Chapter 4 - Page 2

that I felt and acknowledged that it was best, both for her and for
myself, that things had fallen out as they were. She had no idea,
perhaps, how deep my feeling for her had been, or what an influence it
produced in me. She had become the excellent wife of a good man, and a
happy mother. God's blessing rest upon her!

In my "Journey on Foot," and in most of my writings, satire had been
the prevailing characteristic. This displeased many people, who thought
that this bent of mind could lead to no good purpose. The critics now
blamed me precisely for that which a far deeper feeling had expelled
from my breast. A new collection of Poetry, "Fancies and Sketches,"
which was published for the new year, showed satisfactorily what my
heart suffered. A paraphrase of the history of my own heart appeared in
a serious vaudeville, "Parting and Meeting," with this difference only,
that here the love was mutual: the piece was not presented on the stage
till five years later.

Among my young friends in Copenhagen at that time was Orla Lehmann, who
afterwards rose higher in popular favor, on account of his political
efforts than any man in Denmark. Full of animation, eloquent and
undaunted, his character of mind was one which interested me also. The
German language was much studied at his father's; they had received
there Heine's poems, and they were very attractive for young Orla. He
lived in the country, in the neighborhood of the castle of
Fredericksberg. I went there to see him, and he sang as I came one of
Heine's verses, "Thalatta, Thalatta, du eviges Meer." We read Heine
together; the afternoon and the evening passed, and I was obliged to
remain there all night; but I had on this evening made the acquaintance
of a poet, who, as it seemed to me, sang from the soul; he supplanted
Hoffman, who, as might be seen by my "Journey on Foot," had formerly
had the greatest influence on me. In my youth there were only three
authors who as it were infused themselves into my blood,--Walter Scott,
Hoffman, and Heine.

I betrayed more and more in my writings an unhealthy turn of mind. I
felt an inclination to seek for the melancholy in life, and to linger
on the dark side of things. I became sensitive and thought rather of
the blame than the praise which was lavished on me. My late school
education, which was forced, and my impulse to become an author whilst
I was yet a student, make it evident that my first work, the "Journey
on Foot," was not without grammatical errors. Had I only paid some one
to correct the press, which was a work I was unaccustomed to, then no
charge of this kind could have been brought against me. Now, on the
contrary, people laughed at