to tear out of the Book of Motto's in the King's Library this Verse which Mr. Sydney according to the liberty allowed to all noble Strangers had written in it manus haec inimica tyrannis Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem though Monsieur Terlon understood not a word of Latin he was told by others the Meaning of that Sentence which he considered as a Libel upon the French Government and upon such as was then a setting up in Denmark by French Assistance or Example To conclude A considering English Traveller will find by experience that at present nothing is so generally studied by the Sovereign Princes of the World as the Arts of War and the keeping of their own Countries in the desired Subjection The Arts of Peace whereby the Encrease and Prosperity of their Subjects might be promoted being either intirely neglected or faintly prosecuted he will further be convinced what great reason he has to bless Providence for his being born and continuing yet a Freeman He will find that the securing this inestimable Blessing to himself and transmitting it to late Posterity is a Duty he owes to his Country the right performance of which does in a great measure depend upon a good Education of our Youth and the Preservation of our Constitution upon its true and natural Basis The Original Contract All other Foundations being false nonsensical and rotten derogatory to the present Government and absolutely destructive to the legal Liberties of the English Nation Salus populi suprema lex esto AN ACCOUNT OF Denmark AS It was in the Year 1692. CHAP. I. Of the Territories belonging to the King of Denmark and their Situation IF we consider the Extent of the King of Denmark's Dominions he may with Justice be reckoned among the greatest Princes of Europe but if we have regard to the importance and value of them he may be put in Ballance with the King of Portugal and possibly be found lighter His Stile is King of Denmark and Norway of the Goths and Vandals Duke of Sleswick and Holstein Stormar and Ditmarsh Earl in Oldenburg and Delmenhorst all which Countries he actually possesses either in whole or in part so that except that of the Goths and Vandals which Title both he and the King of Sweden use and which the Crown of Denmark has retained ever since it was Master of Sweden as we in England do that of France all the rest are substantial and not empty Titles My design is to acquaint you with the present State of these Countries and to offer nothing but what I have either Collected from sensible grave Persons or what my own Knowledge and Experience has confirm'd to be Truth Since the late Wars between that famous Captain Charles Gustavus of Sweden and Frederic the Third which ended in a Peace Anno 1660. Denmark has been forced to sit down with the loss of all its Territories which lay on the other side of the Baltick Sea Schonen Halland and Bleking remaining to the Swedes notwithstanding frequent Struggles to recover them These three especially Schonen were the best Provinces belonging to Denmark and therefore are still looked upon with a very envious Eye by the Danes And for this very reason 't is reported that the Windows of Cronenburgh Castle whose Prospect lay towards Schonen were wall'd up that so hateful an Object might not cause continual heart-burnings Denmark therefore as it is thus clipp'd is at present bounded on all sides with the Sea except one small Neck of Land where it joins to Holstein the German Ocean washes it on the West and North-west the entrance into the Baltick called the Categate on the North and North-East the Baltick on the East and the River Eyder on the South which having its source very near the East Sea takes his course Westward and falls into the Ocean at Toningen a strong Town of the Duke of Holstein Gottorp's So that if a Channel were made of about three Danish Miles from that River to Kiel 't would be a perfect Island I include in this Account the Dutchy of Sleswick as part of Denmark but not the Dutchy of Holstein because the former was a Fief of that Crown the latter of the Empire All Denmark therefore comprehending its Islands as I have thus bounded it lyes in length between the degrees of 54 gr 45 min. and 58 gr 15 min. North Latitude the breadth not being proportionable and may at a large Computation be reckoned to amount to the bigness of two thirds of the Kingdom of Ireland Norway which lies North from Denmark and is separated from it by that Sea which is usually called the Categate is a vast and barren Countrey full of Mountains and Firr-trees it reaches from 59 to 71 degrees of North Latitude but is very narrow in respect to its length It is bounded on the West and North by the Ocean on the East by Sweden and the Territories belonging to it on the South by the Sea lying between it and Denmark The Sea is so deep about it that there is no Anchorage for Ships and therefore its Coasts are accounted the most dangerous of any in Europe to run with in the Night or in a Storm on which if you chance to be driven there is no scaping the Shoar being all along high Rocks at the very foot of which one may find 200 Fathom Water Holstein which includes Ditmarsh and Stormar is bounded by the Dutchy of Sleswick on the