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144
COPENHAGEN.
Chap. X.
found floating about the water the Danes constructed a
small brig, christened by the appropriate name the
Phænix.
Proceeding down the Amaliegade, in which we are
now located, and which boasts three stripes of flagstones
inserted in its trottoir, we arrive at the Amalienborg
Plads, which might be made one of the prettiest squares
of its size in Europe. The original Amalienborg Slot
underwent the usual fate of all edifices, royal and plebeian,
in Denmark—it was destroyed by fire in 1689, during the
performance of an Italian opera. A large concourse of
people had assembled to witness the representation, as
well as the court and all the royal family: a lamp was
accidentally overturned, the fire caught the wood-work,
and in one moment the whole building was in a blaze.
In the confusion and crush of the exit nearly three
hundred persons perished; and when Molesworth visited
Copenhagen he declares there was scarcely a family of
consequence in the capital that was not in mourning for
one of its members. The four pretty palaces which
replaced this earlier building were built by the families of
Schack, Moltke, Brockdorff, and Levetzau, who again
sold them, after the conflagration of Christiansborg, 1794,
to the royal family, who found themselves without a
roof to cover them. One of them is now occupied by
Her Majesty the Queen Dowager, the amiable and
virtuous widow of Christian VIII.; a second by the
Landgrave of Hesse, husband of the Princess Charlotte, and
brother to the Duchess of Cambridge; the third was
offered to the Prince of Denmark, who does not at
present occupy it; while the fourth does duty as the Foreign
Office.
On the whole it is a charming little Place; and were
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