[E41] The title ‘Herr’ was then only given to noblemen and clergy. Master means ‘magister,’ and was an academical title.
[E42] The original has here an untranslatable play upon words. Leth is a family name; and the woman says ‘I am one of the Letter (the Leths),’ but laughter is in Danish ‘Latter.’
[E43] The newspapers in question were probably German papers which were published in Copenhagen at that time weekly, or even twice a week; the Danish Mercurius (a common title for newspapers) was a monthly publication.
[E44] His name was Torslev; see the Introduction and the Autobiography.
[E45] The name is in blanco; she was probably the Catharina Wolf which is mentioned in the Preface.
[E46] Walter’s participation in the plot of Dina is mentioned in the Introduction. He was then ordered to leave the country, but afterwards obtained a pardon and permission to return. He does not seem to have availed himself of this till the year 1668; but his conduct was very suspicious, and he was at once arrested and placed in the Blue Tower, where he died towards the end of April 1670.
[E47] Leonora alludes, no doubt, to the Queen Sophia Amalia.
[E48] The song of St. Dorothea exists in many German and Danish versions.
[E49] The feast of St. Martin is supposed the proper time for killing pigs in Denmark. It is reported that when Corfitz Uldfeldt, in 1652, had published a defence of his conduct previously to his leaving Denmark the year before, he sent a copy to Peder Vibe, one of his principal adversaries, with this inscription:—
Chaque pourceau a son St. Martin;
Tu n’échapperas pas, mais auras le tien.