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BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.

No. CCCLXXIV. DECEMBER, 1846. VOL. LX.


  CONTENTS.

  KOHL IN DENMARK AND IN THE MARSHES,           645

  LORD METCALFE'S GOVERNMENT OF JAMAICA,        662

  ANNALS AND ANTIQUITIES OF LONDON,             673

  MARLBOROUGH'S DISPATCHES. 1711-1712,          690

  MILDRED. A TALE. PART I.,                     709

  THE LAW AND ITS PUNISHMENTS,                  721

  LEGENDS OF THE THAMES,                        729

  RECENT ROYAL MARRIAGES,                       740

  ST MAGNUS', KIRKWALL,                         753

  THE GAME LAWS,                                754


  EDINBURGH:
  WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, 45, GEORGE STREET;
  AND 37, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON.
  _To whom all Communications (post paid) must be addressed._
  SOLD BY ALL THE BOOKSELLERS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.

  PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE AND HUGHES, EDINBURGH.




  _In the Press, a Seventh Edition of_

  THE HISTORY OF EUROPE,
  FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION TO THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO.

  BY ARCHIBALD ALISON, F. R. S.


  *** This Edition will be handsomely printed in Crown Octavo; the First
  Volume to be Published on the 24th of December, and the remaining Volumes
  Monthly.

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BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.

No. CCCLXXIV. DECEMBER, 1846. VOL. LX.




KOHL IN DENMARK AND IN THE MARSHES.

     _Die Marschen und Inseln der Herzogthuemer Schleswig und
     Holstein. Reisen in Daenemark und den Herzogthuemer Schleswig und
     Holstein._


Mr. Kohl, the most prolific of modern German writers, the most
indefatigable of travellers, is already well known to the English
public by his "Sketches of the English," "Travels in Ireland," and
many other publications too numerous to remember. He is a gentleman
of marvellous facility in travelling over foreign ground--of
extraordinary capabilities in the manufacturing of books. Within
five years he has given to the world, hostages for fame, some
thirty or forty volumes; and explored, socially, politically,
scientifically, and aesthetically, North and South Russia, Poland,
Moravia, Hungary, Bavaria, Great Britain, France, Denmark, and we
know not how many other countries besides. It is as difficult to
stop his pen as his feet. He is always trotting, and writing whilst
he trots, and evidently without the smallest fatigue from either
occupation. He plays on earth the part assigned to the lark above it
by the poet: he,

  "Singing, still doth soar; and soaring, ever singeth."

He has already announced a scheme that has occurred to him for
a commercial map, which shall contain, in various colours, the
productions and raw materials of every country in the world, with
lines appended, marking the course they take to their several ports
of embarkation. We shrewdly suspect that this gigantic scheme has
grown out of another, more personal and profitable, and already
put in practice. We could almost swear that Mr Kohl had drawn up a
literary map on the very same principle, with dots for the countries
and districts to be visited and worked up, and lines to mark the
course for the conveyance of that very raw material, which he is
eternally digging up on the way, in the shape of disquisitions about
nothing, and moral reflections on every thing. Denmark occupies him
to-day. We will wager that he is already intent upon working out an
article or book from neighbouring Norway or adjacent Sweden.

It was remarked the other day by a writer, that one great literary
fault of the present day is a desire to be "so priggishly curt and
epigrammatic," that almost every lucubration comes from the furnace
with a coating of "small impertinence," perfectly intolerable to
the sober reader. If any writer is anxious to correct this fault,
let him take our advice gratis, and sit down at once to a course
of Kohl. So admirable a spinner of long yarns from the smallest
threads, never flourished. We have most honestly and perseveringly
waded through his eleven or twelve hundred pages of close print,
and we unhesitatingly confess that we have never before perused
so much, of which we have retained so little. Does not every man,
woman, and child, in these days of cheap fares and everlasting
steamers, know by heart all that can be said or sung about "tones
from the sea?" Are they not to be summoned, at any given moment,
under any given circumstances, by your fire at twilight, on your
pillow at midnight? Mr Kohl proses about these eternal "_tones_,"
till salt water becomes odious--about storms, till they calm you
to sleep--about calms, till they drive you to fury--about winds
and waves, till your head aches with their motion. We will not
pretend to tell you, reader, all the differences that exist between
high marsh-land and low marsh-land, broad dikes and narrow dikes,
or to describe the downs and embankments which we have seen, go
whithersoever we may, ever since we have risen from the perusal of
Mr Kohl's book. We will not, because Mr Kohl has dealt hardly by
us, have our revenge upon you. Nay, we could not, if we would. The
picture is jumbled in our critical head, as it lies confused in
the author's work, which is as disjointed a labour as ever puzzled
science seeking in chaos for a system. Backwards and forwards he
goes--now up to his head in the marshes, now lighting upon an
island, disdaining geography, giving the go-by to history, dragging
us recklessly through digressions, repudiating any thing like order,
and utterly oblivious of that beautiful scheme so dear to his heart,
by which we are to trace the natural course of every thing under the
sun but the narrative of Mr Kohl's very tedious adventures.

