from whence we may rationally conclude the Banisht will amount to very near the forementioned number the more Incorrigible were sometimes destroyed There 's five or six sent that way I warrant you others were either formally Eâ—ecuted by the sentence of a high Court of Justice or dispatched without any more Ceremony the best way for Endeavouring to secure themselves against the Insults of their own Subjects A very moderate computation And here how few Kings are left to end their days in Peace One would think a succession would not be much contended for where a Crown is tendred upon such â—icklish conditions yet he tells us p. 45. they always elected a better man in his Roomâ— sometimes the next of Kin sometimes the Valiant man that had exposed himself so far as to undertake the Expulsion or the Killing of the Tyrant at other times a private Person of good Reputation who possibly least dream't of such an advancement I suppose the next of Kin were seldom so desperate as to venture and therefore they oftener threw their voices away upon some private Person who according to this Authors description might possibly be some honest drunken sleepy fellow that had a Crown dropt into his mouth as he lay yawning But generally the Murtherer was likewise the Thief and the Villain who had dispatched his Prince succeeded him hence there arose a well ordered Government and all men became ambitious of Imitating their new King the meanest Subjects duly weighing the faults of their Superiors in their own breasts the proper Tribunal the Servant soon stabs his cruel Master the Tenant shoots his wasteful Lord and the Son poisons his covetous old Father that having so done they may by the common Law and Justice of the Kingdom succeed in their respective Inheritances Having done with that Government the loss of which he so much complains of we enter upon his account of the present State and find him telling us p. 46 47. that about thirty two years ago at one Instant the face of affairs was changed so that the Kings have ever since been absolute and arbitrary not the least Remnant of Liberty remaining to the Subject the first and principal Article in the Danish law being that the King has the Priviledge reserved to himself to explain the Law nay to alter and change it as he shall find good The consequences of this are excessive Taxes in times of peace little regard being had to the occasion of them Poverty in the Gentry Misery in the Peasants and Partiality in the distribution of Justice The occasion of the Change of Government shall be declared in the next Paragraph in the mean time any one that knows Danmark must confess that the King is absolute but no further so than a Christian King of oâ—r own Protestant Religion may be wherefore amongst other of the obligations which he lies under are the Holy Scriptures and the Confession of Aâ—gsburg as is declared in the beginning of the Danish Law Aâ— for that Law which the Author â—â—livers it is declaratory of the Kings Authority and since it is necessary that a legislative Power should be lodged somewhere shows that it is placed in him Pursuant to this the present King has compiled a Book of Laws the Character of which is given by our Author p. 232 233. That for Justice Brevity and Perspicuity they exceed all in the world That they are grounded upon Equity and are all contain'd in one Quarto Volume written in the Language of the Country with so much plainness that no man who can write and read is so ignorant but he may presently understand his own Case and plead it too if he pleases without the assistance of Councilor Attorney Being thus constituted they are so agreeable and adapted to the Danish Nation that they continue still the same the King having never yet changed nor altered much less explained any part to the Prejudice of any particular Person whatsoever the execution of them throughout the whole Kingdom is with great equality and more eminently in the High Court of Justice in Copenhagen where the King himself is President and sits frequently where Causes are often decided in favour of the meanest Peasant against the greatest Favorites who for wrongs done have been condemned to vast Mulcts and Penalties as might be shown by several instances if it were needful or proper to insert them By this Law every man possesses his own Real or Personal Estate without the least Eâ—croachment from the King 't is true that the Subject pays Taxes but they are such only as Necessity requires for Danmark being surrounded with many potent Neighbours who are all in Arms it must for its own preservation support a Fleet and Army unless it could perswade them to disband their Forces The Taxes being for the common good are laid equally upon all and the Kings Moderation in his Expences both as to himself and the Royal Family being so conspicuous the Subject has the greater satisfaction to see what he contributes laid out only for his own Preservation Notwithstanding these Taxes the People live in Plenty wanting nothing either for Conveniency or Pleasure All this they enjoy although the Government is indeed absolute and they with all willingness and due obedience submit themselves to this Government because they are sufficiently satisfied that this absolute Power was not given to his Majesty of Danmark till the necessity