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Denmark to other states, and prophesied of things highly important to the growing age; he, I say, had already gained me as his sworn friend before he was so kind as to make friendship reciprocal by his acquaintance and expressed esteem."

After this Molesworth sat in the House of Commons of both kingdoms, being member for the borough of Swords in Ireland, and for those of Bodmin, St. Michael, and Retford in England. He sat as a member of the privycouncil till the latter end of the reign of Queen Anne, when, owing to the height of party feeling, he was removed from the board. This was on complaint of the Lower House of Convocation that he had affronted the clergy when they presented their address to the lordchancellor, and that he had said openly, as no doubt he did, "They that have turned the world upside down are come hither also."

However, as Molesworth was a constant and strenuous defender of the succession of the house of Hanover, George I., on the naming of his privy-council for Ireland, in October, 1714, made him a member. Soon after he was appointed a commissioner of trade and plantations, and in 1716 he was made a peer of Ireland under the title of Baron of Philipstown and Viscount Molesworth of Swords. For some years longer, that is, until the early part of 1723, he continued his labours. In 1723 he retired into private life, in which he passed two quiet happy years, and died at Breedenstown in the county of Dublin on the 22d of May, 1725. He was buried at Swords.

stitution of his country and the common rights of mankind; and it is certain that few men of his fortune and quality were more learned, or more highly esteemed by men of learning."]

THE COURT OF DENMARK.1

The ordinary diversions of the court are progresses, which are made once a year at least, to Sleswick or Holstein, either to make a review of some troops or to see the fortifications at Rendsburg; besides smaller journeys to Holland and elsewhere, up and down the country. These are of no expense to the treasury, because the travelling waggons and horses are found by the boors, who are also to pay their personal attendants, and be ready for all necessary services. During five or six weeks every summer the court removes to Jagersburg, a small hunting house situated upon a little lake within four English miles from Copenhagen, and not far from the sea; and for five or six weeks more it resides at Fredericksburg, the chief country palace of the kings of Denmark, about twenty English miles from Copenhagen, begun by Christian the Fourth, and finished by this king's father, Frederick the Third. This is that house which the Danes boast so much of, and tell wonders of the quantity of money it cost in building. It is seated in the midst of a lake, the foundations of it being laid in the water, which probably occasioned the greater part of the expense; you pass into it over several drawbridges. This watery situation in In addition to his Account of Denmark, so moist and cold a country cannot be approved from which we quote, Molesworth wrote a by the critical in seats, especially when the great number of able pamphlets, and ephemeral | rising grounds about this lake (which are but highly successful and useful tracts, of a political and politico-philosophical kind. He translated into English the Franco-Gallia of Hottoman, of which a second edition appeared in 1721, with additions and a new preface by the translator. His Address to the House of Commons on the encouragement of agriculture was frequently referred to for many years, and his letter on the Irish peerage is not yet forgotten in certain quarters.

The letters of Locke and Molyneux show that both these philosophers had a great respect for Molesworth, and held him in high regard. Locke calls him "an extraordinary man;" and a biographer writing in 1798 speaks of his minor works as written "with great force of reason and masculine eloquence, in defence of liberty and his ideas of the con

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clothed with fine woods) afford much better places both for health and prospect; but it is the humour of all this kingdom to build in the midst of lakes; which I suppose was at first practised upon the score of security. This palace, notwithstanding the great cost they talk of, is far from being magnificent or well contrived; for the rooms are low, the apartments ill disposed, the fine chapel much too long in proportion to its breadth, and has a gallery over it which has one of the worst contrived entrances that can be imagined. In fine, it falls far short of many of our noblemen's country houses in England, yet is esteemed by the Danes as a none-such. There is indeed a

1 This and the following extract are from An Account of Denmark.

fine park about it, well filled with red-deer, | After all is done the hounds are permitted to having large ponds, high trees in great quan- fall to and eat the deer. tity, a good bathing house, and other country embellishments; so that it is by far to be preferred to all the rest of the king's houses, which, except these two last mentioned, are for the most part out of repair; that of the fortress of Crovenburg near Elsignor, and of Coldingen in Jutland, with others, being scarce habitable even during one fortnight in the summer quarter.

At another season swan-hunting is the royal pastime; the wild swans haunt a certain small island not far from Copenhagen, and breed there; about the time that the young ones are near as big as the old, before their feathers are long enough to fly, the king, with the queen, ladies, and others of the court, go to the killing of them; the foreign ministers are usually invited to take part in this sport. Every person of condition has a pinnace allotted to him, and when they come near the haunt they surround the place, and inclose a great multitude of young swans, which they destroy with guns till they have killed some thousands. What is killed by the whole com

the feathers and down of these birds, the flesh of them being good for nothing.