North the Dutchy of Saxe Lawenburg on the South-East the River Elbe on the South-West the rest of it is washed by the Ocean and Baltick Sea It lies between the 54th and 55th degrees of North Latitude Oldenburg and Delmenhorst are two Counties in Germany that lye together detached from all the rest of the King of Denmark's Countries the two Rivers Elb and Weser and the Dutchy of Bremen interposing between them and Holstein They are bounded on the North-East by the Weser on the West by East-Friesland and the County of Embden on the South by part of the Bishoprick of Munster They are a small Territory of about 35 English Miles in Diameter the middle of which is in the Latitude of 53 degrees and a half The rest of the King of Denmark's Territories not mentioned in the enumeration of his Titles are the Islands of Feroe and Iseland in the Northern Ocean St. Thomas one of the Caribbe Islands in the West-Indies A Fort upon the Coast of Guinea call'd Christiansburg and another in the East-Indies call'd Tranquebar He has likewise a Toll at Elfleet upon the River Weser Thus much may serve in general touching the Dominions of that King which have this great inconveniency that they are mightily disjoined and separated from each other it being certain that a State which is confined by many Principalities is weak exposed to many dangers and requires a more than ordinary Expence as well as Prudence to preserve it entire And it is to this principally that the
Fruits thus far North yet the Gentry do not want such as are very tolerable being extreamly addicted to Gardning and several of the Nobility being so curious as to have Melons Grapes Peaches and all sorts of Sallads very early and in great perfection The Butter is very good but the Cheese stark naught In general their way of Cookery would hardly be pleasing to an English Man They are much addicted to drinking the Liquors that are most in vogue with Persons of Condition are Rhenish Wine Cherry Brandy and all sorts of French Wine The Men are fond of them and the fair Sex does not refuse them The poor People who are able to indulge themselves do it in bad Beer and Danish Brandy which is made of Barley The Gentlemen and Officers go very fine in their Dress after the French mode but the Ladies Winter-dress is Danish very becoming and convenient The Burgers Servants and even Peasants are neat and cleanly they love change of ordinary white Linnen which is here made cheap the Women-kind employing their leisure time in Spinning All these People have a degree of Vanity Pride and Poverty being often Companions to each other Their Marriages are usually preceded by Contracts which will last sometimes three four or more years before they proceed to a publick Wedding by the Minister though often the young Couple grow better acquainted before these Formalities are dispatched The Gentry give Portions with their Daughters but the Burgers and Peasants if they be able give Cloaths some Houshold-stuff and a great Wedding Dinner but nothing else till they die Sumptuous Burials and Monuments are much in request with the Nobility and it is usual to keep the Corps of a Person of Quality in a Vault or the Chancel of some Church for several Years together till a fit opportunity to celebrate the Funeral The poorer sort are buried in great thick Chests and in the Towns there are about a dozen of common Mourners belonging to each Parish who are obliged to carry and attend them to their Graves The Common People are mean spirited not Warlike in their Tempers as formerly inclined to gross Cheating and to suspect that others have a design to cheat them therefore unwilling to go out of a road they have been accustomed to insomuch that if you offer them great profit for a thing which they have not been used formerly to sell they will refuse to part with it as suspecting that you fee an advantage in such a Purchase which as yet is unknown to them but which they hope to find out I remember one instance Seeing great Flocks of Green Geese in the Fields near the Town I sent to buy some but they being never used to sell or eat Geese in that Country till they are big and old it was not possible to perswade any body to part with one of them though double the price of a big one were offered for each They asked what we desired to buy them for What we would do with them c. for they could not be perswaded any one would be so foolish as to eat them whilst young or little after a Week an old Woman to whom Money had been offered for a dozen came and brought four to sell saying That neither she nor her Geese had thriven since she had refused to sell them at a good price for the Kite had the night before kill'd eight of her stock and that now the remaining four were at my service Thus the Superstition of this old Woman procured us the first Green Geese that I believe were ever eaten in Denmark but after that they had taken notice that we fatted and killed them for eating they furnisht us with them as often as desired I would not omit this silly Story because it gives a more lively Idea of the Temper of the Common People than any Description I could make In their Markets they will ask the same price for stinking Meat as for fresh for lean as for fat if it