for it was unavoidable The Nobility was that part of the Danish Constitution which first broke in upon the Symmetry of the whole in several Ages and by insensible degrees they encroached upon the Kings Prerogative but all along made larger progresses towards the enslaving of the Commonalty insomuch that all burthens and publick Taxes were imposed upon them alone After the War with Sweden the Commons found themselves unable longer to live under such oppressions they had bravely defended their Country with the hazard of their Lives and would have done so with their Fortunes if they had had any remaining but these were wholly swallowed up by the Nobility who yet would contribute nothing toward the maintaining of a just War against foreign Enemy and Invader Danmark being upon the brink of Ruine the Commons in these circumstances as the weaker and more oppresâ—ed part fly to their Head for succour Neither the King alone nor the Commons alone nor both King and Commons joyntly could controul the Nobility so far as to make them pay Taxes therefore it was necessary that all three should consent to a new Government so the Commons proposed it to the Lords and both Lords and Commons offer the King to make him absolute which offer if he had not accepted of neither himself nor the Commons could have supported the State Supplies were of necessity to be raised the Commonalty could not raise them without assistance and there was no other way but this to make the Nobility in some equal measure bear their proportion After this alteration
till the World had almost overlook'd us and we seldom were permitted to cast an Eye farther than France or Holland If Peace Ease and Plenty could be said to undo us we were indeed undone and then as for our Ignorance of the Affairs of other Nations we must necessarily be in a most profound one when we had our Ministers at Cologne and afterwards at Nimeguen when the King of England's Mediation was accepâ—ed by all the Princes then in War and the Pretentions of the most considerable States in Europe left to his Majesties Arbitration But it seems at present we are in a better condition and the Preface to our comfort tells us that we make a greater figure in the World than formerly and have a right to intermeddle in the Affairs of Europe And here a true Englishman may think that something has been said to the Honour of his Country When alas if he reads but the next Page for the Author cannot write consistently two Pages together he will find that we do not live up to our Post and maintain our Character that we are insulted on our own Coast our Trade endanger'd and in Apprehension every Year of an Invasion and a French Conquest Not in such dismal Apprehensions neither Sir for as our ancient Yeomantry and Commonalty could draw the Long Bow and handle the Brown Bill so their Sons will charge a Musket or draw a Sword in defence of the publick Liberty and the Right of Their Majesties against any Commonwealth's-men or Foreigners that shall dare to invade them The Author seems to have inserted these Passages to show himself impartial and to let the Danes see that they have no great reason to complain of ill Usage since he is as scurrilous upon his own Countrymen In the second place to come to some other of his Observations it may very possibly be proved in contradiction to what he has advanced that the Jus Divinâ—â—â— of Kings and Princes was a Notion in the Northern Parts of the World long before these later Ages of Slavery that is before Milton â—ver wrote or England suffer'd under the Tyranny of a Commonwealth even Passive Obedience however unintelligible to this Author as stated by Reverend and Learned Divines though it should still be maintained by them under their present Majesties would be more suitable to Soveraign Authority and the Welfare of these Nations than any Doctrins since coined For the Ecclesiasticks established by the Laws of this Realm are so far from having an Interest separate from and opposite to the Publick as our Author would insinuate that no Persons have defended the true Constitution of the English Government with greater Temper and Hazards Now the Constitution of England as set forth by them is that the King's Prerogative be kept sacred the Lords Spiritual and Temporal have their Authority and Honours supported that the Priviledges as well as Properties of the Commons be inviolably preserv'd When any of these have been encroached upon by the other the English Clergy have in all Ages made a vigorous stand and the publick Liberty has been so dear to them that many of them have sacrific'd their own Freedom to it Sir I shall not trouble you much longer only tell you that a principal Reason why we should not take this Book to be yours is a Remark which may be found in Authors that treat concerning Ambassadors viz. that he ought to be no Detractor or Speaker ill of any King or State but more especially of him or them with whom he remains The Reasons are plain because Detraction is beneath the Honour of the Prince whose Character he sustains and then such actions would make Ambassadors from such a Prince be treated for the future rather as Spies and Enemies than as men whose Persons are to be held sacred We are of Opinion that nothing could make you swerve from this Rule and that no Provocation