Mr Kohl knows very well what is the duty of a faithful delineator of
foreign countries and manners. He acknowledges in his preface, that
his work is rather a make-up of simple remarks than a comprehensive
description of the countries named in the titlepage. This confession
is not--as is often the case--a modest appreciation of great merits,
but a true estimate of small achievements. It is the simple fact.
As for the consolatory reflections of the author, that he has at
all events proved that he knows more of the lands he describes than
his countrymen who stay at home, it is of so lowly a character that
we are by no means disposed to discuss it. When he adds, however,
that he has already earned a kind reception from the world, and
trusts to be reckoned amongst the men who have been useful, we may
be permitted to hint, that neither a kind reception nor the quality
of usefulness will long be vouchsafed to the individual who leads
confiding but unfortunate readers a Will-o'-the-Wisp chase over bogs
and moors that have no end, and compels them to swallow, diluted in
bottles three, the draught which might easily have found its way
into an ordinary phial.

That there are gems in the volumes cannot be denied: that they
are not of the first water, is equally beyond a doubt. Scattered
over a prodigious surface, they have not been gained without some
difficulty. Those who are not able or disposed to turn to the
original, will be glad to learn from us something of the sturdy
Frieslanders and Ditmarschers. They who have energy and patience
enough to overcome the prolixity of the author, will at least give
us credit for some perseverance, and appreciate the difficulties of
our task.

Mr Kohl commences his work with a description of the _Islands_.
We will follow the order of the titlepage, and begin with the
"Marshes" and their brave and hardy inhabitants. The author informs
us, with pardonable exultation, that, upon asking a German of
ordinary education whether he knew who the Ditmarschers are, he
was most satisfactorily answered, "_Ja wohl!_ are they not the
famous peasants of Denmark who would not surrender to the king?"
We question whether many Englishmen, of even an extraordinary
education, would have answered at once so glibly or correctly. To
enable them to meet the question of any future Kohl with promptness
and success, we will introduce them at once to this singular race,
and give a rapid sketch of their country and political existence.

The territory inhabited by the Ditmarschers is a small district of
flat country, stretching along the Elbe and the Eyder, and is about
a hundred miles in length. Its maritime frontier was originally
defended by lofty mounds, which opposed the encroachments of the
sea; whilst inland it found protection in an almost impenetrable
barrier of thick wood, bogs, lakes, and morass. This barrier
constitutes the marshes so minutely described by our author. The
Ditmarschers are a people of Friesic origin; the name, according
to Mr Kohl, being derived from _Marsch_, _Meeresland_, sea-land,
and _Dith_, _Thit_, or _Teut_, _Deutsch_, German. In the time
of Charlemagne, or his immediate successors, the district was
included in the department of the Mouth of the Elbe, and was known
as the Countship of Stade. It was bestowed by the Emperor Henry
IV., in 1602, upon the archbishops of Bremen, to be held by them
in fief. The Ditmarschers, however, were but slippery subjects;
and, maintaining an actual independence within their embankments,
cared little who governed them, provided sufficient advantages were
offered by the prince or prelate who demanded their allegiance. In
1186, we find them claiming the protection of Bishop Valdemar of
Sleswig, the uncle and guardian of Prince Valdemar, afterwards known
as Valdemar the conqueror; for, "being grievously worried by the
oppressions of the bailiffs of their spiritual Lord," they declared
a perfect indifference as to "whether they paid tribute to Saint
Peter of Bremen, or Saint Peter of Sleswig." They passed from the
rule of Bishop Valdemar, who was subsequently excommunicated, to
that respectively of the Duke of Holstein, the Bishop of Bremen,
and Valdemar II., King of Denmark. When the last-named monarch gave
battle to his revolted subjects at Bornhoeved in Holstein, in the
year 1227, the Ditmarschers suddenly united their bands with those
of the enemy, and decided the fate of the day against the king. They
then returned to the rule of the bishops of Bremen, stipulating for
many rights and privileges, which they enjoyed unmolested during
300 years; that is to say, up to the year 1559, whilst they yielded
little more than a nominal obedience to their spiritual lords, and
evinced no great alacrity in assisting them in times of need.

