THE CHARM OF COPENHAGEN.* THE author of this book has
attempted far too much. Under the title of the " Charm of Copenhagen" she deals with Danish character and scenery, with past and present Danish art, literature, and science ; with Danish social laws and reforms, Danish schools and hospitals; she sketches the lives of eminent Danes of all ages, and even, in the last chapters, takes the exhausted reader across the Sound to Sweden. The result is that among dates and statistics the charm of Copen- hagen is lost. While she gives us the number of beds in the 1tigshospital, and tells us that of Nicholas Grandtwig's wives the last two were widows, she puts her impressions of the Sound and of the Copenhagen quays and wharves into a single page. Now the charm of ships and of harbour sides is universal. There is a great link between England and the northern races, and that link is the sea. Before all else Copenhagen is the " Merchants' Harbour." Nowhere in the world can be seen such a traffic of ships, such a variety of craft. There is no place more full of romance than a crowded harbour, but all this ceaselessly changing, endlessly fascinating life is ignored by the author of this book. She does not even mention the Free Harbour, though its opening has been of such great economic importance to the town. The charm of which she writes is a stuffy charm—a charm of well-cushioned sofas, of crowded schools, of "the simple life blended with culture," as she finds it lived by Danish ladies.
To those who like to be told little intimate details about foreign races the book, however, will be interesting. We are shown Danish children in their homes and playgrounds ; we learn of Danish cookery, Danish hospitality, Danish wedding customs. There is an account of a visit to the Trifolium Dairy, whence so much butter finds its way to England; a description of Niels Finsen's life and work, and an appreciative and attractively written review of Danish and modern French sculpture as shown in the Ny Carlsberg Gallery.
The book is written in the " bright " style of most popular travel books. Judged by this the sun is always shining in Denmark, the people of all classes live in perfect con- tentment. "The Copenhagen musical public . . . the most critical in Europe . . . is overflowing with kindness of heart. and would hospitably entertain an indifferent singer in need of a little sympathy. This kindheartedness extends itself to the animal world also." Even Sweden receives a share of praise. The Ladies' Club at Lund—the annual sub- scription to which is five or six English shillings—is a "fairyland of beauty and daintiness."
The author has a way of breaking into the present tense : 0 They speak a little English and I overwhelm them with grate- ful thanks." This attitude of " grateful thanks" is hers through- out the book. Her . Danish friends may not be overwhelmed, but they cannot fail to be gratified by so much appreciation, and of her English readers some at least may be driven to investigate the charm of the northern capital for themselves.
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