nobles, near the village of Finderup, as I shall relate when we arrive there. Here she stood to superintend in person the execution of his traitor page, Rane Jonsen, who betrayed his lord and master into the assassins' hands. Rane suffered death upon the wheel, and Agnes feasted her eyes with the sight of his dying agony.

Marsk Stig with his brother nobles took refuge in the little island of Hjelm, where after the manner of the day he turned pirate; as the outlawed Earl of Huntingdon he took to the greenwood-tree, and soon became the terror of the neighbourhood. The ruins of his castle still exist.

FRIISENBORG.

We leave the road and make for Friisenborg, château of Count Friis. We stop for one minute at the village church of Hammel, to look at an early carving of St. Hubert over an ancient round-arch door, and admire there an admirably preserved grave-stone of exquisite execution, fresh as from the sculptor's hand, of Valdemar Parsberg and his wife Ide Lykke -noble and high-born, date 1589. The Parsbergs have passed away; they were once possessors of Friisenborg, but resisted the establishment of absolute monarchy by Christian V., and together with all the old Jutland nobility from that period disappeared from the state of affairs: many emigrated to Sweden.

We enter Friisenborg through a Gothic gateway

Chille Stig's gate, there plays a hind, there dances a hart, so joyfully; and when they came to Stig's court the fences were of steel and iron wrought, the floor was made of marble stone, and the walls were inlaid with white ivory."

emblazoned with the family arms, drive to the court entrance, where the moat is large and surrounded by horse-chesnuts of splendid growth, send up our cards, and demand permission to visit the gardens. The old château is quaint, flanked with antiquated towers, whitewashed too, all except its stone foundations; the whitewash contrasts queerly with the marble bust of its long-wigged founder Count Mogens Friis, black as time can make it, inserted in a niche above the doorway, with an inscription saying how the Grefskav was created in his favour by Christian V. in the year 1671. In five minutes' time we are joined by Count Friis and his countess, who themselves do us the honours of the place, and press us greatly to stop : we finish by remaining over dinner, leaving for Aarhuus towards the cool of the evening.

Of the château I say little: its interior is grand and at the same time habitable-the Riddersaal, a magnificent apartment, hung with family portraits, works of art, many of historical interest: among them are portraits of Eleanor and Corfitz Ulfeld, and Christina an elder sister of the Reventlow Queen-Countess Friis by marriage, pretty, and not such a fool as her sister. Count Friis Friisenborg,* Juel-Wind-Friis-is the richest nobleman in all Denmark. His father is still alive, an aged man, but inhabits Boller, having by royal consent ceded the County to his son, the present occupier of the place. In another year the château will almost cease to exist; it is to undergo an entire restoration at the hands of an able architect, in the style of the

* Friis of Friisenborg is a distinct family from Friis of Borreby, of whom more later.

country: how wise the Danes are to stick to it! when completed it will be one of the finest residences of its style in Europe. And Frederiksborg may bless its stars that the future Friisenborg is not situated in the island of Zealand. In the ornamental poultry yard there were several hens sitting on their eggs. The nest is that to be met with in all the peasants' houses-a truss of straw tightly bound towards the end, and opened funnel-shaped towards the top; the straw being neatly turned in at the opening and fastened down. They are placed between a wooden bar and the wall-side, and very clean and tidy they looked. The custom of " hatching "there is a finer term-in ovens appears to have been practised in Denmark in Christian IV.'s time. He writes word to the hen-woman-"When the chickens come out of the eggs which are in the ovens, let the girl have some swan and some turkey eggs.'

egg

We are now in the land of "beeves," large numbers of which are here fattened for exportation for the London market. Molesworth, in speaking of Jutland, says,"This is the best country the King of Denmark has; but neglected on account of its distance from Copenhagen. Quantities of beeves and oxen are exported to Holland annually, to fatten in the rich pastures of that country."

Towards sunset we took leave of our kind hosts, and after a three hours' drive are again installed in our old quarters of last year, in the hot, dusty, bad-smelling city of Aarhuus.

* Dated, Frederiksborg, 26th June, 1630.

CHAPTER XXXII.

Siege of Kalø - The lord of Mols - Danish Whittington - The Lady Hilda Trolle - Round church of Thorsager - Château of Rosenholm Origin of the Rosenkrantz name - Holger the savant Erik's rebuke of Cromwell-Jutland clergy Clausholm -Meeting of King Frederic and Anne Reventlow.

KALO-THORSAGER.

The

June 24th.-SOMETHING invariably occurs to prevent our starting early: horses were ordered at six, but a heavy downfall of rain-true outpouring of the heavens -caused us to defer our departure until seven. sun then made his appearance, and, the dust laid, nature seemed quite refreshed and glistening. We cut the high road, as we always do when possible, make out a menu of the places we desire to visit, submit it to the postmaster, who writes out a ticket, all charges included, no extra pourboires or pikes, money paid down. A stated time-rather a long one-given within which the postilion is compelled to perform the journey, or none at all, when you wish to loiter on the road, as to-day for instance. Posting in Denmark, two-horse carriage and all expenses included, amounts to nine pence per English mile.

Our road runs along the bank of the fiorde, a charming drive; as we approach the further end the ancient castle of Kalø-where in early days was founded a cloister by some English monks-stands picturesquely planted. You may reach it on foot when the water is low.

Afterwards it was the prison of Gustavus Vasa, from whence he escaped to Lubek when on parole. Later Kalo was given to Ulrik Frederic Gyldenløve by Christian V. The generosity of the kings towards their natural children gave rise to a saying "Bastards have better luck than children born in wedlock;" in the case of the Gyldenløves, it may be added, they deserved"better luck."

These are the most extensive ruins in Denmarknot saying much to be sure; but an old tower still stands, and they look picturesque on their green island.*

Not far from Kalo lies the Mols district, the Jutland Boeotia-not that its inhabitants merit the reputation of dullness more than their neighbours, but they have got the name of it, and endless are the "Joe Millers" retailed at their expense.

One day the lord of Mols came into Aarhuus, and there ate some salted herrings, so good he had never tasted the like before; so he purchased a hundred, and on his return home put them into his pond, leaving them a year's grace to increase and multiply. When the year had gone by he determined to fish: he fished from sunrise to sunset, but caught not one herring; so he caused the pond to be dragged, and all he took in his nets was one large fat eel.

"Here is the culprit," cried the lord; "here is the

When Kalo was besieged by the Count of Holstein, Gerhard the tyrant, provisions were exhausted, and there remained in the castle but one sow. But, to make believe they possessed more, the besieged three times a day pinched the sow to make her scream; and as the enemy purposely sent a beggar-woman to the castle to report the state of the garrison, they every time gave her a larger piece of bread. Hence Count Gerhard believed them to have abundance, and raised the siege in the seventh winter.