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COXE’s TRAVELS IN DENMARK. 1997
fter, whofe crimes, if he had lived, would have daily increafed, and terminated in your
deftruétion. Acknowledge my fervices, and if I have deferved it, prefent me with the
crown: behold in me the author of thefe advantages, no degenerate perfon, no parti
cide, but the rightful fucceflor to the throne, and the pious avenger of a father’s mure
der. I have refcued you from flavery, reftored you to liberty, and re-eftablifhed your
glory; I have deftroyed a tyrant, and triumphed over an affaflin. ‘The recompence is
in your hands; you can eftimate the value of my fervices, and in your virtue I reft my
hopes of reward.” ‘This fpeech had the defired effe&t ; the greater part of the aflem-
bly fhed tears, and all who are prefent unanimoufly proclaim him King amid repeated
acclamations.
Hamlet, foon after his elevation, fails to England, and ordersa fhield to be made, on
which the principal actions of his life are reprefented. The King receives him with
feigned demontftrations of joy ; falfely affures him that his daughter is dead, and recom-
meénds him to repair to Scotland as his ambaflador, and pay his addreffes to Queen Her-
metrudra. He gives this infidious advice with the hopes that Hamlet may perifh in the
attempt; as the Queen, who was remarkable for her chaftity and cruelty, had fuch
an averfion to all propofals of marriage, that not one of her fuitors had efcaped falling
a facrifice to her vengeance. Hamlet, in oppofition to all difficulties, performs the
embafly, and by the affiftance of his fhield, which infpires the lady with a favourable
opinion of his wifdom and courage, obtains her in marriage, and returns with her to
England. Informed, by the Princefs to whom he is betrothed, that her father medi-
tates his aflafination, Hamlet avoids his fate by wearing armour under his robe, puts to
death the King of England, and fails to Denmark with his two wives, where he is foon ,
afterwards killed ina combat with Vigletus, fon of Ruric. Hamlet, adds the hiftorian,
was a Prince, who, if his good fortune had been equal to his deferts, would have rivalled
the Gods in fplendour ; and in his actions would have exceeded even the labours of
Hercules *.
The diftance from Elfinore to Copenhagen is twenty miles; our route lay occafion-
ally by the fide of the fea, fometimes through fmall woods of beech and oak, and at
other times through an open country rifing into acclivities; the foil is fandy, mixed with
loam, well cultivated, and yields all forts of grain. The cottages are numerous and
neat, built with brick, and many of them white-wafhed. We had an excellent road,
for which convenience we paid feveral tolls; a tax from which we had been exempt-
ed in Poland, Ruflia, and Sweden. We reached the metropolis towards the clofe of the
evening.
Copenhagen ftands on a fmall promontory on the eaftern coaft of the ifle of Zealand,
in a flat and marfhy fituation. It formerly belonged to the bifhop of Rofkild, and was
not diftinguifhed by the royal refidence until 1443, during the reign of Chriftopher of
Bavaria ; fince which period it has been gradually enlarged and beautified, and is be-
come the capital of Denmark.
The annual lift of births in Copenhagen being, on an average of feveral years, efti-
mated at two thoufand eight hundred and thirty, and of deaths at two thoufand nine
hundred and fifty-five, we may eftimate the population at eighty thoufand fouls.
Copenhagen is the beft-built city of the north, although excelled by Peterfburgh in
fuperb edifices; yet as it contains no wooden houfes, it does not difplay that ftriking
contraft of meannefs and magnificence, but in general exhibits a more uniform appear-
* Hic Amlethiexitus fuit ; qui fi parem hature atque fortune indulgentiam expertus fuiffet, xquaffet
fulgore fuperos ; Herculea virtutibus opera tranfcendiflet.
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