sented by the
country lying between Copenhagen and Elsinore, composed of a
succession of forests, lawns, villas, cottages, and gardens for a
distance of twenty-five miles. Elsinore is a small seaport, looking
rather deserted, bleak, and silent, with less than ten thousand
inhabitants. From out of the uniformity of its red brick buildings
there looms up but one noticeable public edifice; namely, the Town
Hall, with a square, flanked by an octagonal tower built of brick and
red granite. The charm of the place is its remarkable situation,
commanding an admirable view of the Baltic with Sweden in the
distance, while the Sound which divides the two shores is always
dotted in summer with myriads of steamers and sailing vessels. The
author counted over eighty marine craft at one view, glancing between
"the blue above and the blue below." The position of Elsinore recalls
that of Gibraltar and the Dardanelles as surely as its name recalls
Hamlet and Shakspeare. North of the town, on the extreme point of the
land, stands the famous castle of Kronborg, with its three tall
towers, the central one overtopping the others by forty or fifty
feet. The tower upon the most seaward corner is now devoted to the
purpose of a lighthouse. The castle is about three centuries old,
having been built by Frederick II. for the purpose of commanding the
entrance to the Sound, and of enforcing the marine tolls which were
exacted from all foreign nations for a period of two or three
centuries. Kronborg contains a small collection of oil paintings,
nearly all of which are by Danish artists. A portrait of Rubens's
daughter by the hand of the great master himself was observed. There
is also an ideal portrait of considerable merit entitled Hamlet, by
Abildgaard. But to the author, as he strolled from one spacious
apartment to another, there came forcibly the sad memory of the young
and lovely Caroline Matilda, Queen of Denmark and sister of George
III. It was here that she was confined, upon a preposterous charge of
infidelity to her husband,--that royal lunatic!--instituted by the
malignity of the Queen Dowager, who wished to secure the succession
to her son. After a trying period of imprisonment in this castle, the
ill-fated Matilda was permitted, through the influence of her royal
brother to retire to Zell, in Hanover, where she died of a broken
heart at the age of twenty-three. During her misfortune she wrote
that memorable line on the window of Freder