( 82 )

CHAP. V.

FREDERICKSBORG-STORKS-FASTIDIOUS MARES-FOREST LAWSPENALTIES OF TRAVELLING-PRINCE WILLIAM OF GLOUCESTER CONTINENTAL EQUIPAGES-- --HAMLETS

ORCHARD--CRONBERG

CASTLE-SOME AFFECTING SCENES WHICH PASSED THERE THE FAREWELL KISS-THE GALLANTRY OF CAPTAIN MACBRIDE-THE LITTLE COURT OF ZELL-THE DEATH OF THE QUEEN MATILDA.

THE road from Copenhagen to Fredericksborg, distant about sixteen English miles, is very beautiful, and presents a luxuriant display of lakes, woods, corn-fields, and forests of beech, oak, and fir. Before we reached that town, we passed through a forest of wild horses, some of which we saw; they had a noble, rough appearance, and presented a fine study for such a pencil as Gilpin's. Whilst our dinner was preparing we visited the palace, a heavy and most incongruous massy pile of building, in which black marble contends with red brick, and the simple graces of the Grecian order, with all the minute fretted perplexities of the Gothic; the whole is covered with copper, and was built by Christian IV.: it stands in a lake, and seems to be fit only for the residence of frogs, and I believe,

PALACE OF FREDERICKSBORG.

83

with the exception of two old house-keepers, it has no other inmates. The Sal de Chevalier is a very long room, crowded with paintings, badly arranged, and perishing with damp and mildew: some of them seemed to deserve a better fate. The pillars which support the cornice of the fire-place in this room were once crowned with silver capitals, which the Swedes carried off in one of their irruptions. In the chapel we saw the throne upon which the kings of Denmark were formerly crowned: the roof is most superbly gilt and decorated, and the walls are covered with the arms of the knights of the first order. As we passed through one of the old galleries, over a moat, a gust of wind shook the crazy casement, and the great clock heavily struck its hour: it was altogether a place well suited for a second edition of the exploits of Sir Bertrand, or would form an appropriate academy for the spectre-loving pupils of the German school.

In the gloomy grounds of this palace we again saw our old friend the stork: this subject of his Danish Majesty generally quits his territories in October, and returns in Spring; and what is singular, he always returns to his own nest.

From this place we walked to the royal stud, about half a mile distant, (the road to which was exquisitely picturesque) where the king has two thousand fine horses, each of which is disfigured, by being marked with a large letter on one side of

84

BREED OF HORSES-GAME.

the haunch, and the year of his birth on the other. There is here a beautiful and very rare breed of milk-white horses: they always herd together, and the mares will not permit the stallions of any other breed to approach them. I have been informed that there is a similar breed in the island of Ceylon. There is as much good nature as policy in the permission which his Danish Majesty grants to all the farmers, to have their mares covered by his finest stallions gratuitously: hence the fine breed of horses in Denmark, the keep of which happily for that noble animal, is the only cheap thing in the kingdom.

This part of the country is said to abound more in game than any other, but although the forest-laws prevail with all their rigour in Denmark Proper, except that the punishment of death is commuted into perpetual imprisonment, yet there is but little game, and but little increase in the breed of deer. It is a just retribution for the severity of the prohibition. After a glass of excellent Burgundy, which, as it was the signal of departure, seemed to lose half its flavour, we pressed our excellent friends by the hands, and proceeded on the road to Elsineur.

It is one of the penalties of travelling, and a painful one it is, to meet with here and there a being, who delights, attaches, and is gone for ever. It was even so with one from whom I parted on this very spot, in all human probability never more

CANNON-FOUNDRY AT FREDERICSVAARK.

85

to meet on this side the grave. He was a youth full of genius, accomplished, diffident, gentle, brave, and generous: he came from the region of mountains and cataracts, from the Swisserland of the north, where the winter snow is seen undisturbed to settle on the naked breast of the hardy and happy peasant. I must again borrow the language of my adored Shakespeare, noble young Norwegian :

to paint my

"His head unmellow'd, but his judgment ripe:
And, in a word (for far behind his worth
Come all the praises that I now bestow),

He was complete in feature and in mind,
With all good grace to grace a gentleman."

My memory will long dwell with delight upon the name of Knudtzon.

Time would not admit of our seeing Fredericsvaark, which is near this place. The cannon-foundry and manufactories were established by General Claussen, who, by his skill and perseverance, has triumphed over the most formidable difficulties of local situation: the whole is at present under the superintendence of our ingenious countryman, Mr. English. It is said that this establishment can completely equip a fifty gun ship in two months, in all her guns, powder, and stores.

The country houses, many of which we passed, are generally

86

PALACE OF FREDENSBORG.

built of wood, painted red or light yellow: they seldom exceed two stories, frequently containing only a suite of ground floor apartments, and are far more comfortable within, than handsome without. Sometimes they are built of brick, when the frame and timbers are visible, and have a very unpleasant appearance. The gardens are in general formally laid out, and the garden door is remarkable for being formed of a frame covered with fine wire netting, through which the grounds behind appear as through a muslin veil, and the garden railing is almost invariably heavy and tasteless.

Through a forest of fine beech, the sun shining gloriously, and making the trunk of many a tree look like a pillar of gold, and illuminating the casement of many a romantic little cottage, we reached the palace of Fredensborg, or the Mansion of Peace: it stands in a valley, and was the retreat of the remorseless Juliana Maria, after the young Crown Prince had taken possession of the reins of government, which, having stained with blood, she vainly endeavoured to retain. Here in solitude she resigned her breath. No doubt her last moments were agonized by the compunctious visitings of conscience, for the wrongs which she had heaped upon the unfortunate Matilda, and her savage sacrifice of Struensee and Brandt. The grass was growing in the court, and upon the steps. The building is a large square front, surmounted with a dome, and