cuisine, he, nevertheless, in vulgar parlance, did tinker her kettles for her. Sophia died a dethroned queen,— ⚫ her husband a prisoner in the castle of Nyköping.*

On we steam by Falsterbo and her sand-blocked harbour; pass Skanör and Fode Bay: the grim old slott frowns by the water-side; we twirl round, and are landed in the harbour of Malmö.

During his absence Magnus prevailed upon King Erik Glipping to aid him with troops and money, and publicly throw off his allegiance. Waldemar returned and assembled an army of peasants. He and Sophia were engaged in a game of chess when a messenger arrived announcing his defeat. Waldemar fled towards Norway, but, coolly stopping to take his meals and night's rest, Magnus's people caught him at dinner in a miserable inn. The duke told Waldemar he might thank his queen for his fate; but ceded to him Götaland. On Whitsun eve Magnus was elected on the Morastone, and next day crowned King of Sweden. Waldemar after his fall dwelt at the castle of Ettock, situated upon the Wettern, the same residence where he and fair Jutta had forgotten all but their fatal love. Here he lived as King of Götaland. The ruins of an old castle still exist, and a meadow called Kungshög-hagen (King's-hill garden). The royal farmhouses were at Skefive and Bonnårp; and near the church are shown the remains of King Waldemar's brewhouse. The banks of the Wettern abound in traditions of King Waldemar. Jutta and her son Erik were kept prisoners in the castle of Laaholm in Halland. Magnus never repaid the money advanced by Glipping, who straightway ravaged the land. Sophia and Waldemar are said to have aided the enemy. On this account Magnus deprived his brother of the government of Götaland, and from that time kept him a prisoner until he died. Sophia was of a liberal disposition. In 1282 she grants the salmon-fisheries of Norköping to the nuns of the place, and presents her maid Ingrid with a mill, as a marriage present.

VOL. I.

I

CHAPTER IX.

Landskrona - The white worm of the witches- Prisoners in Sweden -The Swedish Diogenes-Uranienborg - Urban the rye-saint — -Knutstorp, the birthplace of Tycho Brahe- Altarpiece of Otto Brahe.

LANDSKRONA (Journey to).

How to reach Landskrona ?-that was the puzzle: a steamer plied every day, touching at Copenhagen; but Malmö to Landskrona viâ Denmark!-the idea was absurd. What was the road like? No one could tell us it was good, it was bad,—each account varied. We then, in despair, turned to Christian IV.'s journal, to see what he said-"27th September, 1614: Drog jeg fra Malmö til Landskrona, but, on account of the high water, could not pass the Raae Aa;" not very satisfactory, but there are bridges now, and no rain had fallen for the last two months.

Skirting a flat sandy coast, we passed the picturesque village of Lomma, crossing the river by a bridge-river up which, in days of yore, the vikings sailed to besiege Lund and its walls of "trä."

The horses bait by the manor-house of Borreby, once a convent; the gables stand out well from among the chesnuts now in full flower. Miles of linen lay bleaching on the green. The road, newly made-a

causeway raised many feet above the fields-is narrow and without fence. Suddenly our horses shy in the twilight; over goes the carriage, rights itself again, but unhappily on the body of the coach-boy; both wheels pass over him, and off the steeds gallop. At last they stay their course; the driver slowly drags on his way, one arm hanging listless, snapped asunder at the shoulder. The whip was lost, the reins broken; the horses, frightened, refuse to move; by dint of shouts we get them on, at last reach Landskrona, and there see the boy lodged in a hospital outside the city.

LANDSKRONA.

Next morning we visited the "sick-house," a modern building, with a wood behind, and gay garden in front for the convalescents, who help to tend the flowers. We found our patient with his arm set, and free from pain, but ill at ease in mind. In vain we assured him he should want for nothing; his thought was not for his arm, or for his wages, it was all for his horses: "Min hestene, min hestene!" what could they do without him?-no one would care for them as he did. He looked with profound contempt on the fair-haired surgeon of the hospital, anxious only to be tended by the "good woman" of Malmö. The peasants imagine these women to have discovered the "white worm" (Lindormen), which shows itself only on the wildest heaths. They seek it eagerly, and boil it, together with powerful herbs, to acquire wisdom and knowledge of the hidden powers of nature, for the worm has sucked in the profoundest secrets of the mountains, forests, and fields, imparting them to those

who find it and seize it round the middle of the body. Then it leaves its slough in the hand of the finder. Whoso licks this slough has the eyes of his mind opened; he knows the powers of herbs, stones, and every kind of earth, and is able to heal wounds and cure the most dangerous diseases.*

Landskrona, like all other Skåne seaports, is a rising place, exporting corn, with manufactories of beet-root sugar. Above the entrance of the old town-hall still hang the shields of Denmark's second Frederik, and his good queen Sophia, with her motto

"Mein Hoffnung zu Gott allein."

Outside the town, by the shore-side, stands a large newly-built factory, where the prisoners of the castle -farmed out by government contract-are employed, under the direction of Count Löwenhaupt, in the fabrication of homespuns and linen.

All prisoners sent to Landskrona are under sentence for life. But no man lives without hope: a careful register of his conduct is kept; and if at the end of ten years his notes are satisfactory, he is released, under " caution"

* A shepherd's boy astray in the forest came to a hut where dwelt one of these wise women. She was not at home when he entered; but a caldron was boiling on the hearth. The child was hungry, and, seeing a thick fat froth, thought the mistress was cooking pork, so he dipped a piece of bread in, and eat it. When the old woman returned she saw at once what had happened. She was not angry, but accompanied the boy through the forest to his cottage home, instructing him how to use the precious gifts thus bestowed on him. Two renowned men in West Götland are said to have acquired their knowledge in the same way; one of whom, Sven of Bregnum, received a visit in consequence from the great Linnæus.

It was with Count Löwenhaupt's passport that Louis Napoleon obtained entrance into France, in return for which the emperor afterwards sent him the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour.

to work on some estate; should he be unable to procure a guarantee, he is transferred to a milder régime elsewhere, and released after a further probation of two years. The prisoners have constant employment, a healthy air, neither chains nor whips, hope ever before their eyes-a system more fitted to elevate the mind than the corrupting influences of the "bagne" of Brest.

manners.

A cheery-looking boy, with a roll of fresh-woven cloth, touched his hat as he passed by. (Prisoners in Sweden, whatever be their crimes, always mind their At Malmö, M. de Stackelberg remarked, "Mes prisonniers sont parfaitement bien élevés.") We stopped to examine the stuff. Womankind grew sentimental-"Poor boy, what a shame!-how unjust!-what could he be there for?-such lovely eyes too!"

"Only for murdering his father," replied Count Löwenhaupt.

The words of Canning and the 'Antijacobin' flowed involuntarily from my lips :

"Needy Knifegrinder, whither art thou going?

Cold blows the wind."

But my poetic vein was soon extinguished. Womankind knew nothing about knifegrinders forsooth! “It was quite evident that I had a taste for low society."

The castle of Landskrona, enclosed within vallums and four round towers, is now a prison. At the gate stands a small wooden barrack, from which protruded the body of a giant man-placed there under the guard of a sentry, to dispose of small wares, handiwork of the prisoners-brushes with carved backs in ivory or bone (Sweden is famous for its brushes); little ivory rakes for window gardening. All is serviceable, and sold at prices quite fabulous.