During their long period of practical independence and freedom,
the Ditmarschers governed themselves like stanch republicans.
Their grand assembly was the _Meende_, to which all citizens were
eligible above the age of eighteen. It met in extraordinary cases at
Meldorf, the capital: but commonly seventy or eighty _Radgewere_,
or councillors, decided upon all questions of national policy
propounded to them by the _Schlueter_, or overseers of the various
parishes into which the district was divided, who generally managed
the affairs of their own little municipality independently of their
neighbours. This simple institution underwent some modifications
about the middle of the fifteenth century, when, in consequence of
internal dissensions, eight-and-forty men were chosen as supreme
judges for life. These "_achtundveertig_" had, however, but little
real power. They met weekly; but on great emergencies they summoned
a general assembly, amounting to about 1500 persons, and consisting
of the various councillors and _schlueter_. This assembly held forth
in the market-place of the capital. The masses closely watched the
proceedings, and when it was deemed necessary, called upon one of
their own number to address the meeting on behalf of the rest.

The peace enjoyed by the Ditmarschers from without, contrasted
strongly with the tumults that were often experienced within. The
annals of these people inform us, that whole families and races
were from time to time swept away by the hand of the foe, and by
the violence of party spirit. The Ditmarschers celebrate several
days as anniversaries of victories. One, the _Hare_ day, dates as
far back as 1288, when a party of Holsteiners made an incursion
into the marshes, but were speedily opposed by the natives. For
a time the two hostile bands watched each other, neither willing
to attack, when a hare suddenly started up between them. Some of
the Ditmarschers, pursuing the frightened animal, exclaimed _Loep,
loep!_--"Run, run!" The foremost Holsteiners, seeing the enemy
approaching at full speed, were thrown into confusion; whilst those
behind them, hearing the cry of "run, run!" took to their heels,
and a general rout ensued. The day of "melting lead" is another
joyful anniversary. Gerard VII. of Holstein, endeavouring in 1390[1]
to subjugate the country of the Ditmarschen, drove the people at the
crisis of an assault to such extremities, that they were obliged to
take refuge in a church, which they obstinately defended against
the Duke's troops, until Gerard, infuriated, ordered the leaden
roof of the building to be heated. The melted lead trickled down on
the heads of the Ditmarschers, who, finding themselves reduced to
a choice of deaths, desperately fought their way out, engaged the
Holsteiners, whom they overcame, and who, ignorant of the country,
were either lost in the intricacies of the marshes or drowned in
the dikes. The forces of a count, a duke, and a king, were in turns
routed by the brave Ditmarschers, who have not yet forgotten the
glory of their ancient peasantry. In 1559, however, they ceased to
gain victories for celebration. In that year Denmark and the Duchies
united to subdue the small but very valiant nation. They marshalled
an army of twenty-five thousand picked men, whilst the Ditmarschers
could with difficulty collect seven thousand. John Rantzan commanded
the allied army. He captured Meldorf, set fire to the town, pursued
the inhabitants in all directions and destroyed the greater number
whilst they were nobly fighting for their liberties. Utterly beaten,
the Ditmarschers submitted to their conquerors. Three of the
clergy proceeded to the enemy, bearing a letter addressed to the
princes as "The Lords of Ditmarschen," and offering to surrender
their arms and ammunitions, together with all the trophies they
had ever won. A general capitulation followed: not wholly to the
disadvantage of the people, since it was stipulated that none but
a native of the country should hold immediate authority over it.
At first the land was divided amongst the sovereigns of Denmark,
Holstein, and Sleswig; but in 1773 it was finally ceded in full to
the Danish monarch, together with part of Holstein, by the Duke of
Schleswig-Holstein, (afterwards Grand-Duke of Russia,) in exchange
for Oldenburg and Delmenhorst. The Ditmarschers, at the present
hour enjoy many of their former privileges: they acknowledge no
distinctions of rank; they have their forty-eight Supreme Judges
(the ancient _schlueter_) under the name of _Voegte_ or overseers,
and may, in fact, be regarded as one of the best samples of
republicanism now existing in the world.

  [1] Mr Kohl fixes the date of the "melted lead" day at 1319,
  forgetting that Margaret, the Semiramis of the North, in whose reign
  the event occurred, did not reign in Denmark until about 1375. She
  died in 1412.

