At the hour of midnight was our Saviour born; ONE O'CLOCK. O, Jesu Christ! we pray thee send us help To bear our cross with patience in the world, For Thou art God alone! And Thou, O Comforter! Thine hand stretch forth; The clock has stricken One! TWO O'CLOCK. O, gracious Lord! whose love for us was such That Thou shouldst deign in darkness* to be born ; All glory 's due to Thee! * Obscurity. CHAPTER XI. OFF FOR HAVRE SCENERY OF THE SOUND ISLE OF HUEN TYCHO BRAHÉ NORWAY AND SWEDEN GODWIN SANDS LIGHT-SHIP DOVER AND WALMER CASTLES - HAVRE — STEAMER FRANKLIN MR. VESEY, U. S. CONSUL THE TOWN · HISTORICAL INCIDENTS INGOUVILLE FOR PARIS ROUEN, POISSY, ETC. LEAVE We now see the English steamer, with the Queen of Holland on board, which left St. Petersburg in company with us, just heaving in sight. Thus we beat her twelve hours! At about six o'clock we got up steam, and were once more under way; and now we are heading for Havre. The heavy storm, which lasted for an hour or more, had cleared the atmosphere, and we saw two most beautiful and clearly-defined rainbows spanning the sound from Copenhagen to the Swedish coast opposite; and the width of the sound here is about twenty miles; but the distance grows less very fast as we proceed to Elsinore. We all kept our eyes upon the retiring city, in which we had passed a very pleasant, and, I am sure, a very profitable day. The coasts on either side are lovely, and the Swedish is in many places quite bold. The village of Landscrona shows up from the shore. On the Danish coast the On the Danish coast the scenery is very attractive, and presents a pleasing variety of lawns, orchards, farms, villas and forests. On our sail we came close by the small island of Huen, where the illustrious Tycho Brahé lived, and where he made his famous astronomical researches. It lis near to the coast of Sweden, and has a slight elevation, on which he built his observatory, in which he was nobly assisted by the King of Denmark. TYCHO BRAHIÉ SCENERY STORM. 159 Tycho Brahé was born in 1546, and was educated in Copenhagen, and, after spending some years in Germany, he returned, in 1571; but again visited Germany in 1575. He was induced to settle in Denmark by the extreme liberality of Frederick II., and received this island as a gift; and on it he spent vast sums of money, in the erection of costly buildings. He outlived his patron, and found less favor from his successor, Christian IV. He died, in 1601, in Prague, whither he had retired, by the invitation of the Emperor Rudolph. Never could the noble fortress of Kronburgh Castle be seen to finer advantage than as we swept by it. The evening was very clear, and its bold towers were defined most accurately against the azure sky. The standard of Denmark was floating from its flag-staff, and the lighthouse, in one of the turrets of the castle, looked cheerful, as it was kindled up soon after we passed it. We watched the grand old fortress as long as it remained in sight, and spent a pleasant evening on deck. The Sunday, however, proved squally, and we had rather an unpleasant day, but observed our regular service in the saloon. In the morning we had some good views of the coast of Norway and Sweden, as we passed the Cattegat, and rounded the Skaw, getting into the Skagerack. We saw several ships, apparently bound into Christiansand. The sea was, however, rougher than we had yet had it on our voyage. At two P. M. the breeze had freshened up, and the waves were high. We were now off the lee-shore of the mouth of the Sleive, about six miles distant. From two to six we only made twelve or fifteen miles. At ten P. M. the gale abated, and the ship made good way through the night; but the fog was as dense as I ever saw. July 4. The sea was yeasty, and the day very uncomfortable; the smoking-room deserted, but only two persons decidedly sick. The arrangements for celebrating the day fell through; and at dinner we talked patriotically, and did as a great many of our friends at home were doing. July 5. — I have already spoken of the thick weather we met 160 WALMER CASTLE HAVRE. with; but it had little effect in delaying the voyage, or hindering our exact course, and the abilities of our accomplished commander were only made the more apparent. I shall not soon forget the satisfaction with which he made the light-ship on the Godwin Sands, after the thickest fog, coming down directly upon her, according to his prediction. I have never felt such abiding confidence in any man's judgment as in that of Captain Eldridge. All his movements are in exact unison with his statements made beforehand, and he exhibits that perfect acquaintedness with his profession which inspires confidence in the breast of every person around. The sea had gone down, but the wind was ahead. At one o'clock P. M., we passed close by the cliffs of Dover, and had a fine view. of Walmer Castle, where England's duke was conquered by the only enemy that ever vanquished him. The sight of Walmer brought to our remembrance those beautiful lines of Longfellow, called "The Warden of the Cinque Ports." I found in England the opinion was general, that Longfellow's was the noblest tribute which the death of Wellington had called out, and this piece is thought quite equal to Campbell's best pieces. We stood in, to have a near view of Dover and the fine coast adjacent. The town extends along under the stupendous cliffs. We had a fine afternoon to thread through the channel, and obtained pleasant glimpses of the English coast. We arrived off Havre at night, but lay to for morning light; and, besides, we could not enter the dock gates till nine o'clock. As we approached the gates in the morning, we found thousands of people gathered around to see the steamer Franklin depart on her homeward voyage. We instantly saluted her, which compliment she returned, and Captain Wotton very politely stopped his engine to receive our letters for home.* After giving her three hearty * We all had our fears that we had missed the mail for New York, and were sad enough to see the steamer fairly under way; but Captain Eldridge told us that he knew her captain was by all odds too noble a man to disap |