ttegat, stands his
cromlech-shaped tomb, near the roar of the sea he loved so much, where
time and sand will soon obliterate all that remains of the Byron of
Denmark.

Nikolai Frederik Grundtvig, the founder of the popular high-schools for
peasants, was born at his father's parsonage, Udby, South Seeland. He
was sent to school in Jutland, and soon learned to love his wild native
moors. While attending the Latin School in Aarhus he made friends with
an old shoemaker, who used to tell him interesting stories of the old
Norse heroes and sagas, often repeating the old Danish folk-songs. The
lad being a true Dane, a descendant of the old vikings, he soon became
very interested in the history of his race. Being sent to the University
of Copenhagen, he chose to study Icelandic in order to read the ancient
sagas, English to read Shakespeare, and German to read Goethe. This
studious youth was most patriotic, and the poetry of his country
appealed to him especially. Oehlenschlaeger's (a Danish poet) works fired
his poetical imagination.

Grundtvig's poems were for the people, the beloved Jutland moors and
Nature generally his theme. His songs and poems are loved by the
peasants, and used at all their festivals. He wrote songs "that would
make bare legs skip at sound of them," and, "like a bird in the
greenwood, he would sing for the country-folk." So successfully did he
write these folk-songs, that "bare legs" do skip at the sound of them
even to-day at every festivity. He was an educational enthusiast, and
his high-schools are peculiar to Denmark. It is owing to these that the
country possesses such a splendid band of peasant farmers. Being a
priest, he was given the honorary title of Bishop, and founded a sect
called "Grundtvigianere."

This noble man died in 1872, over ninety years of age, working and
preaching till the last, his deep-set eyes, flowing white hair and
beard, making him look like Moses of old.

Adam Oehlenschlaeger, the greatest Danish dramatist and poet, was a
Professor at the University of Copenhagen, and a marvellously gifted
man. He developed and gave character to Danish literature, and is known
as the "Goethe of the North." Some of his finest tragedies have been
translated into English. These have a distinctly northern ring about
them, dealing as they do with the legends and sagas of the Scandinavian
people. These tragedies of the mythical heroes of Scandinavia, the
history of their race, and, indeed,