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Chap. IV.
IMPRISONMENT OF CHRISTIAN II.
51
“Now we come to you, dear lord and brother, as the
prodigal son, not alone as to our own dear uncle, but as
to our new-born brother, inspired by Jesu Christ,
demanding help, assistance, and trust of you,” &c.
He signs himself King of Denmark, Norway, and
Sweden, and addresses the letter to Frederic, King
of Denmark. This want of tact affronted his uncle, and
only made him more irate; whilst he was about it, he
might just as well have done the thing handsomely,
and given him all his titles.
You all know how he was brought in a vessel to the
island of Ais, and lodged in the old castle, at that time
a strong fortress with round embattled towers. The
door was walled up, his food passed through a guichet
above, and a scanty allowance of light admitted through
a small, barred window.
In an old edition of Pontoppidan I have seen an
engraving of that fearful prison, in which, with a dwarf
as his sole companion, he languished, deprived of every
comfort, and almost of the necessaries of life. It is
thus described by one who had visited the tower
previous to its destruction in the seventeenth century. I
give it verbatim:—
“ The prison was vaulted, and twenty-two feet in width.
To the centre of the ceiling was fixed a hook for letting
down the prisoners into the vault below, to which a hole
in the centre was the only entrance. Over and above
was placed a round table, around which the steps of the
King had worn a groove in the stone pavement two
fingers deep.” (It appears the unlucky monarch paced
round and round like a horse in a mill.} “ Around the
table was a groove two inches deep, worn by the pressure
of the King’s thumb.” On the embrasure of the window
e2
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