Whether the construction of the grand canal, now in contemplation, will destroy the commerce of Åhus remains to be seen; it is at present a pretty secluded spot, with plenty of shipping in its harbour.

Crossing the ill-paved square on which stands the fine church (pews are set apart in it for travellers!), we reach the prestgård, and there pause to visit the memorable room where, like the royal duchess of later days, Charles XI. of Sweden lay concealed in a chimney during a sudden incursion of the Danish army. Magister Rönnow, the parson, had just time to bundle his royal master up the aperture, and so save him from the enemy. The room remains in statu quo-a small low chamber on the ground-floor, with carving about the windows. A chimney is a chimney all the world over; when once you have looked up there's an end to it; no fire has ever been lighted since that day; it still retains the perfume of royalty. A gilt inscription on a black marble ground records the tale in somewhat vaunting tone (1679):—

All

"In vain you seek, oh, inquisitors! You find nothing; you search, you see nothing. In this vile chimney lies concealed the terror of the enemies of Sweden." very fine, but when a monarch is crammed up a chimney the less he talks about being the terror of anybody the better.

With all this bombast, Charles showed himself, what monarchs mostly fail to be-grateful. Parson Rönnow was soon promoted to Örebro, and from that time the

Casten Rönnow was son of Magnus Dublar or Dunbar, a Scotch merchant of Rönneby. On taking orders, after the pedantry of the age, Casten was called de Ronnavia, corrupted into Rönnow.

cure of Åhus became a majorat in the Rönnow family; each son succeeds his father, and, should the male line fail, the husband of the daughter takes orders in his place-enough to make a boy of spirit bolt to sea, or travel the world round with a monkey and a hurdygurdy.* The portraits of the king, and his queen Ulrika Eleanora of Denmark, by Ehrenstrahl, gifts of the sovereign, hang in the parsonage; that of Magister Rönnow, together with the sword worn by the king that day (up the chimney), are suspended to the church wall. All that gratitude could do has been done to commemorate the event; and the king's escape, like those of our own Charles at Boscobel and Whiteladies, will ever be remembered.

That evening we crossed the water in a boat, walked through the pine forest, carpeted with saxifrage, till we reached the flat shores of the Baltic, where, from the sand-dunes, bright with dog violets,† we gazed at the cluster of small islands in the distance.

WIDTSKÖFLE.

The horses were ordered.

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Why so early?" saidnever mind who-the usual cry. "Seven is not too soon," remarked a bystander in English, an old seacaptain. "Start early, and you have the day before

* Charles presented the wife of Casten Rönnow with a gold chain of several coils, bearing the cipher C. XI. and a crown on the clasp, which ornament came into the hands of a goldsmith of Christianstad during a season of pecuniary difficulty, and is now preserved in the museum of Stockholm.

+ Viola bicolor, now canina, was held sacred to Mary in Sweden. In the prayer-book of the Wadstena nuns the Virgin is apostrophised, "Thou art as the beautiful flower Viola-who with thy humility and grace fillest the heavens and the earth."

you." So I got my own way for once, and we drove out through a gate of the town of Ahus, opened by a small girl. There is a something new about the sleeves of the women-white, hanging and plaited, with epaulettes carved, as Petruchio would say, like an "appletart." The girls are comely and Raphaelesque-admirable Madonnas and she-martyrs-only don't ask what they'll be at forty.

Traversing a gray-lichened moor, we cross a ferry, and drive up to the castle of Widtsköfle. The building stands out unencumbered, surrounded by a moat. We accepted the kind invitation of Madame de Stjernvärd to spend the day, and continue our journey to Christianstad after dinner.

You may recollect how, among the witnesses to the much-canvassed confession of James Earl of Bothwell, is given the name of "Braw of Vascu," for which read Henrik Brahe of this ilk, who built the castle we are now visiting in the year 1533. Henrik Brahe in his youth was subject to deep fits of melancholy-sad and desponding, he wandered for days among the forests, avoiding the society of all men, even that of his betrothed fair Lina Thott. Ten years rolled on, and Lina, still affianced, was not yet a bride! Worn out with waiting, she lost all patience. "Now or never!" cried she: "either marry me at once, or put an end to the matter-plenty of others will be only too happy."

As Henrik, sad and undecided, sauntered through the forest, he met "a little man," who gave him “a small wheel of gold garnished with spikes," saying"Each time the mood comes o'er you, turn this wheel, repeating the words, Help me, O Holy Trinity!' and your sickness will be cured." Henrik followed

his advice, regained his health, espoused fair Lina Thott, and rebuilt the castle of Widtsköfle "in honour of the Holy Trinity," of which a representation appears above the gateway, with an inscription praying that the building and its wide domains may never pass away from the descendants of the founders. Above the entrance of the tower, within the court, again appears an oblong frieze, where, between the two wheels, is inscribed the motto "Help us, O Holy Trinity!"

The portrait of Henrik hangs in the dining-room: from a sevenfold coil of golden chain is suspended the medallion portrait of Frederik II. of Denmark. In the parish church adjoining is a large family group-Lina, an old woman simply dressed, while her daughters are gorgeously arrayed; Anna, the eldest, bears on her breast the garnet cipher of good Queen Sophia (as seen in the portraits of her daughter, our own Queen Anne, by Somers); the younger sisters wear from their golden coils a medal with a cross, not unlike a florin, on which can be only deciphered "Ferdinandus." The second, Margaretha, espoused Christian Barnekow, whose correspondence with Scotland has been before alluded to; he was the most learned man of his day-visited Palestine and Constantinople, and was sent twice to England and Scotland, first in 1577, and again in 1594, as ambassador. King James was so charmed with his erudition that a friendship sprang up between them, which continued during their lifetime. Christian, like many noble Danes of his day, pursued his studies at Padua. He was killed at the fight of Kjolleryds. Seeing Christian IV. surrounded by the enemy, Barnekow gave

* Page 51.

his horse to the monarch, and fell uttering the words, "I give my horse to my king, my life to my enemies, and my soul to God." On the stone which marks the spot grows a red moss which the peasants call Christian Barnekow's blood. His portrait, with those of all his family, adorns the church, with a long genealogy, down to the last generation, when Widtsköfle passed into other hands. In the vault below, side by side with the splendid sarcophagus of Henrik Brahe, are two coffins of rich design-maybe his wife's or daughter's -diapered over in small squares by bands of gilded metal, in the centre of each the monogram I. H. S.

We visited the gardens, figgeries, graperies, the splendid range of well-ventilated stables (if the grooms could only be persuaded not to leave the manure in pails by the stall-side), the large loose boxes for yearlings, and, further on, a stable of some twenty stalls for "strangers' horses"-a wise precaution against glanders; lastly, the ghost chamber, with such an iron door and secret staircase! but no longer haunted. The châtelaine unclosed a secret hidingplace where certain papers lay concealed, the discovery of which led to the decision of a long suit between the De la Gardies and Barnekows. The existence of these documents was revealed to a young Count L——, Lwho one night, after a ball, pot-valiant, insisted on sleeping in the haunted chamber. There appeared to him a ghostly monk, beckoning and tapping with his clenched fist the wall which covered the recess. A very useful ghost he was; for, independent of the lawsuit gained, the adventure gave the young count such a "turn," that from that day he became an altered character-proposed to, and married, a young lady to