3. In The Foreign Quarterly Review, 1830, pp. 70–71,
4. In Targum, 1835, pp. 49–50.
Upon each occasion he practically rewrote the Song, so that all four versions differ completely. As an illustration of these differences I give the first stanza of each version:
1823.
King Christian stood beside the mast,
In smoke and flame;
His heavy cannon rattled fast
Against the Gothmen, as they pass’d:
Then sunk each hostile sail and mast
In smoke and flame.
“Fly, (said the foe,) fly, all that can,
For who with Denmark’s Christian
Will ply the bloody game?”
1826.
King Christian stood beside the mast
Smoke, mixt with flame,
Hung o’er his guns, that rattled fast
Against the Gothmen, as they passed:
Then sunk each hostile sail and mast
In smoke and flame.
“Fly!” said the foe: “fly! all that can,
Nor wage, with Denmark’s Christian,
The dread, unequal game.”
King Christian by the main-mast stood
In smoke and mist!
So pour’d his guns their fiery flood
That Gothmen’s heads and helmets bow’d;
Their sterns, their masts fell crashing loud
In smoke and mist.
“Fly,” cried they, “let him fly who can,
For who shall Denmark’s Christian
Resist?”
1835.