As your" mind's eye" has ever followed me in all my travels, whether through the forests of Germany or the gardens of France, in these more distant regions I shall still wish for the same companion; and feel each pleasure doubled, when I think that in idea you accompany me, and enjoy, as myself, the interesting varieties of this vast empire. I am now safely arrived at the imperial residence of Russia. But as the road to it was not quite so "flat and unprofitable" as most of the ways in this world, I must lead you through the Sound before I present you at St. Petersburgh.

On the 29th of August, 1805, I embarked on board the Almeria bound to Cronstadt. The wind setting fair, I bade a short adieu to my country and all in it that I held dear; a foreign land was before me, fraught with ten thousand objects to interest the mind; and forgetting the pains of parting in the joys of expected return, I surrendered all my thoughts to the happy future. The weather continuing favourable, not many days elapsed before I saw the shores of Old England gradually disappear, and those of Denmark rise along the horizon. The next morning we cast anchor at Elsineur.

You may be well assured that my impatience to get on shore was much increased by the meditations which occupied me as the ship drew near a city which had been immortalized by the

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pen of our matchless Shakspeare. The lapse of ages and the fables of the poet, were all lost in the reality of his painting: the moment of his scene seemed present with me; and eager to traverse every part of this consecrated ground, I had already followed Hamlet every where. I had measured the deep shadows of the platform, encountered the gray ghost of the Royal Dane, had killed Polonius in the Queen's closet, and drowned poor Ophelia in the willowed stream! With my fancy thus raised I stepped into a boat, and soon reached the pierhead of this memorable and once regal city. But "what a falling off was there!" Wapping possesses the splendor of ancient Rome, when compared with the modern aspect of Elsineur. Judge then how soon my eye and mind were called back to the narrow footpaths of dull matter-o'-fact; but you cannot judge, for you cannot imagine, how much more rapidly I was made to forget the sweet-scented flowers of the "pretty Ophelia," in the haut gouts which now assailed my senses. The weather being hot, various effluvia and exhalations sported about so pestiferously, that it was impossible to proceed without the shield of a handkerchief to the nose, if you wished to prevent actual sickness: which accident, by the by, would be considered of little consequence; as small ceremony is used here, either as to time, place, or opportunity, in making every addition to this Augean repository. The immortal scavenger of Elis would certainly be at his labour now had he begun at Elsineur: I found it a sufficiently Herculean toil to wade through this wilderness of filth. In vain I sought for decayed battlements and mouldering towers; not a single vestige presented itself that bore the smallest trace of this town ever having been hallowed by the mausoleum of an Ophelia, or proudly decorated with the stately walls of a royal palace. However, as Balbeck, for want of proper investigation, lay hidden many centuries in the desert; so might all I wished to see, be yet lurking in some unexplored spot: my ignorance might be my only impediment. To get rid of this, I looked about for an informer; and exerting the key to such knowledge, soon found a clue to the labyrinth; which led me to a place, a mile from the town, that bears the name of Hamlet's Garden.

I entered a gateway which opened to a walk well shaded with lofty trees. Striking into this avenue, I momentarily expected to be gratified by the appearance of venerable and magnificent ruins. Ruins did appear; but alas, it was a Satyr to Hyperion! a modern wretched building, even in youth tumbling to decay! It was easily to be discerned that the fabric and the gardens were of the same date; and retained no relic of ancient interest, excepting the tradition, which affirms that to be the spot where once stood the Danish palace; and where was enacted that tragedy, which has been so gloriously immortalized by the genius of our great dramatic bard. Admitting this tradition to be fact, the mind then looks through what is, to what was, and once more ennobles the scene. In this temper then, I shall describe its degenerated aspect; and the natural beauties of its situation, which, being stamped by the Creator himself, neither time nor depraved taste has had power to alter.

The present edifice is erected on the brow of a gently rising hill; the summit of which is gained by means of a winding walk cut through a small shrubbery. Not being more entertained with the near than the distant view of this sorry representative of the royal Hamlet's abode, I turned to the surrounding prospect. The town of Elsineur on the plain beneath, presents itself ill-built, red, and without any public building, or spire, to vary its sameness. Far to the left of the city stands the castle of Kronenberg, a bold and fine feature. The waves of the Cattegut roll at its feet; and are bounded on the opposite side, by the Swedish coast. Four hundred sail of merchant ships were lying there at anchor, which added greatly to the interest of the picture. I made a sketch on the spot, to 'which I refer you; and as I go on with my description you can follow me with your eye.

