ave preserved, to
his present age of sixty, much of the joyous lightheartedness of youth.
With great glee he related to Mr Boas the trick he had played the
architects of the church of Our Lady at Copenhagen.

"Architects are obstinate people," said he, "and one must know how to
manage them. Thank God, that is a knowledge which I possess in a
tolerable degree. When the church of Our Lady was built, the architect
left six niches on either side of the interior, and these were to
contain the twelve apostles. In vain did I represent to them that
statues were meant to be looked at on all sides, and that nobody could
see through a stone wall; I implored, I coaxed them, it was all in vain.
Then thought I to myself, he is best served who serves himself, and
thereupon I made the statues a good half-foot higher than the niches.
You should have seen the length of the architects' faces when they found
this out. But they could not help themselves; the infernal sentry-boxes
were bricked up, and my apostles stand out upon their pedestals, as you
may have seen when you visited the church."

Thorwaldsen is devotedly attached to Copenhagen, and has made a present
to the city of all his works and collections, upon condition that a
fitting locality should be prepared for their reception, and that the
museum should bear his name. The king gave a wing of the Christiansburg
for this purpose, the call for subscriptions was enthusiastically
responded to, and the building is now well advanced. Its style of
architecture is unostentatious, and its rows of large windows will admit
a broad decided light upon the marble groups. Pending its completion,
the majority of the statues and pictures are lodged in the palace.

Mr Boas appears bent upon establishing his parallel between Denmark and
Italy. He traces it in the fondness of the Danes for art, poetry, and
music, in their gay and joyous character, and in their dress. He even
discovers an Italian punchinello figuring in a Danish puppet-show; and
as it was during the month of August that he found himself in Denmark,
the weather was not such as to dispel his illusions.

"It would be erroneous," he says, "to suppose that Danish costumes
weaken or obliterate the idea of a southern region conveyed by this
country. A Bolognese professor would not think of covering his head with
the red cap of a Lazzarone, and Roman marchesas dress themselves, like
Danish countesses, according to the _Journal des Modes_.