Early on Thursday morning, before I had dressed, I heard the scraping of feet on deck, and a man, in a broad Yorkshire dialect, as I thought, asking a thousand questions, one after the other, and answering himself before any person else could find time even to open his own mouth. I could hear R—— in his berth make reply to the steward; and,
"Say I am in bed," rose in muffled tones above the sheets.
I looked through the sky-light in my cabin, and saw two gentlemen standing in mid-ship on the lee side, and one of them with a pencil was writing on a piece of paper, which he placed against the lee-runner block to supply the conveniences of a desk. As soon as I was dressed, I learned that the American Minister, Mr. I——, and a Captain W—— had been on board, and that the Minister had requested us to dine with him on the following day. R—— hesitated about accepting the invitation, for he had half made up his mind to leave Copenhagen to-day; but after a little consideration, it was deemed advisable to defer our departure till Saturday, and dine with Mr. I——.
At twelve o'clock I rowed myself ashore and passed half the afternoon under the shady trees on the ramparts of Fredrikshavn. At the mouth of the harbour lies a Danish frigate at anchor; and, I suppose, from the position she has taken up, is intended for the guard-ship. The Danish ships of war are in no way inferior to the British; and, at Elsineur, we brought up alongside a 36-gun frigate which was the perfect combination of elegance and strength; nor did I at Portsmouth, or anywhere else, see a finer model. From the spot where I stand, I can catch a glimpse of the dockyards, and the hulls of six dismounted men-of-war. I have been told, that the Danish Government intends to build steam-frigates, and will have nothing more to do with sailing vessels of war. The Danes may be right, or they may be wrong; but what will be the result of any future naval engagement where steam alone, or canvass alone is used, is beyond the intelligence of any living creature. On all human events, such as the issues of peace and war, human beings may conjecture, but cannot determine so precisely.
When I returned on board, I found the cook very busily binding, with a piece of yarn, an immense round of beef, which had been purchased for the crew by R——, in order that they might have a regular jollification to-morrow, it being his birthday. Along the rigging were white trowsers, check shirts, and all the other paraphernalia of a sailor's wardrobe, hung up to swing to the wind, and dry; and, as Jerome sat on the windlass, scraping and screwing his fiddle by way of tuning, I could plainly be made to understand that Friday, the 21st of May, was not intended to be passed over with the indifference of any ordinary day,—at least, not on board the Iris. In a few minutes, while I still listened to the plaintive screams of Jerome's fiddle, as he urged the strings to their proper tension, the dingy shot alongside laden with bundles of brown sugar, multitudes of raisins and currants, and a small bucket of lemons. Jacko, also, mounted, as wont, on Sailor's back, rode from end to end of the yacht, like a general officer, reviewing, and sometimes descending to taste the different dainties as they arrived from the shore; while Sailor would, for no reason whatever, but from mere delight, burst into a loud bark, much to the consternation of Jacko, who would leap from his seat in an instant, and standing, at a little distance, on his hind legs, chatter with excessive alarm.
We dined early and went to the theatre. A play in fifteen acts was performed. Tedious by its prolixity, the language, unintelligible to me, made it still more wearisome. The music played in the orchestra was very beautiful; and the officer, who had behaved so politely to us in permitting the gates, on the first night of our arrival, to be opened, seated on a high stool, rose conspicuously above the other musicians, and seemed indeed the first fiddle. This is an act in no way derogatory to the dignity of an officer, or a gentleman; for, throughout our travels in Scandinavia, I often recognised in the orchestra of the different theatres I visited, officers whom I had met in the streets during the day. The interior decorations of the house were tawdry, and could not for an instant bear comparison with the simple adornment of the Haymarket theatre. The body of the theatre was not illuminated as in Southern Europe; but large green tin shades cover the lights toward the audience, and, all the reflection being thrown on the stage, the blaze of light on the performers is very great and effective. The house was much crowded; and, as at the casino, the King, the Queen, and the Princess Louise were part of the audience, and conversed familiarly with different people about them.
The theatres are entirely supported by the Government, and the actors and actresses receive their salaries from the same quarter. Whether this be a system which works well in Copenhagen, I have had no opportunity of knowing; but I should fancy it would be more beneficial to the Government, to the players, and the public, that individual labour, or ability, should seek and find its own remuneration; for I do not believe it is in the power of any Government to discriminate properly, and reward the services of a particular class of the community. I do not think I am at fault when I say, that England has produced more great men, eminent in every department of the professions, politics, and trade, than any other nation of the earth; and this superiority of mental, intellectual, and physical greatness, is to be ascribed to that timidity which the English Government manifests at all times to interfere with individual exertions or collective industry.
To-day was our last day at Copenhagen, and the crew seemed determined to make it the gayest. At early dawn, floating from the mast head to the bowsprit end, then down again to the boom-end, even to the water; and from the cross-trees along both back-stays, every flag and pennant on board the yacht might have been seen.
"There's not a prettier craft in Denmark," I heard one man say, as he sat in the boat, hauled up close to the port-hole of the cabin, where I was dressing, "and I don't know as how there's a drier thing in a gale."
"No, nor I neither," replied another; "I'm blowed if it 'taint as good as a picture to look at her."