AND EDUCATION IN DENMARK. 227 
spects, the “ Riimkreenike’’ is destitute of value, both as a poem and 
a history. It merits attention merely for its language, as a sketch 
for comparison with subsequent writings. 
Mikkel, an ecclesiastic of Odensee, acquired considerable celebrity 
for his religious publications. He composed several poems, and one 
of these was a lengthy Lay on the Virgin’s Rosary.* He chanted 
the lady’s bunch of beads with the fervour of a pure papist ; he ex- 
tols the advantages of tithes with exquisite ingenuousness ; and he 
lauds the Virgin with a warmth of love and veneration seldom eX= 
ceeded in the mystical adorations of the “ M innesinger.’ This 
poem makes the Virgin enter into a colloquy with a monk, to whom 
she observes—“ If you were to be shut out of heaven for your sins ; 
if God himself were to swear that you should not be admitted there, 
I myself have still the power to be your saviour, but. you must prove 
to me a faithful servant. I can interpose between Him and the 
transgressors, before their condemnation is determined. I can pre- 
vail on Him to create a new heaven.” Further on, she adds— 
“ When any one has committed an iniquity so great as to require 
his banishment from the presence of God, if the sinner shall read the 
Psalms of the Virgin with devotion, I will come to his succour and 
restore him to the favour of God.” Buta passage concerning the 
payment of Tithes is the most remarkable. <« Pay faithfully,” it 
says, “the tithe that thou owest to the priest and the church : if 
thou failest in this duty, the judgment of God will condemn thee ; 
upon thee, His anger will fall: thou shalt witness the death ot thy 
swine, thy oxen and thy sheep: the land which thou tillest shall be 
struck with sterility ; and, after thy tillage, nothing shall grow 
save thorns and thistles. If thou failest to pay thy tithes, every 
plague will fall upon thee ; thy friends will forsake thee 3 thy chil- 
dren will pursue the paths of iniquity, and thy first-born will be 
hanged: all the joys of this world will be denied thee, and thou 
thyself shalt be hurled into hell.” 
For the age in which he lived, Mikkel displayed a wonderful fa- 
cility in the art of composition. His verses are flowing and harmo- 
nious ; and, in correctness of language, he surpassed his predeces- 
sors. With regard to the powers of conception and imagination, his 
* This ancient poem is written in Latin and Danish: it has the title, 
Expositio pulcherrima super Rosario Beats Mariz Virginis : Her begynder 
en Meghet nytthelig boy om Jomfru Marie Rosenkranz: it was printed in the 
year MDXxv. 