Thus much for their history. Of their far-farmed dikes and sluices,
of the marsh-lands and downs which their embankments inclosed,
much more may be said, for Mr Kohl devotes half his work to their
consideration. We will not fatigue the indulgent reader by engaging
him for a survey. The land is distinguished by the inhabitants by
the terms _grest_ and _marsch_; the former being the hilly district,
the latter the deposits from the sea:--the one is woody in parts,
having heath and sand, springs and brooks: the other is flat,
treeless, heathless, with no sand or spring, but one rich series of
meadows, intersected in every direction by canals and dikes. Far as
the eye can reach, it rests upon broad and fertile meads covered
with grazing cattle; whilst from the teeming plain stand forth
farm-houses innumerable, raised upon _wurten_, or little hillocks,
some ten or twelve feet above the level of the land, for security
against constantly recurring inundation. All external appliances
needful for the establishment are elevated upon these heights, whose
sides are, for the most part, covered with vegetable gardens, and
here and there with flowers and shrubs. The houses have but one
story; they are long, and built of brick. For protection against
the unsteady soil, they are often supported by large iron posts
projecting from the sides, and looking like huge anchors. There are
few villages or hamlets in the marshes. The inhabitants are not
gregarious, but prefer the independence of a perfectly insulated
abode. The "threshold right" is still so strictly maintained amongst
them, that no officer of police dare enter, unpermitted, the house
of a Ditmarscher, or arrest him within his own doors.

The roads in the marshes, as may be supposed, are, at times, almost
impassable; riding is therefore more frequent than driving or
walking, although many of the more active marshers accelerate their
passage across the fens by leaping-poles, which they employ with
wonderful dexterity. The women ride always behind the men, on a seat
fastened to the crupper. As the dikes lie higher than the meadows,
they prove the driest road for carriages and passengers; but they
are not always open to the traveller, lest too constant a traffic
should injure the foundations. The carriages chiefly used are a
species of land canoe. They are called _Koerwagen_, and are long,
narrow, and awkward. On either side of the vehicle, chairs or seats
swing loosely. No one chair is large enough for the two who occupy
it, and who sit with their knees closely pressed against the seat
which is before them.

The process of gradually reclaiming new land from the waves is
somewhat curious. As soon as a sufficient amount of deposit has been
thrown up from the sea, outguards, or breakwaters, called _hoefter_
are immediately erected. Within the breakwater there remains a pool
of still water, which by degrees fills up with a rich slime or mud
called _slick_. As soon as the slick has attained an elevation
sufficient to be above the regular level of the high waves, plants
styled "_Queller_" appear, and are soon succeeded by others termed
_Druecknieder_, from the tendency of their interlaced roots and
tendrils to keep down the soft mud. In the course of years, the soil
rises, and a meadow takes the place of the former stagnant pool.
As these new lands are extremely productive, often yielding three
hundred-fold on the first crop of rape-seed, sixty to eighty fold
on barley, and from thirty to forty on wheat, their possession is
ever a subject of great dispute. Formerly the diking and embankments
were undertaken by companies; but at present they are in the hands
of the Danish government, which makes all necessary outlay in the
beginning, and appropriates whatever surplus may remain upon the
original cost to future repairs and to the aid of the general
poor fund. Some slight idea may be formed of the enormous expense
incurred in the construction and maintenance of these dikes, when we
state that the _Dagebieller_ dike alone cost ten thousand dollars
for one recent repair. Ninety thousand dollars were one summer
spent in building embankments around reclaimed land, now valued at
one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, thus showing a clear gain
of sixty thousand dollars by the undertaking. The embankments are
generally from fifteen to twenty feet high. When the nature of the
soil upon which they are raised is considered, together with the
scarcity of wood on these low lands, it will not be difficult to
understand that constant labour is needed to prevent the land from
being undermined by the sea, and that it is only by unremitting
industry, and constant attention to the condition of the breakwaters
and dikes, that the enemy can at all be kept at bay.

The dangers that are to be encountered, and the laborious efforts
that must be made for subsistence at home, train the Frieslander of
the marshes and islands for the perils of the deep, which we find
him encountering with a brave and dogged resolution. The islanders,
especially, are constantly engaged in the whale and other fisheries.
In the islands visited by Mr Kohl, the greater number of the men
were far away on the seas, and their wives and daughters conducting
the business of their several callings; some tending cattle, some
spinning, others manufacturing gloves. Seals abound upon the coast,
and are caught by sundry ingenious devices. A fisher disguises
himself in a seal-skin, and travels up to a troop of these sea
monsters, imitating, as far as he is able, their singular movements
and contortions. When, fairly amongst them, he lifts the gun which
has been concealed beneath his body, and shoots amongst the herd.
If discovered asleep a seal is sure to be caught, for his slumbers
are sound. Conscious of his weakness