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Zealand, which we crofted in our way from Copenhagen to Corfoer, is the largeft ofthe ifles belonging to the King of Denmark, being about feven hundred miles in cir-cumference. That part which we traverfed, appears a gently waving furface ; for themod part open, dotted occafionally with fmall woods of beech and oak, and diverfifiedwith beautiful lakes. The ifland is exceedingly fertile: it produces grain of all forts,and in great plenty, abounds with excellent pafture, and is famous for its breed ofhorfes. The fields, which feemed well cultivated, were in many parts formed into in-clofures, feparated by mud walls : a few cottages were of brick ; but the generality wereof mud white-wailied. '
April 8. The wind blowing high, and dire&Iy contrary, we were detained two daysJit Corfoer before we embarked for the ifle of Funen ; the diftance between the neareflpoints on each coaft is eighteen miles. At mid-day we paffed the fmall ifland of Sproe,near which lay a guard-fnip, for the purpofe of collefting toll from all vefiels which paf-led between that ifland and Zealand ; other (hips pay their duty at Nyborg . Sproe con-tains only two buildings, a fmall inn for the occasional refreflnnent of the guard-fhip’sC1 'ew, and a neat farm-houfe; it produces grain and pafture. On the top of an heightoverlooking the fea, we obferved the ruins of an ancient fortrefs, which formerly be-longed to pirates, who ufed to refort in great numbers to this ifland.
After a favourable paflage of four hours, we landed at Nyborg , a fmall well-builttown, in the Ifle of Funen , handing on a commodious bay. The town is furrounded'with a rampart and ditch, and garrifoned by a company of invalids. An inferiptionover an old fquare building informed me, that Chriftian III., fon of Frederic I., raifedthe fortifications. Towards the fleirts of the town, and clofe to the ramparts, are theremains of an old palace, in which Chriftian II. was born ; and to the ropf of which, ashis biographer* relates, he was conveyed, while an infant, by a tame monkey, andbrought down without receiving the leaft harm.
In the afternoon we reached Odenfee, the capital of Funen ; a place of fuch high an-tiquity, that fome Danifh writers derive its foundation and name from Oden, the godand hero of the Gothic nations. But leaving fuch difquifitions to the antiquaries of thecountry, I Ihall only obferve, that its name occurs in the earlieft ages of the Danifh hiftory;and that it was a town of great note long before Copenhagen exifted. Odenfee ftands°n a fmall river, which is not navigable two miles from the bay of Stegeftrand. Many°f the houfes are ancient, bearing dates about the middle of the fixteenth century; butpart is newly built: it contains five thoufand two hundred inhabitants, who carry onfome commerce, exporting chiefly grain and leather; the latter is much efteemed, andlts goodnefs is fuppofed to arife from a certain property in the river water, in which it isfoaked for tanning. The Danifh cavalry arefupplied from thence with the greater part°f their leathern accoutrements. '
Odenfee is an epifcopal fee, which was founded by Harald Blaatand in 980, and isthe richeft in Denmark next to Copenhagen . It has a fchool, endowed by the celebratedMargaret, in which a certain number of fcholars, from fix to fixteen years of age are,inftrufted gratis: they lodge and board in the town, and receive yearly penfions; othertcholarlhips have been alfo founded by private perfons. The whole number amountedto feventy. There is alfo a gyninafium , inftituted by Chriftian IV. for the admiflion oftudents at the age of fixteen. This feminary was ftill further improved by the liberalityM Holberg the Danifh hiftorian, who protected letters with the fame zeal with whichne cultivated them ; but it is now greatly fallen from its former flouriftiing ftate, ccn-
* Svaning Vit. Chrift, II,X X a
taining,
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