xtends from
Copenhagen to Elsinore, and in another hour the entire party were
transported to the latter place. This town has nine or ten thousand
inhabitants, and is located on a basin of the Sound, nearly
land-locked by natural and artificial dikes. The Danish name of the
place is Helsingoer, and is the scene of Shakespeare's tragedy of
Hamlet. The excursionists visited the cathedral, which is the
principal object of interest in Elsinore, and contains several very
old tombs. Near the town, and on the shore of the Sound, is the Castle
of Kronberg, erected in 1580. It is a large, oblong, Gothic structure,
built of a whitish stone. It contains a chapel and other apartments.
Those occupied by the commandant were the prison of Caroline Matilda,
who was confined here for a high crime, of which she is now
universally believed to be innocent.

Under the castle are casemates for a thousand men, one of which is
said to be the abode of _Holger Danske_, who was the Cid Campeador of
Denmark, and the hero of a thousand legends. When the state is in
peril, he is supposed to march at the head of the armies, but never
shows himself at any other time. A farmer, says the story, happened
into his gloomy retreat by accident, and found him seated at a stone
table, to which his long white beard had grown. The mystic hero
demanded the hand of his visitor, who was afraid to trust flesh and
blood in the grasp of one so mighty, and offered the iron bar used to
fasten the door. Holger Danske seized it, and squeezed it so hard that
he left the print of his fingers on the iron.

"Ha, I see there are still _men_ in Denmark!" said he, with a grim
smile of satisfaction.

Near the castle are a couple of natural ponds, small and round, which
are called "Holger Danske's Spectacles."

"This is where Hamlet lived, I suppose," said Captain Lincoln.

"Where Shakespeare says he lived," replied Dr. Winstock.

"But I was told his grave was here."

"Perhaps Hamlet divided himself up, and occupied a dozen graves, for I
think you may find a dozen of them here," laughed the doctor. "A
resident of this vicinity had what was called the grave of Hamlet in
his grounds, which proved to be a nuisance to him, on account of the
great number of visitors who came to see it. In order to relieve
himself of this injury to his garden, he got up another 'grave of
Hamlet,' in another place, which he proved to be the authentic one."

"It is too bad to trifle with history