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Chap. XXI.
QUEEN JULIANA.
317
the seat allotted to the grooms,—a disagreeable vicinity;
but years since—thanks to snuff-taking—noses were less
sensitive than they are in the present generation.
Here, at Fredensborg, in her latter days, Queen
Juliana held her court right royally, and, whatever may
have been her faults, was kind and liberal to the poor
and to those around her. She was by nature a queen,
and loved the pomp and state from which sovereigns in
the present age withdraw themselves as much as their
position allows them. On the 4th of September, 1796,
the queen celebrated her sixty-seventh birthday.
Juliana was strong and robust, and, as far as human
foresight could foretell, might live for years.
Congratulations, offerings, arrived from all quarters ; visitors
from the court, from Copenhagen; all was gratifying;
and when the banquet prepared in honour of the event
was announced, never had she w7alked into the
diningroom with firmer step or in higher spirits. “How
well her Majesty looks! ” whispered the courtiers one to
another; “ a wonderful woman of her age; she will live
till she is eighty, if not longer.”
The toast of the day, “ the queen’s health! ” was
proposed, and drunk by the guests with enthusiasm;
all appeared couleur de rose; but at that very banquet
Juliana had signed her own death-warrant, though she
little suspected it. Each successive year, on the
anniversary of her natal day, the queen caused to be served
to her a national dish—“ æble-grød og faaremelk ”—a
compote of apples, thick and glutinous, immersed in
fresh warm sheep’s-milk: a dish she much affected.
Of this she ate somewhat too freely. An indigestion
ensued, from which she could never be relieved. Her
death-knell already sounded; and now, as she saw her
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