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Chap. III.
DANISH FUNERALS.
35
yet scarcely up to their work; still, on the whole,
we must not quarrel—the general effect is good.
The proportions of the church are injured by the
chapels on each side being blocked up by solid masonry,
which also conceals from view the lower part of the
lancet window. These chapels are the “ dormitoria ” of
sundry noble Danish families, and within are placed the
coffins above ground, according to the custom of the
country. A mania for splendid funerals existed among
the Danes during the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries. Lord Molesworth,* in his ‘ Account of Denmark
as it was in the year 1692,’ declares that the bodies
of the nobles were frequently preserved for years,
waiting until either an opportunity occurred or the funds
were procured for giving a befitting funeral. Families
vied with each other not only in the splendour of the
coffins, sepulchral slabs, and epitaphia, but even
extended their rivalry to the funeral feast and the sermon ;
and in Christian IV.’s reign a great matter it was to
be interred as a gentleman should be, and to have your
virtues extolled, not only in the epitaph, but also in the
discourse delivered by the celebrated “ Liig-predicaner ”
(coffin-preacher) of the day, Dr. Jacob Matthisen, whose
office was by no means honorary, for, on referring to his
Tegnebog or day-book, I find he marks down—“
Received two gilt cups, weighing one hundred ounces, for
preaching the funeral sermon of the Lady Anna Lange;
ditto, a tankard, of one hundred and four ounces, for that
of Niels Friis, in Aarhuus Cathedral,” &c. &c. Common
people presented him with sums of money. The dis-
* Robert Viscount Molesworth was sent to the Danish Court, in
1689, as Envoy Extraordinary from William III,
D 2
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