lately finished
— stands the old palace, not the same probably in
which Iving Hans was born, but its successor, a
tumble-down affair, once moated, now fiUed up; the
inner court more like a country gaard than a palace,
all stripes and "cage-work;" and in this so-called
palace did Guldberg and Juliana propose to incar-

Chap. XXXV, THE AGGER CANAL. 89

cerate Queen Caroline Matilda previous to her re-
moval to Zell : the English Government would not
allow it. Jutland has ahvays been the refuge place
of ladies under a cloud : Christina Munk, Eeventlow
Queen, the Russian princesses, then Caroline Matilda,
and, in later days, another illustrious lady too nearly
allied to the present royal family to be mentioned.

There is much shipping in the harbour, for Aalborg's
commerce is great in grain, in eels no longer, nor yet in
herrings, once her staple commodity. The sudden
opening of the Agger Canal in 1824 into the Northern
Ocean, after a lapse of centuries, overthrew this branch
of trade. The herrings — like the English, at the con-
clusion of the late war — desirous of seeing foreign parts,
swam out into the open seas, and took so kindly to
real salt water they never again retiu-ned to the
brackish Liimfiorde and the nets of the Aalborg fisher-
men. Whether this canal be an advantage to the
commerce of Jutland is hard to say. On the charts is
marked down eight feet of water, at present there is
scarcely four ; and only a few days since some vessels
returned which had been waiting since December last,
unable to pass into the o*pen ocean.

In the constniction of the new harbour the worlanen
came on a ship of early date, to judge by the timbers ;
there they lie, black as coal before you, supposed to be-
long to Skipper Clemens' time, when Aalborghuus was
surrounded by water.

Skipper Clemens was a naval officer of rank, as his name
denotes, leader of the Jacquerie who remained faithful
to the fortunes of second Christian ; Clemens led on the
Vendel peasants against the nobles who tyrannised over
them as vrell as over their imprisoned sovereign. Fearful

90 AALBORG. Chap. XXXV.

was tlie revenge of the boer race : murder, rapine in
its worst forms. Clemens, at the head of many thou-
sands, defeated Banner and Eosenkrantz at the battle
of Svenstrup Heath, and installed himself in Aalborg.
Scarce a manor in Jutland remained undevastated, most
burnt to the ground. Clemens was dislodged later by
Eantzau, and defeated in the battle of Aalborghuus,
taken prisoner in a moor four English miles from the
city, in the parish of Storvorde, conveyed to Kolding,
and there broken on the wheel and beheaded.

At this very time a farmer in the parish of Storvorde
holds his lands free of all taxes, a perpetual grant from
the Danish sovereign, in consequence of Clemens having
been captured alive within his house.*

We have nothing more to visit but the Frue Ku'ke,
a building of the early part of the twelfth century,
whose round-arch doorway is a most remarkable spe-
cimen of the architecture of the period. The carvings
are quaint and primitive, scarcely more advanced as
works of art than those on the sculptured stones of
King Gorm at Jellinge ; the dragon appears, as usual
in all ornaments of this date. The deacon projoosed
we should visit the tombs, or rather the coffins, of the
"Normen," as he called them, who, by records still
existing, are proved to have been here interred.

* Several letters still exist, in the collection I have before alluded
to, between Iving Christian and Skipper Clemens ; in one of which the
monarch thanks him and his companions for their faithful services, and
desires them to go to Scotland to procm-e aid. Then again, 31 Dec.
1525, Clemens in a letter begs of the king to send them more assist-
ance.— Signed, " Fynd, Rempe, and Skipper Clemens, your poor, true,
and hiunble servants, as well as Skipper JackmjTi." Faithful servants
they were to their harassed lord ; they did however an inunense deal of
mischief, as we all know, hi Jutland.

CiiAP. XXXV. THE HOG FA]VnLT. 91

Sigurd Slemmedegn, or bad deacon, a king of Xorway,
was -s^Tccked in 1139 oif Aalborg, wliere lie passed the
winter. He got slain the following year hi some battle
against Harald Gilleson, and is said to have died a
terrible death. His friends brought over his body and
inten-ed it in St. Maiy's church — so the priest of the
same church, Kield Kalff, attests. Then there is an
Olaf somebody — another, I doubt not, remarkable in-
dividual in his day — who lies by his side. The vault
was so crowded up with Skeels — pronounced Scales, like
Shakespeare's Lord Scales — and Beens, great people in
their time, if you may judge by their quarterings —
that the massive oak coflSns of the Normen were scarcely
visible.

The chapel under which the Normen He is styled
the Hpg Chapel, and here may be seen one of the
finest monuments of the Renaissance period existing in
Denmark or elsewhere, erected to the memory of Sir
Erik H0g, one of Christian IV. 's crack men, of Bi0rn-
holm, and Dame Sophia Lange, his wife, date 16-17.
" The noble kniglit and his high-born lady " are repre-
sented standing in niches, in the surrounding ornaments
of which are introduced their sixteen quartK3rings, the
best blood of Jutland. Sir Erik aroimd his neck bears
suspended the favourite order of King Christian IV.,
the "ai-med hand." IMany of this family are here
interred. There is good Grcgers H0g, Protestant
Bishop of Aalborg, who left a sum of money, still paid
in j^ensious to poor of his blood (female) in Copenhagen.
And now let me inform you that this name, H0g though
it be, has nothing at all swuiish about the matter.
H0g, in the Northern langutige, signifies " a falcon."
I first made this discovery one diiy while perusing an

92 AALBORG. Chap. XXXV.

ancient ballad. A damsel gallops in on her palfrey,
" hog on hand." Sm-prised at her strength of wrist, I
looked it ont in the dictionary. To go the whole hog,
and be an out-and-outer, you must write your 0 with a
spoke, a letter which does not exist in our Enghsh
language. Lady H0g, with a spoke in her 0 — I am
sure it looks very distinguished. Observe how a name
which in England we certainly do not consider euphonius,
though highly respectable, here stands foremost among
the highest of the land. At Slagelse hangs the
epitaphium of a pretty girl, in costume like Lady
Jane Grey, a fair Jomfru Karen H0g, who died in the
palace of Slagelse in 1610, lady of honour to good
Queen Sophia of Mecklenburg. But in Jutland, cela
pullule, as the French say.

We have Field-Marshal Niels H0g in King John's
days ; J0rgen H0g, possessor of Kieldgaard and Krabbes-
holm ; Stygge H0g, of Eskjser ; Sir Jacob H0g, of
Vang — we shall see him to-morrow between his two
wives ; Mogens H0g, of Todb0l Aastruj), one of the
finest manors of Jutland, presented to Sh Niels H0g,
by King Christian II., for services rendered to that
unlucky sovereign. At Vennebierg appears a monu-
ment of Sir James Il0g, of Trudsholm. Go where you
will, read what you will, you have Il0g — H0g — Il0g,
possessor of all possible manors, buried under rich
monuments in all possible places.

In the year 10S3 Iver Juul Il0g, seduced by the
fascinations of baronial pearls, deserts the cause of the
old Jutland untitled nobility, and appears, fresh en-
nobled, in the hostile ranks as Baron H0g of H0gliolm ;
he or his son. Knight of the most noble Order of the
Elephant, dies in the year 1700, and this name, illus-

Chap. XXX\^ SULSTED. 93

trious for centuries iu Xortli Jutland, became as a thing
of the past, their tombs uncared for, their existence
ahnost forgotten.

June 20th. — We were to cross the ferry by six, and
meet the carriage-horses at Sundby, a small rising
village on the opposite side of the fiorde. From the
heights you have an admirable view of Aalborg, her
two church-towers and her shipping — all of most
prepossessing appearance. The postmaster, to do us
honour, had routed out an old broken-down berline,
wliich we declined, so three-quarters of an hour were
lost in the change ; and when the stuhlwagen does
appear, it is small and narrow. There is no alternative ;
the large one has been under repau- since December.

SULSTED.

"VYe pass by Sulsted, in whose village church sleeps Sir
Jacob H0g, of Vang (Yang the adjoining manor among
the trees), in armour, between his two wives. Sulsted,
whose priest, Mpller by name, together with his brother,
the pastor of Vadum, during the Holstein 0pror of
'48 and '49 engaged themselves as volunteers in their
country's cause, and both rose to the rank of captain.
So greatly did they distinguish themselves, the general
commanding said, on their retirement to priestly life,
that in case of need he should again call upon them
for their services. As we pass by Aistrup our rotten
carriage gives way ; off flies the wheel and out we
go — self like a cat, upon ray legs — scarlet postboy
rolls over like a ninepin and bites the dust : again
an hour's delay. ^^'e visit the church and remark

94 TISE— VILD MOSE. Chap. XXXV.

its old carved roodloft, the gift of Peter Munk and
Karen Skeel. There stands the tomb of J0rgen Bille —
a wicked old soul he must have been, for the very red
coat in his coffin to be so restless. There it lies, a
coat of some hundred and iifty years since, broad
lappels and bordered. Each time the neighbour-
ing manor changes hands the coat is said to leave its
coffin, stalk on its tails to the manor-house, and there
hover about restlessly, turning up on every side — on
the dinner-table, hanging over the arm-chair, flapping
its laj)pels in your face as you pass the corridor, posi-
tively refusing to be quiet until replaced by the new
proprietor himself in its former resting-place.

TIS&-VILD MOSE.

We are now mended and arranged, just in time
to stop at a kro to bait ; so we walk on. Turn to the
west, says the postilion, and then to the south-east.
Jutlanders calculate everything by the points of the
compass : we accomplish the west, but then stick on a
bank till the carriage arrives, our knowledge aiding us
to proceed no further. A dreary drive over a cross
road brings us to Tise ; where we ascend to the church
cemetery to obtain a view of the Yild Mose — the most
extensive bog in Jutland, if not in Europe — another
slopping of the deluge, dried up, and, like many other
sloppings, leaving a dirty black mark on the fair face
of nature. As far as eye can gaze, and further still,
extends a vast expanse of mose, seldom traversed save
by the sportsman after blackgame, and he must leap
from hillock to hillock, for the bog is formed of small
sugar-loaf mounds ; and should his foot miss its destina-

CiiAP. XXXV. B0RGLUM KLOSTER. 95

tion woe betide him — over lie rolls in the mud and
mire, and sinks, perhaps, never to rise again.

In the churchyard we again saw many of those old
timber tombs — trunk of a tree rudely severed — chiefly
to be met with in ancient churchyards situated on an
eminence.

We are out of the land of cemeteries now ; plain
green mounds, like an English village. The church is
in full whitewash, as they all appear to be at this season.
At the thi-eshold lay one of those black liigsteen, as they
here call them ; engraved with a huge sword, like those
of Canute's time — that of some warrior dead, perhaps
not in the odour of sanctity, but allowed, as a privilege
of birth, to sleep at the church entrance in peace.

The workman employed in the repairs pointed out
to us B0rglum Kloster, and related the story of its
founder, the Holy Knud : he had it all at his fingers'
ends. The Danes, as a nation, are singularly well-
informed on the history of their own country. We
then passed through the village of Tise, cowering at the
hill's-foot — houses built very low, ducking from the
wind, very snug, and windows small.

B0RGLUM KLOSTER.

The moor is all alive with tethered sheep, tethered
geese, and tethered everything except the plovers, of
which we never yet saw, certainly never yet ate, so
many as to-day. Before arriving at Borglum Kloster
we first distinguished in the distance Avhat appeared to
be rugged walls, standing alone, ruins of some gigantic
castle ; on nearer approach we find them to be bakkes,
or klints as they here call them, of cbiveu sand, not

96 LYKKEN. Chap. XXXV.

dunes, but upriglit walls, shutting out tlie sea from tlie
inland country. Bprglum Kloster resembles all sup-
pressed convents. It may have been a lively place in
the days of Knud,* its founder, not then Holy, but
somewhat oppressive, severe. Here he intrenched liim-
self against the " 0pror " of the Vendel peasants, with
whom he was everlastingly at loggerheads — Vendel
men, who later poked him to death through the window
of St. Alban's church at Odense. B0rglum was once a
bishopric. Her last prelate was Bishop Crump ; these
Crumps appear to have had no luck, and always come
in at the death of Komanism in Jutland. He lies in
the rummelig (roomy) abbey church, as it is called, all
alone. B0rglum is now a private residence and farm,
little changed — a com-tyard planted with limes, the
ancient font a trough. If you care to count wind-
mills and churches from these heights, you may so till
your fingers ache ; but we go on to Lykken, to bathe
once more in the briny ocean, and get some dinner.

LYKKEN.

A small fishing village among the sand; splendid
bathing in a mischievous sea, but to-day as calm as a
polished mirror. We order dinner; the ladies don
their bathing costume, and, enveloped in their cloaks,
walk down to the sea-shore. A delicious bath we had ;
sea like crystal — a few fishing vessels and nets and the
kHnt behind, like one of those pretty sea-pieces by

* Or at the fetes of May, wlien the image of the Holy Virgin was
decked with the gold and jewelled crown, a present from the great
Queen Margaret, borne on her brow for near two hundred years, till
Christian III., hard up to pay his soldiers, melted it down.

Chap. XXXV. HJ0IiRING. 97

Zeeraann in the Gallery of Copenhagen. Ko meat to be
had in tliis retu-ed place, but excellent fried tish ; and
a dish of sour cream, as they call it, a national plat,
served up with bread-cnimbs and powdered sugar, very
palatable. N.B. Denmark is the only country I knoAV
of where bread-crumbs are sold ready grated by the
ounce or pound, a very dirty practice.

A change has come over the Danish flora since we
came northwards. In Zealand all was white ; here all
is yellow — yellow water-lilies, yellow iris, yellow marsh
cineraria, field chrysanthemum, galium, as well as
potentillas and marsh buttercup.

*

HJ0RR1NG.

We leave to the right the church of Vennebierg — the
first object discerned by British seamen on then- arrival
from England off the Jutland coast : and approach the
ancient ecclesiastical town of Hj0rring, restored to the
arms of Mother Church now, away from all Pagan
'' ups," in the parish of their sanctities " Hans and
Olaf." Hj0rring was once the stift (diocese) of a popish
bishop, whose countiy residence of Biskopstorp, hard
by, makes one half fancy oneself in the North Biding,
far removed from windy Jutland. The little town —
M-here, in good King Frode's days, hung one of the
three golden rings, and \v\\h its church embowered
in wood, and its cemetery in form of a cross — like all
old cathedral towns, piques itself on its ancient grandeur,
as well as on its present respectability ; no commerce
liere, scarcely any shops, but a small population living
on their " rentes :" to us, arrived from the desert sands

* Froe peber — sccd-pepper — Ettuunculus ficaria.
VOL. ir. H

98 HJ0RRING. Chap. XXXY.

and moors, it appears splendid. We walk in the shady
public gardens, provided with merry-go-rounds and
gymnastic poles, listen to the music of a German
band we should have fled from distraught at Dover or
Brighton, and think it exquisite. The family of the
pastor offered us their services for an evening walk,
so we climbed with them to a h0i commanding a
view of everything for thirty miles round ; the sea at
twelve miles' distance, which looks so placid this after-
noon— too gentle to crush the sea-egg shipwrecked on
its sands, or to buffet the stranded sardine — with a west
wind in winter season becomes terrible. The natives
hear it roaring, deafening all sound, all speech, when
at Christmas-time they gather around their festive board,
or lie wakeful in their beds, and address a prayer to
Providence for the safety of those afloat upon its
waters.

Some two miles Danish from Hj0rring lies the manor
of Asdal, one of the most ancient in Jutland. It is a
farm-house, remarkable now alone for its side of bacon
— a side of greater historical notoriety than even that
of Dunmow, for this very flitch you see hanging up,
a shrivelled rusty bone, dates from almost five hundred
years.

It was in the early part of the fourteenth century that
Karl Poise, lord of Asdal, was accustomed to turn out his
swine in the autumn to feed in the neighbouring forest
together with those of the lord of Odden. The pro-
verb at that time ran, " Odden the old, and Asdal
the bold ;" and a certain rivalry existed between the
neighbours. a oiij

The winter drew nigh, and the swine, fattened by
beech-mast diet, were now herded, and driven home to

Chap. XXXV. THE FLITCH OF BACON, 99

•

their respective farms. A dispute, lioweyer, arose con-
cerning tlie possession of a certain bulky sow, followed
by a train of some dozen squeaking piglings. ''It's mine,"
exclaims the lord of Odden. " No such thing," re-
plies the lady of Asdal ; " I know her by her curly
tail." " Fiddlesticks ! " continues the lord of Odden :
" that all depends upon the dryness of the weather.
Yesterday her tail was as straight as your ringlets."
" I'll go to law," indignantly answered the lady, not at
all pleased at the imjilied insult to her tresses. So to
law they went. The Jutlanders were, and I believe
are, Hke their Norman descendants, essentially a litigious
race. The authorities heard both cases, plaintiff and
defendant — felt puzzled — scratched their polls. The
matter might have remained undecided to this day,
had not an ecclesiastic present suggested how on an
old carved stall in Hj0rring cathedral he had seen
represented the Judgment of Solomon, and forthwith
explained the history to the assembled Court, who
unanimously condemned the sow to be split in twain,
and a moiety handed over to each contending party,
Avith orders to salt and smoke then* respective sides
and hang them up in the manor-hall — the judge de-
claring in his charge, that whoever preserves his side
for the longest period free from worms and rust shall be
pronounced the rightful possessor of the twelve little
porkers, which, until the cause be decided, shall be
considered wards in Chancery, and be allowed to feed,
increase, and multiply.

Time rolled on : great had been the preparation of
the lady of Asdal, and here she had the advantage
over the lord of Odden, who knew more of the art of
war than that of drysalting. Wliat spices, what salt-

II -1

100 HJORRIXG. Chap. XXXV.

l)etre (if then invented), what curing, what smoking
she made use of I cannot pretend to say, but the side of
bacon was a feast only to gaze upon. Little porkers
grew and multiplied ; the forest swarmed with curly
tails and straight; the side of Asdal is still fresh
as ever ; that of Odden has a msty look, but still no
harm to speak of. Another inspection is over, the suit
is still pending, nothing new " in re demurrer," as the
papers say ; but after a lapse of years corruption de-
clares itself at Odden, decomposition later, and then,
worst of all, defeat.

Loud are the rejoicings at . Asdal, louder even
than the grunting and squeaking of the herd of
swine, handed over fat (strange to relate) from Chan-
cery to the possession of its triumphant mistress.
"Victory," she sings : "ever while Asdal stands shall that
side of bacon hang untouched in my hall, or may my
curse " — but, suftice it to say, the now shrivelled, rusty
side still remains — historical — authenticated — an object
of superstition, on which the fate of Asdal hangs — for
now five hundred years. It was, you will agree with
me, " a monstrous fuss about a bit of bacon."

We return to our inn, one story high — like all its
neighbours, it ducks away from ^^and and blast ;
find bo^T^)ots of honeysuckles (suae patte) in our room ;
the table laid with silver knives ; and they give
us r0d-gr0d, a national dish, a species of red jelly, com-
posed of currants, cherries, raspberries, or what you will,
served up with cream, to be met with in all village
kros in Jutland, and excellent it is.*

* In kindness to the rising generation, rice-puddinged, be-sagoed,
and be-fruited, we give tlie receipt for r0d-gr0d : — Take a pint and a

Chap. XXXV. CURIOSITY REGARDING STRANGERS. 101

In the manor of Asdal vast forests once stood, and
of late years there have been dug up the horns and
bones of the wild buffalo and the elk, races long extinct
in Jutland.

June 30^A. — At six we start. Strangers are rare
in these parts, and looked upon as objects of curiosity.
This morning, on my opening the door of the adjoining
room by mistake, there knelt the grown-up daughter of
the landlady, her eye applied to the keyhole, watching
the English ladies at breakfast, with intense satis-
faction.

During breakfast a nosegay of fresh roses arrives, ac-
companied by an envelope containing the visiting-cards
of our friends of last night, addressed " To the English
family, from admiring Danes." Well, you may smile ;
but when a man is turned fortv, and inclined to
coi'pulence, it is very pleasant to meet with admiring
" anybodies," I can tell you.

We are off, our carriage laden with honeysuckles,
along a splendid chaussee, quite glad to see our old
friend the electric telegraph again. There's nothing
like a little absence. We are just as pleased to see
its wires as you will be to meet your acquaintance
next May in London — the very same people you are
now, June 30th, sick to death of.

The journey to-day is picturesque, along the moors
and heiglits. Tufts of yellow iris come out from the

lialf of juice, either raspberry, currant, or cheriy, or mixed, and when
it boils add three ounces of ground rice. Let it simmer for twenty
minutes, and before taking it off the fire throw in an ounce of sweet
almonds pounded and an ounce and a half of isinglass. Pour into a
mould set into cold water, and serve it, when turned out, with thick
cream round the dish.

102 HJ0RRING. Chap. XXXY.

coal-black mose — a good contrast, black and yellow ;
and further on runs a Hue of feathery cotton-grass, pure,
white, and spotless. To us, who have made a six-
weeks' " cure aux epinards " among the new-born
foliage of the beechen forest in early spring, this varied
colouring possesses a double charm.

Chap. XXXVI. H0GHOLT, 103

CHAPTER XXXVI.

Old manor of H^gholt and its dairy-farm — Two sisters of Jerup —
Pontoppidan — Jutland's most northern manor — Lighthouse of
Skagen — Storm of flying sand — Wrecks — Melons and sea-nettles
— Sweet gale and bog moss — Frederikshavn — The Jutland Dido.

H0GHOLT.

June Z^th. — AYe leave Aastrup to tlie left, gift of
Ckristian to Sir Niels H0g, his faithful follower ; and
then, whilst the horses refresh at Hormested kro, walk
down to visit the ancient manor of Hogholt, at a quarter
of a mile's distance. The names of our great people
of to-day are certainly not euphonious, though Banner
has a certain illustration to the world at large, for,
besides the hero of Svenstrup Heath, there is JJanner,
governor of Kal0 Castle at the period when Gusta\'us
A'asa was there confined, awaiting the arrival of his
ransom. Gustavus, as you know, escaped, and Banner
was compelled by angry Christian to pay the sum out
of his own pocket — more than half his fortune ; still he
remained faithful to his sovereign to the very last,
and played a prominent part in the reign of Frederic I.
as well as in that of Christian III. Then we have
the Dues, Dyres, Daas, and Globs (horrid name !),
Becks, Bagges, Basses, and many others equally ugly
and mean-sounding. We arrive at the lake before the
old manor-house of H0gholt, embosomed within a

104 H0GHOLT. Chap. XXXVI.

triple row of trees. You enter the court by a bridge
crossing the moat from behind ; the moat green, its banks
clothed with flowering elders. As usual in these parts,
a quaint round tower rises from the inner court. The
entry ! Powers ! had you met the milk-cart laden with
its pails overflowing, slopping away upon the pavement,
ricli creamy produce of the cow — why, the bi-diurnal
sloppings of the H0gholt dairy would alone have set
up a London dairyman for life.

Fish were rising in the lake, and nets hung out to
dry in the cherry-orchard show that the fresh-water
joroduce of the lake is not despised. I am often as-
tonished in England to see how j^eople neglect the
fresh-water stews, which in ancient days teemed with
pike, carp, perch, eels, and tench. You reply, In
England we are spoiled for fish. In London, yes ; but
in the country, no ; — it's not you, it's the fish which are
spoiled.

The excellence of fresh-water fish depends as much
on the previous care bestowed upon them as on the
art of cooking. I remember once, in an old French
chateau, to have seen a kitchen in the centre of which
were placed two fountains, with basins en etage, in
which the live fish were kept sorted in pure running-
water for some days previous to their being dressed, and
fed with dough, bread-crumbs, and clean food.

We quit H0gliolt, reminding me much of "]\Iariana's
moated grange" — a charming subject for the pencil,
but not a place to live in. " I'm aweary, I'm aweary,"
others than Mariana must have sung therein. Pass
my life in such a place ! I'd rather drown myself in
one of the Brobdiguagian milk -pails. The moor grows

Chap, XXXVI. THE WITCHES' PLANT, 105

wilder and more undulating — seme, as the heralds
say, with strong-scented cream-coloured orchises * — how
fragi-ant too it crushes under your feet ! no wonder the
bees thrive around in the cottage hives : look at the
Lycopodium clavatum — the witches' o\Yn. plant. What
a network of green ! pull up a piece — pull on — four
yards, five yards in length ; it breaks, you've handled
it too rougldy ; you might have gone on for ever, it
extends over the whole heath. Observe those long,
tender shoots which rise pale-coloured above the brown
heather : gather one — shake it — a fine dust, its seed, falls
out ; that dust is used by chemists ; they place it in the
boxes among the pills to keep them separate. J\[orison
employs it. If it have a bad odour, it is owiug to the
sulphur they mingle with it, for the powder itself is
fragrant. Hold it above the candle — see how it blazes
like a firework, a godsend in early times to witches and
necromancers. The sea now ajDpears in sight, and then
the town of Frederikshavn. We pass by the public
garden, all avenue and shady walk ; descend to Zim-
merman's hotel to dine, and then proceed.

Our postilion was to chive us to the village of Jerup,
some two miles' distance, and there engage us two boer's
carriages to convey us to Skagen, and bring us back to
Frederikshavn the folloAving day.

After two hours' drive over a waste moor, well backed
by the rising dimes of the opposite coast, blue in the
horizon, carpeted with the flowers of the thrift,! we arrive
at Jerup, a nest of dairy-forms, in former days a waste,

* I)riinJfn-a?.s — wiittr-r^raBH.

t Faare logor— " sbecp's-flowcr "— tlicy call it in Zenliiml ; in Jutland
" tho warrior ;" hero, in Vendsyssel, " daglig brod,"— daily broad ; and
they have enough of it in all conscience.

10l5 JERUP. Chap. XXXYI.

where lived only a poor cotter, with his two daughters.
One day a poor woman passed by, and begged a little
help in Heaven's name. Said the eldest sister, " My
hen has just laid an egg ; take it, and be welcome."
But tlie youngest gave her nothing but harsh words.
Then the poor woman struck the air with her staff,
and there came forth a farm, which she gave to the
eldest daughter. Again she struck the air, and there
apjDcared a castle, in which lived a " smaa konge ; "
this she assigned to the youngest ; but the girl became
proud and haughty ; her husband soon got tired of her,
and sent her back to her father's cottage. The elder
sister and all about her thrived — her cattle increased ;
her lands were reclaimed ; and she and her descendants
grew rich, as the farms round Jerup testify even at this
time. After a delay of half an hour a peasant agrees
to furnish us with two carriages — a low sort of stuhl-
wagen, not on springs, but by no means rough, drawn
by two horses — and bring us back to-morrow, for the
sum of seven dollars each; waggons to come "strax" —
immediately. Now, if there be a detestable word in
the Danish language it is " strax ; " it always signifies
any space of time, beyond the endurance of human
patience and resignation. At the end of two hours they
come, a splendid pair of young chesnuts ; they would
not disgrace Hyde Park ; the blacks too are good ser-
viceable beasts, though less showy. Horse-flesh im-
proves as w^e go northwards. From the stables we
drive close to the sea-side, one wheel in the water
along the hard sand. A terrible coast this ; the very
shells are pounded into powder by the waves — all save
the pelican's-foot,* and that is strong enough to resist

* S trombus pes pelicani.

I

'A

'A

<

•■i

35

' !,Bl

';f'.l'* "'II

Chap. XXXVI. SKAGEN. 107

the wear and tear of wind or ocean, Pont oppidan
promised us sea-cats, sea-mice, and sea-wolves. This
part of Jutland, as far as the village of Aalbaek, is
more densely populated by the peasant tribe than any
we have yet visited — gaards, farm-buildings, cattle
in abundance ; and then later we pass by a wreck — a
ship sunk among the shoals ; dip into a quick-sand,
and are dragged out again ; then drive by the manor
of Lindholm, the most northern of all Jutland strong
holds, in Queen Margaret's time, of the noble house of
Bugge. Twilight comes on ; the lighthouse of Skagen
is faintly visible on the horizon. We drive now inland
— brown moor, relieved by shining sand, and dunes
glistening in the evening shades like snow. Pass by
old Skagen church-tower, half buried beneath a waste
— boats on the shore, nets hung to dry. We enter
the village, or rather settlement, toil our way through
the "sand ; each cottage stands by itself on a square
plot of land, on espalier-frames ; to a network of ropes
hang fish drying by hundreds ; corn too and potatoes
flourish. At last we reach a small, long, one-storied
house, embowered in trees — the kro — our resting-
place. We knock. Hallo ! No answer. What tra-
veller ever arrives at Skagen after michiight? At
length the master appears, and later women but half
awake ; in ten minutes our beds are prepared, and
before long we are asleep.

SKAGEX.

Juhj 1st. — We wade out through the sand, knee-deep,
to our bath before breakfast — fish split and drying in
their netting-frames, and something else, by no means
grateful to the smell : they look like peas ; so I ask a

108 "SKAGEN". Chap. XXXVI.

woman where tliey come from ? " The sea." Peas grow
in the sea ! Then calling to mind the stranded vessel of
last night, I discover how Skagen has been doing " a little
wrecking," like her Cornish cousins : a vessel, on her
way from Stettin, ran aground last week. Our bath was
less private than we imagined ; for though we sneaked
out early, almost unseen, the news got wind of ladies
swimming in the Kattegat; fish women and children
(the men had been out at sea since dawn of day)
crowded the dunes, too happy to stare and wonder.

Breakfast over, we drive to the newly-built lighthouse,
mount to the summit, and, glass in hand, gain some idea
of the village of Skagen. Gazing northward, the land
runs tapering finely do^vn, like a bullock's tongue — though
the name is derived from some ancient Scandinavian
word signifying " nose," — at whose extreme point the
sister waters of the Northern Ocean, stormy and violent,
embrace and mingle with the more gentle Kattegat,
who, as she nears the meeting-point, makes believe to
a little tide of her own. Kattegat is not an open sea ;
her velvet paws betray her ; she looks meek and
placid, but in the course of this present week has
wrecked two vessels, stranded on the shore before they
gained the open sea.

Turning to the south, before you lies the village,
planted in the sand in the form of an English X. You
will wonder why the fishers chose this place of sand for
their settlement, when heath and dry moor — terra firma
— were at command on the western coast: patience,
and 3^ou will hear.

In front, to the right, stands the old lighthouse, now
for sale, but no purchaser appears ; who would wish to
drag old materials over a plain of sand ? by its side some

Chap. XXXVI. SAND-STORM. 109

pretty, clean, striped houses, backed by a little grove of
trees ; then again, beyond the village, in the centre of
a baby forest, stands the house of the chief magistrate ;
you can hardly see it, so shut in is it from the wrath of
wind and sand.

Further still, on the western coast, stands, rising from
a mountainous sea of silver-glistening sand, the half-
buried church of " Gammel Skagen," long since dis-
used,— built, says tradition, of the stones brought by
English and Dutch seamen ; not improbable, as in old
popish days these church landmarks fared well in
offerings from the grateful mariner.

It was in the year 1775, on a common prayer day, —
of which in the Danish Church there were forraerlv
many, thanksgivings for fires extinguished and pestilence
stayed, and other mercies long since forgotten, — while
the inhabitants of Skagen were engaged in divine ser-
vice, there arose suddenly a storm, accompanied by a
whirlwind of " flying sand," carrying desolation over
the fields and the village of this devoted settlement,
and entirely filling up the holy well of St. Lawrence,
whose water proved infallible even in the ISth century.
Before the affrighted inhabitants could leave the
building, where they still remained cowering for shelter,
the church was half-buried beneath its fury, the doors
blocked up, and they compelled to escape l)y tlie windows
of the belfry. Since that period the building has been
no longer used. The colony emigrated to the opposite
coast, where the village is now situated.

We inquired if any English vessels ever touched at
Skagen? "Yes," the man at the lighthouse replied;
" when they are wrecked, not otherwise :" a visit
more honoured in the breach than in the observance.

no SKAGEX. Chap. XXXVI.

Behind the tower stands the residence of the people
employed at the lighthouse — the head man a rethed
officer.

The melons of Skagen enjoy a considerable reputa-
tion in the gastronomic world, and fish in considerable
quantities are exported to Sweden. The man at the
Phare takes a pride in his flowers : splendid oleanders,
passion-flowers, and picotees were blooming in his par-
lour-window. Whilst on high we observed a curious
effect of the clouds over the Kattegat ; three ships
appeared in the horizon, the mist separating them
from the water, giving them the effect of naval balloons
floating through the heavens. Skagen, too, boasts
one sepulchral tumulus — resting-place of some storm-
loving Scandinavian. We now embark again, and
drive to the "Nose's" point; stand one foot in the
I^Torth Sea, the other one in the Kattegat, and do — I
forget what, but something our host, who accompanied
us, told us was the correct thing. Huge masses of
glutinous substance, of brick-dust red and cobalt blue,
lie stranded on the shore, some three and four feet in
circumference, beautiful to look upon ; what a trouvaille
for a vivarium ! These animals are said to possess
medicinal qualities ; and at Sandifiord in Norway there
exists a sea-bathing place, where those who are martyrs
to rheumatic pains go and make a " cure aux actineae,"
bathe in the burning sand, and have their bodies rubbed
down with live jelly-fish.*

* Pontoppidan, worthy old prelate, does his very best to get up a
few remarkable events in honour of this the most northern village of
Jutland. In the year 1281 a fish very like, not a whale, but a lion,
ravaged the coast, devouring fishermen and women, cracking their
bones like filberts. Passing over a few awful battles with the North-

Cii.vr. XXXVI. SWEET GALE. Ill

We returned to our kro by the west coast, across the
downs, partly converted into heath. Sheep browse on
the waste, and the mutton is excellent, if such as we
had at breakfast — like our own Southdown, or the Pre
Sale so much esteemed in France.

Skagen has her flora : all the heathy tribe —
hollowlip (Imlleloebe), lapwing's-fat, and Our Lady's
eye-tears,* as the peasants call them. Something
crushed fragrant under my feet; an old Jutlander
cries out to me from his cart, " Gather some of that
shrub." I do so, smell it, and highly aromatic it
proved to be — the sweet gale,t used both here and in
Germany for flavouring pale ale ; in Danish called
Porse, like the duke. We pay our moderate bill and
start— X.B. The women varnished our bottines — grati-
fying, but inconvenient, as the sand caked to them
like scouriug-paper — and, after two hours' drive, we
leave the sea and cross the moor land — a pleasant
change, as the day is cool and the air fragrant — till
we again arrive at Jerup, and stop to bait our horses
in their native stalls.

The Vendel boer, as they are here all called north of
the Liimfiorde, ushers us into his house, which reminds
me much of Brittany, with its ship-cabin beds and
carved chest of drawers, painted red and picked out in

meti, Wf, in tlie IGtli century, come upon a child bom witli two faces —
most inconvenient in this sand-driving country. Then Skagen has its
crack nun. One, son of a fislierman, became Bishop of Stavanger ;
another Bisiiop of Zealand ; a third was Professor of Mathematics at
Copenhagen ; and many others, all well known under the name of their
native town (Skagbo,\ latinized into Scavenius.

* Epipactis palustrirf, Pinguicula, and Droseni.

t Myrica gale.

1 1 2 SKAGEN. Chap. XXXVI.

divers gaudy colours. The " Imus fru " enters quickly,
bids us welcome, placing on the table not " butter in a
lordly dish," as they do in Norway— she brings a jug
of fresh milk, and bids us drink. But with the furni-
ture and wooden settles ends the likeness to dirty
Brittany : here all is of a Dutch cleanliness. The
women in their queer frilled caps and good stout dresses,
clean and neat, knit as fast as they talk, and as
their tongues run glibly the stocking advances quickly.
We sit down to write our journals, and then an aged
peasant in gray homespun, very white hair, and spec-
tacles on nose, enters and wishes us good day — " Four
people writing at the same time ; we don't often see
such a sight in these parts." He then examines our
calligraphy — " You write the best," he says to one ;
" you next ; you next ; and you the worst," to me —
a most unjust remark, and a proof of bad taste on his
part. Had the ladies been ever at school ? he was the
schoolmaster : 'if we liked we might come across the
road and write in his school-house at the desks —
a tempting offer we could not accept, as the horses
were already harnessed. The farmer himself accom-
panies us this time, to the great disgust of his son,
who was looking forward to a lark at Frederikshavn, I
dare say. The boy looks sorrowful, but father (a
splendid fellow, like Kollo ; one wonders how any horse
can bear his tall athletic frame) is inexorable. We
start ; half-way exchange our spirited chesnuts, too
young to be hackneyed about, for a pair of wicked-eyed
ponies, in fur collars and blinkers (de la fourrure apres
Paques, quel pays !), and arrive towards eleven at Fre-
derikshavn.

Chap. XXXVI. FREDERIKSHAVN. "; 113

FEEDERIKSHAVN,

Jxily Ind. — On our arrival last night we found the
liotel nigh deserted ; were received by an important-
looking boy of twelve years of age or thereabouts, who
seemed awfully affronted at oiu- calling him " lille
dreng." It was not until this morning we became
aware of the cause. The whole family, landlord,
landlady, housemaids, cooks, kitehemnaids, boots, and
waiter, had passed the night at a ball in the neighbour-
ing " skov."

Oiu- Vendel boers come in to wish us " farvel,"
" tak for idag," shake hands -odth us all round, and ex-
press their pleasure at having driven us. We would

not like to jiart with little Liua, would we ? If so

Lina, affrighted, retires under the protection of her
mistress's ample jJetticoats at the very mention of such
a fate. Well ! she might be worse off. Plenty of good
milk at the farmhouse, and no sparing.

Frederikshavn is a pretty little to-mi, beautifully
situated, consisting chiefly of one long street, running
down to the water's edge — its harbour protected by
one solid martello tower, built by Tordenskiold, at
the end of its citadel : tlie ^peasants still call it Flad-
strand * — its ancient name. It was offered for sale
in the last century for the simi of 4000 dollars. A
change since then — plenty of shipping, clean houses,
and channing shady public gardens, the pavement its
only weak or rather rough point. All that can be
effected in Jutland to mak(3 their cities desirable as resi-

* In former days the post passed througli Fladstrand on its way to
Norway, it being the nearest harbour of comuiuuication.
VOL. II. I

114 FREDERIKSHAVN. Chap. XXXVI.

dences to the lower as well as to the higher classes is
done by the natives themselves in conjunction with
the authorities. It is a pleasure to see how happy the
lower classes are : how they enjoy the advantages of
au', shade, and water, of which the inhabitants of our
own large cities are debarred. The Danes should
be a contented and happy people, as I believe them
to be ; for never in any land will you see so little,
indeed, such an entire absence, of poverty — perhaps
among the higher classes not the great rent-rolls we
meet with in England, but such a general appearance
of " aisance " among all — from the highest to the
humblest cottager.

The roughness of the climate causes the houses to be
mostly fresh coloured externally every spring, and the
constant bm-ning of stoves during the long winters renders
frequent paint and whitewash in the rooms a matter of
course. This accounts for the exquisite neatness of
the dwellings. When you do meet with a cottage of
bad appearance, it is sure to be a condemned tenement.
Don't judge its inhabitants hastily, but enter its doors
— " look up the chimney ;" and when you see three or
four sides of bacon smoking for winter's consumption,
a store full of potatoes, a chest full of good stout Sunday
clothes, rest assured poverty is not there, and that in a
year another cottage will arise, all black and yellow
timber stripes, fresh from its ruins. Perhaps at this
very moment the peasant is employed cooking his sun-
burnt bricks, and has purchased his double window, all
ready framed and glazed, at the neighbouring market-
town.

We passed by our old splendid chaussee on the
Hj or ring road, as far as Knivholt, and then, turning to

Chap. XXXVI. S^BY. 115

the right, climbed up over the moor — a steep ascent —
to a hoi near the polhirded church of Flade, her tower
blown over by the raging storms ; so Ave scramljled
Tip a brown-skinned barrow, half dug out, all alive Avith
ripe bilberries ; and stood for some time gazing at the
panorama before us, extending to Skagen. We plainly-
distinguished the lighthouse; and the little towai of
Fredericia, with its ships and harbour, looked prettier
than ever.

If Flade church be exposed on her heights, her
praestegaard snuggles comfortably, protected by a
lovely beech forest, at the bottom of a natural punch-
bowl, laughing at storm and AATOiter breezes.

We now descend, and, after a most picturesque l)ut
somewhat perilous descent among farms and Avoods,
gain the high road, • which runs along the waterside,
across a monotonous country on to Saeby. We pass by
an ancient manor, whose name escapes me, once cradle
of the Pack family, though long since changed hands.
The small white chm-ch of Sasby is plainly visible,
jutting out on the sea-side.

At the entrance of Saeby we are received, as we
cross the bridge which traverses the little Steby Aa, by
a nest of young storks, both parents out, left to their
own devices. They evince a desire to fly : stretch first
one leg, then the other, shake their new-fledged Avings,
give a hop, — courage not up to the point yet ; like a
schoolboy at the swimming-school, al)Out to try his first
header. Their resolution fixed, they make a phmge in
the air, and come (as the boy does, a plat ventre on tlu^
Avater) timabling, rattling down on the roof-eaves beloAV.

I 2

11 G S/EBY. - [Chap. XXXVI.

No harm done ! We order dinner at the inn, and
adjom-n to bathe. What a luxury, after a three hours'
dusty drive, a plunge in a sea sparkling like this !
To gain it we again pass the bridge ; lots of small trout
playing in the river : a pure briny sea, and fresh run-
ning river water.

We have a peep on om- way at Ssebygaard, an old
country residence of the Bishoj)s of B0rglum. Not far
from where we now are stands the manor of Lingsholra,
some centuries since the cause of disputes between a
widow lady — a Jutland Dido — and her nearest relation.
The suit had lasted long, and was still undecided, so
the widow proposed a compromise. She consents to
waive her claim to the disputed lands on condition she
may be allowed to sow this one year's crop, and reap
it when it came to full maturity. Her antagonist,
delighted at this easy ending, gives his full consent ; the
deed is signed and sealed, and our fair one commences
her sowing, "VMiat does she sow? Wheat? no! Barley?
no ! Eape ? no ! You'll never guess ! She sows a forest
of beech-masts. Her right to cut them when they come
to full matm'ity. Tliis forest was standing not many
years since.

CuAP. XXXVII, VOERGAARD. 117

CHAPTER XXXVII.

Manor of Voergaard — Skipper Clemens and Bishop Crump again —
Lady Ingeborg Skeel and the architect — The message of her 1ms-
band — Her disturbed spirit — Her prison, the Rosodonten — Her
Sunday pastime — Her monument — The road-side inns of Queen
Margaret — Jutland mode of boiling eggs.

VOERGAAED.

The postboy tiirus off the high road to Voergaard, one
of the most mteresting chateaux, both from its archi-
tecture and history, in the whole of Vendsyssel, a splendid
specimen of the early Eenaissance, built of red brick and
sandstone. As you pass mider the gateway, rich in stone
carvings, of a somewhat diabolical character, above
stand two shields, the armorial bearings of its founders,
Frue Ingeborg Skeel and her husband Otto Banner,
with the date 1538. In the earlier part of the fifteenth
centiuy Voergaard was the property of the Borglum
bishops. In 1534 it underwent the fate of all noble
residences in these parts, was destroyed and burnt to
the ground by Skipper Clemens and his band, "who
hunted," says the old chronicler, "Bishop Crump"
(Bishop Crump, who looks as good as gold on his tomb-
stone) and "his Frille" (impossible to translate such a
word when speaking of an ecclesiastic) "Elizabeth
Gyldenstieme from their good rest;" so tliat the Bishop
" Ivrob udi muus hul " — crept into a mouse-hole ; an
exaggeration of tlie chronicle, for it was only in a balcer's
oven that ho took refuge. Voergaard is burnt and

118 VOERGAARD. Chap. XXXVII.

sacked, and later comes into the possession of our pre-
sent heroine, the lady Ingeborg Skeel, a woman of high
Uirth and strong mind, endued with consummate taste,
but unfortunately without the means of gratifying it.
Build a manor-house she would, by hook or by crook,
and one that in richness and beauty should surpass
all her neighbours. So she sends for an architect,
orders in timber — of that there is no want on her own
estates — bakes her own bricks, and has sandstone over
from the island of Bornholm. The first cargo arrives,
and that she pays for, but when the second and the
third appear her purse is empty, but her wit is sharp.
A storm arises in the night ; she sends down her trusty
minions, causes the cables of the vessels to be cut, an
east wind drives them ashore, and she, lady of the
manor, by the ancient law of " flotsam and jetsum,"
claims the cargo as her own.

The building now advances, the towers rise ; rich
and quaint are the stone carvings around the Avindows
and portals. Never were such yet seen in Yendsyssel.
At last it is completed, but the architect must be paid,
and where is the money to come from ? Here's a
puzzler again ! Don't be alarmed : trust the lady
Ingeborg. Where there's a will, there's a way ; so she
orders the architect to bring his bill receipted and pre-
pared to receive his money. The architect arrives with
the massive keys of the castle, ready to hand them over to
its noble mistress. " But, before we settle our accounts,"
says she, "we will first go together over the whole
castle, and see that all is right. Leave your bill here,
Knight of the Keys of Bronze," she playfully adds,
passing the bunch, weighing nearly half a ton, round his
neck. " Leave them where they are, I insist ; you

Chap. XXXVII. LADY INGEBORG SKEEL. 119

sliall not take them off ! " so they proceed together to
examine the rooms one after the other, and then pass
— the poor architect groaning under the weight of hi*
burden — over the drawbridge which connects the moat
with the castle. " Stop ! " she cries ; " look at that
eastern tower; surely, the piles have sunk. Lean
over ! " The man obeys. A push from the lady — he
falls headlong into the moat, borne down by the weight
of the keys, to rise no more.

\\Tien Ingeborg feels sure he is drowned she calls
wildly for assistance. The body is withdrawn from its
watery grave, but the receipted bill remains in her
possession.

She was a fine old Jutland gentlewoman,
One of the olden time.

The husband, Otto Banner, was just as bad as
Ingeborg herself, and the cruelties and extortions
practised by both on their peasant serfs were beyond
belief At last Otto dies, and on the anniversary of
his death the lady Ingeborg drives to church in great
state, and says to Glaus, her coachman, " I should like
to hear how my husband is." The coachman replies,
" ]My lady, that is not so easily known ; but I do not
think he suffers from cold where he now dwells." The
lady became furious, and threatened the coaclmian with
death if he did not, before the third Sunday, bring her
tidings of her lord. The affrighted Glaus applies to tlie
parson of Alba?k, " wlio was as learned as any bishop ;"
but he declined the task. J lappily Glaus had a brotlier
a clergyman in Norway ; and as, says the legend, the
parsons of Norway are more cunning in these matters
than any other, Glaus went to liis brother, Avho takes
liini at midnight to a cross-road in a forest, where ho

120 . VOERGAARD. Chap. XXXVII.

conjures up his deceased master. Claus delivers the
message of the lady lugeborg. " Tell her," replies liis
jnaster, " that I have gone where a chair is preparing
for her, and she will be taken when it is finished, unless
she gives back the meadows of Agersted. But to prove
that you have spoken to me, I give you my bridal ring
to show to her." Claus reaches forth his hat to receive
the ring, and waits on the third Sunday at the church-
gate for his mistress. He gives the message and the ring.
" Well," said the lady, " you have saved your life ; but I
will never give back the meadows of Agersted." Shortly
afterwards there is a great funeral feast at Yoer church,
for the lady Ingeborg is to be buried ; but do not
imagine she rested quiet in her grave — she returned
every night and made such unearthly noises in the court-
yard, that the parson of Alsted was forced to conjure her
down in a bog hard by, called the Pulse. But she still
appears on Christmas-eve, when she drives over the
drawbridge into the inner courtyard in a coach ch-awn
by six horses, with fire glaring from their nostrils and
mouths, and she is often seen in the Pulse combmg her
long hair with a golden comb. On every New Year's night
she is permitted to advance the length of a cock's step
towards the manor-house, and when she has reached it
Voergaard will inevitably sink. Neither grass nor moss
ever grows at the place where she has been conjured
down into the mose, and, by help of the scorched spots
in the adjacent field, it may always be ascertained how
many lengths of a cock's step she has proceeded towards
Voergaard.

The chateau consists of one corps de batiment,
flanked by two octagonal towers ; the wings, if there
were any, have been destroyed. When standing in the

Chap. XXXVII. THE " ROSODONTEX." 121

courtyard among the milk-pails — for we have here
300 cows, each morning some ton and a half of butter
made before breakfast*— I could not help thinking
how well one of our water-colour artists might have
limned this out. It is a wonder they never travel in
Jutland; they would find living cheap and a new
subject for their pencils.

■ The intendante came out with her keys, and asked us
if we should like to visit the rooms: one, hung with
splendid embossed Flemish leather, alone attests the
former magnificence of the building. The oak and
walnut carved doors still remaining show that True
Ingeborg knew what she was about. As for the loft,
you might lodge a regiment therein, and the timber
walls are constructed with a solidity only to be accom-
plished by those who do not pay their reckonings.

Ingeborg, too, had no idea of being defenceless. In
the cellars at the basement of her octagonal towers
were placed cannons, ready to sweep the neighbouring
country at a moment's notice. As for her prisons,
the " Eosodonten," — with its iron hooks for hanging and
torture, her own invention, — without window, door, or
opening, in which human bones were lately discovered,
is one of the most horrible that can be imagined. In
the year 1841 several murders were committed in the
Vendsyssel, and the people suspected lodged in the
prison of the Eosodonten. One night was sufficient ;
terrified, they declared, by the menaces of Frue Ingeborg
Skeel, they one after another confessed their crime,
declaring they would rather be hanged or lose their

* Calculatiug the Danish tou at 118 lbs. English, nearly 180 per diem.

122 DRONNINGLUND. iJhap. XXXVIT.

heads a dozen times over than pass another night in
such villanous company.

On quitting the court we drove to the village church,
along the very road by which one Sunday morn the
lady Ingeborg rode in her gilt caroche ; and spinning
by the way, for she was never idle, she sees a little
cliild among the corn, plucking the ears and eating the
grain ; so she stops the carriage. " Come here, little
girl; what are you about?" "Eating corn, please,
my lady." " Oh ! so you can't keep your hands from
picking and stealing, can't you ? hold them up ! " The
child obeys. Snip ! snip ! off go her fingers, severed
by the steel scissors worn at the girdle of the relentless
lady of the manor. We visited the church, where still
stands the splendid carved oak " pue " used by Ingeborg
in her lifetime ; and in the Skeel chapel, out-topping the
edifice itself in height, admired the splendid Renaissance
monument, erected in her lifetime to her husband and
herself. They are represented kneeling face to face.
It is 80 feet high, and is, I am sorry to say, going to
decay from damp and neglect.

DRONNINGLUND.

We went to visit Dronninglund on our way, a fine
extensive manor, under restoration, once a convent of
Benedictine nuns, founded by Frue Gro in the 13th cen-
tury, by name Hunslundkloster, until it became secu-
larised and stamped with an ^ (Frederic and Sophia).
Queen Margaret loved it much, and founded there an altar
for herself and friends and perpetual mass for their souls.
Of Queen Margaret's friends the less said the better. So
thought her nephew and successor Erik the Pomeranian,

Chap. XXXMI. HJALLEEUP. 123

when he chopped off the head of her particular pet,
Abraham Broders0n. Blessed is the memory of great
Queen Margaret to all travellers in Jutland, for to her
thoughtful care we owe the existence of our roadside
kros. Among her laws and ordinances is one enactment
by which she orders the establishment of kros on the high-
way At a distance of each four Danish miles, " where
every man shall find rest for his money and his ease,
as the lodging (it proceeds to say) in private houses
in the villages costs dearer than in the mercantile
towns."

Dronninglund looks like a convent still. In France,
Italy, Spain, or anywhere you please, do what you will
to these ancient ecclesiastical buildings — call them slot,
gaard, lund, lyst, lust — the scarlet lady still peeps out
in every corner. A thick sea-fog has just come on —
havguse, they here call it — so we could not see much of
the gardens, and, as we drove on over the dark moor, it
became thicker and thicker. The wind began to howl,
and* some of the party to grumble. There are some
countries one expects to be blo^Mi about in, and Jutland
is one of them.

HJALLERUP.

It was past eleven before we arrived at Hjallerup
kro, where we remained the night. Impossible to con-
tinue our journey ; we shoidd not have readied Sundby
before four in tlie morning, and found the ferrymen all
asleep. Clean rooms and beds and an excellent break-
fast next morning consoled us for our misfortunes : a
very Scotch repast — fish, flesh, and fowl, and eggs —
piles of eggs boiled to a bubble, not by the clocks,
not by the hour-glass, but according to an old Jutland

124 ' HJALLERUP. Chap. XXXVII.

custom. When the servant-girl boils the eggs, she is
careful, as soon as they are put into the saucepan, to
rejDeat twice the Lord's Prayer slowly and with reve-
rence, for then the eggs will be well boiled, neither too
hard nor too soft, and are sure to have a good flavour.
When she takes the eggs from under the hen she never
leaves less than five, for the hens can count up to that
number and no more.

Aiih July. — Three days' rest at Aalborg. Not quite
so for me, as I must be up betimes to visit N0rlund,
some five Danish miles distant : my series of historic
manors will not be complete without. The want of
energy in womankind is fearful : no one will accompany
me. As for Christina Munk, they have done with her,
visited the place she died, and don't want to commence
over again at her birthplace. So, unencumbered by
capes and shawls, and other discomforts which invariably
accompany the presence of ladies, I slip into my stuhl-
wagen at three minutes before five, without any feeling of
irritation at being kept waiting. All smooth and serene
this morning; electric telegraph rather in bad books
to-day ; road dull and ugly until we arrive at Svenstrup
Heath, black and redolent with patches of fragrant
thyme. Capital j)lace for a battle : room for a charge,
though the retreating cavalry would run a good chance
of getting bogged, whichever way they took.

We pass by Buderuj)gaard, prettily situated off the
road, remarkable as being the only manor which escaped
devastation at the hands of Skipper Clemens. The road
now improves. Near Gravlev, a village beautifully
situated on the heights above, is a lake, now half-dried
up ; in a few years it will all be under cultivation.

Take the map in your hand and the high ground of

Chap. XXXMI, " LILLE VILD MOSE." 125

Aalborg Amt as j'our centre, you will find it surrounded
by a continuation of villages bearing the name of holm
or island ; then again towards the east lies the " Lille
Vild Mose," a huge bog extending over miles, the
effects of one of those awful inundations of the sea so
common in the earlier centuries. Having done its
worst, the sea has thrown up dunes so high as to be
called " Muld bjergene." Well, in the centre of this bog
lie four small lakes, or S0, now brought into culti-
vation. The tui'f, as we all know, grows upwards, and
is now fifteen feet above the level of the lake's banks.
Every year, as the plough passes over these lands,
urns containing bones are turned up, composed of the
same black Jutland pottery now sold at the canal
by the Amagertorv in Copenhagen, ornamented with
the zigzag decoration, such as you find on all tlie earlier
round-arch doonvays of the earliest Christian period,
as the Frue Kirke at Aalborg, In one of them
was discovered a small bone cross — perhaps brought
over from Christian lands, as the burning of bodies is
supposed to have gone out of fashion after the intro-
duction of Clu-istianity in Denmark. Be this as it may,
it proves that the immersion of these lauds took place
at a period not very far removed from us in the history
of the world's creation. Amber, too, is found on the
highest eminences of Stensbaik, in the Vendsyssel
country.

We now turn off to the right, and enter a forest
of beeches, banks clothed with the "Nantcrgrpm *
(winter-green) in full blossom ; pass by the manor-house

* PjTola.

126 TORDESLUND. Chap. XXXYII.

of Tordeslund — a pleasanter drive now than in the
days of Valdemar Atterdag, for documents exist in
which he gives orders for its destruction, describing
it as a " nest of robbers." Queen Margaret, however,
spared it at the request of a " friend.'^ And now we
come to N0rlund, the object of my pilgrimage.

Chap. XXXVIII. NOKLUND. 127

CHAPTEK XXXVIII.

N0rlund Manor — Ellen Marsviin and Ludvig Muiik — Sleeting of
King Cliristian and the fair Christina — Names of the Jutland
nobility — Almshouse of Aalborg — Scottish guard of Christian II. —
Prince Niels and his tutor — Duke Knud's suit of scarlet — Mermaid
monument at Tiele.

K0RLUND.

TowAEDS tlie middle of the 16th century, a knight of
Avealth and some reno'mi, Ludvig Munk by name, not
in the flower of liis youth, courted a fair damsel, Ellen
Marsviin, daughter of a neighbouring noble. You re-
collect we have already seen her portrait at Eosen-
holm — plump and fair, with laughing eyes, just the
beauty to captivate a man of fifty. The young Ellen
had no wish to marr}% and Ludvig might have been
her father; so she laughs at his suit, teazes him, as
girls sometimes will do, and only renders his passion
more ardent.

AVhere we now stand, surrounded by woods, was in
those days a marshy swamp. Imagine the noble
knight on his good war-horse riding by the side of
Ellen's ambling palfrey : he presses hard his suit ; it
becomes Avearisome ; the maid, at last impatient, with-
draws hastily her glove and casts it into the centre.
" Build me," she exclaims, " a palace in the middle
of this mose — a palace which shall surpass all those
now rising around us (they had all been lately
destroyed by Skipper Clemens and his band), with

128 N0RLUND. Chap. XXXVIII.

a tower from the top of which I can gaze on St. Bii-
dolph's church at Aalborg, and I am yours. Until
that, leave me in peace and quietness." Little did she
know Ludvig Munk. Before many months had elapsed
a stately mansion, built upon deep-driven piles, began
to rise ; the foundations, too, of the tower are laid.
The workmen are relieved day and night, for Ludvig
feels he has no time to lose.