On Shrove Tuesday the king, queen, royal family, home and foreign ministers, and all the other persons above mentioned that usually compose the court, clothe themselves in the habit of the North Holland boors, with great trunk hose, short doublets, and large blue thrum caps; the ladies in blue petticoats and odd head-dresses. Thus accoutred they get up in their waggons, a man before and a woman behind, which they drive themselves, and go to a country village called Amak, about three English miles from town; here they dance to bagpipes and squeaking fiddles, and have a country dinner, which they eat out of earthen and wooden platters, with wooden spoons, and having passed the day in these divertisements, where all are equal, and little regard had to majesty or other quality, at night they drive in like manner home again, and are entertained at a comedy and magnificent supper by the Viceroy Guldenbien, spending the remainder of the night in dancing in the same habits, which they put not off all that day.

At Fredericksburg the court spends most of its time in stag-hunting, for there are few fallow-deer in Denmark; during which sport the king allows great freedom to his domestics and ministers, who commonly do all accompany him wherever he goes; insomuch that he seems to lay aside all majesty and the for-pany is brought to the court, which challenges malities of it for that season; they eat and drink together, the latter something to excess, after a hard day's hunting; when, as soon as dinner is done they adjourn to the wine-cellar. About five or six in the afternoon the hunting assizes are solemnly held in the great court before the palace, the stag is drawn into the midst of it by the huntsmen, who are all clothed in red, having their great brass hunting-horns about their necks; and 'tis there broken up with great ceremony, whilst the hounds attend with much noise and impatience. One that is likely to give a good gratuity to the huntsmen is invited to take essay, and presented with the deer's foot. Then proclamation is made, if any can inform the king (who is both supreme judge and executioner) of any transgression against the known laws of hunting that day committed, let him stand forth and accuse; the accused is generally found guilty, and then two of the gentlemen lead him to the stag and make him kneel down between the horns, turning down his head with his buttocks up, and remove the skirts of his coat, which might intercept the blows. Then comes his majesty, and with a small long wand gives the offender some lashes on his posteriors, whilst in the meantime the huntsmen, with their brass horns, and the dogs with their loud openings, proclaim the king's justice and the criminal's punishment. The whole scene affording diversion to the queen, ladies, and other spectators, who are always assisting and stand in a circle about the place of execution. This is as often repeated as there happen to be delinquents; who as soon as the chastisement is over and make their obeisance

rise up

Proudly boasting
Of their magnificent rib roasting.

Every winter, as soon as the snow is firm enough to bear, the Danes take great delight in going in sleds, the king and court first giving the example, and making several tours about the town in great pomp, with kettledrums and trumpets, the horses which draw the sleds being richly adorned with trappings, and harness full of small bells to give warning to such as stand in the way. After the court has been abroad the burghers and others trot about the streets all night, wrapped up in their fur gowns, with each his female in the sled with him; and this they esteem a great and pleasant pastime.

In travelling to Fredericksburg, Yagers- or from before doors; for no Danish servant burg, and many other places from Copenhagen, will upon any terms set a hand to either of there are two highways, one the common these works, and the executioner has his own road, which is usually bad, the other the rates for these base offices, which he performs king's highway, very fair and even, peculiar by his under-servant called the racker. to the court and such as it has a mind to favour in bestowing on them a key to open the several gates that are upon it.

ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE.

In criminal matters a great severity of justice is practised. You never hear of any person guilty of the crime of treason against the king; the government has rivetted itself so fast upon the bottom it now stands, that nobody offers to wag so much as the tongue against it. There are no clippers or coiners, no robbers upon the highway, nor housebreakers; which conveniency of arbitrary government, among the multitude of mischiefs attending it, I have likewise observed in France; perhaps because those princes, who are entire masters of their subjects' purses at pleasure, take more effectual care of them as of their own, and therefore use such means that none shall plunder or cheat their people, for the same reason that folks kill vermin in dove-houses, viz. that they may make the greater profit themselves. The most usual capital crimes are manslaughter and stealing. Execution is done upon offenders by beheading them with a sword at one stroke very dexterously; the headsman, though infamous by his place, so that nobody will come into his company, yet is commonly rich, having other advantageous employments that nobody else dares undertake, viz. the emptying all the necessary houses, the removing all dead dogs and horses out of houses and stables,

The advocates are not bred as with us in England in public societies, such as Inns of Court or Chancery; neither take they any degrees of Barrister, Serjeant, or the like; but may take up the calling as they please, according to their inclinations or abilities. There are, besides the three ordinary courts beforementioned, Commissioners of the Admiralty, which they call the Admiralty Court, wherein affairs relating to the sea are determined, such as prizes, wrecks, disputes with privateers, and the like. There is likewise a Chancellary, which consists of a number of clerks, who write and issue all the king's orders, give out citations, transcribe papers, make the Latin projects of treaties with foreign courts, according to the directions they receive. In short, they are as it were under-secretaries, and were formerly subject to the government of one whom they called a Chancellor; but since Monsieur Wibbe's (the late chancellor) death that employment has not been filled; neither does it resemble our place of chancellor in England. The clerks of this office have some small salary from the king, and have moreover so much for every citation to the High Court, and so much for every order they issue, which they divide among themselves.

