122 VISIT TO DENMARK [>799- 



against the walls, and two of the front windows of 

 the palace are filled up with the casement windows 

 of these houses. In the front is a Latin inscription, 

 bearing that the palace was built by Christian VI., 

 in seven years, ending 1740. 



The climate of Copenhagen is unhealthy. No one 

 is to be seen with a decent set of teeth or good eyes, 

 either quite rotten or " sesquipedales." The people 

 are fair and watery-looking. The streets uncommonly 

 dirty; the mud has a putrid smell. The winters are 

 so severe sometimes that Lord R Fitzgerald told Mr 

 Merry he has heard them firing at deserters running 

 across the ice to Sweden. The stoves in the rooms 

 are iron, and not only look gloomy, but exhale a most 

 odious smell, and are besides unwholesome. The dis- 

 eases most frequent are gout and rheumatism, owing 

 to the extreme dampness which prevails, except 

 during frost. 



The only public amusement here is a play three 

 times a- week. The theatre is about the size of old 

 Drury heavy, but rather grand. The ornaments are 

 gilt upon an olive ground, which is the prevailing 

 colour. The house is dark, the light being all thrown 

 upon the stage during the performance. There are 

 only twenty lamps ; eight more are let down from the 

 roof over the pit between the acts. The band is 

 good about thirty performers. The acting appeared 

 good and chaste. The people seemed critically in- 

 clined. They were in morning dresses, and sat as 

 stiff as pokers: no flirtation nor gallantry. The play 