be of a kind And the sure way not to obtain is to seem to value and to ask importunately a thing which otherwise they themselves would desire should be done This last Remark is not peculiar to the Common People only I do not see that they are good at imitating the Inventions of other Countries and for inventing themselves I believe none here since the famous Tycho Brahe ever pretended to it Few or no Books are written but what some of the Clergy compose of Religion Not so much as a Song or a Tune was made during three Years that I stayed there Their Seasons of Jollity are very rare and since the fatal Opera about four years ago wherein many hundred Persons were burnt together in the old Queen's House they content themselves with running at the Goose on Shrove-Tuesdays and taking their pleasure upon Sledds in the Winter well wrapped up in Wooll or Furr A Divertisement much in request in this Court and among all kinds of People Perhaps it will be thought too nice here to remark That no body presumes to go in a Sledd till the King and Court has begun That the King passes over a new Bridge the first And that the Clocks of Copenhagen strike the hours after the Court Clock 'T is a difficult matter for Strangers to find conveniences of Lodging or Eating in Denmark even in Copenhagen are few or no Lodgings to be Lett in private Houses and in the Taverns one must be content to Eat and Drink in a publick Room into which any other Company may enter and do the like at another Table unless one pretends to higher matters than ordinary The Language is very ungrateful and not unlike the Irish in its whining complaining Tone The King great Men Gentry and many Burghers make use of the High-Dutch in their ordinary Discourse and of French to Strangers I have heard several in high Employment boast that they could not speak Danish Yet very many of the Monosyllables in this Tongue are the same with the English and without doubt we owe the Original of them to the Danes and have retained them ever since they were Masters of our Country CHAP. IX Of the Revenue THE Revenue of the King of Denmark arises from three Heads First The Taxes and Impositions of his own Subjects Secondly Customs paid by Foreigners Thirdly Rents of his own Estate Crown Lands and Confiscations Each of these shall be treated of apart The Taxes paid by his own Subjects are in some Cases fixed and constant in others arbitrary When I distinguish between these two it is not meant that the King's Power is limited in any wise but only that he chooses in some Taxes to follow Rules and Measures established by himself in all others he varies often Of the first sort are First The Customs or Toll for Import and Export Secondly The Excise commonly called the Consumption which is upon Tobacco Wine Salt Grain c. and all Eatables and Drinkables brought
into any Town of the King of Denmark's Dominions to be spent These are the great Taxes and the last is severe enough There are besides of this kind smaller Taxes as that 3 dly upon Marriages where every couple Marrying pay so much for the Licence according to their quality this is pretty high and comes in some Cases to a good number of Rix Dollars for a Licence 4 thly A Tax for marked Paper whereon all Bonds and Contracts Copies of Judicial Proceedings Grants Passports c. must be written otherwise they are invalid And this is an uneasie Tax there being of this kind of Paper which amounts to several Rix Dollars a Sheet Fisthly Taxes for Brewing Grinding and other things which shall be hereafter spoken of But these and such like are certain that is to say every one knows how much he is to pay according to an Ordonnance at present in force which however may be altered as the King pleases Of the second sort are Impositions upon Land which is reckoned not by Acres but Farms viz. so much for every proportion of Land that will bear the sowing of a Tun of hard Corn. Wheat and Rye are called hard Corn and according to the Fertility of the Land Seasonableness of the Year Ability of the Landlord each Farm is taxed higher or lower but seldom too low Secondly Poll-money which is sometimes raised twice in a year and is imposed according to the Substance of the Person taxed which is guessed at not fixed as in other places where all of a Rank pay equally Thirdly Fortification-Tax or Money raised for or upon pretence of making Fortifications for the Defence of the Kingdom c. Fourthly Marriage-Tax when a Daughter of Denmark is to be disposed of whose Portion commonly is but 100000 Crowns but under this Name occasion is taken to raise more Fifthly Trade-money wherein every Trades man is taxed for the liberty of exercising his Trade according to the Gain which it is computed he makes by it and he is moreover obliged to quarter Soldiers Sixthly Ground-Rent for all Houses in Copenhagen or any other Towns in Denmark which are taxed by the King when he pleases according to the goodness of the House the ability of the Possessor or the greatness of the Sum he intends to levy at that time In Holstein and Sleswick the Lands are taxed by Ploughs each Plough paying so much a Month. To begin with those of the first sort whereof the Rates are known and fixed it would be convenient in speaking