6C NORTHERN RUSSIA. 



surprised at finding Elsineur neither "wild," "stormy," 

 nor " steep," but a quiet little wooden town, full of fish 

 and sailors ; with its old castle, half a mile off, riting 

 from the very margin of the sea, and wearing the look 

 more of a decayed palace than of a warlike fortress. One 

 would think from its appearance that it is fit for little 

 more than firing royal salutes. 



A few hours after passing Elsineur, the sea widens out 

 again until Copenhagen is reached, sweeping round the 

 margin of an ample bay. The day we first saw it was 

 lovely, the sea a dead calm, and the waters alive with 

 vessels.- Various buildings were pointed out as we 

 leisurely surveyed the city while landing our pilot; but I 

 eaw only the two batteries before which the British fleet 

 poured their broadsides, sixty years ago, for three hours, 

 during the hottest fight ever witnessed by Nelson ; and I 

 also saw more clearly than these the little man himself, 

 putting the telescope to his blind eye, and turning it 

 through the smoke towards Parker and his No. 39 signal, 

 ordering the hero to withdraw his ships from the terrific 

 combat. I need only say, that every man of us got up 

 his "Nelson and the North," to the best of his ability, 

 and with becoming patriotism. 



Away we went out of the Cattegat and up the Baltic, 

 passing the long island of Gothland, flat and shaped like 

 a tombstone seen sideways ; on, across the Gulf of 

 Bothnia, with sunsets of surpassing glory, and skies red 

 and fiery from the west up to the zenith, and down to the 

 eastern horizon, which glowed as if with sunrise ; on we 



