B°i®K of beech and oak, and diverfified with beautiful lakes. The
— ,— ' iiland is exceedingly fertile ; it produces grain o f all forts,
and in great plenty, abounds with excellent pafture, and
is particularly famous for its-breed o f horfes. -The fields,
which feemed well cultivated, were in many parts formed
into inclolures, feparated by mud walls : a few cottages were
o f brick-; but the generality were o f mud white-waihed,
April 8. The wind blowing high and direitly contrary,
we were detained two days at Corfoer ; and, upon its fluffing,
we embarked for the Ifle o f Funen : the diftance between
the neareft points on each coaft is about 1 8 miles. About
mid-day we pafled the fmall iiland o f Sproe, near which lay
a guardftrip, for the purpofe o f exacting the toll from all vef-
fels which pafs between that iiland and Zealand: other fhips
pay their duty at Nyborg. Sproe contains only two buildings;
a fmall inn for the occafional refrefhment o f the guard-
ihip’s crew; and a neat farm-houfe. It produces grain and
pafture. Upon the top o f an height overlooking the fea,
we obferved the ruins o f an antient fortrefs ; which, as the
failors informed us, formerly belonged to pirates, who ufed
to refort in great numbers to this iiland, which feemed well
adapted for that purpofe.
After a favourable paflage o f four hours, we landed at
Nyborg,'a fmall well-built town, in the Ifle o f Funen, Handing
upon a commodious bay. The town is furrounded with
a rampart and ditch, and garrifoned by a company of invalids.
An infcription over an old fquare building informed
me, that Chriftian III. fon o f Frederick I. raifed the fortifications.
Towards the ikirts o f the town, and clofe to the ramparts,
are the remains o f an old palace, in which Chriftian II.
was born; and to the roof of which, as his biographer * re-
* Svaning V i t . C h r ift . I I .
lates,
O D E N S E E. 5§3
lates, he was conveyed, while an infant, by a tame monkey, CIiAp-
and brought down Without receiving the leaft harm.
In the afternoon we reached Odenfee, the capital o f the-
Ifle o f Funen, a place o f fuch high antiquity, that fome Da-
niih writerrs derive its foundation and name from Oden, the
god and hero o f the Gothick nations. But leaving fuch
difquilitions to the antiquaries o f the country, I ihall only
obferve, that its name occurs in the earlieft ages o f the Daniih
hiftory ; and that it was a town o f great note long before
Copenhagen exifted. Odenfee Hands upon a fmall river,,
which is not navigable, and about two miles from the Bay of-
Stegeftrand. Many o f the houfes are antient, bearing dates
about the middle o f the 1 6th century; but part is newly
built: it contains about 5200 inhabitants, who carry on fome
commerce, exporting chiefly grain and leather; the latter
is much efteemed, and its goodnefs is fuppofed to arife from
a certain property in the river water, in which it is foaked
for tanning. The Daniih cavalry are fupplied from thence
with the greateft part of their leathern accoutrements.
Odenfee is- the feat o f a. biihop, which was- founded b y
Harald Blaatand in 980, and is the richeft in Denmark next
to Copenhagen. It has a fchool, endowed by the celebrated
Margaret of Valdemar, in which a certain number of fcho-
lars, from fix to, fixteen years o f age, are inftructed gratis : -
they live and board in the town, and each receives a yearly
penfion ; other fcholarftiips have been alfo founded by private
perfons. The whole number amounted to feventy.
There is alfo a gymnajium, inftituted by Chriftian IV. for the:
admiflion of ftudents at the age of fixteen. * This feminary
•was ftill further improved by the liberality o f Holberg the-
Daniih hiftorian, who protected letters with the fame zeal
with which he cultivated them. It.is now greatly fallen from.
its.