of the Customs and Excise to transcribe the whole Book of Rates but I fear to be too tedious however not to be wanting in any thing material and to give a taste whereby to guess at the rest and measure Hercules by his Foot some Particulars shall be set down whereof to make a right Judgment a due regard must be had always not only to the Plenty and Scarcity of Money in a â—â—ountry but also to the goodness of a Commodity For instance when I speak of a fat Ox it must not be imagined that we mean such as are usual in our English Markets but rather such as we see come from Wales or Scotland And so of other things in the Consumption Tax And a Rix Dollar considering the scarcity of Money ought to be computed to go further than three crowns with us Import Customs   RD Stiv. I Ship pound of Iron Bars imported pays 02 00 of wrought Iron 05 16 of Copper 00 32 of Wire one sort 15 00 of Wire another sort 20 00 of Pewter Vessels 15 00 of Pewter unwrought 00 18 of Lead 00 12 100 weight of Steel  00 24 one pound of Quicksilver  00 02 one Ell of Cloth of any value  00 â—â— one Ell of plain Silks  00 â—â— one Hat  00 3â— One piece of Kersey of 20 Ells  01 08 12 pair of Worsted Stockings  01 12 50 Ells of plain Ribband  00 24 24 Ells of Ribband with Gold or silver in them  00 13 12 pair of Gloves  00 24 one Wastcoat knit  00 12 one other Wastcoat  01 05 one Horse  01 32 one dozen of Knives  00 33 one Last of Coals  00 15 100 of Lemons  00 08 100 pound of Capers 00 40 of Currans 01 02 of Raisins 00 32 of Cinnamon 06 00 of Confections 04 08 of Cork 03 00 of Nutmegs 04 08 of Sealing-wax 04 08  Customs or Toll Consumption or Excise  RD Stiv. RD Stiv. One Barrel of Tallow 03 00 01 16 one pound of Tobacco Leaves 00 00½ 00 03 one pound of Tobacco Rolls or Snuft 00 04 00 03 One Barrel of Barley 00 20 besides the consumption one Barrel of Flower of all sorts 00 26 one Barrel of salt Beef 01 05 one Ream of Paper 00 05  one Barrel of Butter 03 00 00 32 one Ship-pound of Cheese 03 00 00 14 one Last of Span Salt 15 00 00 36 one Last of French Salt 08 00 00 36 one Last of Lunenburg Salt 24 00 00 36 one Hogshead of French Wine 06 32 05 00 one Hogshead of Vinegar 04 32 03 00 one Ahm of Rhenish Canary or other Strong Wines 08 00 06 00 one Ahm of French or Rhenish Brandy 10 32 03 16 one Hogshead of Sider 04 32 02 16 one Barrel of salt Herrings 01 32 00 04 of salt Salmon 01 32 00 12 of Beer 02 00 00 32 Feathers one Lispound 02 12 00 02  Excise or Consumption  RD Stiv. An Ox brought into any Town pays at the Gate 01 16 But into Copenhagen 02 00 One Calf into Copenhagen 00 16 elsewhere 00 08 A Sheep Swine or Goat 00 06 A Chevreuil 00 32 A Pigg 00 01 A Hare 00 04 A Turky 00 03 A Goose 00 01â— A pair of Pigeons 00 01â— of Ducks 00 02 of Partridges 00 04 of Blackbirds or Thrushes 00 01 Twenty Eggs 00 00â— Twenty dried Eeles Breams or the like 00 02 Twenty Pickerels dried 00 01 One Salmon 00 06 One Pail of Milk 00 02 One Barrel of salted Flesh or 01 00 Tripes which comes in by Land to Copenhagen 01 00 to other Towns 00 32 The like by Sea to Copenhagen 00 32 to other Towns 00 24 One side of smoak'd or salted Pork 00 02 One Barrel of Tongues 01 00 One Firkin of Honey 00 24 One Barrel of Beans or Pease 00 08 of Parsnips or Turnips 00 01â— One Bushel of Nuts 00 02 Four Bunches of Onions 00 00â— One Barrel of Hopps 00 06 One Firkin of Soap 00 12 of Mustard-seed 00 04 of Hempseed or Linseed 00 01â— A Horse-load of Hay entring the Gates 00 02 A Horse-load of Charcoal 00 04 of Straw 00 02 of green Keal or Colworts 00 01 of Turf or Wood by Land 00 01 of Beech wood by Sea 00 04 of short Wood 00 02 of Birch-wood 00 01 of Bark 00 02 Planks Oak-boards and Firrdeals exported pay One per Cent. per
and Taste of Learning from what the World has at present It seems as ridiculous to take Patterns for the gentile Learning of this Age from the old fashion'd Learning of the Times wherein the University Statutes were compiled as it would be for one who would appear well dress'd at Court to make his Cloaths after the Mode in Henry the VIII's day But 't is of infinitely worse consequence for the Prejudices and wrong Notions the stiffness and positiveness in Opinion the litigiousness and wrangling all which the old Philosophy breeds besides the narrow Spiritedness and not enduring of Contradiction which are generally contracted by a Monastick Life require a great deal of time to get rid of and until they be filed off by Conversation in the World abroad a Man's Learning does but render him more useless and unfit for Society I dare appeal to common Experience whether those excellent Men that of late Years have been preferred in our Church then which Set of Divines England scarce ever knew a better be not for the most part such as have been very conversant with the World and if they have not all travell'd out of this Kingdom have at least spent the best part of their days in this Epitom of the World the City of London where they have learnt Christian Liberty as well as other Christian Vertues The great difference between these and others of narrow Opiniastre Tempers caus'd by their Monk-like Education is discernable by every Body and puts it out of all doubt that such who have seen most of what Profession