could force you to it However there are two things that happen'd in Danmark which to another man might give some small occasion and are as follow It seems an Envoy there who had been above three Years in the Danish Court where at first he was very welcome became at last to be very disagreeable by boldly pretending to some Privileges that by the Custom of the Country are denied to every body There is throughout all Sealand a double Road one is common to all People the other called the King's Road is reserved to his Majesty of Danmark and Aâ—â—endants this is shut up with several Gates and has great Ditches on both sides of it The Envoy travelling one day to Helsingor was resolved to pass this way in his Chariot anâ— accordingly did so after he had broke down the Gates which Action as it would have been a great Misdemeanor in any Dane so it was resented by the Court as a Rudeness in a Foreigner At another time this same Envoy went to the Isle of Amack â— near Copenhagen where abundance of Hares are kept for the King of Danmark's Game and that with so much care that any man is severely punishable who presumes to kill one of them unless in the King's Company however this Gentleman was resolved to have a Course but in his way thither was accosted by one of the King's Huntsmen who desired him to send his Dogs back otherwise he was in Duty obligeâ— to shoot them Instead of any Reply to this one of the Envoy's Footmen cut the Keeper over thâ— Head with his Sword The Man all bloody as he was went presently to Count Revenklaw great Mastâ—r of the Game and made his Complaint to him These Actions being represented to the King his Majesty was extreamly offended at them and showed it by the cold Reception the Envoy afterwards met with at Court who was likewise given to understand that he was not very welcome there Upon this pretending business into Flanders he retired thither without any Audience of Leave and from thence went home where his Master would have had him return and perform that Ceremony but he rather chose to lose the Presents given upon those occasions than visit a Court again that had been so justly offended with him And yet pretended to be angry because he had not this usual Present for Envoys which his own Rudeness and Absence deprived him of Even these things could scarce ever sowr a Gentlemans temper so far as to make him bespatter a whole Country as the Author of the Account of Danmark has done to conceal several things that would have been for the Credit of that Nation to set Truth in such a Light as to appear quite different from it self in the Relation and to advance a great many particulars in which he may be plainly contradicted I would not Sir believe any thing like this of you and therefore shall proceed with the more freedom in examining the Book it self The CONTENTS Chap. 1. OF the Territories belonging to the King of Danmark and their Situation 1
for Larwick which this Author would advance to be a Stifts Ampt it is but a County belonging separately to his high Excellency Count Guldenlew as Tousborg is another belonging to Count Wedel Truly Sir had we taken your Account Zarwick had been but a small equivalent for Wardohus and Christiansand though a principal Government had been quite embezel'd Little indeed may come to be said of a Country when a Writers will omit such principal parts of it When he comes to tell us who are Governors he names Guldenlew and Mr. Stockfleet and passes the rest over with an c. Sir I should be glad to know from you a little more of this matter and whether this c. be put here for brevity sake and to spare your Readers trouble or else to palliate your own ignorance Had you nam'd us four Governours we should have been content and not have been so hard as to put you upon assigning a Stifts Ampt to the fifth Province of Norway which never came to your knowledge It is a very barren Country c. p. 36. Norway hath never pretended to be so fertile in Corn as Danmark However it is observable that where the Ground is fit to be till'd it yields a greater Crop than the Soil of the richest Countries If Norway had not so many Sea Towns very populous and full of Strangers the Corn growing there would be sufficient without any Importation to feed its own Inhabitants There are some districts up in Norway as Hedemarâ—en Todten Gulbrandsdalen c. which in Fertility and good Corn do not yield to any part of Danmark It will not be improper here to remark two things which the Author formerly advanced in which Norway clearly convinces him to the contrary First p. â—1 There is no other Town or City belonging to the King of Danmark much better than St. Albans whereas Norway is full of large Sea Towns such as Bergen Christiania Christiansand Trundhiem Frideriksstadt c. Secondly he says p. 34. That the King of Danmark has not in all his Dominions one Navigable River for Vessels But in Norway are abundance of great Rivers and Friths running far into the Country as Sarp near Frederickstadt â—ramen Lomen Aggers-Elf near Christiania Nideren near Trundhiem c. One might have expected likewise that one who treated of Norway should have spoken something of the great fresh Lakes which are every where in that Country One of which call'd Mios is a league broad and near twenty leagues long And I should the rather have