This Castle is in the immediate vicinity of Vordingborg, in the south part of the island of Zealand. It was built by Valdemar I, and rebuilt by Valdemar IV, (Atterdag) and was one of his favorite residences.

beat a drum, with heavy blows, and call upon his son with a loud voice. "Come," he would say, come from thy retreat; swim to me; I will place thee by my side in my boat. And if thou art dead, I will give thee a tomb in the churchyard, a tomb amid flowers and shrubs. Thou wilt sleep better there than in the midst of the waves." But he calls in vain; he looks in vain. When night comes, he returns to his home, saying, "I will go further to-morrow; my poor son has not heard me.”

As to popular ballads, no country abounds more in them than Denmark. Their number is very great, and many of them are very beautiful. One of them, "KING CHRISTIAN,”* written by Evald, holds the same place among Danish songs, that Rule Britannia" does among those of England. The first stanza is as follows::

66

King Christian stood by the high mast,
'Mid smoke and spray,

His fierce artillery flashed so fast,

That Swedish wrecks were round him cast,

And lost each hostile stern and mast,

'Mid smoke and spray.

Fly, Sweden, fly! nor hope to win

Where Christian dauntless mingles in
The fray!"

Were it necessary, we might quote portions of others, which are equally beautiful, if not quite as popular.

We were not born poets, nor have we ever felt, at any period of our lives, the divine afflatus of the Muses; and if we had, a steam-boat, with its noisy machinery, its clattering wheels, and its volumes of black smoke rolling away from its chimneys, is surely not a place very likely to excite to verses. But we have never yet visited these northern regions without feeling a melancholy interest in look

* Christian IV., in some respects the greatest of Denmark's kings, at least since the days of Valdemar I. Of his history, as well as of this national song, we have spoken in another place.

ing upon them as the land of the Scandinavian Scalds and Saga-men, of poets and warriors. The islands, as well as the continental portions of Denmark, form a portion of this vast Scandinavian region-which comprehended, as we have already stated, the kingdoms of Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Over this entire region what an impenetrable veil hides from our view the transactions of many of the ages which preceded, as well as many of those which succeeded, the Christian epoch! All is buried in the profoundness of midnight darkness. We have only traditions, few, obscure, and unsatisfactory, in relation to these ages of barbarism. We only know that this entire extent of countries, greatly diversified in physical character, was peopled by tribes and nations which spoke essentially the same language, which worshipped the same gods, and employed in that worship the same bloody rites. But who were their most renowned chieftains, what examples did they, or their subjects, ever give, of noble virtue and goodness, as well as of noble daring; what, in detail, their manner of life, these, and a hundred similar inquiries, which our hearts prompt us to make, are all made in vain; for interrogated antiquity answers not. The silence of the tomb reigns over the early history of all this region. There is something so mysterious in the gloom which hangs over the distant past of these countries, that one almost approaches them with awe. We know something, but not enough to give us satisfaction. The little that we do know is filled with horrible scenes, obscurely described, in the imperfect remains of Scandinavian legends—for of literature there is nothing relating to this early period,and by consequence but faintly and obscurely conceived by our minds. We would go further; we would penetrate into those scenes of the dark past; we would satisfy our excited desires by having a full vision of all its events; but alas, we are repelled from the dark barriers which se

parate us from this unfathomable past, and we are compelled, in despair, to remain in our present ignorance. And Odin and Thor, and the obscure traditions relating to their bloody religion, must be classed with those things which we hardly know whether to believe or not, and which, if we believe them, we cannot embody in conception.

The physical character of the entire Scandinavian region, its innumerable islands belting the coasts, the innumerable lakes which are to be found in each of its great sub-divisions, its bays and fiords, would lead us to suppose that its inhabitants would early become addicted to a nautical, and, considering the state of the world at that day, a piratical life. And such History, from the moment she begins to speak, assures us was the fact. When in the lapse of centuries, their population had become sufficiently augmented, they commenced those fearful descents upon more southern Europe; they ravaged the coasts, burned the cities, and then, at the approach of winter, they betook themselves again to their prows, and retired to their northern abodes, until pressing want, or the lust of conquest, impelled them to another campaign. Then, with another fell swoop, they would come down upon the coasts of distant and feeble nations. They conquered and took possession of a large portion of England. They carried their victorious arms into the heart of France, and chose Normandy, its fairest province, for their abode. And they even extended their rapacity to Spain and distant Italy! Wonderful people! What energy of character, what enterprise possessed them! But these ages have long since passed away, and given place to others more enlightened, and not less interesting. But it is time to return to our voyage.

After having issued from the cluster of islands, our course was almost due north. The white cliffs of Moën