ain W----, "thrown into a brook dams it not,
but swells the current only to make it run swifter. What will you have?

"Min skaal og din skaal,
Alla vackra flickors skaal;"

and chanting these two lines of a Swedish drinking-song, he threw
himself back in his chair, and emptied his overflowing glass. The party
now began to get extremely merry; and from claret we turned to port,
and, by imperceptible degrees, descended to punch. The smoke of our
cigars soon accumulated in a dense mass, and, ascending to the ceiling
of the room, hung like a canopy of clouds over our heads; and Satan
would have envied the hot atmosphere which we now breathed and caroused
in. We were all pretty well elated; and as the wine warmed Captain
W----'s heart and feelings, he sang the sweetest Swedish song I shall
ever hear again. The melodious air, the sweet silvery reiteration of the
words, the language with its soft idioms, and the poetical beauty and
liveliness of the song itself, were a combination of harmony I could
never have anticipated. It would be useless endeavouring to embody "the
viewless spirit" of those lovely sounds; but as the words were then
translated to me, so I write them here:--

"The happy hours,
Amid the flowers,
Familiar to the Spring's warm breast;
When memory burneth,
And the soul returneth,
Day dreaming, to its own unrest.
I know of looks, to me more sweet and clear,
Than Light's glad beam, than heaven's own blue,
The Spring's soft breath, the flower's bright hue;
None so true,
As his I cherish here,
Whose image is so dear.
Will he love, and love me duly?
Fairy flowers, tell me truly.
What shall be my lot hereafter?
Shall it end in sighs, or laughter?
Pull them lightly!
Count them rightly!
Yes! No! Yes! No! Yes! No! _Yes!_
Counted rightly."

Captain W---- received much applause, but no more than his song
deserved. After awhile, I observed to the American Minister, that we had
drunk the health of nearly every one present except the Baron de B----,
and with his permission I would suggest that we toasted him. The hint
was no sooner given than it was adopted.

The probable separation of Holstein and Schleswig from Denmark, then
became the subject of discussion during the remainder of the evening;
and, indeed, this was the topic common in the mouths of all men whom we
met in Copenhagen.

"It is impossible to