He kept minute account of his children's socks and little
shirts, and found ways of providing money for his war-ships and for
countless building schemes he had in hand both in Denmark and
Norway. For many of them he himself drew the plans. Wherever one
goes to this day, his monogram, which heads this story, stares at
him from the splendid buildings he erected. The Bourse in Copenhagen
and the Round Tower, the beautiful palace of Rosenborg, a sort of
miniature of his beloved Frederiksborg which also he rebuilt on a
more magnificent scale--these are among his works which every
traveller in the North knows. He built more cities and strongholds
than those who went before or came after him for centuries.
Christiania and Christiansand in Norway bear his name. He laid out a
whole quarter of Copenhagen for his sailors, and the quaint little
houses still serve that purpose. Regentsen, a dormitory for poor
students at the university, was built by him. He created seven new
chairs of learning and saw to it that all the professors got better
pay. He ferreted out and dismissed in disgrace all the grafting
officials in Norway, and administered justice with an even hand. At
the same time he burned witches without end, or let it be done for
their souls' sake.
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