triple row of trees. You enter the court by a bridge crossing the moat from behind; the moat green, its banks clothed with flowering elders. As usual in these parts, a quaint round tower rises from the inner court. The entry! Powers! had you met the milk-cart laden with its pails overflowing, slopping away upon the pavement, rich creamy produce of the cow-why, the bi-diurnal sloppings of the Høgholt dairy would alone have set up a London dairyman for life. Fish were rising in the lake, and nets hung out to dry in the cherry-orchard show that the fresh-water produce of the lake is not despised. I am often astonished in England to see how people neglect the fresh-water stews, which in ancient days teemed with pike, carp, perch, eels, and tench. You reply, In England we are spoiled for fish. In London, yes; but in the country, no;-it's not you, it's the fish which are spoiled. The excellence of fresh-water fish depends as much on the previous care bestowed upon them as on the art of cooking. I remember once, in an old French château, to have seen a kitchen in the centre of which were placed two fountains, with basins en étage, in which the live fish were kept sorted in pure running water for some days previous to their being dressed, and fed with dough, bread-crumbs, and clean food. We quit Høgholt, reminding me much of "Mariana's moated grange"-a charming subject for the pencil, but not a place to live in. "I'm aweary, I'm aweary," others than Mariana must have sung therein. Pass my life in such a place! I'd rather drown myself in one of the Brobdignagian milk-pails. The moor grows wilder and more undulating-semé, as the heralds say, with strong-scented cream-coloured orchises -how fragrant too it crushes under your feet! no wonder the bees thrive around in the cottage hives: look at the Lycopodium clavatum-the witches' own plant. What a network of green! pull up a piece-pull on-four yards, five yards in length; it breaks, you've handled it too roughly; you might have gone on for ever, it extends over the whole heath. Observe those long, tender shoots which rise pale-coloured above the brown heather: gather one-shake it—a fine dust, its seed, falls out; that dust is used by chemists; they place it in the boxes among the pills to keep them separate. Morison employs it. If it have a bad odour, it is owing to the sulphur they mingle with it, for the powder itself is fragrant. Hold it above the candle-see how it blazes like a firework, a godsend in early times to witches and necromancers. The sea now appears in sight, and then the town of Frederikshavn. We pass by the public garden, all avenue and shady walk; descend to Zimmerman's hotel to dine, and then proceed. Our postilion was to drive us to the village of Jerup, some two miles' distance, and there engage us two boer's carriages to convey us to Skagen, and bring us back to Frederikshavn the following day. After two hours' drive over a waste moor, well backed by the rising dunes of the opposite coast, blue in the horizon, carpeted with the flowers of the thrift, we arrive at Jerup, a nest of dairy-farms, in former days a waste, * Brøndgræs-water-grass. + Faare leger-"sheep's-flower"-they call it in Zealand; in Jutland "the warrior;" here, in Vendsyssel, “daglig brod,”—daily bread; and they have enough of it in all conscience. where lived only a poor cotter, with his two daughters. One day a poor woman passed by, and begged a little help in Heaven's name. Said the eldest sister, "My hen has just laid an egg; take it, and be welcome." But the youngest gave her nothing but harsh words. Then the poor woman struck the air with her staff, and there came forth a farm, which she gave to the eldest daughter. Again she struck the air, and there appeared a castle, in which lived a "smaa konge;" this she assigned to the youngest; but the girl became proud and haughty; her husband soon got tired of her, and sent her back to her father's cottage. The elder sister and all about her thrived-her cattle increased; her lands were reclaimed; and she and her descendants grew rich, as the farms round Jerup testify even at this time. After a delay of half an hour a peasant agrees to furnish us with two carriages-a low sort of stuhlwagen, not on springs, but by no means rough, drawn by two horses-and bring us back to-morrow, for the sum of seven dollars each; waggons to come "strax" immediately. Now, if there be a detestable word in the Danish language it is "strax; " it always signifies any space of time, beyond the endurance of human patience and resignation. At the end of two hours they come, a splendid pair of young chesnuts; they would not disgrace Hyde Park; the blacks too are good serviceable beasts, though less showy. Horse-flesh imFrom the stables we proves as we go northwards. drive close to the sea-side, one wheel in the water along the hard sand. A terrible coast this; the very shells are pounded into powder by the waves-all save the pelican's-foot,* and that is strong enough to resist * Strombus pes pelicani. |