Touched by his constancy, fair Ellen marries him at
once, long before the palace is completed, and became
later mother of Christina IMunk, who was here born, and
whom Christian IV. first met on a visit to Nprlund, and
shortly after espoused at seventeen years of age. Some
authors declare Ellen to have laid snares for the
king, and to have taken her daughter regularly to the
Frue Kirke, and placed her in front of the royal closet
to attract his attention. The bait did not take at first ;
but after a time his curiosity was excited : struck by
her beauty and the richness of her dress, he inquired
who she was ; was told she was a daughter of the widow
Munk; and, if the portraits of Christina in her early
youth do not flatter her, she must have been very pretty.*

Christian accuses Ellen of having a hand in her
daughter's disgrace — of being aware of " her daughter's
flighty life, which she carried on publicly, and which did

* In addition to her personal attractions Christina Munk was one
of the greatest heiresses of the day, a circumstance of which King
Christian seems to have been perfectly aware, for I find a letter in
which he m-ges Ellen to assure her daughter's succession ; and at the
time of their mutual disgrace " he orders Ellen to deliver over the
properties of Boiler and Kosenvald for her daughter's maintenance.
Without saying of him " Han meete Keden, og ey Fuglen," — he thiulcs
of the nest and not of the bird — he had no objection to the goods and
chattels of his morganatic spouse as a provision for his childi-en.

Chaf. XXXVm. NAMES OF JUTLAND NOBILITY. 129

not agree witli tlie honour of a Danisli lady, and did not
give us a hint of it ; if she had done so, then we are
sure Mrs. Ku-stine would have never come into that
labyrinth in which she later became entangled ;" and
'• how, when the lady Ellen saw it became too bad, and
that the boys and old women pointed fingers after her
daughter in the streets, she commenced crying, and
she would not tell us the reason why she cried."

The family of the present proprietor, Kammerjunker
de Mylius, kindly did me the honours of the mansion.
Few have suffered more from neglect, devastation, and
injudicious restoration in the former century than N0r-
lund. The towers now are all under restoration. The
room occupied by King Christian on his visit is still
shown — the riddersaal. Upon the chimney-piece, date
1591, appear the efiSgies and arms of Ludvig and Ellen —
young Ellen no longer, but Ellen fat, fair, and forty —
overblown. She made a great mistake in not having
had her bust taken soon after her marriage, before she
ran to fat. The arms of Ellen puzzled me much — a
heavy-looking fish straddling over a bend in a most
uncomfortable position; but, on referrmg to my dic-
tionary, I find jMarsviin signifies poi-poise. There is no
romance about the names of the early Jutland nobility.
Ellen Porpoise ! all sentiment is at an end. Names
derived from the swine tribe too were much in vogue —
Urne, boar ; Gait, hog ; Griis, pig. In the wars of the
Counts, 1534, we have a noble knight. Sir Bagge Griis,
who is killed by a tile thrown from the house-top on
his head by Peter Bedske (bitter), of Klampgaard, the
shoemaker. Then we have Oxe, Kalf, Daa, Dyre,
Krabbe,Trolle ;* Ulvstand, wolfstooth (quite refreshing) ;

* "When Harved Ulf went to fetch homo hia bride IMechtild, sister
VOL. II. K

130 N0RLUND. -Chap. XXX Vlil.

with many others already mentioned, all equally ugly
and equally illustrious in the history of their country.

Nobody ever bore the name of Hound or Dog, though
the animal was looked upon as noble ; and this may
be accounted for by the custom that a knight when
degraded from his honours was compelled to hold in his
arms a " mangy dog," while his spm's were chopped off
from his heels, and his sword broken asunder.

]Sr0rlund suffered fearfully, in the Swedish war of
1658, from the visit of its friends the auxiliary Polacks,
who tore off the leaden roof, &c. ; it will require much
money and time to place it in order. The gardens are
small, but a wilderness of roses. Jutland is a land of
roses, though few of the more modern species have as
yet penetrated ; but the old cabbage, the maiden's blush,
the cinnamon, and, lastly, the Provins, sweetest of all its
tribe, abound in the greatest profusion. Ludvig and
Ellen sleep not in the village church, but in Funen. I
first entered a cottage. On asking for the key, " Go thou
to schoolmaster," was the reply as plain as ears could
hear. Splendid swords I saw lying rusting, rotting,
useless, on the mouldering coffins of their former owners ;
a series dating from 1500 to the end of the latter
century, many of most exquisite workmanship. There
was another Eunic stone lying at the porch entrance of
this little church — always been there, the schoolmaster
told me. The way ran by the village of Bold, whose
forest, now no more, once gave rise to the proverb, " As

of Birger Jarl, some warriors, rushing out of the wood, endeavoured to
carry her off by force, their leader having disguised himself as a devil,
that he miglit more easily frighten the guards. Harved, with one blow,
severed his head from his body. From that day he changed his arms
from a wolf (Ulf) courant to a headless devil (^TroUe), adopting the name
of Trolle instead of that of Ulf.

Chap. XXXVIII. AALBOEG. 131

old as the trees in tlie forest of Bold." * On tlie keatli
sat a whole tribe of fox-cubs, quite tame ; a chevreuil,
too, was browsing by the way-side.

AALBOEG.

^tli July. — A day of rest at Aalborg. We visit one of
the tliree hospitals the town possesses for aged men
and women, sixty in number — all fi'esh and bright in its
annual coat of paint — large airy rooms, and plenty of
old Jutland women, in their queer frilled caps, spinning
and knitting away. They are fed and lodged, and receive
a mark weekly by way of aid for theii* clothes, which,
added to the small sum they make by the sale of their
yarn and stockings, keeps them in good trim ; one of
the old women reminded me of a bonne femme Nor-
mande by Gerard Dow — quite a picture, with what the
Yankees call " a wealth of silver hair." Then there
were others, cross and querulous, as the matron ex-
pressed herself, " as the old woman of Buxtebude." t
The mayor of the town pointed out to me a street still
called Scottingade, adjoining the site of an earlier
Aalborg Slot, where once stood tlie barracks of the
Scotch guard of the second Christian, hired from his

* I passed by the village of Aan ; on the heath you observe those
lofty tumuli, the greatest a giants sepulchre, grave of the well-known
Gmither, killed by his rival Kagul, when, aecording to the old soug —
"With spear and diirt does Gunther slrivo
The gia7it Iviigul from his house to (hive ;
But Kagul he drives Gunther back.
Until his collar-bone dofS crack.
Now Gunther lies in the earth cold.
And Svenstrup belongs to Aan so bold."
t " As cross and scolding as the old woman of liuxtebudc," is a
Jutlaml saying. The said old woman is an historic character, the
herohie of an ancient ballad : she married a giant at the age of 110,

K 2

132 HOBR0. Chap. XXXVIII.

uncle James III. King of Scotland, husband of the
Princess Margaret of Denmark.*

Our hotel was once a house of some importance, built
in the last century by Brigadier-General Hailing, an
officer in the English East India service he caUed
himself. As a boy he had run away to sea, made his
fortune in the East, and returned to end his days with
honour in his native land. It was later discovered he
had been a daring pirate, the terror of our English
homewardbound Indiamen, and that the "honourably
gained fortune " was the plunder of the captured ves-
sels ; the viking spirit bursting out, only eight hundred
years too late : otherwise he might have been a smaa
konge, and buried in a giant's chamber, his arms and
ornaments around him.

HOBR0.

Qth July. — We have changed our plans, and, instead
of floating down the Liimfiorde, adjourn first to Viborg,
where papers and letters await us.

* A large number of Scots, says the historian, came at that time to
Copenhagen. They were highly esteemed as warsmen, equal to the
Germans and the Swiss. This caused great jealousy ; and one day, when
the Scots were assembled at a drinking-house, the Germans gathered
round the house and challenged the Scots to come out. Tlie Scots,
finding their adversaries too numerous, refused ; so the Germans set
fire to the house, and the Scots had to crawl up to the roof, whence
they threw down stones ; but as the fire advanced they were compelled
to jump down, and were all killed. The Germans took possession of
the town and ran through the streets slaying every Scot tliey met.
When the king heard of this uproar he came out and endeavoured to
restore order, but without eff"ect, though he rode through the streets on
horseback. When he arrived at the Amagertorv, a Scot threw him-
self under the king's horse, demanding protection ; but the German
had no respect for the king, and slew the Scot under his horse's feet ;
for which outrage he was however afterwards beheaded.

Chap. XXXVIII. BRATTINGSBORG. 133

It is not to the credit of the Vendsyssel country, but
an old proverb dechires " At Aalborg Sund ends law
and right." Let us hope matters are mended since
those days. We roll down a hill, and arrive at Hobr0,
where we dine ; and the fair fiorde, with the iovm and
its church, lie clustered before us. Nothing can be
more beautiful than the site, which the foolish town
has not kno^^^l how to take advantage of ; built in one
long street scampering up the hill on the Eanders road.
The church is of modern Gotliic brickwork, striped hori-
zontally in dark and pale red — the effect admu-able. In
the churchyard stands a Runic stone, the characters as
fresh as though incised yesterday. After half an hom-'s
di'ive we leave the Eanders road, and turn across a
moor, through a windy country, all drily historical, but
no remains to make it interesting.

BRATTINGSBOEG.

Later we arrive at Kleitrup Lake, where alone a few
embankments tell the existence of Brattingsborg castle ;
to take which the seventy-seven knights of the ballad -
set out from Hald by way of Viborg. A cow, tor-
mented by the flies, fords the moat, so they follow her
example and scale the walls. It was when riding in
the neighbourhood of Kleitrup that Prince Inge, son of
King Niels, fell from his horse and was killed. His
affrighted tutor fled, disguised as a woman, and was
captured in a bog — people always got captured in the
bogs in Jutland — and was buried alive, without bell,
book, or candle, pegged flat on his back, a hpi heaped
up over his body.

From here, too, eloped the Prmcess Ingeborg, ^\ife of
Prince Henrik Skatelar. She fled chsguised in knight's

134 TIELE. Chap. XXXVIII.

attire, and was caught in tlie streets of Aalborg.
Prince Henrik, suspecting unjustly bis cousin Knud
Lavard, aided in his murder.* He pardoned the prin-
cess because she was deserted by her lover ; but later
caught somebody else, and buried him, like the tutor,
under a li0i.

Well, history compels us to gaze on this little S0,
which has seen a great deal in its day, but of wliich
no traces remain : it looks very calm and quiet, with
the white village church, built down by its water side,
glad to have done with all these exciting times, and
be at rest.

TIELE.
How the wind did blow as we proceeded ! umbrellas
turned inside out ; can hardly sit in the carriage. My
geography, too, is at fault : a new road has been opened
this summer, and we are all at sea till we stop at Tiele
to look at the tomb of a ridiculous puppy of the last
century, a certain Capitaine de Levetzan, who left
orders in his will that his sarcophagus (which looks like
a work of Wiedevelt), all curves and allegory, should
be supported by six undraped female figures, " in humble
expression of his gratitude to the fair ^ sex for the
favours he had received from them in his life-time."
Orders were given for the execution of the monument,

* The cousins had already come to loggerheads, at the marriage of
Prince Magnus in Kibe, about di-ess. Prince Henrik appeared clad
in a suit of sheepskin, while Knud jLavard dazzled the eyes of all
beholders by the splendour of his scarlet raiment cut after the Saxon
fashion. Henrik, boiling over with jealousy, sueeringly remarked,
" Such new-fangled stuff ill beiit^ed a warrior, and would afford little
defence against the sword-cut ;" to which Knud replied, " Scarlet cloth
was quite as serviceable as sheepskin, when the wearer had the
courage to defend himself." Prince Henrik never forgave that suit of
scarlet.

Chap. XXXYIII. MERMAID MONOIEXT. 135

wlien the Lutlieran clergyman yowed no such impro-
priety should enter the chuiTli, even if he appealed to
the Sovereign (it Avas under Christian YI., of i:»ious
memory, and Queen Madalena) . " But they shall be
all scriptm-al subjects," reasons the artist, by no means
anxious to relinquish so advantageous an order. The
pastor Avas inexorable. The artist, at his wits' ends,
proposed the ladies should have fishes' tails and become
mermaids. This settled the matter — allegory was all
the fashion of the 18th century — so there they are,
with their fishy continuations looking somewhat crushed,
supporting the black marble which contains the body
of the captain.

"While admiring the sepulchral stone of J0rgen
Skram, founder of the chateau, and his wife, a message
was brouirht to us from the Kammerherrinde de Lut-
tichau, the dame chatelaine, begging us to rest ourselves
in the house. On entering we find old acquaintances
of Copenhagen, and pass a pleasant evening. Cows are
diminishing, sheep increasing in numbeis, as Ave approach
the moorlands. Cows are called " coavs " by the Jutland
peasant, the sheep are the " English Southdown," and
the horses used of " Yorkshire " breed. The chateau of
Tielc is of great antiquity, and the only one Ave have
yet met with not smu-ounded by a moat ; very pic-
turesque it appears among the splendid lime-trees, Avith
its striped Avings and ancient gatcAvay.

On quittiiig Tide we pass through the village of
Lovel. The frequent occm-rencc of England's holm,
England's this, and England's that, at first puzzled mc.
The word Eng signifies meadoAv, and Eng-land is merely
common parlance for meadoAv-land. In tAA^o hours and
a half's time we Avere safely housed in the hotel at A^iborg.

136 VIBORG. Chap. XXXIX.

CHAPTEE XXXIX.

Pagan city of Viborg — Erik the Lovely and the harper — The Danish
Luther — First of the Longobardi — Sir Niels Bugge and the Castle
of Hald — Murder of King Erik Clipping — Church of Anscarius —
Eail way engineer — King Knud's invasion of England — Manor of
Krabbesholm — Parson ]Mads the slanderer — Caps of Fuur Island
— Mors, birthplace of Hamlet — His story as told by Saxo.

VIBOEG.

The ancient city of Yiborg held high her head in
Pagan times, rival to Leira and Sigtuna, for here were
solemnised the chief sacrifices to Odin; and here,
in an open plain before the town, were elected the
Danish sovereigns for the provinces of Jutland.

Numerous and important were the events in history
which here took* place ; far too dry and tiresome to
enumerate : one alone I will mention.

It was early in the 11th century that Erik the Lovely,
driven to madness by the strains of a wandering harper,
slew four of his ministers ; and to atone for his crime
made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Then up rose
all the Jutlanders imploring him not to leave them, and
offering one third of their goods to purchase his peace
with heaven : they wept, they begged on their bended
knees, but of no avail. He started and died on his
way at Cyprus, before his pilgrimage was completed.*

* Erik Eigod was one of the natural sons of Svend Estridsen.
From the time of Canute the Great till Valdemar I. no difference

Chap. XXXIX. POPISH KELICS. 137

You have had enough of historic events; but when
towns, like mortals, have seen better days, they like to
indulge in the memory of their former grandeur, and
talk about the grand doings of their early youth. And
now Paganism is at an end, and Odin out of fashion.
Thor has had a handle added, not to his name, but
to his hammer, which is converted into a cross. Freia
no one cares for now, so Viborg appears bright
in a new light— the rery odour of sanctity. Six-
and-twenty churches rise within her walls, convents
and nunneries, white brothers and gray ; and such relics,
too! All the pilgrims on their road to Eome take
Viborg by the way, and are lodged by the hospitable
monks. Some, indeed, go no further, perfectly contented
with the treasures displayed before their admiring eyes :
and no wonder ; have they not here preserved a lock
of the hair of the Virgin Mary ? a fragment, too, of
the five barley loaves, and, more curious still, the eye
of one of the seven sleepers ? Little use going in j^il-
grimage to Eome when such sights can be seen in our
own native Jutland. In our cathedral, too, repose the
bodies of our kings : first on the list Svend Grathe— a
mui-derer he was. Then, too, there is Erik Glipping ;
he lies there, and we exhibit his bones to the wonder-
ing stranger, and display the marks of the square iron
clubs by which he was murdered, still visible on his
battered skull. These sovereigns honour our round-
arched crypt, where we say masses both night and
morning. A brave place is Viborg in these old Papistic
days. A real Danish saint, too, once lay interred in

was made between natural and legitimate children, six illegitimate
princes reigning one after the other in Denmark.

138 . VIBORG. CuAP. XXXIX.

Viborg Domkirke, canonized by tlie pope, St. Kield
by name. St. Kiekl was bom in Vinding, near Banders.
He was a very holy man, who performed many miracles,
and became Bishop of Viborg. Before his sanctity was
kno\vn, he was once expelled by the frairs of his con-
vent. A few days afterwards he met one of the servants
of the convent who had been sent out to fetch water,
and asked leave to drink out of his pitcher. When
the servant handed it to him, he changed the water into
wine, ordering the servant to take it with his com-
pliments to the brethren of the convent, and to ask
them to drink to his good health. He was immediately
called back, and received with great joy. When after
his death the pope had entered him in the number of
the saints, his corpse was laid in a costly shrine and
suspended in golden chains under the vault in the
chapel of the cathedral of Viborg. This richly gilt
shrine, called the arch of St. Kield, was always held
in much honour until the Keformation, when it was
taken down and placed behind the altar of the
church, where at last it was burnt in a conflagration.
But now, in the commencement of the 16th century,
rumours are rife of a Wittemberg monk and his new
heretical doctrine ; the visitors to Viborg are few and
far between. Then uprises a gray brother, Hans
Tausen by name, and, in defiance of all authority,
preaches the doctrines of the Reformation, and pro-
claims himself the Luther of Denmark, and Viborg,
prosperous Viborg, the first Protestant city of the
empire.*

* Hans Tausen was born in Funen, and first entered the kloster of
Antvorskov, and travelled to Wittemberg, where he resided two years.
On his return his new doctrines gave offence ; he was first reprimanded

Chap. XXXIX. THE CATHEDRAL. 139-

Bishop J0rgeu Friis, the last Eomish prelate of the
diocese, accompanied by his halberdiers, endeavours to
seize the recreant monk, but in vain ; he is defended by
the people. The discomfited bishop retires to his castle
of Hald, and later quite forgot liimself, for one of the
accusations brought against him in Christian III.'s time
was that he had been heard to say " he wished himself a
devil to have the plaguing of King Frederic's soul with
hot and cold in purgatory." With the Eeformation ended
the glories of this ancient city; her monasteries sup-
pressed, her churches fell soon into decay ; of the twenty-
six which formerly graced her city, tln-ee only now remain.
But though Viborg be fallen, her site none can take from
her, on a hill-side overlooking the lake which bears her
name. The cathedi-al, once her glory, built in the 12th
century by Bishop Niels, has much suffered ; it was burnt
nearly to the ground in the earlier part of the last
century, was then restored in the taste of the day ; her
fine granite arcades closed up with plaster, and her mas-
sive stones replaced with brick ; her towers topped with
a jockey-cap — degraded as far as degradation could be
carried. Still her proportions are grand, and the fine
round-arch crypt well repays a visit. Here long after
the Reformation were, masses no longer sung, but
morning prayer said daily in Glipping's honour. Svend
Grathe has long since disappeared, though they still dis-

and then sent out of the way into Jutliuul. Near Veirup, in Funcn,
were sorao years since still seen the remains of a sniitliy in whieh
Tauscn is siiid to have been born. His father Tago was a smith,
and extracted iron from the moor ; therefore he was looked upon as a
sorcerer, ami was killed by the peasants. The place is still said to be
htjunted by tlio wife of Tuge, who is heard calling after her husband ;
no one will disturb the ground, and thoss and scales of iron arc still
found there.

140 ' VIBORG. Chap. XXXIX.

play his bones, and Glipping's too ; his armour (of
the time of Christian IV.) still decorates the walls
of the royal chapel. There is, however, some talk of a
general restoration, if money can be collected ; but the
bishop is poorly paid, scarce better than a parish pastor ;
4000 dollars, and a house with a garden near the ca-
thedral, forms his annual stipend.

We visited 'the public garden, where the stone on
which Tausen first preached " the truth " still lies. It
is called Tausensminde, and bears a small inscription
thereon, "Upon this stone in 1528 Hans Tausen first
preached in Viborg Luther's doctrine." He became
Bishop of Elbe. You have seen his portrait at Fre-
deriksborg; a sour-faced man, like all the early re-
formers ; he might frighten you, would never win.

Wi July. — Viborg has still some vitality in her
left — is repaving her streets and smartening up in
expectation of a railroad. She possesses too a little
commerce of her own. I observe the weavers sit
at their open windows, busily engaged at their looms :
look in at that man, his house shaded by two clipped
limes ; how neat and tidy all appears about him !
look at his two bas-reliefs in biscuit, — one of the
present king; the other by Thorvaldsen, the Genius
of the Year. Observe too his flowers — his oleanders,
his carnations — how carefully cultivated ! and, above
all, his own healthy, well-fed appearance, and his
thriving family. He sings as he throws his shuttle
at his "uld" (wool), a pile of Jersey jackets beside
him. His next-door neighbour works on his own
account, and stockings, as fast as completed, are ex-
posed for sale in his window — see, there's an odd one ;
he is occupied at the fellow this very moment. Before

Chap. XXXIX. HALD. 141

It

every house is placed a red barrel ; very smart it looks

too. Yiborg has a wholesome terror of fire ; and these
little casks are kept ready filled in case of being wanted
— name of the owner painted upon them to avoid con-
fusion ; rather an antediluvian idea, but better than no
protection at all. We step into the South parish chiu-ch
to admire its ancient altarpiece. It came first from
Antwerp, and once adorned the far-famed church .of
Esrom Cloister ; then, after the fire, which lapped up
the churches and houses of the city of Viborg as a cat
does cream, it was sent to replace the one destroyed.
It is a wonderful production.

We crossed the lake to Asmild Kloster, founded in
the twelfth century by old Bishop Gunner, who died

I here in the ninety-ninth year of liis age. A very small
portrait of Hans Tauson hangs in the whitewashed
nave, whose aisles have long since disappeared.

HALD.

9th July. — A drive of an hour, partly by heath,
partly by forest, brings us to Hald. We alighted
at a manor-house of no pretensions, built by Guld-
borg (enemy of Caroline IMatilda, and last repre-
sentative of the H0g family). A more lovely spot
than Hald cannot w^ell be imagined — her purple
waters, and the opposite banks o'erlmng with luxu-
riant beeches ; the foundations of her ancient castle
rising abruptly on the little island, now hardly discon-
nected from the mainland, for the waters of the lake
are low. It was from the castle of Hald that, in early
times, when a (beadful famine oppressed the land, and
com was scarce, Aage and Ebbe, sons of King Snie,
first of the Longobardi, whose h0i you may see in ^sti

142 HALD. Chap. XXXIX.

Snede parish, accompanied by a band of warriors, set
forth from their ancestral abode to seek fresh fortunes
and new conquests in a sunnier clime.

In the days of Valdemar Atterdag the fortress of
Hald held out against the sovereign, who besieged it
in vain for many months. You may still discern the
rampart constructed by the enemy on the lake's side.*
The king, discomfited, retreated to Odense, and there
summoned its lord. Sir Niels Bugge, to arrange the
matter by compromise. Sir Niels departs, coniiding
in the honour of his sovereim. He bids farewell to
his chateau-fort and Hald S0 for ever ; for on his return
from the meeting, at a village not far from Middelfart,
in the island of Funen, he was slain by a band of fisher-
men, who were supposed to have acted at the instigation
of the king. Valdemar, however, affected much vir-
tuous wrath at this foul murder ; taxed the inhabitants
of the place ; and to this very day the peasants of Mid-
delfart pay a tax to the Government, entitled " Bugges
mande bod."

Queen Margaret, who, like Eichelieu, hated castles
and a powerful nobility, gave over Hald to the Bishops
of Yiborg, on condition they should destroy the fortress.
The bishops accepted the present, but preserved it
intact ; it was near head-quarters, and found con-
venient, particularly in Hans Tausen's time, for here

* The siege had lasted for several months, and Bugge was ali-eady
reduced to famine ; one cow alone remained of all his stock. To
deceive, however, the enemy as to his resources, he caused the animal
to be clothed each morning in the skins of her long since slaiightered
sisterhood, and di-iven along the ramparts in sight of the enemy —
black cows, white cows, brindled, and streak-dun^one after another.
" Why, with such a jirovision," exclaimed the king, " they'll hold out
for ever." So he raised the siege.

Chap, XXXIX. FINDERLT. 143

gallant old J0rgen Friis, in 1536, intrencliing himself,
defended Lis castle to the last against his Yiborgian
flock, who besieged him ; they got the best of it
though, and imprisoned the gallant church militant in
his own tower. Hald then fell to the Crown ; afterwards
Guldborg dwelt there, and built the present mansion —
ugly, and now^ out of repair. We walked to the pretty
hamlet of Bakke, all streamlets and water-wheels, and,
striding through the long grass, scaled the mound where
once stood the earlier castle, surrounded by a double
trench ; the site of the second castle rises well from the
lake, and must have frowned imposing upon its waters.
You may drive round by the other side, if you like ; it
will repay your trouble.

FINDERUP.

We took Finderup on our way home merely as a
change — Finderup, where Glipping was, as you already
knQw, basely murdered by Marsk Stig and other Danish
nobles. It was one dark November night — the eve, they
say, of St. Cecilia (1286) — fatigued after a hard day's
chace, he slept soundly in a farmhouse before the fire ;
his traitor page liane* — he whom we have seen exe-
cuted elsewhere, under the eyes of justly revengeful
Ajrnes herself — introduces the assassins to the chamber
of his lord. Fifty-six blows from heavy square iron clubs
rain down upon the body of the unlucky sovereign, and
all is over. The assassins fly the vengeance of the
Church and his successor, to meet later the punish-
ment awarded to their crimes. We passed two days

♦ Ranc was a Ilviile, but of a bad stock ; own bistcr'a son to Arch-
bishop Jena Grand, most turbulent of prclatea.

144 FINDERUP. Chap. XXXIX.

since tlie manor of S0dal, where Eane's mansion, Stapel-
gaard, once stood — confiscated and razed to the ground
by order of Queen Agnes.

Finderup is a poor village on a desert heath : blighted
by the foul murder committed there against " the Lord's
anointed," it has never thrived. In duty bound we
entered the miserable church raised over the spot,
where in early days masses were daily and nightly sung
in memory of the event. What keys ! the little boy
can hardly bear their weight. It's a miserable place, con-
taining a small, narrow, white tablet to Guldborg, with
a few more. Some English names are among those
interred within the chapel — Knajaps, Lpvels, and Kjaers,
which latter answers to Kier or Kerr, so here pro-
nounced. To-day too we are not far removed from the
village of Eyde ; and Vinkel, with its little S0, is not
very distant. In the cemetery, above a maiden's grave,
a white rose bloomed.

In the evening we drive with the Amtman,* Baron
le Breton, and his family, to the village church of Tap-
drup, the earliest Chi'istian edifice in all Jutland —
round arch with a soupgon Byzantine — built by Ans-
carius himself, who here founded a colony of early
Christians, English and German mixed; for a time
afterwards the colonists spoke the " plat " or bad German
of Holstein. In the lake below the early Christians
were baptized.

A party of Sir Morton Peto's men are in the hotel.
They arrived one by one this evening after a week's

* The office of Amtman answers to that of Pre'fet in France. In
the days of alisolutism it was given to the grooms of the chamber when
they married ; now the appointments are filled up by men who under-
stand their duties and perform them.

Chap. XXXIX. SKIVE. 145

hard work, surveying the land for the proposed railway
— a pleasant, gentlemanlike set of men ; they came
tumbling in, like Macbeth's witches, each giving an
account of his spiritings, from east, north, south, and
west : one had passed liis time among the sands ; a
second had sounded the never-ending moses, forty-iive
feet deep here, and tliere no bottom to be found ;
a third has passed his week pleasantly enough on the
wild moor among the sweet thyme and heather under
canvas — he is young, and knows not rheumatism ; the
older ones laugh — he '11 soon get tired of that work.
One arrives from Portugal, another from Canada : they
like the profession ; they see the world ; and are away,
removed from its conventionalities.

SKIVE.

Monday, Wth July. — A three hours' journey across
a moorland brings us to Skive, passing on our way
the small village of Fiskbaek— fish rivulet — which here
runs into the Liimfiorde : no scarcity of these streams
in Jutland ; the whole country is intersected with them.
The village, small as it is, boasts a certain liistoric
notoriety ; and its little church, perched on an emi-
nence, no doubt to avoid what once was water, with a
grey slate turban to its towers, rising up into a point
like a cock's feather all on end. ^t was from this
})ert little village that, in the year 1085, Knud the
Holy assembled an immense fleet preparatory to his
descent upon England, his revolted colony. He
passed with his fleet through the Agger Canal, lately
reopened ; then opr0red the Vendel men, and he
had to quell by bribes their insurrection ; meanwhile,
his Jutland nobles, tired of delay, and idle outside

VOL. H. L

1 46 SKIVE. CiiAP. XXXIX.

the Liimfiorde, came to loggerheads — some retired
in disgust, and the fleet dispersed.* On crossing this
valley a toll is exacted ; a relic of the ancient ferry,
long since disused.

Skive, like its neighbour village, stands on a hill,
with a sea of verdant prairies at its feet — prairies watered
by a fresh -running bask, like all the streams of this
country, alive wath trout. There is nothing exciting in
to-day's drive, but it is calm and very English. A vast
extent of heath has been lately planted with young
pine-trees. Jutland has become too deboise ; the crops,
owing to the constant drought, look fearful ; there is no
doubt that this drought is increased by the wanton
destruction of the forests — evaporation augments, and
the streams and lakes sufter in consequence.

We walk through the woods to Krabbesholm, The
chateau is dilapidated, but unspoiled by modem restora-
tions. Floriated crosses and shields, once no doubt bear-
ing the arms of its founders, still ornament the ^vork.
From Field-Marshal Sir Niels H0g — by the marriage of
his daughter in the reign of King John — a Banner widow
— it passed to the Krabbes, who named it Krabbesliolm.
Many old places might be restored, but to touch a brick
of Krabbesholm would be downright sacrilege : I would

* William the Conqueror sent gold to Olnf Hunger, one of the
fourteen brothers of King Knud the Huly ; and Oluf promised to hinder
tlie king from putting into execution his threatened descent upon
England. He it was who excited the riot of the Vendel men ; and
when the king went to quell the disorder, was left in charge of tiie
Liimiiorde fleet. He persuaded the Jutlanders they would lose their
harvest, and made them run away ; the warriors from the islands alone
remained, and were dismissed. The Vendsyssel men refused to pay
tlie tenths exacted to the clergy, so the king sent his officers to harass
the peasants. The people now rose in open revolt. The king fled
to Snogh0i, and thence passed over to Funen, where he was assassinated.

Chap. XXXIX. FOVLUM. 147

leave its court unswept, the peasant's cart upturned
where it is, never put away the milk-paus, and as for
that old Jutland peasant-woman, turn her at once, like
Lot's wife, into a pillar of salt ; the ducks and the geese,
the ever-raging watch-dogs tearing like mad round
their kennels; the moat, part green duckweed, the
remnant a bed of raspberries, should all remain. Look
at the horse-chesnuts and the limes — what glorious
timber! — how well they tone down in the evening's
light the colour of the buildings ! A very prim old
lady in gray gown and snow-white cap, fit chatelaine
for such a mansion, invites us to the garden. It
is all avenues ; a fine green turf, like that of a
bishop's in some catliedral toNVTi in England; fine
groups of limes, fish-stews, and flower-beds — not too
many : and only for one moment stay and gaze at the
old house — how well it covers up its faded charms !
leaving only its best features, that fine old octagonal
tower and quaint Gothic gable, peeping out from
beneath their framework — that old horse-chesnut.

FOVLUM.

\2th. — Our steamer starts at six. Krabbesholm looks
still asleep, and the batliing-cabins damp and unin-
viting ; our deck, too, is none of the cleanest, and the
brass compass appears as though \\, had been up all
night, dull and besmeared.

Skive fiorde is narrow, and her banks brown, varied
occasionally by patches of cultivation and a succession
of white structures. If her ancient forests still existed,
it would be beautiful, for the ground undulates. I'he
morning is gray and slightly overcast — best colouring
for the scene before us. The lake of Ilald, with its

L 2

148 FOVLUM. Chap. XXXIX.

rich luxuiiant beech woods and its deep blue waters,
shone glorious in the bright mid-day; but cliff and
moor, when barren, tell best in early morn. We now,
after a wide opening, again thread our way through a
naiTow passage. Here the cliffs are green, clothed
with soft thymy turf, such as the sheep love to browse
upon. We pass Dolby and then Lyby, where, in 1375,
a council was held by the priest-ridden nobility of
Jutland, at which they agreed unanimously to preserve
intact the rights of the clergy as a sure preservative
against murrain, fire, plague, and sudden death. Our
first stoppage is at Sunds0ve. A long narrow tongue of
land runs out to sea ; a carriage laden with something-
awaits our arrival ; they hoist the red-cross flag, and
we receive a Jutland farmer, ten sacks of wheat, and
pass on. The sun's rays, as though on purpose, sud-
denly light up that village church to the right, dazzling
in new-born whitewash — that is Fovlum church, con-
cerning which there is a tale to tell — curious, as illus-
trative of the Jutland jurisprudence of the middle ages.
It was in the days of King Frederic II. that a Lutheran
parson, Doctor Mads by name, who, though he had
reformed his religion, had quite forgotten to extend the
same advantages to the licence of his tongue, accused
from his pulpit Sir J0rgen Lykke, of Bonderup, of
destroying a church, and building himself a mansion
with the materials— nothing extraordinary, considering
the days of church spoliation in which he lived ; but, un-
fortunately for Dr. Mads, it Avas false, as the sequel proves.
The knight, indignant at the accusation, summoned the
scandalous parson for calumny before Bishop Juels of
Viborg. The priest is pronounced guilty, and condemned
to suffer the punishment awarded by the law.

Chap. XXXIX. ISLAND OF FUUR. 149

Now in Jutland there existed in those days au excel-
lent law against seandal-mono-ers — one which mio-ht

CO O

well be introduced into the still embryo Code Victoria
in England — " That the individual found guilty of a
calumny should himself undergo the punishment awarded
to the crime of which he accused his neighbour." The
j)unishment allotted to him who destroyed a church was
death. So poor imprudent Parson Mads was condemned,
underwent his sentence, and lies buried, head severed
from his shoulders, in the parish churchyard of Fovlum.
This occurred in the year 1566.

ISLAND OF FUUR.

We are nearing the island of Fuur, and now pass
between the straits ; green are its banks like an emerald
— a village, a church, and a few boats. The women of
Fuur are remarkable for their marriage head-dress — a
" bonnet mirabolant," all beads and small feathers,
more like the South Sea Islanders than the matter-of-fact
inhabitants of the Liimfiorde. You may see one pre-
served, together with the crown of the Uride, in the
Musee Scandinave of Copenhagen.

If there be nothing absolutely to astonish in our sail
of to-dav, vou will at least be struck bv the never-
ending variety of islands here, promontories there, con-
tinents looking down on them from behind quite
dignified. Turning and twisting in every direction, a
church or a manor attracts your eye. You pass on :
the facsimile appears in another direction ; why, it's all
the same — you've only been spinning round like a tee-
totum. Depend upon it, there is a gi'eat deal of beauty
in a low country, if 'people will only look at it.

150 MORS. Chap. XXXIX.

ISLAND OF MOl^S.

"We approach the island of Mors — its little capital
Nykiobing is already in sight — tall clmrch, somewhat
pretentious ; harbour, shipping, and red-roofed houses,
and the indispensable skov at one side. Boat stops for
half an hour, so we disembark and walk about. The
strand is heaped with flounders, and barges unloading turf,
too, which leads you to imagine Mors to be a dry island.
Its church is a good specimen of brickwork, with thirty -
five little niches, once populated by saints, in its two
side gables — whitewashed, and the granite even painted
gray. It was once the church of Dueholm Kloster,
with whose monks the inhabitants were ever at logger-
heads. These northern churches have always one ad-
vantage over others of more common architecture in
the fine vaulting of their roofs. V\e have just time to
take a turn through the town — horrid pavement, but
clean ; each window a conservatory — camellias the high
fashion ; whenever a household utensil is cracked, what-
ever may have been its use, it receives back rank as a
fiower-pot. Mulberries too grow here, as standards, more
than they do at Aalborg.

The Morsagers were not celebrated for their bravery,
if you credit the old ballad on the Vendel boers' revolt
against Christopher the Bavarian, in which Tornekranz*
lost his head— a ballad which the Vendel men, even

* Tage Heiiuich Tornekranz - a very sensible name to apply to an
illegitimate oflfspring, "Crown of Thorns" — is supposed to Lave been
a natural soil of a Eoseiikrantz, and was broiight up at the family manor
of Hevriugsliolm. The family later flom-ished at Ey, near Silkehorg.
The last abbot of Vidsk0l, vitse shola, was of this family, wliich went
out in the year 1652 ; the last member having lived to be upwards of
a hundred years of age.

Chap. XXXIX.

BIF;THPLACE OF HAMLET.

151

at this present clay, lose no opportunity of singing and
throwing into the faces of the descendants of their
pusillanimous neighbours : —

" First, then, they ran, the ^lorsagers.
And next the traitors of Thy.
After them stood the Vendel men ;
But they disdaiu'd to fly."

Names of JMorsagers written up here, there, and every-
where, are Hort, Portman, Brinckmann.

We coast along in the open sea, till we turn straight
■between two promontories of land, one of which runs,
high and commanding, out to sea — the very site for
a feudal castle. Two spacious old gabled houses —
once a mill, now a depot for coal — stand by the strand
side. This is Feggeklit, sacred in the eyes of all
Englishmen as the birthplace of our Shakespeare's
Hamlet — Amleth, as he is called in Denmark. It

i>;2«'.::v

Keggiklii, I.slund ol Mors.

was at Feggeklit, in the island of iMors, in the very
early ages, dwelt two brothers, smaa konges — Ilaarde-

152 MORS. Chap. XXXIX.

vendel, father of Hamlet, and his brother Fengo. For
many years they lived in amity, resting alternately, each
for the space of three years, while the other went on a
pirate expedition. When Fengo witnessed his brother
return laden with spoils, and the joy of his wife Geruthe,
Fengo's heart burned with jealousy ; he determined
to remain at home, and get possession not only of his
brother's wealth, but also of his wife. Pretending that
Geruthe is ill treated by her husband, Fengo slays his
brother. After their marriage Amleth, fearing for his
life, feigns madness. He rolls about in the mud, and
replies in a ridiculous manner to the questions put to
him. The king, suspicious, endeavours by means of a
woman's art to draw the truth from him. Amleth, on
his guard, that day indulges in unheard-of vagaries.
He rides out in the forest with his face towards the
horse's tail, pretends to mistake a wolf for a horse, and
wishes Fengo had many such chargers. Now comes
the story of Polonius. Fengo absents himself, and gives
orders to a confidant to watch the movements of Amleth,
and conceal liimself in the room when he is alone with
his mother. Amleth, who has his wits about him, before
entering into conversation with his mother, runs, as was
his habit, round the room, flapping his arms and crow-
ing like a cock. Jumping on a heap of straw (in her
Majesty's bed-room !), he feels something underneath,
runs his sword through, and withdraws the dead body of
the spy. He cuts it into pieces, boils it, and gives it
to the pigs. Then turning to his mother, who was
weeping over his madness, he addresses her the most
violent reproaches : " If you will grieve, weep not over
my madness, but over your own shame and dishonom'."
Fengo, after the disappearance of his counsellor, feels

Chap. XXXIX. STORY OF HAMLET. 155

more anxious than ever to make an end of his stepson.
He then sends him to England ; and here Shakespeare
has followed the true story. Amletli adds to the in-
structions for the death of his companions, that the King
of Eutorland is to give him his daughter in marriage.
Amleth is still very queer ; he refuses to eat or drink
at the English king's table. On inquiring, he replies
he will not touch food because " the bread savours of
blood, the beer of u'ou, and the lard of dead men's
camon : " he adds also (very ill-bred), that the king
has eyes like a bondsman, and that the queen in tlu-ee
things behaved herself like a servant-maid. They only
regard him as mad ; but after a sharp observation the
king discovers Amleth was right in his supposition as
regards the food : for the corn came from a field where
a battle had taken place ; the pigs had eaten a dead
man's carrion ; and in the fountain of the brewer were
discovered several rusty swords. The English king now
becomes uneasy, and, taking his mother to task, forces
her to own that a bondsman was his father. Later
Amleth declares that (shocking bad manners) the
queen is not of higher origin herself : for, first, she hides
her head in her cloak ; secondly, in walking she lifts up
her kirtle under the girdle ; and, thirdly, after eating
she picks her teeth with a fish-bone — all decided proofs
of low birth; "but perhaps," he added by way of a
sop, "her mother was a prisoner of war, which fully
accounts for her low habits." The king (a most un-
dutiful son) praises his wisdom, and gives him his
daughter in marriage. Amletli now demands recom-
pense for the death of his com]ianions, and receives
a considerable sum of gold, whicli he melts down into
two hollow sticks ; and, after a year's absence, begs

154 MORS. Chap. XXXIX.

to return to Jutland on " important family affairs." On
his arrival he is asked after his two companions : " Here
they are," he replied, exhibiting- his two sticks. His
answer is received with shouts of derision, and they look
on him as mad as ever.

On his arrival at the palace of King Fengo, situated
on the lake hard by, he found the family in full carouse,
a wake subsequent to the celebration of his own funeral.
Disguised, he joins the party, drugs the liquor of the
carousers, and, when they are all intoxicated, first setting
fire to the house, rushes to the room where Fengo lay
asleep, awakening him with these words : " Fengo ! your
good men are burning to ashes ; and here is Amleth,
who will revenge the death of his father ! " He then
slays him. One hundred and fifty years since Fengo's
grave was opened and an iron sword taken from it ; what
became of it none can tell.

Such, according to Saxo Grammaticus and the earlier
sagas, is the story of Amleth, Prince of Jutland ;
he will again turn up later. A flock of sheep appear
out at sea. They have waded out to a little island
from Feggeklit and are caught by the waves. See, how
they stand up to their knees in the water, awaiting till
the tide permits them to return.

CiiAi'. XL. THYLAND. 155.

I

CHAPTER XL.

County of Thy — Superstitions concerning tombs — Plague of sand —
Wicked Queen of England — Draining the Sj0ning lake — Tlie
pedlar and the geese — Anne Boleyn — The Liiniiiorde — Story of
Liden Kirsten — Sale of a wreck — Old Abellona and her amber
beads — Loss of life off this coast.

I

THYLAND.

We now turn a point, and the little to'.vn of Thisted,
with its cluu'ch and harbour, appears quite unexpectedly :
we are soon landed and lodged in Hotel Liimfiorde.

Tliisted is in no way remarkable. It seems a most
creditable pleasant-looking town, lately built, with a
forest adjoining, planted by the inhabitants themselves
for their own recreation, connected with M'hicli is a nursery
of young trees, which are given gratis to the peasants
who desire to plant their farms ; but tlie taste is not in
tliem, and it is only by inculcating the ideas in the
schools they can hope for improvement. AVith so much
waste land in Jutland, it is a i)ity not to employ it to
some good puqiose, and the people might as well grow
their own timber as draw their supplies from Norway or
Sweden. We passed our evening at the house of Ijaron
Kosenkrantz, the amtman, where we again met a friend
of Kosenholm, who has lately purchased an estate in
the neighbourhood of the Sj0rriiig hdte.

The county of Thy is most ricli m anticjuities of
all sorts. They are formed of black basaltic granite,
which takes a high polish and appears to bo fashioned
with greater sharpness tlian those of the other materials.

156 SJ0RRING. Chap. XL.

The peasants have a superstition against disturbing
the ancient cemeteries, so that, unless a new road is
about to be made, or the plough passes over some ancient
battle-field, they yet remain undisturbed. M. de Eosen-
krantz related to me a story of an 01and peasant, on
whose farm stands a lofty tumulus, under which, accord-
ing to tradition, lies concealed a mighty treasure. This
treasure may be used for the benefit of the proprietor
of the farm when he shall be really in want of bread.
Some years since the possessor of the farm, incredulous,
caused a search to be made, and opened the barrow.
A few days afterwards his house, as well as his farm-
buildings, were totally destroyed by fire. The boers
looked upon this misfortune as a judgment upon the
perpetrator of the crime, and from that day to this the
tumulus remains undisturbed.

A curious incident occurred, a few years since, on the
island of Oxholm. A man, in endeavouring to cross
the morass, sank deep into the mud. On withdraw-
ing, after some difficulty, his leg, he felt something
hanging attached to it. At first he imagined it to be
a snake ; but soon discovered it to be a massive neck-
ring of solid gold, for which, when forwarded to Copen-
hagen, wdiere it may now be seen, he received the sum
of 500 dollars as its full value.

SJ0KEING.

12tli July. — M. de Rosenkrantz and his amiable family
have kindly arranged an excursion for us — some on
horseback, others in the carriage — to visit the lake and
the once celebrated castle. We started this afternoon
at four o'clock, a large party — three carriage-loads and

I

CiiAP XL. VILLAGE CHURCHES. 157

four equestrians — for tlie Lake of Sjorring, distant four
English miles from Thisted. We paused for a few
minutes at a tomb placed in the churchyard, that of
some Irish bishop and his wife wrecked off the coast. It
consists of four granite headstones inscribed with fan-
tastic crosses, hearts, and other emblems ; in the centre
lies a flat gi-avestone ; a triangular block of granite
placed between each of the headstones, on one of which
is represented the figure of a prelate, with mitre on
head and crozier in hand ; on the corresponding side
the figm-e of a woman.

The granite of the A'illage churches of Thy is most
admirably worked : they are all now towerless — long
since blown down — and nothing more than one fine
round-arch doorway here remains. In former days,
when a church was built, each peasant brought a stone,
ready cut and carved according to a given measure, as
his contribution towards the building. Here lie many
of those early timber tombs, but of a more primitive
character, denuded of their bark ; one carved with
inscriptions and cpiaint devices.

We now walked up to the height at the further end
of the lake, where, surrounded by a lofty vallum and a
moat having egress to the water, stood the celebrated
wooden castle of King Knud tlie Holy.*

The Lake of Sjorring, in those early days, opened
into the North Sea, of which it was then a fiorde : a
sort of Jutland Brest, the harbour of the Northern fleet.

* From this castle on the island of Sjorrinj,' lake eloped the queen
of King Niels, "Ulfheld;" concenuug whoso adventure you may read
a ballad of some two huii'lrcd stanzas. Hlic ninrricd later the Swedish
King Sverker, and was niotlier of King Cliarles of Sweden— maldng
the confusion of history only still greater.

158 . SJ0RRINC. Chap. XL.

It is blocked up at the northern end by a succession of
sandbanks — bakkers ; and where do you think all this
sand came from ? From England — so say the men of
Thy — for in ancient days there lived a wicked Queen
of England, who, offended at the conduct of some
Danish king, whom she loved in vain, from pure revenge
cut open the " canal " — she worked for seven years with
seven thousand men — which now separates France from
her dominions, let in the waters of the Atlantic,* which
came foaming, raging, rolling, bringing sand and de-
struction, stopping up the harbom- and ruining the most
fertile fields along the coast of West and North Jutland ;
but her revenge bore its own punishment, for, when the
sluices opened, she approached too near, and was borne
away by the overwhelming force of the raging Avaters.
" Never mind," say they ; " our turn will come in time ;
for a prophecy exists that the ' revolted Danish colony '
of England will again be some day recovered by a
Danish king."

There are many small islands scattered among the
waters of the Sjprring lake, where sea-fowl abounds
in endless variety.! Here, too, the sea eagle builds her
nest ; you could scarcely distinguish her • eggs from
those of a barn-door fowl. The lake swarms with wild
fowl, and the surrounding country with partridges,
snipes, woodcocks, and game of all kinds.

Many years since, a pedlar passing near this lake was
attacked by two robbers. He beheld a flock of wild
geese flying along above his head, and cried, " If there

* The whole west coast of Jutland was inundated a.d. 1717, on
Christmas eve ; and 1720, on new-year eve.

t In addition to the common sorts, too numerous to mention, are the
Larus ridibundus. Sterna cantiaca, Anglica, &c.

OiiAP. XL. THE PEDLAR AND THE GEESE. 159

is no one else to be a witness of my death, I summon the
birds of our Lord to give evidence." A few minutes
after he expired. Years passed away ; nobody had got
on the track of the evil-doers. One Sunday, when
people were assembled in a churchyard waiting for the
parson, a flock of wild geese flew screamuig over their
heads, at which a Holstein horse-dealer said to his com-
rade, " 13ehold the- witnesses of the pedlar ! " These
words drew attention upon the horse-dealer, and when
they asked him what he meant he lost his spirits, and
at last confessed that he and his comrade were the
murderers of the pedlar. Such witness bear the birds
of our Lord.

In a neiffhbouriuc: cemetery lie interred the bodies
of a Lieutenant (?) Harboard and eight English seamen,
lost in the " Polyphemus," Captain Vaughan, wrecked
off the coast some few years since ; and farther removed
among the sand is the ruined church of Torup, whose
cono-regation have long since disappeared, driven away
by the spasmodic attacks of flying sand, sent of course
from England. There once existed a llunic stone, raised
to the memory of " Tuko, the Englishman, who here
was slain by the Viking Isvard."

On another small island — iland, they here call it — in
the centre of this lake once stood the fortress which
guarded its entrance. No wonder at the men of Thy
feeling vicious against the Englisli queen who by her
machinations blocked up and ruined so fair a harbour.

We turn to the right to visit the canal, to be com-
pleted next spring. The draining of this lake is under-
taken by Captain Jagd, a ])anish oiHcer from the
Isle of Funen. These Jutland lakes are, as before
said, strung together like birds' eggs on a thread, A

160 SJ0RRIXG. Chap. XL.

canal is cut to the nearest lake, turning, at the same
time, the course of the beck or rivulet, by which a
fall of from fifteen to twenty feet is gained ; the sluices
once opened, the drainage is soon effected. Captain
Jagd has established himself at a mill adjoining, super-
intending the hundred workmen under his orders.
Twenty feet of sand had to be removed before they
came to the natural clay. I could not help smiling as I
looked around on the " fixings " of the cottage. An
English patent stove, purchased from the wreck of the
" Polyphemus ;" an oil painting of some English ruined
abbey, from the " North Sea " steamer lately stranded ofl'
the coast ; splendid shutters, carved and even gilt, from
some Russian brig, also gone down. Then there was
crockery from vessels laden with oranges and iron.
No wonder the " customs " of the North of Jutland are
not productive. The sea herself " provides " for the
wants of the inhabitants.

The ancient law of flotsum and jetsum has long since
passed away. The Government takes j)ossessiou of all
unrecognised waifs and strays: if claimed, they are sold for
the benefit of the owners — a wise provision in a country
where the sea proves too great a temptation to human
weakness. In ancient days, before the repeal of this
old law, not only did our own Cornish habit of wrecking
prevail, but murderers cast the bodies of their victims
into the sea, to be washed up again on the strand ;
thus proving their right to the possession of the ]3roperty
discovered on the person of the corpse.

On our ride home Ave ascended a kjsempe h0i (giant's
chamber) , once the scene of some fearful battle. As far as
the eye can extend, a sea of barrows rise like bubbles on a
pot of boiling water. There is no doubt that this county

Chap. XL. ANCIENT MANORS. 161

of Thy has, of old, been the scene of many a bloody con-
flict, as well as long one of the richest and most thickly-
populated parts of the kingdom. Of the numerous
ancient manors — Duel, Vaestermark, Alstrup, Skovsted,
and Rotb0l — mentioned in King Valdemar II.'s Jorde-
bog — a sort of Danish Domesday — he measured out the
land under his own inspection, settled the boundaries
himself, leaving nothing to his underlings — a practical
man was Valdemar the Victorious — all have long since
j)assed away ; many are now covered by some twenty
feet of sand. Most of the villages in these parts bear
names having allusion to the chace, showing that the
country was at some period covered with extensive forests,
as letters preserved in the archives from the various
sovereigns who hunted there still attest. The village
near the h0i on which we are now standing — a splendid
giant's chamber — destroyed some thirty years since,
is named Hundborg, Hound Castle ; another adjoining,
W^lfen something.

No antiquities have as yet been disinterred during
the excavation of the canal ; but this draining of the
lake is looked forward to by antiquaries as that of a
Jutland Tiber, and marvels are expected as the results
of the undertaking. The ilex would grow on the sand-
dunes. It stands the climate hero in Denmark, and
rather enjoys a sandy soil. You may wade knee-deep
among forests of this tree on the most exposed coasts
of La Vendee and in the islands off the coast of Brittany.
No tree resists the wind more effectually, as we ourselves
know in England. The tamarisk too miglit be employed
with advantage for the binding of the sand-hoaps.

VOL. II. M

162 ■ VESTERVIG, Chap. XL.

V ESTER VIG.

July \Wi. — We start from Thisted in the afternoon.
The Liimfiorde is to-day agitated like a wide sea ; the
cliffs of the island of Mors opposite are imposing in
their height. Our road runs along the banks — a fair
extent of mysterious country — all tombs, tombs — an
occasional peep at a lake, backed by sand-dunes ; white
chui'ches rising here and there, as though to hallow
by theu' presence the sepulchres of the Pagans.

Our harness breaks. Scarlet postilion doffs his hat,
and prays, "Lend os a scizzors ! " which request is
gi'auted, and the damage is soon arranged. Pronun-
ciation and spelling in these parts do not, as in Eng-
land, run together side by side. A manor near our
course, marked on the map as Todb0l, is by the pea-
santry called Tudorb0l ; and stranger still, in the
village of Snedsted there dwells at this moment an aged
woman who rejoices in the appellation of Anna Boleyn
■ — Swollen Anna. But we arrive at the village of Ves-
tervig, stop the carriage at the lich-gate of the cloister-
church, and enter the moorland cemetery. The church
— date 1100 a.d. — was a rich foundation in bygone
days, its tower a sea-mark to the in-bound vessels. It is
dedicated to St. Th0ger, a sanctity unknown in more
southern climes, domestic chaplain to St. Olaf, whose
body, you may remember, after a lapse of years, was
discovered quite fresh and pm-e, smelling of nothing but
the odour of sanctity, on which account he later received
saintly honour: in the exuberance of their piety the
Northmen tucked in his chaplain Th0ger along with
him into the canonization. Vestervig church is of solid
granite ; granite columns and round arches support

Chap. XL. LIDEX KIRSTEN'S GRAVE, 163

the aisles, all most tastefully whitewashed. On entering
the churchyard, to the right you will observe a long

Liden Kirsten's Grave.

narrow sepulchral stone, he^^^l out of solid granite.

Mark, it is broken towards the centre, and with a little

imagination you may descry the print of a horse's shoe.

The inscription, '' Habet tumulus cum fratre sororem,"

is still pointed out by those who from long habit know

where to find it. On the stone, some twelve feet long,

are engraved two crosses ; a headstone at each end.

Two bodies sleep calmly within — their names known

to every peasant in Denmark, old and young, rich and

poor. All men have read and many wept over the sad

story of Liden Kirsten and her lover Prince Boris.

I cannot do better than at once give you a resume

from the ballad, — a ballad sung in all the dialects of •

the North, in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, and

the Faroe Isles, in the Gaelic of the Orkneys; and

again, in a different form, it appears in the Scotch under

the title of ' Sweet Willie.' * We will now commence

our story : —

" King Valdemar and Sofie,t they sat before the board,
Under the roses two.
They ' snackedt' — conversed together — full many a v.-ord."

" She hadna well gane thro' the reel, nor yet well on the green,
Till alio fell down at Willie's feet, as cauld as any stane."

Af,'ain : —

" The tanc was buried in Mary's Kirk, the tither in Mary's Qiiier.
Out of the tano there grew a birk, and of the tither a brier."

t Sofie, queen of Valdemar the Great, was dauglitcr of Dukv Yla-

M 2

164 VESTERVIG. Chap. XL.

" Hear, oh, my king ! lord and master mine. Will
you give my brother Prince Boris little Kirsten to
wife?" "That shall never be ! Liden Kirsten, she is
a noble maid, and Boris but a stable-boy. Never
will I give my dear sister to a horse-thief! " *

Sofie now meditates revenge in her heart. Val-
demar leaves, with his warriors, to fight against the
heathen of Rugen, and Sofie, in conjunction with
the " horse-thief," rules the land. Sofie says to
her squires twain, " Bid Prince Boris come here to
me ;" and she orders him to betray little Kirsten.
Boris refuses : " Never will I do so great a sin ! " for
he says it will cost him his life. Three months elapse.
Again Sofie reproaches her brother, and finally
wounds his vanity by ordering him to " cast the
Runes," as he possessed of himself no power over Liden
Kirsten.

The expression of " casting the Runes " requires some
explanation. lu early times there existed a supersti-
.tion, that if an apple, inscribed with certain Runic
characters, were cast so as to hit the breast of a maiden,
she at once became powerless to resist the attractions

dimir of Halicz, and half-sister (somehow) to King Knud "V. ; a queen
of very bad reputation, concerning whose ill deeds— murderings, burn-
ings, poisonings of fair damsels both high and low — there are some
twenty ballads extant. She lies buried in Eingsted church.

* Why Valdemar calls Boris " stable-boy " is a mystery not yet un-
ravelled, and not likely to be ; maybe, like many members of our own
aristocracy, he dressed himself more like a jockey than a gentleman :
and as for the term " horse-thief,'" we can only suppose him to have
been on "the turf," and up to a thing or two — an occasional robbery —
nothing more. Boris was son of Prince Henrik Skatelar (the lame),
the history of whose wife, the Princess Ingeborg, I have before 'Hen-
tioned. He founded the convent of Tvis ; and was much too near to
the disputed succession for King Valdemar to look on him with a
pleasant eye.

Chap. XL. STORY OF LIDEN KIRSTEN. 165

of her admirer. The vanity of Boris is now put on its
mettle. He obeys the orders of the queen his sister,
and the very day of Valdemar's retm-n little Kirsten
gives birth to a daughter at her house near Elbe.

Bent on revenge, Queen Sofie smiles under her
" skind " (cloak) when the king inquires why his sister
does not come out to meet him ? She relates the story,
but Valdemar is incredulous. He orders his squires to
ride to Kibehuus, and conduct his sister to his presence.
Little Kirsten lay in her dark room, surrounded by
her damsels, when Sir Peter arrives, and on receiving
her brother's summons she cries, " It will cost me my
life ! " but prepares to obey, and, taking leave of her
daughter, whom she names Lucy Lille — she rides on
her paKrey gray — ganger graa — to the palace, and is
lifted off her horse pale as death.

*' Shame on you, Sofie ! " exclaims the king ; " you
have slandered my dear sister." As Kirsten enters the
door she takes her brother by the hand. " Welcome ! "
she cries, " a good welcome home from the wars ! "
" Sing me a song ! " demands the king. She sings one
as well as she can. " And now, little Kirsten, you must
' threde ' a dance with me ! " They dance in and they
dance out, little Kirsten under her brother's skind.
Valdemar then turns to the queen : " Shame on you.
Queen Sofie ! you have slandered my sister." " Have
I ! " exclaims the queen, and, tearing open the dress of
poor Kirsten, she presses her bosom : the milk flies out,
and all is discovered : —

" Then the king became as red as Mood.
Little Kirsten as black as mould."

