bo o k . h j s a g C) an(j on the fame day in which his father was taken
■ .. ' > prifones. The premature deceafe o f this accompliihed prince,.
whom he tenderly loved, and on whom he relied his foie
hopes of enlargement, reduced him to a ftate o f defpondency..
After much anxious folicitude by what means he could
convey intelligence o f his dreadful fituation to his daughter
the eledtrefs Palatine, and to the emperor Charles V. the king
prevailed upon the dwarf to counterfeit ficknefs, and to re-
queft that he might be removed from the prifon for the
recovery of his health. If he ihould fucceed, he was to feize
the firft opportunity o f efcaping-from the Danifh dominions
to the court o f the eledlrefs, in order that ihe might engage
the emperor to intercede with the king of Denmark for fome
alleviation o f her father’s fufferings. The dwarf accordingly
feigned ficknefs, was transferred to the neighbouring town,
eluded the vigilance o f his guards, and made his efcape ;
but was overtaken at Rendiburgh, fcarcely a day’s journey
from the Danifii confines.
Chriftian, fruftrated in this attempt, and deprived o f his
faithful affociate, lingered for fome time without any companion
; until an old foldier, worn out with the fatigues of
war, voluntarily offered to ihare the king’s imprifonment.
This veteran being immured in the dungeon afforded
confiant amufement to the royal prifoner, by various anecdotes
on the different printes and generals under whom he
had enlifted, and by defcribing thofe expeditions and battles
in which he had been prefent. And, as he had ferved from
his earlieft youth, was a perfon o f much obfervation, and by
nature extremely loquacious, he aflifted in relieving the tædium
o f Chriftian’s captivity. Nor did any event, fcarcely the
lofs o f his fon, ever more fenfibly affect the royal prifoner,
than
than the death o f this foother of his mifery, who expired in CI^AI’-
the dungeon. • 1—
After continuing eleven years in his original cell, without
being once permitted to quit it, he was at length, through
the intercefiion o f Charles V. removed to a commodious
apartment in the fame caftle ; was provided with fuitable attendants
;; fometimes indulged with the liberty o f vifiting in.
the town, attending divine lervice in the publick church,,
and o f hunting in the neighbouring diftridt. Yet even this-
change o f fituation, which had been fo long the foie objedfc
o f his wiihes, could not make him forget, that he was ftill
a prifoner : the recollection o f which affected him occafion-
ally to fuch a degree, that he would, even in his moil cheerful
moments, fuddenly burft into tears, throw himfelf upon
the ground, utter the moft bitter lamentations, and continue
for fome time in a ftate approaching to infanity.
However defervedly odious Chriftian II. may have appeared
in the former parts o f his life, yet his fubfequent fufferings
may be confidered as a fufficient atonement; and it
is a pleafing fatisfadtion to every human mind,, that he
at length feems to have recovered from.his defpondency,.
and to have acquiefced in his fate with the moft perfedl re-
fignation.
At length, in 1546, after a confinement o f fixteen years-
and feven months in the caftle o f Sonderborg, he was conveyed
to the palace of Callenborg, in the Ifie of Zealand ; a
place to which he had been.particularly attached. Chriftian
III. repaired in perfon to Affens,:where he received his fallen
rival with every mark of attention, and affured him that he.
ihould enjoy every comfort which could tend to alleviate his-
fituation. Thefe unufual honours, joined to his removal:
from a place where he had experienced fo much mifery, and
the