suppos'd that he would have mentioned these Lakes because he seems so mightily taken with the places where the Countrymen have good store of fresh Fish for in these Lakes there is such abundance and variety of Fish that the Peasants thereabouts have enough not only to salt dry and carry down to the Seaside but likewise to eat fresh as often as they have a mind to it He acknowledges there are Silver Mines in Norway but he questions whether they turn to account p. 39. He needed not to have questioned it for he might have been informed that they have of late years yielded more than they did formerly or could reasonably be expected from them There is indeed p. 36. an Account of the Commodities from thence exported but he forgets the many Furs and Skins of Mart Zabel Beavers c. which are sent from thence yearly As also Copper and small Nuts of which quantities are shipt out and come towards the end of Winter to London The beginning of the Character he gives the Norsh is very well viz. p. 39. that they are a hardy laborious and honest sort of People and that they are esteem'd by others yet for all this alas they must have their share of Scandal too and the vice of self conceitedness is laid to their Charge Vincit Amor Patriae it seems may be their Motto as well as our Authors for he says iâ— they esteem themselves much superior to the Danes whom they call upbraidingly Jutes Were such a thing true as that the Norsh thought themselves superior to the Danes it might be apt to breed some discord between them On the contrary no two Sister Nations can love one another better Any one who has been in those Northern Countries knows that none is welcomer in Danmark then a Norsh man or in Norway than a Dane So that it is wonderful to see two Nations not conquer'd one by the other but joyn'd by the Marriage of Princes agree so very well together As for the name of Jutes it was given the Danes as a spightful nick-name by the Swedes in the late Wars but the Norsh no more call them upbraidingly Jutes than the Danes when they Travel call themselves Holsteiners Island and Feroe he says p. 39. are miserable Islands forCorn will not grow there Misery consists not always in want of Corn since they may have that from other places Fish and Cattle they enjoy in great abundance We see Holland which is a most happy place in this Authors opinion fetches all three of them from Danmark and Norway The Inhabitants of these Islands are great player at Chess and our Author says p. 40. would be worth some curious mans enquiry how such a Studious and Difficult game should get thus far Northward and become so generally used So we see that notwithstanding their misery they have leisure for their Sports and have Parts able to surmount that game which being difficult must require Study This curious man need not make very far inquiry about their playing at Chess it is easily known from reading any of the Northern Antiquities which the Islandish writers abound with and have the most plain simple and uncorrupted that Chess has been the proper game of the three Northern Nations Now the Islanders having preserv'd the old Tongue and Manners of the Goths old Danes Norsh and Swedes it is no wonder they have also kept this Gothick game and their Ease and Plenty together with the great Colds in the Winter inclining them to sedentary lives make them follow it and from thence arrive to its Perfection As to the Kings Factories in both Guinea and the Indies they are esteem'd of little consideration p. 40. yet he has seen several East India Ships return home well laden but whether the lading were the lawful product of Trade or acquired by other means will in time be worth the enquiry of those Kingdoms and States whose Interest it is to preserve in the Indians and Persians a good opinion of the honesty and fair dealing of the Europeans I shall always think that such Factories as send home ships well laden are both of good worth and consideration and I am the more confirm'd in these thoughts because p. 40. most of the men of Quality are the Adventurers The looking into the fairness of their Traffick and Merchandise may be let alone at present for I suppose no European Prince will concern himself with the affairs
dispatched There are no such long Intervals or very seldom at least Besides there is such a strictness in Danmark about marrying that no Minister dare marry any that is not of his own Parish which prevents several Inconveniences And there can be no greater shame than it is in Danmark for a New married Woman to be brought to bed before her time If we will believe him the Gentry give Portions with their Daughters p. 94. I must confess I had rather believe the Danes themselves who assure me that no body in Danmark gives any portion in Money with his Daughter except the Wedding Dinner Cloaths and Houshold-Stuff But in requital for this the Daughters have a share of the Estate when their Parents die For it is to be remarkt that every Brother hath an equal share of the Patrimony the youngest as well as the eldest and each Sister has half as much as any Brother When a Parent would dispose of his Estate otherwise by Will it must as has been said before be signed by the King in his Life time which in truth is no other than that he must have a new Law to disinherit any of his Children