CHAPTER III.
COPENHAGEN.
ABOUT four miles from Frederiksburg is the town of Friedenburg, remarkable for its clean and inviting appearance; and, indeed, cleanliness and neatness may be considered the characteristics of most of the Danish towns. At Friedenburg is a royal castle, which, except for that dignity, I had not thought worthy of mention. Behind the town is a most picturesque lake, which winds for a long distance through woods that slope down to its edge: it is a delightful scene, and well deserving a visit.
The peasantry of Zealand are remarkable for their respectable appearance, and the invariable civility of their demeanour. Their low-built, whitewashed cottages are comfortable and tidy, and generally cleaner than those of our own labouring classes. I was informed that each labourer is allowed a plot of land, which usually adjoins his house, and provides him with many of the luxuries of life, or what to him, at least, appear such.
I like the country inns of Denmark; the traveller is uniformly treated with civility and respect, and yet is not required to pay exorbitantly for those attentions. Animal food is very cheap, and house-rent very moderate, and the best wine St. Julian, or what is called such commonly a rix dollar a bottle, that is, a little more than two shillings and four-pence.
I travelled from Frederiksburg to Copenhagen by the post, or royal diligence - a kind of open waggon on low springs, containing four seats, which accommodate twelve persons, including the driver. That individual, robed in a scarlet coat, with a horn slung round his neck, which he takes care to blow not unfrequently, devotes his utmost abilities to urging four long-tailed horses into a trot.
When the passengers are numerous, inferior carriages are provided, which are drawn by two horses, and respectfully keep in the wake of the royal mail; -for, in arbitrary countries, the doctrine of precedence is very strictly observed; and in Denmark, as throughout Germany, it is thought extremely incorrect for the subsidiary vehicle to pass the principal, though the fares of each are alike.
The road to the metropolis lies through frequent woods and over dreary wastes, which, for miles, are without the shelter of a single tree. There is also, at least, one very noble lake, surrounded with beautiful woods, among which it winds and is lost. Upon the banks is sometimes seen a large mansion, the residence of a great landed proprietor.
Long avenues of trees lead up to the several gates which give entrance to Copenhagen; but every one of these trees, which seem to be commonly elm, is cut down to about ten or twelve feet from the ground; and it is singular that the Danes, who are very proud of their gardens, and really have a taste for flowers, should make a point of mutilating in this manner all the trees which they mean to be ornamental. The tops thus deprived of their branches, in which consisted all their beauty, are reduced to mere sprouts, that in winter have the appearance of besoms, and in summer of magnified cabbages.
Copenhagen is a fortified town, surrounded by a moat, and walls or mounds of earth. I could not help thinking that rather an arbitrary edict which caused the luggage of all the passengers of the diligence to be searched, though we had not come from a foreign country, nor even from a frontier town.
Copenhagen is an agreeable and handsome town, the streets are wide, the houses lofty and well-built, and generally painted of a stone colour. Some of the squares-which, by the bye, are rather oval than square-have a fine appearance; and in the best of them the king resides.
The king has also a new, and very large, though not very handsome palace, called Christiansborg it contains a museum of ancient arms, and other curiosities that are usually placed in museums. The royal stables behind this palace are worth visiting; they contain about a hundred of the king's horses-noble animals, though small. The finest building in the town is the Exchange, which was erected in the reign of Christian the Fourth. That monarch also built a curious tower, called the Round Tower, in the which there is no staircase, but a gradual ascent, paved with brick, that runs spirally to the summit. It is so wide that a carriage may be driven up it; and one of the kings, it is said, actually drove his chariot and six horses to the very top. The library is in this tower, and the royal observatory on it. The Palace of Rosenberg, situated in a garden within the walls of the town, is a small and deserted building, erected, at the command of Christian the Fourth, by Inigo Jones: it is not, however, particularly to the credit of that architect. There is one room that contains the portraits of the original owner and his seven mistresses; in another, the king himself, his queen, and several of his children, are represented in full dress, each adorned with a profusion of red hair. It is a curious proof of the eccentricity of fashion, that, about an hundred and seventy years ago, red hair was esteemed, in the Danish court at least, one of the most attractive features, and they who had not the good fortune to be born with that natural advantage were fain to dye their locks, or powder them with a red pulvilis. This fashion was not introduced out of compliment to the king, whose hair was naturally jet black. Christian the Fourth was one of the most celebrated of the Danish monarchs; he flourished in the middle of the seventeenth century, and was not more celebrated as a warrior than as a wise and patriotic prince. He encouraged the arts, patronised talent, and founded or promoted several public institutions; but he was of a stern, unfeeling disposition, and of a native ferocity and brutality of temper that generally distinguish the half-reclaimed barbarian. His forbidding features were rendered still more repulsive by the loss of an eye, which was struck out in a naval engagement.
