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140
COPENHAGEN.
Chap. X.
as incorrigible. When our hero had attained the age of
thirteen, Frederic IV. paid a visit to Norway. Peter,
whose (ime lay heavy on his hands, made acquaintance
with the servants of the king’s household; and when
the royal cortege departed, he suddenly disappeared to
reappear shortly a vagabond and friendless in
Copenhagen. The tale of the Norwegian boy who had
concealed himself in the hold of a ship came to the
ears of the royal confessor, who, taking compassion
on him, employed him as a servant about his person;
but Peter had inwardly determined to enter the navy.
Nothing daunted, he wrote to the king, and was soon
inscribed as an apprentice at the royal wharf.
After several voyages he was so highly praised
by his captains, he became midshipman, but still
in the merchant service. He is described as a very
“ Mother Carey’s chickenhis spirits rose with the
tempest itself, and, when fear and terror agitated all
minds, he alone appeared to derive gratification from
the turmoil of the elements. When tne war broke out
between Denmark and Sweden, as it invariably did
some fifty times in the course of each century, Peter
demanded permission to enter the royal navy, and -was
at once appointed to the command of a vessel called
the ‘ Worm,’ bearing four guns. Endless are the
anecdotes related of his daring: on one occasion he met
with an English privateer: “ If that frigate were
Swedish,” he exclaimed, “ I should take it; but the
English have too much practice and fight too well for
me to hope for an easy conquest.” The vessels engaged,
and a hard-fought battle ensued, such as always took
place, and will take place, when Danes and English
meet in naval warfare. “ I have no more powder,”
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