" Now," said the king, " all lia])piness is at an end !
I had given my word that you shcjiild wed the King of

166 VESTERVIG. Chap. XL.

England's son, but now you shall die the hardest death
I can devise ! "

Kirsten sees it is all over with her. She begs for
mercy, and then, resigned to her fate, makes her will.
After other legacies, she bequeaths —

" To Sofie my silver-bound knife ;
For she has sworn away my young life."

Then the king, in a passion, calls his small page.
" Bring me in the whips ! Bring me one ! bring me
two ! — crescendo — eight ! Bring me nine ! for my sister
shall surely die ! " All the maidens and matrons
grieve for her, except the wicked Sofie.

Valdemar now falls to. " Oh ! stand up, Sofie, and
entreat for me ; for your brother has caused my mis-
fortune." " No ! " replies the queen : " my virtuous
cheek would blush, were I to beg for such as you ! "
Valdemar lays about him with all his force, and the
fioor is stained with blood. Little Kirsten begs, "for
Christ's sake, who died upon the cross," to creep
under Queen Sofie's skarlagen r0d, but is repulsed.
" Don't touch it ! " she cries', " or I can never wear it
again." Whack ! whack ! go the whips. At last, with
one cut out flies the heart of poor Kirsten. When Sir
Peter sees this, he faints dead upon the bench.

Valdemar now has exhausted his rage. " Oh !
Sofie!" he exclaims, "this is all your doing. Alas!
my poor sister ! Where shall we lay this red rose ? "
"Lay her?" replies the queen, " on Elbe bridge, to be
sure ; where I every day may gallop over her grave ! "
" That shall you not do ! " answers the king ; " we
will bear her here to Vestervig Kloster, and I will
give much gold with her to assoil my soul from this
great sin."

I

CiiAP. XL. STORY OF LIDEN KIRSTEN. 167

He now sends for Boris, condemns him to lose his
right hand and left foot, to be chained to the wall
at the porch of Vestervig Kloster, and there " oculis
defossis " — as the Sagas say — with his eyes dng out, to
pray once a day at the grave of his little Kirsten.

Boris lived eleven years chained in this manner to
the porch of Vestervig, and was afterwards interred in
the same grave as little Kirsten under the " roses two."*
In the year 1610 the grave was opened by order of the
amtmau. The coffin was found to be divided into
two parts, each containing a skeleton, the one of a man,
the other of a woman.

According to popular tradition Queen Sofie did
have her way at last. She survived her king for many
a year, and espoused a Landgrave of Thuringia, who
soon divorced her. She did not however quit Denmark
without having first ridden her " ganger graa " over
the tombstone of her victim. The print of the horse-
shoe, faintly visible to very sharp eyes, attests the fact,
near the very place where the stone is rent in twain.

Tradition as well as the Sagas also declare that

* If this story be true, Valdemar was later punished for his conduct
to Liden Kirsten in the fortiuies of his own daughters, all three of
whom were repudiated by their husbands witliout any just cause.
Tlie history of the youngest, Ingcborg, wife of Philip Augustus, is
too well known to need recounting. A volume has been lately i)ub-
lished in Danish, from the archives of the papal government, on this
vexed question, which had much better have never been brought to
light — evidence which in a modern divorce-court would havi' been
received with " closed doors." Ingeborg was fifteen years of age, and
is described as a "sunahino of northern beauty." She understood
not a word of French ; and during tlio trial could only utter (he
words, " Mide, male France ! " pointing with her fuiger, " Kome !
Rome ! "— She lived in a convent at Soissons for nineteen years, and
was then taken back again by her husband — and apply to Rome she
did, as all men kmow.

168 THYBO R0N. Chap. XL.

Lucy was married to a King of England's son, though
who he was I am unable to discover. Valdemar, on
the whole, made a good thing of it ; he disembarrassed
liimself of a dangerous rival, and gained possession of
his vast estates. We sat down by the tomb of Lideu
Kirsten, read aloud the ballad in its own native Danish,
and then adjoui-ned to our kro, where we found our
rooms already prepared for us.

Vestervig is the most considerable village in Thy land.
" What is that house ? " we inquire, pointing to one
opposite. " The Baadhuus," they reply ; then come
three schools, an apothek, and the house of the mayor,
to say nothing of that of the provost. But where
is the population ? Scattered about here, there, and
everywhere, for miles around, among the sand-dunes.

THYBO E0N.

July l^tli, — We have been to a sale to-day; not,
as you may imagine, of " vieux Danois " porcelain,
nor of the debris of some ancient chateau passing
away from a long line of ancestors : nothing of the
kind. We have been to the auction of the "North
Sea" steamer, now embedded in the sands on the
^vestern coast, at a stone's throw from the fishing village
of Thybo E0n. In company with Baron Rosenkrantz,
the mayor of Vestervig, the English consul, and a
whole boat-load of authorities, we embarked on board a
sailing-boat at the village of Kirke, about eight miles
distant from the place of our destination. A glorious
breeze carried us dancing over the waves, the spray
dashing in our faces, sufficient to brace up our nerves
for a year to come. After a time the water becomes

Chap. XL. SALE OF A WRECK. 169

more shallow, the sandy bottom appears — we go bump
— bump — bump, and later bu-u-ump ; off again; a
more decided bump, and then we are stranded to
move no more. We are here relieved by a flat-bot-
tomed boat, and re-embarked — punted along till within
half an English mile from the shore, where we are
met by three peasants in their country carts, who soon
land us safe upon the beach. The masts and funnel of
the ship^v^ecked vessel appear rising above the sand-
dunes, as well as those of a Norwegian, her sister in
misfortune. We adjourn to the kro, are received by
mother Abellona, the mistress — a queer old lady, some-
what of a character — who hurries the ladies into a
room to dry their saturated garments. I myself march
out, my coat-tails tucked under my arms, for a walk
on the common. Trust wind to dry you any day, versus
fire, provided you have plenty of it, and there is no
scarcity in Jutland.

I prolonged my walk to the sea-shore ; passed first
over one range of dunes, carefully planted with the
sand-reed,* then ascended a second, and came down
upon the strand.

A small tent was erected near the shore, and ranged
in order for the sale lay the debris of the vessel —
anchors, coils of rope, sails, sacks of coals, rusty-
looking iron chain, kitchen utensils, &c. The articles
of greater value were lodged in the village inn to be
disposed of later.

The " North Sea " herself lay embedded in the sand, all
on one side. The sea was rough, and the waves dashed

Aruudo areimriu.

170 THYBO R0N. Chap. XL.

over lier : two more such nights and she will go to
pieces.

It appears, when first wrecked, the engineer sent
over by the insurance-company was advised to sell
her outright. The insurance however was too heavy
(13,000^.) for the company to abandon her without a
trial. They counted on the west wind to bring the
water necessary to again set her afloat. The west wind
came, but with it breakers so violent she soon filled a
secon^ time. So, after an expense of nearly 2000?., the
enterj)rise was given over.

There is one thing certain, that no vessel once
stranded on this most perilous of all coasts ever can
be got off. The east wind blows away the water, while
the west brings with it breakers of such fearfid vio-
lence nothing can withstand them. Many other vessels
are here in the same plight, without speaking of the
wrecks extending from hence to Skagen. Lower down
lies the " Auguste," a French boat, and further still the
Dutch "Harborg;" then comes a Swedish frigate, 74,
and so on ; a regiment of masts of phantom-ships lie
embedded in the sand down the whole west coast of
Jutland. In the year 1811 two Enghsh ships, the " St.
George " and the " Defiance," first-class men-of-war, were
wrecked on this coast. The masts until not many years
ago were still above water. The " Defiance " may yet
be distinguished at low tide, though not the skeletons
of the Admiral's wife and tlu-ee daughters in the state-
cabin, as I was informed by a young lady a few days
ago.

At this season last year ten vessels lay close together,
wrecked, side by side, on the sands, and w^ere staijjd-

CiiAP. XL. OLD ABELLONA. 171

ing, their masts rising above the waters. They have
sinc^gone to pieces, but each receding wave still dis-
closes black timbers embedded in the sands. Having
no intention of bidding, and being literally blown to
shreds by the sea-side, I adjourned to the kro, where
the sale was preparing — house of as unpromising an
appearance as your worst enemy could ever wish you to
be lodged in.

Abellona, an old Jutland name, is most anxious we
should eat. She is a queer wrinkled old creature. Her
head-dress a sort of turban composed of a shawl-pattern
handkerchief, twisted round with a black coil of the
same material ; her jacket fastened by two large amber
buttons (such as men wear on their coats) in quaint
old silver settings. We ask her where she got them ?
Got them ! they belonged to her grandmother, and
hers before her. They are pretty— Pretty ! pretty as
Abellona is herself — and she laughs like an old witch.

FincUng we admired the buttons, she pulls out from
within the kerchief which surrounds her withered throat
a necklace of amber beads as large as pigeon's eggs
— clouded amber, such as the Easterns love — of the
purest quality — collected for her by her sons when
children — good for the eyes, she says ; all the women
wear them ; and they are right so to do in this sand-
flying country. She had two sons still alive, both
pilots ; and, as she told us how her two youngest had
both met with a watery grave, shipwrecked in some
winter-storm, her eyes filled with tears ; then bursting
into an agony of grief, she hastily quitted the room.
Poor Abellona! she is not alone in her sorrow, for
fearful is the loss of life on this raging coast.

The life of a fisher is a fearful one ; not so much

172 THYBO R0N. Chap. XL.

to him, for he is at home upon the waters. He
thinks little of the dangers of the deep. A sftdden
gust — a capsize — a struggle — and all is over. But to
those who stay behind the anxiety is fearful : what
sleepless nights in stormy weather — what expectation
— what hope worn threadbare — too often wound up by
the news of death and sorrow !

On the coast of Brittany — a coast nigh as peril-
ous as that we are now standing on — are oft seen,
after a stormy night, the wives and families of
those who battle with the wave, standing with anxious
gaze on the rock's extreme point to gain one look
at the returning vessels ; and again, when, after
some months' absence, the fishing-barks arrive in
harbour, among the joyous meetings of the sailors
and their wives, among the hearty greetings of their
fellow-villagers, you are sure to mark some woman
— surrounded by her children, too young as yet to
understand the cause — weeping bitterly, supported by
some kind-hearted neighbours, willing in her sorrow to
forget their own joy and comfort the afflicted. She has
just learned how the father of her children, their sole
support, has met with a watery grave, and she is now
alone and desolate. And then, on the next succeeding
Sabbath, how the altars blaze with lighted tapers and
thank-offerings for mercies received and appreciated.
You may smile, you may sneer, call it idolatry and
Popish ; but the thankoffering of a grateful heart, even
through a mist of suj)erstition and error, will ascend to
the throne of grace, and the outpourings of the heart,
though man may. He will not despise.

There is a marked change in the pronunciation of
the villagers on this coast; the language still more

Chap. XL. LANGUAGE OF THE VILLAGERS. 173

resembles our oavti. " Will'ee drink a glass milk ? "
was asked of us (words abbreviated) by old Abel-
lona's daughter, on our first entrance — and the old
woman called her " IMary " instead of Maria,' as the
name is pronounced by the Danes — and a " slow " —
and Mary herself answered " Yus." Later the driver
replies to a question, '" Tliree " — not tre, a solid th —
" waggon come after os :" broad language like that of
our o^\Ti peasantry.

The sale was now over, and we prepared to depart.
N.B. The crockery, nickel silver, &c., sold for higher
prices than they had originally cost at the Sheffield
warehouse where they had been purchased.

174 AGGER CANAL. Ciiap. XLI.

CHAPTEE XLI.

The Agger Canal — Food of the peasants — The gu-L who trod upon

bread.

AGGER CANAL.

The weather was too rough for us to return by boat ;
so the boer-carriages were to drive us to the ferry
on this side of the Agger Canal. We passed by the
" North Sea," which will soon disappear under the heavy
breakers now beating against her sides, and then over
a plain of driving sand — not above the horses' knees,
however, otherwise it would have been insupportable
— for the space of some miles. " I recollect," said
one of the gentlemen who accompanied us, " when
this sea of sand we now cross was one of the most fertile
meadows in Jutland." The canal was at that time
closed, and the whole coast shut out from the North Sea
by a range of lofty klits ; the post-road from Agger to
Lemvig then ran by the shore's side.*

* It was in the month of February, 1825, that a violent storm, such as
had been never known since the memory of man, broke on the western
coast of Jutland. The Nortli Sea, raging with a fury quite unprecedented,
burst over the klits, laying them low, carrying sand and destraction over
the adjoining country, and reopened the Agger Canal, which gave
ingress to the Liimfiorde, closed upwards of two centuries. It was not,
however, xmtil the year 1834 that the first vessel passed through into
the open sea. From that time it became more used, and, in the year
185G, 1710 vessels passed through it, in and outward bound, the channel
at that time drawing eight feet of water. In consequence of the mild
winters of '58 and '59 the passage is now reclosing, and at present is
reduced to four feet of water.

Chap. XLI. FOOD OF THE PEASANTS. 175

The Agger peasants live chiefly on fish. Like all
Nornien, they are lovers of sausages (p0tse) and other
" salaisons." A wecldino:-feast here consists of four
courses of fish — very common fish, too, for they devour
dog-fish and all sorts of uastiness. For meat they care
not, neither for bread. Pity, they say, "■ to grind and
bake good corn into loaves, which might be turned into
brandy."

This indifference to bread is not in accordance with
the religion of the Danes, for they say, " We must
not even lay the Bible upon bread." And when in
Zealand a peasant drops a piece of bread, he takes
it up quickly, and, kissing it, begs pardon of " Our
Lord " for having treated carelessly " His good gift."
Many, too, are the stories related by the old as warning
to the children " not to profane the blessed bread."

A young girl in service near Flinterup, in Zealand,
one day received permission to visit her aged mother,
and her mistress gave her five loaves to take as a
present. So the girl dressed herself as fine as a
peafowl, and, coming where the road was impassable
on account of the mud, to avoid dirtying her shoes, laid
down the loaves as stepping-stones, in order , to pass
over dry-footed. But as she placed her feet upon the
bread, the loaves sank deeper and deeper, till she
entirely disappeared in the bog and was seen no more.
The girls of the village still sing a lay about " the bad
girl who trod upon bread to keep her shoes clean." *

* Ilans Andersen has made this legend the subject of one of hia
cliarniiny tales. The same feeling as n giivds the " holiness of bread "
appears to have existed in Bomholm ; and it is related that a woman.
A.D. 1592, who " took its name in vain," having (kclared to a ])cggai-
vroman that she had none to give her, was punished by finding the

176 AGGER CANAL. Chap. XLI.

We passed the Great Canal in a pilot-boat, and then
drove across the smaller one, now eutii-ely closed " to
the public."

This caprice of the waters is not, however, of modern
times, for we find by history that in the year 1050,
Harald Haarderaade, escaping from Svend Estridsen,
was compelled to transport his fleet across the sands into
the North Sea, over the banks which still bear the name
of Haraldseid. Some few years later Knud the Holy
passed with his fleet, destined for the conquest of Eng-
land, safe without impediment to the North Sea. The first
closing of this passage is supposed to have been caused
by the sinking of a vessel in time of war to pre-
vent the entrance of the enemy into the Liimfiorde ;
the sand, taking this obstacle as a point d'appui, closed
around it, and gradually caused the stoppage, which
lasted for centuries. We continue our course, rather
wearisome, through the pretty village of Agger by the
Flade lake ; pass by the new church — old one long
since embedded in the sand. How slow the man diives !

whole of the batch then baking in the oven turned to stone. One of
these loaves was preserved for a long time in the museum, and the
Czar Peter was so much astonished at the fact that he carried oif a
crumb by way of curiosity.

Chap. XLII. LEMVIG. 177

CHAPTER XLII.

Battle of the Giants — Patriotism of a peasant — Sequel to the story of
Hamlet — Protection against flying sand — Magnus Munk and the
still — Gipsies the outcasts of society — The dragon and tho wizard
— Appearance of the Blaclc Pest — Depopulation of the Ale Mose.

LEMVIG.

July \t)ih. — Eeady to start tliis morning, when a
message came from the mairie, begging us to wait an
hour and our friends of yesterday would accompany us
as far as a chamber called King Rosmer's Hdi. We
assented, and started, a large party, on our way to Nees-
sund, to meet the steamboat. We pass by the solid
church of Heltborg (giant's castle), which stands directly
opposite to that of Karby (once Karl-by), in the island
of IMors.

In days long since gone by was fought a terrible battle
between the heroes of Thy and the Karls of jMors. They
pelted each other across the water with huge masses of
granite, which there lay in heaps, until the introduction
of Christianity into the North. The stones were then
turned to a good account, and the churches of the above-
named villages built with the materials. On the few
which remain the peasants still discern giant finger-
marks.

We stopped at King Rosmer's 1101, a chamber similar
to that we have already visited near Frcderikssuud, — not
quite so lofty, but the size of the stones is marvellous,

VOL. ir. N

178 LEMVIG. Chap. XLH.

and there are two small cal)inets-de-toilette, one on each
side of the principal room, which is more remarkable.
After all, Rosmer was no smaa konge, but a Jarl —
there were none north of the Liimfiorde. A duke once
— Duke Toke, or Jokke (to play the fool) — but the title
he did not like.; his only son Odenka became bishop,
and possessor of two-thirds of the lands of Vendsyssel,
and his sons were all bishops after him.

Of Jarl Rosmer himself we know little. There is a
ballad about him : he reigned over Thy, Mors, and Sal-
ling, about the ninth century, and was said to have been
contemporary of King Gorm.

At the shore of the Nees-sund we take leave of
our friends, and embark upon the steamer, which
sails down the Liimfiorde. We have again a village
of Dover hard by : Limes, too, in profusion : are in the
waters and off the manors of the Kaas, poor Mary's
" Baron Cowes," one of the few ancient Jutland fami-
lies still existing. We sail by the island of Thy. Flat
are the coasts on each side ; later the Liimfiorde
becomes wide and extensive like a real sea. The
ragged klits which separate the waters from the ocean
again appear in sight. We turn to the left into a branch
fiorde, where, snuggling at the foot of a range of green
hills, in a little bay of its own, so comfortable and pro-
tected, a very haven of delight to those who come from
windy Thy, appears the place of our destination. We
drop some small coin in the tin money-box placed on
tlie skylight for " doeks folk," and are quickly landed
on the pier of of Lemvig.

The descent into the town of Lemvig is sharp and
precipitous, and the town is visible to the eye only when
you ari'ive, so that the old saying runs — "Take care

Chap. XLII. GUDUMKLOSTER. 179

you don't come to the water before yon get there."
You see the Hghts shining on the other side of the Liim-
fiorde long beforehand.

It was in the war of the seventeenth century that a
Juthmd peasant was constrained by force to conduct a
party of Swedes across the moors to the city of Lemvig,
where they were about to raise a " contribution."
Now the peasant, before starting, declared that he
would never betray his countr}^, so he led the troop
by a roundabout way, and it was dark before they
arrived at the border of the Liinrfiorde. " Shall we not
soon arrive ? " exclaimed the captain of the troop. " Ten
minutes' gallop and we ai^e there," rephes the peasant ;
" see, those are the lights sliining in the (hstance — en
avant ! " and plmiging the spurs into their horses'
flanks, the wliole body sprung forward, and fell headlong
into the waters of the Liimhorde.

On the following morning (it was Christmas-day j,
when the people came out from church, they found the
shores of their httle bay scattered over with corpses
washed up by the tide ; among them the body of the
peasant, who was known to them ; and later they heard
how he had sworn never to aid or abet the Swedes in
their design upon the purses of his countrymen.

GUDUMKLOSTER.
lC)th. — It was six o'clock this morning when we quitted
the little town of Lemvig — Laiinwieh, as it is written
in King Valdomar's Jorde Book — a most enviable
little place, where cherry and rose trees train along the
walls, and avenues of horse-chesnuts ilourish straight
on their stems. Wo now say "adieu" to the Liimfiorde
— not quite, for she turns up occasionally : when least ex-

N 2

180 GUDUMKLOSTER. Chap. XLII.

pected, appearing like a wHite silver film in tlie horizon,
between the numerous tumuli with which this country
bubbles, to-day rendered more bumptious still by the
presence of innumerable hay-cocks. The crops here
look well — buckwheat and rye. Potatoes too are mag-
nificent— far finer than those of windy Thy. The ancient
tomb-mounds do good service to the farmer : they break
the fury of the blast and protect the young crops. The
corn is finer behind one of these little eminences than
in the open plain. Thy, too, though fertile enough when
under cultivation, has the disadvantage of a limestone
bottom, burns more easily, and suffers much in time of
drought ; her very turfs are inferior to those of the rest
of Jutland. Our way runs by Gudumkloster, — " Good
as a monk of Gudum" ran the proverb ; and I am only
too glad to repeat anything in favour of the Church
when in my power. We will pause one moment, and
again turn to Amleth, whom we lately left, shortly
after the murder of Fengo, in the island of Mors.

Amleth now speedily arranges his affairs, and then
prepares to return to England to visit his father-in-law.
But this time he will go as a king should do, so he
causes a shield to be fashioned of curious workmansliip,
on which he has engraved all the deeds of his man-
hood, and scenes from his childhood upwards, the mur-
der of his father, the late marriage of the queen his
mother, his own mad pranks, his journey to England, and
his marriage "with the daughter of the English king.*

* Fearing tliat the vivid description given by Saxo of the pictoiial
decorations on the shield of Amleth may give rise to some erroneous
idea as to the state of art in these early days, I must explain that these
representations were nothing more nor less than " Hallri&tninger," or
figure-dra\yings — rimes of the fifth century. The only specimens

Chap. XLII.

STORY OF HAJILET.

181

He causes all the shields of his followers to he richly
gilt, and, after a prosperous voyage, arrives at the court
of his father-in-law. He is joyfully received by the king,
and presented by his wife with a pledge of their mutual
affection, a son and heir.

The English king inquires after Fengo, and for the
first time hears of his death. Fengo was his ally, and
these two were bound together by a solemn promise to
avenge each other's death, even if they spilt the last
di'op of their blood in fuliilling their oaths. His feel-
ings are divided between his oath and affection for his
daughter, added to which, he liighly esteems his son-in-
law. He conceals his feelings, greatly tormented by his
oath, until the queen dies. He then determines to get rid
of Amleth by some underhand means, and thus clear his
conscience. So he sends him on an embassy to Scotland

existing in Denmark are one or two figures on a rock near Heltborg, in
Thy. In Sweden they abound on the rocks of Bohuslan. A ship (a)
mucli resembling the comb termed by French hairdressers " demeloire "
— up on end — represents a voyage ; a tree a forest, &c. &c. Battles are
sometimes more fully described. I give specimens : —

182 GUDUMKLOSTER. Chap. XLII.

to demand for the king the hand of the Scottish queen
Hermentnide in marriage, being well aware that this
sovereign not only loved the life of a maid, but also
slew all those wooers who approached her court on a
matrimonial speculation.

Amleth, on arriving in Scotland, sits down with his
followers by a river's side. The Scottish queen is aware
of his arrival ; a spy passes the guards, and, while
Amleth slumbers, removes his shield and the bae: con-
taining the letters from the English king, and carries
them to his royal mistress. The queen, on seeing the
shield of the sleeping prince, at once discovers, by the
devices engraved thereon, who he really is. She reads
the letter from the King of England, and, after Amleth's
own fashion, changes the characters, so that Amleth is
ordered to demand her in marriage for himself. Her-
mentrude does this because she hates the old king and
prefers for her husband a handsome young warrior Hke
Amleth. She causes the spy to return to the camp and
replace the shield and bag where he had found them.

Amleth had discovered his loss, but feigns sleep;
catches the spy, awakes his followers, and at once goes
to Queen Hermentrude, by whom he is most graciously
received. She praises his noble deeds, and is quite
astonished at the mesalliance he has committed in marry-
ing the daughter of the English king, a princess born
of slave parents. " You should have married me, who
am neither poor nor low, and worthy for you to live
with — of pm-e royal blood — who can make a king of
him whom I marry ; accept, then, the hand as yet
refused to everybody, and which no one has as yet
demanded without loss of life." Amleth, nothing loth,
consents. She embraces him ; and the nuptial cere-

Chap. XLII. STORY OF HAMLET. 183

mony over, they both depart for England on a visit to
the Court. He is there first met by his former wife,
who, after reproaching him with his want of faith, tells
him, " I have good cause to wail ; still my love is
great ; I cannot hate you ; therefore will I still live
in harmony with your second "wife, though my son
will hate her as you hated your stepfather Fengo.
Beware of my father, he seeks to kill you ; put no
faith in his promises." The English king comes out
with two hundred armed warriors to meet him; but
Amleth, forewarned, causes his people to wear under
their gala-clothes their chain-armour. When he enters
the portal of the castle the king draws his sword,
and endeavours to slay him ; but Amleth receives only a
scratch, and flies. He sends a messenger to explain the
affair. The king, however, is not pacified, A battle
takes place, in which many of Amleth's followers are
slain. Reduced in numbers, he causes the dead to be
coUected and fastened on to the chargers they mounted
when alive. The enemy are by these means deceived,
and Amleth comes off victorious; the English king
is slain.

Amleth now returns to Jutland, accompanied by his
two wives ; and here first begin my illustrations of the
" Prince of Denmark's " story. Not far removed to the
right from the city of Lemvig, near the sea-coast, lies
the village of Ramme. It was here, according to tra-
dition, he first established himself on his return to
Jutland ; for he found the country in revolt. The
queen, his mother, had taken part witli Yiglot, the
pretender, who, in his absence, had usurped the throne.

You may still observe the grassy remains of an
ancient encampment, such as we call in England a

1 84 GUDUMKLOSTER, Chap. XLIL

" Danish camp," constructed for defence against an
enemy attacking from the eastern side. This mound is
called Ramme, and also goes by the name of Amleth's
Castle. Our hero has now his choice before him — either
to acknowledge the usurper, or fight his way against an
unequal enemy. Honour tells him to follow the latter
course. At first he is successful, and drives Viglet back
with great slaughter into Zealand, as the ridge of tumuli
by M0borg still attests. Viglet returns the following
year. Amleth, prepared for the worst, is anxious before
his death to procure a fitting husband and protector for
Hermentrude (of his English wife we hear nothing).
She however insists on accompanying him to the battle,
declaring it is only a faithless wife who fears to accom-
pany her husband when in danger. The battle now runs
northward. Amleth is defeated by his enemies, and
slain on the heathery moor wliich extends wide and brown
before om* eyes. You may observe a ridge of " h0is,"
not far from a smaU white church. There, under the
loftiest, he lies buried, with due honour (so tradition
says) ; and the h0i still bears the name of Amleths or
Angels H0i, as the moor itself is well known to every
peasant-child under the denomination of Anglands
Mose.

Alas ! for Hermentrude — " La donna e mobile," as the
song goes ; and she was not in this respect suj)erior to
her sisters. Amleth once slain, she accepts Viglet ;
as old Saxo, the monk, has it — not I — " So soon fate
tm-ns round the promises of a woman; for what a
woman promises in her mind can never be depended
upon. Many change for as little as this ; they promise
easily, but seldom keep their faith " — following up
this sentiment with something so uncomplimentary

Chap. XLII. JUTLAND NAME OF THE HEARTSEASE. 185

to the fair sex, I cannot take upon myself to translate
it. Saxo winds up with a flourish of trumpets about
Hamlet and his virtues, comparing him to Hercules,
and dej^loring the untimely fate of a prince worthy
in his eyes to have ruled over the whole world.

With Gudum we leave cultivation, dip down into a
dell, and out again — all brown moor and heather. Dells
or dales they are here called — we have Longdale,
Stourdale, and Friesdale. These dells have little rivu-
lets of their own, busily tiu-ning the mills on their bank's
side. The trout rise among the water-lilies, yellow still ;
and the meadow-sweet is now in its full luxuriance —
" engdronning," or meadow-queen, they here call it.
Each flower in this primitive country has its own story.
The heartsease is here termed " Stepmother " — to under-
stand why, you must turn your flower upside down.
Then before you stands a fat, portly petal, clothed in
garments of brilliant colours : turn her round ; you see
she has two green petals (of the calix) to her bodice.
On each side of her are ranged her own daughters in
gowns of gaudy stuff — same colour behind and before,
with one green point apiece. Then come two elder
girls in dresses of brown or dull purple, veiy dowdy.
Look, too, at their bodies behind, poor things ; they have
only one point between them ; obliged to sew it on and
cut it off alternately — those are the stepdaughters. We
again pass by the Liimfiorde, not far from the little town
of Struvc, where we landed for Ave minutes yesterday
— a small village, frightened and bustled out of its pro-
priety by the expectation of the arrival of the new
Jutland railroad in its little harbour. It really does not
know what to do first : a new quay it must have — church
it has already, a very respectable one. So it commences

186 HJERM. Chap. XLII.

new houses ; has transformed its privileged kro into an
inn, and reminds me of a Danish drawing-room on
loverdag (Saturday), or cleaning-day ; all bustle and mess
— furniture in confusion, half turned out of window.

The women wear a queer costume in these parts — a
shawl tied tight round their heads, with a gag across
their mouths, a preventive against flying sand — like
that worn by Dorothea Queen of Christian I. in her
portrait in the Gallery of Frederiksborg. Their dresses,
as then- head-gear, are of homespun tartan.

HJEEM.

We arrive at the cleverly- vaulted village church of
Hjerm, where we stop to visit the last resting-place of
Mogens Munk, the leader of the Jutland nobles against
Christian II. He is buried here,* and his monument of
sandstone engraved with an inscription in ancient letters.
On his coffin lie his helmet, sword, and cuirass ; but the
vault is now closed to the public ; for some years since
occurred a most ridiculous incident. Somebody, ac-
companied by many learned men, and especially by a
clever anatomist. Dr. D., proceeded to Hjerm church to
make a descent upon the coffin of Mogens Munk.
" Don't open the coffin," exclaimed the deacon ; " let
the dead lie still." They proceed to the vault ; Dr.
D., measure in hand, prepared to mark down his lati-
tudes and longitudes, to take a cast of his skull, and
write a treatise upon the subject — to prove the cha-
racter of the defunct, by his bumps and the form oi
the cranium, diametrically opposite to what history
describes. The Hd is uncovered, and what meets their

* 1558.

Chap. XLII. HOLSTREBRO. 187

astouislied eyes ? Not Mogens Munk, but an illicit still
for the fabrication of corn-brandy. Next day came the
excise. The still had disapj)eared ; but on further search
it was discovered on the top of the pulpit sounding-
board.

Decidedly the first Protestant clergy made up for the
celibacy of their predecessors. One ecclesiastic is here
portrayed, together with his ^vife and eighteen children.
We are ui a new beat as retjards Eufjlish names :
there are the Foldings, Jermiins, and the Stranges;
among other noble worthies lies the last descendant of
the house of " Grib," over Avhose extinction there is
great lamentation on the epitaphium. Cliristian III.
gave to Olaf Munk, ex Ivoman Catholic bishop of Elbe,
the Kloster of Tvis for life as an apanage (foimdation of
poor Prince Boris), and there he lived and died. And
now we make for Holstrebro, a pretty little town not
far off, where we stop to dine, and then proceed on our
journey towards Ringkjpbing.

HOLSTEEBRO.
We approach the coast, leaving to the left that vast
expanse of uncultivated heath and moor which runs
tlirough the centre of North Jutland, the Ale Mose, *
where, towards the village of Eind, the gipsies chiefly
herd : " Natsmandsfolk," as they are called — night-
men ; not from their profession, but from the darkness
of their skins. They first made their appearance in
the sixteenth century, when many hordes came over
from the East, and enjoy here as elsewhere a most
unenviable reputation. They are looked upon by their
fellow men as a sort of outlaws, accused of setting fire
to houses, being beggars and thieves. The profession

188 HOLSTREBRO. . Chap. XLII.

they ply is that of chimney-sweeps. They skin the dead
beasts which die a natural death, and perform offices
other men refuse — rakke-arbeide, it is termed. Wlien
young they are said to be tractable ; but when once
they rise to manhood and marry, they relapse into the
bad ways of their brethren. They are allowed to attend
no festivals ; no man would seat himself beside them.
In the town and country kros wooden cups are kept for
their express use — rakke-glas they are called. In
some countries the public executioner was ennobled ;
in Denmark he enjoys the ofiSce of " city scavenger,"
and his seven underlings are rakkers. In the chm-ches
of Deiberg and other villages there are separate pews
set aside for their occupation, called rakke-stole. Some
years since a prisoner of the gipsy tribe was induced
to teach their peculiar language to the chaplain of the
prison of Viborg, who later published a grammar in the
Rotvoelsk tongue, as it is called. On his dismissal from
jail he was instantly murdered by his former associates.
We had brought a letter for Professor Tang, proprietor
of the mansion-house of Norre Vosborg. We found him
at the inn at Holstrebro, together with Hans Andersen ;
so we accepted his kind invitation to pass a couple of days
at his manor-house, some three miles distant from Emgk-
j0bing. It was seven o'clock when we left Holstrebro,
Our road runs across the wildest heather-scenery —
scarcely a village, scarcely a farm. It will take us
some four hours to drive there ; so I amuse myseK by
looking over the map. AVe are not far from Bor-
bierg, whose village church was built under most sin-
gular circumstances. Holy, very holy people in vain
endeavoured to raise the walls. As fast as they built
them up, the devil again cast them down. Tired out,

Chap. XLII. THE ALE MOSE. 189

though much against their inclination, they enter into
a compact with his satanic majesty ; sign and seal that
he is to receive as his own property the first bride who
inters the church by the east porch, and leave them
quiet ; but the holy men are sharper than Old Nick, for
they build a western porch, which he never thought of ;
and up to this very day no bride has ever come in by
the eastern gate, nor would she for her bridegroom's
weight in gold.

THE ALE MOSE.

As you travel for miles along the Ale Mose, and
nothing but heath, heath meets the eye, you would
imagine that this tract of land has been for ever uncul-
tivated ; but such is not the case ; for among the wild
mose, now alone inhabited by the gipsy and the lapwing,
may be discovered, from time to time, ruins of cottages
and remains of furnaces, where once the blacksmith
plied his trade — swords and weapons are laid open by
the turf-cutter : it is easy to perceive that civilization
has hero once been, and long since passed away. It is
now five hundred years ago since, in a swamp adjoining
a small village on the mose, there dwelt a dragon — a
very harmless dragon, provided always he was left un-
distm-bed. The people, however, suffered greatly from
rats, and one day there appeared a wizard who offered
for nothing to rid them of the plague, provided there
were no dragons in the neighbourhood. Now the people
were so anxious to get rid of the nuisance, they lied,
and assured him there was nothing of the kind ever
heai'd of thereabouts ; so the wizard, confiding in their
word, sat liimself down, and, having first cut a circle in
the heath, and kindled a fire in tlie midst, began to read

190 THE ALE MOSE, Chap. XLII.

from his book Cyprianus, commencing at the last page,
backwards: the rats* ran into the fire and were all
burnt. Then in came the dragon. When the wizard
saw the dragon, he turned pale, exclaiming, " I musf
now die ; you false men, you have deceived me, but you
Avill not live yourselves many years. You are accursed,
and yom- village will become desolate ! " Then the
dragon folded his tail round the wizard, dragged him
into the fire, and they were both consumed together.

It was on the eve before Christmas, in the year
1348, that there dwelt in this herred near the sea a rich
nobleman, Eskil Juel by name. A stranger knocked
at the door of his castle, begged for shelter and per-
mission to remain the night. But Eskil replied,
" No, I will not give house to a vagabond. We keep
feast and festival with our friends on Christmas-eve,
and will not be disturbed. Go to the parish priest : he
has a large house ; he drinks deep, and will let you
stay till to-morrow." Now it was the old custom in
those days for the priest to perform a midnight mass on
the eve of Christmas, such as still exists in old Catholic
countries. When the villagers arrived at the church
they found it closed, and no lights, " It is a shame and
a sin," they cried, " for the priest to sit drinking in his
house ; no doubt he has forgotten the service alto-
gether." So after waiting tiU near dawn they went
to the parsonage to see what was the matter ; and if
their suppositions proved true, to upbraid the priest
with his conduct. When they arrived at the house
they saw but one faint light glimmering thi-ough the
window, and on the floor lay dead the priest and those
who were with him in the house, all save one old woman,
and she still breathed. "A bad guest," she gasped,

Chap. XLII. THE BLACK PEST. 191

"has Eskil Juel sent to us this Christmas-eve. All
here are dead, and I am dying fast." Then the man ran
back, and told his fellow-villagers what a bad Christmas
was in store for them. When day dawned a great ship
was seen stranded on the sand-banks ; all on board
were lying dead, their faces black, tlie stranger alone had
reached the shore. None however sickened that day ;
but at night the pest began, and spread in a few days
over all the land : it lasted for one year and some
months, destroying more than one-tliird of the popula-
tion of Jutland. It was a terrible year that of 1349 —
no sun, but a heavy mist over all the earth. At last,
towards the second spring, the mist dispersed, the sky
again appeared blue, and the pestilence Avas stayed.

But the villages of the centre of the land, that long
expanse of mose now desolate, called the Ale Mose,
suffered the most ; the few inhabitants who escaped
the scourge emio:rated to the sea-coast, and from that
time since tlie country has been uninhabited. So the
prophecy of the wizard came true.

We now turn off at the village of Ulvborg — Wolf
Castle — rather an ominous appellation in these dreary
parts of Jutland ; but wolves no more exist here than
in our own provinces of England. Towards the middle
of the last century they were common enough ; they tore
the cattle, and did much damage. The last of the race
was killed, in the year 1811, somewhere by Estvads-
gaard in a forest near Skive. W ild l)oars too arc quite
extinct. In 1G94 Christian V. is said to have killed
sixteen in one day's chace.

Vosborg now a})pears in the distance, and a cross-
road over the mose leads us towards it. It stands alone,
isolated, surrounded by trees. The North Sea roars in

192 THE ALE MOSE. Chap. XLII.

the distance ; all is wild and mysterious. It seems
as thougli we are about to invade the hold of some
robber-chieftain, not to visit the demesne of a peace-
able member of the Danish Parliament. We arrive,
drive through an ancient gateway into the second court,
whiz again round a corner into a third, are landed on
the stone steps, where the dame chatelaine stands,
with her youthful daughters, ready to receive us on
our arrival.

Chap. XLIII. VOSBORG. 193

CHAPTER XLIII.

Legend of the English prince and his bed of gold — The luck of
Vosborg manor — Little Peter the cow-driver — Tlie industrious
Nisses — Long IVIargaret and her eight murders — Private tutor of
Prince George of Denmark — Story of Havelock the Dane — Customs
ou Christmas-eve — The corporal and his little child.

VOSBORG.

July 11th. — It is a queer old place, Vosborg, with
its triple range of Valiums and its moats, the first of
Avhich, on the western side, quite out-tops the house ;
in former days a protection against marauding bands ;
in the present more peaceful times, against the equally
troublesome west wind. The chateau, like most of these
ancient manors, is of different periods : the oldest wing
dates from some five huncbed years, and here, too, we
are again en pays do connaissance, for within these walls
was bom Niels Bugge, leader of the ever-revolting Jut-
land nobility against Yaldemar Atterdag. He never
enjoyed the rites of Christian burial ; but from the
drops of gore wliich feU trickling from his body upon
the sands at Middclfart sprang the plants of the red
cabbage, which alone are there found growmg on the
shore, and still mark the spot of his assassination.

It was in Niels Bugge's time that near Vosborg
took place the woll-kno^vn shipwreck of the English
prince, still smig, set to music, one of the most popular
ballads among the peasantry of this country. Who ho
was I cannot ascertain ; but he travelled like a " real

VOL. II. 0

194 VOSBORG. Chap. XLIII.

prince :" not swung up, like Prince Alfred, in a vulgar
liammock, but with his " real bed of gold." He came
to grief on the lands of Kidder Frost, a very bad man,
who not only plimdered him of his goods and chattels,
golden bed included, but allowed him even to be sacked
and insulted by liis " kokkedreng," cook's boy.

" Oh !" exclaims the unlucky prince, blubbering like
a schoolboy—

"Oh ! had I ne'er fallen in Frost's hands,
But come to shore on Bugge's lands,
Sir Eiels would have sent me both knight and svend,*
Now robs me Sir Eskil's kokkedreng."

When this news comes to the ears of Sir Niels Bugge, he
despatches to his assistance his two sons, and recovers
among other things the celebrated golden bed from the
hands of the robber Frost ; invites the prince to his
castle of Hald, gives him a fresh outfit, and sends him
back to England loaded with honours. The English
prince was not of an ungrateful disposition, for he
leaves his golden bed behind him. The altarpiece of
the chm'ch of Holstebro is carved from the oak of the
vessel in which he was wrecked, the head of his
golden bed is preserved in the chm'ch of Sal, while
the foot forms the altar-table of that of Stadil — where
you may see them both if you have any curiosity. This
old chateau of Vosborg, like most of the Jutland
manors, has its mystic number on which its fate de-
pends. Yosborg always passes away in marriage or by
sale in the third generation. From the Bugges it passed
to the Vendel Bos ; t on to the Podebusk, or Putbus,

* Eetainers. *

t An early illustration : Bo Henderson, of tlie household troops of
Knud the Holy, stood firm to the fortunes of King Niels, and from a

Chap. XLIII. THE TANG FAMILY. 195

some of Lille Tove's German relations who came over
to look after the loaves and fishes of Denmark.* Then
passing over the Juels, Langes, and the Winds — one of
whom was a celebrated mineralogist, and first discovered
the silver-mines of Kongsborg; he lies buried in Tronyem
Cathedral — we come to Svanevedel, the last of whom
sold his soul to the devil ; then to the Leths, from Avliom
it passed to the grandfather of the i)resent proprietor.
We are now in the third generation, a blooming family
of six daughters eidiven this mysterious mansion, but
no son — no heir. Yosborg wUl agaui fall into the pos-
session of some other name by marriage. The story of
the Tang family is too interesting to be passed over in
silence. I have it from the mouth of the proprietor
himself, who is justly proud of the industry and talents
of his forefathers.

It was m the early part of the eighteenth century a
family of Vondel peasants emigrated to these parts,
and settled on the lands of the domain of Vosborg.

Hemet Leth m-us at that time lord of the manor, a
bad extravagant man, always in want of money, and
oppressive over those who depended on him. Tang
was the only man who dared to remonstrate Avith liim
on his injustice, and who possessed any influence over
his mind. Vosborg is not far removed from the Nissum
Fiorde; the sea-water at the spring-tides rmis up to
the outer vallum, mundatmg the intervening meadows
Avith its flow. ^

Vendcl peasant became ennobled, and ranked among the most illus-
trious of tlie land.

* One of the family, Wcnccslans, really was riprlitfiil Duke of Ru^^en,
but unjustly diHinlierited ; ho and liis I'uniily were priiyed for in tlio
churches of tlieir native ialo for generations after the usuriier had
gained the ducal power.

o 2

196 VOSBORG. Chap. XLIII,

It was the custom each succeeding spring for the
peasants of the domam to drive up their cows and turn
them loose into the meadows, to eat off the salt grass — a
good alterative it was considered for the cattle — the
fields themselves benefiting by the operation. One
morning, young Peter Tang, a boy of eleven years
of age, while driving his beasts to grass, meets by the
bridge of Vosborg an old woman seated on a waggon
laden with aj^ples.*

Little Peter as he passes by holds up his hands,
childlike, and begs an apple from the old woman, who
refused, crying out, " You little miscreant ! you ask an
apple from me, a poor woman, when in your own hand
you hold a golden one of your o^^^l!"t Later in life
these words of the old woman often crossed his mmd,
and encouraged him in his industry and perseverance.
Peter is now eighteen years of age. The Jutlanders
were less slaves to their landowners than the peasants
of Zealand ; still they were subject to the feudal
conscription, from which, with the good will of the lord,
they could purchase freedom by the payment of fifty
dollars. So old Tang goes up to the manor with a
bag containing the necessary sum, and begs to purchase
the freedom of his boy.

"No, no," replies the lord of the castle, "your son is
a fine clever lad, and in these days good soldiers are
wanted. I can't let him off."

The peasant saw well enough that it was something
else his lord wanted, so determined to know his terms.

* Api^les were not then cultivated iu this part of Jutland ; so the
Holsteiners and people from the East sent up their refuse to sell to the
peasantrj% who were glad to purchase them ia exchange for eels.

t People's good fortune was always foretold — afterwards.

CiiAP. XLIII, STORY OF PETER TANG. 197

" Well then, give me that little meadow of yom-s, and
I will siipi the freedom of your boy."

Old Tang's heart waxed heavy, for he had himself
reclaimed this meadow from the waters; but though
the loss was great to him, he loved his child better :
a paper is drawn out, signed and sealed ; young Peter
is free, and sent to a professor to comj^lete liis
education, for his father determined to apprentice him
to a merchant at Ringkjobing.

At the age of twenty-five ajij^ears the name of Peter
Tang as one of the richest merchants of the city of his
adoption. High in character, he married tlie fair
daugliter of the burgomaster, IMarien Kier. His fortime
still continues augmenting until the year 1778, when
Christian Leth, the son of his old lord, dies childless,
and the manor of Vosborg is for sale ; but no one will
buy it, the times are hard, and the season bad. Peter
one day, after his store is closed, walks do^ra, stick in
hand, to the chateau.

" If," says he to himself, " the three old hmes at the
entrance of the second court are still standing, I Avill
then pm-chase the chateau ; if they are no longer there,
I give up the idea." The limes stood erect, fragrant
in full blossom, as they now are ; and on the following
jMonday Peter Tang, the boy who twenty years before
drove his cows over the bridge to the salt meadow, be-
came L(jrd of Vosborg. But the aged mother of tho
last pr(jprietor, widow of his old oppressor, still dwelt
therom ; so Peter, who bore no malice, visits her, and
consults her what to do.

" Let me," she replies, " die where I have always
lived ; but first make the roof water-tight, for I cannot
sleep for the ram. You shall give me a home, for I am

198 VOSBORG. Chap. XLIII.

penniless ; but I will aid you with my counsels and
experience ; and wliile you are absent about yoiu' com-
mercial affairs will manage the estate for you."

Peter consented, so the noble lady and the peasant
worked together hand m hand, and Vosborg was
put into repair — new farm-buildings built' — you may
see them now. Old peasant Tang was still alive ; and
Peter's first act was to return the meadow exacted to
procure his freedom ; but his father refused to accept
it. " Keep it," he said, " you deserve it." The poverty
of the peasantry at that season was fearful : succeed-
ing years of bad harvests had produced a famine
over all Europe — those terrible years which preceded
the first outbm'st of the French re'vjolution. Peter
receives no money from his peasants ; he sends shij^s to
Dantzic and Amsterdam to procm'e corn to keep them
from starvmg. The second year is worse than the first,
and Peter's heart fails him — the pm-chase of Vosborg
will j)rove his ruin. He now brmgs over potatoes for
their subsistence, but they do not much like them.
Matters come to the worst — at last improve, and all
prospers.

Some years later, old Peter now, but hearty still,
walked, as usual, stick in hand, over from Eingkj0bing
on the Saturday, after closing time, to stay till Monday
at Vosborg. While standing on a hill he observes a nar-
row strip of dark-green foliage among the meadows ;
he turns to observe it; finds it to be a ridge of
potatoes, preserved by an old woman, and planted since
the time of famine. From this ridge dates the intro-
duction of the potato-jilant into the west provinces
of Jutland. At the death of their father the five
brotliers and two sisters found themselves possessors

Chap. XLIII. THE KISSES. " 199

of eiglit noble chateaux and herregaards which together
united amount to more than a Grefskab, or county.
Peter Tang, the rich merchant of Eingkjpbing, was
grandfather to Professor Tang, the present proprietor
of the manor.

To imaorine for one moment that an ancient habita-
tion like Vosborg could be without its ghosts and its
traditions in a country like Jutland would be monstrous.

First on the list come the Nisses, who dwell in one
of the small bridges hard by ; they are good little
fellows, and, beyond teazing and tormenting the
milkmaids, never do any harm to anybody. It was
the custom (and is sometimes now) at the three
great festivals of the year, Chxistmas, Easter, and St.
John's day, to place some pots of porridge outside the
doors ready for their supper. When the old bridge was
pulled down, several of these little earthen vessels were
dug up among the foimdations : they were quite empty —
no remains — leaving people to imagine the little fellows
had not only eaten their suppers, but had also enjoyed
them.

These sprites are grateful, too, and never forget a
kindness ; for a great many years ago there came a
heavy Ml of snow ; it lay so thick upon the ground, high
as the moat which surrounded the chateau, no one coidd
leave, the house. The cattle were all safely housed'
in the farm-l)uildings, with the exception of six calves,
who were lodged in a shed in a field some Avay
off. After a fortnight's imprisonment the thaw came,
and the farm-labourers set forth to remove, as they
imagined, the frozen remains of the starved animals.
Great was their surprise to find the little creatures

200 VOSBORG. Chap. XLIII.

not only alive, but grown fat and flourishing, tlieir
stalls clean and well swept. The Nisses had taken
eare of them diuing the fortnight the snow lay upon
the ground. But then, as the boers remarked, no wonder
the Nisses looked after them, for the first time the
calves had left the stables the axe had been laid across
the threshold, and that always brings good luck.

The stories about the Nisses resemble those of the
German tales. They answer to our brownies — are par-
ticular about where they take up their abode, and with
whom — never with anybody less than a farmer. The
cottagers and poorer people have only a famihar spu'it ;
and when a woman churns more butter than her neigh-
bours, when her hens lay more eggs, it is set down to
her " familiar." Query, if this familiar might not be
explained by the two words industri/ and order "? As
for a Niss, he generally takes up his abode in the loft
or under the bridge which spans the moat ; is a good
friend to the household, but quarrels everlastingly with
the watch-dog. If affronted he changes his abode, and
going out after twilight accosts the passers-by — " Will
you take a little boy into your service, who asks no
wages; nothing but a pot of porridge on New- Year's
Eve?"

Then, too, there is the White Lady, who marches about
"the house, with her Paternoster in hand — no vice in
her, she is only pale and sad ; but Long Margaret, she's
the person ; the very idea of her will make your blood
run cold. It was in the year 1770, or thereabouts, that
Long Margaret, or, as the peasants called her, "The
Egyptian," wandered about the moors and heaths in
the neighbourhood of Vosborg ; she told fortunes ; was

Chap. XIJII. LONG MARGARET. 201

looked upon as a witch, appearing at all times when
least expected ; no one liked her, though she was sup-
posed to be quite harmless.

She was well kno^^-n to the surrounding neighbour-
hood, at that time more thickly populated than now,
for many of the ancient herregaards have smce disap-
peared. Towards the fall of the year '69 rimiom*s
became rife of murders committed; of young guds
bemg found dead on the road-side, their throats cut,
and their hearts torn out. The greatest consternation
prevaded : the authorities and the police were on the
alert ; but as the bodies were unrifled of the gold and
sUver ornaments usually worn by the peasant guds, no
clue could be given to the perpetrators of the deeds.
No one ever suspected Long Margaret.

Seven of these mmxlers had been already committed,
when one day a pedlar girl, carrying her wares on her
back, in passing down one of those very " dells " we
drove through on our way to Hobr0, w^as suddenly
seized by the long bony arms of the old Egyptian
woman, cast on the ground, and an unsheathed knife
presented to her throat. The gud screamed and
struggled mth her antagonist. "Don't struggle so,
little girl," remonstrates the old crone : " one little
prick and all is over 1" The poor child was gradually
growing faint, when two labourers driving their cattle
along the valley, attracted by her cries, came to her
assistance. Long IMargaret cscai)ed; but was later
taken prisoner. " Oh !" she exclaimed to her captors,
" had I only but devoured my ninth heart I shoidd have
been far away beyond your.reach !"

On being questioned by her judges she coolly in-
formed them that she meant no harm ; but, finding

202 VOSBORG. Chap. XLIII.

herself growing old and infirm, slie was anxious to trans-
form herself into a night raven, and fly ; that, according
to the laws of necromancy, to procure such a boon she
must first devour "nine raw bleeding hearts," taken
hot from as many maiden breasts — symbohcal of the
nine hearts of Denmark, representing the nine syssels
or counties of Jutland. She had already devom-ed her
seventh, when the unlucky cries of the pedlar girl
brought from the herdsmen the assistance which ended
in her capture and condemnation. Long Margaret was
not, however, doomed to the stake, as such a witch
should have been — none were ever burnt in Jutland
after the end of the seventeenth century — she merely
lost her head like common mortals ; and they neglected
to bury her remains in a moor, with a stake in her
inside, as they ought to have done ; for she is said
occasionally to make her appearance, and walk in the
long passages of the wing of the chateau where she
was imprisoned at Vosborg.

Second-sight is as common in Jutland as in the
Highlands of Scotland, particularly as regards "the
foretelling of fire." Bad luck to the owner of a mill
whose conflagration is foretold by a "wise woman;" it
invariably comes to pass.

What excellent portraits you meet with in every
private house in Denmark, and more so in Jutland than
elsewhere, setting aside Juel, who really, by the number
one comes across, must have painted with both hands at
once ! This may, however, be easily accounted for by
the number of pupils who studied in the atelier of
every great Dutch master. •Finding at first little or no
employment in theu' own laud, they were glad to make
their " tour du moude," as the artisans do that of

Chap. XLIII. j CHRISTIAN LODBERG. 203

Europe. It is difficult to say where they did not exteiM
their travels to, for in the Ethnological Musemn at
Copenhagen exist several paintings of South Sea
Islanders, executed by a pupil of Rembrandt.

These yoimg artists found good occupation for
their brushes in the never-ending epitaphia of the
churches, as well as in the family portraits iu the old
manors, and private houses of the provincial cities of
Jutland. There are few of the better portrait-painters
who have not worked for the space of some years in
Denmark — Mieris, Dcimer, Schalken — unluckily the
names of the artists have seldom been preserved.

At Vosborg we have many portraits, chiefly of pastors
and their wives, in starched ruffs and most military
moustaches : among them one by Carl van Mander, of
Christian Lodberg, Bishop of Elbe, and private tutor
to oiu- own Prince Consort, George of Denmark.

Many of these early Protestant worthies led a queer
life of it, giving, like many of their Romanist prede-
cessors, la farine (of their existence) au diable et le son
au bon Dieu. Christian, son of a peasant iu the pro-
vince of Thy, was sent to school, and showed great
talents early in life. His studies completed, he set out
on his trj^vels alone, and for want of cash served in the
Spanish army at Naples, in the wars M'hich succeeded
the insurrection of Masaniello. He later fought under
the Great Conde, and on his return to his native country
took orders. By means of powerful interest he be-
came appointed tutor to Prmce George, whom he declares
to have been most amiable, but he never would or could
learn anything. He accompanied the prince on his
travels through the various courts of Euro})^ for the
space of four years, during which time he kept a most

204 VOSBORG. Chap. XLIII.

nrimite journal of all tliey saw, and the events wliicli
took place at the different courts they visited. When
he dej)arted for England poor " Est-il-possible," who had
no memory, begged of his tutor the loan of the manu-
script, " For," said he, " I shall never know what to talk
to the foreign ambassadors about when they ask for
audiences, or recollect who to inquire after, unless I am
able to refresh my memory."

So the worthy tutor, now bishop, lent his journal to
his dull-witted pupil, and never got it back again ; a
fact to be regretted, as a foiu- years' tour through
Europe, with all the minute details of visits to foreign
courts in the seventeenth century, would now be of
immense interest. Probably it is hidden away some-
where among the royal archives.

A very strict bishop, too, this vieux militaire be-
came. He in his charge writes strict injimctions to his
priests not to appear when "travelling" in secidar
clothes (which might be read with advantage by some
of our own parsons one meets in shooting jackets on the
Continent) — not to have intercom-se with those who call
themselves " diviners " — profess to discover stolen
goods — never to bless "necromancers," recalling to
their memory how a certain priest, " Niels in, Henne,"
who was accused of causing ships to be wrecked for his
own advantage, had been burnt as a wizard, to the
great scandal of the clergy, not many years since.*

* Not only were the parsons accused, and suffered from accusations
of witchcraft, but ladies of high rank lost their heads. Christian FV,
hated witchcraft from his heart's core. In 1608 he caused to be
beheaded Mrs. Bridget Kosenkrantz ; and again, in 1621, in writing
about the indictment of another suspected lady, he says, " Concern-
ing this young lady, she must be strictly examined, and in no way
spared ; when you can get no more out of her, cut off her head."' She

Chap. XLIII, HAVELOCK THE DANE. 205

This warrior Bishop of Ribe was a maternal ancestor
of the proprietor of Vosborg. His wife is really too
ugly to look at — painted by the same master. The
clerg}% however, of later date seem to have evinced
better taste in the choice of their help-meets.

The farm of Vosborg is the most considerable in
all Jutland. We are more in the grazing line here —
beeves for the English market — but somehow or other,
when in the library, poring among the old tomes, I for-
got all about the farm.

We were talking over the English names, of which
so many are to be met with in Denmark, when a lady,
who devotes herself to teaching in the poor schools of
Copenhagen, told us of the intense interest taken by the
scliool children during tlie Indian war in the fortunes
of Sir Henry Havelock, our British general.

The morning the news of his death arrived she found
the whole of her school dissolved in tears, weeping
their very hearts out, for they looked upon him as their
own countryman — the very Havelock the Dane of the
popular ballad — the lapse of nine or ten centm-ies
being nothing to an infant mind. Sir Henry was more
grieved over by the children of Denmark from this
early nursery association than by those of tlie Britisli
Empire. -The story of Havelock* is by the earliest

wa3 condemned to be executed, 9th January, 1623, and the proceeds
of a legacy of 500 tbalors of " decollatae Virginia " is still enjoyed by
the university of Copenliagen.

Peter Bogiif^rrc, curate of Bjergby in Vendsyssel, was accused of
having bewitched the parisli priest of Asdal, wlio was suddenly seized
witli a fit of stammering whenever lie entered tlie pulpit. He was
later summoned before King Christian, condemned to death, and burnt
at the stake.

