the oppofite fide of the pass, for fome time refused to pay it; but in the treaty of 1720, between Sweden and Denmark, under the guarantee of his Britannic majefty George I. the Swedes agreed to pay the fame rates as are paid by the fubjects of Great-Britain and the Netherlands. The first treaty relative to it was by the emperor Charles V. on behalf of his subjects in the Low Countries. The toll is paid at Elfineur, a town fituated on the Sound, at the entrance of the Baltic Sea, and about 18 miles diftant from Copenhagen. The whole revenue of Denmark, including what is received at Elfineur, amounts at present to above 5,000,000 of rixdollars, or 1,002,0001. fterling yearly. The following is a lift of the king's revenues, exclufive of his private eftates: Tribute of hard corn, or land-tax... Small taxes, including poll-tax, pound rents, excife, mar riages, &c..... Cuftom-house duties Rix-dollars at 4s. each. 1,000,000 950,000 154,000 Duties of the Sound 200,000 Duties of Jutland, from falt-pits 27,000 Tithes and poll-tax of Norway 770,000 Tolls of Bergen, Drontheim, Chriftianfand, and Chriftiana.. 160,000 Other tolls.... 552,000 Revenue from mines 300,000 Revenue from Slefwick, Holftein, Oldenburg, and Del menhorft ..... } 690,000 By a lift of the revenue taken in 1730, it then only amounted to Englifh money .454,700. ARMY AND NAVY.] The three laft kings of Denmark, notwithstanding the degeneracy of the people in martial affairs, were very refpectable princes, by the number and difcipline of their troops, which they kept up with a vast care. The prefent military force of Denmark confifts of 70,000 men, cavalry and infantry, the greatest part of which is a militia who receive no pay, but are registered on the army-lift, and every Sunday exercised. The regular troops are about 20,000, and moftly foreigners, or officered by foreigners; for Frederic III. was too refined a politician to truft his fecurity in the hands of thofe he had tricked out of their liberty. Though this army is extremely burdenfome to the nation, yet it cofts little to the crown; great part of the infantry lie in Norway, where they live upon the boors at free quarter; and in Denmark the peafantry are obliged to maintain the cavalry in victuals and lodging, and even to furnish them with money. The prefent fleet of Denmark is compofed of 36 fhips of the line, and 18 frigates; but many of the ships being old, and wanting great repairs, it is fuppofed they cannot fit out more than 25 fhips on the greateft emergency. This fleet is generally ftationed at Copenhagen, where are the dock-yards, ftorehouses, and all the materials neceffary for the ufe of the marine. They have 26,000 registered feamen, who cannot quit the kingdom without leave, nor ferve on board a merchantman without permiffion from the admiralty; 4000 of these are kept in conftant pay, and employed in the dock-yards; their pay, however, fcarcely amounts to nine fhillings per month; but they have a fort of uniform, with fome provifions and lodging allowed for themselves and families.. ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD IN DENMARK.] Thefe are two; that of the Elephant, and that of Dancburg. The former was inftituted by Chriftian I. in the year 1478, and is deemed the most honourable; its badge is an elephant furmounted with a caftle, fet in diamonds, and fufpended to a fky blue watered ribbond, worn, like the George in England, over the right shoulder; the number of its members, besides the fovereign, are thirty, and the knights of it are addreffed by the title of Excellency. The badges of the Daneburg order, which is faid to have been inftituted in the year 1219, and, after being long obfolete, revived in 1671 by Chriftian V. confift of a white ribbond with red edges, worn fcarf-wife over the right fhoulder; from which depends a fmall cross of diamonds, and an embroidered star on the breast of the coat, furrounded with the motto Pietate et Juftitia. The badge is a crofs pattee enamelled white, on the centre the letter C and 5 crowned with a regal crown, and this motto, Reftitutor. The number of knights is not limited; and they are very numerous. HISTORY.] We owe the chief history of Denmark to a very extraordinary phenomenon; the revival of the purity of the Latin language in Scandinavia, in the person of Saxo Grammaticus, at a time (the 12th century) when it was loft in all other parts of the European continent. Saxo, like the other hiftorians of his age, had adopted, and at the fame time ennobled by his ftyle, the most ridiculous abfurdities of remote antiquity. We can, however, collect enough from him to conclude that the ancient Danes, like the Gauls, the Scots, the Irish, and other northern nations, had their bards, who recounted the military achievements of their heroes; and that their firft hiftories were written in verfe. There can be no doubt that the Scandinavians or Cimbri, and the Teutones (the inhabitants of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), were Scythians by their original; but how far the tracts of land, called either Scythia * or Gaul, formerly reached, is uncertain. Even the name of the fift Chriftian Danish king is uncertain; and thofe of the people of thefe countries are fo blended together, that it is impoffible for the reader to conceive a precife idea of the old Scandinavian hiftory. This undoubtedly was owing to the remains of their Scythian customs, particularly that of removing from one country to an other; and of feveral nations or fepts joining together in expeditions by fea or land, and the adventurers being denominated after their chief lead ers. Thus the terms Danes, Saxons, Jutes or Goths, Germans, and * By Scythia may be understood all thofe northern countries of Europe and Afia (now inhabited by the Danes, Norwegians, Swedes, Ruffians, and Tartars: fee the Introduction), whofe inhabitants overturned and peopled the Roman mpire, and continued, fo late as the 13th century, to iffue forth in large bodies, and naval expeditions, ravaging the more fouthern and fertile kingdoins of Europe, Hence, by fir William Temple and other hiftorians, they are termed the Northern Hive, the Mother of Nations, the Storthoufe of Europe. Normans, were promifcuoufly used long after the time of Charlemagne. Even the thort revival of literature under that prince throws very little light upon the Danish hiftory. All we know is, that the inhabitants of Scandinavia, in their maritime expeditions, went generally under the name of Saxons with foreigners; that they were bold adventurers, rude, fierce, and martial; that, fo far back as the year of Chrift 500, they infulted all the fea-coafts of Europe; that they fettled in Ireland, where they built ftone houses; and that they became mafters of England, and fome part of Scotland; both which kingdoms ftill retain proofs of their barbarity. When we read the hiftory of Denmark and that of England, under the Danish princes who reigned over both countries, we meet with but a faint resemblance of events; but the Danes, as conquerors, always give themselves the fuperiority over the English. In the eleventh century, under Canute the Great, Denmark may be faid to have been in its zenith of glory, as far as extent of dominion can give fanétion to the expreffion. Few very interefting events in Denmark preceded the year 1387, when Margaret mounted the throne; and, partly by her addrefs, and partly by hereditary right, formed the union of Calmar, anno 1997, by which the was acknowledged fovereign of Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. She held her dignity with fuch firmness and courage, that she was juftly styled the Semiramis of the North. Her fucceffors being deftitute of her great qualifications, the union of Calmar, by which the three kingdoms were in future to be under one fovereign, loft its effect; but Norway ftill continued annexed to Denmark. In the year 1448, the crown of Denmark fell to Chriftian, count of Oldenburg, from whom the prefent royal family of Denmark is defcended. In 1513, Chriftian II. one of the greatest tyrants that modern times have produced, mounted the throne of Denmark; and having married the fifter of the emperor Charles V. gave a full loose to his innate cruelty. Being driven out of Sweden for the bloody maffacres he committed there, the Danes rebelled against him likewife; and he fled, with his wife and children, into the Netherlands. Frederic, duke of Holftein, was unanimoufly called to the throne, on the depofition of his cruel nephew. He embraced the opinions of Luther; and about the year 1536, the proteftant religion was eftablished in Denmark by that wife and politic prince, Chriftian III. Chriftian IV. of Denmark, in 1629, was chofen for the head of the proteftant league formed againft the house of Auftria; but, though brave in his own perfon, he was in danger of lofing his dominions; when he was fucceeded in that command by Guftavus Adolphus king of Sweden. The Dutch having obliged Chriftian, who died in 1648, to lower the duties of the Sound, his fon Frederic III. confented to accept of an annuity of 150,000 florins for the whole. The Dutch, after this, perfuaded him to declare war againft Charles Guftavus, king of Sweden, which had almost cost him his crown in 1657. Charles ftormed the fortrefs of Fredericftadt; and in the fucceeding winter marched his army over the ice to the ifland of Funen, where he furprised the Danish troops, took Odenfee and Nyburg, and marched over the Great Belt to befiege Copenhagen itself. Cromwell, who then governed England under the title of Protector, interpofed; and Frederic defended his capital with great magnanimity till the peace of Rofchild, by which Frederic ceded the provinces of Halland, Bleking, and Schonen, the ifland of Bornholm, and Bahus and Drontheim in Norway, to the Swedes. Frederic fought to elude these fevere terms: but Charles took Cronenburg, and once more befieged Copenhagen by fea and land, The fteady intrepid conduct of Frederic under these misfortunes endeared him to his fubjects: and the citizens of Copenhagen made an admirable defence till a Dutch fleet arrived in the Baltic, and beat the Swedish Meet. The fortune of war was now entirely changed in favour of Fredefic, who showed on every occafion great abilities, both civil and military; and, having forced Charles to raife the fiege of Copenhagen, might have carried the war into Sweden, had not the English fleet under Montague appeared in the Baltic. This enabled Charles to befiege Copenhagen a third time; but France and England offering their mediation, a peace was concluded in that capital, by which the island of Bornholm was restored to the Danes; but the iflands of Rugen, Bleking, Halland, and Schonen, remained with the Swedes. Though this peace did not reftore to Denmark all she had loft, yet the magnanimous behaviour of Frederic under the moft imminent dangers, and his attention to the fafety of his fubjects, even preferably to his own, greatly endeared him in their eyes; and he at length became abfolute, in the manner already related. Frederic was fucceeded, in 1670, by his fon Christian V. who obliged the duke of Holftein Gottorp to renounce all the advantages he had gained by the treaty of Rofchild. He then recovered a number of places in Schonen: but his army was defeated in the bloody battle of Lunden, by Charles XI. of Sweden. This defeat did not put an end to the war, which Chriftian obftinately continued, till he was defeated entirely at the battle of Landferoon: and having almoft exhausted his dominions in military operations, and being in a manner abandoned by all his allies, he was forced to fign a treaty, on the terms prescribed by France, in 1679. Chriftian afterwards became the ally and fubfidiary of Lewis XIV. who was then threatening Europe with chains, and, after a vast variety of treating and fighting with the Holfteiners, Hamburghers, and other northern powers, died in 1690. He was fuccceded by Frederic IV. who, like his predeceffors, maintained his pretenfions upon Holftein, and probably muft have become mafter of that duchy, had not the English and Dutch fleets raised the fiege of Tonningen, while the young king of Sweden, Charles XII. who was then no more than fixteen years of age, landed within eight miles of Copenhagen, to aflift his brother-in-law the duke of Holftein. Charles probably would have made himself mafter of Copenhagen, had not his Danish majefty agreed to the peace of Travendahl, which was entirely in the duke's favour. By another treaty concluded with the States General, Charles obliged himself to furnish a body of troops, who were to be paid by the confederates, and afterwards took a very active part against the French in the wars of queen Anne. Notwithstanding this peace, Frederic was perpetually engaged in wars with the Swedes; and while Charles XII. was an exile at Bender, he -made a defcent upon Swedish Pomerania, and another, in the year 17 12, upon Bremen, and took the city of Stade. His troops, however, wee totally defeated by the Swedes at Gadesbuch, and his favourite city of Altena was laid in aflies. Frederic revenged himfelf by feizing great part of Ducal Holftein, and forcing the Swedish general, count Steinbock, to furrender himfelf prifoner, with all his troops. In the year 1716, the fuccefies of Frederic were fo great, by taking Tonningen and Stralfund, by driving the Swedes out of Norway, and reducing Wilmar in Pomerania, that his allies began to fufpect he was aiming at the fovereignty of all Scandinavia. Upon the return of Charles of Sweden from his exile, he renewed the war against Denmark with the molt implacable violence; but, on the death of that prince, who was killed at the fiege of Fredericfhall, Frederic durft not refuse the offer of his Britannic majefty's mediation between him and the crown of Sweden: in confequence of which a peace was concluded at Stockholm, which left him in poffeffion of the duchy of Slefwick. Frederic died in the year 1730, after having, two years before, feen his capital reduced to ashes by an accidental fire. His fon and fucceffor, Chriftian Frederic, or Chriftian VI. made the beft ufe of his power, and the advantages with which he mounted the throne, by cultivating peace with all his neighbours, and promoting the happiness of his subjects, whom he eafed of many oppreffive taxes. In 1734, after guarantying the Pragmatic Sanction *, Chriftian fent 6000 men to the affiftance of the emperor, during the difpute of the fucceffion to the crown of Poland. Though he was pacific, yet he was jealous of his rights, efpecially over Hamburg. He obliged the Hamburgers to call in the mediation of Pruffia, to abolish their bank, to admit the coin of Denmark as current, and to pay him a million of filver marks. In 1738, he had a dispute with his Britannnic majefty about the little lordship of Steinhorft, which had been mortgaged to the latter by a duke of Holstein-Lawenburg, and which Chriftian faid belonged to him. Some blood was fpilt during the conteft, in which Christian, it is thought, never was in earneft. It brought on, however, a treaty, in which he availed himself of his Britannic majefty's predilection for his German dominions; for the latter agreed to pay Christian a fubfidy of 70,0001. fterling a year, on condition of keeping in readinefs 7000 troops for the protection of Hanover. This was a gainful bargain for Denmark. Two years after, he feized fome Dutch fhips, for trading without his leave to Iceland; but the difference was made up by the mediation of Sweden. Chriftian had fo great a party in that kingdom, that it was generally thought he would revive the union of Calmar, by procuring his fon to be declared fucceffor to the crown of Sweden. Some fteps for that purpose were certainly taken; but whatever Chriftian's views might have been, the defign was fruftrated by the jealousy of other powers, who could not bear the thoughts of seeing all Scandinavia fubject to one family. Chriftian died in 1746, with the character of being the father of his people. His fon and fucceffor, Frederic V. had, in 1743, married the princess Louifa, daughter to his Britannic majefty George II. He improved upon his father's plan for the happiness of his people, and took no concern, except that of a mediator, in the German war. It was by his intervention that the treaty of Clofter-Seven was concluded between his royal highness the late duke of Cumberland and the French general Richelieu. Upon the death of his firft queen, who was mother to his prefent Danish majefty, he married a daughter of the duke of Brunfwic-Wolfenbuttle; and died in 1766. His fon, Chriftian VII. was born the 29th of January, 1749; and married his prefent Britannic majefty's youngest fifter, the princefs Carolina-Matilda. This alliance, though it wore at firft a very promifing appearance, had a very unfortunate termination. This is partly attributed to the intrigues of the queen-dowager, mother-in-law to the prefent king, who has a fon named Frederic, and whom the is reprefented as defirous of raifing to the throne. When the princefs Carolina-Ma An agreement by which the princes of Europe engaged to fupport the house of Auftria in favour of the queen of Hungary, daughter of the emperor Charles VI. who had |