rearing of cattle, is upon the whole, conducted with more skill than the raising of corn. The light lively Danish horse, is much esteemed; and the heavy Holstein steed, makes an excellent coach-horse. The king has two fine studs at Friedricksburg and Jägerpriess; and the wealthy nobility occasionally possess well-filled stables. According to Olafsen, there are perhaps in the whole of Denmark, exclusive of Lauenburg, 554,000 horses, of which 500,000 are employed in draught, and 15,000 to 16,000 exported annually. A great quantity of butter is manufactured in the kingdom; but the cheese is chiefly consumed in the country. Sheep are kept chiefly for the butcher. Fisheries form a considerable object of Danish industry; the mouths of the rivers and fiords abounding in fishes, although the shoals of herrings no longer barricade the passage from Zealand to Schonen. The most considerable fishery, is that of herrings in the Lymfiord, which produces yearly, about 100,000 Dutch florins. There are also stockfish, salmon, eels, flounders, oysters, mussels, and lobsters. A considerable number of seals and porpoises are killed upon the coast and in the Eider; in 1815, the fisheries produced 1,078,125 florins. In ancient times, Denmark was covered with large forests; but they have almost entirely disappeared, and a great want of fuel is every where experienced. In some districts where the peat-fuel fails, the inhabitants are obliged to use sea-weed and straw as substitutes for fuel.

Manufactures.] There are a few hands employed in the manufacture of woollen stuffs; excellent leather is made, and the gloves of Randers and Odensee are much esteemed, and exported in considerable quantities, under the name of gants gross. By a late return, the number of sugarrefineries in the Danish dominions, was 46; that of paper mills, 32; iron founderies, only 4.

Commerce.] Denmark is favourably situated for commerce between the Cattegat and the German Ocean and Baltic. In the long dark foggy nights of winter, the Cattegat is indeed one of the most dangerous seas in Europe, and the difficulties of seamen are often increased here by the ice which interrupts the navigation for about four months annually. But on the other hand, nature has given to Denmark an almost exclusive monopoly of commerce with Sweden, Norway, and the Baltic provinces ; countries in which it can dispose of nearly all its surplus grain. The interior commerce is chiefly maintained by small coasting vessels, Holstein and Lauenburg possessing the only considerable traffic by land. The foreign commerce of Denmark, extends to almost every region of the earth. The long neutrality of Denmark, under a war which agitated all the rest of Europe, raised a commerce, already employing 250,000 tons of shipping, to an extraordinary height; the most distant shores of Asia, those of Africa and America, and of the East and West Indies were visited by its ships, and Danish vessels from 1200 to 1500 tons burden, sailed annually for China; but the misfortunes which at last overtook this country, nearly annihilated the advantages which it had gradually acquired, and from 1807 to 1810, the Danish navy sustained a loss of 900 ships. The principal articles of import, are cotton, tea, wine, brandy, salt, and soft goods. Copenhagen is the emporium of Danish commerce; but this

Pursuant to the laws of the realm, it is prohibited to employ stallions unless they be 20 hands high. In some small islands of Denmark, there is a breed of wild horses.

city is less favourably situated than either Tunningen or Altona for the seat of trade. The commercial code is liberal and wise. There are several commercial companies, such as the Asiatic company, the Fishery company of Altona and Copenhagen, and several Banks and Societies of Insurance. The whole commerce is regulated by a Tribunal of commerce. Revenues.] The Danish revenues are derived from customs, duties upon exports and imports, an excise on provisions and liquors, a poll tax upon the inhabitants of Denmark Proper only, a tax on places under government, a land tax, a quitrent from the royal demesnes, licenses for distilling and retailing spirits, and for permission to hunt in the royal manors, from the mines, stamped paper, and various other sources.

By the Sound duties, are understood the duties levied on such vessels as pass the Sound, at the entrance of the Baltic. The number of vessels which passed the Sound in 1782 was 8,465, of which 1,264 were British. In 1824, 10,509 vessels sailed through the Sound, and in 1827, 13,006, of which there were 5099 British; 2035 Prussian; 871 Danish; 867 Norwegian; 1389 Swedish; 457 Hanoverian; 380 Russian; 811 Dutch; 551 Mecklenburg; 192 American; 65 Bremen; 100 Lubec; 37 Oldenburg; 35 Hamburg; 106 French; and 11 Portuguese."

The following is the proportion of contribution in Danish florins:

In former years, the expenditure of the government greatly exceeded the revenue. Later restrictions have probably placed them on a par.The national debt of Denmark has been estimated at one hundred millions of florins, of which about fifteen millions are foreign debts; the remainder being due to citizens.