* The Story of Havelock the Dane.

Ethehvald, King of England, had an only daughter, whom, at his
death, he confided to the care of Godrich Earl of Cornwall. The

206 VOSBORG. Chap. XLIII.

Frencli poet known, Greoifroi Ganier, 1147, and styled
Le Lai d'Avalok.

Labour in this country is scarce, and every summer
crowds of the German peasants come over like our

Princess Guldborg was very beautiful, and when she attained the age
of twent}% tlie time when she was to succeed to the kingdom of her
fatlier, the false earl determined on making his own son king.

At the same period the King of Denmark died under similar cir-
cumstances, and bequeathed his children, Prince Havelock and his
two sisters, to the protection of Godard, who, as the story says, " was
the greatest scoundrel ever born besides the traitor Judas." He put
the children for three years in prison, where they suffered from cold
and hunger ; at last he put the daughters to death, and Havelock
would have shared their fate had he not on his knees renounced his
right to the crown of Denmark. But Godard soon repents his clemency,
and gives him to his servant Grim to drown. He carries Havelock
home to his hut tied iip in a sack, to be throwai at night into the sea ;
but a wonderful light over the boy alarms Grim and his wife ; they
discover he is the son of then* king, and determine to save him.
Grim flies from Denmark with his family and Havelock : the wind
carries the vessel to England, where Grim lands at the entrance of the
Humber, " in Lindesey, at the north side." Here he builds a house
and lives by fishing. Tlie place was called Grimsby, and it is a curious
fact that the town of Grimsby, founded by Grim, enjoyed in early days
exemption from payment of the Sormd-duties at Elsinore. Havelock
assists Grim in his work, and in a year of scarcity goes to Lincoln,
where he is employed by Earl Godiich's cook.

When the earl sees Havelock he determines to many hun to the
Princess Giddborg, and thus fulfil the promise he had given her father,
to get for her the strongest and handsomest man in England. Fearino-
treachery from Earl Godrich, Havelock and liis bride leave Lincoln
for Grimsby. Grim was dead, but his five children are well off, and
receive them kindly. Guldborg is told of the royal birth of Havelock
(in a dream), and " when from joy she awakes her husband with a
kiss," he tells her a singular di-eam he had had himself, which Guld-
borg explains as foretelling he should be king. Havelock, accom-
panied by Grim's sons, goes to Denmark, where he is recognised by
Ubbe, who declares in liis favour. Godard is taken and condemned,
and Havelock proclaimed K^g of Denmark. He retm-ns to England,
conquers Earl Godrich in a battle at Grimsby, and is proclaimed King
of England. King Havelock rewards those who had done him service :
Grim's daughter, Gmihild, he marries to the Earl of Chester ; the cook,
his old master, be creates Earl of Cornwall; and U):)be becomes
Stadtholder of Denmark, &c. &c.

CuAP. XLIII. CHRISTMAS-EVE CUSTOMS. 207

Irish haymakers to aid in the gathering in of the
harvest. The peasants here have a pretty tradition :
"That as the clock strikes twelve on Christmas-
eve the cattle all rise together, and stand straight
upright in their stalls." On that day, too, the cows
in the stables, as well as the horses, are fed mth the
best of everything — hay, corn, and beans ; and all is
made tidy before four o'clock. As for the watch-dog,
he fares better than anybody. The housewife goes
into the courtyard, removes his chain, and, bringing
him to the house, first cuts off from the long brown
loaf a shce of bread, which she gives to him, saying,
" Here's for my huusbond, and here's for me ;" and
next she cuts off one for each of the children — " Here's
for Mette, and here's for Hans," — and then chops one mto
three pieces for the "trillingo,"* of which there is sure
to be a set in the cradle. When he has finished these slices
she gives liim his rightful supper as well, addmg, " Now,
good dog, you shall run loose this night, for in a season
when there is peace and good vnll upon earth you will
surely harm no one." Nowhere is this good old custom
of keeping Christmas kept up so pleasantly as in Jut-
land, where even the little birds are not forgotten,
for a small wheat-sheaf is laid in the garden over-night
on Christmas-eve, that they may also eat, be full, and
rejoice.

We walked whore Skamm church once stood — all is
a desert — nothing va\l now grow there — for it was
once a convent.

No one in Jutland loved to remove the first stone of

* I ):^oiitly approve of the juHtico of the .Tuflaiul " Inmstru " in
(liviiliiif; the portion of tlie " trillin^'o." If cliildren conic in a huup
they should be made to count as one in the divisiou of the property.

208 VOSBORG. Chap. XLIII.

a sacred building, for he who did so was accursed : when
once the mischief was done, you might continue the
work, and no harm come to you. Now, the materials
of Skamm church and cloister were most tempting to
the lords of Norre Vosborg; but no one would risk
his soul's weal, and remove the first stone of the
ruhied chapel. At last a young man, who had served
in foreign parts, excited by liquor, went out m the dead
of night, brought in a huge stone, and cast it in the
court of Vosborg. When sober he was seized with
terror and remorse : and hanged himself the same
night. No suicide can enjoy the rites of Christian
biu'ial ; so his corpse was fastened across the backs of
two cows, who fled towards the mose, where they sank
in, and were all immersed together ; and the holes
are there still.

Now, however, the lords of the manor pulled down
the chapel with safety, but no one dared touch the
altar-stone ; for there sat a huge black dog, and howled
piteously at all who approached ; so the altar-stone lay
for many a year, till the war against the Swedes in the
seventeenth century, when troops were quartered in
the castle. One evening as they sat before the fire in
the great hall, a private related to them this story ; and
a corj)oral who was there, who feared neither God nor
man, declared the devil might have him if he did not
bring home that altar-stone ; and, what's more, he
would take his little daughter with him. The child
trembled, and cried, " Oh, father, leave me !" but he
dragged her on ; and when he saw the dog on the stone
he cried out, "Come forth, you black devil!" Then
the dog, growing greater and greater, seized the man
with his teeth and between his paws, and the corporal

Chap. XLIII. THE CORPORAL AND HIS CHILD. 209

cried, " Cliild, pray for me, and I will give you a new
gowTi." So the little girl commenced tlie Lord's
Prayer, the only one she knew — it was not her father
who had taught her that, but the scullion, a poor
peasant girl, of the castle. As she prayed feryently
the dog grew less and less, and at last simk down into
the stone and disappeared. From that day the man
turned over a new leaf, became pious and weU con-
ducted ; the little girl got her new goAvn ; as for the
altar-stone, it remains there now, and you may still see
it, as we did, untouched.

VOL. II.

210 HEE. Chap. XLIV.

CHAPTEE XLIV.

The bells of Thim — Gyldenstierne of Thimgaard — Poorhouse of
Kingkj0bing — Old rat of Hee — Threshing to the sound of music.

HEE.

Juli) V^tli. — We quitted our kind entertainer this
morning at ten. The Professor was already off early
to an agricultural meeting on the road; and after
much leave-taking and thanks for hospitality, we
started, as fast as our host's fom* horses could carry us,
on our road ; first stoj)ping at the kro at Hee, where we
found not only Mr. Tang, but our old acquaintance
Count Schulin, the amtman, all busily engaged dis-
cussing some new improvement in the fabrication of
butter — very unnecessary, for, talk for ever, they will
never make it better than they do in Jutland.

They have an abominable custom in this coimtry, that
of selling the old gravestones from the churchyards,
when the families are extinct : it is downright sacrilege,
and is the only case in which the love of " bon marche "
has got the better of the hereditary superstition of the
natives. Here the three steps of the kro are formed of
three separate " In piam memoriams," — cherubim,
hourglasses, and floriated crosses, trodden under foot.
The same custom exists at Thisted. In the town street
at Holstrebro a pile of ten were lymg m a corner of
the church cemetery, some really of considerable
beauty, waiting to be pm'chased. It is a villanous

Chap. XLIV. THLM. 211

practice, and a disgrace that the Government should
allow it.*

We turned in to look at the granite roiuid-arch
church of Hee, built by Bishop Hay (as his name was
then spelt) m the twelfth century — a granite model of
the cathotb-al chmx-h of Elbe : when the parish of Eo
was suppressed they carried the chiu-ch of Noe and
built it up against Hee. Later we pass on oiu' road
that of Thim, celebrated for its stolen bell, the finest
toned in all Jutland.

THIM.
It was in some Avar with the Swedes that Peter
Gyldenstierne, struck by the tone of these bells, deter-
mmed to obtain them by some way or another. So he
consulted all the villagers how to get them doAvn without
injury to the church-tower. No one could, or rather
no one would, assist him, till a comitryman presented
himself before him, saying, "Provide for my wife
and children, and I will show you how to manage the
matter." Peter consents ; the peasant causes two lofty
hillocks of sand to be erected, and then cutting the
chains lets the bolls fall down gently, one after the
other. The plan succeeded, and the man claims his
reward. " Yes," answers Gyldenstierne, " I will perform
my promise and provide handsomely for your wife and
children ; but for yourself, a traitor to your country,
you shall take the place of the bells." So he strmig
him up to the church-tower. One bell arrived in
Jutland safe, and was lumg up m the tower of Thim
church ; but the second came to grief, and was shij>

* I umlurstiiuJ a law is about to be pusacd forbidding tliis custom,

p 2

212 EINGKJ0BING. Chap. XLIV.

wrecked off the coast, by the Nissiiin Fiorde. It
fell, however, tongue uppermost, and lies imbedded in
the sand; when the tide is low on a summer's eve,
its music may still be heard by the fisliermen who ply
their crafts on the water ; such music, so beautiful,
they say the like was never heard. As for the other
bell, her tones are sad and melancholy : no wonder —
she wants to come down to her sister.

Thimgaard was a splendid castle, but has lately dis-
appeared, and is now in the hands of peasants. King
Frederic II. here often visited rich Peter Gylden-
stierne, who dearly loved all pomp and state. The
tAvelve stones on which his twelve retainers, m gorgeous
liveries, stood bowing to the ground each time he
quitted his house, still stand in their ancient places.

Peter Gyldenstierne was grandson to the cousin of
Torben Oxe, who caused poor Dyveke's stone to be
removed from the chm-ch of Elsmore, and placed at the
entrance of his manor of Thimgaard, to be " spat upon "
by each peasant as he went by the gate. When Thim
manor passed into other hands the stone was sent to
Copenhagen, and stupidly placed among the Eunic
stones of the Eound Tower.

RmGKJ0BING.

We leave the Nissum Fiorde, about to be drained on
the Haarlem principle by English caj^ital, under the di-
rection of two engineers. Without wishing to prophesy
evil, I pity the shareholders and their money, dependent
on the caprice of the North Sea and west wind on this
most incomprehensible coast of Jutland. We have a
village of Hammet not far off; and now we ai3proach
Eingkj0bing, near which, an island in the fiorde, lies the

Chap. XLIV. ' INN OF THE OLDEN TIME. .^ 213

green flolmslancl, with its two white chiu'ches, the most
fertile meadow-land in all the surrounding country.

Very small this to"v\Ti appears as we drive on, the capital
of a coimty, too. We reach the square. The hotel stands
before us, an old carved timber house, its windows
shaded by a row of ancient clipped elms. " Well," ex-
claims one of the family, " here is a picturesque old
inn, the first we have yet come too : do look too at the
iron-work of the bell — a rose, and that wreath of leaves
and border — how charming!" only it does not ring.

Tuesday, July l^th. — We are quite glad of a rest;
and there is nothing in the Avorld so charming as a
hostel of the olden time, externally. As for the interior,
I am not quite so sure of the fact: scrub those old
worm-eaten boards for ever they will never look clean ;
and as for the beams, only walk across the room and
the dust pours down from the ceiling — better in water-
colours than in reahty.

There is not much to see in Eingkj0bing — indeed
nothing at all. Its palmy days are over. T^\e opening
of the Agger Canal destroyed its commerce, at one time
(in the days of Peter Tang) considerable, with Holland
and other coimtries ; but we were glad of a couple of
days' rest, and passed them very pleasantly in the
society of our friends Count and Countess Schulin and
their charming family.

Having nothing particular to do, I accompanied the
Prcfet to the town-house, and visited the new prison —
airy, clean, and ventilated to perfection, quite a pleasure
to be incarcerated therein — and then visited the city
" fattighuus," which you must not confuse with an " hos-
pital or almshouse ;" it answers to our "union," and is

214 .. RINGKJ0BIXG. Chap. XLIV.

the property of the commune, who, as in England, are
compelled to support their own poor.

It consists of a long one-storied building, divided
into good, airy, well-sized rooms, two beds in each. The
married people are not separated; in one chamber
lay an aged couple, whose united ages must have
amounted to well nigh two centuries, bedi'idden both,
on a sea of feather-beds, of exquisite cleanliness, gra-
dually burning out the remaining oil of theu' expiring
lamps together, side by side, the yoimger members of
the commimity attending to their wants and comforts ;
but when theu- agony draws nigh they remove from
under their heads the " feather " pillow, otherwise their
death would be hard and their struggles long. Then
tliere was a work-room, where aged women were busy
spinning flax and carding wool; and the kitchen in
which they dine together — m the morning, coffee and
bread and butter ; for dmner, a soup and one dish of
meat ; of an evening, tea and sm0r brod. A range of
hams him^ roimd the ceiling beams. The workhouse
is not popular, and no one comes in imless quite obhged.
The inhabitants are allowed each Sunday fom- hours'
leave of absence, and generally, I am sorry to say — so
the superintendent told me — return intoxicated, not
with joy, but with liquor. And now, says the matron
(opening a door), here is the room in which we lay them
out when dead ; see the trestles all ready — how very
nice ! — everything so convenient.

I dare say you imagine we were eaten up with rats
at our old hotel. You are quite mistaken — not such a
thing to be met with in the country between Skjern-aa
and Stor-aa, if you hunt for ever; and I'll tell you

Chap. XLIV. OLD RAT OF HEE. 215

how it occm-recl, for less than a century ago the whole
laud was overrun, and Emgkjpbing most of all.

There arrived one day m the port a vessel from
Finmark in Norway. The captain came on shore, and
confided to the care of a merchant a sack of clothes, to
be left till called for in his warehouse.

On returning after an absence of some days, he finds
his goods nearly destroyed by the rats. The merchant
declares it is not his fault — we are overrun with them.
"Woidd you like to get rid of them?" inquires the
stranger. " Indeed it would be a blessing," answers the
merchant. So the stranger takes a book from his pocket,
and begins to read aloud. From his tone you might have
imagined it to be the ' Church Service,' only he com-
menced at the ■«Tong end and read backwards. No
sooner had he begun than all the rats in the town, all
the rats from the farms, water and land rats, come
running as hard as they can go, belter skelter, tumbling
into the fiorde and drownmg themselves. All the world
stood amazed ; at last they arrive more slowly ; and
now at the end comes an aged rat, so old, so rheumatic
he can hardly crawl. " Are you the last ?" inqim-es the
wizard, for such he must have been. " Last but one,"
he replied : " no one remains but my father's brother,
the old rat of Hee, and he'll be here soon." And
come he did — an old rat, white as snow : dragging him-
self to the water-side, he plunged into the fiorde, the
last of his race, since which time none have ever been
met witli in this part of the Amt of Ringkjobing.

This evenuig, after dining with our friends, we walked
out into the fields near their liouse, to witness the
process of tlircshing the rape in tlio open air to the
sound of music. A small tlu-eshing-floor, with eight

21 G EINGKJ0BING. Chap. XLIV.

men liard at work beating witli all their might and
main; behind, a pile, moimtain-high, of the refuse
straw, or whatever they call it. A cart drawn by one
horse, mounted by a bare-legged urchin, brings up the
material, which is tumbled over on to the floor ; then,
as it falls, the fiddle strikes up a slow melody of marked
time, not unlike the well-known air of ' Roy's Wife ' —
bang, bang, go the flails in correct continued measm'e.
Then when the heap is battered down he suddenly
changes to a more cheerful strain, strikes up a Scotch
reel, or something very like one. Bang, bang, go
the flails in a crescendo movement, the threshers
bursting out into a loud chorus every now and then,
shouting out like the dancers of the Highland fling.
This music relieves the weight of their labour — the
labourers seem to enjoy it, and work away con amore.

The harvest-home was to have taken place some two
days later, at which period there is much dancing and
" storr gambell," as the old ballads express it, which
may easily be translated by the most ignorant of Scan-
dinavian language as " great gambols."

The peasants dance a sort of reels interspersed with
the most intricate figures. According to the old custom,
one of the party sings the couplet of a ballad, something
like " Liden Kirsten," or " Dronning Dagmar lies sick in
Elbe," — most deadly lively ; the rest of the party join in
chorus and then dance, after the manner of Brittany.

July 20th. — We commence by a country cultivated
in stripes — potatoes, corn, and buckwheat — followed
up by a long expanse of heath; pass to the right
Deiberg, where the gipsy tribe possess their o'v\^i
peculiar forms ; red kro in succession to red kro, till
we arrive at a network of running streams near the

CiiAP. XLIV. EMBAKK FOR FAN0. 217

villao;e of Edgvad by Tarm-kjrer, in one of which
stumbled the horse of King John. He broke his leg,
and was carried in a litter to Holstrebro ; from thence
he was removed to Aalborg, where he died. A very-
dull road on to Varde, a small toAvn of no con-
sequence. Yet it had once its own event, for here in
1534 was captured by siu'prise Skipjjer Hermann, boon
companion to Skipper Clemens, by John Eantzau, and
the revolution extinguished in the southern part of
Jutland more successfidly than it was in the northern
counties. But we have two miles fm-ther over the bank
to Strandby, where we embark for the island of Fanp.
Plenty of partridges here. We meet a yoke of oxen
dressed out in straw collars, with star-Hke points,
like a Brahmin idol. We reach the ferry — boat arrives
after an hour's delay — are carried out to sea in a
boer's cart, and then embarked ; the luggage arranged,
our cart has to miload the boat, filled with fresh-
dried stock-fish, the produce of the island : haddock,
cod, and skate, all neatly done up into packets. One
hundi-ed and five are coimted out ; then another carriage
arrives : we embark some peasant women, in their quaint
costume ; the men tuck up their breeches and wade
out to save their skillings — just a lit^e too deep — the
tide is rising, so they scramble in wet and uncomfortable.
In haK an hour we disembark at Fanp.

218 FAN0. Chap. XLV

CHAPTER XLV.

Island of Fan0 — Voluminous petticoats and black masks of the
peasant women — Their Oriental character and Dutch cleanliness —
Queen Thyre wrecked off the Isle of Man — Amber-gathering.

ISLAND OF FAX0.

July 2l8t. — May be you have never heard of Fau0 :
it Hes situated nearly opposite to the little seaport
town of Hjerting, from whose harbour in summer season
runs a beeve-bearing steamer to the coast of England,
with supplies for that most voracious of gastronomic
whirlpools, the London market. Fan0 is a long narrow
piece of land, not unlike a high-heeled bottine in shape,
delicately pointing its toe under the direction of some
fashionable maitre de ballet.

Of late years it has less the resemblance, or rather is
the ghost, of a bathing establishment, frequented by quiet
humdrmn people, seekers of health, not pleasure, who
lodge ia the t\w small hotels of the place. Disem-
barked at a certain j0rgensen's, where we found clean
comfortable quarters and good food : you might have
eaten your dinner off the floor, had it not been for the
sand. It is quite refreshing to again meet with the
Dutch cleanhness we had quite left behind on quitting
the Liimfiorde, makmg always an exception for Varde.

Fan0 is one of the few places which sticks to its
ancient habits and costmnes, and has remained stationary
for the last thousand years. The costume of the women

Chap. XLV. YOLUillKOUS PETTICOATS. 219

is liiglily curious. "We are now in the land of petti-
coats— not crinolines, but good, substantial, coloured
AYOollen petticoats — of wliicli the fair inhabitants, and
very fair they are, wear an indefinite number, from
seven upwards, according to the solemnity of the occa-
sion. They tell of a bride who appeared at the altar
almost fainting under the weight of her thii'teen —
but she was " somebody " — such a wedding, the old
people said, had not been seen for many a day. Thir-
teen petticoats reminded them of the times of their
grandmothers when they were young.

As we crossed over last night in the ferry-boat a
peasant girl stood leaning over the" cargo talking away
to the watermen, her back tiu-ned towards me ; so I
inspected her "bearings." Her outermost garment
was of green woollen, bound round with black velvet
gathered in flat plaits round the waist ; then came a blue,
afterwards a red, which she should have worn outside,
for it looked very smart. On arriving at the red she
moved, so I had to cease my researches, but commenced
again later. Well, the red was followed up by a brown,
then came a yellow, then a second blue — dingy blue,
quite right to wear it undermost — then came — never
mind what — and lastly a pair of legs, very neat-turned
ankles, clothed in purple worsted stockings, with no
feet to them. 8he wore a black velvet jacket, orna-
mented with filigree buttons, and a foulard twisted
round her head.

But the oddest custom of all is that of wearing a
black mask, similar to those M^orn at the bal masque,
minus the bavolet, when workiiig out in the fields.
The men are occupied on the higli seas, or fisliing ;
on returning, they eat, drink, and sleep, never leaving

220 FAN0. Chap. XLV.

their beds till they set off on a new expedition. It
was the same at Skagen and at Agger. The women
perform all the heavy work at home — but not at the
expense of their com]3lexions. Anything more ludi-
crous cannot be imagined than a troop of these black-
masked creatures returning home, driving their cows
from the downs. It seems to affect the ewes, too, for
we met several new-born lambs white as the driven
snow, with black masks exactly like their mistresses.

The children are very handsome, and the girls, at the
cottage windows, prettier than anything we have cdme
across for many a day. They have quite an Oriental
type of countenance — long eyes, dark, fendu a I'amande,
aquiline nose, fine and delicate mouth, a dark but bril-
liant complexion; even the fashion of the masks (though
our grandmothers of the eighteenth century never
walked or " rode " out without wearing these " loups,"
as they were then termed) give the impression as if
they were some remnant of customs imported from an
Eastern land ; and what with the Varangians and early
connexion with Turkey, it is not at all impossible that
it may be so.

The village we are now dweUing in is that of Nordby ;
not desirable as a residence ; it is too like Skagen, all
sand to walk upon, or rather wade in. The second
viUao'e at the extreme end of the island is called
S0nderbo. On arriving at Nordby we were surprised
to find straw laid down in every direction. Very
refined, remarked one of the party, quite like Bel-
gravia; some FanO bride, no doubt, just brought to
bed of a son and heir ; when, as we proceeded on our
way, the straw increased in thickness, and the wheels
glided softly over it, we discovered our mistake — it was

CiiAP. XLV. PRODUCE OF SANDY SOIL. 221

scattered on the sandy road to prevent the cart-wheels
sinking into the nits, a most achnirable arrangement,
and not an expensive one ; it proved to be that of the
sand-reed,* with which the dnnes are planted, serving
the donhle purpose of binding the sand-hills and
improving the roads.

The land in the neighbourhood of this village is in
good cidtivation. People talk a great deal of nonsense
about "sandy soil, nothing will grow in it ;" everything
almost seems to floiu'ish in it if tried. The evergreen
oak, the fig, the mulberry, prefer it ; the buckwheat,
corn, and rye thrive ; and as for the potato-fields, it is
a pleasure to look at them. The only manure here
used m quantity is the dog-fish and other coarse fish
cast upon the strand or taken in the nets of the
fishers.

It was an eight miles' drive to S0nderbo, a village
more Dutch-like in its character even than its sister :
the houses have a peculiar, neat, trim appearance, and
the gardens, each of them sirrrounded by a hedge of
what people in England call the "tea-plant," which
thrives here to perfection, and resists the fury of the
wuid — whose leaves, may be, furnished the beverage
su})plied for our breakfast this morning.

IMost of the houses are decorated with figure-heads,
some with very antique carvings, relics of ill-fated ships
wrecked off this most inhospitable coast.

I looked in at some of the cottage doors. The mte-
riors responded to the rest of the building — a gi'and
display of crockery — old DeKt i)latcs — and in tlie
centre of each rack, shining bright as gilded gold,

* Aruuilo urcuariii.

222 rAN0. Chap. XLV.

one of those old repousse plates once used for serving
bridal cakes at the wedding feast, but now, my in-
formant said, quite old-fashioned.

A tradition of Fan0 relates that in days of yore
Queen Thyre Danebod was wrecked off this coast,
and on her arrival from England first set foot on
Danish ground in the adjoining "Isle of Man," spelt
just like our own island of the Irish Channel, which
was once also a Danish possession.* Here on her first
arrival from England, mark, was Queen Thyre wrecked,
which leads us to suppose she was, as old Saxo Gram-
maticus declares, a daughter of King Ethelred, though
the Danes now deny it — old Gorm was much too sen-
sible to lug women about on his expedition against King
Alfred. In gratitude, a " thaukoffering " for her pre-
servation, she gave sundry fields to the church of Man :
fields covered with buildings, so they say, which are to
this present day called Man0 H0lade ; to the church of
Fan0 she presented a font of granite. We entered the

* In 1266 Magnus, son of Hakon, King of Norway, concluded a
treaty with Alexander III. of Scotland, by which he yielded to him,
in perpetuity, the Hebrides and the Isle of Man, with the patronage of
the bishopric. The prelates of the Isle of Man had no scat in the
British House of Peers, for, till the Eeformation, they acknowledged
as tlieir metropolitan the Archbisliop of Tronyem, and had until the
turning over to Sweden of the kingdom of Norway, and may, for what
I know, still have, a right to a seat in the Stor-thing of that country,
though, as may be imagined, the right was seldom exercised. Endless
were the negociations entered upon between the Scottish and the
Danish sovereigns as regards the islands of Sodor and Man, and it
was some years before the whole aflair was amicably arranged by the
marriage of the Princess Margaret to James III. So careful, however,
were they of their rights, that a clause was entered into the marriage
contract, by which the princess in case of widowhood is forbidden to
marry tlie King of England, or any subject of that nation, that they
(these islands) may never fall under the power of the English sovereign.
• We got them, however, after all.

Chap. XLV. AMBER-GATHERING. 223

church, a modern building, erected after the taste of the
inliabitants ; and there it stands — circular, misshapen,
and rudely hewn — quite old and jjrimitive enough to
have been the gift of Queen Thyre. But Queen Thyre
does not seem to have been the only person wrecked
off this isle, if you may judge from the flotilla of little
boats suspended tq the beams of the Tillage church.
Many are very ancient, and some are as late as the
years '45 and '53. The Lutheran Church does not reject,
it appears, these thankofiferings of the shipwrecked
mariners.

The people here, as they do at Skagen and other
sandy places, cultivate the melon ; but the working of
amber is their staple trade. Quantities of it are jiicked
up off their coasts. Whether the laws are as arbitrary
as on the shores of Pomerania, where amber is a royal
monopoly, and gibbets were planted on the beach-side
ready to string up the offenders who should pilfer the
royal waifs, 1 do not know ; but they work it well and *
with taste. We returned home to a late dinner, and
start to-morrow early for Kibe.

224 EIBE. Chap. XL VI.

CHAPTEK XLVI.

Elbe Cathedral — The anchorite Bishop — Sacred theatricals — Eibe
" ret " — Sumptuary laws — Bridal trousseau of the eighteenth century
— Ragged schools of the mitlcUe ages — Death of Queen Dagmar —
Queeu Agnes at Eibehuus — Funeral of Marsk Stig — The robber's
bride — Legend of Tovelil — A Tinghuus — The werewolf and the
nightmare — The night-raven and the basilisk — Monument to the
heroes of Fredericia — Farewell to Jutland.

EIBE.

Friday, July 22nd. — We again cross our ferry. Horses
ordered in advance, but not ready ; the boer-cart fetches
us in the water, and lands us at the kro — strax. Strax
— ^how I abominate that word ! The carriage is however
■ there, but when that is loaded, and not before, do they
harness the horses, and when the horses are at last
harnessed then they make out the " tune seddel." And
the postilion? coming strax, gone to dress himself.
Why, it's the very old man who's been loitering about
with a pipe in his mouth, as composed as if he was
going nowhere. We are off, a tiresome, dull, uninter-
esting drive of twenty English miles. Let no one ever
take the west coast of Jutland, from the Liimfiorde
do^vawards ; it does not repay. We have amused om*-
selves well enough with visits to om' various friends,
and a good dose of historical associations — history
mixed uj) with locality and legend, as it should be.
Danes, wise in their ovm. conceit, are apt to consider
they do the Avorld a service in disproving the traditions

CATHEDRAL, RIBE.

Vol. II., p. 225.

Chap. XLVL THE CATHEDRAL. 225

of centuries ; but they find out nothing new ; upset old
associations, deprive their history of its romance, -svhich,
if not true, is at least, as the proverb says, " ben trovato."
The weather is piping hot, and our horses, fresh from
the fields and not in the best conchtion, are suffering
in consequence. We bread them at one kro, hay and
water them at a second, ahvays keeping to our chaussee
time of five miles an hour. Then the tower of Eibe
Domkirke appears m sight. Another kro — more water.
" There," says the old postilion, " look at that river ;
here we are in Jutland." On the other side Slesvig,
or, as the Danes delight to call it, South Jutland. The
world and his wife are now a haymaking ; such forks,
too, as they are ! — our own Plantagenet portcullis with
a handle tacked on it ; — it seems to make very good
hay all the same. We at last arrive at Ribe, cross the
river by a wooden bridge, and, driving through her
narrow quaint old streets, lodge at an hotel on the Place
opposite the cathedral.

Ribe, as you all of course know, is one of the most
ancient cities of Jutland ; for somehow or other we are
in Jutland still. She forms a little well-watered oasis
in the duchy of Slesvig, what we call a peculiar in
England, ui the same manner as the Pope holds Bene-
vento, in the centre of the kingdom of Naples.

The great lion is her Domkirke, without exception
the finest church m Jutland. Like most of tlicse
nortliern edifices, its exterior — a mixture of granite,
sandstone, and brickwork — is not highly attractive.
After a lapse of time the colour of the brickwork pales,
while the sandstone and granite darken, tlie original
contrast is lost, and tlie whole be iconics a smudge. The
lofty square tower is imposing from its height. The m*

VOL. II. Q

226 EIBE. Chap. XLVI.

terior has been lately restored, and is very interesting
from the miiforn\ity of its style, the earliest round-arch
period. The cathedral consists of nave and double aisles,
the outer one of a later date. Under the clerestory
wmdow runs a fine Norman arcade of triple arches,
surmoimted by the shark-tooth ornament. We moimted
to inspect them, and found large spacious loggie, with
vaulted roof. The columns which support the nave are
square. Then comes the choir, to which you ascend by
fom- steps, with lofty dome, separated from the transepts
by the light carved stalls, and then by three steps more
you reach the round apse, which terminates the building.
Here is placed an altar with gilded cross and candelabra
tripod — taste of the Empire, merging into the classic
of Christian YIII.'s time under Thorvaldsen's reign.
They should all be sent to the right about, beuig highly
out of character with the building they are destuied
to adorn. The contrast between the dark granite and
the wliite walls is good, but the apse spoils the whole
eifect of the building by its poverty and glaring white-
ness. The church, however, viewed from the right of
the altar, is very effective, and may rank high among
the cathedrals of the north, an architecture apart from
that of England, France, and Germany. The art of
ancient glazing is entirely lost in Denmark, and the
windows of their fine ecclesiastical as well as of their
domestic buildings are entirely spoiled by the modern
square panes of glass, arranged without any attention
to the date of the edifice.

The cathedral church of Kibe is built on the highest

. ground of the city, called the Liliebierg. This eminence

did not, however, preserve it from the effects of the

great inundation of 200 years since, when the water

Chap. XL VI. THE ANCHORITE BISHOP. 227

stood five feet in the nave, and live fish, says a monkish
calendar, were caught in the refectory of one of the
monasteries. As for its antiquity — Anscarius himself is
said in 850 to have built there a very small church ; but
the first stone edifice was foimded in King Niels' time,
and all authorities admit it to be the most ancient
cathedral in the kingdom. Two kings sleep within its
walls — Erik Emun,* brother of Knud Lavard, and
King Christopher, youngest of the unlucky offspring of
King Valdemar the Victorious ; but their monuments,
if ever they had any, have long since disappeared.
An alabaster stone covers the remains of the latter,
but no inscription is visible. In the chapels of the
transepts are still to be seen the granite archways
under which the altars once stood — chapels dedicated
to the last-named sovereign and his Queen Margaret..

The sentiment of " Nolo Episcopari " does not appear
to have been carried out in the Papal days of the diocese
of Kibe, as it is in our modem Anglican Chui'ch. Once
the canons of the cathedral could not agree in their choice
of a bishop ; so they addressed themselves to a poor
and humble monk, Peter of Eaa Ager, an anchorite, and
begged him to indicate to them an honest man, and
they would swear to accept his nominee. " Since ye,
my very good masters, will have me, poor simple man
that I am, to appoint your bishop, Peter of IJaa Ager

A sovereign who, not approving of collateral branches too nearly
allied to the succession, put to death his own brother Harald, in revolt,
it mu.st be owned, against him, and his eleven sons — one, Olaf, escaped
in woman's clothes, and became King of Norway. On the other liand,
Erik revenged promptly the murder of Knud I.avard, deposed King
Niels, and ended by ascending the throne in his stead. A fine battle
they bad for it ; five bishops and sixty priests were numbered among
the slain.

Q 2

228 RIBE. Chap. XLVI.

shall be the man. I have always heard that he who
bears the cross, crosses first himself." And he became
Bishop of Kibe.

The monmnent of the last Popish prelate, old Bishop
Munk, stands imbedded in the wall of the outer arch,
in all the pomp of mitre, crosier, and episcopal robes.
Here reappear the three roses of the Munks, and a star
of Gyldenstierne. He married a lady of that family,
and embraced the Protestant faith to please King
Christian (to say nothmg of the convent of Tvis).
Whether it be matrimony or the Keformation, never
did portly ecclesiastic look so thoroughly overcome by
his feelings as he does on the tombstone erected to his
memory. We have also Hans Tausen, second Protes-
tant Bishop of Elbe — first his portrait, in an ermine
tippet, sour as verjuice ; and then comes his epitaph,
well worn by the feet of passers by, but now imbedded
in the wall. It is to be hoped he did not compose it
himself — " I. I. I.," — for it is a very conceited one.

Then we have no more monuments of general interest,
no new names, save those of Holt and " Ostvald," our
Scottish Oswald, on an old well-worn stone. We mount
the tower, a necessary evil in a flat country if you wish
to know its whereabouts. Passing through a narrow
carved oak doorway of Bishop Munk's day, bearing his
three roses, we mount ladder upon ladder, and then
through a trap-door we arrive in open air again —
country flat as a pancake, green as the Emerald Isle ;
running streams surround the tower on three sides, the
North Sea in the distance ; meadow as far as eye can
extend — nothing but meadow. In front towards the
city stands a mound, the site of historic Eibehuus.
As regards 0prors, Elbe seems to have been lucky in.

Chap. XLVI. "RIBE RET." 229

the middle ages, less worried than most places ; but
she made up for her exemption by the plague of fire
and water, to say nothing of the black pest. She
bore, however, these matters jauntily, for in the year
1577 — the year betwixt an " over-swimming," a black
pest, and a conflagration — the comedy of ' Susanna and
the Elders' was played with great applause by the
Eector of the High School and his pupils. These
sacred theatricals continued imtil very late in the
North of Europe. In 1712 the 'Creation' was played
before the Swedish king at j\lalm0, but the machinery
got out of order, and the rose refused to blow.

Though Elbe possessed Gray Brothers and Black
Brothers, she could not vie with Viborg in sanctity;
so she took a peculiar line of her ovm, and piqued her-
self on her police and her justice. " Kibe Ket," as it was
called, altliough most wholesome and eifective in sup-
pressing crime and misdemeanour, was considered so
severe, it became a proverb, " that they only sent those
to Kibe for justice who were ripe for hanging ;" and the
old saying ran — " Tliank God, my son ! you did not
come before the justice of Kibe, cried the old woman
when she saw her son on the gallows of Vaarde."
In Kibe, too, was erected a gallows of stone — a
gallows of aristocratic pretensions, on which no one
but a "born burgher" was allowed the privilege of
hanging.

Nothing could be more arbitrary than these "by-lovs"
(mimicipal laws) of Kibe. A burgomaster was allowed
to invite twenty-four couples to his wedding, with their
daughters, and twelve yoimg men to dance with the
girls. Should the young ladies preponderate, so much
the worse : they must sit still. Only six dishes for

230 RIBE. Chap. XLVI.

dinner, and so on in proportion to the rank of the
family. Should they disobey this law they were to be
fined one mark Danish to the kino-. This was a wise
precaution, as it was found necessary to discourage
the taste for extravagance which pervaded all classes,*
nearly to as great an extent in the celebration of
weddings as of fimerals.f

Little wine, says an author of the 18th century, was
consumed in early days ; for at the celebrated mar-
riage of Erik Ottesen, grand master of the realm, at
which King Christopher and his Queen Dorothea were
present, but half a cask was drunk, whereas now twenty
pipes of Ehine wine were oft cleared off, without
counting that of France for the common people.^ As
for the trousseaux, they would have satisfied a Parisian
elegante of the second Empire. The list of that of
Tycho Brahe's grandmother is a book in itself. Not
only did she bring linen enough, damascened and in
piece, to last a centmy, but all sorts of finery for her

* The Danish sovereigns did all in their power to repress the extra-
vagance of the nobility. Frederic in. issued smnptuary laws to the
effect they were not to wear pearls and gold on their hats and clothes,
and, when they gave parties, they were not allowed to serve other than
cokl dishes to their guests ; " warm^food and delicatessen " were strictly
forbidden. Christian V. dined every day oif a loin of roasted veal,
washed down with Rhenish wine, of which a jug was placed by the side
of each person present.

t When Lars Ulfeld, brother of Corfitz, whose picture hangs at
Frederilisborg, married a second time, all the family made him presents
of silver plate to the amount of 5137 ounces : Hoifman, who gives
this list, remarks, — " There was more profit in marrying then than
there is now."

X Wlien the Sagas talk of wine, they mean brandy-wine. The nobles
contented themselves with the beer and hydromel of the country.
" Drink as much as you will," was the hospitable saying, " for tlie cask
has a sister." In ancient times a ton of hydromel was the fine for
every day a nobleman should absent himself from the diet at Odense.

Chap. XLVI. MIDDLE- AGE RAGGED SCHOOLS. 231

liiisbancl, among which is enumerated "a pair of gold-
laced inexpressibles," AA'ith silk embroideries. But
" Kibe Ret " extended even to the " barsel," a ceremony
at M'hich burgomasters had no right to interfere. A lady
might invite thirty of her female friends to assist —
maids or matrons — no more ; once there, they were not
allowed to potter in and out, disturbing the sick woman,
but were compelled to stay until all was over.

The numerous pious foundations appear to have been
excellent ; and if good LOTd Shaftesbury imagines that,
althouQ-h he has established ra2:c:ed schools in Eno-land
by his philanthropy and energy, he invented them, he
is mistaken ; for here in the middle ages a. similar in-
stitution existed for " fattige poge," or poor homeless
vagabonds, to be picked up in the street anywhere ;
then came the Reformation, and the poor poges got
swept away in the general haul of ecclesiastical re-
venues. No wonder. When prelates and mitred
abbots, when abbesses and nuns, rent the heavens ^vith
cries of sacrilege, who would listen to the wailings of
the " fattige poge " ? Still, there was much justice in
King Frederic's mind, and many an aged Avoman now
finds shelter and repose at Kibe, in the cloister attached
to some suppressed convent. We to-day visited one
of these establishments, and found the old people in
the ancient monastic garden, seated in the summer's
smi, and others, rheumatic perhaps, fearful of wind,
under the splendid lime-tree in the cloister yard. The
Danes may have fallen from their political grandeiu*,
if you will, but they have fallen on a feather-bed.

We extend our walk to the site of Kibehuus, now a
huge mound, surrounded by a sedgy moat, a mound of

232 RIBE. Chap. XLVI.

which the inhabitants are still proud, as connected with
Queen Dagmar. You recollect the old ballad : —

" Queen Dagmar lies sick in Ribe.
In Ringsted they do expect her.
All the ladies in Denmark
Stand round about her couch."

Awful aifairs, these royal accouchements. No wonder
she died : stifled, I dare say, as poor Marie Antoinette
nearly was in after days. Her death occurred in 1205,
and now, after a lapse of six- hundred years, her name
is as popular among the peasantry of Denmark as ever.
The nuptials of Dronning Leonora were also here cele-
brated ; and again, after the murder of Glipping, it
was here the assassins entrenched themselves, having
seized the castle from the hands of Tage Muus (mouse),
its governor. They had first tried Skanderborg, but
Queen Agnes, already informed of the bloody deed,
drew up the drawbridge in time, and, standing in the
balcony, holcHng her two children by the hand, listened
to the exulting taunts of the Grand Marshal. " You
have laughed at me, Queen Agnes ! You have jeered
at my grief on account of my wife, and now I have
burnt your house."

The spirit of the youthful Menved could not tamely
brook the insults addressed to his royal mother ; boil-
ing with rage, he exclaimed, " You, Marsk Stig ! you
self-made king ! as sure as I am King of Denmark, you
shall lead the life of an outlaw, and the moors alone
shall be your bed ! " His brother, little Christopher,
roared and cried.

Marsk Stig was taken aback by the words of the
child, but, soon recovering himself, he replied, " Thou.

Chap. XLVI. FUNERAL OF MAESK STIG.' 233

art my king, and I may be an outlaw : but I will make
many a Danish mother grieve for her son, and many a
wife widow yet ! " He then saluted the royal party and
retired. As we have before related, he seizes on Hjelm,
turns pirate, is excommunicated by the Pope, and
dies an outlaw. As he is not likely to appear much
more upon the scene, I may as well relate the story
of his funeral, celebrated in verse and chronicled in
the memory of the history-loving Danes.

Towards the close of the 13th century the servant
of the priest of Hindsholm in the island of Funen was,
towards dark, busily employed in cleaning hops, when
a farming man arrived breathless, declaring he had
seen a funeral enter the church — a rich funeral, fol-
lowed by a train of warriors. Much alarmed, for they
knoAv the church to be closed and the keys safe in the
priest's house, they imagined it to be a phantom rising
from the sea.

One of the maids, who was betrothed to l^fads Jyde,
a grim warrior of Marsk Stig's band, declared she was
not afraid ; she would go and see herself what it really
was ; so she fetched the key, and when she arrived at
the church-door she found the building filled Avith
armed men, the vizors of their helmets closed ; her
own "huusbond," i. e. the priest, her master, there,
with his hands tied behind his back, compelled, by
threats of a drawn sword, to read the funeral service.
Alarmed, she conceals herself, and, the service con-
cluded, the men break open an old vault, and deposit
the coffin therein. The priest is dismissed, an oath
being first exacted from all present never to reveal
what they had tluit night seen. AAlien the warrior-

234 RIBE. ■ Chap. XLVr.

band has departed the maid-servant comes forth from
her hiding-place, and examines the vault where the
coffin of the new-buried corpse is laid ; she finds it
but carelessly closed. The girl remains until morning,
when, after some exertion, she manages to unbar the
door of the vault, and discovers within it a new coffin
over M'hich was laid a violet velvet cloak powdered with
silver stars of seven points.

" Well ! " thought she, " it is a pity to leave this
here to rot and spoil ;" so she rolls up the cloak and
then recloses the door.

Years pass by, and Mads Jyde returns from the
wars to claim his bride. The marriage is celebrated
with the usual rejoicings and festivities, and in the
evening the guests conduct the new-married couple
to the nuptial chamber. The first object that meets
the eye of the bridegroom is the violet cloak with silver
stars laid across the bed. " What is this ? " he ex-
claims, pale with agitation ; " tell me ! " The bride,
in her innocence, relates her story, concealing nothing
from her husband ; he blows out the candle, kisses her
on the cheek.

The following morning the villagers arrive early
to serenade the new-married couple, but no answer is
made to their greeting. Ten o'clock strikes ; midday
is past, when, alarmed, they determine to break into
the bridal chamber ; the door yields to their efforts —
a fearful spectacle meets their eyes. Across the bed
lies extended the body of the bride of yesterday —
a corpse. One fearful wound in her breast has done
the mischief; the dagger still remains undrawn — the
bridegroom fled. Mads Jyde had dearly loved his

Chap. XL VI. ERLAND KALF. 235

mistress, but he had better loved the memory of his
outhiwed lord, and respected the oath he had sworn
at his funeral in the village church of Hindsholm.*

Eibehuus was entirely destroyed in the Swedish war
of the 17th century. Among its governors was the
celebrated Erland Kalf of the last Yaldemar's days.
In the wars of the Succession he sided with the Slesvig
Dukes, brothers of Queen Hedvig, who, delighted at
his desertion of then' opponent's cause, handed over
to him two important fortresses ; but a sentiment of
remorse now seizes him, he again returns to his alle-
giance, bringing with him the castles committed to
his charge. " Capital beast that ! " exclaimed King
Valdemar, always inclined to be facetious ; " he ran
away a calf, and is now come back a cow, with two fine
young heifers ! " Not bad for a royal joke.

We had brought letters for the family of the clergy-
man of the cathedral, who were most kind and hos-
pitable, and did all in their j^ower to make our stay
agreeable. This evening we accompanied them to the
annual liaymaking festival of the town, lield on the
opposite side of the river, about two English miles at
least from Ribe. The beau-monde of the ancient
cathedral town were all present, and there was a great

* There has been a grand dispute as regards the place of the inter-
ment of ISLirsk Stig. In the church of Stubheriip is an ancient
stone, witli a copper phite on which is inscribed, — " a.I). 12'J2 ("repaired
by Kirsten Hardenberg, 1G56) died the noble and well-bom Marsk Stig
Andersen von Hjelni, and lies here interred ;" but this w;is jmt uj) by
one of liis descendants. He left a son (he was, I know, married), Stig-
sen, as ho was called, who made peace with the king, and enjoyed the
higliest favour. He married a Miss Bugge, .sister of our old friend Sir
Niels. His death is thus related : — " .Mar.-ik Htig owned Bj0rnskor.
Once, when hunting in a strong heat, he fainted, alighted from Ixis
horse, and sat down on a stone in Turup field, where ho died.

236 RIBE, Chap. XL VI.

deal of fun going on among tlie liay, dancing and
singing in chorus of national airs : very pretty were
some of the modern ones. The ancient Danish music
is awful : lugubrious to a degree not to be described —
worse than that of the Spanish muleteer. In England
we speak of the " tune the cow died of," though Avhat
the melody was which caused so disastrous an event is
as yet a myth. My firm belief is that the unfortunate
animal met with her death from the imprudent singing
of some old Danish ballad within her hearing. I walked
about bouche beante with wonder and admiration, star-
ing at the town meadow, a present of Erik Menved to
the city : one sea of haycocks, eight Enghsh miles
square, without any separation, barrier or hedge ; green
grass, fine as velvet !

To quit Elbe would be impossible without alluding
to the well-known ballad of Tovelil — not the Tove of
Gm're, but the Tove of the first Valdemar, the Fair
Eosamond of Danish story ; victim, like Liden Kirsten,
to the jealousy — in this case just, it must be avo^wifed —
of Queen Sofie, one of the most unpopular queens of
early Danish story.

" Merry did they dance in the castle-yard :
Then danced the queen with her maidens nine ;
And proud was Tovelil, the damsel fine ;
But King Valdemar he can love them both.

0 hear you, Tovelil, mine own heart's dear,

1 would the queen would die in this year :
Heaven would it grant my wife were dead,
Then you should wear the crown so red !

Be silent, oh king, the queen stands near ;
To your idle talk she lends her ear."

And so it goes on. Queen Sofie now sends for Tovelil,
and asks her what she is talking about ? Tovelil replies,

Chap. XLVI, LEGEND OF TOVELIL. 237

Nothing — about the knight who demands her hand in
marriage. Concealment Later becomes useless, and
Sofie again taunts her. "What did the king give
you ? " she mquires. Tovelil, now bold — maitresse en
litre — replies : —

" He gave to me as fine a gold band
As ever was seen around the queen's liand ;
For I to him two sons did bear ;
For this the king he loves me dear.
Knud and Christopher ride never far
From the king's side when he goes to the war."

Sofie now meditates revenge. She orders a " bad-
stue," a vapour-bath (probably an introduction of her
own from Russia), to be constructed, and begs Tovelil to
accompany her to bathe. She however declined ; " she
bathed yesterday ;" but later she is induced to enter to
prepare the bath for her lord. Queen Sofie closes the
stove, and heaps wood upon the fire : —

" There is no water, there is no soap ;
For the love of Heaven, oh let me out !
Then could all hear alon^ the street
How Tovelil died so hard a death."

The queen now walks downRibe street,and, meeting
Knud and Christopher, cries out, mocking : —

" Here come you, Christopher ; here come you, Knud •
Go both, and take your mother out.
Rim down the street, and hear her cries,
For Tovelil in the bad-stue dies."

The sons spur their chargers, upsetting the queen
sprawling in the gutter, all in her " scarlet red." They
burst open tlic door, but too late : —

" Her sons they hear no more her groans :
The fire has burnt to her very bones."

238 T0RNING. Chap. XLVI.

And when they take the body of their mother from the
bad-stue, she was — *

" As a goose roasted for Christmas."

" But King Valdemar he can love them both " — not the
goose — but Tovelil and Queen Sofie.

Such was the fate of the Danish Fair Kosamond,
roasted to rags in a vapour-bath.

T0ENING.

Jul^ 2otJi. — We leave Eibe betimes for Haderslev,
first stopping a mile from the town, at the village of
T0rning, beautifully situated in a picturesque valley,
by a mill, to visit the Tinghuus, the most ancient in
the kingdom of Denmark. We might have saved our-
selves the trouble : the Tinghuus is now no more ;
the great salle is divided into cottages ; some of the
panellings, painted with the arms of the earher sove-
reigns, are still visible. The Ting has been of late
years transferred to the adjoining kro, Avhere politicians
can quaff ale and discuss politics at the same time.
Here arose the first dispute between King Christian
and the peasantry of Slesvig, in consequence of the
motto to that sovereign's shield being hung up written
in the German language instead of the Danish. They
tore down the wapen ; a revolution was nearly stirred
up. The king, however, on the application of the
peasants, allowed another to be painted, and the ob-
noxious motto removed, " for," said they, " we are not
Germans, but of South Jutland."

In the northern provinces of Jutland these Tings
were held in the open air ; we frequently came across
liillocks called " Ting H0is."

CiiAP. XLYI. WEREWOLF AND NIGHTMARE. 239

You would imagine we had done with ghosts and
mermaids, church lambs and churchyard horses, troUes,
nisses, and Hyldemoir, &c. &c. ; but this very day two
more diabolical characters — the werewolf (loup garou)
and the night-raven — appear on the scene.

The werewolf, one of the earliest superstitions of
ancient Scandinavia, is said to be the offspring of a
Avoman who, by the aid of some rite — chloroform? —
brings forth her children without suffering. In this
case all the sons become werewolves and the daughters
nightmares. The werewolf bears a human form dur-
ing the day, but you may always know him by the
" meeting of his eyebrows," and at night-time he as-
sumes the shape of a three-legged dog. But if you
suspect a person to be such, and accuse him, he be-
comes free at once from the evil.

It is related how a man, who had been a werewolf

from a child up^vards, late at night drove home with

his wife from a festival. On the road, when he felt the

time of his evil draw nigh, he alighted, and gave the

reins to liis wife, saying, " If anything comes to thee,

mother, you have only to defend yourself with your

apron." He then left her, and presently the woman

is attacked by a werewolf. She beats it with licr

apron, which tlie monster seizes in his teeth and carries

away. When her husband returned he held in his mouth

a torn-off piece of his wife's apron sticking between

his teeth. On seeing this, she cries, " Lord ! husband,

thou art a werewolf ! " " Thanks to thee, mother,

I am now free ! " he replied, and from that time the

evil never affected him. The nightmare is a female

werewolf.

A peasant had a betrothed bride who was a night-

240 - T0RNING. Chap. XL VI.

mare without knowing it herself; she came every
night to her bridegroom, who was soon made aware of
her evil, for he remarked that she entered through a
little hole which was in an oaken window-post. So he
prepared a stick to fit into the hole, and, when she
had come the next night, he fixed the stick in the
hole, and she was forced to stay in the room. Then she
instantly regained her human shape, and kept it. The
peasant married her, and they had many children.
Many years had passed quietly away, and they were
both advanced in years, when it happened one evening
that the husband thought of the stick, M'hich was still
fixed in the hole of the oaken post. Then he jokingly
asked his wife if she knew how she had once entered
the house, and, as she knew nothing about it, he told
her, and even took out the stick, that she might see
by what entrance she had come in. The wife peered
through, but while standing there she became suddenly
quite small, slipped out through the hole, and vanished
for ever.

Once upon a time there was in Jutland a queen
who was a great admirer of horses. She had one of
which she was especially fond, and which occupied her
thoughts both while awake and in her dreams. Often
at night, when the groom came into the stables, he
perceived that the horse was uneasy, and thence he
concluded that it had been ridden by the nightmare.
One night he took a pailful of cold water and cast it
over the horse, and the same moment he saw the queen
sitting on the horse's back.

The night-raven is a more mysterious creature still,
being a " conjured ghost ;" to become one was, as you
recollect, the wish of Long Margaret of Yosborg.

Chap. XL VI. NIGHT-RAVEN AND BASILISK. 241

In the spot where such a spectre has appeared, a
pointed stake must be driven into the earth, which will
always penetrate the left wing of the " night-raven,"
and make a hole in it. Tlie night-raven emerges
only from the ugliest sloughs and moors. First, it
begins to cry beneath the swamp, " Kock ! rock ! rock !
up ! " and when it is once out, it darts away, crying,
'• Hey ! hey ! he— y ! " Then it lights upon the earth,
at first resembling in shape a cross, hopping along like
a magpie. Soon it flies away towards the east to the
"holy grave," which if it can contrive to reach, it
comes to rest. When it passes over our heads, we must
take care not to look up, for if any one look through
" the hole in the left wing " he becomes himself a night-
raven, and the bird is released. It is a peaceful animal,
and does no harm, only it seeks to fly fiu-ther and
further towards the east.

Lastly, we have the old legend of the basilisk. When
the cock is seven years old it lays an egg, from which
comes forth the basilisk, an ugly monster, which kills
people solely by looking at them. The basilisk can only
be killed by holding a mirror before it, for it cannot
survive the sight of its own ugliness.

We have really now done with hobgoblins and super-
natural monsters of all sorts ; but if you require any
more information on the subject, you may search for
it yourself in a Danish book written by David Monrad,
and aptly termed ' Heathenish Christianity.'

FREDERICIA.

We found Haderslev as we left it, in full fair time.
We again passed through Koldiug, wliose castle-ruins
appear to have suffered from the effects of the last

VOL. II. li

242 FEEDERICIA. Chap. XLVI.

winter, and Hannibal, on his watcli-tower, now bends
forward, considerably out of the perpendicular. From
thence to Frederici^, a beautiful drive along the Horde's
banks — a recompense due to us for our ugly seven
miles jom'ney of this morning. The town of Fredericia
is a fortress of some consequence in the Danish domi-
nions. It has had its affair with the Swedes, indepen-
dent of its exploits in the last war, too fresh in the
minds of the world in general to require relating. Its
present interest consists in the two monuments erected
to the memory of the Danish heroes who fell fighting
in the cause of their country at the battle which
bears its name : they are the work of Professor Bissen.
One, a bas-relief, erected in the public cemetery, is as
beautiful in design as admirable in execution ; the
subject, two soldiers bearing a dead comrade in their
arms for interment from the battle-field. ''^Unfortu-
nately, it has been injudiciously placed too near to the
churchyard wall, so that you catch, on arriving from
either side, the rounded backs of the bearers en biais,
which presents a most ridiculous appearance, and have
to cross over to the opposite side of the road to judge
of the general effect. It is, however, fine as a work of
art, and adds much to the reputation of the artist by
whom it was designed. Fredericia is restoring her
church — red and white— in its ancient colours. Some
carving on the pulpit is worthy of Grinling Gibbons,
all fruits, flowers, and shells.

The small boat which is to carry us across the blue
waters of the Little Belt waits. Tide and wind con-
trary ; but an hour will soon pass away. We can
watch, as we sail along, the richly-wooded coast of
Funen. We can gaze on the actineee — actineee of a

Chap, XL VI. FAREWELL TO JUTLAND. 243

beauty unrivalled floating along in tlieir course. Only
look at them, in their filmy parasols of transparent
white, hemmed with a deep feathery fringe ! how they
collapse ! how they again reopen ! The one resembles
a star-fish in a balloon, gauzy transparent ; the other
has four eyes, if eyes they be. And now we ride on
the Belt. Middelfart, with her imposing church, her
trees, and her shipping, are near. Syren-like, she
attracts us to her shores. Well, there is a charm in
beauty, but the Syren must bo powerful indeed, her
fascinations great, and her potations drugged, who can
ever cause us to forget the pleasant time we have spent,
the hospitalities we have received, during our six Aveeks'
wandering among the fiordes, the moses, the wild and
original scenery, of that most historic of all provinces
the ancient kingdom of North Jutland.

K 2

244 ISLAND OF FUNEN. Chap, XLVH,

CHAPTEE XLYIL

The island of Funen — Bed cabbage of Sir Niels Bugge — Ploughing
ghosts — Odin and Odense — Murder of St. Knud — The traitor
Blakke — Funeral of Kirstine Munk — Dormitorium of the Ahle-
feldts • — The lady who danced herself to death — The pet cats of
Mrs. Mouse — King John and his family — The Lear of Odense
and his daughters.

ISLAND OF FUNEK

July 26iA. — We land at Midclelfart, and, whilst our
carriages are preparing, wander down to the shore-side.
The "red cabbage," sprung from the blood of Sir Niels
Bugge, was not, however, there ; perhaj)s we may next
time be more lucky. Then on to Odense, twenty-four
English miles, over a road straight as the crow flies, a
hill always before you, and, when you are at the top,
another. The land is rich and highly cultivated, but
you sigh after the expansive wastes of Jutland. It
is divided into small fields — like England were the
hedges of quickset; here they are mostly of lilac.
This division was rendered necessary by the dishonesty
of the inhabitants. " Cursed is he that removeth his
neighbour's landmark," we all know, but we are igno-
rant of the punishment assigned hereafter to those who
commit this crime. The Fionese declare that the ghosts
of the culprits are compelled to plough the fields from
which they unlawfully removed the stones, to all eter-
nity ; and in the villages of Eyslinge and L0ru23 they
may still be heard of a night speeding their ploughs

Chap. XL VII. ODENSE. 245

for tlie benefit of no one. Across a liill, too, called
Graabjerge, the peasant will tell you it is dangerous
to pass after nightfall, for the unwary pedestrian may
suddenly find a red-hot rein poked into his hand, and
be compelled to plough as long as the tortured spirits
care to repose themselves. In this case there is but
one resource : kick off your shoes — sabots, if you wear
them — and, when you turn back, shove your feet quickly
into them, and take to your heels.

