Anne Bushby

“ The galling consciousness that a brand had been set upon him from his cradle, that to imbibe and cherish a prejudice—as he would call it—against himself and all his race, is made a point of duty and religion among the beings who, in all other respects, are like himself—all this is painted with a masterly hand, with the hand of one who has studied the workings of the human heart. One charm of Goldschmidt's very original and striking tale is, that he has copied or borrowed from nobody, either in his own language, or that of any other land. ”

“ Bernhard Severin Ingemann, born 1789, a professor at Soroe, and a contemporary of Grundtvig, is a far more pleasing writer. He also dwells much on the olden times; but it is the real history of his country that he elucidates, and places before his readers in interesting points of view. Ingemann writes everything well; it is impossible that he should do otherwise, with accurate historical knowledge, with a well-stored memory, with inexhaustible treasures of imagination, brilliant fancy, force, and purity of feeling, vast powers of description, poetic taste, and complete command of language. ”

“ Dyveke. Yes! I will save my mother.
Monk. Heaven has heard my prayer, and moved your heart; you shall soon hear from me again. Peace be with you, Dyveke.
Dyveke. Peace! yes—rest in the grave; there only is rest for me!
There is a very good scene between King Christian and Dyveke; and one still better, in which the fiendish monk poisons the cherries that are to be sent to Sigbrit and her daughter. His cool villany and Satanic laugh are well described; in short, the whole play is interesting and well written. But it is time to take leave for the present of the Danes and their literature. ”

“ At the entrance to the church the king, in deep mourning, received the corpse; and when it had been placed on a catafalque, Oehlenschlæger's requiem, the music by Glaser, was sung:
CHORUS. Crowds upon crowds are gathering round
The sacred spot where rests a bier;
Of a people's wail there comes the sound—
O fatherland! what mourn you here?
A prince—a hero—snatched away?
No, Denmark sighs; and yet his name
Stands on the brightest page of fame,
Whom here, alas! we weep to-day. ”

“ To compare the amount of its literature with the amount of the literature of Germany, France, or England, would be unfair and ridiculous; for the German language is that of a large portion of Europe, the French is almost a universal language wherever civilisation extends, and English is the mother-tongue of half the globe. It is surprising, therefore, that Denmark has so extensive and really so good a literature. This is still more to be wondered at, as the Danes are such excellent linguists that the literary stores of other nations are within their easy reach ”

“ But, except to the élite of the learned and literary world, those native authors, who have instructed or amused the inhabitants of Sweden, Denmark, and Norway, have remained almost as much unknown as if these countries had been situated at the base of the Mountains of the Moon—shut in by swamps and deserts, guarded by tribes of savages, and the scarcely more ferocious wild beasts of nearly impervious forests. ”

“ The frigid air which congeals the breath, returns the heat into the soul ; and nature, in these climates, seems only made to throw roan back upon himself. The heroes in the fictions of northern poetry are gigantic; superstition, in their characters, is united to strength, whilst everywhere else it appears the companion of weakness. ... Oehlenschlæger has created an entirely new path, in taking for the subjects of his pieces the heroic traditions of his country; and if his example be followed, the literature of the North may one day become as celebrated as that of Germany. ”

“ In reviewing the literature of Denmark, one is surprised to see, not so few but so many authors—many, when the limited size of the country and extent of the population be taken into consideration. It must be remembered that the Danish language is not much known, and that it is spoken and read only by the inhabitants of Denmark Proper, its dependencies, and a portion of its colonists in the East and West Indies; yet it can boast of more writers than countries of an equal or larger size—than Holland, Italy, Spain, or Portugal. ”

“ It was he who smilingly enticed Christian to me, in order to make me the tool of his own designs. If there was good in these designs—if he wished by my means to soften his prince's heart—may God pardon him! Although he would now tear me from him... But, thou, my mother ... my mother! ...
Monk. Walkendorff does not tear you from him; he only wishes you to leave the king.
Dyveke. I cannot.
Monk. I had hoped that religion would have taught you the respect due to your queen, and fit consideration for the king’s honour and peace. ”

