COXE’s TRAVELS IN DENMARK.

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Hirlholm, a royal palace begun by Chriftian the Sixth, and finiflied by his queen,Chriftina Sophia, is a large quadrangular building of brick, ftuccoed white, furround-ed by a moat, and placed in a low and marlhy fituation. The fuite of apartments isprincely, but almoft without furniture, as they have not been inhabited fince the im-pvifonment and exile of Queen Matilda , who made it her, favourite refidence. Thedining-room is a large apartment, and remarkable for a jet d’eau, and twelve fountains,fpouting from the Tides . The gardens are formal, and full of jets d’eau. The placeis fo entirely negledted, that the court.yard is over-run with weeds, and the moat is agreen mantled pool. Orders were lately received to put the palace in repair for therefidence of the Prince-royal, who difplays an affectionate attachment to the memory ofhis mother.

In the gardens is a fummer-houfe, which ferved as a temporary theatre for the di-Verfion of Queen Matilda , and her company ; and in another part is a wooden buildingcalled a Norway-houfe, containing landfcapes of Norway in relief, and imitations ofrocks, with wooden cottages perched on them, and wooden roads. Near this buildingthe walks are not unpleafantly carried through the grounds in the Englilh ftyle.

The road from Hirfliolm to Fredericfborg winds agreeably, through a beautiful andundulating country, richly clothed with forefts of beech, birch, and oak, and enlivenedby fmall lakes in the receffes of the wood.

Fredericfborg was built by Chriftian the Fourth, and was fo called in honour of hisfather Frederic the Second. It is an enormous and motley pile of building, partlyof red brick, and partly of ftone, partly Gothic, and partly in the Grecian ftyle of ar-chitecture. It is built round three courts, each of which is furrounded by moats, andjoined by bridges, The principal fagade is full of niches, containing bad ftatues. In .the inner court are two ftories of feven arches, conftrufted with ftone painted black,and pillars of dark Norwegian marble. This appendage contrafting with the red brickproduces a ftrange effect; while a profufion of gilding and maffy fculpture disfiguresrather than adorns the building.

The fituation, on the banks of a fmall lake, is not unpleafant. The palace containsa large colleflion of pictures, in great confufion, among which I obferved a few notunworthy of notice. The crucifixion of our Saviour, by Andreas Peters, a Danifhpainter, in the reign of Chriftian the Fourth ; three brought from Italy , by Fredericthe Fourth •, Saul and David, after the death of Goliath, by an unknown hand ; Abra-ham and Melchifedec, by Caravaggio , difplaying the long contraft of light and (hade,and that vulgar nature which characterizes the works of that capricious painter ; Jo- -nas preaching to the Ninevites, by Salvator Rofa, the figures as large as life, and in thegrand ftyle of that great mafter; feveral tolerable paintings, of the Fiemilh fchool,chiefly fcriptural fubjects.

One of the apartments contains a fuite of the imaginary portraits of the kings ofDenmark, before the converfion of the Danes to the chriftian religion. , In another Iobferved the whole length figures of the kings of Denmark of the houfe of Oldenburghbeginning with Chriftian the Firft, and ending with -Chriftian the Fifth, all originals.Of thefe the portrait of Chriftian the Second is the moft ftriking, as it exhibits a fine ex-prefiion of that melancholy, feverity, and cruelty, which formed a prominent feature in ;the character of that deteftable tyrant. A head of his queen Ifabella, filter of the Em-peror Charles the Fifth, reminded me of her mild and amiable qualities ; of the ineek-nefs and patience, and yet dignity, with which fhe fupported the harfhnefs and infideli-ties of her obdurate hufband in the time of his profperity ; of her extreme attachmentto him in the hour of his difgrace; of her unwearied attentions to foothe his dilap.

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