ODENSE.

Oh for the meadow of Menved ! its eight square
miles of haycocks ! Stuffy, oppressive Fuuen I We
may grow used to it, but at present we despise her
"prettiness" from our hearts' core. At last comes
Odense — not a bad town, with long streets and fine
churches. A canal alone connects it with the fiorde.
Despicable place! A city — capital, too, of a Danish
island — and no water save a murmuring brook! No
historic interest can ever make up for such a disap-
pointment, so the sooner we are off from the clean but
noisiest of all noisy post-houses the better.

Don't inquire the etymology of the city's name, and
rashly plunge into the vortex of real Odins and false
Odins. It won't pay. The statue which once stood
on the so-called Odin's h0i has long since disappeared.
Let us turn at once to Knud the Holy, of whom we
have heard so much — not Ivnud, flushed with the hopes
of victory, about to sail with his mighty fleet to wrest
his rebellious province of England from the Normans —
not Knud prosperous lord of the castle of Sjorring, which
we visited together one windy day — but Knud in the
fair isle of Funen, with a few followers, a fugitive from

2-iG ODENSE. Chap. XLVII.

those most opr0r-ious of all subjects tlie Vendcl boers.
On liis journey none succoured liim, save one, and that
one a granite boulder. The weary king, on his way
from Middelfart to 0 dense, sank down from sheer
fatigue on the rock which lay by the wayside. Touched,
says tradition, by the sorrows of the unlucky monarch,
the hard granite softened, and the king enjoyed an
undisturbed repose, as on a bed of down, till the morning-
dawned, and he continued his journey.

Among his suite was Earl Esbern, called Blakke, or
the " red-haired," from his shining locks. Knud loved
him much, but he proved a traitor. He assm-ed the
king there was no danger ; that instead of passing across
the Great Belt he might rejiose at Odense. When the
king was in the sanctuary of St. Alban's church — English
St. Alban's, a favourite saint of our own Great Canute
and founder of the edifice — Blakke persuaded him the
Vendels had returned to Jutland, so he slept quietly
together with his two brothers. Blakke then called to
the peasants, " Go round and shoot the king through
the window." They did so. Knud was kneeling before
the high altar, with his brother Benedict, when a
javelin, hiu-led through the window, laid liim low.
The king, feeh'ng his end was nigh, prepared, his
arms folded, to meet his death with dignity. He
prayed for his enemies ; but he was very tliirsty, and
demanded to drink ; thereon a young man ran to the
fountain in the market-place, and, fiUing an earthen
pot with water, gave it to the dying king, passing it
through the window on his spear ; but an old peasant
with his axe struck it down. The king looked up ;
their eyes met, and a few moments after the king ex-
pired. That man was never again tranquil ; the dying

Chap. XL VII. MURDER OF ST. KNUD. 247

gaze of the king, so patient and so sad, for ever liaimted
Iiini, and he died shortly afterwards in great agony.

It is related in the same Chronicle how, while the
small but trusty baud of the king defended his person,
the false Blakke killed the good Benedict, brother of
the king. Blakke himseK was slain in the fight ; and
when the battle was over, these two were fomid lying
side by side. The blood of the prince flowed in a long
stream of reeking gore along the pavement to the
right, that of the traitor to the left : even in death their
life-blood would not mingle.* About the year 1100
Knud was canonised, and his body is interred within the
church which bears his name, in a splendid shrine above
the high altar. His brother Benedict is allowed to
repose by his side. You may see them now, each in
a carved oak box, Benedict's by far the smartest. He
and the Holy Knud remain, no longer regarded as relics
and holy, in a chapel of the building, and their moulder-
ing legs, once the admiration of thousands, may still be
discerned, half powder, through the glass apertures of
their coffins. There is no image of St. Knud here
extant, but in the village of Branninge, by Kibe, you
may see one, a very ancient carved figure, in the full
armour of the day, his head covered with a monk's cap.f

* Blakke went backwards anil forwards between the kinpf and the
rebels, always on horseback ; hence the proverb, wlien speaking of a
traitor, " He rides on Blakkes horse." The children in Skaune still play
at a same called " Atsto Blak eller Blakke," in allusion to his perfidy.
He was brother to King Svend. See vol. i. p. 114, note.

t I'eter Bagh, Bishop of Odense, was the first to introduce the por-
trait of Knud tho Holy into tlio arms of his diocese, 1331). He com-
posed, indeed, a very coniplinientiiry stjinza in Latin on the subject —
not witliinit a false quantity, though, for which I .should have been put
in the bill l>y Cookesley at Eton, — saying how he had introdticed a lily
into his shield. Alnotiius, an Englishman from Canterbury, who lived
in Denmark for twenty years, wrote St. Knud's Life, and dedicated it
to King Niels, his brother.

248 ODENSE. Chap. XL VII.

Adela, liis widowed queen, wanted, on lier retire-
ment from Denmark, to carry off tliese precious
relics to Flanders. Had she persisted in the execution
of her Avhim, she would have met with the same fate as
the saint himself. Deprive Odense of her " apothek "
and head doctor ! Furious, the inhabitants resented
the idea. " Did he not cure every disease ? A most
skilful oculist, lie restored sight to the blind ! For
rheumatics, he had no equal ! and for the purification
of the blood, never talk of ' la moutarde blanche,' when
St. Knud is to be got at ! " Though a saint, he had
his specialite, and particularly prided himself on his
success in all cutaneous disorders.

So Queen Adela, who had no particular fancy for
being poked with a javelin, retired to Flanders, and left
St. Knud to the adoration of the multitude.

His church is a fine building of exquisite proportions,
spoiled by the modern fittings and loggie of the last
centuries, used by the monarch and the heir-apparent
(who generally held the post of governor of Funen), as
well as by their guests; for Odense has had a world
of fine company in her days of splendour. Our own
George I., among the number, in the old Electress's
lifetime paid a visit to Denmark, to Chi'istian V. — came
to see his old aunt the dowager queen — always kind
to the Palsgrave family. But Odense is out of fashion
now ; her palace untenanted. Next on our list of royal
folks appears Erik Lam ; he turned monk. I've no
patience with your " rois faineans " who turn religious
to get out of this world's troubles. It is not religion
at all — all sneaking, nothing more nor less.

Then comes King John, whose splendid sepulchral
slab, removed from the extinct chm-ch of the Gray
Friars, lies imbedded in the wall — a fine specimen of its

CuAP. XLVII. ST. KNUD'S CHURCH. 249

period : the king arrayed in his royal robes, and good
Queen Cliristiua, who here died 1521, standing by his
side ; between them their youngest son, Prince Fran-
ciscus,* a small boy, in full costume, with golden chain,
to which hangs a pendent rose, some old Pope's present.
Witliin the same vault, but no monument erected to
his memory, lies Clu'istian II.,t together M'ith his father
and mother, at last at rest. Hard by stands the coat
of arms, in carved wood, of young Prince Franciscus,
bearings of the house of Oldenborg ; J observe the sup-

* No prince of the house of Oldenborg liad ever before received the
name of Franciscus ; and people wondered greatly at its selection. He
was named in honour, said King John, of holy St. Francis ; for on that
Saint's day not only was he born, but his father received the news of
peace having been concluded between himself and Sten Sture.

t At his funeral appeared a rich merchant from the Netherlands,
who demanded a large sum of money which he declared he had lent
to the deceased king during his banislnuent. King Frederic II.
answered that all his debts must be paid by his children, brother-in-law,
and those nearest in kin, and not by the country ; and that this answer
might stand good for all the creditors, who, as you may imagine, were
never paid.

X On a field or, two bars gules, is the cognisance of the house of
Oldenborg, concerning which " smudge," as it is termed, tliere hangs
a story. In the year 1090 the Count of Oldenborg, while in the
Holy Land, for a conspiracy against the Emperor Henry IV. was con-
demned to engage in single coml)at witii a lion. In the Miiller
collection is preserved a curious old engraving of this story. The
count, armed cap-a-pie, stands in a stone jail-like court, surrounded by
high walls, over the top of which appear the heads of the empcrur with
the empress (Matilda), bishops, counts, ladies, all anxiously feasting
their eyes on the fight. I3ut the Count of Oldenborg is a man of
genius. He has in his hand the lay-figure of a man— very like an
acrobat of modem days — which he holds out on his shield, and
presents to the lion. Wliile the imprudent beast seizes on his prey
with his teeth and claws, tiie count plunges his sword deep into his
heart. The blood flies out over tiie han<l of the victor, who, first
wiping his fingers on his gilded shield, produces tlio two red smudges
which he afterwards bore as his arms by order of the emperor. In
olden days the house of Oldenborg adopted as their supporters, on the

250 ODENSE. Chap. XLVII.

porters, wild men not yet moulted, well coated with
liair — hair, however, we all know, will not last for ever,
and the savages of the Danish arms have, like the rest
of the Avorld, become bald.

Before we close the list of royalty, observe that
velvet coffin — plain, simple coffin — a Duchess's coronet,
C. M. the initials — wortliless Christina Munk. We have
visited her birthplace, assisted at her marriage, her
disgrace, her death, and now she lies interred, or
rather exposed, in the chapel of St. Ivnud's church of
Odense — requiescat in pace ! Christina had the good
luck to die at the moment when Ulfeld and his wife
were at the height of their power — so on her death-bed
she was attended by the Hof-Preacher of General
Wrangel, as well as by the king's doctor. Her coffin
was brought to Odense, met outside the town by the
nobility, and buried in the presence of her children
and grandchildren all arrayed in white clothing. So
after all she was interred as a countess, and not as
Mrs. Christina of Boiler.

We will first enter the sjilendid chapel of the Counts
of Ahlefeldt, * a really noble dormitorium. Look at
the banners — the armour — the coffins — all gilt and
engraved ; nothing in death and dust can be more
magnificent. Thirteen warriors of this house fell in

right an armed knight presenting in his liand a lay-figure to the lion,
who forms tlie left side supporter. The houses of Austria, Carafa, and
many others, have adoj)ted this story of the smudge, but without any
right.

* The Ahlefeldts of more modern date derive their descent from the
daiightcr of King Cliristian and poor bullied Vibeke Kruse. Very
well brought up, too, she was; for Dr. Laurits Jaeobsen, in his
Journal, notes, 29th April, 1647, " Have I this day, by the king's
order, examined Miss Lisbeth in her catechism;" and later the king
expressed his good pleasure at her grounding in her Christianities.

Chap. XLYII. DANCING TO DEATH. 251

the Ditsmark combat, when the sacred banner of the
Danebrog was lost to the Danes for ever.

Observe that figure of a lady in a dark brocade dress
and tight corsage, with choking ruff. No beauty — Lady
Margaret Skovgaard is her name, a lady of great posses-
sions. She was young and fair, and loved the revel
and the dance. At a ball at Odense she danced -sWth
twelve successive knights — branles, corantos, and what
not ; — dances not like our calm meandering quadrilles
of the 19th century. She danced, and would not stop,
till she could no more, and fell exhausted, dead, at
the feet of the twelfth knight, her partner.* He — for
the age of chivalry was not yet over — caused, at his own
expense, this stone to be erected to her memory, and,
like the rivals Capulet and Montague, had it richly
gilt. " Stuff and nonsense ! " cried fourth Christian,
when he saw it (lie was elected to his throne in
Odense) ; " bring me a tar-barrel. Take a brush and
tar the jade all over. I am not going to have my
devotions ( Christian's devotions ! ) disturbed by her
gold and glitter." But Christian counted without his
host, old Time ; for, after a lapse of more than two
centuries, the tar is peeling off, the gold reappearing,
imd perhaps she will again rival the gingerbread of
the country fairs in her glittering finery. Scandalous
people declare that the Lady Margaret had refused to
lend money to Christian during lier lifetime : it was on
this account that he revenged himself. For the credit
of St. Knud, all coffins are closed to the public, even

* In the description of Sandcruniptaard, onoo in lir-r possession,
I was considerably disgusted to tind the following remark: "If
Margaret Skovgaard did die from over-dancing, she was, at any rate,
turned seventy years of age."

252 ODENSE, Chap. XLVII.

that of Mrs. ]\Iims, wife of the first Protestant prelate
of the diocese, who, in order to prove she was above
the prejudices of her "race," caused herself to be
buried along with her four pet cats, each grimalkin
clothed in grave-clothes of white satin, with a little
black velvet cap and feather placed upon his feline
head — a story much in favour of the celibacy of the
clergy, if bishops' wives made such fools of themselves.*
Wednesday, 27th. — I have done my best to like
Odense, but can't. I have mounted the lofty tower of
St. Knud's church, and am not enthusiastic about the
view, though anything like the steepness of its ladders
I never came across. In the church of Our Lady is
the splendid altarpiece, brought from the long since
destroyed convent of the Gray Brothers, executed in
the town of Odense, about the year 1520, by Glaus
Berg,-f- whose name deserves to be handed down among
the artists of his age. It was a present from good Queen
Ghristina | to that fraternity, a body much patronised

* Christian Povelsen, last Prior of St. Kuud, in Odense, in his
Journal, says that, in 1532, came King Frederic I.'s letter, that all the
silver ornaments in the church were to be given over to tlie king, even
to the "chalice, paten, and pix," at which the inior appears consider-
ably disgusted.

t Glaus Borg, the artist who carved the altarpiece of the Gray
Brethren, was, as he himself states, of a burgher family, an " armiger "
from Lubec. Queen Christina, who resided at St. Clara's convent,
sent for him. He entered the queen's service, and had under him
twelve servants, as well as pupils, whom the queen paid monthly, and
who were dressed in silk clothes trimmed with lace. The queen also
stood godmother in 1504 to his son, whom she called Franciscus, and
paid for his schooling in Eostock.

X Queen Christina much aiiected Odense as a residence, even after
her husband's death, when she retired to the convent of St. Clara. In
her book of expenses the entries are numerous. She looked after King
John's little bills and paid them for him. " I gave ten marks to the
bookbinder's wife, wliere the king used to bathe, as I have given her

Chap.XLVII. church OF OUR LADY. 253

by the early members of the Oldenborg family. In the
lowest division, ranged on each side of the figure of
Christ, stand King John and his family ; the likenesses,
if the portraits of the day are to be trusted, are admir-
able. To the right bends King John himself, followed by
his sons — Christian II. the fac-simile, beard and all, of
the portrait of Clmstiausborg, a ruffianly-looking fellow,
and his younger brother, the youthful Francis. On the
female side. Queen Christina ; then young Elizabeth of
Austria, the fair spouse of neglectful Christian.* And,

no money before :" though, when the king went to bathe, his servants
followed him, and were allowed a tun of beer to drink whilst he was in
the water. Queen Christina does not seem to be a woman of great
expenses. She enters " Paid to the washerwoman for her bill of tho
last half-year the sum of G marks " — Is. 3d. Englisli. She paid drink-
money to the servant who brought her from England a swan — eoals to
Newcastle. Her farrier's bill amounts to 30 marks for one year. "When
Queen Christina returned from her two years' imprisonment in
Sweden, she brought baek with her a certificate that she had lived
nobly and chastely during the time of her absence, signed by the Arch-
bishop of Upsala and twelve noble gentlemen. Such was the sim-
plicity of the times I She died in Odense, and was buried in the dress
of a Franciscan nun.

* To do Christian justice, with all his imperfections and liis bad con-
duct as regards Dyveke, he seems, in writing at any rate, to liavo
been an attentive husband. " Les paroles s'envolent, mais les ecritures
restent," says tho French proverb ; and in the lately published corre-
sp(jndence of King Christian a constant good feeling prevails between
bim and his fair con.sort Elizabeth. In the first letter of tho col-
lection he urgently implores of his " kere frue " to abstain from tho
drinking of Rhine wine as injurious to her health, but to use tlie red
vintage of Franco in its stead, of which he will procure her the best to
be ]ia<l. Very prettily be writes, too, on tlic occasion of his children's
birtii, — nothing can be nicer ; then, too, he adds a p()staerij)t to ann(nuieo
the safety of Sigbrit, the maitresse mere and prime minister, after
the ducking elsewhere alluded to, concerning which I liavo no doubt
Qu('<.'n Elizabetli was less anxious. She, on her side, in writing
from JJerlin — where her brother-in-law Joachim, inliuspitiible old
fellow ! plaiidy lets her see lie grudges tho expense of keeping inr —
expresses her longing U> be once again reunited to bim. Then later,

254 . ODENSE. Chap. XLVII.

last, another Elizabeth, known to readers of Carlyle —
Elizabeth married to the Elector of Brandenburg — ■
Protestant-ways inclined— caught by one of her nu-
merous daughters tripping in her creed, receiving the
communion in both kinds. " I'll brick her up," roared
her husband, in his ire. Elizabeth was too good a
Lutheran not to hate bread and water ; so off she sets,
with not a change of linen to her back — mends her
broken axle-tree with her veil — travels night and day
till she gains the dominions of her neighbour the
Protestant Duke of Saxonv, and never returns to her
husband more. Joachim declared he meant nothing ;
but as his wife was well out of his reach, it was all
very fine — she for one never believed him. There
she bends — nice-looking, with plaited tresses — the
only representation of her extant in the Danish do-
minions.*

as matters gi'ow worse, their communication becomes more and more
frequent : les petites miseres de la vie liumaine are all forgotten ; they
are bound together by one interest— their own and that of their
children.

One serious tiff Christian did have with Elizabeth, and that appears
the only one. He secretly put to death her chamberlain Maximilian,
who had come with her from the Netherlands, and of whom he is sup-
posed to have been jealous. He also turned off her graude maitresse
and her confessor.

All King Christian's letters to his consort are written "paa papir,"
not parchment, and sealed either with red or gr0nl vox.

In 1526 dies Queen Elizabeth, and is buried in her native city of
Ghent, and the last we hear of her is the account given of siuns paid to
Jean de Mabuse, who is charged with the erection of her monument.

* Such a writing as went on in the family at the period of her esca-
pade and for some time after was never known, but can be all seen in
the correspondence of King Christian. Old Joachim writes to his
beloved brother-in-law, and expresses his utmost astonishment at so
unheard-of a proceeding. " He can't understand it ; she had no grounds
to fear ; why should she suspect him of bad motives ? " Then comes a
correspondence with the Duke of Saxony, to and from, asking and pro-

Chap. XLVII. OLAF EAGER. 255

I am perfectly a^vare that Palnatoke, founder of the
Hvide family, whom we have had before at j^Iarienlyst,
uproarious like the rest of the warriors iu Harald Blue-
Tooth's time, got himself slain somewhere by here ; and
I have read a description, to which only Froissart or
dear Miss Strickland could do justice, of the feudal
homage done by the Dukes of Holstein, John and
Adolf, to our good King Frederic, in 1579. Anything
so smart as they all were no one can imagine. But
the noise and the dust of Odense, nothing will ever
make up for it.

Though Augsburg can boast her Fuggers, Odense can
boast her Bagers ; but iu this latter case I am afraid
virtue becomes its own reward, and the Bager family
ranks not high among the counts of the Danish do-
minions. Olaf Bager was a rich merchant, and a man
of noble and generous sentiments. He lent money to
his king, the second Frederic, who when he visited
Odense never failed to sup at the house of his friend
and subject.

Pudding and sweets, as you well know, are served
anyhow in the northern climes, in the middle of dinner,
as the cook or housewife wishes it. One night at
supper King Frederic praised highly some conserves of
apricots. " What a bouquet, too, they have ! " exclaimed
the king. " Wait," replied Bager, " till the dessert ; I
will give you some incense which will smell far sweeter."

mising her protection. King Ferdinand writes a stiff letter to Christian,
requesting Lim to use his influence in sending his sister back again to
her lui.shand. He docs not approve of such ])ropccdings. Tlicn young
Joachim writes to his niotlier, and implores iiiT to return to herailliettd
family, and tries his best to move his uncle Christian also ; but the Pro-
testant duck is not to bo snared back to her nest by any flattery. She's
safe where she is, and intends to remain so.

256 ODENSE. Chap. XL VII.

The supper over, an incense-burner, laden with per-
fumed cedar- chips, was brought in, on the toj) of which
was laid a mass of papers.

" Will your Majesty deign to light the pile ? " re-
quested Eager, offering a match. His Majesty did so
most gTaciously, and with quiet satisfaction saw reduced
to cinders his own bonds for sums so enormous he had
little hopes of defraying the debt. This is historical ;
but here the Danes were not first, for Fugger lived
in Charles ^V.'s reign, some years previous. Time
rolled on, and Eager had a numerous family, some
twelve or fourteen — you may see them all upon his
epitaphium. He portioned his daughters, got ruined
later, and had, like King Lear, to come to his children
for help and refuge ; but they treated him badly. " He
had much better," said they, " have kept his bonds,
instead of ruining himself for his sovereign's sake, and
becommg a burden to his family." So Olaf, sick at
heart, determines to try a ruse. He goes round to his
various friends and merchants with whom he had once
had dealings, and returns with a heavy coffer, which he
deposits in a place of safety, well closed with wrought-
iron lock and key. He has, he says, received gifts
from some, from others the payment of debts long due.
The contents of the coffer he intends to leave by his will
to the child who treats him best.

A change comes over the spirit of the ungrateful
offspring ; it is now who shall treat the old man best —
all love and filial affection. So Eager, laughing in his
sleeve, ends his days in peace and comfort. He can
make no distinction at his death ; all have been kind to
him, " his dutiful children ;" the contents of the coffer
are to be equally divided amongst them ; it is heavy

Chap. XL VII. THE LEAR OF ODENSE. 257

enough for all. Olaf Eager is conclucted in pomp and
honour to his last abode, followed by liis sorrowing
descendants. The will is read — the coffer opened — and
lo ! they discover what ? a heap of stones — a just
requital for their undutiful behaviour.

The schloss gardens form the favourite promenade of
Odense. Here the military music plays in the evening.
But notwithstanding its position as a capital, its patron
saint, its cathedral, and its bishop (there was a dance
at the bishop's last night), we were very glad to mount
the carriage, and move on along the tiresome chaussee,
its dulness alone relieved by an occasional picturesque
old church nestling among the trees. At last we again
see the waters of the Great Belt in the distance, and
drive into the little fortified town of Nyborg.

VOL. II.

258 • NYBORG. Chap. XL VIII.

CHAPTEK XLVIII.

Funen continued — King Christian II. and the ape — Deatliplace of
Ellen Marsviin — By-laws of Nyborg — Women to be buried alive —
Laws of adulteration — King Hans' invitation to his daughter's
christening — Stoiy of Kai Lykke and the Queen — The rival Nisses
— St. George killed the dragon in Denmark — Svendborg, the Pig

, Castle — Gaas made archbishop — Island of Thorseng the apanage
of Count Valdemar — Portraits of the House of Oldeuborg.

NYBORG.

August Zrd. — We have passed some days at Nyborg,
too glad to recruit our minds and bodies in the com-
fortable post-house — an inn of times gone by — not all
picturesque and dry-rot like that of Eingkj0ping,
but a house built with good large rooms, before the
world began to economise space ; very cool and com-
fortable. So our eight days fled rapidly by ; we strolled
on the rampart heights, we bathed in the waters of the
fiorde, boated and fished occasionally, and thoroughly
enjoyed om-selves.

Nyborg is not a town of vast pretensions to antiquity ;
it dates its origin from the " New Castle," long since
gathered to its sister " borgs." Valdemar the Great
(though he did beat poor Liden Kirsten to death) was
a very good son of the Church after his own peculiar
manner, and, like many worthy people of the present
century, very fond of proselytising. He preached Chris-
tianity church-militant-wise, fire and sword, among the
heathens of Kugen. Prislav, own brother of pagan

Chap. XL VIII. CHRISTIAN II. AND THE APE. 259

Iving Nuclet of the Wends, embraced Christianity,
and King Valdemar gave him as a reward his sister
Catherine in marriage, with Lolland as her dower. Her
son Knud founded here his castle of Nyborg ; he did
not, however, enjoy it much, for he turned monk for
very peace's sake, and Nyborg fell into the hands of
the crown. King John much loved this royal residence.
Here were born Christian and Protestant Elizabeth of
Brandenburg, who considered twenty-two years of in-
carceration quite locking-up enough for one family.
The days of canonisation were over, and she had no
fancy to be a martyr.

Scarcely had Chi-istian opened his eyes to daylight
when an adventure occiu-red, which, had it terminated
fatally, would have saved him a world of trouble. The
new-born princeling lay asleep in his cradle, when an
ape, who formed part of the royal establishment, stealthily
entering the nursery, lifts him from the cradle and carries
him in his arms, laughing and chattering, to the house-
top. The consternation of the royal household was ex-
treme, but they acted wisely ; left the monkey to his
own devices, who, after a time, tired of the office of dry
nurse, returned his charge uninjured to the place from
which he had taken him. The same story is told of
one of the Leinster family and also of Oliver Cromwell.

In later days Nyborg, with its grand and lofty tower,
followed the fate of other royal buildings ; it was pulled
down for its materials, not by that old clothesman the
second Frederic, but by the bigamous fourth Frederic
to build up his trumpery palace of Odcnse.

Not being in an excursionising mood when at Nyborg,
we merely extended our walks to the adjoining manor
of Holekeuhavn, a chateau beautiful in itself as well as

s 2

2G0 NYBORG. Chap. XLVIII.

in its situation, and undegraded ; it was once termed
Ellensborg, and was Luilt by Ellen Marsviin, as the
iron cramps, bearing the letters of her name, announce,
date 1616.

It Avas here that, some twenty-four years later,* Ellen
ended her long and successful life in her 78th year.
We visited the chapel — splendid in its carved oak
fittings ; and there on the wall's side hangs the portrait
of the foundress painted at the age of 77 — no longer
Ellen fair and dimpled as at Eosenholm, nor Ellen
over-blown as at Nprland, but Ellen an aged woman —
a fine, strong, green old age — in the costume of the
period, with a peaked hat like that of Mother Shipton — •
a most interesting picture. At her death — she lies
buried in the village church of North Broby, with her
husband, Ludvig Munk — Ellensborg passed to Christina
Munk, and again to her daughter fair Eleanor Ulfeld ;
then came confiscation, and the glory of the Munkites
was at an end.

By the side of old Ellen are two fuU-length portraits,
those of Corfltz and Eleanor.

Every town in Denmark piqued itself on something
in the good old days, and Nyborg appears to have
vaunted loud and high its salutary by-lov — bye-law we
still call it in England — so severe, its very existence
would have made me let my house, " plier baggage,"
and fly even to Odense. Such a sumptuary law against
the wearing of swords at parties — such a chopping off
of hands for next to nothing — Star Chamber a joke to
it. The women, however, were treated with becoming
respect, for in one article it is enacted "that every

* 1649.

Chap. XL VIII. BY-LAWS. 261

qvinde" detected in stealing or being in connivance
with a thief shall be condemned to be hanged, but the
sentence, on account of her " woman's modesty," to
be commuted to being " buried alive."

As for the laws of adulteration, the punishment was
death; but, in case of detection, the oJBfenders were
allowed to decide the matter by arms. Fancy a London
grocer and twelve of his shop-boys engaged in single
combat, in the precincts of the Green Park, against
twelve adulterated householders, called upon to avenge
the housekeeping grievances of their outraged house-
wives. In addition to the losing of heads, whippings,
and such like, all adulterated goods were declared to
be confiscated, and were solemnly burnt in the pre-
sence of the injured citizens. Such a decree might be
found advantageous even in the present day.

These bye-laws were just, had they extended to all
classes ; but the magistrates themselves were exempt
from their severity : for, says the old Danish rhyme, —

" When the mayor of the city sells ale and wine,
And the magistrate he kills the sheep and swine,
When the baker weighs himself his bread,
The citizens might all as well be dead."

It is evident corporation monopolies were not approved
of.

In a letter existing from King Hans to Bent
Bilde, Governor of Nyborg, he writes : — " We intend,
please God, to visit church with our dear wife the
Sunday next to St. Olaf's day, and have our young
daughter christened. And we beg you to be present at
that time and the same day with your dear wife, and
enjoy yourselves with us and several friends whom we
have invited."

262 GLORUP. Chap. XLVm.

GLOEUP.

August bth. — We are off for Svendborg this morning,
a drive of sixteen miles, but stop half-Avay to visit the
manor of Glorup, the country residence of Count Moltke,
famed for its English gardens. English gardens are
to be mistrusted even in Denmark, where the climate
assimilates somewhat to our own. The velvet turf is
always wanting — turf of ages — never to be replaced by
sowings of common grass. Dissect for your amusement
a small die of our finest sheep-fed English sward, com-
pressed to dwarfdom ; you will find nearly one hundred
varieties of plants in the small square ; it is the work,
the progi-ess of years of vegetation, not to be produced
by an annual crop ; added to wliich, did they possess the
turf itself, the Danes would never understand how to
take care of it, or allow the time necessary to the gar-
dener for bringing it to perfection.

Glorup is a fine old place, with lime-avenues of half
a mile in length, unrivalled even in Denmark. A
long oblong fishpond, all in character with the old-
fashioned builchng. As a whole it is beautiful, but
ruined by an xinglomanic taste badly carried out.
The house was built by the celebrated Walkendorf,
minister to Christian IV., and arch enemy of Tycho
Brahe, whose ruin he plotted from the day of the " dog
scene" in the isle of Hveen. His portrait is in the
village church, together with early tombs of his ancient
house. Stone carvings of mermaids and mermen
support the vaultings of the roof, a strange device, as
these marine monsters were held in the utmost horror
by the Church of old. In the ballad of Agnete, when

Chap. XLVIII. KAILYKKE AND THE QUEEX. 263

her merman comes to the Euglisli churcli to fetch home

his spouse, it is sung —

" When the merman into the church-close treads,
The small saints and angels avert their heads :"

but they were English saints, and knew how to comport
themselves.

We pass on our day's journey not far from Lykkes-
holm, once the possession of the house of Lykke —
Lykke the gorgeous, as they were rightly termed, for
none were richer, nobler, and more magnificent than
the hero of my story. If ever you visit the Royal
Library of Copenhagen, ask for the Miiller collectiou,
and there, among Denmark's nobles, you will find the
portrait, after Thornburg, engraved by Haas, of a young
man, slight in figure, graceful in foi-m, with long hair
cut short over the forehead. The features are not per-
haps strictly beautifid in their regularity ; the charm
must have lain in the expression of his eyes and the
brilliancy of his complexion. This is the hero of my
story — Kai Lykke by name, the handsomest (smukkeste)
and richest young nobleman in all Denmark. His
beauty became a proverb, and the old rhyme ran —

" Every fair damsel in Denmark did pray " —

AVhat they did pray I shan't repeat, for it was very
bold of them, and they ought to have been ashamed of
themselves.

Well, Kai Lykke, handsome, young, and rich, was
badly Ipoked upon by tlio prudish Hanoverian Queen
Sophia Amalie. He had already been called over
the coals for a letter (still preserved) in which he says
"the queen stands in intimate connection with her
lacqueys." This was perfectly true, for she was very

264 GLORUP. Chap. XL VIII.

familiar, and gossiped with her men-servants. The
storm, however, passed over, on his declaring he merely
alluded to her "condescending manners." Later Kai
Lykke marries, but at the same time writes a love-letter
to a clergyman's wife, in which he declares " the most
noble lady of the land could not resist him :" puppy, if
you will, but the women had made him so. The par-
son's wife shows the letter to the queen, who, firing up,
declares him to be guilty of leze majeste ; that she is
the person alluded to as " the most illustrious lady of the
realm." So Kai Lykke is summoned to appear, but
makes his escape as fast as jDOst-horses can carry him ;
not a woman in Denmark who would not have forwarded
his escape. The indictment is made out, but the letter
is not 23roduced in com't, out of respect to majesty ;
Kai is condemned to death " unanimously," his thirteen
estates confiscated to the crown, the sum of twenty
thousand dollars being allotted to his wife.

But Kai is far away ; the queen, rabid at the escape
of her victim, causes him to be executed in eflSgy, attired
in the picturesque costume of our Cromwell's time —
jerkin, lace collar, and long boots — the most gentle-
manhke costume of any era Avhen free from Puritan
savour : so the right hand of the mannikin is chopped
off, the body broken on the wheel, then decapitated,
exposed, and later shown for money by the heads-
man, who made a good thing, for all the women of the
country flocked to see it.

Kai Lykke's house still stands in Christianshavn,
near the canal, and is now used for some official pur-
pose. Of his ultimate fate I know nothing. The
epitapliium of his wife, preserved among the engravings,
did not excite my sympathy — an uninteresting wishy-

Chap. XLVIII. THE RIVAL NISSES. 265

washy woman, with little twiddling corkscrew curls
ranged around her face. An angel is represented as
opening the heavens, and beckoning her with the con-
soling words — " The stars open, and you shall then
regain above what you have lost below."

A two hours' drive — same sort of country — very
English, pleasing, and compressed — orchards and hojDS —
cottage-gardens, still gay Avith summer flowers, the
"Bright-star,"* " Night-light," t "Steel-cap," ^ and the
more poisonous "Knight-spur." § The peasant childi-en
sit, as in England, at the cottage doors, stringing chains
of the " Thousand Joy " (tusynd fryd), as they here term
the daisy.

Not far to the right Hes the village of Eyslinge, a
very bad neiglibourhood from all accounts, where the -
ghosts are still heard ploughing at night-time, and ^
apparitions torment the afirighted peasantry. In the
last century a farmer was so afflicted by their spiritual
torments he addressed himself to the parish priest,
himself a wizard, how to lay them. Very wise was
the advice given — " Leave the ghosts in peace, they will
die out by degrees, and, after a time, will only appear
once in a century." This same farmer had the luck
to house the parish Niss, Avho dwelt in his "high-loft,"
patronized by every one except the watch-dog, who
could not bear him. This Niss was a great thief,
extra-parochial ; he stole com from the adjoining ham-
let of L0rup, while the Niss of that parish returned
the compliment. The farmers at last hold a Ting,
and it was decided some one should be set to watch :

* Lychnis : Pragtstierao. J Aconite : Stormhat,
t Jinothcra : Natlys. § Larkspur : Kiddcrspur.

266 SVENDBORG. Chap. XLVIII.

but no one liked to watch the Nisses ; it brings ill luck.
At last the blacksmith was induced, by the promise of
a sack of wheat from each farmer of the two villages,,
to lie in ambush among the branches of a willow, the
boundary of the two parishes. After a time, he saw from
his hiding-place approach the Niss of L0rup, and then
that of Eyslinge, each loaded with a sack of corn :
they met under the willow-tree. " Hallo !" exclaimed
the Niss of Eyslinge, " you rascal — to rob my master ! "
" And you, you blackguard, what are you about, stealing
the parish corn ?" Then they fell to fighting, and after
a little time the Niss of Eyslinge took to liis heels. " I
got the best of it," said he of L0rup, looking up into the
tree. " Yes," said the blacksmith, but he gave you the last
blow." On hearing this the Niss threw down the sack
^ of corn, and ran after his antagonist. The blacksmith
then jumped from his tree, picked up the two sacks
of wheat, and came home to the village to claim his
reward.

We again get ghmpses of the sea, a fiorde, the island
of Thorseng before us ; we descend a cote ; down a hill
and up again, and are disembarked at the only hotel of
the place — the post-inn of Svendborg.

SVENDBORG.

August 6th. — Our post-gaard, most conveniently
situated for " changing of horses," looks nowhere ; the
place is full of bathers, and the house noisy. The town
itself, perched on a hill-side, must tell better from the
island of Thorseng, on the opposite side of the fiorde ;
but nothing more soft, more pretty, can be well de-
scribed than the wood-clothed banks, extending towards
Christiansminde. Our first stroll did not however run

Chap. XLVIII. ST. GEORGE AND THE DRAGON. 267

that way ; we betook ourselves in the opposite direction,
seduced by the tower of a milk-white church rising from
the woods which embower it : St. J0rgens it is called.
Here the wicked Danes declare that St. George fought
the Dragon. Our English St. George! a great fib! as
all men know the combat took place somewhere near
Tripoli. Dragon or no dragon, it is a lovely spot the
village of St. J0rgens. There has been in former times
an hospital attached to the church, and the view from
the cemetery is charming. We stopped to gaze at the
old square court of the praestegaard, the entrance-door
shaded by two limes of glorious growth ; and were in full
admiration of its picturesque appearance, hay-loaded
cart and all, when the son of the pastor came out, and
begged us to Avalk in the garden and see the new
house his father had lately completed. The old gaard
was to come do^Ti. It was an excellent modern house
— of greater appearance, and not ugly ; no house in
Denmark is ever ugly — with its liigh-pitched roofs and
gables, but a sad exchange for the old hmes, the square
court, and the parlour-windows on the other side, with
the open balcony commanding the blue Avaters. " Chacun
a son gout, et tous les gouts sent respectables ;" so say
the French.

These villages of Funen, with their abundant fi'uit-
gardens and orchards, remind me of Calvados, and
sometimes of our own more primitive hamlets of Devon-
shire, by the coast-side : it is rare elsewhere to meet
rich cultivation and sea combined. The peasant-women
too wear an eccentric cap — not like the Cauchois, but
much frilled behind — and such a bonnet! like a
japanned coal-scuttle, formed of glazed and painted
carton, bent : you may purchase them flat in the shops.

268 SVENDBORG. Chap. XLVIII.

This is a splendid place for bathing, and the establish-
ments— floating baths, with cradles for non-swim-
ming females — well-arranged and airy. Jelly-fish the
only drawback : beautiful to gaze upon, but most dis-
agreeable to the touch ; added to which they sting — not
anytliing dire, but a prickly, disagreeable sensation.

Svendborg rather piques itself on its godfather King
Svend ; though in old documents of the middle ages it is
more frequently written Sviin, or " Pig Castle." Ortho-
graphy, we all know, was very faulty until the present
century ; and the same name, be it town or family,
you frequently find written in ten or fifteen different
manners. Still the inhabitants appear to have been
so touchy on the subject, and somebody, to clench the
matter, composed some doggrel, which he caused to be
hung up in the chiu'ch, that I almost believe there to
have been some truth in the assertion.

A town planted on a hill is always picturesque. It
is something pleasant to overlook your neighbours' chim-
neys ; and when the buildings are of ancient date, queer
and rambling, with storks' nests and fruit-gardens,
it adds to the charm. As you pass down the street
you may read — if Danish be, like the French of Paris
to Chaucer's Abbess, " to you unknown" — in the Latin
tongue many a wise saw, many a good old proverb,
inscribed above the doorways, coeval with the buildings
themselves. Old saws, proverbs, and such like, are now
esteemed vulgar ; but many^ a good principle, many a
domestic virtue has soaked into the mind of man as
well as womankind, solely from the fact of its being
placed for ever before their eyes. Svendborg was a
loyal town to the house of Oldenborg, and Christian
III. evinced his gratitude for her fidelity in 1535 :

Chap. XLVIII. THE ISLAND OF THORSENG. 269

" \\Tiat can I do," lie asked of her head magistrate, a
priest, one Hans Gaas, "to reward your faithful ser-
vices?" "How," answered the magistrate, humbly,
" can a poor goose (Gaas) like me have done service
to so great a sovereign ? " Nothing like humility in
this world : the Geese became ennobled ; and Hans,
Archbishop of Tronyem.

THE ISLAND OF THOESEXG.

August Sth. — We pass through the post-gaard garden,
luxuriant in trees laden with unripe apples, to the
detriment of the stomachs, I should imagine, of the
tribe of babbling children who dwell within — seductive
too with skittles and swings ; turn into the road through
a gate, and by a sharp descent gain the little jetty
where the ferry-boats already await the passengers for
Thorseng. A ten minutes' sail brings us to shore.
The sun is high in the heavens, and we have a long
walk before us. Svendborg looks better from the other
side. Then too you have St. George's church and wood,
and Christiansmindo as well; but our first excursion
leads us to the chiurch-tower of Bregninge, the highest
point in the island, from whose summit you gain a
panoramic view of all the Danish archipelago — Lolland,
Langeland, Funen, JEy0, and half a dozen other 0s,
small fry, unknown to the world in general — all very
flat, very green, very blue, and satisfactory to those who
care for bird's-eye views, without a background beyond
the gray horizon.

This isle of Thorseng, flat though it be, is fair and
fruitful, the possession of the noble house of Juel, de-
scendants of the gallant Admiral Niels Jucl, whose

270 THORSENG. ; pHAP. XLVIII.

tomb we visited in the Holm church of Copenhagen.
A pleasant walk along the water-side leads to the resi-
dence of the lord and master — smiling villages, with
gardens, woods, hops, and orchards — a prosperity to
make the heart joyful. Valdemar Slot, it is called — a
huge pile, with gtite-houses spacious enough to furnish
a residence to any moderate-minded man, built by the
fourth Christian, who gave it, with the rich broad lands
surrounding, to his eldest son Prince Valdemar (by
Christina Munk), that good-looking fellow who hangs
in the Royal Gallery of Copenhagen, painted by Carl
van Mander. He appears to have been a spoilt boy,
as most handsome children are, and later in hfe ran
wild, causing his father some trouble. Christian writes
word to his son-in-law Corfitz Ulfeld, in a letter dated
14th September, 1643 : " Count Valdemar Christian
leaves this to-morrow on a journey through Denmark.
God grant him a happy jom-ney ! He has cost me much
money. Pray Heaven this may be the last ! If you
don't make him careful, he will soon spend all the
money I have given him before he comes to Copen-
hagen, notwithstanding he has got here all that he
wanted ; besides which he owes the tailor 20,000 specie."
An extravagant dog was Count Valdemar. He endea-
voured to persuade Corfitz to go security for him, and
" back his bills." So, to keep him out of scrapes, his
father sends him off on an embassy* to Moscow, and
negotiations are entered into for marrying our scape-
grace to the Russian Princess Irene ; when all was

* The veiy same embassy to whicli Count Horn, wliose epitapliium
■we admired at Kiel, was appointed secretary.

Chap. XL VIII. VALDEMAR SLOT. 271

arranged, Valdemar refused to be baptised according
to the Greek Church after the Muscovite manner. On
his first introduction into the Czar's presence, by way of
seekine: favour Avith his future father-in-law, he kissed
the sceptre. The Eussians declared that from henceforth
he became the vassal of the emperor. When Valdemar
discovered this, he determined to leave secretly ; accom-
panied by tliree of his attendants, he tried to escape
through Poland. On arriving at the gate of the city after
dark, he was recognised and stopped ; and, after a pitched
battle between his servants and the Muscovites, was
taken prisoner, and kept secure until the death of the
Emperor Michel, when he was set at liberty. On his
way home he carried off a young lady from Warsaw,
deserted her, and she drowned herself in the Sound at
Elsinore. After Ulfeld's rebellion, disgusted at the
coldness with w4iich he was treated by his half-brother
Frederic III., he joined the party of his brother-in-law
in Sweden, and died in Poland, an officer in the Swedish
service.

Valdemar Slot is an ugly pile of brickwork exter-
nally, much degraded, and now, alas ! in Chancery, a
lawsuit between two brothers. It is however worthy of
a visit, with its gallery of portraits, one of the most in-
teresting in Denmark, but fearfully neglected, being unap-
preciated by the po.ssessors. In one of the great saloons
are hung those of the early sovereigns of the house of
Oldenborg, from Frederic II. doA\Tiwards, all on horse-
back ; eacli horse, however, follows that of his prede-
cessor, giving the whole the appearance of a royal
carousal or merry-go-round.

It was Frederic III. who, as " cadet du sang," com-
menced life as Archbishop of Bremen — a world of trouble

272 THORSENG. Chap. XL VIII.

liis father had to get him appointed.* There he is ;
most ecclesiastical too lie looks — as like a bishop as the
Duke of York did of Osnaburg — a cheval, armed cap-a-
pie, distinguished alone from his brethren by the starched
plaited ruff of the Lutheran clergy. His duties cannot
have been onerous, though to me the wearing of the frill
would have been worse than all the penances and fast-
ings of the Komish Church. We mount the staircase ;
on the landing-place hang all the family of the fourth
Christian — heavy, drunken Prince Christian, who made
way for his brother the bishop and his wife Madalena of
Saxony, she with feather-fan in hand and lapdog by her
side ; Prince Valdemar, the possessor, though he never
resided there, a fine boy — a child to be proud of, as
indeed all Christian's were. And those fair ladies with
golden powdered hair, high ruffs, and somewhat unco-
vered, looking-glasses and pearls. Who be they?
" Those," replied the conductress, " are the twelve
frilles of King Christian." Powers above ! twelve !
Lump together all the demi-monde of that immoral court
— all the Kirstens, Karens, Vibekes — you can never
number twelve ; but they are very pretty women, much
superior to the portraits of Rosenborg. I must take
the liberty of vindicating three from this sweejDing
verdict : those three exquisite creatures who hang below
belong to another period, somewhat later, and are, if I
mistake not, authentic copies of some of our English
beauties of Hampton Court. One I imagine to be the
Princess of Orange, Mary Stuart, daughter of Charles I.
— she was good at any rate ; a second, highly rouged, not

* The best portrait of Frederic III. is that by "Wuchter, with Kron-
borg in the background, engraved by Haelwech, gone the way of all
Danish pictures — burnt in some conflagration.

CUAP. XLVIII, OLDEXBORG PORTRAITS. 273

unlike the haughty and imperious Castlemaiue, whom I
have already met with in Kosenborg ; the thiixl, a lady
of King Charles's court, surpassingly lovely. Not to
linger, we have, among many others of interest, Queen
Louisa of England in all her youth and beauty. What
majesty ! what a presence ! Her portrait is not rare in
Funen. Then there is Niels Juel, first as a boy — hofjun-
ker to Duke Frederic — in red jacket and silver buttons,
something hke that worn at a Spanish bull-fight ; again
repeated, surrounded by his victories, as Admii-al, Knight
of the Elephant, &c., a table with the names of his ves-
sels, his captains, lieutenants, and officers, down to the
lowest grade. But of all the portraits of the Juel house,
there is one most charming, a lady of the last century,
missal in hand, coming out of church, the light of a set-
ting sun falling on her dress through the mullions of a
Gothic window, one of those effects of light so much
loved by some of the Dutch painters ; the master un-
known.

My opinion is that to see these islands in their fullest
beauty we should have visited them in the month of
]\Iay, in the new-born luxuriance of early spring-time,
before the harvest is gathered in and the green fields
become stubble. In these northern climes the summer
is bright, but short. The months of May and June, though
the days are prolonged till midnight, and twilight is only
a cloud passing over the fair face of nature, yet are
but of tliirty days, and soon fly by. Could we extend
the year to fifteen months, one more summer quarter,
it would be a great convenience.

We had another excursion to make from Svendborg
before leaving — to the pretty wood of ChristiansmiiKle,
wliich we gained in a boat, and on — a pleasant walk — to
VOL. 11. T

274 THORSENG. Chap. XL VIII.

Bj0rnemose (no bears there now), the picturesque
chateau of Baron Bille Brahe — somewhat bare, but
backed by woods and fair gardens, a residence fitted for
modern occupation and the enjoyments of the present
age, well placed on the extreme end of the Svendborg
fiorde. Visit it, if you are ever at Svendborg, and return,
as we did, by water.

Chap. XLIX. LY0 ISLAND. 275

CHArTER XLIX.

The Island of Ly0 — Capture of King Valdemar by Lis treacherous
vassal — Kir-stine Slunk and her children — Horns of Wedellsborg —
Markwmen of Middelfart — Snogh0i in Jutland — Brahe, the King
of Fuuen — Island of Thor0, and Balder's stone — Ellen Marsviiu
married again; turns cattle-dealer — Her game of cards with the
king — Island of Langeland and the giant Rud — Sir Otto l\jump's
defence of Tranekjier.

ISLAND OF LY0.

August 10th. — We had imagined a steamer to Assens,
but find it goes alternate days, and to-day we
must sleep on the opposite coast, at Aar0sund, in Jut-
land. We pass by the island of Thorseng, terribly
in the way ; it blocks up the beautifid Svendborg
fiordo, while it adds but little to the view. Coasting
by St. George's wood and village, a very archipelago
of small islets, Skaar0, and half a dozen other 0s,
make their appearance. They are all flat and unin-
teresting, and the banks of Funen itself nothing to
speak of. At last we enter a fiorde, and the little town
of Faaborg lies before us, distinguislied from her sisters
by her praiseworthy attempt at a quay, and avenues
planted along its side. Faaborg might become a
watering-place, and prosper, if it only would have
lodging-houses by the Avater-side. AVe unload some
pedestrian students, pij)e in mouth and valise in hand —
I should not like to walk through Funen, or indeed Den-
mark, much too flat ami dusty — and then proceed.
Steam past Bear Island ; and now, after turning the

T 2

276 LY0 ISLAND. Chap. XLIX.

Knollen Point, another green islet appears in view —
islet celebrated in Denmark's early liistory. A sad
celebrity too it bears ; for from the event which there
occurred dates the downfall of her country's greatness.

In the ballad of ' Dronning Leonora,' King Valdemar
exclaims —

" Full well we recollect the hunting of Ly0." *

It was on the eve of the 7th of May, in the year 1223,
that Yaldemar the Victorious, and his elected son Val-
demar the younger, reposed after a hard day's hunting,
not far from a fountain which still bears the name of
Kpngens Kilde. Soundly they slept in their tents, little
imagining the danger by which they were menaced.
Suddenly, in the dead of the night, they are attacked
and seized by the armed bands of their vassal Count
Henry of Schwerin, and carried prisoners to the fortress
of Lenzen, in Altmark, where they remained for three
years.f In vain the pope threatened, in vain other
sovereigns solicited their liberation. Valdemar at last
obtained his liberty by having first surrendered his
conquests, and renounced all future claim to their pos-
session. Old Hvidtfelt thus quaintly describes the
unfortunate event : —

" They sat in the tower in irons and strong chains
for three years, at which every man, both j:)rinces and
people, were greatly surprised that so insignificant a

* The High House— det h0ie huus— so often spoken of in the island
of Ly0, and which is now part of the priest's gaard, is of later date than
Valdemar, for he slept in the open air.

t When Count Hein-y of Scliwerin ^Yent on a pilgrimage to the Holy
Land, he confided the countess to the charge of his sovereign — Queen
Berengaria was dead— and it was to revenge the seduction of his wife by
the king that Count Henry undertook the expedition. The Princes
Erik and Abel remained as hostages for seven years.

Chap. XLIX. CAPTURE OF KING VALDEMAR. 277

count could imprison so powerful a king and his son
without a blow being struck in their behalf, or the
spilHng of blood."

Well might the world be astonished that the pusil-
lanimous Danes did not rise as one man, and lay waste
with fire and sword the country of Schwerin. The
excuse they assigned was, that their sovereign would have
been removed to some more distant fortress, and his
liberation rendered more difficult to procure. But Heniy
of Schwerin was but a petty count, and had the Danes
acted with proper pluck they might easily have invested
his dominions. It is more probable that the 0prorious
nobility of those days were glad to be free from the
control of a sovereign who, while he had added to the
national glory of their country, ruled them with a rod
of iron, and repressed with a firm hand their unlawful
enterprises.

We steam past the little island, which still retains
its "reputation giboyeuse " — hares and partridges
abound there ; it is now the property of Baron Holstein.
Leaving Assens to the right, we enter the little har-
bom- of Aar0sund. " You will have to sleep at Haders-
lev," said a passenger ; " no possible inn at Aarpsund."
But my faith in Jutland kros is strong ; and we found
one, whore, had we had leisure and time at our disposal,
we would willingly have lingered some days — a long
one-storied house, built near the fiorde side : sitting-
rooms opening on the sward, witli garden and large
timber- trees, seats underneath, and bathing-cabins not
far removed. There is no doubt we are again in Jut-
land: the air is pure, bracing, and fragrant — quite
diiferent from the soft, mild atniosphere of the islands.
A brother traveller, affected with what he called " the

278 WEDELLSBORG. Chap. XLIX.

falling-sickness " — epileptic fits — was suddenly attacked
towards early dawn, causing great consternation in our
quiet kro, otherwise we should have slept like princes,
for our linen was of the finest texture, white as the driven
snow, smelling strong of iris and lavender ; our beds Avere
covered with couvrepieds of old embroidered silks —
wreaths of jasmine on a sea-green ground — drawn in our
honom- from the hidden recesses of an ancient carved
warch-obe some three centuries old or upwards.

WEDELLSBOEG.

August llth. — The steamer would wait for us one
small half-hour, did w^e wish it ; but the mail arrives in
time, and we are ready on board. We chsembark at
Assens, and wander about the town while horses are
preparing. Nothing remarkable in Assens ; she is busy
restoring her fine old church, and does it well. A little
wool trade too she possesses of her own : beyond this ask
nothing — one small Danish town is own twin sister to
another.

We di'ive on to Wedellsborg — Grefskab, or county,
of Count Wedell — another of those Danish paradises
by the water-side, imbedded in woods. The house
is of no architectural pretensions, but most comfortable
to live in. Among the numerous portraits is one of
Christina ]\[unk, with her three eldest daughters* —
small girls. First Anna, betrothed to Count Eantzau,
who was drowned before his marriage in the moat of

* Elizabeth Augusta, wife of Hans Lindenov— a fourth daughter of
Christina Munk— was the ancestress of the Wedell family, and mother of
the bad Baroness of the " windy waste " near Aalborg. She gambled
away all her possessions, and, after great poverty, lived on a small
pension given by Christian V.

Chap. XLIX. HORNS OF WEDELLSBORG. 279

Eosenborg, and she died of grief. Sophia Elizabeth,
a child of great beauty, who married Count Christian
Penz. A woman of spirit, a great flirt too, she was — so
much so as to scandalise her royal father, who writes
word how "Sophia Elizabeth is to be reprimanded on
account of her flighty behaviour with Christian Penz,"
just too when he was so busy about her grandmother,
good Queen Sophia's funeral. She secondly married
Holger Wind, who at the time of Ulfeld's disgrace
deserted her : so in her anger she returned liis portrait
with the eyes " clawed out," just to show him how she
would have served him had he been within her reach.
Lastly Eleanor. The three little gWs are dressed
exactly like their mamma, in buckramed farthingales,
scarlet red, and starched ruffs, gold powdered hair.
Prince Valdemar, just out of bed in his little shirt, and
a small dog, complete the group. Corfitz and Eleanor
Ulfeld in their early days, before trouble and sorrow
had thinned their locks and wrinkled their youth and
beauty. The Wedell family descend from a grand-
daughter of Christian IV., and in the family chapel of the
church of Wedellsborg you may see tliis king's portrait
suspended to the walls, dead on his " lit de parade,"
somewhat like a chandelier, in a scarlet pelisse fastened
together with bows, his legs swathed up in fine linen or
muslin with a bow at the end.

It was near Wedellsborg that two of those splendid
Scandinavian horns were discovered ; one, the finest
specimen, is here preserved, and hangs in the dressing-
room of Count Wedell ; the other was forwarded to the
Museum at Copenhagen. And now, after takmg leave,
wo proceed on om- journey, and, l)efore arriving at ]\[id-
dellart, stop to visit the far-famed manor of Hindsgavl,

280 MIDDELFART. Chap, XLIX.

where in former times a royal castle of much repute
stood; but, "jetons les souvenirs aux orties," we
do not require them here ; for such a scene of loveliness
as is presented to the eye from the manor-gardens is
seldom to be witnessed. The wooded shores of Jutland,
the indentation of the coast, the island of Foen0 and her
*' calf," combined with the blue waters of the Little Belt
— the prettiest cerulean cincture that ever girt a fruit-
ful isle — all combine together in smiHng colouring and
beauty.

The old castle had the honour of being burnt and
sacked, together with MiddeKart, by Marsk Stig,*
who to these islands became a great scourge — too well
he fulfilled his promise to the youthful Menved, laying
waste, burning, and destroying; and then Hindsgavl,
after passing through a deal of war and bloodshed, was
finally blown up and destroyed by the Swedes in the
unlucky war of the 17th centmy — a "genteel" ending
for a Danish fortress.

N.B. — The farms of the island of Funen are very
extensive, though not quite on the same scale as those
of Jutland and the Duchies. The rat-charmer of
Eingkj0bing must be sadly wanted in these parts, for
in one manor we visited the proprietor kept upwards of
sixty cats.

MIDDELFART.

August 12 th. — We find Middelfart in full gala. Stuhl-
wagens arrive from the earliest da^ii ; something is
about to happen it is evident : so we inquire. A grand
popinjay match comes off in the wood near Hindsgavl,

* 1290.

Chap. XLIX. SNOGH0I. 281

followed by a rustic ball, to last all night, and late next
morning too perhaps.'

We wander to the scene of action. The shooting is
fair enongh — nothing like the Tyrol marksmen, but the
" hane" comes tumbling down occasionally. We could
not, however, remain, for we had friends at Snogh0i, on
the Jutland coast, and were engaged to pass the evening
there.

I have described so many herregaards, that it may be
something novel to visit a real Danish villa, and a
prettier specimen can nowhere be found than that of
SnoghpL Planted by the ferry-side, a long low house,
with well-proportioned rooms, built for comfort, not for
state, terminated by a large, square, open loggia, em-
bowered in clematis ; its look-out, Middelfart, most pic-
turesque of all towns when vicAved from the Little Belt
and the adjoinmg forests. Behind rises a hill, laid out
in the prettiest of gardens, an arboretum of rare shrubs
and forest trees, pines and araucarias. The whole have
been planted by the proprietor, M. de Eiegels — twice
planted ; for in the war of '49 and '50 Snogh0i was the
scene of strife and bloodslied ; her fair phxisaimces
destroyed, and rendered uninhabitable to the family for
three years. Now all again is smiling; a rock-work
of cannon-balls alone chronicles the previous devasta-
tion of the property. While we strolled in the hanging
gardens of the villa, brilliant with siunmer flowers, the
youthful members of the families fished from a punt in
the waters of the Belt, whiting and flounder their prey.