In Copenhagen also there is a public officer appointed, called the Polity Master, whose business it is to keep good order in affairs relating to the city; he is to see that the merchants sell warrantable merchandise, that they do not interfere in one another's trades, and to compose the differences on that account which may be amongst them.

SUSANNA CENTLIVRE.

BORN 1667 DIED 1723.

[Susanna Centlivre, originally Freeman, was | mond, who became deeply interested in her born in Ireland, it is believed in the year 1667. Her early life was an unpleasant one, and on the death of her mother, being, as she thought, badly treated, she ran away from home while yet a girl. Then, as now, London was the goal for such minds as hers, and towards that city she travelled as best she might, now on foot, now getting a lift from some kind teamster. Before reaching London she met, among other travellers, a Mr. Ham

appearance and story. Being a student at Cambridge he hardly knew how to assist her, but after a time he persuaded her to assume boy's clothing; and in this disguise he sheltered her at college for several months. At the end of these months, being better able to provide help for her, he sent her on to London, where, in a short time, before passing out of her sixteenth year, she married a nephew of Sir Stephen Fox. Her married

happiness was short-lived, for within a twelvemonth her husband died, and she was again thrown on the world. However, before long she took for second husband an officer of the army named Carrol; but again, in short time, she was left a widow, her husband being killed in a duel before they had been quite two years married. This event reduced her to extreme poverty, and after trying many ways of earning a living, she at last became a dramatic writer. Her first attempt was a tragedy called The Perjured Husband, which was produced in 1700 with reasonable success. This, however, gave her the idea that tragedy was not her line, and taking the hint she produced in rapid succession several comedies, translations from the French, but marked sufficiently by her own individuality to be looked upon as almost original work. At the same time she took to the stage as an actress, being handsome, sprightly, and agreeable, and in 1706, while acting the part of Alexander the Great, Joseph Centlivre, yeoman to the queen, fell in love with her and became her third husband.

After this she left the stage as an actress, but continued to write for it; and having no doubt more leisure to perfect her work, produced her three best plays, The Busybody, The Wonder, and A Bold Stroke for a Wife. She also became known and appreciated by Steele, Rowe, Farquhar, Budgell, &c.; her conversation being most engaging, and while she was full of witty speech, her disposition was always friendly and benevolent. She died at her husband's house in Spring Gardens in 1723, having written in all some fifteen plays.

Steele, in Tatler No. 19, says of The Busybody that "the plot and incidents of the play are laid with that subtlety of spirit which is peculiar to females of wit." Cowden Clarke says of our author, that she is "the most celebrated female of whom our dramatic literature can boast." The Wonder he declares to be "one of the best of our acting comedies;" and furthermore, that "the plays are so good as to deserve all the popularity they have gained and retained." Marplot in The Busybody he speaks of as a "felicitously projected and sustained character," and the play itself as "one uninterrupted stream of bustle, liveliness, and perplexity from the first scene to the last."

Mrs. Centlivre is frequently spoken of in¦ rather harsh terms as having produced highly immoral works. The looseness of the age in which she wrote is certainly reflected in her

writings, but much in them that is now mistaken for licentiousness was then the common language of everyday life, and spoken without a blush. As a proof that her works are not so immoral as some who know little of them would have us believe, the three best known still keep the stage.]

THE BUSYBODY.'

Scene, the Park. SIR GEORGE AIREY and CHARLES talking.

Enter MARPLOT, with a patch across his face.

Mar. Dear Charles, yours. Ha! Sir George Airey! the man in the world I have an ambition to be known to. (Aside.) Give me thy hand, dear boy. [To Charles.

Chas. A good assurance! But, harkye— how came your beautiful countenance clouded in the wrong place?

Mar. I must confess 'tis a little mal-a-propos; but no matter for that. A word with you, Charles. Pr'ythee introduce me to Sir George -he is a man of wit; and I'd give ten guineas to

Chas. When you have them, you mean.

Mar. Ay; when I have them; poh, plague, you cut the thread of my discourse. I would give ten guineas, I say, to be ranked in his acquaintance. But, pr'ythee, introduce me.

Chas. Well; on condition you'll give us a true account how you came by that mourning nose, I will.

Mar. I'll do it.

Chas. Sir George, here's a gentleman has a passionate desire to kiss your hand.