The small village on the distant shore is Elsenberg; where the king of Sweden is now personally inspecting some new coal-works, which are likely to reward his pains. When you look on the fortress of Kronenberg, you will perceive how proudly it is situated. The form of the building, with its spires and minaurets, is nobly picturesque: the fabric is of gray stone;

and its innumerable windows, varied towers, and other architectural ornaments, make it a striking and beautiful contrast to the dull uniformity of the town. This castle being intended as a protection to the Sound, and to command its entrance, is well fortified on all sides; and has a very respectable provision of cannon towards the water. When lord Nelson passed the Sound, upwards of three hundred pieces of artillery opened upon him from this part of the works; but they failed of effect, as every ball fell short of the mark.

Since that period the inside of this edifice has been closed to the eyes of strangers. However, I was told that there was little reason to lament the prohibition, as it contains nothing worthy notice, save a pair of ebony doors and a few old por- traits. Not being able to gain any information respecting the age of the fortress, I venture to guess it at about three hundred years. Probably, as the situation is so commanding, on this very spot once stood the stately turrets of Hamlet the Dane. It seems better suited to a regal abode, than the poor little hill now recorded as having been its site.

Considering myself now in the very haunts of Shakspeare's northern hero, I must linger a little longer to inform you of a few interesting circumstances relating to him, which I have gathered at the fountain-head; from the very source whence our poet must have drawn the incidents of his tragedy. I mean the annals of Denmark, written by Saxo Grammaticus in the twelfth century. The work is in Latin; and as you may not have met with it, I will finish my account of Hamlet's Garden with a short abstract from that prince's history. It will be curious to compare the dialogues of the original, with their counterpart in the play.

Florwendillus, king of Jutland, married Geruthra or Gertrude, the only daughter of Ruric king of Denmark. The produce of this union was a son called Amlettus. When he grew towards manhood, his spirit and extraordinary abilities excited the envy and hatred of his uncle, who, before the birth of Amlettus, was regarded as presumptive heir to the crown. Fengo, which was the name of this haughty prince, conceived a passion for his sister-in-law the queen; and meeting with recipro

cal feelings, they soon arranged a plan; which putting into execution, he ascended the throne of his brother and espoused the widowed princess. Amlettus (or Hamlet) suspecting that his father had died by the hand, or the devices of his uncle, determined to be revenged. But perceiving the jealousy with which the usurper eyed his superior talents; and the better to conceal his hatred and intentions, he affected a gradual derangement of reason; and at last acted all the extravagancies of an absolute madman. Fengo's guilt induced him to doubt the reality of a malady so favourable to his security; and suspicious of some direful project being hidden beneath assumed insanity, he tried by different stratagems to penetrate the truth. One of these was to draw him into a confidential interview with a young damsel who had been the companion of his infancy; but Hamlet's sagacity, and the timely caution of his intimate friend, frustrated this design. In these two persons we may recognise the Ophelia and Horatio of Shakspeare. A second plot was attended with equal want of success. It was concerted by Fengo that the queen should take her son to task in a private conversation; vainly flattering himself that the prince would not conceal his true state from the pleadings of a mother.. Shakspeare has adopted every part of this scene; not only the precise situation and circumstances, but the sentiments, and sometimes the very words themselves. The queen's apartment was the appointed place of conference; where the king, to secure certain testimony, had previously ordered one of his courtiers to conceal himself under a heap of straw: so says the historian; and though Shakspeare, in unison with the refinement of more modern times, changes that rustic covering for the royal tapestry, yet it was even as Saxo Grammaticus relates In those primitive ages, straw, hay, or rushes, strewed on the floor, were the usual carpets in the chambers of the great. One of our Henrys, in making a progress to the north of England, previously sent forward a courier to order clean straw at every house where he was to take his lodging. But to return to my subject.

The prince, suspecting there might be a concealed listener, and that it was the king, pursued his wild and frantic acts;