The moon rises red and tawny — just like the
opera ; but we are in honest respectable Denmark,
far from the land of Cherubinos and Almavivas.
When people say " Buona notte " here they mean

282 MIDDELFART. Chap. XLIX.

it, and don't go skrimmaging about after dark, but
go to bed with a good thick duvet covering a-top
of them, be it July or even the dog-days, and
sleep and snore in their short couches till the next
mornmg.

It was late, nigh midnight, when we quitted Snogh0i
and our kind friends, and again embarked for Middel-
fart. We had breeze enough this time, but a side one.

The waters of the Little Belt sobbed bitterly against
our boat side as we floated along. " You are going,"
cried a little wavelet, as I bent over the stern side,
watching the reflection of the full moon in the silvery
waters, "you are again going to leave our shores —
you, who above all travellers love and appreciate our
wide plains, our old manors, the ancient histories and
the legends of om- people." But I answered to the
wavelet how I hoped to return at some future period,
and should never forget the hapjiy days we had
spent in her ancient manors and her windy provinces ;
how I admired her fertile lands, and wished that more
capital could be invested in developing the natural
resources of the country ; but that now, the first sod
of her moses once turned, her raih'oads in progress,
much would be done towards the improvement of her
agricultm-e and the enrichment of her proprietors.
Now perhaps her gentry would at last discover and
appreciate the wealth of the manure rotting idle in
their stagnant moats — would cleanse them, as we are
about to do our own Serpentine, to the general sup-
pression of fever, rheumatism, and ague, only too preva-
lent in her inland parishes. And then tack, tack, went
the barque, the wavelet leaps up, imprints a briny kiss
upon my forehead, and dancmg, rolls on, to repeat my

CUAP. XLIX. BRAHESBORG. 283

answer to her companions — yes, tack, tack, went the
boat. Talk of the ' Song of the Shirt,' " stitch, stitch ! "
write the ' Song of the Sail,' just as odious in its oa\h
way, " tack, tack !" shooting off to right or left, as the
wind may be, some 200 yards, when you fancy yourself
all arrived at your destination. But we are at last
arrived, and bid a long, but I hope not last, good night
to the shores of old windy Jutland.

BRAHESBORG.

AuguU Voth. — We retrace our steps a part of the
way to Assens, to stop and spend the day at Brahes-
borg, the chateau of M. de Trescow. No doubt who
built Brahesborg — Jprgen Brahe, and somebody Gyl-
denstieme his wife * — iron cramps, holding letters long
as those of St. Peter's dome, announce the fact —
a custom luckily chiefly confined to Funen, by no
means ornamental ; he seems to have been somebody
in his day, was nephew to poor ill-treated Tycho, and
called " the little King of Funen." He appears indeed
to have been a very Marquis of Carabas of these parts,
— possessor of Brahesmmde, Brahesborg, Brahesholm,
Brahetrolleborg, and half a dozen others — many passed
into other hands, while the some six manors of the
present family belonged to somebody else. It's aston-
ishing how property changes hands in Denmark.

J0rgen desired his workmen to build a house which
should last till the world's end ; it may, for its cellars
are vaulted like a fortress of the 19th century ; it is,
however, more remarkable for sim[)le solidity than
for the beauty of its architecture. There was an era

* The cpitaphium of J0rgen Bniho ia engraved by Haelwech.

284 BRAHESBORG. Chap. XLIX.

of Ugliness in Denmark, from tlie middle of tlie
17th century till the commencement of the 18th —
houses imposing from their size alone. The apartments
are grand and spacious. The portraits of the sovereigns
of the house of Oldenborg give dignity to the mansion ;
an old loyal custom, now nearly out of fashion. It is
astonishing how few of Thorvaldsen's works are to be
found in his native land. Brahesborg is an exception ;
for here we have the Kneeling Ganymede, work of the
artist himself. All Denmark is now in full vacation
— Sor0 and Herlufsholm, Copenhagen, Odense, and
the high schools of the provinces ; in each manor we
find a merry party of youth of both sexes — twelve or
fourteen cousins and relatives — spending their holidays
together. To those who have dwelt in France, where
offsj^ring are scarce, such an assemblage appears quite
patriarchal, but the chateaux are large, and the hearts
of the proprietors as large as their dwelling-houses are
spacious. I have seldom come across more hapj)y,
joyous family -parties than dm-ing my residence in
Denmark. Everything is ample and liberal at the
table — well served and no display. The men-servants
wait, but, if the family are extra numerous, the women
aid in the service. People here all know their position,
and are quite above vulgar absurdities.

And now my sojourn in Funen is merely a series of
hospitaUties received. Holstenshuus, where we j)assed
another pleasant day, the seat of Baron Holsten, not
far from Faaborg, more remarkable for the glorious
view over the Little Belt and the Danish Archipelago
than for its mansion, an old striped house, an autumn
pied-a-terre of the proprietor.

At one mile distant from Svendborg we have Hvid-

Chap. XLIX. EGESKOV. 285

kilde, chateau of Baron Holsten Lehn, the gem of all
Fmien mansions of the last century. A wondrous
foimtain, from which it derives its name, casts up its
waters like an artesian well by the side of the house,
fertilising the plains, the gardens, and refreshing the
moat itself. Everything that luxury, art, and good
taste can give is here to be met with — gardens and
hothouses, foimtains and fine old furniture, the rooms
fitted up with all the comfort and good taste of a first-
rate Enghsh country residence ; farms of a large extent,
poultry-houses, pheasantries.

In the lake hard by has lain hid, says tradition, a
vast treasure of gold and silver for 2U0 years. The
Swedes, laden with the pillage of the rifled island,
endeavoured to convey it across the ice ; a scuffle with
the Boers ensued, the ice gave way, and the cart,
treasure and all, sank to the bottom.

We are determined to visit no more chateaux ; several
were on our Hst, some of historic interest ; but each
succeeding day starts up some new object So at last, in
desjiair — for the smnmer glides on ; we have no longer
the long light nights to travel through as when in
Jutland— <leaf to temptation, we prepare to leave for
the sister island. One cliateau, a gem of ancient days,
a jewel of mediajval architecture, I did regret, but it
was, alas ! uncomeatable, and that was Egeskov, the
property of Baron Bille Brahe.

There are dark tales in relation to this mansion, illus-
trative of the manners even of fourth Christian's period.
Laurits Brokkonhuus then was lord of Egeskov — a hard,
brutal man, known well for his cruel and rcveugoful
disposition. Among the fairest of Queen Anne Cathe-
rine's ladies stood his daughter Bigborg, distinguished

286 ' BRAHESBORG, Chap, XLIX.

alike for tlie charms of her person as well as for the
fascination of her manners. Morals, as we all know, in
King Christian's court were at a sadly low ebb ; and in
the year 1590 the frail Rigborg gave birth to a son —
Frederic Rosenkrantz, of Rosenvold, the reputed father.
Furious at the disgrace of the family honour, the en-
raged father of Eigborg demanded that the seducer be
(according to the laws of the day) ignominiously branded,
and undergo a fearful punishment as well as the loss
of two fingers, and that his daughter be immured for
life. Immuring consisted at that time of incarceration
within a room, bricked up like the fanatic recluses of
the Eoman Church, a small aperture alone left open
for the introduction of the prisoner's nourishment ; no
light. (No wonder poor Elizabeth of Brandenburg
scampered off from old Joachim at the very idea of
such a fate ; she had heard enough of it in her own
native Denmark.)

The barbarous sentence on Rosenkrantz was com-
muted by the king, and he went to fight against the
Turks, where he met his death.

Poor Rigborg! Christian — a roi galant himself —
should have interfered in your behalf, but he did not.
She was safely immured in a small dark turret chamber,
on the second story of the tower of Egeskov, and here
she pined through five long weary years, until one fine
day her father was called to his last account, and she
released by her brothers from her fearful thraldom. As
she did not die during her incarceration, it is to be
hoped her ghost does not haunt the scene of her former
misery ; in all probability she had enough of it during
her five years' imprisonment never to return there
afterwards, even in " spirit."

Chap. XLIX. THOR0. 287

ISLAND OF THOE0.

The small island of Tlior0 we did not explore, for the
weather was still hot, and it would scarcely have repaid
the trouble.

Like Ly0 and others of the same calibre, it formed
a natural deer-garden for the early Danish kings ; and
in Valdemar's Jorde-Bog is mentioned as good for the
hunting of " hart, doe, and roe." In earlier times still,
on a site close by the bay, lay a stone called Balderssten,
under which they say was buried the giant who is sung
in the ksempevisen : —

" Balder, his wife, and Eune,
They had a great fight iipou Fune,
Or some say on Thor0 ;
And Balder he beat Rune."

The name of Balder has been handed down to pos-
terity by the song which at Christmas-time is still sung
in chorus by the childi-en in many parts of Denmark
during the application of the nine blows inflicted on the
culprit in the game of forfeits.

" Blows we now beat tliree,

One after the other in time,
Nor will the sinner to free
Until he 's got his nine."

After the ninth blow he is released. Balder and Rune
came to grief about Balder's wife ; Rune endeavoured
to escape in a boat, but when he was driven into the
bay, near where the stone stood, Balder caught him
and crushed him with the big flat stone, on Avhich the
prints of his ten fingers were distinctly to be seen.
The stone was surrounded by trees, tind was in all

288 THOR0. Chap. XLIX.

probability a menhir, but has now entirely disappeared.
Later, Thor0 came into the possession of Ellen Mars-
viin, who here first appears in a new light — no longer
Ellen Munk, but as a bride, wife of Knud Eud of
Sandholt, one of the richest noblemen in all Den-
mark, who died in 1611. Here she carried on a
great traffic in "stald0xene" (cattle), fm-nished the
king's troops, and well too ; for a French writer, in this
very year, after praising the appearance of the Danish
sailors and the army on board the fleet, adds, " There is
no luxury, but a wonderful abundance of good meat, as
well as all the necessaries of life." Old Ellen built here
a stone house, called Marsviinsholm. She was, how-
ever, hard on the peasants, unlike her first husband,
Ludwig Munk, who was the model landlord of his age ;
so her memory is not revered. The people tell how
one day she staked the island of Thor0 against his
Majesty at cards, and lost it. At first Ellen declared it
was only fun, that she never played in earnest, but
Christian was not to be put off in that way ; so she
begged to keep it until after crop-time ; and, to spite the
king, sowed thistles ; the land in consequence became
so bad the king would not have it. She got into hot
water with the Church, to which she had no idea of
being a benefactor without ruling and regulating all
appointments even down to the gravedigger. She it
was who brought the celebrated altarpiece from Delam
Cloister to Thor0, on Avhich were the portraits of
Christian I. and Queen Dorothea, which were lost on
their way to Copenhagen. Eleven years later she gave
up the island to the king, to complete the apanage of
his grandson, young Count Valdemar.

Chap. XLIX. LANGELAND. 289

ISLAND OF LANGELAND.

August IQth. — A small boat is engaged to cany
us to Langeland ; we may be two, we may be four
hours, perhaps longer; all depends upon the wind.
Down comes a pelting shower, rendering departure at
six an impossibihty. Had it fallen yesterday — tenth
Sunday after Trinity — great would have been the
anxiety of the peasants, and woe to the crops, for on
that day " our Lord wept over Jerusalem," Our
course lies in the opposite direction to that of last week ;
we float down the narrow fiorde towards Christiansminde
and Bj0rnem0se, and then turning, twisting, and tacking
by Thorseng and its sister isle of Thor0, until you get
into an open sea, pass by an islet called Si0 and two
other little 0s, and gradually float — for the breeze is
lulled, what little there is of it — into the harbour of
Kudkjobing. Every town in these parts turns out a
something kj0bing. A wondrous giant. End by name,
lies interred near here, and gives his name to the
capital of Langeland. Tranekja3r, the seat of Count
Ahlefeldt, is the lion of the island, and thither, towards
the eveninnf, we bent our wav. It was once a chateau-
fort of some consideration in the middle ages, and
stands placed on an eminence commanding a view of
the surrounding archipelago, &c.

In the reign of King Clu'istian II., Sir Otto Krumji —
the same Sir Otto we found buried in the church of
IMariager — held the strong castle of Tranekjajr for the
royal party. Among the con-espondence of the King
is a letter dated Tranekjair, 5tli i\[areh, 1523 : endorsed,
by the king's own hand, " Sir Otto Krump's letter to
the King's Majesty, in which ho writes to tay he will to

VOL. II. u

290 LANGELAND. Chap. XLIX.

him be 200 tlialers." We visited tlie park, extensive and
English-] ike, and the gardens running down to the lake
side, its orchard, and the sward as green as a polished
emerald. From the blue waters of the lake rises a
small, very small, island, like those we keep for swans
to build their nests on. Around the edges was planted a
garland of that large creeper, * with a leaf the size of
a catalpa, so commonly seen running over summer-houses
in England. It grew luxuriantly, its tendrils running
down and floating in the limpid waters ; then from the
centre of this trailing border rose a pyramid of holly-
hocks— red, yellow, white, an4 rose-coloured — dancing
and nodding in the breeze : some stand stiff and stately,
scarcely reflected in the lake below ; whilst others.
Narcissus-like, bend forward, longing to catch a glimpse
of their golden and roseate petals in the pure mirror.

Langeland is termed un vrai jardin. Well, it may
be one, for what I know — its villages, its hop-gardens,
its orchards are prosperous, the wild vine is in full
luxuriance and flower, its churches in good repah — all
tells of a resident landlord who does his duty in that
station of life in which he is placed — but somehow I
don't care for fertility when travelling ; we have enough
of hedges and ditches in England; all is prosperous,
and, like Alexander Selkirk's complaint of his beasts,

" Their tameuess is shocking to me."

So we returned to our hotel, and the next morning
drove over to the ferry, where we re-embarked for
Lolland.

* Aristolochia sipho.

CiiAP. L, LOLLAND. ' 291

CHAPTEE L.

Island of Lolland — Yule-feast of Olaf Hunger — Wendish families from
Eugen — Eoyal ordinances — Lutheran clergy — Sir Edward the
Pedagogue Priest — Shell of the Swedes — Mr. Ursins and our Prince
George — Birthplace of Erik Glipping — The Curate of Helsted and
the mother's curse — Tale of Su' Otto Rud and King John — Eeve-
Lations of St. Bridget — The ill-behaved nuns of Maribo — Grave
of Eleanor Ulfeld — King Charles " forgets " the loan — Eleanor iu
captivity and death — The bricked-up lady of Hardenberg.

ISLAND OF LOLLAND OR LA ALAND.*

August 17th, — The Danes had told us it was a nasty-
passage over to Taars, and advised us to steam from
Kors0r, — which advice was gratefully received, but
we followed the bent of our own inclinations. The
wind was really favourable ; in four hours' time we were
landed at Taars, and then had to wait that never-
ending hour till the horses were procm-ed and ready.

AVomankind is admirable in travelling ; it rises early
and bears fatigue, is easily contented at the inns with
bed and board ; it -will do and put up with an}i;hing,
except " Avait." What are we to do ? A whole hour,
and those horses never come ; infamous ! — write to the
postmaster, &c. &c. So, for very peace sake, we (for the
family is now increased by the arrival of the Philistines,
or, in pkiin Englisli, a black-and-tan terrier calk'd Vic,
and two schoolboys from Harrow) throw up a barricade
at once against all possible grumblings ; we undress, wo

* The Danes spell it either way.

u 2

292 LOLLAND. Chap. L.

swim out to sea, and remain floating in tlie water; if
any one approaches us are "just coming out," and so
the hour glides by, the horses arrive, and we scramble
out, dress, and reappear just in time to escape scold-
ing, and not keep people waiting.

Accordins: to Helvaderus, a chronicler of early date,
the flat fertile island of Lolland was first populated
some 2000 years after the world's creation by men from
Jutland ; and at as early a period as the seventh cen-
tury did a wandering apostle of the true faith, Wihbrod
by name, preach Christianity to the Pagans of this
remote region, — without success, however, it appears;
for it was not until Harald Blue-Tooth tacked on Lolland
to his new-founded diocese of Odense, that Chi'istianity
can be said to have been there established even in name,
Not that the introduction of the new faith profited the
inhabitants much ; indeed, how could it ? a creed forced
upon a people by fire and sword, while they still clung
in their inmost hearts to the worship of Thor, Odin, and
other Scandinavian heroes, whose bloody deeds and wild
traditions were more in accordance with the barbarous
fierceness of the age than the milder tenets of Christi-
anity.

Terrible were the sufferings of the unhappy islanders
during the succeeding century, from plague, pestilence,
and famine. Thousands are said to have perished from
hunger alone, as well as from the devastations of the
epidemic. So great was the scarcity, the bareness of
the land, that it is related when King Olaf Hunger
(famine was his name) himself sat down on one Christ-
mas Eve to keep the Yule-feast together with his Court,
there was no bread, no, not one wheaten loaf served on
the royal table. A very dull Christmas, with such poor

Chap. L, ROYAL ORDINANCES. 293

fare, lie must have had of it. Still, among these scourges
of famine and plague, churches rose in the land. Tliree
still exist, founded within that unlucky century.

Many of the names still to be met with in the sister
isles of Lolland and Falster will sound strange to those
accustomed to the Danish tongue — Kramnitze, Tillitze,
Corselitze ; these are of Wendish origin, Wendish names
brought over by the settlers from the heathen isle of
Rugen. No sooner did the Christian faith get hold
among the people than down came the Wends upon the
islanders ; they burned, they pillaged and laid waste —
just as the Northmen themselves did on our English
coasts — till Prince Prislav sat down comfortably in
Lolland, with his Wendish followers and his royal bride,
and ended his existence. Later her to^vns were burnt
by Marsk Stig, and his pirate-band came in for a good
share of the black pest (Digerdoden). Lolland was given
in dower, pawned, and taken out again. In certain
years there was great plenty — all provisions wondrous
cheap ; but, as those years followed fast on some great
calamity, it may be safely supposed that butter, corn,
and fish were cheap, simply because there was nobody
to eat them.

The kings appear to have been most exacting, and
their lords spiritual, the bishops of Odcnse, more irri-
tating still. Such laws against the chase ! No peasant
allowed to keep more tlian one dog, or to slay even a
fox detected in the robbing of his hen-roost. Still,
some of the ordinances were of good cflbct, par-
ticularly as regards the fertilisation of the land: by
one of these, in the year 1440, every peasant as well
as every child in Lolland is forced to plant thirty
hop-plants, six grafted pear and apple trees, before the

294 LOLLAND. Chap. L,

Volborg-Day, which answers to our St. John's, under a
penalty of three silver marks. This command may
appear somewhat arbitrary, but it was issued after a year
of excessive cold, during which the hop-gardens and
orchards of the island had greatly suffered. But to
make up for these annoyances, in the year 1399 the
waters of the Baltic froze so hard the islanders skated
over to Lubec on the solid ice.

To the fearful pest of 1565 upwards of 13,000 men
fell victims : among them were numbered twenty-eight
parsons, all men of singular learning — so say the chro-
niclers at least — though 1 doubt if the loss Avas great.
These early reformed priests were only Lutheran by
courtesy ; they took so unkindly to the " starched ruff"
their diocesans of Odense found it necessary to impose
a heavy fine on those who still persisted in the wearing
of Catholic vestments ; and as for their wives, they
dizened themselves out so in gold, velvet, and damask
stuffs, that the bishops, losing all patience, issued such
sumptuary laws on the subject of their dress as soon
settled the business.

I have been dipping to-day into an old book written
upon the islands of LoUand and Falster in the earlier
part of the last century — one of those works, like our
own county-histories, useful as books of reference, full
of dry statistics, mingled with queer anecdotes, genealo-
gies, and what not. Among other matters is a short
notice of the life of each Lutheran parish-priest from
the Keformation downwards. The memoirs of tliese
simple pastors of the reformed faith are interesting,
though many of the anecdotes related are absurd, and
have a tendency to turn the clergy into ridicule. No
one could cite them as shining lights of the Church,

CiiAP. L. LUTHERAN CLERGY, 295

far from it. Had they met Avitli a little persecution,
as did the Nonconformists in the days of our Stuart
kings, their energies might have been called forth ;
but in Denmark the Church of the reformed faith
was, from the first, Catholic, i.e. universal. King
Frederic II. would allow of no dissent. The first who
differed from the tenets of JMartin Luther, or propoimded
new doctrines, "Away with him!" was the cry; and
while, in less than a century from the establishment of
the Reformation, we find the Anabaptists skipping
about the streets of Holland in propriis naturalibus,
and, a little later, the Puritans of England cutting
off their king's head, the Church of Denmark has re-
mamed — stagnant it may have been, but still united.
Little has been done on the part of the Lutheran Chiu-ch
to excite inquiry. " Be content with what you know, and
don't meddle with matters you cannot understand," is
their maxim. But for the most part they appear to
have been good, excellent men, kind to their parishioners,
charitable, giving liberally out of their modest incomes
to those in want and sickness, and in the earlier days
to have held a higher and more respectable position in
society than did our own " parsons," as described in the
' History' of Lord jMacaulay.

From the amusing accounts I have run my eyes over,
I could almost imagine Su' Walter Scott had taken as
a model for his Dominie Sampson some bookworm of
the Danish Church. Absence of mind and eccentricity
ap]fcar to have been the special faihngs of these wortliy
men. One learned divine always conversed with his
horse in the Latin tongue, wliich gave him a bad repu-
tation, for his parishioners looked upon it as "necro-
mancy." When out riding he had all the conversation

296 NASKOV, Chap. L.

to himself, as you may imagine, but that was what he
liked. He tried it with the pigs first, but they answered
with a grunt, which disturbed the thread of his con-
versation.

In our own country we are universally of opinion
that an ex-pedagogue is ill-adapted to form a good
parish-priest, more especially when he enters upon his
duties late in life. Of a certain Sir Edward it is here
recorded that, on his retirement from scholastic duties,
he not only flogged his men-servants when caught
out in any dereliction of duty, but his maids into the
bargain. He lived for the rod, and by the rod ; and if
he swore by anybody — which it is to be hoped he did
not — it must have been by King Solomon. When the
bishop of the diocese on his pastoral round lodged at his
house, he determined to teach his diocesan humility, so
he served him kail and cabbage, while he treated his
servants to venison steaks and wine.

NASKOV.

An hour and a half's drive brings us to the city of
Naskov. We alight at the hotel. "Why, we ex-
pected you by the steamer last week," said the land-
lady ; " had all your rooms prepared and dinner ready."
Some busybody had chosen to announce us.

Naskov boasts a fine church, lately well restored ; a
very fleet of vessels hang suspended amongst the
coronas. Wlien Frederic IV. visited the town, and his
eyes first lighted on its church-tower, tall and slender,
capped with its stunted mail-work of slate, he exclaimed,
" Well ! never before have I seen a stripling with such a
low-crowned hat." Nothing very clever ; but the loyal

Chap. L. SHELL OF THE SWEDES. 297

population of Lolland have handed it down from father
to son ; they repeat it still, as they will indeed do for
many generations to come, and look on it as first-rate.
To the right of the altar, mounted on the capital of a
disused column, stands a huge shell, burst in twain,
which came tumbling through the roof of the building
in the 17th century, during the celebration of a christen-
ing * Just above the spot where it now lies, the hole in
tlie roof has been plastered up with yellow mortar, to
mark the place where the destructive missile found its
entry.

Before the restoration of the chm-ch took place the
mummies of the vaults below were the glory and
gain of the verger, now closed to the public for ever.
It was a regular Madame Tussaud, a very chamber
of horrors. There was Karen Holm, another young
lady who danced herself to death, with a smile still
on her countenance ; the man who died of the black
pest, and whose body was tarred over from top to toe,
to prevent infection, all black in consequence ; true,
not to life but death.

If the christening party in Naskov church escaped
scatheless from the bursting of the shell, such was
not the case with the inhabitants when, at a later
period, the city was forced to capitulate, for the terms
imposed, by the victors were so hard that many years
elapsed before the town again recovered its prosperity.
Some five years later upwards of IGO houses stood
unoccupied. The Swedish king himself appears to have
been the most economical guest of the party ; the
expenses of his board and lodging amounted only to

1657.

298 NASKOV. Chap. L.

300 tlialers for the space of some days. As for Mrs.
Admiral Wrangel, she squeezed out of the inhabitants
the sum of three thousand specie for her own " menus
plaisirs." *

Among the few men of note to whom the city!^ of
Naskov has given birth ranks high a certain divine,
George Ursins by name. He is said to have spoken
fluently nine separate languages, and composed verses
in no less than eighteen. So charmed with his erudition
was the royal Prince-Consort of Queen Anne that , he
desired to appoint him as his " Confessionarius," and
offered him the sum of 15001. English annually, as
keeper of his conscience.

Learned Mr. Ursins however declined. He preferred
his residence in the island of LoUand and the society
of his books. Maybe he had qualms of conscience as
regards accepting so large a stipend for the care of an
empty head. Some satisfaction there may be in direct-
ing the conscience of one endowed with natural talents,
and turning those gifts of nature in the right way to the
best advantage, or in the reclaiming from such error one
who has gone astray ; but the direction of an addlepate,
harmless and unimpressionable, must be a sad and
tedious occupation even to the most patient of mankind.

In 1266 the little city of Naskov, too, gave birth to
our old acquaintance Erik Glipping, the Winker, as
he was called, though those who love not his memory
declare his sobriquet to signify " Clipper," derived from
a bad habit, in Avhich he was too apt to indulge, of
clipping — sweating, we modern vulgarians call it — the

* General Wrangel, like the rest of the world, sat to Wuchter during
the Congress which preceded the peace. His portrait is engraved by
Haelwech.

Chap. L. JUELLINGE. 299

lawful coinage of the realm.* Forest lands exist — a
gift to the city from his mother Margaret of Pomerania ;
Spraenghest, as she was called. She broke the wind of
all the horses she mounted by her violent riding.

Lolland is as flat as a pancake. We leave Naskov,
and drive throuo;h roads bordered on either side bv
fields — square fields. When they are oblong, oh ! what
a blessing ! quite a feature in the appearance of the
country. Then each field is surrounded, not by a
hedge, but hurdles and a row of pollards, willows or
poplars.

JUELLINGE.

Not far from Naskov we arrive at Juellinge, a
eliateau of Count Friis ; most imposing it looks, too,
from a distance in its ancient Gothic ; but on arriWng
you discover the Gothic is most suburban in its cha-
racter. Its gardens have still a faint perfume of old
Popish days. We visited the chapel, restored by Good
Queen Sophia, whose *' hope was m God alone," —
an admirable motto, so applicable to the days in
which she lived, when the tenets of the past were
uprooted and the future was dimly discerned. She
allowed herself to be seduced by fanatics of neither

* " Hyt Klipping Fi " was the cry (wlicn he was out of hearing) of
the people. In this, liowever, he was not worse than liis successors,
for Frederic II., of pious memorj', caused the money to l)c clipped
until the thaler valued scarcely more than three mares; the people
refused to take them, so ho issued an ordinance, read in Nestved on
Ascension Day irtCA, — "Tliat those who refused to take them should
at once lose tlicir heads without mercy;" and, as about this time the
mint-master and all his men had died of the plague, his subjects were
compelled to put up with what they could get ; and, writes King
Frederic to his minister (iyldeustierne, " the shops are put to great
iucouvenience by the want of small change."

300 JUELLINGE. Chap. L.

side, but went her own ways steadily, imflincliingly,
mixing herself up with the rabidities of neither party.
Many old carvings still remain. Hanging in the church
you will see a picture, representing a man in a clergy-
man's dress, together with his wife, one living child,
and eight dead infants in their swaddling clothes, con-
cerning which the old woman v^^o keeps the keys will
relate a story. This man was curate of Helsted, and
once refused to bury the corpse of an unbaptised infant.
The mother prayed him earnestly, but he refused,
using harsh words, " I will not cast earth upon puppies."
Then the woman cursed him, and prayed his wife might
never bear him a living child. The curse was fulfilled ;
eight dead children were born one after another, and it
was not until he was induced to bury an unclu-istened
child that the boy you see in the epitaphium was born
alive.

The chapel of the Eud family is worth a glance.
Fine old sepulchral slabs of the 16th century. Whether
they be descendants of the giant of Eudkj oping,
history relates not, but they were stalwart knights,
men of thew and sinew, in their days, connected with
all the best blood of Denmark — Fleming, Byng, and
Hog, among the rest — as you may see by the border of
escutcheons which surround their effigies. Of this
family was Sir Otto Eud, a gallant warrior in his day,
and much beloved of his sovereign the good Khig John,
for he was a boon companion, and they loved to joke
together. One day,"^ as the king was poring over his
favourite book, the 'History of King Arthur and his
Eound Table,' he turned to Sir Otto, and exclaimed,
"Where now, in the present day, could I find such
knights as Gavin, Sir Ivan, and the rest of them ? "

Chap. L. KNUTHENBORG. 301

" Nothing more easily, liege King," replied the knight,
"do you only, by your virtue and chastity, establish
such a coiu't as that of King Arthm^ and the knights
will be found fast enough." The King collapsed, for at
that time there was much scandal about his misbehaviour.
" Indeed," adds the chronicler, " when Queen Christina
was imprisoned in Sweden, King John appears to have
forgotten he had ever been a married man."

KNUTHENBORG.

We now make for Knuthenborg, Grefskab of Count
Knuth, situated on the sea-shore, embowered in park
and forest. Laaland is flat, fertile, and ugly ; but
plant a chateau on the sea-side, surround it with forests
of beech, with garden and park and fine timber-trees,
it at once becomes a paradise. Such is Knuthenborg,
or, rather, will be ; at present it is in a state of tran-
sition. An older residence, not yet pulled down, a new
castle in course of erection, one wing finished, awaits the
majority of its youthful possessor. It will be a magni-
ficent place when completed in the style of Denmark's
national architecture — for she has a style, and wisely
preserves it. We passed a pleasant day in the society
of our kind friends the countess and her youthful
family.

MAIIIBO.

It was nearly pitch-dark Avhen we arrived at the
town of Maribo. We caught glimpses of a lake, a new-
built Gothic town-house, and then whirled into the
porte cochero of the Gja^stgiver of the city.

Maribo was given, when it bore some other name,

302 MARIBO. CiiAr. L.

to tlie only surviving son of Tove, Knud Valdemar-
s0n, as lie was called, he whose step-son followed him
to the war as squire and then murdered him.

An old document, dated 1417, mentions how on
Michaelmas Day the Bishop was summoned to Vor-
dingborg Slot, and there, together with King Erik,
Queen Philippa, their nobles, knights, &c., sealed the
grant of Ryse Gaard, in Zealand, to found a cloister in
Lolland, to be hereafter called " Maribo," in honour of
St. Bridget and the Holy Virgin. King Erik it was
who completed the cloister after the death of his
queen ; every man, woman, and child in the country
had the honour of contributing to it. Each man for
himself and his household paid the sum of 2d., and for
each child eighteen years of age If?. Bachelors were
taxed, old maids were taxed ; no one escaped. It was
a right royal foundation ; the king got the credit of it,
and the country paid the expenses.

Scarcely was the convent commenced when there
appeared in the heavens every night a wondrous lumi-
nary over the forest which Queen Margaret had herself
purchased of Jens Grim, and paid for as a site for the
building, wliich was regarded as a clear proof Jomfru
Marie wished to take up her abode there ; so St. Bridget
had to give way and appear second on the list. " Beata
Brigita vidua," St. Bridget the Widow — of the Brahe
family — was a noble Swedish lady, mother to four sons
and fom- daughters. As soon as her husband died she
was seized with a desire to visit Rome, feehng sure
that the foundress of Vadstena would be well received
by the pope. When sixty-seven years of age she tra-
velled to the Holy Land, accompanied by her daughter

Chap. L. THE ILL-BEHAVED NUNS. 303

the lady Karen.* She clied on her retiu-n to Rome, in
1373, and was canonized by Urban VI. some years
later, wlien her bones were brought over to Vadstena
with great rejoicings. The revelations of St. Bridget
in former days held a high reputation in the Church of
Kome, particularly those regarding the seven future
kingst of Denmark and Sweden, the seventh of whom
is supposed to allude to Christian II.|

At the Reformation the nuns of Maribo, though let
down easily, conducted themselves so badly that Bishop
Jespersen, Confessor Regius, w^nt down expressly to
investigate the matter.

They were accused of letting into their house drunken
tradesmen, as Avell as noblemen, of tearmg each other's
caps and fighting; not contenting themselves with
swearing by ten thousand, they swore by ten thousand
dozen devils, using a^vful bad language ; they beat each
otlier, cbank spirits, and got so intoxicated they could
not stand on their legs ; held to the Catholic belief, had
" wicked books " — i. e. Papistic — and prayed to all the
saints in the calendar. The bishop, in despair, issued
new regulations, but to no effect ; the nuns continued
just as bad as ever. Fresh rules, in 1596, were put in

* Later St. Catherine.

t The first appears as a " crowned ass," wliich, to say the least,
wa.s not civil ; another as a trembling nhccp ; a third as a slanghtered
lamb ; a fourth as a ravening wolf ; a fiftli as a higii-flying eagle, &c.

X He sliall stir up the whole world and the sea, and make sorrowful
the simple. It is he shall draw tlie Idood of the innocent, but he shall
leave the eountrj-, and tiiat .shall hajipen as is said, that he shall i^ow
pleasure and reap sorrow and affliction. Fools shall reign and old and
wi.se siiall not be brought forward. Honour an<l riglit shall be laid
aside until he comes who shall appease my anger, and he shall not
save his soul from what is right.

304 MARIBO. Chap, L.

force, with a little better success, and then later the
convent was dissolved.

In this deserted church, under a plain stone bearing
an inscription and now railed round, sleep in peace the
remains of Eleanor Ulfeld. Twenty -three years of im-
prisonment did she undergo in that fearful Blue Tower
to gratify the woman's vengeance of the Hanoverian
Queen Sophia Amelia, her sister-in-law.

The story of her griefs tells ill in English history for
the reputation of our " merry monarch " Charles II.
Eleanor had proceeded to London to procure the pay-
ment of 24,000 rix-doUars Corfitz Ulfeld lent in those
days of splendour to the exiled heir of the house of
Stuart when in Holland. Charles had at first denied
the debt, and there exists a correspondence between the
Kings of England and Denmark on the subject, Avhich
letters were forwarded by the latter to the Swedish
Queen Christina, in whose service Ulfeld entered. When
Christina read the papers presented to her by Baron
Juel, the Danish envoy, she replied, vdih a freedom
of speech worthy of our Queen Elizabeth, " Ulfeld is
an honourable man. He says he paid to the King of
England 24,000 doUars, and I believe it to be true ; and
if the King of England denies the debt, so has he lied.
Yes, even if twelve such kings as Charles II. had de-
clared it untrue, so dare I say they have all lied, and I
should still believe Ulfeld ;" and she remained firm in
her belief of his honour, which was later confirmed by
the receipt for the money, signed by the Scotch General
the Duke of Montrose. King Charles then declares " it
had quite escaped his memory," — but he never paid ;
for on Eleanor's arrival in London, seduced by the

Chap. L. CAPTIVITY OF ELEANOR ULFELD. 305

Lribo of a large sixm of money from the Danish queen,
she was kidnapped by order of King Charles, placed on
hoard a Danish vessel, and brought over to Copenhagen.

From the moment of King Christian's death Eleanor's
star began to fade : her jjrivileges were taken away from
her ; she was no longer allowed to drive into the palace
yard or tliue at the royal table ; in 1657 her title of
Countess was taken away. AMien she arrived at Copen-
hagen, Queen Sophia Amelia herself, with the aid
of the maid, undressed her, and, having deprived her
of all her pearls and jewels, caused her to be clad in
the coarsest clothing. Eleanor and her maid were
Itrought to trial ; a phial of poison alone was found con-
cealed in her liair, which she had purchased at Dover to
use in case of " necessity."

In the Blue Tower she remained, amusing herself
with modelling beakers in clay with a piece of bone,
for she M'as allowed no knife, and Avorking other
" artful things." Eleanor was the most accomplished of
Christian's daughters : she spoke German, French, Italian,
Latin, and Spanish ; played on harp and flute ; was
a good artist, had a great turn for poetry, and, says
a writer of the day, " could sing one Psalm and com-
j)ose another, and know what was passing in the room
at the same time." IMost of her poems are addressed
to her dog, named " Cavalier," a poor mangy beast,
who had been bitten by a ferret, presented to her by
the queen, as a " marked insult," when in prison. She
Avas allowed no window to her room, merely a hole in
the roof, and no pipe to her stove. One day King
Christian V,, inquiring what she was doing, was told
" making beakers ;" so he asked to see one. On exa-
mining it — a sort of tankard, standing on three balls,

VOL. II. X

306 MARIBO. Chap. L.

with a cover — the king discovered some writing under-
neath ; but release her he dared not during his mother's
lifetime.

His Queen Charlotte Amelia pitied Eleanor's unhappy-
fate, and in return for a pm-se embroidered with beads
dared to brave her mother-in-law's wrath, and ordered
her a new window and a pipe to her stove. Wlien Queen
Sophia Amelia died Eleanor was released by order of
the king, who gave her a pension of 1500 thalers
yearly. She went, on leaving the prison, to her grand-
daughter Miss Lindenov's house on the canal, by the
Holmskirke, but only remained there three days, for
all the town came out to see her; later, she retired
to Maribo, where she resided till her death, passing the
greater part of her time in embroidering altar-cloths
for the church, with verses expressive of her gratitude
to her nephew the king and his family.

Eleanor had had her husband's blood transfused into
her veins. Tliis gave her the j)ower of feeling what hap-
pened to him ; when he died in 1644 she informed the
king long before news of the event had reached him.
Eleanor died in her seventy-first year. Her head re-
poses upon a cushion stuffed with her own gray hair —
hair fallen off and carefully preserved during her long
and wearisome incarceration.

Few convent churches are externally worth looking
at, but here the interior vaulting is exquisite. The
image of St. Bridget, too, has lately turned up after a
retirement of three centuries ; but to make up for her
presence a youthful saint or bishop does duty as Martin
Luther. Among the abbesses and burghers whose
sepulchral slabs line the aisles, resting against the wall
stands erect a stone of great beauty, date 1565. on

Chap. L. ENGESTOFTE, 307

which the Trinity is represented life-size. In Denmark
alone the custom of portraying the Father Eternal in'
sculpture and painting sun'ived the introduction of
the Eeformed Faith. Another instance occurs on the
exterior of the church of Eckernfiorde.

I have elsewhere told you how the representation of
the house of Ulfeld is now centred in the Austrian
Counts of Walstein. When in Holland, Corfitz invited
the representative of the States — Hogans Mogans — to
the baptism of his new-born son, and later, a high
compliment, to name the child. On the day of the
christening the generous burghers arrived laden with
cups and covered basins of pure gold, enamelled in blue
and enriched with a "pave" of cameos and incised
gems — a triumph of goldsmith's work : you- may still
see them in the museum at Copenhagen. And they
called the child " Leo Belgicus," to the amazement and
consternation of poor Eleanor.

ENGESTOFTE.

We start for Saxkjobing, halting on our way at
Engestofte, the seat of 31. do Wichfcld, whore we pass
some few hours. The house is not large, but the situa-
tion lovely: embowered in wood on the lake's side —
such glorious limes too — now in full flower and perfume.
Near the house stands a small chapel, admirably restored,
carved altarpiece, repainted and regilded.

We crossed the lake in a punt to the small island
where once stood the very castle given by King
Valdemar to his son by Tove. The waters of the
lake are now low and half-dried up ; and lately
amongst the weeds have been discovered numerous
antiquities of the Stone Age — liammcrs, chisels,

X 2

308 HARDENBERG. Chap. L.

knives — many unfinished, with their chippings — showing
there must have been a manufactory, and either that
the lake was once dry land, or that the ancient Scan-
dinavians made ducks and drakes of these weapons and
household implements, throwing them into the water.
Small boys, whose eyes are sharp and near the ground,
came off triumphant with an unpolished chisel and a
flint knife, to say nothing of chippings innumerable.

An agriculturist vrould rejoice in the farm-buildings of
Engestofte lately constructed — so well built, so artistic ;
more spacious than required for an English establish-
ment, where cows are not counted by hundreds, and
housed, as well as sheep, during the winter season. In
the cow-stable the name of each beast hangs over her
stall — Jomfru Faust, Trina Smith. Twelve young
heifers were named after the planets, but Georgium
Sidus, Jupiter, and Saturn were words the Lolland
milkmaid could never accustom her tongue to.

We take leave, pass through the town of Saxkj0bing,
and on to Hardenberg, the seat of the counts of that
name — " Hardenberg-Eeventlow," and a great deal
more.

■ HARDENBEEG.

To Jutland and Funen we must give the palm for
their chateaux of ancient date, their long, trim allces,
their hedges, and gardens of by-gone centuries : but
to flat, fertile Lolland the prize for her fair plaisaunces.
Nothing can be more beautiful than this garden, a very
wilderness of summer flowers, losing itself in the park-
like field, backed by rich woods in the distance. Look,
too, at the castle — what a fine old moated building ! — .
Avhat a pity they have restored it " white," instead of

Chap. L. THE BRICPIED-UP LADY. 309

its early red brick ! But it stands grand and imposing,
vv'itli its three capped towers — mark, there are only-
three, for thereby hangs a legend.

It was lono: lonir ago — not in the time of the Revent-
lows — though, had its possessor, the brother of the fair
Sophia, treated her in the same way, she w'ould only
have met with her deserts — nor yet in that of the Rosen-
krantz ; all possessors of the place declare it was before
theii- time — that the daughter of some noble owner of
the domain loved a boy of low degree. Months ran
on — it is an old tale, and one oft told — she bore a child,
and was doomed by her enraged relatives to imdergo the
punishment allotted to her crime — to be immured, like
the nuns of old, in a small chamber of the tower, and
there, with the offspring of her love, to pine and die by
a cruel death — starvation.

Years rolled by ; the story was well-nigh forgotten,
when one night, during a fearful storm, the lightning
struck tlie fatal tower, rending it in twain ; and there
against the wall was discovered the skeleton of the luck-
loss damsel, her mummy baby pressed against her breast.
The destruction of this tower was looked upon as a
judgment of Providence, an expression of its indignation
against the authors of this foul deed. None have dared
to rebuild it. The crumbling ruins were removed, and
the foundations alone attest that it had once existed.

The interior of the castle is fitted up with a luxury
almost unknown in Denmark. As we descended by the
spiral staircase of the tower, which leads to the garden,
its narrow window, now lighted wath purple glass, cast
a cool pleasant light on the small statuettes of Florence
alabaster which are ranged on brackets down the open

310 ■ NYSTED. Chap, L.

lima^on of the staircase. Matters have clianged for the
better since the sad tragedy occurred in the sister-tower.
Talk of good okl times — in books if you will : but let us
thank our stars we didn't live in them !

It was dark when we arrived at the little sea-side
town of Nysted. " Maribo and SaxkJ0bing are pleasant
places," says the proverb, " but Nysted sm'passes them
both." We shall see to-morrow.

NYSTED.

Nysted resembles other small Danish towns. When
you gain the sea-side, a long double avenue of trees
conducts you to the ancient chateau of Aalholm, a
huge red brick pile of buildings, with massive square
towers, dating from Queen Margaret's days, thanks to
Marsk Stig and Skipper Clemens, a rarissima avis
in Denmark. Here resided her brother — poor half-
begotten little Christopher — Duke of Lolland, whose
effigy in alabaster we have seen in Roeskilde cathe-
dral, all broken to pieces, the Danish Government
too poor or too stingy to afford the cement necessary
for sticking him together. Some authors declare that
he was poisoned at Queen Margaret's wedding, but
there is no truth in the story : in those uncomfortable
days no one was allowed to die peaceably without sus-
picion.

The castle — " over-rumj^let " (taken by sui-prise) iu
1534 — is now the property of the Count of Kaben, but
is seldom inhabited : the gardens, kept in the true
Lolland style, are well worthy of a visit.

Such black coal-scuttle bonnets as the women wear
here ! of carton, like the Fionese ; not japanned, tea-

Chap. L. STRANDBYE. 311

tray fashion — sober black, ugly enough to frighten you.
Now we make for Strandbye, the ferry-station to Falster,
a five minutes' passage. Keally LoUand and Falster
so nearly join, it seems quite ridiculous their being
separated.

312 NYKJOBING. ^Chap. LI.

CHAPTER LI.

Island of Falster — Queen Sophia and the parson's wife — How she
rules her houseliold — The Lidy who could not die — Moles worth's
account of swan-shooting — Familiar spirits and other superstitions
of the island — Island of M0en — The strong-minded Dorothea —
The bathing-place of Liselund — The chalk klints and beauty of the
scenery — The Kliut King — Bacchanalian harvest-home.

ISLAND OF FALSTEE.

NYKJ0BING.

August 29. — We land on the small pier of Nykj0bmg,
stop to breakfast, and then drive througb the island on
our way to M0en.

There is nothing to see in Falster — no herregaards.
More exclusive than Lolland, the island, until some
years since, was a royal possession, the usual jointure
and residence of queens.

In the small town of Nykjpbing dwelt good Queen
Sophia, the widowed mother of Christian IV., glad to
retire from the court of her son, whose morals ill
accorded with the principles of his right-thinking
mother. Here too she died.

In the chiu*ch hangs her pedigree — pedigree of the
house of Mecklenburg, with portraits of each member
from the earliest days.

When Queen Sophia ruled over the island she did
much good, encouraging industry, and employing in
her manufactures many hundred people. There still
stands an oak between Vaalse and Nykj0bing which

Chap. LI. QUEEN SOPHIA AND THE PARSON'S WIFE. 313

goes by the name of " Praeste Kongen, from a wager
laid by the parson's wife with the queen that she woukl
spin a thread out of a pound of flax so fine it should
reach from her parsonage to the palace gate. The lady
proceeded on her way till her flax was expended at the
house which bears her name. Queen Sophia was a
good menag^re, and kept her maids as well as her
men in order, not sparing the whip when they deserved
correction :

" Linde Herre skal have Eege svenne,"

" A maitre de tilleul, domestique de cLene,"

was her motto. She died the richest queen in Europe ;
and though Christian IV. honoured and loved his
mother, yet to judge from his correspondence he was
quite alive to the advantages to be derived from his
inheritance.

Scarcely is she on her death-bed when the king
w^-ites word " they must take care to look after her
keys."* He writes to his sister Augusta to send
down the jeweller to value the queen's effects ; orders
mouminof for the children, who are to travel to Vord-
ingborg to receive the " widowed queen's coffin :" they
are to wait for the corpse and get something to eat at

• Many of good Queen SopLia's people lie buried in the church of Nyk-
J0bing. Such a " maitresse femme " as was Queen Sophia ! Sucl) ruks
and rcguLitions, such modesty and virtue among litr maids ! such pro-
jirioty among her men ! Mrs. ()llegaar(l IViiz, iier iiolile iiousekeeper — her
place not then, as now, a sinecure — at the end of eleven years' service
died, worn out hy her troubles and domestic cares, and even now, aftf r
the lapse of two centuries and more, she cant rest quiet in her grave.
SIic fidgets and fssses about the eliatiiiu of Frednkov, rattles the keys,
opens and shuts the drawers, rings the bells, winds up the clocks,
and dusta, dusts away, and will dust — so folks say — in sajcula saicu-
lorum, so disgusted ia she at the degeneracy of all Danish housemaids.

314 NYKJ0BING. Chap. LI.

the ferry-house ; the cook-boy can accompany them and
take what is necessary. Christian appears to have been
in good humour witli his succession, for he presented
his mother's maid who cooked his soup with ten rose
nobles.

One letter, dated the latter end of the year 1631,
is as follows : — " Apothecary Peter, fill your satchel full
of rotulen, musk, and amber, and other spices, as good
as you can get them, and bring it here at once. —
Frederiksborg."

What could this be for? Nothing less than the
necessary medicaments for the embalmment of Queen
Sophia.

You will find many old acquaintances in these jDor-
traits ; among them the queen of Chiistian I., here un-
gagged ; old Joachim of Brandenburg, holding a drawn
scimitar in hand, looking like some vindictive Blue
beard, right in the face of poor Protestant Elizabeth.
She was quite right to run away ; by his very look, he'd
have bricked her up. The palace of Queen Sophia has
disappeared ; gone most» likely to build up something
else. If a royal Danish brick could only speak, what
tales it could tell of the sights it has witnessed from the
days of Thyre Danebod downwards, picked out from
the Danevirke for the erection of some chateau fort,
and so handed down to the present century !

We leave to the left the village of Torkildstrup,
named after the heathen Thorkild — the first man, say
the Danes, who pretended the earth turned round.

We passed in the distance a chm-ch-spire, concerning
wliich there runs a tale : — Many years ago dwelt in the
island of Palster a rich and noble dowager, who had
neither son nor daughter to inherit her golden treasures.

CH.VP. LI. THE LADY WHO COULD NOT DIE. 31 5

She resolved to build a very great and splendid church.
When the building was finished she ordered the altar
candles to be lighted; then proceeding in great state
through the aisle to the high altar, she fell down upon
her knees and prayed God, as a reward for her pious gift,
to let her live as long as her church was standing. Her
foolish prayer was granted. Her kinsmen and servants
died, but she outlived them all. At length she had
neither contemporary friends nor relations to speak to ;
she saw all their children become old and die, and then
again their children after them sink under the weight
of years, — still she lived on. By degrees she lost the
use of almost all her senses, and at last she only re-
covered her power of speech once a year — each Christ-
mas-eve, for one single hour. She begged one Christmas
to be laid in an oaken coffin and placed in the church,
to try if she could not die there. They did as she
demanded, and her coffin was placed in the church, but
she has not been allowed to die to this day. Every
year at the appointed hour the parson comes to her, and
lifts up the heavy lid of the coffin. She slowly raises her-
self till she sits erect in the coffin, when she asks, *rts
my church still standing ?" " Yes," answers the parson :
'•' Would to God," she exclaims, " that my church were
burnt, for then would my wail end ! " Sighing, she once
more sinks back upon her hard pillow, the parson shuts
the coffin, and does not return until the Christmas
following.

We drive to Corselitze, a small country house, half-
farm, and til en enter a lovely forest by the blue water's
side. IMidway between that small homestead and the
ferry of Gronsund we pass the little inn of S(^lyst, a
favourite place of Sunday resort to the badauds of

316 NYKJ0BING. Chap. LI.

Nykj0bing. It stands on the water-side, and you might
easily while away a week among the suiTounding
forest and its coasts. Herds of deer, wild chevreuils
in number, and fawns of all sizes, as well as hares,
cross our path. Chevreuil and roe-deer are not the only
game which abound in this island. In the year 1G92
Christian V., together with his queen and many illus-
trious personages, on their journey from M0en to
Nykj0bing, enjoyed a goodly sport, slaughtering in one
day four hundred and twenty wild swans by the village
of Gjedsen. Battues of wild swans were a favomite
diversion of the last century, for Molesworth writes,
" These wild swans haunt a small island, about one mile
distant from Copenhagen, and breed there. About this
time of year the young ones are near as big as the
old, before the feathers are growTi long enough for them
to fly. The king, queen, and the court ladies, with
other nobles, are invited to take part in this sport.
Every person of condition has a pinnace allotted to
him, and when they come near the haunt surround the
place, and a great multitude of swans — sometimes a
tliousand — are killed. The flesh is worthless, but the
feathers and down are preserved."

Superstition thrives in Falster as elsewhere. The
farmers have nisses, but cottagers are compelled to
put up with " familiar spirits " — a preposterous fairy
called Dragedukke, who not only supplies them with
all manner of good things, but also gives them the
power of transferring the good luck of others to them-
selves. A woman of Kragehave was possessed of a
Dragedukke. In vain her neighbours tried to churn ;
she could take away all the butter from them, while she
had plenty herself even in the worst weather : money, too,

Chap. LI. MOEN. 317

lier husband had alwaA^s at his command. A ncii^hbour
asked him for the loan of a hundred pounds : he went to
a cupboard and took it at once from what appeared to
be an empty hog's bladder ; but the borrower heard
groans issuing from the bladder, as though the fairy
within was bewailing the loss of the money. When a
corpse leaves the door, they cast a pail of water behind
it, tliat the ghost may not reappear. On Christmas-
eve those who M'ish their fruit-trees to bear an
abundant crop go into the garden at midnight, and,
taking the sticks from the bakers' ovens, strike each
tree thrice, exclaiming, "Rejoice 0 tree, — rejoice, and
be fniitful ! '

We reach the ferry, leaving to the loft the small
town of Stubbekjobing, and in a minute are lauded on
the opposite coast of 3l0en.

ISLAND OF M0EN.

A two hours' drive brouoht us to Stejrc. The small
hotel was full of bathers, tea-drinking and eating their
suppers in the garden overlooking the sea. A church
with lofty massive toAver and quaint old gate-house,
a rarity in Denmark. The moats exist still, and are
nicely laid out in promenades. The castle lias long
since disappeared, granted by King Erik, after the
death of Queen Philippa, to a certain Dorothea, a strong-
minded young woman, quite above the prejudices of
this world, who bore inscribed upon her signet-ring the
words " Dorothea, King Erik's concubine." We drove
on, passed by two or three villages, having for ever a
gray ridge of mountains before us — elsewhere you would
have called them hillocks — and then came to a stone
which by daylight indicates the way " To Lisclund ; "

318 M0EN. ' CuAP. LI.

here we turn off, after a time come to a gaard, and
drive in. It is nearly twelve o'clock, all the world
asleep, even the watch-dog. We halloo, bawl, crack
the whips, kick, for twenty minutes without success ; at
last a sleepy head looks out from the stable-window,
later the farmer himself appears, yawning his very jaws
asunder.

September \st. — We are now quietly settled, and per-
haps you may like to know what Liselund really is.

Liselund is a country place, the property of ]M. de
Eosenkrantz ; not a herregaard ; a square court, three
sides of which are occupied by stalls, granaries, and
farm-buildings, the remaining side forms the abode of
the family. Our apartments consist of a large saloon
opening into the garden, with bed-rooms on the same
floor; to take our baths we pass down an avenue of
trees into a second garden, in which stands a small
villa-house : the whole is backed by woods, and as
pretty as gay flowers, orchard-trees, creeper-bedecked
summer-houses, water, swans, rock-work, boats, and
bridges can make it. Passing through the wood, you
arrive at the Mint's edge, clothed with beech, juniper,
and the prickly sloe, covered with its purple-bloomed
fruit; turning into a narrow walk by the side of a
ruined chapel, with its sanctus bell, once used as
a bathing -house, you here gain the shore. This
beech-clothed descent is lovely, and peeps of the
verdure-famed Baltic most enjoyable ; in the month
of May this small Alpine region must be a carpet of
spring flowers. Denmark is the country of spring par
excellence. The autumnal tints are so fine, people
say, in the forests ! they may be, but somehow, when
in the autumn of life oneself, one admires more fer-

Chap. LI. LISELUND. 319

vently the spring and youth in others. WTiite silver
hairs are venerable, and there is a beauty in real green
old age, but nothing to extacise about in gray stubbly
whiskers. Autumn among the mountains is beautiful,
but not in a flat prairie country ; the beach is shingly
a^ unpleasant to walk upon ; when once immersed,
however, you will find a sandy bottom, if you only
watch the vellow lines on the water.

To gratify your eyes, as there is no boat nigh, you
must swim out to sea. Look before you, to the left —
did you ever see anytliing more striking, more grand,
than tliat ragged, rugged white chalk cliff, boldly
decoupe, jutting out into the water? The Taleren it
is called ; the first of a long ridge of miniature wiiite
mountains, which rise like a succession of fortresses to
defend the eastern coast of M0en.

Fossils of all kinds abound on the shore — echini,
madrepores, chamse, oysters, and sea anemones ; and
better specimens still may be dug from the pulverised
chalk of the khnt itself.

From Liselund there are two ways of visiting the
Store klint ; first by the narrow walks cut out along the
edge of the precipice itself. You pass by a small cot-
tage in the wood — a milk-white peacock spreads his
tail, as much as to say " Look at me " — and then
straight on. But all the world are not pedestrians ; liire
then the farmer's carriage, and drive through the beech-
forest, now suffering from a plague of hairy caterpillars
— a forest of many hundreds of acres leafless ; up the
trunlvs of each devoted tree they crawl in mjTiads —
some yellow, some dark brown, of all sizes — Vor Herreds
Hunds, our Lord's dogs, they are called. They covered
the stems, they covered the branches to the very ends,

320 M0EN, CiiAP. LI.

and, what was worse still, they finished by covering us
— tumbling down upon our hats, heads, clothes, my
beard, and the ladies' faces. Two of the moths hung
sticking to the trees, one of those brown leaf-like
species. After passing through the unleafed forest,
you suddenly turn into an open space cleared amoi^
the trees ; to the left before you rises a small chalet
with a rustic kitchen, a long table and benches spread
out before it, where a decent woman and her pretty
dark-eyed daughter keep a small restaurant. AYe em-
bark in a small boat to view the Mints from the
sea. They rise up white against the pure blue sliy, a
range of miniature Apennines — peaks and ridges ; —
how chalk ever became so convulsed, so romantic, to
me remains a mystery.

" And the Klint Kongo," we inquire of the old boat-
man, " where does he live ? " " He lives there," was
the answer, pointing to a hole under the Queen's Stool.
He came originally from Upsala — han har flytted —
to Stevnsklint. Why he abandoned Moen no one
can say ; but it is supposed he found it dull, and pre-
ferred the society of the Elf King, with whom he is
also confounded.

You see the range of cliffs, dazzling in their white-
ness with their trimmings of green, to full advantage
from the wide open sea ; but to judge well of their
fantastic distorted forms, their sharp sugar-loafed pics,
you must follow the greenwood path on the heights
above. The highest eminence is that of the Queen's
Stool, 450 feet above the level of the sea, a mile Eng-
lish in length to the right perhaps, and then gradually
the range of coast descends in altitude, and near the
lighthouse you again see table-ground.

CnAP. LI. DOLMEN. 321

With the klints you have exliausted the sights of
M0eii. The island is richly cultivated, and earlier in
tlie year may have been more beautiful, for it undulates
"sv'oll ; but we are now in the month of September ; and,
let it undulate for ever, there is no beauty in undulating
stubble.