Monies.] The greater part of the Danish currency consists of papermoney, During the war, the Danish government issued paper-money, in notes of 100, 50, 10, 5, and 1 rixdollar, to the extent it is said of 57,000,000 of specie dollars, while almost all the metal currency disappeared from circulation. The rixdollar is equal to the Russian ruble. It is divided into 6 marcs of 16 skillings each.

Weights.] The Danish pound weighs 7715 English grains: hence, 100 pounds of Copenhagen are equal to 110 pounds Avoirdupois. The Danish lippund is equal to 16, and the shippund to 320 pounds English.

Measures.] The Danish yard is one-third shorter than that of Holland and England: its length being 27.7 English inches. The Danish mile contains 12,000 yards, or 8,233 English yards.

"Nothing can more satisfactorily illustrate the good effects of the reciprocity system than the progress of our shipping in the Baltic trade, compared with that of the other countries with which treaties of commerce have been recently entered into; viz. Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Prussia, Hamburg, Bremen, and Lubec. The increase during the last year, compared with that of 1826, on the number of vessels belonging to those countries which passed the Sound, was at the rate of 5 per cent., whilst that of English vessels was 37 per cent.

CHAP. IV.-INHABITANTS-MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.

WITH the exception of about 6000 Jews, the population of Denmark is entirely of German derivation. There are three branches of the original stem in this country : viz.

Danes.] I. The Danes occupying the Islands, Jutland, and a small part of Sleswick, and speaking a language undoubtedly a dialect of the German, and of easy acquisition, (except as regards pronunciation,) either to a Dutchman, a German, or an Englishman. The Danes have regular and well-formed features; frequently fair or brownish hair, blue eyes, and a body capable of sustaining great fatigue. The women are of a more delicate frame. Their complexion is dazzlingly white; but, upon the whole, their features are destitute of animation, and soon after twentyfive, they begin to lose their charms. There are a great many good traits, as well as defects, in the character of the Dane. He is gallant and brave, a spirited sailor or soldier, but averse to enterprise; he is full of patriotism, but cares little for national renown; an enemy to slavery and arbitrary power, he nevertheless yields implicit obedience to a despotical constitution; he is persevering when once engaged, but too phlegmatic to be easily roused to action. The lower classes choose rather to live dependant on charity than to support themselves by honest labour; and this spirit prevails among the working-classes as well as peasantry. The Dane is benevolent, but this benevolence is one fertile source of the prevailing idleness; he is hospitable, but by no means serviceable; he is fond of comfort, but cares little for magnificence; he has less cordiality and confidence than the German, but more obstinacy; he is more economical, but at the same time more selfish; he is an acute observer, a calm reasoner, and frequently gifted with a vivid conception. The Danes usually follow the French fashions, and the language of that nation is very general in Denmark and Norway.

Germans.] II. The German population is settled in Holstein, Lubec, and the greater part of Sleswick; their language is also predominant as far as the boundaries of Jutland, and is much used in company and at the post-houses. However, according to a royal decree, the Danish language is about to be most absurdly forced upon the whole of Sleswick, although there is only a small part of the population of that district able to speak it!

Frises and Angles.] III. The Frises and Angles, two German tribes, are located on the west coast of Sleswick and the islands of the German Ocean. But it is only in the bailiwicks of Tondern and Bredstedt, and in some of the islands, that the Frisian language is spoken in its purity. The other Frises speak a kind of Low German, and the Angles a corrupted Danish. The Frises are distinguished from the other inhabitants of this kingdom by ruder manners, and a kind of national pride, which looks with contempt on the other citizens of the State. They are partly agriculturists, partly sailors and fishermen. The inhabitants of the Ditmarschen in Holstein are evidently related to the Frises. The Angles occupy the land between the Bay of Flensburg, the Baltic, and the Schley, and amount to about 30,000. They are marked by a strong physical frame, and high notions of liberty and national honour. They are an industrious race, and distinguished by their good morals. We shall speak of the inhabitants of the Feroe islands, and of Iceland, in treating of the topography of these places.

Gypsies.] The people which go by the name of Bohemians in France, of Gypsies in England, Gitanos in Spain, Ziguener in Germany, and Zingari in Italy, are in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, called Tatere or Taterne. The old Danish laws are very severe in their enactments against this vagabond race; the Norwegian directs the confiscation of any vessel bringing them to the country. In the Danish islands there are few-more in the not very thickly peopled district of Jutland. In the northern part of this province is a race of people whose descent is traced from the gypsies, and who are called Kieltringsfolk or Natmændsfolk. It consists of about 200 persons, one half of whom have fixed dwellings, employing themselves in skinning cattle, sweeping chimneys, and such uncertain offices; the other half wander about, and are the dread of the country, on account of their thefts and revengeful dispositions.