The present king, Frederick the Sixth, is very plain in appearance, and homely in his manners; he is frequently to be met walking about the town, where he attracts no particular attention. It is a great misfortune to his people, and a serious drawback to his popularity, that he almost entirely neglects the interests of commerce, and devotes his chief attention to the provision of an useless army, to which all his abilities and anxiety cannot give a respectable appearance. The Danish soldiers are no doubt as brave as other military characters; but they have an innate awkwardness of manner, and meanness of aspect, that no drilling seems able to remedy: it is like hammering cold iron. Their slouching gait, bent knees, squat figure, and diminutive size, move to laughter rather than inspire respect; and yet, as the position of their country and its political interests deny them even the chance of greater honours than may be acquired at a review, it is rather surprising that they should not be more worthy of those private laurels which their king very liberally bestows. I one day saw a collection of these heroes at drill. When ordered to sheathe bayonets, there were only a few men skilful enough to go through that intricate manœuvre without assistance, and to the great derangement of their ranks; the others were fain to apply for the aid of their neighbours, and good-naturedly assisted each other.*)
I would not be thought to sneer at mere want of skill, nor from national pride seek to censure inferiority; but I would reprehend all vain and idle follies that are indulged by the whim of one to the prejudice of many. A large and useless army is not unfrequently the foible of an absolute king, and in the hands of the king of Denmark it is the worst of all foibles, as being the cause of much injustice and much evil. The whole thoughts of the monarch seem to be centred in his army; all his rewards, honours, and patronage, are confined to its members. It is not state policy, nor the tranquillity of his empire, that demands this engrossing interest; which arises solely from the lust of pride, and the weakness of vanity.
The geographical position of Denmark renders her essentially a maritime power; and whatever importance she once possessed, was acquired by the influence of her navy, and the extent of her The king has withdrawn his favour and encouragement from these sources of power and affluence; and the navy lies dismasted in the dock-yards, whilst commerce has sunk into insignificance and decay. In our own country it is matter of much indifference whether the king pay attention or not to particular branches of polity; but in the dominions of an absolute monarch the case is far otherwise:- he is there the centre of all power, the key-stone of all stability; the sun, as it were, of a system that looks to him for life and warmth, and whose rays, extending through all the ramifications of empire, are felt in every department, and have an influence on every grade of society. When the beams of the monarchy are averted from an object that has grown up and flourished under its genial warmth, we may well imagine that it is left to wither and decay.
Where formerly fifty sail of ships used to trade betwixt Denmark and the East, there now, I was informed, are not more than ten: the traffic of the country is almost entirely carried on by foreigners.
The navy, at present laid up in port, consists of sixteen or eighteen vessels-ships of the line and frigates.
There is only one theatre at Copenhagen, and it is very small, and generally crowded to excess; it is usual to perform only one piece in an evening. I witnessed an opera and a comedy; the latter I did not understand sufficiently to admire, and the former wanted at least good voices to make it agreeable. In order to give some effect to the stage, the chandelier is drawn up during the performance, and the spectators sit in obscurity.
I went one evening to the Circus, having heard that Prince Christiern, the king's nephew and heir presumptive, and several others of the royal family, intended to be present. It is a wooden building outside the gates, and on that evening was so crowded that I had difficulty in obtaining a seat.