Herregaards of antiquity there are none. M0en was
a royal property, sold up in the last century. Not
far from the picturesque church of Magleby (the M0en
churches are highly picturesque and unwhitewashed)
is a fine dolmen of seven stones, standing erect on a
height — a feature in the surrounding country. ^Yhen
I sliowed it to a small boy — an unbelieving genera-
tion is the present — and explained how it was the
work of the ancient Scandinavians, same men who
fashioned the knives and chisels he liad picked up
at Engelstofte, — he would give no credit to the truth
of my assertion. " They move these great stones ?
nonsense ! I'll never believe it : well, if they did build
it a thousand years ago, the stones were then pebbles,
and must have gro^ni since." And he stuck to his
opinion, looking all the while as stubborn as a young
bull-dog. In ancient times, says tradition, IMoen was
governed by two giants : one, Gr0n, after whom the
Sound is christened ; the other, like the Klint Kongo,
came from Upsala. Instead of fighting and beating
each other's brains out, as giants mostly did, they lived
together in amity ; and when they died, were buried
side by side in the same stone chamber under the hpi
surmounted by my favourite dolmen.

September Ist. — Tlie harvest-liome came off last ever-
ing. A cart drove into the court laden with sheavc^s
of corn and peasants, male and female, shouting and

VOL. II. Y

322 lM0EN. Chap. LI.

singing to the full extent of their voice. Horses, men,
women, -all were decorated with garlands of leaves and
flowers, the latter bearing in their hands large bouquets
stuck upon the ends of long sticks, most Bacchanalian,
like a picture of Jaques Jordaen's. Then later other
carts, decorated and begarlanded like the first, followed
in succession ; and when all had duly arrived, a sort of
rustic Silenus, more horrid-looking than can be ima-
gined, approaches, according to ancient custom, the
farmer and his wife, and, sickle in hand, exclaims —

" We have cut the corn ; it is ripe ; it is gathered
in. Will you now that we cut the cabbages in the
garden ? "

"No, thank you," replied the huusbond and the
hustru ; " we had rather not."

" But we will : the corn is gathered in ; we will now
cut the cabbages in the garden."

" No," answers the master, " as the corn is ripened
and is gathered into the barn, we will give you a festival."

The company are now satisfied ; supper is furnished
for them, and they pass an evening of innocent jollity.
Beyond this little fete of the harvest-home, Liselund is
all quiet and repose. The church-bells alone sound in
the distance ; they ring up (as the expression goes) the
sun, and ring it down again ; and then in the midst
you hear nine distinct strokes — one, the first, clear and
solemn, for the Pater Noster; seven for the seven
separate petitions of the Lord's Prayer ; and lastly you
hear a loud booming ninth proclaiming Amen.*

* The twelve o'clock bell was first appointed in 1455, by Pope Nicho-
las v., who orders that the bells be rung every day at that hour, in
order that the people, on hearing tliem, may offer up a prayer for the
Christians fighting against the heathen in foreign lands.

Chap. LII. BORNHOLM. 323

CHAPTEK LII.

The island of Bomholm ; its reputation for salmon — A coachman
from the diggings — Round churches of Ny and Ole — Church-
pushers and hourglasses — The Trolles of Bornholm — Their tricks
upon Bondevedde — Their patriotism — How they love butter —
Tlie tliree-legged cat — They man the chtfs to defend the island —
Hammershuus, the prison of Corfitz and Eleanor Ulfeld.

ISLAND OF BORNHOLM.

September IZth. — Our boat is named the " Mercury,"
and to start at seven. Cowhides and mouse-traps are
our cargo — the last hang suspended to the backs of two
itinerant vendors, bound like myself for K0nne. Then
we have a dozen odds and ends of passengers, the
greater part for Ystad — Germans with dirty faces, the
ine\"itable gold ring on the fore-finger, and long pipes.
I fraternise with the mousetrap- vendors, and ask them
where they are going? Two boys they are, making
their "tour" as journeymen. From Bornholm they
pass to Sweden; next year, they hope, to Germany,
and 80 on till their three years are out. Would
they not like to settle ? I inquire. " Oh, no ! they
must see the world first, Quito right too • they are ;
better sell mousetraps and see the world, even under-
going a few hardsliips, than be stuck down at once
in some poky village your life's long day.

Wonderful the luggage people of the provinces travel
with in Denmark. Ordy look at that huge chest, with
antique lock and re2)0usse' ornaments ; the trunk too of

Y 2

324 BOKNHOLM. Chap. LII.

those Zealand peasant-women in their lace caps, with
silver crown and flo^^ino- ribbons. It is not unlike a
cellaret — painted and picked out in various colours —
two hearts united under a wreath, with initials — the
wedding-chest of some happy pair long since gathered
to the dust.

The coasts of Sweden are flat and iminteresting ;
after breakfast — ^breakfasts are excellent on board those
steamers — such lobsters and dried fish! — I mount in
time to admire the splendid old chateau of a Baron
Stjermblad, flanked by two lofty spiral turrets — a
Danish edifice built by the Danes when Skaane was
their own; then further a building, bigger still — the
summer residence of a Judge Sylvan; and then into
the little harbour of Ysted. We unload our cow-skins,
peasant-women in their quaint costume the porters.
Swedish hussar officers in blue uniform and turned-up
moustaches loiter and look on. We have exchano;ed
cm- red-cross pennon for one of yellow on a purple
ground, with a sort of hybrid union jack placed in the
corner.

The town of Ysted, commercial in corn, is clean — at
least it appears so after the dirty " Mercury ;" but its
pavement outdoes the Danish in its eccentricity — rock
and pebble, pulverised tombstone, and yawning puddle,
all coalesce in friendly neighbourhood. Then too it
has a wide deserted look — not that " motherly appear-
ance " of the dull island towns of its sister Denmark.
We sail out again ; the moon is up. Five homs'
passage at least, for the boat, though seaworthy, is
" meget langsom ; " so I retire below. Towards half-
past eleven in bounces the stewardess — " Coming strax
to E0nne." On mounting, a flat, faint, dark line appears,

Chap. LII. E0XXE— SALMON. 325

SO go do\vn again and just get to sleep wlien tlie boat
stops, and we really are safe arrived. AVe mount tlie
cliiF tlu-ougli the chiu-chyard, behind which lies the haven
of our journey, a primitive but clean irm, looking through
the trees on the cemetery, and then, beyond, the sea
and a little flotilla of fishers' boats — all very charming,
only bed is preferable to moon-gazing.

September 1-UJi. — Order breakfast when you may in
Denmark, you have time to stroll and gain an appetite
previous to its arrival — no one is ever punctual ; this
morning I had ample leisure to potter about and look
around me before my coffee (coming strax since half-
past seven) was served and ready. A striped low-
housed town is E0nne, interspersed with trees, planted
to shade the windows : the view from the chiu-chyard,
overlooldng the harbour and its new-constructed jetty,
is picturesque. A small martello tower stands on the
cliffs to the left, dignified by the name of " xirsenal."
The little flotilla of fishing boats possess a harbour of
their own, and nestle comfortably together — they have
just returned laden with whitiiig and brill. There is
shipping to the right, shipping in dock, ships turned up
on end imdergoing a cleaning operation, ships on the
stocks being built — altogether they present quite an
imposing appearance.

Boridiolm enjoys a reputation for the excellence of
its salmon, which fetches a higher price in the market
than even that of Itanders. The salmon are taken with
hooks at twelve English miles off shore. Every week a
vessel sails for Prussia ; there the fish is disembarked, and
packed off as fast as express train can carry it to France,
reappearing in the windows of Chevet and other restau-
rants of me Parisian capital. Ilpnne boasts another

326 BORNHOLM. Chap. LII.

little commerce of lier own, that of pottery— a manu-
facture of terracotta — statuettes, baskets, and other
ornaments, well executed and in the best taste, such as
you see exposed for sale in the galanterie shops of
Copenhagen. Her wooden clocks, too, have a reputa-
tion of their own : in the last centmy a vessel was
wrecked oif the coast, and a small cuckoo clock saved
among- the cargo ; a hidden genius puUed it to pieces,
studied its works and movements, and before many
weeks fabricated the first clock ever known in the
island.

The English vice-consul has kindly engaged us a

' carriage, with a coachman speaking English, saving us

a world of trouble, and at twelve we start on our adven-

tiures.

The country is iiat in the neighbourhood of E0nne,
but, like Jutland, undivided; a forest of birch and
pines runs along the sea-side, planted wisely by the
government some tliirty years since, before which
period, said my coachman, the road and fields adjoin-
ino- were ruined by the flying sands, and he pointed out
to me a line of dunes running along the centre of a field
at some distance from the road. " I recollect," he con-
tinued, " when the land you see under cultivation was
worthless — now it sells in lots for as good a price as in
other localities." We passed on our way some Swedish
peasant women in their j)icturesque red bodices, a
striking contrast to the sober-clad, blue-eyed, fair-haired
girls of Bornholm ; they come over to dispose of their
embroideries — she-pedlars — carrying their packs across
their shoulders. If the Swedes, however, outdo the
natives in the brilliancy of their costumes, the women
of the island carry off the palm of comeliness?

Chap. LII. COACHMAN FROM THE DIGGINGS. 327

As we drive along my guide points out on the coast
not far from the little town of Hasle two separate coal-
mines. " Coal in Denmark ! " " Oh, yes ; plenty in
Bornholm — very good for houses and cookery purposes,
but not for the blacksmiths." " Who works the mines ? "
" Tliey are scarcely worked at all, the quality is not
good enough." " But who ever heard of good coal at the
top of a mine ? — you have always to get rid of much
rubbish before you arrive at the fine sort." "Very
true, sir, but we Danes are not like you English — we
have no enterprise ; if a Dane does not find good coal
at the top of his mine, he will never have energy
to proceed. I know my own countrymen and yours
too, sir. I Avas three years in Australia at the dig-
gings." " No wonder you speak English so well : and
did you succeed?" "Well enough, sir. My father
was a former, with ten sons ; when he died, we could
not purchase his farm, but 1 had just enough to take
me to Australia. I did well, till the fever Seized me,
and a large portion of my earnings were expended, so
I returned to Bornholm after an absence of three years,
with exactly 300Z. in my pocket, a large sum for this
little place, married, settled, and am now getting on
very comfortably." I inquired " Did you go alone ? "
" No ; and that's the curious part of the story. A young
fellow, a schoolfellow of mine, had long ardently desired
to accompany me, but had no money ; he was very
low in s[)irits, for I was to sail in the spring, and
it was the month of February. Towards tlie latter
end of the month he was engaged tilling the land,
when, on turning over a largo stone which iinpoded
the plougli's progress, he came upon a massive arm-
riiig ; at first he believed it to be copper, but on taking

328 BORNHOLM. Chap. LII.

it to the jeweller it was pronounced to be gold. The lad
was well nigh mad for joy ; he sent it to Copenhagen,
and at the end of the fortnight received as his pay-
ment the sum of 350 rix-doUars. Well, sir, we
sailed together, and he is stUl in Australia doing
well, and will return some day, richer and better off
than any of the farmers of the island. It's a curious
history — is it not, sir ? — his finding that gold ring ; the
people here beheve it was all the Trolles' doings, but
you look on that as nonsense, I have no doubt," — and he
shut up at once.

We stopped at tlie village of Nyker, where is the
first of the four round churches for which Bornholm
is celebrated.

NYKER.

The round churches of Nyker and Olsker* are, as
regards the original edifices, built upon the same plan
— a large* round tower, capped "en eteignoir," with
scale-like slates, evidently constructed as " chm-ch mili-
tants," to serve as fortresses in time of need ; that of Ole
is pierced around with loopholes like a castle turret,
while that of Ny appears to be incomplete. In the
interior, which served for prayer, the roofs are round
vaulted, supported in the centre by one cu'cular massive
column ; small external tm'ret staircases lead to the
upper story, through the loopholes of wliich the
archers and men-at-arms shot forth their arrows ; these
chm'ches of Bornholm have a peculiar cachet, with their
pictm-esque stone behries apart from the building, a
striped wood and brick upper story and slate pointed

* Ker — kirke, church : Ny-ker, Ols-ker, Lars-ker, &c.

Chap. III. NYKER. 329

cap, as well as the lich-gates, of which there are several
to each cemetery. In the church of Ny, to the left of
the pulpit hang suspended four hour-glasses, the gift of
Margaret, wife of Peter Bemholt, the priest, date
sixteen hundred and something : clocks at that period
were not in general use in these remote parts.

The glass is runniug,

Time is going,
We are tracking on.
Jesus, dear Lord Jesus, help us," &c.

So runs the painted doggrel. The white-haired school-
master informed me hoAV he had heard from his grand-
father that Parson Bemholt preached most interminable
sermons ; so his wife out of her own pocket caused the
hom--glasses to be placed. The early Lutheran clergy
became so enamoured of their own discourses, that people
went to church when the sermon was half over, in
consequence of which " yawning stocks " were placed
at the church-door, and he who arrived late' was placed
therein. Folks now came early enough, but went to
sleep instead, so m KJ88 " Kirke-Gubber," or " Church-
pushers," were appointed — officers whose duty it was to
nudge the offenders and prevent them from indulging in
a nap, for which service they received the sum of six
dollars annually. After a time the clergy, in despair,
finished where they should have begun — they limited
the duration of the sermon to one hour, and, after the
example of Parson Bemholt's wife, ordered hour-glasses*
to be fixed by the side of every pulpit ; but so popular

♦ No sooner were the liour-glasscs established than the country
appears to have been inuiuLited with Sandulinnuchers (hour-glass
makers) from Leipsig and elsewhere. Strange those Nortliema never
could run alone without foreign help !

330 BORNHOLM. Chap. LII.

was a certain preacher of Copenhagen, that one Sunday,
when the sand was run out, the congregation exclaimed
together in a body, "Turn it — turn it again!" In
all the churches you enter hangs, surmounted by a
skeleton mowing away for his very life, a statistical
table of the deaths caused in the different parishes of
the island by the pest of 1618, when 5185 persons fell
victims to its rage in Bornholm alone.

OLSKER,

I have seldom come across a more picturesque church
than that of Olsker, which we next visited; it has scarcely
any excrescence attached to its solid round tower, sup-
ported by Cyclopean buttresses, one round-arch doorway,
the weeest apse in the world; the little cemetery,
surrounded by stone waUs, possesses four lich-gates, one
for each point of the compass ; and the queerest of all
queer striped belfries. Outside the cemetery walls are
attached iron rings, some to the wall itself, others to posts,
the larger ones with the name of the proprietor inscribed
above, intended for securing the farmer's steed during
his attendance at divine service. Loyal Bornholm
proclaims on a painted board, with much respect,

that in the year 1687 his (at least four lines of

titles) Majesty Christian V. honoured the round church
of Ole with a visit. Leaving the church, you have a
fine view over the Baltic, with the fortress island of
Christians0, and two other little 0's. On approach-
ing the main road we find ourselves among the blue
rocks of Bornholm, which rise among the fields,
among the woods, everywhere, clothed with gray
lichen. The cows are of a smaller race than those

Chap. LII. OLSKER. 331

of Denmark, small and black streaked. We passed
by one bog, where the men were engaged cuttmg turf;
huge trunks of oak are here discovered, black as
ebony, Hke the Irish — in the moors of Jutland, oak is
unknown. We then tiu-n down a descent, and drive
into the little town of Allinge.

We had a long conversation about the Trolles,
most important personages in this island of Bornholm.
In the year 1624, about the very time Parson Bemholt
was preaching his long-winded sermons, the clergyman
of St. Peter's writes a statistical account of his parish
to Copenhagen. Among sundry matters of no account,
he proceeds to relate : —

*'In a h0i called Faalh0i the Trolles are said to
reside, and there lives now a girl who has passed many
years with them underground, and borne by them eight
children. The gui's name is Karen."

The favourite hero of TroUedom is a certain Bonde-
vedde, who inhabited the parish of St. Peter's about
the year 1700. Tradition declares him to have been
the offspring of a farmer and a mermaid. On taking
leave of her lover, the mermaid desired him to return
that day year to the same place, and he would find an
infant, an infant who would be endowed with the gift
of seeing and hearing what was said by the Trolles — a
little people, invisible to the eyes of common mortals.
So the farmer did as the mermaid bade him, and in
one year's time repaired to the very same spot on the
sea-shore, where he found a male child lying in a
cradle delicately framed of seaweeds ; not a pearl, not a
coral did the hanfrue suspend round the nock of her
baby ; he was a fine healthy blue-eyed child, nothing
more. So the young farmer removed him to his own

332 BORNHOLM, Chap. LIT.

house, and he went by the name of Bondeveclde. The
boy grew stout and strong, and after his father's death
inherited his farm. In course of time he married, and
liis wife gave promise of adding to the hopes of the
family.

Now, if there is one thing the Trolles cannot abide,
it is having a spy upon their actions, and they dwelt
within a h0i adjoining Bondevedde's farm ; as regards
privacy they might just as well have pitched their tents
in the market-place of Aakirkeby ; he was everlastingly
watching theh doings and overhearing their conversa-
tion, so they determined among themselves to punish
him. One day as Bondevedde was passing by he
observed a Trolle with the trunk of a tree in his hand,
and heard him say to his companion, "Cut it, Snef;
cut it as hke Bondevedde's wife as two peas."

" You're after some mischief, my boys," says Bonde-
vedde to himself, " but I'll be even with you yet :"
so he kept watch and held his peace. In process of
time his wife lay sick in childbed, and, according
to custom, her room was crammed full of her female
neighbours. Then came the Trolles along with the
rest, invisible to all mortal eyes but Bondevedde's,
bearing the image of his wife admirably carved, so
like natm-e no one could mistake it. Laying this on
the bed, they carried off the suffering woman, and passed
her outside the window as they imagined to their com-
panions ; but Bondevedde, who was up to their tricks,
waiting outside, received liis wife in his arms, and laid
her in a place of safety ; then, entering the sick room,
seized the wooden image with the Trolles into the bar-
gain, and stuffed them all together into the baker's oven,
where they burnt like faggots. The Trolles kicked and

Chap. LII. BOXDEVEDDE AND THE TROLLES. 333

howled, and tried to get out ; the women on their side
screamed, for they fancied it was their neighbour who
was burning; but Bondevedde took them aside, and
showed them his wife safe in bed with a fine boy, born
since she was moved out of window. So the farmer
and his wife were left in peace for some time after.
However, the Trolles recovered from the effects of their
defeat, and one day as Bondevedde passed near the h0i
he overheard one of them say, " Bondevedde's wife will
brew her ale to-morrow ; let us go and steal it!" When
the ale was brewed, Bondevedde took a kettle of boil-
ing water, and, calling together all his farm-men, said
to them, " Get your stoutest sticks, and wherever I pour
the water there do you lay to lustily."

When the Trolles came, Bondevedde poured the
scalding water on their heads, and the farm-men laid
to with all their might and main; so they ran off,
scalded and beaten, burrowing like moles underground,
leaving behind them an iron hook they carried with
them to hang the cask of ale upon. This iron hook
Bondevedde gave to the church of E0, and out of it was
made the massive iron hinges on which the door hangs.
The Trolles, now highly wroth, determined to make
aAvay with their enemy ; so one day as he rode by
he saw the Trolles dancing in a ring round the hpi
under which they dwelt. " Stop, Bondevedde," they
cried, "stop and have sometliing to drink." The
farmer earned about him his own silver cup, and the
Trolles filled it with a goldtm liquid like hydromel.
Bondevedde held his cup high, making semblance to
drink to their health, at tlie same time tossing tlio
contents over his right shoulder: some of tlie liquid
fell upon his horse's haunches, and the hair and skin

*

334 BORNHOLM. Chap. LII.

frizzled and flamed as though burnt by a red-hot iron,
leaving a deep wound in the flesh. From that time,
seeing it was no go, the Trolles left Bondevedde and his
wife in peace and quietness.

But the Trolles are not always mischievous. They
are good patriots, and, in time of war, fight like demons
in defence of their country. Some centuries since,
when Bornholm was attacked by the English fleet
(when was it?) the Trolles rose up in thousands to
aid in repelling the invaders. Every h0i was covered
with them, and they fired — bless you ! they fired three
shots in the time you would take in firing one. The
invaders saw them from their ships, and, when re-
pulsed, the English admiral, with his ofiicers and men,
having first taken their solemn Bible oath to the truth
of the assertion, drew up a statement which they all
signed, and forwarded to the English government, de-
claring (no doubt the document is still preserved in the
Record Ofiice) how they were vanquished, not by the
inhabitants of Bornholm, but by the supernatural agency
of the Trolles. The Trolles, however, are now quiet
enough. One weakness they have, of which they never
Avill be cured, and that is for butter. AVith a peculiar
art of their own, they come out after nightfall and suck
the butter from the cows, without disturbing either the
milk or the cream. The milk is laid in the pan, the cream
rises, and in its turn is placed in the churn : the farm-
women churn away till their arms nearly fall off — no use,
the butter is not there. Now, a farmer by Alminde, a
friend of my coachman, suspecting what was the matter,
lay in wait one night and watched the cows. Shortly
after dark came one of the Trolles — incognito as
Trolles always do appear — disguised under the form of

Chap. LII, THE TROLLES. 335

a three-legged cat. Trolles, as well as the devil, can
only transform themselves into maimed animals. His
Satanic Majesty particularly affects the form of a rat,
but always a rat without a tail ; try as hard as he can,
he never can produce even the stump of one. When-
ever you come across a three-legged cat, shoot it if you
have a gun by you ; it's a Trolle in masquerade, and
after some mischief. The farmer waited till the three-
legged cat was hanging well to the cow's udder, sucking
out the butter ; then, slily approaching from behind,
made him prisoner ; and how did he catch him ? that's
the question. As much art is required in the catching of
a Trolle as in the killing of a Norwegian salmon. Well, I
will tell you how he acted ; he went to the stable, and,
removing the hempen halter from the neck of a coal-
black stallion, passed it round the neck of the cat
and fastened her to the manger. The next morning,
when he came to look at his captive, what do you think
he found ? Not a three-legged cat, but an old woman.
He let her go, for he dared not injure her; so the
Trolle got off after all.

The last time the Trolles appeared in public was in
the years '48, 9, 50, at the time of the Slesvig-Holstein
rebellion. All united Germany was do"\vn upon Den-
mark, and she had lately suffered some reverses — men's
hearts were sad — when one morning a ship arrived at
the little town of R0nne. The sailors related how, as
they passed by the cliffs of Bomholm by night, they had
seen hundreds and thousands of the Trolles busy doing
military exercise on the heights, already j)rcpared to
rise in the defence of their native country.

" Hurrah ! hurrah !" exclaimed the people ; " the
Trolles are out — the Trolles arc up — no fear of conquest

336 BORNHOLM. Chap. LIl

now — the victory will be ours — hurrah ! hurrah !" and
they were at once wild wdth joy and delight.* Well,
it turned out as they expected ; the Germans were re-
pulsed and kicked out of the country, though whether the
TroUes had much to do with the matter is uncertain.
Educate the people as you may — and an excellent
education all the Danish nation receive, from highest
to lowest — you will find it difficult to eradicate from the
heads of the peasants the belief, handed down from
father to son, in the existence of the Trolles, who dwell
within the h0is and heights of the sea-girt island of
Bornholm.

" Well, sir," concluded the coachman, " I'm glad you
don't laugh at the Trolles, for most of our people believe
in them. I can't say I have ever seen them myself;
but of a night, in the forest of Alminde and along the
sea-coast, I have seen lights wandering about up and
down among the woods and the rocks, and followed them,
too ; but where they came from, or where they went to,
I never could tell. I fancy the Trolles must have had
something to do with it." "No doubt," I replied. Was
I wrong ? Ought I to have unveiled to him the fallacies
of igneous' gases, of jack o' lanterns, &c. ? May be I
should ; but I left him to his simple belief.

At the house of old Mrs. Kurts, in the sea- washed town
of Allinge, we stayed but the time necessary to leave
our portmanteau and order dinner to be ready for our
return, then started on our w^ay to Hammershuus, two
miles distant.

The little town of Allinge straggles along by the
sea-side. If it wished to extend, it must extend itself

* Tliis anecdote was related to me by the Amtraann.

Chap. LII. ALLINGE— HAMMERSHUUS. 337

lengthways — for it has rocks below and above, purple
rocks clothed with moss, lichen, and delicate ferns, grow-
ing out from its clefts and interstices. Allinge possesses
for its fishing-boats a little home-constructed harbour and
basin, hewed out of the solid rock, without the aid of
engineer, and there lay a flotilla of barques, protected
behind the rubble jetties. There is something fresh and
exciting, as we drive along, in the air and appearance
of the country : fine green turf, like emerald velvet, and
those rocks of purple marble — marble used in the con-
struction of the noblest buildings of Denmark, but not
the fashion, for in Bornholm stand only four churches
composed of this material. Search where you like,
you will not make them out ; they are tastefully covered
over with, at least, six inches of whitewash. We turn
into a forest — not a Danish forest of beech, but scat-
tered clumps of oak, elm, ash, and hawthorn, rising
among monster boulders, mossy swards, and creeping
junipers — drive up to a striped farm-house, sheltered
from the blast by a protecting group of trees, pass
through a wooden gate, and the ruins of Hammershuus
stand before us.

Hammershuus was a chateau fort of early date. Some
writers ascribe its erection to Valdcmar the Great ;*
probably it was the handiwork of some Archbishop of
Lund, of whose diocese Bornholm formed part and
parcel, and whose authority here reigned supreme.

* "Vuldcmar the Great was proud of the buildings lie caused to be
erected. On the i)late found placed at the head of liis (■ofTin in tlio
abbi-y chureli of Ringstod, it is expressly mentioned huw he constructed
the castle of Sprogp witli burnt laricks ; would he then have omitted
to make mention of so much more import^mt a work as the far-fameJ
castle of Hammershuus ?

VOL. II. Z

338 BORNHOLM, Chap. LII.

Bornholm has never possessed any herregaards. So
much the better for the peasants, as they have been
always free. Many of her inhabitants had pretensions
to birth, and the impudent prek^tes dared to ennoble
their favourites without demanding the assent of the
sovereign. First among the families of the island stood
that of Hafod, or Hofad, descendants of that mighty
Earl who in the ninth century, with his gallant band
of Northmen, overran the fair provinces of England
and France.

By a document, dated 1514, the then Archbishop of
Lund, legate of the pope, proceeds to confer letters of
nobility upon his trusty servant, " granting him for
arms a silver buckle on a field gules, with a pair of horns
to wear upon his helmet." In Popish days sovereigns
winked at ecclesiastical impertinence so long as it did
not interfere with their own personal interests ; but
their heyday over, down comes a thundering letter
(one of his own peculiar) from King Frederic II. Un-
derstanding how certain inhabitants of the island of
Bornholm look upon themselves as noble, he informs
them that no patent conferred by foreign authority can
be accepted, and they are for the future to consider them-
selves as " nobodies." In case of their again offending
against the "allerh0ieste" command, the lehnsmand has
orders to conduct them to the castle of Hammershuus,
and there treat them according to " law and right."
The borrowed plumes were soon set aside, for people
well knew that Frederic's " law and right " were matters
not to be trifled with.

In later days Hammershuus became a state prison :
Corfitz and Eleanor Ulfeld were here confined for
the space of one year : they escaped, but were again

Chap. LII, HAMMERSHUUS, 339

taken at the town of Allinge, in the act of embarking
on board a fishing-boat, by Governor Fuchs, who was
afterwards stabbed by their son Christian, in the streets
of Brussels, to revenge his father's imprisonment. When
separated from her husband, Eleanor consoled him with
these well-known lines —

" Eebus in adversis, facile est contemnere mortem,
Fortius ille facit, qui miser esse potest."

There is an old Danish proverb — as well as the
French one* — when " qvinde taler Latin," &c. — when
a woman talks Latin, no good will come of it ;
which in Eleanor's case was carried out. Later Ham-
mershuus fell into decay, was not, for a wonder, blown
up by the Swedes in the seventeenth century, but got
half pulled down for its materials in the eighteenth,
at the period when everything was destroyed, from a
downright spirit of Vandalism. The beauty of a ruin
consists not in its extent, but rather in the manner of its
fall ; and Hammershuus, like Julius Caesar, and Iphigenia
in Aulis, in the Greek play, has had the good taste to
fall " gracefully." It stands on an isolated hill formed
by nature. On one side it overlooks the waters of the
Baltic — the Swedish coast for a background ; on the
opposite side a natural ravine, at the foot a stream
of running water. At the period of its might and
power this rivulet, dammed up, rendered approach by
this side impossible. Whichever way the eye turns'
you gaze enraptured with the beauty of the site: the
bright sparkling sea, and its long line of purple coast,

* Roloil qui hiiserno an matin,
Enfiint qui l)oit du vin,
Fi'inme qui parlo Liiliu,
Font toujours mauvaiso fin.

z 2

340 BORNHOLM. Chap. LII.

rising in fantastic crags, like those of our own Channel
islands ; to the right again, across the fresh-water lake
which almost touches the boundaries of the sea, rises
another green and purple hill, on the opposite side
of which you will find a ruined chapel, with a holy well,
dedicated, of all queer dedications, to King Solomon.*
But if the sea-side view is enchanting, the inland is no
less so. Standing upon the walls' height, you look
down into the green wooded ravine below : on the
other side rises a lofty bankside, scattered with boulders,
trees, turf, broom, heath, and cytisus, all mingling
together in exquisite variety.

The square tower in which Eleanor Ulfeld passed
her year's confinement ; the ruined round tower of the
outer side, fallen in varied and unstudied desolation,
are grand and imposing : even the flora is unlike that
of old castles in general ; the wild convolvulus here
leaps and trails itself like a vine along the crumbling
ruins ; the sea-pink perfumes the air with its fragrance,
and tufts of the dark-blue dwarf veronica (serenpriis)
grow luxuriant among the fallen stones. A heavy
stone, fined at the edge to a point, jutted out from
the crumbling wall. After hard pulling it came out —
strong cement that f — and there it lay in my hand, a
massive hammer of the stone age, broken at the place
of piercing, marks of the chisel still visible. What a
pedigree has that hammer ! In its early youth smashing
the head and braining some Pagan Scandinavian, in

* King Solomon and the Siege of Troy were favourite subjects of
tlie middle ages.

f Of home manufacture, too, for the cement-stone abounds in Born-
holm, and great quantities of it, crushed ready for use, are exported in
barrels to Copenhagen, Sweden, and other localities.

Chap. LIT. HAMMERSHUUS. 341

the t\Yelfth century built iuto the fortress of Ham-
mershuus, and now soon to be lodged with other stone-
lumber of the sort in a Mechanics' Museum.

But before we quit Hammershuus, observe even in the
remote island of Bornholm how much is done for the
healthful enjoyment of the people. Look around how
in every direction walks are cut out, trees planted, seats
erected, everytliing turned to account — as it always is
in Denmark — and where are people so happy and so
respectable? As much is here done among the wild
scenery of Hammershuus, and more too, than in the
most populous towns of our native England.

342 BORNHOLM. Chap. LIII.

CHAPTER LIII.

Farming in Bornholm — Village beacons — The rock scenery — The
White Oven visited at Christmas secure from ghosts — Bomholm
gold coined by Christian IV. — Its diamonds in favour with Queen
Louisa — Round church of 0ster Lars — Fastelavn at Shrovetide —
— Forest of Alminde — The birds at the Cross — Tower of Ghris-
tiansminde — Horse-fair — Font of Aakirkeby.

September IbtJi. — Damm, the coachman — now, don't
imagine I'm swearing : it's the man's own name —
was round with his horses punctual as the clock
struck seven, or, rather, as the hand pointed to the
horn- on his watch — very good gold watch too — won it
as the chief prize for climbing up a greasy pole when
in the land of nuggets. Old Mrs. Korts comes in with
the bill at the very last moment, with a most deter-
mined look about her as though prepared for squalls.
Bill just three times as much as elsewhere ; but then
she is not a regular gjaestgiver, but a lady who "takes
people in " as a favour. I pay it tranquilly, and make
no remark, having come to Bornholm to amuse myself,
and not to get into a passion. We return as far as
Olesker, and then make southwards. Fine bracing
air. We pass through a succession of cultivated fields.
Stubble days gone by, aU is ploughed ; many portions
resown with rye. Farmers' carts, horses, and men, in
full activity. In the background rises a ridge of purple
rocks ; while beyond these, towards the sea, among the
thick protecting forests of ash and oaks, lie the farm-

Chap. LIII, FARMING— R0. 343

houses — small establishments when compared with those
of Jutland. The farms here are seldom of more
than 200 acres. Land has lately much increased in
value. One farm, which some twenty-five years ago
was valued at 2000 dollars, was lately sold for 12,000.
The peasants are most careful cultivators. When
the rye is sown., not one pebble is allowed to remain
on the surface of the field. Were it a geranium-
bed, it could not be more delicately raked or the ground
finer ; for this there is but one explanation — the peasant
is here no tenant : the land is his own property ; four
or six horses are the extent of his possessions and a few
farm-boys his labourers. The farm-buildings have a
" cocky " appearance about them, unlike to sober Den-
mark. Each gable, be there ten of them, is surmounted
by a vane.

W^e enter the parish of E0. Perched upon a neigh-^
bouring h0i stands what fii'st appears a stork's nest
on a pile of faggots within an open wooden frame:
but it's no such thing ; in each successive village you
will come across the same — a beacon, always ready
prepared, in time of peace as war, in case of a de-
scent upon the island. No sooner does fire blaze up
high into the sky than the church belfries send forth a
peal. The alarm once given, a dozen others flame in the
neighbouring parishes ; more bells ring, and the inha-
bitants rise to arms.

Before arriving at the church of R0, built by one
Simon li0 and his twelve sons — all named, from some
vagary of liis own, Simon, after himself — we turn off
the road to visit the rock scenery of Bornholm. Guide
not quite sure of his way ; we therefore halloo to a farmer
busily sowing liis wheat from an oblong basket. Farmer

344 BORNHOLM. ^ Chap. LIH.

turns round, having first completed his furrow, and then
sows his way down the adjoining ridge to our very car-
riage-wheel. We are all right ; drive on to his farm,
put up our horses there, and — he is too busy himself,
but his grandfather will show us the way to the Holy
Well ; so we follow his directions, but he soon appears
at the house himself, on hospitality bent. We must
have a cup of coffee ; we decline — then on our return.
His hustru was to have shown us the way — but the
coffee ? Leave it to the pige (servant-girl). Impossible !
she is so careless she will be sure to burn it. She
consults her husband ; first looks at us, then at the coffee,
and hospitality has the best of it ; so the pige is sum-
moned, and off we set across some fields, more boulders
than grass, and then, after more wood, we come to the
cliff's side. A narrow winding path leads to the beach
below. Fine bold rocks, divided into squares, rise like
turrets from the sea which reaches their base. The
pige can tell me nothing. She thinks more of her
own pretty face — and small blame to her ! — than all
the saints of paradise ; but I find out later that 150
years ago there existed a chapel dedicated to the
Trinity, and how this little ravine was planted with
stone and wooden crosses, and the chapel hung with
votive offerings, long tresses of women's hair among the
number. All this has long since disappeared ; the poor-
box alone remains, iron-bound and massive, nailed to a
stake firmly planted in the ground, and, Kke Hogarth's,
with a cobweb across the opening. " Tell the gentle-
man," laughs the pige, " not to put anything in ; " better
give the money to me to buy a ribbon." You may be
sure I followed her advice. She knows nothing about
the Holy Well, but the spring runs from the rock

Chap. LIII, VISIT TO THE "WHITE OVEN." 345

iiito a small basin toucliing the sea, into wliieh it dis-
charges itself.

A boat will meet you at the Holy Well by order,
for you can better judge of this wild and beautiful
coast from the water than from the cliffs above. First,
you pass a wild frontier pile of rocks, called the
Candles ; one candle got, however, blo^vn over during
last winter's heavy storms : then close by in the /
cliffs side you may distinguish the moulds in which
they were cast, M'hich said candle-moulds are of great
extent, and run, as these holes always do, as far as Ham-
mershuus. Ten strokes of the oar bring us to the en-
trance of the " Black Oven," a dark, cold, slimy, tumble-
down sort of place. When once in, and after sliding
and slipping you sit on a damp, cold rock, the view
of the sea, Candles, and picturesque line of cliffs
extending towards Allinge — well encadre by the black
limestone — does repay you for your trouble. Further
on ycTu pass the "White Oven," an oven not to be
entered save in time of extreme cold, when the winter
is at its full and the Baltic frozen around the island.
Then towards Christmas-time, in the holy days, or
rather nights, when the days are short and obscure —
" som stympede lys der have kun oyne og ender" — like
the stump of a candle, only the beginning and the end —
the peasant girls and boys come down in large parties
with torches and lanterns to explore its wonders. They
slide and they slip along, and the girls fall down on the
ice — quite by accident, not at all for the pleasure of
being picked up again — till they come to the place
where, on raising their heads, they can see through an
aperture the moon shining and myriads of stars blazing
in the bright firmament of heaven ; strange to say,

346 BORNHOLM. Chap. LIII:

when above-groimd no one Las yet discovered where
tliis aperture may lie — it is hid to mortal eyes. But
they go no farther. No one would dare even this
journey save on holy nights, when the angels protect all
innocent pleasures, for the White Oven bears a bad
reputation, and is generally supposed to be a private
entrance to a certain place, to which bad Danes as well
as other folks are allowed free access without giving
themselves the unnecessary trouble of crossing over
by long sea from Copenhagen to Bornholm. Having
visited the finest scenery of the cliffs, we clamber
again up the bank's side : a mercy old grandfather,
whom we passed cutting wood and who must be eighty
at the very least, did not accompany us ; down he may
have got, but it would have required all the virtues of
the Holy Well to have dragged him up again. We
return to the farm-house. A carpenter is occupied
putting in the double windows ; of course, he asks
whether we use them in England. " Seldom ;• they
are not required in our mild climate ; besides, in our
old country houses the windows close hermetically ;
there is never any draught — none, with us, particularly
on the northern aspects. Our windows never rattle,
much less let in the air."

We are now under weigh again, pass by the church of
E0, on whose door you may still see the iron hinge formed
out of the hook left by the Trolles, — iron smelted by
themselves, no doubt, for Bornholm is said to abound
in minerals, though they have been but little worked.
In old books you read accounts of a gold-mine, such
as existed once in Scotland and other localities. King
Christian IV. caused ducats to be coined, but the foreign
merchants would not allow the gold to be real ; so the

1

Chap. LIII. BORNHOLM DIAMONDS. 347

king, -when a second quantity was discovered, issued
a series of whole, half, and quarter ducats, on which
were represented a pair of spectacles, with the inscrip-
tion, " Vide mira Domini," indicating that those who
doubted the fact might be in want of them. Kings
liked to coin medals from gold out of their own
possessions. In the days of swords and knee-breeches,
of powder, hoops, and shoe-buckles, when all men
liked to be smart and glitter, Bornholm, like Alen^on
and Bristol, bore quite a reputation for diamonds.
Somehow or other, tradition relates not how, these
crystals were brought before the notice of our English
princess the good Queen Louisa. From the day of
her marriage she became Danoise pur sang, and
loved, as much as was in her power, to promote the
manufactures of her adopted country. She recollected,
may be, the Bristol stones of her own native land,
then in full vogue and fashion, and one fine night, at a
Court reception, she wore in her head a "bscve naal"
of glittering stones.*

The courtiers greatly admired the new ornament now
first worn by the queen. It was beautiful ! what taste !
" A present lately sent from England?" " On the con-
trary," replied somebody ; " it had arrived only that
very morning by the courier from Vienna." Queen
Louisa kept her counsel till late in the evening, and
then informed her ladies and the courtiers that it was
composed of Bornholm diamonds. " Bornholm dia-
monds ! impossible ! " The whole assembly was aghast,
above all the dowagers of the old regime. Why,

* Baovc naal is a sort of pin mounted as a star, a flower, or a rosctto,
hung with dangles. Queen Louisa is represented with one in her
portrait.

348 BORNHOLM. Chap. LIII.

Bornliolm was iu Denmark ! Was it prudent, was
it politic, of her Majesty to encourage anything
Danish? If it had only come from Germany, — they

were certain Queen Madalena " but Madalena was

now only queen dowager, and, like most dowagers, out
of fashion. The mode took, and the following year the
jewellers of Copenhagen sold 1080 ornaments, shoe-
buckles, and headpins of the newly-introduced material.

But Bornholm diamonds, like Bristol stones and
Alencfon crystals, had their day, and died out together
with knee-breeches, hoops, and powder; and in the
present century ask a Copenhagener if he knows what
a Bornholm diamond is, he will stare you in the
face and look on you as demented.

The country is now intersected by a succession of
ravines rugged and wild — one, termed the Devil's Creek.
Our drive continues — more sylvan, more picturesque.
We pass a second beacon, and, turning a few yards
off the road, drive up to the little cemetery, wherein,
shaded by an ancient gnarled ash, growth of centu-
ries, stands the church of 0ster Lars, largest of the
round churches of Bornholm. Around the top of the
building runs a line of pigeon-holes. The tower itself is
supported by buttresses of immense strength ; we mounted
to its summit. A narrow gallery runs round within the
outside walls, pierced by the above-mentioned pigeon-
holes. Then comes a second wall, stronger, if anything,
than the first, with loopholes, like in the church of Ole ;
and witliin again a third wall, defended in a similar man-
ner, though when once driven within for protection there
could be no possible outlet. The same arrangement is
found in the second story below. The earlier Christian
inhabitants of the island, pirates and sea-robbers, lovers

Chap. LIII. KUNIC STONES. 349

of booty, but at tbe same time anxious for the future
safety of their souls, killed two birds with one stone —
they founded churches and prayed to the saints. The
church itself differs from the two preceding ones, which
are supported by one solid pillar; here the centre is
open and supported by six round arches. A broad cross
spans the round-arch dome, resting on simple brackets.
The arrangement is similar, on a smaller scale, to
that of the Temple de Lanlefif, in the neighbourhood of
St. Brieuc, in Brittany. Unfortunately, these round
churches are so defaced by galleries, pews, &c., it is
difficult to judge of their proportions ; and the aj)se
here, which with the exterior is of fine old Norman
work, is so bedaubed with whitewash as entirely to
obscure the carvings with which it is decorated.

At the entrance without stands a Emiic stone, dug
out some years since from the bridge of the Devil's
Creek, — dating from the Christian period, for in the
centre is inscribed a cross. The. signification of this
I know not. Bornholm is rich in Eunic stones, many
of the Christian era. In the church of St. Clemens
stand two of picturesque appearance under the shade of
a walnut-tree, inscribed as follows. The first is of hea-
then times: — "Gobu Sven raised this stone to his son
I)j(5rn, who was a mighty and a strong man. He had a
wife named Godruna, and he was slain by the Jarl."
The second : " Selfia raised this stone to her husband
Gudbjorn. Christ help GudbjOrn Alerson'ssoul. Christ
help the pious Selfia." Solfia appears to have liad a
good oj)inion of herself These inscriptions mostly run
in the same style ; those of Pagan days merely stating
who raised the stone and the manner of the death of
fhe deceased, wliilc the later ones for the most part

850 BORNHOLM. Chap. LIII.

terminate with the words, " God have mercy on his
soul!"

We again proceeded on our way. The old customs
of Bornholm differ little from those once prevalent
in the rest of Denmark, though now gradually fading
away. Christmas, as in other countries, is a season
of universal rejoicing and merriment. " Gud signe
eders Juul ; Juul til Paaske " — May God bless your
Cliristmas ; may it last till Easter. The salt-cellar
remains on the table during the festival of Juul ;
Christmas cake and the Juul tonne, which dates from
Pagan days, to which all strangers are welcomed with
" You shall not carry pur Juul out of doors." From the
24th of December until the New Year no one works —
neither man nor woman. The farmer drinks during
that period of repose a considerable quantity of honey
mixed with brandy — a sort of hydromel, the favourite
beverage — and devours huge Christmas cakes ; and the
young people love the dance almost to frenzy. The
New Year, however, is not danced in, as with us ; it
is " shot in " in Bornholm. Everybody who possesses
or can shoulder a gun or discharge a pistol fires it off
as the clock strikes twelve ; large parties of the pea-
sants mount their steeds, and, visiting the farms of
their neighbours, fire against the window-panes, startling
those slumbering within — a somewhat uproarious man-
ner of wishing them " a happy New Year." On the
festival of the Three Kings in every house is con-
sumed a tallow candle with three wicks ; then, at six
weeks' distance from Christmas Day, the Bornholmers
indulge in one week of fun and jollity, relics of the old
Papistic carnival, termed " Fastelavn" (Shrovetide). They
do their best to disguise and costume themselves, men

Chap. LIII. FASTELAVN. 351

as women, women as men, and, witli masks on their
faces, go round and visit tlie different Louses. Some-
times there are cavalcades on horseback, horses decked
out as well as their riders ; but for this one week they
dance from morning till night and from night till
morning ; and Damm, tlie coachman, who, among
other accomplishments, plays the fiddle, assured me
that by the time the Bornholm week's carnival is
spent his arms are well-nigh played out of their
sockets.* Another pastime' of Fastelavn appears to
me of a somewhat barbarous nature. An unfortunate
cat is hung up, hermetically sealed, in a barrel, and
each man tries his skill, with a wooden club, to smash
the barrel to pieces. A prize, of course, is awarded to
the victor. Fastelavn, too, is a season of grand fun for
the children of the family in Denmark. Some days
previous to its arrival, you will see the smaller cellars
and shops filled with small rods, gilded and tied up
with particoloured ribbons. The young ones of every
house are up at earliest dawn, and, armed with these
miniature implements of correction, proceed to belabour
the bedclothes of the whole household — " Whip up,
Fastelavn," as they call it — and exact, as their right
and ransom, toys, sweetmeats, and such like.

* " Do everything by rule, as tlie tailor said when he killed liis
wifo with a rule," is a vul<;ar— very vulgar — Danish proverb, but one
whieh the island peasants adliere to strongly, more especially as re-
gards the traditions of the Church of Rome. On Good Friday " they
set tlicir willows." They have an especial day for the planting of
everything, and, as for signs and wonders, the life of a farmer must be
a torment to him. If on Ascension Day tlie rye be not in ear, woe
betide them ; or again, should it rain on any one of the Sundays when
the Gospels are read from St. Luke, it is a bad look-out for the harvest,
A great festival, too, is Hellig Bonder's Day, the week after St. Vol-
borg'rf, the time for sowing the corn and the week when people clean
out their liouses.

352 BORNHOLM. Chap. LIII.

Turning off nearer to tlie coast, we descend a small
hill, and drive into the little seaport town of Sva-
neke, a pretty little striped town, built up the
ascent from the rocky coast, with a well-to-do look
about it; each house has a large garden, gay with
autumn flowers and fruit-laden trees and walnuts.
Were lodgings to be procured, it would be a charming
sojourn for sea-bathers.

At Carlsons, wliere we stopped to dine, the usual
question — never-failing — was asked me. Was I the
author whose books they loved so much, and who made
them pass so many a pleasant evening in the long
winter season ? I believe Captain Marryat's books are
still popular in his own country, but here, in the
North of Europe, they excite a very furore ; scarcely a
farmer, scarcely a publican, no less than those of a
higher class, in the remotest part of Denmark, but
put to me invariably the same question ; and when I,
in my humility, have pleaded guilty — although I be no
' Naval Officer ' — to being " own brother to ' Snarley
Yow,' " I could not, were I the author himself, have met
with greater civility and attention.

Here, at Svaneke, was I formally introduced to a sort
of a nephew — qui valait bien sans doute mes autres — a
large black and white setter puppy, dragged howling
into the room by the scruff of his neck, christened
" Japhet," in honour of that individual who set out
over the wide world in search of his father.

A drive across a balmy, breezy moor brought us to
the royal forest of Alminde. A mile further we land
at the house of Mr. Eosen, the guardian, where we
pass the night.

Se-ptemher IQtli. — The forest of Alminde is a royal

Chap. LIIT, CATTLE-SHOW, 353

possession. It is Swedish in its character ; the ground
unduhxting, tlie hills and dales strewn with piu'ple rocks
and boulders, tossed about and rising on all sides in
most chaotic confusion. The pine, the oak, the ash, and
the birch, wych-elm and dog-wood. September is set
in, and the tints of autumn in their endless variety of
colouring are most charming.

This morning we set off on an early walk, passing by
an obelisk erected to commemorate the visit of his
present Majesty, when a young man, to his loyal pos-
session of Bornholm — a building open to the public
on high days and hohdays, and to-day all is motion
and activity, for it is the annual cattle-show of the
island, and prizes are awarded to bulls, bullocks, pigs,
et hoc genus omne. Long tables are spread out under
the trees, with coffee, tea, and smOr brod, to say nothing
of schnapps ; and Avhile the judges are busy awarding
the prizes the farmers and their families are occupied
vvith their inward restoration. Very sturdy little bulls
— small, hke all island breeds — stand quiescent under
inspection. A prize-ticket is fastened on to a dun-
coloured animal with a white streak across his back ;
tlien we make our way on, up aud down, down and up,
till we come to the entrance of a huge encampment,
surrounded by an earthen vallum, here termed Gamle-
borg. Nobody knows aught of its history ; it is now
studded over with trees, but it is wortli while to climb
on the opposite side merely to look down on the valley
beneath.

In an opposite direction, remarkable alone for its
site — for little of the castle remains — stands the sister
fortress of Lilleborg, a stronghold of the Archbishoj")
of Lund, built of Bornholm stone. ]\Iany ancieut

VOL. II. 2 A

354 BORNHOLM. Chap. LIII.

urns were here discovered some years since and
forwarded to the Northern IMuseiim at Copenhagen.
Foxes abound in Alminde, chevreuil too, but the larger
deer, though frequently imported, do not thrive. Many
rare birds here build their nests which have been known
to do so nowhere else among the islands of Denmark.
The eggs of the peregrine falcon, as well as the larger
woodcock, were both taken here last spring. Herons
are plentiful in Bornholm, but the stork is more
chary of its visits. When the swallow abounds in
summer, the peasants and folks of the little towns can
happily console themselves for the stork's absence, for
the swallow is even more beloved of the two, and in
old papistic times was supposed to live and fly under
the special protection of Our Lady. There exists a
charming old song — I have, however, never been able
to procure a copy of it — sung still, sometimes, by the
old crones of the island of Zealand, in which the swal-
low goes to the Virgin to beg the loan of a needle and
thread to sew her nest together.

Then again there is an old Popish tradition, which
may be known in other lands, but to me is new, so I
may as well give it : — " It was on that fearful Friday
when our Saviour hung in his agony upon the cross,
when the sun was turned into blood, and darkness was
upon all the earth, that three birds, flying from east to
west, passed by the accursed hill of Golgotha. First came
the lapwing ; and when the bird saw the sight before him
he flew round about the cross, crying, in his querulous
tone, 'Piin ham! piin ham! — torment him! torment
him ! ' For this reason the lapwing is for ever accursed,
and can never be at rest ; it flies round and round its
nest, fluttering and uttering a plaintive cry; in the

Chap. LIII. THE BIRDS AT THE CROSS. 355

swamp its ep:gs are stolen. Then came the stork, and
the stork cried in its sorrow and its grief for the ill
deed done, ' Styrk ham ! styrk ham ! — Give him
strength ! give him strength ! ' Therefore is the stork
blessed, and wherever it comes it is welcome, and the
people love to see it build upon their houses ; it is a
sacred bird, and for ever unharmed. Lastly came the
swallow, and when it saw what was done it cried, ' Sval
ham! sval ham! — refresh him! cool him!' So the
swallow is the most beloved of the three ; he dwells
and builds his nests under the very roofs of men's
houses, he looks into their very windows and watches
their doings, and no man disturbs him either on the
palaces or the houses of the poorest peasants. For
this reason, as you travel in Denmark, you will observe
the swallows' nests remain imdistiu'bed ; no one would
di-eam for a moment of scratcliing them down or
destroying them as we do in England." To this tradi-
tion the Swedes add a fourth bird, the turtle-dove, who,
perching on the cross in its anguish, cried, "Kurrie!
kurrie! kurrie!" (kyrie — Lord!) Since that day the
dove has never been glad, but flies through the forest
still repeating its sad notes.

On our way home we visited the celebrated rokke-
steen, or shaking stone, the largest in the North of
Europe. It lies in the forest, abnost surrounded
with earth, unlike those of the Breton heath, which
stand erect and lifted up on high,

Christiansminde, tlie lion of the island, is a square
lofty tower of Bornholm stone, erected to commemorate
the visit of the present king and the Countess Danner.
The king is here popular ; Bornholm is loyal and
marble is cheap, and this edifice is an im^jrovement

2 A 2

356 BORNHOLM. Chap. LIII.

on the old-fasliioned useless obelisk, for you can here
mount to the summit and enjoy the view over the
bright sparkling sea as far as your eye can gaze.

On our return we found the horse-fair in full force :
competition for a prize of one hundred dollars. The
mares Avere arranged all in a line for inspection down
by the Koldekilde, a once-celebrated spring, whose
waters, if quaffed on St. John's Eve, cured all sorts
of maladies that flesh is heir to, and the taste is
said in old books to be at all times equal to brandy.
Times are changed, and the waters with them. To-day,
for every one farmer who drank of the hmpid foun-
tain, ninety-nine took a swig at the brandy-bottle.
But the exhibition of horses had never been so bad as
this year, all the better cattle having been sold off to
Prussia during the war-fever in Germany. It must be
from these islands of the North that Franconi and the
travelling circuses recruit their studs ; for among the
numerous " cafe an lait," dun-colom-ed, flea-bitten, and
other varieties, stood two geldings, as queer specimens
of the equine race as ever mortals clapped eyes upon :
black as the raven's wing, with four white legs —
not stockings — white manes, with tails to correspond.
It is said that somebody from the North presented
four of these eccentric animals to Louis XIV., who
was so much pleased with their appearance that he
had them harnessed to his own particular private gilded
caroche.

When we had exhausted the mares and the stallions,
the three-year-olds, and the very small ponies, we re-
turned to our carriage. Our first halt was at Aakirkeby
— one of Bornholm's renowned blue marble churches,
luxuriant in whitewash, a tumbledown concern filled

358 B0GO. Chap. LIV.

CHAPTER LIV.

Return to Zealand ~ Island of Bog0 — King Valdemar and the Hanse-

. atikers — The Goose Tower — Goose carried off by King Erik —

Castigation of the fair Cecilia — Herlufsholm the Harrow of Denmark

—Old Bridget and the missing title-deeds — The gallant Admiral

TroUe — Hvitfeldt the chronicler's Dance of Death.

M0EN-.

October 11. — The autumn is now far advanced; the
leaves, undevoured by caterpillars, hang thinly to the
trees ; a feeling of damp pervades the forest and the
Mint ; the bathing bower smells like a fungus ; even
the mushrooms are saturated with wet — wood-mush-
rooms, large enough to form dinner-tables to a marriage-
party of Trolles or Nisses; they have now all turned
black, and are quite uneatable. So we yawn, abuse the
weather, and, thanking our stars the month of October
is at last arrived, pay a farewell visit to the Stor Klint,
slide once more into the numerous giants' chambers,
pack up om- clothes, and start, inwardly rejoicing, for
Copenhagen.

ISLAND OF B0GO.

We again embark upon the " Zamjm," bound from
Stege to Vordingborg. Two ferry-boats meet us in
the centre of the strait, by Kallehave ; we bend
our course through a world of little islands. The
coast of Zealand is riclily wooded ; we pass by B0go,
or the Isle of Beeches, celebrated in the annals of

CiiAr. LIV. VORDIXGLORG. 359

old story, wlien every insil possessed her own rulers,
and they each individually made war one against
another ; but we have had the same story elsewhere of
the so\\'ing of the beech-masts, so may pass it by : and
then, suddenly, in the distance rises like a phare — though
not half so useful — a tall, slender tower, the far-famed
Goose Tower of the castle of Yordingborg.

VOEDINGBOEG.

We land at one English mile from the little town,
once a city of note in the days of the Yaldemerians,
now a village, with its tower, its castle-site, alone re-
maining to test the truth of its earlier glories.

All the Valdemerians dwelt at VorcUngborg Castle,
and mightily affected it as a residence — it was the
Windsor of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries ;
in her own convent church, rich still in old caiTed altar-
piece, was crowned King Christopher II.* It was the
apanage of our Prince George ; at his death returned to
the Crown ; and was afterwards burnt to the ground, as
is usual in Denmark. But the fuil of the history of this
chateau fort took place in the days of Queen Margaret's
father, that " roi farceur," old Yaldomar Atterdag. You
recollect the story of the " amulet" taken by the prying

* The sovereigns seem in tLie Lcginiiing to have been crowned any-
where and everywhere, and the earlier ones— Knnd the Holy, Niels, &c.
— not at all. Some of them — Mugnu.s and Sven<l CJ rathe — received the
crown of the German emperor. Valdemar I. is the first one crowned ;
some were crowned by the Archbishop of Lund. Knud was crowned
at Ringsted ; Clirislophor II. at Vordingluirg, and Erik flipping in
Viborg. Erik of ruiuerania was crowned at Culmar, and Cliristujther
of Bavaria at Kibe. Gonerally on some Saint's day the coronation
took placf. Fiml it was not custniiiary to make kiiiglits, lint Erik of
Pomerania made one hundred and twenty-three on the occasion.

360 VORDINGBORG; Chap. liy.

courtier from the breast of poor murdered Tove — liow,
driven well nigh demented by the affection of his sove-
reign, transferred from the corpse of the defunct mis-
tress to himself, he flung the precious stone into a lake
near Yordingborg, in which locality the affections of his
master were henceforth concentrated.