Sir G. (Advancing.) Oh, I honour men of the sword; and I presume this gentleman is lately come from Spain or Portugal by his scars.

Mar. No, really, Sir George; mine sprung from civil fury. Happening, last night, to step into the groom-porter's, I had a strong inclination to go ten guineas with a sort of a -sort of a-kind of a milksop, as I thought. A plague of the dice! He flung out; and my pockets being empty, as Charles knows they often are, he proved a surly North Briton, and broke my face for my deficiency.

Sir G. Ha, ha! and did not you draw?

Mar. Draw, sir! Why, I did but lay my hand upon my sword to make a swift retreat,

1 This and the next scene are from The Busybody.

and he roared out, "Now the deel of ma saul, sir, gin ye touch yer steel, I se whip mine through yer wem."

Sir G. Ha, ha, ha!

Chas. Ha, ha, ha, ha! Safe was the word. So you walked off, I suppose.

Mar. Yes; for I avoid fighting, purely to be serviceable to my friends, you know.

Sir G. Your friends are much obliged to you, sir. I hope you will rank me in that number.

Mar. Sir George, a bow from the side-box, or to be seen in your chariot, binds me ever

yours.

MARPLOT'S CLEVERNESS.

SIR GEORGE and MIRANDA together.
Enter SCENTWELL.

Scent. Oh, madam! my master and Mr. Marplot are both coming into the house.

Mir. Undone, undone! If he finds you here in this crisis, all my plots are unravelled.

Sir G. What shall I do? Can't I get back into the garden?

Scent. Oh, no; he comes up those stairs.
Mir. Here, here, here! Can you condescend

Sir G. Trifles; you may command them to stand behind this chimney-board, Sir when you please.

pur

Chas. Provided he may command you. Mar. Me! Why, I live for no other pose. Sir George, I have the honour to be caressed by most of the reigning toasts of the town. I'll tell them you are the finest gentle

man

Sir G. No, no, pr'ythee; let me alone to tell the ladies my parts. Can you convey a letter upon occasion, or deliver a message with an air of business-ha?

George?

Sir G. Anywhere, anywhere, dear madam, without ceremony.

Scent. Come, come, sir; lie close.

[They put him behind the chimney-board.

Enter SIR FRANCIS GRIPE and MARPLOT,

SIR FRANCIS peeling an orange.

Sir F. I could not go, though 'tis upon life and death, without taking leave of dear chargy. Besides, this fellow buzzed in my ears that

Mar. With the assurance of a page and the thou mightst be so desperate as to shoot that gravity of a statesman.

Sir G. You know Miranda?

Mar. What, my sister-ward! Why, her guardian is mine; we are fellow-sufferers. Ah! he is a covetous, cheating, sanctified curmudgeon. That Sir Francis Gripe is a d-d old-hypocritical

wild rake that haunts the garden gate, and that would bring us into trouble, dear.

Mir. So Marplot brought you back, then? Mar. Yes; I brought him back. Mir. I'm obliged to him for that, I'm sure. [Frowning at Marplot aside. Mar. By her looks, she means she's not Chas. Hold, hold; I suppose, friend, you obliged to me. I have done some mischief forget that he is my father. but what I can't imagine. [Aside. Sir F. Well, chargy, I have had three messengers to come to Epsom to my neighbour Squeezum's, who, for all his vast riches, is departing. [Sighs.

Mar. I ask your pardon, Charles; but it is for your sake I hate him. Well, I say, the world is mistaken in him; his outside piety makes him every man's executor, and his inside cunning makes him every heir's jailer. Egad, Charles, I'm half persuaded that thou art some ward too, and never of his getting; for never were two things so unlike as you and your father; he scrapes up everything, and thou spendest everything; everybody is indebted to him, and thou art indebted to everybody.

Chas. You are very free, Mr. Marplot. Mar. Ay; I give and take, Charles; you may be as free with me, you know.

Sir G. A pleasant fellow.

Chas. The dog is diverting sometimes, or there would be no enduring his impertinence. He is pressing to be employed, and willing to execute; but some ill fate generally attends all he undertakes, and he oftener spoils an intrigue than helps it.

now,

Mar. Ay, see what all you usurers must come to.

Sir F. Peace, you young knave! Some forty years hence I may think on't; but, chargy, I'll be with thee to-morrow before those pretty eyes are open. I will, I will, chargy. I'll rouse you, i'faith. Here, Mrs. Scentwell, lift up your lady's chimney-board, that I may throw my peel in, and not litter her chamber.

Mir. Oh, my stars! What will become of us now? [Aside. Scent. Oh, pray, sir, give it me; I love it above all things in nature; indeed I do.

Sir F. No, no, hussy; you have the green pip already. I'll have no apothecary's bills.

[Goes towards the chimney.

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