Ranks of Society.] The inhabitants of Denmark have been divided, according to their ranks, into five classes: viz. 1st, The nobility, who have privileged fiefs in the kingdom, from which they derive their nobility. 2d, The titular nobility; to which class belong the companions of the two Danish orders of knighthood, namely, the order of the Elephant, and the order of Dannebrog,-those counts and barons who are not possessed of counties and baronies, and the persons filling the higher offices of the state; all of which-whether civil, military, or ecclesiastical --confer on those who hold them a certain nobility during their lives. 3d, The inferior clergy, lawyers, and students. 4th, The merchants and citizens of great towns. And, 5th, The seamen and population engaged in agriculture; the latter exceeding one million in number. The proportion of paupers in Denmark is said to be 3 per cent., which is only the fifth of that of Holland.

Manners and Customs.] It has been affirmed-and, we believe, with much truth—that before the government of Denmark was made hereditary and absolute, the nobility and gentry of that country lived in great splendour and affluence. Their country-seats were magnificent, and their hospitality unbounded; and when the States were annually assembled, they met their sovereign with retinues as numerous and brilliant as his own. They are now said to have greatly declined in magnificence of living, and to diminish daily in number and credit. Still, however there are many families which exhibit all the elegance and refinement visible in the best European society; and amongst the nobility generally we meet with considerable remains of ancient stateliness. Sumptuous burials and monuments are very common; and it is even usual to keep the corpse of a person of quality in a vault, or in the chancel of some church, for several years, till a fit opportunity offer itself for celebrating the funeral with becoming magnificence. Extravagance of every kind is still a very general disposition of the Danes, The food of the lower classes consists chiefly of oat-cakes, rye-bread, fish, and cheese; but the tables of the wealthier classes exhibit the usual profusion of European luxuries. Clarke, to whose keen eye we are indebted for many lively and sagacious observations on national characteristics and manners, observes, that a journey from London to Copenhagen, might exhibit the retrocession of a century; every thing being found, in the latter city, as it existed in the former a hundred years before, an observation extending not only to the amusements, the dress, and the manners of the people, but to the general

state of every thing connected with Danish society; excepting, perhaps, the commerce of the country, which is upon a good footing.

CHAP. V.-GOVERNMENT-LAWS-ARMY AND NAVY.

We have already had occasion to mention that the government of Den mark, like that of most of the Gothic nations, was originally an elective monarchy: the right of election being vested in the three estates of the kingdom-the nobles, the clergy, and the commons-who exercised the supreme legislative authority by means of representatives assembled in diet, while the executive power was vested in the king and a senate composed of the higher nobles. Such was the equable and wise constitution of Denmark until the year 1660, when, as already mentioned, the two inferior estates, to punish the tyranny of the nobles, renounced their most precious birthrights as citizens of a free State, and placed their liberties in the hand of an unlimited hereditary monarch! The fundamental laws of the Danish constitution are: 1st, The Act of Sovereignty, (Enevolds-Arve-Regierings-Akten,) presented in 1661 to Frederic III. It consists of forty articles; of which the following are the most remarkable: "The hereditary kings of Denmark and Norway shall be in effect, and ought to be esteemed by their subjects, the only supreme head on earth: they shall be above all human laws, and shall acknowledge, in all ecclesiastical and civil affairs, no higher power than God alone. The king shall enjoy the right of making and interpreting the laws, of abrogating, adding to, and dispensing with them. He may also annul all the laws which either he or his predecessors shall have made, excepting this royal law, which must remain irrevocable, and be considered as the fundamental law of the State. He has the power of declaring war, making peace, imposing taxes, and levying contributions of all sorts," &c. &c. 2d, The king's law, (Konge loven,) pronounced in 1765, defining the royal prerogatives and obligations. 3d, The Act of citizenship, (Ind fots retten,) promulgated in 1776, by which it is declared that none but natives shall be eligible to civil or military employments under government. On joining the German confederation with the provinces of Holstein and Lauenburg, the king of Denmark undertook to give a constitution to these States. It is stipulated that the king must subscribe the Augsburg Confession of Faith. The crown is hereditary in the male and female line. The monarch is of age at 14, and the nearest prince of the blood may become regent at 18 years of age. The nobility possess peculiar privileges: which are, however, more properly attached to the right in the soil; for, in general, it is only the nobility who are able to acquire property of this description. In the duchies, landed property is accessible to all ranks. The arms of Denmark are the Dannebrog cross, which divides the shield into four fields, occupied by the emblems of the different provinces. The noblest order is that of the Elephant, founded in 1580.

Administration.] There is no government in Europe where the fundamental laws authorize such an unlimited monarchy as Denmark; nevertheless, there are very few States in which greater practical freedom exists. Every thing in the political and juridical constitutions is so much