It was in the period of their j)ower and glory that the
cities of the Hanseatic League, irritated at some real
or imaginary injury, despatched each severally his envoy
— seventy-seven they arrived together — to declare war
against the Danish sovereign. Loud laughed King
Valdemar when he was told of their arrival, and louder
still when he heard that those of South Germany,
fearing the inclemency of the Danish climate, had
muffled up theu- persons in furs and skins, much after
the manner of Greenlanders and Esquimaux. The
king invites the embassy on the morrow to a state ban-
quet in the riddersaal of the castle. The ambassadors
arrive, seventy-seven in number, arranged according to
precedence, and are conducted to the hall of state where
the banquet is prejDared. Sable and miniver, squirrel and
humble catskin envelop the portly persons of the proud
burghers of the imjjortant League. The king caused
the stoves to be heaped with wood, and the hall to be
heated like the fiery furnace of Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego ; have a carouse with his worthy envoys
he would : the doors were locked, the wine-cup passed,
the poor ambassadors in their heavy robes melt and
suffocate, the king and his courtiers at their ease enjoy
the fun ; they drink, they revel, regardless of the suffer-
ings of their guests, till nearly break of morn, when the
envoys are released, with compliments, and orders to
retui-n the following day to a fresh banquet and receive

CiiAP. LIV. VALDEMAR'S EPISTLE TO THE TOPE. 361

the royal answer. On the morrow they come — not to be
taken in this time ; the day is cold, the snow falls, the
wind bitter — never mind, the King's Grace keeps good
fires; so the worthy envoys appear clad in garments
of the lightest and thinnest textures, when, lo! to
their horror, they find a banquet sjjrpad for them in
the open air in the castle court. The king, well wrap-
ped himself, receives them smiling, and, after a pro-
longed carouse under a falling snow, delivers to the
indignant ambassadors his answer in "platt" German,
a doggrel of his own composition —

S0ven und s0ventig Hense. Seventy-seven Hanseatil^ers.

S0ven und s0ventig Gense. Seventy-seven geese.

Bieten mieli nicht die Gense If the geese don't bite I don't care
So frag ich nicht een Schit a fig for the Hanseatic towns,
na die Hense.

Very rude on the part of King Valdemar, but this
sovereign was a free speaker and stuck at nothing. His
religious opinions were undecided ; at one time he
appears an atheist, at another he makes a pilgrimage
to the Holy Sepulchre ; ho pays a visit to the pope at
Avignon, and later, when his Holiness advises him
to reign mildly, as a father, and not like a tyrant, and
tlireatens him with excommunication, Valdemar writes
to him the following well-known epistle : —

"King Valdemar to the Roman Pontiff greeting.
We have our nature from God, our kingdom from the
inhabitants, our riches from our forefathers, and our
faith from your predecessors ; wliicli faith, if you do not
favour us, we return you by these presents. Farewell."*

* Waldcmar Rex Poiitifici Romano Salutcm. Naturam liabemus a
Deo, Regnum ab Iiicolis, Divitiaa a Parentibus, Fidom a tuis Pr.-cdf-
cessoribus, quam, si nobis non favcs, per ^SDsentes remittimus. Valo.

362 VORDINGBORG, Chap. LIV.

This is the most daring letter ever received by a
pope, but, being composed with peculiar naivet'i and
openheartedness, the author was not called to account.
The pope only said, " Valde amarum est/' it is very
bitter.

In commemoration of the Hanseatic embassy, Val-
demar caused to be constructed the celebrated Goose
Tower, surmounted by a vane — a goose of fine gold.
When, in after days, Erik the Pomeranian fled with
the fair Cecilia to the island of Gothland, they carried
off with them the crowni jewels, and all valuables they
could lay their hands upon, among which was numbered
the golden goose — the weather-cock of the castle of
Vordingborg. This fair Cecilia was own lady's-maid
to our English Queen Philippa ; beyond the fact that she
accompanied Erik to Gothland and remained with him
nine or ten years, little is recorded concerning her except
the following anecdote. One day, a powerful noble, Sir
Olaf Axelsen Thott* by name, when riding accompanied
by his squires in the neighbourhood of Vordingborg,
met a lady driving in great state in a queen's coach ; so
he got off his horse, and, taking off his hat, like a
well-mannered gentleman, made her a low bow.

" Haw, haw ! " laughed the squires. " Su-rahs, what
do you mean by such insolence ? " exclaimed the asto-
nished noble. The attendants here explained who the
lady was. " Stop the chariot ! " roared Sir Olaf. " Pull
the jade out ! " His orders are promptly obeyed, and,
seizing the unlucky Cecilia across his knees, he treats
her just as nurses do refractory children, and gave her,

* He was one of the nine eons of Axel Thott, known under the
name of Axels0nner. ^

Chap. LIV. NESTVED. 3G3

as the author expresses it, "tre snia?k paa rumpen,"
adding, " Take that to your lord, and tell him by your
bad intiuence you will some day cause his separation
from Denmark." The knight was right, for she did so.
We slept but one night at Vordingborg. The scenery
over the water is soft and smiling, soothing to the nerves,
like that of Denmark in general.

NESTVED.

October 3rd. — How the wind did blow, how the rain
did pour, as we drove along the dull road on our way
to Nestved ! we had decidedly remained too late in
M0en, and ought already to be lodged safe somewhere,
and not wandering at this season over the wide, blowing '
country of the island of Zealand.

The little town of Nestved was of more importance
in former days, and the " consul and proconsul " were
treated with becoming respect by King Christian I.,
who summoned them to attend the wedding of Prince
Hans with " his bride Christina of Saxony," in these
terms : — " Christianus I., &c. — Further, dear friends, as
we intend, with the will of God, to keep the wedding of
our son on Sunday next after Bartholomew's day in
Copenhagen, we invite you to come and enjoy yourselves,
with your wives, and other friends who shall come," — a
more general invitation than is given to royal weddings
in the present day.

We are lodged at the hotel and rather inclined to
grumble, but the weather after noon-time clears up ; tlie
sun, wearied of staying at home within the black curtain-
clouds, comes out for a gaze on this world below, and,
dried and in the sweetest of tempers, we stroll out to
visit Herlufsiholm, the Eton — no! Sor0, a real ro^al

364 ' HERLUFSHOLM. Chap. LIY.

foundation, is the Eton — the Harrow rather of the Danish
dominions. A clear meandering trout-stream, through
a leafy forest, guides us on our way ; a stray professor,
pale and unwholesome-looking, with the inevitable spec-
tacles on nose, taking his daily constitutional, and then,
further on a party of happy schoolboys, walking arm
in arm, imparting to each other their little mutual
confidences. Group after group passes by, all neatly
dressed and walking with decorum, for it is Sunday, on
which day alone the boys are permitted to go into the
town of Nestved, and after four o'clock, the Lutheran
Sabbath being over, to visit the " tuck-shops" of the city.
Two children look wistfully at us as we pass, and
whisper something to each other; we look back, they
turn, and then a small boy, more venturesome than his
companion, runs up, capping us, and we recognise two
small acquaintances whom we had met in the chateaux
of their fathers during our wanderings in Jutland.
They volunteer to do the honours, procm-e the keys, and
initiate us into the academy of Herlufsholm, at which
they are pursuing their elementary studies.

HERLUFSHOLM.

Herlufsholm, once a convent of Benedictines, re-
sembles most of the red brick gaards of its period;
much massacred, happily unwashed. It was founded
in the 16th century by the celebrated Admu'al Herluf
TroUe and his wife Bridget Gi0e.* Herluf exchanged

* The Gi0e family date back to the thirteenth century. Mogens,
father of Bridget, became a great advocate of the Eeformation and
corresponded with Luther. He was appointed to arrange the mar-
riage of Christian II. with the Princess Ehzabeth, whom he espoused
by procuration. His brother Henry commanded the fleet sent to bring

Chap. LIV. THE MISSING TITLE-DEEDS. 365

the manor of Skovkloster with Iving Frederic II. for
that of Hiller0dsholm, now Frederiksborg.

It's a very pious act, no doubt, founding colleges and
hospitals after you're dead with your money, but the
proceeding is seldom approved of by your nearest heirs
and relatives. It having come to the knowledge of " the
disinherited " that the title-deeds of the college were
misLaid, they forthwith brought an action against the
foundation for the recovery of the manor and its depen-
dencies. Most indefatigable search had been made into
every cupboard, every mouse-hole of the manor, without
effect; the lawsuit was going against the Academy;
and the rector, worried and sad (as he himself
relates), worn out with anxiety and useless racking of
his brain, fell asleep one evening in his arm-chair in
]iis homely bed-room of the old conventual building.
The moon shone bright, and suddenly "sasible in her
pale rays appeared before him the form of old Bridget
Gi0e, wife of the founder ; angiy and exceeding wrath-
ful she looked, menacing with her hand, as much as
to say, " What's the use of my founding academies if
you spectacled fools go and lose the title-deeds? — ugh !
you st-o-o-o-pid ! " and down, in her wrath, she banged
lier clenched fist upon a small table by the fire-side,
making tlie very cliamljer ring with the noise, and then
di8a])pearod. The tormented rector starts from his
chair alarmed ; suddeidy a thought strikes him ; he
seizes the poker, and, following the example of tlie
ghost, bangs away at the table, till it flies shivered to
bits, and there, hidden in a secret drawer, lies forgotten

licr to Denmark, and remained fuithfiil to lier fortunes to tho last, for
which lus property was confiscated l)y Frederic I.

366 HERLUFSHOLM, Chap. LIV.

tlie very document wliose loss had well-nigh caused the
dissolution of the budding academy.

We visited the dormitories, each with its fifteen beds —
boys arranged according to their ages and size — name on
each bed — the wasliing-rooms, studies, gymnasium, and
salle d'armes; many are the portraits of the worthy
founders. Old Bridget looks well capable of smashing a
table or a skull if she felt inclined — the last person in
the world one would care to meet with on an excursion
from the land of spirits. She was lady of honour to
Queen Dorothea, and is said to have contributed more
to the establishment of the Reformation than any one in
Denmark, for, when Hans Tausen first preached the
doctrines of Luther, she it was who induced Eonn0v,
the Bishop of Zealand, not to treat the matter harshly.
(Ronn0v was an admirer of Bridget before he entered
into holy orders.) Lastly, we visit the chapel, where
behind the altar lie the splendid black and white marble
monuments of the foimders ; better kept they might be,
and should be, for it is little to the credit of the autho-
rities to allow them to be mutilated, and made restinsf-
places for brooms and brushes.

Small boy brings us a cannon-ball, most uncomfort-
able affair, with a spike projecting from one end of
it ; he dragged it out from among some rubbish — the
very ball from which the gallant old Admiral met his
death-wound in a conflict with the Swedes in 1565.*

* When about to start on this last expedition, a friend remonstrated
with him on again risking his Ufe after such long service. Troll e replied,
" If I lose this life, I enter another. Do you know why we are called
gentlemen, and why we wear chains of gold ; why we possess lord-
ships, and expect more respect from others ? It is because we have
the satisfaction to see our peasants live iu peace, while we, with our

Chap. LIV. HVITFELDrS DANCE OF DEATH. 367

But really the authorities — for we all know how im-
moveable learned corporations are all the world over —
have made a move of late years ; they have closed
the coffin of Denmark's Lord Chancellor and histo-
rian, Hvitfeldt, who is here interred.* Old Herlufs-
holmians recollect the time when, in the heyday of
their youth and spirits, though perhaps not grace, they
— on mischief bent — uncovered the sarcophagus of the
old chronicler, dragged him from his resting-place, and,
each gi^nng him a hand, waltzed him round and round
the church — a living Dance of Death, not painted in the
designs of Cranach, or Hans Hemling either — irreve-
rent monkeys !

The evening is bright and autumnal ; our young
guides conduct us by a new way through the forest to-
wards Nestved. We pass tlu-ough their summer play-
ground, a wa^^ng canopy of foliage overhead, not to be
penetrated by the sun's rays. This forest is very charm-
ing, most enjoyable, doubly so to youth ; and then, hav-
ing taken leave of the little fellows with that mysterious
pressure of the hand, a sort of freemasonry which makes
a visit from " friends of home " extra acceptable, we
dismiss them to their tuck-shop, bull's-eyes, hardbake,
and tofify. IMay angels watch over their digestion !

One advantage have Sor0 and Herlufsholm over our
public schools of Eton and Harrow — recollect I speak

king, defend our country. If we wisli for what is swoot, we must also
taste the bitter." It was Herluf who commenced the collection of
chronicles of wliich his nephew Ilvitfeidt later made use.

* He (li<'<l at Ilerlufsliohn IGOH. Hvitfeldt was sent amhassador to
the Court of Queen Eiizabetli to restore the insignia of the Garter at
tlio death of King Frederic H. His History of the Danish Monarchy
extends from Dan Mikillati to Frederic II., and was edited and con-
tiuued by lleseu.

368 ' HERLUFSHOLM. Chap. LIV.

as man, not with the feelings of a schoolboy, who prefers
all that is wrong in this world to what is good for him.
Being far removed from large towns, the boys are not
encouraged to run into every kind of extravagance, and
compelled to pay just three times the value of every
article in which they invest their pocket-money — a sys-
tem of robbery licensed, Heaven only knows why, by the
authorities of the above-mentioned places. As regards
learning, who ever learned anytliing useful at a public
school in England except to be and conduct himself like
a gentleman ? with that we all rest satisfied : self-edu-
cation will come later, somehow or other, when once a
man feels the want of it»

CnAP. LY. GAUNO. 309

CHAPTER LV.

Peter Tliott and his h0i — The Black Friis of Borreby — The enchaiited
bell of the Letter-room — Old Valdemar Dau the alchymist — The
giuut girl and the sandliills — The "Lady of the Morn " the curse
of Zealand — Thorvaldsen at Nys0 — The convent for noble ladies
at Gisselfeld — Peter Oxe the minister of Frederic II. — The
ladies of Vemmetofte — A starlight night — Si^oliatiou of the
goddess Freia.

GAUN0.

October Atli. — Three days' rain ; it is over, and we
have bright autumn weather again. We started this
morning early, for the days close in fast, and it is well
to have the daylight before you, to visit Gaun0, the
sea-girt chateau of Baron Reedts Thott, at a mile's
distance from the town of Nestved. A fine old
place it is, and contains a great many jiictures —
heirlooms to the family — how many thousands I
dare not affirm. The Thott family, say some, existed
centuries before the Christian era. One Peter Thott is
mentioned as having rendered good service to King
Yaldemar in his wars against the Wends. Pagan he
remained though patriot, but his son Thor the Bearded
was baptised and became Governor of Iceland and
Skaane. He stuck however to the good old customs,
and was buried like a true Scandinavian inider a h0i in
Skaane, called Ki0ling-h0i. On this hill were many
stones, one of which, called Lille Tulle, bore the fol-
lowing inscription : —

"VOL. XL 2 B

370 SKJELSK0R. Chap. LV.

" Dalby mill and Kielby mead,
Beechen grove and Eings0 lake,
Give I to Bosie Klostei* new ;
But I myself lie under this h0i."

A peasant once carried off the stone to repair his house,
but the ghosts made such a hideous noise, his family
were scared out of their wits, and resolved to depart
bag and baggage, when a ghost appeared before them,
saying, " Eeplace Lille Tulle." They did so, and the
noises ceased. Later, however, the stone Avas carried
off by Tage Thott to use in the construction of his
chateau at Eriksholm, but he was one of the family, and
the ghosts said nothing.

We had meant to extend our journey as far as
Holstenborg and Skjelsk0r, the former the seat of the
Counts of Holstein ; Skjelsk0r a small town, remark-
able for nothing except for the fact that no Danish
king has ever visited withm its walls since the days of
Erik Menved. According to tradition, Skjelsk0r is one
of the strongholds of the Elf King ; and were a living
monarch to attempt to cross the bridge which leads
within its gates, the structure would straightway crumble
down and immerse the royal party in the waters
below.

But though Skjelskpr is a town of little historic
interest, not far from it stands the picturesque chateau
of Borreby, built, it is said, with the stones from Marsk
Stig's stronghold at Stigs Naes. Borreby is the herregaard
of a branch of the Friis family — the " Black Eriis" as
they were styled, from their bearing three black squir-
rels* as their arms — one of whom, John Friis, Avas the

* The Friis, of Friisenborg, bear a red squirrel cracking a nut.

Chap. LV. BORREBY. 371

first Protestant High Chancellor of Denmark, the friend
of Luther and Melanethon, who faithfully served his
country for fifty years under four successive sovereigns.
John died unmarried, and Borreby descended to his
nephew Christian,* who likewise filled the office of
Chancellor, and was minister plenipotentiary to the
Court of Queen Elizabeth. Now, in the southern wing
of the old mansion was a vaulted chamber called the
" Letter-room," formerly full of old chests and manu-
scripts long since dispersed. From the ceiling hung
suspended an enchanted bell ; and when the Chancellor
Chi'istian Friis was at his last extremity, he told the
Lady Mette Hardenberg, his wife, that, when she should
hear the bell in the letter-chamber sound, she must
prepare to follow him to the grave. And thus it occurred
some years afterwards. One evening the lady was sit-
ting at cards when the bell in the letter-chamber was
heard to toll. Lady ]\Iette laid down her cards, and
said to her friends, " I have a good hand, but I shall
not live to play it out — I am about to die." At the
same time she expired.

The Daa family next became lords of the manor.
Valdemar Daa laid waste a forest of oaks by cutting
doAvn the largest trees to build a costly man-of-war, which
he expected the king, Frederic III., to purchase at an

* The Friis have given two Chancellors of tlio name of Christian.
The other, great-nephew to the gallant old Birfhoj) of Vihorg, was one
of the first eleven knights of the Armed Hand, whose names are per-
petuated in a distich : —

"Friis, Lung, Skcel, Rantzau, Eantzan, tu BiMeqne, Rantzau,
Sinklar, Sparr, et Pons, Sandburg et Skeel, partis cquestris."

Charles I. esteemed liim so highly that, when Sir Thomas Roe was
sent ambassador to Denmark, Charles gave him an autograph letter to
Friis, recommending him to his especial notice.

2 13 2

372 BORREBY. Chap. LV.

exorbitant price. The king sent an admiral to inspect
it, wlio admired a fine pair of black horses which Valde-
mar had in his stable. Yaldemar would not take the
hint and present them to the admiral, so the latter returned
and gave a bad rej)ort of the ship ; the king declined the
purchase, and it was left to rot upon the strand. Later,
Valdemar turned alchymist, and became so poor that one
hard winter his three dauo-hters remained months in bed
because they could not afford fuel. At last he fancied
he had discovered the great secret ; but he let fall the
precious vial ; it broke, and his hopes were dashed to
the ground. More poverty, mortgage foreclosed, &c.,
and the family had to leave Borreby. On foot, staff in
hand, accompanied by his daughters, an alchymical vial
in his bosom, he went forth a wanderer from his once
princely home, to die in misery and obscurity. One
day a large black dog arrived at Borreby, and entering
the hall proceeded to the letter-room and pulled the
bell with his teeth. The new possessor was alarmed,
but afterwards found that at that very moment had
expired at Yiborg old Valdemar Daa, late lord of the
manor of Borreby.

We returned to Nestved to breakfast, and again
started on the road which leads towards Prsesto. After
leaving the town to the right, at some distance re-
moved from the sea runs a lofty ridge of sand-banks,
bakkere as they here call them. Splendid view from
the top, says the postilion, finest in Zealand; we de-
cline ; much too windy ; om- energies, too, are well
nigh exliausted. Geologists and wiseacres would be
puzzled ever to know how this ridge of sand-hills got
themselves here inland, where they have no business
to be, were it not for Tradition, and she luckily knows

Chap. LV. THE GL^'T GIRL, 373

everytliiug. Once on a time in tlie neigliLourliood
of Nestved there lived a giant girl, a good girl enough,
only she had long, bare legs, and the boys laughed
at her, calling out " Long shanks ! long shanks ! "
whenever she appeared. One day they worried and
teased her beyond all bearmg; in a fuiy she rushed
do\TO to the sea-shore, and, filling her apron vdth. sand,
was about to overwhelm the town of Nestved, and
bury houses and inhabitants, rude boys and ghls to-
gether ; only there Avas a hole in her apron, and, as in
her rage and haste she hurried along, the sand ran out,
and when she arrived, quite out of breath, it was nearly
all gone, so she plumped down the remainder just at
the highest spot, turned tail, and was never seen again
in the island of Zealand.

The way appeared to us somewhat long, varied
only by occasional patches of beauty — untidy, stubbly
fields — the yellow chrysanthemum, as noxious weeds
always do in this world, growing and flowering in lux-
lu-iance. " Morgen frue," or lady of the morn,* as it
is called by the simple and unsophisticated, a curse to
the agi-iculturist, was initil just two hundred years since
unknown in the Danish dominions.

It was in the year 1659, when peace was proclaimed
between Denmark and the Swedes, tliat the Branden-
burghers and the Pokes were about to quit Jutland.
Allies they were in name, but nothing more ; tliey
did greater harm by their ill deeds than the enemy
themselves — destroyed, robbed, pillaged, and it is now
said that the Jutlanders have never since recovered
their prosperity. Before leaving the country they pur-

* Chrysanthemum scgctmn.

374 PRESTO. Chap. LV.

posed selling their supplies of corn and other provisions
by auction. So the Jutlanders, ever true patriots,
agreed they would none of them purchase the articles,
and that the Polacs should derive no benefit from the
disposal of their stores. The sale commenced, but no
bidders appeared, save one aged peasant, a man who
could not resist the temptation of the low prices, and,
much to the disgust of his companions, he purchased
the corn of the Polacs. "It will do you no good,"
they exclaimed ; " recollect the old song : —

' When the Dane or the Swede
Sow German seed,
111 luck will come to both Dane and to Swede.' "

But he laughed and went his way. Part of the corn he
gave to his horses ; they sickened at once and died, so he
sowed the remainder ; and when it came up, the fields
were yellow as gold — it was two parts " morgen frue ;"
the flowers seeded ; the evil spread ; and now you find
this plant growing far and wide, to the injury of the
crops of the Danish islands and Jutland south of the
Liimfiorde.

PRESTO.

We approach the prettily-situated town of Praesto,
or the Island of Priests — one Lutheran parson alone
rules here supreme. We go to the little inn, where the
landlord insists on preparing us a dinner which never
can be ready before to-morrow morning. We first visit the
banks of the lovely little fiorde — so blue, so wooded, so
serene. Danish scenery is invented for the soothing of
ruffled nerves. I highly recommend doctors to order
thereunto all their hypochondriacal patients. Then we
pass by an avenue of limes to Nys0, the manorial resi-

Chap. LV. NYS0— GISSELFELD. 375

dence of the Baroness Stampe, wliom we luckily find
at home.

Nys0 possesses another interest apart from its ancient
buildings and its antique old-fashioned gardens ; for
in this manor-house Thorvaldsen, the honoured of kings
and peasants, passed the last summers of his long and
well-spent life. He had almost ceased to work, but
the Baroness Stampe encouraged him to recommence
his labours ; and here, in the garden of clipped hedges,
in a small kiosk, he held his studio, which is preserved
as sacred, and where still exist many of his original bas-
reliefs in plaster.

In the chateau hangs an admirable portrait of the
great sculptor by his friend Horace Vernet — painted in
his blouse ; far superior to the Christmas-tree of Frede-
riksborg.

When -we again returned to the inn, no chance of
dinner; the pudding still boiling, so we waited till
eight, and we waited till nine, and I had intentions
of going dinnerless to bed; when, after the two-and-
fortieth " strax," it did come, and very good it was ;
only we aU had the nightmare, and I dreamt of the
giant-girl of Nestved, who sat on my chest with a
pudding, and throttled me, pouring sand through the
hole in her apron. Nearly senseless, I awoke in an
awful fright, and found myself almost buried alive under
a hecatomb of duvet.

GISSELFELD.

October bth. — Up betimes, and off early, as old Pepys
would say, for we have a long day's sight-seeing before
us — a day's sight-seeing which would have satisfied the
worthy old gentleman himself. Very pretty is the road

376 GISSELFELD. Chap. LV.

along the banks of tlie purple well-wooded fiorde after
we pass Nys0 ; and then we get into the high road,
like all other high roads odious, till we come to l{0n-
nede kro, where we change horses, one mile's distance
from Gisselfeld.

So, as the weather is bright and the bye-road dry, we
continue our way on foot ; the stately abbey, embowered
in woods, is seen for a moment in the distance, and
then disappears from our view. Gisselfeld Avas always
somewhere, never where we expected it, till I almost
fancied it to be like a plaisanterie of oiu' Jutland friend,
the fairy Morgana. At last, after turning off into a sort
of park, mushroom bedecked, and richly timbered, we
reach a lodge, mount the waggon, drive up to the
gardener's house, and turn into the garden of the
abbey. Nature has here done much, for she undulates
well and supplies a lake of water ; the slopes are clad
with emerald turf and ornamental shrubs, sorbi and
cratffigi, in all the glory of their golden and blood-red
fruit; art has furnished platebandes of gay autumn
flowers, and the garden is well backed with beechen
woods. Gisselfeld, of course, itself disappears from
the scene. We were some time before we found the
entrance to the fine old building — one of Denmark's
best, but whitewashed. It was built in the days of the
second Christian — perhaps a little earlier — by some
member of the house of Oxe, of the same family as Tor-
ben Oxe ; and later dwelt there the celebrated Peter
Oxe, whose portrait hangs in the riddersaal. Minister
to Frederic II., and Grand Master of Denmark, he con-
tributed greatly to the advancement of his nephew
Tycho Brahe, and it was he who first reformed the
finances of the kingdom and diminished the expenses

Chap. LV. BREGENTVED. 377

of the royal household — put the servants on board-wages,
&c. Oxe introduced the crayfish, "Taske kraLbe,"
into Denmark, as well as other sorts of fish, and a
species of frog which went by the name of Peter Oxe's
frog. He and his masculine wife Mette Eosenkrantz
were interred in the Frue Kirke of Copenliagen, long
since destroyed by fire. After passing into the female
line, Gisselfeld was at last given or came into the pos-
session of Christian Gyldenl0ve, son of Christian V. by
Mrs. Moth, a brave and gallant man. He served in
Italy under the Prince Eugene, commanding the Italian
troops ; but met with an early death, and by his will
bequeathed the manor of Gisselfeld and its broad lands
to found a convent for poor but noble maidens.

The head of the Darmeskiold family enjoys the
office of Administrator of Gisselfeld, and the eldest
daughter of that house is born hereditary Abbess of
the convent. As for the nuns, they are flitting about
the world somewhere.

One half-hour's drive brings us to Bregentved, the
princely residence of Count Moltke, the much re-
spected ex-minister. If the approach were only freed
from stables, outhouses, &c,, it would be perfect. The
gardens — prettily laid out in the French style, the long
clipped allees with fountains and statues, staircases of
marble and terraces — reminded me of Versailles with-
out its stiff formality. Then, on the opposite side of
the hedge, stand on the lake's bank two picturesque,
creeper-embowered cottages, all stripes and gables.
England, the country of garden, turf, and sward, could
produce nothing prettier. On a height above an artifi-
cial cascade stands an obelisk to the memory of King

378 COXVENT OF VEMMETOFTE. Chap. LV,

Frederic V., concerning whose visit to Bregentved tra-
dition relates queer stories.

Frederic was, as you recollect, a gay and joyous
youth, a little mauvais sujet — no wonder, bored to
death by the hypocrisy of his father's court. He loved
to run down to Bregentved, with a band of boon
companions, to enjoy himself. They disguised them-
selves as peasants, and amused themselves among the
villagers. One day, when at supper, the prince in a
fit of jealousy drew his sword, and passed it through
the body of his host and companion. The blood still
stains the floor of the banqueting-hall ; no scouring-
drops, no soda, will remove the spot — indeed, the house-
keeper declares the more you scrub the redder it
becomes, like Eizzio's gore in the Palace of Holyrood.

VEMMETOFTE.

We are all among the nuns to-day, and hasten oft'
as fast as horses will carry us towards the convent of
Vemmetofte, anxious to catch the daylight. We were
told to expect little beauty, but that the collection of
royal portraits was interesting, as well as the interior of
the building. The new courts lately erected — a fine
series of gabled buildings in striped brickwork — are
highly creditable to the " ladies " of the chapter :
decidedlv architecture is on the move in Denmark,

This chapter was founded in 1785 by Prince Charles,
brother of King Frederic IV., and his sister the Princess
Hedvig, who resided here until the day of her death.
We were received by the priest of the establishment, who
conducted us over the apartments, which have remained
in statu quo since the death of the foundress, and con-

Chap. LV. THE CHAPEL. 379

tain many objects, embroidered screens, &c., of her
liandiwork. The portraits are good; none wanting
save that of the Eeventlow Queen, who seldom appears
out of Jutland. Of Caroline Matilda there hangs a
good specimen. Vemmetofte in its day was the pro-
perty of the Brahe family, and in one of the reception-
rooms there exists a fine old chimney-piece vdth.
the arms and device of Tycho carved thereon. In a
small turret-chamber leading from the great saloon
hang tlie portraits of the ten first-elected ladies of the
chapter, attired in black, bearing on their breasts the
badge and star of the order — ten prettier creatures I
have seldom seen.

The convent of Vemmetofte is about to undergo a
thorough restoration, rendered necessary by the con-
trast of its whitewashed walls with the admirable courts
recently erected. Our reverend cicerone conducted us
to the chapel — a low vaidted building, hung with
numerous pictures, chiefly collected by Prince Charles
when at Home ; some appeared to be of the Bolognese
school, but light was insufficient. I can only retain a
confused idea of a Last Judgment by Krock, of Flens-
burg — a miniature copy of tlie larger altarpicce con-
sumed in the conflagration of Christiansborg Palace in
1794.

We had lingered so long over the tapestries and
ancient furniture, the queer old gilded stones, the
Chinese scent-bottles of tlie Princess Hcdvig, the por-
traits, and various souvenirs of royalty treasured up and
connected with the place, that dayhght had fast closed
in ere we quitted for our destination. Wo are still
some ten or twelve miles' distance from the little town

380 SPOLIATION OF THE Chap. LV,

of Store Hedinge, Avliere we purpose to pass the
night. The evening is dark, but the stars shine
brightly in the heavens; Karls Vogn — as is here
called our Charles's Wain, or the Great Bear — mth.
his companion, Qvinds Yogn, or our Lady's Waggon,
the Little Bear, glitter and twinkle in the celestial
hemisphere. The Pleiades too: and here ends my
astronomical learning ; for Orion is pale and indistinct ;
a month later he will come out bright in his full
glory: old people in out-of-the-way parts of Jiitland
still term this brightest of constellations Freias Eok
(distaff), the only possession Freia, Venus of the Scan-
dinavian lands, still retains. Poor Freia ! Never was
spoliation more complete. They took from you every-
thing— your stars, your flowers. That pretty golden
vetch,* which grows creeping and trailing among the
grass, known to every village child as ladies' shoes and
stockings (our Lady's it should be), once Freia's, is now
termed Maries Guldsko (gold shoes). Even the gossamer
was taken from her, and became Jomfrutraad — toile de
la Vierge in France. What tears poor Freia must have
shed at tliis spoliation of her belongings ! and when she
wept, as all men know, each briny drop as it trickled
down became at once a nugget of the purest gold.
May be it is the tears of this pagan goddess which lie
scattered over the sheep-paths of our Australian colonies
and California. Loki, the Genius of Evil, fared better ;
but then all his plants were rubbish, such as our English
botany awards to the devil — flowers of poisonous or
prickly nature, badly seeding ; so nobody cared to have

* Lotus corniculatus.

Chap. LV. GODDESS FREIA. 381

tliem, and they still bear liis name. Balder retains
as bis property one of the bawkweeds, termed Balders
Braa (brow).*

* The god Balder is said by tradition to be buried at Funen, under
a li0i called Balder's Hill. Great treasures are, of course, concealed
witliin. Some peasants many years since came there by night to dig
for the gold. But no sooner did they turn the sod with the pickaxo
than a rushing stream of water burst forth from the hill-top, washing
peasants, pickaxe, shovel, and wheelbarrow, half across the isle of
Zealand.

382 STORE HEDINGE. Chap. LVI.

CHAPTEE LYI.

The dominions of the Elf King — Hospitality at Store Hcdinge — The
TroUes and the church of Hpierup — Vall0, the Queen of Danish
convents — The ancient house of Bille — Lucia the Flower of Den-
mark — The last of the Kosensparres — Ledreborg, the ancient Leira
— Court etiquette of King King — Legend of King Skiold, fomider
of Leira.

STOEE HEDINGE.

We were tired and sick of star-gazing, when a light
appears at the road's-end, faint at first, and later brighter,
and then quick flits across the horizon a line of welcome
stars : there is now no doubt we are at our jour-
ney's end, and before a few minutes have elapsed we
drive into our haven, the town of Store Hedinge ; we
rattle down the street into the Place, where scarlet
postilion stops and inquires, " Where shall I drive you
to ?" " Drive to ? — to the hotel, of course." " There is
none." " None ? to the kro then." "Nokro." "Non-
sense ! there must be." " The Gjaestgiver is in the
churchyard, and the kro banlo-upt." " Where can
we sleep, then ?" " At Ki0ge, twelve miles further."

So we drive to the post-house, to order horses on to
Ki0ge. The postmaster was out, but we are ushered into
a small, prettily furnished drawing-room, where we find
his wife sitting working, together Avith her friends, round
the table. How cosy and comfortable they did look !
We tell our piteous tale, and the kind lady melts at our
distress. Go on to Ki0ge, impossible ! such a cold
night : she will send out and find us rooms in the town

Chap. LVI. HOSPITALITY. 383

when her husband comes in. "Wlien did we dine ? We
own that we had eaten our sni0r brod at eleven o'clock at
E0nnede kro, and had fasted ever since. Why, we must
be faint ! she will give us some tea, will take no denial
(I can't say we did stand out vigorously), and off she
goes to call her maid. In ten minutes' time we were
ushered into the next room, not only to our tea, but to
an excellent supper of cold meat, sm0r brod, compote,
and fruit, prettily arranged on old Danish china, fine
linen, and bright silver ; no fuss, no bother ; we were
kindly welcome. There is a refinement about the
middle class of Danes in their houseliold arrangements,
seldom to be met with in other countries ; and so we
ate, drank, and refreshed ourselves, our kind hostess
attending on us, watching and anticipating our wants ;
our spirits raised, we talked and chatted away, all
about our travels, and then came in Postmaster Jas-
persen himself with the news of rooms at an old lady's,
who had turned her house upside do^\^^ for our accom-
modation. When supper was finished we all sat and
talked over the legends of the place ; all about the
Elf King, of whom you will hear more to-morrow ;
then, as a message arrived to say our rooms were ready,
we departed — after many thanks on our side, and much
pleasure on hers, lantern-lighted by the maid — to our
resting-place, where we were received by our hostess,
a jolly old dame, who could not do enough to make
us comfortable. Such questions as she made about our
breakfasts for to-morrow ; such caresses to tlie doas —
Lina and Vic — who she felt certain were starving;
they had already supped — no matter, they must sup
again: a little milk at any rate. At last we got to
bed, and slept like tops, till awakened by the market

384 STORE HEDINGE. Chap. LVI.

waggons rolling and rattling throngh tlie streets on the
following morning.

October ^th. — We are in the dominions of the Elf
King, a most important personage in these parts. Store
Hedinge is his capital. According to the old tra-
dition we mentioned at Skjelslv0r, no sovereign dares to
jilant his foot within the precincts of his kingdom — the
Elf King wonld not allow it. " We'll soon see that,"
said King Clu-istian IV. ; so down he came in all
the pomp and state of majesty, and made, after the
manner of the day, a royal progress tln-ough the country.
But the people did not believe in him a whit. "It's
only," cried the peasants, " the Elf King, who, for good
reasons known only to himself, has assumed the appear-
ance of earthly royalty." A charming operetta, styled
'Elverh0i,' in which the best of the Danish national
airs are introduced, has been composed on this subject.
The Elf King was, however, affronted, quitted liis resi-
dence at Stevns Klint, and took up his abode in the now
deserted monks' prisons of the round church of Store
Hedinge. We visited, as you may imagine, this cele-
brated edifice, but over its desecration let us drop a
veil. What a deal of mischief well-intentioned ignorant
people may and do do in this world. The sum of two
thousand pounds English has been lately raised and
expended on its restoration. It 's too horrible to talk
of; the architect deserves the fate of Marsyas. A
pendent wooden roof of our own Henry VII. 's period ;
the character of the building entu'ely destroyed. On
entering the churchyard my eyes first lighted on the
stone cross erected to the memory of the defunct gJBest-
giver, so vainly sought last night. He died some nine
years ago, and has not since been replaced, speaking

o

M
D

Q

Chap. LVI. CHURCH OF H0IEETJP. 385

little foi' tlie commercial relations of tlie capital of
Elfin Majesty.

We had just breakfasted and were about to start,
when in comes our good-humoured hostess to ask would
Ave receive the visit of Kammerherr , the cliief gentle-
man of the to'wn. Of course we are only too happy ; and
in he is ushered ; is quite shocked to hear of our trouble
of last night ; has scolded the postmaster for not sending
us to lodge with him, it would have given him and
the Kammerherrinde such pleasure to receive us. She
expects us to breakfast ; we had only just con-
cluded our own, but of coiu'se accept. So we accom-
pany him to his house, and are kindly received by the
lady and her daughters, and made to promise and vow
if ever we come again to Store Hedinge we will make a
long abode with them. The carriage is announced,
and, after thanks and leave-taking, we drive off for
Stevns Klint, a; long ridge of chalk cliffs of no j)ar-
ticular beauty or grandeur : but it would have been an
insult to the island of Zealand had we omitted to see the
queer old church of Il0icrup. Built in very early days —
the fourteenth century — some say by a skipper, others
by a pirate, a votive offering to heaven in gratitude for
preservation from a fearful tempest, he constructed it
near the kUnt's edge, to serve as a landmark to those
at sea. It differs little from the old brick churches of
this date. While the masons were engaged in building,
probably they disturbed the Trolles, for as fast as they
commenced it down it came ; make the walls stand
straight they could not. Ill-natured people accused
the architect of not knowing his duty, most wrongfully,
for it was all the Trolles. The masons were about to
re-commence their task when they heard a loud dcoi>

VOL. II. 2 c

386 VALL0— Chap. LVI.

voice from within the hill exclaim, in Swedish, " H0ier
up!" — higher up. They now knew how to act, and,
following the advice of the voice, built their church on
the summit of the cliff, calling it H0ierup, and here
it stands to the present day : but it would have toppled
into the water long ago, only on each Christmas-eve
the angels bear it back the footstep of a cock.

The TroUes became after a time so mischievous and
insupportable in Zealand, that the parsons laid their
heads together, and, by some method unknown, caught
them and packed them all off in a boat to their cousins
of the island of Bornholm.

VALL0.

We hasten, as fast as Danish post-horses will carry
us, to Yall0, the queen of all Danish convents, a right
royal foundation; foundation of Queen Madalena the
magnificent.

"Give me Vall0," asked Queen Madalena of her
sovereign lord, "and I'll found a chapter there for
noble ladies, and we'll have such a ceremony, and a
medal struck with your head and mine ; a princess
(German of course) — somebody who ends in ' hausen ' —
shall be the Abbess, and the ladies shall have as many
quarterings as Denmark possesses Syssels." Founded it
was, and a fine ceremony too (see the Danish Yitruvius) ;
and right royal looked Queen Madalena in her new
gown. She didn't find a princess whose name ended in
"hausen," but something better— a princess of the
ducal house of Wurtemburg. The convent was opened
in the year 1738, by the queen in person. An excellent
foundation it proves to be : a pity we have none
such in England. Do not fancy these convents have

Chap. LVI. THE QUEEN OF DANISH CONVENTS, 387

anything papistical about them, nothing at all : quarter-
ings, too, are now no longer requu-ed ; gentle bu-th alone
is sufficient. The Hereditary Princess CaroHne of Den-
mark is Abbess of the Institution. A Danish gentle-
man, who wishes his daughter to be entered upon the
list of the ladies, intimates his desire to Count iloltke,
after the baptism of the infant. On paying two thousand
rix-dollars the name of his child is inscribed upon
the books of the establishment, and from that day
she receives a certain annual sum, the interest of the
money : ; after that it becomes an affair of time. As
the older ladies die off, the younger ones mount up. Of
the Dames de Vall0, whom we see dancing and waltzing
about the world in wliite tarletan, with grand cordon
and badge of the order, most of them receive from
about sixty to seventy pounds ; then later, as they get
old and high on the list, from one hundred and twenty
to one hundi-ed and thirty pounds yearly. The prioress
receives an income of about six hundred pounds
EngHsh. If any member dies or marries, she forfeits
her entrance-money. The ten sisters highest on the
list have apartments assigned to them in the convent :
they have, of com-se, their own private room ; but the
drawing-rooms are lighted up of an evening, and they
dine together, enjoy then- own parson, own doctor, own
equipages ; a beautiful garden, with greenliouses and
a deer-park; — live among their own people. Each
lady of the first class is obliged to undertake the
education of some orphan child at Iut own expense.
On the wliole it is a very happy institution, and the old
ladies pass the autumn of tlieir lives in good fellowsln'p
and social comfort. Tlie ladies of Vallp, too, liold liigh
rank in the tables of precedence of women, comhig after

2 c 2

388 VALL0. Chap. LVI.

countesses, and before the wives of counts' eldest sons.
Those of Vemmetofte, however, rank only in the third
class, along with the adjutant-generals and justices of
the West India islands. Of these foundations there exist
in the kingdom of Denmark, for unmarried ladies of
birth, some twelve or thirteen, independent of others too
numerous to mention for widows or maidens of a lower
rank of life ; many, indeed most, of these have been
established from the economies of some dowager queen.

In England such establishments would be scarcely-
possible ; people are too apt to care only for the suffer-
ings of the lower classes, forgetful that those who have
been reared in plenty and luxury are often more to be
pitied in the time of adversity than those who have
struggled against want from their youth upwards :
added to this, there is a tendency with us to debase
and degrade all our charities. How few foundations
can be found in England, after a lapse of years,
conducted according to the wishes of the founder!
Establish an almshouse for the benefit of poor house-
keepers— not people who have possessed houses of
their own, but the old women who keep the keys and
lock up the tea and sugar — why, before ten years have
run by it will be swamped by dilapidated charwomen,
No ; establishments of this kind would never be popular
in England, there would be a radical outcry against
them : here, in Denmark, they are looked up to and
respected ; and why ? simply because the population
is not over-abundant, and all classes are here amply
cared for.

It is a fine old buildiag, VaU0, flanked by two lofty
towers, one square, the other round ; brick, encircled
with stone medallions ; its fine old gateway, rich in

Chap. LVL HOUSE OF BILLE. 389

sandstone carvings, remmding me much of Voer Gaard. ;
built it was (as, indeed, was Vemmetofte) by a Rosen-
krantz, having first belonged to old Ellen ]\Iarsviiu. On
tho bridge which spans the moat stand massive lions,
bearmg sliields emblazoned with their arms. Mette
Rosenkrantz, wife of Peter Oxe, who built the castle
— a pious and virtuous lady, who, says her epitaph, in
all affairs combined the mien and gesture of a real cava-
lier under the garments of a woman. What an awful
creature she must have been ! We visited the interior ;
the portraits — Madalena among the rest, in all her
glory ; the chapel, where the lathes say their prayers,
in a sort of peeresses' pew, with the retainers of the es-
tabhshment, — a second pew under the pulpit being set
apart for the deaf ones ; mounted the tower to admire
the view ; then, having been introduced to the original
document of the foundation, gorgeously emblazoned,
drove off on our way. In the parish church of Yall0
hang the pedigrees of the house of Bille, dating from
the seventh century. Bille is one of the most ancient
of the few remaining Danish families, though perhaps
the genealogy may be a little apocryphal. Of this
family was Lucia Bille, Danmarks i>lomster, the Flower
of Denmark — la belle des belles — who lived in 1445
at the court of the Queen Dorothea, and who, to the
despau- of aU young and gallant men, retired to a
convent and became a nun. The manor of Billesborg
lies hard by.

Before arriving at the tovm. of Ki0ge, where we
stopped to feed and change horses, we passed tho village
of Herfolge, site of the engagement between Welles-
ley and Castenskiold in the early part of the present
century. In the church lies interred the last of tho

390 LEDREBORG. Chap. LVI.

noble house of Eosensparre, killed in a battle against
the Swedes in Skaane in 1612. "You are the sole
surviving member of your house, the last of an old
stock ; do not expose your life recklessly," advised his
friends, when the battle raged at its utmost fury. " A
good name before everything," was the reply. He
threw himself into the thickest of the fight, and fell
pierced by a hundred wounds. We continued our
course, and arrived amidst a blaze of starlight at our
old quarters of last year — hostel of the Prindsen at
Eoeskilde.

LEDREBORG.

October 1th. — The dull cathedral town of Eoeskilde is
in a state of unusual excitement, on account of the sitting
of a rix or rath something — one of the endless innu-
merable assemblies which Denmark has the ill luck to
be cursed with. The Prindsen is wonderfully smartened
up since last year — hardly recognisable. Breakfast over,
we start on an expedition to Ledreborg, the country seat
of Count Holstein, some five or six miles distant.

Ledreborg, planted on a height overlooking a deep
valley, is a fine specimen of the residence of a Danish
nobleman. In the engravings of Pontoppidan there
existed a fine old French garden of terraces, statues,
and fountains, most in character with the architecture
of the chateau. This was unfortunately destroyed some
thirty years since, and replaced by a jardin Anglais,
very beautiful in its way. The family were unluckily
absent ; but we visited the interior of the house, rich
in pictures and works of art; the gorgeous chapel,
where hangs a curious picture, a portrait group of the
early reformers, Luther, Calvin, &c., and among them

Chap. LYI. COURT ETIQUETTE. 391

an Englisliman named Perkins.* Independent of its
princely mansion, its hanging gardens, and its beechen
■woods, Ledreborg possesses a deep liistoric interest, for it
stands on the site of the ancient Leira — stronghold of
pagan worship in the island of Zealand — rival to Viborg
and Sigiuna.

Even in the days of the first Valdemar it was a city
of some importance. To the south runs a long ridge of
sand-hills, called Dan ]\[ikiUati's grave. Not far distant
lies the valley of Hertha, still called the Holy Wood,
where once stood the principal temple of that goddess
in the Danish isles. Here, too, Iving Eing held his
court. His wife, Queen Hvita, was a sorceress, and by
her art changed her stepson, Prince JBjOrn, into a bear,
for which she afterwards suffered a cruel death. The
etiquette of the Leiran court appears to have been at a
low ebb ; for we read that, after dinner, the royal party
pelted one another with the bones they had picked clean
dm-ing the repast.

The town of Leira was founded by King Skiold, son
of Odin, though other traditions say he was offspring
of Skefif, the Englishman, fourth son of Noah, born
in the ark, concerning whose existence the Books of
]\[oses are silent. He arrived in a ship from afar.
At this time all Denmark was sad, for the king had no
son, and the Danes kncAV not whom they should choose
as a successor, when one day, as they flocked down to
the sea-shore, they observed in the distance a sail which
approached the land : it was evidently a ship royal ; the
mast was of gold ; it had silken sails, and was laden with

♦ He was English envoy from Queen Elizabeth, put in, out of com-
pliment, together with the devil and the monks.

392 LEDREBORG. Chap. LYI.

great riches of gold and silver. Upon the deck of the
vessel lay a beautiful child — a little boy — reposing upon a
shield, while liis head rested upon a sheaf of wheat.
When the people beheld him they cried, "]' hold the
son of Odin, who comes to be our king !" So .hey took
the child, and sowed the corn, which came up in plenty,
each ear bearing more than any ear had before borne in
this country ; the boy was proclaimed king of Denmark,
When only twelve years old he caught a bear and bound
it fast in thongs, and at eighteen became king and
assumed the reins of government. Courageous and
just was King Skiold : in victory he declared " honour
is the share of the king, but booty is for the soldiers."
Long did he reign over Denmark, and, when an aged
man and about to die, he caused himself to be placed
in his old sliip by his weeping servants, and, when
the sails were set, the sun shone bright, and the wind
arose, the ship sailed forth ; all men wept, and no
one knew where he went to. Such is the legend of
King Skiold.

CiiAP. LVIL FIRE OF FREDERIKSBORG. 393

CHAPTER LVII.

DESTEUCTI02T OF THE PALACE OF FREDEEIKSBOEG

BY FIRE.

December 17th. — Our wanderings were over; and I
little tliought again to rcoume my pen to record so
sad an event — a national misfortune to the history-
loving people of Denmark.

I was sitting in my room at the Oresund, in Elsinore,
busily and happily immersed in my books, when the
chambermaid, bouncing into my room, announced,
" Slot brander m Frederiksborg ! " — '• the castle's on fire !"
On crossing over to the police-cfjce the telegrajDliic
despatch displayed before my eyes left no doubt that the
story was, alas ! too true. Engines — such engine?, too —
squirts, and the members of the fire-brigade, were hur-
rying off (I say so by courtesy) to lend their aid and
assistance. In three quarters of an horn's time I
was myself en route, fast as Danish post-horses and a
higldy-booted postilion could cany me.

The day was cold, foggy ; the snow lay thick upon the
ground. Wo really did rattle on at a good pace ; but
the way to me appeared interminable. As we rolled
along, never had my recollection of that admirable
gallery appeared so vivid as on that day : each figure
seemed to start out in chronological order from its frame
— singly and separately, one after the other. As we de-
scended the hill, from behind the woods to the left, wliich
obscure the palace from view, rose volumes of black cloudy

394 DESTRUCTION OF Chap. LVII.

smoke, curling and dispersing itself in tlie misty atmo-
sphere. Those glorious minaret-like sphes, capping the
castle turrets — in vain I strained my eyes — they were
not. The gate-house stood before us intact, and then in
one moment the whole building lay discovered before
us, rising from its very bed — roofless, blackened, still
burning — a ruin. It was a sad sight. There was the
council-chamber, which spanned the waters — now a
red Bridge of Sighs — gutted ; those glorious towers,
triumphs of the northern Kenaissance, were there
no longer — the last had fallen at eleven o'clock,
shaking the very earth as it fell ; of Caroline Ma-
tilda's window, too, not one vestige remaining; the
fire still rising from time to time, licking away the
woodwork around the stone-mullioned windows, as
though it were grease : never was devastation more
complete. Then, as we passed the gateway, there stood
the chapel half consumed — the riddersaal, that gem of
art, all fallen in — and, turning into the outer court
beyond the moat, oh ! what a sight it was ! that splendid
palace — unique in its style in Europe — a tottering,
blackened ruin, and all around frozen. The mischief
was complete — all need of exertion noAV over; men
walked up and down sad and astounded. The court was
heaped with furnitm-e, pictures, and hundreds of objects
besides, snatched from the fury of the devouring ele-
ment ; and what rubbish had been saved ! what pots
and pans, commodes and chairs, shields of the Elephant,
shields of the Dannebrog. My first inquiry was after
the fate of the gallery : all gave a different answer. The
pictures from the riddersaal had been saved: strange
fate those portraits — they alone escaped the conflagra-
tion of Clu-istiansborg in 1796. But the billiard-room ? —

Chap. LVII. FREDERIKSBORG PALACE. 395

All lost. Queen Sophia ? — Gone. I bowed my head.
That triumph of portrait-painting — that chef-d'oeuvre of
Jacob von Dort. I asked no more questions : time would
show the extent of the evil.

In a country like Denmark — fallen from its high
estate among the powers of Europe — this calamity will
be deeply felt ; for they live in the past, in the memory
of their own glorious history. Still I fear many of the
Danes really do not know the extent of the loss they have
sustained — not in the dastle of Frederiksborg itself — that
was their pride, their glory — but in the splendid historic
gallery, of which so few pictures will be again seen.

The fire had burst out early in the morning in the
room lately restored by the king for his own private
collection — a room on the upper story adjoining the
tower, towards the riddersaal. The workmen were occu-
pied in repau's. Wliether it was a flue — whether a
misplaced stove— in which the evil originated, matters
little : the result is the same. The lake was frozen over
— tliis had added to the difficulties ; the pipes of the en-
gines, themselves far too sliort, were frozen, and could not
at first be worked ; and the fire, which at five o'clock was
scarcely looked upon as dangerous, in the space of a few
hours had reduced this boautiiid monument of Cliris-
tian IV.'s taste to its present sad condition.

Towards three o'clock the royal carriages were ordered
round to convey the court to Copenliagen. The king
had retired to one of the buildings of the outer court
when all was over, having remained at his post till the
very last, superintending tlie removal of the valuables.
As his Majesty descended the steps on his way to the
carriage he stayed for one moment to greet me, and, as

396 , DESTRUCTION OF Chap. LVII.

I expressed to him my sympathy at the terrible mis-
fortune which had overwhelmed him, he kindly pressed
my hand. He could only utter the words " Quel mal-
heur irreparable — quel malhem* irreparable !" And it
was so indeed, for Frederiksborg can never be again
what it once was : it was his pride, his hobby, and he
had done, by judicious reparation, much to restore it to
its pristine condition.

Accompanied by my friend M. Gyllick, the castellan,
I crept through an outer door into the church, the
further end of which had alone been injm-ed. The
organ, that gem of art, and the royal closet, en-
riched with its ceiling of ebony and ivory pendants,
its paintings by the Dutch masters, were all gone ;
a heap of burning, smoldng timbers still flamed at
the further end : and when I saw that ceiling, cracking
from the heat, come falling on the pavement below —
that fretwork ceiling, the toning down of whose brilliant
colours into one perfect harmony had so often excited
my admiration and wonder at the superiority of art in
days gone by — Heaven forgive me if in my sadness I
forgot that under those smoking ruins lay buried four
of my fellow creatures, called unprepared into eternity,
crushed by the falling roof whilst in the execution of
their duty.

Before leaving I again sought out my good friend
Gyllick — he who, during the last twenty years, had, as
castellan, done more towards the restoration of Frede-
riksborg than any human being alive. " I wish you
good bye for ever, GylKck ; I shall never return. I
have passed too many happy days in that dear old
gallery, studying the history of Denmark in the por-

Chap. LVII. FEEDERIKSBORG PALACE. 397

traits of her rulers, ever to bear the sight of its
desolation. I have visited Frederiksborg in its glory
— I have seen it under the excitement of its flames —
I can never again look on it as a ruin." "But," he
rephed, " do not say that : come again in the spring-
time ; we may again build up the church, and perhaps
some of your old friends may still be spared to us."

As we drove by the castle on our return to Elsinore
it was already dark, and the whole building shone bright,
illuminated by a lurid glowering of its still-burning
flames — a Kembrandt effect of light and shade an artist
would have gazed at for hours. I turned away my head
—to me it was too painful.

Do not imagine I slept that night : no — I lay tossing on
my bed ; tlie spectre of that gallery was for ever before
my eyes. Good Queen Sd^^hia with her pale blue eyes ;
Christian IV. witli his marlok, and frail Christina IMunk ;
the splendid family of Gyldenl0ves; AdoK of Hol-
stein, garter on knee, and his giant race ; then, too,
our house of Stuart — Prince Henry, with his trans-
parent hand and saddened brow ; our Winter Queen —
first as a joyful girl with her dog, then that exquisite
picture as a widow, so sad, so beautiful — later again a
discontented woman; Charles I. or Buckingham —
which it was, matters but little now; Henrietta of
Orleans, and Eleanor Ulfold, botli alike unfortunate ;
my Carlyle room, too, where are they ?

Frederiksborg, Monday. — I liave again visited Frede-
riksborg on my way to Copenhagen, for the steamer no
longer runs, on account of the ice. Professor Worsaae
was already there, about to catalogue and inspect tlic
pictures saved from the fire ; so I remained, to kuow the

398 FIRE OF FREDERIKSBORG. Chap. LVII.

worst. We stood at the entrance of the building where
they were stowed away, and saw them brought out one
by one, battered, singed, but few uninjured. At the first
glance my mind misgave me ; and when a Gyldenl0ve —
gallant young son of Christian IV., slain at the siege
of Copenhagen — first came forth, I felt at once the
whole of the earlier portraits of the house of Oldenborg
were doomed. Of that splendid series of two hundred
years and upwards, from Christian I. downwards, not
one remained — portraits by Lucas Cranach, by John of
Cieves, Carl van Mander, Wuchter, Jacob van Dort :
of our house of Stuart not one. The Northmen had
been more fortunate ; but the sole existing portrait of
Tycho Brahe had perished. Of modern atrocities, copies,
bad and worthless ; of living celebrities, and those
scarcely dead, there were en^igh, and more. . James II.
and his brother, in their orange surcoats, came out one
by one ; but few portraits of any merit. My Carlyle room
fared better. George II. and his glorious queen, the fair
Princess of Hesse, and other old acquaintances, sadly
bemired ; and when Wilhelmina of Baireuth — the witty
she of the memoirs — appeared, she looked so sprightly,
so true to life, in her want of feeling, as though she
thought it such fun being saved from the fire, I could
have boxed her ears with as great a gusto as her
plethoric old father ever did in his lifetime.

Of poor Caroline Matilda one portrait alone es-
caped, and that the ugly one. Strange fate hers, to be
always burnt as a beauty and preserved as a fright !

CiUP. LVII. CONCLUSION. 399

CONCLUSION.

Palais ScUmmelmarm, April IQth, I860.— My journal
is at an end, for to-morrow we leave Copenhagen. I have
faithfully transcribed what I have seen, what I have
visited, and my impressions thereon. My wanderings
through the kingdom of Denmark have to me been of
great interest. Still, recollect, I do not recommend this
tour to every one. The boy in the Blues — a moustache
naissante — the youth late escaped from college, with
leave of absence, and a life of hard military duty, or the
prospect of a country parish before his eyes — may far
better employ liis time. Let him stop his two days at
Copenhagen, fish his way up Norway, shoot it down
Sweden, quaff the champagne of the " mere Cliquot "
at St. Petersburg— he'll get it nowhere else — buy tur-
quoises of the Tartars at Moscow (they'll all turn green
a M-eek after), on to Constantinople, poke his nose
in a harem garden and get shot at, or say he did — ten
to one if he's believed, if its true — and then on, on,
avoiding all the interstices of travel, seeing what is best
worth visiting in the world, sowing liis wild oats, liberally,
not wantonly — anything better than a later crop — and
return to his own country and "do his duty in that
state of life to which it has pleased God to call him."
But for those more advanced in life — who have been
everywhere and have done everything — who abominate
being whirled for pleasure across the fair face of Eurojio
by a locomotive — who detest Gorman baths and their
wickednesses — who, feeling they really know and arc
judges of what is grand and ijcantiful in this world, can
afford, without losing their dignity, to be pleased with

400 CONCLUSION. Chap. LVII.

what is not perhaps first-rate — who like to drive through
a country, to study its history, its customs, and its legends
— who are content to take people as they find them —
who prefer civil and kind treatment, with moderate
prices, to fawning obsequiousness and robbery — to such
people I can conscientiously promise much pleasure,
much interest — especially if in spring-time — in their
travels through the ancient province of Jutland and the
fertile sea-girt islands of the Danish Archipelago.

THE END.

LONDON : PMNTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMIORD STPIEET,
AND CHAKING CKOSS.

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