Prince Christiern is a plain, inoffensive-looking individual, something under the age of fifty. He wore a blue coat and star, with a white neckerchief. His only son married a daughter of the king (who has another daughter, but no son) but it was much against the inclination of the young man, who yielded only to policy and the commands of his sovereign. The match turned out as unhappily as might have been expected; the prince soon quarrelled with his wife, and was even of a temper sufficiently brutal to inflict upon her actual chastisement. Whether she really deserved that treatment is, to this day, a subject of refined speculation with the ladies of Copenhagen, many of whom seem inclined to espouse the cause of the young prince, who is possessed of an attractive person, and, though impetuous, is said to be engaging.
The king resented the ill-usage his daughter had received, and banished the husband to Iceland, whence he was, some time afterwards, removed to Jutland, where he still remains; but there is a rumour of his intended recall. He is now divorced from the princess.
The performance at the Circus was such as would have done no honour to a company of vagabonds at a village fair in England; half-adozen gentlemen cantered round the ring in military costume; one contrived to fling himself through a hoop, and a lady managed to sit on horseback in the male fashion, and occasionally diversified the scene by turning her face to the tail. I never was so tired of any thing in my life, and was glad to make my escape, long before the performance concluded; not a little envying Prince Christiern the power to derive amusement from a subject apparently so devoid of interest. That good prince, indeed, on his part, seemed to take the highest pleasure in the matter; his attention was never removed from the riders, and he frequently clapped, applauded, grinned with every appearance of satisfaction,
Though the Danes, in general, do not seem to ride much themselves, yet they entertain great respect for horsemanship, and take pleasure in beholding it. I believe they consider the English to be the finest horsemen in the world.
When I reflected upon the scene I had witnessed at the Circus, I could not help thinking that it, in some measure, marked the intellectual attainments of the people, to find the highest of the land attending, and deriving gratification from, such miserable exhibitions. That nation cannot be very far advanced in refinement, whose upper and most cultivated classes take delight in witnessing spectacles in which no mental talent is exercised, and but very little even of physical dexterity displayed. Those men take greatest pleasure in brutal feats of strength, in the pranks of a rope-dancer, or the contortions of a mountebank, whose finer perceptions have never been awakened to the the subtleties of wit, the graces of eloquence, or the harmony of poetry; who have never been conscious of those more elegant pleasures, which refinement affords, and cultivated reason teaches to appreciate.
*) Perhaps these were the awkward squad; and I must in justice admit, that there are two good regiments in the whole army-one the horse-guards. I believe there is but one more regiment of cavalry, and the other a picked regiment, that does duty before the king's palace.
(Edward Wilson Landor: Adventures in the North of Europe. 1836)
- Iblandt de Reisende, som i den senere Tid have besøgt vort Land, er en Englænder Eward Wilson Landor, der i sine "Adventures in the North of Eurnpe" omtaler sit Ophold her paa en Maade, som vilde gjøre os ondt, hvis man ikke tydeligt kunde skjønne, at han kom hertil uden at kjende vor Nationalitet. Iblandt andet, som han omtaler ufordeelagtigt, er vor Armee, der, "uagtet Handelen for dens Skyld forsømmes i Danmark", og uagtet Kongen skjænker den sin Opmærksomhed, alligevel ei kan faae et ordenligt Udseende." Forfatteren vil indrømme os ligesaa meget "Mod," som andre Tropper; men han finder vore Soldaters Manerer "medfødt forkeerte" og deres Udseende "lavt", og at al Exersits intet hjælper: "Det er ligesom at hamre paa koldt Jern." Deres "slæbende, skjødesløss Gang", "krumme Knæe", "fiirskaarne Figur" og "ringe Høide", bringe En snarere til at lee, end til at føle Agtelse for dem." Forfatteren erklærer, at han ei ønsker at finde eller jage efter Feil; og efter hans Mening skulde vi blot stole paa vort Søværn og opmuntre Handelen. Den bedste Opdagelse, Forfatteren gjør, er dog denne, at de Danske, hvis alvorligere Uroligheder skulde udbryde, ifølge Sagkyndiges Mening, vilde befindes at være: meget vilde Barbarer!!
(Dannevirke. Et Ugeblad for Hertugdømmet Slesvig 28. marts 1839).
