COXE’s TRAVELS IN DENMARK.
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ance. The city is furrounded towards the land with ramparts and baftions, a wet ditch,and a few out-works ; the circumference meafures between four and five miles. Theftreets are well paved, with a footway on each fide, which is narrow and inconve-nient. The greater part of the buildings are of brick, and a few of free-ftone broughtfrom Germany : the houfes of the nobility are in general fplendid, and conftrudled inthe Italian Ityle of architecture.
The royal palace is a magnificent pile of hewn ft one, the wings and /tables of brickfluccoed. It was built by Chriftian the Sixth in feven years, as the infeription informedme, without laying a fingle tax on his fubjefts. The enormous expence may be infome meafure eftimated by the dimenfions. The front is three hundred and fixty-fe-ven feet in length, the Tides three hundred and eighty-nine, and the height one hundredand fourteen; it has fix ftories, of which three are mezzonines. In the fourth ftoryare the grandeft fuit of apartments, both as to fize and decoration. The concert-roomis one hundred and twenty-eight feet by thirty-eight. The Ritter Saal, or Knight’s fa-loon, is remarkable for the grandeur and elegance of the proportions ; it is one hun-dred and twenty-eight feet long, fixty-two broad, and fdrty-eight high; it is lightedby feveral chryltal chandeliers, and many gilded urns placed on the baluftrades of agallery *.
Among numerous piTures of the Kings and Queens of Denmark , I was ftruck witha portrait of Chriftian the Fourth on board a fliip engaged with the Sweditn fleet. Inthe middle of the engagement the King was ftruck by a fplinter; two of his teeth werebeat out, his ear torn, his right eye forced from the focket, and he was thrown on thedeck with great violence. liis attendants, fuppofing him dead, made bitter lamenta-tions ; when the King, fuddenly recovering from the fwoon into which he had beenthrown by the agony of pain, darted up, bound his wounds with his handkerchief, andcontinued giving his orders with great com'pofure until the Swedifh fleet retired. Thepainter has chofen the point of time in which the King, having recovered from his fwoonand bound his wound, is exerting himfelf in. the mid ft of the action, and has happilyfucceeded in throwing great animation over the whole figure.
The royal ftables are perhaps the moil magnificent in Europe . The racks of one,which contains flails for forty-eight horfes, are of copper, and the columns that dividethe flails are of brick ftuccoed white. Another contains one hundred and forty-eightflails; and the racks and pillars which fupport the roof and feparate the flails are ofNorwegian marble.
The bufy fpirit of commerce is vifible in Copenhagen . The haven is always crowdedwith merchant-fhips, and the ftreets are interfered by broad canals, which bring themerchandize clofe to the warehoufes that line the quays. This city owes its principalbeauty to a dreadful fire in 1728, that deftroyed five churches and fixty-feven ftreets,which were rebuilt in the modern ftyle. The new part of the town railed by the lateKing Frederic V. is extremely beautiful; it confifts of an odlagon, containing four uni-form and elegant buildings of hewn (tone, and of four broad ftreets leading to it in op-pofite directions. In the middle of the area ftands an equeftrian ftatue of Frederic inbronze, as large as life, which is juftiy admired ; it was call at the expence of the EaftIndia Company by Saly, and coft 8o,oool. flerling.
On the 25th of March we accompanied Mr. Delaval, our minifter, to court, andwere honoured with private audiences by Chriftian V 1 L, the Queen-dowager JulianaMaria, her fon Prince Frederic, and his confort the Princefs Sophia-Frederica . We
* This magnificent palace was burnt in 1793.
were