language, at the university of Copenhagen. Both were born in the middle of the last century. Professor Oluf Olufsen was a writer of comedies, and his "Gulddaasen," "Golden box," is still a favourite with the public; it is rich in national peculiarities. Of the two Trojels, who were brothers, one was a writer of satirical poems, "which," says a Danish critic, "were not merely playfully witty, but bitter and biting." One of the best among these is "An Ode to Dulness."
Edward Storm, who was born in Norway in 1749, and who was at one time a director of the Theatre Royal at Copenhagen, was a writer both of prose and verse, and a contributor to the Minerva, the monthly magazine before mentioned. His fables were much approved of, also his ballads; one of these "Herr Zinclar"—may be taken as a fair specimen of the old Danish ballad. It relates to an occurrence which took place during the reign of Christian IV. of Denmark. "To the honour of the Norwegian peasants of Guldbrandsdal," says Frederick Sneedorff, in his history of Denmark, "I must relate an event which happened in those days. Gustavus Adolphus had recruited his army by raising 2000 men in Scotland, and a Colonel Sinclair landed with 1000 of these men in Norway. They were met in a rocky defile, or mountain-pass, called 'The Kringell,' by Lars Gram, the magistrate of Guldbrandsdal, who had hastily gathered together a number of peasants to repel the Scotch invaders. These stout fellows, armed with axes, and any kind of weapons they could get hold of, waylaid the Scotch soldiers in the narrow gorge, where it was impossible either to advance or to retreat; and where, taken by surprise, they fought to great disadvantage. Colonel Sinclair was killed, and so were all his troops, except two men, of whom one was sent back to Scotland to tell his countrymen that there were people in Norway, and the other settled in Norway, where he established a glasswork. To commemorate this event, a column was erected on the spot, with the following simple inscription: 'Here Colonel Sinclair was shot, the 26th of August, 1612.'"
Peace was concluded between Christian and Gustavus Adolphus the year after this unfortunate adventure. The first condition of this peace was rather absurd; at least it was making a heraldic device a matter of great importance. It ran thus: "Both kingdoms shall be at liberty to bear three crowns in their coat of arms." "And," adds the Danish historian, "thus ended the war, and would that it had been the last in which Christian IV. had been engaged!”
But to return to the ballad, here it is:
Herr Sinclair o’er the briny wave
His course to Norway bent;
Midst Guldbrand’s rocks he found his grave,
There his last breath was spent.
Sinclair passed o'er the billows blue,
For Swedish gold to fight;
He came, alas! he little knew
Norwegian dust to bite.
Bright beams that night the pale moon flung,
The vessel gently roll'd—
A mermaid from the ocean sprung,
And Sinclair’s fate foretold.