Sumptuous Burials and Monuments he says are much in request with the Nobility p. 94. The King has some years since by a particular Law retrenched much of the former Luxury and Magnificence of the great Peoples Burials so that they now are moderate and yet very proper and decent The common People are mean spirited p. 94. yet in the foregoing page they were proud and vain which two sorts of qualities seldom meet together If they have any fault it is a quite contrary one which is that of being too much inclined to sight upon the least word and too slight provocations Besides they must always be acknowledged to be desirous rather to confer than receive obligations which a mean Spirit never does The Swedes who are as brave a Nation as any in the world have sufficiently try'd their courage and in all their Engagements that they have had in the present King and Queens of England's Service they have behav'd themselves like men The defence which the common People made for their Country and Amack in particular deserves not only to be encouraged with Privileges but to have so excellent a Poem as that of Amagria vindicata written by Borrichius to continue the memory of their valour down to posterity What Tradesmen he may have met with it is impossible to know and what notion he may have of being cheated But whereas he says p. 95. the common people are inclin'd to gross Cheating they have the general reputation with other men of being fair Dealers First An Old superstitious woman would not sell him any Green Geese This silly story as he relates it p. 95 96. gives him a more lively Idea of the temper of the common people than any description he could make and in mine it raises a much brighter Image of the Author Especially when he proceeds to tell me that 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 p 97. We 'll suppose the Butchers so mad as to do so But how came he to know this curiosity did he cheapen lean meat and stinking meat Some frugal people go towards the latter end of a Market to buy the refuse cheap perhaps our Author did so too and makes his Complaint in Print because he was disappointed of a penny worth Where he lays it down as a sure way not to obtain to seem to value and to ask importunately p 90. It is that way which I would advise no man to follow for certainly the Danes are not such Fools as to keep their Wares when they find the Buyer so forward as to overvalue them No Lodgings in Copenhagen for strangers In Taverns one must be content to Eat and Drink in a publick Room p. 97. It is so in all Germany but in Copenhagen persons may have Tables or Rooms to themselves when bespoke and no stranger need or does want convenient Lodgings both in publick and private houses Their Seasons of Jollity are very scarce p. 97. Persons of Fashion have their Diversions at seasonable Times as Musick Comedies Retreats into the Country in Summer as well as their Sleds in the Winter Whereas he says they content themselves with running at the Goose on Shrove tuesday p. 97. One would think that Men of Quality ran at this Goose but it is only a pastime of his beloved Boors of Amack and performed by them only sometimes because of the odd frolicks of these Peasants persons of better Character condescend to be their Spectators Perhaps it may be thought too nice for him to remark That no body presumes to go in a Sled 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 p. 97. If these Remarks were but as True as they are Nice they would be admirable but as soon as the Snow comes every one Presumes to use his Sled the Diversion of it indeed is become more fashionable when the King and Court have done it one night through Copenhagen As for new Bridges some of them might drop down again without any Passage over them if no one were to go till the King had done it In the mean time our Auâ—hor must provide Ferries for the Passengers the Clocks of Copenhagâ—n must be the most complaisant in the world otherwise if some traiterous Clocks should chance to go to fast they might make an exception to a rule so universal I like this Account our Author gives us of Precedency in such ridiculous matters most extreamly because having been searching according to his advice among the Barbarians I find something like it at the Savage Court of Monomotapa where the Emperor having Dined Commands a Trumpet to be sounded to give notice to the rest of the Princes of the World that they may go to Dinner The Language he says is very ungrateful and like the Irish in its whining complaining tone p. 98. He may be as free with the Irish as he pleases But the Danes and Norsh speak more like the English in their accent than any other People and therefore these two Nations most easily learn to read speak and understand one anothers Languages upon occasion There is a great agreement between their Monosyllables p. 98. which being generally the particles and strength or sinews of a Language show that the English has not only incorporated the old Saxon but the Danish likewise to bring it to its present perfection At Court High Dutch and French are much used and also Italian Though Conversation often passes in these yet if any should boast that he could not speak Danish p. 98. he would render himself ridiculous and an Englishman might think him not worthy to eat Danish Bread