{14} At sea I calculate by sea-miles, of which sixty go to a
degree.
{15} This great Danish sculptor was born of poor parents at
Copenhagen, on the 19th November, 1770; his father was an Icelander,
and earned his living by carving figure-heads for ships. Albert, or
"Bertel," as he is more generally called, was accustomed during his
youth to assist his father in his labours on the wharf. At an early
age he visited the Academy at Copenhagen, where his genius soon
began to make itself conspicuous. At the age of sixteen he had won
a silver, and at twenty a gold medal. Two years later he carried
off the "great" gold medal, and was sent to study abroad at the
expense of the Academy. In 1797 we find him practising his art at
Rome under the eye of Zoega the Dane, who does not, however, seem to
have discovered indications of extraordinary genius in the labours
of his young countryman. But a work was soon to appear which should
set all questions as to Thorwaldsen's talent for ever at rest. In
1801 he produced his celebrated statue of "Jason," which was at once
pronounced by the great Canova to be "a work in a new and a grand
style." After this period the path of fame lay open before the
young sculptor; his bas-reliefs of "Summer" and "Autumn," the "Dance
of the Muses," "Cupid and Psyche," and numerous other works,
followed each other in rapid succession; and at length, in 1812,
Thorwaldsen produced his extraordinary work, "The Triumph of
Alexander." In 1819 Thorwaldsen returned rich and famous to the
city he had quitted as a youth twenty-three years before; he was
received with great honour, and many feasts and rejoicings were held
to celebrate his arrival. After a sojourn of a year Thorwaldsen
again visited Rome, where he continued his labours until 1838, when,
wealthy and independent, he resolved to rest in his native country.
This time his welcome to Copenhagen was even more enthusiastic than
in 1819. The whole shore was lined with spectators, and amid
thundering acclamations the horses were unharnessed from his
carriage, and the sculptor was drawn in triumph by the people to his
atelier. During the remainder of his life Thorwaldsen passed much
of his time on the island of Nyso, where most of his latest works
were executed. On Sunday, March 9th, 1842, he had been conversing
with a circle of friends in perfect health. Halm's tragedy of
Griselda was announced for the evening, and Thorwaldsen proceeded to
the theatre to witness the performance. During the overture he rose
to allow a stranger to pass, then resumed his seat, and a moment
afterwards his head sunk on his breast - he was dead!
His funeral was most sumptuous. Rich and poor united to do honour
to the memory of the great man, who had endeared himself to them by
his virtues as by his genius. The crown-prince followed the coffin,
and the people of Copenhagen stood in two long rows, and uncovered
their heads as the coffin of the sculptor was carried past. The
king himself took part in the solemnity. At the time of his decease
Thorwaldsen had completed his seventy-second year. - ED.
{16} Tycho de Brahe was a distinguished astronomer, who lived
between 1546 and 1601. He was a native of Denmark. His whole life
may be said to have been devoted to astronomy. A small work that he
published when a young man brought him under the notice of the King
of Denmark, with whose assistance he constructed, on the small
island of Hulln, a few miles north of Copenhagen, the celebrated
Observatory of Uranienburg. Here, seated in "the ancient chair"
referred to in the text, and surrounded by numerous assistants, he
directed for seventeen years a series of observations, that have
been found extremely accurate and useful. On the death of his
patron he retired to Prague in Bohemia, where he was employed by
Rodolph II. then Emperor of Germany. Here he was assisted by the
great Kepler, who, on Tycho's death in 1601, succeeded him. - ED.
{17} The fisheries of Iceland have been very valuable, and indeed
the chief source of the commerce of the country ever since it was
discovered. The fish chiefly caught are cod and the tusk or cat-
fish. They are exported in large quantities, cured in various ways.
Since the discovery of Newfoundland, however, the fisheries of
Iceland have lost much of their importance. So early as 1415, the
English sent fishing vessels to the Icelandic coast, and the sailors
who were on board, it would appear, behaved so badly to the natives
that Henry V. had to make some compensation to the King of Denmark
for their conduct. The greatest number of fishing vessels from
England that ever visited Iceland was during the reign of James I.,
whose marriage with the sister of the Danish king might probably
make England at the time the most favoured nation. It was in his
time that an English pirate, "Gentleman John," as he was called,
committed great ravages in Iceland, for which James had afterwards
to make compensation. The chief markets for the fish are in the
Catholic countries of Europe. In the seventeenth century, a great
traffic in fish was carried on between Iceland and Spain. - ED.
{18} The dues charged by the Danish Government on all vessels
passing through the Sound have been levied since 1348, and therefore
enjoy a prescriptive right of more than five hundred years. They
bring to the Danish Government a yearly revenue of about a quarter
of a million; and, in consideration of the dues, the Government has
to support certain lighthouses, and otherwise to render safe and
easy the navigation of this great entrance to the Baltic. Sound-
dues were first paid in the palmy commercial days of the Hanseatic
League. That powerful combination of merchants had suffered
severely from the ravages of Danish pirates, royal and otherwise;
but ultimately they became so powerful that the rich merchant could
beat the royal buccaneer, and tame his ferocity so effectually as to
induce him to build and maintain those beacon-lights on the shores
of the Sound, for whose use they and all nations and merchants after
them have agreed to pay certain duties.
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