“ The prior leaves the high altar, and hastens to the stranger-penitent, who, murmuring in a failing voice that he hears spirits calling him to death and judgment, sinks into the arms of the priest, and whispers a bequest of all that he owns to the convent; praying only that he may be buried there. Meantime, the nuns, novices, and boarders, have all been driven off to their cells by the prioress, who had overheard a faint scream from one of them. ”

“ Novels, whether historical or otherwise, were scarcely in vogue in Denmark before the commencement of this present century. Fables there were, indeed—mythological allegories, tales of fairy-land, and stories of mermaids, dwarfs, magicians, and ghosts; but, except these, the only works of light literature or of imagination were poems and plays.
There is, perhaps, no language more abounding in dramatic compositions than the Danish. The Danes have a very large theatrical repertoire, consisting of tragedies, comedies, operas, farces, melodramas, vaudevilles, &c. ”

“ With such feelings, it is not surprising that the Danes, collectively and individually, made so many sacrifices for their king and country during the late war with Holstein, or rather with the Prussian and other German troops who were sent to assist the revolted subjects of the King of Denmark. It is not surprising that gay and fashionable ladies offered their costly jewels, and poor old women, the impoverished descendants of ancient families gone to decay, sent the small remnants of their treasured valuables to be turned into money to assist in the expenses of the war. ”

“ At Leipsic, Tycho Brahe devoted himself assiduously to the study of astromomy, chemistry, mathematics, astrology, and casting of nativities.
That a clever and rational being should have wasted his time in the two last-mentioned fanciful pursuits, may provoke a smile of derision in our enlightened days; but it must be remembered that the Danish astronomer lived at a period when there existed a sort of second chaos in the world of knowledge ”

“ When one who has been long weary of this world passes into eternal life, it is said, "that poor person is dead!" They speak of life, and forget everlasting life; they speak of death, and forget eternity!
But we must not forget that all things must have an end; and that it is time to bring to a conclusion this slight survey of a literature which has hitherto been but little known in Britain. We shall only add the hope that this impartial, and we can affirm, correct, outline of Danish authors and their works, may have been interesting to some of the readers of the New Monthly Magazine. ”

“ He called this a tragedy, in five acts, but it was, in fact, a parody—a burlesque—written with a view of turning into ridicule the pompous translations from the French dramatic authors, which, with their formality and bombast, threatened to supersede the more natural representations of the Danish stage. The characters are—tailor’s apprentice, his betrothed, her unsuccessful lover, and a male and female confidant. The play opens with the fair betrothed Gretè being discovered asleep on a chair. She suddenly awakes from her nap, and exclaims,
Thou never shalt married be, if not upon this day! ”

“ But this is a digression from the literature to the feelings of the Danes—a momentary digression, pardonable, however, it is hoped, as poetry, which gave rise to it, and feeling, are inseparably connected.
There is scarcely any subject which has not been treated of by Danish authors during the latter part of the eighteenth century; but some of the "weightiest" of these, to borrow a Danish expression, are not of a nature to add much to the stores of popular literature, being on matters too abstruse or too scientific for general readers. ”

“ Though harsh and unjust towards Tycho Brahe—who, however, was not sufficiently respectful towards his sovereign—Christian was the patron of science and literature, and did much to promote their cultivation in his dominions. He was the founder of the royal library of Copenhagen, which deservedly ranks as one of the best in Europe.
Two centuries ago, the progress of literature everywhere depended more on the patronage of the great than on the voice of the people ”

“ The legend says, that at Spangereid, an isthmus in Norway, a golden harp was one day cast, by the waves, on the shore of a small sheltered bay; and that in this gift of the ocean there was found a little girl of surpassing beauty. She was brought up to keep sheep by the peasants who found her; but the report of her loveliness having reached the ears of Regnar Lodbrok, then king of the Danish islands, he sought the place of her abode, and married her. She had two names—Aslauga and Kraaka. ”

“ One can hardly fancy the same mind conceiving the character of the mild, contemplative pointer, devoted to the Christian faith, and enthusiastic in his art, and the cold, hard Jarl—the Pagan warrior, the bigoted worshipper of Odin, and the stern participator in the bloody rites with which the Scandinavian deity was sought to be propitiated. ”

