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134
COPENHAGEN.
Chap. IX.
promise from the Emperor Napoleon, that in reward for
his so-called neutrality he should receive the kingdom
of Sweden, and be crowned King of all Scandinavia.
“ King of Scandinavia! ” exclaimed his Majesty, “ and no
palace to live in! send for the court architect at once.”
His orders were obeyed; they planned and planned, and
the present unsightly Palace of Christiansborg is the
result of their consultations. Lucky had it been for
King Frederic if Mrs. Glasse’s well-known recipe had
been then published, or at least translated into Danish;
he would have saved a mint of money to the country,
and the pangs of disappointed ambition to himself.
The crown of Scandinavia was never fated to rest
on his royal brow. The elected house of Bernadotte
reign supreme in Sweden; and Norway after an union
of more than 400 years was wrested from the Danish
crown and handed over to the possession of her rival.
But I must not be unjust to the memory of Frederic:
to him the peasants of Denmark owe their emancipation
from feudal servitude: like many others he was
ambitious in early life and suffered from it: he lived much
among his people, and retained their affection to the
last. From what I have heard related, he resembled
much his maternal uncle George III. of England in
character, amiable and kind in disposition, with a certain
touch of his Britannic Majesty’s obstinacy.
Do not, however, imagine the Palace of
Christiansborg to be a building useless as it is ugly. Besides the
state apartments, not often occupied by the royal family,
it harbours within its walls the two Chambers of
Parliament, the Gallery of Pictures, and, in a building apart,
the Royal Library. As we are here, you may as well pass
through the great court of the palace, heavy, cumbrous,
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