_Fröken_: but the wife of a private individual, with no blood worth
the naming in her veins, is simply _Madame_, and her daughter's
_Jomfrue_. You might as easily pull down Gibraltar as the prejudice
which maintains those petty and frivolous distinctions. It is highly
diverting to witness the painful distress of Mr Kohl at hearing
ladies of noble birth addressed as _Frue Brahe_, _Frue Rosenkrands_,
instead of by the sublime title of _Gnädige Frau_, eternally in the
mouths of his own title-loving countrymen. It is singular, however,
that whilst the Danes are so tenacious of honorary appellations,
they are without those constant quantities, the _von_ and _de_
of Germany and France. The _Sture_, the _Axe_, the _Trolle_, and
the other nobles who, for ages, lived like kings in Denmark, were
without a prefix to their names. _Greve_ and _Baron_ are words of
comparatively modern introduction.
There are about twenty high fiefs in Denmark--the title to hold one
of these lordships, which bring with them many important privileges,
being the possession of a certain amount of land, rated at the
value of the corn it will produce. The owners are exempt from all
payment of taxes, not only on their fiefs, but on their other
lands: they have the supervision of officials in the district:
are exempted from arrest or summons before an inferior court, to
which the lesser nobility are liable; and they enjoy the right of
appropriating to their own use all treasures found under the earth
in their lordships. Next to these come the baronial fiefs; then
the _stammehuser_, or houses of noble stock, all rated according
to various measures of corn as the supposed amount of the land's
produce; all other seats or estates are called _Gaarde_, Courts,
or _Godser_, estates. The country residences of the nobility are
strikingly elegant and tasteful. They are surrounded by lawns and
parks in the English fashion, and often contain large collections
of paintings and extensive libraries. Along the upper corridors
of the country residences of the nobility are ranged large wooden
chests, (termed _Kister_,) containing the household linen, kept in
the most scrupulous order. Many of these _Kister_ are extremely
ancient, and richly carved in oak. Every peasant family, too, has
its _Kiste_, which holds the chief place in the sitting-room, and
is filled with all the treasure, as well as all the linen, of
the household. Amongst other lordly structures, Mr Kohl visited
_Gysselfelt_,[3] near Nestned in Zealand. It was built in 1540
by Peter Oxe, and still stands a perfect representation of the
fortresses of the time. Its fosses yet surround it--the drawbridges
are unaltered: and, round the roof, at equal distances, are the
solid stone pipes from which boiling water or pitch has often been
poured upon the heads of the assailants below. In the vicinity
of this castle is _Bregentned_, the princely residence of the
Counts _Moltke_. The _Moltke_ are esteemed the richest family in
Denmark.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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