The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1896-12-02
ssAkeseeARg IN DENMARK.
evidences Tint the poot Acted In tho Pal
ace of E3Isinore.


Evidences That the Poet Acted In the Pal
ace of Fslsinore.
Addressing the Blizabethan So
oiety at Toynbee hall, DIR. Ion Ste
fansson of Copenhagen read a paper
on the question, Did Shakespeare
Visit Denmark?" He said there was
a strong probability in favor of the
view that Shakespeare may have
been in Denmark in 1886. This idea
was, he thought, proved by refer
ences in the play of Hamlet" and
by evidence from the Danish records.
Local knowledge was pointed out
in references to rooms in the castle
of Elsinore. There was constant in
tercourse with Denmark in Shakes
peares time, and James vi of Scot
land, who succeeded Elizabeth, mar
ried Anne, daughter of the Danish
king. There could, then, have. boon
littlo wonder if Shakespeare went
there.
In the sceno where Hamlet re-
Dukes his mother for her second
marriage ho describes two portraits,
and hitherto in tho acted play it
was tho custom for tho queen to be
wearing medallion portrait of her
second husband, while Hamlet pro.
ducel tho portrait of his father In
the play, however, Shakespeare
makes Hamlet describe man of
full stature, and William Seager,
who went to invest the Danish king
with tho Order of tho Garter, told
Stow, whose account is preserved,
that there wero in one largo cham
Der of Elsinoro tho portraits of n
gruat many of tho kings of Don
mark woven in tapestry. This was
in 1903, and tho earliest appearance
of Hamlet was 1902. All these
tapestry portraits existed down to
1859, whom a large number of thom
were destroyed by fire, and what re-
maincd-somo 10 or 10 portraits
wero now in museum Mt Copenha-
gon.
Tho references to the drinking
customs wero ninutely accurate,
and the names used wore all strictly
correct. So carly as 1570-SO English
"instrumentalists" and actors wero
present at tho Danish court; this
was in tho timo of Frederick II, who
was worry fond of seoing plays aoted.
There was an entry i'll tho accounts
of tho town of Elsinoro for 1885 with
regard to tho reconstruction of II
wall brollon down during tho repre-
scntation of play by English actors
in a courtyard. Tho namcs of tho
actors wore preserved. Three of thon
woro William Komp, George Bryant
and Thomas Pope.
Thomas Haywood, III 1912, speaks
of company of actors, approved by
tho Earl of Leicester, going to Don
mark, showing thntaotors woro con-
stantly going abroad to represent
plays. OF tho actors named William
Kemp and Thomas Popo were known
to have boon associated with Shakes
pcaro for many years. Now Shakes
pearc was thought to havo first ap-
pcarod III London about 1892, and
from 1886 to that year nothing was
known of him. Tho locturcr sug-
gested that, through tho influence
of tho Earl of LoiCostor, Shakespeare
was during those soven missing
years with strolling company III
Denmark and elsewhere. Tho usual
way of reaching Denmark was to
sail from Hull to Elsinoro, which
would OCCUPY n week, and during
that voyage ample opportunity was
given Shakespeare to acquire that
knowledge of scamanship shown in
tho "rompcst, " which only practi-
cal acquaintance with tho sen could
havo supplied him with. All tho in
cidonts i'll "FTamlot" were shown to
havc their counterpart i'll actual oc.
curronces in Denmark. -Wcstmin-
stor Gazette.