soever they be prove the most honest and virtuous Men and fittest for Humane Society these embrace better Notions relating to the Publick weigh Opinions before they adhere to them have a larger Stock of Charity a clearer Manner of distinguishing between Just and Unjust understand better the Laws of our own Land as well as the Priviledges and Frailties of Human Nature And all this in a degree far excelling the most zealous learned religious Person who has been brought up in his Cell and is therefore what we call a Bigot stiff in an Opinion meerly because he has been used to it and is ashamed to be thought capable of being deceived Lawyers whose manner of Breeding is much abroad in the World and who are used to promiscuous Conversation have been observed in most places to be great Favourers of Liberty because their knowledge of ancient Practice and the just Title which the People have to their Priviledges which they meet with every where in their course of Reading makes them less scrupulous of committing what some Divines miscal a Sin in those that endeavour to preserve or recover them the Oversights of some few Gentlemen of this honourable Profession are therefore the less excusable for I must confess among other things that Motto A Deo Rex à Rege Lex wherein the Divine Right of the impious Will of a Tyrant is as strongly asserted as could be in the compass of a Ring has occasioned frequent Reflections not much in favour of those that made use of it Thus I have touch'd upon the Manner of Education necessary to the beginning and finishing a Gentleman who is to be useful to his Country which I suppose ought to be the principal end of it And I can't but believe if in our Schools our Youth were bred up to understand the Meaning of the Authors they are made to read as well as the Syntax of the Words If there were as much care taken to inculcate the good Maxims and recommend the noble Characters the old Historians are so full of as there is to hammer into their Heads the true Grammar of them and the fineness of the Phrase If in our Universities a proportionable Care were taken to furnish them with noble and generous Learning If after this they were duly informed in the Laws and Affairs of their own Country trained up in good Conversation and useful Knowledge at home and then sent abroad when their Heads began to be well settled when the heat of Youth was worn off and their Judgments ripe enough to make Observation I say I cannot but believe that with this manner of Institution a very moderate Understanding might do wonders and the coming home fully instructed in the Constitutions of other Governments would make a Man but the more resolute to maintain his own For the advantage of a free Government above its contrary needs no other help to make it appear then only to be exposed to a considerate View with it The difference may be seen written in the very Faces of the several People as well as in their manner of Living and when we find nothing but Misery in the fruitfullest Countries subject to Arbitrary Power but always a Face of plenty and Chearfulness in Countries naturally unfruitful which have preserv'd their Liberties there is no further room left for Argument and one cannot be long in determining which is most eligible This Observation is so obvious that 't is hard for any that Travels not to make it therefore 't is a sufficient reason why all our Gentry should go abroad An English Man should be shewn the Misery of the enslaved Parts of the World to make him in Love with the Happiness of his own Country as the Spartans exposed their drunken Servants to their Children to make them in love with Sobriety But the more polish'd and delicious Countries of France Spain or Italy are not the places where this Observation may be made to greatest advantage the Manner of Living Goodness of the Air and Diet the Magnificence of the Buildings Pleasantness of the Gardens pompous Equipage of some great Persons dazzle the Eyes of most Travellers and cast a disguise upon the Slavery of those Parts and as they render this Evil more supportable to the Natives so they almost quite hide it from the view of a Cursory Traveller amusing him too much from considering the Calamities which accompany so much Splendour and so many Natural Blessings or from reflecting how much more happy the Condition of the People would be with better usage But in the Northern Kingdoms and Provinces there appears little or nothing to divert the Mind from contemplating Slavery in its own Colours without any of its Ornaments And since for that reason few of our Gentlemen find temptation enough to Travel into those Parts and we have hardly any tolerable Relation of them extant though we have frequent occasions of being concerned with them I thought it might be of use to publish the following Account of Denmark which I took care to be informed of upon the place with the greatest Exactness possible and have related fairly and impartially which may save the Curious the labour and expence of that Voyage That Kingdom has often had the Misfortune to be govern'd by French Counsels At the time when Mr. Algernoon Sydney was Ambassador at that Court Monsieur Terlon the French Ambassador had the Confidence