Caroline  Matilda  was  radiant  with  grace  and  beauty.  Struen-
see, always  at  her  side,  confident  in  her  favor,  saw  on  the  fea-
tures of  the  king  no  trace  of  the  terrible  passions  which  agitated
his  mind.  The  assembly  came  to  an  end.  Then  there  was  a
great  tumult,  followed  by  a  deep  silence.  The  queen,  dragged
from  her  apartments,  was  hurried  along  the  road  to  Elsinore,  and
shut  up  in  the  fortress.  Struensee  was  arrested  and  carried  be-
fore his  judges.
Shortly  after,  a  scaffold  was  raised  on  the  esplanade  of  Vester-


440  D  E  N  M  A  E  K ,


bro.  Struensee  was  beheaded,  and  the  queeu  went  as  an  exile
to  Hanover,  to  die.^

The  weather  is  so  fine,  and  the  air  so  pure,  that  we  are  about
to  make  an  excursion  by  sea.  We  embark  at  the  extremity  of  a
small  fjord,  near  a  house  which  can  be  distinguished  from  a  dis-
tance by  a  flag  floating  at  the  top  of  a  mast.
This  is  a  life-boat  station,  where  brave  men  are  always  at
hand  to  carry  assistance  to  vessels  in  peril  on  this  coast,  so  dan-
gerous during  the  foggy  days  of  sirring  and  autumn.  Skilful
fishermen  and  hardy  sailors,  they  live  here  alone,  without  any
other  amusement  than  fishing,  which  is  their  main  support.
"VVe  find  the  house  occupied  by  its  usual  inhabitants,  who
come  forward  eagerly  to  do  the  honors.  A  veranda  serves  as  a
place  of  shelter  for  the  life-boat,  with  the  rigging  and  their  nets.
