Page images
PDF
EPUB

100

DEPARTURE OF QUEEN MATILDA.

tion. Upon the Queen approaching the frigate, the squadron saluted her as the sister of his Britannic Majesty, and when she came on board, Captain Macbride hoisted the Danish colours, and insisted upon the fortress of Cronberg saluting her as Queen of Denmark, which salute was returned with two guns less. The squadron then set sail for Stade, in the Hanoverian dominions, but, owing to contrary winds, was detained within sight of the castle the whole day, and in the early part of the following morning its spires were still faintly visible, and until they completely faded in the mist of distance, the Queen sat upon the deck, her eyes rivetted upon them, and her hands clasped in silent agony. Shall we follow the wretched Matilda a little farther? The path is solitary, very short, and at the end of it is her tomb. Upon her landing at Stade she proceeded to a little remote hunting seat upon the borders of the Elbe, where she remained a few months, until the castle of Zell, destined for her future residence, was prepared for her she removed to it in the autumn; here her little court was remarked for its elegance and accomplishments, for its bounty to the peasantry, and the cheerful serenity which reigned throughout. The Queen spent much of her time alone, and having obtained the portraits of her children from Denmark, she placed them in a retired apartment, and frequently addressed them in the most affecting manner as if present.

:

DECEASE OF QUEEN MATILDA.

101

So passed away the time of this beautiful and accomplished exile, until the eleventh of May, 1775, when a rapid inflammatory fever put a period to her afflictions in the twenty-fourth year of her age. Her coffin is next to that of the dukes of Zell. Farewell poor Queen!

"Ah! while we sigh we sink, and are what we deplore."

( 102 )

CHAP. VI.

CROSS THE SOUND-SWEDEN-CINDERELLA'S MICE-RAPID TRAVELLING STRANGE

QUESTION-ROOF-GRAZING-MISLED

LIGHT-A DISCOVERY-A CAUTION—A FRENCH HOTEL.

BY

THE

THE traveller will do right to obtain letters of introduction to Mr. Fenwick, our consul at Elsineur: they will be the means of making him acquainted with an amiable and highly respectable family, whose manners, information, and hospitality, must afford gratification. In the evening we procured a boat, embarked ourselves and baggage, and, by the assistance of a gentle breeze that just curled the water, we crossed the Sound, about four English miles in breadth, and in three quarters of an hour found ourselves in Sweden. We passed close by Cronberg Castle, which stands upon a peninsular point the nearest to Sweden. I was again forcibly struck with the abbey-like appearance of this building: it now forms the residence of the Governor of Elsineur. It mounts three hundred and sixty-five pieces of cannon, and its subterranean apartments will hold more than a regiment of men. Fame, at one period, assigned to it the character of the impregnable and impassable fortress. On the celebrated second of April, Ad

[blocks in formation]

mirals Parker and Nelson passed it with perfect security, and disdained to return a shot. Two British seventy-fours judiciously moored, and well served, would, in a short time, blow all its boasted bastions and intrenchments at the moon. No visitor, without special permission from the governor (seldom granted), is allowed to put his foot upon the draw-bridge: why all this caution is used, I know not; perhaps to keep up the mystery of invincibility. For my part, I am so well assured that the policy of power is unostentatiously to shew itself, that could I have discharged a paper bullet from my little boat into this redoubted castle, I would have enclosed in it this sentence: "Where there is concealment there is apprehension." This place was open to every one, until the wand of Fatima was broken on the second of April. The Crown battery is a place of real force, and even Englishmen are permitted to see it without the least difficulty.

We disembarked under the steep and rocky shores of Helsinborg, a small town upon a long pier, where the carriage was landed with considerable risk and difficulty; and I warn those who travel with one, to take good care that they cross the Sound in calm weather, as it is obliged to be lifted out of the boat by mere manual strength. On landing, a Swedish hussar, a fine-looking fellow, in blue loose trowsers and jacket, with his two side-locks plaited, and fastened at the end by little

[blocks in formation]

weights of lead, demanded very civilly our passports; and, whilst he went to the commander with them, we paid our robust boatmen in Danish money:

[blocks in formation]

We now settled all our accounts with Denmark, and proceeded to a very neat little inn, not far from the shore, where we found comfortable accommodations, which I suppose are improved by the neighbourhood of Ramlos, where the nobility of this province assemble every season to drink the waters. Having refreshed ourselves with some excellent coffee, we hastened to the duties of the evening, which proved a very busy one, for we intended to start direct for Stockholm, at five o'clock in the morning, and our impatience cost our pride nothing less than figuring away a few days afterwards in the Stockholm Gazette as a couple of couriers just landed. The reader who never means to make a nearer approach to Sweden, than from his fire-side to his library, may as well pass over the following dull but necessary detail of money matters:

« PreviousContinue »