O'er Dronningaard's meek shades and murmuring streams The dispatch with which nature pushes on her vegetation in these cold climates is amazing: this de lightful spot, which was now in full foliage, presented nothing but naked branches a fortnight before. L quitted Dronningaard with almost as much regret as did the devoted eremite. A visit to the Crown-battery was very interesting. A young Danish officer, who was present at the battle of the second of April, pointed out the respective positions of the fleets and block ships, and described with great candour and liberality the particulars of the engagement. This formidable battery is about half an English mile from shore, is square, and the water flows into the middle of it; it is now very rapidly enlarging, and undergoing such alterations as will make it a place of great strength. It is also in contemplation to raise a fresh battery to the southward in addition to that called the lunette. The harbour is very capacious and safe. The holm or arsenal is not shewn without the permission of the admiral. The ships in ordinary are finely arranged and make a gallant show: a gallery or narrow bridge, resting upon piles, runs on each side of the line, which is patroled day and night. The magazines, forges, and workshops are upon an admirable construction: each ship has her different magazine, containing all the materials for her rapid equipment. This depot is furnished with iron from Norway, hemp from Riga, cloth from Russia and Holland, and wood from Pomerania. The rope-walks are each a thousand feet long. The number of merchant vessels we saw at the quay confirmed the account we received of the magnitude of the Danish commerce. Nature, which has broken the kingdom into islands, has instinctively made the Danes merchants and sailors: their principal foreign trade is with France, Portugal, and Italy, and the East and West Indies: their principal domestic trade is with Norway and Iceland. In the course of my rambles I visited the citadel, which is small and stands at the extremity of the city, and contains two battalions; it has two gates, one towards the city, and the other towards the country; the latter is well fortified by five bastions. Adjoining the chapel is the dungeon in which the Count Stru ensee was confined; it is indeed a most dismal hole; it was here that he lightened the weight of his chains and the horrors of imprisonment by his flute, upon which, so little apprehensive was he of his impending fate, that his favourite air was from the Deserteur, be ginning with Mourir c'est notre dernier ressort. Upon quitting this melancholy abode we requested the soldier who conducted us to shew us that of his unhappy fellow-sufferer Brandt. The little ancient palace of Rosenberg, said to be built by Inigo Jones, attracted our notice, the gardens belonging to which form the principal town parade of the belles and beaux of Copenhagen. The statues in these gardens are not worthy of notice, although recommended to the notice of travellers by many of the Copenhageners. This gothic edifice is principally remarkable for containing the room in which the king holds his annual bed of justice, and for the jewel office: the former is a long low room, the whole length of the building; before the throne upon the floor stand three lions of massy silver, in different attitudes as large as life, and excite a fine idea of barbarous grandeur: the walls are surrounded with large pieces of ancient tapestry, somewhat the worse for age, representing the exploits of the most military of the Danish monarchs in their wars with the Swedes. From the palace I proceeded to the observatory, a noble round tower, one hundred and twenty feet high, in which a spiral road of brick nearly winds to the top, so that thus far any one might ascend or descend on horseback with perfect ease and safety: at the top is the observatory of the celebrated Tycho Brahe. The instruments are good, and in excellent condition. After having perused the description which travellers have given of the grounds and house of Count Bernstoff, I was somewhat disappointed upon visiting them the former are certainly finely wooded, and cominand a beautiful view of the Sound, but they are not laid out with much taste; the latter is by no means splendid. I was more gratified with the king's park, which is extensive and highly picturesque, as I was with the grounds and gardens of Prince Frederic, the king's brother: this spot is very delightful, and on account of the motley crowds which flock to it, is in miniature (a very small one) at once the Versailles and Greenwich Park of Denmark. A gloomy curiosity conducted us to the rasp-house, where capital offenders are confined for life. The male convicts, some of whom were ironed, rasp and saw Brasil wood and rein-deer's horns; the latter is used in soup. The females spin. The prisoners are separately confined: the house of correction is on the right here offenders of both sexes are enclosed in the same room, many of them young and healthy, but strange to relate, I only saw one little child in the apartment: they all looked neat and clean, and are made by their labour to contribute towards their support. The admiralty-hospital, the citizens'-hospital, the orphans'-house, and the hospital of Frederic, are all very humane foundations and well maintained; there is nothing in them worthy of elaborate description. To an Englishman such establishments, and every other institution by which misfortune can be relieved, misery alleviated, and infirmity recovered, are proud ly familiar to his eye: they constitute the principal beauty of every town and city in his country. Although the manufactories of the north are much inferior to those of the south, I must not omit to mention the gratification which we derived from visiting the manufactory of china. which is very beautiful, and although in its infancy, is thought to rival those of Saxony, Berlin and Vienna. I did not leave Copenhagen without visiting the Dutch town in the isie of Amak, about two English miles from the capital, which is inhabited by about four thousand people, descendants of a colony from East Friesland, who were invited to reside here, with certain privileges, by one of the ancient kings of Denmark, for the purpose of supplying the city with milk, cheese, butter, and vegetables; the heatness and luxuriance of their little gardens cannot be surpassed: they dress in the Dutch style, and are governed by their own laws. The road from Copenhagen to Fredericksborg, distant about sixteen English miles, is very beautiful, and presents a luxuriant display of lakes, woods, cornfields, 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, with the exception of two old housekeepers, it has no other inmates. 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 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. 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 superintendance 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 built of wood, painted red or light yellow. They seldom exceed two stories, frequently contain. ing 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 Jike 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 |