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124
COPENHAGEN.
Chap. IX.
place a tub of water before their doors: if the answer
be Vesterbro, or Nørrebro, or some place far away, they
close their casements and quietly resume their sleep,
unless curiosity lead them to visit the scene of the
conflagration. These watchmen were first established
by King Frederic II., and the song they chant the
night long was composed by Bishop Kingo.
The Amagertorv is picturesque as a whole, and you
must not fail to remark a gabled Renaissance
dwellinghouse, with the date 1616, built by a burgomaster of
Copenhagen, called by the common people the House of
Dyveke; or rather that of her mother Sigbrit, Christian
II.’s prime minister. Curious rise that of a huckster
(hugerske), as she is termed by the historians of
Amsterdam, in which city she first sold apples and vegetable
roots. And queerer still it must have been to have seen
the nobles of the realm standing bareheaded in the snow,
outside her house, on this very Plads, waiting their turn
to gain an audience. A clever woman was Madam
Sigbrit, as the Danes call her, suppressing her Dutch
patronymic of Willums; for she not only reigned supreme
over the King, but was also much thought of by his
consort Queen Elizabeth, who appreciated her devotion to
the Royal family. Then, too, she was a Dutchwoman,
a nation for which the Queen always showed a great
preference. To her care they confided the education of
their eldest son Prince John. But if she was liked by
the Royal family and toadied by the officers of state, she
was detested by the people, who, after the manner of the
day, looked upon her as a witch. They declared how
one day her young charge Prince John, out of curiosity,
took a bottle which stood on the window, in order to
examine its contents, when it fell out of his hand and
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