on the earth," and "walking to and fro on it;" and he took my hand
in his and shook it, because I, like him, had been a wanderer. And so we
whiled away the time, and heard and felt neither wind nor rain.

P---- had gone below to arrange his flies; and I could occasionally hear
R----'s voice, above the whistling of the wind through the shrouds,
modulating "Buffalo Gals," "The Great Plenipotentiary," and other
favourite ballads. We were now half way between Elsineur and
Copenhagen, and rising above a cape of level land on our starboard bow,
the high buildings and steeples of Copenhagen could be distinguished. I
formed, from this view, a grand idea of the Northern Capital, and, had I
not done so, I might have been less disappointed, beautiful though the
city is, when I found myself the following day walking through its
streets. But the same event happens to man's works as to man himself.
The nearer I view a picture, the harsher become those lines which, at a
distance, seemed so soft; and had I seen Caesar, I should not now worship
the deity I have raised on the pedestal of Imagination. I desire to
foster the poetic feeling which, like a mountain mist, surrounds the
ordinary habits and character of great men, and so I stand aloof and
look on them. I exist on the Pagan creed,

"Omne ignotum pro magnifico."

The pilot, pointing with his finger, showed the spot where Nelson landed
some of his men the day before his action in 1801; and, as the Dane
reminded me of the crafty manner in which the officers of the English
fleet imposed on the credulity of the good folks at Elsineur, the sound
of distant thunder was heard. He ceased to speak, and listened to the
low, rumbling peals, as they swelled, now loudly on the tops of the far
mountains of Sweden, then sank faintly in the valleys. The old man went
on to say, he remembered the action well; and, with bitterness,
regretted that it ever occurred. This was the first time I had heard
England spoken of discreditably, and the arrow pierced deep, and deeper,
as familiar intercourse told, that the Danes, a brave and noble people
themselves, always remember this battle with a sorrowful resignation,
and grieving, feel, without vindictiveness, that, though Time may heal
the outward wound, the moral pain remains for ever.

The scenery all along this coast of Denmark is very beautiful, the royal
forests, extending nearly from Elsineur to Copenhagen, contributing with
their masses of tree