“ It is a remarkable fact that most of the writers on general literature in Denmark were connected with the theatres—were directors, managers, inspectors, treasurers, or actors; if not always, at any rate at some period of their lives. In England, the Bar supplies the greater proportion of what may be called working literary men—reviewers, magazine writers, newspaper writers, novel writers, dramatic writers, &c.
We now come to Jens Baggesen, an author of whom the Danes are very proud. ”

“ This lady, formerly the wife of Heiberg's father, the banished dramatical writer, was divorced from him, and married afterwards a Swedish nobleman, who, for political faults, also, was exiled from his own country, and took up his abode in Denmark. To English people, the mention of a divorce suggests the idea of some flagrant misconduct; but it is not necessarily connected with guilt in Denmark. Divorces are much more easily obtained there than in Great Britain. If two people live unhappily together, and wish to dissolve their marriage, the Danish laws admit the possibility of their doing so ”

“ The beginning of the eighteenth century has been called by the Danes "the age of Holberg." He was a writer of whom they are very proud, and not without good reason, for with him commenced a new era in Danish literature. The celebrated Oehlenschleger said of him, "that he had rough planed the taste of the nation." He certainly gave an impulse to its literary taste, and laboured hard to improve and amuse his countrymen.
Ludvig Holberg was born at Bergen, in Norway, in 1684. ”

“ The list is a short one; for, however clever, well-informed, and superior the Danish ladies may be, few of them have chosen to emerge from the privacy of domestic life, and place their names before the world. Nor are the names of those few by any means so well known as are the names of some of the authoresses of a neighbouring country. None have attempted to rival that charming Swedish writer, the late Baroness Knorring—Miss F. Bremer—or the still brighter in Swedish literature, that most talented and admirable writer, Madame Emilie Flygare Carlén. ”

“ There are men among them who are not horn to end their lives in so hurried and fearful a manner."
"No one is born to such a fate," said the king, losing himself for a moment in thought. "If any one had his destiny sung to him in his cradle, it might benefit him in after-life. We ourselves do not know what may be in store for us. Is there any person of rank among them?"
"There is at feast one among them who did not always herd with the outcasts of mankind, and who, even now, has some remains of honour and feeling. ”

“ Andersen partakes more of the nature of the dove than of that of the eagle; he seeks no lofty eyrie—he gazes not on the blazing sun with an eye bright as its meridian rays; he loves to linger among shady groves, and on the margin of limpid streams ”

“ The limited influence which Denmark has exercised over the destinies and international relations of the greater part of the European governments, the influx of travellers to the sunny south rather than to the bleak north, have tended, and united to prevent that intimate acquaintance with the language and literature of Denmark, which has taken place in regard to those of countries within more easy reach, and which are brought more prominently into contact with England. ”

“ While the obliging swain has gone to make his wedding-toilet, and Gretè has been indulging in a short soliloquy, the missing tailor, Johan, arrives, is well received notwithstanding her recent arrangement with Mads, and delights her by the assurance that
Moments are like days, and hours like years of life.
Until the happy time when I may call thee wife.
She has now two strings to her bow; the threats of her supernatural visitant will, indeed, be as null and void as any other "baseless fabric of a dream," so she forthwith invites her admirer to the altar on that very day. ”

“ The trees we plant ourselves shall one day bloom
In careless beauty o’er our lowly tomb.
That which to us but deep repose appears,
Where human dust is gathered years on years—
Ah! is, in truth, eternity’s dark gate! ”

“ Tragedies had almost disappeared from the Danish stage since the days of Ewald, having given place to comic dramas and musical entertainments; but they were revived by Samsöe, whose charming tragedy of "Dyveke" became extremely popular, and re-awakened the taste for the serious drama. He wrote besides this some poems, and "Frithiof," and other "Northern Tales." The tragedy of "Dyveke" carries the reader back to the days of Christian II. of Denmark, early in the sixteenth century, and is founded on what may be called a romance in history. ”